Devon Ellington's Blog, page 108

Wed. Sept. 1, 2021: September!

image courtesy of Open Clip Art Vectors via pixabay.com

Wednesday, September 1, 2021

Waning Moon

Pluto, Saturn, Jupiter, Neptune, Chiron, Uranus Retrograde

Cloudy and cool

It’s September! I love autumn!

The contrasts are so different. On Cape, people put on shorts as of April 1, even if it was still snowing. They’d march around in shorts and Uggs, if necessary, from April 1 until November. Here, this week, people were already wearing jackets. It’s entertaining.

I’m pleased with the work I did on the outline yesterday morning at the laundromat. There’s too much distraction to actually write scenes, but I can read there, and now I found out I can outline. Because I’m going to make use of the time.

I like how this piece is shaping. I’m working on outlines for three very different pieces, although all in the same genre, while getting back on track with the other pieces, and continuing to work on the novel-out-of-my-wheelhouse first thing every morning. I’m getting back into my creativity.

I slept better last night, because I wasn’t reading scripts up until bedtime. When I do that, there’s too much noise from other people’s work in my head, and it gets in the way of my own. So I need a longer stretch between stopping my reading for the night and sleep. Perhaps I’ll add in a creative session of my own (longhand, not screen).  I need my own work to have room to breathe and percolate overnight as I sleep.

I can read finished, published work up until I sleep, no problem. But drafts, where I’m supposed to comment, or work for review — I need a gap, or something different, between finishing that work for the night and going to sleep. Or it interferes with my work. And protecting my own work/voice/creativity is the priority.

The rest of the morning was spent in bureaucracy. Necessary, but annoying. Lots of paperwork to do, connected to the move.

Headed out to the post office to mail the bureaucracy, then to the library, to pick up a book on hold. Once there, I discovered that I’d walked out of the house without my wallet AGAIN. I offered to go back to get my card, but they let me check out the book without it.

I leave my wallet at home too often lately. That has to stop. Once is a genuine mistake. Multiple times is carelessness and stupidity, and I don’t have room for those kinds of errors. I keep things in the same place, and have a preparation ritual to go out the door, so it is inexcusable to have left my wallet home, now, multiple times.

Headed for a big grocery shop to Stop and Shop, getting in what I need for the cooking/baking for my friend’s visit. Headed to Wild Oats for a few more things. Will have to do a trip to Big Y tomorrow for some stuff I couldn’t find, and then another swing by Wild Oats to get some stuff I want fresher than sitting around from Tuesday to the weekend.

My downstairs neighbor-one-over gave me some produce from her garden, and it is yummy! So, when I bake cookies tomorrow, I’ll make some extra for her.

Read for about an hour in the afternoon. Was supposed to attend a virtual networking event, but couldn’t get the Zoom link to work. Turned out it was a Spectrum problem – there were trucks on the street. I’ll have to send an apology to the organizer today.

I have a lot of script coverage to complete today, and a couple of writeups. Tomorrow is my last day to get anything written up, so that I have the whole weekend off. I’m looking forward to the break.

This afternoon, I’m looking forward to Remote Chat!

Tues. Aug. 31, 2021: This and That

image coourtesy of Goumbik via pixabay.com

Tuesday, August 31, 2021

Waning Moon

Pluto, Saturn, Jupiter, Neptune, Chiron, Uranus Retrograde

Cloudy, foggy, humid, but cooler

Good weekend, although busy. I worked straight through the weekend on script coverage. I kept my promise to myself not to whine, either in person or on social media, and I didn’t. it wasn’t that bad; I paced myself, it wasn’t as hot and humid as it’s been, and I got it done. Since I didn’t take the time to whine, there was nothing to whine about. The pay period ends today, and I want to be able to enjoy taking four days off for the holiday weekend while my friend visits. Without worry or guilt. So I shut up and worked, and it was fine.

Ran some errands Friday. Didn’t get enough admin work done Friday, so that meant a lot of extra yesterday.

