'Coastal,' watercolour on paper, 12 x 10ins |
I began my novel in 1998. It was only a few months after the sudden death of my partner Tom. I was forced to return to the UK, because at that time you needed to renew your visa every three months, and without Tom I could no longer use our engagement as a reason. I returned to the UK and tried to give shape to my grief by writing. I learned so much about the creative process of assembling ideas and conversations into a novel, and I thought I had finished it within 8 months. How wrong I was! I ended up doing about 40 re-writes, because the novel continually demanded changes, or seemed less rounded than my cursory read revealed.