Inspiration

I’m pretty lucky to live in such a beautiful area. We have a lake, mountains and the most striking desert scenery.
I find inspiration all around, in the breathtaking sunsets, sun-painted cloud formations and mysterious moon phases I can see right outside my house.
These inspiring natural sights often find their way into my stories, especially the moon which plays an important role in tales of myth and magic.
Open your eyes. Inspiration is all around you. All you have to do is take the time to notice.

Excerpt from The Bear Goddess:

Moonlight spilled into the cave in an ethereal glow. She padded barefoot across the cold stone floor of the cave. Maggie stirred from her perch on a tall thin rock formation. Callisto searched through her supply of herbs and potions in the clay jars sitting on the natural ledge. She grabbed the jar containing a nightshade potion and hurried back to her warm bed. After draping the blanket around her shoulders, she opened the jar. A strong odor tickled her nose. She was careful to drink a small amount of the poison, just enough to help deepen her trance state.

After sealing the jar, she settled into a sleeping position and focused her thoughts on Pan. Closing her eyes, she sensed the cave spinning around her. The sensation tickled her stomach. The moonlight grew brighter against her closed eyes. Then only the pitch-black darkness of a tunnel filled her vision. A nightingale singing rang inside the passageway. In her vision, she felt herself step through the tunnel, following the birdsong as if she had no control over her motions. As if she were under an enchantment.

She walked down steps into a familiar-looking cave. Pan’s sanctuary. The god sat on a stool, playing his reed flute that sounded just like a nightingale. The song filled her head, each note weaving a spell into her mind like the tiny silver threads of a magical cobweb.

The dream changed and Callisto was in the forest where she had faced the boar, but she stood in a different spot hidden in the trees. Peering out of the trees, she saw herself facing the boar. It was an odd feeling to be outside her body and see herself. The boar charged her. She winced at the sight of herself being struck by the boar, feeling again the painful effects of the silver. She tried to move, but her feet stuck to the ground. When she looked down, a scream caught in her throat. Instead of human legs and feet, her lower half was the body of a goat.

She awoke from her trance, her throat raw from screaming.

Kelley Heckart, Historical fantasy romance author
Captivating...Sensual...Otherworldly
http://www.kelleyheckart.com
http://kelleysrealm.blogspot.com/
http://twitter.com/CelticChick

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Kelley-Heckart/111838455604

Arizona sunsets

We have some awesome sunsets here in Arizona. They serve as a source of inspiration for me. I go outside every night to watch the sunset and take pictures of the ones that stand out. I have way too many sunset pictures to share here so I picked three of my favorite ones.

Kelley Heckart, Historical fantasy romance author

Captivating...Sensual...Otherworldly

http://www.kelleyheckart.com

http://kelleysrealm.blogspot.com/

http://twitter.com/CelticChick

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Kelley-Heckart/111838455604

12 Writing Quotes to usher out 2012...

...which is Part 1 of a two-part post that continues on January 30 with 13 quotes to help 2013 get off to a rousing writing year of stories.

For Part 1, I have 12 writing-related quotes to share because I love trivia, witty and thought-provoking quotes, and clever sayings. In fact, to get my daily trivia fix, I research historical trivia and
"Tweet" four or five tidbits everyday.

My favorite quote is by author, Richard North Patterson. I keep this quote on my computer to read every time I sit down to type. Since it's my writing mantra, it has the honor of being first on the
list. The quotes that follow aren't in any particular favorite order.

Richard North Patterson
Writing is rewriting. A writer must learn to deepen characters, trim writing, intensify scenes. To fall in love with a first draft to the point where one cannot change it is to greatly enhance the
prospects of never publishing.

Mark Twain
Writing is easy. All you have to do is cross out the wrong words.

Marcus Fabius Quintilianus, c. 65 CE
Write quickly and you will never write well; write well, and you will soon write quickly.