The students were checking in/moving into the college across the street on Saturday, so it was a little chaotic out there. It was nice to be able to sit on my second-floor porch above the fray! Everyone has to be vaccinated and wear masks indoors, so this neighborhood is safer than most (since those of us already here are already vaccinated).

Got some more unpacking done, especially the sewing room, which doubles as a guest room, and is where my friend will sleep. I don’t have the sewing machine up yet, but once it is, the room will be a good workspace. Ran some extension cords to lamps, and got them bulbed. I still have to invest in a few more household extension cords, but things are coming together.

Basically, there’s just my office and my bedroom to finish unpacking, and that doesn’t have to happen before my friend gets here.

As boxes are unpacked and things are put away, the space looks nice and big. The high ceilings help. There are still some pieces I’m slowly looking to add:  bookcases, always bookcases, but different shapes and sizes than at the other house; a nouveau-style cathedral mirror to go over the fireplace; a cabinet/island on wheels for the kitchen; new slipcovers for the wingback chairs; maybe a glass-fronted, curved low cabinet with shelves to store a mix of knick-knacks and fabric. Rugs. I know what I want, rug-wise, but haven’t found them in my price range yet.  It would be nice if the couch cover I ordered nearly a month ago would show up. It’s been stuck at the Edison, NJ Fed Ex facility since the 19th, and they deny that it’s there. And the place from which I ordered doesn’t give a damn about finding it, replacing it, or giving me a refund.

Unpacking decorations, and seeing where they fit. I’m sure I will keep moving things around. Frustrated at how dirty everything is coming out of the box, when I washed the pieces before they were packed. It’s as though that weird grit absorbed into the pieces, and the pieces are now expelling it. So everything’s being washed again, and cleansed on multiple levels before it’s placed.

My Yoga Frogs are out, which makes me happy.

Worried about Hurricane Ida, and colleagues in that area. There are still people with whom I lost contact because of Katrina with whom I’ve never managed to reconnect. But glad that we have a president who at least gets emergency help in place early on. I’m sick of the privileged sniffing how people deserve it if they didn’t evacuate – most of them can’t afford it, have no transportation, and have nowhere to go. Oh and the people making nasty comments about how we shouldn’t give aid to red states. The Republicans who keep systems in place that kill people need to be removed (permanently, from all walks of life), but fellow citizens deserve help. Even if I don’t agree with them. I’m sick of Democrats bringing a cupcake to a gunfight, but that doesn’t mean I want to see people indiscriminately drown. The hurricane doesn’t care how anybody voted. The hurricane is going to wreak havoc on everything and everyone in its path.

While I am glad that we are officially “out” of Afghanistan, and thankful for the amazing amount of people evacuated out, I am angry at the DOD for ignoring Kabul Small Animal Rescue, although they had the funds and resources in place to leave, but couldn’t get the paperwork signed. It was only 100 small animals and some staff; it wouldn’t have prevented any humans from evacuating. Their staff and Puppy Rescue Mission and everyone who worked flat out to get it done are devastated. All because some bureaucratic fucktard wouldn’t sign the paperwork. I hope every one of those horrible, disgusting individuals who refused to sign those papers meets an awful end. Because that’s what those poor animals, and some of the staff left behind, face now.

The human race is a failed experiment.

I haven’t been sleeping well. All that script reading is making it noisy in my head, and interfering with the ability to hear my own work.

Out of the house early this morning to go to the laundromat. I was the first one there, and had my pick of the machines. Three loads in and out in an hour and 15 minutes. Not bad.

I have a LOT of paperwork to do today on various issues, plus script reading, plus writing up coverage. Tomorrow, I need to get back to the short almanac articles for a few days. I’m still ahead of where I need to be, but behind where I want to be.

I used the time at the laundromat to outline a project that has been percolating, a kind of weird, cross-genre thing. And here I made all this fuss about keeping my notes organized, and I can’t find another set of notes I wrote up on a different project, about which I have some more ideas. It’s very frustrating. Even though I have specific places I’m putting things, they’re not there when I go back for them. It doesn’t make sense.

Covid numbers in the Berkshires have risen 61% in the past 2 weeks. That’s with most people vaccinated, and is still one of the lowest area numbers in the state, but still too much.

