Naked Chance

I'm head down in The Taxi Ride, the current name for the first draft of my next novel which I wouldn't embed too firmly in your consciousness as it will last oh, anything from a week to a month based on my other working titles. They've ranged from The Tree House to Thrown Together to Lack of Charge and have all been summarily discarded already.

That isn't to say I'm not having great fun writing the story. In fact, my biggest frustration at the moment, due to my - albeit much pared down - work commitments, teens, exams and flashcards, the odd compulsion to hoover the house, catching up on a few years' of missed coffees with friends and family (that's important, right?) and err, going on holiday (I'll stop now before you craft the Voodoo doll) is that I can't spend every single minute on it. But that's first drafts for you. It's the wonderfully hedonistic feeling when the story flies from your fingers and the characters write themselves.

Fortunately, the book reviewer and popular blogger, Rachel Gilbey, kindly came to my blogging rescue and asked me to guest post in her Chances Fortnight. This is where writers talk about chances they've taken in their lives. Somehow my mind rushed to Ilse, the mother of adorable Andreas, the then seven year old German boy I was tasked to look after when I was an Au-pair. When Ilse chose to talk about her 'alternative' kind of holiday hours after we first met and when we were still using pictures to communicate as neither could speak the other person's language, aged 18 and not particularly worldly-wise, it was clear to me that my year off in Germany was going to be anything but dull.

Here's the post. 

We're also offering two signed copies of Glass Houses and details of how to enter the competition follow. The competition closes on 26 June. 

I hope you enjoy the read and good luck!