Ugh. My problem is not the ideas but the follow through. Almost any time I see a film or hear a new song, ideas float around. I can integrate some of them into WIPs, but mostly they're siren songs of distration. I have a list as long as my arm of ideas awaiting my attention or that of a ghostwriter....

Here's my thought process for coming up with my WIP. First, I don't care for most paranormals, so I wanted 100% historical. That meant needing to find a way for the heroine to be super keen, but without magic powers. Answer: alchemy. Second, my husband read me an article about Johnny Rotten, formerly of the Sex Pistols, and how he'd been in a coma for six months as a 6-yo. Turns out he had spinal meningitis and could have gone blind. Answer: how my heroine goes blind. Third, my kids were watching the Disney version of Robin Hood. I had a hankering to see the Prince of Thieves Costner monstrosity, and re-fell in in love with CHristian Slater. Answer: the hero. Ta-dah. I was off and running.

In the miniseries Wives and Daughters, the H/H wind up in Africa on an expedition. And I have an abiding fondness for Djimon Hounsou. So now I want to write one set in Abyssinia staring a lovely black prince.

Etc. etc. That's how it happens. Random stuff coalesces.

Hope you're feeling better soon, Ann. I'd tell you "don't drink the water," but you're probably a few years past that advice.

Random stuff coalesces.

Amen, sister. That's how it works for me, too.

Before I came up with my latest story, I decided to give in to one of my CP's incessant peer pressure and watch an episode of Charmed. The one I (randomly) saw included the girls interacting with a (real) sandman.

So I thought, "Huh." (or something equally profound).

Then I thought, "What if my story was about a mythical character interacting with the real world?" You know, like, the tooth fairy. (What? You wouldn't have gone with tooth fairy?)

And then I thought of the advice that goes, if he's a fireman, make her an arsonist. (Not sure that arson is heroic, but I guess it makes for good external conflict.)

So then I thought, who on earth would be the natural enemy of the tooth fairy? Well, it had to be someone who didn't give up the teeth, right? So obviously my first thought was dentist, but I wasn't sure I could make that sexy. (And I wanted sexy!) So then I thought, well, if it's not the hero's teeth (cause I didn't want a toothless hero) maybe he's an archaeologist. And so on.

And so now I have a book called Trevor and the Tooth Fairy. (Which, as in Carrie's case, I didn't *purposefully* sit down to think up. It just happened.)

Where do my ideas come from? Lots of places: tv, songs, daydreams, random what if thoughts... I don't have a lot of problem with inspiration, it's molding them into something workable that is the hard part for me.

BTW, I hope you kick that virus and get well soon!

That's cool, Carrie. I get ideas in a similar way. Can't wait to read more of RWS. Did I ever send you feedback? I'm not sure if I did. This virus is killing me.

Hi Erica and welcome. I think I read your toothfairy thing on Miss Snark. That's a cool idea.

Thanks, Cora. I had an idea yesterday when I was in the bathroom, but I haven't felt like writing the last two days.

No... still waiting for feedback... holding breath... so I don't catch your virus.

Seems like all we do is pass viruses around during the winter. One kid gets it, then the next...

Hi Zinnia and welcome! Isn't that the truth? Though we don't have winter where it gets cold here, we certainly have viral season. Dec through March is the worst. Why would that be?

So here's my own story about coming up with an idea for the story I'm racing to complete, referenced in today's blog post.

. Well, I was in the downstairs bathroom, looking at how plain it was and I thought it looked like a nun's cell with all the bare plaster.

From nun's cell, I jumped to the opening scene of a story, where a beautiful demon appears to a novitiate and announces he's there to tempt her. I started thinking about the old dragon legends from Judao-Christian mythos and how they are almost always associated with the infernal. Named the heroine Teresa for obvious reasons and it's sort of a sexual allegory. I'm going to write it as seven days, alluding to the creationist myth.

Carrie has read the first chapter and quite kindly pronounces that it isn't shite and moves like lightning. Since I intend to tell this story in 21K words, written in seven days (just about real time as relates to the time scale in the story), lightning seems like the right word.