I'm often asked. . .

Not all monsters are ugly.  Every murder has a victim—every victim has a story, this is my story.

         My apartment complex was two up two down.  I was in 2B. I never liked my neighbors, but the rent was affordable.

            Saturday, August 20^th. 2012, 1:30 p.m.  It was hot in the city, hot and so humid the air was not only sticky but almost dripping.  It rained every evening for a week, and everything is molding, including the clothes you’re wearing, typical for August in Cleveland.

 

What you read is the beginning of my upcoming novel, "Hunt Club Corpse."  I'm often asked, "Where do you get your idea's?" 

 

My answer is simple: If you are living and breathing, you have a story in you.  At my current age of fifty-four, my life has been filled with stories and story ideas, like you.

 

Remember that time? When I'm asked this question from a sibling, friend, parent, my children, granddaughter or co-worker, the memory in question can and many times will trigger a future story. You will see a pen or pencil in my hand jotting down bits and pieces to bring a distant memory alive in a new way.  It may be used or not in the future, but I do have these remembrance's in an index box labeled simply: Box of Memories.

 

On my nightstand is a tablet and pen for those thoughts and dreams which come in my sleep and I'll awake and write them down, or when I can't sleep and my mind is racing with ideas. 

Does this happen to you or am I the only one? 

 

Everywhere you go, an idea will present itself.  The farmers market, grocery store, library, children playing in the park, the quietness of a lake, the mountains in the distance, or in my case, in my back yard.  Stop reading and look around you right now?  What do you see? Choose one object you see and write a paragraph about it.

 

Looking out at the mid-August blue sky, a hummingbird stopped to quench it's thirst on the red strawberry shaped bird feeder hanging out my window.  Where are you coming from and where is your destination I ponder.  Did you lap sweet nectar on my vibrant pink fuchsia on the far side of the barn before visiting this feeder? 

 

What ever crosses your path today, ask yourself this: Is what I'm seeing or what I just heard from that lady yelling at the clerk in front of me in the grocery line, a future story?  Listen and observe.  Bring your head out of the sand,look, listen and write.

 

What ever you do or where ever you visit today, make it the best.  I guarantee when you begin to observe and hear your personal surroundings you will find an idea to base a story around or use in a story.