Gillian Polack's Blog, page 151
September 19, 2012
gillpolack @ 2012-09-20T00:24:00
Life has a way of catching us unexpectedly when it ought not.
All three catches today were things I knew about, but had put out of my mind. One was not unexpected and the other two were already with me. I'd just been ignoring them.
They're the reason I'm doing so much work right now. I don't want to be alone with my thoughts for a little.
Elizabeth reminded me that one of the catches was a friend's suicide and that the funeral is on Friday. Funerals make a difference. Having a friend willing to take me to the funeral and have tea with me afterwards makes a very big difference.
I probably won't want to be alone with my thoughts for a few days yet, but at least I'm being honest with myself as to why. To celebrate honesty, the next post will be that honeycake recipe I promised. I've saved some, just in case we need it after Andrea's funeral. The thing about cakes that are made only once a year is that they anchor us in time and help us remember that life continues.
All three catches today were things I knew about, but had put out of my mind. One was not unexpected and the other two were already with me. I'd just been ignoring them.
They're the reason I'm doing so much work right now. I don't want to be alone with my thoughts for a little.
Elizabeth reminded me that one of the catches was a friend's suicide and that the funeral is on Friday. Funerals make a difference. Having a friend willing to take me to the funeral and have tea with me afterwards makes a very big difference.
I probably won't want to be alone with my thoughts for a few days yet, but at least I'm being honest with myself as to why. To celebrate honesty, the next post will be that honeycake recipe I promised. I've saved some, just in case we need it after Andrea's funeral. The thing about cakes that are made only once a year is that they anchor us in time and help us remember that life continues.
September 18, 2012
gillpolack @ 2012-09-19T16:05:00
My big news of the day isn't my news at all. The awesome Yaritji Green has been awarded an Arts South Australia Grant. I'll be working with her on her novel as part of it, and I'm pleased as punch. She's a very talented writer (and a majorly talented person in other ways - she's taking a weekend off from undergrad medicine to do this!) and it's going to be so cool. Am a happy little vegemite.
The rest of today is about food. We celebrated the Moon Festival, Rosh Hashanah and a students' birthday in class today. There ought to be honey cake for CSFG tonight (I asked someone else to deliver it so that I wouldn't take it to class by mistake, but if he forgets, he'll have to apologise to everyone and then eat it all) and I'm finding time for CSFG by turning up early and working in the kitchen while the committee meets.
My thought for the day is how very easy it is to get the stories wrong for a culture you don't know. My Chinese Australian students explained their festival, and then everyone else wrote about it, but they had trouble. The sun was inverted with the moon, 'holes' in the story were filled in, and so forth. We all do this, but it was interesting to see it in action. No wonder so many writers get 'exotic' cultures wrong. This culture wasn't exotic, and it still stretched people. I shall work on basic tale telling next term, I think. Also, I shall start to keep an eye open for common errors people make when writing fantasy or hist fic about a culture not their own. Not 'common errors' in terms of a date wrong or a city moved, but errors in terms of tales shifted to that person's norm. This is very much something about which I need to know more.
For my next trick, I shall make a cuppa and work on bibliography.
ETA: For people who think they've heard Yaritji's name before, check here: http://narrellemharris.wordpress.com/2011/01/18/review-baggage-and-sprawl/
The rest of today is about food. We celebrated the Moon Festival, Rosh Hashanah and a students' birthday in class today. There ought to be honey cake for CSFG tonight (I asked someone else to deliver it so that I wouldn't take it to class by mistake, but if he forgets, he'll have to apologise to everyone and then eat it all) and I'm finding time for CSFG by turning up early and working in the kitchen while the committee meets.
My thought for the day is how very easy it is to get the stories wrong for a culture you don't know. My Chinese Australian students explained their festival, and then everyone else wrote about it, but they had trouble. The sun was inverted with the moon, 'holes' in the story were filled in, and so forth. We all do this, but it was interesting to see it in action. No wonder so many writers get 'exotic' cultures wrong. This culture wasn't exotic, and it still stretched people. I shall work on basic tale telling next term, I think. Also, I shall start to keep an eye open for common errors people make when writing fantasy or hist fic about a culture not their own. Not 'common errors' in terms of a date wrong or a city moved, but errors in terms of tales shifted to that person's norm. This is very much something about which I need to know more.
For my next trick, I shall make a cuppa and work on bibliography.
ETA: For people who think they've heard Yaritji's name before, check here: http://narrellemharris.wordpress.com/2011/01/18/review-baggage-and-sprawl/
gillpolack @ 2012-09-18T18:02:00
Drabbit - it's the Days of Awe. Of course it's the Days of Awe.
