Tues. July 23, 2024: Back to Work

image courtesy of Free Photos via pixabay.com

Tuesday, July 23, 2024

Waning Moon

Pluto, Saturn, Neptune Retrograde

Rainy, warm, humid

Did you have a good weekend?

On Friday, I forgot to put in the link for the article on the importance of work logs over on Fearless Ink, which went live while I was away last Wednesday. The link is here.

Early Friday was about catching up on emails, and getting a few things sorted out.

I am having another coaching session with one of my mentors next week, which gives me this week to implement some of what we discussed. I want to come back to our meeting with tanglbles.

I am happy to announce that, as of September, I will be an advisor for the incoming Capacity Building Program at Assets4Artists. I am thrilled to now be a part of the team supporting other working artists. I start in September, with the next cohort working from December through May.

I got my schedule for the Berkshire Voices Playwrighting Cohort. I start on September 9, and it runs through December 10. I let them know I would miss one meeting during the Boiler House Poets Residency. I also asked about protocols on what to work on; I can’t bring WOMEN ON THE BRIDGE in for revisions. I need to start something new. But I have a few weeks to think about it. Do I bring in the play about the women who painted the Playland Amusement Park props in the 1930’s? I’m only a couple of scenes into it. Do I start the play about Katharine Cornell’s touring company (also in the 1930’s) and that difficult trip to Seattle, where they wound up being hours late on Christmas Eve because of weather/train getting stuck, the audience waited for them (in full evening attire), they put up the set in front of the audience, with actors telling theatre stories, then performed the play until about 4 AM? Or do I do something different?

I have a few weeks to decide.

I also sent a thank you to the Barr Hill Players for such a positive experience. And got out a couple of other thank-yous, too.

I dashed out to get a couple of things I needed for the FM residency, then picked up a couple of things at the grocery store and at the library. Came home, unpacked.

Spent time in the sewing room with New Girl putting together the final pieces for the FM residency, preparing the flipbook with prompts, putting the welcome posters on poster board, etc. New Girl watched from her safe space under the bed. Added all the new dates into both my transportable calendar and the big wall calendar.

Rested for a big portion of the afternoon. I am tired. The weeks leading up to the trip were busy; the trip was busy; the drama about needing to cut ties with someone in the week before the show was draining; I am tired, and I need to rest. Usually, when I return from a trip, I get sick. I’m trying to avoid that this time.

New Girl came out for her supper, even though we were watching from the living room. That’s a big step for her; she doesn’t like to be watched while she eats. But she looked at us, and then went back to her food. She even left a little bit of her supper for later, not gobbling everything out of fear there wouldn’t be a later. She talked to Charlotte, who just sat there, smirking at her. But not hissing. Then Charlotte showed off how she gets to sit on my lap. It was very funny.

When I cooked dinner, New Girl had her nose up, sniffing the air.

We have winnowed down the name choices to about four. The one I least expected, that I kind of threw out as a joke, is one of the two she responds to the best. We’ll see if that continues for the next few days. If it does, that will be her name. I would rather it’s something else, but it is her name and her choice.

I reconnected with a dear, dear friend from MISS SAIGON days. We are both so excited to be back in touch, and are making plans to get together.

This Saturn retrograde is in Pisces, and, especially for a Pisces, the theme is “restoring lost years.” That’s what it feels like, restoring good elements with which I’ve lost touch, and helping me let go of things that held me back.

After dinner, I printed out some sell sheets for the Topic Workbooks. I didn’t ask the Chamber to print those, only the prompt sheets and the resource sheets.

I packed all the bags I needed for the FM residency. I wanted to make sure everything was ready and I wasn’t scrambling at the last minute.

I will need to buy more ink this week. Because, of course I will.

New Girl called out in the evening, and all three cats came running. They regarded each other through the glass doors. Tessa talked – and she mimicked Tessa! She’s a mimic! I’ve never heard a cat do that before. The cats were so surprised, they had to sit down.

Slept pretty well. Up early, making sure I had all the bits and bobs for the Farmers’ Market residency. Fed everyone. Tessa doesn’t like the extra two minutes it takes to prepare New Girl’s plate; Willa doesn’t like that New Girl gets something she doesn’t. We will work it out.

New Girl and Willa were the only ones who ate much. Charlotte never eats much in one go, and Tessa eats more in cooler weather.

Headed to Full Well Farm to pick up my CSA. Decided which bit would come to the residency with me as the “found object from the market” and washed some blueberries and put them in a bowl with a net over it for the “taste” prompt.

Packed up the car and headed out. I found a parking spot in the shade. They had the table, benches, and materials all set up for me! I couldn’t believe it. How many times, in my previous location, had I shown up for events for which I was booked, assured the few things I asked for would be there, and then nothing was set up or available because they “hadn’t gotten around to it?” This really restored my sense of trust.

I taped my four posters to the four poles, set out the mailing list and the Topic Workbook sell sheets, set up the prompt flipbook. I was across from the FM booth itself, where people get their tokens and other information, next to Door Prize Nama on one side (food) and benches for people to hang out on the other, and in front of the Vietnamese pop-up.

