Beating "Writer's Block".

I've read on quite a few blogs recently about aspiring authors who suffer from writer's block quite regularly, and who often struggle for some time before overcoming this most frustrating of obstacles.

Almost all authors have a unique approach to their writing; some like to simply start with a blank page and no idea of what their next story will be about; others like to plan every single stage of the journey before ever applying fingertip to keyboard; others still like to let their newly created characters lead the way, essentially plotting their own stories via their individual personalities. For what it's worth, I think that its these varying approaches to creating a complete novel that sometimes cause the author's block to appear.

In sixteen years' of writing, I've never had writer's block. That may possibly be because my imagination is especially broad, but many others can lay claim to an equally vast internal universe of creativity, so I don't think its the cause of my good fortune. I reckon it's in my style of creating a novel, so I thought I'd share my own personal method - it might not work for the next person, but if another author sees something that they like, takes it, and says goodbye to writer's block, then it will have been worth sharing.

PART 1

1) The idea. I'm not somebody who wants to just sit down and start writing away about, well, nothing. My novels are plot driven, as are most thrillers. So first of all, I need to know what the main, core idea will be. Once I've got that down on paper, even if it's just a few scribbled notes, I know I'm on my way. If you're a writer, you'll know your core ideas whenever you find them: they'll be the ones that instantly excite you, and make you want to write about them.

2) The basic plot. My method is simple: sit down for a few weeks, and thrash out ideas on paper and in my head. One good technique I use is to play movie soundtracks on my headphones whilst thinking about what would be really cool to have in my novel: it's surprising how your imagination comes to life when you're listening to Pirates of the Caribbean or similar blazing away in your head. It helps if you're a visual sort of thinker for this technique to work. I sometimes also use coloured cards, each with major plot points, and arrange them in the order I think might work. They can be re-arranged easily, letting me play 'God' with the plot-lines.

3) It's here that you can add major events known as Turning Points. Anyone familiar with screenplays will know about these, but essentially they're the points where Act 1 becomes Act 2 and Act 3 etc etc. In the centre of the story it helps to have a MAJOR division called the Point of No Return, where your hero / heroine generally starts fighting back against whatever problem the story demands that they solve. By the time you've finished writing the novel, these points should not be obvious to a reader, but should none the less be present and essential.

4) The Chapter Layout: As the general storyline forms itself through the basic plot, I then begin the chapter map. This usually is a 'guideline' as opposed to a rigid structure: its purpose is to provide a map that I can follow as I write the first draft, and it's this above all that prevents writer's block. No matter where I am in the story, I know where my characters have been, where they're going and why. The reason I say that this is only a "guideline" piece is that if you try to force characters into plot developments, it can come across as cliched or force the author into contrivances that spoil any sense of discovery for the reader. So, as I write and new ideas come into play I keep everything fluid: sometimes the idea for a major twist comes half-way through writing a draft, or maybe a new character trait develops unexpectedly and just 'fits' right - I always leave these natural developments in, and alter any preceding storyline to match during the redrafts. It pays to keep notes of these changes, to remind you of what to do later on. My chapter layouts are usually on two sides of ordinary A4 paper, one line per chapter with a brief note of the scene and who's in it. Simples.

5) Research. If your story needs it, then get your story straight now. Locations, facts, historical background: whatever it is, find it out and have it ready saved somewhere so that when you're powering through your first draft, it's ready to go. The ubiquity of the Internet makes small details like the name of a road easy to grab on the go, but have all detailed research ready so you're not bogged down halfway through trying to work out how your hero can valiantly create a nuclear bomb from a shoelace, a daffodil and a tube of Smarties.

6) Take a week's break, then sit down and get cracking on draft number one. You're all set to go, you know where you're going and why, and with your headphones soaring with whatever epic score you like you'll see the movie of your novel streaming before your very eyes.

7) When your first draft is complete, probably after several weeks or even months, put it away and take a month off. It's hard to do, but I can tell you I wish I'd done it more often. When the month is up, get the novel printed out and read it as though it were something you'd bought off the shelves. Make brief notes about the mistakes you'd made ( there will be plenty ) as you go along, and then you'll be ready to get started on the SECOND HALF of writing a novel: the editing, polishing and perfecting, which will no doubt take some months.

