A noise woke me in the night. I thought it was one of our cats, who frequently scratches the airing cupboard door, in the hope that someone will let him in. Fuzzy-headed, I crept out of bed too sort him out. But he was not there. In fact the house was totally silent. Had I imagined it?

I waited – maybe it was an intruder? Maybe they were waiting for me to make the first move?

My head began to clear. In the gloom I saw that my son’s bedroom door was closed. Quietly, I opened it and the said cat danced out on the landing as if to say, ‘You took your time!”

Did I get back to sleep? Not immediately, but that fuzzy dozing state is quite a good time to review creative ideas. I’m planning my new series, called Axel Storm, at the moment. I’m trying to find the way in. A series really needs to tell you the back story, make you familiar with the set up and get going with the story in as short a time as possible. So getting that comfortable, simple introductory sequence is very important. Once that is right the rest follows.

Well, and I don’t know where the idea came from as I nodded off to sleep again, the image of my hero stuffed inside a huge advertising sausage on top of a hot dog van came to mind. This morning it seems like a really good idea and I’m going to run with it.

Lying awake at night meant that I woke up an hour later, but hey, when you’ve been working through the night, it’s okay. And anyway, the only reason I ever started this job was so that I could get up when ever I liked in the morning. I wonder whatever happened to all those lovely, lazy lie-ins?