Out there some where...

Below is the prepared speech I readied as a member of the Negative for a debate recently, arguing - for the positive - that career success was entirely up to chance. In the end I delivered my part off the cuff and did not use this speech at all. Therefore, I thought I would share it with someone so as to put the work to some kind of use...

I appear before you in the role of writer, the creator of the Monster-Blood Tattoo series, three books – or roughly 350,000 words – published in 18 countries and 13 languages, with hopes and plans to write further stories in a similar vein and a of long career ahead.

Yet I trained as an illustrator – not a writer – at the now vanished Underdale campus of the UniSA.

How on earth did I get here?

By sheer fluke it seems: for after a somewhat successful 9 years in Sydney as an illustrator, when of a sudden, I quit my job, where I lived, upped sticks and with a Great Plan burning in my soul went on an adventure across the seas, New York, London, Paris. Only The Great Plan failed. I found myself crashed landed, broke and broken hearted back here in my old town, Adelaide, without a job and my old bedroom as my only bunk. Gathering myself up from the dust I put folio under arm and went out to rebuild my illustration career. With help from a fellow illustrator friend, I managed to get my work seen by Dyan Blacklock, the publisher of Omnibus Books, and they were impressed enough to give me first a book cover then a picture book.

Now, I need to tell you that ever since my uni days – and after discovering the works of the great Mervyn Peake – I had been filling notebook upon notebook with ideas about a pretend world and just how it worked. So it was that in one of many long conversations with Dyan as we worked together on various illustration projects, she happened quite accidentally upon one of these notebooks (# 23 to be precise). Puzzled at the scratchings and scrawlings it contained, she asked me what it was, and I told her: notes for an entire made up world. She asked me if I written any stories, and somewhat embarrassedly – to me it was very private stuff – I told her, “Not really, some starts but nothing much…”

“Who are some of the characters in this world?” she persisted.

Still feeling awkward, I listed off a couple, finally saying, “And there’s Rossamünd; he’s a boy with a girl’s name…”

To which she promptly ordered, “I want you to put him down in this pretend world and tell us what happens to him.”

And so – a thousand words at a time – I did just that, until, satisfied I could actually write too, Dyan offered me a contract for a 3 book deal.

So here surely we see that by these collection of flukes I was in the right place at the right time and got the right result. Call it chance, fate, destiny – I am myself convinced it is God’s work in my life – whatever you name it, without this great “chance” I would not be here talking as I am.

And so here I am! I have turned coat and seem to be arguing the case of our colleagues opposite for them, yet wait! Hold up! Let us consider a moment. Let us go a little deeper. What looks like blind do-dah happenstance – a lucky break, “ooh, isn’t he lucky…” – is in fact a long string of consequences born of preparation.

If it was not for a certain assignment in the second year of my illustration course, I would have never discovered a certain author who by their inspiration set me off the long and now habitual practice of writing in notebooks, without which – as I have elaborated – I would have had nothing for my publisher to discover. More so, without the preparation of my illustration degree and the preparation of 9 years as practicing illustrator in Sydney-town I would not even have the opportunity to be in that right place, for it was as an experienced illustrator that I gained close access to the Publisher of Omnibus Books. And without all that mass of back material, the writing of the Monster-Blood Tattoo books would have been very hard, indeed may not have even happened.

So here we are, I am no blackguard after all: though my preparations might not have been directly for writing as a career they were preparations none-the-less, and the “lucky break” now is shown to not be quite so “lucky”.

The Roman philosopher Seneca is said to have said that luck – or chance – is when opportunity meets preparation, and I – who once thought himself the least preparatory (indeed I collected my thoughts for this debate in the very last minute) – turned out to be very well prepared indeed for the opportunity presented to me 7 years ago in the publishers office at Omnibus Books, and so for my career.

You may not end up where you intend, but you will get wherever you go on the back of or the lack of your preparations; for fate or destiny or chance will avail you little if you are not prepared for the opportunities it offers.

And surely, in the sum of it all – whatever our “job” might happen to be, our best career will always be to live as a half-decent person and this is something I hope we would not want to leave to chance.

So, this might have been my required response, but I could help but wonder afterwards: is life all about chance or preparation?

Housekeeping

Another interview, this time a transcript of a live recorded interview I did with the wondrous and warm Bec Stafford whilst attending Aussie Con 4/World Con 38 in Melbourne early in September.

(THE FOLLOWING IS AN ANNOUNCEMENT FOR ADELAIDE RESIDENTS ONLY I'M AFRAID, sorry everyone else...)

