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I don’t want to blog today. But I have committed myself to blogging every day, and so blog I shall. Even though it feels most of the time like throwing words out into the aether.
I don’t want to blog because I am vaguely sore from impending Weather (though the pain has actually let up a bit now, which indicates that the barometric pressure has risen a bit), I still have a lingering head cold, and I’ve just finished a writing session and I feel like I have no more words.
There’s a lot of stuff I want to blog about, and I will. I want to talk about my experiences with postnatal depression, with parenting, with writing. Sometimes it feels like I’m the All Chronic Illness All the Time channel, and yanno, that can get pretty damn boring.
So I have written, and I have run errands (including seeing the aftermath of someone driving their car into the side of the shopping centre – no one hurt, thankfully, decent amount of property damage and a driver in serious shock). And soon I will go and read and meander about the net a bit, refilling the well. Later, weather providing, there will be a walk.
The husband and I watched the first episode of Continuum last night. Which has potential, but was a bit eh at this stage. I’m happy to give it a few episodes. It makes me a bit sad that so much speculative television series end up being mediocre, and I think I always have high hopes. We’ll see, though. I’m interested, but not really hooked as of yet.
The Aussie Spec Fic Snapshot 2012 is a project that aims to produce a view of speculative fiction scene in Australia; as part of the lead up to Continuum 8, interviews for Snapshot 2012 are conducted by and posted at the blogs of Alisa Krasnostein, Kathryn Linge,David McDonald, Helen Merrick, Ian Mond, Jason Nahrung, Alex Pierce, Tansy Rayner Roberts, Tehani Wessely and Sean Wright.
You can find the past three Snapshots at the following links: 2005, 2007 and 2010
I am somewhat flummoxed (hi, imposter syndrome!) but very delighted to be included as part of Snapshot 2012 – you can find my interview with Ian Mond here. I ramble about the Aurealis Awards judging, my own inability to write short stories and the projects that I’m working on, pretty much.
I don’t know if I hate actual migraines or the fuzzy fog that follows a migraine worse.
I did manage to get rid of the actual pain of the headache mid-afternoon yesterday (painkillers and caffeine = migraine death), but of course the caffeine screwed with my sleep last night. As a result, I’m somewhat tired and very short-tempered today.
But I have written, even if it was reworking the same words I was working on yesterday. Yes, I was writing during a migraine. I have become That Kind of Writer.
I kind of want to write more, but I think it would be foolish today. I did manage to finish the first chapter, which has been sent off to a beta reader to have a look at. My plan for this draft is to get one reader to look at each chapter as I finish it, and then I’ll see if I can nab some fresh eyes for the full draft. Toying with the idea of joining something like the Online Writing Workshop, but we’ll see.
And now, I think it is time to go and rest a bit while the kid naps, and enjoy the sound of the rain outside. And finish my current book so I can devour Mira Grant’s Blackout, which arrived yesterday in the mail.
From where I sit writing (where I am now), I can see the shelf holding books in which I have been published. A shelf to which my copy of Epilogue was added this morning. It’s a small shelf, but it’s growing.
I wish I wrote more short stories. I wish I was more of a natural short story writer, I should say. I think I am learning to write better ones, but I think the novel length is always going to come easier for me. And I’m still learning there, too.
Still working on my outline for Never. I think next week may be spent outlining as well – it’s taking longer that I’d hoped, but I want to get it done properly. I’m having a lot of fun inserting little bit and pieces, adding layers and foreshadowing. I have a very slow and drawn-out process, but it’s my process. I’m feeling really confident about Never, and I am looking forward to the point at which I can start sending it out.
Huge storm last night – serious downpour of rain, which led to a lovely leaking kitchen roof, with a bunch of thunder and lightning as well. The kidlet was pretty amazing and didn’t let it phase him, but the poor kitty was freaked out. Today has been overcast and foggy, but no rain to speak of. The human suit is protesting both variants of weather vigorously (made worse by the fact that I didn’t get any exercise yesterday due to the aforementioned rain), and I am looking forward to getting out for a walk later on today, all being well.