Frank Yerby
It is my contention that a really great novel is made with a knife and not a pen. A novelist must have the intestinal fortitude to cut out even the most brilliant passage so long as it doesn't advance
the story.

Gene Fowler
Writing is easy; all you do is sit staring at a blank sheet of paper until the drops of blood form on your forehead.

Charlotte Bronte
I'm just going to write because I cannot help it.

Mark Twain
The difference between the right word and the almost right word is the difference between lightning and a lightning bug.

Clarence Budington Kelland
I get up in the morning, torture a typewriter until it screams, then stop.

Leo Rosten
Every writer is a narcissist. This does not mean that he is vain; it only means that he is hopelessly self-absorbed.

Robert Benchley
It took me fifteen years to discover that I had no talent for writing, but I couldn't give it up because by that time I was too famous.

Stephen Wright
I'm writing a book. I've got the page numbers done.

Mickey Spillane
The first chapter sells the book; the last chapter sells the next book.

I hope at least one of these quotes made you smile.

Until next time,

Kaye
Fall in love...faster, harder, deeper with Kaye Spencer romances
www.kayespencer.com

Kaye around the 'Net:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100000877686603&ref=tn_tnmn
Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/kayespencer
LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/pub/kaye-spencer/30/30a/a57
Amazon Author Central: http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B004C6QR64  

      

Alicia Keys--"Girl on Fire"

       Alicia Keys—yes that Alicia Keys—singer/songwriter—says she got the spark for the title track for her latest album from an interview about herself that she was reading.  The interviewer described her as being like a “girl on fire.”  Immediately, she took to the phrase and decided to write a song called “Girl on Fire.”  On September 6 the song debuted on the MTV’s Music Video Awards and her performance was later posted on You Tube.  

Alicia during benefit concert (Wikipedia)

Anthony Bourdaine, chef/author/personality, who has his own show on TV--No Reservations admits that he created his quasi arrogant persona partly from an article he read as a teenager, an article written by Hunter Thompson, which later became the book “Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas.”   That’s all it took -- one article to spark an idea which helped to launch a career.  He needed something and his mind was trolling along and there it was. 

Anthony Bourdain (Wikipedia)

        Lately I’ve been thinking about inspiration.  How writers are inspired.  And how writers can become inspired through the research they do, but I believe that doing research is more than “googling” or opening up a book and reading information that you’re looking to find.  As a writer/songwriter/chef/cook--you need to keep an open mind.  You need to be constantly looking for connections to the work you do--whether it’s song writing, cooking or writing a story.  
      And those connections will come.  
      For me, a writer, I call this phenomena : STORY MAGNET TECHNIQUE. 
      Case in point.  I admit that I’m a world traveler, but that isn’t the important point here.  Because it doesn’t matter where you hear a particular story.  It just so happens that I was in Kenya on safari when our guide James started telling us about how the black rhinoceros survives in a very arid climate.  He said that the black rhinoceros had developed an immunity to a poisonous plant that they needed to eat.  It seems that this particular plant, the Euphorbia Candelabra, contained the liquid that the rhinoceros needed to survive, but the plant itself was deadly to their system.  But over the years, their systems had developed an immunity to the plant.  
       I was so fascinated by this story that I couldn’t let it go.  I came home from Kenya and started thinking about how I could use this concept in the novel I was currently writing: Wild Point Island.    

