Inspired

Welcome back!  (Am I welcoming myself back, or my readers back?)  I got home yesterday from my annual Christmas journey south to hang with the in-laws, and I'm raring to go.  Where, that remains to be seen.  What was interesting about the trip (there were, of course, many interesting things, but this is the interesting thing I'm choosing to blog about) is that for a while now, or ever since I finished and emailed my sequel to GET WELL SOON off to my editor, I've been wondering if my inspiration for writing books came from my job at the middle school library.  Not necessarily directly from the job or the kids, but just being away from writing for a school year and then coming back to it each summer.  That concerned me, since I have this year off from work and was hoping to write at least two novels during that time (one down, so at least one more to go, right?).  But then there was that period of time where I wasn't writing, didn't want to start another novel right away, and didn't even really know what I wanted to write.  I had ideas, but nothing that screamed, "Write me!"

During our trip south, Matt and I spent a lot of time driving around while Romy napped.  This was the only way to get her to nap, and it gave me a lot of thinking time.  Reading signs, looking at southern things, whispering to Matt about places he had been, sparked something in me.  And just like that, I was ready to write my next book.  I started it this morning.  It's off to a surly start, but I think that's sort of the point of the thing.  Or not the point, just maybe a place the narrator can move away from.  Wow.  The narrator.  She doesn't even have a name yet.  I'm only four pages in, but I know where it's going a bit.  And just like that, here comes novel number two of my year off.  All I needed was a little change of scenery.  And a Moon Pie.