By: Lili Wilkinson,
on 2/11/2010
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So attached was the author Patricia Highsmith to snails that they became her constant travelling companions. Secreted in a large handbag or, in the case of travel abroad, carefully positioned under each breast, they provided her with comfort and companionship in what she perceived to be a hostile world.It just gets better from there.
By: Lili Wilkinson,
on 1/29/2010
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I have a deadline. It involves finishing my work in progress by the end of February, which basically boils down to 35 words in 35 days. A challenge, but a not insurmountable one. January and February are not particularly busy times of the year for me, at work or socially. Basically, they're no November. So I apologise for the lack of bloggery. I beg forgiveness and offer the first snippet from the work in progress as a teaser. I think I've already put the first line up before, but here's the entire first BIT.
On entering the taxidermy laboratory in Melbourne Natural History Museum’s department of Preparation on the morning of January 18th, at approximately 9:25, Beatrice May Ross noticed six unusual things, all of which turned out to be of utmost significance. The things (in no particular order) were:
a. The clock on the wall was running three minutes fast, putting the time at 9:28.
b. On the third shelf from the right (four shelves down), a jar marked “Eyes, mammal, XL†was missing a lid.
c. Gus, the head taxidermist, was eating a wholemeal sandwich containing roast chicken, mayonnaise, alfalfa sprouts, plastic cheese, tomato and beetroot.
d. The beetroot was about to make a desperate bid for freedom and head for the relative safety of the front of Gus’s bottle green Natural History Museum hoodie.
e. Gus didn’t seem to be particularly concerned that Bee was running 25 minutes late (or 28 if you believed the clock on the wall).
and
f. Someone else was in the laboratory. A young man, probably a couple of years older than Bee. He had artfully messy dark brown hair, black plastic framed glasses and a glint in his eye that Bee found simultaneously alluring and deeply irritating.
By: Lili Wilkinson,
on 1/28/2010
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By: Lili Wilkinson,
on 1/2/2010
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By: Lili Wilkinson,
on 1/1/2010
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I wasn't going to write this post, after reading everyone else's 2009 wrap-ups, but people convinced me.
A lot of people I care about had a crappy 2009. I didn't.
2009 started well, surrounded by my friends in Philip Island. Then Michael came into my life and made everything just that little bit more awesome. I've never felt so lucky to be surrounded by such wonderful, inspirational, supportive people.
It's also been a bloody good year for writing. I was a guest at the Edinburgh Book Festival and did about a zillion school visits which I thoroughly enjoyed. I had two books published, Angel Fish and Pink. I'm especially proud of Pink because it's the first book I've written that I wasn't commissioned to write, it was all me. It's been so exciting to see it do well, and I can't wait for it to come out in the US next year and see what they make of it. This year I've also sold books to the UK, Italy, China and Turkey, and I saw my first international editions (the UK and German versions of Scatterheart).
I did NaNoWriMo, which nearly killed me but felt like a pretty awesome achievement. I baked Christmassy things. I learnt how to use a sewing machine. My cat that I'd had since grade 5 died. I visited my senile grandmother and was pretty sure she had no idea who I was. I helped deliver another successful Reading Matters. I turned 28. I fell in love. I joined a writers' group. I walked along Hadrian's Wall for three days. I learnt the six steps of drinking whisky. I read lots of books. I finally started watching Battlestar Galactica.
I've watched people I love be sad this year, and struggle, and make hard decisions. And sometimes I feel guilty, because my life is pretty damn awesome. But guilt is a useless emotion, so my New Year's Resolution is to feel lucky instead of guilty. And take the awesome while it's here, and acknowledge that I've worked damn hard for it.
I'm really looking forward to 2010. I'm looking forward to writing a lot, and getting better at it as I do. I'm looking forward to reading exciting new things. I'm looking forward to all the adventures that life presents (except for the complicated provisional tax thingy the ATO wants me to do). And most of all I'm looking forward to spending time with the people I love, and doing everything I can to make their 2010 as awesome as my 2009 was.
Happy New Year!
By: Lili Wilkinson,
on 12/17/2009
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You can't have Christmas dinner without some good roast veg. Potatoes are a must, and a little roast pumpkin and onion and garlic won't go astray either.
