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Hi all, Life continues to get in the way of writing. I have been trying to sell my father's Hyundai Excel Sprint (1995) and the process is a lot more complicated than expected, with road worthy certificates lasting for only 30 days and various problems with selling an unregistered car (if I choose to go that way). My brother has expressed interest in buying it for his sister in law, but his buying price is a bit below the market rate. I had a new set of lenses, for computer use, placed in spectacles that were for distance use. My old computer glasses were scratched, something I didn't notice until after my cataract surgery. While at the optometrist, on Tuesday, he pulled out an eyelash that he thought irritated my left eye. For reading he said there was nothing wrong with using the glasses I had. Before I had cataract surgery I was looking at getting stronger glasses for reading, but now I have gone back to one of the weaker pairs. My distance vision is a lot bet...

Hi all, Again, I didn't do much writing last week, but I feel this is about to change. A good sign is that my thoughts frequently drift to the story I am writing, Miracles Rarely Visit Optimists. As it is now six weeks since my second cataract surgery, I am getting my eyes retested tomorrow and probably new, weaker reading spectacles a few days later, which will hopefully mean less tired eyes and headaches and more writing. Much more writing. I had a bugger of a start to the day with morons changing the lane ropes while I swam, so I thought it was going to be one of those days, but then I visited my father in the nursing home and he actually sat and tried to converse, instead of just walking away. When I shook his hand to leave he said "goodbye Graham", so he knew who I was, unlike the previous couple of visits after which I concluded he no longer knew who any of his immediate family and relatives were. My weekly look at the Kindle ebook bestseller list sa...

Hi all, I enjoyed watching a repeat of the Tuesday Night Book Club on Sunday where they discussed adaptations of novels into movies. They talked about popular titles, most of which I had read and/or seen. Jaws and Lord of the Flies were too novels that they thought were well adapted to the screen. The screenwriter on the panel said he thought 2001 was a good adaption too. I wonder if he realised that 2001 was adapted from a short story, The Sentinel , with the novel being written after the movie's release. Movies which they thought failed to translate the novel to the screen included One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest and Golden Compass . I really have to agree on the Golden Compass, with most of the Northern Lights novel's questioning of religion removed. They didn't like Bliss either, which I loved, but I am yet to read the novel. I was delighted to hear that John Marsden's Tomorrow series, all action YA novels, has been made into a movie. The s...

Hi all, Kate Eltham , organiser of the Brisbane Writer's Festival, was on ABC radio last Sunday talking about ebooks . She said that some libraries already loan ebooks , which got me thinking on the effect this might have on both libraries and sales of ebooks and traditional books. If most books come out in an ebook version there will be little need for physical libraries as ebooks could be loaned from web libraries, so I don't see much of a future for costly rural and suburban libraries. Universities and schools may still have them as places of study, but they might not have many physical books in them. State libraries would still exist to hold book collections. If there are no limits on the amount of times an ebook can be loaned at once, there will be no wait for a popular book and therefore less need to buy an unavailable book. How many parents would tell their child that they could borrow the latest Stephanie Meyer from the web library for free, rather t...