Friday, September 19, 2008

Friday, September 19, 2008
Waning Moon
Neptune Retrograde
Sunny and cool

Late blogging start to the day, with some left over rants from yesterday.

The city’s summer ban on leaf blowers is done, so all these effing morons are walking around aiming leaf blowers at the pavement, even though there’s not a fallen leaf to be found. Leaf blowers should be banned entirely – they are smelly, noisy, ruin the quality of life, kick up dirt and germs everywhere. Use a frigging rake, people, or, on pavement, a broom!

I blew a potential job on Wednesday because I was careless. I have no one to blame but myself. I was frustrated because God forbid 1and1, my stupid webhost, could keep my mail open long enough for me to write an email pitch and actually send it. Why am I paying these people again? At least two or three hours per day, either the webmail or the websites aren’t working properly. I shouldn’t be booted off my mail after 3 minutes.

Anyway, I was in the process of sending and re-sending a batch of pitches and queries. This one particular job is something for which I’m totally qualified. Unfortunately, after I hit “send”, I realized that I was supposed to send the samples WITH the pitch; I’d stated that “samples will be sent upon request”. There’s no one to blame for that but myself, and I blew it. Don’t follow directions; don’t get the gig. That’s the way it works.

Got a couple of queries out yesterday (this time I followed the directions), so, hopefully, I’ll see some bites. I’m not scheduled at the show next week, I’m waiting for some checks, so I need to land some other stuff with short turnaround and quick payment. The job boards have really sucked lately, so I have to be more creative in my approach – which is next to impossible when I’m working shows. So, even though the wisdom is that, when you’re in the midst of a lot of work, you should pitch for more, when I’m working shows and putting in 14 hour days at the theatre, it doesn’t happen. There’s not enough brain power left for anything except the show and the writing that’s already on my plate. So, what I’m trying to do is get pitches out BEFORE I spend chunks of time at the show, in order to book jobs for AFTER I’m done.

I wrote my articles yesterday. One went out; the other I’m giving a final read and then sending out, too. I have to print out some information for the Tenants’ Organization. They’re having a meeting tonight; I’m working, but I’ve put together some info for them.

I’ve got some interesting opportunities in the works – the challenge will be scheduling them, and, at the same time, keeping enough short turnaround/immediate payment work going to keep the bills paid.

Show was fine yesterday; I had two swings on, but it was all good. People were happy to see me. I like being there, but it’s always a weird adjustment back and forth, and I’ve got a lot of writing to work out, so it’s a case of feeling slightly like a split personality.

I’m interviewing an actor/songwriter before the show tonight – that should be fun.

The work on ANGEL HUNT has slowed down considerably because it’s all new material, and I’m trying to match the style and tone, and still keep it moving. And I’ve got to sort out the other stuff – I’ve got the opening for Billy’s book (from the Jain Lazarus stories) finally straight in my head, but now I need to write it down.

I’ve got three manuscripts stacked in the submission queue, but I have to time the mailing properly.

At least I’m getting things finished. Every time I go back to an unfinished manuscript and finish it, I feel like an enormous weight was lifted.

Unfinished work drains creativity.

Back to the page.

Devon

Devon’s Bookstore:

Hex Breaker by Devon Ellington. A Jain Lazarus Adventure. Hex Breaker Jain Lazarus joins the crew of a cursed film, hoping to put to rest what was stirred up before more people die and the film is lost. Tough, practical Detective Wyatt East becomes her unlikely ally and lover on an adventure fighting zombies, ceremonial magicians, the town wife-beater, the messenger of the gods, and their own pasts.
$4.00 ebook/ $6.00 on CD from Firedrakes Weyr Publishing.
Visit the site for the Jain Lazarus adventures.

5 in 10: Create 5 Short Stories in Ten Weeks by Devon Ellington. This ebooklet takes you from inspiration to writing to revision to marketing. By the end of ten weeks, you will have either 5 short stories or a good chunk of a novella complete. And it’s only 50 cents, USD. Here.

Writing Rituals: Ideas to Support Creativity by Cerridwen Iris Shea. This ebooklet contains several rituals to help you start writing, get you through writer’s block, and help send your work on its way. It’s only 39 cents USD. (Note: Cerridwen Iris Shea is one of the six names under which I publish). Here.

Full Circle: An Ars Concordia Anthology. Edited by Colin Galbraith. This is a collection of short stories, poems, and other pieces by a writers’ group of which I am a member. My story is “Pauvre Bob”, set at Arlington Race Track in Illinois. You can download it free here: