All right, so here is the good news. Here is the formal announcement I’m sure you’ve all been waiting for. I can finally make it official.

I have begun work on my new novel.

Okay, so it isn’t really anything too significant. Just a couple of token sentences. Barely even a full paragraph. And I’m not sure they’re actually very good sentences. I suspect that once I get into rewrite mode, they’ll be changed beyond recognition. But it’s a big step, like climbing over a barrier. Just to force myself to sit down and get some words out feels like something of an achievement.

Now, of course, all the hard work is really in front of me. So much writing to do. So many ideas to try to bring together. Lots of plotting and planning. And most likely, lots of staring at a screen until the blood begins to seep out of my eyes and my head starts to feel like it’s going to explode.

These sentences are only the smallest beginning of what is likely to be a long and extensive journey. I can see it occupying my time and my brainspace for several years at least. After all, the other novels I’ve completed have taken years from beginning to end, and there’s no reason this one will be any different. Taking the time for all the ideas to develop; writing a draft and then another draft and then another draft; not to mention all the editing and proofing. It feels like the work of a lifetime.

Given that it’s only been a short time – barely a couple of months – since I completed my last novel, it feels like I’ve come up for air for a brief moment, taken a deep breath, and just dived back down into the water again.

Sometimes I wonder why I do it. Sometimes I question whether all that time and effort is really worthwhile. Sometimes I’m not sure about whether the years of effort really come to anything.

But after a while, I’ll be captured by the story. I’ll be sucked into the narrative and I’ll be utterly engaged by the characters and their wants and needs. I’ll surprise myself, and occasionally I’ll make myself laugh. And then I’ll remember why it is that I do this.

So hold onto your horses. We’re diving deep and we may not return to the surface for quite a few years.

I’ll see you then.