What do they say about mad dogs and Englishmen? Today it was mad me, covered in sunscreen but still out in the Tucson sun. Amazingly I am a little sunburnt but not too bad. If I am going out in the sun again, a hat is definitely the thing.
A student at Pima College has a father who is a retired tour guide and he offered to take me around Tucson. So this morning we went out to the Sonora Desert Museum. On the way we travelled through the Saguero National Park and saw lots and lots of cactus. Al, my guide, is very knowledgeable so not only did I get geographical and geological info, he also identified all the cacti and vegetation for me.
At the museum, quite a few of the animals were out (as the morning went on, more of them were asleep or hiding from the sun). I saw a Mexican boa, but wasn't allowed to touch it as they can get grumpy and bite. Also saw more snakes behind glass, and then a lot of geological stuff, including a bit of a meteorite.
Other animals included a wolf, beavers, otter, gophers, lizards, squirrels and a multitude of birds (hummingbirds too). All quite amazing and I think I got some good photos.
Then we went to Sabino Canyon which is north of Tucson in the Catalina foothills. We caught the trolley up the canyon but saw virtually no wildlife (probably being sensible and staying out of the sun, unlike moi). On the way back I thought we could walk the last two stages but it was further than I thought. Talk about 'are we there yet'!! Took me ages to cool down. Did see a couple of tiny lizards and an antelope squirrel. There were lots of warnings about mountain lions but not a one in sight. I liked the instructions that said if you come across one, throw rocks at it. Next instruction said 'don't bend down or take your eye off it'.
Got home in time to visit Bookman's which is a huge second hand book and CD/DVD shop. Found a couple of interesting writing books, plus some magazines that will come in very handy.
Tomorrow I will be doing washing (laundry) and then going to a poetry workshop in the morning. This means I might type up my snake poem and workshop it. Tomorrow night the first part of the children's book writing workshop starts.
My two pairs of shorts from Goodwill are very handy (the new clothes shops here all have their winter clothes in stock). More sunscreen, less sun, I say.

Have just finished reading all my emails from "home" - after giving a public lecture tonight on writing and place. At first we had technology problems (don't we always?) but eventually the laptop talked to the projector and we had action.
I didn't want to just give a lecture-type thing where I did analysis and theory stuff. It was at 7pm so I figured everyone wanted at least to stay awake! So I had lots of photos in a Powerpoint thing, and I interspersed the lecture with poems. The audience totalled about 30, I think. Quite a few people came up to talk afterwards, including a young man from Sydney who has been living in the US for 5 years. You just never know who will turn up. I wasn't sure if I had insulted him somehow? He commented on how his perspective of Australia was different. I would have like to talk to him further. I guess I was in some ways saying that New Zealand is greener and has better beaches than Australia, plus other stuff. That is something for me to ponder on now - how would that lecture be received in Australia? Maybe I should present it when I go back and then ask people to say what they thought!
Today I visited a children's writers' group in Tucson - all published writers. Their topic was self promotion - very interesting and I picked up a couple of extra good ideas. They were all really nice and welcoming. The problem for writers is always that once the initial hoo-ha over a new book is over, the marketing dept moves on to the next book. So then it really is up to the author to continue the promotion and marketing. A lot of people find this difficult, but it is the reality.
I also went shopping. Tried out Barnes & Noble, mainly for writing books but only found one new interesting one. They didn't have the one I wanted by Robert Olen Butler. I also found a new Billy Collins poetry book, and some literary magazines like Glimmer Train, which was very useful.
All the shops here have winter clothes now! For a suffering heat blob like me, this is not a good thing. So I went to the local Goodwill and picked up two more pairs of shorts. 39 degrees is not jeans weather!
Now to tackle Bookman's which is all second-hand books and CDs.
Tomorrow I am off on a tour of Tucson. Maybe this is the opportunity I have been hanging out for - to pick up and hold a snake!

