January 31, 2020: Month Changeover, Fresh Chances, Achieving, and Falling Short

Friday, January 31, 2020
Waning Moon
Sunny and mild

Hop on over to the Goals, Dreams, and Resolutions site, for my January wrap-up. I have mixed feelings about my progress. And then hop over to Affairs of the Pen to see a post about how writing about Sophie and her capacity for joy is such a pleasure.

Got some decent work done at the library yesterday, including getting the numbers put in on the US Numbered Format version of “Intrigue on the Aurora Nightingale.”
Now, I have to do the same for “Pier-less Crime” and then send them off to the director, so he has the trilogy (since he likes “Horace House” so much).

Got a carload of leaves to the dump. Maybe this weekend, I can do some more yard work, if the weather holds.

Started watched THE BEST BRITISH BAKING SHOW Season 2 last night. Not as tight and funny a group as on Season 1. Competitions just aren’t my thing. When I’m baking, I’m going to keep at it until I get it right, not be forced to do something new to me in a couple of hours. No, thanks. I like this show better than most competition shows (which, for the most part, I loathe). But I still disagree with a lot of the parameters.

Working on the BALTHAZAAR revisions. Tearing out a whole subplot section and rebuilding it, which is a challenge.

I have the short story in my head, clear as can be. But can the words find the page properly?

Absolutely disgusted with the GOP Senators. They all belong in prison. And so disappointed in the Chief Justice.

Today is Brexit, so now the UK economy gets to crash, too. Not a good day, all the way around.

How did I do on my intent for the week, for quiet?

I decided not to attend a networking event. Work prevented me from attending meditation group. I kept my mouth shut at work more than I wanted, but it made sense so to do. There were several online conversations I chose not to enter, because the people involved weren’t worth the aggravation. They didn’t want genuine answers to their questions; they wanted their own views reinforced. Not worth the time and energy. I refrained from responding to an insulting email from the potential client meeting last week, where I’d withdrawn from consideration because we were not a good fit. Wednesday, they sent me a rude email saying they were going with someone else. Of course they did — I already told them I wouldn’t work for them. What are they, six? All about control, yet another indication that we weren’t the right fit.

Lots of reading and writing again this weekend; yard work if the weather holds, purging the basement if it doesn’t.

Have a great weekend! I have a slew of errands and bill-paying, and then it’s back to the page.

Thurs. Jan. 30, 2020: The Need to Focus

Thursday, January 30, 2020
Waxing Moon
Sunny and cold

Over on Gratitude and Growth, I talk about the dilemma I’m facing with the garden.

Yesterday was exhausting. Big project with a client leaves me wrung out by the time I’m done there. Nothing is wrong, nothing is bad, it just takes a lot of energy.

I haven’t had a good writing week, which means I have to make up for a great deal over the next four days.

I had a good pitching week, at least as far as getting out a lot of article pitches. We’ll see if anything hits.

Remember the potential client meeting I had last week, where I pulled out of consideration and said we were not the right fit? The person with whom I met thanked me for my honesty? Well, yesterday, I got a shirty email from someone else in the company, stating they decided to go forward with someone else. Um, so? I already told them I wasn’t going to work with them. We were done. They wanted to act like it was THEIR decision, not mine? Control issues much? Whatever.

They’ve been added to my list of companies not to work with and not to pitch to again.

Reading some very good books for the contest entries. The categories get more and more competitive every year with the quality of entrants. It’s wonderful. It’s exciting to pick up every book. Some of them miss here and there on certain points, but the writing has gotten stronger and stronger every year.

While it’s briefly sunny today, I have to take the leaves to the dump and then go out and do some yard work.

Then, it will be back to the page. The short story is taking shape nicely, but I have to have the main focus on the revisions this weekend.

Plus, I have coursework to complete on both the Robert Burns course and the course on Fashion Innovation. Gotta keep learning.

Back to the page.

 

Wed. Jan. 29, 2020: Good Show Improves Week

Wednesday, January 29, 2020
Waxing Moon

Ink-Dipped Advice’spost talks about Intent, and ties back in to what we do here on Mondays. I hope you enjoy it.

On Monday night, my radio play “Intrigue on the Aurora Nightingale” was performed in Florida. I sent them best wishes for a good show, and heard that the audience absolutely loved the piece, and was delighted to have more Frieda and Laz. Frieda and Laz have become fan favorites.

