Time for a change

Thursday, March 17th., Royal York Hotel, Brighton.

Impossible to finish the second part of "Clayhanger". If I had finished it I should have spoilt it. I got up to within a few hundred words of 80,000 but the second part will exceed the advertised length by 5 or 6,000. Moreover I was frightened by a lot of the extraordinary praise of "The Old Wives' Tale" that I have recently had. For example from E.F. Spence, dramatic critic of the Westminster Gazette. I was afraid that "Clayhanger" was miles inferior to it, and that by going on blindly I might lose a chance of bucking it up in Switzerland ..... Neuralgia gradually getting better. 

Tomorrow we go to Paris via Newhaven. Our stay here on the whole has been a very great success. We have both enjoyed it. I have written over 100,000 words and Marguerite three short stories. But I doubt if the climate continues to suit us now that we are duly braced up. I have a feeling against it. Certainly I need less sleep. But smoking seems to affect me more and I have had neuralgia and headaches. Largely of course due to my book. I am inclined to think that the tension I have felt is because I have put so much of myself into the character of Edwin Clayhanger. As I write it is as if I am living Edwin's experiences. For example the scene between Edwin and Darius over money and marriage took a lot out of me. In fact most of the dramatic scenes have. I cannot be sufficiently objective to know if this is a good thing or not as far as the quality of the writing is concerned; I hope it will be.