After careful consideration, I decided to go back to my normal pacing for good.
I don’t really know how to explain this, except to say that when I sprint, I’m go so fast, that it’s harder for me to connect with the characters. After all the writing posts I’ve been doing, I remembered what it was like when I started to write romances. I remembered how exciting it was to go on the journey with my characters. One of my favorite emotions is the “falling in love” one, which is why I am drawn to romance. Since I’ve been married for fourteen years, I’ve long since passed that initial stage. I think love does get better over time because it gets deeper, but there’s no denying there’s a thrill in that initial phase. And romance allows me to tap into that.
As I was writing the post about the character’s journey, I realized I don’t want to rush the journey. I want to take time to savor it like I would a favorite piece of chocolate. Looking back, I don’t think I was able to fully enjoy Patty’s Gamble, The Earl’s Secret Bargain, and Just Good Friends because I sprinted those in order to reach my deadlines.
It’s possible other people can sprint and fully get the enjoyment out of writing their books, but it’s not possible for me to do that. We’re all different as writers, and we’re all meant to go at our own pace. My pace is writing one full-length novel in 1.5 to 2 months. I can do a novella in a shorter period of time, but I don’t write a lot of those.
What this means is that next year, I won’t be publishing as many books as I did this year. I had a stellar publishing year. With Just Good Friends due out October 12 and His Convenient Wife due out November 16, I will have published six full-length books. Usually, I do six full-length books and possibly one novella.
I’ll Be Putting My Posts for Beginning Writers Into an Ebook
This isn’t going to be coming out this year, but I expect it’ll be out around the beginning of next year. I will edit and compile the posts I’ve been putting up on this blog and put them into an ebook. This way it’ll be easy to go back and refer to it at your leisure.
Here is the list of posts I will put in the book:
Starting With An Idea (already posted)
Picking Your Genre (already posted)
The Proper Use of Backstory (already posted)
Point of View (already posted)
Characters Are the Heart of Your Story (already posted)
Your Setting (aka World) – The Character is Always Key (already posted)
There Is No Perfect Time to Write So Write Today (already posted)
If the Scene Doesn’t Add to the Plot, Throw It Out (to be posted)
What To Do When You Get Stuck (to be posted)
What If You Never Finish a Story? (to be posted)
Polishing Your Book For Publication (to be posted)
*I added the last one because someone asked me about doing a post on proofreading. I don’t plan to go into the stuff on covers, formatting, how to publish, or marketing. This ebook will be dedicated solely to the process of writing.
If there is a writing-related post I have not addressed in this list that you’d like me to write, please let me know.
Ruth Ann Nordin's Author Blog 
Sprinting is not for everyone. I find myself not wanting to do it for different reasons. I don’t want to have to correct that many errors. I feel like that takes more time than writing it correctly to start with. However, I do like the idea of writing for awhile, then doing something else while I’m thinking about the next scene. Except, lately, I’ve been able to write and think and write all at the same time. When I’m busy trying to do housework, that’s when the writing in increments works best.
I agree. Breaking up writing with housework is great. I get the house cleaner that way, and my eyes aren’t getting all buggy from staring at the screen for a long period of time.
I’ve thought the same thing about how many errors I need to fix when I go back. Editing Patty’s Gamble, The Earl’s Secret Bargain, and Just Good Friends was a pain. I’m glad I sprinted them because I got a lot done, but I don’t think I’m for that level of intensity again. I’m a turtle, not a rabbit. 😀