Jennifer Lane's Blog

Happy release day to my 10th novel, sport psych suspense Low Water.

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Two lives marked by trauma. One chance to rediscover hope.

In the sun-drenched Lowcountry of South Carolina, a swim coach haunted by tragedy and a psychologist devoted to healing cross paths just as their lives unravel.

He once believed Olympic-sized dreams and awful dad jokes could get him through anything, but waves of grief threaten to pull him under. She has built a career navigating others through pain, yet she struggles to confront her own.

When their worlds collide, Cognitive Processing Therapy for PTSD forces the question: is it possible to dive into the past without drowning? Neither expects the other to become a lifeline. But with connection and courage, they search for a way forward—one stroke at a time.

Striving, tender, and surprisingly funny, this is a story about resilience and learning that the best way out of the deep end is together.

Behind the scenes: Why did I write this book?  

It’s been four years since I published sports romance Rivals. In the meantime, I’ve strived to help psychotherapy clients heal.

Have traumatized book characters led you to despair? Did you ever wonder, “How will they ever recover from this tragedy?”  

As a psychologist, once I learned a powerful PTSD treatment called Cognitive Processing Therapy, I now feel hope that EVERYONE can recover from a traumatic event. When I read about characters stuck in trauma, I want to yell at them, “Go get CPT!”

Witnessing trauma survivors turn their lives around inspired me to write a fictionalized version. Due to my background as a college swimmer, I chose a swim coach as the protagonist. His psychologist faces her own drama when she meets a mysterious man while speed-dating.

~*~

Thanks to fellow author Ronel Janse Van Vuuren for hosting me on her blog to talk about domestic violence and PTSD.

Happy November, writers! Join us for the Insecure Writers Support Group, a monthly blog hop that’s the brainchild of Alex Cavanaugh.

I’m thrilled to co-host today along with my teammates Jenni Enzor, Renee Scattergood, Rebecca Douglass, Lynn Bradshaw, and Melissa Maygrove!

Today’s question: When you began writing, what did you imagine your life as a writer would be like? Were you right, or has this experience presented you with some surprises along the way?

I started on a lark with zero expectations about life as a “writer“. The word felt pretentious and unfamiliar to me. It was simply a delight to create fictional worlds shaped by my characters’ whims. The words poured out of me without much knowledge of structure or point-of-view.

Three years later, in 2010, when a small publisher took a chance on my debut novel, I experienced a mix of imposter syndrome along with incredible support from online friends, authors, and readers. I bounced from envisioning “best-seller” status to feeling like the heel of the shoe worn by those best-selling authors.

Surprises have ambushed me from quite a few corners, like:

Which brings me to my NEW RELEASE on 11/14/25: Low Water!

Haunted by the past. Healing in the present. Hoping for a better future. And telling cringey dad jokes along the way.

I shared my blurb last month, and it’s available on Amazon as a pre-order. Have you ever felt hopeless about healing after tragic events? I used to. But then I learned a powerful treatment called cognitive processing therapy, and I want everyone with PTSD (real or fictional) to start the therapy, stat. CPT inspired me to return to writing after a three-year hiatus.

Two questions for you, writers:

This insecure writer thanks you for stopping by!

THANK YOU to the co-hosts for the October 1 posting of the IWSG: Beth Camp, Crystal Collier, and Cathrina Constantine!

I appreciate your encouragement last month, fellow writers! I was able to finish my 10th novel, Low Water, in the nick of time (I hope) to have print copies published before a book event on November 1. My critique partner, Nicki Elson, has provided wonderful support, as always. I sent the manuscript to my editor today, and my book designer is working on cover designs.

Research for the climactic action scene took me to Harbour Town on Hilton Head Island, where I snapped this photo (which might become part of the cover?)

Blurbs are always a challenge, ugh. Nicki helped me craft this one:

Two lives marked by trauma. One chance to rediscover hope.

In the sun-drenched Lowcountry of South Carolina, a swim coach haunted by tragedy and a psychologist devoted to healing cross paths just as their lives unravel.

He once believed Olympic-sized dreams and terrible dad jokes could get him through anything, but waves of grief threaten to pull him under. She has built a career navigating others through pain, yet she struggles to confront her own.

When their worlds collide, Cognitive Processing Therapy for PTSD forces the question: is it possible to dive into the past without drowning? Neither expects the other to become a lifeline. But with connection and courage, they search for a way forward—one stroke at a time.

Striving, tender, and surprisingly funny, this is a story about resilience and learning that the best way out of the deep end is together.

I’m hoping for a November release date.

What’s your favorite dad joke? Here’s one from my swim coach character, Jordan:

What does the buffalo tell his son in the morning?

Bye, son!

I look forward to reading about the favorite thing you’ve written.

Last Update for my Novel in Progress: Low Water 88,500 / ~87,000 words

Join us for the Insecure Writers Support Group, where we share our doubts and celebrate our victories. Thanks to Alex Cavanaugh for starting (and maintaining!) the amazing group.

The wonderful co-hosts for the September 3 posting of the IWSG are Kim Lajevardi, Natalie Aguirre, Nancy Gideon, and Diedre Knight. You rock, ladies!

