Where the ideas come from...

In the last thirty-five years I have traveled a lot. I've been all over the world and to a lot of very interesting places. And some not so interesting. I work in the energy industry and we all know there's oil and gas almost everywhere. I started keeping a journal several years ago and I write about whatever's going on in these places at the time, whether it's politics, crime, corruption, anything and everything. I read their newspapers (when they're in English or Spanish). This is where the ideas come from. Of course, by the time I get through with them they don't resemble reality anymore. The places I go to and the things going on there can be very exciting but I'm not a journalist, I'm a novelist. I take it and twist it, stretch it, distort it and mangle it till it's a story that draws you in and won't let you go. I try to get you into the characters, so you can feel what they're feeling, like you're there with them.
In El Morro, the name of the town where most of the story takes place is made up, but it's a real place. It's a small seaside town on the Mediterranean coast of Spain. I've been there and I have some very good friends that live there. It's every bit as beautiful and idyllic as it's described in the book. I was there with my wife a couple of summers ago visiting on vacation. The tempranillo in Spain is outstanding!
We actually drove with them from their home in England to "this town" in Spain. We crossed the Channel, drove through France and saw and experienced some of the most beautiful and legendary regions of France, such as Bordeaux, Cognac and the Pyrenees. We even drove along some of the route that the Tour de France follows. We stopped at local sidewalk cafes and restaurants and ate local cuisine and drank wines that were made only a few miles from where we sat. Then we drove through the vineyards where the grapes came from.
If something like that doesn't inspire you to write, then nothing will...

Where did the idea come from?

Later today I'm going to talk about where the idea came from for The El Morro Connection.
You might be a little surprised...

I'm over the first hurdle...

At long last, The El Morro Connection has been published on Barnes and Noble.com. It was a long and winding road, and recent changes in the publishing industry and advances in technology helped make it possible. Never mind that, I'll take all the help I can get. The bottom line is it's out there now for sale. Now is where the rubber hits the road. I can blog and hype it from now till the cows come home, but the only thing that matters is if the book is good or not.
I believe that once it gets in people's hands and gets read, some reviews will start coming in. If it really is a good story, then we'll know. It's in your hands now.
Be kind though. It's not easy being a writer and holding down a day job. Especially a day job that has you traveling all over the world. It's sort of a catch-22. It's the travel to the out-of-the way places and meeting people all over the world that gives me the ideas to write about. But if the truth be known, I'd rather spend more time writing than traveling now. We gotta do what we gotta do, right...
Enjoy the book...