Aug 11
28

Snow! Facebook! Oprah! Hypnotism!

15 Comments

So, a few things…

1. I am finally on Facebook. At family events my sisters kept referring to things and I’d say “Huh?”and they’d say, “Oh that’s right, you wouldn’t know, you’re not on Facebook” and then they couldn’t be bothered to explain the story because it was my own fault.

I haven’t quite got the hang of it yet. I took about a week to come up with my first status update and I haven’t done another one since. Also, I keep finding hidden messages from people, like little notes crammed into tiny spots where I didn’t know I was meant to check.

And it seems you’re not allowed to finish a comment with your name. If you do, Facebook reprimands you by deleting the whole comment. We already KNOW who you are, it says, see there’s your little photo right there.
So far I’ve been a real Facebook taker, just enjoying checking out everyone else’s photos, and not offering anything in return. Apparently I have to be careful, because people ‘cull’ their friends. Scary.
If you would like to follow me on Facebook, apparently you can do by clicking on this button.

Please ‘like’ me if you would like. Oh, dear, sometimes I come across so very elderly, don’t I. And I’m only 35! Actually I’m 44, but I was so surprised when I turned 35, I got stuck there, and I’ve remained in a perpetual state of astonishment ever since.

2. In other news, What Alice Forgot was launched in the US this summer, and it was chosen for ‘Oprah’s 2011 Complete Summer Reading List’ put out by O Magazine. It was also included on the summer reading lists put out by People Magazine and the New York Times. So… well, I was just trying to work that into conversation really.

3. I went skiing for the first time since the children were born! It was wonderful. My brother-in-law had a big ‘stack’ (I’m sorry for the inverted commas, it makes me sound elderly again. But I just can’t seem to say it without the inverted commas. And I’m only 35!) Anyway, he got to the bottom of the hill, took out his phone, and posted about it on Facebook. I was gobsmacked! I know, I know. Did you know, you can get cash out of these little machines in the walls! Just press a few buttons and hey presto!

I didn’t have any ‘stacks’. Except for one, and it was a snowboarder’s fault. He probably posted a different version of events on Facebook, but I know the truth.

Here’s my little boy and his cousin at the snow. We didn’t take a single photo of the adults. It was like we weren’t there. Even though we actually had a far better time than the children. But this way we’ll have evidence to show the kids one day. Look at the great holidays we took you on!

My little boy and his cousin at the snow

4. My new book, THE HYPNOTIST’S LOVE STORY, will be out in Australia on 1 October. Here’s what it will look like.

Cover of The Hypnotist's Love Story

Cover of The Hypnotist's Love Story

OK, I’m signing this Blog entry off with my name, just because I can. Liane. HA!

This entry was posted on August 28, 2011 at 11:49 am. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

Posted in Family Writing by Liane 15 Comments

15 Responses to "Snow! Facebook! Oprah! Hypnotism!"

  • Mirelle from Holland says:
    August 28, 2011 at 6:19 pm

    Hi, dear Liane,

    I’m not on Facebook…….. Hope I won’t miss that much of you :-(
    But my husband has it, but I think you might find it slightly strange if you see the name: “VW Passat” in your list :-) I look to my husband if we was agreed with that, and yes he nodded: that’s strange.
    So it’s better not to add you via my husband’s. I’m not that Facebook and Hyves-type either. Earlier I had Hyves, but for more reasons I didn’t want to have that anymore, so I put that away, just because I can…… Of course I know enough fitting terms, because my husband is using Facebook (and twitter, but sj, not that loud, please don’t go twittering :-) , and he likes it a lot. I go back to ‘old school’: just e-mailing. Or also new for me: responding your blocks !! Hahaha, I LIKE it. (now I know the meaning)
    What is a stack? Richard (the husband) doesn’t know also what that is.
    Good for you that you went skiing again. I did it once when I was 16 years old, so that was generations ago (I’m only 38 !) it was with a friend, and the more we fell, the more we laughed, that were funny days. But I never did it again since then.
    But about your new book: do you have any idea when it comes out in Holland?
    I read other comments of readers of your books, and found out that they have the same experiences what the books doing with them, and that are only good things. And I can’t thank you enough for that (see my earlier comments)
    It’s very nice and lovely following on this site.

    With kind regards,
    Mirelle

  • Claire ogden says:
    August 28, 2011 at 6:43 pm

    I love your Liane, I will like you on face book too. Good news on what alice forgot, as you know my favourite book of all time. Gutted I have to wait so long for your new book, let me know when it lands in the uk! Happy facebooking. Ps. Get yourself on twitter it’s ACE x

  • Evelynne says:
    August 29, 2011 at 11:56 am

    Yeee harrr! Excited to be following you on facebook. Now make sure you do updates or it won’t be fun at all.

  • Kati says:
    August 29, 2011 at 1:17 pm

    Liane, you’ve made a mistake – there is a photo of you at the snow, you’re reflected in the window behind the boys! Ok, so it would probably take some CSI-style digital enhancing using extra high-tech equipment to zoom in and clear up who the reflection actually is, but I think it’s a pretty safe bet to assume it’s you. Assuming you took the photo that is….
    Anyway, good to see your blog update. Well done. When’s the next status update?

  • Kerry Cairney says:
    August 29, 2011 at 1:19 pm

    So excited for your new book. Congrats on What Alice forgot I absolutely loved it. Lovely to follow you on Facebook. Kerry xx

  • Kirsten says:
    August 30, 2011 at 1:44 pm

    1st October! It’s in my calendar… I can’t wait. I was in Brisbane last weekend visiting an old friend and when I was checking out her bookcase (as you do – well as I do) I came across a very dog-earred copy of What Alice Forgot and was delighted to find Michelle is as big a fan as I am of your work. I told her she should come and check out this blog so if you’re here Michelle, thanks again for a great weekend!

