Picking up the Threads - Joan Lennon

For the last five or so years, my writing life has been mostly long stretches of non-fiction for 8-12 year-olds, with only the occasional snatched bits of time for fiction.

This is one of those snatches.

Don't get me wrong - I enjoy writing non-fiction and I enjoy the whole being illustrated thing. Okay, so the restraints of word count (and the additional constraints of having to make sure there's also enough space on the page for co-editions in languages that take more room to say something than even English - I'm naming no names) are intensely irritating. And discouraging. And joy-sapping. But otherwise, yes to non-fiction story telling.

But coming back to a novel that's had to bide its time - coming back to picking up threads and feeling as if there is room to let a story breathe - it's a huge relief and an exciting challenge rolled into one. Some muscles are unclenching and others are coming into play. It's exhilarating. 

I haven't got forever. It's only a snatch, after all, before I'll be back to the non-fiction mainstay. But while it lasts, I'm as happy as a daffodil against a blue sky. 

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