Luna Park at dusk

Tonight, on my way to a course at the Sydney Writers' Centre, Milson's Point, I had a little time to kill and decided to wander off in the opposite direction towards Luna Park. With the light fading quickly, I snapped an unusual angle of the lit pylons that hold up the famous face (below left) and arrived at the bottom of the stairs just as the dusk bathed the face in the most extraordinarily blue cast (above). I was thrilled with the result, immediately uploaded the photo to Facebook, where it received many positive comments. The dumb luck involved in what often makes a really great photo - sometimes so much more important than skill - continues to amaze me.


Above right: The ever-popular Coney Island giant slides.


The spectacular view from the new location of the Writers' Centre.

The course I am enrolled in, Build Your Online Profile, runs for five weeks. Our tutor is Tristan Bancks, a Web 2.0 savvy author of books for young people - and a familiar face from his days as Tug on the long-running Aussie soap opera, "Home and Away". Session #1 was excellent. Now I have to tackle my homework: buying a domain name for my web presence.

Where I write

Today was the first day of Term 1, and already it feels like the year is chugging along under it's own steam!



Novelist Tara Moss has been running a series of blog posts called, "I've Shown You Mine, Now Show Me Yours", in which she invited her writer friends, colleagues and blog followers to send in photos of their personal/professional writing spaces. Judith Ridge (formerly of NSW DET's "School Magazine" editorial team) was featured last week, actor/writer Rhys Muldoon (who recently co-wrote a children's book Prime Minister Kevin Rudd) the week before that - and today.... my writing desk is featured.

It's a bit of a buzz to be in the company of Tara's esteemed and talented colleagues. Now I really have to get that first book written/published. I do feel the magic tingling, but I sometimes need a bomb under me! (That's a gag for the "Number 96" fans out there.) Thanks so much for your support, Tara! This has been a great and inspiring thread!

My teacher-librarian colleagues, and English teachers looking for interesting snippets about Australian writers to inspire their budding young writers, may well find some useful material on Tara's blog. There are eleven segments in this series so far, with three or four writers' desks featured each time.

See today's entries at:blog.taramoss.com/index.php?itemid=378

At my dethk

Author Tara Moss recently put out a challenge for her writing colleagues and acquaintances to send her jpeg images of their writing spaces, for a series of "I've shown you mine, now you show me yours" blog posts at The Book Post.

My writing desk is waaaaay more famous than I am (yet).

I was fortunate enough to be presented with a unique piece of Australian television history to use as my writing space: the specially-commissioned partnership desk made for Don Cash and Bill Harmon, co-producers of the cult Australian TV soap opera of the 1970s, "Number 96".

The desk is a custom-made Ron Barassi (of North Sydney) design, in rosewood with pine trim, and comes complete with two black leather swivel typing chairs (more suited to big, old typewriters than modern laptop computers - I have to use a more ergonomic chair when writing). The desk divider is a set of built-in drawers with filing cabinet - and is complemented by two rectangular, wooden waste bins. Both the Bill Harmon side of the desk and one of the bins show evidence of many a stubbed-out cigarette, another relic of Australian 70s showbiz. I'm told that the infamous Abigail often perched herself on the corner of the desk to chat to Bill Harmon, which was a tricky manoeuvre because the desktop has no legs and is thus intricately balanced across the divider cabinet.

Writer Nancy Cash, widow of Don Cash, used this desk to write her first novel, "Patterns of the Heart", in the 90s. Nancy gave the desk to me in 2006, when she returned to live in the USA, after living in Australia for about 40 years.

I have yet to prove financially that the desk still has some magic in it, but I have a sneaking suspicion that it just might. I certainly have plenty of book outlines in various stages of completion - and two keyboards on the go. So far, though, I also have the dubious honour of being my literary agent's longest-serving client who's never earned her any money.

Hopefully, 2010 is my year.



Bill Harmon, seated at the partnership desk made for Cash Harmon Television for
the production of the cult Australian TV soap opera, "Number 96" (1972-1977).
This photo appeared in Peter Luck's book, "50 Years of Australian TV: An Insider's View, 1956-2006" (New Holland, 2006).

Slow and steady still does it...

Today, a hare once again raced a tortoise for a medal and a gold trophy - this time in the intense Penrith heat. Tomorrow, my Kindergarten bloggers will create a jointly constructed retelling of the famous Aesop's fable.

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!

