Aimee Said's Blog, page 6

Star picks

My new job is great (not least because it is in a library) but it's taking me a while to get back into the swing of working part-time and keeping up with what's going on in the rest of the (albeit, online) world.* It's been so long since I've logged into Twitter that I feel like my tweeting boat has sailed Facebook is a distant memory, I managed to miss both Indigenous Literacy Day and International Literacy Day, and I've fallen woefully behind on my blog reading. I have, however, fallen in lurve with two vaguely new things:
Wordplay, a weekly writing podcast from authors Nathan Bransford, James Dashner and J Scott SavageRookie Mag, a new site from Tavi of Style Rookie and a bunch of other talented young writers/artists/creators that I wishwishwish had been around during my tortured adolescence teenage years.And, of course, I cannot survive without my regular dose of Maru...

* yes, full-time workers and students/workers who also study/students who also work, I do realise how ridiculously pathetic that makes me. I am in awe of all of you!

When the writing gets tough...

It's been a tough couple of months at my wee laptop desk. After a flying start, my work in progress stopped progressing and refuses to budge. There is obviously a problem, but is it with:

a) the plot?

b) the pacing?

c) the structure?

d) all of the above? (aka the triumvirate of first draft suck)



Hopefully I'll figure it out soon, but after yet another day of fruitless re-storyboarding there was only one thing left to do this afternoon: bake Freia's brownies.









I'm not much of a sweet tooth (I'll take a cheese board over a cheesecake any day), but the smell of hot, fudgy chocolatey goodness coming from the kitchen right now is pretty good. At least one thing worked out well today...

A Thousand Words Festival

The program for September's A Thousand Words Festival has been released and I am chuffed to report that I'm in it! I'll be discussing making writing work as a career with author Tim Pegler and festival director Bec Kavanagh - most apt since I started a new job this week.



A Thousand Words is on 23-24 September, at Northcote Town Hall. Tickets are only $20 (bargain!) for each full day and will be on sale on the ATWF website soon can be purchased online.




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Tales from the Fantapants archive: 16 August 1982

An occasional foray into Mr Fantapants' childhood adventures, as recorded in his class diary...





What I love about this entry is the seamless segue way between what Mr F had been told to write about (what he did on the weekend) and what he wanted to draw (falling out of a canoe). I might try to use the same technique to spark up my WIP this week...

Star picks: sentimental edition

Some of the standouts in my Google Reader feed last week were posts that reminded me of some of my favourite things from my younger days, all of which I still enjoy, even if I don't languish in them quite so often anymore.*
Hello Giggles presented life lessons from Anne with an -e, complete with many fab stills from the classic 80s miniseries, and a birthday tribute to Punky Brewster.I took Mental Floss's Judy Blume quiz (and didn't do nearly as well as I expected to...shameful).Flavorwire reported on a comic anthology based on Smiths songs (my vote is for 'This Charming Man' - practically writes itself, dialogue'n'all). [image error] SuperMorrissey
 In other news, it's Aussie August in the YA blogosphere, huzzah!

* Okay, I've been languishing in The Smiths quite a bit lately, but I promise I'll stop soon.

My desert island discs

I recently discovered the BBC Radio podcast of Desert Island Discs thanks to Pip of Meet Me At Mike's. Since then, I've spent many hours listening to some of my favourite UK peeps chat about the eight songs they'd want to have with them if they happened to be stranded on a desert island. The podcast archive, which goes all the way back to mid-1998, is a treasure trove of forgotten treasures, oddities and sentimental faves - hours and hours of fun for the writer avoiding writing avid listener..

Of course, a few episodes in, after listening to selections by Morrissey and JK Rowling and Betty Jackson, I found myself making a list of my own...

1. Ask - The Smiths
Almost impossible to choose just one Smiths song since they were pretty much the soundtrack of my miserable adolescence, but this one always cheered me up a little bit.


