Goodreads asked Russell Whitehead:

How do you get inspired to write?

Russell Whitehead I've found that the most meaningful insights happen when I'm not expecting it. However, once inspired to write about something I do try to research and learn about the subject. I try to find ways to stay in touch with it and keep the inspiration flowing. It becomes a chain reaction of processing information and forming new ideas.

Sometimes inspiration comes from a casual conversation.

Example:
a story I wrote called "Beware the Turkeysaurus!"

I had gone to visit my grandson (who is in 1st grade) at his school to have lunch. There was a kid sitting next to us and I noticed I he wasn't eating. I asked him how he liked the dinosaur meat they were serving today.

He said "It's not dinosaur meat. It's turkey."

I said, "Yeah but did you know that a million billion years ago Turkeys were as big as dinosaurs. In fact they were bigger than any dinosaur ever! In fact they would eat a T-Rex for breakfast!"

"And whenever they would eat them, they would let out a terrible sound...GOBBLE! GOBBLE! GOBBLE! The sound they made could be heard for miles!"

The kid says, "Nah! That's not true!"

So I say, "Oh yes it is! They may have shrunk down to a tiny bird-like size. But to this day they still make that terrible sound. GOBBLE! GOBBLE! GOBBLE!"

I could tell...he was considering the possibility that it might be true.

That's when I knew I had a story. I'm going to publish it one day!

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