The other day I was in the bookstore, as I often am, taking part in, I think, a pasttime of many aspiring writers. Mainly, picking up random books from the shelves, flipping through them for a few minutes, throwing my hands up in the air in frustration and yelling “Why is this schlock published and I’m not?! I’m a way better writer!”

I repeat this process several times and then, in frustration, pick up a book (which generally is better than anything I can write. Hello Joe Abercrombie!) and storm off to the till to pay, eager to get home and wallow in the sorrows of my unpublished life.

But the most recent time I took part in my favourite past-time, I was hit with a rather large, sweaty epiphany. In fact, I now understand, quite clearly, why these authors are published and I am not; I understand what they’ve done to get a foot up.

They’ve finished their novel.

Seriously, it’s the single most important thing an author can do to get themselves on the road to being a published and (hopefully) successful author. A finished, mediocre novel has a hell of a lot of a better chance of getting published than a half-finished, albeit brilliant, manuscript. Now, the fun is in combining to two and coming up with a manuscript which is not only finished… but also brilliant. I’ll let you know when I succeed.

Any writer knows it’s easy to start a project, ideas in your head just bursting at the seams, screaming for a chance to be put to paper. Your pen flows freely for the first paragraph, the first page, the first act… but then, it all dries up. Maybe you haven’t spent enough time preplanning and you’ve written yourself into a corner; maybe your idea just wasn’t very good in the first place; maybe you’ve come up with an even better idea and that’s now getting all of your attention. Whatever the reason, that manuscript gets regulated to the back of the closet and any chance of it being published goes from slim (if we’re being honest with ourselves, no matter the quality of the work) to basically none.

A sad fate indeed for an idea which once spurred on such excitement in the author. It’s happened to me… hell, it’s happened to everyone, I’m sure.

So, with this in mind, I’m gonna try my damnedest to make sure I finish Rowan’s story, to tell it as it needs to be told and to make sure I stay interested in it by being innovative and creative with my writing, and, most importantly, having fun telling her story. And well, who knows, by finishing it… I might just walk into my favourite book store, two years from now and watch some other aspiring writer, my novel in their hands, cursing the dreck lining the shelves.