Devon Ellington's Blog, page 59
July 19, 2023
Wed. July 19, 2023: Why, Yes I am Ranting Because I. Am. Done
image courtesy of Gerd Altmann via pixabay.comWednesday, July 19, 2023
Waxing Moon
Pluto, Saturn, Neptune Retrograde
Foggy, a little cooler, wildfire haze, sun trying to burn through
This is a ranty, burn-it-all down post, so you might want to skip it.
I keep thinking we’re much closer to August than we actually are.
And hey, I’m out of ink again, because of course I am. And I’m having massive keyboard issues with the laptop.
Today’s Process Muse post details the Tracking Sheets I keep for my work. You can read it here.
Today’s serial episode is from Angel Hunt:
Episode 51: Transformation
Lianna shapeshifts into something she fears.
Had a slow start yesterday. All I wanted to do was sleep.
Managed to get out an LOI for an interesting project. The pitch letter took longer than I would have liked to put together (since it was an impulse anyway), but we’ll see. Heard back from someone else from the Small Business Expo who is interested in getting together, so I offered some potential dates.
I’m very burned out on social media, which is not a good spot to be in with a new serial launching next week. I’m hoping to make it through the launch and then take a bit of time off, except for posting serial promos. I’d hoped to take most of December off from social media, but I don’t think I can wait that long. I’m burned out now. I don’t want to be snarky toward people who are just doing their thing (even if it’s not my thing) because I’m in a bad space of burn out. At the same time, I have to give the serial a good launch.
I’m trying to take a breath, be more mindful of SM time, and then, once DD is out in the world, take a good portion of August away from social media, aside from posting episode promos. Probably around the time Mercury goes retrograde, since it overlaps with Venus retrograde would be a good time to be away from all those platforms.
Spent a lot of time working my way down my email box. Polished, uploaded, and scheduled more DD episodes, which gets me into March of 2024. I’m about halfway through uploading/schedule Season 1. The first big mystery arc is done, and I’m into the second, smaller arc. Which feels pretty good.
Wrote and submitted my book review; got my next assignment. Worked with some new tools for the flyer; I think I’ve almost got it, if I can get the image a little more transparent.
Got another defensive, patronizing email about the grant distribution being pushed back yet again. I am so frustrated with them, with the fact that they won’t even try to solve the problem, and that we’re punished if we question them. And the whole thing of being paid in the order in which we sent the paperwork is bullshit, because people who didn’t submit their paperwork until May got paid in June. My paperwork was confirmed in MARCH. Again, if there wasn’t a strike and I had the script coverages coming in, it would be annoying, but not a problem. But the way it is handled is so disrespectful to those of us involved. And gagging and threatening us, demanding we be grateful for it all, instead of working with us to mitigate the problem is something that is not acceptable. But with both the grant delay AND the WGA strike, it means I have to push projects back and refuse other opportunities (some of which I will never be offered again) and that’s frustrating. Especially because if they gave us the right information in the first place, I could have planned (although the strike would have still thrown a wrench in, but strikes are supposed to be inconvenient). I’ve got the rest of this month covered, I don’t need to panic, and there are conversations about client work for early August, but until there are signed contracts, I’m not counting on anything.
I had a good cry about it and went back to work. Because I don’t have the luxury of “not writing every day.” (Yes, that bullshit is being promoted by “writers” on social media again). I have to earn a fucking living. This whole wave of “writers” deriding those of us who do write every day because we need to pay our bills and keep a roof over our head is just another form of bullying. I don’t give a flying fuck if you don’t write every day. It’s not my business. Unless we’re on the same project; then I’ll kick your ass if you miss a deadline. I’m busy with my own work. But it’s my profession and I have to show up and do the work every designated workday, just like any other job, even while loving it. How nice that you have other sources of income and only write when you feel like it. It’s a luxury. I don’t ever want to hear someone put down those of us who do write every (scheduled work) day and then whines that they “don’t have time to write.” Fuck. Right. Off.
Yup. Definitely need a break from social media.
I’m not in the “I have matches, we ride at dawn” phase. I’m at the flamethrower phase. The rocket launcher phase. Because I am DONE. And the retrogrades and oppositions are ratcheting it all up. With Venus going retrograde at the end of the week, and another Mercury retrograde looming in mid-August, it is going to get ugly.
This particular Venus retrograde, being in Leo, is about pushing back and saying, “I am not diminishing myself anymore so you feel better.”
Did too much of that in my last location and I. Am. Done.
It’s interesting that in my previous location, I ran into this type of bullying constantly in person. Now it’s more online, because the in-person community in this area is more supportive of each other and each other’s working styles and need to cover the basics like food, shelter, etc.
If you want writing to be your only job, which is harder and harder in this climate, you need to treat it like your second job and put in the time, the work, and the craft until it is your only job.
A lot of people prancing around on social media claiming they want to be writers don’t. They want to “have written” and they want fame and money. They are usually the biggest bullies, because they know they CAN’T make a living at it, and therefore resent those of us who dig in and do it. And they intentionally pervert and misinterpret the “write every day” advice because they know they can’t cut it, they like to hide behind excuses for why they aren’t writing, and they want to feel morally superior. A non-writing friend to whom I was venting said he thought it was intentional sabotage toward early-career writers to thin out the competition.
I think some writers genuinely encourage all of us to have a more balanced and healthier relationship with our work. Most of us need that, whether we work in the arts or not. But many of the people encouraging others not to write every day (which means writing on designated workdays, not that you can’t have breaks and weekends and stuff) have agents negotiating large contracts and/or live off a spouse or partner’s income. They have the luxury of other income. Those of us in the trenches every day fighting for survival don’t.
Very similar to all the crews affected by the strike, whose jobs are also on the line if the studios get their way and can AI every damn position and only pay talent and crew for a single day. It wipes out entire professions.
And you know what? When I was working on Broadway, which was a LOT more hours than a typical 9-5 job with only one day off a week to get everything lifey done, I still wrote almost every damn day. Days that had two shows plus day work, it might only be a few sentences, but I did something.
And then I had a perfectly nice conversation on social media with some working writers about having to clean the house, and different parts of the brain working differently when we work at the desk and when we work while doing something like cleaning.
Spent some quality time going through Substack posts and trying to catch up. I’m nowhere near caught up, but I gave it a shot. I wrote two pitches for guest posts on other stacks. Heard back from one almost immediately; I’m in the queue, and she will send questions out in a few weeks. I haven’t pursued guest posting opportunities in far too long, in general, and I should open A Biblio Paradise back up to host guest posts again, next year.
Later this week, I have to get ahead on Process Muse posts again. I’m hoping, in early August, to block off 2-3 days and do a dozen or so. I have topics well into next year; I just have to get them written.
I’m putting aside blocks of time and setting timers to go through the Substacks piled up, and I find that’s helping. I found a timer function on the laptop. Be very, very scared.
The wildfire haze is bad, and it’s setting off the smoke alarms.
Had a double yoga session this evening; the regular Tuesday session and then a new moon yin session. Everyone who came in was saying, “Oh, it’s been a DAY” to the point where we all started laughing and feeling better about our collective bad day. It gave us the room to release it and have a better evening.
