Have just returned from a very fruitful trip to the Capital - Canberra, that is. Despite the lovely Autumn weather, I spent most of my time in the archives of the National Gallery of Australia. I'm still at that rather suspicious stage where (like a journalist) I need to protect my sources: but I was researching an Australian artist from the past, and looking over some amazing material that will assist me with my novel. I have lots to do to follow up - reading and notetaking - but it's better to have too much material than not enough!

I am also planning my trip to Europe this summer. It sometimes is the case that you go from Autumn to Summer, which will be the case for us. First, a visit with my wife's family to France. Then, my plan is to attend two writing residencies - one in France near Carcassone, and the other in Barcelona. I'll fill in the details later. Not quite sure how I'm going to afford this yet, so I'm looking out for any funding opportunities (let me know if you are a rich benefactor wanting to support a slowly emerging artist ;) )

Ran a creative writing workshop today for my Year 12 class. It was holiday time, so impressive that they all showed up. We looked at some basic things about writing, and I supported ideas by reading some extracts from various authors on my bookshelf - Amoz Oz to talk about setting, Ray Bradbury to takl about plot, Richard Ford to talk about shape, Don Delillo to talk about dialogue, and so on. Then I spent the afternoon preparing a presentation on Whole School Pedagogy to deliver on Monday to 130 teachers! Well, you have to do your day job if you want to dream of writing by night!

Thanks to Dr Peta Jane Blessing at the National Library (archivist) for her assitance. And thank you, Hume Highway, for keeping me safe among all those trucks heading up and down, much speedier than this writer who'd like to be known for quality, if not quantity, over time. The Slow Writing Movement salutes you.