Inspiration

Inspiration to me is motivation. It is fuel needed to move past doubts and self consciousness that holds you back from doing great work. Inspiration is promise given to hope, it is something without words a feeling that it was meant to be. To me inspiration comes from inside you.

One of my favorite authors is F. Scott Fitzgerald. He has two books which inspire me greatly ‘This side of Paradise’ and ‘The Great Gatsby’. I see my writing career following in his footsteps. I see myself so much like him. I grin at myself knowing that people will think of me a black radical, but one of my earliest inspirations as a writer came from a white man from Minnesota. At the age of twenty-three Fitzgerald launched his career with his classic ‘This side of Paradise’ I remember when I first saw the original cover for the book. I was walking around the aristocratic section of Kansas City, a place I have hopes to live, when I saw a bookstore. I went in and saw a poster that called out to me. At the bottom of the poster the words ‘This side of Paradise’. The words meant something to me but I didn’t know anything about it, under the title the name F. Scott Fitzgerald. I felt I had to know more, something told me this would be important to me. I pointed to the picture and asked if the store had the book. I was lead to it by a clerk and in a few minutes held in my hand a copy of ‘This side of Paradise’ I still have the receipt saved.

It is one thing to say a book has changed your life it is another entirely to say a book has inspired your life. My eyes were wide as I read page after page of Fitzgerald’s work, I was reading about myself. In this book written long before my birth I was reading about a man who acted just like I do, believed what I do, and it was written by a man who’s literary footsteps I seem to be following. I had only heard of Fitzgerald twice in my life. Once in high school during a reading of ‘The Great Gatsby’ and then again years later as I helped someone write a report on ‘Babylon Revisited’ It was then that I learned and grew fascinated with Fitzgerald. It was during that time that I stumbled in a book store and saw the poster of his book cover on the wall. Twenty-three was the age Fitzgerald released ‘This side of Paradise’ to the world, I have a goal to beat him. It was a great inspiration for me to read his first book and to learn about him. I felt such a strong personal connection with him and his character that at times it caused me to question my own sanity. I sat, blue pen in hand, and highlighted line after line that Fitzgerald seemed to quote from my own mind. Line after line things his characters said about Amory, which could be said about me. This book is a goldmine of inspiration for me. What does it mean when you find a book by chance that speaks to you, and its author thinks like you, and who you think is just like you. To me it means I can be him too. I too at a young age can launch my writing career. I too can write a classic with my first publication. F. Scott Fitzgerald has inspired me to become S.J. Brooks