After all these years dedicated to developing mg writing skills, I find that I most often draw inspiration from the real world–and heavily so. Without the real world to stimulate my mind, I find it difficult to write about much of anything. Therefore it can be said that I am not truly creating anything. Rather, I am simply remixing things I see in real life and elevating mundane life into art. 

Though it is certainly a pursuit worthy of merit, I cannot help but feel that I am not achieving my full potential. I feel limited by my lack of imagination. There was an entire segment of my novel that was completely fictionalized, a wholly creative world. But it fell flat and I felt as though it were not dramatically heightened enough. I ditched it in pursuit of writing a new segment that was inspired by an event that happened in my real life. I felt more creative connection with the new segment because it seemed to fit my novel better in regards to the themes and tone. But I worry that I will be imprisoned by my lack of imagination.