Joanne Anderton

Well, I just passed the half-way point in this revision and sure enough the middle is as big a muddle as I’d feared. Tonight, I sat down and worked out what wasn’t working and how I could fix it. Then I cut 9000 words, give or take a few.

But you know what, that’s ok. Because [...]

Is it really worth analyzing the writing of this novel draft any more than I’ve already done? I have angsted like an angsty thing about it. Hell, it even led to the creation of a ‘Writerly Angst’ category.

So, you know what? No more angst.

Instead, one of the positive things this draft taught me — well, [...]

Yes, a novel requires lots of planning. Notes and brainstorming and lists and timelines. But there is a point where the planning becomes procrastinating. For me, that time is now.

And I know why. It’s because I am afraid. Afraid that I won’t be able to replicate whatever it was I did right in the last [...]