Work commitments prevented me going to meditation group on Monday, and I missed it. I sat on my own, which I enjoy, but I also enjoy the group. Although sometimes there’s too much of the “guided” and not enough silence.

Monday night, I read Ann Patchett’swonderful new book, THE DUTCH HOUSE. Wow. Just wow. I could not put it down. Beautiful writing and characterization, although I got irritated with the protagonist’s disinterest in everyone around him over the course of his entire life. He was constantly surprised to find out that people had lives that didn’t revolve around him. That their lives had a richness when they were away from him. Patchett showed that very well.

So yes, I sat up late until I finished the book! I love doing that.

Got some admin work done on Tuesday morning, mediocre writing session, answered a letter from my college advisor, which was fun. College was way back in the early 80s, and we have kept in touch. I’m so glad. He was a wonderful advisor, especially when I went through some rough stuff. He has been a touchstone for me through the years. Now he’s written his first novel, and I’m delighted.

Got out another article pitch. Worked onsite with a client. Got some work done at the library. Got some more work converting “Intrigue” into US Numbered format for a different production company that’s doing “Horace House” in October. I figured I’ll reformat the other two plays of the trilogy; that way, the director has them all and can decide if he wants to do them, or just “Horace House.”

Still struggling with the end of “Trust.” I’ve lost the thread of what I’m trying to do, and have to figure it out again.

Today will be an intense day with the client, working on a big project. Then, it’s home for pizza night. I hope to get some work done on revisions.

Tomorrow, if the weather holds, I’ll do some yard work, along with the writing and other work. I’m working on a new targeted prospect list for the postcards. Third party recruiters and HR are a waste of time and space.

You know who else is a waste of space? The Chief Justice of the Supreme Court. I’ve been a juror in all kinds of trials over the years. No judge in any trial on which I’ve ever served has been as inept and useless as the Chief Justice. No jurors could get away with what the Republican Senators are getting away with. They’d be held in contempt of court.

THIS is the person who supposedly heads the highest court in the land? What a huge disappointment, at a critical juncture in our republic.

It’s both enraging and discouraging.

I will find a way to work on it via fiction, but it’s no fun to live through, that’s for damn sure.

 

Tues. Jan. 28, 2020: Feeling Scattered

Tuesday, January 28, 2020
Waxing Moon

Over onA Biblio Paradise, I talk about bibliographies.

The weekend was frustrating. I got the books for review read and reviewed, which was good, and worked on contest entries.

We were it would be stormy all weekend, so those were my preparations.

Saturday, I got laundry done and worked on the baking. I thought I’d timed it so it wouldn’t take long, and then I could write. Boy, was I wrong!

The Portuguese sweet bread was easy to put together and set out to rise. But then, I tried a new-to-me recipe for chocolate cherry bread. The recipe was poorly written. There were a few times, as I prepped it, where I thought, “That can’t be right. The science of it doesn’t make sense.” But I’d never made it before, and the first time I do a new recipe, I usually follow it as written, and then adjust from there.

I should have trusted my instincts. Absolute disaster.

I manage to salvage some of it, make adjustments by instinct, and there’s a decent, if somewhat bland loaf of dark bread. But my good, deep mixing bowl was nearly ruined and had to be heated over a pot of boiling water in order for me to scrape off the mess.

I was going to make a bacon corn chowder from the same cookbook, but now I’m not sure. I feel like I should try one more recipe; if that doesn’t work, I’ll donate the cookbook to the library book store and cross that author off my list.

It was a relief to go back to Martha Stewart’s banana-walnut-chocolate chip cookies. I definitely have my issues with the Martha Stewart brand, but her recipes work.

By then, it was mid-afternoon, and I was too tired to do the writing work I’d planned. So I read instead.

Friday and Saturday nights we binged on Season 1 of THE BEST BRITISH BAKING SHOW, which I thoroughly enjoyed. I don’t like so-called “reality” shows, and I loathe competition shows, especially food-oriented ones. It’s one of the reasons I stopped watching the FOOD NETWORK. Every time I turned it on, it was a competition.

It was nearly 2 AM by the time I got into bed on Saturday night. Some of the stuff was too fussy — I have no interest in a 20-layer grilled torte. But the episode where they made éclairs was interesting. I adore éclairs, and it made me want to learn how to make choux pastry and perfect my custards/creams, etc. I’ve always been bad at custard making.

