I think some people have a romantic notion of writers… that the only way to produce a creative work is to hire a gorgeous little cottage on the west coast of Ireland, drink copious amounts of seriously good scotch and let with story flow.

I wish!

But I have finished The Chaos Crystal, book 4 of the Tide Lords series. All that is left now is for my beta readers to come back and tell me what they think of it.

Anyway... I’m sure you’re wondering how I manage the creative process (well, even if you aren’t, I’m going to tell you).

Did I hire a cottage somewhere gorgeous?

No, I renovated one house and moved to another.

Three days before the book was finished, I thought I’d have to move again, but this turned out just be fate playing prank on me

So, I hear you ask (at least I’m assuming that’s who the voice in my head is) what sort of things did you surround yourself with to facilitate the production of this 160K word creative epic...

• I worked full time for a goodly portion of the writing (well, I turned up to the office every day… working?… not so much.)
• I worked on my Masters Thesis
• I renovated a house
• I moved house
• I helped nurse a kitten with 2 broken legs back to health
• I reviewed about 30 movies
• I drove to Melbourne and back (6000 km round trip)
• My son got married.
• I was shortlisted for an Aurealis award
• I had a book launch with John Rhys Davies
• I attended three Supanova conventions
• I babysat my grandson everyday after school
• I wrote 60,000 words of a new series
• I hugged the Hulk
• I walked two 50kg dogs for an hour a day
• Spent five days as the jury foreman on a rape trial
• I wrote 3 short stories
• I blogged every day
• I delivered 4 workshops on writing and world building
• I did a screen-writing course
• I had a stories published in the Andromeda Spaceways Inflight Magazine and the Official Stargate Magazine
• I wrote a 40 page film treatment which nobody will let me call Attack of the Killer Drop Bears
• And I didn’t lose or gain a single pound in all that time

 Go figure...