The writing process is something that means different things to different people. Of course the mechanice are simple enough, putting pen to paper or fingetips on keyboards, ready, steady, off we go.
But what about the rest? For some it's a matter of knowing where they want to go with the writing, planning out the next line, next chapter even the whole book before they start.
I have tried this approach twice and come to the conclusion that it isn't the one for me.
That's not to say that there is a right or wrong way to go about writing, just that I couldn't get to grips with the planning process.
The major drawback with writing in the dark so to speak is that the writer is at the mercy of the characters, they decide where to go and what to do and you cling on to their coat tails and hope for the best.
I am on number seven in a crime thriller series and each book has been the same. I start off and plough on seeing where this thing will lead me, after seventy thousand words I start to panic. All this stuff and no idea what happens next. That's when I stop and do a read through and the links start to form, of course they were there all along, I just needed to take a step back and clarify things, then it's a mad dash for the finishing line as the clouds part and all becomes clear.
Long may it continue!