Devon Ellington's Blog, page 11

Tues. May 20, 2025: Of Plants and Plays

image courtesy of onehundredseventyfive via pixabay.com

Tuesday, May 20, 2025

Waning Moon

Pluto Retrograde

Cloudy, gray, cool

I hope you had a lovely weekend. And I hope you are well-caffeinated, because this is another long post.

The Community Tarot Reading for the Week is up here. We are still using the Forager’s Daughter deck.

A script turned up in my queue, finally, on Friday. Paying just over a dollar. Nope. That’s just insulting.

Friday morning, I did some admin work here at home. Washed the background fabric for the textile piece and the blood spatter border fabric. I worried the latter wouldn’t be colorfast, but it was, and I’m glad. It is disturbing, and exactly what I wanted. I did my errands mid-morning – library and a light grocery shop. Hauled everything home, put it away. It wasn’t worth it to back up for a half hour before lunch and then an hour and change before my appointment at the mechanic.

I pondered some ghostwriting stuff. I started reading a memoir by Caroline Ramsden, who was a sculptor and a friend of Josephine Tey’s. Interesting, but the sense of entitlement was a bit much. Fun tidbit – she lived in the same complex as artist Arthur Rackham (I have the Rackham tarot deck, a gift from a friend).

Packed up a book, some water, and headed to the mechanic’s for my brake replacement. Started reading Josephine Tey’s MISS PYM DISPOSES. Structurally it’s fascinating, because I’m two thirds the way through this mystery novel, and the murder hasn’t yet happened. And it works, because of the character development, and the underlying sense that something will happen. Few modern authors can pull it off the way Tey does. Her theatre background skills show here. But the racism and classicism and oppressive language are rather alarming. It’s a good snapshot of the time, and I wonder if that’s part of what Tey intended, for it to be alarming and not just reflexive. Which is why, when classics are “updated” so as not to reflect those terms, I wonder if that goes beyond whitewashing the text (often literally, oooh, let’s not give the modern reader any discomfort) and perverting certain author’s intent to say, look how bad this is, look how wrong this is, face it and do better. The assumption that these authors didn’t WANT to make readers at least somewhat uncomfortable (although there were plenty who didn’t notice, because it was in line with their own usage) demeans the writers, I think.

The brake replacement turned out to be more fraught than I hoped. They took everything apart, then the mechanic insisted the only available parts were  several millimeters of the wrong size, and they couldn’t do anything more. So they put it back together and I would hobble around a few more days until they got the part. But the woman who manages the place (the one who’s leaving to go on a two -year adventure in July) was sure she’d ordered the right part. She went back there, and sure enough, there it was. The mechanic picked up the wrong part from the wrong bin. So they took it all apart again and fixed it properly.

I hope.

Anyway, supposedly I have new brakes now, and she gave me an estimate for new tires that’s about half of what I expected it to be, so I can get those done in the summer, after a couple more ghostwriting payments.

On the way home, I stopped at a store to get a new plunger (since mine broke), and drain cleaner. While I was there, I bought an oscillating standing fan that was on sale, so that we can use that in the living room, have dedicated fans for each bedroom, and the box fan we used to use in the living room, I can use in the mornings in the porch window (once the painters are done) to pull cooler air through.

It was 90 degrees F when I got into the car this afternoon to go to the mechanic’s. Way too quick a jump from the frost advisory last week to this.

Came home, put together the fan. It’s not well-designed and a bit top heavy. It works pretty well, though. Tessa loves it. Because it oscillates, the cats can spread out and bare their bellies toward the fan.

Except Bea. She believes it is a monster.

Cooked trout for dinner, relaxed on the porch for a bit, went to bed early. I should have gone to an art opening, but I was wiped out. Woke up at 3:30, but managed to get back to sleep.

I had plans for Saturday, which were destroyed because the painters showed up and made a huge amount of noise scraping, sanding, sawing, and replacing siding. It was hot and we had to keep the windows closed (so the fans were on). The cats were unhappy. Okay, that’s an understatement. Their little nervous systems were overwrought, so I spent as much time as possible trying to make them feel better. I couldn’t go across the street to the college because it was graduation day. I couldn’t drive anywhere else, because if I left my parking spot someone attending graduation would take it. Also, there was a chance they might need the front door open to work on it, which would mean rounding up the cats and securing them. But there was no timeline or surety that’s what they would need. Willa, our little Houdini, would make a break for it if the door was open while they worked, and she wasn’t secured. My mom isn’t up to herding four upset cats.

In addition to repetitive machine noise causing extreme pain in my ear canals, heart arrhythmias, etc., certain tones cause bruising. So by the time the painters packed up and left (without taking a lunch break, so it was relentless), I looked like I’d been thoroughly beaten. It feels like bruising, too, although it’s not actual bruising, because it goes down in a few hours, especially after a soak in Epsom salts. Yeah, it’s weird. It’s fascinated the folks at Johns Hopkins for years.

Couldn’t get any writing done. Couldn’t work on the art project. Before I can cut and stitch, I have to draft the pattern, and I was in no shape to do math. It was, basically, a lost day that was also painful.

I really wish they wouldn’t work on weekends.

Finished reading MISS PYM DISPOSES. Twist at the end was good, and I should have seen it coming. Started reading A SHILLING FOR CANDLES (also Tey), but had trouble concentrating. There was no way I could read something in a professional capacity, so I didn’t even try.

Cooked a lovely new-to-me recipe from the new-to-me cookbook I received recently – pasta with bacon, chives, and parmesan. It was wonderful, and will go into our favorite recipe repertoire.

Went to bed early and had weird dreams. Woke up far too early and figured out the plot for the anthology story. Now, I just have to hold onto it until I can go back to writing it (after the radio play is done).

Completely forgot about the Preakness, but watched the replay and Journalism did well. Good for him.

Sunday morning was rainy and yucky. I made a big breakfast, and then we headed out to Whitney’s in Cheshire. I had a budget for plant purchase. I had the number I hoped I would spend, and the number that was my budget number, and a bit of a cushion if I miscalculated. Once we got there, the prices were about 25% higher than last year, so I figured I’d be closer to my budget number. And I was – 55 cents under! I was pretty proud of myself.

I’ll detail the haul in Thursday’s garden post (and show off some photos). But it was a mix of flowers and herbs, along with six packs of petunias for the hanging baskets. Three large boxes full of little plant pots.

And stopped in Adams, at the place that makes the pies we like. Got a blueberry pie!

Home, hauled everything up the stairs and onto the porch. The cats were fascinated. Realized the only soil I had was seed starter, so made a run and picked up a cubic foot of potting soil. Which was heavier than I remembered. Not fun wrestling it into the cart or into the car. I managed to carry it across the street and up the stairs by hoisting it up and carrying it as though it was a large dog or a small child.

The rest of the day was about potting up the plants into their new homes. I had to pot up the lemon tree, too. I hadn’t realized how much it grew. We started it from seed from an organic lemon we got at Wild Oats the first summer we moved here, and it’s now 5 feet tall.

I was a little nervous about the potting because Sunday was a harvest day, not a planting day. But the plants were miserable in their little plastic doodads, and several of them wouldn’t have survived until today, which is the next planting day.

In general, I thought quite a few of the plants were on the bedraggled side, and I was shocked at how pot bound some of them were. But the geraniums, begonia, all the herbs are in their pots. The two tomato plants are settled in with basil and marigold. The petunias are in the three hanging baskets we’ve accumulated over the years. Everything has to live on the porch and in the living room until the painters are done out back, but then it will be pretty, once we have it set up.

