The Lair of the Emerald Serpent

 It seems like centuries ago but also only yesterday that I was lurking in the grounds of the arts centre that used to be a lunatic asylum and squiggling in my diary.
That was the time of the Green Lights. A sudden realization that changed the way I perceived almost everything.

It was like peeking in the Pensive and joining the dots.

So today I returned to the scene of the crime  some  20 years later with Wormtaill and a proper "Flesh, Blood and Bone" picnic.
Essential ingredients are bread, wine and cheese.

It was a gorgeous breezy 30 Celsius day. No nasty stinking 43.5 like it was last Sunday.

It's the perfect excuse to spend half the day squiggling - preferably in a bright shiny new notebook,  plotting and planning the month ahead  because of course there is always a new diary.
It's also the perfect excuse to start a new book too. This time it's Eddie Jaku courtesy of Ozfille.

I was in luck today because the usual Sunday afternoon concert was not on today. I guess the musicians want a long weekend too.

I would have turned up anyway but found some far away corner. Today I got to sit in the main courtyard in the shade of the plane trees.

It turns out it's just as well  I now get my Marauder's Year Maps direct from the source because the shop no longer stocks them. It was 2nd January 2019 where  I first got a  Goal Digger diary at a 30% discount in the arts centre gift shop. But now they no longer stock them.
Nice to get a 25% discount AND have it in time  for the big day itself. 

So I pigged out on productivity porn and also put on The Preciousss which I took off before  the op in October and I have not worn since. It was sharing a box with Petunia's gorgeous gold wedding ring.

So I'm now looking forward to a very Green year.

PS This entry turned out longer than I expected. But I can't put it under a cut because I'm using the Tweet stone not the Big Mac desk top.

This is now my 12th time doing Nanowrimo in November
The first time was in 2009 and by coincidence, this year’s days and dates coincide - i.e. In 2009 (and also 2015) the first day of November was a Sunday, which also meant that it is a Black Friday month
The last Black Friday in November was in 2015 and I remember it as if only yesterday because it was the day that a bunch of terrorists attempted to attack a football game in France and managed to kill more than a hundred people in the Bataclan theatre

So aside from those awful anniversaries, what I have noticed over the whole time is that I usually spend the first week in a sluggish snailish state unlike most Nanowrimo squigglers who are full of enthusiasm and bright ideas. They start all bright eyed and bushy tailed and chalk up YUUUGE word counts while I just plod along just managing to reach the daily word count quota of 1,666 words

( The Missing Muse )

It's that time of year again. Nanowrimo is just around the corner. After 3 years of brain dead word count quota filling with bugger all story to show for it, this time I have decided that I really do need to make an effort to get back to proper novel squiggling

About two months ago I managed to get my paws on Charles Duhigg's book "The Power of Habit" and I am slowly making my way through it. In combination with the evil "Hell Week" it has made one thing very clear. There is a lot to be said for doing stuff on autopilot. Using one's brains to make plans when they are still fresh and unfogged by the slings and arrows of daily dramas so that there is no need to make decisions when will power and the brain batteries are running on empty
The writer of Hell Week said that the reason soldiers can get so much stuff done is that someone else has already done the thinking and all they have to do is follow orders and just keep on marching.
Unlike Catness who gave me this inspiring book, I never actually did the 7 day program. The book arrived in my life right in the middle of some serious Dursleyish dramas and through no fault of its own has been tainted by them but one central message still remains which is reinforced by the book about habits. Clever use of thinking time can drastically increase the effectiveness of doing time. Because decision fatigue is much more draining than physical fatigue.

For almost 3 years I had set up a house work schedule with certain jobs assigned to certain days and was pleased to discover that it did not take too long for it to become almost automatic so much so that it required more energy NOT to do the job of the day and something else instead. Tasks that has initially taken almost an hour soon shrank to less than half that time leaving more space for squiggling and slinking on Twitter

But then Petunia got sick and I got totally out of the usual routine. It is now only some 3 years later that I finally feel I can get back on the broomstick of usual routine. Even just a token gesture is sufficient to start anchoring old housework habits again.

