Oh, Those Pesky Ideas!

by Janis Patterson

I am a pretty organized kind of person – where work is concerned, that is. We won’t talk about my housekeeping. With my books, however, I am very orderly. I try to write a fair number of words every day – though I don’t always make it every single day. (Life just gets in the way sometimes!) I keep to a schedule and respect deadlines. I have my books blocked out for the next eighteen months – a gothic romance, the first book of my new Rachel Petrie archaeological mysteries, a sweet older-heroine romance… It’s a nice, orderly system.

Except when it isn’t. Unfortunately, creativity has no respect for schedules and orderly systems.

I’ll explain. Last month The Husband and I took a trip to Las Vegas. We had won it some time ago and it had come down to use it or lose it, so of course we used it. We were put up in the Plaza, an older but nicely refurbished hotel/casino at the end of the Fremont Experience. That’s sort of an outdoor mall – it used to be one of the main downtown streets, but they closed it off, put an enormous canopy over it (way over it – 6 or 8 stories!) to keep the worst of that vicious Las Vegas sun off. I personally prefer the funky downtown Fremont Experience to the Strip.

When we left I had just finished the final edits on the new Flora Melkiot mystery – Murder in Death’s Waiting Room – and I had thought she was ready to be retired for a while. After all, I was already doing prep work on my new gothic and even had a couple of chapters written, then had started doing some early prep work on the first book about contract archaeologist Rachel Petrie. I also have two books ready to self-publish, and that takes a lot of work.

Except once in Vegas ideas began pelting me like summer hail in Texas – big and fast. Starchy, proper, elderly Flora and Las Vegas seemed made for each other. The entire story – motive, method, murderer, MacGuffins, clues (sorry – I couldn’t think of a word for clues beginning with ‘m’) – spooled through my head with terrifying cohesiveness. During our wandering around I wore a purse only big enough to hold my credit card, a hanky or two and my phone.

You know, that could be a writer’s vision of Hell – a great idea and no pencil or paper. However, I have adapted well to modern times, so while The Husband fiddled with the slots, I would sit and email ideas to myself on my phone.

It’s still a great idea, and I’ll probably write it just as soon as I finish this current, half-written gothic which has a hard deadline. And it works out well too, as my primary advisor for the Rachel Petrie series has to defend her PhD thesis this summer, so we’ve agreed to start over in the fall.

Schedules? How can they hope to stand up to inspiration?

Inspiration from Unlikely Places - Mar Preston

Inspiration comes from unlikely places in the form of ears going ping, ping, ping and your fingers tingling as you reach for a pen or keyboard.

Cherry Mattias, DVM, and I attended the Writers of KernSpring conference yesterday. Writers of Kern (WOK) is a branch of the California Writers Club serving Bakersfield and its surrounding communities. WOK provides a forum for published and aspiring writers to share ideas, hone their craft and encourage one another. 

The yearly conference held in Bakersfield, California brought together poet Matthew Woodman, mystery icon Anne Perry and Victoria Zackheim, and Bakersfield Californian columnist Lois Henry.

All of the presenters, who are what you’d call professional writers, have thought deeply about the subject of voice or persona.  With the exception of Lois Henry they speak of their love of their craft. 

What unified the three disparate speakers was an insistence on writing honestly and from the heart. Victoria Zackheim, a playwright, novelist, and writing teacher pushes her students in the UCLA Extension Writer’s Program to go deeper and deeper in writing the personal essay to heal the raw patches in one’s own soul. Anne Perry, author of 80 novels with 27 million copies sold, stated readers instantly spot insincerity. Zackheim and Perry are fast friends and speak daily, brainstorming plot ideas and spurring each other on.

I’m sure I wasn’t alone in wishing I could be part of these conversations. 

Matthew Woodman, who teaches writing at California State University Bakersfield, skillfully presented a session on how to adopt a voice particular to a poem, drawing on the work of Carl Jung’s archetypes and the contemporary adaption of Jung’s ideas in the work of Carol Pearson. Voice and persona are airy ideas that sometimes feel ethereal. I was impressed and pleased at Woodman’s skillful explanation,  illustrating the concepts with poems, one of them his own.

