Wed. May 24, 2023: Research Into a Place From My Past

image courtesy of  Connor Johnson via pixabay.com

Wednesday, May 24, 2023

Waxing Moon

Pluto Retrograde

Sunny and pleasant

Come visit the Process Muse, where I talk about Idea Cookies.

Today’s serial episode is Angel Hunt:

Episode 35: Who Is He?

Who is the entity who allowed Lianna entrance? What does he have to do with the hunt?

Angel Hunt Serial Link

Yesterday was just kind of an “I’m disappointed in myself” kind of day. My brain just checked out, early on. I got the blog up. I did some more research on the photographs of the Playland Painters. I’m pretty sure I’ll need to go down and research in the archives in person. I worked on next week’s Process Muse. I crunched numbers. If the grant money doesn’t show up and the debt defaults, we’ll get by, although June will be tight. If either the grant money or the debt ceiling limit is raised by June 1, I can move forward on everything. Even without the grant money in place, if the debt ceiling is lifted, I have enough to take care of everything that needs attention in June, and even a few things that want attention.

The back-and-forth on the Playland Painters was interesting. Playland park itself knows nothing. The new “management” company has no idea, nor do they know where any of the materials from the museum ended up. Typical. No sense of history or lineage.

The researchers at the Westchester Archives are intrigued. They asked for the jpgs, and I sent them over. I told them the search terms I’d used from their collection, which hadn’t yielded results. One had been 8 pages’ worth of thumbnails. The other is over 50 pages, and I’ve only made it through the first 10 (although, in both, I found some really interesting photos that will help with the project). I also found a book on the history of the park, which I will order sometime in June, depending on how all the money stuff shakes out over the next few weeks.

The Archives is only open to appointments one day per week, and then only 2 hours in the morning, and 2 hours in the afternoon. The loose plan is, if/when I book an appointment, I’d drive down very early in the morning to be there when they open, research both sessions, and then either drive back partway and visit a friend, or stay in a motel overnight and drive home the next day. Doing the full drive is possible – especially since I’d be done late afternoon. But, energy-wise, I’m not sure I could do it, especially after researching all day. Play it by ear.

I took a brief look at the Rye Historical society site. It doesn’t look as though they allow researchers; they research “for a fee.” They have very little of their collection digitized thus far. They have some photos of Playland, but I don’t know what other types of records they have. I contacted the Westchester Children’s Museum, which took over the space where the little museum in which I found the photographs used to be.

I tried to look for census records, but the last NY state census was in 1925. Four years too early, and I need a name.  If I want to look in the federal census online, I need to have a name.

What I need are Playland’s employment records. The Westchester Archives might have them. I’m also wondering if maybe they were part of the WPA program? Although that didn’t start until 1935, and, according to the caption below the photo, these women worked there from 1929-1940 panting. They’re wearing smocks, and it’s hard to tell what they have under them, but it looks like, from the hem length, the shoes, and the hair styles, the photo was taken somewhere in the mid 1930’s.

I sent an email to the reference librarian at the library where I got my first library card, just in case. I keep hoping that someone I send the photo to will be related to one of the women in it!

Anyway, that was that rabbit hole yesterday (and early this morning). What else did I do yesterday? I didn’t draft an episode of Legerdemain, which puts me back. I uploaded the Legerdemain episode video on TikTok. I’m having a terrible time with the sound attribution. It keeps listing it as original sound by me. One can only change the attribution line ONCE – and when I change it, it doesn’t save what I entered. I did the social media rounds for Legerdemain. I worked on next week’s Process Muse post. I did two client projects, one fairly large, one short. I sent three plays out on submission.

I did not go to yoga, which I missed, but I wasn’t feeling up to it.

On a practical level, I patched the hole in the screen from the time Spiro Squirrel tried to get in. I got myself a roll of screen tape for this kind of patching.

I’m reading VIVIANA VALENTINE GETS HER MAN by Emily J. Edwards, and it’s lots of fun. I’m thinking I might do book recommendations occasionally on TikTok, too, if I can set up a good template.

Went to bed early, exhausted. Woke up around 3 AM with sense memory stress. Managed to get back to sleep, and got up with the coffee. The oat milk is all clumpy AGAIN – that’s twice lately. I didn’t think plant milk could curdle.

I didn’t go to the laundromat, which I’m fine about today, but will regret next week. On today’s agenda is a lot of Legerdemain, so I can get back on track; more Playland research; a trip to the library to drop off/pick up books,  I have two client projects to do this afternoon. I hope I get in more for tomorrow and Friday. I really want to take the Monday holiday. I need the rest. But we’ll see how it all shakes out. I might have to push through all this week into next.

I’ve pushed working on the flash fiction to the weekend, along with drafting a 10-minute comedy play. I have to start thinking about the radio play for the UK company, too.

So I better get going, hadn’t I, and get a few things done! Have a good one, my friends.

Wed. May 17, 2023: Arranging Word Pebbles

Reflecting Pool at the Clark Institute. Photo by Devon Ellington

Wednesday, May 17, 2023

Day Before Dark Moon

Pluto Retrograde

Cloudy and chilly

Day before dark moon is always my lowest energy day of the month, but I need to buck up and get things done.

Today’s Process Muse post is about Managing Energy, which I’m trying to get better about. You can read it here.

Today’s serial episode is from Angel Hunt:

Episode 33: Forest Dreams

Where is this astral travel journey taking Lianna?

Angel Hunt Serial Link here.

Yesterday was just kind of an all-over-the-place mess. I’m having serious Sense Memory Stress that has little to do with my current reality. Yesterday, it was almost paralyzing. Yes, there are things I’m concerned about: the continued delay in receiving the grant money, the WGA strike, the looming debt ceiling crisis, trying to find a vet so I can update the cats’ shots and get them wellness exams, the need for new glasses, etc. But it doesn’t need the extreme stress response I had yesterday.

I figured out a few things on FALL FOREVER, and, once I get the big August rewrite done, I have a submission call to aim it at on September 1. I found another submission call with a July 1 deadline for a fun piece that I should be able to whip up and hone between now and then. I found another call and submitted a short play that fits, but I’m so close to the deadline that they might have found what they want. Last week, I had a great exchange with a company in the UK who does audio dramas, and I will submit to their next open call in June.

