Where do Ideas come from? By Barbara Edwards

Thanks, Tina for having me as your guest during this busy season of the year.    
One of the biggest problems any writer faces is finding fresh material. I usually get my plot ideas from dreams, but my holiday romance, Journey of the Magi, sprang from Christmas decorating.
I was setting up my Manger under the tree and my grand-daughter asked about the extra figures I have crowding the space.
She pointed at a beat-up, peeling set of three Wisemen. They belonged to my Grand-Mother and my Mother used them for years. When she passed away I took them. Memories washed over me and I wished I could share them all. The idea for a woman taking her children to her childhood home so they could have Christmas there bloomed like a Poinsettia.
It wasn’t easy to refine my idea into a love story, but I did.
To get back to my original point, ideas can spring from anywhere. A writer needs to choose what can be turned into a viable story. I have dozens of scene ideas stored in my files. Ideas that never got beyond a flicker. I also have several stories that are in progress. One of them is another Christmas story for next year.   
Journey of the Magi blurb:
Widow Noel Martin never breaks promises, and she promised her kids they’d have Christmas at her childhood home in Connecticut. But driving across country takes money. Noel is broke when a snowstorm blows them into a tiny Minnesota café owned by a man who can change her mind. She accepts his offer of a job. Despite her attraction to him, she makes it clear she is only temporary help.
Dan Longstreet isn’t adopting any more strays, but he needs a waitress. Dan works so hard to make his café a success, he doesn't have time for love. Though Noel’s slender blonde beauty stuns him and her two adorable children tug at his heart, he denies how they threaten to change his life.When tragedy strikes, their new-found love is the first victim. Noel can't stay and Dan can't leave. Will their journey be the gift that reunites them? http://amzn.com/B00ES5DZEQ
 
Excerpt from Journey of the Magi:
“Oh, Holly, how many times have I told you not to open the door to strangers?”
Holly stared at her mother.
“That’s what Dan said, too.” Her forehead wrinkled as she pursed her mouth. “Do all grown-ups say the same things?”
“Not all. And I think you should call him Mr. Longstreet.”
“I did. But he said I could call him Dan since you were already friends.”
Noel ducked her head to avoid Holly’s gaze as her stomach warmed. Friends? Her pulse raced and her skin tingled when he was close, not feelings she had for a friend. Dan sparked a strong attraction in her, but she had no intention of acting on it. She had to keep firmly to her goal: they were going home.
Home. She’d dreamed of returning for so long. If she was honest, going home had been her hope for years. The big old farmhouse had given a sad, lonely child more than shelter. It held the memories of loving arms cradling her, fresh-baked cookies and safety. All the things she wanted for her babies.
Nicholas gave a contented hiccup and she eased him over to burp. As soon as she dressed, she’d remind Dan she had to leave before Christmas. http://amzn.com/B00ES5DZEQ


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 Thanks Barbara for stopping by,

Tina
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