I made it home about 5 minutes before another huge storm came through.
Not happy about all these waivers SAG-AFTRA is granting. They take the teeth out of the strike. The producers will just gobble up finished product.
Wrote a few pages this morning on an outline connected to a future season of DEADLY DRAMATICS that dropped into my head last night. It’s built around the Cannes Film Festival (I went one year, as part of a team on a project and it was quite the experience), so that will be fun. And it’s a pivotal point in Nina’s slow burn true love arc.
I am off to see a friend’s art exhibit today. Yes, I checked with Tessa. She gave me permission.
Have a good one!
July 18, 2023
Tues. July 18, 2023: A Weekend of Poetry & Prose
Grounds of The Mount. Photo by Devon EllingtonTuesday, July 18, 2023
Waning Moon
Pluto, Saturn, Neptune Retrograde
Stormy and humid
Buckle up, my lovely buttercups. We have a few more retrogrades coming in this upcoming weekend, not to mention squares and oppositions. The next two weeks will be “interesting times.”
Ready for our regular Tuesday catch-up?
Today’s serial episode is from Legerdemain:
Episode 103: Chasing the Assassin
Shelley chases the assassin, trying to figure out his plan.
We cancelled the trip to Amherst on Friday due to weather concerns, and then, of course, it cleared up. Sort of. Deep sigh. By the time it looked like maybe it was okay to go, we were already back on other tracks and couldn’t readjust.
I wrote two episodes of Legerdemain, one of which was a complicated parade sequence, which will still need more work in edits a week or so down the road. Because it needs more drama, less voyeurism.
Did a library run and a small grocery shop.
I polished, uploaded, and scheduled the next four episodes of DEADLY DRAMATICS, updated all the paperwork, wrote loglines. Came up with another long arc I want to start weaving into Season Two. I can’t believe it’s going to launch next week.
Did the episode graphics for next week’s Legerdemain posts. Did the catch-up videos for Legerdemain (Yay, I’m all caught up until Episode 108), I did the week’s episode videos for Legerdemain and Angel Hunt. Uploaded and scheduled all the videos to Tik Tok.
It was still early afternoon! So I polished, uploaded, and scheduled 4 more episodes of DEADLY DRAMATICS, getting me into early January of 2024. And did the log lines.
Whew!
Those episodes needed some logistical massaging. I had some weird stuff in it, and I had to make it work the way the fictional world is set up.
Got my next book for review.
Bluesky is having upheaval, allowing anti-black accounts to spawn without moderation or removal, and people feel unsafe. None of this should be put onto the users, in a form of free labor, but it is, rather than hiring a Trust and Safety Team. Some of the employees are blocking any criticism. It’s exhausting and disappointing, but not surprising. This platform was, after all, set up by the man who brought the Muskrat onto Twitter. I contacted them, off platform, to let them know my concerns, but really, until it affects them financially, they’re not going to do anything about it. People can yell and scream and stomp all they want, but the PR on the place has been how it’s the hot new network full of cool people, so they don’t yet have incentive to listen. I think there was some sort of apology a few days later, but so many people talk past each other it’s hard to figure out.
Visited Twitter for the first time in weeks to actually poke around (rather than just uploading via Tweetdeck, which soon will not be an option). Yeah, it’s a rightwing hellsite. I managed to find a few of the contacts with information about the strike, but that was pretty much it. I’m sad. I spent 13 years on that site. It was a lifeline early in the pandemic and during the Move from Hell.
Discouraging all around, because these corporations are intentionally trying to starve individual artists out of the marketplace, and one way to do so is by making sure they can’t reach their audiences on social media.
And there are those I’ve followed on other platforms and, at the very least, respected, who are showing a very ugly side to their personalities.
One of my websites is getting Russian-bot-trolled, so I’m trying to get that sorted out. The webhost has some additional tools I will deploy this week.
Didn’t sleep well in my room Friday into Saturday; woke up around 2, moved to the couch, fell asleep with weird dreams until my usual wakeup time. Felt logy and discouraged. The dreams were about the house next door being turned into artist studio space, and I watched them put in new windows. Supposedly that means an opportunity I don’t yet understand.
Okay? I guess? Better than some of the other options?
Drafted a new episode of Legerdemain. Uploaded next week’s episode promos for Legerdemain and Angel Hunt into Tweetdeck. By the time my access to it is blocked in a couple of weeks, my audience will have all left anyway. Polished, uploaded, and scheduled the next four episodes of DEADLY DRAMATICS. Edited, polished, and uploaded the next four episodes of ANGEL HUNT. Went back to the AH tracking sheets, because I messed something up, and it’s about to come and bite me in the butt.
Got my invite to T2 Social, and set up my account. So far, it’s small, friendly, and seems to have a good cross-section of international writers and poets. It’s not worried about being flashy yet. The account was easy-peasy to set up. Everything worked the first time, which is more the exception than the norm. So we’ll see. I’m just throwing spaghetti at the wall at this point, until I have more information across all the platforms as to what works skews where, and can plan a strategy.
Finished reading THE SWORD DEFIANT, which was really good. As I mentioned in Friday’s post, it does many things well that other books don’t.
Rehearsed the poem a few times. In spite of the bad storms coming through, we were notified that the performances are going forward, no matter what. I assumed they planned to provide the ark. But I trust the organizers, and if they say we’re moving forward, we are.
Played with some ideas for the 25 short Llewellyn almanac pieces. The serials have sort of pushed them to the wayside, but the deadline’s coming, and I need to get serious. Date-wise, I seem to be working from both ends of the year toward the middle (I’m writing for 2025, but they have to be to my editor this September).
Realized I’m struggling with the ekphrastic flash fiction piece due Aug. 1 because I’m trying to force it into something it doesn’t want to be. It wants to be more of a prose poem, even though that’s further out of my comfort zone. So played with that. It feels better, so we’ll see. All they can do is say no. For a short piece, I’m spending an awful lot of time and energy finding out what it is not, and I’d like to discover what it IS.
Played with ideas for the book ban/gun violence poem for August. The rhythm is coming to me first (yes, I know, it’s weird), so I’m working rhythmically and trying to find words to fit the rhythm, instead of having the words create the rhythm and then rearrange them. I’m actually using my large bodhran drum as I work. Not used to working that way, but nothing ventured, and all that.
Pondering what pieces to work on for the residency this autumn. I want to bring some pieces in to shape, and I want to balance that with new work. I have some things I want to try, even if I’m not sure I have the right tools in the form yet. Because, for me, the point of this residency is to try new things.
Although I will pull out at least one polished old faithful for the reading on Sept. 30.
The good part about this kind of pondering is I can do it lying on the couch as I’m drained by the heat and humidity, and scribble notes as necessary.
Stayed in my own bed all night Saturday into Sunday. Woke up to pouring rain. Baked biscuits (what the Americans consider “biscuits” — the bready things).
Drafted an episode of Legerdemain. Uploaded and scheduled four more episodes of DEADLY DRAMATICS. I’m now into early February of 2024, schedule-wise. Tweaked the outline for “The Vicious Critic” (the first big arc of DD Season 2), and started in on the outline for “But Is She a Betting Man?” (the second big arc for Season 2 which mixes theatre and horse racing and is set in Saratoga. Perhaps there is a research trip to see old friends in that later this summer.
