When I knew I had a story I wanted to write, the hardest thing was sitting down to actually write it! Even though I’d been writing for other people for several years, sitting down to write a full length novel made up of my own ideas seemed an impossibility, and I wasn’t confident I could do it. However, I knew I just had to suck it up, sit down and get on with writing and, once I did that, the story started to flow. I can remember when I made the decision to start – it was a snowy day in January and I’d come home from a walk with a scene in my head, so sat down at the computer and started to type. The story has grown from there and is now a six book series, with book three due out soon.

Start writing. It may seem obvious, but there are plenty of people I’ve met who say they have an idea for a book, but haven’t ever written it down. I was the same way for a few years – I had an idea, scribbled notes here and there, but never actually sat down and did anything with it. And if you don’t have an idea but want to write, I would still say the same thing. Set a timer, sit down and write about anything. Write about what you had for lunch, what you can see from the window, what you dreamt about last night. The important thing is to start the flow of ideas and then see what happens.

Ha ha, interesting question! Hmmm, let’s see. I think I’d decline. My life has been a pretty wild and wonderful journey so far and, even though there are memories there that make me cringe, I wouldn’t give up any of them. They are part of who I am, and even show up in stories from time to time (including a fairly awful date which made it into a recent completed novel). So the alien can keep their potion – I’d rather have the memories, thanks 🙂