When someone finds out I’m an author, they often ask me where I get my ideas. Sometimes, I am inspired by other people’s art. For example, I took this photo when I went to a festival of lights. I still haven’t made a story out of it, but I will one day. Would you like to use this picture to help you write a story? Click on the picture to see it blown up. (Want to know more? Check out https://www.ktvn.com/story/38263424/chinese-lantern-festival-dragon-lights-comes-to-reno-this-summer.)

One of the sources for ideas for me is observing the world around me. I recently snapped a photo of the back of a van.

What attracted me to this photo was remembering Eric Carle’s Brown Bear, Brown Bear What Do You See. Looked at the right way, this could be a brown bear looking down from the van. I liked it. I started to think about what would happen if the bear struggled to get free from the car and would up alive. I haven’t written the book yet, but I did take this picture to share with you.

A photo of the back of a truck where part of the paint is chipping away and looks, with imagination, like a bear