Yesterday went a little catawampus. I hoped the maintenance guy would show up sort of on time, and did all kinds of tasks, like folding the laundry and putting it away. And do the social media rounds to promote The Process Muse and Angel Hunt.
When he still wasn’t here, I sat down and got back to work on Legerdemain.
Which meant, of course, that he showed up, after I’d written about a half a page and was just getting into it.
But he’s very nice and knows what he’s doing and the dishwasher is fixed. Thank goodness. I didn’t want it to get swapped out for something not as nice.
It was hard to settle back to the page, and I didn’t get much else done.
It was nice enough to work on the porch in the afternoon, so I did the script coverage out there, and then I finished re-reading THE TREES WHISPERED DEATH and made some notes. I have to do some research on the Korean War. I gave one poor character three different first names over the course of the book, and have to fix that. I put the library in a separate building when I needed it in a different one, for plot reasons, and have to fix that. I gave one character a wife early on, and then had him in a relationship with someone in the park (for both plot and character arcs). Since he’s not the type of guy who’d cheat (and I don’t want to turn him into one), I’m going to make him a widower at the start of the book already. Both his marriage and his current relationship (that he’s trying to keep quiet) will escalate the conflict with his sister-in-law. I want to re-choreograph the climactic sequence; it reads a little rushed without having enough tension, and there are a variety of characters who must be effectively juggled in it. And there are plenty of basic revision/edit bits to clarify, tighten, clean up sloppy language, add in some more textural detail, etc.
These are all typical mistakes during the course of writing quickly during National Novel Writing Month, and not keeping tracking sheets at the end of each day’s work.
I’ve got my work cut out for me, but I’m definitely happier with it than I was when I finished the draft.
And it has to wait its turn until CAST IRON MURDER’s edits are done. Which aren’t going back into the schedule until May, unless I work on it at the laundromat in the interim.
We were notified that the grant payments will be delayed by 2-4 weeks, because the state is taking longer to process the paperwork than hoped. I’m disappointed; it means pushing back a writing research trip I’d hoped to make in April. But I appreciate that they let us know, so we can plan accordingly.
Finished reading the book for review last night. Will write up the review, send it off, and let them know I’m ready for the next assignment this morning.
I was going to run some errands today, but it’s raining, so I think I’ll wait until tomorrow. It’s nothing that can’t wait another day. I’d rather stay in and write, without breaking the flow for errands. I have two scripts in my queue for the afternoon. I want to work on Legerdemain and “Plot Bunnies” this morning.
Meditation this morning, and then back to the page. Episode 70 of Legerdemain drops today. 70 episodes! Feels like a milestone, somehow, although I’m sure 100 will feel even more so.
The latest Process Muse, about physical space, dropped this morning. You can read it here.
I had trouble settling into the page yesterday morning. I thought doing the dishes would help focus me, but I sat down and there were a million little fidgety things demanding my attention. Since I was in that kind of headspace, I did the social media rounds for yesterday’s episode of Legerdemain. I answered emails. I’ve got all but one email account down to manageable levels, and I’m working on that last one, while doing upkeep on the others. That one’s a little rough because I got on an email list for a “media company” that bulk sends sales emails, and every time I “unsubscribe all” they just send it from a different “publication.” I think I’m going to start reporting them as spam. I’ve put in multiple requests to take me off everything, and they ignore it. And they’re mucking up the email.
It’s not where I get my main business/writing email, thank goodness.
Hoopla is finally distributing The Topic Workbooks et al; I have so many links to add to my various pages. I need to block in time to get on top of that.
I’m getting another bonus for the serials, which is nice. I’m working on some paid advertising for them this spring.
I have Process Muse topics planned into next January! I managed to do a little bit of work on an upcoming post, but I need to fact check a few things. I will finish it up tomorrow or Friday and schedule it.
Put in a request to have maintenance come and take a look at the dishwasher. I’m pretty sure it needs a new power board; hopefully they’re willing to do that, and not just switch it out with whatever subpar dishwasher they have on hand. The guy was going to stop by either yesterday afternoon or this morning; it wasn’t yesterday afternoon, so I hope it’s this morning.
Turned around a coverage in the afternoon. It was warm enough to work out on the porch, with hyacinths and cats.
I’m looking forward to April, with the DG’s End of Play providing the emotional space to write FALL FOREVER, and then I’m doing an eco/wellness challenge with the yoga studio. I mean, daily life and script coverage and the rest is in there as well, but I’m really looking forward to those two pillars of the month’s structure.
Yoga was great last night. The woman behind me grew up on the street where I currently live, so we had a lot to talk about. Her daughter is opening a vintage clothing shop within walking distance, so I look forward to checking it out when it opens. I had some good conversations with several people there. The studio draws a really interesting, eclectic group. I’m looking forward to spending more time there.
Picked up takeout on the way home (I need to stop doing that). And someone was in my parking spot. I moved over two slots, to a space that’s usually free, because I didn’t want to take anyone else’s.
Slept well, although I had busy dreams. I was in an office I remembered in the dream from another dream. It had to do with horse racing. It was something about jockeys being drugged without their knowledge/against their will. I need to make a few notes, because there’s the seed of something there (and I haven’t written about horse racing in a long time).
Up early. Off to the laundromat (believe me, it was necessary). I was the only one there, which was glorious.
While the laundry went through the machine, I started the first read-through of THE TREES WHISPERED DEATH since I finished the first draft in December. When I finished the draft, I was relieved that it was finished, but I was discouraged. However, starting the read, there’s a lot I really like, especially when it comes to voice, dialogue, and character. Don’t get me wrong, there’s plenty to do on it, PLENTY, before it’s submission-ready, but there’s a good foundation. Both this and CAST IRON MURDER, I think, are suitable for agent/traditional submissions rather than small publisher submissions, as long as I don’t get boxed in to “cozy.” TREES is definitely historical mystery (1957) with an older, amateur female sleuth AND deals with the issues of the day, so it would be difficult to try to push it into a cozy box. CAST IRON deals with contemporary social issues; it could be heavily revised to be a cozy, but that would destroy the book, in my opinion. Both have strong, older female protagonists at the center. Both have long-term series potential.
I will sit down and write a series overview for each as I work on revisions, and have that ready, in case it’s requested. I have thumbnails of the first three books in each series. I have publishers in mind that I think would work for each of them, but I will probably query agents first, although I don’t think that will happen until autumn for CAST IRON and probably not until next spring for TREES.
But both are stronger, overall, than I thought they were when I finished the original drafts. They definitely need both a developmental edit and a multi-colored draft edit to clean up sloppy writing, but they are nowhere near the hot messes I thought they were when I finished them, and that’s a good feeling.
I’m waiting for the maintenance guy to come and take a look at the dishwasher; I don’t want to get caught up in writing Legerdemain and then get interrupted; at the same time, if he doesn’t show up on time, or is hours late, I don’t want to lose that writing time. I guess I could fold laundry first, right? And then, if he’s not here by the time it’s folded and put away, I’ll sit down to write and hope he doesn’t show up until afternoon!
I have one script in my queue today and two tomorrow, so I’m in decent shape.
Episode 17 of Angel Hunt drops today. I hope you enjoy it.
I hope you had a lovely holiday weekend, and that you took off yesterday as part of it, too.
I’ve spent so many New Year’s Eves being unhappy that a quiet one was just what I wanted. I did some noodling on two projects as I try to find out if they are viable. I uploaded what I feel comfortable sharing with my 2023 Goals, Dreams, and Resolutions over on that site.
I cleaned the house, vacuumed, changed the beds, did the dishes, mopped the floors, cleaned the bathrooms, granite counters (with its special cleaner) and stainless steel (with those special wipes). I like going into the New Year with a clean house.
I made devilled eggs and small rum cakes with rum glaze. I was worried I’d put in too much rum (I tweaked the recipe), but it came out just right. I put the rum IN the mix and the glaze, rather than soaking the cakes later. I like it better the way I did it.
I’ve been asked, over the years, why I bother putting up a lot of decorations and doing big meals and cleaning for the holidays when I don’t have lots of people over. I do it for us. I do it because the years I haven’t done it, I was unhappy. Making the places festive for various holidays makes me happy, so why not do it? Why must everything always be for someone else?
I made the salmon with cumin glaze, and we had sweet potatoes with it, for the Eve meal. We stayed up, watched the ball come down in Times Square (to think, I used to be able to watch from my apartment window, I lived so close; glad not to be in that madness now). It was very discouraging to see all those people crammed in there unmasked.
I stayed up until a little after one. Tessa was delighted. Charlotte and Willa were confused. It is lovely to live somewhere that locals aren’t setting off illegal fireworks in the streets and putting us in danger.
