Devon Ellington's Blog, page 61
June 21, 2023
Wed. June 21, 2023: Pages Stacking Up
image courtesy of Jerzy Górecki via pixabay.comWednesday, June 21, 2023
Waxing Moon
Pluto & Saturn Retrograde
Cloudy and humid
Summer Solstice
I plan to enjoy the summer solstice rather than worrying about work, especially client work. Today’s post on The Process Muse is simply a celebration post, not a deep dive.
Today’s serial episode is from Angel Hunt:
Episode 43: The Protection Spell Works
One who wishes to cause harm cannot enter.
I was up early yesterday, and back at it to work on DEADLY DRAMATICS episodes. I got a handful done before I had to take my mom to the doctor’s appointment, and took the binder with the episodes I worked on these last few days along.
While she was in her appointment (and flirting with the very cute male nurse), I managed to edit the first 12 episodes. I’m finding quite a bit that needs the logic smoothed out, or some detail checking done. The early drafts had way too much passive language. While I caught a lot of it and tightened it, I’m finding even more. I’m also seeding a couple of details in this as throwaway lines that will pay off in future seasons.
The doctor is very pleased with my mom’s progress, and will handle the insurance company’s idiocy about the pills. They ran a few tests; whatever it was that made my mom sick enough to go to Urgent Care, it wasn’t a COVID variant. So that’s one less worry.
Masks are no longer required at the facility, but we wore ours, some others wore theirs, and so did my mother’s doctor.
The old white dude sitting across from me was sneezing like crazy, without a mask, and I was ready to wallop him with my binder.
Stopped by the store to buy a lot of blueberries (they were on sale, and we love blueberries), bread, coffee. I did one more pass on “The Dressing Room” short play and got it out to its target market. Now I can work on “Summon Thee” and not stress. There are some other playwright submission calls I want to take a closer look at later this week; I might have something.
Then, it was back to DEADLY DRAMATICS. I’m in the last arc of this season. I can tell, in the initial drafts, that I hadn’t done any outlining, because some of the logic is all over the place. So, I’m smoothing things out and rewriting a lot more on these episodes than some of the earlier ones, which had more time and attention. I’m also creating some new episodes, so it doesn’t jump around as much, which takes more time. I hoped to have the entire season finished by the end of yesterday, but no such luck.
I got news of yet another delay to the grant money. By this point, they’re just fucking with us, and they’re not even trying to solve the problems of the delay. They claim they process in the “order received.” I was one of the first to turn in my paperwork, so why am I one of the last to be paid?
I was very depressed for the rest of the day, plus having bad bouts of sense memory stress.
Yoga was great. The studio closes down for two weeks while the teachers go on vacation, which is great, and exactly how it should work (rather than worrying about trying to find people to cover). But these upcoming weeks are fraught for me, with sense memory stress, so I have to get my daily home practice back on track.
I can’t believe today is the Solstice. And it’s not “the start of summer.” The Solstice is MID summer. Starting tomorrow, the days get shorter. By August 1, the first harvest, it will be quite noticeable.
I’m deeply grateful it hasn’t been as hot and humid as the last couple of years (like when we moved). But I also feel as though my summer hasn’t yet started. A lot of that is due to the delay in the grant money, and the fact that so many projects had to be pushed back or scuttled. I can’t do them during the winter, because we’ll be stuck here, due to the weather.
Got good news about the collaborative poem, though; the honorarium is bigger than it was last year. The fact that they respect us enough to even give us one is great.
I love sitting in the conservatory in the mornings and evenings, and enjoying just being there.
Weird dreams in the night, for a restless night and not a good quality sleep. Up early this morning, out to the laundromat. I brought the DEADLY DRAMATICS binder to keep working on the edits.
I bought and put in a new ink tank on Monday, and I already have to head out this morning after breakfast to get another one.
I really need the fucking grant money so I can get my laser printer fixed. Among other things.
Still no client work coming in this week, so I’m using the time to focus on the serials. I want to finish DEADLY DRAMATICS, get the edits done, get the ANGEL HUNT edits done, get ahead on LEGERDEMAIN, all this week.
Legerdemain drops new episodes Tuesdays and Thursdays. Angel Hunt drops episodes Wednesdays and Fridays. I really want REP’s episodes to drop Mondays and Thursdays, once that’s ready to go later this year. I was going to do Tuesday/Friday for DEADLY DRAMATICS, but that means both days of Legerdemain would have another serial as distraction. So I think DD will drop Wednesdays and Saturdays, starting in late July. I’m not sure how weekend drops work, as far as audience, but we’ll find out!
Good thing I have my giant wall calendar!
The whole story around the missing submersible around the Titanic has so many layers of awful. The most important thing is that they are human beings facing a horrible death and need to be rescued. Someone made a comment about rich people doing grave tourism to other rich people, and then becoming the attraction for further grave tourism, which seems apt (they said it better). The fact that the attention is on the wealth, and not the crew or the humanity of everyone trapped is rather stomach churning. The fact that, even with all the information about how unreliable this particular submersible was, and they still went down in it, is further stomach churning. The slant of the coverage, the salivating over death, is revolting. Also, they had the resources to have rescue options on hand, and went down anyway without them, which is less than a good move.
But then, as fascinated as I am about sunken ships (other than Titanic, I’ve always hated everything around that tragedy, including the movie), the thought of going down in a small vehicle to poke around does not appeal to me. I mean, I got a good look inside the Alvin at WHOI, when I lived on the Cape, and wouldn’t go down in that, even if I had the qualifications, and even though I think it’s great that other people are excited to go down in it to further scientific research.
