When I was painting with ink and watercolour, it was easy to decide when a work was finished… it was framed, under glass, and with a bit of luck, sold in an exhibition.
It’s much harder to decide when a story is finished. It takes discipline not to keep going over and over sentences, fiddling with punctuation, revising and revising and often ending up back at the start.
I believe The Midnight Pianist is finished. I feel I can do no more, it has been such a long gestation, and come through so many drafts… surely it’s done.
Although I wrote The Midnight Pianist with teen readers in mind, I find my adult readers have enjoyed it, as much as I have enjoyed writing it. My litmus test was granddaughter Matilda Sutherland aged 16, who read a late draft, and said, on returning my manuscript, I wanted more, I was sorry when I turned the last page… I want to know what happens.
Paper Horse is to publish my novel as an ebook and print on demand. You will undoubtedly know when it is to be launched.