I read a lot of fiction, a lot of crime fiction as well, and I sometimes forget how much I enjoy poetry’s concise evocation of feeling. I seem to need 300-350 pages to tell a story and here was Woodman’s poem in sonnet form updating the myth of Orpheus and Eurydice in Los Angeles. 

Lois Henry, who reports and writes and twice-weekly column for the local newspaper, claims to hate writing. Winner of major awards for journalism, she’s pressed often to collect her columns into a book.  She can’t imagine anything worse than writing all day then going home to write in the evening, to paraphrase her remarks. A breezy and fresh voice in the afternoon of the conference, she focused on the nature of her craft which is to entertain and inform her readers with crisp, accurate, and economical prose. 

Cherry Mattias, DVM, my co-founder of the Bakersfield Sisters in Crime chapter, is a beginning mystery writer. We were there to not only learn from the presenters but also to drum up support for our fledgling mystery writers’ group. The group of about 75 eager attendees represented the range of the writing craft: creative non-fiction (memoir writing), romance, science fiction, local history, poetry—from beginners to seasoned professionals. 

Sadly there were few mystery writers. 

Nonetheless, it was an interesting and worthwhile day spent with engaging presenters which made me rush home to my computer to start writing my sixth Dave Mason mystery.

Check out my new eBook. Don't fall prey to self-doubt and the Why Bother syndrome.

http://www.amazon.com/Finishing-Your-First-Mystery-Writing-ebook/dp/B01CF367BU/

Some Quotes on Writing

by Kaye George

I love to collect inspirational quotes, that is, quotes that inspire my writing. I’d love to hear your favorites. Here are some of mine. Several of these have been posted here before, but it doesn’t hurt to repeat the best ones.

“If you want a happy ending, that depends, of course, on where you stop your story.” -Orson Welles

“The way to make a film is to begin with an earthquake and work up to a climax.” -Cecil B. DeMille

“I'm thinking literary focuses on the moment when the character changes, and the genre focuses on what the character does with that change.” -Stephen D. Rogers

“No matter how many mistakes you make or how slow you progress, you’re still way ahead of everyone who isn’t trying.” -Unknown

“Writing is a lot like prostitution. First you do it for love. Then you do it for money. Then you recruit others. “ -Moliere

 "Inspiration exists, but it has to find you working." - Pablo Picasso

“Whatever course you decide upon, there is always someone to tell you that you are wrong. There are always difficulties arising which tempt you to believe that your critics are right. To map out a course of action and follow it to an end requires courage.” ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson

"Every time you sit down to write, you should be afraid of losing the reader at any moment of any page." - Playwright William Gibson

“That was the moment I changed from an amateur to a professional.  I assumed the burden of the professional which is to write even when you don’t want to, don’t much like what you are writing and aren’t writing particularly well.”-Agatha Christie

"It does not matter how slowly you go so long as you do not stop." – Confucius

Guest today: Julie Anne Lindsey and Island of Inspiration

by Kaye George

Please help me welcome Julie Anne Lindsay to our blog today. She's a multi-genre author who writes the stories that keep her up at night. She says she’s a self-proclaimed nerd with a penchant for words and proclivity for fun. Julie lives in rural Ohio with her husband and three small children. Today, she hopes to make someone smile. One day she plans to change the world.

Murder Comes Ashore is a sequel in her new mystery series, Patience Price, Counselor at Large, from Carina Press.   

Here's her post on her Island of Inspiration

(Kaye: I'll admit this is a place I've longed to go ever since I was a child!)

One question I’m often asked is where I get my story ideas. The truth is I have an overactive thought life. My imagination never stops. I see stories in the little things: strangers’ faces, red birds on limbs, the local news, my kids’ arguments, you name it. My mind loads up a freight train full of “What ifs” and the story start taking shape. Most stories end in a few minutes of pondering, others take 90,000 words to explore properly.

Sometimes something big worms into my head and heart and won’t let go, like a song or a scene or a place I visited.

Like Chincoteague, Virginia.

