John Grisham suggests we write up to 1000 words a week and if we do that we can write a novel in 2 years. He likes lists and suggests:

• Write 200 words daily or make sure you write at least 1000 words a week.
• Read every sentence 3 times to edit.
• Introduce a maximum of 5 characters in chapter one.
• Write for 1 hour; same place and time daily.
• Use words you know with few of those you’d like to know, never use words no one knows:

So my Argute heroine left her meeting after inflicting a recumbentibus on her boss who is a blathershite. She goes on to have a cacoethes and joins a group of trainee assassins….

Reflecting on what I’ve written, I may be in jeopardy of becoming an Aeolist.  Such is the joy of strange words I may not remember tomorrow.

Other advise suggests we should never tell people we are writing. Well, I don’t agree with that. Two years today I will turn 60 and I think it would be great to give myself a present of a completed manuscript.

I realise that I can write 200 words anywhere, anytime. And it’s about this long.