Tues. May 21, 2024: Enjoyment of Outdoor Spaces
image courtesy of meineresterampe via pixabay.comTuesday, May 21, 2024
Waxing Moon
Pluto Retrograde
Sunny and warm
I hope you had a lovely weekend!
Today’s LEGERDEMAIN episode:
Episode 191: Genetic Material
King Cordahan insists on a public paternity test – with surprising results.
Legerdemain Serial Link
I had trouble getting going on Friday. I had to answer a complex email, along with some other emails. I checked with the Clark to make sure I was on the list for their June 14th opening (I am, no worries). Yet more clothes I have to figure out! I did the grocery and library runs, hauling back more books than I expected. And when I got home, I just could not get my act together. It was very frustrating.
There were definitely reasons. I got knocked for a loop on something personal late last week and need to make some adjustments on a couple of things I thought I knew. Of course I “knew” the reality, but had ignored it for too long, and we all know how that comes back to bite you in the butt! When one’s emotional energy takes a hit, there’s a ripple effect.
It’s all a learning process, right? And I’m grateful I could take the time to do what I needed to do. What can I say? The answer remains, “bears.”
Received payment on two jobs, which was good. Also, because I’m now in the “vendor system” on one of them, I can pitch for more freelance work from that particular large and somewhat unwieldy institution.
Dashed out and got a bigger pot for the jasmine, and a six-foot-tall stake that I hope will work (since I couldn’t find a trellis large enough.
I got a bunch of reading done over the weekend. I read Sara Paretsky’s WRITING IN AN AGE OF SILENCE, which resonated a lot with what I’ve dealt with lately. It’s part memoir, part writing reflection, and all very good. I recommend it, especially if you’re in the process of reading or re-reading her books, as I am.
I read our Agatha Christie book club pick for the month, THE ABC MURDERS. I must have read it in the past, but I didn’t remember it, and, even better, I did not figure out who did it!
Read a cozy mystery that was cute, but not particularly memorable. I’ll try one more book from the series, and if it doesn’t really hold me, I’ll be done with that series.
I read Emily Henry’s FUNNY STORY, which was fun, although I felt there was a dangling thread at the end. It was sort of resolved, but I wanted more. But overall, I enjoyed more than I didn’t, and it was the lighthearted fun I needed.
Saturday, I’d hoped to work on the back balcony, but it was kind of yucky and almost raining most of the morning, and by the afternoon, I’d run out of steam. I did, however, clean out the laundry room, and get it reorganized, got all the winter sheets, towels, etc. stacked away, light sets tidied up, cookie tins stacked, tools rearranged, and so on and so forth, so I can actually get at things I need.
Kind of felt like I was run over by a truck all weekend, but it happens. This is where meditation practice helps. Sit with unpleasant feelings, acknowledge them, make decisions, and act on them. At least I know what some of those puzzling tarot cards about stepping away from the past in order to build a new future are about!
Also, part of it is still, I think, sense memory stress, even though the move was three years ago. My body remembers the exhaustion, even though I’m building other memories along this time period.
A good chunk of Sunday morning was spent talking with a cover artist about Nina Bell possibilities. It’s definitely leaning more retro and not the cute cozy sketches. Which is more of the tone. The original mockup for the first book looked too much like a Regency romance, but now, we’re moving in the right direction for retro 90’s mystery with chicklit elements.
Also printed off some more business cards for tomorrow’s event, and got the week’s episode videos up for the serials. After this Friday, there are only 6 more ANGEL HUNT episodes left (three more weeks). Which means I have to start thinking about the ANGEL HUNT binge video. Looking at the calendar, I also have to do the video for “Personal Revolution” from my backlist; since that’s a short mystery set around a Revolutionary War historic house museum, I need to start promoting it mid-June.
