When I started my semester off in February, I had an ambitious goal: start and finish a draft of a new book, my third, before I returned to the classroom in September.
When I ran into roadblocks looking for literary agents to take on my already-finished manuscript, I shelved my original plans. I had to take time to fix Book #2 before I could go on to Book #3.
When I threw out everything I’d done on Book #2 and started from scratch, I chucked my original goal. There was no way I could rewrite my Phoenix Cells book and write a brand new one before the fall.
When my book coach Jennie sent me an e-mail last week asking if I’d thought about beta readers and literary agents, I thought she was crazy. Why would I think about the steps that come after a polished manuscript is completed when I haven’t even finished a first draft? But Jennie assured me I was well on track to finishing my draft by the end of August. It means I’ve had to pick up the pace–writing two scenes a week instead of two scenes every two weeks, but I’m determined to meet my deadlines.
Which got me thinking… maybe I will have accomplished my original goal after all. I wanted to write a brand new book, Book #3, and that’s exactly what I’ve done. While the name of my main character is the same as Book #2 and the concept that she has “super cells” remains consistent, everything else is different. Even Lyra herself is a different person. The plot is different, the setting, is different, the theme is different. The whole book is different.
So, I can either consider this a rewrite of Book #2, or I can consider this Book #3.
Some people might argue that it’s better to think of it as a rewrite–why tell yourself you failed at getting two novels published? But I’ve decided on the opposite. I like thinking of this as a brand new book.
Which means I will meet my goal of writing Book #3 after all.
(Yay for me. 🙂 )