Jane Wallman-Girdlestone

There are days when work flies.  Today has been good.

Sometimes you need the courage of your convictions.  I’ve been pruning Duty of Care; working up new sections.  I’m sure this can be dangerous but I’ve had Val McDermid on my shoulder talking about not being frightened to remove the scaffolding in your writing when you have a strong enough story.  I know it’s a funny place for her to perch,  but it works very well for me.  

My murky, dark inner voice tells me I’m making work for myself; that it was fine as it was; that I’m fiddling for fiddling’s sake.  Time will tell but I think at the moment, I’m still giving the story room to breathe.  Nothing has entirely keeled over yet.

I’m trying very hard not to get wilfully attached to anything, but it’s hard.  Clarence is key in this book.  He’s a complicated chap (do I ever write about straight forward people?)  Are some of his idiosyncrasies necessary?   Val McDermid is back.  ‘If it doesn’t help tell the story, chuck it out.’

For those of you who are keen on crime writing, Ruth Rendell’s anniversary of death fell yesterday.  I was thinking of her.  What an extraordinary sphere of influence she had.  What a powerful gift.  How diligently she honed it for the benefit of us as readers.  I never met her, but I can still read her books half a dozen times and get so much enjoyment from them.