Ideas are like Snowflakes.

Last week I was doing an Author Visit in a nearby school when a second grader waved his hand wildly until I called on him and then asked me "Where do your ideas come from?" I remember feeling a sudden panic and deciding quickly that "I have no idea" was probably not the response he was looking for! Where do my ideas come from? Sometimes they come in an orderly fashion when I'm actually working on the manuscript for a new book, but just as often they come into my head from out of the blue when I'm standing in line to pay for groceries, walking into the library or driving my car. I carry notebooks with me at all times and jot down the ideas just as quickly as I can, even if it's just a scrap of a rhyme which has woken me up in the middle of the night.

I remember going to a concert and hearing Kenny Rogers sing and walking into my hotel room and writing the words The I Believe Bunny down in my notebook. Something about the sound of his amazing voice had inspired me to want to write a story about a bunny who believed in himself and in God's love. So, I took a breath and answered the boy as honestly as I could "I'm not always sure where my ideas come from, but I always write them down because ideas are like snowflakes- if you're not careful they quickly disappear." He nodded and smiled and wrote that down in his notebook.