Amazing and wonderful

There's something strange that happens sometimes when you are brainstorming ideas. True story, this happened to me yesterday.

I asked hubby to help me think of ideas for a Christmas story. He's pretty creative and threw things out that were almost verging on the ridiculous. Like:

a renegade cop

a robot renegade cop

at christmastime

learns the true meaning of christmas

with plucky sidekick

But one of the ideas he shot out really grabbed my attention. It was "a pioneer Christmas story." Nothing more. But then I thought about my ancestor who was a little girl in the Willie Handcart Company. It was in the winter, just before Christmas, which means her first Christmas in the states would have been after being rescued. What a great idea! I felt really strongly that it was a story that needs to be told.

So, I started to research my ancestor and was led to a wealth of information in an unexpected place. It was like Heaven had reached out and said, "Here. Get it done."

Now, I'm contemplating my first ever historical piece. And a story about an 11 year old girl. Firsts all over the place! I'm still thick in editing and writing for NaNoWriMo, but I know that I'll be writing this story, as soon as I have enough of a direction to go in.