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This vid exactly expresses my current feelings. Be warned that it involves intemperate language and violence:
Do not ask me how many times Microsoft Word has crashed on me today. Let's just say I better not run into Bill Gates anytime soon.
The first person who tells me I can switch stupid Mr Clippy off gets punched. He is switched off. But when Word crashes it magically gets switched on again. Have I mentioned that I HATE Microsoft Word?
Oh and the first person who tells me to switch to
Scrivener gets yelled at. I have switched, but I'm doing final rewrites, and have to keep my doc in smelly ...
Posted by Justine at 11:29, December 17th, 2007 under How To Ditch Your Fairy, Ranting, Viewing, Whingeing |
So I finally got
Scott's new look blog up and running. What a hassle that was! I always think it will be just an hour or two. Hah! Try several days of hassles. Especially as there was a migration of his site to a new server. Why is it always so hard?
Anyways . . . It's up and I think it looks great. Go take a squiz and tell me what you think. Though if you have any complaints tell Scott, not me!
All praise to
Sadish Balasubramanian who designed the very nifty and flexible
SeaShore template.
I was planning a redesign here to go with the new book but the very thought of going through that again makes ...
Posted by Justine at 16:10, December 16th, 2007 under Admin, Bloggery, Scott's books, Whingeing |
Posted by Justine at 19:25, December 14th, 2007 under Admin, Bloggery, How To Ditch Your Fairy, Manga, New York City/USA, Sydney/Australia, Whingeing, Writing goals & milestones |
Posted by Justine at 0:03, December 4th, 2007 under How To Ditch Your Fairy, Whingeing, Writing goals & milestones |
It's now minus six. Or twenty-one in that crazy Fahrenheit talk.
Help me!
Posted by Justine at 8:04, December 2nd, 2007 under New York City/USA, Whingeing |
I dies.
I think I'm going to have to learn Fahrenheit cause 31 sounds lovely to me while -1 makes me want to cry.
I have not been outside today. Partly due to the dread evil deadlines and partly because it's -1 out there! Bits of me could freeze and fall off!
How am I going to make it to the end of January?
Aaargghh!!!
Posted by Justine at 17:39, December 1st, 2007 under New York City/USA, Whingeing |
I so wish I was back home right now. I'd get to follow the cricket and the election. It would be warm. The sun wouldn't be setting just a few hours after it rose. No one would be asking me about my accent. People would know that Errol Flynn is Australian. I'm sick of being a foreignor. Back home I don't have to explain myself nearly so often. I can't tell you how tiring it gets.
If I was in Sydney right now I would go for a long walk. I'd hear
flying foxes in the trees. I'd smell all the night flowering plants. I'd watch the light sparkling on the harbour. I'd be HOME. And I'd go to Forbes ...
Posted by Justine at 7:41, November 16th, 2007 under New York City/USA, Praising, Sydney/Australia, Whingeing |
It has come to this. I have the final round of edits on the Fairy book. They are in manuscript form. However, there is no room on my desk to put the manuscript. The towering piles of crap cannot stand any further weight, not even one small piece of paper, definitely not 264 manuscript pages. I know because I tried and there was much toppling of crap to the floor. It is now dumped back on the desk.
The desk must be cleaned in order for me to work.
I am afraid of it. It is now more like an archaeological dig than mere cleaning. I fear what I might find: I did clean away all uneaten food, didn't I? I fear ...
Posted by Justine at 10:44, November 4th, 2007 under How To Ditch Your Fairy, Whingeing |
Posted by Justine at 1:11, October 29th, 2007 under How To Ditch Your Fairy, Titles & names, Whingeing, Words & Language, Writing life |
A friend of mine, who doesn't blog or read blogs, asked me why I blog. "Don't you feel weird sharing your personal life with total strangers?"
Their question surprised me because I don't blog about my personal life. This isn't that kind of a blog. I explained that to my friend. They didn't believe me. "You talk about your writing, don't you? That's personal."
Um, no. Writing is my job.
"But what about when your writing's not going well? Aren't the bad times personal?"
First of all, I don't blog about when the writing's going really badly.
Second, when I blog about the harder aspects of writing I do so to let people know that the writing life is not as glamorous as ...
Posted by Justine at 6:16, September 27th, 2007 under Bloggery, Whingeing |
Posted by Justine at 11:33, September 20th, 2007 under Bloggery, Whingeing, Writing life |
The worst thing about DragonCon---other than the way too many people thing---is that it's on the exact same weekend as the WNBA conference finals. I missed seeing Phoenix sweep San Antonio (woo hoo! Amy---sorry, Rebecca) and will miss all the Indiana-Detroit games (please Indiana win tonight!)
