book two unfolds, blissful, all mine.
It’s cheesy (haha), but I think of my book’s progress like the Domino’s pizza tracker.
Someone must have said this before, but having recently turned in my copyedits (oh, the harrowing ordeal of having someone point out how many times you said “just” in your book), I think I’m solidly in the “Bake” section. Getting the deal was “Order Placed” and dev edits were “Prep” which leaves copyedits and pass pages as the “Quality Check.” In a few months, the book will be boxed up and delivered. None of you ordered this pizza, but I hope you like it anyways.
I’ve gone down this tangent to say a few things. That I hope you consume my book, digest it, order more. That it’s a multi-stage process that crawls along while you’re in it and hungry but in retrospect is pretty fast (pizza? Delivered right to my door?). That I’m clearly grasping at straws for newsletter content. And that soon I am turning to book two.
Writing the sequel to AN UNLIKELY COVEN seven months before the first book even comes out is assuming the customer wants another pizza before you’ve even delivered the first. It is a feat of pure hubris. But, my publisher was silly enough to sign me for three books (ha ha again) and I’d like to release them one a year, which means book two needs to be written now.
I’m glad for it. I’m glad I’ll write it without a sense of how this entire series is going to land. I’m glad I’ll write it alone, in the kitchen, carefully assembling my ingredients, not knowing who I’m even making the pizza for besides me and the love of the game. I’m glad I started figuring out book two before we were done with book one, so that I could go in and weave in some plot points or minor details that will make the series feel like a more cohesive whole.
I’m glad I’ll write it before the fear gets me.
Probably.
Anyways, I am thinking of this extra because my publisher (Orbit Books US) recently ran a giveaway with a bunch of ARCs, and I was among them (even though I don’t have ARCs yet, I have plain bound manuscripts) and I was in the company of some incredible authors, and despite that, people commented asking for my book. You spend a lot of your querying life, your on-submission life, giving your book to other people. Throwing it at them and saying “you want to read this.” This was maybe the first moment where I really felt like people were saying “I want to read this” with no prompting on my end, no special effort, no meticulously written pitch sent, unannounced, into your inbox. I could let myself die of anticipation. Trepidation. But, right around now is also the greatest moment of my writing career, where anything is still possible. Where people love the concept. Where no one knows enough to hate the things I do. Where book two unfolds, blissful, all mine.
All the best,
Kvita
KVITA 