Category: Columns

Book Two is Finished, Here’s What I learned This Go Around

I wanted to call this post ‘Writerly Thoughts about Writerly Things’ because my mind is all over the place after focusing the past three months on finishing book two. But as I let my mind write out my thoughts, they all circled around the idea that book two is complete and I learned a lot this go around.

Writing a book on deadline is a completely different experience

I just completed and submitted my second ever manuscript to my publisher. I had to be organized, set a writing schedule, and keep going even when I wasn’t sure what I should write next. My original rough draft was messy and even though I felt solid about the characters I had flushed out, I had written it years ago, before I published book one. And book one had changed—a lot. Which made many scenes in book two unusable. But I had to read through it all again before I figured that out. Once I let go of my old writing, I was able to write a different story, one that I believe was better. 

Book two would not be finished without my critique group

There honesty and encouragement kept me going. They asked questions, pointed out inconsistencies in the timeline, and held me accountable to my characters. Would she really say that? I don’t think he would respond that way. I’m just so thankful for them. It makes this entire journey more enjoyable and fun.

I was able to meet them in person at the Faith, Hope, Love, Writers Conference in Phoenix at the end of September. We do pretty well with email. Having an opportunity to talk live about writing and our stories was an extra special treat. 

I could not have completed my manuscript without writing sprints with other authors

There’s a group that started them back in July and I joined in to help me be focused and write. It did that and well. (So well, I gave myself tendonitis in my arms from too much typing between writing this book and my day job – but that’s another story). The group still meets and I’m so glad to have this focused time for my writing. I don’t like getting up early in the am for it, but it helps to know there’s people on zoom and I want to be there.

Knowing there’s another book in the series still to come 

The decisions I made for these first two books impact what I can do in the next. Things like choosing names. For some reason I was sticking to last names that started with m, and had similar sounds. It was important to catch that now before going to print, so I didn’t regret it when I write the next story. It was actually my critique group that helped catch that for me.

I’m having fun writing in this story world I’ve created

One of the things that helped me this time around was talking with readers about my characters from book one, When Plans Go Awry. They shared with me their favorites, and what they liked and had questions on. It really stayed at the front of my mind when writing book two. In my rough draft, Bert, my crazy rooster, didn’t exist yet. But he has by far stolen the show in book one and being able to write more of him in book two was so much fun. I hope my readers think so too.

What comes next after finishing book two?

Working on deadline and writing an entire book is no joke. I had to say no to several things, ignore my family a bit, and work hard at not getting distracted by home stuff, including the dog. Now I’m playing catchup on things at home, mentally jumping into the projects we need to finish in our yard and house.

I like the new schedule I have and want to keep that time for anything writing related (like writing this blog). It’s amazing how fast time goes by. Besides writing books, as an author I have other writerly things to do including working on my website, posting on my author social media, writing blogs and newsletters, and brainstorming for the next book. I’d love to create a VIP section on my website for my newsletter subscribers. And continue building my word of the year pages—something near and dear to my heart. This year my word is grow, and I think I have definitely done a lot of that.

So many things, but some will have to wait as I have another deadline early next year for book three.