Drafted an episode of Legerdemain. Adapted two chapters of ANGEL HUNT into a total of 9 serial episodes. I hated to stop work on it; I was in a flow. If ANGEL HUNT continues to perform well and improves (which is always the hope, get more readers), there will be a second “season.” I’m hoping it will be between 30-50 episodes, and I’ve gotten it roughed out. I even have a working title. If that does well, there will be a third season, taking place in one of the more interesting astral locations from ANGEL HUNT, and I hope that will be around 60-90 episodes. But first, I need to finish adapting all of ANGEL HUNT, polishing, and uploading, so I know what I have. Then I can plan for the other two. Those will build on ANGEL HUNT, while still being different enough that they can be read as stand-alones.

I struggled with the poem that I’m reading Sunday, and considered giving up my slot so that someone with something that works could have it.

Had trouble focusing on client work. I’m fine with their deadlines, so I just cut myself a break, and started the 4^th draft of FALL FOREVER. I got most of the first act done before I had to leave for yoga. I made a lot of internal cuts to tighten scenes, rearranged some material, and changed the approach to one of the conflicts. All in all, it’s two pages tighter, even with the new material woven into it.

Went to yoga. It was great. We were all dragging, so we did yoga Nidra, instead of what was originally planned. During Savasana, I found the poem for Sunday.

I’d been using the wrong voice. I was using Tragic Poetess Voice when it needed to be Cynical Chick Lit Voice. Once I found the voice, the rest of it clicked into place. Just because it’s personal doesn’t mean it has to sound “precious.”

Came home, scribbled most of the poem, ate (I’d made crockpot chicken fajita). Went back to work on FALL FOREVER, and did a good portion of work on the second act. I stopped at the memorial scene, because I need to completely rip that apart and restructure it, and I have to come up with short anecdotes for them to share as their celebration of Lily that arise organically from their characters and unique perspectives. The scene from the third draft runs 6 pages; I certainly don’t want it to run anymore than that. Hopefully, it will be less.

Got the heads up that my word for July’s poem will arrive within the next seven days. How much do you want to bet it shows up on Sunday, when I’ll be spending most of the day with the poets at the Mount? But I’ll still get it done. I know what I want to write about, and I’ll find a way to weave in my starting word.

Up early and out the door to the laundromat. Revised 4 episodes of Legerdemain, and about 3 of REP. I worked on Sunday’s poem a little bit. I tweaked a few things to sharpen images and improve flow. I need a Big Finish – a couple of lines to wind it all up. I’m playing with and discarding images, not yet finding the right one. I’ll get there.

On today’s agenda: type up Sunday’s poem and figure out the ending so it sticks its landing. I’ll work it for precision and rhythm the next few days, and time it so I’m within my 3-minute slot limitation.

I’m letting the memorial scene for FALL FOREVER percolate. Maybe I’ll write a couple of the anecdotes; maybe they need a few more days. I have another episode of Legerdemain to draft, and I’ll make the social media rounds to promote today’s episode of ANGEL HUNT and the day’s Process Muse post. I’d like to do some more work on AH, but not sure it will fit into this morning.

When the bookstore opens, I’ll head over and talk to them about the reading in autumn. Hopefully, the requested day will work for all of us. We’re supposed to get our residency contracts soon, which is exciting.

I didn’t get my contract back to Llewellyn yesterday, so I’ll do that today. I have some fun dates to work with, and the research will be great. For this almanac, I’m assigned 24 specific days, which I research and build the material around, and then a bonus piece that could fit in any day.

In the afternoon, I have to catch up on the client work I didn’t finish yesterday. I’m still fine on deadline, as long as I focus and get it done. I also have to read the next book for review.

That’s the plan. Let’s hope I can make it work! Have a good one, my friends!

Tues. April 18, 2023: A Productive Weekend of Scribbling

image courtesy of Queena Deng via pixabay.com

Tuesday, April 18, 2023

Day Before Dark Moon

Rainy and cold

The temperature’s already fallen 45 degrees since late last week, and they predicted snow tonight.

Did you have a good weekend? Are you ready for our usual Tuesday morning natter?

I fixed a big plot hole in Thursday’s pages on FALL FOREVER, and that allowed the scene to move forward. I wound up writing about 6 pages on Friday.

Worked on material for June’s newsletter because there’s actually material for it already.

I wrote, revised, polished, and sent off the materials for the August residency. Either they feel I’m a good fit or they don’t. And if I get something definite on one of the other applications, before I hear one way or another from this one, I’ll have to make a decision. Chances are, I’ll take the definite. If I’m offered the August slot and know early enough, then I can build other plans around it.

Did a library run to drop off/pick up books. It was pretty damn hot out there.

Turned around two script coverages.

Read PAT IN THE CITY, Patricia Fields’s memoir about her life in fashion which then turned into a career in costume design (most famously for SEX IN THE CITY). It was very interesting. Although we overlapped a good deal in NYC, especially in the late 80s/early 90s, I was far too shy to be part of that crowd, and drugs were a big part of their scene, which was not mine at all. I mean, I was aware of her store and what was going on in the area (after all, I was at NYU, and then, once I came back from the three years on the west coast, I worked off-Broadway, climbing my way up to Broadway). I was just busy elsewhere.

Fortunately, Saturday wasn’t quite as hot. It’s pleasant enough to have my first cup(s) of coffee on the front porch, to write in my journal, and, Saturday morning, to write a few more pages of notes on REP. The big challenge with REP is going to be building the comedy properly, so it’s funny, but doesn’t overwhelm the rest of the story. And, since the ambition for it is to eventually adapt it back into either novels, or a series of novellas (the latter is more likely), I have to build the humor in a way that it doesn’t read as frantic in a flow.

I created a Serial Writers Questionnaire that I’m going to post around the various channels, to get an idea of what other serial writers are doing. It might grow into a blog post or an article at some point.

I winnowed down the inbox for my main email account to something I can deal with. I have to get on top of one more email inbox, and I’ll be on track.

