tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13541706313553408512012-01-29T02:00:07.284ZEclectic Notes and Ephemeral DustbunniesViridian Greenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10041466964085728629noreply@blogger.comBlogger1441100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1354170631355340851.post-26800652725829531752012-01-29T01:59:00.000Z2012-01-29T02:00:07.307Z

To have carved on the days of our vanityA sunA shipA starA cornstalkAlso a few marksFrom an ancient forgotten timeA child may readThat not far from the stoneA well Might open for wayfarersHere is a work for poets -Carve the runesThen be content with silence.George Mackay Brown, 1996

Viridian Greenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10041466964085728629noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1354170631355340851.post-51799057715319273452012-01-14T00:20:00.001Z2012-01-14T00:20:54.878Z

I watched Alatriste this evening - and for its entire duration of two-and-a-half hours I marvelled how much the lead looked exactly like Viggo Mortensen (for whom I do carry a wee bit of a crush). As the credits rolled, I realised it WAS Viggo Mortensen. Epic fail! I badly need new glasses, How could I be so thick? My only excuse is that my attention must have wandered as much as the plot.Moving

Viridian Greenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10041466964085728629noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1354170631355340851.post-26555624486472632712012-01-02T19:49:00.000Z2012-01-02T19:50:17.553Z

My goals for 2012 are deliberately modest and (I hope) attainable. I've broken them down into various compartments, but nothing is fixed in stone, all is fluid and flux, as I've discovered that defining goals too firmly makes me feel straitjacketed rather than inspired.Last year saw me withdrawing from the petty snobbery of some writing communities and rekindling my interest in history and

Viridian Greenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10041466964085728629noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1354170631355340851.post-81350941344345748822011-12-30T01:13:00.001Z2012-01-01T01:14:43.205Z

Some days it’s hard to find much of beauty in the world. The News is a litany of greed, corruption and gloomy predictions for the years ahead. Outside, the weather is in sympathy with the zeitgeist: grey, dismal and dank. Of course, my mood may be jaundiced (literally) by the fact I woke up yesterday prepared to enjoy my five days of liberty from the work grindstone only to find myself blurry-

Viridian Greenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10041466964085728629noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1354170631355340851.post-60826570662104823792011-10-06T12:09:00.000+01:002011-10-06T12:10:21.850+01:00

Horse-chestnut, Aesculus hippocastanum. aka Conker tree.

Viridian Greenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10041466964085728629noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1354170631355340851.post-57128550818373729872011-09-30T15:28:00.000+01:002011-09-30T15:29:23.075+01:00

So, I've had this last week off work and it's been a good time for me. I needed a reprieve from the dull daily mundanities that slowly wear me down like water dripping on stone. This has been my breathing and stretching time, and since even the gods have smiled on my leisure and blessed us with summerlike warmth and sunshine, I've been able to return to my daily commune with nature in the woods

Viridian Greenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10041466964085728629noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1354170631355340851.post-91604916436248459082011-09-19T01:05:00.002+01:002011-09-19T01:08:56.067+01:00

While I was buying a pint of milk in the Supermarket from Hell earlier today, I spotted a display stand of Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides DVDs. I realised that not only was it the first PotC film I hadn’t seen in the cinema then promptly preordered my own copy and awaited eagerly, but I hadn’t even realised it was out on DVD already. Even having spotted it, I didn’t buy it, and I

Viridian Greenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10041466964085728629noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1354170631355340851.post-5884866900395111102011-09-14T23:42:00.001+01:002011-09-14T23:42:55.140+01:00

This morning felt like Autumn. Even though there's another week before the season officially turns, the air has the scent of Autumn, the trees are starting to wear russet shades, the sky darkens to pewter noticably earlier each evening, shadows are getting longer and rosehips swell like fat red jewels in the hedgerows. All these things act as Zeitgeber to my biological temporal rhythms and I can

Viridian Greenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10041466964085728629noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1354170631355340851.post-55523870018415423862011-06-16T22:44:00.001+01:002011-06-16T22:46:27.808+01:00

June prompt:What can you let yourself off the hook for?I probably won't bother with this. It's a pretty stupid and self-indulgent prompt and the swamp that passes for my brain nowadays is sure as heck not getting a creative kick out of the exercise, which had been my hope when I decided to carry on after Reverb 10.I admit the only reason I've crept back to it now is because I'm prevaricating. I

Viridian Greenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10041466964085728629noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1354170631355340851.post-81429655904040325932011-05-10T00:35:00.001+01:002011-05-10T01:00:40.390+01:00

Q&A meme that was started by Stuck in a Book.The Book I Am Currently ReadingI'm actually reading two books at the moment: Peter Carey's Parrot and Olivier in America and Martin Millar's Curse of the Wolf Girl. Both are favourite authors, and I'm loving both reads.The Book I Finished LastMartin Millar's Lonely Werewolf Girl (Curse is its sequel). I don't generally do werewolves any more readily

Viridian Greenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10041466964085728629noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1354170631355340851.post-74338150514523615282011-05-10T00:29:00.000+01:002011-05-10T00:31:26.422+01:00

May prompt:If you participated in Reverb 10 during December of last year, are any of the things you wanted to manifest in 2011 revealing themselves?Is it just me or does 'manifestations revealing themselves' remind anyone else of Victorian seances and ectoplasm? Or biblical appearances by higher entities? - Lo and behold!Seriously.The prompts for Reverb 10 mostly seemed to me to be all about

Viridian Greenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10041466964085728629noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1354170631355340851.post-5525949508432277952011-04-27T00:05:00.006+01:002011-04-27T00:11:41.952+01:00

Yay! I have achieved my goal of 5,000 words for the April Fool's challenge! *happy dance* 5,257 / 5,000(105.1%)No, I'm not going to get over-confident and complacent and up the ante again. I've done that already - I would have been chuffed enough with my originally planned 3k, so I'm well pleased.What's next? *grin*

Viridian Greenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10041466964085728629noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1354170631355340851.post-57728823493212786062011-04-21T20:22:00.000+01:002011-04-27T00:04:47.611+01:00

