Thanks (a lot …) to everyone who keeps asking me about the progress of my novel. A little bit of pressure like this is definitely what I want and need, so keep it up. Unfortunately, there’s no progress to report, yet.
I have, however, been reading with much greater awareness of the craft of writing. Remember I talked about opening sentences before – plus I mentioned I was reading Curtis Sittenfeld’s Prep? Just the very first sentence is enough, I think:
I think that everything, or at least the part of everything …

Let me start with the excuses: I have to work full-time this month (in my other life as a teacher) and it’s teens, not adults – spending all day with eighteen Korean, Chinese and Vietnamese kids is fun, satisfying, rewarding and all that, but doesn’t leave much energy left for writing.
But I am trying to read more systematically, and after reading more from Sol Stein I’m also reading more critically and analytically. And with the Perth International Arts Festival’s Writers’ Week coming up, I’ve booked into a few readings and …