What happens at 3am
3 chapters…
01.
They say nothing good happens after 3am. Or is it 2am? Apparently a quote from Ted’s mum in the TV series, How I Met Your Mother. The warning that when you’ve been out all night and it’s hit 2am, it’s probably best to go home - not kick on. But sometimes good things happen after 2am. Like the other week. I awoke at about 3am and instead of drifting back to sleep, which would have been the sensible thing to do, my creative brain kicked in and started downloading all these ideas for my new book. This person, in this setting, living in this home, with this kind of family, with this kind of problem, and this love interest and this something happening in this specific location. Wow. Just wow. I knew I’d be beginning my third book soon. I’d been receiving insights, snippets, ideas. But this was more of a downpour rather than a sprinkling. And now I’m super excited.
02.
Before I began my previous two books something else happened, both times, in the lead up to writing. I never made the connection to the writing process or that it happened twice until much later. But I can see now the timing and the purpose. Here’s a confession: I got mega obsessed with watching and re-watching a teen rom-com and kind of falling in love with the lead boy character. As you do. Of course, it wasn’t me who was obsessed. It was my inner teen and I now realise that she was gearing me up for writing teen fiction, feeling all the feels and making sure they made it into my book. Clever girl! I have no idea if the same thing will happen again. But I get it. When I was a real life teen, I was obsessed with Karate Kid. Yes, the original movie with Ralph Macchio. (It still holds up, I swear). I watched it so many times, so many. That was the vibe I was recreating where your big teenage heart explodes out of your body and spills out all over the place. I know that you know the feeling.
03.
So what’s next? I have a process for writing that has reliably helped me craft my first book, Never, Not Ever - out now! And my second book, which is in the editing stage, and will be released next year. It’s my hacked-up version of the process Lisa Cron’s explains in her book Story Genius. It’s about psychological backstory, clear desires and misbeliefs, and inevitability. It’s the container that holds my story while it takes shape. My job is to get out of the way of the story and the characters doing their thing, let them live. It’s about deeply listening and writing down what I hear. Simple, right? Well, no. Daunting at times? Of course. But creative? Yes. Enlightening? Yes. Full of potential? Yes! Who knows what’s going to emerge from these next few months. Hopefully, a new book I can share with you in 2026. And maybe some fun for my inner teen and her big exploding heart.
3 endnotes…
There’s a truly fascinating podcast interview on the Ezra Klein Show with Maryanne Wolf, an academic who studies our brain on deep reading. Not surprisingly, there’s a difference between scrolling and scanning versus deep, concentrated, engaged reading. And there’s a secret to information overload and it’s about the connection between attention and insight. Worth a listen.
Yes, I love reading. And there’s something about fiction reading that no other forms of reading can offer. It’s a window into our imagination that no screen based story can offer because we have to imagine the story into being rather than it being served up to us. And yes, we need to encourage our kids to read. We really do! That’s why I really appreciate the work of
and Your Next Kid’s Read. There’s a newsletter, podcast, website, FB group. They’re everywhere!I’m just waving at you! Saying, hello! Grinning. Smiling some more. And saying, thank you for being here! 😊
Until next time,
Love to you and yours!
P.S. Want to buy my book? You can! From my website or Amazon or Apple or Kobo or Google Play or Barnes & Noble or Bookshop.org
