tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-70187763407233759492024-02-07T14:12:37.565+11:00Musings from an Outer-Spiral-ArmTonyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17946630852168034040noreply@blogger.comBlogger201125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7018776340723375949.post-52048456247267359442022-11-28T11:27:00.006+11:002022-11-28T11:27:45.314+11:00So. Here we are.<p>Surprise!</p><p>Bet you didn't expect a notification from <i>this</i> blog, did you?</p><p>Actually, let's be honest. The chance of there being anyone actually left out there to read this must be pretty minimal but, whatever. Let's pretend, shall we?</p><p>So. What the hell am I doing back here?<br /></p><p>To be honest, I'm not sure. Last time you saw me it was 2016 and <a href="https://anthonyeaton.blogspot.com/2016/06/a-new-virtual-home-for-me.html">I'd just set up a professional 'Writer' blog over at Wordpress.</a> That one is still there, if you're interested. Though I wouldn't bother going to look at it. I've not posted anything there in six years, either.</p><p>Part of it is the whole Twitter debacle. I've been watching the increasingly sad decline of the birdsite into anti-semitic, RWNJ hell and, I guess, I got kinda nostalgic for the days when social media was... I dunno... not easier (Let's face it, the fact that I got down to about two posts a year here is a pretty clear indication of the ease of keeping up with things). But more fun. Less fraught. Less depressing.<br /></p><p>So I decided to see if <i>Musings...</i> was still here. And it is. Then I decided to see if my login still worked. And it does. And so here we are. Just me and you*</p><p>So let's update then, shall we?</p><p>Looking back at this thing, I couldn't help but notice that my third-to-last post, from 2014, was <a href="https://anthonyeaton.blogspot.com/2014/12/so-uhm-yeah.html">this one here</a>. Well. Here is that same child about a week or so ago at their school fun run: <br /></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgyIUgB8KJ8EZVsui_kbyiIXMT4zj-HgOVNxpJMfLkdZPmEq3tupTDyxgnGO8MQFMCqpKW613bYoegM5GNkaYw8WhkIS6syowy4bQosTlG1rqwroOWeoAe_hayy9zxiYf-XYlJZ2v8SLd9pcyrqz8HE9HOINPMRPTQMdAeTWUhv1TPo9IazGiDHC0t3/s4032/IMG_3109.HEIC" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4032" data-original-width="3024" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgyIUgB8KJ8EZVsui_kbyiIXMT4zj-HgOVNxpJMfLkdZPmEq3tupTDyxgnGO8MQFMCqpKW613bYoegM5GNkaYw8WhkIS6syowy4bQosTlG1rqwroOWeoAe_hayy9zxiYf-XYlJZ2v8SLd9pcyrqz8HE9HOINPMRPTQMdAeTWUhv1TPo9IazGiDHC0t3/s320/IMG_3109.HEIC" width="240" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Millie, now 8 years old, wearing sunglasses and covered in paint powder.<br /></td></tr></tbody></table><p></p><p>So yeah. Time has flown. She's a bit bigger now. For the record, her first words (and this was a number of years ago now...) were "Millie do self", and that has pretty much been the state of play ever since. And her brother - who also featured pretty heavily in the early years of this blog - is currently out out in our back studio, twitch streaming <i>The Cult of the Lamb</i>, so things have changed a bit there, too. My partner Imogen is also doing amazing things in the world of International Law, including publishing Large And Important books and getting cited by important international bodies and winning large grants and being just generally brilliant. The four of us have muddled through the last few years of pandemic-induced awfulness relatively unscarred, all things considered. I mean, it hasn't been <i>fun</i> by a long shot, and we've had the usual grab bag of stresses and worries, but we have it a lot better than many people, so can't complain. <br /></p><p>And me? Well.</p><p>I turned fifty a few months back and, I won't lie, it's been weird. It's safe to say that, so far at least, I'm not a fan, but it's early days yet so we'll see how it goes. I'm still at UC, still teaching YA and children's writing and lit studies, plus a few other things. I've been supervising PhD students, doing quite a bit in PhD research leadership, have taken on the management of a couple of decently sized research projects in the Creativity and Wellbeing space, and have generally just been flat out keeping things ticking over. On the non-work front I've become the hopeless-but-enthusiastic coach of a girls under-9 soccer team**, I occasionally surf when my back/shoulders/knees allow it, and I've gotten very into gardening.<br /></p><p>And I've done some writing. Three books, to be precise.</p><p>Two of them are unlikely to ever see the light of day, for various reasons which I won't bore you with. I've got hopes that someone will pick up the third, but tbh it's probably the weirdest, most commercially unfriendly thing that I've ever written, so I'm definitely not pinning all my hopes and dreams on it. But that doesn't matter because - and this was something of a revelation for me - I actually had <i>fun</i> writing it. Which was both unexpected, and refreshing. </p><p>Let's not get into all that now, though. Perhaps if I build a little momentum back into this thing then we can revisit it down the track. I gather that one of the keys to success in the current internet age is something called 'content planning', so we'll call it that.</p><p>Also, by rights, I should probably be putting that stuff up over at my 'Writer' blog. It could probably use a shot in the arm too. We'll see.</p><p>So anyway - that's where we're at. Life continues on, in all its multifaceted glory. The news is full of the war in Ukraine, the floods in rural Australia, the heating planet and the rising seas. But outside today is a rare (for this year, at least) glorious Canberra spring day; the sun has just popped out from behind the clouds, the flowering gum out the front is alive with bees and wattle birds, there are a pair of crimson rosellas perching on the party lights over our back deck, a bunch of sulpher-crested cockatoos are screaming at something a few blocks away, and our garden is green and alive. I've got an idea for a new book in my brain - a good idea, about which I'm really excited - and so I'm going to take my writing journal outside, sit on the front porch in the sun, listen to the warm quiet morning, and make plans. </p><p>I hope you're all well. I hope you also have a patch of sun in which to sit, and birds to listen to. Perhaps we'll talk again soon.</p><p>*<span style="font-size: x-small;">and, as already established, 'you' most likely don't exist anymore. So if someone is actually reading this, I've got no idea where that leaves you, existentially speaking...</span></p><p><span style="font-size: x-small;">** Anyone who knows anything about my abilities with both team sports and ball sports will realise how terribly funny this is. </span><br /></p>Tonyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17946630852168034040noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7018776340723375949.post-72056145706853575202016-06-08T14:22:00.000+10:002016-06-08T14:26:14.341+10:00A New Virtual Home for me...So... those of you who've been following my writing career with interest (hi Mum!) will know that I was, until quite recently, the proud owner of the anthonyeaton.com URL. This was where I hosted my website which had links to my books, awards, that kind of stuff.<br />
<br />
But, to be honest, the website was a bit difficult to maintain. Without having the requisite CSS and Webdesign skills to update it myself, it meant outsourcing it, which posed problems for all sorts of reasons.<br />
<br />
So I kind let it... lapse.<br />
<br />
Then, a little while back, I started getting confused emails from readers. Generally they wanted to know why I was really into Thai football. This came as a surprise, until I discovered that <a href="http://www.anthonyeaton.com/" target="_blank">my website had been gazumped from under me</a>.<br />
<br />
This is entirely my fault, and I feel kinda dumb about it now...<br />
<br />
On top of that, this little blog here (and the lack of any activity on it) has also been hanging over my head for a while now. With one thing and another, I've let it rather slip into inactivity and despite the best of intentions, haven't been able to find the time or energy to get back into blogging in any serious way. Plus, looking over it, it occurred to me that over the years it transmogrified somewhat from a blog about my writing and academic life into one that was mainly about my family. Which is fine. But not overly useful in a writerly sense...<br />
<br />
So I've solved both problems by putting up a new combined website / blog over at wordpress. It'll deal exclusively with my books, and the blog will deal only with writing. Any family or personal blogging I decide to do will still pop up here in Musings from an Outer Spiral Arm from time to time. But for all book-related stuff, please visit me at <a href="https://anthonyeatonwriter.wordpress.com/" target="_blank">Anthony Eaton, Writer</a><br />
<br />
In a few weeks, after the two or so people who still follow this blog have had time to adjust their settings, I'll be switching Musings... into a more locked down mode, for family and friends (and, of course, any existing followers who are still even vaguely interested in my occasional musings...)<br />
<br />
So thanks to anyone who does still check in here, and I hope to see you over on the other side soon! Tonyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17946630852168034040noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7018776340723375949.post-15340571488475175622015-08-30T03:13:00.002+10:002015-08-30T03:13:32.412+10:00Popping my head above the parapet...Was going to go for my whole 'one blog post per year' average, but just thought I'd pop by (on the off chance that someone out there still occasionally swings by and might be interested) to point you to a <a href="https://imogenmarjorie.wordpress.com/2015/08/29/kwade-ochtend-baby-in-den-haag/" target="_blank">guest post I've just done at my wife's blog</a>. This might also explain the long nothingness here at 'Musings from an outer spiral arm…'<br />
<br />
:)Tonyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17946630852168034040noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7018776340723375949.post-15813286719704825432014-12-24T08:24:00.000+11:002014-12-24T08:24:46.171+11:00So, Uhm… Yeah...Well. Two posts in 12 months.<br />
<br />
That's gotta be some kind of record, surely?<br />
<br />
So then, let's start with the apologies.<br />
<br />
Sorry. You know. To anyone who still bothers to occasionally check in here. I'm going to do much better next year, promise. This is primarily because next year:<br />
<br />
1. I've done my 2 year <strike>sentence</strike> stint as course convener, so can go back to not having to deal with mountains of admin that serve many useful purposes, but which primarily suck the joy out of life.<br />
<br />
2. We won't be having a baby. (more on that later…)<br />
<br />
3. I've also managed to divest myself of a big unit, which generally pulls in about 300 students, so will have more energy there too. (though to be honest, I'm slightly torn about that…)<br />
<br />
4. I've got study leave for the second six months of the year, so will have time to, you know, write shit.<br />
<br />
In short, 2014 has been a big year. A very, very big year. And while I haven't managed to get a whole lot of blogging done, I've managed a lot of other things that I'm pretty proud of.<br />
<br />
Speaking of which, here's a question for you. If you have a mother-in-law named Amanda, and a mother named Margaret, and you are a children's writer and children's literature studies academic, and you are lucky enough to have a daughter, what should you name her?<br />
<br />
Introducing Millicent Margaret Amanda Eaton!<br />
<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg40JwZaDoTfEiCwCpZB9S0-hmf1MWSALbN2-xI6Pedr9bVnPxj8O_0z2gOlM1ZuUxfB1L4rVQlhz1N64gCYeyAul8AeBOsx9zoSFHsyoAhDxfWmrixicEYfowj2g9X3jDLGasK7YZ5glU/s1600/IMG_1469.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg40JwZaDoTfEiCwCpZB9S0-hmf1MWSALbN2-xI6Pedr9bVnPxj8O_0z2gOlM1ZuUxfB1L4rVQlhz1N64gCYeyAul8AeBOsx9zoSFHsyoAhDxfWmrixicEYfowj2g9X3jDLGasK7YZ5glU/s1600/IMG_1469.JPG" height="320" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
Yep. That's right. We named our baby Milly Molly Mandy. She's either gonna love us or hate us for it when she's thirteen. Possibly both.<br />
<br />
Still, Millie's arrival has been the highlight of the year, for obvious reasons. She's a very chilled out little girl, and all of us, especially her big brother, are totally in love with her. Which is, you know, good. It's amazing how quickly we've all fallen into our groove as a family of four.<br />
<br />
In other news…<br />
<br />
Busy year academically. In addition to a pretty full on teaching load first semester (nearly 500 students in two units…) I've also managed to get a couple of papers published. <a href="http://www.textjournal.com.au/speciss/issue27/content.htm" target="_blank">A piece of creative research here in TEXT</a>, and a paper up here in <a href="http://www.fusion-journal.com/issue/005-fusion-changing-patterns-and-critical-dialogues-new-uses-of-literacy/the-interactive-picturebook-mapping-literacy-on-a-narrativetechnology-continuum/" target="_blank">FUSION journal</a> on digital picture books, which I'm pretty proud of.<br />
<br />
Plus I pulled together an application for study leave next year, and managed to get it approved, which is awesome news. We'll be taking off for a couple of months in sunny England, where I'll be working with my friends and colleagues at the University of Winchester on a couple of very exciting projects.<br />
<br />
And it wasn't a completely writing-free year, either. I've continued working with Cheryl, my lovely and very patient agent, and have (fingers, toes and everything else crossed) almost finished my final rewrite of <i>The Hunter</i>. As those of you who read* this blog know, this freaking book has been a bit of a marathon. I finished the first draft in 2010, intending it to be a quick, 50,000 word, light and fluffy action adventure story. Now, almost exactly four years later, and with just two new chapters left to write to complete it, it's coming up fast towards 100,000 words, has morphed into a cyberpunk novel, and has a really gritty and quite nasty secondary plot running through the whole thing. This is what I love about writing. It just takes you places you never expected to go… In any case, The <i>Hunter</i> should be finished and away by mid-January, and hopefully we can then start putting it out there for publishers to look at…<br />
<br />
I've also almost finished writing another long-term side project, tentatively called <i>Stepsister</i>, which was started (and not completed) as a NaNoWriMo novel in 2012. It's everything The Hunter isn't - funny, for younger readers, written to be read-aloud, and dealing with (among other things) the problems that arise when you shave a cat. 'Nuff said on that…<br />
<br />
So next year should be a pretty productive writing year. And I promise to include at least a bit of blogging in that equation. Certainly it won't be difficult to better this year's effort. (To be honest, I'm amazed I could still remember my login details!)<br />
<br />
But for now, it's Christmas Eve, I've only had one coffee so far this morning, and the sounds currently echoing from my eldest child's <strike>cavern</strike> bedroom suggest that I'd better get the second one in quickly…<br />
<br />
Have a lovely festive season, everyone, and I'll chat to you all in 2015!<br />
<br />
*<span style="font-size: x-small;">that's the past tense read, not the present tense one - I'm assuming there's nobody left who present-tense-reads this any longer) </span>Tonyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17946630852168034040noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7018776340723375949.post-58725678284432041392014-01-07T13:50:00.000+11:002014-01-07T13:50:27.457+11:00Another wall in the way of Baby Boomer Relevance <div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
(A reply to <a href="http://m.smh.com.au/comment/another-brick-in-the-wall-of-gen-y-cultural-decline-20140106-30dg4.html" target="_blank">Christopher Bantick, Writing inThe Melbourne Age, Jan 7, 2014</a>)</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">In this age of selfies and X-factors, spare
a thought for the insidious damage that is being done to the development of
Australian serious culture. Given that Bob Dylan may have sung ‘…don’t
criticize what you can’t understand, your sons and your daughters are beyond
your command, your old road is rapidly agin’. Please get out of the new one if
you can’t lend a hand…’ should we be bothered? Yes, very bothered indeed.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">The reality that is hidden from many in the
Australian community, is just how pervasive the myopia of looking back to a
‘golden age’ is in promoting older generations’ inability to engage with the
contemporary world. Moronic grumbling about young people is celebrated and
published in major daily newspapers such as the Age and the SMH as significant
and worthwhile. If you think I am overstating the case, well consider this.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">The vanity that is known as elitism
pervades the culture to a corrosive extent. Older people have lost the ability
to know when something is art, and worthy. Instead, they hang on every word of
their preserved conservatives, mouthing broad and unsubstantiated generalities.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">Taiwan-born director Ang Lee says that,
wait for it, “Kids don’t even read comic books anymore. They’ve got more
important things to do – like video games.” If that isn’t selective use of a
curmudgeonly out-of-context citations to back up a spurious argument, what is?
