Fri. May 19, 2023: New Moon = New Focus (I Hope)

Clark Art Institute Reflecting Pool. Photo by Devon Ellington

Friday, May 19, 2023

New Moon

Partly cloudy and cold

Still in the 30s when I wake up. I prefer cool to hot, but I’m worried about the plants.

Last year, when I turned in my section of the collaborative poem, I was terrified. This year I’m giddy. Growth, I guess?

Today’s serial episode is from Angel Hunt:

Angel Hunt Serial link

Episode 34: A Castle That is Home

An oddly-built castle with a wall and a drawbridge out of amethyst and ghosts dancing in the moat. What’s inside? Lianna is determined to find out.

Angel Hunt Serial Link

I’m pleased that SAG-AFTRA authorized a strike, and stands so strongly with WGA. The writer-actor partnership can be wonderful. Let’s hope the DGA doesn’t throw us under the bus in their current negotiations. The SAG-AFTRA position might put more pressure on them to work with us, but I’ve worked with too many directors who have contempt for both writers and actors and believe they (the directors) are the only ones with vision. A good director with both a strong vision and strong collaborative ability is wonderful; the ego-centric ones are a nightmare. It takes everyone to put on a good show. The DGA is fussing about the rules that hyphenated members (belonging to both guilds) can’t make “minor” script changes during the strike. Um, when it comes to directors, there’s no such thing as a “minor” change and even non-hyphenated directors do way more script changes than is in their purview far too often. The WGA should stand firm, and the fucking DGA members should not have given up their strike clause and should not be crossing picket lines no matter what.

Neil Gaiman showed up on the picket line, which is a big deal.

I think I fixed the dishwasher. I ran some tests, and it’s the outlet, not the dishwasher itself. I got it back into the outlet so it gets power – but I knocked something that dripped. We ran sink tests and it’s not one of the pipes for the sink, which means it’s probably one. . .connected to the dishwasher. So I’ll have the maintenance guy check it when he’s here to check the smoke detectors and the fire extinguisher. I don’t want to start the dishwasher and find I’ve disrupted a pipe and cause damage. Although I checked the lines with a flashlight, and everything looks like it’s connected tightly.

Or maybe the dishwasher is just going to conk out every Mercury Retrograde, and come back to life when Merc goes direct.

Worked my July poem and worked it and worked it. Did several drafts. Read it with the stopwatch. Adjusted for time. Read it until it came in consistently at 30 seconds (our time limit). Sent it off, so today’s collaborator begins with my last word.

Still have not found the final two lines for Sunday’s poem, which needs to happen today, so I can work it some more tomorrow, time it (I have a 3-minute limit), make necessary cuts, and get comfortable with it. Because Sunday is. . .soon. It sounds like I’m hunting through the sock drawer and closets for those lines, but it’s a little more complicated than that.

The good thing about writing for radio is that I can work the material so it fits within the time limit.

Had some email discussion about the September reading and promoting it. Did the social media rounds for Legerdemain. Worked on a future post for the Process Muse.

Worked on an intro video about my work. I’d already created/updated the logo for the Coventina Circle Mysteries. Created one for the Gwen Finnegan mysteries. Eventually, I will do one for the Nautical Namaste Mysteries, but right now, it’s just listed. I may change that, and do a collage of covers instead. I’m using the Ava Dunne avatar for the pieces under that name. I should come up with a logo for the Delectable Digital Delights shorts, and I need to have an alternate Topic Workbook logo. I have to do an avatar for the Cerridwen iris Shea name, and add that in, and then do a slide of the other names that I don’t use as often.

Because I don’t go on camera, I have to come up with interesting visuals that aren’t about ME. Because none of this is about me, anyway; it’s about the work.

Did some client work in the afternoon. Finished the book for review later in the afternoon/evening, and will write up the review today and hopefully get my next assignment.

Got my paperwork for the autumn residency at MASSMoCA; will fill it out and get it back to them next week. I have to scan some materials for them.

Started reading THE SECRET SERVICE OF TEA AND TREASON by India Holton which is absolutely hilarious. Loving it, and I want to read her other books now.

Someone on Spoutible posted something about the Forty Elephants Gang and I want to write about them, especially when Alice Hill was in charge. No, I’m not worried someone will “steal” the idea; we’d do it very differently.

Dreamed about looking for parking so I could attend a loft party. Huh?

On today’s agenda: Get the last two lines of Sunday’s poem settled, finish the Legerdemain episode, do the social media rounds to promote today’s episode of ANGEL HUNT, do a drop-off/pickup at the library, do a minor grocery shop.

I don’t have any client work (although that may change). I’m not sure if I’ll stay home to work on Legerdemain/Angel Hunt/Rep (once the poem is sorted out), or if I’ll head over to the Clark, for that project. I’ll play it by ear.

