Not actually grumpy

Hello there! I hope the new year is finding you well. It's finding me very well tbh. The general vibe, as far as I can tell from tumblr, is fuck last year this year rules? Which is something I can get behind. I'm glad I've documented the past few years on this blog, because I can see my own progression and remember that I've come a long way. I'm feeling very positive. I'm doing cheesy *positivity* things without shame, because they make me feel better. #Survival is so much more important than nonchalance and being cool. That is the theme this year. Shake off the shackles of irony and sarcasm. Stop pretending you don't care about yourself and what happens to you. Tell yourself you can do things. It makes you realise you weren't being realistic, you were actually holding yourself back.

Things I have done this year already:

1. Revisited my nano 2012 story and begun editing it.
2. Worked on the story of my nano 2013 story.
3. Started a story for a competition.
4. Almost sold out of Moss Piglet #1, and sold it at the zine fair yesterday.
5. Kind of successfully pushed work out of my mind while I'm not there (a work in progress)
6. Bought a new cymbal that I am in love with.
7. Hung out with nice people more. (being less socially anxious)(a work in progress)
8. Made some jewelry.
9. Played some gigs. (Bar Open + Boney)

So yeah. Going well.


How are you?

Australian Women Writers Challenge - My Brilliant Career by Miles Franklin

The end of the year is coming up verrrrry quickly and I wasn't sure I'd get this thing done on time! But low and behold, I picked this book up just before I went on holiday and i couldn't put it down. Which is the opposite of what I expected.

Stella 'Miles' Franklin's names have been used in this challenge as the names for how many books you're reading, so obvi she's a well important lady. On top of that, there's a literary award named after her called the Miles Franklin award, which you can win if your book is exemplary of Australian-ity and also is very good.

On top of that, she wrote this book when she was 16, and everyone considers it one of the greatest literatures in Australia! Sick!

On to the book itself (because if you want to know more about Miles you can just google her for all the goss bout her life.) It's a work of 'fiction' in that she's pretty much written her own bio but used other names. She writes about her life in the Australian outback, dairy farming (which she hates) and staying at her Grannie's house (which she loves.) All the usual teenage feelings like WHAT SHOULD I DO WITH MY LIFE? And WHY AM I SO UGLY?  And then flirting with guys but hating them at the same time. It amazed me reading this book how similar it was being a teenage girl in the late 1800s to now. It's so ridiculously honest, to the point of being embarrassing for her many, many times. And yet she continues on with that teenage passion, like she hates what she's doing but can't do anything else.

The strong feminist element to this book makes it really relatable, in the same way Jane Austen's characters are never insipid or completely accepting of men having complete control of the world (like the history books would suggest women were back then, submissive and content.) She's constantly ranting about how unfair it is that men are allowed to be ugly, or assertive, or have interesting careers and lives while women were expected to be obsessed with marriage and family and nothing else. While times have changed a bit in terms of women's prospects in Australia, the sentiment is still very relatable.

There were few criticisms I had of this book, and they weren't to do with the writing or storyline (although I won't spoil it but you'll find yourself simultaneously in love with and completely frustrated by her feelings towards a certain Harry Beecham) but more I guess with the time and her unknown privilege. There were a few very racist moments, as is usual with books from this period (and now, but in other ways.) There were moments when she also came across as progressive for her time, and the racist moments were mostly observations of what others said to her rather than what she thought herself. But I think it needs mentioning nonetheless.

All in all this book was a surprise gem for me. I actually watched the movie when I was in Houston a month ago with my mum, and I enjoyed it a lot, which led me to reading the book. There's always some weird stigma for me that historical fiction is going to be really boring, and yet the best ones always just remind you of modern life with different clothes and jobs. This was one of the best representations of how it really is to be a teenage girl and have all your emotions all the time that I've read. I'm so happy that it has the respect of the literary world that it does. I can't imagine that happening nowadays, but I'm glad that it did.

Now apparently I'm an idiot because I just looked at the website and realised I'd signed up to read 4 books this year, not 3 as I thought it was this whole time. Dang it! If I magically find a book I can read in the next week I will, but somehow I doubt that'll happen. Anyway, let's just pretend 3 was always my goal. I've had an enlightened year reading stuff by Australian Women, and I'm pretty sure I'm gonna do it again next year. 10/10 would highly recommend.

Jet Satisfaction

Saw Guitar Wolf at the Tote again. Always amazing. It was very hot and they went harder than last time, probably because of the heat. At the end before the encore, the bassist almost passed out and crawled back to the stage. They are definitely one of the coolest bands ever. Their commitment to being rock n roll is bar none.