Seeing all those insanely brilliant costumes is some compensation I suppose. Riding on the train with Holly, Theo, Cassandra, Maureen and Scott ditto. Sitting around in a hotel room with them telling ghost stories also not too foul.
Which reminds me what are your favourite urban legends? Feel free to leave a link in the comments if you don't feel like telling the whole thing. So far we've done the finger nails one, the hook, the ...
Posted by Justine at 8:47, September 3rd, 2007 under Basketball, Cons & Other Gatherings, New York City/USA, Praising, Whingeing |
The tomatoes right now are unspeakably good. I went to the Tompkins Square farmers' market this morning and bought eight different kinds. Yum. They're so sweet and flavouresome they don't need dressing. Just salt and pepper and a squeeze of lime and you have the best tomato salad ever.
They also had the first
cape goosberries (husk cherries) of the season. Heaven! And the fresh garlic keeps on. I think I'll do a stir fry tonight of kale, lebanese cukes, garlic and onion. (All bought at the market.)
Even though I'm locked in working my arse off on the UFB and can't remember the last time I talked to a real human being (other than Scott) I'm still eating well! Sometimes ...
Posted by Justine at 13:27, August 12th, 2007 under Food, How To Ditch Your Fairy, New York City/USA, Praising, Whingeing |
Posted by Justine at 12:07, July 31st, 2007 under Bloggery, Cricket, Sport, Sydney/Australia, Whingeing, Writing life |
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 |
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 |
Posted by Justine at 1:02, June 30th, 2007 under Excuses, Whingeing |
Posted by Justine at 9:14, June 28th, 2007 under Magic or Madness trilogy, Whingeing, Writing life |
Anyone know where I can buy preserved lemons (Morrocan style)? (Yes, I know I can get them online, but I like to shop in real life with actual people. I also know I could make 'em but I ain't in the mood for sterilising jars.)
I'm also looking for Thai herbs like pak chii farang and pandanus leaf. And, yes, I've tried Chinatown. Couldn't see 'em anywhere and no one knew what I was talking about.
And how about plain old chervil? (The places round here haven't even heard of chervil. Is there some strange USian word for chervil I don't know about? I googled and came up with chervil being chervil. So how come no one knows what it is?)
I'm ...
Posted by Justine at 12:28, June 23rd, 2007 under Food, New York City/USA, Ranting, Sydney/Australia, Whingeing |
Yes, my site has been down on and off since Friday. Ditto my email. Yes, it has driven me insane.
My apologies to anyone who's been sending me urgent emails. I now have close to a thousand unread emails waiting for me.
Brave new world of faster and better technology, eh?
Bah, humbug.
Posted by Justine at 22:59, June 18th, 2007 under Bloggery, Excuses, Ranting, Whingeing |
Posted by Justine at 17:12, June 10th, 2007 under Bloggery, Excuses, Whingeing, Writing goals & milestones, Writing life |
Someone just told me jetlag is all in the mind. This made me cranky because I have jetlag right now.
My head feels strange, almost hollow. The world is several metres away on the other side of some (slightly) warped plexiglass. Sound is taking several seconds too long to get to me. When people ask me questions I have to figure out first if they're speaking English, then if they are, what they're saying, by which time they're staring at me as if I am a moron. Smiling or nodding does not dissipate the moron effect. When I have jetlag I suspect I am a moron.
What does "all in the mind" mean anyway?
A boss I once had told me that ...
Posted by Justine at 10:54, May 30th, 2007 under Ranting, Whingeing |
Posted by Justine at 1:09, May 23rd, 2007 under Cons & Other Gatherings, Sydney/Australia, Whingeing, Young Adult literature |
Because that's how much it's costing me to be online.
I may need to do hotel-hatred management classes fairly soon.
In short:
Adelaide still gorgeous, still full of churches.
The wedding was awesome. I'm a sucker for weddings at the best of times. But this was more excellent than most. The bride's speech rocked.
Despite the insane hotel gouging not allowing me to function in the 21st century, I'm more relaxed and happy than I've been in ages. Amazing how wonderful not working (and possibly not going online) and getting to hang out with my friends without feeling guilty is. More please!
Melbourne next. Where there will be much work and fun at Reading Matters. I'd link but that would lose me my second and third ...