Today's post for one of my collaborative novels at PanE adds another 686 words to my total, and with the addition of a wee piece done as a prompt for In So Many Words it inches me a bit nearer my April Fool's goal: 3,927 / 5,000(78.5%)I'm getting anxious about achieving those last 1073 words. It sounds very little, but with the series of Bank Holidays we have lined up for the next 10 days, the

Viridian Greenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10041466964085728629noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1354170631355340851.post-38049137305672243212011-04-09T21:15:00.000+01:002011-04-27T00:02:14.641+01:00

So, thanks to Ashtoreth's encouragement I embarked upon the April's Fool thing. Since I missed the first week of the month, I set myself a very modest target of 3000 words (not 2000 as in the counter below; the counter didn't offer 3000 as an option) and managed a 618-word post for one of my characters today which got me off to a respectable start towards that goal.I want to try and write

Viridian Greenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10041466964085728629noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1354170631355340851.post-20053526630352012972011-04-06T23:40:00.000+01:002011-04-26T23:59:11.146+01:00

Not in reading order, the books I currently have in the pile (paper and Kindle) are: The Gargoyle by Andrew DavidsonThe Lacuna by Barbara KingsolverParrot and Olivier in America by Peter CareyThe Tulip by Anna PavordThe Man Who Would be King by Rudyard KiplingAs I finish each one, another will be added to the list in its place. I am determined to read more this year! The brain needs the

Viridian Greenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10041466964085728629noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1354170631355340851.post-89405242299652437572011-04-05T20:19:00.004+01:002011-04-07T09:25:29.590+01:00

April Prompt:What's blossoming?photo © myself 2011Butterbur. No, not Barliman Butterbur the owner of The Prancing Pony in Bree. I mean the Common Butterbur, Petasites hybridus, (aka blatterdock, bog rhubarb, pestilence wort, butter-dock or sweet coltsfoot) which colonises our local river and canal banks, and pushes its thick stems of whitish-pink flower heads up through the mud at this time of

Viridian Greenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10041466964085728629noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1354170631355340851.post-69514819713228866892011-03-15T19:18:00.001Z2011-03-15T19:20:15.609Z

I half expected this to bite my leg as I stepped over it...

Viridian Greenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10041466964085728629noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1354170631355340851.post-28345432242797853572011-03-03T22:40:00.002Z2011-03-03T22:43:57.297Z

March Prompt:If March 2011 was your last month to live, how would you live it?It would be oh-so-easy to automatically answer, "To the max!". But I have to admit I probably wouldn't suddenly turn into a fearless, reckless skydiving daredevil in my last days. After all, what if there was a last minute reprieve when the Great Cosmic Thing reveals it all to be an April Fool's joke and I'd

Viridian Greenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10041466964085728629noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1354170631355340851.post-34547899535407759622011-03-03T17:14:00.001Z2011-03-03T17:16:32.278Z

As the ripples of Reverb 10 settle across my life's stagnant duck-pond, I discover belatedly that the exercise is being continued into 2011 with a series of monthly prompts. I didn't see the prompts for January and February - if they existed they may have drowned in the tangled morass of my inbox folders - but the prompt for March has just floated ashore. Now, I know I was sarky and cynical about

Viridian Greenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10041466964085728629noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1354170631355340851.post-48879477411307425642011-01-24T22:11:00.004Z2011-01-24T23:12:15.960Z

photo © myself 2011When a mighty and ancient tree falls in the Wildwood, its death brings forth and sustains new life.In the past, fallen branches and branches were removed from managed woodland, but modern methods of management recognise that dead and decaying wood is extremely important to the health of the forest. It is valuable for nutrient cycling and carbon storage, and provides a complex

Viridian Greenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10041466964085728629noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1354170631355340851.post-48386389235424137832011-01-01T20:50:00.001Z2011-01-01T20:51:18.819Z

The arrival of the New Year was marked for us not by fireworks, but by a bonfire of negativity. It was a subdued turn of the year, all told. Missing were the fireworks habitually sent up from neighbouring villages to welcome the New Year. There was no joyous blaring of car horns or factory sirens. No sense of revelry or optimism for the year ahead. Wishes for the new year were tempered with "It's

Viridian Greenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10041466964085728629noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1354170631355340851.post-69749854025410363522010-12-31T20:09:00.000Z2010-12-31T20:10:19.892Z

Prompt: Core story. What central story is at the core of you, and how do you share it with the world? (Bonus: Consider your reflections from this month. Look through them to discover a thread you may not have noticed until today.)At the core of me is a survival story. Despite what last year threw at me and dragged me though, I'm not a victim, not a failure, not a has-been. I'm still standing and

Viridian Greenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10041466964085728629noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1354170631355340851.post-55565890342208662362010-12-31T19:41:00.000Z2010-12-31T19:42:18.561Z

Prompt: Gift. This month, gifts and gift-giving can seem inescapable. What's the most memorable gift, tangible or emotional, you received this year?Gifts have been rather sparse this year as myself and everyone else I know in fleshpace are being dull and economising. I did treat myself to a new snow shovel, but I'm not sure that was particularly inspirational to look back on. It was damned useful

Viridian Greenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10041466964085728629noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1354170631355340851.post-3168090815654166862010-12-29T12:30:00.001Z2010-12-29T12:30:44.020Z

Prompt: Defining moment. Describe a defining moment or series of events that has affected your life this year.I'm having a déjà vu moment - haven't we covered this territory several times already? There's not a great deal more I can honestly say that I haven't said before - the event that most affected my life this year was losing one job and getting another, and that's it.I feel like I should

Viridian Greenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10041466964085728629noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1354170631355340851.post-6876055768964971012010-12-28T17:50:00.000Z2010-12-28T17:51:28.468Z

Prompt: Achieve. What’s the thing you most want to achieve next year? How do you imagine you’ll feel when you get it? Free? Happy? Complete? Blissful? Write that feeling down. Then, brainstorm 10 things you can do, or 10 new thoughts you can think, in order to experience that feeling today.Since I haven't been able to find fulfillment this year, I suppose that's going to be the main thing I'd

