Gossip Is More Fun When You Hear It In Person
I am using this icon as it most accurately sums up my current state of being. I returned last night from a weekend of mad and intense social bunnying at the Aurealis Awards, my first trip away from my family since my now four-year-old daughter was born, and after at least three naps and one full night's sleep, I can still barely keep my eyes open. Since I've spent the whole weekend telling people, this might be a good moment to mention that I am three months pregnant. December and January has been a haze of midday naps, so a solid weekend of "3-5 hours a night" was... ill-judged. But FUN.
I got in on Friday and spent the afternoon and was swept away to tea and cakes with Diane Waters, my editor at Pulp Fiction Books. The waitress kind of tried to suggest that we might just want to share one sandwich order and one cake between the two of us, but Diane gave her a steely glare and said "I don't think so," which consolidated how dearly I love her. Yes, my friends, we made our way through three tiers of sandwiches, cakes and savouries, while chatting nineteen to the dozen. I drank iced tea and gazed at the weather in ill-disguised horror.
It was hot. It was BITCH IN YOUR FACE hot. I'm not used to the tropics. I'm not used to summer days that don't cool down at 5pm. I'm not used to heat that sticks to your skin. It was badness.
I was ridiculously proud of my independence on this trip, catching trains and taxis by myself! I arrived at the fancy schmancy FV4006 apartments at five minutes after reception closed, and felt dread clench at my stomach as their after hours operator claimed my booking didn't exist, and apparently hung up on me. I tried again and found a sane operator who gave me the right codes to access a safe and prove that yes, I had booked after all. Thank goodness.
The airconditioning was dubious. I gazed around the pretty, spacious but utterly stinking hot apartment, and promptly filled the fridge with glasses of water. Finally girliejones and editormum arrived and the gabfest began. We had a lovely dinner with catsparx, benpayne, Rob Hood, and the very sweet and sane looking Mac and Angie from Clarion (are we sure they're Clarionites? I asked. Seriously, they're not even twitching...) Dinner turned into a late night room party in Cat and Rob's apartment, and of course even once GJ and I got back to our apartment we couldn't stop talking...
I had to be up at aargh o'clock to have breakfast with my new agent, Anni Haig-Smith; my new editor, Stephanie Smith from HarperCollins Voyager; and Kylie Chan, the other author who shares them both. We were swept off to a posh golf course which was lovely, though I did consider the vital question (afterwards, of course) - should I be eating smoked salmon and hollandaise sauce in this climate? Was yummy, though.
The afternoon was back to the gang for more chatting and hanging out, with the addition of more lovelies as the afternoon wore on, including Chris Lawson and Sean "seriously, chocolate Ditmars!" Williams. We made the vital decision to eat food before frocking up, and were thus about to be smug later on when everyone was fainting from lack of sustenance. It did mean GJ and I were dreadfully late for the frocking up part, but we survived. GJ and Tehani completely put me to shame with their glam, though I at least had an insanely expensive necklace to contribute to the bling of the night.
Trudi's launch made for a lovely intro event, with lots of drinking (water for me, sadly) and schmoozing. I got to pounce on many people and be pounced in return. The ceremony itself was very slick (cough, though a touch too much product placement, not sure we needed to hear the synopses of the hosts' upcoming books in the first 15 minutes) and professional and just goddamned FANCY. I was impressed at the sense of occasion, and it was awesome to be sitting with Ben and GJ when Trent won his award for "Cracks" from Shiny #2. It reminded us just how exciting that project was when we started, and how proud we are of it. Not to mention the fact that Trent is one of my favourite people in the world and I'm so proud of him too.
I started building dread that I hadn't written a speech just in case I happened to win my category (which was one of the last announced, cheers for that!) - sure, I didn't think I'd win, but apparently NO ONE thought they would win. I am so going to write a speech next time, I can't take the stress.
