In the madness that was the final weeks of Aurealis reading, I think my spreadsheet got a little lost, but I'll do my best:

The Child Thief, Brom - A dark and gritty Peter Pan retelling - engrossing and beautifully put together (gorgeous illustrations and writing).

The Mermaid's Madness, Jim C Hines - I've thoroughly enjoyed both Jim's "fairy tale" novels, and am really looking forward to Red Hood's Revenge. Jim has a knack for characterisation and dialogue, and I love the darkness in these seemingly light stories.

The Dragon Book, Gardner Dozois and Jack Dann (eds.) - Massive book, with some great stories. Highlights at Last Short Story.

Flashforward, Robert J Sawyer, 319pp. - Heavy science and not altogether believable characterisation, but a good read. Don't expect the tv show though - it's not at ALL the same thing! (Review at ASIF!)

And Another Thing..., Eoin Colfer - A worthy follow up, well in the tone of the originals, and a very good effort by Colfer. (Review at ASIF!)

Tempted (House of Night series), PC & Kristin Cast - Not my favourite in this series. Seemed to fall prey to common series problem of lots of back story dumping, lots of protagonist internal monologue and not a lot of story progression. Got better in the second half though.

Books I'm not discussing due to Aurealis judging:
The Nest Paul Jennings
Cupid's Arrow Isabelle Merlin
The zoo of magical and mythological creatures Sam Bowring
Liar Justine Larbalestier (was withdrawn from AA contention by the author - HIGHLY RECOMMEND!)
The Puzzle Ring Kate Forsyth
The Reformed Vampire Support Group Catherine Jinks
Third Transmission Jack Heath
Leviathan Scott Westerfeld
Worldshaker Richard Harland
A small free kiss in the dark Glenda Miller
The Museum of Mary Child Cassandra Golds
Siggy and Amber Doug McLeod

So after 2.5 hours at cricket this morning, we are backing up with the Batt kids birthday parties in Mandurah. Currently very noisy :) Was productive at cricket this morning, getting four or five stories edited for Worlds Next Door. Hopefully this indicated the start of a productive editing streak! Not hopeful though as I get 22 assignments Tuesday and a stack of exams Friday *sigh*

Am listening to a review copy of Justine Larbalestier's "How to ditch your fairy" in the car. Even though I've read the book, the audio is a different experience. V. enjoyable. Still haven't written the reviews of the two books I finished during the week but I'm sure I'll get to them.

Well, party 1 over. Might try to visit rellies before party 2!

Been a while since I updated, so dot points must needs be the format today!

• Master Seven's birthday pool party declared a success on Sunday. Even better, thanks to resident house guests (family friends here for cancer treatment for three weeks), house was even tidier straight after the party than it was just before! Bliss not having to clean up... Have photos, but haven't downloaded yet.
• I am 30 weeks pregnant today. Had my pre-admission appointment at the local hospital, which is very nice, and the quite young midwife was delightful. I'm pleased, because it's kind of scary going to a new hospital after the same one for two caesareans. Have appointment with the obstetrician (one of two who might be doing my c-section) on December 15 - we'll have a B-Day booked in on that day most likely.This is all pleasing to me, as I'm not happy with the GP (who is supposedly an ante-natal specialist) I've been seeing - he makes me feel like a number, and that's pretty hard to take after the wonderful doctor we used to have in QLD.
• Work is insanely busy right now - I inherited the booklist to organise late last week (after I offered, because there'd been no progress for a *ahem* fair while, and it HAD to get done!), we've had Pastoral Care comments to write and proof (I ended up proofing four different batches, plus writing my own), Yearbook is at the pointy end, and I'm chasing loose ends and proofing madly, plus all the regular end of year madness we have in Bookhire and library! On top of that, we've not yet had any indication of what the plans are for my role next year - doesn't look like they're properly replacing me at this stage, which is both flattering (cos, y'know, I'm irreplaceable!) and sad, because I know that will mean things will be a lot harder when I come back, particularly as I'll only be part-time on my return. Hopefully things will get sorted soon, and I'll be happy with what the decision is... Considering there's something like ten staff leaving at the end of the year, I don't think I'm a priority right now.
• This week is crazy - Staff meeting/PD yesterday, hospital today, WASLA AGM tomorrow in Perth, school social on Thursday, possibly Master Seven social on Friday (under negotiation!). Not sure it gets much better in the next three weeks, but at least there's not something every day!
• I haven't really started on edits for Worlds Next Door yet, but hopefully things will have settled down after this week, and I'll be able to hook into them.
• Aurealis Awards reading is finished, and shortlist negotiation is well underway - looks like we're nearly done actually, which is great!
• Still reading and doing some reviews. Latest one up today at ASIF! (Eoin Colfer's And Another Thing...). Have Tempted (latest in the House of Night series) finished ready to review, and am halfway through the new (not released til January actually!) Kylie Chan book, Earth to Hell. Another nice little pile in the bookshelf from Fiction Focus to keep me busy too :)
• Keep meaning to take a belly photo, but haven't yet. Really must get to that!

