A Goodreads user asked Elizabeth Rawls:

What were the inspirations for "Bleeding Heart"?

Elizabeth Rawls Thank you for asking, Maureen! Each poem and each short story in this collection has its own inspiration, which I talk about in the preface of my book. Many of the settings were inspired by my time living in Italy and traveling across Europe, settings such as long-forgotten castle ruins, and Medieval, grand cemeteries. One poem is a sad "goodbye" for the day I had to leave and come back to America, leaving the life I once had and people behind. Life in general has also been an inspiration, what I've learned about human nature, and life's emotional and physical struggles. Never to give up, but to persevere.
What has inspired me most, however, is the way in which God has worked in my life. He is the only way I live and thrive, and I hope to share what I have learned of faith and compassion with readers.
I also have a section of difficult riddles for readers. The idea was first inspired when I was young after reading the Hobbit. Golem asked Bilbo a series of riddles, and that grew in me a fascination for them! I started writing my own, and would give them as little presents to my mother every year on her birthday. I placed the best ones in the book, along with a few lovely poems my mother had written.

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