Will probably do a bit of writing tomorrow morning (Legerdemain and Angel Hunt, most likely), and then household stuff in the afternoon. Sunday will be about the reading over at the Mount.

Next week, along with juggling serials and client work, I have to get back on track with “Labor Intensive”, the current revision of FALL FOREVER (so it can rest, before the next round of revisions), and work on the material for Llewellyn. I also want to rough out some promos for the reading in September. The sooner we get these materials done, the better lead time we have for promotion. Next weekend, I get to read an ARC of my friend’s new book and blurb it.

Have a good one!

Tues. April 11, 2023: A Promised Stretch of Good Weather to Support The Writing

image courtesy of Jill Wellington via pixabay.com

Tuesday, April 11, 2023

Waning Moon

Sunny and pleasant

Ready to curl up and catch up? It looks like we’re plunging straight into summer, skipping spring this week.

Friday was frustrating. On the upside, I managed to write 9 ½ pages on FALL FOREVER. I caught up with Thursday’s missed pages, wrote Friday’s pages, and worked ahead through Saturday’s pages, since I knew I wouldn’t be able to work on it on Saturday.

The dishwasher stopped working again. I’m pretty sure it’s the outlet, not the dishwasher. So I took everything out and washed it all by hand again.

I was worried it would destroy my concentration on FALL FOREVER (since it happened while I was writing), but I managed to get back in and finish the scenes. By Day 7 I’d written 34 pages, which is a decent start.

The steady pages definitely don’t have the endorphin rush that writing for 10 or 12 hours do, but it’s more sustainable.

The DG is setting up virtual “rooms” to read scenes. I’ll skip those. “Sharing” first draft work on unfinished projects with strangers does more harm than good for me. There are people I trust and will sometimes share early drafts, but usually, until a draft is finished, it’s detrimental to share too early. It’s easier to share something like a short story or a monologue early because I’ve finished a couple of drafts and CAN share it. But sharing the opening when I’m only 30 pages in would derail the piece for me. I’m still figuring out what it is. Outside chatter is destructive. Even positive feedback would be harmful to the overall piece at this stage.

On top of that, damn Spectrum kept going down. If the stupid construction people up the street are working, they need to be careful of the internet.

Up a little after 4 AM on Saturday, before the alarm and before coffee, which confused the cats. Got everything done and we were on the road a little before 5:30 AM for the storage run. The lovely moon watched over our travels until the sun rose. It was a nice, sunny, mild day to drive. Traffic was light on the way down, even across the Bourne Bridge (the Sagamore is down to one lane in each direction, because they are always doing work on one or both of  the bridges to make sure people can’t effectively get across. They need to be stopped from doing work on both bridges at the same time, which is simply unviable. But I’m sure they’ll do it anyway, by May.

We made it to storage a little after 9 AM (usually the trip takes at least 4 hours, longer with bridge traffic. Couldn’t find everything I wanted, because it’s buried, and, even though I marked all the boxes, there’s stuff I can’t get at. But we found what was most important for this trip, loaded the car, and were done in about 40 minutes. We swung by one of our favorite stores, got some fun stuff (including some silicon whisks and some door decorations for the summer) and were back on the road and over by the bridge by 10:30. The traffic was just starting to back up as we went across; by the time we were a half hour clear, the backups on both bridges were getting bad. So at least our timing was good.

Traffic back was heavy between Worcester and Sturbridge on the pike, but other than that, it was moving well, and we were back by 2 PM (never goes that smoothly). We picked up takeout on the way home and ate, then I unloaded the car.

Two of the boxes of china I’m not going to unpack until after our company comes and goes at the end of the month, because I still need to get a china cabinet for it. The box with the vintage soup tureens also had the trifle dish and the large glass bowl and some other good stuff in it that we will use.

The Canaletto/Venice books made it back up for a summer project, and that box also has some other cookbooks in it. There were some other bits and bobs, some of which I have to go through. Slowly, slowly, unpack, rearrange, integrate into the house.

I started reading a biography of Laurette Taylor in the afternoon/evening (she crossed paths with Minnie Fiske). And the Katharine Cornell book with the information I need for about three projects showed up, so that’s all good.

I fell into bed early. Woke up to coffee on Sunday morning. Made eggs Benedict for breakfast. Unpacked some more (soup tureens, etc.) and washed them. Baked the lemon cake.

Wrote 5 ½ pages on FALL FOREVER. I see where I’m going heading to the end of Act 1. A character who was always going to be offstage will come on at the end of the act. That’s two characters who decided they needed to be front and center, rather than off to the side.

I should have written another Legerdemain episode, but I had nothing in the tank.

