Tues. May 2, 2023: WGA Strike (And Other Weekend News)

Tuesday, May 2, 2023

Waxing Moon

Mercury and Pluto Retrograde

Rainy and chilly

The WGA Strike began as of 12:01 this morning.

I blocked 47 anti-WGA trolls on Twitter. Before 8 AM. Those who called themselves “writers” are on a list, so I know never to read or purchase anything they do. A lot of those posting anti-WGA material know nothing about how the industry works and thinks all writers are rich and deserve to be denied a living wage because they should go out and get a “real job.” Singing the block song as I block.

There is no “agree to disagree” on this issue. Either you support my right to make a living at my profession, or you don’t and I want you out of my life for good.

Pluto went retrograde yesterday, and will remain so until October 10 of this year. Yup, it’s a long one. This is supposed to be a tough one, with all the squares it goes through with other planets during that time. Pluto is about what’s hidden, so when it’s retrograde, things are exposed, deceit is revealed, etc.

Today’s serial episode is Legerdemain:

Episode 81: The Thief Named Pravin

Pravin’s known for sharing false information. Maybe putting him in a cell with a murderer will get truth out of him.

Legerdemain Serial Link

Legerdemain Website Link

Friday, I swung by Big Y to pick up the last few things, including fresh ciabatta and fresh flowers. Picked up the wrapping paper and gift bag. Went to the liquor store to get Rose Grenadine, prosecco, and beer. Went to Ocean State looking for a baby gate; they didn’t have one, but I found two rugs. A nice blue one to appease Tessa in my room, and one with wine glasses that was just fun. I got a baby gate at another store.

Unpacked, put the flowers in vases, made the pistachio mousse and the devilled eggs.

I thought they were flying into Albany and driving from there, but they flew into LaGuardia and drove up.

They arrived a little before 7 at night. I should have done quite a bit in the afternoon, but I didn’t. I rested and read.

Anyway, they came in, and I met the baby. She’s one, and walking quite well. She handled a long day and a long trip well. Willa was really good with all the company, including the baby. Charlotte was horrified and being a drama queen at first, but got friendlier as the weekend continued. Tessa just stayed in my room.

We had a good dinner and a good catch up. The baby likes her new book (she loves books) and the stuffed dog that went with it.

Slept pretty well. The baby only woke up a few times, and went back to sleep pretty quickly each time. Tessa slept on the bed. I don’t know where Charlotte was, but she came in the morning to wake me up. Tessa didn’t want to eat in her usual spot, so Charlotte ate Tessa’s food and Tessa ate Charlotte’s food and it all worked out.

I got almost a whole episode of REP written on Saturday morning before everyone woke up.

I made Eggs Benedict for breakfast. We had an easygoing morning, and, after lunch (black bean soup and bread), we took a drive around the area to show them Windsor Lake, downtown, The Spruces. We stopped at the alpaca farm to see the alpaca. The dog there fell in love with the baby and it was mutual, so they played together. We all bought stuff (I got a gorgeous all seasons scarf). We drove around Williamstown, and went walking on the acreage behind the Clark.

Pasta with mushrooms and pancetta in a cream sauce for dinner. Plenty of desserts.

Lazy morning on Sunday. I baked chocolate chip banana muffins. We drove over to Hadley – with their GPS, we actually found Trader Joe’s. I wrote out the directions so that I could find it again. Definitely not a quick trip if one has forgotten something! Then went to Holyoke for another store, which was a disappointment. But at least I know how to get there now.

Make chicken enchiladas for a late lunch/early dinner. I went to restorative yoga. We had snacks when I came back. The baby loved playing with potatoes, the cat toys, and the yoga blocks. She loves books. She’s an adventurous eater and had a little bit of almost everything I cooked. She learns really fast – one could see the progress just in a few days, and she adapted well to a new environment.

Monday morning, they had to drive back to New York to fly out of LaGuardia, so we fed them pancakes.

Once they were on the road, we finished stripping the bed and put everything in the laundry bag (I’ll go tomorrow morning). We switched out the red winter curtains with the lace panels.

I hung out on the couch with the cats and read. I read a book that was a lot of fun, but was too easy to get ahead of the characters, plot wise. I worked on contest entries.

In the evening, the Dramatists Guild held an “End of Play” event, which was fun. I’m glad I went, although I couldn’t stay for the whole thing. I have been invited to virtual “silent writing” sessions with the Guild throughout the year, so I’ll check into that schedule and see what I can do.

It was Beltane, but I was too tired to do much.