Couldn't sleep last night and began thinking about how to write a poem about the snake I got to pat at the county fair. And after a little while, the words started coming and I had to get out of bed and write.
So I now have a snake poem, and what is even better, today while Meg and I were having our lunch at an outside table (in the shade) this guy came along with his boa constrictor! It had been in his car and he was exercising it - which meant putting it on the grass and giving it some fresh air, I guess - and I was able to pat it as much as I wanted. So cool. It felt really warm because it had been in the hot car. I was tempted to run inside and get my camera but that seemed a bit OTT so I just kept stroking and patting it.
This morning I found a gym where I could go as a casual member - at last I don't feel quite so couch potato-ish. Then I made it to Pima College in time for the Advanced Short Story class. I talked to them for nearly an hour and answered questions, and we talked about my short story they had read. It's really interesting to see what people ask, and then you have to try to give helpful or responsive answers. As this was a story that came out in bits and has many small elements that kind of wove themselves together, sometimes it's hard to answer properly and usefully.
Tonight is Advanced Novel, and then I will also visit the other poetry class. Already I have sat in on workshopping and learned new ways of approaching it in the class - very interesting - and bought Meg's short story text which will be a great resource. It's called "3 x 33: short fiction by 33 writers". I found a second hand copy in the bookshop, and a pocket rhyming dictionary which I can also use in class.
Tomorrow night is my talk about Writing and Place. I still haven't found the USB drive with my back-up copy of my photo presentation, but it's on my laptop. And I have made another back-up copy! Nothing like being anal.
I need to flesh out my notes now, as I have talked a bit about place in the classes so far and I don't want to repeat myself. Also I need to make sure I have the photos in the right order.
This may well be the most nerve-wracking part of my exchange project!

94 today, so they tell me on TV. I thought it was cooler and then thought I was imagining it.
News Item 1: I have a car, a rental. Dodge. Maybe if you see me driving along, get out of my way. This right side of the road thing is a challenge. I am the person driving like a little old lady. Beware.
News Item 2: I am finding that margaritas are very cooling and a great way to end the day. Now to discover the perfect recipe.
Today was my first class day. First of all, Poetry 1. A lovely group, very quiet, and it seemed that I talked and talked, but those who know me won't be surprised, I guess. Does the phrase "Talk the wire off a fence post" mean anything? Yes, I did make that up today. I was only asked to translate once (serviette to napkin).
Then Fiction Writing 1. No poems to read to them, but we (Ok, I) talked a lot about fiction writing, plotting, novels vs. short stories, and where ideas come from. Quite a few more questions this time. Another very nice group.
I have to remember that this is only about 3 weeks into first semester, whereas back home we are up to Week 9 in Semester 2.
I'm really looking forward to having Meg visit us next year. I think it is going to be just great.
I ate Mexican again tonight. It's like the national food in Tucson, and the more avocado the better, I say.
All the new seasons of TV shows seem to be starting here, so last night I watched the new season of "West Wing" (can be bribed for a summary). Tonight it was a new series called "Surface" which seemed like a TV series of the movie "Sphere".
I have cable in my room but none of the channels match the TV guide so it's pretty much hit and miss what I find. Missed CSI last night because it wasn't on the channels I tried. Oh well, it's only TV, and I am supposed to be writing.
Hmmm, yes. Soon. Head is nearly back in the right space for new words.

Another 99 degree day. And I got sunburnt. Forgot the sunscreen, but didn't forget the water. I went for a walk about 9am, thinking it would be cooler then. Well... it was. It was only about 85 (28-30). I visited the 99cent shop to buy more water.
At 10.30 I was off to Sonoita to visit children's writer Juanita Havill who I met last year at Chatauqua. A friend of hers (also a children's writer) and his family picked me up and we drove for about 80 miles south of Tucson to where Juanita lives.
While there, I went to the County Fair and saw many entries of quilts, onions, peppers and tomatoes as well as kid's projects. With lots of prize ribbons. And I also saw a reptile exhibit - lots of rattlesnakes and other non-venomous snakes. I even got to pat a big orange and brown snake. Amazing. I thought it would be kind of hard, but it was soft and a bit squishy. The handler said it was because the snake is basically all muscle and spine.
Beautiful lunch at Juanita's house, and then a walk which is where the sunburn comes from. The trip back to Tucson seemed almost soporific.
Tomorrow is first day of classes at Pima College, which should be fun and interesting. I have met a couple of the students already. I am planning to get a rental car soon - it is just too far to get anywhere, and there are lots of things I want to see - squeezing them in between other commitments.
Writing seems limited to emails and blog so far. Maybe being in a class will stir some inspiration!

