I have two draft posts, lurking. They’re serious. Very serious. Full of the stuff of the moment. Half my day is spent fighting against hate, and those posts are about different facets of that.
I need a break. You need a break. We all need a break.
This is the perfect day for a break. It’s only 33 degrees C outside! And there’s only mild bushfire smoke! Positively salubrious. Also, someone has replaced the flag on the Iranian embassy (which is just a few miles from where I live) with the flag of the rebellion.
Let me give you an update on some of my 2026. It might be quite busy. I have 2 books to find homes for, novels emerging from the difficult period, short stories and essays emerging from the difficult period… and a conference the weekend after next where I get to talk about food and Tolkien. I have a meeting with an organiser to introduce them to the types of Jewish writing in Australia so that they can consider them for their annual programme and I have been tentatively approached about possible actual paid work.
This gives me hope.
I’ll let you know about the books and chapters and short stories as they appear. And now I go to consider how Sam Gamgee adoring potatoes is actually a Really Important piece of worldbuilding.
A bunch of writers started hanging out in a virtual treehouse when the pandemic hit and now don't want to leave.
Hooray for the bits of hope. And I would like to hear about the importance of Sam Gamgee’s love of potatoes, if you feel like sharing that here after you do your Tolkien and food talk.
I will give you a hint: it’s the difference between what some people dream of the Middle Ages being, and the actual Middle Ages.
Co-signing with Nancy on both hope (so needed) and Samwise.
“What’s taters, precious, eh, what’s taters?”
Ha ha—Gollum, being far older than dear Sam, would no doubt have known that taters didn’t make their way to Europe until after 1492 and the advent of the Columbian Exchange!