Tues. Jan. 6, 2015: Twelfth Night, New Year!

Tuesday, January 6 2015
Waning Moon
Jupiter Retrograde
Twelfth Day of Christmas/Epiphany/Three Kings Day
Frosty and cold

Busy few days. Buried in the work of Robert Burns and Virginia Woolf for the tribute script. It’s coming along, but it’s not quite where I want it. I can either slap together something mediocre or actually take a few days and turn out something good. I’d prefer the latter.

Gorged myself on the rest of Joanne Dobson’s Karen Pelletier series, which I thoroughly enjoyed. I’m going to have to track them down and buy them. They are books I will go back to and re-read over the years. This series and Rosemary Edghill’s Bast series make me miss the 1990s, where I did some of my best work, and was simultaneously optimistic and in despair all the time. Makes me wonder if I should recommit to the Nina Bell series, just to recapture some of that energy I had at that time.

Read MORIARTY, which is getting a lot of buzz. It’s well-crafted, but I got ahead of it and figured it out. Also read THE SECRET ROOMS by Catherine Bailey, which gave me some information that I can use in RED WIDOW.

Read a couple of other things on the Kindle, which were good, but not great. In other words, I enjoyed them, but would have been annoyed if I spent full price on the print version.

We had a little bit of snow on Sunday night, which quickly changed over to rain.

Re-watched Season 1 of NEWSROOM. I loved that show, in spite of its flaws. There was a lot of good writing and acting in it.

Reading SPEAKING OF JOURNALS by Paula Graham. There are some wonderful quotes in it: “Keeping a journal is living a wide-awake life.” (Graham)

“I have gone through life taking notes” (Sara Holbook).

“In my own, we don’t invade each other’s privacy” (Richard Ammon).

Today is Twelfth Night. No party this year — I’m just not up to it. But all the holiday decorations get packed away, the tree is taken down, etc. Tessa will miss the lights, and, especially, her Santas. Tessa adored the Santa collection under the tree this year. She will be a pouty, grumpy cat for a couple of days.

We’re leaving the red ribbons up around the windows again until Valentine’s Day, just to keep the place cheerful and from being too bare. I have to finish the “winter wreath” I’m making for the front door, because the holiday one comes down today.

And, of course, writing. Always writing.

Hope you’re having a great start to the first full week of the New Year!

Devon

Fri. Dec. 26, 2014: Preparing to Clean, to Make Room for the New

Friday, December 26, 2014
Waxing Moon
Jupiter Retrograde
Boxing Day/St. Stephen’s Day
First Day of Christmas

I hope you all had a joyful holiday. Ours was about cooking, eating, being with family, books, cats. The good stuff.

Read a lot, including devouring two of Joanne Dobson’s Karen Pelletier mysteries. They are excellent. I’m surprised she’s a new-to-me author. It was great to read them, because a stack of books I read over the past few days were deeply disappointing.

I have to sit down this coming week and outline the first few novellas with the RED WIDOW characters. Without the outline, it’s not going to work. The stories feature a different set of connected protagonists in each, but I need an idea of the overall shape before any of them will work properly. I also need to dive back into BALTHAZAAR, and INITIATE needs attention.

I’m working on the Burns/Woolf piece, and percolating ideas for a radio drama for an overseas production company with whom I’m in negotiation.

I hopped on and off social media occasionally during the holiday, and, honestly, was rather frustrated with all the desperate self-promotion. I understand our books and goods make good holiday gifts, but, please! Some of the pushing put me completely off those authors.

Working on my Goals, Dreams, and Resolutions questions and my new five-year-plan. Need to get back behind the wheel and steer where I want and need to be, and aim for something specific on the horizon.

Work today and tomorrow, then off until Wednesday morning. Still have a lot to get done before the end of the year, but at least I can clear off a bunch of stuff and get going on the new year. One of the things I want to do is purge a bunch of stuff from the basement – -things I don’t want or need, that are holding me back. It’ll be a cycle of “cutting deadwood” over the next few months, something deeply necessary. Cut away the old to make room for the new, keeping only what has genuine meaning.

Have a wonderful time moving out of the old year and into the new!

Devon