I’ve been chasing down payment from a prestigious publication that pays a pittance, but claims that paying writers is important. I was supposed to be paid at the end of March. When I hadn’t received payment by the beginning of last week, I contacted the editor. The interactions have been pleasant, but so far, I’ve had excuses, trying to shift responsibility to me, and still no payment. I mean, I’d already decided I wouldn’t work for them ever again, since the payment is about 1/10^th of what I’d get at the other publications I usually write this type of material for. But no. Don’t say you care about paying writers and then not pay them.

FALL FOREVER was a bit of a slog on Saturday, and I only wrote 3 pages. But I showed up and did it, and that’s what matters. In the first 15 days of the program, I wrote 71 pages, so I’m on track. I expected to be somewhere between pages 45-60 at this point, so a rough day here and there is not going to make me whine. Pushing through to the end of this draft, rather than skipping days and catching up because I’m ahead at the moment is a better choice for me, I think.

Drafted two episodes of Legerdemain. Did the log lines for this week’s episodes and the episode graphics. Did some more work on the 2000-year history of Legerdemain that will go up on the website. I need to get more original content up on the website to enhance the serial for readers, and to intrigue new readers. But it takes time, brain energy, and tech maneuvering.

Revised, polished, uploaded, and scheduled the next two Process Muse posts.

Rubbed one of the Adirondack chairs on the front porch with teak oil, prepping it for summer. Re-painted a copper and crystal whirligig so it’s all shiny and pretty. Cleaned the crystals and put them back in on Sunday, when the paint was dry. That will look pretty once we can get the back door open and out onto the back balcony.

Finished reading a book I thought was great for the first few chapters. Then, the author, via her trio of female protagonists started slagging off other women with the term “witch” as a derogatory. Nope, nope, nope. I’ve been a supporter of this author’s work for several years, but no more. Referring to women who are mean and bullying as “witches” is inappropriate in a contemporary novel for 2023. Don’t pretend you give a flying fuck about equity and inclusion if your protagonists (who supposedly do care) use the term, you hypocrite.

Ordered Chinese food because I didn’t feel like cooking.

Finally got to watch THE LOST CITY. It was a lot of fun, for the most part, but the logistical lapses bugged me. I mean, there was a lot that was wacky, because it parodied this type of film, but the internal logic of this wacky created world needed to be stronger. A couple of the jokes were milked too long and the air went out of the scenes. One scene, for a supporting character, that was supposed to plant information for a final scene visual needed a rewrite. The actress did what she could with the material, but the words weren’t enough. It could have been an hilarious scene and wasn’t, because it was a badly written monologue that didn’t build properly.  A supporting character had an arc with potential set up, and then it was dropped as the film continued with a really weak exit for him, which was a shame, because it would have added texture. Sandra Bullock was a lot of fun. Her timing was impeccable. Channing Tatum was fine, doing his thing. Daniel Radcliffe had a good time chewing scenery (his role reminded me a lot of his role in NOW YOU SEE ME 2). Brad Pitt’s cameo was hilarious. And his schtick of eating in a scene (this time off camera, in the first phone call) was one of those things that the OCEANS movie viewers will get and love. The plot twist at the end of his cameo was unexpected, and I’m glad I hadn’t seen any spoilers. The way the movie sends up conferences was hilarious.

So, overall, I had fun. It also taught me a few structural things I want to stay away from in the Heist Romance script.

Had trouble getting to sleep on Saturday; Charlotte got me up Sunday. Morning coffee on the porch with the journal, then a few more pages of outline notes for REP.

Wrote 3 ½ pages on FALL FOREVER.

Sunday was the day I put aside to devote mostly to ANGEL HUNT. However, I still had to draft an episode of Legerdemain first. I drafted the episode, and then switched headspaces to ANGEL HUNT’s world.

I adapted two chapters into serial episodes, for a total of 8 episodes. I uploaded the next eight episodes to Vella, which gets me through the second week of June, and I have episodes drafted well into the summer. I need to work on ANGEL HUNT one day per week, in and around other stuff, until all the episodes are polished, uploaded, and scheduled. Somehow, I hadn’t written the episode loglines for the upcoming 8 episodes, so I wrote episode loglines for 16 episodes, which gets me through everything that’s scheduled. I updated the Style Sheet and Series Bible. I’m up-to-date with characters on that, but behind on plot points, and was too tired to backtrack, so I’ll have to catch up with that, too. Some of the stuff I adapted today needs better follow-through with the arcs down the line; I may have to insert some material into the chapters I’m adapting. I’ve got just over 60 episodes drafted, and I think I’m at the halfway point, maybe just a tad beyond it. I’ve uploaded episodes through Episode 40. The sooner I can get the serial finished, edited, uploaded, and polished, the sooner I can work on the plan for it.

Read the latest NEW YORKER. Felt tired and burned out. Got some of the painting done on the wind chimes. I need to do the small bits later this week, when it’s dry.

Worked on contest entries.

Yoga was terrific. The conversation is as worthwhile as the practice itself.

Home, finished the leftover Chinese food, read for a bit.

Slept pretty well. Woke up in the middle of the night, worried I had a fever. But I was sandwiched in between Charlotte and Tessa, both of whom are very warm.

I forgot to set the coffeemaker Sunday night. We were all very confused Monday morning.

Felt burned out on Monday morning. It was hard to get going. Which frustrated me, because I’d been looking forward to this holiday Monday all last week.

I snuck in a little work on GAMBIT COLONY.

Showed up to the page at FALL FOREVER, even though I wasn’t feeling it. Once I got into it, though I wrote 4 pages. Finished the scene.

I’m moving into the last few scenes. Maybe three or four more. I’d like to finish the draft before our company arrives at the end of next week.

Drafted another episode of Legerdemain, which makes me feel, finally, like I’m pulling a little ahead. I need to keep it up all week, and then I’ll make some real progress. I will be able, when I upload more episodes this week, to get a few weeks’ worth scheduled, instead of just next week’s. Got up this week’s promos.

Drafted the first three episodes of REP. I want to write about 10 episodes to see if this is actually a viable project, or if it’s just something silly to work on as a stress reliever. These episodes are more dramedy with slight satiric elements than straight-up comedy. I may layer some jokes into it, but I might let the voice that’s coming through prevail, since it’s working. And I’m trying to keep the episodes close to 1K/each (a little over/under is fine). So, in terms of episode length, it’s between the very short bites of ANGEL HUNT and the longer LEGERDEMAIN. Although I’m trying to keep the Legerdemain episodes a little shorter, too. Metrics show readers prefer to spend 10-15 tokens per episode, but not more than 20. (Which means 1-2K words for episode length, with 1-1.5K being the sweet spot).

