Friday, January 24, 2014

Friday Inspiration: The Gift of Inadequacy - Taylor Gahm

Taalsake: Hennie Aucamp op tagtig

Gaan luister gerus na 22 Januarie se RSG Skrywers en boeke potgooi:

"Ilse Salzwedel bring hulde aan Hennie Aucamp wat vandeesweek sy tagtigste verjaarsdag vier. Sy gesels met prof. Andries Visagie (UP), prof. Louise Viljoen (US) en prof. Helize van Vuuren (NMM) oor sy werk. Daar is ook argiefopnames van ʼn veel jonger Aucamp wat een van sy gedigte voorlees en ʼn voorlesing van ʼn Bruidsbed vir Tant Nonnie, een van Aucamp se bekendste verhale. Amanda Strydom sing Fanie en Bettie, een van die liedjies uit Aucamp se kabaret, 'n Vuur gevang in glas."

Klik hier om te luister.


(Beskrywing van potgooi verkry vanaf die RSG-webwerf.)

Thursday, January 23, 2014

One Week to Go

The Eternal Dissertation
Today it is exactly one week before I hand in The Eternal Dissertation. The problem is that, now that I’m basically putting the finishing touches on the document, the perfectionist in me starts to haggle and tell me that I should rather rewrite a specific piece or that I should read through the whole thing just one more time. I’m trying my best not to listen, though.

In other, but related, news
I am also busy with a proposal for this year’s SASMARS. (Insomnia is wonderful when you have a lot to get done.) So, slowly but surely, I am getting there one step at a time and with lots of music. 

Some background music
If you read the blog often, you’ll know by now that I like background music. At the moment it’s leaning towards classical and early music. This piece from Tchaikovsky’s Swan Lake (Op. 20, Scène) remains one of my favourites.




And now I’ll get back to work.

Friday, January 17, 2014

Writing and Studying and Proofreading, O My!

Or, an update of what I’ve been up to the past month

While I’ve been off on “vacation”, I’ve actually been working at top speed on the Everlasting Dissertation. It now only needs a final proofread! And I finished a few days before my leave ended, so I had a few days off to let my mind remember that there is a world beyond the pile of books in front of me. That world includes more books and afternoon naps…

Some proper writing time
In the rush of the past few months I’ve only been able to jot down some ideas and not really giving much thought to my other writing endeavours. So, in my few days off, I indulged in some writing and am now busy with four short stories. (These are just too long to be considered flash fiction.)

The stories are all speculative fiction, though for quite different markets. I don’t want to divulge too much about the stories, but I can say that they include a Christian fantasy story, a zombie story and one for which I need to do some extra research on archaeological field methods.

Some Plans for the future
I’m also going to do Nanowrimo this year with one of my friends (if all goes well!) and I’m really looking forward to that. And there is another local competition I want to enter. The main gist of the idea is there, but it still needs quite a lot of world building.

Until then I’m burying my face in the Eternal Dissertation one last time before handing it in. Wish me luck!