Up early on the Day. Did the fire and ice ritual. Noodled a bit on the two projects with which I’m playing.
I made traditional Eggs Benedict for breakfast, which was good.
I set up the new, small inkjet printer. Finally. It took 3 damn hours. It should have taken 20 minutes, but the printer drivers wouldn’t load properly, and the laptop wouldn’t recognize the printer, even though it was connected by USB. What a nightmare. It’s such a lightweight piece of lousy plastic, I’ll be lucky if it lasts a week. But the scanner works well, and it’s better than not having a printer at all.
I printed out the last three chapters of THE TREES WHISPERED DEATH, so at least that’s all in the binder, and I can put it aside to rest for two months, while I work on other things.
I had to rearrange my office space to fit the second printer (the big laser printer is sitting there like a lump until I can get someone over to fix it). At first, I hated the rearrangement, but now I kind of like it. I still have to find a convenient place to put the file folders I need regularly, but I can make this configuration work.
Started reading a book that I hoped would be wonderful, by a Very Prominent Author. The premise sounded great, and it started off well. Then, a few chapters in, for no discernable reason, it switched into present tense and stayed there. I hated it, so I stopped reading.
So much for the first book of the year holding deep meaning. I thought I’d chosen so well!
Started reading one of the books I received as a holiday gift, and that was fun. Read the next book for review, which was interesting, but completely shifted genres for the last third of the book, and structurally couldn’t support the shift.
I have a few scripts in my queue to start the week, but not enough, so I hope more will come in.
Slept in a bit on Monday. Technically, it’s a holiday, but I needed to get some work done.
Many of the businesses and organizations around here close for the first two weeks of January, and I fully support that. Everyone is tired. It’s winter. We need rest.
I did some work in longhand on two projects: one I’m writing the actual story, and the other, I’m making outline notes. The second is pulling to start “writing into” so that I can finish the outline, but I want to do the other one first.
Posted the “Intent for the Week” here. Polished the Ink-Dipped Advice post that goes live tomorrow, and the Process Muse post that does the same, and wrote the Process Muse post for next week. It’s up and scheduled.
Did a quick round of the social media sites.
Revised, polished, uploaded, and scheduled Episodes 49 & 50 of Legerdemain, which go live next week. They needed a good bit of work, as, I believe, the next episode will.
Swung by the post office to mail a few things, and then the liquor store to stock up. In the afternoon, I turned around a script. In the evening, we had the online soup class with Chef Jeremy. Good thing it’s online, with the number of attendees who “got COVID for Christmas.”
Class was fun, and there are techniques I can and will use when I make the bouillabaisse later this week.
Did not sleep well, because Charlotte woke me up every two hours (including throwing up in the bed at 2:30). So that was a lot of cleanup and comforting her. I tried shutting her out of the bedroom, but she had a panic attack.
I had a series of weird dreams – in one, I was lost in a large school in which I’ve had dreams before; another was about writing a rent check to a person I know only from online, because I was subletting from him; the third was kind of a mess; a fourth had to do with an important scene for the outline I’ve been working on in longhand (which I wrote up this morning).
Which meant I overslept, and am getting a late start this morning.
The plan is to work ahead on Legerdemain today, first. On the social media rounds, I will post links to the regular Tuesday material, including the episode of Legerdemain that drops today, and one of the Topic Workbooks. I also have to work on some interview questions that need to go out this week for an article, create the episode graphics for the episodes that uploaded yesterday, and turn around two scripts. I hope I’ll get out a few LOIs, too. I have to swing by the library, but it’s just a quick drop off/pick up, nothing major.
I need to buckle down and focus today. Which is difficult, because I’m sleep-deprived. But we keep on keeping on, right?
To say I am unhappy about a FOURTH Mercury Retrograde this year is an understatement. I need a full year with NO Mercury Retrogrades (yeah, I know that won’t happen).
I did some work on some of the websites yesterday morning. The Devon Ellington Work website is missing a bunch of material I’d uploaded over the past months, which is disturbing. I managed to add the Serials page and rearrange a few things that weren’t working. I need to take down and re-upload the slide show on the landing page. I did some fixes on other pages, but also have to add in more buy links, since additional markets opened for some of the releases. I did some work on the Legerdemain website, but not enough. I wrote the blurb for ANGEL HUNT, and came up with the logline, which I will add today.
When all that was done, I sat down and worked on THE TREES WHISPERED DEATH. By the end of the first 2K, I knew I was only a couple of chapters away from the end. So I kept going (thank you, Paula, for the encouragement along the way). I wrote a total of three chapters, around 6K, and finished this first draft. Phew! I made my goal of finishing the draft by the end of the year.
It came in just over 68K,which is a little low for this genre, but it leaves me room to layer in more period detail, integrate it better into the story, and maybe put in another red herring or two as I revise.
Now it can sit for two months, before I start working on revisions. Before I revise, I also have to spend some quality time in the library archives with newspapers from the months the book covers, for more color and detail. I’ll have to see, on the schedule, if I need to book library time the prior week, or if that’s part of the “start of revisions.” It will depend how the rest of the schedule shakes out.
I noodled with some ideas I’m playing with. There are a couple that seem viable, but until I write my way in for a few chapters, I can’t be sure.
I should have worked on downloading the rest of the software and getting the other Gmail accounts up and running again, but I didn’t. No doubt, with Mercury Retrograde again, they will be a PITA. I shouldn’t be forced into 2-factor authentications for email. It has nothing to do with “security” and everything about collecting and selling my information.
I received the next two books for review; I hope to get them done over this holiday weekend, so I can submit the reviews and invoice for this last bunch. Since I took the time off from script coverage (not that anything was even coming in), I want to be able to invoice for at least a little bit at the top of the month. I have bills, plus things like another Chewy order coming up.
Brainstormed a bunch of ideas for The Process Muse, Ink-Dipped Advice, and the Goals, Dreams, and Resolutions blog, so now it’s about sitting down and doing some batch writing this week and next week. I’d like to get a little ahead, in case of more technical difficulties.
I read THE FORTUNE TELLER by Gwendolyn Womack last night. Wow. That was an intense book. If you like tarot, old manuscripts, and adventure, it’s a good read. I’m going to track down and read her other books, too.
Up early this morning, to the glorious smell of freshly brewed coffee. It’s amazing how much that small indulgence improves the start of my day. Charlotte kept waking me up all night, wanting attention, so I don’t feel particularly well-rested.
I wrote early, a few pages in longhand, playing with one of my ideas. It’s going well (in spite of the pages written at the busy laundromat last week, which don’t really make sense). It was difficult to stop and switch my focus over to meditation group, but I did, and I’m glad I did. Charlotte was thrilled to be back up on Zoom again.
This morning, I’ll probably do a little more work in longhand, before doing some more work on LEGERDEMAIN and ANGEL HUNT. I also want to work on ahead on some posts for next week, typing up the answers to the GDR Questions for 2023, and posts for Ink-Dipped Advice and The Process Muse.
I also hope to have time to make some specific notes on another project I’m noodling. Basically, I’m noodling three (or is it four?) different projects to see which is viable and can be fitted into the schedule, as I work on the writing schedule for this year. There’s a lot I want to finish and get out the door, and I also have to leave room for new work, work that’s coming out of stasis, and new opportunities. As I get an idea of how everything is earning its keep, I can make decisions on how much and what kind of freelance work to take on month-to-month.
Instead of being a roadmap, this year’s plan is more like a big lake of writing, and then I need to see which rivers of words are the most viable on creative and financial levels, and put my energy there.
Mercury just went retrograde, and I’m already over it. I dread putting up the new printer, but I need it.
And I’m finished a bunch of admin work and clearing file space, so I can put AWAY the old year, and make room for the new, with all its opportunities. I dreaded the turn of the last year, much as I wanted 2021 to be over. I feel like the internal work I’ve done this year is getting ready to affect the external portions of my life in 2023, and for that, I am grateful. I’m still a little afraid to be hopeful, but I’m grateful.
The computer is back and sort of running, so I’m able to do most things from home again. Missed you!
The latest Process Muse dropped this morning. If you haven’t subscribed yet, I hope you will. New musings release every Wednesday. The subscription is free.
Yesterday was a little chaotic. I got the errands done that I didn’t do on Monday. I returned 15 books to the library and posted the blog for the day from their computer. I also sent out the two reviews I’d written first thing.
But it was well into the afternoon by the time I got back, and I had nothing left in the tank to give to THE TREES WHISPERED DEATH. Or anything else, for that matter.