Posted by Justine at 18:13, May 20th, 2007 under Bloggery, Cons & Other Gatherings, Excuses, Frippery, Praising, Sydney/Australia, Whingeing |
Am in the pretty churchy city of Adelaide for a wedding. What larks. I love weddings! And these two crazy kids are great together. But internet access is not so much limited as BLOODY EXPENSIVE. Stupid gouging hotels! Colour me outraged.
So quickly: "gaol" is an another spelling of that place where people are locked up which is usually spelled "jail". It ain't slang. It used to be the only way the word was spelled but is on its way out. I cling to it out of love and perversity.
And thanks again for all the congrats on the Norton win. I can't believe I'm still getting them! Yay! And an even bigger yay for the impact it's had on ...
Posted by Justine at 6:04, May 18th, 2007 under Ranting, Sydney/Australia, Travelling, Vainglory, Whingeing, Words & Language |
I get back on an airplane on Monday. It'll be barely a week since I was last on one.
Gah! No matter what airline I'm on, no matter whether I've been upgraded or not, whether it's short-haul or long-haul, very little fun is had.
Today I had an epiphany: I must stop expecting air travel to go smoothly. I must lower my expectations. In the last few years of constant travel the vast majority of my flights have been awful. So it is reasonable to expect that will continue.
From now on I will expect the check-in person not to be able to find our reservations, and the flight to be delayed or cancelled, our luggage to not get on the ...
Posted by Justine at 0:06, April 26th, 2007 under Travelling, Whingeing |
Posted by Justine at 10:08, April 5th, 2007 under Bloggery, Cons & Other Gatherings, New York City/USA, Vainglory, Whingeing, Young Adult literature |
So, as mentioned I've been reading of the manga and the graphic novels and there has been much joy and bliss and wonder. As usual I don't mention those what I've read and not enjoyed.
Buddha by Osamu Tezuka (Vol. 1)
Fabulous. I don't have words for how much I loved it. Especially as I put off reading this one for almost a year. And I put it off for the lamest reason imaginable. See, back in the dark ages when I was in primary school one of my scripture teachers gave us all these Jesus comic books to read. They told the story of Jesus, and, well, there is no gentle way to put this: they sucked. The art ...
Posted by Justine at 21:04, March 21st, 2007 under Manga, Praising, Reading, Whingeing |
Posted by Justine at 15:39, March 10th, 2007 under Bloggery, How To Ditch Your Fairy, Praising, Whingeing, Writing life |
Posted by Justine at 9:52, March 5th, 2007 under Bloggery, Whingeing, Writing life |
I have been whingeing more than somewhat about the cold since we landed in NYC. As I type this it's -9 (15.7F) outside and the winds are howling. Both of which strikes me as just plain wrong.
But rather than focuss on the utter misery and horror of it, I'm trying to think of some positives. Like, um, er, ah, um, . . . Okay, I got nothing. I can think of nothing good about weather this cold.
Can any of you help me? Do any of you like the cold? See something positive about it? Do please share. Because I haven't left the flat since Friday and I'm kind of not planning to until we get to June and warmth.
Give me ...
Posted by Justine at 1:26, February 5th, 2007 under New York City/USA, Ranting, Whingeing |
Posted by Justine at 20:59, January 29th, 2007 under New York City/USA, Praising, Sydney/Australia, Travelling, Whingeing, Writing life, Young Adult literature |
There's been
much debate about what authors owe their readers out there in bloggyland. I think the whole thing is really rather simple:
When I've got my writing hat on then it's very clear that authors owe their readers absolutely nothing. Do you hear me readers? I owe you nothing!
I can write about what I want, when I want, and how I want. If I want to set fire to your favourite character's hair, push them off a cliff, and then jump on them, I can and I will, and there's nothing you can do to stop me. So nyer!
When I've got my reading hat on, then it's very very clear that authors owe me exactly the book ...
Posted by Justine at 0:03, January 15th, 2007 under Bloggery, Frippery, Praising, Ranting, Reading, Whingeing, Zombies |
. . . then I must be in London.
When I was little all I ever wanted to do was travel, but I didn't have in mind hitting Los Angeles, Seattle, New York City (twice---very briefly), Indiana, Kentucky and London all in the space of two weeks. It's too much.
Things I hate about travelling:
airports (where they confiscate your toothpaste for being a few grams over the weight limit)
airplanes (full of people hacking up their lungs)
getting sick
leaving my favourite toothpaste/book/jacket/friends behind
never being a hundred per cent sure where I am or what time it is or where the stuff I need is
Other than that I adore travelling. Anyone else got some travel whinge or love to share?
This was written on ...