Daisy Sunshine - in the sunshine

On yet another of Sydney's string of very warm days, I was off on the train into the city this afternoon, alighting at Central for a brisk, if very sweaty, walk along ever-colourful, if now slighty worn-down, Oxford Street, through Darlinghurst, Paddington and then Woollahra, to the beautiful and stately Hughenden Boutique Hotel!

I had been invited by author Susanne Gervay to attend the launch of two "Making Tracks" books for children: Felicity Pulman's "Turning the Page" and Susanne's own "Daisy Sunshine". These are the final two titles in a series published by the National Museum of Australia, with each fiction book highlighting an artifact from the Museum's amazing collection of significant, historic Australiana.

Because Susanne's book is set squarely in 1975, and focused around some feminist memorabilia of that decade, there was a pervasive presence of cork platform shoes, long dresses, hippy headscarves, and a rousing chorus of "I Am Woman".

It was fun hobnobbing with the members and friends of the Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators of Australia, and renewing many old acquaintances. A great way to spend a lazy Sunday afternoon.

The Hughenden is owned by Susanne and her sister, and is just around the corner from another very famous building, which also has a strong link to Australia in the 1970s. I had some time to kill before the book launch was due to commence, so I took a nostalgic stroll down...



... to see...


Moncur Flats, 83 Moncur St, Woollahra...

...otherwise known as...


Number 96, Lindsay Street, Paddington!

On the way back to the station, I was on the look out for the ATC of the TH...



Sunday's magic number: 96.4. Walking in the heat of the day. Did it help?

RIP Janeway

There is an hilarious debate raging over on TrekBBS regarding the seemingly permanent death of Admiral Kathryn Janeway, late of the USS Voyager, and promoted to an admiralty post sometime before the movie, "Star Trek Nemesis". Janeway's demise happened in 2007 (in "The Next Generation" novel, "Before Dishonor" by Peter David, and soon to be followed up in "Full Circle", the "Voyager" novel by Kirsten Beyer.)

My take on it?

Poor Janeway, the sap, she is dead,
Her katra has gone on ahead,
Of course now her fans want to veto
'Cos the Borg ate her - and Pluto!
Join the Q. Another time, another thread.

Imagination has a "Use by" date

Well, this is bizarre.

I bought the above turquentine bracelet in 2008 at Dreamworld, in Queensland - in fact from the storeroom of the Big Brother house - almost exactly two years ago. And even blogged about it. I've worn it every day (and night) since, hoping it some symbolic inspiration for writing.

At the time, I worried that they resembled worry beads too much. This morning, I awoke to the sound of my dog snacking on little blue lollies - eek! My imagination had broken during the night, and was now being consumed by a Jack Russell !

Counting up the beads, which had ended up all through the sheets and onto the floor, I suddenly remembered that I had photographic evidence of how many Jack had managed to consume. Luckily, all the beads are still accounted for. And none went down the hatch.

The timing is again quite ironic. I awoke with a very clear idea in my mind for an old picture book story idea I'd been mulling over anew, on my way home from work yesterday - and I think I finally have enough inspiration to start writing something down.

Hopefully my imagination hasn't deserted me.

Writing better blog posts

Sue Waters, of The Edublogger, says, "Here’s My First Five Tips For Writing Better Blog Posts — What Are Yours?"

My five tips, to add to Sue's five would include:

1. Use of humour - especially if I find myself telling a funny anecdote more than once. That usually tells me it's worth repeating as a future blog entry. (It's amazing how often I check back through old entries now, and find humorous stories I've almost forgotten writing. If they hadn't ended up in the blog, they'd perhaps be gone forever.)

2. Know your topic(s). I think that sometimes bloggers try to be too eclectic. Focusing on a few topics you know well helps the audience to anticipate your future blog entries in those areas. You become "the guru" on a topic.

3. Know your audience - but also remembering that your audience may well be bigger than you think. (If you miss blogging for an extended period, you are likely to hear from them! I had no idea my two young nieces regularly checked my blog - until I was on vacation, far from an Internet cafe, and they emailed me wondering where I'd vanished to.)

4. Keep in mind the international nature of the World Wide Web. Be prepared to be informative by embedding a few clues in your posts. Remind them where you are writing from. Some quirky, localized things will seem quite bizarre to those of your readers not familiar with certain terminology, places, customs, the local slang, etc.

5. A picture is worth a thousand words. A picture can help explain many of the above mysteries for international web surfers. Most of my new visitors seem to come via people following a link to posts after locating one of my Flickr photos, which they found during a search of Google Images!

