A few years ago, I walked into a used bookstore and found myself confronted with a sign about Nanowrimo. For those of you who don't know what that is, it's a writing challenge that occurs in the month of November. 50,000 words in one month. I was overly confident in my ability to knock that out of the park. I mean, how hard could it be?
Well, let's just say that the first 10 days of the month were full of writing a few pages, then scrapping the story idea. I didn't hit my stride until day 11. On that day, I had the brilliant idea to write what I knew. Literally. I essentially journalized my work, friend, and relationship conversations. Word for word, event for event, text for text even. And it worked. Suddenly, I had a story going.
And then things started clicking a little more. My characters became more than the people around me. They started to have unique personalities, and thoughts, and feelings, and.... You get the idea. The book took on a life of its own. And in more ways than I expected. What was originally meant to be fun and quirky chick lit was now a full romance novel, with quirky supporting characters.
I finished the month with over 65,000 words written (counting those first 10 days of brainstorming plots that didn't pan out). But the best thing that came from that time, was the desire to keep going forward. The need to finish the book I was writing. And so I did. In February of the following year (2013), I finished the last pieces. And then I took a break. I put the manuscript aside and I let life become busier than would allow for writing.
Fast forward two years, insert some additional big life changes (baby, moving, job changes), and I found myself in a position to pull that manuscript back out. But as I read through it and started to rewrite it into a new, better version (less text messages), it wasn't quite right. But I persevered. I wrote and edited and wrote some more and edited some more. I reworked the characters around, giving them more depth and some added flair.
And then I read Roni Loren's Nothing Between Us. I can honestly say, although I'd read some good erotic romances before, this one was by far more intricate and the characters were exceptionally relatable. I was hooked. I put my book aside once more and spent a few months doing lots of research about BDSM, found other authors to read, and started up a blog to post reviews.
When I exhausted myself from that endeavor, I was then in the midst of pursuing my Masters degree. (I know, I know. Who in their right mind decides to pursue 16 different new things at the same time? Answer: Me.) But the good news about that was I had a new focus on myself. So, during lunchtime at work, or if class let out early, I would write.
And, in 6 months and a few more revisions of storyline, characters, relationships, and more, I had completely revamped the story that had been The Hilarious Misadventures of Rissa and Kat into the unedited, but final version of Claimed by Christmas.
And then I breathed. For a minute. My life was, at that point, on a roller coaster of emotional and physical upheavals and downward spirals. So, instead of returning to edits, I dove straight into another story. The story-#2.5, one that will be released following Rissa's book, poured out of me. It was fast-paced, emotionally draining, and filled with the pain, anger, heartache, and desperation I was in the midst of. And it took me only 3 months to write.
At that point, I sat back, looked at what I'd done, talked with a friend who was skilled at editing, and planned my next steps:
First, edits of Claimed by Christmas.
Second, edits of #2.5 while my editor reviews Claimed by Christmas.
Third, final edits of CBC.
Fourth, find a cover, write a blurb, look at distribution options, etc. while editor re-reads CBC for final reviews.
Five, publish CBC.
Six, start book #2.
Well, I managed to get through parts 1-4 in about 4 months. But I didn't start it right away. First, I had to take a break for finals, and then I got caught up in moving, and then I started a new routine that had me up at 4am to workout.
But, finally, I finished everything and on July 4, 2017, Claimed by Christmas was published.
As Rissa's book, #2 in the series, has been progressing, I've discovered a whole lot more about the world I've created. Some of the characters have jumped out of the books and I've got an abundance of story ideas built up and ready to go for them. But Rissa's book has taken me longer than I thought. I'm now solidly past the one year mark from when I initially started writing this one.
Like with Kat, Brett, and Jase, I was trying to write my ideas, and I stopped listening to the way I had written the characters in the first place. But a month ago, Rissa finally spoke loud enough for me to hear. And now, things are starting to click.
And of course, they are starting to click just as I begin my final semester for my Masters. Because, why do things one at a time?