the characters in your novel appear more real than the people around you and you eat solitary meals deep in thought on what will happen when character A meets character B unexpectedly and what character X would do in situation Y to be consistent; what is the perfect word to describe the sound of gravel crunching under your feet crossing that plateau or the colour of the water in that river at dawn or – then it is time to take a deep breath, surface and exhale and look around. Put down the pin board and scene sequence cards, close the computer or the writing pad and let it all wash away for a few days and be truly at one with those around you. Oh and write that three weeks overdue blog! Tomorrow is a weekend writing workshop, so it has been a blessed relief to have ‘done nothing on the novel’ [those dreaded words] since Tuesday. Deep breath…