Today I’m going to post about a topic I don’t usually write a lot about – Australian Rules Football, or to put it into the Aussie vernacular, footy.

I’m not a massive fan of the footy these days, though there was a time when I would go pretty much every week. Too much life got in the way since then, though I do still follow the ups and downs, particularly for my team – Collingwood – the mighty Magpies.

Very early in my writing career (or whatever this whole writing lark happens to be), when I was just starting up this blog, I did a post about merchandising. I imagined all the merchandising opportunities that would open up, now that I had let a book loose into the world. To be honest, I can’t remember exactly what I proposed, but I’m sure there were heaps of innovative and commercially attractive Neville Lansdowne inspired items that would one day be filling department stores around the world.

I haven’t done a lot of writing lately. As I’ve mentioned previously on this blog, the last few months have been a bit challenging. Firstly, there was a change of jobs, several months into the year, which has required a bit of adjusting to. And following that, there were the health issues which I’m still working through (though I’m mostly up and about and close to full health again by now).

With these issues front and centre of my mind and the focus of my energy, other things have had to give, and one of those things has been my writing. I’ve had to pull back, in order to give myself the rest I’ve needed. Of course, I’m a writer, so the idea are still swirling around in my head. But I’ve had to restrain myself from taking any further action on any of them.

Characters – they’re the live blood of any story. I’m not sure what a story without characters would be, but I am sure that it wouldn’t be a story. They’re the first thing that attracts most people to a story, and they’re the main factor in keeping readers hooked. It’s their actions that drive the narrative onward, creating an engaging plot that makes us want to turn the page and get all the way to the end.

Some people plan for the future. They write out lists of goals and they’re always organising their time so they can continue moving forward and making progress on those goals. It’s a good way to live. It’s great to have some focus on the future and have some grand horizons you’re working towards. But it could never work for me.