Last month I dusted off the old housework schedule and also decided to make a habit of writing 333 words per day. Not 333 good words. It could be any old waffle (and usually is) just so long as there are 333 or more of them. Sometimes I would do double that or more and I missed only 2 days in the whole month so I was happy with that new habit. Now for October I have decided to double it to 666 with the intention of using at least half of them for plotting and planning for November


And this time there will be no gaps in the 31 day streak.

The serpent is slowly returning to the usual state of abnormal. Brain cells are regrowing and I have finally signed up for an online course. One called Mindware on Coursera that I constantly had to roll over because I was simply too busy or too brain dead to even look at the material let alone do the tests and stuff.

It's also time to resume the grand project of creating a place of calm amidst the chaos.
Last June and July, I went on a massive sorting and decluttering binge in order to have the Lair looking respectable for Daisy's visit this year. Got more done in those 6 to 8 weeks than in the last 6 to 8 years which is pretty sad.
I had not failed to notice 2 things from this experiment. The first is to never underestimate the power of a serious deadline. Just like in November, it seems to create its own supply of mojo.

Secondly, it is always easier to get stuff done when there is a clear goal in mind. Preferably stated in positive terms. It was far easier to get the mojo going thinking of having a place for everything and everything in its place including a tidy wardrobe containing only clothes that actually fit me and that I like rather than concentrating on getting rid of stuff.

Like Michelangelo faced with a giant block of marble, keeping his eye on his vision of David and not on the chunks of marble that he is slowly and steadily chipping away.

I had already decided that the 2 serpent 'shrines' needed a bit of sorting. One of them had stuff that had been sitting there for several years. It needed a good dusting and there were also little black dots sprinkled around that looked suspiciously like mouse droppings

First step was to take everything off and to clean and wipe the wooden surface. Lemon oil was the perfect potion. It made the surfaces all shiny and clean smelling. That was when the inspiration struck. This is actually a writing desk so it might be a good idea to use it for WRITING. After all, November is coming.

Aside from that, it is the perfect excuse to move the books, notes, pens and stuff that find their way onto the dining room table. And of course once there is a stash of stuff, other stuff gets drawn to it like a magnet.

So with all the papers and things gone, it should now be much easier to use the dining room table only for its intended purpose.

This desk is in front of a window looking onto the garden and also has much better artificial light than the dining room table. Used it last night for its intended purpose and also tidied and sorted the two drawers underneath it which contain pens, markers, pencils and an assortment of envelopes and other stationery.

It was strange. Once I found a suitable purpose for the writing desk, the rest just came naturally. Only problem now after culling half the stuff that had been on it, is finding a place for the special bits and pieces especially the sandalwood bowl, owl and serpent ornaments and the assortment of sinister looking potions bottles got from a sale at the Chem Centre.
The Lair does sometimes look suspiciously like some sinister alchemy lab.

So now I have a bright shiny new spot to write in my Green Goblin book at the end of each day and it was wonderful to use even for such boring mundane Muggle matters.

A quick squiggle from Nanoland. This has been the strangest Camp Nano in the last few years and bears an uncanny resemblance to the adventures of August 2012

The map was all rolled out and ready to go. The path should have been pretty easy. Usually Camp Nano is the perfect occasion to get in a bit of practice in writing and brainstorming by grabbing a pack of Devil’s playing cards as writing prompts then churning through them slowly and steadily in the hope of generating as many ideas and leads as possible for the big event in November.

But this time I decided to do things a bit differently. Instead of laying the foundations for a new project, would devote this time to adding more words to last November’s zero draft. All the serpent needed to do was to add a whole bunch of new scenes and try to steer the story into some relatively coherent shape.

The Art of the Steal was about a devil doing deals and offering numerous political fixes in exchange for souls to fill his bright shiny Celebrity trophy cabinet.

It should have been so easy since Dodgy Donald and his minions have exceeded even the worst of expectations.
Between Twitter snippets and even just following the daily news here, there is bucket loads of raw material so it should have been possible to almost go in zombie mode.

But the inner serpent is not playing nicely.

Of course there have been quite a few distractions in the last few months.

