What Does It Feel Like?

by Sophie Kinsella

My advice is to write the book you would like to read yourself. Visualize going into a bookshop and finding the perfect book. The book you would buy immediately. What does it look like? What’s it about? What genre is it? Then write that book. And above all, write the truth. Write what you know and do it convincingly. I don’t mean write nonfiction,” she clarifies. “I mean write the truth about life, whatever genre you’re in.”

“What does it feel like to have five children?” people ask, and all she can say is, “The same as having one child, times five.” The work is multiplied, the worry is multiplied, the joy is multiplied, the love is multiplied.

“Here’s another irony for you,” she says. “My brain was the secret of my success when I was writing books. But now my brain’s the very thing causing all the problems.” “Your brain has no sense of moderation,” agrees Nick. “It’s either doing brilliant things or bloody stupid things.”

And right at that moment, this is her only aim in life, the only happy ending she wants. Just to keep going.