Happy New Year - for those of you who follow the Gregorian calendar.

My writing goal for last year was to finish the first draft of the next novel, which I achieved with a few days to spare. I have allocated January and February for editing.

The editing will begin with a broad-scale rewriting. Chapters will be deleted. Now ones will be written. Then I'll start on the finer work, reading out sentences to see how they sound, tweaking the wording. On the final couple of read-throughs I'll change the odd semicolon into a comma.

Looking further ahead, in March 2017 I'll move on to the fifth book set in the Gas-Lit Empire. But here, I anticipate a problem.
The truth is, I enjoy the process of editing. It satisfies my inner perfectionist. By the time March comes around, I'm going to be so far into that process that it will be very hard to start something new. By then I will be in love with book 4 and nothing I write in book 5 will seem good enough. The transition from one novel to the next has always been difficult for me.

But today - January 1st seeming like a portentous date - I opened up my computer and instead of getting on with the editing process, I created a new document, typed a title, and then: "Chapter 1".

I will need to get back to editing book 4 tomorrow, or perhaps the day after. But for now, it feels good to have launched into a brand new story. And when March does arrive, I will already have a few words on the page to kick start the next adventure.

Thank you for your friendship and support during the last year. I can't tell you how precious it has been to me, and how helpful. It gives me the confidence to carry on. Whatever you do in 2017, I hope it brings you joy and fulfillment.

PS As I mentioned in an earlier post, I hope to be making an IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT on the 5th January, which may include the names and dates.



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