And now I await my friends’ feedback, which will include the words, “Hey, you missed something...”

And verily, I doth did complete a novel. It is 107,500 words and I have discovered that novels make writers incredibly paranoid about plot points. Because I keep thinking I’m missing one. I’m sure my plot makes logical sense, but somewhere among the paragraphs will be that one thing that throws the entire book into disarray.

So, I’ve started sending my MS out to some trusted friends. And I’ll wait to hear those magical words. “Did you know that on page 150 you talk about a futuristic doohickey but on page 175 it changes shape, color, its name and what it does?”

Many years ago I saw a Yayoi Kusama exhibition. Standing in a room covered in dots (big dots, medium dots, small dots) with large inflatable sort-of-dots was strangely awe-inspiring. What is also awe-inspiring is that she’s always been determined to be an artist, even in the face of major obstacles.