ideas that won’t go away

Current work: Medical
Listening to: Beethoven
Reading: a book I’m not sure if I can finish. It’s a first novel so I’m not going to be snarky about it or name it (writing a publishable book isn’t easy, and I’m certainly not going to stamp on someone’s dreams – I don’t tend to read pieces where the reviewer shreds the author because I find them mean-spirited). This book was billed as a redemption story, but is just too dark for me: the message that’s coming through to me is that there’s no escape from misery, that love doesn’t exist, and if you show any form of affection you will meet a horrible death. I like light as well as shade in my books, and I prefer an ending with hope (I did read the end when I was halfway through, to check, but it felt as if the feeling of hope was tacked on – nothing in the hero’s journey made me believe it, and neither did any browsing between the middle and the end).

Right now, I have several books in my head. I have a tight deadline for the Med so I can’t afford the time to stop and play. But. There’s a particular idea that just won’t go away. It’s not an M&B (I did try turning it into one, but my ed said it would be a step too far for my readers) and the first scene is stamping round my head. Ditto a couple of other things. Hopefully they’ll be happy to go into a back room in my head and party away while I concentrate on the Med.

Breedon has asked me to do a different book for them next. It’s going to be huge fun as well as a good way to get fit (we’re sorting out the format at the moment). The junior members of my research team are going to groan at the idea of my clipboard resurfacing (they still remember this from Norwich Street by Street), but we need to mark things on maps and a clipboard makes it easier. And it does mean plenty of café stops, which will please them.