That's caught up I think. Might try to post more regularly!

Out of the blue this week I was asked to critique a story for someone I really only know through frequenting the same reviewing circles over at ASIF!. When I queried why she'd made this request, the response was because I'm insightful in my reviews. Now, first of all, I am flattered :) However, it got me to thinking, because to my mind, there are very different methods involved in reviewing, critiquing, and editing and I wonder if others find the same thing. While some of the skills are similar, you are really doing very different things, and I'm not sure being insightful in one makes you good at another...

For me, reviewing is made up of a few different parts. Firstly, I am not working for the benefit of the author. While many authors do seek out an read reviews of their work, I sincerely doubt many of them are going to read any criticism I might make of their work and decide to completely change that aspect of their writing! That's not what it's about. Reviews are for the benefit of other readers, essentially, and I think my job as a reviewer is to try to articulate what I liked or didn't like about the book in such a way that gives the potential reader the option to agree or disagree with my opinion and make an informed decision about whether to seek the book out for themselves, or not.

Critiquing IS of course for the writer. But it's a very different beast to editing. When I'm critiquing someone's work, my goal is to point out areas that don't work for me as an informed reader, and to applaud bits I really like and that make the story awesome. In a critique, I may suggest that I find a section overlong or dense, but I won't make specific suggestions for changes. When I'm editing though, I'll draw red lines through words, lines and sections, and ask for rewording of specific bits that bother me. I think the main difference for me is that in a critique, I'll make general suggestions to offer guidance to the writer of where I see problems with a story, but when I'm editing, I'm working with the author to tweak out the best possible story for the publication I've already bought it for, and therefore I will be far more specific and definitive about what changes I want. It's still a give and take situation, but it's far more concentrated and detailed, for me.

I think I use a similar skillset for these things - of course spelling, grammar, punctuation and the like are important for all, as is an educated idea of what makes a story work. But they are distinctive disciplines to me.

I'm interested to know if others look at these three things differently as well. Of course, we all review, critique and edit differently, but is there a correlation between them for you?

Miss Four stayed at her best friend's house last night, which meant I got almost 10 hours sleep! Wonderful... Master Seven was up early, but I didn't hear him sneak out and start watching telly :) When I finally got up, we decided we'd head to Maccas for pancakes. After that was a trip to the shopping centre, where serendipitous timing meant I got my eyebrows waxed & tinted, he got his haircut, we picked up the parcel waiting at the PO (lineup there was horrendous)  and we STILL made it to the movie we wanted to watch (Astroboy - fun!). We then dropped into Target to layby a stroller for the new baby (reversible handle, $100 off!), and then wandered down to pick up the girl. 

Some of that family had just been to the petstore, and we'd been contemplating getting an easy-care fish or two, so followed their directions to the shop down the road. Ahem. Three fish and a small kitten later...! Even the petstore owner had a laugh, and called me Mrs Softy! *sigh* I'm sure I'll regret the kitten, but it is cute. Miss Four even said "I won't have any Christmas presents..."!!! Ah well...