Viridian Greenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10041466964085728629noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1354170631355340851.post-15704756643427504572010-12-27T11:44:00.002Z2010-12-27T11:44:59.346Z

Prompt: Ordinary joy. Our most profound joy is often experienced during ordinary moments. What was one of your most joyful ordinary moments this yearLife is filled with ordinary joys and small pleasures, but ordinary moments are not the kind that you can just pull out of a hat and say THIS was the best one. It might have been any number of times I paused on the highest point of the ridge to look

Viridian Greenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10041466964085728629noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1354170631355340851.post-52713202463033240492010-12-26T16:42:00.001Z2010-12-27T01:10:28.593Z

This is my entry for the Yuletide Flash Fiction Challenge at PanErotica - "The challenge is to write a short story of no more than 600 words. The only other rule is your story must begin with the following first line: The lights appeared out of the darkness. The lights appeared out of the darkness, a score of candles dancing in the unnerving stillness of the night, fixed to a small pine tree that

Viridian Greenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10041466964085728629noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1354170631355340851.post-33039955278493776302010-12-26T16:35:00.001Z2010-12-26T16:35:28.784Z

Prompt: Soul food. What did you eat this year that you will never forget? What went into your mouth & touched your soul? Oh my. I was already struggling to take this seriously and then I re-read that last sentence and had to bite back the most obvious and very raunchy reply that immediately jumped into my head! Someone should really have thought harder about their phraseology there; we don't all

Viridian Greenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10041466964085728629noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1354170631355340851.post-81818882874838736362010-12-25T20:31:00.000Z2010-12-25T20:32:06.284Z

Prompt: Photo - a present to yourself. Sift through all the photos of you from the past year. Choose one that best captures you; either who you are, or who you strive to be. Find the shot of you that is worth a thousand words. Share the image, who shot it, where, and what it best reveals about you.Now you do realise there is totally no way this is going to happen, don't you? If I'm not prepared

Viridian Greenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10041466964085728629noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1354170631355340851.post-31839975564712690442010-12-24T11:52:00.001Z2010-12-24T11:54:03.969Z

Prompt: Everything's OK. What was the best moment that could serve as proof that everything is going to be alright? And how will you incorporate that discovery into the year ahead?Now just you hold your cotton-pickin' horses there - what makes you so confident that everything is going to be alright when I'm not so sure myself?Best moment? *snorts* Sure, I'm not down in the very bottom of the

Viridian Greenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10041466964085728629noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1354170631355340851.post-16884036358353198362010-12-23T14:47:00.001Z2010-12-23T14:49:02.376Z

Prompt: New name. Let's meet again, for the first time. If you could introduce yourself to strangers by another name for just one day, what would it be and why?But why for just one day? It would be Jerry Cornelius, and technically, I do it every day.Yes, that's right people, I am sorry to disillusion you but Jerry Cornelius is not really my real name. It's simply the nom de guerre I adopted some

Viridian Greenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10041466964085728629noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1354170631355340851.post-18275039856348182852010-12-22T18:20:00.000Z2010-12-22T18:21:03.205Z

My heating is fixed!! I have hot water again!!!The plumber arrived with today's snowfall* and worked and cussed for a few hours until we were rewarded with the crank and grind of the boiler firing back to life. You don't realise how much you take heat and hot water for granted until you spend a week without either in sub-freezing temperatures at a time of year when plumbers are booked up with

Viridian Greenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10041466964085728629noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1354170631355340851.post-76388940581210899392010-12-22T11:37:00.002Z2010-12-22T11:38:20.543Z

Prompt: Travel. How did you travel in 2010? How and/or where would you like to travel next year? 'How' is a very odd question! I travelled in the usual way most human beings do. On foot, in a car or coach, occasionally a tram or train, twice an airplane. And I guess next year I will be employing exactly the same modes of transport unless someone invents a really small, economical and easy-to-park

Viridian Greenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10041466964085728629noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1354170631355340851.post-23597680799947897222010-12-22T11:37:00.001Z2010-12-22T11:37:50.951Z

Prompt: Future self. Imagine yourself five years from now. What advice would you give your current self for the year ahead? (Bonus: Write a note to yourself 10 years ago. What would you tell your younger self?)How can I give myself advice for the future since I do not know what will; happen or what will be required? So much is happening that is out of my hands I can't begin to imagine where I

Viridian Greenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10041466964085728629noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1354170631355340851.post-45482769738640633392010-12-22T11:36:00.000Z2010-12-22T11:37:15.029Z

Prompt: Beyond avoidance. What should you have done this year but didn't because you were too scared, worried, unsure, busy or otherwise deterred from doing? (Bonus: Will you do it?)There were many things I didn't do this year but most of them were to do with the lack of temporal and financial resources. Of those that weren't, well, I should have written more, I should have stayed in better

Viridian Greenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10041466964085728629noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1354170631355340851.post-35409007925773871362010-12-20T15:32:00.002Z2010-12-20T15:36:20.828Z

Prompt: Healing. What healed you this year? Was it sudden, or a drip-by-drip evolution? How would you like to be healed in 2011?I cannot do better with this prompt than direct you to Ashtoreth the Eldritch's response to this prompt, where she gives the answer I believe it cries out for. I honestly can't think of anything else to add, except that I went light on the chilli powder and am not so

Viridian Greenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10041466964085728629noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1354170631355340851.post-57342100538869622672010-12-20T15:32:00.001Z2010-12-20T15:32:47.228Z

Prompt: Try. What do you want to try next year? Is there something you wanted to try in 2010? What happened when you did / didn't go for it?Like several others I could have liked this prompt better if it had said 'experiment with' instead of 'try', because although it might seem like idle semantics, there is a subtle difference in positivity involved. One is to attempt something with a view to

Viridian Greenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10041466964085728629noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1354170631355340851.post-3849172444566919992010-12-20T01:26:00.001Z2010-12-20T01:27:39.039Z

