Some writers will go on for another ten or twenty re-writes, but that could and can take years.

The writer needs to get comments checked – did someone actually say that and do you need to get clearance to use it?

The poor old writer will also need to have their forwards cleared by now; this adds to the marketing of the book if it’s non-fiction and can be very helpful in moving sales upwards if your forward is written by a well known person (preferably in the right field).

If you have a publishing deal for your book, it’s all quite straight forward now; it just takes time. Hopefully you’ll have agreed an advance at the time the first draft is delivered, because if you haven’t, your advance may be a year away from reaching your bank account. The upfront money you get in advance of sales is based on a guesstimate of how many copies the book might sell initially.

If you haven’t completed a deal with a publisher, then your book proposal will have been floating around publishers from the day you started writing (for nonfiction) which may have been a few months ago. Unfortunately, you almost can’t start this process for a work of fiction until the manuscript is complete. If you’ve not succeeded yet in gaining that elusive contract, you may have some time to contemplate the meaning of life.

This is what may have happened:

Your manuscripts will have been submitted by yourself or your agents to the editorial department for reflection for publication. Some are rejected right away while others are discussed at editorial meetings. In-house or external readers will read and report on the qualities of the manuscript.

When a reader’s report is encouraging, the sales department will be consulted to discuss the book’s selling potential. An offer to publish may then be made, often with a vision to printing the book a year or two from that date. At the publishers, the acquisitions editor will check the book meets the specifications suggested and agreed on. What did you say you were going to write about in that book proposal? The acquisitions editor may ask the author to insert material, remove substance, or make changes to the final manuscript based on an initial reading of the manuscript and/or on comments provided by other internal/external experts. No, we shouldn’t call them interfering people! One month may have passed by now.

Once it passes muster, it then moves on to the development editor who, along with a copyeditor, works with the author to develop and copyedit the manuscript. Every word is checked. Every sentence has to be readable, spell checked and correct. Every full stop needs to be in its own place and not owned by a comma, for example. Another month or two may have slipped by. This might be when you learn about phrases such as ‘suggested rewrites, re-structuring and correcting errors.’

The publishers often plan for at least a year ahead so they’ll have given the writer a target date to come up with the finished and polished product. If it’s a book that should sell well at Christmas then you could miss another year through delays.

In the meantime a designer will work on a cover image and a publicist will ask for a photo and biographical information from the author to create a press release.

Editors will write a ‘blurb’ for the book’s jacket and will record an ISBN so a bar code can be generated for the back cover.

The sales department will create an Advance Information sheet showing the cover design, the ISBN, the title and author details, the blurb, and the book’s price, dimensions, binding, release date and selling points. This will be used by the sales reps to take into bookshops in order to achieve advance orders. Another three months will have passed.

How is your website doing? The publisher’s website will be updated to include details of the impending release and an entry will be included in its next printed catalogue. Your own personal website needs to be updated so that ‘followers’ will know when your book is available and how they can get hold of a copy. That also means getting your Facebook and other ‘social media’ websites up to date.

All of the book information will be passed to the publisher’s warehousing company and to the industry databases so Amazon and high street shops gain their computer book data.

Some months ahead of the publication date A small number of uncorrected ‘proof’ copies of the book may be quickly typeset and printed and sent to key reviewers and book trade buyers.

Next, the book will be typeset and a last proofread is completed. Finally, The book is sent to the printing presses.

A new printing process is ‘printing on demand.’ The book is written, edited, and designed as usual, but it is not printed until the publisher receives an order for the book from a customer. This procedure ensures low costs for storage, and reduces the likelihood of printing more books than will be sold.

As an alternative, you can ‘self publish’ your book using print on demand and depending upon how much effort or skills you have in layout and computer submissions, your book can be ready in a month or two.

Now dare I take a break for an hour or so?

Each football match lasts around two hours allowing for the game itself, half time (time for a cup of tea) and the post match analysis listening to experts who appear to either totally agree with me or be completely wrong (note: who is wrong?) With three games a day for the first round, that’s a clear six hours off the writing schedule, which is more than the writing schedule was anyway.

