Thurs. June 1, 2023: Derailed By A Nap

image courtesy of  Christophe Schindler via pixabay.com

Thursday, June 1, 2023

Waxing Moon

Pluto Retrograde

Sunny and warm

Hop on over to see the latest on the garden on Gratitude and Growth. I even posted some of my own photos.

Today’s serial episode is from Legerdemain:

Episode 90: Drinks & Dynamics

With love on the rocks & murder in the air, things get interesting.

Legerdemain Serial Link

Legerdemain Website

Yesterday was rather a lost day, in spite of the edits on episodes of Legerdemain and REP, and getting laundry done. I worked on the blurb for my friend’s book. I’m not satisfied with it, so I’ll do some more work on it today and get it out to her tomorrow. I typed up a long email response to an old friend, disagreeing with him on a few points, shall we say. 

I did a library run, picking up more books than expected, and finding out what I needed to do to set up an appointment on the genealogy computer. I will try to set up something for next week. Swung by the liquor store on the way home.

The noise from the heavy machinery at the library across the street has hit a critical combustion point for me. It’s been months. I’m tired of the constant beeping. I’m tired of being shaken out of bed at 6 AM (well, on the days I’m still in bed). I’m tired of things falling off shelves and the walls because of the vibration. Enough already.

I couldn’t deal with lunch, so I picked up an order from Craft Food Barn, which I’ve wanted to try since we moved here. My mom had grilled gruyere on sourdough, with bacon, tomato, baby spinach, and garlic aioli. I had turkey, apple, and brie. We shared an order of French fries. Huge portions and delicious. The fries could have been a little crisper, but other than that, it was great.

Did two small client projects. Got an email back from my friend that kind of left me thinking WTF? But whatever. Substack was down for a bit, but I finally managed to make the rounds for The Process Muse and Angel Hunt. Realized I hadn’t made the two TikTok episode videos for Angel Hunt for the week, so I did that, and uploaded the one for the day.

And my brain just shut down. I ended up taking a nap (I hardly ever nap), and then enjoying the first Blue Angel cocktail of the season on the front porch. I started reading Dore Schary’s autobiography HEYDAY, about his days working his way up from playwright/screenwriter to studio exec. One of his first screenwriting partners was Ethel Hill, and now I’m curious about her.

The House passed the debt ceiling bill, albeit with drama queen moments. Now it goes to the Senate, where I’m sure Sinema and Manchin will pull some more drama queen shit. I’m trying to be hopeful – June will be so much easier if we don’t default. And all this screaming about another recession? If we have one, this time around, it is completely manufactured by corporations. We don’t have to fall into that trap.

Even though I was exhausted, the nap derailed my sleep, and I’m even more tired this morning. But meditation will help.

There are a bunch of things I need to get done today, and even more I should get done, but I have no idea if they will happen. I’m playing the day by ear. On the agenda for the weekend is some rest, since I’ve been pushing hard the last few weeks.

Have a good one.

Tues. May 30, 2023: Climbing The Mountain That is This Week

image courtesy of James Wheeler via pixabay.com

Tuesday, May 30, 2023

Waxing Moon

Pluto Retrograde

Sunny and pleasant

How was your holiday weekend (if you live somewhere that had one)? Ready for our catch-up?

Today’s serial episode is Legerdemain:

Episode 89: Gloria’s Opening Night

Shelley refuses to be distracted by a mysterious man’s attention on her sister-in-law’s opening night.

Legerdemain Serial Link

Legerdemain Website Link

Friday’s errands went better than expected: picked up some good stuff at the library. Picked up my mother’s prescription. Did a better-than-expected grocery shop within the budget. Mailed my residency contract. Picked up a bottle of wine.

The damn beeping heavy machinery over at the college made me want to explode. It’s been months. If I had that kind of equipment? I could have painted the whole thing in a week. They’re just dragging it out for money and the college lets them because they’re sulking about not being allowed to turn one of the dorms into a homeless shelter and getting 2.6 million from the State – money which  should, instead, go to the families so they can, you know, actually get OUT of homelessness. So now the college is just being an asshole, trying to be as lousy a neighbor as possible.