Thanks to several unforeseen domestic disasters, including the death of my heating boiler during the coldest week in 30 years and subsequent inability to stay in the unheated computer den for any period of time, I'm falling behind with Reverb 10. Can't say I'm all that eager to tackle the couple of prompts I've missed so far, but I did so want to complete something I started this year that I'll

Viridian Greenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10041466964085728629noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1354170631355340851.post-12455278752006707632010-12-17T20:08:00.000Z2010-12-17T20:09:35.444Z

Prompt: Lesson learned. What was the best thing you learned about yourself this past year? And how will you apply that lesson going forward?I learnt that even though I may throw my hands in the air like a temperamental diva and proclaim that life sucks/the future is hopeless/Ragnarök is upon us and the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse are entering the home straight, somehow I still endure. That's

Viridian Greenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10041466964085728629noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1354170631355340851.post-48568370825221563862010-12-16T17:44:00.002Z2010-12-16T17:47:39.847Z

Prompt: Friendship. How has a friend changed you or your perspective on the world this year? Was this change gradual, or a sudden burst?Let me say straight up, I don't have a great circle of friends, just a few soul mates. I'm a solitary, antisocial, shy person and as with most things in life I've always pursued quality over quantity when it comes to making friends. Those I do have are very

Viridian Greenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10041466964085728629noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1354170631355340851.post-7486578035940379412010-12-15T23:05:00.001Z2010-12-15T23:07:02.878Z

Prompt: 5 minutes. Imagine you will completely lose your memory of 2010 in five minutes. Set an alarm for five minutes and capture the things you most want to remember about 2010.Five minutes is too generous - thirty seconds would suffice. I'd rather forget about most of last year. The largest part I want to remember, or will want to in the future, are the stories I've written or brainstormed

Viridian Greenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10041466964085728629noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1354170631355340851.post-81506571299930351172010-12-15T00:05:00.007Z2010-12-15T00:14:30.171Z

Prompt: Appreciate. What's the one thing you have come to appreciate most in the past year? How do you express gratitude for it?Photo: Elements - Imagination by h.koppdelaney / Hartwig HKD

Viridian Greenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10041466964085728629noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1354170631355340851.post-83259467425359187342010-12-13T14:03:00.003Z2010-12-13T14:04:48.326Z

Okay, so I've decided that the only way I can handle Reverb 10 is to tackle the prompts on my own terms. Since I signed up in the mistaken belief the prompts would relate to creative writing rather than new-agey self-help concepts, then that's how I'm going to interprete or re-invent them from now on! It's the only way I can keep going, and I make no apologies for not being the kind of person

Viridian Greenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10041466964085728629noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1354170631355340851.post-76121614306090993742010-12-12T19:09:00.003Z2010-12-12T19:14:37.510Z

Prompt: Body integration. This year, when did you feel the most integrated with your body? Did you have a moment where there wasn't mind and body, but simply a cohesive YOU, alive and present?I think I've crashlanded on the wrong planet. I've had 11 hours to ponder it, and I still don't have the faintest clue what the heck 'body integration' is supposed to mean or how to respond to this prompt

Viridian Greenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10041466964085728629noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1354170631355340851.post-66131494903563257132010-12-11T20:39:00.002Z2010-12-11T20:42:32.103Z

Prompt: 11 Things. What are 11 things your life doesn't need in 2011? How will you go about eliminating them? How will getting rid of these 11 things change your life? Here we go, in no particular order:Regrets. I've had a few. But then again - I don't really want to drag them after me into the next year. I'm a bit to prone to wailing about lost opportunities, but It's time to move on past the

Viridian Greenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10041466964085728629noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1354170631355340851.post-88311662480567405902010-12-10T12:05:00.001Z2010-12-10T12:06:37.556Z

What the heck was I thinking of when I signed up to Reverb 10? Actually, I know why I signed up for it. I wanted to set myself a writing/blogging challenge because I needed the stimulation. Howvever, I confess I misunderstood what Reverb 10 was all about, heheh. I thought it was going to be creative writing prompts, rather than the navel-gazing, self-searching kind. Couldn't have read the mission

Viridian Greenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10041466964085728629noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1354170631355340851.post-69722560912421245922010-12-10T11:26:00.003Z2010-12-10T12:11:32.306Z

Prompt: Wisdom. What was the wisest decision you made this year, and how did it play out?Let me start with the disclaimer that 'wisdom' isn't a concept I'm very familiar with at the best of times. At the worst of times, well - just call me the village idiot, or court jester, whatever. Okay, on with the prompt.Some years you're the jellyfish, and some years you're the tide. 2010 was a jellyfish

Viridian Greenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10041466964085728629noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1354170631355340851.post-14995114322912701092010-12-09T10:36:00.000Z2010-12-09T10:37:16.566Z

Prompt: Party. What social gathering rocked your socks off in 2010? Describe the people, music, food, drink, clothes, shenanigans.Anyone following my Reverb 10 entries must be thinking by now what a grumpy, antisocial misery I must be. It's not true, I swear it! I am a happy little sunbeam generally, but... okay, I admit they might be a bit right about the antisocial part. I don't do parties.