I put a raspberry jam filling between the layers of lemon cake, and made a chocolate glaze over the top of it. It’s good, but the raspberry overwhelms the lemon, and it might have made more sense to use plain yellow cake. Next time.

Took down the curtains in the kitchen, which lets in much more light. It’s warm enough so we don’t need them to block the leaks around the window edges.

Sat on the porch in the afternoon, reading and taking notes. The back door to the balcony hasn’t been fixed yet. I am going to be a nudge about it. We’ve waited two years to have the door fixed so we could close it for winter and it wasn’t; now it’s jammed shut and I won’t be denied access to having that garden space all summer. And I want it to be set up before the company comes at the end of the month.

I went to yoga in the evening. It was good. Intense, but good. Went to bed pretty soon after I came home.

Slept well until about 2, when I woke up with sense memory stress. Tessa wandered off, and, around 3, just as I was getting back to sleep, Charlotte came in and wanted attention. Dozed off until just before 6.

I downloaded the IceCream reading app on the laptop; we’ll see if that works. I still need to move what’s on Overdrive in the Kindle onto the hard drive.

Monday morning, I wrote 8 pages of FALL FOREVER first thing. I see the new end of Act 1, and I should hit it in about two more days/scenes. I can’t hide behind any of the genre tricks I use in the comic noir mysteries, because this is a naturalistic drama, and I have to build the beats differently. I hope I can pull it off.

It’s leaf blower season again. Fortunately, they don’t run the blowers all day every day, just for a few minutes once or twice a week. There will be more of it early on for the initial cleanup, and then it will settle down. I hope.

Drafted an episode of Legerdemain, updated the Style Sheet and Series Bible.

My friend Paula’s play is a semi-finalist with a company down in Florida, and I am so excited for her! I love the play, and am so happy it’s getting recognition.

Did a library run to drop off/pick up books.

Created the episode graphics for this week’s episodes of Legerdemain. Uploaded the promos for this week’s Legerdemain and Angel Hunt episodes.

Finished, polished, uploaded, and scheduled tomorrow’s Process Muse. Wrote the next two posts, which I will polish, upload, and schedule tomorrow.

Turned around two script coverages.

Blocked off some quality time later in the week for Legerdemain and for Angel Hunt, to get ahead on both of them. Script coverage may be light late in the week; if it picks up and it’s  necessary, I will work on one serial on Saturday and the other on Sunday (although I’ll upload next week’s Legerdemain episodes no later than Thursday).

Worked on contest entries.

Soup class was fun. Last night was gumbo night.

I re-read some of the flash fiction I wrote to February prompts. The first batch needs some revision tweaks and I think they can start heading out into the world soon. I’d like to get them out the door before Mercury goes retrograde. I’ll work on the next batch in and around everything else.

This morning, I will do more pages on FALL FOREVER, draft another episode of Legerdemain, do the social media rounds to promote Episode 75 of Legerdemain.75 Episodes! Phew! Kind of exciting. I have to do a curbside pickup on some stuff I ordered, too, to get going on the spring cleaning.

I have two script coverages to complete, and yoga this evening.

So I better get going!

How’s your week starting?

Thurs. March 23, 2023: Rainy Turn Into Spring

image courtesy of 경복 김 via pixabay.com

Thursday, March 23, 2023

Waxing Moon

Cloudy and chilly, rain

Read about the latest on the garden over on Gratitude and Growth.

Yesterday went a little catawampus. I hoped the maintenance guy would show up sort of on time, and did all kinds of tasks, like folding the laundry and putting it away. And do the social media rounds to promote The Process Muse and Angel Hunt.

When he still wasn’t here, I sat down and got back to work on Legerdemain.

Which meant, of course, that he showed up, after I’d written about a half a page and was just getting into it.

But he’s very nice and knows what he’s doing and the dishwasher is fixed. Thank goodness. I didn’t want it to get swapped out for something not as nice.

It was hard to settle back to the page, and I didn’t get much else done.

It was nice enough to work on the porch in the afternoon, so I did the script coverage out there, and then I finished re-reading THE TREES WHISPERED DEATH and made some notes. I have to do some research on the Korean War. I gave one poor character three different first names over the course of the book, and have to fix that. I put the library in a separate building when I needed it in a different one, for plot reasons, and have to fix that. I gave one character a wife early on, and then had him in a relationship with someone in the park (for both plot and character arcs). Since he’s not the type of guy who’d cheat (and I don’t want to turn him into one), I’m going to make him a widower at the start of the book already. Both his marriage and his current relationship (that he’s trying to keep quiet) will escalate the conflict with his sister-in-law. I want to re-choreograph the climactic sequence; it reads a little rushed without having enough tension, and there are a variety of characters who must be effectively juggled in it. And there are plenty of basic revision/edit bits to clarify, tighten, clean up sloppy language, add in some more textural detail, etc.

