Gillian Polack's Blog, page 229
October 4, 2011
Conflux Cookbook
When I wrote the Medieval chapter of the cookbook, I didn't have to notes I had for the other chapters and I knew that Big Things had been forgotten. I just didn't know what those Big Things were. If there had been more time, I could have sent a draft round and seen if other people could remember, but we had very tight schedules and this was not possible. My memory was prompted after the book came out and I want to share a memory with all of you and I want to apologise. This is the Biggest Thing of All that should never have been forgotten!
While Trevor Stafford was the Conflux chair for the first banquet, and while Tansy Rayner Roberts was MC on the night, and while I did the banquet menu and etc, and while Cary and his SCA friends handled entertainment, there was someone who put a vast amount of work in to make it happen. She ordered the most amazing cake I have ever seen in my life, to serve as a subtley (an edible castle!) and she pulled all us odd strands together and she watched over it all. That first feast worked so amazingly because of all that work she put in..
Kaaron Warren's work was the reason that first banquet was so very splendid and it set the tone for all the others.
I made the mistake of trusting notes for the cookbook. In most cases, this was no error - my memory is shocking. In this case, though, there were no notes, and so I would appreciate it if readers would kindly annotate that chapter to make the Medieval feast the way it actually happened, and not the way I remembered it last summer.
"Isn't something missing?" Sharyn asked me, when she edited that chapter.
"Yes," I said, entirely bemused. "I know there are totally key elements and I can't think of them and it's driving me crazy. That story's only half being told and it's all kinds of wrong."
And I kept adding things to the chapter, hoping they were what was missing, but they never were, because what was missing was Kaaron. The cookbook is a much lesser beast without her part of the story being told. In fact, the reason she was asked to contribute a short story was because she was so important (all the short story writers were crucial to the banquets' in one way or another). When I was thinking about *that* element, I remembered her work - just not when I wrote the b* chapter.
if anyone needs pens to annotate that chapter, just ask...
While Trevor Stafford was the Conflux chair for the first banquet, and while Tansy Rayner Roberts was MC on the night, and while I did the banquet menu and etc, and while Cary and his SCA friends handled entertainment, there was someone who put a vast amount of work in to make it happen. She ordered the most amazing cake I have ever seen in my life, to serve as a subtley (an edible castle!) and she pulled all us odd strands together and she watched over it all. That first feast worked so amazingly because of all that work she put in..
Kaaron Warren's work was the reason that first banquet was so very splendid and it set the tone for all the others.
I made the mistake of trusting notes for the cookbook. In most cases, this was no error - my memory is shocking. In this case, though, there were no notes, and so I would appreciate it if readers would kindly annotate that chapter to make the Medieval feast the way it actually happened, and not the way I remembered it last summer.
"Isn't something missing?" Sharyn asked me, when she edited that chapter.
"Yes," I said, entirely bemused. "I know there are totally key elements and I can't think of them and it's driving me crazy. That story's only half being told and it's all kinds of wrong."
And I kept adding things to the chapter, hoping they were what was missing, but they never were, because what was missing was Kaaron. The cookbook is a much lesser beast without her part of the story being told. In fact, the reason she was asked to contribute a short story was because she was so important (all the short story writers were crucial to the banquets' in one way or another). When I was thinking about *that* element, I remembered her work - just not when I wrote the b* chapter.
if anyone needs pens to annotate that chapter, just ask...
gillpolack @ 2011-10-04T18:16:00
Conflux is all gone! I want to sit in a corner and go Waaaaah!
Because of the banquet and cookbook I was much photographed this weekend, which was a bit strange. It still is, because I keep seeing those photographs appear and look at them and think "I look an interesting colour." Breathing is very important if one wants pink cheeks, it appears. The good news is that in a few days I will look 15 years younger and a lot more rosy than I do right now. I know this for a fact because (when Dev and Emma - who are explemplary and patient houseguests) go tomorrow, I shall spend most of the rest of the day in bed. Also, possibly, most of Thursday. (It's very odd seeing what I looked like all weekend - it does, however, make sense of why everyone was so very gentle with me.)
I have fallen in love with the Australian spec fic community all over again. Nick Stathopoulos pointed out when he turned fifty that we are an extended family and he's so very right. A family full of wit and sagacity and love and overwork and books and art.
