Gillian Polack's Blog, page 44
January 20, 2015
gillpolack @ 2015-01-21T11:02:00
Yesterday I was inundated by incoming weather. I did some admin and pondered what a difference weather pattern makes. I also ate many pain relievers. Today it's the tail end of weather and I shall enthusiastically cheer its passing.
Today, also, I need to get an introduction entirely sorted to a clean first draft. I'm still unhappy with it and have been for several days, but my new deadline is tomorrow and it's non-negotiable if I want to meet any other deadline. Right now I'm plagued by its dullness. Fiction is easier to make less dull. And both bad jokes and footnotes are prohibited. I would sulk if that were permitted, but it's also forbidden (mostly by me). Anyhow, I'm about to go to the library and then I shall work away at edits and rethinks until I meet my goal. Some people edit and rethink to music, I shall be editing and rethinking to either Warehouse 13 or Haven, depending on what the library has.
I was very impressed at myself when I looked at my list of tasks for the month and realised I was 2/3 of the way through it. All those things crossed off! Then I looked at the date. January has escaped me...
I had a serious post to make here about writing, but it can wait. I'm too busy wondering how I can have done the requisite work, crossed off the tasks from my list, and not realised that this was precisely matched by passing time. Mostly this means I need sleep, which will happen when the weather settles and I switch from one period in my body's timeclock to another.
I don't sleep much at this time of month, especially when the weather does a shifty direction-change on me and there are storms. I always, always get interesting dreams however. Last night's best one was in technicolour about NY and editors and about the brightest opals (Mine, but scattered everywhere and needing to be picked up, in fairytale fashion, one at a time - if I'm a vampire then it's not mixed grains you want to scatter in front of me, it's black opals) and about regaining my precious handbag.
Speaking of handbags and preciousness, I need to load up my non-dream one and go to the library. The handbag is not precious: I am.*
*Select your own meaning. It's like choose your own adventure, only with more potential for sarcasm.
Today, also, I need to get an introduction entirely sorted to a clean first draft. I'm still unhappy with it and have been for several days, but my new deadline is tomorrow and it's non-negotiable if I want to meet any other deadline. Right now I'm plagued by its dullness. Fiction is easier to make less dull. And both bad jokes and footnotes are prohibited. I would sulk if that were permitted, but it's also forbidden (mostly by me). Anyhow, I'm about to go to the library and then I shall work away at edits and rethinks until I meet my goal. Some people edit and rethink to music, I shall be editing and rethinking to either Warehouse 13 or Haven, depending on what the library has.
I was very impressed at myself when I looked at my list of tasks for the month and realised I was 2/3 of the way through it. All those things crossed off! Then I looked at the date. January has escaped me...
I had a serious post to make here about writing, but it can wait. I'm too busy wondering how I can have done the requisite work, crossed off the tasks from my list, and not realised that this was precisely matched by passing time. Mostly this means I need sleep, which will happen when the weather settles and I switch from one period in my body's timeclock to another.
I don't sleep much at this time of month, especially when the weather does a shifty direction-change on me and there are storms. I always, always get interesting dreams however. Last night's best one was in technicolour about NY and editors and about the brightest opals (Mine, but scattered everywhere and needing to be picked up, in fairytale fashion, one at a time - if I'm a vampire then it's not mixed grains you want to scatter in front of me, it's black opals) and about regaining my precious handbag.
Speaking of handbags and preciousness, I need to load up my non-dream one and go to the library. The handbag is not precious: I am.*
*Select your own meaning. It's like choose your own adventure, only with more potential for sarcasm.
January 19, 2015
gillpolack @ 2015-01-19T22:00:00
I completed my to-do list yesterday. I also had a social life. Such miracles seldom happen! Normally on a Sunday I have half a social life and finish half my to-do list.
Today started off with a whole heap of good news, including pending translations of two of my stories. I'll let you know more about the translations and the various other things as they happen or become imminent.
The smaller things of life include a rain-proof weather-proof short jacket for $30 (including postage) which sees me right for walking up the street or going to the library in autumn and early winter. It means I don't have to let the rain soak through me (as I did with my previous jacket, which was, however, a better length) and can stay warm if the weather turns sharply (as it does in Canberra) and I don't have to carry a big coat around all day or find a safe place to stow it. It's amazing how more confident I feel about my newly rediscovered capacity to get out and about (albeit slowly) now that I know I won't be entirely drenched or have to carry big bundle of coat indoors.
There's probably other news, but my need for a big cup of tea is more urgent.
Today started off with a whole heap of good news, including pending translations of two of my stories. I'll let you know more about the translations and the various other things as they happen or become imminent.
The smaller things of life include a rain-proof weather-proof short jacket for $30 (including postage) which sees me right for walking up the street or going to the library in autumn and early winter. It means I don't have to let the rain soak through me (as I did with my previous jacket, which was, however, a better length) and can stay warm if the weather turns sharply (as it does in Canberra) and I don't have to carry a big coat around all day or find a safe place to stow it. It's amazing how more confident I feel about my newly rediscovered capacity to get out and about (albeit slowly) now that I know I won't be entirely drenched or have to carry big bundle of coat indoors.
There's probably other news, but my need for a big cup of tea is more urgent.
January 17, 2015
Ditmars
I received a note about Hugo nominations first thing this morning. This reminded me that it's time to talk about Ditmar nominations. This is not a 'nominate me' post (though if anyone wants to, I'd be delighted, since I have a novel that's eligible). Instead, this is my "Fandom, nominate!" post.
A lot of people write "Nominate me!" posts. I have to admit, I ignore them. I can afford to, for every year a small group of hard-working fans put together a near-complete list of eligible work, to jog memories. It's best for novels, novellas and short stories, and worst for criticism. I check for my stuff and this year I had a good year, especially with the Rethinking History article and no, it's not there. I tried helping out some other years and found out that the problem with the criticism and related list is finding anything that's not by a core group of people. One day I'll find a solution for that, and help out the hard-working fans who compile the giant list. In the interim, I tell people to make sure they nominate stuff not on the list that needs attention, as well as stuff that's on the list.
So, for everything except criticism, we have a wonderfully detailed list thanks to the hard labour of a select few. I did my spot checks for books by obscure authors and for short stories by the same on this year's 'eligible' list, and they were all up there. This doesn't make it complete, but it's probably as good as it gets in most categories.
Anyone active in fandom (no restriction by country) can nominate any number of works. The work can be from this list, or it can be something you know from outside it. It's just a matter of nominating the works.
If you're not 'known' to someone running the Ditmars (and 'knowing' can be as simple as having had a drink with them at a con) then you need to give the name of someone who is, to vouch for you. Me, for instance. Or one of the fanzine editors or a con-runner, or any other 'known' fan you have talked SF with. This works against fans who don't like group activity, but it also means that we don't get nominations from everyone's extended families ie it helps keep the nominations fair. It's still going to be skewed, however, which is why I write this post. We need bigger participation. Very much a "We need your opinions if you love SF" situation.
People should put in nominations for works they've loved, in any category. If you've loved ten works nominate ten. If you've loved one, then nominate just one. Don't say "I haven't read enough" for if you've read something good enough, then this doesn't matter at all. What matters is the Ditmars getting enough nominations for enough works so that the short list (made from the works with the most nominations) reflect what fans think. Then it's over to the national convention and the voters to decide between those works. That's when reading everything counts. It's not reading everything, at that stage, it's reading the short list, which is much easier.
Did I say NatCon? I did. Well, it's early this year. This means we only have until 1 February (Australian 1 February, which means that it closes in January for most of the world) to get those nominations in. That really means nominations ought to be done this week.
How do you nominate something/s? There are clear instructions here http://ditmars.sf.org.au/2015_nominations_open.txt including a link to an online form.
This is the moment when we all get to have our say. If you encountered something wonderful and Australian in 2014, get it seen! Nominate your favourite works this week!
Important note: I'm not involved at all with the Ditmar organisation. The wonderful people of Swancon are. If you have sticky questions, ask them. Ask them soon, however, because nominations aren't open for long at all.
* I thought that we were all too late for the award for SF criticism and related work, for an interesting short list has already been released for that. But the category is in the voting form, so it's worth adding your 5c, despite this. (Or maybe the list I saw wasn't this? Either way, it appears you can still nominate criticism.) Really good critical work tends to go unnoticed in Australia. Criticism and research-based work sometimes gets attention at the Ditmars, but tends to not. This is because not nearly enough people say "I read that fabbo article last year - let me nominate it." And all this is an aside, which is why it's a footnote. Besides, what's a post by me with no footnotes?
A lot of people write "Nominate me!" posts. I have to admit, I ignore them. I can afford to, for every year a small group of hard-working fans put together a near-complete list of eligible work, to jog memories. It's best for novels, novellas and short stories, and worst for criticism. I check for my stuff and this year I had a good year, especially with the Rethinking History article and no, it's not there. I tried helping out some other years and found out that the problem with the criticism and related list is finding anything that's not by a core group of people. One day I'll find a solution for that, and help out the hard-working fans who compile the giant list. In the interim, I tell people to make sure they nominate stuff not on the list that needs attention, as well as stuff that's on the list.
So, for everything except criticism, we have a wonderfully detailed list thanks to the hard labour of a select few. I did my spot checks for books by obscure authors and for short stories by the same on this year's 'eligible' list, and they were all up there. This doesn't make it complete, but it's probably as good as it gets in most categories.
Anyone active in fandom (no restriction by country) can nominate any number of works. The work can be from this list, or it can be something you know from outside it. It's just a matter of nominating the works.
If you're not 'known' to someone running the Ditmars (and 'knowing' can be as simple as having had a drink with them at a con) then you need to give the name of someone who is, to vouch for you. Me, for instance. Or one of the fanzine editors or a con-runner, or any other 'known' fan you have talked SF with. This works against fans who don't like group activity, but it also means that we don't get nominations from everyone's extended families ie it helps keep the nominations fair. It's still going to be skewed, however, which is why I write this post. We need bigger participation. Very much a "We need your opinions if you love SF" situation.
People should put in nominations for works they've loved, in any category. If you've loved ten works nominate ten. If you've loved one, then nominate just one. Don't say "I haven't read enough" for if you've read something good enough, then this doesn't matter at all. What matters is the Ditmars getting enough nominations for enough works so that the short list (made from the works with the most nominations) reflect what fans think. Then it's over to the national convention and the voters to decide between those works. That's when reading everything counts. It's not reading everything, at that stage, it's reading the short list, which is much easier.
Did I say NatCon? I did. Well, it's early this year. This means we only have until 1 February (Australian 1 February, which means that it closes in January for most of the world) to get those nominations in. That really means nominations ought to be done this week.
How do you nominate something/s? There are clear instructions here http://ditmars.sf.org.au/2015_nominations_open.txt including a link to an online form.
This is the moment when we all get to have our say. If you encountered something wonderful and Australian in 2014, get it seen! Nominate your favourite works this week!
Important note: I'm not involved at all with the Ditmar organisation. The wonderful people of Swancon are. If you have sticky questions, ask them. Ask them soon, however, because nominations aren't open for long at all.
* I thought that we were all too late for the award for SF criticism and related work, for an interesting short list has already been released for that. But the category is in the voting form, so it's worth adding your 5c, despite this. (Or maybe the list I saw wasn't this? Either way, it appears you can still nominate criticism.) Really good critical work tends to go unnoticed in Australia. Criticism and research-based work sometimes gets attention at the Ditmars, but tends to not. This is because not nearly enough people say "I read that fabbo article last year - let me nominate it." And all this is an aside, which is why it's a footnote. Besides, what's a post by me with no footnotes?
gillpolack @ 2015-01-18T00:09:00
I have absolutely nothing to report, except that I may be writing an unexpected long short story, or maybe even a novella in the next month or two. I have the planning papers up on the back of my door (I have entirely run out of butchers' paper and am using A4 and it just feels wrong).