In 2007, about four years before I made my first attempt at writing anything longer than a grocery list, my family visited the island on vacation. I was enchanted. I never wanted to leave. For those of you who aren’t familiar, Chincoteague is a small island off the coast of Virginia. When I say “small” I mean 3x7 miles small. The tiny island community is delightfully unusual, made up of some transient folks who spend the winters elsewhere and others who stay year round. There are quaint little shops and gulls galore. Fishermen and tourists. Craftsmen and artisans. Graceful sailboats skate on the harbor beside bleating tugboats and the occasional water-skier. People rode bicycles in town with baskets on the front. The baskets brimmed with produce from a farmer’s market. Life was slower. People were kinder. I was in love.

If that’s not cool enough, Chincoteague has a sister island, Assateague. Assateague is attached to Chincoteague by a long bridge over a marsh. Assateague is home to a national forest, national seashore, historic lighthouse and the famous wild ponies. Wild. Ponies. You see? Enchanting.

Chincoteague burrowed into my skin that summer and I swear I brought it home in my soul. I’ve thought of the island every day, and I’ve written multiple stories set on the beautiful seashore. I can vividly remember the scent of brine and salt in the heavy summer air and how the evenings smelled of ash from grills and bonfires. Even the note of butter from families eating dinner on their decks is seared into my memory.

The beach was endless white sand. Families walked dogs, pushed strollers and flew kites. The occasional bright red or yellow kayak seemed to fly over the water, cutting expertly through white wave breaks and ebbing waves. I close my eyes and see the weathered boards of the fishing pier and the curving steps to the lighthouse.

When it came time to write my cozy, I knew Chincoteague was the perfect location. I’ve never had so much fun writing anything. Rediscovering those sights and sounds was something I reveled in. I hope I did the town justice.

Have you ever visited a place that settled in your heart this way? I’d love to hear about it. Maybe I can vacation there next!

If you’re looking for a fun new mystery series, I hope you’ll consider Murder Comes Ashore. You’ll find mystery, chemistry and fun. Plus, who doesn’t need an island get away?

Cover Art 2014 by Harlequin Enterprises Limited

Murder Comes Ashore  

Patience Price is just settling into her new life as resident counselor on Chincoteague Island when things take a sudden turn for the worse. A collection of body parts have washed up on shore and suddenly nothing feels safe on the quaint island.

Patience instinctively turns to current crush and FBI special agent Sebastian for help, but former flame Adrian is also on the case, hoping that solving the grisly crime will land him a win in the upcoming mayoral election.

When the body count rises and Patience's parents are brought in as suspects, Patience is spurred to begin her own investigation. It's not long before she starts receiving terrifying threats from the killer, and though she's determined to clear her family's name, it seems the closer Patience gets to finding answers, the closer she comes to being the killer's next victim.

Amazon       Barnes&Noble      

Learn More About Julie at:

Julieannelindsey.com

Quotes for Writers (and others)

My friend, Jan Christensen, recently did a blog on helpful quotes she’s collected. Hers are on writing advice and I loved the post!

It got me thinking about the mishmash of quotes I’ve collected over the years. On the chance that some of them may interest you, I’ll throw a bunch out here. These aren’t all writing advice. Many are inspiration (I seem to need that often). Some are just funny (I need that, too.)

“Write like a shark. Keep moving or you die.” My paraphrase from a Neil Gaiman article. This one is currently taped to my monitor.

Others are gathered into files with various names because I forget I already have a file for quotes.

This one resurfaced on the Short Mystery Fiction list recently:

"Writing is a lot like prostitution. First you do it for love. Then you do it for money. Then you recruit others." --Moliere

This one also came from a discussion on the Short Mystery Fiction List.

