#overwhelmed #excited #ihavenocluewhatimdoing

I’ve just finished round two edits of my MS, and I’ve decided to let it sit for a whole month before looking at its darling face again.

In the meantime, I’ll work on the sequel.

So today, the day I’ve finished two whole rounds of head-battering edits, I went to a sushi restaurant for lunch and sat down with notebook, pen, and a printout of 29 bullet points of if ideas I got while editing, all for the bloody sequel.

And let me tell you–there are ideas galore.

Which now leaves me feeling both excited and overwhelmed. I don’t think I get how authors can plot out their whole book and not drown in their own tears by thinking about all the plot points they want/need to hit.

As I was walking back to the office after lunch, stepping in rain puddles and feeling the cold rain seep in through my jacket and into my hair, all I could think was, wow! I have tons of ideas, I’m so happy, even though it’s so gloomy outside, but oh shit, how am I ever going to write this. I don’t even know where to begin. I’ll never get it done, it’ll be horrible, what am I to do, I’m not good enough.

Basically, all the negative self-defeating thoughts that arise pretty much every day that you’re writing.

So, while walking, I was also thinking, I’ve done it before, written whole novels, hell, whole series, so I can do it again. Sure, none of my books are published, but I’m working on that, and that’s what’s going to do it for me–the drive.

And I thought, the best way to approach this is to approach it in chunks–work on one chapter at time, with specific goals in mind, and not worry too much about everything else–they will all fall into place the way they were meant to. It’s how my writing has always been, and even though I have 29 plot points, my writing will fall into place just the same.

My writing lesson of the week: Approach plot points one/few at a time, and don’t concern yourself too much with the other plot points. Let your brain do its creative job and it’ll bring in all/most of your ideas, in the right timeframe that is best for your book.