Gillian Polack's Blog, page 34
April 16, 2015
gillpolack @ 2015-04-17T11:46:00
Today my grump is revealed to be partly due to external circumstances and partly due to a low level virus. I am still deadline central and have twelve things to do today, when, really, what I need is sleep. I shall complete everything, but I shall do it assisted by Dr Who specials. David Tennant enables much to be achieved...
Two of the deadlines are because of books in June. One is obviously the Beast. The other is a chapter in this: http://www.cambriapress.com/cambriapress.cfm?template=4&bid=626 And the third is the one I must do immediately I've made coffee, and is an academic article. And when they're all done and dusted, I get to write fiction for a week! Only a week, mind...
Two of the deadlines are because of books in June. One is obviously the Beast. The other is a chapter in this: http://www.cambriapress.com/cambriapress.cfm?template=4&bid=626 And the third is the one I must do immediately I've made coffee, and is an academic article. And when they're all done and dusted, I get to write fiction for a week! Only a week, mind...
April 15, 2015
Words not of comfort (sorry)
It looks as if I won't be an Aurealis judge this year, and possibly not in the future.
The team in charge is specifying that electronic entries must be in two formats only (epub and mobi) and my eyes can't deal with epub format for more than about 40 pages and, with mobi, my reading speed causes programmes to crash (the page can't load fast enough).
Last year I translated everything into pdf using Calibre, and the publishers lost their page formatting and that's not fair on the publisher/author, when the judge reads text denuded of 3/4 of its formatting. Whether we like it or not, texts do not stand independently of their formatting: if I have to denude e-texts then I'd have to denude print as well, so that all writing could be considered on a level playing field. (By this you know the outcome of my means of dealing last year, and that it took a lot of work to not disadvantage the e version of novels.)
If I slow down my reading, then the Aurealis judging will take the place of paid work, for the reason I can fit judging into my rather busy life is because I read so quickly.
As I said to the organisers last year, I can read a proportion in epub and mobi, but when almost all of it is in epub or mobi either I get eyestrain (which means I am in danger of losing more of my eyesight) or I have to choose between groceries and volunteering.
And so the gates of heaven are barred...
No doubt someone else will come to me about another and entirely different matter and say "Gillian, we need you for this." I think the longest I've not been doing something that gives back is about 3 months (I mostly don't talk about these things - I just do them - after all, giving back isn't about one's ego). And the Aurealis Awards were a lot less work than, say, running Women's History Month back in the old days, or teaching kids who needed special help or working against racism in various communities.
Still, I loved doing it and I will miss it. I like the reading and thinking and camaraderie of a book award and would do it again, if a space could be found for me. I can read 20+ books a week, given the right file formats and having a flexible workload. One thing I learned from bad experience, however, is not to lose health (and especially not permanent things such as eyesight) when the people I volunteer for/with aren't flexible.
Still, I am going to miss things I love. I love discovering the work that hasn't been seen and the work that has been seen. I love reading a hundred novels back to back and finding out what each and every writer does and discovering what they've achieved: I shall miss it all.
Also, it really annoys me that no allowance is made for sight issues. They dealt last year in the end by asking for pdfs from publishers (and enough publishers obliged so that I was fine when I translated some epub files to pdf sans page formatting) but the organisers've made it quite clear this year that one signs up for the letter of what's on the page.
Oddly, there was no private email to judges this year explaining that the call was going out. It's an open call only ie there was no "Let's check out which old judges want to return," nor was there an email explaining why we weren't being asked, nor has anyone said "Sorry, Gillian, I know you have a very minor disability in the scheme of things, but we can't use anyone with visual impairment so you're no longer eligible to be a judge."
I found out about it publicly.
That's why I'm explaining publicly.
Today Katrin and I will be getting 2/3 through the Beast edits, and I will finish off the edits on an academic paper and I'll be catching up on some of the boring admin side of things. The edits on a chapter of a third publication apparently arrive tomorrow. I'll also start on the Hugo reading.
I've worked out what I'll do about the Hugos, which is to read everything (I know, how am I going to do it with such impossible eyesight? paper and pdf are the answers, and I'm borrowing all the novel finalists I can from the library - I already have Skin Game, for I was trying to avoid conflict with the Aurealis reading), rank everything, and put "No Award" at the point in every single category where I feel the quality is not where it needs to be for the Hugos.
I've thought this through carefully, and am happy to give more detailed reasons for my choices to those who need to understand*. Basically, though, it's about not carrying hate forward. The legacy of the Rabid and Sad ones is in our hands. They did their thing, and it was stupid and nasty (very nasty in places, just stupid in others) but the SFdom I want is thoughtful and doesn't judge a work on someone else cheering it on.
Also, Yom HaShoah yesterday was strange. At least the lost soul antisemites who trail around were quiet for a few hours. There was a silence surrounding it, though.
Talking about the Holocaust has become unPc. Someone actually said (in the wake of the Paris murders, not yesterday) that we need to stop talking about the Holocaust because it's all Israel's fault. Thank you, that person, for your compassion and understanding and profound historical knowledge. I do suspect that the silence around me on the subject is partly to do with similar attitudes. Not everyone has them, but those who do are very good at carrying hate.
*Especially to Brendan, who is the reason I'm in a position to be a part of it this year.
The team in charge is specifying that electronic entries must be in two formats only (epub and mobi) and my eyes can't deal with epub format for more than about 40 pages and, with mobi, my reading speed causes programmes to crash (the page can't load fast enough).
Last year I translated everything into pdf using Calibre, and the publishers lost their page formatting and that's not fair on the publisher/author, when the judge reads text denuded of 3/4 of its formatting. Whether we like it or not, texts do not stand independently of their formatting: if I have to denude e-texts then I'd have to denude print as well, so that all writing could be considered on a level playing field. (By this you know the outcome of my means of dealing last year, and that it took a lot of work to not disadvantage the e version of novels.)
If I slow down my reading, then the Aurealis judging will take the place of paid work, for the reason I can fit judging into my rather busy life is because I read so quickly.
As I said to the organisers last year, I can read a proportion in epub and mobi, but when almost all of it is in epub or mobi either I get eyestrain (which means I am in danger of losing more of my eyesight) or I have to choose between groceries and volunteering.
And so the gates of heaven are barred...
No doubt someone else will come to me about another and entirely different matter and say "Gillian, we need you for this." I think the longest I've not been doing something that gives back is about 3 months (I mostly don't talk about these things - I just do them - after all, giving back isn't about one's ego). And the Aurealis Awards were a lot less work than, say, running Women's History Month back in the old days, or teaching kids who needed special help or working against racism in various communities.
Still, I loved doing it and I will miss it. I like the reading and thinking and camaraderie of a book award and would do it again, if a space could be found for me. I can read 20+ books a week, given the right file formats and having a flexible workload. One thing I learned from bad experience, however, is not to lose health (and especially not permanent things such as eyesight) when the people I volunteer for/with aren't flexible.
Still, I am going to miss things I love. I love discovering the work that hasn't been seen and the work that has been seen. I love reading a hundred novels back to back and finding out what each and every writer does and discovering what they've achieved: I shall miss it all.
Also, it really annoys me that no allowance is made for sight issues. They dealt last year in the end by asking for pdfs from publishers (and enough publishers obliged so that I was fine when I translated some epub files to pdf sans page formatting) but the organisers've made it quite clear this year that one signs up for the letter of what's on the page.
Oddly, there was no private email to judges this year explaining that the call was going out. It's an open call only ie there was no "Let's check out which old judges want to return," nor was there an email explaining why we weren't being asked, nor has anyone said "Sorry, Gillian, I know you have a very minor disability in the scheme of things, but we can't use anyone with visual impairment so you're no longer eligible to be a judge."
I found out about it publicly.
That's why I'm explaining publicly.
Today Katrin and I will be getting 2/3 through the Beast edits, and I will finish off the edits on an academic paper and I'll be catching up on some of the boring admin side of things. The edits on a chapter of a third publication apparently arrive tomorrow. I'll also start on the Hugo reading.
I've worked out what I'll do about the Hugos, which is to read everything (I know, how am I going to do it with such impossible eyesight? paper and pdf are the answers, and I'm borrowing all the novel finalists I can from the library - I already have Skin Game, for I was trying to avoid conflict with the Aurealis reading), rank everything, and put "No Award" at the point in every single category where I feel the quality is not where it needs to be for the Hugos.
I've thought this through carefully, and am happy to give more detailed reasons for my choices to those who need to understand*. Basically, though, it's about not carrying hate forward. The legacy of the Rabid and Sad ones is in our hands. They did their thing, and it was stupid and nasty (very nasty in places, just stupid in others) but the SFdom I want is thoughtful and doesn't judge a work on someone else cheering it on.
Also, Yom HaShoah yesterday was strange. At least the lost soul antisemites who trail around were quiet for a few hours. There was a silence surrounding it, though.
Talking about the Holocaust has become unPc. Someone actually said (in the wake of the Paris murders, not yesterday) that we need to stop talking about the Holocaust because it's all Israel's fault. Thank you, that person, for your compassion and understanding and profound historical knowledge. I do suspect that the silence around me on the subject is partly to do with similar attitudes. Not everyone has them, but those who do are very good at carrying hate.
*Especially to Brendan, who is the reason I'm in a position to be a part of it this year.
April 14, 2015
gillpolack @ 2015-04-15T12:36:00
I want to map a who reviews whom in the spec fic universe, but I'm afraid that if I do this it will implode on me, for there are some new and worrying patterns in a couple of places. Instead, I'll write it into a story sometime, implosion and all.
I'm thinking of fiction because until all the edits and proofs are done I have little time for it. They're nearly done. One set due this week and the other, the next and then nothing for ages and ages and ages. This means that the tumult of publishing is about to slow down and I can get on with writing, but also I can get on with getting my stuff seen. I didn't have time to chase The Art of Effective Dreaming into the world properly, so even people who know in theory it's out are surprised to see it in reality. Two or three blogposts are insufficient. Twenty-four hours in a day are also insufficient, especially when the air is smoking.
Thanks to N, I did a big shop yesterday. It took most of the afternoon, but it means I will have chicken soup in my freezer for when things get funky (and they will) and I have 2/3 of the food (and the unperishables and much cheese) for my At Home on my birthday. The rest I'll do next week with the help of my mother. The rest of the shopping for my birthday, the rest of the filling of the freezer and the rest of everything else.
Right now, I have cooking to do and edits to finish and energy to find from somewhere mysterious. I need a map that shows me where to hunt for energy lodes. I probably need to find my way into a Mercedes Lackey novel.
It isn't just me. Everyone in Canberra (or at least, everyone I speak to) seems to be tired right now. It's probably seasonal, and the seasonal fatigue is probably seasoned with smoke.
Still, I'm having a busy year, so it's partly unique to me. This is my excuse for wanting to sleep all day every day. But want must be my master (or maybe chocolate craving must be my master) for I go to edit! Mostly, today, it's formatting bibliography (the very last bit) and checking picture captions Not a big deal. And it';ll be an even smaller deal when it's handled over to Katrin and we've talked our way through our various thoughts. Allons-y!!
I'm thinking of fiction because until all the edits and proofs are done I have little time for it. They're nearly done. One set due this week and the other, the next and then nothing for ages and ages and ages. This means that the tumult of publishing is about to slow down and I can get on with writing, but also I can get on with getting my stuff seen. I didn't have time to chase The Art of Effective Dreaming into the world properly, so even people who know in theory it's out are surprised to see it in reality. Two or three blogposts are insufficient. Twenty-four hours in a day are also insufficient, especially when the air is smoking.
