Will Ruby Make a Reappearance This November?

I wrote the first draft of Ruby Ransome back in 2011, an entire decade ago.  It's hard to believe it was so long ago.  I started the novel earlier in the year and wrote the final two-thirds of it during NaNoWriMo that year.  The following year, I wrote the second novel, even though I still had yet to edit the first one.

I have struggled with revisions of the first novel over the years, and have had some thoughts of what I want to do with the second novel, and whether I want to have a novella set between them.  About five years ago, I shelved revisions of the first novel semi-permanently when I realized that I wanted to rewrite a significant portion of the novel.  Some time later, I had a revelation about why the novel didn't seem to "work" in some parts: I had the main characters' motivation all wrong, and was still trying to force through the events I wanted, and I could tell in rereading the novel.

So I need to rewrite huge portions of the novel, if not all of it.  The main plot points of the novel will largely stay the same, but the character motivation will be entirely changed, in a way that makes the events seem much more believable.

I've been thinking about Ruby a lot lately, as I've been working on some of my other websites, and in doing so, have been looking at this one.  I realized that next year will be 2023 - a hundred years after the year Ruby's first novel takes place.  (I have plans to make the series span the remainder of the decade.)  It would be incredibly fitting to publish the first novel in 2023.

I've always planned on self-publishing Ruby Ransome in order to maintain creative control, so it's not unfeasible to get a novel ready to go sometime between now and next year.  It would, however, take a substantial commitment of time between now and then.

Can I do it?  Probably.  A year is a fair bit of time, and should be plenty long enough to rewrite the novel, revise, and get all the self-publishing things into place.  It'll probably require setting some goals and sticking to a timeline.

With that being said, I am strongly considering starting the rewrite of Ruby during NaNoWriMo this year.  In order to make it work, I will need to be ready to write come November 1st.  That means I have a lot of work to do before then, though, as I will need to read through the existing novel, review my research materials, and reacquaint myself with Ruby's world.  I may need to consider rereading some of the books I read while researching, too.

With any luck, Ruby will be making a reappearance here soon!