“I believe in fair trade. When I need inspiration I start giving more time and attention to the world around me. I write an e-mail to someone I miss.
I make a mix of the best songs ever for where you are in your life right now. Or I set myself a challenge: I have to be kissed three times before an ending comes to me. Then I start chasing my children and my wife around the house. I have a little gang of coffee mugs I think of as my work friends; one of them generally sits around with me through the day and helps out when it can. I don’t just drink from them; I whisper into them too. ‘If you help me get this paragraph to a neat ending, I’ll wash you with incredible care and treat you like a grail.’ It’s old magic. The reason I feel lost is because I forgot to leave an offering at some crucial shrine along the way. Maybe it’s a thank-you note I’ve been neglecting, or a handful of change in the cup holder of the car that wants to meet people on the side of the road. When the gods gave up on us they shattered their omnipotence and hid little bits and pieces of it all over creation.”
—Kirk Lynn, author of Rules for Werewolves (Melville House, 2015)
Photo credit: Matt Wright-Steel