The Blog of Moogill

QWC/Allen & Unwin Manuscript Development Program

2011-11-07T12:36:00.002+11:00

This is what a Queensland Writers Centre/Allen & Unwin Manuscript Development Program looks like:

More or less, but usually not with pizza.

This is who was there:

Sophie Overett, Felicity Carter, Terri Green, Cathy McLennan, Sally Rippin, Erica Wagner, Pippa Masson, Frank Leggett, Jessica Miller, Vicki Stanton, and Robyn Osborne, all of whom are in the photo, also Sarah Brennan, Aimee Lindorf, Kate Eltham, Meg and Sarah and Imogen and... you can bet I've left someone out.

It was held mostly at the QWC offices in the state library in Brisbane and went like this:

Meet, chat, meet mentor and editors, chat, orientation, chat, eat, chat, sleep, chat, eat, chat, overview, chat, eat, consultation with editor, mentor consultation, debrief, chat, spa, chat, eat, chat, readings, chat, sleep, chat, coffee, chat, seminar, eat, chat, seminar, debrief, chat. So... mostly it was a great chance to chat about the industry of creating books for children.

But it was MORE than that. Just quietly, I've been kicking about a while, but this was the most I'd delved beneath the surface of what it is publishers, editors and agents actually do and how they work together with writers, the nuts and bolts, the nitty and the gritty. This was insight into their decision-making processes and the factors that they are governed by. I thought I knew a lot, but now I feel like I know almost everything.

But it was MORE than that. Because the editors at Allen & Unwin had chosen the eight manuscripts they wanted to see developed themselves, we were assured up-front that this was no mistake, our manuscripts were on track. We each had personal feedback on our manuscript from an Allen & Unwin editor and a request to see them once reworked. What an opportunity!

I don't think it's easy for an editor to give feedback on a manuscript to a fairly new writer. If they hit you with the good stuff upfront, you'll be overly excited and forget to listen to the negatives, the things that need changing, or, if they start with the things that need changing, a new writer could fall into a pit of despair, and never hear the good stuff. The editor is in a no win situation. Particularly with me. My editor started with the good stuff, and I was just thinking "yeah, yeah, get all that praise rubbish out of the way, where's the punchline? What's the kicker? Hit me with it. Tell me it's beautiful but there's no place in the market for it and get it over with!" But, I didn't get told that... Allen & Unwin are interested in publishing a novel like mine, if I can accomplish what they hope I can in the rewrite.

Being told that, is in itself quite paralysing. The technical difficulty of the rewrite at first seems daunting. Sorting out in your head what needs to be done is incredibly difficult when a little voice is crying, "you don't understand what needs to be done/you're not capable of that/you'll let this opportunity slide because you're just not smart enough!" Where did that ridiculous voice come from? Do all writers have unhelpful thoughts? I think it would be a very long search if I were to look for one person who thought I wasn't capable of this. If the past has taught me anything, it taught me the best way to silence a stupid thought is to press on and do the thing that it says you can't. Point by point, I addressed the things that need to be addressed, however daunting. The voice was silenced. I could breathe again, I stopped the furious back-peddling, pressed forwards and fully appreciated the opportunity.

You know the saying: "A fish must be ready to breathe before he can fly." I think that applies to new writers. And I don't mean the ridiculously new self-published writers pumping their fins furiously and coughing their gills out into the world screaming "Look at me! Look at me!" I mean writers who've been writing and learning and writing and having minor successes and learning and writing some more, growing lungs. Publishing today is tough. You have to be sufficiently equipped, you have to know what you're doing, and you have to be brave. You'll need lungs and you'll need wings, if you want to fly.

If you're reading this because you're hoping to do a manuscript development program through QWC and you're wondering what it's all about, it's basically an opportunity to make new friends (children's writers are ALWAYS awesome caring people), an opportunity to learn more about the industry, and refine a manuscript a publisher has shown genuine interest in. If you only get one of those things out of it, it's a worthy pursuit. If you've been priming your lungs and you're brave enough, it might also be an opportunity to try your wings.

Great News!

2011-09-07T21:46:00.001+10:00

This is a fairweather blog and the sun is shining again.

I was lucky enough to be given a spot in the Allen & Unwin/QWC Manuscript Development program to work on my children's novel "Rocket". It involves a long weekend in Brisbane working with editors and publishers along with seven other children's writers.

More about it here:
Queensland Writers Centre/Allen & Unwin Manuscript Development program

Do You Have Young Speculative Fiction Readers?