I admire their decorating skills, too. I don’t have the patience, at this point in the game, and I sure as hell wouldn’t want to be under time pressure.

But I found it interesting, and I learned a lot from why something didn’t work, and I liked most of the people involved. No faux drama and they weren’t mean to each other, for the most part. They were encouraged to do good work, not to be their worst selves for the camera.

Sunday, I didn’t feel like doing anything. I read a bit, worked on the reviews. Worked on contest entries. Worked ahead on some blog posts, and the next Medium article, a couple of pitches, and the short story.

Monday morning, all three cats were very agitated in the morning. We couldn’t figure out why. Charlotte suffers from anxiety, but all three were in a tizzy. We checked the house and the yard, and nothing was wrong. A work colleague noticed the same with her cat around the same time.

Monday, I sent off the reviews, the pitches, got out some more LOIs. Got an invoice out. Got paid (love that). Worked on the short story. Worked on the BALTHAZAAR revisions. Worked with a client. Got out a submission of one of the radio plays to a market I’d like to crack. Started adapting another radio play to the US Numbered Version, so I can send it off.

Answered a few questions from my director in Florida, and “Intrigue on the Aurora Nightingale” was performed/broadcast last night. Very excited. I wish I could have gone down to be there in person.

This morning, a decent first writing session, some remote work with a client, then onsite with another client, then some work at the library.

One word after another, and eventually, there are enough words for a piece.

 

Mon. Jan. 27, 2020: Intent for the Week: Quiet

image courtesy of freephotos via pixabay.com
Monday, January 27, 2020
Waxing Moon

This does and doesn’t tie into the post over on the Goals, Dreams, and Resolutions site about “Precipice” other than the fact that I feel as though I’m on the edge of one.

My intent for this week is “Quiet” which will be a challenge on every front.

Client work will be busy and chaotic this week. I won’t have exterior quiet, so I will have to work on the interior quiet.

With everything going on politically, there will be even more noise than usual. I will keep up with my trusted sources of information, and back away from a lot of other noise. I need to do some work and make some decisions that can’t be distracted by other people’s noise or agendas.

I will carve out additional time this week for solitude and meditation, extending my morning and evening meditation times.

If the weather is decent, I hope to add in a couple of solitary walks.

I’m fed up and done with situations on several fronts. Rather than be reactive, I want to step back, be quiet and thoughtful, and work on decisions from there.

What is your intent for the week?

Fri. Jan. 24, 2020: Gearing Up for A Busy Weekend

Friday, January 24, 2020
New Moon
Sunny and mild

There’s a new post on Affairs of the Pen, under the Ava Dunne name, about how we’re all kids eager to look for lost treasure.

Yesterday really felt like a lost day, work-wise. It was frustrating.

I got a little bit of writing done before the rental inspection. The inspection itself takes only a few minutes, especially since everything’s okay and we have an ethical landlord. But the timing of it means I couldn’t really start anything until it was over.

I managed to get to the library and get a few things done, but I was under time constraints. Couldn’t get anywhere near done what I needed to.

Dashed back, bolted down a quick lunch, and then took my mother to the doctor. Where we waited for an hour and a half for a five-minute appointment. So, basically, the afternoon was lost, too.

I got in some reading, and finished the book for review, and started reading a fascinating book on the literary world in 1922, where this author believes everything changed.

Had planned to take a walk on the beach, but by the time we got out of the doctor’s office, it had clouded up and gotten too windy.

Leftovers for dinner, and reading. I’m still working my way through my re-reads of Donna Leon’s Brunetti series.

I have to do some research on Chicago in 1856 to get the correct names of a few things for “A Woman for the Job.”

Started “A Rare Medium” — the next Kate Warne play, about a case of hers where she posed as a medium. I have to dig up my notes on names, but it’s percolating along nicely.

Working on revisions for THE BALTHAZAAR TREASURE. Some of it is sticky work, but once I fix the first half, where I got off track (again), the rest should fall into place pretty nicely.

Unpacked and purged a few boxes, and sorted out some clothes. Figuring out what to donate, what to get rid of, what to pack away as stock, and what to keep in the closet.

Yesterday was the first day of full peaceful co-existence for all three cats since Willa and Charlotte came to live here. Even Tessa and Charlotte ignored each other, while being in the same room, which is huge progress.