The whole thing is tragic. What’s even worse is that it was an avoidable tragedy.
Other than getting more ink (I’ll do an ink run after breakfast), today I will focus on DEADLY DRAMATICS. And do the rounds for today’s Angel Hunt episode.
Have a good one.
June 20, 2023
Tues. June 20, 2023: Deep in the Word Well
image courtesy of mh-grafik via pixabay.comTuesday, June 20, 2023
Waxing Moon
Pluto & Saturn Retrograde
Foggy and pleasant
Quite the weekend! But we’ll get to it, with our regular Tuesday catch-up.
Today’s serial episode is from Legerdemain:
Episode 95: Conversation with a Grimmkin
Love might not be forbidden, but sometimes it’s challenging.
I did it, on Friday. I completed drafting the ANGEL HUNT serial. 140 episodes. The last one is long, but it wraps everything up, and made more sense to keep it that way than breaking it up.
I was practically babbling by the time I was done.
I did a library run, picking up and dropping off books. Quick grocery shop. And home.
And that was kind of it for me on Friday. I was cooked. I did the social media rounds for Angel Hunt. I did another pass on “The Dressing Room.”
I was exhausted, and, for once, I let myself rest.
Saturday, other than cleaning the stove and the oven (which took on and off most of the day), and changing the beds, I didn’t do much else, either, except read. Books like THE BENEVOLENT SOCIETY OF ILL-MANNERED LADIES and THE WITCH KING. Both very good and very different from each other.
I did the episode log lines and graphics for this week’s Legerdemain, but that was about it.
I rolled around the climactic sequence of ANGEL HUNT in my head, so the revisions will be easier. I rolled around in my head the next few seasons of it, should we get there, and the dynamics between the characters that I want to juxtapose with the plot.
Supposedly the “writer” who created the meme about one’s muse being one’s “bitch” meant that one has to show up every day and do the work. Which is true. But hey, guess what? Writers use words, and word choice matters. If you’re going to use terms of prison culture, dominance, abuse, and oppression and pretend that it’s something funny that supports your art and other creative work, nope. Artists dismantle systems of oppression, not reinforce them. The latter is called propaganda. And hey, yeah, it pays, often really well. But don’t pretend it’s something positive and empowering.
On Sunday, I drafted an episode of Legerdemain, which is pretty fun; it leads into what will be a fun chase scene in the next episode. I worked on graphics for the next seasons of ANGEL HUNT, and I have something that is unique in each season, yet connects the overall look of the series. I drafted the first episode of THE LIGHTHOUSE LADY, which is the second season of ANGEL HUNT, to see if it worked, and it does. I mean, it needs revision, but the overall tone , pace, plot, characters, etc., are there. I did the TikTok videos for this week’s Legerdemain and Angel Hunt episodes, uploaded, and scheduled them, and uploaded the videos I’d been lax about posting last week, so I’m caught up.
I meant to just take a quick look at the material for what will be DEADLY DRAMATICS, the Nina Bell serial. I wound up revising 37 episodes (a little over 37K), about a third of the material. I’d forgotten how massive a revision I did a few years ago, when I pitched it to Radish (before they decided they were only going to hire writers at a pittance to ghost write serials), and then played with making it stronger as a novel There’s still some more work to do, and some of the episodes had to be broken down and reshaped to be more consistent, length-wise, but it’s in pretty decent shape. I kept working on “just one more episode” because I was eager to see what happened next. And hold that in my mind as I pondered the overview of the entire series.
I worked on that until it was time to go to yoga, and thank goodness I did, because it was a great new moon yin class.
Staggered into bed. Up early on Monday, Juneteenth, which is supposed to be a holiday, because of the fucking beeping heavy machinery over at the college. Juneteenth is a holiday where, as a white woman, it’s my job to shut up and listen, not yap.
I ran out of ink on Sunday, because of course I did. So I picked up more ink (and some binders, for all this material I’m printing off), dropped off a big stack of books in the library book drop (the library was closed), picked up some wine.
Then, I settled in to continue working on DEADLY DRAMATICS, since it was a holiday, and no client work.
I wound up working on 52 episodes (a little over 52K). This gets me past the first major plot arc, the second smaller plot arc, and well into the third smaller arc. I need to tighten and smooth over a few things. I inserted something I thought would be helpful, and then found it solved better a few episodes down, so I need to cut it. I need to write a transition episode between the end of the first big arc and the second smaller arc. The first season will have the big arc and three smaller arcs.
I was completely disoriented when I finally resurfaced, having spent several days in New York City’s bar/theatre/corporate scene of the mid 1990’s. That felt real; everything else felt strange.
I have about 35 episodes of original material left. Which I hope to do over a day or two. Which days, I’m not exactly sure. I don’t have any client work today (except for a book to review, which isn’t yet due), so today might be a good day to work on it. I do, however, have to take my mom to the doctor this morning, and that will be another insurance battle I’m not looking forward to.
We’ll see what kind of shape I am in when I get back, and then I have yoga in the early evening. So I don’t know how much will get done. I need to do the social media rounds for Legerdemain, too.
I have an overwhelming amount of email on which to catch up on, but I will. Eventually.