I was not at my best on panels, and, Mary, I'm so sorry - I read your extract with but half a voice (dratted breathing again). I shall do another reading, sometime, so that people can get the full glory of your writing. And the Tree had an infestation of beetles and bees and bugs and people who bought books had to carry them away...
When I couldn't stay out in the cold the night before last I absconded with a couple of friends and we came back to my place and ate lamb rogan josh and leftover cake from the banquet and we watched the new dinosaur TV series. We had a lot of fun but we will not - not any of us - bother to watch any more episodes. Although if Marilyn were round, I would be wiling to try it just to help her cheer on the dinosaurs.
If you think this post is scatty, that's because it is. I have so much to think and say and can't do it at all well. I also have so much work to do and just want to go down the Coast and get well. The Coast will happen, but not until I get a break in teaching. I'm not teaching this week, but I have Yom Kippur...
I will tell you how awesome Karen Herkes is, and then I'll do a separate post for the other thing I want to say, so that no-one misses it. That will make up for me being scatty? And if anyone who went to the banquet is after the recipe for the goulash, well, it's in the cookbook, along with the recipes for every single one of those amazing cakes. And it's a mystery to me why anyone's asking. Unless it's because they love saying 'goulash' and rolling their eyes and looking at me quite hungrily. I tested lots of recipes, and I already knew this was the best. I've had over two dozen people tell me so, though. I need a tee-shirt saying "I'm always right - accept it and we can move on."
Anyhow, as I was saying, Karen Herkes is utterly, utterly, utterly awesome. Conflux felt warm and friendly and as if we were a group of a half dozen best friends, spending much time together, happily. There were 86 people at the banquet, and quite a few more elsewhere at the convention, and yet it felt intimate and merry and purely joyous. This is something that only a very, very good chair can achieve, and this is why Karen Herkes is utterly, utterly, utterly awesome. if I could enjoy it is my somewhat less-than-well state, it just means that awesomeness is in spades.
Because of the banquet and cookbook I was much photographed this weekend, which was a bit strange. It still is, because I keep seeing those photographs appear and look at them and think "I look an interesting colour." Breathing is very important if one wants pink cheeks, it appears. The good news is that in a few days I will look 15 years younger and a lot more rosy than I do right now. I know this for a fact because (when Dev and Emma - who are explemplary and patient houseguests) go tomorrow, I shall spend most of the rest of the day in bed. Also, possibly, most of Thursday. (It's very odd seeing what I looked like all weekend - it does, however, make sense of why everyone was so very gentle with me.)
I have fallen in love with the Australian spec fic community all over again. Nick Stathopoulos pointed out when he turned fifty that we are an extended family and he's so very right. A family full of wit and sagacity and love and overwork and books and art.
I was not at my best on panels, and, Mary, I'm so sorry - I read your extract with but half a voice (dratted breathing again). I shall do another reading, sometime, so that people can get the full glory of your writing. And the Tree had an infestation of beetles and bees and bugs and people who bought books had to carry them away...
When I couldn't stay out in the cold the night before last I absconded with a couple of friends and we came back to my place and ate lamb rogan josh and leftover cake from the banquet and we watched the new dinosaur TV series. We had a lot of fun but we will not - not any of us - bother to watch any more episodes. Although if Marilyn were round, I would be wiling to try it just to help her cheer on the dinosaurs.
If you think this post is scatty, that's because it is. I have so much to think and say and can't do it at all well. I also have so much work to do and just want to go down the Coast and get well. The Coast will happen, but not until I get a break in teaching. I'm not teaching this week, but I have Yom Kippur...
I will tell you how awesome Karen Herkes is, and then I'll do a separate post for the other thing I want to say, so that no-one misses it. That will make up for me being scatty? And if anyone who went to the banquet is after the recipe for the goulash, well, it's in the cookbook, along with the recipes for every single one of those amazing cakes. And it's a mystery to me why anyone's asking. Unless it's because they love saying 'goulash' and rolling their eyes and looking at me quite hungrily. I tested lots of recipes, and I already knew this was the best. I've had over two dozen people tell me so, though. I need a tee-shirt saying "I'm always right - accept it and we can move on."
Anyhow, as I was saying, Karen Herkes is utterly, utterly, utterly awesome. Conflux felt warm and friendly and as if we were a group of a half dozen best friends, spending much time together, happily. There were 86 people at the banquet, and quite a few more elsewhere at the convention, and yet it felt intimate and merry and purely joyous. This is something that only a very, very good chair can achieve, and this is why Karen Herkes is utterly, utterly, utterly awesome. if I could enjoy it is my somewhat less-than-well state, it just means that awesomeness is in spades.