By: Lili Wilkinson,
on 12/14/2009
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By: Lili Wilkinson,
on 12/11/2009
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- 1 finely diced onion
- 4 cloves
- 1 tsp salt
- 2 bay leaves
- 1 teaspoon peppercorns
- 1/4 teaspoon ground mace
- 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg.
By: Lili Wilkinson,
on 12/9/2009
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- about six liters of cold water
- 2 quartered oranges
- 250g Maldon salt
- 3 tbsp black peppercorns
- 1 cinnamon stick
- 1 tbsp caraway seeds
- 4 cloves
- 2 tbsp allspice berries
- 4 star anise
- 2 tbsp white mustard seeds
- 200g caster sugar
- 2 unpeeled quartered onions
- 1 6cm piece of ginger, cut into slices
- 4 tbsp maple syrup
- 4 tbsp honey
- stalks from a bunch of parsley (you will use the leaves for the stuffing)
- a bunch of sage
- a turkey (5-6 kilos, will serve around 10 people)
- 75g butter
- 3 tbsp maple syrup
- juice from 1 lemon
- chopped sage
- a few cloves of garlic.
By: Lili Wilkinson,
on 12/8/2009
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I totally stole this idea from Moonstitches, but I'm too lazy to post them every day. But maybe later in the month I'll get more speedy. But here's everything to today.
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By: Lili Wilkinson,
on 12/3/2009
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By: Lili Wilkinson,
on 12/1/2009
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By: Lili Wilkinson,
on 11/30/2009
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!
So I finished NaNoWriMo, with only two crying tantrums (thanks to friends and loved ones for hugs and patience) and most of my sanity intact. November is a hard time of year, particularly in Australia, when things are warming up and everyone is racing towards the end of term. I had about a zillion other things to do this month, and they all (more or less) got done.
I'm pretty happy with my 50 077 words. I mean, they're all rubbish, but it's a rubbish first draft that I think I can probably wrangle into something a bit better. First job though, is to stick it in a drawer for a couple of months and GET MY CHEER ON.
By: Lili Wilkinson,
on 11/22/2009
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A lot of people ask me how I first got published.
It happened when I was twelve. My mum bought me a copy of Voiceworks magazine. Voiceworks (in case you are unfortunate enough not to know) is Australia's literary journal for under 25s, published by Express Media. It's awesome.
Well, I wrote a poem and sent it off to Voiceworks, and to my utter joy it was accepted, and soon afterwards I received a cheque for $40 and a shining copy of the magazine. My first publication.
That was in 1994 (I think). I had an opportunity to revisit that poem recently, and let me tell you - it isn't very good. It's bloody awful, actually.
2009 is Voicework's 21st birthday, and I'm totally excited to still be involved (I'm on the management committee of Express Media). Voiceworks gave me my start, and 5 published books under my belt, I couldn't be more grateful or admiring of the work it does.
Happy Birthday, Voiceworks!
Now...
Do you want to read that terrible first poem I wrote? Here's your opportunity. To celebrate the 21st, Express Media has published The Words We Found, an anthology of Voiceworks' best writing by young people (edited by Lisa Dempster).To WIN a copy of this anthology, leave a comment on this post. A winner will be picked at random on Monday 29/11/09.
And wondering what to get a budding young writer for Christmas?
Buy a copy of The Words We Found.
Subscribe to Voiceworks.
By: Lili Wilkinson,
on 11/15/2009
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So yesterday was the half-way mark for NaNoWriMo.
I'm on track, with 27 000 words under my belt. It's certainly the most I've ever written in such a short time. I'm not sure if any of it's any good, but I think some of it will be salvagable. I'll need to put it in a drawer for a month or so and then spend some serious time reworking it, but as I always say, it's much easier to turn a crappy story into a great story than it is to turn a blank page into a great story.
But I have to say I'm kind of enjoying the pressure. I like only having to write a small amount each day (1667 words). I like being able to compare my progress with other people (I am a competetive little monster). I like the idea of a REAL deadline, no extensions allowed.
And I really like updating my word count at Nanowrimo.org and seeing the blue line get a little longer each day.
By: Lili Wilkinson,
on 11/15/2009
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I have a friend who is a jellyfish*.
I've known her since I was born (she is a couple of months older than me).
We used to play a game called Hawaiian Grandmother. It involved some wire-rimmed glasses and a hula-skirt.
When we were about 4, we climbed up her chest of drawers, pretending we were scaling a mountain. We pulled the whole thing down on top of us.
