Fri. Dec. 30, 2022: Happy New Year!

image coourtesy of Oleksandr Pidvalnyi via pixabay.com

Friday, December 30, 2022

Waxing Moon

Uranus, Mars, and Mercury Retrograde

Cloudy and mild

Yesterday was about getting ahead on various blog articles. I spent far more time than I planned on them, which means this afternoon, I need to focus on getting the next episodes of LEGERDEMAIN uploaded and scheduled.

The first batch of contest entries arrived, but no inventory sheet; I’m hoping they sent me one via email, so I can check in the books and see which ones I need to download. I will get started on those this weekend, probably. Those that arrived as print submissions look good, and I’m excited to get started on them.

I did some planning work/notes/noodling on a project. It’s going to be fun, and I think I’m going to set in in Northumbria, one of my favorite places. I’ll create a fictional town between Morpeth and Bamburgh. I’ll get to have some fun in London locations, too.

The Artists Working Group has been disbanded, which is one less stress on my monthly schedule. As much as I had hopes and liked the people I met through it, it felt like organizations were coming in looking for free labor for their projects and events. My own work comes first; once I’ve done my own work and filled in client work to meet the financial needs for the month, THEN I can volunteer on other people’s projects. Not before. Getting guilted into putting other people’s work first and doing free labor for them under the guise of “building community” or “for the good of the organization” is part of the reason I was so unhappy on Cape Cod.

Charlotte decided to sleep in a chair in the office last night (after doing another Catzilla through the Christmas village), so at least I got some sleep until 4 AM, when she decided to come and wake me up for attention. I got up a little before 6, coaxed out of bed by the smell of coffee and Tessa’s complaints.

I went to the laundromat (we do not start the New Year with dirty panties in this house), and got two big loads done and back and put away. While the clothes did their thing, I wrote about 1K of a project on which I’m writing my way in to see if it’s viable. So far, so good. After a few more chapters I’ll sit down and write my Writer’s Rough Outline, and then decide where it can fit into the schedule. It’s flowing well, and I like the characters and situation.

Once I came home, put the laundry away (or hung up what needs to air dry), and had breakfast, I headed back out again. I went around the corner to drop off some mail that I been misdelivered to me. I headed for the grocery store and bought what we need for the weekend’s festivities.

Tomorrow night, I’ll do the salmon with cumin and orange glaze that’s become a New Year’s Eve tradition. I like to make a duck for the Day, but they were hard to get this year, and I don’t have the energy to go dashing around. Instead, I’m doing a roasted chicken sausage with kale, apple, and cranberries. We will, of course, have a traditional Eggs Benedict for the day (pork before noon, my friends, is a family tradition).

On the eve, another family tradition is to have herring before midnight. Not a big fan, but hey, whatever brings luck, right? I’ll also make some devilled eggs, and there’s an orange and fig spread and an assortment of cheeses. Plenty of prosecco for the Eve and the Day, and a bayberry candle to “burn to the socket to bring cash to the pocket.”

New Year’s Day will start with the Fire & Ice ritual, but overall, both the Eve and the Day will be quiet. I spent many years working on the Eve (working in theatre means you work nights and holidays). When I worked on Broadway and lived a block off Times Square, even if I got out of the show before midnight, I couldn’t get to my apartment, because the streets were sealed off. So I was forced to go to an overpriced restaurant or someone’s party. Even if I was with people I liked, it was too much, and not the way I wanted to start the year. After a few too many years of that, I started taking New Year’s Eve off work and going upstate to a yoga/meditation retreat, and that made a huge, positive difference, even if I had to race back down to the city to work a show or shows on New Year’s Day. Now that I don’t work backstage anymore, I can create the quiet, reflective New Year tranSItions and traDItions that work for me, and I’m much happier.

Monday is a day off, and then I plan to EASE into the year, instead of trying to race into it and overload myself at the beginning.

What are your plans for the transition? Whatever they are, I wish you joy.

Peace, my friends, and Happy New Year.

Thurs. Dec. 29, 2022: First Draft of THE TREES WHISPERED DEATH is Done!

image courtesy of Dom J via pexels.com

Thursday, December 29, 2022

Waxing Moon

Uranus, Mars, Mercury Retrograde

Partly sunny and mild

Finally, there’s a new post up over on Gratitude and Growth!

To say I am unhappy about a FOURTH Mercury Retrograde this year is an understatement. I need a full year with NO Mercury Retrogrades (yeah, I know that won’t happen).

I did some work on some of the websites yesterday morning. The Devon Ellington Work website is missing a bunch of material I’d uploaded over the past months, which is disturbing. I managed to add the Serials page and rearrange a few things that weren’t working. I need to take down and re-upload the slide show on the landing page. I did some fixes on other pages, but also have to add in more buy links, since additional markets opened for some of the releases. I did some work on the Legerdemain website, but not enough. I wrote the blurb for ANGEL HUNT, and came up with the logline, which I will add today.

When all that was done, I sat down and worked on THE TREES WHISPERED DEATH. By the end of the first 2K, I knew I was only a couple of chapters away from the end. So I kept going (thank you, Paula, for the encouragement along the way). I wrote a total of three chapters, around 6K, and finished this first draft. Phew! I made my goal of finishing the draft by the end of the year.

It came in just over 68K,which is a little low for this genre, but it leaves me room to layer in more period detail, integrate it better into the story, and maybe put in another red herring or two as I revise.

Now it can sit for two months, before I start working on revisions. Before I revise, I also have to spend some quality time in the library archives with newspapers from the months the book covers, for more color and detail. I’ll have to see, on the schedule, if I need to book library time the prior week, or if that’s part of the “start of revisions.” It will depend how the rest of the schedule shakes out.

I noodled with some ideas I’m playing with. There are a couple that seem viable, but until I write my way in for a few chapters, I can’t be sure.

I should have worked on downloading the rest of the software and getting the other Gmail accounts up and running again, but I didn’t. No doubt, with Mercury Retrograde again, they will be a PITA. I shouldn’t be forced into 2-factor authentications for email. It has nothing to do with “security” and everything about collecting and selling my information.