Didn’t feel well and had a bad night. Was up too often and too long on social media following the WGA negotiations.

Of course there’s a strike. Because producers like to forget that without a script, there is no show. Even “reality” shows have script needs. Having been a negotiator for my union’s Broadway contract, I’ve heard the producers go on about how everyone in the industry is “privileged” to work there – and they basically want US to pay THEM to work. Now, let’s remember that there isn’t a reason for a producer’s job to exist without writers, directors, actors, designers, and crew.

And so many people who don’t know the first fucking thing about working in the business are chiming in, anti-writer, of course. I blocked 47 people on Twitter before 8 AM. Those who call themselves “writers” and boast about scabbing are going on a special list so I know not to ever purchase or read their work. I mean, the Guild will block them from ever joining, but should they write in any other medium, I want to make sure they don’t get a penny from me.

What this means for me personally is no new commissions for radio work during the strike; no rewriters on any film, television, or radio material already under contract; no script doctoring or revision jobs. No pitching scripts.

The whole fellowship/competition arena is somewhat of a gray area and there’s a lot of conflilcting information. Many WGA writers are not applying to contests or fellowships; other committee members are saying, well, the decisions take months to reach, so submit, but if you get it and the strike is still on, you can’t accept/sign/work on anything. I’m still working on a few scripts that I planned to submit in the late autumn/over winter cycle; I’ll keep working (none of it is contracted, so I’m not scabbing). If the strike is over when the cycle comes around, I’ll submit; if not, I won’t (because I won’t submit during the strike), and wait until the next cycle. I can keep submitting stage plays, because those contracts are in good standing with a diffeent union, Serials and novels are not affected, although I would check with the Guild if anything was offered an option, since no one can be hired to do an adaptation until after the strike is over. If anything comes up I’m not sure about, I will contact the WGAE rep and ask.

The other union contracts are coming up soon; the producers are hoping to divide and conquer. Too many of the unions gave up a strike clause (NO union should EVER give up a strike clause, in my opinion), but that’s a different conversation.

People who don’t work in the industry can support writers by cancelling streaming services for the length of the strike AND TELLING THE COMPANIES WHY. Get DVDs from the library instead. Don’t rely on a single form of technology, because it will always fail you.

It’s going to be a stressful summer.

I had some other stuff I hoped to yap about, but the strike is more important, and the other stuff can wait.

On today’s agenda: writing on Legerdemain and REP. Social media rounds for Legerdemain. Work on contest entries. Client work.

The bulk of this week’s focus is finishing up the contest entries.

Have a good one!

Tues. Dec. 6, 2022: A Richly Busy Weekend

image courtesy of Jill Wellington via pixabay.com

Tuesday, December 6, 2022

Day Before Full Moon

Chiron, Uranus, Mars Retrograde

Rainy and cold

Curl up and get comfy, and we’ll have a catch-up.

There’s a post over on the GDR site about looking back at November and forward to December.

Friday was a lot of fun. Mailed bills on the way out of town, and headed down to Great Barrington. I found a shorter route, which was good. But, because we’d left later than I expected, we stopped at another store on the way down that was open, but wouldn’t have been had we left on time, and picked up something we needed (but didn’t find the bayberry candles we went down to get).

On the way down, we made an impulse stop at the library in Pittsfield, which was having a lobby book sale and found some cool books. Some of them holiday craft books, because I am a sucker for even tacky holiday craft books (especially at 50 cents a pop). And these have some cool ideas in them.

We went only to one store in GB, one of our favorite thrift stores. I found a train station for my Christmas village and the crossing sign lights up! (Which is more than the crossing sign IRL down the street does). Found a couple of small plates in a favorite pattern, a really cool mermaid candle holder, and a silver chain and bracelet with the large links I need for the charms I have for each. I also found a silver-plated frame for my favorite picture of my dad (who died when I was 10).

On the way back, we stopped in Stockbridge, in search of bayberry candles, but no luck. Then it was to a store in Pittsfield to pick up the last gift for extended family in Maine, and a few goodies for us. With a stop at Adams Fresh Market for fish for Friday night supper.

Pizza for lunch. I’m going to have to start making pizza from scratch again. Store-bought pizza tastes worse every time we buy it.

In the afternoon, I turned around two script coverages, and did some admin work. I was tired by the end of it. Really, really tired.

Tried reading for pleasure, a mystery that came recommended. But the writer uses “witch” as a slur against women and the world’s internal logic doesn’t makes sense, placing the characters in the “too stupid to live” category. So that one goes back, and that author is crossed off my list.

