I have started planning the next book and I mean that quite literally. I say that because I pantsered the last two books. Although I didn’t know this, I think that I might actually be more of a plotter.

Wait, what is a pantser and plotter?

Ok, when I wrote my first two books, I had an idea of what kind of story I wanted to write, but I had no outline for the books – this is referred to as “pantser” as in fly by the seat of your pants. This makes it harder for me to edit because I don’t have an outline for the novel and made it difficult to get unstuck when I had writer’s block and not sure what direction to take the story.

I’m outlining everything in the next book – this is referred to as “plotter.” So, for my next book, when I draft, I have my map to go back to. The nice thing about a map is that I can stay on the path I charted out, but there are lots of possibilities of how to get to my destination – and if I get started down a path that’s not working for me – I can always change where I’m going. But I have a starting point, a general idea of where I’m going, and what I’ll find when I get there.

Wait, what about the book I just finished?

In my last post, I said that I just finished the draft of my book and I’m taking about a month off and then will start working on editing. I couldn’t wait on outlining my next story though because the ideas are bursting in my brain.  Don’t worry, I’ll be hard at work on the Until the Lights Die (my own unofficial title) draft.

One cool thing, if you’re a writer, author, aspiring anything – check out NaNoWriMo.  My friend, Annie, told me about this organization last fall and I love the community of writers. When I posted on the NaNoWriMo Facebook group that I had finished the first draft of my book – I had 185 messages of congratulations, and 2.1 thousand likes within hours. WOW! What a great community for encouraging writers to keep going. We have important stories to share with the world!

Wait, do I ever take a break?

Yep, fun concert last night at the Fine Line. Saw Weathers and Echosmith.

This Tuesday, 2/25/20. will be a busy day for advocacy – another thing I love! Disability Day at the Capitol is in the morning and a great way to learn about issues impacting people with disabilities.  Find out more about the event on The Arc Minnesota 2020 Disability Advocacy day site.

And don’t forget, if you live in Minnesota, the Precinct Caucus is this Tuesday. Why is it important to go to your caucus? For me – it’s supporting my awesome State Representative Ami Wazlawik and supporting Justin Stofferahn who is running for my State Senator. Time to flip our senate seat blue! It’s not all about the presidential election – local politics matters! It’s an important year – get involved!

That’s all for this week.