Viridian Greenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10041466964085728629noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1354170631355340851.post-66671950437769519162010-12-08T12:05:00.002Z2010-12-08T12:06:36.077Z

Prompt: Beautifully different. Think about what makes you different and what you do that lights people up. Reflect on all the things that make you different – you’ll find they’re what make you beautiful.Okay guys, I've got some news for you. No one is as 'different' as they think they are. Out there, there are millions of people with the very same traits you think make you unique. And in striving

Viridian Greenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10041466964085728629noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1354170631355340851.post-21282446163602764472010-12-08T01:09:00.002Z2010-12-08T01:14:43.475Z

Prompt: Community. Where have you discovered community, online or otherwise, in 2010? What community would you like to join, create or more deeply connect with in 2011?In terms of online communities, strictly I didn't really get into any new ones last year. I've been a regular member of my main two writing communities - PanErotica and Panhistoria - for many years, although I'm less active overall

Viridian Greenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10041466964085728629noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1354170631355340851.post-85491252004919978032010-12-06T12:01:00.002Z2010-12-06T12:04:09.367Z

Prompt: Make. What was the last thing you made? What materials did you use? Is there something you want to make, but you need to clear some time for it?Aha! At last a prompt that's about something tangible and physical! (at least, that's how I'm choosing to interprete it...)Well, My partner would say the last thing I made was an unholy mess in the bedroom, using duvets, pillows, cats and casually

Viridian Greenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10041466964085728629noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1354170631355340851.post-36035808268905264582010-12-05T18:56:00.003Z2010-12-05T19:02:43.004Z

Prompt: Let Go. What (or whom) did you let go of this year? Why?Loss has been a theme of this year, and a good deal of it is something that for the most part I didn't choose and don't care to revisit. At least not yet. Sometimes, the things you have to let go are things that you weren't ready to lose.However, depending on what, or whom, and the circumstances and history of the matter, the act of

Viridian Greenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10041466964085728629noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1354170631355340851.post-8156824114274365842010-12-04T12:34:00.000Z2010-12-04T12:35:22.699Z

Prompt: Wonder. How did you cultivate a sense of wonder in your life this year?I'm one of those undemanding people who tends to quietly appreciate the small stuff in life and find something to marvel at in the simplest things. And since this city boy followed the man off his heart to the country a few years ago, I have found I don't have to deliberately cultivate a sense of wonder, because

Viridian Greenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10041466964085728629noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1354170631355340851.post-17798455395678475852010-12-04T00:30:00.004Z2010-12-04T00:33:16.914Z

Prompt: Moment. Pick one moment during which you felt most alive this year. Describe it in vivid detail (texture, smells, voices, noises, colors).Oh my, this is a tough prompt today! I think I commented back on day one that this year wasn't noteworthy for its bright moments. I was tempted to flunk out altogether by simply stating there never was a moment when I was truly, conciously alive this

Viridian Greenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10041466964085728629noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1354170631355340851.post-28512092186804429752010-12-02T15:11:00.003Z2010-12-02T15:15:58.948Z

Prompt: Writing. What do you do each day that doesn't contribute to your writing -- and can you eliminate it?The obvious answer would be work, which is a non-creative financial necessity that I can't eliminate if the cats and I require a roof over our heads and kibble. But after I thought about it for a moment, I realised even work contributes a wee dribble to my writing. None of my characters

Viridian Greenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10041466964085728629noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1354170631355340851.post-80179089956911629512010-12-01T15:54:00.005Z2010-12-01T16:14:45.414Z

Prompt: One Word. Encapsulate the year 2010 in one word. Explain why you're choosing that word. Now, imagine it's one year from today, what would you like the word to be that captures 2011 for you?It's much harder than you think to choose just one lonely little word to summarise an entire year in one's life. So many trends and themes that to single out just one of them gives a skewed impression.

Viridian Greenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10041466964085728629noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1354170631355340851.post-79099371875601600972010-11-24T11:33:00.001Z2010-11-24T11:35:41.656Z

This year I've decided to sign up for Reverb 10, which delivers daily creative prompts for the month starting 1st December. I'd heard several of my online circle refer to it as an interesting challenge and I do need something to slow the steady decline of my active brain cells. A month isn't too long a time to commit to a bit of daily activity, so I'm firm in intention and hopeful of keeping

Viridian Greenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10041466964085728629noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1354170631355340851.post-81066204631737608802010-10-13T18:19:00.005+01:002010-10-13T18:26:16.569+01:00

So it's time again already for PanErotica's annual Hallowe'en Drabble Challenge. The theme this year is "Dead but Dreaming" which is a hell of a tough theme but I have only myself to blame because I set it. Yes, I am slightly crazy...I think my 'punch line' is pretty weak, but for what it's worth, here is my attempt at tackling the challenge:No Peace for the WickedBecause I believed the murder

Viridian Greenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10041466964085728629noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1354170631355340851.post-42716274797011724142010-09-03T20:53:00.001+01:002010-09-03T20:57:13.470+01:00

A little while ago I put my name down for Stephanie Thorton’s haiku contest, and then happily forgot all about it until some generous comments on an older blog entry alerted me to the fact that it's today and tomorrow allocated to post our haikus! Ooops. And why is it that when you set out to try and deliberately write something for a purpose, your mind turns into a lumpen mass of porridge? Or

Viridian Greenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10041466964085728629noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1354170631355340851.post-47180176463721735062010-06-02T16:56:00.000+01:002010-06-02T16:57:17.512+01:00

Breeze-blown thistledownfleet-foot hares skim field furrowsmocking the plough's teeth

Viridian Greenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10041466964085728629noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1354170631355340851.post-2653895427317944422010-05-10T09:16:00.002+01:002010-05-10T09:20:23.519+01:00

With some regret, because I believe in making it easy for people to spontaneously leave a message when they visit, I'm now making commenting on my blog subject to moderation. I don't get many comments, but most of the ones I do are spurious, designed to promote various porn or spam sites. I've just kicked off another batch today and decided enough is enough - I don't want to be constantly

Viridian Greenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10041466964085728629noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1354170631355340851.post-53112515619549478812010-05-05T15:53:00.001+01:002010-05-05T15:56:33.141+01:00

I was reading a friend's blog post about receiving the precious gift of his grandmother's recipe book, and it made me wonder whether our generation will be able to gift such a tangible and intimate legacy for our offspring, one so full of memories and meaning. How many people still keep written diaries or scrapbooks of clippings and collected ephemera? We have blogs for journalling and collecting

Viridian Greenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10041466964085728629noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1354170631355340851.post-68402667755249891462009-12-21T16:03:00.001Z2009-12-21T16:05:32.340Z

monochromaticcolours of winter solsticeblack crows on fresh snow

Viridian Greenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10041466964085728629noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1354170631355340851.post-4542064965345136812009-12-14T23:01:00.000Z2009-12-14T23:04:04.721Z