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.

Breakfast with the star(s)

Stay tuned to hear the true tale of the jet-lagged Star Trek novelist force-fed pancakes - at The Rocks - in good ol' downtown Sydney, Down Under.

Brunch is summoning. And - luckily for me - it's my weekly Junk Food Day!

Fat free forever: Phase III

Why, oh why, did Dianne Barker call it "Fat Free Forever"? As a diet plan, it works perfectly. I'm now doing it for the third time. (There's an irony there.) Just over a year ago, on this very blog, I boasted that I was mere kilograms from my goal weight again. I was ecstatic! But, inevitably, Christmas rolled around - with all the parties, farewells, celebrations, retirements, and those lazy days of sitting around the house, playing on the Internet and watching DVDs - and I spent all of January too scared to hop on the scales, at least until I thought I'd gotten back to within reach of that goal weight. I also joked, based on my first dieting endeavours with the book from the 90s, that I could writing my own book called "Fat Free For Five Years". Mmmmm. "Fat Free For Five Months", perhaps.

Unfortunately, that day never came. I surprised myself that I could fit into the Andorian costume I won on eBay, and I think I may have relaxed too much (stupid, really, because the costume's made of stretch lycra, and it's designed to hide all the flabby bits!) Very soon after that, I was straining and breathless to tie my shoelaces again. Deja vu! I suddenly had an awful feeling that I'd crept right back up to my mass of about two years ago. (So, out came the scales, and you know, I had put back almost everything I'd so recently lost! Heartbreaking!)

Two Sundays ago, after a particularly unsatisfying takeaway pizza feast, I started all over again. You see, there's nothing wrong with Dianne's diet plan; if you stop putting fat in your mouth, and do lots of walking, then you won't add fat to your body. Easy! (Yeah, easy. Ha!)

Without a doubt, the hardest bit is being disciplined about how, and what, and when, you eat. "Fat Free Forever" urges you to keep your body running as you'd keep a car engine running: use the best fuel; keep the car topped up all the time (including morning and afternoon snacks); and don't let the car engine run dry. Makes perfect sense. And the body's metabolism definitely starts to run faster. (I definitely remember the day that my metabolism first slowed down. I reckon it was the day I turned 30, and so does my waistline. I also figure it slowed down again, quite noticeably, at age 40.)

Dianne recommends that, if you want to eat the five starchy carbohydrates (bread, rice, potatoes, pasta, cereals) then do it before the mid afternoon so your body is not tempted to store up the goodness for later on, when you'll just be sleeping anyway. (Wow, that's weird; there is an "expert" discussing carbohydrates on the radio as I type! Essentially, the speaker agrees with Dianne about their value, and busted some of the myths, suggesting that a dry sponge and a wet sponge look exactly the same, but one will have more mass. Similarly, your body needs to have a store of carbohydrates for the day, and you'll weigh more on the scales, but it doesn't mean that the body is carrying new fat. Cool!)

"Fat Free Forever" also recommends celebrating with a "Junk Food Day" meal. It's certainly something to strive towards! Once a week, with your metabolism running fast, having a meal of junk food sends your system into overdrive, and it actually works harder to process the greasy stuff. The problem with having junk food every day is that it slows down the metabolism. And eating fat regularly makes you crave fat. Of that I don't think anyone would disagree.

Regular exercise is certainly not a problem for me. I don't own a car, and I walk a lot. (And the dog has ways of making me feel guilty if I don't take him with me.) But... I often wonder how big I'd be if I did have a car. Obviously I don't walk enough for the food intake when not on the diet. Well, it's a diet plan for forever, of course, but I am constantly amazed by how much walking is supposedly needed to walk off a bag of hot french fries. I can promise myself to "walk it off" before eating the chips all I like, but the reality is that I probably won't end up doing it, and there lies the problem. If I don't put fat in my mouth, then I won't be adding fat to my body. Sigh.

Without a doubt, my problem is discipline. Self-discipline. If I was more disciplined about my diet routines, I'd still be at my goal weight from the 90s. If I was more disciplined about my writing routines, I'd be a published novelist by now. If I was more disciplined about housework... (Ooooh, let's not go there.)

Well, this blog is doing it's bit. I hope. I'm doing a fairly good job of making myself write something every day, and certainly some anecdotes in this blog have given me great ideas for stories. It's funny looking back over a year of these little anecdotes from daily life; there are some gems in here, that would probably have been forgotten had I not written about them as they happened.

