As a former athlete*, it’s really tough to be this out of shape. I am used to fitness and physique coming easily to me, and it’s daunting to think of the work that needs to go into getting myself back on track. Part of me is still struggling with the fact that I’m 27 years old, not 16, so my metabolism might work a little differently these days.

Anyway, Geek Husband and I have been trying to run regularly. We were actually doing quite well when the Bateman Plague hit our household and knocked me flat on my back for two weeks (somehow both Geek Husband and Baby Caveman bounced back way faster than me…might have something to do with that whole terribly-out-of-shape thing I’ve been talking about). But today I feel better, and darnit, we are doing this for REAL. We are starting an official Couch to 5K program just as soon as Jeopardy is over.

It is intimidating, but I can do it. And if ever I think I can’t, I need to just think about this quote I happened across today:

All our dreams can come true, if we have the courage to pursue them. ~Walt Disney

*Anyone who says drill team (the high-kick and baton variety) is not athletic is welcome to come to my house, where I will promptly high-kick them in the face.

So, what does catnip have to do with writing?

Very little, unless your brain works the way mine does (which, probably, it doesn’t). But here’s the story:

Sophie-cat loves catnip. She is an addict. We have a little tin of catnip that we hide in a drawer in the living room (okay, hide is kinda the wrong word – she knows it’s there, so every time I open that drawer to get something else, she gets really excited). Every so often, we will get the tin out and sprinkle a little catnip on the rug in front of the front door. Always in the same place on the same rug. She knows that is where the catnip goes, so anytime that little tin comes out, she freaks out and then goes to wait at her corner of the rug. And then she rolls in the catnip, and eats it, and generally freaks out.

Recently, I was at the pet store picking up Sophie Food (our cat is really picky and will only eat one flavor of one brand of food) and I spotted the cutest little froggy cat toy. It has a Velcro panel in back the you can open to stuff the frog with catnip. In other words, it is the perfect Sophie toy, so I grabbed it right up. The catnip that came with it, I think, is even more potent than the stuff in the drawer (possibly because the drawer-nip is kinda old at this point). Sophie loves her new toy. I only give it to her about once a day, so she is not totally blissed out on catnip all the time, but whenever she gets it she gets all crazy and high.

And then, without fail, she goes to the spot on the rug where we usually put her loose catnip and starts rolling around, even though the rug is clean. She recognizes the effects of the catnip, but she hasn’t made the connection that it is coming from the frog, not the rug. She is so used to the one that she can’t separate the two.

But what does any of this have to do with writing, you might ask. Like I said: unless your brain works the way mine does, probably very little. But as I was watching Sophie attack her frog and then run to the rug over and over last night, it occurred to me that sometimes I am exactly like Sophie-cat when it comes to writing.

I get so used to one method that works for me that sometimes, when inspiration and accomplishment comes from a different place, I fail to recognize it. I don’t always notice when my tried and true work habits aren’t producing results, but instead I am being inspired and getting results from elsewhere.

I sit down every day, either at a computer or with notebook and pen in hand, and put in the work to write books. It is easy, after doing that for long enough, to trick myself into believing that the actual act of putting in the work is what is getting my books written. And to an extent it is – I mean, without putting in the actual work, nothing would be done. But in thinking the actual physical act of working on a book is what is getting it written, I am forgetting about what is really at play here: my inspiration and ideas. I know I get them everywhere, and often I take a moment to recognize inspiration when it strikes, but by the time I sit down to pound out some words, the source of my inspiration is forgotten.

In a sense, I am just like Sophie, running back to the entry rug because I think that is where the catnip high is coming from, when really the source of my euphoria is laying on the ground halfway across the room. Or something like that.

So today I am making a pledge to myself: I promise to not take my ideas and inspiration for granted. I know the importance of the actual work, but I will do my best to keep perspective. Ideas do not come from my computer or notebook. They come from all around me. From now on, I will keep my eyes wide open – even when they are focused on the movement of my pen across the paper – and remember what I see. I will not forget where the book really came from.

And if none of that made any sense, be sure to visit Glenna on Tuesday for a hopefully more coherent post!

What photos inspire your books?

Alright! These are in no particular order, and I am not sharing which book each on is an inspiration from. Pretty much, you just get to look at fun, pretty pictures. Some of these you have seen before….

“Two For Tuesday” is a blog meme that I just made up last night when I was trying to fall asleep.

What is it? Post two of anything: book reviews, pictures, quotes, poems, songs, videos, rants, shout outs, whatever floats your boat. Just connect them somehow. That’s it.

Today, I have two pictures that inspire me. The first has to do with my writing, the second definitely doesn’t.

You might remember that I recently started rewriting Incubus completely from scratch. It is proving harder to write than anything else I have ever tackled (including earlier drafts of the same book). I have added some elements that make it a much deeper, more emotional novel than it was before. When I find myself struggling with the writing (which is near constantly these days), I just think about the bird necklace, and it helps me push on.

In Incubus, both Kyle and Jayne have a necklace much like this one. The necklaces hold a special place in each girl’s heart, and both girls cling to the necklaces as a sort of symbol for hope.  I won’t go into detail as to why, but now you know why the necklace is motivating to me. It is woven into the story and helps me remember the importance of the story I am trying to tell.