Food takes time to prepare and eat and without reverting to fast food or eating in front of the television (a habit I do not wish to start) it’s a given that I must allow some time for keeping my strength up.

Of course by sitting down so much (much like a writing day) I need to find time for exercise. I’ve cut down the gym visit to 45 minutes while the football is on and if I time it right I can be in the gym for the second half of some matches thus killing two birds with the one stone.

While the late, great Bill Shankly said something like ‘football is more important than life or death’ I do have to pencil in some important time with my family each day. I can’t just say hi in the morning and good night at the other end of the day.

The great and the pain of life is looking over one’s emails. This takes time. The emails I want often need a reply and I’m sorry if those replies are shorter during this sporting month, but there are just so many and mostly about the football world cup.

Having sourced my computer calculator, it tells me I’m left with one hour a day to answer emails and complete any writing without totally ignoring my important family, especially if I want to maintain seven hours sleep a night and remained married while remembering my daughter’s name.

Here’s looking forward to the second round when it’s down to two matches a day. That should give me time to write for two hours a day or will I just be catching up on everything I’ve fallen behind this past first round period? There’s the grass to mow and a trip to the beach would be nice.

I’ll just give in easily and revert to a proper professional writing schedule once the football is over. That way my family will still be talking to me in a month’s time. Shall we call this a holiday, then, because there won’t be any work happening here any time soon? Got to go, there’s another game on in a few minutes.

How you pull that character together, is another enquiry altogether.

Some writers spend endless hours writing a long thesis for each character so they’d know if the character would prefer to eat a Rossi ice cream in Southend-on-Sea or visit a takeaway for pizza or lasagne; or would they prefer their local Italian restaurant for those items?

They’ll know if their great aunt worked for the CIA and if the friend who lives over on twelfth avenue buys his Sunday paper from the local Wal-Mart or has it delivered, even if the aunt and paper boy or girl aren’t even used in the book.

Most of this detail I find unnecessary, but often little character traits are essential. Perhaps the paper delivery boy or girl will see a suspicious individual leave a house at a certain time?

Characters must be memorable. We all know exactly who we think of when we imagine Sherlock Holmes, especially before the recent movie (which I enjoyed but Sherlock was not the man in my recollection.) We have him pictured and understood in our memory banks. We know the type of person he is. He know his ‘special’ behaviour; the way we know the character traits of those we love, in our spouse or partner.

Believable; yes they must be realistic as well. Even Spiderman is realistic in the way that we understand him in our mind. He’s three dimensional; we know the fully rounded person, not just the way he looks and the way he way he wears his clothes.

As writers, we think through our character’s lives. We don’t want to be tripped up later saying she did one thing when that didn’t fit in at all with the previous personality set we’ve introduced. We get to know how a character would react in certain situations, what’d they do and what was the most likely outcome. Of course, as writers, we’re trying to show a character arc through the manuscript so we can see what changes occur, but they’d have to fit in with the person’s general manner or possibilities.

Names and locations are so difficult to choose. They should match the person or town described, but not be so common or confusing as to cause distress to the reader. How often have you got to page 55 and then had to track back to page 14 to see what someone was called because you’ve been confused by the characters or the location.

If you choose someone called George Bush, your reader will place a character trait on the person in your book without reading further. They’ll confuse your man with that of a president. If your lady is called Halle Berry then apart from a lawsuit probably on its way to you (if the legal department of your publisher hasn’t knocked it out first) you can’t portray her as a ninety year old spinster weighing 300 pounds. It doesn’t work.

Use the internet to search for the names you wish to use. There may already be people with your character’s name, but you can confirm, at least to your own satisfaction, that you’re not framing a reader’s viewpoint too quickly. My daughter has a rare name, then we met someone with the same name. Impossible, but true. It will happen. No point in giving your lead star the same name as the CEO of a rich list company. You may not know them, but many will or might.

