Pics for WF

14,899 Words

A review I read recently, described Isabel Fonseca's novel Attachment, as a 'midlife' book - and that was a bad thing, apparently. It deals with an established marriage, ageing parents, a breast cancer scare, and other fairly ordinary things. Extraordinary things do happen, of course, but within this 'midlife' context.

Is my book going to be labelled the same way? Might it never become an actual book for that very reason? My female protagonist is younger, at thirty-six, but that might be even more problematic. She's not a naive, career-minded twenty-something, nor is she a worldly-wise, experienced forty-something. Is anyone really interested in the trials and tribulations of my age-group? Are we even interested in ourselves?

There is a section of the population, of which I am a part, who rejected the 'Sex & the City' lifestyle of the aspirational singleton in order to marry young, and have children young. We weren't quite teenage 'pramface' mothers, but we had our babies younger than our mothers or aunts did - straight after university, or even instead of university. I spent my twenties changing nappies, rather than concentrating on my career, and now I have nothing to go back to. I was rising quickly up the career ladder at one point, but I think I got off too early, before I had anything very impressive on my CV.

My protagonist feels as lost as I do. But maybe that's not something anyone wants to read about.

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9,566 Words

Still going well. Still flowing. And my group likes it. So... I'm happy. Just getting on with the job. I think I might send the first five chapters to J.M. Not in expectation of a proper response - just so that she doesn't forget me.
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