Tues. April 16, 2024: Sometimes, You Need the Day Off
image courtesy of Steve Bidmead via pixabay.comTuesday, April 16, 2024
Waning Moon
Mercury Retrograde
Partly Sunny and pleasant
I hope all of you had a great weekend.
Today’s LEGERDEMAIN episode:
Episode 181: The Library’s Decision
Jae’s unexpected appearance at The Fathomless Library adds another layer to the decisions made by Naoya and Risipi.
Today’s DEADLY DRAMATICS episode:
Episode 101: The Indomitable Tess Carson
Tess may be an actress of “certain age” but it doesn’t lessen her powerful personality.
https://www.amazon.com/kindle-vella/story/B0CB4YB9BMDeadly Dramatics Serial Link
I forgot to mention, on Friday, the news of the death of OJ Simpson. As someone who lived through the case, yeah, I had thoughts. I also remember being called for jury duty during that trial, and the judge asked me, “Are you watching the OJ Simpson trial?”
I said, “No.”
He said, “Why not?”
I said, “Because I have a life.”
He said, “Well, we’ll take care of that” and put me on the jury (it was a murder, of a woman in front of her toddler by her partner). The parallels were not lost on me. I’d stopped watching the case, because I was so frustrated by the theatrics, but I was aware of what was going on. After the trial was over, I went back and read up on more of the details, and was even more frustrated.
Let me say this much: May he get the afterlife he’s earned.
Back to Friday.
I sat down and wrote nearly 6 pages on THE WOMEN ON THE BRIDGE. The never-ending scene finally ended, and I went on to the next scene. Lo and behold, I discovered that two characters I’ve kept offstage demanded to be within the scene. They actually add a lot to the dynamic.
I started thinking that I needed to add another threat. But does it come from within the community or from without? If from within, it needs a motivation. Money and ambition would work, I think. I may tie the threat from within to a threat from without, an additional secret one of the characters revealed within the new scene. It would mean salting in a character (the internal threat) earlier in the draft, making her benign yet annoying and then having her turn. There’s potential there, if I have the skill to pull it off.
It also brings the number of characters up to 7. That seems to be my sweet spot for full-length plays!
After writing my six pages and sending my dilemma off to my E of P Playwrights Circle, I read a draft of a friend’s play and made some suggestions. It’s a lot of fun.
Then, it was time to head out. Grocery store, where I spent more than intended (because of the way the prices are going up), library, post office. Hauled everything home and felt tired and out of sorts, for no good reason.
Well, the reason is probably that I wanted to work on my plays, but I had to work on other things!
The need to write another LEGERDEMAIN episode pressed on me, but I was out of juice. Knowing I needed to dig deeper and come up with something before Saturday, or I wouldn’t be able to schedule it to release on time.
I kept going back to the dilemma with BRIDGE. The idea for the new threat came out of some of the work one of my cohort talked about last night, having to do with her research and work within the realm of psychiatric survival. I think I need to rework the draft/number it as a new draft, layering those elements in. I figured out places to introduce the character that creates the internal threat, although seems benign early on.
It’s difficult to focus on other work when the pull on this possible solution to a structural problem is working itself out.
But I managed to finish a coverage, turn around two more coverages, and read most of another coverage. By then, I was well and truly tired.
I cooked dinner. I should have finished the half-finished coverage, but I was too tired.
Instead, I read the next Grafton, L IS FOR LAWLESS. Which I pretty much hated. It wants to be a caper/heist piece, and the flap copy claimed it leaned toward the “fun” but it didn’t really find a consistent tone. This is probably the one I disliked so much last time I read them all. Good for her for trying something new, but it didn’t hold together for me.
Once I finished L, I moved on to M FOR MALICE, which I liked much better, especially because Deitz was back. I stayed up reading well past bedtime, and Tessa stomped out to complain.
Once I got to bed, I slept pretty well. Didn’t get up until after 6 because the cats annoyed me, and I didn’t want to give in.
And finished reading MALICE over morning coffee. I liked that one.
Wrote the next LEGERDEMAIN episode, and got it revised, polished, uploaded, and scheduled.
Then, I switched my attention to THE WOMEN ON THE BRIDGE. I rewrote the first 40+ pages I’d written (we’re now into the 4th draft, although none of the drafts is complete). I layered in the internal threat, and I seeded the external threat. I wrote a few pages of new material, but it needs work. I mean, the whole thing needs work, but still.
I have one more scene to finish the first act. I’m worried that I’m using the same stylistic choice to end Act 1 (somewhat) as I used in FALL FOREVER. But it’s necessary. At least for this draft.
I finished the coverage I hadn’t finished on Friday, and turned around two more. That took most of the afternoon.
Dinner, then reading a bit of this and a bit of that.
Slept well, for once, up at the normal time (5:30 is the “normal time” for me). Enjoyed my morning coffee. Did some ancestor work. Baked biscuits for breakfast.
The next episode of LEGERDEMAIN was coming into focus, so I sat down and wrote it. It was a lot of fun.
I then decided to give myself the rest of the day off from writing. I didn’t stop thinking, and I think I’ve come up with a different way to end Act 1 of BRIDGE that suits the play without repeating the type of Act I ending I had in FALL FOREVER.
I read a revision of a 10-minute play one of my E of P circle sent me. I’m glad my initial notes were helpful.
I worked my way through a bunch of research books I had from the library, and basically was quite discouraged with humanity by the end of it. That was compounded when a social media acquaintance posted a heartbreaking photo of the murder of a baby elephant by big game hunters. What I want to happen to these hunters is not appropriate to post on social media.
