Inspiration

The word inspiration can be defined as stimulation to do creative work, as well as somebody or something that inspires.

That word comes to mind after watching the amazing athletes and the stories behind their triumph and heartbreak during the Winter Olympics in Sochi.

These inspiring athletes were on my mind when I woke up this morning to a winter wonderland outside my door. In the neck of woods where I live, you can pretty much count on at least one or two significant accumulations of snow each winter, this weekend being one of them. Having watched many of the winter sports these past two weeks, I felt inspired to take the challenge of running on a local trail.

I don’t know what I found more breathtaking, the physical act of trekking through inches of snow or the beautiful scenery created by that snow. It occurred to me that any picture taken this morning would have been a close companion to the cover photo for THE KILLER TRAIL. The fact wasn’t lost on me that it was close to five years ago on that very trail, during a very similar snow fall, that I found a cell phone, which ultimately served as the inspiration behind the story for my book.

My run today, just as my run five years ago, ended with a great feeling of personal accomplishment and joy. I can’t say the same for the main character in the story, Chris Ryder, after he finds a cell phone in the fictional Woodland Park. I hope you’ll tune in to see what happens with Chris when THE KILLER TRAIL is released in May.