Wed. May 10, 2023: Good Trellises Make Good Neighbors

image courtesy of Kerstin Riemer via pixabay.com

Wednesday, May 10, 2023

Waning Moon

Mercury and Pluto Retrograde

Sunny and pleasant

It was cold enough, again, for frost on the car overnight, and 33 degrees F when I woke up. It’s supposed to go up to 72 later today.

Over on The Process Muse today, we’re talking about showing up and doing the work. You can read it here.

Today’s serial episode is Angel Hunt.

Episode 31: Battle With the Witch Hunter

Lianna fights the witch hunter with some unexpected weapons.

Angel Hunt serial link.

I was worn out yesterday, from the big client project’s finish and the FALL FOREVER reading done. This girl was tired.

I created the episode graphics for this week’s episodes of Legerdemain and uploaded/scheduled yesterday’s promo. I’m trying something different this month; instead of dropping the episode graphics of the week’s episodes every day, I’m only dropping them on the day they go live. On off days, I will post more general promos for the whole series. We’ll see how that works for the rest of the month.

Twitter’s not driving any traffic to anything anymore (partially because I had to lock my account). But the bulk of WGA info is on there, so I haven’t left completely.

The big morning project yesterday was the proposal for the play commission. So, fingers crossed. It would be a great opportunity.

I did a drop off/pick up at the library. Then I went to the pharmacy and got a last batch of home COVID tests from both my mom’s insurance and my insurance. As of tomorrow, we’re on our own and have to pay for them. Which means people won’t test and will go untreated, and more people will die.

I am highly skeptical that my mom’s illness was “flu” even though she tested positive for it. I think she had a variant. She’s still coughing a little. And exhausted all the time. I may have fought off a variant (hence the fever), and I still have the fatigue (which I figure is the fight combined with exhaustion from pushing on the projects these last weeks). And, of course, now we’re in the season of “is it pollen or is it the plague?” I’m worried that the home tests aren’t picking up the variants, which is why I isolated for several days when I came down with the fever.

Other than being tired, I felt okay yesterday, which is why I ran my errands (although I’m still masking indoors). I got the COVID tests. I swung by a couple of stores looking for some stuff I needed, and they didn’t have it. I mailed some bills. I ordered cat litter.  You know, the basics of keeping a household running.

Ran into the maintenance guy. They’re coming around next week to check on a few things in the apartments and test the smoke detectors, etc. ahead of upcoming insurance inspections. And he’s going to take another look at the dishwasher, and maybe replace the outlet.

We unwrapped the tarp from the bench and bistro chairs on the back balcony and got those set up, along with the bistro table. I teak oiled everything. Hopefully, it’s soaked in overnight and I can add the cushions today. I put out the hanging birdbath. It’s still too cold at night to put out any plants, which means I can’t yet put down the rugs. But slowly, slowly, we’re getting there.

The neighbor whose house back is at right angles to our back balcony (the front is on a cross street) called me over to whine about the bucket truck the landlord keeps parked at the back of the driveway here. I was Very Cordial. Now, anyone who knows me well knows that when I go into Very Cordial mode, it’s best to back away slowly, and, once at a safe distance, turn and run like hell. In my mind, I called her “Aunt Bea” because she reminded me of all the negatives of that character from the ANDY GRIFFITH SHOW. I’m the tenant; I’m not going to tell the landlord what to do, when he’s behaving perfectly legally ON HIS OWN PROPERTY. And, frankly, it has no impact on her property. She said she doesn’t want to look at it, and she can see it out of her window. She said she called the city to complain and they told her my landlord followed all protocols and she should mind her own business. I suggested that, instead of cutting down all the foliage at the fence line, she grow clematis and hops and make a natural screen. She was not amused.

Hey, not my problem. Also, more importantly, not my business.

I, however, am likely to get some clematis and/or hops and put it on that side of the balcony to create a foliage screen. Getting large trellises around here is not a problem. It’s the pot-sized ones who are rare.

I planted a few things where the seeds had cooled in the fridge and want some cold still before they come up. Supposedly, last night was the last frosty bit, so I can start planting more stuff.

I need to get some black-eyed Susan vine going, or it won’t come up in time. And it did so well last year.

Tomorrow’s garden post will have more exploration of all of this.

I did client work in the afternoon. Managed to finish it before yoga. I’d home tested two hours before class, as a precaution. Negative, thank goodness. I was pretty sure it would come back negative, since I felt fine, just tired. But I wanted to be sure.

I kind of dragged myself to yoga, not wanting to leave the house, and then I was happy I did it, because I felt so much better. My teacher also recommended a local vet, which is good, because I need to get the cats in to update shots, etc.

Home, dinner, then reading Cherie Priest’s FLIGHT RISK, which is a lot of fun.

Up early this morning. Did not go to the laundromat. I’ll regret that next week, but I’ll deal with it. . .next week.

I have writing to do this morning, client work to do in the afternoon, probably more planting. I am going to take Friday off from client work to focus on the serials, the Poets in Conversation piece, the flash fiction piece, and maybe go to the Clark to work on that project a bit. So I need to dig in a bit earlier in the week.