The cover of my just released book

      So . . . here’s what I did.  My hero Simon Viccars and the other colonists land on Wild Point Island.  They are starving.  Near death.  They find a plant to eat, which is also poisonous to their system.  It almost kills them.  The plant, in fact, gives them a near death experience and changes them physiologically into another life form.  When they come back from the “dead,” they have immortality, are now revenants, which means “one who comes back from a long journey or death,” but they now need the plant, the Euphorbia Candelabra, to survive. 
      I would never have thought of this idea if I hadn’t heard of the rhinoceros story.  
      In addition, I had so many great details to use.  The name of the plant—the Euphorbia Candelabra.  I knew the symptoms a patient would suffer if they ate the plant.  I knew what the plant looked like.  All of this went into my book.  
      I took the concept even further, though.  I wanted the revenants to be prisoners of the island because I wanted them to begin to deteriorate the minute they stepped off the island.  
      So again my STORY MAGNET TECHNIQUE came in handy.  
This time the idea came from an article I read in the New York Times Magazine on cancer.  The article was discussing how some cancers are triggered by one cancer cell in the body.  That if someone has cancer and is operated on and that one cell isn’t removed, the cancer will return.  Not all cancers work like that, but again, I was fascinated by that one cancer cell theory.  I couldn’t let it go. 
I started thinking about whether I could use it in my story.
What if every time one of the revenants stepped off the island, something got triggered and physical deterioration set in.  That would make the revenants prisoners of the island.  They have immortality, but they must remain within the protective environment of the island.   
Why was this so important to my story?
Well, because I wanted to write a love story where the hero and heroine couldn’t be together.  If the hero is a revenant and the heroine is a half and half, then unless she is willing to give up her freedom, they can’t be together.  
Unless, of course, she is a chemist who develops a magic elixir.
That is what happens.  She does develop an elixir to use as a bargaining tool to get her father out of prison.  But to make the elixir idea viable, the reader had to buy into the idea of why the revenants can’t leave the island.  They had to understand the idea.  
This STORY MAGNET TECHNIQUE works 24-7.  You can be sitting in front of your television and suddenly someone is profiling a scientist who felt compelled to pursue a certain line of investigation because he had a family member who . . .  That’s what happened with me.  You listen to this interview and you realize that the main character of the story you’re writing could have said the same thing.  
Ella, my heroine, pursues the development of the elixir because she feels compelled to do so.  She feels guilt.  She feels responsible for her father’s imprisonment.  She believes the guards that took her father away that day were coming for her.  
But it doesn’t have to be a TV interview that you stumble on.  If you want insight into how a chemist thinks, for example, pick up an autobiography written by a chemist.  Or read a magazine article where a chemist is being interviewed.  You never know what you’ll discover—what insight into their thinking which will become a valuable thread in your story.  

This is me, waiting for inspiration

For some reason you will hear the stories you need to hear when you need to hear them.  And all you need is a little imagination so you can twist them to your purposes. 
It worked for Alicia Keys.  It worked for Anthony Bourdain. 
Yeah.  Yeah.  Now you understand--it can work for you.   
 

Writerly Words From Them Who Know

I'm not participating in NaNoWriMo this year. I figure I put in that time (although I lost) in June for camp and I planned to spend this month editing that novel. But I do follow along in my NaNo mail, checking for pep talks from other writers because it reminds me that I'm not alone in the writing world, no matter how frustrated I feel sometimes when the muse won't play.

November is a tough time for writing. Thanksgiving is just two weeks away and then there's that Christmas rush coming. Oh, I can't wait for all the stores to get crowded. I'd rather stick it out at home with a cursor blinking at me while I struggle to think of the next words to put on the page. Or how to arrange them so it doesn't sound like a kindergartner wrote them anyway.

So today I'm bringing you some writing quotes from authors who know what a challenging business this one is. Enjoy and feel free to leave your favorites too, because I love adding to my collection!

The road to hell is paved with works-in-progress. - Philip Roth


We’re past the age of heroes and hero kings. … Most of our lives are basically mundane and dull, and it’s up to the writer to find ways to make them interesting. - John Updike


There is only one plot—things are not what they seem. - Jim Thompson

You know, what may appear from a distance as success is really, closer up, a series of failures punctuated by occasional achievements…. You’ve got to be stubborn about it, keeping faith with your work in spite of all the distractions and the people around you who don’t understand the value of what you do…. So no excuses. Just write. - Wesley McNair, Poet Laureate of Maine


It begins with a character, usually, and once he stands up on his feet and beings to move, all I can do is trot along behind him with a paper and pencil trying to keep up long enough to put down what he says and does. - William Faulkner

