Planner or Fly By The Seat Of Your Pants

We are nearly half way through the month of March and it is as crazy as I knew it would be. At the beginning of last month, I received my deadline schedule from my publisher from now until the end of 2013. I know that sounds like a long way from now, but in the publishing world it isn't. The big publishers want anywhere a competed manuscript anywhere from one to two years before it gets into the hands of the readers.

 

Part of that writing schedule is getting the first three chapters of book 3 in my Finding Anna series written by the end of this month. The book isn't due out until summer 2013, and we haven't even finished editing Need yet, but I'm having to think ahead and figure out where these two go next.

This, of course, brings me to the title of my blog post today. I, am not a planner when it comes to my writing. I know some authors are and that's great. It just doesn't work for me. When I write an outline, I find I follow it for two chapters at most and then one or more of my characters throw me a curve ball I wasn't expecting.

You might be asking yourself right about now, how does she know there are going to be four books in this series if she doesn't outline? I guess I should qualify and say I don't use a written outline. My outlines take form in my head and they stay there. I know what a book will cover in the general sense, but rarely is it specific.

Because of this, and my deadline being moved forward by about six months, I've been spending some time this week pondering the beginning of book 3. Three chapters is a lot more ground to cover than it sounds. And when starting a new book, even a book that will be the third in a series, it has to be compelling and make the reader want to continue reading.

After several hours of pondering, I think I've finally found my opening for the book. Where it goes from there... I'm leaving that up to my characters.

So if you're an author, are you a planner or do you like to fly by the seat of your pants and see where your characters take you?

The End Is In Sight!

This is going to be another update post, but for those of you who are waiting on pins and needles for Need: Finding Anna Book 2 you should like this one. I'm almost finished; at least with the writing part of the book. It's currently sitting at just over 76,000 words and I now know there will be one more chapter plus the epilogue. Who knows, I might even meet my January 25th deadline. (did you catch that that's tomorrow?)

 

One of the things I love about writing is that I'm along for the ride as much as my readers. Brianna threw me some curve balls in this book, but so did Stephan. He opened up more than I ever thought he would. You're going to learn more about Brianna as well as Stephan in this one.

The book is still currently scheduled for release in July. I'll have more details about that as the time draws closer. There is a lot of editing I have to do between now and then.

On a side note, my 3rd novel, Behind Closed Doors releases in 16 days (February 9th). To get more information about that book, go to www.thewriterscoffeeshop.com/publishinghouse or to my main blog www.sherri-hayes.blogspot.com.

I hope to get posts back on track starting next week. Thank you everyone for your support!

Do You Remember The First Time....

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas. Our holiday was spent with my mom and the rest of my side of the family as we laughed and shared memories of all those who have gone before us. It's been a rough year as we lost two: my dad and one of my uncles. Some were worried it would be a very sad occasion, however it turned out to be a fun way to remember all the things we remember and love about them.

The last two weeks have been extremely busy for me with the holidays and with wrapping up the edits on my upcoming romantic suspense novel, Behind Closed Doors. Thankfully, I just sent the final edits back to my editor. All I will have to do is sign off on the formatting and it will be ready for its February 9th release date.

I've also spent the last two weeks working on Book 2. It's been somewhat slow going as I've had to stop and start with finishing Behind Closed Doors, however, I'm hoping now that thing are coming to a close with that one, I can spend more time with Stephan and Brianna. She threw me a curve ball yesterday in writing. As happens so often in my writing, what I'd planned got sidetracked by what the characters want. You really never know the journey they'll take you on.

My unexpected turn with Brianna made me think back and made me wonder what other's experiences were and do you remember? Thinking back, I'm not sure I can pinpoint that moment. What moment? The moment you first saw the male anatomy live, in person, and...awake. ;)

So do you remember?

Books - Finding Anna Series

I can't believe in less than two weeks Slave will finally be released. It feels like it has been a long time coming although it has been less than a year. Everything has now been formatted and signed off on. Slave is now at the printers!

If you haven't already, you can pre-order your copy of Slave direct from my publisher at http://www.thewriterscoffeeshop.blogspot.com/.

Now, here is another question from Formspring. This question was anonymous.

How many books will there be in the series?

This is a great question. Unfortunately, the answer is going to be rather vague.

The way I write is rather nontraditional. I only work with a rough outline in my head, therefore I can't tell you for sure how many books will be in the series. My philosophy with the stories I create is that I write them until I feel they are complete. It is one of the reasons this is a series rather than one book. I didn't feel I could do their story justice in one novel.

Stephan and Brianna have a long journey ahead of them. Healing from any trauma does not happen over night. Neither does a romance when one of the individuals has gone through what Brianna has.

As of this moment, I can say that there will be at least four books, however, I will not rule out more.

Do you have a question about the series you'd like for me to answer? Something you'd like to ask Stephan or Brianna? Click on the Formspring link to the left and ask!