I love when this happens...I hate when this happens....

Last night I got into bed...it was maybe 11:30, which is a normal bedtime for me. I try to get in earlier if I have a book to read but I hadn't had a chance to get to the library yet. And if I don't have a book, I cannot get into bed before I am absolutely tired....I just lay there.

So anyway, I got into bed last night and I was tired. I thought I'd fall right asleep. Ah, nope. Somehow a new story idea popped into my head and it's fabulous opening line (we all know how important an opening line is!). When this happens, my brain replays the thought over and over in hope that I will remember it all in the morning. And that NEVER happens. It's gone forever. So I lay there, not wanting to turn on the light. But I knew I had to. The thoughts would not go away until I wrote them down.

So I turned on the light, grabbed a notebook and jotted down the idea and the opening line. The light goes off and I snuggle back under my comforter. But oh no...that wasn't good enough. My brain decides it wants to imagine what will come after that first awesome line. So again, I am forced out of my warm cocoon. I grab the notepad and write a page worth of dialog and text. I could have gone on and on but I stopped, hoping what I had was enough to jog my memory today. And finally my brain allowed my body the rest it desired.

I love when this stuff happens-- an idea comes to me out of no where...something that sounds fun and quirky, something different from what's already out there. I love the thrill of creation.

I hate when this stuff happens because the idea will nag at me till I get it on paper. And usually ideas like this come when I'm knee deep in something else and there is no possible way to start on it. I'm in the middle of my POV change on my 3rd novel and I'll be starting copy edits in the very near future for my 2nd novel. I just cannot start something new right now.

But what an idea it is!! I really love it!! So now I will add it to my "Project Ideas" folder and save it for another day :)

What do you do when inspiration strikes????