These are all typical mistakes during the course of writing quickly during National Novel Writing Month, and not keeping tracking sheets at the end of each day’s work.

I’ve got my work cut out for me, but I’m definitely happier with it than I was when I finished the draft.

And it has to wait its turn until CAST IRON MURDER’s edits are done. Which aren’t going back into the schedule until May, unless I work on it at the laundromat in the interim.

We were notified that the grant payments will be delayed by 2-4 weeks, because the state is taking longer to process the paperwork than hoped. I’m disappointed; it means pushing back a writing research trip I’d hoped to make in April. But I appreciate that they let us know, so we can plan accordingly.

Finished reading the book for review last night. Will write up the review, send it off, and let them know I’m ready for the next assignment this morning.

I was going to run some errands today, but it’s raining, so I think I’ll wait until tomorrow. It’s nothing that can’t wait another day. I’d rather stay in and write, without breaking  the flow for errands. I have two scripts in my queue for the afternoon. I want to work on Legerdemain and “Plot Bunnies” this morning.

Meditation this morning, and then back to the page. Episode 70 of Legerdemain drops today. 70 episodes! Feels like a milestone, somehow, although I’m sure 100 will feel even more so.

Have a good one!

Tues. March 21, 2023: Hints of Spring

image courtesy of Jill Wellington via pixabay.com

Tuesday, March 21, 2023

New Moon

Cloudy and chilly

My interview with the Boiler House Poets Collective went live on The Rumpus yesterday. You can read it here.

I hope you had a lovely day. It’s time to curl up for our regular Tuesday catch up.

I booked my hair appointment online on Friday for yesterday.

I also ordered my saucer chair online. At first, I got a confirmation that I could pick it up around noon. Then, I got a confirmation it was ready to pick up – about five minutes after I ordered it. The problem was that, in order to do the curbside pickup, I had to download the store’s app. Which made me furious. I do not want everything run by app. And that should have been clear when the selection for “curbside pickup” was made; then I would have just had it shipped.

Anyway, swearing the whole time, I downloaded the app, drove up the street to pick up the chair, brought it home, and deleted the app from my phone.

The chair is wonderful. It’s a lovely turquoise, and detailed to look like a shell. It’s comfortable, lightweight, and folds, which means it’s my official “residency chair” that I can take when I do residencies to which I drive.

I revised the two micro comic noir radio plays and submitted them, per the email exchange I had with the producers over the past couple of days. The third play, one of the Declan Shane plays (where the detective has his office in a Broadway musical rehearsal hall), doesn’t work as a two-hander. I will expand it back into a three-hander and send it when they open their ten minute call, which they told me opens in a couple of weeks.

I uploaded and scheduled next week’s promos for both Legerdemain and Angel Hunt. I thought I’d written the loglines for the set of Angel Hunt episodes I uploaded a couple of weeks back, but I guess I didn’t. So that’s on the agenda for the week.

I booked tonight’s yoga class.

I had to trudge back out to pick up some of my mother’s prescriptions. Even though Aetna Silver Script was paid through the end of March, it was cancelled once Compass was entered – but Compass hasn’t bothered to send the insurance cards with the information. So they tried to charge me the full, uninsured price for the drugs. I said no, there was a screw up. They did some magic on their own computers, and it wound up being a ZERO co-pay. So much better than on Cape Cod, where every month’s prescriptions were a fight, and they tried to sell you pills “by the pill” under the table for cash only while they “investigated.”

Insurance in the United States, especially Medicare “supplemental” insurance is a scam.

I finished the script coverage on the novel a production company wanted me to read, and sent that off.

The first box of office supplies arrived, with the stack of yellow pads. So I’m fine with writing in longhand on yellow pads for this next bit.

I was happy to hear that the ICC issued a warrant for Putin’s arrest. About damn time. This country needs to charge The Narcissistic Sociopath. It’s been promised for years, and the indictments never come.

I started reading a Major Book by a Major Author (that was written/published in the 70s). While it’s well written, I wasn’t in the mood for male 70’s whatever, so I put it aside. I started reading Mary Gordon’s SPENDING instead, which I’d come across when researching and writing The Process Muse post about muses a few weeks back. That’s definitely more what I’m looking for right now. It deals with the theme of the male muse, and, in this case, it’s a wealthy man who underwrites an older female artist’s career.

I actually slept well Friday going into Saturday. I was still a little disoriented by the time change – between that and losing a few days due to the storm, I was never really sure what day it was last week.

