Tues. May 9, 2023: Table Read (and Other Creative Work)

image courtesy of Mediamodifier via pixabay.com

Tuesday, May 9, 2023

Waning Moon

Mercury and Pluto Retrograde

Partly cloudy and pleasant

Ready for our regular Tuesday catch-up?

We have another week of Mercury Retrograde: hang in there.

Today’s serial episode is from Legerdemain:

Episode 83: A Chat with Jae

Shelley needs answers about Jae’s interactions with Brother Sangus and with Brone.

Legerdemain Serial

Legerdemain Website

Friday was a little chaotic (even beyond things like a lunar eclipse with a full moon and two retrogrades). I didn’t feel great, but there was a lot to do.

I wrote an episode of Legerdemain. Poor Fletcher’s been sidelined for a good bit of this arc, and I need to get him more involved.

I headed for the grocery store. There are some new recipes I want to try (I’m getting excited about cooking again, now that we’re getting into market season). The “experts” say that a grocery list saves money. I always find I buy MORE and spend more with a list. When I go in and see what’s special and make up the meal planning on the fly, I spend less.

I got my cast list for the table read, assigned the roles, and sent off the assignments and the script to the cast. Now, the nerves set in.

I felt like I was running a fever. Tested for the plague, and it was negative, thankfully. But I felt terrible. Which meant no First Friday for me.

For the Kentucky Derby, Tapit Trice was my horse of choice, across the board. I wanted to keep an eye on Mage and Reincarnation, although I figured they’d blossom later in the season. I liked Mage a bit more (even though his odds were longer here). I haven’t really followed this year’s field, and I’m more and more uncomfortable with various aspects of racing. 7 horses dead at Churchill in a week is unacceptable. Every horse death needs more weight, but what’s been going on there lately it out of control.

Oh, by the way? Mage won. At 15-1. It was his day and his race, and he brought it. Good for him.

I felt like crap pretty much all day Saturday. Since I had blocked it off to work on contest entries, I at least wasn’t running around. Since I still had a fever off and on (not a high one, but it was there), I also was staying away from others. Just because I’m testing negative for the plague doesn’t mean I don’t have something contagious.

So I stayed in and worked on the contest entries all day. It’s difficult to winnow down the large final category to just a few slots, but that’s the job. There are some solid books that just missed it, because another book had more craft or a stronger voice or tried something fresh with a familiar trope that made it stand out from the massive number of entries this year.

There was a good batch of strong entries, some which missed by a whisker; then a solid  group in the middle that were fine, but didn’t stand out, and then a batch where the writers are finding their voices and learning their craft. Which they learn by writing the books. And when you think how many people yap about writing a book “someday” and how many start and never finish, the fact that all these people DID it should be applauded.

I made pizza from scratch, and it was yummy.

Sunday, I kept going and finished the final category. Made my decisions on winners and finalists; wrote the winning reviews. Entered in the rest of the scoring sheets, and got it all out.

I finished by mid-afternoon and I was exhausted. I still felt like crap, although my fever had gone down. But staying fairly quiet and reading over the weekend, even though it was critical reading, not pleasure reading, was a better choice than running around and/or doing stuff around the house.

I read a book (you’d think I’d be sick of reading by then, but no) that came highly recommended to me in the afternoon. The book was well done and unique, but I disliked all the characters. They were interesting enough to keep me reading, but it’s rare that I so thoroughly dislike ALL the characters in a book.

When I was finished with that book, I switched over to T. Kingfisher’s A WIZARD’S GUIDE TO DEFENSIVE BAKING, which was a lot of fun.

Went to bed ridiculously early on Sunday, because I was so darn tired. The pollen’s also very high right now, so I’m not having fun with the allergies.

Up early on Monday. Nerves about the reading. Didn’t want to get distracted by anything, so didn’t dare start work on anything.

The table read of FALL FOREVER went really well, as far as the actors and the piece. The Zoom – every 40 minutes it kicked out and we had to sign in again. I let Lily over at DG know; we were first up, so hopefully the glitches we had can be smoothed out for anyone else. Digging into Zoom support (well after the reading), it looks like switching hosts for more than 40-minute sessions means the co-host has to be named BEFORE the meeting starts. In other words, a whole lot of extra admin.

Anyway, I was blessed with a terrific group of actors. It was obvious they’d worked on the script over the weekend, and truly made it a three-dimensional piece. They gave a damn, which makes all the difference. It made me realize how much I miss working regularly with actors. I learned a lot. I can cut a good bit (which is great; the red machete is my friend). A couple of relationships are out of balance, and I want to restructure a dynamic between two of the characters a little. They will still reach the same endpoint, but they can get there better. I want the memorial scene near the end to be more joyful; the lines were a little trite, and I need more of a contrast to keeping the joy of the piece with some of the action happening offstage that three of the characters know about, and are trying to keep from the other four. The radio writing tipped in far too much; too much detail about sound that I don’t need.

I had a suggestion from a good friend about combining two of the characters to raise stakes, and I don’t think I will go that route. That particular character, in the reading, turned out to be a fulcrum, and he’s necessary to be separate from any of the others.

There’s a LOT of work to do on it. I’m tempted to dive in and do another revision immediately, while it’s fresh. If I get the residency in late August, that’s the time that’s blocked off for the major revision.

Once the reading was done, I sent a thank you to the actors. I updated the PageOnStages website and my resume. Because there are pitches and proposals coming up, and this needs to be on it.

Then, I had to switch over and do client work, because, you know, keeping a roof over my head. I did one of the big projects.

I then got the invoice information for the contest entries (another big client project, different client). They’re paying me more this year than in previous years. I mean, I’m happy, I earned it, but I felt weird getting paid for elements that weren’t previously paid. Anyway, I sent off the invoice a little after 4 PM and was paid by 6. That always makes me feel valued.

Dinner was a new recipe that’s okay, but I doubt I’ll make it again. Just not that good, compared to the stuff I’ve learned from Jeremy and Moosewood.

Soup class was fun. I thought it was the last one, but Jeremy’s doing three more to finish us out, before he does the summer cooking camp for kids thing he’s developed. He’s going to be amazing, and those kids are going to have the BEST experience.

Went back and finished another client project. It was a late wrap for me on that, but necessary.

I was both tired and excited from the reading. I need to remind myself that I am aging, and I need more recovery time after things that require a lot of energy and concentration. If I can balance out my schedule properly, I can keep chugging along. If I overbook without enough recovery time, I push too hard and get sick.

Speaking of sick, I’ve been steadily testing negative for the plague. Not sure why I had a fever, but it seems to be gone. It is Allergies R Us around here right now – you can see the pollen float past the windows when sitting on the porch.

An invitation for a proposal to write a commissioned play built around eco-grief/climate change landed on my desk. It’s so intriguing. I put together the proposal and sent it off first thing this morning. I’ve rearranged my writing resume so I lead with stage plays and radio plays, rather than novels. It suits my current focus better. I’ve done missions-specific playwrighting for the National Marine Life Center; let’s hope they like my proposal well enough to make me one of the three playwrights on this project, which would start this year and continue through next year.

It’s 50/50. Either they believe I’m right for the project, or they don’t. If I don’t pitch, I have 0 chance.

There was another call for submissions for short holiday plays. I looked at my Stage Play Tracker and I have. . .nothing? Yeah. None of my plays are built around a holiday. Huh.

Put that in the percolation compost bin, and see what eventually comes out.

