Inspiration post #1: Where do ideas come from?

I think the moment when I first felt like a Genuine Author was the first time someone asked me, "Where do you get your ideas?"

From what I gather, authors get asked this a lot. It's kind of a strange question from my viewpoint, because the truth is I get ideas from everywhere. Might be something I catch a glimpse of, an overheard conversation, a snippet from the radio, a place I visit, an event that happens to me or someone I know. I've even had ideas come to me in dreams. These ideas gather in my mind the same way shiny pebbles gather in my daughter's pockets and backpack. And then my muse picks up a few of them and begins to play... and a story is born.

Of course, just as when human beings are born, there's a lot of painful labor involved in the delivery. And lord knows they don't make epidurals for writers.

But in the end you get a brand-new creation, and that's a beautiful thing.

Every Wednesday over the next few weeks, I'll be sharing with you some of the specific things that inspired parts of some of my stories. Because Buried Bones releases May 22, I'll begin on that date with a post on the farm that inspired Dylan's.

Do you wonder about the inspiration behind something in one of my stories? Leave me a comment about what you'd like to know and I'll let you in on the secret. :-)