Sarah Mason on Being Lost for Words

Words are supposed to be my trade and yet I frequently find myself scrabbling around, doing fish impressions, or saying something inappropriate, desperately trying to find some that might vaguely convey anything I am actually feeling.

One of my most vivid memories in my writing career – there have been many others besides but we have neither the time nor space for those! – was winning Romantic Novel of the Year for Playing James. I never even dreamt that I would actually win the prize – being shortlisted was thrilling enough – and, as a result, spent at least ten minutes staring out of my hotel room window that morning, dreamily watching the birds in the small garden below, when I could have been thinking of something amusing and acerbic I could say in the unlikely event of winning. Instead, on being handed my prize, I gaped at the audience before me and mumbled incoherently about anything I could think of. The price of coffee. The economic climate. Cumulus clouds. Lord knows what I was going on about and, mercifully, nor do I. I have conveniently blanked the entire thing from my memory.

Curiously, this echoes the time I spent shadowing a detective from the local police force in the name of research for Playing James, I unfortunately took the term, ‘shadowing’ very seriously, and whenever he would turn around, I would be right behind him. I mean literally, less than a centimetre away from him at any time. I was frequently lost for words on many occasions for the few weeks we had together. He never was.

Luckily, I have found enough words to write four, fairly witty but don’t get too excited, novels.  So please enjoy and let me know any time you’re lost for words. Just beware of telling anything too personal to an author . . . You never know . . .

Sarah Mason’s novels High Society and The Party Season are available now from Entice. Playing James and Sea Fever will be published in April 2012.