diff --git a/DESCRIPTION b/DESCRIPTION
index 5d3b1034..deb1cb4c 100644
--- a/DESCRIPTION
+++ b/DESCRIPTION
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 Package: cpp11
 Title: A C++11 Interface for R's C Interface
-Version: 0.4.4
+Version: 0.4.4.9000
 Authors@R: 
     c(
       person("Davis", "Vaughan", email = "davis@posit.co", role = c("aut", "cre"), comment = c(ORCID = "0000-0003-4777-038X")),
diff --git a/NEWS.md b/NEWS.md
index c2cd7909..0dc5636d 100644
--- a/NEWS.md
+++ b/NEWS.md
@@ -1,3 +1,5 @@
+# cpp11 (development version)
+
 # cpp11 0.4.4
 
 * Davis Vaughan is now the maintainer.