I did a loose chronology, for character arcs of where I see things going, and how I want to deal with 9/11 when comes up in the story’s timeline. If it doesn’t make sense to keep the serial running past season 2, I have the option of turning the outlines directly into books, instead of adapting from serial structure to book structure (since these are structured as serials, not as books released in chapters). The point is, I have options, so I can plan.
Did a COVID test, just to be safe for everyone else. It was negative, which I figured, since I felt fine other than sapped by humidity.
Ate, showered, slapped on some makeup I hoped wouldn’t melt off, packed what I needed into a backpack (including Altoid mints and bug spray). Checked 87 times to make sure I had the actual poem with me. Headed off to The Mount, in Lenox.
We’d been under flood watch and tornado warnings all day. I decided to put my trust in the event’s organizers instead of in the National Weather Service.
The drive down was fine. Some traffic, but not bad. The rain paused, and the roads weren’t bad. I did my vocal exercises in the car. I like my “reading voice” to pitch a little lower than my normal speaking voice, because I can project it better, so I do vocal exercises to warm up my voice, and then bring down the register just a half step or so. (Never say life in the theatre doesn’t teach you skills you can use elsewhere).
Fans. Photo by Devon EllintonWe were in the event tent. There were big fans set up (literally named “Big Ass Fans”). They were efficient and QUIET, so any “contractor” who claims his machines need to make noise knows where they can shove that noise.
Anyway, this year, instead of the audience walking through the poem, they were in the center of the tent. The poets were seated on the outside, around them, so the poem flowed around the audience.
It was AMAZING.
There were 51 poets. There were a handful who couldn’t be there and had made arrangements for their segments to be covered. There were a few who couldn’t be bothered to show up OR communicate, putting an unfair burden on the organizers, but they handled it with their usual grace and inventiveness. I mean, come on, it’s a single date of 4 hours in the entire summer. If it’s not a priority, don’t make the commitment and then disrespect the other poets in the group.
Poet chairs. Photo by Devon EllingtonAnyway, we rehearsed it once, and were blown away by each other’s work, and the way the piece ebbed, flowed, peaked, rolled, and the way it went from humor to pathos and back again. Really beautiful. The poets were just as much of an active audience to each other. There were some audience members who stayed for all the shows.
We rehearsed, did two shows, took a break, and then did one more, because we were behind schedule, and could safely combine the final two audiences into one group without putting anyone at risk.
I was the 3rd poet (out of 51) which meant I could speak my piece and enjoy everyone else! Poet #2 was someone I first met at last year’s event, who was stage managing a reading for WAM which I later went to see. She’s involved in all kinds of wonderful projects, and we had a good yammer about this and that, and I’m looking forward to supporting more of her work, and include in her various projects here she might enjoy. Poet #1 was one of the organizers. The three of us already knew each other somewhat, which meant we already had a bit of a rhythm together, and Poet #4 flowed right into it. The flow and the handoffs were really great throughout.
The way the piece was a living organism, growing and changing in each performance, was wonderful.
I wasn’t even nervous this year, just happy. Working with Word X Word is teaching me how to be grounded in speaking my own words (since so much of what I write is for others to speak). As an introvert, being part of something that’s about the “us” of the community rather than about me is much more comfortable.
Another of the poets involved was the man who headed the playwrights’ workshop I did back in 2022, from which FALL FOREVER was born, so I got to tell him how something we did in the workshop grew into a full play. He was delighted, and I got his contact information, so I can let him know where the play lands.
Anyway, after our final performance, we gathered for a group photo in front of the stables, got our honorariums. I took some photos of the tress, which looked like a magical forest in all the humidity.
Headed home. Had a really funny encounter on the way home which could get those involved into trouble with their bosses, so I won’t go into detail in a public space, but I am SO using it in one of my stories!
The National Weather Service warnings blared over the radio a few times on the drive back. I made it in about 10 minutes before the next deluge. So it all worked out.
Willa waited for me on the third step down from the top of the stairs. Charlotte was at the top. Tessa shoved them both out of the way to confront me halfway down the stairs and lecture me because I hadn’t told her I was leaving the house, and That Is Not How Things Are Done. Tessa believes in rules and often speaks in Capital Letters. Ah, life with cats.
Had something to eat, hosed down in the shower (had to get all that sweat and bug spray off), and then just did my bit as cat furniture on the couch. Posted some photos and things to social media, but didn’t want to destroy the euphoria of a wonderful experience with social media midgets sniping at this, that, and the other.
Slept okay, but was up early. Monday promised to be a nasty day of heat and humidity.
Did the follow-ups and thank yous from the poetry event. I already heard from one poet on Sunday night! What fun. I sent off the links I promised, and then did the other follow up emails.
The fucking heavy machinery beeping was at it again. It’s on the other side of the college, nearly a mile away and it’s still loud enough to disrupt my workspace even with two fans going on.
At least they’re not starting before 5 AM anymore. But Big Ass Fans proved you can have big, efficient machinery without being disruptive.
Fighting with the insurance yet again about another of my mom’s refills. I’m so sick of it. The pharmacy is on top of it, but every refill is a fight. Got through a bunch of email that got backed up last week.
Did the rounds of library, pharmacy, grocery store, post office, bank.
Came home and uploaded/scheduled four more episodes of DEADLY DRAMATICS. We’re almost at the end of the first big arc, and halfway through the season (and into February of 2024). Tried to work on the “Betting Man” outline, but my brain was fried. I have a lot of the character arcs that need to happen, but I’ve (literally) lost the plot of the mystery, so I have to figure that out. My original notes aren’t helpful, because other shifts in character arcs render a good bit of it moot.
I know the “who” of the murder victims, but I need to sort out the “why” and the killer. I need to flesh out the ensemble a little better. Once I know who all the characters are, I can then figure out why some of them would like to kill each other. It also gives me a chance to bring back some of the characters from previous arcs in Season 1 (because the type of people who go to these events tend to travel the same circuit and turn up all the time).
I wanted to fold Yaddo in there a bit, too, along with the theatre and the horse racing, but that might be covering too much ground. We’ll see.
I ordered a couple of volumes of Agatha Christie plays from the library, because the action takes place at the end of a summer “season” and if they don’t end with a musical, they often end with an Agatha Christie play. Or at least they did back then.
Got out a couple of LOIs. Made notes for a proposal for a meeting that I hope will happen this fall, which grew out of a conversation with the poet who led the playwrighting workshop. Slogged through a lot of email.
Ran out of steam far too early in the day due to the humidity. Read the next book for review, which was pretty darn good.
Slept decently, up early this morning. Not much in the tank. We’re supposed to have more storms and flooding. Hopefully it will be over by the time I have to leave for yoga. I have a double session tonight, and I’m looking forward to it.
I’m just plugging along today, working through the list of things I need to get done, and hoping it happens. I have a feeling I won’t be particularly productive until about midweek next week. I’m still well within my deadlines, but I wish I had more stamina. Which would happen in less humidity.