As I go over the DEADLY DRAMATICS episodes for revision, I also have to set up the Series Bible, Tracking Sheets, and the rest. There’s a lot of paperwork involved in the serials, at least for me. Or they’d all fall apart. I can’t keep all the details of all the different projects in my head.
Tomorrow is the summer solstice, which means after tomorrow, the days start getting shorter. While I am grateful for the cooler days and the nights that are wonderful for sleeping, there’s a part of me that almost feels like summer hasn’t begun yet.
Anyway, back to the page. A shorter than usual Tuesday catchup.
June 19, 2023
Mon. June 19, 2023: Intent for the Week — Follow the Path
image courtesy of SplitShire via pixabay.comThe weekend was a mix of rest and a creative explosion, which was great. And possible because the fucking beeping heavy machinery wasn’t causing trouble.
However, it started again this morning — at 6:25 AM, which is unacceptable.
But that creative explosion, hopefully, sets me up well for the week, although I’m not sure on which path or paths. I’m looking forward to the discovery.
What’s your intent this week?
June 16, 2023
Fri. June 16, 2023: Word Marathon
image courtesy of Suzy via pixabay.comFriday, July 16, 2023
Waning Moon
Pluto Retrograde
Day Before Dark Moon
Partly sunny and pleasant
Yesterday was a writing marathon and I’m kind of wrecked.
Today’s serial episode is Angel Hunt:
Episode 42: The Ex-Covener
When an ex-member of Lianna’s former coven shows up, it’s sure to mean trouble.
Something that frustrates me lately is that some of these supposed “wellness” practices are about training us to acquiesce to systems of oppression instead of giving us tools to dismantle them. Don’t tell me that when someone intentionally causes harm to me it’s MY fault for being upset and angry about it, and I should “change my reaction.” Fuck that shit. It’s not on the person harmed to be okay about it. It’s on the person CAUSING the harm to fucking stop it, and when they refuse to stop, then they must BE STOPPED.
That’s one of the many reasons we’re in the mess we’re in. We’re being trained in apathy and acquiescence and it’s being called “wellness” and “self-care.”
Self-care is burning down systems of oppression, boo.
Most of us unintentionally cause harm at some point. When we do so, we take responsibility when it’s brought to our attention, apologize ( a genuine one, none of the “IF I offended you” crap), and strive to do better. Saying, “oh, if you’re upset because I didn’t respect your boundary, you need to learn to change your response” is toxic bullshit, NOT wellness.
(Steps off soapbox. Dusts it and puts it away. For the moment).
(Gets it back out. Steps up).
There was a meme from a course screaming “Your muse is your bitch. Not the other way around.”
Nope.
My muse is my partner. Big difference. Instead of one part of me or the other part of me wasting energy on dominance, I try to have the different facets work together. Not necessarily in harmony, but working together to create. I find that is much healthier.
I’m not interested in having an entity or an energy as “my bitch” nor am I interested in being that for someone or something else.
Don’t start with “it’s just an expression.” WORDS MATTER. The right word choice matters. Especially in a supposed writing course.
(Steps off soap box. Dusts it off again. Shoves it under the couch and hopes it can stay there).
This Saturn Retrograde is gonna be a rough one, isn’t it? (It goes retrograde tomorrow). Saturn, the planet of life lessons, is going retrograde in Pisces (my sign) in my first house of identity. It’s supposed to be the catalyst to “unfettered liberation” and turning “dreams into reality.” Meanwhile, I’m ready to torch anything and everything in my way. I. Am. Done.
Did I mention I fixed the dishwasher myself and it now works again? I don’t want to get smug about it, for fear it will stop working again.
Drafted an episode of Legerdemain. Polished, uploaded, and scheduled next week’s Legerdemain episodes.
Went back to work on ANGEL HUNT and started writing. The small amount of material still left to adapt needed some pretty major rewrites. And then I kept going.
I paused to write up and send off the client material.
I went back to ANGEL HUNT. I wrote about 14K on it, 14 episodes, all the way through the climactic sequence. I have either one or two more episodes to write, for the resolution. I tried to finish last night, but by a little after 8 PM, I was out of words. Completely wrecked.
That means today, I will have to wrap it all up. I’d like this to be the last episode – episode 140. I want to end on an even number, so the end of the serial is the end of a week. It may be a slightly longer episode.
Then, I can put it aside for a few days, re-read all the episodes not yet up, revise, smooth things out, and get them all uploaded and scheduled by the end of the month. Well, I hope. It’ll take awhile to upload and schedule just under a hundred episodes.
But first, I have to finish the final episode.
I was just wrecked by the end of the day. Went to bed early. Which means I woke up in the middle of the night and had trouble getting back to sleep.
But I’m glad to be so close to the end of this serial. Well, the writing of it, anyway. There’s plenty still to do while it runs.
Cleaned up “The Dressing Room” a bit. It’s not as wild a piece as “Summon Thee” but it’s kind of fun. I think? It’s hard to tell at this point in the process.
Today’s agenda includes finishing the last episode(s) of ANGEL HUNT, promoting the episode that drops today, I have to do a library run and a grocery run. No client work today. I hoped to get to the Clark, but it depends on how long it takes me to finish ANGEL HUNT; also the weather is supposed to turn nasty later, and I don’t want to be out in it.
My plans for the weekend? No idea. Rest, maybe?
Have a good one, and I’ll catch you later.
June 15, 2023
Thurs. June 15, 2023: A Good Writing Day
image courtesy of Jill Wellington via pixabay.comThursday, June 15, 2023
Waning Moon
Pluto Retrograde
Cloudy and chilly
The latest on the garden is over on Gratitude and Growth.
