FIND THE NAME: LOSE THE LADY?

I have had this little puzzle for longer than I can remember. It is my metaphor for life. It reminds me that everything you do impinges on something else. It reminds me that if I want to do X, Y or Z, I will almost certainly have to do A, B and probably C first! It reminds me that nothing is ever as simple or as easy as it seems.


When I fished it out of the drawer just now, it already displayed LADY on the top line. Could I make another word without losing the lady? Well, I could, but I had to move every other little plastic square. Perhaps I can now make CUT- but the prospect makes me feel tired. Oh hang on- if I make CIT (not a word- really except as op. cit.)- or better still TIC- I could have PURR!


Instead, I will embark tonight on the final styling and typesetting of The Boy with Two Heads, adding maps, lists of characters and author notes. I am excited at this prospect but know from experience that it will be just like my slidy plastic puzzle: when I change something at the beginning, it will mess up a page near the end; just as I think I have got it all sorted, in the right order, I will find a typo, and have to go onto the next page to change it; and it will take 10 times as long as I had bargained for. Meanwhile, Kate will be waiting for me to order the cover template so that she can get on with the final design. I can't order the template until I know exactly how many pages the book will have, as this affects the width of the spine. You see- it's exactly like my plastic puzzle!

Don't forget to visit Julia's new blog, and read the story from her POV!