Tues. May 16, 2023: Trying To Balance The Writing Needs

View across the Clark Art Institute Reflecting Pool. Photo by Devon Ellington

Tuesday, May 16, 2023

Waning Moon

Mercury Went Direct on Sunday

Pluto Retrograde

Cloudy and chilly

Busy weekend. Good busy, but still busy. So, I hope you have your favorite beverage handy for our Tuesday catch-up.

Today’s serial episode is Legerdemain.

Episode 85: Attack on Brone

Brone is attacked in the Infirmary. His rescuer is a surprise.

Legerdemain Serial Link

Legerdemain website

Friday, I wrote another episode of Legerdemain. I uploaded and scheduled this coming Thursday’s episode. I puttered on the poem.

Out the door late morning, headed for the Clark Art Institute. It was a gorgeous day, warm and sunny. On the way there, I stopped at the Milne Library in Williamstown, because the lilacs are just starting to bloom, and they have wonderful lilacs. Their lilacs were just beginning, but I got to see their reading garden (a lovely spot in which I hope to spend time this summer) and checked out their book cart, where I found a few things, including a couple of mysteries by Anna Clarke. I met a woman at the cart, an artist who uses discarded books to make collages. She’s currently working on one using prints of old circus posters. She grew up in Bridgeport, CT and used to watch the Ringling Brothers Circus train come in, when they wintered there (before they moved to Florida for winters; PT Barnum Museum is still in Bridgeport).

Anyway, after that, I headed up to the Clark, which was packed. I never even made it inside the museum; I sat in a chair under a linden tree out by the reflecting pool. I worked on the project for a bit, and just enjoyed myself. Okay, I also eavesdropped, rolling my eyes at a few things I overheard, and made notes that will be integrated into future characters.

On the way home, I stopped at Wild Oats and then Stop & Shop, to pick up a few things. In the afternoon, I read Anna Clarke’s LETTER FROM THE DEAD, which was very good, and one of the few mysteries where I didn’t get ahead of it and figure out the murderer.

In the evening, there was a special session at my yoga studio, where they hosted Lama Tashi Norbu, who is both a Tibetan monk and an acclaimed tattoo artist. He is the director of a museum of Tibetan Arts in the Netherlands. It was an interesting session and gave me a lot to ponder.

Home, dinner, and to bed early. Didn’t get much sleep, because it was the night before MCLA’s graduation ceremony, and everyone was doing one last blowout. Considering we live catty corner from the college, it’s amazing there isn’t a lot more loud partying all semester. I can deal with a day here and there. Charlotte sat in the window all night and watched them.

Just before bedtime, I got word that I did not get the August residency I hoped for in upstate New York. It was a very nice letter, but disappointing. I’d hoped to use that time to do the big revision on FALL FOREVER. However, now I can use all of August to do it instead. I still want to do another revision of it between now and then.

The alarm went off at 4:30 AM on Saturday, and we were out of the house a little after 5:30, headed to the Cape for a storage run. It was sunny, but cooler than the previous day.

The drive down wasn’t bad, and there wasn’t too much traffic over the Bourne Bridge. We got to storage, and loaded up a rather eclectic bunch of boxes. I didn’t find the family photos/scrapbooks yet (which should have been on the truck), and I forgot to bring up the blank canvases. This is the last run we can do before autumn, so what we have is what we have.

We headed along the canal to Sagamore to the big Christmas Tree Shop over by the bridge. The chain was sold to a hedge fund, who intentionally ran it into the ground (which is how they make their money; anything a hedge fund touches is destroyed for profit), and this store is closing. It’s been around a good long time; we shopped there well before we moved to the Cape. The vultures were already there, and many shelves empty. We didn’t buy much; it was too sad, and we weren’t going to buy just to buy. I took some pictures, because I bet they tear down the building, including the lovely large windmill.

