Book meme
Cadged from Liz's blog. Like her, I won't tag, except for Tessa. :-P
1. One book that changed your life?A non-fic book: "Born In Blood" by John J. Robinson, closely followed by, believe it or not, the Trixie Belden and Faraway Tree books I read as a kid. These books pretty well opened my ideas as a writer and established my love of the written word and the genres I feel comfortable in.
2. One book you have read more than once?I read everything more than once if I like it.
3. One book you would want on a desert island?Anything but Harry Potter and LOTR. I guess a book on surviving a desert island would be the most practical, but if I'm supposed to pick entertainment, then anything by Michael Wood.
4. One book that made you cry?The aforementioned "Born In Blood." Some of the descriptions of the medieval torture applied to arrested Templars in 1307 France made me sick and sad. Also, the book, "The Broken Years," by my uncle, Bill Gammage. Not a family plug, really. Some of the diary entries he included as a part of his study by WW1 diggers were heart-renching.
5. One book that made you laugh?A few books have made me giggle but unfortunately I can't think of any of them right now.
6. One book you wish had been written?Mine!!!! Grr.
7. One book you wish had never been written?The
Holy Blood and the Holy Grail and it's fictitious cousin,
The Da Vinci Code. Honestly, what shyte.
8. One book you are currently reading?I always have a few going at a time, but the last one I picked up was "In Search of the Dark Ages," by Michael Wood.
9. One book you have been meaning to read?I have a pile of books next to my bed I am meaning to read. Random title: "The Historian" by Elizabeth Kostova.
10. Now tag five people…Nah.
September, September
Forget the Ides of March, let's reset to September.
Sorry, don't mean to complain, but I've picked up a milder version of the lurgie my kids have had, on and off, for the last 2 weeks. I think I have been lucky to avoid it up until now. Yesterday afternoon was the headache and fever. Today is "stomach cramp" day. Hoi vey. You know that cramp you get in your stomach when you're not sure if it's actually your tummy, your chest or your back, but it doesn't matter because they all hurt? It's that one. Leg cramps too. And I have a mild version, I think. My poor, poor childruns.
The good news is that it seems to be a lurgie that goes through you fairly quickly, although you have to watch for the "I feel great!" relapses if my kids are anything to go by. And the only thing that helps is sleep. Sleep is nice. Like sleep.
Anyone who's read the blog for a while (as in, since its inception), will know that I have some minor
issues with September. I thought that was behind me, frankly, but what a month September 2006 has been, eh. Can't help but feel for some prominant families right now, although I am not a "fan" of any of the above icons so I haven't taken it personally, and I am not going to write more on the issue as many more people better and more knowlegable than I have written the obituaries.
September 2006.
Kiddies all ill at one point or other. This is usually a June/July thing in my family. Weird.
Death of Steve Irwin
Death of Colin Thiele
Death of Peter Brock
in the same week, eh. As Lee Battersby said so succinctly on his blog, if I were an Australian icon, I'd be ducking for cover right now.
Mind you, they say these things happen in threes, so Jack Thompson and Brian Henderson are probably safe, for now.
Fifth Anniversary of Sept 11 and the disapperance of my former friend Tricia Riggs, with no definitive clues as to her whereabouts, still, although at least police have now admitted they belive her dead on their
rewards page. If you have come to this page as the result of a google search or something and have any information, for pity's sake let the police know, just for her family's sake. Oh, and if you're the perp., same thing. As if it's not bad enough that you took a mother away from her four kids, you have to let her family wonder too? Gods alive, what sort of an animal are you, anyways?
Saints knocked out of AFL finals (and the sacking of Grant Thomas as coach. My god. What are the board
thinking???)
Good Things:
Brother's birthday.
Eldest son's 16th birthday (is that a Good Thing? Birthday, yes, 16... uh.... not sure. It's weird, is what it is).
Rain.
Some breakthroughs on the novel/s.
Fourth season of
Northern Exposure released on DVD. Yeah, yay :-D
Oh, and I'll have a list of our successful 2007 Clarionites up soonish.
My daughter was in the Yr 4/5 Reader's Cup yesterday, and her team came 2nd by a very narrow margin (fortunately in the am so I got to watch before the fever hit). I have to say I'm very impressed with the Primary School she attends. It's a small school, especially for inner north Brisbane, so it's quite friendly; good teachers. I like it.
Writing-wise, I've been trying to get it all done, but am finding the whole adage, "what can interrupt, will" quite true, August and so far this September. I'm just going with it; there's no point at all angsting over the fact that I could be writing instead of, say, staying up with an ill 5 yo. I mean, the priority is clear. This means that when I do write, I'm not worrying about what I haven't done, but am concentrating on what I can do. It's a good way to be, I think, if the reasons for a non-writing state are valid (ie, sick kids) and not just another form of procrastination (eg, deciding to spring clean the house and then getting the writing done, and then procrastinating on the spring cleaning by hand-weeding bindiis out of the grass first -- true story), of course.
Hence the non-blogging lately. I have been using that time to write instead.
Well, back to it.
