The End is Nigh

So we come down to it at last, the final two weeks of the sequel to The Secret War. The book has yet to have a confirmed title, but for the meantime, I’m going with “The Burning Sands of Time” again, as it seems to fit the mood of the story which is growing darker and darker. Much like the skies over Sheffield today (will it ever stop raining??!).

So where am I? Well, geographically, I’m in the study, a cavernous room which is filling with boxes in anticipation for our move in two days time. Picture the closing scene in Raiders of the Lost Ark with all those crates piled high and you get the idea. I swear at the weekend I heard someone wheeling a trolley down one aisle of boxes whistling the Raiders march.
I’m excited about moving. Despite the chaos, the stress and the expense, moving house is a chance to look at things anew, and discover lost treasures previously buried in draws or on shelves. It also means new surroundings, literally for us, as we’ll have our own garden for the first time in five years (we are very much garden-people!).

So where am I metaphorically? Well, I’m near the end of the sequel. The fifth draft is all but done, and I’ll be doing a once-over to make sure it reads like it should and there are fewer typos. I’ve started this process already on the bus, so if you’re travelling the rush-hour through Broomhill, and you see a bespectacled thirty-something sat with a red-pen in his mouth, immersed in a clutch of loose papers, that will be me.
And if you see someone sobbing in despair with the same clutch of papers, that will also be me realising I’ve majorly fucked up the story (though hopefully that won’t happen).

The 24th deadline I’ve set myself is still realistic (move permitting) and after that I’ll be winding down this blog. It had to happen sooner or later, the number of visitors have been dropping off anyway. Once the Macmillan New Writers blog is up and running, I’ll phase this blog out and keep the website going instead. I might even use another comms tool like Myspazz or Livejournal, or just stick with the new Macmillan New Writers blog. Who knows?

To be honest, I’m just looking forward to spending two months of not blogging, not writing, just reading, watching films, sitting in the garden (if the Sheffield weather behaves itself) and growing a beard.

See you all on the 24th…