Jenny Bradley Writer

  So 'Sibling Poets', the book written with my brother Jonathan, is finally out of the door. It is already on web-sites for pre-order (well done Waterstones for being first) and soon a wonderful box of books with my name on the front will appear at my door. The day after we signed off the proofs I went into a post book slump. I half expected it after the pressure and constant to-ing and fro-ing over detail and correction and further proof reading and correction in what felt like a never ending cycle.  We'd finally made it. To that pause between proof read and publication. I felt tired, listless and as though I would never write anything again, a most unusual state for me.  One day, I thought, of tea and rest and soothing chores, one day of not thinking about the book and what needed doing, and I would be back to normal, whatever that is.  It wasn't as though I had nothing to write. I have a new collection of poems that needs organising and forming into a book. I have...

What have I learned whilst proof reading today? Mainly, that sea salt and balsamic vinegar (from Modena, no less) crisps do not go well, if at all, with lemon, ginger and manuka honey tea.  To be fair, I probably knew this already. However the deep concentration needed to proof read made me briefly forget when my body told me it was thirsty and also, that it needed salt. Too many cups of normal tea (together with that well known combination of chocolate - a marriage made in the place where angels sing and dance) and a focus on the words on screen, led me, temporarily, not to think about anything else. The upshot is I have finished half a huge packet of salty crisps but not the lemon, ginger and manuka honey tea, and am now even more thirsty.  So, apart from  mismatched beverages and edibles? Hmmm... that it feels a bit like being stuck in a long motorway traffic queue, inching forward and then stopping again. And when you switch lanes hoping to better your ability to move...