The final note on names is to make them appear unlike all the other characters. If you choose John Smith, Jim Smythe and James Smithie you’re going to get your reader to suffer from twisted blood. Better to go for Mark Black, David Hinton and Graham Clitheroe. My apologies if these names belong to you; I didn’t check Google and you won’t be in my book.

If you’re using real locations you mustn’t talk about London and then place Big Ben next to Wembley stadium. If your reader knows the site, they’ll place the location in their mind and if you’re not accurate, their belief in the rest of your story might falter. If you take off from Miami international airport, you can’t arrive at JFK in thirty minutes. Concorde no longer lives, but if you were in a Star Trek style story, thirty minutes might be too long.

Having said all of this, even if you call your leading lady Sandy Wiltshire, you can still picture her as Halle Berry and construct a character set that matches your chosen delight, while probably stealing a few traits from some friends of yours. So while you might be thinking of Ms Berry, your lady may be a black actress, attractive, provocative, with a nice figure, but she’ll be slightly different and your reader won’t be thinking of Halle Berry, possibly just a Halle Berry ‘type, ’ but were you thinking of Catwoman or Perfect Stranger; the two are not alike at all?

PS I quite liked Catwoman, but I understand I’m in the minority.

I maintained the RICE regime to try to ensure control of inflammation and pain relief.

R – Rest
I – Ice
C – Compression
E – Elevation

It worked reasonably well, but a quality (not the cheap ones) thigh strap that holds the muscles in place works better in the long run (like the pun?) Trying to jog too early sets you back a couple of weeks. I know from practical experience and from the ensuing pain.

Having long term visitors drop by also misplaced a couple of weeks, but I’m now through the other side and run out of excuses and any further procrastination. The thigh strap means I can walk and talk and therefore, sit and type. Well, not actually much typing, mostly using the dictation software and only typing for some minor editing.

This led me to change the delivery times for my novel, Chasing The Will. The delay has allowed me to review the chapter planning for the book and given me the opportunity to add a new part to the book where I’ll introduce a new character that will prove essential to the story. This new link makes it all hang together so much better, such are the advantages of taking time and looking with fresh eyes two months later.

I’ll start to post the book chapter planning later this week just after I’ve filled in a couple of blanks. Still thirty chapters and good to go.

Hey, I’m even back playing football. No sympathy required: I know I shouldn’t be playing football at my age and you don’t have to tell me every time we meet.

It’s about time I shared the blurb with you. This, in a nutshell, lets you know what the story is about. You’ll find it on the inside cover of a hardback; the back page of a paperback and half way down the book’s page on Amazon.

It introduces the main characters. You’ll know what happens at the beginning of the tale and you get the general idea of what happens next. What you won’t know, is how it’s all going to pan out and how it will be brought to a close. Surely we all know the baddies don’t often get away free at the end, but this time? That’s up to the author. Oh, that’s me.

“Have you checked to see if he’s actually dead?”

When Londoner Harold Webber dies, his daughter discovers that his Will has been forged by two scammers who prey on lonely, elderly people to steal their properties and estates. The police won’t help so Webber’s daughter teams up with his lawyer to expose the scammers. Enter a young American blonde who says she was Webber’s last lover and was promised everything. Likewise a Barbadian beauty. Are they gold-diggers or is one of them telling the truth?

Writing what you know is a double-edged sword. I could write all day everyday about the legal aspects of estate planning and know exactly what I was talking about, but what if I want to write a detective or a murder mystery? I’ve never been a detective, and certainly never murdered anyone even though I confess that thought might have crossed my mind once or twice, but never seriously. Could it be that from years of watching detective and murder mysteries on television that I have actually completed my research in advance?

Do I know enough background information about how I should go about murdering someone (just in the fiction writing of course!), should I guess what actually goes through someone’s mind when taking action or should I talk to experts who have been involved in the field of murder? I’m not convinced I know enough gangland bosses or experts in assassination to carry out the last task, but it could be that calling the local police station there might be people who may be able to talk me through several experiences they have set out to seek and solve. Or should I take steps like the murderer who acts on impulse; no preparation, no planning just writing on the spur of the moment?

