So, having decided to do this novel writing thing it seems like I ought to actually have an idea.

I've got a couple of months to research, which gives me ample time to figure out what I want to do and then do whatever reading I want to do in order to lend whatever plot I come up with some kind of believability.

On the one hand, part of me wants to write a fantasy book. It's not that they're easy, or that they have particular challenges that I relish, it's just that I have never really written anything like that before.

I've also set myself a specific challenge. No fan fic, None. So whatever I come up with must be an original idea and use original characters. No short cuts.

I already realise that I'm going to regret this. Surely a first novel written under pressure should be easier on the writer than this?

I don't think I want that at all. In one sense, this is a test of whether or not I can hack it as a writer and a novelist. This is the dream I have had since I was a kid, and perhaps after November that's going to be a dream I will know I can make true, or not. In that light, it has to be done right. Everyone has at least one book in them.

Plot. Character. Tension, opposition and antagonists. And an ending. I suck at endings.

Speaking of which, I've got to present a five minute 'thing' on the journey of faith next Sunday. Why do I agree to these things?