Next Book Update!

I have been working like crazy on my next novel these days—it’s pretty much all I’m doing: writing. That and reading.
Anyways, I posted in September I had my first draft finished. I also said that because of that, it would come out sooner. You might be wondering where I’m at now. Editing stage? Formatting? Even better, about to publish?

Sadly, and fortunately, no.

In mid-January, my parents and I started to go over my draft I’d written about in September. My parents and I realized two things, going over it:  I realized my writing had improved. I also realized my storyline was failing. Again. I’m good at writing but I’m not so good at coming up with sturdy and intriguing plots that will work as novels. (I’m not even going to mention how much editing we needed to do on The Hidden Amethyst!) My problem, or why it was so bad, was mainly I kept it a secret until I had grown attached to it and the characters. In other words: Big mistake. Don’t do it.

Eight months away from our hoping-to-be release, I throw my previous draft in the trash (not literally) and decide to start fresh. Above, I say sadly, and fortunately, no. Sadly for the readers. Fortunately for me—My parents helped me come up with a great storyline that is destined to succeed! I know it was still a great choice because I still think that now, almost three months later. Also it’s fortunately because the other story was horrible compared to this one. So I’m glad the previous one got thrown out, otherwise I never would have discovered this one. And more good news is, I shouldn’t be ditching it anytime soon. I am LOVING this one five hundred million times more than the previous one I had. Besides, the plot is working 100%—unlike these previous drafts, I, amazingly enough, know where my story is going! No more blindly writing paragraphs and hoping they will fit in. I know where to head my story, how it’ll end, and so forth. So I can guarantee you the story I am talking about is the same story you will be reading by the end of the year!

Built-In Writing Tip: Write a story you’re extremely passionate about, like I did. You want to see the results?

When I was writing my previous draft, I liked it, but I didn’t love love it like this one. It took me 5-6 months to get to 145 pages.
When I was writing this book, which I LOVE, it took me only a month and a half to get to 145 pages. 

So, even though I started a brand-new story at the last minute, the deadline should, hopefully, stay around our original plan, which was August. We’re planning the cover already and editing along the way, which has been super essential to getting the story right, not to mention getting it done faster.

And…that’s the update. Yay!! I can’t wait for you all to read it….