Today’s serial episode is from Legerdemain:
Episode 94: From Doom to Dilly Dally
Cheating lovers, a sense of threat, and Portha Prtichard’s excellent ale.
Yesterday was a good writing day. Finally.
I drafted Episode 100 of Legerdemain, which kind of feels like a big deal. Even though that episode is going to go live fairly soon. Episode 104 will mark the one year anniversary of the serial (52 weeks at 2 episodes per week), and that’s coming up pretty soon, too.
Once the Legerdemain episode was written, I switched over to ANGEL HUNT. I wrote the last episode I needed to fix the plot hole. Then I started adapting chapters into episodes again. Some of them needed more work than others, to adjust to the new material. But, all in all, I got 13 episodes prepped. I have about two more chapters to adapt into episodes, and then it’s writing the episodes that make up the climactic sequence and the resolution.
Staying deep in the work is keeping the sense memory stress somewhat at bay, although I still wake up in the middle of the night with it. Soon, it will be the 3rd anniversary of the move, and that stretch between moving day and 4th of July is always fraught. But I’m trying to build something else, day-to-day, to put that sense memory stress in the rearview mirror for good.
I picked up my mom’s prescriptions and a couple of bottles of wine.
In the afternoon, I turned around a client project (that was really great to work on). I started the big client project, and ended up doing most of it. I have to finish writing it up today, and can easily get it in by deadline (unless the computer dies). That means I can take tomorrow off from client work. I might take the holiday Monday off, too, but we’ll see.
This morning, as I wrote in my personal journal, I got an idea for a short play. I sat down and drafted it (it’s only a ten minute play running 8 pages). I think I will aim this to the submission call that I originally wanted for “Summon Thee.” That way, if/when I take my friend Diane’s advice and write “Summon Thee” as long as it wants to go without worrying about truncating it for the call, I won’t have sabotaged myself.
“The Dressing Room” has a weird humor to it and a twist at the end. I will do a couple more passes on it and let it sit a few days. Maybe ask a friend to read it. Then do another set of tweaks on it and get it out.
If “Summon Thee’ winds up fitting the call, and a submittable draft is done within the submission window, then it will go off, too. If not, I will find another market for it.
But it feels good to start the day with a whole new draft of a play done.
I didn’t do the social media rounds to promote The Process Muse and Angel Hunt yesterday, so I will have to make up for it today.
Oh, and a big thanks to Veronica Varlow for giving me a pep talk the other day, when I was feeling low. Much appreciated.
Meditation this morning (I hope), then back to Legerdemain and ANGEL HUNT, writing up the big client project, and whatever else I can get done.
Have a good one!
June 14, 2023
Wed. June 14, 2023: Practicality and Emotion
image courtesy of Paul Brennan via pixabay.comWednesday, June 14, 2023
Waning Moon
Pluto Retrograde
Sunny and warm
We’re at midweek! Hope your week is going well.
Today is a day of solidarity throughout the world for the WGA Strike.
Today’s post on The Process Muse is about “What To Share, When, and Where” is up here.
Today’s serial episode is from Angel Hunt:
Episode 41: Growth Happens
Lianna faces her challenges with fresh resolve.
I set up the Nina Bell files yesterday, moving them off the old drive onto the hard drive, and now setting up files on the drive I’m keeping the serials and the scripts. I moved everything onto the hard drive and the first 12 episodes onto the new USB. As I revise and polish these episodes (and come up with episode titles), I will set up tracking sheets and the series bible.
While in novels, I update the series bible after each book is in final galleys, for the serials, I have to do it as I go, so I can stay consistent as I write.
Made some tentative plans to visit with a friend who’ll be working up in Dorset, VT later this summer. It’s been too long since we were able to spend time together, so we’re looking forward to it.
Realized I hadn’t put up the episode ads for this week’s episodes of Legerdemain and Angel Hunt on the sites where I can schedule to post, so I did that. I’ve gotten in the habit of creating the week’s batch of posts, but then putting them aside instead of scheduling what I can right away. Took another look at Buffer, and they don’t have a plan that gives me what I need. If they did, I’d pay for one, but there are too many restrictions on the various plans.
My mother’s insurance refuses to cover her medication, because the doctor prescribed that she take a pill and a half each day (there is no available dosage that is exactly what she needs), which means she need 45 pills per month, and insurance will only “allow” her 30. It’s blood pressure medication, FFS. It’s not like she gets addicted.
Health care does not exist in the United States. It’s about keeping you dependent on medication, and then killing you off when it’s more profitable not to have you on the meds anymore.
On top of that, her pension, which is small, now says they “have” to withhold taxes. Um, no. Fuck that shit.
Wrote an episode of Legerdemain. Wrote an episode of ANGEL HUNT. Worked on the first DEADLY DRAMATICS episodes. Did the social media rounds for Legerdemain. Turned around a medium sized client project. I’d hoped to finish another one before yoga, but there wasn’t time. I’ll do that today, and then a big project came in; if I can turn it around by tomorrow night, this pay period is okay. Not brilliant, but okay.
I came up with a great title for a piece (probably horror, or at least a ghost story), but I have no idea yet about the story or characters. Hate it when that happens. I like to start from character, go “what if?” and take it from there.