I'm still getting over whatever it is I've had. It's been very good for catching up on DVD viewing and I have now seen Season 1 of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.. It's not been so good for work and I shall be focussed very concretely just as soon as. I've not done nothing (for my life really doesn't permit of that) but I've certainly had relative time out.
I was a bit lucky in that the virus (which was definitely virus-lite) came when I was (and still am) waiting for major returns of things from various sources. My big task of the weekend is writing a serious introduction to a serious volume and that requires serious thinking, which can be done while lolling.
It's all about the thinking this month, rather than producing vast numbers of words. I expected things to be all about editing, but the editing tasks keep being pushed and pushed and will all hit at once and I shall mourn my lolling and DVDing and do 16 hour days to make up. This is my normal life.
My year would be better with butchers' paper. And that permanent job I so yearn for. But right now, if one is going to get ill over summer, this is the virus to get. It's just like a summer holiday... I say this because I really am over the virus. And we have no bushfires and the weather is rather lovely and springlike and all in the 20s. The peripherals (weather, fires) won't endure, but it's magic while it lasts.
I'm still getting over whatever it is I've had. It's been very good for catching up on DVD viewing and I have now seen Season 1 of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.. It's not been so good for work and I shall be focussed very concretely just as soon as. I've not done nothing (for my life really doesn't permit of that) but I've certainly had relative time out.
I was a bit lucky in that the virus (which was definitely virus-lite) came when I was (and still am) waiting for major returns of things from various sources. My big task of the weekend is writing a serious introduction to a serious volume and that requires serious thinking, which can be done while lolling.
It's all about the thinking this month, rather than producing vast numbers of words. I expected things to be all about editing, but the editing tasks keep being pushed and pushed and will all hit at once and I shall mourn my lolling and DVDing and do 16 hour days to make up. This is my normal life.
My year would be better with butchers' paper. And that permanent job I so yearn for. But right now, if one is going to get ill over summer, this is the virus to get. It's just like a summer holiday... I say this because I really am over the virus. And we have no bushfires and the weather is rather lovely and springlike and all in the 20s. The peripherals (weather, fires) won't endure, but it's magic while it lasts.
January 16, 2015
gillpolack @ 2015-01-16T23:26:00
Sorry about going quiet. First I had a rush of things happening and hardly had time to breathe, then I had unexpected time with friends (and life's much better when one sees friends) and then I managed to come down with something. It may not be that I'm ill, actually, it might be just that my body needs some gentleness and care. I have a fever and vast fatigue, but no other symptoms. I've done some basic housework and done some basic other work and found myself too tired to move. Just as well this happened after the rush of deadlines!
Some of the unexpected time with friends was shopping time, so I have all the food I need for the next two weeks, and there was also a library visit, so I have DVDs to watch when I'm too tired for aught else. This means I can give myself tonight and tomorrow to catch up, have the day off on Sunday that I meant to (more friends! no work until after dinner) and be over the rampant fatigue by Monday.
I'd rather have this whatever-it-is in between deadlines than when something is due. And I kinda like the lack of evil symptoms. I shall go to drink much water and watch whatever the library had for me when I went in (Agents of SHIELD season one, I think).
Some of the unexpected time with friends was shopping time, so I have all the food I need for the next two weeks, and there was also a library visit, so I have DVDs to watch when I'm too tired for aught else. This means I can give myself tonight and tomorrow to catch up, have the day off on Sunday that I meant to (more friends! no work until after dinner) and be over the rampant fatigue by Monday.