October 1, 2011
gillpolack @ 2011-10-01T17:44:00
This is a quick report-in, as I need an excuse to sit down. I'm getting less and less sick. The cookbook is officially published. Jack Dann does awesome launches! (I stir Jack abominably, but he stirs back.) Dev was sung happy birthday by all the attendees at the cookbook launch (he may never forgive me springing it on him - but he loved the Dragon Cake Sharyn made him, with its attendant daleks. One friend ate just the icing, which was made from his favourite choc bar...) Kyla Ward gives the most amazing readings, as does Janeen Webb.
And that's all, because I'm out of time... I must dress for the banquet.
And that's all, because I'm out of time... I must dress for the banquet.
September 30, 2011
gillpolack @ 2011-09-30T13:03:00
I'm finally out of bed, my fever is down, my bags are packed and I'm off to Conflux (I just need to get dressed and take another batch of medicine).
I am a lot better than yesterday and unbelievably better than the day before. I am grumping about everything (which is a sign of improvement - I was too tired to grump before - I worry about the banquet and I worry about carrying my bags a mile through the cold, cold air and I worry about, well, most things ) and have fully ten minutes energy before I want to curl up and sleep all over again.
Why am I telling you all this? It's because I may not have the energy to report, this Conflux. When i can, I will, right now, however, I'm so impressed that I'm getting there at all and that I know where half my clothes are. Also, that I've packed notes for teaching (when I need this kind of notes of teaching, you know things are not that vibrant.)
Still, I'm a ton better than before I did my mammoth sleep, and am really relieved that I'm getting Conflux at all.
I am a lot better than yesterday and unbelievably better than the day before. I am grumping about everything (which is a sign of improvement - I was too tired to grump before - I worry about the banquet and I worry about carrying my bags a mile through the cold, cold air and I worry about, well, most things ) and have fully ten minutes energy before I want to curl up and sleep all over again.
Why am I telling you all this? It's because I may not have the energy to report, this Conflux. When i can, I will, right now, however, I'm so impressed that I'm getting there at all and that I know where half my clothes are. Also, that I've packed notes for teaching (when I need this kind of notes of teaching, you know things are not that vibrant.)
Still, I'm a ton better than before I did my mammoth sleep, and am really relieved that I'm getting Conflux at all.
September 29, 2011
gillpolack @ 2011-09-29T16:47:00
If your need is not urgent and dire, please don't ring me tonight or tomorrow! I have sent Emma to visit Rachel and will be spending quality time in bed, healing, until it's time to teach my workshop, tomorrow.
gillpolack @ 2011-09-29T13:47:00
I need to buy a new thermometer. Apparently the one my father gave me*, measures two degrees out. I was so certain I had no fever the day before yesterday!
I am on antibiotics and other drugs today and will be measurably better by tomorrow afternoon. This is because I have rearranged tomorrow morning so that I'm spending it mostly in bed. (It's not all rearranged yet, but I'm no longer on the rego desk, which is 3 hours less of stuff to do).
Now that I know what's wrong, I don't feel nearly as sick. Or maybe it's that the first set of medicine is kicking in... either way, I intend to spend most of the rest of the day asleep. I have a lot of other stuff to do, but sleep comes first, just this once. When Emma gets here, I shall show her the ropes and then be the world's worst hostess.
*He gave it to me when I was 21 and leaving home, and I am now 50, so it may have been unreliable for longer than I thought.
I am on antibiotics and other drugs today and will be measurably better by tomorrow afternoon. This is because I have rearranged tomorrow morning so that I'm spending it mostly in bed. (It's not all rearranged yet, but I'm no longer on the rego desk, which is 3 hours less of stuff to do).
Now that I know what's wrong, I don't feel nearly as sick. Or maybe it's that the first set of medicine is kicking in... either way, I intend to spend most of the rest of the day asleep. I have a lot of other stuff to do, but sleep comes first, just this once. When Emma gets here, I shall show her the ropes and then be the world's worst hostess.
*He gave it to me when I was 21 and leaving home, and I am now 50, so it may have been unreliable for longer than I thought.
Revised Guide for Avoiding Gillian at Conflux (using latest programme! Oh, the wonder of it!)
Friday
Stay away from the registration desk before lunchtime.