In the Westchester Archives Playland Photographs collection, I found a sketch artist named Dorothy Dwin, who had a concession. People would pay her to sit and sketch them. I believe it was part of the WPA’s Federal Arts Program (you’ll see why in a minute). I tried to research her. I found her in the 1940 census. She lived on Lexington Ave. in NYC, as “head of household” although she’s listed as married, but she was the only one in the apartment. She was 37 then (which meant she was 32 in the Playland photograph). Her profession is listed as artist, and as part of the WPA. She was born in Russia, and was a naturalized citizen, and had lived at that address since 1935 (that was a question then, where one lived 5 years ago). She is not in the 1930 census, at least not as far as I’ve found, Nor does she show up in the 1950 Census (although she could have remarried)? There are 24 of her sketches in the National Gallery in DC, but I didn’t find any information about her, so I emailed them.

She resembles one of my Playland Painters. I cropped the photo, and ran that, with her photo, through facial recognition software. I got a 70% hit on one program and an 18% hit on another, so it’s unlikely they are the same person. The hairstyle is similar, but they could both just be fashionable. And the smile is somewhat similar.

Saturday morning, I got my National Archives research credentials set up, because I hoped to find something in the WPA files, but I’m not sure how to search them. It’s not logical; it’s red-tapey. Hey, big surprise.

I did a search through the digital collections of the New York Historical Society, the Museum of the City of New York, and NYPL’s digital collection. The only thing that came up with at NYPL, in the correspondence of literary agent Emma Mills (who died in 1956), and her papers from 1920-1956 are in the collection. But there weren’t any details (in-person only access) and it might just be coming up relating to “Godwin” or “Edwin” and not actually Dorothy Dwin. Emma’s correspondence sounds fantastically interesting, but I’d need to set up in NYC for a few weeks, and I just can’t do that on something that might be a wild goose chase.

But then, THEN, I just put Dorothy’s name in the general archive record  at the National Archives– and found out that she changed her name on June 10, 1930 to Dorothy Dwin from Dorothy Golden. And she lived in Brooklyn in 1930. First the age says “34” but it was crossed out and replaced with “27.” So why did she change her name? And “Dwin” is unusual.

Tracking her back as Dorothy Golden to the 1930 census in Brooklyn, I found her by using the address on her change of name petition, at that age/birth year – married to a taxi driver named Benjamin, who was from Poland. On top of that, Dorothy was not born in Russia, as it says in the 1940 census – she was born in New York, and her parents were from Hungary. On top of that, she had a 2-year-old son named Howard.  I don’t know why she left her husband and son, complete with legal name change, but there’s some serious re-invention involved.

Moving forward to the 1940 census, I found Howard, now 12, living with his father Benjamin, still a taxi driver. They are now in Queens. Benjamin is married to a younger woman named Bettsy, from Romania.

In the 1950 census, Howard is still living at home. He’s 23 now. He’s a “Wholesale Ladies Dressman.” His dad Benjamin, now 45, is now an auto accessories salesman at a gas station. This time, the wife is listed as “Betty” and was supposedly born in Russia. I found an obituary for a Howard Allen Golden, born in 1928, died in South Amboy, New Jersey in April 2014, but there’s very little information in it, other than he died as an inpatient in the Perth Amboy hospital, the visiting and funeral information.

It’s all fascinating.

I wish I knew Dorothy’s maiden name. I have not yet been able to find the marriage records between her and Benjamin. I might have to go to the library next week to use Ancestry.

Anyway, Friday afternoon, I turned around two client projects. I also made notes on some stuff for the Heist Romance script. I’m starting to doubt myself in some POV areas – I’ve kept the POV of the script pretty tight on Ben – we’re on Ben’s journey here. But I’m wondering if I should open it up to others, especially Tara’s. But it feels wrong. So I’ll trust myself for this draft, and then play with it.

