At the moment I’m working hard on drafting my second novel, Perspectives. I’ve had the main plot written for a couple of years but knew it needed something else. In November I started National Novel Writing Month but this time I failed to complete it. I got to 30,000 words and life got in the way. I’ve been wanting to pick this up again but haven’t had time. In February I realised if I wanted to do this, I would need to make time! That’s what I’ve done. I’m now only 3,000 words away from reaching the 50,000 target.

Some people find the first draft difficult, agonising over sentence structure and dialogue. But I love drafting. I let my imagination fly! Very often my characters do things and find things in different ways than the way I’d planned, but usually that makes the story better. Overall, I’d say I’m a planner. I know where I’m going, I’ve got to know my characters really well, I have a good idea of how they’re going to get where they’re going, but there are always a lot of twists and turns along the way.

Now that I’m nearing the end, I’m finding it harder to put my laptop away! I want to keep tapping until it’s completed. I want to know what’s going to happen, even though I know! At points I’ve had to put it away because I’ve scared myself! I can feel my heart pumping with the adrenaline that my protagonist is feeling. I want to get her to safety, I want her to know the secrets I’ve kept hidden from her. I want to tie it all up in a neat bow.

What I’ve loved most about this draft is that my teenage son has given me inspiration and chatted with me about what could happen. I’m not sure whether it’s good parenting to discuss kidnap and murder with your son, but he’s been really helpful! He’s had some great ideas and understands how important it is to avoid a cliched plots and motives. It’s been so fun to share the process with him. I’ve loved telling him what’s happened to the characters next, and hear his suggestions of what they could do now. He’s defintely going have to get an acknowledgement in this novel!

When I finish this draft, I’ve got to weave it together with the main plot and then begin the mammoth task of editing. My least favourite part. But I’ve got my index cards ready and colourful pens to help with the story arcs and can’t wait to make time to finish.

I’ve learnt through this whole process that we make time for what we really want to do. If I want to write, then something else has to go, that can’t be my family, or my work, so I have to choose how much time I need to spend looking at a screen or listening to audio books. Not that I can’t do it or shouldn’t, just that I need to make sure I don’t squeeze out my creative time.