In the swing of things

It is so nice to be home. I'm absolutely thrilled. I arrived to flowers on the table and a bottle of champagne in the fridge (from my lovely Mum), and a package of books from my editor - among them The Children's Book by A.S. Byatt, which has me enthralled! I started work again today - it feels good to be back in a routine, even though I'm slightly overwhelmed by the amount I have to do if I'm to deliver the new manuscript by the end of October. I'm mired in the Great Swampy Middle of the book at the moment, being attacked by metaphorical Rodents of Unusual Size.

My agent forwarded me a message from a television production company that had been offered the film rights to my book. It was a no, but such a nice one:

"You were right about NGOZI – it really is a fast read and a hugely engrossing one at that! I really enjoyed the book so thanks very much for sending it over. I can definitely see the potential that you do in it. I loved the small details about life in Zimbabwe - how the wings of flying ants fall off and pile up in the corners of the house, the static electricity in the air during the stormy season, and the subtle social and racial codes Elise’s relationships negotiate – and how the book maintains a sense of atmospheric foreboding throughout as it mixes reportage, magical realism, coming-of-age, and splintered identities all at once."

I can't tell you how wonderful it is to hear this kind of feedback ("is she really talking about my book?"). I know the odds of selling the film rights are slim, but I'm still ridiculously excited that people in the industry are reading and considering it. It's really quite mind-boggling to think that six months ago I had no agent and no publisher. I still can't quite believe that it's all happening after these years of hard work and harder rejections, but I'm so grateful that it is.

P.S. Thank you for being so understanding about my patchy replies to comments while I was overseas. Now that I'm home, I'm going to get back into the routine of replying to all of them - they are all very much appreciated!