Three More Things on Thursday

I am still in the trenches. Last week, I said I would pop my head up again, "all things being well".

That may be something of an overstatement. The novel goes slowly, more slowly than it needs must (is that an actual sentence? It sounds like it should be. I guess this sort of digression has something to do with why the novel goes slowly. If I'm having to ask what constitutes a sentence, I am clearly in trouble).

But today was better than yesterday. There is progress. And that is a good thing, on a Thursday, when the book is due on a Monday.

And three other good things, on this Thursday, are:

1. Seeing a display of The Truth About Penguins, complete with large poster of my smiling face, in the window of The Singing Tree in Albany, right next to that little-known author Stieg Larsson. I have a photograph but it is being held hostage by my phone.

2. Having the opportunity to talk picture books recently with an editor who has the wonderful insight of someone who clearly loves what they do. I feel very lucky to be part of this field.

3. Seeing an early cover idea for my forthcoming novel, Surface Tension. I have set it as the wallpaper for my monitor and it is spurring me on through my rewrite. Though I have to admit that I love it so much I fear any book I produce won't be able to live up to it. It's quite the paradox.

And with that, I return to the trenches. This time next week, the battle will be over (but not the war, I am sure. Somehow, there is always more rewriting to do. It's just that when I submit a draft, I like to pretend, for the briefest of times, that I am that most slippery of things - finished).

Three Things on Thursday

It's been too long between posts again and that may continue for a while. Sometimes there is a limited number of words to go around and I have to use them all for the more important stuff, being the books themselves.

I have my head down on a deadline at the moment, which is equal parts energising and terrifying. If you had told me a couple of years ago that in October I could strip back and rewrite a book scheduled for publication in March, I would have laughed.

I'm not laughing now. In a secret place, I may be weeping. But I'm writing, and that's good. It's the main thing, after all.

So it's a quick post from the trenches, to poke my head up briefly and share three things that have made me smile mightily over the last few weeks of bloggy silence.

1.  Seeing The Truth About Penguins face-out in bookstores all over the place.

2. This review of Duck for a Day. I've had many satisfying reviews lately, but in this one I particularly I love that the reviewer foregrounds the last line of the book and its metaphorical capacity. I was so happy when I hit upon this line; it felt like the perfect ending, as if it had been waiting there for me all along - more discovery than creation, somehow, in a way that was very satisfying.

(oh, and I also love this informal review, offered by a friend who also happens to be an editor at a local publishing house:
"Never has the duck been so lovingly rendered in contemporary literature. Roll over, Ping.")

3. This "Duck Full Body Child Costume". Firstly, I love that such a thing exists. Secondly, I love that underneath the description of the costume are the following lines:

Bookweek Suggestion:

- Duck for a Day by Meg McKinlay

If ever a child should go to BookWeek wearing a duck costume on my account, I shall consider my work done.

And with that, I am back to the trenches. All being well, I will poke my head up again next week for another three things.