suenicorn

Expand Cut Tags

No cut tags

This is my first post in some time. Good to be back, friends!

Yesterday I learned a new word, on Twitter of all places. I was exchanging comments with a fellow tweep, who was having trouble finding eggs. I mentioned that these days, the days of coronavirus, I was carrying around a shopping bag, just in case, and had recently found eggs at a small family supermarket near my home. That was when I learned a word new to me: avozka! Apparently it was what you called the string bag you carried around with you in Soviet times, just in case you spotted something. If you saw a queue outside a shop, you joined it, because something you wanted was bound to be in stock. So...I am carrying my avozka with me just in case. Often I do find something I need.

It’s a crazy time. Everything has been cancelled, even the Nova Mob(SF club) monthly meeting. You can’t travel overseas without self isolating for fourteen days and there wouldn’t be planes to take you anyway. So far, ConZealand, this year’s Worldcon, has not cancelled, but is waiting to see what happens. I don’t blame them, it has been so much work and goodness knows, they would have put out a lot of money from their own pockets, but I have a sinking feeling that if it does go ahead it will be a local event. I was very much looking forward to it. But at this stage I probably won’t go. I have an elderly, fragile mother who really deserves better than having me give her something that could kill her.

Meanwhile, there is daily life. If you are a teacher in a public school, or a healthcare worker, or work in a supermarket, you have to carry on. Private schools have started closing, because they can do what they want, and they know that their students have home Internet, so they can learn online, while half our disadvantaged students don’t have the Internet. But that’s not why state schools are forbidden to close. It’s “the economy” for the government, basically babysitting the kids of those other people who need to work. Thing is, there are a lot of problems involved. What about teacher health? And even if you go on, there are parents keeping some kids home and you have to have the material ready to repeat when they come back, because you can’t do both online and face to face at once.

As a retiree volunteer, I have reluctantly told the school I won’t be back till after the term break. Mum comes first, and I spend half the week looking after her. In fact, just after I emailed, I got one from Ardoch, which arranges volunteer work, saying that as of next week they are suspending all volunteer work. So, not just me. I feel bad for those who do have to go in. Thank goodness term ends next Friday!

No theatre, no cinema, and I can’t even go for my weekly exercise at the local swimming pool. It’s open, for now, but too many people sharing a dressing room, and no guarantee the chlorine will be strong enough to protect you. I’ve been taking long walks by the beach instead. I’d love a swim, but I must admit I enjoy walking and looking at the water. Soon I will take along my lunch and a small thermos.

Supermarkets are displaying empty shelves. This is something we have never had before.

Pasta, flour, eggs, canned veggies... I can, if necessary, make pasta and bread, but you need flour and eggs for those. I do have some frozen veggies at home. Toilet paper? I have a large pack now, because the supermarkets have ordered large packs and limited it to one per customer, but you do have to get in early. Nothing to stop the hoarders from buying a big pack a day.

I see in the US people are lining up, not for toilet paper, but for guns! That is so very ugly!

Ah, well, I’d better make sure I have my trusty avozka with me at all times.

Today I did my first day as a volunteer at a primary school, on the Ardoch Youth Foundation program. It’s aimed at disadvantaged schools like the one where I’ve worked for the past twenty years. This school is in the same area as I have been working, so I’m quite comfortable there. Likewise with the tasks I’ve been given, even though I’m a secondary teacher. After several years with a literacy program in which I worked with kids whose reading level was well below where it should be, it felt very familiar when I was asked to read with kids who were well below Grade 4. I just did what I have done with my older students.

The Grade 4 teachers, who work together in an open classroom, seemed very competent and caring. They were a bit frustrated when they discovered that yet again they would have to teach the kids how to look words up in the dictionary, because they have forgotten during term break. I offered to help out with that, so they could have to deal with fewer kids in that area.

It was quite nice to see that they were excited about having an extra pair of hands, even if it is only once a week. And as I’m a teacher myself, they won’t have to excplain as much.

The second session was their fortnightly music lesson, with a very good drumming teacher. They loved it!

I’ve also offered to help with Breakfast Club before school, though it’s more basic than the one we had at my school - that was as much social as eating, it was indoors and there was toast and hot milk. This involves handing kids a bowl of cereal, which they take away to eat, and washing the dishes. Still, worth doing and at least the lady won’t be alone on Tuesdays.

So far, very glad to do this.

Current Mood: cheerful
Current Location: Home

Re-posted from my other blog! I have succeeded in becoming a volunteer for the Ardoch Youth Foundation. Yay!

This morning I answered my phone to an unfamiliar number. It was a gentleman who introduced himself merely as Nick from Ardoch. After chatting a few minutes, and his asking me what my last school was, he suddenly realised, “Hey! I know you! You know me!” And I did. He came to my school last year during the Literacy Buddies program. We both laughed and chatted some more.

I’m in. I’ve been allocated a primary school in the same suburb where I used to work. He did offer to contact my old school in case they wanted a volunteer, but I had a think about it and decided it wouldn’t be a good idea. I only said to him that people might think I was breathing down their necks so soon after leaving, but there was more. I know the politics of that school. I have been in touch with a friend there and I know some of what has been going on this year, enough to know I’d open my mouth and give some opinions. Not a good idea when you are just there to help.

So, it’s a primary school for me. I will be learning something new. I’ve never worked with younger kids before, except for a single session at the primary school down the road from my own school, when the teacher running the school’s Writers Festival wanted us to do workshops. This is my chance!

And even better than this is a special reason why it will be good to learn about younger children. Nick knows I’m a children’s writer. He asked me if I’d be interested in another program they do, a writer in residence thing, where you go to a primary school and run workshops for the kids, ending in a book, for which Ardoch will pay the printing costs. Not paid, of course, just another volunteer thing, but fun - and again, I’d learn something I can use later.

Wish me luck, that this school gig will work out! For now, I’m delighted!

Current Mood: cheerful
Current Location: Home
Crossposts: https://sue-bursztynski.livejournal.com/52840.html

It’s nice having a family member who works in a bookshop! In this case, it’s my great-niece Dezzy, who has recently moved to Melbourne and is studying at Deakin University. Dezzy is a passionate reader herself and did her work experience in a school library, as well as being a library monitor at her own school. Both of those helped her get the job, which she thoroughly enjoys, doing a shift once a week.

So, Sunday might, we all went out for Mother’s Day, with my mother, my sister Mary and my sister-in-law as the three mothers whose day it was. And Dezzy grinned and offered me a bag with something square and solid in it. No special reason, she just wanted to get me a book. She knew I wouldn’t have it, because it has just come out, though I have to say, it already has a lot of reviews on Goodreads. And she also got me a very pretty metal bookmark, of the kind that has jewelled beads hanging from it and could also be used as a letter opener. Am I a lucky great-auntie or what?

