By Greg Meyer
November 6, 2014
Last week, I had the great fortune to travel to Ireland and Scotland. Having never left the United States before, it was an eye-opening experience for me, even if the culture-shock is lessened when visiting countries where English is the predominant language.
While exploring Edinburgh, I had the chance to go to a little coffee shop called The Elephant House, nestled in the heart of the city. What makes this seemingly ordinary coffee shop special is that it’s where author J. K. Rowling penned an obscure tale known as Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone. Perhaps you’ve heard of it? Well, I’m a fan of the series, so I found it an interesting experience seeing where “the boy who lived” was born on paper.
As I sat sipping my macchiato and taking in the surrounding areas, it didn’t take long to see exactly why Rowling chose this spot for finding her inspiration. If you sit in the back of the café, there’s a large window that’s perfect for gazing out into the city. Smack dab in the middle of this view stands Edinburgh Castle high atop a hill overlooking the city. The old castle is impossible to miss, and one can easily see how Hogwarts came to life in her imagination. I couldn’t help but be inspired to type out a few paragraphs myself while admiring the tall imposing stone walls that once guarded the city from distant invaders.
As a writer, I live for finding real-life spots to record in my brain that I can summon back to write about in my stories. Normally when I write, I just have the clutter in my garage to fill my mind, in addition to the yellow garage door that shakes with every gust of wind. It’s a far cry from the fairytale scenery Edinburgh has to offer, but one must work with what he has.
My question is, what inspires you with whatever you do, be it writing, drawing, or just doing your day-to-day work? We all have something that sparks our mind to action. For me, it’s the old things I find, whether I’m out driving, or walking around in an antique store. Everything has a story behind it, and I like thinking about what that could possibly be. I know that the answer is probably something mundane, but I’d like to think it’s something more fantastical than ordinary.
Now you’ll have to excuse me. I hear the raccoons pacing around the garage now. I owe them some money for using them in my graduation portfolio, and I’m strapped for shiny things at the mo–uh oh, they’ve found a loose bit of paneling in the ceiling. I’ll report when I ge
(Note: this was sent to us via email a few days ago. We haven’t heard from Greg since, other than this picture of what we believe might be in the next chapter for Bron and Calea.)
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