So if you care to find me, look to the western sky

I've packed my bag. I've bid farewell to my loved ones. I've checked in (love online checkin. also love seatguru).

See you in London...

Reviews

Some Joan reviews:

A remarkable story... What are we to make of this Maid of Orleans? Fascinating!
(New Life Christian Newspaper - which is so enthusiastic in its book reviews that there are at least four exclamation marks per four-paragraph review)

A must read... a very accessible medieval history...
(I don't know what this is from, I just have a photocopy. But I think it's a Queensland Christian publication of some sort)

The author takes the reader on a journey through Joan's life... very appealing... a bit emotional at times.
(Gabrielle, aged 14)

Wilkinson's book is very exciting: I had to put the book down a number of times when the tension she created became too much... I thorougly recommend this book.
(Insights Magazine)

The reader is always eager for more... The effect is to immediately engage the reader... tension and excitement... This book is a rejuvenation of the legend of Joan, which is a part of our common civilisation and of the canon of young people's literature. It will make young people want to read about it.
(Viewpoint Literary Journal)

right, back to packing...

5 Reasons Why I am Lucky

1. I lost my mobile phone at the Victorian Premier's Literary Awards on Monday night, but Optus is giving me a new phone and sim because they love me.

2. I got wet today in the rain, on the way to pick out some funky marmoleum for my new bathroom floor.

3. I got a tummy-ache last night from eating too much free popcorn at the Macbeth premiere.

4. I missed two days of work last week to do stuff at the Melbourne Writer's Festival and Ivanhoe Grammar. For the first time in my life, teenagers think I'm cool.

5. My bedroom is an absolute disaster area, because I'm packing to go to London on sunday.

In 20 Years

I wrote this in August 1991, 15 years ago. I was 10.

In 20 years..... I am a famous author and I travel around the world to get ideas for my stories.
When I am in Australia I live in a farm house in the country. When I am not writing
I act in films musicals and operas.
My books will be very long and very interesting. My daughter goes to a lovely school taught by Nikki Michell, who was my best friend in primary school. My daughter is called Hazel and is very talented. The ozone layer was fixed last year so thats one less worry to worry about. My new book 'Luckbearer' is very popular.

Hazel??? Where on earth did that come from?

Anagrammage

After reading John Green's fabulous An Abundance of Katherines, I started thinking about anagrams.

Wordsmith's anagram generator states: All the life's wisdom can be found in anagrams. Anagrams never lie.

So what do you get when you anagram my name? I thought about it. Maybe something involving ink or skill or owls. Or will or win or lions (or loins).

So I typed in my name, and was confronted with a big long list of gibberish. Some of the strings included the above words, but none that really made any sense. Oh, and there was this one:

kill oil sin win

sounds like the US government's foreign policy, ne?

But what does it say about me???

My favourite things about regional Victoria (week two of tour)

1. the Eaglehawk cinema. One aged town hall; one screen; twenty sofas; glass of wine; Tristram Shandy. Highly recommended.
2. vanilla slices in Ouyen
3. watching actor Robin literally climb the walls of Gilmore College
4. seeing a wedge-tailed eagle eating a dead kangaroo
5. having reason to say Boort and Manangatang over and over again.

(and not-so-favourite things about regional Victoria)
1. unheated school gyms at 8am
2. the prison-issue furniture and Unpleasent Smell at the Oyuen motel
3. realising in Murrayville that I could be at my grandma's house in Adelaide for lunch, but I wasn't getting back to Melbourne until after dinner.

My favourite things about regional Victoria (week one of tour)

1. hedgehogs from country bakeries.
2. the secondhand bookshop in Benalla
3. Elizabeth Honey, the Best Car Passenger Ever
4. honeyjoys made by Glenrowan Primary School for Elizabeth Honey
5. actually having a good reason to say Yackandandah, Puckapunyal and Wang.

Best bookshop ever.

I want to live here. Always.

(it's a bookshop in China, btw. via boingboing)

somewhat incoherent ramblings on fandom

I've been thinking a lot about fandom, fanaticism and arrogant snobbery.

It started on the weekend when I went to Continuum, a speculative fiction convention here in Melbourne. I was speaking on two panels, one about YA fiction with Margo Lanagan, Lucy Sussex and a couple of other experts, and one about Harry Potter with Shaun Tan and some Young People. And I hung around and went to some other panels and talked to some people.

And the people are all lovely. Okay, some of them are a bit strange, but on the whole, that whole stereotype about the locking-yourself-in-the-basement-with-elf-ears-playing-computer-games is just bollocks.

