Vicki Pollard sold this house

I swear to God ... I was walking home from dropping the car at the garage today for daylight robbery service (the bend over while we give it to you gold standard from Holden) when I saw that Vicki Pollard from Woodards Bentleigh is running around selling houses. I ask ya, "Would you buy a house from this woman?"

Reading Science Fiction has changed my wardrobe slightly

I recently read a Sci Fi book called House of Suns by Alastair Reynolds. I hadn't read Sci Fi since I was a teenager but I've wanted to branch out in my reading and a young lad in my writing class earlier this year was an aficionado. Plus, I have a library card. It's a failsafe doorway to varied, no cost reading.

Reynolds is no simnple fantasist, creating a Harry Potter like world that relies on nothing more than imagination and memories of fairytales gone. He has a Ph. D in astronomy and spent years working as an astrophysicist.

See this is what I like about my blog. I can remind myself that I got through this BIG book - 473 pages - because, as complicated and 'sciency' as it was, it had a good story at its heart, full of adventure and romance, just based six million years after man first walked the earth. That's all!

Anyhoo, he is apparently famous for his space operas. Now I had to look these up straight away. Wiki says: "Space opera is a subgenre of speculative fiction or science fiction that emphasizes romantic, often melodramatic adventure, set mainly or entirely in space, generally involving conflict between opponents possessing powerful (and sometimes quite fanciful) technologies and abilities. Perhaps the most significant trait of space opera is that settings, characters, battles, powers, and themes tend to be very large-scale." So now we know that.

I don't see myself reading a whole heap of this but I was intrigued to know more about some of the things in Reynolds' bio. One for instance, was his position as a 'Gollancz' bestseller. I looked up Gollancz and discovered it's a publishing company, part of Orion Books. It publishes a range of popular and critically acclaimed authors, including Alastair Reynolds, as well as a number of Terry Pratchett titles. Its Science Fiction and Fantasy Masterworks series, reissuing the great novels in the two genres, have been widely acclaimed. Since 2005, Gollancz has also published Manga. See, now if I ever decide to write a SF book, I know which company to approach.

There's also the matter of his Arthur C. Clarke Award. Apparently this is the most prestigious award for science fiction in Britain. Clarke wrote 100 books and more than 1,000 short stories and essays over 60 years. Among his best-selling novels are Childhood's End, 2001: A Space Odyssey, Rendezvous with Rama and Fountains of Paradise.

One of his short stories ('Dial F for Frankenstein', 1964) inspired British computer scientist Tim Berners-Lee to invent the World Wide Web in 1989. Another short story ('The Sentinel', 1948) was expanded to make the movie 2001: A Space Odyssey, which he co-wrote with director Stanley Kubrick. They shared an Oscar nomination for the best screenplay in 1969.

See ... I learn something every day ... when I blog.

Not quite Oprah's Aha moment!

The temperature has dropped and I can open the sunroom doors. "Big deal" says you but, for a chick who filed 12 pieces for the February issue last week and wrote a complete proposal for a new project upon which her income relies, this is akin to celebrating rain in the Kalahari Desert. The sunroom was hot last week, my cheap-o fan working overtime, and a box full of cans of Zero Coke was not helping. My blood and my thought patterns seemed to slow down along with my typing ratio. Glad to see the back of that one I promise you.

So as I wrote my TO DO list this morning, cool fresh air tickling my bare shoulders (ah ... I am wearing new fave strapless working from home maxi-dress. The glamour!) I stopped in my tracks and thought, "Blog - you must write something there today". Knowing I have been patchy to say the least in my postings I began to wonder why I had started this thing in the first place. I remember last year I had a re-think of the blog and wrote myself a new mission type statement about it.

This is what is great about a blog when you have a mind like a sieve like mine. You can go back and research what you previously thought and wrote. Hallelujah! If I could do this with every area of my life ... stop, rewind and discover what I promised someone else I'd do, what I promised myself I'd do, what I even thought about something, how much easier would things be? I tell you it would make my filing system easier. I seem to change that every week or two so discover important, meaningful items that would have been pertinent to various tasks and activities LONG after their time has passed. Maybe I need a filing blog ... note to self.

So, almost a year ago, this is what I wrote:

My blog, I have been forced to remind myself, is a way of maintaining some writing discipline away from work constraints. It has a purpose but one known only to me. That’s ok. If anything, in 2009 I hope to use it more constructively as a place to explore some thoughts and as a workroom. This is, I suppose, my online shed. Maybe I should redesign it to look like one? I have a constant supply of sticky notes and paper scraps with words, events, websites, ideas scribbled on them. My blog should be the place I pull this stuff together, research and investigate the various threads and chart the results of this activity, similar to the way a home handyman might gather design ideas and bits of woods to try and knock something together.