PART 2

8) Editing. This is down to you. The point is, by this time you'll have a first draft that is much closer to the hoped-for final version than you would otherwise have been able to create working 'blind', typing whatever came first into your head. You'll have something that has structure, purpose and characters that have a reason to exist and direction in their lives. Every edit you make from this point on will bring you closer to the finished product and improve what already exists, instead of you still chasing rainbows trying to figure out what your novel is 'really about'.

9) Months later.... Congratulations, you've finished! Take a well earned rest, and start planning your approach to literary agencies ( see earlier posts for information on this ).

There will no doubt be those who say that such an approach as mine stifles impulsive creativity, the spark of true genius etc etc. It doesn't - those sparks still arrive, and you can always find somewhere to put them in your story. The bottom line is that if you don't have at least some idea of what your story will be about and where it's going, you're making yourself vulnerable to writer's block. If your current, different method isn't working, give mine a try, or at least elements of it. You'll never know until you do....

Advance Reader's Copies of "Covenant"!

I received four copies of COVENANT in the post yesterday from New York City, USA. For the first time, after fifteen years of effort, I can read an ACTUAL printed copy of my own work! An awesome surprise for the weekend, am absolutely thrilled!

Amazing quotes for COVENANT!

Had some great news over the past few weeks, as Simon & Schuster and Touchstone USA have been working hard on the launch publicity for "Covenant": two great quotes, both from best-selling authors!

"Get the cameras rolling—Indiana Jones meets Alien. What a combination of mystery, suspense, and unspeakable horror. I loved it!"

R.L. Stine, best-selling US author with some 400 million sales worldwide.


"Earth-shattering intrigue, hyperdrive action and a desperate race to save humanity, cranked up to the max with scarily realistic science and apocalyptic religion thrown in for good measure . . . a major new talent has hit the mystery thriller scene!"

Scott Mariani, Sunday Times bestselling author of The Lost Relic

CONTINUUM

Well, the verdict on my third book's title came back to me recently, and I'm delighted to say that the team at Simon & Schuster love it! CONTINUUM is now under way with the first few chapters written, and the synopsis for the story was given a huge thumbs up by my editor Maxine Hitchcock.

Currently, I'm working on the edits for book 2, ELIXIR. They're not too extensive, mostly involving character development and some general tidying up. I'm aiming to have them complete by early July, at which point I'll focus on finishing the first draft of CONTINUUM. I've also been informed that a meeting at the S&S offices with my agent, Luigi Bonomi, is on the cards around the end of August, which will involve the planning for launch publicity. I'm not sure what this will entail, although I have already heard that adverts on the CBS Action channel are confirmed ( as per a previous post ). Other news is that S&S are already working on the cover artwork for ELIXIR. The publisher generally gets to work on such things around ten months in advance of publication, and with ELIXIR due out in May 2012 this means that they're on the case already.

For my part, after much graft I'm ahead of schedule by a few weeks at the moment, giving me the opportunity to take my time with the current editorials. It's a great relief, as we're house hunting right now and everything that entails. Fingers crossed for the perfect home!!

Dodgy Literary Agents.

One of the disadvantages of working from home right now is that my partner watches a lot of daytime television whilst she looks after our daughter, Emma. From time to time, as I'm working, I'll wander in and see her watching something completely useless to humanity: however, yesterday I saw her watching Fake Britain, and wanted to share with my followers what I saw.

A fake literary agent, running his so-called "business" from a spare room in his elderly mother's bungalow ( where he lived, in his forties ) had conned roughly three-quarters of a million pounds from aspiring writers across the country over several years. His method was to charge a nominal reading fee, but then coax hopeful writers into parting with ever larger sums of cash by promising them Hollywood film deals and such like. This individual, who was ultimately jailed, had literally thousands of untouched manuscripts littering his property, all representing the dreams of hopeful authors, discarded without even a glance. One poor woman, who had written her father's life story and sent it to this supposed agent, was promised a £100,000 advance and a film deal. Sadly, she spent the money on her elderly and disabled mother before she'd received the promised advance, which of course never materialised. She lost her home as a result.