I received the next two books for review; I hope to get them done over this holiday weekend, so I can submit the reviews and invoice for this last bunch. Since I took the time off from script coverage (not that anything was even coming in), I want to be able to invoice for at least a little bit at the top of the month. I have bills, plus things like another Chewy order coming up.

Brainstormed a bunch of ideas for The Process Muse, Ink-Dipped Advice, and the Goals, Dreams, and Resolutions blog, so now it’s about sitting down and doing some batch writing this week and next week. I’d like to get a little ahead, in case of more technical difficulties.

I read THE FORTUNE TELLER by Gwendolyn Womack last night. Wow. That was an intense book. If you like tarot, old manuscripts, and adventure, it’s a good read. I’m going to track down and read her other books, too.

Up early this morning, to the glorious smell of freshly brewed coffee. It’s amazing how much that small indulgence improves the start of my day. Charlotte kept waking me up all night, wanting attention, so I don’t feel particularly well-rested.

I wrote early, a few pages in longhand, playing with one of my ideas. It’s going well (in spite of the pages written at the busy laundromat last week, which don’t really make sense). It was difficult to stop and switch my focus over to meditation group, but I did, and I’m glad I did. Charlotte was thrilled to be back up on Zoom again.

This morning, I’ll probably do a little more work in longhand, before doing some more work on LEGERDEMAIN and ANGEL HUNT. I also want to work on ahead on some posts for next week, typing up the answers to the GDR Questions for 2023, and posts for Ink-Dipped Advice and The Process Muse.

I also hope to have time to make some specific notes on another project I’m noodling. Basically, I’m noodling three (or is it four?) different projects to see which is viable and can be fitted into the schedule, as I work on the writing schedule for this year. There’s a lot I want to finish and get out the door, and I also have to leave room for new work, work that’s coming out of stasis, and new opportunities. As I get an idea of how everything is earning its keep, I can make decisions on how much and what kind of freelance work to take on month-to-month.

Instead of being a roadmap, this year’s plan is more like a big lake of writing, and then I need to see which rivers of words are the most viable on creative and financial levels, and put my energy there.

Mercury just went retrograde, and I’m already over it. I dread putting up the new printer, but I need it.

And I’m finished a bunch of admin work and clearing file space, so I can put AWAY the old year, and make room for the new, with all its opportunities. I dreaded the turn of the last year, much as I wanted 2021 to be over. I feel like the internal work I’ve done this year is getting ready to affect the external portions of my life in 2023, and for that, I am grateful. I’m still a little afraid to be hopeful, but I’m grateful.

Have a good one, my friends.

Wed. Dec. 28, 2022: Back in Communication From the Home Office

image courtesy of Pexels via Pixabay.com

Wednesday, December 28, 2022

Waxing Moon

Uranus and Mars Retrograde

Mercury goes retrograde tomorrow again

Cloudy and a little warmer

The computer is back and sort of running, so I’m able to do most things from home again. Missed you!

The latest Process Muse dropped this morning. If you haven’t subscribed yet, I hope you will. New musings release every Wednesday. The subscription is free.

Yesterday was a little chaotic. I got the errands done that I didn’t do on Monday. I returned 15 books to the library and posted the blog for the day from their computer. I also sent out the two reviews I’d written first thing.

But it was well into the afternoon by the time I got back, and I had nothing left in the tank to give to THE TREES WHISPERED DEATH. Or anything else, for that matter.

The laptop returned mid-afternoon, supposedly repaired. What they did was reload the operating system, but nothing’s been done to fix what caused the problem in the first place. It took 3 hours to upgrade again to Windows11, get Google up and running, and get Office back in place. It doesn’t look like I lost anything from the hard drive itself except for the downloads, which is fine.

Scrivener won’t download, so I have to try that again. And I have to get DramaQueen again. Not sure what to do with Discord, since it caused so many problems, and I’m keeping McAfee off. All those attempts to uninstall it didn’t work, but now it’s uninstalled, and I plan to keep it that way. I also have to get the other Gmail accounts loaded back in, which will be a major PITA. I shouldn’t be forced to do 2-step authentication.

But I’ll turn my attention to all of that AFTER I’ve written.

The laser printer decided it no longer wants to work. Again. I wonder if it has something to do with the laptop? It was fine with the old Macbook. So, again, AFTER I’ve written, I will set up the new printer.

In addition to THE TREES WHISPERED DEATH (and maybe some work on LEGERDEMAIN), I want to work ahead on posts for Ink-Dipped Advice and The Process Muse. But I don’t know if that will happen today.

The first box of contest entries is also supposed to arrive today, so I’ll have to do the administrative work on those, and probably start reading this weekend. I’d also like to do some freshening up on all the websites.

So much for a week off? Well, last week was my forced week off a lot, sort of.

I’m coming up with a new social media plan for the first part of next year, anyway, that should streamline the daily process and also make my time in each space a better experience for myself and for those with whom I interact.

I’ve made notes on Process Muse posts to early June. I’ll block off some time to batch write posts and schedule them, in case there are more technical difficulties, so I don’t need to worry. And I want to get way ahead on uploading/scheduling LEGERDEMAIN and ANGEL HUNT posts.

Time and energy management are key, going into 2023.

The plan today is to stay home and get everything working again – AFTER I’ve done the writing I want to do. Protect the work. Make sure the writing comes first. That, too, is my key to a creative 2023.

Peace, my friends, and it’s nice to be able to be in contact from my home office!

Tues. Dec. 27, 2022: Holiday Catch-Up

Tuesday, December 27, 2022

Waxing Moon

Uranus and Mars Retrograde

Chiron Direct as of December 23

Sunny and cold

Hello, my friends, and I hope you had a lovely holiday weekend.

Hopefully, the newsletter went out properly last Wednesday, and you enjoyed the holiday tale, “Comfort, Then Joy.”

I am still waiting for my computer, although supposedly it is repaired and on its way back. So my posts on all the blogs will be erratic this week; which is kind of okay, since I planned to take this week off anyway.

