Lili Wilkinson's Blog, page 10

Pocketful of Eyes cover

This is my next book, A Pocketful of Eyes, coming out in Australia in May 2011. It's a "rom-crime", about Bee, a mystery-obsessed teenager who has a summer job in the taxidermy department of a Natural History Museum. There's murder (or is there?), mayhem, a maceration tank and a steamy makeout scene on the back of a stuffed tiger.

How awesome is the cover?

On Dead Girls

You should all know by now that one of the things I dislike in fiction is books where A Girl Dies (usually in a Country Town) and a Boy spends 250 pages Figuring Out How He Feels About It. Not that this kind of story isn't a valid one, there's just a disturbingly high number of dead girls in fiction. Here's some statistical fun:

From Google Ngram viewer, where I suspect I could lose hours of my life.

Plans

Last week was a rather intense one. It was Mike's and my farewell morning tea from the SLV (even though I don't leave until the end of January), and it was lovely to hear everyone say such nice things, and to look back on the things I've achieved at the Library which, when you say them all at once, sound quite impressive*.

But it wasn't just looking back – last week my plans for next year were confirmed as well – I'll be starting a PhD at Melbourne Uni, in Creative Writing (more on this later!). I'm really, really excited about my topic, and looking forward to working with my two wonderful supervisors. My scholarship was also confirmed last week, so I won't starve. So next year is going to be:

PhD
doing a bit of work designing a Children's and YA stream for Melbourne Uni's Masters in Creative Writing, Publishing and Editing
my next YA with Allen & Unwin, A Pocketful of Eyes will be out in May
plus another Exciting Writing Project I'm currently working on
plus lots of appearances and festivals
and an overseas trip in September

So post-CYL isn't exactly going to be laurels-resting time. But it's all wonderful and exciting, so bring on 2011!

______________________________________

*Plus I got a kick-arse farewell present – a Mary Poppins necklace. Which I am assuming means I'm practically perfect in every way. Thanks, Liberry Peeps!

Adventures in a toyshop

We went to Toys R Us yesterday, and my entire world changed.

When I was a kid, I was happy with a cardboard box and a piece of string*. But now look at what is on offer for the young folk!

First – CSI for Kids. This is wrong on about a million levels, the least of which is that most of the crime scenes these CSI-type shows investigate involve dead prostitutes**.

But that DNA one actually looks totally awesome and I kind of want it.

Then there's Barbie. Now, unlike many feminists, I have no problem with Barbie. I like her because she says that it's possible for women to be a doctor/astronaut/teacher and also wear a pretty hat***. Beauty doesn't equal stupidity in Barbie's world. So, I approve of Barbie, as long as she has a job. Fashionista Barbie and Pink Bubbles Barbie can stay on the shelves, but Pet Vet Barbie and Pediatrician Barbie are all good with me.

Creepy Surveillance Barbie – NOT SO MUCH.

Creepy Surveillance Barbie – who has a camera in her boobs now has an FBI cybercrime alert issued against her. Forreals. She's like Sydney Bristow in Alias, except evil, creepy and a possible tool for creating child pornography.

But I've saved the creepiest til last. CSI Kids is educational, if promoting a TV show that is highly inappropriate for kids. Creepy Surveillance Barbie is clearly evil, but at least there are other Barbies that have successful careers.

Then comes Press My Pants Bieber.

See the hole? Right over his pants? That says TRY ME! PRESS HERE?

Creepy. Creepy. Creepy.

_______________________________________

*And a My Little Pony, two Care Bears, a Lotsa Lotsa Lotsa Legs and some stuff from the Lost Forests.

** Earning them the umbrella-term: Crimes Against Vaginas.

*** As I've said before, Barbie was the first woman to run for President in the US.

The Season of Singing

Did I ever mention that my boyfriend Michael is an amazing singer? Here he is (with bandmate Dan on mandolin) singing on a tram.

Fourth Floor Collapse – Sun from Tram Sessions on Vimeo.

And in other singing news, Mj and I made this song for our friend Jellyfish, for a Sekrit Advent Spectacular which involved all her best peeps putting wondrous things together. For some reason iTunes thinks it is called Kongo Jungle Theme, and the name has stuck.

Kongo Jungle Theme

On the first day of Christmas

Most of you already know how I feel about Christmas. Scrooges beware!

Here's a wrap-up of my previous Christmas cooking posts, if anyone's brave enough to do the full turkey dinner this year. I'm doing it with family as usual, but am branching out for Peeps Christmas with a seafood menu. Hurrah!

TURKEY

Potatoes

Stuffing

Bread Sauce

Gingerbread cookies

Mince pies

Christmas Pudding

(this is from an advent calendar that we made for our dear Jellyfish)

In which I get a nice letter and am frightened by vomiting babies

I got a letter yesterday from Simon Crean (who is, amongst many other things, the Australian Minister for the Arts). He wanted to let me know that Angel Fish, while not making the shortlist for the Prime Minister's Literary Awards, was recommended to the Prime Minister and himself as a highly commended book.

Which is nice.

Thanks, Simon!

