Beware the Writers Loop

I thought writing a novel would look like this:

1. Have an idea.

2. Write the book.

3. Publish.

   
   

Turns out, it's more like this:

1. Have an idea.

2. Start writing from the heart, wild and free.

3. Realize halfway through chapter three that I should probably figure out what actually happens.

4. Pause. Start outlining.

5. Feel smart. Feel organized. Feel unstoppable.

6. Go back to writing.

7. Hit a new wall: Wait — what if this character is important in book two? Shouldn’t I start planting seeds now?

8. Cue existential spiral.

9. Re-outline.

10. Write again.

11. Re-outline again.

12. Spiral again.

13. Repeat until I’m either finished or feral.

    
    

This, apparently, is my process.

And for a long time, I hated it. I thought I was doing something wrong. Real writers don’t jump around like this, right? Real writers have neat notebooks and tidy timelines. Real writers don’t rewrite their outline twelve times in a single month.

Except — they do.

This notebook has seen things... mostly me panicking about plot holes.

Every writer I talk to eventually admits to their own version of the Write-Plan-Write-Plan Loop. It’s not failure. It’s feedback. Each time we return to our outline, it’s because the story is trying to become more itself. And each time we go back to the page, it’s because the words are eager to breathe, not wait.

Planning gives the story bones. Writing gives it blood. You need both — and sometimes you don’t know what you need until you’ve written your way into the problem.

So no, it’s not clean. It’s not linear. It’s a little bit unhinged. But maybe that’s exactly how it’s supposed to be.

If you’re stuck in the loop too, you’re not alone. You’re just deep in the work of discovering the story. And if that takes five outlines, three breakdowns, and one slightly neglected Google Doc labeled “book 2 seeds” — so be it.

We don’t need perfect plans. We just need to keep going.