Author Anne LeClaire can stumble onto a book idea in almost any place. Two of her novels came from dreams, several from newspaper stories and one from a poster at a beauty parlor.

“Each book comes from a different place, something that grabs my attention,” said LeClaire.

For her novel “The Law of Bound Hearts,” the Cape Cod resident took inspiration from Mattapoisett and Marion.

“I have a great-aunt that lived in Mattapoisett. I used to love to go and visit her, so I had a heart connection,” said LeClaire.

When LeClaire was introduced to Marion she said, “I felt in love with Marion. It’s like the Cape in the '50s.”

Setting part of her novel in the area, LeClaire said she gave Marion the name Sippican to keep it under wraps.

“I wanted to use it but protect it. I didn’t want anyone else to know,” she said.

This month LeClaire will return to the area for the Mattapoisett Friends of the Library’s annual meeting.

The author said she spends a lot of time traveling to teaching and speaking engagements from Lincoln Center to Tuscany.

Her schedule has been so packed that LeClaire said she’s found it difficult to sit down and work on her next novel.

“I’m going to start to say no to things,” she said.

Depending on her schedule, LeClaire said a novel can take two to five years to complete, but it’s something she’s been passionate about doing she was a kid.

“It sounds kind of trite, but I’ve always written,” said LeClaire. “I used to keep notebooks of words. I’ve had a love of story from a really young age.”

Getting the words on the page takes discipline, said LeClaire, but she doesn’t give herself lofty goals.

“I don’t set myself a number of words or pages. What I do is I show up everyday and I write. Sometimes it’s a half a page, sometimes it’s five pages,” she said.

LeClaire’s silent Mondays also help her focus for her work.

For 20 years, the author has reserved the first and third Mondays of each month as a day of silence.

“No speaking. No internet. No cell phone. No texting,” said LeClaire.

The idea came to her one day when she was “feeling particularly grateful.”

Sitting on the beach LeClaire said aloud, “I don’t know what to do.”

She got an unusual response.

“A man on the beach said, ‘Sit in silence.’ When I turned around, no one was there.”

LeClaire took the man’s advice and said, “It was such a profound experience so I said in two weeks I’m going to do it again.”

The author’s most recent book and first non-fiction work “Listening Below the Noise” grew out of her silent Mondays. The topic has also become a main focus in her lectures.

“I often speak on the power of silence and it’s necessity for creativity,” said LeClaire. “We need to recapture silence in this very noise and busy world.”

LeClaire will speak at the Mattapoisett Library on Sunday, October 21 at 3 p.m.