Tues. March 5, 2024: The Need For a New Plan — Yet Again
image courtesy of Pexels via pixabay.comTuesday, March 5, 2024
Waning Moon
Rainy and mild
I hope you had a good weekend. I alternated between feeling like I was coping reasonably well, and feeling like roadkill.
Today’s serial episode is from LEGERDEMAIN:
Episode 169: Councilman Grabham’s Threat
An unpleasant councilman threatens Shelley’s job.
Friday, I was basically running on fumes. I did the early morning monitoring, and then I was out the door and at the mechanic by 8 AM. The internet didn’t connect properly, and I’d forgotten my flash drives, so I did what I could offline and then switched to pen and paper.
I toyed with some ideas for a short play, and tried to think of a plot for the short story I want to get out the door by the end of the month. I have the characters and the setting, but it needs a plot.
The car will be repaired in stages; they will get back to me with the initial estimate. It’s drivable, in the meantime.
I brought my computer home, picked up a few things at the grocery store, and did the drop off/pick up at the library. And then, I was basically toast. Got us fed for lunch, but was very, very tired.
I’d planned to rest, but then I saw a call for a grant which would support the Playland Painters Project, so I put everything aside and worked on that. The grant application itself wound up being around 2500 words, with the pitch, statements, etc. I had to put together a work sample from other pieces, which I did, but cutting and pasting into Windows11, when it changes everything into its preferred format even when the document’s been set up in the format needed meant it took longer than it should have, since I had to put a television pilot sample, a stage play sample, and a radio play sample all into the same document.
But that went out the door.
Then, I had to go over the cast list for the play, and send that approval back in. The character that was originally Lorenzo will be played by a woman, so I went through the script and made adjustments (which, in some cases, go beyond just pronouns and changing the name to Renza). But I got that all done, all 119 pages of it, and sent that draft back, so it can go out to the actors over the weekend.
Then, some paperwork came in for the Artist Capacity Building Program that had to be done before Monday, and I figured, get it out the door now, so I did.
By then, I was running on less than fumes.
But I cooked dinner, did the dishes, and did the evening monitoring. I went to bed ridiculously early, but I just couldn’t anymore. The last box of books for the other contest arrived, so I will dig into those.
Although I did manage to sign up for Dramatists’ Guild End of Play program again this April. That’s where I plan to finish THE WOMEN ON THE BRIDGE this year. I wrote FALL FOREVER, the play that’s being done in Cooperstown this spring, over last year’s End of Play program. I got my confirmation, so I’m all set.
Up early on Saturday, did the morning routine and monitoring, got the cats all sorted, did the breakfast and dishes, took out the garbage, went to the store for something I forgot, and then went to Wild Oats for a few things.
Some scripts came in and I knew I needed to work over the weekend, although I would have rather rested. But bills still need to be paid, and I only earned about 1/3 of what I should have in this last pay period. So, back to the desk. I did one large coverage, and that’s all I had the energy for.
Did evening monitoring and the dinner and all the other stuff that needed to be handled. Went through some research books. Finished reading a book of short stories that was fun. Let the short play and the short story I want to write this month percolate.
Dreamed that I went to pick up a friend who was working in an industrial city. He had to leave the emergency exit propped open for me. I went up to the top floor, helped him pack, we snuck out the emergency exit, and I drove him away from the place.
Woke up with ideas for the play and the short story. After the morning monitoring and chores, I wrote the first draft of the short play, and then did another draft. It’s cute, a romantic comedy, with a bunch of characters and double casting. Hopefully, I can do a couple more passes in the coming days and get it out the door. It’s called “Where We Meet” and is location specific to a bench and a lamppost. I’d written one of the opening speeches when I was at the mechanic’s on Friday, but it’s a minor moment in the show.
But it felt good to sit down and really write something.
The short story is also percolating. I wrote nearly 900 words on it (It can only be 5K). The anthology call is totally in my wheelhouse – comic noir mystery. I mean, it’s supposed to be noir. I hope they don’t mind the comic. And golden era film. Right smack in my wheelhouse. If the anthology doesn’t want it, there are other markets.
