Devon Ellington's Blog, page 66

Wed. April 12, 2023: A Simple Spring Work Day

image courtesy of G.C. via pixabay.com

Wednesday, April 12, 2023

Waning Moon

Cloudy and mild

There’s stuff to read on other sites today! Over on The Process Muse, we talk about the meanings/values of the clothes our characters wear.  Ink-Dipped Advice’s newest post will go live later today.

I wrote 4 ½ pages on FALL FOREVER. The scene took a different turn than I expected, and this draft barely scratches the surface. I will have to dig deeper in the next draft. But that’s okay. It’s getting me where I need to go. I hope to hit the act break either today or tomorrow.

I saw a call for play submissions. I thought I had a play that would fit. I did a quick re-read, did a few tweaks, and submitted it. I saw a call for radio plays from Scotland; there were a few things I wasn’t sure about, so I shot off an email with the questions, so any submission I make fits what they need.

The longer I do this, the more I have a problem with using prompts during a piece I’m in the middle of writing. When I’m looking for new ideas, I LOVE prompts. They get me going in new directions, and make me see things differently. When I’m expected to do prompts within the framework of something I’m already writing, I find it harmful, especially in a first draft. Instead of enriching what I’m working on, it detracts.

Did the curbside pickup for the supplies I needed; I hope I can get going with some painting and other cleaning this week.

Started writing the next Legerdemain episode, which has a chase scene in it. It’s fun to write,  but needs very specific choreography to achieve both the action and the comedy.

Turned around a script coverage in the afternoon, and worked on contest entries.

Yoga was fun, although it’s called “gentle yoga” and still kicks my ass. But it’s a nice group of people, and we have fun conversations at the top and bottom of class.

Home, started reading the next book for review.

Slept reasonably well, although I dreamed I worked a show, which meant I put in a full day before I woke up.

Up early, over to the laundromat. I was the only one there, thank goodness, and got the wash and dry done. While that was going, I revised four episodes of Legerdemain and did outline notes for REP.

My neighbor in the house next door’s kitchen window faces my office window. He has a large, cream-colored cat who likes to sit in the kitchen window, and Charlotte sits on the small table she commandeered when we moved in, and they stare at each other. It gives them something to do.

Plenty of writing and script coverage to do today, so I better get to it.

Episode 23 of Angel Hunt drops today. I hope you enjoy it!

Tues. April 11, 2023: A Promised Stretch of Good Weather to Support The Writing

image courtesy of Jill Wellington via pixabay.com

Tuesday, April 11, 2023

Waning Moon

Sunny and pleasant

Ready to curl up and catch up? It looks like we’re plunging straight into summer, skipping spring this week.

Friday was frustrating. On the upside, I managed to write 9 ½ pages on FALL FOREVER. I caught up with Thursday’s missed pages, wrote Friday’s pages, and worked ahead through Saturday’s pages, since I knew I wouldn’t be able to work on it on Saturday.

The dishwasher stopped working again. I’m pretty sure it’s the outlet, not the dishwasher. So I took everything out and washed it all by hand again.

I was worried it would destroy my concentration on FALL FOREVER (since it happened while I was writing), but I managed to get back in and finish the scenes. By Day 7 I’d written 34 pages, which is a decent start.

The steady pages definitely don’t have the endorphin rush that writing for 10 or 12 hours do, but it’s more sustainable.

The DG is setting up virtual “rooms” to read scenes. I’ll skip those. “Sharing” first draft work on unfinished projects with strangers does more harm than good for me. There are people I trust and will sometimes share early drafts, but usually, until a draft is finished, it’s detrimental to share too early. It’s easier to share something like a short story or a monologue early because I’ve finished a couple of drafts and CAN share it. But sharing the opening when I’m only 30 pages in would derail the piece for me. I’m still figuring out what it is. Outside chatter is destructive. Even positive feedback would be harmful to the overall piece at this stage.

On top of that, damn Spectrum kept going down. If the stupid construction people up the street are working, they need to be careful of the internet.

Up a little after 4 AM on Saturday, before the alarm and before coffee, which confused the cats. Got everything done and we were on the road a little before 5:30 AM for the storage run. The lovely moon watched over our travels until the sun rose. It was a nice, sunny, mild day to drive. Traffic was light on the way down, even across the Bourne Bridge (the Sagamore is down to one lane in each direction, because they are always doing work on one or both of  the bridges to make sure people can’t effectively get across. They need to be stopped from doing work on both bridges at the same time, which is simply unviable. But I’m sure they’ll do it anyway, by May.

We made it to storage a little after 9 AM (usually the trip takes at least 4 hours, longer with bridge traffic. Couldn’t find everything I wanted, because it’s buried, and, even though I marked all the boxes, there’s stuff I can’t get at. But we found what was most important for this trip, loaded the car, and were done in about 40 minutes. We swung by one of our favorite stores, got some fun stuff (including some silicon whisks and some door decorations for the summer) and were back on the road and over by the bridge by 10:30. The traffic was just starting to back up as we went across; by the time we were a half hour clear, the backups on both bridges were getting bad. So at least our timing was good.

