Things go better with a plan

Being free and easy and just writing what you want is great. It leaves you free to explore your ideas to see what works and what doesn’t. It’s something you should do.

But the result is likely to be a hot mess of hokum. A bouillabaisse of unrelated nice ideas that may sound good on their own but will make a crap book.

I did that for a few months and got bogged down and even a little depressed. What started out as a fun project was becoming a chore and I was getting nowhere fast.

But then I made a plan. It wasn’t the first one but somehow this one seemed to work. It might have helped that I did it just before going on holiday and was able to forget about it.

The book is now about 60% done and it’s fun again. I know I’m going to finish it and it’s going to be good.