Month: January 2019

Everyone loves a list

B18mantel

Woah! It’s the end of January? Already?

I hope all those new year lists you wrote (resolutions or bucket lists or to do lists) are looking good and you’re ready for February. And what better way to kick it off than with a creative writing challenge?

The Australian Writers’ Centre will be running their monthly Furious Fiction this weekend – log in at 5pm tomorrow for the prompts and you’ll have 55 hours to write and polish 500 words to be in the running for $500. You can check out the January winner and shortlisted entries to get an idea of what they’re looking for.

Last month’s requirements were:

  • the first word had to be ‘new’
  • it had to include the words ‘desert’, ‘nineteen’ and ‘present’
  • it had to include some kind of list.

Here’s my 500 words worth…

THE LIST

“New shoes and new stockings. New unmentionables.” Princess Araminta’s lady-in-waiting smothered a giggle before continuing her list. “New petticoats for Your Highness, and a new gown, new cape and new crown. Everything you need.”

“To be a freshly-minted Minty? Wonderful.” The princess gestured to keep her attendants at bay. “Wait here for me.”

Skirts hoisted, she took the tower steps two at a time. List upon list for her Forecasting Day but not the one which mattered most. She was supposed to leave that one to politics and her father’s discretion and trust that time would sweeten their choice.
Well, there was no time like the present.

She bolted the heavy door and all but fell against the wall, palms pressed to the stone on either side of a large, gilt-framed mirror.

“Morgan,” she panted, “have you the list?”

Her reflection swirled like dirty water down a drain. A clouded face looked out, as if someone peered through a window coated with soap.

“Of course I have it, darling,” the mirror said. “Nineteen unmarried princes.”

Minty clasped her hands together, grabbing onto hope. “I only need one.”

“Yes.” Somehow the mirror drew the word out until it sounded more like ‘but’.

“What’s wrong?” she demanded.

“Four of them are old enough to be your grandfather and seven more have children.”

She bit her lip. “That’s not–”

Morgan cut her off. “Three of those are drunkards, two are diseased and one is an inveterate gambler.”

“And the seventh?”

“Prince Lothier has eight sons under the age of ten.” Morgan chuckled. “He’s had twenty-seven nannies in the last year and hopes a wife will prove a more permanent minder.”

Minty shuddered. “Eight then.”

“Two are from Upper and Lower Aureas.”

“Oh dear.”

“If I have it right, darling, Prince Zender is Prince Olver’s first and second cousin and his uncle. They both have the Mictivberg chin, I’m afraid.”

Another shudder shook the princess. “Six?”

“Prince Nimon is very keen on macramé, Prince Blaubard’s five previous wives all inexplicably disappeared, Prince Tirth–”

She raised her hand. “I’ve met Tirth. He talked about the average rainfall in the different regions of Verum. Prince Hal?”

“You know he’s nicknamed for his bad breath? No? Good Prince Vox is a paragon of virtue and a moral–”

Minty’s laughter drowned out Morgan’s words. “No and no,” she gasped.

“Prince Herac of the Panjan Desert is attractive, with a good sense of humour–”

“Perfect!”

“And four years old.”

“Morgan!” She frowned. “That’s all?”

“I suppose there’s also Clauv. He’s technically a prince, since his father is the Pirate King of the Patchwork Islands.”

“A pirate?”

“Young, handsome, fond of dogs, witty and well-read… It’s a shame you can’t swim.”

“I can learn.” She pressed her fingers to her lips. “Action and adventure! He’s exactly what I want!”

“He’ll need to attend your Forecasting Day. Make an offer…”

“Oh, that’ll be easy.” Minty grabbed her summoning bowl.

Morgan raised one shadowy brow. “That’s what they all say, darling.”

Crepuscular lifestyle choices

B18Sunset

Forget decluttering, self-care and elevation training: the hot trend in lifestyle choices is being crepuscular.

Really, it’s more fun than it sounds.

It’s an ugly word*, which is a shame, because when I say it’s a hot trend I mean that, literally. With temperatures across large swathes of Australia breaking records for hellishness (day after day above 40 degrees Celsius / 104 Fahrenheit) official health advice to a wilting populace is to stay out of the sun and the worst heat in the middle of the day, if possible.

So the smart move is to become a crepuscular creature – one that is most active at dawn and dusk.

Crepuscular comes from the Latin word crepusculum, meaning twilight or dusk and the word can be used in a derogatory sense to imply dim understanding or an ‘imperfect enlightenment’. In zoology, though, it’s one of the words used to describe the behaviour of different species according to when they are most active.

Most people are familiar with the idea that animals are diurnal or nocturnal – active in the day or the night, respectively. Again, these words have Latin roots – dies means day and nox means night and urnus is a suffix denoting time. But we should reject this simplistic reduction of choice to one thing or the other – either diurnal or nocturnal – because reality is more diverse and linguistically interesting.

Many animals, including wombats, deer, ocelots, hyenas and mice, are crepuscular.

Some are matutinal, or matinal (if you want them to sound less like mutants). It just means they are most active at dawn.

Vespertine beasts – like some bats and owls – are most active at dusk and vespertine flowers are those that bloom in the evening.

They’re all derived from Latin words – Matuta was the Roman goddess of the dawn and the canonical hour of Matins takes its name from matutinus vigilias meaning ‘morning watches’. Hesperos, the Greek god of the evening star, became Hesperus in Latin, which became vesper when referring to the evening, the star and west. Vespers, also a canonical hour, is called evensong in English.

Interestingly, Vespa – the brand name for an Italian motor scooter – is the Latin word for wasp, but wasps are diurnal. WASPs (White Anglo-Saxon Protestants) are unlikely to be found at either matins or vespers, although you might find some high church Anglican  varieties at evensong.

Anyway… back to crepuscular. I can’t imagine using it in a non-technical sentence without sounding entirely pompous. But I can imagine adopting the habits of a crepuscular beast – using that delightful time at dawn and dusk to be most active.

Imagine it? I’m living it.

So be crepuscular, stay cool, stay hydrated and remember – for the rest of the daylight hours there is, thankfully, air-conditioning.

 

*Word for Wednesday can get a little judgey, but even the Online Etymology Dictionary agrees the older adjective form ‘crepusculine’ sounded ‘lovelier’.