10:53 TUESDAY 06 NOVEMBER 2007

A chaotic period - interview after interview after critique after interview with absolutely no time to transcribe or actually write any of the pieces. Otherwise? Alexander is thrilled to be interviewing one of his boyhood rock idols, Bee is ecstatic about the little plastic bed and mattress set I gave her for her dollies, we're (finally) applying as a family for updated passports, and I am preparing for an upcoming interview, researching an essay, struggling to find time to arrange Bee's birthday party and our anniversary, and my column on the first Christmas is in this month's edition of My Child:

13:45 MONDAY 29 OCTOBER 2007

My Beloved Husband's birthday. Bee and I awoke him with strawberries, bananas, and milk in lead crystal on a mahogany bed tray, singing. Numerous appropriate gifts - books on the CIA, X-Files DVDs, etc. And the weather is superlative. Otherwise? A number of new features underway and new pages uploaded.

11:54 THURSDAY 25 OCTOBER 2007

Absolutely over the moon: before hopping on a flight to London, Laura rigged up the most beautiful shot silk and bamboo banners for Bee's Secret Garden party - watery greens, violets, and hazy cloud pinks - and a fantastic pink and white floor-length fairy skirt for me (to go with the sequinned wand and wings). Alexander is currently obsessed with Microsoft Vista (his passion for computers is Anna Karenina standard), and Bee is resplendent in her striped overalls and chortling over her collection of toy fairies. Otherwise? A major interview on Sunday, working hard with David on another project, and completing a review.

10:06 TUESDAY 23 OCTOBER 2007

Bee's angel wings and dress have arrived. As I accidentally ordered two sets of wings, Alexander is now coming as a Hugo Boss angel. Organza bags of rubber insects, plastic watches with balls in them, sparkly trumpets, bubble blowers, jewelry, and neon pencils have now been packed, and the cake molds have been tested. Today I decide on a date and start making cards. Bee's made-to-order red-and-white-striped Christmas broom - inexplicably, she is absolutely fetishistic about sweeping - has arrived from the States, as have some of the gorgeous Victorian albums in which I am (finally) archiving hundreds of photographs. Otherwise? Overwhelmed by commitments. Corinna broke her hand - a dramatic episode - and Stephen, Shareen and William are over on Saturday, and Laura and Cedar leave for London on Thursday.

09:42 SATURDAY 20 OCTOBER 2007

Very excited about Alexander's birthday on the 29th - all sorts of plans underway, and Bee's upcoming birthday will be even more spectacular, if only because I get to dress as a fairy. Laura is sewing shot silk bamboo pennants for the Secret Garden party, and I will be baking lavender meringues and a chocolate cake in the shape of a rose, and Alexander has agreed to wear an elf hat (no tights). There will be games and music and perfumed candles, and then all the babies will be wheeled home. Otherwise? Hard at work on another interview and critique, and this was published today.

12:14 WEDNESDAY 17 OCTOBER 2007

A whirl of interviews and commissions. My critique of a rather interesting book is published in this Saturday's Weekend Australian, last week's interview with an international fashion luminary will run soon, and I am terribly excited about a potential interview with one of my heroines. Bee is wonderful beyond words. "I buy milk from shop," she yesterday announced, standing at the door with a ten cent piece. The Beloved needs a haircut as he currently looks like a sheepdog, but doesn't care as he is far too busy gloating over the fact that a piece of his has been included in a senior secondary school English textbook as an example of fine writing. And this, a very real advertisement from another era, made me laugh.

10:06 TUESDAY 9 OCTOBER 2007

Thigh-deep in a critique and preparing for a number of interviews. Otherwise? If you recognize this man, please contact Interpol immediately.

14:00 SUNDAY 7 OCTOBER 2007

Speedcubing - Dan Dzoan's one-handed world record solve, 17.90 seconds, at the Caltech Winter Competition:

13:00 FRIDAY 5 OCTOBER 2007

Nice fat feature interview next week (fun) and reading - for pleasure, and possibly a review - the most affecting memoir. Otherwise? Laura, Cedar, Bee and I have been exploring the hills and dales of this prematurely summery city as Alexander loses himself in the beautifully rendered, labyrinthine games he analyzes.

00:01 THURSDAY 4 OCTOBER 2007

Big things on the cards today. And a new page uploaded.