My apologies to anyone who was hurt by my annoyance just now. It's entirely not the right time of year to lose my temper at all, much less to lose it publicly. While I'm at it, my apologies to anyone who I have hurt this year. I don't mean to hurt people, and I'm very sorry if I have.
I wasn't going to do a public apology like this, for they're not really right. The idea is to sort out problems, not to self-immolate in a generic way. I didn't expect to lose my temper in the last hour of Rosh Hashanah, either, though. I have had provocation, but that's the reason and no excuse. I am really very sorry.
My apologies to anyone who was hurt by my annoyance just now. It's entirely not the right time of year to lose my temper at all, much less to lose it publicly. While I'm at it, my apologies to anyone who I have hurt this year. I don't mean to hurt people, and I'm very sorry if I have.
I wasn't going to do a public apology like this, for they're not really right. The idea is to sort out problems, not to self-immolate in a generic way. I didn't expect to lose my temper in the last hour of Rosh Hashanah, either, though. I have had provocation, but that's the reason and no excuse. I am really very sorry.
gillpolack @ 2012-09-18T17:55:00
I want to be very sarcastic and say that - for everyone who is idiot enough to bug me about deadlines that are ages away and to worry that I haven't answered them ON MY HIGH HOLY DAYS that I shall write their names down and invent deadlines to bug them about between 23 December and 26 December. Or maybe on Easter Sunday. Except I shan't. I never do.
Instead, I'm just going to remind everyone who reads my blog that we live in a world with many different forms of belief and unbelief and many different traditions of all sorts. If you bug me about on-urgent and non-crucial matters on certain days, then it will take the gloss off those days for me, for I will realise just how little you value my particular background and my private life.
I'm also going to say that giving me a couple more days to reply to emails will sort most things out. And I'm going to say that if you ask me ANYTHING from about an hour before dusk until an hour after on Yom Kippur, I shall not know, for I shall not be reading my email. If you ring during that time for anything that is not a real emergency, I shall understand that you care less than you say you do, for it's the holiest day of the year and I only have the phone on because of the possibility of emergencies.
If my friends and colleagues don't know when my holy days are, I don't bloody well care. I tell everyone which ones matter to me. The dates are publicly available information. Find out. I find out when Easter is, after all, and am forced to listen to musak months before Christmas.
I'm only asking for a few days a year and still do the urgent stuff and go out of my way to fit into everyone else's calendar. I don't ask for seasonal TV or even seasonal present giving. All I ask is for people to AVOID CREATING FALSE DEADLINES ON MY HIGH HOLY DAYS.
For those who have not encountered it before, you have just witnessed Gillian losing her temper.
Instead, I'm just going to remind everyone who reads my blog that we live in a world with many different forms of belief and unbelief and many different traditions of all sorts. If you bug me about on-urgent and non-crucial matters on certain days, then it will take the gloss off those days for me, for I will realise just how little you value my particular background and my private life.
I'm also going to say that giving me a couple more days to reply to emails will sort most things out. And I'm going to say that if you ask me ANYTHING from about an hour before dusk until an hour after on Yom Kippur, I shall not know, for I shall not be reading my email. If you ring during that time for anything that is not a real emergency, I shall understand that you care less than you say you do, for it's the holiest day of the year and I only have the phone on because of the possibility of emergencies.
If my friends and colleagues don't know when my holy days are, I don't bloody well care. I tell everyone which ones matter to me. The dates are publicly available information. Find out. I find out when Easter is, after all, and am forced to listen to musak months before Christmas.
I'm only asking for a few days a year and still do the urgent stuff and go out of my way to fit into everyone else's calendar. I don't ask for seasonal TV or even seasonal present giving. All I ask is for people to AVOID CREATING FALSE DEADLINES ON MY HIGH HOLY DAYS.
For those who have not encountered it before, you have just witnessed Gillian losing her temper.
September 17, 2012
gillpolack @ 2012-09-18T13:38:00
I've realised today that my brain deals with information overload by switching off in unexpected ways. When I see something once, I notice it. When I see it three or more times in a day, I entirely obliterate even the first mention. If someone asks me about it, I'll remember, but not be very interested.
I discovered this when I deleted the fifth mention of something I was actually interested in and realised I hadn't followed through and would not follow through and might never read the review I was being told about.
If the mentions come a few days apart and the wording is different for each or I'm being told whole new information about the same thing, I'll remember it all and follow it all. If it's a book or a movie, I might even buy the book or see the movie.
It was quite funny discovering that ten books (nine of which I already own) had migrated right to the bottom of my extensive to-read list, simply because my mind had deleted the information about them by mistake. Most of them are from one or two publishers, too, which makes me doubly sad. I'm not tempted to push them higher, though, for the information dumped into my life has taken the place of the individuality of the books in my mind and I can no longer remember why I wanted to read them. If they're your books, then I'm terribly, terribly sorry.