Traffic back was heavy between Worcester and Sturbridge on the pike, but other than that, it was moving well, and we were back by 2 PM (never goes that smoothly). We picked up takeout on the way home and ate, then I unloaded the car.

Two of the boxes of china I’m not going to unpack until after our company comes and goes at the end of the month, because I still need to get a china cabinet for it. The box with the vintage soup tureens also had the trifle dish and the large glass bowl and some other good stuff in it that we will use.

The Canaletto/Venice books made it back up for a summer project, and that box also has some other cookbooks in it. There were some other bits and bobs, some of which I have to go through. Slowly, slowly, unpack, rearrange, integrate into the house.

I started reading a biography of Laurette Taylor in the afternoon/evening (she crossed paths with Minnie Fiske). And the Katharine Cornell book with the information I need for about three projects showed up, so that’s all good.

I fell into bed early. Woke up to coffee on Sunday morning. Made eggs Benedict for breakfast. Unpacked some more (soup tureens, etc.) and washed them. Baked the lemon cake.

Wrote 5 ½ pages on FALL FOREVER. I see where I’m going heading to the end of Act 1. A character who was always going to be offstage will come on at the end of the act. That’s two characters who decided they needed to be front and center, rather than off to the side.

I should have written another Legerdemain episode, but I had nothing in the tank.

I put a raspberry jam filling between the layers of lemon cake, and made a chocolate glaze over the top of it. It’s good, but the raspberry overwhelms the lemon, and it might have made more sense to use plain yellow cake. Next time.

Took down the curtains in the kitchen, which lets in much more light. It’s warm enough so we don’t need them to block the leaks around the window edges.

Sat on the porch in the afternoon, reading and taking notes. The back door to the balcony hasn’t been fixed yet. I am going to be a nudge about it. We’ve waited two years to have the door fixed so we could close it for winter and it wasn’t; now it’s jammed shut and I won’t be denied access to having that garden space all summer. And I want it to be set up before the company comes at the end of the month.

I went to yoga in the evening. It was good. Intense, but good. Went to bed pretty soon after I came home.

Slept well until about 2, when I woke up with sense memory stress. Tessa wandered off, and, around 3, just as I was getting back to sleep, Charlotte came in and wanted attention. Dozed off until just before 6.

I downloaded the IceCream reading app on the laptop; we’ll see if that works. I still need to move what’s on Overdrive in the Kindle onto the hard drive.

Monday morning, I wrote 8 pages of FALL FOREVER first thing. I see the new end of Act 1, and I should hit it in about two more days/scenes. I can’t hide behind any of the genre tricks I use in the comic noir mysteries, because this is a naturalistic drama, and I have to build the beats differently. I hope I can pull it off.

It’s leaf blower season again. Fortunately, they don’t run the blowers all day every day, just for a few minutes once or twice a week. There will be more of it early on for the initial cleanup, and then it will settle down. I hope.

Drafted an episode of Legerdemain, updated the Style Sheet and Series Bible.

My friend Paula’s play is a semi-finalist with a company down in Florida, and I am so excited for her! I love the play, and am so happy it’s getting recognition.

Did a library run to drop off/pick up books.

Created the episode graphics for this week’s episodes of Legerdemain. Uploaded the promos for this week’s Legerdemain and Angel Hunt episodes.

Finished, polished, uploaded, and scheduled tomorrow’s Process Muse. Wrote the next two posts, which I will polish, upload, and schedule tomorrow.

Turned around two script coverages.

Blocked off some quality time later in the week for Legerdemain and for Angel Hunt, to get ahead on both of them. Script coverage may be light late in the week; if it picks up and it’s  necessary, I will work on one serial on Saturday and the other on Sunday (although I’ll upload next week’s Legerdemain episodes no later than Thursday).

Worked on contest entries.

Soup class was fun. Last night was gumbo night.

I re-read some of the flash fiction I wrote to February prompts. The first batch needs some revision tweaks and I think they can start heading out into the world soon. I’d like to get them out the door before Mercury goes retrograde. I’ll work on the next batch in and around everything else.

This morning, I will do more pages on FALL FOREVER, draft another episode of Legerdemain, do the social media rounds to promote Episode 75 of Legerdemain.75 Episodes! Phew! Kind of exciting. I have to do a curbside pickup on some stuff I ordered, too, to get going on the spring cleaning.

I have two script coverages to complete, and yoga this evening.

So I better get going!

How’s your week starting?

Mon. April 10, 2023: Intent for the Week — Course Correction

image courtesy of Bronisław Dróżka via pixabay.com

Last week went off track due to my mother’s illness and a few other things. So, this week, the intent is to do some course correction and get back on track.

It’s supposed to get up into the 80s later this week, which is too fast. I want a soft spring, not an immediate leap into summer.

But there are things that need to be dealt with this week, and I have to face them down.

