My Journey #7: Reflections on the Writing Process

Wow, it’s been a while since my last post. For that, I apologize. I came to the realization after my last post that I just need to shut up and write if I was ever going to get my book finished.

Well, I can very happily say that it’s finished…almost. It’s actually with my editor right now. I should have cover designs in the next week. Then the book still needs to go through a copyeditor and formatter. So the release date is still TBD depending on when I can get those scheduled.

As I look back over the last 6 months that it took me to birth this book, I have learned a few things from the process. I’m sure I will continue learning as I enter the publishing stage, but I wanted to share my take-aways on the writing process.

•  I heavily researched how to write a book before I started this process – how to outline a novel, how to write engaging dialog, how to write fantasy (rules around magic, creating creatures, etc.). I even attended a writer’s conference. The research and outlining alone took me 6-8 weeks before I even produced the first line of the novel. As a first time writer, I think all of the research was helpful. It was hard to keep track of and implement every piece of advice, but it gave me the confidence I needed to get started.  As I start on my second book, I don’t expect I will need to go through this process again.

• I had taken the approach of writing chapter at a time, editing it, and sending it out for beta feedback. As I embark on book 2, I plan to write and edit the entire book first before sending it to beta readers. I found that I couldn’t keep up with the feedback because going back and fixing was delaying my forward progress. I also found that as I wrote, the story would take a different direction that required me to go back and make some significant changes to chapters that had already been beta read. I don’t want to waste my beta readers’ time by asking them to re-read chapters. It also made it difficult for them to continue reading forward because they future chapters were now out of context due to the changes made earlier.

• Rather than making sure every chapter was perfect before going on to the next, I stopped editing each chapter in favor of just continuing to write. Whenever I would hit a roadblock – couldn’t think of a word, or thought writing a description of something would take too much time – I would insert a place-holder in the text and keep moving. Then after the first draft was complete, I went back and filled in all of the place-holders. This kept my forward momentum going so I didn’t get stuck in a rut. 

I have starting outlining book 2, but it is already a quicker and easier process. I am very excited to be entering the publishing phase of this journey, and I will share that experience as well.

In the meantime, don’t forget to sign up for my newsletter so you can get updates on the cover reveal and the release date. I’ll also be offering special pre-release promotions for readers get on board early!