I Finally Started My Second Novel

I spent 11 years working on the first one – here’s what I’m doing differently

Andrej Lisakov

My mom always said I was stubborn. 11 years later, I’m writing the same dang novel…so I guess I’ve proven her right. Time and time again, I’ve looked down at the draft in my hands, only to say some form of “It’s just not finished yet!” 600,000 words in, that’s still the case.

I’m still not quite satisfied. While I’m not ready to wrap it up and put it down just yet, I’ve had one of the most comforting experiences a writer can have.

I’ve gotten another idea.

One of the large reasons I’ve spent so long writing the same story is because I could never find something else that catered to my creative drive as much as the story I’m working on now. No matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t get fully invested in other stories. At the end of the day, a story about a teenage girl in foster care was the story I wanted to tell.

I endlessly researched, discussed, brainstormed, and churned out new versions of chapters and iterations of this story I so desperately wanted to tell. No matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t finish it. Year in and year out, I couldn’t wrap it up. There would always be a new thing I’d want to try: a different framework, a new…