Then there’s the toe-curling indulgence of those music stars, like the late Italian
opera singer Luciano Pavarotti. He claimed that; “In opera, as with any
performing art, to be in great demand and to command high fees you must be
good, of course, but you must also be famous.” Oh please! Can you imagine Josh
Pyke saying anything so crass? <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">Or how about this kind of Pavarotti
self-centered twaddle: “For me, music making is the most joyful activity
possible, the most perfect expression of any emotion.” <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">The Boomers lap up this kind of
self-conscious exhibitionism as a “serious” statement, as they have precious
little comparative contemporary comment beyond what is grumbled about at the
bar during intermission in one of the recent Ring Cycle performances, or in the
staffroom at certain elite private boys schools at lunchtime.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">So, who’s at fault? Baby Boomers need do a
little more about engaging with contemporary, progressive culture, much of
which is building upon the so called ‘high culture’ of the past. Digital
technology, multi-platform narratives, higher mathematics references in ‘The
Simpsons’, young adult fiction that crosses readership boundaries and adds to
the ongoing cultural discourse of the nation. Serious contemporary cultural
artifacts that require patience and understanding need to be explained in small
words to grumpy, unwilling middle-aged pupils.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">In Australia, elitism is the privilege of a
few, who then get into Parliament and rip funding from the public education
system and universities, while complaining about ‘jingoistic egalitarianism.’
But perhaps this is going too far? <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Who
should have to appreciate the finesse behind a slam poem by Omar Musa? Or who on earth Sonya
Hartnett or Shaun Tan are? As for admitting the value of institutions like the
<a href="http://www.niypaa.com.au/" target="_blank">National Institute of Youth Performing Arts</a>, forget it. There are many other
examples.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">Why this matters is that without a sense of
cultural progress, then we will be stuck in the past, with only so-called ‘high
cultural markers’ as the cornerstones of our national cultural identity, and of
cultural discourse more generally. We won’t be able to really really
concentrate or appreciate, for example, Mahler, because we’ll have no
familiarity with the musical traditions and skills that have been built upon
those very foundations. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">The impact this will have on audiences is
cause for concern. In the next two decades, the elders or keepers of the
cultural treasures will be gone, and it’s completely impossible to conceive
that anyone currently under the age of forty will ever have any interest in the
cultural life of the country. You know, apart from all those ‘students’ who are
currently enrolled in various forms of ‘higher education’ in the ‘arts’ sector.
<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">But then, where are the audiences going to
come from if today’s students are stifled in their ability to express and
explore their world and culture, other than through exposure only to ‘elite’
artforms? This is already happening. Ticket prices are not the cause, either.
It’s most likely to do with outdated attitudes to education among certain
elements of the teaching profession who are unable to engage their
students outside of a very narrow prism of experience. Clearly in the
contemporary world, this is a significant problem.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">Sure private schools (like all schools) are
potentially important in destroying this damaging ‘elitism’ in cultural
discourse. I taught in one, and I taught serious, demanding contemporary
literature, right alongside serious, classically demanding literature. Was it
elite? Not if I had anything to do with it. But neither did it pander to the
lowest common denominator. Like all good literature teachers, I tried to teach
my students that context is everything, and that a nuanced observation of
contemporary adolescent life, like Melina Marchetta’s <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Looking for Alibrandi</i> (or even her more contemporary works, written in the proceeding 20 years, such as
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Piper’s Son</i> or <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">On the Jellicoe Road</i>) have as much to
offer to an enquiring, critical reader as, say Jane Eyre. Can you compare the
two? Absolutely. And you should.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">This goes beyond subjective taste. Does Lou
Reed compare with Segovia? Well… it’s kind of an odd comparison, but I guess
that they might. Both were significant musicians of their eras, both served to
act as focal points for the development of their musical disciplines, and if
someone more knowledgeable than I were to apply themselves to the task, I’m
pretty certain that it would be possible to draw lines of stylistic influence
from The Velvet Underground<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>back to
early 20<sup>th</sup> century guitar virtuosos, such as Segovia. But I could be
wrong. It’s certainly not a no brainer. Rather an interesting question, really…<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">These ‘frozen oldies’ are wedged in narrow
cultural doorways of fifty years ago, and are unable to push through into the
wider, room of cultural discourse beyond. They suck up smoothies of
conservative pap when anyone says anything “pithy” out of an increasing and
inevitable sense of their own irrelevance. But ‘pithy’ is a relative term.
Listen to Kurt Cobain, who articulated the disaffection of his generation with
the elitist ‘cultural worthiness’ continuum espoused by previous generations,
and left this “mortal coil” (Shakespeare, in case you haven’t been patronized
yet, today) with the following:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">“I don’t have the passion any more, and so
remember, it’s better to burn out than fade away. Peace, love, empathy.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">Compare the immortal lyrical beauty of John
Keats, who also died young and said, “I feel the daisies growing over me.” <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">Uhm… okay. Aside from the obvious
difference in style, both clearly capture the essence of their context (that
pesky context thing again) and both therefore have cultural worth. It might be
possible to argue that the more allegorical approach taken by Keats to his
impending death was reflective of his awareness (owing to his death being slow,
by tuberculosis) of his own mortality, whereas the quote from Cobain’s suicide
note reflects a stronger sense of finality, and evinces the emotional trauma
evident in much of the cultural discourse of the time. Not sure what the point
of the comparison was, but there you are…<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">The ambivalence that certain ‘Elite’
members of the Baby Boomer generation have to any mention of ‘contemporary
culture’ is reflected in its suspicion of what appears to be difficult to
understand. In this sense, Boomers have opted out of their responsibility to
simply broaden their cultural awareness to include both Banksy and Hogarth. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">The fear I have, is that cultural elitism will
be seen as preferable, even desirable, while damaging and inaccurate generalisations
are made about entire demographics, important contemporary cultural works and
performers are overlooked and unable to develop careers, and culture fails to
progress at all.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
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<span lang="EN-US">Of course, I might be wrong…<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US">(Note to add: Of course I'm aware that, for the most part, the Baby Boomer generation is in no way reflected by the views expressed by Christopher Bantick in his column, and that I've been horribly and deliberately general in this response, but given the flawed premise undermining his piece, I figured it only appropriate to return the favour.)</span></div>
Tonyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17946630852168034040noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7018776340723375949.post-62940854489027178212013-12-03T13:45:00.000+11:002013-12-03T13:45:52.061+11:00So… yeah. Hi.Remember me?<br />
<br />
Tallish guy, glasses, used to hang around here a bit? Yep. That one.<br />
<br />
So, as you probably gathered from my last post, about a century ago, it's been a busy year. Real busy. 12 months ago next week, Min and I saw, fell in love with, and bought a new house (well, technically a rather old house, but new for us). To make life more interesting, we also both started new and very busy jobs. Toby started pre-school (and turned 5 years old last sunday!), I went to Europe for a conference and came back with a buggered ankle caused by falling down the stairs on a train in a most undignified manner, I won a teaching award, finished* <i>The Hunter</i> (which is currently re-titled <i>Tabula Rasa) </i>and sent it off to my agent (still waiting to hear from her on the most recent rewrite). I am also halfway through a NaNoWriMo novel, which is problematic, given that it's now December, and in a week or so we will be leaving for Christmas back in Perth with my gathered family.<br />
<br />
There's some other stuff, too, but those are the highlights.<br />
<br />
The good news is that, as you may have gathered, I'm actually getting some writing done, again. After a pretty extended period of feeling as though my writing mojo had deserted me, just lately I've been aware of it scratching away at the back door of my brain, begging me to let it in again. So a month or two ago I opened the door, just a crack, and now here we are…<br />
<br />
Really it's one of the vagaries of life as a writer - if you want to make a living, chances are that you're going to be pretty busy doing a lot of things that aren't writing, and every single one of them kills off just a little bit of your creative time and energy. Even if you love your job, as I do.<br />
<br />
This year, for me, the biggest issue was Course Convening. It's a two year gig, which I'm now halfway through. It means that I get a little bit of teaching relief each week in return for which I do a fairly hefty amount of work: student consultations and course troubleshooting, admission decisions, organising course credits and variations, approving and compliance checking unit outlines, organising staffing for our various units, ensuring moderation processes happen, organising and chairing course advisory committees, ensuring that our units and courses are accredited and compliant with federal standards. Plus lecturing, teaching tutorials, grading and producing research. Phew.<br />
<br />
And even though I enjoy most of the work, by the end of the day I'm almost always totally buggered** And that doesn't leave a lot of time for thinking about writing or, for that matter, doing it.<br />
<br />
At the start of the year, I tried to block out big chunks of my time - a couple of hours each morning - for writing.<br />
<br />
"No phone, no email, no appointments. Just me and my book…" I told myself and anyone else who'd listen. <br />
<br />
And, for a while there, it worked quite well. Perhaps a month, or even two.<br />
<br />
But, of course, little things began to creep in - the emails began building up, the meeting requests kept coming up on my calendar, lectures needed to be written or revised and, gradually, those precious hours got nibbled away until the concept of 'writing time' was just a dim memory.<br />
<br />
So in mid-october, I drew a line under the year, re-allocated my writing time to the start of my days, and started over. And apart from a few little lapses, I'm doing okay. I've added 15,000 words into the next, hopefully final, draft of <i>The Hunter</i>, plus written about 12,000 words of a younger readers novella which I'm thoroughly enjoying.<br />
<br />
Plus, of course, all the course convener-y stuff I talked about earlier.<br />
<br />
And now I'm back here at Musings from an Outer Spiral Arm.<br />
<br />
So, anyway, that's my excuse for being away so long. At least I managed to return before the year was out. Thank you all for your patience. It's nice to be back.<br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;">*Agent depending</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;">** who am I kidding? by the <i>start </i>of the day I'm almost always totally buggered</span>Tonyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17946630852168034040noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7018776340723375949.post-65262544383331250732013-04-18T11:55:00.000+10:002013-04-18T11:55:04.991+10:00HiatusThanks for visiting...<br />
<br />
Owing to the vagaries of life, I'm on something of a lack-of-time-and-energy-induced hiatus from blogging at the moment. I have high hopes of being back regularly a little later on this year, after I get my life back...<br />
<br />
<br />Tonyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17946630852168034040noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7018776340723375949.post-4567431016623822362012-12-31T08:12:00.000+11:002012-12-31T08:12:18.519+11:00Musings on the End of a *Busy* YearOkay, okay. I know I said that I probably wouldn't be blogging again until sometime in January but, to be honest, the alternative is getting up on the roof to clean out the gutters of the house and, after having spent a couple of hellish hours up there the other day doing some other work, I'm really not at all enthusiastic at the prospect. (Also, I haven't finished my coffee yet...)<br />
<br />
So instead, here we are. Time for that traditional 'Year in Review' type post (though, in my case it's more traditional to do it sometime around Feb 25...)<br />