I started working through the prompts a little after 9. We kept it easy and flowing. People could join whenever they wanted and leave whenever they wanted. We usually had a group that swelled for a few prompts, and then just one or two people. A couple of people stayed for nearly an hour. A little girl and her mom wrote back and forth, creating a story together, and she had the best time. It was adorable. When I pulled out the fennel for the “found object” prompt, a woman ran right over and wanted to know about it. I told her it was part of my CSA from Full Well Farm and sent her down and across one vendor to their stand. Another woman stopped by when I had the prompt about the North Adams sister city of Tremosine Sul Garda in Italy to tell me about the trip her son took there. The prompt about the North Adams Point to Point Hot Air Balloon Race of 1908 was very popular. People were very excited that I had prompts relevant to North Adams and the Farmer’s Market, rather than vaguer prompts that could be used anywhere.

A lot of people just wanted to talk and find out about the writing and the process. It was very low-key, flexible, no stress. I saw lots of people I knew – from the cohort, from yoga, from tarot, from Word X Word, from the library. It was a lot of fun. I thoroughly enjoyed myself over the four hours, although my hand was a little tired from holding the pen by the end of it! I did all the prompts with the participants, when I wasn’t talking to people interested in the whole thing. I have the starts of a couple of viable pieces.

I have to follow up on a couple of conversations for other potential projects.

I filled out my paperwork to get paid (yes, they pay us), packed up my stuff, and headed home, with a brief pause to spend a little time with someone I knew from a long time ago who’s just passing through town. Showered and collapsed onto the couch.

Charlotte informed New Girl she could order off a menu (incorrect), so New Girl rejected her lunch, and then regretted it later in the afternoon. I suggested she take Charlotte’s advice with a grain of salt.

My mom and I both spent some time in the sewing room, so she’d get used to us. She’s still under the bed mostly. While she very much wants to be with the other cats, she still associates humans with shots and surgery and getting stuffed in a crate and put into a car. We’ll give her the time she needs.

I read LIBERTY EQUALITY FASHION: THE WOMEN WHO STYLED THE FRENCH REVOLUTION by Anne HIgonnet, which was absolutely fascinating. I’d ordered it from the library because of Eulalie Morin’s portrait of Juliette Récamier in the current exhibit at the Clark, and I wanted to know more. Certainly a story I was not expecting, including that she married the man who was probably her biological father.

Slept well Saturday into Sunday, even though I went to bed very early on Saturday. I was just tired and logy all day. I finished reading THE WREN IN THE HOLLY LIBRARY by K.A. Linde, which I mostly liked. I have some issues with that particular publisher and the way they put their fingerprints all over everything, but most of it worked for me.

The friend who came to the reading had asked to read the script, and I sent it over I think Friday. She had some great notes that will help the revision so much. I’m very grateful.

New Girl ate all her breakfast. I spent some time in the room with her in the morning, but she stayed under the bed. Much of what she’s doing now is sleeping; she’s exhausted. Plus, her internal compass has to recalibrate, and that takes about ten days. Otherwise, if she somehow got out of the apartment, she would instinctively make her way back to Beacon. She ate her lunch this time, without a fuss, too, and my mom spent time in the room with her in the afternoon.

Around the times she emerges from her meals, she’s starting to explore the room. She even played with her catnip banana a little bit. She’s fascinated by tarot cards. She’s also fascinated and rather perplexed by the ways the other cats interact with the humans in the house, and watches as much of the interaction as possible. Charlotte, of course, shows off, how she sits on the human whenever possible, and how much of a princess she is. I’m trying to play with Willa in front of the glass doors during Willa’s designated after lunch playtime so New Girl gets a sense of playing. She’s sauntering to her food now, rather than slinking toward it, with her tail curled up, which is progress.

After supper, she called out for Tessa, who came to check on her. Tessa’s hanging out the most with her, one on each side of the glass, which is a good thing. Tessa still patrols a bit at night and does bathroom escort duty with the humans where needed, but she’s hanging out with the New Girl, and that will help get her comfortable. Willa tries to jailbreak her out of the sewing room at least once a day. I think they will all be fine together. Charlotte is the only wild card.

Charlotte’s actually being far more mellow than I expected. She’s let New Girl know she’s watching her; she’s intentionally giving bad advice; she’s showing off. But she’s not being aggressive.

On the wider world stage, I’m not happy that Biden stepped back from re-election (in spite of disagreeing on many decisions or lack thereof), mostly because it was caving to big money donors. We already demonstrated support in the primaries – and for Kamala Harris, so all these foo-foos calling for an open whatever can shove it right up you know where. We already CHOSE, and she is part of the package we chose, knowing she might have to step in at some point, confident she can step up. I’m delighted in the surge of grassroots donations. Big donors better not try to put in another old white dude instead of her. We chose her. Remember the monied white dude pressure to replace her on the re-election ticket with a white dude last year? Big donors need to shut up and write checks.

And we need major campaign finance reform.

