[Havlen]

I hate first chapters. I don't second-guess any other chapter near as much as I second-guess that first chapter. Does it sound smooth because it is smooth? Or does it sound smooth because I have read it 100 times?

I write multiple books at the same time. I find that writing a draft then switching to a different project and coming back to a particular draft week/months later gives me a fresher set of eyes. (I usually try to keep to a two month minimum break after a first draft.)

But, no matter, I find that several drafts down the road I still might second-guess the opening. In many ways, the entire novel depends on those first couple of pages. After all, you could have the coolest book ever, but if those first couple of pages suck then you aren't ever going to get out of the 'finding an agent' stage.

Luckily, I suck at writing queries, so I have more to worry about than just the opening. If I only worried about the opening, I'd probably go crazy. But splitting my time between the opening and the query letter seems to work out well. It keeps me from pulling the hair out of only one side of my head and becoming unbalanced.

And, trust me, when you are pulling out hair you want to make it balanced!