After 17 years of acting, three-times Golden Globe winner Toni Collette believes she's at a point in her career where she can call the shots. No longer is she driven to lend her name to roles she isn't wholeheartedly interested in. "I've go to the point where I don't want to work on anything I am not 100 per cent sure about," 34-year-old Collette said from her home in Sydney.

"I want to be in love with what I am doing, otherwise it's not worth it. "Life's too short. I have been making movies since I was 17, it's more than half my life, and there is room to spread out a little." Collette last year expanded her creative drive into songwriting with the release of her debut album Beautiful Awkward Pictures, which features her husband Dave Galafassi on drums.

The album came out in between starring in four feature films, including Little Miss Sunshine and The Dead Girl. She also appeared in feature length telemovie Tsunami: The Aftermath, conducted a mini-tour with her band Toni Collette and The Finish and played at Sydney's Homebake music festival. It was a long year and Collette craves a rest. The star will holiday abroad after her current national tour with the band, which concludes in Byron Bay on March 17.

"I haven't had a holiday for a very long time, pretty much since our honeymoon," she said. Collette married Galafassi four-and-a-half years ago. "I haven't stopped working since last April, it was one job after the other. I shot another film this year and now touring again. I really enjoy it, don't get me wrong I am really thankful, but I am ready for a break." For the star of Muriel's Wedding, the year-long haul, jetting from job-to-job, has tired Collette and she is happy that 2007 offers some free time.

"I am really excited about this year because I don't know what will happen next," she said. "I really prefer it that way because last year was so stitched up, I knew what I was doing months in advance. "As comforting as that can be, sometimes it's disconcerting. I like to leave a bit of room for movement." In her downtime, Collette hopes to pen more tunes for a second album set for release later this year or early 2008.

"I do intend to write more when I have time up my sleeve, so it will be good to have time off to focus on that," she said. "I certainly wouldn't want to say out loud what it will be (the album), because I like to leave room for movement. "At the moment I have got ideas still in my head and lyrics on paper, hopefully it will all come together."