I wanted to encapsulate the beauty of that golden hue that falls on the city so gracefully between day and night, the evening amber. I want to bottle it up, smell it, taste it, feel it. At least, that’s what I’m trying to do in this new book. I’m trying to express true beauty, beauty that only stems from the natural and falls on the enlightened. Instead I am taking care of the domestic side of things while my wife goes back to work. My days are filled with arranging oven repairs in Sydney and getting the little one’s allergy medication prescriptions refilled. I’m not complaining. It is my duty and pleasure to hold up my family and it is also definitely my turn to be the domestic spine. Lord knows my wife has done it for long enough. She did it with far more grace, elegance and efficiency than myself. I find all the little errands suck all the creative juices out of me, so when the time finally comes for me to sit down and write for a few hours before the school run, I am exhausted, both mentally and physically. My brain is distracted, the other day I wrote an entire short story centred around electric oven repairs in Sydney, this is not the beauty I am chasing! I find it extremely difficult to separate my headspace from kids, kitchen repairs and supermarkets to the evening amber. I am going to try waking up early and getting a couple of hours of writing done before all the domestic madness begins. Maybe the early morning peace will filter through to my brain and clarify my ideas. For now however, I have to go and meet the oven repairman and explain how my six year-old daughter wanted to cook her play doh pie and subsequently broke the oven.