I went to a panel on Doctor Who. Because it is good and I am totally in love with this man. And as I listened to the panellists talking about Doctor Who fans, and what the fans think of the new Doctor, I slowly started to realise something.

And the something was this: I didn't really care. I love Doctor Who. I also love lots of other so-called-geeky things like Red Dwarf and Blackadder and good fantasy books. But I don't belong in the world of fandom, because I don't care that much. I don't care if something is 'canon'. I don't care if 'kissing is just not Doctor Who'. I just care if it's good, and if it's entertaining. (and if David Tennant is wearing his glasses)

And this feeling of not-belonging made me a bit sad, and quite guilty. Maybe I was just being judgemental? Maybe I am secretly one of those people who sneer at science fiction fans. I always thought I was one of the fans, but I'm just not.

And then last night I went to see a documentary called Darkon, about Live Action Role Playing. It was an entertaining documentary. There were lots of funny bits. But there were also lots of really tragic bits. Like the bit where the school-age boy said that his in-game relationship with a gypsy (not a Relationship, just a relationship) was the first real relationship he's had with a human being that's not his parents. That is sad, and not in the jeering, pointing sense of the word that the rest of the audience clearly saw it as.

I think it's amazing that people can devote so much time and effort and creativity into an imaginary pursuit. It's like the game-playing I used to do as a kid (it's not all that unlike writing novels, really, except the LARPers actually put on clothes and leave the house). It is a Good Thing. More people should play and use their imaginations.

I wanted to kill most of the audience.

They were just a bunch of sniggering, finger-pointing snobs. You think it's funny that these people dress up as knights and fight each other in their spare time. What do you do in your spare time? You watch movies about people who dress up as knights and fight each other! And if you lived in a shitty American suburb and had a shitty job where you were never going to earn enough to be able to get out and do something, then wouldn't you want to do something amazing? And if that amazing thing is just imaginary, then who cares? Imaginary is good.

So all I can conclude (I said it would be incoherent) is that I may not fit in to the world of fandom, but I also don't fit in to the so-called-normal world either.

Maybe I'm like the fat kid from Darkon. Maybe I don't fit in anywhere. That's fine, cause I know a whole bunch of other people who don't fit in anywhere either. So I'm in good company.

sucks to be me

sucks to be you...

...sucks to be us, but not when we're together...

A defense of the word sucks.

bookses

There is not enough time in the day. I would very much like to crawl under my desk and fall asleep. That’s my excuse for this meme, instead of a proper post.

(oh and because READING GETS YOU LAID)

1. One book that changed your life?
   Philip Pullman’s His Dark Materials trilogy. (I know, that’s three books. Whatever)

2. One book you have read more than once?
   Fire and Hemlock, by Diana Wynne Jones. I try and read it once a year.
   

3. One book you would want on a desert island?
The Last Samurai, by Helen DeWitt (entirely unrelated to the evil Tom Cruise movie). Or Winnie the Pooh.

4. One book that made you laugh?
Doing It, by Melvin Burgess

5. One book that made you cry?
How I Live Now by Meg Rosoff. Heaven Eyes by David Almond.

6. One book you wish had been written?
The last book in the Obernewtyn series by Isobelle Carmody.

7. One book you wish had never had been written?
Barbara Baynton’s Bush Studies.

8. One book you are currently reading?
Wicked, by Gregory Maguire. Preperation before I see the musical in London. I am never going to be able to watch The Wizard of Oz again. Glinda is a MOLE.

9. One book you have been meaning to read?
*looks timidly at menacingly high pile of unread books*
*winces*
Erm. I don't want to pick one, in case the others get angry.

10. Now I’m supposed to tag five people, but as I’m tired, you can bloody well tag yourselves…

Talkin' bout my generation

I attended a seminary thing this week about Generation Y, run by Peter Sheehan.

For those who aren’t sure, Gen Y is kids born between 1979 and 1994. So I am one. It was a foregone conclusion that I was going to love the seminary thing, because if there’s one thing we Gen Y’s love hearing about – it’s ourselves. (as an only child, I have a bit of a double whammy when it comes to the all-about-me thing).

So, this, in no particular order, is what I learnt about my generation:

-we stay at home longer, because we like our parents. We have very compatible values, often watch the same TV shows and listen to the same music. Our parents brought us up with a friendship model, as opposed to an authoritarian one.