In other news, we don't have a replacement for me at work at this stage. And we're a little nervous about how that means they're going to handle my leave. They are really tightening belts too, for the first time in forever (new bursar sweeps clean + major building projects + economic downturn + wages rising = scary) and are even looking at my support staff. I'm frightened as to what it could mean for us, just when we've got things going so beautifully. Worse case, I guess I don't really HAVE to go back to work, but boy, I'd miss it!

Really should be doing housework, as visitors arrive tomorrow, for three weeks, but am reading Flashforward instead.

This is a Wordle from the (unedited) manuscript of the anthology "Worlds Next Door" (which had the working title of Spec Fic for Kids).



For those interested, we had a long list of possible titles, but the favourite of the authors in the collection came out as "Worlds Next Door" - "Far Out Fiction" was second place!

girliejones tagged me, darn her!

A. List seven habits/quirks/facts about yourself.
B. Tag seven people to do the same.
C. Do not tag the person who tagged you or say that you tag “whoever wants to do it”.

1. I read anywhere it's possible - bath, bed, brushing teeth & in the loo are habitual reading places...
2. Related to [1], I will frequently have multiple books on the go in different areas of the house, just in case.
3. I have three degrees, two and a half of which were completed externally - I also started a fourth, but haven't had time to return to it, and have a Cert III in Office Administration.
4. I grew up in country WA and QLD, and never went to a school of more than 160 students.
5. I worked as a governess in the Northern Territory for a year when I was 17.
6. I have no idea what my natural hair colour is.
7. I have four tattoos.
 

I haven't felt like I've been on top of my reading at all in the last couple of weeks, but the spreadsheet belies that a bit. I think the main problem is I'm receiving many more books than I'm getting through! Not necessarily a bad thing, but some of them have deadlines (Aurealis judging, review deadlines, Last Short Story end of year looming...) - I think I'm keeping up okay though :)

Swordplay, Denise Little (Ed), 311pp - Surprising amount of religiously inclined stories but some good yarns in here.

Andromeda Spaceways Inflight Magazine #40, Simon Petrie (ed), 96pp - A good issue from ASIM, with standouts for me being Ian McHugh's "Once a month, on a Sunday" and Darren Goossen's "Kadinsky's Mistakes"

Aurealis #42, Stuart Mayne (ed), 142pp - High standard, with Jason Fischer's "for want of a jesusman" top of my list (blogged at Last Short Story).

Gamer Fantastic, Martin H. Greenberg & Kerrie Hughes (eds), 307pp -  I enjoyed a surprising amount of stories here, with Jim C. Hines' "Mightier than the sword" an absolute standout! Also liked Jody Lynn Nye's "Roles we play" and Bill Fawcett's "Mission from Hel" and awful lot.

Warrior Wisewomen 2, Roby James (ed), 272pp - Fairly ordinary collection. No real standouts, and some stories that felt, to me, almost anti-feminist. That's just my opinion, and it's not the most learned one, but I simply couldn't warm to most of the stories in this book.

The Mammoth Book of Paranormal Romance, Trisha Telep (ed.), 532pp - Some great paranormal authors, and some good solid stories in here. Nothing long enough to really sink your teeth into (pardon the pun), but some just left of centre which really appealed.

Batman Vampire - Found it very hard to put this down. An alternate Batman universe with characters I know and those I don't, where Batman meets Dracula, and a kind of chaos ensues. Dark, depressing, sad and ultimately, totally cool!

Kitty and the Dead Man's Hand, Carrie Vaughan, 282pp - Fast paced and catchy, I enjoyed this even though I've not read any of the preceding books of the series. Vaughan does a good job of making the reader feel they know the characters, and avoids the problems inherent with series works generally, including overpopulated cast and overly powerful protags. I also really liked the human aspects of the story, particularly Kitty's family. Full review HERE

Grave Secret, Charlaine Harris, 306pp - Definitely feels like a wrap up book, the fourth in the sequence, and seems like the loose ends are all tied. Not that a good end point ever stopped series writers, but anyway... Not a bad read, although I still don't like the Tolliver/Harper thing - just didn't seem to be handled quite right. A good read though. Full review HERE

