I didn’t start writing my first book until the ripe old age of 35. I didn’t know I had it in me. Perhaps I didn’t until that point. It all started with a dream, and I don’t mean an aspiration. I had a literal dream that came true in an odd, indirect way, and that got me thinking.
In this dream, I stood in a cow pasture, watching a pink and black umbrella float through the sky. As it neared the ground, I could see it had something attached to the handle. It landed in an ant bed. I approached to examine it. The little package attached to the base was an empty packet of birth control pills.
The next day in reality, I saw a news story on Facebook about a woman in New Jersey who had lost a necklace containing her baby girl’s ashes. The last place she knew she still had it on was at Brown’s Dairy. My mind immediately began making connections to my dream. Pink and black umbrella: pink for girl, black for death. Empty birth control packet: baby. Cow pasture: Brown’s Dairy. I seriously considered reaching out to the news station and asking them to tell the woman to check any ant beds outside the store!
This prompted the thought that I would totally read a fiction book about a woman whose dreams help her solve crimes. I wondered, “What if I wrote the book?” I’d never attempted writing to such an extent in the past, but I saw no reason not to give it a try. Thus, “Night Visions” was born.
I sent out the manuscript to many literary agents only to be met with rejection or ignored completely. I did more research on what agents were looking for, and I discovered that what I’d written just wasn’t long enough. It was more of a novella. So, I thought I’d try again. It took me three years to write “Red Redemption.” I did send it out to a few agents when finished, but from what I’d read about how hard it could be to get published and how much of a cut I’d have to surrender, Kindle Direct Publishing loomed large in my mind as the way to go.
For the setting of “Red Redemption,” I drew heavily from my hometown of Pontotoc, Mississippi. The portion of the story that is set in Tennessee, revolving around Glenrock Branch, came from the time period when I had to travel back and forth to Nashville to participate in a clinical trial at Vanderbilt. My dad and I always drove up the Natchez Trace. One of our last stops before reaching Nashville was scenic Glenrock Branch, with its lovely creek and mossy boulders. Though beautiful, its position down a steep hill behind the restrooms made it seem the ideal spot to hide a body. If you’ve read the book, you know what I mean.
My next novel, “Goodnight to the Evening,” though set in Orange Beach, Alabama, did not have its beginnings there. I received inspiration for this book while in Estero Island, Florida. My husband and I were staying in a hotel. We could hear a woman not just crying but wailing in the room next to ours. I began to form a scene in my mind. “What if her man just dumped her? What if they’re from out of town and he’s leaving her here? How cool yet scary would it be to have to start a new life in paradise?” At the time, I was still working on “Red Redemption,” but I stored this idea away for a future story. Two years later, I started work on “Goodnight to the Evening.” Because of the Covid lockdown, I managed to finish it in 6 weeks.
I’ve always had a fear of mass gatherings of sunflowers. I don’t have a problem with the individual flower. Big fields full of them terrify me. I don’t know why. As far as I know, I’ve never had a traumatic experience in such a field. But what if I had and just didn’t remember it? From this thought came my novella, “Sunflower Solstice.” I didn’t stretch it to a full-length novel because the plot I had in mind could be wrapped up quickly. I think it’s best to let the book tell you how long it wants to be, rather than struggle to fill the space you’ve been told is necessary.
With the Kate Adams’ series, beginning with “Shifting Seaward,” I revisited the theme of starting over in an oceanside locale, but this time, the main character made the choice herself. I’m just fascinated with the idea of starting from scratch by the sea. I wanted to keep the story going in the second book, “Drifting Inland,” but change up the setting for autumn, so I took the character to the mountains of Tennessee. For winter in the third book, “Sloping Southward,” I started her out on the slopes of a ski resort but then moved her to south Florida, where many people prefer to spend the chilly months. I enjoyed taking her through a variety of settings, having her adapt to each and deal with being moved yet again. I suppose it was a way to feed the hungry adventurer within me.
At this point in my writing journey, I had enough experience with self-publishing that I decided to revamp “Night Visions” and release it to the public. Since I have very vivid, bizarre dreams myself, I thought it’d be fun to document those dreams for a year and release the collection, “Psychological Potluck,” in tandem with Night Visions. During this same time period, I began work on “The Characters of Sardis Lake.” The people are completely fictional, but the lake happens to be one of my favorite spots. I have met several unusual folks while visiting the area. Though these people didn’t directly inspire any certain characters, these encounters definitely presented the idea to create a camp of quirky souls.
I enjoyed doing the research for “Gulf Shores Godsend” the most. My husband Josh and I took a week-long trip to the area and stayed in an AirBNB on the beach. The layout and furnishings of the condo provided the backdrop for major portions of the story. We visited several restaurants, a nature trail, and Fort Morgan, all of which made it into the book. I took notes and photos. On the last day of our research vacation, we had full sun and gorgeous green-blue water. If you’re familiar with the area, you know that the water color and clarity changes quickly. It can be clear glassy turquoise in the morning and opaque gray that afternoon. On this day, we had a combination of bright green and blue. I snapped several photos, one of which became the cover of the book!
The novel I’m currently writing, which as of yet, does not have a name, had its beginnings in a dream. The layout of the house and yard, as well as the discovery that sets the whole thing in motion, came to me in my sleep. I need to meditate on it again before I fall into slumber and see if I can dream up some more story material.
If you think you might be a writer but you don’t know where to start, pay attention to everything around you, even when you’re asleep. Inspiration is everywhere. You just have to open the eyes of your mind. Accept that even the trivial and the bizarre can be excellent sources for creating something you never dreamed of . . . or did you?