Remind Me To Smile

It's quite tough, I've discovered, being a novel writer.

Florida Key is a fictional story set in Florida and Illinois, and of course Wivenhoe.

This time I decided to plan out the story in detail before properly getting down and dirty and writing the words. The trouble with that plan is that when you try really hard to come up with the story's intricacies, they simply don't flow as well as this author hoped.

The only thing to do under these circumstances, I decided, was to forget Florida Key for a while and totally immerse myself in someone else's work, thus freeing up my own mind, and letting it be open to subconscious thoughts.

In my particular case, I began reading Martin Downham's wonderful Remind Me To Smile.

Thanks to Martin for his yesterday-story about his love for Gary Numan. He is totally transporting me away to a world so far removed from my story-writing of today.

It's like drinking a tonic.