A pregnant pause

To my huge relief, people have bought The Rise and Fall of a Yummy Mummy paperback - it hung out in The Sunday Times top ten for five weeks. I have no idea who my readers are but I feel stupidly grateful to each and every one. And I am now almost 30,000 words into my third book, which I was beginning to fear would stay a few scribbles on a post-it note forever. This said, progress is slow. Mostly because I am pregnant with my second child. Well, that’s my excuse. Having written two books while not being pregnant I can vouch for the fact that those pesky pregnancy hormones definitely do something to the brain, slowing it, dulling the spark of connections that make writing come alive. And then there’s the urge to sleep. When you work in an office as a pregnant person, you have something to prove – I am a clever professional, not just a mum-in-waiting – even if you feel sick as a dog and like you haven’t slept in weeks. Work at home as a pregnant person and you are liberated from the pretence. The bed beckons mid-morning. Then again around tea time, just after the cake break. It takes an iron will to resist. Or a rubbish word count.