I'd rather have this whatever-it-is in between deadlines than when something is due. And I kinda like the lack of evil symptoms. I shall go to drink much water and watch whatever the library had for me when I went in (Agents of SHIELD season one, I think).
January 11, 2015
gillpolack @ 2015-01-12T15:02:00
I have my internet back, at faster-than-ever (which means most peoples' low speed). Alas, I can't read all the blogposts I missed when everything took so long to download for today is a day of many deadlines and the rest of the week is most certainly going to be interesting. I have missed you all and will catch up on a bit, but it turned out that I missed 200 posts and that much I cannot do.
I'm gearing up to a marvellously huge March. Folk Dance Canberra will have an Event (of which more when the details are finalised) and the week after I'll be off to Sydney for the inaugural Australasian Historical Novel Society. Momentum is thinking of giving away a package of their e-books, and my Ms Cellophane is like to be in it, for I am in the opening debate, launch Felicity Pulman's new release and running supersessions on history and fiction.
When someone asked me to give all the reasons why something had to be done early in order to be ready for a March event, I wondered why she thought March was so very far away. I gave her some reasons, but I thought "What a nice quiet life." This would be me expecting edits for The Art of Effective Dreaming anytime. And other stuff.
The other stuff is, as I keep saying, the next de-Shroedering of Gillian. The box will hardly exist if this happens, though my income will still be perilously low. I'm biting my nails at this stage, so I'd better get back to doing the work that will make everything happen. Biting nails is not nearly as productive as working on bibliographies.
I'm gearing up to a marvellously huge March. Folk Dance Canberra will have an Event (of which more when the details are finalised) and the week after I'll be off to Sydney for the inaugural Australasian Historical Novel Society. Momentum is thinking of giving away a package of their e-books, and my Ms Cellophane is like to be in it, for I am in the opening debate, launch Felicity Pulman's new release and running supersessions on history and fiction.
When someone asked me to give all the reasons why something had to be done early in order to be ready for a March event, I wondered why she thought March was so very far away. I gave her some reasons, but I thought "What a nice quiet life." This would be me expecting edits for The Art of Effective Dreaming anytime. And other stuff.
The other stuff is, as I keep saying, the next de-Shroedering of Gillian. The box will hardly exist if this happens, though my income will still be perilously low. I'm biting my nails at this stage, so I'd better get back to doing the work that will make everything happen. Biting nails is not nearly as productive as working on bibliographies.
January 10, 2015
gillpolack @ 2015-01-11T16:51:00
My internet access is still impossibly slow. By 'impossibly' I mean my download speed is 12mbs. Sometimes I get the speedy rate of 35mbs and that's the moment I go to town and check amazing things like bibliographical records. My ISP had four possible reasons and I've dealt with two. The third is the modem, and they're sending me a new modem next week. The fourth is the line and if it's that, there will be further delays while my ISP negotiates with Telstra for a check. This means I can keep in touch through Twitter and (as long as I'm exceptionally patient) through FB, but reading blog entries by others is a mixed business again. I'm not ignoring you!
In other news, I will be finished my bibliographical essay by tomorrow afternoon. Currently it contains everything I want, but it's 20,000 words long and needs more explanations of subjects. I want it to be 15k all up, if possible (though this is negotiable) so I will need the whole of my time. The clean first draft by tomorrow night is not negotiable, because other work will play up if I'm not finished. This means I need my thinking hat, for working cleverly is going to be more effective than working late.
And that's my news, such as it is.
In other news, I will be finished my bibliographical essay by tomorrow afternoon. Currently it contains everything I want, but it's 20,000 words long and needs more explanations of subjects. I want it to be 15k all up, if possible (though this is negotiable) so I will need the whole of my time. The clean first draft by tomorrow night is not negotiable, because other work will play up if I'm not finished. This means I need my thinking hat, for working cleverly is going to be more effective than working late.
And that's my news, such as it is.