The plants started perking up almost immediately. Most of them had been overwatered and were saturated, so I will keep an eye on them for a few days. They can dry out a bit, but get a drink when they need one.

I didn’t have a chance to pot up the baby aloe plants that the larger aloe plants sprouted; that will happen later this week.

I was very sore by the end of the day, but it was a good kind of sore. The porch looks fantastic with all these plants.

A script turned up in the queue that was paying in line with some of the other recent work, but the script itself was 150 pages, which meant it would be a nightmare, so I passed. Anyone who’s made the least effort to learn anything about screenwriting knows, at this point, that a script of 150 pages won’t even be considered. Chances are they took their own novel, pulled it through script software, and didn’t bother to adapt it to the medium. Not worth even the 15 minutes of time (for pathetically low pay) designated in the guidelines. Someone else can deal with it.

Heated up leftovers, fell into bed early, which meant I was up early  on Monday. Since I had to stay awake late because of the show in Colorado, I was a little worried.

I feel like I should say something about Nottoway Plantation burning down. It’s been a long time since I visited – pre-Katrina. On one of my New Orleans trips, I took a tour that included both Nottoway and Oak Alley. I remember feeling uncomfortable at Nottoway, because of the insistence of the owners being “good slave owners.” The sense I got from the property itself was of deep sadness, not the tranquility the tour guides touted. We ate lunch there, and I was surprised at how good the food was, and I had my first mint julep there, which kicked my ass. One of the other tour participants fell over trying to get back on the bus after her own mint julep. The driver helped her up, saying this happened a lot.

I wanted to set a mystery there, but I couldn’t figure out how to reconcile the feel of the place with a story in the genre that wouldn’t come across as heavy-handed. One would think they could enhance each other, but I couldn’t make it work. So I never did. I felt I should leave it to others who had more immediate experience and knowledge of the area and the complexities of the history.

I feel bad for the house itself; it’s not the house’s fault that those who lived and worked there did what they did. While I understand, to a point, the jubilation people are showing at the destruction, I also think they’re oversimplifying the issue. I mean, the baseline of slavery is wrong, and that people shouldn’t be owned is irrefutable. Far too many have argued in favor of slavery since the South lost the Civil War. Considering that argument viable is part of the reason we are where we are today. We have various forms of slavery happening in this country right now, between sex trafficking and the prison system, not to mention our own government participates in abduction and human trafficking. The structure itself burning down doesn’t fix the issue. The rot goes far deeper.

Printed out the latest draft of JUST A DROP for the evening’s discussion. It took almost an entire new ink cartridge (and it’s not even a long play). Sigh.

Packed up and headed over to the college library. The painters were in front, but on the other side of the house. There are dogs in both the upper and lower units, and they were beside themselves.

A script turned up in the queue paying 1/4th of the normal rate for a script this size. I passed. I did, later on, accept several small coverages at rates that are still low, but that work in the time: money ratio somewhat. Those coverages are already a dollar less than they were in the last pay period for the same amount of work.

Caught up on email and admin work. Reworked part of the radio play and moved a little forward on it. I’ve set in some clues and some red herrings. I’m at the halfway point here. The rest, I hope, will come faster.

Went home for lunch. It wasn’t all that noisy for the moment, so set up in the kitchen for the afternoon’s work. Got some really good work done on the ghostwriting project. Less than I hoped, more than I expected. I’m getting into the rhythm of it, and that will be my primary focus today.

The Chewy order arrived. Dragged it up the stairs. Wet food for Bea (and the special wet food she and Wila like so much, that I can’t get locally anymore) and cat litter. The cats are happy to have a new box in which to play. Some forensic research books arrived.

Cooked one of our favorite chicken comfort foods dinner, relaxed a bit, finished reading the other playwright’s play in our shared evening. Tried not to let last week’s experience influence my nerves for tonight. Set everything up in the living room again, so the ZOOM wouldn’t disturb anyone in bed in the downstairs apartment (the company is based in Colorado, so mountain time). I had trouble logging in, but we got it sorted out.

I needn’t have worried. It was a wonderful experience. The other playwright had the first hour, guided by her dramaturg, and that was a good discussion, and then it was my turn. My dramaturg guided the discussion beautifully, and it made me appreciate her even more. The participants had read both plays and had thoughtful, concise, interesting responses. I really appreciated the specificity, and the care they put in.

One of the participants said she loved what I did with language, and that it was a mix of Shakespeare, Anne Rice, and Molière, which is one of the nicest compliments I’ve ever gotten, and one I will treasure! Shakespeare and Molière are two of my favorites.

I took about a page of notes, and it gives me good things to ponder. I also have a good idea where I will point the script next – a company I worked with last year who likes large cast pieces.

I hope I can join the discussion next month (with other playwrights’ plays). I also will submit my work to them again, a few months down the line. Because this is such a large cast piece, I feel the next one I submit should have a small cast!

It was a pleasure, and honor, and a relief. But I was definitely ready for bed by 11 PM! Which is kind of sad, when you think of how many years I never got home until around 1 AM and then got to bed around 2 or 3.

And you know who was the impossible cat during ZOOM? Not Charlotte, who slept through it all in a nearby chair. Bea. Bea! The little scamp. I finally had to move the laptop, because she ran up and down the cat tree and was causing distractions in the background. Tessa came up and sat beside me on the sofa like the dignified old lady she is.

The signup for the exquisite corpse poem in July at the Mount came through. I signed up on my phone (since the computer was on ZOOM and I was pinged as we were letting the audience in), so I hope I did it right and get a slot! I’ll find out soon enough, I guess.

Some other scripts turned up in the queue that pay okay, albeit  under what this type of coverage used to pay. They pay 25% less than they did a few months ago, and 50% less than when I started with this client in 2021. They would all be due on Saturday. A) I’m not reading over the Memorial Day Weekend and B) I have the ghostwriting deadline on Friday which pays a heck of a lot more, so. .  . I’ll pass. I’ll knock out the handful of small coverages over the next few days and not whine about it. This expectation that we should always be available to work nights and weekends and holidays is not something I wish to meet anymore. It’s exploitation, and I’m glad that, at the moment, I don’t have to knuckle under to it. If anything comparable comes in next week on Tuesday, I’ll consider taking on a few next week, juggling it with jury duty and switching over to the other ghostwriting project.

Two people I know suffered tragic losses this week, and I hold and honor their grief.

Fell into bed, slept reasonably well, and the cats let me sleep in until nearly 6. The priority today is the ghostwriting project, and I’m eager to dive into that again. I will do a little work on the radio play, and hopefully knock out a few of the small coverages as well. I’m looking forward to yoga tonight.

Have a good one!

Mon. May 19, 2025: Intent for the Week — A Steady Hand on the Wheel

image courtesy of  Pexels via pixabay.com

Monday, May 19, 2025

Waning Moon

Pluto Retrograde

Cloudy and cool

It hit 90 degrees here on Friday afternoon, and was 35 degrees last night. Go figure.

The Community Tarot Reading for the Week is up here.

This week, I have to buckle down and focus on the ghostwriting, since I have 6K due on Friday. As long as I keep steady and don’t get discouraged or distracted, I should be fine. I also have to put in a good chunk of work on the radio play and start the work for Llewellyn.

Tonight, the Athena Project has JUST A DROP as part of their Read ‘N Rant evening, out in Colorado. I’m looking forward to it (and trying not to let any apprehension left over from last week’s experience taint tonight).

Will pack up and head to the library while the painters are here. I spent yesterday with my hands in dirt — you’ll hear all about it tomorrow and in Thursday’s garden post. I’m sore, and definitely looking forward to yoga tomorrow.

