My editor NEVER tells me what to do (unless it's a matter of grammar/usage, etc.). She raises questions, asks me to consider, invites me to go deeper and lean in to the tough spots . . . Very much a collaborative effort.
That makes it sound like I draft really fast and I do NOT!! This is the end of a long process of drafting and re-outlining and throwing things away. I just know I can get that far that fast bc I’ve pre-written and I know where I am going. I’ll just jam the final scenes along willy nilly and then expand them if they turn out to work.
I promised my agent a draft (that includes a lot of lines like “beach description TK) by… SUNDAY! I have the final third to draft but I have already written it once differently and I know what happens. I think.
Me! First time. I am supposed to be telling my husband things like projected finishing dates and how much of it is done and I just cannot seem to explain to him that I am on a strange journey in a land I don’t know without a map and I have only my own willpower to push through and how am I supposed to know what “done” means?!?
Same feelings over here! Plus I've stalled out, choosing my substack nonfiction writing over my fiction 1st draft. I can sprint with my substack, but with this iron man of fiction, I'm feeling dehydrated!
I am working on my first novel. It’s a mystery and I’m about halfway through. I have another, full time job and have not been in a good daily habit of wiring lately. Anyone else find themselves procrastinating? Once I’m into my writing session, I always have fun, but I put off beginning it and am then frustrated for not doing it. I want to just get first draft done!
My novel has been in the works for 25 years, but I recently started publishing it as a serialized novel on Substack and I haven't regretted that step one second. Aside from the thought of traditional publishing, query letters, finding readers, etc making my blood run cold, posting it on Substack fits my brain so much better. The 7th chapter posts today!
Working on my first novel! I. Am. Terrified! I have written poetry, a book proposal for a non-fiction book (it is marinating), poetry, a dissertation, and a handful of academic articles/book chapters. None of those pieces have terrified me as much as this novel! Eek!
I'm working on a tennis rom-com! Although it's becoming less and less "com" the more I write, so it could end up being more contemporary and emotional than it is funny. We'll see how it continues to take shape!
Me. Working on it when I have a few minutes. Having fun, but it will take me a long time to get my first draft. Enjoying the process. My income doesn’t depend on it, thank goodness! lol
While querying the one I spent the last two years working on, I've started a new one this year. And remembering how different drafting is from revising. Still working on building those muscles back up!
Yes! Planner and Pantser. :D I usually have a vague idea of what I want for a scene/chapter, then my brain scurries off with the rest of the dialog and exposition.
I am a plantser, too! I love the flow of just pantsing it, but I do love to plan, too. Sometimes when I get stuck, I feel like I use my planning to avoid the writing!
In that direction, confounded by conflicting commitments. This morning in particular I find myself resenting commitments that otherwise feed me. 'Tis a conundrum.
Revising one today!
I'm editing my garbage draft now. This whole process becomes easier with time, right? (Lie if the answer is no.)
Ha!
Me! First time novelist. It's been 18 months. I live in a can of alphabet soup.
Hi! My second novel, THE SINGING STICK, will be out in September. Just finished the work with my editor.
Awesome! How did it go?
Fabulous. I always learn so much from my editor. It's a magical process—we're SO in sync, and she is SO invitational! Thanks for asking . . .
Being editing is the best, and this sounds like it really is a magical fit. What do you mean by invitational?
My editor NEVER tells me what to do (unless it's a matter of grammar/usage, etc.). She raises questions, asks me to consider, invites me to go deeper and lean in to the tough spots . . . Very much a collaborative effort.
Got it, got it! It sounds lovely!
In the midst of my first. Enjoying it very much, but concerned it’s taking me weirdly long to get first draft complete.
This is me with every first draft. It always seems to take longer than I think it will
That's so real!
Me! I've been working on it since December 2022.
I’m writing a sequel to my first novel.
amzn.to/3GdoNsH
Winter in Vacation land, second edition.