Trying to figure out that memorial scene for FALL FOREVER. I need to come up with a unique memory/anecdote around Lily for each character to share (and it has to be succinct, but in their unique cadence).

Saturday, I had to run out and get ink again.

I unpacked a couple of boxes, and found some interesting stuff, but not what I was looking for. I washed various pieces throughout the weekend, and decided what to put up and what to pack away again.

I was looking through the Cornelia True and Roman Gray stories, starting with “The Ramsey Chase” which needs to be re-released, and then “Miss Holton Apologizes” and then the third story have to be finished and released. They are very similar in tone to India Holton’s trilogy and a few other things that are selling well right now. They were ahead of their time. So I need to get my act together and get them out there while the market wants them.

I went through some old scripts. Some need to be retired; they are beyond help. But I found two: PARALLEL-O-GAME and MODERN CREATION MYTHS that are mostly solid, though unfinished – and without outlines. I need to spend some quality time with them and figure out where to go next, even if it’s different from the original intent. They go in the queue after the scripts that need to be finished, and the drafts that need to be polished.

I read India Holton’s THE WISTERIA SOCIETY OF LADY SCOUNDRELS, which was a lot of fun. And Erica Bauermeister’s NO TWO PERSONS, which is hauntingly beautiful.

I found more of my photos from the Playland Boardwalk Museum, which was opened in 1998 until the Westchester Children’s Museum took over the space. I contacted WCM last week, so hopefully, they can tell me what happened to that collection.

Up early on Sunday and baked biscuits.

I’ve been trying to get into the 1925 Census (which was a state census rather than a federal one) to see if Dorothy and Benjamin already lived in Brooklyn, but no luck so far.

I may have to go to the public library this week and search via Ancestry.

Wrote 23 script pages on the Heist Romance. They’ve been kidnapped to find the treasure and Tara has negotiated a contract for the treasure hunt. Because she’s not doing it for free or for threat.

I hung up summer sheer curtains in my bedroom. Tried to hang a painting and it didn’t work. I think the frame’s warped through all the decades of carting it around the country (it was painted by my college roommate back in the 80’s). Got some of the painting done on the windchimes. Hung up a summer curtain by the back door (it looked very bare without the winter fleece). Put away the flannel sheets and the winter curtains. Washed a bunch of stuff I’d unpacked, and am slowly finding homes for these things.

It was in the mid-80’s, but because there wasn’t much humidity, it was pleasant. Tessa stayed on the porch all day. Read India Holton’s THE LEAGUE OF GENTLEWOMEN WITCHES, which was delightful.

Watched BULLET TRAIN in the evening. What a hot mess. A good example of style over substance. Whatever writer came in to punch up the dialogue in the Lemon and Tangerine scenes did an excellent job – the comic beats built well and landed, without losing the heart underneath. And it was obvious those scenes were doctored by a different writer; they played like they were from a different movie. But there were too many tangents overall, and moving the reason for the big climactic sequence (The Elder vs. The White Death, the different views of family) from subplot into main narrative drive was clunky. There were too many throwaway scenes to give Brad Pitt screen time to do what’s become his signature schtick lately. The action scenes went on too long in every case, and the casual violence was lingered over each time a few beats too long, making it “look what we did!” instead of keeping it as casual violence that’s ingrained in the characters. Adding in the Wolf and the Hornet subplot was a tangent. Other than Pitt’s character being peripheral to the wedding sequence (without ever elaborating why he was there), it could have been cut without hurting anything. It felt like it was in there to add diversity for the sake of diversity, not to layer in the plot. The actors gave it their all, though – nobody phoned it in, and one could tell they were having fun. It touched on a lot of the tropes in train/chase movies, but again, didn’t do enough with them.

However, I learned a lot about what I don’t want to do in my own work.

