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when I wrote chapter 8, 9, and 11.

  I had recently joined The Arthur Ransome Society and so was re-reading the books. This led me to search out some sailing books from the library, which I rapidly devoured. Because of my enthusiasm and new found knowledge for sailing, I just had to put a sequence in with a dinghy, when Elenopa and the girls sail to Nala's Island in chapter 8

  Up to this point the writing, when I did it, had been happening easily. There is not much crossing out in my manuscript, and only a couple of points when I have written a bit to be inserted in the page before and had to mark the point with a asterix. In chapter 9, I began to struggle. I think I had to start the chapter a second time and I made some separate notes about Nala before I could write a description of him that I was happy with. There is also a sheet inserted, with two lengthy additions. One of the additions is about magic, which I was still trying to define at that point. This section was one that underwent some change during the re-writing process of the first draft.

  Chapter 10 was a real struggle. I don't know why but after writing six and a half sides, I got stuck. I knew what was going to happen in the rest of the chapter, but I couldn't put it into words. There was nothing to do but leave it.

  Chapter 11 was a different story. As far as I remember, I was sitting in a lecture, and the lecturer was only re-capping on previous lecturers, so to pass the time I started chapter 11, the one with the water nymphs. I had no problem writing this chapter. Out it flowed, with hardly a crossing out or a pause for thought. After the lecture, I continued writing in the library, then I must have gone back to my room as I needed to insert a poem, plus the writing changes. I had never written a chapter so fast before.

  At that point, I left T'Tenneb for almost two years. I continued writing though, penning the first of the Treasure stories before I graduated.


1993-95

  The year after I graduated, I had a job in a shop, so I didn't have time to write. At no point did I ever think of not finishing T'Tenneb. The Brownie Christmas party that year was fancy dress and I spent ages on a costume. I had made myself a long green cloak specifically with the image of Elenopa at the beginning of chapter 7. This is also the image that I had when I made the model before I started writing. I searched around my home town for green leggings, a plain T-shirt, that I sewed diamonds onto, a linen look shirt, and something to make a scabbard for a sword. The scabbard I made out of a pair of leather trousers I found in a charity shop. I also made a wooden sword and painted it with silver paint. The only thing I didn't have the same as in the book was the footwear, but I had long leather boots that fitted the image. Everybody was impressed with my costume, but unfortunately didn't understand when I called myself Elenopa. I eventually gave up and called myself a fairy warrior.

  In 1994, I went on a teacher training course. I did write a short story, and plan another one, and eventually got back to T'Tenneb. The reason this time was the laundrette. At Uni., I had got used to sitting whilst my clothes washed. You couldn't go away or somebody would take them out at the end of the cycle and something would get lost. Well, this time around, I decided to sit in the launderette and tackle T'Tenneb again.

  I started with a fresh page in the middle of chapter 10. Over the weeks it slowly grew as I settled back into the story. Eventually I reached the end of the toughest part of the book. There is a triumphant comment that I remember scribbling as my clothes spun.

  With that major hurdle gone, I set into chapter 12. With the difference in pens and writing, I must have scribbled where I could. Sometimes in the laundrette, or in the library, or snatched lunch hours between tutorials. When I have less time at one go to write, I don't have chance to get settled into the flow. I seem to spend more time crossing out and adding to what I have written, rather than penning something new. There are points of chapter 12 where this is very evident with insertions squeezed into ends of lines and a number of crossings out.

  I had begun thinking about a sequel story by this time. The short story, The Princess and the Sword, had begun me musing about the Universal Treasures and a possible plot was beginning to form. I also came across a competition to write a story in less than a thousand words and rose to the challenge. It is so much harder to write a story that holds together when there is little or no space to establish characters. I got round this by using characters that everyone would be familiar with, and so wrote a sequel to Princess that could be read on its own with no prior knowledge. These seven hundred words are also intended for a very short chapter in the sequel story.

  I was four and a half sides into chapter 13 when my world fell apart. I was failed on my second teacher training practice. I

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