Tues. May 13, 2025: The Good Kind of Busy

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Tuesday, May 13, 2025

Last Day of Full Moon

Pluto Retrograde

Partly sunny and pleasant

I hope you had a lovely weekend.

The Community Tarot Reading for the Week is up here.

Curl up with a beverage, because this is a long post! It was a busy weekend.

I had a good conversation with a visual artist colleague who talked about the importance of documenting the process of creating work. I document my writing process in words, but it made me realize that it’s important to document the process of creating the textile project. So I’m taking more photos as I go. Since I want to expand into more multi-disciplinary work, that will be helpful. It will give me additional materials for grant proposals moving forward.

The painters showed up on Friday, in the bucketing rain. They decided to work on the back balcony, since it’s covered. So I moved the bench and the bistro chairs into Tessa’s room (they helped me with the bench). First, we made a pit stop in the kitchen, so I could disinfect them. Because they were outside since we’ve moved here, and who knows what all’s been climbing around on them.

But it meant no noise respite for me on Friday.

Since they were at the back of the house, and it’s a long, narrow unit, we could move to the front, and it wasn’t too bad. And it was only about an hour after they arrived that I left for my errands.

I went to the grocery store first, and did a light grocery shop, then to the library to drop off and pick up books. By the time I hauled everything home, up the stairs, and put it away, it didn’t make sense to pack up and go offsite.

Charlotte and Willa were upset by the disruption. Tessa hid. Bea sat in the front window and napped.

After lunch, I didn’t have the energy to pack up and go offsite. I read on the couch instead, with Charlotte on my lap.

The ghostwriting client has offered me writing the outlines for the next 6 projects in the series I’ve been working on, and the outline from a project in a different series. With the same team giving me development notes. At a rate that meets in between what I already quoted them and what they paid for these “tests.” It’s do-able. It also pays me a part of the fee when we move from the 6K outline to the 20K outline, instead of waiting until the end for everything, which takes some of the financial pressure off me. The two immediate contracts are with due dates of June 16 & July 23, which make sense. I can switch off between them in that I can write the 6K starter outline for the one due first, turn it in, and work on the 6K starter outline for the other while I wait for notes, and so forth. They know that I have jury duty beginning on the 27th, and I won’t know what my schedule is like that week until I’m in it.

It also means that I will be able to do the car repairs and still pay the bills. Which is great, since the coverage agency is shutting down (and STILL hasn’t informed its analysts about what’s going on). In fact, the only pay I will have from this past pay period from them is a tip from a writer, a writer satisfaction bonus, and my on-time bonus from last month, which is just not acceptable.

Now, the ghostwriting doesn’t pay enough for it to be the only work I do – I still need to take on other jobs here and there around it – but it will take care of a few things, especially between now and August.

I reviewed the contracts. I sent one in yesterday, but the main one did not reflect what we negotiated, so I requested changes. I would not sign the contract they sent. I started the orientation of the new-to-me series. I will start writing the actual outline on Thursday, after my reading tomorrow night, and turn it in to them just before Memorial Day weekend. That way, they can read and give notes while I’m on jury duty.

Jury duty week, I will start work on the next project for the series I’ve been working on. It would be great if, somewhere in there, the audio book work would also start coming in, although that would be a lot.

The plan is to do 1K each morning of my own work and then switch over to the ghostwriting and/or whatever other freelance work I have on the go that week. I have a better idea now of what the ghostwriting team wants, so hopefully, the speed of the actual writing will increase on my end.

I’ve been out of balance with my own work, and I need to get that balance back. Only when I start the day with my own work and have that rhythm going does the rest of the day fall into place properly. If I push my own work aside, everything is out of balance and much harder than it needs to be.

My mom wasn’t feeling well Friday night into Saturday, so none of us got much sleep.

Saturday was another gray and rainy day. To my shock, the painters showed up just after 8 AM. The cats were not amused. Neither was I. I was looking forward to two days of respite. I was also annoyed that all the crap from the neighbor’s balcony was moved to our side, instead of them taking it inside like we did.

I got an email to write scripts for an anti-education platform. I laughed at them. Obviously, they did no background research on me.