Quite clearly the likes of Lisa Gardner and Karin Slaughter have completed serious research to bring their fiction writing to life. You certainly feel, after reading one of their books, that they know exactly what they’re talking about. There is no reason to doubt a single line of information, that tells us how the crimes are committed and how they are solved.

Certainly if the novel is solely based on the everyday aspects of estate planning, possible audience for the book is now down considerably from the many millions who may entertain a detective or murder mystery manuscript.

As there will be some sort of detective and mystery involved in my legal estate planning novel, I had better get on the telephone to the police station, spend time searching the Internet with the help of Google and inquiring among friends if any of them know of any local assassination experts.

Here’s the dilemma; my seven year old daughter is in a Christmas play this week. Not just a school play (she’s in that as well on Friday, but that’s in the morning!) but a full blown total experience taking place at the city’s top theatre. She appears in four dances along with a diverse cast of one hundred singers, dancers and actors of all ages. Tickets are expensive, but have sold out quickly. The patron will get very good value for money paid.

My situation is that I’m working backstage for this production. This is a new experience for me. I’m used to being out front, directing people and being a lead in the presentation. The experience has been mostly fun, opened up new thoughts for my own playwriting, but all in the awareness of a director who lacks, well say we say, manners. To be fair, she was recruited late on as the team had been rehearsing for weeks and wants to lick them all into shape in hours rather than weeks. The director has wanted to make so many late changes to the script, the music, the lighting and the dances, that the cast and crew are spinning on her extraordinarily demands.

I am most certainly learning a lot seeing the show from the back and side, rather than from the front. This will stand me in good stead when I dither over my play writing. I now really know how hard the back stage crew work and how important their work is to the overall production. It’s no longer just all talk and waffle. The director will take all the credit and the performers will get their bow, but the crew should get their moment of glory for keeping it all together.

So I don’t expect to get many thoughts down on the laptop this week. I pick up my daughter from school at 2.30pm; we head for the theatre and I leave late. Don’t worry politically correct parents; she gets picked up as soon as her part of the show is over and she’s tucked up in bed and fast asleep while I’m still prowling the back stage zones.

I did think about balancing my laptop backstage, at least getting a few words down here and there, but having seen how the props people work, I wouldn’t want it to become centre stage just as Mary and Joseph find their long lost barn and then use Google to search for a better hotel.

This part of the planning contains both the easiest part of the book and the most difficult.

The first job is to open up your chosen word processor and write the numbers one to thirty down the left hand side leaving generous spacing between each one. I’ve chosen thirty chapters as my ideal arrangement for my first draft, but I’m flexible where necessary. It might be better to add a chapter later if it suits the need as I’m writing and I find I need an extra chapter to deal with additional thoughts. Conversely, I might need to delete a chapter if I find I cover its content either earlier or later or it just shapes down to not being required – extra waffle is not a good reading signal for any bookworm. Include them at your peril.

The second task is now to briefly write down what will happen in each chapter. This part of the planning can be achieved in minutes by some people and over the course of months by others. Personally I like to go head long into it and have a first idea in an hour or so and then spend the following three or four days actually testing if the plan for the novel:

• Sounds good
• Looks good
• Makes sense
• Includes everything

I also need to give thought to the following:

• Introducing the hero
• Setting the background to the story
• Showing the problem that the central character has to overcome
• Keeping the time-line intact
• Introducing any ‘B’ story
• The point of no return
• How will the antagonist react?
• What stumbling blocks will be in the way?
• Two steps forward, one step back
• Major crisis
• Fight to the end
• Heighten the demand for the hero/antagonist clashes
• Resolution of the ‘B’ story
• Resolution of the main story

Then everything needs to put into the right order. It wouldn’t be right to confuse the reader although including a few ‘red herrings’ are wonderful fun.

Now I need to define the exact details of each character so they can interact well. Then I’ll work on the locations where events unfold.

