WEEKEND WORDS: WHAT NEXT?

One of the big problems for writers is coming up with a big idea for their next book. I have a different problem. I get new ideas all the time for romance novels. I have a list now of more than 60 such ideas. My problem is deciding which one to do next. That’s what I’m struggling with right now.

I’ve pretty much narrowed things down to one of four stories, the first of which I’m,, working on now. Return to Rainbow Ridge. I came up with the idea of having four college room-mates at Stanford, who all have the same kind of problems with losing a high school girlfriend, then reconnecting with them fifteen years later.

Rule Number One: He meets his almost-girlfriend who has become a medevac flight nurse, and ends up rescuing him from a car crash on the turnpike in Oklahoma, fifteen years later. That’s one I’m working on now, but need to do some more research for it.

His Kind of Music: The hero breaks up with his high school “friend,” who is too focused on her career as a world-class cellist to deal with a romance. He meets her fifteen years later when he’s hired to do a documentary for the symphony orchestra in which she’s first chair cello.

Something Missing: The fourth guy has a girlfriend he’s crazy about, only to lose her after her college study abroad ends in a terrible train crash that leaves her with traumatic retrograde amnesia, unable to remember anything from her immediate past, including her boyfriend. They meet up again at a high school class reunion.

All of these stories are about second chance romances. I’ve worked on all of them, doing research and exploring story ideas. I still haven’t decided which will be next, but I need to do that soon, at least before my first book is released.

It may come down to which is farthest along in the required research I need to do, Each has its own challenges in that area, and I’m working to figure out how to deal with them all.

I need to focus on the first book. I have to get it ready for Beta Readers in the next couple of weeks. It should happen. But like most art, the secret is knowing when it’s done. That’s something I’m struggling with right now.

We’ll see how it turns out. Wish me luck!