What’s your intent for the week?

Fri. April 7, 2023: Trying to Keep Up

image courtesy of kinkate via pixabay.com

Friday, April 7, 2023

Last Day of Full Moon

Partly Sunny and chilly

Yesterday wound up being a bit of a frustrating day, and it was my own fault. I did not put my own work first and paid the price.

I had trouble settling into meditation. After meditation, I made breakfast, and then settled my mom in bed. She’s still coughing badly, and it’s wearing her out. So I settled her in, dosing all day with bone broth (Willa was thrilled), hot tea with honey & lemon, water, cough drops, her timed medications, and liquid Tylenol, per what the nurse practitioner at Urgent Care directed.

I went out and did a big grocery shop, hauled everything home, put it away.

It was late morning by then, and I had three coverages to turn around, so I started early, hoping I could finish early and then work on FALL FOREVER and Legerdemain.

No such luck.

By the time I’d analyzed all three scripts (a short, a feature, and a pilot), I was wiped out. And unsettled because I hadn’t done any of my own work. I know better. I didn’t even get to promote yesterday’s episode of Legerdemain.

What’s going on in Tennessee is disgusting. This is because the members of Congress who voted against certifying the election weren’t immediately removed for sedition in 2021, and now the fascists feel empowered. This is what happens when you attempt to appease terrorists, instead of destroying them. They will do everything they can to destroy you.

I woke up around 1:30, pleased that the last few nights I haven’t had sense memory stress, and then was hit with it with a vengeance. I finally fell back asleep and had weird dreams (but not stressful ones, thankfully).

Up early this morning. I am doing MY work FIRST. FALL FOREVER, then the polish on next week’s Legerdemain episodes and upload those, then polish/upload schedule Process Muse, and do the rounds to promote yesterday’s Legerdemain episode and today’s Angel Hunt episode.

Later this morning, I have to get more ink, because, well, of course, the inkjet is nearly out of ink AGAIN. I can’t wait until the grant money gets here and I can fix my laser printer.

This afternoon, I have only one script to turn around, for which I was requested, and I’m done for the weekend. I have one script for Monday, and hope to get at least one more for Monday., and then hope enough come in to fill next week.

I’m looking at a very stressful weekend for various reasons (no holiday here). I’m trying to prepare myself mentally, and remind myself that eventually, it will be Sunday night.

The winter street parking ban was unexpectedly lifted last night. Guess we’re not getting any more snow.

This morning I got an email from a post doctoral fellow in the art history department at the University of Valencia, with a survey about how I use galleries, libraries, archives, and museums in connection with my work. Very interesting. Took about 10 minutes to fill out.

Have a good one, my friends. Catch you next week.

Thurs. April 6, 2023: A Steady Work Day

image courtesy of Karolina Grabowska via pixabay.com

Thursday, April 6, 2023

Full Moon

Rainy and chilly

There’s a new post over on Gratitude and Growth.

After all that “Twitter won’t allow WordPress to connect anymore” – it did? I’m so confused. Don’t get me wrong, I’m happy about it. But I’m confused.

Was feeling under the weather yesterday. I got 5 pages written on FALL FOREVER, a new scene which surprised me (for the right reasons) and then doing the scene shift into the next scene. I’m starting to have my doubts that this will be a full-length. I’m thinking it might run around an hour or so. But I can’t worry about that in this draft. I have to write what wants to be written, and then, in revisions, work on structure, adding or cutting, re-shaping, etc.

Finished and polished next week’s Process Muse. Will upload it today. I’d hoped to have the whole month done by the end of last week, but that didn’t happen. I’d like to buckle down this weekend and get the rest of April into the first week of May done and uploaded, since the last week of April into May will be busy.

Did a quick library run to drop off/pick up books, but that was all the energy I had for anything away from home.

Did the social media rounds for the blog, the Process Muse, and the episode of Angel Hunt which dropped yesterday. I need to build in steady time the rest of this week and next week for Legerdemain, and some time toward the end of next week for Angel Hunt.

Turned around a big coverage on a script for which I’d been requested.

The Goddess Provisions box arrived, and was a delight.

Worked on contest entries in the evening. I’m almost finished with two of the three categories, and then I can focus on the last one (which is the biggest one) for the rest of the month.

I’m getting tired of trying to figure out workarounds on the Kindle. Plus, I have a bunch of stuff on Overdrive on the Kindle and Overdrive is discontinued on May 1. So I have to pull it off and get it on the external hard drive, pull off the other material on the Kindle that wasn’t purchased through Kindle (but is from Gutenberg or Send-to-Kindle, which no longer opens on the Kindle).

I’m looking at tablets. I need something where I can read on expanded font (for the script coverages and the other reading that I usually do on Kindle), and it would be nice if I had word processing and other capacity there. Because so much runs on app and doesn’t work on the laptop, it’s frustrating. EVERYTHING should work on both.. Especially since tablets can’t handle the writing capacity I need, and I do A LOT of work where there’s no internet connection.