In Ellen Byron’s latest newsletter, she posted a photo of gigantic earrings she bought several decades ago in a shop on Columbus Ave. in NYC. I started laughing, because I remember the shop AND the earrings. They were too big to wear, so she turned them into Christmas ornaments. I love that so much. And that’s just so Ellen.

Her next Catering Hall Mystery (under the Maria DiRico name) comes out in March, and I’m excited.

Saturday morning, I had trouble getting going. But I did. And I wrote the first draft of “Net Worth” (which goes up today on Ko-Fi). The bones worked, and I knew I would do some edits. It came in a little over 1K, but hey, I don’t have to fit someone else’s word count. It won’t go too far one way or the other once it’s edited.

I started “Comfort, Then Joy” which was originally aimed to Ko-fi, but which I now feel is better suited to the quarterly newsletter. The story’s in my head; it’s just a case of getting it down on paper.

After a couple of hours at the desk, we hauled out the big Christmas tree from the broom closet and brought it into the living room. I started fighting with the stand, which has never worked well (and I bought this damn tree in 1989, or maybe it was 1990).

I finally decided I had HAD IT. I put the stuff down, wrapped up, got into the car, and drove into the escalating storm to get a new artificial tree stand. I got the last small one in the store, and while I was there, picked up a couple of oversized decorative poinsettias that clip to branches. I had hoped to find a finial topper, but no luck. I’ll keep looking in thrift stores after the holidays. All the other traditional toppers were too gaudy for our tree.

Home. Unwrapped. The new stand snapped together in less than 5 minutes, the tree slipped in and locked, and we could spend quality time fluffing the tree, instead of fighting for an hour or more with the stand. We put the lights on the tree (which actually had stayed coiled properly this year). And moved the tree into position in the doorway between the living room and the sewing room. We use the glass doors to frame it.

Even though this stand is far sturdier than the other one, I tied off the tree to the door hinges, just for added security.

We unpacked all the ornaments from the big bin in the closet in the sewing room and put them on. The shimmery gold ornaments and some small wooden ornaments go on last, after everything else goes on, and we put those aside.

That took most of the afternoon, but we had a lot of fun with it. Each ornament has a story, and we tell and retell our history with it.

The kitty litter delivery from Chewy also arrived, so I got to haul 45 pounds of cat litter up the stairs.

Sprawled on the couch reading in the evening, with candles on and cats on laps.

Willa is so gentle when she checks out the tree. It’s kind of adorable. Tessa circled it a few times, and pointed out where some branches needed adjustment, and then was satisfied. Charlotte watched from a safe distance.

They really are all very good with the tree. But then, we don’t shut them out when we decorate. They’re always a part of the process of unpacking ornaments, putting things up, or packing them. ALL my cats have been good with the trees. I mean, Elsa (tortie) used to climb the bare tree, but she was fine once the ornaments were up. And Iris (Russian blue) used to choose a patch of tree she wanted bare and remove the ornaments. But none of them were ever destructive.

The storm intensified, and we had power outages on and off all night. Tessa did not like it, and roamed the house, complaining, each time it went off or on. I discovered that, while I could report the outage to the electric company, the gas company has no system for outages. WTF? Charlotte and Willa just burrowed deeper in blankets.

By the time I got up on Sunday morning, everything was fine again.

I mean, we live in a city, not a rural area (despite what Staples claims, when they slap “rural carrier fees” onto orders). It makes sense they’d get the power back on pretty quickly.

Sunday was cold and sunny. My neighbor knocked to let me know packages arrived last night. He’d knocked on the door, but, for whatever reason, I hadn’t heard, and he’d taken them in and then brought them over this morning. One was the Goddess Provisions box (which I didn’t expect until Monday) and the other was a gift from a friend in NY.

After breakfast, I revised “Net Worth” mostly for internal logic, and starting to layer in some sensory details. There’s plenty I intentionally don’t explain and leave for the readers’ imaginations.

I did some more work on “Comfort, Then Joy” which is surprising me for all the right reasons. I’m a little past halfway with it. I figure it’ll come in between 3-5K, a little longer than I wanted for a newsletter story, but it’s a fairly short newsletter.

In the late morning, we went over to the Alpaca Farm to pick up a gift for the cousin in Maine, and then to pick up a few things at Wild Oats. They had bayberry candles! And wonderful ones, from Mole HIll in Sturbridge.

The afternoon was all about wrapping presents, packing the packages, writing the cards to go in the packages, taping everything up, mailing labels, etc. I was tired, grumpy, and feeling every bit of my age by the end of it. Charlotte helped, which was pretty funny.