11:41 SUNDAY 30 SEPTEMBER 2007

This is the funniest television interview Alexander and I have ever seen:

14:00 SATURDAY 29 SEPTEMBER 2007

My interview with The World Figure (critique follows on October 13). Otherwise? Goofing around, finalizing wedding and baby albums, and starting to plan Bee's birthday surprise (adult fairy, glow-worm cave, party favors, etc. etc.). Oh, and new page uploaded. And these are David's fabulous tattoos, picture taken on the beach in Byron:

08:29 THURSDAY 27 SEPTEMBER 2007

Bee and her Daddy are singing in the other room, I am musing on a new book to critique and longing to move into a bigger place. As that graceful black man said in Gladiator: "Soon, but not yet." Oh, and Stephen's son was born on Friday! Yes, William James, 57cms long and Stephen's doppelganger. Welcome to the world, Billy Jim. And this is darling Alexander at his baptism in the dim, dim place of worship on that dark and stormy night (one candle for each of us):

10:23 TUESDAY 25 SEPTEMBER 2007

Bee is in love with the poem "Nudey Dudey", a title that she shouts out in public to the consternation of pensioners. Otherwise? Floored by the breadth of admin on our return.

10:27 MONDAY 24 SEPTEMBER 2007

Returned late on Saturday night and spent Sunday unpacking, organizing, and opening mail. This is my wonderful girlfriend Ruve, whose family joined us on vacation in Byron - along with the Bromleys - and whose divine baby girl was born a matter of weeks ago (as she is a retired Ford NYC model and Vogue covergirl, she is forgiven for looking ridiculously perfect postpartum):

10:05 THURSDAY 20 SEPTEMBER 2007

Yesterday was just beautiful. My Beloved Husband presented me with a 20-page graphic novel on awakening, had a bouquet of perfect white long-stemmed roses sent to me during a three-hour massage/ body treatment at a salon, ordered a larderful of sushi for dinner, and then orchestrated a wonderfully romantic evening (once our many-armed baby had fallen asleep). Tonight the Bromleys shouted me a birthday dinner at Orion House - babies everywhere, all many-armed - and we discussed future projects. And this is The Eclipse in Chinese.

22:35 WEDNESDAY 19 SEPTEMBER 2007

Insanely busy - more on that soon - but needing to say this: buy The Weekend Australian next Saturday. Feature interview in The Weekend Australian's Review, and possible critique in Review this weekend. Otherwise? Much to report. Today is my birthday! And this is a picture of the uncharacteristically reticent Nick Cave and an overzealous fan who won his (onstage) company in a kind of raffle ...

21:15 FRIDAY 31 AUGUST 2007

Alexander is mesmerized by Bioshock and I am shagged after staying up much too late finishing a feature for The Weekend Australian Magazine. (Bee is, of course, perfectly perfect.) May or may not have a critique in tomorrow's Weekend Australian, and two features - an interview with a most interesting man, and an essay on avoirdupois - are in this month's issue of Men's Style, on the stands now. From the latter:

11:35 TUESDAY 28 AUGUST 2007

Alexander is working on his book, Bee is singing the alphabet song, and I am putting the finishing touches on my interview with the World Figure, which will be published in The Weekend Australian Magazine in September. Otherwise? We're gearing up for our spectacular vacation - my God, I cannot wait - and beginning to organize our move. A time of transition.

20:54 SATURDAY 25 AUGUST 2007

What a talent, and what a capacity for self-destruction ...

11:57 FRIDAY 24 AUGUST 2007

I implore all readers to donate a small sum - five or ten dollars for those in Australia or the US, and five pounds for the English - to this organization. Please click here to make a difference. For more information, click here.

11:07 THURSDAY 23 AUGUST 2007

Beginning to orchestrate upcoming move, which is beyond exciting. Otherwise? Darling Alexander is beginning to shape his book, Bee is learning to sing - a beautiful thin little shaky warbling - and I am refining an interview with one World Figure whilst researching another. Never have I known such an active social life; Bee's appetite for walks, bird-feeding, and playdates leaves me breathless. This is Alexander at a private wharf the other day, rehearsing for Carnegie Hall:

00:18 TUESDAY 21 AUGUST 2007

There once was a girl named Bethesda
Whose loveliness trounced even al-Qaeda.
When she spoke it was if
Petals fell from her lips,
And multitudes cried: "We are your slaves, Little Monkeybear!"