Posted by Justine at 6:14, October 26th, 2006 under Cons & Other Gatherings, Travelling, Whingeing |
Posted by Justine at 9:21, September 29th, 2006 under Basketball, Bloggery, Magic or Madness trilogy, Praising, Reading, Sport, Whingeing, Words & Language |
Blessed release: Magic's Child is now on its way into Polly Watson's genius copyediting hands. Thank Elvis!
I confess I was worried. Especially when Penguin's spring catalogue arrived with Magic's Child listed as if it was an actual finished book. Gah! I thought. Booksellers will be ordering a non-existent book!
Well, it exists now---in finished form even! And, if you don't object to a moment of skiting, it's not too foul, not too foul at all. Phew!
Rather than thanking all the peoples what helped (their moment of glory is in the book's acks) I'm gunna list the music what got me through the last few gruelling weeks:
Benny Goodman Sextet (with Charlie Christian prominently featured)
Billie Holiday
Blur (Think Tank---thanks
Andrew)
Cat Power (Moon Pix---thanks ...
Posted by Justine at 2:25, August 28th, 2006 under Listening, Magic or Madness trilogy, Praising, Whingeing, Writing goals & milestones |
I just saw the line "Sometimes published writers get rejected too" in a
comment thread on
Miss Snark. I nodded at the screen because yes, indeed, we certainly do.
That glorious day when you finally get accepted does not mean that from then on it's all yes, yes, yes, yes, yes. I wish! I don't know a single published author who hasn't had rejections after their initial sale. Mate, I know New York Times Bestselling Authors who've had work commissioned for an anthology and still been rejected:
"You are a writer of great genius, we love your work, write us a story set in a world with butterfly-based technology!" The writer does. The response: "Your story does not ...
Posted by Justine at 22:32, June 21st, 2006 under Bloggery, Whingeing, Writing life |
It's now more than a year since Magic or Madness was first published which means I've been a published novelist for more than a year---something I've wanted since I was a littlie. All sorts of things have happened since then that I hadn't anticipated, and trust me, I anticipated a lot: bestseller status, a multi-million dollar film option, the nobel prize. (Clearly, that's all being saved for later.) I'm not entirely delusional, I also imagined less over-the-top stuff: good reviews, selling well enough that my publisher wouldn't drop me. So far so good: there's a tick beside both of those boxes.
What I didn't anticipate was how having a book out can mess with your writing other books. Once Magic or ...
Posted by Justine at 0:33, June 20th, 2006 under How To Ditch Your Fairy, Magic or Madness trilogy, Whingeing, Writing life |
Over at Miss Snark's some
folks get all snooty when agents address them by first name. I find their crankiness weird and am wondering if it's a generational thing or because (as another commenter says) I'm Australian and we're less uptight more relaxed than USians.
Personally, I'm more squicked when people insist on using a title with my name. My name is Justine Larbalestier, it's not Ms Justine Larbalestier, certainly not Miss or Mrs Justine Larbalestier and you're risking life and limb if you ever use
Mrs Scott Westerfeld, though FYI Scott adores being called Mr Justine Larbalestier.
If you must use a title the correct one's actually Dr, which I'm not wild about either, but at least I earned ...
Posted by Justine at 10:14, June 11th, 2006 under Frippery, New York City/USA, Ranting, State of the World, Sydney/Australia, Titles & names, Whingeing, Words & Language |
The combination of jetlag and a cold meant that I did not get as much out of this year's WisCon as I normally do. But
everybody else seemed to be having an
amazing time. There were a great many people there that I didn't even get a chance to say hello to like Suzy McKee Charnas, Patrick Nielsen Hayden, Jay Lake, Kelly Link, Sharyn November, Nisi Shawl, Helen Pilinovsky and I hardly had a conversation of any length the whole weekend long.
But I did finally get to meet
Cherie Priest and she was just as fabulous as expected. More, even. (Thank you Liz Gorinsky for arranging it---lovely to see you, too!). As well as the ...
Posted by Justine at 18:35, May 30th, 2006 under Cons & Other Gatherings, Daughters of Earth, Excuses, New York City/USA, Travelling, Whingeing |
In less than twenty-four hours we'll be on a plane to NYC. And while I think NYC is a bloody excellent city, and I have many wonderful friends there I can't wait to see, I'm sad about it. For the last few years I haven't been anywhere for more than three months straight. And that place was San Miguel de Allende, not Sydney. And while San Miguel is also completely ace I'm dying to spend an uninterrupted LONG stretch of time in my hometown.