I read the next book for review in the morning. The painters packed up at lunchtime and left. After lunch, I pulled myself together, put on Real People Clothes and headed out to the A4A cohort gathering. It was at one of the other advisors’ houses in Williamstown. They are an amazing scientist and visual artist, with a delightful cat. Once the other cohort member arrived, we headed out to walk the trails at the Clark, learning about lichen and fungus and slime mold, and visiting with the bright orange salamanders. We had far-ranging conversations over an amazing range of topics. I was also proud of myself for managing the hike, even the uphill parts. I wasn’t sure I could, because I’m so out of shape. But I both did it and enjoyed myself.

When we got back to the house, the cat came running to greet me right away, which was adorable. We had tea and cookies. I had matcha for the first time, which I’d never had before, and it was good.

The artist who hosted us is moving to Roswell, NM for a year’s residency at the end of June. I will miss them. I’m so glad I got to know them, and will be emailing frequently while they are gone. Hopefully, they will return to this region, but it depends on where the work is.

Came home. Pants went into the laundry bag – I was muddy up to the knees. The Timberland boots were set on a rack to dry off, and then I’ll brush the dirt off. The joy of having mud season and pollen season overlap!

I was very sore in the evening. Heated up some leftovers and read on the sofa, with Charlotte sitting on me (a biography of Josephine Tey). I was so tired I went to bed ridiculously early – and woke up at midnight. Managed to get back to sleep quickly and woke up again at 3:30. Managed to get back to sleep relatively quickly, and was awakened by the cohort of Charlotte, Tessa, and Willa at 6:30, because they wanted breakfast.

Sunday was Mother’s Day. We had a nice, slow morning for once, and I made smoked salmon Benedict, per my mom’s request. I did the Community Tarot Reading for the week, and scheduled it to post. I wanted to do some planting, but with a frost advisory in for Sunday night, I thought it best to wait.

We were invited, a couple of days back (after our original plans for the weekend changed) to a Mother’s Day Tea by a colleague I don’t know well. She hosted several pairs of mothers and daughters (sometimes mothers and granddaughters) for an early in the day High Tea and conversations in her loft. The youngest was 11; the oldest was my mom, at just over 100. None of the pairs knew each other, just the host. But we had some very interesting conversations that lasted for several hours. It was a pleasant and unusual social event. The different teas, little sandwiches, and tiny sweets were beautifully made and delicious.

On the way there, I picked up some flash drives that will just hold the ghostwriting client’s work, and, by accident, found fabric that may work as the background for the Human Compass project. I washed the bone border fabric that arrived. I have to scale down the entire piece, so it fits within the 5-foot specs including the borders. So I will scale down the central piece, holding the two compass pieces, to 3 feet/1 yard, and build the borders from there. I might do the 2 borders (bone and blood) separated by black, and then bind with celestial fabric.

Home in the late afternoon, and then we had a bit of a rest before I cooked the requested dinner. It was a new-to-me recipe from a new-to-me cookbook, but worked and was very good.

The fire alarm in the back hallway between the apartments is now doing end-of-life chirping, so that will have to be replaced along with the ones in our apartment.

Finished the Josephine Tey biography. I relate to her caring for an elderly parent, choosing to stay single, using multiple pseudonyms, and moving between theatre and novels. Too bad I don’t also have her skill! She’s an amazing writer, and I am nowhere near that level. But still, I soldier on.

Weird dreams Sunday into Monday. Something about a manic ATM not working properly; Hugh Jackman and the cast of MUSIC MAN performing in the local field where the 1908 balloon race was held (the race is part of an upcoming project), and something weird tied to the book I read for review earlier in the weekend that must have stuck with me more than I thought.

Woke up to a lovely, sunny day. Although we had frost advisory Sunday night, Monday was supposed to be in the mid-70s.

I worked on getting my head into the game during morning meditation. The next stretch of time, at least between now and the end of July, is intense.

–Two plays within 5 days of each other this week, in two states (two different plays). They are my priority;

–The art show meeting tonight, and starting to work on the project;

–Getting started on the next ghostwriting project. I have 6K due the Friday before Memorial Day;

–At least 5 pages/day on the radio play.

I have to set a lot of boundaries, AND I still need to build in time for the book reviewing gig, read the plays for WAM’s next three meetings, prep for my own reading at the end of June, attend the next WAM reading, attend my friend’s play (and spend time with her), attend a Shakespeare Festival another friend put together, get the car fixed, and serve jury duty.

