Archives
Posted by Justine at 0:59, February 27th, 2009 under Bloggery, Frippery, Writing life |
Posted by Justine at 7:59, February 26th, 2009 under Liar, Listening, Research |
Posted by Justine at 20:46, February 25th, 2009 under Book tour, Travelling |
Posted by Justine at 6:54, February 24th, 2009 under Book tour, How To Ditch Your Fairy, Praising, Publishing business, Sydney/Australia, Travelling |
Posted by Justine at 3:44, February 23rd, 2009 under Book tour, Fashion, Sydney/Australia |
Posted by Justine at 15:43, February 22nd, 2009 under 1930s NYC novel, Ranting, Viewing |
Posted by Justine at 2:45, February 22nd, 2009 under Book tour, How To Ditch Your Fairy, State of the World, Sydney/Australia |
Posted by Justine at 7:27, February 21st, 2009 under Book tour, Cons & Other Gatherings, Listening, New York City/USA, Sydney/Australia |
Brekkie and lunch in Sydney and now dinner in Melbourne. What a jetsetter I am!
Why, yes, it's less than an hour flight time from Sydney to Melbourne, what of it?
It's thirteen hours on a bus, but. I have it on good authority from
Mr Paul Kelly.
Posted by Justine at 3:34, February 20th, 2009 under Frippery, Sydney/Australia, Travelling |
Did I mention that I have a new How To Ditch Your Fairy cover for the US paperback?
Behold:
Posted by Justine at 16:15, February 19th, 2009 under How To Ditch Your Fairy, Praising |
Posted by Justine at 7:15, February 19th, 2009 under Praising, Sydney/Australia, Viewing |
Posted by Justine at 0:11, February 19th, 2009 under Book tour, Cons & Other Gatherings, Sydney/Australia, Vainglory |
The
round up of fall books (USian for autumn) appeared in Publishers Weekly. I think that's why I've been getting such an uptick in queries about my next book. Here's what PW said about my publisher's fall list:
BLOOMSBURY
Bloomsbury shows its claws with Girls Acting Catty by Leslie Margolis, a sequel to Boys R Dogs; Forest Born by Shannon Hale, fourth in the Books of Bayern fantasy series; Eat Fresh Food by Rozanne Gold, a guide for young chefs; Lady Macbeth’s Daughter by Lisa Klein, about a girl who learns of her complicated heritage; and an untitled mystery novel by Justine Larbalestier.
I'm in great company, aren't I? Leslie Margolis, Shannon Hale, Lisa Klein! Fab writers all. I'm especially keen to ...
Posted by Justine at 15:56, February 18th, 2009 under Liar |
Posted by Justine at 0:14, February 17th, 2009 under Writing goals & milestones, Writing life, Writing process |
Posted by Justine at 16:56, February 16th, 2009 under 1930s NYC novel, Whingeing, Writing life, Writing process |
Posted by Justine at 1:17, February 16th, 2009 under Cricket, Ranting, Sport |
Posted by Justine at 0:07, February 15th, 2009 under Fashion, Magic or Madness trilogy |
Posted by Justine at 0:48, February 14th, 2009 under Cricket, Sport |
Posted by Justine at 0:05, February 13th, 2009 under New York City/USA, Publishing business, Sydney/Australia, Writing life, Writing process |
Posted by Justine at 0:21, February 12th, 2009 under Writing process |
Posted by Justine at 0:16, February 11th, 2009 under New York City/USA, Reading, Writing life, Writing process |
Posted by Justine at 2:18, February 10th, 2009 under 1930s NYC novel, Liar, Praising, Science, Sydney/Australia, Viewing |
To all the people writing to ask me if I'm okay: Sydney is a long, long, long way from the worst of the bushfires. Me and mine are fine.
What's happened in
Victoria is horrific. So far more than 173 people have died. As I mentioned in
this earlier post you can help. The Oz Red Cross is taking
donations here.
Posted by Justine at 17:09, February 9th, 2009 under State of the World, Sydney/Australia |
Last night I dreamed that I rang many credit card companies trying to get stolen credit cards replaced. I was even put on hold. There was muzak. Numbered options. To pay your bill press 1. If your card has been stolen press 2. To talk to an operator press 0.