I also have to get to the store and get a bunch of other stuff done. Today and tomorrow are big pushes on the work front. On Thursday, there’s a lot of baking and cleaning on the agenda, and on Friday my friend arrives, and I have a weekend off.

I need it.

Have a good one.

Mon. Aug. 30, 2021: Intent for the Week — Work Now, Play Later

image courtesy of Tania Rose, via pixabay.com

Because we have a holiday weekend coming up, and because a vaccinated friend is coming to visit our vaccinated household for the holiday weekend, I am putting my head down and working extra early in the week, so I can take off and play without care over next weekend.

I intend to enjoy the week’s work as much as possible, so I can enjoy the weekend’s fun!

What’s your intent?

Fri. Aug. 27, 2021: Weekend Work

image courtesy of sujo-foto via pixabay.com

Friday, August 27, 2021

Waning Moon

Pluto, Saturn, Jupiter, Neptune Chiron, Uranus Retrograde

Sunny, hot, humid

Yesterday was kind of a mixed day. I managed to write up three script coverages, so I’m on track where I want to be with that. I have two more to write up today; for the weekend, I’ll only do one per day.

I forgot to mention yesterday that, the day before, my book arrived from the UK, the one on Squire and Marie Bancroft. It’s a 1909 copy published by John Murray, and not in the best shape, but definitely usable and readable. I’m excited. And delighted it was published by John Murray. I am friendly with the current John Murray (yes, an actual man and descendant of the founder), and fond of that house’s long legacy.

Drove to the TD Bank ATM in a Williamstown parking lot to deposit a check, only to arrive and discover I’d left my wallet at home. Drove back, retrieved the wallet, drove to the ATM – only to discover it didn’t accept checks. TD is the worst. I will be so happy when I am permanently done with them.

I will take the check and deposit it at Greylock this morning, instead.

We did a Target run. Got most of what we needed. I was so excited by some of their hardcover Mead notebooks that I forgot to get the yellow pads I use for my script coverage notes, and I forgot to look for the extension cords I need. The old extension cords don’t work in these sockets, or with the newer lamps. And I don’t want to use the thick outdoor cords inside for a basic lamp.

It was terribly humid, which made everything yesterday a chore. It’s still humid today, but not quite as hot, and the humidity is supposed to break by tomorrow. I have to go to the bank and the library this morning, and then I’ll do a run to Job Lot to see if they have the yellow pads and the extension cords.

Didn’t get in much writing this morning, although I worked on the novel, and I did some re-reading/edits on GAMBIT COLONY, whose siren song has been calling. I hope to get some work done on A RARE MEDIUM later this morning.

I’ll be working through the weekend, along with unpacking and preparing for my friend’s visit next week. I want to get ahead on a few things, so I can thoroughly enjoy taking next weekend off.

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

Thurs. Aug. 26, 2021: Thoughts (Uh, Oh)

photo courtesy of MyriamsFotos via pixabay.com

Thursday, August 26, 2021

Waning Moon

Pluto, Saturn, Jupiter, Neptune, Chiron, Uranus Retrograde

Sunny, hot, humid

I am looking forward to autumn.

Check out the post on Gratitude and Growth. I’m hoping someone can identify the bug on my geranium. I hope it’s not something icky.

I wrote up a couple of coverages yesterday, and still have a stack more to write today, although I only had one script to read last night, not two. And I was too tired last night to give real attention to the book for review.

Got the debit card for the new bank activated and tied to PayPal, and to the automatic payments for the storage units. 85 steps when it should be, at most, 2. It has NOTHING to do with security for the customer, and everything to do with micromanaging.

I read a bit in a book of essays I got from the college library, about journal writing in classroom situations. It’s giving me ideas, mostly for fiction that uses journal writing as part of the narrative drive. There was an interesting tidbit about the use of “reply” and “respond.” The author pointed out that one “replies” to a question, but “responds” to a person. It made me realize how often I have misused those words, especially when it comes to dialogue tags, and I need to be more careful in the future.

