Inspiration Far...and Near

For those of you who follow this blog closely, I've often mentioned how travel gives me story ideas. This weekend I'm off to a resorted I visited almost 4 years ago. Back then I had yet to sell my first book, and wasn't sure what would come of the ideas buzzing through my head.

But look at this portion of the lobby. How can you look at it and not be inspired? Go ahead, take a moment and think of how you could work this into a story. Fill it with Scarlett O'Hara types circa 1850, faces pressed against the windows spotting for the perfect man. Or a 1950s family reunion, complete with crazy aunt and two sisters who haven't spoken in ten years, both set on snaring the handsome visitor from they spot the moment they step into this lobby.

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Now move on to the indoor pool, filled with water from the hot springs that made the area famous. The bonus is that in additional to all the medicinal properties of the water, it makes it twice as easy to float. How would you use that information in a red-hot love scene? Stealing through the long hallways to come to this beautiful, steamy room, bobbing on the water?

New sights are exciting and fresh - easy to let your imagination roam. But you can try the same thing wherever you are, whatever you're looking at. Remember, to quote NBC Thursday night theme from the 1990s "If you haven't seen it yet, its new to you".

So take a spin around where you live, and look at it with fresh eyes. See if you can spin ideas out of what is usual and run of the mill to you. Remember that to everyone else, if they were visiting you, it would be fresh and story-worthy.