The same ideas come up in my stories over and over again:

1. Things are never as they seem, or Nothing is as it seems.

2. You can't replace a person/child. (This one comes up more recently, and it was one of the hearts of the story I just turned in. Yes, my stories are many-hearted creatures.)

3. Good people do bad things. Evil people do good things.

I don't want to get stuck in a rut, but it seems like two and three could give me enough material for a lifetime. Number one is fun.

Eighteen hours after deadline is approximately the time that I decide that all the work I have ever done in my life is utter crap and that I hope it got lost in the mail/internet so that no one will ever see it and that I should take up another career, preferably hard physical labor.