Fri. Feb. 10, 2023: I Feel Like A Spinning Top That Tipped Over

image courtesy of InspiredImages via pixabay.com

Friday, February 10, 2023

Waning Moon

Cloudy and cool

According to the weather forecast, we won’t see any sun until March 1. Which is discouraging. Gray days for the rest of the month. I hope they are wrong.

Meditation was good, as usual. Charlotte was happy to hang out, too, because, you know, Zoom.

I need to do something better for Instagram, since links in the messages themselves are basically useless. I’m not a fan of Linktree.  Of the other sites I researched, both Campsite and Lnk.Bio look good, and I’m leaning toward the latter. That way, I can have the serials, The Process Muse, the newsletter, the websites, all of it up.

I got a stack of filing done and put away, and that made me feel like I had so much breathing room.

Drafted two episodes of Legerdemain.

Did the social media rounds, promoting Legerdemain and 28 Prompts. Spoutible was clunkier than usual, which was frustrating. The Writing Wonders game is fun on Mastodon; didn’t spend much time on CounterSocial, except to check in.

Twitter’s just depressing. There was a “Twitter Smarter” seminar, on which I checked some posts later in the day (I was busy when it was live). The tips offered made sense about two years ago, but aren’t relevant to Twitter’s current crumbling. There’s still a (fading) chance it will course correct, but I can’t see it happening as long as Yegads Muskrat is in charge.  And I came across a post of someone I’ve interacted with talking about the importance of liking and RTing, which, coming from her, is just total hypocrisy. Trying to hold my patience and not lock the account until March. But my impulse is to do it now.

Worked on the residency proposal. Made some notes for another project for which I will do a proposal later this year, although I probably won’t actually get to work on the project until next year. There are two such proposals I need to write up, and then, when opportunities present themselves, I can apply for the appropriate residencies. Because these definitely have to be done in out-of-house studio spaces. They won’t fit to do them here, and are experiments expanding the way I tell stories.

Had a worthwhile chat with some fellow Kindle Vella authors and readers about number of episodes, lengths of episodes, etc. and it was interesting and helpful to get the different perspectives.

Only turned around one script, because after that, I hit a wall. That means I have two to turn around this afternoon, one short, one long. I’m taking the weekend off from reading, because I’m at the edge of burnout, and need to rest from that type of work for a couple of days. It’s not fair to the writer if I push myself through burnout. Hopefully, scripts will turn up next week, so I can get some more in this pay period. I’m waaaaaay under where I want and need to be, financially, because the scripts that were available paid so little.

The dumpling press arrived. You know what that means? As soon as I clean out the freezer from the leftovers that have taken up recent residence, there will be MANY KINDS OF DUMPLINGS ALL THE TIME. Because I love dumplings, and I have 3 cookbooks devoted to them. And dumplings are made in large batches, like 50 at a time.

Started reading a book for pleasure that lost me by page 13, so that’s going back to the library unfinished. Then started a book I could not put down. It’s MURDER AT THE 42^ND STREET LIBRARY by Con Lehane. Excellent on plot, pace, character, dialogue levels. The plot, in particular, is very well constructed. A lot of it also takes place in my old Hell’s Kitchen neighborhood and around the main branch of the 42^nd St. Library. The setting is an additional character, and rendered with both affection and a clear eye. Reading it made me miss New York for the first time since I moved away.

Fortunately, I’m close enough so that a trip down there every now and again is not out of the realm of possibility.

Anyway, loved the book, can’t wait to read the rest of the series.

Exhausted last night, more from family stuff than anything else. Caring for an elderly parent, even one in relatively good health, can be exhausting.  Slept fairly well, until Tessa and Charlotte started in on me at 4 AM. I was in the Dreamscape, very busy all night, nothing bad, just busy. I was myself (a younger version, but still me) rather than someone else, which was much more comfortable. I keep feeling there’s something important I need to remember from the dream, and it’s just beyond my grasp.

