I went and visited Tom last night at Hospital. He was looking pretty good - despite the fact he's been told no more alcohol ever again! He'll be in for a few days while they run a whole battery of tests on him and then home again. Yay!

My bio is up on the Two Cranes Press website. Check it out at http://www.jasonlundberg.net/twocranes/scs.html I'm not sure if the photo does justice to the wombat!

Very glad it's Friday - the last week or two at work have been a bit ordinary. I think it's every getting tired and grumpy in the run to the end of year.

So many happenings in such a short space of time.

First, and most worrisome - Tom (dear family friend, stepfather figure, mentor and much loved person) has had a heart episode today in the heat. He is in St Vincents and all I can do is pray to an uncertain God that all will be well.

Second, and of much less significance is the fact that the info pack for Clarion South has arrived! Suddenly the adventure seems real. In less than four weeks I will be eating, sleeping and critiqueing the works of 16 other budding Speculative Fiction Writers. I am both excited - and nervous. I must confess that hearing that some of the others suffer the same fears as I makes the whole process seem somewhat more approachable.

I spent some time today trying to book accomodation on 1 January for a location halfway between Sydney and Brisbane. I had NO idea that Bellingen was so popular at that time of year! I have shifted my ambitions somewhat and hopefully will find somewhere to break the trip in the next 24 hours or so!

Good night and God Bless to Tom.

Paranoia finally overcame me this evening and I rang Nathan - a fellow Clarion South 2005 attendee.

"Um, so has everyone got their Clarion Info Packs except me?"

He reassured me that there wasn't a conspiracy against me. In fact apparently last year the Info Packs arrived the first week in December. So I'll spend the next week staking out the letterbox.

Had a nice chat with Nathan. He seems very normal and suffering the same sorts of anxiety issues as I. Actually there's no reason he wouldn't seem normal. Just because we write about aliens doesn't mean we're drawing on life experience (though sometimes I wonder about some of my some of the Councillors...)

Nathan also pointed out that all the other Clarion South attendees would read my blogs to check out if I mentioned their names and said things about them. If I was truely Machieavellian I"m sure I could work out a way to use this to my advantage... in fact by 2 January I may well have an entire evil plan mapped out which could involve a murder, sexual intrigue and at least three fellow Clarionites having to go home early leaving me with pick of the bedrooms!

Ahh well, time for me to away. I've promised myself I'll do some writing this evening.