Emma Lee-Potter - One Thing I've Learnt

I never dreamed I’d say this
but the main lesson I’ve learned over the years is that I love deadlines.
Whether it’s a news story in 20 minutes flat or a novella in a month, writing
is so much easier if you have one.



My first real experience of deadlines came when I worked as a news reporter for
the Evening Standard. I’d just arrived in London from a sleepy weekly newspaper
in Devon (where the most exciting thing that ever happened was the council’s
planning meeting) and I nearly fell off my chair in shock when my boss sent me
out of the office at seven a.m. with instructions to file my story from the
other side of London by nine. I didn’t even have a mobile phone, so I wasted loads
of time hunting for a phone box. But my story was in the paper by noon.



A couple of months ago a publisher asked me to write a novella. “When do you
need it by?” I asked. “Four weeks,” he replied. The eye-wateringly tight
deadline sealed the deal and made me get cracking immediately. And yes, I
delivered my novella, Olympic Flames,
bang on time.



As for other lessons I’ve learned, here are a few more:



If you want to do something, just do it (well, within reason).

Trust your instincts.

Think big, work hard and laugh lots.











Emma’s new ebook, Olympic Flames , is out now. Showjumper Mimi Carter is desperate to win an Olympic gold
medal at London 2012. But as injury threatens and an enigmatic old flame
arrives back on the scene, can she put her feelings to one side and realise her
dream?