This morning, it’s off to the library, the pharmacy, the grocery store, the liquor store. I need to get some more of my own work done in the morning, especially on proposals. I need to do the social media rounds for today’s episode of ANGEL HUNT and 28 Prompts. I have to write an submit the book reviews (which I didn’t do yesterday, and one of the reviews is due today). And I have to catch up on the script coverages.

Oh, look! The sun peeked out, for about 30 seconds! Better than nothing, right?

Tomorrow, I will work on proposals and make some notes on the poems I want to work on (possibly in the residency later this year, if that works out). I’ll also do some more work on the article; answers to the interview questions have been coming in, and it’s time to work quotes into the article. Sunday, I’m supposed to go to an artist talk in Pittsfield at noon, and then a meditation session at the local yoga studio at 4. Fingers crossed that it all works out. The risk assessments made it look possible,

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

Thurs. Feb. 9, 2023: Cracked Patience

image courtesy of OpenClipart-Vectors via pixabay.com

Thursday, February 9, 2023

Waning Moon

Cloudy and cold

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

Two things I didn’t talk about yesterday, which I will talk about here: The first is the horrible earthquake in Turkey and Syria. 11,000 dead last I heard, and growing fatalities. The scope of the devastation is horrifying. I hope the world steps up and helps.

The second is the State of the Union address that happened on Tuesday. Biden handled himself well, although I didn’t agree with everything he had to say. But that’s okay, I don’t have to. Other than handling the pandemic, he’s doing a good job, in my opinion. It sent quite the message that only Bernie Sanders cared enough to mask, and made it clear that both parties don’t give a flying fuck how many citizens are killed by COVID. That is not acceptable.

The Republicans behaved badly, because that’s all that’s in their wheelhouse. Sinema (who is a Repub embedded as a Dem) craves attention and dressed like an extra from a Chiquita Banana parody. Her pathetic bids for attention are so inappropriate for her job. MTG behaved like the trailer trash she is, and SHS had a “rebuttal” that continues to show what a lying grifter she, her family, and the whole party are.

Yesterday morning was frustrating, doing all kinds of paperwork and contracts. I lost nearly an hour putting the new ink in the inkjet printer, because the color printhead wouldn’t align properly. I want my laser printer fixed!

Went down to the post office, got everything mailed, including the contract for the big project. Sent everything certified, so I can be sure it gets there. As I’ve mentioned before, the post office around here is the happening place, where everyone exchanges information, suggests people for projects, etc. There was a man at the post office mailing two large boxes to Florida. His son died a few months ago, and was a huge Miami Dolphins fan. He had season tickets, and went down to see them play home games several times a year. He became close friends with someone who had tickets near him. The Miami friend flew up for the man’s funeral, which was the first time the family met him. He said he’d love something to remember his friend by. His parents couldn’t deal with it at the moment, but have since cleaned out their son’s belongings. They boxed up all the Miami Dolphin paraphernalia and shipped it to his son’s friend. It’s a story both sad and lovely.

Did the social media rounds for Process Muse, Angel Hunt, and 28 Prompts. Submitted four plays and two radio plays. The radio plays were immediately rejected, because the submission “closed early.” Well, boo, THEN PULL DOWN THE NOTICE. Don’t waste people’s time. Treat people well.

Turned around two coverages. Finished the second book for review. I’ll write up both reviews and send them in today, and, hopefully, get assigned my next books.

Made a green bean and fennel ragout for dinner, from Moosewood’s recipe, and it was very good. Leftovers, too, which are yummy. I’m trying to figure out if I want to join a CSA next year, or just keep going to the market every Saturday. Because my schedule is kind of up in the air, market is a safer choice, because I may be out of town here and there on pickup days.

Two of the big boxes from the Target order arrived (although one of the boxes was so flimsy, it fell apart as I was taking it into the house. So no giant box for the cats to play in). But we are stocked up on basics and cleaning supplies, and toilet paper, and the like. I got new file folders, pattern coded for this year, so I can finish filing 2022 and set up the 2023 files. I have to rework where I keep the files I use most often. The space that worked best for me, to the right of my desk, now has the second printer on it, and the file rack is on the floor, which isn’t really working.