It’s very much a valentine to theatre.

But it also means I wrote 5-damn-K words yesterday, and by 2 PM, I was TIRED.

I couldn’t paint because it was raining, and it wouldn’t dry properly.

I took up residence on the couch, and Charlotte took up residence on me (I’m one click away from adding “cat furniture” to my resume). I read SPARKLING CYANIDE, the Agatha Christie read for this month. Some of it was clever. But the young heroine fell firmly in the “too stupid to live” category and I was almost sorry when the hero managed to rescue her at the end.

Soup class was a lot of fun. It will end in mid-May, and then start up again, with a slightly different format, in November.

I jolted awake in the middle of the night with sense memory stress, but Tessa purred me down. When I finally got up this morning, I felt tired and burned out. I mean, I worked all weekend, even if it wasn’t client work.

I feel good about my work (although I wish I’d gotten more done on Legerdemain’s website), but I’m tired.

This morning, first priority is the next pages on FALL FOREVER, then another episode of Legerdemain. Then, I’ll see where I am timewise, and what I can get in before I head off to the library and the pharmacy. This afternoon, I have two scripts to turn around. I don’t have any other scripts in my queue for the week yet, and I’m trying not to let that worry me.

I also need to backup my drives before Mercury goes retrograde, put up this week’s Angel Hunt promos, put together a list of collaborative tools for a friend, and send out some pitches. A friend asked me to blurb her upcoming release, and I’m excited about that. I won’t get to read the book until sometime in May (my schedule, not hers), but I’m looking forward to it. I also want to work on contest entries.

I’m looking forward to yoga tonight, even if it kicks my ass.

Episode 77 of Legerdemain goes live today!

Have a good one, my friends! I hope your week starts well.

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?

Tues. March 28, 2023: Time for the Tuesday Natter

image courtesy of Agata via pixabay.com

Tuesday, March 28, 2023

Waxing Moon

Rainy and chilly

Hope you had a grand weekend and are ready for our Tuesday natter.

A slew of submission calls hit my desk on Friday morning. I submitted two ten-minute plays to one of them. Another call was interested in radio scripts, but the guidelines made my eyes cross, so I skipped it. Maybe I’ll go back and re-read them some day when I’m not jugging sixteen kajillion things. I saw a call that a friend’s work would fit, so I sent that off to her.

I lost way too much time dealing with my mother’s health insurance. Again. Which meant I lost the writing time I’d put aside for Legerdemain, and that put me in an unsettled mood.

I picked up a big stack of books at the library, got in some groceries from Big Y (another snowstorm predicted for the weekend), mailed some stuff and bought stamps at the Post Office (and chatted, because, around here, the Post Office is the happening place), and swung by the liquor store to replenish.

I read some more in the Katharine Cornell biography – it’s good background on Jessie Bonstelle, Rachel Crothers, and, of course, inspiration for the serial in development, REP. It’s a little on the fawning side, but if one digs past that, there’s some good theatrical history in there.

In the afternoon, I turned around two script coverages, and then went back to the Cornell bio. In the evening (and late into the night), I read a book getting a lot of attention. It’s billed as a thriller, but it’s also a horror novel. It’s very well-written, a page turner. But, at the end, it didn’t give me a feeling of catharsis, just sadness, because of the unnecessary brutality. I mean, the brutality was necessary on the author’s part, but I felt sadness for the deaths of those brutally murdered in the book. It’s well done, and I’m glad I read it, but saying I “enjoyed” it would be a stretch.

Tessa and Charlotte are now BOTH sleeping on the bed with me. Tessa is on one side, down near my feet, and Charlotte is on the other side, curled up against my chest. Charlotte always considers being a pill to Tessa when she jumps up, and I tell her that if she’s not nice to Tessa, she will be kicked out; we’re here to sleep. She considers it, decides sleeping on the bed is more important than being a brat, curls up, and goes to sleep.

I figured out how much I need to write each day on FALL FOREVER for End Of Play in April. A full-length play is 90-120 pages (with the sweet spot being a little less). Over the course of 30 days, that’s 3-4 pages, and do-able. In fact, that’s a reasonable, stable pace, although there may be some days where I write more, in order to capture the entire scene.

I also came up with a large, nonfiction project made possible by the grant (once the money ever gets here). The initial phase of it would take an entire year of a block of time devoted to it each week, and polishing it after would take a few months. But it would be a good way to show gratitude for the grant, and have a tangible project by the end of it. Well, the first draft of a tangible project. I made some notes on it, and will set up the files for it once the grant money arrives, and I can actually take action on it. Because it’s non-fiction, I can write a proposal before the draft is finished, once I have a better idea of how the idea actually works as a real piece. It’s also something I could work on in residencies, if I didn’t want to apply to residencies next year with a fiction project.

The project has a nice resonance in the heart, which indicates it’s on the right track. The right thing at the right time is like a tuning fork. You can feel when it matches the tone.

Saturday morning, I woke with the pre-storm headache, which was just not fun. Once the storm started, it eased a bit, but the weather cycled from snow to sleet to rain and back again, and it was yucky.

I drafted another episode of Legerdemain. I uploaded the next couple of episodes. It wouldn’t let me schedule today’s episode, so both of this week’s episodes are dropping on Thursday, and I have an apology graphic making the rounds. I’ll get next week’s episodes uploaded and scheduled by tomorrow, to make sure there are no glitches. I did the log lines and the episode graphics.

A friend sent me a submission call, and I had a short play that might fit, so that went out the door.

I rewrote the opening of “Labor Intensive” and then did another pass on “Plot Bunnies.” I put the opening of “Labor Intensive” in as a teaser, and added in teasers for “Just Jump in and Fly” and SAVASANA AT SEA, along with information about the serials. I kept finding little copy edit glitches, so I proofed it a few more times – and KEPT finding little niggly things. But I think it’s finally clean, and that’s uploaded and scheduled for April 4 release. I’ll be doing graphics and pre-order information and updating websites and doing a big push for the next couple of weeks on that.