January 8, 2015
gillpolack @ 2015-01-09T09:34:00
Internet is still being nettish (a minor cousin to brattish, but no relation at all to nebbisch) and I'm short of sleep and very short of fuse. Too much heat and storm and grumbly humidity still. We get summers like this every three years and every three years I am not a nice person to be around.
It doesn't help when people tell me to be happy because life is improving. It's definitely improving, but happiness doesn't work that way. In the branch of Judaism I come from happiness comes from careful focus within oneself ie happiness doesn't work, but one works for happiness. My wider culture tells me that it comes from external (the people around you, the gifts life brings) so the two are in major conflict. I woke up after a dream that clearly demonstrated why I am a failure on the happiness front for the wider Australian society and that it's not my fault. That's nice to know. It's nicer to know that it's all irrelevant if I go back to my cultural roots. I can find happiness in my work, in small joys, even in the rain if only I rely on myself and not on the world being nice to me. Placing one of my cultures above the other isn't as easy as it sounds, however.
The big things outside (Paris, for instance) I'm not taking about much. I need to process them. They are not the stuff of happiness in any of my cultures.
My news-that-has-been-lurking-for-months is one step closer to being announceable. It is neither fiction nor a job. It is, however, one step closer to Schroedinger's Gillian being a known quantity. If this happens, then all I need is that job and I will cease to be one of life's variables. From your end, it's more watching of this space, I'm afraid. From my end it would be nice if I could sleep before overworking, but it's not going to happen. Today is too stuffy and my mind is too busy.
It doesn't help when people tell me to be happy because life is improving. It's definitely improving, but happiness doesn't work that way. In the branch of Judaism I come from happiness comes from careful focus within oneself ie happiness doesn't work, but one works for happiness. My wider culture tells me that it comes from external (the people around you, the gifts life brings) so the two are in major conflict. I woke up after a dream that clearly demonstrated why I am a failure on the happiness front for the wider Australian society and that it's not my fault. That's nice to know. It's nicer to know that it's all irrelevant if I go back to my cultural roots. I can find happiness in my work, in small joys, even in the rain if only I rely on myself and not on the world being nice to me. Placing one of my cultures above the other isn't as easy as it sounds, however.
The big things outside (Paris, for instance) I'm not taking about much. I need to process them. They are not the stuff of happiness in any of my cultures.
My news-that-has-been-lurking-for-months is one step closer to being announceable. It is neither fiction nor a job. It is, however, one step closer to Schroedinger's Gillian being a known quantity. If this happens, then all I need is that job and I will cease to be one of life's variables. From your end, it's more watching of this space, I'm afraid. From my end it would be nice if I could sleep before overworking, but it's not going to happen. Today is too stuffy and my mind is too busy.
January 6, 2015
gillpolack @ 2015-01-07T17:01:00
I've been a bit quiet due to internet problems. After 2 and somewhat hours of work by a techie, three possible causes have been isolated. One (new splitters) I can buy and install tomorrow. The second (new modem) has been ordered. The third is that it's a line fault, but it's most likely to be the modem. This means I'll be online when I can (and Twitter is least problematic, so I'll check in when I can) and I'll report in here when everything's fixed. I've lost posts to this already, so I'm not even going to try again. What I'm going to do is focus on the stuff that must be done and polish off five miles of everything in the quiet time before the problem is solved. Immediately, however, I'm going to try coffee.
January 3, 2015
gillpolack @ 2015-01-04T13:21:00
I decided to track my reading in Goodreads this year and am almost instantly faced with a problem: so many of the older books I read are not in Goodreads. My reading-of-this-moment, for instance, is an 1859 compilation from Notes and Queries (and very useful it is, too - it's helping me work out stable strands of culture from the 17th century). Anyhow, add it to my previous reading this year (2 Aurealis books and a novel by Tina Makereti) and that makes 4 books for the year so far. My aim was 100, which seems a bit paltry, given it's a book a day so far. I'll leave the listing on Goodreads and update you here when I remember. If you're curious, feel free to remind me!
