Today, it is exactly eight months since I retired. During that time, I settled into the routine I established. Most days I spend my mornings writing or editing my first novel. The current word count is roughly 77,000 for the first draft, which is basically complete. Now I spend most of my time editing and rewriting. Approximately one-third of the first draft has gone through the local critique group, ACFW Colorado Springs (acfwcosprings.com).
Once the editing of the first draft is complete, the second rewrite will start using the suggestions from the group. My original hope of completing the book this year is no longer realistic and next year may be difficult, but I plan to persist until it is complete. When I complete the second rewrite, I will need to decide how to proceed. Do I submit the manuscript for additional critiques? Do I use beta readers, or do I pay for a developmental/substantive editor? Perhaps the local writer’s group can help with that decision.
In the interim, I started outlining a second novel. When I started the first novel, I wrote strictly by the “seat of the pants” method. But about halfway into it, I got stuck. I needed help and purchased Writing Fiction for Dummies,Amazon.com: Writing Fiction For Dummies eBook : Economy, Peter, Ingermanson, Randy: Kindle Store, by Randy Ingermanson and Peter Economy. This helped get me unstuck, and some tools helped to keep me on track. Randy Ingermanson’s Snowflake, Advanced Fiction Writing, By Randy Ingermanson, The “Snowflake Guy”, method intrigued me, and I used some of his techniques to organize my thinking. But, since I was so far into it, I didn’t fully use the method.
So, when I started outlining the second book, I decided to try the Snowflake method from the beginning. To do this, I purchased Plottr, Plottr – Plan Your Books Like a Pro, software which has outlining and other developmental templates for the Snowflake method. When I have downtime from editing or rewriting the first novel, I work through the Snowflake method on the second. This has provided me with the start of a good roadmap with the characters and plot.
Some of you may ask, why would I dilute my time by working on another book when the first is incomplete? One of the tips, I picked up from the writer’s group I joined, is if people like your first book, the first thing they will do on finishing it, they look for another one of your books. If you don’t have another, they will move on to someone else. Every writer’s dream is to be a best-selling author, even if he is an old dog learning new tricks.
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