I may start loading more client work early in the week in order to keep taking Fridays off from client work. The instinct is to keep Mondays free (Mondays were often my dark day from theatre work), but my brain starts shutting off Thursday afternoons, as far as client work goes, so Fridays might be a better choice. I may have to do more those early days (which, with increasing my yoga classes over the summer, might be a challenge, since I don’t like to come home and go back to the desk, but we’ll see how it goes).

Anyway, that’s the latest. Back to the page.

Wed. May 3, 2023: Arranging and Rearranging Words

image courtesy of Valerio Errani via pixabay.com

Wednesday, May 3, 2023

Waxing Moon

Mercury and Pluto Retrograde

Rainy, chilly, and raw

Today’s Process Muse Post is about dealing with jealousy, envy, and uncomfortable emotions. You can read it here.

It was hard to get it together yesterday. Twitter is not allowing WP to connect anymore. I was getting a lot of trollish DMs, and I finally managed to lock my account, but I can no longer participate in community conversations. I’d leave completely, but a lot of the WGA conversations are happening there.

Today’s serial episode is from Angel Hunt:

Episode 29: Actor or Character?

Lianna unravels the layers of actor energy in the rehearsal room from something much darker.

Angel Hunt Serial Link.

I wrote a future Process Muse, got it polished, uploaded, and schedule. Finished Episode 5 of REP. Could not get it together for Legerdemain.

I thought I’d started a Series Bible and Style Sheet for Rep, but can’t find them. So I had to redo them.

Did the social media rounds for Legerdemain.

Turned around two script coverages. it’s not scabbing, my coverage agency fully supports and is in compliance with the strike (I checked with the guild). Writers can lock their profiles so that their scripts can’t be downloaded by producers, et al, during the strike. How much work we’ll actually have as things go on, who knows? I feel like I should push this week, because there’s a lot that came in before the May 1 deadline, but I have this other big client project that must be finished, so I’ll have to risk the coverage work drying up.

Finished one of the categories in the contest. Wrote up the winning reviews (it was a tie, two very different and equally wonderful books), put in the other scores, named the finalists, and sent it all off.

Good news on the poetry front!

First of all, I’m getting to know my fellow poets for the fall residency via email, so we all know a bit about each other before we start. They are an amazing, talented group, and I’m so honored to be part of it.

Second, I’m creating a new piece for Word X Word’s event at the Mount (Edith Wharton house) on May 21, as part of their Poets in Conversation series. I started turning over ideas in my head as soon as I got the invite. I’ve got an idea developing that I think will work; I’ll take what I learn from that performance, and it will be one of the pieces I bring into the residency, because it fits with the theme of the other pieces I want to work on then. That wasn’t intentional, it’s just how it percolated.

Third, I am one of the poets in this year’s Word X Word’s “World’s Largest Poem”, again at the Mount, in July. I will have 24 hours to write my section of the poem (same as last year), once I’m given the last word of the previous poet’s section. We’re being encouraged to be multi-lingual; I hope to compose my short section in English, French, and German. The word I receive to launch it could be anything, in any language. I may try writing part of it ahead of time, and then weave the word into it and adjust as needed. My final word will launch the next poet’s word, and so forth and so on.

Yoga was good. I admit, I rather dragged myself there, not feeling like leaving the house, but I was glad I went.

Worked on contest entries. I’m nearly finished with the second category; I hope I can get those off today, or, latest, by tomorrow. I’ll be down to the wire finishing off the final category.

Out of the house early this morning to go to the laundromat. I edited five episodes of Legerdemain, and a couple of REP.

On today’s agenda: draft an episode of Legerdemain, enter contest scores, make the rounds to promote Angel Hunt and the Process Muse. There’s an Ink-Dipped Advice post to finish and get up. I have two scripts to turn around, and I want to finish the second category in the contest, and get that winner/finalist list out. I also have to finish reading a book for review, because it’s due tomorrow.

I’d like to do another pass on FALL FOREVER today, too, if I can. Not an edit; more of some gentle tweaks. I’ll get my cast list on Friday, and need to send them the script so they can look it over this weekend, before the table read. I’ll also get the assignments of the other plays this week, since part of getting my play read is helping some of the other playwrights out with their readings. My play is in the first slot on Monday, the first slot of the whole table reads program.

Next week, I also want to draft the short piece for the artist call over in Northampton, and get back to work on the next Twinkle Tavern piece, “Labor Intensive.” Along with working on the poem that will be read at the Mount on May 21. I also want to play with FlexClip a little more. I have some ideas on creating short pieces on it to promote the serials.

But first, I have to clear off this week’s deadlines.

Have a good one!

Wed. April 26, 2023: Today I’m Prepping the Play

image courtesy of  Gordon Johnson via pixabay.com

Wednesday, April 26, 2023

Waxing Moon

Mercury Retrograde

Sunny and cold

I had to scrape frost off the car on my way to the laundromat.

Over on today’s Process Muse, we’re talking about Project Rewards and how to use new and shiny ideas as a reward for getting your other work done. Read and comment here.

Today’s serial is Angel Hunt:

Episode 27: Vanka Yelena Takes Charge

When Vanka Yelena intervenes in magic used against Lianna, the game is up and Lianna has to come clean to Amy and Bunny.

