The Whitby Intervention

Back in June, my partner Dave and I took a well-earned break and headed off to Whitby in Gothic Yorkshire. I’d been writing for a few months and frankly it had all become a bit of an unfortunate slog, so a few days of sniffing the briny, riding steam trains, frequenting spooky tumble-down abbeys and walking cliff paths seemed like it’d be ‘just what the doctor ordered’. It was, but not in a way I’d expected.

That steep cliff to Whitby Abbey is an exorcism all of its own!

Shadows and stones cast their ancient spell.

We returned refreshed and the following day (30th June) I returned to my laptop-based task.

I started with a read-through of what I had so far.

I positively ploughed through the thing.

What a load of cobblers!

So I put the entire manuscript (whatever you want to call it!) into the trash can and I hit ‘DELETE’!

BEST MOVE I EVER MADE.

Cathartic. Cleansing. Clarifying.

         Do her a favour!

That afternoon I set to work with a renewed focus, drive and vision for what the book ‘Discovering Joan’ really had to be.

A new over-riding theme.

I’d got my ‘vomit draft’ out. And clearly it had needed to come out! But now I was free.

For the last eight weeks I’ve rebuilt the book from scratch and I am happy. I don’t struggle with it, I enjoy every second of the process. Some days I worry cos it’s flown out and I’ve felt like a passenger on the book’s journey, then I check back over it and it’s fine.

And I press on.

This has been the culmination of a project that spent its first five years of life as a side-hustle, then it consumed me for another five years, taking over my life at one point, and for the last few years it’s been troubling me as I tried to work out how to bid it farewell in the most respectful way.

I found that way with the book wot I’m writing.

Now, back to the keyboard!