But it was a full day’s work.

I did a bunch of work on contest entries, too, along with a bunch of admin work that needed to be done on them.

I dug through some books I’d ordered from the library as background for the Heist Romance. I scanned some information, and I also ordered a copy of one of the books, because I can use it as research on more than one project, and it will be useful to have on hand.

I went back to the Katharine Cornell biography and learned about Minnie Madden Fiske and the company she ran with her second husband, Harrison Grey Fiske. She’s listed in the book of American Women Theatre Directors of the 20^th century, so I can do more digging on her, too.

I need to start putting together a timeline of some of these interesting women and see where they intersect. Because there’s a project in there, even if I don’t yet know what it is.

But I was tired by the end of Saturday. Really tired.

Tessa was the only one who slept on the bed on Saturday night, and I overslept on Sunday. But the cats got breakfast and I baked biscuits.

I drafted an episode of Legerdemain, and started the next episode. I finished, polished, uploaded and scheduled this week’s Process Muse, and then went ahead and wrote, polished, uploaded, and scheduled next week’s Process Muse. I’d like to get all of April’s posts written, polished, uploaded and scheduled this week to take the pressure off me in April.

I watched/listened to the prep video for the April yoga/eco challenge, and a lot of it resonated with me, which is a good thing.

Worked my way through a stack of contest entries in the afternoon. In the evening, I went back to the Cornell bio and made some notes for several different projects. I love it when one resource has multiple uses.

Had weird dreams Sunday into Monday. First, I was driving along a highway and had to keep stopping because people crossed in front of me. Pulled myself out of that dream, and was in the midst of fretting. Then, I realized I’m slipping back into the sense memory from before the move. I kept reminding myself that the feelings are real, but the reality has shifted to something more positive.

I hope, as I mentioned in yesterday’s “Intent” post, that I can use the pillars of End of Play and the yoga practice to ease that and prevent me from sliding back into that physical and mental state. It made April-May-June and even into July last year tough.

Finally fell asleep again and fell into more weird dreams, which fled as soon as I woke up.

Instagram no longer lets me cross post to Twitter and Tumblr. I can only post to IG & FB. Urgh.

I need ONE scheduling tool that lets me schedule unlimited posts to ALL my social media channels. But that doesn’t exist. Most tools only integrate with FB, IG, and Twitter. Some add Tumblr or Pinterest. That’s not good enough.

Did some admin, drafted an episode of Legerdemain, wrote a 3-page insert for GAMBIT COLONY. Scheduled the promos for this week’s episodes of Legerdemain and Angel Hunt.

Turned around three script coverages. I started them on the front porch, but it was too chilly. However, our yellow tulips are starting to bloom! So that’s lovely.

Completely forgot I’d signed up for Summer Brennan’s Essay Camp workshop, which started yesterday. Thank goodness for emails. I managed to get in both the writing assignment and the reading assignment.

Soup class was a lot of fun. Poor Jeremy. It’s gotten a little bit like herding cats for him.

After soup class, I had another idea for the Essay Camp assignment, so I did it. I think this one might be a stronger choice, but it’s always good to have options.

I went back to the Cornell bio. The chapter on the year-long rep tour by train (ROMEO & JULIET, THE BARRETTS OF WIMPOLE STREET, CANDIDA) was amazing and funny and difficult (among her co-stars were Basil Rathbone and a young Orson Welles). Maude Howell, the first female stage manager on Broadway, helped general manager Gert Macy set things up, before heading out to California to direct films. Minnie Fiske’s niece, Merle Maddern, was an actress in the company and a skilled tarot reader. They traveled with their own train cars with 50 actors, a crew, pets, spouses, scenery, props,  and costumes. The Christmas performance in Seattle, where the train was delayed by storms, but the audience waited, watched them set up, and then they performed until 4 AM is a wonderful story in itself.

There’s a project in there.

What and when, I don’t know, but I’m gathering information. The research will be tons of fun. I can also use some of this as inspiration for the REP serial, even though REP’s premise is very different. I’m not sure when it can fit into the schedule (probably next year), but it is very much my kind of project.

Dreamed I was part of a very busy writers’ group overnight, which was fun, but I felt like I’d put in a full day before I woke up.

FALL FOREVER is definitely ready to be written. I’m feeling that pull of “come on, now, tell my story” and I’m looking forward to April 1. I’m attending the virtual kick-off party on Friday night. I can’t attend Sunday’s virtual New England event because it conflicts with yoga AND with Sunday supposed to be my day of not going online, and, in this case, the yoga needs to come first.

Twitter’s only putting those who pay for blue checks in the “For You” feed (which is where the people I follow show up, rather than in the “Following” feed). That starts April 15. I think, that week before, I will lock my account. I need to shift my focus to building community on other platforms, and remind myself that it took years. But I need to put attention there, because, although Twitter used to fuel sales (especially for the Topic Workbooks) and reads and other things, it hasn’t the last few months. I need to figure out where my audience has shifted, and establish myself there.

The “Plot Bunnies” launch will end just as that’s happening, so I’ll be able to get some good metrics about the shift in a couple of months.

Speaking of “Plot Bunnies” it’s starting to go live for pre-order. I will post more info when I get relevant information up on the website, in the next few days. It re-releases on April 4, which is next Tuesday.

On today’s agenda: working on Legerdemain, working on tomorrow’s Ink-Dipped Advice post, prepping the launch info for the re-release of “Plot Bunnies,” turning around two scripts (one of for which I was requested), and then, tonight, yoga.

There’s no episode of Legerdemain going live today because of the glitch; again, my apologies. Have a good one!

Wed. July 6, 2022: Of Typing and Glitching

image courtesy of Karolina Grabowska via pixabay.com

Wednesday, July 6, 2022

Waxing Moon

Pluto, Saturn, Neptune Retrograde

Rainy and humid

Yesterday was interesting, and kind of all over the place.

I wrote the first draft of the one-act play. It’s not long, but it still takes a specific kind of energy, so my psyche kept saying, “You put in a full day, right? I mean, you wrote an entire play. That means we get to play the rest of the day, right?”

