I see dead people!!!

Okay, not really - but....

I am the kind of person who drives down the road and sees drainage ditches, woody ravines, abandoned houses, and thinks "I wonder if there's a dead body in there." I would probably never consider becoming a hiker, a utility worker or a jogger, as those folks find lots of bodies, too. I may have an obsession with true crime, but I don't want to actually experience something as gruesome as finding bodies.

Until I finally freed my inner author, I had to keep my morbid thoughts fairly tightly contained. Hubby and I would discuss these random ideas that would float through my brain, and so would some close friends. However, there have been times when I would make jokes and just get this very strange look - like when we had to replace our freezer. I go into the large home improvement box store and start looking at their freezers, and over the top of the appliances where the price and description tags are located, one of the lines of the descriptions caught my attention. The line said "one person freezer" or "two person freezer". I turned to the sales lady and asked "Does that mean I can only get one body in here?" She just looked at me for a minute and then said "I had someone else ask me that just the other day." Apparently I'm not the only morbid person in Southern Indiana, and I have to say I would loved to have met the other person who noticed that line and made the comment.

I also have to admit that I'm anxiously awaiting the first time when someone looks at me after having read one of my books and wonders where I learned to break into some place without setting off the security system, or how I learned what kind of damage a certain caliber of bullet will do to the human body. I've had a couple of people ask, so far, but no one has had that 'look' on their face, the one that says 'I don't know if I feel safe around you'. Now, how morbid am I that I look forward to that? Well, simply put, if I envoke that kind of emotion in a reader, I've done my job. Secrets in the Shadows is less likely to inspire that sort of feeling, I think, than Under the Moon's Shadow. When it comes out, I'd bet that I'll get some funny looks from people, probably those in my own family.

There is a part of me that dreads having to put certain scenes in the books. These are the darker scenes, and I guess it is a little disconcerting to think that my inner demons are going to be exposed for the world to see, if they care to. The knowledge and fascination I have for the criminal and twisted mind, well, it could be disturbing for those who don't share it. It is a risk I'll have to take.

Until next time...