When
Inspiration Strikes
Several years ago, I drove to
Santa Barbara unaware that a truck had dumped a load of nails onto the 101
freeway. By the time I spotted the scattered cargo it was too late. I ended up
with four—yes four—flat tires! As my son
and I waited on the side of the road for the Auto Club he asked, "Mom, are
you going to use this in a book?"
Ah, inspiration. It can hit anytime, anywhere and sometimes
when you least expect it. Boom. Bang. Fireworks! That's part of the fun and delight of being a
writer. No matter what happens good or
bad there's always the possibility that a story will pop out of it. That goes double for vacations.
During a trip to Paris, my
husband and I enjoyed a moonlight cruise along the Seine. It was a scene right out of a Harlequin novel.
That is until disaster struck. As we emerged from beneath a bridge, a bunch of
hooligans dumped barrels of motor oil on our boat, creating havoc.
Fortunately, no one was seriously
hurt, but what a mess! The fun began
when the boat docked. Irate travelers stormed onto shore screaming in what
seemed like fifty different languages at the befuddled owner—an enormous Asian
man who arrived on a mini-cycle.
Now, I ask you. What better place for a writer than Paris at
midnight surrounded by a mob of enraged foreigners? While the others ranted and raved about
ruined clothes I stood reveling in a new story idea. At one point my husband
pulled me aside and told me to stop smiling.
He was worried that the others would think I'd planned the whole affair.
Not all inspiration can be found
in the form of disaster. A conversation with a friend over lunch gave me the
basis for a story about a woman who regained her hearing after twenty-five years.
A chance remark by the man hired to fix our antique clock gave me the idea for
my latest book, Left at the Altar.
An early dictionary defined the
word inspiration as an immediate influence of God. The word also means to breath in, inhale. If what Thomas Merton said is true about "Every
moment and every event of every man's life on earth planting something in his
soul," then even mundane happenings can be turned into poems, books,
music, art and even scientific discoveries. All we have to do is pay attention
and breathe.
Of course, as every creative
person well knows, a light bulb moment is only the beginning. Sir Isaac
Newton's inspiration came from an apple falling from a tree, but it took a
lifetime to fully develop the science of mechanics which explains the force of
gravity.
Inspiration is nothing more than
an idea that hasn't been put to work. Once an idea is in hand a writer must
then go after the story, sometimes with a sledgehammer. That’s what Rod Serling
called the bleeding part.
Who knows? One day I might even hammer
out a story from those four flat tires.
Who knew being Left at the
Altar could be such sweet, clean, madcap fun?
Welcome to Two-Time Texas:
Where tempers burn hot
Love runs deep
And a single marriage can unite a feuding town
…or tear it apart for good
In the wild and untamed West,
time is set by the local jeweler…but Two-Time Texas has two: two feuding
jewelers and two wildly conflicting time zones. Meg Lockwood’s marriage was
supposed to unite the families and finally bring peace. But when she’s left at
the altar by her no-good fiancé, Meg’s dreams of dragging her quarrelsome
neighbors into a ceasefire are dashed.
No wedding bells? No one-time
town.
Hired to defend the groom
against a breach of promise lawsuit, Grant Garrison quickly realizes that the
only thing worse than small-town trouble is falling for the jilted bride. But
there’s something about Meg’s sweet smile and determined grit that draws him
in…even as the whole crazy town seems set on keeping them apart.
Amazon | Books-A-Million | Barnes
& Noble | Chapters | iBooks | Indiebound
BEST-SELLING AUTHOR MARGARET
BROWNLEY has penned more than forty novels and novellas. Her books have won
numerous awards, including Readers' Choice and Award of Excellence. She's a
former Romance Writers of American
RITA® finalist and has written for a TV soap. She is currently working on a new
series. Not bad for someone who flunked
eighth grade English. Just don't ask her
to diagram a sentence.
www.margaret-brownley.com
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