Update - Jumpers, blurbs and the film deal...

I'm editing Before I Go to Sleep at the moment. It's pretty tricky. The plot is complex and everything hinges on everything else, so changing even a tiny element seems to send a ripple throughout the rest of the plot. It's slow work. Every edit feels like pulling at a loose thread in a favourite jumper - it might make it look even better than it does at the moment, but it might just as easily cause the whole thing to unravel. I suppose I have to have the confidence that it's stitched together better than I think...

The great thing is that I don't feel totally alone in this any more. Over the last few days Selina, my UK editor, my agent, Clare, publicist, Alison and I have been sending emails back and forth discussing a possible cover 'blurb' for the book. It's pretty exciting - the first time I read it I found myself thinking 'Wow, I'd like to read this book,' almost before I realised it was my novel being discussed. That's got to be a good sign. And since then the three of us have examined every word and tweaked each syllable to get it perfect. I'll share it soon.

What else? On Thursday Clare and I met with the lovely Nick, who is handling the film and media rights. I sat in the offices of Curtis Brown, still not quite believing I was actually supposed to be there, and then we discussed how things are progressing on that front. Needless to say it's all very exciting. The thought that someone might one day want to make a film of my book was always a fantasy, and now it's a reality. People do want to. And though that doesn't mean a film is going to be made (I don't know much about how the film industry works, but I know enough to not get too excited about a film actually being made until the cameras roll, and even then that film might not see the light of day) that's pretty wonderful. The whole thing moves at a glacial pace (compared to the sale of the book, at least), but more news when we get it...

Now, back to the edits. Macaroni cheese? Or boil-in-the-bag cod? Hmmm....

Flashback - August 2008 - The beginning

I wasn't blogging two years ago, but if I were I would have been writing about my forthcoming job interview. At the time I was working full time in the NHS, in a fairly senior, clinical, role, in a service that was under a good deal of pressure. I had always written, and had taken evening classes at Birkbeck College here in London, but was struggling to find the space in my life that I felt writing deserved. At work the hours were long, and I never really stopped thinking about the job, so while I did snatch an hour here or there to push on with the novel I had been writing since 2006, progress was frustratingly slow, and for some time that frustration had been turning into a real unhappiness. I was becoming snappy, irritable and difficult to live with, and all my relationships were suffering.

I’d decided it couldn’t go on. Did I want to be a writer, or manage an NHS service? I was on a fast track to one while claiming to want the other, and it was time to make a choice. I’d applied for another job, much more junior but, crucially, part time. If I got it I would see my wages halve overnight but would have an extra two days a week completely free to write, as well as less stress to stop me from doing so on the other five. I was (and am) incredibly lucky to have a wonderfully supportive partner and together we decided we would cope with the financial implications of a move if it meant I could do what I wanted to do with my life. The interview was scheduled for September.

I was successful, and as soon as I handed in my notice I knew I had done the right thing. A weight lifted and finally I felt able to see the way I wanted my writing to go. The project I was working on felt too much like a part of an old me and within a couple of weeks I abandoned it. I felt free, positive that I was doing the right thing. I began to scout around for ideas for another novel, and in fact stumbled across much more than that. I found an advert for The Faber Academy. One of the courses was called ‘Writing a Novel from Start to Finish’, and it started a month after my new job would begin. It was perfect, I thought, and would allow me to really focus on writing for the whole of 2009. I realized I had another application to make.

Lunch with Tess Gerritsen

I had lunch with Tess Gerritsen this week. I was up in Edinburgh at the festival, and she was in town to talk about her new book, The Killing Place, and we share both an editor and a publicist, Alison, so it made sense. I had a wonderful time – despite her jetlag Tess (or Terry) was funny, fascinating and full of advice as to what I might have in store next year – and I managed to get to the end of lunch before telling her that my mother is her biggest fan and asking for a signed copy of her book.

One thing she said struck me, though. We were talking about Facebook and Twitter and so on and Alison told Terry that I was already fairly prolific online. 'You should blog about what’s happening to you,' said Terry. 'Lots of people want to know how to become a writer. You’re someone that it’s happened to, so you should write about it. That’s what people will be interested in.’ I nodded enthusiastically, but I suppose that’s something I haven’t really been doing.

Things have happened very quickly for me. In May I was still struggling to finish editing my book, only daring to hope that perhaps my agent would find an editor who would take a chance on it and publish it in the UK. As I write this in August we have now secured publishing deals that will see my novel published all over the world.

I think I’ve been too embarrassed, too ‘English’ about the whole thing. I'm still trying to get used to the fact that someone – anyone - has actually ready my book and liked it, so the fact that Tess Gerritsen said she was fifty pages in and 'having a great time with it' still doesn't really seem real. No one would be very interested in what’s happening to me, I’ve been saying to myself. Wouldn’t it be seen as arrogant to write about myself in anything but the most superficial level? It’s the book that’s important, isn’t it, surely?

And yes, it is, of course. But just two years ago I was working in the NHS, struggling to create enough space in my life for my writing, and now I’m having lunch with Tess Gerritsen and her publicist, who is also my publicist. The journey so far has been extraordinary. Perhaps people will be interested in what’s happened, and what’s continuing to happen. Perhaps that is what I should be writing about.

Here, then, is where I plan to write about what’s happening, as well as to fill in some of the back story as we go along. Let’s see how it goes…