Where do your ideas come from?

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Most of my ideas come from “What if” moments.  Say I am reading a book, and thought that the hero did a spectacularly stupid thing.  What if he did something else instead.
Like Romeo and Juliet.
What if:
— the letter got to Romeo in time?
— He didn’t take the poison when he was in the crypt?
— Juliet decided to run away with him when he left Verona?
You know stuff like that.

My best ideas come when I am doing something else. Like sweeping, or washing dishes, or taking a sit down bath. When my body is on auto pilot, my mind can gnaw away on ideas.
Little things come together.

I was startled by my neighbor today because I was working on the dialog of a scene of my NaNo project. . .OUT LOUD. His wife had been a writer, so I am hoping that he is used to that sort of thing. Or else he may be moving soon. Or think I am crazy. He hasn’t SEEN crazy!!
Yes, I am a self talker.

I need to attach headphones to my cellphone so it looks like I am taking a call.  Instead I am talking to my voice recorder app. (Which I haven’t downloaded yet)

My BEST ideas come to me in dreams. Those are the ideas (if I can remember them) which I just know in my gut are good. There is no real second guessing a dream story idea.
I can rewind my dreams and rearrange them to my satisfaction.  A nice little talent, if I do say so myself.

Sometimes I rewind and re-dream things over and over again until I am sure I’ll remember it when I wake up.

I don’t think I dream Works in Progress.  At least if I do, I don’t remember it.

I find ideas everywhere. I keep them in my head.  I tinker with them and gnaw on them.  See if they won’t fall apart under pressure. If I am satisfied, I write them down on paper.  Which in my mind is like setting them in stone.  They are real. Unchangeable.

But we all know how NaNoWriMo chips away at “unchangeable”.

. . . and I thought I was gonna die

Camp didn't start off well.
550 words on the first day, and the case of the sniffles.
Day Two - another 580 so words and my head decided that it was going to try and KILL ME!

I have real bad sinus problems. Not allergies but when a "bug" shows up it attacks my sinuses first. I get the worst headaches. I get all snotty and drippy; blowing the nose doesn't help. My face just aches.  Those of you who suffer the same fate understand.
I went to the local CVS and took a good 30 minutes looking through medicines trying to get something that fit my symptoms. No I don't have chest congestion.
Yes, I have aches and pains.
Yes, I have nasal congestion.
Yes, I have sinus pressure - that's why I am here!

But...
I also have itchy eyes but I know it's not an allergy.
Get this box? Get that box?
I need something for daytime as well. Can't have something that will make me fall asleep while I am driving now can I? Wouldn't do to wrap the truck around a tree!
So I picked something "safe" that was kinda effective, but I still had the pain so I slept a lot.

One week later!!!!!

yes..a whole week I am back. I still have some lingering sinus pain and NO new words.
Do I jump back into Camp? I should...I really should. I came up with some interesting ideas while drinking hot tea and just...blargh!
I feel okay now, but guilty that I haven't worked more on my NaNo.
I've like 800 or so words I think. Monday's word count goal is 13,336.
Yeah. Not gonna happen.

I am gonna have more tea and go to bed! I is sleepy.

I am going to camp!

When I was in 6th grade, many many moons ago, I sold candy bars so I could go to science camp in the Santa Cruz Mountains.  It was the first and only time I went camping (sort of but that's a post for another time).

August 1st 2011 I am going to camp again. This time it will be virtual camp. I've signed up for Camp NaNoWriMo (August edition).

I am hoping to knock out the pre-requisite 50k words and get a good start on a new YA werewolf thing I’ve had brewing.  To be brutally honest, I am a little bit scared about the werewolf thing.  Because my wolfies, aren’t your slobbering go out and kill people during the full moon weres, and they aren’t Shifters…not completely.

They DO get more aggressive and growly during the full moon, but they aren’t pack killers. They can shift anytime they want to with varying degrees of animalistic tendencies – “attitudes”.

But the story isn’t all about Werewolves, it’s about the people, the pack. It’s about family and community and fitting in. Which seems to be the theme of a lot of my stuff lately. I wonder why?

I am not going to delve too deeply into my own personal need to explore these themes, or else I’d probably turn out to write something else. And I don’t wanna! I’ll keep my little blinders on and be happy!

So! J.A. Konrath suggested in a post the other day to write 2,000 words a day. *looks at number, dies a little bit inside

It’s just a suggestion! But if I want to hit 50k I have to do like 1,700 a day…so what’s 300 more? Uhm.. A LOT?!

Well even if I just do the 50k it’s a win and a good start to a novel.