10:37 MONDAY 20 AUGUST 2007

Yesterday was both overwhelming and wonderful. Alexander's and Bethesda's double baptism was held in the evening; the afternoon garden party at Roy and Suzanne's was flooded out and held indoors. Suzanne, who not only puts in 16-hour days as a lawyer, but holds parties for two hundred and throws balls for a thousand at close to a moment's notice, arranged the most elegant day: tea candles lit in Turkish coffee glasses, deeply colored tulips in lead crystal, perfect meringues with fresh strawberries and cream, tea cakes, liqueur cakes, different teas, the tiniest iced cupcakes for the children ... it was just exquisite. Brad and his glitter vacuum cleaner - not a euphemism, but a gift for Bethesda - were, of course, late, but everyone else was on time and full of cheer. In the evening, we trooped off to the church where Bishop John Shelby Spong aka Jack was waiting to affirm my baptism and baptize my darlings for the first time (Michael is Bethesda's godfather and Suzanne is her godmother: two astute lawyers will watch over her soul). The fact that we had a professional photographer covering the event and the equatorial downpour had given me a Michael-Jackson-circa-The-Jackson-Five coiffure did not spoil my day. As my baptism has been affirmed, I am now able to rise above such things. Sort of. Jack and his wife Christine came over for Thai takeaway later, but as Bethesda was too wired to fall asleep, the conversation was interrupted by squeals, saucepan-banging, and high clamoring for more frozen peas (she loves to play with frozen peas).

13:40 FRIDAY 17 AUGUST 2007

NANJING, China: "For nearly two decades, Lai Mandai regularly ate and sold beans, cabbage and watermelons grown on a plot of land a short walk from a lead smelting plant in her village. Like dozens of other villagers who ate locally grown food, Ms. Lai, 39 years developed health problems. 'When I did work, planting vegetables or cleaning the floor, I felt so tired, and my fingers felt numb,' Ms. Lai says. 'I talked with other villagers. They had the same problems.' Ms. Lai, along with 57 other villagers, who eventually diagnosed with high levels of cadmium, a heavy metal that can cause kidney disease and softening of the bones. Runoff from the factory – which the government tore down in 2004 – had contaminated the farmland and entered the food supply. Chinese government report found that rice grown in the village contained 20 times the permitted level of cadmium. China's tainted food supply has fallen under heightened scrutiny after a shipment of wheat flour contaminated with a chemical used in fire retardants found its way into pet food and was linked to the deaths of U.S animals in late March. Concerns have since soared over the safety of the country's export. The U.S Food and Drug administration recently told consumers to stop buying toothpaste made in China because it might contain poisonous diethylene glycol. Last week, the FDA sounded an alarm on farm-raised seafood from China, containing excessive levels of antibiotics and additives." Source: The Wall Street Journal Asia

21:10 MONDAY 13 AUGUST 2007

Hit the zoo - Bee saw elephants and tigers and giraffes ("gaffes") for the first time. She wasn't surprised or scared, but studied them with academic intensity as she slowly chewed on her digestive biscuits. The funniest moment was when we watched a silverback gorilla lope about - Bee, of course, showed no emotion - but when we turned and encountered a stone gorilla with her baby, Bee shot up into my hair babbling: "GOWILLA! GOWILLA!" A beautiful day.

21:33 WEDNESDAY 8 AUGUST 2007

New page uploaded. Otherwise? Bought Bee the only pets our lease allows: fish. One gold, one black, and one white with a shimmer of scarlet, fed three times a day and housed in a thick glass Mexican salad bowl. They are so beautiful when the light hits them, and are all surprisingly different in character. Bee named the goldfish Blossom, Alexander christened the black one Batman, and I chose Ricecake for the baby. That and thrashing in swampwater with an essay that is driving me MAD.

12:23 SUNDAY 5 AUGUST 2007

Another traumatic night. Bee awoke at 1am to barf spectacularly over me; the poor bug was trembling, deeply distressed, as she surveyed the results. After I bathed and dressed her in clean clothes, she was again sick. This terrible process was repeated four times until she was so exhausted she lay still and glassy-eyed on the bed. We suspect the culprit is sour milk or even milk itself, to which she was allergic until a few months ago. In the morning, sheets and towels and pajamas were washed and washed again. (This time the cashmere cardigan copped it.) Alexander and I were able to fall asleep at three or so and our poky little puppy is again well, thank God.

14:18 SATURDAY 28 JULY 2007

New critique uploaded. Otherwise? Using every excuse to disappear into Harry Potter - God, the tension is unbearable! - and wildly savoring these warmer and sun-dappled afternoons. Precious Bee swiftly recovered from her mysterious ailment and is now as rosy-cheeked and tender as ever - her sibling soon goes into production - and Alexander and I are planning an evening of dedicated loafing about (I'm clamoring for another Hallmark DVD, but don't think it will pass muster with His Nibs). Jessica is now permanently back from London and will soon move in with her great love, and the long-anticipated Claphambugg arrives in six weeks or so.

09:36 THURSDAY 26 JULY 2007

My eyes are hanging out of my head this morning after Bee called for me as I was working sometime around midnight. I went to her and instead of immediately calming - as she always does - her sobs increased in intensity until she came close to screaming, threw herself into my arms, and vomited spectacularly all over my white cable-knit cashmere sweater. After a bath, she again unloaded partially digested kidney beans, chicken, rice and tomato into my hair and pajamas, whereupon Alex jogged around the house with paper towel and bicarbonate of soda until the ambulance came. All is now well, THANK GOD, but the cashmere sweater has had it.