I started wondering if it would be able to craft a mystery as a poem (or a poem as a mystery). I mean, I’m sure it CAN be done; I’m just wondering if I can do it. I might play with some ideas between now and the residency and see. I want to bring in a bunch of material, and use the time with the other poets to learn how to hone it.
Yoga was good. The instructor gave me some exercises that should help my hip, so I started doing those today.
I ordered a pizza at Christo’s before I went into yoga (it’s right next door) and picked it up when I left. It was delicious. It’s interesting how each pizza place in town has a very different taste.
After dinner, I received the terrible news of Treat Williams’s death yesterday afternoon in a motorcycle accident. We worked together on the FOLLIES revival on Broadway. In addition to being a talented actor, he was kind, funny, and had a strong core of integrity. We’d kept in touch, sporadically, over the years. He was just down in the area, on Friday, doing a benefit in Great Barrington. I’m so, so sad.
Didn’t sleep well, got up early and out the door to the laundromat. I wasn’t the only one there, which always annoys me. I have an unfair expectation to have the place to myself.
I did, however, manage to revise four episodes of Legerdemain (including another pass at the fight sequence), and a couple of chapters of CAST IRON MURDER (the correct draft, this time).
Work on the serials and the play this morning. Client work this afternoon. At some point, I have to take a break and pick up my mother’s pills. I have to pay out of pocket for the month’s additional pills while they work things out with insurance.
It’s sunny and lovely today, so far. We’re supposed to get thunderstorms later on. I’d hoped for a nice day on Friday, but that’s supposed to be nasty, too. Deal with it as it comes, right?
Have a good one.
June 13, 2023
Tues. June 13, 2023: Peeking Between The Pages
image courtesy of Ag Ku via pixabay.comTuesday, June 13, 2023
Waning Moon
Pluto Retrograde
Rainy, warm, humid
How was your weekend? Ready for the regular Tuesday natter?
Today’s serial episode is from Legerdemain:
Episode 93: Descendants of Doom Pub
Tracking Grimmkins is thirsty work.
Friday seems very far away. But I was out of the house early, and headed down to Pittsfield, to the library. I got there right after they opened, and spent the next two hours on the Ancestry database. I wound up with more questions than answers on Dorothy Dwin; I need to follow up with the National Gallery, and see if they have any information. I did some additional research into some of the other names I’d found in the census, and got a bigger picture that adds texture: things like how the parents often only had education through 7th or 8th grade, but their children finished high school and went to college.
It still doesn’t get me my Playland Painters information; I need the payroll books from Playland to do that, and until the grant money comes in, I can’t take the time and expense to go down to the Westchester Archives. I’m at a pause point on this project.
On the way home, I stopped at what used to be Price Chopper and is now Market 32 Fresh. The store is overwhelmingly huge, and the prices have risen to match. I only picked up a couple of things there. I had much better luck at Adams Fresh Market.
I didn’t get another book to review (they’re out), which worries me, too. I did the social media rounds for Angel Hunt, and played with some ideas that may or may not go anywhere. I was mostly tired and discouraged.
I read a book by an author whose work I’ve read for years; this is one of her earlier books, published in 1985, and it was filled with typical of the era tropes that didn’t work for me: a heroine who is supposedly cute and bubbly but is, in fact annoying; a hero who treats her like a possession. No, thank you.
I was up early on Saturday, and I meant to go to the Farmers’ market. Really, I did. Only I started writing, and when I looked up, it was nearly noon. Too late to go (the market closes at 1). I worked on the script I shouldn’t be working on. I’m starting to think that the novel format would serve the story better, because I want/need the settings to be additional characters, and I want to delve into internal monologues in a way that a script can’t serve. But the script will be a good outline. I also did some work on the Heist Romance Script. I added in some inserts to a couple of scenes, where I needed to place a character, and added two new scenes (one in Sardinia, one in London). I have a couple more scenes I can draft, but I need to do more research on Malta before I can write the next section (in spite of the outline notes).
One of the things I get pushback on in the script analysis work, from writers, is when I give the note about things taking too long to get going. The argument is that some pieces are meant to be quiet. Which is fine, but in a script, you have a finite amount of time/pages to tell the story, and if you take too long with the setup, you lose the audience and you run out of time to tell the meat of the story. Also, the genre of the script determines pace and where certain points need to be hit. There’s some wiggle room in that, because each script has its own unique rhythm, but if your script is 110 pages, and it doesn’t get going until page 30, it’s a problem.
Basically, if my mind wanders when I’m reading the script, and I’m tempted to check social media or remember something that needs to get done that day, something in the writing or structure has flattened and lost me. As an analyst, I have to go back to the writing and figure out why it did so, and provide a note that hopefully helps the writer get the piece back on track, both in terms of craft and genre expectations.
Even in novels, where there’s more room (mentally and physically) to explore layers, if it’s too much and not placed well, it doesn’t work.
It all goes down to craft. A writer with brilliant craft can do whatever they want and get away with it, because the craft is so strong it holds the reader. Quiet books are great, but they contain wonderful craft so that they keep the reader engaged through the quiet. Think Anita Brookner’s work, or STONER by John Williams, or BEFORE THE COFFEE GETS COLD by Toshikazu Kawaguchi or THE ACCIDENTAL TOURIST by Anne Tyler. The craft in all of these is brilliant.