Hmmm … sure did sound like a good idea at the time. I still have the sticky notes. Pussy Prue is sitting on two of them now. If I look back at some of my postings I find I have investigated some thoughts and ‘leads’ from things I’ve been reading and listening to. Because I do have a shocking memory and am prone to speed reading and multi-tasking this has been good because I’ve actually stopped and looked a little more closely at certain things, researching them for a post and, therefore, understanding them a little better. I will stick to this for now but try and improve the writing.

I presented the first chapter of my book at my writing group last week and the response was warm (they’re nice, nice people) but I dreamt that night that I had a beautiful, sweet and loyal dog that I kept at a caravan park and visited every couple of weeks. When there I slathered it with love and attention, then just jumped in the car and took off, expecting it to fend for itself. I think the dog is my personal, creative writing. I focus in for a minute, get absorbed in character and plot and so forth and then wrack off back into the ‘real’ world and don’t think of it again for ages. Every thing comes before my writing, even drinking alcohol, going grocery shopping and watching crap TV. I know this is not good. I’ve read Habits of Highly Effective People for God’s sake!

Question: Can I change this situation? Does it matter?
Answer: Only to me but, then, doesn’t 90 per cent of what happens in our lives only really matters to us anyway?

Ooooh … deep.

PS: Mrs Underhill Book Club on hiatus til New Year. Nominate a book for us to read over summer.

Away from home and blog

I am ashamed, deeply ashamed, at how long I have neglected my Mrs Underhill ramblings. Yes I had three weeks holiday and yes I vowed to stay away from the computer as much as possible over that time but, really, it just won't do!

Too much has happened to bang on about ... 10 days in a miner's cottage in Daylesford (writing darlings, writing), a soujourn down the west coast and much local drinking, eating, movie watching, napping and wide-ranging exploring.

General discoveries included the fact that, when presented with tracts of time to simply write fiction in, it is not as easy to knuckle down as one imagines. On the flip side, however, once immersed in a story, it is amazing how much in life can come in useful for your characters and setting.

Also discovered was the unique charm of the locals at Daylesford's Farmer's Arms on a quiet Friday afternoon, the fact that the Lake House restaurnat is hugely expensive but fun to frolic in and the fact that, five kilos later, all such culinary frolicking (and boozing) must come to an end.

So here are a couple of shots ... of Daylesford and of the 17th John's Rod and Custom Picnic (which we attended this Sunday just gone). Say no more!

Watching, reading & seeing

My senses have been overwhelmed of late & my life as the luckiest woman in the world proceeds unabated. (Loud knocking on wood will be undertaken now!)

· I was up close and personal with a 10-day-old baby, born to one of my dearest friends. I swear she eyeballed me and searched for answers though they say she can’t see yet. (I also got to see part of animated film, Ratatouille, until newborn’s brother decided to throw up. Seems he doesn’t like flicks about rats.)

· I’ve sat in a darkened theatre and watched the costumes and conniving of The Young Victoria. (A pretty film but forgettable!)

· I’ve finished listening to Harlan Coben’s The Woods.

· I’ve read and loved The Angel’s Game by Carlos Ruiz Zafon.

· I’ve discovered I can load complete audio books in both MPS and old fashioned CD format onto my MP3 player.(I've fallen asleep to it too many nights already.)

· I’ve discovered loads of old Stephen Fry podcasts about language and travel and movies and more.

· I’ve rediscovered the library and can barely squeeze around the bed because of the 'topple' (a new collective noun I have come up with) of books that have formed a high rise development along the bedroom wall. There is everything from books on the history of automata, self-operating machines or mechanisms, especially robots (Living Dolls by Gaby Wood) to a fast paced suspense thriller called Belfast Confidential (not to mention the ‘young adult’ book on CD, Down the Rabbit Hole: An Echo Falls Mystery, by Peter Abrahams - one of Stephen King’s favourite authors).

(Not to be confused with www.downtherabbithole.com.au, the new shoe selling website I discovered along the way ...)

I am STILL slogging through the production cycle of the double issue of the magazine. I am still hanging out for my 10 days in Daylesford. I am still coping with eyes as red as piss holes in the snow. I am still the luckiest girl in the world.

AND I have a new mantra as I go into every new situation and part of the day: Enjoy everything. Yep, it's as simple as that. And as lame. You have to see it in action to believe it!

Note: Clown Illusionist (Animated Worlds) from 'Musical Machines & Living Dolls', the exhibit of mechanical instruments and automata housed in the new wing of the Morris Museum in Morris Township.

