Thread by @MSClementsbook, Have you ever wondered about the butterfly effect? It has been on [...]

Have you ever wondered about the butterfly effect? It has been on my mind frequently since an incident back in 2017. How did a random tweet lead me to change my life? Why did I decide to become someone else?

THREAD 1/14

It all started in Los Angeles. Of course, it did, where else would it start? Someone in a meeting room decided that 'Constellations' by Nick Payne would be a good play to produce at @GeffenPlayhouse. Meanwhile, in rural Buckinghamshire, I was fretting over building plans. 2/14

A director was employed & a cast of two secured. I wondered if I'd ever live in my dream house.
A cast member, someone I followed tweeted his involvement, I happened to be on Twitter at the time. I read the tweet

3/14

I was intrigued, but quantum theory in a play, yeah OK. Interesting but now I have to plan bathrooms for a house that may never exist. Meanwhile, I watched the news & cried a fair bit.
4/14

The tweets persisted, & ever curious, I read the about the actresses love of quantum theory, how she'd ty to explain it to her fellow actor. I was learning something too, the connections that link us all, whether we are aware of it or not.
5/14

One evening, exhausted by the routine nature of life, I downloaded the play, something I haven't done since those teenage years when dreams were fantasises that could never exist because, that sort of thing doesn't happen to girls like me.

6/14

I LOVED THAT PLAY - it's short but perfectly formed, I devoured the words, the silence and the emotion. I browsed the promotional photos and fell asleep thinking - that was good, what will I do tomorrow.
7/14

And now I need to travel back in time, 10 years to be precise, & a loving husband who wanted me to be more. He carried the aspiration I thought I had lost. 'You could write a book.'
I welcomed his faith in me but reiterated that I lack any ideas, & quite frankly, talent.
8/14

We move forward, relentless and unforgiving. Work, family, commitments always there demanding attention. When would I write a book, let alone how?
And yet, the morning after reading 'Constellations' I had an overwhelming desire to do just that.
9/14

I sat down to document conversations between two characters, not on paper, not on a laptop, but on my phone. Everyday, more conversations flowed out of me, two characters became 3, then 4.
10/14

By the end of the week my group had become a family, dealing with the reality of living in a hostile environment, where place of birth dictates the course of your life.
It was late Spring 2017

& I stopped following one predictable path & stepped onto another.
11/14

I met new companions, and we formed @virtwriting, I entered competition & understood rejection in a subjective world. I finished my book.
That could be the end of my story, but there were more voice than just my husband and friends telling me to continue.
12/14

So I did. I learnt new skills, I set up a publishing imprint with my husband & in 2020 I published my first novel.
Some dreams do happen, even to girls like me.
And now here I am, reading reviews of my novel that describe it as a potential 'classic dystopian'.
13/14

I am eternally grateful to all who got me here.
A butterfly carried me from housewife to author.
And so the point of this thread?

A thank you to the butterflies - moments & people - that have changed my life.

14/14
END

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