You can read the Angel Hunt serial here.

Polished and uploaded next week’s Process Muse post, and then went ahead and wrote, polished, and uploaded the following week’s post.

Spent some fun time on Substack Notes. I know people are grumbling about ANOTHER feed, but I enjoy it.

John Scalzi mentioned that Twitter will stop allowing WP to connect soon, for good this time. When that happens again, I’ll keep trying to lock my account and be done, at least for the moment. The frustration level at the difficulty in interactions is getting too high, and I’m losing too much time for it to make sense. I’ll step back, and revisit after a bit, to see if things have levelled out, although I don’t hold out much hope.

Instead, I’ll focus on building elsewhere.

Drafted an episode of Legerdemain. Trying to get some episodes in the bank, so that when I have to upload more in the middle of next week, I’m in good shape.

Did some development work on REP.

Did some more cleaning/tidying up.

Turned around three script coverages in the afternoon, and got them all done before I had to leave for yoga.

Yoga was great, as usual.

Picked up takeout on the way home.

Unpacked a box of cookbooks I’d brought up from storage. I’ve been in a cooking funk the past few weeks, except for soup class, so I need to get back on track with good meal planning, cooking, etc. This weekend, having guests, will get me back on track for a bit.

I mean, I don’t have anywhere near as many cookbooks or the thousands of stored digital recipes as my friend writer Chaz Brenchley, but I do have a lot of cookbooks and most of the time, I enjoy both reading them and cooking from them. But I’ve been in a food funk lately. Hopefully, when the Saturday outdoor farmer’s market starts up again, I’ll pull out of it.

Dreamed something about diamonds, so I’m assuming it has to do with the Heist Romance script tapping its inky foot, wanting attention.

Out the door early for the laundromat, scraping the frost off the windows. Got the laundry through pretty fast (only one load, and it wasn’t that big). While I was there, I did a read-through of the first 80-ish pages of FALL FOREVER, fixing the biggest problems. I finished the first pass through the draft when I got home. I filled out the information sheet for the reading. I still have to fill out the sheet for my time as a reader for someone else’s play(s).

This morning, I will put in the changes for this draft, and then I’ll have a draft that makes sense for the table read in early May. I assume I’ll have to send it out early next week. I feel like I’m being egotistical feeling okay about the read? Like I finally have enough craft so it’s not a dumpster fire in the first draft? Well, it’ll be a second draft that goes out.  I mean, I know it still needs lots of work, but there’s enough material, and some good moments between the characters, where I feel as though I won’t cringe the entire time. Which is unusual for this early a draft.

Once that’s done, today is errand day: Library, pharmacy, grocery store, Wild Oats, liquor store, finding a place to pick up some gift wrap. I have three scripts to turn around this evening, and then I have some more cleaning and rearranging to do. That back door to the balcony is not getting unjammed before the guests get here, so I have to adjust in not getting pots and some of the furniture we brought in out there yet. And I have to do the social media rounds to promote Process Muse and Angel Hunt.

The computer is giving me grief; I really hope it doesn’t give up the ghost AGAIN – it had to go out for repair last Mercury retrograde, remember? I have too much work to do, and stuff to prep so that I can enjoy the upcoming weekend.

I’m definitely taking Friday off coverage work, and I might take Monday off it, too, and just focus on finishing the contest entries.

One day at a time.

Have a good one! Tessa is back in the rocking chair in the reading corner of my office, to make sure I don’t faff off today.

Fri. April 14, 2023: Too Early for Summer!

image courtesy of Tom via pixabay.com

April 14, 2023

Waning Moon

Hot and hazy

Yesterday was far too warm for this time of year. The front porch was downright hot, although the rest of the apartment stayed comfortable. But all I want to do is nap. The cats are a bad influence on this, although they’ve been running around with spring fever.

I started Act II of FALL FOREVER, and wrote a little over 3 pages. I know where this scene needs to end, but I’m not sure how to get there.

Did another round of revisions on the episodes of Legerdemain. Got next week’s episodes up, and, hopefully, can get a bunch done in the next few days to get a little bit ahead. I know what the upcoming episodes need to cover; it’s just a case of getting them written.

Wrote some notes and cards, mailed my taxes, did a quick grocery shop. Joined Freelance Chat, which was about nuances in legalities, and it was interesting. Did the social media rounds to promote yesterday’s episode of Legerdemain, and will do them again today to promote today’s episode of Angel Hunt.

Monday is a state holiday in MA. I’m thinking of taking it off reading, although I shouldn’t, and just work on writing. We’ll see. Maybe I’ll take it off coverage, but do contest entries. I started downloading the last category’s entries yesterday (I’m almost finished with the print entries).

Wrote and turned in my review, got my next two books assigned.

Turned around three coverages, in spite of the heavy machinery at the college across the street BEEPING all day from six am until evening. The college needs to stop acting like it’s in a bubble, and communicate with the residents around it.

Today, I have more work on FALL FOREVER and Legerdemain. I need to do the social media rounds to promote Angel Hunt. I need to upload and schedule the next couple of Process Muse posts.  I will probably lock my Twitter account either today or tomorrow, since Yegads Muskrat is taking the next step to make everyone’s life hell.

