Hey

I'm the badly behaved one of the ROR group. I'm also the one they turn to when they want to be fed properly.

This is going to be a challenge for me. Though I already keep an electronic journal elsewhere, I do so as a means of making myself set up a record for my children. When they're older, I'd like them to be able to look back and have some chance of understanding who their father was when they were small, and what they meant to me. I don't keep a journal well on my own, so I decided I'd do it online, in front of an audience. It's working, so far.

The thing is, I generally don't talk about my writing. I talk about many other things. Certainly, I sometimes touch on current projects, but the deeper stuff, like motivations and insights and processes -- no. I grew up in Far North Queensland. Up there, the rule of thumb was: the people who talked a lot about stuff weren't the ones actually doing it. I find it difficult to talk much about what I'm writing.

I have enough trouble with three children and a rural GP wife in just finding time to write. I can't afford to jinx the magic, to screw up the strange journey that starts inside my head and winds up in print, somewhere. So I write, and I edit, and when I'm done, maybe then I can talk.

I'll try, though. I promised Rowena, and she's spooky.

In the meantime: I live in north-east Tasmania. I have three small children, a wife who deals with the medical issues of a decent-sized community, fifty acres on a beautiful hillside with a view to the ocean, a mad dog, two odd cats, fruit trees, gardens, and space in which to move. I teach ju-jitsu, I practice Iaido, I handle the cooking, the shopping, and most of the maintenance on the house and property, and I spend a lot of time dealing with the kids, all three of whom are intelligent, energetic, and frequently unconfined.

I'd like more time on my own to write, but this isn't the time of my life where I get that. So I do what I can.

Okay, I'm out of here. Right now, I'm writing an alphabet book for my daughter, whom I refer to online as "The Mighty Mau-Mau" for complex reasons. The Mau-Mau is inordinately fond of giant monsters -- Daikaiju. She thinks Godzilla is the greatest thing in the history of cinema. Obviously, I'm writing an alphabet of Giant Monsters for her Christmas present...

... anybody know any decent giant monsters beginning with W, U or L?