We  left the house on Saturday and headed down to Pittsfield. We stopped in a shop on a whim, and found a few fun things, including a cake pan that makes little cakes in the shape of trains. We checked Re-store, but what I hoped for wasn’t there. Checked another favorite store and found a trio of gorgeous valences. Not that I know what I’ll do with them, but they are so beautiful and well-made that I grabbed them.

All the mail that had stacked up during the storm arrived in a flood: magazines, cards, my mom’s new insurance cards (finally), and the tarot deck I ordered.

It’s a pair of tarot decks, interpretations by Barbara Moore, art done by several artists. One deck is “As Above” and the second is “So Below.” They are different from each other and different than I expected, and it will take time to work with them properly. They do make sense for the coming year’s year-long reading that I do on Samhain, which takes two decks out of regular usage for an entire year.

A pair of white dudes were roaming the neighborhood pounding on doors, like incoming SWAT team. They said they were “checking the equity of the electrical company” and wanted copies of our electric bills. No lanyards, no company information, nothing. Do they really think we’re that stupid? I shut the door in their faces and refused to answer again when they started pounding. A legitimate company/nonprofit would have contacted the residents in writing ahead of time and had employees or volunteers with clear identification and some sort of professional whatever, even if it was a clipboard. Not dudes in climbing jackets pounding on doors asking for copies of utility bills. Not acceptable. And even with a clipboard and a lanyard, I wouldn’t have turned over my utility bill. Identity theft much?

Finished up the ironing from the latest fabric seasonal refresh and put everything away.

Read a lot. Mary Gordon’s SPENDING is giving me a lot to think about. It’s an exceptionally well-written book, and, especially in terms of what we were talking about on THE PROCESS MUSE a few weeks back about Muses, makes me think I’ll revisit the topic. Because, of course, the female artist/male muse experience is very different than the traditional male artist/female muse, and the book isn’t just a flip of that trope.

Sunday was a lethargic day for me, even though it was sunny. I need to remember that the day before the dark moon I have zero energy. Zero. And plan accordingly.

I did go out to a store to see if they had something I wanted; they didn’t, but they had a sale, and I got some cute summer shirts I can use for yoga and errands. Some went into the laundry basket; others have to be handwashed, and I got started on that.

Tried re-reading a book that had been a Big Deal back when it came out. While there’s some good stylistic work, it’s too much self-involved white boy, on the part of the protagonist and the author, and I just don’t care. There’s a lot of pretentiousness that was touted as brilliance at the time.

Ordered a pizza, because I was too tired to cook. I need to stop ordering in food so often. I can cook, and there’s food in the house.

Slept well Sunday into Monday, in spite of a series of weird dreams that Charlotte pulled me out of several times in the night.

I’d made peace with the fact I wasn’t going to get much of anything done at my desk in the morning, and that the afternoon would be all about script coverage, which took some pressure off me.

Plus, packed up everything I needed for errands Sunday night, which made me feel like I was six years old starting school.

Out of the house early on Monday, arriving way to early at the hair salon in Williamstown, but that was fine. I’d brought a book with me (I almost always have a book with me), and they were all very friendly and laid back. And masked. No signs, no fussing, people just did it, and that, too, made me feel more confident about the choice of salon. And the conversations all centered around the arts, rather than what I’ve heard so often at other salons, where it’s petty, vicious gossip.

The appointment took the full hour. I’ve never had a hair appointment that long that wasn’t with one of the Broadway hair dressers who used to cut my hair in my Broadway days. The longest appointment I ever had on Cape was twenty minutes. But then, only two haircuts in ten years there didn’t make me cry, so. . .

Anyway, the stylist was very nice. We figured length first, then she cut off the ponytail. I mean, the last time I got my hair cut was May of 2021, two weeks after my second vaccine shot. It was a lot of hair. If you saw the photo I posted on Insta/FB/Twitter – it was a lot of hair. They asked if I wanted to donate it and I said sure; they’re taking care of it. Then, it was a wash and condition, and the stylist got to practice her art. And it really was art. We’d gone over some photographs for basic ideas, and then she wanted to try something a little different, and I said, go for it. So she did, and it looks really good.

I feel like myself for the first time in years. YEARS.

It’s flattering, will grow out well, and not need a lot of fuss/product/styling in the day to day.

And it’s done before next week’s grant reception.

I was ever so pleased and gave quite the big tip, because she was worth every penny.

From there, I headed to my mom’s doctor’s office to update her insurance information. I went to Wild Oats to pick up a few things and use my member/owner credit from last year’s profits. I went to the pharmacist to make sure the insurance info was all updated, but the computer magic they did the other day held, and it’s all good. 

I ran into Big Y to pick up small tomatoes, which I’d forgotten to get at the Wild Oats (although I managed to get curry paste at WO). Then it was a library run, to drop off/pick up books, mostly from Commonwealth Catalog. Love me some Commonwealth Catalog!