Spoutible is getting more and more comfortable, as far as interactions go. I’m spending the most time there right now, and that’s the site that’s driving the most traffic to my work. I like Post to read material. CounterSocial’s kind of flattened a bit. I need to make more of an effort to find other writers and artists for my timeline. Mastodon is good for some conversations, but doesn’t drive traffic back to the sites.

A residency application crossed my desk, for a week in late August. I’m debating whether or not to apply. It intrigues me. I might apply, just to see. The timing works with the rest of my schedule, at least so far. Even though I’m wait-listed for that residency in PA, I doubt I’ll get it; even more, I don’t know if I’ll accept it, even if I do get it. I’m still waiting to hear back on another residency that I REALLY want, although I’m pretty sure they’ll go for a bigger name than mine. I’ll think about it for another day or two, and, if it feels like the right choice, I’ll go ahead and apply. All they can do is say no, and they CAN’T say yes if I don’t throw my hat into the ring.

Lots to think about, and hard to think with those fucking machines beeping across the street (they were at it again a little after 6 AM this morning, although they are at a different location, and the noise isn’t quite so bad). I’m tempted to pack everything up and work elsewhere today, maybe at a library, but I also love working in my home office.

Hmm, I’m rather indecisive today, aren’t i?

I read a book that’s getting a lot of acclaim yesterday, after I finished my coverages. I absolutely hated it. On a technical, craft level, it’s very good. Cold, but good. However, I hated all the characters, was bored by p. 21 with all the info dump (once the actual plot started, the pace picked up), and got frustrated when the characters learned absolutely nothing through the course of the book. They allowed themselves to be manipulated, even once they realized that manipulation. The ending is very postmodern, and I hated that, too. On a technical level, it’s quite clever. On an emotional level, all it did was make me feel like I’d wasted several hours of my time I can’t get back, and I resented it.

There’s been a lot of whining on social media lately from early career writers about pace, and they say that they want quiet sections of a book, so it’s not all about pace. The thing is, a writer deep in their craft integrates those quiet moments, so that the overall book flows like a symphony, with a balance between the quiet and the quick. Because it’s all integrated, because it’s woven together, it works.

A ”quiet book” still has a strong narrative drive, even though the structure is different and the pace is different than an action thriller. The pace works for the book.

Quiet sections need to be texture, not tangent.

Anyway, after the technically strong but emotionally desolate best seller was done and back on the pile of returns for the library, I started reading Sonali Dev’s THE VIBRANT YEARS, and I just love it.

I need to do a library run at some point today, too. This month’s Agatha Christie read is SPARKLING CYANIDE. I’m sure I read it. I probably have a copy somewhere. But I got it from the library, just in case.

Time to hit the page, and make some decisions. Tomorrow is blocked off for Legerdemain. Sunday is blocked off for Angel Hunt. This is, of course, after I get in the day’s pages for FALL FOREVER. I’m still on the fence about Monday, but that might be for development on another project, if I take it off from client work/coverage work. Throughout, I will also be working on the spring cleaning, planting, and contest entries.

Have a good one, and I’ll catch you on the other side.

Thurs. April 6, 2023: A Steady Work Day

image courtesy of Karolina Grabowska via pixabay.com

Thursday, April 6, 2023

Full Moon

Rainy and chilly

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

After all that “Twitter won’t allow WordPress to connect anymore” – it did? I’m so confused. Don’t get me wrong, I’m happy about it. But I’m confused.

Was feeling under the weather yesterday. I got 5 pages written on FALL FOREVER, a new scene which surprised me (for the right reasons) and then doing the scene shift into the next scene. I’m starting to have my doubts that this will be a full-length. I’m thinking it might run around an hour or so. But I can’t worry about that in this draft. I have to write what wants to be written, and then, in revisions, work on structure, adding or cutting, re-shaping, etc.

Finished and polished next week’s Process Muse. Will upload it today. I’d hoped to have the whole month done by the end of last week, but that didn’t happen. I’d like to buckle down this weekend and get the rest of April into the first week of May done and uploaded, since the last week of April into May will be busy.

Did a quick library run to drop off/pick up books, but that was all the energy I had for anything away from home.

Did the social media rounds for the blog, the Process Muse, and the episode of Angel Hunt which dropped yesterday. I need to build in steady time the rest of this week and next week for Legerdemain, and some time toward the end of next week for Angel Hunt.

Turned around a big coverage on a script for which I’d been requested.

The Goddess Provisions box arrived, and was a delight.

Worked on contest entries in the evening. I’m almost finished with two of the three categories, and then I can focus on the last one (which is the biggest one) for the rest of the month.

I’m getting tired of trying to figure out workarounds on the Kindle. Plus, I have a bunch of stuff on Overdrive on the Kindle and Overdrive is discontinued on May 1. So I have to pull it off and get it on the external hard drive, pull off the other material on the Kindle that wasn’t purchased through Kindle (but is from Gutenberg or Send-to-Kindle, which no longer opens on the Kindle).

