Wed. April 3, 2024: Computer Issues, Rehearsals, and More Snow

With all of Friday’s chaos, I forgot to mention that I read, on Thursday, G IS FOR GUMSHOE. This is a book I remembered well, and re-reading it, I remembered how much I liked it. This apartment of hers is the one I remembered, plus the supporting character who’s central to the story is one of my favorite characters in the series.

Friday got even more chaotic. I dried out the printer, and it worked. I sat down to work on LEGERDEMAIN, looking forward to the upcoming next couple of episodes, which are about the forger Emlyn in the Fathomless Library.

The laptop fluttered, and the black screen of death appeared. It would not turn on again. It was well and truly dead.

I got in the car, drove down to Staples in Pittsfield, and got a laptop on sale (and bought another four-year warranty). It’s a little bigger than the old one, but other than that, pretty similar, although the keyboard Is a little different, and I have to get used to it.

The sales guy was giving me a song and dance trying to get me to buy more – he said it came with “nothing” but I have software, et al, so I ignored him.

I drove back to North Adams, did a big pickup at the library, got in some groceries for the weekend. The Friday before Easter – it was a zoo. People are panicking because the store will be closed on Sunday (and I say, good for them).

Hauled everything home, put the food away, and set up the new laptop. The worst part was getting it hooked up to the Internet – the tech had to push it from his end. Here I am, paying double the monthly fee that I was when I moved here, and getting less service. Which is why I filed a complaint.

Once the internet was connected properly and recognized the computer, I let it basically set itself up, signed into my Microsoft account, tapped my subscription (which is good across 5 devices) and it was good. There was more on my One Drive than I expected, and I’m deeply grateful I didn’t lose all the photo work I did recently, which I hadn’t yet had a chance to back up onto the external hard drive. I downloaded Chrome and got my emails all connected again, downloaded Adobe and DramaQueen. I didn’t bother with Scrivener. I never use it anyway, and I don’t want to pay for their latest upgrade.

Once that was all set up, I put in a claim ticket with the warranty place. My old computer still has a month left on the warranty. They accepted it, sent me the paperwork, and I printed it out so I can send the old laptop back for repair.

I uploaded the receipt for this one, and they were perplexed. I hope my warranty isn’t with some other company. I like Asurion. Anyway, I already started a folder for all the paperwork for the new computer, so I’ll have it handy when I need it over the next four years.

And then, I got to work.

I’d lost my writing time; so much for LEGERDEMAIN. But I turned around three script coverages. Although it’s not what I need to be making for the pay period, at least it’s better than the last few cycles.

I am deeply grateful that I still had funds from the grant and COULD replace the computer, or I would have been in trouble over a long holiday weekend with deadlines.

I made the salmon with honey-soy sauce, green beans, and the sweet potatoes roasted with cinnamon and cumin again, which has become one of our favorite meals.

I re-read H IS FOR HOMICIDE in the evening. Another fun one, although I felt there were a couple of loose ends at the end. They might be picked up later in the series. I don’t remember. I do enjoy how Grafton builds the ensemble from book to book, and I’m learning from it.

Slept better than expected.

Saturday, I had a slow start. Did some ancestor work. It’s truly fascinating, if sometimes it’s a little intimidating. Whatever psychological shifts it causes are helpful.

Wrote a fun episode of LEGERDEMAIN.

Worked on the second big grant, which turned out to be a nightmare. If they have a list of needed materials, then those are what should be what’s needed for the grant – not nearly a half a dozen other things they never mention in the guidelines or FAQs. While I understand limiting proposals by wordcount, which makes sense, limiting it by number of characters is just being an asshole.

Not fun.

Discovered that, while all my photos transferred to this computer from the other one (thank goodness, and yes, I’ll back them up to the external drive yet again, especially the new material from the Playland Project), the videos did not.

Downloaded what I could from Canva. I still have the episode templates, so I did next week’s videos, and uploaded all of the DEADLY DRAMATICS ones.

Went through bunch of research books that had to go back to the library earlier in the week. Looked through some other books that I thought might be useful for a project, but were not.

Had a disturbing dream Saturday into Sunday that was a very clear warning. Which I will heed.

Finished the second big grant proposal, which was a total nightmare. If you’re going to force people to do an online form, then the form has to actually work. Not just dump whatever you put in it after you’ve saved it (multiple times) and tried to move on to the next page. And for crying out loud, let people read through the entire form BEFORE filling it out.

I’ve done a lot of grant writing over the years, and this was one of the biggest nightmare proposals I’ve ever had to fill out. Needlessly so.

I did, however, submit a realistic budget (not one of their crappy sample budgets). The fact that I submitted something realistic might get me knocked out right there. Oh, well. At least I tried.

Uploaded the LEGERDEMAIN and ANGEL HUNT episode videos for the week. It made me realize how much I rely on the tracking sheets.

Wrote another episode of LEGERDEMAIN, which was also fun. I feel like I’m getting back into the voice and the headspace of the piece.