The laptop returned mid-afternoon, supposedly repaired. What they did was reload the operating system, but nothing’s been done to fix what caused the problem in the first place. It took 3 hours to upgrade again to Windows11, get Google up and running, and get Office back in place. It doesn’t look like I lost anything from the hard drive itself except for the downloads, which is fine.
Scrivener won’t download, so I have to try that again. And I have to get DramaQueen again. Not sure what to do with Discord, since it caused so many problems, and I’m keeping McAfee off. All those attempts to uninstall it didn’t work, but now it’s uninstalled, and I plan to keep it that way. I also have to get the other Gmail accounts loaded back in, which will be a major PITA. I shouldn’t be forced to do 2-step authentication.
But I’ll turn my attention to all of that AFTER I’ve written.
The laser printer decided it no longer wants to work. Again. I wonder if it has something to do with the laptop? It was fine with the old Macbook. So, again, AFTER I’ve written, I will set up the new printer.
In addition to THE TREES WHISPERED DEATH (and maybe some work on LEGERDEMAIN), I want to work ahead on posts for Ink-Dipped Advice and The Process Muse. But I don’t know if that will happen today.
The first box of contest entries is also supposed to arrive today, so I’ll have to do the administrative work on those, and probably start reading this weekend. I’d also like to do some freshening up on all the websites.
So much for a week off? Well, last week was my forced week off a lot, sort of.
I’m coming up with a new social media plan for the first part of next year, anyway, that should streamline the daily process and also make my time in each space a better experience for myself and for those with whom I interact.
I’ve made notes on Process Muse posts to early June. I’ll block off some time to batch write posts and schedule them, in case there are more technical difficulties, so I don’t need to worry. And I want to get way ahead on uploading/scheduling LEGERDEMAIN and ANGEL HUNT posts.
Time and energy management are key, going into 2023.
The plan today is to stay home and get everything working again – AFTER I’ve done the writing I want to do. Protect the work. Make sure the writing comes first. That, too, is my key to a creative 2023.
Peace, my friends, and it’s nice to be able to be in contact from my home office!
Hello, my friends, and I hope you had a lovely holiday weekend.
Hopefully, the newsletter went out properly last Wednesday, and you enjoyed the holiday tale, “Comfort, Then Joy.”
I am still waiting for my computer, although supposedly it is repaired and on its way back. So my posts on all the blogs will be erratic this week; which is kind of okay, since I planned to take this week off anyway.
We had a big storm come in late Thursday, before the holiday weekend. It poured with rain all day Friday. I was very glad I didn’t have to go anywhere. I have the new, big coffeemaker set up, and I admit that waking up to the smell of coffee in the morning is glorious.
I did manage to get a whole lotta laundry done on Thursday morning, before the storm came in. I brought some ideas with which I’m noodling, but there were Other People there, so it wasn’t as useful a work time as it usually is.
I’m able to keep up with my email, for the most part, on the phone and the tablet, but when the storm came in, I shut everything down, to avoid power surges and other issues.
I started reading some mysteries, but didn’t like the writing and the protagonists definitely fell into the “too stupid to live” category, so those are going back to the library, and those authors are crossed off the list.
It snowed for a little bit at night, and quickly changed over to rain.
Rained all night. Friday, it rained all day, and it was windy. Chiron went direct during the day — Chiron is about the Wounded Healer. I definitely feel like a lot of this year has been about healing, or at least recognizing where healing needs to happen, and letting go. Pretty much feel like a limp dishrag from the work.
I played with several story ideas on themes I’ve worked with for years, but never quite made work. We’ll see.
I worked on my answers to the 2023 Questions on the Goals, Dreams, and Resolutions site. If you’d like to take a look at the questions to help you with your own musings, here is the link.
I read, a mystery by someone whose first book I liked, but thought this one was “meh.” I’m giving this series one more shot; if book three doesn’t work, I’ll give up. Book Two is problematic, no matter what.
I read the first book in another series that was a lot of fun. It’s Diane Vallere’s first Costume Shop Mystery, A DISGUISE TO DIE FOR, and I enjoyed it. I look forward to reading the rest of the series, and she has several more series that sound like fun, too.
Christmas Eve, got up early to zero degrees, but at least a white Christmas. We were lucky; the power held. Wrapped presents. Read. Did some tidying up. Wrote a bit, in longhand, playing with some ideas.
Our big Christmas Eve dinner was a cod, mussel, and scallop paella. If you saw the photos on social media, it looks very dark. That’s not from squid ink; it’s from all the spinach in it. It took several hours to make and get done properly, but was worth it. Very delicious. Plenty of leftovers for the week. It’s a dish that needs time and care.
Willa is always fascinated, and loves to watch me cook.. She either sits on the bed in my mother’s room, which is off the kitchen, or on a kitchen chair. It’s hilarious.
We opened presents after dinner, which is always fun, and enjoyed the tree and the candles.
Christmas Day, we were up early (to the glorious smell of coffee and the prodding of the cats) and enjoyed our stockings. I made scrambled eggs to go with the panettone. The panettone was disappointing this year. I have a feeling I might need to learn how to make that, too.
Had a leisurely day. Read BORROWER OF THE NIGHT by Elizabeth Peters. How have I missed the Vicky Bliss series all these years? It’s a lot of fun, and I look forward to reading more.
The big Christmas Day meal was Coq Au Vin — another one that takes hours to do, because of the layering of flavors, but it was very good.
Honestly, I feel like I could just stay in bed and sleep the rest of the week. If I could afford to, I’d like to sleep through the entire upcoming Mercury Retrograde. We had four of the damn things in 2022, and I am over it.
Coffee and cats got me up early on Monday. I got some writing done, in longhand, and finished a short story, and planned a couple more. I hoped to take care of a few things, but got caught up trying to download the photos out of iPhoto onto a backup device. I got about half of the photos moved, and then the old Macbook just wouldn’t let me copy to a device or even export to the machine’s own hard drive I have them on Time Machine; I’m just not sure how to get them off time machine and onto something I can use.
I have the original SD cards from everything I took with a camera. Maybe I’ll get a reader/adapter for the laptop and then download all of them onto flash drives and the external hard drive.
Another digital camera is on my list for this year. I HATE relying on the phone. I’ve lost so many photos thanks to the phone. I have an SD card in the current phone, thank goodness, but still.
Anyway, that took longer than I’d hoped, so I decided to put off the errands until today.
I did some work on LEGERDEMAIN and on ANGEL HUNT instead (gotta love flash drives and Word for Mac). I wrote thank you notes. I planned future posts for Ink-Dipped Advice and The Process Muse.
The first 44 episodes of ANGEL HUNT (22 weeks’ worth) are ready for the final polish and upload in early January, so the launch on the 25th should work. I won’t get the live link to the serial until the day it debuts from Kindle Vella, so I can’t work ahead scheduling the episode graphics to drop. What I CAN do is upload at least the first 2 months, and then create the episode graphics, so that when it goes live, I can just upload and schedule.
I also need to work ahead further on LEGERDEMAIN, and upload/do episode graphics and get ahead on that. I’m also working on a prize package giveaway for it, and looking at buying some ad time for it, probably later in January, or early February, and buying ad time for ANGEL HUNT in February, too.
I’d like, this week, to work ahead a bit on some of the blog entries, so that next week is more about uploading them than creating them.
I deleted a bunch of stuff from the Kindle, old contest entries and books I reviewed that I don’t need to keep, to make room for the incoming.
I’m trying to finish the first draft of THE TREES WHISPERED DEATH this week, too. Not sure if I’ll meet that goal, but I’m giving it a go. I drafted Chapter 29 yesterday, just a smidge under 1900 words. I’m about to start the climactic sequence. Not sure if that will be three or four chapters. If I keep showing up at the page steadily, I should be able to get it done. Then it can rest for two months at least before I start revisions. I also need to do some more research before I start revision, to layer in more period details.
In those two months of rest, I want to finish the revision on CAST IRON MURDER and get the submission materials prepped. There are two, possibly three publishers to whom I want to query it, in addition to the small publisher who’s handled some of my other work.
I need to spend some time this week to sit down and really look at what writing projects NEED to get done this year, and mix them with the writing projects I WANT to get done. If I get THE TREES WHISPERED DEATH finished before January 1, I will have written only one novel this year, and that’s not sustainable. LEGERDEMAIN’s done decently (both creatively and financially), and I licensed some radio plays and wrote some other plays and short stories, but I didn’t have a real plan this year, and it shows. I need to come up with something more sustainable for 2023. This year was about healing and settling in to the new location. I did some good healing work (although there is much more to do) and I’m content and often happy here.
Now, I need to come up with a sustainable plan for the fiction, so that it’s in balance with the nonfiction and other writing-related work that I do. Everything has to earn its keep, and I need to get back into the 13-in-Play concept, where there are always at least 13 pieces out on submission.