2010-05-14T20:26:00.000+10:00

If so, I encourage you all to buy this collection of short stories: Worlds Next Door

It's not very often you'll come across a collection of speculative short stories aimed at primary school children, and just look at the list of contributing authors! You can tell it's special before you even open the cover. Okay, I'm in there... but I'm impressed by the company and you should be too!

Right now, there is a prepublication special price you can take advantage of. Buy a copy for yourself and don't forget to show it to teachers at your child's school. A supporting website with lesson plans is in the making. Teachers often flounder when teaching genre writing to children unless they are fans themselves, and this book could be just what they're looking for.

ALSO...

Blake Ed have been updating their website and if you'd like to look inside the books I've had published in the last few months or (hint, hint) recommend them to your child's school, click the covers below:

Spiney Poetry

2010-03-23T08:05:00.001+11:00

Loving this blog post by Kat Apel introducing us to Spiney Poetry.

Some people are so creative!

While we are on the subject. I also like this interview with Janeen Brian an Australian children's writer, artist and poet who really knows where her towel is with regards to producing wonderful work for children.

Artwork for "No Such Thing"

2010-02-08T22:14:00.001+11:00

I'm extremely lucky to have Ritva Voutila illustrating my next story. Not only is her style wacky and fun but she's brought the scenes alive. The skin tones, the movement, the colour, the sneaky alien tentacles that seem to be exploring everything tell their own story.

I've arranged for a sneak preview:

Pop over to www.ritvavoutila.com and have a look at Ritva's work.

Welcome to 2010!

2010-01-02T15:24:00.000+11:00

Please go on in and have a great decade, because if we all survive 2012, 2020 is just around the corner!

I found this little gift for writers:

Have a great year!

Bren

Go Little Gecko, Go!

2009-11-01T17:02:00.002+11:00

A couple more roughs of pages from Jan D'Silva for Go Go Gecko and your previewing pleasure:

(Images removed as book is now published)

If you want to see more of what Jan D'Silva is doing head over to the studio at Moving Ideas Animation

Anchovy Circus... Coming to a Field Near You!

2009-10-30T21:45:00.001+11:00

Anchovy Circus is on the move! This is Connah's rough of anchovies mashed together to make an elephant. Love this elephant!

(Image removed as book is now published)

Remember, you can find Connah at www.connahbrecon.com and www.GetDead.Etsy.com

Anchovy Circus... Roll Up! Roll Up!

2009-10-12T17:44:00.004+11:00

Who in their right mind would think up a circus made of dried anchovies?

Anchovy Circus... it's the kind of story a mad person might dream up if they were sitting around one day putting random unrelated words together just to see if it would spark story ideas... oh, while we're on the subject, do you have any thing for Cosmic Lobster? No?

Anyway, some odd person made up a story called Anchovy Circus, and some extremely farsighted publisher thought it was a good idea and challenged a very talented illustrator to make the story come alive.

Connah Brecon is doing sensational things with anchovies and characters and I hope he's not cursing the storyline too much. It's about a boy who doesn't like anchovies and hides them under his bed, then he notices that as they dry out, they twist and stick together into strange shapes, strange animal shapes... so he makes a circus out of them... after that, things really get wacky.

Connah has very kindly lent me a few roughs to show you:

(Images removed as book is now published)

If you like his funky style as much as I do, check out www.connahbrecon.com
and you can buy some of his artwork at www.GetDead.Etsy.com.

Go Go Gecko Comes Alive!

2009-10-11T12:57:00.004+11:00

The books I signed contracts for a few months ago with Blake Education are having life breathed into them courtesy of some very fine illustrators.

Jan D'Silva is doing wonderful stuff with Go Go Gecko and is one half of a partnership that runs an animation studio called Moving Ideas Animation.

I know you all want to see the dancing gecko so here is a sneak peak:

(Images removed as book is now published)

Thanks, Jan. These are gorgeous.

Flash Fiction and the New Scientist Magazine

2009-09-17T08:53:00.001+10:00

I spend most of my time writing novels that haven't sold BUT I'm a lover of the short form and most of my short science fiction does find homes. The shortest of the shorts is flash fiction which is usually anywhere from 50 words to 500 words, and perfect for online reading.

Antipodean SF is a downunder online mag that specialises in flash fiction and can be found at antisf.com. Five of my flash publications were with them and are now archived at the National Library of Australia as part of their Pandora project.