I’m looking at tablets. I need something where I can read on expanded font (for the script coverages and the other reading that I usually do on Kindle), and it would be nice if I had word processing and other capacity there. Because so much runs on app and doesn’t work on the laptop, it’s frustrating. EVERYTHING should work on both.. Especially since tablets can’t handle the writing capacity I need, and I do A LOT of work where there’s no internet connection.

The script coverage service for which I work had a leadership change and I have my doubts. So I guess part of this spring/summer is looking for other work. I’m worried anyway, with the looming WGA strike, especially since no one at the coverage service will answer any questions as to how it affects us.

Slept well, although with weird dreams. Meditation this morning. I have to go to the grocery store. I need to work on FALL FOREVER, Legerdemain, and do the social media rounds for everything, including the episode of Legerdemain that drops today. I also need to do some more promotion for “Plot Bunnies.”

I have three script coverages in the queue for today. I thought I had two today and one tomorrow, but then I was requested for a long coverage, so I’ll do three today and the requested coverage tomorrow.

I might be working late today. But the weekend is busy, so I have to get things done.

Happy Passover to all those who celebrate.

Have a good one.

Wed. April 5, 2023: Plodding Along

image courtesy of Lalu Fatoni via pixabay.com

Wednesday, April 5, 2023

First Day of Full Moon

Cloudy and chilly

We talk about “Business Plans” over on The Process Muse today. You can read it here, and then drop in your two cents. I’d love to hear your take on it.

My mom was doing better yesterday. She ate a good breakfast, and then I headed out to get my windshield wiper replaced, which took about 10 minutes and I got to play with the resident German Shephard.

Came home. Wrote 4 ½ pages on FALL FOREVER, scene which took an unexpected turn, but I’ll go with it.

Got up the promotions for “Plot Bunnies” and for this week’s episodes of both Legerdemain and Angel Hunt. Made the social media rounds for all of them. There’s a weird yellow dog popping up as the logo on Twitter now, instead of the blue bird. So I guess we’re woofing instead of tweeting? And FB is making it harder to navigate between multiple pages. I’m getting fed up with all of them.

Yegads Muskrat now disabled shared posting from WordPress. Well, I’m locking my account next week. I was going to wait until the end of next week, but I might do it once the “Plot Bunnies” promo finishes midweek. I wonder how long until Tweetdeck is disabled, too?

Buffer’s talking about expanding to more channels, so I might have to take another look at them. I’m losing too much time manually posting across channels.

Turned around two coverages. Wrote and sent my review. The review platform says I now must change my password every 90 days. Um, no. I haven’t changed it since I started reviewing and I’m not going to do that now. I can’t track that many changed passwords all the time. The PLATFORMS need to protect us and to stop putting it all on us, pretending it’s for “security.” It’s because they aren’t good enough at what they do.

It was warm enough to work out on the porch, amongst the tulips and the scent of hyacinths, so that was nice.

Cancelled out of yoga so I wouldn’t put anyone at risk.

Glad the Sociopath was arraigned; the circus was ridiculous. The NYT had a headline saying that the courtroom made him look “small.” Nope. He’s always been a small man of enormous ego, and a con artist who appeals to the worst in his followers. Annoyed that a North Carolina rep is switching parties; once one is elected, they should have to finish out their term as elected, and only switch when they run again. She should be destroyed, both personally and professionally, but the Dems don’t have the balls to do so.

I’m feeling run down, so I’m going to take it easy today. I’m not sure if I’m fighting a bit of what my mom has, or if it’s exhaustion from taking care of her, or sense memory stress, or a combination.  I have to do a library run, because there are books that will be sent back if I don’t pick them up. But other than that, I will stay home, write, do my script coverage and work on contest entries, but also take breaks when I’m tired. I’m going to try not to get sick by pacing myself instead of just trying to push through. There’s a lot that needs to get done before our company comes at the end of the month. I can’t lose a week or so by being sick.

I woke up too late to make it to the laundromat without losing the whole morning, so that is pushed off for another day.

It’s supposed to get cold this afternoon, but warm up overnight, so maybe, maybe we’ll see some spring?

Willa keeps trying to steal the chicken bone broth I heat up for my mom a couple of times a day. Charlotte was trying to get into the act yesterday, too. It’s pretty funny. But the medicine is working, and she was back on the exercise bicycle this morning for the full thirty minutes, so she’s feeling better.

A friend of mine feels like crap. He’s taken all the tests: Covid, flu, strep, etc. All come back negative. So he’s calling it “Teenage Mutant Ninja Covid” which somehow seems fitting.

Have a good one, my friends. It looks like it’s going to rain any minute. Better rain than snow, right?

Episode 21 of Angel Hunt drops today. I hope you enjoy it. Hope you got a chance to read Episode 73 of Legerdemain yesterday and that you enjoy the re-release of “Plot Bunnies.”

Peace!

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

image courtesy of Agata via pixabay.com

Tuesday, March 28, 2023

Waxing Moon

Rainy and chilly

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

But it was a full day’s work.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

There’s a project in there.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Tues. Feb. 21, 2023: Incoming Storms, Literal and Figurative

image courtesy of Hans  via pixabay.com

Tuesday, February 21, 2023

Waxing Moon

Mardi Gras

Cloudy and cold, incoming storms

I hope you had a lovely weekend, and I’m looking forward to our usual Tuesday catch up.

