Fri. June 12, 2026: Working Through the Humidity

image courtesy of Ted Erski from Pixabay

Friday, June 12, 2026

Day Before Dark Moon

Pluto Retrograde

Cloudy, hot, humid

We almost made it to the weekend!

Yesterday morning, I got out the door after breakfast/chores, and did my errands: pharmacy, grocery store, library, and a couple of other things. An ILL (Interlibrary Loan) came in for me from Rochester! Both the librarian and I were excited. I asked her about ordering some thesis/dissertation documents that are in World Cat, and we figured out how to do it. It will be later in the summer before I need them, but it’s not a difficult process.

I also learned that tonight’s library trustees meeting was cancelled, so that’s nearly 2 hours back from my day!

Home, got everything up the stairs and put away. The groceries are a little haphazard this week, as I try to figure my way using as many of the greens as possible. We will figure it out. We have a hot few days, too, so I don’t want to do much cooking.

I got the small cooling units set up, and they worked well. It was 86F outside, “real feel” 99, so, yeah, hot. Between the cooling units and the ceiling fans, we were okay. We weren’t just bearing up, we were actually fairly comfortable. Bea stationed herself right in front of one of them. Smart little cat! It was comfortable enough that I could think straight and actually work on the sofa, with the cooling unit and the cat and the laptop!

I haven’t set up the dehumidifier yet. Last year, it made the room hotter instead of just sucking out the moisture, so I’m not sure I will use it this year.

#FreelanceFriends was fun and lively, as usual. After lunch, I took a short break, then tackled the ghostwriting for the rest of the day.

I just dealt with each issue of the ghostwriting and finished the draft by the end of the afternoon. I will do another revision pass/polish this morning and get it out the door at some point today.

We had a simple summer supper. I read for a bit, and then it was time for the library cohort meeting, which was just terrific. Two of the cohort had challenges, and we worked on possible solutions together.

I had the fan going in my room for an hour or so before bedtime, and then had another small cooler that I keep in that room going at first. It’s a little noisy for me, and, for some reason, it decided to put on a light show, cycling through various colors. Pretty, but not conducive for my sleeping. Last year, I figured out how to turn it off by accident, but this year, no luck. Charlotte was fascinated. She placed herself right in front of the cooler to get the breeze and to watch the lightshow.

I turned it off after about a half hour and managed to get some sleep. By 4, it was too sticky in my room, so I moved to the living room, put on the ceiling fan (which is quiet), and dozed off again until about 5:30, for the usual start to the day.

Morning routine was fine. I hope we finally get the rain that’s been promised for days to break the humidity. It’s supposed to be hot through Sunday, and then a little better early next week.

Charlotte taught Bea how to turn on the cooler in the living room. It’s a simple button on the top, easy for a paw with some pressure. I have to unplug the cooler when we aren’t in the room, or Bea turns it on. Charlotte used to turn this one on last year, when I moved it between rooms, before we got another one. Charlotte is trying to figure out how to turn on the bedroom cooler, especially for the lightshow. But that’s a more complex power-on, and she hasn’t been able to do it. Yet. That cat does not give up.

Today, I need to get the ghostwriting assignment out the door. I’m not starting the next one until Monday, and I need to have that one out the door latest Wednesday. I want to be able to invoice for one or both of these projects. The one that’s going out today should have been invoiced at the beginning of the month, only they decided on all these changes.

I hope to get some work on the radio script for the UK in the afternoon.

This evening, I get gussied up and go to the opening at the Clark.

Tomorrow morning, I am out the door after breakfast for an adventure in Williamstown with my friend (I will fill you in next week). I hope to have a quiet afternoon and evening. Sunday is the reading at Ventfort Hall in Lenox for the AMANI reading, with  WAM. Fingers crossed the car is running smoothly enough to get me there and back without incident. Once I get paid from the ghostwriting, I’ll take the car to the mechanic.

Monday will be a typical workday between scriptwriting, BETTING MAN, and ghostwriting. In the evening, the various Assets4Artists local cohorts will get together at Bright Ideas (walking distance, yay). The cohort get together, yoga, and a medical appointment for my mom should be the only out-and-abouts next week, other than the usual errands.