Tucson, Arizona. 39 degrees (99F). Very hot. Thank goodness for air conditioners.
Flights from Australia were amazingly on time leaving, and 35 minutes early getting into Los Angeles (a fact that the captain reminded us of four times!).
Managed to go the wrong way in the airport and had to go through security again. I had also had my bags searched at Melbourne Airport which at least got me to the front of the check-in queue.
How is it that during the flight they can show 5 movies and I have seen 4 of them? And the one I hadn't seen (Sahara) was on while I was asleep? Also I think they should make it a rule that seat-kickers and snorers be banned on all flights. I always think of a long flight as a lovely opportunity to read, eat and watch movies. I forget about how you are in very close quarters with a lot of people, some of whom are smelly and some of whom cough incessantly.
Arrived safely in Tucson, found the wonderful Meg Files and am now at what I thought were the Untown Suites. Strange way of writing their Is. It's actually Intown, and I am, as you guessed, in town.
Tucson is very spread out and it is miles to anywhere but the roads are wide and it feels very relaxed. I love the cactus (saguaro)- was told they don't start growing arms until they are 80 years old so the big multi-armed ones must be several hundred years old. Before I got here I thought 'cactus - and?' but these are amazing. The vegetation is all amazing. Lots of different cacti and some bright orange flowering bushes. Tucson is flat but surrounded by hills and mountain ranges that change colour during the day.
Today I met a friend whom I originally got to know at Fresno. She was visiting Tucson for the weekend which was a coincidence (she lives near Phoenix) so we had breakfast and spent some time catching up. She dropped me at the bookshop - Reader's Oasis - where I did my reading and book signing this afternoon. Only half a dozen people there but then the Dalai Lama is in town apparently so how could I compete?!!
The reading was good but I realised as I read out different things how many of the words would be a mystery to the listeners so I did periodic translations (gorge is a canyon, had to explain what a flying fox is, and also that chooks are actually hens or chickens!). Sold ten books which was pretty good really.
The problem was that I bought ten!! The bookshop (one of only two independents in Tucson) is going out of business - result mainly of online book buying and B&N/Borders, so they had a sale. How could I resist?
Tucson has lots of Mexican restaurants so I've had one Mexican dinner so far, including a Margarita, with the promise of more to come. The Mexican border is close but I don't know if I will go shopping there - there is too much to see and do here, and I don't have large blocks of time.
No writing done, apart from a poem on the plane, but I have wireless internet in my room which is great.
A busy time ahead. Should be great fun.

There were many moments when I thought - must do my blog now - and then something else came up and I never got to it. I've just been away for a writers' retreat weekend with my writing group, to Mansfield in Victoria. The house we stayed in was on the edge of Lake Eildon, or should I say, what used to be the edge. We've had a fair bit of rain over the past year, probably exceeding the average, but when you see the lake, with its "normal" water line etched across the hills and the water itself way way below that, it reminds you how low our water reserves are. Lake Eildon is artificial, dammed to provide water back in the 50s (I think) and when I look at the old waterline, I wonder if it will ever get back to where it was.
Anyway, I did manage some writing while I was away, as well as vast amounts of eating. I did a final edit and polish on a short novel, and finished the first draft of a short story. The story has been sitting there for about 4-5 months. I wrote one bit, was happy with it but then couldn't see where else to go with it. It has turned out shorter than I expected, but that's not a bad thing probably. This week maybe I'll get time to look it over again and think about it.
I've also had my brother staying for 6 days, which was lovely - more eating, but also lots of walking.
And being the end of term (mid-semester) I've had lots of student assignments to mark. Mostly a pleasure as many of them were very good.
Right now, I also need to print out the poems from my new verse novel for children. I have written 32, which amazes me. They seem to come out in bunches, and I type them up and put them away again for a while, then more come. But now it's time to lay them all out and see what I have, and where I can go. The story is the thing, and how to write poems to fill the gaps yet make them meaningful in themselves. It's always the way - you do it once and it works, but it doesn't really make the next time all that easier.
On Friday I am off to Tucson, Arizona, for a 2 week teacher exchange. I will be teaching classes and a weekend workshop at Pima College, working with Meg Files. Then I go on to San Antonio to stay with a friend. She is a writer so I am looking forward to a special writing/talking time.
This blog will become what it started as - a travel diary for friends and family to read if they're interested. It may well have more readers than it's ever had! I'll have to mind my Ps and Qs.
Notes from the Writers' Festival? Well, I had good intentions... Now I just remember Carrie Tiffany and Kate Grenville, and the session where publishers and editors and agents and marketing people talked about the realities of publishing - will this sell? And how many? then no, sorry, we won't publish it.
I have since read Tiffany's book and was a little let down by it. She read some great stuff from it and it has some wonderful moments, but overall it felt a bit like it didn't really go anywhere. I attended a session with Alexander McCall Smith, who has the greatest giggle ever, and he was very entertaining but didn't talk about writing much at all.
I did feel sorry for the brand new writers (first novels) who were struggling with being on stage at the festival and expected to "perform". A hard task, to sound intelligent, entertaining, worthy and likeable, all at once!