( Playing with the Pensieve )

Izzie has finally slinked out of the dungeons. The days of slaving over a steaming keyboard are now over. I lingered for a day or so before trading in the pretty green skin for the purple banner of Nanowrimo victory.

The slow and steady plodding has finally paid off. The muses dropped by once or twice during the whole first three weeks before gate crashing the party on Monday. They've been hanging around ever since providing inspiration from the unlikeliest places.

So much nasty awful stuff has been going on in the real world. They made my own attempts at inventing a nihilistic death cult look exceedingly pathetic indeed. It's just as well the wannabee writers are not running the world. It would be a whole lot worse than it already is.

After all "Only Trouble is interesting"

I gave in to the temptation of buying a particularly wicked and twisted collection of writing prompts but still not worked out how to get the thing out of the Kindle Cloud and on to the crappy little tablet.

I will be saving this special stash of nasties for the new year since it would only have been a distraction in November.

Having proved that the inner serpent can churn out the words given a deadline, the next step is to master the dark art of finishing stuff and putting it out there. The inner critic is not amused at that appalling idea.

So now it's time to go sniffing, snooping and shopping in MOOC land again. This time last year I had started a fascinating course on Terrorism and Counter terrorism but had to drop it half way due to unexpected events and overseas adventures.

So many courses are now available all year round to do at your own pace including that one but one thing I have learned from Nanowrimo is that there's nothing quite so motivating as an external deadline.

Just slinked over to Coursera to take a quick peek. Looks like they've nuked all the old records from the golden days of the Freebies. (They didn't but just made them very hard to find)

Oh well. It was fun while it lasted.

It's strange to think that ten years ago I had a laptop but no internet but still managed to post far more than now when Cyberia is just a couple of clicks away. Even October 2014 had more posts than this month and back then there was the rather significant distraction of an online Python programming course which often had this serpent slaving over a hot keyboard at 2 in the morning desperately tweeking some sad and pathetic attempt at the weekly assignments.

This year there is the rather less rigorous "Science of Happiness" online course which consists of a whole lot of videos and a bunch of multiple choice questions each week.
I'm 4 weeks behind schedule but as everything is due by 24th November it is not yet a big deal. The moral of the story is that no matter how good one's intentions and willingness to learn, serpent nature dictates that homework will be submitted as near to the deadline as possible.

I've since discovered that the Edx certificates proclaim that a student has passed the requirements of such and such a course without giving details of the actual grade. Pity because I was rather amused by the 110% I got in the Superheroes and popular culture course. That magnificent number is nowhere to be seen on the certificate.

Soon the latest Nanowrimo adventure begins and there will be even less squiggling in Cyberia during November unless I set aside a section for warm ups.

In the meantime, still searching for the perfect Nano cafe for squiggling, plotting and planning away from the Big Mac keyboard.

Izzie has been a busy serpent. There was so much stuff going on in April. All sorts of government gossip and a dreaded certain centenary and a whole bunch of gardening to be done. For most of the month the weather was absolutely gorgeous. It was sunny but not too hot and most of the time there was the delicate light that invites quiet contemplation, pottering amongst the weeds and general contentment with the universe.

Also during two weeks of April there was an invasion of artists from all over the world adorning the city walls with gorgeous murals. Some were so large that the artists used cherry pickers. It was wonderful fun wandering around with the lists and ticking each item off one by one. Since a lot of the walls are a bit off the beaten track and hiding in quirky corners it was a most fascinating way of seeing the suburbs.
One proved to be very inspirational indeed.



Then there was the annual ritual of Camp Nanowrimo for folks who do not want to wait until November to squiggle their stories. So that’s where all the words have been going the last month. Was slacking a bit going for a goal of 33,333 words for the month rather than the usual April quota of 50,000. Just been for a quick visit over at the camp cabins. These are groups of a dozen or so participants who share a ‘campfire’ where they can post snippets of story gossip, offer ideas or encouragement to each other. Well that is the theory anyway.