This morning was about the errands I didn’t get done yesterday (and digging out the car from this weekend Was Not Fun). I also had to mail off a bunch of stuff at the post office, drop off books at the library, and upload all of this at the library. I wrote two book reviews and sent them off, and I’m waiting for my next assignments.
The plan for the afternoon is to write Chapter 30 of THE TREES WHISPERED DEATH and see how far into the climactic sequence that gets me. I don’t really like writing fiction in the afternoon, but that’s the way it shook out yesterday and today, so I’ll go with it.
The repaired computer is to show up sometime this week, and I figure it’ll take a half-day to get it set up again properly. I’m sure I lost a few things, but we’ll set up what we can. I was pretty good about regular backups, so I’d only have lost stuff from sometime in November that I hadn’t backed up anywhere else.
The first box of contest entries should arrive this week (I’m judging three categories this year). I’ll log in the physical books first and then start downloading the digital entries. Depending on how many are entered this year, it should be a busy reading time between now and May, between books to review, contest entries to judge, and the script coverage.
Which means the morning writing has to be focused and productive.
Hope you’re having a great “Betweenmas” as Dianne Dotson calls it, and enjoying some rest.
I hope you have a cup of your favorite beverage, so we can curl up to catch up.
There’s a post over on the Goals, Dreams, and Resolutions site about “Flexible Gratitude” which is what I’m working on this week, in addition to trying to hold steady and get things done.
Friday, I had the day off from script coverage. I did the blogging, the social media rounds, picked up books at the library, got a couple of things from the grocery store. I had trouble getting going, because I was tired.
However, after lunch, I started baking, and I baked 25 dozen cookies (orange cranberry, oatmeal currant, molasses spice). Once I got going, I had it down to a system, and it went pretty fast. I did two batches of each kind of cookie; if I need more, I can always whip up another batch.
Since I have 7 baking trays, I can prep the trays and just rotate them through the baking while I keep working on the next batch.
Got them all packed up in their tins, once they cooled. But I was definitely tired by the end of it. I ran out of wax paper while I was packing the tins, but I had parchment paper, so it was all good.
Really, though, it took about 4 ½ hours, that’s all.
And I made more vegetable stock in the slow cooker, too, because I needed the space in the freezer that was taken up with the bits that go into the stock.
Saturday, I was up early. I had to get a few things like more ginger and more wax paper and Crisco for some of the cookies, and a few things I’m stockpiling for the holiday meals.
I made the dough for the coffee spice cookies and for the brown sugar maple cookies. While that chilled in the fridge, I handstitched the holly curtain for the Kitchen Island Cart from Hell, because we must be festive in the kitchen.
Baked the cookies. The coffee spice cookies are from a companion cookbook to Phillip R. Craig’s mysteries set on Martha’s Vineyard. If you’ve never read them, I recommend them. I read them first years ago, and then re-read them (and got the cookbook) when I lived on Cape.
The cookies are good, but I want to bump up the flavor. The next batch I try will split the batch and put some anise extract in one half and some allspice in the other. The nutmeg is a little too subtle.
The brown maple sugar cookies are good, but it doesn’t make a lot, which is a concern. I think I’ll have to make another batch in the next couple of days. The maple glaze is good, too. These will be a good addition to the platters.
I was tired, so I made turkey enchiladas for dinner. No, not from Thanksgiving leftovers. We finished all those!
I was happy to see that all the packages I mailed last Monday were delivered. Whew! Of course a package UPS was supposed to deliver last Wednesday is still out there somewhere, and every day, UPS lies and says it’s “out for delivery” and every day it doesn’t show up. I hate UPS. It’s fine if there’s a delay, but stop lying.
I made a chocolate glaze and put it on the coffee spice cookies. Yup, that gave it enough of a boost to go into this year’s cookie platters, while I work on the recipe. Only I ran out of confectioner’s sugar, and have to make another batch of glaze. So one batch of cookies needs 3 batches of glaze (I made 2, which will get me through the first few platter deliveries).
While the glaze set, we sat down and wrote the domestic cards. Only around 50 this year. So many have died. I’m at that age, plus COVID, means a lot of loss. I also let some names on the list go, when I haven’t heard from them at all for several years. There were years, in New York, when I wrote as many as 500 cards (it took most of the month).
There’s a whole set of people with whom I only interact during the winter holidays. That’s fine; we manage to keep in touch. Someone, a few years back on social media, raged that if the only time one keeps in touch is winter holidays, it’s not worth it, and I disagree.
But then, the whole ritual of holiday cards is very important to me. Choosing the cards. Choosing the stamps. Sitting down with the list. Writing something in the card. Addressing the card. It’s taking a moment to honor the friendship and connection with each individual. And, while there are definitely times postage is a frightening expense, I believe each of these people is worth spending the cost of a stamp and some time on, once a year.
Some people choose not to send cards, for whatever reason. It’s up to them. Some of those who don’t like the whole card ritual keep in touch in other ways at other times of the year. Which I also appreciate.
But when there’s no interaction over a long period of time, it’s time to let go.
That’s a big change for me; there were people on the list to whom I’ve written for ten or more years and not heard from at all. Ever. Definitely time to let go. My position in their lives is clear (as in “non-existent”). I can retain positive memories and let go of the current connection.
As someone who was always designated “Kin Keeper” of various groups of friends and colleagues over the years, the letting to AND BEING OKAY WITH IT, is a big step.
In the afternoon, we finished decorating the big tree in the doorway between the living room and the sewing room. Because one can see all around the tree, the back of the tree is as important as the front, and it’s fun to decorate in 360.
Added the musical instrument garland and lights to the garland on the mantel. I bought the musical instrument garland for 50 cents in December 1980 in Woolworth’s, Tallahassee, Florida, when I was at FSU that first year (I transferred to NYU the following spring). I love that silly little garland, and have hung it up every year in Florida, San Francisco, Seattle, New York, Cape Cod, and now here in the Berkshires.
Put up the lights in the living room window. Set up a shelf full of snowmen behind one of the big reading chairs. Put up the small tree over my desk, behind Seshat, my goddess of scribes, who has pride of place over my desk.
The Santas are still packed; we have to figure out where to put 50+ Santas. All over the house, no doubt.
Once the stacks of cookies are on platters and out the door, I will set up my mix-and-match Holiday Village on the big table in my office. I still have to put up the lights on the front porch, in the kitchen, and on the stairs, along with the garlands.
It started snowing around 11 on Sunday morning and snowed all day. We got about 5 inches. I perched on the couch in the evening, enjoying the candles and lights (3rd of Advent) and reading.
I have a lot of holiday stuffed animals (especially reindeer. I love reindeer). One of them, which I picked up at a thrift store for about 50 cents, has a music box on it. Only I don’t know how to make it work. Charlotte, on the other hand, keeps setting it off. It’s hilarious.
I had weird dreams, Sunday into Monday, about an immersive theatre experience in a stadium-sized theatre. Charlotte woke me up from it.
Slow start Monday, wanting it to be a snow day. No scripts in the queue. I decided to be grateful instead of worried. I could do other things!
I did the Monday blogging, and the social media rounds.
To my absolute joy, the big laser printer which hasn’t worked for the past few weeks, turned itself on and started printing, like nothing was every wrong. Okay, it thinks it is May 17, 2020, but other than that, it’s working. I am so grateful. I guess it needed a vacation?
I haven’t even set up the other printer yet.
I caught up on all the printing on which I’d gotten behind, got some scanning done. I created the Cookie Cheat Sheets to go with the cookies. I figured I should get as much done as possible, in case it decided to stop working again.
I went out and dug out the car. The parking lot was plowed already, and the snow was light and fluffy, so it wasn’t a big deal. The sun came out later on and helped, too.
I edited, polished, uploaded, and scheduled Episodes 47 & 48 of Legerdemain. I wrote their episode log lines, created the episode graphics, and uploaded/scheduled that content to drop on the appropriate days. I’m good through the first week of January, which gives me a little breathing room, since I won’t get to write new episodes until sometime next week. I’ve written through Episode 58, but I need to go further and finish the arc, so that I can make sure I don’t need to plant information in earlier episodes to make sense later.
I put release dates into the January calendar for Legerdemain and ANGEL HUNT episodes (I’m behind where I want to be on that, too), and other deadlines in January. This is in the big calendar. I didn’t use different colors in January, which I’m kind of regretting. Everything is in black ink, and it looks rather dull.
I was about to finish my witchy charm bracelet and my talisman necklace when I realized I need to get jump rings.