It doesn’t look like Word X Word is doing the exquisite corpse poem in July this year at the Mount. We would have signed up and started work by now. I’m sad, but it’s a tremendous amount of work for them – unpaid work – and I totally understand if they need a break. Hopefully, I can create work for some other events with them.

But I have to stay focused. Once I get the day’s allotted work done, then I can see what else needs to be built in. I’m hoping the ghostwriting will build a steadier, smoother rhythm as I do more with them over the coming months, so I’m not struggling within the timeline.

I also have to start work on the cleave poem I want to bring in to Boiler House Poets in October, because that will take a lot of work, and it’s a comic horror piece, which is just stretching me all over the place. But I have a feeling it will be July before I can focus on that.

It’s the good kind of busy, the kind of busy I want. It also means boundaries. People have to understand that my time is as valuable as theirs, and so is my work. Fortunately, it’s easier here than in my previous location, because almost everyone’s schedule fluctuates between periods of intense focus and weeks of looser timelines.

As the painters set up, I managed to write and submit the book review and request the next assignment. I signed the NDA reading contract for the ghostwriting client for the series I’m joining.

By then, it was too noisy to think (they were right outside my office window), so I packed up and headed to the college library across the street for some quiet work time. I discovered that I forgot my Magic Book of Passwords, and worried I would need it.

I was told that the last ghostwriting project is considered complete and I can invoice the rest of it. As soon as I get paid, I can schedule the brake repair. I requested the contract changes to the contract for the next outline, so that it reflects our discussion on Friday. My friend in town with a show and I are working out schedule stuff so we can actually see each other, now that we are 20 miles away instead of nearly 200!

I needed to work on the radio play and VICIOUS CRITIC, but, of course, what I wanted to work on was CASTLE LYSENDE because there’s no deadline attached. That’s always the way. The project with the least deadline pressure wants the attention.

The changes came through on the ghostwriting contract as requested, and I signed. I am now committed until June 2026, although we will work book-to-book.

In between all that, I managed to write nearly six pages of the radio play, and find its rhythm. I’m trying something structurally unusual with it, but the place to whom I’m submitting it (on spec) has the resources to pull it off.

Lumos Theatre and Athena Project checked in for our shows (respectively this Wednesday and next Monday). I was invited to join a pilot networking/expansion program called Pollinator thanks to Assets4Artists, and filled out the preliminary paperwork.

The problematic client finally told us they are shutting down, but asked us to keep reading until September 1, even though there isn’t much coming in. If I can fit a few more scripts in around the ghostwriting and other work, I’ll consider it. But not much is coming in, and I can’t really count on it, so I don’t know. They’re promised to keep paying on time, but if there’s no work. . .

Anyway, in the meantime, I had to get set up with the prep materials for the ghostwriting, and the “time off” requests for jury duty and for Boiler House in autumn.

I went home for lunch. The cats had a lot to say. But it was nice to take the full hour lunch and just be – no reading, no phone scrolling. Eat my lunch and sit on the porch enjoying the sun.

Returned to the college library for the afternoon. Read the next project for WAM (still have two more to read before our next meeting). Started the prep work for the ghostwriting project. It was quiet up in my favorite carrel, so I could get a lot done.

Home to find that the embellishments for the art project arrived, and are a better quality than I hoped, which is always a good thing. And my jury duty reminder notice/questionnaire arrived, which is a good thing, because I can’t find the initial summons. But now I have the information I need.

Heated up leftovers for dinner. Started reading Mary K. Greer’s ARCHETYPAL TAROT, which is very complex.

Celebrated the full moon.

To bed early, which means I woke up around 2:30, couldn’t get back to sleep, and I will pay for that later today. Up before 5, at Tessa’s insistence. The Llewellyn contract for the 2027 Spell-A-Day arrived. I will sign it and send it back, and print out all my materials. I will start next week, writing 2-3 pieces per week, and have all 25 ready by the Sept. 15 due date.

I have to print out the notes for tonight’s meeting. That bag is all packed. When I come home after this afternoon’s library session, I can just move my water bottle from one bag to another, and I’m good to go.

I will do both work sessions at the college library today, coming back for lunch. When I come back from the afternoon session, I will change, pick up the other bag, head up to yoga, and then go to the art show meeting.

I will definitely be ready for bed when I get home!

Have a good one!