Brainstorming, or whaddaya think of this? by Liz Flaherty

Oxford Languages defines brainstorming as "group discussion to produce ideas or solve problems."

Welcome to an official Word Wranglers brainstorming session. There are no rules other than civility. All input is welcome and begged for eagerly solicited. 

Because, as I have been saying for years now, my next book could easily be my last one, I'm thinking about it ahead of time. I'm going to try writing what I love to read--women's fiction. My only other attempt at this sub-genre was The Girls of Tonsil Lake. Nine years after it was published, it's still a favorite, so maybe it's time to try again.

So, I have lakes in lots of stories. Besides Tonsil Lake, I wrote the Lake Miniagua series for Harlequin Heartwarming and Cooper Lake plays a large part in the Second Chances series I'm writing now. Apparently, I like lakes. So, is it okay to use them so much? Nan says Yes, and to look at all the authors who write about oceans and beaches. 

I like campgrounds, too. I loved writing about the one in Life's Too Short For White Walls. There wasn't a lake in that book, but Banjo Creek meandered through it...

Oh, but back to the women's fiction book. So, there's a lake. A small one on the edge of a little town, barely big enough to waterski on, but with a nice private beach and the kind of cozy cottages developers love to move in and tear down. 

The heroine drives up to a cottage at the lake. It's nighttime. She's almost too tired to get out of the car. It's been used to death, hasn't it? The tired woman whose life rug has been pulled out from under her feet. But it's been used a lot for a reason, hasn't it? Because we can feel her pain, we can remember the ache that's swelling in her chest, we can say, "If that was me, this is what I'd do."

This story is like an itch I can't quite scratch. The woman is a friend I don't have yet. The lake with the moon reflecting on it is a place of comfort and peace. Or is it?

Any ideas for this story? Please share them. Nan and I did some brainstorming on our workday yesterday and I think she got me out of Dinah's Dilemma. (No, that's not really the title of the story, but doesn't it sound 1950's-teen-book-ish?)

Got anything you want to brainstorm? Come on in. We have sooo many opinions here in the Corral, and we're more than happy to share them!

~*~

Newest from me is Reinventing Riley, Book Two in the Second Chances Series from Magnolia Blossom Publishing. Riley's one of my favorite heroines ever and Jake is...oh, I love Jake. You have to meet him.

He’s afraid a second time at love wouldn’t live up to his first. She’s afraid a second round would be exactly like her first.

Pastor Jake McAlister and businesswoman Riley Winters are in their forties and widowed. Neither is interested in a relationship. They both love Fallen Soldier, the small Pennsylvania town where they met, even though Rye plans to move to Chicago, and Jake sees a change in pastorates not too far down the road. Enjoying a few-weeks friendship is something they both look forward to.

However, there is an indisputable attraction between the green-eyed pastor and the woman with a shining sweep of chestnut hair. Then there’s the Culp, an old downtown building that calls unrelentingly to Rye’s entrepreneurial soul. And when a young man named Griff visits Jake, life changes in the blink of a dark green eye.

Liz Flaherty