The book is Jay Kristoff’s latest novel, Lifel1k3, (Lifelike), which has on its cover: “It’s Romeo And Juliet meets Mad Max meets X-Men , with a little bit of Bladerunner cheering from the sidelines.”

Well, yes, so far. I’m on page 46 and still waiting for Romeo And Juliet, but it started solidly with Mad Max: Beyond Thunderdome, moving on to Mad Max 2, some X-Men and I think I can see Bladerunner coming. And all this in the first 46 pages - well done, Jay! The book also seems to have been set up to move on to the US market. The spelling is American, some expressions are American and it’s set in the smoking ruins of California. I’ll let you know how it goes, but please remember, US readers, Jay Kristoff is ours, okay? So is Amie Kaufman, who wrote several books with him.

This is my first book by this author and so far I’m enjoying it tremendously.

I’d better go back and read some others, hadn’t I? Any fans out there? Tell me in the comments box below.

So, this morning I woke up, having slept through a month’s worth of rain - something I wasn’t allowed to do till this year. I’m now on my way into the city to buy a warm dressing gown, with a broken umbrella that I only got to use once!

I spent the morning fiddling around with my application for volunteer work for the Ardoch Youth Foundation. I thought I’d at least be spared a police check, as I already had one for my VIT registration, but no.

It’s a complex application process that involves:

- an online PD that is mostly about stuff that as a teacher, I already knew(but some things you also need to do as a volunteer that you don’t as a teacher)
-a police check
-a Working With Children check that involves filling in a long long form plus check of your ID(actually, not too bad, because all you have to do is give them permission to check your passport and your Medicare card.

However, you then have to take your passport or driver’s licence(I have the first, not the second) to the post office to get your card registered. The, presumably, they post it to you.

Then you have to do a telephone interview(done yesterday)and a full day PD, to which you STILL have to bring the paperwork you’ve already done in the other processes. Signed by a chemist or whoever, just like for access to your superannuation money. I actually have a signed photocopy of my passport from last time, because the lady wasn’t satisfied with the first one, but I also have to go and get them to sign a photocopy of my Medicare card, and bring both originals with me to the PD.

And still no guarantee I’m going to be accepted as a volunteer!

Fact: I miss the kids. I still feel weird not going to work. And I want to help.

Still... after I get my Working With Children card, I’ll finally have a photo ID so I won’t have to carry around my passport. I hate doing that, I’m terrified I will lose it.

Wish me luck in getting back to work once a week!

Twitter is a fascinating world. I joined long ago so that I’d be able to find out about, say, author events at the Wheeler Centre. Then I stayed because a lot of fellow writers and librarians tweeted. It’s great to see drawings by Gabrielle Wang and Judy Horacek, and quotes by Michael Pryor(whom I also follow on Goodreads - he seems to have similar reading tastes to mine)

Lately, there has been news. People tweet links to articles or share news. Two writers have passed away in the last few days - US science fiction author Kate Wilhelm(Where Late The Sweet Birds Sang)and Peter Temple, Aussie crime writer(the Jack Irish series).
And the controversies! More controversies!

Terry Goodkind joked about the awfulness of his latest book’s cover. It was certainly rude and inappropriate of him to shame his cover artist in public. If he had a problem with it, he should have discussed it with his publishers. Most of us don’t get a say in our book covers - I was not crazy about my first two book covers, myself, one of them taken from an online photo library and later used for another book - by Anthony Horowitz, who is twenty times better known than me and clearly HE had no say in it either. But Goodkind is a big enough name to be able to at least discuss it with the publishers. Or not to have to worry about it because people will buy his books anyway. Now he has a lot of angry folk declaring on Twitter that they will not be reading his books again or that they didn’t like them anyway. It’s starting to look like that whole business on Goodreads I mentioned in a previous post, where an author acted outrageously but so did the Goodreads members who gave her one star ratings without having read her book.

Then there was Maggie Stiefvater, who wrote a polite open letter to her fans, asking them to please not take money for their fan fiction based on her books. Not to stop writing it - though I wouldn’t blame her if she did, as it’s her universe, after all - and I say this as a former fanwriter and one who enjoys reading it - but just to have some consideration and not take money for it, as her publishers would not like that very much. And THAT led to a long discussion and I’m fairly sure she copped some abuse. Honestly, people can have such a sense of entitlement! I bought one of her books in ebook immediately!

In the last week, I’ve lost two formerly reliable things of my life. Most recently, my fruit delivery people. I was supposed to get my fortnightly fruit box today. It has been a nice, inexpensive and simple way to not have to lug shopping bags upstairs. Instead, yesterday they suddenly announced they were closing due to having to compete with the supermarket giants and 250 people are out of a job - just like that. I hope that they, at least, got some warning. I wish the farmers all the best - this was basically a farmers’ co-op. No more. Thank you, Coles and Woolies! I’m on the search for a replacement. My nephew has mentioned an organic company that only charges a bit more than I was paying and that’s including delivery fees.

Much worse, though, was losing a good, reliable children’s writing market I’ve done many articles for, over the years. It has been wonderful! You could ask them if they were interested in a topic and if they said yes, all you had to do was write well and you could be pretty sure of selling. And they paid on acceptance. I’ve only been back with them for a year, but in that time they accepted and paid for one article(still not published and now I wonder if it ever will be) and reprinted another from years ago. So I asked the editor if he was interested in the Eugowra robbery and Apollo 8(this is the 50th anniversary). He was. I researched like mad and wrote and submitted - by snail mail as required - and heard nothing. So I emailed the editor - again since I emailed him a month ago when I was about to submit one item and wanted to confirm they still wanted snail mail. He didn’t reply that time, so I just sent it and hoped for the best. He did reply this time, explaining that he was no longer doing the submissions and they had changed their policy - everything by email now and here was the address. And by the way, as of now they were doing themed issues - something they must have decided well before I I submitted my Eugowra article - so sorry for not letting me know, but they had done a call out to anyone they had published over the last two years(they published my reprint and accepted my article well within that range). He was terribly sorry and would make sure I was on the list for their next call out... whenever that is. I kept my feelings bottled up, because a potential market is a potential market and a few minutes satisfaction could cost me dearly. He did say that they might still publish my two pieces as a random item, as I had done them “in good faith”. (And what about the piece they have accepted and paid for?) I sighed and emailed both pieces to the new submissions editor at the address he had given me, with a message explaining what had happened and that I wanted to make her life easier...

I got an automated slushpile message. One of those that says,”We’ll let you know in 90 days and no ‘editorial comment.’” And no answers to the questions I asked her politely. None. I’d say that market is well and truly dead, just as if it had closed down.

