Desperate to Write (My Writing Journey, Part 11)

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When I finished my first novel I celebrated with dinner at Applebees, coffee at Starbucks and a stack of new novels at my local Christian bookstore. It was a great feeling . . . for about a day. Then the panic set in. I had worked on this particular book for years. I lived and breathed those characters. They were a part of me. To not share time with them was the strangest feeling in the world. I had to be writing! But I didn't have anything to write.

In a matter of days I was desperate. I'd purchased a journal to write new ideas in, I had a thick folder of idea snippets, but the whole coming-up-with-a-novel-idea was new to me. Since my first novel was written over a period of years it developed naturally over time. I had no system for plotting a story.

I prayed. I pleaded. I tried to trust God. But it wasn't easy. I didn't want to be a one book gal. I knew there was more in me to write, but I just hadn't found it yet.

Then I picked up a copy of James Scott Bell's Plot & Structure.

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This week's CFBA blog tour is for Auralia's Colors by Jeffrey Overstreet. A friend of mine who's an avid fantasy reader loved it. It looks tremendous to me, but I haven't yet had a chance to read it.