What Inspires Me

Relatives from Colorado visited this week.  One night, as coffee and chit-chat were winding down a bit, I overheard my aunt say, "I wonder what inspires Mario."

By "inspiration," is the question, "Mario, where do you get ideas for your stories?"  The answer to that is a fit of enthusiasm.  Most of the time, I read a book or see a movie or watch a TV show about a certain topic from alien invasion to time travel to a pandemic, and I find the exposure so enjoyable that I cannot help but try to do my take on the subject matter.

By "inspiration," is the question, "Mario what keeps you going back and back to the writing?"  In that case, the correct word, I think, would be "drive," not "inspiration."  To me, inspiration is what sparks the creativity, while drive is what pushes me forward to get the work done.  I'm almost certain a great many others share my feelings on this.

So what drives me then?

All I can say is that I was put on this Earth to be a storyteller.  I enjoy it and it's something I'm good at.  I'm not a brilliant inventor nor am I a great businessman.  If I woke up tomorrow and said that I wanted to become a psychotherapist, I'd have to also acknowledge that I might be the last person to help someone with mental issues.  Most of my closest friends would agree.