Back along the canal and off Cape on the Bourne Bridge. The traffic was picking up, especially going on Cape; we missed the worst of it. It was a fairly smooth ride until Worcester, where we were caught up in 12 miles of stop & go traffic, losing the time we’d gained. But once past that, it was a decent ride home.

While driving, I pondered some of the things discussed in Friday’s session with the monk, and got an idea for a story. Not sure what I’ll do with it yet, but I made some notes, and will let it percolate.

Stopped at Adams Fresh Market for a few things, and then to get takeout. We were home just after 2:30, which was a pretty decent time frame for a roundtrip of a little over 400 miles, plus storage sorting, plus shopping. Ate first, then I unloaded the car.

Saturday was graduation day, but it had pretty much cleared out by the time we returned, and everyone was in that state of stunned exhaustion and adrenaline withdrawal.

We just rested in the afternoon and evening, and read. I read Lina Chern’s PLAY THE FOOL, which was a lot of fun, especially in the way it used tarot cards.

Slept well; up early on Sunday (because the cats figured 4:30 was better than 5:30 for breakfast, per the previous day). Baked biscuits for my mom for Mother’s Day.

We had a quiet Mother’s Day. I unpacked most of the boxes we brought up. I have to do some rearranging to integrate things. Stuff needed to be washed, so we did that. It was fun, finding things we hadn’t seen in a while. Finally found my poodle bookends. I’ve been looking for them since we moved to the Cape, much less than moved here.

Tried to make a pizza with all of my mom’s favorite toppings. Unfortunately, I used a commercial dough I hadn’t used before. I knew I wouldn’t be up to making dough from scratch after the storage run. The dough I like and usually use wasn’t available at Big Y, and I found this Birrittella’s dough in Stop & Shop. First of all, they don’t have directions on the package. They force you to their website. I shouldn’t have to watch a video; it should be printed ON THE PACKAGE. There are plenty of times I’m cooking at a residency or retreat or whatever, and there’s no internet. Second, it takes over 2 hours to prepare the dough. I mean, I might as well have made it from scratch. This was supposed to save me time. Third, once in the pan, it doesn’t bake properly. The toppings were starting to burn, but the crust wasn’t baked. It was a disaster. We ended up scraping off the topping and making impromptu garlic bread to eat with it instead. At least the topping was good: sauce, sauteed onions, mushrooms, green peppers, tomatoes, pancetta, pepperoni, and lots and lots of mozzarella. But at least I know what dough to avoid at all costs. Absolutely awful. Worst pizza dough experience I’ve ever had.

At least I’d gotten my mother a nice cheesecake, her favorite.

Read THE FOXGLOVE KING by Hannah Whitten, which was good.

Relieved that Mercury went direct, and completely exhausted by it at the same time. This Pluto Retrograde won’t be particularly pleasant (lots of squares with other planets, causing tension), but at least we don’t have to worry about Mercury again until August.

Noodled with next week’s poem. It’s not where I want it. I need physical and mental openness/space to make it work, and not sure how I’ll manage it this week.

I was worried I’d get my word for July’s poem while we were on the road, so I packed my poetry notebook as insurance I wouldn’t, and it worked.

Weird dreams overnight, which fled as soon as I woke up on Monday.

Drafted an episode of Legerdemain. Did this week’s episode graphics, uploaded, and scheduled. Polished, uploaded, and scheduled next week’s Legerdemain episodes. Once they were approved, I created the episode graphics and uploaded those promos. Did a temporary graphic for FALL FOREVER, mostly so I could add it to my Creative Ground profile.

Did a dropoff/pickup at the library (and scored three fantastic cookbooks from the discard cart). Picked up my mom’s prescription at the pharmacy. Swung by the bookstore to talk about autumn’s reading, but their hours have changed, and they were closed. I have to go back on Wednesday. Mailed some bills. Deposited some checks at the bank. Swung by another store to pick up a couple of things, which, of course, they did not have. I need to go over to Carr’s Hardware on the other side of town instead, probably at the end of the week.

