Damn Lazy Criminals

They’re stealing ideas from my Canadian book, before it’s even published.

Okay, okay. So I can’t take the credit. When I wrote that one, it was inspired by two true stories and a weird convergence that occurred from listening to Copperhead Road and Five Dollar Bill too much that summer.

I mean, it’s all been done before. And what worked in prohibition might work now…Right?

Not likely.

You have to be original. If you want to be a successful criminal, you have to show a little bit of imagination. Which is why my book involves smuggling with a twist.

And that’s sort of a secondary plot, anyway.

I’ve always had a very scattered mind, in that it’s thinking ten steps ahead on some things and sideways on others and there are several trains coming and going from the station simultaneously. Drives evilkev mad when we talk, because I’ll just suddenly pick up something that was part of the discussion an hour earlier, or that we haven’t been talking about at all.

I used to be even better at simultaneous processing. The good ol’ days of youth, when I could have the tv on, music on the stereo, a phone stuck between my shoulder and ear and be reading or writing or doing homework as well. Damn, I miss that. How did it all make sense?

Now, I can’t even talk on the phone and type emails. Occasionally, I manage to wash dishes, but only when evilkev isn’t home, or he distracts me.

The funny thing was, when I wrote Suspicious Circumstances, I listened to the radio while I was writing. Hence the weird convergence of too much Copperhead Road and Five Dollar Bill. And this music, bouncing around in the back of my brain, clicked into place. It helped spark an idea.

Now, I can hardly even listen to music while I’m dealing with email. Which is kind of sad, because I officially have a very cool addition to my electronic gadget collection. Which is really evilkev’s electronic gadget collection, but when he says he’s buying it for me, it eases his guilt.

And I’ve learned to just lay claim to it anyway, since he said he was buying it for me.

What is this I’ve acquired? Cordless headphones.

Of course, evilkev was only too quick to point out that on my upcoming trip to the US – because I get to go everywhere while he stays at home and does nothing - that I can show off my cool headphones.

To which I say, “Are you an idiot? People get knifed just to steal an ipod, never mind blue tooth cordless headphones that show off you’ve got an ipod. They’re staying at home.”

Which, you see, has brought me right back to what I started this post with: crime.

And somehow it all makes sense in my brain.

I suppose this is one of the merits of being an organic writer. Perhaps one of the advantages. You think about things sideways and let them connect in ways that people don’t necessarily expect. If you can make it convincing and believable in your fiction, you’ve got a real edge, because the way your brain processes and connects seemingly random things is probably fairly unique, and therefore it isn’t as easy for someone else to guess how it will piece together.

Well, you hope, anyway.

This is why I have a hard time with questions about where I got an idea, or how the idea for the book started. Whatever started it is probably so peripheral to what becomes the main story that people would be baffled if they’d already read the book.

I suppose this is why, for me, writing something new ends up feeling like an adventure.

So, am I a freak? Or do you guys find this happens to you as well?

Side note

I was going to write about something else today, but it was depressing. Ever notice how one thing happens that bums you out, and suddenly everything seems bleak? We lost one of our dogs on the weekend, and I’m off to take Skittles to the vet right now. So, I haven’t been feeling very chipper the past few days, but it’s getting better.

JT Ellison sent me a link to a very funny joke.

I must admit JT, we’ve established I don’t listen very well. LOL! Evilkev would say that’s not exactly a news flash…