blog2

Hi all, During the past week or so I've been enjoying writing during the short periods I found time to write, being disappointed when I had to stop. This is very much a positive sign for the future. It could be because the section of the novel I am currently editing/redrafting is where the story twists and heads in a very different direction to where most readers would have thought it was going, that change may have also revitalised my attitude to editing it. One of the books I am reading, and expect to be reading for most of the year, is the massive Macquarie Pen Anthology of Australian Literature. After getting through 50 pages of assorted introductions I finally got to the writing. The anthology starts with some letters and diary entries that really highlight the ignorant and racist treatment of Aborigines by the first white settlers. I expect the book to not only familiarise me with a lot of aspects of Australian literature, but also Australian history....

Hi all, My eyes are still adjusting to cataract surgery so they tire easily. When I went to the ophthalmologist last week I learnt the right eye is weaker than the left so if I will still need glasses for reading. I need to wait another two weeks before I go to the optometrist to get a prescription for them. The surgery does seem to have been successful. Yaaaaaa . My father seems finally to be settling down in the nursing home. I actually got a few words out of him when I last visited while he sat in one place for most of the time we were there, but he still keeps on falling over and knocking his head. His doctor and the nursing staff have finally settled on a strategy of giving him low doses of morphine to diminish the pain he says he is in; he can't tell anyone where it is. He is still on antibiotics so we don't know if he's still suffering from a urinary tract infection following the removal of a tumour from his bladder, or the pain could be from him fallin...

Hi all, Cataract surgery on my right eye last Tuesday gave me a reasonable excuse for not doing much writing last week. Just did a tiny bit every day so I can hopefully look back on this year and say: well at least I did a bit of writing every day. I am hopeful that my output will really increase from now. I see the ophthalmologist again tomorrow for the second and last test on my right eye. If it follows the same procedure as last time, I will have an eye chart reading test as part of it. My left eye is now 20/20 and my right eye should be the same as it has the same strength lens. Unfortunately, 20/20 vision doesn't seem to equate to not needing glasses when reading and using a computer. Oh well. The real shame about having the surgery now on both eyes is that in a few weeks - touch wood - I won't be able to use bad eyesight as the excuse for all the typos I seem to be making lately - or perhaps with improved eyesight I am only just starting to see them all. As in the pre...

Hi all, It seems that my right eye has survived cataract surgery - wait a sec while I touch some wood. I had it done on Tuesday and went and saw the ophthalmologist , or Dr Nick as he is called (no relation to Dr Nick in the Simpsons ), yesterday. He said everything is fine. When he removed the eye patch there wasn't the big transformation in my vision that had occurred after I had the left eye done. Its cataract had been more substantial and when it had been removed my vision became much clearer, with textures more prominent and colors more vivid, especially black. This time my vision only slightly improved, with perhaps a few more freckles becoming visible. It will probably be a week or so before I have an idea of what effect it has had on my reading ability. My right eye isn't as red as the left was and there is no red splotch near its centre as there was with the left eye, no bruising around it either. In fact, two days after the surgery the right eye is giving me such lit...

Hi all, Not a lot to report on my writing efforts last week as I wait, with rapidly escalating dread, for my second eye to have cataract surgery tomorrow. Just hope it goes okay. I finished reading the third and final volume of Terry Brooks' fantasy/science fiction series The Genesis of Shannara . I reckon his writing improved during the series as I wasn't noticing so many cliches near the end and I was stopping to admire a few sentences. I enjoyed the plot with its message that children are going to have to cope with the mess we created. I will post a review sometime in the future. I read a bit more about ebooks , evidently Apple will pay publishers 70% of the listed price, which is probably why Amazon has said it will change from the current 35% to 70%. Australian publishers like Allen and Unwin don't seem too concerned about ebooks , I hope they're not just putting on a brave face. As I did in my last writing week post, I've had a look at the Amazon bestsellin...

Hi all, I've finally gotten around to reviewing the non-fiction book Year Million edited by Damien Broderick. Damien Broderick is one of Australia's more prolific writers. I've enjoyed a number of his novels and thought his short story collection The Dark Between the Stars the best single author science fiction collection that I've read, but it was his non-fiction book The Spike that had a big effect on my thinking about the future: humanity might survive after all with the technology singularity of the Spike saving us from ourselves. The Year Million is a collection a essays from scientists about what they think humanity might be like approaching the year million. Some of the scientists are also science fiction writers. None of them thought we would be extinct, which would have made for a shorter book, but Gregory Benford did point out that protons would decay in 10 to the power of 34 years. As a science fiction writer, I had hoped that I would glean some ideas fo...

Hi all, I have spent a bit of the week discussing and researching ebooks , prompted after reading a number of articles about ebooks in The Age, one of which declared 2010 to be the year of the ebook . I thought I better see what all the fuss is about. I went over to Amazon and checked out if they shipped Kindles to Australia and their price. Well they do and it costs $256. I had already read that Apples iPad will cost about $560. Not sure whether either price is US dollars or not. My cursor hovered over the purchase button while my finger hovered over my mouse, but I just couldn't bring myself to buy a Kindle. It felt too much like supporting a huge oligopoly as they and Apple will probably monopolise the ebook industry in a few years. Being what they are, Apple and Amazon will compete aggressively to get the most users of their reader. They have three main ways of doing this: first, create a better reader; second, h...