I like the wrapping and choosing things I think my friends would enjoy. But the whole post office prep can be a bit much. But I had the labels and the tape and the Sharpies and all the rest, so it was fine.

Too tired to do much more in the evening except have a glass of wine with some cheese, crackers, and fig/orange spread, enjoying the 2^nd of Advent candles and the partially finished tree.

Dipped into a bit of Script Chat, but felt old and grumpy and in pain, so I wasn’t at my best.

To date, I have been invited to 17 different holiday gatherings, none with appropriate COVID protocols, and therefore have said no to all the invitations. Not worth the risk. I’m grateful they invite me, but I’m not getting sick because someone can’t be bothered to wear a mask. So I don’t put myself in high risk situations.

Fell into a very deep sleep. Charlotte woke me around 1:30. When I went back to sleep, I dreamed that I met Dewi Hargreaves, with whom I’m friendly on various social media, in person. We were meeting a couple of others we “knew” from social media in a parking lot somewhere, but they were wittering on about stuff we found vicious and tedious, so we ditched them to go to a book-lined bar and talk about books, which sounds like a nice evening to me. In this Dreamscape, we didn’t have to worry about COVID.

Tessa woke me up around 4, and I told her I was NOT getting up that early, and fell back to sleep. I dreamed that I was at an estate sale, bought 5 vintage suitcases, some books, and lots of women’s gloves. I have lots of suitcases (but love luggage) and I do pick up vintage gloves a lot (at least I did, pre-plague), so that made sense. But there was this other guy there, who kept trying to take stuff I’d already paid for and add it to his pile.

According to dream “experts”, dreams about suitcases mean an upcoming trip, or the need to access personal information about yourself. Dreaming about gloves shows a need for protection. It’s pretty obvious what someone taking something symbolizes. However, in this case, I think it was all more literal than metaphorical. But I’ll use the Rackham Tarot given to me by my friend to dig deeper. That deck works well for dream work.

I woke up late, and felt behind the beat and tired all day.

I got the Monday blogging done, made the SM rounds, sat down and made the grocery list. I took the packages to the post office. Managed to park right in front, walk right up to the desk, and was done in just a few minutes – AND within budget. Everything will be where it needs to be by the end of the week. It was sunny, so everyone was in a good mood (and most masked, indoors).

Went to Big Y to do the Big Shop. I think I’m all set for baking – will probably need to get more eggs, as some point. But I’ve been stockpiling staples for a few weeks, and I think I’m in pretty good shape.

Got a batch of veggie stock made in the crockpot. Did another draft of “Net Worth” so it was where I needed it to be in order to put it up this afternoon on Ko-fi. Polished the next two posts for The Process Muse, chose the graphics, uploaded and scheduled.

Turned around two coverages.

Jeremy’s soup class was great. He taught us to make Italian Wedding Soup, and I learned a bunch of new techniques. Charlotte was delighted, although I had to stop and grate some Parmesan for her, because he used Parmesan and talked Parmesan, and every time he said the word, she got all excited.

Tired. Had weird dreams overnight.

Last night was St. Nicholas Night, a traditional celebration, where one leaves out a shoe, and wakes up to find it filled with chocolate or candy or whatever. Chocolate and cocoa for us, this morning. And we generally put the goodies in either a gift bag or one of the Christmas stockings and put the bag in the shoe, because, you know, hygiene.

Waking up to chocolate is always good.

The coffee filter split this morning, so there are coffee grounds in the coffee. Better than no coffee, and I HAVE to get the new coffeemaker up and running.

Roxane Gay shared an article written by Isabel Kaplan about her boyfriend, a fellow writer, breaking up with her once she had some success. He didn’t like that she kept a journal. He felt it was his “responsibility to take her down a peg” and so on and so forth. It reminded me so much of a toxic, emotionally abusive relationship I was in back in the mid-90’s. I’m so glad I’m not still with that guy. I would be dead, emotionally (and most likely physically; he had a history of dead wives). She talks about parsing out her good news, about contorting herself emotionally until she’s a pretzel and then blaming herself for the hurt. It hit very close to the bone. Too many men in my life have defined “partnership” as me putting my writing last while doing physical, emotional, and sexual labor to promote their careers. No. Just no. The right partner will not sabotage the writing. The bell weather for me, in a relationship is – if my writing improves, sparkles, strengthens with this person, it’s a good relationship. If the writing falters or stalls, it means get the hell out.

