Roseanna M. White is a bestselling, Christy Award nominated author who has long claimed that words are the air she breathes. When not writing fiction, she’s homeschooling her two kids, editing, designing book covers, and pretending her house will clean itself. Roseanna is the author of a slew of historical novels that span several continents and thousands of years. Spies and war and mayhem always seem to find their way into her books…to offset her real life, which is blessedly ordinary. You can learn more about her and her stories at www.RoseannaMWhite.com.
You’ve finished your book! That’s exciting—rightfully so. You probably feel pretty giddy. Even knowing there are edits ahead of you, even knowing your road to publication might be a long one, your love for the story hasn’t dimmed. You promise yourself, then and there, you’re going to do what it takes.
You’re going to polish that thing until it shines. You’ll rewrite it however many times it requires. You’ll spend years perfecting it if you have to. Because your goal is a contract—first with an agent, then with a publisher. Maybe you’ve considered indie publishing but want to shoot for that deal with your dream press first.
Let’s say your path for this takes the normal amount of time—years. You make connections, build relationships, and finally, FINALLY, get some interest from a publisher. They love your book. They love your writing. That giddiness when you first finished cannot compare to THIS giddiness. After all, you spent five years working on editing and writing a proposal, making sure it’s so tantalizing that they snap up the whole planned series.
Then you look at the deadlines in that contract and realize that you have five months to get them the next book. Months, not years. To write and edit and polish and perfect. Cue the panic attack.
As an editor, I’ve seen this more times than I can count. An author focuses absolutely everything on that one manuscript, and they really get it to a fabulous point. But then the reality of the publishing world holds yet another surprise for them. Multiple deadlines, and these involve juggling content edits, copy edits, and a proofread of the previous book in with writing the second or third. Suddenly your attention, previously dedicated so happily to one project, is fractured. I’ve seen amazing writers quickly burn out once they’re contracted, because they had no idea how hard it would be to do the second or third or fourth books. And I’ve seen those second, third, or fourth books shrivel in comparison to the first.
As an author, I decided early on that this would not be my story. And the “how” is quite simple:
Write another book. And then, when you’re finished that one, write another. And another.
While you’re waiting for critiques on book 1? Be writing book 2. When you’re waiting to hear back on that proposal? Don’t be fussing with that annoying paragraph in chapter sixteen. Be working on something else. When an agent says, “Oh, this concept could be just the thing!” be working on another concept, just in case the editors come back with, “Yeah…we already bought one like this. It releases in a month,” thereby making yours look like a copy. Don’t just focus on the sequel to what you’ve already written, even though you still love that world. Create a new world. Try out a new genre. Dip your toes in another era. Explore, discover, and build your experience everywhere you have interest.
Write another book, because then you have something else to pitch if your first idea just isn’t resonating with agents and editors. (And if book 1 in a series doesn’t resonate, chances are good book 2 or 3 or 7 isn’t going to either.)
Write another book, because with each one you write, you’ll learn the craft better and improve your skill.
Write another book, because the more you write, the more you’ll understand your own rhythms and abilities—so when an editor asks, “How fast can you turn around a manuscript? Is six months doable?” you can say either “Yes, absolutely!” or “No, I need nine months to a year.”
Write another book, because if your plans for your first one succeed, that’s the next step anyway.
When you’re in the process, it can seem so long. I know that. Querying and waiting and querying more and waiting and entering contests and revising based on feedback and then querying again. We just want to get somewhere with those manuscripts, and it’s hard not to pin our hopes firmly to that story we’ve spent so much time on.
But one of the things I’m most glad I did was just keep writing, even while I waited. Before I put out my first book, I had eight manuscripts finished. Before I signed with my first big publisher, I had over a dozen under my belt. Were they all great? Um, no. But I learned. I learned how to write, and I learned about myself as a writer. I knew that I could complete a book in three months. I knew I could write contemporary but preferred historical. I knew that my strengths were dialogue and wordplay, and that endings were a bear I wrestled with each and every time. And when an editor said, “Love your writing but this story’s not for us, what else do you have?” I could send them a list and see what they got excited about. (Which worked, by the way! Both of the first two big houses I signed with bought the second or third thing I pitched to them.)
But most of all, because of those manuscripts already written, I could assure my editors that producing wasn’t a problem. I could write books 2 and 3 in the timeframe they needed. And I could write them to the same level that I did the first. This is a biggie. As an editor, let me assure you that I can tell when you’ve spent six years on your first manuscript and then don’t quite know how to condense that into six months for the next one. So know. Train yourself now. Set yourself deadlines just to see if you can meet them.
And be encouraged. Because every book you write could be The One. The breakout. The foot in the door. The thing that gets you noticed. And even when it’s manuscript number 12 that finds a home at your dream publisher, that doesn’t mean 1-11 have been wasted or will never see the light of day. My tenth book, which has sold more than any other of my titles, was a revision of my first book, that I wrote when I was thirteen. The book I have coming out in three months had been sitting in my drawer, finished, for nine years before my publisher took it off my hands for me and slipped it in between two other series as a stand-alone.
So yes, edit. Revise. Perfect. But keep writing more things, different things, other things. Love the one you finished and give it the attention it deserves … and then move on. Keep learning. Keep exploring.
And write another book.