We had a big storm come in late Thursday, before the holiday weekend. It poured with rain all day Friday. I was very glad I didn’t have to go anywhere. I have the new, big coffeemaker set up, and I admit that waking up to the smell of coffee in the morning is glorious.

I did manage to get a whole lotta laundry done on Thursday morning, before the storm came in. I brought some ideas with which I’m noodling, but there were Other People there, so it wasn’t as useful a work time as it usually is.

I’m able to keep up with my email, for the most part, on the phone and the tablet, but when the storm came in, I shut everything down, to avoid power surges and other issues.

I started reading some mysteries, but didn’t like the writing and the protagonists definitely fell into the “too stupid to live” category, so those are going back to the library, and those authors are crossed off the list.

It snowed for a little bit at night, and quickly changed over to rain.

Rained all night. Friday, it rained all day, and it was windy. Chiron went direct during the day — Chiron is about the Wounded Healer. I definitely feel like a lot of this year has been about healing, or at least recognizing where healing needs to happen, and letting go. Pretty much feel like a limp dishrag from the work.

I played with several story ideas on themes I’ve worked with for years, but never quite made work. We’ll see.

I worked on my answers to the 2023 Questions on the Goals, Dreams, and Resolutions site. If you’d like to take a look at the questions to help you with your own musings, here is the link.

I read, a mystery by someone whose first book I liked, but thought this one was “meh.” I’m giving this series one more shot; if book three doesn’t work, I’ll give up. Book Two is problematic, no matter what.

I read the first book in another series that was a lot of fun. It’s Diane Vallere’s first Costume Shop Mystery, A DISGUISE TO DIE FOR, and I enjoyed it. I look forward to reading the rest of the series, and she has several more series that sound like fun, too.

Christmas Eve, got up early to zero degrees, but at least a white Christmas. We were lucky; the power held. Wrapped presents. Read. Did some tidying up. Wrote a bit, in longhand, playing with some ideas.

Our big Christmas Eve dinner was a cod, mussel, and scallop paella. If you saw the photos on social media, it looks very dark. That’s not from squid ink; it’s from all the spinach in it. It took several hours to make and get done properly, but was worth it. Very delicious. Plenty of leftovers for the week. It’s a dish that needs time and care.

Willa is always fascinated, and loves to watch me cook.. She either sits on the bed in my mother’s room, which is off the kitchen, or on a kitchen chair. It’s hilarious.

We opened presents after dinner, which is always fun, and enjoyed the tree and the candles.

Christmas Day, we were up early (to the glorious smell of coffee and the prodding of the cats) and enjoyed our stockings. I made scrambled eggs to go with the panettone. The panettone was disappointing this year. I have a feeling I might need to learn how to make that, too.

Had a leisurely day. Read BORROWER OF THE NIGHT by Elizabeth Peters. How have I missed the Vicky Bliss series all these years? It’s a lot of fun, and I look forward to reading more.

The big Christmas Day meal was Coq Au Vin — another one that takes hours to do, because of the layering of flavors, but it was very good.

Honestly, I feel like I could just stay in bed and sleep the rest of the week. If I could afford to, I’d like to sleep through the entire upcoming Mercury Retrograde. We had four of the damn things in 2022, and I am over it.

Coffee and cats got me up early on Monday.  I got some writing done, in longhand, and finished a short story, and planned a couple more. I hoped to take care of a few things, but got caught up trying to download the photos out of iPhoto onto a backup device. I got about half of the photos moved, and then the old Macbook just wouldn’t let me copy to a device or even export to the machine’s own hard drive I have them on Time Machine; I’m just not sure how to get them off time machine and onto something I can use.

I have the original SD cards from everything I took with a camera. Maybe I’ll get a reader/adapter for the laptop and then download all of them onto flash drives and the external hard drive.

Another digital camera is on my list for this year. I HATE relying on the phone. I’ve lost so many photos thanks to the phone. I have an SD card in the current phone, thank goodness, but still.

Anyway, that took longer than I’d hoped, so I decided to put off the errands until today.

I did some work on LEGERDEMAIN and on ANGEL HUNT instead (gotta love flash drives and Word for Mac). I wrote thank you notes. I planned future posts for Ink-Dipped Advice and The Process Muse.

The first 44 episodes of ANGEL HUNT (22 weeks’ worth) are ready for the final polish and upload in early January, so the launch on the 25th should work. I won’t get the live link to the serial until the day it debuts from Kindle Vella, so I can’t work ahead scheduling the episode graphics to drop. What I CAN do is upload at least the first 2 months, and then create the episode graphics, so that when it goes live, I can just upload and schedule.

I also need to work ahead further on LEGERDEMAIN, and upload/do episode graphics and get ahead on that. I’m also working on a prize package giveaway for it, and looking at buying some ad time for it, probably later in January, or early February, and buying ad time for ANGEL HUNT in February, too.

I’d like, this week, to work ahead a bit on some of the blog entries, so that next week is more about uploading them than creating them.

I deleted a bunch of stuff from the Kindle, old contest entries and books I reviewed that I don’t need to keep, to make room for the incoming.

I’m trying to finish the first draft of THE TREES WHISPERED DEATH this week, too. Not sure if I’ll meet that goal, but I’m giving it a go. I drafted Chapter 29 yesterday, just a smidge under 1900 words. I’m about to start the climactic sequence. Not sure if that will be three or four chapters. If I keep showing up at the page steadily, I should be able to get it done. Then it can rest for two months at least before I start revisions. I also need to do some more research before I start revision, to layer in more period details.

In those two months of rest, I want to finish the revision on CAST IRON MURDER and get the submission materials prepped. There are two, possibly three publishers to whom I want to query it, in addition to the small publisher who’s handled some of my other work.

I need to spend some time this week to sit down and really look at what writing projects NEED to get done this year, and mix them with the writing projects I WANT to get done. If I get THE TREES WHISPERED DEATH finished before January 1, I will have written only one novel this year, and that’s not sustainable. LEGERDEMAIN’s done decently (both creatively and financially), and I licensed some radio plays and wrote some other plays and short stories, but I didn’t have a real plan this year, and it shows. I need to come up with something more sustainable for 2023. This year was about healing and settling in to the new location. I did some good healing work (although there is much more to do) and I’m content and often happy here.

