Tag: Workshop

Let’s Start/Finish Your Book in May! by Kitty Bucholtz

You may know that it’s been a rough few years for me. First burnout (long story) and then perimenopause – the monster in my body! But I am cautiously optimistic that I’m finally coming out the other side. Yay! For the last two months, I feel like the real Kitty. I’m happy and my brain works and my body is less tired and I just plain feel good. Thank God!

So even though I have 8 titles out (books and shorter stories), in some ways I feel like I’m starting over again. All of my ideas have been piling up, waiting for this day, and now I have four novels (in four series!) and three nonfiction books of encouragement in three different topics. I want to write them all! Now!

And that makes me laugh because a lot of people feel that way, including many of my clients. Our brains get so full of interesting things we want to explore or share and we think we’re going to explode if we don’t get it all out. Haha!

Just in case this hits a nerve with you, let me share some ideas on how to choose.

First of all, it’s not a rule that you can only write one book at a time. If you want to work on more than one at once, go for it. Just know there are pros and cons. One, it will probably take longer to finish any of them. If you work on two books over the course of a year, it will take you a year to get one finished. On the other hand, you may have two finished books at the end of the year. Or you may find that the distraction of going back and forth is actually making you take longer to finish either one. If you’re having fun, I say ignore the cons! But if you’re getting frustrated, it may be time to focus on one book at a time.

Two, you may confuse yourself sometimes when brainstorming. This happened to me a few months ago. My menopausal brain fog was in full swing and it was all I could do to get just one task done for this book here and one task for that book there. Not even the same tasks. So I was prompting Midjourney to create some images for me for Little Miss Lovesick…and didn’t realize for weeks that some of the images I’d created were based on Love at the Fluff and Fold! It’s funny now, but it sure wasn’t back then.

So suppose you’re thinking, okay, I want to choose one book to work on right now, but which one? Here are some ideas.

Write a paragraph description of each book. Which one grabs your attention more? Which is most interesting?

Set a timer for 30 minutes and start writing on the first idea. Do it again for each book you’re thinking about. Now compare the drafts. Which one did you get the most words written? Which one flowed the best? Which was the most fun to write? Which one makes you want to give up another half hour of doing something you love to write some more?

You’ll probably have decided at this point. But what if you’re still unsure?

For instance, I have a nonfiction book and a full-length novel that I already have a finished draft for. Why, oh, why are these books not published already? (The answer to that is another story entirely.) Since I am writing to make a living, these two books automatically get preference, no matter how much I also want to write and finish the others. So now I’ve narrowed it down to two.

Personally, I find it easier to choose between two rather than seven!

Now I can look at a couple more questions.

• Which book is shorter and can be finished quicker?
• Which book needs less editing and can be finished quicker? (I personally can’t know that without reading/skimming them both, but you may already know.)
• Which book has a larger potential market within the readership already following me? Hence, more income potential.
• Do I feel simply driven to get one of them out first?

I hope this has helped you make a final decision! For me, I still have to read/skim both to see which one is closest to being finished, and I will likely choose that one to give me a needed boost of confidence.

If you have been in a bit of a downturn or you know someone trying to start or restart a book and you need to find a way to just get going again, consider joining my 30-Day Writing Challenge: Kickstart Your Book in a Month starting May 19, 2025. I’d love to help you and/or your friends start/finish a book!