Jumping onto Twitter to check it in the evening was a huge mistake. People whining about not seeing posts from their “friends.” People whining about other stuff. Faux engagements questions. People demanding others do free administrative labor on their accounts. Right wing crap. Bullying. The block button is my best tool lately. I may lock my account as of March. I don’t want to do so while 28 Prompts is running, but, if I can hold out until March, that’s probably a good time to lock down.

On a happier note, I re-read SAD CYPRESS by Agatha Christie. It was the January read for the Read Christie! challenge, but my copy is in storage, so I had to get it from the library, and it just arrived. I’d forgotten how interesting it was.

Weird dreams about buying long strands of large Christmas lights at a garden center. Only I wasn’t me in the dream. I was embodying a person, but it was a different woman than the one I am. Which is a weird sensation, all the way around. It wasn’t a bad dream, it was ordinary. It was just strange to be someone else.

Today’s agenda: meditation. Drafting more Legerdemain. Uploading/scheduling more Angel Hunt. Doing the graphics for the upcoming Legerdemain scheduled episodes. Working on a residency proposal. Checking the guidelines for something I wanted to do, figured I couldn’t, but maybe I can (if I can use a particular piece). Writing two book reviews and submitting them. Filing. Two script coverages. Contest entries. Social media rounds for the next Legerdemain episode and 28 Prompts.

To my pleasure and surprise, Post drives traffic to my sites. At first it was as much traffic as Twitter. As Twitter’s fallen off, now it’s more. And I do truly enjoy my time on Spoutible.

Off to meditation. I need to start sitting again in the mornings, as well as at night before I go to bed. Then, it’s back to the page.

Tues. Feb. 7, 2023: Variety as Spice and Obstacle

image courtesy of Reimund Bertrams via pixabay.com

Tuesday, February 7, 2023

Last Day of Full Moon

Sunny and cold

Well, that was quite the weekend. Let’s sit down and have a catch-up, shall we?

Friday, I did the blogging. I drafted two episodes of Legerdemain. That felt good, and the arcs I have intersecting and weaving in this second big arc are coming together. I’ve adjusted the outline slightly. I know where I’m headed; I’m just not sure how many episodes it will take to get there. I’m also using Legerdemain in the Writing Wonders game over on Mastodon, which is fun.

I took care of a bunch of admin. I finished a script coverage and did a scoring sheet on another project. I did some research on some residencies, and there’s one for which I’d like to pitch, but I have to decide which of my projects makes the most sense to apply there.

I finished reading a book in the late afternoon/evening that was recommended, but I lost patience with the self-sabotaging protagonist who wasn’t very bright and didn’t grow. She wasn’t someone I wanted to spend that much time with, and she wasn’t interesting enough to hold my attention once she lost my respect.

Started re-reading Anne Truitt’s DAYBOOK. If you’re not familiar with Anne Truitt’s work, she was a visual artist/sculptor/painter/writer. I was first introduced to her work through her books, published diaries and musings about her relationship to her art in the 1990s, when working on a collaborative theatre piece about women’s diaries. I re-read her books DAYBOOK, TURN, and PROSPECT regularly. If you do any type of creative work or enjoy others’ creative work, I recommend these books. They will give you a lot of insight into process.

On a trip to Washington, DC, a few years before moving to Cape Cod, there just happened to be a retrospective of her work at one of the museums along the Mall, and I was thrilled to spend quality time within the physical pieces about which I’d read over the years.

It was -10 when I went to bed on Friday night and -17 when I got up. The power held overnight, but the internet fluctuated (which was fine, because I slept through the whole thing).

I made vegetable stock on Saturday morning. I did the rounds putting up the day’s prompt, and then I sat down and drafted a couple of first drafts of short stories inspired by the prompts. Most under a thousand words.

