Tennis Elbow, or Weave Bin Actress Calm Theophilus Tweak

I've been experiencing pain in my arms for the last few weeks. Not severe, just a dull ache and the odd twinge, and not so bad that I'd see a doctor about it. I'd put it down to my gym routine, in fact, and taken the dull ache to be a sign that my muscles were developing, or something like that. 

Then on Monday it was a little worse than normal, and seemed to be worse as I typed, and worse still as I reached for the trackpad that I use instead of a mouse. Suddenly it hit me. Pain, in my elbows, exacerbated by repetitive exercise? I googled it straight away...

I've never had tennis elbow before, but it seems that's what I've got. It's been confirmed by a physiotherapist, who has told me to rest and given me a stretching exercise to do, and also confirmed that it's because of my keyboard/trackpad set up. (Ironically that's indirectly because of the stand that she suggested I buy a few months ago (to raise my laptop screen to the same level as a desktop would be) which caused me to need the wireless keyboard I now use, so it almost seems I can't win. Stiff neck or painful elbows? You choose...). So I have to change the way I work. I've known people who've suffered with it for years, and suffered to the point that they can't do anything involving their arms without it causing pain, so I hope we can nip it in the bud before it becomes serious. 

I'm going to have to get an ergonomic keyboard and a huge mouse that forces me to move it from my shoulder not my wrist. They might look less elegant than my gorgeous Apple mini keyboard, but needs must. I read on the web about people whose tennis elbow got so bad they couldn't type, or use a pen, at all, and had to resort to speech recognition software. Having used that before I know that, were I to need to resort to it for this blog entry, it would have opened with the line "Weave bin actress calm Theophilus tweaks", which may say more about my speech than the efficacy of the software, but still would never do. It might turn Nine Lives into a rather more experimental novel than I'd envisaged...

Back to Faber and Another Interview

Back at Faber

Last week I went back to the Faber Academy. They invited me in to speak again to the new students (not that new, actually, they're now five weeks into the course). My experience was just as rewarding as last time I was there, in October. Everyone was marvellously engaged and interested, and I hope my advice (work hard, write as much as possible and try to engage fully with the course because it's over before you know it) was useful to them. I worried that I might have made writing sound too much like a job, or a chore. It's not the latter (or shouldn't be all the time - chore implies something that it is unpleasant, which writing shouldn't be all the time, or else why do it?) but I think a lot can be gained from treating it like a job. Like any other job, sometimes you have to put the hours in even when really you'd rather be doing something else and, like any job, sometimes its a struggle and not particularly rewarding. But when it is, it's worth it, (of course!) and crucially I don't believe one can ever tell when one sits down to write whether its going to be a good day or a bad day.


Another interview

Yesterday I was interviewed again, this time for a magazine (details later...). It was another very nice experience - the writer asked really good questions and said he was really enjoying Before I Go to Sleep, which was very gratifying indeed!

The Theakstons Crime Writing Festival

I can now reveal that I've been invited to the Theakston's Old Peculier Crime Writing Festival. For those that don't know, this is an annual event held in Harrogate in North Yorkshire, England. The venue for the festival is in fact The Old Swan Hotel, which is where Agatha Christie was found following her (still largely unexplained) 'disappearance' in 1926. I'll be appearing on Saturday 23rd July at midday, during  the 'New Blood' panel, which is chaired by Val McDermid.  Alongside me will be Julia Crouch, Gordon Ferris and Melanie McGrath. I can't wait!




The 2011 Programming Committee: (l-r) my Selina Walker, NJ Cooper, Dreda Say Mitchell (Chair), Simon Theakston (title sponsor), Jane Gregory, Mark Billingham, Martyn Waites


In many ways Before I Go to Sleep isn't a conventional crime novel (though there are so many different types of crime novel I'm not entirely sure I know what a 'conventional crime novel' is), so I'm particularly looking forward to meeting fans of crime fiction and hearing what they make of it!

The Canadian Jacket

I can now reveal how Before I Go to Sleep will look in Canada. I love it! What do you think?






















Alan Jones / HarperCollins Publishers Ltd (Canada).