There is often a strange synchronicity that can happen when you are writing a book - 'relevant' things occur and minor coincidences seem to crop up all the time in the world around you. I did a workshop recently with John MacKenna and he talked about this very thing - how elements from your life appear in your books and vice versa, as you are writing them.
I had one of those synchronised moments today and it made me extraordinarily happy. One of the main characters in my NIP collects glass paperweights of a particular brand. These things are stunning works of art that can cost up to €500. The narrator in the novel says that her favourite of these paperweights is a blue and white egg-shaped one "that seems to suspend the sea in its core".
This afternoon I dropped four big bags of spring cleaned clothes and toys to my favourite charity shop. I had a quick goo around to see if there was anything nice when I spied a paperweight in the window. Yes, you know it, it was a blue and white egg-shaped one that seemed to "suspend the sea in its core". For €3. I'm not saying it's an example of the posh brand collected by my character but, God, it was weird and wonderful to find it. It somehow makes me feel that I am on the right path with the novel; it's like an injection of confidence, or a small 'yes' from the universe.
The paperweight sits on my desk in front of me, making me extraordinarilyhappy still :)
