A very nice girl non-crazy (at least she claimed she wasn't crazy) called Lisa emailed me from Derry in Northern Ireland to tell me I am a googlewhack with the words flibbertygibbet and incestuous.
I'm so proud.
Saturday, June 30, 2007
Friday, June 29, 2007
Friday Night Meme - soundtrack to the movie of my life
I'm sitting here while Martin watches Futurama, noodling and twiddling and poking about and fiddling and decided to nick this meme. Been a while since I did a good meme. Anyway, this one has complicated rules. So you copy all the categories below and then you open I-Tunes and pick Shuffle. You refresh for every category and hit next song. This was FUN. And now I want to write a movie for the soundtrack. Plus it's been ages since I've listened to music through headphones. I forgot how cool it is.
Some of them are spooky-accurate. I cheated once. The fight song. Sorry, but if I had to fight to The Lighthouse by the Waifs, then it would be one of those fights that involves lots of moody glances and no fisticuffs. I want crunching bones. I'm wicked violent like that.
Opening Credits: Since I've Been Around - The Waifs
Waking Up: Mysterons - Portishead (ah, Portishead, bless you. Sooo nineties - I'm having getting my hair cut Winona Ryder style flashbacks, c.1997)
First Day At School: Up Against the Wall - The Whitlams (ha ha ha)
Falling In Love: Call It Up - Nizlopi
Fight Song: I'm Not Your Baby - Sinead O'Connor and U2 (yeah, swearing. Crunching bones)
Breaking Up: Mother of God - Patty Griffin (um, I don't even know where this came from! But it's lovely. Must be courtesy of Darebin library)
Leaver's Dinner (what that other continent calls the Prom): Martha - Tom Waits
Life: I Am A...- Justine Clarke (Yay!!)
Mental Breakdown: (no bullshit, this is what came up) Cries Too Hard - The Whitlams
Driving: Humpty Dumpty - The Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra (don't laugh, I share my Itunes with Fred. But it's actually beautiful, lovely Great Ocean Road music)
Flashback: Careless - Angie Hart
Getting back together: Spiders - Moby (surprisingly apt actually)
Wedding: Deeper Water - Paul Kelly (upside, beautiful song, downside, the wife in the song's narrative dies).
Birth of Child: Raspberry Swirl - Tori Amos (it was one song away from being Justine's 'It's My Birthday Today'. Luckily Tori is so (delightfully) obscure it could be about anything.)
Final Battle: Handle With Care - Jenny Lewis & the Watson Twins (oh yeah, baby)
Death Scene: Love Should - Moby (and oh how it rains, and oh how it pours)
Funeral Song: What if - Coldplay
End Credits: Empire - Bomb the Bass featuring Sinead O'Connor (or Wiggle Bay - okay so I cheated twice)
Some of them are spooky-accurate. I cheated once. The fight song. Sorry, but if I had to fight to The Lighthouse by the Waifs, then it would be one of those fights that involves lots of moody glances and no fisticuffs. I want crunching bones. I'm wicked violent like that.
Opening Credits: Since I've Been Around - The Waifs
Waking Up: Mysterons - Portishead (ah, Portishead, bless you. Sooo nineties - I'm having getting my hair cut Winona Ryder style flashbacks, c.1997)
First Day At School: Up Against the Wall - The Whitlams (ha ha ha)
Falling In Love: Call It Up - Nizlopi
Fight Song: I'm Not Your Baby - Sinead O'Connor and U2 (yeah, swearing. Crunching bones)
Breaking Up: Mother of God - Patty Griffin (um, I don't even know where this came from! But it's lovely. Must be courtesy of Darebin library)
Leaver's Dinner (what that other continent calls the Prom): Martha - Tom Waits
Life: I Am A...- Justine Clarke (Yay!!)
Mental Breakdown: (no bullshit, this is what came up) Cries Too Hard - The Whitlams
Driving: Humpty Dumpty - The Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra (don't laugh, I share my Itunes with Fred. But it's actually beautiful, lovely Great Ocean Road music)
Flashback: Careless - Angie Hart
Getting back together: Spiders - Moby (surprisingly apt actually)
Wedding: Deeper Water - Paul Kelly (upside, beautiful song, downside, the wife in the song's narrative dies).
Birth of Child: Raspberry Swirl - Tori Amos (it was one song away from being Justine's 'It's My Birthday Today'. Luckily Tori is so (delightfully) obscure it could be about anything.)
Final Battle: Handle With Care - Jenny Lewis & the Watson Twins (oh yeah, baby)
Death Scene: Love Should - Moby (and oh how it rains, and oh how it pours)
Funeral Song: What if - Coldplay
End Credits: Empire - Bomb the Bass featuring Sinead O'Connor (or Wiggle Bay - okay so I cheated twice)
Tuesday, June 26, 2007
What the young folk are wearing to prom
How fantastic are this outfits made of DUCT TAPE!?
