Devon Ellington's Blog, page 4

Wed. Aug. 27, 2025: Boundaries

image courtesy of  Nikki Wyatt via pixabay.com

Wednesday, August 27, 2025

Waxing Moon

Pluto, Neptune, Saturn, Chiron Retrograde

Partly cloudy and mild

Mid-week, yet again!

Yesterday was a day of boundaries, communication, and trying to get things done. It was a lot of, “This is what I understood. But is that what you meant?” and some of “That doesn’t work for me right now. How about this?”

We will see how it all shakes out. There was a good deal of refusing to be backed into a corner for something with red flags.

Am I worried I’m missing out? Not as much as I would have five or ten years ago. I’d rather make choices based on a solid foundation than on panic that I might miss something.

That doesn’t make any of the conversations easy, but at least they don’t have to be adversarial. Most of them, anyway. I can see one, about the parking lot, becoming so, but too bad.

The paperwork my mom needed help with is chaotic and offensive. And yet, we had to fill it out and I have to head up to the library to fax it today. Insurance is a huge scam.

Deleted my account from an agency which started as an international job matchup for freelancers. Not only have they never lived up to the promise or (nor?) responded to feedback,  but the last few messages I’ve gotten from them have been obvious financial scams with heavy whiffs of illegal operations about them. All under the guise of “partnership” rather than freelance contract work. Do they think I’m stupid? I deleted my account and got an absolutely vile message from the agency. Glad to be shot of them.

On top of all of that, I managed to get out three play submissions for short play submission calls. I somewhat shot myself in the foot this year by not finishing a full-length play early in the year. Another theatre who likes my work invited me to submit a full-length with not more than 8 characters. But the two full-lengths I have that fit those specs they already read and felt weren’t right for them. They claim they really like my writing and want more. But I don’t have a “more” this year to give them. Even if I WILL BE DIFFERENT could be completed by the end of the residency (which is within their submission window), it has more than 8 characters (though may be able to be done with 8 actors). But I won’t know until it’s complete. JUST A DROP, the full-length they have not read, has more than 8. So does SERENE & DETERMINED, which isn’t in shape to send out yet, although it might be whittled down in the revisions. The revision notes I have on S & D are stellar, but I haven’t been able to integrate them in a way that pleases me yet. It’s like a tuning fork when it hits properly, and I haven’t had that hit from S & D revisions yet. I honestly don’t think I could whip up a 75-minute 3-hander within the submission window that could be revised enough so I’d feel it was fit to submit. I mean, I’d have to have an idea for it first. Maybe I could think of something, draft, and then revise during the residency? I may have to pass this year and hope they invite me back next year, since they are narrowing the submission invite. I’m debating whether or not to talk to them about it. If an honest conversation hurts my chances, it’s not the right place for me to be.

I’ve also been invited to submit to a place I’ve longed to be a part of for years, for their development program, but I’m not sure if I should send them something polished or something I feel needs the development. The latter would be more helpful to me, but I’m not sure the work is strong enough to make it into such a competitive program for the very reason it needs the development. I will have a discussion with them about it, and feel comfortable about having that discussion. They allow a slightly bigger cast size, but it still keeps JUST A DROP out of the running. Update: We had a good discussion, and I have a clearer idea about what they want. Now I have to decide if it matches what I want/need.

Being invited to submit to these places means a lot to me. I know I’m not the only one invited, and that they still have a huge amount of submissions. But the invite matters. I just wish it was in a year I had something strong to offer. I’d really need two different plays to submit one each, rather than the same play to both. Then I could switch them next year. But I can’t see that happening within the submission window.

Oh, for the days I could pull an all-nighter and get a draft like that done!

Yet another reason to stand firm and not get backed into a corner on the situation with the red flags and unrealistic timelines. I have my own tight timelines to deal with on both the ghostwriting and the playwrighting front.

Most of the day was gone by then, and I was far behind where I hoped to be in just about everything. However, the WAM meeting was switched over to fully remote, which meant I did not have to drive down to Lenox, saving me 2+ hours in my day.

I heard from my town councilor about next steps regarding the Sidewalk Chewing Demons. So I went around the neighborhood, took a bunch of photos, and they are getting an effing PowerPoint with a timeline today!

A friend sent me a call for submissions, and I got another play out.

Oh, and we finally got two weeks’ worth of mail delivered.

I look at the day, and I got a lot done, but it doesn’t feel like I did, probably because it wasn’t what I wanted to get done.

The WAM meeting was excellent, although small. We had excellent discussions about the plays and about the very relevant and complex topics covered in them.

Heated up some leftovers. Read for a bit. Overslept and was late getting out to the laundromat. When I returned, some jerk had taken my parking spot, so I left a polite but pointed note on the windshield. There are 9 parking spots in the lot, and most of them are empty all day. Do not take mine.

Today: fold laundry,  too much admin work, put together the photos and timeline for City Hall, Llewellyn polish, faxing at the library (and book pick-up/drop-off), post office, script coverage, ghostwriting, read a play the theatre’s AD asked me to read. And I’ll wrap up that puppy with a cocktail!

Have a good one.

Tues. Aug. 26, 2025: Which Door Will Open Next?

image courtesy of Fabien via pixabay.com

Tuesday, August 26, 2025

Waxing Moon

Pluto, Neptune, Saturn, Chiron Retrograde

Partly cloudy and pleasant

And here we are, in another week! The last week of summer. The upcoming weekend is Labor Day Weekend in the US, with a Monday holiday.

Friday morning, I caught up on the dishes. The water went off just as we sat down to dinner on Thursday, which meant we’d finished the cooking and had the pots and pans as well as the plates, cups, glasses, and cutlery. There are only two of us, so it wasn’t that much. And then, of course, the cats’ dishes. Since I love dishes and have many of them, we weren’t going to run out of clean ones any time soon. And, if necessary, I would have gone out on Friday to get some jugs of water we could boil and wash them. (I couldn’t Thursday night, because the roads were closed, and when I went to Cumberland Farms at the bottom of the street, they were already sold out). I just hate having dirty dishes in the sink. But I got them done, and then there was room for the breakfast dishes! (Which were immediately washed).

My mother reminisced about how, in the 1930’s, her grandmother ran a hotel in a rural area without running water. She was known for her coffees and cakes, and people flocked there from the big cities on weekends. She brought the big sheet cakes down to the community oven to bake, and her husband had water buckets on a yoke and would bring in well water for the beverages.

So a few hours without running water is not that big a deal.

And I have some of her tablecloths from the restaurant. We still use them!

One of the ghostwriting projects was deemed as finished, and I was able to invoice. I turned around four medium script coverages.

I read a bit in the evening, and cooked a new-to-us chicken recipe from the cookbook we’re enjoying so much. It was good, but the pepper was out of balance, in our opinion. When we make it again, I will reduce the pepper, by about ¼ teaspoon, and we’ll see how that works.

Keeping a Taste Journal makes me see where we fall into ruts, both in terms of flavor and nutrition. Of course, the impulse is to make more interesting food in order to have something better to write about!

Honored the dark moon.

Up early on Saturday, and honored the new moon. Part of the reason we have the urge to do our “fall clean”  around this time is not just that it bookends our spring cleaning, but that we are in Virgo season, and Virgo is about organization and details.

