(no subject)

I managed to get good work done yesterday despite myself. This is because my novel arrived late from my supervisor and there were a host of things I could instantly do, to free the way for the last full edit (starting today - printout happening as soon as I finish this post). While it's printing, I get to do my end of the edits on my next BiblioBuffet column and then work on the Beast for a little.

It's going to be a lovely morning, simply because I'm at the end of things that suits my mood. Also because it feels things are moving. I like it when projects progress, and I like it especially when readers (whether they be editors, supervisors, or the wider public) have thoughtful things to say about my work.

After the printout, I get coffee, though, for I might need it.

(no subject)

I've done my whole morning's work. Wonders will never cease. An article is edited, a chapter has been gone through for new edits (very, very slowly), and my novel is all printed out for the week-long (maybe two week-long) next edit. I did more than this, but these are the big things that needed doing.

I am a happy little Vegemite. A happy little Vegemite who needs lunch...

(no subject)

The GeoSciences Australia Open Day was a lot of fun. Elizabeth and I went together. We missed seeing the labs and decided it was not our day for creating earthquakes, but we were given a rather good explanation of how seismic surveys operate and a gorgeous explanation of local granodiorite (I still have a weakness for granodiorite and am unashamed to admit it) and we met and were explained the Shrimp*, which dates zircons through the uranium in them:



We were able to hold the oldest clearly dated piece of rock on the planet (Hadean zircon):




There were dinosaurs, one of which I have a video which is too big to load here, but the other (where I was busy being atmospheric) is here:




And that is an end to my report, for, alas, I have an hour and a half of work to be done before dinner. Maybe two hours, if I'm very good.


ETA: I need to clarify (because I want to, mainly). The zircon along with much other (younger) zircon is in the rock Elizabeth is holding. So I have held the oldest clearly dated thing on the planet, but I don't know which miniscule elements of that slab of stone comprise that aged object.




*The staff member with the Shrimp is very important. It demonstrates that the Shrimp was invented locally and that I'm not the only Canberran with a warped sense of humour.

(no subject)

It seems that this evening is this morning in reverse. I meant to write, but I've ended up editing. I guess I just prefer editing right now. Also, it's the time travel novel and there are small adjustments I can make that make big differences to pacing and mood. This is the moment when I see it from the outside and can align my inner vision more closely with what's actually on the page.

I think I'm OK with this novel. Unexpectedly, it works for me.

I do have to stop saying things like, "I'll never write a novel that's hard SF," and, "I'll never write my history straight - I'll always make it fantasy to keep my historian self separate from my fiction writing self." I've broken both those resolves here. This is why I'm so surprised that I'm OK with this novel.

I'm also OK with writing more history into fiction and writing more science fiction. I still like small lives and personal stories: I just have a wider range of choices for settings. And I've learned so much about how not to info-dump and how to account for significant historico-cultural differences without killing the story.

That's the thing about doctorates. No matter how much one complains the whole way through, they're about significant learning. I have eight weeks to go and I can see I have achieved that aspect. I've also made a fool of my earlier self, for patently I can do some things I assumed were impossible. For my next trick I shall probably write something set on board a space ship or explore the Singularity, since I'm currently exploring tropes a mere half century after everyone else and will be able to move closer to the present. Or not. I suspect I shall find a story I want to tell and tell it in the way that suits it and me best, for just as long as I'm allowed to.