Remote Chat was a lot of fun, and several of us ended up having a side discussion when I mentioned how frustrated I am with Kripalu for not enforcing the no cell phone policy anymore, and how, when I asked about it as they reopen, I was told, “Everyone is on their own journey.” Well, MY journey means if I’m paying a fuckton of money to attend Kripalu, I don’t want the selfish and the stupid dancing around using their cell phones which DESTROY my experience and my peace/reflection time, when we’ve all signed an agreement not to use them outside of the designated areas. Which means I will think twice about going back to Kripalu, even though I’m much closer and it should be easy and fun for me to attend.

I think what I’m looking for is a silent retreat. Where there’s a commitment to not just shut off electronic devices, but not speak (except for a few designated times). One of my fellow chatters attended a Buddhist retreat with her husband a few years ago, and wrote about the experience for MARIE CLAIRE magazine. It was a good article – although she broke the rule of no electronics and blogged during the retreat, a choice with which I disagree.

I’m not sure I want that much time sitting in formal meditation or listening to talks. The no electronics and shut the hell up, that I’m there for. But one reason I didn’t attend the Zen retreats with the first meditation group with which I connected on Cape was that they don’t want participants writing in their journals, either. For me, the journal process is a vital part of retreat. And no, I wouldn’t just sneak the writing in while I’m in my room, because that is disrespectful.

Susan Wittig Albert did a silent retreat at a monastery in Texas that sounded more along the lines of what I need. Reading and writing in her cottage; walking on the property and using their library; not talking and no cell phones. Of course, that book is packed in storage, so I can’t pull it out and look up the details. I remember it was in Texas, and I don’t know if I’d go to Texas for any reason at this point, and certainly not during a pandemic, or even immediately after.

Then there’s the whole, well, if all I want to do is read and write and be quiet, I can do that the hell at home and turn off my phone and my computer. Do I really need to pay a bunch of money to do that somewhere else? And if I like the idea of not cooking during the retreat days, I can either cook ahead or buy meals at the co-op that I can just heat up. (Every time I pass the frozen meals at the grocery store, I remember the final weeks of moving and feel sick).

I mean, I have a big birthday coming up in March, and I’m hoping to spend a weekend at my favorite Inn in Sturbridge doing just about that. Reading, writing, eating good food prepared by someone else. And it’s not like I’d go to any retreat during the next wave of the pandemic anyway.

I have time to decide what I want and need.

For some reason, my phone battery was down to 1% this morning. It was 88% when I went to bed. I have a feeling I have to buy a new battery. Another unexpected expense. Hopefully, I can put it off for a couple more weeks.

I have to write up a complicated script coverage, then do a Target run, then write up more coverage. At some point, I hope to grab a couple more scripts to read tonight and write up tomorrow.

I was sitting on the front porch in the dark last night, semi-meditating, ruminating, more like, about the healing from disappointments from the last decade on the Cape. I was thinking to myself about how it will take a long time to heal. Then, I thought, why should it? That is not my life anymore. It’s done. Learn from it and move on. Don’t hang on to the bad bits. Remember the good bits with affection.

Have a good one, friends. Let’s hope the weather breaks soon.

Wed. Aug. 25, 2021: Still Drippy and Humid

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Wednesday, August 25, 2021

Waning Moon

Pluto, Saturn, Jupiter, Neptune, Chiron, Uranus Retrograde

Foggy, hot, humid

I forgot to mention something good from Monday. The Marie Corelli biography I ordered secondhand in Ohio, from the bookstore who had it at a price I could afford, arrived. The description made it sound like a sad copy, but it’s great! I’m so excited to read it.

I struggled with WordPress yesterday. It just would not cooperate.

Went over to the college library to return books and get new books. Found some eBooks that would be helpful in my research. Hopefully, I can check them out. Came home and realized the bill for the tolls for moving was due, so I wrote the check and dashed down the street to the post office.

On this walk, it was the first time the warning bells went off in regard to another pedestrian. A guy a few yards ahead of me set off those bells. Now, I lived on the Deuce in NYC a good long time, and I know to listen to the signals. And, as small and friendly as this city is, it IS a city, and I have to remain alert. Every woman who’s ever had to walk alone can relate.

