Fri. Feb. 24, 2023: More Bad Weather

image courtesy of Nile via pixabay.com

Friday, February 24, 2023

Waxing Moon

Snowy and cold

I baked bread yesterday, and, to my delight, it turned out well. It’s one of my favorite recipes, but sometimes it doesn’t work. This time it did, and it was wonderful. The yeast bloomed well, the crumb is good, the taste is delightful.

Worked on Legerdemain. Revised the next set of episodes to be uploaded. They need some more work. Too much passive voice. Some of it is necessary; the rest is sloppy writing that needs fixing.

Wrote the two book reviews, submitted them, got my next two assignments. Did a stack of coverage scoring sheets, and turned around two scripts.

I have an opportunity to put PLAYING THE ANGLES, SAVASANA AT SEA, and TRACKING MEDUSA into a special promotion. Normally, I’d jump at it. But since those series are in limbo at this point, I’m wondering if I should. I have another day or two to think about it, although I’d like to get more attention on all three books.

Did the social media rounds to promote Legerdemain and #28Prompts. As far as writing conversations go, I’m having the best ones over on Mastodon at this point.

The weather was too awful to make it to Open Studios, so I didn’t go. Soup class was moved to last night, from its usual Monday slot, and that was fun.

Ice storm came through last night, and it’s snowing again this morning. I suppose, at some point, I have to go out and dig out the car. I’m not doing errands today; I’ll do them tomorrow morning.

Disturbing, sometimes violent dreams last night. Charlotte pulled me out of them several times, but we are both exhausted this morning.

One year anniversary of the start of the war in Ukraine. The West has not done enough.

Today’s agenda: Working on Legerdemain, working on the short radio plays, doing the social media rounds to promote today’s episode of Angel Hunt and #28Prompts, turning around a treatment coverage, starting the next book for review, working on contest entries.

This weekend, I’ll work on both Legerdemain and Angel Hunt, along with doing household chores. I’m hoping to put some time into “Plot Bunnies” to get that prepped for re-release the week or so before Easter. Which means I have to commit to finishing “Labor Intensive” and getting that out by the end of summer, and figuring out the third one (maybe something built around President’s Day) to release in early 2024. I need to do some more prep work on the outline of FALL FOREVER, the script I plan to write for the Dramatists’ Guild END OF PLAY in April. I have the basic idea of it, but I need more specifics, so that when I sit down to write on April 1, it’s there. I also need to work on another piece in March, that experiments a little in format, structure, and the way it’s released, that I hope to have ready for April, but I don’t want to overcommit myself.

Next week, I also need to go through the short stories that are ready to go out, and get them submitted. I want to get back to “13 in Play” where there are always at least 13 pieces out on submission. Because if they’re not out there, they can’t find their best match and earn their keep. I have 7 pieces out on submission now, all plays. I need to mix it up a bit.

Along with re-reading Anne Truitt’s DAYBOOK, I’m also dipping into Doris Grumbach’s FIFTY DAYS OF SOLITUDE (for the umpteenth time). I always learn something new from it.

The weekend is supposed to be pretty nasty, as far as weather goes. I have to dig out the car by tomorrow morning and do a grocery run (and maybe a library run) before the next storm comes in. And I have yoga on Sunday evening, something I am not willing to give up.

Have a good one.

Thurs. Feb. 23, 2023: Back To Winter

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Thursday, February 23, 2023

Waxing Moon

Snowy and cold

Read about the garden progress on Gratitude and Growth.

Got next week’s Process Muse polished and scheduled. Did the social media rounds to promote yesterday’s episode of Angel Hunt, yesterday’s Process Muse on marketing, and the day’s #28Prompts.

Did a final polish and proofread of the article, added the photos, and sent it off. It’s in a week before deadline, which gives us time to work on it, if needed, since it’s the first time I’ve worked with this publication. The editor confirmed that she received it, so now it’s just about waiting for notes and doing another pass, if necessary.

“Met” a fellow serial writer over on Mastodon who has the same serial up on both Vella and Substack. I didn’t think one could, but she said as long as Substack stays behind a paywall, one can. I have to grow my Substack a little (a lot) more before I can even think of paywalls, but that’s good to know, and I’m curious as to how the two platforms A/B test.

I feel the beginnings of an article happening. I’ll have to figure out a pitch and then decide which editor to which to pitch it. I can think of a couple who might like it.