So Chase bank is “analyzing” the accounts of their customers and making ecomonic predictions. Because they don’t believe their customers have a right to privacy, I guess. There are few people in the world I loathe more than Jamie Dimon.
I deeply disagree with SAG-AFTRA’s decision to sign/allow independent productions to continue under special waivers. These indies will sell to the struck producers in distribution deals, and it wipes out all incentive for the producers to come back to the table. Hell, when I worked in indie film, I was in many of those distribution deal meetings.
But all I can do is the best I can do. Have a good one, friends.
July 17, 2023
Mon. July 17: Intent for the Week — Navigate the Retrogrades
image courtesy of Ghinzo via pixabay.comWe are in the midst of three retrogrades, and we have two more coming up this weekend, and a lot of squares and oppositions, rather than trines.
Which means the stage is set for more stress than support right now, and the next two weeks will be tricky, especially in terms of navigating relationships and social media.
I have a lot going on in the next few weeks, so I will try to remember to give others grace and space, and hope they do the same for me.
What’s your intent for the week?
July 14, 2023
Fri. July 14, 2023: Stormy Weather, on Multiple Fronts
image courtesy of David Mark via pixabay.comFriday, July 14, 2023
Waning Moon
Pluto, Saturn, Neptune Retrograde
Thunderstorms and Rain
I have long considered July 14 “Bastille Day” as my own personal Independence Day, as it was my last day working BEACH BLANKET BABYLON in San Francisco back in the day, and I was happy to leave.
Well, yesterday didn’t turn out as planned. AT ALL.
Today’s serial episode is from Angel Hunt:
Episode 50: The Tests Aren’t Over Yet
Lianna is in the building, but there are still obstacles between her and the knowledge she seeks.
I was working away, trying to get stuff done before meditation began, when there was an accident on my street. One of the asshole jerkoff construction workers drove the wrong way down our one-way street (again) while on his phone and hit a utility pole, downing live powerlines.
Police came to block off the street, along with the fire department. The ambulance came to hang out, while National Grid and Spectrum both came to fix the damage. Well, Spectrum watched everyone else work, and spent a bunch of time on the phone. Power was shut off on the street, and we were asked to stay in, not even leaving the block on foot due to line dangers. Internet went down soon after.
So, no online meditation group, and I couldn’t leave to go to in-person yoga. My phone was charged, so I could let everyone know.
I settled on the couch and finished reading my book (the one set in Brittany).
Power came back on around 11, which wasn’t too bad. But internet flickered on and off all day.
I was writing the book review when the power went out. I’d saved it, before I went to investigate the Drama, so all I had to do was finish and polish it before I sent it off, once everything came back up.
Then, I had to upload and schedule next week’s episodes of Legerdemain. Next Thursday’s episode is number 104, which means the serial has run for a year (52 weeks x 2 episodes per week). That feels like another big deal. And we’re still in the second arc!
I polished, uploaded, and scheduled the next four episodes of DEADLY DRAMATICS, which gets me into December.
I’m putting together a rough for the program for September’s reading, as I get in the information. That way, I can tweak it and hone it. I couldn’t do much work on the flyer because, again, most of the graphics tools are cloud-based, not within the computer, so without a strong internet connection, I couldn’t get it done. It will get done. Just not yesterday.
I HATE not being able to buy the software and have it in the machine.
My friend sent me the ticket confirmation for when I go to see her show the Sunday after this one. That’s all printed out and ready to go with me.
Rehearsed the poem. Last year, I was nervous. This year, I’m just looking forward to it.
I’m reading THE SWORD DEFIANT by Gareth Hanrahan, and thoroughly enjoy it. An aging hero, a snarky talking sword, a rising threat – what’s not to like? Even though it’s a big-ass book, and I’m kind of tired of big-ass books that don’t need to be big-ass, this one DOES need the length and the heft and the depth. I’m not sitting there thinking, “well THAT could have been cut.” The story is structured well and the different elements are necessary and work.
A contrast to the book I just reviewed where, much as I liked the character work in it, the climactic sequence was long enough to be its own novella and then didn’t end. Because, you know, there’s another book. I hate it when books make me read over 100K and then don’t give me a decent ending, even it’s part of the launch into the next book.
THE SWORD DEFIANT is the first book of a trilogy, but stands on its own WHILE making me want to read the next book (I peeked at the ending to make sure of it). In other words, THE SWORD DEFIANT does it all right.
I also really like the cover illustration by Thea Dumitriu.
SAG-AFTRA has gone out on strike, which makes me breathe a sigh of relief. There was always the worry that they would behave the way the directors did. However, the tipping point for them was the producers’ determination to pay a background actor for a single day’s work, then scan the actor’s image and use it in perpetuity across any projects they want, without any further pay. That would eliminate extra work as a profession or as a steppingstone to learn one’s way around a set.
Writers out. Actors out. Productions shut down. UPS-Teamsters are set to strike Aug. 1. About damn time. Burn it all the fuck down.
This is what happens when you let corporations run the world. The old studio moguls were tight-fisted assholes, but at least they loved movies. Corporation execs don’t like or respect the industry or those who work within in. They also don’t respect the audience.
Thunderstorms and more heavy rain came in last night, and thunderstorms are still rolling through this morning. We scrapped our trip to Amherst. With more flooding on the way and so many roads washed out or damaged, it’s not worth the risk.
I have plenty to do here at home. Maybe I can get all next week’s videos and promos done, uploaded, and scheduled. It would be nice if tomorrow could be about doing things around the house (at least until it gets too hot). I do have to get to the library to drop off/pick up books and then get coffee at the store. I had to get into my stash of emergency coffee for this morning, because I never got out to get coffee beans yesterday.
Sunday afternoon is the collaborative poem at the Mount. We’re rehearsing once, and then doing four shows. So Sunday, I’ll spend most of the day storing up energy, so I’ll have plenty for the performances themselves. And the drive, back and forth.
Next week looks to be light on client work again. I hope to get out some LOIs, keep steady pace on the serials, get the advance promo for DEADLY DRAMATICS going, and have a coffee meet-up at the end of the week with someone I met at the Small Business Expo. If the weather allows it, we’ll try for Amherst again next Wednesday, because Thursday is meditation and yoga in the morning, and an online author talk with Doug Preston with my university’s book club. Yes, he’s part of Preston & Child, but the book we read is THE LOST CITY OF THE MONKEY GOD, one of his nonfiction books, which is as much fun as any action/treasure movie.
Time to get back to the page. Have a good weekend, my friends, and I’ll catch you on the other side!
July 13, 2023
Thurs. July 13, 2023: The Humidity is Getting Me Down
image courtesy of JackieLou DL via pixabay.comThursday, July 13, 2023
Waning Moon
Pluto, Saturn, Neptune Retrograde
Cloudy and humid
For the latest on the garden, hop onto the post over at Gratitude and Growth.
Today’s serial episode is from Legerdemain:
Episode 102: Jed Smythe’s Storage Unit
The contents of the quiet man’s storage unit are a surprise.
