The Stories that Shape Us

Winston Churchill once said, "We shape our buildings; thereafter they shape us." I feel the same way about my books.

Each book starts out because of something inside me, after all. They all grow out of my way of viewing the world. At a certain point, however, they start to take over. Since I started writing romantic suspense, for instance, my view of the world has gotten a bit darker. I see a lot more situations as dangerous.

It gets pretty hot in the summer where I live so some time around May or June, I start running in the early morning. The bike paths and streets aren't completely deserted, but they're definitely quieter than they are at mid-day. The other morning, just as I ran past an apartment complex, a man pulled out of the parking lot in his car. As I was running down the street, I saw him pull his car to the curb and get out. Then he opened his trunk.

I put on a burst of speed rivaled only by the time Lamb Chop the Airedale tried to take a chunk out of my calf. I instantly imagined this man (who I think was just trying to stop something from rattling in the trunk of his car) hitting me with a Taser, dragging me to the car, stuffing me in the trunk and driving away. No one would ever know.

Then as I continued to run and the man had long since gotten back in his car, I started wondering how hard it would be for a decent-sized man to get a good-sized woman like myself into a trunk. Would I fit? What injuries might I sustain in the process? What injuries might he sustain?

I don't remember thinking like that before I started writing romantic suspense. It did, however, get me home in record time.

So do you imagine weird creepy things? Am I alone in this? Oh . . . and by the way, my newest romantic suspense, Vanished in the Night, is available for purchase starting today! Leave a comment below and maybe you'll win a free signed copy!