That Tricky Second Album...

It’s update time!

Two weeks ago, I started writing my next book.

That’s kind of misleading. Two weeks ago, I returned to the book I started two years ago. A book I started before I spent a year of my life writing bad pitches to agents and then another year learning how to turn my first book's Word Doc into a paper-backed beauty.

A paper-backed beauty, but not mine. 

It's The Vinyl Detective Written in Dead Wax 

by Andrew Cartmel. My current read.

It’s been such a long time since I sat down to write fictional sentences, it’s taken a while to get back into the swing. I think I’m on track now.

What has been especially useful is that two years ago I did all the groundwork. I worked out the genre, (a pre-teen novel) the format it would take, (a diary) and the plot and characters, (a ten year old girl dealing with family stresses, school frustrations and the angst of growing up). Basically I’m trying to be the love child of Judy Blume and Sue Townsend. (And what a life that would be. Can you even imagine!)

Yep, I am currently imagining Diana Rigg,
Robin Williams and the lad from Stand by Me.
Amongst others.

I made a planning notebook, just as I did with Carry the Beautiful, where I stuck pictures of real people that look like the characters I was imagining. I had a plot spread out from beginning to middle to end, and I’d written the first quarter.

Picking up where I left off has been tricky. So far, I’ve written the next 2000 words and reacquainted myself with the previous 15000. If I stick to my schedule, I’ll have the first draft finished for Christmas. Hopefully sooner.

This will be a pretty big diversion from my usual writing. If I was trying to pitch it to people, I’d probably not bother. But now I know how easy the indie-publishing process ultimately is - my inner voice is shouting WTF? at me and then laughing hysterically - I want to crack on and get it out there. Then I can get back to grown up novels once again.

My attention to detail has even stretched
to sketching out a map of where the main
character lives.

In all seriousness, Book Number Two - a snappy working title, don't cha think - will be so much easier when it comes to it. I have ISBN numbers ready and waiting, I have accounts set up with a Print on Demand company (Ingram Spark) as well as an ebook company (Kindle Direct Publishing). I know the process, I have learnt from previous mistakes (you can NEVER proof read enough) and I am excited about having a new title to my name. It's just a case of getting on with it now.

So this update is short and sweet because I have to get back to it. I am back in a writing frenzy and it's intense. Except it's not really. It's all highly enjoyable and is the best part of the whole process. But enough ramblings for now. I have keys to tap!

Have a lovely week, folks.