I had three ideas for the first one, at the airport bar. The first two worked pretty well (especially the second one, set in the TWA Sunken Lounge). The third, I literally lost the plot. I had an idea Friday night, and lost it, although I remember the opening. The story for the second prompt used a character from one of the first stories, and had a unique twist, but I haven’t yet decided where I want to do with it. The third prompt was a lot of fun, kind of a sweet story, and the 4^th is okay, but needs more of a climax. But that’s what first drafts are for, for me. To figure out what I’m trying to say.

I don’t know if I’ll use all the prompts, but these were fun. If I can take the character in the middle story I wrote for Prompt 1 and used in Prompt 2 and come up with fun interlinked stories all month (aside from whatever else I do), that would be a good challenge.

A lot of paying markets now want speculative and horror, and, of course, none of these so far are that. Oh, well, it just means looking at the markets. The linked stories are action/thriller; the others are contemporary women’s fiction.  They’re under three different bylines, at this point, because the tones of the pieces fit those bylines.

I’m writing all month, then going back to rewriting, and not even thinking about submitting until later in the spring. I doubt I’ll do something for every prompt, but it’s a nice warmup.

Turned around three coverages on Saturday. Read one of the books for review.

Went to bed early, because I was tired. Slept decently, and up at the usual time on Sunday. I went out a did a big grocery shop in the morning, restocking staples we’ve used up, and getting stuff for recipes I want to try this week. Five overflowing bags. That should keep us going for a while.

I read up on Corsica, which is where the next section of the Heist Romance script takes place, with the focus on the romance portion, rather than the heist portion. I realized  that they can’t take the ferry out of Nice, it has to be Toulon. Researching Toulon, I found out about Mont Faron and the cable car ride, and used that as a setting for a couple of scenes. Wrote 8 pages, and they’re on the ferry to Corsica now.

I have more research to do on Corsica (and I watched a bunch of great videos) before I can write this section. I came up with a way to tie it in to the main plot at two points, too, and I might even send them across to Sardinia for a day or two.

Obviously, I am doing this script as high-concept, big budget and not limiting my parameters at all. Which is kind of fun.

Turned around three coverages. Spent some time on Spoutible. When it runs, I have to say I enjoy it. It’s like Twitter without all the screaming and trolling, although I suspect that will change when it opens up to the general public this week. There are still some glitches, and it’s clunky moving between screens, but they fix problems and listen when people bring something up. So we’ll see. And I’m having a lot of fun on the Writing Wonders game over on Mastodon.

As I’ve said before, Twitter mostly makes me sad now. The algorithm hides followers from each other, unless they pay the monthly fee. There are a few people I regularly interact with, and I just go to their feed and see what they’re up to, but it’s even making that more difficult. Of the “writers” that are still there, most of them are posting either faux engagement questions they got off a clickbait list,  or expecting other writers to do their work for them. I’ll have the data by May or June to see if the promotional posts are even driving traffic anymore (I doubt they are), and then I’ll make my decision.

Because, for me, social media can’t just be about hanging out. It’s part of my business. It needs to drive traffic back to the websites, and translate into purchases or other forms of mutual support. Sites that don’t do that need to fall off the daily rounds, because my time and energy needs to be spent elsewhere. I love hanging out and chatting with people on a wide variety of topics, but when it’s all one-sided (as in chatting, and I’m supporting their projects, but they’re not supporting mine), it becomes an unbalanced relationship. Since I”m being far more careful to avoid those in real life, I also need to avoid them virtually.

Started reading the next book for review.

Honored the full moon.

Slept reasonably well, was up earlier than usual on Monday, and had to override the automatic start time on the coffeemaker because I couldn’t wait that long.

Drafted an episode of Legerdemain.

Revised/edited the next four episodes of Legerdemain, with the multi-colored draft, followed by two more rounds of revision and a polish. Uploaded those four episodes, which gets me to the beginning of March. Now I can draft a bigger batch of episodes, and that will help, if, in revisions, I have to plant something earlier than I thought.

Put in a couple of big orders for things I need (cleaning supplies, etc.) shipped. Still waiting for the Midnight City Tarot that should have arrived last week, but the “tracking” doesn’t show where it is; just says “moving through network.”