You can look at all the finalists of the competition here (I think you need to be a North American resident to vote), plus if you poke around the site a bit you'll find heaps more, and lots of them are just as good if not better than the finalists. I first saw a post about this at whip up. I am so blown away by the innovative designs. These are fully gutsy kids. I wish I could see them on the night. It strikes me too that duct tape might be a good contraception for those who don't want to lose it on the night - no zips or buttons. Then again, after lots of sweaty dancing, maybe it would start peeling off before you hit the hotel room...could go either way really. But hey, at least people aren't going to be talking about you for what happened after the prom if you show up in duct tape. Unless you wear it like Cher.
You can look at all the finalists of the competition here (I think you need to be a North American resident to vote), plus if you poke around the site a bit you'll find heaps more, and lots of them are just as good if not better than the finalists. I first saw a post about this at whip up. I am so blown away by the innovative designs. These are fully gutsy kids. I wish I could see them on the night. It strikes me too that duct tape might be a good contraception for those who don't want to lose it on the night - no zips or buttons. Then again, after lots of sweaty dancing, maybe it would start peeling off before you hit the hotel room...could go either way really. But hey, at least people aren't going to be talking about you for what happened after the prom if you show up in duct tape. Unless you wear it like Cher.
Monday, June 25, 2007
teenies not tweenies
I wandered into Readings and Borders today as I ambled home from a meeting with my thesis supervisor. My mission was to check out junior fiction (what Borders classifies as books for 4-9 year olds) as I am writing a book that currently sits between two age groups and my editor suggested that it would be nice to write it a bit younger as she said there isn't as much around for that younger age group.
And she's so right. Which is so weird because there used to be. Enid Blyton of course comes immediately to mind, but also Noel Streatfield, Rumer Godden (I love her - Miss Happiness and Miss Flower, Holly and Ivy, Mr McFadden's Halloween to name a few), Nina Bawden, Jane Gardam, E Nesbit, Lucy Boston, Michael Bond's Paddington books, Mary Norton's Borrowers series, E.B. White (most notably Charlotte's Web of course, but also Stuart Little), Joan Aiken (Gobbolino the Witch's Cat), Joan G. Robinson's Teddy Robinson books, the My Naughty Little Sister books, Roald Dahl (specially The Magic Finger, James and the Giant Peach and Fantastic Mr Fox for the very young), Milly Molly Mandy, the Flat Stanley books...Oh and Ramona. Of course Ramona. And Beverly Cleary's other books too - The Mouse and the Motorcycle springs to mind. A lot of these books are in constant reprint and it's not hard to see why.
There are so many freaking FAIRY and PRINCESS books it also made me want to vomit rainbows and butterflies. Jeez louise. Look, I have nothing against either princesses or fairies. But come on. Where are the books about ordinary girls with ordinary problems? And why does it all have to be so flipping twee? I love fairies, I even have a tattoo of one on my back, but fairies should be wild creatures, unpredictable, often malevolent. They are not all enviro-freaking-mentalists with great hair, whose biggest problem is finding a handbag to match their vaguely left-wing morality. And yes, the princess paradigm can be empowering. But these, I'm sorry, are not. Nothing that over-commodified can be empowering, nothing that slight and undernourished with ideas and complexity. And don't even start me on what there is for boys which is pretty much
.....
Look don't get me wrong, there are some great books still being published for this age group. I picked up The Owl Who Was Afraid of the Dark by Jill Tomlinson and was struck by the distinctive voice and the very authentic characterisation (you know, considering it's about owls). Oh no hang on, it's 20 years old.
I love the Tashi books by Anna Fienberg and her mum, Barbara. Martine Murray's Henrietta books are freaking cute in a slightly hairbrained freewheeling way (that's meant to be a compliment). There's some really good quality writing in the Penguin Bites series (Jane Godwin's The Day I Turned Ten is a really beautiful book in its own right). Ursula Dubosarsky has written for this age group and I know it must be elegant and captivating. And there are more, I know there are more. But the bookshelves in both Borders and Readings are so disappointing. All these generic spines, and princess and fairy books, so disappointing. Oog.
And before I get riled up I want to add that I don't think publishers are to blame. Clearly they want stronger books in this market, or mine does anyway. I just wonder if we've lost the knack somehow to write for these girls. Is Bratz to blame, with its commodified bodies and capitalist culture? Or are we scared of challenging them? Looking at that list of classics above, there's lots of books there that aren't 'easy' reads, many of them have rich voices and challenging vocabulary. Some have quite sinister characters or bad behaviour or daunting themes (like Roald Dahl's bad guys, or Charlotte's death). They're many of them not very politically correct. And yet they remain in print and popular. Are we scared to write like this, so we're letting another generation tell our children stories, not reflecting the (perhaps more complicated and confusing, certainly faster paced) world around them, where kids have more information available to them much earlier - are we scared we can't speak five year old anymore? Or has the nursery culture dried up, the days of cosy third person narrators with their readers on their knees, are we scared they don't want to sit and listen anymore?
