Sunday Update: Finished an Outline

I hope it’s been a productive week for all of you writers out there. I mostly had a week off as I await more feedback from beta readers — and that’s a good thing. I’m not always the best at giving myself time off, so occasionally it’s nice to find myself without a project needing my attention. Still, my mind isn’t awesome at vacation.

So as I wait for input on Queen Witch, my mind keeps returning to the next thing I’ll write: Shield, the fifth and final Children of the Sidhe novella. I’ve known what happens at the beginning of this book for months, and I figured out the big BANG weeks and weeks ago. On Thursday, I pulled those two ends of the outline together by filling in all of the middle scenes to take me from point A to point B. It is shiny and new and calling to me, oh so seductively. I MUST get Queen Witch published before I put pen to paper on yet another book. MUST.

Since I’m still hoping to publish Queen Witch the week before Halloween, I’m thinking I’ll write Shield during November. The other reason to do so is that if I’m not writing a book during November, I’ll be sad. All of that NaNo energy swirling about, everyone else’s exciting updates…I must write something during November. And a 25-30k project that finishes up a series I’ve been working on for years? Yeah! And if I don’t finish it during November, that’s okay, too. I have books three and four still to revise, edit and release. But it would be great to have book five on paper before I publish book three. I already thought of a couple of things to add to book three based on the outline for book five.

I have a bit to do to prepare for writing Shield, so that’s my goal for this week: finish character profiles, determine the setting for a major piece of action, and solidify all of the characters’ roles in the series conclusion.

I will also incorporate the first beta input I received on Queen Witch, and hopefully hear from my other betas in the next few days. I’m going to have some trouble getting a major block of time to work on incorporating that input, so I’d better get started in the next couple of days.

Good luck with the coming week, folks!

About J.R. Pearse Nelson

J.R. Pearse Nelson is a fantasy and romance writer from Oregon, USA. She lives with her husband and two daughters among the plentiful trees and clouds of the beautiful Willamette Valley. J.R. is always searching for the magic in our world. She weaves tales rooted in mythology, bringing legend to life in modern-day and fantasy settings. J.R. is the author of the Of the Blood fantasy romance series, the Foulweather Twins fantasy series, and the Water Rites fantasy series. You can connect with J.R. and learn more about her fiction at her website. Visit jrpearsenelson.com.

8 comments on “Sunday Update: Finished an Outline

  1. Right now I am between books too. My memoir is at the publisher’s, waiting for their feedback and I am getting my ducks in a row to go back to my novel the first of November – not that I am for sure going to sign up for NaNoWriMo, but I will still compete in the background. But as writers, our brains never rest, do they?

  2. I know the feeling of your mind always going, even when you’re supposed to be on holiday. Congratulations on your productive week though. Good luck in keeping it up and extra special good luck on finishing your next novella.

    Nicole

  3. Congrats on the outline. And actually, doing the foundation work for your next book will help you gain some distance from Queen Witch. That’s always a good thing where edits are concerned. Great job this week. I hope next week is just as productive 🙂

  4. Brilliant that you have had a bit of a ‘break’ and glad to hear you know where you are heading! Shiny new ideas are exciting and I look forward to seeing your progress especially in the November madness!

  5. I’m looking forward to reading the rest of the Children of the Sidhe series. Good luck publishing Queen Witch! I finally got Soul of a Vampire out on Amazon and Smashwords, but it seems like that book took forever. I’m excited about writing my next one. Do you always feel that sense of excitement when you are ready to publish? And when you’re ready to start something new?

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