I’m checking out other markets and have already sent some inquiries. I do subscribe to two market guides, Buzzwords and Evelyn Christensen’s children’s and education markets. So far, only one response and that was from a publisher I asked for guidelines. But it’s more than time I got myself organised. I have taken too many things for granted. No more class preparation to hold me back. No more day job. Time to do what other writers do.

Current Mood: cranky
Current Location: Home
Current Music: Radio National

I’ve committed myself to participate in a blog tour, as book blogs do. It’s for a debut author. The post is all ready to be published on January 24. I just need to press the “Publish” button.

And now, it seems, the author has started up a controversy on Goodreads by abusing a reviewer for giving her a low rating, and threatening legal action! (I’ve seen the review - it was nothing too nasty, it was merely a bit uncomfortable with the heroine, for good reasons with which I agreed. It had a couple of positive things to say. And the reader had actually offered her a book launch, to support a local debut author, until she was abused). She then stalked the reviewer by paying someone to look up her “real” identity(it’s called a pseudonym, as someone commented, people do it all the time on line). She got her husband involved. Weirdly, she threatened to report this to her publisher! I hope she did; someone might have explained to her a few facts about being a published author, such as the fact that everyone gets lousy reviews. Everyone. I’ve had one star reviews, including one where the reader admitted to only having read 8 pages of my novel, and was proud of that fact. And no, you can’t take legal action unless they have lied about you. Most of us just get on with it. It hurts, but that’s the way it works.

It was stupid of her. The controversy might sell some books now, out of curiosity(my own response to the book was, “Meh! Needs further editing.” I’ve already given away my copy to a teenager, who might like it better than I did... or maybe not) but further down the track people will be reluctant to review anything else she writes. Who wants to run the risk of being abused and possibly sued?

But I don’t much care for some of the stuff that goes on in Goodreads either. Reviewers can be abusive too. And there is something stupid about giving ratings to a book you haven’t read, whether it’s a vengeful “take that!” one star or a five star rating for an author you like, although the book hasn’t been finished let alone published and there is no way you could have read it. And several indignant GR members gave this book a one star rating without having read it, just to show the bitch what they thought of her. Not acceptable behaviour either. How can the rest of us make book buying decisions if the rating comes from people who haven’t read the book?

If you think Goodreads doesn’t matter, think again. It’s huge, and it’s connected to Amazon now, so people can buy your book or they can give it a horrible review on Amazon too.

So, the thing is, I haven’t been involved - yet. And I get on well with the publicist, whom I’ve known since she was working for Allen and Unwin. A nice lady, and I would like to get some more review books from her current employer. I don’t intend to withdraw my post just because the author has been an idiot. But I do need to find a way to do a tactful disclaimer. I did come across a blog in which the blogger had done just that, and done it well. It’s a matter of wording. I will have to come up with something Real Soon now!

It's the first day of the new year, the first of my new life. Yesterday, I didn't do the New Year's Eve thing, although some of my friends texted me at midnight. I was still up after watching Dr Who "The Time Warrior" and a couple of episodes of Frontline, otherwise I'd be reading in bed. My sister and I spend Sunday nights with Mum, so we didn't go out, even, in my case, to see a movie. I don't think the Astor was doing Rocky Horror this year anyway.

My sister asked me how the writing was going. I said I was working on my article, but still need to finish off the research. She pointed out that I now have the time and no excuse. So I was up 6.00 am this morning and made my way through the market guide to which I subscribe. It comes about twice a month, for a very reasonable price, and so far, I haven't been able to really check it out properly. The editor is a highly- respected and well-known writer. She puts a lot of effort into compiling the lists.

However! Today I checked the most recent issue, and what a disappointment! I checked through all the links. One was completely broken, and Googling it I found that the web site seemed to have disappeared. My memory of that particular publisher was that at one stage it had been a vanity press, but I thought, you never know.

The rest were mostly small press, which is fine, except that they were not like the wonderful small presses with which I have dealt. No advances on any of them and some were strictly Print On Demand, which meant that if they couldn't sell your book, you'd get nothing from it. One of them actually asked you to let them know your awards, etc. - most real publishers say, "We don't care about your awards or whatever, we just want a brief summary of THIS book. That's what we're judging." One of them asked you to get all your editing done before submitting and suggested some agencies. I suppose that may be to spare them some of the truly dreadful stuff that makes me go cross-eyed while reading ASIM slush, but still, it implied that while they might do the proofreading(and even that they wanted you to get done by one of their suggested agencies before submitting) they were not going to edit. If it's good enough for them to accept for publication, then they should have an editor to make it look its best. And there was no information about what they pay you after you've paid the agencies to do their job for them.

Then there was the one that told you that, no, they didn't charge you for publication, although you did have to pay a reading fee if you entered their writing competition. There was a link to the submissions guidelines page, which had nothing on it but a blurb about the said competition.

Others were closed for submissions.

And then there was the Big Name Publisher with its ebook YA arm. Um, no. What it was seemed to be one of those self publishing services set up by the large presses in recent years. You pay them to put your book together and then you can have their name on your title page and people will assume you've been paid for it by a well known company. And no details, either, about the process.

In fact, none of the web sites I visited seemed to have any details about "what happens when we accept(notice I didn't say "buy") your book."

Sigh! I will go back through some of the more recent previous issues and see if I can find anything more useful. Then I'll look up some more market guides on line.

Meanwhile, I have an article to finish. The publisher - NSW School Magazine - is one I have dealt with many times before and which I decided to have another go with, after concluding I wasn't going to sell any fiction in the near future. They are honest and professional, and pay you on acceptance, even if it takes a while to come out, and they don't care what you do with your article or story after they've finished with it. In fact, in the past, I've received a forward from them saying someone ELSE wants to reprint your story/article. Sometimes they even ask to reprint and you get paid all over again!

What's not to like? Fingers crossed!

Current Location: Home
Current Music: Radio National

I'm about to say goodbye to my days as a teacher-librarian. A student actually asked me, "But WHY?"

Why indeed? Sooner or later you have to be firm with yourself and go. I love our students, both those I teach and those I only know through their visits to the library, and will miss them. I've taught many siblings and welcomed others to my lunchtime book club. One of my Year 7 students this year was the niece of a girl I taught in Year 8 only a few years ago(a very young auntie, she has just finished Year 12).

It has been sad to tell them that next year, at their new campus, there will be a library, but probably not a book club, unless a lovely teacher who helped me with the Premier's Reading Challenge this year can get yard duty in the library. It may happen - with extra teachers, as well as students, surely they can manipulate yard duty to make sure someone can open the library at lunchtime? But no certainty. All I can assure them is that Miss will be running the Reading Challenge. The library tech knows her rights: she is not being paid to supervise students(heck, she's not being paid as a technician, even!) and could be in big trouble if anything happens in the library while she is there without a teacher. So no lunchtime opening unless a teacher gets a library yard duty.