Now, I need to come up with a sustainable plan for the fiction, so that it’s in balance with the nonfiction and other writing-related work that I do. Everything has to earn its keep, and I need to get back into the 13-in-Play concept, where there are always at least 13 pieces out on submission.

This morning was about the errands I didn’t get done yesterday (and digging out the car from this weekend Was Not Fun). I also had to mail off a bunch of stuff at the post office, drop off books at the library, and upload all of this at the library. I wrote two book reviews and sent them off, and I’m waiting for my next assignments.

The plan for the afternoon is to write Chapter 30 of THE TREES WHISPERED DEATH and see how far into the climactic sequence that gets me. I don’t really like writing fiction in the afternoon, but that’s the way it shook out yesterday and today, so I’ll go with it.

The repaired computer is to show up sometime this week, and I figure it’ll take a half-day to get it set up again properly. I’m sure I lost a few things, but we’ll set up what we can. I was pretty good about regular backups, so I’d only have lost stuff from sometime in November that I hadn’t backed up anywhere else.

The first box of contest entries should arrive this week (I’m judging three categories this year). I’ll log in the physical books first and then start downloading the digital entries. Depending on how many are entered this year, it should be a busy reading time between now and May, between books to review, contest entries to judge, and the script coverage.

Which means the morning writing has to be focused and productive.

Hope you’re having a great “Betweenmas” as Dianne Dotson calls it, and enjoying some rest.

Wed. December 21, 2022: Blessed Solstice (and Upcoming Holidays)

Wednesday, December 21, 2022

Day before dark moon

Chiron, Uranus, Mars Retrograde

Sunny and cold

Yesterday, I did some more cookie deliveries and uploaded a few things at the library. I picked up a couple of last minute items, and now I just have to wrap.

There are a couple more cookie platters I want to give out, but I haven’t been able to reach the people, so it might be next week.

I might not have needed that extra batch of oatmeal currant cookies, but we’ll eat them!

I started playing with one of the new ideas, to see if it will be feasible. Wrote about 1600 words yesterday and nearly 1000 words so far this morning. It relieves the stress of the deadlined projects, and it’s in longhand.

I did a few more drafts of “Comfort, Then Joy” and another two drafts this morning. It’s going in the newsletter, and, hopefully, the newsletter will go out while I’m at the library, without too many errors!

I’m doing a grocery shop and then I’m in.

It’s Winter Solstice today, so I’ll do my ritual of sitting as it gets dark, and moving around the house, putting on all the lights and candles. I’ll also take the big iron cauldron out on the back balcony and burn greens from last Solstice.

Dinner tonight is Cornish Hen, and we’ll use the stock I’ll make later in the Coq Au Vin on Sunday.

It’s the day before dark moon, my lowest energy day of the month, but too bad for me. I’m back on iron supplements, because the anemia is rearing its head again. There’s still more decorating to get done before tonight, and we switched over from flannel sheets to fleece.

I should have gone to the Laundromat first thing, but it was 8 degrees. It’ll be in the 40s tomorrow, so I’ll go then, even though it’s supposed to be a mix of snow and rain.

This will probably be the last post I do until sometime next week — the laptop is still in computer hospital.

I wish you a joyful and peaceful Chanukah, Solstice, Christmas, Kwanzaa, and everything else you celebrate.

Tues. Dec. 20, 2022: Quick Catch Up (Especially on the Baking)

Tuesday, December 20, 2022

Waning Moon

Chiron, Uranus, Mars Retrograde

Partly sunny and cold

This won’t be our usual long Tuesday natter, because I’m limited in what I can do on my devices and where I can upload what.

The storm that came in at the beginning of last weekend wasn’t as bad as predicted for us, but I was still glad to stay home. I was in by mid-day of Thursday, although it didn’t start until about 11 PM on Thursday night.

But once I got home on Thursday, I stayed on the couch and read. And Friday, same. I was on the couch, alternating between watching the snow and reading. Because we are at an elevation (being in the mountains) and on the second floor, it’s lovely to watch the sky.

Saturday, I dug out the car. But, mostly, I baked. I made another batch of the brown sugar maple cookies with maple glaze. But the big thing was the Dresden Stollen.

Stollen is a big deal in my family tradition. There used to be a variety of bakeries on the Upper East Side of Manhattan and even in Westchester County, where I grew up, that made wonderful stollen. But they went out of business over the years. We used to order it from Swiss Colony, but it was mediocre. We tried several other places, including Vermont Country Store, but it just wasn’t that good, especially for the price. And the price makes sense, when you realize just how much goes into making it.

I use the Dresden Stollen recipe from Mimi Sheraton’s THE GERMAN COOKBOOK. It takes eight hours, so I have to put aside an entire day to make it. There’s an initial rise with only a few of the ingredients, and then two extra rises that should take an hour to an hour and a half each, but can take more.

This recipe makes 3 giant stollen loaves that are between 3 and 5 pounds each. When you look at the prices on store bought stollen, that’s usually hard and stale and about $30 for a single pound, it makes sense to make it, if you like it and don’t mind blocking off an entire day.

Even though I have a mixer and dough hooks, I don’t have a standing mixer, so it takes a decent amount of effort to get it kneaded properly.

This year, I decided that, instead of making 3 giant loaves, I would make 6 smaller ones. The yeast bloomed very well, which meant the rises worked well. So well, that, for the second rise, even though I had it in the biggest bowl I own (which is a party bowl/tray I bought on Cape), it rose so high and so fast, I was afraid it would overcome the bowl and start crawling across the counter.

I monitored the baking time closely. Again, with the 3 large loaves, it tends to over bake the edges, making them dark and crispy, while the center under bakes. With the smaller loaves, I could control the bake better, and the interior crumb was perfect, and the outer edges baked just right.

It tastes really, really good.

Dresden Stollen doesn’t use marzipan, which some of the other recipes do.