-we are the first truly global generation – a Y living in Melbourne will be much the same as a Y living in Tokyo or Boston.

-we thrive on being connected.

-we laugh in the face of the ‘career path’ and promotion system. Instead of starting at the bottom and slowly working our way up, we start at an entry level job, and then leave for another job that is a bit better, zig-zagging our way to the top. It’s estimated that Gen X change jobs 8-9 times in their lives. Gen Y are predicted to change jobs 20-30 times, over 10 different industries, 5 of which don’t exist yet.

-we are early adopters, and we love change. An example:

The amount of time that it takes for a new technology to reach a critical mass of 50 000 users:
radio: 34 years television: 13 years internet: 4 years instant messaging: 4 months

-we are mature, resilient, fast learners, practical, manipulative, self-centred, politically apathetic, optimistic, largely oblivious to advertising, friends with our parents, easily bored, materialistic, concerned about the environment/social issues.

Someone at the seminar protested that kids today are the same as kids fifty years ago. Peter asked everyone what video games they used to play. This is what we found:

Baby boomers:
Pinball.
Object of game: Stop ball from falling in hole.

Gen X:
Frogger.
Object of game: Help frog cross road without getting squished.

Gen Y:
Everquest.
Object of game: to join together with other players (there are about 500 000 of them, 50 000 of which are playing right now) to kill monsters for experience and money, as well as explore the enormous world, socialise, join guilds and duel. Everquest money/experience/items are sold online for real world money, which makes Everquest the 17^th richest economy in the world, with a per-capita GDP higher than China or India.

Yeah. Sure kids haven’t changed.

How many book-industry people does it take to screw in a lightglobe?

I have said it before, and I'll say it again: it takes more than one person to write a book. And lucky for me, many of those people have blogs. So here, for your my reading entertainment, is my report on How a Book is Made, illustrated by Other People's Blogs.

1. We start with the authors. Some of my favourite bloggy authors are Justine Larbalestier, Scott Westerfeld, Meg Cabot, Penni Russon, Margo Lanagan, and my mum Carole Wilkinson. To name just a few. These people take the first step, and write the book.

2. (this step is optional) The author sends his/her book to an agent. For how not to do this, refer to Miss Snark (for snarkiness) and PubRants (for useful tips). I'm also sticking the Evil Editor in this category, because he talks about book queries.

3. The author (or agent) finds a publisher. (my publisher blogs here)

4. The publisher assigns an editor. There are many, many editors who blog. The Editrix is a children's book editor. Brooklyn Arden is Scholastic children's book editor Cheryl Klein's blog (yes, that's American Scholastic, which means Harry Potter). The Buried Editor is also in children's publishing, but small-press.

5. While the book gets edited, it also gets designed. There's a great interview (with pictures) with Paul Buckley, the guy who makes beautiful things at Penguin UK (I know, it's not a blog. But it's interesting). For American books, check out the blog about NYT book reviewed covers. But the thing that's really floating my boat right now is interior book design (and no, I don't mean books about where to put your couch and what kind of wallpaper is fashionable). And the ultimate interior book design blog is India Ink.

6. Then it all gets put together, and copyedited and proofread and stuff. And publicised and marketed. I could have put Anna Louise from Tor in the editing category, but she's written some epic and invaluable stuff about P&Ls, which everyone should go and read.

7. Then the book is sent away and printed. I have no blog for this one. (quick! look at this clip of Chariots of Fur from Monsterpiece Theatre!)

8. Oh, you think it's over? Now you have to go and be reviewed in important literary journals, and then actually sold in bookshops.

9. Then people read the books. And talk about them. Lots and lots of people.

10. Then people write comics about the books. Which is just cool.

There is, of course, another option, which is self-publishing, or POD (print on demand). POD-dy Mouth is a masochistic dedicated blogger who reads lots and lots of POD to find the diamonds in the rough.

Did I miss anything? (I'm sure I did)

Joan's Crack

Our Joan (the one out the front of the Library) has a crack. She's having radiation to check how deep it is, and if it's fixable. The whole front of the library has been cordoned off with DANGER - RADIATION stickers everywhere.

I have to say when I saw them I was hoping that it was something a bit more exciting. Like that they'd discovered that the Joan statue is really a NUCLEAR WEAPON planted in Melbourne by the Evil French a la Greeks bearing gifts.

But at least I got to make the joke about Joan's crack.

The end... or not

So, I finished the novel last weekend.

This is, in many respects, a bald-faced lie. More correct to say:

So, I reached the conclusion of my planned narrative arc last weekend.

