Among Amid While

I'm rather pleased...

2009-11-08T21:01:00.002+11:00

...to be no. 79 on the list of Top 50 Australian Blogs for Writers. It's nice to be anywhere on that list, eh.

Long and thoughtful TM review

2009-11-07T18:13:00.002+11:00

Over here.

No, no, NaNo

2009-11-05T19:03:00.003+11:00

Everyone in the world seems to be doing NaNoWriMo this year, and I'm enjoying the blog posts by participants and by sage advisors like Maureen Johnson and Justine Larbalestier.

I'm not nano-ing, though. If NaNoWriMo had been August–September, I would have, but now I've got (count them!) 70,000 words of selkie goodness that require more in the way of poking, prodding, resculpting and spakfilling than they do whole extra arms of plot development.

Which is what I've spent today doing. I wrote maybe 5 pages, but I covered some tens of pages of manuscript with tiny-tiny green corrections as well. And I cut out chunks, and added chunks. And I wrote myself notes, including notes about what to write myself notes about, to work out various questions that might turn into interesting pieces of story. It's not wordcount, but it's writing. It wasn't 'fun', but it was totally absorbing. I'm looking forward to the rest of November.

The Russian translation of 'mudwife'

2009-11-04T19:12:00.002+11:00

The Russian translator of Tender Morsels and I have been in conference—hi, Nadia! She wanted to know what a mudwife is:

First I looked into every dictionary possible and searched the web all over, but then read half a dozen interviews with you as well as a number of articles on TM and other pieces ("The Goosle", in particular) and Muddy Annie's profile became quite clear. Still, I would like you to clarify this word a bit more. Could you please explain what's the difference between a mudwife and an ordinary witch? What is special about her? Must a mudwitch necessarily be old and muddy/dirty and her deeds (mudwifery) considered by folks dirty as well? I'm fussing over this term just for the purpose of right choice of word from the variety of Russian synonyms (witches are all-time favorites in the Russian folklore, you know :) )

My answer:

The idea of the mudwife is a mispronunciation/corruption of 'midwife', as the two occupations have often been very closely aligned. Mudwives don't have to be muddy, no, but people are afraid of their power, and tend to be contemptuous of them when they're not actually making use of their powers (e.g. calling on them to help with a birth or a love affair), so unless they have strong personalities, luck and/or good training, like Miss Dance, they are likely to be poor, outcast and likely none too clean! The poorer witches also smell strange, from the herbs and substances they deal in, and the general lack of laundering.

Just in case anyone else was wondering.

NZ capers to come

2009-11-04T18:56:00.004+11:00

And then, upcoming in March, there's this! Joan London and Gil Adamson and I will be attending the New Zealand Post Writers and Readers Week, along with 19 international and 3 New Zealand writers, including, you know, Neil and Si and Richard and all my mates. We will wow Wellington.

How Boofle!

2009-11-04T18:45:00.004+11:00

Then, this! Which arrived yesterday - 2 copies. I don't know what made me think it would be trade-paperback size. It's one of those neat small format hardbacks. A really nice production, with my 'A Dark Red Love-Knot' buried in the middle of it. Oh dear oh dear oh dear, not a happy story.

Mine Howie!

2009-11-04T18:43:00.002+11:00

Lots to blog - first, this, courtesy of that documentrix extraordinaire, Cat Sparks.

Guardian article on the WFA win

2009-11-04T05:58:00.004+11:00

Here's a lot of what I typed in bed last night, written up by Alison Flood and headed 'Controversial teenage novel wins World Fantasy award':

Lanagan ... hit out at the articles claiming young adults are unable to handle the themes of her book. "There's this assumption that all children have the luxury of a childhood where their innocence is always respected and their main occupation is pleasant play – at the age of 18, or 21, they are then thrust into the real world and shown its uglier side, but not before," she said. "How on earth do people imagine we equip children for life, if we never show them the sorts of issues other people encounter, if we never talk through with them how they might deal with difficulty, or violence, or unexpected shocks and surprises?"

Lanagan also pointed to the current "fashion for vampires and all things gothic", which she said showed the appetite for "dark themes, sinister characters, and horrific events against which the kinder and sweeter aspects of human nature, when they do show, can shine even more brightly".

I'm on a nice high horse there, aren't I?

Not everybody loves your books, Margo.

2009-11-03T05:57:00.002+11:00

Google Alerts alerted me to this spectacularly bad review on Goodreads, and I had to show you:

I read black juice by Margo Lanagan, the book was kind of confusing with the different pronunciation of the words throughout the whole book. I would recommend this book to people who like a mix of medieval themes and modern themes. This book gets darker as it goes a long a bit more confusing. I didn’t really like this book much; I don’t like books like this. I didn’t have a favorite or least favorite character, I never really understand it, and just didn’t care about them. Not a single part of the book captivated my attention, this book made me feel absolutely nothing and I disliked everything about it. I don’t have a favorite line, and nothing kept me reading it except that it’s a project. I really don’t know why the author would ever right something as horrid as this book, this is the single WORST book I have ever read. There’s just stories, and they didn’t really make an ending all together. I pray to god that this book will never be made into a movie, and if it does get made into a movie it doesn’t deserve actors and should just take hobo’s off the side of the street if they’re lucky enough to have them to act.