Sandra Bullock’s cameo (which she did in exchange for Brad Pitt’s cameo in THE LOST CITY) was fun, and the genuine friendship they have with each other offscreen reads well onscreen. Channing Tatum had a cameo (which was also funny, but unnecessary and such a small sub-sub-plot it didn’t matter if it was cut or left in), and Ryan Reynold’s quick bit of a cameo was  in return for Pitt’s cameo in DEADPOOL 2. It’s a lot of fun to have those crossover cameos, and I probably wouldn’t have even watched BULLET TRAIN if I didn’t want to see the exchange cameo Bullock did for Pitt. I’m curious if the Tatum cameo was written specifically for him to be part of it, or if that just seemed like a fun place to put him, for those few lines.

The premise of Pitt’s character caught up by accident when he steps in for another agent who called in sick (and the agent was one of the White Death’s targets) was funny, but it didn’t fulfill the promise of the premise.

Up early on Monday. Wrote 13 pages of the Heist Romance script. Polished, uploaded, and scheduled 8 episodes of ANGEL HUNT, which gets me into early July. Adapted another ANGEL HUNT chapter into four serial episodes. I’m hitting a point where I have to insert some material for continuity’s sake; I started an arc that needs to be fulfilled. Not sure where I’ll put it yet. Uploaded and scheduled the promos for this week’s Legerdemain and Angel Hunt episodes where I could.

Finished painting the windchimes. Once they dried, we started setting up the Enchanted Garden on the back balcony. It still needs more work, as we add plants and hanging baskets, but it looks pretty. It’s a nice, peaceful space, and we will enjoy it this summer.

I turned around a client project, so that I wouldn’t be so overloaded with work today. I started reading my friend’s book that I promised to blurb, and got about half way through it.

Supposedly, there is a debt ceiling deal. It’s not as bad as I expected, although the Republicans, as usual, got too much. However, they are trying to stall and whine and drive us over the deadline cliff anyway. This is why bipartisanship is dead, and there can be no more capitulation to them: they pretend to “compromise” and then get everything they want, while still destroying as much as possible, and not living up to their side of the bargain.

They’ve held the country hostage with intent to take the ransom and kill the hostages anyway. On a very literal level.

The Democrats need to stop negotiating with terrorists, and Republicans are terrorists. There’s no such thing as a moderate or ethical Republican anymore.

Reading about what’s happening on Cape Cod, we got out just in time. There was a shooting over the weekend at the beach down the street from where I used to live. People are being forced into homelessness in order to make room for short-term summer renters. Someone I know there told me bridge traffic off Cape yesterday took up to six hours. People are being forced out of dune shacks their families have leased and poured money into for decades so the National Parks Service can rent them to gentrifiers.

Another beautiful place destroyed by greed.

Watched THE BOOK CLUB last night, with Candice Bergen, Jane Fonda, Diane Keaton, and Mary Steenburgen. It was cute, although I felt the third act was rushed.

Barely got any sleep, because Charlotte had anxiety all night and woke me up every 20 minutes, wanting reassurance. Of course, now she’s curled up fast asleep, and I’m wrecked.

I’ve got a large workload this week, partially because I’m expecting the Republicans to destroy everything (again). I hope I am wrong; being wrong will take the pressure off me for next weekend. Since I didn’t really take the holiday weekend (much as I encouraged everyone else to do so), I hope to get some rest next weekend. If we’re not driven over the debt cliff, and I can actually take the weekend, I want to get some more plants for the Enchanted Garden on Saturday and sleep most of Sunday.

But next weekend is a long way away, and I have to get through this week first.

On today’s agenda: draft an episode of Legerdemain, work on the Llewellyn pieces, work on the flash fiction for the art call, finish my friend’s book so I can blurb it, turn around three client projects, and do the social media rounds for today’s Legerdemain episode. I also have to get tomorrow’s Process Muse post polished, uploaded, and scheduled, and get to work on the June posts. I’m not sure I’ll make it to yoga this afternoon, although I desperately need it. And get some filing done! I’m falling behind, and that will bite me in the butt if I’m not careful.

Have a good one.

Tues. May 23, 2023: Unpleasant Limbo

image courtesy of Melissa G via pixabay.com

Tuesday, May 23, 2023

Waxing Moon

Pluto Retrograde

Sunny and pleasant

Big announcement: You can find short videos about my work over on Tiktok. Trying it to see if that will expand the audience, especially for the serials and the Topic Workbooks.

Ready for our usual Tuesday morning catch-up? How was your weekend?

Today’s serial episode is Legerdemain:

Episode 87: Roommates

Shelley sets up a sting to catch a killer.

Legerdemain serial link

Legerdemain website link

Remember I mentioned interest in Alice Diamond’s Forty Elephants gang last Friday? Turns out there are already several novels out about it: Erin Bledsoe’s FORTY THIEVES and Beezy Marsh’s QUEEN OF THIEVES. So I don’t need to write a novel! I’m going to read their novels, though, and I’m going to read Brian McDonald’s nonfiction book on Alice. Disney’s doing a series, supposedly, which I’m likely to have mixed feelings about. (I’m glad Disney’s fighting DeSantis, but that doesn’t mean I suddenly love Disney). There might be another one of my historical women plays in there. Or I might read it just to read it.

It makes more sense to work on the script (or maybe it will be a novel) about Katharine Cornell’s tour. I have Gladys Malvern’s books (I ordered my own copies), and Gladys is quickly becoming one of my favorite people. In addition to being an actress touring with Cornell and others (also known as a “trouper”), she was an author, best known for the children’s books she wrote.

There are so many wonderful arts and culture events happening around here that it would be very easy to overload and not have any time for my own work. I need to make sure I keep a balance. I want to meet fellow artists and support their work, but I also have to keep putting my own work first. And I have to avoid unsafe situations where I might get infected.

On Friday, I finished the episode of Legerdemain I’d started writing a couple of days prior. This week, I have to upload and schedule the next batch of episodes.

I went to the library for what should have been a quick drop-off/pickup of a few books. However, I ran into a stranger and we started talking. Turns out we’re close to the same age and have both been in business all our lives. He works for MCU and was one of Stan Lee’s proteges. We’ve worked with about 30 or 40 of the same people throughout the years. Anyway, what started as a quick chat moved outside the building and wound up being a two-hour conversation. So that was fun, but I wasn’t wearing a jacket, and by the end of it, I was chilled to the bone.

Finally got the grocery shopping done, then came home and tried to warm up. Some client work came in for next week, so I didn’t worry about not having anything for Friday. And I’d missed my window to go to the Clark, plus it was clouding over, so I stayed home.

I experimented some more with FlexClip and Canva video tools. I like FlexClip much better, but there are instances where Canva does more of what I need.

I worked on the poem. I did the social media rounds ANGEL HUNT. I wrote up my review and sent it off. I continued reading THE SECRET SERVICE OF TEA AND TREASON, which is hilarious. So clever. I needed the rest.

Saturday, the cats tried to roust me out of bed and I refused to get up.

When I finally got up, I played with video again. I tried ClipChamp (urg) and Power Director (which just needed more time than I have to give it right now). Between FlexClip and Canva, I finished the Devon intro video, polished the Topic Workbooks videos, polished the ANGEL HUNT intro, and created a Legerdemain intro. I also set up video templates in Canva for AH and Legerdemain episodes, where I just have to pop out that week’s logline and/or graphic, save it, and the rest is set.

I also worked on the poem.

In the afternoon, I finished reading THE SECRET SERVICE OF TEA AND TREASON. What a delightful book.

Slept well Saturday into Sunday, although I had weird dreams, which fled as soon as I woke up.

I worked on the poem some more, adding in breath marks (I like to do that on pieces I read, so I don’t run out of air in the middle of a sentence).

