The Real Secret Of Success

Taxis and the arrival fallacy

Pity Party is coming in paperback on 17 July - it might make you cry, I hope it makes you laugh, and I promise you it has a very happy ending

Hello, Team CCC! How are you? I’ve been working on my copy edits, for my new novel. As you might already know, this is the light edit that happens just before the book is proofed. Significant changes are minimal - but my copy editor points out when I’ve repeated words on two lines (I did this a lot), when time scales don’t quite add up, and when you’ve accidentally given five incidental characters the same name (again, there was one point where 40 per cent of the population of the manuscript was called Charlie).

I’m about to write my acknowledgements, which always brings me joy. So many people have worked so hard, and helped and supported me in order to get to this stage. Including you, the members of the CCC! If you read this newsletter, and you’re part of this community, you’re a seriously significant part of the process, and I’m hugely grateful for you. Look out - when the novel comes out next year, you’re getting a damn good thanking. Hopefully soon I will be able to officially announce the title, and share a cover. You’ll be the first ones to see it!

Although I may have let a few things slip when I was in conversation with

Donna Freitas

at Backstory, Barcelona. Our conversation was recorded for the You’re Booked podcast, and you can listen here. We’re talking about my book, Read Yourself Happy, and the books that make us happy. There are some magnificent audience reccs and suggestions.

If you like the sound of that, I hope to see you at the Idler festival on Sunday 13 July in Hampstead, North London - tickets here - and the Edinburgh Book Festival on Monday 11 August, where I’ll be in conversation with

Hattie Crisell

. Tickets here. Also, I’m interviewing David Nicholls on Monday 7 July at Cheadle Hulme School - tickets here - and I’ll be at the Love Stories Etc festival at Manchester Central Library with

Jendella Benson

and Claire Daverley. Tickets here.

This week’s essay is for full CCC subscribers. If you’d like to upgrade, hit the button below!

The Thing (with apologies to John Carpenter)

I can’t drive*, and I live in a town that is not especially blessed with taxis. There’s a cab rank at the train station, but never a guarantee that you can, after a long and tiring day, pay someone to take you home. Admittedly, I’ve been known to react to the situation with bad grace, but I’ve trained myself to stop expecting taxis. Instead, a taxi ride is an experience to be treasured. There is nothing more welcoming than a taxi with its light on. When a driver nods at you through a window, your feet stop aching. The load on your back lightens before you put your bags in the boot.

Sometimes I think it would lovely to be rich and have my own car and driver. I’d gain so much in the way of ease and convenience. But I’d lose so much in the way of those blissful feeling of relief and luck. I’d expect my ride home to be waiting for me – the sight of my car wouldn’t fill me with delight. If something went wrong and I had to walk home, I’d feel aggrieved and resentful. And I’d find new things to fret about – the driver’s choice of radio station, or air freshener. I’d be responsible for everything that went wrong with the car. It would be better, and worse, and neither. Ultimately it would just be different. For now, I choose to focus on the upsides of my situation. The biggest one is that whenever I get into a taxi, I feel as though I’ve won a prize, and that’s a lovely feeling to experience semi-regularly. It’s a tiny, satisfying win.

In other areas of my life, I experience tiny wins all the time. And I’m trying to get better at seeing them as such. After turning 40 a few months ago, I’ve vowed to stop waiting for The Big Thing.

Most of us have a Big Thing. For some people, it’s work related. For others, it’s getting married, or buying a house, or having a child, or having another child. It can involve going on a big trip to an exciting destination, or it might be a goal we have concerning the way our bodies look. Cultivating the Big Thing is a very human response to general living conditions. We want to hope, and dream and plan, and keep moving forward. The Big Thing is an answer to the question ‘Is this it?’ The idea that this might be as good as it gets is terrifying. Regardless of how good Things already are.