First book syndrome

by Anne Mallory

I had been happily clipping along on the first few chapters of my second book when I received The Call about my first. Twelve hours before my editor called, I had been writing. Four months later I had written exactly 15 pages more. I just couldn't do it. I was paralyzed, and there were so many new things to worry about - promotion, website, sales, editorial...and there was always something else I could be doing instead of writing...heck, cleaning the cat litter was a viable option. I couldn't even get the Word file open. I read tales of first or second book syndrome (sometimes used interchangeably), nodded along with the authors and started to work myself out of the black hole.

It took me over a year to finish that second book. It took three months to finish the third.

Janet Mullany has a great article over at the e-zine about First Book Syndrome and how to counter it or die trying. Okay, so maybe not so much on that second one, but at the very least you can take heart that there are lots of other writers that go through this same thing, and have gone on to write again and publish more books. So don't despair! Try and figure out what exactly is holding you back and then get your buns back in that chair and your Word document up on the screen. Or at the very least, know that I feel your pain, and am sending cyber chocolate your way. :)

posted by Anne Mallory @ 2:51 AM