Fame is fleeting... and Blogger is slow!

Maybe you've been wondering where I've been?

Well, a few months ago, an automated message told me that neither Firefox nor Safari web browsers would be supported by the latest upgrades to Blogger and that, if I wanted to be able to keep posting efficiently, I needed to switch to, or at least install, Google Chrome. Then Google Chrome strongly suggested that I make Google Chrome my default browser. Mmmmmm.

Problem is, I really, really like Firefox - and my first attempts to upload (or link) to things like slideshows made with Flash suddenly weren't being supported by Google Chrome. Mmmmmm.

And everything seems to be running sooooo slow. Aaaarrrrrgggghhhh!!!!

These days I do spend quite a bit of time over on on Facebook and, when a FB thread would become noteworthy, I was often turning that into a more polished blog entry, but these recent changes to Blogger - and the agonising slowness of Blogger to load (especially when keyword searching for a previous blog entry in my History) - has stripped out all the spontaneity. If I can't find an efficient way to auto-synchronise Blogger, Twitter and Facebook, without my entries looking like bizarre cut-and-paste jobs filled with bad formatting and "@" symbols all over the place - I'm afraid time just runs out for well-considered, longer, funnier, blog posts. The art of commenting on blog posts also seems to have dried up in recent years. Again, the same anecdote or pic on Facebook will garner many more responses, even though my potential audience there is much smaller.

Anyway, braving the current mire that is Blogger and Google Chrome, I shall persist, and, if it works, I might try to find time to retro-add some old blog entries that have been stockpiling in my memory.

A friend emailed me this morning to ask, "Did you read about yourself in 'Good Weekend' this weekend? I think you were the man in the leopard skin suit (jacket) in the story on Selwa Anthony."

OMG? The leopardskin print shirt I wore at last September's Sassy Awards? Off to the newsagents I went! Joe Bananas (of QVB) did say, when I bought the shirt on his strong recommendation, that it was a shirt that no one would forget. It kinda rubs it in, when I'm so far behind on blog entries. That shirt is old news now.

Okay, I'm back from the newsagent! He gave me the supplement for free because it was yesterday's news! Page 9, "Never-Ending Story"; Tim Elliott's article on Selwa in the "Sydney Morning Herald" magazine supplement. I guess I'm the guy in the "full leopard skin suit" who "nods hungrily" at Selwa's suggestion that we be "ready to dance". Never let the truth get in the way of a good anecdote. (Mr Elliott is in good company here!) Ha ha!

It's not my first time being featured in leopard skin, either, thanks in the first instance to Geoffrey McSkimming when he put me in a "School Magazine" play!

Above: Thanks to writer, Geoffrey McSkimming, and artist, Tohby Riddle, I once featured in a "School Magazine" play ("Touchdown", Vol 87, No 10, Nov 2002, pp 341-346). The character of "Ian, the lost librarian", a Tarzan memorabilia fanatic (instead of "Star Trek"), appears in "Mr A at the Floor of Heaven, or, Not Quite Yeti".

"The misguided librarians are lost in the snow,
Dewey's their system, but snowy they go..."

Ian the librarian wears a spotted loincloth over his snow-pants, of course. He is one of those tiny silhouettes in Tohby's artwork, and was joined by my real life workmates at SCIS & "Scan": Anne (aka "Mrs Dowling"), Wendy and Deirdre.

Yes, fame is fleeting! And Google Chrome is slow.

A Sassy Saturday!

Emma Quay, Ian McLean and Lisa Shanahan at the 2010 Sassy Awards last night!


Selwa Anthony greets everyone; Ian Parry-Okden announces the Sassy Awards.


Tara Moss accepts the Lynne Wilding Commemorative Sassy Award.


Wayne Scott Kermond entertains; Selwa says her thank yous!


Athlete Matt Shervington is auctioned off for charity!

Thank you once again, Selwa, for another wonderful literary seminar. See you next year, hopefully with a manuscript in train.

The Sassy spirit of spring

Saturday's pic of the day!

Yesterday was the annual Selwa Anthony Author Management seminar and Sassy Awards, an event not to be missed, even though I am now Selwa's longest serving member who's never earned her any money. Somedayrealsoonnow, I going to have to redeem myself. But Selwa continues to have faith, and I have plenty of half-baked projects just begging to be completed, so we'll see.

As per usual, the seminar part of the day was filled with inspirational stories from Selwa's stable of Aussie talent, and the hours just flew by until it was suddenly time for the awards banquet.

This time, though, the event was moved to September, so we bid farewell to the ol' Novatel, Brighton-le-Sands, home of this annual seminar since November 1993 ("Succeed Some More in '94"), when the group who attended dinner in a nearby Brighton restaurant all fitted around one large round table! (By comparison, last night the ballroom of the Swissotel, in Sydney's CBD, had almost 200 people in it!)




