Fri. May 16, 2025: Taking a Breath Helps
image courtesy of Dana via pixabay.comFriday, May 16, 2025
Waning Moon
Pluto Retrograde
Misty and warm
Yesterday did not get off to a brilliant start, between chainsaws and jackhammers. I’m really tired of constant construction around the college every damn season, starting way too early in the morning, without regard to the fact that it’s set within a residential neighborhood and is not set off on its own little island.
I considered skipping meditation, but figured this is exactly why I needed meditation. Especially since I was a little bit blue about Wednesday night’s reading. They sent an evaluation form, and I had to ponder how honest to be with them. There were plenty of things I could roll with, but the fact that some of the actors hadn’t taken time to read the script before the reading was not something I agreed with. That is an absolute minimum, as far as I’m concerned. I decided to be honest in as kind and respectful a way as possible, but wait a day or two before submitting my response.
I needed to shake it off, because I have another show on which to focus for Monday, out in Colorado, and I had my own work on the radio play and on the ghostwriting that needed my immediate attention. I could hear my yoga teacher saying, “Shake it off. Let it go.” I need to feel what I feel and deal with it, but getting mired and stuck doesn’t do anyone any good. It would be easy to make like a depressed Victorian heroine and take to my bed. It would be easy to get angry. It would be easy to self-berate and doubt myself and my work. But none of that serves the work itself. I’m either a professional interested in doing good work and serving that work, or I’m cosplaying. And I’m not interested in cosplaying.
There’s a lot of letting go to do during this waning moon!
I sat meditation with the group, which was a good choice (and made Charlotte happy). After breakfast, I packed up and headed over to my favorite library carrel.
I had trouble getting settled into the work. I haven’t been on social media often lately, which has helped my mindset and my productivity, but I dipped my toe back in because I had trouble concentrating because of all the feelings about the reading, and then wished I hadn’t.
I created a chart of what play should be pointed to which kind of theatre. I could probably have put that in the Excel document I use when I figure out submissions, but some of the plays really need to be revised before submission. I tried pulling FEMME FATALE, which needs to be adapted from interactive to proscenium, through from PDF to Word, but it messes up the formatting so badly I’m better off just rekeying the whole thing. But not yesterday. I also need to adapt MATILDA MURDERS – which had a nonbinary character long before that’s what they were called – from interactive to proscenium. Again, though, not today.
I pulled up CORNWALL CHICANERY and fixed a few details from the earlier pages. Wrote about 3 new pages, much less than I hoped, but better than nothing. I set up a red herring. Now I need to put in some clues.
It was hard to concentrate because there was a jackass with a leaf blower wandering the quad all morning for no reason except to make noise. Nothing needs leaf blowing, and blowing pollen is terrible for everyone. Gas-powered leaf blowers need to be banned entirely, and leaf blowers, in general, should only be allowed from mid-September to the first snowfall. And ONLY for leaves.
There is zero reason for the college to have anyone leaf blowing multiple times every damn day.
Home for lunch and the #FreelanceFriends chat on Bluesky, which was lots of fun, and then back to the library. Caught up on some email, asked a couple more questions, and started work on the ghostwriting project. A lot of it was design of the space where most of the action takes place, and character work. I outlined a couple of chapters, but nowhere near as many as I hoped. Still, it was a good, solid start.
I then gave myself a break from the screen to read a book, curled up on one of the library couches.
Came home, rested my eyes for a bit (all this screen time in libraries takes a toll, because of the overhead lighting). It was just starting to drizzle when I returned.
Heated up leftovers for dinner. After dinner, sat out on the porch finishing my wine and enjoying a cracking good thunderstorm. I hope we are out of drought concerns soon.
Listened to some Mary Lou Williams music in the evening, as background for a piece I’d like to write (but am not sure I can write by deadline, so I might have to wait until the next submission call). Read Kitty Carlisle Hart’s autobiography, which is overly breathy and breezy.
Slept pretty well until I jolted awake around 3 AM with sense memory stress. Really? Still? I reminded myself that I am not in the middle of the Move from Hell, and am where I want to be. Dozed off, but Tessa got me out of bed around 5:30, the usual time.
It’s all foggy and misty this morning. I’m hoping the painters aren’t too loud. I’d prefer to work from home until it’s time to run to the library and the grocery store. I have to head to the mechanic’s this afternoon, but I will be so relieved to get the brakes fixed. We’ll also talk tires, so I can come up with a plan to get those replaced (all four – horrors).
I need to wash more fabric (the blood splatter fabric arrived yesterday), and tomorrow I will iron again. On the writing front, it’s all about the radio play and then switching over to the ghostwriting. I will probably take my laptop to the mechanic’s this afternoon and work there.
The weekend is about household chores and building at least one (hopefully both) of the compass pieces for the textile project. I’m invited to an art show opening at a new space with 46 local artists, so I will try to pull myself together and go to that. Especially since I know some of them. I also want to finish reading the second of three plays for WAM, the play that’s sharing the bill with me on Monday, and the book for review.
If it’s quiet enough, there may be a lot of napping involved. Because of the intense concentration and quick pace of the ghostwriting, my brain needs more rest periods built in. Taking the hour lunch and then having some transition time at the end of the day makes a big, positive difference.
Have a good weekend, and we’ll catch up on the other side!