This Sunday 21st November at Dymocks, Rundle Mall, from about 2:15pm-ish onwards, myself and a collection of South Aussie YA authors & illustrators will be out in public. The attending authorial and draworial types include:

Robyn Opie
Malcolm Walker
Claire Richards
Greg Holdfeld
Rosanne Hawke
Ruth Starke
Jane Jolly
Don Henderson
Janeen Brian
Katrina Germein
Dan McGuinness
Ben Chandler
Allayne Webster
Robert Moore
Elizabeth Hutchins
Sally Heinrich
Sean Williams
Rebecca Burton
Lauren Fuge

Hope to see some Monster Blog locals there... :)

Aussiecon 4 World Science Fiction Convention

Here we are, the very week Aussiecon 4 is going to happen and I make the great trek to Melbourne to take part (both scared and excited in about equal measure). The Con (as we in the biz call it...) will be running from the 2nd September to the 6th September at the Melbourne Convention & Exhibition Centre (link to map of where it is). The Guests of Honour are Hugo-winning author Kim Stanley Robinson, award-winning Melbourne artist Shaun Tan (woot!), and dedicated fan Robin Johnson (just to get your interest, maybe...)

As for me, you can see me fumble my way through various topics of which I am only marginally qualified to fumble through at these days/times:

Thu 1600, Rm 217: Wrought from the very living rock: world building in YA spec fic.
Sat 1500, Rm P3: Behold the wonders! Art, design and the visuals in YA spec fic.
Sun 1100, Rm 210: The series question: big books chopped up or small books glued together?
Sun 1600 Rm 211: Let’s get lyrical: poetry in YA spec fic
Mon 1200 Rm 212: The lure of a good map.

Not sure if this is busy or not. Do know that I am very happy to be involved.

I hope I get to see some of you there; make yourself known to me, it might be awkward, but it would be cool non-the-less :) (They say one of the worst things that can happen to a book is to meet its author - let's test the theory, huh...)

Freecon, Sydney Saturday November 8th & Sunday November 9th

Nothing like last minute information but here goes...

People living in or near Sydney will find me if they dare to look in at this year's FreeCon 2008 Science Fiction Convention, both on Saturday 8th & Sunday 9th, at the Norman Selfe Room of the Sydney Mechanics School of the Arts (SMSA) building, 280 Pitt Street, good ol' Sydenytown. No charge for entry or any part of it, which is nice.

Here is their website for even more detail.

Sorry for the very late notice... I sure hope I see some of you there.
(especially you, Anna, because you live soooo close and all...)

More Goings Forth (by which I mean a book launch)

And I am back!

Thank you for your patience - I shall say more on my time in Sydney-town soon: it was certainly a good as well as stretching time. Met some most excellet souls, fellow creatives seeking their own yet similar path in this great maze of life (hmm... deep).

Today, however, I am wanting to let all Adelaide folks know of the launch party next Tuesday night, where we shall officially send Lamplighter off into the wide blue. Details are as follows:

LAMPLIGHTER LAUNCH

3rd June ~ 7 pm for 7:30 start

St Peters Library

101 Payneham Road, St Peters

RSVP 8334 0200

I would love to meet folks so come along - though I warn you that I am very ordinary (just in case you were expecting to meet some monstrous genius with an amazing pulsating brain ;)

See you there... and don't forget to rsvp!

The Sound of Silence

Please excuse the paucity of posts that is likely to occur over the next week or so, I shall be in Sydney pretending that I am clever and interesting.

My schedule will be:

Tuesday 20th May 2008
SECONDARY SCHOOL DAY
Riverside Theatre, corner Church & Market Streets, Parramatta.
WORKSHOP: RAFFERTYS THEATRE 10.00-11.30 am
~ this will be on World Building - of all things...
GENERAL TALK: 1.25-2.00 pm
~ My Life & What lead to Monster Blood Tattoo.

Tuesday 20th May 2008
PANEL DISCUSSION
Right Down to the Plumbing: Speculative Fiction and World-building
Venue: Blacktown City Max Webber Library, cnr Flushcombe Road and Alpha Street, Blacktown, 6:30-7:30 pm
Facilitator: Judith Ridge
Speculative and fantasy fiction continues to grow in popularity with readers of all ages. How do writers create engaging and believable worlds? How does character contribute to world-building and what cultural influences are at play?
D.M. Cornish, David Kowalski and Stuart Mayne discuss.

Wednesday 21st May 2008
SECONDARY SCHOOL DAY
Sydney Theatre, 22 Hickson Road, Walsh Bay.
WORKSHOP: RUTH CRACKNELL ROOM 10.00-11.30 am
~ this will be on World Building - of all things...
GENERAL TALK: 1.25-2.00 pm
~ My Life & What lead to Monster Blood Tattoo.

Dare I admit I feel a bit more worthy to participate now that I have two books out. 'Tis a daft feeling but it is there none-the-less.

Out in public - Sydney Writer's Festival

For those who will be in Sydney-town on the 20th of this month (that being May and one week away) should know that I will be part of a panel discussing world building (of all things!) from 6:30 in the evening.

I shall be getting together with Stuart Mayne, editor of Aurealis magazine, David Kowalski author of The Company of the Dead, and Judith Ridge our erstwhile compare, who is - among other things - the Western Sydney Young People’s Literature Officer.

Further details are here.

Might see some of you there.