The script coverage service for which I work had a leadership change and I have my doubts. So I guess part of this spring/summer is looking for other work. I’m worried anyway, with the looming WGA strike, especially since no one at the coverage service will answer any questions as to how it affects us.

Slept well, although with weird dreams. Meditation this morning. I have to go to the grocery store. I need to work on FALL FOREVER, Legerdemain, and do the social media rounds for everything, including the episode of Legerdemain that drops today. I also need to do some more promotion for “Plot Bunnies.”

I have three script coverages in the queue for today. I thought I had two today and one tomorrow, but then I was requested for a long coverage, so I’ll do three today and the requested coverage tomorrow.

I might be working late today. But the weekend is busy, so I have to get things done.

Happy Passover to all those who celebrate.

Have a good one.

Wed. April 5, 2023: Plodding Along

image courtesy of Lalu Fatoni via pixabay.com

Wednesday, April 5, 2023

First Day of Full Moon

Cloudy and chilly

We talk about “Business Plans” over on The Process Muse today. You can read it here, and then drop in your two cents. I’d love to hear your take on it.

My mom was doing better yesterday. She ate a good breakfast, and then I headed out to get my windshield wiper replaced, which took about 10 minutes and I got to play with the resident German Shephard.

Came home. Wrote 4 ½ pages on FALL FOREVER, scene which took an unexpected turn, but I’ll go with it.

Got up the promotions for “Plot Bunnies” and for this week’s episodes of both Legerdemain and Angel Hunt. Made the social media rounds for all of them. There’s a weird yellow dog popping up as the logo on Twitter now, instead of the blue bird. So I guess we’re woofing instead of tweeting? And FB is making it harder to navigate between multiple pages. I’m getting fed up with all of them.

Yegads Muskrat now disabled shared posting from WordPress. Well, I’m locking my account next week. I was going to wait until the end of next week, but I might do it once the “Plot Bunnies” promo finishes midweek. I wonder how long until Tweetdeck is disabled, too?

Buffer’s talking about expanding to more channels, so I might have to take another look at them. I’m losing too much time manually posting across channels.

Turned around two coverages. Wrote and sent my review. The review platform says I now must change my password every 90 days. Um, no. I haven’t changed it since I started reviewing and I’m not going to do that now. I can’t track that many changed passwords all the time. The PLATFORMS need to protect us and to stop putting it all on us, pretending it’s for “security.” It’s because they aren’t good enough at what they do.

It was warm enough to work out on the porch, amongst the tulips and the scent of hyacinths, so that was nice.

Cancelled out of yoga so I wouldn’t put anyone at risk.

Glad the Sociopath was arraigned; the circus was ridiculous. The NYT had a headline saying that the courtroom made him look “small.” Nope. He’s always been a small man of enormous ego, and a con artist who appeals to the worst in his followers. Annoyed that a North Carolina rep is switching parties; once one is elected, they should have to finish out their term as elected, and only switch when they run again. She should be destroyed, both personally and professionally, but the Dems don’t have the balls to do so.

I’m feeling run down, so I’m going to take it easy today. I’m not sure if I’m fighting a bit of what my mom has, or if it’s exhaustion from taking care of her, or sense memory stress, or a combination.  I have to do a library run, because there are books that will be sent back if I don’t pick them up. But other than that, I will stay home, write, do my script coverage and work on contest entries, but also take breaks when I’m tired. I’m going to try not to get sick by pacing myself instead of just trying to push through. There’s a lot that needs to get done before our company comes at the end of the month. I can’t lose a week or so by being sick.

I woke up too late to make it to the laundromat without losing the whole morning, so that is pushed off for another day.

It’s supposed to get cold this afternoon, but warm up overnight, so maybe, maybe we’ll see some spring?

Willa keeps trying to steal the chicken bone broth I heat up for my mom a couple of times a day. Charlotte was trying to get into the act yesterday, too. It’s pretty funny. But the medicine is working, and she was back on the exercise bicycle this morning for the full thirty minutes, so she’s feeling better.

A friend of mine feels like crap. He’s taken all the tests: Covid, flu, strep, etc. All come back negative. So he’s calling it “Teenage Mutant Ninja Covid” which somehow seems fitting.

Have a good one, my friends. It looks like it’s going to rain any minute. Better rain than snow, right?

Episode 21 of Angel Hunt drops today. I hope you enjoy it. Hope you got a chance to read Episode 73 of Legerdemain yesterday and that you enjoy the re-release of “Plot Bunnies.”

Peace!

Tues. April 4, 2023: Ups, Downs, and “Plot Bunnies” Re-Release

image courtesy of Connor Johnson via pixabay.com

Tuesday, April 4, 2023

Waxing Moon

Rainy and chilly

Lots to catch up on, so curl up with a beverage and we’ll get to it.

