Tuesday June 16, 2009

Last week was an eventful one - my eldest son was mugged in Leeds, my youngest son broke his rib river tubing in Vietnam - or was he in Cambodia? Whatever - I just want him home now! (And yes, I know that Facebook has its faults, but it really is a wonderful way to follow teenage children around the world and see their photos just hours after they're taken.)

On Thursday I managed my first public reading without being sick or falling over. The Needlemakers in Lewes is the loveliest venue, the audience were attentive and smiling(!) and so many of my writing buddies turned up - big thank you to them.

This photo, by the way, is of my dog Chloe. I'm sitting on a bench at the top of the golf course and she's waiting patiently for us to set off again. She is a great companion for a writer - she takes me as she finds me and is ever ready with a wagging tail and comforting vibe. Here's to dogs.

Thank you also to those new friends I'm making - those of you who have written to me here at the website. I thought, at first, that I would speak into a vacuum for months before anyone would get in touch but hurrah! ... i was wrong.

And so to writing. I am in the process of getting back into my second novel. After feedback from my editor(s) at Hodder, I need to rewrite a substantial amount. For me, writing boils down to articulating the feeling i have in my head/heart/gut about the story as best as I possibly can. So when I'm out walking the dog, I 'feel' the scene and then I come back home and translate it on to the page/screen. First off, it's a disappointment and then I work at it, over and over, until it best represents what I'm trying to communicate. I haven't discovered any short cuts to the process. Although this is my second novel, I'm still, to some extent, moving forward into darkness, the lamp I'm carrying lighting only a couple of steps ahead of me.

And talking of lamps, in just over three weeks I give up my day job. I have spent the last thirteen years working in a fantastic boarding school as the nurse. I've had so much fun there and was kindly taken out for lunch by a dozen of my colleagues on Sunday. They are special people, truly they are, and as I'm only three minutes away by car, I will be staying in touch!