Stopped at the bank to deposit some unexpected checks (always love those). And home.

Found out that the article went live on The Rumpus, so I grabbed the link, created a PDF, and sent the link and the PDF to the poets interviewed, and over to MassMoca’s press office, and Assets for Artists. I also pulled an article off Clippings.me and added this one to the online portfolio, and put the link over on the Fearless Ink website. And, of course, saved it to my Clip files.

That took time, but it’s always better to do it right away. Putting it aside to get to “someday” means too much stacks up at once. Plus, I want to make sure that the interview subjects and sources get the link and their PDF copy for their own files before they come across the piece n the wild. It’s just basic courtesy.

Did the social media rounds to share the article link.

Turned around three coverages in the afternoon/evening. I was interrupted a few times to deal with some other stuff that came up, so it took longer than it would normally, and I wasn’t finished until 9 PM. I was able to spend some time working out on the front porch, because it was sunny and mild enough, and the hyacinths are starting to bloom. Willa and Charlotte were out there, too. Tessa had regained control of the sofa and was not about to give it up.

The dishwasher decided to stop working. I hope it’s just a fuse, because I LOVE this dishwasher, and if they have to replace it, it’s not going to be with one this good. But we’ll empty it this morning after breakfast, do the dishes by hand and put them away, and I’ll get in touch with the maintenance guy and see if he can swing by in the next few days.

Made a frittata in honor of the Equinox, and did a simple ritual at night, before I went to bed.

Up early. Weird dreams, including something about a teashop. As I was coming up out of the dream, I kept telling myself to remember the name of the teashop, but, of course, I lost it by the time I was fully awake.

Tessa has decided that she is sick and tired of Charlotte and Willa eating her food, so now she marches into the kitchen and eats their food, especially right in front of them. It’s all the same food, but it’s the principle of the plates and bowls that’s the issue.

After doing the dishes, I will get back to the page. I’m looking forward to the start of the Dramatists’ Guild End of Play, staring April 1. I realized, over the weekend, that the work I’ve done on FALL FOREVER is solid, and the play is ready to be written. It’s not screaming at me that if I don’t start RIGHT THIS SECOND I’ll lose it. But it’s ready to go on April 1. The percolating and note taking I’ve done has set the foundation. I haven’t made a detailed outline, but I know the shape and the emotions and the themes and the characters. It feels ready, in a calm, grounded way, and that feels good and right for this project.

I need to get ahead on Legerdemain; by the end of this week, I have to upload more episodes, and while I have those, I’m running a little too close to deadline on it right now. I also want to do some work on the “Plot Bunnies” revision and re-release. I want to make sure it’s uploaded and scheduled by the end of the week. Later in the day, it’s social media rounds to promote today’s episode of Legerdemain, and then a script coverage. I only have one so far; I hope some more come in for the rest of the week. If not, I’ll switch my focus to the contest entries.

I have yoga class tonight, and then I will work on the next book for review.

I should have planted yesterday, but didn’t. The next planting day is Friday. I’m getting a late start this year. Oh, well. There’s still snow on the ground, so I’m not going to worry about it too much.

Have a good one!

Thurs. Jan. 19, 2012: Even the Cat is Busy

Tessa

Thursday, January 19, 2012
Waning Moon
Still dark out

It’s supposed to be pretty stormy tonight into tomorrow, some snow, but not a lot. I’ll know what today’s weather is like in a bit when I leave for yoga.

Owner came to work on the wall yesterday. I got as much done as I could — a lecture on the writer’s need to remember he is a business person AND an artist, and that the two don’t cancel each other out, plus critiquing the latest 5 in 10 stories. With 32 in the class, and the lengths now in the just over 1K range, that’s 32K minimum for me to read, twice a week, which takes awhile.

Worked on my short stories. Not happy with the progress on either novel these past two weeks.

Went to a library one town over. Got out a book I need as research for the current assignment for Confidential Job #1, and some books that just looked interesting. Happens when I’m around books. On the sale shelf was an enormous, brand-new Monet book. The sign said $1 for sale shelf items, but I figured this book must have been left there by mistake. Nope. It was for sale and it was $1. I bought it. When I got home, the flap was still on — original price $75. Now THAT’s a sale! I’d love to do a collection of short stories inspired by his paintings of women by the sea or walking through gardens. There’s an optional assignment for the class next month to do a short story based on a painting — I’m going to use Hopper’s painting of a woman in a theatre lobby — but the plates in these books give me more ideas. I’d love to do a collection of short stories based on the work of each painter. A few years ago, a poet put out a volume of poems inspired by Hopper’s work. I’ve got it here somewhere — not unpacked yet.