I had a good start to yesterday, and then fizzled out as the heat and humidity set in. As mentioned in yesterday’s post, I edited 12 episodes of Angel Hunt. I edited, polished, uploaded, and scheduled the next four episodes of Deadly Dramatics (nearly at the end of November now). Something that is mentioned in these episodes can be relevant in season 2, so I updated that outline.
I went to the library to drop off/pick up books. I went to CVS to get bug spray for Sunday. My mom needed another puzzle book, but they didn’t have the right one at CVS, so I hopped next door and found it at Big Y.
On impulse, I stopped at a favorite local thrift shop. I found a blue and black patterned sleevless Nicole Miller jumpsuit in my size (I am so happy jumpsuits are making a comeback). I also found a set of 4 plates from Bavaria that match a set of plates my parents got years and years ago (our set is still in a box in my office, with matching coffee cups and saucers, until I buy a china cabinet). I also found some textured glass plates that will be great under the plants, instead of those icky plastic saucers. It was quite the haul.
Got it all home. The Bavarian plates have to be handwashed, but everything else can go in the dishwasher. A jumpsuit is not a good choice for the poetry event (it will make quick bathroom breaks difficult), but there are plenty of other places I can wear it.
I forgot to look for the sheer curtain panels I want for another project.
By the time I came home, it was humid, and I was out of steam. I managed to rehearse the poem a few times. I moved a couple of breath marks, so that it flows better. I tend not to breathe deeply enough when I read, and then run out of air at a bad time. Putting breath marks in the manuscript reminds me where it makes sense to take a breath and keep the flow. I do this reading prose as well as poetry, and it’s helped my public readings enormously. For the mark itself, it looks like a single quote mark: ‘
I did some work on a flyer for a reading in fall. I’m keeping it simple, but I may not be able to do the cool visual on it that I want. I’m trying to use a transparent image as the background, with the text that holds the information popping, and I may not have the tools to do so. I’ll try a few more; I’m not out of tools yet.
Read on the couch in the afternoon, hoping I could get it together to do some more work in the evening, but the humidity sapped the life out of me. All I managed to do was get the laundry folded and put away.
Had a rough night. Woke up around 2:30, because my room was hot. Moved to the couch, because more of a breeze came in there. Fell asleep and had weird dreams. Woke up just before 4 and moved back to my bed (my room was cool enough by then) and had more weird dreams. Was kind of disoriented when I got up just before 6.
I usually don’t eat before Thursday meditation (it weighs me down), but I have yoga this morning an hour after meditation, so instead, I ate very early, and then I’ll have lunch when I get back from yoga. The next few Thursdays won’t be much on the work front, with yoga/meditation taking up most of the morning, unless I get up really early to get work done.
I’m still hoping to get some work in before this morning’s meditation, and in between meditation and leaving for yoga. I have to get next week’s Legerdemain episodes uploaded, as well as the next four DEADLY DRAMATICS episodes.
It looks like SAG-AFTRA will go on strike with us (the writers), although we won’t know until later today. I’m not counting on anything.
I’ve been getting emails encouraging me to scab over these past months, refusing, and passing them on to the WGA. It’s exhausting. The idiocy and the supposed workarounds are also ridiculous. They really do think writers are stupid and desperate. And yesterday’s comments, from the producers’ side of the table, about waiting until the writers are broke and homeless so they’ll accept anything, just summed them right up. They don’t care if they destroy the industry, as long as they can line their own pockets. They have as much contempt for the audience as they do for the people making it possible for them to have something to offer the audience.
There’s more social media kerflamma going on, and it just makes me tired. I don’t know why so many people think that a platform owned by someone else is going to do what they want. Social media platforms are a business. Your time and presence are assets FOR THEM and turns into money (especially when the platform gets their participants to fund it). Without understanding that, you’re going to be miserable. Time is just as much of a value and an investment as hard cash, so you have to be careful where you put it. They will hire staff and departments for moderation and safety — which they should, none of this should be on the users — only when it makes financial sense for them to do so.
Let’s hope that a morning of yoga and meditation gets me back into a good headspace. Right now, I want to get back down into bog witch mode for the rest of the week and not deal with all the crap out there. I want to focus on my work and deadlines. I need to write and submit the book review today (I couldn’t face it yesterday). Hopefully, tomorrow, I’m going out to Amherst to see an acquaintance’s exhibit, if the weather doesn’t turn nasty. Saturday, I’ll get some work done and hopefully, some house cleaning done. The big poem is late Sunday afternoon, so most of the day will be spent conserving energy for that.
Next week, if it continues to be humid, I have to see how I can readjust my schedule so I’m not trying to push through when it’s sucking the life out of me, but revive enough to get back to work when it’s cooler.
Have a good one!
July 12, 2023
Wed. July 12, 2023: Deep in the Creative Forest
image courtesy of woong hoe via pixabay.comWednesday, July 12, 2023
Waning Moon
Pluto, Saturn, Neptune Retrograde
Foggy and humid
The flooding was very severe here. Some of the roads are washed out. Not going out and about on Monday was the right decision. Vermont was hit much harder than we were, and they are in bad shape.
Today’s Process Muse post is about hardware, software, and tools. You can read it here.
Today’s serial episode is from ANGEL HUNT:
Episode 49: The Sphinx’s Test
Lianna must find a way past the Sphinx into the Library.
(I’m having some fun with tropes in this episode).
I answered some email and then polished, uploaded, and scheduled the next four episodes of DEADLY DRAMATICS. That gets me through mid-November. I went to write up the episode log lines, and BOTH files had dumped the previous eight episodes’ worth of log lines, so I had to write all of them over again. I’m so frustrated with this computer. And Auto-save’s not cutting it for the backup saves.
Worked out the details for the visit with my friend the weekend of July 23. Now I have to clean the house next week. I mean, I clean the house every week, but I have to do a better job. Worked out a coffee date with someone I met at the Business Expo for the end of next week – at the place in Pittsfield that Word X Word uses for some of their events. Got some great news from someone else I met at those events, and will sit on it until she gives me the go-ahead to share it. I got the presentation and follow-up materials from Monday’s seminar, and will go over it and respond. There are things not being taken into consideration which perturb me, to say the least. So I will bring them up. And I appreciated that they understood me not wanting to come out in a flood to their meeting. “Why didn’t you come die for us?” is not something I’m willing to put up with anymore.
Sat down to make a few notes on “The Vicious Critic” which is the lead-in piece to “But is She a Betting Man?” –set in Saratoga, of course, both of which I want to comprise DEADLY DRAMATICS Season Two. However, six hours later, I had an 11-page outline for “The Vicious Critic” so we’ll see if those tales need to be Seasons Two and Three, or if I can be succinct enough, even with such a detailed outline, to have them both as a single season. “Vicious Critic” was only supposed to be 20 episodes, but I think it will be more.
By then, it was almost time for yoga.
It’s so bizarre to write about that time, in the 90’s, when cell phones were strange and new, and not many people used computers at home; and, when they did, the CompuServe bulletin boards were a big thing. And if you were out and about and needed to reach someone, you used payphones on street corners or in bars.
Emerging from that world back to this one, and having to go on social media, with all that chaos, is a jolt. And, right now, social media in general makes me sad. With a new serial about to launch, I can’t take a break, but I will plan one later this year (I’m thinking maybe December).