AUREALIS AWARDS BOOKS - I'm not commenting on these, but my review of Jatta will appear in Fiction Focus next year.
Ranger's Apprentice Book 8: The Kings of Clonmel, John Flanagan
Gotta B, Claire Carmichael
Jatta, Jenny Hale

I'm actually all caught up on books I've read and needed to review, but the TBR pile is getting scarily high. And I just ordered two more books this morning! Glutton/punishment... :)

Week 1 of term is over - nine to go before three terms of maternity leave!, and I know it's going to absolutely fly by! My position will be advertised tomorrow in the West Australian, and hopefully we'll get some good applicants. Exec decision was to advertise for a teacher librarian, even though I expressly said we'd be willing to take a teacher prepared to train, or a librarian with some experience, we just want to get the right PERSON, not necessarily the right QUALIFICATION, because we know all too well that degrees don't equal awesome :) Exec wants someone they can timetable though, and I understand that, and even though they've made that decision, I do think they'll be open to good applicants of any appropriate skillset, which is good. My immediate line manager is on the selection panel too, and she'll be very keen to get someone *right*. I'm especially nervous, as it's MY collection they'll be overseeing, and MY staff, and MY kids! Possessive? Me?! :) And also, if things go to plan, I'll be job sharing with this person from Term 4 onwards, so we want a good fit!

So this week has been pretty full on - getting the role description for the job retweaked, organising our first major textbook orders, getting the new term underway, preparing for the Year 12s finishing up and all that stuff. And at night, I've been working on getting the Twelfth Planet Press novellas up as e-books over at Smashwords, which has been fairly time consuming, but worth it! So far we've got Angel Rising, Siren Beat and Horn up - bargain price, and all the e-formats you could want!

So I'm pretty weary right now, and brain is not functioning all that well. Big weekend ahead too - Swancon36/Natcon50 meeting tomorrow, the Master Six starts cricket Sunday and Miss 4 has been invited to a birthday party (which I've lost the invite for! Wonder if I have a contact...). So we won't even be home much for a rest. Ah well, maybe next weekend...

After a few weeks of not a lot of choice on the bookshelves, today's mail brought an absolute plethora of reading material! It seems like every book I've ordered in the last month has arrived at once! Late last week I got six copies of F&SF, yesterday brought a couple of the second hand books I had ordered for the new project I'm working on, and today I got a review book (unsolicited), an Aurealis Awards book, four more project books, two Andromeda Spaceways Inflight Magazines (and YAY to ASIM for catching up to Aurealis in the issues! #42  - very portentous!), and an absolute SWAG of anthologies from Better World Books (mostly fangbanger collections to be honest, but what the hey!) and the latest Fables. Oh, so spoiled for choice! Now my biggest problem is where the heck to start!

Yesterday was pretty busy. Four year old's birthday party for bit over three hours. Eight kids running riot ... I LOVE the Fun Station! They seemed to have fun, and there were no real dramas. Had some nice chats with the parents in between party bits too, and we had a great party host - she drew butterflies and princesses in tomato sauce on the kids plates :)

We then headed straight up to aunt and uncle's for a quick visit. Aunt's sister and hubby and daughter and hubby and 10 day old baby were there too - Miss Four was naturally enamoured with baby :) Was nice to see aunt's rellies, as we hadn't seen them since Christmas 2007. They were making the Christmas cakes for this year, as aunt is planning to have a very big family Chrissie, with her eldest and his wife and daughter coming from Chile (for the first time since nearly two year old was born), and practically all uncle's family will be coming, including my dad and mum. This has been planned for months and months now, and aunt's determined it's still going ahead as SHE wants it, despite the fact she's now having treatment for cancer, and will be having a major operation, after weeks of radiation and chemo, in early December. I'll be 35 weeks by Christmas, and don't think I'll be conforming to her plan of having me and kids sleeping in the lounge room for a couple of days - too many people, not enough toilets, and I'll need MY bed!! But we're looking forward to seeing everyone, regardless of how the circumstance pan out.