For any aspiring writer dropping by here, whatever you do, follow the below guidelines to ensure that you're not about to be taken for a ride. Anybody can set themselves up as a literary agent, and some perfectly respectable agencies do charge a small reading fee. Frankly, you don't need to pay this as there's plenty of excellent agencies out there who do not charge anything. Finding, signing and getting deals for writers is where they make their money...

1) Start always with agencies who are members of the Association of Author's Agents, an organisation designed to protect author's rights.

2) Never pay a reading fee. Why would you, when the best agencies don't charge one?

3) Search the Internet to see which writers the agency in question represents. A fake agent won't have client list. Likewise, look for a website and agency connections that prove their validity. If possible, contact one of those authors - connections never hurt and it might even let you know what the agent in question is like to work with.

4) Don't send work to a suspicious looking agency just because everyone else has turned you down. Tempting as it may be, it won't further your chances and you might well be wasting your time.

5) Be patient. All reputable agencies are extremely busy and take time to process the hundreds of submissions they receive every week. Check their websites for a guide to how long you may have to wait. If that time passes, make a polite phone call just to find out how things are going.

6) If you discover a fake agent, tell EVERYBODY so that others can learn to steer clear.

7) Don't quit. Most agents are brilliant, and if you're a good writer, sooner or later somebody will notice your talent.

We have a winner!!

Many thanks to all those who submitted entries into my Title Competition! I didn't realise that there were so many people watching my blog from so far afield - nor did I think I'd have to sit and really think hard about which title to pick from so many great ideas!

However, after much pacing, chin holding and pulling of hair, I'm delighted to announce that Dean Owen from Newbury has won with the cunningly thought-out title of "CONTINUUM". Dean also suggested the title "Spacetime" along with it, but Continuum suggests connections to spacetime in the public perception anyway, and the title fits well with preceding novels Covenant and Elixir.

There were a LOT of entries, many from readers who put a lot of effort into explaining their suggestions. I'd like to thank everyone for all of their efforts, and please do keep reading my blog as I approach my first publication date as I'm sure there will be much more happening in the coming months...

A word says a thousand pictures: COMPETITION!

As an author who has yet to see his first title hit the shelves, my humble blog probably doesn't have thousands of avid followers hanging on every post. However, the internet's a great resource, and I've decided to make an effort to see whether those who are reading my posts would like to win a free signed copy of COVENANT when it's released in the UK on November 10th 2011.

The task at hand for anyone valiant enough to undertake it, is to think of a single-word title for my third novel. Currently, it's under the working title of EVENT-HORIZON, which is highly apt for the novel's content. However, my publisher thinks that one-word titles have more punch, and also that the current title makes people think of the horror movie of the same name released back in the 90s.

The novel will be about time-travel, the paradoxes that it creates, and the hunt for a man who has the ability to see both forward and backward in time. I've been advised that the title should have the word "Time", or something obviously related to it, somewhere within it. It's a tricky task, and one that I haven't conquered myself yet. The winner, as well as getting a free signed copy of Covenant, will also get a mention in the third book's acknowledgements for coming up with the title - something that might just help a budding author's chances of getting noticed....

I look forward to seeing what ideas appear in the replies. As this competition concerns a globally published novel, the publisher may decide later to change the title in one territory or another. I'll pick the winner of this competition at the end of May 2011, and use it for the work. The winner will get their signed copy and a mention in book 3, even if ultimately the title isn't used upon publication.

Best of luck!

The publicity drive begins!

I've had a hell of a week, with so much happening that it could take a few posts to fit it all in!

Firstly, my agent Luigi Bonomi loved my manuscript for ELIXIR. He had just a handful of minor suggestions to individual pages, and one or two scene improvements. The work has been done and the MSS is now with my wonderful editor Maxine Hitchcock at Simon & Schuster.

Secondly, I was hugely honoured to be invited to the Simon & Schuster 2011 conference at the Paramount Hotel in London. This was a major event for the publisher, with many celebs invited, and I learned a huge amount about what's happening behind the scenes with COVENANT. Probably the biggest news is that it will be getting not just national print publicity in the USA and UK / Commonwealth but that it will be advertised on television, on Sky's CBS Action channel in October, with ads running for a month around major crime and drama shows. Add to that the first hints that the MSS is doing the round with production studios and things are looking very bright for my debut launch. The novel is also to be a lead title in Australia, another major breakthrough market if things go well.

