I'm currently working very intensively on a new novel (my fourth); I reached 77,000 words yesterday and then decided to take a break because I wanted to think very carefully about what happens next. There were one or two plot details that needed thinking through before I plunged in and wrote myself into a corner. I think best when I'm out and about, either driving or walking, so I decided to go along Lady Mary's Walk, a very picturesque route which follows the River Earn. Finding a nice quiet place to go was important for one very good reason: I like to think aloud when I'm working an idea through, and if you do that in the Co-op people are likely to give you some very funny looks indeed. I hardly met a soul on the first part of the walk, although I did look behind me now and again to make sure nobody was around. Nope, completely alone. So on I wandered, rambling away to myself. On the way down Laggan Hill I was deep in discussion with myself when a small black dog ran past me, hotly pursued by a female runner. How she managed to sneak up on me so silently when the ground was covered with crunchy brown leaves, I shall never know, but she almost certainly heard me remark, "Well, maybe Egbert could be responsible for the maintenance."
Dog-walking running lady, whoever you are, I am not mad - just writing.