I'm hoping that eventually the overhype will stop and that the books can reclaim their individuality in my mind. If the worst comes to the worst, the ones I own will be on my sorting shelf and I will say "Oh, I had forgotten about this" and snag them to read when I eventually put those books away.
In an ideal world, emails about books tell me their unique values and don't come more than one every few days. Now I know why I have this ideal: it's quite worrying to discover that I'm forgetting books I wanted to read.
I discovered this when I deleted the fifth mention of something I was actually interested in and realised I hadn't followed through and would not follow through and might never read the review I was being told about.
If the mentions come a few days apart and the wording is different for each or I'm being told whole new information about the same thing, I'll remember it all and follow it all. If it's a book or a movie, I might even buy the book or see the movie.
It was quite funny discovering that ten books (nine of which I already own) had migrated right to the bottom of my extensive to-read list, simply because my mind had deleted the information about them by mistake. Most of them are from one or two publishers, too, which makes me doubly sad. I'm not tempted to push them higher, though, for the information dumped into my life has taken the place of the individuality of the books in my mind and I can no longer remember why I wanted to read them. If they're your books, then I'm terribly, terribly sorry.
I'm hoping that eventually the overhype will stop and that the books can reclaim their individuality in my mind. If the worst comes to the worst, the ones I own will be on my sorting shelf and I will say "Oh, I had forgotten about this" and snag them to read when I eventually put those books away.
In an ideal world, emails about books tell me their unique values and don't come more than one every few days. Now I know why I have this ideal: it's quite worrying to discover that I'm forgetting books I wanted to read.
gillpolack @ 2012-09-17T23:01:00
I forgot to give you my Rosh Hashanah column - all about cookbooks and enjoying food: http://www.bibliobuffet.com/bookish-dreaming/1837-happy-new-year-said-with-food-and-books-091612
The craft of writing - a rant in miniature
I am almost finished my reading. I will have finished the pile of fiction for the single column and it will be written up as soon as yontef is out and I will feel terribly, terribly virtuous. This means that tomorrow's first book (or tonight's last) will be The Gentleman's Art of Dressing with Economy (published by The British Library - I think this is my first BL review book). I don't know why this little volume is such a spur, but it is the one that pushed me into that big catchup. The big catchup all being fantasy novels (mostly relatively epic) helped. My unlearned opinion is that Mark Chadbourn really knows his craft. This unfortunately meant I didn't have to read all three of his books, but the remainder can be a special treat for another day. and a special treat they will be, for craftmanship guarantees a good read.
I'm collecting books that teach craft skills, and Chadbourn's work is so much going on my mental list. Also Kate Elliott's, I think and Chaz Brenchley's (who won't notice this mention of him, for I say so). This is my resolution for today.
Far too many books I've been reading recently would be improved by a little more attention to the flow of ideas and who owns them, to introducing the world at the right pace for the reader and the narrative, to having sufficient small detail of the world so that it comes to life. We're getting a lot more fiction on our shelves where the writer has some rather nice talent and some neat ideas and a tremendous love of story, but hasn't sat down and learned the craft. I don't care if the learning is done through courses, through apprenticeship, through beta criticism or through simply reading widely and thoughtfully. The books lacking in it make me very sad, for they could so easily be totally magic. I want to edit some books and teach other writers in a class and just shake the shoulders of those who are lazy.
If anyone else also feels strongly about this, please feel free to comment on favourite aspects of craft and give examples of the books that illustrate them for you, and I'll put a post up summarising it all and we can send writers to that post. Also, I can read the books I haven't read and learn the aspects of craft that are lacking in my work and my own novels will improve. All laudable aims.
I shall also take your thoughts and my thoughts on board and add to them and write them up at greater length here (eventually), or for an article somewhere (if someone wants a longer article on the subject) or for teaching notes or for all three. This is because I am greedy and want more books of higher quality in my reading life and getting the word out there that there are skills that can help and techniques that can be learned will help, I suspect.
Have I earned a cup of tea yet?
PS Look Ma, no footnotes!
I'm collecting books that teach craft skills, and Chadbourn's work is so much going on my mental list. Also Kate Elliott's, I think and Chaz Brenchley's (who won't notice this mention of him, for I say so). This is my resolution for today.
