I write stories. I have to. My head is stuffed full of ideas, and it would explode if I didn’t get at least some of them down on paper. Inspiration comes from a variety of sources—daydreams, night dreams, observations, my own experiences, and random things I hear about.
For instance, my YA paranormal novel The Haunted Purse was inspired by a true story. One day when I was far from home, my car keys disappeared. I searched every nook and cranny in my purse, but the keys weren’t there. Half an hour later, I checked my purse again—and found the keys. Meanwhile, a bunch of people had been walking around searching for them, so it was really humiliating to admit that they’d turned up in my purse. It didn’t seem possible that I could have missed them during my previous searches, so I decided something supernatural was going on. Yeah, that was it—some otherworldly being had pranked me by hiding my keys! Later it occurred to me that a haunted purse might be an interesting premise for a novel.
An observation inspired my middle-grade mystery novel Mall Girl Meets the Shadow Vandal. I used to work in the downtown area of a small city. Near my office was a row of old houses that had been converted into businesses—dental offices, accounting firms, insurance agencies, and the like. Smack-dab in the middle of the row was a single residential house, complete with a front porch swing and a sandbox in the back yard. For whatever reason, it had never been repurposed as a business.
I used to wonder about the occupants. Why would they choose to live in a business district? What would it be like to grow up there? Eventually, a story took shape. I pictured a pre-teen girl in the starring role. I imagined the challenges she would face growing up with office workers instead of families for neighbors. And at some point I thought, what if her house wasn’t downtown? What if it was in the middle of a shopping mall? Bingo. That was the twist that launched Mall Girl.
A noise in my attic inspired my adult romantic suspense novella Snowdrop Dreams, Cherry Thumbprint Screams. The noise was probably just boards settling, but my imagination went wild. What if somebody was living up there? What if they waited for me to go to work each day and then came down to raid my pantry? What circumstances might drive somebody to hide out in a stranger’s attic? Before I knew it, I had a rudimentary plot for a romantic suspense story: a woman discovers a young runaway living in the attic of her cookie shop.
My most recent release, my young adult novel Out of Body, was inspired by dreams. Sometimes I dream that I’m flying, and at one point I wondered, “What if these aren’t dreams? What if my spirit actually leaves my body when I’m sleeping and goes flitting around town?” That’s how it starts for Abby, the story’s protagonist. At first she doesn’t recognize her out-of-body experiences for what they are. She thinks they’re dreams.
In short, inspiration can come from anywhere at any time. And now if you’ll excuse me, I feel a story idea brewing, and I must attend to it.
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Title: Out of Body
Author: Kimberly Baer
Genre: Paranormal/sci-fi young adult
Publisher: The Wild Rose Press
Book Blurb:
Those weird dreams Abby Kendrick has been having? Turns out they aren’t dreams after all. They’re out-of-body experiences, like the ones her cousin Logan is having. At first Abby has fun with her new ability, using it to spy on her neighborhood crush and spook a mean girl. But when Logan gets in trouble on the astral plane, the game changes, and Abby must bend the rules of out-of-body travel as she journeys to a distant realm. Her mission is a perilous one, and success is not guaranteed. Can she save Logan and find her way home again? Or will the cousins be lost forever on the astral plane?
View the Out of Body book trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BYzqrZ2gl-I
Excerpt:
Whoa.
I was on the ceiling. Suddenly I was on the blinkin’ ceiling, and I had no idea how I’d gotten up here or how to get down.
What the heck?
A moment ago, I’d been lying there thinking my thoughts, but now somehow I’d shrugged off gravity like an astronaut on a space mission. I was staring down at a girl on a bed, a sleeping brown-haired girl wearing mud-crusted jeans and a hoodie, who looked a little bit like me.
Actually, a lot like me.
Holy crud, it was me! The sleeping girl was me!
I must have dozed off. I was so exhausted, I’d fallen asleep, and now—
Now I was having an out-of-body experience.
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Barnes and Noble: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/book/1144460559?ean=9781509253074
Author Biography
Kimberly Baer is an author and professional editor who was born and raised in Johnstown, Pennsylvania, a town marginally famous for having endured three major floods. She even lived there during one of them. She enjoys power-walking on days when it’s not too hot, too cold, too rainy, too snowy, or too windy. On indoor days, you're likely to find her hard at work on her next novel or binge-watching old episodes of Survivor, her favorite guilty pleasure.
Kim has had her nose in a book practically since birth. Her first story, written at age six, was about a baby chick that hatched out of a little girl’s Easter egg after somehow surviving the hard-boiling process. These days she writes in a variety of genres, including adult romantic suspense, young adult, and middle-grade. Her books are published by The Wild Rose Press and have won several awards.
Social Media Links
Website: www.kimberlybaer.com
Goodreads: www.goodreads.com/kimberly_baer
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Title: The Haunted Purse
Author: Kimberly Baer
Genre: Paranormal young adult
Publisher: The Wild Rose Press
Book Blurb:
That old denim purse Libby Dawson bought at the thrift store isn’t your run-of-the-mill teenage tote. It’s a bag of secrets, imbued with supernatural powers. Strange items keep turning up inside, clues to a decades-old mystery only Libby can solve.
Filled with apprehension and yet intrigued by the mounting pile of evidence, Libby digs for the truth. And eventually finds it. But the story of the purse is darker than she imagined—and its next horrific chapter is going to be all about her.
View The Haunted Purse book trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GuOijDJLi8w
Excerpt
“Do you think we should tell my mom about the purse?” asked Toni.
