Two Dogs Book 3 today! Plus: just keep writing.

Hi! The third book in the Two Dogs in a Trench Coat series, Two Dogs in a Trench Coat Go on a Class Trip, is available now! Waldo and Sassy go on their very first field trip, and they end up accidentally leading a tour of their own in the City Museum.

Kids always ask where I get my ideas from, and here's where this one came from: when my editor and I were brainstorming what the third book might be about, I asked illustrator Colin Jack if there was anything in particular he wanted to draw, and he said, "I'd love to draw the dogs chewing on a huge dinosaur skeleton." And the whole plot grew from that.

The museum the dogs visit is one where there's a little bit of everything, and last year my kids and I found a similar little-bit-of-everything museum I could use for inspiration: the Woodman Museum in Dover, NH. If you're in New England and want to visit a museum with taxidermy, guns, rocks, creepy dolls, and more, the Woodman Museum is for you! There's also a good taco place down the street, and Eli got a great haircut the afternoon we were there.

Be sure to check out the Two Dogs in a Trench Coat series page to start reading the books or to hear snippets from the (fantastic!) audiobooks. You can find buy links for all of my books on my website.

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Amazing author Ibi Zoboi tweeted this this morning, and oh wow is it ever true. Because yes, I'm promoting Two Dogs 3, and also The Great Indoors (and also Two Dogs 4 which got an official cover last week!), but I'm also working on revisions for books that are under contract and for books that are not. Right now I'm working on a revision of a middle grade novel that I first wrote four years ago. It was okay, but not great, and didn't get any editor interest. At the time that made me sad, but I'm glad for it now, because I'm a better writer now and know how to make it better. 

I've been doing a lot of preliminary work. Plot tends to be my weakest writer tool, so I've been plotting and graphing and taking scene notes to do as much plot work as possible ahead of time, since I've learned that diving in and writing in a vaguely forward direction doesn't lead to a well-plotted novel (for me). At some point last week, though, it felt like I was stuck in a hole made entirely of 3x5 notecards. I had to finally put the words on the page, and I had to do it THAT DAY (last Thursday) or else I'd be in a pre-word purgatory for the rest of my life. 

This revision is a major rewrite, and therefore is daunting, and if I delayed the actual writing any longer, I'd be able to delay it forever.

So I sat down and started writing, and guess what? In the VERY FIRST SENTENCE, I suddenly realized something revelatory and huge about my main character that affected the entire plot and would provide the climax of the book. I don't think I would have figured it out if I hadn't actually started writing. 

So yes, I know that there are people who steadfastly adhere to planning all the writing in advance, and if that works for you, terrific. But if you're a pantser (that is, someone who writes by the seat of your pants), don't be plot-shamed by the plotters! There is no one best way to write a book. The only best way is the best way for you, as long as that results in an actual manuscript. I am endlessly fascinated by other authors' processes, because they're all so different, and some are different enough to be nearly opposite. And still it all results in a book! 

And I'll also say that if you've been delaying the actual writing, because you think you have to do more work first, maybe try doing some writing? Maybe not. Given what I just said, it's up to you to figure out what your process is. But if you're ITCHING to write, and feel like you have to make a notecard for every scene and color-code the characters in that scene and then magnet each scene notecard to a white board that has the plot mountain drawn on it, go ahead and write. There are secrets about your book that you'll only find by writing the book.