What’s your intent for the week?

Fri. May 16, 2025: Taking a Breath Helps

image courtesy of  Dana via pixabay.com

Friday, May 16, 2025

Waning Moon

Pluto Retrograde

Misty and warm

Yesterday did not get off to a brilliant start, between chainsaws and jackhammers. I’m really tired of constant construction around the college every damn season, starting way too early in the morning, without regard to the fact that it’s set within a residential neighborhood and is not set off on its own little island.

I considered skipping meditation, but figured this is exactly why I needed meditation. Especially since I was a little bit blue about Wednesday night’s reading. They sent an evaluation form, and I had to ponder how honest to be with them. There were plenty of things I could roll with, but the fact that some of the actors hadn’t taken time to read the script before the reading was not something I agreed with. That is an absolute minimum, as far as I’m concerned. I decided to be honest in as kind and respectful a way as possible, but wait a day or two before submitting my response.

I needed to shake it off, because I have another show on which to focus for Monday, out in Colorado, and I had my own work on the radio play and on the ghostwriting that needed my immediate attention. I could hear my yoga teacher saying, “Shake it off. Let it go.” I need to feel what I feel and deal with it, but getting mired and stuck doesn’t do anyone any good. It would be easy to make like a depressed Victorian heroine and take to my bed. It would be easy to get angry. It would be easy to self-berate and doubt myself and my work. But none of that serves the work itself. I’m either a professional interested in doing good work and serving that work, or I’m cosplaying. And I’m not interested in cosplaying.

There’s a lot of letting go to do during this waning moon!

I sat meditation with the group, which was a good choice (and made Charlotte happy). After breakfast, I packed up and headed over to my favorite library carrel.

I had trouble getting settled into the work. I haven’t been on social media often lately, which has helped my mindset and my productivity, but I dipped my toe back in because I had trouble concentrating because of all the feelings about the reading, and then wished I hadn’t.

I created a chart of what play should be pointed to which kind of theatre. I could probably have put that in the Excel document I use when I figure out submissions, but some of the plays really need to be revised before submission. I tried pulling FEMME FATALE, which needs to be adapted from interactive to proscenium, through from PDF to Word, but it messes up the formatting so badly I’m better off just rekeying the whole thing. But not yesterday. I also need to adapt MATILDA MURDERS – which had a nonbinary character long before that’s what they were called – from interactive to proscenium. Again, though, not today.

I pulled up CORNWALL CHICANERY and fixed a few details from the earlier pages. Wrote about 3 new pages, much less than I hoped, but better than nothing. I set up a red herring. Now I need to put in some clues.

It was hard to concentrate because there was a jackass with a leaf blower wandering the quad all morning for no reason except to make noise. Nothing needs leaf blowing, and blowing pollen is terrible for everyone. Gas-powered leaf blowers need to be banned entirely, and leaf blowers, in general, should only be allowed from mid-September to the first snowfall. And ONLY for leaves.

There is zero reason for the college to have anyone leaf blowing multiple times every damn day.

Home for lunch and the #FreelanceFriends chat on Bluesky, which was lots of fun, and then back to the library. Caught up on some email, asked a couple more questions, and started work on the ghostwriting project. A lot of it was design of the space where most of the action takes place, and character work. I outlined a couple of chapters, but nowhere near as many as I hoped. Still, it was a good, solid start.

I then gave myself a break from the screen to read a book, curled up on one of the library couches.

Came home, rested my eyes for a bit (all this screen time in libraries takes a toll, because of the overhead lighting). It was just starting to drizzle when I returned.

Heated up leftovers for dinner. After dinner, sat out on the porch finishing my wine and enjoying a cracking good thunderstorm. I hope we are out of drought concerns soon.

Listened to some Mary Lou Williams music in the evening, as background for a piece I’d like to write (but am not sure I can write by deadline, so I might have to wait until the next submission call). Read Kitty Carlisle Hart’s autobiography, which is overly breathy and breezy.

Slept pretty well until I jolted awake around 3 AM with sense memory stress. Really? Still? I reminded myself that I am not in the middle of the Move from Hell, and am where I want to be. Dozed off, but Tessa got me out of bed around 5:30, the usual time.

It’s all foggy and misty this morning. I’m hoping the painters aren’t too loud. I’d prefer to work from home until it’s time to run to the library and the grocery store. I have to head to the mechanic’s this afternoon, but I will be so relieved to get the brakes fixed. We’ll also talk tires, so I can come up with a plan to get those replaced (all four – horrors).

I need to wash more fabric (the blood splatter fabric arrived yesterday), and tomorrow I will iron again. On the writing front, it’s all about the radio play and then switching over to the ghostwriting. I will probably take my laptop to the mechanic’s this afternoon and work there.

The weekend is about household chores and building at least one (hopefully both) of the compass pieces for the textile project. I’m invited to an art show opening at a new space with 46 local artists, so I will try to pull myself together and go to that. Especially since I know some of them. I also want to finish reading the second of three plays for WAM, the play that’s sharing the bill with me on Monday, and the book for review.

If it’s quiet enough, there may be a lot of napping involved. Because of the intense concentration and quick pace of the ghostwriting, my brain needs more rest periods built in. Taking the hour lunch and then having some transition time at the end of the day makes a big, positive difference.

Have a good weekend, and we’ll catch up on the other side!

Thurs. May 15, 2025: A Little Too Much Chaos

image courtesy of Pixabay.com

Thursday, May 15, 2025

Waning Moon

Pluto Retrograde

Gray and humid

You can read about the latest on the garden over at Gratitude & Growth.

I ordered a book of Mariner’s Compass patterns for my Human Compass piece because it supposedly contained the pattern I need. It SHOWS the pattern I want on the page marked “Section II: Patterns.”

And does not have that particular pattern.

Headdesk. Multiple times. Headdesk.

Laundry went well, home early, everything was put away nicely. Started reading Agatha Christie’s CARDS ON THE TABLE, which is this month’s Christie book club pick. I’d read it several times over the decades, but not recently enough to remember the details.

The morning was rather fraught. I knew I had a webinar, so I did some work at home in the morning, in spite of the noise, until I could escape for errands. I stopped by the mechanic and snagged an appointment for brake replacement for tomorrow afternoon. Yay.

Then, I picked up and dropped off books at the library, picked up some puzzle books for my mother, and went to the liquor store.

Came home and they were – power washing the house? The noise and the water were quite something. But it meant I couldn’t participate in the webinar because of the noise. I might have been able to be muted so as not to give everyone a nervous breakdown, but I wouldn’t have been able to hear anything.

I mean, at least our windows are really shiny. . .

They recorded the webinar, so I’ll try to catch that.

By the time they had their lunch break, humans and cats had frayed nerves. We took our quiet hour. Then I packed up the computer and fled to my favorite library carrel as the noise started up again.

I finished the prep materials for the next ghostwriting assignment and submitted the questions I have (so I don’t go too far off what they want from the get-go). I should be able to invoice for that work today. I received preliminary answers and should be able to start the actual work today.

I received my next book review assignment. Sorted out my ticket for the next WAM reading on June 8.

I wanted to curl up on one of the library couches and nap, but. . .

The client who is shutting down sent us an email to expect work over the next few weeks, and then a rush 24-hour turnaround assignment at about half of what it used to be. Bite me. I’ll accept an assignment here and there when it fits in with the rest of my schedule. And if it pays properly. There’s supposed to be another big contest deadline today, and one on Monday. We will see if anything shows up in the queue, and, if so, how much it pays.

