Here’s the book I mentioned, The Year of Magical Thinking, by Joan Didion. A fantastic, if sad, book, and a good example of what Angie mention about turning personal experience into art. You can see Didion in the book carefully assembling details and scenes from her life to inform and propel her thinking.

We talked about using old photos too as way of starting or imagining a scene. A wonderful collection here: http://www.shorpy.com/

Good luck with your writing this week!