Tues. Sept. 17, 2024: Trying to Keep the Drive Going

image courtesy of StockSnap via Pixabay.com

Tuesday, September 17, 2024

Full Moon

Pluto, Saturn, Neptune, Chiron, Uranus Retrograde

Lunar Eclipse

Sunny and pleasant

I hope you had a very good weekend.

If you didn’t have a chance to read the Collective Tarot Reading for the week, you can do so here. There’s also a reading going today specific to the lunar eclipse, available here.

Friday was kind of all over the place. I worked on some admin. I did a big grocery shop. I did a library run. I wrote and turned in my review and got my next assignment.

Bea came and hung out in the living room for a little while. Slowly, slowly, she is exploring. I think she’s confused because often the other cats are off doing their own thing, leaving her alone, and then, every once in a while, someone suddenly sets a boundary. But there’s no real aggression or fighting.

I read this month’s Agatha Christie book club selection, ORDEAL BY INNOCENCE. I found it uncomfortable and disturbing. I’m hoping the serious misogyny in it was the writer pointing out how reflexive it is, even from supposed well-meaning men, and not her view. It also held two of my least favorite tropes: the adopted siblings who discover they’re in love romantically and a very young woman falling for an older, experienced man who suddenly decides he loves her back. Not one of my favorites of hers.

Later in the afternoon and evening, I re-read the first Richard Jury book by Martha Grimes, THE MAN WITH A LOAD OF MISCHIEF. I read the first ten or so as they came out (starting in the early 1980’s). I can’t remember why I stopped; something annoyed me, or I got caught up in theatre work and this was one of the series I dropped. While there are definitely some eighties cringe moments, overall, I appreciate it structurally more now than I did then. I think I will re-read the early books and maybe continue with the entire series.

Of course, in the evening, after dinner, some coverage work came in, including one fairly large turnaround. I started it, then finished it early Saturday morning, and did two smaller coverages.

I did some painting on Saturday (craft painting, not on canvas), some housework. It was much warmer than I expected. Because my mother has trouble with short term memory since the stroke, I got a small whiteboard, and we are trying to get into the habit of using it to keep track of what needs to happen when and where I am when I’m not at the house, and when to expect me back.

I baked a mocha cake (Moosewood recipe), roasted a chicken, and then made chicken stock.

The fire alarm malfunctioned on Sunday morning around 4 AM, and I couldn’t get back to sleep after that, so that was a wreck of a day. I had to pick up more of Bea’s food and some stuff for the Equinox next week. I had one small coverage come in, but that’s it.

I read two Sara Paretsky books back-to-back. While I overall like the series and respect what’s been achieved, the character continues to make some of the same mistakes throughout rather than growing and changing, which bothers me. Her constant exhaustion and falling asleep at inopportune moments have also started to annoy me. On the one hand, it’s more realistic than many mysteries; on the other hand, after being at it for twenty years, wouldn’t you hope someone’s learned how to manage their energy levels better? And why keep going back to the “old neighborhood” when the people who ask for your help always treated you badly? I’d rather see a growth spiral in the themes instead of just repetition. But the take on social and economic issues is always strong, complex, and fascinating.

I started the next book for review, but was too tired to get very far.

I wanted to work on the piece for my friend’s project, but I couldn’t find the clay I needed. Which is weird, because I came across the “second choice clay” a few weeks ago, looking for something else. The “first choice clay” is nowhere to be found. Which makes no sense.

I had to re-think my design – not the design as much as the medium, and came up with an alternate solution. But I limited myself to thinking, rather than doing.

We have the dates for the 2025 BHPC residency, which will help me as far as planning next year. I realized I need to try something completely different for August of next year; we’ll see if I can pull it off. I’ll need to set the groundwork this autumn. I did some planning with a map for something I hope will come through next spring/summer, but we’ll see. If it does, I have a plan for it. If not, I have to replace it with something else. I’ll know one way or another in November.

I did some other planning with a map, because I’m on a mission for A4A later this week and early next, around the grant program.

I do love maps.

I’m getting annoyed by all these submission calls for short plays with a laundry list of specific elements/theme/plot points THAT DON’T PAY THE WRITERS. I’m not sitting down and writing a new play to your prompts that would have to be seriously rewritten for any other submission when it’s not a commission. Eff all the way right off.

When your guidelines are longer than the damn play, I pass. It’s expecting free labor for non-existent “exposure” and let’s all just be done with that, shall we?

Time for me to sit down with the tiered TCG list and go through it by theatre to see what might be a good match for which play. At least I’ve kept the Excel spread sheet with the plays, page count, and character breakdowns updated as I write new work, so I can look at that and see what suits where in practical terms as well as thematic ones. I never thought I’d be actively using spreadsheets, but here we are.

