Tidbits of news

Today is I-need-a-new-body day. Yesterday I slept most of the day and so being sick was fine. Today things just hurt, so being sick is less fine. I have a list for today, though, and it includes reporting in on having finished an article. I haven't actually finished yet, but I'm not reporting in for six hours and it really only has 3 hours work left on it. That leaves 3 hours for feeling ill and 3 hours for working: no worries.

My main email address sends but doesn't receive at the moment. I've set LJ up for my other address, though, so if anyone wants to contact me, you can do so through LJ, or Facebook, or twitter, or use my uni address. This means that the only emails I'll be missing are the work ones, and I can't email everyone I do work for and say "Did you email me this week?" What's a very real nuisance is that I'm in the middle of two round table interviews for BiblioBuffet. I need to send out new emails explaining that anything the respondents have sent this week has landed somewhere mysterious and giving them an address to add to the 'copy to' list.

And, in other news, my microwave is only half dead. I'm developing a whole new pile of books for Aurealis and my review piles are getting out of control (again - but having lots of good books to read is not actually a problem, just an interior decoration challenge) and tomorrow I have a libary visit. The library visit takes me to exotic places (Woden) and I've told my body it will be well by then, so if anyone is near Woden Plaza tomorrow, give me a ring today (don't trust the email!) and we can meet up.

And my television now shows all the regular channels, but only when the weather is right. The weather was right last night and I saw half of MasterChef which convinces me I really haven't missed much, in not getting most channels and having such slow download I can't do the online viewing. I would have liked to have seen Once Upon a Time, though - it's the only current TV I'm regretting not seeing. For everything else, books appear to be much better. And of books I have many.

I'm still counting down, and it's just over two weeks before the mirror appears on iTunes.

Status of my work (offically dull, but also rather essential)

It's Friday and I'm giving my progress report for the week. On the big things (except the PhD and teaching) I'm further behind than I was. I'm fine with the PhD because of that almost-all-nighter I pulled before Continuum and because I'm nearing the end of term - 3 more weeks! I shall report again tomorrow, just so that I can have finished one of the big things, for I'm close but just not quite there and a tiny bit more pressure should do the trick.

Because of the constant interventions of life (and the need to earn income and deal with health) I have cast iron excuses, but cast iron excuses aren't worth a scrap. They're scrap iron, in fact. I have to finish one article by tomorrow and get it off and I have to finish the other in two weeks. And I now have 4 BiblioBuffet pieces to finish in the next two weeks, plus the dissertation to work on. In other words, it really doesn't matter that I have had an interesting few months: life continues.

This is probably good for me, because I've had one of those weeks where no-one wants me. The writer's life is full of rejections, but that doesn't make them comfortable. All rejections this week left doors open (as mine generally do) but an open door is not the same as a project with income. Sometimes this doesn't matter, but right now, obviously, it does. On the other hand, there is a possibility of a bit more paid work over my non-teaching, post-PhD dry period, which may help see me through some of it.

And this is less a report-in than a witter, isn't it? With the essay-to-be-done-today-and-emailed-tomorrow, I have about 600 words to write and then I must edit it cleanly. That's all. With the BiblioBuffet (today) I have one more book to read and 2 paragraphs to write on said book, plus some emails to send.

By this time tomorrow, then, my goals are to have sent those emails including the one with the whacking great attachment, to have read three or four more books (for my to-write-about pile was definitely scary when I sorted it today) and to have written them up and to plan my attack on the next two weeks (ie the book chapter for which half the research is done and the introduction to the idiot doctorate, for which all the research is done but which seems formless in my brain).

la_marquise_de_, I shall report in again tomorrow, just to make myself do all of this. If I don't, the backlog will just get worst and I am (as of about an hour ago) over the worst of the virus. Then I'll leave reporting in until today week. I expected time out for the con, but I honestly didn't expect such a mess of things following.

where my thoughts on criticism become more robust

I finally remembered the missing bit of my Continuum memory. Between a panel and much conversation with very learned people (Gene Melzack and Janeen Webb, mostly, but also others) I sorted out more of why the lesser quantity of robust criticism in Australia is a problem for me. I was asked on one panel (devoted mainly to reviewing) why I didn't review friends and I explained (again) and in conversation over lunch, over dinner, at the bar, I realised (again) that this need for distance wasn't a problem in Australia a few years ago. We've become more precious about our work and about talking about the work of others. We're worried that someone will hate us if we say, "Honestly, this writer should have known better, combining a with b without finding common ground between them."

It was Gene who pointed out that I would be able to review works by friends again when it's OK for me to pull everything to pieces (no matter how genius) and to explain it and offer insights. The need for distance won't always be so. Or if I moved to the UK, where criticism *is* more robust, then I will be able to choose interesting works regardless of provenance. It's only here and now, when politeness prevails and even the mildest comment causes a flurry that it's sensible to keep that distance clear.

I'll always be a mild critic, so it all seems a bit daft. My idea of "This book totally fails at what it sets out to do" is "I think that the author could have looked more closely at such-and-such." This means I find it odd when I come over as the tough critic on a panel, as I did, on that particular panel. Also, if people are scared of my gentleness, then yes, Australian spec fic is going to be slow in rediscovering robust criticism.

I rather suspect that the wonderful burgeoning of book availability for online reviewing and the general literary and enthusiasm of many of us who review mean that the fluidity of the writing style and the love for the book is more important for most than the critical assessment. On the panel, at least one reviewer said outright "I review friends, but that's OK because I only review books I like reading anyway." It's the difference between a good appreciation of an enjoyable volume and a critique/review.

In some ways it horrifies me, because I'll always prefer a stiff criticism that shows me the work from ways I couldn't have seen it myself and that opens my eyes to the wonders of story. I do not want to be told to adore a book - I can work that much out for myself - I want to hear thoughts and be challenged and grow in my understanding of the writer and of what they do.

In other ways, it's delightful, for it means more fans read and communicate about more books. If we're all writing about the same books, then that's a problem (for it reduces the world to a few stories), but there'll always be an important place for love of books, communicated effectively and eloquently.

This means I'm conflicted, but less confused. Which is an improvement on being both conflicted and confused, I guess.