Gillian Polack's Blog, page 336

gillpolack @ 2009-11-26T15:35:00

I'm having a quiet day. This is a direct result of the whinge day yesterday, which might have been the result of heat exhaustion or might have been something else. I realised I needed to not push myself quite so hard when I took out a bullace and discovered it was a cherry. My tastebuds weren't working correctly, which was very odd. Anyhow, it was that particular bottle of cherry liqueur that I thought had gone missing, so all was well (or will be, when my tastebuds decide to return home)...

gillpolack @ 2009-11-25T15:59:00

Dear neighbour

While leaving the security door open is never a good way to endear yourself to the folks who share it, leaving it wide on on a day that reaches 34 degrees is going to lead to discontent. In fact, it has led to discontent. I got back from teaching and my flat was ten degrees hotter than when I had left, a few hours before.

Dear everyone else

Do you have anyone you want me to whinge about, while I'm on a roll?

gillpolack @ 2009-11-24T23:43:00

The beginning of the end of historical fiction covers where body parts are lacking or heads are partly cut off. Maybe the worst of those book covers can be recycled as zombie fiction? Anyhow, I like this new style of cover, even if it means I don't get to imagine strange growths coming from the missing top-of-head or left side.

ETA: if Elizabeth Chadwick sends a posse after me (I was definitely in Evil Gillian mode when I commented on her blogpost), one of my nephews wants my library. He h...

gillpolack @ 2009-11-24T21:03:00

Apparently there's a Jane Austen Festival in Canberra next year. It's a busy week for me, but I'm looking forward to talking food. Evilly yummy recipes from Austen's time. In fact, some of those evilly yummy recipes are from Austen's family.

The question is, should I cook a few more Austen family recipes, just to prove I can? The other question is whether this should replace decanting unlabelled liqueur (possibly bullace - but all the labels have merged with my books in a very romantic fas...

gillpolack @ 2009-11-24T12:33:00

Today's inbox had lots of baby pictures. Welcome to the world, Alec and Lily. And thank you, their four parents, for sending the photos. I don't think I'll be able to do baby visits for a little, so they were a very welcome sight.

gillpolack @ 2009-11-24T10:09:00

There's an interesting interview with KJ Bishop up on Charles Tan's website. I look at the picture she links to and can see where The Etched City came from and suddenly the gulf between the first section and the rest of the book makes sense.

On a more personal note, I want to be distracted today. This isn't the fault of the interview. In fact, the interview is a symptom. I suffer from magpie gaze.

My eyes just lit on one of those old copies of the Strand magazine I so like, and it announc...

gillpolack @ 2009-11-23T14:22:00

Something cool to distract you while I pretend to work. Dealing with racism is way more complicated that this, but dealing with most apparently-racist statements isn't.

gillpolack @ 2009-11-23T00:11:00

Today was the last day of my worldbuilding class, and I now understand why my mind inhabits the past instead of analysing it (remember, a few weeks ago I was mourning the temporary loss of historian-Gillian and her historiographical capacity?)*. I was explaining to my students, you see, about the need to play with their learning and to take it on board.

I'm a bit besotted right now with the need to create an environment that feels real. My students were a bit addicted to writing every fact...

gillpolack @ 2009-11-22T22:28:00

I was going to post something cheerful last night, for Virginia Lee. She found my posts about the finances of writers far too sober. I agreed with her, too, and so obviously did the hordes of people who failed to comment. I was serious when I asked for corrections and emendations - this is something I really, really need to understand. (I need to understand everything - that's the way my brain works. If something doesn't make entire sense, I will fret about it till it does.)

I was going t...

Fiction and money part 2

Yesterday's post was all about stating the obvious. I wouldn't have had to write it if so many people didn't assume that income is optional for many writers.

Today I'm going to work through the list of overheads and expenses and other stuff. Like any small business, these items vary from writer to writer and the problems that need to be addressed also vary*. Keep in mind that writing income can fluctuate wildly and that if a writer draws on their reserves to meet one of the needs listed ...