The Editor - June 21st, 2012
7.55 a.m
We start in good order; books stacked, pens in the pot. My writing table was inherited from a family friend. I was at the theatre last night and bought a couple of second hand books including Edna O’Brien short stories. Everything is to hand –notebook, handcream, lipbalm, glasses’ cleaner, mobile, diary and mug of lemon and ginger tea.
10.20
I’m rewriting a very knotty parting between my narrator and a would-be suitor. Cannot get it right. The open books on the desk are a prop – Pugh’s history of the Labour Party, The General Strike by Christopher Farman. This is a sequel to The Crimson Rooms. The difficulty is not the historical detail but the seismic emotional changes within my characters. The open notebook is one of about ten bought in a market inTanzania last summer. The paper is thin and delectable.
12.30
Bam. The world is let in. I keep the internet off except for an hour at the end of the morning and afternoon. Emails are the most enticing displacement activity in the world but they have to be dealt with – so a business break from writing now until 2.00 p.m.
15.00
The most sluggish time. The notebook is wide open on the desk, apple at the ready. I’ve come up against a glitch in the plot. And the purse means that the A Level son has been in, needing money.
17.00
This looks very messy but is in fact good – writing much enhanced by sister-in-law’s brilliant gingerbread and a cup of tea. Have spent afternoon researching theatre in 1926 (one of my characters is an actor). Hit on the perfect Galsworthy play to include. Will be flying now until six, when I stop writing for the day.
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