Confide some of my latest narrative dilemma (as in: does this important twist actually make sense) to the 19yo. “Ah,” she says sagely. “It’s just like Kung Fu Panda 2. Great stuff.” #amwriting #choliripper

So far today I have written 1,788 words about birth, illegitimacy, miscegenation and death. I don’t get out much. #amwriting #choliripper

First draft, second novel, done #choliripper #amwriting

On judicious consideration I am pleased with the first two and last four chapters of the new novel. Which only leaves 85 thousand words of drastic rewrite. #amwriting #choliripper

I’m not usually one for the Small Things in Life platitudes but my daughter just told me she is working 9 to 5 today and it has brought me a quite disproportionate amount of joy.

Nothing like the decision to kill off a character to put a spring in my size 3 Docs. (It is of course entirely possible that I need professional help and not necessarily of an editorial nature.) #amwriting #choliripper

A lovely man.

Wrestling a flatplan into shape. It’s like trying to wrestle a two-year-old into an all-in-one weatherproof suit. And wellies. A two-year-old who refuses to let go of a Favourite Pet Banana.

Today my daughter is off to Mexico by plane, my husband has gone to Brussels by train, and I’m going to take the 171 bus up to Crofton Park. The heady glamour of travel, innit.

I just walked past two separate met police forensic crime scene investigation vans so I am basically living in a thriller and waiting to trip over a dead body.

Easily one of the most important books I've ever worked on. A clear, warm and razor-sharp explanation of why women so often find it so hard to be heard. And she offers solutions! Pls spread the word.

The Lee Anderson appointment is reminding me powerfully of being picked (or not picked) for games back in the day. The stage where the spritely captains are eyeing up the last hopeless rejects to opt for the least worst one. And nobody’s fooled that you were actually *chosen*…

My sturdy Scandi heritage is showing today. As the temperature noses into the teens I’m cautiously discarding one layer of thermal vests. I’m all about the Valentine’s allure, me.

*NEW* #Culture | Researcher Ishaan Patil @Ish2an feels strongly that #food—and all that is associated with it—can function as an anti-#racism tool, because of the role it plays in preserving a strong identity & presence. Radhika Holmström writes. frontline.thehindu.com/society/curry-…

Door-to-door converters (not sure what sect) just knocked alleging they wanted to “share a positive view”. I let them down kindly .#eeyore

This afternoon I have been mainly confronting the need to unpick and reconstruct the central elements of my entire narrative. I may be some time #seconddraft #amwriting

To the desk, to embark on a narrative guided by the three sisters Amorality, Duplicity and Mendacity. A normal day’s work, then. #choliripper #amwriting

On the one hand, world population crisis. On the other, my daughter just made a chocolate raspberry cake. It’s a balancing act, innit.

Today has all been about birth, miscegenation and death. Fictionally speaking, anyway. I don’t get out much. #choliripper #amwriting

My writing confidence has taken a number of knocks over the past year (and without the divine Sally O-J (aka Sally Orson-Jones) it would be eroded) but I’ve reached the daring conclusion that some elements of the draft I’m finishing are possibly not completely terrible. #choliripper