So, I sit in my study. Behind me is the piano. Beside me is Michael Schmidt’s The Novel, a biography . In front of me is my notebook and my lovely little MacBook Air, with work in progress, winking. I should be attacking WinP. I feel the need to read Michael Schmidt. I want to practise Goldberg Variation 5. I’ve decided to be orderly. I’ll do one thing, then the next, then the next, but I know that if I hit Variation 5, all will go wrong and I’ll be there for hours; that once I’ve got stuck into MS’s book, I’ll be hooked; and the heart slightly quails at the WiP.

I know, I know. With the sun out and the leaves fresh enough to eat, these are what you might call ‘nice problems to have’. I do love a day with nice problems.