On Writing Book Two

When I tell school children that my first book – Land of the Last Wildcat – took me about eight years to write, their shock is palpable. How can writing a book take so long? 

How indeed? It wasn’t until I had been through the rigmarole of writing and rewriting my Book 1 that I understood why it can take an exceedingly long time. All your learning happens on Book 1 – you make your mistakes and then start again.  By the time I won the FAB Prize in 2022 with an excerpt of LOTLW, I had been working on the story for five (long) years. When my agent, Becky Bagnell, sold it to Macmillan Children’s Books in 2023, it would take another two years of editing and waiting until it was published in 2025. It felt like the world’s longest gestation. 

Just when I thought I could relax after all those years of working on Book 1, along came Book 2. For Macmillan offered me a two-book contract. I decided to relax for a bit before starting on a new book that I had not planned for and had no idea what it would be about. After all, how hard could it be? I’d managed to get one book written. Little did I know …

When I was an aspiring author, soaking up snippets of information, I noticed authors talking about the Book 2 phenomenon in not-so-glowing terms. Often these authors were in book-a-year contracts so they would be writing Book 2 whilst juggling the demands of promoting Book 1. For children’s authors and illustrators, promoting books means doing school visits, library events, panels and workshops while being a one-person entertainer/sales guru/educational expert/ arts administrator and savvy social media-website content creator. Not much at all.

I was no exception. I found Book 2  – now called The Wildcat & The Gathering Storm –  a tough book to write. I wish I’d had the wherewithal to take the advice of authors who said finish the Book 2 draft before you start promoting Book 1 – i.e. before Book 1 is published. This is great advice as it means the rough overview of your next book is done and ready to shape with your editors. It means that you will not have to create a whole new world while promoting Book 1. Other reasons why Book 2 can be tough is that it suffers from second child syndrome, for Book 1 has taken your youth, energy and resources. If you are on a book-a-year contract, you will have much less time to write Book 2 – months, not years. Another challenge can be trying to figure out how to incorporate elements of Book 1 into Book 2 so that it makes sense both as a standalone book and as a follow on from Book 1.

Writing Book 2 is a rite of passage and I would describe the difference as this.  Book 1 contains hopes, dreams and years of blood, sweat and tears. Book 2 make you a working writer. It transitions you from someone who published a book to someone who writes a book while juggling the other demands of being an author. 

As I did not heed the advice of those wiser, here is my advice if you end up having to write Book 2 while promoting Book 1:

• Have a solid synopsis before you start.
• Churn out the first draft fast – do not second guess yourself. Just keep going until it’s done. 
• Do not expect anything to be even near perfect.
• Try not to beat yourself up about not feeling the same about Book 2 as you did Book 1. Unless you have been planning Book 2, it won’t have the layers of investment that you did with Book 1.
• Accept that the book might reveal itself during the editing process. If pushed for time, you might have to hand in a sup par draft and lean on your editors’ expertise. My Book 2 draft was shaky but with the help of my brilliant editors’  - we got it to a good place.
• Accept that it might not be the perfect book that you want. If you are writing on a book a year contract, this is likely an indication of time rather than your abilities as an author.
• Trust that you are now better at your craft and can do it faster. 
• When finished, celebrate! You have transitioned from being a debut author to a working author, churning out your next book. But before you get too comfortable, get cracking on Book 3!  

In the end, you survive it. My Book 2, The Wildcat & the Gathering Storm, is out on September 10, 2026, published by Macmillan Children’s Books.  And this time, I’m not taking (much of) a rest. Roll on Book 3!

Preorder your copy of The Wildcast and the Gathering Storm here.

Lui Sit writes children’s middle-grade books, adult short fiction and non-fiction. Her debut children’s book – Land of the Last Wildcat – was Waterstones Children’s May 2025 Book of the Month and was shortlisted for the Wainwright Prize. She is also the author of The Lucky House Detective Agency, which she writes as Scarlett Li. Prior to becoming an author, she worked in the arts, higher education and charity sectors. A dance lover, she has a MA in Dance Anthropology. Her next book – The Wildcat & the Gathering Storm – will be published by Macmillan Children’s Books in September 2026. She was born in Hong Kong, grew up in Australia and now lives in London with her family and moody cat. She is happiest in a dance studio, the sea, or a library.