After I started sending TNWSY out to agents, I immediately started Book 2. I was told it was the smart thing to do – concentrate on on my second attempt to distract me from rejections. And it worked! Here’s the thing, though – aside from writing and editing my query letter, I didn’t do any additional work on TNWSY. It’s been a while since I’ve been in that story.
So I was a bit worried when I had to jump into TNWSY edits for my agent. What if I couldn’t find the voice again? What if I didn’t like something? What if she didn’t like something?
But a funny thing happened when I opened the Word file – I felt at home. I felt like I was revisiting old friends, ones who never really left me. While I was still worried that my edits weren’t perfect enough, I gave myself into them and had fun. It was really quite cool. The edits let me explore my characters more, and discover new aspects of them. And I loved that. Each edit in the past added in that way, too, but for some reason this one felt different. Perhaps absence does make the heart grow fonder.
It’s really weird now going back and forth between stories, between characters and voices, but I like it. Because I love TNWSY, and I don’t mind saying hi to it again every once in a while. See how its been doing. Ask if it has any advice for Book 2. You know, I think they’d get along quite well.
Have you ever worked on two stories at once? How did you deal with it?
Lauren Gibaldi 
This isn’t totally related to this post because I don’t have a story about working on 2 stories at once, but I really connect to all your posts about TNWSY in general. This may seem like a weird stretch but even though I’ve been blogging forever, ever since I started writing for Stratejoy I’ve really reconnected with how much I actually LOVE writing. I care so much more about those posts than I do about the stuff that goes up on my regular blog, and with each post I go through all the stages of writing, editing, and these “Aha!” moments where everything seems to come together. And the point of this rambly story is that even though you are a much bigger deal with your BOOK and your AGENT (!!!), I really see your passion for writing reflected in your posts and I love it and totally connect with it. It’s weird because blogging is obviously all about writing yet I really don’t see a LOVE of writing all that much in the blogosphere – so often it’s a love of talking about yourself or getting comments or whatever. And the point is, between Stratejoy and reading your posts, I’m reminded of how I used to want to write a book and how one day I should start reconsidering that. =) END LENGTHY NONSENSICAL COMMENT.
I LOVE YOUR NONSENSICAL COMMENT! I actually TOTALLY understand where you’re coming from. I started my other blog with just a desire to write, and was further pushed by some of the awesomeness that was 20SB. (Remember when there were only, like, 300 members?) There are some great blogs out there, and I’m inspired by passionate writing. ANd I love, love, love your Stratejoy posts. (not to say I don’t love your OTHER blog posts – I do!! – but I can tell you LOVE your Stratejoy writings so much!) I think it’s so exciting when someone finds their writing groove. And I thnk you should write lengthy books, too. 🙂
I am right now, as a matter of fact! One is the memoir I’ve been writing for about three years (my life’s going through some major changes right now, so I have to rewrite several passages from the book), and the other is a shorter theological work that I’m aiming to release as an ebook. Think of it as the demo EP that comes before the big debut LP.
That’s so cool! Good luck on all of them!