I'm Writing... Again

Welcome back to Taylor Talks!

​Tonight, I did something that may have been absolutely crazy, but that had to be done... I began writing a second book.

I know, am I completely nuts? I mean, I only just finished the first one, and I won't hear back from agents for weeks still. While I truly believe that I'll find representation and my book will appear in stores and libraries across the country someday, I haven't actually been told that my story is good by anyone outside of my family. It's a scary process and you can't take anything for granted.

Yet for the past few days, since I finished writing my first book, I have felt kind of empty inside. I had no big project to work on anymore. I would sit down at my computer, lean my elbows on the desk, put my head in my hands, and I would just stare. I had nothing to do! There's only so much activity happening on social media; I can hit the refresh button all I want, but nothing new and exciting is suddenly going to be engaging me. I needed something to work on again that would capture my attention, even if I didn't have anything to write at that moment.

So here's the thing... About halfway through my first book, I thought about doing a sequel. I know, my brain goes much too fast sometimes. But I felt like the story that I was working on could have the potential to go even further. And then here I was this week, finished with that story, but not ready to let go of the characters. I needed to find out more about them. I needed to see where their lives were going, how they would continue to grow and change. And then I sat down to think about where their stories would be taking them.

For the past few days, I couldn't decide exactly where I wanted this second book to go. There were so many possibilities, and I didn't even know where I should start thinking about it. It was like this huge tangled web of a knot; you can pull a little at different areas, but you can't make any true progress until you find the beginning of the string. Well tonight, I found the beginning of the string. It's a little knotted still, but pieces started coming to me. I began jotting down notes for myself, like how long after the first book I wanted to start the second, and some key plot points that I wanted to include somewhere in the novel.

And do you know what else I did? I wrote. I barely had any information, just the very beginning of an idea, but I wrote. I actually wrote more than half of a page, much more than I ever would have imagined I could write with what little I had planned out. I mean, I'm the kind of person that needs to envision things before completing them; I need the whole outline, and I figure out every detail about each character before writing... things like their favorite colors or when their birthdays are, facts that don't need to be included in the book, are written down in my outline so I know everything about these people. Sure, it's a little easier this time around because I already know my main characters, but there's so much more that I need to figure out. But it didn't matter. I just opened up a new document and began writing. No title, no plan, no outline, but I began my second novel. It's literally saved as "Book 2 - untitled" in my documents right now, but hey, the details will come eventually, right?

So I may still be waiting to hear back from agents for quite some time, but I'm excited to start this new project in the meantime. When I say that I believe my book will be published and sold around the country someday, I absolutely mean it. First starting that book back in October 2013, I truly didn't know if I could write a novel. It seemed like such a crazy, unattainable dream at the time, but I figured I would give it a shot. But by the end of it, I had no doubt in my mind that I had written something worth reading, and I know that I can do it again. I've become so much better at writing since I first started that novel, and I know that I will continue to grow as I work on this sequel. I feel like in my blog posts, it's a lot of just straightforward writing about different topics, but I don't really include much description or anything to truly show off my writing skills, but just wait until my book comes out... I've really learned a lot and believe that all of you out there in the cyber world will enjoy it.

Your continued support means the world to me. From foster care to novels, and family to work experiences, I look forward to sharing more of my life with you each day. Don't hesitate to share your own stories with me or ask me questions about my life. Please don't forget to like and share my Facebook author page as well!

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Thanks!
Taylor

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