Contest! Contest! Where do you get your leeches?

In September 2010, attendees of RMFW's Colorado Gold Conference were graced by the wisdom and humor of Connie Willis, science fiction writer extraordinaire.

After the conference I wanted more! While I’ve read most of Connie’s books, in reading about her life and career I found a number of quotes that made me laugh out loud. Here's one:

"When you're a writer, the question people always ask you is, "Where do you get your ideas?" Writers hate this question. It's like asking Humphrey Bogart in The African Queen, "Where do you get your leeches?" You don't get ideas. Ideas get you." — Connie Willis

I paused to consider my own leeches. One adopted me while I was visiting relatives in rural Illinois. My sister and I stopped at a dilapidated roadside antique shop, and as we wandered through the clutter I found myself wondering what people would be collecting in a few hundred years. Probably not pink Depression glass. The day before, we’d been discussing the Town of Nederland’s Frozen Dead Guy Days. That’s when the theatric Headhunters leech bit me, a leech that eventually evolved into a screenplay co-written with Karen Albright Lin.

Then there was that morning when I woke up with what has to be the most exciting leech ever! How good was that leech? (Keep it clean!) A phrase, what I thought might eventually be a book title, had nipped at my toes for years, since hiking with my husband one frosty morning in Yellowstone. When I woke up that Saturday… BANG! I didn’t want to get out of bed. I’ve drafted over 40,000 words of that leech and love curling up with it, though it’s grown in scope and is occasionally a bit daunting to get my arms around.

So, where do you get your leeches? Or share a “Williscism” with us, how you respond when an awe-struck reader asks, “Where in the world do you get those (crazy) ideas?" Or share both!

Please post these in the comments before January 8, 2011 and on January 10, 2011 we'll share a selection of top leeches or “Williscisms” and (drum roll, please) we'll also announce our winner, the blue-ribbon leech.

The winner will receive a DVD of The African Queen!

Janet Fogg

(Aren't you glad I didn't include a picture of a leech?)

Void where prohibited
No purchase necessary to enter
Need not be present to win

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