Devon Ellington's Blog, page 6

Tues. July 29, 2025: The Good Kind of Buzzy Busy

image courtesy of Eduardo • Subscribe to my YT Channel via pixabay.com

Tuesday, July 29, 2025

Waxing Moon

Pluto, Neptune, Saturn, Mercury Retrograde

Hazy, hot, humid

Hello! I hope you had a great weekend. And here we are, in another week.

The Community Tarot Reading for the Week is here.

Chiron goes retrograde tomorrow.

On this day in 1972, my father died, at age 50. He has been out of my life 5X longer than he was in it, at this point.

Friday was hot and humid, and I was grumpy. I got out a special edition of the newsletter.

I checked with the store about the cooling units. As I expected, NOTHING had been done. Got on another live chat, which was a waste of time, although the rep said a supervisor would contact the seller (this store was an intermediary). I did discover that they were left on a porch in Thousand Oaks, CA – how is that even possible when the delivery address is in North Adams, MA? Oh, yeah – theft ring.

The actual seller refuses to do a replacement. The order was delivered, and it is no longer their problem. They claim as long as it was delivered anywhere, they have no further responsibility. Takeaway: avoid the Breeze Box brand no matter what. That’s two different sellers who carry them who tried to screw me. So there’s definitely some sort of scam/fraud ring going on with that.

And yes, I checked consumer sites about them before I ordered. I will have to go back to them with an update about this nightmare, and rate them a 1.

Back to the store through which I ordered it, for another live chat. This time, the customer service rep was a woman. She was much more interested in actually finding a solution than the two dudes I dealt with the past few days. It took us over an hour. But she gave me codes/credits, she initiated a refund (which I won’t see for 10 days), and I bought two other units, smaller/different and different from each other, which were guaranteed to arrive yesterday. The start of another heat wave.

Now, I shouldn’t have had to lay out a penny as far as I’m concerned. But I didn’t want to be tied to a store credit, and with the discount code offered, I was able to afford it. Provided absolutely nothing goes wrong between now and getting paid.

Like that will happen, but I’ll deal with that when it does.

They should have just credited me instantly and then returned the difference (since these units are less expensive than the Breeze Boxes). They SHOULD have sent someone to retrieve the misdelivered boxes and reshipped them. And you can’t tell me that there isn’t another set of these units in one of their warehouses in the entire country. Absolutely reprehensible. I’m still filing a complaint via the AG office, although I have to modify the original version.

I shouldn’t have to wait 10 days for the refund. Amazing how they will take it OUT instantly, but it takes 10 days to get it back. I didn’t want to be stuck with “store credit” because I only shop with them as a last resort. Update: the refund showed up in my account on Saturday, which mollified me somewhat. Although I have to chase down the refunds for the extended warranties through Allstate on my own – again, I shouldn’t have to do that.

I think these units will be okay. Not as fancy as the Breeze Boxes, but bigger and with more functions than the tiny arctic cooler, plus they are rechargeable, rather than having to be plugged in all the time, like the little cooler. If I’d been able to get my hands on another little cooler, I would have, but they are, of course, all sold out within a reasonable driving radius. That little cooler does a pretty darn good job. When we get our new ones, the small cooler will become Charlotte’s cooler.

But I lost the whole damn morning.

NONE of this should have been this complicated, not even during Mercury Retrograde. I should have been able to place the order and receive the merchandise I ordered within a reasonable time frame.

Like, you know, an actual, ethical business relationship, rather than outsourced corporate bullshit.

I finally got out of the house for a large drop-off/pick up at the library and a smaller weekly grocery shop. I was in no mood to meal plan, but hopefully, I got us what we need to get through the week.

Home, hauled it up the stairs, rested up in the heat and humidity. Had lunch, then got back to work on the ghostwriting, although by then I had a blaring headache.

Did some good work on the ghostwriting, and was almost where I needed to be.

My friend’s dog came through surgery well and is home and recovering. Yay!

Moped in the heat and humidity in the evening a bit, reading the social music history, and two scripts for the literary committee. Poached salmon in the microwave with pesto, which turned out really well. I don’t use the microwave often, but this worked well.

Saturday wasn’t too bad, although I couldn’t get the inside of the house below 80. We had the fans going in the morning, the ceiling fan and dehumidifier on all day. It wasn’t too bad.

In the morning, I worked on the textile piece. I sewed on the embellishments, after rearranging them a bunch of times, and stripping them back. If it’s too busy, it can’t communicate properly. It will just be a cacophony instead of moments that build in telling the piece’s story.

I should have done some ghostwriting work, but did not. I read two more scripts for the literary committee. I rehearsed the poems. I finished the music history, and started reading the (badly written) memoir of someone often mentioned in said history.

Red Shirt Farm sent an email talking about how there are 30,000 edible-for-humans plants, but people tend to get stuck in the same 5-7. Which is true, but I had NINE kinds of vegetables in tonight’s pasta, along with using pesto sauce instead of tomato. I’m on a pesto/basil kick right now, craving basil in everything.

Later that evening (or maybe it was early Sunday morning), I got an email that tonight’s literary committee meeting was cancelled. Which means I can go to yoga! And, instead of blocking off four hours for travel and meeting, I can work up until it’s time to leave for yoga – which is only 5 blocks away. So that all works out.

Had a nice, slow start on Sunday. It was cooler, at least to start, although there were heavy rain showers off and on all morning.  Had a longer than usual morning yoga practice, which was lovely, although Tessa spent a lot of time on the yoga mat, and I had to keep trying to pretzel around her. I sewed the hanging loops for the textile piece, although I didn’t yet stitch them on.

Did the Community Tarot Reading for the week.

I rehearsed the poem, put together my bag for the afternoon, showered, dress in Real People Clothes, slapped on some makeup, had some food, and headed out by 2:30.

The weather had cleared up where we are, but the further I drove toward Lenox, the rainier it got. The drive was smooth, with far less traffic than I expected. I got there early. This is no surprise to anyone who knows me, that I am perpetually early.

I sat in the car for a bit, and rehearsed the poems, then meandered through the parking lot to the event tent. I may not be the most experienced poet in the group, but I am always on time and do my bit!

It was old home week. Lots of familiar faces, some new ones to welcome. There were 32 of us this year. Caught up with people, some of whom I haven’t seen since last year’s poem. We found our seats. We got our instructions from the director. We did a run-through, which went smoothly. This year’s poem coalesced really well. There was a good energy to the whole flow of it, much more unified than in previous years. Maybe because so many of us have worked together before. Even though our sections are crafted independently, we have a sense of each other, and there were sections that naturally built, then pivoted. Which was really interesting.