After I worked the necklace element into the story, I realized that–holy cow!–I have a very similar necklace of my own. I had forgotten all about it (though I imagine deep down I remembered, or I wouldn’t have described such a similar one in the book). So now, when I am feeling particularly stuck in writing Incubus, I put on my own bird necklace and make myself get back to work.

Okay, moving on…

My second bit of inspiration is this:

I was just asked (um…maybe 4 hours ago) if I would make a princess castle cake for a friend’s daughter’s 6th birthday. Of course!

Now, I will be honest: my cake won’t be this nice (um…this cake comes from a bakery with a minimum price of $250–we just aren’t $250 cake kind of people). My cake will probably have two round layers and turrets made out of ice cream cones. Much simpler.

But this one sure is nice to look at!

Jessie Sin asks:  Movies and other books are constantly inspiring my stories and characters. Do you have such inspirations? And if so, what are they? (Also, please explain what has been the biggest inspiration for a story you have written or plan to write. – just for curiosity’s sake)

I find inspiration pretty much everywhere I look: movies, music, books, strangers at the store, clients at work, pictures on postcards, old news stories…everywhere. Mostly, I find inspiration in my own imagination. Ideas just pop into my head. I am sure there is always something that triggers an idea, but more often than not I cannot trace where it came from. Individual bits of inspiration are tough to figure out. If you are curious about how some of my individual ideas came about, check out this post where I talk about the inspiration behind some of my books.

As for my biggest inspiration-that is easier to pinpoint. My biggest inspiration is not for one book that I have written, or for one I plan to write; it is for (most) all of them. My biggest inspiration has to be the South (as in Southern United States). I love the south-the culture, the dialects, the food, the weather, the rich history, the chivalry, all of it. I would love to live in the south again, but am pretty sure that will not happen-Bubba is not a fan of heat. Or humidity. So I settle for knowing I can visit-and live there through my writing.

All of my written and planned books (except for one, which is set in northwestern Idaho) are set someplace in the south. With each one I get to explore a different place and learn a different bit of history. This is not something I consciously set out to do. It is just what feels right for my writing at this point. What can I say? The south is inspiring. I think I will go whip up some hush puppies and sweet tea now.

Towards the end of my high school career, and for a a couple years after graduation, there was this boy. He was interested in me, and he made no effort to hide that. My friends all knew it; I knew it, and, truth be told, I was interested in him as well (though I was not so open about my affection). But nothing ever happened between the two of us. We never went on a date, never held hands, never kissed.

When I look back and remember this boy, I can’t help but to wonder. What if we had dated? How would things be different today? Would we still be together? Would I have gone to massage school? Would I be writing books? What if?

Both this boy and I are now completely happy with our lives and the spouses we share life with. I don’t regret anything that has happened in my life or any of the choices I have made, but I still wonder sometimes.

This is just one more reason why I like writing (and particularly writing YA) so much. All of those what-ifs? I can take them and play out any scenario I want. The object of Jack’s affection (Jack the Reaper) is much like this boy I knew in high school. Only Jack handles things differently than I would have did, and she gets the boy.

With my writing, I can explore all those things I never explored when I was a teenager*. My characters have different experiences than I ever did, and through writing them, I can have those experiences as well.

*Let’s be honest here: I was a pretty boring teenager. I took a bunch of AP classes, was on the high kick team, and was an athletic trainer/basketball manager. Not much time left for “normal” teenage behavior. Not that I would trade my experience for anything; it is just nice to live vicariously through my characters and their different experiences as well.

Where the ideas came from:

The Kyle Prideaux series

Kyle came to me in a dream. When I woke up, I didn’t know much about her, but I was intrigued by the dream, and by the end of the day I had the plots for three books rolling around in my head. Admittedly, the plots have evolved and metamorphosed a LOT since that first day, but the series still started with that dream.

Jack the Reaper

Jack came to me as a snarky teenage voice. I was sitting at work one day, minding my own business, and there she was, harassing me and demanding her story be told. I took a few minutes to discover what her story really is. After jotting the basics of a plot down, I returned to work. Apparently the basics were not enough for Jack (who was still unnamed at the time). I struggled to continue working on Incubus for nearly a week before her constant nagging wore me down and I put my current project away to write her story.

Darken

I was at work one day, as I often am. Our water at the office is terrible, so we use a Culligan system for drinking water. Those Culligan coolers take SO long to fill a 40 ounce bottle (especially if you are trying to drain the last little bit out of the cooler because you just don’t feel like changing the bottle). So there I was, standing at the water cooler when suddenly I had a flash: Charleston, SC…cemetary…ghost story…love story…and from there a whole plot. And then I overflowed my bottle all over the lobby floor.

As you can see, each instance was a little different. I don’t know if I have ever come across a plot or character in the same way I came across another. Once I couldn’t think of a certain word; then, when I finally did, that one word spawned an entire plot.

I have never sat down and formulated a plot. I tried that once-forcing it DOES. NOT. WORK.

With so many different plots floating around in my head (and in a notebook awaiting their turns to be written), all birthed from completely different circumstances, it is no wonder my default response is “I get ideas everywhere.”

You tell me: where do you get your plot ideas?