Writing Wednesdays: Let's talk about how I'm working on SEVEN books this year...

It was a very strange moment when I realised I was going to be working on seven different books this year.

SEVEN.

I mean, seven is a lot. And in one year?! Before The Beach House was published in May, I hadn't published a new book in five years... now suddenly I'm working on seven at once? 

Totting it all up earlier this year - when it was a mere six books - paralysed me with fear at first (because, shit, that's a lot of books, and I have a regular day job, and how is this all going to work?!)

However, back around July, when I was asked to write a new book for World Book Day (The Kissing Booth: Road Trip - which you can read more about right here!) and realised that I'd be working on seven books - and knowing how much work I'd done already - I felt nothing but empowered and excited.

(PS. This post contains some affiliate links!)

All seven of these books are in completely different stages. 

I'll go into a bit more detail about each one in a second, but to generalise: two of them are short stories/novellas, one was my Christmas book, and the rest are all full novels. 

And again - I hadn't published anything in five years until May this year. I've been travelling for work and had one family holiday (where, okay, I ended up working) and I've, ya know, got my actual job to go to every weekday. I've started looking for houses. I'm trying to see my friends and family some weekends. How in the hell this has snuck up on me all in one go is beyond me.

But you guys know me. I'm nothing if not a sucker for throwing myself in the deep and and doing EVERYTHING. 

So let's dive in and talk about these seven books!

(And considering I already had four published previously, we'll start the list with book number five.)

Book #5 - The Beach House (a novella to The Kissing Booth)

For those who aren't aware, The Beach House is my companion novella to The Kissing Booth. It's not a sequel, and takes place during the summer of TKB before Noah heads off to college. I originally posted it on Wattpad in 2011 and this year saw it traditionally published, out in the world officially as an ebook!

It was published on May 11th and honestly, I'd not looked at it in over eight years, since first posting it on Wattpad, so this year meant doing a couple of rounds of edits on it. But it's done! And now published! And just like that, I'm back in the game!

Book #6 - It Won't Be Christmas Without You

Next up: my debut adult book! I wrote this over December 2017/January 2018 and this year saw me doing some edits based on notes from my lovely new editor at Harper Collins.

This one and it was a super fun project to work on. Actually, it's also worth pointing out that this year was also when my agent closed the publication deal, the ebook came out at the end of August (grab a copy for your Kindle here) and the paperback comes out on October 31st - not long to go now! The main characters are twenty-somethings, which is the first time I've really written anything classed as 'adult' fiction, and actually, I'm really proud of it!

Book #7 - The Kissing Booth 2: Going the Distance

Ohhhhh, editing. I don't know why I always struggle with editing. There's that quote about writing drunk, editing sober, but honestly, I always feel like it has to be the other way around for me. Especially when it's something like The Kissing Booth 2... A sequel people have been asking me for for eight years. A series with a hit Netflix movie. So like, no big deal. God, why is editing such a struggle?

Anyway - all the edits on this have been done this year (whoohoo!) and the next step will be waiting for a copy of the paperback to show up... It's being published in January 2020 so pre-order your copy now!

Book #8 - The Kissing Booth: Road Trip for World Book Day!

Da-da-da-daaa! It's been seven years since The Kissing Booth was first published and now three more books in the series come along at once! This short story following Elle, Lee and Noah over spring break will be out on March 5th 2020. You can find out more about it right here, or pre-order the Kindle version here. I got told about this project by my editor around July time, so have written and edited the entire thing this summer. 

Book #9 - A new twenty-something book!

After trying my hand at adult fiction featuring twenty-somethings in my Christmas book, and knowing it was the sort of genre I was looking to read lately, I first started and worked on this book in 2018 (spending a veeeerrry long time just working on the synopsis for it with my agents, because I'm terrible at that), and finally finished it on Valentine's Day this year. The latest on this? I'm currently powering through edits on the last third of the book before passing it back over to my agent for her to work her magic and do what she does best...

Book #9 - A new teen romance!

I know I said I hate editing and it's hard work and that I wanted to start writing adult books but The Kissing Booth just put me in such a big YA rom-com mood. I've actually plotted this story out (pretty much) and know where it's going to go, and have made a start on actually writing.

I've agreed to get a first draft to my editor mid-November. Which is... soon. So. No biggie.

Book #10 - YET ANOTHER twenty-something book!

Look. Look. I just really want to read about twenty-somethings trying to get their shit together, okay? And I had the first couple of chapters building up in my head so I had to make a start on this one! I'm hoping to write 45,000 words of it this year, and finish it early next year. Guess we'll see how that goes...!



And that takes me to seven books this year! Can you believe? 

I'm also in awe of the fact that we managed to actually publish two of them already this year - and that another three will definitely be published. 

Realising how many books I was working on was, as I said, terrifying - but knowing how far I've come with them all this year and how I'm actually succeeding at juggling seven different book projects alongside my job and, ya know, life (and the horrific amounts of fanfic I write...) I feel so empowered, and like I could do anything.

Hey, maybe next year we'll make it eight books!