We had about a 20 minute break to chat and have refreshments in the “poet’s lounge” behind the tent. The daughter of one of the organizers of the program baked us a chocolate cake, and it was delicious!

We were ready to go at 5. Because of the weather, I worried there wouldn’t be an audience, but there was one of our bigger audiences! It was kind of wonderful. The poem soared, building on the audience’s energy, and sounded/felt even more unified. One of the organizers, whose segment started and ended the poem, wrote a piece for the final segment as we read that incorporated bits of every poet’s segments. It was wonderful.

We chatted with each other and the audience, got our honorariums (we get a small honorarium for participating, always welcome), and I headed out.

The weather was clearing up, but it was pretty humid. I stopped at Adams Fresh Market for a few things, including blueberry pie. We have a lot of different leftover pastas to finish this coming week and I couldn’t stand the thought of pasta, so I grabbed a rotisserie chicken.

Home, dinner, enjoyed the afterglow from the poem.

Slept reasonably well. Up early. Good yoga and meditation practice. Didn’t want to get my hopes too high that the cooling units would actually be delivered on this first start to yet another heat wave.

Annoyed that there are yet more workman. All of this makes me think the landlord is trying to sell the building, which would seriously screw us. Also, Berkshire Gas was here over the last few days, painting and setting out flags. What are they planning to dig and why and why is no one communicating?

Got the posts up for the Community Tarot Reading. Got the inside temperature down to 80. Ran the dehumidifier and the small cooler as we waited for the bigger ones.

Headed out to get my hanging rod for the textile piece. Wanted to get a flat 1×4, but couldn’t find it at the first store. Considered a curtain rod. Decided to drive over to Carr’s Hardware, over by Norad Mill and see what they had. No 1x there, but they had a nice 4-foot dowel that was 7/8” diameter and strong enough to heft the piece. I bought some angle braces, too, and then the eyehooks I need to hang the paintings here. I mean, since I was there. I joked with the cashier that I should just always go to Carr’s first, because they have what I need at a good price and it saves me grief. Plus, they’re nice.

Home (yes, I’m still under budget for this project). Cut and finished hand sewing the hanging loops, then hand stitched them to the back of the quilt. Used up an entire lint roller trying to get the cat hair off the damn piece. Chatted with the gallery about how to hang the text piece with it.

Couldn’t believe I actually finished the piece five whole hours before I had to get it to the gallery. I mean, technically, the piece was “finished” on Saturday, but the hanging loops mattered.

I actually photographed the whole process of this piece, for documentation, in case I want to use that information for anything else.

One of my colleagues posted photos of the ceramic strawberries she’s making as part of her installation – she’s doing a ceramic picnic. I can’t wait to see it!

Wrote and turned in my review and requested a new assignment from the new owners, which I received. It’s a print copy of the book, so that will be mailed. Got back on the marketing horse, starting with the Topic Workbooks. I wrote a new, shorter tagline. I will cycle through the seven workbooks, and then start cycling through the Nina Bell books again. I dropped the ball badly on the marketing. When I market, books sell. When I don’t, they don’t. Not a hard equation to understand. I mean, there’s immediate cause and effect!

Got where I wanted to be on the ghostwriting. I have to add tertiary information today, and also add floorplans, specs on several things, etc., and do a full pass on the material. Then, tomorrow morning, I’ll do a proofreading pass, and off it goes. I hope to get the revisions for the other piece within the next day or two, so I can do those, get those out and then invoice. Submitted a play to a theatre in MA that had a call for submissions that I didn’t know about, but a friend in Illinois discovered and forwarded to me!

The small coolers actually arrived, about mid-afternoon, which was nice, because it was getting kind of miserable, although the little artic cooler did the best it could. Got the two new ones set up. They have to be plugged in all the time, too. I thought I’d ordered ones that charged and then ran, but no  such luck. But they are fine, more powerful than my tiny one. We’re not running them with water yet. They also don’t overheat the charging squares, which works better. I still have to invest in a couple of new charging squares.

The dehumidifier seems to add heat to the room, so we are going to try to not run it today, just run the small coolers, and see how that goes. If it gets too mucky, maybe we’ll run in for an hour or two.

It got up to 84 inside, which is about our upper limit for comfort. I’ve gotten it down to 80 so far this morning, using the fans to pull in cooler air from outside, but if I can get it down even a couple more degrees, we should be okay.

At 5:30, I took the textile piece to the gallery. It didn’t fit in the back of the car! I would have had to put down the seats, etc., but I managed to do a small fold, that doesn’t bend the tarot cards stitched to it, and get it into the backseat.

Drove down to Future Labs. It was so much fun to see the other people coming in to drop off their work. And the response to the textile piece was exactly what I hoped: first glance, oh, that’s kind of cool. And as they get closer and they realize what the borders are, what the embellishments are, the eyes get wide, the breath catches, and it’s, “oh, fuck, that’s amazing.”

Phew.

I don’t need to be there for the installation on Wednesday. The piece is on a hanging pole and they’re a gallery. They know how to hang things. I’m going in a little early on Friday to help them set up the refreshments, etc. I didn’t think I’d be reading the text piece at the opening, but now I am, so I have to print it out in large font and rehearse, putting in breath marks.

I got a poster, which I plan to frame (another frame to hunt down).

The relief in getting this out the door was incredible. I felt guilty about it, because I’ve put so much into the piece over the last few months. I texted my artist friend in Beacon to ask if it was normal to feel, “thank fuck I got it out of the house” and she assured me it is, and there may also be some depression and restlessness because there’s still some leftover focused energy with nowhere for it to go yet. So that made me feel better.

It’s somewhat different than getting a play or a book out the door.

Home, heated up dinner, read the final script for WAM. Even though tonight’s meeting is cancelled, I want to get my notes submitted, and then I’ll print out a set for whenever the meeting is rescheduled.

Slept reasonably well, running the new portable cooler. I can set a timer, so I set it for two hours. It’s quiet enough that I could go to sleep. Charlotte nudged me out of the way so she could be right in front of it. I woke up about 20 minutes after it shut off and was too hot again, so I turned it on for another two hours and slept until 5. The charging square stayed cool, so it’s all good.

Morning routine. I’m getting into the habit of rebuilding the morning yoga practice and letting that lead into the morning meditation. Tessa is happy about that. She always likes to be part of yoga. Bea thinks it’s all very weird.

On today’s agenda: working on the Llewellyn materials and working on the ghost writing. Submitting my script notes to the theatre. Yoga. That’s it.

I was going to do some ironing, since the ironing board is still out from the textile project. But I’m not ironing in 92-degree weather. I’ll wait until Thursday, when it’s cooler.

