I like to listen to personal growth podcasts. I see this less of an admission of a weakness than a statement of fact; I have never claimed to be perfect and I like to think of myself as constantly striving to improve. The theme of personal growth trickles into my fiction, most present in the characters of Madison Night and Samantha Kidd, but really, it's in all of my series.
The way I see it, if someone finds a dead body and ends up solving the related murder mystery, there's going to be an impact on their existing life.
One of the recurring themes of personal growth podcasts and self-help books is abundance. The belief that everything we want is already there for us, we just have to believe it's there. (If this sounds woo-woo, then stick with me!)
I have not always felt abundant. This is more a factor of personal choices than anything else. So while I love this concept, I am wary. I know I'm not a natural believer. And I know that not being a believer may be the thing that keeps me from getting what I want. But still, I am skeptic.
But I have experienced abundance in the form of ideas. I have ideas all the time. If I sit in a meeting for any length of time, I get ideas. Some related to the meeting, most not. My margins get filled with notes to myself to follow up on later. This is how Madison Night came to me, in a flash, with three book titles. Same with Sylvia Stryker, same with Polyester Monroe. Same with a bunch of people you haven't yet met.
So I started thinking, well, I don't fully believe the abundance thing with money, but I do believe the abundance thing with ideas, because I've already experienced that, so I know abundance is available in one form, and if it's available in one form, then maybe it's available in another? So I'll just focus on the abundance of ideas for now just to exercise my believe in abundance in general, since I already 100% believe in that.
This past week I had ideas for three additional mystery series and a side project.
I did the math: if I wrote every book that I currently have an idea for, six books a year (which is aggressive), I would not need a new idea for eight years.
Eight years.
I think that's abundance.
And if it works with ideas, then maybe it does work for other things?
I'll keep you posted.
xo,
Diane
