Today, I worked on the 3rd book of the AKA Investigations series. I had to really think about what changed to make me go into that zone again–I’ve been trying so long to get there. One thing was that i just enjoyed a visit with my best friend who came to see me for 4 days. I hadn’t seen her in over 2 years. We had a great social time.

Then, while she was here, I held my first local meeting of Kindred Ink Writers Initiative (KIWI) and got to talk a lot about writing, both in the group and to a new friend who is also a writer.

Then this morning I opened my mail to the tragic news of the death of Christopher Hitchens. I kept thinking about how this brilliant mind was now gone from this earth, and how sad it was that he would never honor us with another book. And I thought about how I am still here, still alive, and still CAN write another book. And i sat down, pulled up the AKAbk3 manuscript and started making index cards of scenes and organizing them on the cork board, and updating the file. I did that all day long, only taking time out to redesign that cover for the 2nd book, which has been something I’ve put off.

So perhaps I needed the right set of inspirations to get me going again. Is this what it takes? A visit from my best friend, talking to other writers, and mourning the death of one of my favorite authors? We’ll see if I still feel inspired when I wake up tomorrow, too.

It makes me not want to go to sleep.