Welcome to the Money, Honey Blog tour, in which author Susan Sey celebrates the July 6 release of her debut novel by counting down the Top Ten Most Common Reactions an ill-groomed stay at home mom receives when confessing her secret career as a romance novelist. 

Hello, Jaunty Quills!  And thank you, Kristan, for inviting me!  I’m so excited to be here today.  I’ve been dying for a chance to chat with you guys about Response #2 on my list:  “Where do you get your ideas?”

(If you’re all aflutter to hear about the other nine responses on my list, feel free to check out http://www.susansey.com/pages.php?ID=5.)

You know what I love about this one?  What it means totally depends on who’s asking.

Most of the time, the asker is completely sincere.  You make stuff up for a living & they want to know how you do it.  Answering this one is fun, because let’s face it.  What author doesn’t love to talk about their writing?

But there’s another type of person who asks the “where do you get your ideas” question—a person with whom the author has A History.  It could be your mother, your sister, your best friend, your ex-boyfriend who somehow became Just A Friend.  But it’s always somebody you know well enough to blackmail if you wanted to.   And that’s the key.  Because when this person says, “Where do you get your ideas?” what they really mean is, “Am I in your book?”

And the answer, dear reader, is no. 

And yes.

See, I’m a big fan of escapist fiction.  Which, on the surface, is weird.  Because my life’s pretty awesome.  I’m married to the world’s greatest guy (no offense to your husbands; I’m sure they’re wonderful), we have two adorable, brilliant children and an income that stretches just far enough for me to stay home with them.  What on earth do I need to escape from?

Laundry, that’s what.  Bickering.  Cooking.  (Let me tell you, putting decent, healthful food on the table three times a day for people who express their appreciation with gagging noises is exhausting.)  Then there’s the ensuing pile up of dirty dishes.  And don’t forget the sleepless nights spent wondering if the kids are going to wind up in therapy because their mother is a heartless shrew with a Facebook addiction….

My point is, sometimes I need a little escape.  I need a little larger-than-life.  I need things to start at point A, end up at point B & make some sort of sense in between.  I need to see worthy people defeat a villain, have great sex & fall in love.  In other words, I need a fix of anti-reality.  So why would I look to reality for inspiration?

Quick answer:  I don’t.  My debut novel Money, Honey features an ex-jewel thief-turned-crime-novelist falling in love with a cult-survivor-turned-hard-nosed-FBI-agent who’s stalking a revenge-crazed, knife-wielding counterfeiter.  Got to admit, I don’t personally know anybody with even one of those qualifications on the old resume.  Which is a good thing, right? 

My decided lack of nefarious acquaintances, however, means I often have to make a few phone calls in the name of writerly research.  It doesn’t always go well, & Money, Honey was particularly interesting.  The Secret Service is in charge of counterfeiting (who knew?) and as it turns out, they call it the SECRET service for a reason.  It’s very secret.  It’s possible I’m on a few watch lists now.  I don’t know.  That’s probably a story for another day. 

The point I’m trying to make is, if you know me, you can rest easy.  I didn’t fudge your name & put you in my story.  Not on purpose, anyway.  But real life has a way of creeping in when you’re not looking.

For example, when I was writing Money, Honey, my now-seven-year-old was two & a half.  And this, if you haven’t been around a 2.5 yo in a while, is a hilarious age.  They have just enough language to engage with strangers, all the ego in the world & absolutely no self-consciousness that might check it.  They’re tiny, merciless little truth machines, pelting you daily with facts everybody knows but polite people refrain from yelling at top volume across the grocery store.  In short, they’re insanely cute but extremely uncomfortable. 

So of course I put one in my story.   Liz & Patrick are two of the most closed, wounded people I’ve ever written.  They have secrets on top of secrets, & defenses on top of walls on top of barbed wire.  Something needed to bust these people out of their comfort zones long enough to fall in love, especially Patrick.  So I gave him a niece.  An adorable, formidable, nuclear bomb of a child with an unstoppable mouth and energy to burn.  A little girl who loves him & demands love in return, even when she’s just peed on his favorite wool sweater.

So how about you?  Do you draw on real life when you write (or read), or do you just make stuff up?  How far would you go to research a book?  (I’ve always wanted to do one of those FBI citizen academies myself.)  Don’t be shy—fess up!  Up to five lucky commenter will win a copy of Money, Honey for their very own!