Subscribe by email:The heroine in Suddenly Sexy (Harlequin Blaze, June 2012) has a strange job in a detective agency. Her nickname is Uniform Girl and her main duty is to track and take care of uniforms that the security guards wear.
You may think I totally made up this job but I promise I didn’t! It was a job my friend Ann had in a security and investigation agency for a couple of years.
I admit that I had grilled her about her assignments. She thought it was boring and wondered why I was so interested in it. Even back then I had a hazy story idea about a woman who wanted a crime-fighting career and was stuck in the administrative side of the business.
In fact, if I meet a person who has a unique or different job, I ask a lot of questions. I can’t help it! A person’s job can inspire a story idea.
For example, when a librarian at the local romance writers group talked about the library’s resources, she mentioned the Ask a Librarian help line. She said the librarians settled a lot of bar bets and that immediately sparked the idea for “Wicked Ways” that appeared in How to be a “Wicked” Woman.
And, to be honest, I haven’t had that many interesting jobs to draw on. The weirdest job I had was reading comment and complaint cards. Most common comment? “Do people actually read these?”
Yes. Yes, the do. They read thousands a day from all walks of life.
And you’d think I’d find a story idea out of that one.
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