The siren song of FlexClip was calling again, but I needed to do my work first. I really miss iMovie from my mac. And, much as I want/need to create more enticing visuals for Legerdemain and Angel Hunt, I might start with something simpler like the Topic Workbooks. We’ll see. I need uninterrupted work time for that.

Did the client work. Had time for dinner before soup class, which was fun. We’re almost at the end of our soup class journey. It’s been an amazing few months. I’ve learned a lot, and the sense of community built is fantastic.

Started working on the next draft of FALL FOREVER. Making a lot of internal cuts in the scenes, tightening beats, getting rid of repetitive information, etc. I’m reworking one of the arcs. I need to up a confrontation scene. There’s a bit near the end that I want to move earlier, and turn into a half page or so exchange, and I want the Solstice celebration scene to have more fun and energy, instead of being a little self-conscious and trite, the way it is now. I’m not combining two characters, as a Trusted Reader suggested; the two characters work better separately, because one of them is very much a fulcrum on what the two pairs of relationships balance. I tried writing a few scenes where the characters were merged, and it shifts the themes I want to explore too much. A dynamic like that would work better in a different play. When I read the play, there’s enough of one of the characters, but when I heard the play read, I felt his character should have a little more. That’s partly due to the actor, I’m sure. But I want to layer him a bit more, so his flashes of humor and insight come through the grief better.

My contract for the 2025 Llewellyn Almanac arrived. Woo-hoo! I will sign it and send it back today, and then get started on writing the 25 spells next week, doing 3 per week at minimum, to get them all done and give me time to revise them before the mid-September deadline. And, the rate went up! Very happy.

Weird dreams overnight, that fled when I woke up. I have a feeling they were tied to FALL FOREVER. I did some more work on the play first thing this morning. Worked on the poem for Sunday, too. I started wondering if maybe I was working on the wrong thing/theme. I may do some freewriting later this morning, and see where it leads.

On today’s agenda: Legerdemain, maybe some ANGEL HUNT, work on the poem, work on the flash fiction piece for the artist call. Some new grant opportunities landed on my desk yesterday, for next year. I have to look at the calendar and see what’s what, and then work on those applications. Client work in the afternoon, and then yoga. Maybe after yoga, I’ll feel like I can focus on the poem better. Social media rounds to promote today’s serial episode. One last look at tomorrow’s Process Muse post. I’d like to do some work on FALL FOREVER, REP, and the Heist Romance Script, but I don’t see that happening today.

Have a good one!

Fri. May 12, 2023: When The Idea Bulb Lights Up

image courtesy of Colin Behrens via pixabay.com

Friday, May 12, 2023

Waning Moon

Mercury and Pluto Retrograde

Early showers, then sunny and pleasant

Somehow, yesterday seems like a very long time ago.

Today’s serial episode is from Angel Hunt:

Episode 32: Beliefs & Hypocrisy

Drogo confronts Lianna regarding her beliefs in being a witch.

Angel Hunt Serial Link.

Meditation was great, and I felt much better and more focused after (which is kind of the point).

I worked on July’s poem, and made some preliminary scribblings for the one I need next weekend. A little ass-backward, but that’s the way it worked out.

Sent off an email to one of the actors in Monday’s reading who had a reading of his own play  yesterday, wishing him well.

Wrote a Process Muse post, which wound up being longer than I expected, revised, edited, polished, uploaded, scheduled. It’s for a few weeks down the road, so I can take another look at in in a couple of days, just in case I want to make cuts.

Went to the post office to mail the insurance materials via Certified mail, bought stamps, caught up with what’s going on around in town (since the Post Office is the happening place here).

Swung by a store to pick up some of the WordSeek puzzle books my mother likes.

Grocery shop. Bought more than I planned (gee, what a surprise). But actually doing some meal planning again.

Uploaded and scheduled next Tuesday’s Legerdemain post. I’ll do the rest of next week’s and the following week’s today.