Friday, I finished, polished, and uploaded tomorrow’s Process Muse post. The plan is to get all of the March posts written, polished, and uploaded this week, and hopefully get April’s done next week, because April will be a very busy month.

I did a library pickup/drop-off, a quick grocery shop, swung by the liquor store. Picked up a couple of African violets. Ours didn’t recover from the move – but then, they’d survived nearly a decade, and that’s unusual.

Most of the day was devoted to the article, building it like a symphony, stepping back to let the voices of those interviewed shine. I hate it when interviewers try to make it all about them. I have more material than I can use, so it was a case of building, then tightening for flow.

I stayed up far too late reading MADLY, DEEPLY: THE DIARIES OF ALAN RICKMAN. I never had the honor of working with him, unfortunately, but we’ve worked with some of the same people, and it was fascinating to get his take on some stories I’d heard via others. His commitment to the truth of the work and the complexity of the work is always something I admired. Some actors want a lot of room to do whatever they want; he wants to know the director has actually done his job and prepared, but at the same time doesn’t micromanage every emotion. Emma Thompson wrote the most beautiful foreword to the book, which is worth reading all on its own.

Had a few moments of fun on Twitter, and then someone who should know better started making misogynistic comments, and I am just done.

Set up a Lnk.bio that I can use on Instagram, et el. I like their setup better than Linktree’s. I have the serials, the websites, and some other stuff up there. That will help driving traffic from Instagram to the various projects. Pleased that the metrics on traffic are up from both Post and CounterSocial, at least when it comes to Process Muse.

Put in the Chewy order, because those little monsters like their meals on time.

I didn’t sleep well. The fluctuation temperatures and barometric shifts are doing a number on me. But the day was bright and sunny, always good to lift the spirits.

We headed for The Plant Connector on Main Street. No easy feat, since the street was closed down for a WinterFest. I hope all the stores did well. I found a philodendron and a spider plant to replace the ones that didn’t survive the move; I will transplant them this week to more permanent pots. I might put them in my bedroom, although I have to check the Feng Shui on that.

It was such a nice day, we didn’t want to go home right away, so we headed up to Bennington, VT. Nice, clear drive. It’s nice to be up in this corner, with easy access to our own MA, to NY, and VT. And no bridges to worry about. I feel bad for people near the Sagamore Bridge, who are losing their homes to eminent domain for the new bridge, and glad we are not there (and hadn’t moved closer to the Sagamore Bridge; we looked at a few places before we moved here).

Found a lovely, deep red satin runner in one of our favorite stores, and, on the way back found a dark-wood-finished compass rose folding table at another favorite store. Someone scrawled on it with a sharpie, so it needs a little TLC, but it’s a lovely piece. Add that to the chips-and-dip dishes in the form of oversized playing cards that I picked up on Friday, and I made a quirky set of purchases this weekend.

I decided that I needed to take Saturday off completely. Saturday was the day before the dark moon, which is always my lowest energy day of the month anyway, and I need to work with that, instead of planning to get things done and running out of energy. I read, some for pleasure, some for research. I’m re-reading POEM CRAZY, a book I bought a long time ago in the shop of the main NYPL. My copy is in storage down on the Cape, so I ordered it from the library, and am enjoying it. I got a chance to work a bit with my new Midnight City Tarot deck and love it.

I went through the research books for Malta that have to go back to the library, as background for the big section of the Heist Romance script that happens there. But first, we have sections in Corsica, Sardinia, and then back in the UK (London and York, specifically).

I hunted down some research books via Boston Public Library (I have an e-card) and WorldCat. Turns out one is right across the street in the college library, so I will trek over there this week to see if I can get it. The other, so far, is only available in the UK, but maybe I can get a digital copy.

The only thing I did online was the #28Prompt for the day, and read an email from my best friend from NYU days. We’ve stayed close through the years, and are navigating this stage of our lives, and helping each other figure out possibilities. He and I have been through a lot together over the decades.

I played with some ideas, without pressure. I have to see what form they choose to take, if any of them do.

Sunday had a nice, slow start, which is fine. When I was putting together information for a residency proposal I submitted a week or so ago, I came across information on Anna Katharine Green, who was the first woman in the US to publish detective fiction and set up the “serial detective.” Her work inspired writers like Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Agatha Christie, and Mary Roberts Rinehart, and we still use a lot of the tropes today. She was a prolific and successful writer in the novel and short story formats, and even wrote a few plays. She was married to an actor who was eight years younger than she was – unusual in the Victorian/Edwardian era. Her father didn’t approve of his career, so he gave it up (temporarily, because, you know, theatre) to design cast iron stoves and, later, furniture, before returning to the stage now and again. They sound like they had a lot of fun together over the years, with their various interests, and raising their children in Buffalo. She was a fellow introvert, which makes me feel even more connected.

