I am in the middle of writing my third book in the Svatura Series – Crimson Dahlia. I just passed 200 pages this week, and estimate that I have somewhere between 50 and 80 pages to go to wrap it up. That may sound like a lot, but after 200 pages of writing, 50 is a drop in the bucket. At the rate I’ve been going, it’s maybe another 1-2 weeks of writing. And I have to be careful not to rush it.
1-2 weeks is nothing compared to the months I’ve put in so far. And I have every scene mapped out all the way to the end. I just have to write them. Because I can see the light at the end of the tunnel, this is when I have to consciously force myself to slow down. It is so tempting to rush the process and just get the words on the paper to finally be done. Where I was writing 3-5 pages a night, lately I’ve been doing more like 10. And now I know it’s time to put on the breaks. Whoa! Slow down girl.
The problem is that if I write it that fast, my awesome editor – Wendy – is just going to make me go back an redo those scenes. When I wrote Hyacinth, I rushed through the final chapters initially. And I got comments back along the lines of “Having this happen off screen is very anticlimactic and makes it seem like nothing really happened.” and “I can already tell that this in an insane transition here… feels really forced.” I absolutely earned those comments because rather than really writing through the scene I took shortcuts to just get it done.
Thank goodness for Wendy who makes me go back and fix stuff like that. But wouldn’t it be better if she didn’t have to? So I am forcing myself to slow down this time, and really trying to finish out each scene the first time. That way Wendy and I can concentrate on making it that much better in editing.
So close I can taste it, but now it’s critical to really take the time to do it right.
Your books are one of the newer ones I have read that I rank as ” I love it and Ill read it again, and again , and again (okay so you get my point!). They are ranked up there with Elizabeth Issacs books (The Kalimeyra Series)which have I re-read oh about 8 times. Yes they really are THAT good. I know i will be coming back to your series just as often. Thank you for allowing me to accompany your characters on their journey
Wow! Thank you so much! It is always so awesome to hear that someone loves my books. I really appreciate you taking the time to let me know. 🙂 I hope that you'll enjoy Crimson Dahlia (book #3) just as much when it comes out in August.