I was invited to a screenwriting virtual conference in June. However, I’m not going to participate (or even sign up) if the strike is still going on, and I expect that it will be.

Today’s agenda: Create the episode graphics for this week’s episodes of Legerdemain. Upload and post the promos for Legerdemain and Angel Hunt. Write another episode of Legerdemain.

I have two short-ish client projects in the afternoon. I also have to contact the residency administrator over at MASSMoCA about coordinating the poets’ reading in the autumn.

I should NOT work on the next draft of FALL FOREVER. But I probably will. Or maybe, maybe, since I’m seriously considering taking Friday off from client work again, I will block that day off for work on the project at the Clark Art Institute and on the FALL FOREVER revision.

I also need to start setting up the back balcony, doing some planting, and getting in some painting. On a creative level, I need to work on the piece for Poets in Conversation, which is coming up, and on the flash fiction inspired by an art piece. Both have been percolating in the back of my brain. I want to get some words down, so I can start rearranging them.

Peace, my friends, and have a good one.

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!

Fri. April 28, 2023: A Weekend With Friends

image courtesy of Karolina Grabowska via pixabay.com

Friday, April 28, 2023

Waxing Moon

Mercury Retrograde

Sunny and cold

There was frost on the car windows again this morning.

Yesterday was busy. I had meditation. Had to get some work done. Filled out my sheet to be a reader for the plays the second week of May (as a playwright whose play was chosen, part of the deal is to help with someone else’s reading; I can do at least two that week).

Made a double batch of black bean soup. Baked a Swedish visiting cake, and a batch of chocolate chip cookies. Got some ironing done – I’d washed a bunch of old napkins that came up from storage, some of which I made for the monthly dinner parties I used to give back in the 80’s, and they’re linen, so. . .ironing). Moved the plant pots out of the kitchen; some onto the porch, some stashed in the laundry room; got the chairs rearranged and put cushions on them.

I really wish I’d found the retro kitchen chairs of my dreams before the guests arrived, but this is life. We have 4 sturdy chairs, even if they don’t match and aren’t as pretty as I’d like.

Stashed some more books. Rearranged the front porch a little bit. If it’s not as cold and rainy as predicted, maybe we can sit out there. If it’s rainy, well, they haven’t fixed the leak yet.

However, the door to the back balcony is open! Yay! My neighbor across the hall managed to get it open. But it was too late (and it’s still too cold) to set up the enchanted garden back there. That has to wait until next week.

My poor friends are here when winter is receding, but the weather’s not good enough to fully enjoy the assets of this place.

Turned around two script coverages. I am done until Tuesday. If possible, I will do a light coverage week next week, so I can finish the contest entries. I was ahead on that project for a while, but have fallen behind where I want to be this week (although I’m still fine for the deadline).

Both Charlotte and Tessa slept on the bed last night. I woke up around 3:30. Tessa was by my feet, which were on my usual side of the bed. Charlotte had pushed me so that she was lying across both pillows, and I was shoved all the way to the other side of the bed. In other words, I was beyond diagonal, and almost horizontal.

Got some good ideas for the first season arc of REP while I tried to get back to sleep.

Up early this morning. Made pistachio mousse and ranch dip. Have to run out to the store for a few last-minute fresh things like baguettes and flowers, and get the garlic I forgot and the teabags and another bag of chips, because Charlotte and I got into the chips the other night. Have to pick up the wrapping paper and the baby gate.

When I get back, I’ll make devilled eggs and the chocolate glaze for the Swedish visiting cake.

If our friends aren’t here by then, I’ll do the social media rounds for Legerdemain (which I didn’t do yesterday) and Angel Hunt (Episode 28 drops today). And I’ll start entering contest scores.

I hope the weather’s better than predicted, so we can show our friends some of the really cool stuff around here. I mean, we haven’t seen them since before the pandemic, and they’ve never even met Charlotte and Willa!

Have a good one!

Beltane on Monday (and Pluto goes retrograde – ick).

Thurs. April 27, 2023: A Day of Cooking and Cleaning

image courtesy of Denise Husted via pixabay.com

Thursday, April 27, 2023

Waxing Moon

Mercury Retrograde

Rainy and chilly

Yesterday just wore me out, and I’m not really sure why.

I did another draft of FALL FOREVER. This one feels like it can sustain the table read, well enough so I can take notes and have a good idea of what needs work for the big revision I’ll do in late summer. I sent this draft to my friend who reads the early draft stuff and tells me when I’m way off the mark.

Latest post on the garden (or lack thereof) is posted up on Gratitude and Growth.

Today’s serial episode is Legerdemain.

Episode 80: Dead Priests, Fake Priests, What’s Going On?

The individual searching the dead priest’s room may wear the robe, but he’s not a priest.

Legerdemain serial link.

Legerdemain website link.

Way more books waiting for me at the library than I expected.

Had to go to the pharmacy to deal with an issue with my mom’s medication (so not happy with this new Advantage plan insurance).

Did a big grocery shop for the upcoming company this weekend at Big Y. Then went to Wild Oats to get some more stuff, including the organic wine. Then to Stop & Shop for the last of the items I couldn’t find anywhere else. By then, I was too tired to look for wrapping paper and a baby gate, so I’ve put that off until today.

By the time I got home, got everything unpacked and put away, cleaned out the fridge (not as scary as I feared), and had lunch, it was 3 PM and I still hadn’t begun the script coverages.

But I dug in and turned around all three coverages. Did the social media rounds to promote Angel Hunt and The Process Muse.

Trout, spinach, and mashed potatoes for dinner. Yummy.

I’m having keyboard and cursor issues on this computer. That’s all I need.

Woke up in the middle of the night and made notes on season 2 of Angel Hunt (if there is one) – and I have a cool title for it, too. I’ve pretty much got it figured out in my head. This will be much shorter than the current Angel Hunt. And the third season (again, if there is one) will be longer than the second one, but shorter than the first one. Still working on the title for it, although I have a rough idea. If there aren’t future “seasons” of Angel Hunt, it might just turn out to be a prose trilogy, once I adapt the serial episodes back into book form. But we’ll see. First, I have to finish adapting Angel Hunt, and get those episodes uploaded and scheduled, so I see where I am. Growth is slow, but steady.  And I got an idea for a piece that’s tied into a couple of other novella-length pieces I’ve been developing in the cozy fantasy genre.

At first, I stayed in bed, repeating the ideas, but who was I fooling? If I didn’t write them down, I’d forget them, so I stumbled to my desk and scribbled. Hopefully, I can decipher those scribbles when the time is right.

In one of the Kindle Vella groups, a writer talked about writing 100 episodes a week across her various serials, and I can’t even imagine writing that much. Well, I can imagine it. I’d be wrecked. But hey, it’s serving her well; she has a large, growing readership, and is making enough money to support focusing on that intensity.

On today’s schedule: meditation, drafting another episode of Legerdemain, making a double batch of black bean soup, baking a cake, baking cookies, ironing (I washed more napkins yesterday, and they were linen, which means they need ironing), tidying up my office, washing the floors, and turning around two coverages.

I will go out early tomorrow morning to buy the last few things I need fresh, including flowers, and the wrapping paper, and the baby gate. As far as writing, if I can get in an episode of Legerdemain before they arrive, and work on entering contest scores, that will be my focus.

The freezer won’t get defrosted and my room won’t get rearranged until after the guests. I would have liked to have everything done before, but that’s life.

