Inspiration Clinic: Do You Really See?

I met a very interesting man the other day. He’s in his 60s or 70s (not sure), and still writes every single day “just to stay sharp.” We had a nice conversation about writing, and one of the things he talked about what “really seeing.”

Image: sxc.hu

He said that as a professor in the past, he once brought in a milk carton an asked his students to describe it. Yes, it’s a carton. Yes, it’s cardboard. Yes, it’s white. What else? How many cows are on the label? Are they sitting or standing? What kind of nutritional information is on the label? What color is the sell-by date ink? How does it open? What is the carton’s texture?

We see milk cartons ever day, but we rarely really see them. It isn’t just milk cartons. It’s your whole world.

Sometimes finding inspiration is just about looking at the mundane items around you. Explore your work. Really look at things and see them. You might be surprised at what you find.