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We only have a few more days left on Insideadog.
Check out our latest post there.
Posted by Justine at 16:31, July 31st, 2007 under Bloggery, Sydney/Australia |
Posted by Justine at 12:07, July 31st, 2007 under Bloggery, Cricket, Sport, Sydney/Australia, Whingeing, Writing life |
From this
sensible article on cheating in sports by JERÉ LONGMAN for the New York Times:
Fausto Coppi of Italy, who won the Tour de France in 1949 and 1952, was once asked if he ever fueled himself with amphetamines.
"Only when necessary," he said.
How often was that?
"Most of the time," Coppi replied.
The Tour de France ranges from 3,000 to 4,000 kilometres long (1,800 to 2,500 miles) which must be covered really fast in three weeks over hill and dale with just two rest days. Evidence is pretty strong that chemical assistance has been used since the tour began.
Longman points out that the two sports that have had the most drug scandals are the ones that have pursued the issue most ...
Posted by Justine at 12:22, July 30th, 2007 under Sport, State of the World, Tour de France |
It's midnight on the east coast of Australia (10AM on the east cost of the USA) the beginning of the final day of
the LOLYA contest. Get your entries in by 11:59PM of today, Tuesday 31 July (East coast USA: 9:59AM 31 July). The comments will be turned off at that time.
We'll announce the winners on the morning of 6 August (the evening of 5 August in the US of A).
Good luck!
Posted by Justine at 10:00, July 30th, 2007 under Bloggery, Sydney/Australia |
Because
Jenny Davidson says she
enjoys a good rant we have provided her with some
ranting action over on insideadog.
Posted by Justine at 22:26, July 29th, 2007 under Bloggery, Sydney/Australia |
Apparently there are
lots of people out there who hated Sunshine and think it the worst movie ever. I beg to differ.
While I don't think it was anywhere near best-movie-ever-made status, there was a lot I enjoyed about it compared to your average sf movie, which as a genre I mostly hate. Seriously the amount of sf films I think are okay (in a non-camp way) is very very small. Sunshine gave me a mission to save the world without big long speeches about saving humanity, uniformly good acting, no boredom, plus it was pretty.
What I didn't like were the standard annoying Hollywoodisms, like, and here come the spoilers,
Posted by Justine at 0:17, July 29th, 2007 under Viewing, Whingeing |
I am in crunch time. I am in crunchy crunch time. The busyness I have been complaining about has rebounded on itself and leapt to a whole new level of busy. In a word: Aaaarggghh!!!!
I'm going to keep blogging. I made a little bet with myself to see if I could blog every day of July and so far so good. I hate to lose bets with myself. Especially fun ones. Also blogging kind of clears my head. Dunno why but when I'm deep in writing, blogging really helps me to unwind---that and a glass of wine.
However, I'll no longer be replying to comments as much as I have been (which I know has been down on what it used ...
Posted by Justine at 11:44, July 28th, 2007 under Bloggery, Excuses, How To Ditch Your Fairy, Whingeing |
For research purposes, I am going to drastically increase my zombie culture consumption.
Thus far I've been reading and loving The Walking Dead by Robert Kirkman. (I read the trades not the skinnies---so no spoilers for the latest issues!)
I also plan to read World War Z, An Oral History Of The Zombie War by Max Brooks. So no spoilers, people!
Update: Forgot to mention I have read the entire and very excellent Kelly Link zombie oeuvre.
What other zombie books and graphic novels should I be reading?
And there's the movies---because really the whole zombie thing is very movie driven.
Obviously I've seen and loved all the George Romero zombie films. Yum. My faves. Yes, even the recent Land of the Dead that I've ...
Posted by Justine at 12:11, July 27th, 2007 under Reading, Research, Viewing, Zombies |
Over at insideadog
we're talking covers and debuting a new one of Scott's. Check it out.
Posted by Justine at 16:25, July 26th, 2007 under Bloggery, Sydney/Australia |
Via
Elizabeth Bear a discussion of
how writers feel about getting editorial letters.
First up, for those who don't know an editorial letter is pretty much what it sounds like: a letter from your editor about your book, telling you all the things they want you to change in your manuscript. You only get an editorial letter if they've already bought your book.
The responses over at
Blue Rose Girls are varied and run from love to hate and back again.
Me, I love editorial letters. I will go so far as to say that I find them sexy.
Seriously, imagine receiving a long letter (I've had up to ten pages single-spaced) that is all about your book, that totally gets ...
