In the category of unsolicited advice…follow the joy. Your Christmas book is good because you clearly loved writing it. That shows in the end product and you not loving Madison’s story will show (I haven’t read your books but I think it’s a universal writing truth). I get the financial pressure and that’s very real and menacing…AND you need to take care of your mental health first and foremost. Forcing yourself to write something you’re not connecting with can only end in more burnout. Something will turn up. You know, like the 7000 words of story that made your face light up 😉
As a writer who’s been at this for over 13 years, I want to point out that after seeing you try several times to get in this book….it might be time to move on. Some characters don’t want books, at least not at the time you want them. She may come back at some point in your career and say she’s ready. I know you write in series and it makes it hard to move on, but maybe there’s another character in the story just waiting to tell their story. The one thing I’ve learned and sounds crazy to most people….characters won’t talk if they aren’t ready.
my unsolicited two cents: my most recent book was the hardest thing I've ever written. It was a slog the entire way through. I kept waiting for a breakthrough moment when it would get easier, and it just...didn't. It was the first time I ever questioned if I even wanted to write anymore - that's how much I hated working on it 😭 *but* pushing through and finishing it ended up being the most rewarding and creatively fulfilling thing I've done in my career so far. So if you decide to keep working on it, just wanted to throw it out there that it's completely possible to finish a book even if it gives you trouble all the way through, and you're definitely not alone in randomly having one book being much harder to work on than any of your previous ones.
I totally feel you, Sarah. I have been struggling with my writing a lot lately. I feel that I have found myself in a better place with my writing now, but still I'm struggling with a good writing routine
I think that all of you guys need to remember that she is literally paying rent and feeding a puppy now. How is she supposed to abandon a book that she knows will sell? Sure maybe writing a good book or book that she’s enthusiastic about will be better but she is looking for page reads. And that’s not a bad thing and she’s trying to be a businesswoman. The easy thing would be to shelf this book and go onto another one obviously. Easier said than done when you don’t have groceries to eat.
Absolutely! And I am not trying to downplay that. I just know from personal experience that trying to force myself to do something that I simply just can't will only result in me not being able to do the thing at all and becoming even more burnt out. Publishing a less popular book is better than publishing none. Sometimes mental health has to come first. The rest will sort itself out.
This advice of writing your joy is like someone telling me, just take the day off whenever you're not feeling your job. If it's a hobby, go ahead and write your joy. If it's a business, it's terrible advice and the kind of advice that separates successful people from the not so successful. I think it's coddling and unhelpful, especially for someone whose been pretty business smart in all the years I've been watching this channel. I know she loves Sarra Cannon but look at how well this follow your joy 100% of the time writing advice is doing to her writing career. Sometimes you have to push through something you hate so you can get to the other side where you can "write your joy". Because this is a series finale, my advice would be take a month off RU-vid, off Fiverr (if financially possible), off Korean dramas and K-pop time sucks and distractions, find books in the genre I'm writing and read those while writing because it is more likely to feed your creativity than most things. Just push through it and get it done. Also, she might be underestimating how much Fiverr is draining her. I used to beta read on there for a few years and I had to stop. I had no desire to write because my brain was so exhausted from reading mostly bad writing. There were some absolute gems but a lot of it was just...painful.
Unfortunately I was also part of the kpop scene in my earlier years and it is so draining, time wise and financially. It’s an addiction and in my experience, only meeting my husband was able to fill the lonely hole that kpop had filled. So I agree, only a break from those hobbies is probably going to give her the headspace to write it. My life is so much better without kpop and the fix that it did for me. But it takes time to realize it.
@@tropistan7735 hmm I agree with the fiverr thing but not the writing what gives you joy thing. I think that’s a really unhealthy mindset that exists in all work environments and that needs to be eradicated. Yes work can be hard and boring and you might not want to do it and that’s normal (and you should try to do it anyway) but if something is making you depressed and full of anxiety, it’s not good for you.
It's very tempting to give up on a project you're working on in favour of one you're really enjoying writing. I know from experience. Given your current financial situation, my advice would be to stick with it but don't put pressure on yourself to write it sequentially anymore. Pick a scene, any scene from your project that seems to be calling to you the most and write that. Doesn't matter if its chapter 4 or chapter 24! If it excites you, then start there and hopefully that will spark your interest again. That way at least you are still progressing your project and leaving the tricky scenes/chapters until you're fully ready to face them. Hope this helps. But if you are someone who has to write a book sequentially then please ignore haha.
Remember to be kind to yourself Sarah, you have had a rough year and are ploughing through grief along with burnout. P.S. I've just bought Christmas As We Know It. Merry Christmas to you and your loved ones. x
As a writer, when I go through hard times, I try to remember that I chose this path because I like it. I love writing and except for the marketing and admin tasks an indie author has to go through, writing should be fun. Yes at the end of the day it's work and it's there to pay the bills but it still should bring me joy as it always did. It's hard to write an entire book and even harder when you don't enjoy it. Financially, continuing this book might not be wise either. Maybe it'll dim your love for writing and you'll be prejudiced for all your next books. If not now, perhaps you'll give up the book when too much time was already invested in it. And as a reader of your books, I wish for you to be happy writing your books. But in the end, it's all your choice. All of what I said is somethings that could happen, not that will. No matter what you choose, I'll keep supporting you. P.s. I got the high school musical reference, I was singing with you, haha.
