Earth Day and Writing Ideas

Earth Day is coming this week and I have to confess that one of my sons is very eco conscious and has made it his goal in life to make everyone around him fall in line in the challenge to save the Earth. I’m proud of him for being so concerned about it even though he sometimes drives me crazy with it. The younger son has nicknamed him “Eco-Challenge Boy” as he has nagged us about being eco-friendly for a long time and has also won the eco-challenge competition at his college. He is in architecture school and all of his designs have an environmental component. The younger son has also nicknamed his dad “Sir Camps-a-lot.”  The spouse and Eco-Boy plan to hike the Appalacian Trail this summer before Eco-Boy leaves for grad school in England in September.

The younger kiddo and I, the non-camper, non-hiker types, are heading to Italy. I’ve been before but son hasn’t. He wants to see Rome and Venice. Stay in hotels, eat pasta, learn, and soak up some history. I plan to use this as a research trip for another novel.  I’m looking forward to having some mother/son time.

I will probably also use my older son’s predilection for saving the environment and his love of nature sometime as well in a story. After all, in my book, Surfer Bride, I used the lingo and the things I learned from him as a surfer as part of the background of my heroine.

In sum, my ideas for writing come from everywhere around me, even the seemingly minor, quirky little things. Now, how can I work “Sir Camps-a-lot” into a plot?