Curl Up In A Big Comfy Chair

Award, Contest, Signing! Guest Author Victoria Gray

Curl Up In A Big Comfy Chair

With Her Majesty's Secret Servants!

Anyone who knows me knows that Sunday mornings are for bike rides. And I always say that when it comes to appreciating your neighborhood, there's nothing like getting out of your car and setting off either on foot or on a bike. You never know what treasures you'll come upon that go unnoticed at 40 mph. For instance…

What's this? Stop the bikes!! You know I can't pass up this opportunity.

Isn't it fabulous? There's even a cup of coffee perched on the arm, and a hassock to put your feet up on. But gee, I wish I'd brought a book. Oh, wait, look…

Here's a book! RIVER OF GRASS by Florida's own Marjory Stoneman Douglas, about Florida's unique and beautiful Everglades. It's a book that sits on my own library shelves. How perfect.

People often ask me where the ideas for my books come from, and I tell them that my love of history provides plenty of fodder for stories. The truth is, it's the surprises I come upon in my research that most inspire my ideas.

For instance, when I decided to write in the Victorian period, I didn't know a lot about the queen when she was young. I was astonished to discover how lonely and isolated she'd been as a child…and that surprise led to the creation of her secret friends, the Sutherland Sisters – who will discover their own surprise as their stories continue. As I researched Victorian physics for OUTRAGEOUSLY YOURS (Dec. 7th release), I was very surprised at how advanced the science of electricity had become by 1838 – and you can bet I took full advantage of that fact to put my characters up to some wild and wacky experimentation.

We should always be alert to life's surprises, always on the lookout for the unique and even the strange, because that's where we acquire our different points of view, where our preconceived notions are challenged, and where wholly new ideas are born. And when you do see something out-of-the-ordinary, seize the opportunity to climb right onto it and see the world from a whole new angle. Like I did today, from my big comfy chair.

By The way, this beautiful mosaic work of art is by Pat Campau, and sits outside the Center For The Arts in my town.