Festival of Golden Words panel for ‘What Makes Women Glad, Sad and Mad’ session. L-R: Nikki Gemmell, Wendy Harmer, Fiona O’Loughlin, chair Irina Dunn and Katherine Scholes.
The question of where inspiration comes from has been asked of me, and by me many times since I decided I wanted to be a journalist at seven.
Writers I admire were recently asked the same question at the Festival of Golden Words in Beaconsfield and their answers confirmed what I’ve always thought – inspiration is everywhere!
Bay of Fires author Poppy Gee commented that inspiration to her was like drawing on “scraps from many cupboards”, which I understand. Watching people, hearing snippets of conversation or even smelling a certain scent can evoke a series of ideas for me. I even created an entire personality around a man I followed to the bus stop one morning simply based on the click his shoes made as he walked.
