To me, the worst job in the world would be to be a woman in countries where you can be:

• bought and/or sold;
• forced to marry a stranger;
• raped and then punished for it, sometimes with your life, instead of the perpetrator(s);
• disallowed most of your human rights (education especially) and the right to own property, vote or have the right to ( Read more... )

Gomez and Morticia Addams.

 An ability to respect the sovereignty of other nations.

Visceral connection to a subject or a passionately held belief is essential for me to write creatively. Individual actors also inspire me. At work I write government discourse for money - but still retain a pride in its construction. Thankfully I don't have to write press releases (tell lies) - just policy and guidelines.

Dorian Gray (The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde)
Des Esseintes (Against the Grain by Joris Karl Huysmans)
Mole (Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame)
All journeys of mythic proportions, one into the Light, the others into the Abyss.

 The things that unite us as people, our common experiences, especially spiritual ones.