I like the way he goes from vague dislike to really putting the boot in. A nicely constructed review, I think. :)

Tender Morsels ties for Best Novel in World Fantasy Awards

2009-11-02T10:00:00.002+11:00

with Jeff Ford's The Shadow Year. You can see Scott Edelman's pic of Garth Nix (far right) holding my statuette, here. Oh, there are a few other winners and representers there, too, I guess. :)

Curses! I have not ripped random_alex's heart out through her chest wall!

2009-11-02T06:43:00.003+11:00

From here:

Finally, let me make a frighteningly big admission: I am not usually a huge fan of Margo Lanagan's work. It's not that I dislike her writing; on the contrary, I think she is hugely talented author. For me, though, her stories tend to just be too dark to enjoy; and the very fact that she writes so beautifully, I think, makes it all the more distressing to read. Also in X⁶, however, is Lanagan's "Sea-Hearts." This story captivated me. It seemed weird, after reading it, that few novellas capitalise on the form in a way that seems most suited: by telling a story that takes place over a long period of time. Lanagan does that, and it surprised me a few times when the story kept going - but it made sense every time, and every addition to the story developed it more and more richly. Fleshing out, as it were, the old story of the selkie wife, it examines relationships in all their complexities. Finally, a Lanagan story that - while still being dark and murky - doesn't make me want to cry at the rottenness of the world!

*vows to do a proper three-hanky job next time*

Recommended to me today

2009-10-27T13:41:00.003+11:00

Maria V. Snyder's trilogy, or at least the start of it. The librarian who told me about it said she took the first volume home, and was tempted to break into the library over the weekend to get hold of volume 2.

Repeat Tweet + Shaun Tan TM YA cover

2009-10-21T18:11:00.003+11:00

RT: @nickearls: Brilliant Shaun Tan bookcover art being auctioned to benefit @warchildaust. Please RT widely. http://tinyurl.com/ygxbyrw

Oh, but it's not this brilliant piece of Shaun Tan bookcover art (she purrs):

This edition is coming out, in Australia, in February next year, from Allen & Unwin.

Two good posts over at Meanjin

2009-10-21T06:57:00.002+11:00

All about ... writing and work. Good comments, too.

Chuckle

2009-10-14T07:45:00.002+11:00

I've just seen the draft cover of the Vintage paperback edition of Tender Morsels. It's basically the same design as the Cape hardback (silhouetted bear flanked by girls, crows scattered about, etc.) but in a different colour scheme. Below the title are splashed the words 'A WORK OF GENIUS'—Sunday Telegraph.

'Sea-Hearts' first review

2009-10-12T21:16:00.004+11:00

Tansy says:

'Sea-Hearts', Margo Lanagan, X⁶—a dark and twisty take on the legend of the selkie wife. In this novella Lanagan builds up a fogged, muddy and claustrophobic world of seal-women, their husbands and their sons, all part of a tightly closed island community. Through her usual tangled prose and deeply hidden emotion, Lanagan presents a simply glorious fantasy that transcends rather than merely replicating the story's mythic roots. Those who loved Tender Morsels will be drawn to this story, which is less difficult to stomach but contains many similar themes.

Fogged, muddy and claustrophobic—yes! *punches the air*

Monday morning,

2009-10-12T08:12:00.002+11:00

which, with a 3 day week, doesn't have nearly the effect on the spirits that a Monday of a 5 day week does.

Quite a weekend. We well and truly launched Deb's A Book of Endings (Cat Sparks enpictured it) on Saturday afternoon, then celebrated all evening.

Then, on Sunday, hardly hungover at all, I went off to the NSW Writer's Centre and leapt in the dark with my 16 workshoppees, who were very diligent. There is nothing quite like the rustling silence of 16 people scrapbooking towards their stories. I managed to keep them occupied for the full six hours (well, I let them have some lunch), and it went quickly for me and for at least some of them, so I think we all got into it.

And, apart from one school gig at the end of October, that's pretty much it for the public-writering for the year - no big things until Wellington next March. So I can relax a bit. Possibly, you know...write something. Odd thought.

Workshop this Sunday?

2009-10-06T19:18:00.002+11:00

At NSW Writers' Centre? You know you want to.

Not that I'm smug or anything.

2009-10-06T18:01:00.003+11:00

But, like, fiction roolz? (Photo by Steven.)

