Gillian Polack's Blog, page 226
October 19, 2011
gillpolack @ 2011-10-19T18:12:00
My dissertation is very cruel. It keeps singing me this song: http://youtu.be/JGLnsNPQcls
What it claims it does better than me is obfuscation. I clarify something and see perfectly where everything should go and three minutes later the song is sung and I have no idea what I'm doing.
I've decided to trump my dissertation by humming about walking through storms with my head held high. Also by printing out vast amounts of text and attacking them viciously with red pens.
What it claims it does better than me is obfuscation. I clarify something and see perfectly where everything should go and three minutes later the song is sung and I have no idea what I'm doing.
I've decided to trump my dissertation by humming about walking through storms with my head held high. Also by printing out vast amounts of text and attacking them viciously with red pens.
October 18, 2011
gillpolack @ 2011-10-19T08:56:00
My unexpected project over the last week was working on Secret Jewish Women's Business. Something an editor said to me about it at Conflux clicked and I thought "What if I combine it with my geek novel and lose 50,000 words?" I rushed the writing of both of them because that year I paid attention to the bods who said that one has to be able to write at a certain speed. I've grown since then. I know that some people can and some people can't and that if I write quickly then half the ideas remain unwritten and they will all creep into the next novel. Well, I know it happened that once. I wrote the original SJWB in six weeks and the ideas that hadn't fully formulated in that time came out six months later in my geek story.
When I put the two novels together (and lost 50,000 words) I realised how I work. This new understanding is a by-product of the PhD. It wasn't the plotlines that made the books two halves of a whole, it was the concerns expressed and the family culture of the main characters. I didn't force the plotlines to dovetail in my revision - I reinforced the cultural similarities and made it clear that we were talking about one family. I reduced the number of extraneous characters and made my main characters interact in ways the reader will hopefully work out but that aren't necessarily important to the characters.
I don't know how much this will work, but it was really fascinating doing it. Finding out what I write when I'm in white heat and how it fits together with other narratives was almost worthwhile just for itself.
It took me a week to edit the two into one. I have two beta readers who are checking it for me. I can't wait to see what they think!
While I wrote this, Nicole put up the second section of her interview with me. It's on writing processes. How apposite! (Also, that's two good things to balance the three negatives of first thing in the morning. I can now go and teach with less fret.)
When I put the two novels together (and lost 50,000 words) I realised how I work. This new understanding is a by-product of the PhD. It wasn't the plotlines that made the books two halves of a whole, it was the concerns expressed and the family culture of the main characters. I didn't force the plotlines to dovetail in my revision - I reinforced the cultural similarities and made it clear that we were talking about one family. I reduced the number of extraneous characters and made my main characters interact in ways the reader will hopefully work out but that aren't necessarily important to the characters.
I don't know how much this will work, but it was really fascinating doing it. Finding out what I write when I'm in white heat and how it fits together with other narratives was almost worthwhile just for itself.
It took me a week to edit the two into one. I have two beta readers who are checking it for me. I can't wait to see what they think!
While I wrote this, Nicole put up the second section of her interview with me. It's on writing processes. How apposite! (Also, that's two good things to balance the three negatives of first thing in the morning. I can now go and teach with less fret.)
gillpolack @ 2011-10-18T12:57:00
"Fighting fluff" sounds a bit daft. It's what I'm doing right now. I'm slow and I'm tired and I have a lovely extra chin because my glands are also bravely fighting fluff. Just a few more days and the fluff will have gone. if there were a big thunderstorm, it would be gone faster. Until it goes, however, I'm on double the antihistamines, triple the asthma medication, and I'm firmly indoors for just as much of the time as I can manage.
We used to have a cat called Felafel. His short name was Fluff. He walked us to the main road every day, to get us safely to school. The ironing board was his favourite spot, and he filled it. Fighting a cat that big would be foolish. Fighting Canberra fluff seems equally foolish. It's a silent battle and everything in my vicinity is slow. I forget the simplest things (breathing is good for the brain) and I overeat.