I then worked on the Heist Romance Script, which has been begging for attention, doing the Corsica and Sardinia sections. They need work, but at least they’re there. About 20 script pages.  Got my characters back to Marseilles and separated them. Ben is back in London. Tara is wherever she is. I have to do some montage-y stuff and then do some research for the next bits, which are in Barcelona, and then York. I also have to write the dramaturgy on the treasure. I’ll only put bits and pieces of it in the script itself, but I need to know the whole story in order to do that well.

This draft, however, is to get characters and the main plot points in, and make sure I hit the action/team/romance bits. As I work on subsequent drafts, I will rip out what’s reading flat and build more dynamic beats that serve on multiple levels.

Which is ass-backwards, because most scriptwriters plot out the beats first and then write the script. But, since I’m not in a room with others, and it’s not on contract (nor would it be, with the strike going on), I’m doing it this way. Takes longer, but I’ll get there, even if it’s not the considered best practices.

I put on real people pants and makeup, and drove down to the Mount, in Lenox for the poetry reading. We had a stage out behind the stable, with a backdrop of trees. It was lovely. There were 11 poets, and it went well. I was second up. The piece got laughs where I hoped, and acknowledgement of the more serious beats where I hoped. I only blew one humorous line in delivery – the beds of kale line. Note to self – have full stanzas on the same page; end the page early if the stanza needs to spill over, because turning the page mid-stanza loses the rhythm.  I made a few adjustments as I read, when I realized the upcoming word wasn’t sustaining the rhythm created, but I could change those on the fly, without stumbling. Hopefully, I’ve remembered them all to fix them for the next draft. I’d printed it out in 16-point font, which made it much easier to read. I thoroughly enjoyed the other poets’ offerings. One of the things I love about the WxW events is that the audience are active listeners. They really pay attention and pick up on nuances and details.

On the way home, filled up the car with gas, and picked up a few things at Adams Fresh Market. Home, made dinner.

Read for a bit in the evening (not that thrilled with the current book, might just stop and take it back to the library).

Went back and did a few more pages on the Heist Romance Script – these scenes will need a lot of reworking in the next draft. Not happy with them.

Charlotte started bothering me at 2 AM, but I refused to get up until the coffee started at 5:30.

They’re still “painting” the library across the street, the machines making lots of beep-beep-beep all day from 6 AM onwards. It should have taken then a week to paint the building. We’re going into our third month. Ridiculous.

Instead of doing what I should have been doing all morning, I did a fix pass on the pages I wrote the previous night, so they’re better (but not where they need to be), and then wrote about 20 more pages. This will be a limited series (used to be called a mini-series), but this first draft is one big ole draft no one could ever use, and then I’ll cut and shape it. Again, not following best practices for the format, but, since I’m doing it for me at this point, not anyone else, I’ll do it my way. If I get a draft I feel is submission-worthy, I’ll make the necessary structural/format tweaks in that stronger draft.

Someday, it will actually get a title.

Also uploaded the first four videos to TikTok: the Devon Ellington intro, the Topic Workbooks, Legerdemain Intro, Angel Hunt intro. The only way I can edit sound attribution was to put the damn app on my phone, which I am not happy about. But, needs must.

I had four short client projects to turn around in the afternoon, which I did. I was assigned the next book for review. There’s not much from that editor now, and, with the strike, there’s not much coverage work. With the looming debt ceiling crisis (if my mother doesn’t get her social security check, I have to cover her expenses that it usually handles), AND the fact that I’m still waiting for the effing grant money (it’s going on three months late, which is just fucking with us at this point, just to fuck with us), it’s stressful, and I’m in a holding pattern. (Think Hanged Man Tarot card, hovering over The Tower). I can do it, even if (when) the Republicans catapult us over the debt cliff next week,  but it means reshuffling bills and other payments a bit. If I was in the usual work rhythm with the usual workload, it wouldn’t be a problem. I could take on a few days’ extra work, and it’s covered. But with the strike, a review pool slump, and Topic Workbook sales down because of the Muskrat’s algorithm changes, it all hits the squeeze point at once. Fortunately, the serials are still bringing in some cash (not a ton, but enough to make them worth continuing).