I managed to finish the book for review. I was annoyed, because after getting me to read over 100K (okay, I was PAID to read it, but still) – there wasn’t an ending. Even if the book is part of a trilogy or series, the individual books need to have a satisfying stopping point. Stopping in the middle of the action DOES NOT MAKE ME WANT TO READ THE NEXT BOOK. Instead, it annoys me. It makes me want to avoid that author in the future, because the author lacks storytelling skills. You can end on a note that drives the reader to the next book while still making this one satisfying in and of itself, even if it’s not a standalone.
It was great to be back in yoga. The yoga class itself was full, but everyone looks out for each other, so it’s fine. The meditation class was much smaller, and also great.
Home, dinner, some reading for pleasure before bed.
Out of bed early this morning to haul the laundry down to the laundromat. The lights didn’t come on properly for the first half of the time I was there; with the fog outside, it was very creepy. But I got the laundry done, and I got 12 episodes of ANGEL HUNT edited. I need to go back and check some details, and check some timeline/plot logic points before I upload the next set of episodes (which needs to happen this weekend).
Legerdemain needs attention today, along with Sunday’s poem, and a few other things. I have to get back on track with the Llewellyn pieces. I think I’ll schedule them in starting next Monday, and do 3/day. I will also write and send off the book review, and hopefully get another assignment, since there’s very little client work coming in right now.
I felt like an idiot yesterday – I was doing the social media rounds for the serials, and at first, I promoted the wrong serial – Angel Hunt, rather than Legerdemain. During the process of writing the outline for “Vicious Critic” I somehow thought it was Wednesday, instead of still being Tuesday.
J. August Richards, an actor with whom I worked on a TV show back in my NYC days, and with whom I keep in touch, shared with me the Deadline article about the studios’ determination to let the writers go broke and homeless, breaking the WGA, rather than negotiate a fair deal.
I’m not surprised AT ALL. And we have to shut everything down. SAG-AFTRA agreeing to federal mediation is not something I agree with. We need to shut it all down. I was disappointed that the DGA agreed to a sub-standard deal, instead of standing with the rest of us. Again, I’m not surprised, because many directors genuinely believe they are the only talent on a production. We cannot cave to the studios and allow them to destroy the creative industry: writing, acting, directing, editing, sound, production, design – there are too many wonderfully creative people who deserve to be paid a living wage for what they do.
Today is Wednesday, and I need to Wednesday. Tomorrow morning is about meditation, and then yoga at the library. Friday, I’m headed out to Amherst. So today needs focus. My computer is not cooperating.
Have a good one, my friends!
July 11, 2023
Tues. July 11, 2023: Writing and Reading
image courtesy of Ptra via pixabay.comTuesday, July 11, 2023
Waning Moon
Pluto, Saturn, and Neptune Retrograde
Sunny and hot
Hello, and I hope you had a great weekend. It’s time for our usual Tuesday catch-up.
Today’s serial episode is from Legerdemain:
Episode 101: Ninel’s Visitors
Ninel’s friends finally show up. But why does Brone think they look familiar?
Friday seems very far away, somehow. Probably because it was so hot.
I flipped my usual plan and did the client work in the morning before it got too hot. I edited, polished, uploaded, and scheduled four more episodes of DEADLY DRAMATICS. I did episode graphics and loglines for next week’s Legerdemain.
By then, it was lunchtime, and after lunch, I crashed on the couch to read for fun for a few hours, an urban fantasy that’s mostly good, but I’m glad I got it on sale.
Hauled myself down to First Friday. I walked, which wasn’t a good idea in the heat and humidity. I visited one gallery, but they were too busy having private conversations to acknowledge anyone coming in, so I left pretty fast. I visited the artist I met over last weekend, the one I promised to show up for on First Friday, and saw the rest of her work. Which was very interesting, and I’m glad I fulfilled that promise.
And then I went home, because I was nearly at the point of collapse.
I decided to try a sushi place not too far away. I should have gone and picked up the order myself, but I felt so awful after roaming around in the humidity that I ordered via DoorDash delivery, even though the place was only about 2 blocks away. I added a big tip. I mean, since the pandemic started, I’ve added big tips to all deliveries, because we’re all struggling. The order took 45 minutes beyond the promised delivery time, which was frustrating, but it was a Friday night, and it happens. On top of that, though, instead of driving the two blocks to deliver my order, the driver went seven miles in a different direction to drop off someone else’s order first. I was ON THE WAY to the other delivery but nope. Heaven forbid you drop off the order two blocks from the restaurant first. Oh, AND the contact number given for the driver was wrong. By the time my order got here, it was not in good shape. The hot and cold had been packed in the same bag, which meant that the hot food was tepid and the cold food (the sushi) was too warm and getting slimy. Considering how expensive the whole order was in the first place, it was mediocre quality, to say the least. I let DoorDash know, and they reimbursed a small portion of the price. Which is better than nothing, but I won’t order from that restaurant again.
Saturday morning was a little cooler, at least to start off. I edited, polished, uploaded, and scheduled four more episodes of DEADLY DRAMATICS. I did the episode videos for next week’s episodes of Legerdemain and ANGEL HUNT, and uploaded and scheduled them on TikTok. I did three more catch-up videos for Legerdemain. I only have 2 more to do for next weekend, and we’re all caught up. I posted and scheduled those I made this weekend.
I did the intro videos both wide and tall for DEADLY DRAMATICS, and I kind of love them. I had trouble with FlexClip, so I started them in Canva, then uploaded them to FlexClip to add audio and polish. I’m so excited to share those (but also don’t want to start the promos too soon). I created the episode template for DEADLY DRAMATICS, and got the first 4 episodes (the first week’s work) done. I can’t yet upload them, though. I uploaded next week’s episode promos to Tweetdeck for Legerdemain and ANGEL HUNT. I’m going to use the heck out of that mofo before the mofo who owns it starts charging.
I then read the rest of the paranormal series I’d started the day before. While I really liked the first book and pretty much liked the second book, the overall series was disappointing. Too much evangelical Christianity, which should have been in the blurb, so those of us who don’t like it aren’t stuck with it. At first, it was just a few references to God and church here and there, but turned more and more rightwing evangelical as the series continued, and by the time it blamed ancient Egyptian religion for all the evils of the world, I was angry. What a cop-out bullshit concept. On top of that, it switched POV a few books in, from the female protagonist of the central couple to the male. The (male) author had gotten plenty wrong with the female protagonist but one of the reasons the male protagonist worked was the slow reveal of his facets through the woman’s experience. It skipped a huge, life-changing, terrible experience of her abduction to switch to his POV and never shifted back. The readers needed to know what she went through, and not in euphemisms. The author made her sound like a fallen woman because she’d been abducted and tortured, and like the guy was even more of a hero for not shunning her for something that wasn’t her fault. Big red flag. Plus, for a character who was supposed to be strong and gain strength over the course of the series, she needed rescuing an awful lot, instead of them rescuing each other as needed. Once it shifted to his POV, it was just a series of repetitive scenes of him beating up supernatural creatures and being beaten up by them. Then there was the whole sexual purity element, which didn’t work, and that all the women outside of the female protagonist of the couple being horrible, manipulative human beings BECAUSE THEY WERE IN CHARGE OF THEIR OWN SEXUALITY. Huge red flag. And repeatedly using “witch” as a slur against the women, even though there were no actual witches in a supposedly paranormal series. And this hot guy? Is supposedly a virgin well into his thirties and won’t have sex until he’s married? Not buying it at all. Along with the Pro-NRA stuff. Supposedly, there were rotating villains leading to Big Bad, but they were all too similar. The series started out strong, but was a huge disappointment, and that author is crossed off my list permanently. Also, about halfway through the series, the books stopped standing on their own while being part of a series, and only served as overly long chapters in the series arc.
