Went to get my car checked out this a.m. (the brake light's been on for a couple months now, along with the "check coolant" light, but these are normal things to expect when driving a 13-year old beast like my Ford Esquart), and after dropping off the pollen-coated vehicle, I walked next door to the Caribou Coffee armed with a pen, my notebook, and (in case of emergencies) John Gardner's The Art of Fiction.

As I downed my large latte and walnut scone, I started piddling around with novel thoughts and ideas, just scratching around in the dirt, really, then writing in my journal, the old-fashioned way...

And damn if I didn't come up with just may be a very cool novel idea! Something that I think will push me farther than my previous work, and something that will be quite an emotional challenge. Pretty soon I had notes for the first three chapters, a cast of characters, and even a map (but not a Middle-Earth type map, just a map of a farm).

And I owe this idea pretty much all to my lovely wife Elizabeth. The idea jumps off from a very cool concept she came up with for Occupational Therapy while she was in school. I don't want to say too much more about it other than to give Lizzie major props!

Now, to keep taking notes and shaping my outline and reading -- more John Gardner, just for the heck of it (I last read his stuff 10 years ago, and it's interesting how my perspective has changed; I'm agreeing with him more), more Joseph Campbell, and more mythology.

So far, the ideas I have for the novel include a family-run farm, organic crops, an army of greyhounds rescued from the track, the underworld (not the mafia), strange neighbors, elderly people with Alzheimer's, heroic stories, and missing children.

I even started chapter one, writing longhand. Think I'm going to buy a new notebook and do as much writing as I can that way. Amazing what a large amount of caffeine can do for you.

Now to go see how bad the bill is gonna be for my car...