I write early in the morning. It's Harper's fault. She started it.
When I began writing my first novel, Unpacking Harper Holt, finding the time to write was a challenge. I work full time, have a son and two demanding rescue dogs. There's a garden that I am trying to get to grow, housework... you get the idea.
But Harper was persistent - the longer I took to get started the more she forced her way to the front of my mind until one morning, just before 5 am I woke up with the first line in my head - I was wide wake.
Within fifteen minutes, I was at my computer, our dog George, in his basket under my desk, and the first few paragraphs finished. After an hour the first chapter was done.
That's what happened every morning, at the same time, chapter by chapter until... well that's another story - for another post.
From 5 til about 6.30 am, the house is quiet, there is time to sit and focus on what is happening in the story and most of all - nothing else has come into my head.
I don't look at my phone, turn on the radio or TV, I don't read online news or or look at my work schedule - I don't think about anything other than the story.
I write in complete chapters - once it's finished I can turn off the computer and walk away to start the rest of my day. The next morning - just before 5, I wake up - make a coffee, and start the next chapter.
When you listen to writers talk about writing, how they write, when they write, they each have their own way of doing things.
I can't tell you how to write or when to write, all I can say - based on my experience - is that you have to find the way that suits you and once you do - just write.
