Gillian Polack's Blog, page 97
October 13, 2013
gillpolack @ 2013-10-14T11:43:00
My yesterday ended with a nasty weather shift. This meant I didn't get everything done this weekend. I did, however, get as much work done as I had planned on Friday - it was just that other stuff came up and replaced the less-deadlined tasks.
I have three fairly unsavoury tasks to finish by 2 pm, and then I'm caught up and ready for my Monday. It could be worse.
I've done an Aurealis count, and right now I only have to read five books a week to stay on top of things. I've finished my five for last week, and don't have to start them for this week quite yet. There are some advantages in reading quickly. These advantages mostly accrue with books on paper, however, as I don't have a handheld reader for ebooks, and, if I did, I would be reading too quickly to use only one hand, which makes it harder to read while walking, for instance. I don't want to waste precious computer worktime on the ebooks until I'm ahead in my work which, right now, is an unlikely event, for there is just so much to do. I save my ebooks for journeys, mostly, and don't have one of them for a couple of weeks. This means that I might have to read seven or eight books that weekend, which is not a problem.
All this is me saying it's Monday morning and I feel very blah because of last night's weather. It's like a hangover, really. I shall take vitamins and make coffee and finish task #1 and feel a bit less boring. If I get to the stage where I'm actually interesting, I'll post gain, just to make up for this post!
I have three fairly unsavoury tasks to finish by 2 pm, and then I'm caught up and ready for my Monday. It could be worse.
I've done an Aurealis count, and right now I only have to read five books a week to stay on top of things. I've finished my five for last week, and don't have to start them for this week quite yet. There are some advantages in reading quickly. These advantages mostly accrue with books on paper, however, as I don't have a handheld reader for ebooks, and, if I did, I would be reading too quickly to use only one hand, which makes it harder to read while walking, for instance. I don't want to waste precious computer worktime on the ebooks until I'm ahead in my work which, right now, is an unlikely event, for there is just so much to do. I save my ebooks for journeys, mostly, and don't have one of them for a couple of weeks. This means that I might have to read seven or eight books that weekend, which is not a problem.
All this is me saying it's Monday morning and I feel very blah because of last night's weather. It's like a hangover, really. I shall take vitamins and make coffee and finish task #1 and feel a bit less boring. If I get to the stage where I'm actually interesting, I'll post gain, just to make up for this post!
October 12, 2013
gillpolack @ 2013-10-13T10:18:00
By mutual consent there were no DVDs. We decided that finishing work was a really sensible way to spend the rest of Sunday morning, for both of us are beleaguered and suffer deadlinitis. This means we had fresh coffee and custard raspberry danishes (the danishes come from one of the best bakeries in the city, because they happen to have a market stall) and I bought free range organic eggs (lots! in varying sizes) and a giant bag of navel oranges (this is the peak of their season and, alas, nearly the end of it - for a few weeks every year we have the best oranges I've had anywhere in the world*, and then they get crowded out by valencias), some heritage carrots, 3 kg of tomatoes, and some leafy greens.
Now I can attack all those deadlines, with a tomato in one hand, an orange in the other, and juggling eggs with my feet.
* including Spain, although I admit the oranges from Spanish markets give these a run for their money
Now I can attack all those deadlines, with a tomato in one hand, an orange in the other, and juggling eggs with my feet.
* including Spain, although I admit the oranges from Spanish markets give these a run for their money
gillpolack @ 2013-10-13T08:28:00
This morning I'm playing hookey. Farmers' markets then videos. I freed up this time by working somewhat later last night than I had intended - but I finished one of the books for today (only one to go) and everything else is deskwork that can wait until this afternoon and evening.
This is not time out for good behaviour. It's just time out. I need time out!
This is not time out for good behaviour. It's just time out. I need time out!
October 11, 2013
gillpolack @ 2013-10-12T14:09:00
Websites were refusing to listen to my computer, so I'm taking a break. I've also rebooted my computer, and discovered that an update was lurking, which may have been the source of the problem. We'll see.
In the interim, because I've about 10 hours work to finish still today and therefore have heaps of time, I've been playing with my old postcard collection. I started it in late primary school and carried it through until the craze stopped, so up to about 1973. Somewhere around then I inherited a few postcards from those who'd finished collecting them and had gone onto something else. In one case, I inherited the postcards under the proviso she could have them the minute she asked and that I would give them to her if I ever got rid of them.
