Friday seems to be the night for openings… friday week ago I attended the opening of ‘Artists of the North’ exhibition held till June 13th at TANKS. It was well attended with a couple of sales… hopefully one of mine will be sold before the 13th.

Friday night just gone I attended and MC’d the opening of ‘The Learning Curve’ an exhibition of creative ribbon embroidery by my good friend Annette Anderson. This opening was also well attended and there were quite a few sales – good on you Annette. To visit the exhibition and just happen to be somewhere in the vicinity of Innisfail North Queensland Australia pop into the Central Gallery in Cenral arcade Edith Street.

Today I worked on a story board for a childrens’ picture book. It’s about cows – circus cows to be precise. My youngest was home sick from school and stayed busy sleeping and drawing the dog, he’s pretty good with his drawing. This afternoon he has a piano lesson, pretty good at that too… the little smarty.

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Here I am again…. are you ready?

Well, where to start.
The writers group I am involved with. No. Not starting there…. Last night we went to Cairns to catch up with an old friend Shelly. Shelly’s not old it’s just we’ve known her an awfully long time. We haven’t seen her for maybe seven years but she looks exactly the same. Pre dinner drinks at the casino, then a walk around the city to decide where to eat – all the time talking about what has been going on in our live and the lives of family and mutual friends. Dinner was beautiful, we ate at the ‘North’ restaraunt located in the ‘Sangri La’ Hotel at the pier. The food was supurb, boats bobbing beside us and of course the company…. After dinner to appease the kids we went to ‘Bellissimo’ near the ‘Night Markets’ for some icecream. There a couple of friends we also hadn’t seen for years Rod and Novella found us… amazing coincidence. I still miss having Novella live nearby. After a little chat with them we went our separate ways and Shelly joined us for coffee at the Sebel Hotel – we must have been feeling a little special. The kids and I had the most decadent hot chocolates, Rob a coffee and Shelly behaved with a pot of tea. No wonder she looks so great.
Thanks for spending time with us Shelly and catching us up on all of our friends in Brisbane.

Happy birthday Novella.

Back to what I was going to tell you about… The writers group I am involved with in Innisfail have a new member, nothing new there. BUT, and here is the exciting part…. his name is John, OK I know that’s not exciting either… he has a PhD in Literature. Not only does he know how to write but he is more than happy to share his vast knowledge. In a week or so we are going to have a workshop all about metaphors… ooooh.
In the past few months John has done the same writing exersizes as everyone else in the group… His words as they are read flow… it’s like watching a master watercolourist paint, his words like the paint run, bleed, mix, creating a glorious picture.

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The eyecandy has been voted off American Idol, it’s sad but they can’t all win can they. I guess in a way they all do win by the time they get down to the last ten contestants, but I sure am happy that Crystal has made it to the finals…. she is awesome.

Innisfail has a community gallery that changes ocupants every two weeks. My friends and I have some paintings on the walls at the moment and have been painting in there for the past week. And guess what… my creative energy is flowing over. I’m so happy about it, secretly between you and me I had been getting a little anxious about my lack of output. The words are starting to take shape and pour out too. Thank Goodness. The only thing I have noticed now is that in all the stories I am writing there is a pair of fluffy socks – is that my subconcious telling me I am in need of nurturing?

Someone emailed this image of Annette my favorite Mouseketeer to me the other day. (I even remember her name – BEFORE I saw her shirt) It brings back very fond memories of sitting infront of our old black and white television wearing my ears. Did you realize my name fits the Micky Mouse song….. J A C … Q U E…. DUFFY

My computer has been giving me grief in the past few days … not conecting to the internet… eeeek! All fixed now thanks to some detective work by myself. Actually this post was written quite a few days ago during the computer/internet problems and guess what… it only saved 1/2 of what I had written. I had been telling you about a very clever man whom I met in the south of France. He and his wife were castle sitting, yes, castle sitting. Bob and Robin, we met in a city called Carcassonne – a walled medieval city complete with a draw bridge. Bob is a paper conservationist and a writer, Robin is an appreciator (all us arty types need an appreciator). Since being home I have received several packages in the mail from Bob and Robin, one contained a beautiful hand bound book – made by Bob, and the others have contained a variety of CDs all music written and performed by Bob. The man is fabulous- check him out at his website www.bobdevan.com

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My Missing Muse is pictured above… have you seen him?

I’m sitting here trying to concentrate on some writing but my family are watching American Idol on TV. Isn’t Crystal fabulous! Tonight all of the contestants are singing Frank Sinatra with the help of Harry Connick Jr, I LOOOve Harry, sadly I think it’s about time that Casey is sent home.

Enough of American Idol. You would know if you’ve read some of my previous blogs that I am getting stuck into some work. I have taken the pile of paperwork lovingly named the Matterhorn off my desk and created a people friendly environment to work in…. Well… it may be a people friendly environment but it has turned out not to be a creative friendly environment – I miss the Matterhorn.
Somewhere in that pile of a Matterhorn my Muse must have been hiding, and now I can’t find her/him. I have spent the past couple of weeks attempting to get my stuff together and pull a few projects into fruition. Last week I was asked to write a short story for my writers group. The short story is for a project we will do together about the 19th century. Each of us has been given a decade and I have 1990 – 2000 a decade I should have plenty of fodder to get the mind whirling.
I normally have a problem with having too many ideas, even when I thrown a single word (TMGI syndrome), now I am having trouble coming up with any. Is it because I find this project uninspiring, or is my muse missing?

Today I have managed to finish a grant acquittal – totally uninspiring and you know… I actually feel as though a grey cloud has lifted (it’s also sunny outside for the first day in the last 60 or so). Perhaps getting this acquittal out of the way has in some way opened my mind… perhaps it had been the thing holding my muse prisoner.

Since returning from my trip I have had my novel in mind and making little notes to myself, asking questions regarding my characters motivations and where the story is set (Hobart). Unfortunately so much has gone on in my little head of late my story line has become somewhat confused. With my muse missing I have found myself getting depressed feeling as though I may have bitten off more than I can chew. To get myself back in the saddle I have set myself a ‘finish date’ for the first draft of my novel. I find I work best with a deadline. Last night I sat down with my family and informed them I have set myself this goal, I found when I was doing the NANOWRIMO in November with the 1667 words set per day my family were very supportive.
I already have 31,000 words written and think I will aim for a first draft of 90,000, I want to have it ready for the first rewrite by the end of July, taking out the two weeks the family and I will be in New Zealand that gives me approx 74 days – 800 words a day.

Now lets get to it. – I hope my muse returns.

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