Did some more research/work on the Playland Painters project. That research will feed more than one project. I still want to do a more overtly fictionalized version inspired by these women that will be historical mysteries; but I also want to write a play inspired by the actual women. The opening even started percolating, although the last thing I need is to start a new play; I have to finish THE WOMEN ON THE BRIDGE first. But maybe the play about the Playland Painters can be my reward for doing the other pages?

So, of course, I sat down and wrote the opening two pages. Which turned out better than I hoped.

In the afternoon, I finished reading a book for review, worked on contest entries, and did some reading. The package arrived, with my friend’s new release, THE WITLESS PROTECTION PROGRAM, the last book in my favorite series of hers. With that came a deck of blank tarot cards and the DRUID CRAFT TAROT.

I’ve had the DRUID ANIMAL ORACLE since it came out a few decades ago, and I got the DRUID PLANT ORACLE either last year or the year before. Now, I have the whole set. Since April’s ancestor work is themed around the land, it seems like a good choice to use those.

The blank cards I need for some adjacent work I’m doing, not for creating my own deck.

A friend sent me some information about a Mechtilde of Magdeburg. Since my family is from there, along the maternal line, I found her interesting. Of course, when I asked my mom about it (she grew up there), she’d never heard of her, because she hated school and didn’t pay attention. But I found a book about her I could order from the library. And that ties into later ancestor work this year, talking about “ancestors of place.”

The whole ancestral “you have at least a million ancestors” because every generation you go back doubles is a little overwhelming. As someone who hates crowds, a million relations are a little too much to wrap my head around (and that’s not counting various removed cousins).

I have to book time at the library on Ancestry.com to research my Playland Painters a little more; I might do some of my own family work in there, too. I’ve done a bunch of it, but whenever I lose the thread, it’s hard to get it back. While several weeks of all-day research makes sense as far as throughlines, my brain overloads on information after three or four hours.

Tired and went to bed pretty early. Even when I go to my room early, I still have the evening meditation, et al before I actually go to bed.

Weird dreams Sunday into Monday, but these were definitely symbolic and not prophetic, so at least there’s that.

Monday, Mercury went retrograde (like mine hadn’t already been retrograde since the last damn retrograde).

I was up at the usual time. Started the new month’s ancestor work, with the Druid trio of tarot and oracle decks. It was so clear and connected. As I’ve said before, we can debate the “reality “of it forever (although when I go hunting for evidentiary aspects to back it up, it’s amazing what turns up), but the positive psychological aspects of the work are very useful.

Not to mention the possibility of story ideas, because some of these characters want to be written about. Whatever’s being shaken loose in the psyche, it’s a good thing.

Finished packing up the old computer (Happy 1) so I could drop it off at the UPS drop-off at CVS.

Monday was the start of this year’s End of Play. I remember how excited I was last year, to start FALL FOREVER! I did about 3 pages on THE WOMEN ON THE BRIDGE, which flowed pretty well, considering how long it’s been since I worked on it.

I dropped a bunch of books in the library’s book drop, and the old computer at the UPS drop point. The Fenimore and I discussed the poster for FALL FOREVER. I answered some correspondence. I got a letter from the MA Tax Department that makes no sense, so I’ll write back to them, asking for bullet points of explanation. Did a lot of admin work, which needed attention, which meant I didn’t work on LEGERDEMAIN. But I got a play submission out the door, and the book review written and submitted. I got my next two books for review. One downloaded well; the other took some doing, but I got it onto my Kindle.

I planted sweetpeas, valerian, and borage. Which is funny, because both valerian and borage came up in the Plant Oracle cards today, and they were next up in the queue of sorted seeds.

I started some script coverage, but by then, it was too late in the day to really focus on it and give it the attention it needs. I hopped on and off social media a few times, when I forgot about it being April Fool’s Day. The sleaze online quickly reminded me. Nope. Not participating.

Cooked dinner a little early, since we had the End of Play Kickoff at 6. And wasn’t that a lot of trouble got get onto the ZOOM call? I hadn’t been sent the ZOOM link. A friend shared hers. I hadn’t downloaded ZOOM onto the new computer. Then they made me jump through about 16 hoops to set a new password I’ll never remember (even though it’s now written in the Magic Book of Passwords). My comments kept showing up under my friend’s name, so I had to log off, log on with her link, and then sign in again.

The prompts weren’t useful for what I’m doing, since this isn’t my first playwrighting rodeo. In general, if I’ve started a project, prompts are distracting, rather than helpful. If I don’t yet know what I want to write, they help. It’s about entering a prompt space early enough in the process. I liked the ideas for some of the prompts, but they weren’t aligned with what I’m doing on THE WOMEN ON THE BRIDGE. But the conversations between the playwrights and how they tackled different types of problems were great.

After dinner, I got some reading done.

Woke up feeling great, ready to start my day – and it was just after 1 AM. So I made myself go back to sleep. Woke up at 5, got the cats fed, got clothes on, and made it to the laundromat when it opened at 6. Got the laundry done. Hauled it all home and put it away.

