Story Inspiration: The Girl With the Green Shovel

My latest novel (the suspense is killing me, but I need to keep it under wraps until it's ready to share with the world!) was inspired by a memory from my childhood that more than one person has said, "You need to write a story about that!" It's honestly a story that I wanted to use for inspiration for a while, but I hadn't stumbled across the right spark to ignite such a story until I was walking along the beach and retrieved my children's green plastic shovel from the Rappahannock River this past July. And while the story I wove using my experience and the twist that my characters needed to tell their story isn't quite the same from my childhood, the inspiration it provided helped to pour a soul into my latest novel.

My green shovel story: When I was a kid, my family and I were down the shore in New Jersey (where I grew up). While walking along the boardwalk, my twin sister, Erika, happened upon a red beach shovel. She was really excited and, being a twin, I quickly caught feelings over it, so I exclaimed, "Well I'm going to find a green one!" Being twins, our parents usually color coordinated us. Erika was usually dressed in red, pink, or purple and I was dressed in green, blue, or yellow (having the unisex name, I don't think my parents fully thought that color coding through, but I hold no grudges, haha.) So, as a kid, you can imagine, I felt like this was very specific cosmos target marketing going on. She always wore those colors, and that's the color shovel she found. It only felt right that I find a green one.

Well, my parents both knew that there was absolutely no way they were going to get away with leaving the beach that day if they didn't eventually stop by a souvenir shop and pick up a sandcastle set with a green shovel in it. Even when I was a kid the second I decided I wanted something there was absolutely nothing anyone could do to sway me. Green was not an option.

We continued on, walking down to the beach, little Shawn still very much a sour patch over her lack of shovel. Eventually, some undetermined amount of time later, I ran up ahead and, to my joy and pleasure, noticed a green handle poking out of the sand. I reached for it and unearthed none other than a mint condition green shovel. No happier or more self-assured child existed in that moment. So of course, I ran back to my parents to show them what I had found and they were stunned, if not a little concerned. What kind of vudu child have we been harboring all these years?!

From that moment on the oddities of luck or mysterious fortune seemed all the more prominent. We were once driving through town and I saw money in a puddle of a parking lot. My mom didn't hesitate to turn around and investigate. Low and behold there it was, $10, just sitting there in the puddle. Little moments happened like this throughout my childhood and life and the nod always came back to that green shovel. If Shawn wants it, watch out, she's going to get it.

Now, of course, I'm not really magical, nor does anything ever come quite that easily anymore, but it's a fun story and I had a lot of fun crafting a new story around a similar antidote.

If you're interested to know more about the novel designed around this fun little memory be sure to stay tuned for more updates on my latest novel!