So we were pretty weary by the end of the day - although I still stayed up and watched "27 Dresses" and finished the conversion of New Ceres Nights - and just as tired tonight, so might have an early night for the first day back at work.

We had three extra kids here for most of the day, which, except for a few bouts of refereeing, meant that the children were entertaining each other very nicely, and consequently, I got more work done!

The list of jobs post-holidays now looks like this:

X amount of book reviews (X being an unknown value, but I'm pretty sure is currently <5) - FOUR reviews done today, and now my "read but not reviewed" pile is gone!
If house settlement is enjoyed, organise new aircon, freestanding dishwasher and perhaps pool equipment.
Marking - four assignments - got three done - one essay left to go
TPP jobs (Fictionwise, newsletter, Shiny 6) - Got New Ceres Nights finished, and some helpful ideas from layout friends might make it easier for the next lot...
WASLA newsletter - received president's article today, and got my photos from the conference cleaned up and downsized.
Finish slushing and finalise Spec Fic for Kids lineup! - Pretty much done!
Edits on Spec Fic for Kids
Last Short Story reading - Plugging away - keep finding new things I want to read! Started Season 2 of Shadow Unit yesterday...
Aurealis reading - on track
Tidy and clear out spare room - Definitely getting visitors early November, so will get on it
New publishing project
Clean up shed (husband keeps chucking things in there - no rhyme or reason to it!)
Return packing boxes to removalist
Yearbook for school (supposedly to be at proof ready by week 3) - one more article received today - still about 12 or 15 outstanding.

I'm actually fairly pleased with how much I got done in the last two weeks, especially considering that three days were at the conference. Got some pretty important stuff done, the house looks fairly respectable, and a bunch of to do lists were knocked over - I'm even down to THREE emails in my inbox! Freaky... So, in all, a good break I think. We had some fun, got some jobs finished, good balance.

It is absolutely astonishing how quickly two weeks goes by! We started holidays exactly two weeks ago (with the Friday extra off), and once again, I haven't achieved nearly as much as I'd hoped. Having said that, I'm pleased by what I have got done, and will probably get a fair bit more done in the next two days (always the way!). Well, maybe not tomorrow, as we have the four-year-old birthday party tomorrow, then a visit to the aunt and uncle in the afternoon (not for too long though). Sunday is looking pretty clear though, and hopefully hubby and boy will go off fishing for a few hours with one of hubby's workmates, so might have a peaceful day then!

Master Six's week-long swimming lessons finished today. Miss Four and I also enjoyed going to the pool each day, and she's loving the swimming! We decided she could easily pass Level 1 :) Daddy came along today as well, and they all had a bunch of turns on the waterslide. Have enrolled the boy in two weeks just after Christmas - hopefully we get early lessons (but not TOO early!).

So, the list looks like this...

Tax
X amount of book reviews (X being an unknown value, but I'm pretty sure is currently <5) - this is bad that I haven't done ANY yet, as usually I catch up on heaps on the hols! Will endeavour to get a couple done this weekend! 
Enjoy house settlement!
If house settlement is enjoyed, organise new aircon, freestanding dishwasher and perhaps pool equipment. Rang for a quote for aircon install, but am playing phone tag with the installer. The freestanding dishwasher may be a challenge, but I might go to a REAL electrical store...
Marking - four assignments - one and a half down today...
Go through clothes and bedding and get rid of a bunch - have decimated my wardrobe, deciding nothing is going to fit for at least six months, so it might as well be packed away! Very bare wardrobe now!
Sell boat (this may be a problem with husband and son, but seriously, we've had it TWO YEARS and it's NEVER been used! Hubby has no boat licence and the boat is no longer registered! Waste of space...) - broached subject this evening - hubby not impressed!
Get WA drivers' licence - yeah yeah, been here two years now... Heh, fail again.
National Library Conference (three days)
Organise and have Miss Three's 4th birthday party! Have bought invites, have pressies, just the party really. (booked venue and wrote party invites, ordered special balloons!) - lolly bags done, presents wrapped!
Entertain children!
TPP jobs (Fictionwise, newsletter, Shiny 6) - am three quarters done with New Ceres Nights for Fictionwise. Very slow...
WASLA newsletter - put the call out for articles, brief reflections on the conference and photos...
Finish slushing and finalise Spec Fic for Kids lineup! - Waiting on one resub, have one rewrite to read, and done!
Last Short Story reading - Got an antho in the mail yesterday and six copies of F&SF to read - might help me catch up a bit!
Aurealis reading - Random House book delivery is stuck at the depot because the delivery company is pathetic. Otherwise, reasonably on track.

