When I was putting together my debut novella Confession, I spent a lot of time experimenting. The whole purpose of the story was for me to play. I wrote for my enjoyment and, to paraphrase Marie Kondo, if a section or action didn’t spark joy for me as the creator I cut it. Or rewrote it. Confession was born from one need. The need to finish a story. To take a tale from beginning to end and see what there was to see on the journey.  Confession isn’t the first story I’ve written. Far from it, but it is the first one I’ve taken through the drafting process to actually finish it. Confession, put simply, is here because I wanted to see if I could do it. And I think I have. Writing the book, I came across three key lessons that will stand me in good stead for future writing projects. I wanted to discuss them briefly here: