Gillian Polack's Blog, page 334

gillpolack @ 2009-12-08T00:19:00

The weather is changing. Already I'm boppier than I've been all day. This is probably not a good thing, given I have to wake up early tomorrow for a class excursion. We're going to the National Gallery and we might have a musical interlude.

In my increasingly alert state, I read the blogs of other people. On Jeff VanderMeer's, someone posed a question about reference books on my desk.* Most of my reference books inhabit nearby bookshelves or are electronic, but I actually have reference b...

gillpolack @ 2009-12-07T19:00:00

Today is tired and bedraggled. The heat makes me feel lazy, but somehow I've done work. I've complained a lot along the way, but I've worked. This is very mysterious.

Also along my tired and bedraggled route, I've bought 2/3 of the various comestibles for Saturday. I will have two sauces to make, and two salads, and two cakes, but only one shopping trip. The black beans are already soaking for my black bean salad, which takes at least three days to make but is worth it. The other salad i...

gillpolack @ 2009-12-06T16:45:00

Last night and today have been dominated by long and fascinating phonecalls. I can't talk about the friends who rang, because their side of the conversation is private. I can talk about the two important insights they gave me. I'm fortunate in my friends.

The first insight is how very pivotal this year has been for me. My friends helped me contextualise life events starting with the death of my second father right down to stuff from this week. They've also helped me accept the fact that f...

gillpolack @ 2009-12-06T13:39:00

If anyone would like a small e-gift for Chanukah, then just send me your email address by Friday. You don't have to know me to receive the gift, but it would probably help if you liked food. I'm asking friends to opt in rather than opt out, because there's just way too much junk email roaming the ether right now.

I promise not to collect your email addresses and use them for evil. In fact, all I'll do is send the document your way and then delete it. Unless you specifically ask me to hang ...

gillpolack @ 2009-12-06T02:36:00

I am up way past my bedtime because of the weather (which is odd) and this means I have finished that book. I shall put the cover somewhere safe and not have to even think about it for a long, long while.

I've also done all my Chanukah presents (except for a little prettification) and a bunch of other useful things. This means I'm allowed to be more cheerful tomorrow.

In fact, I had an hour of cheer today, because Matthew and Donna dropped in with presents. They were giving me back the conte...

gillpolack @ 2009-12-05T18:02:00

The shortlists for the Aurealis Awards have just been posted. There's some very fine fiction there! Congrats to everyone.

gillpolack @ 2009-12-05T14:26:00

I was chatting online last night and in the middle of a conversation had to go to bed. I missed the friend and can't chat with her for a little, so I'm making cornbread in her honour. It's in the oven now, and looks good. I probably wouldn't have gone the food route if I had remembered to shop this week. Breakfast and lunch are hard when you're running low. Anyhow, now I shall have cornbread for dinner tonight and for brunch tomorrow, and life is good.

I'm nearly a third of the way throug...

gillpolack @ 2009-12-04T18:50:00

I've overused the word 'interesting' today, but I finished the editing I needed to finish and I'm powering my way through the books I need to complete (including the one with the too-creative cover) so I don't care. Well, not much, anyhow.

I do care a little. I care enough not to call dinner 'interesting.' I need to call it something. It's cooking away while I type, and it's very much creative leftovers. The rice is generously laced with fresh ginger and coconut milk and will be pandan-...

gillpolack @ 2009-12-04T11:54:00

Speaking about reviews, I was given a really interesting one by Alan Baxter. I now have a little trail of happy reviews. No doubt review websites will be tougher, if they review it all, but it doesn't matter: readers love my book and they're the bottom line, always. I care very deeply about fiction being accessible.

Why am I so pleased? Alan understood exactly what I was doing, and he said I did it well.

This is like the moment I read the conference paper Kershaw presented on...

gillpolack @ 2009-12-04T11:24:00

eneit has an interesting post on where we find out about the books we want to read. She's asked for opinions. I'd love to see where other people find their reading, so please take a look and tell her what you think.