And Manchin, threatening to pretend to turn Dem again and run? Talk about an attention whore. Once again, proving he will always put himself before the country. The sooner we see the back of him, the better. Aaron Sorkin made an ass of himself, too, in the NYT op ed. I supposed I shouldn’t be surprised or disappointed – just another entitled white dude, thinking he knows best. Or knows anything. We crossed paths when we both worked in NYC theatre. I respected his work, did not like him. At this point, I’m losing respect as well.

Got the details for next Sunday’s Word X Word exquisite corpse poem. I am excited.

Heard from the person passing through town Saturday afternoon that they tested positive for COVID. So I will be resting and testing and cancelling out of most things this week, with an eye to being healthy at Saturday’s workshop and Sunday’s poem. I feel fine, just tired, but I will be cautious.

Slept well Sunday into Monday. New Girl ate a good breakfast. Things had been moved around in the room, so she explored overnight. Good for her!

I got an email from Amazon that I will be getting royalties next week from the serials (but not how much; heaven forbid they let you know how much). No bonus, because the serials are down and there weren’t enough comments on the individual episodes from readers before they came down. Whatever. These royalties are from May, which was a reasonably strong month, so we’ll see what happens. I think I’m only getting one more payment, at the end of August for June. I doubt I’ll get anything for July, since the last serial came down mid-month. I’m just glad to be free of that contract, and that these stories can go on to other lives. June’s payment (for April) was a joke. April was a pretty decent month for reads, but you’d never know it from the royalty payment. So glad to be out of that situation.

I contacted Joe Manchin’s office and told him to step away. Thank you, Paula, for sharing that idea. I was polite and respectful, but very direct. I took the time to contact my Senators and my Congressional Representative to let them know Madam Vice President Harris has my full support as the presidential nominee, and that I already voted for her in the primary, so none of this open nomination nonsense.  I knew she might have to step in; I am confident she can step up. I asked them to vigorously support her.

I dug my way out of an avalanche of emails that came in while I was gone. Friday was about answering the most pressing, with information needed this week; now I can go through the others. That’s going to take a few days.

I had to dash out and grab a loaf of bread, and I dumped some books in the book drop. I’m masking out of the house (I never stopped when it came to grocery store and library, etc.), but I’m being especially conscientious during the resting/testing period.

Tessa and Charlotte actually both slept on my bed for most of the day, with only a few inches between them. That is rare. Tessa figures since she’s on night shift taking care of New Girl, she gets to sleep during the day. On my bed.

TAPESTRY came back for a final proof before it goes to formatting, and putting in the backmatter and acknowledgements and all the rest. I talked with my editor about whether or not to add in the information about St. George’s Academy on E. 6th Street, which is across from the building I chose for her (with alterations), which is the building my friend used to live in, where I used to stay. We were usually in and out at hours when the Academy was closed, so I didn’t pay much attention. I might add a reference here and there, and, in future books, see if it’s relevant. But we both figure we can get away with not much else, at least in the first two books. Thank goodness I created a style sheet; that’s been a big help with consistent spellings for me, the editor, and the copyeditor.

I got the first 5 chapters proofed, about 11K.

Turned around a large-ish coverage. Some of it I did in the sewing room with New Girl. She was not impressed. Very little coverage has come in for this week, which concerns me. There should be more, since there was a contest deadline on the 22nd. I also managed to get a workshop proposal out the door. Got a couple more to push through this week. I’m starting to feel, though, that I’m overbooking my autumn, but we’ll see what actually comes through.

New Girl is spending some of her nap time now in her crate, rather than just under the bed, which is progress. And she plays with her catnip banana. She and Willa figured out where the door bolt goes into the floor, and they’re trying to work it out to release the door (there’s also one at the top, so I’m not too worried).

Made a large frittata with CSA veggies and eggs my friend gave me. It was delicious. New Girl ate her supper, then called for the cats. Tessa hung out for a bit, then assigned Charlotte to sit with her, while Tessa did a few things. Charlotte wandered off after about five minutes.

Tessa was not amused. “You had one job.”

Charlotte’s response was, “I don’t work. I’m a Princess.”

They fussed at each other for a few minutes, in front of the glass doors, and then settled down.

Charlotte is also showing off the glories of the cat tree.

Slept until about 4:30, when Tessa began the Breakfast Operetta. She taught New Girl the chorus. I refused to feed any of them until 6. Breakfast does not start at 4:30, unless the humans have a road trip and leave early.

It was raining, so I didn’t go to the laundromat; I’ll go tomorrow morning. Today, I have more proofreading and some small coverages to turn around, and hoping for more to come through for the rest of this week. If not, there’s a book to review, and more proposals to get out. I also need to work on a short story, and on my Llewellyn article. And the proposals.

We’re still trying names with New Girl, to see which she gravitates toward. She’s very clear, with the side eye, about which ones are not acceptable. I’m starting to think she has Abyssinian in her rather than Siamese, because of the body structure and those long legs – legs getting longer every day, as she’s growing.

I feel okay, just tired. I’m trying to pace myself, and prioritize the task to the energy, while keeping everything on track. August, with all those retrogrades (we’ll be up to 5 by early in the month) is about slow, steady work, and staying as quiet as possible (with Mercury being one of those retrogrades).