<br />
Looking back at 2012, I can't help but notice that I've only managed to put up a grand total of 14 blog posts here, including this one. This is a significant drop on the previous three years, but not without reason.<br />
<br />
That reason being simply this: 2012 was completely bloody insane. I can't remember a time in my life when I've been more constantly busy, or exhausted.<br />
<br />
But, that said, it's also been a year of highlights, which is far preferable to the alternative.<br />
<br />
Said highlights would include:<br />
<br />
<br />
<ul>
<li>Signing up 'The Hunter' with my new agent Cheryl in NYC (who has since made me do three rewrites across the intervening months. Feedback on the most recent one still pending, but I'm looking forward to it. As I am to writing the next three books in the series*)</li>
<li>Getting the 2012 ACLAR conference organised, and then running it (with lots of assistance from lots of lovely people). In a lot of ways, this was probably the professional highlight of my year, even though I didn't blog too much about it. Seeing two years of solid work come together over three seamless days was a really unexpected thrill. Which was followed by...</li>
<li>Spending time in Vietnam and Indonesia with various elements of my family. THis last year has been a big one for family type things. Min and Toby and I spent a couple of weeks in Vietnam with her mother, plus my sister and brother in Law, before travelling down to Indonesia for a week with my sister and brother-in-law and their kids, and my parents. And it strikes me how terribly lucky I am to have such a close extended family in both directions. We even managed to all travel together without killing one another...</li>
<li>Developing that theme - Vietnam was amazing. I just completely fell in love with the place. Also..</li>
<li>Pho. Best. Breakfast. Ever.</li>
<li>Back at work, second semester was similarly crazy, but the good kind. I got a good wrap up in my annual review, a teaching award plus an invitation to apply for a national award next year, had lovely classes, worked with great sessional staff, my honours students all did really, really well, and my PhD students hit a few home runs too at various conferences. Plus at the end of it all I got promoted to convener of writing for next year. In the middle of all that...</li>
<li>Attending and speaking at the inaugural 'Celebrate Reading' annual conference run by the Literature Centre in Fremantle. This was another complete highlight, not least because it was effectively three days of hanging out with some of my favourite writer people: Jim Roy, Isobelle Carmody, Gary Crew, Matt Ottley, Shaun Tan, Jackie French, Lucy Christopher and Julia Lawrinson. The final session of this conference, which involved all of us on stage telling our favourite 'War Stories', was one of the most side-splittingly funny hours I've ever spent at a writing event.</li>
<li>Helping my clever wife get her PhD finished and submitted. In my last post, I referred to this, but didn't go into detail. Suffice to say that it involved three pretty insane days during which Toby more-or-less stayed with his grandmother while Min and I set up camp in her office at ANU. Her thesis is amazing! And I'm not just saying that because I'm her husband. I'll admit that I went into the proof-reading process expecting to find it a bit of a slog (not being an expert in International Law, and all that...) but was blown away by both the central argument, and the weight of support for it. Really amazing. It was also, in it's own odd way, quite a 'fun' couple of nights. You haven't lived until you've scrounged dinner from a law school vending machine at 2330 on a Sunday night.***</li>
<li>Finally, just to round out the year, (and as mentioned last post) we got ourselves a new house. All going well (and it is, at the moment, touch wood...) we'll be moving early february**** Which means that I'm spending my summer holiday valiantly attempting to get about 12 months worth of house repairs and renovation done in roughly 3 weeks. Today the skip bin should arrive so that we can start pulling out carpets. Before then, though, I've got to clean those gutters I mentioned earlier. Plus go to the gym.</li>
<li>On top of that, there's the random stuff: learning to play Ukelele (which has, in turn, gotten me back into more regular playing of my other instruments) Judging the ACT Chief Minister's Literary award, which meant that I got to read an awful lot of really good writing, hops up to Sydney and down to Melbourne for various academic and masterclass gigs, having an abstract accepted for a big conference in Maastricht next year, plus lots of other stuff that doesn't occur to me right at the moment.</li>
</ul>
<div>
Finally, of course, one of the very big highlights of 2012 was watching my little boy continue to grow, and turn from being a toddler into a boy. And, importantly, moving from Duplo to proper Lego. I've been waiting for that moment for quite some time... </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
So, that's been my year. Pretty crazy, absolutely exhausting for the most part, but reward-filled. And 2013 seems to be heading down a similar path. But hopefully with more than 14 blog posts...</div>
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<div>
Thanks everyone for your patience during this very sporadic year of posts, and do keep popping by. Have a great and safe New Year's!</div>
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<span style="font-size: xx-small;">* Says the man who swore at the completion of the Darklands books that he'd never, ever, EVER sign up to a multi-book narrative ever again**</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: xx-small;">**Aplogies to Taylor Swift.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: xx-small;">***Though the less said about the 33,000 words of footnotes which I individually checked against the bibliography and thesis references, the better...</span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-size: xx-small;">**** At exactly the same time as I'm starting teaching for the semester, and stepping fully into my new course convener role. Go me.</span></div>
Tonyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17946630852168034040noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7018776340723375949.post-53867675659698085782012-12-21T11:58:00.001+11:002012-12-21T11:59:39.062+11:00Just When You Thought I'd Given Up Completely...Remember January? That halcyon, golden summer last year, when I committed to blogging here every single week during 2012? No? Good. I don't remember it, either.<br />
<br />
So it's been a busy* semester. And next year is looking similarly frantic, but there are a lot of good things happening.<br />
<br />
Probably the biggest one is that our little family is on the move! Okay, we're not going too far, just across Canberra, but a week or so back we found a lovely house in one of the suburbs that we've always looked at and sighed wistfully. Just for good measure, it was exactly within our (recently much improved) buying capacity. So we bought it. Looked at it for the first time at 2 O'clock on a monday afternoon, put in an offer at around 2.45, and had it accepted just after 3.15. By 5.30 we'd signed up to sell our existing place with the same agent (she's nice. We like her...) and by 6.00 we were sitting on our couch, rather dazed, saying things like 'Well. That was unexpected.' to one another.<br />
<br />
Now we're having fun trying to sort out our finance during what is, effectively, the christmas shutdown for most of the financial industry. But it's all looking very positive, anyway...<br />
<br />
Other news: My clever wife also submitted her PhD last week. (Yes, you're correct. We did go and buy a new house just 7 days from her submission date. If you're going to put yourself under pressure, you might as well go the whole hog, we figure...) This meant that the two of us spent most of last weekend editing and proofreading furiously. I personally checked every one of just over 33,000 words of footnotes, including thousands of individual references and case citations. Took roughly 16 hours. We finished up at 3.00am monday morning, nipped home for a refreshing 4 hours sleep, then got back to the finishing touches and printing so that Min could hand it over at 2.30. Then we went and had a drink.<br />
<br />
So now it's just a horrible wait for the results.<br />
<br />
And, come the start of next year, I'll be writing again, too. My plan is to knock out books 2 and 3 of 'The Hunter', hopefully by mid-year. (book 1, in case you're interested, is still with my Agent in New York. Fingers crossed I'll have some news on that front sometime early in the new year...)<br />
<br />
After that it'll be time for some academic writing, preparing for a conference I'm off to in Holland next year in August. I'm also editing (and contributing) to an academic book on questions of truth and honesty in Children's and YA literature.<br />
<br />
Plus, of course, next year I'm going to get back into blogging more seriously. Really. Proper blogging, too - not just these newsy posts that nobody except my mother has any real interest in.<br />
<br />
In the meantime, though, I've got a bit of last minute shopping to do, so I'm going to sign off here. Chances of me signing back on anytime before mid January are pretty small, to be honest (I've got about 18 months worth of house renovations to do in roughly 3 weeks!) so I'm going to thank all my readers for their interminable patience with me this year, and wish everyone a Happy Festive Season - however and whatever you celebrate - and hope you all stay safe.<br />
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Cheers. T<br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: xx-small;">*<b>Busy </b>[<i>v / adj</i>] <span style="background-color: white; color: #212121; line-height: 19px;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">bizē: full time teaching load, revising next draft of next book, supervision of 5 Phd and 3 honours students, presenting keynote addresses at 2 conferences, helping wife prepare and submit her PhD thesis, organising and running a birthday party for 15 sugar-loaded 4-year-olds, buying a house, selling a house, grading and moderating roughly 350,000 words worth of student work, marking 2 PhD thesis, running masterclasses in sydney, occasionally exercising, being father to an increasingly-energetic little boy, re-discovering Lego.</span></span></span>Tonyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17946630852168034040noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7018776340723375949.post-60076730205956803272012-09-20T10:29:00.002+10:002012-09-20T10:29:16.226+10:00Yes, Still Alive...Two months. A new record, I suspect.<br />
<br />
Though in my defense, I've been busy. Very, very busy. And doing some writing, too! In fact, just a few minutes ago, I (finally) shot off draft #5 of 'The Hunter' to my agent Cheryl, and now I've got my fingers (and toes, and...anything else that'll help) very tightly crossed hoping that she likes it.<br />
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This last rewrite was a particularly big one, added another 10,000 words in, including two new chapters, plus a *whole lot* of character reworking for the protagonist to try and make him a little more appealing to a broader readership. And I've had to lever that in between the semester-from-hell (only in terms of workload, not students, just to be clear). I'm also frantically reading the entries for the ACT Chief Minister's Literary Award (I'm chairing the judging panel this year), have marked 2 PhD thesis for another uni, and signed a contract to put together an academic-y type book for Cambridge Scholars Press in the UK (which will feature all sorts of cool people and will draw from the ACLAR conference we ran here in Canberra back in June).<br />
<br />
Oh, yeah, and we bought a kayak.<br />
<br />
I've wanted to get a kayak pretty much since we moved to Canberra. A nice big 2 seater that we could take out on the lakes (of which Canberra has a multitude) or down to the coast for a little sea kayaking. Something we could pack up with a picnic and head out on the water for the day. Something I could just get out in on my own occasionally and paddle, and make bookish plans.<br />
<br />
Unfortunately, the fact that our car is a Peugot 307 hatchback, with no roof racks or towbar made the reality of owining a 15 foot boat a little problematic.<br />
<br />
Or at least, it did. Until Imogen pointed <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JLBykS3Zh6U" target="_blank">THESE</a> out to me...<br />
<br />
Now, I'll admit, I was a little sceptical at first. I mean, an inflatable kayak couldn't possibly be any good, could it? It'd be just like a big blow up toy that you play with in the swimming pool, surely.<br />
<br />
Really not. After a bit of homework (a lot) of homework, we got online and ordered our AE convertible from the US. Then, a week later, three big boxes arrived on the doorstep and, after a couple of practice setups, Toby and I (poor Min, couldn't come. She's got this little PhD due any day now...) went for our first hit out on Lake Gininderra. And it was great! We paddled 7 kilometres, saw all sorts of cool and interesting things, and both decided that we LIKE our boat. It doesn't paddle or feel like a blowup toy at all - once it's inflated, it's rigid and stable, and cuts through the water just like a regular hardshell kayak. It's also received a fair bit of attention and interest from some of the local kayaking fraternity.<br />
<br />
Since that first trip, we've been out every weekend. Last Sunday the three of us loaded up and paddled down to the Governor General's place in Yarralumla. She has her own jetty, which I argued was basically an invitation to morning tea, but I was outvoted. Still, it was a lovely couple of hours.<br />
<br />
I'm now hatching plans, when I get a bit more paddle-fit, to try to paddle the length of lake Burley-Griffin, and do a kind of 'Canberra from the Water' blog post. Might take a while, though.<br />