But this is no longer my problem. I have done it for many years and now it's my time. I have plans. Writing during the day, for a start, with a chance to submit to a lot of those markets I have posted to me once a fortnight with the Buzzwords newsletter. I've sold a couple of articles this year and am working on a third, which I can't finish till early next year, now. I've written some stories for anthologies, but missed deadlines, because I had to prepare classes and mark work. Well, at least I now have something to submit somewhere. I will do some volunteer work. I can afford this, due to a lifetime pension in a very good, well-paid superannuation scheme. I may even go back to study, and the year after next I might be able to go to Dublin for the 2019 Worldcon!

During the last couple of weeks I have seen my library dismantled, packed the last of the books for storage or the other campus, which will, in its own time, be likewise dismantled. There is going to be a library at the new school, though I have no idea who will run it! I've seen the architect pictures and it looks pretty. Good luck to the new librarian, whoever it is!

I really do wish them the best. I'm kind of proud of how I've met my challenges. I've been sole TL at my school and had to teach as well. I've had kids come to me in the classroom because there was no one in the library and their teacher wanted a class set and the class set room was locked. I've sighed and handed the keys to a reliable kid in my own class.

My budget has never been the best and a few years ago it was slashed. I set up this blog in the first place so I could get free books for my students because $3500 a year, for everything, was not going to be anywhere near enough. Don't worry, I'm not closing down this blog, though I might consider accepting some - just a few - ebooks now. Depends if I think my younger family members might enjoy them.

But there were brand new books for the students of my disadvantaged school to read, and as I'd read them I could share information. When I did go book shopping I'd find books I knew individual kids would like, and my general response to a request for advice was, "Have I got a book for you!"

With that tiny budget I certainly couldn't afford writer visits, but there were other options. There were not-too-expensive events in the city, such as the Melbourne Writers' Festival and the Reading Matters conference student days. This year we went to hear Morris Gleitzman, the author of a wonderful series of novels about a Jewish boy, Felix, and his adventures on the run from Nazis during the war, his life with the partisans and after the war, finally ending up in Australia. There was a novel about his delightful granddaughter, who adores him. One boy who came with us hadn't read his books, but afterwards threw himself into the series.

Not all the kids could afford even the few dollars for the tickets or the train fares. I paid from my own pocket in advance, so I had the option of letting a few kids come for free, and supplying their travel cards. That wouldn't have been an option if it had cone from my budget. I was blowed if anyone was going to miss out for lack of money!

And a couple of days ago, while throwing out stuff, I discovered a bag of permission slips and money from this year's festival! Oh, dear. I must be rich if I don't notice $120!

During the National Year of Reading, I was able to take some kids to the local library for a free session with John Marsden, who gave away his older books and signed. Usually you have to pay

$$$ to hear him speak!

It has helped, being a writer and known to other writers and big name librarians. One year we had a phone call from the State Library, offering to bring the Teen Booktalkers to us. They hadn't had enough bookings and didn't want to cancel. In the end, we got a free session from three fine writers, one of them Vikki Wakefield, who had only done one book and has gone in to bigger things. The head honcho of the Centre for Youth Literature found someone else to pay, possibly the local council. We also got a box of leftover books.

We've had a visit from Sheryl Clark, courtesy of YABBA and Alice Pung, courtesy of the Stella schools program. We've also had visits from authors who were friends, courtesy of themselves, while they were in Melbourne. Thanks, guys! I accepted because they offered, though, I never asked. I made sure that at least they got lunch and a thank you gift and, where possible, promotion in the local papers.

Alison Goodman visited my school before any other; she'd sold one novel at the time and wanted to get a bit of experience in school visits; she spoke to my four Year 12 book clubbers and showed them her huge planning chart.

I made Will Kostakis help me with my literacy class when he arrived an hour early. Bless him, he was wonderful! He even missed out on morning tea while his fans barged into the library at recess before we could go to the staffroom. One young man glared at him because he thought his girlfriend was flirting(she wasn't, she just loved the book!). That was before Will came out.

We've had a couple of book launches. Both times I asked writer friends to come and launch. I have even managed to get my publishers in to give away bookmarks, posters and other such goodies. My book club members decorated the library and made speeches to our guests while presenting them with thank you gifts, and read the books ahead of time so they could ask questions and appreciate the visitors.

I never had much time, on my own, to do anything big for Book Week, but hey, anyone can run a trivia quiz!

One year I had a very successful Banned Books Week virtual readout by the kids - it only worked once, but it worked. It didn't cost money, just a bit of time.

One thing I regret is not doing the Premier's Reading Challenge till this year. It was a lot easier than I'd expected. Still, I've appointed a successor and she will do a fine job. Hopefully more kids will complete it next year.

So, readers, I think I've made the best of my time as a teacher-librarian with staffing and money challenges. I want to thank those who have helped me. Without them, about half of the abovementioned activities couldn't have happened.

Now it's my time. Hopefully I will make the best of that too.

Current Mood: sad

This week I have been horribly sick, so away from work, but I finally got the news I've been waiting for, about the Western Chances Scholarship. I would have loved to be able to tell the kids concerned today, but with a chronic cough and such, I just couldn't go to work.

Western Chances is a scholarship set up, originally, by the wife of Steve Bracks, a Victorian Premier. To get it, you have to be living in the western suburbs of Melbourne - one of the poorer areas - and you have to be very good at something but have very little money. Your teacher has to nominate you. I've done this several times before but this year I was told that they had enough money for 130 scholarships and 200 applications. I worked hard to give my three students the best chance.

One young man is a quiet hard working lad who is a maths genius(not really surprised he's passionate about Rubik's Cubes. It's a very mathematical thing.)

Another boy in the same class is cheerful and always smiling, despite the fact that he has no mother and his father isn't living with his seven children - and may be dying. He works hard too, but while I teach English, his real ability is music. We've asked for keyboard lessons for him; at school he has to share with five others. I got a scholarship for his older sister, who will be pleased.

The third student is a girl who has so many abilities, it's hard for her to choose what she wants to do in life.

She is very good at all her subjects except maths, but even that is okay, as her maths teacher tells me, just not top of the class. And she has asked for maths tutoring. We're also getting her a keyboard so she can learn piano next year. Her music teacher tells me she can have singing lessons AND keyboard lessons for the price of one subject. I've asked for that. He says that learning piano will allow her to accompany herself. She is a fine singer. She also does figure skating, folk dancing and drama outside school. She lives with her mother, a psychologist who can't get work. They must have a close relationship - and one day I heard her humming the Queen of the Night Aria from The Magic Flute! She even knew what the aria was about. An old soul - she is 14 going on about 35!

