a nook of one's own

today i realised that writing a novel is somewhat like having a baby. you have this idea that gets planted in your brain and it stays there and doesn't bug you much to begin with. you imagine what it will look like when it's born, what this fully-formed idea will look like, and you try and make room in your life for it. then you feel it kick you in the ribs unexpectedly one day and you're like 'ohmigod! it's in there and it's changing'! and you go into a nesting frenzy, cleaning and clearing and setting up a new place, and then all of a sudden you have a nook in a space where before there was just a mess, and you look at it in wonder and say 'this is it, this is where it's all going to happen, and i did it myself!' and you hope and pray that everything goes alright between you and your baby. well, today i went throught the writer's equivalent of a nesting frenzy.

okay, it could have been a massive act of procrastination, but who cares? the result of it is that i now have a little 'writing nook' in a corner of the back room of our house. i had tried to set something up in this room on other occasions but i think i had the perspective all wrong - now i am sitting facing the window instead of facing the fireplace, and it seems to feel a little better. i have the fireplace behind me to the right, which will be perfect for keeping my booty warm, and a not totally uninspiring view of citylink and housing commission flats and a nice chunk of sky. i will move my printer up here and once again free the dining table so it may for once in its life be used for its intended purpose.

all this is happening because the night before last while wandering on the footpath out the front of my house, i had a brainwave about one of the characters in the rough idea in my head that could become the next novel. actually a totally new character kinda stood up and went 'hello!' which was weird because i don't think i was actually thinking about writing when that happened. and now in order to fit this character in i need to see what i need to do to the other ones that i'd already kinda mapped out, and already one of the other characters seems none too pleased about this intrusion. could get interesting - we'll see how long this affair lasts.