It was fantastic to be invited to such an event, which involved a lot of work as well as fun. I had to talk to dozens of booksellers, buyers, representatives of major chains and supermarkets and so on, trying to do my bit to help the team at S&S reassure potential stockists that I'm a long term bet with more novels on their way. As far as I can tell it went well, and I finally got back to my superb hotel at 4am after a few after-party sherbets with the S&S team! I had a great night, and if every publicity event is as much fun, I'm signing up for them all!

Draft complete!

Finally, after several weeks of furious editing and re-drafting, I have finished writing my second novel, ELIXIR. Or at least, I've finished the very first stage of writing my second novel.

What happens next, for those aspiring authors following this blog, is the beginning of the rest of the hard work. I'm fortunate to have a very hands-on agent, Luigi Bonomi, and he likes to have a read of his client's novels before they are sent on to the publisher in question. This is a sort of safety-buffer, for reasons that any experienced author, published or not, will understand.

No matter how 'good' a writer I may ( or may not ) be, there comes a point where I can no longer see the woods for the trees in a manuscript. I'm not the sort of person who finishes a novel, looks at it and thinks: "Wow, fantastic, that's going to sell millions. I'm a genius." Mostly, I realise that I've gotten to the point where every 'i' is dotted and every 't' is crossed and I can't think of anything else I can do to improve the script. This is where the ever present editing work begins, and Luigi provides that first-glance to ensure that I haven't done anything blatantly stupid, that the story runs well and so on. He'll suggest revisions, flag-up any slow-spots where I've waffled or lost direction in any way, identify character flaws... the list can be endless, but hopefully will come back relatively manageable. Notice I say "will" come back. There's always changes, always something that won't be quite right. When it's one person writing 110,000 words, nobody can get it perfect first time, and when it's going to be on shelves across the English-speaking world and perhaps beyond, 'okay' isn't good enough...

Despite all of this, I'm really excited about ELIXIR. I reckon the story is an equal to that of COVENANT, that the main characters are developing really well and that my chief villain is quite possibly the best I've managed to create yet! There's plenty of action, a great new high-concept scientific core to the story that I hope will get people talking and great locations throughout!

Now for a well earned rest, my first proper break since Christmas. Next week, I'll start planning for book three, EVENT-HORIZON. Can't wait!

ELIXIR

So, COVENANT is now completed, with all of the copy-editing done, acknowledgements and dedications fulfilled and cover artwork given a BIG thumbs up. Which means my focus is now entirely on book two, "Elixir".

It's quite a daunting prospect, given the attention lavished upon Covenant by my brilliant publishers Simon & Schuster. There are now expectations to live up to, a bar which has to be equalled or beaten, for if the publisher isn't duly impressed enough by book two then the reading public probably won't be either.

I've been hard at work despite everything that's been happening over the last few months ( see previous posts ), not being the type of person to rest on my laurels now that I've achieved one of those elusive publishing deals that allows me to write full-time. When I signed the deal, I'd already provided a one-page synopsis for books two and three to accompany Covenant, so I knew the subject matter at hand in advance. I've now almost reached the stage where Elixir is about ready to go to Simon & Schuster - probably about a month's more work to do. Book three, however, is still at the one-page synopsis stage: the deadline for the completed work is December this year (!)

So far I'm really happy with Elixir, and feel reasonably confident that S&S will love it too, but you can never be too sure about how a fresh pair of eyes will respond to a new work. Fingers crossed that the feedback will be mostly positive, and I can start looking at beginning the plotting process for book three, "Event Horizon". I've only 8 months to write the novel, but it's taken me just 6 to write Elixir... It's not easy to create a page turner at the same time as doing so much research into the relevant science, but when it comes together it's the best feeling in the world. Can't wait to see what people think!

P.S. I'm also developing a synopsis for books 4, 5 and 6. Great new ideas and a real sense that this series has a long future ahead of it!

