Today may be my day off but I’m actually working on this book. I feel that I need an extra edge by giving myself time specifically to write. At this point, I’m only writing between times in my life where I can sit down and concentrate and believe it or not, it isn’t very often.
Someone asked me the other day if it’s easier to write a book since I’ve already done it. While I don’t remember my exact answer, with the benefit of time to think about it, I can say that it’s definitely not easier (at least, not yet). My motivation for book two is not the same as Hanging Upside Down. With my first book, I had a feeling that I needed to get the story out of me so there were nights that whole chapters were being poured out into those pages. With book two, its different because I feel more strategic. I know that I want to get this book done by the end of the year so that edits can start. Then if edits start by a particular time then I can pick a release date. I never had to really worry about these things with the first book because I was learning as I was going.
In any case, my projected day has always been 2016. I don’t know when because without the first draft being done, everything is pretty much up in the air. The one thing for sure is that I’ve kept pushing myself to get this done. A week off will go a long way to making sure that I meet my goals. Sure, it is vacation from my full time job, but in many ways I still have to work. I still need to put in the time to make this work for me.
Today I decided to do something different. I’m writing the ending of book two because I need to lay out my end point. I need to remind myself that they’re plot lines that need to be wrapped up and I also need to set myself up for book three. Just like the last time I wrote a book, I knew how it was going to end. This time around, I just decided to write it out.
The other thing that makes book two a little tougher for me is the way I’m writing it. I want the reader to have a particular experience with this book and requires me to write this story in a way that I’m not used to. In addition to that, I’ve not been writing the book linearly as you may have noticed with my writing of the ending now.
I can’t really explain why I’m writing this way. I can only say that “easier” is relative. But since every story has an ending, this should help with my beginning.
Anthony Otero 
Funny that you should post this today. I just started reading It’s A Long Story, Willie Nelson’s memoir. He begins the book by pointing out a poem by T.S. Eliot which includes the first line “In my beginning is my end” and concludes with “In my end is my beginning.” Willie’s book starts at the present time and goes back to his roots and the start of his career. So you aren’t the only one doing things non linearly. It’s a good thing. It’s tough when you haven’t written that way in the past, but once you get it down, it’s a good thing. I have trouble with it, too but I really need to stop writing linearly to give my writing more depth and to make it more interesting.
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