Kia ora koutou, as you all know I’m writing a crime novel and as the deadline fast approached I developed a very sore (read agonising) hip pain. I suspected I did something to it on the day I went to celebrate the beginning of Matariki but as it went on I thought, oh no, is this another ‘old age’ thing?
The worst thing was that it hurt when I sat so there I was trying to finish the draft and having to interrupt the flow and lie on the bed. Dark and dire thoughts filled my mind. All very normal I guess when anyone is incapacitated by a sore limb. I used to sore joints but this was sharper and far more debilitating.
Then on Sunday afternoon, and all of a sudden, like clicking off a text, it came right. I distrusted this at first. Was I imagining it?
I sat down at the computer and instead of the sharp soreness it was okay. I had persevered with my novel but at a slower pace and I now realised I wasn’t going to meet the deadline.
So what does a teacher do when she can’t meet a deadline? Well, in my case, she emails the participants in her workshop and asks for a two-day extension. They all said yes. Well of course. Only the best people come on my workshops.
I realised later that this was first time I’d asked for an extension since I rang Playmarket in 1984 and asked for an extension on the deadline for their competition. Nonnita, quite rightly, said no. I was writing Wednesday To Come.
So if I only ever do it every thirty or so years that’s pretty good isn’t it? Huh?
