The Juggling Writer

Alert, alert, I’m juggling three manuscripts. This is not something I know how to do, so at some point, the balls may come crashing down. I just hope they’re a little bouncy and don’t shatter on impact.

My Manuscripts

My first novel, Oil and Dust, is Book One of my fantasy series, tentatively titled the Elemental Artist Series. I’m currently three-quarters of the way through editing the manuscript, using Fictionary.  This is the fifth draft of this book. Yep, groan, the fifth draft. I see the light at the end of the tunnel and I’ve tentatively picked a launch date, this year. As I’ve been editing, I’ve also been reading other books similar to mine, looking for comparison works or “comps”.

When I sent Oil and Dust off to my editor, I started the second book of the series, Graphite and Turbulence. Although I knew I’d have more work to do later on Oil and Dust, I think I justified starting a second book because the story world was so vivid and I figured it would be a productive way to deal with the anxiety I felt waiting for the edits on Oil and Dust. The first draft of Graphite and Turbulence is three-quarters finished (I’m sensing a theme here…). I set it aside in October because I wanted to participate in NaNoWriMo, but I only needed about 15,000 words to finish Graphite and Turbulence; not the 50K demanded by NaNoWriMo.

In November, I wrote my middle-grade novel, An Ordinary Girl. I finished the first draft and actually had time to do a quick polish before the month was over. I sent it to my beta readers who, all but one, have finished the book and submitted their thoughts. I’ve incorporated most of their comments into my working draft, but I’m waiting for the last reader to finish before I review the manuscript as a whole. To support this project, I’ve been reading middle-grade novels to make sure I’ve captured the right level of language and pacing.

So, three manuscripts to juggle. What’s the big deal?

Self-Publishing

Enter the next ball, self-publishing, for the Elemental Artist Series. Four balls. Okay, that makes juggling a little harder, but not impossible.

Turns out, the self-publishing ball only looks like a single ball from a distance. When you get a little closer, you see that it’s a whole bunch of balls that were cleverly lined up one behind the other. Cover design and copy editing and marketing plans and purchasing ISBNs and deciding on distribution and copyright and ARC reviews and timing and oh my. I’m drinking from the firehose and learning as much as I can via articles and books and podcasts while juggling the editing and reading and writing for my manuscripts.

Traditional Publishing

The last ball (or I suspect series of balls) I’m planning to introduce is the traditional-publishing route. A goal for this year was to query An Ordinary girl, so while I’m juggling all of the above, I’m also learning about query letters and evaluating agents and the submissions process, and what’s going on with the kid lit industry in general.

The thing is? I’m kind of loving it. And I’m terrified. So I’m juggling, my hands moving faster than my brain can process, hoping that I keep these balls in the air long enough to make it all happen. If things go well, I send off Oil and Dust at the end of the month, I polish and begin to query An Ordinary Girl next month, and I finish drafting Graphite and Turbulence while I’m waiting for feedback on the first two. This will work, right? Right? If you hear some crashing noises and some muffled swearing, don’t worry about it.

Are you a good juggler? Any tips or tricks you’d like to share?

Header Photo by Ellen Qin on Unsplash