At least I’m happy with the meal planning and there’s plenty of good food and good snacks to keep us busy, since it’s still cold and raining, and we won’t be able to do much outside.

Have a good one!

Tues. Feb. 28, 2023: Yup, It’s Snowing

image courtesy of Alain Audet  via pixabay.com

Tuesday, February 28, 2023

Waxing Moon

Snow and cold

I hope you had a lovely weekend. We can curl up and have a nice natter now.

The February wrap-up is posted over on the GDR site.

I ran out of ink again on Friday morning. I really need to get the laser printer fixed. Finding someone who is qualified to repair it AND who will come to the house is challenging. But I can’t keep buying ink tanks every couple of weeks. And the printer needs two people to carry it, so it’s not like I can toss it into the back of the car and take it anywhere.

I did some work on the outline for one of the April projects (and even did a temporary logo for it). The premise is there, and the central conflict, but I need to develop it out, without making it too complicated, because it has to hit 15,000 words pretty exactly. Whether I can pull it off is something else, but at least I have enough to put on a burner at the back of my brain and let it percolate.

I did some work on the FALL FOREVER outline. I know the opening now, and the end. It’s all those bits in the middle that I have to figure out. Some of them I can do as I write; but I have to figure out the major points I want to hit in each act, so I have something to work toward as I write. I haven’t written a contemporary, naturalistic play in quite a while, so this will be interesting.

I finished revising the next “batch of four” episodes of Legerdemain, gave them a polish, uploaded and scheduled them. That gets me through mid-March, which is a little too tight working for me. I need to dig in these next few weeks and finish this arc, polish it, and get it uploaded. Then I’ll work on the third big arc, and decide if I want to keep the serial going past that, or end it. I’m going to run some ads for both serials in April and May, and that will have something to do with it, too. I also need to do more work on the Legerdemain website.

Did the social media rounds to promote Angel Hunt and 28 Prompts. Today is the last day of 28 Prompts. It’s fun, and I have a bunch of new material, and it’s gotten a strong response across several platforms, but I’m glad it’s done. After tomorrow’s “thank you” post about it, I’m dropping three of the social media platforms from my daily rounds.

Post changed its look when you go on it to read and post. I think, in the long run, it might work better, but I was in a rush, and it jarred me. Having to learn how to navigate all over again irritates me.

Turned around a pitch coverage in the afternoon.

Sat down to do work on The Master Plan for both Legerdemain and Angel Hunt, with possible alternatives, depending on sales figures. Having an idea of “if this happens, I can do that with it” gives me options, so that I don’t have to make a rushed decision which might not serve me or the work.  One of the reasons I’m working Legerdemain in large arcs is that it’s structured as an open-ended serial, and I want to make sure there are natural end points for it along the way, should it need to end, or should readers need to pause during its duration. I mean, it will end at some point, but I have a very long range plan for it, and it’s not meant to be a novel or set of novels released in chapters.

Did not dig out the car, because it started snowing heavily again, so there was no point. Dashed down to Cumberland Farms at the end of the block for a few necessities.

Wrote two more Process Muse posts, and started the background reading for another, which is the re-read of Virginia Woolf’s “A Room of One’s Own.” Started reading the two books for review (one is a book that’s better read with breaks in it, so during those breaks, I started reading the other). Caught up on VANITY FAIR and NEW YORKER issues that have stacked up.

Tessa slept on the bed most of the night on Saturday, and there was a feline shift switch around 4 AM on Sunday, when Tessa left to Do Things and Charlotte jumped up. I dreamed that I’d been bitten by a spider, which supposedly means betrayal.

Sunday I found out that essential, deadlined paperwork which had been sent by Certified Mail had not been delivered and was waiting back for me at the post office. It’s infuriating. Makes the spider dream make sense – betrayed by USPS.

An article I wrote early in the pandemic for WOW – Women on Writing was finally released: “Keep the Series Fresh.” For it, I interviewed Alyssa Maxwell, Lucy Burdette, and Yasmine Galenorn. At the time of the article, my own series were in a different situation than they are now. It reads like a different person wrote it. I can tell I was sick – the flow is off. But I was paid (back when I turned it in), it’s up and out there. I did a clean PDF file copy of the piece, and sent it, along with the link, to the three gracious, lovely writers who were interviewed. And I put the link up on the Fearless Ink website.

It took about an hour to dig out the car. There were layers of ice amongst the layers of snow. When it came to the windshield and front of the car, I had to make like climate change attacking an iceberg. But eventually, I got it all off. The ice was stacked behind the wheels, frozen to the ground so I couldn’t shovel it away. I rocked the car back and forth a few times, then put sand on the ice to get traction, and managed to get out. I left the car with the back wheels perched on top of the ice bowl until I needed to get out. Several guys passing by offered to help push or lift, which was sweet of them, but not necessary. Very different from the Old White Men on the Cape, who only stood around telling one that they were doing wrong, instead of offering actual help or solutions.

Tried to set up the Libby app on my Kindle, but it keeps telling me that it can’t set me up, because either my card is expired or I have overdue items (neither is true) and I have to go to the library to get help. I’m trying to set up an appointment, but with all these storms coming in during the week, it better be next week.

Came in, showered off and read for a bit, then got dressed and headed to yoga. Last night was Yoga Nidra. Very different from previous classes I took in a different studio in the previous location, where it was treated like a pajama party instead of mindful work.

This was mindful, relaxed but AWAKE (and everyone paid attention instead of just falling asleep). When it was over, I felt more refreshed than after 8 hours’ sleep (something I never felt in the pajama party situations). We took some time to ground before leaving, because our instructor wanted to make sure we were okay to drive.

I’d like to say I came home, cooked a healthful meal, etc. Nope. Went through the Burger King drive through. I don’t think we’ve had red meat since about October, but I was craving Burger King and fries.

It was delicious.

It didn’t make us sick this time around, either.

I finished reading the two books for review before bed.

Tessa slept on the bed again, all night, until nearly six Monday morning. I slept REALLY well. It took me a bit to get to sleep, because between the Yoga Nidra and the meat, I was feeling perky. But once I went to sleep, I stayed asleep, and woke up feeling great.

I wrote the two book reviews and sent them off, with the invoice, before breakfast. By 8:30, I was out the door: gas in the car, ink for the printer, to the Post Office to sort out the issue with delivery. Two postal clerks helped me, and none of us could figure it out. I brought the instructional sheet – it was sent where they told us to send it. So why was it refused and returned? We sent it again, 2-day priority. Let’s hope someone actually accepts it this time.

Off to Big Y to get necessary groceries before the storm, including a chicken to roast. Then, off to the library to pick up the stack of 8 books that arrived. They were very busy, with everyone trying to get books before the storm.

Of course, as soon as I got home, I got notification that 3 more books showed up!

I had everything done by 10:30, and then did the social media rounds for the article, the February Wrap-up, and #28Prompts.

Got paid for the reviews, and assigned more books.

Did the social media rounds for the article and #28Prompts. Turned around two scripts. The editor for the article I submitted last week sent me changes, so I’ll take a look at those today and turn them around.

Roasted a chicken (yummy). Leftovers will get us through the week, in case the weather’s awful as predicted. Made stock.

Soup class was fun, even though it was a twist on Borscht, and I am not fond of beets. But it was pretty, and a soup a vampire would love.

Still re-reading Anne Truitt’s DAYBOOK. There are ideas in there I can talk about in The Process Muse.

