No news (sigh), thank god for agents.

Blimey, this book business is slow going. At least I don't have to actually do it. My agent is probably juggling many people's careers at once, and I know I couldn't even juggle mine. Meanwhile, I'm getting on with growing the sequel, in case it's needed, but also because I'm really enjoying it. I'm developing my own cack-handed plotting strategy: put virtual post-its up about scenes/chapters I need to write or have written (different colours - you see the strategy?) on the desktop, so I see them every time I log on.

I'm also spending some of the time reading. Nicola Abnett-Vincent has been refining her heart-wrenching novel 'Naming Names', which I now have the privilege of reading. I was glued to the last version, read the last two thirds straight through. This time I'm savouring the language, the layers of complexity, the wonderful word picture of a character who survived against the odds...but not intact. This is fiction that draws you in, fascinates, horrifies and still engages. It's a hugely emotional novel - I can't wait to hear it's going to make it into print. Nik and I met for the first time in July, at the networking event, but had been communicating by email and through each other's blogs. Sometimes our views are very different but it doesn't matter. That's what I, as a grown up, want from a friend. 

Waiting hasn't got any easier, but I'm on the low side, so I'm OK just to chill out, write, maybe go for a walk. It's harder when I have all this pent up energy and nowhere to put it. I might make some bread - that's a good way to chill out, I find, a nice combination of mindless exercise and a little creativity. I often solve plot problems when I'm cooking!