I’ve always considered myself a decisive person. I set my mind to doing something and I get it done. That isn’t to say I’m immovable. I get those first words down with conviction, hammering out the story’s framework, laying down the tracks. But then I have to build the rest of the railroad.
I know you’ve heard this before, but writing is a process. It’s true. It’s different for everyone. What works for some doesn’t with for others. For example, the prolific Anne Rice claims she doesn’t do first draft. She has one draft that she pores over, not moving along until she finds the right wording and only then does she submit it for tweaks and reviews and line edits. If I worked this way, I probably wouldn’t have released my first book (that’s not even under this nom de plume!) In some ways, that might be better, but I wouldn’t be on this path if I did that.
My process is different, though, I like to think no less valid. I don’t agonize over wording, at least not first. I focus on characters, on plot. It feels very much like sculpting, where you rough out the shape in stone before going back in and coaxing out the details. Sometimes you discover more than you intended, sometimes it’s different from the plans, but you don’t really need those since this is art, and they’re more of a suggestion than hard and fast rules. Sometimes you misplace the plans altogether. . .
My process, while it feels the best for me, is not the fastest. For my current WIP, I’ve taken three runs at it, including a listening session (that I just finished! Cue the confetti!) with a Text-to-Speech reader. It’s agonizing. I’ve been looking at the same words, the same characters, for five months now. I’m at the point where I just want to be done, but I refuse to short change myself. I feel this book may be my tightest (technically speaking) yet. But I envy people with a speedier process.
I’ve worked in this 98% if the past 5 months. I finished the first draft two months ago, and edited it up from 48k words to 73k. If I’m lucky, (others’ circumstances allowing) I’ll be able to get it out before the end of the year, making this my quickest project ever. That’ll make two books for me in a single year which is a huge accomplishment. And yet I envy those who can confidently put out more than that. I’m constantly reevaluating and trying to streamline this process, keeping what works and trimming out the rest. But one thing I can’t seem to budge on is laying out those bones. The way I went about it this time was different from my previous releases, which, to me, worked better, but I’ll know for sure when it comes out.
But then, once that’s over, you’ve got to deal with the marketing, which is a completely different animal. Do you do it yourself, reaching out to 20 or more blogs, or do you pay for help? Do you use graphics? Do they really help? What about ARCs? Do those help? What about Social Media? Is there a platform that’s better than another? How many posts can I make per day before I get annoying? How do I find the Secret Sauce?
I know this didn’t really go anywhere, but I needed to get it out. I haven’t found that Secret Sauce yet, but I intend to keep looking for awhile until I do.