‘That’s good to know. Sometimes I spend ages trying to make it right and then I’m so convinced it’s shit that I end up deleting everything.’
‘Yeah, she said not to do that. ’Cause even if those words don’t work for that book, you could use them for your next book.’
‘It’s hard to think about writing a second book when I can’t even come up with any ideas for the first one.’ My shoulders slumped.
The past couple of weeks, I’d tried to think about writing again, but I was so deflated by my lack of inspiration that I just told myself it was a waste of time. Plus, I’d reasoned that I’d be too busy, what with the wedding coming up and the fact that Ineeded to up my game at work. But now the wedding was over, I didn’t have any more excuses. I needed to knuckle down. I couldn’t give up on my dream.
‘That brings me neatly onto the final point she made,’ Jess continued, and I sat up straighter. ‘She said that if you’re struggling for ideas, remember that inspiration is everywhere. It could be a conversation you overhear in a café or on a train that sparks an idea or even something you’ve experienced yourself. When you think of anything interesting, she suggested that you jot down a few notes and sometimes that can spark one idea which can then lead to another and another and before you know it, you’ve got pages of thoughts to use as the basis for your book.’
‘Wow!’ I said as I scribbled down the last sentence. ‘That’s such great advice, thanks. And please thank D.D. too when you next speak to her.’
‘Will do.’
‘Actually, have you thought about asking her to teach a class at the retreat? I know we’re focusing on readers’ retreats, but maybe we should do something for authors too. If we had a session from a bestselling author, it’d sell like hot cakes.’
‘Yeah! Great minds think alike! I mentioned it and she said she’d give it some thought because she’s busy trying to write book three in the series.’
‘There’s gonna be athirdbook?’ I squealed.
‘Hopefully. It’s not confirmed yet, so keep it under your hat until then.’
She hadn’t even written it yet and I already couldn’t wait to read it.
Thinking about D.D.’s books reminded me that Ben still had my copy ofOffice Delight.
He’d read more on the plane and raved about it, and at the time he’d said that he’d hoped to continue reading that nightonce he got home. But obviously we’d found another way to spend the evening, so he hadn’t got around to it.
At least I knew what book to give him next. The sequel:Illicit Delight. I’d have to lend him my copy, though, because it didn’t matter how many we ordered for the library, they were always out on loan.
We generally recommended that people buy their own copies anyway because we knew either they’d want to annotate the pages to death or that the books would come back so worn that it was hard to loan them to anyone else.
I wondered if Ben would read the book tonight and what he’d think.
I’d love to know what Ben was doing right now.
Ben.
‘Sarah? Sarah!’ Jess shouted, snapping me out of my thoughts. ‘You were miles away!’
‘Sorry.’ I shook my head, hoping that it’d remind me what Jess had just said.
‘You were thinking about Ben, weren’t you?’ She cocked her head and raised a suspicious brow.
‘No!’ I lied. ‘Just about, y’know, I was just wondering if he’d read any more ofOffice Delight, that’s all.’
‘What, so you could ask him to reenact some of the scenes?’ She grinned.
‘Just because that’s what you and Theo did, there’s no need to brag!’ I laughed, trying to disguise the fact that she was right.
Jess told me that she and Theo particularly enjoyed the desk scene.
A jolt of electricity shot straight to my core as I imagined Ben banging me on this desk.
Jesus.
I had itbad.
How was I supposed to stop thinking about him when all of these flashbacks of him going down on me and how good it felt having his dick inside my pussy kept popping up in my head?