That felt better, although by the end of it, I was tired.
I read the next book for review, which was very good.
But still went to bed early. Had three different nightmares – Tessa pulled me out of the first one (about war), I pulled myself out of the second one (about not being able to find a costume for a quick change in an actor’s messy dressing room), and Charlotte pulled me out of the third one (which I promptly forgot). So I was exhausted by the time I woke up.
My mom was not feeling well on Monday morning. The doctor told me to stop giving her Lasix after Saturday, but the numbers were going up too high again, so I gave it to her again on Monday, and it helped. I should not be in the position of deciding dosage changes. I am not a medical professional.
On top of that, Spectrum, the internet provider, is being a total asshat – even though they are fully paid and all payments went through, they claim I am delinquent. So much of what they sent me is in direct violation of MA’s telecommunication regulations. I sent a 5-page, detailed letter about their crap to the CEO of the company via certified mail with a fuckton of documentation, including where the company is in violation of state regulations. I sent a copy to the state Telecommunications regulator, a copy to the person in Pittsfield I met at last year’s 1Berkshire event who’s working on digital equity, and to my state senator (who is advocating for more digital equity). Spectrum can bite me.
As it is, in addition to all the regulations they are violating, between the 25th of the month and the 10th of the following month, they slow down my speed, so I’m only getting a portion of what I pay for. On top of that, the radius of coverage the increasingly priced router gives diminishes every month (it’s supposed to cover the entire property, including the porch and the balcony); guests have trouble signing in to the network. They also change payment dates and rates whenever they want, without appropriate notice.
And they are the only choice in this area, so they don’t give a fuck.
But that meant I lost my writing time, dealing with their bullshit. And I had a big stack of underpaid script coverages to turn around that were due on the 5th.
Another friend sent my mom a get well card, which cheered her up.
I managed to do another pass on the short play, and got it out the door to Ireland. Fingers crossed it’s the type of comedy they actually like.
Daylight savings time starts this weekend, just before my birthday. I could cry. I hate springing forward. It takes me weeks to adjust and stop feeling exhausted when things are on track. I can’t cope with that leap this year.
But I dug in, and I turned around 7 small coverages. I’m really excited about the parameters for the scripts for which they’re looking; too bad the pay sucks so badly.
On top of that, Amazon has screwed us yet again for the serials. Wow, not even a week since the last screw. Now, they will make the first TEN episodes free (instead of the first THREE) and charge 10 tokens per episode for the rest. Which screws everything up in so many different directions. There’s also a rumor that if you are an author and read fellow Vella authors, your tokens won’t count toward their payments, and theirs won’t count towards yours. The everything 10 tokens is bad for ANGEL HUNT and some of DEADLY DRAMATICS, because some of those episodes are intentionally less than 1K words. It’s fine for a lot of DD, and for most of LEGERDEMAIN, which usually hovers around 1300 words. It’s hell for the authors whose episodes were much longer, and screws them even more than it does me.
So much for the videos I made last week and the ad buys I planned!
So how does this change the serials?
At the laundromat this morning (yes, I hauled my ass out the door early to the laundromat), I sat down and made a new plan. Which, honestly, isn’t all that different from the original vision plan as to how these pieces fit into my overall career plan. But the timeline is tighter, and moving formats tighter. It affects ANGEL HUNT the least, although THE LIGHTHOUSE LADY will not go up first as a serial (nor will the other three titles planned after LL). DEADLY DRAMATICS will take some tap dancing as far as trying to change the release schedule. I’m going to do some cautious rearranging today and see how that goes, then make my decisions from there. It means that VICIOUS CRITIC will not go up first as a serial.
LEGERDEMAIN is the most complicated, since it was designed to be open-ended. Obviously, now, it can’t be, and it needs to finish sooner rather than later. I’m up to Episode 176 scheduled, so maybe I can finish the arc – and the serial – around Episode 200.
But what then? I’ve put a lot of work into the world (although not enough work into the Legerdemain website). I already planned to release novellas built around tertiary characters later this year, while the main serial was still running.