Sadly, no. There was work to be done. Bills to be mailed at the post office. Books dropped off/picked up at the library. Groceries gathered at the store. Managed to get all the errands done before the rain began.

I heard from one of my colleagues on the Monthology anthology, who is reading the stories to help the editor decide on the order. She said my story (“Stone Garden”) was so beautiful, she cried at the end, which is EXACTLY the response for which I hoped. So I did a little happy dance.

Worked on an application for a residency. If I got in, it would be a Big Fucking Deal. It would be impressive on the old CV. The likelihood I’ll get in is small, but if I don’t try, it’s zero. And the organization contacted me specifically during this grant cycle to ask me to apply.

So I did.

Only, while I was in the process of filling out the application, the computer decided to stick/wonk/crash. It was so frustrating. Fortunately, a writer pal and a pal from Freelance Chat jumped in with ideas. I am deeply grateful to both of them. Working with both sets of ideas got things up and running and working again. It seems HP (my laptop is an HP Pavilion) and Windows11 have a difference of opinion, and something Win11 does makes HP think it needs to eat up more memory than it does. There’s a patch from HP, I downloaded it, and it seems to help, but I have to keep an eye on what’s being gobbled in my Task Manager, and then probably do regular fixes. Because, you know, heaven forbid that the companies who charge us money actually give us working products.

But it worked, and I got the application out, and now I can forget about it until November, when they tell if me I got it, or if I didn’t. It’s a project I won’t get to do unless I get this residency, more because of studio space than anything else. So I’m putting the notes for it aside and not getting too attached until I hear back, one way or the other.

I’m having a big issue with LinkedIn, and they don’t give a damn about it. Over the past week, I’ve gotten some really creepy “let’s connect” messages. First, they come through LinkedIn, which is how they’re supposed to. Then, after I either decline or ignore the messages, I’m getting even creepier, aggressive emails on my personal email, which is not connected to any of my websites, and supposedly protected on LinkedIn. All of these emails are coming from older white dudes in red states. None of them are involved in any business that would even remotely hire me for writing work. None of them should have access to my personal email. And yet, LinkedIn has somehow allowed it. Their position is that that’s what I get for not having a premium subscription. I’m tempted to take my profile down, but the email’s been compromised, and I’m not changing my personal email. Plus, pitching to agencies often requires a  LinkedIn profile.  I’ve got too much connected to it, and I like it. If LinkedIn won’t do anything, and the harassment continues, I will file with the IC unit of the FBI. They’ve been helpful before. But the fact that LinkedIn both allowed this and doesn’t give a damn that its happening is deeply disturbing. I already give them side-eye a good portion of the time, because I don’t find them particularly useful, but now? In this climate of the war against women? It’s unacceptable.

Turned around two scripts. One was deeply misogynistic while pretending to be about strong women. (Eye roll). Was requested to cover a new script by a writer whose work I adore, so I’m happy about that.

Used up the rest of the fennel for dinner to make a scallop fennel pasta dish. It was really, really good. Red Shirt Farm, from whom I got the fennel, said they’ll have some more in a couple of weeks, and I cannot wait. Between the Moosewood Cookbook and Deborah Madison’s cookbooks, I will learn how to use fennel in great dishes.

I indulged myself. COOK’S ILLUSTRATED sent me a special offer for an amazing deal for a two-year subscription and a cookbook. I’ve been a fan of the magazine for years, but the cost was always out of my budget. I usually read it through the library. But with this special offer, it’s well within it, so I’m indulging.

The downstairs neighbors have split the garden patch in front. Two of the guys who live in the apartment under me are growing corn and watermelon (which is unusual, in the middle of the city, but hey, I’m growing pumpkins), and they are so excited about it. It’s so much fun to watch these big ole construction dudes tending their seedlings. All grown from saved seeds from stuff they got from a farmer for whom they did some work. The neighbor in the other apartment last year grew the most amazing tomatoes (which she’s growing again), and beans.  I have cucumbers and tomatoes and herbs. So we’ve got our own version of a community garden growing.

I felt the full gamut of aches and pains echoing last year, when I was giving the Cape house the final scrub down. By 10 PM, when I had collapsed into the hotel room after the shower (I stayed in my favorite hideaway, The Publick House, in Sturbridge, on the way home), I finally relaxed.

I woke up feeling much better. Maybe now that I’ve ridden this out, I can get beyond the sense memory stress and build on what’s going well in the present.

A lot to do this morning, especially on The Big Project and the Topic Workbooks. And then script coverage in the afternoon.

My friend’s show opens on Cape tonight. I hope it has a good run!

An offhand (but deeply meant) Tweet I made last night went viral and it’s a little weird. But whatever. Some good conversations emerging. Dickheads are blocked. Not muting. It annoys me when someone starts something and then mutes, rather than deals with it. It’ll be over by the end of the day.

Forgot to mention that the Mid-Year Check-In went up on the Goals, Dreams, and Resolutions site. I’m doing better than I thought, which is cheering.

Have a good one.

Thurs. June 30, 2022: Following Through on Creative Risk

image courtesy of cocoparisienne via pixabay.com

Thursday, June 30, 2022

Waxing Moon

Pluto, Saturn, Neptune Retrograde

Sunny and pleasant

I talk about what’s new with the garden, especially in terms of taking out the cats in their playpens, and our neighborhood squirrels, on Gratitude and Growth.

Yesterday started with frustration, moved to creativity, ended in sense memory stress. A day of variety, that’s for sure!

I got some work done early in the morning. Headed out to the library for a pickup/delivery. For some reason, I hadn’t received the email that the books arrived, and there was quite the stack, including several books by the poet/undertaker Thomas Lynch and a couple of Chilean authors who were recently recommended to me.

I stopped at the carrier to whom I hoped to switch my phone service, but they didn’t have the phone I want in stock, and I’d have to pay for another month at my current carrier, at least, while they got it in. So that’s a no-go.

I planned to order it online, but they would only let me order that phone if I started a committed contract, and I don’t want that, because I want the option to switch carriers. Plus, they were charging twice for the phone than listed yesterday.