The trust paid off and more scripts came in for the week. I have 3 coverages today and 2 tomorrow. If I can pick up a couple more each day Thursday and Friday great; if not, that’s fine, too. I hope to get some coverages next week for Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, and maybe one on Friday, and then I am on vacation!
Today, I need to do the rounds to promote the Legerdemain episode that’s dropping. I want to work on “Comfort, Then Joy” and I have a tarot reading to set, write up, and post on Ko-fi later. I have to go out and get more maple syrup and more confectioners’ sugar, so I can do another batch of the brown sugar maple cookies, and make another batch of glaze for the coffee spice cookies. I hope to give the batches of cookies to the neighbors in the building later today, and then start delivering the other cookie platters tomorrow. I also need to drop off the cards at the post office. Writing them is great, but if they’re not mailed, it doesn’t mean a whole lot, does it?
A package arrived a week late yesterday, but it’s here, so that’s all good.
There’s another storm coming in on Friday, so I need to figure out if I can get the laundry done today or tomorrow, and all the cookie deliveries out by Thursday, then grab a few groceries to get us through the weekend. I was going to do the stocking stuffer shopping this weekend, but might put It off until next week. I also have another book to review this week, and need to get moving on that.
The Christmas novella wants to be worked on, but that will have to wait until next week. The newsletter story and the Ko-fi flash have to take priority. Then, I’ll mix working on the Christmas novella next week, along with work on Legerdemain, ANGEL HUNT, and finishing THE TREES WHISPERED DEATH.
Fingers crossed the printer keeps working!
On a personal level, there’s some rough work going on. The Chiron retrograde energy presses down, forcing me to face some painful memories and past choices, deal with them, and gain perspective. While making sure I don’t make the same mistakes again. Necessary work, but not easy and often painful.
Have a good one, friends. Enjoy the next episode of Legerdemain! This one wraps up the first large story arc and leads into the second one.
Yesterday felt slow, although I got a decent amount of work done. I polished, uploaded, and scheduled two more episodes of Legerdemain. I created promo graphics for them. I redid the promo graphic I hated so much on Episode 42. I also redid the graphic for Episode 44. I liked the graphic for Episode 44 a lot, but it was in a style that was completely different than any of the other episode promos, and it was jarring. It also gave the sense that it was an episode that leaned more toward humor, which that episode does not. I uploaded and scheduled all the promos. I also decided, starting with the promo for Episode 45, to stop putting “First 3 Episodes Free on Kindle Vella.” That’s known, especially 44 episodes into it, and the promos will be more useful in the long term without the Vella reference. I think I will leave off the reference on the ANGEL HUNT promos, except for the first 3 episodes which are eternally free.
I’m sitting down to do the 2023 Plan which involved the larger plan for the serials (some of which will run beyond 2023). Legerdemain is sustaining itself well enough to warrant the first three large arcs, and possible one or two more. ANGEL HUNT is finite (and, by the end of this year, I hope I know just how many episodes it will entail. I’m pretty sure it will be over 100, meaning it will run for at least a year). I have to schedule in the radio plays I need to write, and a couple of full-length stage plays. I have a couple of film scripts that need prepping so they can go out to contests. Pretty soon, I will know whether or not I’m going back to the series that went on pause when I got sick. And I want to get CAST IRON MURDER out on submission this spring.
Two more packages of the ten mailed on Monday have been delivered. So, five out of the ten. Of the remaining five to be delivered, two of them having been repeatedly traveling between Springfield and Chicopee, instead of getting out of state to their destinations, so let’s hope they get it together and get going.
That’s why I mailed everything early.
It’s UPS and their lying about an incoming package that gets my goat. The package was out for delivery on the truck with the package that was delivered on Wednesday. Only it never made it off the truck with that other package. And now, UPS keeps telling me it will be delivered “today” but it isn’t.
Slogged through a bunch of email. I need to clean up and unsubscribe from a bunch of stuff instead of just deleting it.
Turned around two coverages in the afternoon. Nothing on the docket for today, which is fine, because that gives me time to catch up on the baking. Hopefully, I’ll get a few more coverages next week, and into the following week.
Too tired to bake yesterday.
Finished reading my friend’s book, and I’ll do the writeup on it I promised her, and get it posted this morning.
Today, I need to get two more episodes of Legerdemain polished, uploaded, scheduled. Then do the graphics for them. Then upload and schedule the ads for those last four episodes, and I’m into the first week of January 2023. Then I can switch to editing the next batch of episodes in this arc, and writing more.
I’ve lost some momentum on THE TREES WHISPERED DEATH, and need to get that back. I’m fairly close to the end of this draft, and then I want to let it sit for two months, without even looking at it.
I need to do the rounds of the library, the grocery, the liquor store later this morning, and then bake in the afternoon. If I want to get back on track with the plan, I need to bake 3 different kinds of cookies today.
This weekend, we write the domestic cards, so I can mail them on Monday. I have to get the new printer set up, and do a test run on the coffeemaker. We also need to finish decorating: the tree, getting the garlands and lights up on the stairs, the small tree on the porch, the additional lights throughout, the mantel, and decide where the 50+ Santas I’ve accumulated will perch. We have a platoon of the smaller nutcrackers waiting to be deployed in the living room, too. And Tessa’s made a nest of stuffed Christmas animals in the sewing room, near the heater.
Speaking of Tessa, she has decided that since Charlotte eats out of Tessa’s bowl, Tessa will now eat off Charlotte’s plate when she’s in the kitchen. This is the cat who has never eaten anything that wasn’t in her warm, freshly washed bowl. But she has had enough of Charlotte’s food theft. And Charlotte believes everything tastes better out of Tessa’s bowl.
Willa stays out of it.
Have a good weekend, friends, and I’ll catch you next week.
I had a slow start yesterday, and did not get anywhere near what I hoped to get done accomplished. I got the blogging done, and did the social media rounds, and promoted The Process Muse.
I was accepted on the Post.News site, so I had to get that signup sorted out, do my profile, start posting. It seems Very Serious over there. But there’s a lot of interesting content, so we’ll see.
Took a lot of books back to the library, and returned with a smaller stack, but one of them was a medieval bestiary so huge it needed its own slipcase. It looks beautiful, though. I posted photos online yesterday. I have it sitting on the worktable in my office, because it’s too big to curl up with on the sofa.
I was too tired to bake, but I turned around two more scripts. I have two for today, but nothing for tomorrow, so I might use tomorrow as a baking day, instead, and hope there are scripts early next week.
I kept getting distracted by the notifications on where the various packages I mailed on Monday were, at any given moment. Originally, most of the ones on the East Coast were supposed to hit yesterday, with those in the Midwest hitting today, and the one for the West Coast on Saturday. No problem.
But, although I kept getting notifications that the East coast packages would be delivered yesterday by 9 PM (impossible, since most of them were still in Chicopee midafternoon), the package to New York City, the one to Maine, and the one in California were all delivered. Go figure. Anyway, there’s no stress involved, because that’s why I mailed them early. But it’s fun to watch their progress.
We were supposed to receive 3 packages yesterday, but only one showed up: the red fleece sheets for my mom.
I ordered one last gift for my mom from LL Bean. She really wanted a particular shirt (again, in red) and she never asks for anything, so, of course, I ordered it.
Read my friend’s book last night (didn’t finish it). It’s very well done, and I’m happy for her.
Meditation didn’t happen this morning. The regular group leader is away, and the person who was supposed to step in either forgot or had technical difficulties. It happens. I’ll sit on my own later.
I HAVE to do the new promo graphic for the episode of Legerdemain that drops next Thursday; I really hate the one I did earlier this week. It would be good to get a couple more episodes uploaded and scheduled today, and a couple more tomorrow, and then I’m fine through the first week of January. I have enough episodes through January, but I need to get more drafted, so I can get ahead of things a bit more, in case I need to drop a seed in one of the earlier episodes.
Maybe this weekend, along with work on “Comfort, Then Joy” and THE TREES WHISPERED DEATH.
Anyway, back to work. Have a good one, my friends.
And don’t forget, the next episode of Legerdemain goes live today!
Friday was a lot of fun. Mailed bills on the way out of town, and headed down to Great Barrington. I found a shorter route, which was good. But, because we’d left later than I expected, we stopped at another store on the way down that was open, but wouldn’t have been had we left on time, and picked up something we needed (but didn’t find the bayberry candles we went down to get).
On the way down, we made an impulse stop at the library in Pittsfield, which was having a lobby book sale and found some cool books. Some of them holiday craft books, because I am a sucker for even tacky holiday craft books (especially at 50 cents a pop). And these have some cool ideas in them.