Kim Stanley Robinson recently challenged 8 science fiction writers to write some flash set 100 years into the future. Now, while not all the novelists grasped the concept of flash, Geoff Ryman clearly didn't attempt it and just posted a mini essay (and that is fine, novel writing is a far cry from flash fiction and not everyone is talented in every area), there are still some fun quick reads here, and a contest if you want to have a go yourself. You have less than a month to come up with 350 words: New Scientist.

Success!

2009-06-04T17:20:00.001+10:00

Signed two contracts today for children's educational fiction with Blake Ed. They are part of the 'Sparklers' fiction series.

I already have three 'Gigglers' with Blake Ed. They are a sensational company to work with and the 'Gigglers' were top class books. Can't wait to see the finished product.

Back in NZ

2007-10-07T10:18:00.000+10:00

What a great place NZ is! Each town is only 1 1/2 hours from each other and each town holds a whole new set of adventures.

The trip went like this:
Tennis in Auckland
Yachting & rubber ducking and exploring Rangitoto island in Auckland harbour
Rugby night in Orewa
Icecream and theatres in Warkworth
Hotpools and waterslides in Waiwera
Digging our own hot pools on Hot Water Beach at Hahei
Birthday party at a friend's restaurant and golf at Mt Maunganui
Zorb, Luge & Gondola at Rotorua
Rugby and blaster cars in Hamilton.

I was hoping to put my feet up and do a bit of writing... silly me.

One thing that did disappoint me is that last time I filled a trolly full of groceries in NZ it came to $400 and that wasn't too bad because it included loads of specialty cheeses, smoked salmon, and mussels that were cheaper than in Aus. This time it was still $400 but all the dairy was more expensive than in Aus (thanks to some Fonterra bastards), even the stuff they import to Aus was more expensive! Seafood had also gone up. The things that were cheaper than they were in Aus were of poor quality.

Apparently in the push for cheaper groceries a whole country now find themselves without a decent peanut butter on their shelves. They can choose from several types of peanut butter but they are all grown and processed in China, and I'm not sure how they managed to stuff up a product with only three ingredients (traditionally PB in NZ never had sugar), but they have (and now every brand of chinese peanut butter has sugar added as well). Still at only $8.00 a kilo, you can't expect too much.

Many consumers have demanded peanut butter grown and produced in Aus at any price rather than continue with Chinese PB and apparently Sanitarium are coming to their rescue. Hang on... aren't Sanitarium owned by the US?

Anyone who has read Dick Smith's speech about foreign products will now be wondering how long it will take for Australians to be forced into eating Chinese PB despite Aus having perfect peanut raising weather. Don't worry tho, there's only four ingredients and none of them need painting.

According to Dick Smith Foods ( www.dicksmithfoods.com.au ):
CAN’T FIND OUR PRODUCTS IN YOUR SUPERMARKET?
- THIS COULD BE THE REASON
Over the past 36 months major changes have occurred as the two major food retailers in Australia move towards reducing the range of all products they offer customers. This is so they can maximize their profits and return to their shareholders.

One of the instigations of this change is the foreign owned (German) Aldi company. They offer lower prices by offering a very limited range and the big supermarkets will have to follow or go broke.

This policy, which is being adopted by both Coles and Woolworths (who together have nearly 80% of the market place) is to free up supermarket shelf space to allow for the introduction of their own private label range. In effect it is proposed to limit consumer choice across all products sold. For example the jam or tomato sauce category will include their two top selling products plus a range of Coles or Woolworths branded products.

The majority of the Coles and Woolworths private label products are sourced from overseas using significantly cheaper labour and where the agricultural and manufacturing standards and regulations are not nearly as strict as they are in Australia. We expect the number of overseas sourced products to increase even further in coming years as Coles and Woolworths find other supply sources.

The effect of this policy is creating major difficulties for all the Australian owned manufacturers, including those that produce our products, to the point where we have been struggling to keep a large proportion of our product range available on supermarket shelves for our loyal customers to purchase.

Whilst we will continue to strenuously fight for Australian owned and made products to remain available on supermarket shelves, it will be extremely difficult to compete with the wealthy multi-national companies and the increasing power and domination being exercised by the major retailers.

Please assist us in our fight to save the small number of Australian owned food manufacturing businesses which still exist by asking your local Supermarket Manager to stock our products.

Haven't I been complaining about the lack of products? After seeing an NZ grocery store, I'm a bit wary of where this is all headed... that and I'm sick of being offered up the same sugary substances as sauces from Kraft Praise and the Supermarket brand, knowing they all come out of the same US owned factory. Where have all the good sauces gone?

