Dime a Dozen, or: What's the BIG Idea?

One of the more difficult things to explain to anyone who is not (already) a writer is that ideas are all but beside the point. People are always having ideas. Ideas are easy - they are as multiplicitous as bunnies, and as quick to scamper, hence the term plot bunnies.

The task of a writer consists of being able to make something out of an idea.
--Thomas Mann

"Somebody should write a book" was an ongoing conversation in my house, growing up. I have little doubt the conversation began a generation previous to my advent - if not more.

We used to talk about practical ideas for a book. Humor came up perhaps most frequently. History. We were always having ideas - or sometimes floating one, to which the inevitable refrain might be offered in return.


Ideas are wonderful, but they are just ingredients. Anyone can have high quality vanilla in their kitchen, but how many of us can put it toward a truly superior buttercream icing?

I'm no cook - but I am an author - and my work in that regard is where "somebody should write a book" became I *did* write one (and am working on another; and have strong feelings about what the third one will be).