I found the phone I wanted, supposedly at a nearby store (one at which I loathe shopping) at the price I wanted. I bought the phone, but of course, they wouldn’t activate it or help me with it. So I drove down to my carrier’s store in Pittsfield. They got it activated, and moved the SD card for me (and were nice about it). They couldn’t get the transfer done (said they didn’t have strong enough Wi-Fi), but wrote out the directions. I got it done at home. The photos I thought were all on the SD card (because that’s what I told the phone to do) were scattered throughout my phone, but I managed to corral them and get some of them onto Google Photos (which doesn’t seem to have a download option) and the rest onto my hard drive Photos (who knew I’d posted 888 photos on Instagram?) and will download onto my external hard drive.

I still have to re-enter my contacts. But it’s mostly done, I really like the new phone, I could get my meditation timer app back on it, so fingers crossed.

I have to figure out how to make sure ALL the photos go and stay on the SD card.

A much smoother and less stressful process than the months of hell trying to get my mom’s phone situation sorted out!

It’s a Motorola G Pure, which is what I wanted. I can also unlock the phone and change carriers down the line, should I choose.

But at least I have a working phone again. My other phone still works, to a point, so I’m keeping it handy, even though it’s not hooked up to a carrier anymore. It served me well for four years (all my other phones bit it after a year).

But it took time that I’d planned for other things.

I didn’t even get started on client work until 2 PM. But I turned around three manuscripts with notes for a client. I have four more to do today.

After dinner, I went back to work on the horror story. It truly is horror, and the first piece of mine that I believe needs trigger warnings. And yet, in light of what’s going on, it’s not out of the realm of possibility, which makes it even worse. I did a couple of editing passes on it before I called it a night. I’ll put in the changes this morning, do a final proof, and out it goes, on deadline.

Even if it’s not accepted, I’m proud of myself for taking a creative risk out of my wheelhouse and seeing it through.

Part of me wanted to immediately dive into the play that’s been poking at me since the workshop last week, but I went to bed instead.

And immediately suffered a severe bout of sense memory stress. This time last year, the clock had run out, and I had to negotiate a few extra days to finish clearing out the house, accepting the berating from the landlord. While I understood his frustration, I could have also walked away and left him to deal with everything, and I did not. I communicated and I followed through, even though it nearly killed me. But there were a lot of tears and a lot of feeling like I’d break permanently.

But I didn’t. Even though I may have sense memory stress all weekend, I got through it and I am here now. That’s what matters. Building something better.

My Ello page has over 200K views now, and has led to some intriguing creative conversations. Unlike the bottom of the barrel crap from LinkedIn, there are viable projects over on Ello. A much stronger choice for me.

I’m looking forward to meditation this morning. I doubt I can get my final copyedit/proofread of the story done before it, but it will go out early today. Then I can focus on the client manuscripts, and finishing the book for review. I have one script to read tomorrow, and then I’m taking the weekend. Which will be about The Big Project and finishing the damn kitchen island. I’m not “celebrating” this Independence Day on Monday (although I’m taking it as a day away from client work). How can I celebrate “independence” with a corrupt court is stripping away so many rights?

Back to the page. Have a good one.

Fri. June 24, 2022: Summer Rain

image courtesy of jackieLouDL via pixabay.com

Friday, June 24, 2022

Waning Moon

Pluto & Saturn Retrograde

Rainy and warmer

Temperatures are going back up this weekend, but at least we had some rain to wash away the pollen.

Got some blogging done yesterday, and a bunch of admin work. Meditation was good, although it was hard to get settled.

After breakfast, I sorted out the book donations I’m making to the local library sale, packed them up, and took them on the library run where I dropped off/picked up books. Mailed some bills, picked up some wine.

Set up folders for each of the ideas generated by Wednesday’s workshop, and also for the new radio play idea I had yesterday morning as I put the coffee on. Notes, etc., all set up, so as soon as I’m ready to work on any of those ideas, I can drop right down. I expanded the notes a little on the three projects calling me with the most strength.

Freelance Chat was fun, as usual.

Gave the newsletter a couple more proofreads and caught typos each time. Hopefully, I got them all before the newsletter went out. Already had to open a new document for September’s newsletter, so I don’t forget what I want to tell people.

The newsletter reveals information on what I’ve been called “The Big Project” over the past few months. I will not be revealing that information for a couple more weeks on the blog and, generally, online and on social media. The project is going to get its own website, too, although that can’t go live until the project goes live, so, stay tuned.

Like you already don’t!

And I appreciate it.

The Friday Journal prompt will go up on my Ello page later this morning.

The Supreme Court continues its right-wing extremist stripping of rights. The Narcissistic Sociopath needs to be charged with treason and every decision and appointment made during that regime voided.

I turned around a script coverage. There’s been very little in the queue, and I’m behind where I need to be, financially for this pay period. Hoping more shows up over the weekend and into next week.

In the meantime, I’m putting my time, focus, and energy on other projects, and also into LOIs.

I have to do a grocery run today (almost out of coffee), but, other than that, the primary focus is on the anthology story. We were given two separate deadlines – one today and one on Sunday. Since I tossed a lot of what I did and started over, I will probably get it in by Sunday, although ideally, it would be today, or, splitting the difference, tomorrow. I  need to get it off my desk and onto the editor’s desk for both of us, and so I can focus on other projects until I get the editing notes back.

I also need to spend time on The Big Project (having to finish a major section by early next week, so it can go through editing while I move on to the next big section), and the Topic Workbooks.

I’m getting contradictory information about a residency that I was interested in, and an organization is giving me one set of information, encouraging me to apply, but the actual application says something else. It’s a little frustrating. I may put that aside until at least next week.

I’m still dealing with sense memory stress from last year. The next 10 days will be rough, since I have to shake off what this time last year was about: travelling back and forth, trying to finish the cleanout in the Cape house, people being hired/paid and not showing up to do the work, the physical impossibilities of doing it all myself, some of the poor decisions I made in getting rid of things, the destruction of the dream of living on the Cape, and the landlord’s incessant fussing. All in extensive heat and humidity. But it got done and we are here, not there, in a better situation all around, and I keep reminding myself of that, and working to layer positive memories over the rough ones. Definitely a process. And last year, I had to suppress a lot of the emotion in order to get it done and just survive. So that’s come back to bite me in the butt, but at least I understand what’s happening and why, so I can take steps to deal with it.