We went only to one store in GB, one of our favorite thrift stores. I found a train station for my Christmas village and the crossing sign lights up! (Which is more than the crossing sign IRL down the street does). Found a couple of small plates in a favorite pattern, a really cool mermaid candle holder, and a silver chain and bracelet with the large links I need for the charms I have for each. I also found a silver-plated frame for my favorite picture of my dad (who died when I was 10).
On the way back, we stopped in Stockbridge, in search of bayberry candles, but no luck. Then it was to a store in Pittsfield to pick up the last gift for extended family in Maine, and a few goodies for us. With a stop at Adams Fresh Market for fish for Friday night supper.
Pizza for lunch. I’m going to have to start making pizza from scratch again. Store-bought pizza tastes worse every time we buy it.
In the afternoon, I turned around two script coverages, and did some admin work. I was tired by the end of it. Really, really tired.
Tried reading for pleasure, a mystery that came recommended. But the writer uses “witch” as a slur against women and the world’s internal logic doesn’t makes sense, placing the characters in the “too stupid to live” category. So that one goes back, and that author is crossed off my list.
In Ellen Byron’s latest newsletter, she posted a photo of gigantic earrings she bought several decades ago in a shop on Columbus Ave. in NYC. I started laughing, because I remember the shop AND the earrings. They were too big to wear, so she turned them into Christmas ornaments. I love that so much. And that’s just so Ellen.
Her next Catering Hall Mystery (under the Maria DiRico name) comes out in March, and I’m excited.
Saturday morning, I had trouble getting going. But I did. And I wrote the first draft of “Net Worth” (which goes up today on Ko-Fi). The bones worked, and I knew I would do some edits. It came in a little over 1K, but hey, I don’t have to fit someone else’s word count. It won’t go too far one way or the other once it’s edited.
I started “Comfort, Then Joy” which was originally aimed to Ko-fi, but which I now feel is better suited to the quarterly newsletter. The story’s in my head; it’s just a case of getting it down on paper.
After a couple of hours at the desk, we hauled out the big Christmas tree from the broom closet and brought it into the living room. I started fighting with the stand, which has never worked well (and I bought this damn tree in 1989, or maybe it was 1990).
I finally decided I had HAD IT. I put the stuff down, wrapped up, got into the car, and drove into the escalating storm to get a new artificial tree stand. I got the last small one in the store, and while I was there, picked up a couple of oversized decorative poinsettias that clip to branches. I had hoped to find a finial topper, but no luck. I’ll keep looking in thrift stores after the holidays. All the other traditional toppers were too gaudy for our tree.
Home. Unwrapped. The new stand snapped together in less than 5 minutes, the tree slipped in and locked, and we could spend quality time fluffing the tree, instead of fighting for an hour or more with the stand. We put the lights on the tree (which actually had stayed coiled properly this year). And moved the tree into position in the doorway between the living room and the sewing room. We use the glass doors to frame it.
Even though this stand is far sturdier than the other one, I tied off the tree to the door hinges, just for added security.
We unpacked all the ornaments from the big bin in the closet in the sewing room and put them on. The shimmery gold ornaments and some small wooden ornaments go on last, after everything else goes on, and we put those aside.
That took most of the afternoon, but we had a lot of fun with it. Each ornament has a story, and we tell and retell our history with it.
The kitty litter delivery from Chewy also arrived, so I got to haul 45 pounds of cat litter up the stairs.
Sprawled on the couch reading in the evening, with candles on and cats on laps.
Willa is so gentle when she checks out the tree. It’s kind of adorable. Tessa circled it a few times, and pointed out where some branches needed adjustment, and then was satisfied. Charlotte watched from a safe distance.
They really are all very good with the tree. But then, we don’t shut them out when we decorate. They’re always a part of the process of unpacking ornaments, putting things up, or packing them. ALL my cats have been good with the trees. I mean, Elsa (tortie) used to climb the bare tree, but she was fine once the ornaments were up. And Iris (Russian blue) used to choose a patch of tree she wanted bare and remove the ornaments. But none of them were ever destructive.
The storm intensified, and we had power outages on and off all night. Tessa did not like it, and roamed the house, complaining, each time it went off or on. I discovered that, while I could report the outage to the electric company, the gas company has no system for outages. WTF? Charlotte and Willa just burrowed deeper in blankets.
By the time I got up on Sunday morning, everything was fine again.
I mean, we live in a city, not a rural area (despite what Staples claims, when they slap “rural carrier fees” onto orders). It makes sense they’d get the power back on pretty quickly.
Sunday was cold and sunny. My neighbor knocked to let me know packages arrived last night. He’d knocked on the door, but, for whatever reason, I hadn’t heard, and he’d taken them in and then brought them over this morning. One was the Goddess Provisions box (which I didn’t expect until Monday) and the other was a gift from a friend in NY.
After breakfast, I revised “Net Worth” mostly for internal logic, and starting to layer in some sensory details. There’s plenty I intentionally don’t explain and leave for the readers’ imaginations.
I did some more work on “Comfort, Then Joy” which is surprising me for all the right reasons. I’m a little past halfway with it. I figure it’ll come in between 3-5K, a little longer than I wanted for a newsletter story, but it’s a fairly short newsletter.
In the late morning, we went over to the Alpaca Farm to pick up a gift for the cousin in Maine, and then to pick up a few things at Wild Oats. They had bayberry candles! And wonderful ones, from Mole HIll in Sturbridge.
The afternoon was all about wrapping presents, packing the packages, writing the cards to go in the packages, taping everything up, mailing labels, etc. I was tired, grumpy, and feeling every bit of my age by the end of it. Charlotte helped, which was pretty funny.
I like the wrapping and choosing things I think my friends would enjoy. But the whole post office prep can be a bit much. But I had the labels and the tape and the Sharpies and all the rest, so it was fine.
Too tired to do much more in the evening except have a glass of wine with some cheese, crackers, and fig/orange spread, enjoying the 2nd of Advent candles and the partially finished tree.
Dipped into a bit of Script Chat, but felt old and grumpy and in pain, so I wasn’t at my best.
To date, I have been invited to 17 different holiday gatherings, none with appropriate COVID protocols, and therefore have said no to all the invitations. Not worth the risk. I’m grateful they invite me, but I’m not getting sick because someone can’t be bothered to wear a mask. So I don’t put myself in high risk situations.
Fell into a very deep sleep. Charlotte woke me around 1:30. When I went back to sleep, I dreamed that I met Dewi Hargreaves, with whom I’m friendly on various social media, in person. We were meeting a couple of others we “knew” from social media in a parking lot somewhere, but they were wittering on about stuff we found vicious and tedious, so we ditched them to go to a book-lined bar and talk about books, which sounds like a nice evening to me. In this Dreamscape, we didn’t have to worry about COVID.
Tessa woke me up around 4, and I told her I was NOT getting up that early, and fell back to sleep. I dreamed that I was at an estate sale, bought 5 vintage suitcases, some books, and lots of women’s gloves. I have lots of suitcases (but love luggage) and I do pick up vintage gloves a lot (at least I did, pre-plague), so that made sense. But there was this other guy there, who kept trying to take stuff I’d already paid for and add it to his pile.
According to dream “experts”, dreams about suitcases mean an upcoming trip, or the need to access personal information about yourself. Dreaming about gloves shows a need for protection. It’s pretty obvious what someone taking something symbolizes. However, in this case, I think it was all more literal than metaphorical. But I’ll use the Rackham Tarot given to me by my friend to dig deeper. That deck works well for dream work.
I woke up late, and felt behind the beat and tired all day.
I got the Monday blogging done, made the SM rounds, sat down and made the grocery list. I took the packages to the post office. Managed to park right in front, walk right up to the desk, and was done in just a few minutes – AND within budget. Everything will be where it needs to be by the end of the week. It was sunny, so everyone was in a good mood (and most masked, indoors).
Went to Big Y to do the Big Shop. I think I’m all set for baking – will probably need to get more eggs, as some point. But I’ve been stockpiling staples for a few weeks, and I think I’m in pretty good shape.
Got a batch of veggie stock made in the crockpot. Did another draft of “Net Worth” so it was where I needed it to be in order to put it up this afternoon on Ko-fi. Polished the next two posts for The Process Muse, chose the graphics, uploaded and scheduled.
Turned around two coverages.
Jeremy’s soup class was great. He taught us to make Italian Wedding Soup, and I learned a bunch of new techniques. Charlotte was delighted, although I had to stop and grate some Parmesan for her, because he used Parmesan and talked Parmesan, and every time he said the word, she got all excited.
Tired. Had weird dreams overnight.
Last night was St. Nicholas Night, a traditional celebration, where one leaves out a shoe, and wakes up to find it filled with chocolate or candy or whatever. Chocolate and cocoa for us, this morning. And we generally put the goodies in either a gift bag or one of the Christmas stockings and put the bag in the shoe, because, you know, hygiene.
