Working title: Dead Frog Lane

No plot, just vibes.

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I started trying to think of a title for this work in progress and, as usual, I opened Spotify and hit shuffle:

Heartbeat by Wham

Where You Lead by Carole King¹

Lay All Your Love On Me

Get Your Hands Off My Woman by The Darkness

Angry Woman by Ashe

All good songs, but not really what I’m looking for. At this point, I don’t know what the book² is going to be about. I have a few things I know I want to include, but it’s very no plot, just vibes.

When we first moved back here, we walked up a lane that smelled incredible - green and warm and like school summer holidays. Halfway up the lane, on the ground, we spotted a dead frog, flattened and dried out. I took a photo. It looks like a fossil.

I started calling the lane Dead Frog Lane. My 14yo said it was disrespectful and it should just be Frog Lane. But the frog is dead. And that’s ok. (Not for the frog.)

It popped into my head when I was trying to think of a working title and it made me laugh. So, for now, it’s what I’m going with. It’s not about the dead frog, it’s about how I felt when I walked up that lane, huffing the air like a Bisto Kid.

So I have a title. But I usually have to write the first draft before I can work out what the book is about.

I’ll tell you what I know about this one so far:

• A woman moves back to her home town after her divorce.³

• She has next to no money.⁴

• Her beloved, aged aunt (Aunty Bea? Aunty Dee?)) has recently gone into a care home and is showing signs of dementia. Her daughter (my MC’s cousin) needs to sell the house to pay for care, but doesn’t have much money. She suggests MC stay in the house rent-free as long as she emptied, cleans and repairs it.

• She also has use of her aunt’s car:

Saw this car as we walked home from the cinema the other night and immediately thought ‘that’s her car’. She hasn’t got a name, but she’s got a car.