Tues. Oct. 31, 2023: Blessed Samhain

Tuesday, October 31, 2023
Waning Moon
Saturn, Neptune, Chiron, Uranus, Jupiter Retrograde
Samhain/Halloween
Icy and cold
Did you have a good weekend? Are you excited about tonight?
Today’s serial episode is from Legerdemain:
Episode 133: Naoya’s Cover
The central premise of the undercover operation sets off a set of new complications.
Friday morning, I drafted a new episode of Legerdemain. I had to spend some admin time with the serial. The binder is full. I can’t fit all of the second arc into the binder, so I started a new binder with Episode 105 (even though it’s part of the second arc). Episode 105 starts the second year of the serial’s run, so it makes sense.
Wrote 3 more pages on the radio play.
Revised, polished, uploaded, scheduled 4 more episodes of ANGEL HUNT. Getting there! These episodes need a lot more editing, though.
Did the episode videos for next week for all the serials, uploaded, and scheduled them.
Did a run to the library, the post office, and the bank.
Revised, uploaded, polished, and scheduled four more episodes of ANGEL HUNT. Then four more, for a total of 12 for the day. We’re in the home stretch, and this has to work as all of a piece, so it makes sense. I did the paperwork, but not the loglines.
That left four more episodes (which I wanted to break down into six, if I could figure out how without padding them) to complete season one.
Tired by the end of the day. Fish and chips for dinner, read in the evening.
One thing about the booster, I’m sleeping better. I’ll take it.
Up at a regular time on Saturday, trying not to let the eclipse energy throw me off, and thinking about how to rework the ending of ANGEL HUNT so I’m not supporting an unhealthy trope, but still doing justice to the choices the characters made. I reworked those final four episodes into 6 (because of the 2x/week episode drops, I need to end on an even-numbered episode). The final episode count rests at 146 now, which works. I’m letting them sit for a couple of days, and then doing a few more passes on them, to make sure they are where I want/need them before I do the final polish/upload/schedule. I found another note, and I have to see if I need to incorporate it into one of those episodes to wrap things up properly.
Overall, I feel good about ANGEL HUNT. I told the story I wanted to tell. But with so many books I read having unsatisfying endings, I want to write a satisfying one, for both me and for the readers, that also drives them to Season 2, THE LIGHTHOUSE LADY.
I sat down and wrote an 8-page outline for LIGHTHOUSE LADY. I will do some more tweaks as I work, but it sits well as a self-contained story, while also furthering the overall series arc for the Angel Hunt series.
I started notes for the third season, CHRONOS AND THE WITCH, because there were things that came up in LIGHTHOUSE LADY that I want to make sure are followed through, even though there’s a time gap.
I turned around a script coverage, for which I’d been requested.
Did the regular Saturday household chores. Put together the treat bags for trick or treaters. I hope we have enough.
I made an apple and chicken dish with cider sauce in my new, big pan. Love the pan. Love the recipe. It turned out well.
A book I ordered arrived, and I read it. It’s lovely, and exactly what I want right now.
Slept well, woke up feeling good and like myself for the first time in a long time. Enjoy it while it lasts, right?
Sunday was my mom’s 99th birthday. Although it rained all day, it was still a celebratory day. I baked her favorite biscuits for breakfast (American ones, not British ones). We had a quiet, calm, cozy day. I gave myself the day off from writing, although I noodled in longhand on the poem for the 6th, and made some changes on the LIGHTHOUSE LADY outline. And then, of course, sat down and drafted an episode of LIGHTHOUSE LADY, because of course I did. But it’s working.
A script coverage came in unexpectedly. I said yes, thinking it had a 3-day turnaround time, then looked and it was 3 HOURS. Cracked on at it, and got it done. Some scoring sheets landed in my inbox for Monday.
My mother had asked for a specific meal for her birthday, and I prepared it. It was good, but not great. Again, when something didn’t read right in the recipe, I should have gone with my own experience. But it was okay, albeit not brilliant. And she overall had a good day.
I stayed up far too late reading Ted Chapin’s book EVERYTHING WAS POSSIBLE about the creation of the original Broadway production of FOLLIES. I worked on the revival at the Belasco in 2001 which was, shall we say, challenging (although there were some wonderful people involved), so I was curious to read about the way it came together initially.
Slept well, up later than usual (nearly 7), and got a sort of late start. It rained all day Sunday and was still raining into Monday.
Monday was the 20th Anniversary of the Broadway production of WICKED. I was lucky enough to attend its opening night (and the party after, at Tavern on the Green). I was working on a show that opened the night before, SIX DANCE LESSONS IN SIX WEEKS, starring Polly Bergen and Mark Hamill, and we had the opening night of WICKED off (and most of us went to see WICKED). I loved the show.
SIX DANCE LESSONS IN SIX WEEKS closed after about six weeks, and I became a swing dresser on WICKED. That means I learned different tracks and subbed when a dresser was out. I wound up being a swing on WICKED for the first 3 ½ years of the run. Physically, it’s a huge challenge – the quick changes are just that – quick. The costumes are heavy (some of them weigh 40 pounds), none of them fasten the same way, and you’re working these changes on a raked stage. And those flying monkeys and their wings! I still have my monkey pliers and use them for many things. But I’m glad I did it, and was a minor part of the show’s history, and that the show is part of my history.
I drafted an episode of Legerdemain. I drafted an episode and a half of LIGHTHOUSE LADY. I reworked the last six episodes of ANGEL HUNT. There’s one that still isn’t doing what I need it to do, so I will keep working on it until it does.
I did a library run to drop off/pick up books, and picked up coffee and bread at the store. Forgot to get a pomegranate.
Did a stack of score sheets and a script coverage in the afternoon. Some more came in for today, and for tomorrow, which is a decent start to November. Did a bunch of admin. Worked on the poem, which needs more attention, because it has to be in read-ready shape by next Monday.
The tarot deck I won a few weeks ago arrived. It’s called THE TAROT OF THE GREAT OUTDOORS. The minor arcana is set in National Parks (the sun card is in Acadia Park). The minor arcana is very different, too. It’s all built around camping and the outdoors, so the meanings are different than the traditional Rider-Waite-Coleman. I’m looking forward to working with it.
Up early this morning, and out the door to the laundromat. We had our first frost last night, and I had to scrape the car. By the time I came out of the laundromat, it needed to be scraped down again. There’s a rumor we might have some snow flurries later today.
I’m looking forward to a lovely Samhain. I’m going to write in the morning, do script coverage in the afternoon, make a lovely meal tonight, and then get going on the rituals for the week. I’m ready for a new and positive cycle.
Have a wonderful one, and we’ll catch up tomorrow.