• The Other Me

    The Other Me

    ‘OCD Toasties’ OCD can affect you in funny ways. One way it affected me was when I’d make ham and cheese toasties, or cheese toasties, in the sandwich maker, and the cheese would spill out all over the place. It’s not so much an issue now because sandwich makers have a teflon surface and are easy to clean. But years ago, it took a bit of work to clean cheese from the plates. And it’s not neat. And it’s disorderly. And it doesn’t have to be. So I found another way of making them which, now in retrospect, realise may have been the OCD at work … Start with whatever…

  • The Other Me

    The Other Me

    ‘The Other Me’ iii. I resubmitted the manuscript that had been chosen as part of the Program, but it was rejected, the publisher feeling it was strong, but didn’t have a specific market. The manuscript was then rejected by all the other publishers I submitted to, although some were glowing about it. A smaller publisher accepted it, but had a contractual clause I couldn’t reconcile, so that turned into a pass. But I did get an agent, which was a huge accomplishment after all this time. I continued to write, almost obliviously, but also thought about its place in my life. It had developed a therapeutic value, letting me interpret…