Meaning, I finished the first draft.

It is 210 A4 pages long, or 77643 words. I'm considering cutting out 1100 words so it will be 76543, because that's a cooler number.

It is 31 chapters, but I reckon it should be 30, because it's better. Although 31 is a prime number, so Mark Haddon would be pleased. And maybe Reason.

In case anybody cares, there are no passive sentences, and the document has a Flesch Reading Level of 87.4%. Whatever that means.

The final and most important thing that you should know about my first draft is this:

it's crap.

I'm not being self-deprecating here, because those of you who know me can attest that I don't really go in for that sort of thing. The book is crap because it is a first draft. I haven't even read through it yet. This is maybe 1/3 of my journey complete, and even less of the actual Book's journey (it gets to do things like Be Designed and Go To The Printer that I'm not really involved in).

Next step: read and cringe, red pen on hand.

(actually the next step is to finish the glossary for an educational text I'm doing called Going Shopping. Yeah baby, it's 24 pages of fascinating supermarket-related information that is going to go straight to the top of the bestseller list. Move over, Dan Brown and JK Rowling.)

(any suggestions on how to explain EFTPOS to a child are welcome)

How do you write about Australia when it doesn't exist?

Because it didn't, in 1814. It was just New South Wales. The people who lived there were mostly British, or identified themselves as belonging to a tribe, not a nation.

It's hard to look at your country through the eyes of a stranger, but that's what I'm trying to do. Australia is a country of such contradictions - stunningly beautiful, but also ugly and deadly.

Take cockatoos, for example. They're beautiful. Just beautiful. Snow-white feathers, beady black eyes and an amazing crest of yellow-gold. Gorgeous.

Until it opens its beak, and out comes the most the second most horrifying noise ever heard. See? Beautiful, but ugly.

What, I hear you asking, is the most horrifying noise ever heard? Any Aussies reading this should easily be able to answer that. I'll give you a clue. It's cute as a card full of buttons. It's furry. It has big, vulnerable eyes. It has sex in your roof.

Awww. Isn't he cute? Until he starts getting his rocks off with his lady friend about two feet from your trying-to-sleep head. Little fucker.

But apart from the animals, what else is there? What else makes Australia Australia?

-bugs (we got lots of bugs)
-sun (getting sunburnt)
-the smell of eucalyptus
-browny-grey-green

What else?

(and no, things like Ken Done tea-towels and Vegemite don't count. We're talking early-nineteenth-century, baby colony type stuff. they didn't even have Strine yet)

Three reasons to love Margo Lanagan

1. she is a truly awesome writer. If you haven't read Black Juice, then go and do so immediately. It's amazing in so many different ways. Trust me. (and for those of you who already love her, I have her new collection, Red Spikes, sitting here on my desk in manuscript form, so ner-ner).

2. she is an excellent and interesting blogger, as was evidenced on insideadog.

3. she says lovely things about me and Joan on her blog.

Memories of working in a bookshop...

I just posted this as a comment on Literary Gas, and because tonight I will be taking Rita to her puppy school graduation ceremony (yes, I'm serious), it can be the blog post that I meant to write tonight...

my working-in-a-bookshop story:

me: Hi, can I help you?

she: (in a peculiar accent that you only find in shopping centres some distance from the city) Yeah. You know that man who wrote Lord of the Rings?

me: (dubiously) ye-es.

she: What's his latest book?

me: He's dead.

she: No, no. There's a new one. There was a thing in the Herald Sun.

me: No. He's dead. He's been that way for quite some time.

she: There's a new book!

me: (trying to be helpful) There's a movie.

she: (scowling) I'm not stupid.

me: (thinking of her brother and his baseball bat) Oh, no.

she: It's called The Goblin.

me: (sigh)...

she: What?

me: It's called The Hobbit.

she: Whatever. Do you have it?

me: Sure. But he's still dead.

This makes me very happy

What Teen Angst Novel are You? - funny, lots of results, with pix, from the author of The Boyfriend List

LOOKING FOR ALASKA, by John Green. Sad, Funny, boozy, thought-provoking. Go read it. It's you.
Take this quiz!








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Reprint

My book is being reprinted! Only two months after publication!

It's getting a slightly different cover, with pull-quotes from The Age ("surely a dream come true...") and Children's Bookseller & Publisher ("history is compellingly brought to life... the reader is instantly engaged"). The cover will also be a brighter red, as some people commented that it was too dark.

I will try and post it here when I am allowed...