2013

I always find it an odd thing to approach the new year - not necessarily in a bad way, just that so much stress is placed on a date. You spend the months leading up to it, well, leading up to it. Changing gears and charging into it with booze and kisses and promises half-kept, leaving people and intentions and desperation somewhere in the wake of it all.

2013 has sort of been that for me. I'm still working my sea-legs for the year, trying to rid myself of December's wobbles and hangovers and recollections and welcome the firmer footing that the new year can bring. That aside, it's already a big year of change for me. This week I started as QWC's Program and Marketing Coordinator, a step up from my role as Customer Service Officer, something I am pretty excited about. In maybe-bigger-news, my sister and her partner are in the process of moving from sunny, urban Brisbane to the rolling hills of rural New South Wales - Gunnedah specifically, with its dusty roads and sprawling paddocks. I'm going to miss her like all hell. As much as we fight and run rampant on each others nerves, she's still my better half, my rock, a whole swell of things that matter, that I find hard to put into words. She and her partner are heading out with a tentative two year plan, to earn and work and for my sister to care for her horses and train like she's always wanted. I'm happy for her, but my selfish heart still wants her here. I think she knows that though, and there's no part of me that won't help her on this step. I still have my brother here anyway, who's starting tenth grade(!) this year. Which is scary. I mean, I remember him being born.

On top of that, I myself am heading back to university, starting off on a shiny new degree - a graduate diploma in Japanese (yay for languages!) and am in the midst of planning a four week trip to Thailand, Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam for the end of the year, which I am close to delirious with excitement about. I'm starting to think that this'll be a big year of shaping up and growth, and the sentiment both frightens and thrills me, sends shivers into my legs and chest that tell me to run faster and work harder. That said, we're only a week and a half in, so maybe I should just play it all by ear.

I'm hoping to do more on here this year too, post more and certainly write more, and I hope that you'll be here for the ride. Your year is only as big as you make it, after all, so hopefully your all planning something good too.

Friday Finds

- Flavorwire has the 10 Best Debut Novels of 2012! I've only read The Yellow Birds which, to be honest, I wasn't overly impressed with. That said, I do really want to read Tell the Wolves I'm Going Home (I mean, the title alone) and Threats too, which I've heard good things about. It's a pretty good list though, albeit a hipster one.

- Chuck Wendig has compiled a list of 25 Gifts for Writers, told with his usual flair for cussing and hilarity.

- If fonts were cats! Helvetica is the most precious.

- Six Things You Didn't Know About Ada Lovelace.

- And equally great, 30 Lessons We Learned from Amy Poehler in 2012. I mean, this is basically just a lovefest for Amy Poehler, but I am horrifyingly on board for that.

Your Mid-Week Art Break: Hannah Christenson

I'm loving Hannah Christenson's work at the moment. Dense and fantastical, they're all worlds I want to live in or write about. Lot's of awesome ladies doing awesom things too, which is always an addition plus in my book.

Lula FW 2012

I am heartrendingly in love with this photoshoot of Lula's Fall/Winter 2012 collection. Annemarieke van Drimmelen has upped the whimsy and added total life and charm to the clothes and collection. Lovely, lovely stuff. (via theclotheshorse)

Friday Finds

One of my favourite posts this week comes from Michelle Law, a local writer, who lives with alopecia areata. She talks about coping and visibility, about body image, hair and the effect it can have on many levels, particularly on a woman's self-esteem and perception of herself by herself and society. It's really interesting and not a topic I see covered all that much. You can check it out here.

- Pages and Polish may be my new favourite tumblr. Nail art! To match book covers! They get pretty creative too which adds to the awesome.

- Top ten rules for writing a space opera!  This is so, so great.

- If you're looking for some character-inspiration too, check out Lauren Bamford's photography. She has some gorgeous portraiture photos of a really interesting selection of people.

- These totally wonderful photos of grown-up treehouses.

- To take you out for the weekend (no pun intended), the first female-specific body armor has shipped out to Afghanistan. Huzzah for lady safety!

Your Mid-Week Art Break: Marguerite Sauvage

Check out the gorgeous illustrations of Paris-born, Sydney-based illustrator Marguerite Sauvage. Lovely stuff. Also kinda NSFW, if you didn't get that from the pic above.

Sunday Short: Mnemosyne by Lucy Faerber

Seizure has recently launched an online flash-fiction series for pieces of creative writing between 50 and 500 words. The callibre so far has been a mixed bag of kind-of-good to pretty-great. It certainly poses a challenge because to coax any sort of emotional reaction out of a reader in such brevity is hard as hell.

My favourite so far is an ultra-short piece by Lucy Faerber, Mnemosyne. At just over 200 words, I feel like any real synopsis would give it away, but it is a wonderfully emotive piece and reads even better the second time around. 

Nancy remembered how to make scones without using butter. On a Tuesday, she visited a blood bank to check if she was afraid of needles (no), stood at the edge of a fire escape to check if she was afraid of heights (no) and then wandered a reptile house. When a pretty girl in a department store smiled at her, she smiled back. In the change-room she wrote in her notebook:

Sexuality? Or just polite?

 You can read Mnemosyne over at the Seizure website.