Inspiration is a funny thing. It can come to us like a lightning bolt, through the lyrics of a song, or in the fog of a dream. Ask any writer where their stories come from and you’ll get a myriad of answers, and in that vein I created the WHAT (What the Hell Are you Thinking?) interview. Always including in the WHAT is one random question to really dig down into the interviewees mind, and probably supply some illumination into my own as well.

 Today’s guest for the WHAT is Kerry Docherty, author of Somewhere, Right Now.

Ideas for our books can come from just about anywhere, and sometimes even we can’t pinpoint exactly how or why. Did you have a specific origin point for your book?  

The idea for the book came during the start to COVID. My kids, husband, and I drove to my parent’s house in South Carolina for support, and all of us were just inside most the day having hard feelings. What of the things that kept me sane was visualizing that no matter what was happening in the confines in our home, or even collectively across the world, somewhere, right now, in nature something beautiful was still unfolding. And that was the crux of the book.

Once the original concept existed, how did you build a plot around it?  

I wanted it anchored in a family who had hard feelings and so each character had a moment to express that feeling but also support family members’ who were having big feelings

Have you ever had the plot firmly in place, only to find it changing as the story moved from your mind to paper?

This time (for once!) it was firmly in place.

Do story ideas come to you often, or is fresh material hard to come by?

Ideas are always coming to me. I probably have 100 notes on my phone of essays, poems, or stories just waiting to be birthed,

How do you choose which story to write next, if you’ve got more than one percolating?

They usually speak to me. I’ll start one and then another will beg for more attention. I feel like each poem or story has it’s own personality and the louder they yell at me, the more I listen!

I have 6 cats and a Dalmatian (seriously, check my Instagram feed) and I usually have at least one or two snuggling with me when I write. Do you have a writing buddy, or do you find it distracting?

OMG 8 Cats! I love this. I actually hid a cat on almost page with the family J See if you can find it!  My writing buddy is SOLITUDE and emo music. Anything else distracts me!