One thing I'll add: My best friend is a U.S. Marshal. He told me this story and I thought of your stories of K-9's origins and asked him to forward me a link. A lesson from this is how valuable it is to know people that do something other than write. My friends who are teachers, doctors, musicians, cooks, or in law enforcement have all influenced my writing, and they all have circles of interest that you would never find without them.

Amos, that's a really good point. Don't compartmentalize your life as a writer. I write over here, my family and friends are over there. They may have stories just waiting to be told. That 'what if' link in the OP is about James V. Hart sitting around the dinner table with his family when one of the kids pipes up, "What if Peter Pan grew up?" That became the movie Hook.