I think that the best kind of writing comes from inside writers. All of my books touch my life in some way. They often come from personal experience, or in the case of my historical books, from a deep interest in a certain subject. And they always begin with compelling images. Sometimes I carry those images inside for several years before I even begin researching or writing a book.
Writers use our eyes and our ears.
We look at small, ordinary things in life as well as big ones. We listen to other people and to their stories. We write about things that are important to us. Maybe it's just a phrase that someone else says that will lead us to a good book idea. Or maybe it's an important historical event.