One of the question authors are most frequently asked is where do ideas come from.

Today, I’ll be sharing the background behind <a href="http://amzn.to/186U8IG" target="_blank"><i>Love in the Morning Calm</i> </a>and <i><a href="http://amzn.to/KCnFRl" target="_blank">The Pendant’s Promise</a>. </i><i> </i>These two books tell the love story of Alex (Ace) Cabot and Lily Reed Johnson.

Though not a series in the true sense of a book series, <i>Love in the Morning Calm</i> is the Prequel and tells how Lily and Ace met and fell in love. <i>The Pendant’s Promise </i>picks up the story twenty years later.

The idea for Lily and Ace's story came from my personal experience at Eighth Army Headquarters in South Korea. What was I doing in South Korea at Eighth Army?

That’s a story in itself.

My husband is a retired Army Reserve officer. He completed R.O.T.C. during college and at the height of Vietnam War received his commission when he graduated.

With a military background - my father was an Army Air Corp officer, I was proud that my husband joined the Army Reserves…until his first <strong><i>unaccompanied</i></strong> assignment.

The thought of being stateside while he served at the Korea Procurement Agency, Eighth Army, South Korea, was not appealing.

It was so unpleasant that I sold our car, purchased airline tickets for our toddler daughter and myself, and followed him.
<p style="text-align:center;"><a href="http://judythewriter.files.wordpress.com/2013/07/jerry-sarae7-2.jpg"><img class="size-medium wp-image-3266 aligncenter" alt="Jerry-SaraE7-2" src="http://judythewriter.files.wordpress.com/2013/07/jerry-sarae7-2.jpg?w=225" width="225" height="300" /></a></p>
<p style="text-align:left;">During our time there, I worked as a Department of Army Civilian (DAC) at Eighth Army Headquarters in G3. <a href="http://judythewriter.files.wordpress.com/2013/07/8th-army-hq.jpg"><img class="alignright size-thumbnail wp-image-3267" alt="8th army HQ" src="http://judythewriter.files.wordpress.com/2013/07/8th-army-hq.jpg?w=150" width="150" height="99" /></a></p>
That’s why, in the story, Lily is a DAC at G3. I knew what it was like. You might recognize the picture from the cover of <i>Love in the Morning Calm</i>.

<a href="http://judythewriter.files.wordpress.com/2013/07/lbj-in-korea-12.jpg"><img class="alignleft size-thumbnail wp-image-3270" alt="lbj-in-korea-12" src="http://judythewriter.files.wordpress.com/2013/07/lbj-in-korea-12.jpg?w=138" width="138" height="150" /></a>Both novels are fiction loosely based around Lyndon Johnson’s Southeast Asia in 1966.<a href="http://judythewriter.files.wordpress.com/2013/07/lbj-in-korea-4.jpg"><img class="alignright size-thumbnail wp-image-3271" alt="lbj-in-korea-4" src="http://judythewriter.files.wordpress.com/2013/07/lbj-in-korea-4.jpg?w=150" width="150" height="109" /></a><em></em>

The characters in <em>L</em><em>ove in the Morning Calm</em> and <i>The Pendant’s Promise</i> are  figments of my imagination, but I confess they have some traits of people I met during my time at Eighth Army G3. (That tee shirt saying, <em>watch what you say or you might end up in my novel,</em> is actually true.)

The setting is accurate though I’m sure that Yongsan Compound has changed dramatically since we were there.

If you’re read either <i>Love in the Morning Calm</i> and <i>The Pendant’s Promise, </i>you might recognize some of these places.

The parade field in front of Headquarters, pictured here from 1966.<a href="http://judythewriter.files.wordpress.com/2013/07/2276276862_8th-army-hdqtrs.jpg"><img class="size-medium wp-image-3274 aligncenter" alt="2276276862_8th Army hdqtrs" src="http://judythewriter.files.wordpress.com/2013/07/2276276862_8th-army-hdqtrs.jpg?w=300" width="300" height="199" /></a>
<p style="text-align:left;"><a href="http://judythewriter.files.wordpress.com/2013/07/korean-bus.jpg"><img class="alignright size-full wp-image-3275" alt="Korean bus" src="http://judythewriter.files.wordpress.com/2013/07/korean-bus.jpg" width="75" height="75" /></a>The PX <a href="http://judythewriter.files.wordpress.com/2013/07/2240085375_-px-yongsan.jpg"><img class="size-thumbnail wp-image-3276 alignleft" alt="2240085375_ PX Yongsan" src="http://judythewriter.files.wordpress.com/2013/07/2240085375_-px-yongsan.jpg?w=150" width="150" height="88" /></a></p>
                         The military buses

Next week, I’ll be sharing more photos of places around Seoul that I incorporated into both stories.

<strong>YOUR TURN:</strong> Do you like seeing "real" pictures to compare to what you imagined when you read books?