Writer's Thoughts
 
I experienced a sense of achievement and excitement with the relaunch of the official Family Secrets website. Some of my blog followers will be familiar with my animation series. For the past three years I've been fortunate to work with a very talented group of people to bring the series to life. As the first season came to a close in December 2011, the time had come to breathe some new life into the series' official website. Over the past month, the site has been redesigned, the content updated and some more back story made available. Today, at 2 p.m. Australian Eastern Standard Time (UTC/GMT + 10), the new site was officially released.
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Halfway through the first draft of the second book in my science-fiction series, I realise that a particular plot line just isn't working. It was struggling along like a bicycle rim on a gravel road. The solution?
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As I was updating my other site (www.family-secrets.net) I came to the realisation that it has been over a year since I last made a blog entry. Ashamed to admit it, I can offer numerous excuses for my absence, ranging for a hectic work schedule in 2011, other priorities, enc. Fact of the matter is that I simply ran out of things to blog about. You'd think that after more than 20 years of writing, I would have a plethora of topics to discuss. The lack of topics isn't the problem. It has more to do with a desire to write something meaningful and intelligent.
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I was looking at some new site templates, and realised it's been over 2 months since I've blogged. It wasn't a case of the novelty having worn off. Instead, it is one of those things that plagues any writer - life and all it requires from us prevented me from sitting down and doing some actual writing. So what has life been dishing out to stop me from putting pen to paper (or in this digital age, fingers to keyboard)?
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We recently decided to replace our DVD player with a Blu-Ray home theatre system. It was with great excitement that we put it all together, turned the radio to our favourite station and connected our television.

Then came the moment of truth. We popped one of our favourite DVD's in and sat back to watch it. But wait - Error reading disk. What?! Popped the disk in the old player. It works fine. Okay. Not the disk. Tried the new blu-ray player again. Error reading disk. Alas, our Zone 4 blu-ray player will not play DVD's from other zones. Time to call the manufacturer. And the response? "[Manufacturer] appologises for any disappointment this caused. As the player is manufactured for Australia, it will only play Zone 4 disks."

Imagine walking into your local library or bookstore and be told that they are only allowed to stock books from local authors.
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You finally have enough courage to sit down in front of your computer and writer something. You're not sure what quite yet. You know you want to write, but can't seem to think of a single word to write. All you've got is a blinking cursor on the screen.

You're not alone in this experience. Even the most experienced writers suffer from this affliction. It's one that comes and goes. It can strike at any time. It's the dreaded Writer's Block.

How does one overcome this demon that can strike fear into the writer starting out?
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One of things any writer looks forward to, is the day their work becomes available to the public. Sometimes that 'day' isn't as clearly marked on the calendar. Other times, it is, but we just fail to notice. Other times that date creeps up on us and is upon us before we know it.

I should now - it just happened to me with my animation series, Family Secrets!
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I realised that it's been a while since I've posted anything on my blog. Alas, it's that thing that regularly interferes with the ambitions of a writer. Yes, I'm talking about Life.

I've never been one for new year's resolutions nor am I a staunch believer in astrology. According to 'those in the know', 2010 was the year for me to concentrate on things I've been putting off for a while and a year to concentrate on my career. The big question was: "Which career?"
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One of a writer's most essential tools in telling a story is their characters. Well-developed characters can draw your readers in, create sympathy for your protagonist, make them fall in love with your main character.

Of course creating these life-like characters almost always involve drawing on the characteristics of real people. Clearly you can't create a character that's an exact copy of someone you know. (Unless you're writing their biography.) 

I recently found myself in the (un)fortunate position of arriving at the airport to discover my flight had been delayed. Most people would get all in a huff about it. As a writer, it's the perfect opportunity for me to observe people's behaviour and study their mannerisms without influence. Being stuck at an airport for two hours is a great way to practice character development and building back story.
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Very few people have the opportunity to live in different cities or countries. In the past 12 yeas I was fortunate enough to not only live in 3 different countries, but 5 different cities.

Let me share some of my likes/dislikes with you about these five cities.
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