OOT AND ABOOT

One of the loveliest side-effects of reaching a certain credibility as an author (and clearly, as I seem to have reached it, the level ain't that high) is the occasional opportunity to be sally forth and speak to groups of people without requiring your beloved partner-for-life having to follow along two steps behind you apologising to everyone.

Luscious, for those who have not met her, occasionally introduces us at social gathering with the phrase "This is my husband, Lee, and I'm the person who apologises for him". She also occasionally waits until we're in a shopping centre aisle full of old women before shouting "What do you mean I'm fat?" with no fucking provocation whatsoever.

Luscious is occasionally a sick sod :)

For the last 4 years I've been drawn back to my old stomping grounds at Curtin University to give a guest lecture on social media at the School of Internet Studies, an exercise designed to make me feel old, as not only was there no School of Internet Studies when I studied at Curtin there was no actual sodding internet. I made my annual pilgrimage there again this past week, and as always, absolutely loved it: it's a chance to combine day job and writing career expertise as well as expose students to a free form way of thinking they may not get from a structured curriculum-- I can't imagine many courses compare social media to Russian tampon adverts, for a start-- and you know you're doing well when you receive Facebook friends requests halfway through the lecture from people in the room.

I'm also off to Churchlands Senior High School next week to talk about writing competitions and ideas generation. I've done a couple of school gigs in recent years, and they're generally a lot of fun. It's incredibly easy to see which students are there by choice and which are there because they have no other choice, and once you call them out on it you can function in a room full of good will and laughter. Teenagers may be moody buggers but those moods swing both ways: get them laughing and they'll be your friend for life, at least as long as the workshop lasts, and story generation is genuinely the most enjoyable part of the process for me, so we get a lot of writing done, look at a lot of funny photographs, and generally have a fab and groovy time.

And, lastly, I'll be heading along to Write Along the Highway twice in November as part of this year's Nanowrimo: I'll be the subject of an author talk and workshop at Mundijong Library on the 18th and a panellist at the big Write Night! event at the South Perth Community Hall on the evening of the 26th. Details are being finalised, and I'll remind you as they're released to the general public, but spaces for these types of events are limited, so if they sound like your thing, it might be worth contacting the organisation soon.