I’ve just posted off the proofs (first pages) of The Soldier’s Wife. So that’s my last chance to change it, gone.

It’s an odd feeling, particularly with this novel. Although I’ve done it many times before (this will be my 30th book), there is a much higher level of angst over this one, because it’s an entirely new genre and audience for me, and I have no idea if it’s any good or not.

I hope it’s good; my publishers and my beta readers tell me it’s good – but in the end, it will be readers in libraries and bookshops who will give the final judgment.

When you write fantasy or crime, there are standards you can hold yourself to – pace, originality, satisfying structure, set tropes – and I have a pretty good idea of what those standards are. For straight fiction, the standards are both looser and more challenging; and for a newcomer like me, it’s difficult to place my own book in comparison with others. (Don’t worry, my students – this inability to judge relates only to my own work!)

The worst thing about sending off proofs is that it’s so long before anything else happens…

But we’re going to have a HUGE launch, that I do know!