In other news, I went and looked at the Myer Christmas Windows last night, and felt a bit like I was in a postmodern horror film. The theme of the windows this year is The Nutcracker, and features:

Vomiting babies.

The babby jesus frozen in carbonite.

I followed this sign, but found no wizard.

Il tuo profilo su internet era perfetto… ma tu NO!

Getting foreign editions of books is so exciting!

This is the cover for the Italian edition of The (not quite) Perfect Boyfriend.

I learnt Italian in primary school. It was an immersive curriculum, which meant our Italian teachers never spoke English. I actually didn't think they could, and nearly fell over when I ran into an old Italian teacher years later and she was all "Hi! How's it going?". We also had rotating classes in Italian, so one week we'd do Science in Italian, and the next week Art. It was cool, although I was pretty sure I hadn't learnt much.

But then I went to Italy when I was 25, and although I still had no grasp of grammar, all the vocab came back. I knew SO MUCH vocab! I couldn't believe it'd stayed buried there in the back of my memory. Clever immersion Italian.

Anyway, this is all to say that I was excited to get this book, because I knew without even looking it up on Google Translate, that in Italy the book is called Your Internet Profile is Perfect – But You're Not!

(if you want an Italian copy of the book, it's published by Mondadori)

Update

So I took on a bunch of extra marking for Uni. Which means no more NaNoWriMo for Lili. Which is fine. I got a good 6,000 words down, and I'll keep pottering away at it over the next few months.
Marking is quite fun! It's made me think a lot about structure and voice and character. There's some great writing in my class – but it never ceases to astonish me how often people make mistakes with tense.
I've also noticed this problem a lot: "I packed sunscreen – we were going to the beach today." Today is a present-tense word. It has no place in this past-tense sentence.
We are watching Buffy and Angel all the way through, using Andrew McDonald's very helpful guide. I still stand by my assertion that Season 4 Buffy has the worst arc (Initiative) but some of the best episodes (Something Blue, Hush etc). It's also my favourite Buffy (not so whingey or mopey) and my favourite Willow (solid gold). But it's the beginning of the end for Xander.
It's nearly Christmas! And I have a new Christmas obsession. I've always wanted a special set of Christmas china, but all the stuff in the shops is either tacky cartoon Santas, or ultra-modern angular shapes. I wanted something a bit more traditional, but not too ornate and fancy, and I espied it in Nigella's Christmas. It's Crown Devon Stockholm, from the 1930s, and I covet it. So the plan is to collect one or two pieces a year (there's bits and pieces floating around on eBay), until I have a full set. Isn't it beautiful?

The whole James Frey thing

Here's a recap, for those of you who haven't been following that story:

-There's a writer called James Frey. He got into trouble a few years ago for writing a memoir that was mostly lies. Oprah yelled at him.

-He likes saying things like he is "changing the game", making "literary history", and that he won't write anything that won't change the world. He refers to his books as "works of art".

-He also wants to make a lot of money, but because he can't write anything that won't "move the paradigm", he's getting other people to write generic stuff to make the money.

-Namely: he's cashing in on the YA boom by creating a book packaging company. This isn't a rare thing – it won't surprise anyone to learn that Gossip Girl books aren't all written by Cecily von Zeigasar. But there are a few things that make Frey's stand out:

He is preying on University graduates that don't know much about contracts.
He is offering an almost non-existent advance ($250), in exchange for a GIANT percentage of profits – 40%!
Except that's not 40% of RRP, or even of the publisher's net profits, it's profits that Frey's company makes from selling the book to a publisher. And as there are no clauses for audit provision, so Frey can quite legitimately say "there are no profits this year", and not have to prove it, even if he's rolling around in a vat of money.
The writer must write under a pseudonym. They must make all the changes that Frey demands. They aren't allowed to write for anyone else. They will write sequels if requested. They are forbidden from mentioning their involvement with the project, and Frey.
If any of those conditions are broken, the contract (and the 40%) is void, and the writer must pay a $250 000 fine.
So basically, the writer writes a book but isn't allowed to take any credit for it, and will possibly never see anything more than that original $250.

(for more details read this)

So, it's all rather distasteful and immoral, but here's what really pisses me off about it:

I make money from my writing. I'm not ashamed of that. I'm proud to earn money from writing books. But it's not the primary reason why I write. I write because I love writing. And I have things to say. And even though some of them are said in a commercial format (like the book I wrote for the Girlfriend Fiction series), I don't think they are devalued. The things I wanted to say and express are still important to me. I tell the stories that I tell because I want people to read and think about them. I want to make people laugh, I want to entertain, but most of all I want them to think. Making money is a pleasing side-effect.

I'm not sure if Frey loves writing. But I suspect the only thing he wants people to think is: Ooh, look at how clever/rich/controversial James Frey is! And much as I don't want to get started on the whole what makes an artist debate – I can't help thinking that Frey isn't one. He's a narcissist and a sociopath, but I don't think he's a craftsman. And the books his company is turning out (one arrived on my desk at work the other day) are ultimately soulless and uninspiring.