May to June

It was nice to dabble around the edges of Sydney Writers' Fest over the weekend. Both panels I was on had good sizeable audiences with smart questions at the ready; both chairs chaired like champs, both sets of fellow panellists were a pleasure to panelise with.

Now it's back to novel-writing as much as I can in a fairly cluttered life, until, in a fortnight, Continuum 8 down in Melbourne, which will be a different, more spec-ficky kind of fun, with some relatives-visiting thrown in as well. Then, June looks fairly clear for the writing, and so does July, except for a spot of root canal therapy and then, right at the end, this workshop in Fiji, where I hope to thaw out sufficiently to be inspiring about writing from your innermost soul.

Mind you, ahead of time, all months look "fairly clear for the writing" until I get up close, and then one thing after another gets in the way. And honest, it's not all socialising and frivolity! I tend to forget, for example, that stories, nay, collections, will need their copyediting or their proofs combed through at some point—right now I'm going through the US Yellowcake copyedits, which are showing me up for the scatterbrained, completely whimsical, just-pleasing-myself, addicted-to-hyphens writer I am. So far, one small and one large embarrassment have been brought to light, in stories that have both been published twice previously. Aargh.

In less mortifying news, a German deal is in the offing for Tender Morsels and Sea Hearts/Brides, which is wonderful. So this time next year, maybe I'll be blogging from sunny Berlin instead of chilly Lewisham.

SWF Lanagan shenanigans

This year I'm on the grown-ups' program for the Sydney Writers' Fest, on a couple of interesting looking panels. You'll want to come to these, and it won't cost you a cent—hm, unless you live in Perth. Or LA. Anyway, here they are. They're both on Sunday:

• Her Dark Materials at 11.30 in the Bangarra Theatre, with Lucy Christopher and Kirsty Eagar, facilitated by Hilary Rogers. "Is anything out of bounds in young-adult fiction? How do writers approach challenging topics or dark moral landscapes?" Lucy and Kirsty and I will tell Hilary Rogers where to draw the line!


• Islands of the Imagination, at 2.30 in Sydney Dance 4: "Fairytale, folklore and fantasy combine to create otherworldly island creations in Margo Lanagan and Mette Jakobsen's latest work. They explore how to feed and release the imagination in fiction, in conversation with Judith Ridge."

I will try my damnedest to sound intelligent and interesting. Failing that, I'll crack a lot of bad jokes. See you there!

Home again

Well, I've been home for a good three weeks now—I didn't blog because the post would have amounted to, "Yes, so I did all those things on the list in the previous post", and not much more beyond "Travelling—it's a wonderful thing, isn't it?" and "The world, she is full of such strange stuff."

I've just written a story (which I hope will make it into the Big Issue's fiction issue this year) that has a lot of my Beijing impressions in it, so I'll let you know when that comes out. I was surprised, but pleased that I could use some of the experience so quickly, while it was still all fresh.

Now my nose is back at various grindstones. There's the story, which fell out in a heap on Thursday.

Then, I'm applying myself to the novel. At this early stage, it's rather enjoyably like this:

1. Rope the calf from horseback, securing the rope to your saddle horn.
2. Dismount and sprint towards the calf while holding the pigging string in your teeth to keep your hands free. (A pigging string is a short, looped rope used especially for tying the calf's feet.)

That's me right there, sprinting towards the calf, teeth clenched on the pigging string. Except my rope is a bit frayed, and I'm worried that at any second the calf will break free and head for the open country again. How do I tell this thing—from inside or outside, from over here or over there? How much Irishness can I let in before it all turns to smarmy leprechauns? (Answer: Not a lot.) How do I draw this goddess, or make her presence felt? Page after page of puzzling and experimentation. As I said to Kim Hill recently, it's the most fun you can have on your own. (She made me say "with your clothes on", I tell you. She left a pause! It was expected of me!)

Then there's work, and Easter breaks down the south coast, and exercising, and life generally going on. After the last 2 months, it feels quite peaceful.

