Two Bits Of Good News & A Frustrating Turn Of Events

Last night I was notified of being short listed for a publication - we won't jinx things by saying which one, and this morning I hear Michael Schumacher will be returning to Formula One to fill in for the injured Felipe Massa!

I followed Michael's career from day one and have been a fan ever since. The last two seasons have been a little strange without him on the grid and I've only just started to come to grips with it, and then he goes and does a comeback.

As a Ferrari fan, I was all for Kimi's second place last weekend, but as an Australian, this year I'm more barracking for Webber.

Rumour has it that Alsono is coming to Ferrari next year which will make me stop and reassess my loyalties (I don't like the guy). With Webber at Red Bull, and I've found I quite like Vettel as an up and coming driver, maybe Alonso's arrival will be the catalyst for a switch.


This would be only the second switch of my allegiance in nearly 30 years of following the sport. I started out following Alan Jones back in 1981 but didn't really pick a team until the mid 80s. Remember Lotus when they were painted black with the gold sponsorship logos on them and driven by the legend that was Ayrton Senna.

When Lotus pulled the pin, I followed Senna as a driver, not really interested in the teams he drove for, but more how he as an individual performed. McLaren, Williams, where ever - it didn't matter. I just enjoyed watching a master at work.

Then along came Schumi and I recognised his greatness as soon as he stepped into the Jordan. I began to watch both Michael and Aryton with interest and surprisingly came down on the younger man's side of the fence when they looked to begin going head-to-head.

And then Senna was killed while driving a Williams. A sad day.

So I followed Michael, and then he set up shop at Ferrari so I did as well. But now my thoughts are turning to Webber, and to watching young Vettel blossom as a driver. I want Mark to win the championship this year. Brawn may have hit a brick wall and don't have any money with which to continue developing the car. Their title fight could well and truly be over.

Mark only has a few years left and has struggled in under performing machinery for most of the years behind him. He has earned a chance at the the title. Vettel will have many more years ahead of him challenging and winning titles. This year, I want to see Mark become only the third Australian to win the F1 Drivers Championship behind Sir Jack Brabham and Alan Jones.

But enough of the long-winded exposition on my love of F1 - back to writing.

I've written the first three chapters of my current work in progress and yesterday I decided I didn't like the way the relationship between my two main characters had started out. The conflict was only internal to my central character. I think it can work better with a slight change of attitude from my main man. That will give him an external and internal conflict, add character depth, and give me more fodder for a little later in the story and a bit for later in the series (yep, I'm planning crap that far in advance).

I also had a rethink on three secondary characters. At this point in the book, I've introduced a total of seven characters. Only my central female character hasn't changed. I've had a rethink on all but two of the rest and their time will undoubtly come.

Time to stop and get everybody set in concrete in my head. Time for the character dossiers to be created. After writing three chapters this pause is somewhat frustrating, but still, it's better than continually rewriting chapters because I decode to change the character.

So this week will see no advancement on the WIP. Work will be done on all characters. Next week will be rewriting the first three chapters, and the current outline will require revision.

And then we can move on.

Must get all of this reading out of the way a well...

***Late Update***

This is just pure Gold!