FM Merry-Go-Round Tour: Where Did I Get My Latest Idea

Ideas are like grass and I'm the cow. No, really!

There are so many things around me that cry out to be turned into stories that I never have only one project in process. I take one from here, another from over there and, oh look! There's a great one further that way! I call it my writer's ADD. My husband calls them my "Ooo! Shiny!" moments. My ideas come from paintings, people, phrases or quotes, pictures and places. Though I am rather like a bird that flits from one sparkly object to another, they tend to stick with me for a while once I do have it in my head.

Back to the cow analogy. Once I have an idea it can sit in my head for a long while before I commit it to paper. Sometimes I start writing right away and then put it aside because I'm not done thinking it through. Like a good cow, I like to chew my cud. One story I've been working on for over eight years. It's been great writing and it's kind of like my baby blanket of writing...I work on it when everything else has me too work up to think about. That particular story idea came to me out of nowhere...infact it's been so long I can't remember if it was a dream or something else entirely.

Josephine By Joseph Chinard

My latest idea came to me while I was visiting England. I was at a museum and there was a beautiful bust of Josephine de Beauharnais (Napoleon's first wife) that I stared at for a solid fifteen minutes. The picture to the right is the bust in question. Her face looked so kind but regal and somehow sad and my mind began to wonder what it would be like to meet her as a woman of today and she, a woman of the past. All of the Napoleonic era interests me from a costumer's standpoint but the people of Napoleon's court must have been equally as fascinating. That's the wonderful thing about writing. The best thing, I think. You can go anywhere and meet anyone you like because they're all there at the tip of your pen....or cursor as the case may be.



 Today’s post was inspired by the topic “Where I got my latest idea” — the opening question in the inaugural cycle of the Merry-Go-Round Blog Tour — an ongoing tour where you, the reader, travel around the world from author’s blog to author’s blog. We have all sorts of writers at all stages in their writing career, so there’s something for everyone to enjoy. The next post in the tour will be on the 1st, by Alex Fayle. Be sure to check it out.


If you want to get to know nearly twenty other writers and find out where they got their latest ideas, check out the Merry-Go-Round Blog Tour. You can find links to all of the posts on the tour by checking out the group site. Read and enjoy!

Rather Unsuccessful

I attempted to take part in Camp NaNoWriMo this month and I have failed epically. Between shopping for appliances, flooring, etc for the new house, trying to plan and pack for a vacation and pack up the condo I just haven't had two seconds to sit and type. My son has also begun teething again and he's transitioning to one nap a day. The end result? No time for mommy to write. I'm hoping that this won't be a mark against me as I would like to apply to be an ML for November NaNoWriMo. I'm disappointed in myself and wonder if I'll be able to do it in November. We'll see.

I'm still working on my Napoleon story but I'm also bending my writing skill to my blog posts for my website. I've taken the advice of a friend of mine who has had an internet presences for a while. He said to me "start with a blog even if you don't have product up yet." I took his advice and received a few positive comments. I'm abnormally pleased but I I have had more spam and some comments I'm not sure if they are spam or actual feedback which is sad. But! People are reading it and it's getting noticed and that's the whole point of the endeavor. Well I have to get back to packing...

Working Against the House

It's been a fast week and no one knows it better than me. I was hoping to get all kinds of writing done on vacation but that of course didn't happen. Best laid plans and all that. During my week vacation at my mom's we had visitors, my son had the most impossible diaper rash and went through some nasty teething moments. I think at this point I just have to face the facts that my challenge for Camp NaNoWriMo is just not going to be met. This weekend my hubby and I are going shopping for appliances for the new house and we have the yearly company BBQ. Next Saturday we're leaving for vacation. I just am going to say that I am not going to be able to finish the challenge this month. It's kind of funny because I always thought that November was the most difficult time that you could do it. Apparently I was wrong. Perhaps it's the support from other writers for the month of November. At this point I  haven't even worked on any posts for my website....not good news.

Camp NaNoWriMo is a great idea and I was thrilled but I think that the hardest part of it is that you don't have the support like you do in November. In November we have write-ins and forums right there for you. Camp NaNo is not quite there. While "Cabins" are a great idea in theory I feel like the ML's are needed here too. It's a lot to ask of one person. To keep being ML for all the months of the year but I feel like there has to be a way around it. A way to have ML's without burning out a single person with the burden of it all.

Banner

So this is for purely selfish reasons. I decided to design a banner for my blog. It's nothing fancy but I wanted to be able to add it to my signature for NaNo and other forums that I belong to. Here's the beta below:

What do you think?

Last Minute Idea

So I realize I haven't posted lately. Sorry! I've been busy doing writing of another kind: blog posts of my research for my website: http://athreadtofollow.com. I've been trying to get ahead so that when we move in September and I'm doing NaNoWriMo in November, I don't have to worry about anything jsut sechdule the posts to be published at regular intervals. Today for the fist time since the beginning of July I looked in on the Camp NaNoWriMo site. I poked around and all of a sudden an idea that been on the back burner in my mind started to gush out. So! It looks like I'm going to write for this month's camp after all.

This time I'm going for a  Historical Fiction taking palace in Napoleonic times. Time travel and a snarky, insightful Boneparte. It's still just something rattling around in my brain so we'll see. It may end up just being a proposal that I use to write my actual Nano novel this year.