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I accidentally finished a novel.

Last weekend I finished the first draft of a contemporary romance entitled Fall into Me.

Whoops!

You might remember in my post about my diagnosis that I cancelled my self-imposed deadline of finishing the first draft of In the Shadows until after my 2nd surgery to remove the rest of my thyroid (Stupid cancer). So I was relaxing and reading and watching a lot of really bad TV but because I think it's important to still write something every day, I went back through my two other manuscripts I started last fall (while Lark was in the beta reading/editing stage).

I found myself casually writing a little here and a little there and before I knew it, I finished one. This was not what I was intending to do at this point, it just sort of happened. I knew I was close to finishing that particular one but I was going to finish In the Shadows first.   Hence my 'Whoops'!

What about In the Shadows, you ask? Well, as you know I wanted to stay as stress free as possible and writing In the Shadows was stressing.me.out for two reasons:
 1) I want it to be even better than Lark (you guys have expectations now and I don't want to disappoint! Oh the pressure!)
and
2) I'm just not sure how many books in the world of the Light Elves I want to write now.
I originally planned 3 but then I was thinking that maybe I should write 4 or maybe even just 2. I just don't know. I don't want it to be one of those series that drags on but if you guys want more, I want to be able to give it to you as long as I can do it well.
Now this might not seem like it would hinder my writing process that much but really it does. Because I need to figure this out before I finish In the Shadows because that will determine HOW I finish it, does that make sense?
It's times like this that I wish I would've queried an agent and tried to get on with a publishing house so that someone else could make these decisions for me.
Okay, not really. I actually really do enjoy the freedom of self-publishing but still, it would be nice if someone would just say "Write X number of books about Lark, Erica" and I could just say "Okay" and do it instead of wondering what would be best all on my own.

Right now, In the Shadows is about 80% finished, once I figure out how neatly everything needs to be wrapped up, it should be pretty easy to finish it so I'm still expecting to release it this winter like planned. And at this point I'm leaning towards my original plan of 3 books.

So yeah, that's what's going on in my little world right now. I accidentally finished a novel I wasn't intending to....who does that? LOL
I swear I'm usually not this wishy-washy. It's just been an off summer for me. It started off with my husband shredding his ACL, then my brother was hospitalized and needed 4 blood transfusions then I have one surgery to remove a large nodule on the left side of my thyroid only to discover it was cancer and I have to go back to remove the right side and that's not even mentioning all the medical problems my mom and step-dad have suffered though.
Yeah, it's been one heck of a summer and I'm not going to lie, Fall is my favorite season anyway but this year I'm looking forward to it more than most just because this summer has been so stressful I'm ready for it to be over!

On the bright side, I'm just relieved to have some energy back! It's amazing how I didn't even realize how sick I was until I felt better. That sounds crazy but it's true.

Anyway, I guess bring on the re-writes and edits!

XOXO




Comments

  1. Girl you are amazing! I am so glad you and your family are doing better.

    ReplyDelete
  2. So sorry to hear about your cancer! I hope you can boast being cancer free very soon. I just stopped by to say how much I loved Lark! I couldn't put it down actually. I am not sure who your beta readers are, but if you need another one I'd love to volunteer. It's something I have always wanted to try...

    Happy writing,

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Natalie--well as of right now I am CANCER FREE so WAHOO! *jumps for joy*
      Thank you for taking the time to stop by and letting me know you loved LARK! It really means a lot to me when people go out of there way to let me know they enjoyed my book.
      I have some pretty amazing beta readers BUT if you are really interested shoot me an email and we can discuss! ericacope@gmail.com
      PS I spent the entire day outlining the remainder of In the Shadows AND outlined the 3rd book soooooo I may be in need of some beta reading services very soon! :)

      Delete
  3. Omigod, your life sounds just like mine. I've been fighting docters and my own body for over a year now trying to get the right diagnosis. First it's fibromyalgia, then maybe another auto immune disease, now it may be the extreme stress in my life is causing my adrenal glands to not produce enough cortisol. Waiting on my referral to the mayo clinic right now, hoping it gets approved. And then there's my dream of writing. I've written poetry since I was a little girl, and everyone always told me to try and do something with that, but then I had my daughter, and consecutively, my son. In an abusive relationship, body is dying it feels like, and have no career. But lately I've wondered if I could do it, especially with all of the self published books out on sites like Amazon. My only problem is being descriptive. I'm a big reader and love authors like Dean Koontz and Nora Roberts. Only I don't like reading a paragraph to describe a sunset or mountain.Lol. But with all you have went thru, you inspired me. Maybe someday it won't be just a dream. Until then, I'll eagerly await the second installment of Lark.Thank you so much for a change of pace from vampires and demons and such. I say "and" alot. ;) hope you're family is blessed with healing and if not that, at least some sunshine in the shadows. I know deep pain n how debilitating it can be. Sorry for writing u a little novella here. Good luck on more success and God bless.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. HI Jenny! Thanks for stopping by! I'm glad you enjoyed Lark! I was really hoping to step outside of the vampire/werewolf/fairy box but I was told that people wouldn't be interested in reading about elves--well, I guess they were wrong, weren't they?! :P
      I'm truly sorry to hear about your struggles. That is very unfortunate and I hope you are able to find some peace with everything soon.
      Thanks again for stopping by!

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