Take The Moon Ride

The plain, bare fact of the matter is that I am scared to throw myself into my novel. I have the storyline worked out. I have a five page synopsis including the cast of characters. More information came to light recently about the enigmatic main character (whose name is Quick), so that now I know him well enough to step fully into character, which I have done before.

I have the first 5,000 words written in the form of a short story that was published in a magazine called Crime factory a few years ago. Crime Writer Garry Disher recommended I get in touch with the magazine when I mentioned that as well as stories like Remembering Argos, I also dabble in crime fiction. I think he possibly had something to do with how quickly Quick the short story was accepted. The publisher at the time said he definitely thinks there is room for a Quick novel.

It's all there, waiting to be written. And yet I keep stalling. It's not "writer's block", it's just fear. Fear of comittment, fear of failure... I'm just a useless piece of shit at the moment.

I sat at my desk the other day and mind-watched the novel and almost started writing. I allowed myself to be distracted. I fiddled with other things. I went back to the novel. I watched its complexities and possibilities unfold. I didn't bring a word into existence.

At the end of the day I felt a little sick, because I had let another entire day go by with nothing written.

*

I was fascinated by this though: Bubba Shaggins is alive and well and rumour has it he is contemplating a comeback.

For those who don't know, Bubba Shaggins was (is?) the lead singer/guitarist of legendary Australian psychedelic folk/rock collective Bilbo Nanna Shaggins. BNS released one album in the early '60s called They Came On A Moonbeam. The album, like the band's name, was a dedication to his mother and father who he believed came from another planet. The album remains almost unheard of by the wider music-loving community but has achieved mythical status by "those in the know" for being the most sampled album of all time. Pink Floyd started the ball rolling by sampling the track Cosmic Lullaby on Dark Side of The Moon, and the legion of artist to sample other tracks on range from Led Zeppelin, The Beatles through to more contemporary artists including Jeff Buckley and Simon Posford (Hallucinogen).

The psychedelic music community around the world is buzzing with the news that not only is Bubba Shaggins alive and well and living just out of Nimbin in Northern New South Wales, but that he is putting the finishing touches on a long-awaited - and, many would argue, long overdue - follow up album, reportedly titled Return Of The Moon Rider.

Very exciting stuff.