Some weeks ago, I received a letter from my parents. Included within it were some probing questions from my dad about the book I’m writing.

As it’s Father’s Day, I thought it would be an appropriate moment to share these. (Dad is not a writer, by the way, though his letters can be rather good.)

So here, for any of you writers out there, are the questions you should be asking yourselves:

1. Have you put full stops at the end of sentences?
2. Have you not mixed up tenses in sentences?
3. Have you used your Scottish/English Dictionary to good effect?
4. Have you used the right font?
5. Have you left a cliffhanger so you can start on book No.2?

It’s a tongue-in-cheek list, but actually it’s pretty useful.

So how am I doing? I’m fairly sure I’ve managed 1, 2 and 4. Number 3 needs some work. And 5… hmm. Watch this space!