Wed. June 7, 2023: In A Mood
image courtesy of martakoton via pixabay.comWednesday, June 7, 2023
Waning Moon
Pluto Retrograde
Smoggy and cool
Keep on keeping on, right? We’ve had poor air quality alerts the past couple of days, due to wildfires in Canada. The air purifier is back on. Tessa is thrilled, and sits near it. Last night, Willa and Charlotte joined her. Temporary truce.
I am In A Mood, so you might want to skip today’s post.
The latest Process Muse is about Second Book Scaries is available here. The latest Ink-Dipped Advice post on social media adventures is here.
Today’s episode is from Angel Hunt.
Episode 39: An Explanation of the Universe
Lianna learns how little she really knows.
After the mayor responded to my complaint, the machinery noise was cut in half. It’s not completely quiet, but it’s at a level that’s cope-able. So all of their “oh, we have no control on the sound level” that they’ve played these past months was, of course, bullshit.
I finished drafting an episode of Legerdemain. I started an episode of Angel Hunt (the new material to fix the plot hole). I’m finding my way through it, and it will need work, but getting it down so there’s something to work on is key.
I did the background work for the first two Llewellyn pieces.
I tried to work on the short play (which I’ve re-named “Summon Thee”) but I didn’t get very far. My brain resembled drying scrambled eggs.
Milne Library in Williamstown doesn’t have Ancestry on their computers, but Berkshire Atheneum down in Pittsfield does. They told me to come on down any time, check in with the desk, and they’d make sure I got right onto the computer. Both libraries responded less than an hour from when I contacted them. Meanwhile, I’ve been waiting for a response from my home library for 7 days from my initial email and 3 days from the follow-up email. I finally got a response yesterday which was half apology and half scolding for sending an email to make an appointment. Inappropriate. I’m going to head to Berkshire Atheneum later this week as planned.
I got out two plays for New England-only submission calls. I’m trying to figure out if I want to pitch to play readings series in New Hampshire and/or across the state, and what I would bring to each. I looked at some pieces, which aren’t really suitable, but there are a couple that might work. There’s also a local theatre company who accepts submissions all year, but I’m not sure what to send them. FALL FOREVER is aimed at another market, at least initially. Plus, it’s not yet ready to submit. I’m not sure if JUST A DROP or SERENE & DETERMINED are a good fit.
I was looking at BEHIND THE MAN (which is the adapted to proscenium version of TILL DEATH DO THEY PART, which was interactive). I’m wondering if it would work better as a full-length radio play. And, since it had a production in another incarnation, would it even be suitable for submission? So many companies want previously unproduced work, making it harder and harder for a script to earn its keep after the initial production. Anyway, both the stage and the radio versions of BEHIND THE MAN need work.
Then, I got an email from the Cultural Council. They told us they have no idea when we’ll get the grant money (as I said, we’re now in week 13 of waiting, when we were told it would be 4). It was one quarter apology and three quarters “tough shit.” Oh, and they’ve deigned to push back the July report requirement date (since we won’t have our money, so they “understand” it would be a hardship to fill out the report). They never even told us what the requirements of the July report were, just that we had to file this mystery report according to directions they claimed were in the package but were not.
I’ve kept careful track of everything related to the work since I got news of this supposed grant that will probably never turn up, so I’ve got plenty of data to fill out their fucking report. (I mean, I keep careful track of it anyway, for taxes, but I broke it down the way I’ve had to break it down for this type of report in the past and it’s clear and detailed enough that I can slot in the information in any configuration they want).
I have plenty to say about this, but I’ll vent in private (using mostly 4 letter words). That means pushing back some projects and cancelling others permanently, because next year’s schedule is already taking shape.
Autumn is already tightly booked, so I can’t overload it, especially since I’m waiting for confirmation or not of a couple of projects (which would be funded completely separately from the grant, thank goodness). I’ve paid the deposit on the residency, and I’ll put aside the balance throughout the summer, so that’s handled and safe.
Most of the projects could go back on track without the grant money – if there was no WGA strike. Being without one or the other is do-able. But without the script coverage work, script work, AND without the grant money, I have to put projects on hold. And some of them will never see the light of day again, because the window will be gone (such as the reading series).
It also puts more pressure on the serials and the Topic Workbook sales, which have to pick up some of the slack, while I pitch for some quick turnaround, quick pay articles. And I guess I better get the science fiction/Western/horror piece re-released, “Labor Intensive” prepped for its late summer release, and the Cornelia True/Roman Gray pieces back on track.
It’s do-able because it has to be, even though I’m burned out to a crisp. But I don’t have the luxury of burnout, the same as I don’t have the luxury of writer’s block. Sit the fuck down and get it done is the only option.
But I’m frustrated. I hate it when people lie to me, especially about time and money. With correct information, I could have made plans that would have paid off both financially and creatively this summer.
On top of that, my mother’s supplementary health insurance is useless, and I’m being hit with a slew of medical bills they should be covering. So there’s another fight that will waste time I need to use to earn money.
If insurance companies had to pay us for the time of ours they waste, maybe they’d start paying the claims they’re supposed to cover.
The Chewy order from last week still hasn’t arrived. According to Fed Ex, they haven’t even bothered to pick it up yet. When I contacted them, they stonewalled me. I contacted Chewy, gave them the information I had and how Fed Ex won’t give me answers. I asked Chewy to please light a fire under Fed Ex’s ass (and yes, I used those words), because they are a big enough account to get some answers.
This morning, I got an email that the order will be delivered today.
If I hadn’t asked Chewy to put pressure on Fed Ex, they would have waited another two weeks before even picking it up at the warehouse.
We’ll see if the order actually turns up today.
The Goddess Provisions box arrived yesterday, and is great, as usual. The book on Playland arrived. It’s interesting, but has very little behind-the-scenes material, so it’s not as useful as I hoped. Although it did spur my interest in the amusement park that was on the site before it was Playland, that was known for being “rowdy.”
Ellen Byron’s new books FINALLY arrived. I pre-ordered them last autumn, they released in February and March, Barnes & Noble screwed up the order and refused to fix it, so I finally got the books through a different source and untangled the B & N financial mess. They are my treat for the upcoming weekend.
Thank goodness for yoga, because I really needed it last night.
I was about to dump a project on which I’d been noodling the last few days, giving it up as not viable, but I had some more ideas last night, and I’ll do some more work on it, before I make a decision one way or another. I realized what I had originally considered more of a prologue or teaser, and worried about because it was growing, it actually the first act of the piece, what I had thought of as the main body of it is the second act, and it will all make sense in the third act. That will be my stress-release project to play with, because there’s nothing at stake.
I’m enjoying LOST CITY OF THE MONKEY GOD so much that I ordered my own copy. I’m looking forward to discussing it with the NYU alumni book club.
I dreamed I was chased by a bear last night. I looked up the interpretation, and it’s about anger and frustration. Ya think? Yeah, that about sums it up.
Anyway, the heavy machinery didn’t start until 7 AM and the beeping volume is halved, so good. I could actually enjoy a few moments of quiet to start the day, and it made a big difference.
Took the laundry to the laundromat. Prices have gone up to $7.25/load, which makes me think I should look into buying stackable washer/dryer for the laundry room.
Edited four episodes of Legerdemain. Took the manuscript of CAST IRON MURDER with me to work on (since I want to get it out on submission this summer), but I packed the wrong draft. Sigh.
No idea what or how much will get done today, but I better get going, since all my breathing room has been extinguished, both literally and metaphorically.
Have a good one!