So when someone says, “Well, Phoebe Waller-Bridge did this in FLEABAG” or “Gabrielle Zevin did this in TOMORROW AND TOMORROW AND TOMORROW” – yes, they did “it” (whatever the specific “it” was in each situation), and it worked because they understand craft and structure. When they deviate from traditional structures, it’s a solid choice with layers of craft to support it, and it works. Other writers are not Waller-Bridge or Zevin, and what worked for them may not work for a different author who has a different voice and is still figuring out the craft aspects. Just because another author made it work doesn’t mean YOU can. Especially if you copy a stylistic choice, but don’t have yet your own unique voice to back it up.
If you want to mimic familiar tropes, and want the comfort of a piece that is similar to what’s already out there, then you have to do it very, vey well, not just a pale imitation. Again, it comes back to craft.
Anyway, some client work came in over the weekend, and, since I had such a light week of client work, I took it on. I did one project on Saturday afternoon. At the regular rate.
I read LAST CALL AT ELAINE’S, by one of her bartenders turned writers. It was very well written. I went to Elaine’s once, with a few people after some show or event or something, in the mid-90’s, because it was iconic, and, living in NYC, I wanted to experience it. The drinks were good, the food was bad, the atmosphere wasn’t something I particularly cared about, one way or the other. Elaine herself didn’t like women much, and, since I have a low tolerance of misogyny, especially from other women, I chose not to go back. She didn’t pay any attention to me, which was a relief; I was with a group, stayed quiet, and listened a lot. But I saw how she treated the other women in the restaurant, and the difference in the way she treated the women and the men. I’m glad I went, but there were other bars and restaurants I preferred to hang out at with my friends and colleagues, after shows and events. But the book was interesting.
And, of course, many of the places I used to love hanging out in have since closed.
Up early on Sunday, because all three cats were prodding me with little paws and yelling their heads off. I’m so grateful it isn’t terribly hot and humid yet.
I had trouble finding the Legerdemain episode I’d started working on, and then realized I was looking for it under the wrong episode number.
While I looked for it, I found out that the Nina Bell serial, which started with TAPESTRY, and then added what later bcame some novellas and a novella that I hadn’t yet titled or placed anywhere– is a completed serial and I even gave it an ending. 117 episodes worth – and that ending feels a bit rushed. But it was an ending. I have a complete serial that would run a little over a year if I did 2 episodes/week, and 39 weeks if I did 3 episodes/week. I re-read the last novella-length bit, and it’s funny as hell. I mean, the Nina Bell stories, which are dramedy/hot mess dating/theatre/mysteries have always had a weird humor. One of the things the Nina Bell stories capture well is all the emotional, semi-romantic, semi-lust gameplaying that went on during the mid-90’s. Maybe I should run the entire serial, and then re-release everything as a novel and some novellas? I have to think about it.
I don’t know how many serials one can run at once on Vella (I have a question in). I don’t want to jeopardize REP or future “seasons” of ANGEL HUNT. But this would be something I can revise pretty easily and put up the whole thing before any of it goes live. Although I’ll probably fix the ending – I ended it abruptly because the company for whom I was writing the four serials went out of business. I think TAPESTRY was the only one that got an ending, and I don’t think it even was released.
But once it was uploaded and scheduled, it would just be about the promotion.
Something to think about. And to worry about timing. Because Saturn goes retrograde at the end of this week, which means I’m going to get my ass kicked until November (it’s the planet of life lessons), and Jupiter goes retrograde in early September, so it would have to start running before the Jupiter retrograde. AND Mercury goes retrograde again in mid-August. AND I’d hoped to get REP going by then.
It wouldn’t be “passive income” (how I hate that term), because I’d be heavily promoting it every week, but it would run without having to write constant new episodes, the way I have to for Legerdemain (because I didn’t bank enough episodes early enough).
I’m playing with a new title for it. It’s got a wry, self-deprecating tone that a specific audience enjoyed when it first ran, but was ahead of its time. Maybe it would appeal to a wider audience now?
Nina put me on the map, initially, when I was early in both my writing and theatre careers. There’s plenty to her story that’s never seen light of day, and the mix of comedy and mystery with romantic adventures, almost a chick lit feel to some of it, I think works. And, if I wanted to keep it going, I could deal with the turn into the 21st century, 9/11, etc., etc., the way I originally planned in the series. I found notes on various books in the series, and the series overview I’d originally planned.
But can I make that commitment?
I have to think about it.
I don’t want to get too scattered and spread out. But it would be nice to have something complete that’s uploaded and scheduled, and drops regularly, and all I have to worry about is that day’s promotion.
Re-reading all that material distracted me from writing the new Legerdemain material. When I finally got back to it, I adjusted the episode I was writing, so that the night out with Shelley and Daedalus was more fruitful, and started the next episode, which is primarily action.
There are several things that need to still happen in this arc before it’s done, and it’s a case of breaking them down properly so that the climactic confrontation wraps up a bunch of loose ends, but also propels us into the third major arc. Some of the threads will run through this second arc into the third arc, because not everything can wrap up, but many things have to wrap up, because the catalyst for the third arc changes Shelley’s relationship with her job and the city. It’s plotted out; it’s just taking me more episodes than I expected to get there.
Should the audience continue its growth, I have a fun 4th arc planned.
I did another client project in the afternoon, and then got back to work on the next ANGEL HUNT episode. I figure I have three or four episodes to write to create this additional material to cover the plot hole. Then I have a few more chapters to adapt into episodes, and then it’s pulling out the notes and writing the climactic sequence and resolution.
