Wed. July 12, 2023: Deep in the Creative Forest
image courtesy of woong hoe via pixabay.comWednesday, July 12, 2023
Waning Moon
Pluto, Saturn, Neptune Retrograde
Foggy and humid
The flooding was very severe here. Some of the roads are washed out. Not going out and about on Monday was the right decision. Vermont was hit much harder than we were, and they are in bad shape.
Today’s Process Muse post is about hardware, software, and tools. You can read it here.
Today’s serial episode is from ANGEL HUNT:
Episode 49: The Sphinx’s Test
Lianna must find a way past the Sphinx into the Library.
(I’m having some fun with tropes in this episode).
I answered some email and then polished, uploaded, and scheduled the next four episodes of DEADLY DRAMATICS. That gets me through mid-November. I went to write up the episode log lines, and BOTH files had dumped the previous eight episodes’ worth of log lines, so I had to write all of them over again. I’m so frustrated with this computer. And Auto-save’s not cutting it for the backup saves.
Worked out the details for the visit with my friend the weekend of July 23. Now I have to clean the house next week. I mean, I clean the house every week, but I have to do a better job. Worked out a coffee date with someone I met at the Business Expo for the end of next week – at the place in Pittsfield that Word X Word uses for some of their events. Got some great news from someone else I met at those events, and will sit on it until she gives me the go-ahead to share it. I got the presentation and follow-up materials from Monday’s seminar, and will go over it and respond. There are things not being taken into consideration which perturb me, to say the least. So I will bring them up. And I appreciated that they understood me not wanting to come out in a flood to their meeting. “Why didn’t you come die for us?” is not something I’m willing to put up with anymore.
Sat down to make a few notes on “The Vicious Critic” which is the lead-in piece to “But is She a Betting Man?” –set in Saratoga, of course, both of which I want to comprise DEADLY DRAMATICS Season Two. However, six hours later, I had an 11-page outline for “The Vicious Critic” so we’ll see if those tales need to be Seasons Two and Three, or if I can be succinct enough, even with such a detailed outline, to have them both as a single season. “Vicious Critic” was only supposed to be 20 episodes, but I think it will be more.
By then, it was almost time for yoga.
It’s so bizarre to write about that time, in the 90’s, when cell phones were strange and new, and not many people used computers at home; and, when they did, the CompuServe bulletin boards were a big thing. And if you were out and about and needed to reach someone, you used payphones on street corners or in bars.
Emerging from that world back to this one, and having to go on social media, with all that chaos, is a jolt. And, right now, social media in general makes me sad. With a new serial about to launch, I can’t take a break, but I will plan one later this year (I’m thinking maybe December).
I managed to finish the book for review. I was annoyed, because after getting me to read over 100K (okay, I was PAID to read it, but still) – there wasn’t an ending. Even if the book is part of a trilogy or series, the individual books need to have a satisfying stopping point. Stopping in the middle of the action DOES NOT MAKE ME WANT TO READ THE NEXT BOOK. Instead, it annoys me. It makes me want to avoid that author in the future, because the author lacks storytelling skills. You can end on a note that drives the reader to the next book while still making this one satisfying in and of itself, even if it’s not a standalone.
It was great to be back in yoga. The yoga class itself was full, but everyone looks out for each other, so it’s fine. The meditation class was much smaller, and also great.
Home, dinner, some reading for pleasure before bed.
Out of bed early this morning to haul the laundry down to the laundromat. The lights didn’t come on properly for the first half of the time I was there; with the fog outside, it was very creepy. But I got the laundry done, and I got 12 episodes of ANGEL HUNT edited. I need to go back and check some details, and check some timeline/plot logic points before I upload the next set of episodes (which needs to happen this weekend).
Legerdemain needs attention today, along with Sunday’s poem, and a few other things. I have to get back on track with the Llewellyn pieces. I think I’ll schedule them in starting next Monday, and do 3/day. I will also write and send off the book review, and hopefully get another assignment, since there’s very little client work coming in right now.
I felt like an idiot yesterday – I was doing the social media rounds for the serials, and at first, I promoted the wrong serial – Angel Hunt, rather than Legerdemain. During the process of writing the outline for “Vicious Critic” I somehow thought it was Wednesday, instead of still being Tuesday.
J. August Richards, an actor with whom I worked on a TV show back in my NYC days, and with whom I keep in touch, shared with me the Deadline article about the studios’ determination to let the writers go broke and homeless, breaking the WGA, rather than negotiate a fair deal.
I’m not surprised AT ALL. And we have to shut everything down. SAG-AFTRA agreeing to federal mediation is not something I agree with. We need to shut it all down. I was disappointed that the DGA agreed to a sub-standard deal, instead of standing with the rest of us. Again, I’m not surprised, because many directors genuinely believe they are the only talent on a production. We cannot cave to the studios and allow them to destroy the creative industry: writing, acting, directing, editing, sound, production, design – there are too many wonderfully creative people who deserve to be paid a living wage for what they do.
Today is Wednesday, and I need to Wednesday. Tomorrow morning is about meditation, and then yoga at the library. Friday, I’m headed out to Amherst. So today needs focus. My computer is not cooperating.
Have a good one, my friends!
