Inspiration

Inspiration can come from a variety of sources. People tend to write best what they know best, so many writers depend on their own personal experiences to mold the fiction they create.

For people undergoing troubling events, writing – in a journal or through other mediums – is a therapeutic way to voice emotions and concerns that they might otherwise feel uncomfortable acknowledging aloud.

The sources of Blanche's inspiration are many, but certain parts of her life can be credited as the inspiration for individual works. Her childhood experiences as a Brownie and a Junior Girlscout set the scenes in Campfire Cadet Cookie Caper and its two sequels. The Mascot Memoirs (working title for book) as well as the related movies drew on her nearly four years as the Princeton University mascot and her many misadventures behind the mask.

The idea for one movie, Plungers (working title), encouraged Blanche to volunteer with New Hope Housing's family shelter as a cook Friday mornings for two and a half years. As she spent time in the shelter, she erased her stereotyped characters and drastically rewrote them based on real-life examples. The experience also paid off – for both Blanche and the shelter – as she has written articles directing attention to local food banks' needs.

Building a postage-stamp vegetable garden behind her home encouraged research which aided in her writing of a six-page spring gardening guide and articles on garden pests.

Nonstop dedicated writing can become a form of self-confinement. To inspire realistic dialogue, descriptive settings, or deep understanding of a character's motivation, writers should wander into the real world and be receptive to its influences. To fend off writers' block, it is important to make contact with real-world events that inspire.