Posted by Justine at 10:08, July 26th, 2007 under Bloggery, Publishing business, Writing life |
Last year there was a fair amount of debate about whether M. T. Anderson's Octavian Nothing is YA or not. Personally, I think it is, but I can see where those you don't are coming from. You can make a case either way. Octavian fulfills my requirements for YA.
I just finished a book which doesn't fulfill those requirements even though it's being sold as YA. Like Octavian Nothing, Margo Rabb's Cures for Heartbreak is a gorgeously written, deeply moving book. I loved it.
I just don't think it's a young adult book.
Here's why:
The protag is not a teenager. She's someone in her thirties looking back on her teenage years and how she coped. This gives the book a distant, elegiac quality, ...
Posted by Justine at 12:25, July 25th, 2007 under Praising, Ranting, Reading, Young Adult literature |
at
insideadog we continue to ask the
BIG QUESTIONS. Go answer 'em!
Posted by Justine at 8:37, July 25th, 2007 under Bloggery, Sydney/Australia |
My favourite basketballer in the entire universe is
Lauren Jackson, which every so often puts me in the weird position of barracking for the team she's playing against. See, I'm a
New York Liberty fan and she plays for the
Seattle Storm, which very confusingly has the same colours as Australia (green and gold).
Last Sunday her team narrowly beat my team, and on the one hand, I was deeply bummed---it was so close! We almost had them!---on the other hand, damn she's a
fine fine player. And, oh, how much I love watching her play. I just prefer, you know, when she's playing for the
Opals and they're
winning the world championships.
How ...
Posted by Justine at 0:09, July 24th, 2007 under Basketball, New York City/USA, Sport |
Posted by Justine at 12:48, July 23rd, 2007 under Bloggery, Reading, Young Adult literature |
Go see! (No spoilers. I promise!)
Posted by Justine at 22:59, July 22nd, 2007 under Bloggery, Sydney/Australia |
Posted by Justine at 14:05, July 22nd, 2007 under Frippery, Praising, Reading, State of the World, Young Adult literature |
Is everyone in the entire universe curled up reading Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows?
The silence it echoes . . .
I do not have a copy yet. So anyone who spoils me in any way will be horribly punished. Not that I expect any comments given that you're all reading.
Posted by Justine at 13:35, July 21st, 2007 under Reading |
The contest is open until the end of this month (
rules are here). The response has been amazing. I mean, we were hoping for at least half a dozen responses, there's been more than fifty.
If you don't want to spend all day being
Posted by Justine at 9:08, July 20th, 2007 under Bloggery, Frippery, Young Adult literature |
Posted by Justine at 13:35, July 19th, 2007 under Bloggery, Writing goals & milestones |
Holly Black is
making me giggle (via
Gwenda). Now all I can think about is vampire elves and zombie unicorns and werewolf-griffins and pirate-orcs and . . . and which of all of those would win in battle and what they'd look like and what they'd eat. Would vampire elves still not like steel and not tell lies? And what would a novel with all these creatures in it be like?
Oh, hush, Justine. You have stories to write! Novels to unbuggerize! Admin to adminerate! Stop procrastinating.
Posted by Justine at 12:23, July 18th, 2007 under Bloggery, Frippery, Unicorns, Zombies |
Over at
insideadog Scott has had an attack of the
lolcats and defaced several fine Australian young adult book covers. I am deeply horrified. Has he no sense of the sacred?
If you feel the urge to vandalise some other book covers (they don't have to be Australian or young adult) post the links to your efforts in the
comments thread over there. The best ones will receive a lovely
Extras T-shirt. The contest is open until the end of the month and we'll announce the winners in early August.
Posted by Justine at 0:02, July 18th, 2007 under Bloggery, Frippery, Scott's books, Sydney/Australia |
Posted by Justine at 5:11, July 17th, 2007 under Publishing business, Reading, Young Adult literature |
I just found out what
ambrosia salad is.
I will NEVER understand this country.
I think I'm going to be ill.
Posted by Justine at 8:34, July 16th, 2007 under Food, New York City/USA |
In time for Monday morning back home
we blog about writing together, which is something we get asked about a lot. Hope youse lot enjoy!
Posted by Justine at 20:48, July 15th, 2007 under Bloggery, Sydney/Australia |
Here's a
fabby Meg Cabot interview for youse. There are many many things I find inspiring about her. One of them is the way her career has unfolded. She started out in romance and wound up as queen of YA. Hers is not an overnight success story. She's had series of books be cancelled. Her first advances were tiny. Her first film deal---for The Princess Diaries---was made when she was still unknown:
And here's a tip for all you aspiring authors out there: if you ever sell your film rights, and they tell you that you're going to get a percentage of the gross net deficit, what that actually means is that you're going to get . . ...
