Lockdown writing

If being a writer means literally putting words down on a page, I’ve been one for a long time. But being an author is different. It’s about creating a story and making people interested enough to go beyond the first word – and sentence – and paragraph – and page… you get the idea. I always wanted to write a novel but could never think of an idea until I was in hospital a few years ago and an idea arrived in the middle of the night. I guess I’d been too busy with life to be quiet for long enough for my brain to come up with one.

The recent lockdowns have been difficult for everyone, but I have been lucky enough to have time to spend writing and - even more importantly - thinking. As a result, 'The Soloist' is well under way. Like Lilian in 'The Botanist', its protagonist, Scarlet, loves to walk on the Westwood, and so do I! Here it is on a recent late winter afternoon.