I’ve got mail…

Some days are a test. Today was one such. Nothing bad – just nuisance value and one of those days when I curse the Fates for not playing the game my way. But my way is a selfish way, I suppose. And nothing good ever comes of being selfish, does it?

So there I was, bemoaning life, eating far too much dark chocolate and having my second glass of wine, and my email ‘bing-ed’…

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I won’t say who it was from – let’s just say ‘a reader’.

And it made my day – it washed away the trials of earlier and made me realise that this is why I write, because this is what the email said:

‘I’ve just finished reading Book of Kings, and you’ve outdone yourself! I really think it’s the strongest one yet. It’s just so rich, and intricate, and layered, and nuanced, and subtle, and the characters are absolutely real living people – vivid and fully developed. And the pacing is perfect. It never plods, but it also doesn’t race along like some thriller (my definition of a thriller is a book where a lot happens but I really don’t care very much.) You give the reader just enough time to catch … breath, but never too long…

And when you foreshadow, you do it so subtly, yet so elegantly. (Thinking now of the line about the water being the color of a sword blade.) Also, you seem to be one of those rare writers who can write both male and female characters well. And again, your writing is lyrical and musical and would be a joy to hear read aloud…’

Happy. Happy, happy, happy. And uplifted.

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Enough to race off to meet Tobias in twelfth century Venezia…

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(PS: We all know that Peter Dinklage is my inspiration for Tobias, don’t we?)

(Oh, and PPS: This Australian writer was awfully chuffed to see that a much respected commentator thinks Book of Kings is ‘lyrical and musical and would be a joy to hear read aloud…’  Are you listening, Audible.com?)