I was particularly squeeful about Richard Harland's win in children's fiction, and Jonathan's in Best Anthology (The Starry Rift is definitely one of the books of the year, you should all read it). Sitting with Tehani gravely making pronouncements about who would win each time (heh and almost always getting it wrong) was great fun, and it was exciting to be so familiar with the shortlists, and to have opinions on so many of the works. I was shocked to see Tender Morsels not win considering that I think it's one of the most important fantasy novels that I've read in... um, well I hesitate to say ever, but I honestly can't think of any that compare. Certainly not any I've read in the last ten years. Still, this does suggest that Alison Goodman's novel is pretty damn good too, and I'll certainly be getting a copy. It was also exciting to see Melina Marchetta win - I haven't read her book yet (it's on my to review pile) but it felt like we had a real writing celebrity in our midst. (GJ squeezed my arm and said OMG SHE WROTE LOOKING FOR ALIBRANDI which sums it up, really) Melina seemed sweet and sincere, and I was sorry I didn't get a chance to meet her afterwards. Cat Sparks looked fabulous in her dress as she tripped down the stairs (as in tripped the light fantastic, not fell and broke her neck though it was possible a close run thing) and it's always fun to see friends proved wrong when they're certain they won't win. Also yes, it's true, receiving the McNamara did render Jack Dann lost for words... well, by usual Jack Dann standards. It was quite a sight. Ohhh... the emotion of it all. The winners were all so freaking cute! Even the people collecting on behalf of the winners were cute. *hugs room*
Ron Serdiuk had some lovely words to say about publishing and the importance of the awards, but the huge news of the night came at the end when the president of Fantastic Queensland announced they only have one more year of their contract to run the AAs. This meant that almost every conversation for the rest of the weekend included "so WHO is going to take it next?" Nothing like being right there for the gossip.
It was a lovely night, and I got to spend time and chat with many of my favourite people as well as meeting some new favourites, and catching up with those I've never met in person before. Talking until 3am, once again. I do love to talk... you may not know this about me? I was a little bemused whenever people commiserated me on not winning, cos... well, being on the shortlist at all was something of a shock. I think if I had won I would have keeled over or panicked and made Ben pretend to be me. (next time I'm totally writing a speech) Hearing lovely comments by people about "Fleshy" throughout the evening (why yes "that story was so disturbing" is a compliment) was more than enough for me, plus I take complete credit for Trent's win (he doesn't know yet that I stole his award and replaced it with one crafted out of sugar but hahaha first time he gives that baby a bath it's gonna dissolve) and seeing Shiny honoured felt so damn good I was on a high all night.
Sunday was frantic all over again. (did you know in Brisbane when it rains it gets HOTTER? That weather makes no sense) GJ and I woke up early to pack, evacuate the apartments (which finally got cool enough after two days of running the air con on full) and attend the posh breakfast at the Stanford Hotel. It was sort of amusing to see how many people didn't show up at all or staggered in late, which meant GJ and I got to be all smug about our non-drinking ways. And it was fun to hang out with completely different people like Ron, Robert Hoge, Adrian Bedford and Nathan Burrage, whom we'd missed crossing paths with so far. After that, we all trundled our suitcases to "the industry thing," an interesting enough seminar, though it didn't have that much to offer old hacks like ourselves once we got over Karen Miller's revelation that she wrote 700,000 words last year.
In any case, we had to run away early from that so GJ and I could get to our respective lunches. Wahh, we won't see each other again for maybe a YEAR... I went to debrief and snuggle with my ROR darlings Marianne, Rowena and Trent (Margo totally ditched us!) before setting off home again. I was sorry to miss Margo's reading at Avid Reader but I had trains and things to catch, and an earlier start than previously planned because of *lsakdjflskdj* Virgin who cancelled my original Sydney flight.
I did get some bonus time to chat with Trent though (four and a half years, seriously, how can it be so long since we saw each other in person?), as he walked me to my train and hung out while I waited, which was just lovely.
(when I stepped off the train at the airport, I felt the cool change, or at least the first breeze I'd felt for the entire trip. Seriously. How do you people live there?)
An accidental bonus of my flight change was that I was on the same flight to Sydney as Karen Miller, who I'd seen in passing at the AA's but not got quality time with. So we got to chat about books, writing commitments and career stuff, and generally catch up. It's over ten years since we first met! I guess that's true of many of us, but it still makes me feel very odd... and/or old...