So, I'm thrilled to bits for them. It's the last time I will be able to do this, as I'm retiring. They're all great kids!

Current Mood: happy
Current Location: Home
Current Music: Harry Potter audiobook

So, I tried posting earlier today and it was blank when I returned to the page. You need a title to keep a draft going. Try number 2!

The week began fine, with my friend and I going to the Dior exhibition at the gallery. Because it was such a nice day, my friend suggested buying from one of the food stalls outside the gallery and finding somewhere to eat. By then I was already feeling a bit strange, but I agreed and bought a plate of something and a drink, which I never got to enjoy, because I tripped and dropped the lot. The seagulls got my lunch.

But I wasn't hungry by then anyway. That has continued this week. I have just eaten properly from last night.

Monday I went to see the doctor about something and he suggested as I was there I might as well have my planned blood test a few days early. Big mistake. The nurse had bad memories of trying to get blood out of me and implied it was all my fault she had to use a children's needle. I have narrow veins and everyone has to poke and prod to find one, has had since my blood donating days. But that wasn't the weirdest part of it. After she had warned me not to move as she might prick herself - something she said was common, but had NEVER happened to her - my arm moved and she pricked herself. Nobody has ever had this with me before and a friend with a nurse for a mother told me that if it had happened, she was not following procedure. Anyway, I apologised, but wasn't expecting her fury. She all but implied I must have AIDS or some such deadly ailment, ordered me to leave without trying again on the other arm, wept that it had never happened to her, that she could lose her job, her LIFE, would need months of tests, wept in advance for her orphaned children, then ran out in tears before returning in a calmer mood, putting on a bandaid and trying again with the other arm(the vein collapsed, so I have to go again, hopefully when someone else is on shift. But it was like a scene out of an over the top movie. Maybe it will make a scene in a novel...

I've been trying to pack up my library and keep teaching, without help. My library tech has been very sick for weeks and has not been replaced. There was a deadline for books we were donating and hundreds to be taken off the system. There are still a couple of thousand to pack for storage while the new school is built, stuff to throw away... By Thursday, I was in tears(though nothing like the nurse!). The welfare teacher told me I should stop stressing and just do my best, then came to help when she was free. So did my friend the art teacher. The three of us got the deadline stuff done in two days. I would NEVER have done it alone. I must make sure of a special thank you gift for them both.

Yesterday the week started improving a bit, with a visit from an older couple who had come to pick up a couple of hundred books I'd put aside for them. They have a charity that can use them. The husband went to see the Principal about something while the wife, a lady called Cheryl, put into the back seat of her tiny car not only the books I had given them but three jumbo sized packing boxes of others that had been put aside for someone else(well, she was there and they weren't). I think the car should have been called TARDIS.

While doing the moving and piling, she chattered away about her connections with Sea Shepherd, songs she had written and performed with her band on YouTube and her career as a film and TV extra... What a character!

The week definitely ended better than it began.

Current Mood: exhausted
Current Location: Home

I have finally gone and done it - handed in my retirement plans and my request for two terms of long service leave, which has built up since 2008, when I took a term. So on Janusry 29 next year, I will wake up at six a.m, smile and turn over to sleep at least another two hours. I have a very good superannuation fund, one that guarantees me a pension for life that will enable me to keep up my lifestyle.

I have been putting it off and putting it off, just one more year, but now my campus, including my comfy, well-set-up library, is going to be torn down and rebuilt over around two or three years. And I probably wouldn't be able to run the library, though the other teacher librarian is also going, much to the joy of the administration, who can't wait to save the money on two experienced teacher librarians. If I can't do library, well, there's plenty more to do, like investigate that course in archaeology at Latrobe uni - if not next year, then 2019. Get on with my writing and finally meet the deadlines for anthologies. Maybe I can do school visits at last. And go to a Worldcon. A SCBWI conference. I have a comfortable amount put away for the occasional indulgence. And enough to pay my bills.

But it will feel strange, when my school moves on without me. And I'll miss the kids. I've run a book club for years - they won't have one next year, though Imhave arranged for someone else to do,the Premier's Reading Challenge, which I did for the first time this year and found far simpler than I'd expected. I will sign up for a library agency if possible - time to dust off the resume. No more classroom teaching, though, if I can avoid it, too draining to the creativity, because you gave to throw it all into your classes, but as I need to keep my VIT registration for now I will maybe volunteer at a local school as classroom assistance. We'll see.

My mother is needing support now, and my sister has been doing most of it, because I've been working. Next year maybe I can take on another day, two...

The world is out there, waiting for me.

Okay, I called the Passport Information office and the lady there said I had been wrongly informed at the post office. As I have had a passport in the name I want, they have the records and the PO people can ring them directly if they like, and confirm that it's okay.

My sister suggests I try to find my old passport, just in case, and I will have a look for it. I can only hope that it is where I think it is. Thing is, I just haven't used it in years. After this, I will buy a metal box and keep my important papers in it.

Then I'll probably mislay the metal box.

Current Mood: relieved
Current Location: Home

Today I got my tax done and went to the local post office to have my passport photos taken. While I was there, I chatted with the lady at the counter and asked her some questions. See, my birth certificate - and the naturalisation certificate under my parents' names has the name Zelda on it. When I was starting kinder, or maybe school, they were told that Susan was the translation of Zelda and that they should make my life easier in those days before multiculturalism was big.

The last time I was questioned about this - when I wanted a public service job, not for a passport - I just had to sign a statutory declaration. That's what the Department of Immigration said (before it became Border Protection - yeesh, I'd love to see the politicians with weapons in hand defending us personally from all those refugees...). I assumed that was all I had to do this time, but no. The lady said that the only thing they would accept was a change of name document - what on earth is that? I don't HAVE one, never even heard of it.

And I must have that passport. They won't give me my superannuation without one. Never mind the fact that I've worked for umpteen years and paid my super contributions - without it, they might think I'm someone else, maybe Bette Davis taking her twin sister's place after murdering her...?

A bizarre situation. I tried ringing the passport office and, after a lot of automated messages, got piped music. I could have been waiting for hours on my mobile phone and I had to take Mum out for lunch. I did send an email, but it says on the web site you have to wait five days for a reply.

I know how I'm spending this evening. Sigh! And I am promising myself not to yell at whichever poor sod picks up finally. Not their fault. If I find myself getting angry I will hang up and wait for the email reply. In my email I explained and aaked, not what should I do, but what would you do if you were in my position. I hope that gets someone thinking.