2. A New England - Kirsty MacColl
Kirsty MacColl's voice + Billy Bragg's lyrics = a match made in heaven.

3. Crying - Roy Orbison with k.d. lang
This song was on the jukebox of a cafe I spent pretty much every weekday morning and afternoon at for the last two years of school. The day Roy Orbison died we played it over and over and wept. I still find it good for inducing the occasional cathartic cry!

4. The Lovecats - The Cure
An obvious choice for a cat nerd, I guess.


5. God Only Knows - The Beach Boys
The song I always wanted someone to dedicate to me.

6. The Saturday Boy - Billy Bragg
And 'lalalalalalalalala' means 'I love you'. Sigh.

7. Take My Heart - Soko
I first heard this on a soppy day and it stuck.

8. Remember You're a Womble - The Wombles
I have very fond memories of toddling along next to my dad, singing this together.



Now comes the really hard bit, as well as your eight songs you also get to choose one book and one 'luxury item' to take to the island. The book's an easy choice. I'd take My Family and Other Animals by Gerald Durrell, because every time I re-read it, it makes me laugh as much as it did the first time (and the natural history bits may come in handy). The luxury item is harder. Perhaps a hammock? At least then I could listen to my songs and read my book in comfort...

Star picks

Last week's top picks from my Google reader feeds included:
library-themed bars, via The Centred Librarian (next time I'm in New York I'm definitely visiting The Spotty Dog!)The History of English in 10 Minutes, Open Universities via Mighty Red Pen10 words with no English equivalent, via Mental Floss*Wikiman's Great Library Stereotypometer - it may be based on scientific research conducted on Twitter, but knitting, leftie, gin-loving, cardigan-wearing librarians are my kind of people!On-hand + Modern has given me a great idea for my next birthday party (hint: start looking for a special cardigan now; gin is optional)Aaaand I want to go here (via The Centred Librarian)
Entrance to Children's Section, Cerritos Millenium Library, Cerritos, California
* I have experienced moments of zhaghzhagh in the past few days, as well as indulging in a bit of boketto. Thankfully, I do not suffer from slampadato! My personal fave (missing from Mental Floss's list) is musu, a Samoan expression for when someone suddenly becomes moody and sullen, for no apparent reason.

Star picks: abbreviated edition

In an attempt to carve back a little more time for knitting (which I'm able to do again after long six months, with minimal shoulder pain - huzzah!) and background reading for the WIP and hanging out with Mr Fantapants and the big (and increasingly arthritic) orange cat, I've been skimming posts in my Google Reader for the past couple of weeks, largely based on whether their headline appeals to me at that precise moment. I fear I'm missing a lot of good stuff, but then I fear I'm missing a lot of good stuff by being online so much, too...

Anyway, from my limited reading, I present these three gems:
David Sedaris's account of his culinary (and bathroom-y) adventures in China for The GuardianHello Giggles made a Muppet man guide*this photo from Girl Defective.* Mr F nominated Fozzy Bear who is sadly missing from this indepth and informative guide. He remains an enigma!

Heaven knows, I was miserable then

I'm chuffed to have a guest on Dear Teen Me today.
 I'd thought that writing a letter to my 15-year-old self would be a doddle, but it was a lot harder than I imagined. It made me revisit all those hours spent holed up in my bedroom with the blinds closed, listening to The Smiths and wishing I could go to sleep and wake up when I was twenty, and brought back a lot of angsty feelings that I thought I'd gotten over a long time ago.

It also forced me to admit that I could do with taking a bit more of my own advice on a daily basis: after I sent my submission in I went to our local off-leash dog park and watched a couple of Staffies chase balls. It made me feel much, much better.

And then I came home and listened to some Smiths, because 80s-era Morrissey* still understands my pain...

<p><br>*</p>

* i.e. before he moved to the States and took up golf

Star picks

Posts that caught my beady eye via Google reader last week:
Little Sister was reviewed on ReadPlusMeg Rosoff shared some tips on how to write a brilliant anythingGayle Forman gave us the definitive YA wikithe Inkys longlist was announced (and it's a beauty!)Writers and Kitties reassured me that there are crazier cat-lady writers than me:  Colette, taking crazy cat lady to extremes.