The Melbourne Writers' Festival has just finished and I will post some notes from the sessions I attended in a day or two.
Today I wrote - just a little. Took my new laptop out into the wilds (the Australian bush) and wrote 4 more poems for my new verse novel, plus a half page of a short story that has been bugging me for a couple of months.
I think I have also worked out how to fix another short story that has been almost there but not working properly. One of those that niggles at you. You send it out, you get rejections, you know something's not working but what?....
We'll see if I can fix it.
Finished a crime novel from the festival (or should I say, one of its guests, John Harvey). It was OK, but not as good as Peter Robinson, IMO.
Have started an Australian novel 'Everyman's Rules for Scientific Living' - good so far. A main character who promises to cause trouble.

Writing accomplished! Very pleased that I wrote more of the short novel on the weekend and I think I have got over the plot problem (the problem was I had no plot). Now I can see the end in sight, but as usual, I have to take care that I don't rush it.
I also think I have finally discovered the secret of talking to school children. Relax and be silly and talk about the stuff I'm interested in rather than try to give them a 'nice author talk'. I had a lot of fun yesterday with two different school groups, teaching them how to talk like a pirate. (There is actually a website for this - as 19 September is international "Talk Like a Pirate Day".)
I sold 25 books altogether, which was astonishing as both schools were in less than affluent areas of Melbourne. A great morning.
This week here in Australia is Children's Book Week. I think quite a few schools have visiting authors, although I have spoken to one who said they wanted me to come later as they don't do authors during Book Week. But mostly there are lots of activities and things to do with books and reading.
The discussions are often about who won the CBC awards, with much dissention. That, of course, is what is great about books. Everyone likes something different.
The time for me to fly off to Arizona is getting closer, just a bit over three weeks. I am quite excited and looking forward to it, and I will talk to lots of students at Pima College as well as do a bookshop reading and give a talk on writing about place. For the latter I will need to put together some of my photos.
I am feeling quite productive for a change. It's a pity my desk is covered in stuff as usual, and the place is a mess. But I am making headway.

After several delays, my website additions are finally up and running. I need to keep adding more stuff, including links to other sites and some articles I've written, but most of the main material is there. School visit information and some photos. Haven't yet worked out how to put up my small video. Apparently I need a plug-in from Macromedia which I'm putting off getting (ah, procrastination). I've added a link to this blog too.
No new writing this week. I had good intentions and then suddenly had to write a synopsis for a YA novel I've finished reworking. I thought I had an old version on my very old computer in the back room but couldn't find it so had to start from scratch. It took several hours and who knows if it's any good. Synopses seem to be the thing everyone hates writing (so hard to make them sound interesting!) but are becoming standard in a world where most editors only want to see the first three chapters.
We are all time-starved and I often wonder why.
An old friend who writes family histories has asked me to help her on the one she is writing at present. Previously I had said I couldn't manage it. However I am now going to be doing quick edits (slash and burn, I call it) and handing it back for her to decide whether I've done it the way she wants.
I finished the 'Rise and Fall...' book - interesting but ultimately depressing. I wonder what teens think of it. The main character seemed so conflicted and unable to work out who she was, and the depressing part for me was that I didn't feel she'd made any progress by the end. In fact, I thought the ending was fudged - not really resolved in terms of character growth and a bit too neatly resolved in terms of plot. Left me feeling uneasy, as if the author had tried to make life simple and failed.
Then I started 'Sea of Trolls' by Nancy Farmer, which I had been looking forward to after 'House of the Scorpion' and haven't got past half-way. Found it very disappointing - the main character feels shallow and slight somehow, and I just haven't been able to involve myself in the story. Is this HP hangover, I ask myself? So I've put it away for a while.
And moved on to crime - Kathy Reichs - 'Cross Bones'. It reads like a clone of the Da Vinci Code - same religious stuff, as in did Jesus really die/live/whatever, except this is about bones and tombs and ossuaries. Yawn. It's just interesting enough to keep me reading, but she falls into the 'As you know, Bob' thing of using tons of dialogue to provide a mountain of information.
Maybe I need to pull out my Annie Proulx (That Old Ace in the Hole) and try that for a complete change of pace.
For an addicted reader, there's nothing more frustrating than not being able to find a book that I can totally sink into.