What I want right now is much rain. Heavy rain. Maybe with hailstones. That way the fluff will be drowned and I can get back to what passes for normal. My body doesn't tell me we're getting any, however, so everyone around me is going to have to put up with my fluff-brain and fluff-breath all week.
We used to have a cat called Felafel. His short name was Fluff. He walked us to the main road every day, to get us safely to school. The ironing board was his favourite spot, and he filled it. Fighting a cat that big would be foolish. Fighting Canberra fluff seems equally foolish. It's a silent battle and everything in my vicinity is slow. I forget the simplest things (breathing is good for the brain) and I overeat.
What I want right now is much rain. Heavy rain. Maybe with hailstones. That way the fluff will be drowned and I can get back to what passes for normal. My body doesn't tell me we're getting any, however, so everyone around me is going to have to put up with my fluff-brain and fluff-breath all week.
October 17, 2011
gillpolack @ 2011-10-17T14:40:00
My new piece is up at BiblioBuffet. It's my celebration of the festive season. I turned it into a celebration of aspects of books.
gillpolack @ 2011-10-17T11:02:00
Nicole Murphy has interviewed me about my writing habits. It was rather interesting, going back over what I do and discovering that I do actually have writing habits!
This morning is editing again. The close editing is slow and painstaking, but I'm beginning to see results. Tonight I want to do a c omplete printout so that I can do something fancy with highlighters and check the sequencing. If I can reach that tonight, then tomorrow I can finish with it. I do think that other work will have to intervene starting from this afternoon, as well - it's term again and I'm supposed to be back to what passes for normal in my life.
What passes for normal? Well, there's the dissertation and the Beast and the Aurealis reading and my Wednesday class and my reviews/essays. That's about it, really, right now. Because of the cancelled classes and because I'm not contracted for any big project, things are going to be less impossible for the rest of this year. Not unbusy, but not eighteen hour days, either.
This morning is editing again. The close editing is slow and painstaking, but I'm beginning to see results. Tonight I want to do a c omplete printout so that I can do something fancy with highlighters and check the sequencing. If I can reach that tonight, then tomorrow I can finish with it. I do think that other work will have to intervene starting from this afternoon, as well - it's term again and I'm supposed to be back to what passes for normal in my life.
What passes for normal? Well, there's the dissertation and the Beast and the Aurealis reading and my Wednesday class and my reviews/essays. That's about it, really, right now. Because of the cancelled classes and because I'm not contracted for any big project, things are going to be less impossible for the rest of this year. Not unbusy, but not eighteen hour days, either.
October 16, 2011
gillpolack @ 2011-10-16T19:43:00
Today has been mostly time out with friend and only a couple of hours work. I'll be doing more work this evening to make up, because the editing I'm doing this week is kinda on top of all the things I said I'd do this week.
I'm hoping it's worth it. I think it might be. In a perfect world I solve many problems with this week's work. In the real world, it was a difficult week physically and so anything I've done is good.
The grapevine has started to bring me news on the cookbook. Good news. I shall be quietly happy on that front and hope it sells out very quickly. I might take copies to the CSFG meeting on Wednesday.
I haven't much else to report on, mainly because I have goldfish brain today. This is why I took half the morning and the whole of the afternoon off. And now I suspect I need to return to editing. I have 300 pages before I can return to normal. You really don't want to know why there are so many pages...they're not too bad, but it's close line work and so quite slow and painstaking.
I'm hoping it's worth it. I think it might be. In a perfect world I solve many problems with this week's work. In the real world, it was a difficult week physically and so anything I've done is good.
The grapevine has started to bring me news on the cookbook. Good news. I shall be quietly happy on that front and hope it sells out very quickly. I might take copies to the CSFG meeting on Wednesday.
