In April 2017, I signed to the wonderful Diamond Khan & Woods Literary Agency. In April 2019, my agent, the brilliant Bryony Woods, sent my non-fiction book submission to 17 UK editors. All 17 of them rejected it, but the feedback was overwhelmingly positive. The book had simply missed its market. That is the kind of rejection I can deal with: the one that fosters hope. The one that tells me regardless of the outcome, I wrote in a way that made people feel things. There’s no greater compliment than that.

Thankfully, Bryony believed in me enough to stick by me for a second book and so I’ve returned to the fictional concept I drunkenly accosted her with three years ago when we first met. I won’t give too much away, but ‘The Bucket List’ is a novel about love and loss and loneliness, finding friendship in unexpected places, and the chaotic, life-affirming adventure that follows. Trying to get 80,000 coherent, compelling words down is probably the hardest thing I’ve ever done, but I can’t wait to bring the story to life. I hope, some day soon, that Albert, Ivy, Grace and Alex don’t just exist in my imagination, but in yours too.