October 7, 2019

​Been a little while - not without things happening. Currently I'm having fun and some degree of joint and muscle pain in the midst of the Australian Masters Games. Five games of indoor volleyball down, two to go, and then on to two days of beach volleyball. So I'm having fun.

The project, Girlie, first draft, is now undergoing its second round of revision, looking at more research, currently focussing on two key events in 1948.

April 1948 saw Adelaide shorelines wracked with probably the most powerful storm in the time of European settlement. The Glenelg jetty had its guts torn out, ending the era of the amusements and kiosk and aquarium on the jetty in the rebuild. HMAS Barcoo was stranded north of Glenelg beach and the chaos along the shoreline saw caravans overturned and boats beached. The damage extended inland with cuts in telecommunications and electricity and trees and buildings ripped and wrecked. Trove provides a range of newspaper entries recording the event: 
https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/26455614

December 1948 also saw Adelaide's longest mystery established - the finding of the body of the Somerton Man on Somerton beach. Coincidentally, two days ago, I overheard an ABC radio program covering the curiosities surrounding the mystery. No cause of death seems to be available, although autopsy reports suggest poisoning. The man was neatly dressed, but all the labels of his clothes were removed, no wallets or identity available, and no one ever reporting a man of his description missing. The case is still currently unsolved after 70 years, although there is recent hope DNA science will finally provide answers. It's worth reading about, or listening to on ABC radio RN Presents. Here's one snippet of information of the event:
https://www.news.com.au/…/…/ffdc4ade5a2e021205a09c3f617a847e

So, the novel continues to grow into second draft and edit.

Simultaneously, while this project moves through editing phase, I have two other projects underway - a revival of a fantasy project that has been long in creation and a novel around men. The fantasy project currently has 160,000 words drafted (all of Book 1, the start of Book 2), but the 'struggle' is around character focus and sequencing back stories. Between breaks in editing Girlie, I am developing the fantasy project into a shape and structure that satisfies me.

The second project is a novel I've wanted to write for several years, but never quite get to. Now I have. Although it's barely 5,000 words in, it is at least started. I'll make it the focus of posts in the coming months at it takes shape.
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Okay. Off to another volleyball game.