I started a 90-day experiment of writing (in longhand) for 10 minutes per day in a particular style, to see if that loosens up a few things that feel stagnant. I’m doing it after the morning yoga and meditation sessions, and using the meditation timer. If it doesn’t work in that slot, I’ll switch it up. I felt I was just settling into the writing when the 10 minutes were up, though.

Housework, puttering, getting things organized took up most of the morning. A switch has suddenly gone off in Bea’s consciousness. She hasn’t wanted to be handled much since she moved in. Suddenly, all she wants is to be petted. We had a 40-minute session Saturday morning, and she came back several times during the day for more. She gets very purry (and a little drooly sometimes). It’s very cute.

I’m glad I ignored the advice of “experts” who told me I should force her into being handled a few minutes every day, so she would “get used to it.” I let her adjust in her own time, and now affection is something she wants, not something she just has to put up with. For her, it was the better choice. Every cat is different.

She’s even letting me brush her, which is a good thing, since everybody is shedding like crazy and their winter coats are coming in. I spend a lot of time brushing various and sundry who come my way, and then sweeping up cat hair.

Iris and Violet were small enough (even as adults) that I could just hold them and brush them over the garbage can, but NONE of this batch will put up with that indignation.

Whatever blooms in August and makes me sneeze and makes my eyes itch has popped. Yowza. It’s definitely not as bad as the first year we lived here, but it’s worse than last year, disproving the local who promised it would get easier every year. An herbalist friend of mine says goldenrod is often given a bad rap for this allergy, and it’s not goldenrod. I thought she also said it wasn’t ragweed, but something that grows beside ragweed, but I don’t have that in my notes, so perhaps I am mis-remembering. I will ask her next time I see her.

In my puttering around, I found a bag of dribs and drabs I hadn’t unpacked since we moved here. I unpacked it and put things in their proper places. They actually all had a proper place in the apartment, which was encouraging, and it was nice to find things I’d forgotten about. I also found my souvenir dog tags from MISS SAIGON (a closing gift for the company), and my backstage badge from one of the times I worked the TONY Awards. It was from 2001, which is longer ago than that all feels.

I’m putting aside a stack of mending. On sunny days, when the light is good, I will mend things now and again, and catch up. I got behind in the mending. I found my darning egg, which means I can mend some favorite socks.

I read a memoir by an author whose work I somewhat know about her relationship with her mother, who was a more famous author. It’s very well written, but I came away with two impressions of it. One was that she felt the need to justify the medical decisions she had to make, which, ultimately, are no one’s business outside the family. The second was that she needed a book that would catch public interest and earn the money to pay those medical bills, which it did, and which I totally respect. But I deeply felt that none of the information in this book was any of my business, and I nearly put it down several times not to finish it because I felt my presence as a reader was an intrusion.

I also started reading ENOUGH ROPE, which is a collection of Dorothy Parker’s poems. It’s subtitled “A volume of light verse” and I hope that’s meant to be ironic, because every poem I’ve read so far is formatted in the style of light verse, but is actually about heartbreak and/or failed suicide attempts. If the subtitle is not meant ironically, I worry about a lack of reading comprehension. Dark humor? Definitely. Light verse? Um, no.

Heated up leftovers for dinner. Started meal planning for the holiday weekend.

Slept well, and the cats were not amused when I lounged in bed until 6:30 on Sunday. Fed everybody, did the longer yoga sequence, did the meditation. Tessa finds it fun to knock me over when I’m in a balancing pose. It’s funny after, but not when I hit the floor! Day 2 of the 90-day writing experiment went well although, again, the 10 minutes flew by and I was just settling into the rhythm.

We had a big breakfast (yay, something different to write about in the Taste Journal), and then I did the Community Tarot Reading for the Week and scheduled it to post. Bea ran away with the Star card from the Marseille deck after last week’s reading, so I’m sure I will be searching for it for months. When I find her stash, I will find it, along with catnip strawberries, toy mice, and whatever else she’s hidden.

I got some ironing done, but most of the day was pretty quiet. I needed to rest my brain, and did so by reading. I finished a book I’ve enjoyed so much, A TRACE OF DECEIT by Karen Odden. The writing is just gorgeous, and the mix of literary fiction with elements of art, history, and mystery perfectly blended. I think it’s categorized as “historical mystery” but it’s much more than that. It was hard not to finish it and immediately start it again as a re-read. I’m looking forward to reading more of her work.

I read another book, a mix of historical/alt reality/mystery/fantasy that was the next in a series I enjoyed, and that was a fun read. Hit the spot. And then I read a book that I’d heard a lot of good stuff about (in a different genre), but found it far too formulaic and tropey, and the writing was just meh. It was fine, there was nothing wrong with it, but it didn’t grab me the way other books in the genre have, and certainly not the way the other two recent reads did. I kept getting too far ahead of it, waiting for the characters to catch up, and then getting annoyed with them. While there’s often comfort in knowing the basic expectations of a genre piece, I also want to enjoy the journey getting there WITH the characters, not arrive 100 pages ahead of them.

Cooked dinner, making up a recipe with sauteed onions, pork, and green enchilada sauce that turned out very well.

Pulled myself together and went to the closing reception for “The Work of Becoming” at FutureLabs. It was great to see my fellow cohort members and talk with the gallery owners. The gallery and I are talking about working together again.

It did, however, also feel very much like the closing of the cohort chapter, although the connections and continued work together for many of us will continue. Unlike the separation anxiety I had at the end of the 2024 cohort, this feels right. It feels like we’ve all progressed together, and can now take that out into the world, as individuals, and as a collective. I am deeply grateful to Assets4Artists for these opportunities these past two years. I got to try things I would have never dared to on my own, and gave me a set of tools that can be applied to all kinds of work.

Of course, now I have to go out there and use these tools!

But I feel like I have a good foundation now, even in these intentionally chaotic times that are created to break us.

Picked up my piece and brought it home. I have to figure out how and where to store it. Because of the tarot cards sewn into the piece, it can’t be rolled on the hanging bar, nor can it be folded typically. Right now, it’s folded atypically until I figure out what to do with it. I might sew a custom muslin bag for it, fold it atypically, and then be able to store it like that.

Had trouble getting to sleep, but finally slept and was up at the usual time. The ghostwriting client paid me, yay, I can cover September’s bills. I’m debating whether or not to order print copies of the Nina Bell books to sell after the reading. I’d have to order them now and hope they get here in time.

Morning routine went well, although the 10-minute writing experiment was more of a practicality brain dump than something creative. And 10 minutes doesn’t feel like enough. If I still feel that way by Day 10, I may increase it to 15 minutes. If I can settle into 10, I’ll leave it at 10.

This week has to be about a lot of practicalities, and I spent some time sorting them. Once I have the basic map in my head, much like driving, I can change direction as needed. The script coverage job is wrapping up this week, and I’m in good shape on that. I would have liked more work in our last hurrah, but as usual, they tried to over-pile on us over a couple of days, and pushed us to working on a weekend, and I chose not to. It will be good to have that door definitively closed next week, and get the final payout.

I paid some bills and order cat litter and treats. I had an in-person meeting  first thing, which went well, then ran some errands, including picking up my mother’s new prescription. That “question” that kept going around and around was whether or not to put it on auto-refill. Since the doctor wants her in for bloodwork a week after she starts the new medication, I said not for the moment. Why couldn’t they have just cleared that up the first time I came in, last week? Instead of the round-and-round for days?

My mom will be able to get the updated COVID booster (probably) in November (unless all the COVID shots have been pulled, which I heard is on the table). I will not. CVS has the sign up saying it’s time for free vaccines for everything including COVID, but is not actually allowing any COVID bookings. I may see if I can get one through some other venue. It’s not like CVS has been easygoing about any of it since the beginning.

Canada, of course, has approved all the effing vaccines.

I would really like to live in a country with health care instead of a death cult.

Picked up a few groceries. Swung by another place for an impromptu meeting to get a few things sorted, and that’s all good.

I managed two more errands, one successful and one not. Hauled everything home.

I got an extension on the anthology story (all of us involved did), which takes immediate pressure off me this week. I will still work on it, but I don’t have to panic. I got my next ghostwriting assignment, 6K due on Sept. 9, which I will begin today. I turned around two medium coverages and thought I was finished with it all, when one more landed in my queue. I might wait to tackle that tomorrow (it’s due Saturday, but I am not working Memorial Day Weekend).

I started reading a book that I’d heard a lot about and just hated it. The protagonist fit the “too stupid to live” category, the author (not the character, but the author) made fun of people who choose not to conform, and the choice of where to switch POV chapters and to whom didn’t work for me. I read about 50 pages, then skimmed the rest and was more and more frustrated. So that goes back. Started another book about which I’d heard good things, but it’s in present tense, so nope. I’m not being paid to read it, so I’m not wasting my time with it.

Finally picked up SHARP by Michelle Dean, a nonfiction book about smart women breaking rules. It’s terrific. It has background material for several of my projects.

The entire day, I had a feeling of disquiet and unease, but couldn’t really nail down why. I woke up at 4 AM and realized why – someone is trying to push me into a project with a timeline that is not realistic. So I will write a kind, but firm response proposing a different timeline that has much more chance of working. If they accept it, great. If not, we can both move on. With the sense of relief, I realized THAT was the thing causing the sense of unease yesterday. So I will deal with it and not worry. (Saturn retrograde influence). I also had to laugh, because the whole sequence mirrors the Community Tarot Reading for the week that dropped yesterday. Of course it does, because tarot is a tool that brings up and translates what your unconscious already knows, but your conscious mind hasn’t yet caught up with.

Bea has decided that when I sit in meditation, the time is better spent petting her, because, after all, I am JUST SITTING THERE. And the 10-minute writing experiment proved again, to be too short. I will have to expand it to 15. I hate stopping just when I hit the rhythm.

This morning, I do the polish on the Llewellyn materials and get that off to my editor, work on the anthology story, and work on the ghostwriting. I have a meeting in Lenox late this afternoon for the WAM literary committee, and I have to make sure everything is organized for that. I have some emails to get out about yesterday’s meetings, so everyone knows everything they need to know. I need to work on a proposal and take a look at some grant applications. I looked at one yesterday which I don’t think is a good fit, but there are a couple more, and a residency application that I think would make more sense.

I have to help my mom with some paperwork, too, and contact the post office to see when they will resume mail delivery. If we were supposed to go to the post office to pick up our mail during this time, then they should have let us know. Not to mention that the Sidewalk Chewing Demons have moved on to the next street, leaving gaps between steps and sidewalks, chewed up ramps from driveways/parking lots to the street, and yards dug up. Not acceptable.

Lots of detail work today. Have a good one!

Mon. Aug. 25, 2025: Intent for the Week — Make Smart Choices

image courtesy of Rama Krishna Karumanchi via pixabay.com

Monday, August 25, 2025

Waxing Moon

Pluto, Neptune, Saturn, Chiron Retrograde

Cloudy and humid

It’s the start of another week, and there’s a lot to juggle, trying to clear things off before the holiday weekend and get everything done on deadline. I also have meetings to juggle, some of which are today, and navigate the construction jerks.

Last night was the close of the group show “The Work of Becoming” and it feels like the cohort chapter has truly ended, although many of the connections will continue. And the gallery and I are discussing future possibilities together.

The Community Tarot Reading for the Week is up here. It’s an interesting blend of possibilities for the week.

It’s supposed to rain today and is kind of humid, so we’ll just take things one at a time, as much as possible. I hope I make the smartest possible choices, between the information I have and my intuition/gut feeling.

Fri. Aug. 22, 2025: A Tangled Day

image courtesy of Vicki Becker via pixabay.com

Friday, August 22, 2027

Dark Moon

Pluto, Neptune, Saturn, Chiron Retrograde

Partly cloudy and warmer

Another week gone! I’m hoping to get at least some rest this weekend, although I may have to work through part of it. And I have the closing reception for the gallery show on Sunday night.

I had to do a bunch of admin early on. No matter how much admin one does, there’s always more admin! I withdrew from the virtual autumn cohort I had hoped to participate in. The requirements for participation keep growing, including asking us to block off 14+ hours in the week until they schedule the sessions – which I originally thought were once a week at one hour, then twice a week at one hour, then once a week at two hours, but now it’s twice a week at two hours, but we have to block off 14 available hours in order for them to schedule? I don’t have 14+ available hours to block off. And the first week it starts, I’m in residence with the poets. I could see hopping over to the apartment once for an hour-long video meeting, but I’m not losing four hours of studio/workshop time over the short residency period. And the following week, I’m called for jury duty, so I really can’t commit to anything. I kept getting emails that I hadn’t completed my “matching” survey, but when I went into the dashboard to check, it was done. Maybe not the answers they wanted? Who knows? It was adding too much additional stress, so I withdrew. I warned the friend I’d convinced to join me in it ahead of time that I had to withdraw, feeling bad about that. It annoys me when someone convinces me to participate in something with them and then doesn’t do it. I don’t want to be that person, and in this situation I am. And for some reason, she was only asked to block off 10+ hours.

But I was starting to resent the increasing demands.

I finished the December materials for Llewellyn and the bonus material. I will let it sit over the weekend, do a revision pass on Monday, and send it off early next week, ahead of the deadline.

I did some back-and-forth about the ghostwriting. I put together the materials I needed for my mom’s doctor appointment, although we were technically trapped in the building by the construction.

Sorry, you should have communicated. Get the eff out of the way.

We headed out to the doctor a little early, to make sure we could climb over wet cement and blocked off routes. We climbed from the steps to the grass and down to the driveway (remember, my mom is 100), and then across the street and down about ¼ block to the entrance to the lot where our car is parked. I ignored the annoyed construction workers and drove past them down the street to the intersection I needed. Hey, at least I was going the correct way on our one-way street, which is more than they ever do.

We got to the doctor, filled out a bunch of stupid forms (the yearly “wellness” check), and waited. They took us early, which was nice of them. The doctor is pleased with how she’s doing, and, at our request, is switching out one of the medications that makes her cough to something that shouldn’t do that. Because of the medication switch, she has to go in for bloodwork a week after she begins the new medication, and then a follow-up appointment in December.

So that’s all good. We headed back and I stopped at the grocery store to pick up a few things. CVS texted her they had a “question” about the new prescription. Since they are next door to the grocery store, I went in to handle it. Only they won’t tell me what the question is, because it doesn’t “pop up” until I pick up the medication, but I can’t pick up the medication until I answer the question, which they won’t tell me in order for me to answer it. I am letting the doctor deal with that one. Bite me, CVS.