Anyway, the guy was on the other side of the street at first. I didn’t like the way he stopped and turned to gaze after a woman who walked by him, like she was his next meal. He swaggered on. Then, he crossed to my side of the street, and started slowing down.

At the next crosswalk, I crossed to the other side and went into my new bank. He sort of meandered around on the opposite side of the street for a minute or two, then took off again.

I waited, then resumed my journey. The post office was on my side of the street now anyway. He was on the other side of the street. He saw me, and started slowing down. I’m thinking, “Aw, man, I’m gonna have to dropkick him, aren’t it?” hoping I haven’t gotten too rusty.

But then, a cop steps out of a doorway and the guy walks right into him. The cop talks to him, glancing over the guy’s head at me. For the record, we were all white. The guy mumbles something and rabbits off down a side street. The cop lifts his hand in greeting to me. I do the same in return, and go on my way to the post office.

Mailed my letter, walked the couple of extra blocks to the library, dropped off my book, got a Sarah Addison Allen book. I’ve read it, but I’m in the mood for her work.

Walked back along Church Street, among the lovely houses. Saw my delightful postman, and we waved across the street. Enjoyed the architecture and everyone’s plants, and how they’re sprucing up and loving these old, lovely buildings.

Whenever I see someone on their porch or in their yard, and they notice me looking at the house, I call out, “I love the (detail) you have.” They immediately brighten up, and usually tell me the story behind it, which is interesting. It’s a nice way to get to know the neighborhood. And the neighbors.

But I’m tired of the humidity.

Of course, as soon as I was home, I got an alert that a book arrived for me at the library I just left. Isn’t that always the way? Well, if that’s the most annoying thing in the day, not bad. Of course, it wasn’t the most annoying, just another mosquito of annoyance.

Frustrated by a recruiter contacting me for the same information I sent when she contacted me yesterday. Big red flag. At first I re-sent everything, pointing out I’d sent it yesterday (and the email acknowledging it). A little later, I pulled myself out of consideration. Not worth it.

I’m tired of unprepared recruiters wasting my time. I’m tired of companies demanding that the copywriter have Adobe Creative Suite experience in order to create graphics for copy. No, that’s the designer’s job. Stop combining jobs with different skills and trying to hire one person at 1/3 of the rate that ONE of those jobs should be paid. Too many companies have learned NOTHING from the pandemic, and deserve to lose talent.

I didn’t write up enough script coverage; I concentrated on reading. So today, I have to make up for it, and have a boatload of coverage to write up. In order not to get overwhelmed, I will look at the individual coverages, and do something different in between them.

But no faffing around today. I also have administrative and unpacking work to do. And I have to run a check over to the TD bank in Williamstown, because the fucking app they FORCED me to put on my phone isn’t working properly for deposits. I will be so glad when we are finished with that bank.

Feeling burned out, especially since I know I have to work through the weekend this week. But that’s the way it goes, and at least I have the flexibility to do that, so I can enjoy spending time with a friend over Labor Day weekend for the first time since before the pandemic.

I will buckle down and do the work instead of faffing around today. Hopefully, it won’t be too humid. That’s what really slows me down. I do not deal with humidity well. Hopefully, when it cools into autumn weather, my energy will return.

Looking forward to Remote Chat. Always a bright spot in my week.

Tues. Aug. 24, 2021: What’s Best For the Work Isn’t Always Best for the Career

Tuesday, August 24, 2021

image courtesy of Free Photos via pixabay.com

Waning Moon

Pluto, Saturn, Jupiter, Neptune, Chiron, Uranus Retrograde

Foggy and humid

Hop on over to the GDR site for a post on realignment.

Gad, enough retrogrades, already? And we’ve got another Mercury Retrograde to pile in on top, before things start going direct again. NOT looking forward to it.

We were not walloped with as much rain by Henri as feared; that was a good thing, although my pre-storm headache on Sunday was awful. There was a point where it was raining at the back of the house, but not at the front (and it’s not like the building is THAT long).

