What Next?

I’m almost done now with the final revision of book one. I just need to fix a couple of formatting issues and that should do it. Once that’s finished, I’ll print a copy and read it out loud (as Anne Mini recommends) to catch any remaining spelling/grammar issues and check the sentence flow. Guess I’ll do that at home instead of taking the manuscript on the train with me. Though wouldn’t that be a treat for the other passengers? I’m sure they would enjoy it.

I also need to start on the next project. I have the rough draft for book two, of course, but I’m going to set that aside for the time being. A couple weeks ago, Jessica over at Bookends, LLC wrote a post about what a writer should work on while waiting for their first book to find an agent (or an editor, if they have an agent.)

I would never urge a writer to work on the next book in the series while I’m submitting the first. When a series idea is on submission I talk with the author and encourage her to start coming up with fresh new ideas. Why? Because if the first book in the series isn’t going to sell, it’s very likely the second book isn’t either.

That sounds like good advice. It would be a shame (a travesty, I tell you!) if a writer spent time writing a book that ends up gathering dust in a drawer, rather than starting a new series.

The funny part is that I’ve already written the next book in my series. Ha ha! Live and learn, right? So I’m not going to start revising it, and I’m not going to start writing book three, even though I’d really like to. Instead, I’m going to roll a few of my other ideas through my brain and see if any of them stick. Being an aspiring writer, I of course have a notebook or two filled with story ideas that have popped into my head over the years. All I have to do is pick one that will be a best seller.

This is one of the fun parts of writing fiction–the endless potential of the blank page.