COVENANT UK jacket art!

Well, I think it looks absolutely awesome! Simon & Schuster have done a fabulous job and it really looks like a blockbuster novel's cover should. I love the blurb on the back too - all in all, I couldn't be happier!

Emma Grace Crawford.

Apologies for recent replies to my posts not being acknowledged, but had a busy few days. Here's the result, and she's beautiful! Born at 18.28pm on Monday 21st March. Will get back into the swing of things in a few days...

Final Copy-Edit hard copy.

The latest news in the COVENANT saga is the arrival a few days ago of the copy-edited hard copy. This represents the novel's final layout, printed on A4 but with the layout scaled to the hardback sized font and format. It looks awesome, especially as it contains all of the pre-lim pages, the acknowledgments, dedication etc. In addition, the first few chapters of my second novel, ELIXIR, are also presented as a teaser for readers who pick up copies of the novel.

It's pretty much the final stage of the process as far as my writing goes on COVENANT, with any final last minute requests to be submitted before the print is locked down, all ready to go into production later this year. All that's really left for me to see is the UK cover-art, and then it's full-steam ahead on books 2 and 3.

I've just finished the first-draft of book two, ELIXIR, so I'm well on my way, but it's quite daunting seeing teaser pages for a novel that's not yet complete. However, publisher Simon & Schuster and Touchstone USA know what they're doing, and having 3 novels published over a 12 month period will hopefully cement me a prominent position on the shelves and the Internet. Can't wait to see it happen!!

COVENANT: US Edition jacket art.

Had a fantastic surprise yesterday, when into my Inbox arrived a message from Stacy Creamer at Touchstone USA, the American publisher of my novels. With it came the above image, which is the first cover-art that I've seen for COVENANT as it's being published initially in the United States ( October 2011 ).

I can't begin to describe how utterly awesome this design is, as it says such an incredible amount about the novel's content! Everything about it is fantastic, and after having been ever so slightly nervous as to how my various covers might look, I now can't wait to see the UK version. To say that Touchstone have done a fabulous job would be a massive understatement, and I reckon that this cover alone will attract real attention from browsers in bookshops across America. So much so, in fact, that one of my friends has pre-ordered a copy based on this artwork alone! Thanks Mel :o)

Copy-Edit: "Covenant"

Not much has happened over the past few weeks, hence the lack of posts since the middle of December. The holiday period intervened, obviously, but also I've been working away on the first draft of my second novel, "Elixir".

However, yesterday the copy-edited version of Covenant arrived. It's quite exciting to see how another professional editor views the work. The document is peppered with seemingly small but on reflection very astute observations, where the editor has recognised that I've used a particular word twice in two pages, or that a character has accquired a small piece of information twenty pages before they could possibly have. None of the adjustments required are at all labour intensive, usually requiring either deletion or a simple tweak to make everything fit together seamlessly.

It's been an understanding of mine that many authors ( at least in the past ) have resisted with some effort the work of editorial teams and their advice. Many, apparently, have not achieved new contracts, or have seen 'uneven' sales due to their reluctance to alter details in their work. I fail to understand why they do not see the advantages of following editorial advice: my novel was, if I blow my own trumpet, pretty good as it was, and both my editor and agent stated so. But it's so much better now for all of the tiny tweaks, the polishing of each and every page, and I've even identified one or two little bad 'habits' of mine as a writer that I can watch out for in future work, thus making the next editorial easier for all.

My advice; take all editorial notes, and act on them. Throw yourself into it and put aside any pretence that you're already an 'experienced' author. Everyone's work can be improved, and the better it gets, the more an audience will enjoy it. And that means they'll buy your next great best-seller!

Snowed in: Part 2 "Global Warming"

Once again there's several inches of snow outside and I'm sitting INSIDE working on my line-edits. Anybody watching the news might have noticed a sudden dearth of so called 'experts' waffling on about global warming, or 'climate-change' as it's now known. They tend to go extremely quiet when things go against the predictions they've been harping on about for the last 25 years, and they remain even quieter when the various climate-change myths they've been shouting from the melting mountain-tops get exposed.

