Skip to main content

So, When Do We Start?

But Kaitlyn, you argue, you haven't even published your first book. When are you going to start writing a new one?

That is such a good question. Honestly, I don't know.

I thought that when I finished writing my first book, Acacia (working title) I would just magically be completed. A few revisions here, maybe a few over there, but nothing major. I didn't even put thought into cover design, editing, beta readers, or legitimately anything that comes after the first draft until clicking a button to publish.

Sweet, sweet, naïve little Kaitlyn from 2018 had no idea what was ahead of her. Writing and outlining can be strenuous enough on their own, as you'll see towards the end of April through the summer. But publishing. I had no idea.

Here's the thing that I've learned from experience, and many hours of YouTube videos: First drafts suck. You can't help it. No matter how talented you may be, your first draft will be awful. Horrendous. Tragic. Appalling. Atrociously, horribly bad.

That's discouraging. After putting all your effort, time, and half of your soul into one document, to see that it wasn't all you hoped for stings. To summarize, and I'll go into further detail later, getting your story from it's first draft to it's last is a long, grueling process. I'm not exactly sure when I'll start outlining Acacia 2,

Ah, but yet, there's hope. As the punctual person that I am, I've set aside May 1st - August 31st for writing the manuscript of Acacia 2. That means, I need to have at least a partial outline before May. To me, outlining is the easiest part of the writing process, so it should be fun.

I can't wait to take you on this journey with me! See you next Tuesday!

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Okay, Outlining.

You know what? I don't mind outlining. Outlining is probably the most optimistic part of the entire book writing/publishing process. The bright-eyed and bushy-tailed author is full of hope for the future. Honestly, I'm pretty excited to write my next book. After months of harboring ideas, and especially because I haven't written in weeks, I was ready to go. So, I sat down to write my outline. I'd just gotten out of a conversation with someone about outlining, which meant that I was extra motivated. I pulled out my little, yellow writing notebook, I brought my hand to the page, my pencil nicked the top of my page, and... Nothing. Nothing happened. I had completely forgotten how to outline. I tried again. Shaking off the dust, I stood up, did some stretches, and sat back down. I took a deep breath, inhaling and exhaling as I prepared. I know how to outline, I've done it before , I reminded myself. I had done it before. But with Acacia, I changed almost everyt...

Outling is a Fun and Absolutely Not Frustrating Process!

We've made it. As I come to the final stages in publishing my book, "Acacia," I'm finally beginning to outline the second installment in the series. It doesn't have an official name as of yet, so from here on out, it will be simply known as, "Second Book." I know, it's very clever and well thought out. Leave your praises in the comments. So, Second Book is a massive task. Acacia left off on a pretty intense cliffhanger, and that means that a lot needs to happen in Second Book to remedy Acacia. However, I have also planned time for a third installment in the series, (to be known as "Third Book" until officially titled) which means that I need to save some tension for Third Book. Anyway, figuring out how to include action without having too much has always been a struggle of mine. While I think I did well with that in Acacia, Second Book is presenting some problems. Also, in Second Book, I introduce two new main characters. They were both...