Silver Transitions

I'vestarted a writer's blog at http://silvergull.wordpress.com/

Conflux 5

I have finally finished the first progress report for Conflux 5 and it is now on the Conflux Website! I think it looks kind of snazzy, if I do say so myself. The new logo tries to capture the feel of the Roaring 20s. I spent a while researching 1920s fonts and colours, magazines and fashions.

I had loads of fun. The progress report even features a marvellous new fiction story from Robert Hood.

Gillian Polack has said all kinds of extravagantly nice things about it on her blog at http://gillpolack.livejournal.com/.

Writers' Caves

Pandababy reminded me about Writer's Caves and the disorientation writers can experience when they are forced out of their cosy caves. Caves are not meant to be subject to restructuring. They should be sacred, permanent, immutable as granite. A place to invite the muse into and give her a cup of hot milk with honey (or red wine, if she'd rather imbibe. Evoi! Let's party.)

Like Virginia Wolf, a woman needs a room of her own to be creative. Heavy sigh. My cave is more of a nook in the corner of the living room than a fully excavated cave. It's a nice nook with a really funky feminine desk that reminds me of a waterfall because it's got three levels for the information to flow down, but my nook is a bit too accessable for intimate conversations with the muse. It does have a dark blue Indian cotton rug, cds, books, dark red filing cabinets, a stone carving of an owl a rainbow pyramid, pretty glass bottles, a crystal ball come paperweight that is too beautiful to use, and a rusty old hammer head I dug out of the garden that makes a funtional, mysterious history laden paper weight.

Anyway - Paige Cuccaro (http://www.paigecuccaro.com/html/the_cave.html) has some awesome pictures of writer's caves, including Kim Harrison, Laurell K Hamilton, Kelly Armstrong and Janet Evanovich.


What's your cave like?

Who am I

I googled myself today. Always a fun thing to find out about yourself. It's picking up lots of stuff about Conflux 4 (me), Shiney Bum Singers (me - emeritus member, I was a founder member and I sang for 3 whole years), a signature on a Save the Whales list (not me - that Jane is in Darwin, a few hundred kilometres away) , credit on a Costs of Disability publication (me, some years old now, an alias for Mr Zodiac in Spiderman (not me unless I'm sleep-acting), a DJ (not me) and someone who has started a blog with the same name (definitely not me - nothing there but a load of ads.

I can deal with being an arch villain, but I don't wanna get hits as an ad. Wah.

ANU Poets Lunch

Good News and fun times

I went to the ANU poet's lunch on Wednesday and had a great time listening to good poetry with good food, good wine and good friends. I've been contributing poetry there for the last ten years and the first Wednesday of every December has become a cherished anniversary.

This year's theme was first and last things. Next years theme will be poetic licence - I'm sure I downloaded one of those once, but I can't find it.

The poets lunch has been going since the 1970s and original poets included A D Hope. Anne Edgeworth, Philip Grundy and Geoff Page has been through three different incarnations.

Now about 350 of the poems have been put up on line, thanks to the ANU Emeritus Faculty. David Walker spent many hours populating the website.

http://www.anu.edu.au/emeritus/poets/index.html

Conflux blogs

Eneit has compiled an excellent list of blogs for Conflux 4 at the Australian Speculative Fiction Carnival at http://eneit.livejournal.com/163984.html.

We are now starting to dream about Conflux 5 - it's all about Dreaming. mmmmmm. First meeting of the committee was exciting in its possibilities. I'm rubbing my fingers together and not telling about some of the tasty ideas.

I'm currently listenning to Suzanne Vega's 'Small Blue Thing' - one of my favourite songs and re-reading Kim Harrison's excellent Hollow's Series. Rachael is a fun, complex herione -- a marvelous scatterbrained, adventurious witch. Her spell stirring is delicious. http://www.kimharrison.net/The%20Books.htm#The%20Hollows.

Conflux 4

For months I've been working as part of the committee for Conflux 4 - www.conflux.org.au - which took place in Canberra from 28 September to 1 October. It's been a great experience, largely because the committee were so easy to work with - positive and ego-free.

While I was putting together the progress reports and con book, I got to interview conference guests -- Kevin J Anderson, Rebecca Moesta, Grahame Joyce, Jonathan Strahan, Garth Nix, Kaaren Warren, Donna Maree Hanson, Simon Brown. All of them very talented, friendly people.

Oh, Conflux was good. All our hard work paid off in great fun. I met wonderful new people (Hi Keri), old friends, attending workshops and panels. If I have to choose what I enjoyed most, I couldn't say. Being on the panels was good - the podcasts are up on the Conflux website. Unfortunately for me, all three of my three panels started at 9 in the morning so I never did get to sleep in.

The food at the AUTHENTIC Regency Gothic Banquet was supurb (thanks to food historian Gillian Polack - the yummy recipes are at Gillian's foodblog at www.foodpast.com, our dedicated team of food testers (or do I mean tasters) and Rydges' enthusiastic chef). I loved watching the company and the costumes. I dressed up in empire style, with peacock feathers in my hair, a fan and a reticule (Regency handbag).

Terry Dowling launched Rynemonn, the long anticipated, final book, in his acclaimed Tom Rynoceross series available at http://www.coeurdelion.com.au.

So now I'm back at home, spinning my own stories.

Cat Tarot

You are The Empress

Beauty, happiness, pleasure, success, luxury, dissipation.

The Empress is associated with Venus, the feminine planet, so it represents,
beauty, charm, pleasure, luxury, and delight. You may be good at home
decorating, art or anything to do with making things beautiful.

The Empress is a creator, be it creation of life, of romance, of art or business. While the Magician is the primal spark, the idea made real, and the High Priestess is the one who gives the idea a form, the Empress is the womb where it gestates and grows till it is ready to be born. This is why her symbol is Venus, goddess of beautiful things as well as love. Even so, the Empress is more Demeter, goddess of abundance, then sensual Venus. She is the giver of Earthly gifts, yet at the same time, she can, in anger withhold, as Demeter did when her daughter, Persephone, was kidnapped. In fury and grief, she kept the Earth barren till her child was returned to her.

What Tarot Card are You?
Take the Test to Find Out.