Jobs added for weekends in term 4:
Tidy and clear out spare room - hopefully we'll have some visitors soon, which will force my hand on this one!
New publishing project
Clean up shed (husband keeps chucking things in there - no rhyme or reason to it!)
Return packing boxes to removalist
Yearbook for school (supposedly to be at proof ready by week 3).

Well, almost. So I'm not sharing it yet, but all stories have been read, accepted or rejected or rewrite/resub requested (except for one, which is under special consideration), and the TOC has shaped up very nicely. There's a broad range of style, genre and age target, which is what I was aiming for! Science fiction proper is a little light on, but sadly that seems common in the Australian spec fic scene, and I'm glad I got the quality subs I did in that area. There's a lot of darker stuff, some great fun stuff, and I'm really pleased with the stories the authors have contributed.

Slushreading for this was hard, because the standard of submissions was really strong. I had a couple that I felt didn't meet the age range, and one or two that simply weren't spec fic in my eyes, but I was impressed with the quality overall.

So as it stands, I have 23 firm acceptances, one story being reworked at my request, and another two pending resubmission (plus the special consideration one - sekrit!). This is a lot of stories! But because of the word count of around 3500 words or less, it's still within my desired word count, which is good :)

I also have some great illustrators already on board, and a couple more in mind to approach. Now to start editing!

It finally happened - a productive day where I can actually SEE the difference! I got all the mountains of clothes folded and put away, except for 10 or so things that need an iron before hanging. I also FINALLY got the three boxes of bathroom and dressing table *stuff* that has been sitting in the way in the bedroom unpacked, chucked out a heap of crap, and put the rest away where it should be.

Got two skips delivered today, so hubby can get rid of all the rubbish he's been collecting since working on the new house - a lot of green waste, but some other stuff that can't be mixed with the green waste, hence the TWO skips! I'll try to get into the shed again before the end of the hols and dice some more stuff there too.

The other "house" goal for the holidays is the spare room - since Dad's visit, it's become the repository for junk (mostly thanks to my darling husband, who doesn't really understand that cleaning up means putting things where they BELONG, not just shuffling them to a different space...). Need to do a bit of filing, now that tax is complete, and find some new homes for stuff. Really won't take all that long, just procrastinating on it.

Also finished the first round reading for Spec Fic for Kids today. I've accepted 16 stories so far, and now have a few stories to read over again to see if they fit in with those stories. At no more than 3500 words each (for the MOST part!), I would like around 20 stories, but reckon I could get away with a couple more if I need to! Had a great response to the call for submissions, and really high quality stories, so slushing has been tough!

Paid Missy's b'day party deposit (for Saturday, although so far we've only got one other guest! Hope people RSVP tonight/tomorrow!) and chose menu for that - might be a very peaceful party... Now just have to organise cake. Eep. Should make one for us at home tomorrow too!

And we've finished off the day with swimming lesson for Master Six and a lovely big swim for Miss Three (FOUR tomorrow!) and I. The pool is lovely and warm (although I'm starting to get very strange about the amount of germy things I know are in it! Ah, how I miss the innocence of youth...) and Missy just LOVES it.

I really, really need to get the marking out. Procrastinating on that does NOT make it any better! But otherwise, I'm quite pleased with myself today.