Such is the life of a full-time writer at this point in time. We’re all struggling. But we’re not giving up the fight.

Hence the expansion into TikTok, but again, none of this is instant. It all takes time, energy, focus, and work to build audience on any platform. I already have to reconfigure how I do it on the other platforms. Spending more quality time on specific platforms on specific days, while cycling through the others makes the most sense, at this point, but I have to be ready to adjust as needed.

There’s no point in building any of it if I let the actual creative work fall to the wayside. I can’t market what isn’t ready to market, or hasn’t yet been created. Well, I COULD, but it would come back to bite me in the butt.

And let’s face it, the GOP WANTS the country to default and everything to come crashing down. It’s all part of their plan. They haven’t even pretended to be anything but who they are since Reagan, but too many people are complacent. So, here we are.

Well, by the end of next week, I’ll know what needs to be shuffled where, and can actually DO something.

Anyway, once I finished the client work, I downloaded the Kindle App onto my creaky old tablet (and yet, it still works better than the Hive app ever did). I like using the tablet to read.

I also went in search of my SD card reader. Before my friends came, I put it in a Very Safe Place. You see where this is going, right? I can’t find it. Anywhere. I keep electronic stuff – extra cords, adapters, charging squares, et al – in a specific place in my office.

The SD card reader isn’t in there.

I checked ALL the bags and ALL the drawers.

Can’t find it anywhere.

I needed a specific photo, that I took way back around 2003 or 4 or something. I decided to go through the photo backups and the imports I tried to do from the Mac. It took a couple of hours, but I found the photos I needed.

I don’t have photo permissions to share them, or I would. The photos are of five women who did the specialized art painting at Playland Amusement Park from 1928-1940. I took the photos of these photos way back when, at the Playland Amusement Park’s small museum. Those five women have always fascinated me. They show so much individual personality in these photographs.

If you’re not familiar with Playland Amusement Park, it is in my hometown of Rye, New York (I grew up and went all the way through elementary and high school there). It’s an art deco amusement park with the infamous Dragon Coaster and one of the old Derby racer rides. I have a lot of pictures taken over the years (good thing, since the current owners are wrecking it). I set the novelette “That Man in Tights” there (and the big chase scene is based on The Flying Witch House Ride, which has been destroyed), and set a couple of the Christy Miller bylined short stories there.

Anyway, I’ve toyed with the idea of writing a piece in a fictional park of the era inspired by Playland for years. I want to know who these women were.

I finally found the photo and sent it to the office at Playland, asking for more information. I printed the photos out, and I also saved them in my picture file. I sent a similar email to the Westchester County Archives, asking if they had any information, or could point me in the right direction. I may have to go down and dig in there myself at some point.

On the Archive digital website, I found some cool photos of the park at that time, which I will also use as inspiration. But I didn’t find a match for these photos.

I want to know these women’s names. Their names shouldn’t be lost.

Possibly, the Archives will have employment records, and I can try to match them. Or maybe I can try looking in the census.

Anyway, that was the rabbit hole from yesterday afternoon through this morning.

On today’s agenda: draft an episode of Legerdemain. Work on the flash fiction. I’ve percolated the beginning and the end; I need to work the arc between them. Maybe work on REP or the Heist Romance script (although I have to do more research on the latter’s next section). Do the research for the first Llewellyn pieces.

I desperately need to do some filing.

Fill out the paperwork for the residency. Do the social media rounds for Legerdemain, including posting today’s episode video on TikTok. I have a client project in the afternoon. I don’t think I’ll make it to yoga this afternoon; I’ve had a fever on and off through the night and into this morning, so isolating seems like the smart choice.

I better get going, huh? The clock is running! Have a good one!