Planning for the busy

It seems we might be enough over illness to get back to normal work/school routines, but things are hetting up. I *should* have learned a long time ago that this time of year is ALWAYS busy for me. When I was studying, it was always the hardest time. Working full-time, it was ridiculous. Now I’m part-time (but with no-one yet sharing my load, so having to manage a full-time role) during our busiest term of the year (we do bookhire, so once the kids start leaving, all our books start coming back and we have to start chasing down returns etc), am also doing sessional uni tutoring (which, of course, involves marking a major assignment NOW), had submissions for After the Rain close today, and a million other things happening, including birthdays and the lead up to Christmas and then a trip away. Ahem. There may perhaps have been some poor planning there.

I think my program over the next few weeks is going to have to involve marking a few assignments each night, reading a bunch of subs each night, and forgetting about reading for pleasure too much until it’s all done! 

Oh, do I work here?

Thanks to a variety of illnesses, I have spent about a half day at work since Tuesday a week ago. I only do three days a week and last Friday was Miss Five home sick, Monday was Bub (took both to the doctor, both times told nothing really could be done), Tuesday I went to work but got called to pick up Master Seven at 1.30, and then on Friday I took Bub in to daycare but they wouldn’t take him. Spent an hour or so at work anyway, as one of my library assistants was (planned) absent and the other had to do a big morning tea for a whole bunch of visiting staff. I spent the time with the TAFE prac student who had been there for three days (she does two days a week for the term) who I hadn’t met yet. 

Baby seemed okay for a couple of hours, but then went downhill again and was pretty miserable for the day. Interestingly, he is having trouble sleeping during the day – I think it’s the cough/sore throat that wakes him up, because he’s usually an excellent napper. He’s still sleeping pretty well at night, although I have to resettle him more than usual. Hope he gets better soon though. Two big front teeth might be the culprit for some of his problems! 

So other than caring for kids, I’ve been marking uni assignments, working on some FableCroft stuff (we got a flurry of great reviews this week, which was lovely – check them out here), reading a bit, and working on school stuff at home. Hoping to have normal week next week!

Oh, did I mention we had birthday parties to attend? Last Saturday we managed to get to one of M5’s mate’s party, although she was too sick the next day to go to another she was invited to. The Saturday one was a pirate party, so we all dressed up. Was fun! 

All Hallow’s Read

 Even though I’m not a fan of commercialised Halloween, I can totally get behind this: http://www.allhallowsread.com/

So let’s put together an Australian recommended list of scary books for All Hallow’s Read. What are the best scary Australian books you’ve read that you could gift for All Hallow’s Read? 

Let me start the ball rolling:

Grimoire by Kim Wilkins
Slights by Kaaron Warren

Leave a comment or email me on editormum75 at gmail dot com to add to the list, which I’ll pull together and put up on a page somewhere to link to the All Hallow’s Read website! Only restriction for this list are that books have to be written by an Australian!

Aussie Spec Fic Blog Carnival

Is now up over at FableCroft. It’s a bit big. Enjoy!
 

Woot! Twelfth Planet Press and Tansy win international award!

News just in from Washington! Siren Beat by Tansy Rayner Roberts, published by Twelfth Planet Press, has won the Washington Science Fiction Association Small Press Award for Short Fiction! This is very very cool, and is an awesome award that is juried in a blind reading process and then has the shortlist voted on by the membership – which means names don’t count at all! 

Congratulations to Alisa and Tansy on such a great achievement!