Because I’d really, really like to get the rest of ANGEL HUNT finished, polished, uploaded, and scheduled this month, so I don’t have to worry about it. I’m figuring, once it’s all uploaded, ANGEL HUNT will run through next April.
It means I have to manage my time well, because there’s also client work, the Llewellyn articles, the plays, some flash fiction, and other stuff that needs my attention. And I have to focus on projects bringing in the money to pay the bills, since I’m starting to doubt the grant money will EVER turn up.
I’ve been watching BALTHAZAR, the French crime drama. It’s so well done, but it’s exhausting. The subtitles run by fast (because they’re speaking naturally), so I’m listening, using my long-forgotten high school French, and it requires a huge amount of concentration. But it’s so interesting how certain elements that are shied away from in American and British crime drama are front and center in the French drama.
Monday morning, I was up early. I started the Writers Rough outline of “ But Is She a Betting Man?” – all that time I spent at the Saratoga racetrack over the years will come in handy! I wrote two episodes of Legerdemain. I have to choreograph a fight scene better – it’s reading more like notes for a fight scene than the fight scene. But that’s why I need to bank episodes, so that I have time for revision.
Went to the library and sorted out some books I’d returned, but the scanner hadn’t counted as “checked in.” We found everything and took care of it. Did a quick grocery shop (and bought some flowers and an ivy plant). Mailed some bills. They were replacing the drive-by box, and I got confused, but they told me which one to use (and they were postal workers I knew, so I could trust them). It was pretty funny.
The stupid beeping heavy machinery was again over at the library. It didn’t start until 8 AM, but all the guy does is drive it around the library making noise, cover the windows with boards, then drive around again taking them down. Over and over again. Nothing is happening on the walls. The windows are already replaced (destroying the beautiful, stained glass windows that used to be there). It’s about dragging it out and being annoying.
Turned around two client projects. Sent an LOI to a place I really admire, even though it’s not the kind of work I really want to do right now. But we’ll see. Read a couple of novellas that were interesting, although out of my usual realm f reading. It’s good to do that, and keep up on tropes and structures across genre, how they shift, and what certain authors can make work.
Got answers to some Kindle Vella questions. I can run as many serials as I can handle at a time (one author has 14 up, 7 complete and 7 in progress – yikes). Most of them leave up the completed serials forever, even if they release them via KDP as books. That does not fit my plan for the serials, at least not at this point, but it gives me information to bolster my initial plan. Basically, I’ve got a 5-year plan going for the serials. Or they’re part of my overall 5-year plan, depending on how you want to look at it.
All the women and several of the men who answered the questions in the forums gave straightforward and encouraging answers. But there were those several men who played “devil’s advocate” and were combative. Um, I was asking straightforward questions. There was nothing for which the devil needed an advocate. But there are always THOSE people.
This morning, I worked some more on the outline for “But Is She a Betting Man?” Most of my notes so far are textural details that need to be woven into the plot and story rather than paragraphs of explanation set within the story. Those paragraphs are for my outline; now I get to dramatize them. I know who’s murdered, but I still have to figure out why and who the murderer is.
This morning, I’m writing on a variety of projects. I need to get back to work on the plays. I’d almost figured out the anecdotes for the memorial section of FALL FOREVER, and then I lost them (didn’t write them down in time). I have to figure out an important motivation in “Summon Thee” and then I can finish it up. I think part of me dragging my feet on the play is I’m worried I can’t keep it within 10-15 pages, so I have to simplify. I have some client work in the afternoon, and then yoga in the evening.
I better get going!
June 12, 2023
Mon. June 12, 2023: Intent for the Week — Finding the Creative Flow
image courtesy of Sebastian Nikiel via pixabay.comI’m juggling a lot of creative projects this week, along with some client work that required creativity, so it’s about finding a creative flow and going with it this week.
I’m hoping I won’t hit too many rocks on the path!
What’s your intent for the week?
June 9, 2023
Fri. June 9, 2023: Playing With Video
image courtesy of 200 Degrees via pixabay.comFriday, June 9, 2023
Waning Moon
Pluto Retrograde
Hazy, cloudy, and cool
I can’t believe we’re at the end of another week.
Today’s serial episode is Angel Hunt.
Episode 40: The Angel’s Achilles Heel
Lianna decides to use Kegan’s bond to her as an asset to help him turn the tables.
Something went wrong again in meditation yesterday. 27 of us sat around and no meditation and no communication. I’m getting really tired of it. Once in a while, that’s the way it goes. But the constant lack of communication is disrespectful. We later got an email that our instructor went to New York and forgot to cancel. I’ve noticed, since her latest bout with COVID, that there are quite a few memory issues, including losing the thread during our sessions.
Yesterday, I worked on the flyer and listing information for the BHPC reading in autumn. I want to make sure all the materials are done and approved early (since the poets, the museum, and the bookstore all have to sign off). That way, we can get them ready over the summer, and start distributing them as needed, and not have to be in a flurry at the last minute. I still have more work to do before I can send them out for the initial response in order to tweak, and I’m waiting to find out if we need to add any particular logos or verbiage, but at least it’s begun.
I did a library run. Lots of books waiting for me, including several I’d ordered for the project at the Clark that’s now been pushed back because of the delay in the grant money. But the books have information I need, so I’m going to utilize them while I have them. I just can’t do it during time that’s part of the typical workweek.
I uploaded, polished, and scheduled next week’s episodes of Legerdemain. I created the loglines, episode graphics, and videos. I did the videos for next week’s episodes of Angel Hunt.