Sunday, I baked the orange rye rolls we like so much (from Marion Cunningham’s THE BREAKFAST BOOK). The recipe makes one loaf plus 10 small rolls; I usually prepare it so it makes 10-16 larger rolls.

We finished decorating the stairs on Sunday, with the garlands and lights on the banisters. We also put up the lights across the kitchen window in the back. We still have to set up the Santas; only the new Santas are out right now. And put up the lights on the front porch, before the Solstice tomorrow.

Monday, I had a slow start, but eventually got going. I dropped off a cookie platter at the college library next door, and they were thrilled. I went to the library and uploaded some material I needed to. Had trouble getting into Substack, and Gmail claims the password for the Devon Ellington account is wrong, which it’s not. I can’t change that password again until I get the main computer back, or everything in that account will be inaccessible.

But I got what I needed to done, and dropped off/picked up books. Then, I swung by the place where I get the car serviced, and dropped off cookies. They were thrilled.

I stopped at a store to pick up a few stocking stuffers, but found some other stuff I needed, including the Dutch oven I need for the coq au vin for Christmas Day dinner. It’s a gorgeous blue creation, heavy as heck, but I am madly in love with it.

Yes, this year is cod paella for Christmas Eve and coq au vin for Christmas Day.

I brought everything home, packed up the cookie platter for the post office, and took that over. They were thrilled, too.

Stopped at the dollar store, on a hunch, and, after some digging through stuff, found more cookie bags (I’d run out). Since I was over that way anyway, I stopped at the liquor store for what I needed for the holiday meals through New Year’s.

Hauled that all back, got it unpacked and sorted.  Sorted out a new password for Substack, so I can get into it independently, and not using my Gmail.

Packed up the cookie platters for the neighbors and delivered them.

Worked on the short stories for a bit, and played with some ideas that I got in the past few days for pieces that would be fun to work on, but are a little out of my wheelhouse. I’m going to write a little bit into them in longhand to see if any of them are viable; if they are, I have to figure out how to fit them into the schedule.

This morning, I was up early. I should have gone to the Laundromat, but I couldn’t get my act together, so I will do it tomorrow.

Had to bake another batch of oatmeal currant lace cookies. I have a few more platters to deliver today, some work at the library, and then it’s about polishing the short story.

The newsletter goes out tomorrow (we hope), so if you haven’t yet signed up for it, you can do so here.

Intent for the Week: Coast

Due to the weather, I couldn’t ship out the computer to computer hospital until yesterday. I seriously doubt I’ll get it back until some time in January.

There aren’t scripts clamoring the queue; I’d hoped to read today and tomorrow, and then again on Thursday, and take off next week. Right now, it doesn’t look like I’ll read at all this week.

I’m okay with it.

I have a few more errands to do (cookie deliveries, postponed by weather, stocking stuffers) that I will do tomorrow. I’m taking the Solstice off to celebrate properly, and there’s a big storm coming in again just before the weekend holiday, so again, I will hunker down and enjoy it.

But the rest of the week will be reading and writing (yes, I still write in longhand).

My intent for the week is to not panic because the schedule isn’t what I planned; but to enjoy what IS.

What’s your intent for the week?

Thurs. Dec. 15, 2022: Incoming Snow (Quick Update)

Thursday, December 15, 2022

Waning Moon

Chiron, Uranus, Mars Retrograde

Storm coming in

This will be quick. I’m uploading at the library, and the storm is coming in faster than predicted.

Yesterday went better than expected: sent off the work at the library. Put in the claim to get the computer fixed and it went right through and I got the paperwork. I will pack it up. I was going to send it off today, but I will wait until the storm is over. I don’t want it sitting in a truck in a snowdrift.

Came home. Turned around 3 more scripts and wrote the book review, which I just sent off from the library this morning.

I was going to do cookie deliveries this morning, but with the storm coming in, I popped over to the library, and I’m going to pick up some wine on my way home, and that’s it. The storm starts today, and won’t end until sometime on Saturday. The town has sent out a warning to expect everything shut down all day tomorrow.

So it will be next week sometime before I post here again, when I can get to the library. I will check in on social media as I can, although we’ve been warned to expect power and internet outages.

Take care and stay safe.

Guess my vacation starts early.

I intend to lie on the sofa reading books and watching the snow tomorrow.

Wed. Dec. 14, 2022: Well, This is a Problem

Wednesday, December 14, 2022

Waning Moon

Chiron, Uranus, Mars Retrograde

Sunny and cold

You may not hear much from me the next few days. My computer crashed (after a day of chaos).

I have a ton of deadlines.

I’d hoped to take off the week between Christmas and New Year’s. I might have to take off most of next week.

First of all, I ran a bunch of errands in the morning and got the cards mailed. On the way back, I stopped at the Laundromat and put in three loads of laundry. Two loads went through just fine. The third machine cut out half way through and didn’t unlock the door to let me get at my wet clothes.

I got in touch with the company, and they sent a tech over. The machine spontaneously spit out the dripping clothes. We got them moved to another machine, and they paid for the new wash and also the extra dry. The machines started acting possessed anyway, and for a few minutes, it sounded like we were a spaceship preparing for takeoff. There were quite a few people there by then, and we were all kind of freaked out, but laughing.

I stayed in the car most of the time, because too many people in too small a space, and me the only one masking. Nope.

Drove home the groceries and one set of laundry; came back and picked up the other.

What should have taken an hour and a half took 4 hours.

Then, the computer kept crashing. I managed to fill out a residency application, but as I worked on the script coverage, the laptop crashed and wouldn’t come up. It just said “Your PC needs repair” and that it couldn’t access the operating system.

The machine is under warranty, but I doubt it will be honored (there are 2 more years on the warranty, and I even found it). I found a local repair place that has a good reputation (and a website, not a FB page), so that will be my backup.

Of course, I have script coverages.

I managed to read on my tablet last night — 6 scripts. I handwrote the notes. I pulled out my old Macbook, which can’t go online, but the word processing works. I typed up the coverages.

The plan is to go to the library and upload everything, then come home, read the rest of the scripts for the week and finish a book review, write them up on the old Macbook, and go back to the library tomorrow.