And, as someone who has kept a journal for 50 years (there are boxes of them in storage), anyone who tried to keep me from my journal, or, worse yet, violated my trust by READING it, was gone in a heartbeat. My blogs are public. What’s in those handwritten books is private.

The big priority this morning is getting at least some of the next episodes of LEGERDEMAIN uploaded and posted. ‘Net Worth” goes up on Ko-fi this afternoon. We’ll see where we are, timewise, after that. I need to work on “Comfort, Then Joy” and also work on THE TREES WHISPERED DEATH and more LEGERDEMAIN, but that might not happen.

The baking begins today. I’ll do two batches of one kind of cookie right after lunch, then start my script coverages for the day. That should let me get all my baking done by the end of the weekend, so I can start delivering cookie platters early next week.

No doubt, I will post photos as I bake.

Have a good one, my friends. Peace and joy to you.

The next epsiode of Legerdemain goes live today. Enjoy!

Thurs. Aug. 18, 2022: This & That

image courtesy of Dzoko Stach via pixabay.com

Thursday, August 18, 2022

Pluto, Saturn, Neptune, Chiron, Jupiter Retrograde

Cloudy and cooler

Garden post on Gratitude and Growth.

Because I had so little sleep Tuesday going into Wednesday, it was hard to get my act together. But I sort of did. I got everything done at the laundromat (and got in some work on LEGERDEMAIN).

When I came home and got the laundry put away and the couch cushions wrestled back on, I finished the next set of episodes for LEGERDEMAIN, at least the multi-colored draft, so now I can get started on those ten episodes and get them polished, uploaded, and scheduled over the next few days.

The last set of episodes in this arc are going to need some serious revision. But that’s okay, because it makes them work better.

Once that was done, we headed to Norad Mill, where the Spin-off Yarn Shop had a clearance sale. They are closing their physical store this week, so our first visit was, sadly, also our last. We’ll have to drive to Lenox or Bennington for a yarn shop now. I got some beautiful alpaca wool blend. Most of it is in a heathery rose. There were just a few skeins of teal and one of purple, so I grabbed those, too, and I’ll make something different from them. I asked my mom to do something with the rose for me. Since she doesn’t use patterns, I just sort of say, “I want it to do this” and she creates it.

A friend of mine was part of a yarn-bomb installation in Garrison the past few days. She posted photos and it looks like it was lots of fun.

Got off a grant application. I have a very small chance of this one, but if I don’t at least try, I have no chance. So I might as well give it a shot. Nothing tried, nothing gained.

Turned around two scripts in the afternoon. Read a book in the evening that had come recommended, but I found it flat, dull, the pace was off, and it didn’t adhere to the internal logic of the fictional world.

No meditation group this morning; the leader is on vacation until after Labor Day, I’ve been bad about my daily yoga and meditation practices, and have to get back on top of them.

Wrestling with a few things, and then realized, of course it’s coming up now with Saturn (the planets of life lessons) and Chiron (the wounded healer) both retrograde.

Went to bed early. Slept fairly well, but woke up with a terrible headache. Working on LEGERDEMAIN and script coverage and whatever else comes up today. I need to work on the Shakespeare horror story, and get back to work on the next radio play, too.

Have a good one.

Tues. Nov. 2, 2021: Here We Go, Nano!

Tuesday, November 2, 2021

image courtesy of StartUp Stock Photos via pexels.com

Day Before Dark Moon

Neptune, Chiron, Uranus Retrograde

Sunny/cloudy and a little cold

The weekend was a lot of fun.

I prepped some more food, and we cleaned the house on Friday morning, then drove up to Bennington, VT to meet my friend’s bus. It was a lovely, crisp autumn day. It was a nice drive back to the house.

We unloaded and had snacks and wine. The chili was in the crock pot; I’d made cornbread in the morning, and there was my mom’s birthday cheesecake for dessert. We took a walk around the neighborhood between cocktail hour and dinner, enjoying the architecture, and random people just stopped to talk to us and tell us about the buildings, which was pretty cool. And we met a woman who was walking her dog who lives around the corner from me and works for Hearst Magazines. She used to be an actress, so we had a lot to talk about!

We were up talking and catching up.

MassMOCA now has a proof of vaccination policy and timed entries. I tried to get us a slot for Saturday. No one answered the phone; the message said they’d call back. They never called back; they never emailed. I tried to book a slot online. I had a library pass, and there as no option for it. So no MassMOCA for us. Disappointing, but certainly not a tragedy.

Tessa let us sleep until 6 on Saturday.