I hate DeJoy and he should be in prison, not running the post office.

Picked up the stack of books waiting for me at the library.

I got a coverage turned around and was almost through the second when I was hit with a bunch of admin stuff that had to be done immediately. Some of it is tax-focused (a company for whom I’ve freelanced a lot this past year is screwing me on the 1099 – I really need to find a replacement for that client). And there’s other paperwork that’s come through for a big project, and I’ll share details as soon as I’m allowed and everything is signed.

Of course, the printer ran out of ink during all of this.

I was too out of sorts to go back to coverage. I made Eggplant Mykonos for dinner (from Moosewood, of course), using graffiti eggplant rather than the usual dark eggplant, because that’s all that was in the store. I really liked it.

I read more of the book for review in the evening. I couldn’t settle back into coverage, and I’ll pay for that today. It means I have 5 coverages that HAVE to be turned around today, AND I have soup class tonight.

The Goddess Provisions box arrived, and it’s wonderful.

Slept well until Charlotte woke me at 1, then had trouble getting back to sleep, and had stress dreams until the coffee started. Hauled the laundry over to the laundromat and got that done. I did some work in longhand on a project – I’m a little over 50 pages in to that one. I need to type it up and then outline, because I’m flailing, and it needs an outline. Also read some of Victoria Glendenning’s biography of Edith Sitwell.

I have to give tomorrow’s Process Muse post a polish and get it up, work on Legerdemain, and do the social media rounds. Then, I’ll spend the rest of the day on script coverage, and finish the admin work tomorrow.

Hope you had a good weekend, and are having a good start to the week.

Newest episode of Legerdemain drops today. I hope you enjoy it.

Fri. Feb. 3, 2023: Brrrrrrr!

image courtesy of HANSUAN FABREGAS via pixabay.com

Friday, February 3, 2023

Waxing Moon

Bitterly cold

It is brutally cold out there, and an advisory went out, asking people to stay in unless absolutely necessary. I plan to heed that warning. Power outages are also rolling through, so it could be a cold, difficult weekend. The internet and phone keep going in and out, too.

Meditation didn’t happen yesterday. The leader was away; she’s very organized, but the person who organizes the group at the library doesn’t communicate well enough with the rest of us. This happens too often: we all show up, and then it’s canceled ten minutes in. It’s definitely easier because it’s virtual than if we all drove in and showed up, but it still gets frustrating.

The fourth episode of Angel Hunt drops today.

Yesterday was somewhat of a fractured, fiddly day. I did the social media rounds to promote Legerdemain and to drop the #28Prompts. Spoutible is still having issues, although, by the end of the day, they were claiming (on Twitter) to have fixed them and run faster than Twitter. Like I said yesterday, ballsy of them to openly do their admin on Twitter when they are a competitor, and Yegads Muskrat has worked so hard to prevent people from posting their links to Post or Mastodon. I guess I’ll find out today, when I do today’s rounds, how it’s running.

In the live Q&A pre-launch, they claim they want to support working artists who promote and share information about their work, so we’ll see if that’s the case.

I have to keep reminding myself that Twitter didn’t start paying off in engagement or in boosting sales right off the bat. I grew the audience over years, and continued to grow it. However, in that time lag it takes to grow new audiences and support on other platforms, my income takes a hit. So I have to come up with an interim marketing strategy as I grow on various platforms, and pull back from those who aren’t fulfilling any need (because it’s not all about boosting sales, but there’s no point in continuing to post on sites with zero interaction even on non-marketing posts).

I managed to get through a lot of email and deal with it, but the amount that remains across several inboxes is depressing. However, reading newsletters as palate-cleansers between tasks is working for me better than saving them to batch-read later.

Did some work on the article. Got part of what I needed from MassMOCA very fast, and we’ll see if I need to contact them for more information.

Having conversations about the possibility of a week-long residency in the fall. There are a bunch of pieces that need to fall into place (some of which have nothing to do with me), but if it works out, I’d really like to do it. I have the idea for a project I’d work on during that time, and it would shake up my process and stretch me, so I hope it comes to pass.