Did client work in the afternoon. Completed one project; answered follow-up questions on another. Did the social media rounds for Legerdemain, and the blogs.

Started reading MURDER IN POSTSCRIPT by Mary Winters, which I’m really enjoying.

Sat on the porch, reading, and noodling on the May poem. I know what I want to say, but I’m bloviating too much, and need to distill it down into specific, clear imagery.

Because I hope to get to the Clark today, working on the big project there even though I’m still waiting for the grant money to show up, my mind turned toward the Clark, and the exhibit I saw around my birthday (which has since closed). I’m still fascinated by the sketch of a private rail car that was turned into a theatre. I started playing with some characters and an idea that blossomed into a somewhat comic-horror-mystery idea that I hope will be novella length (maybe around 200 pages). I wrote up some notes. I have to do some worldbuilding. It’s going to have more psychological terror in it than physical, although that will also play a part. It melds that sketch with the reading I did about Katharine Cornell’s touring company and mind games played by toxic bosses. Horror is not my natural wheelhouse, but that’s what best serves this piece, so I’ll take on the challenge.

We’ll see where that goes. And when I have time to work on it, although I made some more notes for it this morning.

Today’s plan is to write an episode of Legerdemain, then polish, upload, and schedule the rest of next week’s and the following week’s episodes. Then, I’ll head to the Clark for a couple of hours, then to Wild Oats to pick up a few things. I hope, this afternoon, to get in some work on both REP and ANGEL HUNT.

I dread tomorrow because we’re supposed to do another storage run to the Cape. The traffic chaos will be awful, but if we don’t do it this weekend, it would have to be next Saturday (since my reading is on Sunday), and that’s too much. Anything beyond that, and we’ll be stuck on the bridge with seasonal traffic for several hours in each direction, instead of just one hour and change, which is what tomorrow is bound to be.

Sunday is Mother’s Day; we plan to have a quiet, pleasant one, and enjoy our porch and balcony. Maybe I’ll finally finish touching up the paint on the wind chimes and get that back up. And maybe it will be warm enough to put out some plants. And plant more seeds.

I will get some writing done in there, although I’m not yet sure which projects.

Have a good weekend, my friends, and I’ll catch you on the other side.

Tues. May 10, 2022: Off To Yet Another Mechanic

image courtesy of Peter Gottschalk via pixabay.com

Tuesday, May 10, 2022

Waxing Moon

Pluto & Mercury Retrograde

Sunny and pleasant

This is scheduled to post, since I had to leave the house very early to get the car to the mechanic, and I have no idea how that will go.

I made sure I had a quiet weekend.  Friday and Saturday were all about finishing the contest entries.

First thing Saturday, though, I went to the Farmers Market. This is the last time it’s indoors; starting in June, it will be outdoors every Saturday until November. What adds a sense of festivity to the market is that you buy wooden tokens (yes, I’ve considered the wooden nickels jokes) when you go in and pay with the tokens.

The woman who made the amazing baguettes wasn’t there this time, which was a shame, since I’ve been fantasizing about those baguettes since last month! But I made a stop at Bohemian Nouveaux Bakery and had a good chat with the baker (who was a theatre major in college), and stocked up on the espresso coffee cake muffins, some cocoa bites, and a loaf of challah bread. I bought a cranberry pecan loaf from Cookies & More. I bought a big bag of spinach, a big bag of mixed Asian greens, and a lovely head of Bok choy from Red Shirt Farm. I bought a camembert-like cheese from Cricket Creek, and a bottle of maple syrup from Senecal’s Sugarhouse.

Filled up my bag with goodies!

And all through that, it was about chatting with the vendors and the other customers at the market, everyone in a good spirits and eager to share their favorite things.

It reminds me of the best of the Union Square Greenmarket, when I lived in NYC, rather than the markets in my previous location, where the vendors usually acted like they were doing you a favor by selling something, instead of it being a mutually beneficial transaction.