I made raw apple muffins for breakfast. Instead of going to MassMOCA, we walked back up to the library. Met some more random people with some more information about houses. I showed off the library (which is beautiful), and we had good conversations with the librarians. It was raining when we came back, so we took the car and went to Cinnamon Girl (even though it was close enough to walk). I bought my friend her first tarot deck, and we got sundry other goodies. We headed to Whitney’s Farm and got a pumpkin and cider, then kept going (in the rain) down to Pittsfield, to Re-Store. My friend had heard about Re-store, but never seen one. So we visited the land that is Re-Store, and I found a pair of tapestry footstools that hinge open. So those came home with us. We continued down to Lenox to the joy that is Chocolate Springs Café.

Even though it was rainy, it was still pretty, and we were chatting all the way.

More snacks when we came home, and then it was trout poached in a wine-leek sauce with couscous, and lemon mousse for dessert.

Chatting, chatting, chatting, playing with the cats.

Tessa let us sleep in on Sunday, too. I made Eggs Benedict for breakfast (with prosecco, of course). Lazy morning, then headed to Bear and Bee Bookshop, where we found a bunch of great stuff.

From there, we went to Berkshire Cider Project, which is in the renovated Greylock Works Center. That place is amazing! We bought a bunch of cider and got Halloween treats. The woman working there recently moved from California. She and her husband are working on starting a restaurant; we exchanged information in case they need to hire someone for marketing.

We went to The Spruces and walked around and talked about the history of the place. My friend let me start spinning out ideas for an historical mystery series set there when it was a residential community in the 1950’s and 60’s. We had some great conversations with people walking their dogs.

After that, we found an alpaca farm/store in Williamstown, Colonial Alpacas.. The guy is part of a fiber co-op. He has a lovely bulldog, who showed us around. We bought some alpaca goods, and went to meet the alpacas, although they were not interested in coming out of their sheds and getting their feet muddy.

But it was a delightful afternoon full of interesting people who were doing things. Everyone followed safety protocols without fussing. People were friendly, interesting, and interested.

Home, unloaded, my friend carved her pumpkin. We put on the lights and were ready for Trick or Treaters. There were a few, but not many.

Hunter’s pasta for dinner, and then the Samhain Ancestor rituals, which were satisfying, although we were up pretty late.

Up at 5 on Monday. Managed 2100 words on CAST IRON MURDER before breakfast and driving my friend back to Bennington to catch her bus. On the way back, errands at the market, the pharmacy, the post office, the library.

Came home, and started working my way through all the email which had piled up in my box since Thursday night. Did the Sundance Collab session, and wrote 7 pages/the next scene of “A Rare Medium.” I think I can wrap it up in one more scene.

Willa and Tessa looked for my friend for a bit, then Tessa decided to settle on the porch. Charlotte was on my bed until the Sundance Zoom – as far as Charlotte is concerned, Zoom exists so people all over the world can see her and tell her she’s pretty.

The cold warnings went out for the area. Although we won’t descend into frost yet, it was cold enough to pull in our plants from the back balcony, and bring in most of the furniture. The big bench and the bistro chairs will stay out, but everything else came in. Most plants can be on the front porch, until that, too, is too cold.

Made sausage and Brussels sprouts for dinner. Read two scripts and some source material for a new play in the evening.

Went to bed ridiculously early, after doing my Tending the Dead ritual for the night.

Tessa let me sleep until nearly 6:30 this morning. I was writing in longhand on a project, and just taking my time. Didn’t even sit down to write on CAST IRON MURDER until 9 AM. Took me two hours to write 2364 words, but I’m even happy with some of them. Yesterday’s work was more hit-and-miss. But I’m starting to hear and feel the rhythm of this book.

Now, it’s time to take down most of the Samhain decorations, although I still have a few more Tending the Dead rituals. You can read more information about that here.

I have two script coverages to write up. I’d hoped to finish “A Rare Medium” today, but I have a feeling that’s not going to happen. I hate to lose the momentum, though. I have at least one script to read tonight, but I’m hoping to grab a second at some point this afternoon.

There will be leftovers tonight, as there will be most of the week. And, hopefully, a lot of writing!

Tuesday, December 2, 2008

Tuesday, December 2, 2008
Waxing Moon
Sunny and mild

I survived yesterday, although it seemed a bit touch and go there for awhile. I got steadily worse throughout the day (you know it’s bad when I can’t even read). There was some talk in the evening of going to the emergency room, but since I am one of this country’s 47 million uninsured, in spite of being a union member (thank you, George W. Bush), I don’t go in unless I’m three quarters dead, and I wasn’t there yet.