I was pretty happy with my gothic getup, although when I got home I realised my buttcheeks were showing a little bit and hoped it hadn't happened much at the Tote. Yolo? This is also my new harness from Hopeless Lingerie. I love Zana Bayne's stuff but I didn't want to fork out for an amazing leather one when I wasn't sure if and how much I would wear it. This Hopeless one was much cheaper and made from satin so it's a bit less intense. It's still made really well though, the quality is beautiful.

What have I even been doing lately? I tried and failed Nanowrimo, although the best thing about Nano is even if you write 200 words it still doesn't feel like a failure. I wrote 5k, and even though that's only 10% of the Nano goal, it's much more than I've written in a long time.

Moss Piglet was in a gallery in London, which was documented by my friend Tom here on his tumblr. I went to an RMIT writing thing my friend Susie held, and it was good. There is a spreecast of it here.

I am feeling closer to writing a novel now I think.

Austin, Texas

I went to 'merica for a week to see my parents. They live in Houston but we visited Austin for a couple of days over Halloween. I took some photos that I think are nice.

Adventures in Lumpy Space

Hey gurl! Long time. I've been up to some stuff, wearing some clothes, playing some games, the yoush. This past Sunday I went to Armageddon (my first Armageddon but not my first con.) It was fun! Better than Supanova this year for sure. Mainly because I got to catch some celebs I was super excited to see, and also I got a cosplay done in time. Here's the proof:

What the lump are you looking at?

Australian Women Writers Challenge - Sibyl's Cave by Catherine Padmore

Okkkk.... it's getting closer to the end of the year and I've got some reviewing to catch up on! As I said previously, for anyone who missed it, I'm doing the Australian Women Writers Challenge, in which you just read some books by Australian women writers and then review them. I'm doing the smallest version of the challenge, which is 3 books, but you can do more if you want. The first book I reviewed was The Stone Key by Isobelle Carmody and my review of it is here.

I've had Sibyl's Cave sitting on my bookshelf for quite a few years, ever since I took Catherine Padmore's course on 'Writing Fiction' at La Trobe. I remember thinking she was cool, and that it was really cool that she'd had a book published, but I never got around to reading it until now. To be honest the genre of the book is not one I usually delve into (historical fiction/drama) but it was interesting to have a reason to read something like this. Here's what the cover looks like:

So... yeah. I don't read a lot of books with a cover like this. I've never really let go of that childish voice in my head that goes "that looks booorriiinggg" and hangs around the sci-fi section looking for the most interesting looking cover. But hey, the good thing about being an adult is you understand when the voice is being shallow, and you go ahead and read it anyway.

I did end up enjoying this book quite a lot. It revolved mainly around the life of one character, and all the stuff she goes through moving from Italy to England to Australia in the mid 20th century. Also all the serious *life biz* that happens. I found some parts of this book refreshingly honest, to the point where you cringe a bit like ugh, yep, that's real. Other times I found it a bit whimsical in its language. It's not that I thought the language was bad, it's just that whimsical isn't really my style, and makes me a little bit uncomfortable.

I was about to write a paragraph criticizing the title, but you know what? It's really fricking hard to come up with titles. I get the significance, I think it's a little obvious and far stretched at the same time, but whatever. The book itself is a good read, very well written. The characters are realistic and believable, and you do end up feeling like you know the main character very well. There was a point in the middle of the book where I was kind of wondering where it was going, which is the danger of something like this which isn't so focused on plot as it is character development. But the end wrapped up well, *spoilers* apart from the one bit where Eli cuts her foot, because I thought that was a little too cheesy and obvious. Like a family movie.

I was happy to read that some of the London parts in the middle were influenced by Vali Myers' biography, because that's really cool. 

So yeah. Not something I'd usually pick up, but I enjoyed reading it, and it was definitely well written. Interesting enough to keep you reading til the end, and for the characters to stay in your mind for a while afterwards. A good effort, Catherine Padmore! Well done.

Kitty at my foot and i want to touch it

I love these Lee dungarees so much. I was obsessing over getting some just as a belated birthday card arrived in the post with a General Pants voucher in it. I was hoping they'd have some and these are perfect! The problem with most one-piece clothing items is that if you're tall, a lot of them don't fit properly. The torso part is usually too short resulting in a wedgie. But these fit perfectly :) I also found the perfect beanie, typically after searching all winter through the freezing cold, just as it gets warm. Oh well.