Hey, Worldhoppers!
The Seventh Cadence by Jim Wilbourne is dropping on October 8th, 2021.
That’s the glamorous part. When an author releases their debut novel, it’s almost like they pulled the story out of the ether, fully realized. That’s not exactly how it happens though. So today, we have Jim’s reflections on what the writing process actually looked like for him on a day-to-day basis.
Jim on The Writing Process for The Seventh Cadence
As pretentious as it sounds, I spent most of my time writing in libraries, bookstores, and coffee shops.
Yes, I was that guy.
I went through several seasons during this book. In the beginning. I was writing in the evenings at the Starbucks cafe inside the Barnes & Noble in Walpole, MA. At another point, I wrote at 5 AM at a corner table at Dunkin Doughnuts in Foxboro, MA. And, of course, I spent a lot of time at the Norwood, MA and Foxboro, MA public Libraries.
I didn’t exclusively write away from home. Near the end of the first draft, I wrote into the night from my desk in Mansfield, MA. Night writing and home writing were rare though, and with the exception of times I spent at the library, I always had a coffee in hand.
It was at Barnes & Noble in Walpole, MA that I met and joined the Walpole Writer’s Group. The writers in that weekly group had a lot more experience than I did, and they passed down a lot of extremely valuable advice and critiques. I miss all of the writers in that group dearly.
Then there was WritersCafe.org. It was there that I met Mira, Greg, Noel, Jennie, and Cher. All of us were writing various projects on the platform and sharing them to receive feedback. Like the WWG, these guys were a big reason why I kept writing. It was fantastic to have someone expecting you to have something new to read every week.
I think I should credit Sterling & Stone as a big part of this for me as well. I first started listening to a podcast by the founders of their small press that chronicled S&S’s journey. Somehow, I ended up producing their podcasts and spending a lot of time in their writer’s room. I had the opportunity to see how they functioned as a group and learned a lot about the creative process. Eventually, I left Sterling & Stone in early 2020, but watching how they worked through their creative issues allowed me to understand my process so much more.
My time writing the novel wasn’t solely spent doing this one story. In fact, I wrote almost a dozen other projects while I developed this one and wrote a whole lot of music.
Writing The Seventh Cadence was an 8-year blur of caffeine, friendships, trials and errors, and massive revisions.
And I wouldn’t trade it for anything.
8 years?!
I know commitment when I see it. Mr. Wilbourne’s got it.
All of those experiences are now part of Emergent Realms, and they’ve led to the fantastic novel you’re about to receive in several weeks.
Jim Wilbourne’s debut epic fantasy novel, THE SEVENTH CADENCE, releases October 8, 2021. You can follow him on Facebook and Instagram to keep track of his writing adventures.
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