Part of my daughter’s poorliness has meant a trip to hospital. When everything is done and dusted, Lily and I retreat to where the lovely WVS ladies are serving refreshments whilst we wait for Tom to collect us. The teas are 80p each and we ask for two. ‘£1.80!’ says the dear lady. We give her a surprised look and she has another bash, except I then throw everything into chaos by asking for a bag of Jelly Tots as well.A young Asian man wanders in looking punch drunk, clutching a shiny, black and white image which is drying in his hand. The image is of what looks like a satellite picture of the weather forecast, all swirls and mists. It is, of course, an ultrasound image of his child and looking at the father-to-be's face as he gazes as it makes me feel both privileged and unintentionally intrusive. I tell Lily about the moment I heard her heartbeat for the first time, when I barely believed I was pregnant, now here she is, a grown woman.
For many months now a huge stack of paper has been sitting in a filing tray on the floor of my study. It’s the ‘final’ version of Turning the Tide, well, the one that was the final version before the editing process which was all done electronically anyway. It suddenly occurred to me that I didn’t need to keep it anymore, yet it was still quite a wrench to switch it to my recycling pile. Although I do most of my work straight on the computer, I still like to print out the WIP from time-to-time as reading a hard copy gives me a fresh perspective and I can sometimes hear the rhythm of the words better.
The other thing I like to do is set up a box file for each book filled with anything that makes me think about the plot; photographs, cuttings, maps, legal points. I felt a touch of sadness as I closed the box file for Turning the Tide, but at least the new one for the WIP is coming along nicely and that feels quite exciting.
And finally...
Phew! I can relax at last. MiL, who gave up reading novels, has made an exception for Turning the Tide. Although it was very sweet of her I was a tad worried as MiL is less than keen on dogs, boats, bad language and vigorous horizontal romps all of which feature at least once in the book. Fortunately, we both seem to have survived with MiL declaring it ‘quite good for a first effort’. I wonder who was most relieved?
Painting is 'Offshore Surf' by Tom Tomos
Comments
Just received my copy of TtT, by the way.
Hope Lily is better now.x
Wonder what she'll make of your 'second effort':-)
Hmmm Jelly Tots. I'd forgotten all about those:-)
I love what you wrote about the encounter with the new dad-to-be.
I love Tom's Offshore Surf!
I am so glad that your next book is being written.
Your MIL's comment made me smile, too. I always have to remind myself that folks whom I like very much actually never read fiction. I allow them this oddity, realizing that another aspect of that oddity just might be that they are friends of mine!
xo
lx
We had my MiL to stay recently and I was quite taken aback at her choice of bedside reading so I think she would really enjoy TTT (nudge nudge!!)
Jeanne
x
PS Are the eyebrows still looking perky? x
Just to let you know, that I picked up the 'Prolific Blogger Award' from your blog after a long time. Thanks again.
I've posted on it on the following link. Have a look-
http://gaelikaasdiary.blogspot.com/2010/06/prolific-blogger-award.html
Been a while but I'm delighted about the book, is it in Canada yet? I hope daughter gets on the well track, how worrisome for you!
Love the MIL's commment. My BFF has never read a thing I wrote, not in magazines or newspapers or stories or blog and BRAGS about it to my other friends who are appalled.
People never cease to amaze me.
XO
WWW
Mags, it does feel a bit post-natal; long hours, no sleep, no time to get hair cut etc!
Jane... I hope so!!
Bodran - Hopefully I'll catch up with you then. Good!
Fennie, aw! Thank you for buying TTT, all support gratefully received.
HaH, You've got to love them!
Pondside, oh gulp, poor sister. (but huge respect for the 57 weeks on b/s list).
Debs, hopefully you'll find out soon. And thanks for good wishes for Lily.
Fp, so did I... eventually!
Lane, I can highly recommend revisiting Jelly Tots, although they do seem chewier now (or maybe it's my teeth?).
Frances, Tom's pleased that you like his painting. And thank you for your good wishes.
Yet another example, Liz!
Margaret - probably and also so I don't get too big for my old boots!
Jeanne, always good to see you (and I've been struggling to get around blogland too). It's always interesting to see what everyone's reading - and to be surprised.
gaelikaa, as I've just said above, I've been very pushed too - but thank you so much for your comments on your blog - which I enjoyed catching up with.
Wisewebwoman - you and me both. Sorry to have been a rare visitor, just don't know where time has gone. Interesting to read of your experiences!
Best regards, Boonsong
CKx