Tessa slept on the bed. At 3:30, we were awakened by the snowplows. She decided it was shift change, so she left, and Charlotte came up, until I got up just before 6. It’s been snowing off and on, but not as bad as predicted. There are so many wildly different predictions for the day coming in that I will just look out the window and make decisions from there.

On today’s agenda: Another episode of Legerdemain, upload some Process Muse posts, upload tomorrow’s Ink-Dipped Advice post, looking over (and applying) the editor’s notes on the article, turning around three pitch scoring sheets and two full scripts. A bunch of scripts came in (at 6:30 this morning), so I’m set for the week. I’ll make the same in the first three days of the March pay period as I made in the second February pay period. I hope that bodes well for March, with more scripts coming in next week.

The second batch of contest entries is supposed to arrive today, so I will process them. I might bake cookies.

I have to do the social media rounds to promote today’s episode of Legerdemain, and the final #28Prompts post. I have to upload and schedule this week’s Angel Hunt promotions.

Fingers crossed the power and internet keep working so I can get it all done!

Tues. Feb. 14, 2023: Back to the Page

image courtesy of Jess Bailey via pixabay.com

Tuesday, February 14, 2023

Waning Moon

Valentine’s Day

Partly cloudy and chilly

Happy Valentine’s Day, my friends. You all a part of my heart.

Ready for a catch-up?

Hauled myself out of the house on Friday. Ran into the landlord, and we talked about getting the porch roof redone this spring. That’s a relief.

Did the library run, picked up my mom’s prescription at the pharmacy, did a quick grocery shop (bought more than I planned, as usual), swung by the liquor store. It was raining by the time I got home, so I’m glad I got it all done.

The Midnight City Tarot arrived! I bought the pocket deck (which is smaller than I expected, and perfect for travel. I love it! The artwork is inspired by NYC and the boroughs.

Trying to sort out a spring road trip with some friends, juggling all of our schedules.

Turned around a coverage in the afternoon and started the second one, but didn’t finish it.

Saturday, I did the rounds to post #28Prompts and participate in the Writing Wonders game. I finished the coverage, which was more complicated and detailed than I expected, but I’d been requested, and wanted to be as specific in the notes as possible. Also worked my way through a stack of research books from the library, making the appropriate notes for various projects.

A trio of weird dreams Saturday into Sunday. I have to take some time to figure them out, although general contexts are pretty clear.

Up early on Sunday. Did the rounds for #28Prompts and Writing Wonders. Got dressed in Real People Clothes and makeup and braided my hair to get it out of the way (so looking forward to getting it cut in the next few weeks). Drove to Pittsfield, to the artists talk I’d been invited to by the curator, an artist whom I met through MassMOCA. It was a powerful exhibit, about bodily autonomy, a combination of teen artists in a recovery program and their adult artist mentors. The talk was interesting, and the artists and the attendees were multi-faceted in wonderful ways. It ran long, and I couldn’t stay to chat more after the event. Not everyone was masked, which made me a little uncomfortable, but there was enough ventilation and room to keep a safe distance. I was a little annoyed with a couple of people who started masked and then unmasked over the course of the event. It’s an hour, boo. You can keep your nose covered.

Drove home, had a quick bite, changed, rolled up the yoga mat and headed out for meditation at the local yoga studio. I was early, so I nipped into the indie bookstore next door, and wound up with two Mary Oliver books. Prep for my poetry adventures, right?

The meditation session was excellent. I’ve done metta practices with several different teachers, and it’s always interesting to learn the tweaks different people put on it. I felt excellent by the end of it, and definitely want to go to the studio more regularly. They have solid safety protocols in place.

Home, made turkey meatloaf, read a little. Went to bed pretty early, because all that peopling after so much not peopling was exhausting.

Weird dreams going into Monday, set off by the art exhibit.

Polished this week’s Process Muse and got it uploaded (it goes live tomorrow). Posted a short piece on Small Adjustments over on the Goals, Dreams, and Resolutions site.

Did some research for the residency proposal, and spent most of the day writing it up and getting it into shape so I could submit it. I won’t hear back until May, but nothing ventured, nothing gained. It’s a project – a play on yet another “forgotten historical woman” that can only be done if they grant me the residency because I need access to the archives up there. In Buffalo. I’ve never been to Buffalo, so it would be an adventure. Put together all the preliminary research information and set it into a folder. If it comes to pass, I’ve got it all together, and don’t need to hunt it down. If I don’t get it, it’s backburnered until I can get support for it. Thus the life of a working artist.

It made such a huge difference that I could read through the sections of the application BEFORE I started. It meant I could write and polish each section. Too often, the application doesn’t allow you to read ahead. You have to complete each section before you can see the next one, and that makes for a fragmented, unpolished proposal. When I see that in applications, I’m going to start contacting the organization and suggesting allowing applicants to read the entire application BEFORE starting it.

I ordered the few books I could find on the topic in the CW Mars for background research, just in case. There’s not much in Commonwealth Catalog, so I’d have to go to WorldCat, and then I might as well wait for the residency and do it on site, with the papers in the archives that I need.

Paid some bills, did a library run to drop off the big stack of books I finished, and pick up a smaller stack of books waiting. Even though I did the run later than usual, more books showed up after I left. Because that’s the way it goes. Not a big deal.

Got an email from a place where I was interested in doing a residency. But it’s three weeks in July – in open air shacks. With a “rechargeable electric outlet” and bathrooms and other amenities in another building across the property. No thank you. Let the twenty-year-old aspiring artists do that. I want climate control and comfortable surroundings. I’ve earned them.

Was assigned the next two books for review. Printed off some more judging sheets for the contest and spent some time on those entries. Did the social media rounds for #28Prompts and played the day’s edition of the Writing Wonders game. I need to get a small notebook to use as a mileage log, because I’m getting ready to do writing-related day trips. Keeping a tiny notebook and a pen in the glove compartment is useful for that. Yeah, not happening on an app.

Didn’t do any coverage, and some more scripts came in, which means I’m doing two coverages today and three tomorrow, which is better for this pay period, but I’m still under where I want to be. And they’re like, why aren’t you meeting your earnings goal, and I’m like, because I’m reading as much as ever and you’re paying me half, and that is not sustainable. Because I am not going to “double my volume” to make the same money. I will find other work that pays me better.

It’s these transition months that are a challenge, that’s all.

Started reading M.E. Hilliard’s THREE CAN KEEP A SECRET, her third Greer Hogan mystery. I really enjoyed THE UNKINDNESS OF RAVENS, which I read a few weeks back, and A SHADOW IN THE GLASS, which I read last weekend, so I’m looking forward to this.

The laundry soap and the charcoal filters for the coffee maker showed up, as did this month’s Ipsy bag. I’m not getting them every month anymore (I don’t use that much makeup), so it was fun to go through all the treats and see what kind of looks I can put together.

Soup class was rather chaotic; there was a problem with the Zoom link, and for Jeremy, it was kind of like herding cats from there. But it was fun, and I always learn a lot. I hope I can attend one of his in-person workshops in the coming months.

I had trouble getting to sleep, and then I dreamed I was working in theatre again, and ordering Thai takeout. Which was pretty normal during working in theatre. It wasn’t a stress dream, it was just a busy dream, and I’d put in a whole day’s work by the time I woke up.

I figured out why I was unsettled and had trouble getting to sleep – something that hadn’t been dealt with over the years that a conversation brought up – and now that I know, I can deal with it.