It was the most boring dream in the history of dreams. I am still angry at the injustice of such wasted dream time!
Dear Subconscious,
Do that again and nastiness will ensue. I mean it.
As in you will be fired!
Do you understand?
Now, let us return to the dragons, mangosteens, and flying.
Thank you.
Yours in a snit,
Justine
I hope you're all having much better dreams. Though no need to tell me about them. All dreams ...
Posted by Justine at 0:00, February 9th, 2009 under Ranting |
Posted by Justine at 16:04, February 8th, 2009 under State of the World, Sydney/Australia |
Posted by Justine at 11:59, February 7th, 2009 under Cricket, Praising, Sport |
Posted by Justine at 21:53, February 6th, 2009 under Book tour, Cons & Other Gatherings, Sydney/Australia |
There's a
wonderful article over at School Library Journal by Debra Lau Whelan, which says in public what many YA writers talk about amongst themselves all the time. Namely how pervasive censorship is in our field and not just in the obvious book-challenge way:
Self-censorship. It’s a dirty secret that no one in the profession wants to talk about or admit practicing. Yet everyone knows some librarians bypass good books—those with literary merit or that fill a need in their collections. The reasons range from a book’s sexual content and gay themes to its language and violence—and it happens in more public and K–12 libraries than you think.
Self-censorship happens all along the way as a YA book wends its ...
Posted by Justine at 20:14, February 5th, 2009 under Book challenges |
One of the most pleasing things about finally have our own digs in Sydney was getting all our stuff out of storage. Including my nana's china:
Look we has TWO whole shelves of it!
I remember her saying that it was one of the first presents she bought herself when she came to Australia in 1939. Scott and me use it as our everyday crockery. No point in it sitting on the shelf collecting dust, right? And I love the sense of continuity that so many people have used these plates and cups and platters over the last 70 years. Pretty cool, huh?
Here, have a closer look:
I suspect it was very common in the late 1930s and early ...
Posted by Justine at 2:37, February 5th, 2009 under 1930s NYC novel, Sydney/Australia |
While I was eating my breakfast of mango, passionfruit, banana, sheep milk's yoghurt and granola and looking out at the view of the city, a flock of rainbow lorikeets went screaming past, their red, green and blue feathers illuminated by the sun and I thought about my dear, dear friends---especially poor Maureen Johnson, little Libba Bray, and wee Robin Wasserman---back in New York City, who, judging by their frequent sad missives to me and Scott, are cold right now. Cold and miserable and they've completely forgotten what the sun looks like.
I decided that it is my duty here in sunny gorgeous Sydney to cheer them up. First, I thought of describing a day in the life of Justine in Sydney ...
Posted by Justine at 0:02, February 4th, 2009 under New York City/USA, Sydney/Australia |
I see that I have not ranted about any of my fashion hates since the dawn of time! That is not right and must be fixed immediately.
What, you ask, am I hating on right now? Here are two words that should never go together:
"Roman" and "sandals"
They're also known as gladiator sandals and Greek sandals. They are abominations. And I've been seeing them everywhere here in sunny Sydney. They are an affront to my eyes!
And, I suspect, an affront to the person who's wearing them's calves. Seriously, look at how many spots there are for chafing and blisters. It's been in the high 20s and low thirties for a while now and a bit humid. ((Yes, I ...
Posted by Justine at 2:44, February 3rd, 2009 under Fashion, Ranting |
I have an older character, who lives in upstate NY and has pretty much her whole life, who refers to jeans as "dungarees". I had her use that word after consulting with friends from upstate who remembered people of their grandparents' generation and older using that word. I have been challenged on this by someone who thought the word was Australian. Absolutely not. ((I suspect I'm going to cop that a lot with the Liar book---people assuming I've gotten things wrong---like having New Yorkers saying they're waiting "on line"---when, in fact, I've gotten it right, but they just don't happen to know some of the local New Yorker dialect. Many USians assume that all USians talk the same. So not ...
Posted by Justine at 1:16, February 2nd, 2009 under Liar, New York City/USA, Words & Language |
Posted by Justine at 0:35, February 1st, 2009 under Bloggery, Magic or Madness trilogy, Praising, State of the World, Writing life |
