Inspiration

Although I've been thinking about this project for almost a year now, for many months it was just swirling around in my head. But a few things have set me going.

First, shortly after Christmas, I mentioned the idea to my mother. After all, Ollie on the Trolley is her original creation. And she had played with the idea of writing it down herself in the past. So the idea was shared - out in the open.

Secondly, having just relocated to a new country and without a full-time job yet, I am doing part-time consulting work. I have a flexible schedule and plenty of free time.

Then, through another Smith alum here in Madrid, I was invited to join an informal writing group. It seems just the opportunity to kick start my writing process. One of my main struggles in regard to creative writing is that I am naturally a more analytic writer. I like the process of researching a topic, shifting through the materials discovered, and then turning it into a well written analysis. But creative writing is different, both in process and voice, even though research can be very valuable for a story or poem. It's a challenge to get out of my head and I hope participating in the writing group will inspire and help me.

Lastly, I am tutoring a young Spanish girl - aged 11 - in English. She's smart and more than a little bored with her typical English lessons at school. We are having fun together - among other things, reading some of my children's books together and doing vocabulary and comprehension exercises based on the stories. So I'm thinking a lot right now about what children like in a story.

First ideas...

Perhaps it seems backwards, but before getting into the story itself, I have a number of ideas in my head about eventually publishing it.

• First, of course, is to use this blog as a sort of story board and work space that can encompass both the writing itself and hopefully the publication process. I've heard various second-hand stories about bloggers who eventually got themselves published - in one case through no particular ambition of her own! It seems like a great opportunity to improve my knowledge about a cool new form of media while working to develop a publishable children's story. With so much competition in the publishing world, the possibility of developing a market for the story during its development process is too good to pass up.
• I've travelled a fair amount in my life, both for pleasure and for work, and have lived abroad in several countries. I have many interesting photographs from the places I've been and I have in mind the idea to send Ollie travelling about the world, in addition to exploring San Francisco. I'd like to use some mix of drawings and real photographs to illustrate the story series.
  
• Related to that 2nd point, my husband Nacho - a computer whiz - recently mentioned Corel Art as a software program I should get into. Apparently, some consider it "the world's most popular painting and illustration software". Although Nacho brought it up for another purpose, I think its worth looking into for Ollie as well!