I'm slowly but surely working my way through the various rewrites, edits and polishes. Looks like the fantasy novel has got the go-ahead from the series editors (fingers crossed) and then it will go the publisher's editor. Can't wait to see what kind of cover the book will have - fantasy covers make great T-shirts!
Finished Harry Potter VI last night and, despite a slow beginning, I totally enjoyed it and was very sad when it ended (sad because of the ending but also sad because there was no more to read). I understand why kids finish it and turn around and read it again straight away. I saw a documentary about JK Rowling and she talked about how she created the world and she has piles of notebooks where she has worked out every little detail - names for everything, how the Houses work, who is related to who, books and plants and animals and spells - no wonder the world feels so real.
I did the adverb scan a few times and yes, she does use lots (writers are always being told to kill their adverbs) but I kind of think she gets away with it, and she does use strong nouns and verbs so that in a way the adverbs add rather than detract. No doubt others will disagree! I did think No. 6 was better than No. 5, and she has certainly set it up well for No. 7. It would seem that in No. 7 Harry will be out in the world, dependent only on himself (and possibly Ron and Hermione).
Gossip says JK is concentrating on family for the next while and No. 7 will be written when she's ready and not before.
Now I'm reading (for a complete change of pace!) "The Rise and Fall of a 10th Grade Social Climber". Opinion reserved for now.
My big campaign to clean up and clear out junk around my house continues at a slow rate of knots - have been sorting books and throwing some out or giving them away. Amazing what you keep just because it's a book and you can't bear to part with it. But I really feel that now I can toss some of the older novels (Barbara Taylor Bradford, for goodness sake!).
Can't wait to get back to "real" writing. First draft, running away with words, excitement on the page stuff. Instead of corralling, cutting, refining and controlling. But you can't have one without the other. That's writing!
I am halfway through a short novel and now that I have solved (I think) a big sticking point that had stopped it short, I can go ahead and write the rest.
Oh, if only I didn't have to go to work... but for some strange reason, bills keep arriving in my letter box, demanding to be paid.

My new goal for this week is to work out how to post photos on my blog. I have just been to Linda Sue Park's LiveJournal and she puts lots of photos on hers. Makes it lively and colourful. She also has a reading record of what she has read with comments, and she talks about being in a book group where they read and discuss middle grade and YA books. Now that's a book group I'd be interested in!
I'm still struggling with the DVCode. It's OK... I have to keep fighting the urge to run up to KMart and buy something else to read (can't go back to the library until I have paid my late fines!). Yes, I know I should buy from an independent bookshop, and I do, when I'm travelling around. There are none near me.
Still editing. Can't call it rewriting if it's only fiddling with words and sentences. Started on the YA novel - at least two years since I looked at it and am quite surprised at what is there. More than I remember. Not that my memory is so hot these days.
Still the problem with the ending. Always it's the endings with me. In adult short stories I love an ending that leaves a lot up to the reader (but not one that confuses or leaves you hanging, unresolved). I think there is a fine art in saying just enough and no more.
However it seems in middle grade and YA that more is needed, not that your readers are dumber, rather that they made a journey through your book and want something substantial to take away with them (unless you're writing Captain Underpants or just stuff that's designed for fun). So here I am battling with the need to add more guts or strength or "tangibility" to the ending without overdoing it.
And at the same time I have a picture book that my agent says is great ... except for the ending. Now I have to re-think that one as well.
Noah Lukeman wrote that writing book "The First Five Pages" - I think I need to ask him to write "The Last Five Pages" !
Still, I should be really happy that I have finished manuscripts to work on, considering I have about 15 unfinished or in first drafts.

