Wed. December 19, 2012: Cookie platter deliveries

Wednesday, December 19, 2012
Waxing Moon
Cloudy and cold

Yesterday was about writing cards (I’m still not done), baking, and delivering cookie platters in the neighborhood. I tweaked the recipe for the lemon cookies, and now, it is AWESOME. It is still, however, a pain in the butt, because of the lemon-zesting. I found my oversize cheese grater is the best device to zest a large amount of lemons. And, although I’ve been desensitizing myself to my citrus allergy (for instance, I can now eat lemon cookies and have lemon dressing on my salad), handling large quantities of fresh lemons made my hands look like I’d dipped them in acid. Well, I had — citric acid!
Soothed them with a chamomile soak.

Frosted the red velvet cupcakes. This frosting recipe is a little too sweet, and I HATE using pastry bags. Especially when they decide to spring a leak in the center.

But it got done, and the neighborhood platters went out last night. Today, I’m prepping the larger circle of platters, and then, on Thursday and Friday, I’m taking the ones that go (oh, horrors) Over The Bridge.

Packages started coming in yesterday — including a lovely fresh wreath from LL Bean that friends in Kentucky sent. I hadn’t had a chance to get one since the work was done on the house (didn’t want to do any external decorating until that was done), so the timing was perfect. It is lovely.

We also took a night drive around the light sculptures in Sandwich, along Rt. 6A and through the middle of town. They are so lovely! My favorite is the guy with the book in front of the library, the pizza, and the huge sand dollar. Lovely!

Okay writing session this morning. I’m worried that I have too much narrative in this section. I need to write it, but may cut it and integrate it into dialogue in the revisions. However, it has to be written before it can be revised.

I also wished I had thought of it sooner — offering a free short story every day for each of the Twelve Days of Christmas — a comic something related to the holiday. Now, the First Day of Christmas is a week from today — but I don’t see how I can get it together fast enough. What I may do is WRITE the relevant tale on each of these twelve days, and offer them next year — that gives me time to revise them, do decent design work for the covers, and do a good job making them available next year. Each one will only be available for 24 hours. Maybe, the following year, I’ll sell them as a collection.

I already jotted a few notes on the first one, and have the opening lines!

Have to finish up the PDF for the Flash 7 class to get that out. I am seriously behind in my schoolwork — good thing I’m not going for certification in either of these classes!

Onward!

Devon

Enjoy the Delectable Digital Delights for the holidays! Two holiday-themed Nina Bell comic mysteries, and a fantasy/comic/romantic twist on Yuletide myths!

“When Words Align” — Jan. 2-9. Get your WIP or revision back on track with focused, individualized exercises and critiques. More info and registration here.

“Sensory Perceptions” — this popular workshop is back ONCE in 2013, and it’s happening from January 2-February 3. Learn how to use the senses to boost your fiction to its highest level, creating six sense-driven short pieces, while layering sensory detail into a longer piece. More info and registration here.

Mon. Nov. 19, 2012: So ready for a New Week! = Why didn’t this publish this AM? Darned Merc Ret!

Monday, November 19, 2012
Waxing Moon
Uranus Retrograde
Mercury Retrograde
Cloudy and cold

Busy weekend. Friday was a discouraging day, on many fronts. By noon, I was just about ready to give up. But I pushed through, and just kept at it. But I was very discouraged and blue by the end of it — although a trip to the library cheered me up somewhat, as such trips do. Managed to get out a review, an interview, and an invoice, so it wasn’t completely a lost day.

Saturday was busy — yard work, hauling leaves to the dump, writing, doing article pitches, doing promotional stuff, and finishing up the final galleys for OLD-FASHIONED DETECTIVE WORK. They are done, they are out. I turned around two sets of novel galleys this week — exhausting and exhilarating at the same time. Also caught up on my World History coursework for the week (and aced all the quizzes).

Sunday was about newspapers and laundry and doing stuff around the house. The dump was accepting brush up until yesterday, post-hurricane, so I loaded up the car with all the brush the landscapers couldn’t be bothered to gather (although they were paid so to do and it was all in one pile) and dumped it myself. Sent a photo of the stuffed car to the landlord, so he can see how much debris had been left behind.

Did my mythology coursework for the week. The class is so helpful, and is feeding a lot of my fiction.

Read a couple of mysteries — the premise is good, but the protagonist is a man of certain age. Nothing wrong with that, except all the female characters of every age are morons who fall all over him in embarrassing ways and he’s always the smug, self-serving hero. Ick. And the stories lack logic — they discover something important, but don’t do anything about it for a few days, even though they know it’s important, and are then surprised when something goes to hell in a hand basket.

Writing is percolating — now I have to get stuff down on paper. It was really percolating yesterday, on more than one burner, but I purposely gave myself the day off writing to recharge and let it build up, so I can write more this week.

I got a solid 1000 words done on a project where I don’t know where it’s going, but I like the feel of it, and I know the overall shape I want it to take. Of course, that means I still have to turn my attention to several other deadlined projects today, as well as do things like yard work and taking the garbage to the dump and other home and hearth stuff.
I’m also going to do my World History coursework for the week today and the Mythology tomorrow, so I don’t have it hanging over me during the holiday.

Devon

Don’t forget — the deadline for the Playwright Intensive is November 25. Three months — a submission-ready play. More info and application here.

And the Flash 7 Flash Fiction workshop — Dec. 7-16 — write, revise, and submit 7 flash fiction pieces in 10 days. Info here.

Fri. Nov. 9, 2012: Exciting Writing!

Friday, November 9, 2012
Waning Moon
Neptune Retrograde
Uranus Retrograde
Mercury Retrograde
Cloudy and cold

We were battered for two days by the nor’easter, but now it seems to be moving on. The Callaich Storm Hag was on a roll!

Actually, got a lot done. Revised and sent out a play that had been requested. It was good to revisit it, and it holds up better than I expected. Revised a novella, and sent that out. That was in better shape than I remembered, too, although I managed to remove 15 qualifiers I hadn’t previously caught! I also got out about a half a dozen short stories that got piled up, and pitched to two organizations for whom I’d love to work — they don’t really have the position I want there, so I pitched to create it! I’ve also got someone interested in a book that’s only partially written, so I need to focus a little more on that one for the next few weeks.

This morning, I opened my email to find out that someone wants me to write a mystery play for their winter fundraiser. Tons of fun — totally would love to do it. So I hope it works out!

Read a frustrating book by a Pulitzer-prize author — basically, not much happened except people changed partners a few times, realized they liked their original partner, and navel-gazed a lot. Big disappointment, even if it was set locally!

I’ve got two press releases to write this morning, and then it’s the errands that didn’t get done in the past two days. I ducked out to pay some bills yesterday, but that was it.

Excited by the possibilities!

Devon

Reminder:
The Application deadline for the Playwrighting Intensive has been extended to November 20. More information and application here.

NEW:
Flash 7, a flash fiction course where participants create, revise, and submit 7 pieces of flash fiction in 10 days is open for registration now. More information here.