Had an idea for an installation in the gallery where the group show is this August, and want to run it past one of my friends in the cohort to get his take on it. It would take me at least a year to put together, because of design and other elements, and deciding who else to invite in. I want to see if the idea is viable. It would call on my set design skills (yes, I have those, even though I haven’t used them in a long time) as well as conceptual skills. I have to decide if this kind of large project is something where I want to place my energy. It might take more than a year.

If nothing else, several people lately have taught me hard lessons about where it’s worth putting my energy, and where it is not. Necessary lessons, but not pleasant ones. Still, actual information is useful, because one can act on it.

Home, relaxed on the porch, heated up leftovers from dinner, tried to quell the nerves about the reading. Because I didn’t want to disturb the downstairs neighbors, I set up a table and laptop in the living room, by the front windows. Printed out a copy of the script, so I could make notes on it as necessary.

Signed in about five minutes before start time. The other playwright and I were asked if the order of the plays could be switched. The other reading was supposed to be first, but some of the readers for my show had conflicts and couldn’t stay for the length of the program. Red flag.

It didn’t matter to me, but the other playwright was worried his people wouldn’t be able to sit in for the duration. Then, two of the actors who were supposed to read didn’t show up. Red flag. The roles were covered by other readers, and we went forward. They did what they could with the resources at hand. Several of the actors hadn’t taken the time to read the script before the actual reading. Or the dramaturgy. Red flag.

Because this play is tightly structured on rhythms and things working on multiple levels, and sometimes certain characters are undercover, putting on a façade, and sometimes they are themselves, it’s not something easy to cold read. Still, they overall did pretty well, especially the lead, who had the most complex role. One of the literary committee, who also read two of the roles, is a huge fan of the historical character who inspired this play, and it was great to have someone on board familiar with the history. I had hoped for indications where I needed to tighten beats or make cuts or where the rhythms were off, but because it was a cold read on the part of many of the actors, and they hadn’t done any character work and often didn’t pick up their cues, that wasn’t possible. But we had a good discussion about it.

After a short break, we moved on to the next play in the evening. I’m glad I stayed and listened. This is a play that the company has invested time and talent through several drafts. It’s a lovely play, and I hope they produce it eventually. It would, I believe, have served the playwright better had it been the only play in the evening.

What did I learn from it? That the script, overall, holds up under difficult circumstances. It gave me a better idea of where to point it for future considerations. I didn’t learn what I hoped to from the reading, but I did learn something, and that’s always valuable. And I am grateful that they believe in the play, and cared enough to put it in their reading series.

It also makes me think about the overall plans for the plays with this character. I have three written, built around her. One has been produced as a radio play. This was given a reading. One other hasn’t been submitted often. I have at least one more, possibly two more, one acts to write about her, and a full length about a particular mission that doesn’t fit into the world of one acts. Then, I want to massage some of the one acts into a full length about several cases, and put on a coda, pulling through the antagonist from the produced play into an end scene. Not sure how to manage that yet structurally or within the time frame necessary for a two-act play. It would make a great three-act play, but, sadly, those are out of fashion.

And with decreased resources for the arts, because That Thing is on a revenge tour due to its failure as a Broadway producer and a film producer, makes it more of a challenge than ever. And yes, the pronoun “it” is a deliberate choice here. Because That Thing stopped being human a long time ago.

But all I can do is remain true to the work and then figure out the rest of it.

Stayed up after the reading for a while, to put everything away and finish reading CARDS ON THE TABLE. Weird dreams at night, up at the usual time.

There should be online meditation group, and then I’ll head to the library for the morning. A good friend is hosting an online meeting at noon for #FreelanceFriends, with another friend as a speaker, so I will break my own new rule and each lunch at the computer on my  break, then head back to the library for the afternoon.

I need to wash some more fabric, and then there’s more ironing ahead of me. No idea what the deal is with the painters today. I thought they had one more side of the house to scrape/sand, but maybe they are at a point where they can prime.

Some dingus is out there using a chainsaw before 8 AM. I’d like to use it on his sorry, noisy ass.

Have a good one!

Wed. May 14, 2025: A Day in My Favorite Library Carrel

image courtesy of wal_172619 via pixabay.com

Wednesday, May 14, 2025

Waning Moon

Pluto Retrograde

Partly cloudy and mild

And here we are, at midweek again!

The picture above is not the college library, although it does have some comfy couches and lots of books. I have my favorite carrel, though, overlooking the quad.

Today is my reading of “A Rare Medium” (one of my Kate Warne plays) by the Lumos Players in Ohio. I’m happy and grateful and also nervous, because the nerves never go away.

Yesterday, I signed and returned the Llewellyn contract, and printed out the materials I needed for the art show meeting. I got all my folders set up for everything, both on the flash drive and the hard copies. I also printed out the cast list for “A Rare Medium.”

After breakfast, my mom and the cats settled. Bea was up on the kitty condo; the painters don’t scare her anymore. She knows they are outside and will stay there. Tessa was on her favorite chair on the sunny porch. Willa hid in the bathtub. Charlotte was sitting on my bed, waiting for them to notice she was a princess (they worked outside my bedroom window).

I packed up and headed over to the college library, and my favorite carrel.

I was invited to the award ceremony for the contest I judged. It’s in Philadelphia this year, and I would have loved to go, except that it’s the same weekend as my play reading up here in MA. Not on the same day, but all that travel would be too much, with too much room for something to go wrong.

Wrote a little over 5 pages of the radio play. Caught up on some email. Turned around a small coverage. Worked on the series overview of Nina Bell. Received the ghostwriting contract for the other series and signed it. The timeline worries me a little, juggling the two, but I think I can do it. I think I can smooth out the rhythm and work faster. I don’t feel like my head is full of molasses, the way I did the past few months. But that means writing outlines for 13 books between now and next July, across two different series, which is. . .a lot. But it will keep the lights on.

Came home for lunch and a bit of a rest. Turning my brain away from work-related reading and staying off the phone is a big plus to making the lunch hour actually restorative.

Went back to the library in the afternoon, back to my favorite carrel. Dug into the prep materials for the new series. They are much vaguer than the materials for the other series, but I hope that gives me more freedom to shape it. I’ll find out!

The credit union’s “new, improved” banking system is a nightmare, and trying to get signed back in is much more complicated than it should be. I am fed up.

Came home, changed clothes, switched bags, headed off to yoga. It was a great class, and much needed.

Dashed down the street to the meeting at the gallery. It was small, and somewhat like herding cats, but my workshop is booked for Aug. 9. I will get them the materials today for their promotions.

One of the members of my cohort (last year’s) didn’t remember me, which is a little offensive, especially after the time we spent in intense conversation over months and navigating through various workshops. However, this is also someone who believes they are the vanguard of artistic literary definition, and I do hack work, so, probably not much of a loss. When I don’t matter enough to be remembered, that’s not someone I should worry about hanging onto. Next!

Home, heated up some leftovers. I should have done some more work in the evening, because I hadn’t gotten as far as I hoped in the afternoon, but I did not have the energy. So I read a bit, and then went to bed.

For the past two nights, I have had weird dreams about a very large orange and white cat named Scrabble. Um. . .?

Up early this morning and out of the house to the laundromat. I realized I’d gotten there too early and thought I’d be stuck in the parking lot, but they were open, and I had everything through and home before 7 AM.

The ghostwriting client paid the balance of the last project, which means I can schedule the brake replacement. I sent an email, but sometimes those bounce back, so I might just swing by the place – since using their “scheduling tool” doesn’t work. I have a couple of errands to do today anyway.

