There is an excitement found in writing that in my experience, cannot be found in any other creative process. To take an idea, a formless notion, and then to knead it over time as a baker may knead a piece of dough. Working it into a seamless narrative, a definable shape, while all the time remaining conscious of the intended final look, texture and feel of the product.

If only we could produce a book as quickly as we can bake a loaf of bread from scratch.

My new book Muriel's Monster now has a publishing date of 31st of October. I first had the idea for this story over two years ago when the euphoria I had felt over the publication and success of my first book, The Little Girl in the Radiator had started to fade. People had read that book and congratulated me on it, and yet I felt it was a project that was then over and done with, and I was looking for a fresh challenge.

The research, organizing of material and "kneading" the plot, took well over a year, until I finally had the skeleton of a story I was happy to tell.

The actual writing took another year, and finally I had a manuscript I could show someone without having to add "It's not quite finished yet."

Muriel's Monster was accepted on a traditional contract by the first publisher I sent it to, (how lucky was that!), and now after the laborious processes of proof reading, editing and re-proofing it is ready to be born.

I wonder if the wonderful readers on here who make an author's work worthwhile, actually know, as they scan through the child of our imaginings, how much effort has gone into the page they so casually turn? I suspect not.

But then after all, who thinks about the baker, when they munch their toast in the morning?

I have begun to.
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/3...