Let's Muse About: Inspiration, but mainly an homage to Olan Rogers.

inspiration |ˌinspəˈrā sh ən|
noun
1 the process of being mentally stimulated to do or feel something, esp. to do something creative

...It's an interesting word and an important concept.

Inspiration is something that, as a writer, is sometimes incredibly easy to come by, or incredibly difficult to come by.  Mainly because inspiration for me is just random.  I love it when it comes and I instantly want to write something just to write something on paper (like last night before bed), but I also dislike it when I have inspiration... and no ideas to go with it.  One could say that I just watched something on YouTube not two minutes ago and felt "inspired" to write something.  Well, truth be told, I wanted to write a blog post today, but I wasn't sure what about.  Jason told me that maybe I should write something about my story developments (aka, whatever my "process" is) and I figured I would do that in a different episode of "Musings."  Obviously, I didn't go with that, but here I am talking about inspiration.  Kind of.  Not yet.  So, here's the question that you are asking me from your screen:

"So... what inspired you to write about this topic?"

Simple.  One name:

Olan Rogers.

"Dial Up Tour" photo!
--January 31, 2012
--Taken by Nick B.

 

"Eat A Slice With Me" Tour
--August 2, 2013
--Me, Olan, Delaney, & Cheyenne








Now, some of you know me in real life, and maybe some of you don't.  Most people that see this blog, I safely assume come from me posting the link onto Facebook, so hopefully you know me.  If not, here's some background about me and this Youtuber known as Olan Rogers:  (and if you already know this "story", skip to the next paragraph)

When I started college, my roommate Delaney had me watch some videos that her best friend (and now my friend) Justine showed her.  The usual chain of things when it comes to having people watch videos from Youtube, whether they be cute cat videos, or just comedy sketches.  Well, Delaney had me watch this one video called "The Last Scene" by Olan Rogers, a Youtuber that lives in Nashville and makes storytime vlogs and creative story videos.  I first watched this video thinking "Hmmm... interesting." and wasn't sure what to think.  It was interesting to watch though.  Luckily for me, Delaney then shows me many other videos done by Olan, and even other videos that "The Last Scene" can be categorized with (e.g. "New Prime" and now "Pop Rocket"-- PR just had the release of the newest installment TODAY).  As I began watching these videos, I started to enjoy them more and more.  It's a different kind of humour, and after a while, you just begin to get it.  And it's awesome.  Well, still Freshman year of college, and Olan makes a video known as "Life Update" and announces he will be part of a tour that is known as "The Dial Up Tour."  Basically, a selection of Youtubers go on tour through the States and there's a meet and greet after every show.  Well, being college students and Olan-fans, Delaney and I instantly bought our tickets the moment Olan mentions "Salt Lake!" as a stop.  We didn't even care we'd be missing class that day (date: January 31, 2012).  So we met Olan and that was an amazing experience being able to talk to this creative and amazing human who we just happened to watch videos of without even knowing we could meet him someday.  We went with other friends and had a blast.  Going back to school the next day was like a dream.  Obviously, Olan still makes videos to this day, but then last year, another tour was announced.  This time, Olan would be hosting a giant pizza party-tour known as "Eat A Slice with Me."  And you can guess what happens now:  Delaney and I (yet again) buy our tickets to RVSP to go for August 2013 summer.  I still can't believe this happened just last summer.  So we meet and talk to Olan again, tell him how much we love his work, and all that jazz.  Lots of details, but again, this is just back story here. 

Meeting Olan in person twice, supporting him in his video adventures, coming to the tours, watching videos and crying and laughing so hard there are tears either way.... well, it's something that I love being a part of.  I have Delaney and Justine to thank for this.  Now onto the inspiration part:

In one of Olan's videos, he says something incredibly profound and truthful.  Something that I agree with 1000% and more.  This quote follows:

"There will be people that will say you can't make a living out of something you love to do.  But are you really living by not doing it?"

I can't even begin to explain how much I love this quote, mainly because of one reason:  I have that one Major that EVERYBODY asks, verbatim, EVERY SINGLE TIME.  "So, what are you going to do with an English major?"

Thanks to Olan's quote, I feel so much better about being an English major.  And not just being an English major... but with a Creative Writing emphasis.  So yes, peoples of Earth, I have experience in fiction, non-fiction, poetry, and even screenwriting.  I can't even begin to tell you all how much I loved my screenwriting class.  I really enjoy fiction primarily, but writing a full length screenplay as a sophomore in college?  I like to say that is my biggest accomplishment in college, because it is.  It's longer than my thesis ever could be and I'm SUPER proud of my screenplay because it's a story I have always wanted to write.  But to go back to the quote, I wouldn't even know what to do with myself if I couldn't write.  If I'm without a computer or a pen/paper, I literally feel lost in the world.  Since I started writing in 2nd grade (so age... what, 8?) and still going strong with new ideas every month and with novels planned... I can't see myself not writing.  Like the quote says and with an answer, no.  I'm not really living by not doing it (writing for me).

Inspiration mainly comes to me in various forms, but just watching Olan's videos (whether serious or silly) make me feel incredibly human in the world.  When I'm watching something of his, I actually feel like the world has stopped for a little while, letting the chaos stop, a moment to breathe.  I can watch his videos and have those minutes (however many) to just full-screen my computer and not worry about what's going on around me.  Olan has made me burst into tears from laughing so hard at times, and also crying due to the true human emotion that he has at other times in other videos.  

Inspiration comes in a variety of forms.  To me, watching Olan's videos just have that effect on me that make me feel like I can be successful as a writer, even if I don't get famous.  Like Olan, I do what I do because it's what I love and nothing can stop me from doing what I love.

Big hugs to you, Olan.  And I hope to see talk/see you again, soon. :)