Swung by the library to pick up a big stack of books. Home, carried everything across the street, down the block, up the driveway, up the lawn, up the stairs, across the porch, and up to the second floor.

Normally, it’s a straight shot up or down the porch stairs and across the street.

We also haven’t had mail delivery in over a week, because the mailman can’t access the mailbox. Now, isn’t interfering with mail delivery a federal crime?

Home, had a snack, was exhausted, but had to pull up the big girl panties and deal with the ghostwriting.

Worked on that, paused for dinner. We were just sitting down to dinner and the water went off. Turns out there was a water main break about a block over.

As usual, no communication about it from anyone. Nothing on social media. The only reason I still have an FB account is because the city insists that’s the way they keep residents informed about what’s going on. Only the last few weeks, they’ve seriously dropped the ball. I walked over, and at least the DPW guys were working their asses off, so that mollified me somewhat. And I had water in the house, so we weren’t going to dehydrate. I just couldn’t do the dishes or shower or anything like that.

And it’s interesting that the water main break is just where the Sidewalk Chewing Demons were digging a couple of hours earlier.

Yeah, I don’t believe in coincidences, either.

I wasn’t sure whether we’d need to pack the cats and leave. Not that we could actually drive down any street to get out of here, since all the roads were blocked. Anyone close by we could have stayed with (getting there on foot) was without water, too, so that wasn’t an option. And all the hotels are booked because there’s a big event in town this weekend.

So we just hunkered down.

Since I didn’t know where we’d be today or for the weekend, I kept working on the ghostwriting until it was done and then submitted it after hours. In their favor, they are really good about honoring workday boundaries, so I’m never expected to submit or respond to anything after 5 pm. But I wanted to get this out of my life, in case things were chaotic today.

I could hear the large machines working when I went to bed, which was somewhat of a comfort. I woke up at 2:30 and checked, and the water was back on. So at least there’s that.

I just wanted to stay in bed today, but I have last night’s dishes to deal with first. I didn’t feel like doing my morning yoga, but Tessa knocked over the mat and looked at me like, “you’re behind schedule, let’s go” so I did, and I was glad I did.

Off to do the dishes, and then start my day. I didn’t turn around any of the coverages I received this week, so I will do at least two today, and then I have two tomorrow. I have no plans to do much of anything this weekend, except putter around the house and figure out how to move forward on the anthology story. Sunday is the closing of the gallery show, and I bring home my piece (and then figure out how and where to store it).

Monday, I will polish the Llewellyn materials, send them to my editor, and turn around another script. Hopefully, I’ll have the anthology story in good enough shape for some revisions, and then I’ll do some ghostwriting (I’m trying to work ahead a bit while I wait for revision notes on the other project for them, even though I realize that could be a bad idea). I’ve got some LOIs to get out in the next few days, too.

There’s plenty to be angry about on a political level, but I am taking action offline. Rage posting isn’t going to change anything (or make me feel better or like I’m doing something), and there’s plenty of work to be done on the ground.

We have to keep an eye on Hurricane Erin. Although here we don’t get the same kind of impact as we did living on the coast, there is impact – and I still have a storage unit full of books and things on the coast.

Have a great weekend, and let’s hope next week isn’t as chaotic!

Thurs. Aug. 21, 2025: Under Pressure

image courtesy of loktov via pixabay.com

Thursday, August 21, 2025

Day Before Dark Moon

Pluto, Neptune, Saturn, Chiron Retrograde

Cloudy and cool

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

Looking at the range of submission calls and what I have in my stage play portfolio, I need:

–a handful more 10-minute plays

–2-3 plays that run 20, 30, or 40/45 minutes in each of those time ranges

–more full-length plays, especially some that run 75-90 minutes without intermission (which used to be considered one-acts, but hey)

–ghost stories (horror’s not my genre, so ghost stories are more my thing)

–more contemporary pieces

Some of those can overlap. Writing one full-length a year would keep me on track for the full-lengths, but I’m behind this year. I should have finished I WILL BE DIFFERENT come hell or high water last year and written a new full-length this year while revising IWBD. But that’s not what happened. Comedies and dark comedies generally do pretty well, so again, I can create some of these lengths within my wheelhouse.

Too many small theatre companies now have specifics they want within their plays, which would make them impossible to submit elsewhere when rejected. In other words, they want to cast a wide net for what should be commissioned work, but not pay for it. It’s one thing to have a theme for a festival like a holiday, or “commitment” or “struggle” because that leaves a wide range of interpretations. It’s another to have a list of 7 or 8 specific plot points or character requirements a 10-minute play is supposed to contain. I’ll just keep ignoring them. You want me to write to specs? Contract and pay me.

Otherwise, I’ll write what interests me, and see where it fits, while keeping an eye on trends. Sometimes a prompt or specs, if they are wide enough, will spark an interest, but I’m not writing commissioned material without the commission. That’s the theatre exploiting playwrights.

I like writing about my women forgotten by history and will keep doing so, realizing that those plays are often harder to place. But when they are given readings and/or productions, such as the plays about Kate Warne, Lavinia Fontana, Giulia Tofana, etc., they get a good response. The company loves working on them, and the audience loves the result. The historical plays also tend to have larger casts, which also makes them harder to place in a time of shrinking production budgets. But every year since the beginning of theatre faces a shrinking production budget. Again, it’s about finding the right match, and not throwing it on the wall like half-cooked spaghetti.

Getting some of these other pieces more on trend written and out also opens the door for the historical pieces. Once a theatre knows I can deliver, the company enjoys the work, and the audience likes the result, they are more likely to take a chance on one of the historical pieces. And getting a play from concept through production can take years. Being in my sixties, there’s definitely a sense of running out of time that I didn’t have, say, in my thirties. But it takes as long as it takes.

I also need to re-do my submission log since it’s less about the year submitted and more about the play and where it travels over the years. Flipping back and forth through the years to see if I’ve submitted something in the past to a particular theatre is getting counterproductive. It’s time to create a better system, one that works both on and offline.

Because technology will always fail when you need it most.

What can I say? We’re moving into Virgo season, and Virgo is about plans and details.

Hopefully, being part of the Honor Roll Playwrights group will help me get and stay on track with this. Although I started filling out my profile for the site, and found it overwhelming. But it could well be the day.

I’m putting together an LOI for another potential client, and I need to think about some of the materials a bit. Found a couple of grants that would suit a friend and sent them off. Found one I might apply to myself when it opens next week. I’m debating whether or not to apply for a residency I’ve really wanted to apply for over the years, but never did. I wrote the November materials for Llewellyn.

Most of the day was a struggle with the ghostwriting. It was more than them smashing a hole in it and telling me to fix it. It’s as though I built a model schooner to specs, they smashed it, threw the debris in the air saying it’s not their problem, and now want a rocket ship in 48 hours. It’s not a case of deciding to go in a different direction and revising, it’s denying that work and discussions that led to it ever happened in the first place. This is not sustainable. I literally made myself sick with stress trying to make it work. This is their pattern, and no matter how many discussions we have about it, it’s not going to change. There’s constant talk about “systems” and “guidelines” and yet there’s constant (unnecessary) chaos.