Have a good one!

Mon. July 28, 2025: Intent for the Week — Get It All Done

image of the 10 Wands tarot card from THE HERBAL TAROT by Michael Tierra, art by Candis Cantin, available from US Games

Monday, July 28, 2025

Waxing Moon

Pluto, Neptune, Saturn, Mercury Retrograde

Hot and humid

We have another heat wave coming in, and I am not looking forward to it, not with the amount of work that needs to get done this week.

The Community Tarot reading for the week is here.

The replacement cooling units are supposed to be delivered today, but I’m skeptical. You will read the whole messy saga of those replacements tomorrow.

You’ll also hear how wonderful the poem was at The Mount.

I have to put the hanging loops on the textile piece and get a board to run through it, which can then be fastened however, and I drop it off tonight.

Everything else is about the ghostwriting. I will decamp if necessary, between annoyng workmen and the heat.

I just need to put my head down and do the work and get through this week. Plod along, doing each thing in front of me, and then doing th enext.

What’s your intent for the week?

Fri. July 25, 2025: Some Good Work Done, In Spite of the Heat Grumpies

image courtesy of Annette Meyer via pixabay.com

Friday, July 25, 2025

Waxing Moon

Pluto, Neptune, Saturn, Mercury Retrograde

Hot and humid

(Note: that is not one of my cats in the photo. It’s a stock photo).

Another week gone, and it’s going to be a rough day today, weather wise. Of course, the company has done nothing to replace the stolen Breeze Boxes.

Rollercoaster times, isn’t it?

Workmen are replacing the deck on the ground floor of the house. If they had actually communicated with us, I would have moved stuff from our back balcony, but you know, that would mean actual organization. Instead, when I went to change the water in the hanging birdbath, I was told I can’t be out there all day. And that the “furniture could be replaced.” By whom? Again, if they had told me, I would have moved things off the balcony last night. If it collapses and I lose all my enchanted garden stuff, I will not be a happy camper. Update: It did not collapse. I will see what it feels like when I go out to change the water and water the plants this morning. Update 2: They are back out there again, so again I can’t be out there. Yet my neighbors (the ones who always take up more than their share of space) were out there all evening last night. Grrr. But at least everything is holding? I guess that’s good?

So sick and tired of incompetence.

Columbia University caved further to That Thing, and is letting the administration decide if they admitted enough white people. You can read about it here. So much for Columbia being viable for anything anymore. Itchio is banning certain content at the behest of payment companies. It makes me glad I never bothered trying to use Itchio as a platform for my work. I kept being urged to do so, but the very thought of it was too exhausting.

Then there’s the South Park episode. Good for them, doing what they want, integrating the new material instantly, getting paid by Paramount to do it, even though Paramount bribed That Thing, and then fired Colbert at That Thing’s behest. Let’s see how Paramount deals with this. The deal with Skydance should never have been approved in the first place, but bribes happened, and here we are.

This is why art matters, and why fascists try to stifle artists. Because there are those who will take risks anyway.

There’s a lot of talk about Murdoch planning a takedown of That Thing, too, but remember that Murdoch can’t ever be trusted. I suspect this is as much of a performance as the “feud” with that other egomaniac billionaire.

Glad to see Sidekick Cracker mocked on Nantucket, but whoever rented the place to him should be run off the island permanently.

I considered skipping my time at the Clark, but realized if the balcony was going to collapse, me being here wasn’t going to stop it. So off I trotted.

I sat with the catalogue for a bit (I am definitely investing in it, a few ghostwriting payments down the line). The research and scholarship that went into the exhibition is wonderful. I sat with some of the pieces I had enjoyed last weekend, and found new things to appreciate by other pieces. Anna Airy has a large painting, “Aircraft Assembly Shop, Hendon” where the faces of the individuals working are indistinct, but the body positions are detailed and reveal character traits. It’s so fascinating. There are three women at a table, in the lower right corner, and I want to know what they are chatting about. (Wasn’t that where I started with WOMEN ON THE BRIDGE?). I have to be careful not to repeat myself.

I also visited the Isamu Noguchi: Landscapes of Time exhibit. Quite a contrast. I always think of art as a three-way conversation between artist, piece, and viewer. The women in the exhibit downstairs are fairly realistic or somewhat fantastical in their representations, and there are layers of involvement the viewer can dig into. There’s the immediate representation, and one can be satisfied with that. Or one can dig deeper into details of light, shadow, construction, symbolism. Or go even deeper into societal and contextual meanings. The Noguchi work is much more abstract (or maybe it’s conceptual?) and it requires more immediate work from the viewer, which is interesting.

Anyway, I was very glad I went, and I left as it was starting to get crowded. It’s amazing that the road construction isn’t keeping crowds away at all. The staff must be exhausted, with the 7-days-a-week-open of summer right now.

Finished reading AGONY HILL by Sarah Stewart Taylor, her new series set in Vermont in the 1960’s. It’s very well done, especially the character work. I’m looking forward to the second book in the series, HUNTER’S HEART RIDGE, which comes out next month.

Dealt with a bunch of admin. Tried several arrangements of embellishments on the textile piece to make decisions before I actually sew them down. Rehearsed my sections of the poem. Dealt with some admin stuff with the ghostwriting, before I could actually settle into the ghostwriting.

I had a good work session on the ghostwriting, and am almost caught up to where I hoped to be by this point. That makes me look forward to today’s session.

Heated up leftovers and then read two scripts for WAM, and then called it a night, going back to reading the book about the evolution of Talking Heads, which is really a social history of the music scene/CBGB.

We managed to keep it bearable inside, between the fans and the dehumidifier, having gotten it down to 72 in the morning, and then closing everything down. It was still a little uncomfortable, but not too bad.

Overnight, I used my arctic cooler for a little while. Charlotte was delighted. I woke up at 2:30, hot and cranky, moved to the couch, couldn’t get comfortable, went back to bed, ran the cooler for a bit, and went back to sleep until 6. The cats were not amused. I’ve only been able to get the temperature inside down to 80 this morning, which will make it rough when the temperature soars outside.

And yes, I will be contacting the company to ask where the F are the replacements, and why haven’t I gotten any information that they shipped and are on the way?

Breakfast, yoga, meditation, journal. While I try to find excuses not to do the morning yoga, actually rolling out the mat and doing it makes me feel better and sets me up for a more settled meditation session.