Another storm comes in tomorrow night, lasting until Saturday morning. So even if the warranty is honored, I can’t get the computer anywhere until Monday.

I’m wondering if I can rent one for a week or two while mine is repaired. I have a feeling it needs a new hard drive; if that’s the case, I’ll see how much more it costs to get a bigger hard drive.

Fortunately, about 90% is backed up on USB and external hard drive. With Mercury going retrograde on the 29th (yes, we’re in the shadow, SHUT UP), I was going to back it all up again right after Christmas. So I won’t have lost too much, and all the writing is on flash drive anyway, as well as external.

But it’s more running around, it meant I couldn’t bake or deliver cookies, and it’s a lot of pressure in the next 48 hours.

Breathe, right?

But I might not be posting here again until next week.

If not, peace, my friends.

(And buy my books, my topic workbooks, and read the serial, please)!

Tues. Dec. 13, 2022: Busy in the Cold

image courtesy of 0fjd125gk87 via pixabay.com

Tuesday, December 13, 2022

Waning Moon

Chiron, Uranus, Mars Retrograde

Cloudy and COLD

It is ZERO degrees F this morning. Brrrr!

I hope you have a cup of your favorite beverage, so we can curl up to catch up.

There’s a post over on the Goals, Dreams, and Resolutions site about “Flexible Gratitude” which is what I’m working on this week, in addition to trying to hold steady and get things done.

Friday, I had the day off from script coverage. I did the blogging, the social media rounds, picked up books at the library, got a couple of things from the grocery store. I had trouble getting going, because I was tired.

However, after lunch, I started baking, and I baked 25 dozen cookies (orange cranberry, oatmeal currant, molasses spice). Once I got going, I had it down to a system, and it went pretty fast. I did two batches of each kind of cookie; if I need more, I can always whip up another batch.

Since I have 7 baking trays, I can prep the trays and just rotate them through the baking while I keep working on the next batch.

Got them all packed up in their tins, once they cooled. But I was definitely tired by the end of it.  I ran out of wax paper while I was packing the tins, but I had parchment paper, so it was all good.

Really, though, it took about 4 ½ hours, that’s all.

And I made more vegetable stock in the slow cooker, too, because I needed the space in the freezer that was taken up with the bits that go into the stock.

Saturday, I was up early. I had to get a few things like more ginger and more wax paper and Crisco for some of the cookies, and a few things I’m stockpiling for the holiday meals.

I made the dough for the coffee spice cookies and for the brown sugar maple cookies. While that chilled in the fridge, I handstitched the holly curtain for the Kitchen Island Cart from Hell, because we must be festive in the kitchen.

Baked the cookies. The coffee spice cookies are from a companion cookbook to Phillip R. Craig’s mysteries set on Martha’s Vineyard. If you’ve never read them, I recommend them. I read them first years ago, and then re-read them (and got the cookbook) when I lived on Cape.

The cookies are good, but I want to bump up the flavor. The next batch I try will split the batch and put some anise extract in one half and some allspice in the other. The nutmeg is a little too subtle.

The brown maple sugar cookies are good, but it doesn’t make a lot, which is a concern. I think I’ll have to make another batch in the next couple of days. The maple glaze is good, too. These will be a good addition to the platters.

I was tired, so I made turkey enchiladas for dinner. No, not from Thanksgiving leftovers. We finished all those!

I was happy to see that all the packages I mailed last Monday were delivered. Whew! Of course a package UPS was supposed to deliver last Wednesday is still out there somewhere, and every day, UPS lies and says it’s “out for delivery” and every day it doesn’t show up. I hate UPS. It’s fine if there’s a delay, but stop lying.

I made a chocolate glaze and put it on the coffee spice cookies. Yup, that gave it enough of a boost to go into this year’s cookie platters, while I work on the recipe. Only I ran out of confectioner’s sugar, and have to make another batch of glaze. So one batch of cookies needs 3 batches of glaze (I made 2, which will get me through the first few platter deliveries).

While the glaze set, we sat down and wrote the domestic cards. Only around 50 this year. So many have died. I’m at that age, plus COVID, means a lot of loss. I also let some names on the list go, when I haven’t heard from them at all for several years.  There were years, in New York, when I wrote as many as 500 cards (it took most of the month).

There’s a whole set of people with whom I only interact during the winter holidays. That’s fine; we manage to keep in touch. Someone, a few years back on social media, raged that if the only time one keeps in touch is winter holidays, it’s not worth it, and I disagree.

But then, the whole ritual of holiday cards is very important to me. Choosing the cards. Choosing the stamps. Sitting down with the list. Writing something in the card. Addressing the card. It’s taking a moment to honor the friendship and connection with each individual. And, while there are definitely times postage is a frightening expense, I believe each of these people is worth spending the cost of a stamp and some time on, once a year.

Some people choose not to send cards, for whatever reason. It’s up to them. Some of those who don’t like the whole card ritual keep in touch in other ways at other times of the year. Which I also appreciate.

But when there’s no interaction over a long period of time, it’s time to let go.

That’s a big change for me; there were people on the list to whom I’ve written for ten or more years and not heard from at all. Ever. Definitely time to let go. My position in their lives is clear (as in “non-existent”). I can retain positive memories and let go of the current connection.

As someone who was always designated “Kin Keeper” of various groups of friends and colleagues over the years, the letting to AND BEING OKAY WITH IT, is a big step.

In the afternoon, we finished decorating the big tree in the doorway between the living room and the sewing room. Because one can see all around the tree, the back of the tree is as important as the front, and it’s fun to decorate in 360.

Added the musical instrument garland and lights to the garland on the mantel. I bought the musical instrument garland for 50 cents in December 1980 in Woolworth’s, Tallahassee, Florida, when I was at FSU that first year (I transferred to NYU the following spring). I love that silly little garland, and have hung it up every year in Florida, San Francisco, Seattle, New York, Cape Cod, and now here in the Berkshires.

