So, my novel is out with publishers again and I get a text message from my friend Lani Woodland asking me if I want to contribute to a young adult paranormal anthology. Well, sure! Why not? Only problem? Deadline is in two weeks and I have nothing that could even loosely fit that description in the works right now. I tell her I will try to think of something and let her know if I can’t and then I go about my business.

The idea popped into my head at work one morning (waaaay to early in the morning to be at work) while I was listening to my iPod. A Kate Nash song followed a couple of minutes later by a Silversun Pickups song started a spark in my head. I wrote down the title and the one sentence that popped up out of the flames that spark started and let the fire burn for a while (by force really. I was at work, remember?). Later on in the day, I open a new document on my iPad (which I absolutely adore, by the way) and let the title and that one sentence transport me into another world. As is my tendency, I immediately saw the potential for a novel in the story that was flowing onto the page, but I had both a deadline and a word count limit to work under so I held myself back from all those tantalizing subplots and backstory scenes. And you know what? It’s going fabulously. I’m already over word limit (but, really. 5000 words? Was I ever known for my brevity on a page?). I may miss the deadline (really short timeframe! But I’m trying!). But no matter what happens,I’m back in the creative saddle working on something I’d never have come up with otherwise. It feels fantastic.