So an update of creative life: Over my European travels (which I'll come to), and since I've been home, novel writing has continued. I am currently hovering around three quarters through Part Two [of three parts]. After hording the manuscript in secret and allowing no eyes to touch upon it, I bit the proverbial bullet an have showed Part One to various critics. These folks were chosen because they had been relatively ruthless in earlier criticism of other work. So it was encouraging that their feedback was very positive. Novel writing is quite frightening compared with other sorts of creative work. The marathon scale of it is a double edged sword. On the one hand, you can succeed immensely, but on the other, one can fail enormously. Personally, I've found the experience a cyclic round between long, morose periods of self-doubt, and ten-minute oases of jubilation. However, I've been working very consistently. Every morning, I'm up to tinker and scribe. I am hopeful that the manuscript will be finished by the end of the year.

In musical news: Winter People have started working with a management company called Hub, (still under the auspices of our original manager, Jaclyn H). Its quite exciting, I consider it a significant opportunity to raise the level of the band by a number of rungs; however, I suppose I've always been very aware of the yawning abyss between Potentiality and Actuality. Nonetheless: we are busy recording a follow-up EP to The Dog Years. Which is moving along at a satisfactory pace. I am hoping that I won't become so maddeningly over-involved with the mixing stage of this recording. Certainly, my auditory understanding has a made a quantum leap or two since recording/mixing The Dog Years. In further musical news, I Like Cats finished recording/mixing at BJB Studios. Still waiting on the masters from that.

Final Musical News: I've begun a new set of piano works. These are to be a second generation of the 12 preludes I wrote when I first started playing. I'm hoping to get out twenty-four this time, one for each of the keys (yes, even the major keys!). To this end, I've been hard at work transcribing a Prelude in F Major. To describe the experience: Have you ever tried to write with your bad hand? Its really difficult, cumbersome and requires immense concentration, and in the end all you produce is a toddler-like mangle of script. I am persisting however, and slowly, slowly, the system is becoming more natural to me. My intention is to compose and notate the pieces, and then record a proper pianist playing them.

Visual Artistic Endeavors: As always I continue to sketch and draw, but these pursuits have been relegated to third-place bronze until/if my major prose and musical projects can be signed off on. I have generated a number of designs for paintings, for that mythic future time when the novel is finished, and a Winter People album (post EP II) is actually done and dusted; which is probably a good thing, since my grasp of what I want to achieve in the paintings are being constantly refined.

So yes, if I ever doubted it was possible, I have more simultaneous goings-ons than ever before (did I mention I'm in my last year of University still?) - but against all good reason, I remain optimistic! I intend this year, to be my year of fruition. And now, I realize I never made it to a description of my European Odyssey in this posting, oh well, something for another time.

Almost three months since my last post, and things have progressed, regressed, halted and accelerated! Firstly, my long mulled over return to novel writing has begun. I'm about one third of the way through a third, and hopefully, finally, worthwhile manuscript. The story spans three generations, from a Polish artisan living in 1860's Krakow, to a tent fighter living in Eastern Australia, to a musician who becomes entangled in the French underground during World War Two. My patience and discipline for writing seems to improve incrementally as the years wear on, but I still find it quite painful [but then sadistically satisfying] to re-comb passages over and over, until all their weaknesses are stripped. I try to force myself to 'wield Ockham's razor' so to speak in my first drafts of sections, but it is awfully difficult at times.

In musical news, Winter People have settled in with a manager, a girl called Jaclyn Hurst, which has been a fantastic un-shouldering of burden for me, and we have some big shows lined up. Meanwhile, I Like Cats, just as I choose to go overseas have landed some big gigs themselves, one with Bridezilla, the Scare and Philadelphia Grand Jury, and another potential slot at the Sydney Big Day Out. Rather upsetting I won't be around to play them, but hopefully a herald of good things to come. Also, Scott Horscroft who has mixed the Presets, and Silverchair among others, is going to be mixing our debut album. So more fingers crossed that it turns out excellent.

My visual efforts have been ground to almost a complete stop for the past (nearly) nine months. When/if I finish the novel manuscript, I have plans brewing for a themed series of oil paintings... I won't jinx such vague plans with discussion at this point.

Finally, I suppose I should mention my going away. Current itinerary, is London, then Edinburgh, then Denmark, then Paris, then Undecided? - I'm going to purchase a cheap net-book for my travels, and hopefully finish my novel writing over the three months of the trip, although on reflection of the timeframe I will probably only get through perhaps two thirds of the story.

Alright, I believe that generally summarizes my creative activities to date. Until next time, remember, in the presence of grizzly bears, freeze and play dead, and in the presence of those professing 'all the answers', do the same.