I should get out a newsletter today about the events happening over the next few weeks into August. I have to do the weekly grocery shop/library run. I have to work on the textile project, work on the ghostwriting, and read two more scripts. I need to rehearse the poem. I should get the book review written and out this morning, too. It’s due on Monday, and I like to stay a little ahead. It’s a difficult book to review, so I had to have it roll around in my head for a few days to figure out the best approach.

My friend’s elderly dog has surgery, so let’s all send best wishes that it goes well and there’s a speedy recovery.

Worked out what I think will be the new climactic sequence for VICIOUS CRITIC (finally), and did some pondering on ANGEL HUNT, which needs to get back on track.

Today’s poem from DAILY RATTLE is “In Praise of Pyrex” by Paige Gilchrist, as part of their Tribute to Food Poems issue. I really loved the poem, and hope to read more of her work. She doesn’t seem to have a website, or I’d link to it.

Tomorrow is dedicated to the textile project and maybe a little ghostwriting. Rehearse the poem. Read the final script for next week’s meeting. Sunday, I’ll work on the textile piece in the morning, and then I’m off to The Mount in the afternoon for the poem. The performance itself is at 5, but we meet early enough to rehearse it once before we actually do it. Since there are 32 of us, and it’s the first time the poem is put together as a whole.

Monday’s focus is finishing the textile project (which I hope will be done well before that), and then dropping it off at the gallery at 5:30. I’d like to go see a colleague’s talk over in Williamstown that evening, but it depends whether or not I’m on top of the ghostwriting.

Next week has the ghostwriting deadline, the installation and opening of the group show, and yoga. Which doesn’t sound like a lot, but actually is.

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

Thurs. July 24, 2025: Happy New Moon!

image courtesy of Michael Skale via pixabay.com

Thursday, July 24, 2025

New Moon

Pluto, Neptune, Saturn, Mercury Retrograde

Hazy, hot, humid again

You can read the latest on the garden here.

Yesterday morning turned out to be lovely and softly warm, with a little breeze. After breakfast, I got my act together and ran my errand. A fool’s errand, as I suspected it would be, without getting what I hoped. But it was still lovely to be out, and I stumbled across some information which might be useful to me next month.

Came home, wound another bobbin, and finished stitching the ditches on the textile piece. Then, I pinned the bottom and sewed that by hand, which allowed me to ease it so it would hang better. Bea sat next to me as I stitched, absolutely fascinated. It was very funny.

By 10 AM, this part of the piece was finished! All that’s left to do are the embellishments and the hanging loops. Such a relief!

I did some organizing in my office, mostly filing. I have to set up a bunch of folders, and I have to re-think how I’m filing some stuff. But setting aside dedicated time, even if it’s just a little bit, every day, helps.

I’m telling you, it felt more like a new moon yesterday than a dark moon.

Working at my desk feels so much better than it did with it facing the wall. Of course, now I want to put stuff on the walls behind me. I have some lovely vintage travel art for which I’ve been trying to find the right frames. That needs to move up on the agenda! A friend suggested I get plain brown wooden frames and then paint them the colors I want, so I may see what I can find in thrift stores and do that.

I’ve decided on the housewarming/blessing gift I will make for my friends (I’m going to their part in mid-August, when I drop off my ekphrastic piece to LAVA). It won’t be difficult to make, but I will need to find a pretty frame for it. In fact, the frame will dictate the size of the finished piece.

I saw a submission call for an episodic group of 10-minute plays and thought I could adapt one of my radio plays, but I have too many characters (the limit is 4). The deadline is the 29th, and I just can’t see conceptualizing and writing something submittable between now and then with all my other deadlines. I would absolutely love to, but too bad for me.

Did a few pages’ worth of work on a screenplay I should absolutely not be devoting time to now, but I needed to tweak a character scene before I forgot it.

Worked on the ghostwriting, which was slow going, but it’s going, and the work itself is good. I just have to put in some longer days between now and next Wednesday’s deadline.

Got an email from the interim managers at the coverage place that acted like they were bestowing some grand honor upon me, when in reality, it’s just more exploitation. I don’t know whether to laugh or spit nails.

The cats loved the cooler, less humid weather. Bea and Tessa, in particular, are playing a lot and having the best time.

Heated up leftovers for dinner. Read a book set in Vermont in the 1960’s that I’m enjoying so far.

Slept well, up early, morning routine. I’m rebuilding my morning yoga practice back into the routine (new moon, good time to re-start it). It felt good to do a dedicated session of yoga before the usual meditation. It meant I was more settled when I sat down to meditate, too!

I have a spell in today’s SPELL-A-DAY Almanac (under the Cerridwen Iris Shea byline), called “The Joyful Fool.” You can learn more about it here.

On today’s agenda: The Clark, stitching embellishments, ghostwriting. That should keep me busy all darn day. If it’s too hot to work here when I get back from the Clark, I will decamp somewhere. I’ve started the invoice to the company where I am charging them for every hot, humid day the replacement boxes aren’t here.

Nothing they promised in the live chat has happened. Liars. Which is why my state AG is now involved.

Other than anger at the theft and concern about heat/humidity, I’m looking forward to the day and the new moon cycle. I’m trying to get the apartment as cool as possible this morning, and setting up the dehumidifier and the one small personal cooler we have.

Have a good one!

Wed. July 23, 2024: Too Much Drama!

image courtesy of  WikimediaImages via pixabay.com

Wednesday, July 23, 2025

Dark Moon

Pluto, Neptune, Saturn, Mercury Retrograde

Partly sunny and pleasant

And here we are, with another half a week gone!

Yesterday morning was dedicated to the textile project. Of course, the backing piece that I thought would fit, once it was all patched and ironed out – was an inch too short. Back to the store for another length of fabric. And yes, I am still under budget.

Cut this to fit, and got a correct piece of backing fastened on three sides, flipped it right side out, slid the batting into it, pinned the batting, and got most of the quilting done. I was just on the last border (after yet more bobbin issues), when the bobbin ran out yet again, and it was lunchtime, and I’d run out of time to stitch.

Had lunch, reading Kate Morton’s THE LAKE HOUSE, which is wonderful. I enjoyed it so much. This is the second of her novels that I’ve read, and I will read more.

I didn’t get as much done as I wanted on the ghostwriting, which will come back to bite me in the butt later this week. I should be more worried than I am, but I will figure it out.

And then. . .because, of course. Here I was, pooh-poohing the whole Uranus in Gemini and Mercury Retrograde starting in Cancer making one want to rearrange the house. And I want to rearrange my office. My desk is at an angle but faces the wall and my back is to the room, which is terrible feng shui. The wall “blocks” my career path, and having my back exposed to the room is also not good. So my first thought was to move the printer table, move the desk I’m using to the side to use as a printer table, and then move the rolltop desk out of the sewing room/Bea’s room and use it, facing the room, as my main desk. That would mean getting a bookcase for the sewing room (I already have a list of new bookcases I need to get for the apartment, in general).

