Alright, y’all! I just finished going through the first chunk of Act 1 for The Forgotten Bruja, and we are officially in second-draft territory.
Right now, I’m looking at story flow, structure, and all the big-picture things. I want this story to hold up under scrutiny. I want the emotional beats to land, the plot to make sense, and absolutely no plot holes to survive.
And if a few little gremlins do survive? That’s what the third pass is for.
But I’m celebrating every win because writing a book is a long process, and I refuse to treat progress like it only counts when the whole thing is finished.
Something else I started doing during this draft, which I am absolutely carrying into future manuscripts, is fixing connected issues as soon as I spot them.
So, for example, if I’m reading a scene and realize, “Wait, this affects something that happens later,” I don’t leave myself a vague note and move on. I put a pin in the current section, go directly to the scene that needs to be changed, and I fix it right then. I add what needs to be added. I take away what no longer works. I adjust the thread before it has the chance to become tangled.
And let me tell you, it is so freeing.
I felt lighter after making that decision because I knew I wasn’t creating another task for future me to dread. I wasn’t leaving a mess behind and pretending I’d magically want to clean it up later.
That’s when I knew I’d made the right choice.
Honestly, it fits my whole accordion writing process. I move forward, then go back. I expand, then tighten. I fix what needs fixing, then move forward again. It may not be the fastest process, but it helps me create cleaner drafts in the long run.
In the short run? Yes, every step takes longer.
But I’m okay with that.
I’ve come to accept that I write slowly. And if I ever want to rapid-release, I’ll need to finish all the manuscripts first and then release them with shorter gaps between books.
Because my process is my process.
And honestly? Fighting it only makes the book harder to write.
Leave a Reply