All in all, an awesome weekend. It was so lovely to just immerse myself back into the community and catch up with so many friends, especially as it's going to be a long time before I do it again. I was planning on a con later this year, but all being well I will be enormous with Little Kick by the time Adelaide or Melbourne rolls around, so will just have to sit back and experience it vicariously via the laptop instead.
ROLL ON WORLDCON.
I got in on Friday and spent the afternoon and was swept away to tea and cakes with Diane Waters, my editor at Pulp Fiction Books. The waitress kind of tried to suggest that we might just want to share one sandwich order and one cake between the two of us, but Diane gave her a steely glare and said "I don't think so," which consolidated how dearly I love her. Yes, my friends, we made our way through three tiers of sandwiches, cakes and savouries, while chatting nineteen to the dozen. I drank iced tea and gazed at the weather in ill-disguised horror.
It was hot. It was BITCH IN YOUR FACE hot. I'm not used to the tropics. I'm not used to summer days that don't cool down at 5pm. I'm not used to heat that sticks to your skin. It was badness.
I was ridiculously proud of my independence on this trip, catching trains and taxis by myself! I arrived at the fancy schmancy FV4006 apartments at five minutes after reception closed, and felt dread clench at my stomach as their after hours operator claimed my booking didn't exist, and apparently hung up on me. I tried again and found a sane operator who gave me the right codes to access a safe and prove that yes, I had booked after all. Thank goodness.
The airconditioning was dubious. I gazed around the pretty, spacious but utterly stinking hot apartment, and promptly filled the fridge with glasses of water. Finally girliejones and editormum arrived and the gabfest began. We had a lovely dinner with catsparx, benpayne, Rob Hood, and the very sweet and sane looking Mac and Angie from Clarion (are we sure they're Clarionites? I asked. Seriously, they're not even twitching...) Dinner turned into a late night room party in Cat and Rob's apartment, and of course even once GJ and I got back to our apartment we couldn't stop talking...
I had to be up at aargh o'clock to have breakfast with my new agent, Anni Haig-Smith; my new editor, Stephanie Smith from HarperCollins Voyager; and Kylie Chan, the other author who shares them both. We were swept off to a posh golf course which was lovely, though I did consider the vital question (afterwards, of course) - should I be eating smoked salmon and hollandaise sauce in this climate? Was yummy, though.
The afternoon was back to the gang for more chatting and hanging out, with the addition of more lovelies as the afternoon wore on, including Chris Lawson and Sean "seriously, chocolate Ditmars!" Williams. We made the vital decision to eat food before frocking up, and were thus about to be smug later on when everyone was fainting from lack of sustenance. It did mean GJ and I were dreadfully late for the frocking up part, but we survived. GJ and Tehani completely put me to shame with their glam, though I at least had an insanely expensive necklace to contribute to the bling of the night.
Trudi's launch made for a lovely intro event, with lots of drinking (water for me, sadly) and schmoozing. I got to pounce on many people and be pounced in return. The ceremony itself was very slick (cough, though a touch too much product placement, not sure we needed to hear the synopses of the hosts' upcoming books in the first 15 minutes) and professional and just goddamned FANCY. I was impressed at the sense of occasion, and it was awesome to be sitting with Ben and GJ when Trent won his award for "Cracks" from Shiny #2. It reminded us just how exciting that project was when we started, and how proud we are of it. Not to mention the fact that Trent is one of my favourite people in the world and I'm so proud of him too.
I started building dread that I hadn't written a speech just in case I happened to win my category (which was one of the last announced, cheers for that!) - sure, I didn't think I'd win, but apparently NO ONE thought they would win. I am so going to write a speech next time, I can't take the stress.
