So today I had one of those perfect moments that every writer dreams of having. The kind of moment that changes your course in a story forever. . . and in essence also changes your life. It's the kind of moment that you'll share over and over again when people ask "so how did you get the idea for your book." The kind of moment an author never forgets. For THE DARK DIVINE that moment came one dark night in January of 2005 when I was riding in the car and looked up at a billboard and a conversation between a brother and and sister popped into my mind. Today, that moment came in the shower.
Yep, I had a shower epiphany. (Aren't those the best kind?)
So I was standing in the shower this morning, thinking about my current frustrations with my sequel, wondering if my ideas would ever come together into an actual book, and if the writing of THE DARK DIVINE was a complete and total fluke, and perhaps I was never really meant to be a writer in the first place . . .when all of a sudden somewhere between rinsing out the conditioner in my hair and washing my face, the absolute perfect image for the ending of my sequel popped into my head. And no sooner did that image of a scene flash through my mind, then tons of other scenes before and after that one flooded my thoughts.
Yeah, that's pretty much when I started jumping up and down in the shower yelling, "I've got it! I've got it! I've got it!" And my husband, who was in the closet picking out church clothes was like, "What on Earth?" and then he was like, "Hey, can you do that jumping thing again . . . ?"
Okay, sorry for the tmi . . .
Anyway, so I got out of the shower and followed my husband around while we got ready for church and told him all of my ideas. And the more I talked, the more ideas came. Then hubby (amazing man that he is) grabbed a notebook and pen and ordered me to start writing everything down while he got the kids dressed and fed. I took the notebook with me and kept on writing through church and by the end of the 3 hours, I had my plot--and a lead in for a 3rd book. (Woo Hoo!!!)
Sorry to be a bad example for the kiddies (the writing in church bit) but I truly believe moments like that are gifts from God, and you have to roll with them when they come. So if God chooses to hit me with the perfect plot idea 45 minutes before church, I imagine he's okay with me writing during the sermon :-D (And don't think I didn't say any prayers of thanks!)
Okay, okay, enough with the warm fuzzies. On to the randomness! I had so much fun with all of your random things last week (man, some of you guys are almost even weirder than I am) I have decided to share a few more random things . . .and give away more random prizes.
So to continue on with last week's list:
8. (I shared this in the comments, but I'll repeat it here for the list.) I don't like when people (or pretty much anything) touch/s my neck. My siblings would always torture me with threats of "I'll touch your neck if you don't give me your candy!" or something like that. And my hairdresser always laughs at me because I can't stand that cape she snaps around my neck.
9. I can't sing, and I HATE singing. (At least in the traditional sense). Yet I seem to have a running soundtrack to my life. I'm always making up little random songs about what I'm doing, or things that my kids do--and singing them out loud. Little diddies like, "Stinky poops baby," sung as a rock ballad is one of my particular favorites. KidZ loves it. KidA screams, "Stop singing!" at me. And when I say, "But singing makes me happy," he responds with, "You're not allowed to be happy!" Party pooper.
10. Someday, if I sell enough books, I'm going to buy myself a Mustang. (The car, not a horse. Though I've always wanted a horse . . .) I think Mustangs are hot. Totally impractical for a mother of 2, but I want one as a third car just for me. (Sorry, hubby, no touchy.) Every time I write a hot guy in a book, I always want him to drive a vintage Mustang. Swoon.
11. I'm a citizen of both New Zealand and the USA. My dad was born and raised in NZ to American parents. He moved to the US as a teenager, so I'm citizen of both by default. And I LOVE New Zealand. It is truly paradise on Earth. I fully plan on retiring there someday.
12. I once went to a royal ball in an Austrian palace. In high school, I was a student ambassador for the United States. I got to travel to Hungary, Austria, and Italy and do some really amazing stuff. The ball was probably the best of all. Women get really dressed up for those things. I even saw this one lady with a trellis of roses weaved into her hair. And in case you're interested, I've already started writing a novel based on my trip.
Okay, that's enough random things about Bree for this week. I'll get to 25--eventually. I promise.
Anyway, the winner of last weeks Random Gift from the Random Gift Grab Bag is: Taschima Cullen
Email me at readbree (at) gmail (dot) com, and I'll send you a list of prizes to choose from.
But the giveaway is still ongoing, so tell me another something random about yourself and you'll get another entry into the contest. (You can win an autographed book from the grab-bag!)
Oh yeah, and here's a little present for putting up with this very long, random post:
Yes, that is the infamous duct tape dress. Sorry for the fuzziness. I still don't have a scanner, so this is a photograph of a photograph. Ah, to be 18 again.
19 comments:
Ooh, I didn't know about your Kiwi connection - that's fabulous! Of course, if you're going to visit NZ, you should swing over to Australia, too...The state of Victoria needs you! :-)
My best friend growing up always told me she wanted to get married in the NZ temple because you could hear the cows moo-ing (I dont know how she knew this). NZ is beautiful though.
Love the duct tape dress.
A random thing about me: when I was younger my family lived on a mountain in CA. It was full of wild peacocks. Every few weeks they'd come down and roam the neighborhood and swarm our yard. I thought this was normal as a kid.
Oh my I love that duct tape dress, oh the memories! Congratulations on the epiphany (and don't you just love being able to use that word?)
Okay, so that dress would be PERFECT for our LA trip (and the ball). I hope you still have it!
Look how I can finally comment on your blog. Hooray!
Hurray, Emily! You can comment on my blog.
I do still have the duct tape dress, but alas, that was from a much skinnier era of my life.
Nicole- That pic really does bring back memories. That was such a fun night. We need to do another drama club reunion.
