the full laundry list
my word.
it has been over three months, since i last updated this journal. you're all probably wondering if i've met with a tragic accident. actually, we went on holiday overseas (not tragic at all!), and i got a bit too busy with deadlines, and just too generally exhausted, to bother with doing anything online. also, i've ranted before about the sorry state of my internet service. it puts me off posting (a lot) and i am truly over it. well, get this - while i was in Indonesia, i had some problems with access in certain jungle-y areas, but where i could get access, it was better and faster than anything we manage to get here in rural Australia. which is about as much of an indictment of Australian rural net-service provision as i can think of.
anyway, i've been doing some stuff, and this is it:
* we went to Indonesia! (you know that already) for nine weeks! with four children!! how insane are we? (you know the answer to this)
* actually it was great, and we had a really good time. having lived there before, and speaking the language, was a real bonus. you, dear reader, might want to keep this in mind for your next trip to Uzbekistan or wherever...heh.
* i have finished the first draft of my YA novel, which bottomed out at about 80,000 words. i have been letting it sleep, and very soon i'll start redrafting, which i'm really really excited about. i'm hoping to have the redrafts done by December, but really i don't know. i have to finish something else first.
* and that would be the second book of the junior series which i told someone (an editor) that i would have finished by September, but which is not yet finished! i said i would write in Indonesia - hah! who did i think i was kidding!! i maybe wrote 3000 words. yes, monumental fail. but i had a nice holiday and came back refreshed, and now i am getting up at 5am to write regularly (which is a new experience for me), so i'm making up for it big time. i'm 22,000 words in, and i reckon i'll hit 38,000, so i'm nearly there. give me two weeks?
* no, i haven't finished Ashtaroth yet. (flagellates self)
* i went to SheKilda, the Australian Women's Crime Writing convention, and it was awesome. i met loads of authors, including Margie Orford (who is dry and incredibly erudite, and funny), Shamini Flint, Vanda Symon, Marianne dePierres (yes, she is really cool! and incredibly tall!), Tara Moss (did i mention tall?!), Nansi Kunze (she is so lovely!), and Karen Healey (she gave me tips! she is awesome!). and i went all fangirl over Catherine Jinks (@#yasgh**!!!!!!!) and Alison Goodman, and, and...it was great. i had two stories included in the Sisters in Crime anthology, and i got to sit at the big white table and sign books, like a real author!!
it was very excellent. and omg, i had no idea how exhausting conventions can be. by 2.30pm, i was ready to have a little nap, but i still had two panels to go to! and then when it was all over i got to hop in my car and drive two hours home...to start helping my husband dish up the dinner for everyone. but that was nice too, because when i don't see my kids for a whole day and a night, it feels like a year. and dinner was steak and mash and beans and carrots, and that was the perfect end to a perfect day.
* i have read sooo many books lately. it feels like when i'm not writing i'm reading something. which is what Stephen King says you should do, and he should know. i actually read a couple of his (On Writing, which i recommend to everyone, as well as oldies but goodies - Carrie, Firestarter, and lots of short stories), and i also finished all the George RR Martin Westeros books (the ones he's writen so far, anyway), and Charlaine Harris's Grave Sight series (really good! and very different from the Sookie books), and i read a few classics (Tale of Two Cities - it's fantastic, and everyone had told me it was slow, you big liars). i also just finished Guardian of the Dead by Karen Healey (because she kindly gave me a copy at the convention) and it was so engrossing i read it in about one night, and now i am reading Saltwater Vampires by Kirsty Eager, which i have been kind of hanging out for (yes, it is totally worth it). i also read Pocketful of Eyes by Lili Wilkinson, and Across the Universe, and Matched, and so many others that i can't recall all their names. and now, after the convention i have a big list of things i want to read, which always gives me a little bit of squee.
* i also saw many films while overseas, as Indonesia is the DVD-knock-off champion of the world (or at least of SE Asia). so i watched stuff that my kids liked, including Thor and KungFu Panda 2, and shit like that. but i also managed to get copies of shows i've been in love with recently, including Being Human (UK), the Sarah Connor Chronicles, Game of Thrones and (for the win) Misfits. and i saw Captain America, and now i am waiting for the Avengers movie which will no doubt be both disappointing yet strangely thrilling.
* as an addendum to that i have to say that Hawkeye/Darcy fic is my new OTP. and unfit for society recs has ample amounts of my new drug, by authors like sutlers. prior to this i was reading wordstrings, who convinced me of the absolute rightness of Sherlock/John fic in 'Entirely Covered in Your Invisible Name'. i also remember poisonjest 'Book of Hours', and woe_in_a_hoodie'The Sensible Normal Thing' (John Watson! what craziness is he up to now??), and i also re-read a really cool Losers/Supernatural crossover fic on unfit (again) which i can't remember the name of, so if you know then please tell me.
anyway, that's it. you got the full laundry list. and now i'm off to read some more Kirsty Eager, and smoke a few more cigarettes before I give up tomorrow (yes, omg, did i forget to mention that?)
hope y'all are doing okay. cheerio