And it is somehow almost the weekend again. Long weekend, too, which is nice. Writing group to look forward to, and massage and hopefully a swim.
I’ve been vaguely dissatisfied with the way I’ve been using several social media sites for a while, and so I’ve decided to make some changes.
The first one is Facebook. I’ve now set up my writing stuff as a page, so people can like it instead of asking to be friended. I’ve set up another personal profile, which I’ll only add some people to. If you’re not added, you’re not really missing out on much, since most of my babbling will be over here and on Twitter still 🙂
It’s going to take me a while to get everything set up the way I like it, but once it’s done, I’ll be happy.
Because I clearly don’t have enough to do already, I’ve issued myself a challenge to read through as many of the Hugo-nominated works for this year as I can. It’s the first year that I’ve purchased a supporting membership so I can vote, and I want to do it properly, dammit.
That pile you see there in the photo includes all of the novels nominated this year. Of these, I’ve read Among Others and Embassytown already, but will reread them. The only one that’s going to be problematic is A Dance With Dragons, since I’m only onto book two of the series. I’ll keep reading my way through, and hopefully I’ll get to Dance before voting is due.
I have a feeling that it’s going to be tough to pick the best one of this bunch.
So, today I turn 35.
It feels weird to even write that. In my head, I vacillate somewhere between being mid-teens and mid-twenties. I have these moments where I just kind of sit back and am totally surprised at the fact that I’m an actual adult, with degrees and a kid.
It’s just past midday and I have done pretty much nothing productive. I will settle down and get some work done while the kidlet naps, though. I have been attacked by a short story, and I have a deadline for the anthology I want to submit it to. Not sure if I’ll make it, but I’m damn well going to try.
I haven’t been blogging much (especially here at the website) of late, because I’ve been pretty much in survival mode. We discovered that one of the medications I’d been put on for my arthritis was damaging my liver. I’ve been off it for almost a week now, and holy crap, I didn’t realise how awful it was making me feel. It was helping the arthritis, but everything else was awful. I need to get retested to see if my liver is bouncing back (which I think it is, bless that regenerative organ), and I shall never ever be touching that class of drugs again. The good news is that I’ve been actually able to start exercising properly again, which also means that I’ve been sleeping decently without needing medication. Huzzah!
Anyway, I am going to issue myself a challenge: to blog here every day for the next year. Which means that there are probably going to be few long, involved posts (but I do hope to do some of those, too!). I have a huge stack of blogging projects I want to tackle: more “Not a Reviews”, blogging reading my way through the Hugo shortlists, and more Her Words and Worlds (I also need to repost my Kirstyn McDermott version of this). And there will hopefully be photos, and probably lots and lots of rambling.
On with the next year, I say. I think it’s going to be a good one.
Caitlin R Kiernan’s The Drowning Girl is officially my favourite book of 2012. One of my favourite books of the last decade, too, I think.
I own a paperback and the kindle version. I’m really hoping that someone like Subterranean brings out a beautiful hardcover edition of it, too.
You should read it. Now.
Awesome is having an artist friend who comes over and draws Totoros with chalk on the paving for your kid.
Not the best or the most productive of weeks, thanks to a flare up of arthritis pain. But I managed to write every day, and to stick to not breaking the chain. I am officially giving myself the weekend off from work, though – today the husband and I are going to see The Hunger Games in Gold Class, and tomorrow is massage day.
In good news, the pain seems to be less today, so hopefully I’ll be back to being productive next Monday.
Links!
Housing and dreaming community.
A three-step algorithm for happiness.
Train your brain for monk-like focus.
Cycle to work at your home office.
Does accepting limitations make us weaker?
What’s the value of SF/F awards to the community?
6 simple ways to release flow.
Struggle is a sure sign you’re making art.