Why they're out is because the Big Book Sort brought a heap of them out of hiding and I've been bringing them together. I'm not going to dissolve the collection, though I'm willing to give away (or sell, for money is an issue with me) duplicates. I don't think anyone will want them, however, except for my friend Nick, who will want my Astroboy postcards and who is not getting them, for I have no duplicates of those.
I was collecting postcards and reading Enid Blyton and the Bronte sisters at the same age, for the record. I discovered JRRT about a year before I stopped collecting. The educationalists who came round to check on schools really didn't appreciate this. I've since learned to camouflage better.
Looking at 450 pictures from a four year period is eye-opening. My 'playing' consisted of going through them and taking out just one category. About 65 cards in all. I'm thinking of doing photo collages and putting them on Facebook. But that's only if people are interested. Otherwise I'll find other ways to postpone all this work...
PS If anyone has seen my reading glasses, please tell them I miss them and could they please come home?
In the interim, because I've about 10 hours work to finish still today and therefore have heaps of time, I've been playing with my old postcard collection. I started it in late primary school and carried it through until the craze stopped, so up to about 1973. Somewhere around then I inherited a few postcards from those who'd finished collecting them and had gone onto something else. In one case, I inherited the postcards under the proviso she could have them the minute she asked and that I would give them to her if I ever got rid of them.
Why they're out is because the Big Book Sort brought a heap of them out of hiding and I've been bringing them together. I'm not going to dissolve the collection, though I'm willing to give away (or sell, for money is an issue with me) duplicates. I don't think anyone will want them, however, except for my friend Nick, who will want my Astroboy postcards and who is not getting them, for I have no duplicates of those.
I was collecting postcards and reading Enid Blyton and the Bronte sisters at the same age, for the record. I discovered JRRT about a year before I stopped collecting. The educationalists who came round to check on schools really didn't appreciate this. I've since learned to camouflage better.
Looking at 450 pictures from a four year period is eye-opening. My 'playing' consisted of going through them and taking out just one category. About 65 cards in all. I'm thinking of doing photo collages and putting them on Facebook. But that's only if people are interested. Otherwise I'll find other ways to postpone all this work...
PS If anyone has seen my reading glasses, please tell them I miss them and could they please come home?
October 10, 2013
gillpolack @ 2013-10-11T17:23:00
I nearly gave you all a rant on what happens when a person assumes their privilege in such a way that damages someone else. This is because I keep losing income when people with fewer qualifications and less experience put proposals up without checking to see who's already doing work in that area. They will get the work above me, mostly because of gender. And they do, and I am poorer and more frustrated because of it.
And lo, the rant is done. I didn't mean to rant, though, I meant to talk about culture change in Australia. This is a facet of it, however. Privilege is not questioned. Also, a growing proportion of Australians are becoming aggressive to perceived tall poppies or outsiders who look as if they might threaten complacency. And 'othering' can result in death (at least for refugees.) I had a long discussion of it planned, and then I read Kate Atkinson's Life after Life and it flew out of my mind.
I had six novels I was ready to write and I've been waiting for the environment to resolve, because if I started one and another fitted what publishers wanted, I would be in trouble, for I'm not someone who wants to have two novels at actual writing stage at the same time. I can plan several at once, and I can juggle different editing tasks fluidly, but I'd rather write one novel at a time. Two of the outstanding vaguenesses the world was giving me resolved (not particularly well, but a resolution is a resolution) last week, which means I could say "Which project do I move with?" I have at least three months before anything else happens, you see, and I get really unhappy within I don't write. So...
One of the remaining thoughts was about alternate worlds. Whenever I read most alternate universe books I get a sense that they're missing big things and that they're also missing the subtleties. I like reading them, but there's a gaping hole for me, personally. Normally, I write my novels to fill those gaping holes. This time, however, Atkinson did it for me. She covered every single aspect I needed covered and a small part of my soul has been calmed. It's a beautiful book, to boot. I will own her novel, just as soon as the Schroedinger's Gillian situation is clearly resolved. I will read it just as many times as I want, whenever I want.
This leaves me with two prospects and one is firmly linked to my current research and the other takes me into future research. I've chosen my current research, of course. It means that I get to play evil games with peoples' minds on matters historiographical, for one thing. And I get to play in the seventeenth century* for a change. I need the sense of discovery of someone less specialist in the field in order to play with peoples' mind properly, you see, and it's much more fun to revisit a period I only studied as an undergraduate (and have read about for fun, since) and haven't done any original research on. I'm personally currently stuck in the popular worldview for this period, which is totally perfect for the vile wickedness I want to commit... And it's all thanks to the beauty of Kate Atkinson.
cmcmck
, I don't know if you'll be delighted at this or horrified. At this stage it looks as if there won't be anything military in it, except smallscale street action.