One of the handlers at an agency with which I’m signed is pitching me for a 3-month, 20-hour/week gig to a company. The money’s right, and 20 hours works with balancing the rest of what I do. It’s more big corporate than I usually do, but I’m definitely qualified for the work AND would learn a lot AND it’s only three months, which is the kind of thing I’m looking for. I updated my remote cover letter, did a project-specific blurb about my qualifications, updated the marketing portfolio and sent it off. We’ll see where it goes from there. But nothing ventured, nothing gained, and I’m pleased that she thought of me for the slot.

I managed to plant a pot of butterfly-friendly plants (Shasta daisy, Black-eyed Susan, Coneflower) and some of the Bergamot seeds from the local botanical garden, in honor of Imbolc. I have to update this year’s plant journal, and move some of the pages to the big, multi-year binder.

All those little dribs and drabs prevented me from any deep dive writing, and that’s part of what left me feeling unsettled all day. I’m taking note of that, so I can fix it for today and moving forward. A reminder that “oh, it’ll only take 10 minutes” putting a task before the first major writing session of the day often means I lose the day’s writing – because it NEVER takes just 10 minutes.

I’m trying to figure out how to set up my bedroom as more of a sanctuary. The space is fine (I’ll never have a bedroom as big as the one on Cape again, that was an anomaly), the furniture is fine, there’s a limited way to arrange things, but I can do more (on a budget) to make it feel more sanctuary-ish. I just have to figure out what that is. I am not one for a Spartan aesthetic. That stresses me out. I want cozy, warm, texture, books, crystals, soft lighting, etc. Getting a rug in there will help, and I know what I want, but haven’t yet found it (in my price range). Putting up curtains will also help. I have no issue with the blinds up there, but I’m more of a curtain person. Figuring out how to put something on the big wall behind the bed that feels elegant and cozy and doesn’t cause me to lose my deposit will help a lot, too. I have ideas on what I want it to look like; now I have to apply my theatre skills on how to pull it off.

Never let anyone tell you that skills you learn working in theatre are irrelevant in life. It’s simply not true. My theatre training in various aspects has done more to add value to the rest of my life than anything else.

I also need to do some work on my office again, organizing and straightening things out. Juggling projects has gotten a little messy, and I like the office to be tidier.

None of it has to happen all at once; I keep my eyes open for what will work in my price range and keep adjusting.

The weekend is about staying in, writing, reading, working on reviews and contest entries. If scripts come in, I’ll do them, since it was so light this week. Sunday should be warm enough to venture out and go grocery shopping. Next weekend, I might actually go out and do a few things – I’m signed up for a meditation session at my yoga studio, and I’m invited to an artist talk. The risk assessments and safety measures in place seem to work for both.

Have a good one!

Thurs. Feb. 2, 2023: Blessed (Cold) Imbolc

image courtesy of NoName_13 via pixabay.com

Thursday, February 2, 2023

Waxing Moon

Bitterly cold

Imbolc

Hop over to Gratitude and Growth for more on the garden.

Yesterday was kind of all over the place. I had a bunch of admin work to do in the morning. Then I did the social media rounds to promote Angel Hunt, Ink-Dipped Advice, The Process Muse posts, and the day’s #28Prompts.

I got an email from Barnes & Noble stating I had to update payment information for an upcoming order. Which I did. And they WOULDN’T – not couldn’t, but WOULDN’T, due to ‘security reasons’ —  connect the updated payment information to the order. I have never worked with a company where, once I updated payment information, the order wasn’t simply put through with the new payment info that’s now default on the account and that was that. I’ve done with every account I have, from the storage unit to Amazon to the webhost, because Greylock issued new debit cards last fall for no damned good reason, and no one has a problem. I put in the new information, it’s confirmed, it’s marked as “default” and then we’re good to go. They get their money; I get my order. Basic business. I argued back and forth with them for TWO HOURS, and they finally said the best they could do was to cancel the order and have me put It through again, with the new information. Which also meant additional shipping charges.

