There are a lot of things nobody told me about writing a middle
grade series. NOT that I would have passed on the opportunity if I’d known, but
sometimes, it’s good to know what you’re getting into!
At first, things moved at the normal pace of publishing.
(Think: glacier.) Shortly after the contract, the editor who acquired my book
and two sequels retired. It took several months for the publisher to assign me
a new editor, and I had plenty of time to write the second book and even revise
it a couple times – all while working the day job.
When my new editor sent me her revise letter last spring, we
had several intense weeks, but still managed to turn the book in for
copy-editing on time at the end of June. Since I’d already written the second
book, I had the opportunity to tweak details in the first book to set things up
for #2. Summer vacation arrived; I was off school and spent my time leisurely
revising Book 2 and pondering Book 3. I turned in the second book in August and
started working on the third, naively believing I would get it done before I
needed to look at #2 again.
That didn’t happen. I went back to work in September and was
almost immediately hit with: a) the
galleys of Book 1 for review and b)
an edit letter for Book 2. I’d only made it halfway through Book 3 – and was
struggling with it – when suddenly I had to find time to work on three books
simultaneously, while still keeping up with my full time teaching job.
There may have been a small panic attack at this point.
Unlike Jax, my main character, I did NOT have an extra, secret day of the week
to get this done!
I had to parcel out my time selectively. Book 3, which isn’t
due to my editor until next April, was the first thing I cut from my schedule.
I wasn’t going to have the luxury of completing it before revising Book 2. I closed
that document on my desk top.
That was a big thing for me.
Then I took on the proof-reading. Reading your own work
printed up all pretty is a lot more fun than revising. I read the galleys,
beginning to end, and laid them aside.
Next, I accepted that Book 2 needed a new first chapter
based on my editor’s excellent notes. I wrote it and
revised/polished/revised/polished until it looked halfway decent.
Then I returned to the galleys of Book 1, read completely
through them a second time and MAILED THEM BACK. That’s it. My work on the
first book is done.
Now I’m digging into the other revisions for Book 2, having
cleared my slate of everything else but the day job. (Let’s not even talk about
the mental gear switching that takes place when I go to work every day and have
to think about teaching instead of these books!) I’m trying not to worry about
next spring, when I’ll need to finish writing Book 3 while gearing up for
promotions on Book 1.
If my publisher picks up their option for two more books,
this super-fast treadmill of multiple, overlapping projects will continue into
the foreseeable future. (To quote George Jetson: “Jane, stop this crazy thing!”)
