Any writer will tell you that's the single most common question reporters or interviews like to ask. It's such a strange question... to us, anyway, because, for writers, ideas are never the problem.

I'm always getting ideas. My real challenge is to collect them before they flit away with the breeze. Unfortunately, the ideas never seem to be brilliant bursts of inspiration for my work-in-progress... they always belong to some future story that I may or may not ever tell.

Yesterday, my husband and I were visiting his brother's new house and they were discussing gardening and the kinds of weird things you dig up when you first start planting. This immediately started my mind churning about a future character digging up something mysterious that I could build an entire plot around. Perhaps it would even be a McGuffin.

I was recently inspired with a book idea from reading a magazine article written from the perspective of a member of the paparazzi. I have to admit that I think these people are lower than dirt. Based on this, I couldn't resist trying to get inside this person's head. What would make someone choose this career path? How could I make a reader sympathize with that person? And since I write romance, who would be the last person that should fall in love with this character. And from there, I was off and running...

Each morning I take both a train and a subway before walking five blocks to my office building. I'm always passing some unique character who should be captured for a book. I don't know why I don't constantly whip out a notepad and describe them for future use... but, I guess if I did do that, I'd never make it anywhere.