Reliquary

mood: about ready to kill gmail

pandora/ipod: "don't you (forget about me)" by simple minds

Inspiration hits at odd moments.  No control, no forewarning, no scheduling.  It's like an earthquake that just hits you out of nowhere and throws your world into chaos.

When I first had the idea for 3:59, I was chest deep in writing TEN, churning out the first draft of that novel in a very painful and stressful eight weeks.  I was driving home from work for another cloistered evening of writing when BAM! a new idea hit me like Emeril dousing a recipe with his secret spice blend.

3:59 was born from a single moment - deciding whether or not to gun my car and race through a yellow light, or hit the breaks and wait for the next one.  I went home, walked the dog, formulated a plot, and emailed my agent to see if she could think of anything similar in a sci fi/horror vein.

Her answer went something like this:

"No.  But you need to finish TEN first, okay?  Please?"

Yes, Ginger.  *grins*

And I did.  But as soon as TEN was off to copyedits, my agent had half a proposal on her desk for 3:59.  Editor loved it, and here I am.

Then it happened again.

This time, a friend of mine was going camping and had read some weird stuff about the campsite.  He sent me a few internet articles and...BAM!  There I am, with a brand new horror novel brewing in my mind while I'm supposed to be writing a different book.  Again, I emailed my agent.  Again, a similar response:

"This idea is awesome.  But you need to finish 3:59 first, okay?  Please?"

Yes, Ginger.  *grins bigger*

Thankfully, 3:59 is actually flowing really well right now.  I finally know where this story is going.  Now I just need to get there.  But that doesn't mean this new idea isn't percolating in the back of my brain, so much so that I spent a small chunk of time at my day job yesterday (shhhhh!) coming up with the perfect name for the new story.

So once 3:59 is done, my agent will have a shiny new proposal on her desk for RELIQUARY.

rel·i·quar·y   [rel-i-kwer-ee]
noun, a repository or receptacle for relics.