David Bridger recently wrote post about mining your life for writing material.

The concept really struck me, because there are so many people writing about so many things, that it can be hard to come up with something new.

The best way to do this, is to look to your own life in relation to the subject that you are talking about.

For instance, I wrote a tribute to Australia’s Vietnam war veterans here, but tied it to my decision at that time to run away and join the Foreign Legion after a broken romance.

The most ridiculous thing about my decision at the time was that I had always been a conscientious objector, and although conscription ceased in Australia just as I was coming to that age, I had faced the fact that I was in for a lot of trouble.

Anyway, nothing happened, I never got the girl back, thank heavens, and we all lived on…

When I resigned from my job last year, my intention was to follow my life long passion for writing on a full time basis.

As time moved on though, I realized that when I was working full time, I was achieving a lot more, and was much more organized.

I had also found that I was trying to force my self to write, and it just wasn’t happening for me.

What to do? Something completely different.

Since Christmas, I have made a point of taking on short term work assignments completely unrelated to what I do on line.

For instance, this weekend, I am hosting a group of Japanese students on a tour of the Jenolan caves in the blue mountains, west of Sydney.

I did something similar with a group of Korean students earlier in the year.

As well as that, for the next little while, I am working as a relief school bus driver, collecting country kids from farms and out lying villages, and taking them to school in town.

Up with the birds, and setting out at first light, I’m covering a distance of over 150 miles each day.

It’s already working, with a stack of ideas on paper, and more forming as I go.

This morning, about half an hour out of town, I picked up a couple of students at their farm gate.

As I changed gears heading up the hill, I glanced to the left, and saw two kangaroos hopping alongside the bus.

I slowed down to let them get away, but they slowed as well. So I tried accelerating, but, they just hopped faster as I did so!

I’d had this experience a few years before, in my wife’s new car, and had ended up hitting a huge male kangaroo.

Remembering the damage he had caused, I tried to take evasive action, but having terrible traffic sense, the animals began to veer into the bus.

In desperation, I hit the brakes and the horn at the same time, startling them and causing them to hop off in the opposite direction!

Now, as well as giving the kids on the bus a scare, it gave me something to write about tonight.

Do I want to be a full time bus driver?

Not especially, and when I am finished this ‘assignment’, I will find something else to do.

How do you come up with things to write about?

Do you suffer from writer’s block? How do you overcome it?

Plurk Offers More Than A Run Of The Mill SMS Service.

Let’s call a spade a spade.

Twitter is not a micro blogging tool, but a glorified SMS carrier.

As good as it is for sending messages, it is not the be all and end all when it comes to this type of service.

Times are changing, and there is a new kid on the block.

The kid’s name is Plurk, and if you are an early adopter of new technology, then you really need to check it out.

I posted about Plurk yesterday as part of a Blog carnival about the service, and here is a selection of other blogs carrying a message about the service.

Working your way around them will help give more of an understanding of how things work on Plurk.

Marjorie has Plurk Fever and talks about the Plurk time line, as well as the addictive nature of Plurking.

Shai Coggins has fun, and writes about the connectivity and conversation that she finds there.

Sasha Manuel enjoys the community, communication and ideas that flow on Plurk.

Hope explains how to get the most out of Plurk, and why conversations there are better!

As well as these excellent posts about Plurk, you can find Teeg’s guide to Plurk by clicking here!

While you’re there, you can find a wealth of information about Stumbleupon, as well as a guide to another new social media platform, Kwippy!

I will be featuring more social network news here over the next few days!

I like the picture to the left!

Family should mean security and acceptance, but what happens when Mum or Dad leave? Who stands in the gap for the children?

There’s something about the picture above that says home, love and security.

Or does it really say that?

To a lot of kids, families like this only exist on television, and even then, they’re often displayed as dysfunctional.

Not that there are any families that are 100% perfect, simply because no one is perfect anyway.

Imperfect people make up imperfect families, but do we need to accept family breakdowns as just another part of life?

I’ve been thinking about this after visiting Sean the other day.

His Mum had run into my wife in town, and had asked if I could visit him.

I’d first met Sean and his siblings on the bus when he was just a few months old, and I’d seen him almost every work day for the next seven years.

His Mum was single, Dad having taken off, leaving him and his sisters in their mother’s care.

A couple of years ago, a new man had appeared in his mother’s life, and he’d quickly grown attached to him, and started calling him ‘Dad’.

Unfortunately, this “dad” wasn’t too much different from his real one, and had departed as well.

Sitting in the garden with Sean and his mother, I asked him who had said that it was his fault that things hadn’t worked out.

He shrugged and kept his head down, saying nothing, so I asked him again.

“No one” came the answer, “I just thought it was”.

Looking him in the eye, I said no, it wasn’t his fault at all, and that he’s a fine young man coming up to his eighth birthday.

I explained that the guy had issues that Sean had no way of knowing about, and in no way could he be blamed for the situation!

After throwing a ball around with him for a while, I turned to go home.

As I got into the car, he asked me if he could come visit on the weekend.

I paused, and said well, it’s Easter, so I will be busy… but if you can help me do some jobs we’ll put the barbecue on for lunch…

The smile and nod that I got signaled his acceptance…

I’m no expert here, and have only learned by observation, as well as my own experience with my parents, and my own children.

I made a post a while back called My Mid Life Crisis Made Me… and the reasons people give for moving in and out of relationships.

Is it just part of the symptoms of the ‘me generation’, where people are more concerned for themselves, and what they want, without regard to their partner or offspring?

Commitment can be hard, and staying around to do the hard yards bringing up kids, and being a part of a family unit isn’t easy.

But it is necessary. Kids need role models, and they need both male and female role models.

Life happens, and relationships fail, but parents need to stop and consider what the impact is on the children, and seek to soften the blow as much as possible.

That means putting aside their own differences, and trying to come to agreement on whats best for their children.

If this isn’t possible, a grandparent or other relative may be able to have input and give support at different times.

I know it’s not always possible, but for the sake of the future generation, someone has to start somewhere…

Or am I just too old fashioned?