No, mofo. Your antiquated system that won’t update from my end and then you REFUSE to update it on your end is not my problem. Cancel the order and lose me as a customer.

I will put the order through elsewhere. It’s for books by a friend of mine, and I just told her I’d pre-ordered them ages ago (which I had). So I want the damn books.

But I won’t be ordering anything from B&N anytime soon (if ever). I’d used them as an alternative to Amazon (along with Bookshop.org), but now it’s Bookshop, even though I don’t like the shipping fees.

And there was my morning, lost, without the writing I needed to do on Legerdemain or anything else. Because they wouldn’t tie the updated credit card information on the online account to the actual order. I’d cancel the whole account, but there’s no function to do so.

I switched over to reading some pitches and scoring sheets. And then I remembered Spoutible launched today, so I went over to get that all set up. I pre-registered MONTHS ago, and don’t like that we didn’t get any immediate link launch information. Signing up/in was a pain in the butt, because the server kept crashing (people are excited to be there). Then they want to verify my phone number. Let me be very clear – NOTHING about 2-factor verification using the phone is about security. EVERYTHING is about collecting data. I resent having everything tied to the phone. I wouldn’t even have a phone if I could get away with it. And the authentication wouldn’t go through, it kept saying it “couldn’t verify” my phone number.

I was about to tell them to bite me, too, but then it went through and everything was settled.

The server is running slowly because so many people tried to sign up all at once (rolling the launch over a few weeks like Post did would probably have made things smoother).

So many people are raving about how good it is, and how similar to Twitter it is and I’m like, meh? Probably because of the initial crush, but it’s very hard to move between screens. For instance, if I search a topic, I then have to wipe it from the search bar after I’ve dealt with it, because going back to “timeline” only gives me the search results again, instead of the overall timeline feed. I’m hoping things will smooth out, but with all the hype, especially the way they were talking in the live session yesterday, I expected more.

But I’ll give it a chance. I’ve already found some old writer pals and made some new ones.

I also think it’s ballsy that Spoutible does so much of their admin on Twitter, when their goal is to get people to leave Twitter for them.

I managed to get the prompt for the day even up on Hive, although that was another way-too-much-wasted-time event.

But I’m telling you, I was In A Mood by the end of it all. Not in the mood to do the one short coverage I had, but it wasn’t due, so I put it off. I want to give the script and the writer  full focus and solid attention, not grumpy pants attention. I’ll go back to it today. Writers put their hearts and souls into the work, and I want to make sure to give every piece I read, whether it’s coverage reading or reviews or contest entries, a fair shake.

On a happier note, answers to the interview questions started to come in, and I have to make an appointment over at MassMOCA next week or so to get some background for the article.

I’m getting very excited about the article.

I found some interesting submission calls for plays that I sent off to a friend. There’s one, at a playhouse I know, that I might also send something in for. There was another one that interested me, but the deadline is today, and I’m not sure I have the right material for it. Some residency application deadlines hit my desk – and were due yesterday or today. I wish they’d let people know about them earlier.

I did a quick revision on one short play I thought would be good for one organization and got that in. So we’ll see. Nothing ventured, nothing gained. I still have time for the other.

I also signed up for the Dramatists’ Guild “End of Play” event in April. I will write one of the full-lengths I started developing in the workshop sponsored by Williamstown Theatre Festival last year.

I forgot to mention that, on Tuesday, I spent some quality time with the virtual alumni book group, talking about THE READING LIST, and it was a lot of fun. And a local theatre’s moved to a new space, inviting me to their open house at the end of the month. If the weather is okay, I think I will go.

Later in spring, I think we’ll do a day trip to Hobart, NY, which has a ton of second hand bookstores. A friend sent me an article about the place. It’s about two and a half hours away, which means it could be a reasonable day trip, when the weather is nicer.

The stores sound luscious.

