Plucking story ideas out of thin air...

I'll admit I am prone to having an overactive imagination that result in people giving me strange looks when I ask a question. Luckily for me, my neighbors are very well aware I write suspense. So when I call up a neighbor who is a phlebotomist and ask how I can make someone look like they've been murdered using blood from a blood donar bag, I only get a short pause before they realize it's for one of my books and I'm not actually planning on doing it. I'm only writing about it. They're use to my wild ideas and strange questions.

But after the funny stares and laughs they give me, the conversation always turns around to where I get my ideas. Honestly, most of the time I don't know. Ideas come from everywhere. I believe my imagination is much like a muscle. If I exercise it well, it will perform well for me. As such, there is nothing I see or hear that doesn't spark some kind of interest in me. For instance, in Cradle of Secrets, the idea for the gardener to find jewlery while digging in the yard came from a neighbor I had growing up. The fire in the mansion came from the same thing. The neighborhood I grew up in as a child had once been owned by a wealthy family in my town. There had been a church function at the mansion where a lot of money was raised for the church. After everyone had gone home that night, the mansion somehow caught on fire, everyone in the house died and all the money raised for the church was lost.

Fast forward 50 or 60 years and the land was sold to a developer who put up a neighborhood where I lived. The woman who owned the property where the mansion had once stood used to garden and every so often she'd find a bunch of coins in the ground that had been turned over into the dirt after the mansion had been leveled. And so, the idea for Cradle of Secrets was born.

It's not always so transparent though. Sometimes a headline in the newspaper or someone I meet that has had an interesting experience will spark an interest in me. I'm currently writing the 3rd book for the series I'm doing for Steeple Hill Love Inspired Suspense, which is Cash and Serena's reunion. Okay, I am what I am, and while I promise the reunion will be SO worth it and romantic, I also promise you I'm not making it easy on them. Their going to have to work for this happy ending. The story idea came to me when I met a young woman and her husband trying to reunite after a very difficult situation. I don't want to give away too many details now. Keep checking back and I'll fill you in on this amazing story and how it inspired Cash and Serena's reunion.

In the meantime, make sure you mark your calendars on August 2008 for the release of Her Only Protector where you will find out how baby Ellie is rescued!

Until next time, many blessings to you.
Lisa Mondello