Spring -- A Time for new ideas

The weather here in Florida has been lovely the past few weeks. Sunny. Breezy. Comfortable temps.

I feel very much like the February ground hog who poked his head out of his hole to see if he should come out or go burrow for six more weeks.

Well, I burrowed.

But now I'm taking walks by the lake and taking drives by the ocean and sitting on benches in parks...and I'm doing what I love to do...dreaming.

I am trying to conjure up an idea for book proposal five. So I watch people...and birds...and dogs...and traffic. I stare at lakes and waves and tree tops. And I keep hoping that I'll breathe in something new, something that will excite my readers, something fresh that will excite me enough to want to sit for hours at a keyboard.

And just like that...

For no rhyme or reason...

I've got it. The precious seed of an idea. A thought that makes me ask the inevitable what if questions. What if this happened? Who would it happen to? Would they know they're in danger? Who would they turn to for help??

This time I'm going to visit Amish country. I've already started researching the life of people I have come to highly respect.

So I'm going to sit under a tree for just a little while today...and feel the breeze on my face...and the gentle warmth of the sun...and I'm going to finish this research book called Amish Grace: How Forgiveness Transcended Tragedy which I LOVE and highly recommend to all.

And then I'm going to daydream. I am going to think about possible answers to the questions that started the ball rolling.

Whoever thought daydreams could count as working??

Thank you, Lord, for dreams.

A dream is just a dream---or is it?

I was at a loss for a story idea for my second book for Love Inspired Romantic Suspense. My brain felt like mush and every thought I did come up just didn't get me excited so I knew it wouldn't excite my readers.

And then I had a dream!

In my dream I saw a letter lying on a table and I was intrigued to see what was written on it.It began "By the time you get this letter, I'll be dead." Well, that certainly caught my interest. It continued with "I know you don't understand why I left without a word. But for your safety, I could not tell you then and don't dare tell you now.

They're coming..."

And then I woke up.

I don't often have dreams and I rarely remember them. But this dream wouldn't leave. I puzzled over it for weeks. Who wrote the letter? And who did they write it to? Why did the person leave? And who was in danger and why?

As I began to piece together the answers to these questions, Double Identity took shape and became one of this month's Love Inspired Romantic Suspense books.

I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it. I'd love to hear from you. You can email me at diane@dianeburkeauthor.com or follow me on twitter.com/burkediane or friend me at facebook.

Hearing from my readers is even more fun than dreaming!!

Over the rainbow--the writer's life

I named this blog Over the rainbow--the writer's life because sometimes I feel just like Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz that got caught up in a tornado and whisked away to a whole new world.

I had a dream---and it came true.

Everyone has dreams. Big dreams. Little dreams. Happy dreams. Sometimes bad dreams. But what happens when the dream comes true? Do you stop dreaming?

Does the happiness bubble you had when you first achieved what you always wanted last a lifetime or does it burst?

My "dream" came true when I saw my first book, Midnight Caller, sitting on a shelf in Wal-Mart. My book. My name splashed across the cover. In my favorite store. Oh my!

But it wasn't until I held my second book, Double Identity, in my hands that I realized this wasn't a fluke, a once-in-a-lifetime thing, and I hadn't hit the lottery. But I HAD changed my life. Forever.

And then I learned that publication was NOT the end of a dream. It was the beginning of dreams you hadn't allowed yourself to dare dream before. It is the gateway to a whole new world with new rules, new opportunities, and new challenges.

These rules, opportunities and challenges can be physical: Traveling to writer's conferences. Doing booksignings. Leading workshops. Sitting for endless hours at a computer until your eyes blur, your back aches and your knees refuse to straighten when you stand up, creating and revising only to do it again...and again.

The new rules can be stressful: Coming up with fresh, new plots. (What can I possibly write about since I threw everything I knew into the first book?) Meeting editor deadlines. Making revisions when editors see your story going in a different direction than you did.

The new rules can require a crash course in humble pie and tact: How do you reply to a fan letter? (That's right, guys. You get fan mail. Someone out there will actually write to you and gush about your work and someone else will have to pry you off the ceiling because you will be so happy you just floated away). How do you deal with a fan that wants to point out every single thing you did wrong with the story (but they liked the book, honest they did). How do you cope with reviews that are less than stellar with humility and grace?

The new rules require learning whole new skills: For instance, your editor wants your web site address. (Web site? I have to make a web site? Uh-oh, I'm in trouble now) You want me to blog? What's a blog? Twitter? Is that the same thing as tweet? Connect all my social networking sites? What's social networking? I am lucky I can open email.

So are dreams worth the effort? When times get tough, should I continue to encourage others who have the same dream but haven't been swept up in the tornado yet?

Oh, yes.

Yes. Yes. Yes.

Never give up.

I want to thank everyone that helped me and continues to help me along the way. And I want to return the favor by paying it forward myself as I try to navigate in a brand new world, traveling that yellow brick road.

I'm going to devote all my future blogs to the writing journey in the sincere hope that when I can answer a question or teach a lesson or even reveal choices that didn't work whether they embarass me or not, that maybe, just maybe I just might be able to help someone find their own tornado and be swept up into their own dream.

And yes, I am clicking the heels of my shiny red shoes. But my mantra is filled with gratitude and awe and sounds more like "There's no place like here. There's no place like here."