Archives
Still no interwebby thing in our new home (I'm at my parents), but at least we can watch the cricket!
There've been
some comments from actual editors on the
gender balance question thing I posted about a while back. Confirming once again that there is no vast conspiracy---it's all much more complicated than that.
I'm loving our new neighbourhood, Surry Hills, but am less than thrilled about the whole unpacking, organising, cleaning, not finding necessary things etc. Turns out that our flat while fab, lacks certain essentials. There's hardly any storage, making unpacking really hard cause there's no where to put anything. And a lack of hooks and railings for the hanging of towels in the bathroom is driving me ...
Posted by Justine at 15:53, November 28th, 2005 under Bloggery, Cricket, Sport, Sydney/Australia, Whingeing |
Tomorrow we move to our brand new flat what we rented while still jetlagged, which may not be quite as fab as we remember. Scott tells me the bath isn't torquoise, that it doesn't come with jetpacks, nor is there an airship tethered to the roof. I could've sworn . . . Oh well, as long as the monkeys were real.
All our stuff will be hauled out of storage for the first time in an age. What larks will abound! 'Cause everyone knows how fabulously fun moving is . . . almost as blissful as flathunting.
Internet access in the new flat isn't lined up yet, so not sure when next I'll blog, or answer emails, or google, or read anyone ...
Posted by Justine at 22:46, November 22nd, 2005 under State of the World, Sydney/Australia, Whingeing |
Posted by Justine at 22:00, November 21st, 2005 under Magic or Madness trilogy, Sydney/Australia, Travelling, Vainglory, Young Adult literature |
We're in Melbourne, running around like crazies, and having fun. Spent all day yesterday at the fabulous
School Libraries of Victoria conference, which was a blast. Shook me out of my jetlag. And Monday we get to hang out out with our Australian publishers at the Penguin offices, and also with the wonderful folks at the
Centre for Youth Literature, Mike Shuttleworth, Lili Wilkinson and the fabulous Agnes Nieuwenhuizen. Agnes
is profiled in today's Age. She's one of the most formidable, intelligent, engaged and engaging people I've met and today's profile actually captures that.
Must dash!
Posted by Justine at 9:42, November 19th, 2005 under Cons & Other Gatherings, Sydney/Australia, Young Adult literature |
For the first time since 1974
Australia will be going to the World Cup. Unbelievable. I'm pinching myself and am furious that my jetlag meant I only managed to stay awake for the first half.
Yay us!
Posted by Justine at 5:31, November 17th, 2005 under Sport, Sydney/Australia |
Posted by Justine at 6:48, November 16th, 2005 under Battle of the Sexes in Science Fiction, Feminism, Ranting, Whingeing, Young Adult literature |
I just found out that both Scott and me made
School Library Journal's best books of 2005 list. Scott for
Peeps and me (obviously) for
Magic or Madness. We is most happy. For me it's more icing on an already well-iced cake.
I'd like to take a moment to (incoherently and jetlaggedly) say how amazed I am by how Morm has been doing. It's my first novel. I've seen lots of first novels published, so I knew what to expect. The
reviews have been amazing, the placement in bookshops, and the response from readers. After we hooked up with our foreign rights agent, Whitney Lee, I had hopes of selling into countries other than the US and ...
Posted by Justine at 6:45, November 15th, 2005 under Magic or Madness trilogy, Praising, Scott's books, Vainglory, Young Adult literature |
Today I got to read all about the Sheffield Shield and One day interstate competitions (no, I will not call them by their bloody buggery corporate names). Go the Blues! I like the cut of this
new Jaques fellow. And the second test starts this week! Bliss.
So. Very. Good. To. Be. Home.
Posted by Justine at 18:39, November 14th, 2005 under Cricket, Sport, Sydney/Australia |
One of the best things about being jetlagged is getting to watch the sunrise. In my normal life I never see it. This morning though I watched my parent's backyard go from pitch black to completely light. And because it's spring their backyard is gorgeous. The jacaranda tree is covered in purple flowers. There are other plants in bloom with white and pink flowers. I just saw my first flock of
rainbow lorikeets, chirruping back and forth at each other as they zoomed by. I should be up at this time more often.
The only noises I'm hearing are birds, the hum of the fridge from the kitchen, and various house creaking noises, but mostly birds. I'm so not ...
Posted by Justine at 6:00, November 13th, 2005 under Sydney/Australia, Viewing |
Home, home, home, home, home, home, home!!!
But not coherent.
Sydney pretty. Sun up at 7:20PM. Smell good.
Posted by Justine at 19:22, November 12th, 2005 under Sydney/Australia |
Diana Peterfreund tells us all about
The Poisoned Nipple Theory. I, too, think Showgirls is one of the finest inadvertant comedies ever made.
Cherie Priest's
relatives are funny.
Spirit fingers makes
delicious mock of my people.
Posted by Justine at 11:31, November 10th, 2005 under Bloggery, Reading, Sydney/Australia, Viewing |
Because I hate packing more than anything in the whole world, I'd like to tell you about the best book I read this year,
A Rabbit's Eyes by Kenjiro Haitani, published by the ubercool
Vertical Books. And also because I'm anxious that I'm not packing when I really, really should be packing I'll keep my comments brief.
A Rabbit's Eyes is unbelieveably good and strange and very hard to describe. Told from the point of view of a brand-new, eager-to-be-good teacher, it's all about this kid, Tetsuzo, who doesn't speak and breeds flies (not houseflies though, they're dirty). It's wry and touching and I hate to say it---heartwarming, but in a totally non-vomitous way. It's not like anything I've ...