Thank goodness I got the series on sale. And I learned a lot about what I don’t want to do in my own work.
I hesitate to get anything that’s KDP because of all the AI-generated books being uploaded.
I’m reading THE BODY BY THE SEA, by Jean-Luc Bannalec, translated by Sorcha McDonagh, and that’s really good. His series is set in Brittany, a region of France that fascinates me (I did extensive research on it when I wrote “Courting the Lioness” about the pirate Jeanne de Clisson, from that area). It’s really good, but I had trouble concentrating in the humidity.
Sunday morning was a little cooler and less humid. I’ve had some characters wandering around my brain on two different projects. I made some notes on one of them (an action/romance). I know the opening. I know the lead-in to the climactic sequence. But I need to figure out the rest.
The second set of characters was pretty strong in my head. I wrote a few pages of notes, and then wrote a little over 3K (two chapters) to see if it’s viable. Possibly, but I’m not yet convinced.
I did a quick trip to the grocery store and the liquor store.
I polished, uploaded, and scheduled four more episodes of DEADLY DRAMATICS. That gets me into October. Wrote the loglines. The more I get done ahead of time, the easier to just promote. And the more time I will have to focus on Legerdemain.
Read some more in the book for review. It’s in a genre I don’t usually read or enjoy, and, even though it’s fairly well done, it takes me longer than some other genres.
The humidity sucked the life out of me. I went too bed way too early, knowing I would regret it.
After a series of weird dreams, I woke up around midnight, due to the pounding rain. The streets were flooded, although my car was safe, at least for the moment. I went back to bed. Although I had trouble getting back to sleep, once I did, I slept hard until about quarter to six on Monday.
The prediction was heavy rain from 2 PM Sunday through 2 PM Tuesday. I cancelled out of the economic development council meeting over in Pittsfield. I don’t know the streets or alternate routes well enough to navigate flooded roads. I don’t have GPS, and Google Maps is ALWAYS wrong. I would have driven straight into the river more than once if I relied on them.
Re-read the two chapters I wrote the previous day and mostly liked them. They’ll need editing, if the project moves forward, but it sets a good foundation and I like the voice.
I polished, uploaded, and scheduled another Process Muse post.
I edited, polished, uploaded, and scheduled four more DEADLY DRAMATICS episodes, which gets me to the end of October. A steady, regular pace of uploads means I can pay more attention to the details as I go.
I finally did the follow-up on all the cards I gathered at the Small Business Expo. On most of the cards, I’d jotted a note on what to follow up on, which helped. By the end of the day, I got two responses back: one to be part of a focus group on Internet Equity (hell yeah), and one to set up a coffee meeting next week.
I looked over my section of the poem for Sunday’s event. I’m going to work on it a little bit every day, so the rhythm becomes ingrained, and I’ll print it out in large print and add breath marks today.
Last week, Scriptapalooza opened an AI script-writing contest. They shut it down within a day because of the furor from real writers and the WGA. They’re trying to walk it back, saying it was an “unfortunate mistake.” Bullshit. AI is one of the points in the WGA contract that is the most highly contested. To open a contest DURING THE STRIKE is sending up a test balloon for the producers. No one believes it was a “mistake.” What a load of crap.
The beginning of my day will be centered around writing and getting up the next episodes of DEADLY DRAMATICS. I have to do the social media rounds for Legerdemain. And then I’ll go from there. It supposed to be really hot again, so I’ll see how much I can get done before I turn into a limp dishrag. I also have to scan some images connected to the project at the Clark.
I’m almost finished with the book for review. It’s definitely over 100K, and, even though it’s good, sometimes feels as though it will never end.
I have yoga tonight at the studio, and then an additional meditation session. I’m looking forward to it.
Have a good one, my friends!
July 10, 2023
Mon. July 10, 2023: Intent for the Week — Adjust Focus as Necessary
image courtesy of Pexels via pixabay,comWe’re supposed to get 6 inches of rain today, and there’s a lot of street flooding.
I was invited to an economic development council meeting a few towns over, but with the flooding and the lack of knowledge of alternate routes, I cancelled. It’s too big a risk.
I will have to make adjustments all week; I’m already looking forward to Friday, where I’m set to make a jaunt over to Amherst to see a colleague’s exhibit, and then Sunday, when we perform the large, collaborative, multi-lingual poem.
Knowing I have that to look forward to will help me reshuffle each day’s deck and do the best I can with what needs attention that particular day.
What is your intent for the week?
July 7, 2023
Fri. July 7, 2023: Summer Heat & Humidity
image courtesy of Stefan Schweihofer via pixabay.comFriday, July 7, 2023
Waning Moon
Pluto, Saturn, Neptune Retrograde
Hazy, hot, humid
Yesterday was a day of cancellations: meditation cancelled, yoga cancelled.
Today’s serial episode is from Angel Hunt.
Episode 48: The Path is Always Through a Forest
Another astral projection. Another forest.
I wrote about half an episode of Legerdemain. The action in the last episode has changed the direction of what’s in the outline. Now I need to find some notes I made for something that has to happen next. I’d worked out this sequence in detail and put it in a Very Safe Place. I hate stopping in the middle of an episode. I may have to rewrite the whole thing from scratch.
Got up next week’s Legerdemain episodes and wrote the loglines. Got up the next six episodes of DEADLY DRAMATICS, getting me to mid-August.
Did the social media rounds to celebrate the 100th episode of Legerdemain.
Social media, in general, is exhausting right now. Meta started “Threads” and now everyone’s trotting off there. No, thanks. I don’t want to have to delete my Instagram account if I decide I don’t like it, and FB already takes enough of my information. The differences between FB and Twitter made them complement each other; if FB is trying to replace Twitter, it’s just one more chore. I may be forced on it at some point in time, but right now, I have enough social media channels on my plate. I already have to up my time on FB because that’s where the Kindle Vella promotion groups live, and those are vital to the serials.
I got an invitation for Spill, which I’d like to try, but it’s an Apple app. I don’t have an iPhone, and if I can’t run the account on my laptop, I can’t use it. That was one of the big issues with Hive. So I guess I’m passing on Spill.
I’m also tired of the way people on every platform get defensive about how THEIR chosen platform is great and everything else is awful. All the platforms I’ve tried have positives and negatives. I’m not going on one platform to trash talk other platforms. I have other things that need my time and attention. There’s also way too much bullying going on, across all the platforms. There’s no such thing as “righteous bullying.” There are other ways to keep trolls and vicious people off platforms than mimicking their behavior. The level of hypocrisy is staggering. I’ve lost a lot of respect for a lot of people in the past few months.
