Thurs. April 4, 2024: April Snows
image courtesy of Karl Egger via pixabay.comThursday, April 4, 2024
Waning Moon
Mercury Retrograde
Snowing
You can see the latest on the garden over at Gratitude and Growth.
Today’s LEGERDEMAIN episode:
Episode 178: A Wedding Unique to the Cells
Jed and Sebastian marry in the Order’s Detention block.
Today’s DEADLY DRAMATICS episode:
Episode 89: Tony. Earle. Andy.
Nina deals with the aftermath of an unwise decision.
I forgot to mention that on Monday? Or maybe it was Tuesday. I can’t remember. Anyway, I got a notice that I was not accepted to an arts fellowship/cohort to which I’d applied. In fact, I’d forgotten I’d applied (It was last autumn) and I was on the fence about it when I applied. Seems like it’s good I didn’t get it. The rejection they sent me was a puzzling word salad. From what I can parse out, they don’t feel that having plays and radio plays produced nationally and internationally proves that my art is “out in the world” since I am not on camera for it. Which, um, huh? I write for others to perform. It’s been done for centuries. The best I can make out from the various nonsensical non sequiturs is that because I’m not a TikTok star or Insta influencer, they rejected me for the arts program (something that was not part of the requirements in the guidelines) – but they’re willing to take me on as a paying client to promote me. Which is not something that was part of the application or I wouldn’t have sent anything in. Sounds like a bait and switch scam to me.
I’m too busy to spend more time wondering about it. It doesn’t sound like it’s what I want/need anyway.
I was up early yesterday and at the desk, doing rewrites. I tightened four major scenes in the play, which meant rewriting around 30 pages. Just from those internal cuts, about 5 pages are gone, and the piece is stronger.
Once I’ve sat through the performance (and made notes), I will do another major rewrite, so it can go out on a wider production submission this summer.
By the time I was done with that, my brain was frazzled. I tried to concentrate on THE WOMEN WITH THE BRIDGE, and could not. My outline for it is much looser than on some of my other work, and that’s coming to bite me in the butt.
There are a trio of us doing End of Play who have formed an email circle to encourage each other.
I got some work done on the slide deck for the cohort. It’s talking about past and current projects. If there’s time, I will read something; if not, it’s just the deck.
Maintenance came and replaced the dead smoke/carbon monoxide detector and one that would probably give up its ghost fairly soon. These two don’t have batteries; they have chips and will run for 10 years. Hopefully not every time I cook.
I managed to do three small coverages while the internet was still working properly.
The rain pounded down, the wind howled, the rain changed over to marble-sized hail. I was afraid the gutter on the front porch would tear off and come through the living room window, but it held.
The Internet was off and on; power flickered. I shut down devices and unplugged them, because I didn’t want to lose the brand new computer to a power surge (yes, I have a surge protector, but still). It meant not being able to ZOOM into the rehearsal in Cooperstown; hopefully the new pages worked. The weather was expected to be bad there, too. They decided to keep last night’s rehearsal, and possibly cancel tonight’s, if the museum has to close for the day due to weather.
I’m not going to stress (except to hope they all stay safe and off the roads when needed). But I’m not going to stress about canceled or rescheduled rehearsals. I have to trust that the actors will work on the material on their own time as well as in rehearsal. It’s a reading. They have the scripts in front of them. It will be fine.
The one device I kept on was the Kindle, reading the next book for review. I will write the review this morning, submit, and invoice the latest batch. I’ll read the next one for review when I get back from the show (it’s not due until the end of the month).
We finally gave up and went to bed early, bundling in extra blankets and with the cats. I slept pretty well. Not sure what went on in the night, but the coffee maker had righted itself by morning and there was hot coffee. For now, power and internet are on.
The hail changed over to snow at some point in the night. It’s heavy, wet snow. I’ll probably go out several times over the course of the day to dig out the car, or it will be too heavy for me.
I’m recharging all devices while I can. I’m running the computer on battery as much as possible, again, to protect from power surges. Not sure if we’ll have virtual meditation this morning. If not, I’ll meditate by sitting on the sofa watching the snow come down! It’s really pretty, and there’s that lovely quiet that comes with snow. Schools are closed, the plows aren’t yet out. It’s delightful.
On today’s agenda: attempt a few pages, at least, of THE WOMEN ON THE BRIDGE. Get up next week’s episodes of LEGERDEMAIN. Write at least one more episode. Turn around two medium coverages.
I don’t have to go out today, thank goodness.
There are conflicting reports about it snowing until Saturday morning. I hope they are wrong. I need to do a grocery run and a library run tomorrow. I could push them back to Saturday, if I had to, but I’d rather get it all done tomorrow.
We’ll see. We are at the mercy of the weather.
Have a good one.