I considered renting a place for a few days as a change of scenery to write, but honestly, if it’s not a residency with a private studio and meals provided, I might as well stay home and work, where I have my pots and pans and magic coffeemaker. Because if I have to do my own cooking in a different space (which, I admit, can be fun), I will be taking crates of equipment with me and spending more time in the kitchen than on my work. Especially since I’m not doing indoor dining yet.

I had the Black Screen of Death on the computer this morning, but managed to get it up and running. Told ya they hadn’t fixed it properly. How much do you want to bet it will have to go out again soon for repair?

Meditation this morning, then off to pay some bills before the weather turns too brutal. Then, I’ll spend some quality time on the page, finish off the coverage, and switch over to contest entries and the books for review. I’ll also do the social media rounds promoting today’s episode of Legerdemain, #28 Prompts, etc.

The Chewy delivery didn’t get here yesterday (which is fine, I always try to order early enough so it’s not a problem). The Midnight City Tarot is supposed to arrive tomorrow, and I’m very excited. I’m hoping to do some work later today with the Rackham Tarot on recent dreams, and I plan to set out and post a tarot spread for Imbolc.

I did some candle work last night, and today I will do the first planting.

Have a good one!

Wed. Feb. 1, 2023: Hello, February!

image courtesy of tlparadis via pixabay.com

Wednesday, February 1, 2023

Waxing Moon

Grey and cold, turned to sunny and colder

Yesterday’s weather was all over the place. One minute it was snowing, then it was sunny, then there were flurries coming down in the sun. Pretty, though. We’re supposed to get a wave of absolutely brutal cold Thursday night into Saturday night, and they’ve advised people not to be out. I cancelled my weekend plans, although I still hope to get out Sunday for a big grocery shop.

There’s a tough love post over on Ink-Dipped Advice about how to follow your dreams, and a post over on today’s Process Muse about plots and subplots. Check them out when you have a minute.

I drafted another episode of Legerdemain and figured out the next few episodes (within the context of the larger outline). I did the social media rounds promoting Episode 55. I uploaded/scheduled the promotions for this week’s episodes of Angel Hunt and adjusted the graphic sizes on the Legerdemain episodes for the Instagram posts.

I did my errands: drop-off/pick up at the library; coffee, eggs, and bread at the grocery store; a bottle of wine. The people I encounter on this regular round of errands are really very nice, and I’m grateful.

I was feeling tired and grumpy, though, anyway, although I made sure not to take anything out on the people I encountered on my errands.

I put through the Chewy order for cat litter.

I attended the pre-launch live Q&A for Spoutible on Twitter (which is just weird to me, but whatever). Some of their policies are creating red flags for me. We’ll see. It’s supposed to launch today.

I honed and tweaked interview questions for an article and sent them off. I’m looking forward to this piece.

I created a new logo for The Process Muse. This one feels more like me. I’ve even updated it in the sidebar for this blog!

I started writing up the notes/scenes on the Urban Fantasy romance and hit an issue with the character names. The names that I’ve been using have meanings contrary to themes in the story (because who the fuck knows what the plot is at this point). But when I tried to change the names, I got stuck. So I guess the names are the names, at least for now. Again, trust the subconscious. It knows what it’s doing, even when the rest of me doesn’t. However, writing scenes when there’s no plot to hang it onto is difficult. I think I’ll add notes in parentheses about vaguely what should happen and then, the character interactions that are clear in my head, I can write as scenes.

A fantastic opportunity showed up on my desk in the afternoon, but I don’t know if I can put something together to take advantage of it by February 12^th. But it is totally in my wheelhouse and would be hella fun if I could pull it off. Plus lucrative. Plus good for my career.

Worked on contest entries yesterday afternoon and evening, since I didn’t have any script coverages. The cat litter order from Chewy should arrive today, and the Midnight City Tarot shipped and should be here by Friday.

The third episode of ANGEL HUNT drops today (the last free episode). I hope you enjoy it. I’ll be making the social media rounds today to promote that, to promote The Process Muse and Ink-Dipped Advice. I’ll also be doing the rounds to post the first of the #28Prompts (it will drop on Twitter at noon EST). I’m hoping I can upload them to Hive via the tablet, but who knows?