I wasn’t there very long, but I was tired when I got home, even from positive socializing! The joy of being an introvert. But I’m glad I did it, and I’m glad I’m meeting people slowly. Most people are still masking; everyone’s as vaccinated as they can be.

Once I put away the bounty, I took a rest, and then went back to work on contest entries.

For dinner, I used the whole head of Bok choy with the rest of the leftover chicken to do a stir-fry from one of my favorite cookbooks, CHINESE SOUL FOOD by Hsiao-Ching Chou. It was delicious. I also made more vegetable stock.

Saturday was also the Kentucky Derby. I lost all respect for those running Churchill Downs when I learned that the Narcissistic Sociopath was in attendance.

It was pretty exciting to see Rich Strike, who wasn’t even in the race two days ago, win, at 84-1. My baby Epicenter came in second. Tiz the Bomb decided this wasn’t worth the effort that day (very much like his grandfather).

When I used to cover horse racing (more years ago now than it seems), I quickly found out that the Derby was the least fun of the three races, in spite of being the start of the Triple Crown, where everything is possible. And that’s because it’s stopped being about the horses and focuses more on the audience who wants to see and be seen. The Preakness became the most fun for me. It’s raucous, less pretentious than any of the others, and there’s still a lot of Triple Crown possibility. The Belmont was at my home track, and, while I always loved the race and the site, the crowds and the tension were exhausting.

As an off-site observer, for years before I started writing about racing, the Preakness was my least favorite; but, once I started getting more involved, it was the most fun to actually be onsite of the three races, in spite of all the chaos in the infield.

Sunday was Mother’s Day. We had the espresso coffee cake muffins for breakfast. I made salads for lunch, using the spinach, Asian greens, carrot, cranberry, Canadian bacon, and hard-boiled egg, with an Italian vinaigrette. My mom asked for bangers and mash for dinner, so that’s what we had. And, of course, cheesecake.

I read for pleasure on Sunday, instead of logging entry scores, although I made a list of my top picks.

I read BOSS WITCH by Ann Aguirre, which I really liked, and CLAWS FOR SUSPICION by Deborah Blake, which I also loved. It was nice enough to sit out on the porch, so I read out there for a good portion of the day.

I went to bed very early on Sunday, because I was tired. In the third year of the pandemic, with the right wing Christofascists openly telling us they’re planning to murder us, after packing the courts so they can get away with it, and the DEMS SIT BACK AND LET THEM – it’s exhausting. Trying to live my life and also fulfill my responsibility as a citizen is exhausting, even if I don’t write about all the details of it here.

There is NO such thing as “not being political” anymore. If you make that claim, it means you agree with the rightwing extremists and think you’re safe from their hate. The thing is, they always need something and someone to fuel their hate, so no one is safe.

Up early on Monday.  Worked until 2 PM finishing the paperwork on the final category of contest entries, and sent it in. It was accepted and invoice requested. I sent the invoice at 7 PM and it was paid 39 minutes later. That’s how you show your freelancers you appreciate them!

I stress-painted the garden frog we bought when we first moved to the Cape house. I didn’t have the dark pink paint the petals on his back used to have (yes, he’s a frog, but his back is full of flowers), so I used a lighter pink, and then the yellow for the centers. He’s a bright, happy frog again who can sit amongst the plants on the front porch.

Read for pleasure (a mystery set in Venice, and then started reading a biography of Ngaio Marsh).  Spinach and cheese omlette for dinner.

Neighbors across the street are building a garden in front of the house, with all kinds of cute little plants and hanging baskets. Only. . .they plant but don’t water anything. I’m sure they will learn.

Finals at the college across the way must be done, because the students started playing music and hanging out in the street and blowing off some steam. Yes, they’re still masking. Even though they’re all vaxxed. Good for them (and us).

I am off to the mechanic. Let’s hope this guy will actually fix the car and not put me off another month. I’ve basically been without a car for six months now. I want to get it done.

Have a good one, and hold a good thought for the car and me.