No fast cars or leather trousers so far, and I haven't been gripped with a desire to find my life's real meaning in a faraway ashram or between the thighs of a day-rate plumber. But I have been unpicking my everyday assumptions and routines, wondering where I am, how I arrived here and who's here with me, whether I've done it all wrong or if elements can be changed. Asking questions about my job, my marriage, my kids, my health... How do I feel about being more than halfway through my life? About having less time to live than I have already lived?
The book came out of a feature I wrote, entitled Is This It? which you can find in the Writing section of this website. It will be called Out Of Time, as that's what this crisis feels like. As though time - beautiful, precious time - is rushing past me, like I'm in standing in a river trying to catch tiny glittering fish that dart out of reach. Also because it's the title of one of my favourite Blur songs, created at the collapsing, bitter end of the band's youth.
Out Of Time the book won't just be about me, as that would be very boring to write (and read). I'm interviewing other people, to find out how they're coping, whether they, too are feeling that being somewhere between 40 and 50 is a strange place to exist. I've interviewed a few people already; some others have sent me their feelings and experiences via email. I'll be posting them up in this section of my website.
If you would like to talk to me about your mid-life crisis, then I would love to hear from you. You can write about your feelings anonymously below. You have to give your email address, but this won't show up on your post. I'm going to moderate the posts, too, so if you're a spam-bot selflessly looking to increase the size of my love-pump, obviously you'll be published straight away.
That's it. I'll be putting up relevant posts and pictures as I find them. And yes, I am aware that many scientists are convinced that mid-life crisis doesn't actually exist. I believe it does, it's just hard to track and capture. But isn't that the fun of it?