Worked on contest entries. Read this month’s Agatha Christie for the book club, MURDER AT THE VICARAGE. It’s the first Miss Marple, and I forgot how funny it is. Read Dervla McTiernan’s THE SCHOLAR, which was very good. It’s set in Galway, Ireland.
Pondered how to make the end of Act I of BRIDGE work. Spent a good part of the afternoon and evening as cat furniture.
It was a planting day, so I planted some seeds and did some repotting (which I will detail in this week’s garden post). It was rainy and raw out, and I just generally felt out of sorts.
Did not sleep well. Dreamed about a secret passage accessible from a shower, but only when the water was running. I have no idea what that’s all about.
Still felt discouraged when I woke up yesterday. Technically, it was a holiday. I had my own work to do, but the big decision was do I do other work, or take the day off from anything except my own work?
Drafted an episode of LEGERDEMAIN, which went well. I decided not to stress about the fact that I’m winding up this arc, and just write the story. I mean, it’s a bit late in the game for two crucial new characters to show up, and yet, here they are. But I know how I want to weave them into the climactic sequence of episodes, which will begin in either one or two more episodes, and then we hurtle toward the end of this arc and we’re done with what’s going up as a serial. I will work on adapting these arcs over summer and fall; I don’t imagine they will be ready to launch into the world in a different format until next spring, especially since I want the Nina Bell stories and some of the ANGEL HUNT stories to launch first.
By May, I also have to get back to work on STRANGERS IN A STORM, so that’s ready to schedule by August and release just before Thanksgiving.
Wrote about 7 pages on BRIDGE, ending Act I differently than I originally planned, but I feel it serves the story better, and uncovers yet another threat. And doesn’t repeat the Act I ending, stylistically, of FALL FOREVER, so I’m not in a rut.
Even though the library was closed, I dropped off two bags’ worth of books in the bookdrop. I picked up my mom’s prescription. On a whim, I stopped at a local thrift store. I hoped to find a particular type of sheer curtain. Since I was looking for something specific, of course, I did not find it.
However, I found some more glass plates to put under plant pots (instead of plastic saucers). I found two silver frames, perfect for my Playland Painters. I posted the photos in their frames on Insta/FB. And I found a set of small glasses in the same pattern as a set of water goblets my parents bought back in the 1950’s in Chicago. It’s a very distinct leaf pattern, black and gray painted on the glass. The set of 4 glasses was only $5, so I grabbed them. I love the water goblets, and now I have little glasses that I have no idea where to put or how to use, but they make me happy. Don’t worry, I found a place to tuck them in with the cranberry glasses in the built-in I have in my office. I’m hoping to find some corner cabinets at thrift stores this summer that I can paint where I can put some books and other things in them, but also some of my good dishes.
Framed the Playland Painters photos. Not sure where I will hang or stand the photos yet – somewhere in my office, where I can see them as I work.
Finished reading/commenting on a friend’s poetry manuscript. I love her work, so it was a joy. It also made me realize how much I miss regular poetry blocks of time once a week. I’m also trying to figure out what I will bring into the residency this autumn. I think I will bat ideas around with the collective about adapting the poem “I Will Be Different” into a play, and how to keep the integrity of each version intact. I also want to show them the progress on the comic Lucy Debussy mystery long poem, if I can get that into better shape.
It was sunny and in the low 50’s, so I spent a good portion of the afternoon on the front porch, re-reading Mary Catherine Bateson’s wonderful book COMPOSING A LIFE. She was the daughter of anthropologists Gregory Bateson and Margaret Mead, and a dean over in Amherst. I loved her book when it first came out in 1989. She talks about how to consider life like a symphony, created out of movements, instead of a single, narrow trajectory. I appreciate the book even more now! She talks about many things, including complexity and the way things are often over-simplified, and in the different ways men and women approach problem solving. She talks about children and caretaking, but she doesn’t talk about WHY the women with whom she worked on this book chose to have children. It reads as if it was simply a given that they would. If people WANT to have children, they should, but their decision-making process would have been interesting (to me) to explore. The toxic structure of the Amherst administration was not at all a surprise, although it’s always a disappointment to find out it’s even worse than one suspected.
My copy is in storage, so I got it out of the library, along with the sequel, COMPOSING A FURTHER LIFE, which I will read next.
Pondered the pitch for my Llewellyn editor for the 2026 annuals. I know the piece I want to write most, but I usually give her two or three options, and she picks what she feels will work best in the mix. I need to get it out to her today; she’s contracting by the end of the month.
Leftovers for dinner, and a quiet night. While I kept feeling I “should” be doing more, I also knew that I needed a break. I did, however, deal with a lot of emails that piled up over the weekend.
I’ve cut way back on my social media time, and I like it. I mean, the break isn’t good for marketing, but a marketing break might not be a bad thing. Especially since I’m taking a marketing workshop this week through the Chamber. I’m hoping that will give me some new ideas. I keep toying with the idea of joining Threads, and then I just. . .don’t.
Got some more seeds planted, since it was a planting day. The next planting day isn’t until a week from today, and then there are three in a row. Provided I plan ahead and get enough soil in, I should make good progress. I hope, this coming weekend, it will be warm enough and dry enough for me to get some painting done, set up on the back balcony, before I actually set up the Enchanted Garden back there (which I hope to do by the end of the month).
I had a weird dream about words and word usage last night into this morning. I can’t really describe it, but it was strange.
I was up early and out the door to the laundromat, got everything done (prices have gone up yet again), and home by 7 AM.
On today’s agenda: LEGERDEMAIN, BRIDGE, proposal for Llewellyn, script coverages, contest entries, yoga. I have 9 coverages to do this week, 7 of them by Thursday night.