A real book is not one that’s read, but one that reads us. - W.H. Auden

“Everybody else is working to change, persuade, tempt and control them. The best readers come to fiction to be free of all that noise. - Philip Roth (again)

Writing—the art of communicating thoughts to the mind, through the eye—is the great invention of the world. - Abraham Lincoln



We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, therefore, is not an act but a habit. - Aristotle

Writing a novel is like making love to a gorilla. You’re not done until the gorilla is done. - Craig Ferguson



I collect inspirational and writerly quotes on my Pinterest board, so seriously, toss 'em my way. When I'm not here, I'm blogging at Have Novel, Will Edit, hanging on Facebook, G+, and Twitter.

Dear Mr. Rabbitt, I think you got the lyrics wrong

Dear Eddie Rabbitt Estate & Writing Friends -

Sometimes when my brain is stuck for an awesome blogging topic (as it seems to be most days), I turn on the radio for a little inspiration. Wow, I feel so old. A radio. Anyway, my husband was in control of the radio the other day and lo, who came on but Eddie Rabbitt and his song Drivin' My Life Away. It's sooooo catchy.

My inspiration struck in the form of parodying Mr. Rabbitt's song. Please don't sue me. And it's totally appropriate because I'm attempting Camp NaNoWriMo this month with the third book in my Legends and Lover series. Gotta keep writin'!

Well the midnight desk light can find you on any night.

Coffee gone to your head,

Can't slow down got no time.

Gotta keep writing.

That laptop keyboard clacking out a tempo.

Keeping perfect rhythm with the song on XM radio.

Gotta keep writing.

Ooo, I'm writing my life away, looking for a best seller for me.

Ooo, I'm writing my life away, looking for a another page.

Well the Starbucks cutie ignoring me.

Tried to talk him into free coffee,

But he just keep walking.

Hey muse get me another round of inspiration.

Sit me down, prop me up, shoot out another thousand words.

Before I'm drowning in aggravation.

Ooo, I'm writing my life away, looking for a best seller for me.

Ooo, I'm writing my life away, looking for a another page.

Well the midnight desk light can find you on any night.

Coffee gone to your head,

Can't slow down got no time.

Gotta keep writing.

That laptop keyboard clacking out a tempo.

Keeping perfect rhythm with the song on XM radio.

Gotta keep writing.

Ooo, I'm writing my life away, looking for a best seller for me.

Ooo, I'm writing my life away, looking for a another day.

When I'm not p!$$ing off the wealthy estates of famous singer-songwriters, I'm hanging out on Facebook, Twitter, my own blog Have Novel, Will Edit and occasionally G+.

Finding Inspiration

You have to have inspiration as a writer, more than just plot ideas and muses. I've become pretty selective about what I read regarding the writing life and publishing business because, frankly, it can be a real downer.

Inspiration came my way this week from an unlikely source. My nephew, who is about to graduate from the University of Cincinnati, is a finalist for a Truman Scholarship. It's a huge deal. Over Christmas, he asked me if I would read his essays to the selection committee and give feedback. This is what he wrote about his personal life, in addition to writing sharply about his field of study, accounting.