I won’t be at the library in the morning, because of the various bits and pieces I have to get done. I may go over for a couple of hours in the afternoon. But, once I submit my questions (and the reading invoice) to the ghostwriting client, my headspace goes back to “A Rare Medium.”

Since they are in a different time zone, I have to make sure I sign in at the right time for the ZOOM attendance!

Somewhere in there, I want to get more work done on the radio play. And I have to get the credit union stuff sorted. Or I am taking my laptop to the bank building and dumping it on someone’s desk, demanding, “Make this work again.”

Have a good one.

Tues. May 13, 2025: The Good Kind of Busy

image courtesy of StartupStockPhotos via pixabay.com

Tuesday, May 13, 2025

Last Day of Full Moon

Pluto Retrograde

Partly sunny and pleasant

I hope you had a lovely weekend.

The Community Tarot Reading for the Week is up here.

Curl up with a beverage, because this is a long post! It was a busy weekend.

I had a good conversation with a visual artist colleague who talked about the importance of documenting the process of creating work. I document my writing process in words, but it made me realize that it’s important to document the process of creating the textile project. So I’m taking more photos as I go. Since I want to expand into more multi-disciplinary work, that will be helpful. It will give me additional materials for grant proposals moving forward.

The painters showed up on Friday, in the bucketing rain. They decided to work on the back balcony, since it’s covered. So I moved the bench and the bistro chairs into Tessa’s room (they helped me with the bench). First, we made a pit stop in the kitchen, so I could disinfect them. Because they were outside since we’ve moved here, and who knows what all’s been climbing around on them.

But it meant no noise respite for me on Friday.

Since they were at the back of the house, and it’s a long, narrow unit, we could move to the front, and it wasn’t too bad. And it was only about an hour after they arrived that I left for my errands.

I went to the grocery store first, and did a light grocery shop, then to the library to drop off and pick up books. By the time I hauled everything home, up the stairs, and put it away, it didn’t make sense to pack up and go offsite.

Charlotte and Willa were upset by the disruption. Tessa hid. Bea sat in the front window and napped.

After lunch, I didn’t have the energy to pack up and go offsite. I read on the couch instead, with Charlotte on my lap.

The ghostwriting client has offered me writing the outlines for the next 6 projects in the series I’ve been working on, and the outline from a project in a different series. With the same team giving me development notes. At a rate that meets in between what I already quoted them and what they paid for these “tests.” It’s do-able. It also pays me a part of the fee when we move from the 6K outline to the 20K outline, instead of waiting until the end for everything, which takes some of the financial pressure off me. The two immediate contracts are with due dates of June 16 & July 23, which make sense. I can switch off between them in that I can write the 6K starter outline for the one due first, turn it in, and work on the 6K starter outline for the other while I wait for notes, and so forth. They know that I have jury duty beginning on the 27th, and I won’t know what my schedule is like that week until I’m in it.

It also means that I will be able to do the car repairs and still pay the bills. Which is great, since the coverage agency is shutting down (and STILL hasn’t informed its analysts about what’s going on). In fact, the only pay I will have from this past pay period from them is a tip from a writer, a writer satisfaction bonus, and my on-time bonus from last month, which is just not acceptable.

Now, the ghostwriting doesn’t pay enough for it to be the only work I do – I still need to take on other jobs here and there around it – but it will take care of a few things, especially between now and August.

I reviewed the contracts. I sent one in yesterday, but the main one did not reflect what we negotiated, so I requested changes. I would not sign the contract they sent. I started the orientation of the new-to-me series. I will start writing the actual outline on Thursday, after my reading tomorrow night, and turn it in to them just before Memorial Day weekend. That way, they can read and give notes while I’m on jury duty.

Jury duty week, I will start work on the next project for the series I’ve been working on. It would be great if, somewhere in there, the audio book work would also start coming in, although that would be a lot.

The plan is to do 1K each morning of my own work and then switch over to the ghostwriting and/or whatever other freelance work I have on the go that week. I have a better idea now of what the ghostwriting team wants, so hopefully, the speed of the actual writing will increase on my end.

I’ve been out of balance with my own work, and I need to get that balance back. Only when I start the day with my own work and have that rhythm going does the rest of the day fall into place properly. If I push my own work aside, everything is out of balance and much harder than it needs to be.

My mom wasn’t feeling well Friday night into Saturday, so none of us got much sleep.

Saturday was another gray and rainy day. To my shock, the painters showed up just after 8 AM. The cats were not amused. Neither was I. I was looking forward to two days of respite. I was also annoyed that all the crap from the neighbor’s balcony was moved to our side, instead of them taking it inside like we did.

I got an email to write scripts for an anti-education platform. I laughed at them. Obviously, they did no background research on me.

I read the next book for review in the morning. The painters packed up at lunchtime and left. After lunch, I pulled myself together, put on Real People Clothes and headed out to the A4A cohort gathering. It was at one of the other advisors’ houses in Williamstown. They are an amazing scientist and visual artist, with a delightful cat. Once the other cohort member arrived, we headed out to walk the trails at the Clark, learning about lichen and fungus and slime mold, and visiting with the bright orange salamanders. We had far-ranging conversations over an amazing range of topics. I was also proud of myself for managing the hike, even the uphill parts. I wasn’t sure I could, because I’m so out of shape. But I both did it and enjoyed myself.

When we got back to the house, the cat came running to greet me right away, which was adorable. We had tea and cookies. I had matcha for the first time, which I’d never had before, and it was good.

The artist who hosted us is moving to Roswell, NM for a year’s residency at the end of June. I will miss them. I’m so glad I got to know them, and will be emailing frequently while they are gone. Hopefully, they will return to this region, but it depends on where the work is.

Came home. Pants went into the laundry bag – I was muddy up to the knees. The Timberland boots were set on a rack to dry off, and then I’ll brush the dirt off. The joy of having mud season and pollen season overlap!

I was very sore in the evening. Heated up some leftovers and read on the sofa, with Charlotte sitting on me (a biography of Josephine Tey). I was so tired I went to bed ridiculously early – and woke up at midnight. Managed to get back to sleep quickly and woke up again at 3:30. Managed to get back to sleep relatively quickly, and was awakened by the cohort of Charlotte, Tessa, and Willa at 6:30, because they wanted breakfast.

Sunday was Mother’s Day. We had a nice, slow morning for once, and I made smoked salmon Benedict, per my mom’s request. I did the Community Tarot Reading for the week, and scheduled it to post. I wanted to do some planting, but with a frost advisory in for Sunday night, I thought it best to wait.

We were invited, a couple of days back (after our original plans for the weekend changed) to a Mother’s Day Tea by a colleague I don’t know well. She hosted several pairs of mothers and daughters (sometimes mothers and granddaughters) for an early in the day High Tea and conversations in her loft. The youngest was 11; the oldest was my mom, at just over 100. None of the pairs knew each other, just the host. But we had some very interesting conversations that lasted for several hours. It was a pleasant and unusual social event. The different teas, little sandwiches, and tiny sweets were beautifully made and delicious.

On the way there, I picked up some flash drives that will just hold the ghostwriting client’s work, and, by accident, found fabric that may work as the background for the Human Compass project. I washed the bone border fabric that arrived. I have to scale down the entire piece, so it fits within the 5-foot specs including the borders. So I will scale down the central piece, holding the two compass pieces, to 3 feet/1 yard, and build the borders from there. I might do the 2 borders (bone and blood) separated by black, and then bind with celestial fabric.

Home in the late afternoon, and then we had a bit of a rest before I cooked the requested dinner. It was a new-to-me recipe from a new-to-me cookbook, but worked and was very good.

