Blank sheet

 

I’ve just finished writing something.

 

I say just, but actually it was a good week ago now that I sent it off to someone to read and drew a mental line under it. One day I may have to work on it again. (That’s a good thing, it means it’s going further along the line to publication.) Or that might be it: a dead end. Whichever is the case, just now, for me, it’s done with. Now that I’ve patted myself on the back for getting to the end (always congratulate yourself – writing a whole book is a magnificent achievement) and dealt with all the things I’ve been putting off in order to get finished, it’s time to start something new.

 

But what?

 

I have projects I’ve set to one side because I didn’t know how to proceed with them.

 

I have whole books that might need some more work or might be right for now when they weren’t right back when I wrote them.

 

I have abandoned plans and pages of notes.

 

I have ideas that have stalled because I need to do lots of research.

 

I have brand-new ideas that are still floating around in my head.

 

What to choose?

 

The answer might be to work out exactly what sort of book people would want to read, if such a thing were possible, and then write that book. It’s probably a very sensible idea, and certainly how a publisher’s marketing department would like things to be done. All the commissioned books I’ve written originate from a publishing company’s idea of what people want to read. But working out what people want to read isn’t a science, or else there would be no surprise bestsellers. All of the books I love most have a spark of originality that would never have come from the author studying the market and writing what they thought people wanted to read.

 

So I am led to the conclusion that I need to work out what I want to write for myself and just hope that it’s also what the market wants and what readers want.

 

I think I’m ready for something brand new. I’ve been polishing and snipping off loose ends for months now. I need to start to weave the threads of a new creative puzzle.