I’ve been trying to put everything and anything off until I can finish the first draft of this novel. Even if I get the rumblings of a song, where once I would work it over in my head, I’ve been trying to ignore it now. Mostly because (this might sound a little psycho-babble) if I give an outlet to those things then they will be gone from me and I won’t have anything to write. Does that make sense? Anyway on that front things continue steadily, if anything it might turn out to be a little longer than I had anticipated, trying to get everything told that needs to be told. I’ll be interested to read the whole thing through when I’m done and see if it makes any progressive sense at all!

So very little other Creative News this blog – Except I’ve been toying with the idea of a new pseudonym for myself to supercede the Thom North era, something closer to me -> Dylan Cassady. So I get to keep my first name and also inherit the mantle of one of the iconic figure of the Beats. I don’t know if I’ll go with it though, I think I’ll do a couple of shows under that name, see how I feel then.

Otherwise a day off university tomorrow, so hopefully some more writing. Although I’m still lifting weights everyday, I’ve been struggling to return to my previous levels of cardiovascular fitness (its hard to get out of bed in Winter!). Anyway, adieu.

Having passed the half-way mark with the novel, I am now pushing into three quarter territory. Things can get hard in this murky area, I believe this is where I started to break down last time. However, the bones structure continues to form more and more solidly in my head. The only real issue I’m having is the occasional lapse in character continuity.

In Creative News: The band premises has been permenantly disbanded, it looks certain we will have to rent a garage somewhere that we can setup. Very few songs have been written since I started writing the prose, I suppose I’m putting the things I would previously have put into the songs into the novel.

Also now that uni had started up again, I’ve started – like human clockwork – to sketch again. I’ll upload the new ones soon, though I’ve noticed the three-week hiatus of the uni-break was detrimental to my pencil-eye coordination. But I think each semester shows an improvement.

My first day back at university was like my first day of school. I didn’t know anyone, I didn’t know where I was supposed to be. I got all bitter and twisted and stamped my feet and “I don’t wanna go to school!”

Upon review I think I made a complete mistake doing this IT degree, the majors are just so dry! All though I do enjoy technical pursuits, I think I really only enjoy them in what I would term a creative context. My choice between majors in this degree is between hardcore computational sciences at one end and bore-me-to-death systems analysis at the other. So in terms of subject choice, its a less a question of what I find interesting and more “what do I hate the least?”.

Thankfully my novel writing continues, I think I’ve reached about the half-way mark. Thankfully I’ve actually got the plan for how the rest of it will run, quite concrete in my head. I think I would be a little apprehensive if I had gotten to this point with no clear direction forward. I hope if I do manage to get it finished, thats actually any good haha fingers crossed.

I can’t believe its a good thing, its certainly an unhealthy thing, but any time I have a really bad night out and come home drunk and pissed off, I always seem to ride a pretty strong creative wave till morning. Case in point: Last night was pretty average but when I got home (mind-swimmingly drunk) I sat down to write and banged out about 4000 words. When I woke up in the morning I could barely remember any of it and only hoped that at least made some sort of rambling sense, but upon review some of it was really quite good, some passages even very good I think. I know the old stereotype of the drunkard writer and I don’t think there’s anything admirable about it, but this sets an interesting precedent nonetheless.

Otherwise, I got some feedback from a friend on the new Riversend design and he made some small visual suggestions which I think I’ll try to implement soon.

I’m back to university tomorrow So I really hope I can maintain the high-level of creative energy that has been sustained over the break. Certainly I hope to have this novel finished before the end of the semester.

Finally, the band has lost its rehearsal space! Unless something else crops up we might have to a rent a cheap space somewhere in Alexandria, where we can set up shop permanently.

My car had some warning light come on, which had to be addressed by the mechanic so it could pass registration. So, being the absolute anti-walking-crusader that I am (which people think is strange considering I’m such a fitness addict) I’ve stuck around the house the past few days laying low for my last days before Uni starts up again. My hours have been spent largely between the covers of books. I’ve always been felt a strong affinity for the Beat writers and those who espouse the Beat ethic, but since I’ve been writing again (a largely Beat colored story) I’ve felt the need to rediscover that connection. So I read through a Charles Bukowski’s first novel called ‘Post Office’, a collection of interviews with Tom Waits called ‘Innocent When You Dream’ and a novel by Kerouac called ‘The Subterraneans’. All of which have been both highly enjoyable and quite inspiring for my own literary efforts.

In Creative News: I’ve written another song for the Drift-Tide collection, called ‘Where To From Here’. The way things are going 2007 (almost unbelievably to me) is set to be another year of five or maybe even six collections. I must admit in recent months I have felt my creative engines to be running in high-gear. Also I have struck upon a name to re-christen The Norths: The Night-Hawks. Hopefully the band will like it also.

Otherwise Sydney is freezing right now! (Coldest night in 26 years recorded recently), so I’m going to hang by the heater.