My Great-Grandmother Did What?! (Or Where Do I Get My Ideas?)

From my local newspaper: (1891)

"Matrimonial Ties
--Scott C____, a well known glass worker, formerly a resident here, and Miss Nettie, daugheter of Andrew G. R____ of this city, were married in Streator, Illinois, Thursday,  Mr. C____ is working in a glass factory in Streator and, not wishing to lose any time in coming here to be married, sent for his bride who left here Tuesday to join her lover."

Aww, romance.  The stuff of fairy tales.

How can one NOT see the glimmer of an idea here?  I'm going to cast aside cynicism and believe this happy union had everything to do with a man and woman being head over heals in love and nothing to do with my grandmother being born less than four months later!

As you might have guessed, I love genealogy.  Almost as much as I love historical romance.  I've found old newspapers, census records, biographies are all a treasure trove of ideas.

In addition to my grandmother's...um, rather "premature" birth, I have unearthed some skeletons in my family's closet.  An aunt who never knew the man that raised her wasn't her biological father.  A great- great grandfather who fathered the child of a 12-year old girl back in the 1910s.  (And, yes, thankfully, he was arrested and tried for it.)  My husband's great-great grandfather who was born in the 1860s to a widow two years after her husband died.  Talk about the math not adding up!

I read a story in the local newspaper from the late 1800s/early 1900s about a young girl being buried alive.  She had been given a dose of an opiate that induced a coma.  The neighbor's dogs kept carrying on at night, and finally the coffin was exhumed.  The lining was shredded from the poor soul trying to claw her way out.  I kid you not!

Sounds like Stephen King may not have such a fantastical imagination after all!

This week the AC writers are blogging about where they get their ideas. Check out these links:

Alexia Reed Angeleque Ford  Kristen Koster  Kimberly Farris

Got Ruby Slippers? (Or What Inspires Me?)

That was the question posed to my Accountability Group this week.

I suspect my sources of inspiration will be the same as many of theirs.  And many of yours as well.

Nothing helps my fickle Muse get her mojo on like reading a good book.  Sometimes reading (or rereading) just for pleasure or, more often than not, trying to figure out how that author kept me glued to the pages.  I have even been known to get an infusion of inspiration from reading a bad book, contemplating how it could have been better.

I have lots of visual cues in my writing cave.  One of my them is my sparkly ruby slippers.  No, not one of the four pair in existence, one of which sold for $666,000 at Christies Auction House in 2000, but a 4" magnetic pair.

They're a reminder of one of my favorite quotes.

Dorothy had the shoes, but lacked the vision.  Take control!
--Anonymous

At first glance, the quote might seem frivolous to you, but it reminds me that Dorothy had the means to get back to Kansas all along.  She just didn't realize it!

If clicking my heels together three times would result in a book contract, I'd be right on that.

But what I can do is take control--and get out of my own way.  One of the biggest (if not the biggest) impediments to my writing career is me.  Whether I'm feeling inspired or not, it's my job to write.  As Pablo Picaso once said, "Inspiration exists, but it has to find us working."

The AC writers are blogging this week about where they find inspiration!
Here are the links:

Alexia Reed Angeleque Ford  Kristen Koster  Kimberly Farris

Shoe Drama: Lessons Learned From A Five-Year Old (or How I Write)

If there is one thing I've learned over the years, it's the predictably of certain events.

Every September the leaves begin their transformation into a swath of brilliant color.  Just as predictably, my neighbors will begin burning those leaves once they fall.  And, without fail, there will be shoe drama the first week of school.

Last week did not disappoint.  Those Skechers Twinkle Toes that felt wonderful in the store only a few days earlier now were too tight and hurt.

And the socks?  Well, I think it would be easier to achieve world peace than to get the seam at the toe just right....

In reality, the shoes were uncomfortable, perhaps, but not too tight.  What they were was constricting after a bare-feet-and-flip-flops summer. 

After wailing and tears (hers) and gnashing of teeth (mine),  I did convince the five-year old skeptic that she just needed to break them in.  "The more you wear them, the better they’ll feel,” I assured her.

Much like my writing schedule.

After a lackadaisical summer—with lackluster productivity, it’s time for me to do the writing equivalent of wearing shoes again.  It’s time to settle back into a writing schedule.

And, just as predictably, there will be those don’t-want-to-just don’t-feel-like-it times when I will find it equally constricting and uncomfortable.

That same sage advice I gave her applies to breaking in a new writing routine.  Show up at your desk regularly, if not daily.  With the tincture of time and repetition, the schedule will become comfortable.

As much as I would like to be pursuing my writing on a full-time basis, it isn’t possible right now.  But what is possible is committing to consistent writing.

Every Sunday I look at my schedule for writing opportunities for the upcoming week.  (Notice I didn’t say free time.  As any woman will attest, it simply doesn’t exist.)   Then I plan my writing schedule accordingly and claim that time.  Before someone else does.

Does all go as planned?  Invariably, no.    Do I get to the keyboard daily?  Not always.

But can I commit to breaking in my shiny new writing schedule?  Part-time, yes, but more importantly, on a consistent basis.  

Yes, I can!

The AC writers are blogging about their schedules this week! 
Here are the links:

Alexia Reed Angeleque Ford  Kristen Koster  Kimberly Farris