<br />
So that's what I've been up to. Just the usual, really.<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCSQ1oJkDq2Wl50JF0lePFuATYXT6vPiByWoC1jfbVEK60_1HDJ83kti6Zk9sMJ38V5mtJUAcjicTpUgtRE044V-Wg-6AJ1vkTbOeXPUFcsdqYNry_JTK6eia5_fdKFyYcav8BZsJx-5A/s1600/photo.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCSQ1oJkDq2Wl50JF0lePFuATYXT6vPiByWoC1jfbVEK60_1HDJ83kti6Zk9sMJ38V5mtJUAcjicTpUgtRE044V-Wg-6AJ1vkTbOeXPUFcsdqYNry_JTK6eia5_fdKFyYcav8BZsJx-5A/s320/photo.JPG" width="320" /></a><br />
Tonyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17946630852168034040noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7018776340723375949.post-30265024415442638972012-07-23T15:20:00.000+10:002012-07-23T15:24:33.697+10:00God Canberra is Cold. Anyone else notice that?This time last week I was on a beach on Bintan Island in Indonesia. Today (sigh!) I'm back in my office, gradually working my way through a really quite stupid backlog of e-mails* And I can't help noticing that Canberra is a lot, lot colder than both Vietnam and Indonesia.<br />
<br />
Still, in many ways, it's nice to be home and back into work**<br />
<br />
In case you're wondering, we had an absolutely lovely time while we were away. And because it is traditional on these occasions I'm pleased to present (Ta Dah!):<br />
<br />
TONY'S HOLIDAY PHOTOS!<br />
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To start with, here is my son, somewhere on the streets of Hanoi<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmflXItBGZfiblsfnF836Fivd-BFSrq2Bx2MoC8ErxuCLQNfg1UbKJACkFxgZlieukt5gL5pcBw-jpaoSpC2IUXiCl8NYUiu_MMRY7ap1N1qBqXi8GjVi6GPqbBARH-V_DbYA7P81EcCk/s1600/IMG_1678.JPG" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmflXItBGZfiblsfnF836Fivd-BFSrq2Bx2MoC8ErxuCLQNfg1UbKJACkFxgZlieukt5gL5pcBw-jpaoSpC2IUXiCl8NYUiu_MMRY7ap1N1qBqXi8GjVi6GPqbBARH-V_DbYA7P81EcCk/s320/IMG_1678.JPG" width="240" /></a><br />
Min and I have an idea for the producers of '<i>The Amazing Race</i>' - next season, all teams should have to run the race with a 3 year old in tow. It would make things a lot more interesting for all concerned. As you can tell from the expression on Toby's face, he's not particularly happy in this shot. There were a number of reasons for this. One of them was that as a born and bred Canberran, he's not overly used to 35 degree days with 89% humidity. Another was that he's at the perfect height for having his face and head patted and touched by pretty much every person we met. The Vietnamese are lovely people, and they really loved Toby. Sadly, after a few hours, he began to get just a little, well, tetchy from all the attention.<br />
<br />
Still, in actual fact, travelling with a toddler was fantastic, and meltdowns aside, some of the most memorable moments of the whole trip involved Toby. One good example was on our final day in Hanoi, when we emerged into the hotel foyer to find our son, the doorman, the hotel manager and one of the receptionists all on their hands and knees in the foyer, playing with the set of toy cars that the manager had just given Toby as a goodbye present.<br />
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Hanoi itself was just wonderful. It had interesting shopping:<br />
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Interesting wiring:<br />
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And it's monsoon season there at the moment, so every afternoon the clouds would roll over, and the streets would go from chaotic to this:<br />
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There was also some amazing food and eating*** and plenty of walking around.<br />
<br />
From Hanoi, it was a quick hop down to the ancient city of Hoi An**** where we stayed at a lovely little homestay establishement, just a little out of town. The family running it were incredibly welcoming, and it quickly became our little refuge from the touristy madness of Hoi An.<br />
<br />
Hoi An itself is beautiful - just a stunning place, especially at night when the whole town and river is lit by paper lanterns.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidIxMvCZTiFa13qFcAi7IUVGUwpZqT_eKaX-VXgqgi57ihrU2Qifq5jWSgwW06SEXzBX4fhyphenhyphena_a7uZL4i-5MA2Lrz6pZcw_fD7MRHqcpj7oUPWRQhRv-7rLKRt49wfB8BriOm8Oy6QJgI/s1600/IMG_1705.JPG" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidIxMvCZTiFa13qFcAi7IUVGUwpZqT_eKaX-VXgqgi57ihrU2Qifq5jWSgwW06SEXzBX4fhyphenhyphena_a7uZL4i-5MA2Lrz6pZcw_fD7MRHqcpj7oUPWRQhRv-7rLKRt49wfB8BriOm8Oy6QJgI/s320/IMG_1705.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Evening in Hoi An</td></tr>
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It is, however, very touristy, with more touts and pressure than anywhere else we visited in Vietnam. The biggest industry by far is Tailoring, and we all had some lovely clothes made up, but I couldn't help the feeling that the tourism was something of a double edged sword for the town; as well as becoming the main driver for its survival, it has also really had an impact upon the overall feel of the place.<br />
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Still, it is stunning. There's no denying that:<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjID8qTjTP2JWTrDKbyPd8lhiqOqvXGZ88JmZCJvS58_xy_lP7AQdmNPPrj6MZQxvMJQQoml_YfzpKpD8FgjnS8c8s17HQpsw-x1eyYb2SWP2M0NorvUxU_Sa8C6b-tLgiaracZtab5RY/s1600/IMG_1696.JPG" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="242" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjID8qTjTP2JWTrDKbyPd8lhiqOqvXGZ88JmZCJvS58_xy_lP7AQdmNPPrj6MZQxvMJQQoml_YfzpKpD8FgjnS8c8s17HQpsw-x1eyYb2SWP2M0NorvUxU_Sa8C6b-tLgiaracZtab5RY/s320/IMG_1696.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Hoi An Countryside</td></tr>
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From Hoi An, we flew down to Saigon (or Ho Chi Minh City, as it's officially titled). We only had three days here, and barely scratched the surface of this amazing, growing, cosmopolitan playground. I especially enjoyed just wandering around the city, soaking in the site of so much history. On our second last day, I booked a car and guide to take me out to the Chu Chi Tunnels, where some of the bloodiest and nastiest fighting in the Vietnam war took place. The tunnels themselves were amazing - they've been expanded to fit large western bodies, but I still only managed to get through 40 of the 100 or so meters that are open to tourists. And I've never suffered from claustrophobia in my life. Just as interesting was chatting to my guide (who asked not to be named in any reviews of the trip) about life in modern Vietnam. We talked about the reality of re-unification, the differences between the north and south that still persist to this day, and the long shadow of the war, which still touches most Vietnamese lives in one way or another. It was an insight into the country that I didn't get anywhere else, and one of the most valuable parts of the trip for me.<br />
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Then it was on to Indonesia, to meet with my family for a week at Club Med*****<br />
<br />
This was my first experience of Club Med. And Min's. And, I hate to say this, it was - in its own way - kinda fun.****** It was particularly good for Toby who got to play with his cousins from Holland for a whole week:<br />
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<br />
There was a lot of swimming. Kyacking. Eating. More swimming. Archery. Elephant rides. And swimming.<br />
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Oh, and there was also a trapeze school:<br />
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While we were at Club Med, my brother and sister-in-law, who live in Perth, managed to complete my parent's collection of grandchildren with their first child, a little boy named Kalvin Nicholas, who turned up a month earlier than expected, but in excellent condition. Even though he didn't know it, his birth was big news in northern Indonesia, and was roundly celebrated.<br />
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And then, sadly, it was back to reality. And Canberra. We got home last Thursday night, very tired and jetlagged after about 24 hours on planes and in airports. We picked up our very happy puppy from the kennels, reclaimed our very ambivalent chickens from the neighbours, unpacked, washed up and got ready for the working week ahead*******<br />
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Which brings us to now, really. In the weeks ahead I'm going to launch back into my writing, knock over the (hopefully) final draft of <i>The Hunter</i> (I'm thinking of changing the title to '<i>The Hunter Games</i>' - what do you reckon? Catchy?), plus a very busy semester ahead.<br />
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And, of course, some blogging. Occasionally ;)<br />
<span style="font-size: xx-small;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-size: xx-small;">* which is the price you pay for resolutely ignoring your e-mail for 3 weeks while having fun.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: xx-small;">** I'm fairly sure that UC monitors this blog :)</span><br />
<span style="font-size: xx-small;">***Actually, eating tended to be something of a theme on this trip</span><br />
<span style="font-size: xx-small;">****That is, it would have been a quick hop, if not for the 4 hour delay that Jetstar managed to impose on our departure. </span><br />
<span style="font-size: xx-small;">*****Please, don't judge me.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: xx-small;">******But also kinda like joining a cult for a week.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: xx-small;">*******In my case, this involved spending 4 hours making an enormous pot of Vietnamese Pho for breakfasts this week. Pho has become my latest obsession. And, trust me, it's a good obsession to have. </span>Tonyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17946630852168034040noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7018776340723375949.post-91073367818749767472012-06-29T18:46:00.002+10:002012-06-29T18:46:41.284+10:00A quick one. Very Very Quick....Hi all...<br />
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Conference last week went well. Swimmingly so, in fact. Lot of happy little campers and a very exhausted (but also happy) me. In fact, I can't believe it's a week already since things wrapped up. Highlights included all three keynotes, Shaun Tan's evening event (after which he signed books for something like an hour and a half - consumate professional that he is!), and getting through my own paper with some vague sense of coherence, despite the fact that I'd had three hours sleep the previous night (Thanks, Toby and every cat in the neighbourhood!), no lunch, and was effectively running on pure caffeine and nerves.<br />
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This week has been a blur of post conference wind up; finalising the budget, cleaning up office etc... plus catching up on backlogged uni-related emails and student matters, before getting ready for...<br />
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VIETNAM!<br />
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Yep. This time tomorrow, Min and Toby and I will be in Singapore. After an ungodly early start tomorrow morning, we're off for THREE WHOLE WEEKS!<br />
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I might try and blog a little bit while we're away, but I'm not sure what my internet access will be, or my energy levels. Either way, the bags are packed, the dog at the kennel, the chickens accounted for, and at 6.25 tomorrow morning, we're outa here.<br />
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So if you don't hear from me again for a while, have a lovely winter. I'll be thinking of y'all ;)<br />
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<br />Tonyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17946630852168034040noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7018776340723375949.post-76127807554790449532012-06-19T16:44:00.001+10:002012-06-19T16:44:53.208+10:00Okay. Here we go...Righto. So tomorrow morning, after two years of work, the <a href="http://www.canberra.edu.au/aclar2012/home" target="_blank">2012 ACLAR conference </a>begins here in Canberra at the National Library of Australia. We're opening at midday with a keynote address from a scholar I've long admired- Deakin university's Clare Bradford. On Thursday we have Shaun Tan keynoting, and then on friday Professor Kerry Mallan from QUT - another incredible thinker and scholar, and just a perfect fit for this particular event.<br />
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Plus, of course, we've got a whole range of other interesting and exciting papers from scholars, writers, students and interested parties from all points of the children's literature compass. <br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTf6Xudhyphenhyphen1oRRC5gxSFo6_l2SyZdK7vTmNjiYYj9RzaVj27XnFNmoE7YR_a3cQaYc66IQrHi2af5Jjq5vu3LPWhLURiyWNO4sbUXovobRtO2oODDTKKYeZ87pUJSmsSnLJHpcUVPlHh_k/s1600/CFP+Logo.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="175" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTf6Xudhyphenhyphen1oRRC5gxSFo6_l2SyZdK7vTmNjiYYj9RzaVj27XnFNmoE7YR_a3cQaYc66IQrHi2af5Jjq5vu3LPWhLURiyWNO4sbUXovobRtO2oODDTKKYeZ87pUJSmsSnLJHpcUVPlHh_k/s200/CFP+Logo.jpg" width="200" /></a><br />
We've got 75 ish delegates, from all over Australia, New Zealand, the US, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Malaysia and (I'm pretty sure) a few other places.<br />
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We've got a function on Thursday night, with Shaun's academy award winning film The Lost Thing being screened, followed by an in conversation with Genevieve Jacobs, one of our fantastic ABC Canberra presenters, who is generously giving up her evening to help out.<br />
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At this point, I've got delegate bags done, running sheets and checklists organised, catering ready to go, a little gang of brave volunteers prepared to run the length and width of the NLA to make sure that all goes according to plan, I've done the first airport run, followed by some of the worst navigating I've done in the five years since we moved to Canberra (Poor Clare got a tour of all of the most 'exciting' parts of the parliamentary triangle while I attempted to track down her hotel*)<br />