I’ve got two sets of interview questions to get out for future guests on the book blog.

Last night was the Writers’ Night Out dinner. It was at a nice restaurant in Yarmouth. Sat with a memoirist I’d met at an earlier event, and met some new-to-me people who were very interesting, too. I like that the conversations at these events is always wide-ranging. So often at these types of events, conversation focuses on desperation of not being published (and that’s usually because the ones who want to be published aren’t actually using the butt glue and getting any writing done). Here, writers are writing, but they’re also doing all kinds of interesting things and can talk about them. The balance is better and the attitude is healthier.

The speaker was interesting, and I got to toss a few ideas around with him after the event. I also got to talk to my friend, who wants to get together for our next meeting on the theatre piece, and the Center’s director, who’s interested in having me speak at one of the breakfast meetings, which I think would be tons of fun.

When I came back, I discovered that Miss Tessa Houdini, the kitten, had not only found a way to get the dishwasher door open, she’d filled up the dishwasher. And not with dishes, but with pieces of paper and cat toys. Well, she sees me filling it up, so she figured she should “help out”. It was hilarious. The papers were in the slots for dishes and the cat toys were in the cutlery holders. She is extremely organized. And she was very, very proud of herself. The other two cats were running around howling. Typical evening, in other words. Tessa has Stuff To Do, while the other two act like the sky is falling.

Trouble getting up this morning — wanted to stay in bed. But I hauled myself out, and I’m trying to get a bit of writing done before I head to yoga. More work on the wall later this morning, must push through the student work, get further on Confidential Job #1’s assignment, get some paperwork filed, mail a signed copy of a book for a friend, and then, tonight, I’m attending a women’s health lecture.

Holiday Hocus Pocus will be a fun class. Even though it only runs a week, students will have a year’s worth of resources by the end of it, and notes that will serve them, probably, for the next five to ten.

I gave some students advice yesterday about “batch outlining” — outlining several projects in the space of a few days, and then working one’s way through, project by project. I think I might need to take some of my own advice. I’m a little derailed in my own schedule of the projects that need to get done and out this year, and I need to get back on track.

You know the drill: 1000 words a day, at least 5 days a week. Such is the life of a working writer. And most of the time, you damn well better be doing more than 1K/day, and it better be on more than one project, if you expect to keep a roof over your head.

To the page, and then to yoga.

Devon

Saturday, October 30, 2010

Saturday, October 30, 2010
Waning Moon
Uranus Retrograde
Neptune Retrograde
Jupiter Retrograde
Venus Retrograde
Scheduled to post

How to make me froth at the mouth: When I say I am not phone accessible for X amount of time and I need you to EMAIL me information, do not fucking CALL me!!!!

Okay, now that that’s out of the way!

We were on the road by 6:30, at the house by 10:30 on Thursday. Hit my head badly on the car — have a truly egg-shaped lump that hurts like hell. But I’m not seeing double and no slurred speech, so it’s all — well, not good, but nothing serious. Instead of La Famille Raccoon, we were cheered on by a skunk. By the time I finished packing the car, the skunk was making faces because he was downwind of me and I was that rank! 😉 Thank goodness for the fabulous shower at the house. The owner was there, repainting the cover on the back deck. He and his wife are so great! She’s friends with the local librarian, and will take us over to introduce us, once we’re really moved in — and have a utility bill so we can get a library card. That’s always my favorite part of going to a new place — getting the library card.

Unpacked, started the dishwasher, raced out to do some errands regarding my mom’s birthday, picked up some gifts, etc. Came home, had lunch, and my mom went with me to pick out my new mattress. I haven’t had a comfortable bed since I gave up the Manhattan apartment, so it’s about damned time!

It gets delivered when we’re back up at the house on Monday.

And it will have new sheets on it, because I bought some new sheets and towels. Somehow, no matter how many sheets and towels I have, I always want a new set for a new place.

Put the new sheets and towels in the wash and, in the dryer, wound up with a fluff bomb! The lint trap was cleaned, but it refilled about every five minutes. Finally took the sheets out and hung them up in the storage room over the garage to dry (the storage room that has two walls of bookcases and a wall of closets, and will eventually have two reading chairs, a lamp and a rug in there, too).

Did some more errands, mostly looking for lamp shades. All the shades I liked came with lamps. And, if I bought lamp & shade and then swapped out the shade, I’d have to find a new shade for the now-naked lamp. And I didn’t like the bases that came with the shades.

Yeah, I know, earth-shattering stuff, isn’t it? I am well aware that the Fate of the Universe will not be affected by my choice of lampshade.

Found a great consignment shop in S. Yarmouth. Right near some of the other houses we looked at, and near Seven Beans, the really good coffee place. I like the woman who runs it a lot. I’ll be back when I’m in a headspace for vintage clothes and shoes — they were great, but I’m in “housewares mode” right now, and couldn’t focus.

