I published Glasdrum, my second novel, on 1 April 2017. It had taken me about two years to write, and my first novel took me three years. Aha, I thought, a pattern of book-writing efficiency. Logically Book 3 would only take me one year.

Nope.

Maybe I got the pattern wrong. It’s not 3-2-1, it’s 3-2-3.

A few weeks ago I scrapped 50k words of the third book and started again. This was very disheartening, but it had to be done. I had reached the mid-way point of the story and I was bored by it. I’d ended up following a dull plot-line that was too much like real-life, and was getting bogged down in relationship dramas that were of no interest to anyone. There wasn’t enough drama. So I ditched it.

I stopping writing altogether for a while after that, fed up at the thought of nine months of wasted effort. But I didn’t know what to do with myself so I decided to give it another shot.

I’m now 18k words in Book Three, Version Two, and I’m so glad I went back to it. I’m feeling excited by the plotline of this version and although I’m writing it from scratch, a lot of the characterisation and back story from the original 50k words have been useful and have meant I’ve been able to write more quickly than usual.

Little things along the way have been motivating: finding out that I’m stocked in Waterstones in Edinburgh, being reviewed in Lochaber Life magazine, and receiving the odd message on facebook from people who have enjoyed Daughter, Disappeared or Glasdrum – these messages are appreciated so much.

Onwards and upwards!