Friday was overwhelming with work, and I got most of it done, although I finished up a coverage writeup Saturday morning (still within deadline). Did a quick run to the Co-op and the grocery store. Shelves full, no one worried. I asked at the co-op if anyone was stressed about Henri and the clerk said, “We live in a place of changeable weather. We do a big storm prep when we first move in, and check/replace supplies regularly. We’re ALWAYS storm prepped.”

I wasn’t sure if people were chill because they knew what to expect and were prepared, or everyone’s just smoking a lot of weed (they smoke A LOT of weed on the porches in this neighborhood).

Home, unpacked, worked on some more unpacking/getting things set up, along with the usual Saturday chores like changing out the bed linens, etc.  But really, just didn’t feel like doing much, especially in the heat and humidity. But slowly, slowly, we’re getting there, arranging and rearranging so things feel good and right.

Seeing what we need, and will slowly add, as we find just the right pieces. Beachy/cottage doesn’t really work here, although we keep some shells and ocean items out. Deco/Nouveau works better. The items we love, ones with special meaning, of course, work everywhere. There’s stuff in storage that we kept from NY, which never worked in the Cape house, but will work here, so we’ll retrieve them on storage runs. If we’d listened to the crap from “organizational/clutter experts” we’d have thrown it out, and we’d be bereft. They can shove their ”expertise” right up their collective, mercenary asses.

Finished a book I’d been struggling to read for pleasure Saturday night. Beautiful writing, but I have rarely loathed a protagonist as much as I’ve loathed this one.

Sunday, I was flattened by the pre-storm migraine until the rain started mid-day. I then managed to finish unpacking the rest of the boxes waiting in the living room, except for the box of CDs, which I will unpack this week, when I can take time to enjoy the process. I read the fifth Wonky Inn book, which was fun. I started reading the next book for review, which isn’t working for me.

Much as I would have liked Sunday to be a “day of disconnect” I needed to keep track of the storm. Sat on the porch for a bit to watch the rain, which was soothing.

Yesterday, we had some more bands of rain, some of it serious downpours. I was worried about the river overflowing, but it didn’t. I caught up on email. Did some research, but didn’t find anywhere to send an LOI. A recruiter contacted me about a two-week fill-in gig mid-September. I set my price; I doubt anything will come of it.

Sundance sent a link to their online Writers’ Café, which meets three times a week for an hour. I figured I might check them out and use them as the occasional break in other people’s work to spend more focused time on my own work. If it’s an atmosphere that works for me, maybe I can work on the plays during that time. I don’t think Wednesdays will work very often for me, but maybe I can make use of the Monday/Friday sessions. We’ll see. Right now, everything seems like just too much work.

I spent a good portion of the morning refreshing myself on the research for “A Rare Medium”, the next Kate Warne play. I hopped onto the Sundance zoom meeting at noon – which was a PITA to sign into – and they were showing a scene from FLEABAG to demonstrate subtext in dialogue. The scene was great, it’s great, but my head was full of Chicago in 1859, and the Pinkerton undercover fortune-telling operation. So it was jarring. There was all this discussion about dividing us up into “breakout rooms” after the writing session to talk about what we’ve written and network.

I signed off Zoom and wrote for the hour. I drafted six pages on the play, the first two scenes. I tossed out my original first scene, where I had Captain Sumner coming to Pinkerton for help. I started, instead, with the operation already set up. Miss Seaton, who was trained by Kate, was vital to this operation. Her name has been lost to history (and I can’t get the Pinkerton microfilm again, because my machine is in storage). I researched names that would have been giving to girls at the time she was born (not the time she was an adult, working), and settled on Cristia.

By the time the hour was up, and we were supposed to go back into “breakout rooms”, I decided I couldn’t. I can’t talk about what I’ve just written. It needs to settle for a few hours. I can’t talk about what I’m going to write next in any detail, because if I talk it, I can’t write it properly.

And I didn’t have the patience for small talk. My head was still full of the play, and I needed to pace and mutter and percolate.