And then couldn’t upload anything on TikTok.
I’m so sick of wasting so much fucking time with tech sites not working. I had to download the app to my desktop to make it sort of work.
Some client work showed up, then was withdrawn, because it had been sent before it was supposed to get to me. But I was offered two other client projects – at $1.62 each. That’s right folks, a project not even paying two bucks (and no, not from a content mill, from a regular client). That was a big NO.
I added some of the new videos to the websites, and adapted a couple from the TikTok format to the wider format that works better on the website. I created a template for “catch up” videos for Legerdemain, with each one using 12 of the episode-specific graphics. I only got the first one done, but now that the template is set, it will be easier to pop in the necessary graphics for each.
I can also schedule the videos, which means when I do my batch creation every week, I can upload and schedule them (although, once they go live, I still have to go in and change the sound credits). But uploading and scheduling ahead will save time on the days the episodes drop.
I finished the book for review, and will write that up and send it off this morning, and tell them I’m ready for my next assignment. I unlocked my Twitter account, trying to see, for a few days, if I can risk it.
In spite of myself, I had some ideas on the problematic screenplay and played with them a bit. I may need to play with genre a bit. It may not be the genre in which I originally aimed, but more of a character drama, but with the elements of this other genre. I need to trust the characters, and make sure the piece isn’t too much of a distraction from the other stuff I need to do.
This morning, after I submit the review, I’m off to the library in Pittsfield, to do the Ancestry research I need to do on Dorothy Dwin. On the way back, I’ll pick up some groceries. I’m not sure what writing I’ll get done, but I’ll work on something.
Over the weekend, I need to rest, but I also want to read, and work on both Legerdemain and Angel Hunt. I need to stockpile some Legerdemain episodes, and then I can go back and finish Angel Hunt. Getting AH done, and then doing a revision pass to make sure everything works structurally as well as story and character-wise, and then getting all the episodes uploaded and scheduled, will make life much easier. It won’t all happen this weekend, but maybe by the end of the month.
I also need to work on “Summon Thee” and FALL FOREVER.
Re: Pat Robertson. May he get the afterlife he deserves.
Re: Narcisstic Sociopath’s indictments. About damn time.
The air is a little clearer after yesterday’s rains, but still not great. It’s supposed to rain on and off all weekend, so maybe that will help.
Have a good one, my friends, and I’ll catch you on the other side.
June 8, 2023
Thurs. June 8, 2023: Smog and Rage Are Not a Healthy Mix
image courtesy of David Mark via pixabay.comThursday, June 8, 2023
Waning Moon
Pluto Retrograde
Hazy and cool
The photo above is from Los Angeles in a previous year, but photos coming out of NYC yesterday were similar.
Hop over to Gratitude and Growth to read the latest on the garden.
Today’s episode is from Legerdemain:
Episode 92: Snakey’s
The best intel is found in the dive-iest bars.
Rage and smog are not a good mix, so yesterday was not the productive day for which I hoped and needed. It’s nowhere near as bad here as in upstate New York and down in NYC, but it’s bad enough to cause coughing, throat irritation, and eye issues. We have the air purifier on, and I’m staying in as much as possible.
So much for enjoying the great outdoors this summer!
I got the next two weeks’ worth of Process Muse posts polished, uploaded, and scheduled. I did some research into a few companies to which I might pitch LOIs. I worked on a new Legerdemain episode, although I did not finish it. I did the social media rounds to promote The Process Muse and Angel Hunt. I started reading the next book for review (which is nearly 500 pages and, just, sigh).
The Chewy order showed up. Yay! But if I hadn’t contacted Chewy to push Fed Ex, it wouldn’t have.
I wrote about 20 script pages on the idea with which I’ve been playing, and it will go into statis, at least for the moment. The drama and the character relationships are there, but the genre elements need to be layered in to ratchet up the tension. It’s reading too flat for the intended genre. And that’s not something where I can place my time right now. I’d rather put that kind of time and detail work into the Heist Romance script, and into finishing this draft of FALL FOREVER. And finishing “Summon Thee” which needs to have a finished first draft sooner than later, so I can get it to a submittable draft by the end of the month.
But working on those pages, even though they have to be put aside, got me out of the lack of focus rut, so at least there’s that.
I have meditation today, and then I have to venture out (masked outdoors as well as indoors, thanks to the smog) and do a library run. I have quite a stack of books piled up waiting for me. Next week’s Legerdemain episodes have to get uploaded, which also means episode graphics, loglines, videos, etc. I need to draft some more on Legerdemain and Angel Hunt, and maybe work on “Summon Thee.” I have a feeling I won’t get much beyond that done, along with reading the book for review, because I’m tired and burned out. The smog is giving me a migraine, on top of it, which makes it harder to concentrate.
I’ll work on my LOIs over the next few days, but it’s silly to send anything out on a Friday or a Monday, so I’ll aim those for next Tuesday. I’ll also work with some of the Vella promotion groups to swap serial reads.
I’m reading the various responses to the DGA contract with interest. Some are over the moon about it, but I’m seeing a lot of posts from directors who are voting against ratification. Would be nice if more of them would start showing up on the picket lines.
Have a good one, my friends. May your breathing ease.
This is like the 70’s, pre-EPA pollution regulations, only worse and more like dystopian science fiction. I don’t even like to read dystopia; I sure as hell don’t want to live it.