And lo, the rant is done. I didn't mean to rant, though, I meant to talk about culture change in Australia. This is a facet of it, however. Privilege is not questioned. Also, a growing proportion of Australians are becoming aggressive to perceived tall poppies or outsiders who look as if they might threaten complacency. And 'othering' can result in death (at least for refugees.) I had a long discussion of it planned, and then I read Kate Atkinson's Life after Life and it flew out of my mind.
I had six novels I was ready to write and I've been waiting for the environment to resolve, because if I started one and another fitted what publishers wanted, I would be in trouble, for I'm not someone who wants to have two novels at actual writing stage at the same time. I can plan several at once, and I can juggle different editing tasks fluidly, but I'd rather write one novel at a time. Two of the outstanding vaguenesses the world was giving me resolved (not particularly well, but a resolution is a resolution) last week, which means I could say "Which project do I move with?" I have at least three months before anything else happens, you see, and I get really unhappy within I don't write. So...
One of the remaining thoughts was about alternate worlds. Whenever I read most alternate universe books I get a sense that they're missing big things and that they're also missing the subtleties. I like reading them, but there's a gaping hole for me, personally. Normally, I write my novels to fill those gaping holes. This time, however, Atkinson did it for me. She covered every single aspect I needed covered and a small part of my soul has been calmed. It's a beautiful book, to boot. I will own her novel, just as soon as the Schroedinger's Gillian situation is clearly resolved. I will read it just as many times as I want, whenever I want.
This leaves me with two prospects and one is firmly linked to my current research and the other takes me into future research. I've chosen my current research, of course. It means that I get to play evil games with peoples' minds on matters historiographical, for one thing. And I get to play in the seventeenth century* for a change. I need the sense of discovery of someone less specialist in the field in order to play with peoples' mind properly, you see, and it's much more fun to revisit a period I only studied as an undergraduate (and have read about for fun, since) and haven't done any original research on. I'm personally currently stuck in the popular worldview for this period, which is totally perfect for the vile wickedness I want to commit... And it's all thanks to the beauty of Kate Atkinson.
cmcmck
, I don't know if you'll be delighted at this or horrified. At this stage it looks as if there won't be anything military in it, except smallscale street action.
gillpolack @ 2013-10-11T09:10:00
The weather has been so interesting this week that the weather-sensitive in large chunks of Australia have not slept well for three nights. The interesting dreams are all very well, but sleeping like a teething baby loses its sparkle very quickly.
I'm still getting my work done, which is nice, but all the toughest bits happen at 1 am when my body says "Nup, things hurt too much, gotta work a bit longer" for at times like now, I am too tired to focus.
What this means is that on Wednesday morning I was where I needed to be with my work and today, less so. Also, I get annoyed at idiots very easily. And this morning is a medical appointment morning. Also a message-running morning, if I want to eat next week and etc.
If nothing gets in the way, I shall have a siesta when I get home from messages, call it 'Thursday night' and inform my body sternly that it now has enough sleep and I shall complete all the work and be caught up. I need to be caught up. The weekend brings with it a new batch of work. This is the week of the deadline. Two-thirds of my deadlines this week are income-relevant, half for now and half for next year, so I must do what must be done.
As a result of all this, my mind returns to the subject of coffee. And returns. And returns. And returns. I shall make a 15th century style brew, for most of today is the Middle Ages.
I'm still getting my work done, which is nice, but all the toughest bits happen at 1 am when my body says "Nup, things hurt too much, gotta work a bit longer" for at times like now, I am too tired to focus.
What this means is that on Wednesday morning I was where I needed to be with my work and today, less so. Also, I get annoyed at idiots very easily. And this morning is a medical appointment morning. Also a message-running morning, if I want to eat next week and etc.
If nothing gets in the way, I shall have a siesta when I get home from messages, call it 'Thursday night' and inform my body sternly that it now has enough sleep and I shall complete all the work and be caught up. I need to be caught up. The weekend brings with it a new batch of work. This is the week of the deadline. Two-thirds of my deadlines this week are income-relevant, half for now and half for next year, so I must do what must be done.
