How do you find your inspiration?

Everyday I read and see things that inspire me. It could be something I see on television, a book or newspaper article I’ve read, a conversation I overhear in a shop, or a picture I find on the net.

A few weeks ago I found the picture below and immediately had to start writing. Yes, there are more pressing stories I need to be working on so I didn’t overdo it, just wrote the first few thousand words and left it at that. But, the characters keep talking to me(and no snarky comments about what hearing voices is a sign of thank you very much). So, when I finish the Bollywood novel and the next two shifter books I’m working on,(hopefully in the next couple of weeks) I will be writing Declan Hardy’s story.

Declan is a merman who believes he is the last of his kind. Every year, on exactly the same date he returns to Copenhagen, to the place he met Liam, his one and only love. He doesn’t expect to find anything, returning mostly out of habit, but when a tourist inadvertently snaps a picture of a mermaid tail in the murky waters of Copenhagen harbour, Declan quickly comes to realise that everything he held true for the last one hundred years was a lie.

He enlists the help of reclusive wizard Malaki to help solve the mystery of the disappearance of the merpeople. If he can find out what happened to Liam and the rest of his kind, Declan may finally get the closure he craves, but Malaki is a recluse for a reason. The past the wizard is hiding from could hold the answers Declan has been searching for, but when he finds himself falling in love with Malaki and has the possibility of a future with him, just how important are those answers? And if Liam is alive after all, how will he ever choose between them?

I love reading about what inspires people and I know that a lot of other authors out there use pictures in this way. When I started writing, I never looked at pictures for inspiration, I got the idea for a character or characters and just went with it. Sometimes it was a story idea or a scene that came to mind and I shaped and molded my characters to fit. How do you get your inspiration? Do you use pictures in this way? Are your characters born from a picture you discovered, or do you imagine your characters first and find a picture that fits?

I know they say a picture is worth a thousand words, well, to me, this picture is worth a whole book full of words and I'm eternally grateful to the artist(whoever they may be) for creating it. You have, truly inspired me.

Now Available on Amazon

Hi everyone,

I had a few people ask me when my books would be available in the online bookshops(other than the TEB website) as they only purchase from Amazon and ARe etc. Well I just had word from my publisher that Luke's Surprise, book one in the Shifters' Haven series is now available both on Amazon and All Romance ebooks as of today. Cody's Revelation and Kelan's Pursuit will follow on consecutive months. As most of you know Aaron's Awakening, book four in the series will be available from October 17th and will make it's way onto the distributor sites three months from that date.

That's all folks, thanks for checking in! :)

Aaron's Awakening Cover

Hi all, I just got my new cover for Aaron's Awakening, book four in my Shifters' Haven series from the very talented Emmy Ellis so I thought I'd show it off :) Aaron and Cary have become my favourite two characters in the series so far and the cover is a great representation of them both. Hope you like it as much as I do.

Should I listen to my muse?

I've been having a difficult time writing lately. It's not writer's block, quite the opposite in fact, there are so many stories in my head that I can't seem to concentrate on just one. I wonder how many other people out there have this same problem?

You'd think it would be a great thing for a writer to have so many ideas rolling around in your head but usually it's more of a hindrance than something positive. Take right now for example. I'm more than half way to completion on books five and six of my Shifters' Haven series. I've got a very good idea of what to write to add the last 16,000 words of my Bollywood novel(thank you very much beta reader, you know who you are) so clearly these are the three books I should be working on. However, every time I open one and start writing I get an idea for a completely different story that I just have to get written down before I forget it.

In the last month I've started eight new novels and written the first three thousand words on each. Now I'm not complaining(much) because when I do finish the shifter books and the Bollywood story I have a wealth of material to choose from but do the math. Eight partially started books at 3,000 words each is 24,000 words. That would have been enough to complete both my shifter books or the Bollywood story but I'm left with three uncompleted manuscripts. Very frustrating.

What do you do when your muse takes you somewhere you have no interest in going? Do you listen to it or do you put your foot down and ignore the little seed of an idea in your mind until you've finished what you should be working on? How strict are you? Unfortunately my self-discipline and concentration levels are practically non-existent at the moment. If anyone has any tips on how to focus on one thing at a time please let me know, I'll be eternally grateful. :)

Happy Birthday TEB!

Hi everyone! Just a quick post to give a shout out to my publishers Total-E-Bound who are celebrating their birthday today! Why not drop by their website and take advantage of their fabulous special offer of 25% off all eBooks today! I'm heading on over there right now. :)

http://www.total-e-bound.com/default.asp?