Plan

I don't care what kind of books you write (or if your 'books' are in fact news articles), you need to PLAN. You MUST plan. Trust me. I know from experience (despite my age).

There was a girl who wanted to be a writer. She wanted to write stories. So, there she was, sitting in bed, with a pen and a book. She had an idea, she wrote the story. But then she stopped. She thought; "What am i doing with my characters? Why is X(won't mention the names), letting Y get away with this. The X that i had made up in my mind would NEVER let people go." So, she scrapped. And scrapped. And it got so easy to scrap, that a lot of drafts barely made it after one day. 

But she did write finished drafts. there was one called "Draft three". She called it that but it wasn't actually her third draft. It was long. It had no plot, no point and really, it was just about how life at school sucks balls. 

That girl is me. This story does have a point; You MUST plan. Yes, you can still improvise if that works for you. You don't have to work out every thing you are going to write, but you do have to know what the heck you are writing about. Plot, characters, themes, setting, exposition, climax, resolution. Plan, plan, plan. 

Let me know what you think about this "lesson" and leave a comment. If i agree with you, i'll change it.