This is the second question of the month that involves A.I., which I know nothing about, so I’ll abstain from answering. I need to get with the times and learn more.

I finally feel some momentum with my novel–thanks to the group for your suggestions for getting unstuck! I have about 15K more words to write. I would love to publish Low Water before an author event I’m attending in Savannah, GA on November 1 (since the novel is set nearby.) It’s probably an unrealistic timeline. But the only space my editor has before February of 2026 is in early October. Therefore, I’m going for it!

If you would like to join me for a writing sprint in the month of September, please let me know.

How was your August? I visited my sister in Chicago, where we took in a Savannah Bananas game. Have you heard of Banana Ball? It’s like the Harlem Globetrotters of baseball:

We also saw the air show from a boat on the lake. *sings* Highway to the danger zone

Novel in Progress Update: Low Water 72,500 / ~87,000 words

Congratulations to Rebecca Douglas on the launch of her third Seffi Wardwell Mystery: EDITED OUT!

Pre-order price is $3.99—a short-time special offer ending Oct. 1.

Purchase links: 

UBL: https://books2read.com/u/bMMM58

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0FLB4MDN2

Series Blurb: 

Retired science teacher Seffi Wardwell is making herself a new home on the Maine coast. She has a flower garden to keep up to the stiff local standards, a tough job ahead breaking down the locals’ suspicion of outsiders and making friends—and a distressing tendency to find herself in the middle of murder investigations.

Edited Out blurb:

Working part-time at the local inn is fun, until everything goes sideways. When a uniformly disliked writer-in-residence turns up dead, the local police ask Seffi to use her botanical knowledge to figure out what killed her. And could she hurry up, before the inn’s business tanks, and takes the bakery down with it?

Author Bio:

Rebecca M. Douglass has lived, worked, and hiked around the American west for more years than she’ll admit, while raising two children to adulthood and dreaming up interesting ways to bump people off. Thanks to good friends in Maine, she has also spent time on the other side of the country and has fallen in love with that coast. Since retiring from work at the library, the author of the Ninja Librarian series for younger readers and the Pismawallops PTA mystery series lives in Seattle, where she is writing the Seffi Wardwell mysteries. She has also had short stories published in a variety of magazines and anthologies. When she isn’t writing, Ms. Douglass likes to go hiking and backpacking or to travel to discover new places or revisit old favorites, including the Sierra Nevada mountains, the desert Southwest, and of course Maine, where so many of the best cozy mysteries are found.

Thank you to the awesome IWSG co-hosts this month: Ronel Janse van Vuuren,Natalie Aguirre,Sarah – The Faux Fountain Pen, and Olga Godim!

I’ll skip this month’s question since I don’t know much about the publishing industry. Instead, I’ll focus on my work-in-progress. My novel doesn’t fit into any genre I know. Maybe I’ll just call it a trauma drama.

I’m about three-fourths done with the story, which alternates chapters between a male swim coach and a female psychologist. I’ve known the character arc for the hero since I started the novel over a year ago, but the heroine’s journey is less clear. I’m trying to structure the plot as crisscrossed narratives–as his trauma heals, hers is just starting. But creeping doubts and perfectionism have led me to feel a bit stuck. Since the coach’s therapy involves challenging beliefs that have kept him mired in the past (“stuck points”), my feeling seems ironic.

While writing this post, I experienced an insight. Maybe I know the hero’s path so well because I tread it every day with therapy clients. The indomitable human spirit’s potential to recover is my main inspiration for writing the story. But the horror leading up to a trauma is (thank God) less familiar to me. And maybe it’s tough to go full-throttle with torturing my heroine since we have the same career.

I just need to keep butt in chair and continue writing. One bonus is that I decided to stop working my psychologist job on Fridays, freeing up more time to create and resolve conflict for my characters.

Thank you for listening, support group! How do you get unstuck when you’re not sure which direction to write?

Novel in Progress Update: Low Water 65,500 / ~85,000 words

THANK YOU to this month’s co-hosts: Rebecca Douglass, Natalie Aguirre, Cathrina Constantine, and  Louise Barbour!

July 2 question – Is there a genre you haven’t tried writing in yet that you really want to try? If so, do you plan on trying it?

There are quite a few genres that intrigue me. I enjoy action movies, and it would be fun to write a novel about heroes facing crises like in Speed, Top Gun Maverick, Gladiator, or The Fugitive. (Though I have written novels in adjacent genres of romantic suspense and psychological thriller.) Speaking of movies, I would like to learn how to write a screenplay one day.

I’ve also considered writing a nonfiction book in my specialty of psychology. I’m excited about an upcoming psychologist work trip to Germany that will add to my knowledge base!

Unrelated question: For those of you with Mailchimp newsletters, have you seen any strange activity lately? I’ve been getting new subscribers daily, though I’m not soliciting them with giveaways or other marketing strategies. (Alas, my marketing has been non-existent.) A few of the email addresses (that I deleted) were suspicious, but most of them are gmail addresses. Any ideas what is going on?

