The Lavender Dawn Saga

Hi friends!

Some of you have been asking about the second book for The Lavender Dawn Saga.

What if I told you I got to finish rewriting it in one week in January…and that I wrote 40 thousand words in a week…and that alongside 2 thousand other young writers, we collectively wrote 13 million words…in a WEEK!

Sounds like quite the adventure, doesn’t it? And a grand adventure it was! I attended Crazy Writing Week, hosted by The Young Writer’s Workshop. It is a free event intended to ignite that flame of passion for writing in young writers. It’s to help you write that story that is stuck in your head. It’s to get you past your writing block. It’s to show you that YOU can be a writer too.

Last year when I participated in CWW, I only wrote a few thousand words. This year, I was determined to change that and I made a plan.

I spent over 26 hours rewriting the second book in The Lavender Dawn Saga during CWW. I did something I had never done before: I used the Save the Cat story beat method.

Types of Writers

There are roughly three types of writers in writing. The “Plotter”, the “Pantser” and someone who is in between.

The Plotter/Outliner is someone who prefers to outline their writing. They like having detailed outlines for every book, chapter, scene, beat, you name it. It’s easier for them to follow a well-structured outline.

The Pantser/Discovery Writer is someone who writes “by the seat of their pants”. They don’t usually make or stick to outlines. They prefer to discover the story as they are writing it, and can sometimes find outlines to be too strict.

I am a “Pantser” when it comes to writing. I like to discover the story as I’m writing it, and learn more about my characters as the story goes on. So following an outline, such as the Save the Cat method, was very bold.

Save the Cat Method

The Save the Cat story beat method is a way of outlining your story using scenes and beats. The method contains 15 story beats that take up your novel. Some beats may contain one scene that is roughly two thousand words, while other beats can have as many as fourteen scenes. An example of some of these beats is the “Opening Image”, “The Midpoint”, and “Finale”. I used this method to rewrite and revise my second book.

Crazy Writing Week

During Crazy Writing Week, you are drafted into teams. This year, the teams were the Spies versus the Detectives. (There’s also a non-competitive team called the Bystanders). I was on team Detectives, along with quite a few of my friends! (If you participated in CWW, feel free to share your experience in the comments below!)

Crazy Writing Week was awesome, but it was also tiring! Here are my takeaways from that writing adventure:

Rest is Important

On Thursday of Crazy Writing Week, my brain seemed to shut down. I could no longer focus on my writing, and the right words weren’t coming out. So I took a break for a few hours and went outside, which was so relaxing and refreshing. (It was also an enjoyable break because it had snowed!) After I had taken a break, I was able to start again on my writing. Rests are important, and not just in music!

Mindset is Key

Something that helped me to be productive during CWW was getting into the mindset every day that I was going to write. Even if it was hard to get started, forcing myself to write helped. It’s okay if my writing was bad, but the words soon started flowing since I pushed myself to keep going. I also set a daily goal and gave myself a mindset to achieve that goal. Having the right mindset isn’t important in just writing, it’s important in anything we do.

Plan Ahead

Before CWW started, I had already made a plan to rewrite my second book in The Lavender Dawn Saga. Having this plan of what writing project I wanted to work on made it easier to achieve my goals each day.

Community is a Bonus Blessing

Part of what motivated me so much during CWW was the amazing community! I had so many friends that joined me for CWW (you know who you are 😉) and having that bonus blessing of working alongside each other and cheering each other on was a huge motivation.

Conclusion

Overall, Crazy Writing Week 2025 was an amazing experience for me! I’m so excited about the second book in The Lavender Dawn Saga and I’m sure you are as well! Keep in touch for more updates regarding The Lavender Dawn Saga.

See you on the next page,
-Ella Q.