"Two and a half years ago I woke up on a cold November night in the median of I-75 mangled from a severe automobile accident. Before then, I was a mostly energetic person – sociable, athletic, humorous, and smart. I often went through the motions and had just enough achievement on my record to feed my worst enemy: complacency. That life and the road I was on still haunt me. I was a confident passenger with my best friend at the wheel. I never thought about driving myself. I was content, so I took off my seatbelt thinking, “I don’t need security.” I was hopelessly optimistic as our driver violently turned the wheel. “Everything is going to be okay” was my famous line. At the moment we hit the guardrail and flipped, I only begged that it would soon stop. I frantically reached for a handle desperately trying to hold on to what I had. I flew through the windshield and tried to cover my head as I drew nearer to the pavement. I wanted to forgive, thank, and love more than I ever tried to before. I was scared of what I would become if and when I awoke. Traumatized with a brain injury and unable to walk, I was broken physically, spiritually and emotionally. Yet, amidst the confusion and pain, I remember refusing to accept my state of being as the one I’d live for the rest of my life. The sense of urgency I felt to simply walk was overwhelming and when that first step came four months after that brutal evening, I committed to remember that accident as the incredible catalyst that now motivates me to transform goals into achievements. I never had to question the life I lived before that day; I had no reason to. But now, I don’t just question what I’m doing; I question the impact I’m having. The accident taught me how to live with conviction, passion, purpose, and motivation. It brought me to a new road and now, I’m in the driver’s seat."


Now 22, he walks, thinks and breaths his convictions daily. I hope he gets the scholarship, too.

Simmering the Story

Have you ever had an idea that comes to you but you can’t write the story just now, so you let it sit there in the back of your mind to simmer?

This has happened to me a couple times. My idea for my first completed contemporary Western was like this. The entire time I was writing the second half of my first paranormal, I kept thinking about the characters of that other story.  

Most recently, the idea has come from a song. I was listening to the latest Luke Bryan song on the radio while housecleaning, and before I knew it, I had the basic plot of a story in my mind. For several hours, it was all I could think about. Now, every time I hear “I Don’t Want This Night to End,” I start thinking of this story the characters.

I have to finish the paranormal I’m currently working on for submission, then I want to finish another contemporary Western that I began but haven’t finished so that I can submit that one, too. But I swear this book will be the next new project I start. I may even try making it just a novella. We’ll see. I just know that by this time next year, I’ll have a story with a rodeo cowboy down on his luck, a beat up pickup truck, and a rich city girl carrying one huge secret with miles of open road to fall in love on… I can’t wait!

Never Give Up

Last week a movie opened up in theaters everywhere that wouldn’t have if it hadn’t been for one author’s tenacity. The book, THE HELP, spent months at the top of bestselling lists since its publication in 2009. It has inspired and entertained people everywhere. All this would have remained just a dream for Kathryn Stockett if she’d stopped trying. If she’d given up.

I will admit I have not read the book or seen the movie. I’d like to read the book now that I’ve learned Ms. Stockett’s story. But when I clicked on this article (http://www.more.com/kathryn-stockett-help-best-seller) on Yahoo last week, I had no interest in it except in the shocking headline: Kathryn Stockett's 'The Help' Turned Down 60 Times Before Becoming a Best Seller.

I was instantly awed and inspired for obvious reasons. Here’s a story about someone achieving the same dream I have. It showed me that hitting the lottery that we writers all play CAN and DOES happen. But I was also saddened. What if she would have given up? What if she didn’t have the determination, bordering on obsession, to get her story published? The world would have missed out on an really good book. And Ms. Stockett would have been one more disillusioned writer.

I wonder how many times writers may have given up too early. Either on a story or on our dreams in general. Ms. Stockett’s story isn’t the only one out there like this. Many writers had to query dozens of times to hit that one agent/editor willing to take a chance on them or saw the gold that none of the others did hiding within the pages. How many HARRY POTTERs or TWILIGHTs or THE HELPs are languishing out there on a hard drive or in a drawer because the writer gave up at rejection number 10 when query number 11 would have sent them to the stratosphere? Or gave up at rejection 100 when 101 would have been the winning number?

Rejection may not be easy. But that too takes some crazy, stubborn obsession to shrug off. And just remember if you don’t query and keep querying, if you don’t keep trying—no matter what you want to accomplish—you never will.

NEVER GIVE UP!

Inspiration and the Story

Hello, everyone! This is my first blog entry at NN.

I have a question to pose. Is inspiration like a lightning strike or the slow burn of a candle. Or maybe the sputtering of a dying fire? For me, it can be all three, though I much prefer to have the blazing fire to the left.

