When I first started writing I, Spy, it was supposed to be a standalone. I never envisioned it as part of a series. But by the time I made it to critique group, I had ideas for two sequels: one where Talia faced off with an bad ex within the Agency (Spy for a Spy) and one where Talia and Danny had to work together.

Spy for a Spy was a difficult book—and I’d had a baby in the middle of writing it. Between writing struggles and the demands of motherhood, tackling another book in the series was a bit daunting. Combine that with taking time off NaNoWriMo to launch Spy for a Spy and run a big promotion, and I was worried.

However, I did have some positives coming into this: I’d just drafted Spy Noon just a few weeks before, and it was so much fun to write! I was hoping to be able to replicate that experience.

Once I had Spy for a Spy launched, however, I was ready to buckle down and write—with just over half of November left. Amazingly, I pulled it out to get 50,000 words by the end of the month. I was a little burned out, so it took me a few weeks to come back to it and finish in December, but at least it was done.

Huh. I just realized this will be my first (of three) Nano novels to be published. Cool!

The book stats

Title: Tomorrow We Spy
Genre: Romantic suspense
Inspiration: another dream
Writing dates: November – December 2013. Editing through July 2014. Published November 2014.
Length: First draft: ~70,000 words. Currently sitting at: 84,000 words
Elevator pitch: CIA operative Talia Reynolds is off the clock, off the continent and off on her honeymoon—but when the Agency calls her new husband in for a special mission, there’s a lot more at stake than the stolen plans for the spy drone he designed. (See the full description & read the first chapter here!)

What I learned from writing this book

While I didn’t recapture the pure fun of Spy Noon, this book wasn’t quite as challenging as Spy for a Spy. For one, the writing process didn’t drag out as much. But for another, I’d learned that I can fix even a very broken, off-track novel, so I had the confidence I could fix this one..

Now, with the novel getting close to “finished,” I’ve forgotten how dreck-y it felt at first. But back in January, after I finished writing it, I described it as a “less-than-perfect-and-perhaps-not-quite-coherent manuscript, where the character arc wasn’t where I needed it to be and . . . maybe the entire main plot is sketchy at best and completely missing at worst.”

And, as I’d anticipated, my critique partners helped me whip those character arcs into shape—not the shape I’d anticipated at first, but the right one, and helped me develop better motivations for my characters’ actions, and put in a missing save-the-cat moment. I still have some perfecting to do, but I’m really excited about how it’s turned out so far!

Another really important lesson from this book: as I did my gesture crutches and deep edit, they weren’t easy (they never are)—but they weren’t as hard as with my first book in the series. Part of me worried that I’d lost my edge. While it’s important not to go too easy on yourself, I think another thing to keep in mind is that the more we edit focusing on a particular technique, the more we internalize those techniques, and the more we can (and do!) use them on a first draft. So editing probably does get easier over time, not because we’re getting worse at editing, but because we’re getting better at writing!

Editing is always necessary, but it’s nice to know you can still improve!

What do you think? What editing techniques have you seen popping up in first drafts (or at least earlier drafts than that used to)?

Photo credit: finish line by Philo Nordlund