Michelle's corner

There is quite a conflict going on within me and I'm realising things that I never thought of before. As I've progressed and learned, I've discovered some awkward things.

One is that I'm writing this at 2am. Writing the Submissive Heart series was relatively easy. It was within my heart and needed out. Writing Check Mate was a step up, but although it still took a lot of research, it was set in the present-day-ish and on Earth.

"The Lucky Pig," however, is a whole different kettle of fish. I'm not only having to invent the plot and the characters, but I'm having to invent a whole different world. I'm also having to create alien concepts which nevertheless have a ring of realism and will carry the reader through on a wave of believability; while also injecting a note of comedic value in there to boot. For example, imagine the scene of pirates on a large sea world; effectively, "Waterworld," set in the past ... I have to reinvent the compass directions...

Riseward (East) and Setward (West) – Warmward and Coldward (North/South depending on hemisphere) which created havoc for anyone navigating the equator and had been responsible for many a new settlement.

These things don't come easy. The names of places, of people, of political factions ... and that creates a massive obstacle course from which I've realised why romances are turned out at a much faster rate than good fantasy can ever be. There is so much more creation involved and my brain is going completely off the rails in order to do it.

I now appreciate what financial independence means for an artist; in whatever medium they work. It is the freedom to ride these peeks and troughs, the ability to capture the good bits and absorb, (and work on) the many failures. It gives someone the freedom to fail, in order to create the finished work. The freedom to wake and sleep according to the sine wave of creativity, rather than the howl of the work hooter.

Will, "The Lucky Pig," fail? I don't know. At this point, I don't know. (I actually didn't expect to be writing another book, given the lack of interest in the others.) Certainly I'm facing some defining moments at work, with a critical meeting about my future happening next Wednesday; and it is proving to be very difficult to meet this higher level of concentration not only with the commute and working times involved, but now with the Sword of Damocles over my head ... and other people's, it has to be said.

I am, however, going to try and get back to bed again. My nerves are  practically shot and I have to get dressed for work in three hours.