Row your Boat

The last six months have passed with little real progress of novel #2 but I have had a good reasons ... a little reason but a growing one. It has meant a challenging reorganisation of time, energy and (broadly speaking) priorities. I have managed to do some editing recently - the idea is to get up early three or four mornings a week to write, but it hasn't always worked out (to be honest, it only worked for a few weeks). And of course you've got to earn your crust. You can see why artists need to starve - there's just not enough hours in the day. Anyway, my first book took years to write and it looks like my second is going to be a while too. The important thing is to keep going, however slowly. If I'm not going to rock the boat in terms of the things that keep me afloat, then at least I need to row the boat gently down the stream of ideas. Okay, possibly a mixed metaphor, but at least it's a metaphor. You get the idea?

GG

Writing After a Break

Today I organised my files, read the two markers' comments on my MA thesis, and pondered how to find the motivation and energy to actually continue writing my current work of fiction. The problem is not the markers' comments - these are very positive - nor is it necessarily a lack of desire to continue writing, at least in the abstract. No, it is simply what happens when you take a break from a piece of work you have working on intensely, and then try to recapture the feelings you had for it before you left off. Since I finished the 30,000 words handed in as part of my MA, I haven't touched the manuscript. There are a number of reasons for this. First there was a holiday in France, which included a week in the village where the story takes place. Above is a photo of the house we stayed in, a lovely stone cottage in the Drome. This was a period of relaxing. Subsequently, there was the return to Australian and work after the holiday, a very busy period in which all my energies seemed to be drained. For the last week, I have been putting off this moment of re-starting. So, how to proceed from here? I have purchased a new desk, one made locally from New South Wales Spotted Gum. So, the plan is this: the desk arrives, and with it a new lease of life, a readiness to tackle the problem of returning to work - inspiration as solid as Australian hardwood. That's the theory at least. We shall soon see how it works in practice.

Perpetual Locomotion Available on Amazon

Following an agreement between Interactive Press and Lightning Source, A Ticket for Perpetual Locomotion is now available in America and Europe through Amazon Books (as well as potentially through booksellers and libraries). To order a book from overseas, simply go to Amazon (link below) and type in the title of the novel.

http://www.amazon.com/

Starting Over

I have started work on my second novel, tentatively entitled 'Death in Piegon'. My intention is to not write too much about what the novel is going to be about, but to blog on the process of writing. New readers to this blog can scroll down and read about the progress of my first novel, A Ticket for Perpetual Locomotion (and also find out how to purchase a copy!). But for today, let me just say that my new project is set in the South of France, and is dipping into the crime genre. I have written about 15,000 words, but have come across a few obstacles. One of those is that I am writing without a clear sense of where the book is headed. This was also the case with my first novel, but as I am including a murder in this one, I feel that at some point I will need to get the whole story clear in my head. For the moment I am proceeding with what you might call blind faith. The characters are gradually taking shape and I am beginning to visualise some of the key scenes. Last night I got so frustrated with the project however, that I really did feel like giving the game away. It is much more pleasurable to go for a swim at the beach, or sit down for hours on end watching the cricket. 'Who'd be a writer?' I asked myself, 'when there are much more interesting, outdoors things to do in summer!' This morning I was lying on the beach thinking about my book, and some of the pleasure of writing returned. It is about problem solving, puzzles to play with, and the creative urge to move something forward. So I write this first blog on the new book with some temporary optimism. After all, I've done it once: why shouldn't I be able to do it a second time?

GG

See you at the Australian Publishers' Bookfair!

Hi all,

The Annual Australian Publishers' Bookfair is taking place in Sydney this coming weekend 25-26 November. The venue is the Leichhardt Town Hall (cnr Marion & Norton Streets). Entry is free. I will be appearing at the Interactive Press table on Saturday from 11am - 12pm, and would be very happy to meet people and talk about A Ticket for Perpetual Locomotion.

Hope to see you there!

Geoff

Imaginative Journey

A Ticket for Perpetual Locomotion is an imaginative journey in which three young people set out on the road hoping to find a life of freedom and adventure. With the passage of time, Carlos, Manon and Sophie must learn that travelling is not always about movement but about the unravelling of past mysteries and family truths.

"A sophisticated narrative which foregrounds the role of the imagination in inspiring journeys and in making the fantastic happen."

'Sometimes we write something as fiction, and it becomes true' (A Ticket for Perpetual Locomotion page 192).

Orders can be made directly to http://www.ipoz.biz/store/orders.htm

Book Store Update

A Ticket for Perpetual Locomotion is now distributed by Tower Books. I know that the following bookstores around Australia currently have it in stock, but you can also order it from all good book stores, and directly from Interactive Press who will deliver it locally or overseas.

SYDNEY

Banjo Books , 4/2 Oxford St EPPING

Better Read Than Dead , 265 King Street NEWTOWN

Gleebooks, 49 Glebe Point Road, GLEBE

MELBOURNE

Chronicles Bookshop, 91 Fitzroy Street ST KILDA SOUTH

Paperback Bookshop, 60 Bourke Steet MELBOURNE

Julian Wood Booksellers, MELBOURNE

Readings Bookshop,309 Lygon Street CARLTON

Stonnington Books,140 Glenferrie Rd MALVERN

QUEENSLAND

Angus & Robertson Bookworld, 22A Bulcock Street, CALOUNDRA