Still feeling a little scattered this morning, mostly because I’m tired. But I will dig down and do some work on Legerdemain, and then work on the article. Yesterday was the cut-off for any responses from poets (and I got more than I expected), so now it’s about building and weaving the material into the article, which is this week’s primary focus, so I can get it out at the end of the week. The article is my priority this week, and everything else has to build around that.

Making some notes on topics I want to explore in poems, and reading as much poetry and as much about poetry as possible.

In spite of the warning that there wouldn’t be any sun until March 1, the sun has come out most days, sometimes for several hours, which has put everyone in a better mood. As usual, around here, when the weather lets up, everyone dashes around doing their errands, before the next storm comes through. When it’s sunny, everyone is cheerful; when it’s dreary, everyone shrugs it off and keeps on.

The next episode of Legerdemain drops today; I hope you enjoy it.

Back to the page.

Thurs. Feb. 9, 2023: Cracked Patience

image courtesy of OpenClipart-Vectors via pixabay.com

Thursday, February 9, 2023

Waning Moon

Cloudy and cold

There’s a garden post over on Gratitude and Growth.

Two things I didn’t talk about yesterday, which I will talk about here: The first is the horrible earthquake in Turkey and Syria. 11,000 dead last I heard, and growing fatalities. The scope of the devastation is horrifying. I hope the world steps up and helps.

The second is the State of the Union address that happened on Tuesday. Biden handled himself well, although I didn’t agree with everything he had to say. But that’s okay, I don’t have to. Other than handling the pandemic, he’s doing a good job, in my opinion. It sent quite the message that only Bernie Sanders cared enough to mask, and made it clear that both parties don’t give a flying fuck how many citizens are killed by COVID. That is not acceptable.

The Republicans behaved badly, because that’s all that’s in their wheelhouse. Sinema (who is a Repub embedded as a Dem) craves attention and dressed like an extra from a Chiquita Banana parody. Her pathetic bids for attention are so inappropriate for her job. MTG behaved like the trailer trash she is, and SHS had a “rebuttal” that continues to show what a lying grifter she, her family, and the whole party are.

Yesterday morning was frustrating, doing all kinds of paperwork and contracts. I lost nearly an hour putting the new ink in the inkjet printer, because the color printhead wouldn’t align properly. I want my laser printer fixed!

Went down to the post office, got everything mailed, including the contract for the big project. Sent everything certified, so I can be sure it gets there. As I’ve mentioned before, the post office around here is the happening place, where everyone exchanges information, suggests people for projects, etc. There was a man at the post office mailing two large boxes to Florida. His son died a few months ago, and was a huge Miami Dolphins fan. He had season tickets, and went down to see them play home games several times a year. He became close friends with someone who had tickets near him. The Miami friend flew up for the man’s funeral, which was the first time the family met him. He said he’d love something to remember his friend by. His parents couldn’t deal with it at the moment, but have since cleaned out their son’s belongings. They boxed up all the Miami Dolphin paraphernalia and shipped it to his son’s friend. It’s a story both sad and lovely.

Did the social media rounds for Process Muse, Angel Hunt, and 28 Prompts. Submitted four plays and two radio plays. The radio plays were immediately rejected, because the submission “closed early.” Well, boo, THEN PULL DOWN THE NOTICE. Don’t waste people’s time. Treat people well.

Turned around two coverages. Finished the second book for review. I’ll write up both reviews and send them in today, and, hopefully, get assigned my next books.

Made a green bean and fennel ragout for dinner, from Moosewood’s recipe, and it was very good. Leftovers, too, which are yummy. I’m trying to figure out if I want to join a CSA next year, or just keep going to the market every Saturday. Because my schedule is kind of up in the air, market is a safer choice, because I may be out of town here and there on pickup days.

Two of the big boxes from the Target order arrived (although one of the boxes was so flimsy, it fell apart as I was taking it into the house. So no giant box for the cats to play in). But we are stocked up on basics and cleaning supplies, and toilet paper, and the like. I got new file folders, pattern coded for this year, so I can finish filing 2022 and set up the 2023 files. I have to rework where I keep the files I use most often. The space that worked best for me, to the right of my desk, now has the second printer on it, and the file rack is on the floor, which isn’t really working.

Jumping onto Twitter to check it in the evening was a huge mistake. People whining about not seeing posts from their “friends.” People whining about other stuff. Faux engagements questions. People demanding others do free administrative labor on their accounts. Right wing crap. Bullying. The block button is my best tool lately. I may lock my account as of March. I don’t want to do so while 28 Prompts is running, but, if I can hold out until March, that’s probably a good time to lock down.

On a happier note, I re-read SAD CYPRESS by Agatha Christie. It was the January read for the Read Christie! challenge, but my copy is in storage, so I had to get it from the library, and it just arrived. I’d forgotten how interesting it was.

Weird dreams about buying long strands of large Christmas lights at a garden center. Only I wasn’t me in the dream. I was embodying a person, but it was a different woman than the one I am. Which is a weird sensation, all the way around. It wasn’t a bad dream, it was ordinary. It was just strange to be someone else.

Today’s agenda: meditation. Drafting more Legerdemain. Uploading/scheduling more Angel Hunt. Doing the graphics for the upcoming Legerdemain scheduled episodes. Working on a residency proposal. Checking the guidelines for something I wanted to do, figured I couldn’t, but maybe I can (if I can use a particular piece). Writing two book reviews and submitting them. Filing. Two script coverages. Contest entries. Social media rounds for the next Legerdemain episode and 28 Prompts.

To my pleasure and surprise, Post drives traffic to my sites. At first it was as much traffic as Twitter. As Twitter’s fallen off, now it’s more. And I do truly enjoy my time on Spoutible.

Off to meditation. I need to start sitting again in the mornings, as well as at night before I go to bed. Then, it’s back to the page.

Tues. Jan. 24, 2023: Digging Out

image courtesy of Richard Duijnstee via pixabay.com

Tuesday, January 24, 2023

Waxing Moon

No Retrogrades

Snowy and cold

Whew! Finally, we are done, for a brief shining moment with retrogrades, since Uranus went direct on Sunday the 22^nd.

Which was also Chinese Lunar New Year, and we are now in the Year of the Water Rabbit.

Which is why tomorrow was chosen as the launch day for ANGEL HUNT.

Got all that?

Good. Now we can sit down for our usual Tuesday natter.

Friday seems oh, so very long away. It snowed all day. I did the section of the Heist Romance set in Kyle of Lochalsh, Scotland (yes, I’ve been there, too), back in London, and on the Eurostar to Paris. I spent about an hour and a half putting together a list of resources for a close friend of mine, who’s feeling stuck, and sent that off. Heard from a friend of a friend, who recently moved to the area and is now working at Williams College; we will get together when she feels more settled.

In the afternoon, I read both books for review, and then read for pleasure in the evening.

We got closer to 3 inches than six inches of snow overnight, but because of the constant freezing and snowing, digging out the car was not fun. But I did so, and got to the library to pick up the stack of 8 books waiting for me. So at least I have those in before the next storm.

The rest of the materials for the incomplete coverage arrived, so I read them and started the coverage. Did the usual Saturday chores, like changing the beds, etc. Made pasta with sausage for dinner.