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Oh, yes, and I've also written my own paper, which I'm delivering tomorrow afternoon in the second concurrent session**. I'm talking about American author John Green's most recent novel <i>The Fault in Our Stars.</i> I'm not sure how it'll go down, actually. Because JG - who I've met, like, and admire tremendously as both a person and a writer - has a spectuacularly devoted fanbase, and while I'm not being gratuitously critical of his book***, I am looking at it through a specifically academic lens, and calling a couple of aspects of it into question. But nicely. So I'm hoping nobody will get upset. It's part of the difficulty of being both a children's and YA writer and a children's and YA literature scholar. Even though the two jobs have, in many ways, a really lovely synergy to them, the latter often requires you to adopt a very different perspective on books and writing, and to look at them through a quite specific theoretical and critical focus. It's not always the most comfortable situation to be in. But it is what we do. And it's important - and I really believe this - that scholarly discourse be fearless and objective, so that it is able to make a really solid contribution to the cultural life of a society.<br />
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But enough of me on that particular bandwagon...<br />
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In any case. I am (touch wood) organised. And it's only taken 24 months!<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFYi7igM1ItC0gCNgrGKMZybSzYjLxM9TAiU1R-5lZ6TQo3mYDkWKWDk0pfwsJbjz0Ir2sbOJ3H5AgVB5Orn4_vgMV3DjEJw6UMDLQXYAgiOCyBDDq8kHsYfvfzWhPoy0ng-BEsRYn2Pw/s1600/ticket-to-paradise-a-journey-to-find-the-australian-colony-in-paraguay-among-nazis-mennonites-and-japanese-beekeepers.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFYi7igM1ItC0gCNgrGKMZybSzYjLxM9TAiU1R-5lZ6TQo3mYDkWKWDk0pfwsJbjz0Ir2sbOJ3H5AgVB5Orn4_vgMV3DjEJw6UMDLQXYAgiOCyBDDq8kHsYfvfzWhPoy0ng-BEsRYn2Pw/s320/ticket-to-paradise-a-journey-to-find-the-australian-colony-in-paraguay-among-nazis-mennonites-and-japanese-beekeepers.jpg" width="205" /></a>And to take my mind off things, before I go home tonight, I'm going to a party! Actually, I'm speaking at the party. I'm launching the debut book by one of my colleagues here at the Uni of Canberra - one of our masters students and tutors, Ben Stubbs. Any regular readers of the Sydney Morning Herald will probably recognise Ben's name, because over the past few years, he's become one of their more prolific travel writers. But he's also been working on <a href="http://www.harpercollins.com.au/books/Ticket-Paradise-Journey-Find-Australian-Colony-Paraguay-Ben-Stubbs/?isbn=9780730497387" target="_blank">'Ticket To Paradise'</a> - the story of his hunt for the descendants of the Australian colony of Cosme, which was established in Paraguay during the early 20th century, by a group of disaffected Queensland shearers, who set off across the Pacific intending to establish their own socialist utopia.<br />
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It's an incredible read - Ben has infused every page with a real sense of place and adventure, and paints such vivid portraits of the people and their lives today. It's just fascinating. It's also a work backed up by formidable research, lending it a wonderful sense of authenticity.<br />
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So congratulations Ben! I'm so honoured to have been asked to officially send Ticket to Paradise out into the world.<br />
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Speaking of which, I'd better go and iron my Tux in preparation.**** <br />
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<span style="font-size: xx-small;">*(which I've actually stayed at twice!)</span><br />
<span style="font-size: xx-small;">**Doing a paper at my own conference seemed like <i>such</i> a good idea. In February.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: xx-small;">*** Which I enjoyed a great deal. </span><br />
<span style="font-size: xx-small;">**** Joke. I don't actually own a tux. And if I did, I doubt I'd ever wear it.</span>Tonyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17946630852168034040noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7018776340723375949.post-79953637144828114362012-06-07T10:42:00.000+10:002012-06-07T10:49:28.263+10:00Wool. (And no, this is not a post about my wife...)... despite the fact that she is well into all things wooly.*<br />
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Actually, technically, I guess we do have Min to thank for this post, because she's the one who put me on to <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Wool-ebook/dp/B005FC52L0" target="_blank">Wool</a>. If you haven't clicked the link yet, I'm not talking about the warm stuff we make from sheep, and which we have a room full of at home. I'm talking about the e-book by <a href="http://www.hughhowey.com/" target="_blank">Hugh Howey</a>.<br />
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Now, I'll be completely honest and admit (and I can't escape the feeling that I'm about to paint a big target on my back with some people by saying this) that I'm not a massive admirer of an awful lot of self-published e-books. I've read a few, and <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/162405941" target="_blank">some of them have been okay</a>. And some of them have been just goddammed awful**. Very few grab and engage me as much as commercially published (in digital form or otherwise) writing though. I often find myself, even with the good ones, wishing the writer had just learned to self-edit a little more critically, or paid someone to do it for them. Don't get me wrong - there's an awful lot that's exciting about writers having the capacity to 'do it for themselves', and I'm all for it as a general principle. It's just that - to my mind at least*** - it often feels to me that in some of these books the crafting of the writing isn't quite as developed as the ideas driving the story, or the packaging of it.**** <br />
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But, by God, <i>Wool </i>makes me take all these preconceptions and throw them out the window.<br />
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This is great writing. And great reading. Without a doubt one of the finest pieces of sci-fi I've read in a long time. Min got the omnibus edition (Wool 1-5) on her Kindle and loaned it to me (one excellent decision by Hugh Howey was to allow digital loaning of his work), and I chewed through it in two days, reading until 1.30 in the morning. And this at a time when I, frankly, needed every bit of sleep I could muster.<br />
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I'm not going to even touch upon the plot - I don't want to risk spoilering any aspect of it. It's too good for that. All I'll say, though, is that it's beautifully written - Howey's capacity to establish and build tension is second to none, and his flair for characterisation reminded me somewhat of Stephen King - and just as importantly, it's beautifully crafted; not a word out of place. It's not a single stand-alone novel, but a series of novellas, a form which has lately been overlooked in publishing, and which harks back to some of the greats of the sci-fi genre; Asimov, Phillip K Dick. And the world of these<span id="goog_1957312907"></span><span id="goog_1957312908"></span> books. Oh. My. God.<br />
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So. In short, if you have a digital reading device, then do yourself a favour and get this. You won't regret it. I promise.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgoxaCDntkpVhi_EE9j0DeDNg-KlqMRnAtt2pTjoY2mDThdMRdTNfl-2qcRu6PISv6oylC_Nr-vtGDSo-1-Rit6bt_g5eNGsGwmVWXB1P1lPbMn70MCAu3BT7TGkn6x36UufWBZb34Bhws/s1600/Wool.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgoxaCDntkpVhi_EE9j0DeDNg-KlqMRnAtt2pTjoY2mDThdMRdTNfl-2qcRu6PISv6oylC_Nr-vtGDSo-1-Rit6bt_g5eNGsGwmVWXB1P1lPbMn70MCAu3BT7TGkn6x36UufWBZb34Bhws/s200/Wool.jpg" width="126" /></a><br />
<span style="font-size: xx-small;">*We got her a loom for her birthday. It made her very, <i>very</i> happy.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: xx-small;">**for any potential or current self published e-book authors reading this, don't take it personally. It's not you, it's me.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: xx-small;">*** and this is my blog, so my mind is all you get...</span><br />
<span style="font-size: xx-small;">**** but then, I'm a commercial writer who teaches creative writing at a university***** so my perspective is not likely to be everyone's.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: xx-small;">***** ie: a wanker</span>Tonyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17946630852168034040noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7018776340723375949.post-17924818192711247742012-06-04T09:18:00.003+10:002012-06-04T09:19:16.029+10:00A Premiere EventWednesday night this week sees the world premiere of a newly adapted stage version of <i>Nathan Nuttboard Upstaged</i>, presented by the Redfoot theatre company at Hale School in Perth. Sadly, owing to the vagaries of conference organisation and end-of-semester grading, I'm not going to be able to get over to Perth to see the show (at least, not on this occasion...) but I'm very excited, nevertheless.<br />
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I was big into theatre when I was at high school. In fact, a good chunk of <i>Upstaged</i> draws upon my experiences as a member of the inaugural La Salle College Theatre Group. (Not the 'stage-kiss' scene, though. That was all my own creation. Seriously...) so it's thrilling to know that the first time one of my books has been converted to the stage, it's being done by a fantastic little youth theatre company in my hometown. And I'm really pleased they chose to do <i>Upstaged</i>, which is - I think - one of the most 'stageable' books I've written.<br />
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Anyway, even though I've written a direct email to the cast and crew, I just wanted to post something here to say break a leg to all involved, and thanks for taking my work and making it real. Can't wait to see it on DVD!<br />
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<br />Tonyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17946630852168034040noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7018776340723375949.post-10548372084090129452012-05-17T16:52:00.001+10:002012-05-17T16:52:16.378+10:00On the Life of a ChickenSo among all the fun and games of the last month (don't ask. Just... don't...), on monday this week I had to take Lottie, one of our Silky chickens, to the vet.<br />
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And, trust me, you haven't lived until you've sat in the waiting room of your local veterinary hospital, holding a box with a fluffy looking chicken in it on your lap, surrounded by sniggering dog and cat owners.<br />
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Lottie was our biggest, fattest, oldest chicken. Though not that old - she was only about 10 weeks when we got her, a couple of months ago. She was the first to start laying, and had been contentiously producing 6 eggs per week for the last three weeks or so. Until last Thursday, when she went off the lay, and started spending all day flopped in her nesting box. Which was decidedly unlike her.*<br />
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My first thought was that she was egg-bound, though the symptoms didn't quite fit. Either way, on Saturday I took her to the vet, who had a look, found no egg, and said to keep an eye on her and bring her back on Monday morning if she didn't come good.<br />
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And, sadly, she didn't.<br />
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So monday morning, bright and early, I popped her back in her box and we toddled back over to the vet, who gave poor Lottie another good going over, and again found no evidence of an egg. What she did find, sadly, was a large tumor growing in Lottie's abdomen. Apparently it's a problem that this particular breed are genetically disposed to. We didn't know that at the time.<br />
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So there was, sadly, nothing for it. Lottie didn't come home from the vet.<br />
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Which, as you can imagine, was quite upsetting for all of us. Mainly because we're one of those silly families who does things like giving their chickens names and treating them like pets. Still, you have to be pragmatic about these things. That's life, after all.<br />
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And, short though it was, Lottie did at least have a good life. She wandered freely around the yard with her sisters, tormenting our dog on her running lead and stripping bare our corn crop. She picked aphids off the roses, fertilised the garden beds (and the path, and the back steps...), and gave me an excuse to buy myself new gumboots.<br />
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And, importantly, she reminded Min and I about the value of food. It's been good, owning chickens, and seeing them as real animals. It's made us re-assess our spending habits when it comes to meat, and think a lot more closely about the ethics of what we use and what we waste. It's connected us a little more closely some of the realities of life that modern life can make us forget or overlook.<br />
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When I was 19, I was convinced that by the time I turned 40, I'd be living somewhere like London or New York. I'd be wealthy. I'd be setting the world on fire.<br />