Far too many books I've been reading recently would be improved by a little more attention to the flow of ideas and who owns them, to introducing the world at the right pace for the reader and the narrative, to having sufficient small detail of the world so that it comes to life. We're getting a lot more fiction on our shelves where the writer has some rather nice talent and some neat ideas and a tremendous love of story, but hasn't sat down and learned the craft. I don't care if the learning is done through courses, through apprenticeship, through beta criticism or through simply reading widely and thoughtfully. The books lacking in it make me very sad, for they could so easily be totally magic. I want to edit some books and teach other writers in a class and just shake the shoulders of those who are lazy.
If anyone else also feels strongly about this, please feel free to comment on favourite aspects of craft and give examples of the books that illustrate them for you, and I'll put a post up summarising it all and we can send writers to that post. Also, I can read the books I haven't read and learn the aspects of craft that are lacking in my work and my own novels will improve. All laudable aims.
I shall also take your thoughts and my thoughts on board and add to them and write them up at greater length here (eventually), or for an article somewhere (if someone wants a longer article on the subject) or for teaching notes or for all three. This is because I am greedy and want more books of higher quality in my reading life and getting the word out there that there are skills that can help and techniques that can be learned will help, I suspect.
Have I earned a cup of tea yet?
PS Look Ma, no footnotes!
September 16, 2012
gillpolack @ 2012-09-17T11:52:00
My kitchen cupboards are so much less scary. Amy threw out bags and bags of decaying plastic and rusting metal, took 2 bags of useful items to the opp shop and took a large bag of stuff home with her. It was a totally outstanding way of ending the old year: things are just massively less out of control.
My new review books just came. There are five. I have read 2 1/2 of the earlier ones. If I can finish another 2 1/2 today, then I will not be facing any more reading tomorrow than I faced yesterday. If I can finish 4 1/2 (possible, but less likely) I can finish writing a whole column as well as create space. And they're such, such cool books. Also, my self-bargaining would mean I get to spend the day reading fantasy novels (with maybe one horror thrown in, just to keep the equilibrium, which is a rather nice way to start the year. Then tomorrow I can read about Victorian Bloomsbury, or quantum physics, or...
I shall make lunch and watch Dr Who and then get started. This is going to be a great deal of fun!
My new review books just came. There are five. I have read 2 1/2 of the earlier ones. If I can finish another 2 1/2 today, then I will not be facing any more reading tomorrow than I faced yesterday. If I can finish 4 1/2 (possible, but less likely) I can finish writing a whole column as well as create space. And they're such, such cool books. Also, my self-bargaining would mean I get to spend the day reading fantasy novels (with maybe one horror thrown in, just to keep the equilibrium, which is a rather nice way to start the year. Then tomorrow I can read about Victorian Bloomsbury, or quantum physics, or...
I shall make lunch and watch Dr Who and then get started. This is going to be a great deal of fun!
gillpolack @ 2012-09-17T08:02:00
The weekend was all about friends and housestuff and cooking. Today is a bit about friends (and lemons!) but mostly about reading. I shall have read three books by lunchtime, I suspect, because it's also about asthma. Since I did a restacking of my review books and discovered that I had a whole pile in need of short reviews (rather than the two I thought) this is just as well. Things are too busy right now to carry the reading over to another week, so the more I can read today, the better.
Fortunately, I have no teaching prep until tomorrow night. Even more fortunately, I have leftover food from the weekend. Yet more fortunately, I have both chocolate and coffee.
Fortunately, I have no teaching prep until tomorrow night. Even more fortunately, I have leftover food from the weekend. Yet more fortunately, I have both chocolate and coffee.
September 15, 2012
gillpolack @ 2012-09-16T09:04:00
I made a honey cake yesterday, but was easily distracted (by everything - magpie brain was mine!) so I used the recipe. It somehow didn't work out. It's still a perfectly nice cake, but it's not the magic delight it ought to be. I woke up an hour ago, and Amy was asleep in L-space and I wondered if the mistake was actually using the recipe. So I finished up ingredients and made a second batch. It's in the oven, but the lick of leftover from the bowl suggests that it's a much, much better cake. All this demonstrates, I think, is that I cook much better without recipes and with only approximate measurements than with.
Amy is generously sorting my kitchen cupboards. They are so much better! I now have my scone trays back, and can make coffee in more styles. I've got rid of a few things that I really don't need and 1/3 of my kitchen is Actually Under control. Also clean. Yay for friends! Also, we talked Chretien a lot, so yay for Medievalist friends.
May I sleep again? No, I didn't think so.
Amy is generously sorting my kitchen cupboards. They are so much better! I now have my scone trays back, and can make coffee in more styles. I've got rid of a few things that I really don't need and 1/3 of my kitchen is Actually Under control. Also clean. Yay for friends! Also, we talked Chretien a lot, so yay for Medievalist friends.
May I sleep again? No, I didn't think so.