Dear Sarah, the question to "Can I not write this book?" is: YES! If everything about writing it keeps feeling that you have to force yourself doing it...if it was my book I think I would stop. And if there is another book that you already started and that you are excited about you could work on that and publish it. Get the joy back for your writing and then after a while see if Madison is after all that time working. And if not, maybe your last book should be another character in that series. Maybe Madison is just not it. You mentioned something that could make it hard for you is that Madison is surrounded by friends. Sometimes even then one can feel pretty lonely and pressure from home or something like that can take a lot of you. Whatever you decide to do it will be the right choice. And the people who love your books will read whatever you will publish next
I felt everything you just said. I’m currently trying to edit 8 books I wrote back in 2019 and I’m not having fun with it. It’s likely I’m not connected to the stories or the characters anymore. That’s something I really need to think about. I hope you figure it out. I have enjoyed binging all your content even if I’m not a YA romance reader. You give me a little joy that I’ve been struggle to find for years.
Girl I’m in the same boat as you, this year was a really really rough for me. I went through it all and so I decided with a little bit of push and pull to take a break from writing because nothing was working out. My story seemed so dry and i didn’t know why. I had planned this book out and everything. I still don’t know what to do but my one advice is to go back where you started. Read your first book in the series up until the last one u published and see where ur current book isn’t working out
Or write something else that has been drawing your attention in. That’s what I’ve been doing and it’s actually helped me connect with writing again while finally being able to live without any added pressure
I know you didn't ask for advice and I get the money angle but pushing yourself through a book you don't want/like writing isn't gonna help you. Focus and pivot onto a different book whether that be the Christmas one or something else entirely you could be burned out on your series and need to cleanse the palette as it were before, maybe, coming back to it later on. Stopping now doesn't mean never picking it back up, just gotta look after you too! ❤
Watching you with an outside perspective and all that you’ve been going through for the last couple of months, I just want to say PLEASE stop writing Madison’s book. I know you promised you’d release it, and yes people will be disappointed and maybe even angry, but you can’t keep pushing yourself through the hell you’re obviously experiencing. I personally think it would probably be much better for you AND your career if you start something new that you’re excited about. Writing a book that you’re not at all excited about or connected to is only going to make you burn out more which is going to result in less books published. It is ok to switch gears, it is ok to break promises in the name of your mental health. Just please take care of yourself🫶
Hey Sarah, I am normally a lurker who has enjoyed your channel since you were publishing, the love in Fenton county series and you are part of the reason I’m now writing romance, though mine is adult lesbian romance. I am about 3/4 of the way into the video and I’m just gonna give my two cents as a writer. You don’t need to write this book at least not right now write something that you’re excited about I understand that you have to make money believe me I understand that, but like others have said if you’re not excited, it’s gonna show in the book I’m not saying you only have to work on something when you’re excited but to see you’re struggling this much… Well, I’m a fan of yours and I want you to be happy with what you’re working on and you’re very clearly not right now my advice is to take a break or skip her book altogether do a different one if she’s an established character (I haven’t read the series yet) then maybe the reason you’re not connecting with her is because she’s so established that she doesn’t really need a book. Maybe you need to move to someone else and put her on the back burner for a little bit if all of these are standalone. The good news is they can go in any order that you want, now if they go by the most likely to list, you might have a slight problem but you can always come up with a reason in the book that they skipped over Madison‘s name or you can mention her plot line without actually having her book, it can just be in the background. Anyway, I don’t know if any of this helped but I’m looking forward to your next update. Good luck!
Hmm. I'll preface this by saying I do not know your whole plight with this book, nor do I believe I'm right when I am giving this unsolicited suggestion or reason. ^^ I'm just giving another viewpoint of what may be the issue and maybe some solutions to said issue. Maybe the problem with Madison's book is because you can't relate to her in any way. You've approached so many other type of characters who had some relation to your personality, but because Madison is someone you can't truly relate to, it's hard to connect with this book. Maybe finding a connection with Madison as a character (like writing small childhood stories about her or writing small snippets of her personality) would get you interested in the character, and that way getting back into her head wouldn't be as bad. Maybe the direction of the character you're forcing her into because you assume her character is one way, she's wanting to be looked at another way. In example: when she has a secret motivation that could subsequently alter her whole person once she commits to a love interest, at the end of the road she could have one of the best character redemption/arcs of the series. With one of my characters I have, I had to put her book away because I couldn't understand her as a character. I knew what should happen in the world that was created, however, her character did not fit the story itself. So I had to release her and let her tell me who she was so she could finally fit the story points. And so far it's worked out. I pray that you can find your love for this book again or find another project that truly makes you happy and can write very fast so it wouldn't hinder your salary any longer.
I think you hit it on the head when you said “Madison is already an established character.” I think that’s what’s tripping you up because you have to mess up her life first before you can give her the HEA.
