I didn’t write a single post last week. Yep, neglected the entire blog. I was writing though. In fact, I was doing something possibly more important:
finishing my sequel.
I struggled to keep on track while writing this follow up book to Memoirs of an Ordinary Girl: The Middle-ish Ages. I even resented it at times. I loved my characters but regretted letting them grow up, much like a parent would, I guess. At times I even questioned why I was writing a sequel. Sequel success is a gamble. It might be a terrible follow up, causing me to lose the loyal followers I actually have, who would begin to loathe me and my inadequate sequel writing abilities, possibly blaming me for global warming… ok, that last part is a bit over the top, but you get the idea. It was pressure, and I wasn’t sure my heart was always in it.
This is how I sometimes felt through the process.
Then I would reread portions of the book and remember that I loved what I was writing. And I was inspired even more around the time of writing the last quarter or so of the book when I read something about “finding my awesome” in a Jon Acuff book (Start). I don’t have the book handy right now, but I know there was a question about whether you would do the thing you were doing regardless of anything else, just because it’s who you are and what you do. I write. It’s what I do, so one day I sat down and started writing a book. After I finished the book I had no idea what to do with it, so I did nothing for a while. Then I self published it and other people started reading it and asking if I was writing more about Drew, and I decided I wanted to know what was going to happen in her life too, so I started a second book to help create her further existence. I wanted to do it anyway because I like Drew. So I wrote a sequel, and last Friday I put the final words on said sequel.
Now I wait.
I have some editors who need to read the book. My book cover designer is trying to translate my requests into something that looks awesome. I desperately need to figure out this whole self-promoting thing. Then I will need to go back and make corrections based on my editors’ suggestions and my own need to constantly seek perfection. Then, finally, I will release my sequel into the world and allow others to judge my worth as a writer, my sequel writing abilities, and Drew, my beloved character whom I would like to shelter and protect forever. This is not an easy task. What if people don’t like her? Sure, I know she’s fictional, but she’s also me and my creation.
At this moment my release goal is mid to late May. I’ll update that here as the process continues and I know more specifics. But I’m going to take a complete break from Drew now, at least for a couple weeks.
caverns of my mind 