frankbarnard.com

Many people, it seems, think of writing a novel. But there’s thinking of it and doing it. Peter Cook met an acquaintance in Hampstead once. ‘ What are you up to these days?’ ‘ Writing a novel.’ ‘ Neither am I,’ said Cook.
To put things in perspective, for anyone considering the task, this pile of paper is the end-result of about two years work (from starting research to typing ‘The End’) on my fourth book, High And Over. It runs to 150,000 words and 450 pages. Winston Churchill put it perfectly: ‘ Writing a book is an adventure

To begin with it is a toy and an amusement; then it become a mistress, and then it becomes a master, and then a tyrant. The last phase is that just as you are about to be reconciled to your servitude, you kill the monster and fling him out to the public.’ Now that the High And Over MS is ready for submission to Headline Review I am, God help me, already thinking of embarking on the ‘adventure’ all over again. I’m not sure why: it’s a mystery. As mysterious as wondering who the heck had the patience to write that great wodge lying on my study table.