For those of you who've been taken in by the great circus that is climate-change, here's a few carefully researched pointers for you that I've accumulated over the past four or five years that show what a mess the IPCC has made of scientific endeavour and public faith in our best and brightest.

1) The mean temperature of our globe has been cooling since 2000, not warming.

2) Carbon-dioxide in the atmosphere has continued, however, to rise, destroying the entire edifice of climate warming as being caused by atmospheric CO2.

3) Antarctica is getting colder, and despite losing sea-ice at it's edges is gaining ice in its centre, causing a net-gain in ice.

4) There have never been more polar-bears in the Arctic than there are now, and they're not dying out. Only two isolated populations are declining, the rest are on the rise.

5) Sea levels in the Maldives are dropping not rising, and have been for some years.

6) The Medieval Warm Period exceeded current global mean temperatures long before industry or fossil fuels. It was followed by a global chill that lasted almost 200 years.

7) Increases in atmospheric CO2 do not CAUSE increases in temperature, they FOLLOW increases in temperature. Fluctuations in solar radiance far better fit global mean temperature changes than CO2 levels.

8) Every single major claim made in Al Gore's documentary An Inconvenient Truth have been proven false by climate scientists. Chief of these is the so-called 'Hockey-Stick' graph, showing dramatic changes in global temperatures since the industrial age. Take this graph, extend it back 2,000 years instead of 200, and our current temperature is exceeded many times in natural fluctuations. Extend it back further, and it becomes an invisible blip of no significance. Nor is the speed of temperature change either unusual or unique. The graph as advertised is a deliberate falsehood promoted by the International Panel on Climate Change.

9) "If the Arctic melts, sea levels will rise!!" No, they won't. Take a glass of water, put an ice cube in it, and mark the level of the water. Wait for the ice to melt, and see what happens to the water level. It will fall. Water expands when it freezes, and the Arctic is a giant ice cube floating in the ocean, with most of its mass below the surface. Sea levels will fall if it melts: only if the Antarctic starts melting will we be in trouble, and it's not ( see above ).

10) In the past, there have been severe freezes and thaws throughout climate history, many of which were far more extreme than that being experienced now. The greatest danger on Earth is not global temperature through human activity, but global poisoning through human activity. Amphibians are called 'sentinel species' for a reason, they're sensitive to change. Pictures of three legged frogs, the deformity put down to climate change, are absolute rubbish. Temperature change won't easily cause such genetic mutations: but throw some heavy metals into the water table and it all makes more sense, and we do that all the time. Everyone's barking up the wrong tree, and that's what happens when science becomes politicised for profit, which is what's happened with climate-change.

11) Wind turbines are sold on their maximum theoretical output, not their actual output, increasing profits. Denmark, which has the world's greatest investment in wind turbines, has banned all further building of them having finally realised that they're useless. They either produce too much or not enough power, forcing the country to either sell power cheap or buy power in expensively from elsewhere depending on their turbine output.

12) Never believe anything you read without first checking it. If you think the above is incorrect, search for scientific studies and papers that are INDEPENDENTLY written and peer-reviewed (ie, not the product of either the IPCC or anti-global-warming interests ). Then you'll get confirmation.

I predict that within 15 years, people will wonder how the hell the IPCC got away with the deliberate mis-use of science for profit via carbon trading.

Snowed in!

Like most of the country I awoke this morning to find myself surrounded by about a foot of the white stuff. Once upon a time this would have meant no work and much rejoicing, but as I now work from home.....

I completed the general edit of Covenant a couple of weeks ago, and since them my editor at Simon & Schuster, Maxine Hitchcock, has been hard at work on the 'line-edit'. This second round of editorials is a fine tuning of the manuscript, the final polishing where Maxine makes suggestions on the macro scale. Would character 'X' really say something like that? Would they actually do something like that? Does this line need to be in the narrative or can it be cut out? Is there a spot too much exposition here, too little there? And so on. This final run-through irons out any remaining questions that might 'jolt' a reader as they travel through the story, ensuring that everything within the narrative runs smoothly.

I imagine that it will take me at least a couple of weeks to run through this edit, returning the manuscript to Maxine before Christmas. In the New Year, the MS will then be sent to the copy-editor, who has purposefully not yet read the novel. It will be their job to identify technical errors, should there be any, things like time distortions, character's appearances changing and so on.