By about three in the morning, I started to feel better. I went back to sleep (I’ve slept almost all of the past two days), and woke up at my usual 6 AM to feed the cats. Did a few gentle yoga poses, but couldn’t do very much. Still, it was better than yesterday.

Only got a couple of pages done on the mystery. I’ve lost my rhythm with it, and have to find my way back into it – again. Frustrating. But if I leave it undone, it will drag down everything else. That’s an ongoing problem with Nano – one puts so much intensity in getting the 50K done in 30 days, and has such a sense of accomplishment, that continuing on to FINISH the project often becomes a struggle.

Did about a thousand words on the Maine project. I’ll have to do some research on artisan yarn, since my protag is taking over some of the family business of alpaca, a few llamas in there for protection, and some sheep. Llamas can be nasty, but they’re good guardians. Alpaca are too darned sweet for their own good. Near where the family is up in Maine are many wonderful individual artisan yarn producers – I’ll have to do some research on them, and maybe schedule some visits on my next trip. I can read up on it all I want, but it adds an entirely different and more sensual dynamic to experience it. I’ve never been a huge fan of sheep – the sheep on the Isle of Skye were particularly annoying – I had to keep stopping the car to shoo them off the road – they liked to lie on the warm asphalt. They were pretty cute on Lindisfarne, the way they ran and jumped – I finally understood the meaning of the word “gambol”. My mom thinks sheep are adorable. I like them over there – most of them just aren’t very bright and work my last nerve. Although, when we stayed on the estate in Norfolk in 2000 during lambing season and bottle-fed and cuddled some of those lambs, they were awfully cute. And I still can’t eat lamb after that, even though I’m sure most of those little guys ended up as lamb chops on someone else’s table. It’s not that I think anyone should or shouldn’t eat lamb – I just can’t. Which is a shame, because I used to love it.

I’ve got to get the assignment done for Confidential Job #1, and then I’ll see what else I can do. I’d hoped to have most of the hand-made gifts done by today, but that didn’t happen. At least I have all the bits – it’s just a case of making the prototype, taking my time with it to make sure I’ve done it right, and then setting it up so I can put them together efficiently. And I need to get started on the overseas cards – they should get out by the end of the week.

Holiday cards are always a priority to me – I cut back on many things, especially this year, because of deadbeat clients, but cards matter.

Lori Widmer had a great post yesterday on Word on the Page about thinking ahead to one’s freelancing goals for next year. I made a leap in my type of client this year, and I’ve certainly done better fiction-wise than in previous years, but it’s now time to make another leap in the client-base. I don’t think I’m suited to the majority of corporate clients – I lack the patience and diplomacy to deal with their b.s. – but I think it’s time to work on a new brochure and get out a fresh mailing early in the year, targeted towards specific companies whose policies I like and agree with, and convince them they can’t live without me. That’s where I’ve always landed my best jobs in the past. I’ve been lazy this year – that’s the only word for it – relying on job listing sites whose client listings got progressively skeezier as the year wore on. Nothing like a site claiming to support freelancers who then lists jobs that are detrimental to them! Because I always had theatre work as my fall-back position, I allowed myself to be lazy. But the show’s closing in mid-January. Quite a few shows are closing in January, and several shows that were supposed to come in for the spring have cancelled. So, I need to get my act together and now take the NEXT freelancing step up, while still keeping on track with the fiction. Which means being even more aware of time management and honing those skills. I’m decent with time management, but I can be a lot better.

And, still, I have to be able to build in percolation time, because without percolation time, that time where you just sit and stare at the wall and it looks like you’re not doing anything, the creativity doesn’t happen.

I know how much I want and need to earn each month next year. So, this month, I need to clean up the unpaid contracts and implement the procedures that will get me where I want and need to be next year. In many ways, it’s a great time to be a freelancer – because so many companies have downsized, they have to bring in people on a per-project basis. And I’d much rather work that way.

But I’m still not going to write 20 articles/week for $1 each or go on one of those skeezy bidding sites where you pay for listings and the client’s only interested in the lowest bid, not the best writer!

I may still be too sick to do much physically today, but the brain is sort of working again, so I can start to plan so that next year builds on this year and builds on it well. With a new administration coming into power that actually gives a damn about the citizens of this country, I think we’ve got a chance. But the door can’t hit Paulson’s butt fast enough for my taste. Handing the money to corporate institutions that then sit on it and/or hand it out to shareholders or use it to pay their fat cat execs instead of putting it back into the company to generate more jobs is not acceptable, and that guy should have been kicked to the curb months ago. And guess what? I don’t want to “own” part of AIG or any of those companies, thanks to my tax payer dollars – unless I get a say in how they’re run, and part of that say is to fire the people who got the companies into these messes in the first place!