I already buy very locally produced bread, juice, dairy and eggs via the milkman at www.aussiefarmers.com.au.

And now I've found this site: www.onlyoz.com.au

They offer this little story:
He wonders why he can't find a good paying job in Australia...
Joe Smith started the day early, having set his alarm clock (MADE IN JAPAN) for 6am. While his coffee pot (MADE IN CHINA) was perking, he shaved with his electric razor (MADE IN HONG KONG). He put on a dress shirt (MADE IN SRI LANKA), DESIGNER JEANS (MADE IN SINGAPORE) and tennis shoes (MADE IN KOREA).

After cooking his breakfast in his new electric skillet (MADE IN INDIA) he sat down with his calculator (MADE IN MEXICO) to see how much money he could spend today. After setting his watch (MADE IN TAIWAN) to the radio (MADE IN INDIA) he got in his car (MADE IN GERMANY) and continued his search for a good paying Australian job.

At the end of yet another discouraging and fruitless day, Joe decided to relax for a while. He put on his sandals (MADE IN BRAZIL) pored himself a glass of wine (MADE IN FRANCE) and turned on his TV (MADE IN INDONESIA), and then wondered why he can't find a good paying job in Australia...

I suppose you could be cynical and say why pay slightly more, or it's marketing jingoism, or even, if you were very naive, say the govt will step in before it gets too bad, but I've already had enough of my local supermarkets. I can't stand products made by Kraft or Masterfoods, sugar and cornsyrup should not appear in the top four ingredients on EVERY food they produce. Time to put myself out and go further afeild in search of decent local foods.

2007 Snapshot of ME!

2007-08-15T19:54:00.000+10:00

Some generous folks in the Aussie SFFH scene are conducting interviews of local authors at the moment as part of a 2007 Snapshot. They did this once before back in 2004 and thought it'd be fun to do it again. I missed out last time but my 2007 interview is here:

MacDibble 2007 Snapshot

Hey, where have I been!

2007-07-22T14:51:00.000+10:00

Ah well, you know how it is. You're busy being a writer, mother, house renovator, housekeeper, cook, part time teacher and and part time webpage builder and you think, I need more cash, I'll get another part time job, surely I can juggle everything else.

And then all the balls fall down and roll around the floor you just revert to spending your time picking up the noisiest balls.

It seems lately I never have meat, veggies and groceries in the house at the one time. Or if I do, then the house is a trough. When the house is clean, you can bet there's no food. Generally I only manage two shops a week and the meat and veggie shops don't take credit cards, and the meat shops don't open late so I'm always going to the simplest.

Unfortunately, I still can't buy supermarket meat and veggies and make one trip. Tough, old, watery. That applies to the meat and the veggies. I'm not sure what they do to get them like that. It must be a skill.

I think, if I could avoid supermarkets all together and just go to local shops, I would. With the Asian supermarkets, the fresh pasta shop, the grain and nut shop, the discount grocery shop, there are times when I can. I like those times. Generally they are early on a Sat morning when the local shops are buzzing. It doesn't seem to matter how cold it is, the sidewalk cafes are packed on Sat morning. I swear they're all just checking out the scene. I do it myself a few weekday mornings. Just go to the local cafe and see who's there for a coffee. But I have a bit of trouble if that's my only reason to get out of my nice cosy bed on a Sat morning.

Oh and the milkman delivers now. Locally produced milk, eggs, cream, butter, cheese, juice and bread. The food is fresher and my life is easier and it's delivered for exactly the same price as the supermarket shelf. Makes you wonder how they get away with it those evil, evil, supermarkets. And they'd charge more for delivery.

Now I'm trying to figure out other ways to simplify my life so I have more time for writing and the kids. For instance, there's no point in keeping any of my regular fish tanks if cleaning them means I don't have time to write a great novel or the kids turn out to be mass murderers. Mind you, there is always the crime followup novel... nah! So I'm keeping two natural planted tanks which require no work and selling the others. Most are empty at the moment anyway. Having decided a while ago to cut back.

There are no chickens at the moment and no homestay students. That's given me more time altho, replacing the chickens is still a plan and if the Homestay people stop trying to send me boys from countries where women do all the work and send me a nice girl, then I'd probably take them. Sounds a bit biased, I know, but there's all sorts of subtle implications that come into play once you have to live with someone, and with the shortage of homestay accommodation, it's easier to just say no, give me a girl, and avoid any possibility that some teenage boy is going to look at you like a lazy cow if you ask him to take his plate to the bench. Besides there's altogether too much testosterone in Hotel MacDibble, we need balance.