Now we are grown up, my friend Jellyfish lives next door to me. Sometimes mean people pull her tentacles, and that makes her a sad Jellyfish.
Which is annoying because she is not a poisonous jellyfish, and she doesn't sting.
My friend Jellyfish is very good at her job (teaching little jellyfishes to share and read and do maths). She is totally awesome and I'm very proud of her.
*Did you know that the collective noun for jellyfish is "bloom"? Pretty.
By: Lili Wilkinson,
on 11/4/2009
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By: Lili Wilkinson,
on 9/16/2009
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By: Lili Wilkinson,
on 9/21/2009
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I'm in Western Sydney at the moment, spending the week doing talks and workshops with secondary students. And a question I get asked a lot is: What do you do in your spare time?
By: Lili Wilkinson,
on 9/27/2009
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This is a really great feature article from the New York Times about how more and more kids are identifying as gay or bisexual in middle school, when they're 11 or 12 years old.
A new kind of gay adolescent was appearing on the page — proud, resilient, sometimes even happy. We profiled many of them in the magazine, including a seventh grader in suburban Philadelphia who was out to his classmates and a high-school varsity-football player from Massachusetts who came out to his teammates and was shocked to find unconditional support.
By: Lili Wilkinson,
on 10/4/2009
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Last night I dreamt that the Nazis built a huge 40-storey circus on the steps of Capitol Hill in Washington. Made from bluestone. Then President Bartlet and CJ, under cover of night, climbed up the outside bluestone circus, where the President set a chair on fire with his cigarette and then distracted the Nazis by pretending to be God. Allowing CJ to throw a snake at Hitler and kill him.
By: Lili Wilkinson,
on 10/5/2009
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By: Lili Wilkinson,
on 10/8/2009
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1. There are two kinds of sloth, the Two-toed Sloth and the Three-toed Sloth. The Two-toed sloth, rather confusingly, has three toes (but two fingers). The two kinds pretty much look the same, do the same things and live in the same places.
By: Lili Wilkinson,
on 10/13/2009
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When I was in the UK, I made a special visit to Bletchley Park. This was part-research for a percolating book-idea, but mostly I went there for wholesome nerdy awesome. And Bletchley delivered.
Ever since I read Neal Stevenson's Cryptonomicon I've wanted to visit Bletchley Park. It's an hour and a bit out of London, and there's a fascinating (and pleasingly lofi) series of museums and things there, including the National Museum of Computing. Also, Ian Fleming used to work there as a gopher, and obviously got some good spy-related ideas because he ended up writing some books that became quite popular.
I meant it when I said lo-fiBletchley Park was a code-breaking centre during WW2. It was where a very intelligent man called Alan Turing broke the Enigma Machine - a contraption for encoding messages used by the Germans. It looks like this:
So let's talk about Alan Turing. The good news is that he invented something (called a Turing machine) that ended up evolving into the machine I'm typing this on right now. His use of electronic calculation and algorithming was what enabled the British to break the Enigma machine.Time Magazine declared Turing as one of the 100 most important people of the 20th century, and said: "the fact remains that everyone who taps at a keyboard, opening a spreadsheet or a word-processing program, is working on an incarnation of a Turing machine."
BUT, on September 10 2009, after a recent petition endorsed by Richard Dawkins and Ian McEwan, the British government officially apologised to Turing. Here's what Gordon Brown said:
While Mr Turing was dealt with under the law of the time and we can't put the clock back, his treatment was of course utterly unfair and I am pleased to have the chance to say how deeply sorry I and we all are for what happened to him... So on behalf of the British government, and all those who live freely thanks to Alan's work I am very proud to say: we're sorry, you deserved so much better. (full statement here)Which is awesome and encouraging and only 55 years overdue.
This was from a totally awesome exhibit titled PIGEONS IN WAR. Did you know some pigeons got bravery medals?
Here are some Real Live Boffins working on a Very Old Computer.
And more good news - for the first time ever, Bletchley Park is going to receive National Lottery Funding, so it won't have to just survive on donations any more. Hurrah!Anyway, I totally recommend a visit. And if you want to read more, Neal Stephenson's Cryptonomicon is a great read that blends all sorts of computery code-breakingly nerdery into one awesome novel.
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she must have had one ample bossom or a lot of squashed snails.