I brainstormed with Dan Casner about Robot Garden, specifically community groups that might want to play in a warehouse full of tools and people who know how to use them. Near the end of the conversation, I mentioned wanting to design a futuristic tank that I could make from fabric. That led to a discussion of a book I’ve got on the back burner until When Chenille Is Not Enough goes to the publisher. As I described the premise – an expansionist Earth under the leadership of the Third Viking Hegemony invades a peaceful, insectoid planet – Dan said, “Please tell me you are marketing this as Space Vikings.”
Here I thought I was helping a friend, and suddenly I’m presented with a promotional program for my new book. That’s the wonderful thing about brainstorming, and the reason I belong to two critique groups. There’s nothing like the power of combined thinking, or the power of cooperation.
Since you never know when or from where the great ideas will come, give yourself every opportunity in 2013 to brainstorm. Join a critique group, accept the request to work on something new, stretch and reach and leap off cliffs (figuratively, please!). And if you’re looking for another community of creative people, take a look at Robot Garden.