Follow along with me as I craft the standalone, small-town, second-chance suspense romance, Messy.
For years, I’ve wanted to share the writing process with my readers. To allow you all to be along for the ride as one of my babies makes its way into the world from inception. To show you the messy first drafts, the images from which I found inspiration, and how it all gets cleaned up and polished so it can be UNLEASHED.
And finally, I have time in my life to do that.
As such…
Below, you’ll be able to open files and join me from the ground floor of my writing process.
First: When I’m at a place with a chapter to move on, I’ll post that chapter here so you can see the very first draft. I’ll also post inspirational images so you can see what’s inspired me along the way.
Second: After the book is finished, I’ll post here the entire preliminary manuscript which, after my final read-through may have significant changes from first draft chapters (particularly since this is a suspense, which has a number of plot lines, characters, twists and moving parts, so tidying up in the end will be necessary).
This version will be submitted to my editor.
Third: Once the book is returned from my editor, I’ll post the book with editorial changes and suggestions in order to show you the editorial process.
Fourth: If my graphic artist agrees, I’ll show you the design process of creating the cover.
Last: When the book is finalized, I’ll put it on sale.
Just a note, this is a long process. The initial writing of it will likely go very quickly, but a book’s journey takes time, so this will be an ongoing, months-long process.
Stay tuned to social media for announcements of when new chapters or images have been uploaded. Though, just to say, I write very quickly so it’s highly likely in the initial stages (mid-June), new chapter(s) will be posted daily.
Hope you find this interesting!
Rock On!
First Draft of Messy
(Scroll down and click on the lines with a number and a title to read the chapters, the rest will be inspirational images.)
Click to read Chapter One: 1 New
Inspiration for Dahlia House as introduced in Chapter 1.
Click to read Chapter Two: 2 Ball
Click to read Chapter Three: 3 Legacy
Inspo for grand stairwell in Dahlia House as introduced in Chapter 3.
Inspo for Maeve Cartwright’s office as introduced in Chapter 3.
The not the same colors, this is the interior vibe of Dahlia House.
Click to read Chapter Four: 4 Sword
Click to read Chapter Five: 5 Partners
Click to read Chapter Six: 6 Pressure
The restaurant “Jubilee” noted in Chapter 6 is completely stolen from one of my favorite cookbooks, titled Jubilee. Highly recommended. You can grab it here.
Click to read Chapter Seven: 7 Brace
Click to read Chapter Eight: 8 Unbalanced
Inspo for Sable’s bedroom at The Little House as noted in Chapter 8.
Click to read Chapter Nine: 9 Cake
Inspo for Nanette’s that I took from a visit to an amazing cafe in Vienna, Austria.
Click to read Chapter Ten: 10 Perennials
Inspo for Nat’s Kitchen in Chapter 10.
Click here to read Chapter Eleven: 11 Heart
Inspo for Sable’s lounge outfit and the back porch of The Little House in Chapter 11.
Click here to read Chapter Twelve: 12 Justice
Click here to read Chapter Thirteen: 13 Support
Inspo for Sable’s polkadot dress in Chapter 13.
Click here to read Chapter Fourteen: 14 Family
Click here to read Chapter Fifteen: 15 Mistake
Inspo for Nat’s look in Chapter 15 (but he’s not wearing jeans).
Click here to read Chapter Sixteen: 16 Fireworks
Please note, starting at Chapter 16, there will be explicitly adult themes described in the book. Not suitable for anyone under 18.
Inspo for Sable’s outfit at the grocery store in Chapter 16, but with leopard print pumps.
Click here to read Chapter Seventeen: 17 Centanarian
Inspo for Sable’s dress for dinner at The Depot and inspo for interior of The Depot (which is a purportedly a picture of the lounge of the Orient Express).
Click here to read Chapter Eighteen: 18 Healing
Inspiration for Sable’s sweater in Chapter 18.
Click here to read Chapter Nineteen: 19 Best
Inspiration for Maeve’s lounge outfit in Chapter 19.
Click here to read Chapter Twenty: 20 Mission
Inspiration for Sable’s Football Day outfit, and Annie’s bedclothes and Barbie Dreamhouse.
Click here to read Chapter Twenty-One: 21 Naan
Click here to read Chapter Twenty-Two: 22 Snakes
Click here to read Chapter Twenty-Three: 23 Promise
I missed it when I posted the chapter it was mentioned in, but this is Annie’s expensive dress for the tea party!
Click here to read Chapter Twenty-Four: 24 Statement
Below you will find the first very rough draft of Chapter Twenty-Five. A draft that wasn’t working for me, mostly because Nat seemed like an appendage to the scene. He didn’t seem tuned in to what Sable might be feeling, and what he’d need to do to protect her.
It was like he was just there to narrate the story, but he wasn’t involved emotionally, or integrally, to what was happening.
Further, he would never let a bellman cover Sable with an umbrella if he was there to do it.
Since this chapter felt wrong to me, I abandoned it, slept on it, and came back to it the next day to rejig what I’d written, and then complete the chapter. Which is the one titled “25 Masterstroke.”
Click here to read the unused Chapter Twenty-Five: 25
Click here to read the actual Chapter Twenty Five: 25 Masterstroke
Inspiration for Sable’s outfit in Chapter 25, along with the dessert served at dinner, and finally, a picture of New Zealand rugby player, Jesse Arthars, who I find an excellent inspiration for what I think Nat looks like.
Click to read Chapter Twenty-Six: 26 Monster
Inspiration for Striker and Brandy’s house.
Click to read the Epilogue: Epilogue
Inspiration for Maeve’s wedding bouquet:
Okay, at this point, the magic is happening.
Below you will find two versions of the first draft of the manuscript.
Version 1 is the manuscript as it will be submitted to my editor for the first round of edits. This will be easy to read, without any notes on changes.
Now, if you’ve been reading along, I’ll share that there’s not only a whole new chapter in this version, but also quite a number of other changes.
Version 2, for those of you who are following this process very closely and are interested to see how a “rough” turns into a “first draft,” this version is redlined so you can see all the fidgeting, adjusting, changes, corrections, and additions.
You’ll see preliminary proofing of errors, minor adjustments for flow, better understanding and ease of reading, small additions that I felt were missing, and additional sections and the extra chapter (please note, the redline comparison of documents gets hardcore in a number of chapters for reasons I don’t know, but I wanted to give you a visual indication of the changes between rough and first, so here we go!).
To read the First Draft Manuscript for Editorial Submission, click here: Messy Manuscript
To read the Redlined Version of Rough vs. First Draft Manuscript, click here: Messy Rough vs Submitted Manuscript Comparison
And here are the inspo pictures for Alfie and Pam’s baby shower in the new chapter!
Next up is designing the cover!
Stay tuned for more!