Posted by Justine at 16:33, November 9th, 2005 under Reading |
Well, not me so much as my essay
"Too Young to Publish". Awhile back
Didi Chanoch asked if I minded if it were translated? I did not!
So now Itay Shlamkovitch has
translated "Too Young to Publish" and
Bli Panik has published it. If you
read Hebrew check it out. (Is your Hebrew coming back, Da?) Hell, even if you don't. It's pretty.
This is the first of my writings that's been translated. I've sold translations rights to
Magic or Madness and Magic Lessons but the actual publishing of those translations hasn't happened yet. Oh, the glory of online publication. So very fast!
Oh, and I think this is my name in Hebrew: ג'סטין לרבליסטר
Cool, eh?
Posted by Justine at 8:43, November 9th, 2005 under Vainglory, Words & Language |
I hear many USians complain about going to the post office and about the US postal system generally. I'm here to say you're wrong. You lot have one of the best postal services in the world. It's way cheaper, faster and better than the postal service of any other country I've been in.
I enjoy going to the post office on Fourth Avenue and Eleventh St. Most of the people who work there are lovely, have a sense of humour, and go out of their way to tell you the cheapest and/or fastest way to send things. And the woman who delivers our mail? A goddess. I've never ever seen her in a bad mood. She calls everybody "boopy" or "booboo" ...
Posted by Justine at 15:32, November 8th, 2005 under New York City/USA, Praising |
But now there are buttons to navigate from post to post.
Thanks,
Shana, for being the spur to do it and to
Marrije for pointing to the how-to document. Do my own research? Are you insane?
Now I resume packing.
If you're a Jane Austen nut there's quite the excellent convo going on
two posts below.
Posted by Justine at 8:14, November 8th, 2005 under Bloggery |
Things not to do mere days before racking off back home:
1. Drop your laptop.
Actually, that's the entire list.
Not a good day. Not at all. But laptop came out of it---while not quite as aesthetically pleasing as before---mostly functional.
Posted by Justine at 22:59, November 7th, 2005 under Whingeing |
I swore to myself that I wouldn't do it, that I would resist, that to give in and look at
the trailer for the latest version of Pride and Prejudice would just make me ropeable at worst, sad at best. Keira Knightley as Elizabeth Bennett? Ack! Yeah, I know there are worse actors out there, who'd be even more ludicrously miscast, but it doesn't make her any less of a crap choice.
I'm not a Knightley fan. I know it's not her fault, but I've never forgiven her for becoming the famous one after Bend it Like Beckham, when it was the luminous Parminder Nagra who stole that movie, not Knightley. Now Nagra's on ER and Knightley's everywhere. Where's the ...
Posted by Justine at 22:04, November 6th, 2005 under Bloggery, Ranting, Reading, Viewing, Whingeing |
Someone landed at my website after googling the following question:
"how do publishers decide print runs first second printing"
I don't really know the answer to that question. Or, rather, questions, because the decision on the initial print run is a different (and more complicated question) than whether to reprint or not. If the book's selling well and likely to sell out the first run, then you print again.
Or, mostly, I have heard horror stories like a recent unexpected bestseller whose first print run sold out flash quick and the editor had to plead with higher ups to do a second print run.
There are also houses that do such tiny initial runs that second printings are inevitable.
One editor told me that ...
Posted by Justine at 14:39, November 5th, 2005 under Search Terms |
1. Me and Scott just joined a most excellent group called
AS IF! Authors supporting intellectual freedom. It's a bunch of writers of young adult fiction, including folks like
Holly Black and a host of other amazing writers, who're fighting the good fight against book banning and other attempts to control the content of books for young adults. The
blog lists all the members and our first action. Yay us!
2. Novelist Nicole Galland is following the path of the fourth crusade (which never reached the holy land) as research for her third novel and she's
blogging it in a most entertaining manner.
3. Claire Light just wrote a very
fine piece on Rosa Parks and ...
Posted by Justine at 14:33, November 4th, 2005 under Bloggery, Magic or Madness trilogy, Reading, State of the World |
I just had a
request to blog my World Fantasy Con panels, but sadly I'm still in NYC, due to Scott being sick and his brow needing mopping. World Fantasy will have to soldier on without us this year.
Anyone know who's there and blogging?
Posted by Justine at 15:08, November 3rd, 2005 under Bloggery, Cons & Other Gatherings, New York City/USA |
A friend just asked if I'm ever going to write another
musing again. She wonders if this blog has destroyed them for all time.
Tis true that I didn't write a single one in September or October, but then I hardly wrote an email in that time either. But just as I will write emails again, so too will I muse again. I've even got a bunch of half-written ones: about podcasts, the artist who's back to being known as prince again, about city hatred, being Australian, travelling, and about the nightmare of writing a mathematically gifted character (Reason in the Magic or Madness books when I am so not and how it gets harder with each book---not doing that ...
Posted by Justine at 10:55, November 3rd, 2005 under Bloggery, Excuses, Magic or Madness trilogy, State of the World |
Posted by Justine at 22:08, November 2nd, 2005 under Magic or Madness trilogy, Vainglory |
The cover of Magic Lessons is now a done deal:
I love that it proclaims itself as a sequel:
But mostly I love that me and Scott have a photo credit:
Woo hoo! (I know it's tricky to read. You'll just have to trust me.)
(Update: Scott made it legible. Yay Scott!)
Posted by Justine at 15:36, November 1st, 2005 under Magic or Madness trilogy |