Now over at my Mentor blog, I'm celbrating that my mentee got published. What a good mentor am I? Or maybe not. Anyway, my mentor work is done she has now flown the nest.

At my Beast of Moogill blog, I've been talking about my efforts in marketing "How to Become a Children's Writer" which has had moments of reward and moments of disappointment effectively leaving me numb. Marketing sucks, which is something I knew and why I've never even considered self-publishing for a moment. I also got the most awesome review for my story "A Complete Refabrication" in Orb#7 and I quote: "MacDibble is another one of those rising Australian writers who is really starting to hit her stride in short story land. This one really stunned me with its originality and brilliance - it's about online "afterlife" communities for the recently-deceased, and the struggles of a wife and mother to hang on to a some kind of a relationship with her loved ones through a computer screen. It's sad and weird and funny, and made me want to both cry and cheer."

I really like that last sentence. I consider myself to be sad, weird and funny and that I made someone cry and cheer at the same time stuns me. I mean, that's what I ultimately go for... I just never expect to pull it off. It's like I wrote me and someone not only understood... they liked it!

Sometimes I stop writing like me because I don't think that it will find an audience, but to get a review like that, gives me faith in me.

Well, Australians aren't supposed to do it...

2006-12-17T11:33:00.000+11:00

... but nobody said the Americans couldn't make fun of themselves:

Holiday Gift Guide 2006

Hidden cameras

2006-12-11T19:12:00.000+11:00

There's hidden cameras at my supermarket. There must be. I can't think of any other reason for their behaviour.

They are systematically removing all my favourite brands... and then filming my reaction.

First, they kept having specials on 1kg Mainland Tasty cheese, and in a house that can plough thru a kilo of cheese a week, that's a welcome thing... only... the shelf with the special sign was always empty: a cheese special with no cheese. They did that for three weeks in a row to film my reaction and since I have to buy food at least three times a week, I bet they got a lot of footage. Then they removed the sign... but still no Mainland Tasty. Just a space where cheese once was. More footage. And I don't want any other kind of tasteless kiddy cheese. I pick them up, they look insipid, watery, I put them down. More footage.

I do the same when I get to the smoked salmon section. If it's not at least 220g, it's pointless purchasing it. And the shelves that used to contain packages over 100g... are mysteriously empty. More footage.

The bacon section. Little Chef products, no liquid to boil out of the bacon and ruin the dish. Superior product... gone. What remains? Insipid, watery, fatty. I pick them up, I put them down. More footage.

The sauces and salad dressing section? That weight watchers balsamic was top stuff. The Aussie produced gormet sauces and salad dressings - great. The vietnamese dipping sauce imported from Thailand - perfect for so many things. Gone. All gone. What remains, Kraft, Praise, Masterfoods, Select, and for some bizarre reason Paul Newman. Now I can't tell the difference between Kraft, Praise, Masterfoods or Select. The first ingredient in all those products is sugar, and surely only a British primary school chef would start out making a sauce or salad dressing that way! And Paul Newman... how fat is he? Because his salad dressings seem to consist of straight oil. Definitely some footage there.

Generally as the supermarket brands increase, all the other brands decrease... and who remains? Kraft, Praise, Masterfoods. How is that a choice? I swear they all come from the same factory!

Dick Smith peanut butter no longer comes in large jars. I have to buy multiples... because there's just something wrong with Kraft (and I'm not saying that because they poisoned all those kids with peanut butter in 95). Insipid, sugary... and what's that? A supermarket brand? Did that come out of the Kraft factory? More footage.

Now the soap and shampoo aisle. I've saved this till last. This is where things get blatantly ridiculous. And it's not all the Supermarket's fault this time. Mostly it's the manufacturers' fault.

People in my family are allergic to Methylchloroisothiazolinone AND Methylisothiazolinone. Easy to spot with long names like this. They are preservatives. They are there to stop your soap, hand soap or shampoo going rancid. They are incredibly nasty incredibly strong preservatives. They are usually last on your list of ingredients. If you have any skin irritations from using soaps or shampoos I can almost guarantee it is from these preservatives.

Now I don't mind that manufacturing companies use this product in their shampoos or soaps (altho the products that use other presevatives are generally cheaper). I'm resigned to reading the incredients on every product I purchase. What I OBJECT to is picking up products labelled "Organic" or "Natural" or "For Sensitive Skin" or "Low Irritant for Kids" and seeing this preservative in the ingredients!