A friend thinks the early episodes would be great at a series pilot, and could garner attention in contests. I hadn’t even thought of that. The grant for which I used the excerpt from THE WOMEN’S PRECINCT pilot made me want to finish that pilot, polish it, and get it out the door. But maybe LEGERDEMAIN could be another example.
Something to think about.
What does this mean for REP and VIXEN’S HOLLOW?
Neither will debut as serials. I’m not sure when or where they will get back into the writing schedule, but they will be re-envisioned as novels. Possibly pointed to small, traditional publishers.
Ream is not a platform appropriate for my work; they prefer romance. While I have romantic elements and love in much of my work, it is rare that it can be classified as romance and be fair to reader expectations. The other serial platforms pay even less than Vella.
There’s a lot of anger and frustration among the authors, and it’s understandable. Many of them are upset about the Student Free Reads program, which I think is a good program. I don’t mind students reading for free for six months. Yes, it affects royalties, but Amazon should then boost our bonuses – which they won’t do, since they want to eliminate bonuses. And, of course, there are the snide authors who always have something nasty to say about authors who are worried, and who buy into the capitalist crap that if you just work “hard” enough, you’ll make a profit. No, boo, Amazon’s the only one who’s made real profit here off our backs, although there is a percentage of authors who are tap dancing fast enough to make some real money. Again, learn a lot, even from the snark, and know whose work I will not seek out/purchase elsewhere.
The serials are PART of my career. They can’t be the full focus of it. They started eating too much time and focus during the strike, because I leaned on them to make up income I lost from script coverage work. I need to do what is best for MY vision for my career, and Vella ain’t it anymore. It was fun at the start, I learned a lot, I remembered why I loved these characters in the first place, and it got me to create Legerdemain, a world I have no intention of giving up.
In any event, I want to be done with Vella by the end of the summer, if not before. With the way they’re squeezing authors, I doubt the platform will last the year. And it certainly no longer fits my vision or my business plan.
Anyway, I wrote down the latest version of the plan at the laundromat, and that made me feel better.
I was a few minutes late getting to the laundromat and someone else was already there! Using my preferred machines! Oh, horrors! However, the world didn’t end, I picked other machines, and it was all fine.
I will adapt the serial videos on the websites. I will hold off on the ad buys. I may skip episode videos this week, and then start them up again next week. I believe in the stories, but I don’t see that platform as being the best place for them anymore.
And I really don’t need this coming down on me RIGHT NOW.
Although maybe this frees me up to get the CAST IRON MURDER edits finished and out the door in a timelier manner, because I’m aiming it at several small, but traditional publishers.
On top of that, if IATSE goes out on strike for film/tv at the top of the summer, I really have to find other work. The script coverage has been erratic since the last strike, we got zero support during said strike, and the payments have gone way down, while the pressure to increase volume has gone up. The serials carried me through part of the strike, and the grant through the rest of it, but neither of those are options this year.
Let’s hope some of those LOIs and other grant applications bear fruit! I’ve got payments for work I did a few months back due in March, but I have to up the LOIs and outreach. Which, with having to work twice as hard for a third of the money from the script coverage AND do all the extra monitoring/caretaking on my mother’s illness and the car repairs and the play going into rehearsal and the cohort commitment, is a lot.
My mother’s echocardiogram was finally scheduled, toward the end of the month. So they can’t be THAT worried. And it’s here at the North Adams hospital, not down in Pittsfield.
As far as wrapping up February (I wasn’t up to the math on Friday):
New Material: 64,011 words – this is about what I expected, and a good sweet spot, across a wide range of projects.
Edits: 19,861 – not as much as I’d like, but still decent, considering what it was on.
Client work: 11,991 (I am waaaay underpaid for this work – this is a wakeup call).
Scholastic contest reading: 13 hours – a little above what I hoped, but dealable.
Video creation: 8 hours
On today’s agenda: laundry (already done), the big grocery shopping, writing, planning, monitoring, caretaking, script coverage, a book review to write, contest entries (I’m being paid for those, at least) to read, yoga. I’m not sure if I’ll do one or both hours of yoga. I have to see how I feel.
That’s that, then.
Onward.
