For my next travel adventure -- which involves jaunting around south-west England for a few weeks before attending the 2013 World Fantasy Convention in Brighton -- I've set myself the challenge of carrying only a 35L backpack (Kathmandu Cane Toad) and a computer bag (my trusty lime green Crumpler Considerable Embarrassment). I'm pretty sure I … Continue reading Packing light – how much space do jeans take up?
ASHI wish we'd never ventured onto the island. Not only is it completely in the wrong direction from the plains and our village, but we have lost one of our companions.It is no secret there was no love lost between the paladin and me, but despite his incessant blathering about his god, he was a … Continue reading D&D Chronicles: Tragedy at the island
Here's something you may or may not know about me. I hate doing anything on the fly. The moment someone plonks me into a situation I hadn't anticipated, especially if I'm supposed to look and sound competent, my brain freezes and I become incoherent. Example - Our choir leader decides to make us sing an … Continue reading This makes my brain freeze
In many ways I suppose this could be a good weekend for reading. But that's not what I'm supposed to be doing... I'm at a writers retreat. I'm supposed to be writing. I'm here in a house with eight fellow word wranglers. There are laptops everywhere. The floor is strewn with cables. Wine is being mulled... … Continue reading On a writing (not reading) retreat
Another thing I came across on the weekend while sorting through storage boxes was all my old thesis stuff. Two boxes, filled with notebooks, log books, specimens, and negatives. So many negatives. Remember them? Much of my thesis involved looking at tiny bits of steel under electron microscopes and I have the photos to … Continue reading Blast from the past: specimens and notebooks
I recently read Jo Walton's Among Others, winner of the 2012 Nebula, Hugo and British Fantasy Awards for best novel. Since it's one of the few recent SF novels I've read of late, I thought I would share some of my thoughts. [Mild spoilers...] Among Others has been described as many things: a fairy story, … Continue reading Thoughts on Among Others by Jo Walton
I've been sorting through old storage boxes today, and I came across my first ever travel journal -- it's illustrated and everything. I was 12 years old, and our family was going on a camping road trip to South Australia's Flinders Ranges in our brand new 8-seater Mitsubishi van... *** Sunday 15 August -- Spent … Continue reading When I was 12 – family road trip with dead kangaroos
I've been working on a novel for a while now. I'm getting very close to the end of the first draft, but the closer I get to the end, the harder it gets. Something's not gelling. I know the ending -- have always known it -- but I can't quite figure out how to get … Continue reading Quotes for writers who are stuck
A while back I gave a plug for Icelandic band Of Monsters and Men, whose album My head is an animal I had recently discovered. Since then, they've become seriously popular here in Australia (and possibly the world) and concluded their Australian tour with a concert last night at Melbourne's Palais Theatre -- which I … Continue reading Of Monsters and Men at the Palais
My introduction to Tolkien came when my dad read The Hobbit to my sisters and I as we sat around a campfire. Could there be a more perfect scenario? Our family was camping in South Australia's Flinders Ranges. I was about 11, my sisters younger. Our evening's entertainment consisted of hunkering around the fire that … Continue reading A campfire memory
Ellen Gregory 