Every good book has gone through a few re-writes, The Medallion of Auratus included. This is me hard at work in 2009 in the midst of one of these. I took three weeks annual leave and shut myself away in a bach that I hired in Paekakariki by the ocean. I spent the first two days in total angst because I didn’t know where to start. After two very ‘straight up’ conversations with my brother Blake and artist Paul Tobin I slashed 30,000 words, killed several characters and created new ones. It was an intense few weeks as I had imposed a three-week deadline on myself. I also shut out most of the world as I needed to be immersed in Sam’s world. I did not have internet access and told people I was not contactable by phone. I had three visitors drop in over that time. My dear friend Helen Ward was one of them and took this photo of me.