Are they trying to tell me there are Methylchloroisothiazolinone and Methylisothiazolinone trees out there, growing in the wild, waiting to be harvested for organic soaps and shampoos? And if you already have sensitive skin, this is the LAST kind of preservative you should be letting near it! What are they doing, setting up a clientelle of super sensitive skin owners to buy more of their products?

Oh. My. God. The range of stunned expressions they must have recorded of me by now! Oh the footage from that aisle! Pick up, read, slam down, pick up read, slam down, pick up read, slam down... I do around 40 products by the time I've found a handsoap, and a couple of kinds of shampoo. I pride myself on my ability to speed read ingredients and manhandle bottles... but oh the footage!

Honestly, it's wrong. It might even be more wrong than supermarket brands pushing out decent brands... at least that only hurts your taste buds. And when you buy Kraft/Praise/Masterfoods/a supermarket brand, you're expecting sugary dullsville. When you buy a shampoo with the above labels on it that still contains these preservatives you're being misled and you may end up with a nasty rash.

I hate supermarkets. I spend around $450 a week on food. The supermarket gets less than 40% of that, I'll go to deli's, butchers, fruit and veg shops, bakeries, asian importers, nut shops, anywhere to buy the rest because I'm SO FED UP WITH THE HIDDEN CAMERAS!

Oh dear!

2006-11-23T22:01:00.000+11:00

http://www.drawthings.com/

Your personality analysis based on this drawing:
You are a suspicious person and have some paranoid tendencies.You think you are very intelligent.You get depressed easily.You are defensive.You have an aggressive personality.You deny your needs and can be passive aggressive.

I'd argue with that assessment but I'm worried that it might be right and I don't need to know in case it makes me sad. Maybe they know me? Maybe I can let their tyres down later?

Ahhh... those Kiwis!

2006-11-19T11:33:00.000+11:00

You know recently Australians were warned to stop making fun of America. It's a hard thing to do... so much fodder... BUT no one warned the Kiwis:

Channel 8 News

Some animations...

2006-11-18T14:29:00.000+11:00

... are designed to show you the pointlessness of it all, some make you laugh, some make you ill, BUT sometimes, there comes an animation that accomplishes all those things:

Cyriak's Animation at You Tube

Those of you unlucky enough to know what she looks like will have spotted Hainesy's Raelene here.

At least I know how they make smileys, now.

The Beast of Moogill - My Webpage - Mentor of Moogill

Food

2006-10-28T10:24:00.000+10:00

This is for the Americans who've banned Vegemite because only cereals and breads may contain folate in the US (Vegemite is owned by Kraft that evil US conglomerate who poisoned hundreds of kids 10 years ago with Salmonella peanut butter so it's only fair). Of course, they are still selling Vegemite in the US because only a few people know about the no folate in other foods law yet. Unfortunately some of the importers know about it, so it's only upsetting Australians so far who've tried to send Vegemite to friends marooned in the US and been sideswiped by overzealous Regulation readers.
Article here: US Denies Vegemite Import Ban

But don't worry because Marmite is much better. Just look what a girl in England has done with it:

The US aren't letting nice healthy folates violate their food chain but they are handing out awards for deep fried coke balls (coke has balls?!):

Deep fried Coke the new fast food craze
Saturday Oct 28 09:00 AEST
A new fast food is making its debut at US fairs - fried Coke.

Abel Gonzales, 36, a computer analyst from Dallas, triedabout 15 different varieties before coming up with his perfect recipe -a batter mix made with Coca-Cola syrup, a drizzle of strawberry syrup, and some strawberries.

Balls of the batter are then deep-fried, ending up likeping-pong ball sized doughnuts which are then served in a cup, topped with Coca-Cola syrup, whipped cream, cinnamon sugar and a cherry on the top.

"It tastes great," said Sue Gooding, a spokeswoman for the State Fair of Texas where Gonzales' fried Coke made its debut. "It was a huge success."

Gonzales ran two stands at the State Fair of Texas and sold up to 35,000 fried Cokes over 24 days for $4.50 each and won a prize for coming up with "most creative" new fair food.

Hey look! A NEW way to eat fat, flour, corn syrup and sugar and no actual REAL food. What a WONDERFUL invention!

Do you remember the book Good Omens, and the four horsemen of the apocolypse? Famine's new plan was to make everyone obese and yet starved of nutrients so they would eventually all die without realising how nutrient starved they were.

I don't think Gonzales invented deep fried coke balls at all... I think Famine did. And I think he came up with the idea to ban Vegemite.

Better than the real thing?

