We could all do with a bit of encouragement at times. Often things aren’t as bad as we think! Recently, I was driving my son for a dental appointment and (a) one tyre seemed so low I wasn’t sure if we’d make it to a garage (b) my fuel gauge showed I was almost empty and (c) my car mechanic told me to check another wheel hadn’t come loose. In fact, I discovered there was plenty of air in what had seemed like a flat tyre – I’d parked it on an incline with the weight of the car bearing down on that wheel, distorting my perception. I’d enough fuel to get my son to the dental appointment and, when I checked the other wheel, it was secure.

So, a little example of three worries that came to nothing. Continuing the theme of the ‘three’, I’ve three chapters written of my new book. I dared to show the first two to my wife and she liked it. I also sent one chapter to my US agent who was delighted to hear from me and was excited I was working on a novel. And I sent the three chapters too to an Irish publisher.

Then I read my third chapter myself. I’m my own worst critic and I could see it wasn’t at nearly the same state of completeness as the first two chapters.  A bit like that day in the car, I felt a bit overawed at the mountain I had to climb to raise it to the standard of the rest of it. But then I started working on it and having fun with it. Sure, it needed improving but my awareness of that catapulted me into a fun time creating satisfying dialogue and moving the story forward. Like with the car, it wasn’t as far off the mark as I’d thought. Things weren’t as bad as I thought. In fact, what I had was a rich draft to work with. I had a good skeleton and now I’m putting the flesh on it, bringing it alive. One character is really growing on me. I was going to give him an early exit but no way is that going to happen now. He’s much too much fun for that!

On the same vane, when I was tweaking chapter two a wonderful new character announced himself. I love this guy. And I very much expect him to stay with me too until the end of the book. I’ve close to a third of the book written. It’s a bit like a mosaic or painting, where you keep working on its texture, adding bits, feeling invited by a character to come this way or try that. And the narrator too is a bit of a trickster. He’s doing stuff in chapter 3 that I really didn’t expect. Now, time for me to get back to it…!