I convinced myself that I did not have to do all that RIGHT NOW, one hour before yoga.

I was a little worried the rolltop desk is too high and when I’m seated, I’ll be blocked from the rest of the room (but maybe that’s not a bad thing). I miss using that desk. I loved using it at the other house. I used that desk for longhand writing and my other desk for computer work (they were in the same room). Here, the rolltop desk is tucked away and is more of a catch-all that I don’t regularly use. My current desk, which is three-tiered, but has open space in the center back possibly could just be turned around so I face the room?

Again, none of that had to be done in that minute, although I wanted to do it.

But my office feels stagnant (and not just because I have too many projects stacked in it). I need to shake up that energy and make the whole space more workable. Part of that is putting away a bunch of projects and filing things that are in stacks because I’m worried I will need them. They need to be put away, but somewhere I can get to them when I need them.

Again, with two very serious deadlines hovering over me, this is NOT the time to do it. But what the heart wants. . .

I did it. I flipped the current desk around. It faces the room (well, actually, it’s facing my bedroom, but I can partially shut the door. Fully shutting the door will cause Charlotte drama). It meant I have to get another extension cord for my desk lamp. The only cords we still have, apart from the outdoor cords we used for holiday lights, are from the 1960’s without the modern safety plugs and modern plugs don’t fit them. But the rest of it worked, and even the internet didn’t get messed up.

However, looking at the room means I see all the other tweaks I have to do, as far as organizing projects and spaces, etc. Which is fine and necessary, and I’ll do a little bit every day, which will wind up with it getting done.

But having the wall at my back instead of in front of me feels so much better.

However, now that the back of the desk faces the room, with all the braces, the cats consider it a jungle gym.

Changed and dashed out to yoga, stopping at a store where I hoped to get an extension cord. No luck. Dashed to Big Y. No extension cords. Dashed next door to CVS, where I got the last household extension cord they had (too expensive, but I needed it).

Made it to yoga on time.

Yoga was great. Came home to find a text that the Breeze Boxes had been delivered – at 3:04 PM. They most certainly were not. Or, if they were, it wasn’t to me.

Got on a live chat with the company, after the AI bot tried to convince me I was crazy and just hadn’t looked hard enough for the delivery. The rep said it had been “misdelivered.” I said, then get on the horn to the driver, have him retrieve it, and bring it here. The rep ignored it, and wouldn’t tell me where it had been delivered. I also pointed out that I was sitting in front of my window at 3 this afternoon, and no deliveries were made on our street. Plus, legitimate deliveries now include a photo of the box in front of the door, and arrive within minutes of the delivery. This had no photo AND the text message arrived more than three HOURS after it claimed delivery.

Skeezy all the way around.

In other words, the driver stole it. Whether the driver stole it because he felt someone he knew needed it more than I do, or is part of a ring, doesn’t matter. If it was a genuine mistake, it could be fixed within 24 hours through retrieval and redelivery. If it was a genuine mistake, the person who received it would contact the company and ask for it to be picked up and re-delivered the right person/address (something I have often done). If it was mis-delivered within the neighborhood, the neighbor would have brought it by last night. Because we all get misdelivered items at least once a week, and run around re-delivering them (we should be charging the various companies for our time and effort, since THEIR people get it wrong so often).

The rep said he’d order an expedited replacement. I pointed out that this was drop shipped FROM CHINA and took three weeks last time. I need it by Thursday, when the temperature is going to be 92 degrees again. Three more weeks, and it’s the end of summer. I got song and dance about expedited. I also pointed out that the product description never said it was being drop-shipped from China and would take three weeks, just that it shipped in 1-3 days, which is why I ordered it in the first place. If I’d known it was being drop-shipped from China and would take three weeks after the 1-3 days when it was actually shipped, I would not have ordered it.

None of this was acknowledged.

In other words, not only do they mislead customers to get their money, they are accessories to theft. I repeatedly asked for the driver’s name and where the item had been misdelivered (so I can put it in a police report). That was ignored.

I am filing a formal complaint with the executive office today, and cc’ing my state AG. If this is happening to me, it’s happening to others. I am also charging them $300/day for every hot, humid day I have to wait for the damn delivery. The company “building it into their policies” isn’t good enough. Looking the other way when your employees are stealing from you isn’t good business. It’s being an accessory to theft. How about paying your employees well enough and treating them well enough so they don’t steal from you? Try that on for size.

Not surprising with all the retrogrades, but annoying none the less.

But at least my desk feels good! And I now have an extension cord and a working lamp!

Heated up leftovers for dinner. Read the book for review, which I will write up and send off this morning, and then see if the new owners actually assign me another one (I was already paid for this one, so it doesn’t really matter).

I have an errand to run this morning, and then I will finish stitching the last border and hand-stitch the bottom of the textile piece (if I hand-stitch it, there will be more ease and it will hang better). Tomorrow or Friday, I can start the embellishments. The rest of the day is about the ghostwriting, getting that back on track. I can do it; I just have to sit down and focus. Maybe even at the desk with the better feng shui!

Too much “dramawr” for a single day! Mercury Retrograde in Leo, sheesh! But it was still a pretty good day, in spite of it all.

And it was cool and pleasant, which helped a lot. It was cool enough overnight to need blankets, and it’s lovely in here this morning. It’s only supposed to get into the low 80’s today, which isn’t bad. Tomorrow, however, is supposed to be 92 and very humid. Which is why we needed the Breeze Boxes that were stolen and will take another three damn weeks to replace.

Have a good one!

Tues. July 22, 2025: A Pleasant Summer Weekend

image courtesy of  Marjatta Caján via pixabay.com

Tuesday, July 22, 2025

Day Before Dark Moon

Pluto, Neptune, Saturn, Mercury Retrograde

Sunny and pleasant

I hope you had a great weekend!

The Community Tarot Reading for the Week is up here.

Friday morning, I got out a submission of the poem version of “I Will Be Different” as a performance piece to a festival.

I polished “Tell Me. . .” and sent that, with the artist statement and details, to the gallery.

Dealt with some email. Headed to the library to drop off/pick up books. Then, it was off to Big Y for the big shop for the coming week. I’ve felt so uninspired as far as meal planning lately, and then feel guilty, because there’s so much farmers’ market bounty. The pasta sauce in the crockpot last week was a hit, though. It turned out really well, and slow cooking it gave it layers of extra flavor.

