Tansy Rayner Roberts's Blog, page 180

Non Productive Writing Days

Sometimes you use systems to measure things that can't be measured, because that's better than not measuring anything at all.

The writer's daily wordcount is a great example of this. We know, as writers, that you can have a great writing day which only results in 12 words, if they're the right words at the right time, and you can have a rotten writing day and still produce 3000 words (which may in fact have to be disposed of in a seedy back alley somewhere later). We know that setting a...

Pirates, Gladiators & Plucky Children

I've really been enjoying the Roman mysteries tv show, which is repeating currently on ABC1. Raeli and I have been trying to catch it every day, and I'm surprised how much she seems to like it – the content seems far too old for her, but she gets completely different things from the show than I do.

For me, I'm fascinated by the really excellent production values, the genuine nods to history, and the surprisingly high acting standards. (Simon Callow as Pliny the Elder! Double fangirl moment!)

T...

Wheeeee!

We've dusted off the old Wii in the last few weeks, and have particularly enjoyed that Raeli is now old enough to play the Sports games such as Tennis, Boxing (she's a TERROR at that, neither of us can beat her), Golf and Baseball. As part of our campaign to get more active (and if possible to add some activities that don't involve braving the Tasmanian rain and/or sunshine) we decided to invest in a Wii Fit.

So it's been a rather fun weekend. Raeli is quite enamoured of it, though she is v...

My Favourite Ten YA Novels

The lovely  editormum linked me to this poll attempting to determine the top 100 YA novels of all time. They are requesting each participant to vote for their own top 10 of YA books, in order of preference.

On the one hand, these things make me kind of cynical – on the other, lists are good. I love lists, especially the deeply subjective ones. They encourage people to read books, and I do love it when people read books.

So here we go. This was a tricky one. The list I started out with was...

Mummyfail Update

Daughter emerged from school as happy as anything, entirely failing to be emotionally scarred. Parents still nervous wrecks. Thanks for everyone's support in this trying time.

Mummyfail

We (and I find it hard to only claim half the responsibility, I'm the Mummy and want to say I, I, I) sent our five year old daughter to school in her uniform today, when it was supposed to be free dress. Both parents failed to read the raffle newsletter all the way to the bottom, where the crucial information about free dress day was revealed. Because, you know, it was a form about raffles.

It doesn't sound like much. So she's in her usual green dress instead of a bright pink dress. Just o...

King Rolen's Kin

Rowena Cory Daniells excitedly revealed her new covers today. I'm so happy for her, with a whole trilogy coming out from Solaris in July, August and September. Just in time for Worldcon!

These gorgeous covers are by Clint Langley.

… or burn it to the ground

Just some late breaking news here. The Tiptree winners and honours list have been released. I love the fact that they do it this way, so the shortlisted people get to appreciate that honour without getting distracted about whether or not they won…

It really is an honour to be shortlisted, you know.

Jonathan Strahan's well received anthology Eclipse 3, which is full of awesome stories, many of them by women, had two individual stories honoured by this year's Tiptree, which is pretty...

Galactic Suburbia Episode 2

… is available for download. You can also subscribe through iTunes – just search for Galactic Suburbia!

Alisa, Alex and I gathered around our computers to chat again, this time covering awards shortlists (the Australian Shadows Awards and the Nebulas), Karen Miller's new book deal, the approaching season of Doctor Who, Scary Kisses, Swancon, Jensen Ackles doing Eye of the Tiger, and whether Nicholas Sparks is really comparable to Euripides, Shakespeare and Hemingway.

We also discussed our...

Diversity in Fantasy

Cindy Pon asks questions about cultural appropriation and the responsible portrayal of diversity in fantasy fiction, and a variety of young adult writers present their answers.

On a similar theme, Karen Healey is on Strange Horizons talking about Margaret Mahy, and the use of New Zealand as a place in fantasy fiction. Reading this, and remembering other writers recently gushing about Margaret Mahy, it occurs to me that I don't think I've read nearly enough of her books. I read a couple as a ...