Since they’re predicting 10 inches of snow here today and tomorrow, and possibly canceling many a thing, I hustled out and did the week’s necessary errands yesterday morning: bank, post office, library, out to Williamstown to Wild Oats, filled the car with gas ahead of this weekend’s trip.

I’d started reading Sara Paretsky’s OVERBOARD at the laundromat, and could not put it down. Again, she weaves so much of the social fabric into engaging plot, story, and characters, and did not back away from how it felt during that part of the pandemic when we were vaccinated, but still wary. In other words, she deals with the issues around masking, instead of just pretending the pandemic didn’t exist, the way so many “contemporary” authors are doing.

A friend of mine helped me figure out the likely best route to and from Cooperstown. She knows this area and that area, and her route cuts off about thirty minutes (in regular traffic) and will probably allow me to miss most of the eclipse traffic. I am very grateful.

It’s very hard this week to concentrate on anything that’s not directly involved with my show. I’m back in show headspace, which means nothing else really exists.

I have to prep for our cohort artist share, which should be a lot of fun next week, too! I can’t wait to see everyone else’s work.

I managed to turn around 6 short coverages. It’s for parameters I really like working within, even though the pay is less than stellar.

I virtually attended the first rehearsal of FALL FOREVER, the table read with full cast. It went well, and I was glad to be a part of it. I like what the director is doing with it. I see a few places I can make stronger (at least, in time for the reading; I’m sure I’ll do a bigger rewrite after the show is over). I am going to turn around those rewrites this morning, and get them over to the theatre by noon, so they have them for tonight’s rehearsal. Which I will also attend. Virtually.

It was difficult to come down after rehearsal and get to sleep.

I dreamed I was working a show, so I woke up feeling like I’d put in a full day’s (night’s) work. In my dream, I also found something I lost in real life, but now I can’t remember where I found it in the dream.

I will finish packing today, except for the last few items, because if I’m not packed days ahead of time, I can’t concentrate on anything except the need to pack. Since I have clean laundry, it’s more a case of deciding what to wear for the drive home, a mix of practical and comfort for a potentially long and frustrating drive. I’ll wear what I’m wearing to the show to drive there and just freshen up once I get to Cooperstown.

Word Count Totals for March:

New Material (which includes grant writing on my own projects): 42,550

Edits (including a couple of plays, a book, and LEGERDEMAIN): 81,850

Client work: 24,311

Videos: approximately 7 hours

What do I learn from this?

The new material category is too low, but between elder care, grant writing, and the computer crash, not surprising. A 42K output in a month for a pro writer is not sustainable – it needs to be closer to 50-60K. With the client work output, it hits that, but still, it’s below where it needs to be for a viable writing career.

The edits are about where I expected, with the rest of CAST IRON MURDER, and a couple of script edits I didn’t expect, plus editing the grant materials. High for a typical month, but where they should be for the work actually done.

Client work was low, but even so, it shows me how vastly underpaid I am for what I do. While Mercury Retrograde is a lousy time to sign new contracts, I can at least look for and pitch to new clients with an eye to signing by early May. I think I’d like to do some short-term/temp style assignments, too, at a higher rate than I’m getting on some of the other work. I have some ideas for article pitches to some magazines for whom I’d like to write, so I can shape those in the coming weeks.

I spent more time on videos, because of DEADLY DRAMATICS dropping daily (see what I did there?) and additional videos for the serials and for “Plot Bunnies.”

I’ve been working on a new plan for client work, to shift focus over the next few months, so now it’s time to take the steps on it. With the coverage work paying less for more work (they set the fees, I don’t have a say in it), the Vella payments going way down with the restructuring, and a regular client letting me know that the next few months would be lean, it’s opening up space for some new ventures.

I’m working on some magazine pitches. I love writing articles, and I haven’t done much of that the past few years. There’s a lag time between writing the article and payment that’s part of the reason (often paid 4-6 months after turning it in). I’ll see if I can get some remote temp agency copywriting assignments, too.

I’m considering cutting loose a domain name; I haven’t been able to devote the time and manpower to that particular project, and it seems silly to keep paying for it. It is highly unlikely that I will be able to do so anytime in the next few years. I will consider it some more, and maybe discuss it with my cohort next week, but I will probably just let it go.

I started working on my cohort share piece for next week. It seems the best way to talk about past/present work is a series of slides, although PowerPoint seems counterintuitive to the artistic process. Not sure if I will read anything. I have to let the cohort leader know what I’m doing by Friday.

On today’s agenda: the first priority is the rewrites for FALL FOREVER. After that, if I still have writing time left, work on THE WOMEN ON THE BRIDGE and LEGERDEMAIN (since I have to get next week’s episodes up tomorrow. They’re written, but I’d hoped to get beyond next week). In the afternoon, I have script coverages. In the evening, I have rehearsal (I’ll miss tarot circle).

It’s very windy, so I hope we don’t lose power.

And I hope we don’t actually get 10 inches of snow.

Have a good one!

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Published on April 03, 2024 03:44

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