Lazy Sunday's Rule

So the Mini Beast From The East has returned. I braved the snow all day yesterday to ferry around my youngest daughter to gymnastics and a party but today I have done nothing but several loads of washing, watched an episode of The Crown (for research purposes this time) and made a gorgeous beef and onion pie with a cheddar and thyme crust. I've not even brushed my hair. I have braved the outdoors though. For twenty whole minutes. And it felt like embarking upon an arctic expedition to get to the cricket pitch and back. So I am now back on the sofa, warming up, about to start writing.

My new book - The Towpath - is progressing beautifully. I have written the first two chapters and have gone back to editing as I write. I find it much easier to write then revisit, read and edit, chapter by chapter. Having read my work thoroughly (as opposed to bulldozing through the writing process and writing the whole book before editing it) I find the storyline stays with me and developing the story becomes easier. I have written the whole book as a chapter-by-chapter account as well so it is just a case of sitting down and getting on with it.

I've written just over 7000 words so far which is good going as I have had the flu for two weeks and haven't felt much like writing on my rough days. I am loving writing in a different era too. 1950s London (and Britain in general) was so different to how it is now and I have learned so many things especially about girls education and women at work. I was quite shocked to learn that very few women went to university and even if they stayed on at school after the leaving age of 15 to gain qualifications (if you left at 15 you left with nothing) they were virtually worthless and the majority of girls took short-term employment with a view to leaving work the second they got married.

It made me think of my own mum who was a very gifted and talented artist. Her art teacher talked to her parents about the possibility of her going to art college and they were encouraged to allow her to apply. My grandfather was having none of it and forced her to take a secretarial course instead and she got a job as a typist until she was 18 and married my dad. It seems almost incomprehensible now to think that narrow-minded attitude existed. I often wonder, and I am sure she does, what she could have achieved had she been allowed to follow her dreams.

Anyway... back to 1953 :)