Pinning murder on someone is one thing; pinning murder ideas on Pinterest is a complete other thing. There’s effort involved to make sure I get both right.

Fortunately for the population, my pinning murder on someone happens only in my novels.

When I began writing Emerald Obsession, a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away, Pinterest didn’t exist. What did exist, though, were magazine images, index cards, notebooks…. You get the idea, the old-school version. Life redirected me for a while, and by the time I began editing to prep EO for publication, Pinterest had exploded.

I created a board I named Emerald Obsession—Novel Inspiration and that became a handy place to gather visuals for some of the changing elements from my story. Pinning gave me great alternatives for locations, weapons, etc, while I edited my manuscript.

After I completed EO, I created a separate Pinterest board to showcase some of the real foods, locations, restaurants, etc. that I wrote about. Parts of the book are made up (fiction, ya know?), but many aspects sprang from personal, happy experience. I’m such a huge fan of those places that I wanted to share that with my readers.

Whenever I read EO, I re-inhabit the scene. I recall the savory taste of the food, the brilliant angle of the sun, the tangy smell of the sea air. It’s an incredible experience, one I hope to convey to readers as much as possible. The novel sets the words; Pinterest adds the images.

I’m in the early stages of outlining (sort of) and writing (also sort of) the follow-up novel to Emerald Obsession. I say “sort of” because I don’t outline in the traditional sense, but I’ve got the bulk of the story arc in place, so I’ve begun some early chapter work for my critique group. Now that writing is underway, I’ll start a new idea board. I’ll let you know when it’s up and running.

I hope you’ll check out my story boards. EO—Novel Inspiration, contains the photos that kept my creativity flowing through the editing process. EO, the Novel, includes those visuals of actual locations where the story is set (parts of the Bahamas and NYC), some foods I obsess over (garlic shrimp tapas, anyone?) and other fun images I found relating to my tale. My version of a before-and-after show.

I’d love to hear how you use Pinterest, for pleasure or work or both. Let me know in the comment section below.