I’ve been quite busy lately, now that we’re into the full swing of things at uni. It’s all quite good and interesting, but it means my Google Reader feed has suffered.
Only today did I realise that Ashley Capes was kind enough to post about me on his blog, pimping both myself and Verity La. Thanks, Ashley!
–> Have a look at Ashley’s poetry, it’s vivid and exciting.
I want to be Sarah Wilson. She writes about crazy, awesome stuff, and no matter what it is, I always want to read it. Partly a great writing voice, partly a great subject.
This semester for a course called “Literary Non-Fiction”, one of my assessment tasks is to write a piece of “immersion journalism” – this is where you get into something and fully immerse yourself. Most often, this involves fly-on-the-wall hanging around a certain thing or person for a long time, then writing about it. But one branch of this practice is “participatory,” and this is what Sarah Wilson does, and what I plan to do.
Last week, a friend’s status update appeared on my Facebook news feed expressing his disgust at the concept of a “No Gas Day”, encouraging people to get rid of their cars permanently, and live our their protest every day by riding or taking public transport.
This coincided with the week of the worst public transport rides I’ve ever been on – I don’t drive, I only PT everywhere. I’ve come to terms with the fact that it’s rarely on time, and prone to changes, but what I can’t deal with is being as small as I am and being squashed by lots of people. Squashed between too many inconsiderate people at peak hour, I was very close to having a panic attack. When I got off that tram I was incredibly angry and upset, and thought “F*ck This. Clearly public transport isn’t a good idea either. What about riding?”
So, would riding be feasible? I’m going to Sarah Wilson it on up, and see if I can test this idea at its extreme, by ONLY riding for a week, and then writing about it.
It seems like a simple enough idea, which many people see as too hard. I want to know if it would be a whole lifestyle change (for me, who hasn’t ridden in about 8 years and is slightly overweight, pretty unfit), whether the attitude on the roads from drivers and/or other cyclists (is it cliquey?) is an obstacle, or if it really is as easy as everyone just jumping on their pushie. It’s an article I know I’d like to read.
Wish me luck!
2010 is coming to a close. I’m feeling vaguely sentimental this morning, so here’s my favourite posts from LGWABP from 2010. In chronological order, by no means the order of importance. This list is of posts that I had fun writing or researching. I hope you enjoy reading:
1. Listmaker, 2010 – I like a good list, don’t you? I think this one’s a bit fun.
2. Farewell to Another Great – JD Salinger’s death in January was sad. We’ve lost so many great writers this year.
3. Madonna Melbourne, Parma Sunday, Finished With Cider – this weekend was typical. Madonna have been the band of the year, without a doubt, and I look forward to more from them in 2011. (Eg, 6th of Jan at Yah Yahs, ya’ll. Be there!). I enjoyed writing about them. If you get to see them, they’ll make you want to write too. Such immense creative energy rubs off.
4. Edgy Gritty Realism From Normal Happy People: Irvine Welsh at the Wheeler Centre – one of the best gigs at the Wheeler Centre that I went to this year. Wasn’t Irvine Welsh just unashamedly dysfunctional? Great! I also had a lot of fun writing this review.
5. Reading Anxiety – Reading anxiety has been a major thing for me this year, as I’m surrounding myself with more and more readers and writers. There’s so much out there and so little time! The 100+ Books Challenge (though nowhere near completed) has kept me motivated and honest, and it’s been great tracking what I’ve read.
6. Slamming Into Wordsmith-ry – my discovery of slam. What’s followed has been amazing. Great gigs, great people, great fun. I’ve discovered our local champions, and goodness there are many! Thanks for existing, slam!
7. Chuck Ragan Revival Tour, 30th April 2010 – I managed to get a music review on here, and write about it coherently despite my lack of musical knowledge! Yeah! Go team!
8. Library Greed – similar to reading anxiety. I’ve really enjoyed engaging with questions like this in my posts and writing about reading habits.