Friday morning was all about getting ready for the grant reception. I did a home test – I felt fine, but I wanted to be sure. All good. Made an executive decision to use a more forgiving shapewear, because the really good one didn’t let me sit down, and that would not work for me. I know we were in an art museum and all, but being a living sculpture is not my jam.

I forgot to mention in Friday morning’s post how happy I am that the Narcissistic Sociopath has finally been indicted. About damn time. Having served on a Grand Jury, I have some idea of how the evidence was presented, and what kinds of conversations the jury might have had, and the instructions. Personally, I won’t be satisfied until he’s up on accounts of treason and sedition, but at least SOMEBODY is trying to do SOMETHING about all that public criming in real time.

As far as school shootings, nothing will get better until the NRA loses their nonprofit status, is declared a terrorist organization, and any politician bought by them removed from office. Any politician wearing an NRA pin should be banned from office for life. At minimum.

Anyway, back to the goings on.

The grant reception was amazing. I met so many people (and I have so much follow up to do). The new executive director, Michael Bobbitt, for the Council is a theatre person, filled with exuberance and passion to support working artists. He believes in us collectively, and also takes the time to meet and know us as individuals. I was surprised that the state level senators and reps were there, not just talking passionately about how deeply they believe in us. Instead of the usual appearance, where they nod, smile, say a few words and are whisked off to the next event, they were there early, they stayed through all the speeches and performances, and they stayed after to talk to the individual recipients. Since the auditorium was packed with several hundred of us (yes, I stayed masked the whole time), that was both unusual and appreciated. Several Council board members were there, and again, the passion and belief in us is astounding.

Because there were so many of us in attendance, I didn’t have to worry about being put on the spot for anything (a nice change). There was a planned, scheduled performance by one of the artists, poet Lyrical Faith, which was terrific. And organized, and took the pressure off of us. The whole event was beautifully organized.

The director of the museum was even there to kick this off, welcome us, and encourage us to stay and enjoy the museum.

I also met Emily Ruddock, of Mass Creative, who I’ve known and worked with for the past couple of years via email, and it was such fun to finally meet in person. Her husband is a theatrical lighting designer. And Brian Boyles, the head of Mass Humanities, and I also had an excellent conversation.

The auditorium is in the same building as the library, so now I know where I’ll go for my research project on the Bibiena family of stage designers (this family and the Canalettos were the big opera designers in Italy, and the painter Canaletto started painting scenery for his father).

The ceremony was filled with passion and emotion and enthusiasm and belief. Even better, the state’s Committee on Tourism and Culture is co-chaired by Berkshire politicians – both of whom were at the event.

It was a wonderful event, but also a little overwhelming, especially after being in various stages of pandemic isolation for three years. Like I said, I need to be re-socialized slowly, like a feral cat.

Thank goodness I’d made business cards.

As I said, I have a LOT of follow-up to do this week.

After the reception (which, of course, ran late, but no one cared because we were having fun, and after, because all the people who were on the podium were actually interested in staying and talking one-on-one), I got my little museum admission sticker and wandered the museum.

I’d decided to dovetail being at the Clark with Essay Camp’s Day 5 assignments, and the start of the big nonfiction project. I spent a big chunk of time with Renoir’s “A Box At The Theatre (at a Concert).” Of course I was drawn to a theatre painting. I also spent some time with some Sargent paintings in Venice. “A Venetian Interior” has this hint of light through a door at the back that just fascinated me.

My feet hurt by then. Even though I’d worn flat boots, because I knew I wasn’t up for heels, I’m not used to wearing shoes for more than quick errands, and my feet damn hurt.

Limped back to the car and headed for Chapter Two Books on Spring Street in Williamstown. What a great bookstore! And the people running it are so nice. I wound up buying eight books, a mix of fiction, nonfiction, poetry, etc.

Wanted to stop at another store on the way, but couldn’t figure out where I was allowed to park, so skipped it and went to Wild Oats to pick up a few things.

Headed home, limped up the stairs, took off the boots, and stripped off the clothes (especially the shapewear). Phew!

It was after 3 by the time I got home (and I’d left the house at 10 AM), so it was a long day. A good one, but long.

At 7 was the Dramatists Guild End of Play virtual kickoff, which was a lot of fun. In addition to the great DG staff members, playwrights Dominic D’Andrea, Kevin Free, Caridad Svich, Deborah Zoe Laufer, Bernardo Cubria, Christine Toy Johnson, Jacqueline E. Lawton, Migdalia Cruz, and Eric Pfeffinger were there to offer prompts and conversation.

Several of the prompts were relevant to my play; others started seeds of new plays.

It was a lot of fun, but I was thoroughly wiped out by the end of it. I read one of the books I bought at Chapter Two, a book called AIRMAIL, which is a collection of letters between Pam Houston and Amy Irving early in the pandemic, until I staggered off to bed.

Slept pretty well, although I woke up at 2:30 fretting, and managed to get back to sleep eventually. Then Charlotte woke me around 4, and I told her I wasn’t getting up until the coffee started.