2006-10-21T08:17:00.000+10:00

58 million copies of The Sims have been sold making it the most popular computer game ever. Who would've thought a game based on real life, a game that involves housework, and employment, would be the number one game in the world?

My friend's sons who are in their 20s and flatting with friends, have a virtual flat on The Sims with themselves as characters and they spend time "flatting" virtually. Wot???

When I was flatting it was always, who's turn is it to cook and is there anything on TV tonight worth walking down to the pub to watch? We didn't OWN a TV between us. We did have an old atari that we could play Pong on IF we had a TV to connect it to. (If you don't understand that last sentence please leave this page now).

Our flat was on Marine Parade at Mt Maunganui tho. We had a white beach with rolling waves at our doorstep. We had cars cruising nightly outside our front verandah full of scantily clad 20 somethings... we only needed a TV in winter... and a warm pub with a nice fire (once Mt Manganui emptied of the summer crowds) was a much better place to watch it. I remember that we used to sit out on the verandah discussing our strategies for surviving a Tsunami (Mt Maunganui is a peninsula sticking out into the sea with a little dormant volcano on the end) or how to achieve world peace and end poverty... at least until someone stopped by with a better topic. BUT I'm sidetracking. My point is, that when I was flatting, I don't think I would've virtual "flatted". I suppose since Pong was the greatest invention of the computing world at that time, I would've been pretty impressed by The Sims but if we couldn't even afford a TV to play Pong, we certainly didn't have the money to play The Sims.

Now that people do have the money, the TVs, the computers, why do they choose The Sims? Is it that life is simpler and more controllable in The Sims? Does it fill some need for order? I suppose it is fairly compulsive: you want to get ahead, to achieve the game's purposes... but aren't the game's purposes the same as real life's purposes? By spending time playing The Sim's aren't you giving yourself less time to achieve those relationships, educational degrees, job interviews that will help you achieve in real life? Or is it just so much easier to dump a boyfriend, change career paths, keep in touch with your parents on The Sims and therefore... more rewarding?

Yipes!

2006-10-13T00:22:00.000+10:00

Blogger is really working strangely. Slow, with porn warnings. And yet... no porn.

Well, I did it, the yipesy thing for all writers. A five day a week job. I had to give up my highly creative job of teaching children at the Art Centre and at the local primary school but with no uni degree, I was at the height of my professional capacity there and working one or two days a week during term time was just not bringing in the lovelies needed to put two smarter-than-me-already little boys through high school and uni and keep me in the manner to which I dream of becoming accustom... actually, I still don't earn enough for that. I may never earn that much.

I considered studying something but everything I wanted to study required a uni degree first. I wish I had one... I can't even say I missed the boat because there wasn't a boat heading that way from my last highschool. I certainly didn't have the knowledge, money or confidence to get myself to uni and my parents didn't have any of that either. It was an impossibility on many levels. I don't want to study anyway... I want to make money, now.

Hotel MacDibble Inmates: 5

Projects of the Week: Tiling fireplace behind stove (yeah... I know... I need half a day to myself)

Critiqued this week: The Carpet Fitter Nidhi Chandra, The Egyptian Ring Jayden Bell, The Lamp of Doom Ramon, The Baby Who Got Haunted Samantha Fragias, The Springfield Murders Kahli Garret (these are all children)

Reading this week: The Best of Australian SF & F 1

Writing this week: Girly Chomp (a children's science fiction story about hitchhiking the galaxy)

The Beast of Moogill - My Webpage - Mentor of Moogill

I'm Groggy

2006-10-03T22:25:00.000+10:00

According to the Hangometer I'm groggy. Which is a bit frightening on a Tuesday but not completely unexpected.

I've been touch typing things all week but when I check what I've written there seem to be a lot of words that rhyme with the word I thought I wrote. I look like I have that problem where the sufferer sticks odd words into the middle of a sentence for no reason.

If you touch type, you'll know that your hands pick up their own pattern memory for often-typed words. For instance, I will attempt to type "Good" my hands know: right index finger, left ring finger, ...and then they go into auto mode as my brain moves onto the next word... left index finger, left ring finger, right long finger, so I'll end up with "Could" which is bad because, of course, that's conditional tense type talk and if my hands really are programmed to type that word it means I'm a rubbish writer and my life is over...

AND it means that since I got the first letter wrong that instead of going into auto mode after starting the word, my hands went into auto mode before starting the word and it makes me wonder if I started typing the word even before I thought of it?

Because, reading back... that's entirely possible.