I'm thinking literary focuses on the moment when the character changes, and the genre focuses on what the character does with that change. --Stephen D. Rogers

"Inspiration exists, but it has to find you working." --Pablo Picasso

"It does not matter how slowly you go so long as you do not stop." – Confucius

"You have seen, but you have not observed." --Sherlock Holmes

"I have lost all sense of home, having moved about so much. It means to me now -- only the place where the books are kept." That's my favorite Steinbeck quote. --Elaine Viets

“Whatever course you decide upon, there is always someone to tell you that you are wrong. There are always difficulties arising which tempt you to believe that your critics are right. To map out a course of action and follow it to an end requires courage.” ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson

“Courage does not always roar. Sometimes, it is the quiet voice at the end of the day saying I will try again tomorrow.” --Old Irish Saying

"Change is a dragon. You can ignore it, which is futile. You can fight it, in which case you will lose. Or you can ride it.” -- Arianne Wing on the closing of the world-famous Imperial Dynasty restaurant in Hanford, CA; quoted in The Hanford Sentinel, Dec. 17, 2005.

"No one in this world is useless if he lightens the burden of it for someone else." -Charles Dickens

"I started out very quiet and I beat Mr. Turgenev. Then I trained hard and I beat Mr. de Maupassant. I've fought two draws with Mr. Stendhal, and I think I had an edge in the last one. But nobody's going to get me in any ring with Mr. Tolstoy unless I'm crazy or I keep getting better." --Ernest Hemingway

"Every time you sit down to write, you should be afraid of losing the reader at any moment of any page."-- Playwright William Gibson:

What are your favorites for inspiration, guidance, amusement?

All photos public domain from morgueFile.com

Source of Ideas by Mark Troy

This Friday is February 17. Mark it on your calendars. It is the day the Sports Illustrated swimsuit issue comes out. It is already available for download on your iPad. It has already been downloaded on mine.

I'll be spending a lot of time going through it, as will many readers, not to ogle the bikinis (okay, I'll admit to a fair share of ogling) but to find story ideas.

My first mystery story that was accepted for publication, Wahine O Ka Hoe, was inspired by an article in an SI swimsuit issue. The article was about the women's Molokai to Oahu canoe race which takes place every year. It's an open ocean race across what is possibly the most dangerous channel in the world. (Mystery author Twist Phelan paddled in that race one year.)

What caught my attention in the article was a paragraph describing the dangers of the race. These fourteen hundred pound canoes are like sticks on that turbulent ocean. They surf down the face of ocean waves like runaway ore trains. There are six paddlers in a canoe and four relief paddlers in the escort boat. The most dangerous part of the race occurs when they change paddlers. The escort drops a paddler in the water and the canoe comes alongside. One paddler goes over the side and the other swings into the canoe. Because this is a race, the canoes don't come to a full stop. Moreover, they don't want the relief paddler to have to swim to the canoe so they try to come within arm's reach of the paddler in the water. Now imagine that the steersman misjudged the distance or that a sudden ocean swell came up behind the canoe. If hit by the canoe, that paddler in the water could be seriously injured or killed. That's what I imagined and wrote my story about it.

In another issue, I came across an article about the Purdue women's basketball team beating the women of Tennessee on their home court. The article was called Home Wreckers. I turned that into a short story of the same name.

In still another issue, though not the swimsuit issue, was a story about some highly prized but unsung athletes, the bulls of the professional bull-riding circuit. That article became my short story, Horns.

In recent years, to my chagrin, (I'm typing this with a straight face.) Sports Illustrated has dropped a lot of the articles in order to devote more pages to bikinis and body paint. But that doesn't mean there is no longer story inspiration to be found. The idea for my latest story, Ripper, practically leapt off the pages of one SI swimsuit pictorial, as did a work in progress of which I won't say anymore at this point.

Four published stories and one in progress is a pretty good showing. Sports Illustrated, for this writer anyway, is a great idea generator. That's why I'm excited about this Friday.

The four published stories appear in Game Face, which you can get free this month in ebook format. Click here to get an iPad, Nook, and Kobo version. Or click here to get a Kindle version. The download will begin as soon as you click on it. If you want a paperback copy and are in central Texas, visit me at the Madison County Writers Guild Book Sale and Signing on Saturday, Feb. 18 and Sunday, Feb 19. On Sunday, I will be giving a short story workshop.

So what inspires you?