Waking up to chocolate is always good.
The coffee filter split this morning, so there are coffee grounds in the coffee. Better than no coffee, and I HAVE to get the new coffeemaker up and running.
Roxane Gay shared an article written by Isabel Kaplan about her boyfriend, a fellow writer, breaking up with her once she had some success. He didn’t like that she kept a journal. He felt it was his “responsibility to take her down a peg” and so on and so forth. It reminded me so much of a toxic, emotionally abusive relationship I was in back in the mid-90’s. I’m so glad I’m not still with that guy. I would be dead, emotionally (and most likely physically; he had a history of dead wives). She talks about parsing out her good news, about contorting herself emotionally until she’s a pretzel and then blaming herself for the hurt. It hit very close to the bone. Too many men in my life have defined “partnership” as me putting my writing last while doing physical, emotional, and sexual labor to promote their careers. No. Just no. The right partner will not sabotage the writing. The bell weather for me, in a relationship is – if my writing improves, sparkles, strengthens with this person, it’s a good relationship. If the writing falters or stalls, it means get the hell out.
And, as someone who has kept a journal for 50 years (there are boxes of them in storage), anyone who tried to keep me from my journal, or, worse yet, violated my trust by READING it, was gone in a heartbeat. My blogs are public. What’s in those handwritten books is private.
The big priority this morning is getting at least some of the next episodes of LEGERDEMAIN uploaded and posted. ‘Net Worth” goes up on Ko-fi this afternoon. We’ll see where we are, timewise, after that. I need to work on “Comfort, Then Joy” and also work on THE TREES WHISPERED DEATH and more LEGERDEMAIN, but that might not happen.
The baking begins today. I’ll do two batches of one kind of cookie right after lunch, then start my script coverages for the day. That should let me get all my baking done by the end of the weekend, so I can start delivering cookie platters early next week.
No doubt, I will post photos as I bake.
Have a good one, my friends. Peace and joy to you.
The next epsiode of Legerdemain goes live today. Enjoy!
In spite of a rather chaotic week, with Jupiter direct I’m feeling distinctly more optimistic, and with Neptune turning direct tomorrow, even better.
I didn’t get many words on paper yesterday, and none of them were for THE TREES WHISPERED DEATH. But I’ve written in my head a weird little paranormal flash fiction that was inspired by the recent death of a musician I admire, and that will go on the page this weekend. The Christmas flash for Ko-fi is almost complete in my head, at least working out the beats of it, and that will get on paper this weekend, too. The flash for the newsletter is still percolating, and the original piece planned for the newsletter, that will be more of a novella wants attention, too.
So there are projects that are demanding head space and finger work, along with the needs of Legerdemain, TREES, and the rest.
And the decorating! I’m getting tired of living with stacks of boxes.
I got my reader notes out on my friend’s book yesterday, and answered a colleague’s questions. I didn’t get the interviews scheduled, and Friday is a bad day to ask, so I’ll wait and send out that request on Monday. Did the rouonds to promote Legerdemain. Hive is offline for a bit, due to security issues, so I don’t have to try and figure it out for at least the next little bit.
I still haven’t unpacked the new printer or done a test run on the coffeemaker.
Brother got back to me on my request about the big printer and was absolutely fucking useless. All they did was send me the troubleshooting link in the handbook. Really? You think I’m just that much of an idiot? They’re supposed to HELP me, not just send me a link. So much for their reputation for good customer service. I can’t even get to them via Twitter, because they’ve left Twitter (good for them, but, basically, the only way to get actual service from a company the last few years was to get them to notice on social media).
Turned around two scripts yesterday, a good start to the new pay period. Have two today and two for Monday. I want to read at least 10 scripts next week, if there’s enough coming in (at the right rate). Sometimes, they put in scripts where the work: money ratio isn’t worth it, and I don’t take them.
I kicked Charlotte out of the bedroom last night, because she was impossible and wouldn’t let me sleep. By 4 this morning, she managed to get Tessa to pry open the door, but then Tessa wanted to be fed. I wouldn’t get up. Tessa feels Charlotte filched on the deal. My mom got up to feed Tessa but DIDN’T WARM THE BOWL, and Tessa wishes to speak to the manager. This Will Not Do.
Okay, I laughed at all of them. Now none of the cats are speaking to me. Not even Willa, who is united (for once) with her sisters.
Today, I have to actually leave the house. I mean, I WANT to go and do what I’m doing, which is finally making the run down to Great Barrington and Lenox in search of some things I need and a final gift for a cousin in Maine. But actually girding my psyche to get out of the house isn’t fun. But we have masks, it’s a pretty day to drive, and I’ll fill the car on the way out of town. We won’t be gone that long. It’s getting out of the house that’s the hard part. Once we’re actually out and about, it’s all good.
Today won’t be much on the writing front, but at least I’ll get a lot of other stuff done, so I can dive into the weekend with writing, packing gifts, and decorating.
Have a good one, and I’ll see you on the other side of it!
I have not yet unpacked the new printer. Of course, I haven’t started using the new coffeemaker yet, either. It took 4 days to read the manual. But that’s on the agenda for the next few days going into the weekend. Along with another big decorating push. There are many decorating boxes strewing the space. There are boxes/bags that need to be packed and shipped with gifts. There are things, such as the printer, which need to be unpacked. Do I feel boxed in? More like boxed out.
I managed to get home from errands yesterday before it started bucketing down. I sat down and wrote THE TREES WHISPERED DEATH. 1151 words. Which brought me to 59,736 for NaNo. I did some other stuff, but it bugged me to be so close to 60K and not at 60K, so I went back, wrote 481 words to finish the chapter, and made it to 60,217 for the month. That feels better.
That was the final interim chapter. Now, I can renumber the chapter I wrote last Friday, put that in, and start on the next chapter, which hurtles us toward the climactic sequence and the end of the book. I think it’s more likely this will come in around 75-77K, and that gives me room in the edits to layer on historical detail, while also putting in some more twists.
In the afternoon, I turned around 3 coverages, which means I ended the pay period close to where I hoped. I have to push hard the first half of December, so that I can relax around the holidays. Then I have to push hard at the beginning of January, because quarterly taxes are due mid-January. It’s great to say “save 30% of your income for taxes” but that is not always the reality.
This morning is meditation. After breakfast, I will sit down and write THE TREES WHISPERED DEATH. The natural rhythm of the piece is between 1100-1700 words, rather than pushing over 2K in each session.
I have to get some comments out on a friend’s book and set up the interviews for January for the article I’m doing. I need to get back to another colleague with information.
I have two coverages to do this afternoon (starting the new pay period), and I have two for tomorrow, so I’m set for the week. Hopefully, enough will come in next week for a full week. I also need to get the next seven episodes of Legerdemain uploaded, scheduled, and the ads created. They’re written, they’ve had a couple of editing passes, but I need to get them up, and hope that I don’t need to plant anything there as I finish the arc (I’m behind where I want to be on that). If I hit a point like that, I’ll have to make do planting it somewhere else. The joy of serial writing.
In any case, the next episode goes live today, and I hope you enjoy it. I’m certainly not getting rich on the serial, but at least the last couple of months, it’s been earning its run. Have a good one!
Charlotte and her banana. Photo by Devon Ellington
Wednesday, November 30, 2022
Waxing Moon
Neptune, Chiron, Uranus, Mars Retrograde
Stormy and cold
Here’s a picture of Charlotte and her banana, because someone should have a good day.
Well, yesterday was A Day.
Sorry this is late, but today is shaping up to be A Day Again.
The transit chart warned me this would be a week of chaos and conflict influenced by the heavens, and drawing the Nine of Swords as my Advice Card for the day was another warning.
The worst thing that happened yesterday was that my giant Brother Color Laser Printer, which was expensive and so heavy it needs two men to life it, died. It turned itself off in the morning, and the power won’t go back on. You can tell Twitter is dying, because I posted a request for troubleshooting suggestions there and it was silent. Normally, I’d have a mix of actual help and mansplaining. CounterSocial and Mastodon offered suggestions, but most of it was what I tried, and both that and the stuff I hadn’t tried but then did, did not work. But I appreciated that people saw the post and genuinely tried to help. That’s always appreciated, and I made sure to thank and acknowledge them.
I will be heartbroken if a printer that was that expensive and under warranty at only two years old is dead for good.
Now, of course, I have to fight to get them to honor the warranty.
It’s not like I can load it up into the car and take it for repair. The tech has to come here.
