Story ideas are everywhere. Really.

Senior year of high school, Mr. Martin taught creative writing in the home economics classroom. We were seated at long tables and surrounded by ovens and for the first time, I was told I could write about anything.

Anything? I asked.

Anything, he said.

Each day Mr. Martin instructed us on some issue related to the craft of writing. We learned how to use our senses to write with concrete detail. We discovered how to create characters from the ground up. But we were also encouraged to reflect upon our own lives and see how to find our creativity in the everyday through a journal. This was nothing new to me—I’d been keeping a journal on and off since the 5th grade, but I’d never considered using it to hone my craft.

At first I shrugged off the assignment, thinking it odd that someone else would be grading my journal entries. Yet as time went on, I began to notice more as I moved through my day. I discovered how truth can fuel fiction. I learned to see how life could become art.

Mr. Martin took something familiar and pushed me to engage with form in a way that helped me grow as a writer. I enlarged my vision and discovered that stories are indeed everywhere.