Read Evelyn Salter’s memoir of her years working as Edith Sitwell’s secretary, which was very interesting, and relevant to one of the projects with which I’m noodling in longhand. And makes me want to read Evelyn Salter’s crime novels, which I’m having difficulty finding. Time to haul out WorldCat. Between the regional CW Mars network, the Commonwealth Catalog (all of the state), the ILL system of WorldCat, and the Gutenberg Project, I should be able to do it. I managed to finally find Alice Campbell’s JUGGERNAUT on Gutenberg, and order some of her other titles via Commonwealth Catalog. Her work was popular around the time of Agatha Christie’s work, though she was not as well known.

Speaking of Agatha Christie, I joined the reading challenge over on her website (run by her descendants). January’s title is SAD CYPRESS, which I haven’t reread in ages, so that will be fun.

Figured out how to plant a real clue and some red herrings in the section of the Heist Romance script set in Paris, and researched the neighborhood/architecture of the neighborhood where I want it to happen, so I can choreograph the action in a way that makes sense.

Up early on Sunday to make chocolate chip banana bread. The weather advisory shifted to up to 10 inches of snow falling between Sunday night and Monday evening.

So, instead of taking Sunday off, I finished the coverage and sent it off, wrote both book reviews and sent them off, and said I’d be ready for more, hoping the power would hold on Monday morning so I could download them and read them during the snow.

Wrote 16 pages on the Heist Romance screenplay, doing the Paris section, the train to Nice-Ville, and the train to Monte Carlo. Set up clues and red herrings.

Made spicy peanut noodles and dumplings for lunch, so we could celebrate Chinese Lunar New Year. I miss being included in family celebrations for this as I was during my Broadway days, working on shows like MISS SAIGON and FLOWER DRUM SONG.

Treated myself by reading the next Vicky Bliss book, TROJAN GOLD (I love that series so much), and working on contest entries.

It started snowing around dinnertime on Sunday, and snowed all day on Monday. I was glad I’d gotten everything out the door Sunday, although I got my next two books for review on Monday.

I also got a big stack of coverages to do today and tomorrow, for which I’m grateful, but it will keep me busy. Let’s hope the power holds.

I worked on The Process Muse post which drops tomorrow. I’m trying to keep the posts a little shorter than they’ve been thus far.

I polished, uploaded and scheduled the next four episodes of LEGERDEMAIN, which gets me through mid-February. I polished, uploaded, and scheduled the next eight episodes of ANGEL HUNT, which gets me through mid-April.

ANGEL HUNT goes live tomorrow, so I have to block off a few hours to promote, and to upload/schedule promotions on the first episodes, since Kindle Vella doesn’t give us the direct link to the serial until it goes live.

I have to write episode loglines for all 12 episodes, and do the graphics for the LEGERDEMAIN episodes.

Starting this week, people can read new episodes of mine Tuesdays through Fridays: LEGERDEMAIN episodes drop Tuesday and Thursday; ANGEL HUNT episodes drop Wednesday and Friday.

I went out to try and dig out the car once we hit 12 inches. It was still snowing, and I gave up after a bit; it was too difficult, and the plow had pushed large chunks of snow behind the car. I will try again today. We have another storm coming in tomorrow, although instead of the 8 inches predicted, now they’re only saying 4.

One of the few things I miss about living on Cape is the garage.

Worked on contest entries. Got some other reading done.

Chef Jeremy did a fundraising class for No Kid Hungry; I couldn’t attend the session (even though it was on Zoom), but I made a donation.

Frustrating when the premise is excellent, most of the writing is strong, and the protagonist is an idiot one wishes was the next murder victim.

Listened to the HADESTOWN cast album last night. It’s one of my favorite scores, and one of the shows I wish I’d had a chance to work on before I left working backstage.

Busy night in the Dreamscape. Nothing bad, just busy. Work up tired and grumpy. I have a feeling a good portion of the grumps is because I know I have to shovel out the car later, before the next storm hits. The very thought of it is exhausting.

And, somewhere between all the storms, I have to get the car inspected.

I plan to get some drafting done on the next LEGERDEMAIN episodes this morning, and maybe a few pages on the Heist Romance screenplay, before digging out the car and switching to script coverage. I’m grateful for the work, but I’m tired.

Have a good one! Enjoy today’s LEGERDEMAIN episode!

Thurs. Jan. 19, 2023: Incoming Snow

image courtesy of Pexels, via pixabay.com

Thursday, January 19, 2023

Day Before Dark Moon

Uranus Retrograde

Incoming storm

I don’t understand why I’m so slow this week. Everything is taking much longer than it should.

Post on Gratitude and Growth about the garden.

Post on Ink-Dipped Advice about why I like using Direct Mail.

I did the social media rounds promoting the Process Muse post and Ink-Dipped Advice. I’m enjoying Post more and more, although they are moving to a system of “trust metrics” which just sounds like another version of a popularity contest. So we’ll see. There’s not much interaction there, but there’s a lot of good reading material, and I enjoy my time there. CounterSocial and Mastodon, so far, are the best for genuine interaction.

I drafted a new episode of LEGERDEMAIN, which was a lot of fun. I have to work on the graphics for the episodes for the next two weeks, which are already uploaded and scheduled. I thought I wrote the loglines, and am puzzled that I can’t find them.

I turned around five script coverages. I’m glad I have four in today’s queue because, you guessed it, the rest is blank. I may have to read over the weekend, which I do not want to do. Motivation to get the new Fearless Ink postcard out, and the new brochure designed.

I figured out a way to make this first section of the Heist Romance script more logical, more creative, and funnier for the audience. Even though I SHOULD NOT DO IT, I am going back and rewriting, so that I can move on a few days down the line. Because, over there? In that other corner? The LUCKY NUMBERS script Is Not Happy.

Caught up with some correspondence with friends yesterday, too, which was nice. Did a little reading for pleasure (when I should have been reading for review). But it will all get done, and I need to give my brain rest from critical reading with pleasure reading, or I get burned out.

We’re supposed to get 3-6 inches of snow today. Originally, the storm was supposed to come in tonight and into tomorrow. Now, they’re saying it will start at 11 AM this morning and continue through Saturday morning. Sunrise this morning was a sky on fire. I have the pre-storm headache. And when I stepped outside, I could feel the storm coming in.

Because I pulled myself together when the alert came in, and went to the grocery store at 7 AM, when they opened, to pick up potatoes, orange juice, and toilet paper. Because, you know, priorities.

I’m going to make the stuffed eggplant tonight for dinner, which uses a lot of potatoes. I thought we had potatoes when I went grocery shopping earlier in the week, only to discover that we had ONE potato. But now we have enough for the recipe.

Online meditation this morning, and then, after breakfast, it’s back to the page!

Have a good one, and enjoy Episode 52 of Legerdemain, which drops today.

Tues. Jan. 10, 2023: Good Start to the Writing Week

image courtesy of  Peter H via pixabay.com

Tuesday, January 10, 2023

Waning Moon

Uranus, Mars, Mercury Retrograde

Cloudy and cold

Time for us to curl up with a favorite beverage and have our Tuesday catch-up natter.

The GDR post this week is about “More Me” rather than the mantra thrown at us every year about a “new me.”

Busy weekend. As you saw from reading Friday’s post,  I was not in a good mood on Friday.

I scuttled the idea of getting anything done, and, instead, spent most of the day taking down and packing the holiday decorations. I didn’t get it all done on Friday; there was still about 1/3 of the tree left, and few other things scattered around. But I got most of it done.

