I met with my agent, Jenny, this week to discuss my next draft. I floundered a bit until Jenny made an inspired suggestion about the main character's back story which made so many other pieces of the puzzle fall into place. Isn't it amazing, this business of writing? It really isn't about any one person. Every novel is a collaboration. How many agents and editors work quietly in the background, prodding their authors in the right direction? How lucky am I to have an agent who knows just what to say and what not to say, who allows me to slowly understand what I need to do next?
What I need to do next... Or, more precisely, before Christmas. So it's a shame that other things are getting in the way. My day job has leaked into this weekend, with a big manuscript that needs to be edited. No writing, then. That's annoying, isn't it? I must try not to be too annoyed as my day job rarely invades in this way and I still have a stretch of spare weekends coming up. Everything is under control. I have a desk, a computer, ideas. I just need to clear a few things, and then I can start. That's what's really annoying me, to be honest. Not the weather, or how busy I am. It's the feeling that a starting pistol has gone off and I'm still in the changing room, scrambling to get into my kit. When I finally jog out to the track, will I have missed all the fun? (Actually, I don't think I ever found Sports Day anything like fun.)
Oh, stop moaning, Karen! As another of Jenny's authors, Keren David, commented in a recent inspiring blog post: toughen up! Or as my boyfriend would tell me, 'Get on with it.' Tough love. It's the only way to handle a writer.
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