Yesterday I wrote a thousand words of the next Maliha Anderson story on the train and this evening I wrote another two thousand.

And I did this because I had to. I am still planning much of the detail of the story, writing murder mysteries and thrillers requires a good deal of planning when it comes to the placing of clues. This is not to say that there isn't a lot of creativity in the writing process itself - because there is, my plans aren't rules, they're guidelines.

But, as I've been planning, I've been building a up a head of creative steam (very appropriate for a steampunk writer) about the initial victim and her life leading up to the events that bring Maliha Anderson into her story.

The pressure had become so strong that if I hadn't started writing I might have blown a gasket.

And I have to say that I am very pleased with what I've been writing, it's coming on very nicely indeed.