Cooked a nice dinner, tried to relax in the evening. Woke up around 1:30 worrying and must have dozed off around 3 or 4, because Tessa woke me up at 6 howling her head off for breakfast.

Oh, and a big breakthrough: not only is Bea letting me pet her at breakfast, yesterday afternoon, when I took a quick break, she came up and ASKED to be petted. It was only for a few minutes before it was enough, but that’s big progress. We are getting there. She will be a cuddly cat one day.

I have a raging migraine this morning (no surprise), but I have to do some work for Llewellyn and then work on the ghostwriting. My mom has a doctor’s appointment early this afternoon. I have no idea how we’ll get past the construction crew, but they just have to stop and let us past. The city’s refusal to respond to any of our concerns is infuriating. I expect and demand better from them.

The construction noise right outside my window isn’t helping, either.

Hope your day has a more positive start than mine! And I hope my day improves.

Wed. Aug. 20, 2025: Just Put Your Head Down and Do the Work

image courtesy of Jan Vašek via pixabay.com

Wednesday, August 20, 2025

Waning Moon

Pluto, Neptune, Saturn, Chiron Retrograde

Rainy and mild

And here we are, mid-week! Most of August is gone. I do love September and October. Those are usually my favorite months.

The Sidewalk Chewing Demons were a problem from a little after 7 AM on. The refusal to communicate and the arrogance with which they behave is causing unnecessary problems. If the City was supposed to communicate with us and didn’t, then, yes, it becomes the project manager’s job to get it done. Behaving like jackasses hurts everyone.

I sent out the email requesting the program copy, and it’s coming in, which will make my life easier in early September. I spent my 15 minutes organizing the office daily (I dropped the ball on that lately; it’s been several weeks since I dedicated the time, which is a shame, because 15 minutes can make a big difference). I typed up the handwritten poems from Saturday’s class, since I may well take them into residency to workshop. I wrote the October materials for Llewellyn.

I toted up the materials cost for the text-and-textile piece. The materials cost was less than half of the bottom of the range budget I’d given myself, which is a good thing. Even when I had to buy additional backing fabric. I mean, adding in the cost of the labor over the hours and weeks would put a high price on the piece if it was for sale (which it is not), but I’m pleased that I did so well in the materials budget. I’d been afraid to add it up, once I had to re-do the piece, but I did pretty well, factoring all of the materials for both versions in, still under half the bottom of the budget. I have enough left over batting for the book-ish quilt I want to finish this autumn. It also gives me an idea of budgeting for a handful of pieces I want to create over the next year, especially if I can source some of the materials second-hand. Theatre training (in this case, production management) serves me well in life yet again.

I got out two play submissions. One is to a company not that far away, with whom I’d love to get involved. I received four coverages that I need to turn around by Sunday. The payment is a joke, but I wasn’t sure when I’d get the revisions for the ghostwriting and wanted to make sure there was at least something coming in for the end of the month. And then, of course, I got the notes Monday night. I received my next book for review, but effing Google wouldn’t let me sign into my Gmail on the Kindle for 20 minutes (since I can no longer download on the laptop and “send to Kindle”). Really, a Kindle is next to useless at this point. NONE of this is about security. ALL of it is about control.

I started working on the revision notes for the ghostwriting client. 90% of the notes in the initial section are solved if they bothered to look at the 18-page packet of visuals that I put together when they were talking about needing floorplans, etc., for this piece, and which they’ve ignored. And what’s frustrating is that we spend days hashing things out, I do as I’m instructed (rather than what I know will work better), and then they act like those conversations never happened. Even though it’s all in writing. I don’t mind changing something that’s not working, in fact, I welcome it. I do mind when I do what I’m instructed, and they act like the conversations making those decisions never happened. I keep track of everything, I have paper trails up the ying yang, but that doesn’t lessen the frustration of it happening again and again, even when we talk about ways for it not to happen. And with this project in particular, it’s like I made an intricate, detailed ship model to their specs, they took a hammer to it, then said, “oh, did you know there’s a hole here? Better fix it. And we need it by tomorrow.” It’s simply not sustainable.

But this gig was never supposed to be forever, just a needed bridge between the coverage job and whatever comes next in the next year. So I just put my head down and integrate the notes as best I can. It’s not my created world, thank goodness, or I’d really be devastated.  I need to realize they don’t value me the way I deserve, keep my ego out, do the work, get the money, and keep my eyes open for the next opportunity.

That knowledge doesn’t negate the frustration, discouragement, and sadness, but it’s knowledge I can use and apply. I’d just hoped to have breathing space for the year of the contracts, but the erratic workflow and the constant chaos make that impossible. Live and learn.

For now, I put my head down, do the work, and keep sending out LOIs.

And, to a certain point, disengage. I need to care less, without being careless.

I also have to make sure this work doesn’t derail my own work or my own voice.

Yoga was good last night. One of the participants brought her retired service dog, who we all know and love, and he was so excited to see us again! Getting a tennis ball dropped on your stomach during savasana definitely adds something to the experience.

Picked up takeout on the way home because I was just done with it all. Read a little at night, went to bed early, but, thanks to gentle yoga, slept through the night.

It was hard to get the motivation to roll out the yoga mat this morning, but I did, and Tessa and I were both glad I did. Bea is still not sure about the whole yoga thing.

Not sure if the Sidewalk Chewing Demons will show up to work in the rain. I somehow don’t think rain and wet concrete work, but what do I know? If they don’t show up (although it sounds like they’re arriving), I may try for a run up to the library a little later. If not, I’ll ask the library to hold the books about to expire until Friday.

I’m struggling to get the anthology story back on track. I may put that aside to focus more time on it over the weekend. I will write the November materials for Llewellyn, and probably spend most of the day trying to finish the ghostwriting rewrite and get it off my desk tonight, or at least early tomorrow. I will also need to do at least one of the coverages today, unless I wind up doing two tomorrow.

My mom has a doctor’s appointment tomorrow, which we can’t move, so the Sidewalk Chewing Demons are just going to have to pause and let us by coming and going. Again, if they bothered to communicate, none of this would be a problem. And if you ask them, the response is, “it’s not my job to tell you anything.” Yeah, boo, you’re the one standing in front of me. Since the city and your effing project manager don’t do their jobs, it IS up to you to pick up the slack since you’re the face and body in the community. They’re union dudes, they should do better and represent their union positively.

We’re supposed to get a couple of inches of rain today, and at least the temperatures are cooler and easier to deal with.

Have a good one!

Tues. Aug. 19, 2025: Creative Stretches

image courtesy of Peggy und Marco Lachmann-Anke via pixabay.com

Tuesday, August 19, 2025

Waning Moon

Pluto, Neptune, Saturn, Chiron Retrograde

Cloudy and Cool

Happy new week! I hope your weekend was lovely. That is not my cat in the photo above, but I thought it was cute and fit the post title.

The Community Tarot Reading for the Week is up here.

The Sidewalk Chewing Demons showed up late on Friday, causing more destruction and behaving like jerks to the residents. The Construction Dinguses were out back, though, causing a ruckus and being ridiculous.

But at least I got the garbage out early.

I’m looking at workshop materials from the past few years, to see what still needs to be transformed into Topic Workbooks. I need to get a few more of those out digitally, and then I will do “volumes” that encompass several topics that can be put together as print books.

