I love the feeling that you get when you are driving and someone going the other way whizzes past you. For that split second, you just know you're going to have a head on collision. In almost a mad attempt to not get hit, the car sways to the side and shakes.
I feel like a lot of the influences in my life are like that. People who without even meeting me, have shaken my life and made me veer in a certain direction. I know I still would have written, but I would not have been inspired to pursue writing with the fervor or passion if it weren't for John Green. Between his beautifully spun words and hilarious youtube videos with his brother Hank, I've learned more about the life of an author than a million other books would tell me.
One of my favorite quotes, and excuse me for forgetting the name, states, "To bake an apple pie from scratch, you must first invent the universe." I will never be able to see all of the influences on my life, because other people or events inspired the people and events that inspire me. It's a tangled web, and we all have one. I was inspired to try to create an improv group, because of the lovely Jeff Davis, but never would have even seen him if it weren't for Drew Carrey. (who funnily sucks at improv) But if it weren't for him plugging in Jeff Davis to Whose Line, I never would have seen him nor would I have gotten so into improv.
I hope that one day, people will be making metaphors about cars shaking, but instead they'll be saying how I shook their lives up. Through writing, through laughing, through music, through loving. I want to be someone who inspires.