Moving on to a New Novel Outline

I'm happy to say that tomorrow (technically later today at this hour), I should be finished up with writing the outline for the novel I'm referring to here only as Sarah. I still have four days left of my 30-day plan to clean that outline up, fill in any holes, etc., so it's not quite complete - I'm in the home stretch though.

That means it's also time to start thinking about the next novel outline (remember: I outlined Sarah using the plan in First Draft in 30 Days and will be outlining another book using the plan from Book in a Month as a means of comparing the programs side by side).

Right now I'm torn. I was originally planning to work on the book I'm referring to here as Fairy Tale for now, but I'm not so sure anymore. That's probably the book I know the least about. Yet, it's the most similar to the outline I'm finishing up, making it better for comparison purposes.

The other option I'm considering is moving on with 3 Weeks - one of the two lighter books planned. This is the one I'm leaning to right now, because I was thinking a lot about it yesterday - I had a strike of inspiration, and came up with a slightly different plan for the book's style that I'm really looking forward to playing with.

My concern is that both of these options involve multiple stories in some way (and I don't mean subplots), so I'm not sure how well they'll adapt to the novel outline process. I'm sure I can make it work. Right now I'm leaning towards 3 Weeks, but I'll confirm that probably in about a week (maybe two) when I'm ready to move on with the next outline (taking some time after this week to finish up an e-book first). I think that one is going to be both depressing and a hell of a lot of fun to write, and I find that possibility irresistible.

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Jennifer Mattern is a professional blogger, freelance business writer, consultant, and indie author. She runs numerous websites & blogs including All Freelance Writing, Freelance Writing Pros, NakedPR, and Kiss My Biz.

Jenn has 25 years' experience as a professional writer and editor and over 20 years' experience in marketing and PR (working heavily in digital PR, online marketing, social media, SEO, new media, and thought leadership publication). She also has 19 years' professional blogging and web publishing experience (including web development) and around 18 years of experience as an indie author / publisher.

Jenn also writes fiction under multiple pen names and is an Active member of the Horror Writers Association.

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