I have a lot of material. And students find it helpful. So it makes sense to make it available for a small fee to a wider audience.

Unpacked the cat food delivery and got that sorted. Got my mom’s water supply sorted (she has to drink a lot of water with her medications).

Wrote the August materials for Llewellyn. Did a bunch of admin, got out an LOI. I’m re-reading the Artemis Cooper biography of Elizabeth David. I own a copy, but it’s in storage. Gave myself the rest of the day to rest. It was hot and humid.

Pulled myself together and walked down to Downstreet for the Joyce Maynard event put on by the library. Booking her was a big “get” for the library, and there was an excellent turnout. I spent part of the event actively trying to avoid someone who ignores boundaries, which made things more complicated.

Her talk went well. She is engaging, funny, vivacious, and she’s been through a lot. She’s published 21 books, countless articles and essays, supported three kids as a single parent, and yet most people define her by her one year with Salinger, when she was 18 and he was 53. He approached her, yet she’s often blamed for the relationship. One has to wonder what her career trajectory would have been like had he not sabotaged it the way he did. She had so many opportunities open to her after the cover story in THE NEW YORK TIMES MAGAZINE whenever it was (late 60’s? early 70’s? I think early 70’s).  I mean, she’s had a great career in many ways, and has always earned her living by her pen, but so many opportunities were lost when she made the decision, at such a young age, to give up so much for him – and only for a year, until he broke it off. Until AT HOME IN THE WORLD came out, in the late 90’s, I thought they’d been together much longer.

I admire what Salinger achieved as a writer. I also admired that he didn’t play the publishing game and lived off on his own when he could afford it. He’s often called a “recluse” but always having a young woman around to see to your needs does not fit my definition of a recluse (and yes, there were others after Maynard). Anti-social maybe, but not a recluse. And I’m probably the only reader in this country who as always loathed  the character of Holden Caulfield.

Anyway, Maynard and I have crossed paths in the most peripheral ways over the years around her work, and then when I reviewed LABOR DAY for PUBLISHERS’ WEEKLY (and yes, I liked the book a lot), and now here. It’s interesting to see how she’s evolved over the years, and refused to be stuck in that one definition people have of her. It’s also interesting how she keeps saying how her material is her life, but then, on certain topics says, “I don’t talk about that” and yet does.

She is definitely an example of being many things all at once, and good for her.

I enjoyed the talk, and found the way she navigated it and handled the audience fascinating. She encouraged questions, but the ones I had, about process and pulling from life to fictionalize, she answered within the talk itself. Stating I was the PW reviewer on a particular book would not have added anything of value to the conversation; it would have been trying to get attention. So I stayed quiet and observed and listened. There was a little too much fawning going on by some of the audience, and several people who were desperate to be acknowledged by her. She handled it with kindness.

Later, scrolling through her Instagram feed, I appreciated what a master she is at balancing personal and professional posts. There’s a lot to learn from her. She’s very savvy. And refused to be defined and defeated by misogynists.

I slipped out after the reading quickly. I probably should have stayed and talked to various & sundry there, but I just wanted to get home and think about it all.

Several neighbors approached me as I walked home, upset about the Sidewalk Chewing Demons. I planned to get in touch with the city again anyway. I know they’ve been dealing with all the bridge repairs, but people’s daily lives matter, too. The harm and destruction that’s being caused isn’t in proportion to “well, we’re giving you new sidewalks, you should be grateful.”

Cooked dinner, read a bit, had weird dreams, and woke up with my left ring finger very swollen, and I had no idea why. Took some ibuprofen to get the swelling down, which worked.

Did household chores in the morning, packed my bag for the rest of the day, took a shower, got dressed for the party, and headed out a little after noon.

Murder Maps was on drugs. The directions it gave me had very little to do with the actual roads I was on. Fortunately, I’ve driven the route enough by now so the map in my head is clearer.

I got to Greenfield without issue, parked in my usual lot behind City Hall, and walked the few blocks over to the LAVA Center to drop off the poem and chat with them for a bit. Then, I went around the corner to Federal Street Books, and had a good browse (and picked up two secondhand books). That store still requires masks, which is a comfort. I  had hoped to also go to Roundabout Books, but couldn’t do both. And I wasn’t sure where the Cat Café was in relation to either of them.

The clerk at Federal Street helped me figure out how to get to the tree farm where we were instructed to park for the party. Turns out it’s a straight shot down the road for about three miles.

The Farmers’ Market was packing up as I walked through. I love that, beside the market on the green, there are all these large Adirondack chairs for people to just sit and enjoy the day.

Drove down to the tree farm. I arrived early (of course) with the photographer. The shuttle driver wasn’t there yet, but the host fetched us both up the long hill to the house. It’s a lovely split level with a narrow, long yard sloping away from the house. There was a sumac in bloom. We talked about them in an herbal workshop a few months ago, but I hadn’t seen one in the ground before. It’s very pretty. There are lots of lovely trees creating natural fencing.

The setup was a little behind where they hoped, so the photographer and I pitched in to help. There were some tarot people there early to help, and as guests started arriving and more tarot people were there, those tarot people also pitched in.

The toasts happened later than the hosts originally hoped, but they were lovely, and then one of the grooms sang “Somewhere That’s Green” from LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS to his husband, which was delightful.

The skies opened then, and it was a deluge. Everyone huddled in the middle of the tent, talking, eating, drinking. People from different parts of the grooms’ lives got to know each other. It was a lot of fun.

I had to leave soon after. The shuttle driver was nowhere to be found (of course).I texted him, but never heard back and he never showed up, so I ended up walking down the hill in the pouring rain back to the tree farm and the car. At least it was downhill, and about a 10-minute walk. But I was a little grumpy and a lot drenched by the time I got to the car. The shuttle wasn’t down there either, and hadn’t passed me, so I have no idea what was going on.

But the weather was starting to clear, and it was very pretty.

By that point, Murder Maps wasn’t even speaking to me (punishment for my defiance), and was silent on the way home. I found the turn I always worry about missing, and it was a reasonably smooth drive, without much traffic. Which is why I like that particular route. Much less stressful than the route over the mountain the tourists prefer.

I mostly drip-dried in the air-conditioned car, and drove straight to the gallery to my colleague’s workshop. I was only 2 minutes past start time (which, considering I’d left later than planned due to the unexpected hike down the hill, was pretty good). The workshop hadn’t yet started, so my arrival didn’t disrupt anything.

It was an amazing workshop, about the somatic and sacred experience of entering a poem (she works in divinatory poetics). My colleague is a lovely teacher, and it was an approach I had never tried before. We read each poem aloud, going around the room, each of our voices speaking it. Then, we read it to ourselves, over and over and over again silently. After that, we wrote about resonations and where they took us.

The first poem we used was a Mary Oliver poem, and that took me down a logical and fairly rhythmic path. It was also interesting to see/feel the tension between the phrasing encouraged by the punctuation and the enjambment. That made it a different experience to speak it than to read it. The second poem was a Denise Levertov poem, and what came out of that was less logical and more surreal. I grasped certain words and rearranged them to read “the grief weather tangerine” and took off from there. Yeah, it’s a weird little piece. But it got a very positive response.

