The Map is Not the Territory

Congratulations to the Cat on crossing the finish line of the mad nano marathon. Izzie is still plodding along at her snail's pace and hopes to catch up for canapes and champers in the Winners cocktail lounge.


Izzie slinks into her cell utterly exhausted. If we had any idea when starting just how truly frustrating and annoying Nano would be, would have not gone near it with a barge pole

It's not that the Izzie regrets entering it but we sure do regret ever even dreaming of using the utterly useless google docs to save stuff

Had intended to type using Open Office on the itsie bitsie teenie weenie Eee Pc but soon discovered that the keyboard was waaaaay too little for bit fat clumsy serpent fingers
It would have to be the old Mac after all.

Could have saved a whole lot of stress and drama by making 7 separate documents with 3 or so chapters each instead of just one which got bigger and more difficult to manage with each passing day
It took longer and longer just to get from one bit to another and scroll around. And every time we got dumped into the black hole of google, it got harder and harder to get out again

Thursday 19th was the start of the drama. Was having a very good hair day and making lots of progress - in the zone - or going with the flow or whatever they call it
Was very happy with the way the words were working and it was fun too. But then google docs had to go piss on the serpent's parade
Damned thing went down just before 11pm so could no longer save stuff. So simply copied and pasted as a private entry in Dreamwidth - or so we thought. Instead of pasting the one chapter in progress that time it went and posted the whole damned story twice - and only one of them was locked! By the time Izzie (and the Cat) noticed and got that drama sorted out it was 2am

Next day was a bit better and google docs finally came back around lunch time. It wasn't working in the netcafe either.
You'd think we would have learned our lesson. Well sort of - was saving stuff online as private entries as well as basic text docs just in case
So for the first time in two weeks, reached the magic quota of the day - this one being the particularly pretty 33,333 words. Was very proud and contented with the day's achievement
But next day the black hole swallowed it all and the resurrected previous version turned out to be around 1,000 words short. Unlike other times - the previous day was not working on one chapter but just adding lines and paragraphs here there and all over the place which made them seriously hard to trace
At that stage, had totally abandoned useless google and started a new google doc file that would be for storing stuff only AFTER they were safely written and copied and pasted elsewhere
This was made possible by Catness finding Izzie a cute little word count widget so we could still keep the nano score updated

Just as well because google was sulking and not saving for three whole days this week and only came back this evening
But now we had the problem of bits of the story all over the place as Dreamwidth entries and keeping score with bits of paper and a calculator. Was also putting them in google as a very last resort. After all - validating from ten different documents scattered all over Cyberia is just an accident waiting to happen. What if we forget one and fall 2,000 words under the limit and lose after all this time?
Turns out to be 1,000 words more there than the bits and pieces all over the place
So ended up spending at least 90 mins searching for those 1,000 missing words after having already lost 30 precious evening minutes from a pesky Petunia on the phone - ringing right in the middle of a pretty good run of writing. Had gotten 880 words in 30 mins and was hoping to have a total of 90 mins for the evening

There was simply no point in trying to write any more. The phone had broken the magical spell
And the Izzie was most definitely NOT going to say - sorry ma - cannot chat right now - busy squiggling a nano novel! That would be nagging material until next November - and put in the same basket as the accounting degree that took five years and cost $15,000 and is rotting away unused in the serpent skull

So just to be on the safe side, spent the rest of the evening bringing together all the twisted little bits scattered all over Cyberia and in the darkness binding them

So tomorrow's game plan - not working for a totally unrelated reason - and most convenient indeed - will be going to an astronomy festival at the local university as well as a bunch of organic growers markets so that should provide lots of thinking time for ideas all bubbling away ready to appear in the evening

It will hopefully be the very last of all those 2am bed times. All the words will be completed gathered by tomorrow night and posted on their merry way on Sunday
And only then will we finally put all those filler bits in their proper chapters before getting down to the dirty work of editing and using the Chicken Qabala correspondences list to add bits of extra spice to each chapter. ;)

Would never have imagined that no plot would be no problem. All that was the fun bit and the easy bit - it was the boring old house keeping stuff that was the killer and the weakest link for the serpent

So are we going to do it again next year? Of course - no point in going through all this pain and frustration for nothing
And hopefully next time the story will get the time it deserves
And the Izzie will have a new and proper Precious with a bit of memory and a lot of manners - no snobbish stuck up business of not associating with the best and brightest of browsers and writing programs because of compatibility issues
There's just about nothing out there any more that will run on OSX 10.3.9

Apple are just as evil as Microsith with the built in obsolescence business

Well it's now time to slink off into the darkness for a glass of red and a bit of star gazing and a well earned serpent snooze

The Map is Not the Territory

Congratulations to the Cat on crossing the finish line of the mad nano marathon. Izzie is still plodding along at her snail's pace and hopes to catch up for canapes and champers in the Winners cocktail lounge.


Izzie slinks into her cell utterly exhausted. If we had any idea when starting just how truly frustrating and annoying Nano would be, would have not gone near it with a barge pole

It's not that the Izzie regrets entering it but we sure do regret ever even dreaming of using the utterly useless google docs to save stuff

Had intended to type using Open Office on the itsie bitsie teenie weenie Eee Pc but soon discovered that the keyboard was waaaaay too little for bit fat clumsy serpent fingers
It would have to be the old Mac after all.