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As it turned out, I spent the last day of my 30's, a week or so back, here in Canberra cleaning out the chicken coop, and then driving out with my wife and son to the <a href="http://www.pumpkinfestival.com.au/">Collector Pumpkin Festival</a>. And, to be honest, it was the perfect end to my third decade. I wouldn't have had it any other way. It turns out that, for me, the best way to turn 40 was to do it with chickens. And pumpkins. Sure, it's not where I imagined myself when I was in my 20's - it's so much better. And Lottie and her three siblings are part of that.<br />
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Later this year, we're going to get a replacement chicken. We're thinking of calling her Lottie 2.<br />
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That's for later, though. <br />
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Have a good week, everyone.<br />
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<span style="font-size: xx-small;">*Yes. Chickens have personalities. I was surprised to learn it, too. </span>Tonyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17946630852168034040noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7018776340723375949.post-11137223323289782992012-05-03T13:58:00.001+10:002012-05-03T14:19:42.027+10:00What I did on My Weekend.Busy busy... blah blah blah... busy.... no time to post... sorry... blah blah*<br />
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So last year for his birthday, Min and I bought her brother, my awesome BIL a half day <a href="http://www.stuntdrivingschool.com.au/">stunt driving course</a> as his present. I was very jealous. So for Christmas, Min got the same thing for me.<br />
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Then we were both very excited. We picked a date. We booked ourselves in. We talked about it. A lot.<br />
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Then, three days before we were due to drive up to Sydney for the experience, the NSW Traffic Police <a href="http://www.stuntdrivingschool.com.au/sydney.html">shut down the operation</a>, apparently on the basis that the Eastern Creek Raceway qualifies as a public road, and that we were therefore obligated to drive according to the road rules. Which don't allow for driving on two wheels, jumping over ramps, or doing high speed handbrake turns. More's the pity**<br />
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Luckily, we'd purchased our experiences through Redballoon, who have a great returns policy, so we decided to cast around for something else.<br />
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<a href="http://www.redballoon.com.au/flying-experiences/flight-simulator/airbus-a320-flight-simulator-experience">Then we found this.</a><br />
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Now, I'm something of an aviation junkie. I might have mentioned this before. My dad was a pilot, and worked for the Civil Aviation Authority so I grew up on airports and around planes. I like planes. A lot. When I'm rich and famous***, I'm going to actually get my pilot's license. <br />
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In the meantime, I've also spent more than a few hours playing with Microsoft Flight Simulator****<br />
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So this was ideal. And a couple of weeks ago, we drove up to Bankstown airport for the afternoon, and spent two hours pretending to be pilots. And despite a few technical issues with the simulator (having to fly it from the co-pilot's seat, for example) it was awesome fun. I won't bore you with the entire 2 hour, 20 minute video (though I can, if you're interested...) but here we are flying the short hop from the new Hong Kong airport across to the old one - which had one of the more difficult and spectacular landings anywhere in the world. I'm off camera in the (co) Pilot's seat, with my BIL right in front of camera. Excuse the dodgy takeoff, too (and the language!) - the simulator's rudder pedals were a little... awkward. <br />
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... and who says grown-ups shouldn't play with toys?<br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: xx-small;">*You've heard all this before, so I've decided to condense. </span><br />
<span style="font-size: xx-small;">** Not really. I'm actually a big fan of road rules.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: xx-small;">*** Clearly not in the foreseeable future. </span><br />
<span style="font-size: xx-small;">**** Though sadly, not for the last couple of years, owing to lack of suitable computer, and lack of suitable time.</span>Tonyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17946630852168034040noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7018776340723375949.post-59378208199794974122012-04-19T11:05:00.001+10:002012-04-19T11:21:49.175+10:00Telephones, or why technology is bad for writers.Don't worry. I'm sitting here bashing this out using my speech recognition software, while searching out links and images on my new iPad. I don't really think technology is bad for writers. Or at least, not bad for writing... <br />
<br />
You might remember that late last year, among all the fun and games that is the silly season, my lovely publishers at University of Queensland Press put out the new edition of my 2001 book <a href="http://anthonyeaton.blogspot.com.au/2011/12/christmas-something-cool-i-made-plus.html"><i>A New Kind Of Dreaming</i></a>. One of the nice things about having a new edition released is that it gives you the kind of reassurance that your writing hasn't dated.<br />
<br />
Actually, this is something I often tell writing students to be very aware of, particularly when writing young adult fiction – there's this difficult balancing act between being relevant and contemporary, and being too ‘trendy’ (for want of a better term), in which case you run a very real risk of your work becoming very quickly dated. The first of my <a href="http://www.anthonyeaton.com/books/hitsthebeach.html">Nathan Nuttboard</a> books, for example, includes a scene where the main character and his sister have a fight because she's stolen the batteries to his Discman CD player. Remember those? When I wrote that book they'd been around for about a twenty years, and were – in my opinion – just the coolest things ever. And they were exactly what a boy of Nathan's age would've used to wile away the hours of a long car journey.<br />
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFh86MzatMJ_f4LN8vC1jra5piL8gur_9IfLFEAMQkT1h0X768LWU6b704waI8IktTWcblLixv9n1UxGymuBFOHsGD83drj_hwytrRJ5xdmDgXXhmnTXj1b7vuOybPrT8tZDOn1wGUiGY/s1600/Hits+the+Beach+Hi+Res.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFh86MzatMJ_f4LN8vC1jra5piL8gur_9IfLFEAMQkT1h0X768LWU6b704waI8IktTWcblLixv9n1UxGymuBFOHsGD83drj_hwytrRJ5xdmDgXXhmnTXj1b7vuOybPrT8tZDOn1wGUiGY/s200/Hits+the+Beach+Hi+Res.jpg" width="140" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Image and excerpt from <i>Nathan Nuttboard Hits the Beach</i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div style="color: #666666;">
The thought of another 6 hours of tractor music and Nadine whispering “crap" every five seconds was almost too much to take. I dug around behind the seat and pulled out my Discman. At least I could do something about the music.</div>
</blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq" style="color: #666666;">
I put in my favourite CD, <i>Machines of Blood and Glory</i>. I don't actually like the music all that much, but Narelle absolutely hates it, so I tend to play quite a bit. The best thing about a Discman is that you can turn the volume up loud enough so that only the sound of the drumbeats escapes through the earphones. It's a little bit like having a mozzie buzzing around your ears in the middle of the night. Totally annoying, and there's nothing you can do about it. It would drive both of the girls crazy. I pressed play.</blockquote>
<br />
<i>Nathan Nuttboard Hits the Beach</i> was published in early 2002, hitting the shelves and almost immediately finding a solid readership and getting good reviews. What I hadn't factored in, however, was that a few months earlier – <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IPod">on 23 October, 2001, to be precise</a> – the Apple Computer company had announced a funky new product. An odd little music playing device they called the iPod. And, of course, within 2 years the Discman as a piece of technology was effectively dead in the water. And so was that chapter of my book. I couldn't have timed it worse.<br />
<br />
But of course, that's the problem with trying to write for posterity; you can't. It's impossible to predict – especially in this day and age, with technology being what it is – what the digital landscape is going to look like in 6 months, let alone in 10 years.<br />
<br />
That's why I was thrilled when UQP agreed to re-release and repackage <i>Dreaming</i> – It's really nice to have a vote of confidence in the fact that I'm not the only one who feels that the book is still relevant and worth keeping on the shelves.<br />
<br />
And I'm pleased to see that other people think so too; the talented Steph Bowe earlier this week posted <a href="http://www.stephbowe.com/2012/04/what-i-read-in-march-part-two.html">this lovely review</a> of the new edition on her blog. And she makes a very good point about telephones, too. Certainly when I was bashing out the first draft of <i>Dreaming</i>, in the late 1990s, mobile phones were technology on the increase, but certainly not as widespread or as powerful as they are today. In fact, the school where I was teaching at the time had a policy that all students with mobile phones were to turn them in at the office at the start of the day, and pick them up at the end. This was a school with roughly 800 students. There were regularly about 9 phones in the collection box. I don't imagine any school would even try enforcing such a policy today.<br />
<br />
And, as Steph points out in her review, the rise of the mobile phone has in many ways made life a lot more difficult for the writer of realist action/adventure. Her observation that "about 90% of problems in novels can be solved with a phone call or text…" is so true.<br />
<br />
Luckily, however, even mobiles have their weaknesses. Flat batteries, signal holes, or they might be attached to the Virgin mobile network in Canberra. There is a solution, of course, and that's to simply set everything in a slightly alternative world or near future. But I suspect that's not entirely sustainable. All you can really do is 'future proof' your writing as much as is possible, try not to rely too much on contemporary trends and jargon, and cross your fingers.<br />
<br />
In any case, thanks, Steph, for the lovely review. It's really nice to know that the book is still working after all these years. <br />
<br />
And now I'm off to start work on my next novel. It's about a girl who develops a 'One Direction' app for her iPad2 ;)<br />
<br />
<br />Tonyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17946630852168034040noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7018776340723375949.post-79017363248036294292012-04-13T12:00:00.002+10:002012-04-13T12:00:20.442+10:00Hiatus...Hi.<br />
<br />
Remember me?<br />
<br />
I'm the guy that used to blog here, on a semi-regular basis.<br />
<br />
Not lately though.<br />
<br />
To be honest with you, I've been feeling really bad about my complete lack of bloggage in the last month or two, but I just haven't had the energy. Or the time.<br />
<br />
Of course, the reasons are all the usual ones: utterly snowed under at work, teaching load, organising conference* having to host every communicable virus visiting Canberra, etc... etc... etc...<br />
<br />
Plus that nasty old <a href="http://anthonyeaton.blogspot.com.au/2010/09/bathrooms-books-workshops-inertia.html">inertia</a> - which I think I've mentioned here before. It's had me in a headlock the last month or two, and as a result I haven't written anything. Not an academic paper, not a goodreads review, not a book, not a blog post. I've written lectures, and a few tweets, a couple of grant applications, some peer reviews, a bunch of judge's comments for a writing competition, and a shitload of emails. So. Many. Emails. But nothing in the creative department.<br />
<br />
And now, I feel a bit like <a href="http://www.andrewmcdonald.net.au/oh-yeah-i-forgot-i-had-a-blog/">Andrew McDonald</a>. <br />
<br />
But there is news. Most of it good. And many things to write about, so in the days ahead I'm going to do my best to ease back into the writing habit again, and get some stuff up. It won't be earth shattering or ground breaking, for the most part, but at least it'll be writing. Which is, after all, what it's all about.<br />
<br />
So bear with me. I'll be back soon.<br />
<br />
Promise.<br />