“No,” I said. I wasn’t ready to trust an adult. Not even Toni’s mom, nice as she was. “Your mom is like you,” I added. “Practical. It would take a long time to convince her there’s something supernatural going on.”
We went back to watching the purse. There was a moment when I thought I saw it twitch, but that might have been my imagination.
“You could always get rid of it,” Toni said. “You know, donate it back to the thrift store.”
I considered that. “I could. But I don’t want to—not yet, anyway. This purse is the coolest thing I’ve ever owned. I want to find out more about it. I want to see what it does next.”
She moved her eyes from the purse long enough to glance at me. “Aren’t you afraid it’ll crawl into your bed some night and strangle you with its straps?”
“No. I think it’s trying to get my attention. It’s trying to tell me something.”
“Like what?”
I didn’t have a clue.
Buy Links (including Goodreads and BookBub)
Barnes & Noble: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-haunted-purse-kimberly-baer/1137386703?ean=9781509232383
Google Play: https://play.google.com/store/books/details?_bbid=16509913&_bbreg=us&_bbtype=blog&id=AW32DwAAQBAJ
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Title: Snowdrop Dreams, Cherry Thumbprint Screams
Author: Kimberly Baer
Genre: Adult romantic suspense
Publisher: The Wild Rose Press
Book Blurb
When Annie Barkley discovers a boy living in the attic of her cookie shop, she’s stunned—and oddly elated. She can almost believe the universe is giving her back the infant son she lost eleven years ago.
Annie senses that something bad happened to the boy, but he won’t talk. All she knows is that he’s terrified of being found. When her long-ago crush, police captain Sam Stern, stops by to inquire about a missing boy, Annie says she hasn’t seen him.
Big mistake. Because that lie might cost her more than a romance with Sam. It also leaves her vulnerable to a ruthless pursuer, one who’s determined to silence the boy for good.
View the Snowdrop Dreams book trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=giM9IljM448
Excerpt
The boy gave a mighty start. He jerked his head around, wild-eyed like the raccoon that had once entered Annie’s house through the long-unused doggie door and couldn’t find its way back out. He was trapped behind the counter because Annie was standing just outside the little exit gate. He tried to hurl himself over the counter. Annie stepped to the right, blocking him.
“Stop right there, buster. You’re not going anywhere.”
The boy slid off the counter and shrank into the corner, peering up at her like a baby mouse about to be devoured by an alley cat. She had just opened her mouth to ask what the heck was going on when he clutched his stomach and made a gagging, gulping noise.
“Uh-oh,” said Annie. With fumbling fingers, she unlatched the gate. The boy raced to the bathroom and slammed the door shut. She heard him throwing up.
After a minute, she rapped on the door. “Hey, buddy. You okay?”
No reply.
She turned on the kitchen lights and paced up and down the short hallway, patting her thudding chest. It’s not Jonah, she told herself. It isn’t him. This was some other boy. Some other mother’s son. Not hers.
But Jonah, if he’d lived? He might look like this.
Buy Links (including Goodreads and BookBub)
Barnes and Noble: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/snowdrop-dreams-cherry-thumbprint-screams-kimberly-baer/1140571423?ean=2940160736143
Google Play: https://play.google.com/store/books/details/Kimberly_Baer_Snowdrop_Dreams_Cherry_Thumbprint_Sc?id=g1FPEAAAQBAJ
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Title: Mall Girl Meets the Shadow Vandal
Author: Kimberly Baer
Genre: Middle-grade mystery
Publisher: The Wild Rose Press
Book Blurb:
Chloe Lamont doesn't live in a neighborhood, like most kids. Her house is in the middle of the mall. And now someone is stealing items from her house and using them to vandalize stores. Who is trying to frame her? And how are they getting into the house?
Desperate to catch the real vandal and clear her name, Chloe seeks help from the kids in her Mystery Reading Group at school. While searching for clues, the Mystery Groupers make an astounding discovery. And then things get really crazy…
View the Mall Girl book trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b10Mv-rszDo
Excerpt
Mom turns abruptly and heads into the kitchen. I’m right behind her. We park ourselves in front of the refrigerator.
“I bought a new carton on Thursday,” she says, twisting her opal ring around and around on her pinkie. “I haven’t used any eggs at all. If you haven’t either, there should still be a full dozen.”
“I haven’t used any,” I tell her.
She takes a deep breath and tugs open the refrigerator door. She has the grim demeanor of a fourteenth-century villager about to open a vampire’s coffin. She takes out the egg carton and places it on the counter. Gingerly, she lifts the lid.
There are four eggs inside, crowded together at the left end of the carton. The rest of the carton looks starkly empty, like eight tiny bird’s nests emptied of occupants.
“Oh!” Mom clamps a hand over her mouth. “How can this be?”
I can only stare at the carton in silence, dazed by the undeniable truth. Somebody is taking our eggs and using them to attack mall stores. I just don’t know who or how or why.
Buy Links (including Goodreads and BookBub)
Barnes and Noble: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/mall-girl-meets-the-shadow-vandal-kimberly-baer/1138734047?ean=2940162478164
Google Play: https://play.google.com/store/books/details/Kimberly_Baer_Mall_Girl_Meets_the_Shadow_Vandal?id=iHAjEAAAQBAJ
Scribd (unlimited books for $9.99 a month): https://www.scribd.com/book/498830114/Mall-Girl-Meets-the-Shadow-Vandal