Jaye Marie and Anita Dawes

It’s kind of funny, but after 50-plus books and three decades in the business I still do two really basic things when I write a book.

The first is that – no matter how much planning I put into it beforehand, no matter how clear I am about what’s to be done – I always start off by typing the title, the by-line, and the words ‘Chapter One’.

Why do this? It’s something that probably works for National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) writers too. It’s like keel-laying used to be in a shipyard. It means the book is STARTED, even if the blank screen then stares at me.

The plan is important too – and in the next little, on this blog, while I’m going to explain how to make planning work while still having the fun of ‘free form creative seat-of-the-pants’ writing.

The other thing? I never type ‘The End’…