Come on, people. Tell me some good early chapter books. Cheer me up. I know there's heaps for those slightly older kids (8-10), but those very first, keen readers who want something more than just a reader, who are confident enough with language to want characters to identify with and a really great story, please tell me there's more for them out there than Princess Perfectly Boring Pants and Fairly Stupid Fairies.
And she's so right. Which is so weird because there used to be. Enid Blyton of course comes immediately to mind, but also Noel Streatfield, Rumer Godden (I love her - Miss Happiness and Miss Flower, Holly and Ivy, Mr McFadden's Halloween to name a few), Nina Bawden, Jane Gardam, E Nesbit, Lucy Boston, Michael Bond's Paddington books, Mary Norton's Borrowers series, E.B. White (most notably Charlotte's Web of course, but also Stuart Little), Joan Aiken (Gobbolino the Witch's Cat), Joan G. Robinson's Teddy Robinson books, the My Naughty Little Sister books, Roald Dahl (specially The Magic Finger, James and the Giant Peach and Fantastic Mr Fox for the very young), Milly Molly Mandy, the Flat Stanley books...Oh and Ramona. Of course Ramona. And Beverly Cleary's other books too - The Mouse and the Motorcycle springs to mind. A lot of these books are in constant reprint and it's not hard to see why.
There are so many freaking FAIRY and PRINCESS books it also made me want to vomit rainbows and butterflies. Jeez louise. Look, I have nothing against either princesses or fairies. But come on. Where are the books about ordinary girls with ordinary problems? And why does it all have to be so flipping twee? I love fairies, I even have a tattoo of one on my back, but fairies should be wild creatures, unpredictable, often malevolent. They are not all enviro-freaking-mentalists with great hair, whose biggest problem is finding a handbag to match their vaguely left-wing morality. And yes, the princess paradigm can be empowering. But these, I'm sorry, are not. Nothing that over-commodified can be empowering, nothing that slight and undernourished with ideas and complexity. And don't even start me on what there is for boys which is pretty much
.....
Look don't get me wrong, there are some great books still being published for this age group. I picked up The Owl Who Was Afraid of the Dark by Jill Tomlinson and was struck by the distinctive voice and the very authentic characterisation (you know, considering it's about owls). Oh no hang on, it's 20 years old.
I love the Tashi books by Anna Fienberg and her mum, Barbara. Martine Murray's Henrietta books are freaking cute in a slightly hairbrained freewheeling way (that's meant to be a compliment). There's some really good quality writing in the Penguin Bites series (Jane Godwin's The Day I Turned Ten is a really beautiful book in its own right). Ursula Dubosarsky has written for this age group and I know it must be elegant and captivating. And there are more, I know there are more. But the bookshelves in both Borders and Readings are so disappointing. All these generic spines, and princess and fairy books, so disappointing. Oog.
And before I get riled up I want to add that I don't think publishers are to blame. Clearly they want stronger books in this market, or mine does anyway. I just wonder if we've lost the knack somehow to write for these girls. Is Bratz to blame, with its commodified bodies and capitalist culture? Or are we scared of challenging them? Looking at that list of classics above, there's lots of books there that aren't 'easy' reads, many of them have rich voices and challenging vocabulary. Some have quite sinister characters or bad behaviour or daunting themes (like Roald Dahl's bad guys, or Charlotte's death). They're many of them not very politically correct. And yet they remain in print and popular. Are we scared to write like this, so we're letting another generation tell our children stories, not reflecting the (perhaps more complicated and confusing, certainly faster paced) world around them, where kids have more information available to them much earlier - are we scared we can't speak five year old anymore? Or has the nursery culture dried up, the days of cosy third person narrators with their readers on their knees, are we scared they don't want to sit and listen anymore?
Come on, people. Tell me some good early chapter books. Cheer me up. I know there's heaps for those slightly older kids (8-10), but those very first, keen readers who want something more than just a reader, who are confident enough with language to want characters to identify with and a really great story, please tell me there's more for them out there than Princess Perfectly Boring Pants and Fairly Stupid Fairies.
Thursday, June 21, 2007
Drift
For those of you who missed it, Drift is out in Australia.
You can admire it online here and read the blurb.
You can buy it here and here (except good lord, that's the wrong blurb - it's Michael Pryor's The Chronicles of Krangor. Silly Dymocks people) and here and here and here and here and in NZ here or whatever other online bookstore you prefer.
