Doug Goodman

Writers can find inspiration anywhere.  For many, they are inspired by people they know.  (This is bad news for any of my Facebook friends when I am in my horror-writing mindset.)  I am heavily inspired by my wife and family.  Books also inspire me.  The novel I am working on was only possible because my wife suggested Laura Ingalls Wilder's "The Long Winter" to me.  So in regards to the novel I'm drafting, it was influenced both by my wife and by books.

I am a writer who is also inspired by music.  I am probably one of the few people who owns a copy of "Metallica:  The Complete Lyrics" because I admire the strength and conviction of the song lyrics.  (This was from a time before you could download the lyrics from any song ever created off the Internet.)  And if you know me long enough, I will eventually give a soapbox lecture about how violent and criminal are the stories of country music vs. rock music.  I am inspired by the tropes of country music.  The Road Goes on Forever (And The Party Never Ends).  Cocaine Blues.  A Country Boy Can Survive.  The Coward of the County.  Ol' Red. 

Texas musicians in particular inspire me.  Waylon Jennings.  Willie Nelson.  Pat Green.  Robert Earl Keen.  SRV.  But Texas in general influences me.  Its history, its politics, its people.  Its unique blend of the modern and the mythical.  I find names of characters being plucked from the annals of the Texas Revolution. 

Science also influences me.  I am blessed to work for a Government agency that provides lectures on scientific exploration.  I try to attend them as often as possible.  Yesterday I attended a lecture on exoplanets.  The minutae of detail that goes into the study of exoplanets is mindboggling.  I also pick up little articles of interest here and there.  A website called io9 always contains some fun new snippet of scientific discovery.  This past week io9 covered a story about the medicinal properties of camel urine.  Some scientists believe camel urine might have cancer-fighting agents in it.  This inspired me to go back to my novel, which is about mammoth herding.  I had to add something in there about collecting mammoth urine.  This got me thinking about the "industry" of mammoth urine.  How is it processed?  Who would buy it and why?  How do mammoth ranchers collect mammoth urine?  Would they collect it from both the bulls and the cows? 

Camel urine.  It's what inspires me.  What inspires you?