Various people in newspapers and magazines are writing their version of "how I read Harry Potter 6 and survived". Like we care. We are either reading the book and making up our own minds or ignoring it.
I have a voucher to buy it at Borders this week for $15. Booksellers discount or not, they'd have to be taking a big loss on that. Saw a piece somewhere recently about how little profit most booksellers are making on HP. Makes you wonder...
Rewriting. Arrggghhhh. At least this rewrite was nearly the last (on the fantasy novel) as I am up to polishing according to editors' notes (two editors whose job is also to pick up where I might have put stuff in that conflicts with other books in the series, so have had to change two character names. Boy, that's hard, especially when you took so long to decide on the right name first time around.)
Today is tax day. Quarterly return due in in two days and I haven't finished even half of it. There goes writing time. Can I charge the Tax Dept for it?
I am trying to read "The Da Vinci Code" and I mean really trying. A friend lent me the illustrated version. The pictures are nice! The story still hasn't grabbed me. One or two mild flickers of interest. As the Sunday Books columnist said on the weekend - who on earth is still buying copies of this book? Why is it in the Top 10 best sellers every week? Beats me.
Have just finished reading "The Lovely Bones" again as one of my classes is studying it (along with questions from me - questions about writing and technique and voice and stuff - not high school boring questions, I hope). Maybe that's why DVC is so boring. Coming after Bones ... a book that still makes me cry second time around. Now that is writing, character, voice and engagement!

What is a better excuse for not blogging than marking student work? Writing, of course! The break was all too short, as usual, but after a week of meandering (and the video course) my creative brain kicked into gear and I began madly writing. 10,000 words in one week on three different projects.
One was the short chapter book that literally popped into my head one night when I was having trouble sleeping. I was so pleased to have that happen, which is not a regular thing. I have since workshopped and reworked it, and sent it off. Fingers crossed.
I also started a longer novel for kids that has been kicking around in my head for a while and in the end I decided I had to at least put some of it on paper so I could see what I had and whether it worked. Needless to say, it stalled around 6000 words. Not a gift at all! It still sits there, waiting for me to decide what to do, where to take it, how to make what I have fire up into something worthwhile.
I have also written a number of poems, and this week, a short personal essay (my class is studying and writing them at the moment so I had a go at one). And a variety of other things have had words added.
Went to my first spec fiction (SF, fantasy, etc) convention last weekend, principally to listen to the guests from OS - Neil Gaiman, Robin Hobb and Poppy Z. Brite. During the week before I had read Hobb's new book "Shaman's Crossing" and was a little disappointed with it. A million tons of description, and much of it felt like an extended flashback, a bit distant from the reader. That old thing of "let me tell you how I got to this point" and then the character goes back in time and does exactly that - tell. It took me until about Page 300 to start engaging with the character, which is unusual for me with her books.
At the convention, I think she was a bit shy. People kept complaining that they'd tried to talk to her and got brushed off. Hmmm. Her GOH talk was "The Writer in the Parent and the Parent in the Writer" - all about writing with kids and how often other writers look down on you (if you have kids and they get equal or more time than your writing, simply because that's the way it is, then you are not a serious writer). She also said "You will never have more time to write than you do right now." Meaning that life will always fill your time with stuff (family, job, other commitments) and you have to make time for writing or it will never happen. A good talk, inspiring in a solid, clear way.
Neil Gaiman was very witty, very dynamic and everyone loved him. I bought a copy of "The Wolves in the Walls", which is just as good as I hoped it would be (having seen a small extract) and he signed it for me.
I went to a number of sessions - probably the best were the ones on medieval arms and armour. Great swordfighting demos, plenty of weapons to look at and hold, lots of good information and further references.
Reading? Apart from the Hobb book, I've also read a French crime novel "Blood Red Rivers" (not a great translation, by the way), "Millions" by Frank Cottrell Boyce (funny but I think it's been a little over-rated by those who have been raving about it), and tried to read "The Da Vinci Code" because a friend has lent me the illustrated version. Didn't get very far but the pictures are interesting. Might go back to it later, if only to see what the fuss is about.
Have I read the new HP? No. No time at the moment. Writing is more important, especially now I have started teaching again. But I will. I do like HP, and I know I was reading them before the hype started. A student lent me a copy she got in the UK, probably before the first one hit Australia. Yes, the adverbs do annoy me at first, and then I stop noticing them.
And I wish people would stop going on and on about how rich JK Rowling is. So what? Lucky her. Or not so lucky. She never goes out any more, never does public appearance stuff. Probably can't even go to the supermarket. Is that a great life? I think not.

