Starting the book. Sentry: By C F Williams

This is probably sounding like someone's teenage diary by now, but don't worry: we're getting to the good stuff soon.  Right now I'm catching up on the previous year, dealing with when and how I wrote Sentry.  You'll notice that all these posts are dated very close together.  That will change when we hit the present.  So then; I work full-time, and have very little free time to write a book.  Therefore I wrote it when I would be least disturbed.  Between the hours of 9pm and 3am, for three whole weeks, I wrote just shy of 130,000 words.  I attribute that to being an ex-IT professional, whose only outlet for social interaction was the keyboard.  It was what most doctors would probably refer to as a "manic episode", but I just had to get the story out.  I'm not a "finisher", as defined by certain online tests you can fill in about your personality-type, so I knew I had to write Sentry now or never.  If I even paused for a day or two, everything would stop.  I know I am writing about the past, but this has played out for the sequel and other books I have intended to write at leisure since, but I have never finished a single book.  The only fortunate thing is that it is only a year since my first book was written, so I have time...for now.
Anyway, this post is about how I wrote Sentry:
I did not have a plan.  I did not have a plot.  I did not have "Character Sheets" (look them up online:
http://www.epiguide.com/ep101/writing/charchart.html, for example - apparently you have to have them); I only had an idea.
The idea was that a form of life could exist in a very simple structure, like a set of transistors, culminating in a Flip-Flop (the fundamental elements of any computer http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flip-flop_(electronics)).
A simple set of atoms that could combine to hold a minute fragment of data.  That was it.
From there, I thought it would be great if that life form inhabited an entire planet.  Then I wondered what would happen if someone got hold of such a planet which could calculate the most complex equations at will, given the correct stimulus.
Then Sentry was born.  http://www.amazon.co.uk/Sentry-ebook/dp/B00EN4J95G
And that was it again.
So, I wrote the book from chapter to chapter, not knowing what the end would be until it came.  I have to say that at 80,000 words (an approximate minimum length of a novel
http://storytime.booklamp.org/2012/03/19/how-long-is-the-average-book-a-concrete-answer-to-a-longstanding-writing-faq/), I was a bit disappointed that I still had some work to do, but the story was the story, and it had to be finished.

Right: so that's the boring stuff out of the way!  Now let's get to the good stuff - how the hell am I going to sell this thing!?  It's seat-of-the-pants time, as you discover, along with me, what works and what doesn't!

Why I want to be an author.

I should start with why I chose to write a novel.  My name is HonestAuthor, so I should start honestly, and continue in that fashion.  Anyone can have a life.  Anyone, barring medical complications of course, can have kids.  It's not enough for me to simply leave a trail of DNA behind.  Don't get me wrong, I love my family, I love my kids, I love my friends, and I want to stay on this beautiful planet as long as possible.  However, I would like my family and those who know me to have something more to remember me by than just being there for them.  I want to leave an indelible mark somewhere, somehow, and in a good way, that they can chat to others about when talking about me.  I suppose it's pretty vain in a way, but who else has ever wondered what will happen when they die?  Probably nothing.  Life goes on, and life is for the living.  After all, if we were constantly thinking about the loss of those who have passed on, how could we ever enjoy ourselves?  So, after that rather depressing introduction, I will do my very best to remain upbeat.  I will document every stage of the writing process, share "secrets" of how to write and be noticed by readers (I use the inverted commas because I do not know what those secrets are yet), and generally portray the ups and downs of being a writer.  If nothing else, it's good therapy.

Welcome to HonestAuthor - Writing about writing.

Hi everyone, and anyone.  I'll get straight to the point.  I am a new author who is trying to make his way in the world.  My mission, if there is such a thing outside novels and people who have jobs which involve actual physical danger, is to give you a complete online account of my struggle to make it big in the writing world.  I may succeed, and I may fail.  My screen name, HonestAuthor, is more than an attempt to find a combination of characters no-one has typed in yet.  Instead, I intend to use it as a compass for using every post, to document one man's struggle to leave a lasting legacy.  I'll be honest with every post, but I do not wish to offend anyone.  Having said that, I may choose to leave brutally honest accounts of my experiences.  I hope you enjoy reading this.  Chris.