However, I’m sure like many people here. When I come to peruse these ideas at said “later date”; they make no sense to me whatsoever. Some of the ideas I’ve written down recently (no, really!) are: “Lots of needles in a single arm”, “Captain Scarlet makes a podcast” and “man in a business suit puts on a silly costume”.

I remember having a really good reason for writing these things at the time, but can’t actually remember what those reasons actually were (if anybody thinks they know what I did mean, please do tell me).

So really my future plans must be to make better future plans. Also clearly, I need to be less insane…

The Writers and Artists Yearbook is in our Bookshop, by the way, to save you searching for it: The Bookshop.

It may be better to get yourself a copy of The Writers and Artists Yearbook 2009, find out the requirements of each agent, and start sending the required query package to each agent (I used to query 5 a week.) Publishers generally don’t accept query packages directly from writers nowadays, you have to go through an agent. I spent a couple of years on and off researching how to get published and the best piece of information on how to get an agent I found was here:

http://www.agentquery.com/writer_hq.aspx

Be warned, there is a LOT of utter shite posted on the net by wannabe “I’m a published author donchaknow” writers who waste their time yakking about writing instead of doing it, and taking their advice can sometimes set you back for *months*. Writers forums are *full* of these patronising know-it-alls. Just as in the climbing world, the really passionate climbers are out on the crag climbing, there are others who’d rather sit in front of a computer attempting to score points off others in little online battles about how you’re meant to climb. See what I mean?

You will get the very best advice in The Writers and Artists Yearbook. I wish now I had read more of that before I started.

> I also find it useful to tell as many people as possible about my goal,

Yes, yes yes. Good luck

As with all things, different methods work for different people. I think the trick is to gather ideas then experiment and find a method that works for you and not worry too much about how other people do things.

This is what works for me…

Next to my computer on the wall, I’ve got a Sasco compact year planner chart. I’ve also made some chapter magnets to chart writing progress (see Appendix at the end for the method if you’re interested in making some.)

Assuming that the mental prep work has been done, I type out and print a chapter plan of the book, with a line summarising each chapter. Then I know roughly how many chapters the book will have. This chapter plan is organic and mutable, not fixed! The idea is to allow it to breathe, change and evolve as the book progresses, which I reflect by updating the plan and printing it off every time there are changes (marking at the top the date of the latest amendment.)

I decide how long I’m going to set aside to write the book. In the case of the second half of My Adventures In Cyberspace II, I’ve set aside February – May.

I divide the chapter magnets amongst the weeks and months on the chart. A
challenging chapter will have an entire week set aside for it. Most weeks will have 2 chapters scheduled.

If I fail to achieve my targets, I move the chapter magnets onwards to the next weeks, so that all the time I have a fixed schedule in front of me and targets to achieve. Failing to achieve targets happens all the time and these failures are ignored and not dwelt upon. All I mark up on the chapter plan is the successes – the chapters written get ticked off and the word count written next to them.

This way, I’m working constantly in a positive environment. Currently I’m a couple of weeks behind schedule with the writing on My Adventures In Cyberspace II, as proof-reading My Adventures In Cyberspace (the first one) has taken longer than planned. Hopefully that will be on sale on Amazon next week!

For me, the key is to understand that all successful people fail. The trick is to not let those failures impede your onwards progress. Success is about learning to handle failure, in other words.

Appendix: How to make chapter magnets -

1) Buy some glass pebbles from a craft shop or on eBay.
2) Type some random numbers from 1 to 50 in word, print off in draft to check the size of each number will fit behind a glass pebble, then write from 1 to 50 and print off in high quality.
3) Cut out a roundish shape round each number.
4) Use transparent sealant (the one in a long squeezy tube with a trigger gun, from hardware shops) to seal each number to the base of each glass pebble.
5) Use sealant to attach a small magnet to the base of each number – you can buy craft magnets in bulk on eBay for a couple of quid.

You can see the glassy chapter magnets on the wall chart behind me here in this shot from 2008, showing the writing schedule for Mother-in-Law, Son-in-Law. I ended up finishing it in 3 months.

Today I’m getting back into the writing mode without the excuses. And targets are a big part of that.

Ok, sorry about that. I do think I will try the target method and see what happens.

Thanks for this great primer on eating that elephant.

Cheers!

George