Anyway, I’m going to take it slowly today and see how much I can get done. Hopefully, I’ll feel more like myself tomorrow. I’m better, but I’m not great.

I missed two important marketing opportunities yesterday, and I could just kick myself, but that’s the way it goes. I’ve got some more coming up next week – I just have to be ready for them.

The computer’s done some weird update all on its own, so everything I lost and imported last time has to be re-imported. Sigh. At least I know how to do it this time (thanks, Colin).

Hopefully, I’ll catch the holiday spirit the way I caught this flu. Until then, I’m going to make a concerted effort not to dampen anyone else’s holiday spirit, but enjoy the fact they’ve got it! I’m going to try to pay special attention to anyone or anything that shows positive holiday spirit and write about it, so we can all enjoy it.

Devon

Devon’s Bookstore:

NEW! Too Much Mistletoe A Nina Bell Holiday Mystery by Devon Ellington. Nina Bell is back! Still trying to make a living in the New York theatre world of the 1990s, she’s trying to figure out which is the bigger mystery – a college friend’s disappearance, or her ever-complicated love life, as every man she meets wants to hang mistletoe over her head. Read an excerpt here and purchase the story for only $2.99 USD here .

NEW! “The Ramsey Chase” A Remarkable Adventure of Cornelia True and Roman Gray By Devon Ellington
Meet the adventurous Cornelia True of Bodwin’s Ferry, whose life changes forever when “fixer” Roman Gray lands naked in her petunias, and they combine forces to track down a serial killer determined to murder thirteen women in thirteen months for their blood, with his latest victim right there in Bodwin’s Ferry!
Only $1.49 USD for this 10K adventure, the very first Penny’s Dreadfuls release! Read an excerpt of the adventure here.
Purchase the story here.

THE JAIN LAZARUS ADVENTURES
Free limited download
“The Possession of Nattie Filmore: A Jain Lazarus Adventure” by Devon Ellington. If you loved HEX BREAKER, you’ll love spending time with Jain and Wyatt as they try to solve a haunted house mystery. Read an excerpt of the story and download it free here

Hex Breaker by Devon Ellington. A Jain Lazarus Adventure. Hex Breaker Jain Lazarus joins the crew of a cursed film, hoping to put to rest what was stirred up before more people die and the film is lost. Tough, practical Detective Wyatt East becomes her unlikely ally and lover on an adventure fighting zombies, ceremonial magicians, the town wife-beater, the messenger of the gods, and their own pasts.
$4.00 ebook/ $6.00 on CD from Firedrakes Weyr Publishing.
Visit the site for the Jain Lazarus adventures.

BOOKS FOR WRITERS
Back By Popular Demand! 30 Tips for 30 Days: Kick Start Your Novel and Get Out of Your Own Way. A Nano Handbook by Devon Ellington. FREE!
If you’ve ever wondered whether or not you could survive National Novel Writing Month, this is the handbook for you! Ideas on preparations, setting goals, overcoming blocks, pushing yourself, tips for each day of the process, and ideas for going beyond, this handbook by veteran Nano-er Devon Ellington will help you survive. Best of all, it’s free! Download it here.
Limited time offer
Sensory Perceptions: Techniques to Improve Your Writing Through the Six Senses by Devon Ellington. Use the six senses to take your writing to the next level via a series of sense-specific exercises. By the end of seven weeks, you complete seven short stories!. $1.29 USD. Here.

5 in 10: Create 5 Short Stories in Ten Weeks by Devon Ellington. This ebooklet takes you from inspiration to writing to revision to marketing. By the end of ten weeks, you will have either 5 short stories or a good chunk of a novella complete. And it’s only 50 cents, USD. Here.

Writing Rituals: Ideas to Support Creativity by Cerridwen Iris Shea. This ebooklet contains several rituals to help you start writing, get you through writer’s block, and help send your work on its way. It’s only 39 cents USD. (Note: Cerridwen Iris Shea is one of the six names under which I publish). Here.

Full Circle: An Ars Concordia Anthology. Edited by Colin Galbraith. This is a collection of short stories, poems, and other pieces by a writers’ group of which I am a member. My story is “Pauvre Bob”, set at Arlington Race Track in Illinois. You can download it free here: