A NEW BEGINNING

DEC 8 '09 DAY 1

Watched the movie Julie & Julia last weekend as I was crook and needed some curl up on the couch time. Loved it, couldn't get it out of my head and have been inspired to finally rouse myself from my apathy and actually get writing, before I think this daily blog thing which seemed like a good idea at the time turns out to be unworkable, before the housework beckons, before the grass grows and I have to spend several hours taming it into submission again, before gearing up to prepare for the big project of painting the hallway, the laundry, the study and spare bedroom, before I remind myself there are so many other things I should be doing. Should? Maybe that's could. But definitely not before breakfast, which is now.

Ok, Weet Bix and strawberries are out of the way, courtesy of my doctor's latest instructions. Need some extra fibre he says. Don't care what you put on it he says, can even be Froot Loops if you like, but those dreaded flavourless milk absorbing lumps of stuff which I somehow doubted ever really belonged to any of the food groups have now become part of the morning ritual, so I've opted for one, not the two as instructed, dare I confess next time I see him, but topped with fresh strawberries they are at least palatable. Definitely cannot start the day though without the Vegemite on toast, so armed with my favourite orange herbal tea I am now raring to go.

Despite the talk of food, this blog will definitely not be a Julie & Julia project discovering the delights and disasters of French cooking. If I followed the regimen in the movie I would undoubtedly balloon to the size of a blimp by the end of the year. No, my culinary needs are much simpler; I cook to make sure I stay alive.

However, with the purpose of my blog in mind, my attempts to write something over the past few decades that might actually be worth sharing with more than myself, my writer's class of which I've attended a few, my writer's group of which I've attended a couple, and friends who I correspond with, have come to a big fat zero. I have the first chapters of umpteen stories which started with a bang and ended in a whimper; short stories, some short, some rather long winded, most unfinished; there are lists of themes and issues to explore, opening lines, quotes for the inside front page, files of idea to stimulate the brain, but what has it produced? Filing cabinet drawers and computer files of Nothing.

For someone who is a 'completer/finisher' in most areas of my life, this is one area that fits well and truly into the procrastinator part of me. For those creative pursuits where validation of your efforts requires you to actually put something out there, I am sadly lacking in courage. And discipline, and effort, and time management, and......probably many other things as well. But if Julie Powell can set herself a target of completing her project in 365 days and achieve it, then I'll make a darned good effort to do the same thing.

The Great Australian Novel it will not be, but maybe I can take heart along with the countless other frustrated, self doubting wannabe authors out there, for at least it will be a beginning. I will do what writers should do, yes, should do. I will write very day.