Everyone’s work was interesting and powerful. It also made me think about how, because many poems are short, we read them and move on, not getting the full experience in a way repeated readings in the moment do. I often go back and re-read poems across time, gaining more in each re-read, but repeated readings in the moment are a different experience.

And writing from it is a different kind of inspiration. I’m not sure if it’s considered ekphrastic, or something else. Well, maybe it’s the “divinatory poetics” in which she specializes!

It was fascinating, and gives me another tool that’s both explorational and inspirational.

I was home around 9, too tired to eat, and went to bed soon after.

Woke up at the normal time on Sunday, did a longer yoga routine. The finger was much less swollen, almost back to normal, so I don’t know what all that was about. It was hot and humid, so I didn’t do much else, except for a single errand in the middle of the day. I finished a book I read for pleasure. I finished a book for review. It was too hot to cook, so we had a cold supper, and I went to bed early. I had hoped to work on the comic horror cleave poem, but there was nothing in the tank for that.

We ate some of the cold southwest pasta salad I made on Friday, and it was very good. Definitely a recipe that goes into the rotation, at least for summer.

There is something trying to form that tried to form a few years ago and didn’t get very far. It wants to surface again, so we’ll see how it does. And, driving on Saturday, I started thinking about an action piece that was originally envisioned as a serial on Substack, but now that I won’t have anything to do with that site, was put aside. I only wrote the first few episodes and a rough outline, so there’s plenty of room to change it.

Going to bed too early meant I woke up in the middle of the night, fretting, and couldn’t get back to sleep. When I finally did, I had weird dreams until the cats woke me up at 6.

The Sidewalk Chewing Demons were here by 7, right outside the door. Not fun. And the dinguses were out back, too. And it’s not like I can pack up and leave, unless it’s on foot climbing over construction.

At least it was cooler, which helped everyone’s tempers.

I made some notes so I wouldn’t lose ideas that are trying to percolate. I re-read the material for VIXEN’S HOLLOW (the action serial), which is fun, but I have to find the handwritten notes on the project, because I have no idea where I planned to go next. I updated the Pages on Stages website, and did some work on the Devon Ellington Work website, which was frustrating, because the template is cranky. I wrote the September materials for Llewellyn.

I realized I need to make a new intro video because mine is out of date. The thought just makes me tired. I have to start from scratch because Flex Clip dumped the backup, and I lost my backup when the last computer glitched. Since the serials are no longer a part of things, that needs to go, and the Nina Bell books need to go in there. Something to focus on in fall, I guess. But at least the website’s a bit better, although some of the covers are still glitching. Did a bunch of admin, went through a bunch of email.

I fixed an early lunch for us – tomato, mozzarella, and basil with pepper and balsamic vinaigrette.

At noon, I was at my desk for my first “silent writing” ZOOM session with the Honor Roll Playwrights group. It was a small group, four of us, but it was fun. I wrote 15 ½ pages on I WILL BE DIFFERENT. I read what I had first, and then continued with the Amanda section (which takes place in the 70’s/80’s). I think I will go through to the end of the play, and then go back and do the Alice section (the 20’s/30’s) and then do the beginning. It was great to get back into it. It felt like I was on the right track again.

I’ve been so frustrated with myself for not having another play finished this year.

Speaking of plays, I got one out a submission. And a company I’ve just started working with forwarded a request from one of their contacts, but it’s setting off red flags, so I think I will pass on that one. There was another submission call I really wanted to answer, but I don’t have the appropriate play for it. That was depressing.

I nearly forgot I had a book review due, but I wrote it up, polished it, and sent it off.

Supposedly, I’m getting some scripts for the last gasp of coverage, but I’m not holding my breath. They paid my pittance of a bonus from July at least. We’ll see what happens later today.

I got the notes back from the ghostwriting client on one of the projects. I need to turn around the revisions on these 20K words VERY fast (as in, before the end of the week). Then, hopefully, I can invoice next week and BUY MY TIRES. Being able to invoice for this before the end of the month would make things so much easier. But part of that is contingent on how quickly I can turn around the notes.

Threw together a comfort food dinner, loving that it was cool enough to do so. Read a bit in the evening. Went to bed early, although I slept farther through the night than the previous night. Still, it was dark when I woke up. The days are shortening.

Bea and Tessa played this morning, with a case of the zoomies. It was very cute.

On today’s agenda: October pieces for Llewellyn, work on the anthology story, maybe squeeze in some ANGEL HUNT, grab some scripts, and work on the ghostwriting. I also have to set up an appointment at the library for later this week to go over a few things for our reading, and get out an email for program bios. I have yoga tonight – looking forward to it. Have a good one!

Monday, August 18, 2025: Intent for the Week — Dance with Inspiration

image courtesy of Gerd Altmann via pixabay.com

Monday, August 18, 2025

Waning Moon

Pluto, Neptune, Saturn, Chiron Retrograde

Sunny and cooler

Finally, a break in the weather! It’s lovely today. Or, it would be, if the Sidewalk Chewing Demons weren’t directly in front of the house, causing chaos.

The Community Tarot Reading for the Week is up here.

It was a busy, but fun weekend, and you’ll get the full story tomorrow. Today, I have to settle in and write on a variety of projects. I better get going then, hadn’t I?

The whole week will be about moving between projects. I’m limited in how much I can leave the house because of the chaos on the street, and the weather should be decent, so I will hope I can dance with inspration to good results.

What’s your intent for the week?

Fri. Aug. 15, 2025: Not Fun on the Block

image courtesy of  Ирина via pixabay.com

Friday, August 15, 2025

Waning Moon

Pluto, Neptune, Saturn, Chiron Retrograde

Hazy and humid

We are at the end of another week, and halfway through August.

If you haven’t yet had the chance, and you want something fun to listen to this weekend, try “The Effie Effect.” You can listen here. And I’m going to keep plugging it for a few more weeks!

Yesterday wasn’t all that hot, only in the mid-80’s, but it was 94% humidity, so it was heavy.

There was some stuff to do for the Boiler House residency over the past few days, which is always fun. I will work on the program in early September for it, and meet next week with the library contact who is putting together the reading. This week, the library has gone full out with a series of events culminating today in the Friends throwing an ice cream social this afternoon and Joyce Maynard doing a program this evening that’s so big it had to be moved to the Downstreet Hotel. So I’m going to give them a minute to catch their collective breath before going over the details for our reading!

I had a hard time getting going, mostly due to the construction noise and disruption.

Managed the July pieces for Llewellyn. Could not concentrate on ANGEL HUNT. I managed to adapt a couple of episodes into a chapter. Even a little progress is better than no progress.

By then, I was sweaty and disgusting and had to shower before my meeting.

Swung by the post office on my way to my meeting to mail some bills and buy some stamps. And, of course, catch up on everything that’s going on.

Then, it was off to Steeple City Social. The walk and the post office took less time than expected, so I arrived very early for the meeting. I settled in with an iced coffee and a Nutella babka bun, which was amazing. I drafted a poem on the topic for the next event at the Mount – even though I haven’t yet said I would do it. There are some decent bones there, but I’m trying to say too much. I need to narrow the focus.

My colleague arrived, and we had a great chat. She is a fellow mystery writer, local to the city. She’s also a Master Gardener. So we had lots of things to chat about. Time just flew, and it was nice to get to know a local colleague. There’s so much for “emerging” and “aspiring” and not enough support or resources for the working artists who aren’t famous, but are putting in the time and creating solid, steady work.

