I’m busy working on my new time travel novel, the sequel to Inherit the Past. With each book, my writing process is a bit different, but with this one it’s been really different.

First, I usually finish a first draft within six weeks. This one I started in early December, but took time off for our daughter’s holiday visit, then for a trip to Arizona, then for a second trip to Arizona, and finally for a move across country–to Arizona. Even after the move, I’ve had limited writing time because of all the things one needs to do when they move. Life takes precedence over writing.

I’m finally making good progress and hope to finish the first draft in the next two to three weeks. Then my rewriting will begin. If my editor has the time to edit over the long, hot summer, I should be able to publish it in November. That’s the plan, anyway.

The other thing that’s different is that I started out with my main cast, some backstory, and a rough idea of what would happen in the story–as I usually do–but with this one, my plot has changed dramatically. So has some of the backstory. That’s not a bad thing, mind you. As writers get into a new story, it’s not unusual to find new paths. The story grows organically from what came before, and from the backstory. With this book, the backstory isn’t just what happened in book one, it’s what happened many decades ago. That means I have to kind of write two stories–what’s happening in the present and what happened in the past. I didn’t know how complicated time travel could be.

Also, this time, instead of doing all of my planning on my computer, I’m also using post-it/sticky notes that I place on a white board. I can easily make changes by removing a sticky note, writing out ideas on a new one, and placing that note in the old spot. I suspect with my next book I’ll do what a lot of writers do–use a color-coded sticky note plotting system.

Anyway, I hope when it’s finished that this will be an entertaining story about my characters–Lotte, Sofie, Max, Ryan, and Tobias. If you haven’t met them yet, you can in Inherit the Past.

Oh, and by the way, I’m searching for a good title for this sequel. The working title is The Tanglewood Grotto, but maybe someone has some better ideas for the title.