Where do writers find inspiration?
Everywhere—but only if we are paying attention.
Sometimes inspiration begins with a major historical event. Sometimes it begins with a postcard, an old photograph, a family joke, or a strange place name. Occasionally, all those things converge.
On July 20, 1969, the Sims family lived on Boscobel Avenue in Richmond, Virginia.
That afternoon, Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin landed the lunar module Eagle in the Sea of Tranquility. The landing occurred at 4:17 p.m. Eastern time. Armstrong stepped onto the lunar surface later that night, at 10:56 p.m., with Aldrin joining him soon afterward. Michael Collins continued orbiting overhead in Columbia. NASA’s Apollo 11 history provides the precise timeline.
Meanwhile, another journey to the Moon was underway.
My family drove from Richmond to Moon, Virginia, an unincorporated community in Mathews County. We went to the post office, purchased a stamp, placed it on a postcard, and mailed the card to ourselves.
From Moon.
On the day human beings first landed on the Moon.
As I remember it, there was no line of people waiting to do the same thing. We may have been the only family in Virginia quirky enough to make the trip—or at least the only one standing there at that moment.
We were not, however, the only people interested in receiving mail from Moon. A local history reports that hundreds of envelopes arrived seeking the special Moon cancellation during the landing anniversary period. Requests came from around the United States and even from overseas. The local Gazette-Journal later recalled the post office’s role in the celebration.
That is what happens when we cross-reference our memories. The story we remember begins to converse with a much larger story.
The Story Behind the Name
I have told the Moon Post Office story for years. Yet I only recently encountered the story of William Jefferson Callis, the merchant associated with establishing the post office in his store in 1902.
One popular version says that Callis first requested the name “Jeff.” When that was rejected, he suggested “Noon,” because the mail arrived around midday. Someone at the Post Office Department supposedly misread his handwriting and registered the name as “Moon.”
Not Noon.
Not Jeff.
Moon.
It is almost too perfect for a writer.
However, cross-referencing also introduces uncertainty. Local accounts preserve other explanations, including a beautiful full moon and the possibility that the community was named for an early settler named Abraham Moon.
Research does not always close the case. Sometimes it opens additional doors.
That is not a failure. That is material.
Collect Your Memories for Later
Writers should collect memories even when they do not yet know what the memories mean.
Write down the peculiar family outing. Save the photograph. Scan the postcard. Record the name of the road. Remember who was in the car. Note the date if you can.
Do not wait for a moral.
Not everything has a moral. Of course, if you try hard enough, you can usually force one onto it. Or you could leave that job for someone else.
Sometimes a story can simply be interesting.
Sometimes it can be funny.
Sometimes it can remind us that ordinary families live their lives alongside extraordinary historical events.
Lots of things happen at the same time. Sometimes there is a clear connection between them. Sometimes there is not. Either way, exploring the possibilities can be fascinating.
That exploration is part of writing.
Give Curiosity Permission to Wander
When you return to a memory, begin asking questions:
What else happened on that date?
What was happening in that town?
How did the place get its name?
Who else remembers the event?
What parts can be documented?
Where does the historical record differ from family memory?
What new story emerges from those differences?
The search may confirm your recollection. It may correct it. It may complicate it. It may lead you to a merchant named Callis whose questionable handwriting possibly changed “Noon” into “Moon.”
Follow the trail.
Have a little fun. Fun is purposeful too.
You can always learn something as long as you have a brain and a library—online or offline. The library gives your memory other memories with which to converse.
That is where inspiration often lives: not entirely in the past and not entirely in the research, but in the conversation between them.
Thank you, Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin, and Michael Collins.
Thank you, William Jefferson Callis—or whoever gave Moon its name.
And thank you to my wonderfully quirky family for deciding that July 20, 1969, was an excellent day to mail ourselves a postcard from Moon.
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