Good Monday morning to everyone! I'm very excited to be here and to have a chance to share the background of how my stories come about. But be warned; I've been told my head is a scary place to be!

Plenty of people ask me which comes first, the characters or the story. To be honest, it depends on the story. Sometimes the characters are what creates the background, the setting, the whole story. That's what happened with the Refuge series. In pops Alrik, the sexy vampire, in my head...and poof! An entire series (which I'd never meant to be a series) is created.

But my latest book, Masquerade, didn't start like that. It actually started with the idea of a mask. What better way to stay anonymous...and let another of your personality be dominate? Ah, but who would be running around wearing a mask? Why, people at a mask ball, of course! Then I had to wonder, why would two people be at a masked ball in this day and age? It could be a fund raiser; it could be an old fashioned party. By this time my characters were morphing, becoming real in my head, fleshing themselves out. So I knew that this was more than an ordinary party, and I knew that these two would immediately have chemistry that they wouldn't be able to walk away from. And so the masked ball became more.

Strange how sometimes one simple object, in this case a mask, can create an entire world. From staring at an image I'd come up with not only an opening scene, but a point of contention that runs all the way through the story.

Then I just had to come up with a rough outline. An outline, I'll admit, that the characters didn't necessarily follow. Come to think of it, they never do like to stay in line. But that's the most entertaining part to me!

So are there objects in your every day life that niggles the creative side of your brain? If there is, don't hesitate to sit down and start brain storming ideas. Let scenes flow in your head. Let questions zip through your noggin and then see if you have the answers. It's not only fun, it's a great way to stretch your brain.

Have a wonderful Monday! And may those fuzzy socks give you a ton of ideas as well as toasty feet.