09:56 TUESDAY 24 JULY 2007

Still dumped and buoyed by hormones, but feeling better. Otherwise? I'm thrashing my way through a demanding critique, we're both absolutely thrilled about the upcoming move, and Bee is marching around, ordering her Daddy to "Run - buy bread!" and me to "Take jumper off - hot!"

14:21THURSDAY 19 JULY 2007

As Alexander stemmed a nosebleed with a tissue, Bee stared at the bloodstains. "Tomato," she authoritatively concluded.

11:19 TUESDAY 17 JULY 2007

New page uploaded. Otherwise? Slowly recovering from the emotional blow of weaning, reading up about the law, and listening to Bee's excited retelling of her adventures at the fire-eater's show on Sunday.

11:13 SATURDAY 14 JULY 2007

Distressing times. Weaned Bee the other night. She coped beautifully, ever the most gracious of little girls, but I was both emotionally and hormonally devastated. Last night Alexander and I watched a Hallmark movie, and I sobbed throughout the whole thing (as Alexander, who would rather have watched The Departed, tried not to giggle). Feel like crying again now. Yes, it's for the best and yes, I'll finally have my energy back and yes, we're gearing up for our second child, but - oh! What a loss. Those incomparably sweet and precious moments, gone.

11:39 MONDAY 9 JULY 2007

This morning's torrential downpour was very beautiful. Otherwise? Editing a critique and writing a column as my beloved husband powers through various features and Bee enjoys her Fuzzy Felt boards.

20:24 THURSDAY 5 JULY 2007

New page uploaded. Otherwise? Meetings yesterday to arrange Alexander's and Bethesda's baptisms, completing a feature, trying to find time for recreational reading, and tending to my dear little snuffly baby. Oh, and this is where everyone should buy Christmas gifts.

21:12 MONDAY 2 JULY 2007

We all trooped off to Meg's birthday party yesterday, which was great fun other than the moment Bee screamed at the carved darkwood African turtle-chair with shell-eyes, and sobbed: "ANIMAW! ANIMAW!" (Translation: "Daddy, I think you're sitting on a weird animal's back.") Ever gallant, Alexander swept her out into the garden. Otherwise? The cold weather makes me want to sleep sleep sleep, but I have to work work work. I fantasize about catching that plane into sunlight ... only a few more weeks.

21:19 FRIDAY 29 JUNE 2007

Just received the most beautiful email. "I am a Norwegian psychologist working in suicide prevention. I have just finished The Eclipse, and I was thoroughly moved by it.  I am very weary of the effort to medicalize and pathologize suicide; to say that the problem 'really' is depression and the 'solution' is treatments for depression. That is why I think Edwin Shneidman is such a great suicidologist. Thanks again for the deepfelt and brilliant book. Sincerely, Kim Larsen." Sheesh. Gotta love those emotionally literate Norwegians. Otherwise? Just filed a 4,000 word essay and in the thick of a new one as Alexander prepares dinner and Bee lightly snores on our bed.

12:07 THURSDAY 28 JUNE 2007

Sleepy sleepy sleepy. Too much work, not enough play ("Play all day!" Bee cries, quoting Dr. Seuss).

00:05 MONDAY 25 JUNE 2007

"Britain is one of the worst countries in the developed world in which to be a child, the Children's Commissioner said today. Sir Al Aynsley-Green warned of a 'crisis at the heart of our society' in the way children are treated by adults. He said he was 'angry' that adults frequently 'demonise' children while vulnerable young people continue to die through poverty and neglect.

Speaking as he launched a new five year plan for his organisation, Sir Al said children often raised concerns over safety, security and bullying. 'Children exist in a state of great uncertainty,' he said. 'They feel unsafe in the streets, they often have domestic violence at home and bullying in school and they feel demonised by the adult population.'

"He said 'endless testing' in schools also contributed to children's unhappiness. Sir Al condemned the use of Asbos and the 'mosquito device' to stop children hanging around in particular areas. The device emits a high-pitched sound only audible to children.

He said: 'We are one of the most child and young person unfriendly countries in the developed world. It is exhilarating to meet children who are interested, passionate and concerned about the world. But I am driven almost to the point of despair when I see the awfulness of so many children's lives. That's why I am so angry. I am angry that many people are just not seeing the problem.'"

Sir Al's comments followed a Unicef report which branded the UK the worst country in the developed world for children's sense of their own well-being.

A global issue, it would seem.

DIARY CONTINUED ...