Put up the lights in the living room window. Set up a shelf full of snowmen behind one of the big reading chairs. Put up the small tree over my desk, behind Seshat, my goddess of scribes, who has pride of place over my desk.

The Santas are still packed; we have to figure out where to put 50+ Santas. All over the house, no doubt.

Once the stacks of cookies are on platters and out the door, I will set up my mix-and-match Holiday Village on the big table in my office. I still have to put up the lights on the front porch, in the kitchen, and on the stairs, along with the garlands.

It started snowing around 11 on Sunday morning and snowed all day. We got about 5 inches. I perched on the couch in the evening, enjoying the candles and lights (3^rd of Advent) and reading.

I have a lot of holiday stuffed animals (especially reindeer. I love reindeer). One of them, which I picked up at a thrift store for about 50 cents, has a music box on it. Only I don’t know how to make it work. Charlotte, on the other hand, keeps setting it off. It’s hilarious.

I had weird dreams, Sunday into Monday, about an immersive theatre experience in a stadium-sized theatre. Charlotte woke me up from it.

Slow start Monday, wanting it to be a snow day. No scripts in the queue. I decided to be grateful instead of worried. I could do other things!

I did the Monday blogging, and the social media rounds.

To my absolute joy, the big laser printer which hasn’t worked for the past few weeks, turned itself on and started printing, like nothing was every wrong. Okay, it thinks it is May 17, 2020, but other than that, it’s working. I am so grateful. I guess it needed a vacation?

I haven’t even set up the other printer yet.

I caught up on all the printing on which I’d gotten behind, got some scanning done. I created the Cookie Cheat Sheets to go with the cookies. I figured I should get as much done as possible, in case it decided to stop working again.

I went out and dug out the car. The parking lot was plowed already, and the snow was light and fluffy, so it wasn’t a big deal. The sun came out later on and helped, too.

I edited, polished, uploaded, and scheduled Episodes 47 & 48 of Legerdemain. I wrote their episode log lines, created the episode graphics, and uploaded/scheduled that content to drop on the appropriate days. I’m good through the first week of January, which gives me a little breathing room, since I won’t get to write new episodes until sometime next week. I’ve written through Episode 58, but I need to go further and finish the arc, so that I can make sure I don’t need to plant information in earlier episodes to make sense later.

I put release dates into the January calendar for Legerdemain and ANGEL HUNT episodes (I’m behind where I want to be on that, too), and other deadlines in January. This is in the big calendar. I didn’t use different colors in January, which I’m kind of regretting. Everything is in black ink, and it looks rather dull.

I was about to finish my witchy charm bracelet and my talisman necklace when I realized I need to get jump rings.

The trust paid off and more scripts came in for the week. I have 3 coverages today and 2 tomorrow. If I can pick up a couple more each day Thursday and Friday great; if not, that’s fine, too. I hope to get some coverages next week for Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, and maybe one on Friday, and then I am on vacation!

Today, I need to do the rounds to promote the Legerdemain episode that’s dropping. I want to work on “Comfort, Then Joy” and I have a tarot reading to set, write up, and post on Ko-fi later. I have to go out and get more maple syrup and more confectioners’ sugar, so I can do another batch of the brown sugar maple cookies, and make another batch of glaze for the coffee spice cookies. I hope to give the batches of cookies to the neighbors in the building later today, and then start delivering the other cookie platters tomorrow. I also need to drop off the cards at the post office. Writing them is great, but if they’re not mailed, it doesn’t mean a whole lot, does it?

A package arrived a week late yesterday, but it’s here, so that’s all good.

There’s another storm coming in on Friday, so I need to figure out if I can get the laundry done today or tomorrow, and all the cookie deliveries out by Thursday, then grab a few groceries to get us through the weekend. I was going to do the stocking stuffer shopping this weekend, but might put It off until next week. I also have another book to review this week, and need to get moving on that.

The Christmas novella wants to be worked on, but that will have to wait until next week. The newsletter story and the Ko-fi flash have to take priority. Then, I’ll mix working on the Christmas novella next week, along with work on Legerdemain, ANGEL HUNT, and finishing THE TREES WHISPERED DEATH.

Fingers crossed the printer keeps working!

On a personal level, there’s some rough work going on. The Chiron retrograde energy presses down, forcing me to face some painful memories and past choices, deal with them, and gain perspective. While making sure I don’t make the same mistakes again. Necessary work, but not easy and often painful.

Have a good one, friends. Enjoy the next episode of Legerdemain! This one wraps up the first large story arc and leads into the second one.

Mon. Dec. 12, 2022: Intent for the Week — Steady

image courtesy of ha11ok via pixabay.com

The domestic cards are written; I will take them to the post office, probably tomorrow, when we are dug out of the storm.

The cookies are baked, and I will start delivering the platters tomorrow.

There’s a little more decorating to be done.

I don’t have any scripts in my queue for today (or the week). Instead of panicking, I am grateful to have a day in which to focus on other things. I trust the work I need will be there in its time.

My intent this week is to hold steady and get things finished, so that I can enjoy the holiday. Next week, midweek, is the Winter Solstice, which is my big holiday of this season. Then are the days of Christmas, New Year’s, and all the rest. And I intend to rest in that week between, as much as possible.

I’m crafting my vision for 2023, and figuring out how to manifest it. But this week, I want to hold steady and get things finished.

What is your intent for the week?

Fri. Dec. 9, 2022: Catching Up on Baking; Planning the Writing, the Cards, the Decorating

image courtesy of Mylene 2401 via pixabay.com

Friday, December 9, 2022

Waning Moon

Chiron, Uranus, Mars Retrograde

Partly cloudy and cold

Yesterday felt slow, although I got a decent amount of work done. I polished, uploaded, and scheduled two more episodes of Legerdemain. I created promo graphics for them. I redid the promo graphic I hated so much on Episode 42. I also redid the graphic for Episode 44. I liked the graphic for Episode 44 a lot, but it was in a style that was completely different than any of the other episode promos, and it was jarring. It also gave the sense that it was an episode that leaned more toward humor, which that episode does not. I uploaded and scheduled all the promos. I also decided, starting with the promo for Episode 45, to stop putting “First 3 Episodes Free on Kindle Vella.” That’s known, especially 44 episodes into it, and the promos will be more useful in the long term without the Vella reference. I think I will leave off the reference on the ANGEL HUNT promos, except for the first 3 episodes which are eternally free.