Mark Troy
Hawaiian Eye Blog

Inspired Not to Expire

I don't know about you, but I think we writers as a group sometimes get a little defensive about what we do. We may talk about how the markets are drying up, or the Muse not being with us, or about how the cards are stacked against a new writer because he is new and no one has heard of him or against a midlist writer because the publishers are not putting the big money into that writer's promotion. So often we look at how things are done and think, "How am I supposed to succeed as a writer when there are so many tens of thousands of other writers competing for the same few slots at publishing houses, or for shelf space at the Barnes & Noble?"

Like most writers, I am discouraged sometimes about writing, and feel as though I'm Sisyphus, pushing that big doggone rock up the eternal hill. For me, the discouragement often is caused by a lack of time, or maybe a lack of what we like to call inspiration but in reality is simply the ability to stick with it until a new way of saying something comes out of my head. And I get frustrated by the way the system works... or doesn't work... even though I am part of the system!

But I'd like to introduce you to someone who makes me ashamed of my excuses, who makes me realize that, no matter what annoyance or frustration I may be dealing with about my abilities as a writer, I can get over the hump. I'm not going to say a lot more about it. I don't need to. The video will say it much better than I ever could.

And if you ever think you can't, you're too tired to write, you don't feel like it, or you just aren't inspired to write at the moment.... Well, just watch this.

Inspired or Driven?

Since my dad passed away over the holidays I've been doing a lot of thinking and processing about various issues. I've also been doing a ton of walking, during which I do my best thinking/processing. One of the issues I've spent a lot of time on over the last month and a half is my writing and, quite specifically, how my relationship with my father affected my attitude towards my writing achievements and my ability to enjoy each step along the way.

I go into this at length here if you're interested in the details. For this post, however, I want to focus on what makes writers write. Is it inspiration from the muse? Is it fun and joyful? Do they feel driven by external or internal forces? Does it hurt like swallowing broken glass?

Honestly, if it was as painful as the writer makes out in the above link, I would buy myself a couple of whips and just scourge myself if I was into that kind of masochism. Of course, he may be being facetious in the post. But even still, some writers contend that the creative process is painful for them. We're not just talking writer's block (and boy, if you want to start a debate, ask a group of authors what they think of the concept of writer's block) or a bad writing day; we're talking gut-wrenching, soul-crushing pain to get the words out.


Other writers I know talk happily about inspiration found in other books, movies, dreams, nature, random snippets of overheard conversation. No pain, just the pure pleasure of creation. On a good day, this is what it's like for me. I'm inspired by my story or my characters, or both, and the process is is fun.

I used to lie in bed and daydream my way into stories. It was a cross between dreaming and watching a movie; I could conjure characters and the worlds they inhabited in 3D, surround sound, and scratch-and-sniff smell-o-vision. The worlds in my head were as real as my every day life and I could not wait to write down the adventures of my characters (sometimes my alter-egos) when I drifted back to reality.

I'm working to get back to that mindset. When I wake up stressed in the middle of the night, I try and dream walk into my current WIP and capture that sense of magic I used to have. Dealing with the issues concerning writing/my father has definitely helped. But I still wonder what drives or inspires you all to spend your spare time on your books or stories. Are you inspired or driven? Is there really a difference? Inquiring minds still working out their own issues really want to know...

Mystery is all around us

You know, I live way out in the country. I'm not an urban dweller with the constant sound of police sirens in my ears. But even out here in the boonies, mysterious things happen. As the fictional detective Sherlock Holmes observed in "The Adventure of the Copper Beeches":

"It is my belief, Watson, founded upon my experience, that the lowest and vilest alleys in London do not present a more dreadful record of sin than does the smiling and beautiful countryside.… The pressure of public opinion can do in the town what the law cannot accomplish. There is no lane so vile that the scream of a tortured child, or the thud of a drunkard's blow, does not beget sympathy and indignation among the neighbours, and then the whole machinery of justice is ever so close that a word of complaint can set it going, and there is but a step between the crime and the dock. But look at these lonely houses, each in its own fields, filled for the most part with poor ignorant folk who know little of the law. Think of the deeds of hellish cruelty, the hidden wickedness which may go on, year in, year out, in such places, and none the wiser."

