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One more day to go! Today Trenton Lee Stewart, author of The Mysterious Benedict Society series and February's The Secret Keepers, is here to keep you going until the very end ... 

What would be your five top tips to budding writers?

1. Read as much as you can. Or, preferably, even more than you can.

2. Write as much as you can, too – you learn through doing.

3. If you can't think of what to write, write anyway. You think differently when you're composing sentences than you do when you're planning to write. You never know what will happen.

4. Don't be afraid of making mistakes. Revision was invented for a reason.

5. Don't say that your character is very sad. Instead, show your character leaving the dishes and eating bad food. Have your character call friends and keep them on the line too long. Show your character's friends or coworkers trying to steer conversations to safer topics. If your poor character has to suffer, readers want to see how.

For those hoping to take part in NaNoWriMo or enter the Times/Chicken House Children's Fiction Competition, what would be your best tip for writing something every day?

Focus not on the amount of time or number of words you want to write, but on starting. Only get started, and the rest tends to take care of itself.

Enter the Times/Chicken House Children's Fiction Competition to be in with a chance of winning a £10k publishing contract!