Could have saved a whole lot of stress and drama by making 7 separate documents with 3 or so chapters each instead of just one which got bigger and more difficult to manage with each passing day
It took longer and longer just to get from one bit to another and scroll around. And every time we got dumped into the black hole of google, it got harder and harder to get out again

Thursday 19th was the start of the drama. Was having a very good hair day and making lots of progress - in the zone - or going with the flow or whatever they call it
Was very happy with the way the words were working and it was fun too. But then google docs had to go piss on the serpent's parade
Damned thing went down just before 11pm so could no longer save stuff. So simply copied and pasted as a private entry in Dreamwidth - or so we thought. Instead of pasting the one chapter in progress that time it went and posted the whole damned story twice - and only one of them was locked! By the time Izzie (and the Cat) noticed and got that drama sorted out it was 2am

Next day was a bit better and google docs finally came back around lunch time. It wasn't working in the netcafe either.
You'd think we would have learned our lesson. Well sort of - was saving stuff online as private entries as well as basic text docs just in case
So for the first time in two weeks, reached the magic quota of the day - this one being the particularly pretty 33,333 words. Was very proud and contented with the day's achievement
But next day the black hole swallowed it all and the resurrected previous version turned out to be around 1,000 words short. Unlike other times - the previous day was not working on one chapter but just adding lines and paragraphs here there and all over the place which made them seriously hard to trace
At that stage, had totally abandoned useless google and started a new google doc file that would be for storing stuff only AFTER they were safely written and copied and pasted elsewhere
This was made possible by Catness finding Izzie a cute little word count widget so we could still keep the nano score updated

Just as well because google was sulking and not saving for three whole days this week and only came back this evening
But now we had the problem of bits of the story all over the place as Dreamwidth entries and keeping score with bits of paper and a calculator. Was also putting them in google as a very last resort. After all - validating from ten different documents scattered all over Cyberia is just an accident waiting to happen. What if we forget one and fall 2,000 words under the limit and lose after all this time?
Turns out to be 1,000 words more there than the bits and pieces all over the place
So ended up spending at least 90 mins searching for those 1,000 missing words after having already lost 30 precious evening minutes from a pesky Petunia on the phone - ringing right in the middle of a pretty good run of writing. Had gotten 880 words in 30 mins and was hoping to have a total of 90 mins for the evening

There was simply no point in trying to write any more. The phone had broken the magical spell
And the Izzie was most definitely NOT going to say - sorry ma - cannot chat right now - busy squiggling a nano novel! That would be nagging material until next November - and put in the same basket as the accounting degree that took five years and cost $15,000 and is rotting away unused in the serpent skull

So just to be on the safe side, spent the rest of the evening bringing together all the twisted little bits scattered all over Cyberia and in the darkness binding them

So tomorrow's game plan - not working for a totally unrelated reason - and most convenient indeed - will be going to an astronomy festival at the local university as well as a bunch of organic growers markets so that should provide lots of thinking time for ideas all bubbling away ready to appear in the evening

It will hopefully be the very last of all those 2am bed times. All the words will be completed gathered by tomorrow night and posted on their merry way on Sunday
And only then will we finally put all those filler bits in their proper chapters before getting down to the dirty work of editing and using the Chicken Qabala correspondences list to add bits of extra spice to each chapter. ;)

Would never have imagined that no plot would be no problem. All that was the fun bit and the easy bit - it was the boring old house keeping stuff that was the killer and the weakest link for the serpent

So are we going to do it again next year? Of course - no point in going through all this pain and frustration for nothing
And hopefully next time the story will get the time it deserves
And the Izzie will have a new and proper Precious with a bit of memory and a lot of manners - no snobbish stuck up business of not associating with the best and brightest of browsers and writing programs because of compatibility issues
There's just about nothing out there any more that will run on OSX 10.3.9

Apple are just as evil as Microsith with the built in obsolescence business

Well it's now time to slink off into the darkness for a glass of red and a bit of star gazing and a well earned serpent snooze

A Smiling Serpent

Izzie's playing with the baby Preciousss - weenie little netbook. Good as a portkey to Cyberia but not so good for serious ten fingered squiggling

Nearly at the finish line of the insane nano marathon and only hoping the other computer plays nice tonight

In the last two days was one seriously decadent serpent and spent nearly $$200 on books!
At first thinks - bummer - cannot post about offline adventures until meeting the daily nano word count but then thinks -can kill two birds with the one stone and send Dolores X (the main charaacter) to the shops instead. That was worth some 1,555 words

Today she will have been coffee drinking and star gazing with the latest telescopic toys ;)

So it will soon be time to dust off the cobwebs, return to the real world and get some well overdue Christmas parcels in the post
And may even manage a visit to the nano procrastination forums

A Smiling Serpent

Izzie's playing with the baby Preciousss - weenie little netbook. Good as a portkey to Cyberia but not so good for serious ten fingered squiggling

Nearly at the finish line of the insane nano marathon and only hoping the other computer plays nice tonight

In the last two days was one seriously decadent serpent and spent nearly $$200 on books!
At first thinks - bummer - cannot post about offline adventures until meeting the daily nano word count but then thinks -can kill two birds with the one stone and send Dolores X (the main charaacter) to the shops instead. That was worth some 1,555 words

Today she will have been coffee drinking and star gazing with the latest telescopic toys ;)

So it will soon be time to dust off the cobwebs, return to the real world and get some well overdue Christmas parcels in the post
And may even manage a visit to the nano procrastination forums