After breakfast, I sat down to start FALL FOREVER for End of Play, and wrote eight pages, the whole first scene. My outline is much looser than usual, and I’m trusting the characters. Even though I know there will be a lot of revision involved, I like what’s happening for this draft.

Took a break, and switched over to draft Legerdemain. Had trouble getting into the headspace.

Had to dash out for a few errands in the rain, got those done, came back. Settled in to work on contest entries, which I did for the rest of the day and into the evening. I’m almost done with two out of three genres, and should have both finished this week, which means I can then concentrate on the final genre (I’ve done a little over a third of the entries in that one). I need to catch up on entering the scores online, or it will be too much to do all at once.

Actually slept well Saturday into Sunday, slept all the way through the night. What a big difference. We originally were supposed to go on a storage run, but because of the wonky weather and the fact I have only one working windshield wiper, we didn’t. Neither of us felt up to it mentally or physically.

I was at the desk fairly early, and wrote the next scene of FALL FOREVER (3 ½ pages). I’d been thinking of it since I woke up, and also figured out how to utilize the few scene shifts I have in the piece to drive the plot.

Although it was a struggle to settle into Legerdemain, I managed to do it, and draft a new episode. I also created the episode graphics for this week’s episodes.

I worked on contest entries. I’m having trouble with the Kindle. Send -to-Kindle material shows up, but doesn’t open, even when it’s downloaded.

Amazon’s been trying to force me to buy a new kindle for the past few years, so they’re just turning off more and more features, thinking that’ll make me do it.

What it’s making me is angry, and I’m more likely to invest in a tablet on which I can do more with more flexibility and just use the Kindle reader app.

We also did our taxes. They should be simpler this year, but changes in the forms meant they were more difficult. But if we made a mistake, they will let us know. I mean, I’m not MAILING them until next week, but at least they’re done. And then, of course, I also have to do/mail my quarterly taxes next weekend, but that’s not as much of a big deal.

I had a very intense yoga class in the evening. As my teacher pointed out “restorative doesn’t mean EASY.” Yup. And Saturn in Pisces means when you do deep work, there’s an additional level of intensity.

My mom was coughing a lot this weekend. It didn’t sound good. We tried over the counter cough syrup and liquid Tylenol, which works for a little while, but it’s solving the problem. We both took home Covid tests (since I was going to yoga, and I’d been to the grant reception, I planned to test anyway). Both negative. I planned to call the doctor on Monday morning and get her in.

But my mom woke me up at 4:30 on Monday, because she couldn’t stop coughing and couldn’t get the childproof cap off the cough syrup. I gave her some syrup and she went back to sleep for a couple of hours, but felt dizzy when she woke up, so I packed her into the car and drove her over to Urgent Care. They were very nice and ran a bunch of tests to eliminate things. Since her only symptoms were a racking cough and dizziness, and the COVID test was negative, the heart rate good and the lungs clear, it removed a bunch of the worst options. They decided to do a flu swab, and that came back positive. She was skeptical, since she has no fever or body aches or nausea or any of the usual symptoms, but this year’s flu is weird, so, and it was a positive result, so that’s the first line of treatment.

I loaded her back in the car. Conveniently, Urgent Care is next to Stop & Shop, so I picked up the recommended bone broth and chicken soup (and I have homemade chicken soup) and a baguette to make it all more palatable. Got her settled at home, then set back out to mail bills (yay boxes that let you toss in the mail), and pick up her prescription at CVS. While I was there, I got the additional home COVID tests her insurance covers. I dashed next door to Big Y to get lemons, crackers, and iced fruit bars, which I thought she might enjoy.

We finally got home to eat breakfast around 11 AM. And I had to cancel the appointment to get the windshield wipers replaced. Got her settled in bed. We are trying to figure out how she could have caught flu germs. The only place she’s been out of the house was, the day before my birthday, when she went to the Clark with me, and we were masked the whole time. Unless the germs came in on a library book, or on me. I’m usually the one who always goes down with the first flu germ.

I’d written my three and a half pages for End of Play very early this morning, while my mom was asleep, so at least I didn’t feel like I’d lost the whole day.

I’d run out of time to work on Legerdemain, and to get the promos up  for “Plot Bunnies” which re-releases with some upgrades (especially to technology) today. This is a fun little story, set in the town of Twinkle, Vermont, and I hope you enjoy it. I need to dig in the rest of this week on promotion, especially since, toward the end of next week, I will most likely lock my Twitter account.

I was exhausted and felt like I’d been run over by a truck, but I managed to turn around both script coverages due in between making sure my mom had hot tea with honey and lemon, bone broth, water, and her medication on time. The medication’s definitely helping (although heaven forbid either her insurance or her supplemental insurance pay for it – what’s the point of forcing us to have supplemental insurance when it doesn’t actually cover what it’s supposed to)?

She had appetite for dinner (and she can smell and taste, which was another reason to be confident in the negative COVID test). Willa wouldn’t let my mom out of her sight, following her everywhere and staying with her on the bed. She takes her job as feline nurse very seriously.

