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As I look at my writing notebook (you should consider carrying one), I see the dozens of story, setting and character ideas that I have collected and I’m both inspired and anxious.

There are many ideas that I want to turn into stories. It’s hard to write one at a time. At any given time I have a book and some kind of serial or short story going at the same time. This is tough with a 50 hour per seek day job and 45 weeks of travel per year, but I somehow manage to squeeze in some writing.

As I looked at these ideas, I began thinking about where the ideas that I’ve recorded come from. It though that telling you some of my sources might help you look at some idea generation possibilities you might not have thought of.

Characters

During the past eight years, I have flown…

The Kennedy Detail: JFK’s Secret Service Agents Break Their Silence by Gerald Blaine
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

A really awesome account of the Kennedy period just before, during and just after his assassination. This book not only explains a turning point in modern history, JFK’s assassination, but it also gives his Secret Service detail a human quality.

Far too often we see the secret service as a bunch of humorless, intimidating dudes you don’t want to mess with. Well, this book confirms all those feelings but also portrays them as real people who took their job extremely seriously and the Kennedy assassination very personal.

In the aftermath of the assassination, these men were literally crushed. Sure they picked themselves up, brushed themselves off and moved on because that’s what heroes do but it had to be excruciating. As a matter of fact, judging by the book, it…