Monday 6 July 2009

Pinky, Perky and Parky have left the building


I'm pleased to announce that the Meg Ryan Talisman did the trick - the big red cross has been wiped from my front door. Judging by the number of neighbourhood folk who've inquired after my health since my self-imposed quarantine was lifted, I must have briefly been part of Local Gossip - how thrilling.

Funny how life can give a writer unexpected gifts of insight - being cooped up all that time (okay, it was 5 days but I have 2 small children so triple that) and then getting back into the swing of things again was a really useful exercise seeing as the new YA novel I've begun is about a teenager suffering from agoraphobia...I got a small but useful whiff of what being safe and sound at home feels like and how much of a mental leap it is to go back outside again. Just a hint of the mindset I'll need to get myself into - maybe it wasn't Michael Parkinson's fault that I got ill after all, but my own mind playing Method Writer.

Speaking of mental leaps, it has taken me a long time to be able to write "funny" again. When I wrote Girl, Aloud (Jan 2010 - don't all rush out, it's aaaages away) I had no agent, and no expectations other than to please myself. And I did. I made myself laugh something rotten (terrible thing to admit but if you can't laugh at your own jokes...) Since then I've completed a more serious book. At first it was a struggle not to stick silly jokes in, but after a while the voice became second nature. Now I've had to go back to funny, only it's not just myself I've got to please...I worry that if I can't recreate the scenario in which I wrote the first book, I'll never make a success of this one. Barmy? Yes, especially considering the fact that I was 8 months pregnant when I wrote Girl, Aloud.

The Australian had better RUN.

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4 comments:

Kat W said...

Glad the red cross has been removed & you're back out in public. Your comment: "it was 5 days but I have 2 small children so triple that" made me smile in understanding - so true! Good look with the funny stuff. All your projects sound exciting. Kat :-)

E.G. said...

Thanks, Kat. The children survived my illness by making a cubby-house, every day, out of everything we own. I kept getting glimpses of a time when doing that was the best fun ever...now I'm a cubby clearer-upper *sigh* how life changes.

Caroline Green said...

So glad the snorkers have left the building.

I love the idea of you hooting at your own jokes! I'm always laughing at my own jokes. Is really quite worrying.

E.G. said...

Thanks, Caroline. Don't worry, the stage of laughing at my own jokes is later replaced by OMG THERE ISN'T A SINGLE FUNNY MOMENT IN THIS WHOLE BOOK round about the second edit.