She is peripheral to the project I proposed for the residency (although a part of it), but I’m interested in her and her work. I wound up ordering a copy of the book for myself, because I can think of at least three projects on which I can use it as background. I’d love to write one of my Historical Women plays about her at some point, so we’ll put that into the hopper and see when the opportunity comes up (or when I have to create that opportunity). It won’t be any time soon, although I did manage to snag a complete collection of her work for Kindle for 99 cents, and can read it in my travels this summer.

I turned around a coverage for a series treatment, did the rounds for #28Prompts, and received another bit of info I needed for the article.

I was saddened to hear about the death of Richard Belzer. I was acquainted with him, briefly, while working on a LAW & ORDER spinoff back in my NYC days, and being loaned over the other L&O shows on occasion, or doing drop-offs and pickups at that studio. I liked and respected him a lot. I was also saddened to hear about President Carter in hospice. Would we had more like him and fewer like Reagan/Bush/Trump.

Read the third book in a series where I loved the first book, was frustrated by the second book, and am even more frustrated by the third book. Complex motivations for some of the characters feel like they’re being twisted to actually support misogynistic, conservative points while masquerading as progressive, and that irks me. I also loathe the central female protagonist even more in this book than in the last book. Another issue I’m having is that these characters have been together over a period of years, in a series of life-and-death situations, always coming through for each other. But instead of those relationships building, they don’t talk to each other. The relationships are static, with the characters making same mistakes from book to book instead of learning from them and growing, and it annoys me.

I’ve shifted, a bit, how I start and end my days (I wrote about it over on the Goals, Dreams, and Resolutions site yesterday). The opening of the day isn’t that different, but adjusting how I end the day is helping, and helping with better sleep.

Monday dawned a bit Hitchcockian.

I was awakened by crows.

Charlotte and Tessa tried to roust me out of bed at 4:30 in the morning, but I wasn’t having it. However, around 6, I was awakened by the call of the crows. I went to the window. Thousands of migrating birds were passing through, from south to north. The crows herded them toward Windsor Lake (about ¾ of a mile up the nearby mountain) rather than letting them use our street as a rest stop.

It was fascinating, beautiful, and a little terrifying to watch.

Started reading the fourth book in the series I’ve talked about. The corporate publisher had dropped the series after book 3, and this is with a different publisher. Its energy and tone and much more like the first book in the series, but better, at least so far. The complexities aren’t diluted or shied away from here, and the central female character isn’t as much of an idiot (at least so far).

Which begs the question: did the corporate publisher water down and edit those two middle books to be more conservative, and, when wishy-washy didn’t hold the audience, then drop the series?

Something to think about.

The individual who made the insulting remark and whom I called out on Twitter last Friday apologized, I accepted, and we’re all good. That’s a relief, at least.

But cutting back social media time and getting it more balanced as part of my business that still builds individual connections is still a good choice.

Uploaded and scheduled next week and the following week’s episode graphics for Legerdemain, and this week’s for ANGEL HUNT. Set up the expense tracker file for what’s covered by the grant so I can just enter information as it happens and it’s all set for the reports and other paperwork that have to be filled out, both for the grant, and next year for taxes. Did the social media rounds for the blogs and #28Prompts. Had to fill out a report with Amazon, because I got a suspicious text message pretending to be from Amazon. I’m not dumb enough to believe it or click any links, but I sure as heck reported it.

Pleased by Biden’s trip to the Ukraine. Also pleased that he has a team around him that knows when to keep its individual and collective mouths shut.

CLARKESWORLD shut their submissions down because they’re being flooded with AI-generated short stories. As usual, the dilettantes ruin it for everyone. Professional writers do the actual writing and use their unique creative process to build their careers.  I can see this evolving into a situation where you’ll only be able to submit to a magazine if they know someone who can vouch for you, and, once again, too many good writers will be cut out of the process. I’m glad that magazines are taking a stand against AI, that’s for sure, but there will be a period in the course correction that hurts a lot of legitimate writers. As usual.

Zuckerberg is monetizing scammers now on FB and Facebook, huh. Not surprising, but disappointing. He lets scammers scam, and charges monthly protection fees to verify accounts. How Mafia-like. I was also disturbed with the lack of grace Spoutible had in handling questions about their TOS. The cultists immediately piled on harassment, screaming that those questioning wanted to allow porn on the site. No, they were asking what this site’s definition was for “adult content” because a lot of romance writers include various levels of sex scenes in their books, and they wanted to know the boundaries of promoting their work on the platform. My interpretation of the TOS fit what I’m looking for in the platform, but others asked for clarifications, and that needs to be valid. There was a lot of discussion, pre-launch, about supporting individual artists and creators, and encouraging debate. And yet, this is how the situation was handled. Big red flag. Several writers and artists for whom I have the greatest respect left the platform. I heard of others being banned, although I did not directly see that. Rumors now circulate that if one even criticizes them on another platform, one is banned for life. Spoutible claimed it banned only harassers; but I saw plenty of the cultists harassing yesterday without any consequences. If I’m banned, I’m banned. That’s the way it goes. It’s not like I’m important enough to impact their numbers, one way or another. It would just be about control. Every platform has its positives and negatives. I’m wondering if social media, in general, has shot its wad and is spent.