If Charlotte had ended up in a shelter, she would have been marked unadoptable. Fortunately, MA has only no-kill shelters, or she would have ended up on death row. She can’t stand confinement or closed doors or chaos and doesn’t do well with strangers. I’m glad she’s here and I figured out how to work with her to make her feel safe. The sunnier, sweeter side of her personality is starting to come out.

Willa just kind of does her own thing. She likes company, but refuses to engage when Charlotte has a tantrum. She’s very, very smart, and keeps at something until she figures it out. And friendly. She’s a friendly, easy-going cat most of the time.

Tessa is getting used to them. She doesn’t assert herself enough with them, but there’s peaceful co-existence. As my vet in NY said, it’s healthier for them to be together in the same room and ignore each other than be alone. After all, we took in these cats because Tessa hates being an only cat.

We’re getting there. I hope we’ve turned a corner. There will be some regression here and there, I’m sure, but consistency, boundaries, and lots and lots of affection have brought them a long way.

I had a meeting with a potential client late in the morning, which is why this is posting so late. The conversation was fine, but we are not what each other needs right now.

Now, I’m off to the grocery store, and then back to write the review and start the next book for review.

The weather’s supposed to be bad this weekend, so I’ll stay in to write, read, and purge boxes from the basement. Maybe run the leaves to the dump tomorrow morning, if the weather’s okay.

With a new moon, Burns Night, Virginia Woolf’s birthday, and Chinese Lunar New Year all hitting this weekend, I will be exhausted.

Received the second invitation to work without pay this week, this time a speaking engagement. I gracefully declined. What gets me about both invitations was that it comes from people who are paid and who don’t work without pay — yet they want me so to do.

Put in my share of that.

I looked over my clips and what I use where. I realized that my unpaid clips for “exposure” only resulted in requests for more unpaid work. Clips from paid gigs led to more paid gigs. That’s important information. I will sit down and figure out the exact stats, but it was an important realization.

How did I do with my intent to listen this week? I definitely listened. I definitely did not like a lot of what I heard. The Senate Trial is enraging and disheartening. The Republican Senators are a disgrace.

I listened to a lot of incidental conversations around me. As a writer, I do periodic eavesdropping anyway, as part of my process to catch cadence. But I was discouraged by the amount of intentional stupidity going around.

So, yes, I achieved my “intent” for the week, but the consequences were not what I foresaw. I still have a couple of days to go on the week, but I think I will focus on listening to music!

 

Thurs. Jan. 23, 2020: Projects and Exhaustion and Frustration

Thursday, January 23, 2020
Dark Moon
Sunny and cold

Hop on over to Gratitude and Growth, where I talk about my dreams of gardens.

Yesterday was exhausting, partially because the day before the dark moon tends to be my lowest energy day of the month.

I’m working on a big project with a client, so that’s taking a lot of time and attention for the next few weeks.

I started the next Kate Warne play, “The Rare Medium.” I hope I can keep the opening two lines. They are some of my favorites among all my projects. No, I am not posting them. I don’t blow first rights by splattering something in draft on public platforms.

Working on the book for review, and the other book for review finally arrived. Will finish one today and get the review out tomorrow, and read the other one over the weekend.

Have roughed out the short story inspired by the news event in my head, and will start drafting it later today.

Have a meeting with a potential client late morning tomorrow, so tomorrow’s blog will post late. It’s on YET another platform, so I need to download YET another app and I’m sick of it all. I don’t want to run my life on apps.

The rental inspection was this morning. Of course, one of the carbon monoxide detectors decided to start squeaking “end of life” because why wait until an hour later, when the inspection was done? Will contact the landlord to get a new one. He’s really good about stuff like that.

Needed Google Hangouts Meet App for tomorrow’s client conference. What a nightmare getting that to work. I HATE having to use apps for everything. Hate it, hate it, hate it.

Working on the revisions for THE BALTHAZAAR TREASURE, too. I lost a few threads in this draft. Some of them I will remove completely — they’re bogging down the story. Others need to be reworked so they’re stronger.

Of course, scenes for GAMBIT COLONY keep forming in my head, when it’s not a good time to work on it. Because that’s the way it goes. Idea Cookies.

Some work at the library, then work at home, then taking my mother to her doctor’s appointment. Then home for more writing and reading.

