False Starts Mean Progress
Putting pieces together for Writing Book 2
Note: If you’d been following The Weaver Awakes and are wondering what happened to it, I have good news! It’s currently being re-released under my editor and publisher’s substack The Novel Nest. Four chapters are released every Tuesday. Check it out and follow along. I’m working on some cool benefits for paid subscribers as the book will be available in digital and print editions in Fall 2026.
Book 1 is finished and after 5 long years of writing it, editing, revising, editing, revising, etc, it’s being serialized and published. On to book 2! And I don’t have 5 years. I have about a year. So, time to get my butt in gear. Except for one slight problem. I’ve written four opening scenes for Book 2, and am working on a fifth. Four false starts means progress. Why? Because I’m writing…something. Anything. The words will find their way, just need to clear some space for them.
There is a mismatch of digital files from Book 1 called, Pieces of Guardian, a half completed outline, and a ton of questions to answer to be answered in book 2. All neatly organized in a folder simply titled ‘Writing.’ You know, where all my other writing lives. If you haven’t guessed, I am a pantser by nature and a plotter by necessity.
And maybe that’s the curse of writing more than one story. It takes time to write all the pieces, organize them, and figure out what you want to say. When I was a ghostwriter for another writer (who was a plotter), it was great. They sent me an incredibly detailed outline, and I wrote the scenes and chapters from there. Not easy peasy, but better than my cats’ head cobblestone version of pantser/plotter vibes.
Welcome to the imminent madness of writing a book in general and book 2 in this particular case. I have always loved book series, but as I struggle with book 2, I now have a healthy respect for those who write 5, 7, or 27 books in a series which makes me wonder how the authors have time to do anything else…oh wait. They don’t.
Have you ever seen those games where it says something like - guess the title - and while everyone may know the famous title are surprised at what it might have been called? This crosses my mind frequently, though I’m not yet ready for a title other than ‘working title.’ But, again, there’s another false start - I’ve already changed the title on Book 2 at least twice, which is why the title now is, WIP (work-in-progress).
This Substack is titled At the Writer’s Desk, so what better place to lay out the work of being a writer, er novelist. I keep forgetting that part. It still feels weird to say it, but here we are. After nearly 30 years of telling people I’m a writer, it feels weird to say ‘novelist’ but also pretty cool to be fair. Why did it take 30 years? ‘Cause it took me that long to start treating writing more like a job, than a hobby.
For a deeper dive, check out Kern Carter of Writers are Superstars who had a great article about the difference between deciding to be a published author and just writing for oneself. The impetus? Writing to be published is not for the faint of heart.
Want a peek at the writer’s desk in all it’s madness of piled ideas, paper-peppered and pen-splattered? Follow along every Saturday for peek at what I’m learning, writing, and testing.
The takeaway for today? False starts mean progress and small wins add up.