Why Writing Book 2 is Harder than Writing Book 1

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I don’t know if you know this, but I wrote a really kick ass book and published it in 2015. It took me about four years to finish it, which really is not accurate because I had two kids under five when I started. One of which was still attached to my breast, so my writing took a backseat to dirty diapers and sippy cups. I squeezed in a few words during nap time and Dora the Explorer distractions, but I wrote. I wrote every day, and I wrote with vigor.

I had to tell the story. The main character, Paige, took over my life, and her voice wouldn’t quiet. She talked to me all day, in my sleep, in the shower, at the gym, so when I sat down to write her story, the words flowed. Though it contained a bit of darkness, I developed a sweet love story, and Paige’s sense of humor weaved its way through the plot. Writing Dear Stephanie (shameless plug) was fun.

Actually, writing Dear Stephanie was life. The characters were my oxygen. The story was the blood that pumped through my veins.

My current WIP centers around the very light and fluffy topic of Human Trafficking. I know. But hey, my first book was about depression and suicide, so bygones. As all good writers do, I spend a lot of my time researching. Imagine reading articles about Human Trafficking. Now imagine reading those articles every day. It’s a disgusting industry, and although I am perfectly capable of going into the dark corners of my mind to write this book, those places are hard to visit sometimes, and I find myself literally (cliche warning) letting out the breath I didn’t know I was holding almost every time I write a chapter.

But that’s not the problem.

What is the problem? You’re probably (maybe not) asking yourself. I’m glad you (didn’t) ask.

Aside from the typical and normal self doubt that the vast majority of artists experience, there’s this other very nagging problem constantly putting pressure on me.

People are going to read this.

You see, when I wrote Dear Stephanie, I had no audience. I didn’t even know if I would publish it. I virtually wrote that novel as practice, to see if I could see it through to the end. When I actually typed “The End,” I was shocked. I probably, over the course of my life, started a dozen novels. But I only finished one. And I only finished it because only a handful of people knew about it. So nobody was going to read it. My family had no idea I spent most of my free time writing. My friends also didn’t know. Writing was my secret, a world where I could be free and write words that offend, words that slice and rip the flesh, words that bury themselves in your soul.

But the words were good, and with a lot of encouragement from my small group of friends who knew about them, I decided to publish. I kept it a secret going to such extremes that I created a special list of people on Facebook so that when I shared anything about the book, I could hide it from this core group of people (that consisted of all of my family and a large number of friends).

But now, everybody knows I write, and people *gasp* continue to buy my book and consistently ask me when my next book will be released, and I have readers. I have fans. And they/you expect another good read. They/you deserve it. And I desperately want to give that to them/you.

Aye there’s the rub.

That’s a lot of pressure.

Can I compete with the first book? Will my next book tank? Am I a one-book-wonder? Do I have it in me to put in the work that is required to publish another book? (In case you’re wondering, it’s a lot of work.)

Yes.

I will quiet the voices that tell me I can’t. I will squelch the negative noise, and I will write. I will write free, and I will publish this book.

I hope you will read it.

Girls Teaser

Girls Trafficked – coming eventually 

 

 

29 thoughts on “Why Writing Book 2 is Harder than Writing Book 1”

  1. GET OUT OF MY HEAD!!!! 😉 As always, we are eerily alike as artists. You WILL write the next book. So WILL I. We WILL quiet the voices and the distractions and we WILL bleed our stories.

    I believe in you. And I believe in me. xoxo

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  6. You are most certainly not a one-book wonder, not with what you were able to pull off with that first book. You care about what you write, so that also means knowing that the writing won’t always come easy or fast. Those are lessons that took me so long to learn. And due to recent health events, I’ve finally decided to just take that plunge into nonfiction and do what I do best, which is be me. I envy you fiction writers. I love helping fiction writers, but in my writer bones are decidedly the stuff narrative nonfiction is made of.

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  7. Yay! One of my online friends did her masters thesis (I think) on human trafficking. I’m sure she’d let you read the paper or talk to you about it, if you were looking for any information. Or you could ask a police officer friend or whatever. Lol. Sorry, I’m just trying to get you to talk to me. Good luck!!! I know the book will be great. It already sounds captivating just from what I read here.

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    • I seriously wrote a chapter today and thought “I should message Don and see if I’m messing this up.” I’m going to IM you soon when I have this part of the story wrapped up so you can tell me if it works. Hope you were serious about volunteering to help me, or did you? You did, even if you didn’t.

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  8. I haven’t got a chance to read book one, but I believe in protecting our children and will get my hands and read from ground to back, probably asap. Your preface is amazing. Love you sister and excited for you. 😇 very talented! Ginna

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  9. Ahhhhh, yes. Just wrote my own blogs about a topic like this. A hard, hard job is what you have. Cheering you on.

    Love what you said about how the words flowed through you. Beautiful.

    Something else that is hard – this is a completely different theme. It’s not like you’re writing a series of three books here where you can pull from the previous book for time, place, etc.

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  11. I have recently started writing myself (as a stay at home mum). I’m very pleased to have come across your blog. I am now very excited to read your book, human trafficking is a very interesting topic of research for me, I would like to look into it more in the future. As you said, it is a very dark and harrowing subject. Kudos to you for going to that place and producing a successful book!
    If you were interested please see the link below for my own (very amateur) blog.
    https://caniwritesite.wordpress.com/2017/04/03/regrets-of-a-two-time-mum/?trashed=1&ids=1

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  12. That scaring feel is something I’m honestly not looking forward to. But I’ll still be writing novels no matter what anyways. I just gotta get one of my books published. Then I’ll join your boat of worrying what your audience will think. lol — I think you can overcome the voices though. You’ll do great!

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  13. I can totally connect with you. in fact, i believe more than half the writers out there can. when you write a first book you write because … because you want to put down all those ideas crowding your head. but it’s getting out of the closet and confessing – like a crime – that is hard. i was well into my third book (and 3rd) kid when i decided to get out of the closet. my book now is undergoing a development editing. fingers crossed…

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