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Oct. 22nd, 2012 01:43 pmI had Mondayitis, but this was redeemed by the unexpected arrival of royalty cheques. I don't know why it was unexpected, as I'd been warned they were coming. Days that have 'itis' in them are not supposed to include income, maybe.
I was inspired by the sight of small quantities of potential money to sort some papers. I found three very bad early short stories. They are so early that two were handwritten ie first drafts in the days of the typewriter. All the good early short stories had been computerised and the paper backups disappeared about the same time as the computer versions died, which is when the transferral from Mac to PC failed dismally. I only regret one of those missing ones. I regret all of these remaining ones, but am loathe to throw them out.
There was a fourth early short story, but it was published by sort-of mistake. Stu Barrow needed his guidelines tested for the Gastronomicon and so I sent him a very mildly adapted version of the story as a practical joke. Alas for me, he accepted it. A reviewer commented that I was a mature writer, which made me wonder about the difference between myself in my twenties and myself in my forties. Maybe I never change?
This is not the first time that a joke of mine has been published. Another time it happened entirely against my will and I'm afraid I leave that piece off my bibliography. I will bribe people into silence with chocolate if they locate it. It was written out of frustration during my first PhD and was never revised or edited. It could have been very funny, but it really needed to be edited for this to happen. And yet it was published. I still find this strange, especially as I never submitted it for publication.
Returning to my other papers, I found a bunch of teaching notes and some very detailed notes from a meeting with the Attorney-General many, many years ago. Despite all the detail, I didn't date those notes. I'm very tempted to scan them and offer prizes for the most entertaining interpretation. I know it must be before 2004, because I've been retired from those things for that long. In fact, it had to be before 2001, because of Helen Leonard. Here is Helen, for those who have the misfortune never to have met her: http://www.womenshistory.com.au/image.asp?iID=198
I remember that meeting fondly. I didn't go to many of this kind of meeting because I really was a behind-the-scenes person. I was sent by the National Council of Jewish Women and was totally scared. Helen beckoned me to sit next to her saying she needed me. I sat next to her and learned an exceptional amount about how to achieve goals in high level meetings. It helps to be junior, for some things. I was much better at meetings after this - presumably that's why I kept the notes. I've not hidden behind my shyness nearly as much since then, because Helen convinced me that it didn't matter how shy I was, I had to make my constituency's needs visible and help set agendas.
She would be raging mad at the current state of things. She would mentor a whole bunch of other young women and teach them the tools of the trade.
There were ripples of change around Helen and Judy (her partner). Not big angry shouting, but quiet institutional change. Lots of empowering of women like me to follow our own stars. I keep wanting to go back and continue the work, but Helen taught me an even bigger lesson when she died: it's possible to push one's body too hard. Even superwomen are not superhuman.
I'm in a strange kind of mood today, aren't I? I shall do more actual work and see if that brings me back into line. I doubt it will, but at least the work will get done.
I was inspired by the sight of small quantities of potential money to sort some papers. I found three very bad early short stories. They are so early that two were handwritten ie first drafts in the days of the typewriter. All the good early short stories had been computerised and the paper backups disappeared about the same time as the computer versions died, which is when the transferral from Mac to PC failed dismally. I only regret one of those missing ones. I regret all of these remaining ones, but am loathe to throw them out.
There was a fourth early short story, but it was published by sort-of mistake. Stu Barrow needed his guidelines tested for the Gastronomicon and so I sent him a very mildly adapted version of the story as a practical joke. Alas for me, he accepted it. A reviewer commented that I was a mature writer, which made me wonder about the difference between myself in my twenties and myself in my forties. Maybe I never change?
This is not the first time that a joke of mine has been published. Another time it happened entirely against my will and I'm afraid I leave that piece off my bibliography. I will bribe people into silence with chocolate if they locate it. It was written out of frustration during my first PhD and was never revised or edited. It could have been very funny, but it really needed to be edited for this to happen. And yet it was published. I still find this strange, especially as I never submitted it for publication.
Returning to my other papers, I found a bunch of teaching notes and some very detailed notes from a meeting with the Attorney-General many, many years ago. Despite all the detail, I didn't date those notes. I'm very tempted to scan them and offer prizes for the most entertaining interpretation. I know it must be before 2004, because I've been retired from those things for that long. In fact, it had to be before 2001, because of Helen Leonard. Here is Helen, for those who have the misfortune never to have met her: http://www.womenshistory.com.au/image.asp?iID=198
I remember that meeting fondly. I didn't go to many of this kind of meeting because I really was a behind-the-scenes person. I was sent by the National Council of Jewish Women and was totally scared. Helen beckoned me to sit next to her saying she needed me. I sat next to her and learned an exceptional amount about how to achieve goals in high level meetings. It helps to be junior, for some things. I was much better at meetings after this - presumably that's why I kept the notes. I've not hidden behind my shyness nearly as much since then, because Helen convinced me that it didn't matter how shy I was, I had to make my constituency's needs visible and help set agendas.
She would be raging mad at the current state of things. She would mentor a whole bunch of other young women and teach them the tools of the trade.
There were ripples of change around Helen and Judy (her partner). Not big angry shouting, but quiet institutional change. Lots of empowering of women like me to follow our own stars. I keep wanting to go back and continue the work, but Helen taught me an even bigger lesson when she died: it's possible to push one's body too hard. Even superwomen are not superhuman.
I'm in a strange kind of mood today, aren't I? I shall do more actual work and see if that brings me back into line. I doubt it will, but at least the work will get done.