New Beginnings

I have been retired for all of 36 hours now and already I know it’s going to be great. Who would have thought that there were so many hours in a day and so many things with which to fill them?

Not even me, despite the fact that I have retired several times before, at least in the sense of leaving well-paid jobs in order to focus on writing. But this time it’s permanent.

That makes a big difference, which I hadn’t fully understood until I woke up on Sunday morning and realised there are now no boundaries of time or other commitments to constrain what I do. So often I’ve put off the things I really want to do because I couldn’t complete them before my attention was demanded elsewhere. That was true, above all, when it came to writing.

Some people manage to combine work, family, other interests and writing but I don’t know how they do it. I decided several years ago that the best I could manage was 2.5 out of 4: and that writing, like family, should be all or nothing. So it is only now, ten years after returning from Australia to work for the European Space Agency, that I can truly return to writing.

I haven’t felt this excited in years.

Clearing my office of the detritus of an old job and various pastimes took barely half a day: and I felt ruthless enjoyment in doing it. A clear desk, a new phone, summer holidays over and a calendar purged of undesirable commitments: the sense of freedom and fresh starts is positively dizzying.

I’ve had a plan for some time now, as to where to start. First comes the proper promotion of Searching for Satu, which I couldn’t devote enough time to back in January when she was republished. That also involves some improvement of my online presence. After that the big question is, which of my two works in progress should I complete first?

Should I rebuild The Happy Dancer, which has a great beginning, a good ending and a terrible muddle in the middle; or should I complete “Kill the Boss” and its attendant blog, which I had to put on ice a couple of years ago?

I haven’t quite decided yet – but follow this blog if you want to find out. One thing is clear, however. I have discovered a new answer to the old question about whether I am a glass-half-empty-guy or a glass-half-full-guy. And my answer is this: “Fill her up, mate.”