I was tired and sore by the end of the afternoon. I made bouillabaisse for dinner, in the new Dutch oven, and it was delicious. I read for pleasure in the evening.

Didn’t sleep well.

Saturday morning, I wrote about 1K on a project with which I’m noodling in longhand, and wrote in my head on the screenplay.

I spent most of the day finishing getting the ornaments packed and reorganizing where to stash all these various boxes of ornaments, getting the tree taken apart, and the new stand apart (took 2 minutes to get this stand back in the box, yay), and everything put away. I broke one glass ornament, from 1982, which makes me sad, but when I took it off the tree, the top metal part that was attached to the hanger detached from the glass ball and that was that. Got it all cleaned up, so that the cats wouldn’t step on any shards.

Started switching out all the different fabrics from the holiday to more general January/winter fabrics – kitchen table, the Kitchen Island Cart from Hell, other tables, etc. Didn’t get them all done, but made good progress.

The heat stopped working around midday. I put in a call, got no response, but it started working again in the late afternoon, so who knows. As long as it works.

Made Moosewood’s mac & cheese for dinner, which was good. Was too tired to read much in the evening, although I’m enjoying another of Elizabeth Peters’s Vicky Bliss series. Went to bed early because I was tired and sore.

Up early on Sunday and, for the first time since about Christmas, we had real sunshine. What a big difference! That made me feel better, too.

I wrote about 2K on the project in longhand, which wound up being all of Chapter 4. I’m starting to realize what this book is, how it’s shaped, what the narrative drive needs to be, which is very different than what I thought it was about. I think (hope) it will be a standalone. I have a lot of placeholders (which I don’t usually do), and I’m at the point where I have to type up these pages to really get an idea of what’s what. I SHOULD outline, but I don’t think I will, this time around, even though it will necessitate more rounds of revision. I started typing up the pages written (because otherwise it’s too overwhelming at the end). I am doing a lot of rewrites as I go, on this draft I’m calling “1A” that goes beyond adding in the information from placeholders and going to some restructuring as I’m learning the shape.

I wrote ten more pages on the screenplay. There are already all kinds of notes in the margins of what I’ve printed out, where I need to fix things in the next draft. And this draft will be too long, so cuts will have to be made, and some structural work done. But I’m telling the story I want to tell. I need to tell this version to completion, before I can make it fit the format better.

At the same time, part of me suspects I will eventually adapt it into a novel, because that is more likely to go somewhere. But the ideas are coming in as a screenplay, and I’m learning from it, so whatever it winds up being, I will have gained from starting in this format.

Made turkey meatloaf for dinner. Added a bit of Worcestershire sauce and tabasco to the mix, and that made a big, positive difference.

Read in the evening, but went to bed early, because I was tired. Tessa tried to get me out of bed at 3, but I told her no breakfast until the coffee starts. So the minute the coffeemaker started at its designated time, she was in full voice.

It’s amazing how something as small as having a coffeemaker one can program to start before one gets up makes such a big difference in starting the day.

Wrote about 1K on the longhand project. Drafted a Legerdemain episode. Got next week’s episodes uploaded, and created graphics. I wrote the loglines in the evening.

Mailed bills, dropped off and picked up books at the library, went to the grocery store I don’t like much to pick up a few things I couldn’t get at the other place. Sang the grumpy pants song to myself to get myself out of my worsening mood. It’s a silly little jingle I made up to sing to the cats when they were grumpy, and now I use it on myself at times, to get over myself and get back on track. Because it’s silly, and it’s hard to stay grumpy singing it.

After lunch, I did some scoring for the script coverage place – quick but low paid, and I’m a little worried about having enough work for this week.

In the meantime, I polished the first 16 episodes of ANGEL HUNT, created the Episode Tracking Sheet, the Style Sheet, and the Series Bible. I polished the blurb. I can start uploading those first two months’ worth of episodes today. Then, I’ll have to write the log lines and do the episode-specific graphics. I’m only using the series logo as a general graphic (unlike LEGERDEMAIN, where I have a plethora of general graphics to support the ongoing worldbuilding).

I wrote two pages on the script, which will have to be cut. I’m pretty sure I’ll need to cut this whole subplot. It’s too much of a tangent. I have a bit of a subplot in there already that is stronger for the piece.

I made some notes of general ad graphics for LEGERDEMAIN. I have a slew of general ads along with the episode-specific graphics, but I need to do some more, as more weird little shops and places work into the story.

Soup class with Chef Jeremy was fun, although his Zoom cut out partway through. But everyone just hung out and chatted until he got the tech on his end up and running. I’ve learned a lot in that class, and it’s fun to apply it.

My mom hasn’t been feeling well the past few days, which, since she is 98, is a concern. She’s a little better this morning, so hopefully, taking it easy for a few days will help.

Up early, before coffee, and had to coax the coffeemaker along. Tessa was thrilled she didn’t have to start howling to get breakfast. Got my act together to leave for the laundromat early, and was the only one there. It was wonderful.

While the laundry was going through, I got 1K written in longhand on the one book, and then read a bit, as the laundry finished in the dryer.

Home, hauled it up the stairs, got it folded and put away.

The plan for today is to draft another episode of LEGERDEMAIN, adapt the next chapter of ANGEL HUNT to serial episodes, and get those first 16 episodes uploaded and scheduled. I’ll write the loglines, and maybe start the episode graphics, but we’ll see how long all that takes. I also want to do some work on the LEGERDEMAIN website. I also have to do the promotional rounds for the episode going live today.

I want to get out some LOIs today; I’ve been lax on that, and am paying for it, now that the script coverage has slowed down so much. They keep telling us they want more commitment as far as hours per week – well, then pay us better and have enough scripts ready for us.

I have a book to review, and can start on contest entries, if nothing comes in, script-wise, and I have some work to do on an article, too.

Episode 49 of LEGERDEMAIN goes live today – I hope you enjoy it.

Have a good one, my friends! I’m headed back to the page.

Tues. Jan. 3, 2023: Getting Started For the New Year

image courtesy of Engin Akyurt via pixabay.com

Tues. Jan. 3, 2023

Waxing Moon

Uranus, Mars, Mercury Retrograde

Foggy and freezing rain

I hope you had a lovely holiday weekend, and that you took off yesterday as part of it, too.

I’ve spent so many New Year’s Eves being unhappy that a quiet one was just what I wanted. I did some noodling on two projects as I try to find out if they are viable. I uploaded what I feel comfortable sharing with my 2023 Goals, Dreams, and Resolutions over on that site.

I cleaned the house, vacuumed, changed the beds, did the dishes, mopped the floors, cleaned the bathrooms, granite counters (with its special cleaner) and stainless steel (with those special wipes). I like going into the New Year with a clean house.

I made devilled eggs and small rum cakes with rum glaze. I was worried I’d put in too much rum (I tweaked the recipe), but it came out just right. I put the rum IN the mix and the glaze, rather than soaking the cakes later. I like it better the way I did it.

I’ve been asked, over the years, why I bother putting up a lot of decorations and doing big meals and cleaning for the holidays when I don’t have lots of people over. I do it for us. I do it because the years I haven’t done it, I was unhappy. Making the places festive for various holidays makes me happy, so why not do it? Why must everything always be for someone else?

I made the salmon with cumin glaze, and we had sweet potatoes with it, for the Eve meal. We stayed up, watched the ball come down in Times Square (to think, I used to be able to watch from my apartment window, I lived so close; glad not to be in that madness now). It was very discouraging to see all those people crammed in there unmasked.

