Michael Leask

I am pleased to let everyone know that I have completed the first draft of my fourth novel, A Way Home. I am planning this story as a trilogy, and your support is greatly appreciated. I was going to write the whole trilogy, edit it, and try to find a literary agent/publisher to get it to markets for the entire tale. Still, as I was writing these last few chapters, it felt like a natural conclusion for the first book and a chance to recuperate before I work on the next part of the story.

Writing this story is exciting, but there comes a time (and I now know why authors take time to publish sequels) when burnout occurs from working on the same project. I have been working on this story for a couple of years. I started in a class in my Creative Writing Certificate course. I produced different versions of the same story while I had other stories that I yearned to complete and share with you. Taking a break from AWH and completing these other stories allows me time to recuperate and consider new possibilities with the direction of AWH.

Now that I’ve mentioned my following goals, what are my next steps? My first draft is complete! I celebrated a bit with my wife. Now I wait. My wife is the first person who reads all of my work. She works full-time with Nova Scotia Health, so it might take her a month to finish reading and making notes for the first draft. That’s good for me. Stephen King recommends that once you complete your book, you put it away for a month so you can return to it with fresh eyes. This way, the writer can see what needs to be improved, what’s missing, or what doesn’t work for the flow of the story or the development of characters.

Meanwhile, as I wait for the discussion of the first draft, I have these blogs to write for April, and I will be starting the exciting task of editing the second edition of my first novel, Ryder on the Pass. I mentioned my first book in a previous blog, and it gives me great pleasure to know I am now working on improving it to re-publish it.

Once that is complete, I will work on the second draft of AWH, adding the sensory details I missed and cleaning up the story. Then, I will move on to the third draft, which will do the same editing but focus on cutting unnecessary words. The sentences will flow better, making for a positive reader experience. Then, I will still submit A Way Home Book 1 to a literary agent/publisher and continue to work on Books 2 and 3. There’s still lots of work ahead, but fingers crossed!