The fire alarm in the back hallway between the apartments is now doing end-of-life chirping, so that will have to be replaced along with the ones in our apartment.

Finished the Josephine Tey biography. I relate to her caring for an elderly parent, choosing to stay single, using multiple pseudonyms, and moving between theatre and novels. Too bad I don’t also have her skill! She’s an amazing writer, and I am nowhere near that level. But still, I soldier on.

Weird dreams Sunday into Monday. Something about a manic ATM not working properly; Hugh Jackman and the cast of MUSIC MAN performing in the local field where the 1908 balloon race was held (the race is part of an upcoming project), and something weird tied to the book I read for review earlier in the weekend that must have stuck with me more than I thought.

Woke up to a lovely, sunny day. Although we had frost advisory Sunday night, Monday was supposed to be in the mid-70s.

I worked on getting my head into the game during morning meditation. The next stretch of time, at least between now and the end of July, is intense.

–Two plays within 5 days of each other this week, in two states (two different plays). They are my priority;

–The art show meeting tonight, and starting to work on the project;

–Getting started on the next ghostwriting project. I have 6K due the Friday before Memorial Day;

–At least 5 pages/day on the radio play.

I have to set a lot of boundaries, AND I still need to build in time for the book reviewing gig, read the plays for WAM’s next three meetings, prep for my own reading at the end of June, attend the next WAM reading, attend my friend’s play (and spend time with her), attend a Shakespeare Festival another friend put together, get the car fixed, and serve jury duty.

It doesn’t look like Word X Word is doing the exquisite corpse poem in July this year at the Mount. We would have signed up and started work by now. I’m sad, but it’s a tremendous amount of work for them – unpaid work – and I totally understand if they need a break. Hopefully, I can create work for some other events with them.

But I have to stay focused. Once I get the day’s allotted work done, then I can see what else needs to be built in. I’m hoping the ghostwriting will build a steadier, smoother rhythm as I do more with them over the coming months, so I’m not struggling within the timeline.

I also have to start work on the cleave poem I want to bring in to Boiler House Poets in October, because that will take a lot of work, and it’s a comic horror piece, which is just stretching me all over the place. But I have a feeling it will be July before I can focus on that.

It’s the good kind of busy, the kind of busy I want. It also means boundaries. People have to understand that my time is as valuable as theirs, and so is my work. Fortunately, it’s easier here than in my previous location, because almost everyone’s schedule fluctuates between periods of intense focus and weeks of looser timelines.

As the painters set up, I managed to write and submit the book review and request the next assignment. I signed the NDA reading contract for the ghostwriting client for the series I’m joining.

By then, it was too noisy to think (they were right outside my office window), so I packed up and headed to the college library across the street for some quiet work time. I discovered that I forgot my Magic Book of Passwords, and worried I would need it.

I was told that the last ghostwriting project is considered complete and I can invoice the rest of it. As soon as I get paid, I can schedule the brake repair. I requested the contract changes to the contract for the next outline, so that it reflects our discussion on Friday. My friend in town with a show and I are working out schedule stuff so we can actually see each other, now that we are 20 miles away instead of nearly 200!

I needed to work on the radio play and VICIOUS CRITIC, but, of course, what I wanted to work on was CASTLE LYSENDE because there’s no deadline attached. That’s always the way. The project with the least deadline pressure wants the attention.

The changes came through on the ghostwriting contract as requested, and I signed. I am now committed until June 2026, although we will work book-to-book.

In between all that, I managed to write nearly six pages of the radio play, and find its rhythm. I’m trying something structurally unusual with it, but the place to whom I’m submitting it (on spec) has the resources to pull it off.

Lumos Theatre and Athena Project checked in for our shows (respectively this Wednesday and next Monday). I was invited to join a pilot networking/expansion program called Pollinator thanks to Assets4Artists, and filled out the preliminary paperwork.

The problematic client finally told us they are shutting down, but asked us to keep reading until September 1, even though there isn’t much coming in. If I can fit a few more scripts in around the ghostwriting and other work, I’ll consider it. But not much is coming in, and I can’t really count on it, so I don’t know. They’re promised to keep paying on time, but if there’s no work. . .

Anyway, in the meantime, I had to get set up with the prep materials for the ghostwriting, and the “time off” requests for jury duty and for Boiler House in autumn.

I went home for lunch. The cats had a lot to say. But it was nice to take the full hour lunch and just be – no reading, no phone scrolling. Eat my lunch and sit on the porch enjoying the sun.

Returned to the college library for the afternoon. Read the next project for WAM (still have two more to read before our next meeting). Started the prep work for the ghostwriting project. It was quiet up in my favorite carrel, so I could get a lot done.

Home to find that the embellishments for the art project arrived, and are a better quality than I hoped, which is always a good thing. And my jury duty reminder notice/questionnaire arrived, which is a good thing, because I can’t find the initial summons. But now I have the information I need.

Heated up leftovers for dinner. Started reading Mary K. Greer’s ARCHETYPAL TAROT, which is very complex.

Celebrated the full moon.

To bed early, which means I woke up around 2:30, couldn’t get back to sleep, and I will pay for that later today. Up before 5, at Tessa’s insistence. The Llewellyn contract for the 2027 Spell-A-Day arrived. I will sign it and send it back, and print out all my materials. I will start next week, writing 2-3 pieces per week, and have all 25 ready by the Sept. 15 due date.

I have to print out the notes for tonight’s meeting. That bag is all packed. When I come home after this afternoon’s library session, I can just move my water bottle from one bag to another, and I’m good to go.

I will do both work sessions at the college library today, coming back for lunch. When I come back from the afternoon session, I will change, pick up the other bag, head up to yoga, and then go to the art show meeting.

I will definitely be ready for bed when I get home!

Have a good one!

Mon. May 12, 2025: Intent for the Week — My Head in the Game

image courtesy of Alexander Fox | PlaNet Fox  via pixabay.com

Monday, May 12, 2025

Full Moon

Pluto Retrograde

Sunny and warm

We had a frost advisory overnight and are supposed to hit the high 70’sF today. Go figure.

This week, I need to put my head in the game and keep it there.

I have readings of two different plays in two different states within 5 days of each other. They are the absolute priority.

I have to finish negotiating the ghostwriting contract and get going on the next 6K outline for them. The contract we discussed and what they sent are not in alignment, and they need to be before I continue. IF we work it out, I will be alternating between two different series for them, for a total of outlines for 13 books between the two series. As long as they don’t have overlap days, it should work, and the money will be decent enough that I can get the bills covered and the car repaired. I am only counting on the immediate two contracts, since we are going book by book.

This week, I also have a meeting on the gallery show in August, and I hope to start working on the project either the end of this week or over next weekend. AND I have to get some serious work done on the radio play. No more faffing around.

The Community Tarot Reading for the week is up here. It’s a little chaotic.

What’s your intent for the week?

Fri. May 9, 2025: Could More Rain = A Quiet Day?

image courtesy of Photorama via pixabay.com

Friday, May 9, 2025

Waxing Moon

Pluto Retrograde

Rainy and cool

I can’t believe we’re at the end of another week!

Yesterday was busy, but kind of all over the place. The painters were working on the side of the building by the living room, the sewing room, and my office. The sanders sound like millions of angry hornets. Actually, thinking of them as hornets rather than repetitive machine noise is a good coping mechanism. Again, it’s nowhere near as disruptive as it could be, but it’s still more than makes for a decent work environment.

