Hooray!

After last week's lacklustre efforts, a switch has been flipped in my head. This week is the complete opposite: I am alive and fizzing with ideas, right down to my toes and the tips of my fingers, and the words are bubbling out so quickly that I almost can't keep up with them. I feel invincible. Of course, the interesting thing about all this (as I've mentioned before) is that the work done while you're on fire with inspiration and enthusiasm and the work done while you're straining for each word are completely indistinguishable when you look back: but it does feel good! Writers need this feeling to keep them going on the days when writing feels like giving birth to a broken window (thanks, Timothy Hallinan), and to remind them why they took up this career in the first place. At least, I certainly do, especially as I try to knit this complicated, sprawling story into something focused and beautiful.

(An unfortunate and lesser-known side-effect of inspiration, however, is that you forget to feed the cat and ignore his plaintive mews. Mink's lunch was a couple of hours late today. Whoops! Sorry, Mink).