This post was originally published at Novelicious.com and is now at WritingTipsOasis.com. WritingTipsOasis.com acquired Novelicious.com in June 2022.
You can listen to Anna’s podcast novel on her website www.annabellwrites.com and follow her on twitter @annabell_writes
UNDER PRESSURE 
When I first started writing I sat down at my laptop and started to write what I thought was a great story and a book I’d like to read. Then once my manuscript was finished I thought I might send it off to some publishers and agents. It was about then I realised that it needed to be a bit more than a nice story.
Suddenly there were other things to consider; who was my target audience? What else was like it on the market? Would it sell? All things that had never crossed my mind when I started writing my nice little story.
I’m currently writing a new book but it’s taking me three times as long to write it. I keep getting freaked out and panicked. I’m 20,000 words in and I’m wondering if people will want to read it; whether agents will think it will sell, and whether it’s original enough. It means that for every thousand words I write, I probably spend just as long thinking maybe I should write something else.
The problem with being unpublished and unrepresented is that I can’t check it with anyone. I have to keep the idea close to my chest in case it is the brilliant idea I think it is, then I can’t run the risk of someone else writing it instead. I can’t sub my new novel until I finish it. It means I could potentially write 80-100,000 words again on a novel which no one might want to read.
As well as writing my work in progress novel, I’m also podcasting a novel as I write it. With no expectation of publishing An American Wedding, it means that I don’t over think too much about it when I write it. I sit down every other week, and usually within an evening after work I write my 3,500 word chapter. I enjoy writing it and it just comes out.
Yet when I go to write the work in progress I sit there staring blank and scared and doubting every paragraph. I’ve almost abandoned it twice now to write other novels in a panic that my work in progress isn’t going to be saleable. I’ve got to stop worrying about what’s going to happen after I finish the book, as if I don’t stop worrying there isn’t going to be a finished book anyway.
I guess I should learn to write under pressure. After all, I imagine that if you are a published author you have expectations you’ve got to live up to. Your next book has to be just as good or if not better than your last. Which means whether I get published or not, I’m always going to be writing under pressure – I best get used to it!