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I thought I would write a series of posts about the things that I learned while writing, revising, and polishing my last novel. When I finally got around to thinking about it, I generated a list of mistakes that I hope to avoid while creating the next novel. All of those items boiled down to one thing, though: take your time.

I started writing The Shadow in Her Eyes with no plan for how long it might take. When an editor at the first conference I attended indicated that she’d like to see the first 100 pages of the manuscript, I scrambled to complete them quickly. Then I set a tight deadline for completing and revising the rest of the manuscript: three months, the amount of time she’d indicated it would take to get back to me. I made it, but the manuscript wasn’t everything I wanted it to be. I set another deadline for revision: two months, so that I would be able to pitch it at Sleuthfest 2008. I made that deadline, too, but it cost me a lot of sleep and still wasn’t happy with the manuscript. I gave myself four months to revise in time for the next conference, and so on.

In the name of finishing it in a hurry, it took me almost two years before I can call it done and move on. I’d have been better off if I’d taken my time and not worried about having it ready for any particular conference. Revision might have been simpler if I’d taken more time with the first draft, and multiple revisions might not have been necessary if I hadn’t cut corners on earlier attempts.

This, then, is what I bring to my next novel: take your time. I won’t dawdle, but I also won’t set tight deadlines for any stage of the project, nor for the project as a whole. I suspect I’ll enjoy the process more, and the product will be better, if I let it take as long as it needs.