Scott says I always get like this just before we leave anywhere (San Miguel, Dunedin, Buenos Aires, NYC). He says I always say that I want to stay. Maybe. But I feel it even worse when it's ...
Posted by Justine at 18:27, May 21st, 2006 under Food, Liquids, Sydney/Australia, Travelling, Whingeing |
Posted by Justine at 10:57, April 20th, 2006 under Bloggery, Magic or Madness trilogy, Ranting, Whingeing, Writing goals & milestones, Writing life, Zombies |
Sorry for the silence. My excuses are many and covered in mucus and jetlag. Which led to my inadvertantly consigning a number of thoughtful posts to spam purgatory. My apologies. Please comment again. I hope to be non-mucus laden and competent any day now and am much less likely to nuke future comments.
While I lay sweating, coughing, swelling and dripping mucus, the wonderful
Deborah Biancotti was making additons to my website to accommodate the imminent (and in San Francisco, at least, actual) arrival of my second novel,
Magic Lessons the sequel to Magic or Madness. Feast your eyes
here and
here. You can even read the
first two chapters. She's also created a new section ...
Posted by Justine at 18:33, March 10th, 2006 under Admin, Cons & Other Gatherings, Daughters of Earth, Excuses, Magic or Madness trilogy, New York City/USA, Praising, Scott's books, Whingeing |
I'm on a discussion list for people who write novels for young adults. Right now we're talking about total strangers who ask authors to critique their unpublished novel without any sense that this is a big ask. One writer was asked to critique 25 short stories yet the person sending the stories admitted she'd never even read this writer's work. Ah, excuse me? Another said they were "the future of young adult literature" and would you crit the novel attached? Again without a hint that they'd even read the author's work. "You have published book, therefore you must want to read my unpublished book and make it published book, too."
Ah, in a word, no.
Every year my writer friends (pub'd and ...
Posted by Justine at 13:21, February 14th, 2006 under Publishing business, Ranting, Reading, Whingeing, Writing life, Young Adult literature |
Looks like 2006 is going to be the year of jetlag travelling for me and
Mr Westerfeld. I just updated our
appearances pages and it was quite a shock.
Brisbane!
Bologna!
New Orleans! Barely two weeks goes by without us chooffing off somewhere and that's with only the rock-solid confirmed events listed.
Not that I'm complaining, it's fantabuloso being asked to do so many different events. And I've never been to
New Orleans before. How fascinating is that going to be? Very.
In other news: I continue to be very very glad that I am in Sydney, not New York City.
Hiroko Masuike for The New York Times
And Australia thrashes Sri Lanka in the ...
Posted by Justine at 9:26, February 13th, 2006 under Cons & Other Gatherings, Cricket, New York City/USA, Praising, Sport, Sydney/Australia, Travelling, Whingeing |
I will never understand all the Melbournites who despise Sydney, some of them folks who've never even been here. Seriously, I've met Melbournites who sneer with disdain at the mere thought of stepping foot in Sydney. The horror they say!
Me, I'm from Sydney. I love it, but I also have a whole lot of time for Melbourne. Melbourne has better licensing laws and thus
better bars than Sydney, a better art and live music scene, and (mostly) better clothes shopping. Melbourne has
trams. And what is not to love about trams? But Melbourne has little of Sydney's
breath-taking physical beauty, doesn't have her
beaches, or
national parks, or
fairies, er, I mean
ferries, ...
Posted by Justine at 10:27, February 5th, 2006 under Cricket, Fashion, Food, Liquids, New York City/USA, Ranting, Sport, State of the World, Sydney/Australia, Whingeing |
Sorry about the not blogging of late, especially with you lot being all interesting in the comments (I've finally gone through and responded, bless you all). I was kept from it by boring, boring non-internets stuff and the looming deadline. Or rather, panic about the looming deadline.
Corey asked of my deadline how soon "scary soon" is: 2 January, which is 17 days away, and I'm about 15-20 thou words short of the end. Also, I'd like to, you know, revise and rewrite before I send it off.
Ordinarily I leave myself a month or more for that, and while I'm revising I send it out to my first readers for comments. There won't be none of that this time, ...
Posted by Justine at 8:46, December 16th, 2005 under Bloggery, Magic or Madness trilogy, Travelling, Vainglory, Viewing, Whingeing |
AAAAAaaaaaaaarrrrrrrgggggggghhhhhhh!!!!!!!
Posted by Justine at 18:02, December 4th, 2005 under Bloggery, Sydney/Australia, Whingeing |
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 |