Meanwhile, in the background book two is taking shape, with opening chapters already in place. Despite the snow outside, I'm enjoying the work too much to go out and play!!

Contracts!

The contracts for my book deal dropped through the letterbox yesterday morning. I remained completely grown-up about this epic moment, and didn't tear the envelope open and read avidly for half an hour before signing and posting back to LBA immediately. First Class. Recorded.

It's probably the first time since the auction that everything's actually felt 'real'. After so many years of working toward this very goal, now that it's actually happened things have sometimes felt a bit dream-like, as though I've been mistaken for someone else. This always happens to the 'other guy', in the newspaper or on television, not me. What's best about it though is that the contract detailed not just all the stuff that all new authors want to read about, like how much of the advance will be forthcoming, what the royalties are etc, but gave a defined timeline of delivery dates and publication dates and so on. For the first time since September, I now have a realistic mental idea of how much work I have to do, where I should do it, and how to go about planning my next two years.

The deal I signed was for three books: "Covenant", "Elixir" and "Event-Horizon" ( the last two being working titles ). The reason I feel really happy about it all is that I'm now technically employed again, this time as a 'professional' author ( ish ) and have a bright future ahead that will hopefully involve more contracts just like this one.

It's a huge relief, and comforting to know that I can do the work within the contractual deadlines. No more distractions, no more squeezing in an hour after work or not going out with mates because I feel bad about not quite having finished that final chapter yet. Now it's full steam ahead, full-time, and I can't wait to get started.

For all those aspiring writers reading these posts, who think it always happens to 'the other guy', keep hacking away at it. It took me 15 years to get from where I started to my first deal. Those who make it through aren't necessarily the best - they're the ones who didn't quit.

COVENANT takes shape.

It's a bit weird to see your own name appearing on search engines - someone told me the other day that they'd read about my novel being taken to Frankfurt for the International Book Fair. A moment later, and lo-and-behold, there I am!

On a less vain note, I had lunch on Monday with my wonderful editor, Maxine Hitchcock, The Editorial Director of Fiction at Simon & Schuster. Maxine told me a great deal about how things go from here, and introduced me to the hugely friendly team at their offices in London. It turns out that I'll be able to see some cover artwork sometime between now and Christmas, which is hugely exciting! There's much work being done behind the scenes already, and I'm really happy to have been signed to such an enthusiastic and friendly publisher. They're supported by other equally brilliant teams in the United States ( Touchstone ) and Australia.

For my part, the first editorial notes are in, and fortunately Maxine and I are very much on the same wavelength - we've agreed next steps and I'm on the case already. Once this first editorial is complete, there will follow a line-by-line edit, which will fine-tune everything before the manuscript is sent to the copy-editor for the next stage of improvement.

It's back down to work for me once more, but I'm revelling in the writing now and really excited about how things are turning out. Will post again soon, as contracts are now with my agent, Luigi Bonomi, and likely to be signed within a few days.

Deadlines!

I haven't posted much recently as so much has been going on, and I've also been a bit cautious about how much I should write due to possible contractual reasons. I'm hoping that within a few weeks I should be able to write in more detail what's been going on, but for now my main news is that I have my first true dead-lines, with books two and three now having their delivery dates set to Simon & Schuster.

After a few weeks in limbo, it's good to finally have goals to aim for, both of which are well within my reach. Really looking forward to getting stuck into the first draft once I've completed my research. I also have a date for publication of the first novel, but will share that here once the contracts are all signed and everything's in stone.

Most of what's been going on behind the scenes hasn't involved much writing, but instead to the innumerable and unforseen tasks required of me to set myself up as a full time writer. It's been a bit of a caper but when I think about it, it's only been just over a month since the manuscript went out to publishers for auction. While I'm here, I can reveal that that was the same day I was made redundant from my job of eleven years, and just two days before my partner had her twelve-week scan. As you can imagine, it was something of a 'taut' couple of weeks, but everything went fabulously well and now all's good, with Junior healthy and on the way.

Published novelist to be, dad to be... and have to be somewhere else, lunch with Luigi!