Thanks to N, I did a big shop yesterday. It took most of the afternoon, but it means I will have chicken soup in my freezer for when things get funky (and they will) and I have 2/3 of the food (and the unperishables and much cheese) for my At Home on my birthday. The rest I'll do next week with the help of my mother. The rest of the shopping for my birthday, the rest of the filling of the freezer and the rest of everything else.
Right now, I have cooking to do and edits to finish and energy to find from somewhere mysterious. I need a map that shows me where to hunt for energy lodes. I probably need to find my way into a Mercedes Lackey novel.
It isn't just me. Everyone in Canberra (or at least, everyone I speak to) seems to be tired right now. It's probably seasonal, and the seasonal fatigue is probably seasoned with smoke.
Still, I'm having a busy year, so it's partly unique to me. This is my excuse for wanting to sleep all day every day. But want must be my master (or maybe chocolate craving must be my master) for I go to edit! Mostly, today, it's formatting bibliography (the very last bit) and checking picture captions Not a big deal. And it';ll be an even smaller deal when it's handled over to Katrin and we've talked our way through our various thoughts. Allons-y!!
gillpolack @ 2015-04-14T20:39:00
My mother and I have been talking about ancestry. Apparently we lost our Polish citizenship much more recently than we thought, and we lost it for entirely different reasons to the ones I thought.
Our family's civil service tradition is the problem. Even if Mum's work as a teacher didn't lose her the citizenship then my own public service employment lost it for me. I have betrayed one of my ancestral countries by serving a foreign government!
For those who know more about these things, the family falls under the Citizenship Act of 1920 not the later ones, and I'm not sure of the precise month my grandfather left, so it might have been before his 18th birthday in which case none of us were ever potentially Polish citizens, as I read it. I was going to check the dates, but since my own career (such as it was) works against me, I shan't bother. Also, the ANU is funded directly by the Commonwealth government (the only Australian university that is) so I'm still or again a public servant and still or again betraying the country of one of my ancestral lines.
I thought we lost all our various alternate citizenships two generations ago, but I never actually checked anything except the British (which was lost in 1901, I presume). It was a small detour tonight, but a fascinating one.
This isn't the Polack line, BTW. The Polack line left much earlier and quite probably has had no Polish citizenship ever. On that side, if we had citizenship at all after the family came to Australia, we lost it when my father served in WWII, but Abraham Polack left Warsaw decades before the twentieth century and so it was all Russian Empire and different. I suspect we didn't have it in the first place on that side.
Our family's civil service tradition is the problem. Even if Mum's work as a teacher didn't lose her the citizenship then my own public service employment lost it for me. I have betrayed one of my ancestral countries by serving a foreign government!
For those who know more about these things, the family falls under the Citizenship Act of 1920 not the later ones, and I'm not sure of the precise month my grandfather left, so it might have been before his 18th birthday in which case none of us were ever potentially Polish citizens, as I read it. I was going to check the dates, but since my own career (such as it was) works against me, I shan't bother. Also, the ANU is funded directly by the Commonwealth government (the only Australian university that is) so I'm still or again a public servant and still or again betraying the country of one of my ancestral lines.
I thought we lost all our various alternate citizenships two generations ago, but I never actually checked anything except the British (which was lost in 1901, I presume). It was a small detour tonight, but a fascinating one.
This isn't the Polack line, BTW. The Polack line left much earlier and quite probably has had no Polish citizenship ever. On that side, if we had citizenship at all after the family came to Australia, we lost it when my father served in WWII, but Abraham Polack left Warsaw decades before the twentieth century and so it was all Russian Empire and different. I suspect we didn't have it in the first place on that side.
April 13, 2015
gillpolack @ 2015-04-14T10:55:00
Yesterday was Monday, so today I'm playing catch-up. I nearly finished my taxes yesterday, in fact, but I wimped out of the last hour. And I nearly finished the stuff from the library that needs returning today, but wimped out of the last bit of that, too. All this and more. My today and tomorrow will be spent tidying up loose ends.
All this and more was due, of course, to The Return of the Son of the Bushfire Smoke. Also to months and months of overdoing it to meet my deadlines. Also, because so many things that are supposed to have happened, have not. Emails, for instance, have been eaten (and I just found another one, a rather important Other One, to which that has happened) and the stars have been just a trifle awry. (if you've emailed me and haven't heard back, this might be why - try contacting me again t make sure.)
Anyhow, today is catch-up day and I have the coffee with which to do it.
All this and more was due, of course, to The Return of the Son of the Bushfire Smoke. Also to months and months of overdoing it to meet my deadlines. Also, because so many things that are supposed to have happened, have not. Emails, for instance, have been eaten (and I just found another one, a rather important Other One, to which that has happened) and the stars have been just a trifle awry. (if you've emailed me and haven't heard back, this might be why - try contacting me again t make sure.)
Anyhow, today is catch-up day and I have the coffee with which to do it.
April 12, 2015
gillpolack @ 2015-04-13T10:22:00
My picnic today has been replaced by taxes. This is very good for my deadlines, but means I don't get to play with friends who are under ten this week at all. I shall work on my grumpy spinster routine. (I have more than a passing resemblance to a grumpy spinster when there are not enough children in my life.)
My tax background this morning is the Battle of the Five Armies, which is a tolerable film but I'm very glad I didn't go to the cinema to see it.
My list of things to do today is huge and I'm tired, so I've decided to put the list and my fatigue onto a racetrack. The one who wins gets chocolate...
My tax background this morning is the Battle of the Five Armies, which is a tolerable film but I'm very glad I didn't go to the cinema to see it.
My list of things to do today is huge and I'm tired, so I've decided to put the list and my fatigue onto a racetrack. The one who wins gets chocolate...
April 11, 2015
Question time
A third post in a day! Inconceivable!
It's open question time. I'll answer question until 24 April.
The usual rules apply. If anyone needs reminding of the usual rules, just say and I'll do an addendum. Just keep in mind that you don't have to know me or like me to ask a question. They can be silly or they can be serious. The one thing they can't be is had work for me ie if it's a question that would take much research time at my end then you're going to have to take the normal route and send money.
It's open question time. I'll answer question until 24 April.
The usual rules apply. If anyone needs reminding of the usual rules, just say and I'll do an addendum. Just keep in mind that you don't have to know me or like me to ask a question. They can be silly or they can be serious. The one thing they can't be is had work for me ie if it's a question that would take much research time at my end then you're going to have to take the normal route and send money.
Reminder: Invitation
This is a reminder that I will be At Home to friends on my birthday, from 4 pm until very late (arrivals up to 1 am are fine). 25 April, my place. All welcome, but RSVPs would be appreciated, for I need to know how many cakes to cook (otherwise we will all be reduced to eating pickles).
It's an At Home rather than a party because it's the 100th anniversary of Gallipoli and it's too late to change the day of my birth to accommodate the sadness of the anniversary so I'm having a quiet afternoon/evening with friends.
It's an At Home rather than a party because it's the 100th anniversary of Gallipoli and it's too late to change the day of my birth to accommodate the sadness of the anniversary so I'm having a quiet afternoon/evening with friends.
gillpolack @ 2015-04-12T10:15:00
I've sorted all my papers for taxes. It took a lot longer than I expected. I say this every year, for I am a consistent soul. I'm not on the home stretch yet, but I ought to be by the end of today.
And yes, this is terribly, terribly exciting. And I am terribly, terribly full of sarcasm. This is the by-product of taxtime.
My social life got cancelled today, so I'm dealing with sarcasm and taxes by staying in PJs as long as possible (maybe all day, who knows). They are pink and they are floral and I'm totally certain they help.
And yes, this is terribly, terribly exciting. And I am terribly, terribly full of sarcasm. This is the by-product of taxtime.
My social life got cancelled today, so I'm dealing with sarcasm and taxes by staying in PJs as long as possible (maybe all day, who knows). They are pink and they are floral and I'm totally certain they help.
April 10, 2015
gillpolack @ 2015-04-11T10:55:00
I feel a bit behind on things today, and yet I'm gadding about. It's all wrong, but there's a friend in town who never gets to town (for she lives on the far side of the world) and there's a book launch I need to get to and they're in close proximity to each other and I can get home before the buses stop for the night. If I'm really lucky, a couple of the Aurealis Award folks will leave the bar after the event and drop in on me, but that's pushing it, I think, given how few people there are in town (the bar is unlikely to be so crowded that people scream for a cuppa at my place). There are other big SFnal events in SE Oz this weekend and there are a lot of deadline-ish people like me and so numbers are down. What this means is that I will work through y to-do list, and get things done and feel less behind. And if anyone turns up then I shall welcome them with open arms and enjoy the break. I also have a spare bed, but I forgot to let anyone know...
My work for tonight is probably tax, but it could be two articles I've promised. And it's Beast-stuff. I finished my end of the Big Check, but there remains one small section that was problematic. Oddly, it's less urgent than tax, for I don't need to have finished it until Monday/Tuesday, whereas I've been delaying my tax for so very long that it now has to be done in a hurry. Which is good, for I hate tax and would rather do it quickly. Also, for once, all my papers are in the one set of drawers. This is because my paper war recently has seen six consecutive battles where I have won.
All I have to do (and it's not actually a small 'all') is sort tax paper into piles and then enter many shards of information into the right spreadsheets. I have Thor and Thor: The Dark World to see me through this exciting task. I also have to sort through back papers and shred the ones that the tax office says I don't have to hold on to. All this is slow and painstaking and will be wonderful when it's done. I will have a modicum of space, as a bonus. I suspect it's the best thing to do tonight. But I'd rather write the articles.
When the articles are done I can write fiction. I so want to write fiction. I have a deadline there, too, but it's not as imminent and the story is still growing inside me. The more it grows, the more it changes, so I'm best clearing the decks while I can.
Someone exclaimed the other day "Your life is so exciting!" I can't see it, myself. If they want to share the whizz-bang joy of it all, I'm willing to farm out those taxes.
My work for tonight is probably tax, but it could be two articles I've promised. And it's Beast-stuff. I finished my end of the Big Check, but there remains one small section that was problematic. Oddly, it's less urgent than tax, for I don't need to have finished it until Monday/Tuesday, whereas I've been delaying my tax for so very long that it now has to be done in a hurry. Which is good, for I hate tax and would rather do it quickly. Also, for once, all my papers are in the one set of drawers. This is because my paper war recently has seen six consecutive battles where I have won.
All I have to do (and it's not actually a small 'all') is sort tax paper into piles and then enter many shards of information into the right spreadsheets. I have Thor and Thor: The Dark World to see me through this exciting task. I also have to sort through back papers and shred the ones that the tax office says I don't have to hold on to. All this is slow and painstaking and will be wonderful when it's done. I will have a modicum of space, as a bonus. I suspect it's the best thing to do tonight. But I'd rather write the articles.
When the articles are done I can write fiction. I so want to write fiction. I have a deadline there, too, but it's not as imminent and the story is still growing inside me. The more it grows, the more it changes, so I'm best clearing the decks while I can.
Someone exclaimed the other day "Your life is so exciting!" I can't see it, myself. If they want to share the whizz-bang joy of it all, I'm willing to farm out those taxes.