As much as I love my country dwelling, there is much truth in that statement (though less than in Arthur Conan Doyle's time), and as such, it makes my job as a writer of mysterious tales that much easier. There is a lot of inspiration out here, you see.

For example, last month a man was found beaten to death in a home not so far from where I live. It was not his home, but his girlfriend's. They don't know who did this deed, but the man was beaten so severely that he had several broken bones. (It does not help matters that this female acquaintance of his has had two husbands to die under mysterious circumstances in the past, and that she uses, and occasionally sells, illegal substances.)

But who did it?

Was it the woman? She is not a large woman, but if he were "under the influence" at the time, she might be able to manage it. Was it another love interest, perhaps a jealous ex-boyfriend? Was it a drug deal gone bad? Or was it something totally out of this range of possibilities, something so outré (another of Holmes' favorite expressions) that we simply don't bring it to mind?

By the way, I didn't get this from the newspapers. Rather, the news came to me via the grapevine, from a reliable source. (Great journalistic expression, that!) I have verified the facts, though. The listing in the local obituaries was simple and made no mention of the method of his death. The only odd thing in the obituary was that he was a member of one small Baptist Church, but his funeral was conducted at a different, small, non-denominational church, and he was interred at the cemetery of a third small church. Perhaps there is something there to explore in a storyline, as well! Was there someone who "knew something" about the poor sod, and didn't want him buried in his home church's cemetery? Was his pastor unwilling to deliver the eulogy for some reason?

Though the paper wasn't the source for this idea, I read the local newspaper each time it comes out. I have a notebook filled with clippings of the odd, the unusual, and sometimes the humorous happenings of my local community and state. Sometimes when my well of stories is drier than usual, I take that notebook down from the shelf and use its contents to prime my well. Usually, it works.

We writers of mysteries often plumb the depths of human misery for our stories. At least we don't have to roam far afield to find fertile sources to feed our imaginations!

My Inspiration

A few days ago, Ben Small posted about some of his sources of inspiration. I thought that was a great post and decided to follow up with some of my own. thanks, Ben, for starting the thread.

Looking over my stories, I see that a lot of ideas and plot points originated in the pages of Sports Illustrated. My first published story was inspired by an article in one of the SI Swimsuit editions. There are words in the SI Swimsuit edition? The truth is there are fewer and fewer, and, yes, I am complaining. There was a time when the Swimsuit had fewer photos and more articles about outstanding women athletes and some of the lesser known women's sports. An article on the women's open ocean canoe race from Molokai to Oahu over 40 miles of treacherous ocean inspired my story, "Wahine O Ka Hoe" (Women of the Paddle.) Another SI article that inspired a story was titled, "Homewreckers," and was about the women of Purdue beating the women of Tennessee on their home court. An article about rodeo bulls being athletes and another one about the experience of being a rodeo clown inspired my latest story, "Horns" on The Thrilling Detective website.

Inspiration can come from a variety of sources. One of my favorite stories came about because of a television commercial.

The story is "Drop Dead Zone" published in 1998 in Mystery Buff Magazine. (Mystery Buff lasted only two issues. DDZ was in the second issue, but I don't believe it caused MB's demise.) It tells the story of a murder during a skydive. We were all sitting around drinking beer and eating pizza following my first jump when the woman who is now my daughter-in-law said I had to write it up in a story. We came up with the title on the spot, a combination of drop zone, drop dead, and Stephen King's "Dead Zone."

The title was the easy part. Figuring out a death in a skydive was a lot harder. At this point you're probably saying, "Whoa, dying in a skydive is easy. Not dying is the hard part." Well, yes and no. Falling out of the sky can kill you, but skydiving is a sport that is all about safety. All the procedures and equipment are designed to get the jumper safely on the ground. Skydivers themselves are fanatical about following procedures. So, killing someone in a skydive posed a real problem. I had two other conditions: First, i was thinking about it as a locked-room type of murder where the murder occurs in a limited space and the killer can't get away; Second, it had to look like an accident.

