My Writing Plan & Schedule
Yesterday my dad asked me if I ever worry that I’ll run out of story ideas to write and I laughed. Hard.
See, ideas aren’t my problem. I have covers bought and ideas for at least two dozen books right now. My problem is organization and mental energy to get the stories from the idea phase to actually putting words down on the screen.
That being said, I’ve got three current projects on the horizon with lots and lots more coming down the line. I’ve always wanted to be one of those writers who could write and release a book a month, but I’m just not. The fastest I ever wrote and released a book was six weeks for Wicked God, and it nearly killed my love of writing. Since then, I’ve slowed down and really had to accept that my process is just that… a process.
It changes with every book I write, but one thing I’ve learned about myself is that it’s really important for me to do extensive character work before I can effectively write someone. I did it for Beautiful Carnage for the first time and it made the process so much easier to feel like I really understood Cole and Fallon and where they were coming from, how they would react to situations, their backstories, what they loved, what they feared, and on and on and on. I wrote 20k words just getting to know them that never ended up in the book (by the way, if you’re curious, this is a bonus up on my Patreon).
Once that work is done, I figure out the plot and go from there. Sometimes I can jump into writing at that point, but a lot of times I get stuck halfway through and end up having to go back and retool the story until I’m happy with it. Sometimes it sucks being a perfectionist, let me tell you.
So, as it stands… this is where I’m at with my current projects:
Sweet Destruction:
Currently sitting at 45,783 words.
I’ve been working on this one for a while, but I didn’t do the character work I normally do and I’m feeling lost halfway through because of it. I’ve already done a lot of rewrites on the first half, and then I realized when I was writing a scene two days ago that I’ve got a HUGE problem with the plot that’s going to change a lot of the story… and I’m feeling lost as to how to fix it.
Normally, I work on one story at a time. I have ideas for others, but I’ll just make notes as ideas pop up and go back to my current project. I don’t like starting something and leaving it hanging out there unfinished to start something else because I have a hard time with starting too many projects and never finishing them. I made myself a deal when I started writing that I would fight against myself with my natural inclination to have 10,000 plates spinning (as my husband likes to say) at all times, and only focus on one thing at a time.
Buuuut… I’m stuck. So, I’m setting this one aside for now until I can figure out how to fix the plot. And not only that, but I’m really stuck on the sexual component of their relationship. Sometimes, like with BC, I have a particular scene come to me (sex scene, just to be clear) first and I can shape the entire story around the couple’s sexual dynamic and chemistry. But with this one everything is different. I can’t picture them having sex in my mind (okay, I realize how weird that sounds haha), so until I can, I’m going to let it sit in the corner and move on to a story that’s been screaming at me for months to write it.
Deceit:
Current word count: 0
I’ve got the character work done for Asher on this one, and I’ll be starting Devon’s today. I’ve got the plot figured out (though I still have some detail stuff to work through), and I plan to start writing in the next couple of days. I’m hoping since I’ve been plotting this one for literally months, it’ll go fast. I’m not holding my breath, though.
Sicko:
Current word count: 0
This is a book that’s been bugging me HARD to write it, but I haven’t done a lot of prelim work on it yet. It’ll be what I work on when I have free time (lol) between Deceit and Sweet Destruction. I haven’t announced it anywhere but my Patreon, but it’s going to be a super dark stalker romance with a strong somno element and I really can’t wait to tell Aries and Aura’s story…. soon.
Well, that’s where I’m at with my current projects. Are you more excited for one over the others? Leave me a comment and let me know!