It’s also called a logline by some parts of the writing industry. Whatever it’s called, it contains the following:

• It’s short
• It tells you who is involved
• It informs you of their desires
• It lets you know of their conflict during the story

The connoisseurs in this field will call this same section ‘the protagonist, the goal and the antagonistic power.

Some examples:

JAWS: (the movie most of us know)
After a series of grisly shark attacks, a sheriff struggles to protect his small beach community against the bloodthirsty monster, in spite of the greedy chamber of commerce.

The movie 2012 has been out a couple of weeks: this is described as:
Never before has a date in history been so significant to so many cultures, so many religions, scientists, and governments. 2012 is an epic adventure about a global cataclysm that brings an end to the world and tells of the heroic struggle of the survivors.

For books, you tend to get space for a few more words (it’ll take you 7-10 hours to read while the movie will take you two hours to watch) thus:

CHRONIC CITY By Jonathan Lethem

Lethem’s eighth novel unfolds in an alternative-reality Manhattan. The crowded canvas includes a wantonly destructive escaped tiger (or is it a subway excavator?) prowling the streets, a cruel gray fog engulfing Wall Street, a “war free” edition of The New York Times, a character stranded on the dying International Space Station, strange and valuable vaselike objects called chaldrons, colossal cheeseburgers and some extremely potent marijuana.

Once complete the ‘blurb’ will keep you on track; to remind you what your story is about as you write it. It will also be necessary when you come to sell your manuscript to a publisher. Something that’s easy to grasp and digest, something that’s ready to go on the back page of your paperback.

Okay; must do the first few drafts of my ‘blurb’ now. I’ll let you know how it went. I might do a couple and then let it sit for a couple of days as I start working out what the story will be about, in real time detail.

It crosses my mind that the more I write in this blog, the less I’m writing my new novel. For every 500 words on this blog I could be 500 words closer to my 75,000 target. However, if everyone that reads this blog tells a hundred others, then I might have one or two people waiting to buy the book as soon as it’s finished. Am I getting ahead of myself in the marketing plan before I even know what the book is about?

There’s two types of planning at this stage; the practicalities and the story.

The practicalities tell me that the book should be around 300 pages long. That means that each page will require some 250 words, totalling a book word count of 75,000. I might end up adding a few more or even writing a few less; it all depends upon where the story takes me.

The next calculator result is that with chapters averaging around ten pages, then I have to make thirty chapters fit the process. I personally like ten page chapters. It means I can pick up a book and read just ten pages and be able to put it down fairly soon if I have other deadlines to meet, like going to the school to pick up my daughter or waiting for a football match to begin on television. If I’m tired, ten pages can be an easy read. If a book is compelling I might sneak into another chapter and miss the kick off, but that’s rare.

On other occasions, I can sit down, relax and take in a number of chapters in one go; it’s up to me and my family! If I’m faced with a 50 page chapter then I might decide to keep the book closed and watch the pre-match discussion.

So now I know I need 2,500 words for a chapter. That’s not set in stone. Some will be shorter and several will be a good deal longer. It’s just a guide.

Now we get to really punch the calculator buttons. If I write 3 pages a day, note down six days a week (okay, make that five because six might be pushing it too far) then I need to get to 3750 words a week. (Reminder to self to set up an Excel spreadsheet.) With some articles that can be a day’s work, but when you’re so careful in selecting every word, a week sounds favourable. Hey, I can even write more and not have to worry. I might even take a day off if I’m not behind.

Twenty weeks. That’s how long a first draft should take me should I keep on target.

Some people will say that 750 words a day isn’t many, but I do have a number of other projects on stream at the moment, Christmas is coming and I only need to have one of the other projects requiring an urgent finish and I’ll be behind.

The way I work involves spending the first hour or so going over the previous day’s work and making changes where necessary. I edit as I go along as well, so 750 words suddenly becomes a tall order.

Twenty weeks starting on March 1st takes me to the start of July 2010. If I add in story planning and research, then please give me to the end of July and we’ll have a first draft available.

I like deadlines. Nothing like a deadline to set the mind working. So what will the story be about?

I’m busy this weekend so I’m starting Monday.