Chelsea Arts Club

I was very fortunate this week to be invited to the Chelsea Arts Club. Students past and present were asked along by our tutor. Founded by Whistler, it is tucked away in a lovely location just off the Fulham Road. We were in a room at the front of what is essentially a cottage but then when you go through to the 'inner sanctum' it opens up into another world. Membership is exclusive, so I'm unlikely to go again but I briefly saw a parallel life that shows itself now again. When I turn it's gone but one day, maybe one day...

Champagne

I handed in my MA dissertation on Wednesday. I must admit to feeling rather bereft. This won't last as I have now started to get to grips with the PhD. Last Sunday was rather stressful. All I had to do was print the novel extract and essay but the printer jammed and I got through a brand new ink cartridge. My other half had to drive me to Staples in my comfy clothes and my hair all over the place, shouting "ink". The lovely thing was that we didn't just hand it in and then drift away. Fay Weldon invited us all for champagne in her office and we all shared stories of the last few months of writing. I am so glad to be going back to continue my studies.

Finished!

I finished my dissertation today. It is formatted, referenced and proof read. All I have to do is press print. It feels great. Having said in The Big Decison that I will probably shelve it I have now decided, following comments from my tutor, that it will go on ice and be re-visited when I finish my PhD. I am now going to spend a few weeks reading books that I want to read. I got The 19th Wife at the September Fire Station book swap (swapped it for a spare copy of Pat Barker's Regeneration as the one I kept has a cover that matches the rest of the trilogy!) and also picked up Francesa Kay's An Equal Stillness from the charity shop which I have wanted ever since I worked at her agents last year.

Nearly There

I can't believe where the time has gone. I have spent the last few weeks on the Writers Journal. As well as musing over my writing decisions, I have also had to look at my work in the context of published novels and other media. Therefore, I have been reading up on everything from strong female characters in the media since the 1970's to epistolary novels of World War Two. I have finished the essay and have spent most of the day working on the referencing for the entire dissertation. Even though I thought I had kept on top of it from the start it is incredible how long it takes to do, particularly when you have to use the Chicago method.

Fire Station Book Swap Birthday

Last night was the Fire Station Book Swap’s 1st birthday. There was cake (but then there always is) and a smattering of balloons. It was a really entertaining evening with Matt Rudd (William’s Progress) and Andrew Kaufman (All My Friends Are Superheroes and The Waterproof Bible) as guests. Both were extremely engaging and funny; it will be available as a podcast on iTunes soon and I recommend it (it's free!). Am adding Andrew’s books to my ever increasingly Christmas list.

The Big Decision

I had a tutorial this week which went well. I have some further work to do to the manuscript (nothing major) after which I will have one third of a novel which I am content to submit as my dissertation. So what’s the big decision? I start my PhD in January so have until Christmas to finish this novel (albeit I am travelling for six weeks). Should I expend a great deal of effort to complete it? The answer is no. It has been a fantastic learning experience but it is not my first novel. It is not what I want to go out to agents with saying “this is me.” The novel that I will be writing for my PhD is the one that I really want to write. It is also important to remember that publishers will go straight to the sales figures of any previous novels that you may have published and if they are not promising then they are unlikely to back you. I have a suspicion that even if I did finish the current novel and miraculously found an agent and a publisher it would not sell huge numbers. Whether it is a novel, a painting or a symphony, art requires patience and practice. I know that I am in this for the long haul i.e. years and I am not going to go to an agent until I have a novel that I am truly content with.

And Another Thing...

Not only am I writing a novel for my dissertation, I also have to write a 5,000 word 'Writer's Journal.' This includes everything from my inspiration to the choice of setting and the relationship to other published works of fiction. At first I thought this was unnecessary pressure but I'm changing my mind. Since I started drafting the novel last summer, I made sure that I had a framework for the journal saved on the computer. Whenever I had a significant thought or came across a useful quote, I squirrelled it away under the relevant heading. Today I started to draft each section. Research notes, character profiles, the novel plan etc all have their home on my computer but without this journal there would be no place to store all those other key thoughts regarding not the content of the novel but how it is actually written. As writing a novel is often the result of years rather than months of work, it is difficult to remember those thoughts you may have had about an approach to a particular character's voice or why a particular setting was chosen. These may have a subsequent impact on redrafting/revision way off in the future but if its not recorded the meaning of this may be lost. I intend to keep a journal for the novel I write for my PhD even though it is not a requirement. In addition, having those headings on an otherwise blank screen will help identify where the gaps are and where key decisions need to be made.