A surprising number of hits that show up on my site meter are from people Googling Dianne and her diet. There's certainly a lot of curiosity about it, and it does work! I'm very grateful to have heard her speak that day in the 90s, and for all the encouragement that book gives me every day I'm back on the plan. As I said, all I need is the discipline to stick with it. Forever this time.

Sunday's (no longer) mystery number: 94.6, yay!

The cockatiel types...

As if to remind me that today's the 1st June - approaching midnight and the 2nd - and I haven't yet started working on my first daily allocation of renewed fiction writing - my eleven-year-old cockatiel (or quarrion), Chookie, has just remembered how to imitate the really irritating "virtual" carriage return of a computer typing program!

He's sitting on the perch going, "Eh. Eh. Eh. Eh. Eh. Eh." (No, nothing like Anne of "Little Britain". More like "Mavis Beavis Teaches Typing.") He learned that noise about eight years ago, and remembers it every few months, using when someone wants to convcentrate on watching a DVD or writing something. Ear piercing! And guilt-generating.

Mmmm. Birds of a feather, and all that.


Chookie, avian typist

Write now!

I attended my second, once-per-term, teacher-librarians' district meeting today (back into the swing of a decade ago, when I was last practising as a teacher-librarian in schools!). It was great to be in such a positive, enthusiastic atmosphere with like-minded professionals. One of the guest speakers was Lee FitzGerald, a friend and former "Scan" editor. It was great to catch up with her and hear all the brave and exciting teacher-librarian challenges she's trying out in her school.

At one point, there were three "Scan" editors standing together over afternoon tea: Lee, the current editor Cath, and yours truly! A photo opportunity, but noone had a camera. Someone suggested we were perhaps the "three wise monkeys" and Cath quickly claimed being the one with her hands over her mouth. We were interrupted before assigning the other two monkeys.

Towards the end of the session, a teacher-librarian recognised me by my name tag, and gave me a great compliment about the quality of my book reviews in "Scan" over the years. What a buzz! I've been reviewing books and teaching resources for "Scan" since the early 90s, and I've now become quite accustomed to writing a pithy review in only 100 words; it's quite a skill to convey as much evaluative information as possible in such a short paragraph, and I guess I forget that these reviews get read and appreciated - even anticipated - by people.

"What else do you write?" she asked.

Mmmmm. "Nothing that's ever earned my agent a commission," I admitted guiltily. (Hi Selwa!)

I'm really going to have to fix this, you know... I now have about five skeletal children's book projects in my head, and on random computer files. As I walk to and from work each day, the words and ideas flow so easily. But when the computer gets turned on, they just don't transpose into something tangible. I end up playing on various bbs sites, telling myself I'm writing, but it's not really helping my word count. (Maybe I'm the fourth monkey? The unwise one, with his hands in his pockets?)

This blog is keeping me writing more regularly, sure, but I very much need to get regimented and show some real progress with my writing projects. Okay, the first of the month is almost here: a new beginning?

Clutter

I read yesterday, in the Sunday Telegraph newspaper's colour supplement, that no one ever generated a creative idea from a clean, blank sheet of paper. Hence, it was the random juxtaposition of objects in any pile of clutter that inspired the imagination.

At last, a valid reason behind my (at times) sloppy housekeeping habits!

Bless this mess.

A sense of place...

When the Possum Magic Book Rap I'm doing with my students ran the first time, in 2004, I mentioned on the accompanying Teacher Rap that I remembered an anecdote by Australian author, Libby Gleeson. Libby once said that one of the ways a writer can make a fiction story have an air of authority and uniqueness about it is to capture "a sense of place". For example, her charming children's picture book, "Big Dog", is set in the street where she and her family lived and - even though Armin Greder drew very different illustrations for the book - the story still carries an authenticity that the action occurs, not just on any residential street, but one particular street. Even with the economy of words needed by a picture book, or the briefest of production chats between author and editor, and then editor and illustrator.

For this Rap Point, where the possums of "Possum Magic" will visit the students' own town/suburb and have a new adventure, written by the students, it seemed to me that I really wanted the students to convey their "sense of place". That previous time, in our brainstorming session to write jointly about Penrith, I had the students describing orally, and in detail: the local car park, Penrith Plaza, Lemongrove Bridge, High Street and other (to them) instantly recognisable locales. The unique Penrith food that was found became obvious; if the students described Penrith clearly enough, the available local food is always going to be mentioned in their descriptions. I hoped. And I wasn't disappointed.