A beautiful sculpture in the Level 8 foyer of the Swissotel.

I was also able to catch up with Sorrel Wilby, Selwa's "Sassy presenter" for this year's awards, and to remind her of her encounter with another McLean, my younger brother Brian (aka "Furry"), in one of her "Australian Geographic" television specials last year!



Okay, Selwa, I hear you: fun's over for the year. I'm back to the old drawing board (or, rather, keyboard).

Speaking of drawing boards, this is what happens when award-winning cartoonist Eric Lobbecke sits behind you at the annual Selwa Anthony writers' seminar:



Thanks Eric! That was so cool!

Collaboration!

Today Emma Quay, illustrator, and Lisa Shanahan, author, launched their exciting, new children's picture book, "Bear and Chook by the sea", at my local teacher-librarians' professional development day. Another Sassy Award coming their way, perhaps?



I can't wait for Term 4, when I help to coordinate a book rap based on their two "Bear & Chook" titles.

Sassy Sue

It's always fun to catch up with friends and acquaintances at the annual "Succeed..." literary seminar and Sassy Awards, for members of Selwa Anthony's Author Management Agency. Yesterday, it was on again. Where did that year go? (And didn't we say that ladst year, too?)

I first met Sue Williams, writer and freelance journalist, at "Succeed Some More in '94". We sat next to each other at Selwa's first gathering of authors, at a time when all attendances could fit around one table in the restaurant! For many years now, the Sassy Awards have needed a whole ballroom at the Novotel, Brighton-le-Sands, to fit everybody in.

This year, I did very well with the daytime raffle, winning eleven Ian Irvine science fiction novels. Ian told me, later, that I was now the owner of 2.3 million words! That guy is sure prolific!

Another great day and evening, but I really must do something about completing something to send off to Selwa.

Sunday's magic number: 96.7 - Ooops, and I must do something about eating naughty things, too.

Back on track with Sassy

Yesterday Selwa Anthony, Australian literary agent extraordinaire, held her annual all-day seminar and gala dinner for her ever-growing network of amazing authors. Once again at the Novatel Hotel in Brighton-le-Sands, Succeed, It's Great in 2008 was as stimulating as the first one I attended (way back in November 1993, Succeed Some More in '94.) The seminars take their title from a little self-help book, "Succeed With Me", which Selwa once wrote with Jimmy Thomson - and it's now available in audio by Bolinda Audio; we received a freebie in our goodie bag upon arrival!

Despite the fact that, so far, I haven't earned Selwa any percentages, she keeps inviting me back. These seminars have certainly directed me into numerous opportunities over the years but so far nothing commercial enough that would earn Selwa her percentage. Yet. Selwa continues to have faith in me, but i always feel quite humble in the talented company of Selwa's network.

The first speaker yesterday was a no-show. The poor person ended up booking a flight and heading to Brighton in Melbourne instead of Brighton-le-Sands, Sydney. So compere, Mark Macleod, brought on stage Selwa's young assistant, Selina, for an insight into a day in the life of being Selwa's assistant. It was a great impromptu session, and it also meant that Mark could offer up what he called "one-minute spots", over the course of the day, to anyone wanting to share something special to the rest of the network.

A few people availed themselves of the opportunity and, in the morning tea break, I was boasting to author/journalist Sue Williams about my Kindergarten students' recent work writing fables on the World Wide Web via a wiki. Sue's eyes lit up and she said, "Go and tell Mark you'll do a one minute spot! If anything, you'll also get to show off that fabulous jacket" *

The next thing I knew, I was sharing my young students' work - from memory! - with the likes of Tara Moss, Kim Wilkins (now also writing as Kimberley Freeman), Ian Irvine and so many other Australian literary luminaries. It was a highly energizing experience, and it made sooooooo twitchy to get to the keyboard. Maybe there'll be a chance for a much longer session at the next seminar?

And now, back to the drawing board.

* Oh - I must mention my new jacket, as seen in the picture of me with Selwa (above). I bought it on my recent trip to Perth (not usually a place where one thinks of buying a jacket, but I couldn't leave it in that shop in Northbridge. It was way too cool!). As well as the upraised silver "Superman" logo on the front, it has a larger one on the back. It picked up compliments all day and night, including a most enthusiastic accolade from first-night red carpet denizen/veteran, Susie Elleman. Someone came up to me later and whispered, "Wow! Susie likes your jacket! That's great, getting compliments from celebrities." But then we wondered... Poor Susie is annually castigated by the media for her poor clothing choices every Logies Award night, and her outfits and hairstyles are the stuff of Logies legend! So is it, in fact, good to get a high rating for my dress sense from her? ;)

Last night's Sassy presenter was the very sassy Dinah Lee. As I always say, it was a great day and night, and a highlight of my year every November. Maybe by next November I'll have a book of my own on the way.

