When I was diagnosed with Ewing’s Sarcoma in 2015, my oncology nurse said, ‘Give us a year of your life and we’ll give your life back.’ I’ll never forget Deidre’s words. For one, they were pretty bold. She was basically promising that bone cancer wouldn’t kill me. But most importantly, she was giving me a roadmap of hope. In essence, she said, release all control of your life to us for a year and we’ll give you a future.
That’s exactly what happened. I quite literally had no control over my life from August 2015 until July 2016. Either I was too sick to move from one room to the next, or I was waiting for appointments that sometimes happened, but oftentimes didn’t. Sometimes it was because my oncologist or pharmacist or surgeon was running hours behind, often it was because my bloods weren’t ‘good enough’ for the planned chemo, or I had to have blood transfusions instead.
But enough of the gory detail. One of the hardest parts of that journey was the loss of control over my life. And I’m a massive control-freak. Massive! Still am. So when I was better and turned to writing, free-form writing wasn’t for me. Ironic really, because I never make New Year’s resolutions, or plan what’s going to be happening even weeks in advance. But when it comes to writing a book, I need that roadmap.
In 2018, I was working with my friend and book coach, Emily Tamayo Maher, and she was the person who helped me plot out my books. I soon realised that pantsing (making it up as you go) is unsustainable for writing thrillers with complex plots and twists. In one of my books, I didn’t know who the baddie was until I wrote the last chapter. I had to do so much editing and retro-fitting to make it work, I swore never to do that again.
Over the years, Emily and I talked about writing a book together on our processes. She wanted to share the key tips she has for supporting authors to finish their books. Numerous people have asked me how I regularly write four novels a year. So we co-wrote, The Rapid Novel Blueprint.
It will be published on 1st January 2025, just in time for anyone who wants to make 2025 the year they finish writing their book. We go into considerable detail, considering mindset, objectives, writing processes and the key things that make a bestseller. I share the beat sheet (very detailed synopsis) of Make Her Pay, one of my bestselling psychological thrillers, so you can see what needs to happen when. And this translates into any commercial fiction genre - whether that’s thrillers, romance or sci-fi.
Over the coming weeks, I’ll be sharing some of the key take-aways from the book. But in the meantime, if you or someone you know would love to write fiction, The Rapid Novel Blueprint is available for preorder now. And at 0.99c / 0.99p or free in Kindle Unlimited, it’s not going to break the bank!
PS - it’s already got a #1 New Release tag on Amazon and it hasn’t been published yet!