Wednesday
Despite allergies that required ALL the meds yesterday and a bit of brain fog to add to the fun, I managed to get a lot done on the Guam story planning. I have a title: The Peony Beach Hotel: A Later in Life, Starting Over Novella (Peony Beach Series, Book 1).
I have pages of notes now on my character’s backstory. Her name is Stephanie Hardy. She’s a literary fiction author who’s first book twenty years ago made a huge splash but subsequent books didn’t sell as well, and now her agent has offered her a last-ditch idea: would she be interested in ghostwriting a cozy historical mystery series for a popular recording artist with a huge following but no time to write the books herself?
The offer couldn’t come at a better time. Steph’s recent divorce scandalized the community and left her feeling adrift and angry. Her children are grown and living out of state. She can’t afford to pay off the second mortgage her ex talked her into signing a few years back. Her community of suburban moms ghosted her after the scandal hit the papers. She needs a fresh start.
But what does she know about crime fiction? While going through her mother’s collection of mystery books, Steph finds a postcard sent to her mom in 1968 from a man she never mentioned. Steph looks up Guam on her computer, is completely charmed by the turquoise water and sand and palm trees, and decides to move to the island territory to write the first book in the series.
A year in paradise is just what she needs, and maybe she’ll be able to learn more about this mysterious man who sent the postcard.
This series is definitely women’s fiction about starting over at mid-life and finding you have untapped wisdom and gifts to share with the world. There’s plenty of joy to be found in the second act.
Later in Life fiction stories are pretty popular right now. I’m determined to minimize references to hot flashes, night sweats, weight gain, and all the negative stuff. Instead, Steph is going to embrace her second act with style and grit.
Caftans, necessary. Romance, optional.