Book Two has gone!

I sent Book Two to my editor yesterday, all 100k words of it. Ordinarily that would have been cause for some kind of celebration - maybe dinner somewhere nice, glass of fizz. But it’s 2021 and all parties are off, so I read a book in the bath instead.

Writing Book Two was a very different experience from Book One, for a bunch of reasons. Firstly I knew this one would be published - Headline offered me a two-book deal on the basis of the whole manuscript of Two Metres From You and the first 20k words of Book Two. Which meant I wrote it in a less ‘just for fun’ frame of mind, but equally more excited because I knew this story wouldn’t gather dust.

From a narrative perspective, I decided to free myself from the restraints of Covid-19 by setting it in the halcyon days of 2019 when we could all freely hug and snog and go on holiday. It was an absolute joy, like taking your bra off at the end of a very long day.

Finally, having written Book One during furlough, I wrote most of Book Two around a new part-time job, which has necessitated some long days and some new writing discipline. I’m knackered, and in normal times I might take a little holiday. But clearly that’s not happening, so I might as well crack on with Book Three until my editor comes back with Book Two feedback and edits. Hopefully there’ll be time for a break later - somewhere with long dog walks, beautiful views and the opportunity to get inspired all over again.