Welcome to the SNOB - Second Novel Ominipresent Blues. Whether you’re under contract or trying to snag another deal, you’re a professional now, with the pressures of a published novelist compounded with the still-present nagging self-doubt of the noobie. How to deal?

Today’s guest is Liz Lawson, who has been writing for most of her life in one way or another. She has her Masters in Communications with a Concentration in Rhetoric from Villanova University, and has written for a variety of publications including PASTE MAGAZINE. Her debut novel, The Lucky Ones, releases on April 7.

Is it hard to leave behind the first novel and focus on the second?

Absolutely. One of the hardest things about the dreaded Second Book, for me, has been getting the voices from my debut out of my head and trying to figure out entirely new characters, who are still (obviously) coming from your own brain. 

At what point do you start diverting your energies from promoting your debut and writing / polishing / editing your second?

I don’t know! Hahaha. Honestly though, I think this is one of the hardest things as a debut--you’re trying to promote this book that has been your life for so many years, while simultaneously trying to create something entirely new that’s not too different from your debut (because: branding) but also isn’t too similar (because: boring). It’s a serious tight-rope walk. That all said, I feel like after your debut comes out is probably a good time to shift focus? I think that’s one of the benefits of working on your second book with the same editor as your first—my debut releases April 7th, and my first draft of my second book is due to my editor March 1st, so it’ll give me at least a few weeks leading up to launch to concentrate on The Lucky Ones, before diving back into revisions on In Silent Seas We Drown.

Your first book landed an agent and an editor, and hopefully some fans. Who are you writing the second one for? Them, or yourself?

Woof. Both? I think? I’m definitely writing another book that’s in a similar vein as my debut—dark, emotional, contemporary—because of branding, etc. But, I’m trying to push it more into thriller territory for my own enjoyment.

Is there a new balance of time management to address once you’re a professional author?

Ahh time management, aka the thing I am Not Very Good At (at all). Absolutely. Between my day job (I work as a music supervisor in TV so it’s pretty intense), my husband, my kid (who wasn’t around for a large part of when I was writing my debut), and just… life, I’m being forced to actually get good (or at least, better) at it for the first time in my life. I actually work well with deadlines, though, so it’s sort of nice to write with intent—knowing that at the end of the book there are people who are looking forward to reading it, who will help me mold it into something (hopefully) amazing.

What did you do differently the second time around, with the perspective of a published author?

The biggest thing I’m doing this time around is actually using a calendar to plan out my timeline . My debut was a literal MESS in terms of when things happened in real time, and I write contemporary, so it had to work in the real world. I had to go through and fix it all. It was an eye-opening experience for sure. So, this time, I have decided I refuse to let that happen to me again! I’m using a real world calendar and mapping events out on it, like I imagine a real Published Author™ would.