As a result of all this, my mind returns to the subject of coffee. And returns. And returns. And returns. I shall make a 15th century style brew, for most of today is the Middle Ages.
October 9, 2013
gillpolack @ 2013-10-10T12:04:00
I have a very good method of notetaking. It has saved me many hours of post-writing labour, when something needs checking up. Just once, for one big project, I didn't use it. I don't know why I didn't use it, but right now I'm doing the extra work to make up.
The moral of the story is, even for popular writing, take properly scholarly notes, just in case the pop writing requires footnotes, ten years on.
My subject-of-the-moment (for those who are keeping tabs) is the tournament in the twelfth and thirteenth century. I have a list of all my sources and I have all my original notes, but I didn't spend 3 seconds on each note creating a bridge between them. It now takes me five minutes for each note to re-establish that bridge.
When this first happened, people came forth from almost everywhere and told me about new computer-based ways of taking notes. I tried three of them. They only had half the advantages of my system, and some wholly new disadvantages. When I find a computer programme that works the same way as my personal research system (for when I use it properly, it's spectacularly good for writing from and for ensuring all the research is consistent and covered) I will shift to the computer for notetaking and emulate my peers. Right now, though, I'm struggling with missing footnotes.
Be kind to me, for it's dispiriting. All my own fault, of course, but dispiriting.
The moral of the story is, even for popular writing, take properly scholarly notes, just in case the pop writing requires footnotes, ten years on.
My subject-of-the-moment (for those who are keeping tabs) is the tournament in the twelfth and thirteenth century. I have a list of all my sources and I have all my original notes, but I didn't spend 3 seconds on each note creating a bridge between them. It now takes me five minutes for each note to re-establish that bridge.
When this first happened, people came forth from almost everywhere and told me about new computer-based ways of taking notes. I tried three of them. They only had half the advantages of my system, and some wholly new disadvantages. When I find a computer programme that works the same way as my personal research system (for when I use it properly, it's spectacularly good for writing from and for ensuring all the research is consistent and covered) I will shift to the computer for notetaking and emulate my peers. Right now, though, I'm struggling with missing footnotes.
Be kind to me, for it's dispiriting. All my own fault, of course, but dispiriting.
October 8, 2013
gillpolack @ 2013-10-09T17:45:00
I've done my test workshop for the new approach to worldbuilding. It's very viable, which is good. It's only suitable for teaching in a semester or year long university course, however, which means I can't use it yet. I can add a stream of literary analysis to it, if I had enough time (the full year version), or use it as a writing techniques course alone. But it needs regular classes and it needs lectures and it needs homework.
gillpolack @ 2013-10-09T13:41:00
My lesson for the day is an old one, revisited. Every elections, in fact, I revisit this lesson.
What happens with non-certificated, non-government-funded courses around election time is that enrolments dip. I've learned to have a bit of money in reserve in case they dip so much that I can't buy groceries. This level of carefulness happened because of one particular year when the pre-election teaching slowdown coincided with slowness of writing sales (and the fact that I was spending a lot of my time doing a project for a friend, for no pay at all) so my pantry was empty and so was my bank account. Since then, I've been very careful. It hasn't stopped me helping friends with their projects or doing things like the Conflux banquets, but it has meant that I balance these things with paid work and do less unpaid work at parlous times. It also means that I look for extra sources of income the moment an election is announced.
So far, so good. The cycle is regular and it can be allowed for. Except...one time when we had a conservative government romp into power, they sacked bunches of public servants. I know, because I was one the last of those public servants to go. And this time round, we all kind of suspected the same thing would happen. "We all" are the gentle citizens of Canberra.
It happened. Abbott got in. Post-election, instead of people saying "Now that I know what's happening, I might take the time to do my course" they're saying "When will I know about my future?" No-one knows what will happen. Will there be 500 redundancies, or 30,000, or many more than that? The whole Climate Commission was dumped, so Canberrans are a little scared. Or a whole lot scared.
The scared play safe. 'Safe' is saving money. "Safe' is spending the money on certificated courses if one must study, even if the teacher isn't quite doing the approach you need or doesn't quite have the same qualifications as the uncertificated. 'Safe' is preparing to leave town, or paying off a bit more of your mortgage just in case you get tapped on the shoulder.
Hopefully it will all resolve by next year, and there will be income from February. And fortunately for me, I have enough teaching and editing (and some new copyediting!) to see me through until at least December. Anything else that comes in between now and then will take me to February. And I still have the money I'll need if I have to move, which means I can still apply for jobs.