This is my entry for this season's drabble challenge at Pan Erotica - 100 words on the theme of 'winter'. I based this on one of my collaborative fiction characters, a werewolf named Winter, whose story I wrote in 'Love Bites' in the Doors novel at PE a few years ago. It was nice to revisit him, albeit in a brief vignette.Winter solstice; a far-off bell strikes the midnight hour.Ash-grey and

Viridian Greenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10041466964085728629noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1354170631355340851.post-47230014584284687422009-11-17T00:10:00.001Z2009-11-17T00:12:16.481Z

I wrote a poem once.It was an elusive thing,Not so much shy as furtive.Not being a teenage gothAnd given to facile outpouringsOf multisyllabic gloom(you know the kind of thing -reads like a thesaurus sired itand a generator spawned it),And not being one of thoseWho label themself 'poet'Because it looks better on paperThan pretentious wanker,I blinked aghast and tore it up.Well, the digital

Viridian Greenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10041466964085728629noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1354170631355340851.post-83071469951079505562009-10-28T11:52:00.003Z2009-10-28T11:58:15.803Z

(Disclaimer: I can't write poetry to save my life...) This sequence was originally posted on Twitter - random tweets from my daily observations.i.hidden in long grasshollowed from roadside hedgerowneighbour's cat sleeping ii.neighbour's cat todayhas new nest in horse's fieldsleeping in spilled hay iii.orange-eyed hunterginger cat in red-gold leavescolours of autumn

Viridian Greenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10041466964085728629noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1354170631355340851.post-56996123511281805462009-10-12T01:53:00.002+01:002009-10-12T01:56:11.538+01:00

Panerotica is holding a 100-word drabble contest for Hallowe'en, with the theme of Ghosts. This is the entry I've submitted for it.It's written as an answer to a poem by Robert Browning, Porphyria’s Lover, which relates how a man strangles his lover with her own hair to preserve forever the single perfect moment in which she loves him. Because I’m some kind of weird masochist, I set myself the

Viridian Greenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10041466964085728629noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1354170631355340851.post-65729392672702243902009-10-11T22:33:00.000+01:002009-10-28T11:52:54.864Z

This is just about the damn funniest thing I've seen for weeks. I've watched it at least 10 times already and once I've posted this I'm going to watch it again!Cowboys Herding Cats/FUNNY!! - For more funny videos, click here

Viridian Greenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10041466964085728629noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1354170631355340851.post-45909338314128145552009-09-10T02:10:00.005+01:002009-09-12T23:50:26.014+01:00

Summer made liars of the Met Office guys again this year, turning their optimistic forecast of long, hot barbeque days into little more than wishful thinking. A few random weeks of sunshine, followed by rain, more rain, wind, and an early descent into autumn. Beans and strawberries remained obdurately green and rotted, while blackberries swelled and ripened early in the hedgerows.But then, just

Viridian Greenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10041466964085728629noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1354170631355340851.post-55438730858011492462009-08-28T14:20:00.002+01:002009-08-28T14:23:00.324+01:00

Some reactions to a previous blog post I wrote, in which I expressed a nostalgia for my early ventures on the internet, when I found it a much more creatively exciting and socially rewarding experience than I do now, made me start to think about how some of the changes I see on the internet actually just mirror what's happening out in the real world.The Place Survey was commissioned by the

Viridian Greenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10041466964085728629noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1354170631355340851.post-16887514963087170982009-08-28T11:37:00.003+01:002009-08-28T11:44:52.290+01:00

I've heard of gardens being built in some unusual and imaginative situations before, but this is a new idea to me: gardens on a raft.The Landskrona, the Sweden Garden Guild contest, is held in August every year and contestants build a floating garden environment on a raft. Love the idea, I only wish I had a convenient lake or river to build one on!Image from Apartment Therapy

Viridian Greenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10041466964085728629noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1354170631355340851.post-62976655845084185652009-08-21T17:32:00.005+01:002009-08-21T17:46:43.583+01:00

I had to smile when I saw this article earlier today about an internet junkie detox centre. You see, once, I would have hotly denied there was such a thing as internet addiction, even while sweating and jonesing about my laptop not booting up. But I'm finding a good deal less addictive about the interwebs thing than I did for the first three or four years I was online, when I ate, lived, breathed

Viridian Greenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10041466964085728629noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1354170631355340851.post-60478815327162381762009-08-07T01:59:00.002+01:002009-08-07T02:03:57.351+01:00

Time for a few updates on what's going on right now, methinks! Actually, that's not a lot really...On the job front, my redundancy notice period remains terribly vague, and though I thought I would have finished or at least have a more definite idea by now about when I would actually finish, it could still be any time between now and November, and probably at short notice in the end. I dislike

Viridian Greenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10041466964085728629noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1354170631355340851.post-7563373606943248402009-07-27T20:55:00.002+01:002009-07-27T21:00:54.833+01:00

I have a terrible time naming fantasy characters, generally. While I want the names to be non-conventional and even a little quirky I have a horror of overused monikers (Hawk, Raven), names that are glaringly inappropriate to the culture, and those stereotypical and unpronounceable fantasy names that look like a bunch of random syllables smushed together and riddled with gratuitous apostrophes to

Viridian Greenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10041466964085728629noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1354170631355340851.post-79201809981588478712009-07-07T20:24:00.001+01:002009-07-07T20:26:41.199+01:00

A fiction genre is an artificial construct of conventions that affords us some idea of what to expect from a work, but can also prevent us from experiencing it as an individual experience rather than merely an example of a defined "type". It's both safety net and strait jacket.Most popular fiction can be squeezed into a genre or mixture of genres, and while some authors readily market themselves

Viridian Greenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10041466964085728629noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1354170631355340851.post-28824497365192055482009-07-05T22:22:00.003+01:002009-07-05T22:29:42.656+01:00