I was particularly squeeful about Richard Harland's win in children's fiction, and Jonathan's in Best Anthology (The Starry Rift is definitely one of the books of the year, you should all read it). Sitting with Tehani gravely making pronouncements about who would win each time (heh and almost always getting it wrong) was great fun, and it was exciting to be so familiar with the shortlists, and to have opinions on so many of the works. I was shocked to see Tender Morsels not win considering that I think it's one of the most important fantasy novels that I've read in... um, well I hesitate to say ever, but I honestly can't think of any that compare. Certainly not any I've read in the last ten years. Still, this does suggest that Alison Goodman's novel is pretty damn good too, and I'll certainly be getting a copy. It was also exciting to see Melina Marchetta win - I haven't read her book yet (it's on my to review pile) but it felt like we had a real writing celebrity in our midst. (GJ squeezed my arm and said OMG SHE WROTE LOOKING FOR ALIBRANDI which sums it up, really) Melina seemed sweet and sincere, and I was sorry I didn't get a chance to meet her afterwards. Cat Sparks looked fabulous in her dress as she tripped down the stairs (as in tripped the light fantastic, not fell and broke her neck though it was possible a close run thing) and it's always fun to see friends proved wrong when they're certain they won't win. Also yes, it's true, receiving the McNamara did render Jack Dann lost for words... well, by usual Jack Dann standards. It was quite a sight. Ohhh... the emotion of it all. The winners were all so freaking cute! Even the people collecting on behalf of the winners were cute. *hugs room*
Ron Serdiuk had some lovely words to say about publishing and the importance of the awards, but the huge news of the night came at the end when the president of Fantastic Queensland announced they only have one more year of their contract to run the AAs. This meant that almost every conversation for the rest of the weekend included "so WHO is going to take it next?" Nothing like being right there for the gossip.
It was a lovely night, and I got to spend time and chat with many of my favourite people as well as meeting some new favourites, and catching up with those I've never met in person before. Talking until 3am, once again. I do love to talk... you may not know this about me? I was a little bemused whenever people commiserated me on not winning, cos... well, being on the shortlist at all was something of a shock. I think if I had won I would have keeled over or panicked and made Ben pretend to be me. (next time I'm totally writing a speech) Hearing lovely comments by people about "Fleshy" throughout the evening (why yes "that story was so disturbing" is a compliment) was more than enough for me, plus I take complete credit for Trent's win (he doesn't know yet that I stole his award and replaced it with one crafted out of sugar but hahaha first time he gives that baby a bath it's gonna dissolve) and seeing Shiny honoured felt so damn good I was on a high all night.
Sunday was frantic all over again. (did you know in Brisbane when it rains it gets HOTTER? That weather makes no sense) GJ and I woke up early to pack, evacuate the apartments (which finally got cool enough after two days of running the air con on full) and attend the posh breakfast at the Stanford Hotel. It was sort of amusing to see how many people didn't show up at all or staggered in late, which meant GJ and I got to be all smug about our non-drinking ways. And it was fun to hang out with completely different people like Ron, Robert Hoge, Adrian Bedford and Nathan Burrage, whom we'd missed crossing paths with so far. After that, we all trundled our suitcases to "the industry thing," an interesting enough seminar, though it didn't have that much to offer old hacks like ourselves once we got over Karen Miller's revelation that she wrote 700,000 words last year.
In any case, we had to run away early from that so GJ and I could get to our respective lunches. Wahh, we won't see each other again for maybe a YEAR... I went to debrief and snuggle with my ROR darlings Marianne, Rowena and Trent (Margo totally ditched us!) before setting off home again. I was sorry to miss Margo's reading at Avid Reader but I had trains and things to catch, and an earlier start than previously planned because of *lsakdjflskdj* Virgin who cancelled my original Sydney flight.
I did get some bonus time to chat with Trent though (four and a half years, seriously, how can it be so long since we saw each other in person?), as he walked me to my train and hung out while I waited, which was just lovely.
(when I stepped off the train at the airport, I felt the cool change, or at least the first breeze I'd felt for the entire trip. Seriously. How do you people live there?)
An accidental bonus of my flight change was that I was on the same flight to Sydney as Karen Miller, who I'd seen in passing at the AA's but not got quality time with. So we got to chat about books, writing commitments and career stuff, and generally catch up. It's over ten years since we first met! I guess that's true of many of us, but it still makes me feel very odd... and/or old...
All in all, an awesome weekend. It was so lovely to just immerse myself back into the community and catch up with so many friends, especially as it's going to be a long time before I do it again. I was planning on a con later this year, but all being well I will be enormous with Little Kick by the time Adelaide or Melbourne rolls around, so will just have to sit back and experience it vicariously via the laptop instead.
ROLL ON WORLDCON.