Every writer has their own way of working. There is no right or wrong way. It’s a personal thing but however a writer does it – they spend many hours doing it.

The process I have developed over the last ten years is :
1. Plan
2. First Draft
3. Second Draft
4. Third Draft
If I’m really lucky, I then get the chance to work with a publisher to turn the book I have written, into the one they want to publish. Whoever knew I was going to be published in German first?

I didn’t used to plan my writing. I was so thrilled to have an idea that all I wanted to do was write it. I wrote four books that way. The first two had no ending. In book three, I didn’t introduce the baddies until the last chapter. No wonder it was so boring. By the time I had ‘finished’ book four I knew it was too thin but I didn’t know what to do about it. I even had an agent and an editor very keen on the idea but I hadn’t got a clue how to whip it into shape.
It suddenly dawned on me that I didn’t know how to construct a plot or a story. I only knew how to enjoy writing. Over the next two years, I taught myself plot, structure and planning and it changed my life forever.

Over the next few blog posts I am going to share my writing process with you, so get a hint of what it is like to write the way I do.