New to the group

Hey everyone Im Katie and I just recently found this group! Can't wait to "meet" all of yall and make some friends. I have been writing since i was a kid and now as an adult i am really trying to sit down and finish a book. I have about 8 novels started and trying to hash through all my notes and figure out which one is the best to power through and finish

I also love writing books, and sometimes I don't want to finish them. Then I decide which one sounds the best to me, and I pick that one to do.

I have one book-self-published- and plan to have my 2nd one out by spring. That is going to be a series of at least 3 books. Then I have another book done- but not edited. I write for the children and middle grade levels.

When I started writing as a kid I would just start working on a story whenever I had an idea for one, and would switch off between five or six stories at a time. I began over a hundred stories and only finished about twenty, and those were probably the twenty shortest ones, ranging in length from short-short to novella. I didn't get stuck, mind you, I just was always most interested in the recent ideas, and worked less and less on the older ones until I wasn't working on them at all anymore.

When I dropped out of college for health reasons I decided that the time had come that I really needed to change my approach, and I made a rule that I was only allowed to work on one novel at a time. Until I had a completed first draft, the others would have to wait.

And then suddenly I ran in to the "which book to write?" problem.

I started by just trying to pick something, but I'm afraid that method doesn't work well for me. I spent too much time trying to decide.

So the method I now use to figure out what I'm writing next is to make an ordered list of all the stories I am absolutely certain I want to write. I arrange the list by which order I think I would like to write the stories in, based on things like not having two stories that are too much alike in a row, making sure none of my story worlds gets neglected, and ensuring that my multi-book projects keep moving forward at a reasonable pace.

So the list looks something like:

Book One of Epic Fantasy Series
Book One of Space Opera Detective Series
Stand-alone Court Intrigue in "Fairytale" Fantasy world.
Book Two of Epic Fantasy Series
Book Two of Space Opera Detective Series
Stand-alone Dieselpunk Adventure (that when I actually wrote it turned out to be long enough for a trilogy -- whoops!)
Book Three of Epic Fantasy Series
Military Fantasy Romance from "Fairytale" Fantasy World
Science Fiction Deep Ocean First Contact Story
Book Four of Epic Fantasy Series
Alternate History Spy Story

... and so forth.

This way I not only know what I am writing next, I also have a pretty good idea what I'll be writing after that, which I find very helpful. While I'm writing one book on the list, I can be reading non-fiction related to the next couple.

Sometimes something decides to take over my brain and jumps the queue, (The Dieselpunk adventure should theoretically have been at the bottom of that list, and the Military Fantasy Romance after Book Two of the Space Opera Detectives instead) -- but rearranging the list isn't a problem. If I know where I want to move something, I move it. If I don't know where I want to move it, then it stays where it is. Either way, I never get stalled over trying to decide what to write next anymore.

The list itself is also a great motivator for me. (Maybe I'm just weird?)
I want to write all those books. Every single one of them. But I can't write the second one until I've written the first, and I can't write the third until I've written the second, and so forth. So every book on the list is a reason to keep on chugging. :)

# You SAID it all! Sometimes, also, TIME just washes the laundry out. If any good is left, TIME may also help. Better however to command Time than have it wash everything out - or in and out. To launder means something was worth the cleaning.

Hi,
I'm Jan, from South Africa. I write in several genres and have recently published my 10th book. I also have some trad published books that are now out of print, but thanks to KDP I can now resurrect them.
Looking forward to meeting everyone.

Whatʻs KDP?

Kindle Digital Platform. It allows you to self-publish books for the Kindle electronic reader.

Hi Katie and hi everyone! My name is Aleks. I am a Psychologist and self-development writer but I also love fiction and studied Creative Writing and Psychology at university. I plan to go back into fiction in the not too distant future so I thought it would be good to befriend intriguing people with interests in all kinds of genres. Looking forward to keeping in touch.

Hi everyone my name is Kerryn and I'm a writer. I LOVE all things epic and dark fantasy the richer the world and characters the better for me to lose myself in.

A Bit About Me
I'm 28 with 3 young girls (1.5, 3 & 5) glutton for punishment, I know. I started writing poetry when I was very young and began my epic fantasy masterpiece when I was 16. Unfortunately for many years I was too busy pumping out babies to write (I hit a pretty big wall, hard and for a long time the words just wouldn't come) so my manuscript is incomplete. I'm putting that piece aside for now and working on developing my skills through a fantasy, horror and Sci-fi writing course and by pumping out as many short stories as I can.

So far I've submitted 3 written assessments receiving 2 distinctions and a credit, yay!! I'm loving the course but must confess I could be more committed.

While I have many, many great authors that inspire me I would have to say that Isobelle Carmody's Obernewtyn Chronicles are my all time favourite and treasured books. I find myself constantly rereading them and each time that I do my appreciation for the richness and depth of her works awakens my inner muse and makes me feel a deep urge to fulfil my life's works, yes works, one of my problems is I have several stories and novels in progress at the same time, all at various stages of their development. Every time I try to focus on just one I'll have an amazing idea that fits one of the novels I'm not supposed to be working on.

I'll get there though, one day lol. I could talk all day about my inspirations, writing process, hurdles I've faced, the novels and short stories I'm working on but I won't. I still have a lot to learn but am proud to call myself a weaver of fantasy and builder of worlds. Not trying to blow my own horn but I'm not afraid to say I have talent, all I need to do is hone my skills and focus on my work and one day I'll see my name gracing the cover of my very own published novel.

Hello all, just joined the group and looking forward to talking with you about all things to do with both reading and writing.

Welcome, and hello! I'm a newbie as well. I'm a lifelong reading addict, and a recent writer (2013?). Well, recently published. I've been writing travelogues since 1996, but only started getting into the book thing recently. Now I'm cutting my teeth on novels.

Hi!

I am new to this scene, having just written a children's book picked up a publisher in 2015 and being published in 2016. Still getting my sea legs as to the whats and wherefores of this process. I have also just finished creating a second book in the series because it was so fun writing the first one.

In addition, I have just begun co-writing a book with another writer -- this time an adult book.

I have always had a love of reading and was known as a bookworm growing up. Over the years I have used my writing abilities in various capacities ... like rewriting and editing reports written by private investigators as well as by rewriting and editing responses to interrogatories in the legal arena.

I am excited about this new type of writing and hope to have a chance to chat with others, both new and established.

Warmly,
Aiyana

Hi all, just found this group. I use Library Thing pretty heavily to archive my books but haven't browsed the community side of things in a while.

I'm a writer and an avid reader and I bounce around between mystery, horror, thriller, science fiction and mainstream.