I’m sitting down to do the 2023 Plan which involved the larger plan for the serials (some of which will run beyond 2023). Legerdemain is sustaining itself well enough to warrant the first three large arcs, and possible one or two more. ANGEL HUNT is finite (and, by the end of this year, I hope I know just how many episodes it will entail. I’m pretty sure it will be over 100, meaning it will run for at least a year). I have to schedule in the radio plays I need to write, and a couple of full-length stage plays. I have a couple of film scripts that need prepping so they can go out to contests. Pretty soon, I will know whether or not I’m going back to the series that went on pause when I got sick. And I want to get CAST IRON MURDER out on submission this spring.

Two more packages of the ten mailed on Monday have been delivered. So, five out of the ten. Of the remaining five to be delivered, two of them having been repeatedly traveling between Springfield and Chicopee, instead of getting out of state to their destinations, so let’s hope they get it together and get going.

That’s why I mailed everything early.

It’s UPS and their lying about an incoming package that gets my goat. The package was out for delivery on the truck with the package that was delivered on Wednesday. Only it never made it off the truck with that other package. And now, UPS keeps telling me it will be delivered “today” but it isn’t.

Slogged through a bunch of email. I need to clean up and unsubscribe from a bunch of stuff instead of just deleting it.

Turned around two coverages in the afternoon. Nothing on the docket for today, which is fine, because that gives me time to catch up on the baking. Hopefully, I’ll get a few more coverages next week, and into the following week.

Too tired to bake yesterday.

Finished reading my friend’s book, and I’ll do the writeup on it I promised her, and get it posted this morning.

Today, I need to get two more episodes of Legerdemain polished, uploaded, scheduled. Then do the graphics for them. Then upload and schedule the ads for those last four episodes, and I’m into the first week of January 2023. Then I can switch to editing the next batch of episodes in this arc, and writing more.

I’ve lost some momentum on THE TREES WHISPERED DEATH, and need to get that back. I’m fairly close to the end of this draft, and then I want to let it sit for two months, without even looking at it.

I need to do the rounds of the library, the grocery, the liquor store later this morning, and then bake in the afternoon. If I want to get back on track with the plan, I need to bake 3 different kinds of cookies today.

This weekend, we write the domestic cards, so I can mail them on Monday. I have to get the new printer set up, and do a test run on the coffeemaker. We also need to finish decorating: the tree, getting the garlands and lights up on the stairs, the small tree on the porch, the additional lights throughout, the mantel, and decide where the 50+ Santas I’ve accumulated will perch. We have a platoon of the smaller nutcrackers waiting to be deployed in the living room, too. And Tessa’s made a nest of stuffed Christmas animals in the sewing room, near the heater.

Speaking of Tessa, she has decided that since Charlotte eats out of Tessa’s bowl, Tessa will now eat off Charlotte’s plate when she’s in the kitchen. This is the cat who has never eaten anything that wasn’t in her warm, freshly washed bowl. But she has had enough of Charlotte’s food theft. And Charlotte believes everything tastes better out of Tessa’s bowl.

Willa stays out of it.

Have a good weekend, friends, and I’ll catch you next week.

Thurs. Dec. 8, 2022: Following the Packages

image courtesy of E. Muhammad via pixabay.com

Thursday, December 8, 2022

Last Day of the Full Moon

Chiron, Uranus, Mars Retrograde

Cloudy and mild

The latest garden update is over on Gratitude and Growth.

I had a slow start yesterday, and did not get anywhere near what I hoped to get done accomplished. I got the blogging done, and did the social media rounds, and promoted The Process Muse.

I was accepted on the Post.News site, so I had to get that signup sorted out, do my profile, start posting. It seems Very Serious over there. But there’s a lot of interesting content, so we’ll see.

Took a lot of books back to the library, and returned with a smaller stack, but one of them was a medieval bestiary so huge it needed its own slipcase. It looks beautiful, though. I posted photos online yesterday. I have it sitting on the worktable in my office, because it’s too big to curl up with on the sofa.

I was too tired to bake, but I turned around two more scripts. I have two for today, but nothing for tomorrow, so I might use tomorrow as a baking day, instead, and hope there are scripts early next week.

I kept getting distracted by the notifications on where the various packages I mailed on Monday were, at any given moment. Originally, most of the ones on the East Coast were supposed to hit yesterday, with those in the Midwest hitting today, and the one for the West Coast on Saturday. No problem.

But, although I kept getting notifications that the East coast packages would be delivered yesterday by 9 PM (impossible, since most of them were still in Chicopee midafternoon), the package to New York City, the one to Maine, and the one in California were all delivered. Go figure. Anyway, there’s no stress involved, because that’s why I mailed them early. But it’s fun to watch their progress.

We were supposed to receive 3 packages yesterday, but only one showed up: the red fleece sheets for my mom.

I ordered one last gift for my mom from LL Bean. She really wanted a particular shirt (again, in red) and she never asks for anything, so, of course, I ordered it.

Read my friend’s book last night (didn’t finish it). It’s very well done, and I’m happy for her.

Meditation didn’t happen this morning. The regular group leader is away, and the person who was supposed to step in either forgot or had technical difficulties. It happens. I’ll sit on my own later.

I HAVE to do the new promo graphic for the episode of Legerdemain that drops next Thursday; I really hate the one I did earlier this week. It would be good to get a couple more episodes uploaded and scheduled today, and a couple more tomorrow, and then I’m fine through the first week of January. I have enough episodes through January, but I need to get more drafted, so I can get ahead of things a bit more, in case I need to drop a seed in one of the earlier episodes.

Maybe this weekend, along with work on “Comfort, Then Joy” and THE TREES WHISPERED DEATH.

Anyway, back to work. Have a good one, my friends.

And don’t forget, the next episode of Legerdemain goes live today!