I think I will tie the Legerdemain giveaway to the 100^th episode of the serial. Not sure when I’ll do the Angel Hunt giveaway; sometime this summer, probably. I’m deciding what kind of swag to get done for each serial, along with some other fun stuff to put in.

Submitted a play to a call. Turned around a couple of pitches and scoring sheets. Started a coverage, and will finish it and do another today. Finished one book for review. Stayed up way too late with the other (because it was really good) and finished that one, too. Will write up the two reviews this morning, send them off, and ask for my next assignment.

The second box of contest entries is on the way, which means I better finish the first batch this weekend. But I’m in decent shape, and not worried. I do have to enter some scores on the sheets, though.

Meditation this morning, then writing, then coverage. I might get out a couple of LOIs, too. Skipping an online event today, because they are AGAIN talking about “niche.” I’ve participated in this conversation multiple times and I have nothing new of value to add. I am the anti-niche. That is why I continue to build my career in economic downturns – because I’m not limited to “niche.” But they don’t want to hear that, because the bulk of them bow to the Altar of Niche. Hey, it works for them, great, but as I said, I’ve had the conversations before, I have nothing new to add, so there’s no point in participating.

Same with the writers who keep asking about balancing “personal” and “professional” writing. Honey, ALL my writing is professional, even if it hasn’t yet been contracted, or I’m experimenting in new forms. It’s all a part of my career. And, as I’ve said a gazillion times, I can do this because I always put my own work first, and build the client work and other responsibilities around that. Which doesn’t mean I short shrift the client. The client gets full concentration and talent; I just arrange my workday differently, aiming different energies to different tasks, so they all get good work.

Putting your own work first does not mean you are neglecting your family or your other responsibilities. It energizes you and allows you to have a stronger relationship with all of the other parts of your life.

In meditation this morning, we did something very interesting: we were asked to be aware of the blood flowing in our bodies. What a strange sensation! Not negative, although a little disquieting. But very interesting.

I have bread on the rise. I’m not going out in this weather (except to dump the garbage and pick up the mail). I’ll make breakfast, and then it’s back to the page.

Have a good one.

Fri. Jan. 28, 2022: Blizzard Warning

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Friday, January 28, 2022

Waning Moon

Venus & Mercury Retrograde

Cloudy and cold

Charlotte sat on my lap for meditation yesterday. It was funny.

After breakfast, I bundled up and headed out. It was all the way up to 9 degrees. Ashland Street was better, except for a few difficult spots. The ice mounds that are at property lines on the sidewalks make it difficult to navigate.

Mailed a big stack of cards and notes. Headed up to the library, where I picked up my books, and got an extension on a book I need for a project. Piled all the books in my backpack and walked back on Church Street, literally in the street, because the sidewalks were so bad. When cars came past, I stepped as close to the curb as possible and stopped until they were past. Once I hit college property, the sidewalks were walkable again.

I’ve craved peanut butter for lunch for the past couple of days, and have indulged myself. I’m grateful that I’m not allergic to nuts. I love them.

Got some reading and research done, and some script coverage written up.

Knowledge Unicorns went well. Because of the book banning insanity, now they all want to read MAUS (as they should). Some of them have read it and want to re-read it. So that is our next group project, along with juggling the individual homework assignments.

Tessa woke me at 2:45 this morning, but I fell asleep on the couch again almost immediately.

Today, I’m doing a run to the liquor store, and will stop at Cumberland Farms for a loaf of bread (although I also hope to bake a loaf or two). I want to get it done before the storm stars, and finish writing up my last coverages for the week. I may have to bake bread, if the store is already sold out.

They’d walked back storm predictions yesterday to 3-5 inches for this area. This morning, they are back up to at least a foot, with up to three feet further east and blizzard warnings. People are out and about doing storm prep. I have my pre-storm headache, so although it’s not supposed to start snowing until 11 PM tonight, it might start earlier, according to the pressure in my head.

Venus goes direct tomorrow, thank goodness. Then we just have to hang in there for a few more days of Mercury Retrograde. Once that goes direct, we actually have a little bit of breathing room until April.

Tuesday is Chinese Lunar New Year. Because I worked on so many shows with Asian or mostly Asian casts, that’s become an important day in my personal calendar. This is the year of the Water Tiger, which is what I am, so let’s hope that bodes well!  Wednesday is Imbolc, and I have to decide what will be planted as part of the ritual.

Next week is supposed to be in the forties, so hopefully I can dig out the car, and also get down to the grocery store and do a decent sized shop (although we don’t need that much).

Meanwhile, this weekend, I’m cleaning things up and hopefully getting some more unpacking done. Also working on contest entries, and maybe reading the book for review. I have a stack of books from the library that I want to read just because I want to read them.

I’m worried about the power going off, since we have neither a working fireplace nor a generator. On Cape, we were the only house on our street without one (landlord didn’t feel it was necessary), and National Grid’s attitude was that if we didn’t have a generator, that was on us. Since we haven’t lost power here since we moved in (except for about 5 minutes during a storm), I have no idea how it’s handled. Technically, the gas stove should work, even if the power goes out (It did on Cape). But who knows?

I guess we’re about to find out.

Plenty of blankets and books at the ready. I will adjust what I write to whether it has to be in longhand or can be on the computer.

Have a good one. Catch you next week.

Fri. Nov. 20, 2020: Die For Your Employer Day 184 — Hunkering Down and Trying to Hold the Road

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Friday, November 20, 2020

Waxing Moon

Neptune and Uranus Retrograde

Windy and cold

Later today, I will have a post up on Comfort and Contradiction with some Thanksgiving recipes.

Yesterday, I baked bread again, using molasses instead of honey. Denser. That took a good chunk of morning. Bread can’t be rushed.

In between, I had the online meditation, which was lovely. I got out some LOIs, created one of the two ads for a client that I need. One will go live today; the other next Tuesday. I’ve got the other one designed in my head. I just need to wrangle it into graphics and words.

Freelance chat was fun, although sometimes I feel like a couple of people try to turn every interaction into a sales pitch. We’re colleagues, not clients.

My back was giving me a hard time. Even the acupressure mat only offered temporary relief.

Had to hunt down some yarn in the storage area. Didn’t find it, but found some other stuff. Worked on some proof reading, but was tired and in pain, so I’m going to have to do it all again today.

Knowledge Unicorns went well, lots of assignments that needed support. But the kids and their parents are exhausted and scared.

Our virus numbers keep rising, and nobody who’s paid and sworn to work on our behalf is. Not to mention the Democrats are doing NOTHING and letting the Republicans get away with EVERYTHING.

Stop saying they “can’t” do anything because “they don’t have the votes.” It simply isn’t true. The voting is the final step in the process. They need to do the work before the vote – the meetings, the persuasion. Find the weak spot in your enemy and dig. Be relentless. Be ruthless. Make sure enough people on the other side don’t show up to vote if you can’t convince them to vote your way. There is ALWAYS a way to block something or pass something. The Republicans slam or block everything they want no matter if they are a minority or a majority. The Democrats needs to grow some balls and do the same.

If we don’t flip those two Georgia Senate seats, it won’t be because the Republicans cheated or tried to, although I’m sure they will. It’s because enough voters are sickened that the Democrats are letting Republicans get away with everything between now and January, and won’t bother to vote. All this whining is a misconstrued belief that by letting the Republicans keep getting away with their atrocities, it raises more money for Democrats. But people are sick of the Democrats allowing this to happen and doing nothing more than posting a few faux outraged tweets.

Democrats need to step up. Schumer needs to step up. He’s the Minority Leader. He needs to stop the daily tweet about the President not having a plan and implement his own plan. Work with Governors on their plans. There’s plenty that can be done to work around Republicans, but all the Democrats do is sit there, with their thumbs up their collective ass, whine they “don’t have the votes” and use it to fundraise.

If you’re not smart enough to work around the Republicans, why WOULD anyone donate to you or vote for you? Step up.

There is ALWAYS a way to ram through what you want or block what you want. Republicans have been doing it, whether they’re majority or minority, my entire lifetime. But Dems just sit there and whine that they “don’t have the votes.” There are other ways to get things done and stop things. There are ways to change other people’s votes. So stop whining and start fighting.

There are plenty of Dems I hope are primaried by more forceful Dems in the coming years.

We haven’t had a radical left in this country since about 1969. We desperately need one to balance the radical right.

I’m so sick of it.

Meanwhile, I’m just trying to stay alive. Literally.

I have to pick up a prescription for my mom at CVS and do a curbside drop off/pickup at the library.

