Kayla the Bibliophile: KD Robichaux Guest Post: Author Inspiration. Blog Tour for The Blogger Diaries Trilogy

I have author friends who tell me they go on Pinterest and Tumblr to find inspiration while writing. They find a picture or a gif that inspires them, and they keep it close so they can have it fresh in their mind while they're creating their scene.

Me? I had MySpace.

Since my trilogy is the true story of how my husband Jason and I got our happily ever after, it spans across almost a decade. I've always been a social media junky, so I was very happy to have thousands of pictures to look back on, not only to help me remember dates and timelines, but to jog my memory and help paint the scene in my head so I could make it as real for the books as possible.

Here are a couple of excerpts from Wish Come True, along with the pictures that inspired them. Enjoy!

From Chapter 9:

It’s pitch black outside, but for once, I’m not petrified walking over to the wooded side of our yard to my car.
Normally, even at twenty-three years old, I have my mom stand in the doorway and talk to me while shining a flashlight in my direction if I come home when it’s grown dark, after calling her and letting her know I’ve arrived. I think it’s some sort of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, after my evil-ass big brother hid in the woods one night, when he knew I was due back home from my first job at the car dealership when I was eighteen. That asshole had put on his Friday the Thirteenth hockey mask—which he got, thinking it was funny since his name is Jason too—and when I got out of my car where we all park along the treeline, he started making the infamous Ch-ch-ch sound, then burst out from the tall oak and pines, waving my dad’s chainsaw around like a nutcase as he ran toward me.
My throat hurt for three days I screamed so loud, and to make things worse, when he caught up to me—I’m not a runner, and if you ever see me running, you better run too, because that means something is after me—he set the chainsaw down and tackled me to the ground, tickling my sides until I peed. Yep, eighteen years old, and my stupid big brother held me down ‘til I pissed myself. Fucker.

(My big brother Jay and me when I was 18)

From Chapter 11:

The next day, we grabbed Tooty and went on an overnight trip to Myrtle Beach. (I know, I know! But it’s soooo much fun down there!) I cannot even describe how awesome it was. When we first got there, Jason pulled the new floaty we got her out of the box and blew it up, and I snapped the cutest pictures of her pudgy little self sitting on the bed watching him as the yellow plastic expanded, her face mesmerized, like he was working pure magic.

The hotel we stayed at was awesome. It had an indoor waterpark, with a lazy river we floated in for a couple hours, a few kiddy slides Jason took her down, and even I had a great time in the water! Well…the pool, that is. I still didn’t go into the ocean. But let me tell you, seeing Jason’s tattooed sexy-ass body in his bright white swim trunks, holding my daughter in just her little swim diaper and a shit-load of sunscreen as he introduced her to the ocean for the first time—OVARY EXPLOSION. If he could make babies, I would definitely give him one.

From Chapter 19:
“Did you bring the stuff?” Buffy asks conspiratorially, raising her eyebrow and glancing down at my hands.
“Yeah. We need to get it on before Jason’s mom comes in. If she catches us before it’s all done, she’ll throw a hissy until we wipe it all off,” I say quickly, rummaging through my makeup Caboodle until I find what we need. We hurry out of the dressing room and into the main room of the bridal parlor, and I run over to the door to lock it. “Whatever you do, do not open this door. Especially if it’s Jason’s mom. Everyone allowed in here right now is already here, so please don’t unlock this door for any reason until we’re done getting dressed and ready.” The girls around me, including my photographer and her assistant, all nod.
“First order of business…this.” I hold out the gleaming bottle of black nail polish for everyone to see, and the first thing I notice is the mischievous look in my niece’s eyes.
“You know she’s going to shit herself, don’t you?” she asks, receiving a stern, “Brooke!” from my mom.
“What? It’s true.” She shrugged.
“You’re in a church, Tadpole. Watch your language,” Mom tells her, reaching over to swat her playfully on her butt.
“That’s why we have to hurry up and get it on and dry, then get completely dressed, bouquets and all. That way she can’t make us take it off. We wouldn’t want to risk getting nail polish remover on our dresses, now would we?” I smirk.
I love my soon-to-be mother-in-law. God knows I do. But that little woman can be one controlling, opinionated bulldog when she wants to be. If she knew I wanted all my bridesmaids and I to have matching black nails, which I thought looked super cute against the cream-colored calla lilies, she’d throw a tantrum. Shit, she even gave me hell when she saw it on my toenails the night before, knowing I was wearing open-toe heels today. I was able to cool her jets a little by telling her no one would see them since my wedding dress is floor-length, leaving out the part it would soon be on my fingers.

(My sisters-in-law Renee and Buffy hurrying to paint their nails black in the bridal parlor, hehe!)

From Chapter 5:

The rest of the meal is perfect, and we follow it up with dessert before Jason pays the bill and we stand to leave. I hand him his black pea coat from beside me, and he puts it on before sliding Josalyn’s carrier out of the booth. I follow behind them and my heart clenches at the sight. Quickly, I pull my digital camera out of my purse and snap a picture of the sweet scene: Jason looking manly and sophisticated in his structured wool coat, contrasting adorably with Josalyn’s baby pink car seat as he carries her effortlessly with one hand.

I pull my jacket more tightly around me, and when I glance up to see Jason has turned to reach into the diaper bag hanging on my shoulder to pull out Josalyn’s blanket, I come ridiculously close to crying as he tucks it around her. As if I could love him any more than I already did, I feel my heart grow an extra chamber for paternal Jason. After watching over his shoulder as he buckles her into the car flawlessly, when he closes the door, I grab him by the bicep, turn him around, and use every ounce of my much smaller body to shove him up against the car. I feel absolutely savage as I wrap myself around him, and within seconds, I don’t feel the slightest bit chilly. I kiss him with a passion I’d forgotten I could possess, throwing every bit of the new level of love I feel for him into the embrace.

I don’t let him go until he finally starts to gently push at my shoulders and begins to chuckle, and when I do begrudgingly release him, I’m breathing heavy, little puffs of white forming before me with each exhale.

“Woman, if you don’t control yourself, I’m going to end up bending you over the trunk of the car, and that’s not the way I want to have you for the first time as my girl. Plus, the baby is rear-facing, and I don’t want to scar her for life,” he jokes, bending his head down to kiss me lightly on the lips before sliding out from between me and the door. I watch him circle the car, feeling like a cat ready to pounce, but as he opens his door and disappears inside, I snap out of it and get in my side.