It was uni summer holidays when Y2K was supposedly going to hit. I was working full-time in the kitchen of a major New South Wales hospital. Hospital electricians were powering up generators in case the life support and other medical equipment went berserk, nurses filled up baths and sinks with water and reassured terrified patients, and down in the kitchen we had ordered enough food to plate cold meals for the next week in the absence of working ovens – and rostered on an extra ten staff for the following day in case the industrial dishwashers stopped working.

Despite being an avid blogger, to me the hysteria being generated by ‘media commentators’ regarding the e-book’s ambitious plans to change our reading habits forever is the literary equivalent of the Y2K madness.

So it’s with great pleasure that I find myself included in Miscellaneous Voices: Australian Blog Writing #1. This print publication, which collects writing from thirty bloggers from around the country, is edited by Karen Andrews of Miscellaneous Press, and will be launched at Readings bookstore, Carlton at 6pm this evening.

In a further challenge to the print-to-cyberspace trend, a number of blog writers including Alec Patric, Stu Hatton, Allison Browning and myself, will be reading aloud their inclusions in this groundbreaking new collection.

What better reason to take a break from blog surfing for the night?

Event: Launch of Australian Blog Writing #1
Date: Wednesday 14 April 2010
Time: 6:00pm–8:00pm
Location: Readings Carlton, Lygon Street, Victoria