Union Station

I just got back from a weekend in New York, and want to say that if you're starved for inspiration, get yourself a notebook and spend an hour people-watching at Union Station. What better a spot to find characters than a place where people are coming and going, beginning and ending journeys. Pay attention to who gets a shoe shine. Pay attention to all the different ways people kill time in line at Starbucks (one well-coiffed woman on a Blackberry, a young girl on her cell phone, an older woman waiting patiently, eyes straight ahead). Duck into the Body Shop and notice how the sales clerk greets you. Sit at a gate and watch the interactions between mothers and daughters, business colleagues, strangers striking up conversation. I've gotten to the point where I can't help but collect fodder - a strange walk and I've got the beginning of an improv character; a man's taut forearm covered in faint scars, and I'm writing the description of a character in a short story. 'Just another reminder that inspiration is all around us - we just need to pay attention.