Inspiration for Streamline

With the Launch Party for Streamline less than two weeks away (3/27/12), I’ve been answering interview questions about what inspired me to write this swimming story. It struck me this morning that one underlying inspiration is WATER.

I feel very connected to the water. My sign is Aquarius, the water bearer. I’ve been swimming competitively for 33 years. Water is supportive and silent.

Here the hero of Streamline, Leo Scott, attempts to explain the beauty of water to his psychologist:

She chuckled. “So, back to you, sounds like you‘re on the swim team here. What do you like about swimming?

Fastening a band-aid to his toe, Leo pictured the high school pool. “So much. It‘s an individual sport. It‘s all on me—the victories, the defeats. I love how hard it is… Not everyone‘s willing to wake up before zero-five-hundred, and only the strongest can make it. It‘s also cool how soothing and refreshing the water is. It‘s like another world where you can‘t hear a thing; you‘re just alone in your thoughts. And to swim fast, you can‘t fight the water. You have to flow with it, feel it, surrender to it.”

This morning I came across a song by Florence + The Machine—“What the Water Gave Me.” I was intrigued by these lyrics:

Time it took us

To where the water was

That’s what the water gave me

And time goes quicker

Between the two of us

Oh, my love, don’t forsake me

Take what the water gave me

And oh poor Atlas

The world’s a beast of a burden

You’ve been holding on a long time

And all this longing

And the shields are left to rust

That’s what the water gave us

So lay me down

Let the only sound

Be the overflow

Lead singer Florence had this to say about the lyrics:

“When I was writing this song I was thinking a lot about those people who have lost their lives in vain attempts to save their loved ones from drowning.”

These words really fit the story of Streamline.