While waiting for my friend to come online and amuse me, I was idly reading through some of the collaborative science fictions novels I used to write in and it struck me how many of the characters were assassins or bounty hunters or both. Almost invariably female and kick-ass. Probably with big bazookas. They are beautiful, lethal, do mercenary work on the side, are 'not to be crossed' and 'not

Viridian Greenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10041466964085728629noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1354170631355340851.post-81869371732341742432009-07-02T22:59:00.002+01:002009-07-02T23:02:11.625+01:00

I am inspired by nanny_ashtoreth's undertaking to read 25 books by 31 December, 50 in the year, to set myself a small, achievable challenge to ease back into reading regularly again. I used to devour books, both fiction and non-fiction, but once I discovered the interwebs my reading suffered badly (as did my reading sight).So I'm aiming to finally read some of those unopened books sitting on my

Viridian Greenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10041466964085728629noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1354170631355340851.post-32751494712816276582009-06-24T13:23:00.004+01:002009-06-24T13:49:28.109+01:00

I’ve never been one for pouring my guts out even to fleshspace friends, much less relative strangers (often accused of being almost obsessively private) but sometimes I do get the urge to talk just for the sake of it. Sometimes it’s a restorative exercise.This last year has seen many changes for me. I had a dragging illness, which because I’ve always been a disgusting healthy person and was

Viridian Greenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10041466964085728629noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1354170631355340851.post-4650333479420305402009-06-11T20:28:00.002+01:002009-06-11T20:33:02.739+01:00

I was (un)fortunate enough to have had an English teacher who was positively anal about apostrophes, so I think I'm generally fairly good about using them correctly - except when I'm being lazy about reading something before I post it.The one thing we were taught which differs from what I've read other people state is correct, is the use of apostrophes in the possessives of personal names that

Viridian Greenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10041466964085728629noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1354170631355340851.post-42711857999883225912009-06-11T20:25:00.002+01:002009-06-11T20:38:35.777+01:00

This is a topic I've found relevant to myself while writing at Panhistoria and Panerotica with their predominantly American population - we Brits often seem to speak a different language. :)Although British English and American English are technically the same language, there are substantial differences both in spoken and written forms. We're not talking just about spelling either - but also

Viridian Greenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10041466964085728629noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1354170631355340851.post-52581064126178642242009-06-01T17:22:00.002+01:002009-06-01T21:08:06.259+01:00

I hope neither my beloved partner or a certain Yorkshire mobile car valeting service will ever read my blog, because I am about to incriminate myself here.Around midday I took a break from my computer and went for a walk, since it seems a shame not to enjoy a rare warm, sunny day after the past several non-summers. Coming back down the steep hill into the village on the home stretch, I

Viridian Greenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10041466964085728629noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1354170631355340851.post-22471845459591154082009-05-28T18:07:00.001+01:002009-05-28T18:09:11.123+01:00

Your result for The Cultural Identity Test... The IntellectualYou Scored 82% The Intellectual, Congratulations!Ah, the intellectual. Pure, unadultered science is what motivates you. The world is an interesting place, and you want to pick it apart and see how it works.You are probably not all that impressed with traditionalists or liberal philosophers, or the pedestrian commonalities of

Viridian Greenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10041466964085728629noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1354170631355340851.post-91321819262114282842009-05-27T12:21:00.005+01:002009-05-27T12:58:04.076+01:00

Although I generally don't write fanfic, I have dabbled. One of my forays, back in 2003, was writing a couple of original characters in a Highlander novel at Panhistoria. The fact I'd never seen any of the TV series - and indeed only the first of the movies, many years previously and well forgotten - didn't stop me. What did stop me, was when the novel was lost in the infamous Crash of '04. Many

Viridian Greenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10041466964085728629noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1354170631355340851.post-43955501439759693012009-05-25T12:09:00.002+01:002009-05-25T12:13:21.042+01:00

For many of us who write in places like Panhistoria and Pan Erotica that are collaberative/roleplay communties - call it what you will - a character whose mantle we assume often becomes more than simply a fictional being. Over the years we become so familiar with that character that it becomes ourself. The avatar and name we've chosen becomes our public representation; we are known, measured, and

Viridian Greenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10041466964085728629noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1354170631355340851.post-50541248984345074822009-05-16T18:29:00.004+01:002009-05-16T18:38:56.907+01:00

Meet the real star of Cannes: Midge the one-eyed cat from Yorkshire with a passion for sprintingAmidst all the daily news of fraudulent and corrupt politicians, recession and redundancies, the collapse of the global economy and a swine flu pandemic, it's so warming to come across a story like that above. A Yorkshire parish councillor named Martin Humphreys who races his one-eyed rescue cat Midge

Viridian Greenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10041466964085728629noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1354170631355340851.post-63082023960296615372009-05-09T20:48:00.003+01:002009-05-09T20:51:57.973+01:00

Despite the fact we've had cool temperatures and strong winds for the last couple of weeks, after an early unseasonably warm and sunny spell before that, the fruit and veg I'm growing in pots in my back yard (for lack of space elsewhere) aren't looking too badly at all.My borlotti beans were attacked by Mutant Killer Slugs From Hell who nibbled the tops off, but fortunately the beans haven't

Viridian Greenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10041466964085728629noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1354170631355340851.post-55358545550501240522009-03-31T18:35:00.001+01:002009-03-31T18:36:39.318+01:00

Today when I went out for my walk, I took along a small notebook tucked snugly into my hip pocket. Ideas for my next collaborative fiction posts, snatches of conversation and description often come to me as I’m walking along with my brain disconnected, but by the time I get home I’ve forgotten them and they’re lost for good. So, I thought I could perch on a stile or fallen tree and scribble these

Viridian Greenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10041466964085728629noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1354170631355340851.post-71244350467212189432009-03-28T18:40:00.002Z2009-05-11T16:43:31.308+01:00

My cats have developed a passion for the padded paper sack my seed potatoes arrived in. The spuds had chitted nicely in the cold shed and I just planted them into potato growing bags (not an easy task with the plaster cast'd arm encased in a bin bag for protection); when I turned round, there were three cats in the emptied potato sack, just whiskers and gleaming eyes visible. Potato sacks make

