Today I would like to welcome guest writer, Sarah Anne Carter. Enjoy!
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I have written three novels and three children’s picture books. That sounds like a lot, but only one novel has been published so far. The one thing that has helped me most in my writing journey is a lesson I had to learn the hard way – write consistently!
When I first started working on my first novel, my children were little. I wrote when I had large pockets of time, which meant I only wrote a few times a month. Each time I opened my document, I had to go back and read over what I had written previously. I found myself getting names and time frames mixed up. I ended up making charts and lists to keep everything straight. It didn’t turn out to be my best book and I’ve reworked it and edited it many times now. It’s taken a lot of work to get it ready to submit to agents.
For my next two novels, I stepped up to the National Novel Writing Month challenge, better known as NaNoWriMo. This challenge has writers aim to write 50,000 words in November – just under 1,700 words a day. The first time I did it, I created my own goal of writing 1,000 words a day. I didn’t write every day, but I wrote on a much more consistent basis and I got very close to making my goal.
It didn’t take much time after that month to finish the novel and it was a much better novel than the first. I found I didn’t really need to go back and read each time I wrote because at most it had only been two or three days since I had last worked on the novel. It was also much easier to edit since the story line was more ingrained in my memory.
The following year, I dove in and took on the full NaNoWriMo challenge to write the novel I’d wanted to write for almost 10 years at the point. I completed the entire novel in that month’s time frame. I think I only missed two or three days that entire month, but planned them and wrote more before and after those days to catch up. I knew the characters and plot so well since I was writing on a daily basis pretty much. This is the book that was published a few months ago – The Ring. While I did have to do some editing, that work wasn’t as hard as my first novel. I really knew the story.
The lesson I learned was my writing was better when I wrote on a consistent basis. The story flowed, I knew the characters and the plot came together easier. Even editing was easier when the book was worked on consistently. Even my family members (my first beta readers) saw the improvements in my books as I started writing consistently. I started a fourth novel and aimed to write at least four to five days a week. Some days just don’t work when you have children.
I do have a contract on the second novel I wrote to have it published in 2021. An agent is interested in the first book I wrote and that’s why I’ve been editing it a lot. She had some suggested changes that really did need to be worked into the story. Hopefully it will be better now. But, I’ve learned my lesson – write consistently!
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Sarah Anne Carter is a lover of books. She is an avid reader and is a book review blogger. Writing stories since she was little, she is constantly thinking of ideas that could be used as a plot for a novel. She is a journalist by trade and has written numerous newspaper articles. She has also worked in the public relations and marketing fields. She grew up as an Air Force brat and has lived in many states and countries. Currently residing in Ohio, she spends her time enjoying her family, reading and writing. She is a lover of travel and cats.
Website: www.sarahannecarter.com
The Ring can be purchased on Amazon https://www.amazon.com/Ring-Sarah-Anne-Carter/dp/1089880227