State Library of NSW The year is passing on, and the Slow Writing Movement has been, well, slow, in reporting updates. My apology, I fear that i have joined the image-age and have been concentrating my efforts in posting to Instagram. Photos of my own, with little bits of text, no less! You can join me there: @gatesywriter

And what of the real world of actual writing? Positive news, really. I've been working on Thursday nights in the State Library of NSW (most weeks) and this has proved to be an excellent strategy in clearning my mind from the working week. Schools, if you don't know, are all-consuming places, and between teaching and leadership roles, I could very easily NEVER have time to write. So, taking the train into the city is actually part of the plan - creating some distance from work, and from home, to assume a different role. That of the writer, a role I actually enjoy a great deal (however part-time).

I'm not sure how others deal with this, but I am not going to talk about my next novel yet, not on a blog at any rate (over a beer, maybe). It's still too early, and I am still getting used to sharing drafts with a supervisor at university (I am working on  doctorate and thus gaining feedback on my creative work earlier than in the past). I can say, however, that I have written 20, 000 words, and the start of the novel is already taking shape (if you can imagine it in quarterls, I've got the first part done). I don't want to rush things, because from here the novel is largely set in Europe, and it will be August next year before I can research and write in the Northern Hemisphere. The past is another country, so they say, so I have other explorations to keep me busy in my 'travels' this year.

In the meantime, the slow writing movement it is! Am happy with this state of affairs? Yes! Really, if I take into account all the other parts of my life, I'm a racing-snail, sliding towards the last bend in the first lap.

Keep you posted, I almost promise ;)