If I don’t write to empty my  mind, I go mad–Lord Byron

I remember my mom, who is an avid reader, saying once about a favorite author, “How does she come up with so many ideas?”  I was keeping my writing secret at the time–you know, fear of being judged, and all that–but I knew that my mom misunderstood how a writer’s mind works.  We don’t “come up” with ideas, the ideas are already there.  It is a form of madness, I guess, as Lord Byron insinuates.  There are stories and people and voices in our head and it’s just our job to put it down on paper.  I’ve said before that I dream in full-length movies.  The other night, I dreamt that I was smack-dab in the middle of an Indian war and I got shot in the shoulder by an arrow.  It really hurt.  Don’t be surprised if, in the future, you see a new book from me titled “Sandy and the Indian Wars.”