The video is finished, and my head was bursting with information by the time we had gone through all the steps and made lots of notes, not to mention the editing and rendering into other formats for viewing. I may put mine on my website when it is updated, although only people with broadband or cable will be able to download it, I think. It will be up as a Media .wmv file but is around 3MB.
It depends whether I think it is too silly or not. However, it was a lot of fun to make and I've learned a huge amount. Now I need to keep practicing so it doesn't all get forgotten, as often happens with computer training. Use it or lose it!
I have been working more on rewrites, and decided to make a list (yes, another one) of all my unfinished writing projects. 21 of them. Everything from short stories to novels to poetry things. In various stages too, from barely started to needing a final good rewrite. It was quite scary to see it all laid out in black and white, but liberating in a way too. At least it allows me to prioritise, and not to forget some of the things I have been putting on the backburner for a long time.
I thought doing all of that would help me forge ahead with more rewriting. Instead, last night I got into bed and could not sleep. A story popped into my head, beginning with a silly title (silliness always gets me going with kid's stories) and it would not go away. I lay there, eyes wide open, as the story grew and grew, and finally I had to get up and write it down.
All of it. A whole story outline in 2 rough pages. This happens so rarely and it is such a gift. I got up this morning and have been working on it all day, finishing up with a complete first draft by 3pm (it's a short chapter book, not a long novel!!). Happy days. Such a great feeling.
I don't even mind the thought of going back to work next week now!!

Since teaching and marking finished, I have been working working working on writing things. So busy, I hardly know where to start each day. Thank goodness for lists. How people survive without lists to keep track of everything, I don't know. Or else that's a comment on how badly my brain functions these days!
Most of the work has been rewriting; what I call the "cut and polish" rewrites, where you go through the manuscript for what you pray will be the last time (even though you know it won't be) and tweak plot points and delete wordy bits and deepen character a little more and rework that ending one more time. First of all it was the fantasy novel, which took 4 days of re-reading and fiddling. Then I had a non-fiction assignment - police dogs. I had done an interview and photos in New Zealand of a police dog and his handler, submitted it to the NZ School Journal and finally it went through (with extra photos). School magazines here were interested but wanted first rights, which I couldn't give. So I ended up, after many phone calls to the Police media people here in Melbourne, going out to the training centre and doing another interview and taking a different set of photos. Got to pat a very cute Rottweiler puppy (just as well she had a home already or she might have been going home with me!) and meet a keen German Shepherd called Klute. His handler was great, very talkative and very good at setting up action photos for me.
So then it was a draft of that article, time out to go to my writing group, and more time given to collecting clothes for a good friend of ours who was completely burned out last weekend. They lost everything. Devastating and almost unimaginable, except being a writer, I can imagine it only too well, and shudder. Needless to say, I have been turning things off here and triple checking all power points before leaving the house lately.
On Thursday a writer friend and I made a pact. I went to a house where she is house-sitting (in order to get space and time to write) and we both wrote all day. Her in the bedroom, me in the dining room. We met for lunch, and then we met later in the afternoon to talk about our writing and show what we'd done. It was so productive. I spent nearly the whole day on my middle grade novel, which is now in about 6th draft, and worked on "cut and polish" again. Now another writer friend (who is an excellent editor) is going to read it and be very critical!
Today I have been a film maker. I'm doing a video training course through my workplace (the uni) and Friday was camera techniques day. Weekend homework was to film 5-15 minutes of footage, the topic being "How to do ...something" so I have filmed "How to write a pirate novel". Complete with me in pirate hat.
All I can say is, thank goodness I am not a film director!

Many hours spent marking student assignments but now it is over. I wanted to start writng again straight away but the brain wouldn't cooperate, so I have been reading and pottering around and now I am ready.
Spent 3 hours reworking bits of a fantasy series novel I was asked to write, and now I think it is working better. A fellow member of CCBC list kindly emailed me her notes from the Pikes Peak 2004 conference - the sessions with Donald Maas, who wrote "How to Write a Breakout Novel". They came at just the right time, where I could apply each of the points he makes to the fantasy novel in order to deepen character and motivation. It only meant adding a few sentences here and there, but I think those are going to be important sentences in terms of deepening the character and the story. I had read the Maas book a while ago (borrowed from a friend) and now I think I will look at it again.
Am reading a Linda Newbery book at the moment and finding it to be very engaging. The main character has a horrible younger sister who you just want to slap! This is the kind of book that I like to read first, then analyse for how she achieves the depth of character. I also read '(un)arranged marriage' by Bali Rai. It's published in the UK and is about an Indian arranged marriage, from the male's point of view. I found it to be a strange book, in that a large proportion of the story was just "told", as if the character was sitting in front of me telling me what happened, and then what happened next. Exactly what we are told, as writers, never to do! There were certainly many places where I wished the events were being shown in a scene, but overall the style didn't bother me too much. I do wish it hadn't been quite as much "telling" though.
The rest of my week will be more rewriting. A middle grade novel that needs work before giving to a valued writer friend for a critical read. Then maybe new words on another project. I hope.