Bree,
I listened to Death Cab and The Postal Service while reading this entry and I loved ALL your random things about you! I'm quite sorry that I never read your blog before now!! I love shower-thinking. I do that daily; I turn up the radio and plot in the shower. Haha. I think G-d will forgive you for doing that in church. He must because I am always mentally plotting in synagogue and I haven't been struck down by His hand yet. ;-)
Random fact about me: I was born really early so I had lots of complications. As in, LOTS! I spent six months in the hospital before I was allowed to be taken home. But that is not my random fact. My random fact is that because of those baby traumas, I have many scars on my body; all over my body in fact. My favorite one (especially since Harry Potter came out) is my *lightning bolt* shaped scar on my stomach! :-)
Love,
Rachel
http://twitter.com/rarararach
Somebody needs to go into business and market duct-tape clothing. Dress and suit both look amazing.
And why is the shower such a great place for writing epiphanies? I have many of mine in there, too (in my shower, not yours). Congrats on your brainstorm.
A random thing about me: I can count to five and sing a song in Finnish, Russian, Spanish, French, German, and Japanese, a skill which happens to be useful pretty much only for entertaining children at bedtime. Alas, I'm fluent only in English.
Haha that dress is amazing. As is your shower epiphany story :P
Something random about me, hmm.. Right now I'm totally addicted to brownies. And Snapple tea. And the facts on the inside of the Snapple lids. (Did you know that a teaspoon contains 120 drops of water? Neither did I.) This can't be healthy, haha.
i read over 500 books last year. thats kinda random.
i, also, dig the duct tapedress. i always wanted to be that girl who had enough self-confidence to do that in high school, but was not. good on you!
OMG - that dress is fantastic! I like how classy they both look. My duct tape top is made with all sorts of luridly colored strips (they were selling bubblegum pink, electric blue, lime green and highlighter yellow at a store nearby) and looks more like something for 80s night ;) =D
Okay, more random things... oh here's another: I hold my alcohol really well, and it's hard for me to get drunk. BUT sugar is an entirely different situation. I once took off my top, cartwheeled through a million different sprinklers and sang "Livin' on a Prayer" at the top of my lungs at 3am. Why? Because I'd just eaten a whole lb bag of M&Ms!
And no, I have absolutely no recollection of this, and wouldn't have believed it if my friends hadn't recorded it on video. (Don't worry - I'm over 21! =P)
When my nephews (and sister, of course) were in town last week, one of them peed on me. In his defense, he's only one year old and therefore very small. Small enough to need to be held while doing his business. He's just not old enough to know (and this is where I should have known) that he needs to keep his bits and pieces pointed the right way. I thought he knew this because his big brother did when I had to hold him up. Well, I was wrong and I thought he was doing some neat closing-the-legs-points-everything-the-right-direction trick. I was wrong again because he moved his legs apart when the process was not yet complete. So he dribbled onto the seat and (sadly) on my leg.
My nephew peed on me last week. Sigh.
So I know that New Zealand is, well, an entire country so the chances are slim, but...do you know the guys from Flight of the Conchords? That would be awesome. Love them.
neohippy10 (at) hotmail (dot) com
I must point out, for the sake of my ever expanding pride, that while Bree is totally rocking that dress... it was in fact designed and constructed for her by the boy in the photo-- who also made the suit and happens to be her very dapper and devoted husband now. :D
Dude she totally scored on that one!
Those dresses are very creative. :P
The shower epiphany is almost like Toilet epiphany. :)
I heard once, that Joe Cocker had a Toilet epiphany, and this is the way how the "Help from my friends" was born. :P
Another random thing about me.
When I was about 12 years old, I already knew that the hair of the humans grow faster and longer if it's cutten. You know what I mean... And I saw all those wonderful eyelashes in the tv commercials, so I decided I would help mine to grow longer. Yep!
I cut them down. I looked strange for a while. And that was the time when I've learned, that eyelashes are out of this observance. :P
Szilvi
Okay, I totally have to laugh. Pretty much all of my emails to friends begin with either:
So...
~or~
Okay...
(LOLing because I just realized my response here started with "Okay" too!) And I have almost all of my best writing epiphanies in the shower. Either there or while I'm doing the dishes. Hmm... maybe it's a water thing? ;-)
One random thing about me : I can't swim because I have this irrational fear of dunking my head in water. I blame it on my parents taking me to watch Jaws at an early age!
Wow - that's such an awesome duct tape dress (the suit is pretty chill too!) Hehe, aren't shower epiphanies just the best? That's great though, that you've got the plot & lead pretty much worked out now though =) Congrats!
Something random... I put ketchup on scrambled eggs. It tastes so much better that way! It's so funny, because a buddy of mine says "catsup" instead of "ketchup", except she never realizes, so when I repeat "ketchup", she just goes "yeah, that's what I said. ... wait. did I say catsup again?!" It's pretty hilar ;)
Something Random about me?
I think any kind of food would taste better if cream cheese were added to it!
The smell of syrup makes me sick
I'm so glad you told me about your shower epiphany last time we were at lunch. I've been reminding myself of it because I find out in a few weeks (maybe sooner) if my second book is a go or if I need to write a new one--by December.
When you said what happened, I KNEW I could make it if I have a situation like yours. I even went out and bought post-its so I could start writing out scenes and organizing them.
I think what happened to you is DEFINITELY a gift from God and completely awesome! I am sure hoping I don't need a gift from God like that, but if I do, I know I can do it.
-Sarah W.
Thanks, Sarah. I really hope everything goes well with your second book. I'm sure you'll get the inspiration that you need. We'll be in the "write a whole book" by December club together. Yikes!
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