I just rolled my eyes at another “assassination attempt” against the Narcissistic Sociopath. As much as these people are bad at things, they are good at guns, and both of these were so obviously and awkwardly staged that only his cult believes them.

This week, I need to stay on top of a lot of marketing stuff on multiple fronts, land freelance work, both for the next few weeks and for after the residency into the winter, and stay on top of writing.

We MIGHT be able to get our COVID boosters on October 1. I hope it’s Pfizer; I can’t lose a week of work right before the residency, and the Moderna effects usually last for at least 10 days (with the first 5 having me feel like death warmed over). Pfizer usually takes me down hard for about 3 days, but I should be able to be at least partially functional after that. I want to take my mom in, but I’m not sure if I should wait and try to fight for an appointment somewhere after the residency, or just risk it and keep working even if I feel like hell. I have a feeling it will be the latter, and that, once again, I will not have the option of being sick. Getting the vaccine from CVS post-residency is not an option, since all they do is smirk and refuse my insurance (although they are not allowed to, and yes, I’ve filed a complaint with the state). I may be able to get it somewhere else, but I just don’t know. I mean, feeling awful for a week to ten days, even when it’s inconvenient, beats the alternative. It’s the fact that it might be my only chance to get the vaccine that annoys me. I would rather get it after the residency.

I don’t have to decide today. I might not even have to decide until, say September 30, since it’s a popup clinic for the vaccines, and they claim no appointment is necessary. We might arrive and find it’s not true.

Bea is so funny. Each day, she expands her explorations a little further. She desperately wants to climb the kitty condo, but it’s next to the sofa, and therefore Too Close to Humans. She almost climbed in yesterday morning, but changed her mind at the last minute. The door to the sewing room is kept open now all day; it’s only closed at night, more because I don’t want to wake up to things crashing down when Charlotte and Willa set her up as the fall cat for their exploits. The door to the hall stays closed, at least for now. She’s figuring things out. She’s getting more playful with the others, too, and sometimes they are puzzled. She’s hanging out more in the living room, which is great, and even took a nap in the living room on Sunday.

Monday was a reasonably productive day. I spent time working on the listing and press release for the reading, and sent them in for approval. I made arrangements to print flyers, and asked if I could get flyers for the grant on which I’m an advisor when I print the reading flyers (same office) so that I can fulfill what I promised on that, too. Spent some time marketing the Topic Workbooks, and will add in some Nina Bell marketing starting today. Pitched for a couple of jobs. Pitched for an author interview, and got the pre-questionnaire link, which I will fill out and return today. Did runs to the post office and library. Did the initial painting on the piece for my friend’s project. Now I have to do the detailing, which will happen over several days this week.

I did some work on the poem for the 29th. It keeps taking tangents, and I keep pulling it back. The first half dozen lines are working, but I need to build on that, not meander from it.

Read one of the worst books I’ve ever seen on keeping a journal, by someone with a lot of privilege, and zero life experience. Just eye-rollingly bad. It should have been one of her blog posts, not a book published by a major house. It added nothing to the many wonderful books about journals out there; just re-hashed the information like a content mill post.

Started reading one of Anais Nin’s journals that I had not read before. I still think there’s potential for an article about outgrowing her writing, although I’m not sure what shape it will take. But it feels closer now, than it felt a couple of years ago, when I played with the idea. It’s still not quite formed yet, but it’s starting to take shape. I might do some work on it in the residency.

This year, I actually have a main focus for the work I want to do in the residency. I have one central project that is the residency’s purpose. I mean, I’ll be in studio for however many hours per day, so I’m sure I will work on more than one thing. I want to work on several styles of poems, just to learn more about forms. But there’s one project in particular which will be the main focus for the workshop time.

I’ll have a couple of other “if there’s time” projects (the article might be one), and I want to do some ekphrastic work. My intent is to be in studio again very early in the morning, my best time. We have our reading early in our week there, which means I can then relax and really dive deep into the residency work itself. I plan on staying over in the apartment more than I did last year, too.

I read Griffin Dunne’s memoir, THE FRIDAY AFTERNOON CLUB, which is very well written, but didn’t make me like him any better.

I was worried about the lack of scripts coming in (there are three major deadlines this week, starting with one on the 15th), but a bunch came in late afternoon. I did one small coverage; I have one small and two medium for today, three medium for tomorrow and four small coverages for Thursday. If I can keep getting enough through the end of this week and all of next, everything will be fine. I realize that’s a big “if” but here’s hoping.

I finished reading the next book for review; I will write the review, submit it, and hopefully get my next assignment.

On today’s agenda: some writing in the morning and maybe a few pitches; some marketing; coverages in the afternoon; the CSA box; yoga (only one hour).

Fingers crossed I can get it all done.