Friends of ours are coming to visit for the last weekend of April into the beginning of May. We haven’t seen them since before the pandemic started, and they’ve never visited us in the Berkshires, so it will be fun. It means I have to kick into high gear with the spring cleaning!

I finished the book for review and got confirmation that the contest entries which didn’t fit my genre were moved to the appropriate one.

Fell into bed early and slept fairly well, dreaming that one of my plays was in rehearsal. Woke up around 2 to find Charlotte had snuck onto the bed with Tessa and me. Fell asleep again until about 6.

My mom seems better today. I have to catch up on everything I didn’t get done yesterday, write my 3-4 pages on the play, get the windshield wiper replaced, write and send off the review, get all the promos up and out, and turn around two script coverages.

I’m going to cancel out of yoga tonight (much as I want/need it) because I don’t want to risk getting anyone in the studio sick.

Let’s hope this is a productive week. I have to get started on the follow-up from Friday’s events, too. Focus on one thing at a time, and it’ll all get done, right?

Mon. April 3, 2023: Intent for the Week — Show Up

image courtesy of Olya Adamovich via pixabay.com

We’re in April, which means I have End of Play and the wellness challenge at my yoga studio as the pillars between the rest of the month is built.

My intent this week is to show up: to be consistent with the writing, the yoga, and whatever else needs attention, and giving it attention without getting distracted by other things competing for attention.

Show up to the commitments. Do the work.

What’s your intent this week?

Fri. March 31, 2023: The New Quarter Will Be the Right Kind of Busy

image courtesy of dae jeung kim via pixabay.com

Friday, March 31, 2023

Waxing Moon

Cloudy and chilly

Considering how rocky the start to yesterday was, it took a turn for the better.

Meditation was good yesterday (no surprise there).

We received our instructions from the Cultural Council yesterday morning for today, with directions and parking (as needed), COVID protocols, et al. They asked us to make ourselves available to members of the press, and the museum has invited us to stay past the reception and enjoy the exhibits (something I’d already planned, notebook in hand). It seems well-organized, and they are looking out for us, which is a relief.

Did my errands. Had to scrape snow and ice off the car, and wished I had worn gloves (it was supposed to be in the high forties today, but nope, not even 30 when I left mid-morning).

Edited next week’s Legerdemain episodes. Polished, uploaded, and scheduled them. They will drop when they’re supposed to, thank goodness. Did the episode log lines. Still have to do the episode graphics.

Turned around the script coverage I didn’t get done yesterday, and have two in the queue for Monday, so I’m ending this pay period all right and starting the next one strong. Which is good, with quarterly taxes coming up.

Polished and sent out the newsletter. Already started the document for June’s newsletter. It’s much easier to add things in as they happen and have it all ready to arrange and polish than try to remember what I did the past few months. I bumped one thing from this newsletter to the next newsletter, because it’s happening closer to the next one, and makes more sense.

Did the social media rounds to promote the two episodes of Legerdemain that went live yesterday, due to the glitch.

Got the UBL up on the Delectable Digital Delights page for the “Plot Bunnies” re-release. Over the next few days, I will add in the individual buy links, per each distributor. Made the promotion graphic. It releases on Tuesday, so I will do heavy promotion next week until the following Monday after Easter.

Let WordXWord know I’m interested in this year’s collaborative poem. It’s multi-lingual this year, but they decided to only use 30 poets this year, and I figure the regular crew should have first shot at the slots. Also, with 50 last year, the poets who didn’t show up and didn’t send a surrogate caused additional stress on the project as a whole on performance day, and there’s enough of that just in performance. If I get in, great; I’m hoping to work in more than one language. If I don’t, I hope I can attend the event, and at least support them.

Wound up designing and printing out three different business cards. Because, you know, can’t go to an event without business cards. I did the new Fearless Ink card, which I finally like. I did a new Devon Ellington card. I did a Pages on Stages card, which I don’t really like. It needs to be on an all-black background with text on white and glossy, not the black on what background with black text I did. I’ll do a redesign in the coming weeks and get it professionally printed. My inkjet can’t do it. But I printed off 10 of each (I can’t imagine I’ll need that many) which will at least get me through the reception. I have my eye on some Art Deco metal card cases. My previous leather case wore out.

Hunted down the monologue I wanted (“Leaving”) and printed it out in 16 pt. font so it’s easy to read under pressure. Because I have it, I won’t need it, but if I didn’t have it, I would. Call it my insurance policy.

Printed off my ticket and packed that, too.

Tried on the dresses. Chose the gray one, and I’m using enough shapewear so my torso won’t be able to move. Changed the nail polish color.

Spent too much time on Twitter because I’m going to enjoy it until I lock the account mid-month amid the latest chaos.

A friend sent me a stack of books: a Harrod’s cookbook, THE MAN WHO ATE EVERYTHING,  A HISTORY OF FOOD IN 100 RECIPES, and MFK Fisher’s A STEW AND A STORY.