The kale batches from the CSA are so big, I think I’ll make kale pesto with one of them. That will handle that batch while it’s still fresh, in a way that I can use over a period of time, and maybe even freeze some of it.

Back to the page for me. I hope you have a good weekend!

Published in: on June 12, 2026 at 7:35 am  Leave a Comment  
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Thurs. June 11, 2026: Obstacles

image courtesy of Siggy Nowak from Pixabay

Thursday, June 11, 2026

Waning Moon

Pluto Retrograde

Cloudy, hot, humid

You can read the latest on the garden over at Gratitude and Growth.

As I tried to settle into my scriptwriting yesterday morning, Willa kept tapping me on the knee and mrrping, so I had to stop and play with her for 20 minutes. A good break for both of us, I guess. I am Willa’s spare human, and I guess she’s decided I have use beyond filling her breakfast bowl. I am the primary human for Tessa, Charlotte, and Bea, and they keep me on my toes, too.

I worked on the 3rd script for the UK producer. I layered in some more sound cues, because I had a couple of stretches were there was too much dialogue without sound cues. (The usual measure is one cue approximately every 30 seconds, or half page, and it has to either drive plot or reveal character). I got another page and half done. I stopped, because I have to build a tarot reading specific to this play, and it has to fit into about a page/a minute to a minute and a half’s worth of airtime. That means I have to build the entire reading, but pick the cards to discuss that drive the plot best. This happens at the halfway point of the piece. I figured out the twist at the end, so I have to work these scenes out so it drives us there. I decided to write the final scene with the plot twist first (about 4 pages), and then build this tarot scene and the next scene to get us there over the next couple of days. I have just under 5 pages of airtime left for the tarot scene and the scene after that will lead into this final scene with the twist. 5 pages written today was a good morning’s work on it. I hoped to finish those middle scenes today, then let it sit for a couple of days, revise it, and get it out early next week, but that is not happening.

I felt really good about all that, took a short break, and switched over to the ghostwriting, which is when my day fell apart. I could not get it done. This particular assignment has been problematical since day one. When I got these notes back, I was told “it’s so close.” It’s not. As I implement the notes, it’s a major restructuring.

I took a break around 4 PM to walk down to Savvy Hive and get my CSA box. It was a little hot and humid, but still nice to get away from the desk and moving. We have so many greens! So much kale! And more Bok Choy, which is always a joy.

I needed a bit of recovery time when I got back, but I heated up leftovers for dinner, and then went back to work on the ghostwriting. I gave up around 11 PM, completely discouraged and disheartened, and told them I couldn’t get it to them today. It’ll have to be tomorrow. I don’t know HOW it will get done, but too bad for me.

I took a shower, and was in bed around midnight. I’d run the fan in my bedroom while I was working, so it wasn’t unbearable, but a little more humid than I’d like. I managed to get some sleep.

Up at the usual time, morning routine, feeling literally sick at the thought of tackling the ghostwriting assignment today. But it has to get done. It’s the same issues that come up every few months, and they are burning me out. Discussing them gets nods and smiles and suggested solutions, but a few months later, here we are again.

If I could detach myself from caring about the work, I’d be in a much better position, but that’s not possible. If I didn’t care, I couldn’t do it at all.

We all have bad days at work, no matter what the profession. Yesterday was one of mine. It wouldn’t be a genuine depiction of a writing life if the bad days weren’t included.

There’s also a lot of other stuff that has to get done today. I thought I’d be clear of the ghostwriting assignment (because when I’m told “it’s so close” I don’t expect to have to basically throw out three quarters of it and redo it within 48 hours which includes the kind of research that takes most authors 4-6 months), but I’m not, so I have to figure out how to juggle the ghostwriting and all the meetings and all the errands, none of which can be moved. I’m going to try to look at the meetings as welcome, necessary breaks instead of getting frantic that I should be using that time on the ghostwriting.

We didn’t have the promised rain yesterday, so it’s muggy, but at least it’s not supposed to be as hot. We’ll see.

Online meditation group was cancelled today, so I can get out the door for my errands early. It’s the usual round of grocery store, library, and whatever else needs attention. There a Freelance Friends meeting at noon, a library trustees meeting at 5:30, and then a library cohort meeting online at 8.

