Scattershot

 BAKE-OFF UPDATE

So, an update on the QWC Bake-Off and my quest to win the hat of awesome.

The Good News: We’ve hit our $1000 target, which means that should I win the Hat of Awesome, you’ll definitely be getting HIGHLY EMBARRASSING video of me dancing to a song selected by the most generous of the supporters who chipped and vote for my Sri Lankan Love Cake in the bake-off. Currently that honour is held by my friend Craig, who was last reported using phrases like “Beyonce” and “Single Ladies” and “If you like, you should have put a ring on it.”

I am, it must be said, a little nervous about what might happen next.

Of course, all this OUTRIGHT HUMILIATION only occurs if I win the bake-off, and I’m currently only $70 ahead of the gratuitous stunt-baking of my workmate’s Cherbumple. Given the pace that donations have been coming in, I could be in second place by the end of the day.

There’s ten days to go and anything could happen, which is why I demand nothing short of FLAWLESS VICTORY before I hand over the tattered shreds of my dignity and get my groove on while wearing a silly hat.

NEXT BIG THING

There’s an awesome piece of web-meme going around writer’s blogs dubbed The Next Big thing meme. Every writer involved answers some questions about their current project and pings another five writers to be involved, thus creating a massive chain of emerging writers talking about their work. It’s very cool. You can see some of my favourite emerging writers answering said questions on their websites.

That said, I’m a bear of very little brain at the moment (ditto time), and I tend to find answering questions about my work time-consuming. Especially these days, when I don’t really have a project du jour so much as a stretch where I get whatever I can get done in this here free half-hour, and the interview is kinda…book focused.

If you’re thinking about tagging me to take part, be aware that my standard response will be thanks for thinking of me, but I’m not really up for it right now followed by HOURS AND HOURS OF SELF-RECRIMINATION for not having a book to work on. I’m not a fan of that, ’cause I’m kinda happy working on short-stories for the moment. They fit into the empty spaces in my life. Also, my day job? Kinda cool.

If you’re interested in seeing some interview responses from writers who are actually working on books, I recommend the following list:

Kirstyn McDermott

Jason Nahrung

Alan Baxter

Angela Slatter

Also, as a bonus, writers who haven’t filled out their interviews yet, but I’m pretty sure will be included soon:

Tansy Rayner Roberts

Patrick O’Duffy

Jason Fischer

LL Hannet

 AVAST, CAPTAIN, THERE BE FREE TIME AHEAD

This is my final week as a full-time employee of QWC for the foreseeable future. Next week I’m taking some time-off due in attempt to recover from the large number of weekends I’ve been working of late (four in a row, including GenreCon), and starting in December I go back to four-days a week at the day-job. I also took a whole bunch of annual leave in December, most of which I plan on spending locked away in the house, refusing to interact with the human race.

It’s possible I’ll write some stuff. Or watch a fucking ass-load of wrestling on DVD. Or read some goddamn books. One of the three. I’ve never really had a holiday that was, like, a holiday rather than a desperate scramble to pay the bills while I wasn’t earning money at a sessional teaching job. I’m kinda curious to see what it’s like and how long it takes the empty days to drive me crazy.