Current Mood: frustrated
Current Location: Macca's, with Mum.

I need a passport for ID. Getting a passport is harder than it used to be, much harder. You need a passport for proof of ID, right? But some of the items you need for your passport, you almost might as well use for your ID anyway, unless you want to go overseas. My birth certificate is in Hebrew. The last time I used it was when I went to do my compulsory jury duty. I showed it to the lady on the desk and she just laughed and let me through. Well, it wasn't me who had demanded to do jury duty, was it? I figured if they objected to being unable to read the certificate, that was their problem, not mine.

Anyway, you have to get your overseas birth certificate translated for passport ID, and it has to be done by one of their approved translators. So, I found a lady, one of two in Victoria, who fortunately lives within easy tram distance of my place and I am on term break. I contacted her and she said that I could scan and send, or I was welcome to come to her place today. I decided on that. I don't have a scanner any more and although I could take a photo, I wasn't sure it would turn out readable. It's a very old, crumpled document - well, as old as me, anyway. ;-)

Off I trundled on the tram to a small street off Hawthorn Rd, South Caulfield, and found it easily. The lady was quite a character, as it turned out. She was very thorough, but also had a lot of fun Googling things to make sure they were right. For example, the hospital where I was born was called the Municipal Maternity Hospital at the time. It is currently known as the Rabin Centre - we agreed it might be best to simply use the term on the actual certificate, but she had a lot of fun satisfying her curiosity. Likewise with the Hebrew DOB. According to Google, the year I was born the Hebrew date was August 29! And here I was finding it amusing that the certificate says September 3, when it's September 4. "August 29!" she exclaimed. "Forget about that!" But we agreed there had been a stuff-up.

And then there was the doctor who delivered me. It was a Dr Kattab? Katib? Qatab? Katab? (That was how it was spelled in Hebrew, which I don't think does double letters). Anyway, he/she was an Arab, a Muslim. Which makes sense, because it was a Friday night, when the Jewish staff were going home or to synagogue for the Sabbath, while Muslim staff had finished theirs and were able to do a shift. But it hadn't occurred to me. So, now I know, and it will be fun to tell any Muslim kids at school who might ask that I was delivered by a co-religionist of theirs. I think they'll be tickled.

But Taly(translator) and I did a bit of Googling to check spelling and while there were many possibilities, we decided on Khattab, the name of an Aussie Muslim doctor we found on line. It was closest to the original.

I told Taly that my sister, who was about five at the time, had to be left behind when Mum hitched a ride to hospital on a bakery van. She said, "Oh, that happened all the time back then. It happened to me. Nowadays they'd call it child abuse." She grinned. But there were neighbours and Dad came along soon enough and also had to hitchhike, because it was Friday night, no public transport.

Anyway, I felt Taly was well and truly worth the small fee I was paying, and more if she had asked for it. She had a series of templates to use - " Here's one I prepared earlier..." But all the research and careful thought about her translations was quite a bit of work. And afterwards she printed out - we proofread and I found one inconsistent spelling - and then printed out again, two copies, plus a photocopy of my original, which she suggested I take to the PO and get certified. And she emailed me a PDF for my files which, however, had her stamp and signature on it. So it will be safe, even if I mislay the original.

And then, all done, she enthusiastically showed me a website called,"On The House" which gives away free tickets to shows, as long as you don't mind what they are. She had grabbed a free double pass to two shows while my translation was printing out.

Who would have thought such a humdrum, necessary activity would turn out to be so entertaining?

Current Mood: amused
Current Location: On the tram

This is about the Marriage Equality postal survey, in which we get to vote as to whether or not same sex couples can marry.

I know it isn't really a vote. Even the newspapers are calling it a postal survey. A survey for $122 million! After which the politicians might get a conscience vote. Might, if the answer is Yes. It isn't binding. But we are voting anyway, because Malcolm needs the support of the right-wing to keep his job. So I'll call it a vote. It's only people who are of voting age who get a say.

A few things. My nephew's younger daughter, Rachel, rang from Sydney last Friday, to ask her father - and the rest of her family, as we were there - how we were all going to vote. She is thirteen going on fourteen and a passionate young woman. (Amazing, the predictive software threw up the word "dinar" instead of "woman".) She can't vote yet, but wanted to be reassured we were going to vote yes. We all called out that we were. I can imagine Rachel, at university one day and involved in student politics.

Rachel's Dad is divorced. His wife threw him out of the house on Father's Day, when their first child was a toddler and she was pregnant with Rachel, so he has thoughts on these things. He will be saying yes, but he had a thought that hadn't occurred to me. If you can be married, you can be divorced, right? So those gay men and women who choose to commit to each other in that way will have to deal with some stuff that heterosexual people have had to deal with for a long time. Mind you, heteros who live with each other are generally treated as a married couple for legal purposes anyway. Live with someone with a child for long enough and you have to pay child support if the other person can claim that you are the only father that child knows(I say father because the mother almost automatically gets custody). I remember when I worked for Social Security, now Centrelink, that you were asked a LOT of questions if you were sharing a home with someone of the opposite sex: do you do his washing? Do you share a bed? A lot of things along those lines. If you were deemed a couple, you were treated as a couple. The individual pensions were lower. If your partner was earning too much, it was considered that they could damned well support you without the taxpayer being involved. That wasn't an issue for people of the same sex sharing a home, who were assumed to be just flatmates. It would be now. I admit it has been a long time since I was in the public service, things might have changed.

But that is their business. And they might consider it worth the trouble. See, it isn't just about love. It's about legalities. Like not being allowed to visit your partner in hospital if it's "next of kin" only. And wills - what if the rest of the family challenges in court? And plenty more along those lines.

I will be saying yes, but am angry that I'm being forced to do this. It's none of my damned business! It shouldn't be up to me to have a say, just so the head honcho can keep his job a bit longer. (If there is anything good here it's that a LOT of 18 year olds have registered to vote and they will be there next election). It doesn't affect me. If I don't vote and a whole lot of others don't vote, we will be letting down our gay friends. I have four of them, not counting the trans folk, but now I think of it, I've known two of those. Two of my gay friends aren't partnered at present, because, having come out later in life, they couldn't find anyone their own age and felt uncomfortable with the twenty-somethings they were with for a while. Two of them are like comfortable old married couples, except ... they aren't. I don't know if they want to marry. But they should have that right. And it shouldn't be up to me to allow or not allow them.

And there is the hateful campaigning, which was predicted and is happening. Idiots going on TV talking about "and the kids will be given a lot of sexual scenarios at school if we let this happen" and even more bizarre stuff. "Kids need a mother AND a father." Well, yes, they do. Try telling that to divorced and separated hetero couples. Tell it to the kids who have been abused by their mother's boyfriend.

