Carolin, who posted eloquently in the comments section of the Pink Heart blog about a number of things in her ‘well’ that have inspired her creativity, is the winner of Antonides’ Forbidden Wife.

Mitch and Micah thought that she could have included Golden Retrievers among her inspiration, but they loved the idea of her twenty-year engagement (go read the post!), so they forgave her the lack of Goldens.

I found all the comments really interesting — and a little scary, as in Michelle Styles’s recollection of the drunken Icelander who tried to abscond with her son. Yes, that would make a book opening, Michelle. But I wouldn’t want to relive it all the time! At least confining it between the covers makes it manageable.

Ditto Kate Hardy’s tale about her baby daughter’s illness. It’s interesting that we use romance fictioin to ‘escape’ the difficulties of life quite often. But at the same time we also use it to exorcise the grittier moments of our own lives.

I’m glad to know that Sid and Kate found Melody’s quilts inspiring. And I will see about making Sid my version of his very own personal quilt (a dead tree in winter quilt, eh, Sid?) for his sleeping comfort.

I would love to hear more about the bits and pieces of your lives that have inspired you to do something creative. So don’t stop here. Keep sharing, please.

Maybe next time we can talk about ‘inciting incidents.” Or is that a double positive? Things that inspire that initial, “I think I’d like to write a book about that” (or poem or short story or knot garden or quilt) moment.

Who wants to go first? Well, Michelle already did with her drunken Icelander. But who else has a good inciting incident?

Micah and Mitch are tussling over the treats. They want another contest. Hmmm.