Or of course go to your local bookshop. I'm all for locals. If for some shocking reason they don't have it in stock, give them a good scolding and then ask them to order it in for you. The isbn is 9781741660890. If they tell you they can't order it in they are being lazy (this sometimes happens). But make sure you are spelling my name right before you burn down the shop and dance on the ashes. Actually, I don't condone violence, so only metaphorical burnings please. The dancing can be real. It is even encouraged. Consider yourself incited.
There's no publication date in the US yet. I signed a two book contract when I signed Undine with Greenwillow and at that stage wasn't even sure there were going to be sequels - the second book could have been anything as far as I know. The Life and Times of Bellybutton Lint. The Fascinating History of the Pickled Herring. The Day My Chickens Turned into Emus and Kicked the Dunny Down (or Mum Was Surprised). So Drift hasn't actually been signed there yet. All those negotiations take place between publishers and I know Random House's fantastic Rights Manager Nerilee Weir is on the job...I'll let you know more when I do.
As my new favourite blogger Audrey says, Peace Out (only she speaks in blue).
You can admire it online here and read the blurb.
You can buy it here and here (except good lord, that's the wrong blurb - it's Michael Pryor's The Chronicles of Krangor. Silly Dymocks people) and here and here and here and here and in NZ here or whatever other online bookstore you prefer.
Or of course go to your local bookshop. I'm all for locals. If for some shocking reason they don't have it in stock, give them a good scolding and then ask them to order it in for you. The isbn is 9781741660890. If they tell you they can't order it in they are being lazy (this sometimes happens). But make sure you are spelling my name right before you burn down the shop and dance on the ashes. Actually, I don't condone violence, so only metaphorical burnings please. The dancing can be real. It is even encouraged. Consider yourself incited.
There's no publication date in the US yet. I signed a two book contract when I signed Undine with Greenwillow and at that stage wasn't even sure there were going to be sequels - the second book could have been anything as far as I know. The Life and Times of Bellybutton Lint. The Fascinating History of the Pickled Herring. The Day My Chickens Turned into Emus and Kicked the Dunny Down (or Mum Was Surprised). So Drift hasn't actually been signed there yet. All those negotiations take place between publishers and I know Random House's fantastic Rights Manager Nerilee Weir is on the job...I'll let you know more when I do.
As my new favourite blogger Audrey says, Peace Out (only she speaks in blue).
Monday, June 18, 2007
Oi.
Go read guest-blogger Sophie Masson's post on the Good Reading Magazine blog about why she writes for children and all the comments from lots of great kid's book writers (including me).
We are loving Good Reading Magazine at Eglantine's Cake right now because Anastasia Gonis gave Drift a FIVE STAR REVIEW in the June issue.
We are loving Good Reading Magazine at Eglantine's Cake right now because Anastasia Gonis gave Drift a FIVE STAR REVIEW in the June issue.
This magical trilogy is a reading experience. The sequence is never linear but written in loops, in and out of alternative worlds, governed by the laws of physics. Drift is full of significant meanings within meanings: highly intelligent and imaginative.We also love Good Reading Magazine because it's about books, and it actually devotes serious critical attention to children's books.
Saturday, June 16, 2007
Why reading matters
"What are you here for? That's the question you have to ask. Reading matters, we all agree upon that. Why does reading matter?"
David Levithan
Please, listen to him say this and more. It is both educational and elivening, edifying and inspiring. Kids need books. Kill the vampires. Listen to Levithan. If you are a parent, a teacher, a writer, a publisher, a librarian, a reader, a teenager, if you ever were a teenager or if you are planning on being one sometime. If you are gay, straight, stupid, smart, happy, sad, angry...if you ever went to the bookshelf and the book you wanted wasn't there, the book you've always looked for and never found, the book that would help you discover who you are, the book that was about you, about a girl, about a boy like you, then listen. If you found the book, found yourself in books, then listen and imagine what it would have been like if that book, or those books, hadn't been there.
Via Lili, who fights the good fight.
David Levithan
Please, listen to him say this and more. It is both educational and elivening, edifying and inspiring. Kids need books. Kill the vampires. Listen to Levithan. If you are a parent, a teacher, a writer, a publisher, a librarian, a reader, a teenager, if you ever were a teenager or if you are planning on being one sometime. If you are gay, straight, stupid, smart, happy, sad, angry...if you ever went to the bookshelf and the book you wanted wasn't there, the book you've always looked for and never found, the book that would help you discover who you are, the book that was about you, about a girl, about a boy like you, then listen. If you found the book, found yourself in books, then listen and imagine what it would have been like if that book, or those books, hadn't been there.
Via Lili, who fights the good fight.
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