In other words, the way this Café is set up doesn’t work for me. Which is frustrating, because it’s Sundance, for crying out loud, it’s an amazing opportunity, but if I participate, it will hurt the work, and the work has to be protected at all costs. I can’t switch back and forth out of social/networking mode. If I sacrifice the work for the networking, it won’t be a positive, either, because I won’t have the work with which to back up the networking.

So I will continue in my obscurity.

There’s a part of me that feels like a failure for not being adaptable enough, but the work must be protected. That is the priority. And talking about it in an early stage sabotages it for me. It’s one of many reasons why I don’t “share” WIPs by splashing bits of them on social media (in addition to the whole blowing-first-rights thing).

I can talk about the work and around the work hours after I do it (as I do here, where I talk about process and research and some of the ideas around the work). But I can’t talk the actual work instead of doing it, or it stays in the “instead” mode.

I already know I’m going to have to work straight through next weekend if I hope to take the time off over Labor Day weekend when my friend visits. But that’ll be worth it. I’ll just grumble a lot next weekend, and have to get over myself!

I read two and a half scripts yesterday, and will have to finish the “half” and write up all three today. That’s another reason I’m slower in my own writing – I’m writing 3-5K in script coverage every day.

I did an extra long meditation last night, which meant I slept better.

I made some notes on a piece that’s rolling around in my head (along with that other piece that’s rolling around in my head). They’re both fantasies, but set in very different worlds, with very different rules.  A couple of chunks of dialogue showed up in my brain for DAWN AND DOROTHY IN THE AFTERLIFE, so I scribbled them down before I lost them. I have to make sure I keep all my notes organized, so I have them when I need them, unlike on Cape, where I took notes and they kept vanishing.

When one piece gets going, it fuels the other pieces percolating, and I have to be able to take notes as ideas come up, while still focusing on the main piece that needs to be written.

The novel is going slowly, and it’s often hard to show up at the page, but I’m always glad when I do. I have to block off some larger blocks of time for it. By the time I hit 1K and need to move on with the rest of my day, I’m just warmed up.

I have a bunch of admin work to do today, along with the script coverage, and getting back to the Almanac articles; I’m behind where I want to be on those.

I thought it was going to clear up today, and I’d get some errands done, but it’s about to rain again, so I’ll hunker down and work, then run out when there’s a break in the weather.

Daily life here is at the mercy of the weather even more than it was on Cape Cod.

Have a good one, friends.

Mon. Aug. 23, 2021: Intent for the Week — Navigate the Tightrope

image courtesy of Tumisu via pixabay.com

I am very burned out, on various fronts. Before you start with the “self-care” suggestions, I do not have the privilege of indulging in them this week. Because, yes, in this system in this country, self-care is a privilege, and we don’t all have access to it when we need it. The term is tossed around like it’s a breakfast cereal or something.

I have to dig down and get a lot done this week, no matter what I’m feeling.

So my intent this week is to navigate the tightrope of what HAS to be done without hitting the point of burnout where I can no longer function. It means restructuring each day as necessary, a mix of pushing through and regenerating.

What is your intent this week?

Fri. Aug. 20, 2021: Soggy

image courtesy of joshua_seajw92 via pixabay.com

Friday, August 20, 2021

Waxing Moon

Pluto, Saturn, Jupiter, Neptune Chiron, Uranus Retrograde

Rainy and humid

Yesterday was not the productive day for which I’d hoped, and it was my own fault. I’m feeling burned out and procrastinating. Which means I have a boatload more to do today than I’d hoped, but too bad for me.

Meditation group was great, and is now on break until sometime in September. Our leader certainly deserves it; she’s wonderful. But I will miss the weekly sessions.

Finished a script coverage a little too close to deadline to be comfortable, but it got done.

Freelance Chat was good. I feel more knowledgeable now about going back to paying quarterly taxes next month.

I should have written up two more script coverages, and then read two more scripts. I did not. I faffed around and read a book for pleasure instead.

I prepped for the Wild Oats Board Meeting, where I was a guest. It was well run, and it’s nice to know the organization is in such good hands. They sure as heck don’t need me underfoot, and I really only need to be at the Annual Meeting. I hope it’s virtual this year; I don’t think I’d feel comfortable going to an in-person event.