Novel in Progress Update: Low Water 59,000 / ~85,000 words

I’m grateful to the co-hosts for the June 4 posting of the IWSG: PJ Colando, Pat Garcia, Kim Lajevardi, Melisa Maygrove, and  Jean Davis!

June 4 question – What were some books that impacted you as a child or young adult?

Fun question! I was a HUGE reader growing up. I highlight three books, two from my childhood (Ramona the Pest and Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH) and one from my young adulthood (The Pistachio Prescription).

One reason I remember Ramona the Pest with such fondness is that I’m reading it now to my seven-year-old niece. Ramona is a plucky kindergartner who strives to do the right thing, but she has to fight her id impulses that drive her to pull Susie’s curled hair (“Boing!”) and chase Davy around the playground to show her affection. Now that I’m thinking about it through my adult psychologist eyes, maybe Ramona has undiagnosed ADHD? She’s wonderfully creative, including coming up with her own take on the Star Spangled Banner’s lyrics when she tells her sister to turn on the “dawnzer lee light”. I could relate to her as a sensitive soul who felt keen disappointment and frustration in a sometimes cruel world. I think this story inspired me to take a deep dive into character emotions.

A story about intelligent rats who have escaped from experiments at the National Institute of Mental Health, their mice friends, and an evil cat who threatens them all? Sign me up! Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH sparked my interest in mental health at a young age.

The Pistachio Prescription is a young adult book (though that genre probably didn’t exist in the 1980s when I read it) describing a thoughtful, quirky girl, Cassie, who hopes to become president of her 9th grade class. I could relate to her rocky relationship with her mother and turning to food to soothe herself. This story fed my obsession with dysfunctional families.

Honorable Mentions for my influential books:

Thurston House by Danielle Steel (I probably shouldn’t have read it as a teenager!) I liked the romance aspect along with the troubled family dynamics, and the rape scene made me bawl.

The Thorn Birds by Colleen McCullough. Again, I was too young to read this one! I watched the TV mini-series with my mother then searched for the book. The forbidden romance really drew me in.

Author Lois Duncan (teen suspense stories like The Gift of Magic and I Know What You Did Last Summer).

I can’t remember the title of a 1980’s story about a girl named Reagan(?) whose father kidnapped her and hid her from her mother, but I loved the suspense element.

Novel in Progress Update: Low Water 54,000 / ~85,000 words

Happy May, writers! Join us for the Insecure Writers Support Group started by Alex Cavanaugh.

Hey, amazing co-hosts for the May 7 posting of the IWSG: Feather Stone, Janet Alcorn,Rebecca Douglass, Jemima Pett, and Pat Garcia. We appreciate you!

May 7 question – Some common fears writers share are rejection, failure, success, and lack of talent or ability. What are your greatest fears as a writer? How do you manage them?

To decrease the intensity of our fears, it’s important to talk about them and examine their likelihood. But I had to think about this question for a while. At first I thought I that I had no fears in writing since it’s a side hobby to my day job. As I delved deeper, though, I unmasked my biggest fear…

Rejection from traditional publishers.

I was fortunate to sign with a small publisher (Omnific) to edit and release my first four novels. Then I ventured out on my own to self-publish the next five books. I’ll likely self-publish my work in progress, Low Water. There are some advantages to self-publishing, including speed and creative control. I also have a wonderful editor and book designer to polish the manuscript.

But it would be way cool to sign with an agent and submit to traditional publishing houses. With the flood of self-published novels out there, a larger publisher has the potential to bring more attention to my little novel. I tell myself I don’t have enough patience for the Big Five route, which is true, and I also don’t have a clue for how to land an agent. But the more salient hurdle is fear. What if I put all that effort in, and I get rejected? I hear rejection is quite likely on the trad pub path. I know I could handle the rejection (I’ve handled worse in my life), but I doubt I’ll risk it.

Another fear I have is not improving. I started writing on a lark, and there was so much I didn’t know upon the release of my debut novel. I want to keep learning and growing as a writer, and it would be disappointing if I remained stagnant or got worse.

Novel in Progress Update: Low Water 50,000 / ~85,000 words

I’m excited to co-host this month along with L Diane Wolfe, Jenni Enzor, and Natalie Aguirre. Happy writing to all.

April 2 question – What fantasy character would you like to fight, go on a quest with, or have a beer/glass of wine with?

I would like to have a beer with Westley from The Princess Bride (without iocaine powder added, I hope!) Not only is Westley clever, funny, mysterious, and tough, but he also portrays an air of vulnerability that draws people to him. Most endearing is his lasting love for the princess that helps him persevere through countless adversities.

*** New Release ***

My second short story, young adult sports romance BEHIND THE CATCHER’S MASK, launched on 3.29.25.

This story was part of the 2019 IWSG Anthology, Masquerade: Oddly Suited.

Thank you to Ronel Jansse van Vuuren for helping guide me with publishing wide for the first time, and I also appreciate fellow co-host Natalie Aguirre as well as IWSG founder Alex Cavanaugh for spreading the word!

It was nice to see the short-lived orange banner on the Amazon site for the obscure category I chose.

Novel in Progress Update: Low Water 45,000 / ~85,000 words