A surprise visit from a dear old friend

- and perhaps just when it's needed...

Strange how things happen, isn’t it? And so often in an unexpected rush. That old adage about waiting for buses and then being spoilt for choice…

For perhaps for no other reason than to keep up the drumbeat of posting here every other day, Tuesday morning I decided to break cover as far as an old work of mine was concerned.

Started in the spring of 1994 — and probably as a direct result of the joy attendant on starting a relationship that’s still going strong thirty years later — I drafted my first ‘proper’ full-length novel. And in double-quick time too. Eventually published in 2012, The Big Frog Theory, is a rollercoaster of a book, imagination run amok in a bizarre world of magic realism.

However, these days I don’t talk about it much. I guess I think it may be ‘juvenile’, that I’ve ‘moved on’ (I have), and now write much more ‘serious’ books (I do). Maybe it’s on that basis that I keep quiet about it. But yesterday’s unplanned impulsive post was strangely cathartic — and concerning too. By including the opening few paragraphs, I realised the whole thing could do with an edit…

…and then I also realised that I owe it at least that much.

The Big Frog Theory is an important milestone in my writing life. Thinking about it — and whatever its merits or demerits — I decided it deserves a new ‘tidied-up’ edition. So I’ve started work on that…

“But buses?” you ask…

I’ve also decided that I’m going to see through the draft of a new novel I’ve been working on for some while (at least 13 months). I’ve been to-ing and fro-ing over this, but given I’m now about 85% of the way through the first draft I’ve decided to get it to 100%. Another project that deserves to be rewarded.

But this one won’t be so straightforward. The narrative is missing a huge slice. I think it’s the presence of at least one other voice, an additional perspective — but I won’t know until Draft One is done. Even though there’s a great deal of work ahead, I’m feeling good about the enterprise (I even have a title and some sketched out covers).

And one more bus?

I’ve finally bitten the bullet and booked various accommodations in Scotland for a March road-trip. This is the one I’m most nervous about because I don’t yet have a clear view of what might come of it (which also makes it exciting, of course), but I’m hoping after a visit to Stirling and a couple of days in and around Fort William the fog will clear…

So Monday and Tuesday have been really good. I’ve done as much work in those two days as I did in the whole of last week — though to be fair, there was rather a lot going on…

"The Big Frog Theory"

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