Every writer has to find the process that works best – and what works best for one book might not work with the next. Laurie Halse Anderson (one of my writing idols) said that each book requires specific tools from your writer’s toolbox. I find it usually takes at least 20,000 words into a first draft for me to figure out which tools a book needs. Then there’s my current novel, which took three complete rewrites before that happened…

You have the tools to be a great writer. Unlike, say, a film director who might be constrained by a budget, you have the same access to our medium as Stephen King or James Patterson: pen and paper (or computer and cloud-based word processor that is being read by tech giants in the hopes of gleaning information about your purchasing habits)