Every one of those rude, corrupt GOP Senators walking out of the trial needs to be held in contempt, lose the right to vote, and be removed from the process (and office). No jurors are allowed to behave this way. Chief Justice Roberts’s refusal to actually behave like a judge during trial is equally appalling. The Chief Justice of the United States Supreme Court is supposed to be a leader, not a milquetoast.

The whole corrupt sham is disgusting.

In the meantime, I’m going back to the page.

 

Wed. Jan. 22, 2020: Up and Down and . . .

Wednesday, January 22, 2020
Day Before Dark Moon

Hop on over to Ink-Dipped Advice, where I talk about my Business Bookshelf. I hope you’ll read some of the books you haven’t yet read.

Monday was telling, in those who showed their true colors (and how they feel about color) by declaring that Martin Luther King Jr. Day “isn’t a real holiday.”

More people to remove from my life.

Client work was what it was, and I was glad to get home.

Got my review off, and got another book to review, while I wait for the print book to review to arrive in the mail. Every time I get a new book to review, I’m excited and hope to fall in love with it.

Got an article pitch out, one that I like, to a publication for whom I’d like to start a writing. Fingers crossed. They got back to me on Tuesday morning — love the article, but don’t to pay. What a slap in the face. I’ll rework the pitch and send it elsewhere.

Read the second book in a series about which I have mixed feelings. I enjoy the characters and the historical detail, but the pace is too slow for a mystery. It takes forever to get anywhere, and then, suddenly there’s a climactic scene, and then another ten pages of life settling back down, instead of a single scene as a breath.

It was amazing how an excellent writing session on “A Woman for the Job” (the Kate Warne play) set a much more positive tone for the day than I had when I woke up.

Worked on the play yesterday morning, finishing the draft. Went back to working on “Trust” this morning, and planning the next Kate Warne play, which will be about the case where she posed as a medium, working title “The Rare Medium.”

A news story about the gun nut idiots in Virginia on Monday enraged me so much that it spurred the idea for a short story. I wasn’t going to write any short stories this year, but if I don’t channel this rage into art, it will eat me alive. I have the plot points and characters sketched out. Now, I just have to sit down and write it. I did a little yesterday and today. I hope I can finish a draft over the weekend.

Also angry about the way Mitch McConnell is determined not to do a complete and fair trial for the removal of the impeached Narcissistic Sociopath.

Client work yesterday was what it was, and will be so again today. I hope I can participate in the #RemoteChat.

Pizza night tonight, and then some writing. I will vacuum the house top to toe tonight, and mop floors first thing tomorrow. The damn rental inspection again. They changed the hours for doing inspections, which means I lose a half day of work (and pay) for them to come. I’m really sick and tired of the attitude that no one who lives here has to work for a living and can take off and hang around without pay for everyone else’s schedule.

I hope to get some writing done in and around the inspection, and before I have to take my mother to her doctor’s appointment (which is why I asked that they come today, when I already knew I’d have a jagged day). But it still means lost work hours and lost income, because I can’t really sit down and do a solid stretch of billable hours. I can work on pitches and LOIs, but not client work. It means working later in the evening or more hours on Friday to make up for it.

In the meantime, back to the page.

 

Tues. Jan. 21, 2020: Character Cross Purposes

Tuesday, January 21, 2020
Waning Moon

Hop on over to A Biblio Paradise, where I talk about books that had a strong impact on me in 2019.

It was a rather frustrating weekend, at least as far as productive writing. I’m still struggling with the end of “Trust.” I worked on, but did not finish the Kate Warne curtain raiser. I am at a crossroads with the scene on which I’m working. I don’t want to add characters this late into the play, nor do I want to have the climax of the play happen offstage.

I got an idea for two more comic mystery radio plays: one a steampunk, and one set against a vintage circus. I wrote the first eleven pages of the steampunk. I had to re-figure the plot once when I changed direction on one of the characters; then again, when I realized that some of the tropes I’m playing with could come across as offensive, and, within the restrictions of time and number of characters, I couldn’t do enough to turn those tropes inside out so using them wouldn’t be offensive. I’d need it to be a full-length evening in order to do that. Maybe I should make it into a two-parter? I’m confused. I have to think about it. There are already a few identity switches, but now I might have to add a character who is only referenced and do another mistaken identity. Or, or, I could enter this character and make this character the Big Bad. Because right now, the Big Bad is never in the script, and I feel that lets the audience down. The characters are all at odds with each other. Or do I want this as part of a series, like I did with the Frieda and Lazarus plays, and have the big reveal in the third play?

