A flash of inspiration

I'm not going to lie - I don't scare easily.

I've been reading horror novels for as long as I can remember, and once owned every single John Saul, Dean Koontz and Stephen King - in hard cover. I love scary movies, but admit few have made me truly jump in fear...except maybe the first Saw. Oh, and maybe The Collector... I digress.

But nothing - not even Pennywise the Clown - has given me as many goosebumps as the storm that blew over our house last night. For almost two hours, I stared out the window watching brilliant flashes of lightening illuminate the angry sky, wondering at what point one of those bolts would zap a nearby tree, or worse, our loft rooftop. I listened to the eerie rumble of thunder, sure the resulting boom would jar pictures off the walls, or elicit howls of terror from my dogs (no howls...just whimpers.) And when the rain hit, it pelted with enough force I thought my windows might smash in. Seriously.

Thankfully, the storm passed through Busby with limited destruction - though, I'm a bit nervous to check out my garden today. Other parts of the province were not as lucky. Tornadoes swirled above central Alberta, and according to reports, three touched down. Scary stuff.

My husband is teasing me this morning, but I admit, if our basement wasn't a cold, cement oubliette, I'd have dragged my family down there, along with our pantry of canned goods. (We are not, I assure you, stocked enough for the Zombie Apocalypse, but we could survive a few days on chick peas and corn...well, not my stepdaughter. She's a picky eater...)

Ironically (says the thriller writer), I would have been alone in that basement. Handsome husband slept right through most of it, and my stepdaughter scurried to the window with the best vantage point. Typically, that's me - we once drove to the top of a hill to watch a thunderstorm, and witnessed a bolt of lightening set fire to a building in the city. Some of my best stories have been written in bed as I listen to the unrelenting downpour.

But last night, it wasn't until the worst of the lightening passed that I felt the zap of inspiration my muse avatar had failed to produce this week. Yesterday, I spent hours (literally) organizing the various projects on my plate this month, and though I'm surviving on just a few hours of sleep, I feel electrified, ready to get writing. Finally!

Of course, I'm also thankful that sound outside my window is merely heavy rain. My heart can't take another thunderous boom...yet.

- Dawn