I love to go to candle stores. Not only the smells but also the names of the candles get me excited. Spiced cider, mango mandarin, moonlight path, cinnamon stick, sweet pea, shore breeze—they all kick up my adrenaline a notch and put me in a certain mood or frame of mind.

Since my current wip is set in Siesta Key, I’m especially drawn to the “shore breeze” candle. Without even picking it up, I know it will smell like a walk on the beach. I can hear the sea whooshing to shore and feel the cool sand beneath my feet. (The sand on Siesta Key Beach is cool.)

While visiting The Pottery Barn on Saturday, I saw a beautiful display of a large glass vase with sand, assorted seashells, blue soap petals and a few other things. If I had the money and the space, I would love to have things like that to inspire me for every book. I could have gotten lost in just staring at that vase while writing Hot Tropics & Cold Feet.

Certain pictures will do that for me too. You know, the kind of framed landscapes you feel you can step into and become a part of it all? Those kinds of things feed my senses and spark my creativity.

We all get bogged down with life stuff, and we have to work at feeding our creative side. I love to hear how other writers do it. Some of them work for me, some don’t.

We’ve talked about going to coffee shops and things like that to feed our creativity, but what other things feed your creative side? I have three weeks to finish my current book, so give me a shot in my creative arm, will ya?