I don’t know yet.

I had a question from the director of “Intrigue on the Aurora Nightingale” from one of the actors. I think I’ve fixed it in a single line. Fingers crossed.

Discouraged about the LOIs and the article pitches. I’m tired of companies lying about what they want in a certain role. That’s what it all is — lies, to get someone cheap instead of skilled, frightened instead of an independent thinker, and to force them to go beyond the scope of what drew them to the company in the first place — and not beyond the scope in a good way. Not a stretch, but a diminishment.

As far as article pitches, I’m discouraged with myself for not getting them drafted, polished, and out fast enough. I managed to finally get one pitch, for a publication with whom I really want to work for, polished, and sent it off yesterday. Fingers crossed.

Did laundry, worked with the cats a lot, cooked, baked, worked on contest entries and the book for review. Finished the book, wrote the review, sent it off.

We had a snowstorm on Saturday night into Sunday which we needed, but it changed over into rain overnight. We need some steady snow cover, or the tick and bug problem will be out of control and the growing season will be challenging. We had snow flurries on Monday morning, but nothing substantial.

Worked on site with a client, in spite of the holiday. No meditation, so I sat on my own in the afternoon.

Onsite today with a client, and then some work at the library. Video conference with London with a different client, before I go onsite.

Just feel disappointed and discouraged all around. Let’s hope I can shift that this week.

Mon. Jan. 20, 2020: Intent for the Week: Listen

image courtesy of sasint via pixabay.com

Monday, January 20, 2020
Waning Moon

I considered multiple intents for this week. The one I really wanted was “Solitude” but that wasn’t going to happen this week, so I decided not to set myself up for failure.

Instead, I chose “listen.”

The Senate trial for removal, post the House’s impeachment of the Narcissistic Sociopath starts this week. I intend to listen. I intend to let my Senators know, each day, what I think of what I’ve heard. I intend to be an additional juror. McConnell has already made it clear he won’t be impartial. The Chief Justice should force him to recuse.

This week will show each Senator for who they are: Whether they will fulfill their Oath to the Constitution, or whether they only care for lining their own pockets and are willing to sell us out and destroy our democracy. The Senators are o trial as much as the defendant.

I will listen to the trial. I will listen to those I encounter who have opinions on the trial and other things. It gives me information I need about them, and listening this week will help me shape my decisions over the next few months. I will listen to what’s not being said, and become aware of subtext.

I will listen to music, to soothe my soul.

I will listen to nature: the wind, the waves, whatever other weather comes our way. I will listen to the way the house creaks and the way the car sounds as it starts.

I will learn from aural cues.

I am hypersensitive to sound anyway, with a rare condition called hyperaccusis, which manifests in strange (and often painful) ways.

But this week, I will listen mindfully, and see how that shapes perceptions and aids me in my decision-making.

What is your intent for the week? How have you used the intents in the past few weeks?

Fri. Jan. 17, 2020: But Was it A Creative Week?

 Friday, January 17, 2020
Waning Moon
Sunny and cold

We’re finally getting the cold weather we need for the garden and to kill off the bugs. Supposedly, a storm coming in, too.

Hop on over to Affairs of the Pen, the Ava Dunne blog, where I talk aboutSecond Book Syndrome.It was supposed to post this morning, but I think I inadvertently posted it yesterday.

I couldn’t get a parking spot at Centerville Library, so I went to the Sandwich Library first. Dropped off books. Used the computer there. Got out some LOIs. Found some great books about books and writers that I checked out and am eager to read.

Circled back to Centerville Library, where I dropped off and picked up.

Did some grocery shopping.

The wind was awful all afternoon. I didn’t dare work on the computer. I did some work in longhand and read, mostly.

We worked for a couple of hours socializing the cats in my room. Willa, Charlotte, and Tessa, all together, hanging out calmly. It worked for nearly two hours, until Charlotte tried to bully Tessa again. But it’s progress. Willa and Tessa are doing pretty well. Willa and Charlotte are doing well, most of the time, because Willa stands up to Charlotte.

Chicken pasta Alfredo with broccoli for dinner. It was good.

Started reading a book and it just didn’t do it for me, so I stopped. Since it wasn’t a contest entry or a book for review, I had that option! Started another book, which intrigues me, but I’m not sure how I feel about it yet. The writing is very good, the situation is interesting, but tying it to a well-known figure was unnecessary, in my opinion. I’m getting a little tired of that trope.