As it happens, there are plenty of gay folk with children, kids who have two mothers or two fathers. That is already the case. Why is it going to be worse if their two same sex parents are allowed to marry? Especially since those who make the most noise about it are those who disapprove of unmarried hetero couples and call their children "illegitimate", in this day and age. Surely it will be better by their standards?

I had a cuppa with one of my partnered gay friends the other night. He was stressed out about this whole business - and he is no victim type! He is a funny, lively man and absolutely capable of looking after himself verbally and every other way. But now he has to deal with the hatemongers who are being allowed to have their public say about something that is none of their business. As someone who has had to put up with the so-called "free speech advocates" who want to get rid of section 18C of the Racial Vilification Act, so we can all have a nice reasonable argument about how horrible my people are, I totally get it. He's had to put up with idiots and their general opinions on gays as having chosen to be what they are - and now this.

I told him that while I would be saying yes, because not to vote would be to let him down, it was none of my damned business if he wanted to marry.

To any of my Australian friends reading this, I urge you to vote, however angry you are about this matter. Not to vote is to let through the No campaign. If you're old enough, you will remember the Republic referendum. The question was carefully worded to make sure it would fail, because the PM of the time didn't want a Republic - and if, by some remote chance, it did get through, it would be so little different from now that it wouldn't matter. The question this time requires simply "yes" or "no." It can get through, but only if those who think it's a farce vote anyway. Then the politicians can have a careful thought about whether they want their jobs back.

If you are a No voter, ask yourself first how your gay friends must feel. And you are very likely to have some, whether you know it or not. Think about individuals, not "them".

In the end, the politicians get to choose, whatever we say. But if enough people say no, they won't bother at all, and if nothing else, that's your tax money that has been wasted.

Think about it.

Current Mood: annoyed
Current Location: Home
Current Music: Enigma Variations on ABC FM

Reposted from my blog, The Great Raven, and written in a fit of whimsy!

First, I’d like to make one thing quite clear: as a female fan of Robert E. Howard’s work, I have no desire to be crushed, panting, to Conan’s mailed breast, and never did have. If I was going to go out with a heroic fantasy hero, I’d rather have Tolkien’s hero Faramir, thanks. He’s a guy who’d not only be able to protect you from the baddies, but would remember your birthday and take you to some nice Minas Tirith restaurant for a birthday dinner, where you’d discuss art and music. If Conan remembered your birthday, he’d probably bring you a treasure from some ancient cursed tomb and you’d spend most of dinner watching in terror as he battled a slimy monster from before the dawn of time, come to take back its possession.

No - Conan wouldn’t be my idea of a boyfriend.

But he would make a very good next-door neighbour. He might not mow your lawn, and probably he’d have noisy feasts every other night, but he would make you feel utterly safe. Any stalker or burglar to invade your property would find himself hanging in midair, staring into a blazing pair of blue eyes under a long black mane, probably the last sight he ever saw. Any ex-boyfriend who tried to keep up a relationship you no longer wanted would be shaken thoroughly to make him understand that no means no and that a man of honour should understand this - then would be kicked down the street like a football. He would also knock on your door when you came home late from work to make sure everything was okay, or even come and pick you up from the station.

Conan appreciates an attractive woman, as we know from most of his adventures, and is only too happy to accept an offer from a charming lady - or a buxom wench - but never, ever forces himself on one. (You can’t really count the Frost Giant’s daughter - she’s just a challenge like any other, and Conan never turns down a challenge). It’s a part of his barbarian honour. In story after story, his behaviour is contrasted with that of arrogant, depraved noblemen of decadent civilizations. (I’m getting these visions of Conan showing his contempt for chardonnay-sipping yuppie males... Probably not a good idea to invite him to your dinner-party, though the backyard barbecue should be safe.)

I always liked it that the love of Conan’s life was Belit, a pirate queen. He had no problem with strong women, just with the ones who were trying to sacrifice him to some ancient demon, but the same applied to male priests who were doing the same. So he should have no problem with a strong professional woman living next door, as long as she showed him courtesy.

Well, Conan isn’t my next-door neighbour, alas, though the gentleman who lives in the next flat is nice enough. I can only find him between the covers of a book - in my case, one of the old Lancer editions which I first picked up on a remainders table, many years ago. I remember the wonderful Frank Frazetta covers, with Conan battling some monster or other, and the sheer joy of losing myself in his adventures. He may not be sitting with me in my study when I write, but I would probably never have had a go at heroic fantasy if not for those tales, or have joined the Society for Creative Anachronism, where I learned, at least, what you can’t do with a sword (it would have been much more fun to learn from Conan. I think he’d laugh at the idea, but help you out if you really wanted to learn).

The only thing is, if Conan moved in next door, he wouldn’t stay long. He would become restless for the next horizon - and probably run out of money and need another job. I think I’d miss him, too. Then again, he would probably leave you a souvenir ... such as a treasure from some ancient cursed tomb from before the dawn of time...

END

Current Mood: amused

The interview was on the ABC radio program Overnights, about my book Crime Time: Australians Behaving Badly. I have to take my hat off to those folk who do this nearly every night and act as if it's the middle of the day! They're amazing. That's both the presenter, Trevor Chappell(no, not the cricketer!) and the producers.

Was it worth getting up in the small hours on a weekday? You bet! And I had already told my daily organiser at school that I was going to go back to bed and sleep in. She was fine with that - I have plenty of leave and I don't have classes on Monday anyhow. She even wondered why I was coming in at all, but I have things that need to be done. which can't be done at home.

So, what was it all about? My lovely publisher Paul Collins arranged it. He did an interview about something else a couple of weeks ago(his own version of Henry Lawson's dog-themed stories). They asked him if he could recommend someone else and he recommended me. Which goes to show how right I am to believe you will always get more support from small press than large.

He sent them a copy of my book(which I think they will be giving away to a listener who rang to ask how to get a copy for their children) and I really believe it was read, or at least skimmed.

Then I heard from a producer who said they were interested in doing the interview this morning. She suggested I focus on the Batavia story and the nineteenth century stories, which I did, and made voluminous notes, just in case. You never know, and it has been a while since I wrote this.

So, I got up at 3.30 a.m to make sure I was awake enough to be able to answer questions. I put on the kettle for honey and lemon - I've been sick recently and still have a hacking cough, which I hoped a hot honey and lemon drink might soothe, at least during the interview.

I kept a copy of the book beside me just in case... and sure enough, some questions were about later chapters, but no big deal.

There were questions about the stories themselves and about how you go about choosing stories for a children's book on this subject and how much you have to leave out - and I had no problem with those. Mr Chappell seemed to get it that this is storytelling as much as fiction, and we discussed that too.