Cooked a great stir-fry dinner. I love cooking in the new kitchen. And now most of my baking pans are up. Soon, there will be cookies!

Did some more measuring, figured stuff out, hung out in the livingroom with the candles and decorations. Those candelabra I bought look AWESOME on the mantel. I’d actually measured the litter boxes and the small ones will fit where we want them. Don’t yet know where we’ll put the big one.

Meditation before bedtime — so much easier there. Slept well, up early, wonderful yoga and meditation session in the morning. I have my mat and my crate with the weights, jumprope, yoga books, etc. up there now, which is nice.

Good breakfast, packed the car, had to wait what seemed like an eternity for the dishwasher to cycle through — I’m still at the stage where I don’t want to leave the house until everything is OFF. Watered the grass seed — provided entertainment value to the neighborhood as I wrestled with a garden hose for the first time in my life. Pretty funny, and got my shirt dirty, so had to wash it and change before we could head home.

Opened the front door and found my next assignment for Confidential Job #1 was delivered to the house! It made me feel all warm and fuzzy.

Didn’t get out the door until 8:30 this time, but had done a thorough walk-through, check list so I didn’t have to drive back again. I love this house — it feels like it’s alive, and it’s happy when we’re in it. When I’m away from it, I miss it.

Stopped in Old Saybrook. The trunk — something was wrong with it. When I touched it to check it out, it felt really, REALLY wrong. So I didn’t buy it. And the good tile tables were gone. So I bought a copper kettle and a pear-shaped candleholder.

Drive back was fine. Got to the apartment in early afternoon. The landlord crap was awful, as usual. It’s gone beyond ridiculous. So it was a rough afternoon. I got a little packing done, unpacked and repacked the bags I need for the weekend gig, prepared my mom’s birthday dinner.

She had a really good birthday, and thanks you for all your good wishes.

We already have guests booked for December, January, and February at the house! It’s such fun to be able to be hosts again. Haven’t been able to do that in a long time. And here, I’m the one so infamous for my monthly dinner parties for 20+ on the West Coast, and I haven’t been able to do that for the past few years.

Violet is so upset she’s throwing up her food. I spent as much time as I could calming her down. Iris just pretends none of this is happening.

Came home to find the rest of my book order for the classes I taught last month, and also my zafu cushion. Love it. I got 2-for-1, so my mom gets one, too.

Sleepy’s called twice already to push back the delivery time for my new mattress. It HAS to be there on Monday. Period, end of story, because we’re not there Tuesday. And, considering how damn much they charge for delivery — they damn well better be there when they say so, or there will be Better Business Bureau HELL to pay.

Speaking of which, Cablevision is acting like (string of nasty words deleted), and I’m not even talking about losing the Fox channels. Look, let’s face it, Fox does some great fiction, and that includes what they call “news” — (in my opinion, most of their so-called “journalists” wouldn’t recognize a fact if it walked up and hit them over the head with a two-by-four). So I don’t really miss those channels — but if I pay for X channels, I should have X channels. No, they’re being dicks about the previous complaint, and have sabotaged my service since I filed with the BBB. So I keep sending them invoices. I look forward, next week, to cancelling my service with them. Boy, do I have egg on my face after saying how great they were. They actually were good, the first year I had them. And then they grew too fast and reverted back to being, well Cablevision.

Unfortunately, my ONLY option on the Cape is Comcast. Which I already know totally sucks. And I will tell them, when I place my order, than I expect them NOT to suck.

Off to a job in CT this weekend, leaving early this a.m, which is why it’s scheduled to post — looking forward to lots of rest time in there — actually, my boss on the gig planned it so I could basically get paid just for being there. Gotta love it.

Hopefully, I will have packed some more last night, but I’m REALLY tired, so I might give myself the night off to rest, and then attack what needs to be packed Sunday night for Monday’s trip. I have the boxes that are the first layer, so it’s all about packing the mirrors and pictures and the broom and my oak staff and my head-on-a-stick (don’t ask), and my Karma Fairy Wand from the Moontribe Tales Project in 1999, which will live in my office and — you get the idea. My oak staff — bought at the Central NY Scottish Games a few years ago is tall, and my broom is the same height I am. We’re calling the carload “pictures and sticks”. Because if it’s a stick or a stone or a shell, I pick it up on my travels.

Hey, imagine that, it’s going down into the 30s and the scumbags gave us heat. CC’ing the Health Department on my complaints is getting results.

And yes, “resting” this weekend – includes writing.

Heck, this IS a writing blog — I at least have to use the word once a week during the moving process, right? 😉

Devon