If you'd asked me about feedback ten years ago, I'd have launched into an explanation of how amplified sound leaving a loudspeaker is picked up by the microphone, causing a cycle of further amplification until you get the whistling screech familiar at rock concerts or near a hearing aid wearer. Possibly I'd have drawn a diagram. If you'd asked me on a day when things were going particularly badly, I'd probably have gibbered into my copy of Fundamentals of Acoustics and lapsed into miserable silence while scrolling through the vintage jewellery listings on eBay.
But those days are behind me now and today I'm more concerned with feedback from readers. Yesterday a friend told me I had my first US review on Amazon. I was a little nervous. I don't know anyone in the States so this was my first review by a complete stranger. Eventually I plucked up the courage to read it and it was far kinder than I'd dared hope. This was A Relief.
Writing is a solitary pursuit. It's easy to lose all perspective over whether what you write is any good or not, and it gets worse once you've had a few knockbacks from literary agents (although I still cherish the rejection letter than described Looking for Buttons as "well-written and perceptive"). Until now, only friends had judged the book and, delusional though I am, I could not regard their opinions as totally unbiased. But now Looking for Buttons is out there, fending for itself, being read and, I hope, enjoyed by people I will never meet. I hope that some of them will tell me what they think.
Until then, I'll just have to whistle to myself.
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