Anyway, I did a bigger grocery shop than I planned, ran another errand, and then headed home. Hauled everything up the stairs and put it away. Unpacked the library books.

And that’s where I got caught. Thomas Mallon is one of my favorite authors, both in fiction and in non-fiction. His book about diaries, A BOOK OF ONE’S OWN, is one I re-read every year or year and a half, and have done that for going on 30 years. HENRY AND CLARA, about the other couple in the box the night Lincoln was shot, is one of my favorite novels. I mean, everything of his I’ve read I’ve really liked, but, like many, those are my two favorites. Excerpts from his journals, THE VERY HEART OF IT: NEW YORK DIARIES  1983-1994, was recently published, and I ordered it through the library (I’m sure I will eventually buy my own copy). I graduated from NYU in 1983. I lived on the west coast from 1984-1987. Then I came back and worked my way up in NYC theatre. So I’m familiar with many places, people, incidents, shows, etc. that he writes about.

I meant to read for 20 minutes, and suddenly, most of the day was gone.

I got my act together and worked on the ghostwriting, even with the siren song of the book beside me.

The coverage company proved, once again, that they are insensitive jerks toward their readers. They offered a special rate for 24 hours for the software owned by the parent company. Like I ever want to have anything to do with their parent company again, even the software! Which, by the way, the newest version is supposed to be terrible, from all I’ve heard. Read the room, people, and maybe show the people who’ve worked their asses off for you in poor conditions a little respect. Oh, wait, we’re not important enough to be afforded respect. Or money. We’re expendable.

The check from my reading in Greenfield arrived. I’d forgotten about it. Even the small amount is appreciated, because it indicates they valued our work. Put that aside to take to the bank on Monday.

Friday night was cool enough to sleep comfortably, which made a big difference.

Up early on Saturday. Tempted to read. Instead, got new backing fabric for the textile project. Got it home and realized I would run into many of the same problems because I don’t have a space big enough to spread it flat.

I rebuilt the piece from scratch, scaling it down considerably. I had just enough of the bone fabric, to the inch, to do so. It took all day, and there were bobbin issues at times, but I got the front done.

My hands really hurt by the end of the day (along with my neck, back, and knees).

It got progressively warmer and more humid over the course of the day.

The fabric I need for the backing is one inch too narrow.

But then, I found another piece, from what I’d taken off, that I can make fit.

Phew!

But I was exhausted, and my hands hurt.

Coordinated a few details for the group show in which the piece will be included. A colleague needed to brainstorm about something on a tight deadline, so I read the material and gave my thoughts as quickly as I could.

Cooked dinner, relaxed in the evening, went to bed early. Woke up at 2:30 in a lot of pain, but managed to fall back asleep.

Up early on Sunday, morning routine. Read a bit, then showered, got dressed, put on some makeup, and was out of the house by 10 AM. Lovely drive to Williamstown, although it was a bit humid. Even the road under construction to the museum wasn’t as much of a nightmare as the last time I drove it.

Met my friend, used my membership (that’s why I have a membership, not just for me, but to treat my friends), and we went to A Room of Her Own: Women Artists-Activists in Britian 1875-1945. Which is amazing, and I must, must, must go back often between now and when it closes in September.

I’m familiar with Vanessa Bell’s work, but I don’t think I ever stood in front of one of her paintings. The photos don’t capture their luminosity. She really was an underrated artist.

And how did I not know about Anna Airy and Winifred Knights? Anna Airy’s sketches are so detailed. I’d heard of some others, including Sylvia Gosse, and there were names I was familiar with through Virginia W’s diaries, but I didn’t really know their work. I’d seen some of the woodcut book covers at a Morgan Library Exhibit at some point in New York years ago, but I didn’t know much of the other work.

Wow. Just wow.

And to see May Morris’s embroidery up close and in person was exquisite. The iridescence of the silk thread! The detail!

There was also a triptych (I didn’t write the name of the artist down) with words carved into the pattern of the frame. We had such fun following the phrases. A couple nearby saw our fun and asked us. We led them to the first word, and they had the delight of unravelling it themselves, and shared it with the next people who approached the piece and so on.

A couple of ghostwriting payments down the road, and I must invest in the catalogue. I will use it for the rest of my life as a reference volume on various projects.

The depictions of light and shadow and the vivacity of all the work was wonderful, especially the way it was curated.

We had lunch in the café and brainstormed a project my friend wants to work on. I can’t take it on right now, but I can help her craft the proposal so the space she envisions it in will sit up and take notice, and then she can run with it. She can definitely pull it off.

We enjoyed the reflecting pool for a bit, and then parted ways. It was a lovely day. We hadn’t seen each other in person since Winter Solstice, although we’re in touch via email a couple of times a week.

I cannot wait to go back to the exhibit, and will have to rearrange my schedule in the coming weeks to do so.

Home. Too tired to stitch, although I worked on the backing piece, trying to figure out if I want to stitch or patch a rip in it. Patching is probably a better choice.

I just could not stop reading Thomas Mallon’s THE VERY HEART OF IT.  When he talks about various theatre or dance or art events that I either worked on or experienced, I always have to laugh. We must have been in the same spaces without ever actually meeting dozens of times. Although, to be fair, plenty of those times, he was in the audience and I was backstage.

He did remind me of the heyday of the book launch parties, though!

As I waited for the rice to cook for dinner (I did chicken in Spanish rice), I dipped into a book about MFK Fisher’s kitchens, and it excerpts her piece on tangerines that was referenced in KATE AND FRIDA, a novel by Kim Fay, that I read last week. Love it when that happens.

It was kind of humid, but not too hot, and cooled down a bit at night. The thunderstorm barely kissed us as it passed.

Slept reasonably well, up early feeling good about the week, although on Monday, everything took longer than I hoped. What can you do but roll with it?

Walked down to the bank to deposit the check from the LAVA Center reading, which I promptly used to pay for yoga. It was a lovely walk, though. It makes me so happy to see heather in so many yards.

Did the Community Tarot reading for the week. The reading part took the usual amount of time, but, of course, there were all kinds of tech frustrations getting the photos right and posting and then adding it to various feeds. But it got done.

Received a lovely email from the theatre to whom I sent the poem.

I am also now a part of Honor Roll Playwrights,  a group of women playwrights over 40, who advocate for each other’s work and come up with initiatives that help us all. For the moment, I’m staying quiet and learning the rules and reading what the others have to say. I need to learn the rhythm of the space. I also have to fill out the profile information, which will take some thought.

Found some potential magazines to whom I should pitch. I’ll try to get some of that done this week, in and around the ghostwriting and the stitching.