I signed up for some locally based, but still Zoom events over the coming weeks, just to get a sense of the community. I’m not making any commitments beyond these events.

I was hot and tired and went to bed early. Tessa woke me pretty early; tried to feed the cats and go back to bed, but they weren’t having it. Got up, did my morning writing sessions. I was distracted this morning, so it was hard, but I made myself show up at the page anyway and do it, even though it was less than I’d hoped.

So irritated that the white supremacist domestic terrorist outside the Library of Congress is being treated like a poor little white boy who made a mistake. Stop giving these maniacs a free pass.

I have a long damn day ahead of me as far as script coverages go. I’m cutting it a little close on the two due today, and then I have to get the other two read and written up, or it will spill over into the weekend, and burn me out more. I also need to get to the store for bread and a couple of things. Hurricane Henri is supposed to hit the coast Sunday into Monday. Not sure what the impact will be all the way out here, but I always worry about the river flooding.

I need to unpack more this weekend, and to read the book for review. I desperately want to just rest, too.

Have a good one, friends, and I’ll see you on the other (soggy) side.

Thurs. Aug. 19, 2021: Hurricanes and Dilemmas

image courtesy of Comfreak via pixabay.com

Thursday, August 19, 2021

Waxing Moon

Pluto, Saturn, Jupiter, Neptune, Chiron, Uranus Retrograde

Rainy and humid

Uranus goes retrograde today. I’m a little tired of heavy retrogrades. It’s going to feel like slogging through molasses until the planets start turning direct in October.

There’s a new post on Gratitude and Growth.

Yesterday was not as productive as I’d hoped. The humidity slowed me down, so I had to take a break again in the middle of the day and start up in the evening again. Grateful for the flexibility, but it makes me grumpy to work until 10 PM some nights.

Got out a bunch of LOIs, which is necessary, since I’ve been slacking lately on that. Did some more Marie Corelli research, thanks to a resource forwarded by a friend.

Broke down the stacks of boxes that accumulated in the front hall, and took them across the street to the dumpster. It took more than one trip. A couple of maintenance guys stepped in to help, which was very kind.

The hall looks great now. The bookcases look good, there’s space.

Vacuumed. I’m very happy with the new Eureka vacuum. The cats, however, are not. Screaming cats flying in all directions.

Remote Chat was fun.

Finished the third Wonky Inn book. Not letting myself get the next one in the series until I finish my work for the week, or I’ll read it instead of working!

Read two scripts, and wrote up coverage for a third last night. I have to finish coverage on another one this morning, before meditation, and write up the two I read last night, then read two more today to write up tomorrow. I’d like to take the whole weekend off from coverage, but not sure I can.

I have a lot of admin paperwork to deal with today, too.  I have the online meditation group this morning, Freelance Chat at noon, and a Zoom meeting with the co-op I joined tonight. An in-person networking event for the end of the month, to which I was invited and sent regrets because it was in-person, has switched to virtual, and I received another invite. I sort of feel I HAVE to go now; at the same time, I don’t want to rouse myself out of my semi-recluse state, as I said yesterday.

Part of me would like to look for a writers’ group (a virtual group, since I’m not doing in-person anything until at least next spring). There are plenty of groups around here, and they’re open to new members. My hesitation is that, right now, I want and need specific things from a group (rather than being more freewheeling and flexible, as I’ve been able to be in other situations). I’m just not sure how to graciously find what I need without coming across like a jerk.

I’ll do a lot of listening as far as information on writers’ groups, but not a lot of “visiting”, even virtually. If I’m patient, the right group will make itself known. Hopefully, they will want me to join as much as I want to join.

The best bet, at least for the next few months, is to do as little “joining” as possible. Concentrate on building strong work rhythms, and getting back on track with projects and clients and earnings.

I think today’s rain is the remnants of Fred; Henri is supposed to hit the coast this weekend at the other end of the state, and I’m not sure how much of it we’ll get here. Guess I’ll find out.

Just thinking about today exhausts me, so I better get started.