Wed. Oct. 9, 2024: Studio Flip and Reading Day!

photo by Devon Ellington

Wednesday, October 9, 2024

Waxing Moon

Pluto, Saturn, Neptune, Chiron, Uranus, and Jupiter Retrograde

Cloudy, foggy, cool

The news about Hurricane Milton is absolutely terrifying. So worried about people in the path.

Jupiter joins the retrograde parade, until early February. Jupiter is the planet of expansion, so this retrograde means pulling in and reassessing. Don’t spread yourself too thin, and take your time with decisions.

So I’m sitting down to write once I posted yesterday – and decided to flip my studio setup. I moved the desk, and I moved the inspiration wall to the opposite side. It feels much, much better now.

I drafted a new poem, “Between You and Me.” The idea was born during Word X Word’s last event. The organizer joked about people creating new poems during the course of the event, and a comment one of the other poets made gave me the idea. I didn’t start drafting while I sat there, but it percolated. I’ve been wondering what to do with it. I had a bit more of an idea as I fell asleep on Monday night. Once I rearranged my space Tuesday morning, it flowed.

I printed the programs for the reading, and I printed out a large print copy of the poem I will read tonight, so that I could go back and rehearse during the day, deciding on breath marks, and getting comfortable with it.

I pulled some images I will use in adapting it to a play. I will start with a middle section, set vaguely in the 1950’s, so those are the images I pulled. You’ll see studio photographs throughout the week. Then, of course, I expanded, as I worked on the outline for the play.

I got a very, very, very rough outline done, mostly about time periods and the mothers/daughters and some rough scene notes. Once I wrote the outline, printed it, and pinned it to the wall of my studio, I wondered if I should try writing chronologically after all.

I hate dithering, but I don’t know where to start with this. However, I need to start SOMEWHERE, and once I start, it might make sense.

I pinned up the outline pages on the wall behind me, along with a draft of the original poem that inspired it. I’m taking a page out of my fellow poets’ books (pun intended) and pinning manuscript pages to the wall. Two of my fellow poets are figuring out the order of their next books this way.

I also managed to get out a play submission, and do a round of social media promos for tonight’s reading. I’ll do a final round of promos today.

I then made myself sit down and START. I wrote a scene from about the middle of the play, set in the 1950’s, the first scene for the party sequence between Milly and Ron, the central pair for that generation. I mention Amanda, the daughter who “watches and learns”, but she’s not in the scene. She might be, by tomorrow. This draft is too much text, not enough subtext, but at least I got something down on paper. I’ll rework the scene, hopefully today and tomorrow, and bring in a few pages to workshop on Thursday.

We had lunch at the Mexican place across the street, which was fun. Again, a nice chance to chat and talk about the work.

I dealt with some A4A business, and submitted a play for a potential reading. I pulled up the 1930 census page I found for Iris Woolcock (she is one of my Playland Painters, who, in 1948, also wrote a book about traveling through Alaska by herself with her dog). Iris was divorced at the time, renting a room in a house in Greenwich Village owned by an Italian immigrant, his wife, and their two children. Her fellow lodgers were a young actor, and two women who were writers and journalists. To me, that’s the makings of a sitcom.

I did a little bit of research on the building, which is 118 W. 11th St. If that address rings a bell, it’s because in 1970, there was an explosion in the building, when the Weather Underground was in the space, building bombs, and one of them went off.

History is fascinating, and it is one of those weird little synchronicities that Iris leads me to that building, and she lived in a building that continued to have a place in history.

Anyway, not sure what that piece will be about then. In the play LAUGHTER & TURPENTINE, about the Playland Painters, Iris makes a reference to attending the opening of her fellow lodger’s play. But the household itself was full of interesting characters, and there’s something there. It will take time to figure out what.

I made arrangements with museum security to let us into the space we had booked to workshop. It’s a lovely, lovely space. Nine of the ten of us came to workshop, and everyone brought something to read. Everything was so different and interesting and good! It was very exciting, and the specificity of the notes given is wonderful.

I brought in “Between You and Me.” Everyone enjoyed it, and got what I was going for, and had specific, excellent notes. The notes make me eager to go back and rewrite it at some point this week.

Let security know when we cleared out, packed up what I needed from the studio, and headed out. Picked up a rotisserie chicken and a loaf of bread at Big Y. Headed to the farm to pick up my CSA box and. . .no box. There was some sort of mix-up, or someone picked up my box by mistake. I contacted the farmers, and I will go back on Saturday morning to pick up a replacement box. Things happen, and I’m glad we got it sorted out.

Home, ate dinner, printed up the cards with the ingredients for the reading’s refreshments (in case anyone has allergies), made the dip, did a few other puttery, last minute things.

Tessa gave me a lecture about all the things that weren’t going to schedule. Charlotte was Velcro kitty from the minute I walked in the door. Willa ran around screaming. Bea did her sideways play skip and then dashed away. So everyone is behaving normally for them.

My mom is fine. She didn’t get up to feed the cats until nearly 7, and there was nearly a riot.

Had a nice, hot shower and went to bed early. I was tired, and today will be a busy day. Petted and praised my beloved, programmable, QUIET coffeemaker.

Weird dreams, but that’s par for the course lately. One of my fellow poets mentioned at lunch that she’s been having weird fragments of dreams lately, too.

Up at 4:30, had some coffee, fed the cats, ate breakfast, did the dishes, checked my backpack to make sure I had everything I need.

Bent over to tie my shoes and realized I was still in my pajamas.

Sigh.

Took off my shoes, got dressed in real people clothes, put my shoes back on, and headed out the door.

Got halfway to the studio and realized I left my coffee mug in the living room.

Sigh.

Turned around, ran up the stairs (past Tessa, who started giving me another lecture), grabbed the travel mug, headed back out.

This time I really managed to leave.

It was foggy and spooky in the best possible way, driving from my place to the museum.

Parked, headed up to the studio. I treasure and cherish these quiet early morning hours in the studio.

Got everything set up for the day, including getting into my studio slippers (I wear slippers in the studio, easier on the concrete floors), and here we go!

I’m looking forward to a good morning’s work. We will have lunch together at 1. Then a break. I will get them set up in the Swing Space at 3:30, but will then take my bags back to the residency apartment, except for the bag I need for the reading (with programs and mailing list, etc.), which I will leave in the car.

I will head home, take a rest and have a snack, put on some makeup, rehearse the poem a few times, pack up the refreshments into the car, and head over to the bookstore.

Our reading is at 7 PM. After the reading, we’ll have dinner next door. Then, we’ll get any leftover refreshments back to the apartment. I’ll put the car in the overnight lot, and walk back to the apartment to hang out with everyone and sleep there tonight. I’m sleeping there for the rest of the residency, actually.

There’s a washer and dryer in the facility; I’m tempted to do laundry on Saturday night!

Anyway, here’s to hopes of a creative day, and that the reading goes well tonight.