Sometimes I’ll know exactly where an idea fits into a story, which then opens up whole new avenues I never considered--but love. You know the picture of this: a flurry of writing that leaves you smiling in contented accomplishment after your mad scribbling (or typing) ends for the day. Everything is bright, and shiny, and oh-so-clear.

Other times, my inspiration fizzles after a ‘great’ idea, leaving me with no clue as where to go next. Every word, every thought, has to be tugged out of me. At times like these, I can’t shake the feeling something is ‘off’ in my story, but what? It’s a niggling intuition that drives me nuts, made worse by the fact I can never quite put my finger on the problem. Does this mean my idea was bad? Not necessarily, but more than likely my lovely new plot point does need some tweaking. Back to the drawing board I go.

But inspiration often hits me in a more subdued manner, though, neither dazzling me with its brilliant light, or threatening to leave me teetering in the darkness. Words, paragraphs, and scenes slowly arrange themselves into a chapter. But I have to stop now and then to reevaluate if I’m still on the right track. Many times I am, but if I’m not, that same annoying intuition perks up.

I often wonder where writers find their ‘inspired moments.’ Standing in line at the grocery, walking the dog, or maybe through dreams? Do these ideas burn through their authors with the roar of a forest fire, inciting exhilaration and a need to get it on paper right now? Or is there a brief flash of insight and then…nothing? The sound of the music from an ice cream truck driving through the neighborhood can cause a whole new scene to pop into my head, while the most romantic of love songs does nothing for my creative muse.

Inspiration is my fickle friend, one that comes and goes at it pleases. Whenever this fair-weather visitor strikes, I know I better take advantage of it while it's burning steadily.

Some ideas start out slowly, only gaining momentum as we flesh them out--or fizzle away when we can’t quite see how they jibe with the rest of the story. Some arrive fully formed, as though inserted into our brains by some artificial intelligence or higher power. But however they come or leave, they have the power to add dimension to our stories.

What are your story inspirations?


Lisa Kumar

Fire: Image: xedos4 / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Smoking Candle: Image: Marcus74id / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Candle Flame: Image: Paul Brentnall / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

My Dear Muse

I felt this hard tap on my shoulder. When I glanced over, I saw my Muse standing there with her arms crossed telling me to get back to work on my book. I glared back and told her I couldn’t because I had to get some work done and get this blog written. She huffed loudly and threatened to leave me. Naturally, I pleaded with her to stay. Then a thought occurred to me.

Julie: “My most dear Muse, may I interview you, please?”

Erato looking askance: “Hmmm. Alright. But, make it quick. There are millions of authors I need to inspire.”

Julie: “Great! That’s a really cool lyre you have.”

Erato stroked the strings with a smile, “Thanks. Just for that, I’ll inspire you tomorrow.”

Julie brightens: “Awesome! So, there are nine of you?”

Erato nods: “Yes, we’re the goddesses of the arts and sciences.”

Julie: “Are all of you the goddesses of writing?”

Erato chuckles: “No. I’m in charge of Poetry about Love. Erato is erotic. Get it?”

Julie: “Uh huh.”

Erato: “Some say I invented the art of dancing because it inspires others to write about love.

Julie: “What about the other muses?”

Erato: “My sister Calliope is in charge of Epic Poetry and Euterpe loves inspiring Musicians.”

Julie: “Wait, I thought Apollo is the god of Music.”

Erato wagged a finger: “He is the god of Music itself. Euterpe gifts people with the talent of music and inspires them.”

Julie: “Ah! I see. Hmmm…Is giving talent and inspiration the reason all of you were created?”

Erato nods: “Not at first. Apollo told us that we're to help mortals to forget the evils the Titans had afflicted on the world and to praise the gods for their victory over them. Once we accomplished that, we migrated to helping you mortals forget your sorrows and cares in the world.”

Julie tapping her chin in thought: “How so?”

Erato gaped in surprise: “Don’t you get lost in another world when you read a great romance novel? Or go to a museum or become amused at a play?