So, no printer yesterday, and research for a small interim printer until we figure out what to do with the laser printer. I was going to buy a small printer anyway, that I could take with me on residencies. I just didn’t expect to get it right now, and lose the big laser printer, which is a necessity for my work.
I had A LOT of stuff I needed to scan this week, along with the regular printing, so it’s an issue.
I did the rounds to promote Legerdemain, and check in and interact here and there. Making the rounds of all the sites takes from 1 ½-2 hours, which I now need to build into the workday. Whether or not I “have” time doesn’t matter. It’s a necessary part of the job. People running around saying they “don’t have time” or “the spoons” to learn these new platforms are speaking from a place of privilege I do not have.
Twitter is mostly screaming right now, anyway. It makes me sad.
I turned around two script coverages in the afternoon. We got an issue with a misplaced synopsis sorted out, which I will deal with today. I have to sit through another “evaluation” soon. My numbers have gone up in the last months, I have a 100% on time rate, and I’m requested 5% more often than the average for readers, so what is there to talk about? Leave me alone to do my work or give me a raise.
I found out that library holds expired yesterday. I contacted the library to ask them to hold them over until I could pick them up this morning, but didn’t hear back. With the library closed for four days over the holidays, we should get a little extra time. All the same, my world will not stop if I don’t get a library book I ordered. I can order it again.
Centerville Library’s staff would just check them out and send me a note telling me they were ready whenever I wanted to pick them up, but then, I built relationships with those librarians over ten years. The turnover at this library is much higher, and while all the librarians know me, sort of, by this point, they don’t really know me. It’s whatever. I will cope.
A colleague asked for recommendations on something, and, having dealt with her requests before, she wants me to do initial introductions and labor on it, which I won’t do. I’ll give her the information. Someone else is nagging me to review her book, which I just received – give me a minute, would you? Paid work comes first.
I’m behind on getting out some other admin stuff that needs to be done this week, and I don’t want to let it slide.
It took me 45 minutes to upload my profile picture on Hive, between my tablet being slow and the site running slow. Hopefully, everything will even out soon.
On a happier note, I received a tax refund from the state. In this state, when there is a surplus of taxes collected, they don’t sit on it. They are required, by law, to return it to the taxpayers. So I got an unexpected refund check. It’s not a lot, but it’s enough to cover the little interim printer I have my eye on. That little thing made me feel cared for by the Universe.
As far as writing went, I chose not to work on THE TREES WHISPERED DEATH yesterday, because I was working on the holiday story instead. However, as I passed the 2K mark and realized how much story there still was, this is not appropriate for the newsletter subscribers. So I have to come up with something else that can be a flash (I already have the idea) and switch over to writing the flash for the Ko-fi page in the next couple of days (that idea is a little weird, but fun. Ko-fi is where I do weird and fun).
This morning, I only did 1151 words on THE TREES WHISPERED DEATH, but they’re decent. I have to come up with a few more pages tomorrow morning to round out this chapter, and then we are where we need to be for the chapter I wrote last Friday, and that sends us careening toward the climactic sequence and resolution. It will come in short, on word count, for this draft, but as I revise it next spring, I will layer in the necessary period detail so it will hit the count organically (hopefully without info dumping).
I’m finishing NaNo at 59,736 (part of me says, come on, write another 300 words before midnight and hit 60K), but we’ll see.
I did not sleep well, between worrying about things and the cats being impossible.
Up a little after 5. Tessa is doing a Houdini act. I heard rummaging, and found her in a closed bureau drawer (that has not been opened for months). How did she get in there when there are no holes in the back of the bureau? It’s a mystery, but I’m glad I was home to get her out.
My back was spasming when I woke up, but a longish yoga session (under Tessa’s supervision) helped.
I dashed out early when the store opened that carried the printer I wanted. In and out in a few minutes with the printer, a 2-year warranty, and a hole puncher (I can’t find my other one, and Staples sent me the wrong case of paper).
Wolfed down breakfast and headed out again, just as the storm started. Hit up the library – they’d held my books for me, knowing I’d show up when I said I would. I am very grateful. Liquor store (gotta stock for a storm). Bank, to put in the refund check I’d just spent on the printer.
All the errands done in 20 minutes and home. Car safely slotted. Back to work. The winds are supposed to pick up seriously over the next few hours and be high until tomorrow night. The temperatures are in the 40s now, but will drop into the 20s tonight, so the rain might switch over to snow. They are positioning plows and utility trucks around the city.
Lots to do, so off I go. Have a good one.
And hey, all you who busted your ass for NaNo – good work! Cheers to you!
GWEN FINNEGAN MYSTERIES
Archaeologist Dr. Gwen Finnegan is on the hunt for her lover’s killer. Shy historical researcher Justin Yates jumps at the chance to join her on a real adventure through Europe as they try to unspool fact from fiction in a multi-generational obsession with a statue of the goddess Medusa.
Buy links here.
When plans for their next expedition fall through, Gwen and Justin accept teaching jobs at different local universities. Adjusting to their day-to-day relationship, they are embroiled in two different, disturbing, paranormal situations that have more than one unusual crossing point. Can they work together to find the answers? Or are new temptations too much to resist? For whom are they willing to put their lives on the line? Available on multiple digital channels here.NAUTICAL NAMASTE MYSTERIESSAVASANA AT SEA
Yoga instructor Sophie Batchelder jumps at the chance to teach on a cruise ship when she loses her job and her boyfriend dumps her. But when her boss is murdered, Sophie must figure out who the real killer is -- before he turns her into a corpse, too. A Not-Quite-Cozy Mystery.
Buy Links here.COVENTINA CIRCLE ROMANTIC SUSPENSEPLAYING THE ANGLES
Witchcraft, politics, and theatre collide as Morag D’Anneville and Secret Service agent Simon Keane fight to protect the Vice President of the United States -- or is it Morag who needs Simon’s protection more than the VP?
Buy links here.THE SPIRIT REPOSITORY
Bonnie Chencko knows books change lives. She’s attracted to Rufus Van Dijk, the mysterious man who owns the bookshop in his ancestors’ building. A building filled with family ghosts, who are mysteriously disappearing. It’s up to Bonnie and her burgeoning Craft powers to rescue the spirits before their souls are lost forever. Buy Links here. RELICS & REQUIEM
Amanda Breck’s complicated life gets more convoluted when she finds the body of Lena Morgan in Central Park, identical to Amanda’s dream. Detective Phineas Regan is one case away from retirement; the last thing he needs is a murder case tinged by the occult. The seeds of their attraction were planted months ago. But can they work together to stop a wily, vicious killer, or will the murderer destroy them both?
Buy link here.
Full Circle: An Ars Concordia Anthology. Edited by Colin Galbraith. My story is “Pauvre Bob”, set at Arlington Race Track in Illinois is included in this wonderful collection of short stories and poetry. You can download it free here.
Archaeologist Dr. Gwen Finnegan is on the hunt for her lover’s killer. Shy historical researcher Justin Yates jumps at the chance to join her on a real adventure through Europe as they try to unspool fact from fiction in a multi-generational obsession with a statue of the goddess Medusa.
Buy links 
When plans for their next expedition fall through, Gwen and Justin accept teaching jobs at different local universities. Adjusting to their day-to-day relationship, they are embroiled in two different, disturbing, paranormal situations that have more than one unusual crossing point. Can they work together to find the answers? Or are new temptations too much to resist? For whom are they willing to put their lives on the line? Available on multiple digital channels 
SAVASANA AT SEA
Yoga instructor Sophie Batchelder jumps at the chance to teach on a cruise ship when she loses her job and her boyfriend dumps her. But when her boss is murdered, Sophie must figure out who the real killer is -- before he turns her into a corpse, too. A Not-Quite-Cozy Mystery.
Buy Links 
PLAYING THE ANGLES
Witchcraft, politics, and theatre collide as Morag D’Anneville and Secret Service agent Simon Keane fight to protect the Vice President of the United States -- or is it Morag who needs Simon’s protection more than the VP?
Buy links 
THE SPIRIT REPOSITORY
Bonnie Chencko knows books change lives. She’s attracted to Rufus Van Dijk, the mysterious man who owns the bookshop in his ancestors’ building. A building filled with family ghosts, who are mysteriously disappearing. It’s up to Bonnie and her burgeoning Craft powers to rescue the spirits before their souls are lost forever. Buy Links 
RELICS & REQUIEM
Amanda Breck’s complicated life gets more convoluted when she finds the body of Lena Morgan in Central Park, identical to Amanda’s dream. Detective Phineas Regan is one case away from retirement; the last thing he needs is a murder case tinged by the occult. The seeds of their attraction were planted months ago. But can they work together to stop a wily, vicious killer, or will the murderer destroy them both?
Buy link 
Ink In My Coffee 