Christmas is in 3 weeks. This is the moment for you all to take stock. I have had 256 pieces of work sent in to the extract from a genre novel TTD. I have responded to about 50. There are some people out there who should now go away and forget about writing other than for fun. There are some who could write a novel now. And most are in between.

But it is quite clear to me that some of you are professional CW Course-takers. You might go on for the next 20 years doing one CW course after another, submitting work, chatting about your wok on forums, talking about being writers, the hardships and delights.  It is now time for all of you to put up or shut up. You need to take a very hard look at yourself now. What is your aim ? Have you learned anything from me which makes you feel your writing has improved and your attitude to it ? Have you doubled the number of books you read to see how the best writers do it ?

Or are you going to trundle on, knitting a bit of the scarf and then unpicking it, for the rest of your life ? Be honest with yourself. Be brutal.

After Christmas I am going to write a series of posts about the realities of 1. the writing life and 2. the book trade as it is right now, the realistic chances of getting published and if you are published, what exactly that is likely to mean in terms of sales, money, fame and your future.

But please spend the next few weeks deciding if you are going to be a professional or an amateur, a progressing -to-a-novel writer or a professional course-taker.  If you are going to be a writer, it is now time for you to forget about doing any more TTDs and start your novel. And finish it too.

So no more from me until after the New Year. Have a very happy Christmas and New Year and I wish you the best and most productive, decisive and positive year to come.

Do continue to use the forum if you want to. I will pop in there from time to time.