What Inspired Me to Write, Husbands May Come and Go but Friends are Forever?

by Judith Marshall

For as long as I can remember, I’ve wanted to write about enduring female friendship. But it wasn’t until I read, The Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood, that I was motivated to quit my job in corporate America and follow my dream. Reading about Vivi and her group of lifelong friends reminded me of how blessed I am to have a similar group of gal pals I’ve known since high school. They say, “write what you know,” so that’s what I did. I created six very diverse characters, placed them in a small California town in the 50s, and watched where they took me over the next forty years. It was a wild ride.

So inspiration can come from anywhere; from a book you read, a dream you have, or an accident you see on the way home from work. The idea from my second novel, Staying Afloat, came from observing an affair between the CEO and the Controller at my last company. Inspiration is everywhere. The key is to be open to it, to see it as impetus to write something, from beginning to end, not stopping until you’ve completed a first draft. And before you know it, you may have realized your dream of writing that novel.

For more information, go to www.judithmarshall.net

Judith Marshall is a author of Husbands May Come and Go but Friends are Forever, winner of the Jack London Prize awarded by the California Writers Club. She is currently working on her second novel, Staying Afloat, the story of a devoted stay-at-home wife and mother who morphs into a sex-starved adulteress.