The never say never conundrum

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What I'm planning to write tomorrow, fingers crossed for a wordy NANOWRIMO start!

Several years ago I made a decision that for a good while caused me a lot of consternation, a choice that I said I would never make again. Well, I'm strongly considering going back on that pledge.

I'm thinking about publishing the first of a series without having subsequent novels written.

Quick backstory: in writing The Hawk, I released the first 40K fully aware that I wasn't done, nor would I be able to gauge when I would be done. I did that because I rightly, if not painfully, assumed it would perhaps be the only impetus to keep me writing until the story was DONE. But OMG what pressure, tension, commitment! How many times did I say to myself, "You will NEVER DO THAT AGAIN!" Um, many. Yet here I am, giving serious thought to doing it again.

Why, you might ask. Good question! Well see, there's this intriguing novel I've dug up from 2013 and....

Really, that's the reason? Huh. (Never say never again, let me just note.)

But this is a great story, and has the potential to be an amazing series! And if I release this first book, well then of course I'll write the next one. Of course I will. 

Uh-huh. Of course.

I worked on this novel extensively over the summer, mostly because I wanted to do something different amid prepping That Which Can Be Remembered for publication, a series I completely finished before releasing it, might I add. I overhauled said novel, titled The Earthen Chronicles Book 1 (an apt title for the first of a series) in a big way, which is appropriate since that draft is over nine years old, lol. Having just finished another round of revisions, I changed/added where I had made notes a few months ago, tightening the prose ever so slightly. My only hesitation in choosing to publish the book is that I don't have the necessary attachment to a couple of characters, who received some major overhauls. Yet I'm not hoping to release this story tomorrow; further edits would enhance their personalities, as well as plumping up some other thin characterizations.

All of this comes on the eve of my return to NANOWRIMO with a completely different story, hahaha! Not to mention one last book in the TWCBR series to be published in December, which will require a final revision before I upload it. If the NANO book, titled A Rose Blissful, comes out well, I might release it, but that wouldn't be well until sometime next year, leaving plenty of room in my schedule to write Book 2 of The Earthen Chronicles. Weak characters notwithstanding, something about it makes me want to share it, which wasn't why I initially published The Hawk, merely as insurance to make sure I finished it. Which I did indeed do, hehehe.

Writing is a vital element of my well-being, and that I can publish is so liberating. Hopefully I'll be feeling the same way in six months regardless of which fate I choose for The Earthen Chronicles. Meanwhile I have a Mandolin quilt almost completed! Time to close this entry and move on with other joys.

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