I haven't much else to report on, mainly because I have goldfish brain today. This is why I took half the morning and the whole of the afternoon off. And now I suspect I need to return to editing. I have 300 pages before I can return to normal. You really don't want to know why there are so many pages...they're not too bad, but it's close line work and so quite slow and painstaking.
October 15, 2011
gillpolack @ 2011-10-15T17:22:00
I can't seem to stop working on my revision. It's just as well that the other work I was going to do this weekend is either done, not arrived on my desk, or able to be done in the interstices, because this big rethink refuses to go away. My current estimate is that if I can lose 10,000 words in this strange combined work, re-order some things and sort out 2 minor plot arcs, I'll be fine. That's the stage I'll know if all this effort was worth it.
I feel like a driven creature. I'm fighting weather changes and a whole bunch of things I had planned to do. My solution is to crack the whip a little and work harder. That way I can be finished by tomorrow and I can spend the day at a friend's. When I get back tomorrow evening, I shall be firmly in doctoral mode and also in Medieval mode (since the two aren't mutually exclusive) and the last few days will be swept under the rug and forgotten (or the novel will go out to beta readers, whichever is more appropriate).
I feel like a driven creature. I'm fighting weather changes and a whole bunch of things I had planned to do. My solution is to crack the whip a little and work harder. That way I can be finished by tomorrow and I can spend the day at a friend's. When I get back tomorrow evening, I shall be firmly in doctoral mode and also in Medieval mode (since the two aren't mutually exclusive) and the last few days will be swept under the rug and forgotten (or the novel will go out to beta readers, whichever is more appropriate).
gillpolack @ 2011-10-15T11:13:00
I'm 7/8 through two book reviews and 1/3 through the third. I still have to do the editing. Possibly I ought to get dressed first, though. Just possibly. Still, I'm very happy with my progress. They're smaller pieces than usual, but that's because the books were good and I didn't find a zillion things to argue with.
October 14, 2011
gillpolack @ 2011-10-15T10:14:00
Today we have more storms, but they're not going to come quite yet. I've washed most of the dishes and made some tea and will do some more housework and just as much work as I can fit in before lunchtime. I'm having the early afternoon off in any case, because three of us decided that one should not cancel the new year. I have a round challah and I have apples and honey and I have jelly beans for the celebrational aspects.
I think the later part of the day is all about reviews and essays and getting as much as possible done on that front so that I can then do some solid work on my dissertation next week. Also, reviews and essays can be divided into discrete portions and don't require hours and hours of focus, so if they get interrupted by storms then there's no work lost and no time wasted. I'm heading into a week where, if I want to see friends and remain human (which I do) I have to do the no-work-lost-and-no-time-wasted thing. If I don't, I'll be setting myself up for trouble down the track. Also, I won't have time to spend on writing fiction when the fiction arrives back from my supervisor. And this would make me unhappy and life is too short for making oneself unhappy!
All that is in the future. My immediate present is devoted to editing and drinking copious amounts of Turkish apple tea.
I think the later part of the day is all about reviews and essays and getting as much as possible done on that front so that I can then do some solid work on my dissertation next week. Also, reviews and essays can be divided into discrete portions and don't require hours and hours of focus, so if they get interrupted by storms then there's no work lost and no time wasted. I'm heading into a week where, if I want to see friends and remain human (which I do) I have to do the no-work-lost-and-no-time-wasted thing. If I don't, I'll be setting myself up for trouble down the track. Also, I won't have time to spend on writing fiction when the fiction arrives back from my supervisor. And this would make me unhappy and life is too short for making oneself unhappy!
All that is in the future. My immediate present is devoted to editing and drinking copious amounts of Turkish apple tea.
gillpolack @ 2011-10-14T18:57:00
We have thunderstorm. This means I shall ache less when they're past. And I'm up to a few hours break in work, so I can stay offline for a bit. And I have dinner. Three very good things!
