It’s a warm and sunny day, and I’ve moved my office to the backyard for the first time this year. It feels so good to finally be able to sit in the fresh air with the birds tweeting and chirping all around me. I find it calming and inspiring. It’s where the plot bunnies can come out to play to their hearts’ content.
Plot bunnies.
I’ve had a few just recently. And by a few I mean a lot of them. I’ve not written all of them down, but several have made their way into my notebooks. So now I’ve got ideas for another romantic suspense novel and a four-part small town romance series — which may be novellas if I can keep them short — on top of
the next installment of The Sentinels, which is a two-part story, my PNR, which I’m doing my edits on as we speak, an outline of the next book in the Agent of Honor Series, and an idea for the third book in that series. I’ve also got outlines for at least another three Sentinels stories. It’ll certainly keep me busy for the next few months or so.
What I find interesting about plot bunnies is that they always seem to hop into my head when I’m busy doing something else and can’t write them down. I know I’m not alone in that. Middle of the night when you’re trying to sleep is another time they take the opportunity to poop ideas in my head. Wait. That sounds gross. Sprinkle ideas like confetti sounds better, I think. Yeah, let’s go with that.
How many story ideas is it healthy to have jumping about in your mind, I wonder? Is there a limit or can they just multiply like rabbits until your head is ready to burst? I have a feeling it’s the latter, so it’s a good thing I have a lot of notebooks to write them all down in.
Because what writer doesn’t have a compulsive need to own a lot of nice
notebooks? Most of them unused, of course, as the covers are so pretty or funny or whatever makes you not want to use them.
I also have pens. Lots of pens. In so many colors. I blame my daughter for the treasure trove of pens. She’s living in Australia now, and I’ve been clearing out her room of a lot of old stuff she no longer needs. This is how I found the pens, and a lot of other things useful for a writer. And now they’re mine. All mine. I can use them to write down all the little bunnies.
I’m pretty sure I already have quite a few story ideas already written down, and I need to go through my notes to see what still has a soul and which ones don’t. If the characters aren’t talking then I might need to scrap the idea and go on to the next one.
I must admit, it took a long time for Nate in the Agent of Honor Series to open up and tell me what was going on, but when he did, it rushed out like a spring flood. He’s had his disappointments and struggles, and they’re not over yet, obviously. Hopefully, by the end of his story, he will have found his love and
happiness. It’s usually how it works, right? I just have to get him there, but I have a feeling his path won’t be any straighter than Carter’s in Agent: Undone.
The story idea a bunny dropped in my lap the other day — the four-part small town romance — will be set in the same little town that plays a small but pivotal role in my Paranormal Romance which I will hopefully release later this year. It’s a place where wounded souls can come to heal and find a new purpose in life. And maybe someone new to fall in love with.
While I’ve been sitting here writing all this down, another little rabbit jumped through my crowded mind and left a little gift for me to unravel and examine. So, that’s exactly what I’m going to do.
It has promise, I think.
Now, where’s my pretty notebook?