Behind the Sequel: What Chaos of the Stars Taught Me About Endurance

When I first started writing Chaos of the Stars, I thought it would come quickly. After all, I’d already finished Soul of the Stars—surely the second book would flow just as easily.

But what I discovered was this: sequels demand endurance.

⚔️The Weight of a Sequel

Writing a sequel isn’t just “book two.”
It’s carrying forward the story readers already love while also raising the stakes, deepening the characters, and expanding the world.

For me, Chaos of the Stars meant stepping into the Irrean kingdom, a land clouded in danger, death, and shadows. Maleah wrestles with identity and responsibility in ways that test her more than ever before. And honestly? So did I.

🌿What Chaos Taught Me About Endurance

Here are three lessons I learned while writing this book:

1. Progress is rarely fast.
   I lost 30% of the original manuscript when my hard drive failed. Part 1 had to be rewritten from memory. It was devastating. I wrote that part in under six weeks, then poof, it was gone. That experience taught me that persistence matters more than speed.

2. Growth comes in the struggle.
   Just like Maleah facing her new reality whilst trekking through a new and strange land and doubting everything, I had to face my own doubts: It’s not as good as the first. What if I can never get back to that point? Can I finish? But I kept going, and my confidence grew stronger.

3. Endurance isn’t meant to be solo.
   Feedback from beta readers, encouragement from friends, and accountability in the community gave me the strength to keep pressing forward.

✍️Why This Matters for Your Story

You might not be writing a sequel, but you are writing something that requires endurance.

Whether you’re revising after NaNoWriMo or starting fresh in December, your story will ask you to push past resistance, face setbacks, and keep showing up even when it’s hard.

And here’s the encouragement I want you to carry: your endurance is what turns drafts into finished books.

🌟A Final Word for You

Endurance doesn’t mean sprinting without stopping. It means choosing to come back to the page, again and again, until your story is told.

That’s the heartbeat of Chaos of the Stars, and it’s the heartbeat of every writer who refuses to give up.

🚀 I want to know…

Tell me in the comments: What’s one moment in your writing journey where endurance paid off?

And if you’re ready to build the kind of rhythms and community that strengthen your endurance year after year—stay close. January is bringing something that will change the way you write for good.