Inspiration first, perspiration next.

I have recently joined the Creative Kids Tales network, and decided to write some short stories for an upcoming publication in 2019. Seeing a theme for a competition they are also running set my thoughts wandering. One of the themes was felines. Now, inspiration can crop up in funny places. I had been mulling a short story over in my mind, unable to sleep in the early hours of the morning. Later in the day, I was sitting with a child who was writing a story. She had slightly misspelled a word, which set my mind off on a different track. I suddenly had the idea to write a story about a cat detective and his offsider. I had been thinking that the story line would involve a bully criminal dog who hires a rat to steal a prize cheese. Now, the funny thing is, I was looking on Google for the phrase to say the cheese had been stolen in another language (the cheese maker is Italian). It seemed like just a silly idea, until a few articles cropped up saying that cheese is the most stolen food in the world! I was amazed at the value of the large wheels of cheese, and the fact that the people who had stolen them were referred to as curd burglars. What a great term! So I have started on the first one, (tentatively titled The Cat Chronicles), which can be up to 1,000 words. Looks like I was on the right track in the first place (well, hopefully). There'll be some hard work involved to keep the story line moving, while having an element of fun and whimsy about the whole plot. I thanked my young friend for her spelling mistake, and promised to acknowledge her, which I hope I can do. Maybe she can even be one of the characters. We are only limited by our imaginations.