About to jump in the shower for the scrub and polish, and take time with the hair and makeup. Fortunately, with short hair, it won’t be a big production.

Emailed the garage where I got my inspection done to see if they can replace the windshield wiper next week. I’d hoped to do a storage run this weekend. Tomorrow it’s going to rain all day and then change over to snow into Sunday until past the time we’d need to leave, so that’s all up in the air. If the weather is nasty, I’m not going (can’t, with the bad blade). And I need to pull things out of the unit and dig around; I don’t want to do it if the ground is wet. So we’re playing the weekend by ear. It’s all weather dependent.

Tonight is the virtual kickoff reception for the Dramatists Guild. Tomorrow I start writing FALL FOREVER.

Episode 20 of Angel Hunt drops today.

Another month and another quarter starts.

Have a good weekend, and I’ll catch you on the other side!

Thurs. March 30, 2023: Inner and Outer Storms

image courtesy of  David Mark via pixabay.com

Thursday, March 30, 2023

Waxing Moon

Cloudy and snowy

The latest on the garden is over on Gratitude and Growth. With some actual photos of what’s growing, not the usual stock photos.

Yesterday was a bit chaotic. The toilet tank went from leaking to acting  like a geyser, which meant the whole small bathroom was a mess. Everything had to be dropped to clean it up before it caused a problem for the downstairs neighbors. And, since it was all wet anyway, why not throw in some soap and start the Big Spring Clean with the bathroom?

It took awhile to do a good deep clean, and I still have to scrub the tub and wipe down the top of the heater, but the rest of the room sparkles.

I mean, I had to do something while I waited for maintenance, right?

Checked with my Llewellyn editor. Why yes, we are now being paid early. Awesome. Deposited the check.

Did a quick library run to drop off and pick up books. Found a large, hardcover, spiral bound sketchbook in which to start the large nonfiction project. Came home and realized that I forgot one of the books due Friday, so I’ll do another library run today and just put it in the drop box. There are several other books with which I’m finished, and can return, too, even though they’re not due.

Sent off an email to a reporter to whom I’d promised answers to her questions about Twitter’s latest bad choice.

The maintenance guy came. The toilet tank issue was the need for a new flush valve. The one in there was so old they don’t even make it anymore. Plus another part of it was frayed, and the whole thing would have become a major problem within the week. But it was a simple fix and everything works well now.

Showed him the growing wet stain in the ceiling of my mother’s bedroom. It concerned him, and up he went to the attic (to which tenants do not have access), and found a big leak. So it’s the entire house that needs a new roof this spring, not just the bit over the porch. Guys have been hired, but the weather needs to stabilize before they can do it. In the meantime, he did what he could up there to mitigate it so the ceiling doesn’t come down.

I was absolutely exhausted by the time he left. I did the social media rounds, promoting Angel Hunt, Process Muse, Ink-Dipped Advice. Worked on the newsletter, which should go out later today. I’ve been adding to the document throughout the quarter, so it’s about polishing, adding the graphics, adding/checking links and the like.

But I was tired and on edge and couldn’t settle. Managed to get some work done on the Essay Camp assignments, but couldn’t even settle down to read (for either work or pleasure).

Watched two dudes over at the college folding tarps. It was obvious they didn’t do their own laundry and had never folded a sheet!

Didn’t sleep well. Woke up when the storm started, and checked to make sure everything was storm-ready. Couldn’t get back to sleep for ages. When I finally went back to sleep, I had a series of weird dreams where I bounced from dream to dream.

Did not want to get up this morning. Felt like I couldn’t face the day. Then, I realized it was sense memory stress. I reminded myself where I am now. Followed my breath. Reminded myself I am about to send out a joyful newsletter full of all the good stuff that’s going on, and I have a day ahead of me of doing work I love. That I live in the right place for me now, and tomorrow is the grant reception.

Which I cannot walk into beaten down by sense memory stress. I need to walk in with confidence.

Woke up to more snow. Not much, just enough to be annoying.

My ticket arrived yesterday, and I have the choices down between two dresses. I will try them both on today and see which feels right. I have the jewelry picked out (it’ll go with either dress). Once I know which dress, I’ll figure out the makeup.

On today’s agenda: meditation, uploading/scheduling next week’s Legerdemain episodes, doing their graphics and loglines, designing/printing the business card for tomorrow, printing out the monologue, trying on dresses and deciding on dress/make-up, doing the social media rounds to promote the two episodes of Legerdemain that go live today (because of Tuesday’s glitch), and turning around a script coverage. I have to do another quick drop off at the library, and one other errand, too.

I also have today’s Essay Camp assignments, and that’s probably as much writing as I’ll get done today. I got a little bit of writing done this morning. This Essay Camp has helped me clarify the skills and tools I need to pull off the big nonfiction project. The timing was great, and I’m so grateful to Summer Brennan for doing it (guess who’ll be acknowledged in the project credits, along with the Cultural Council)?

Have a good one!