Nancy Townsley
On Writing When a Book Birthday is Coming Up
Simultaneously managing multiple writing projects can be tricky. My debut novel was released in April, and I’m working on a second one. I was humming along on the latter when the anxiety goblins took hold of me in advance of my launch, sidetracking the new book.
It’s been a challenge to figure out how to handle this creative tension as my mind spins and my fingers twiddle, marketing one book while the other calls out to me. But at the encouragement of an amazing writing friend and mentor, I’ve hit upon a solution to Dreaded Derailment Syndrome.
Every morning I give myself one solitary hour with the manuscript. When no one else is up and the house is quiet, I put my fingers on the keyboard, open a page, and let loose. Then I give myself permission to think about podcasts and sales numbers, about chores that need doing, about other existential matters like my beloved kids and grandkids, my spouse, and our dog. The key is to insulate some time with the new work, without neglecting the real tasks associated with publishing. Tackling them separately allows me to be fully present with my work in progress, and then my publishing tasks, instead of being half-present with both.
With my pub day in the rear view mirror, I know I need to write through this double-edged sword of nerves and excitement. I have to work on the next new thing. It is my job, as someone who works with words, to string them together like daisy chains—sentence to paragraph to chapter—and make meaning from them, summoning shards of light.
It’s working! Today I wrote a fresh chapter before 6 a.m. I’m up to 40,000 words, halfway to a second book ready for developmental edits. Huzzah!
As writers, our something, our anything, is the written testimony of our hearts.
Will it be easy? No. Is it necessary? Yes. Does it matter? Absolutely.
Flex your multitasking muscles and keep going.
Nancy Townsley lives in a floating home along the Multnomah Channel near Portland, Oregon. Her debut novel, Sunshine Girl (Heliotrope Books, 2025), was inspired by her long career as a community newspaper journalist. She continues to have a keen interest in the cultural and political changes altering the media landscape, channeling that fascination into writing fiction and nonfiction. Her work has appeared in Newsweek, Hippocampus, The Big Smoke, Nailed magazine, the Timberline Review, Elephant Journal, Mountain Bluebird Magazine, and several anthologies.
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