Hello everybody. Just thought I'd introduce myself as a new user. I am from Northern England, I have been writing on and off for years but have more time of late and have recently written a children's short novel which I have self-published on Amazon. Prior to that I often lacked the discipline to finish work. For the novel above, I wrote the first chapter seven years ago and abandoned it. I didn't show anyone what I'd written at first, but when I did show it to someone I'd recently met, she encouraged me to finish the story. I wrote the rest of the story in about 4 weeks, after planning it out properly first. Preparation is very important to me, if only to set up 'staging' points to stimulate the writing process. Some of my other work includes various poems, a couple of Agatha Christie pastiches and various bits and pieces, including a short script for a two-hander. When I was much younger I did have ambitions to become a journalist, but abandoned them to become an IT manager... Hoping to pick up tips and to be inspired by some of the amazing work I've already begun to read on here.