Personally, I find queries to be nasty, brutish creatures. I will cook and clean in preference to writing a query. (Those who know my propensity for all things domestic are noisily choking to death right about now.) Theoretically, I must be capable of writing them. I pitched a story to Postscripts on a query, which […]
a word you never expected your aunt to know: frottage. i had a haircut three whole days ago now. i still hate it. sign of a truly bad haircut. this one's gonna take a few months to undo. is leonard cohen's "hallelujah" the most covered song ever in the history of mankind? i have twenty-seven […]
The novel is (hopefully: has been) well and truly stuck. I've tried all the usual tricks, such as sneaking up on the plot by exercising, and writing other stories, watching tv so dull and boring I'd honestly rather watch the carpet in front of the tv than what's on the screen, watching stories I love […]
Today I purchased (or ordered, and paid a deposit for) a new bed and a new mattress. (Which, given that purchasing mattresses involves lying down in public and is therefore on the whole an awkward and slightly ridiculous affair, is quite an achievement. The salesman in the mattress store did not share my sense of […]
In all the excitement over agents and snakes, it occurs to me I never did let you all out of your misery. That's right: the bed has arrived, frame and mattress and linen1. Lookit! Yes, there are actual, honest to god, flowers on the new linen. Any day now they're going to issue me with […]
Yesterday I was cursing myself and calling myself all kinds of stupid for not writing down the ending. Today I found the slips of paper on which I'd written down the ending. I'd only gone and slipped them inside my on-the-go notebook, so I could work on the novel at any convenient time, hadn't I. […]
Thank you, everyone, for your congratulations and your good wishes. It's been a long month, trying to keep the cat in the bag, and it's an immense relief to be able to speak about it. My daily writing has even picked up — I passed the 1,000 word mark with ease this evening, something which […]
Another storm, another blackout. I swear, I must live connected to the worst exchange of the worst substation in town. For srs. Other places have trees and possums and yet manage to go entire years without blackouts. Me? If I don't lose power once a month, I may start to believe the whole of Australia […]
After yet another storm last night which knocked the clocks out halfway through the night, there was a very real danger (of which, being asleep, I was blissfully unaware) that I would not in fact stumble out of bed in time to get to work. Thanks to my neighbour's distinctly glorious (and singularly extensive) bout […]
As of Sunday night, the abysmal draft is done, or at least abandoned. From here on in, it's revision all the way, and an attempt to construct a viable beta draft. Finishing the abysmal draft always leaves me malcontent and cranky, so I spent most of Monday stamping around and scowling. My head is full […]