I Am Two-Thirds Through Completing A Novel
“Singing out of key cannot rescue a bad song.” Colm Tóibín
I am writing a novel. It is two-thirds complete. The trouble is it has been two-thirds complete since March 2020. Lockdown interrupted the routine that had helped it evolve to that stage. I began to take up proof-reading and copyediting in a big way, and discovering how much I enjoy the process of editing other writers’ copy.
Up till now, my brother-in-law has been the only person outside this house who knows that I have a novel in progress. Occasionally, he asks me how it’s going. For over a year now I have had to say that it is not progressing, that I intend to get back to it when the mood takes me, that I am not concerned because I know I will finish it at some point.
Earlier in the summer, during a lull in freelance work, I began to copyedit my own novel, in an attempt to kickstart a drive to the finish. But then freelance work began rolling in again, family came to stay, the garden took up a lot of time, and there were other reasons to excuse me from re-immersing myself in the unfinished story.
For, in truth, it is a story rather than a novel. A long novella, if you will. I find the characters entertaining and diverting, but I have little confidence that other people will feel the same. The main character is a source of humour. At…