( April Foolishness )

Some simple serpent musings while slinking at the nano campfire toasting a toad on a stick. Here’s hoping the serpent doesn’t get food poisoning. Toads are such tricksy toxic creatures that no amount of precautions are completely fool proof.

The serpent’s favourite saying of all time just has to be “The map is not the territory” It appeals to the introvert’s eternal questioning of the nature of reality and insanity and even to the toxic paper work culture where nothing has happened unless it is documented documented and documented to death

This particular map was made way back in January this year with the shuffling of a tarot deck. Twenty six stories with three cards each and no returns so every single card made an appearance at some stage or other. This is rather different from the usual story structure of a prologue and 21 chapters each based on the major arcana in order. Cards 8 and 11 get ordered according to what works best for a particular story but usually Strength works out best as 8 and Justice as 11 which also seems to work well with the cluster of shit sandwiches that usually make an appearance from chapters 10 to 16.

That pattern of course is what we use in November. Camp Nano is for playing the fool, doing rebellious and adventurous stuff and basically using the opportunity to brainstorm ideas for the November novel. Last time camp nano squiggling did not even make any attempts at producing stories. It was simply a run through a particularly inspiring deck from the point of view of creating characters and the odd plot point. When that did not produce the requisite word count simply grabbed another one and started with the Fool all the way some 77 cards later to the King of Pentacles

This year was supposed to concentrate on short stories. The serpent pattern for all nano adventures has been to crash around two thirds of the way through a story and never quite complete it. Always made the word count but could never quite conquer the nuts and bolts of story structure. Well of course it was ridiculously stupid to dive in at the deep end with a fifty thousand word story having never done such a thing before. This year would be dedicated to the art of finishing things. Twenty six stories should provide sufficient practice in theory

( The Map is not the territory )

Had an ever so lazy day this morning slinking about in the Lair, soaking up the sunshine and meeting an old friend from the mad house that is the day job. Sybil was one of the wiser rats who got out of the sinking ship sooner rather than later.

She is ever so amused and disgusted by the latest dramas there. But that is a story for another time and place. Later the Izzie returned to the Lair and decided to spend a few hours snoozing outside in the sunshine and watching the rainbow lorikeets raiding the eucalyptus flowers.
It was also good to see that the Tuscan kale planted some three weeks ago has finally decided to sprout. They are now onto their first set of real leaves and within three weeks should be feasting on the green goodness. Some we will let go to seed and save them for next year.

The original plan was to slink into the city around 4pm for a coffee crawl and to take a peek at the new Winter Festival at the town hall. The first time was the last Friday of June. Was feeling a bit tired and claustrophobic so just could not get into the right mood.

Lingered a bit longer in the lair soaking up the last rays of sunshine before catching a bus to the city just before 5pm. Paid a visit to the latest Nanowrimo cafe. This time no cards and no brainstorming simply coffee and the daily paper. Wanted to get the daily fix of the letters page and cartoon, the weekly gardening features and the latest drama from the murder trial of the decade.

Stayed rather longer than intended and ended up with only 30 minutes until the official ending of the winter festival. Silly really since it is only once a month and the cafe is open six days a week.

Was still somewhat agitated but nowhere as bad as last time. The most striking thing apart from the dark sky and crisp cold evening was the heavenly aromas drifting around the town hall. Aside from the MacDonalds and assorted monstrous carbuncles lining the other side of Hay Street it would be very easy to believe that this was Nuremburg, Berlin, Buxtehude or a hundred little towns or cities anywhere in Germany. There was hot chocolate, truffles, bratwurst and gluhwein and even the wood fired baker with offerings of Gugelhopf, assorted baguettes, pies and organic sour dough bread was also German. There were also Brazilian Churros - sort of sickly sweet doughnuts filled with caramel or chocolate, crepes and Moroccan dips and delicious tomato sauce and egg offerings with sausages tossed in for an extra three silver sickles.

Resisted the temptation to indulge which was not too difficult as most of the stalls were packing up by that time but it was nice to linger and inhale the intoxicating fragrances. Quite astonishing how the smell of mulled wine and sizzling sausages and onions could conjure up places and memories from half way around the world and more than twenty years ago in time.

( Winterland in Oz )