It was Bas' birthday today, so we had a lazy lie-in, then lunch outside in our back garden a bit later. I normally eat lunch (usually a bowl of cereal) watching a TV show. I'm a creature of habit!!! But I'm always prepared to break that habit for a special occasion, and I must admit the novelty was lovely, even though it was a bit windy and we had to keep grabbing items as they were blown from our picnic table!!!

I edited more of the first book of the four-book series. As I was opening the Word file, I noticed that I had also been doing an edit of the book in June 2008. I smiled and thought back a year -- if I'd closed my eyes, it was like the 12 months hadn't passed at all. This is my fifth draft. I wrote the first back in January 2007, and I have probably another couple of edits to go before the book is truly finished next April or May. That means, by the end, I'll have been working on it for more than 3 years, which is by no means unusual for me -- the average for most of my books is 2 to 3 years. I've said it often here before, but it's worth saying again for any young would-be writers out there -- in this game, you have to be PATIENT. Things rarely happen swiftly in the world of books. I know it can be hard when you're starting out, and you're not moving forward as quickly or as smoothly as you like, and you can sometimes think that you're wasting you time, getting nowhere, you might as well quit. Well, you just have to press on determinedly and get used to the slow pace of progress!! Even when you hit your stride, as I have done, you're still going to be in a situation where you're often starting a book far ahead of its publication schedule, living in the world of the story for months or years on end. That's the nature of the beast, and while it can seem daunting from the point of view of a beginner, you'll learn to relish it further down the line if you stick with what you're doing and succeed -- one of the nice things about being a writer is having the time to pause and enjoy the work and the build-up. Success in life (in anything you set out to do) isn't just measured by what you achieve -- it's measured by how much time you have to appreciate your achievement. If you're a writer, life is a marathon, not a sprint, so don't go getting depressed just because you can't see the finishing line after 5 or 6 miles!!!