And those people panicking “how am I going to build community without social media?” Oh, come on. We built community for centuries without it. We went out there and DID THE WORK. The internet makes it both easier and harder, but, for fuck’s sake, use a little imagination and stop expecting other people to do your work for you. No wonder so many wanna-bes are using AI for stories and novels. They’re too damn lazy to create their own work.

Found out for certain that someone is muting me, except for the one hour each week she wants me to contribute to her numbers. All I can do is shake my head, laugh, and move on.

Worked on the article. It’s not quite where I want it yet. I think I need another day or two. You see why I don’t take on assignments where I’m supposed to generate a dozen or so articles a week. That doesn’t work for me. This is taking more time than usual, but that’s because I want to make sure the individual voices in the article sing, rather than just being support material. It’s more of an experiential piece than an instructional piece.

Did some small tweaks on a play I wrote a few years back, and that holds up well. Got it out the door. Got another play out the door to another market. I really need to build some more full-length plays into the roster. I have plenty of one acts of various lengths, but I need more full-lengths. WOMAN IN THE SHADOWS, FALL FOREVER, and FROZEN AT THE PALACE THEATRE should take care of that this year. I’m not sure where I’ll fit WOMAN in yet (that’s the full-length play about Kate Warne, the first female Pinkerton, about whom I’ve written several one acts), but FALL FOREVER is up in April with Dramatists’ Guild End of Play event, and FROZEN AT THE PALACE THEATRE is a piece I used for a residency application in winter, so we’ll see.

Dreamed I was researching in a big, beautiful library, which was a lovely dream. But I woke up with a post-research headache, made worse by the pre-storm headache. Another series of storms comes in, starting today, for the rest of the week. Hadley already has a couple of inches of snow.

This morning is work on the article. Around mid-day, I have to take my mom for her regular doctor’s appointment. Hopefully, the storm won’t be too bad by then. When we get back, it’s social media rounds for today’s episode of Legerdemain and #28Prompts, and then I hope to either do more work on the article, or work on those very short radio plays. I need to rebuild the beats from scratch, not try to re-assign lines from three characters to two.

There we go, lots going on. Hope you had a great weekend and are starting a great week!

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!

Fri. Jan. 27, 2023: Just Keep Typing

image courtesy StockSnap via pixabay.com

Friday, January 27, 2023

Waxing Moon

A little sun, a lot of clouds

Could that be a peek of sun, before the next storm comes in this weekend?

Meditation was good, and then I wrote 20 pages on the Heist Romance script. I did the entire section in Monte Carlo, and they’re back in Nice now. When I do break the script down into episodes (it’s definitely limited series, not a single screenplay), I think I’ve found the place to end the first episode in Monte Carlo. For this first script, I’m doing One Giant Overlong Script, and then I’ll break it down, once I see what I have, and structure each episode properly. As I write, I’ll keep an eye out for natural stopping points at the approximate page counts.

Not the way one is supposed to do it as a professional (write the pilot, don’t write more until it’s contracted), but it serves this piece better, so hey.

The second episode of Angel Hunt goes live today. I hope you enjoy it.

My lower back was in terrible pain yesterday, so bad I had to take something for it. Stretching helped a little. Figures downward dog, one of my least favorite asanas, is the one that helps the most.

I’m getting more and more frustrated with Twitter. Between one set of assholes just being right wing assholes, another set expecting us to do free administrative labor on their accounts (“tell me if I’m not following you” – no, mofo, look at your followers/following lists and  figure it out your damn self), and another set bullying (“if you follow X, I will unfollow you” – boo, just blocked ya, it’s all taken care of), I am getting sick of it. The same faux engagements questions showing up, over and over and OVER again. Numbnuts “sharing” snippets from an early draft and blowing first rights. Asking for resources, but really wanting perfect strangers to put themselves on the line to get you work when you have no intention of following through. No. Just stop. The other platforms have different focuses, depending on the platform, and there’s nothing, right now, with Twitter’s former reach.

But then, I also have to remind myself, I was on Twitter for 13 years, building community/a following. It’s not going to happen in two weeks anywhere else. I have to put in the work, which is just exhausting.

I managed to hop in for some of Freelance Chat, which was fine, and I did the social media rounds to promote yesterday’s episode of Legerdemain.

I turned around three coverages, and then read the two books for review. One was an absolute delight. The other had some good qualities, but the logic fell apart at the end. I will write up those reviews this morning, send them off, and invoice. I have a stack of scoring sheets, a pitch, and a treatment to read this afternoon. I really don’t want to read over the weekend; let’s hope something comes in for Monday and Tuesday, since Tuesday’s the end of this pay period.

I have a library run to do – plenty of books to drop off, and a stack’s come in since my visit earlier this week. But the priority is to find a place to get the car inspected and the bulb fixed. The bulb was Mercury Retrograde’s final middle finger in the shadow. Bad retrograde for all my tech, this time around.

And I need more ink for the printer, because of course I do. Black AND color.

Did some noodling notes on something in between projects yesterday. It’s turning out to be quite different than I expected from the initial idea (which is something I’ve played with on and  off for a couple of years, and couldn’t get to work). So we’ll see.

Back to the page.

Have a great weekend.