When it's right to pause and when it's not

Well, here I am again after an absence of two months. I’m feeling quite pleased with myself. I’ve just finished the first complete(ish) draft of The Novel. In other words, I’ve filled in all the gaps and have everything in roughly the right order.

I stalled before Christmas at the climax. I’d put my heroine in jeopardy, she’d reached her lowest point, but I just couldn’t make the leap from there to the ending (which I'd already written). I didn’t think that what I had in mind was exciting enough. I couldn’t fit all the strands together.

Then, a couple of weeks ago – after I’d fiddled around compiling a new chapter breakdown, timeline and synopsis and written a couple of new scenes for the middle of the book – I suddenly thought, oh bu**er it. Just do it. The waiting was worse than the possibility of failure. And somehow it worked. Everything fell into place.

Now, was that because the time was right – because my life had caught up with the novel – or was it because I put myself on the spot?

It’s a tricky business, this writing, knowing when it’s right to pause and when it’s not.