<span style="font-size: xx-small;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-size: xx-small;">*which is coming along nicely, by the way.</span>Tonyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17946630852168034040noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7018776340723375949.post-13319541171901635142012-02-20T14:07:00.006+11:002012-02-20T14:29:33.282+11:00TobographyOn Saturday morning, while I was attempting to get through a mountain of laundry, Toby was wandering around the house with a toy camera pointing and clicking. Which gave me an idea;<br /><br />Take my iPhone<br />Turn off the wireless<br />Fire up my 'Hipstamatic' photography app, which puts all sorts of funky filters across your pictures, all of which are designed – oddly enough – to make your high-tech digital photographs resemble old-fashioned analogue ones.<br />Set said application to randomise<br />Give phone/camera to 3-year-old<br /><br />So off went my son, happily clicking away for about 45 min, during which time he managed to catch all manner of weird and crazy images. Going back through them, though, I found it fascinating viewing the world through his eyes–both looking at the subjects he chose, and the way he captured them.<br /><br />And because sharing is caring, here they are:<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrJl5mX6uaDCExj6xQR0ias0tEjENA0sOMgNxjiWhRNvEodbplql9qHeVUlnNhl9r31hX64CpQtBrdj1Yantolyn6w3J4_Z7koBPvqYbprbtIiBO6dkScKS1ON8mEm2QkQF7F85Tpy0pw/s1600/BBQ+Big.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrJl5mX6uaDCExj6xQR0ias0tEjENA0sOMgNxjiWhRNvEodbplql9qHeVUlnNhl9r31hX64CpQtBrdj1Yantolyn6w3J4_Z7koBPvqYbprbtIiBO6dkScKS1ON8mEm2QkQF7F85Tpy0pw/s400/BBQ+Big.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5711050785559573938" border="0" /></a> Barbecue #1.<br /><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6MGiUnqYlwRX6_crrY-6X93nUNdo3Nb5AZBO0PW4oJ124K9wJfawCusRVgMuBMGDcXpMxGz461g-H9IkwezvyDOAHC6QdCoGwq8gmZAtaIutYnig0uewzMkoNsvMbl8Bfeaw_Fesnw8c/s1600/BBQ+Small.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6MGiUnqYlwRX6_crrY-6X93nUNdo3Nb5AZBO0PW4oJ124K9wJfawCusRVgMuBMGDcXpMxGz461g-H9IkwezvyDOAHC6QdCoGwq8gmZAtaIutYnig0uewzMkoNsvMbl8Bfeaw_Fesnw8c/s400/BBQ+Small.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5711050792243595954" border="0" /></a>Barbecue #2<br /><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkjE3p-30rjjbaaKX_ksDhuYVrSdcHwB0begyfrb-Ldvx9XKl9YVq67PL43HlCfNSc6P6NHGkrLhomXkY_c9fk2Fe-tjjKnXyL28qkX9G0sHWqDwASa4ykxI6Yr9IwpXvVlaUOvg59t5k/s1600/ECU+Dog.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkjE3p-30rjjbaaKX_ksDhuYVrSdcHwB0begyfrb-Ldvx9XKl9YVq67PL43HlCfNSc6P6NHGkrLhomXkY_c9fk2Fe-tjjKnXyL28qkX9G0sHWqDwASa4ykxI6Yr9IwpXvVlaUOvg59t5k/s400/ECU+Dog.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5711050801814853538" border="0" /></a>An extreme close-up of our (very tolerant) dog<br /><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFHSmFySkTZBlfUq-vJxOoX6Wf04ELebBh2-7ur6b8TTiZaWfi9zF0U7IucTNyTiZXWfx2BUPh8K__n7xP1dSrfVM0kMSPaqwLVtHUOMOAcesTG34GyyXu4CgmCiJDvChpbV4tLqtToE8/s1600/ECU+Mum.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFHSmFySkTZBlfUq-vJxOoX6Wf04ELebBh2-7ur6b8TTiZaWfi9zF0U7IucTNyTiZXWfx2BUPh8K__n7xP1dSrfVM0kMSPaqwLVtHUOMOAcesTG34GyyXu4CgmCiJDvChpbV4tLqtToE8/s400/ECU+Mum.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5711050809697975714" border="0" /></a>An extreme close-up of his (very tolerant) mother<br /><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjsT4Dwrop2YCYt-J7ucnxXTregubxJRR5HayJ79Ys_n5i5ebJJClXJHaMx0_Xh5KyKzlHDOVepZ5XSLq4rTSIzGpoVP46RI37w1UAccYm3hf4IphhCbd6lyJJ7SNx-OmL5_gfmJZdGcHg/s1600/Kitchen.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjsT4Dwrop2YCYt-J7ucnxXTregubxJRR5HayJ79Ys_n5i5ebJJClXJHaMx0_Xh5KyKzlHDOVepZ5XSLq4rTSIzGpoVP46RI37w1UAccYm3hf4IphhCbd6lyJJ7SNx-OmL5_gfmJZdGcHg/s400/Kitchen.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5711050815523553250" border="0" /></a>playground/kitchen<br /><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPVRh1B-vMPgWCpBbuSwrSzqJvq56yOs_8h44QFB6q0eLqSJWAVAqpotAQJcQzesezyq3LqD8_FNfP39SdhaKZf5Ij8bWNUpXvzOYAGix4yWX23Jfgearx__xo_CXNtnPmkFzcKpTVNOQ/s1600/Patterns.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPVRh1B-vMPgWCpBbuSwrSzqJvq56yOs_8h44QFB6q0eLqSJWAVAqpotAQJcQzesezyq3LqD8_FNfP39SdhaKZf5Ij8bWNUpXvzOYAGix4yWX23Jfgearx__xo_CXNtnPmkFzcKpTVNOQ/s400/Patterns.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5711051160341827970" border="0" /></a>to be honest, I'm not hundred percent certain what this is. But it's pretty, nevertheless.<br /><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXp0rbIhL-1Rh49Twvv9cItNQBqDJhghMBUUQyhFVPkmsCndjSTxsB0h8z_6JMhi8RS9YQ0qsSOKheANFiQQbfdsB1C5SuKRIujjKLKGs314XJiR6AeE2cpgcDMUytZrNOp5qf165VykY/s1600/Plants.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXp0rbIhL-1Rh49Twvv9cItNQBqDJhghMBUUQyhFVPkmsCndjSTxsB0h8z_6JMhi8RS9YQ0qsSOKheANFiQQbfdsB1C5SuKRIujjKLKGs314XJiR6AeE2cpgcDMUytZrNOp5qf165VykY/s400/Plants.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5711051163535753170" border="0" /></a>Weeds growing out of our patio. ( What can I say, it's been a rainy summer)<br /><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEge85vqdsYcBa3wJNEaiVp5ZiTNn4d4wrLY5MNBbOe6CDQMQylb1Q9eSQAlDULF80qn7Orz-Ds2U1fAheu0DvNq8jh9Mr_DqtFOJz0HKe7GRuf5s6r2TVwS6V5FS-LgTpzYbh0sFHnmH00/s1600/Random.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEge85vqdsYcBa3wJNEaiVp5ZiTNn4d4wrLY5MNBbOe6CDQMQylb1Q9eSQAlDULF80qn7Orz-Ds2U1fAheu0DvNq8jh9Mr_DqtFOJz0HKe7GRuf5s6r2TVwS6V5FS-LgTpzYbh0sFHnmH00/s400/Random.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5711051174848514098" border="0" /></a>The back steps.<br /><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnaKq4APVs27xW31TvLCBgCPXAj5i_tXihX1JYaN6hF6knwMnLhWi2eWejhoT8G6mFDdJ9jew0sEWfAp1qkqgV_rCDRIxOECnVz8232jk6zT7HZOhRJW3hiAZozf97yecgNL4_mA2uly8/s1600/Room+Corner.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnaKq4APVs27xW31TvLCBgCPXAj5i_tXihX1JYaN6hF6knwMnLhWi2eWejhoT8G6mFDdJ9jew0sEWfAp1qkqgV_rCDRIxOECnVz8232jk6zT7HZOhRJW3hiAZozf97yecgNL4_mA2uly8/s400/Room+Corner.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5711051173984499474" border="0" /></a>A table, and a toy box.<br /><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgHEnokBxbILpIG8U5xcDdWk3KWFAp3l_WtkjZpk_We5ENLx6ol5Y07zmZHQ8SUlmXumVe3tHUlWcHLkMU7uMZepPg-jRoChuZ5R0_WHdkwZ1lJEDebHrGIjvuFtHLUbeXpD8Z7VYujhI/s1600/Toys1.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgHEnokBxbILpIG8U5xcDdWk3KWFAp3l_WtkjZpk_We5ENLx6ol5Y07zmZHQ8SUlmXumVe3tHUlWcHLkMU7uMZepPg-jRoChuZ5R0_WHdkwZ1lJEDebHrGIjvuFtHLUbeXpD8Z7VYujhI/s400/Toys1.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5711051183872800146" border="0" /></a>Toys #1<br /><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8huEwVmnLWE2D10XTjLiIcRJiDSbhM8SwBM7k0L0_nq0VpgZDmczwHfEN7RddQ1msyXnfkzxbybMzKSPA4ixla5yCVwCozGcKbqF0WiwKiEYhEt5N7WVsHnqZoAYsOHrT7XCSHKR5NC0/s1600/Toys2.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8huEwVmnLWE2D10XTjLiIcRJiDSbhM8SwBM7k0L0_nq0VpgZDmczwHfEN7RddQ1msyXnfkzxbybMzKSPA4ixla5yCVwCozGcKbqF0WiwKiEYhEt5N7WVsHnqZoAYsOHrT7XCSHKR5NC0/s400/Toys2.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5711051342634346914" border="0" /></a>toys #2<br /><br /><div style="text-align: left;">aside from the fact that most of his photos are better than anything I could take, it was great fun just watching him taking these. From the point of view of someone who writes for children (whatever that means) I think this was also a useful reminder of the value of seeing the world through different eyes whenever possible.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGHUTp0FT5ANVa8Jfu7xAyRbmHD8EkXEk4bhnvuxosFHE4sywgcDkaRbMHlkODNfLkpbLqx1QbSXvrAuYsMZNt6SoH74yULYNJ9WX1uKygsWuYeuXO5tYbxU5Ic3MKJgNahuQs5cWYcZM/s1600/Toby.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGHUTp0FT5ANVa8Jfu7xAyRbmHD8EkXEk4bhnvuxosFHE4sywgcDkaRbMHlkODNfLkpbLqx1QbSXvrAuYsMZNt6SoH74yULYNJ9WX1uKygsWuYeuXO5tYbxU5Ic3MKJgNahuQs5cWYcZM/s400/Toby.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5711051348462338402" border="0" /></a>The Artist<br /></div></div></div>Tonyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17946630852168034040noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7018776340723375949.post-30161622555957116522012-02-17T10:23:00.003+11:002012-02-17T10:39:11.421+11:00Something's Gotta Give…So you might have noticed but I haven't been posting an awful lot here of late. This is not because I don't like you all, nor because I don't have anything to post about, but simply because of outright busyness.<br /><br />The last few weeks have been what I can only describe as chaotic. In addition to the start of our teaching semester (and this semester I have 300 students, in 2 different units, in 3 different teaching modes), I've also been ramping up the organisation of the ACLAR conference which we are holding here in June, rewriting <span style="font-style: italic;">The Hunter</span> to get it back to my agent, Cheryl (who made some awesome suggestions!) by next month, reworking my literary studies unit pretty much from the ground up, wrestling with the new online learning system that we have installed at the uni, putting together a couple of research grant applications with a colleague of mine, and, of course, trying to be a good dad.<br /><br />So, of course, something had to give and sadly it's turned out to be ‘Musings…’<br /><br />But don't abandon me quite yet! With a bit of luck the next few weeks are going to settle down somewhat, and I'll be back to some regular blogging. There's a few things I really want to write about, including the nature of criticism, some observations on the gender of characters, and I will probably mention horse riding (just for something different :-)<br /><br />And if you are craving some slightly more regular blog updates from our family then I'm pleased to report that my gorgeous wife, Imogen, <a href="http://thecolourofmykitchen.blogspot.com.au/">has rather taken up the blogging reins</a> during the last month or so. One of the other things we've decided to do as a family this year is to try and visit at least one of the very many local fairs that happen around Canberra per month.Min will be blogging these as we do them, (as well as other random bits and pieces). So far we have visited the Lucky Dragon Chinese Cultural day at the National Museum, and the International Festival which takes over the centre of civic every year for a weekend.<br /><br />So, anyway, that's just a quick update, apology, and explanation for my absence, but I will be back more regularly soon. Promise<br /><br />Perhaps.Tonyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17946630852168034040noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7018776340723375949.post-8757490744673029322012-01-19T11:00:00.006+11:002012-01-19T11:49:29.143+11:00New Year's Resolution... (plus chickens, bikes and...other stuff)I'm going to blog every week this year. Without exception. Except, obviously, for most of January...<br /><br />Actually, I've been wanting to blog since the start of January – have had all sorts of things lined up to write about, but for some reason every time I start I get oddly ‘blocked’. Still, it doesn't matter, we're here now, and that's what's important.<br /><br />So, first things first, Happy (very belated) New Year everyone! I hope you all had a lovely break, and my sincere wish for you all is that unlike me, you haven't had to go back to work yet.<br /><br />This, by nature, is going to be something of a ‘newsy infodump’ of a post – so feel free to skip over it and come back next week if you wish.<br /><br />Item 1 on the agenda: because this is a writing blog, after all, and because I know that you're all terribly interested in my desk, <a href="http://www.tristanbancks.com/2012/01/childrens-young-adult-author-anthony.html">here's a link to the fantastic blog of Tristan Bancks</a> (who, unlike other bloggers I could name, actually updates regularly) and the contribution he asked me to do for his ‘the writer's studio’ series of posts. I've always really enjoyed these particular columns on Tristan's blog – it's fascinating the multitude of environments and methods by which writers and artists and other creative people all accomplish similar goals. And, of course, it was lovely to be invited to be part of it.<br /><br />Item 2: (and moving away from writing now, and into family news) we have chickens! For a few years now Imogen and I have talked about getting some chooks for the yard, but for various reasons (slightly insane dog, lack of chicken coop etc…) we have put off doing anything about it. Late last year, though, while wandering around at the fantastic <a href="http://www.mfdays.com/">Murrumbateman field day</a>, we spotted <a href="http://www.chookmowers.com.au/Chook-Pens-Guinea-Pigs-and-More.html?do=viewimage&slot=4&page=96">these beautifully designed mobile chicken runs</a>, and that (combined with the fact that our previously-mentioned dog had knee surgery last year and is no longer nearly as mobile as she used to be) inspired us to get our poultry acts together. So last week we picked up our 4 ‘girls’ (I use the quote marks there because, to be honest, there's about a 20% chance that at least one of them will turn out to be a rooster and then, soon after, dinner...) who are now happily scratching around in the yard. Their names (because I'm sure you all want to know) are Charlotte, Spot, Hedwig and Rosie Primrose. 100 points for anyone who can spot the theme…<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFYPJCG9L_FPSM5g9W1QpSiuhkPXIVyvNkGX1N7OxyXGLoysFLqgmyqD33kL8KufTOzJKT6oZJp75yQmUxHYZytCycpn9j8NyTfj8ZL3fefAKc1Tlhdyb9lMLJYLJKze9dkJTpoTsCI2Q/s1600/IMG_6657.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 267px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFYPJCG9L_FPSM5g9W1QpSiuhkPXIVyvNkGX1N7OxyXGLoysFLqgmyqD33kL8KufTOzJKT6oZJp75yQmUxHYZytCycpn9j8NyTfj8ZL3fefAKc1Tlhdyb9lMLJYLJKze9dkJTpoTsCI2Q/s400/IMG_6657.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5699135969878226130" border="0" /></a>Charlotte (or, Lottie - as she likes to be known)<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6ufftyZ6lqTBMyeh4j2EWwumf4qGDFgCQDVTYMeCCSfwtvwXz1i_xZRC0r_ieVkom0sbhxaUdiqkoocTNVRs29QcAku_ubCD1bWHdPLClw7nss0N95pSSAfBlDb9L94nFXs338VGOIIk/s1600/IMG_6650.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 267px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6ufftyZ6lqTBMyeh4j2EWwumf4qGDFgCQDVTYMeCCSfwtvwXz1i_xZRC0r_ieVkom0sbhxaUdiqkoocTNVRs29QcAku_ubCD1bWHdPLClw7nss0N95pSSAfBlDb9L94nFXs338VGOIIk/s400/IMG_6650.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5699135964314707218" border="0" /></a>L-R: Spot, Hedwig and Rosie Primrose<br /><br /></div>Item 3: just in case you're interested. Later this year I'll be turning 40 (Shock! Horror! (And, to be honest, parental amazement, I suspect))* by that point I would like to be just a little bit fitter than I am at the moment and so Toby and I, inspired by my sister's bicycle-powered lifestyle in Holland, have set ourselves up and started cycling into work/daycare every morning. There are lots of birds, playgrounds to explore, things to look at, creeks and lakes and, of course, singing. And I'm quite certain that riding along pulling an extra 30 odd kilos of boy, bags, and child seat on my already heavy bike is probably going to do my fitness ambitions no harm at all. One of these mornings, I'll take my camera along and post some pictures of the ride. In the meantime, here we are, arriving home after ride on a 34 degree, windy afternoon...