I wondered if this new batch of students would coincidentally delve into the same material - but they have surprised me yet again! We did our brainstorm in two sessions, last Friday and again (quite briefly) today. This time, the students had vivid oral descriptions of how to get to Penrith from the city - most of them would go by train, of course, not bicycle like the grandmother possum in the original picture book, so suddenly they have Grandma Poss at Circular Quay station, buying train tickets: for herself and the bike! (Hush is still invisible and doesn't need a ticket, of course.)

The students also settled on one particular takeaway food shop, gave great descriptions of it (including its unique smells!) and they are now really eager to do a joint construction of our first draft tomorrow.

Thanks again, Libby, I'll be forever grateful for your insistence that every book (and even a few paragraphs?) should have its own "sense of place".

Questions about TrekLit

From TrekBBS, and copied to here for posterity:
What piece of "Star Trek" literature has really inspired you? Could be anything, to take a new direction in your life, informed a particular decision you had to make, etc.

Mmmm. Maybe it was David Gerrold's "The Galactic Whirlpool" and his two "making of..." books, plus Susan Sackett's various ST books, that inspired me to write. I've attended writers' workshops by both of them since - and it definitely led to paid writing work.

What event or sequence in a piece of Trek Lit drove you (or nearly drove you) to tears?

Easy. I was playing the soundtrack of "The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King" while reading the last few chapters of "Andor: Paradigm" ("Worlds of Deep Space Nine, Book 1") and the hauntingly beautiful Annie Lennox song, "Into the West", started up just as the traditional Andorian funeral for Thriss got going. I was a sobbing mess. Weeks later, after posting my review online, author Heather Jarman told me she'd played the earlier LotR albums while writing "Paradigm".

Is there any specific piece of Trek Lit where you just could not put the book or story down until you finished it? Did you keep the lights on until 6:00 A.M. because you just couldn't put it down?

"Star Trek: The Motion Picture" and "Star Trek III" (before seeing those movies), and the surprisingly shocking "Prime Directive". Oh, and "Ex Machina".

What sequence of a piece of Trek Lit has put the biggest smile on your face while reading it?

It would have to be a Peter David book. Many moments in many PAD books. But it was the unexpected bittersweet ending of "New Frontier: Stone and Anvil", with Ensign Janos frolicking on planet Neural, that produced the most heartwarming grin.

Oh, and the scene in Therin Park in "Andor: Paradigm", of course. And thanks to editor Marco Palmieri for sending me a pre-publication preview copy.

Who is the one Trek Lit only character you most relate to and why?

I really rallied behind "Specks" in "The Galactic Whirlpool" and was fascinated to learn it was Gerrold making his own cameo.

Side question: Who is the one Trek Lit only character you would like to meet if possible.

Meet? Probably the perky, mysterious, intelligent Dr Evan Wilson in "Uhura's Song". (I assumed it was a cameo appearance based on Bjo Trimble, but Janet Kagan told me she was based on her own mother, IIRC.) But I'd also like to meet Piper ("Dreadnought!"; "Battlestations") and Ensign Shar (DS9 relaunch).

The cosmic consciousness II

A few weeks ago, I discussed the concept of an inexplicable Star Trek cosmic consciousness. Today, on TrekBBS, someone asked about why he couldn't contribute his own ideas for Star Trek novels, which the pro authors could then pick up on, then write novels on his dream ST topics.

Pro authors are never short of a new idea. Ideas are the easy bit. It's the grunt work of writing (and rewriting) them up in novel form that's so hard. You should see my ideas file!

Eventually, all the really great ideas turn up without any need for me - or anyone - to promote them, because great ideas occur to lots of other ST fans, too. And most of the ST writers are also fans. For example: when I first saw "Star Trek: The Motion Picture" in 1979, I visualised the next big ST adventure, featuring TMP's main cast and with all the wonderful new alien UFP races in supporting roles. As a naive, newbie ST fan I even wrote my first fanfic from that angle. Weirdly for me, just weeks after that fanfic ("Hoodwinked") had won a short story competition and was published in a fanzine, along came the pro novel "Black Fire" by Sonni Cooper, set in that TOS-turning-to-TMP era, and which shared no less than thirteen coincidental plot points with my story. But I also knew it was impossible for Sonni to have been inspired by my story: it was all just wacky coincidence.

