On Saturday two of my dear writer buds drove across the state for a day of brainstorming. Another called in from Oklahoma. We spent chunks of time working on each others works in progress.

It was great!

I love helping other people brainstorm ways to create twists and turns for their characters and the plots. Why would someone do this? What’s the backstory? If we think this is going to happen how we can twist it and make it unexpected?

Gina has an agent. Sabrina has a manuscript request from a publisher after a few more revisions. And Crystal is ready to tackle her writing. I wanted to make sure my next two romances felt fresh as well as work out a plot angle on my next romantic suspense proposal. Alone, I would have hashed around in my mind flailing ineffectively. Together we had fun, ate lots of great food, and wrecked all kind of havoc for our characters.

And in the process, the stories became much richer. I can’t wait to read them!

Sidenote: today I’m supposed to get my revision letter for Trial by Fire. I’m working with a new editor, so there’s a mixture of fear and anticipation. So this week I’ll work on that and plotting the third Ohio WWII novel. A Promise Forged and A Promise Born have overlapping timelines, so I want to make sure they match up properly. I can’t wait to write Kat’s story — she’s a spitfire!