I am writing my seventh book (Long story short, I've written eight, but lost the seventh one due to a laptop crash. So I'm re-writing my seventh one) and this is a place I've never been mentally before.

You see, normally when I write books I have a vague plot in my head and although I would diverge from the original plot somewhat, the overall spine will still be there.

This book hasn't been as simple though; I have ridiculously high standards, and quite frankly, the book hasn't been good enough. There have been times I've wanted to just delete the whole thing and call it a day, but I keep plodding on, wanting to be proved wrong.

However this part is a common theme; I usually hate my books as I write them and am convinced they are terrible, only to get excellent praise when I give them out to people to read them. My last published book 'Stranded' was a prime example of this. I said to people that I knew something was wrong, I just didn't know what it was. But the feedback contradicted my thought process and everyone said it is by far the best book I've ever written.

CLICK THE PICTURE BELOW TO VIEW MY LATEST BOOK 'STRANDED' ON AMAZON

When I wrote my other books though, I knew once I had written the first draft that the bulk of the book had been completed, and I just needed to tweak things here and there. With this latest book I am fully aware that this first draft is going to have massive plot holes, and the fluency is going to be non-existent. This is uncharted territory for me; usually I'm not satisfied until the book flows and then I will continue. With this one I know I'm going to have to come back to it, possibly alter and/or move scenes and have a few days planning on how to make things flow much better, as the book seems to be stuttering right now.

I've already changed a plot twist as it didn't suit the book, so my plan now is to keep mentally focused knowing that the book will be far from done once it is finished, then tweak the book to make it an enjoyable read once I'm done.

Me (left) and another writer I met on my travels Michael Berndt

It's really tough for me to leave a scene and go back to it later, it seems lazy to me. But this is my latest test in my writing career. I've passed every one that has been thrown at me so far, so there's no reason to suggest why I will fail this one as long as I keep focused.

Which is easier said than done...