Sad, mad and bad...

Kashin, the elder of the two groovy elephants at the Auckland Zoo died yesterday. Her health problems got the better of her and her passing has made me sad. I knew her when she was a young girl. She arrived years ago (1972) when I was a young nipper in primary school. It was a big story and I remember how excited we all were. I have always loved the zoo (I went on to do a Masters degree in Zoology) and it never fails to give me a thrill when I visit. Last time I went with my son and his mate we were all enthralled by a dust up between a trio of meerkats and an unwelcome guest in their enclosure. It was amazing to see the three little musketeers successfully ganging up against a very large and aggressive peacock. While I am fascinated by the drama of nature in action, I have also always admired the dignity and soulfulness of the elephants. I hope Kashin knew how much she was loved.

I was also saddened about the results of the smacking referendum. It gives me the willies that so many people were so keen to preserve their right to smack. Ack. What kind of message does it send to our children? Nick Brown had it right in the NZ Herald this morning when he said the current legislation isn't there to punish parents who use the occasional smack, its to ensure the people who use excessive force can't claim 'reasonable force for discipline' to defend their actions. And isn't this legislation also about wanting to do better as parents, as a community, as a society? The referendum was a step backwards and I am horrified at how NZ responded.

The google settlement is another twisted piece of verbiage. I can either opt in and get some (most likely inadequate) recompense for the use of my material but know that my books can be digitised and potentially reach a wider audience then they may otherwise do or I can opt out which means no recompense unless I fight Google on my own, and either a) they digitise my material anyway without any payment to me or b)they don't digitise my books and the chance for obscurity yawns wider than it would have otherwise. Well, gee - don't you just love those options? This falls in to the, damned if you do, damned if you don't category. Many groups are encouraging authors to opt out partly because no one knows where this is all headed. My real chagrin is reserved for Google who have just gone ahead and digitised because they can. No one has stopped them and despite there being real financial consequences for all authors its like an out of control freight train we are powerless to stop. And lets face it, its not like its a gravy train. As it is, most authors get paid diddly for hours, days, weeks, months, years of work. This just takes more from us with little or no reward. And i can't imagine for one minute that Google are doing this just to benefit mankind. Or authors. They are a business. And they may just make money out of this at our expense. Shame on you Google.

You meet some really nice people in the blogosphere...

Had huge fun yesterday participating in a pitch party at How Publishing Really Works. Basically commenters were invited to pitch their blog in the comments section and the only rule was that each commenter had to visit and comment at three other blogs pitched. As you can see I have now added two new blogs to my list of cool people (and may yet add more). I might never have come across these blogs otherwise so big thanks to Jane Smith at How Publishing Really Works. You too should go say hi to Katy and Welshcake.

Loved this post the other day at hey, There's a Dead Guy in My Living Room, where an editor talks about the moment during editing where he doubts the book (called The Moment of Suck) and he compares it to the phenomenon I feel all too familiar with where writers look at their manuscript and say this is the worst story ever written on this planet, why go on? It usually comes just past half way when you've made a big time and effort investment. I'm falling in and out of love with my current WIP on a weekly basis and it has been hard to push myself forward. Sometimes these things aren't a moment long, they are weeks long. As an editor, at least there must have been a point at which you looked at the completed manuscript and said this rocks but as a writer with only half a story written and the other half a vague tangled mess inside your head it can be difficult to find that passion that lead you through writing the first half. Oh for short stories and picture books that don't mess with your head anywhere near as much.

I have also been scratching my head over this google settlement business. It doesn't seem to apply to me - none of my books have made it to the US (yet) but based on everything I've read about the whole thing so far I can not be entirely sure. Trying to figure it out makes my brain hurt and I had been planning on ignoring the whole thing but I'd rather be 100% sure it doesn't apply to me before I dismiss it. If i ever reach some sort of understanding I shall pass it on.