I wish there was a way to start a blog post with a sigh, but I feel like that wouldn’t really work. So, sigh, I guess. Yep, I was right, that really didn’t have the impact I was hoping for. And now I want to do another dramatic sigh.

I suppose I’m just in a bit of an angsty mood at the moment. Truly, I thought that I could be continuing my novel by now, but the publisher still isn’t ready for me to continue. It’s very frustrating and emotionally exhausting. They did, however, come back with some notes on the manuscript so far, even if they aren’t ready for me to continue writing. Basically, one of my main characters, Dirk, is a professional when it comes to Melbourne office fitouts. Like, he’s an absolute pro with magic office design powers and everything. But apparently, my publisher doesn’t like that. They requested that Dirk be in literally any other profession, which is a real curveball for me, since him being an office design expert is absolutely crucial to the plot. We’re talking an entire re-write of my first chapter, which I simply don’t have time for, not to mention how it derails the entire story, even if I am making the whole thing up as I go.

What is Dirk supposed to do if he can’t work in office interior design close to Melbourne? That’s his dream job. I can’t take that away from him! And yes, I know that Dirk is just a fictional character in an unpublished, unfinished manuscript, but even so! Office designing simply has to be part of his life somehow. There’s got to be some loophole here I can exploit, where technically I’m following the instructions of my publisher while also blatantly disobeying them. I just have to think really hard and find out what that loophole is. At the same time, I have to cover it well because my publisher could just close the entire project down at any time if I don’t toe the line. My contract really isn’t that tight.