Viridian Greenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10041466964085728629noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1354170631355340851.post-39847855975911679222009-03-02T23:20:00.001Z2009-03-02T23:22:51.272Z

“Genius loci” means the “spirit of a place”. The Romans routinely attributed local deities to rivers and woods, groves and springs. They called the spirit that inhabited a place the numen, and the protective, generative power that sustained it was its genius loci. Today, genius loci is a rather more abstract concept than a literal deity or spirit associated with a specific place. It includes both

Viridian Greenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10041466964085728629noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1354170631355340851.post-4228247650409015672009-03-02T22:43:00.005Z2009-03-02T22:46:33.519Z

I can't help being a sucker for time-wasting exercises like this one....1. Go to the Wikipedia home page and click random article. That is your band's name.2. Click random article again; that is your album name.3. Click random article 15 more times; those are the tracks on your album.Band: ¿Dónde Está La Luz?Album: Caustic PencilTrack list:Étienne Marie Antoine Champion de NansoutyFade to

Viridian Greenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10041466964085728629noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1354170631355340851.post-88440212004599735682009-02-26T19:42:00.001Z2009-02-26T19:44:54.975Z

This is of course, the former Royal Bank of Scotland boss Sir Fred Goodwin, aka "Fred the Shred". Goodwin was responsible for RBS bank during the time it made a £24.1 billion pre-tax loss, the biggest in UK corporate history. He led a disastrous strategy of corporate acquisitions which led to the bank's downfall and necessitated a bail-out funded by taxpayers. He was rewarded for this appallingly

Viridian Greenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10041466964085728629noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1354170631355340851.post-82437151768786146632009-02-24T13:26:00.005Z2009-05-05T19:27:03.590+01:00

The collective noun for hares is a husk. A husk of hares. Though I've also heard of a drove, a down, a leash, a mute, a trace, and a trip of hares. This morning, I've been sitting at my computer gazing over the field the other side of the road, entranced by the antics of a pair of hares.After being blanketed with snow for several weeks, the temperatures have risen and the days been relatively

Viridian Greenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10041466964085728629noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1354170631355340851.post-34653626280843030762009-02-17T21:34:00.001Z2009-02-17T21:36:40.451Z

When I was about 11 or 12, Mr O, who owned the stables and trekking centre I haunted at weekends and school holidays, sensing a potential lucrative market for experienced adult horse-riders, brought home two ex-racehorses from the auctions. Sleek, attenuated English Thoroughbreds with legs and necks that went on forever, finely-veined faces and large intelligent eyes. A pair of glamorous,

Viridian Greenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10041466964085728629noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1354170631355340851.post-69668378413360669412009-01-17T23:49:00.004Z2009-06-01T17:27:32.264+01:00

Another piece of fiction from me. The beginning of a fantasy story that started out as the familiar old 'portal between the worlds' scenario but was beginning to incorporate all kinds of wierd, disparate elements just before it's host 'novel' at Panhistoria came to an end.Yes, I suppose really one day I should post a sample of what I'm writing NOW rather than older, defunct stuff. But this is as

Viridian Greenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10041466964085728629noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1354170631355340851.post-47986347144289873392009-01-15T21:06:00.004Z2009-01-15T21:17:08.241Z

Like many other creative fiction writers, I have a virtual cigar-box full of beginnings that have no endings. A good collaborative fiction writer tries on many different types of character and ventures into a variety of scenarios and histories during his journeys. Although my experiments have not always worked, I would like to think I have at least voyaged, and my virtual cigar-box contains a

Viridian Greenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10041466964085728629noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1354170631355340851.post-49987479052274416342009-01-05T15:41:00.001Z2009-06-02T18:08:03.478+01:00

If you tell people enough times how fantastic you are, some of them might even get to believe you. But then you have the problem of whether you live up to your own hype or not. In my experience, most self-hypers don't.Take my lastest bugbear for example. A woman I now have to liase with for a company's website. She thinks she's the hottest thing since Planet X went supernova, and she swanks

Viridian Greenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10041466964085728629noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1354170631355340851.post-63163726433711534282008-12-27T22:43:00.003Z2008-12-27T23:22:13.435Z

I have decided that one of the surest ways for me to hitting a writer's block is to be over-critical of what I'm doing. I've spent the last few weeks reading what a number of admirable writers have to say about writing, absorbing their tips and tricks, their good advice and even the conflicting advice. I've even re-posted some of the tips! (see previous entry...) But the net result for me

Viridian Greenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10041466964085728629noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1354170631355340851.post-54099948978690078582008-12-22T16:50:00.003Z2009-06-01T17:27:32.265+01:00

Good writing advice from an author whose succinctly clipped and immediate style (a style she calls "very tight limited third person") I have always envied as much as her imagination.All following text is copyright © 1995 by C.J. Cherryh who gives permission it to be reprinted with full credit.Writerisms: overused and misused language. In more direct words: find 'em, root 'em out, and look at your

Viridian Greenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10041466964085728629noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1354170631355340851.post-84355639066803633652008-12-20T15:49:00.000Z2009-06-01T17:27:47.343+01:00

I've seen a lot of people commenting last month on the fact they were on the NaNoWriMo treadmill again. If there's anyone left in the universe who doesn't know what this is, the goal of NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month), which is held annually every November, is to write a 175-page (50,000-word) novel in just one month. Does that sound like a tight schedule to you? it would be if you were

Viridian Greenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10041466964085728629noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1354170631355340851.post-19289020270380104892008-12-11T21:44:00.006Z2009-06-01T17:29:25.384+01:00

How old were you when you realised Santa didn't exist and it was your dad crashing about in the night downstairs arranging the presents? And when you found out he didn't exist, did you feel cheated and mad that you'd been conned, or did you just feel sorry for all those deluded adults who still believed in Santa (or at least, you assume they still did as they would keep trying to assure you he

Viridian Greenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10041466964085728629noreply@blogger.com4