Sunday's magic number: 90.3 - much better! A two kilo drop at last. You know, after the last few weeks' disappointment, I could actually feel the weight disappearing this week, as I cut out almost everything yummy I hold dear (the late night snacking especially). It is gratifying that I was able to eat my way through two gigantic meals yesterday at the seminar (and the Sassy Awards' banquet) and still wake up two kilos lighter than last Sunday, to smile about it this morning. Yay me!

And I should point out that I first met my "Fat Free Forever" dieting gurus, Dianne Barker Wilson and former "Gladiator" Geoff Barker, via the "Succeed With Me" seminars.

Going postal

Ah! The queues.

It's polling day for Australia, electing a new Prime Minister - 'cos most of us have gotten very tired of the old one. I'm off to my literary agent's annual seminar today so I had to think far enough ahead of time to organise my postal vote.

So I don't have to queue. Nor will I see the riveting (ho hum) television election coverage, 'cos I'll be partying with Australia's (popular) literati. We'll be more worried about who wins a Sassy Award than who wins the election, I reckon. It may be all over and decided because I get back home.

My Sassy friends

In November 1993, I was invited by Selwa Anthony, literary agent extraordinaire, to attend an all-day seminar and gala dinner for her little band of authors, and soon-to-be-published authors, at the Novatel Hotel in Brighton-le-Sands. It was called "Succeed Some More in '94" (and was a follow-up to a very successful dinner the previous year, "Succeed With Me in '93", named for a book she'd just written with Jimmy Thomson).

At the time, I was deep into my proposal-and-sample-chapters for a book on the social history of the Aussie soap opera, Number 96, and the wonderfully encouraging Selwa was going to agent it for me. While that project did the rounds of the publishers - twice - and gathered a lovely collection of encouraging rejection slips, it was eventually seemingly accepted by Allen & Uwin (for two weeks) in 1995, who then declined to offer a contract on it after all. Sigh.

So, rather than try to self-publish the thing instead, I launched the briefest of details as a website and started working on some other book ideas. Despite the fact that, so far, I haven't earned Selwa any percentages, she keeps inviting me back. Yesterday was "Succeed, it's Heaven in 2007".

Selwa has faith in me that I'll eventually get my act together and complete something both literate and commercial! I did get an article published in a "Starlog" magazine for Star Trek: The Next Generation (an interview with actor Leonard John Crofoot, who played Data's little gold android offspring). Mind you, I have incorporated a lot of skills learned at "Succeed with Me" seminars into my daily life, and it's paid off in so many other ways than just financial and literary ones. There has been advice I've used to tighten my book reviews for Scan, improve my mental health and feng shui, lose many kilograms, and how to use visual clues to tell when people are telling the truth. I've also been part of Selwa's unique brand of networking, helping out numerous other authors with their various writing projects. And I knew all the right answers when being interviewed for my editing position at Scan.

From November 1995, when Selwa added her annual Sassy Awards to the night's entertainment, it really added some glitz and glamour to the nighttime activities. Ten or so trophies are given out each year, to Selwa's most successful authors or editors. (Feeling a bit like the ultimate phony, as Selwa's longest-attending "author" who's never actually earnt her any $$$$, I even received a Sassy myself, in 2000, for my "Positive Attitude", from that year's Sassy presenter, Harry M Miller.) Last night, Toni Lamond was back, along with Maria Venuti (this year's Sassy presenter), Jeanne Little, science fantasy author Ian Irvine, Jennifer Green, Barb Angell, Tara Moss... And so many more.

The most amazing thing about this year's seminar was the first sentence uttered in the first presentation. Helen Hope, an astrologer who has written 2007's twelve "Daily Horoscope" guides for Hinkler Books, asked for a show of hands as to who were the Sagittarians. Had we noticed that we Sagittarians seemed to have lost some of our magic in recent years? We all nodded "Yes".

It seems that yesterday, 25th November 2006, marked the return of Jupiter into the sign of Sagittarius! Pluto has been in Sagittarius since 1995, coincidentally(?) the year my "Number 96" book was rejected. Now, thanks to Jupiter, "a big year" is coming my way: one that "may forever see as crucial". My ruling planet of Jupiter returning is cause for great celebration - and Pluto's exit from Sagittarius makes 2007 "crunch time". (Notice how it ties in to my news a few days ago that I'm back in the school library next year?) Thanks Helen!

Time to kick in my "Positive Attitude" again - and finally redeem myself and earn that Sassy!

Ah, well, back to the manuscript...