Posted by Justine at 10:10, July 15th, 2007 under Bloggery, Praising, Young Adult literature |
Posted by Justine at 10:55, July 14th, 2007 under Praising, Publishing business, Viewing |
I am not a superstitious person and thus far every Friday the 13th has passed by without incident for me or anyone I know. Still as a writer the idea of a day of bad luck appeals to me.
Have any of you been aversely affected by it? Any stories to tell? Do you have any other days you think are unlucky? I had one friend who would not go outside on his birthday because he was convinced it was cursed.
Here's hoping today passes without untoward incident for anyone!
Posted by Justine at 8:55, July 13th, 2007 under State of the World |
Another
quessie over there.
Posted by Justine at 22:43, July 12th, 2007 under Bloggery |
So, um, I seem to have won three awards this year. I know! I was as shocked as you. Anyways, I thought it might be fun to have a squiz at 'em. For annoying scheduling reasons I managed not to be at any of the award ceremonies so I've only just got my hands on two of them and have yet to see the third. It's back home in Sydney being babysat by my parents (thanks Jan and John!).
Here's the Susan Koppelman (thanks for accepting it for me, Brian):
Photo by Scott Westerfeld
The Norton (thanks, Eloise):
Photo by Scott Westerfeld
And the William Atheling (thanks, Sean):
Photo by Niki Bern
Contrast in awards ...
Posted by Justine at 1:40, July 12th, 2007 under Daughters of Earth, Magic or Madness trilogy, New York City/USA, Sydney/Australia, Vainglory |
For youse lot is
now over at insideadog. A most excellent quessie even if I do say so myself. Go forth and satisfy my curiosity!
Also I'm really sorry for not answering anyone's emails or responding to comments in like a million years. Remember how I've had to give up
The Tour? Well, the business keeps on keeping on. But I'm really enjoying reading everything you have to say. Youse lots are funny, wise and most excellent. Thank you!
And back to work I go.
Blerk. Well, not all blerk. Just mostly blerk. Short stories? I stab them in the eye.
Posted by Justine at 13:17, July 11th, 2007 under Bloggery, Sydney/Australia |
Scott and me are gunna be guests of honour at
ConFusion 2008 in Detroit in January. This is the first time either one of us has ever been a guest of honour at a science fiction convention (or any con for that matter) and we are dead excited. And to add to the joy---lots of other splendid people will be there, including
Mr John Scalzi who is toastmaster. What bliss he will have saying mean things about me and Scott. That bastard!
I can't wait!
We also get to suggest panel topics. We've come up with a few cunning and provocative (wink, wink) ones like "Originality is Overrated" and "Science Fiction is Not Dying", but if you guys can think ...
Posted by Justine at 9:06, July 11th, 2007 under Cons & Other Gatherings, New York City/USA |
Posted by Justine at 0:02, July 10th, 2007 under Book challenges, New York City/USA, State of the World, Young Adult literature |
Marrije asked over on insideadog if I'll be following the Tour de France this year. Sadly, I will not.
This year has gotten out of control. I cannot afford to spend hours every day watching the Tour and following it online. I am incapable of following the Tour non-obsessively. So for the first time in years I'm not following it at all. (No spousal pressure was brought to bear in the making of this decision. Well, okay, just a little bit. I am not husband-beaten! I am not!)
Waaaahh!!!!!
The New York Liberty (10-8) will have to sustain my sport-following needs this northern summer.
And now I go back to the myriad tasks that confront me. At this point it's so bad I'm resorting ...
Posted by Justine at 12:02, July 9th, 2007 under Basketball, Sport, Tour de France, Whingeing, Writing goals & milestones |
We've now
answered the first of the quessies we were asked. Feel free to ask more
over there.
Gotta tell youse I'm starting to really enjoy the whole she said/he said thing. I'll miss it when it's gone.
Posted by Justine at 21:52, July 8th, 2007 under Bloggery |
As you can see I've been experimenting with a new look for the blog. Basically what I wanted was the old look plus an extra column. Sadly I couldn't figure how to change the old template. (Css skills=zero.) So I mucked around with another template trying to get it to look like my old one. This is as good as I've managed.
There are many things I'm unhappy with:
the bullets in the sidebars
how tight the space between the three columns is
the disappearance of my blogroll
navigation between posts gone
header not clickable any more
I'm off to see the Liberty take on the Sacramento Monarchs at Madison Square Garden. Maybe I'll figure out how to fix these problems when I get back. If any ...