Got a text message from a work friend today - did I want to meet up with the girls and do pizza and "Fame"? Hmmm, short notice, thinks I of the two children. Text my regular babysitter. She can't, but her sister (who has also looked after the kids before) can. Yay! Text back, yep, I'll be there! Was asked to check movie times, no worries, done. Planned rest of day around evening outing. Turn up at meeting place. Hmmm. Closed. Text friend, then ring. "You did mean tonight right?" 

Heh. She's horrified. She thought she put TOMORROW in the text (I checked, she didn't, nor in any of the subsequent three messages!). So I had a choice - go home and send babysitter home (which I felt bad about), or take advantage of a night on my own and catch a movie anyway! Soonest session starting at either cinema was "Mao's Last Dancer", and I'd seen a preview that made me want to watch it, so I did (after a detour to find a magazine to keep me occupied in the intervening half hour, get the car washed and post some mail!).

SO glad I did! It was just wonderful! Beautiful, sad, powerful story - I just loved in, and was in floods of tears at the end. Highly recommended!

In the end, while I'm disappointed on missing out on girl time, the me time and the movie wasn't so bad anyway.

Tax
X amount of book reviews (X being an unknown value, but I'm pretty sure is currently <5)
Enjoy house settlement!
If house settlement is enjoyed, organise new aircon, freestanding dishwasher and perhaps pool equipment.
Marking - four assignments
Go through clothes and bedding and get rid of a bunch - have decimated my wardrobe, deciding nothing is going to fit for at least six months, so it might as well be packed away! Very bare wardrobe now!
Sell boat (this may be a problem with husband and son, but seriously, we've had it TWO YEARS and it's NEVER been used! Hubby has no boat licence and the boat is no longer registered! Waste of space...)
Get WA drivers' licence - yeah yeah, been here two years now...
National Library Conference (three days)
Organise and have Miss Three's 4th birthday party! Have bought invites, have pressies, just the party really. (booked venue and wrote party invites, ordered special balloons!) - lolly bags done, presents wrapped!
Entertain children!
TPP jobs (Fictionwise, newsletter) (minimal progress made!) - am three quarters done with New Ceres Nights for Fictionwise. Very slow...
WASLA newsletter - put the call out for articles, brief reflections on the conference and photos...
Finish slushing and finalise Spec Fic for Kids lineup! - Getting there! Only four stories left for first reading, then a few to go back through second round...
Last Short Story reading - I've actually been pretty good at this. I think I'm second on the spreadsheet :)
Aurealis reading - two novels in the last couple of days. Have to step it up though, as there's a bunch more on their way...

The rest of the library conference was pretty good. It's a very different experience from an SF convention (don't look so shocked, it's true!) and I found it a little anti-social (but I think that's really just by comparison, as everyone was quite friendly!). However, given the average age of attendants (ie: a LOT older than me!), and the fact many of those (mainly) women have known each other for a good many years, it's possibly to be expected. Having said that, on the FINAL day of the conference, the lovely waqem007 (she's a friend of cassiphone ) tracked me down and introduced herself - the FINAL day! Anyway, at least I had someone (plus then her friend Cate also) to spend the remainder of what turned out to be the, ahem, slowest day of the conference with - nice to have good company!

However, I did come away with some new ideas and directions, which is a good thing. I tweeted a lot, using the #asla2009 tag, so you can see what I said if you're interested :) Am now gathering photos, articles and info for the WASLA newsletter, which is next job.

After those three days, I spent yesterday with the Batts and kaelajael - was supposed to be a lunch date but segued into the very late afternoon! Kids were great (mostly). Miss Three had been at her friend C's house for her first sleepover (which I'd been avoiding!) and I picked them up on the way through for the day. C was supposed to then reciprocate sleepover, but that didn't work out quite so well. Perhaps two nights in a row wasn't the best move! But they're such great mates, and did really well overall. Master Six was in heaven, gaming with the big kids! Why yes, I do believe I AM raising the next generation!

Today was a home day - kids attempted to brave the swimming pool again, with Missy being much more adventurous than the boy, who wimped out really quickly! Still too cold though really. Got some much needed tidying up done, but not much of importance. REALLY must tackle some of that list soon... Hopefully more productive tomorrow!