It is so much fun to spend time with readers as they get to know you! You'll learn a lot about me this week, but I wanted to share an answer to a question I often receive from people who know I love to write.
A couple of weeks ago, a woman
asked me, "Where do your stories come from?" That was a simple
answer. They come from everywhere! I went on to explain by asking her to tell
me a bit about her family. She had a brother who was married to a
woman who took him for every red cent he had, and then ran off with a man who
owned a Barb-B-Que pit.
Right there, I jotted down
the beginning of her comedic story.
Next, she told me that
she went to a Catholic school where the head nun liked to dance while she was
in the shower. Her mother went bald at 35 from using real "bleach" on
her hair. (Yes, she was a blonde.) Her father drove a milk truck. Her sister
loved to dress as a man.
Can't you just see a
hysterical story? She even had to laugh when I pointed it all out! Story ideas
are all around us. Your best bet in remembering them is to carry a small
notebook with you wherever you go and write own things you observe or hear.
Eavesdrop on conversations. What people say might be great dialogue for your
next book!
How about this one?
Recently, I purchased a
"Jawbone" to give me motivation to lose a bit of weight. The Jawbone
is a calculator of sorts. It monitors, via an armband you wear on your upper
arm, the amount of calories you burn in a day. At night you sign on to your
Ipad, and log everything that goes into your mouth. You then plug the Jawbone into
your computer and it syncs to calculate how many calories you ate and how many
you burned!
When it quits screaming,
you've done okay.
The next day, I got on a
plane to Chicago from Norfolk. I would soon be speaking at a conference and was
feeling full of energy. For those that know me, that's not always good. I arrive
at my row on the plane to find a distinguished looking man, a bit older than I
am, sitting next to me. He politely lets me into my seat. I take off my jacket
and my Jawbone shows. I see him looking at it, but he says nothing. Curiosity
finally wins him over and he asks, "What's that thing on your arm?"
I say, "A jail
monitor."
"What did you do?"
"Murder." I say
matter-of-factly.
He gets quiet and turns
away. A few minutes later he looks at me and says, "You look like a nice enough
person. It must have been a long time ago."
I read the hope in his eyes,
but I can't resist.
"Yeah, it was. 'Bout
two weeks now."
His eyes widen. "Why
are you on this plane then?"
"Going to meet my
parole officer in Chicago. She thinks I'm a flight risk."
He cranks his head sideways
and gives me a good long look.
"But you're on a plane,
doesn't that mean you are a flight risk?"
"Naw," I say.
"The police put me on this plane. Actually, I was more of a driving risk.
Got out of Colorado ten days ago in a golf cart. Made it clean to the Oklahoma
border before someone stopped me."
"Why did they stop
you?"
"I still had a mans set
of clubs on the back end of the cart and there wasn't a golf course within two
hundred miles."
By now, I'm barely able to
contain my laughter, but the businessman is so intrigued I have to play it out.
"Yeah, even stopping
for gas didn't raise anyone's suspicion," I said. "I told them I
lived down the road and had forgotten my purse. Everyone helped me out."
"How did it end?"
"How do these things
always end, Mr.,” I said straight-faced. "Speed trap."
He stares at me for the
longest time, and then burst out laughing.
The rest of the flight was
hysterical and gave me a great scene for my next cozy mystery! When he got off
the plane, he walked right up to the woman greeting me and gave my "parole
officer" a big hug!
And THAT's how scenes can be
made! Keep looking at life. There's a story there!
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