Did a good chunk of work on the ghostwriting, and some work on the textile piece. Not as much as I hoped on either, but a decent amount so I don’t feel overwhelmed by either.

Got the details for Sunday’s poetry event at the Mount. The 2026 WITCHES’ COMPANION author copies arrived. I’m thrilled with the way my piece turned out. It quotes a friend from Wild Soul River, so  I will do a PDF of the piece and send it to her for her files. There are a lot of terrific authors in there. I’m swooning because one of my favorites, Barbara Ardinger, is in there, and her piece is right before mine! Feeling so grateful.

On top of that, I heard from my colleague, Ellen Byron. Turns out she’s in CELLULOID CRIMES, the Level Best anthology, with a Hollywood-based story, too! We’re Hollywood mystery twinsies. What fun!

It should be out. . .soon? I hope. It’s supposed to release this summer.

Kept working rather than attending the Athena reading. I will rejoin them in September. I’m taking August off from as many meetings and responsibilities as possible.

It was cool enough to sleep reasonably well, although I woke up with a headache. Coffee and meditation took care of it. I dreamed that I lent vintage jewelry to some sort of event, and it was stolen. A warning to be careful of things I value, perhaps?

It’s nice and cool this morning, and we got the inside of the apartment down to 70F, which is great. Today is supposed to be relatively pleasant. Tomorrow it gets a little warmer, and then Thursday, Friday, and Saturday will be nasty. We should have our Breeze Boxes by Friday, so, fingers crossed. Wouldn’t it be great if they arrived early? Not counting on it during retrograde season, though. The dehumidifier helps a lot, so we should be fine.

On today’s agenda, I’m stitching in the morning, ghostwriting in the afternoon, and then yoga, and reading scripts for next week’s meeting. I’m trying not to overload my schedule, and to have large chunks of time to get the work on tightest deadline done.

Have a good one!

Mon. July 21, 2025: Intent for the Week — Steady as We Go

image courtesy of Rayydark via pixabay.com

Monday, July 21, 2025

Waning Moon

Pluto, Neptune, Saturn, Mercury Retrograde

Sunny and pleasant

I am so grateful that my Monday is not about a traffic jam like the one pictured above!

Everything is taking longer than I hoped this morning, so I just have to roll with it.

The Community Tarot Reading for the week is up on the Cerridwen’s Cottage site here.

It was a fun weekend, although a busy one (you’ll get the full version tomorrow). Even though this week will be busy, it’ll be a good busy, and I’m going to take as much enjoyment in the work as possible.

And hopefully feel like I’m not behind the beat all week!

What’s your intent for the week?

Fri. July 18, 2025: The Relief of Rain

image courtesy of Saskia Plötz via pixabay.com

Friday, July 18, 2025

Waning Moon

Pluto, Neptune, Saturn, Mercury Retrograde

Rainy and cooler

It’s Friday! And it’s cooler! And it finally rained!

Today is Bea’s one year adopt-aversary. One year ago yesterday was my reading at LaMama Galleria in NYC for SERENE AND DETERMINED (and it was hot then, too). One year ago today, Bea got into the car with me and we headed home. It was quite the trip. If you don’t remember it, or didn’t read about it the first time around, I wrote about the whole trip on the 19th last year, here. Bea didn’t even have a name when she came home with me from Beacon!

Yesterday wound up being a lost day.

It was too hot and humid to do anything, and the migraine made it even more impossible. No doubt, the migraine was triggered by the heat and humidity. I managed to do some research for a couple of projects (in books, not on screen), but mostly, I was just useless. It went up to 88 degrees outside, and 86 degrees inside, even with the dehumidifier and the fans. I considered packing up and going somewhere cooler, but every time I stood up, I was dizzy, so I just stayed put, drank a lot of water, and sweated a lot.

I tried to think and work a few things out, on multiple fronts, but I’m not sure how solid the thought process was, and will revisit the ponderings before I make any decisions.

On the work front, I will have to make up for it today and tomorrow, especially when it comes to the ghostwriting and the textile piece. And I have to finalize the text for the textile piece today and send it off.

I deleted the coverage window off my phone and my laptop. Big step. Necessary. Felt a little scary, but good. Again, technically, they want us “working” until Sept. 1, but I can’t see the point, especially the way we’re being treated.

Mercury goes retrograde today, so I’m buckled in for 3 weeks of chaos. I’m trying to have as quiet a schedule as possible, but there’s still work, there’s still the poem on the 27th at the Mount, dropping off the textile piece on the 28th, WAM meeting in Lenox on the 29th, helping to hang the show on the 30th, the art opening/reading on the 1st, and my class on the 9th before it goes direct again on the 11th. I’ve stripped out a bunch of other stuff in those weeks, but it’s still got more going on than I would like. I’d like to hide under the covers for the next three weeks, but too bad for me.

One step at a time. All I can do, right?

Today, I have to get the text piece finalized and out, I have to do grocery and library runs, I have to work on the ghostwriting and on the textile piece. Tomorrow, the main focus is the textile piece, but I have to put in a little bit of time on the ghostwriting to make up for yesterday’s loss. Sunday, I’m taking a friend to the new exhibit at the Clark, and then working on the textile piece.

And then we’re into another week, and it’s my last week to work on the textile piece, and to rehearse my two sections of the big poem. Along with the ghostwriting (the next 20K is due on the 30th).

Somehow, it will all get done, even if it means working late some nights. I don’t have a 9-5 gig, because I need and want the flexibility. So sometimes, it means working odd hours. The trade-off is worth it.

I’m grateful to have survived yesterday. It’s not supposed to get too hot until the end of next week, and our Breeze Boxes should arrive this coming week. Fingers crossed they do, and they bring a lot of relief in the next hot spell.

Paramount pandering to That Thing by cancelling Colbert’s show — do they really think people don’t see that for what it is? May Paramount reap what they sow. They’ve truly destoryed CBS, haven’t they?

Hey, at least I could open the door from the inside the past couple of days!

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

Thurs. July 17, 2025: Too Hot to Move

image courtesy of orja Blanco Cinza via pixabay.com

Thursday, July 17, 2025

Waning Moon

Pluto, Neptune, Saturn Retrograde

Mercury goes retrograde tomorrow

Hot, humid, yucky

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

Once again, we are at 88% humidity today. We need the thunderstorms they’ve promised us for the last few weeks!

Worked on the poems. Sent off the one for the group Boiler House project. Still not happy with the other one yet. Did some admin, caught up on email.

Did my day’s quota on the ghostwriting. Completely forgot to wear my sleeves to support my tendons, and paid a high price by the end of the day.

Finished reading THE MEDICI MANUSCRIPT by C.J. Archer, which was a lot of fun, and I want to read more in that series.

