I've been (unconsciously) casting about for a new idea for a short story to inspire me, with no success, while looking (even MORE unconsciously) for the next novel idea. I'm usually more regimented, more organized about this process than I am for this latest project, plus I still have the baseball novel to revise, but I like knowing what's coming next.

So today, I was pleasantly surprised to have my next novel idea plop onto my lap courtesy of a song by Sting: "Dead Man's Rope." What I liked about the song was that I didn't realize at first the singer was Sting, then when I realized who it was I heard these lines -- "If you're walking to escape, to escape from your affliction / You'd be walking in a great circle, a circle of addiction / Did you ever wonder what you'd been carrying since the world was black?" -- and I knew what I was going to write about.

And the rest of the lyrics are intriguing as well. I'm thinking the rope belongs to a certain traitorous fella from the New Testament, sometimes known as the "Wandering Jew." Not sure if my novel's going to go THERE, but I do know it's going to take place in the present, with a man about to walk away from everything he holds dear (hey, I'm imagining the worst thing that could happen to ME here).

Now all I have to do is write the novel and figure out WHY.

And hey, if you think Sting is cheesy, that's your opinion -- last time I was inspired by one of his songs ("All This Time"), I wrote one of my favorite stories, "Crossing the Camp," which led to a pile of related stories and an entire novel. Thanks, Mr. Sumner, sir. "Gordo." :)