An old question

I've just reached the half way point of the new novel, which lead to an old question bubbling up in the Hall mind (with an adaptation for writers) -

Is the book half completed, or is there half still to do?

I try to be optimistic about life - despite the journalistic day job of darkness and despair - so I'm thinking of it as an achievement.

Well done for getting there, I tell myself - without dwelling too much on the long journey ahead.

But! That aside, the good news is that I'm loving it.

Looking back on the other novels I've written, I've come to realise it's often only at about the half way stage that you really get a true sense of the shape of the book, the plot and the characters, and whether it's all working out.

So, it's a fair point to judge - was all the planning, time and effort worth it? Is the thing actually going the way you'd hoped?

In short, and oh so importantly - have you fallen in love with your work?

I'm delighted to say that I have. I fall asleep at night thinking of what I'll do with the book the next day, and wake up in the morning with a mind full of ideas and energy.

I often say that writing is all about relationships. They take time to develop, so perhaps it's right that only so far into a book as half way can you truly tell whether you're going to make it together.

Time here, amidst this outpouring of emotion, for a short visual interlude... and it is related (I don't just throw these musings together, you know!) -

Exe dusk river.jpg

It's my beloved River Exe at dusk, the photo taken from about the half way point of a favourite walk I follow when I need to find inspiration. (How seamless was that for a metaphor? I told you this blog was all planned out, didn't I?!)

Anyway, back to the half way point, and one final thought -

Now we've come to love each other, this new book and I, we're happy together and we're looking forward to the future...

Which means onwards is the only way to go, so here's to the joy of writing the next half.