How did I do with my week of the intent of creativity? Honestly, I did better last week. This week, I was slow in the writing (although I plan to make up for it this weekend, with a writing immersion starting this afternoon). I wrote, but not as much or as well as I wanted. I was very creative when it came to client work and LOIs, but not as much as I wanted on my own work.

I did, however, pay attention to everything that was in front of me and give it my full attention. In that respect, I fulfilled my intent. I came up with some new approaches to several different topics, although I did not have the chance to implement them.

I felt tired, emotional, and off my game.

But the week isn’t over, yet, and I hope to steady on.

Today, I have to take my mother to get her blood pressure checked at the firehouse, go to the library, pick up my mother’s medication at the pharmacy, and then home before the storm.

For an immersed weekend of reading and writing, as the storm rages outside.

Have a great weekend.

 

Thurs. Jan. 16, 2020: Rain, Writing, Other

Thursday, January 16, 2020
Waning Moon
Rainy and cold

The temperature is dropping, It’s going to snow this weekend.

Hop on over to Gratitude and Growth, for the latest on the garden.

Yesterday was exhausting with the client, and will be for the next few weeks, while we work on a big project. It’s fine, I’m just wiped out when I leave.

Home, worked with the cats. Charlotte was being difficult. But the Chewy order arrived, which put all three of them in a better mood.

Worked on contest entries, and am re-reading Donna Leon’s FATAL REMEDIES.

Up early this morning, took my mother to a medical appointment. Got some writing done. Off to two different libraries today, for resources that are unique to each.

I am determined to wrestle the end of “Trust” into something that works over the next few days.

Will start my next book for review tonight.

Hope to finish “Trust” and the Kate Warne curtain raiser, and also get some serious work done on BALTHAZAAR. That deadline is looming.

Hoping to get some more LOIs out today or tomorrow, and then polish some article proposals over the weekend.

At least there’s never a dull moment!

Wed. Jan. 15, 2020: This, That, Writing

Wednesday, January 15, 2020
Waning Moon
Sunny and mild for January, but getting colder

Hop on over to Ink-Dipped Advice, where I talk about Winter Work. Then, hop on over to the Goals, Dreams, and Resolutions site for the Mid-January check-in.

Yesterday was tiring onsite with the client, but it is what it is. Today will be the same, and so will the next few weeks. We have some big projects coming up.

The more that comes out about this corrupt administration, the more disgusting it is. The Chief Justice must also take action against any Senator who breaks the Oath taken when sworn in for the trial. One of the reasons it’s getting worse and worse is that there are no consequences for breaking Oaths and the law.

Got my reviews out, and new books assigned.

Swung by the grocery store to pick up a few things. Swung by the library to drop off and pick up.

Home. Got a chicken in the oven to roast. Worked with the cats. Worked on contest entries.

Delighted to find out that the radio play “Intrigue on the Aurora Nightingale” will be performed on January 27. I wish I could fly down and be there for it, but I can’t.

In the first two weeks of January, I’ve had two radio plays scheduled for production, and a proposal for 2 plays accepted. Nice start to the year.

Over the past few days, watched documentaries on The International Sweethearts of Rhythm and THE GIRLS IN THE BAND, which had some overlap. I want to write something rooted in there, but I’m not sure what yet. I have to let it percolate, while I write the other things.

Today, I’m at a client’s, and the home. I’ll be wiped out, no doubt, but I plan to get some work done on the plays and the contest entries. I have the rest of the Kate Warne play in my head — now I have to get it down on paper. Would be nice to come up with a title, too. And I need to finish “Trust.” It’s frustrating that these last four pages are so difficult. I had a decent first writing session on the Winter Solstice novel.

The last couple of days, I tried to start my writing day by reading about writing and craft before writing, but that was a mistake. I need to do it later in the day, and hit the page first thing.

Charlotte is trying to learn how to be a literary cat, but since she’s awkward anyway, it’s taking time. But at least she’s making the effort, and she likes to be in my writing room with me when I work.

I hope I can participate in Remote Chat, but I have a feeling that it will be too chaotic.

The next four days are about writing and going through boxes and putting the last of the winter holiday stuff. It’s supposed to get very cold over the weekend and then snow, so it will be a good weekend to stay in.