As a bribe to get me through grading all those student novels and stories, I bought the new Jonathan Kellerman book, "Rage". I do like his characters - the child psychologist, Alex Delaware, and the policeman, Milo. They make a great team, and it's interesting, in this book especially, to look at how so much of the information the reader gets is through their conversations. There is a lot of speculation about who is doing what, providing possible red herrings and clues, and yet I didn't feel cheated. I felt as if I was going on the journey of investigation, one full of interest and people's motivation and psychology. It wasn't madly exciting, rather it was absorbing and fascinating. The villain turned out to be a multiple murderer, but in such a way that it bypassed the serial murder cliches.
I have started the critical read-through of the fantasy novel draft. And will be back to it again today. I know writers who say they love the rewriting process but for me it depends on the book, and maybe on my own frame of mind. I know that after all those student novels, I have come back to my own work with a very critical eye, so much so that I am feeling a bit despondent and thinking this novel is incredibly boring and I'm struggling with it.
The remedy at this point is to ask someone else to read a bit of it, someone who will tell me straight whether it is as awful as I think it is, or if I need to be kinder to myself! Writer friends are so good for this (as long as they are honest with you).
Back on the reading side of things - I also went to the library and got out a pile of books, including "Silent to the Bone" by E.L. Konigsburg. Got home and started reading and realised I had already read it a few months ago. Darn! I hate that. It is a good book but I'm not someone who can read the same book again with the same enjoyment. I'm a "surprise addict" - I read to find out what happens next, and if I already know, it takes half the fun out of it.
And yet I know people who skip ahead and read the ending before they're even past page 30. I couldn't think of anything worse!

I am starting to get writer's heeby-jeebies. That feeling that nags at you in the back of your mind and in your gut and makes you snappy and irritable and depressed. It comes from **not writing**. How long since I sat down and wrote something? Seems like years. And I have written a few poems and bits of a short story, and my journal while I was away - but it's not the same as working on a complete thing like a novel and getting that "high" from actually sitting there, pounding away at the keyboard, making it all happen on the page.
Sigh...
Instead I have been doing business-type stuff, trying to clear my desk and sort out my finances (here in Australia the end of the tax year is looming) and catch up on all kinds of stuff that's been put aside for way too long. And then there is the marking of the end of semester assignments. If I average 45 minutes for each one, and there are 42 to mark ... well, you do the maths. Suffice to say, this long holiday weekend will be nothing but marking and trying to allocate grades.
But the sooner it's done, the sooner I can write. Actually, rewrite. I have the draft of the Quentaris novel to rework and get in to the editor in 3 weeks time. So enough procrastinating (my favourite pastime!) - get moving!

After some thought, I decided not to post my Sydney diary to the blog as I did with the Chatauqua diary. This one was too personal, trying to deal with all the stuff that was coming at me, and I'm not one who believes that blogs are for totally spilling your guts!!
Some highlights of the past 10 days, however, include:
- Meeting Tim Winton and talking briefly to him, and also meeting and reading with Sam Wagan Watson. Sam's book of poetry, which won Book of the Year, is great and has sparked off several poems for me.
- Meeting the two publishers, Sharyn November and Marion Lloyd. This reinforced what we know so well but forget - that every editor and publisher is different, they all have particular ideas about what their list is, they all have different tastes, they all have different ideas about what might sell. And they still mostly have to answer to the bean counters and the marketing department.
- Hearing David Fickling (publisher) speak again about his passion for great books. His quote "If you write it, they will come" says to me that I have to write what I feel passionate about, what fascinates me, and keep at it. Never give up.
- Having time on my own to think, wander around Sydney (climb all over a sailing ship the Endeavour), write, think some more, and then think some more. Being at home, even when alone, doesn't somehow allow this.
When I came back to Melbourne and realised that the only publicity was going to be self-generated, I spent nearly a whole day on it, helped along by Victoria University where I teach part-time. Their media dept. was great. Don't ask me about whether the publicists at Penguin did anything...
So no writing, up until yesterday. Then I started a new short story that I am quite excited about. But can I pull it off? It's ambitious. Probably a good thing. And I tell a lie. I have been writing poems.
Now to go back, yet again, to the middle grade novel and work on Draft No. 6.
I plan to update my website this week and include photos. Coming soon...