The second condition caused me real problems. I could have the killer tamper with the victim's parachute so it wouldn't open properly, but as I already mentioned, skydivers are fanatical about their equipment. If you tamper with a skydiver's gear, the chances are very good the tampering will be discovered before the jump and, instead of a corpse, you'll have a very angry skydiver. Rather than messing with the skydiver's gear, I had to mess with his behavior, i.e. get him out of his safety routine.

The inspiration occurred during a broadcast of a Super Bowl commercial. You may remember it. It's a Mountain Dew ad called "Duet" in which a boy and a girl on snowboards come flying off a mountain and meet in mid-air. Both have parachutes on their backs and one has a Mountain Dew. They both grab the Dew and circle in the air until the girl pulls the boy's ripcord and off he goes. As soon as I saw that, I had my story. Read the story on my website and see if you can tell how the commercial inspired it.

So those are some of my inspirations, what are yours?

Here's a deal for you. I can't find the Mountain Dew ad on the net. The first person who sends me a link to it will get a copy of "Pilikia Is My Business." Don't forget to send me your snail mail address. For another chance at "Pilikia," see the contest on my other blog, Hawaiian Eye.

Mark Troy
metroy@mac.com
http://hawaiian-eye.blogspot.com
http://www.marktroy.net

Where do you get your inspiration?

by Ben Small



Not talking about church here. More the opposite. Like the spot where I like to dream of murder.

Hopefully, you the reader, are a writer or a reader, or you're probably dialing 911 about now.

But I'm talking about writing inspiration, where you drum up plot points, where you ask some of the more interesting What if? questions.

I get mine from many directions: watching interaction at the mall or at sporting events, or just sitting at the U of A campus, watching people. I'll jot a few notes about character traits I may want to infuse into someone later. Or I'll drift away sometimes while I'm writing, flowing on a gust of creative wind that may become a storm. Classical music puts me into a contemplative mood, which can often be intense enough I don't even hear my wife come in with amendments to the Honey Do list.

But the places I enjoy most for this are similar. The hammock off a back deck or a lounge chair by the pool, both at night, when the desert comes alive. Birds calling to mates or potential victims are sending messages, and I'm picking up their vibes. I often imagine what they're saying to each other. Or a big iguana may crawl out of a bush, stand a moment stock still, before scurrying away. The Gambel quail stir and squawk warnings. Is a bobcat about to saunter by?

It's amazing how the desert nights drive my creative spirit. I can come in after an hour in the desert night full of new ideas, ready to pound some keys on the keyboard always in my lap.

I come up with trigger words -- no, not something I aim at a troublesome neighbor -- words I can jot down when I come in that will take me back to my musings. Amazing how one little word can signal a major plot change. But it's the way I used to prepare for closing argument in trial, trigger words, shorthand, one note and a torrent is released. It works in writing, too, which is why I always keep a notebook next to my bed and why there's a stack of torn magazine pages next to me wherever I go.

But by far, the desert night, no traffic, just enjoying the peace and tranquility -- unless the coyotes have scored -- provides my best inspiration. Combine the desert night with Rachmaninoff when I return, and I'm off and riding the tide, pounding on the keyboard like an over-caffeinated court reporter.

But no Bach, please. Bach steers me toward murder. Oh wait...that's what I do: write about murder.

More Bach please. And more desert.

It's a total mystery...

...in terms of what I'm gonna post about today. I've been working under a deadline for a non-fiction (and non-mystery) writing project and it's due President's Day. Which is Monday. So my brain and creativity (which don't always work in tandem) have been focused entirely on this particular project, which consists of stringing a lot of quotes together from survey respondents. Which can get really dull REALLY fast.

So here's my question. What do you do when you are bored to tears with your own writing project? How do you keep going? For me (on this particular book) it's two-fold: keeping a promise to my writing partner and friend, and the fact we'll get the second half of a decent (and very much needed) advance when we turn this puppy in.

What keeps all of you going when you want to turn a flame-thrower on your computer? I want to hear about inspiration and perspiration!

And now back to the perspiring here....