Ready to Start Book 4

I think I'm addicted to writing. I mean, I always loved it, yes, but now that I'm actually out there publishing and getting feedback and reaching out to actual readers? I'm addicted. I want to write more and push the boundaries of my own imagination and creativity to try to write something better than anything I've written before. Now that Book 3 of the Peachville High Demons series is out, I haven't been able to stop thinking about Book 4. Even though I've given myself a week off, I still am thinking of the characters all the time.

This weekend, I'm heading down to Georgia to visit with my family. I'm hoping the drive down there (about 8 hours each way) will provide some good time to think about the upcoming book. (I'm also planning to listen to the audio book "The Girl Who Played With Fire". I listened to the first book in that trilogy last time I went home, so I'm looking forward to the next installment. It's three parts that are about 7 hours each, so I won't finish it by the time I get back, but I should be two parts through by then.) I also have a feeling I'll stay up late most nights after my parents have gone to bed so that I can work through the plot.

I already have a pretty good idea about the general story arc of this next book and how it feeds into the final book of the series. On the other hand, in my experience, these books never end up actually being about what I thought they were going to be about. Bitter Demons, for example, was going to be about a series of cheerleading competitions and future primas getting kidnapped all over the country. That was all in my rough draft. Did it make it into the final book? NO! The only scene I copied over from my rough draft is the scene where Harper falls off the top of the pyramid and hurts her shoulder. How crazy is that? But in the end, I feel like the book is exactly what it needed to be. Even though I ended up cutting so much of what I originally thought. That's part of the magic of writing and storytelling. It's all about digging in and finding the real story.

I love that part of writing. The rough draft - the discovery - is torture sometimes. I doubt myself every step of the way. But I'm slowly learning to trust that by the time I finish the rough draft and get around to revisions, the story just sort of comes to me. It is, in a big way, like magic. And the best part? Once one book is finished, I get to experience the magic all over again with another book. I'm very much looking forward to writing the last two books of this series. I think there are going to be some very special moments as the relationships become even deeper. I'm also looking forward to the next series. And the next. And the next...