Supernatural elements

I've finished reading Ice by Louis Nowra and The Lacemakers of Glenmara by Heather Barbieri. The former is a blend of literary fiction and literary non-fiction. The latter would be found in the popular fiction section of a bookshop. Both have a strong sense of place.

Louis Nowra's novel (now out of print) conjures up vivid images of Scotland, Ireland, Melbourne at the end of the nineteenth century and Sydney in more modern times. The multiple strands of the plot are only revealed pixel by pixel. Heather Barbieri's novel is set in Ireland as seen through the eyes of the American stranger who just happens to be a designer and seamstress. As a reader I had a good idea about where the plot was going, but I was still happy to take the journey. I'm not convinced that the portrait of Ireland in the novel is authentic, however, hopefully Wolf Creek is not seen as an authentic portrayal of Australia either.

It took me a long time to read Ice, but I knew that I would come back to it and I think I was more satisfied by reading it over a period of months. I read The Lacemakers in one day, just because I was in the mood to read something with a straightforward plot.

What struck me about both novels is the way that supernatural elements and hauntings were interwoven into the story line - more so in the literary novel in fact - but also how easy both writers made it for the reader to take that leap.

Readers seem to have developed a sharpened appetite for paranormal elements in the past few years. I wonder why that is.

A project finished

Nothing to do with socks or crafting, but more satisfying in many ways.

Recently I received a present - a book that I'd dropped hints about wanting to read. Once I had it, I read it within a few days.

The Happiest Refugee is a memoir by Vietnamese-Australian comedian (and much more), Anh Do.

The style is anecdotal and this adds to the understated drama of the events that it covers. Much of it is funny, even in the midst of (or maybe because of) great hardship and tragedy. But what a story! I was left with a sense of a really amazing person and an equally amazing family.

Margaret Throsby conducted an interview on ABC Classic FM with Anh Do that can be downloaded from here.

Cheap frills

I have a friend who is a fashion fiend. She spent some time in Japan in the last little while and has well tuned antenae for fashion trends. Anne says that frills, especially neck adornments, are more popular than ever.

Also peplums. Basically frills attached to or just below the waist line. Fine if you have a waist!

Frills are quick to knit in some ways, especially if you have a scarf in mind , but can be tedious in others as the stitches are doubled or short rows are employed to provide curves. Here's a useful tutorial on different types of knitted frills.

Some days it goes well

and some days words only squeeze out one by one. Write two, delete one.

I'm writing a piece for an online journal - review of a non-fiction book. I have done a lot of preparation - maybe too much, but it has taken me about three days to generate a draft that looks anything like the end result that I have in mind. I'm way over the word limit and still I'm still doing write two, delete one. I started again three times thinking that it might all begin to flow if I just blurted it out afresh. Nup!

The deadline is looming but I have checked the email, put on a load of washing, tidied the house rather than sit down and grapple with it again.

Some pieces are like that.

Goodbye Solitaire, goodbye Freecell

A year well advanced and not much finished off. Maybe I'll change it to The Years of Starting Again and Again and Again.

This morning I started resolutely. I deleted Solitaire and Freecell from the main computer. Freecell - one word or two? I'm resisting turning on the laptop to find out. Already I'm amazed at how many times I've had the urge to play those games. Instead, I browsed websites that have Getting Organised/Organized as the subject.

On one website, in the context of cleaning and decluttering, I discovered a link to a video that shows you how to clean windows. And a link to another one that shows you how to clean an oven.

I wonder who watches things like that.

Making a list

But I had to make a song to go with it first. It's an unfinished song to the tune of Leonard Cohen's 'Hallejulah'. I particularly like the Choir of Hard Knocks version (you can see a short selection of it here), but kd lang is also hard to beat, even at the Logies.

A writer gets organised

I think about the life I’ve missed
And now I think I’ll make a list
Of things to do before life passes by me
And on the list is
‘Write some stuff’
Write it now, and write enough
Procrastinate no more and write it truly

Write it truly, write it truly
Write it truly, write it truly

I can do it but I need a shove
An iron fist in velvet glove
Get it down then prune it with a hacksaw
Lock me to
My writing chair
Chocolate, wine, a bit of air
And let me pick the cabbage from coleslaw

From the coleslaw, from the coleslaw
From the coleslaw, from the coleslaw

I know that I’ve been here before
The shirts I’ve washed hang on the door
And all of them I know are needing pressing,
I feel that I
Must clean my desk
So much dust it looks grotesque
It’ll be back next week so there’s no point in stressing

No point in stressing, no point in stressing
No point in stressing, no point in stressing

I’ll feed the cats, put out the bin
And notify the next of kin
I’ll be going incommunicado
When I get
The writer’s block
I’ll do some rows and finish Sock
I’ll be doing stuff and that is my bravado

My bravado,my bravado
My bravado, my bravado

If all I write is judged as shit
At least I’ll know I tried a bit
Who knows how times to come will score it
And even if
I go awry
It’s not as if I didn’t try
And told the story exactly as I saw it

As I saw it, as I saw it
As I saw it, as I saw it

Motivation strategies

Sock still stranded on the needles
Unfinished objects piling up
Not busy enough to finish this stuff

In misty, magical Daylesford there's an exhibition of Sheila Hollingworth's cartoons, part of the annual Words in Winter program. Sheila's quest to complete a cartoon a day based on the theme of Pet Hates reminds me of an article that I read in Textile Fibre Forum, by Inga Hunter, where a group of artists committed themselves to the idea of a Drawing a Day. The article featured some images of pages from a most beautiful journal with drawings and notes.

I can't possibly knit now. I'm starting a journal.