When you’re looking for tips for writing the first draft of your book, you might not think of all the technical pieces. But they can be just as important as mindset (Related: Stop “Aspiring” to Be a Writer Blog Post) and writing craft tips! At the very least, you definitely don’t want to neglect them.

You want writing to be as easy as possible, right?

If you do (I know you do), you’re gonna want to check out this list.

Have you ever struggled with starting your book? Maybe you have an idea, but you just can’t seem to actually sit down and get words on the page. Or maybe you’ve written a little bit, but you’re having trouble getting back into it.

This video is for you!

In this week’s video, I’ll give you ideas for developing your pre-writing routine so you can get in the right mindset — and once your mindset is right, the writing will come a whole lot easier!

Watch below!

That’s right —The Prophecy of the Codex, the second book in the Codex series, is live TODAY!

You can order the ebook here or grab the paperback!

So to celebrate, I thought I’d show you some beautiful inspiration pics and give you the synopsis in images and captions. I even included some snippets from the book! Always feel free to refer back here while you’re reading the book to really immerse yourself in the story.

Enjoy!

Happy Thursday!

Are you participating in NaNoWriMo this year? (If you’re not familiar with it, November is National Novel Writing Month, or NaNoWriMo, where thousands of writers around the world attempt to write a novel in the month of November!) If you are, you may be in the midst of Preptober! (Get it? Prep + October?) Well, to get you in the writing mood before November 1st, I’ve got something really fun (and helpful) for you!

This weekend, starting tomorrow, I’m doing a Writing Webinar Blitz: three live webinars in three days. 😱 It’s gonna be so crazy, but with me moving next week (check out that announcement here), I wanted to get them out to you!

Check them out!

One of my favorite parts about working on a new book is creating a book playlist.

Come on — I can’t be the only one who does this.

Sometimes books come so quickly (I wrote a book this summer in like 11 days, after all) that I don’t have the time to create a book playlist, but when I work on the first draft for a while, I have so much fun curating a list of songs that fit the book perfectly! It also helps me think about the book and want to get back to writing when I listen to it. I’ve gotta be sneaky with myself at times. 😏

Sometimes a particular song will speak to me during a scene, and I can actually hear the song playing while the scene is happening in my head. It’s so much fun!

Other times, I feel like the lyrics or melody really connect with the book either overall or as a particular theme in the book.

Either way, the songs on my playlist are specially chosen to fit with The Prophecy of the Codex (which comes out in just ONE WEEK, by the way!).

Ready?

So you've written a book.

You’ve worked hard on your book. You’ve plotted, planned, and written for days, months, even years to get your story onto the page. And you have an entire book to show for it! That’s amazing!

So what’s next?

Before you do anything else, celebrate! Most people haven’t written a book, but you have. Congratulations! Take a moment to celebrate your achievement.

But after that, you need a plan.

How do you know what’s next? What steps will get you from first draft to finished?

I’ve got you covered.

That’s right! We’re only two weeks away from the launch of The Prophecy of the Codex, book 2 in the Codex series.

So to celebrate, I thought I’d give you a really fun excerpt. It’s a bit lengthy, but it’s about Holun (who you met in book 1, The Secret of the Codex) and Yatzil (who we meet in book 2). And it’s SO FUN. I love these two so much.

Enjoy!

You’ve finished your book. Congratulations! That’s amazing! CELEBRATE!

But as you’ve probably discovered, you’re not done. There are a few steps between finishing the first draft and publishing a book, especially if you’re self-publishing. So what should you do? How do you know what to do next? What step should come first, second, even fifth?

It’s natural to have a ton of questions. Let’s go down the list.