Chained to the desk

Today I developed a clever plan to make sure I was not distracted by the delights of Wellington city.  I got up, had a shower and washed my hair because I do have standards, but then, and this is the clever bit....I got back in my pjs! I also didn't put my contacts in so I'm wearing my ugly glasses.  There is no way I can leave! Brilliant in its simplicity! I had Claude Barzotti singing away in French on the stereo, I had the espresso machine on stand-by and I only opened Facebook at my 4 o'clock break for 5 minutes! I didn't turn off my phone in case someone had something important to say but that's a minor detail!

My Queen Bitch performance yesterday has actually resulted in a number of plot devices!

1) A Queen bitch has entered the scene at Rosie's work and I bow down to her bitchiness.

2) Rosie is exploring Buddhism without beliefs - something I had been doing in order to stop my QB tendencies rising to the surface - hopefully Rosie will have more success. However, this exploration has been useful in my own life and the novel. In order to be awakened each of the four ennobling truths must be acted upon in its own particular way - understanding anguish, letting go of its origins, realising its cessation and cultivating the path of cessation. Now for the book I have twisted this a little and this is not keeping in the spirit of the ideals but I'm not perfect!  I have Rosie and Megan both understanding the non-communication of Nick and Luc in their particular ways causes anguish. Rosie lets go of its origins by mentally slamming a door in Nick's face when he crosses her mind and Megan rips into Luc and tells him what he does that causes this anguish and leaves it open to him whether he chooses to continue or not but Megan will do nothing further.  Rosie realises that the anguish she experienced has ceased when she has to look up Nick's number for someone rather than reciting it from memory and she cultivates the path by removing all unnecessary reminders of Nick from her life.  She doesn't tear up photos and delete him from her phone but she removes him from her groups for emails and texts and seeks out friends to spend more time with. Megan has work to do but she is a character with many faults and that is the beauty of her.

3) A gorgeous phrase rose from something the recipient of my grump said. He didn't say the phrase, It just popped into my head as a perfect response but one that should not be used unless one wants to be Queen Bitch and Empress of punk your ass and I'm trying really hard to embrace Buddhism without beliefs but I am a lexophile so I must let my pretties fly. So Megan will use it when she confronts Luc or 'tears him a new one'. She will also comment to Rosie that the occasional placing acceptable behaviour on hold and actually speaking your mind is most refreshing and really is a service to the recipient because they might do some soul searching but as she says "I doubt it, I reckon 99.9% of the time they'll carry on and absolve themselves of any responsibility which is fine with me cos I still know they're an asshole and that's all that matters to me"

It was a beautiful day so I did get out on the balcony on the Tranzx and  fed the brain some endorphins. It gives the pigeons something to think about. It also clears out the cobwebs. I did make an exception to the pj rule because I didn't want the pigeons to fall out of the sky from laughing so hard.  Remember I'm trying to embrace buddhism without belief and I'm pretty sure that cruelty to animals is something I should avoid.  So as long as they don't poop on me or my bike we shall coexist in peaceful harmony. Being out on the balcony I discover many things about my neighbours. Today I discovered that one of them has a big liking for the wacky baccy.  For the whole hour of pedalling there was a constant fug in the air.

It's now 4:30 in the afternoon and I have produced 2193 words! I will probably write more this evening but still I am extremely happy with that output.

In one of the photos above you may have noticed my white board. I have it covered in quotations that appeal to me and inspire ideas for my characters. But I used one quotation today that was not on the board but suited James so beautifully. James is a Star Wars fan and when Rosie is talking to him about the way Luc is behaving he quotes Cicero- "He removes the greatest ornament of friendship, who takes away from it respect".  Rosie likes this because she thinks it sounds like something Yoda would say, which she thinks is more in keeping with James than a Roman author and orator. I just think it is good sensible advice and shows that there is more to James than Rosie suspects.

Today's beautiful word
Mercurial   changeable; volatile; fickle; flighty; erratic


Today's word count: 2193 words
Total word count: 23317 words