Must shake out my events frock for the 26th, though, and head to Brisbane, as you must, for this event at Avid. Yes, indeed. Krissy has promised to wear her selkie costume. And to lend me her spare one. Come and have your photo taken with us. And your likeness sketched by Rocco Fazzari. I tell you, it'll be a night to remember, that it will, my jewel.

Beijing appearances

Yes, I've fallen out of Adelaide Writers' Week, all dazzled by the sunshine and glory, and straight into frantic preparations for Australian Writers' Week in Beijing. Here's what I'll be doing:

• giving a speech at an International Women's Day breakfast
  
• going on a panel with Janette Turner Hospital and Ouyang Yu about "Storytelling on the world stage", at Renmin University (Tuesday 13 March at 3.30pm)
  
• panelising with Mark McKenna and Maria Tumarkin about "Real and imagined worlds: the impetus of story" at Tsinghua University (Wednesday 14 March at 1.30pm)
  
• talking about "Desire, despair and transformation" with Janette Turner Hospital at the Bookworm Literary Festival (Thursday 15 March at 5.15pm)
  
• visiting a school with the Bookworm migrant schools program
  
• visiting students at the Western Academy.

Also, walking on the Great Wall. And generally crawling all over Beijing looking at things, possibly in the snow—apparently spring is late this year.

Adelaide Writers' Week appearances

I'm heading off to Adelaide in a couple of hours. At the festival, I'll be:

• appearing with Kelly Link at 12.30 tomorrow (Friday) on the West Stage, on the Schools' Day program, talking about fantasy
• talking with Sean Williams at the Dedication event at 9.30 on Saturday morning, talking about everything under the sun, and
• appearing with Michael Crummey at 2.30 on Monday on the East Stage, talking about the sea, and magic

I'm thinking there'll be signings after each event too, so come up and say hello!

Blog post at David Fickling Books

Over at the DFB Story blog, I talk about how Sea Hearts/Brides began. This post is illustrated with some wonderful collages by Sydney artist Deborah Kelly—even if you don't read my words, you'll want to nip down to the end of the post and click through to her gallery to see the larger versions.

Everyone came to the Sydney Sea Hearts launch!

Neighbours, friends, workmates, fellow writers, sons and tweeps showed up for the Sydney launch of Sea Hearts at Kinokuniya last night. They're shown at left, listening intently to my reading.

Melina Marchetta did the honours, flattering me mightily and then drawing me out on all matters selkie-related, with a bit of process-porn thrown in. Then we broke a bottle of champagne against the bow of the good ship Sea Hearts and drank to her long and glorious voyaging.

It was a grand night. Big thanks to the Alien Onions for the flowers, and to Allen & Unwin, and Allyx and her Kino crew, for all the organisation, including the equipment for the continuous selkie-scrapbook slideshow.

Great reviews for Sea Hearts/Brides!

They've been pouring in, these reviews! Perhaps my favourite is

• this one, which looks at the novel's feminism:

  It goes without saying that I want to see defiant, empowered, happy and successful women represented in fiction. But making it all about individuals overcoming society’s sexism can draw attention away from the fact that the system needs to change. This is why I also want scarred Misskaellas and passive sea-wives in my feminist fiction...

• Over at Furious Vaginas, Krissy Kneen calls it "an assured novel told by a writer at the top of her game". :)
• Tracy at a blogload of books says,

  The prose is mesmerising and seductive, the plot is gripping, the setting claustrophobic. I cried through much of this novel. ...If I had had this novel when I was thirteen or fourteen, it would be one of those which would have defined and shaped my reading life. With plenty to say about gender, about what it means to be a woman, I hope Sea Hearts finds itself in the hands of many young women.

• I am a Hot Read over at Sugarscape!
• Then there's
  • Angela Meyer on her blog ("...addictive...mix of delight, dread and yearning...moments of pure joy...plenty of drama... By the end the reader feels quite haunted")
  • Marcus Sedgwick in the Guardian ("writing of the highest order: subtle, powerful, poetic"),
  • Amanda Craig for The Times ("fierce, dazzling prose") and
  • Jennifer Moran in my own local, the Sydney Morning Herald, adorned with the most spectacular abomination of a selkie ever drawn, by Rocco Fazzari. Well, she's eye-catching, you've got to give her that.