Fri. Aug. 6, 2021: Teaching at the Conference (Online)

image courtesy of Alexandra Koch via pixabay.com

Friday, August 6, 2021

Day Before Dark Moon

Pluto, Saturn, Jupiter, Neptune, Chiron Retrograde

Foggy and humid

Meditation was good, as always. I’m so grateful I found this particular group.

I spent almost the entire day polishing my presentation for class, choosing and changing images for slides. Cutting, rearranging, making it sharper.

I took a quick break to join in the Freelance Chat, but other than that, it was about getting the slides to where I wanted them.

I’m pleased with both the content and look. Let’s hope that the Zoom “share” screen works, so I can actually show it to the students!

I chose the Tip Sheets and uploaded them to a special page on the website, and converted the Power Point to a PDF and uploaded that, too. The students will be able to download the handouts and have something to which they can refer beyond the class.

I stayed up working on script coverage last night, and I still have one that has to be finished and go off before class starts – along with putting on makeup and getting things set up for being on Zoom for two hours.

I slept until 5:30 this morning (should have gotten up at 5). Charlotte finally decided to get me up by jumping onto my stomach and landing like a sack of potatoes. Yeah, that got me up.

I did not give up my first writing session of the day on the book, in spite of all the time pressure. I need that first session to stabilize my day and set a positive tone. I wrote a little under 1K, but I like what I wrote, so that’s good.

Next week, I’m going to start adding in the book I SHOULD be working on, along with this book, the undeadlined book I WANT to be writing, so that there’s more of a balance, and I’m making progress the way I need to make it, along with writing whatever I want. It’s not that I don’t want to write the book on which I SHOULD be working; it’s that it’s connected to the chaos of the surgeries and illness last year and the move, so it’s difficult. I need to separate the negative associations surrounding the book and focus on the book itself.

Then, I need to balance the work on both books with the copywriting demands, the article demands, the script coverage demands, and the work that needs to be done on the plays. I got sidetracked the other day by Marie Collier research for that play. I have some ideas for a premise, but I need more of a sense of how she interacted with her friends and enemies. I need to re-read Dawn Powell’s diaries, biography, and novels, and then re-read a couple of Dorothy Parker biographies, so I can mimic both their voices for their play.

But today, I teach a workshop on character, for the Cape Cod Writers Conference, stepping in for someone who had to drop out. I’m sure my approach is different than hers, although I tried to shape the class along her description of it, since people had already signed up. Hopefully, they will feel they’ve learned something when they leave, and will feel excited and empowered to play with character dynamics.

Off to finish the script coverage, get that out, and then shower, put on makeup, and make like a professional. Hopefully, the cats won’t be too much of a distraction when the Zoom is open. Charlotte does love participating on Zoom.

After class, I’m headed off to Wild Oats Market for a few things, then I have one more script to read and write up before I can stop for the weekend.

Peace, friends, and have a great weekend.