What-if is a powerful writer's tool and it is something we all have in our tool box. We what-if at work, in the car, in the garden, while we're walking down the street.

I bet some of you are what-ifing right now. "What-if I got the call today? What would I say?" "What-if I win the contest I entered?" "What-if an editor finally realizes that I'm the greatest author ever?"

Do you know how I know that? It's because I'm a what-if addict, a what-if junkie, a what-if- aholic. I was probably what-ifing from the moment I picked up my first Barbie. I know I was the first time I put her together with Donnie. (I had a Donnie Osmond doll before I had a Ken.)

I was even what-ifing while I was writing this article. "What-if no one reads this?" "What-if no-one likes what I have to say?" What-if someone likes it? What then?

And that is the important question. If what-if is the vehicle that sparks our imagination, what-then is the vehicle that carries it.

BRAINSTORMING EXERCISE:

Magazines have some great pictures in them and I'm not talking about the photography that goes with the articles. I'm talking about the advertisements. Take a look through one of the magazines you have laying about the house and pay close attention to the ads. Many of them tell miniature stories with just one picture. Now, ignore what is being advertised and tell yourself the story of the picture. Use the ad as the beginning, middle or end of the story. What you choose to do with the story is up to you. You can write it down, journal it, or just play it out in your head. Who knows, maybe it will spark the what-if that launches your next great manuscript.

I recently spoke on this topic at the Romantic Times Convention in St. Louis. When I was first asked to be on the panel I thought, " I love the Great What-if. This is going to the best topic." This thought was immediately followed by, "Oh no, what can I possibly say about this subject that they don't already know?" The thing is we all what-if naturally. As a reader it happens every time you pick up a book. I can't tell you how to what-if, but I can tell you about my experience with it.

Not too long ago I had wanted to try something different with my writing and HQ/S had just come out with their Bombshell line. This sounded like a great line to me, but I didn't really have one of those James Bond type of ideas and I don't have the right voice to carry that kind of book.

I was driving to work one morning and Bowling For Soup came on the radio with the their song "Girl All The Bad Guys Want" and I thought to myself "What if they really were bad guys?"

Long story short, my current work-in-progress is a Young Adult that I came up with based on my original what-if. An idea can happen at the strangest times and under the most unusual circumstances.

Good luck with your writing and happy what-ifing.