The coverage agency paid me, so we are all square. May 2021 – July 2025. Not a bad run, I guess. Had the virtual introduction to the new editors at the book review company. There’s an overlap with my former editor for the month. We’ll see what happens in August. I’m just going to keep doing my thing. I’ve been with them since 2018. I didn’t realize it had been that long.

It hit 91 outside, feeling like 100. But we kept it pleasant enough. It hit 84 inside in the late afternoon, but between the ceiling fan, the dehumidifier, and the cooling unit, it was okay. It started feeling a little oppressive in the late afternoon/early evening, and it was too hot to open up things until midnight.

Worked on fixing the textile piece. I’m rather discouraged. I think it’s do-able, I’m just discouraged, especially about the time frame. But a little bit every day is better than nothing on a day. All of the backing is finally off. I have to get a little of the batting off which is still stitched down, and then I will reconstruct the back.

Dipping into Adrienne Rich’s work, I realize how little has changed, in some ways, since the 70’s, 80’s, 90’s, other than we had a stronger sense of hope for the future. If you haven’t yet read the essay “Blood, Bread, and Poetry: The Location of the Poet” I recommend it.

To bed early. Up at midnight to open the door to the porch and let some cooler air in, and move to the couch. I couldn’t get comfortable, so moved to Tessa’s room, which was a little better.

It’s not supposed to be that hot today, but the humidity makes it difficult to function. I will shut the doors again soon, and turn on the dehumidifier, which is doing the best it can. And, really, does quite a bit.

First, though, I have to put things in the crockpot for tonight’s dinner. Too hot to cook, so I’m putting the ingredients for a slow-cook pasta sauce in the pot and letting it do its thing all day. Tonight, all I have to do is cook the pasta for 10 minutes and add it to the sauce.

I will see how I can function, and possibly decamp for the afternoon, so that I stay on track with the ghostwriting. The weather gave me a migraine this morning, and it is not fun.

I wish the Breeze Boxes would arrive. And I cannot tell you how much I am NOT looking forward to the next three weeks of Mercury Retrograde.  But we do what we can and get through, right?

All I want to do is go back to bed. Have a good one!

Wed. July 16, 2025: A Good Day for Ice Cream

image courtesy of -Rita- und mit  via pixabay.com

Wednesday, July 16, 2025

Waning Moon

Pluto, Neptune, Saturn Retrograde

Another Hot, Humid, Gray Day

Worked on the next draft of “Tell Me. . .” early in the morning. I fused the strongest parts of the first two versions of the poem, and made some additional tweaks. It’s closer, but not there yet.

Got out the two script submissions to which I was invited to submit. Fingers crossed they want to work on one of them!

88% humidity before 9 AM was a lot. But after breakfast, I watered the plants on the back balcony, changed the water in the hanging birdbath (I do that every day, and disinfect it once a week), and watered all the plants on the front porch. Willa “helped” on the front porch. She wanted to go out on the back balcony. I told her not now, but maybe, maybe after dinner when I get back from yoga.

With the dehumidifier, we managed to get it down to 37% humidity, which was helpful.

I finished the work on the ghostwriting assignment and turned it in a little after 1. At least I didn’t feel kicked in the head this time, so maybe I’m finding a rhythm.

We had the dehumidifier on, the ceiling fan going, and I ran the mini cooler in short spurts. It was a little warm, but it wasn’t awful. It was over 90 outside, so keeping it around 83 inside, with the lower humidity, worked. I worked in the living room, with all the machines going, because my office was just too hot.

In the afternoon, I read a bit, worked through some poem stuff in my head for two pieces on which I’m working, and pondered the ghostwriting assignment I start today.

Went to yoga, which was wonderful. Had dinner, then took Willa out on the balcony as promised. She was thrilled, and made friends with two of the neighbors, who love cats. Willa as diplomat, gotta love it. It’s good to build a better relationship with our neighbors.

Slept well, up early to the laundromat, battled with the machines, which weren’t working properly. This Mercury Retrograde is going to be a mechanical nightmare, isn’t it? Blech.  Fortunately, I didn’t have much, so it wasn’t as much of a disaster as it could have been, and I got everything working and through. Never let anyone tell you theatre training has no relevance to real life.

Trying to pull in some of the cooler air with the big fan this morning. We’ve got the inside down to 79, which is a good start, although I’d prefer to get it lower. Today is supposed to be our hottest day.

Fortunately, I’m at a point in the project where I don’t have to frantically rush/push through, so I can pace myself properly for the weather. And if it gets really bad, I’ll decamp in the afternoon. If the dehumidifier, fans, and cooing unit work well, it should be fine.

Today I should get my last payment from the coverage agency, and then be done with them. It’s a relief, in many ways, but I also wish the whole thing had been handled better. I’m not actively pitching myself to the other coverage agencies because I look at their terms, and they’re not acceptable. I will still do freelance work for individual producers, directors, and actors if asked, but not through an agency and at my rate, not the pittance the agency forced us down to.  And I doubt I will do it very often. I’m glad I did it. Especially when I was first hired, I loved the work and was thrilled to be a part of it. But the business has changed in ways that don’t align with my needs or ethics, so it’s best to be out of it.

On top of that, another organization is going to take over contest outsourcing, and they posted an announcement about how many of the executives from the coverage agency that’s shutting down are moving over there. No word on readers, of course. Um, who do they think will go through hundreds of entries?  I’m just rolling my eyes.

Hey, as of today, it is no longer my problem. Deep breath, and moving on.

I want to finish and send off my portion of the Boiler House group poem today, and also finish the text for the text/textile piece. I may do some work on the anthology story or Llewellyn; not sure. I will definitely get back on track with the Llewellyn pieces by tomorrow. And then, work on the ghostwriting later in the day, too.

I have lots of scripts to read this week and next week – the Athena Project scripts for next Monday, and the scripts for the next WAM committee meeting on the 29th.

I’m also working on the textile project 1 hour per day (minimum) to fix it and get it done on time on weekdays, and spending most of this coming weekend working on it, to get it back on track.

I’m not scheduling specific hours for any of it, because when I do that, I feel resentful and then sabotage it all. I prioritize the day’s projects, and then just flow from project to project, see where I am, what needs to be moved, what’s going well and needs more time, etc. That looser structure works better for me, and I wind up doing more because I feel less pressure. I can get out of my own way, which is useful. Too much structure, and I start to feel strangled, like I can’t creatively breathe. Finding just enough to support the momentum of the work, keeping it on deadline track, is a challenge, but when I get it right, it’s worth it.

Have a good one!