Writing Real Talk: Expectations
Hi everyone. So my debut novel has been out for two weeks now and some of you (mainly those who follow me on instagram) will remember that I finished drafting the sequel over the summer. Since then, I have hit a serious roadblock and I’m not sure how to overcome it.
I’m telling you this because I’m a planner and I planned to release book two fall ‘23 but I’m already behind and I don’t think I’ll have the motivation to edit any time soon. I don’t know what to do. I’m not feeling the spark with the story anymore and I don’t want to write something that I don’t feel passionate about because that disinterest always translates into my writing. I don’t want to disappoint anyone but I don’t want to publish a book I’m not proud of.
And speaking of which, lately I’ve found myself wishing that I had waited until all three books of ToN were completely finished before I started publishing. There is so much emotion tied to this story for me and I’ve seen so much negativity surrounding it from reviewers which was to be expected but it still hurt. Part of me just wants to hide in a cave and never come out, instead just spend my time writing. I miss when there were no expectations or pressures to write perfectly, when I could just write what I wanted how I wanted. The more I think about ToN the less I want to write it and the less I want to finish the series.
What I might do is take another month off, leave the draft alone until the new year, and give myself time to write stories for myself. When I was drafting book two over the summer and a new standalone during 2022’s NaNoWriMo, I felt so happy writing. I want to find that again and again until I can approach ToN 2 with that same enthusiasm because I’m not feeling it now.
I don’t know how this delay in editing will affect the release timeline but I’m falling out of love with ToN and I will do whatever I can to prevent that. I need to find a way to write ToN 2 for myself again instead of just writing it for others.
Lots of Love,
Lucy <3
