What inspires you? Whether your inspiration motivates you to create a new story, or create anew in your life, take a moment to look back on those "Aha!" moments that helped you discover a new beginning.
My inspiration for new story ideas has often arisen from strange places. Like Samuel Taylor Coleridge's "Kubla Khan," I once dreamed a story, the middle readers novel The Forest Witch. Ironically, that old, old manuscript is the one I'll be seeing afresh sometime in the next month or so. (I have another I'm revising to submit to a publisher.)
Back when I wrote murder mysteries, a whole chain of plot and character ideas came to me after I watched the first five minutes of a movie on television, then had to hop in the car to drive to an appointment. The foundation for the book unfolded in my mind as I drove. (In The Artist's Way, Julia Cameron describes the creative inspiration often triggered by being in motion, whether that motion is walking or running outdoors, or being in a car.)
For a while I kept a notebook and pen on the passenger seat in my car. Ultimately, I decided writing while driving was just too dangerous.
Inspiration for poems tends to flood me only when I'm in love. As far as inspiration for daily life goes--well, maybe I'll write about that next time!