Guest Post: Stacey Graham, Author of Haunted Stuff: Demonic Dolls, Screaming Skulls & Other Creepy Collectibles

Yesterday, I reviewed Stacey Graham’s latest book, Haunted Stuff: Demonic Dolls, Screaming Skulls & Other Creepy Collectibles.  Today, I’m pleased to welcome her to the blog for a guest post about how she gains inspiration to write about the ghoulish and ghastly!  First, a little about Stacey:

I’m a multi-tasking mother of five whose early jobs included faking a British accent for tourists at a historical mansion, and speaking with Italian men over the phone for far too long while working at a travel agency in Portland, Oregon.

I have degrees in history and archaeology/anthropology from Oregon State University and may or may not have seen Bigfoot at an off-campus deli. It was Oregon, it’s hard to tell. I enjoy writing terrible zombie poetry and baking delicious granola that my husband refuses to eat. I currently live on the tippy top of a mountain outside of Washington, D.C. where helicopters hover overhead when the President gets his groove on to visit Homeland Security’s secret bunker.

Inspiration is a fickle wench

I love horror. I love to roll around in it until my fingers get all pruney from the gore and I feel the need to look under my bed before I turn off the light at night. But as a horror writer, sometimes the urge to do terrible things to people doesn’t come easily. How can you jumpstart creativity when it would rather sit on the couch and binge-watch Sleepy Hollow?

• Read: And not just your usual genre — read histories of great kings, children’s books, news articles of what’s going on behind closed doors in the scientific community, and your grandmother’s cookbooks. There’s a story idea in unexpected places and your job is to find it, exploit it, and make your readers angry that you didn’t add another chapter.

• Social media: What the heck is your neighbor whining about this week on their wall? Find the nefarious in the normal, and make them pay for not returning your weed trimmer.

• Exercise: I am not an athlete – not even close. But every morning I hike with my husband up Suck Mountain and back again with the reward of creamy clouds in my coffee – and a new twist to a story. To take my mind off of the pain in my butt, I work on plot holes and marketing ideas. Sometimes they’re awesome, and other times I get distracted by swallowing a bug, but by the time I drag myself back into the kitchen, I usually have a plan for the day.

• Sheesh, Stace, get it together: Organize! When planning my blog or guest posts, I whip out my Google calendar at the beginning of the month and start filling in ideas. I brainstorm first on a yellow legal pad (who doesn’t) and try to have a good mix of business, goofiness, and promotional posts. Then I’ll transfer them to my online calendar in color-coded goodness. When on deadline for a book, my methods are similar but there’s a whole lot more legal pads, mind maps, and Excel spreadsheets – but that’s a blog post for another time.

• Use your smart phone as a mobile idea machine: To save space in my purse, I use a note app and the voice recorder to get ideas down instead of a notebook. Have an idea while waiting for the train? Do a quick Google and get the bones down in your notes app before you throw some elbows for a seat. There are tons of apps available to use for notes, one of the most popular being Evernote, so try a few that work best with your habits and get crackin’.

I find that inspiration hits hardest right as I’m finishing a book. I have loads of ideas – and little time to work on them due to edits for the contracted book. No problem: write them down, make a Pinterest board, email ideas to yourself, paper a wall with Post-Its, sharpie it on the back of your toddler – whatever you have to do to get it down. Don’t let it slip away.

“Write or don’t write,” to shamelessly misquote Yoda. It’s your time — go ahead and call yourself a Timelord if that’s what you’re into — and what you choose to spend it on is what makes you awesome. If you need another level of Candy Crush, go crazy, I’ll be outside sucking up bugs.

Thank you, Stacey! Please be sure to visit Stacey on Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest, and her website.