Making Lists and Drinking Wine, not necessarily in that order

Some people think the writing life is all about making lists and drinking wine, not necessarily in that order.
However, this belief is quite wrong.
Novelists also have to make decisions.

It is important, when it comes to making decisions about one’s novels, for a writer to consider all the possibilities and take into account the likely outcomes of each one.

This is what I read in one of the books I bought on how to write novels.
That book is now propping up my bookcase, being useful for the first time.

The book is wrong. I quickly discovered that, in reality, decisions about my novels are best made while I am drinking the second bottle of wine of the evening.
It can’t be the first bottle, because it really is not possible to reach an intelligent decision in forty seconds.

Friday, 13th October was a memorable evening. I decided to kill someone for the first time.

Of course, I am well aware that this is wrong, very wrong indeed.