Not that my life is always a romance novel.  Thankfully, I’ve already battled my way to my happily-ever-after and I’m fortunate to live it with my husband and three sons.  But the world around me provides ideas constantly.  And if it doesn’t, I tend to kick start things with a vacation or a new adventure that will provide food for thought.

For example, I took a cruise just so that I could write a book set on a cruise ship. (A particularly Machiavellian bit of wifely manipulation, but my husband ended up having a great time.)  The Pleasure Trip was the result.  My yearly trips to the nation’s ballparks wound up in Double Play and Sliding Into Home.  An old trip to the Jersey shore (pre-dating the show by the same name) provided the inspiration for my Wrong Bed, Up All Night.  The months I lived in Miami’s North Beach area gave me tons of material for my Single in South Beach series, starting with Sex and the Single Girl. 

But I don’t always need to travel for inspiration.  Sometimes, I fall in love with a TV character or a great book, and that morphs into an idea.  The summer I read about Boldt Castle in the Thousand Islands area transplanted into Getting Lucky for a fun American Gothic setting.  The year I watched all the Sopranos shows came through in my Night Eyes books, especially Don’t Look Back, where a cop has to deal with a gangster in her past.  Oh, and remember the Gilmore Girls?  Their snappy dialogue really informed my mother/daughter characters in Wild and Willing.

A frequent interview question that I’ve gotten is “Where do you get your ideas?”  It would probably be easier to answer “Where don’t I?” as the list would be much shorter.  Ideas are all around me in the form of character voices, settings, conflicts and happily ever after moments.  I just have to be observant and take it all in. 

***See a book of mine that you’ve missed?  Tell me what stories are missing from your collection and I’ll send one random poster a copy of the book they need!

Twenty years ago one probably thought of a romance writer like this

The infamous Dame Barbara Cartland.
But even then, she was the exception, not the norm.
My daily life is somewhat different.
First I drag out of bed and drive my teens to high school in a ratty robe and sleep-tangled hair. I admit, I do brush my teeth first, but humiliating my teens by dropping them off at school in my robe and beat up mini-van is shear payback for all the crap my teens have given me over the years. Once I get home again I make breakfast for the 10 year old and get her off to school. Then if I’m feeling really determined, I spend 15-20 minutes working out to an old Jazzercize tape. I shower, eat a bowl of cereal, make some coffee, then finally sit down to my computer. But do I immediately open the word doc with my current manuscript and start writing? Oh no.
First I check my To Do list, reply to the emails from RWA chapter loops, author loops, conference planning team loops, and a few personal emails, call the high school and speak to one of my daughter’s teachers about her grade or class she wants to get out of, fill in and address 15 invitations for my daughter’s roller skating birthday party in a few weeks, and make a few other phone calls for doctor and dentist appointments for the kids. Then of course there’s the all important bill paying/checkbook balancing, and last but not least, I must play solitaire and/or Jawbreaker while I listen to music I consider the “soundtrack” for my current manuscript. By then it’s time for lunch.
If I’m really in a procrastinating mode, I’ll even do laundry. I know. Desperate, huh? Anything but face that blank page or that snag in the plot.
So, of course, I end up staying up until 2 or 3 in the morning writing, which is what I did when my kids were toddlers and I didn’t have 10 minutes to myself during the day. I haven’t come very far, have I?
Oh, I’ve had those rare good days when the words flow and I write 17 pages straight by the time I have to pick up the kids from school. But I don’t seem to ever have a solid week of reaching my goal, which is 5 pages a day. I used to think I could just force it. If I sat at the computer and really thought hard about my characters or my plot points I could figure out what to write next. After all, I’m a plot-driven writer, not a “Pantser” (someone who writes by the seat of their pants) or a character-driven writer like my 2 Critique Partners who absolutely let their characters tell them what is going to happen next. No, no. Not me. I am in control of this plot.
But more and more I seem to need to get up and walk away from the keyboard and do something else while my subconscious works out the problem. Catherine Spangler http://www.catherinespangler.com/gives a wonderful workshop about the subconscious writer, but I never thought I WAS one. My CPs can go to sleep blocked on a writing problem and wake up knowing the answer. Not me. Sometimes I just have to let it go, read a good romance from my To Be Read pile, or watch a favorite romantic movie, and that will spark the answer I need.
But the most important thing is knowing I WILL figure it out eventually, and come back to the writing with a better scene, or knowing my character better, or just how to transition to the next scene. At least at this point in my writing life, I know I don’t have to give up and go apply at Wal-Mart.
Who knew a romance writer’s life was so…Unromantic?