(no subject)

It never pays to have insomnia. Never. You end up reading the comments to articles that say things that must be said. The article says a bunch of things I've been thinking. The comments say a bunch of things I've been noticing.

I particularly like the thought that, yes, it's an excellent idea to get rid of affirmative action. I like the thought that it's time to stop giving more critical attention and more positive assessment to writers who happen to belong to a particular gender than to writers who belong to another gender, simply because of that gender difference. The comments, of course, didn't get this.

I was in a fabulous conversation the other day where we worked out that some prizewinners get many prizes because they fit our cultural stereotype of a prizewinning writer. Being a good writer is only one facet of their many talents. Being male and havng the right kind of looks are others. Facebook keeps showing me pictures of an Australian male writer, as if to prove my point.

I'd better stop here, before I start turning polemical. More polemical? Or maybe before I turn maudlin and mourn the deficit of a fan club for me on Facebook. Then enlightened souls could look at my picture and wonder who on earth supported someone like me. OK, that was not a good thought. Sleep, I suspect, is beckoning rather wildly.

What to do with books?

Cast your mind's eye back to late last month. I offered a random book from my collection and a Kathleen Jennings bookplate to the person who gave me the best solution. The clear winner was viciousdisorder, who said "Give up sleeping on a bed and get rid of all your other furniture and shape piles of books into formations that will serve their purposes instead?" I'm sending a consolation copy of a back issue of ASIM to my nephew for volunteering to take all 6000+ books as a charitable act.

viciousdisorder, if you could possibly send me a snail mail address and an indication of the type of books I should totally and absolutely avoid randomly choosing, I'll put it in the mail next week. Also, let me know if you want the bookplate signed or pristine (depends what you want to do with it).