After we parted ways, I walked the few blocks down to Mosaic, where a fellow cohort member headed up an exhibit that one of my students from last week’s workshops had several pieces in. So it was nice to turn out to support them and catch up.

I was getting pinged constantly there, and had to leave after just a few minutes. The closed off street was causing a problem for the Chewy delivery. But by the time I got home, the Fed Ex guy had muscled through, and the box was in front of my door. So we have happy cats.

Because of the chaos on the street, I walked down and back. It wasn’t far, but in the heat and humidity, I was pretty wiped out by the time I got back, and my face was red as a beet. How many showers can one take in a single day? We are finding out it’s quite a few.

In order to get the free shipping, I’d ordered more catnip strawberries, and I also ordered catnip bubbles. Tessa didn’t get a strawberry last time (she got a carrot), so she got one last night, and Charlotte and Bea got new strawberries. I hoped Willa wouldn’t notice she didn’t get a new catnip toy, since she was the only one even remotely interested in the catnip bubbles. The other three run away when they see them. The fluid is weird and sticky and drippy, so I don’t think it’s a hit with any of us.

More and more instructions are coming in for tomorrow’s party, and I’m getting intimidated by it all.

Heated up some leftovers for dinner, which were surprisingly good, and read in the evening, when not playing with the cats. Slept reasonably well, although it didn’t get as cool as promised, and we never got the promised thunderstorms, either.

Slept through the night, which is rare, even though it didn’t get as cool as promised.

I had to take out the garbage very early this morning, because they will be pouring the new sidewalks right in front of the house – which means I can’t go grocery shopping, either.  None of this would be a problem if they bothered to communicate, but they don’t. This is an election year, and the incumbents have just lost this neighborhood. I was talking up the importance of voting, but this simply reaffirmed the general belief in this neighborhood that the city doesn’t care about the non-wealthy residents, and this incident, showing a lack of basic respect and courtesy, has proved it, so why vote? I understand, even though I feel that one must always vote. But the incumbents have definitely brought this on themselves. I still have no response from the city, and it’s now been two days. “Look out the window and you can figure it out, we don’t have to respond to your concerns” only makes things worse. “This is for your own good, eat it” doesn’t work, either.

I will either have to try and squeeze grocery shopping in this afternoon, once they leave, before the Maynard event, tomorrow morning before I leave for Greenfield (which is pretty much a non-starter) or sometime on Sunday. Stay tuned to see how it all shakes out. I already had to dip into my emergency coffee reserves. Yes, I keep “emergency coffee” in case I run out of the regular coffee, mostly already ground so if the power goes out, I can still heat water and use the French press instead of the big, programmable coffee maker.

Today will be a head down working day. Hopefully, I can do at least a partial grocery run in the afternoon, and then make it to the Maynard event this evening.

Tomorrow is a very stacked day, so I just have to flow with it and hope for the best. It’ll all be fun, just stressful if I’m too early or too late for something.

Sunday should be a quiet day, to recover and work on one or more poems. I find I need a lot more mental space to work on poetry than a lot of other forms.

Oh, by the way, by the time I got up, Bea had stolen all the new strawberries and put them wherever she keeps her secret stash.

Have a great weekend!

Thurs. Aug. 14, 2025: Not Enough Coffee Exists Today

image courtesy of fancycrave1 via pixabay.com

Thursday, August 14, 2025

Waning Moon

Pluto, Neptune, Saturn, Chiron Retrograde

You can read about the latest on the garden here.

So, in addition to the Sidewalk Chewing Demons out front, the dingus “construction” guys were working on the balcony supports out back again. And, again, with no communication.

The cats were beside themselves. No place felt safe. My office and my bedroom are in the center of the apartment, so they mostly congregated there. Or maybe it was because that’s where I began my workday.

Honor Roll Playwrights invited me to a virtual community writing session on Monday, so I signed up and will try it. It’s through Dramatists Guild, so the sign up was more complicated than it should have been, but I navigated through it, and we’ll see what Monday’s like. I can work the ghostwriting around it, so I should be fine. We’ll see what Monday brings. I’m still trying to get through this week. But I do want to be more involved with the group, since I’m now a member.

I wrote June’s materials for Llewellyn. The Sidewalk Chewing Demons were right in front of our house when I left for the library, and I made them stop their machines so I could cross the street. I had to take a different route out of the lot, and then discovered our entire street was closed. Shouldn’t they have warned us this was part of it?

I did a drop-off/pick up at the library, and ran another errand. Came home, navigated around the Sidewalk Chewing Demons. Once inside, I contacted my town councilor to ask for a clarification as to what was being done and the kind of time it would take. It was a polite email, pointing out the issues that affected the residents (rather than me ranting about what bothered me about the whole thing) and pointing out that people would work with them with a minimum of fuss PROVIDED THERE WAS COMMUNICATION.

Worked on a bunch of this and that which needed attention and halfway through the afternoon, I realized I had forgotten to work on ANGEL HUNT. Never even thought about it. Oops. By then, it was 91F outside with a “feels like” of 101, and threats of an incoming thunderstorm. So I just gave it up for the day.

I did, however, manage to get some marketing in. I’ve been dropping the ball on that again, so I caught up with what I had planned, marketing-wise, for the week.

I also found a frame I preferred for my friends’ housewarming gift, re-sized it, printed it out, and put it in the frame. This size is much better. I will wrap it in bubble wrap and then wrapping paper today, and it will be all set for Saturday.

Put in the Chewy order for more wet food, since we only have enough to get through the weekend. The Sidewalk Chewing Demons better let the Fed Ex truck through. It’s supposed to be delivered today.

Finished the book I was hate-reading and still don’t know why I continued. I need to figure that out.

Started reading the first of Martin Walker’s Bruno series, set in Southern France. I’m enjoying it so far.

Both fire alarms – which are unplugged – went off in the late afternoon. I bruised my thumb badly trying to make them shut the heck up. There was no reason for them to go off, but it probably has something to do with the construction. Which means I have to wait until they are finished before getting maintenance in here with yet another set of fire alarms.

My thumb is bruised and twice its normal size. I took ibuprofen and put medi-ice and then Arnica on it. It’s much better than I expected, but will still hurt to type.

There was a big Downtown Celebration yesterday evening, and I just did not have the energy to get there. I had to re-regulate my nervous system after a day of noise and chaos. Being around more noise, even positive noise, would not have helped.

It’s just after 7 AM, and the Sidewalk Chewing Demons are causing chaos again. And whatever they are doing has an absolutely horrible smell to it. Like the air quality wasn’t already horrible.

On today’s agenda: Llewellyn, ANGEL HUNT, meeting a local writer for coffee, maybe swinging by a gallery to support a former student, ghostwriting. When I go to meet the writer, I will swing by the post office to mail some bills and buy some stamps. I have to do everything on foot today, since I can’t drive on our street.

I have not heard back from my town councilor. Hopefully, I will do so today.

I would prefer to go back to bed (although I slept reasonably well). It’s not supposed to be as hot today, and we might even get the promised thunderstorms that never materialized yesterday. Nothing like seeing on your phone “Heavy rain for the next 58 minutes” and looking out the window to find it perfectly dry.

Today is going to be . . .a day. Hope yours is a good one!