What makes you shiver?

I’ve been listening to a lot of musicals on Pandora recently while I’m working. If you don’t know what Pandora does, it takes songs, bands, artists or genres you like, and makes a radio station based on them. This lead to a magical collection of Sweeny Todd, Hamilton, Disney, Dear Evan Hanson and lots of other musicals.

While listening to it the other day, Kelly Clarkson’s rendition of Its Quiet Uptown came on. I’m not a huge fan of Clarkson. I don’t hate her, but she’s not usually on my playlist. But there was something about her cover of this song that just stopped me. It sent shivers up and down my spine.

I’m actually still not sure what it was that struck me so much about this. I’ve certainly heard It’s Quiet Uptown before. (Like, a lot.) But there was just something about it.

This happens to me sometimes. I’ll read something, or hear a line of dialog and it just resonates with me. And so, I write the line down in my bullet journal.

What do I do with this? Nothing, really. It’s just a matter of recognizing what gets to the heart of me.

Often it’s something that’s just totally, honestly true. Sometimes it’s just a unique wording or fresh view. But whatever it is, I want to keep track of it.

This is part of what I do to till the soil of my mind.

I expect a lot of my poor little mind. Here’s a list of things I write in the span of a year.

• Novels.
• Short stories.
• Blog posts (like this one!).
• Social media posts.
• Content for a charity group I’m part of at my day job.
• Marketing content for my books.

All of this needs to be new, and different from anything I’ve ever written before. Now, I believe that the human mind is capable of sprouting new stories all the time. But I also believe that there are ways to help your mind come up with new ideas. Understanding what makes me shiver is one of them.