On finishing a book

a conversation with my novelist sister in law Keelia Clarkson

Dear Friends,

In London we’ve just emerged from delirious few days of heat. At 8AM as I walked to the Tube station around 8AM, my neighbours poked their heads sheepishly out of their doors, clad in shorts and moo-moos and rubber flip-flops. “How are you surviving?” says Ryan to Moira, “Haven’t left my house! I’m staying in the shadows” she replies. Temperatures have been above 30 most days this week (in the 90’s for my American readers). That’s not too bad, you might think, why are all the Brits complaining? And the reason is three fold: 1. AC is not ubiquitous in many/most homes, shops, and forms of public transform 2. Buildings are generally constructed to retain heat (e.g. in many university buildings, windows don’t open) 3. the heat here is, somehow, just hotter.

Lest you think that I am being a wimp, a reporter from the The London Standard recently rode the major train lines throughout London and tested their temperature. The Central line—which is the line I usually take to work—came in the hottest at 39.4, which for my American friends is around 103F. So imagine this: you wake up in your house which at 8AM is already 88F INSIDE (in many parts of the country it hasn’t gotten below 22 for numerous nights on end), you walk to the Tube, which is 103, you go to your local coffee shop which has no AC, and then to work which also has no AC. I should say that my office actually has AC, so I have been going into the office every day just to stay cool. But for many people there is no escape from the heat throughout the day. Not only is this creating a kind of temporary madness, but many medical crises. Numerous hospitals throughout England have declared "critical incidents” as machines fail because of the heat and there are high numbers of admissions of patients. Yikes!

Thank you to my husband, for remembering that I had and charging this tiny fan. It makes a huge difference.

The experience of the heat and collectively not being able to escape it is utterly surreal. I will not quickly forget the experience I had a few days ago where I went to a relatively formal academic event, after which a hundred academics, students, clergy, and funders milled listlessly through a un-airconditioned hall bearing a striking similarity to the glasses of champagne they all held in their hands which dripped with exorbitant condensation, sweat the great equaliser amongst us.

But thank heavens, the wave seems to have broken. It is cooler today, and predicted to be cooler for the next week. And for that I give thanks.

And I’ve just emerged from a different kind of fever dream too: I submitted the edited manuscript for my new book! For me, finishing a book involves a vortex mindset, a few days that blur into each other and sometimes into my dreams as well. My editor Katelyn Beaty was a gracious and skilful midwife for this book, and I’m so excited to share it with you. But for the moment, I’m enjoying the rest air both of a cooling London and the temporary freedom of finishing a task!

One nice things about this book-mania seasons for me is that I wasn’t doing it alone: as I was finishing my book, so was my lovely sister-in-law Keelia! She finished her novel earlier in the year (around the time of my first draft), and it came out last week with InterVarsity Press! So this week to celebrate, I thought I’d share a conversation we had about how much of our lives we put in our books, what writerly habits keep us going, and the importance of comfort reads. So I hope you enjoy our conversation, and of course, that you buy a copy of her book!