The good thing about not taking on social media gigs for clients is that I can figure it out for myself, and what serves my work. I’m not sure if I’ll take on social media for clients again. The scheduling tools aren’t versatile enough and don’t include enough channels, and no one wants to pay enough to make the time:money ratio worth it in real time.
But only social media-ing for my own work means I can take the time (even with the hit to the income) to see what works where, what to skew where, and grow separate audiences (with some crossover when people are on multiple platforms, trying to figure out the same stuff I am). I like meeting and interacting with people all over the world with a wide range of interests. At the same time, any platform on which I spend time has to drive traffic and boost sales. If it doesn’t, I can’t afford – in any sense of the word – to spend time there.
So, I’m just going to chug along doing my thing, tracking metrics (where possible) and adjust as necessary.
And blocking. A lot of blocking.
I saw a clickbait article about a little dog clutching a stuffed elephant while waiting to be euthanized that just made me cry. I did not click it: I was afraid the dog had not been saved, and I would be devastated. But the whole euthanizing healthy animals because shelters are “full” breaks my heart and makes me furious. All shelters should be no-kill shelters. I don’t want to hear any arguments about a lack of money. There’s plenty of money in this country for ALL the need (healthcare, housing, UBI), except it’s being hoarded by a few, and poverty/illness/cruelty are policy choices.
Turned around two medium sized client projects yesterday afternoon, one of which was one of the most exciting I’ve had in a long time. That’s always fun. Got a newsletter from a client (I don’t do their newsletter, I do other work for them) that made me wonder if I lived in a different universe. What was in that newsletter was so detached from my reality, and, more importantly, from my reality with them, that it’s a concern.
The heat and humidity were bad yesterday. The cats were little fur puddles, in front of the fans all day. Tessa and Charlotte are pretty good about taking care of themselves, but Willa definitely grew up in air conditioning and hates this.
Thunderstorms, exhaustion, and general malaise meant I didn’t make it to MASSMoCA’s open studios last night. I hadn’t made any promises to anyone, so I didn’t feel too bad about it,
I have, however, made promises tonight for First Friday, so no matter what, I have to get my act together and go out tonight.
On today’s agenda is working on drafting Legerdemain; promoting ANGEL HUNT; doing next week’s videos; maybe doing a quick small grocery run for the stuff I forgot on Wednesday; turning around a medium-sized client project; uploading more of DEADLY DRAMATICS.
This weekend, I’m going to focus on the serials: Legerdemain throughout, editing the remaining ANGEL HUNT episodes; uploading more DEADLY DRAMATICS. I also need to draft a flash fiction piece and do the intro video for DEADLY DRAMATICS. And read a book for review. And, hopefully, read for pleasure. I’m going to start rehearsing the poem for the performance on the 16th, and start noodling ideas for the poem on book banning/gun violence for Aug. 16th.
Other than sense memory stress and heat exhaustion (which probably triggered yesterday’s migraine), I haven’t felt sick. I’ve been around more people in the past week than I have in the last three years (although with care). I took a home COVID test just to be sure and it was negative.
Retrogrades are about slowing down and reflecting on what needs to change. Pluto is about what’s hidden; Saturn is life lessons; Neptune is about dreams. All of that together is a lot. On top of that Venus goes retrograde on July 22 (so no changes in appearance while it’s retrograde, or it will be a disaster).
I realized that some of my (restlessness? Grumpiness?) right now has to do with growing pains. While in my previous location, I got stuck and struggled to get unstuck (on multiple fronts), here I’m growing. Which is a good thing, but it means flexibility and adjustment and examining different facets to see what needs to change. All good things, but not necessarily fun.
Monday morning, I’m out the door mid-morning for the economic development meeting to which I was invited by the governor’s office. I decided to wait to do the follow-up from the Small Business Expo until early next week. We all needed a breather this week, not a full inbox.
Have a great weekend, and I’ll catch you on the other side.
July 6, 2023
Legerdemain’s 100th Episode!
Thursday, July 6, 2023
Waning Moon
Pluto, Saturn, Neptune Retrograde
Hazy, hot, humid
Today is Legerdemain’s 100th episode! I think that’s pretty cool, don’t you?
There’s a new post up about the garden over on Gratitude and Growth.
Today’s episode is from Legerdemain, and it’s Episode 100!
Episode 100: Evil Afoot
An evil organization plans a resurgence.
The fucking beeping heavy machinery started again at 7:41 AM yesterday. Now, I can see these guys from my front window. They haven’t done any actual work in weeks; the “work” for which they were contracted was complete in early June. What they do is drive their machines around and around and around the building, causing as much disruption as possible.
And I shouldn’t have to leave MY office and have MY work interrupted because they are assholes.
They had three months to build a harmonious relationship with the neighborhood. Instead, they chose assholery at every opportunity.
I wrote a really fun episode of Legerdemain (Shelley doesn’t think it’s such fun; she got hurt). I finished another Process Muse post. I backed the Elemental Whispers Oracle on Kickstarter, although Kickstarter isn’t letting me update my information, and that could well cause a problem.
I wrote checks for some bills (yes, I use checks; why would I give random companies access to my account?). I dropped off/picked up books at the library. I picked up some stuff at CVS. I did a big grocery shop. I mailed bills at the post office and stocked up on stamps before the price increase on Sunday.
Did the social media rounds to for Angel Hunt and for the Process Muse. Did two medium-sized client projects. I wanted to upload more episodes of DEADLY DRAMATICS, but I was too exhausted. The sense memory stress came and went in waves all day, and by the end of the day, around the time I’d collapsed in the hotel room post-move, I was done.
We got the instructions for the collaborative poem’s performance on the 16th. I’ll start rehearsing my section of it this weekend, so I’ll be ready for the rehearsal and 4 shows. What I have to do between now and then is pick up bug spray. I was nearly eaten alive by insects during last year’s performance. I hope it won’t be quite so hot, either. Although they fed and watered us well.
Meditation was cancelled this morning (I mean, I still did my personal morning sit, but the group via Concord Library was cancelled). I’m headed out to yoga at the library this morning – the next eight weeks, I have a Thursday morning session at the public library here in town, which I hope will build on the regular Tuesdays at the studio.
I woke up with a migraine this morning, the kind that comes with nausea. Not fun. I don’t have the luxury of taking the day off. I have two client projects for this afternoon. I have to get next week’s Legerdemain episodes uploaded and scheduled (and draft another episode). I hope to get some more DEADLY DRAMATICS episodes uploaded, but that might have to wait until tomorrow and then I’ll have to catch up/push hard over the weekend. I wanted to work on ANGEL HUNT this weekend. Maybe I’ll split the days, and work on one Saturday and one Sunday. We’ll see what the weather is like.
My body remembers how awful I felt in those first days after the move. I hope that moving and stretching in yoga later this morning will help alleviate it.
Have a good one, and I’ll catch you tomorrow.
I AM going to take some time today, no matter how I feel, to celebrate 100 Episodes of Legerdemain.