The weekend will focus on the anthology story, The Big Project, and the Topic Workbooks. And, finally, maybe finishing the kitchen island cart that’s still in pieces all over the house.

See you on the other side. Have a good one!

Thurs. June 23, 2022: Shaking Up the Process

image courtesy of Nat Aggiato via pixabay.com

Thursday, June 23, 2022

Waning Moon

Pluto & Saturn Retrograde

Partly cloudy and mild

Yesterday was a struggle early, and then blossomed into something wonderful.

In the morning, I slogged through a lot of email and got the inbox back down to something manageable. Dealt with a few things that needed dealing with. I still have some correspondence to get out today, mostly follow up to some of the recent art experiences. I also need to knuckle down and get my profile(s) up on the Creative Ground site. Every time I start, I get overwhelmed, which is ridiculous, because I can toss of bios and profiles in my sleep. But all the form-filling restrictions to get to the bio paragraph throw me off. I have to figure out how to make them work WITH what I do, not against it.

I did a good chunk of work on the anthology story, and it’s chugging along the way it should be. I also got another section of The Big Project done. I’d hoped this would be the end of the first big arc, but I need a few more sections.

In a week or two, I will make the public announcement about The Big Project, and some of this will start to make sense. If you can’t wait, I’m doing a reveal in the newsletter going out this afternoon. If you’re not on the newsletter list, you can sign up here.

My body and psyche fought me most of the day, remembering the stress of the movers last year at this time. I kept having to stop and lie down, or sit on my meditation cushion to acknowledge and release what was going on, while reminding myself that the reality of last year is not my reality now.

I should have turned around a script, but I knew I couldn’t give it the attention it deserved, so I did not, and will do so today, instead. I’m still fine, as far as deadlines.

In the afternoon, I drove down to Pittsfield, to the Berkshire Atheneum, to participate in a playwrighting workshop hosted by the Williamstown Theatre Festival. The guy who organized the World’s Largest Poem over in Lenox in which I’m participating is the one who sent me the information.

There were only 10 of us in a large space, and everyone was respectful and diligent about masking.

The workshop was fantastic. One of the reasons I wanted to attend was that I feel my stage playwrighting has gotten stale, and I wanted to shake up my process. Well, the workshop certainly did that!

We were given 5 titles and had to write a sentence or two about what our version of the play would be, inspired by that title. Basically, a logline. Then, we mixed and matched with different partners on each title to share what we’d come up with.

As someone who usually puts the title on near the end, this was definitely a way to shake up my process. It was a ton of fun. Then, we went around the room and shared the one we’d come up with that resonated the strongest. I was gratified that the one I felt the strongest pull from was something everyone in the room really liked, too, and several of my colleagues, at various points, encouraged me to write that play.

In the next exercise, we were given a character/set sheet from an actual play, with the character breakdown and some set notes, and had to come up with a quick outline of beginning, middle, and end. Then we broke down into groups based on which set sheet we had, and talked about what we’d come up with. That was a ton of fun, too.  That was more natural for me, since I tend to work from character first. And it wasn’t completely out of my wheelhouse as someone who’s done for-hire work receiving material like that from a client and having to create around it. At the same time, it was different enough to be a stretch.

The final exercise was to create a title and then a character/set sheet and build a rough idea of a play from there. I grabbed a prompt out of the “wild ideas” bin (and it was one), and built from there. That one, I think, will wind up being a screenplay rather than a stage play. It’s gravitating more naturally to that form, and the concept chooses the form.

It’ll be a while before I can write it, because I promised my friend Paula to write a script inspired by the short story “Floral Arrangements” first!

Anyway, the creative experience was terrific, and my fellow playwrights were all wildly generous and creative. I hope they follow through on some of the ideas generated in the workshop, because I’d love to see/read the results. I felt very lucky to land in this specific group of creatives.

The playwright who led the workshop is also going to be in the World’s Largest Poem (so I’ll actually know someone there).

It also made me realize that, because I do this (writing) everyday for a living, I can get stuck in systems and processes because they’re safe and easy. To an extent, one has to do that in order to get the work done and keep a roof over one’s head. But it’s important to shake up process and not get stale.

I left the workshop with 7 viable script ideas. How I will fit them in to the rest of my life is a challenge, but I want to play with at least some of them over the coming months and see where they lead. It also might give me something to bring into the LAVA playwrighting circle, if I can ever remember that it meets the second Monday of the month! I signed up for it a long time ago, and have yet to make a meeting. I wasn’t comfortable bringing in the material for the radio scripts, because they are done to specific needs of various companies, and without knowing the specs, the people giving me feedback could throw me off the needed track. But bringing in material begun in this workshop, that doesn’t have a set venue yet, gives me room to incorporate the kind of feedback I’d get in a playwrights’ circle.

However, the first session, I will just sit and listen, to see how they work.

Anyway, it was a great experience. This facet of Williamstown Theatre Festival hopes to do a workshop every two months or so, and I hope I can participate in more of them. I loved the way the workshop leader created creative space and led the experience.

I’d hoped to order from Meng’s Pan Asian, but they were closed. Instead, I ordered an overpriced pizza from one of the pizza places we hadn’t yet tried, and it was mediocre. But it was food.

I’m working on the notes from yesterday’s workshop. I want to set up the files and information, and expand on some of the initial notes while they’re fresh. That way, when the idea’s turn comes up, I can drop back into it without wondering what the heck I meant.

This morning, I woke up with a new idea for a comic mystery radio play. I will make some notes on that, too, and it will have to take its place in line after the four radio plays already promised to producers.

Hopefully, this surge of creative energy can also feed into the anthology story and The Big Project. Based on yesterday’s work, I will re-post, each day of July, the 31 Prompts that I did a few years ago. I have a lot of followers I didn’t have the first couple of times I did them.

There’s a garden post up on Gratitude and Growth.

If you missed the short story “Discoveries” on Ko-Fi yesterday (as Cerridwen Iris Shea), it’s here.

Meditation this morning, then I have to do some writing, organize the books for donation, and do a library run. After that, it’s back to the page. I have deadlines.

A year ago today, we were on the road a little after 4 AM with screaming cats, got here a little after 8, and then waited for the movers to show up. Thank goodness we are here.

Have a good one!