Today I embark on the third (and possibly final) draft of my new novel. Last week I completed the second one which saw me add 3000 more words and sand off a lot of the rough edges from it. I’m hoping that by the end of this week I’ll have completed this draft and that the book will have a lot more polish and pizazz; almost the finished article in fact.

This begs the question, how many drafts are necessary to finish a book. The answer of course is somewhat ambiguous. It took Joseph Heller seven years to complete Catch 22 and whilst I’m not even remotely suggesting that my new novel is anywhere near as good as that classic, we all have different ways and methods. Some authors can churn out a very good book from tentative start to completion in a couple of months, whilst others agonise over every slightest detail until they feel they’ve got it exactly right and leave huge gaps between publications.

What about me? Well, I’ve joined many writing groups on social media and from what I can gather a lot of them seem to bemoan the whole process from start to finish. They post meme after meme about coffee, stress and sleepless nights when the truth is they should actually be getting on with some writing. Look, writing is fun, or at least it should be. Terry Pratchett is oft quoted for saying that ‘Writing is the most fun you can have by yourself.’ Yep, I agree with that.

So this is the way I see it. Writing a novel is a lot like a good meal. The planning stage is buying all the ingredients. Writing it is the actual cooking. Eating it is reading it back to yourself. Editing is clearing all the dishes away and proof reading is the washing up. It’s all part of the whole ‘meal’ experience. No one likes clearing the table and washing up but it has to be done so lets get on and do it. Oh, and whilst I think about it, reviews are the compliments to the chef.

How many drafts will I do this time? As it takes to be honest. One things for sure, at the moment I believe I’m at the stage where I’ve got my Marigolds well and truly on and I’m up to my elbows in Morning Fresh bubbles.