So I better get going.

Published in: on June 11, 2026 at 7:14 am  Comments (4)  
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Wed. June 10, 2026: That Old Time Radio

image courtesy of Przemysław Krzak from Pixabay

Wednesday, June 10, 2026

Waning Moon

Pluto Retrograde

Cloudy, hazy, humid

Another mid-week.

When I returned from taking out the garbage yesterday morning, Willa shot out the front door. Fortunately, I always look down going through doorways and caught her before she’d gotten more than a few feet. She was racing around, full of pep back inside, so I changed my plans and gave her a good, solid playtime to wear her out.

She has no idea she is nearly 14 years old. She thinks she is still 2.

I did a final polish on the radio series pitch and got that out the door. Whenever I send off a big project, I’m always ready for a nap. The adrenalin crash always hits fast.

However, I still had stuff to do.

That Thing closed down blocks of businesses in Manhattan who depended on the income from a major sports event, just so he could be an asshole and take a nap. It also negates the whole “ballroom is necessary.” He was booed right out of town, trying to save face with “scheduling conflicts.” That Thing shouldn’t have mucked everything up (and guess what, the Knicks lost). There’s a war on that he ignores except to lie about it. I’m tired of the grifting.

Tried to hunker down and get to work. Got a response an hour after I sent the radio series pitch from the producer saying he liked the pitch and wanted to look at the pilot. So I did another polish on that, and sent it off.

By then, it was almost lunchtime, and I hadn’t yet made the salmon salad! I did that, it was yummy (used CSA ingredients in it), and then took a break, which meant I was late getting back to tackle the ghostwriting.

Then, I heard back from the producer, who had great, specific notes on the radio play I sent him right before lunch, and is interested in producing the first season of the show (10 episodes). I’m excited. Contract terms sound reasonable, and we’ll see if we can get this done. Until everything is signed, sealed and delivered on all our parts, I can’t go into detail, but it’s a great opportunity, doing just about my favorite thing in the world. It’s not a lot of money, but it is paid (although I probably won’t be paid until each episode goes live, which would be at the earliest next year sometime). It’s not a WGA contract (WGA covers radio, rather than the Dramatists Guild), but their NY rep has always been helpful and supportive and encouraged me to ask questions on my road from smaller productions to WGA productions, so I have that support. A colleague of mine has worked with this company before, and had a great experience. There are several points in the process where it could fall apart, even after contracts are finalized, but that’s the way it goes.

Good notes are so important. I’ve found that there are three kinds of notes: the ego note, the I-would-write-it-this-way note, and the value note. The first two are useless. The ego note is the note-giver inserting themselves to put their fingerprints on a project. This happens most often in film or television, where you have a lot of people throughout the process trying to justify their jobs. There are lots of parodies of working in the business where execs give these types of notes, and you can bet that someone in the writers’ room had someone say something as off-the-wall as they scripted. It usually has very little to do with the premise, tone, and drive of the show, and more to do with the latest notion of what’s trending.

The I-would-write-it-this-way note comes in every discipline (far too often in writing groups from unpublished aspirants), and it’s the note giver liking the premise but wanting it done their way. Then write it, hon. It won’t be a copy. It’ll be your vision of the premise, and that’s perfectly valid. But don’t expect me to rewrite to your specifications if you’re not my employer.  Now, in something like the ghostwriting, it’s my job to deliver what they want in their world the way they want it. That’s why they pay me, and that’s a whole different animal. In something I’ve created, unless that person is paying me, that kind of note is too similar to the ego note to be helpful.

The value note is fantastic because of the precision and because it strengthens the piece within its world and vision. I’m lucky that I have Trusted Readers who give value notes, as do my Boiler House Poets colleagues. (I’m telling you, poets give great script notes because they are so precise with language). Those value notes, from Trusted Readers, help a piece land a contract. Then you go through a whole different set of notes during development, rehearsal, and production. So when I get a value note from a producer or a director or a dramaturg during the process, I’m always delighted, because that gives me something tangible to strengthen the piece. There are plenty of people on a production who may give the first two types of notes, too, and then you have to sift and have conversations about whose note to take. The point is, a value note is a great opportunity to strengthen the piece.

