Day 2: A Place to Focus is Needed...

I wake up on December 21 and my book idea is the first thing on my mind. Coffee in hand, I give my Mom a call (a morning ritual for us). I decide to tell her what happened and how excited I am. I expected her to be encouraging but not truly interested. To my surprise, she becomes excited, too. She reminds me that I've always had a need to create and that this could be just the outlet for it. She wants to help so she suggests that I need a place to focus.

Up 'til this point my "office" has been the laptop propped in front of the living room recliner, Dora the Explorer on the TV. Hardly a place conducive to writing the masterpiece I want to create. Mom suggests moving my sons into the same room and making the spare room my home office. The boys are young, 2 and 4, and hardly ever use their rooms anyway. I think it's a good idea so I consult my husband, he says go for it, and Mom's here 10 minutes later.

As we work on the rooms, ideas are still flowing and I have to keep a pad of paper handy to jot them down. By the time Mom leaves, everything is moved to its appropriate room and I'm already setting up an inspiration wall for my book.

That evening I jump on Twitter in order to follow Stephanie Perkins. I get the urge to thank her for her inadvertent involvement in the whole situation.