It made online meditation a little challenging. Even Charlotte was upset. Tessa and Bea hid. Willa came to a window to tell the painters off, and then hid on a kitchen chair that was pushed under the table.

After breakfast, I packed up and headed to the library across the street and my favorite carrel, which was blissfully quiet.

Then came the challenge – what to work on first?

I saw the rough for the cover of Nina Bell #5, STAGE FALL. I absolutely love it. I’m happy with all the covers (even though we went through five versions for the upcoming #3, VICIOUS CRITIC). #4, BUT IS SHE A BETTING MAN? is a lot of fun, and STAGE FALL is just terrific. It’s not as bright and colorful as previous covers, but it matches stylistically, and communicates the story well.

Of course, I still have to write the books. . .I’m not used to being so ahead of the game with covers. I realized I had the old cover for VICIOUS up on its Nina Bell page, so I switched them out.

Because why not procrastinate when you have the chance?

My blessed quiet was somewhat interrupted because there was a dingus with a leaf blower in the quad. It’s spring! No leaves! Blowing pollen makes everyone miserable!

But the windows are pretty good, so it wasn’t as bad as it could have been.

Sent out a couple of LOIs. Worked on “Scent Memory.” A friend had to change plans for the weekend, but we’ll adjust.

I realized I haven’t talked about last weekend’s Kentucky Derby. The horse I liked best, Sovereignty, won. His head was in the game, it was his day. I wanted to like Sandman, but he was pushed too hard too fast, and he was cooked before Derby day. My longshot picks were Tiztastic (love all the Tiznow lineage, even though they’re hot messes) and Coal Battle. Who remained longshots. Unfortunately, Sovereignty isn’t running in the Preakness. I’m getting sick of the industry breeding for speed, not endurance, and then enter the Triple Crown with no intention of making a go of all three races. I don’t want horses injured, but I’ve had an issue with the breeding for decades. Don’t breed them with matchstick legs and then expect the races to adjust. Breed for the sport, not for your myths. And breed for the good of the species, which isn’t happening. I mean, there’s a whole conversation we could have about how, every year, I have more issues with the sport, which is one of the reasons I stepped back from covering it. But that’s for another day.

Headed home for lunch. Tessa Wished to Speak to the Manager about the disruption. Before I left for the afternoon, she had settled in on the porch. Bea was in her crate. Charlotte was burrowed under the covers of my bed. Willa wanted attention.

Totally missed #FreelanceFriends, but, by the time I returned to the library, learned a new pope was elected. From Chicago! With a mother of Creole heritage, from Louisiana! I later learned that although he was born in the US, he’s been a Peruvian citizen for a long time. Other information says he has dual American/Peruvian citizenship. It will be interesting to see what he’s all about. The fact that so many of That Thing’s cult are having fifteen fits is a positive sign, I think.

There was a lot of noise in the quad. They had a truck with lots of mulch in and were re-mulching all the beds. Noisily. And then the dingus with the leaf blower kept blowing instead of, you know, waiting until the mulching was done and then cleaning up what was needed.

I managed to do some work on CASTLE LYSENDE. My word counts have dropped way down. I’ve lost that daily rhythm, and I need to get it back.

Headed home just as the painters packed up. Got everything unpacked/repacked/switched out for the library trustees meeting, and headed up to the library. One of the mayor’s staff was there, updating us on the information we needed for the repairs, grant processes with the historical commission, etc. There are complications, and the meeting was about finding ways through. I have a kind of a wacky idea that I will research further. If it’s viable, I will bring it up at the next meeting.

It was a lovely evening to walk home. When I got home, I heated up some leftovers for dinner. Read in the evening. Pondered a few things, making some decisions.

Slept reasonably well. Woke up to pouring rain, so I hope that means no painters today. I need the respite. We’re under flood watch again, so I want to get the errands done early. Not much to do – grocery store and library. Then I can be home and write.

Tomorrow, I have a cohort meeting in the afternoon, which will be fun. Sunday is Mother’s Day, so I want to create a nice day for my mom. In and around all that, I need to get some writing in, some housework in, read the next book for review, and work on the textile project.

Next week is a busy week – reading prep, yoga, the next meeting for the gallery show, a webinar with the Entertainment Community Fund about the student loan kerflamma, the reading of “A Rare Medium” in Ohio, and then prep for JUST A DROP in Colorado a few days later. And whatever else comes up!

Again, it’s the good kind of busy.

Hopefully, I can invoice the rest of the ghostwriting today, get it early next week, and get the brakes fixed as well.

Have a great weekend, and we’ll catch up next week!

Thurs. May 8, 2025: Decamped for the Day

image courtesy of Frits de Jong via pixabay.com

Thursday, May 8, 2025

Waxing Moon

Pluto Retrograde

Partly cloudy and cool

It’s Thursday! Which means you can read the latest about the garden over on Gratitude and Growth.

I got one of the nicest rejection letters ever from a script submission. I had forgotten I sent it, it was so long ago, and I knew it was a longshot, but I did it anyway.  I mean, it was in the submission log, so I could track it, but I wasn’t fretting over it on a daily basis. They received 805 submissions. Out of the original sample pages of those 805 submissions, they chose however many they chose to read full scripts. Mine was one of them. They kept coming back to the play in the letter (in fact, in the letter, they mentioned specific things they really liked). While they ultimately went with one of the other, more contemporary scripts for this year, they wanted me to know that they really like my writing, and, if I write a new script this coming year, they’d like to see it.

If I can get my act together to finish a couple of drafts of I WILL BE DIFFERENT, I will send it to them at the end of this year. IF. There’s still a lot of work to do on that for even a first draft.

But it felt good to have that acknowledgement and care in their process.

I have to say, my elected officials are really putting in the work. Are they achieving everything I hoped? No. But on federal and state levels they are trying, and, in my daily interactions, I make sure to thank them and their staffs as much as throw out new ideas. And when I throw out an idea, it also has a path to getting it done. I put in the work BEFORE I pitch, just like I would for a book or another assignment. I mean, how many meetings have we all been in where someone tosses out ideas, but isn’t willing to create an actionable path to get it done? That’s not helpful. Idea generation is important, but it also has to be followed through with actionable steps. And yeah, some of my ideas are a little out there, but sometimes they can then spark another path toward the same result, but in, shall we say, a more conventional way. And I learn from the way things get done. Which helps me shape the next proposal.

The painters, bless their pointy little heads, worked on the side of the house yesterday, near my office. I fled to the college library in the morning, and worked in my favorite carrel overlooking the quad.

I reworked several resumes, put together a new work sample, and massaged the artist-in-residence application. I sent those off. Putting work samples together always takes more than it should, because Microsoft Word changes formatting when I cut and paste into a document I’ve formatted the way I want. So I have to redo every damn line. It’s a waste of time and more tech bro bullshit, instead of creating software that does what I want and need it to do, which is not change something I’ve already set up when I cut and paste into a blank document I’ve set up to receive it properly.

I did some research on the alleged New England serial killer, and the frustration people feel toward law enforcement’s dismissal of concerns. Most of the articles on it are a master class in lousy writing and lack of research. I did a little bit of work on the radio play. I don’t know why I’m having trouble getting back into the flow of it. Maybe I’m writing the wrong play for this submission?

Ordered some research materials from the library as background for a short story idea built around jazz. Played with another short story satirical idea under the working title of “Scrubbing Toilets in the Afterlife” about people who didn’t step up when necessary in life, and have to face consequences now.

Went home for lunch. The painters were on lunch break, so it was nice and quiet. Paid the internet bill and stopped at the post office to mail it (and catch up on the local news). Headed for the library at the Clark, but the road was closed for construction, so I did another trip around the roundabout and found myself working in the Milne Library instead. Definitely not as quiet as the Freel library in the morning!

