Finding Both Inspiration and Motivation

By Sandra K. Griffith

I’m consistently asked three questions about my novel, One Beautiful Year of Normal, the first of which is some version of the basic “what’s your novel about?” If I take a really deep breath I can usually answer that question in one sentence….It’s a story about a woman whose life was drastically altered by a collision of circumstances and events, including the unsolved murder of her father when she was eight years old, a misinterpretation of something she saw that night, the onset of her mother’s severe, debilitating mental illness, a chaotic, isolated upbringing and a series of lies and secrets that forced her to become her mother’s caretaker and steered all her major life decisions. 

The second question, which always seems to be broached in that shy, halting way that suggest the person is uncomfortable probing something personal, is whether the story is autobiographical. It is not. Some sections of the book read like a memoir, but the story is fictional and was shaped by my professional experience as a psychologist with a busy practice that focuses on children and adults who experience severe psychological issues and acute mental health crises. My childhood was nothing like the main character’s. It was boring and wonderful. I swear!

The last in the trio of questions touches on the inspiration behind the story, and for me this brings to mind the broader issue of how to find and harness both inspiration and motivation. If you’ll pardon the metaphor they are two sides of the same coin, but they don’t always arrive at the same time or exist is equal measure. Sometimes you have to look for each, and the old adages about writing what you know and writing the type of book you yourself like to read remains solid advice. 

I have over thirty years of experience as a psychologist. For me this is where the write what you know comes into play. As for write what you read, I’m particularly fond of family sagas, psychological thrillers and coming-of-age stories, so I knew I wanted to create something that combined elements from each. I also love southern stories with immersive settings that manage to make the place itself one of the central characters.

For me, that place had to be Savannah, Georgia. I first discovered Savannah over thirty years ago and was immediately enamored by it. It is a beautiful, well-preserved city with lush, park-like squares, stunning architecture, a bustling riverfront along the third busiest seaport in the country, and centuries old cobblestone streets that echo the clip-clop of horse-drawn carriages and are shaded by canopies of moss-draped oaks. I don’t believe in ghosts, but when I’m in Savannah I understand why some do. I can’t imagine a more inspiring place for the type of story I wanted to create. 

Most of us know what inspires us, but sometimes we forget and need to immerse ourselves in the places and situations that will remind us. This might be a physical location, or reading similar works, listening to sappy music, reading poetry, asking yourself what-if, joining a writing group, people-watching, or simply allowing for the quiet, unstructured time that fosters creativity. Give yourself permission to do these things. 

Some other advice I received along the way started with the phrase motivation without a plan is chaos. Writing is an art, but it’s also a business and it should be approached in that manner. Get organized. Outline your novel and write a one-sentence summary for each chapter beforehand. I didn’t do this. I plopped down in front of my computer and wrote without giving much thought to how things needed to flow and connect. The result was a rewrite that took twice as much time. 

I also wish I’d been disciplined enough to work on the book every day, even if just for a few minutes. Stepping away can zap your motivation, but I also learned to embrace my mood. Somedays I was able to crank out hundreds of words, but there were other days when I wasn’t in that mindset. Those were good days for basic editing and searching for problems in the storyline. Writing is a slow, grinding process. It can’t be rushed or forced. If you’re an impatient person like me, you’ll be distressed by the truth of this!

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One Beautiful Year of Normal

A must-read for fans of character-driven suspense like Liz Moore’s Long Bright River and A. J. Finn’s The Woman in the Window, One Beautiful Year of Normal is a gripping psychological thriller about a woman’s dangerous decision to unearth her family’s darkest secrets.

Some memories protect you. Others imprison you.

When August Caine receives a phone call from a Savannah attorney, she is blindsided by the news—her Aunt Helen has passed away. But how can that be, when August’s mother insisted Helen died in a car accident fifteen years ago? Determined to uncover the truth, August returns to the deep South, where the ghosts of her past—both real and imagined—await her.

Plagued by a memory splintered by her father’s unsolved murder when she was a child and further tangled by psychiatric treatments for the debilitating depression she struggles with, August realizes her survival depends on unraveling the mystery surrounding her father’s death. This means returning to the one safe place she remembers from the childhood she has mostly locked away inside her mind: Aunt Helen’s home, and the ghost tours they created together.

A chilling exploration of mental illness, mother-daughter bonds, and generational secrets, One Beautiful Year of Normal follows August as she pieces together the long-buried truths that shaped her family’s tragic past and confronts the question that has haunted her for years: Can the truth set her free, or will it unravel everything she thought she knew?

BUY HERE

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Sandra K. Griffith is a doctorate-level psychologist with extensive clinical and forensic experience, the owner of a behavioral health agency, and an adjunct instructor at Marshall University. Her expertise in mental health, trauma, and the complexities of memory informs her deeply psychological and atmospheric storytelling. When she’s not writing, she enjoys traveling, antiquing, cooking and spending time with her family, friends, and too large collection of pets. She splits her time between Kenova, West Virginia and Tybee Island, Georgia, just outside of Savannah.

Tags: featured, women writers

Category: On Writing