Deborah Kalin's Blog, page 30

this means i need to remember what happened

Tomorrow, it begins.

"It" in this case would be the publication edits on Book 2 of The Binding series. Just in time for Christmas! Which is good, as it means there'll be a whole week during which I only have one job, not two. Almost like a real holiday

It's also just in time to coincide with a rather high-pressure period at the dayjob, otherwise known as a two-month examination, during which period I need to get a minimum of 95% to pass. This is distinctly less good. But unavoidable. C'est ...

wouldn't have it any other way

Yowzer! Can you believe I was worried, when I set up the giveaways, that nobody would actively request my book? Clearly, I underestimated the lure of free stuff.

In the interests of tab-closing, your writerly link of the day is to BookEnds on writers and their process:

What I told her, and what I'm going to tell you now, is that these revisions and working with her editor this way, as well as working with me and her critique partners, was simply a part of her writing process. It was how she...

just in time for christmas (hopefully)

Today I have most excellent news for people what like free books: I have some to give away!

I found some spare copies of Shadow Queen I didn't know I had,1 and now they must be sent to good homes.

Since we all know what happened last time I tried to choose random winners,2 in the interests of sparing myself some pain, I've set up the competition through Goodreads, who will choose the winners for me. If you're not a member over there, it's free to create an account in order to enter the draw.

I...

i don't wonder why i wonder what he thought it would get us

First: I cannot resist this kitten.

Second: I appear to have acquired a Google Wave account. Um…what do I do with it?1

Third: how many of you are on GoodReads and how many are you are on LibraryThing? Or some other type of service of which I am ignorant? I ask because I have found a couple of copies of Shadow Queen which have been hiding in a box since the move, but it is clearly time they stopped skulking and started earning their keep by being out in the world and being pretty, damnit...

didn't love the boy too much you just loved the boy too well

A strange and wondrous thing happened yesterday morning: my apartment block has finally limped into the 1990's.

That's right: I now have honest-to-god TV reception.1

And once I'd dutifully tuned all the channels, it took me all of TEN SECONDS to discover that there was absolutely nothing on but strident and condescending advertising.

Man, I have not missed that bombardment of sitcom-studded advertising one bit.2

Not, you know, the digital channels. They're beyond the reach of my doddering old...

i can't not notice this stuff

Here's a malapropism that made me chortle all day yesterday:

"…in other words, the [object:] is [a thing:], as succinct from [that other thing:]"1

Succinct? SUCCINCT?

OH, MR ATTORNEY. YOU MEAN DISTINCT.

Now, I'll grant you, there's a passing aural resemblance on account of that -inct suffix business, but I don't care to admit that as a valid excuse for gettin' it wrong. Not when we can safely assume that the author of the sentence in question passed not only primary and secondary education levels...

me, a pen, and your books

Yup, it's a signing opportunity:

When: Tuesday 22 December 2009 @ 10:30am

Where: Angus & Robertson @ Westfield Kotara, Newcastle

I'll be available for at least a good hour1, so if you have a copy of Shadow Queen or Postscripts #18 you'd like me to scrawl on, then stop by and entertain me.

There may also be a signing in Brisbane, since I'm going to be up that way over the Christmas period, and another down in Melbourne in the new-ish year — I'll let you all know more just as soon as I know it.

li

for i know not what i do

Today's grocery bill: $331

Today's alcohol bill: $60

Now, granted, it was a most half-hearted grocery shop, and will not last me an entire week (and follows on the heels of a rather more thorough stock-up type effort last week), and the alcohol will last longer than a week, but still…I can't help but feel that my calorific priorities are not shown to best advantage this week.

But you know, I can live with that.

At least $5 of which went towards the purchase of a corkscrew, which will come as no...

never said thank you, never said please

Today I realised — entirely out of nowhere — that I can't remember my student number any more.

I don't know why this surprised me. It has been an entire decade since I graduated from uni,1 after all, and it's not like I've needed to know said number even once since then. But that number marked everything to do with my days for so long, I quoted it so often, I scrawled it on papers and assignments and theses, that it felt like it was part of my DNA.

And now I don't even remember when I forgot i...

step one you say we need to talk

Today's word I didn't know before is unasinous, which is not appearing in any online dictionaries for me, but apparently (according to my local newspaper) means "equally stupid".

I like this word. I plan to use it at the first available opportunity, preferably one that also involves the chance to get a nice, scornful twist in my lip as I do so. I may even throw in a disdainful sniff. We'll have to see how it plays.

Serendipitously, this word rather aptly describes every possible direction I...