And, eventually, along came Christopher L Bennett's "Ex Machina". Reading it, even though I hadn't thought of doing a sequel to "For the World is Hollow...", the novel felt so much like the style of post-TMP story I'd always wanted to tell. Christopher even ensured that all the wonderful new alien UFP races of TMP were in supporting roles, and it still feels as if he'd written "Ex Machina" just for me. (Well, apart from what he did with one character, LOL.)

My second fanfic was a prequel (and sequel) to "Space Seed", in which I tried to anticipate events which might occur in the as-yet-unreleased ST II - and my story, "A Model Officer", actually ended years later, with Kyle on the Reliant. Imagine my shock and delight when actor John Winston - as Kyle - turned up on ST II. On Reliant!

Similarly, I once did an interview with Robert Greenberger, the then-Star Trek comics editor at DC Comics, and mentioned how cool a ST novel set on Andor would be: a book that managed to discuss Andorian sexuality, politics, family life, etc, and we laughed about how such a novel would never get approved by the then-Star Trek Office. Years later, along came Heather Jarman's "Andor: Paradigm" in "Worlds of Star trek: Deep Space Nine, Book 1". Again, it was as if she'd written the whole story for me .

But I guess my Andorian enthusiasm paid off anyway, since my Andorian persona gets a cameo mention in both of those recent pro novels, even though I had no idea I'd be acknowledged (until just before each book got published), and I'd never discussed my ideas with either author, nor posted them online. It was mostly just wonderful coincidence - a tapping into the cosmic consciousness, perhaps - and proof, to me, that good ideas will rise to the surface, no matter what.

The cosmic consciousness

There's a theory, isn't there, that writers and other creative people can tap into a kind of cosmic consciousness? And this is why two authors can seem to come up with an almost-identical set of thought processes at the exact same time. While some cynics may even try to label it plagiarism, I reckon it's amazing how often it is very definitely something more inexplicable than mere coincidence.

Last night, Jörg, a semi-regular Internet contact, was researching the Efrosian race, from Star Trek, and discovered that, only minutes before, I had added a comment to an old discussion page on Memory Alpha's Wiki on... Efrosians! We were both trying to ascertain details of a certain cut scene from "ST IV: The Voyage Home", for which a publicity still exists - of a short-haired Efrosian wearing a UFP (United Federation of Planets) badge. Had he ever been officially confirmed as playing a particular role? My theory was that he was intended to be an usher in the UFP Council scenes; the end credits mention "ushers", but the extras(?) playing them had no lines to spout in the final film, and didn't even seem to be visible in the onscreen footage. This comment of mine led my friend back to my blog entry about Efrosians. He'd been researching some embroidered patches bought at one of the big recent ST costume and props auctions from the 40th anniversary celebrations of TOS.

It was almost midnight here for me (and probably midday for him), but we shot an email back and forth - and suddenly he had new freeze frame shots from the various ST movies in my email tray. And lo, he found onscreen evidence of a male usher(!) in the matching uniform, but not the mysterious Efrosian. Technology is making us move so fast. I wasn't mentally prepared for obscure trivia after midnight, but it was fascinating (to us) anyway.

Above: Cut scene of Efrosian usher (left); closeup on cloth badge (dignitaries wore blue-enamelled metal versions that hung under the "UFP" badge); human usher stands near UFP President and Klingon Ambassador (right).

UPDATE: And years later, we found this:

Any faded surfers out there?

I have a really great idea for a piece of fiction I'm working on, and I'm hoping to find a few genuine Aussie surfies (from the 70s or 80s) with whom to have some dialogue.



Is there anyone reading this who was heavily into that unique subculture in the late 70s, and through the 80s and early 90s? I'm interested in learning about you, your surfing techniques, "rules" of the "tribes", the beach fashions of the day, and hairstyles. Perhaps I can also build up a glossary of surfer terms, but specific to the 70s and 80s, please, and examples of comradeship with other surfies. Even surfie games and initiation rites would be excellent, or is there a code of silence like that of biker groups and freemasons?

I could read a book on Australian surfing culture, I suppose, like "Puberty Blues", or rummage some second hand bookshops for old surfing magazines, but I'd rather hear something first hand, and from the male perspective. (Frankie Avalon/Annette Funicello beach party movies aren't going to be much help for what I have in mind.) Please let me know...