Cherry tart, anyone?

2009-10-04T15:52:00.001+11:00

I said I'd blog Aimee's review of Tender Morsels, so now I'm doing just that:

There are times in your reading life when you come across a piece of writing that not only speaks to your heart, but listens when your heart speaks back. This is one of those books for me [...]

I don't expect you to feel as strongly about this book unless you have the exact same taste in books as me - it's unlikely. But if you enjoy Brothers Grimm or Hans Christian Andersen-style fairytales, or if you enjoy writing that feels like you're eating a particularly good sour cherry tart with an extra dollop of cream, then please FOR THE LOVE OF ALL THINGS HOLY... move this one up your TBR list.

I adore it.

X6 out soon

2009-10-04T15:39:00.004+11:00

Keith Stevenson's novellanthology X⁶ is on its way—I got my copy last week. My selkie novella 'Sea-Hearts' takes up the first 83 pages, which I find darned impressive, but the size of the whole collection is satisfactorily bricklike, considering there are only 6 stories in it.

X⁶ will be launched in November at Berkelouw's in Norton Street, Leichhardt.

Recent reading

2009-10-04T15:32:00.002+11:00

At Olvar Wood, I read/finished the following:

Krissy Kneen's Affection: a memoir of love, sex and intimacy
Erica Jong, Seducing the Demon: Writing for my Life
David Levithan's 9/11 novel Love is the Higher Law, and
Cate Kennedy's short story collection Dark Roots.

Since then I've been trying to re-absorb the collected works of J. D. Salinger, who was my area of expertise for the Literary Smackdown. In the end, those questions didn't happen, but it's been good rereading them anyway.

National Young Writers Festival

2009-10-04T15:04:00.002+11:00

I've done my stint for the NYWF and I'm back home.

What I did:

Performed Creative Health Checks for 2 hours on Friday afternoon. This involved grilling 5–6 people about their creative practice and offering advice on what they could do to make things better for themselves. It was surprisingly fun—the most surprising thing was that people just turned up, were shown in by my diligent nurse Chris and sat down in the other comfy chair and talked, to a complete stranger, about their lives and hopes. None of them probably needed me to do more than nudge them in directions they were already on the point of already taking, but the nudging felt useful.
Sat on a panel with Christine Hinwood, James Phelan and Phillip Gwynne, chaired by Bethany Jones, about books we read when we were young, and how they affected our writing, and about literary influences, and YA literature and people's expectations of it, and all sorts of stuff. It struck me how much more got said when the sessions were an hour and a half long, instead of the usual festival 45 minutes to an hour. Although, I know, if a session was falling flat, an hour and a half could feel pretty long. But this one worked!
Took part in the event I've been terrified about since I agreed to do it several months ago, the All-Star Literary Smackdown! Tom Doig, an excellent pratfaller and profanity-sprayer of an MC, MC'd us. Technical difficulties meant that the teams couldn't heckle each other as effectively as we would have liked (so we were occasionally limited to rude gestures), but there was some excellent heckling from the crowd, and, of course, after the terror, the best team won, which was Phillip, Marieke Hardy and me, up against Anna Krien, Michaela McGuire and Guy Blackman. Picture of trophy to come; it is very colourful.

Everything I saw of this festival seemed very well attended with really attentive audiences/participants. I'd recommend exploring all its possibilities, anyone who's in the area in future years. It's got quite a different energy from your average litfest. Just take an umbrella and waterproof shoes.

Unrelated to the festival, I also:

Ate and drank very well at, among other places, The Last Drop cafe, and Zinc in Darby Street.
Got quite cold and wet, which was a bit of a shock to the system after we'd cooked on Thursday.
Saw the Margaret Olley exhibition at the Newcastle Regional Art Gallery.
Walked around the headland opposite Nobby's, admiring hang gliders, pelicans, very brave surfers and swimmers and even one crazy jetskier managing to stay upright in the chop. Some good dogs around, too.

Dayjobbing

2009-10-04T15:00:00.002+11:00

I'm back at work, at quite a nice gig, i.e. not in a financial services institution. I'm working at a university, helping document Blackboard for the teachers there. It's 3 days a week, and I'll try to manage without filling up the other 2 days with anything but writing for as long as possible. It goes until the end of the year, and possibly longer.

Olvar Wood Writers Retreat

2009-09-25T12:59:00.004+10:00

I've been teaching here for the past week, and it's the loveliest place—buried in the bush, wildlife wandering in and out (and slithering a bit, too :) ), balmy weather and friendly people—but not so many as to become distracting.

Nike and Inga have set up the sort of place I fantasise about when I'm trapped in day-job land with no time to scratch myself (or scratch any words on a piece of paper, more relevantly). In the afternoons I've been writing up a storm. I've now finished the workshopping part of the week and it's all novelising from here on. Must go right now and write.