Wed. May 1, 2024: Launching May with Beltane
image courtesy of Sabine Kroschel via pixabay.comWednesday, May 1, 2024
Waning Moon
Partly cloudy and mild
Beltane
Blessed Beltane to all who celebrate. Let’s hope we have a glorious start to the summer! Because the summer solstice, which is often called “the first day of summer” is, technically, MID-summer.
Today’s ANGEL HUNT episode:
Episode 133: Captive Lianna
Lianna is imprisoned on an alternate plane.
Today’s DEADLY DRAMATICS episode:
Episode 116: Late Night Breakfast with Alan Doesn’t Go as Planned
Alan freaks out when he learns this isn’t Nina’s first experience with a corpse.
I forgot to mention that, on Monday, I spent time cleaning up some of my social media stuff. Part of that was for the marketing workshop. Part of that was because I’ve found social media depressing lately. On Bluesky, I unfollowed a bunch of so-called “writers” who followed to get the follower count and then quickly unfollowed. Buh-bye. I’m still not on Threads, which I probably should be because of its reach, but the very thought makes me tired. I saw information on some new network that starts with an “L” – I keep wanting to call in “lanyard” or “lankey” but that’s not it, and I can’t find it. NoSpace is starting this summer. Post is closing up shop. Spoutible and CounterSocial don’t drive traffic to my sites. Mastodon has been slow, steady growth, but with a Twitter co-founder joining the board, who knows what will happen there. Eh, there will be another deep dive post into social media on Ink-Dipped Advice in June.
This points out that the website is now more of a necessity than ever.
I was groggy and disoriented yesterday morning from the storm’s interruption.
However, I tore apart the scene in the Playland Painters play that skewed too much to the one character’s story and balanced it out a little more. I kept a few lines of dialogue, but most of the 8 pages are new. It feels much better. I don’t like editing as I write, but this was a structural issue, and I couldn’t move forward without fixing it.
I got back to work on my marketing homework. I didn’t realize how much cleanup I needed to do on the Devon Ellington Work site. I was merrily on my way when the site disconnected, and I couldn’t get into ANY of my websites, nor could I access anything after I logged into my host, so I emailed support.
For a while, I couldn’t access anything, even though all my diagnostics said the internet was working fine. I started to be able to get to other sites, but not mine.
So much for getting everything done by Thursday’s meeting!
I managed a bunch of admin work on the serials. Amazon, of course, was working just fine. I’m keeping my head down and pushing through the serials. A lot of authors are having trouble with material getting stuck in review, and even more are having huge disconnect between the number of unlocked reads and payments. I mean, my reader/payment numbers make no sense, but there are authors whose numbers are way higher than mine who are getting less, and none of it makes any sense. I’m glad I’m winding up. I’ve looked at a bunch of other serial platforms, but none actually help build audience; they demand the writer bring in the audience rather than build. I want a platform that does a mix, and that doesn’t seem to exist.
I managed to get back into my websites and cleaned up the Devon Ellington Work site. It’s not finished, but it’s better. It means the series sites that branch off probably also need some attention.
Which, of course, timewise, means the Cerridwen’s Cottage site is still lagging behind. I have a plan for it, but I have yet to figure out a timeline.
At least I’m coming into tomorrow’s meeting with something.
I got an email from the artistic director of a company in Philly to whom I’d submitted a play for a festival stating they liked my play, but since they are in Philly, they only produce locally-based playwrights, although they open the festival call nationally in case they can’t find enough local playwrights. Um? In other words, they want high submission numbers for their grant proposals and reports, but it’s a waste of non-locals’ time to submit. I made a note, and have crossed them off my future submission list. I would not have submitted to them if they had made it clear in their call that it was for local playwrights.
I did a catch-up with our cohort manager, and we will get together over coffee in the next couple of weeks to figure out the next steps. I spent a good deal of time annoyed with myself for dithering. I am not usually a ditherer. Then, I realized that, for the past years, even before the pandemic, I’ve been in survival mode. Now that at least some of that has receded, I have to learn how to thrive again, and stop constantly waiting for the other shoe to drop or an axe to fall. I can make preparations for challenges without feeling like I’m under constant threat, but I also need to learn how to function again without that constant sense of danger. It’s do-able, but it’s not like flicking a switch and suddenly it’s all fixed.
I finished a script coverage and started a second. It seemed familiar, so I looked back through my notes and realized I’d read a version of it in a different format two years ago. I contacted my handler at the agency, and it was reassigned. Which means I’m out the fee for that script, but that’s the way it goes. At least I realized it 10 pages in and not 50.
I worked on contest entries.
Two hours of yoga kicked my ass, but in a good way. Although I staggered out of there by the end of it. It’s not the gentle yoga class that kicks my ass, but the fitness for yoga, although I’ve definitely made progress. My bad shoulder was a problem last night, though. It would not behave.
Picked up takeout on the way home. Was too tired to even read much.
Slept well, and woke up to Beltane! Today we start switching out curtains and fabrics and things into summer mode. I doubt we can get it all done, since I have client work and writing to fit in, and then I head off for tarot (with stops to pick up potting soil and wine on the way, you know, the priorities). But we’ll get a start.
When I get home from tarot, we’ll have a quick dinner, and then there’s the New England Pens Down virtual event for End of Play.
I feel pretty good about this year’s End of Play experience. I finished THE WOMEN ON THE BRIDGE, and I started LAUGHTER & TURPENTINE. Now, I have to keep up that momentum, and also balance it with the prose writing, the poetry, and the client work. I’m working on some article pitches, too, which I hope to get out to magazines in the next couple of weeks. I haven’t done much magazine writing lately, and I miss it. I’m talking actual articles, not “content” pieces.
I couldn’t get the book review out, for some reason, with the internet issues, so I will try again. I hear a jackhammer somewhere in the neighborhood, so I have to deal with repetitive machine noise while I work, which is not my idea of a good time.
However, onward.
