Writing and the Art of Self-trepanation 2. Getting on with it.

Here’s a question for you. A man is working at the top of a tall ladder when the ladder starts to tilt sideways. If he can’t stop it moving, should he jump off the ladder or hang on to it?

This is one of the titbits that I discovered when I was sorting through bookmarked websites for my current book. It reflects how I feel at the start of a book – the tension between wanting to jump off or hanging in there and going for an exhilarating ride. At the moment I am hanging in there, going back through the huge pile of references that I have accumulated and putting them into categories relevant to different chapters. It points up the advice that my Ph.D. supervisor gave me: “Just keep going”. In other words, do something rather than nothing. If you don’t start, you will never finish. This is what Wendy has been saying, although heaven knows she has enough trouble getting started with writing tasks. I just wonder what she is going to say when I bring a box full of references with me on our holiday in Cornwall next week?