Thanks, Robbie, I’ve certainly been having a better time of it. However the post tomorrow is actually about something completely different! 🙂 I should probably do a Nano wrap-up after that!

Thanks Heather, and I can see it’s tricky to get the balance right in what reminders to put in although why a new reader would ever start a series at anywhere other than at the beginning is beyond me! I did say when I finished my trilogy I wasn’t going to do one of those again but I think I forgot that when I embarked on this much longer series. Anyway, I’m not committed to anything yet so I shall just see how it goes and only proceed if I think it’s worth doing. Good luck your your final book of the series!

Haha, I’m glad it’s not just me! And I do know what you mean about the everyday bits that are a drag to write – most of it will end up coming out. Of that I am sure.

I know it’s a tall order, but I think I need to at least get a good outline down for them all because otherwise I can see there might need to be things referenced in the first books for stories coming later on in the series. Those are my thoughts anyway. I also don’t want to embark on what I think is a 12 book series when really it’s only 3 or 4. Which it might well be!

I love the fact you are still gushing the words out after all your books, EJ. I lost that ability a while ago, sadly. Fortunately I like the editing bit where you get to see those occasional sparks of something half decent starting to appear. There are certainly a lot of ups and downs in the production of our books. Your last point is interesting though… wonder why that was?

As for writing the bits that bore you, my outlook is this: if they’re boring to write… you can fill in the next bit yourself! You can take the plot from one place to another without writing them, even if it covers several years. For instance, you don’t have to write ‘for the next two months Josephine worked hard at the bakery while filling her evenings with needlepoint’. You can just start the next chapter 2 months later, when the devilishly handsome stranger walks into her life! Also, walking downstairs, doing the shopping, making toast – unless you can make it funny/plot-relevant, I think it’s best to find ways to skip over it entirely.

Eight first drafts – that’s a tall order! I’ve only ever done that ‘writing more than one book before it’s published’ thing twice, when I wrote Lindisfarne and half of UK2 before publishing Tipping Point, but that was hard enough! It’s really difficult to have a book more or less good to go, then leave it and start on another! Why not try writing a plan for them all? Then you would know where they’re all going, or more or less, but could start publishing. Anyway – great idea, good luck, and don’t be too hard on yourself!

Agreed, Linda, and good luck!