Ten principles that I anchor my writing process to:

1. ‘The more the marble wastes, the more the statue grows’.
2. Back off. Let the reader do the creating. Give elbow room to the creative reader.
3. Avoid adverbs and words ending in ‘ing’.
4. Maniacal focus on fluency, clarity and narrative urgency.
5. Focus on sparse detail so there can be a real feeling of it – sights and sounds, smells and colours.
6. Readers deserve more than half-hearted opinions.
7. Don’t join all the dots for the reader; let their mind move ahead after the text is finished.
8. Use simple words to explain complex issues.
9. Don’t be a prisoner of language – bully it to do want you want.
10. Success isn’t found in writing, but rewriting.