Completely skip the 3.30 pm workshop about minding Medieval Ps and Qs (very handy for writers and people whose language could do with an extension, but, since I'm the one teaching it…)
Avoid Angry Robots and their hours, for I will be there to cheer them on. Also avoid CSFG launches and events, for I shall be there, again, in my cheer squad capacity.
You might also want to avoid the opening ceremony, though I'm sure there are enough people there so that you will be able to stay clear of me.
Saturday
10 am - Janeen Webb will read Manifest Destiny - I'd be a fool to miss it
12 pm - booklaunch, Dawn Meredith -I'm launching a book! Poor, poor Dawn…
3.30 pm Saturday - Conflux and Eneit press cookbook launch
4.30 pm Mass book signing
7 pm banquet
Sunday
12.00 pm - booklaunch, Mary Victoria and Simon Haynes - I'm helping launch two books. Poor, poor Mary and Simon… (my role is giving a reading from Mary's new book - I have three days in which to rediscover my literacy)
1.30 pm panel - creative writing at university
2.30 pm panel - great libraries of fantasy
(note: these two panels are now on the same time as the auction - there are some collectibles at the auction that will be of interest to some of those who are attending these panels - we will all understand if you duck out from time to time!)
Monday
10 am panel - The critical mind
11.15 am kaffeeklatsche (I'll have my medieval photos with me and if no-one turns up I shall commune with broadswords and with the tombs of abbots and eat from my special stash of chocolate and smile in secret joy)
4 ish pm Dead dog party
NOTE: Some of the times have changed. This is the definitive version.
Stay away from the registration desk before lunchtime.
Completely skip the 3.30 pm workshop about minding Medieval Ps and Qs (very handy for writers and people whose language could do with an extension, but, since I'm the one teaching it…)
Avoid Angry Robots and their hours, for I will be there to cheer them on. Also avoid CSFG launches and events, for I shall be there, again, in my cheer squad capacity.
You might also want to avoid the opening ceremony, though I'm sure there are enough people there so that you will be able to stay clear of me.
Saturday
10 am - Janeen Webb will read Manifest Destiny - I'd be a fool to miss it
12 pm - booklaunch, Dawn Meredith -I'm launching a book! Poor, poor Dawn…
3.30 pm Saturday - Conflux and Eneit press cookbook launch
4.30 pm Mass book signing
7 pm banquet
Sunday
12.00 pm - booklaunch, Mary Victoria and Simon Haynes - I'm helping launch two books. Poor, poor Mary and Simon… (my role is giving a reading from Mary's new book - I have three days in which to rediscover my literacy)
1.30 pm panel - creative writing at university
2.30 pm panel - great libraries of fantasy
(note: these two panels are now on the same time as the auction - there are some collectibles at the auction that will be of interest to some of those who are attending these panels - we will all understand if you duck out from time to time!)
Monday
10 am panel - The critical mind
11.15 am kaffeeklatsche (I'll have my medieval photos with me and if no-one turns up I shall commune with broadswords and with the tombs of abbots and eat from my special stash of chocolate and smile in secret joy)
4 ish pm Dead dog party
NOTE: Some of the times have changed. This is the definitive version.
September 28, 2011
Cookbook launch at Conflux
The launch of the Conflux cookbook is indeed at 3.30 pm and not 2.30 pm on Saturday. There's a rather interesting looking steampunk panel just before it, now.
gillpolack @ 2011-09-28T13:03:00
I taught quantum physics and poetry and the Iliad this morning. We talked about historical accuracy in movies and wrote much. And so term ends.
I'm about to spend most of the rest of the day resting, as my chest has decided that today is the day it will prove itself as cantakerous. Really, no proof was needed...
I'm about to spend most of the rest of the day resting, as my chest has decided that today is the day it will prove itself as cantakerous. Really, no proof was needed...
September 27, 2011
gillpolack @ 2011-09-27T20:41:00
I'm halfwaythrough my Minor Catch-Up. Immediately after I've posted this, I might think of food.
My BiblioBuffet column went up during my absence. This meant I did about ten minutes work (checking edits) while I was on holiday. This is quite unrelated to the one day's work of the seminar and its preparation. Still, I had a holiday...
My BiblioBuffet column went up during my absence. This meant I did about ten minutes work (checking edits) while I was on holiday. This is quite unrelated to the one day's work of the seminar and its preparation. Still, I had a holiday...