Had to reset my admin password on my webhost (they rebranded themselves and everything is all messy), which then meant I had to go through all the email accounts associated with the various websites and fix things there. Annoying fiddly work, but necessary.

Started work on “Scent Memory” which is the new anthology story. That library was not a quiet place to work at all, which was annoying. People need to stop using their cell phones on speaker in public places. I’ve worked at Milne before and had great experiences, but this was not one of them.

I left early and sat in their reading garden to read – and get bitten by insects. Really, the afternoon was almost a comedy of errors. Almost.

Headed for tarot, caught up with everyone. It was a big group, with a good discussion.

My mom asked for Korean food, so I picked up some on the way home. She’s 100 – if she wants Korean food, I will get her Korean food! It was good, we enjoyed it.

Got some reading done in the evening. Still waiting to find out if I have to do any last tweaks on the ghostwriting, or if we’re all set and I can invoice. Once I’m paid, I can schedule the new brakes.

Moved some money around, because my bank will be offline from tomorrow until the 13th, due to a supposed upgrade for online banking. Which means things will be a mess for months.

Up early this morning. Good first meditation and longhand writing session. Getting ready for online meditation group, which will make Charlotte happy.

After online meditation group and breakfast, I will decamp somewhere, come home for lunch, decamp again. I have a library trustees meeting tonight.

If I don’t have to turn around ghostwriting notes, I will work on “Scent Memory” and the radio play and VICIOUS CRITIC, with “Scrubbing Toilets in the Afterlife” and CASTLE LYSENDE waiting in the wings. Plus, you know, pitches, LOIs, and the like, to add clients/assignments.

I received a lovely acknowledgement for the residency proposal I sent out yesterday. They are reviewing proposals in August, and I will hear something in early autumn. It was funny, because in one of the conversations before tarot circle yesterday, a friend had just been reading some of the same source material I used in my proposal.

A friend of mine travels up from NYC today. She will be working at a local theatre for the next couple of months, which means we get to spend some time together on our mutual days off. Which will be fun.

I also need to start getting into show head for both “A Rare Medium” in Ohio and JUST A DROP in Colorado, which happen only five days apart next week.

Anyway, I’m off to start my day! Hope yours is good.

Wed. May 7, 2025: Disgusted by the Apathy

image courtesy of CARLOS FERNANDO MEDELLIN via pixabay.com

Wednesday, May 7, 2025

Waxing Moon

Pluto Retrograde

Cloudy and cool

I was out of the house in the terrible rain early on, and got to the mechanic on time. Oil change was no problem –but I need to get new brakes and new tires. Brakes will be first, as soon as I get the final payment of the ghostwriting project. So, probably next week. Tires will have to happen over time. Neither are urgent, but they are recommended as sooner rather than later. Let’s hope the ghostwriting client hires me for at least a few more jobs so I can get it done!

Came home, glad the car runs so much better, worried about the needed repairs. I CAN cover the brakes, and I’m grateful, but that means I lose the cushion I had for June. So it’s back to pitching and LOIs.

The painters were here by the time I got back, because the rain had let up, at least for a little bit, and since they’d lost two days, they were falling behind. I didn’t have the energy to pack up and leave, so I just buckled down and fought through it, ending up with a migraine.

Did another pass on the ghostwriting revision. Sent it off, because I think they will need me to do some more tweaks when I questioned how they wanted certain notes executed. Since I know they want this to go into production this week, I figured if I sent it early, I could turn around another set of revisions the same afternoon – if they get it back to me quickly.

Read a draft of the first act of a friend’s script, which is huge fun! Can’t wait to read what comes next. Contacted the book review editor to see if anything came in, and got my next assignment. Didn’t dare to start anything substantial in case I had to turn around last revisions on the ghostwriting, but didn’t get them, so. . .

Went through some research books for a couple of projects. The one I hoped would work for the radio play does not. Sigh. Sourced most of the border fabric for the textile project – in budget!

Got my act together and walked up to gentle yoga. It was raining when I left, but stopped by the time I got there. It was a small class, but the old regulars, which was nice to catch up and then do yoga together. By the time I left, it stopped raining completely and was a soft spring night, so it was a lovely walk home.

Cooked dinner, a new-to-me recipe from a favorite cookbook, and it worked well. Although it was another pasta recipe, and now all leftovers are pasta variations. Um, I think I might have to come up with something using rice or potatoes in between!

The director of MASS MoCA put out a strong statement about That Thing pulling NEA funds that were already granted, as part of That Thing’s determination to dismantle the NEA completely. NEFA and Mass Humanities also put out strong statements. Several people (across multiple points of contact and platforms) moaned about how horrible it all is. Yeah, it’s bad. But what are YOU, as an INDIVIDUAL, DOING about it? If we are going to survive this, EVERY one of us has to do something EVERY DAY. Even if it’s a little thing from home that you worry is inconsequential – it isn’t. It matters, and it adds up to something big.  I’m tired of the moaning and expecting “someone else” to do something. Get off your privileged ass, show up, and do the work. Especially since these organizations have the information about how and where you can show up and do the work. There are so many structures already in place, and winning battles in this long fight. Find one and do some damn work. Use your skills and talents to do more than moan and shrug about how horrible it is and then go about your day as though nothing’s happened. There are many things that need to be done, and many skills are needed. DO SOMETHING. Plenty of organizations set up structures way back in the first round of the regime, and there were plenty of organizations doing the work since Reagan and before. You don’t have to start your own organization. There are plenty of organizations with solid structures and plans already out there. Find one and DO SOMETHING.

If you claim you don’t know where to start, it means you’re either not looking very hard, or people don’t trust you with the information. If it’s the latter, take a good hard long look at yourself as to why.

Read a little at night. Still no word on if they need more work on the ghostwriting. Guess I’ll find out today.

Since the painters are bound to come by and work today, I will pack up and work offsite, probably in one location for the morning, come back and eat lunch, then another in the afternoon. I’ll take my materials for the ghostwriting with me, in case I have to do more work on it.

If I don’t, I will focus on the radio play, VICIOUS CRITIC, and maybe start drafting the new anthology story. Plus finish the artist-in-residence application that needs to go out. It’s in pretty good shape. I think it will be fine with a couple of tweaks.

There’s another position I’m interested in opening locally, but I’m not sure the timing is right. It’s stepping into a role someone I know left, and with three of my own shows coming up in six weeks and August committed to the gallery show, I’m not sure I could give this position what it needs, especially if it doesn’t pay (I’m assuming it’s unpaid, although it was originally part of a larger, salaried position). It would be a stronger foot in the door with this organization, which I would like, into paid work, but I don’t know if I could navigate the interim. And two people have left the position since January, which sets off warning bells, too.

So I will think about it, and maybe get some more information. I don’t want to pass up a wonderful opportunity. I also don’t want to overcommit, especially if I’m not being financially compensated. I have to make sure I’m earning enough not to just get by, but to navigate what’s coming. I already have certain blocks of uncompensated time committed, and I hesitate to add more.

Right now, I can’t think about anything, because some jackass is out there with a chainsaw working my last nerve. There is zero reason anyone needs a chainsaw in this neighborhood, and it makes me want to rip it away from him and use it on him. I won’t, in real life, although I may expand out of my writing comfort zone to do something like that on paper.

The painters will arrive momentarily. I need to eat breakfast, then pack up and get to somewhere quiet.

After I take out the garbage! Got to get the basic chores done, no matter what.

Have a good one.