Starting new

 This morning I started writing Cassandra, the fourth book of the Fair Warrior Chronicles.  The beginning of a story brings the satisfaction of anticipation.  I seldom can see more than a scene or two ahead, and most scenes change significantly as I write them. Sometimes I start with a fair idea of the ending.  That's so with Cassandra, but I have only a hazy idea of how to get there.

 Once I had an opportunity to ask a very well known author how much time she spent planning her novels. She told me that when she started her most recent work, all she knew was that at the end, the heroine would be waiting to get married in a borrowed dress.  It's great fun to write that way, exploring as you go. Another of my favorite pieces of writing advice is that you should never save anything for the next chapter. If you have a good idea, use it right away, and then make up something else for the next chapter.

There's a ton of good writing advice out there. Other than the indispensible Elements of Style, I don't know of any book or group of books that can be taken as gospel.  I think the key for a writer is to read a lot of this advice while accepting no one as a guru.  A few phrases of writing advice stick in your head, and that's what you go by.