That makes it sound like I draft really fast and I do NOT!! This is the end of a long process of drafting and re-outlining and throwing things away. I just know I can get that far that fast bc I’ve pre-written and I know where I am going. I’ll just jam the final scenes along willy nilly and then expand them if they turn out to work.
I promised my agent a draft (that includes a lot of lines like “beach description TK) by… SUNDAY! I have the final third to draft but I have already written it once differently and I know what happens. I think.
Me! First time. I am supposed to be telling my husband things like projected finishing dates and how much of it is done and I just cannot seem to explain to him that I am on a strange journey in a land I don’t know without a map and I have only my own willpower to push through and how am I supposed to know what “done” means?!?
Same feelings over here! Plus I've stalled out, choosing my substack nonfiction writing over my fiction 1st draft. I can sprint with my substack, but with this iron man of fiction, I'm feeling dehydrated!
I am working on my first novel. It’s a mystery and I’m about halfway through. I have another, full time job and have not been in a good daily habit of wiring lately. Anyone else find themselves procrastinating? Once I’m into my writing session, I always have fun, but I put off beginning it and am then frustrated for not doing it. I want to just get first draft done!
Yes, yes, and yes! Driving myself crazy!
My novel has been in the works for 25 years, but I recently started publishing it as a serialized novel on Substack and I haven't regretted that step one second. Aside from the thought of traditional publishing, query letters, finding readers, etc making my blood run cold, posting it on Substack fits my brain so much better. The 7th chapter posts today!
That is so cool! Love this! Good job!!!
Revising. Another one is drafted. Outlining two more.
Working on my first novel! I. Am. Terrified! I have written poetry, a book proposal for a non-fiction book (it is marinating), poetry, a dissertation, and a handful of academic articles/book chapters. None of those pieces have terrified me as much as this novel! Eek!
I'm working on a tennis rom-com! Although it's becoming less and less "com" the more I write, so it could end up being more contemporary and emotional than it is funny. We'll see how it continues to take shape!
Zero drafting book3 under contract, then onto pitch/outline for the option!
What great timing! I’m starting a rewrite today.
Over here too. Plugging away slowly but surely.
Raising my hand...
Me. Working on it when I have a few minutes. Having fun, but it will take me a long time to get my first draft. Enjoying the process. My income doesn’t depend on it, thank goodness! lol
Revising a draft I wrote 17 years ago, before I started a family, and hoping to have more time to work on it when my kid leaves for college this fall.
Got one at the editor’s right now and in the last 10-15% of the other!
Fiddling with a first draft blueprint
While querying the one I spent the last two years working on, I've started a new one this year. And remembering how different drafting is from revising. Still working on building those muscles back up!
I am. I just completed Chapter 5 of the sequel to my first novel, Scout of the Oregon Trail. My writer's group is going to critique it tonight.
Stuck on chapter 17
I am on the last few chapters of mine!
Revising my third, planning my fourth. Hoping desperately that one of them will sell this time.
55,000? Okay- that will be my target to shoot for...
(raises hand)
In planning stages for me next series while my current book is with my editor
You're on a roll!
Me! Finished the first and second drafts and doing a developmental edit. First novel.
Yay!
Define "a novel"...
LOL. Okay I'll play (before my first cup of coffee this morning.) A made-up story over 55,000 words.
Me. Just in outline & plotting (I am a plantser) for a cozy mystery. Will get my butt in chair for words soon.
What's a plantser? Someone who does both things at once? This is a new term to me!
Yes! Planner and Pantser. :D I usually have a vague idea of what I want for a scene/chapter, then my brain scurries off with the rest of the dialog and exposition.
I am a plantser, too! I love the flow of just pantsing it, but I do love to plan, too. Sometimes when I get stuck, I feel like I use my planning to avoid the writing!
In that direction, confounded by conflicting commitments. This morning in particular I find myself resenting commitments that otherwise feed me. 'Tis a conundrum.
Indeed!
The Rift of Lions, book 8 in Fox Argall Mysteries.
Look at you go!