Hey there. I hope everyone is having a wonderful weekend. I thought that some of you out there may be interested in knowing where my ideas for my novels come from. I think that I have a lot of help from God because often my ideas just come to me from out of thin air, such as A Woman of Courage, The Blood Oath and the one I am currently working on Can You Hear Me? The Blood Oath just pretty much wrote itself and only took me three months to finish. The subject matter was kind of out there and I suppose I was influenced by some of the horror movies that I saw growing up like Wes Craven’s Nightmare on Elm Street because I loved the creative ways that Freddie Kruger came up with to try to terrorize his victims. I loved the fact that often the victim couldn’t figure out whether they were asleep or if what was happening to them was real and the viewer couldn’t tell either.

I also loved John Carpenter’s Halloween. Films that depict the most unlikely person you would expect to come after you and try to kill you, such as a person whom is related to you like your brother or your father. Because that would be considered taboo in a sense. It leads you to ask yourself how could somebody want to kill a loved one or a member of their own family? The possibilities are frightening to say the least. I was also influenced by a movie I saw called Sybil with Sally Field in the title role. As I watched her incredible performance, I literally felt like I too was losing my sanity due to the many personalities that were depicted in Sybil’s psyche. Sally Field’s riveting performance left me fearful of what can happen to your mind after going through childhood trauma such as severe child abuse. It is an eternal struggle for the one who has gone through such things and just because the horrors of the abuse have stopped does not always mean that the horrors still inside the victim’s mind is over. For some it can be controlled with ongoing therapy but for others it never ends. It stays with them no matter how much they try to get on with their life.

I like to write about love as well. It’s not always about fear. But if you think about it, love is scary too. My romance story lines mainly come from my own fantasies and have never been influenced by films or life experiences. All my stories have one thing in common. They all seem to be about fear and trying to overcome it. I guess it’s because of my own fears about life in general. I have demons of my own that I battle daily and occasionally they may show up in my novels. By giving them the attention they seek, they don’t try to hurt me as much. Anything to keep my own sanity intact. Until next time…