Thanks for the awesome, awesome post. It gave me so much to think about. I know about deadlines and all that *fun* stuff, but I never knew that they could be that extreme. Is it smarter to just spend five years building your trilogy, then start working on getting it published? Or one at a time, working on 2 and 3 in the waiting room?
When it was me, I decided the best thing to do would be to work on book 2 while I had book 1 out…but once that was finished, to pick something entirely new to write, rather than any other books in the series. A fresh concept. That way if that first proposal was picked up, I had a great start on the series, but if it wasn’t, I had something new in the works. =)
Love this post!! I totally agree. I had sent a manuscript I had been working on to agents earlier this year only to realize it wasn’t going to go anywhere. Looking back, I had wished I had spent the waiting time writing more stories. Always, always, keep writing. That’s like my new motto.
And for all of you aspiring writers like me, rejection is tough and really REALLY hard, but it can mold, strengthen and shape you into a better writer. At least, that’s what it’s doing for me.
Again, thanks for the post!
A fabulous motto for any writer!!
Great advice about rejection molding, strengthening, and shaping us as writers. I guess we don’t need to let rejection discourage us. We will rise/”ascend” above it. (I added in the word “ascend” because I’m thinking of The False Prince right now.)
Thanks, Lacey! Haha, I love THE FALSE PRINCE, too!
This is me! I want to have a few books done before I pursue publication.
I just finished a first draft & was ready to jump into a new one in my 6 week rest. I’m having more trouble brainstorming than expected. It’s something I need to learn to work through. I had thought my biggest struggle would be whether or not to stop at 6 weeks to edit!
Very wise, Tonya! And when brainstorming is being troublesome, I’ve found that a friend can not only be helpful in terms of ideas, but also in terms of getting me excited. Stephanie and I regularly brainstorm together, and there’s nothing quite like it!
Oh, I love, love, love all of this! Thank you so much for sharing your wisdom. I’m currently working on polishing up a new book while submitting/querying another one.
You’re so welcome, Ashley! Best of luck with both stories!!
I did this when I finished my manuscript. I dove right into the next one. In two weeks, my 6 week break will be up & I trying to decide if I should finish my current manuscript? Or move to editing my rested one? Any thoughts?
If it were me, Felicity, I’d keep working on the new as long as you’re in the groove and going well. When you get stuck or tired, switch over to edits. It’ll give your brain a break from the new one for a while. 😉 But if you can get good momentum going on the new one, don’t interrupt it unless you have a pressing need to!
This post was very helpful. Your advice was very encouraging. It got me thinking about not giving up if the first book doesn’t work out and that if you want to get better at something or want to improve a certain skill, then practice. Practice, practice, practice – that’s what I have to tell myself. You get better with practice and it doesn’t hurt to mess up and make mistakes because that’s where we learn the most valuable things.
Though, I am wondering if anyone has advice on how to find the motivation to actually complete a novel, because at this point all I’ve ever done is start lots of novels and only complete short works.
I had the same problem for YEARS! It wasn’t until I was 16 that I looked at my WIP and said “This is it, this one I’m gonna see through to the end.” And then it took me three years to actually finish the draft. A couple things kept me motivated along the way.
The first was the thing that sparked me to commit to this particular project in the first place: it just FELT right. It stuck out for whatever reason. I could see where I wanted it to go and visualize myself getting it there. And for some reason, the character in the opening scene felt more real than any character I’d written before. I was hooked in the story, and I set my goal of finishing it.
From there, it was kind of hard to stay motivated, especially because I’d never written a full book before. It helped to get myself hyped about this project. I imagined what the finished product would be like, the cover, the vibe of the whole story. I also engaged in some other creative projects related to the story (concept art and videos, character building), talked about it with a writer friend of mine, and read a lot about the craft of writing (especially here at Go Teen Writers 🙂 ) both to learn and to put my brain in book mode. And of course, if I ever felt compelled to take a break and jot down a new story idea or play with a different concept for a while, I did that.
Sorry, that was kind of long. But I hope it helped. Good luck in your endeavors! It won’t be easy, but it will be worth it. You got this!
Em Elizabeth, thank you so much! Your advice was very helpful. Thank you for encouraging me! I am now excited to try creative projects relating to the story idea I currently have. Maybe this time I’ll actually finish a novel. You’re right, it will be worth it. Again, thank you so much.
This is so helpful and something I’d never really thought about before! It’s also reassuring to me as someone who really can’t concentrate and is usually working on at least two projects at once that that might end up being good in the long run – as long as I can actually finish something ?. Thanks for this!
Helpful post, thank you, Ms. Roseanna! I guess it’s a good thing I end up getting several story ideas in a short timeframe! I’m focusing on a certain WIP right now, and I have a sequel planned (the sequel taking place 200 years later, with different people, but in the same world), But I have quite a few other stories I’ve brainstormed.
Amazing post and definitely something that I needed to be reminded of. I’m pouring a LOT of work into my WIP, but I know that when the time comes to send it into the world, this particular story will be harder to market and therefore harder to sell to a publisher. It is definitely a smart idea to give my other ideas some attention as I edit this one. And my “secondary WIP” is a trilogy, so I’ll have to be sure to at least draft the second and third books before submitting the first anywhere.
Thanks so much for this! 🙂
Thank you so much! This is an awesome post. So glad to have you as a guest, Roseanna. 😉