Posted by Justine at 14:51, July 8th, 2007 under Bloggery |
In which
I ask a question. Please come answer!
Posted by Justine at 13:43, July 7th, 2007 under Bloggery, Sydney/Australia |
Posted by Justine at 12:43, July 7th, 2007 under Bloggery, Titles & names |
E. Lockhart (The Boyfriend List, Fly on the Wall, Dramarama)
Sarah Mlynowski (Bras & Broomsticks, Milkrun, Frogs & French Kisses) and
Lauren Myracle (TTYL, TTFN, L8R G8R, Rhymes with Witches) are writing a book together about three girls taking a road trip through the sticky heat of Florida in pursuit of love and adventure.
They're stuck on what title to use. I so sympathise. Picking the right title is a nightmare!
So right now Harper Teen is
holding a quiz. All you have to do is read the three top titles and
vote on your choice.
It takes seconds. I just voted. Won't tell you for which---don't want to sway the results. But, um, I sure do ...
Posted by Justine at 13:42, July 6th, 2007 under Bloggery, Titles & names, Young Adult literature |
Our
first post for insideadog is now live. Go over and check it out. We'll be there all month.
Posted by Justine at 17:27, July 5th, 2007 under Bloggery, Sydney/Australia |
Today there is a
most excellent article in The New York Times about just how bad flying in the US is. Delays are up by 39% this year and that's based on the airlines' stats which everyone says are deeply wrong:
As anyone who has flown recently can probably tell you, delays are getting worse this year. The on-time performance of airlines has reached an all-time low, but even the official numbers do not begin to capture the severity of the problem.
That is because these statistics track how late airplanes are, not how late passengers are. The longest delays---those resulting from missed connections and canceled flights---involve sitting around for hours or even days in airports and hotels and do not ...
Posted by Justine at 16:21, July 5th, 2007 under Ranting, Travelling |
As I mentioned me and Scott will start blogging for
insideadog tonight. We've got some ideas already but what would you like the both of us to talk about?
Posted by Justine at 11:19, July 5th, 2007 under Bloggery, Sydney/Australia |
Later this week me and Scott will start blogging together at
insideadog. That's right you'll get a twofer---we will both be the
writer in residence for the month of July. Though in Australia July starts on Friday the Sixth which in America is Thursday the Fifth. Got that? Not to worry, I'll post here to let you know when we've started posting there.
Insideadog is the premier youth literature site in Australia---possibly the world! Past writers in residence have been such illuminati as Randa Abdel-Fattah, D. M. Cornish, Nick Earls, Simmone Howell, Margo Lanagan, Melina Marchetta, Garth Nix and Marcus Zusak. Not bad, eh? Pretty stellar company to keep. Do come over and say hi.
In other news it's the ...
Posted by Justine at 11:53, July 4th, 2007 under Bloggery, Sydney/Australia, Young Adult literature |
Somerset Maugham meditating upon the writer's life:
It is full of tribulation. First he must endure poverty and the world's indifference; then, having achieved a measure of success, he must submit with good will to its hazards. He depends upon a fickle public. He is at the mercy of journalists who want to interview him and photographers who want to take his picture, of editors who harry him for copy and tax gatherers who harry him for income tax, of persons of quality who ask him to lunch and secretaries of institutes who ask him to lecture, of women who want to marry him and women who want to divorce him, of youths who want his autograph, actors who ...
Posted by Justine at 10:57, July 3rd, 2007 under Reading, State of the World, Words & Language, Writing life |
Posted by Justine at 13:09, July 2nd, 2007 under Publishing business, Reading, Writing life |
Posted by Justine at 0:01, July 2nd, 2007 under Ranting, Reading |
David Levithan's speech at Reading Matters inspired me to put together a list of Australian gay and lesbian young adult books.
I could not do this on my own. Thank you Lynndy Bennett, Kate Constable, Susannah Chambers, Pamela Freeman, Simmone Howell, Judith Ridge, Penni Russon and Ron Serdiuk for all your help and suggestions.
This list is definitely not complete and is not annotated. It's just a start. If you can think of any more titles, please let me know! And if you've read any of the books on the list and can say a bit more about them that'd be great too.
Lili Wilkinson has said that the
Centre for Youth Literature will give the list ...
Posted by Justine at 12:06, July 1st, 2007 under State of the World, Sydney/Australia, Young Adult literature |
