Justine Larbalestier

reading, writing, eating, drinking, sport

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La la la . . .

I’ve added a new thingie to the side bar: By Popular Demand is a quick and easy link to my most popular posts. If there any other posts you think should be there let me know.

I mainly did this to help keep the Good News Only thread alive. In dribs and drabs people are still adding news. I encourage you alll to keep doing so. Whenever I’m feeling a wee bit down I reread it and it cheers me instantly. So, yeah, I’m trying to keep it alive for purely selfish reasons.

Have you all read Sara Gran’s muy amusing piece on what utter utter hell it is to be a writer in the horrifically writer-infested Brooklyn? If not do so immediately. It is to giggle. (For a login go to bugmenot.com.)

I’m so relieved my NYC time is spent in Manhattan. I wonder what the most writer-infested part of Sydney is? I hope it’s not Newtown, Chippendale or Surry Hills. But I have grave fears . . . Feel free to reassure me that it’s Ashfield, Balmain, Paddington, Chatswood or any other place I’ve no intention of living in. (No offence intended. Well, only a little bit. The teeniest of little bits. Honest.)

Posted by Justine at 19:29, 10 September 2006 under Admin, Bloggery, New York City/USA, Praising, Sydney/Australia | 11 Comments »

Comments

  1. Rebecca Says:

    i’m sure that it’s Ashfield, Balmain, Paddington, Chatswood or any other place you have no intention of living in. :)

    i likey the new sidebar. no particularly pressing good news to add to it just yet, but i’m sure there’ll be something soon enough.

    September 10th, 2006 at 9:56 PM

  2. Peter Sefton Says:

    Justine, why don’t you try living a bit further North. Sydney is _so_ city 1.0.

    I live in Toowoomba, Queensland. (Australia’s largest inland city after Canberra! Now with new improved Labor Government! And no recycled water! An Ambulance!).

    About 100,000 people and none of them tapping away at typewriters in cafes as far as I know.

    Of course we have cafes. And in most of them the coffee won’t keep you awake like that stuff they serve elsewhere.

    There are writers here, true but they’re a lot less trouble that the kind you get in Balmain. You can rent a big house, get some chooks, and not be distracted by writer’s festivals, nightlife, theatre (we have it, but not every night), art-house movies, major touring bands, opera houses, noisy public transport at night etc.

    September 11th, 2006 at 12:28 AM

  3. innle Says:

    Oh, Justine, Justine. Your grave fears are entirely justified. Although I do think there’s a significant pocket on the Northern Beaches.

    (I’m moving to one of your abovementioned writer-infested suburbs at the end of the year, so I will diffuse the concentration slightly, not being a writer and all. Maybe this should be in the good news thread? I am certainly tres excited.)

    September 11th, 2006 at 6:20 AM

  4. 4. Justine Says:

    Rebecca: Well as soon as you has some good news I wants to hear it!

    Pt: I believe you have answered your own question. And wouldn’t recycled water be a good thing?

    Innle: Which one are you moving to? And where are you moving from?

    Here’s hoping all the writers have moved to the northern beaches. This inner city girl reckons everything on the other side of the Harbour Bridge is here be dragons . .

    September 11th, 2006 at 11:59 AM

  5. marrije Says:

    i have never been near brooklyn (nor sydney, for that matter), so i’m completely agnostic on the matter at hand, but i think sara gran is fantastic. i just read her book ‘dope’, and loved it.

    and i also see her point in the article. i would never even dare put pen to paper if paul auster lived near me. so fortunate that all you guys live on the other side of the pond!

    September 11th, 2006 at 12:09 PM

  6. 6. Justine Says:

    What? There are no writers in the Netherlands? Not a single one?

    Dope is on my list of books what I must read. You’ve now pushed me into going and getting a copy.

    September 11th, 2006 at 12:15 PM

  7. John H Says:

    paddington can’t be all that bad – it makes me think of paddington bear, and who doesn’t like paddington bear?

    September 11th, 2006 at 1:47 PM

  8. marrije Says:

    nope. not a single writer. ’tis a terrible story. some sort of freak virus, took out the lot of them. there are rumours about a few specimens left in the dark recesses of amsterdam, but we don’t talk about those much out of respect for their horribly distorted visages. carl zimmer will probably write a ground-breaking book about the whole sad business soon.

    oh hang on, the best one of our writers actually lives in my city… oh crap. i’m doomed.

    and dope is both very good and very short (you’ll read it in one delicious evening) so run out and get it!!!

    September 11th, 2006 at 3:07 PM

  9. innle Says:

    To Surry Hills, from the south end of the Eastern Suburbs. I am quite sick of this suburb. (I can’t find a decent coffee anywhere! Yes, I have my priorities straight.)

    September 12th, 2006 at 6:46 AM

  10. 10. Justine Says:

    John H: That’s the other Paddington in London. The Sydney Paddington is entirely different.

    Marrije: I thought as much. The whole of Europe is totally infested with writers!

    Innle: Surry Hills is fabulous. I’m sure you already know about it, but for you people who must drink the foul black puddle water (*shudder*) Single Origin Coffee on Reservoir Street is supposed to be the best coffee in the city.

    September 13th, 2006 at 4:34 AM

  11. innle Says:

    Oooh, I have never been there! I will have to go. Mmmmm, foulblackpuddlewater.

    September 13th, 2006 at 7:20 AM

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