Chapter 39: Lacking inspiration, motivation and dedication

OK, here’s a cracking Australian word for you: “root”. It means shag, either noun or verb. As in, “I haven’t had a good root in ages”. Or “I’m going to root you senseless this arvo”. (Check out my last submission if arvo sounds Greek to you; all my previous email missives stretching back to 2001 are now up and running in a blog called Man About the World (http://manabouttheworld.blogspot.com). As for root, now this is a word I can use! This is a word that is worthy of wider adoption! Spread the word!

To be honest, I don’t really have a great deal to report. Winter weather has descended and life is a rather boring routine of gym, friends, movies, writing. The writing is very slow; I am lacking inspiration, motivation and dedication. Self discipline is hard to come by, or perhaps muster would be a better word. I have set up a blog of my trials and tribulations in the writing life, called How I Gave Birth to a Novel (http://howigavebirthtoanovel.blogspot.com). In the blog I have posted some of the writing exercises that I did in class, the ones that I was proud of anyway. Check it out and leave a comment. And while you’re at it, check out also the link into Veiled Conceit, imho the best blog on the web, which is self-described as “A glimpse into that haven of superficial, pretentious, pseudo-aristocratic vanity: The NY Times' Wedding & Celebration Announcements”. If you don’t pee your pants over this one, you’ve got no sense of humour at all.

Hmmm. What else can I tell you? I’m still suffering from a whacking great surge of middle class guilt over a recent splurge urge, in which I dropped $170 on a t-shirt and $800 on a pair of boots. OK, the boots were seriously hot, crocodile skin, invitation-for-immediate-sex boots, and they were New Zealand dollars, but the guilt still stalks my soul.

My tax case incheth forward, ever so slowly.

This is a rather boring submission. To be honest today I’m so tired that I feel I may have to take up “extreme napping” as a hobby. In fact, I didn’t know it was possible to be so tired without being physically dead.

Bye for now.

Big chunk-o-love for you all.

Peter