<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhAXGqKdTJe6CNGWy1NzkSYfhi4P0OGcVMTOTpPI-vOXp2BHfBk8kaOYmsvErAoj3iA54MlWjRT_qqxEdB2jEQO9eoQrWfNI80oU43sYIMb2F20YntqR_phYy0CDaZCUFV_oWZOApALTsg/s1600/IMG_6659.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 267px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhAXGqKdTJe6CNGWy1NzkSYfhi4P0OGcVMTOTpPI-vOXp2BHfBk8kaOYmsvErAoj3iA54MlWjRT_qqxEdB2jEQO9eoQrWfNI80oU43sYIMb2F20YntqR_phYy0CDaZCUFV_oWZOApALTsg/s400/IMG_6659.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5699135979718925074" border="0" /></a><br />Item 4: 2012. It's going to be a very big, and busy year for me this year – semester starts again in just a couple of weeks, and then it will be into the usual breakneck world of teaching. In June I'm convening the biennial ACLAR conference here in Canberra (with my friend Shaun Tan and the incredible Professors Clare Bradford and Kerry Mallan as our keynote speakers) the organisation of which should make the first half of this year particularly ‘interesting’. After that, our little family are off for a three-week holiday in Vietnam and Indonesia, at least one week of which will be spent on a beach with my sister, her husband, their 3 girls, my parents, and an assortment of other friends and relatives. I've also got the 2nd of my ‘Hunter’ books to get written, and my fantastic new agent and I will no doubt get to work on finding a home for the 1st one.<br /><br />Plus, as promised, weekly blog posts here :-)<br /><br />So, anyway–that's pretty much everything happening in my world, at the moment. From next week I'll try and get back to some more regular and focused blog posts. Welcome back to <span style="font-style: italic;">Musings…</span> for 2012, everyone.<br /><br /><span style="font-size:78%;">*I'd also like to take this opportunity to apologise for the overuse of parenthesis in this post, and particularly for the awful nested example indicated here. (I know this bugs some people...)</span>Tonyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17946630852168034040noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7018776340723375949.post-11950386823541196092011-12-23T19:56:00.004+11:002011-12-23T20:10:53.018+11:00Christmas, Something cool I made, plus a book...Hi Everyone,<br /><br />I've been on holidays from everything for the last two weeks - including the blog (not that that probably made a noticeable difference, given my consistency here this year...), but I wanted to pop by quickly and say a happy pre-emptive Christmas, and to show off a couple of things.<br /><br />We like Christmas in our house, but this year, with a 3 year old who is suddenly really understanding lots of concepts like 'Father Christmas' and 'Presents', it's proving more fun than ever. So much so, that I've spent a good chunk of this week down in my shed making him this hobby horse:<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhDHmIzaRiZMypYNXf3YGI8y90VWQ4meSKdH7uVr6bktkuVPUfOjawds8urQXHflfdgAbAiILvmqyvX503BBU5BpCmktE_oHGwSdMcm5DUE94gjuXIwDltcZ4k4l7mKojgzNWcbFn-7gwc/s1600/Horse.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhDHmIzaRiZMypYNXf3YGI8y90VWQ4meSKdH7uVr6bktkuVPUfOjawds8urQXHflfdgAbAiILvmqyvX503BBU5BpCmktE_oHGwSdMcm5DUE94gjuXIwDltcZ4k4l7mKojgzNWcbFn-7gwc/s400/Horse.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5689247936766216114" border="0" /></a><br />I'm really proud of it. I made it from scratch, working without plans or a template, apart from doing a bit of googling and stealing several ideas from several different pictures on line. I love working with wood - there's something ineffably theraputic about it, I think. It also gave me an excuse to buy myself the hand router that I've been wanting for about five years....<br /><br />My other little bit of book related news arrived in a postpack from UQP today. I mentioned earlier this year that I'd been re-reading my 2001 novel <span style="font-style: italic;">A New Kind of Dreaming </span>ahead of a new edition. Well, the new edition is done, and it looks just great!<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLSe9OoQ1vJeZMIWuLZw4MZLLVFCMhz2Rd3HC2BvBf3j-BuS9l9RGUSIeB_35UIvqcYqCqX7v31hpG948-GRoHSmIg5hjIY6rZmpxR4mqKF2dHK4EfMTBksEDz7_EcaCUVl9yxkwLCVRo/s1600/Dreaming.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 300px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLSe9OoQ1vJeZMIWuLZw4MZLLVFCMhz2Rd3HC2BvBf3j-BuS9l9RGUSIeB_35UIvqcYqCqX7v31hpG948-GRoHSmIg5hjIY6rZmpxR4mqKF2dHK4EfMTBksEDz7_EcaCUVl9yxkwLCVRo/s400/Dreaming.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5689247943777141218" border="0" /></a><br /><br />Actually, I'm pretty happy to see this book all dressed up and updated. It's been a consistent performer for me for a decade now, and it's still one of the books I'm proudest of. I wrote ANKOD at a very different time in my life, when I was very, very pissed off about a lot of things, and trying to work out how I felt about them. I also wrote it at the same time as the whole issue of boat refugees was being really politicised for the first time, and I'm pleased (though also rather sad) that it still reads as fresh and relevent today as it did back when I wrote it in the late 1990's.<br /><br />Anyway, that's my little pre-christmas contribution. I'm planning to bash out something else next week, but before then I hope you all have a lovely, restful and joyous Christmas.Tonyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17946630852168034040noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7018776340723375949.post-20116229703022501552011-11-30T16:03:00.003+11:002011-11-30T16:30:08.407+11:00(Not so secret) Agent!so I guess that if I'm going to maintain my spectacular 2-posts-per-month average, then I better get something done here this afternoon…<br /><br />As you may have gathered from the ongoing drought of blog posts here, I'm keeping as busy as ever of late. Tomorrow, for example, I'm heading up to Sydney for the day to run an all-day masterclass with the students at Sydney Girls High School, concentrating on tips and tricks for writing character (make them real, put a piece of yourself into every character, find the ‘truth’ in every character, make sure they have a relationship with the environment of the story… and so on)<br /><br />I've also, of course, been buried in a veritable pile of marking for the last couple of weeks.<br /><br />Oh, and (unbelievably) Toby turned 3 last week. This event was heralded by several parties, a trip up Black Mountain tower, a really quite ludicrous number of presents, more sugar than a 3-year-old's system can reasonably handle, one incredibly over-catered barbecue lunch, and two exhausted and somewhat confused parents asking themselves; “where on earth did the last 3 years of our lives disappear to?"<br /><br /> And, in the midst of all that, I do actually have a bit of writing related news.<br /><br />You might remember me mentioning a while ago that <a href="http://anthonyeaton.blogspot.com/2011/05/stumbling-over-finishing-line.html">I finally finished my most recent book</a>. (Of course you remember, the damn thing has taken close to 2 years, and during that time I've been constantly banging on about it being ‘almost finished’.)<br /><br /> You might also remember me mentioning that this time, instead of pitching it to publishers myself, <a href="http://anthonyeaton.blogspot.com/2011/09/so-you-thought-i-was-dead.html">I had decided to submit it to a literary agent in New York </a> to see if they were interested in representing it (and me).<br /><br />Well I'm pleased to be able to announce that they liked it. So much so in fact that I'm now happily represented by Cheryl Pientka, of <a href="http://www.grinbergliterary.com/">Jill Grinberg Literary Management</a>! I don't mind admitting how thrilled, and completely surprised, I was to get such a positive response from Cheryl and Jill, as during the nerve-wracking wait for a response from them I managed, pretty effectively, to convince myself that the book had no merit whatsoever. I'm also excited because my new managers handle a lot of Australian writers, including several of my friends. (Actually, I owe a huge thanks to Melina Marchetta, who did the introducing here…)<br /><br />And that's where I'm at. Early in the new year I expect to be launching myself back into <span style="font-style: italic;">The Hunter</span>, and among the other things keeping me busy at the moment is the detailed planning and mapping out of the next 3 books in the series, which I should start writing in January.<br /><br />In the meantime, I have a keynote speech to write, my teaching and grading for this semester to finalise, and then in a couple of weeks the family and I are off to Perth for holidays and weddings (not ours, obviously, we did that a while ago, now.)<br /><br />So that's my news, and my litany of excuses for not keeping you all up-to-date. Hope everything is good with everyone who reads this (that is, of course, assuming I have any readers left), and that you are managing to ease your way into the festive season with a minimum of stress.Tonyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17946630852168034040noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7018776340723375949.post-29383585355408300472011-11-04T09:36:00.005+11:002012-04-19T11:31:00.312+10:00Going 'Live'...You may have noticed something of a drop-off in the number of posts I've managed to put up here in the last couple of months. There are many, various, and largely uninteresting reasons for this, most of which don't bear discussion.<br />
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One of the contributing factors, though, is the fact that the special edition of the British Journal Write4Children which I have been putting together for the last 12 months (and which I believe I've mentioned here just once or twice) was due for publication at the start of November.<br />
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This, of course, meant that the last few weeks have been an ungodly world of proofreading, editing, chasing up small details, and compiling the finished journal. Hence, in part, by prolonged absence here at <span style="font-style: italic;">Musings…</span><br />
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But, I'm glad to say, it's all done now and <a href="http://www.winchester.ac.uk/academicdepartments/EnglishCreativeWritingandamericanstudies/publications/write4children/Pages/Write4Children.aspx">the special edition went live</a> in the middle of the night earlier this week. (For those of you who are about to click the link, it's volume 3, number 1)<br />
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I also have to say that (despite swearing several times during the process that I would never do this again) it's definitely all been worth it. I'm really thrilled at the end result, and everyone who contributed to the edition worked so hard to get it up and running (and, to everyone's surprise - especially mine - published on time!)<br />
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There are, I think (though as editor, I would) some fantastic papers in the edition. I was particularly thrilled to receive abstracts from a number of really fantastic Australian writers, as well as practising academics in the field of children's writing, and the topics explored in the edition are as diverse and wide ranging as Australian children's writing itself. Among the offerings you will find in the edition are a fantastic paper by <a href="http://www.lucychristopher.com/">Lucy Christopher</a> on <span style="font-style: italic;">Stolen</span>, one by <a href="http://liliwilkinson.com.au/">Lili Wilkinson</a> on her novel <span style="font-style: italic;">Pink</span>, <a href="http://www.rosannehawke.com/">Rosanne Hawke </a>discussing the role of faith in several of her books, but most notably <span style="font-style: italic;">Marrying Amira</span>, <a href="http://www.markcarthew.com.au/">Mark Carthew</a> talking about Australian poetry – and paying particular attention to the state of publishing poetry for children, Kate Deller-Evans on the rising prominence of junior verse novels in Australia , and a really interesting piece by Anna Kurian from the University of Hyderabad, which takes you into the booming world of writing and publishing young adult fiction in India. For the foodies amongst you there is also a really fascinating paper by Donna Lee Brien and Adele Wessell documenting the history and impact of cookbooks written for children in Australia from the earliest colonial days through the junior Masterchef.<br />
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All in all, putting this together has been one of the most rewarding experiences of my academic career (such as it is) to date. One of the things I didn't expect was the buzz that I would get from gathering together such an interesting and diverse range of writing, having it all peer-reviewed, and in putting out into the public are. It was also a really interesting experience for me to sit on the editorial side of the desk, and experience life on the other side. I've also made a number of really interesting new friends in the process, including <a href="http://www.winchester.ac.uk/ACADEMICDEPARTMENTS/ENGLISHCREATIVEWRITINGANDAMERICANSTUDIES/PEOPLEPROFILES/Pages/ProfessorAndyMelrose.aspx">Andy</a>* and <a href="http://chaosmos-outofchaoscomesorder.blogspot.com/">Vanessa</a>, the journal founders and editors who were brave enough (or, depending on your perspective, silly enough) to hand their baby over to my care for a while.<br />
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In any case, now that's out of the way I'm hoping to get back to a little bit of writing and, of course, in a week marking season begins!<br />
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<span style="font-size: 78%;">*who also has a very cool blog somewhere on blogger, which for some bizarre reason I can't seem to find at the moment, but will update this link when I do...</span>Tonyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17946630852168034040noreply@blogger.com0