To my delight, one of the talkback listeners referred to a story about "an elderly woman, I don't remember her name, who poisoned her family..." which gave me the excuse to talk about Caroline Grills and how I'd once met a member of the prison staff of the time, who called her "such a sweet woman!" despite knowing exactly what she had done. And about how I had once told a bunch of kids too young for the book about "the very naughty nana... I bet your nana wouldn't do that!"

Really, this was such a good promotion, and the presenter was pleasant and relaxed and chuckled a lot at the colourful characters in my book.

I am very happy to have done it. If you're interested in hearing it, here is the link:

http://www.abc.net.au/radio/programs/overnights/crime-time-australian-true-crime-for-kids/8629676
I don't know if it will work outside Australia, but give it a go. I'm going to download it from iTunes and save it to my computer.

And here's the Ford Street website!

http://www.fordstreetpublishing.com/ford/index.php/ford-street-titles/books

Have a great day, readers!

The last two days I have attended Continuum 13, the annual Melbourne convention, which was also the Natcon this year. Unfortunately, I had to miss about half of it due to family commitments, but at least I can say I have been to all of them.

Interestingly, there was one panel with a friend whom I haven't seen at a convention in quite some time, because he is strictly a media fan and objects to the other kind of cons because they don't have actors as guests. I tell him till I'm blue in the face that actors cost money, much more money than the average con committee can raise nowadays. They used to manage, years ago, but it was a different world then. Let's face it, the actors now go to events like Supanova and the expo that used to be called Armageddon, where the entrance fee is in the double digits, not the triple, as is the average fan-run convention. The fannish cons simply can't compete. As it is, they have to raise the money to pay for the air fares, accommodation and entertainment of a writer, without also having to pay an appearance fee. (I should add, I don't blame the actors for their appearance fees; it's the way they make a living, it's just another gig, and if they accept your invitation to a convention, they can't accept another gig, like a film or a TV show. It's just that we can't afford them).

So I was very surprised to see him there. I must ask him for details when we next meet on Thursday, at a mutual friend's retirement celebration. I did go to his panel, which was "Queering science fiction", about the obvious. I didn't really enjoy it - there was rather too much complaint about not being represented, which would be fair enough, except it was from people who had just told us that there have been queers in space opera since the beginning. And there was the person(gender-fluid) who complained because poor Ivan, in Lois McMaster Bujold's A Civil Campaign didn't throw himself into the arms of the now-male Lord Dono(formerly Lady Donna) on his return from Beta Colony after a sex change. Well, why would he? Number 1, he's totally hetero; the woman he had an affair with is no longer available, but after his initial shock he helps Dono with his campaign to become Count, something he couldn't have done as a woman. Number 2, Lord Dono is not upset; he thinks it's hilarious, and Number 3, doesn't actually WANT Ivan to continue the relationship. He has other plans. Being a woman on the male-dominated Barrayar is no fun, and by the time Lady Donna left it, she was fed up with dealing with men. She became one without regret, though. Of course, then the panellist might have complained because Lord Dono is now a hetero male, but that would be another matter. The way it was decribed was, "Someone he(Ivan) had lusted after and..." Wrong. He had had an affair with her; she had been his sexual mentor. There's a difference.

There was a mention of the Trill from Star Trek and the assumption made that they take over the bodies of their hosts and squash the personalities. In fact, in Deep Space Nine, it was explained that far from being parasites, they were symbionts, who more or less had to beat off applicants with a stick.The successful ones got access to the memories and skills of all the previous hosts, as I recall, in return for the use of their bodies. In one episode, Jadzia was challenged by an unsuccessful applicant, who got her symbiont off her, and she was not at all happy!

My friend said afterwards that the panel hadn't turned out quite the way he had in mind.

Likewise, there was a lot of whingeing from a panel called "The Forgotten Mothers Of Science Fiction". Thing is, many of the women mentioned, such as Diana Wynne Jones and Andre Norton, are far from forgotten - and their works are still in print. I had read nearly all of the women whose works are supposedly forgotten. It may be because I'm older.

I did see the point about Grania Davis, whose work needs hunting up, and who is only remembered as the wife of Avram Davidson. And I did enjoy the panel despite the complaining about something that really isn't true, IMO. The subject matter, about women in SF, was interesting to me. Mind you, I was surprised that an urban fantasy writer like Seanan McGuire mentioned YA fantasy without mentioning Melissa Marr, whose urban fantasy stories with fairies(or, rather Faeries), the Wicked Lovely series, were based on a lot of research and traditional stories, by a PhD university academic - they were very popular in my library at one stage. But I guess she can't read everything. None of us can.

I was disappointed with the panel on fan fiction, which was run by four young things who were probably not born before the Internet and certainly would never have seen a printed media fanzine. I should have gone to the panel on "Humans are special." But I had such fond memories of fan fiction back in the days when I was writing it - I wrote about 150 fan stories!

My favourite panels for the con were "Kid Stuff" (on books that had inspired some authors on the panel, including the delightful Michael Pryor) and the one on filking, plus I thought Seanan McGuire's GoH speech was delightful. Also, the one on fairy tales and the Dr Who panel, the only one that had a chance for audience to interact - no, the filking one did too, now I think of it.

Anyway, I had a good time in general and met up with some friends I hadn't seen in some time.

Profile

suenicorn

March 2020

S	M	T	W	T	F	S
1	2	3	4	5	6	7
8	9	10	11	12	13	14
15	16	17	18	19	20	21
22	23	24	25	26	27	28
29	30	31

Page Summary

Syndicate

Style Credit

Style: Starflower for Mobility by branchandroot
Resources: Rounded Star 005

Page generated Mar. 4th, 2026 08:15 pm

|

Recent Entries

Expand Cut Tags

Avozka! String bags in the age of coronavirus

First day as a volunteer!

The New Ardoch volunteer!

Just Started Reading...Lifel1k3(Lifelike) by Jay Kristoff (reposted from The Great Raven)

Post-Teaching Day (from my other blog...)

Recent Writerly Stuff

When The Rug Is Pulled Out From Under You...

Oh Dear! On Goodreads Controversy

Happy New Year! And some Writing Stuff

My Career In A School Library: Some Thoughts - reposted from The Great Raven

In Which I Rejoice For my Wonderful Students!

My Week, Welcome To It!

On Leaving ...

Phew!

Getting a passport - fun and games

On Translation And Unexpected Info!

This postal survey thing

What If Conan Moved In Next Door?

An early morning radio interview! (Reposted from The Great Raven blog)

I've been to a lovely convention

Profile

March 2020

Most Popular Tags

Page Summary

Syndicate

Style Credit