New Year, new writing, new reading, new child..

The year was old 22 days old when I got my first creation of the year out - to be fair, it was a collaboration with my wife, and she actually did most of the work. Eddie was born on 22nd January and is reminding me of how newborn babies work. I've impressed myself with how the skills of changing nappies, feeding, the sterilizer and managing the baby capsule for the car are all coming back to me.

I've had two weeks off and am looking forward to getting back to work for a rest. My writing has taken a definite back-seat, but helping with a ten day old and keeping my three and half year old amused are, at least, good excuses as to why I'm not writing.

However, the announcement of the SpecFicNZ short story competition sent a jolt to my creative bone - I woke up the other day with a fully formed story bubbling in my head. It features a couple of characters that have been rattling around my mind for years but I've never quite figured out a story to put them into, but this one was just right. And, suddenly seeing Emily Blunt as my female lead helped give her character that she had never had. It's pretty fast and furious, I doubt it will be more than 3000 words, but that's a relief really - usually it all gets way too complicated.

Take my superhero story - it started with a fight between hero and villain and aliens, then it became a more localised fight between hero and villain and aliens, then it morphed into a virtual fight between hero WITH villain and aliens...and now, in its hopeful last state, my hero has vanished, my villain has stepped into the lead role and the aliens are a whole new bunch....

Okay, today's drabble - 100 words inspired by the Rugby Sevens, which are on TV as I write...

Fred Flinstone was at the bar. Barney and Wilma shouted at him but Homer, Lisa and Ned Flanders were trying to push past.

The barman shoved six bottles over to Fred. Homer shoved Fred, who stumbled back, barging into a furious wookie and knocking a soggy burger to the floor.

A French maid stepped in the burger and he slipped over. Barney helped the maid up and she realised she worked in the same building as the maid.

Romance was blossoming, wookies were shouting and the Simpsons weren’t getting served. Somewhere, somebody was playing rugby, but who cared about that?