9. Thinking About Process – again, writing about solitary-type habits. I enjoy thinking about it. This post never really got much feedback, which I was interested in getting. How do you write? Engage, yo!
10. Breakable Bags, Zelda, and Reframing Rejection – one of the best things to happen in 2010, the EWF with the unstoppable Lisa Dempster at the helm. Wonderful! Had so much fun attending events, and I think writing this post helped me tease out for myself what was helpful about the panels and discussions I’d been to, and what I’d really retained.
11. Why Write? – possibly the most ridiculous “introduce-yourself” question I received all year, “why write” prompted this piece, which is still in the process of being expanded into a longer personal essay, exploring why other authors have written and how I relate to that. So I’m still having fun toying with that question. Thanks for the dumb question, random crappy tutor!
12. You Are Being Judged – I really enjoyed getting in touch with my mean side for this, a high-quality rant.
13. Mistakes You’re Allowed To Make Post-Nobel Prize – also a bit ranty. I really didn’t enjoy this book though… This post was written for a school assignment, and I know that to make it a really good review I’d need a decent knowledge of JM Coetzee’s back-catalogue. However, time didn’t permit. I think I engaged well given my limited knowledge.
14. Overload Day 9 – Poetry Slam Grand Final – one of the best slams I saw all year. The room was FREAKING ELECTRIC! It was educational, and I really enjoyed writing about the reading in a writerly way, if that makes any sense at all. It was fun to attend, it was fun to write about. Also, this post features some wonderful photos by my love Danny Presser. He’s talented – check out the Steve Smart photo. It’s totally Steve all over! And the photo of Luka captures him. Danny and I have done a few events together this year, it’s been fun, and effective, and wonderful.
15. The Spinning Room’s Last Night At ET’s – The night was great, writing about the night was great. I think I’ve found a way to write about poetry readings that stands alone as writing, not just as a review. And I’m very happy about that.
These are the posts I’ve had the most fun writing and researching and thinking about. Being the end of the year, more lists are on their way. Soon, very soon, I’ll be writing a “year in review” piece.
I’m feeling whimsical today. I’m feeling like I can make a throw-away decision, I can dedicate myself to something which could be pretty pointless…
So today’s a good day to re-enrol for uni. My throw-away decision? French. I’m going to learn French. Why not? I could do a visual art subject and hone my creativity, but bugger that. The writing’s being honed, I can’t draw or paint or take photos and I’m well aware that that’s a shortcoming that won’t be remedied by a 12-week course. So, instead, I’m going to test out whether grown-up me is a languages person or not.
Do I have the ability to learn French? Who knows! We’re going to find out some time from August next year.
Noticed that the site’s looking a bit different?
Yep, it’s a new theme.
Why? Because I’ve got a very special banner coming soon, and this theme’s banner dimensions are better for it.
Getting excited? So you should! I am.
New banner soon!
My previous post earlier today led to a post on Literary Life in response.
In it, Megan shared a horror story of lending a book to a colleague who broke not one, but all of the no-no’s of Book-Lending Etiquette.
While it’s a horrible thing to have happened, I really enjoyed reading Megan’s horror story.
So I’m interested. What’s your book-lending horror story?
Today Benjamin Solah has posted an interview he did with me about being a student writer.
Give it a squiz. Maybe you’ll decide to become a student writer too. Life is great here.
…everything bloggish right now. Sorry about that.
I have a much bigger reading load than I have previously for uni, and my first assessment piece is due on Monday. I’m all about priorities at the moment, so I’m going to go work on this piece.
You won’t hear from me for a few days. Forgive me.
Teaser Tuesday is hosted by MizB at Should Be Reading.
(Something’s up with my photos today, so sorry, no cover shot!)
“A cheer went up and I took a breath, which I possibly should have saved. ‘As much as I would love to put you on a Cosmo cover – or, say, myself – it’s likely that the only people who would buy those issues are our friends.'”
-From “Mama Mia” by Mia Freedman.
Sam van Zweden 