Rob and I took our cars in to the Starkey brothers, who run our neighborhood garage, for oil changes.  While we waited, we had breakfast at Norma's (that's two days in a row!).

I worked hard today on my revisions and finished the second pass through the ms.  Now comes the big revisions, which I can't do until I make some decisions.  I'm reading a great book on plot to analyze what I have and figure out if I need to add more twists and turns and red herrings.  (I would tell you the name of this book, but it's in the other room.  But the author's last name is Bell.  I think it's a Writer's Digest book.)

Nice walk to the post office, nice yoga class.  We had a big fire in downtown Dallas today.  Rob and I could see the smoke on our walk, and we wondered if it was just really black clouds or an actual fire.  Found out later it was the latter.

Thanks for reading,
Kara

Hi Kara. Glad to hear you're in the next phase of things; I'm guessing that by the time you're ready to submit the book to your publisher, you're going to want to take a nice long break, eh?

I hope no one was injured in the fire! What happened? Do you know?

I have a question for you, Kara: Do your ideas for your books just come to you, or do you sit down and actively plan something out? I hope it's okay to ask that...

Have a great day!

Hi, Holly. No one was hurt in the fire, but I don't know any more details. It was a little scary for me because in my firefighter books I had a big warehouse fire in downtown Dallas that killed three firefighters. I was glad no one was hurt in the real fire!

I love when people ask me questions.

Ideas come to me in a lot of different ways--from TV, movies, news stories, overheard conversations, combining ideas from other books. Sometimes I start with a character that suggests a story, and sometimes a plot comes to mind that I have to create characters for. Sometimes ideas just come to me, and sometimes I sit down and actively generate ideas. I keep an "idea file" on my computer. The trick is to catch the ideas when they occur to me, write them down, and keep them where I can find them again!

Once I have an idea, I plan my books out in great detail before writing (though sometimes I'll write a chapter or two just to get started). Many other writers just sit down to a blank screen and see what comes out! (That is my husband.)

Omg, Kara... I can see why you felt scared! That seems a little too much like the books for comfort...

Thanks for taking the time to answer my question. I've always wondered how writers come up with their ideas - I know that Stephen King (one of my favorite authors) gets his ideas right from his dreams, as well as from his childhood memories, but romance writers are a much different breed, I think.

Well, Holly, I did get one idea from a dream my sister had!

Oooooo! I love those kinds of stories! I hope you'll be able to pursue it, Kara.

Tomorrow, I'm going shopping for a new tent; while I'm out and about, I'm going to see if I can track down at least some of your books. I am totally and completely intrigued, now!

Holly--
Look in used bookstores--I have nothing new on the shelves just now. Next new book is September. Good luck with the tent. I used to love to camp.