Julie: “Okay.”

Erato: “When anyone is sad or sorrowful, usually Euterpe will pay them a visit and play some music to help them feel better.”

Julie: “Okay. Okay. I get it. You mentioned you helped people forget the evils the Titan’s afflicted on the world.”

Erato folds her arms with narrowed eyes: “That’s right.”

Julie: “It’s ironic isn’t it? You’re Mother is a Titan, Right?”

Erato: “Yes, she is.”

Julie: “A goddess of memory. Memnon…something.”

Erato: “Mnemosyne. Yes, she’s a Titan and the goddess of memory. It is ironic isn’t it?”

Julie: “Yes. I asked that.”

Erato: “No, you didn’t.”

Julie: “I did.”

Erato with her finger pointed at me: “You’re not arguing with me, are you?”

Julie with alarm in her eyes, “Heaven’s no. Wouldn’t dream of arguing with my Muse.”

Lassoing the Muse

~~Lassoing Inspiration~~
Hello, I’m Sara Walter Ellwood, and I’m a new blogger here on Nocturnal Nights. Thanks Tabby for inviting me to join your wonderful group of contributors.

As I tried to "lasso" a topic to write about today, I thought about the usual things that inspire or people who have inspired me. And there it was—I’ll talk about the things that inspire me. People can be another blog topic for another day...*g*

For me inspiration can come from just about anywhere—a song, a phrase in another book, a concept, an analogy or even from something someone has said.
Some examples from my own books shows just how oddly a writers mind works—well at least this is how my mind works.

A line in Stephenie Meyer's Eclipse inspired my first novel, A Hunter’s Angel, a vampire romance of which I’ve given up pursuing publication. I don’t remember the exact line, but it was in the scene where Edward is reading the paper and tells Bella that a lot of the news is caused by “their kind.” That got me to thinking, and by the time I’d finished the book, I had a plot idea about an FBI special agent who just happens to be a vampire who is also a vampire/werewolf hunter. He’s a good vamp in my world where there are both good (protectors of humans) and bad (killers).

The Rascal Flatts song, “God Blessed the Broken Road”, inspired my second book, The Long Road Home, which is the book that scored my agent for me. The song is about someone who finds his/her way to love, but acknowledges that if it hadn’t been for all the trouble in his/her life, he/se wouldn’t have found that love. The ensuing story is about a country singer who comes home to find his best friend dead and the woman he loves a widow, but as with all good stories—things are never simple.

The idea for my third book came from watching butterflies in my garden one day last summer. I got to thinking about the life cycle of butterflies, and about how they start out as ugly and disgusting things (virtually a worm) and end up being one of the most beautiful and most loved creatures in the world. Well, it wasn’t long until I had two characters with the ugliest pasts I could come up with finding love and a beautiful future together—they both became a Butterfly.

But what amazed me was that my cast of secondary characters and the history of my fictional Texas town would inspire an entire series—five books in all. And each one of them finding their inspiration from either events or songs or even a word. The second book of the series, which I’m currently writing, comes from the idea of how someone wanting revenge can cause a betrayal that is hard to forgive. But all of this heartache could have been avoided if The Hardest Words to Say had been spoken—I love you.

However, inspiration, that nugget of idea that comes to us at, sometimes the oddest of times, is never easy to pinpoint and is a constant need—like food, water and air. We can't survive without these things and writers can't survive without inspiration. However the story idea is only the tiny beginning. Where will the characters names come from? What will their personalities be like? What will they look like? How will the characters meet? What will bring them together and what will keep them apart? Where do the ideas for the actual scenes, the dialogue and characters come from? EVERYWHERE! Just take a look around.

So, the next time you become stuck, as I was when I started thinking about this blog article, thinks about the things that normally inspire you...Then go listen to that music or watch that movie or go to the mall and do a little people watching. You may be surprised by the strangest things that give you and idea to write about.