Mer-monster!

For the last few months I’ve been beavering away at Takeshita Demons 4, tentatively titled Mer-monster. It’s mostly set underwater, in the palace of the Dragon King.

This is the book I worked on at the SCWBI Rottnest Retreat, huddled in my cabin with the heater raging after dark.

This is also the book I have been working on during Art Dates with the fabulous Shirley Marr, raging YA writer and author of Fury. Shirley and I have been meeting at TxtSHOTS, which comes totally recommended to anyone wanting great food, great coffee, great chilli hot chocolate,  and a great space in which to work all day (powerpoints included!).

I’ve also been working on this book after gym sessions, while Fergus is still in creche. And at lunchtimes, when Fergus is napping. And at home, on the days when my fab hubby has Fergus at the zoo or in the garden or deeply into Duplo (thank you!!).

And the prognosis?

I”m please to say that draft zero is nearly FINISHED!!!

I love the manuscript! There’s a couple of chapters to go and I can see the end in sight. And it’s all on track 🙂 HOORAY!

Hooray (and thank goodness) for the good times!

The times when the writing won’t flow and the plot won’t work and I bite my nails and haunt the fridge and generally mope…

are nothing compared to

…the times when my fingers fly across the keyboard and the right words spring into my head and the hours pass without me noticing (I even laugh at my own jokes). These happy times are the drug of being a writer.

But what to do AFTER Mer-monster is finished?

How to begin again? There’s a long editorial process about to start on Mer-Monster, but already, I’m worried about what to do next.  If I leave it too long to start a new project, I’ll end up too scared to even begin.

Being a writer is very strange.