I stayed up until a little after one. Tessa was delighted. Charlotte and Willa were confused. It is lovely to live somewhere that locals aren’t setting off illegal fireworks in the streets and putting us in danger.

Up early on the Day. Did the fire and ice ritual. Noodled a bit on the two projects with which I’m playing.

I made traditional Eggs Benedict for breakfast, which was good.

I set up the new, small inkjet printer. Finally. It took 3 damn hours. It should have taken 20 minutes, but the printer drivers wouldn’t load properly, and the laptop wouldn’t recognize the printer, even though it was connected by USB. What a nightmare. It’s such a lightweight piece of lousy plastic, I’ll be lucky if it lasts a week. But the scanner works well, and it’s better than not having a printer at all.

I printed out the last three chapters of THE TREES WHISPERED DEATH, so at least that’s all in the binder, and I can put it aside to rest for two months, while I work on other things.

I had to rearrange my office space to fit the second printer (the big laser printer is sitting there like a lump until I can get someone over to fix it). At first, I hated the rearrangement, but now I kind of like it. I still have to find a convenient place to put the file folders I need regularly, but I can make this configuration work.

Started reading a book that I hoped would be wonderful, by a Very Prominent Author. The premise sounded great, and it started off well. Then, a few chapters in, for no discernable reason, it switched into present tense and stayed there. I hated it, so I stopped reading.

So much for the first book of the year holding deep meaning. I thought I’d chosen so well!

Started reading one of the books I received as a holiday gift, and that was fun. Read the next book for review, which was interesting, but completely shifted genres for the last third of the book, and structurally couldn’t support the shift.

I have a few scripts in my queue to start the week, but not enough, so I hope more will come in.

Slept in a bit on Monday. Technically, it’s a holiday, but I needed to get some work done.

Many of the businesses and organizations around here close for the first two weeks of January, and I fully support that. Everyone is tired. It’s winter. We need rest.

I did some work in longhand on two projects: one I’m writing the actual story, and the other, I’m making outline notes. The second is pulling to start “writing into” so that I can finish the outline, but I want to do the other one first.

Posted the “Intent for the Week” here. Polished the Ink-Dipped Advice post that goes live tomorrow, and the Process Muse post that does the same, and wrote the Process Muse post for next week. It’s up and scheduled.

Did a quick round of the social media sites.

Revised, polished, uploaded, and scheduled Episodes 49 & 50 of Legerdemain, which go live next week. They needed a good bit of work, as, I believe, the next episode will.

Swung by the post office to mail a few things, and then the liquor store to stock up. In the afternoon, I turned around a script. In the evening, we had the online soup class with Chef Jeremy. Good thing it’s online, with the number of attendees who “got COVID for Christmas.”

Class was fun, and there are techniques I can and will use when I make the bouillabaisse later this week.

Did not sleep well, because Charlotte woke me up every two hours (including throwing up in the bed at 2:30). So that was a lot of cleanup and comforting her. I tried shutting her out of the bedroom, but she had a panic attack.

I had a series of weird dreams – in one, I was lost in a large school in which I’ve had dreams before; another was about writing a rent check to a person I know only from online, because I was subletting from him; the third was kind of a mess; a fourth had to do with an important scene for the outline I’ve been working on in longhand (which I wrote up this morning).

Which meant I overslept, and am getting a late start this morning.

The plan is to work ahead on Legerdemain today, first. On the social media rounds, I will post links to the regular Tuesday material, including the episode of Legerdemain that drops today, and one of the Topic Workbooks. I also have to work on some interview questions that need to go out this week for an article, create the episode graphics for the episodes that uploaded yesterday, and turn around two scripts. I hope I’ll get out a few LOIs, too. I have to swing by the library, but it’s just a quick drop off/pick up, nothing major.

I need to buckle down and focus today. Which is difficult, because I’m sleep-deprived. But we keep on keeping on, right?

Have a good one.

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.

Fri. Nov. 25, 2022: Leftovers and Decorating Begins

image courtesy of Monika via pixabay.com

Friday, November 25, 2022

Waxing Moon

Neptune, Chiron, Uranus, Mars Retrograde

Rainy and mild

I hope you had a lovely day yesterday, whether you celebrated American Thanksgiving or not.

I slept in, until nearly 7. Tessa was beside herself. I fed everybody, made the stuffing, and wrestled the bird into the oven a little after 8:30.

I put good wishes on the various social media platforms, rather than do any serious interaction.

Then, I did my day’s work on THE TREES WHISPERED DEATH, which wound up being 1929 words that, overall, I’m happy with (at least for this draft).

Wednesday, I got the book review out, the invoice in, was paid, and did a script coverage.

I’d finished my work by 2 PM on Wednesday, and lounged around reading, and feeling strange in the afternoon. I realized that was because I no longer know how to relax. I know how to work, and how to collapse onto the couch or the bed to recover from work, but I’ve forgotten how to relax.

That goes on the schedule for next year, weird as it sounds.

Follow-up questions came in for a script I covered a couple of days ago, and I was irritated that the answers are due on Monday morning. But I’ll probably turn them around today, and get it over with.

I could not face any more Cleaning Out the Fridge leftovers, so I made scrambled eggs for dinner instead.

Hopping back to yesterday:

For once I timed the turkey and all the sides to be done on time, and I’d set out all the necessary platters and dishes, etc. It was your typical turkey with gravy and stuffing and cranberry sauce, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes (mashed with melted butter, orange juice, and brown sugar), peas, corn, and rolls. With apple pie for dessert.

We like our holiday meals around mid-day, so we can clean up and spend the rest of the day half asleep.

We cleaned up. Because I have a lot of vintage china that can’t go in the dishwasher, there are always plenty of dishes that have to be done by hand. But we also had a full dishwasher, and put that on.

I made stock from the carcass, and it’s so glorious I think I will use some of the leftovers to make a turkey soup.

Spent the rest of the afternoon and evening lounging on the couch, reading and playing with the cats.

Checked in on Twitter a few times, but it was mostly people screaming about this and that and saying that anyone who enjoys the holiday isn’t accommodating those with toxic families. Yeah, when you’re wearing a mask when you’re out and about and actually taking care of others, you get to say something about accommodations.

And if I have a family I appreciate and we enjoy each other, we’re going to have a good holiday without guilt.

Up around 6:30 this morning. Tessa is annoyed that not only was her breakfast late, but it’s not sunny. She’s somehow decided that I am in charge of making sure the sun shines, so she has multiple sun spots in which to nap during the day, and she is not pleased that I am slacking off.

I did the next chapter of THE TREES WHISPERED DEATH, which came in at 1941 words, so I’ve broken 56K. Without the pressure to hit a certain wordcount by a certain day, it’s flowing better. Or maybe I’m just in the book’s natural rhythm now.

Most of the weekend is about decorating  for Yule. I stopped Black Friday shopping about 20 years ago, so I don’t have to worry about anything, although I do have to pick up a few things at the grocery store and Wild Oats. Tomorrow, I may do some Small Business Saturday shopping, and I’ll head to Whitney’s Farm to get the wreath. Sunday is the First of Advent, so even if I don’t have everything done, I’ll have the Advent Table up.

So why am I online today? Because, my friends, I am being mercenary.  Writing is how I keep a roof over my head, so I must promote my work. The next episode of Legerdemain dropped yesterday. Some scheduled promotions went live, but for the rest, I have to make the rounds today.

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