    Congratulations Liane on making it into the summer reading list – that’s just brilliant. Hopefully more people will post (very positive) reviews on Amazon.

    I’ve ‘liked’ you on Facebook (hmmm inverted commas – I’m also 44 sorry I mean also 35!). It’s taken me a while to get the hang of it too. I kept hitting the return key to make nice neat little paragraphs of my thoughts and inadvertently posting half posts…

    Can I pre-order The Hypnotists Love Story? If not do you know where I can get a copy on Saturday 1st October at 5am?

    xx

  • Liane says:
    August 30, 2011 at 3:55 pm

    Hello there Mirelle in Holland, I agree, what was wrong with simple, old-fashioned emailing? Although I probably will eventually become a Facebook convert. I’m just a bit slow off the mark with these things. A ‘stack’ is when you’re skiing and you fall over, but you do it impressively, ideally your skis fall off and people stop to watch and your goggles are full of snow.
    Hi there Claire, how are you? I promise I’ll let you known when the new book is out in the UK, and no, no, no – please don’t say I have to do twitter as well, I have reached the outer limits of my social networking skills (apparently I’m already showing bad Facebook etiquette by not ‘liking’ back the pages of people who have liked me – the stress, the stress!)
    Hi Eveleynn, OK, I promise I will do actual updates, and not just laze about on Facebook enjoying hearing about everyone else’s lives…
    Hello Kati, I know! It’s me! I should have photoshopped me out. I look like a garden gnome. And yes, I know, I have to do status updates. I’m just developing a bit of a phobia about it,
    And thank you Kerry, I’m very happy you enjoyed What Alice Forgot, and I will try to be worthy of being followed on Facebook! (I fell like I’m making a whole of of New Years Resolutions here that I know I’m not going to keep)
    Hi Kirsten (and Michelle if you’re here too, and you weren’t just politely nodding your head when Kirsten suggested this blog) I’m very happy to hear about you seeing my book on Michelle’s book case, when I was house hunting a few years back I was always obsessively looking at people’s shelves for my books and I never ever saw one. I probably would have bought the house if I ever had seen one. And I’m sure any good bookshop would let you pre-order the Hypnotist’s Love Story. If they say they can’t, could you please look aghast for the benefit of nearby customers? Thank you,
    Liane xx

  • Louise says:
    September 3, 2011 at 1:27 am

    Liane, I’m reading What Alice Forgot and just LOVING IT! Your book was on the NYTimes best of summer reads list and I decided I’d do something different this summer and chose 1-2 books from their list. At first it was a bit slow going to get into Alice but then something clicked in place for me and now I can’t wait to get home from work and enter her world.
    My mother is 91 and her memory is changing. When I’m with her on the weekends I think of Alice and wonder more deeply about what my momma is experiencing. I’m starting Chapter 26 and want to THANK YOU for your brilliant, funny, poignant writing.

    When I was growing up the person I got to know from another country was a woman from Australia. She and her husband met during THE war. She moved to the states and they bought a farm here in southern Oregon which they called Westralia. She was the first person I knew who had an herb garden and one with a sun dial which she’d brought from her home country.

    I write poetry and have written some essays which have been published in anthologies about women’s spirituality because that’s what my doctoral work is. All that is to say how much I respect the craft of writing and what dedication it takes to create a sizeable work. THANK YOU FOR YOUR BEAUTIFUL WORK. I will not forget what I’m experiencing through What Alice Forgot!

  • Liane says:
    September 30, 2011 at 4:45 pm

    Dear Louise,
    I’m sorry I havent responded to your comment earlier, but I think I chatted to you on Facebook,
    But again, thank you so much!
    Liane

  • Sandy says:
    January 10, 2012 at 10:06 am

    Liane, Loved WHAT ALICE FORGOT

  • Liane says:
    January 30, 2012 at 2:52 pm

    Thank you so much Sandy!

  • Tammy says:
    February 22, 2012 at 5:06 pm

    I ordered your book from the library immediately – so excited about reading it!

    It is the same in my family, we only take pictures of the babies.

    and I am back on facebook after a two-year hiatus, and in the time that I didn’t have it, my friends were much the same as your sisters!

  • Liane says:
    March 15, 2012 at 4:05 pm

    Hi Tammy,
    Hope you like the book! And welcome back to Facebook after your hiatus, I am still a Facebook Failure I’m afraid, Lianex

  • Maryellen Grady says:
    August 17, 2012 at 2:24 am

    You are my new “must read everything she has written author “starting backwards from Hypnotist which I enjoyed so much. My only tiny complaint is that I wished there was a brief Australian-American glossary somewhere, as I am too lazy to Google each term I am not familiar with. Speaking of familiar, you sure do know lots about mature love both married and single, family relations, feminist issues, work and motherhood and lots of other things including hypnotism and amnesia. And you make it all so addictively page-turning. I love your books!

    And thanks for telling me why my FB messages are so frequently deleted.

  • Liane says:
    August 21, 2012 at 2:16 pm

    Dear Maryellen, thank you so much! am very taken with the phrase ‘must read everything she has written author’. I will talk to my US publishers about a glossary (we actually take out quite a few Australianisms for the US edition!).
    And I’m so sorry about your FB messages!! How embarrassing. I don’t know why, but Facebook and I have a sort of personality clash. Lianex

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