No, this isn't the title of another ghost story; instead it's the feeling of returning to the first draft of my novel, which I completed in August.

Unlike my first book, White Light , which I wrote whilst very slowly recovering from cancer (and which took five long years to complete), I polished off my first draft of Shift Ten, my new novel, in six blistering months. On getting to this stage, I set it aside, well pleased, and concentrated on getting my ghost story collection, Queen Mary's Stair and Other Stories, ready for its pre-Hallowe'en launch (hint: you can buy it here).

After all that distraction, it was therefore a slightly disconcerting experience to return to the novel, and to remind myself of its characters, twists and turns, and its strange flavour of ghostly sci-fi. Part of me was thinking: hey, but didn't I finish this? And so it was with some reluctance that I went back to my desk.

But now, just a few days later, my mind is filled with the scents and sounds of my future Oxford, and my characters are telling me all sorts of interesting things that may, or may not, ever make it into the finished book. I am relieved to be back, and relieved to be relieved.

I'm hoping to finish this and any subsequent drafts over the next few months and to publish the finished novel in Spring 2017. I'll keep you all posted. But in the meantime, I'm going to enjoy returning to the friends I last saw in the summer.