Today I was surfing the ‘net, looking for inspirational writing on writing and came across several books and articles with the title, more or less, of ‘how to start your novel’. Now, believe me, I think these are useful – I’ve read enough of them – and they’re full of helpful information on structure, voice, plot, narrative arc and all that stuff. My problem is I want a book on finishing my novel. Actually, I don’t. What I want is for someone to come and take my heavily edited ‘script, and say ‘there, there, I’ll finish that off for you’.

But it ain’t going to happen. I thought writing it was hard enough – but finishing it, wow.