A Strand Runs Through It

A Strand of Golden South Sea Pearls

There is one particular strand (oh, how I wish I had one of those) that runs through Edward, Con Extraordinaire and Sirocco, Storm over Land and Sea. Maybe it was wishful thinking on my part that I wove it into these two books; but it served me well, I think, as part of these different stories. Of course, Edward is there, too, but I really wouldn’t wish one like him on any woman. Quite likely, some of us have met, even loved and then been deceived by, one of his ilk.

Other than drawing from one’s life experiences, where do those ideas come from? Mostly at two in the morning only to vanish upon waking up. Like most writers do I assume, I keep a notepad by my bed so I can catch that wisp of a thought, that perfect sentence, that new idea. And it is treasured like a precious pearl, to be strung along with others, maybe not yet perfectly formed. At least they are there, ready to be polished; as they are, time and time again, until the writer perceives his or her strand of verbal pearls to be as perfect as they can be.