Or... I good just be groggy... on a Tuesday (which I suspect is from running around after 15 kids all day and lack of sleep and not due to a hangover at all).

Check your hangover status with the handy dandy Hangometer.

Things I Wish Someone had Told Me

2006-09-29T22:28:00.000+10:00

All the things that could've saved me years of angst... all the things I wish someone had told me... do you have some to add?

- Going to university IS a possibility

- Your kids are going to have behaviours just like your own... or worse, your partner's!

- Not everyone is as good or as honest as you give them credit for

- You're a rubbish judge of character

- If it quacks like a duck, waddles like a duck and shits like a duck... it might just be a duck

- You don't have to be nice to everyone... all... the... time!

- If you don't actively try to prevent it, you'll turn out just like your parents

- When you're miserable no one wants to know you

- Some people really don't know they're acting like arseholes until you tell them

- The more you learn the more you realise how stupid you really are

- Everyone does stupid things, only really stupid people refuse to admit it

- Squeaky wheels get more oil

- You should listen more carefully to your paranoia, it's often right

Hotel MacDibble Inmates: 5
Projects of the Week: Tiling fireplace behind stove
Critiqued this week: Jackie Hosking - Wilhelmina 2, Jeremy Shaw - Bedtime Fin, Keith Stevenson - And Mourn, Matthew Chrulew - Electric Shock Horror,
Reading this week: ASIM # 25, and The Best of Australian SF & F 1
Writing this week: Girly Chomp (a children's science fiction story about hitchhiking the galaxy).

The Beast of Moogill - My Webpage - Mentor of Moogill

Bloggers and Pies

2006-09-20T11:42:00.000+10:00

I've been reading a lot of blogs lately, blogs of friends, blogs of publishers, blogs of other writers and while some of it was blog stuff, general newsy stuff, helpful stuff... and some of the stuff that friends blogged, I thought I should've already known via other more personal channels.

So now I'm feeling very last to knowish and a bit confused that important personal news can be published to the world on a blog but not mentioned otherwise... it's a weird blogging thing, isn't it? I'm not so up myself to think that I'm so important anyone would go out of their way to inform me personally and I'm sure the perpetrators of blogging personal news think maybe I already know via a grapevine of more regular contacts. But I think my grapevines have holes in them... and I think those holes are caused by blogs.

Perhaps it's because we're all too busy "I don't have time to chat but I'll just keep my blog up to date" and that's what I mean by a weird blogging thing. All the other bloggers know but the non-bloggers are way behind on the news. Either the whole world needs to blog to be on the 'in' or bloggers are going to have to figure out ways to keep non-bloggers informed. I'm a very inclusive person.

I'm a non-blogger with a blog. With three blogs actually, so I guess that makes me a non-non-blogger. I think Myspace is broken, it appears to be a private blog and I can't fix it, this blog also appears to be private... but maybe it isn't... it's all very difficult being a newbie non-non-blogger.

Oh, what about the pies? Well you know about the marketing push to get Aussie pies into the US (altho, what about the Georgie Pie chain?)? Well this is just a little You Tube Willy Wonka Parody to get them all enthused over there in the US.

Hotel MacDibble Inmates: 5
Project of the Week: Tiling fireplace behind stove
Reading this week: The C0ck Anthology, Australian Years Best SF & F 1, ASIM # 25

The Blog of Moogill, an Introduction

2006-09-16T12:07:00.000+10:00

Hotel MacDibble Inmates: 5
Project of the Week: Tiling fireplace behind stove
Critiqued this week: Susan Boulton - Hand of Glory and Kim Rackham - My Arms, Your Legs
Reading this week: The C0ck Anthology, Black Juice by Margo Lanagan, ASIM # 14, and The Twits by Roald Dahl (from the cornflakes packet)

This blog exists as a backwash for the blog named The Beast of Moogill which is a more purposeful blog about writing. This is the blog for all the other bits, the flotsam and jetson. The blog that helps that blog stay on topic.

This week it would be a blog about the horrors of public hospital waiting rooms... but that was covered in the introduction in the other blog.

It's a blog to ask those whacky questions like:
did you ever look at someone's life and wonder how on earth it got that way without substance abuse or addiction?

I've been doing that far too often lately. How often is far too often? Twice last week. There's no doubt that substance abuse and addiction ruin lives but what about the people who've lived out most of their lives and got nothing or no one to show for it and no excuse? And... how far away are we to being just like them? It's frightening when you think about it.

On a lighter note I dare anyone to watch this You Tube and not smile:
Evolution of Dance