Forgive me if I’m still twitchy about tweeting

I was listening to a bit of Lindy Burn on the way to supermarket last night, admittedly shagged after producing about 14 pages of the double issue during the day (applause all 'round for that massive achievement). Maybe my fatigue prompted my worry at hearing the discussion about how a 'tweet' from journalist and blogger, Mia Freedman, about a narcoleptic Dachshund had inspired a war of words via The Australian newspaper. See here to read the original story.

Basically Mia made light fun of YouTube footage of a sausage dog collapsing asleep while running across a backyard. A journo at The Oz, whose son suffers from narcolepsy, took umbridge, was heart-broken and shocked really, and wrote a huge tome in response with the headline, Tweet this, Mia: the misfortune of others isn't entertainment.

The details of this actual story don't interest me that much. Not here and now anyway. What does interest me is the conversation between Lindy and her on-air commentator, whose name I never caught (bad journo, bad ... but I had to skedaddle and get the steaks and red wine - it's about priorities people!).

Basically the two women went on and on about the hoardes of journalists and 'commentators' who are obsessed/addicted to Twitter and how, once you start using it, you are so prolific and so speedy that there really is no time for thoughtful processes, for reflection and meditation, the weighing up of facts, the educated pursuit of ideas and opinions. Oftentimes, it seems, you Tweet before you think.

Oh I am scared! This is what I constantly bang on about. History is peopled with great minds, people who really took a step back from the hurly burly and thought about things. Are we on the brink of losing that kind of tempered and intelligent thinking, educated/informed analysis and commentary forever? It’s seeping into every sphere ‘til we have the best selling music artists (Britney Spears) saying things like, “I don't really have time to sit down and write. But when I think of a melody, I call up my answering machine and sing it, so I won't forget it.” Yeah, that’s how The Rolling Stones probably wrote their classics.

I am not one of the great thinkers. We all know that! But I kind of count on there being some others out there who fit the bill. If George Bush was in office still he'd probably be Twittering. It sounds like the kind of thing he'd get into. Then, with a couple of key strokes, he'd have the USA in some new type of violent scandal.

Of course I did find a poseur with his name on Twitter and his latest comment was: "i can write boobies on a calculator!" Probably not far from the truth.

Are thousands of journos and commentators obsessed by Twitter? The woman with Lindy said she personally tweeted constantly throughout the day, in her office while doing seven other things. Great! A new form of multi tasking but one that may further undermine the evolution of the human mind.

I haven't taken care of my mind. For God's sake, I'm blogging! Thing is ... soon I am going to be in the brain dead majority ... and I had such high hopes for mankind.

Not trying

Anyone who is anyone knows I love a little Dolly Parton. I am also a fan of actress, Allison Janney (Juno, The West Wing) so I felt a little pulse of glee when I checked in on an old favourite podcast American Theatre Wing and discovered Allison was on speaking about her career and her role in the Broadway version of '9 to 5'.

I LOVE living in Melbourne, Australia, but when I see shows like this come and go and know I will a) never see them in that location (NY) and b) never with that cast, I feel a little c) gloomy for a second. Of course no matter where you live, unless you have caravans full of cash, you'll never get to see everything in every place so a nice dose of shut-the-fuck-up is required when these thoughts trot on by.

One thing I WOULD like to see, though, is one of the plays that Janney was in a long time ago called 'Five Women Wearing the Same Dress' by the uber talented Allan Ball. (Stolen from Wiki ...) The play is a comedy set at a wedding reception in Knoxville, Tennessee where five bridesmaids have found refuge in the room of Meredith, the sister of the bride. The women come to realise, among other things, that they are closer friends with each other than they are with the bride.

Allan Ball - who has created my wonderous TRUE BLOOD just seems unable to put a foot wrong. How is he capable of turning his talents to so many different genres? Is it just because he simply tries?

I have been trying to "not chase things" and, instead, allow them to come to me. Of course this does not rule out actually doing work. Work must always be done and effort exerted, but chasing is a different thing. In my mind it is about sucking up, creating work, opportunities and maybe, unconsciously, obstacles before giving other people (and dare I say it, the universe?) the chance to put some natural opportunities in your path.

I am very excited about the writing/holiday break I have booked in for October in lazy old Daylesford. I find myself thinking of plot points and so forth for a little project in my head and this has not happened for SO LONG.

I am completely energy zapped currently from the toll of getting the double issue of the mag together and out the door, hence the paucity (good word huh? Sounds like a disease of the gut!) of this post. Yet, I feel great excitement about writing about non quilting topics.

Also, providing a little stimulation, was last week's attendance at The Man in Black with the sexy Tex Perkins. Ah, where would the music world be without the spirit of Johnny Cash?