I thought it was time to tell you a little more about what I’m writing since that’s what I’ve been spending so much of my time working on lately.
Of course, I’ve been writing for this blog, but you can see that for yourself. The majority of my words have been going toward a series of romance novellas centered around past lives and fate. Basically, my characters have to fix the mistakes made by their past selves in order to move on to happier lives. And, of course, there’s some soulmate action going on.
Now, I’m not typically a romance writer. Don’t get me wrong, I’ve got nothing against romance. In fact, most of my writing has heavy romance subplots. I’ve just always seen myself as more of a fantasy writer. And there are elements of fantasy in this, too, it’s just that the romance takes center stage and that’s pretty new for me.
I had the idea for this series way back in college. I’m not sure what year the concept first burst its way into my brain, but I do remember working on the pre-writing in my college library while I should have been studying. Anyway, the last time I was in that library was before I graduated in 2009. So…it’s been a while.
Part of the reason it took me so long to finally write a draft of this, I think, was because I had moved away from the idea of writing romance. And the other part of it has to do with the fact that I had some really difficult times in college and. once I left, I didn’t want to think about anything related to that experience anymore.
But! Then I found my old notes at the end of 2018 and was like “Yep, time to revisit this.”
And then a terrible 2019 happened and I pushed it to the side again. I really thought that I was never going to write it, like it was the idea that got away. But here I am, eleven years later, grabbing onto that idea again. I’ve just finished a full 1st draft that’s waiting to be torn apart and put back together again. I kind of can’t believe it.
Full disclosure though, this was supposed to be a series of five novellas, so I’m actually only like 20% done (with the first drafts). I’m not worrying about that math right now though. Now’s a time for celebration!
I’m not sure if this will ever be something that I try to get published or self-publish or if I’ll just stuff it down in the bowels of my hard drive. I still don’t know that I’m a good enough writer to really make something of the stuff I’m writing now. Even if I got it polished up enough, there’s still the question of do I want to be a romance author? I’ve been focused on fantasy for so long. I mean, I know a lot of people publish in more than one genre, but sometimes when I give myself license to do whatever I want, I end up pulling myself in a thousand different directions. Like, if I do both fantasy and romance, am I going to be tempted to write in 20 other different genres because I let myself think multiple genres was okay?
I don’t know. This is all still a little early to be thinking about, but then, isn’t thinking ahead good? If you’re a writer (that wants to be published), do you try to think ahead toward when you’re ready to publish. Or do you focus on the writing itself and leave the rest for later?
If you’re a writer who’s already published, how far ahead did you plan your career? Are you still thinking ahead, or are you just taking it one day at a time?
I’d love to hear all your perspectives!
Rambling Robin 