Are You Writing Another Book?
Are you writing another book? It’s a question I get asked all the time. But the answer ends up being so long that I rarely give it in full. So, as hinted in our recent FAQ, today I’m taking an entire post to answer the question.
Am I writing another book?
Well, here’s the answer. Or at least most of it.
Here’s what my typical book-writing process looks like, at any given time.
It Starts With Only One
Once upon a time . . .
A long time ago . . .
Okay, a really, really long time ago . . .
The author wrote a novel. The novel was called Book One, Draft One.
(Not literally, but for the purposes of this story.)
The author had loved it. She had hated it. She had doubted it. She had persevered through it.
And now it was a draft. Draft One.
And I think, even back then, somebody most likely asked the question. “Are you writing another book?”
Of course, the first book wasn’t anywhere close to done. It was only a draft. A very rough one, at that. But somewhere along about here, the author learned a valuable lesson:
Books Need Back Burners
Going directly from a first draft into editing is rarely a workable proposition, at least for me. Once I get a story out on paper, it needs to sit for a little bit. My brain needs a break—a chance to cool off, and come back refreshed before I start on the nitty-gritty of revising it.
So, Draft One (that original Book One, long ago, in our story—as well as every Draft One that’s taken its place since then) takes a break, while I start the first draft of Book Two
(If we’re really accurate, I was probably already outlining Book Two, during the final chapters of Book One, to have it ready to start by now.) Anyhow, Book One simmers quietly on the back burner, and Book Two occupies the front-and-centre of my life.
Until, some happy day—
We’ve Got Two Draft Ones
Yes, you guessed it. Book Two, Draft One is officially complete.
When I’ve got Book Two finished, it goes on the back burner, and Book One is ready for me to give it an all-over edit.
Maybe more than one edit/revision.
Okay, maybe a lot more than one edit/revision, before making its way to a professional editor for copy editing and feedback.
These corrections need to be worked through, while Book Two sits on the back burner and thinks about itself—but the problem is, I find editing hard, backbreaking work and there’s a piece of my brain that thinks it can’t live for more than a couple of weeks without working on a first draft again.
So, you guessed it . . .
Enter Book Three
I bring out Book Three (which was probably getting outlined somewhere in there, anyway,) and start writing on it.
Meanwhile, on the editing front, Book One has reached its final form in terms of the actual words on the page. It’s still an unformatted Word doc, but it now passes into the hands of the typesetter (who is actually a formatter—since modern presses use “type” only in an allegorical sense.)
During this hiatus, Book One will only call for my personal supervision by fits and starts. I’ll need to do back-and-forth with a long-suffering designer to create and revise a cover. I’ll need to give feedback, or at least an okay, to font choices and internal design for the book. But these questions will have gaps in between them. Book One is no longer taking much creative energy, or using up very many work hours. Consequently—
To the Editing Again
You guessed it! Book Two is ready to be hauled out of hibernation, dusted off, and subjected to its Draft Two edit. It may or may not be going to the professional editor before Book One comes out in print, but it will need plenty of revision work, maybe some detailed research—anyway, lots to keep me busy for the meantime, while we finish up that first draft of Book Three, and tuck it carefully away in mothballs to rest a bit.
So, judging by the pattern we’ve got going, you’ll see that when everything’s running like clockwork, this is just about the point where Book One is going to get uploaded to Amazon, previewed, test-printed, and finally launched—just around the time Book Four is nicely outlined, and ready to jump into the gap because—oh, horrors!—when we set Book Three aside to settle, our crazy brain started screaming that it needed a First Draft to work on again.
And that’s the Circle
Or, to switch metaphors once again, there’s your bird’s eye view of what I see, when you ask me “Are you working on another book?”
And when I stutter and hesitate, and seem either too shy or too stiff to give you more than a monosyllable answer, it’s not just because writing is a very personal piece of myself, and I’m still working on sharing it as warmly and openly as I really want to do.
It’s also because the answer isn’t that simple.
Yes, I’m working on another book.
But the book I’m really working on isn’t the one you’re going to see on Amazon sometime this year. That book is in the typesetter’s hands. I drafted it multiple years ago. I wrestled it into an edited version months ago. I’m excited to have it come out—but it’s taking up only a tiny fraction of my brain space right now.
Then What Is?
Well, if I’m truthful, the book that’s front and centre to my view, at any given time, is a really new one—it’s only half-finished. I’m at just about the point where I’m wondering if it’s ever going to turn into something worthwhile, even if I get it finished. Explaining it in a couple of sentences looks hard.
Then there’s the book I’m editing—or supposed to be editing. But do you really want to hear me grumble? Because editing is to me what broccoli is to a four-year-old. On a good day, a necessary evil. On a great day, something I surprise myself by enjoying. On a bad day, something only to be endured by feeding at least half of it to the dog.
So Are You Writing Another Book?
Maybe the real trouble is, when you ask me “Are you writing another book?” I try to give you the short answer. And there isn’t a short answer, except “Yes!”
Yes, I am writing another book. I am writing many books.
If you have half an hour, and a sympathetic soul, let me tell you about all of them.
Is this an experience that resonates with you at all? Because I have a suspicion it reaches much further than writing.
What is your most-asked-question with an answer too long for an after-church-conversation? Shout it out in the comments section below. We just might get a chance to delve into it someday!
Looking for more behind-the-scenes previews of the writing process? See our previous post:
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