Still, my next few months will be careful. I suspect a lot of freelance and semi-freelance bods are saying this.
The upside of this is that I have a bit more time than I expected and I can use that to meet my ever-increasing writing deadlines. One day, maybe, I'll get to talk more precisely about what they are and why they are, but I can't quite yet. One of them is contracted, one is beginning negotiations (they could go anywhere), one is nearly up to proposal stage (where it should have been ages ago, but everything got in the way) and everything else is fiction and therefore depends on how publishers see the current markets and whether my fiction fits into their vision of it.
I'm still very much Schroedinger's Gillian, but I'm Schroedinger's Gillian with heaps to do until the world resolves, and enough money to live on to do it for a bit longer.
PS Has anyone seen the Table of Contents of the new Vector?
What happens with non-certificated, non-government-funded courses around election time is that enrolments dip. I've learned to have a bit of money in reserve in case they dip so much that I can't buy groceries. This level of carefulness happened because of one particular year when the pre-election teaching slowdown coincided with slowness of writing sales (and the fact that I was spending a lot of my time doing a project for a friend, for no pay at all) so my pantry was empty and so was my bank account. Since then, I've been very careful. It hasn't stopped me helping friends with their projects or doing things like the Conflux banquets, but it has meant that I balance these things with paid work and do less unpaid work at parlous times. It also means that I look for extra sources of income the moment an election is announced.
So far, so good. The cycle is regular and it can be allowed for. Except...one time when we had a conservative government romp into power, they sacked bunches of public servants. I know, because I was one the last of those public servants to go. And this time round, we all kind of suspected the same thing would happen. "We all" are the gentle citizens of Canberra.
It happened. Abbott got in. Post-election, instead of people saying "Now that I know what's happening, I might take the time to do my course" they're saying "When will I know about my future?" No-one knows what will happen. Will there be 500 redundancies, or 30,000, or many more than that? The whole Climate Commission was dumped, so Canberrans are a little scared. Or a whole lot scared.
The scared play safe. 'Safe' is saving money. "Safe' is spending the money on certificated courses if one must study, even if the teacher isn't quite doing the approach you need or doesn't quite have the same qualifications as the uncertificated. 'Safe' is preparing to leave town, or paying off a bit more of your mortgage just in case you get tapped on the shoulder.
Hopefully it will all resolve by next year, and there will be income from February. And fortunately for me, I have enough teaching and editing (and some new copyediting!) to see me through until at least December. Anything else that comes in between now and then will take me to February. And I still have the money I'll need if I have to move, which means I can still apply for jobs.
Still, my next few months will be careful. I suspect a lot of freelance and semi-freelance bods are saying this.
The upside of this is that I have a bit more time than I expected and I can use that to meet my ever-increasing writing deadlines. One day, maybe, I'll get to talk more precisely about what they are and why they are, but I can't quite yet. One of them is contracted, one is beginning negotiations (they could go anywhere), one is nearly up to proposal stage (where it should have been ages ago, but everything got in the way) and everything else is fiction and therefore depends on how publishers see the current markets and whether my fiction fits into their vision of it.
I'm still very much Schroedinger's Gillian, but I'm Schroedinger's Gillian with heaps to do until the world resolves, and enough money to live on to do it for a bit longer.
PS Has anyone seen the Table of Contents of the new Vector?
October 7, 2013
gillpolack @ 2013-10-08T16:01:00
My work came to an abrupt halt just now when I realised I had urgent questions in my in-box about my teaching availability for next year. Not from a new employer, but a new staff member is trialling new systems and didn't allow me to set my own preferred start dates. He wants everything aligned with the school term. Which is fine, except...I'm Jewish.
I've now created a new calendar for 2014 and it has all the holidays I take off (plus all the new moons and dusk times, because this makes me happy). I need to add the school term dates, first and then I have to find the holidays other people observe and add them in. Christmas is the easy one. Easter I could calculate myself or hunt on the web. But what is there I need to know? And is there any festival that would be nice to add this year? I'm open to suggestions.
I've now created a new calendar for 2014 and it has all the holidays I take off (plus all the new moons and dusk times, because this makes me happy). I need to add the school term dates, first and then I have to find the holidays other people observe and add them in. Christmas is the easy one. Easter I could calculate myself or hunt on the web. But what is there I need to know? And is there any festival that would be nice to add this year? I'm open to suggestions.
