A Big Idea

Depending on how you look at it, I've either had a very unproductive day or a very productive one. If you measure by how many items I've checked off my to-do list, well, I kind of suck. But in a larger sense, I may have accomplished something big.

I have a new idea. Actually, it's a bit nebulous to call it an idea. More like a concept, maybe. At any rate, I have a general direction of something I want to try writing. That may sound kind of vague, and it is, but that seems to be the way my best ideas start. When I first came up with the idea for what became Enchanted, Inc., that was the way it happened. I'd been reading the Harry Potter books and some chick lit books, and the thought crossed my mind that mixing the two would be kind of fun, to have magical stuff happening to an adult heroine who had to deal with things like jobs and dating. At first, it was more a notion about what I wanted to read. Only later did I decide to try writing it myself. It took a while before anything more concrete, like a story idea, came out of it.

This morning, I'd been reading something that mixed two things I really like for a fun blend, and I found myself thinking that one of those things would probably mix really well with something else I like. At first, I thought it would be fun to read, and then I had the "Duh! You're a writer, silly!" moment and realized that I should write it. Then I thought I really didn't have an idea, just a general concept, and then I remembered that's how Enchanted, Inc. started, and from there I found a plot and characters and all that stuff, so I'm sure I can do the same thing again with a different concept.

And no, I'm not going to talk about it yet, not in this early stage. There's nothing much to talk about. I'm not totally the paranoid "people will steal my brilliant ideas!" type, but since I haven't seen anything quite like this, I don't want to put it out there until I have something more concrete (and ready to send to a publisher). I'm not even ready to talk to my agent about it, although I will be seeing her next week and it may come up over drinks. It has to stew in my brain a while before I can say much more about it. It took me a year and a half from the time I got the idea before I wrote Enchanted, Inc. This one shouldn't take as long because with that book, I didn't focus on it, I worked on other things, and I thought there was no market for it. I have brainstorming and research to do, and it will be FUN research.

So, yeah, not so much in the checking off the to-do list, but wow, I may have come up with my Next Big Thing, and that's HUGE!

In other news, the new issue of Romantic Times Book Reviews magazine has a nice little feature on me, and they had a positive review of Damsel Under Stress, which is good to see. Yes, I can be terribly needy and insecure about my books, so any and all validation is welcome.

Speaking of which, don't forget The Great Blog Campaign, through which you can win early copies of book 4 by blogging about the new book and/or the series as a whole during the first week in May. I've only heard from a few people who've sent guest blog requests or interview questions, so I'm hoping the rest of you are still thinking about it or planning something that doesn't require my input. This book making a big initial splash can go a long way toward ensuring that there is a book 5 (and trust me, based on what I have planned for this book, you really want book 5). I sound kind of like I'm holding a hostage here -- "Promote my book, or the wizard is toast!" -- but I'm not the one who gets to make that decision. I'm just on the hostage negotiation team.