Writing to death

Good Friday, March 25th., Hotel Belvedere, Switzerland.

Six days of perfect weather, with a N. and N.W. wind and nothing visible all day in the strong sunshine. I was able to begin the final chapters of the second part of "Clayhanger" without much difficulty on Tuesday, and I have averaged over 2,000 words a day of it. I finish tomorrow. The second part will be 50,000 instead of the estimated 40,000 words.

It is surprising that, a fortnight ago at Brighton,I could have thought it possible to finish the second part there. I had only allowed 2,000 words for the most important series of scenes - love scenes - in that part. On the whole I think it is fair. Anyhow it is honest and conscientious. I wrote 3,200 words yesterday, and pretty near killed myself, and was accordingly very depressed at night. This morning I went for a long walk and wrote 1,000 words in an hour this afternoon.

What I am led to wonder is, whether the context in which something is written has much impact on the finished product. So, would the version of this part of "Clayhanger" I have written here be the same if I had in fact written it at Brighton? I think not. Obviously the general development of the novel would have stayed the same but surely the 'tone' would be different. Here I am writing surrounded by mountains with sunshine and clean, fresh air, rather than by the sea in gloom and rain. Interesting to think about.

Reviews of "Helen with the High Hand" strangely kind. William Morton Payne in the Dial of Chicago describes it as: ".... capital fooling, humorously charming from start to finish,and we are glad to have it as a pendant to Mr. Bennett's gloomy large-scale depiction of the Five Towns." I could ask for no more.