Category Archives: Personal

A new category for personal posts that aren’t about publishing.

National Disability Insurance Scheme

Our good friends Di and Sean have been actively campaigning for the NDIS for some time now and, as this report shows, they’re making significant progress. I’m incredibly proud of them and pleased about what they’ve achieved – something that’s critically important for any family (and there are so many) that is affected.  Congratulations to them, and to their son (who got to sing to the PM), and I can’t wait to see the NDIS rollout.

 

Monday morning

Wow. It’s been a long time since I’ve posted anything much of substance here. I put it down to being busy and also being stumped. I know I need to completely re-design this place so it makes sense. I need to shift the podcast exclusively over to Podbean, and I will do that at some point later in the year. I also need to work out how best to represent my books and editing work, and how to separate that from any personal blogging I may do. Soon. Well, not soon really. Reno is soon. Anything else will come later.

What have I been up to lately, you ask? Well, apart from suffering from acute day job madness and a series of small maladies, mostly reading and working. All of the work on Under My Hat is pretty much done, and I’m now turning my attention to Edge of Infinity. I am also trying to work out what’s happening with two of my other projects, both of which I’m unsure about. I am working to delivering the next year’s best, which is contracted for, on schedule, but I need to determine what’s happening with it before I progress with it too much further. Same with Eclipse Five.  In related news, I quietly cancelled Cyberpunk. My thanks for everyone’s feedback/input, but in the end I couldn’t quite make it fly.

Oh, I should add a thank you to the World Fantasy Awards judges. I’m delighted Swords and Dark Magic is nominated, and hope to be in San Diego for the convention.  As I write the likelihood of that is good, though it is by no means certain. We’re trying to plan a quite expensive family trip to visit relatives in New York. If that happens, then I shall be at WFC. If not, I’ll be looking to re-sell a membership, probably not long after returning from Reno.  I think that’s unlikely though.

Busy times, as always

Not much from me of late, except podcasts, for which some apologies. It’s been hot here, there’s been school holidays, and I’ve been working intermittently on new projects (on which some updates soon).

For the most part we’ve spent the last couple days either working or hiding from the heat, occasionally catching up on Oscar nominees like True Grit, The Kids Are All Right, The King’s Speech, and so on, most of which were terrific. We have five of the Best Picture nominees to see, and don’t really want to see several of those, but may anyway.

The kids are back to school this week which may increase overall productivity and balance, but not before we see Sufjan Stevens on Thursday and Amanda Palmer on Friday. There are also, believe it or not, holidays and house repairs to plan. Busy times, as always.

holiday…?

Yesterday we headed out and did a little post-Xmas shopping. I picked up a cheap copy of the dvd of Tomorrow When the War Began and the deluxe edition cd of Supertramp’s Breakfast in America, which I was happy enough to get. We then went to Toys ‘R’ Us so the girls could dispose of some holiday $$s, before heading to Sizzler for lunch. The girls were amazed there was a Sizzler inside the movie complex. After that we saw The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, which I would a rate as adequate/pleasant enough viewing. We headed home, girls happy and relaxed having avoided most of the heat, before things went awry, with Sophie having the most terrible tantrum when she realised she didn’t like the doll she’d bought (something that will occupy them today).  I made it through to the evening, where Marianne and I enjoyed a couple eps. of season 2 of Fringe before bed.

Today the girls are going shopping and I have a load of stuff to do. There’s the Feb columns sitting around to edit for Locus, the short fiction recommended reading list still to complete as it was delayed again, the io9.com writing comp. entries to finish reading, the Locus year-in-review essay to write, and of course Eclipse Four to edit and deliver by Jan 15.

We also need to get ready for a New Year’s Eve party this week, which I’m looking forward to, and some other stuff.  Good thing this is my week off to relax, before heading back to the day job next Tuesday.