Thanksgiving in Barbados

You never know what will create the next ripple.

Turquoise Carlisle Bay in Barbados seen from a hill, sailboats at anchor off a long white beach and town.

Sometimes work takes you somewhere beautiful.

Quentin came with me on a trip to Barbados over Thanksgiving, turning a work trip into a few stolen hours together on the beach and one of those dinners you don't forget.

Nikki Bodie walking along a white-sand Barbados beach toward the water as the sun sets through the clouds.
Bare crossed feet on a beach lounger facing the sun setting over the ocean in Barbados.
Nikki Bodie in silhouette at the water's edge, looking down, with the sun setting behind her over the sea.
Nikki Bodie standing in shallow water on the reef rock at sunset, clouds and blue sky above.

We spent Thanksgiving at The Cliff, tucked into the cliffside overlooking the Caribbean, eating an incredible five-course dinner with the ocean below us.

Night view down from The Cliff restaurant in Barbados to a lit cove of sand and glowing turquoise water.

It wasn't a research trip.

I wasn't looking for a story.

But that's the thing about stories.

You never know what will create a ripple in your mind. A face across a room. Something a stranger says. A town name on a road sign. An object in a museum. A place. A photograph. A name you hear once and can't quite forget.

Ideas manifest everywhere.

Sometimes they creep in slowly.

Sometimes they arrive all at once.

That night, I walked into a bathroom at The Cliff and saw an enormous round mirror surrounded by light.

I looked at my reflection.

And there it was.

An idea.

Immediate.

Something about that mirror created a ripple in my mind, and almost instantly, a story began forming around it.

So, naturally, I took a selfie.

Nikki Bodie in a red dress reflected in a large round sunburst mirror ringed with warm bulbs.

That's the strange thing about inspiration.

You can't schedule it. You can't know what will trigger it.

A place can inspire a setting.

A stranger can leave behind a character.

A name on a sign can find its way into a novel.

An object can become a plot.

And apparently, a bathroom mirror in Barbados can start a story.

Maybe that's what Windows is really about.

The things I see while I'm out living my life that somehow find their way into the things I write.

You never know what will create the next ripple.

You just have to notice when it starts.