I drafted three episodes of Legerdemain, and completed the season. It was about 3500 words. That means the season should end on June 2. It will be reworked extensively when I adapt it out of serial format into its next lives, but I’ve given it a decent finish for the serial, without doing a disservice to the serial’s readership.
It feels good.
Read a romantasy book in the evening that broke a lot of rules and left me pondering. It had the love story of the central pair of protagonists. Two other pairs also had their love stories within it, rather than focusing on one pair per book, which is often the structure. I felt, for such a large book that took so much time with so many things, that the ending was rushed. And then, in the central pair, one of the protagonists got her Happy For Now, but by losing her autonomy and choice at the hands of her partner. Which made me uncomfortable. If this is the first book of a duology or trilogy, and it’s using this to end on a cliffhanger, it sets up particular expectations for the next book or the next two books, and I can see that working. If it’s meant to be a standalone, it’s disturbing. There’s no promise of another book. So we’ll see.
I’m also really, really, REALLY tired of reading Big Long Books and investing all that time and energy, only to end on a cliffhanger. If this is the first book in a series, tell me upfront. I’ll still read them as they come out; I wouldn’t pull that crap about “waiting” until the whole series is done to read it, which guarantees, in many cases, that the writer won’t be kept on contract to write it. I’ll read as each comes out, and at the end, I’ll binge the whole series again.
But when I invest time and emotion in a book of 100K or so, I want an ending. Even if it’s launching the series, I want the book to be satisfying while enticing me to the next book.
If I want cliffhangers, I’ll watch TV. Or read serialized fiction.
Monday morning I had to deal with something related to the emotional exhausting chaos from the preceding week. I hope by accepting something in good faith I’m not setting myself up for more chaos. We will see. It feels very 9 of Wands – be prepared.
Revised, edited, polished, uploaded, and scheduled the final episodes of LEGERDEMAIN. Episode 195 is the last, and it will go live on June 2, 2024. It’s a relief to have it done!
I’m also proud of myself that I kept the running Questor joke going in all 195 episodes.
We started setting up the Enchanted Garden on the back balcony. We’ve got a long way to go, but at least it’s started. New cushions out on the big bench (very comfy), bistro table and chairs set up, some of the plants out, a few decorations out. Much more to come, but we are getting there.
I got so caught up in it that I forgot I was committed to a workshop at noon. By the time I realized it, it was 12:30. I snuck in (easier to do in a virtual one than in real life) and enjoyed the second half of it. I will go back and watch the first half.
Late lunch, and then it was time for coverage work. The coverage was more complex than I expected, but I got it done.
I was up early and out the door to the laundromat. Back by 7. Today’s a planting day, so maybe I can get the last few seeds in. And do some more rearranging of plants and work out back. Maybe I can even spend some time out there, enjoying the place!
Finished re-reading Sara Paretsky’s BITTER MEDICINE. It’s built around the profit in medicine, and it was both exceptionally well done and sad.
Got an email telling me I’m getting serial royalties this month, but not how much, which means it’s probably a small amount, thereby supporting my decision to wind things up.
On today’s agenda: I have to decide what to work on this morning. It’s the first time in TWO YEARS that I don’t have to worry about drafting serial episodes. I think I will draft material for the proposal due the end of June, and/or work on the two short plays. I started adapting DEADLY DRAMATICS into its next form (novel), and got the first chapter of the first arc done. I will try to do several chapters per week. I have a workshop at noon, two scripts to turn around, and two hours of yoga tonight. Somewhere in there, I have to bake mini-muffins for tomorrow night’s gathering.
Tomorrow will be spectacularly busy. I’m out the door around 8 AM for the expo. Mid-afternoon, I swing by the house to drop off one set of bags and pick up another, and then I’m out the door again until 9 or 10 PM. At some point, I will get my starting word for the poem, and will have to write and submit it. I also have a package arriving, and I’ll have to catch up on the workshop I miss by being at the expo.
Talk about it all coming together around the Full Moon, right?
Have a good one!
