For many of us, wanderlust is a force to be reckoned with. It’s haunted me since childhood, when I sent off to the chambers of commerce and tourist bureaus for travel brochures of places I wanted to visit. Just gazing at those pictures took me into them in my imagination. Perhaps this is where I first learned to describe story worlds.

It’s funny  how we come back as adults to childhood passions. I travel in my life as a writer, so it’s a good thing I enjoy it. I know people who (mysteriously) do not.  I feel a little sorry for them, actually. They don’t know what they’re missing.  How can anyone resist the lure of the open road with the sky above you and God in his heaven? It is precisely when we break away from our routines that we are most able to breathe, to think, to be. 

This is why I’m delighted at the turn my life is taking. It’s funny that I recently talked with my agent about which direction to take my writing career. I’m less in control of story ideas than I’d like to believe, truth to tell. Ideas arrive on their own timetable and refuse to leave until they garner my attention. All of the story ideas beyond my present series are set in the British Isles.

This should have struck me sooner than it did. I can be oblivious sometimes.  Why this particular location should inspire me, I couldn’t say. I’ve never visited the British Isles, but I will now. 

After discussing the time away from home required for the necessary research trips, my husband and I came up with a solution. It will take us a couple of years to set our  plan in motion, but we’re set on it. We’ll live part of each year in one of my research locations and come home to the United States for the remaining months. So far I have ideas for stories set in Ireland, Cornwall, and England. Where we’ll go after that I have no idea.

It’s fun when life surprises you.  Chasing story ideas around the world will be a big lifestyle change. I’ll keep you posted on our progress.

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