The rest of the day will be client work, writing, and editing.

This weekend is about writing overseas cards, so I can mail them on Monday. If we’re on a roll, we might start the domestic cards, and then mail them a little after Thanksgiving.

I still don’t know if my surgery is going forward in December, or if it will be postponed due to the rising virus numbers. I’m behaving as though it’s going forward and trying to get everything possible done early.

Have a great weekend, friends. See you on the other side of it. I hope.

Thurs. Nov. 19, 2020: Die For Your Employer Day 183 — Tired of the Slurs Considered “Cute”

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Thursday, November 19, 2020

Waxing Moon

Neptune and Uranus Retrograde

Sunny and cold

The latest on the garden is over on Gratitude and Growth.

Shoutout to my Twitter pal Jake, who has birthday today!

Yesterday was just all over the place. I got some decent writing done early in the morning. I headed out to my client’s. Unfortunately, we all overlapped and it was not comfortable. They are simply too lax for me to feel comfortable, especially with the way the numbers are rising.

I was glad to get home and do some serious decontamination. But it was unnecessarily stressful.

Remote Chat was fun.

My back bothered me, so I spent some time on the acupressure mat. But when I came back down, Office crashed AGAIN. This time, I didn’t get as skilled a tech and I ended up losing the afternoon while we tried to fix it. Finally, I managed to fix it, but by that time, I was in tears and so tired and frustrated I couldn’t get any more work done.

Office shouldn’t crash every damn week. This is why I hate PCs – they’re unreliable. I often said that investing in a Macbook was the reason I could switch to fulltime freelancing, and I stand by that. I regularly lost half my workday with the PC problems, and here it’s starting again. This computer – and the software – are barely six months old. I shouldn’t have constant problems. Nor should I have problems getting things fixed – I bought and paid for three years’ worth of coverage for everything.

As soon as I can afford a Macbook again, I will get one.

I lost all the time I had put aside to do the final proof of “Just Jump in and Fly” and to revise “Lockesley Hall.” I have to make up for that today, plus do at least one, maybe two ads for a client, plus write the next section on the Susanna Centlivre play.

I put down yet another cozy mystery and crossed yet another author off my list because she used “witch” as a slur. I’m sick of these white women pretending to support diversity and inclusion and then pulling this shit. In the same way “gypsy” and “Red Indian” are now recognized as slurs, calling someone “she’s such a witch” when you mean a mean person rather than a spellcasting badass who makes the world better is a slur. Not only is it a slur, it is a personal insult to me.

It’s one thing if a character uses it and the protag or core ensemble calls that person out or there’s accountability. But to act like it’s “just an expression” and something cute, fun, and contemporary that makes your character cool is unacceptable.

It proves you are NOT inclusive, promoting diversity, or tolerant. You’re a sham.

Write whatever you want – that’s your prerogative. But I will not purchase, read, or support authors who are hypocrites and who insult me. As is my right.

I am not your audience.

Zoom Meditation was great and helped a lot. I have bread on the rise – started it around 6 this morning. If I’m lucky, it will be done by noon.

A friend shared a sonnet she’s writing with me, for feedback. I was so honored. It’s a lovely piece, and i gave her the two points where it’s didn’t feel right, and she said it helped. Always glad to help friends with their work!

Peace, friends, and have a good day!

Wed. Oct. 30, 2019: Prepping for Company

Wednesday,October 30, 2019
Waxing Moon
Neptune Retrograde
Uranus Retrograde

Tired. I’m getting plenty of hours of sleep, but I don’t feel rested.

Hop on over to Ink-Dipped Advice for the latest.

Working with the cats.

My mom had a nice birthday.

Turned in my review, got paid, got the next book. I like working with this company.

Working on some article pitches. I hope to get them out tomorrow. Even though Mercury goes retrograde tomorrow, and I’d much rather just hide.

Remote chat is today. I’m looking forward to it.

Then, I’m doing a final scrub of the house and making bread. My friend from NY arrives tomorrow for a couple of days. She just got back from London. I’m looking forward to seeing her.

Good writing session this morning. I’m trying to balance the work on the revisions of BALTHAZAAR TREASURE and DAVY JONES DHARMA along with drafting THE BARD’S LAMENT, so I don’t get behind on that or lose momentum.

One word at a time. The best I can do.