I still have another script in mind for this producer’s mid-July deadline for a different project. I’m on the fence about whether to continue with that, since I have the series and another piece under consideration with them, and this mid-July deadline is slightly out of my wheelhouse. The piece is a stretch. I still have to finish a script for the UK producer and get it out the door before the end of this month. So I guess my End of Play pages are all going to be radio, not stage. Which is fine by me.

Right after the back and forth on the radio series, I got the next set of notes from the ghostwriting client. Those are very clear and do-able, and they’re excited about what I did with the concept, and where I see it going for the next three books. I’m still wrestling the notes on the other project, which I should have done either late today or first thing tomorrow. Then, I have to turn around this other set – so, basically, 40K ghostwriting revisions in about a week, and then I can start tackling the radio series, while juggling the other two scripts and the Llewellyn article. I’ll do a few pages of a non-series script per day, and a few pages of the series script. Once I get the non-series scripts out the door, I’ll turn my attention to the Llewellyn article (which isn’t due until September 1, but I need to get it out the door in August for my own schedule). Somewhere in there, BETTING MAN has to get back into the mix, along with the I WILL BE DIFFERENT revisions and the final push on ANGEL HUNT. I’ll figure it out. It’s good to have a summer where I can do what I love.

When it gets too hot to work at home, I’ll pack up and work at the college library.

Good thing my schedule settles down after this week on the out-and-about front! Because June, July, and August are going to be about scriptwriting and ghostwriting and Nina Bell. After I get these two ghostwriting projects out the door, I have 5 more on my contract with this client (3 for one series, 2 for the other).

Yesterday was supposed to be the luckiest day of the year astrologically with Venus conjunct Jupiter in Cancer, opening doors to desired paths, so I was happy with the way things shook out.

However, one also has to go through the door and deal with what’s on the other side. If you stand in the doorway, nothing changes. You have to take action on the opportunity, knowing there are no guarantees.

So we’ll see. I’m excited and cautiously optimistic. Now, I have to buckle down and do the work.

Heated up leftovers for dinner, read in the evening. I should have done more ghostwriting, but I was out of steam by that point.

Slept reasonably well, up at the normal time. Morning routine was fine. I have a feeling I’ll be noodling the radio pieces in my morning free-write.

Today, I’ll do some script pages in the morning, but the bulk of the day is about the ghostwriting, the other 10-11K I didn’t get done on Monday. I have to take a break around 4 to trot down to Savvy Hive to get my CSA box. Greens, greens, so many greens this week!

The next few days are supposed to be hot, so I will adjust as needed. Yesterday was just a perfect summer day – clear blue sky, not too hot or humid. Not as hot as predicted. I’m hoping the entire week will turn out to be not as hot as predicted.

Have a good one!

Published in: on June 10, 2026 at 7:24 am  Comments (9)  
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Tues. June 9, 2026: Sliding into Summer

image courtesy of Екатерина Гусева from Pixabay

Tuesday, June 9, 2026

Waning Moon

Pluto Retrograde

Sunny and warm

I hope you had a lovely weekend.

You can read the Community Tarot Reading for the Week here.

Once I posted on Friday, I continued cleaning things up from my trip. Decontaminating anything that had been in the hotel room, making sure the car was decontaminated. Everything was probably fine, and I doubt anything traveled with me, but I wanted to make sure.

I didn’t really nap, although I dozed a bit in between tasks. It was warm, but not too humid, which was nice.

Cooked a nice salmon dinner. I could barely keep my eyes open after I did the dishes, so I went to bed ridiculously early. The cats were confused.

Slept reasonably well, in that I woke up a few times, but managed to get back to sleep without much trouble. It was a little uncomfortable when I went to bed, but cooled down overnight.

I was up early on Saturday, due to the cats’ demands. Fed them, did my morning routine. The latest meditation timer dropped out because I haven’t upgraded to the paid version, so I hunted down another one to try free online (not an app). Meh. There are analog meditation/singing bowl timers, but they’re expensive and not worth that kind of expense to me, and a regular kitchen timer is distracting. I’ll figure it out.

After breakfast, I cooked some chicken (before it got too hot) and made a curried chicken salad, which kept us lunchy-fed for a few days. I misplaced the recipe I’ve been using since 2012 somehow (it’s been in the same binder since I started using it until I needed it today), but I remembered enough and improvised the rest, and it’s good. I used CSA ingredients for the greens, etc.

I took out the garbage and did a quick trot on foot to the liquor store. It’s rosé season. It was much more humid today, and I was worn out even by the few blocks of the trip. I do not do well in heat and humidity.

On the way back from the store, I helped a woman get an elderly man into the bus. They had to take the bus to the ER at the top of the hill, because they were afraid of the ambulance bill. I completely relate. We shouldn’t have to live like that in this country.

Once home, I worked on the radio series pitch. I decided I’m counting radio script work as part of End of Play pages, even though I’m moving between projects. I have deadlines to meet.

Took a break late morning for some research reading, and made some notes on a character inspired by what I read. The character is fictional, inspired by the research. At first, I thought I would set the piece in the UK, but now I think I will set it in New York, Massachusetts, and Maine. I mean, the piece needs to wait its turn in the queue, but I can work on the background notes and outline between now and then. Historical literary fiction, imagine that. I’m sure a murder will sneak in at some point. One usually does.

After lunch, I read some more, turned on the ceiling fan, and took the laptop into the living room. My office was too hot for decent work. Perched on the sofa with the ceiling fan going, I was comfortable. So was Bea, who hung out with me.

I did solid work on the radio series pitch. It feels right.

It was warm and humid, although it didn’t get too hot inside the apartment. I heated up leftovers for dinner, and chopped up some strawberries to go on top of the chocolate gelato for dessert. We had a thunderstorm pass through with a little rain that was nowhere near as severe as we were told to expect.

Golden Tempo won the Belmont Stakes, which was no surprise. He looked great in his workouts at Belmont. He’s happy and secure (kudos to his trainer and groom and exercise riders and jockey). He’s mentally mature for a three-year-old horse. He knows the deal. He trusts his jockey to tell him when to move up, they worked together as a team, and he did what he does, which is hang back (12 lengths from the lead this time), then pick off the horses in front of him one by one, and pass them as they wear out near the finish line. He actually pulled away pretty well at the end. The race was ¼ mile shorter than when it’s down at Belmont Park (where it will be again next year), so that was easier on all the horses. Still, it was impressive.

Cherie DeVaux, the trainer, is the first woman trainer to win two of the three Triple Crown races in the same year. I got conflicting search results about who the first woman was to train a Belmont Stakes winner, and I no longer have as much thoroughbred history in my brain as I used to. If I get a chance, I will dig deeper into reliable sources in the next few weeks. (I heard it was Jen Antonucci in 2023 with Arcangelo, from a source that seems reliable. She is the first woman trainer to win any Triple Crown race. Can I say how much I hate how Google has destroyed search capacity? At least Duck Duck Go still has some).

Slept reasonably well, up early on Sunday. Morning routine was fine. I found a meditation app that actually downloaded into my phone and sounds good, so we’ll see how long I have access to it.

Did the Community Tarot Reading for the Week, which you can read here.

I made Pain Perdu for breakfast, the New Orleans version of French toast. We had some ciabatta that was aging, and I didn’t want to waste it. I use a recipe from a spiral-bound community cookbook I bought on one of my trips there, and have tweaked it over the years. Pere Antoine’s, my favorite restaurant in NOLA (alas, closed now) used to make a terrific Pain Perdu, and I’ve never been able to replicate it exactly. I was much closer this time. The recipe calls for 3 eggs mixed with ¾ cup of sugar. I add a teaspoon of vanilla. The bread is soaked in the mixture, flipped a few times to fully coat it, then fried in a buttered pan. Again, flipping the pieces, so that there’s a bit of brown on the egg mixture coating the bread, but it’s not charred. The recipe calls for a sprinkling of nutmeg, but I found mixing nutmeg and cinnamon brings me closer to the recipe I’m trying to replicate.

I suspect that the restaurant added a dash of dark rum to the mixture, but I’m not sure I can face dark rum at 7:30 in the morning when I’m not in New Orleans.

After I did the dishes, I gave the stove a good scrub. I clean it daily, and do bigger cleans regularly, but the past few days the cooking’s been a bit messier, so I wanted to give it attention.

Then, with Willa’s “help” I watered all the plants. I check the ones on the back balcony every day and switch the water in the hanging birdbath to keep us mosquito-free, but not everything has to be watered every day.

I did another revision pass on the radio series pitch, tweaked a few things, cut a few things, and I feel good about it.

Lunch, then I made some lemon mousse. I realized I missed sending a birthday card to a friend, so I took care of that – a belated e-card with apologies, but at least it went out the door. He was pleased to receive it, and told me the day itself was just another 12-hour workday (he works in theatre/film, too).

In the afternoon, I repotted the rest of the plants. I got everything done except repotting the aloe, and it took all afternoon. But the plants are in their new homes, and happy. The tomato plant I bought at Whitney’s got so big it needed the tomato cage. The other tomato plant has somewhat recovered from its UPS ordeal, and is settling in with its basil and marigold friends. My bad hip was very unhappy by the end of it, but I’m glad I got it done.

In the evening, I cooked a dish from one of Marcella Hazan’s books. I hadn’t used one of her recipes in ages. It was chicken with rosemary, garlic, olive oil, white wine, cherry tomatoes, and olives. It turned out well.

Read in the evening out on the porch with all the happy plants, made some background notes for a project. I didn’t watch the Tony Awards, although I checked updates. I watched clips of it the next day, and wished I had watched the show, or even better, been in the audience. Over the years, I worked one Tony Awards show, and attended two. It was always a terrific experience, and everyone was happy to be there and had so much fun.

Pink did such a magnificent job, as did the director, Liz Clare. I was so happy for Shoshana Bean’s win. I worked with her on WICKED, and really like her as both a person and a performer. Playwright Bess Wohl’s win for LIBERATION will give WAM a boost when we produce her play CAMP SIEGFRIED later this year. I was delighted for everyone’s wins, and thought the numbers chosen were done so well. The speeches by the Tony winners, in my opinion, tend to be better and more heartfelt than in a lot of other shows. It made me proud to be a part of the lineage for the years I worked there and beyond.

It was cool enough to sleep well. Up at the usual time, morning routine. Tried to stretch out the unhappy hip.

After breakfast and morning chores, I sent off questions/suggested topic for the Freelance Friends chat I will host at the end of July. The organizer likes it, and we’ll move forward with it.

This week is kind of busy, but then I’m trying to keep things calm and quiet through the end of July. I had to explain yet again to someone who asked me why I don’t show up at local evening writing groups that I write all day to earn my living. Off the clock, I like to do other things. You don’t ask plumbers to join plumbing groups that do extra repairs in their off-hours. I attend writing groups when I can, as part of my workday, like the Honor Roll sessions. I attend WAM and Athena Project readings, and provide script analysis in those evenings. That’s enough for me. If local groups met during the day, I could go sometimes, provided I wasn’t on tight deadline. I understand that they’re not meeting during the day because people have day jobs, but my day job IS writing, and I shouldn’t be expected to put in extra unpaid hours. On my off hours, I’m happy to go to readings, etc. to support other writers, but I don’t want to be writing. I want to relax and have fun doing other things that refresh the creative well.

I really wanted to go back to bed, but there was work to do. I did another revision pass on the radio series pitch. I wrote about 2-1/2 pages on the radio play that needs to go out hopefully this week. But it’s more likely that play will go out next week. I need to make sure it’s polished enough to submit.

By then, it was time for errands. Post office, grocery store to pick up a few things we’d run out of or I’d forgotten to get on Friday, and the library. Dropped off 13 books, picked up 6. Home, hauled everything up the stairs and put it away, and then took a short break before turning my attention to the 20K ghostwriting revision.

Worked on the ghostwriting the rest of the day. There are some notes that seem contradictory to me, but I will do the best I can. I had hoped to turn it all around yesterday, but it was too much. I got a little under 10K done. Some of the notes make me grumpy, but too bad for me. It’s my job to figure out how to make it work.

In the evening, the Boiler House Poets Collective had a ZOOM call to check in with each other and catch up. Great to spend time with everyone, even virtually, and look forward to our time in-studio in October.

Cooked dinner, read a fun book, went to bed late. Good sleeping weather, which is nice in preparation for what is supposed to be a hot stretch of days. I suspect we will need our cooling units, which I will unpack and set up today.

There’s no yoga tonight because my teacher is on vacation, so I will do a final pass on the radio series pitch and get it out the door, and then work on the other radio script that needs to go out the door this week or next week. Once that script is done, I have one more radio script to get out the door by mid-July, and then I will turn my attention to the contracted piece for Llewellyn.

Once I have today’s script work done, I will spend the bulk of the day on the ghostwriting, and hope it doesn’t grind me down into nothing.

On a happier note, a friend of mine is going to join me on Friday night at the Clark opening, and then I am going on a short adventure with her on Saturday morning.

I have to make breakfast and do the morning chores before I get back to the page, so I better head off. I want to prepare a salmon pasta salad (to keep us lunchy-fed the next stretch of days) before it gets too hot to cook, too. Have a good one!

Published in: on June 9, 2026 at 6:25 am  Comments (8)  
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Mon. June 8, 2026: Intent for the Week — Power Through

image courtesy of Alessandro Lannocca from Pixabay

Monday, June 8, 2026

Waning Moon

Pluto Retrograde

Cloudy and warm

It’s supposed to get up into the 90’s later this week. Not looking forward to that. Trying to get the apartment as cool as possible so that it will take longer to warm up.

This shaped up to be a busy week, but unless things go cattywampus, it should be the last busy week for a bit. After that, I want to focus on work and puttering around the house, and not do too much wandering or socializing. This week, there’s something going on almost every night, in addition to what needs to get done during the day.

You can read the Community Tarot Reading for the Week here. The bright colors in the deck cheer me up!

We’ll have our usual long catch-up tomorrow. Hope your week is off to a good start!

Published in: on June 8, 2026 at 6:31 am  Comments (4)  

Fri. June 5, 2026: Never Trust Murder Maps

image courtesy of Pexels from Pixabay

Friday, June 5, 2026

Waning Moon

Pluto Retrograde

Sunny and warm

Hello! Welcome to the weekend. I decided to post this late in the day on Friday, rather than making Tuesday’s post even longer than it usually is!

After morning chores, I sat down and wrote the first three pages of the 3rd script I need to send to the producer who requested three scripts. I’d sent two of them on Wednesday, and those were acknowledged. I worked out a rough outline in my Thursday morning free-write session, so I had a good idea of where I was going, and I was satisfied with the result. 3 pages down, 7-12 to go!

I made spinach and cheese omlettes for breakfast. I screwed up on the foldy bit of mine, so it wasn’t as pretty as I hoped, but it still tasted good.

I had to change what to wear. The dark pants I wanted to wear looked like they had pollen on them (hanging in the closet? How? And how since I checked a few days ago and decided to wear them)? It wasn’t brushing off properly; I need to throw them into the laundry. Decided to wear my favorite pair of dressy jeans instead.

Checked over my bags, tossed some Motrin in (I already had pain patches packed), put in the toiletry bag and the makeup bag.

Got a nice chunk of work done on the radio series proposal, and figured I could use the driving time to figure out some more.

Let’s just say that the trip was not the restful, restorative utopia for which I hoped!

The car started giving me problems just past Dalton. At one point, I pulled over and thought I might have to get a tow back. But I futzed with a few things and coaxed it back on the road. The original plan was to stop in Williamsburg for a leisurely lunch. Williamsburg (a different town than Williamstown, which is one town over) is really cute. I’ve driven though a bunch of times, but never stopped.

I had hoped to stop and eat, then meander to the hotel. However, I didn’t dare stop, for fear I wouldn’t get going again. So I kept going. Good thing I printed out directions, because GPS dropped out in Williamsburg, after the directions had sent me down rural roads I specifically tried to avoid. In a car that was having trouble.

I made a wrong turn somewhere, but managed to find the Whately Fire Dept., and stopped there to ask for directions. You know my M.O. – when lost, find the nearest fire station. Firefighters are both willing to help and they know how to get from where they are to somewhere else.

I made it to the hotel safely, about a half hour before check-in time. No room ready, which was not a problem. I settled in one of the lounge areas and read my book. At 3, I checked in, got my key card, got everything out of the car into the room.

I didn’t want to risk driving to a restaurant, so I ordered Chinese food via DoorDash, which was more complicated than it should have been. The app is “incompatible” with  my phone, so I was doing it on my phone, but in the web browser, and they kept trying to force me to switch to the app that doesn’t work on my phone.

I HATE APPS.

Anyway, eventually, I got the order in, it arrived, I ate, and settled down a bit.

I had specifically asked if the hotel had microwave and/or fridge in the room and was told no. Of course, there they were, big as life. I would have brought things for breakfast, had I known (since the hotel did not offer breakfast).

Anyway, got my act together, futzed with the car, no trouble getting from S. Deerfield to Greenfeld. There was a big event going on at Tree House Brewery, which I had to drive past. Like big, big, many tents, police directing traffic, the works. I hoped it wouldn’t be a problem coming back.

Parked in the place I always park in Greenfield, behind City Hall. Headed to the theatre, only a few blocks away. The actors and director for the whole evening were going over notes.

Mine was the first play up, which has pros and cons. There are things I was happy about and things I was not, and I will go into those on another day. I did get a suggestion from a fellow playwright that unlocked something good for me – the moment for him that was the hook. It means a big restructure, but will ultimately make the piece work better. I had wondered about that moment and its placement, so I was glad to have that validation from him. And it was something I could trust and take seriously, since his own work showed a breadth and understanding and a willingness to take risks.

One of my favorite things about being up first is that then I can be fully engaged with all the other plays. It was a wide range of subjects in early stages of development, and all of the playwrights had specific questions, and things they were looking for. There was an intermission halfway, and we got to chat and exchange information. There are a couple of playwrights I want to stay in touch with, and an actor I want to recommend to WAM.

I slipped out the moment it was over, since it was dark, but not full dark, and I wanted to get back to the hotel before full dark. There were a couple of dickey moments with LED headlights blaring at me, but most of the time, the road was pretty quiet. The event in the brewery was going on, not people coming in or out, so I could just scoot right past.

Made it back to the hotel without incident. I had a glass of wine, some chocolate, and some snacks. I watched some network TV. I haven’t had cable in years. Don’t miss it. I watched two procedurals for structural beats. Seems to me page time has been reduced even more. There’s barely a chance to get any character development or plot work in before another series of (badly done, stupid) commercials. Also, I don’t like the way scenes end on a cliffhanger (pre-commercial), but don’t pick up and follow through on the emotion or the action after. Both shows kept skipping to scenes after the resolution. So the first 2/3 of the teleplay was moments ending on mini-climactic beats, then picking up starting new beats/scenes without resolving or following through on the mini-climactic moment. Not only did I often feel cheated in the plot, because so much of the plot is happening off screen, but it diluted the actual climactic scene into almost an afterthought  because the structure leading up to it was so weak. I wasn’t thrilled with most of the characters in either show – very generic, only brought to life through strong casting choices.

It was an interesting exercise.

The notes from the ghostwriting (that I had hoped to get on Monday) arrived. I skimmed the cover note, but as I am technically out of the office – and I have the email setting supporting that – I am going to wait to look at it in depth until Monday. I need to turn it around latest by Tuesday. It would be nice to get it out the door Monday night.

I finally got to sleep around midnight. Oh, and there were bugs in the bathroom at night. Not a fan of that, but it was midnight, and I wasn’t about to move rooms. It wasn’t as quiet as I hoped – I-91 only a few dozen feet away, the A/C going on and off, the fridge.

But I slept until a little after 6. Did I miss the cats? Yes. Did I miss being woken up at 4 AM by them? No.

I did my morning routine – yoga, meditation, morning free-write, where I noodled with how I wanted to use the feedback from the previous night that was helpful. (Not all of it was, but that’s the way it goes. And sometimes a seemingly unhelpful note is wrapped around a kernel of something useful). It certainly makes me even more grateful for the feedback I get from my fellow Boiler House Poets.

After I got out of the shower, I noticed there were bugs going up some of the other walls, too.

I was not about to DoorDash breakfast to wind up with soggy eggs and lukewarm coffee. I made a bad cup of coffee in the room’s coffeemaker and ate some mixed nuts.

Instead of lingering, I packed everything up, loaded the car, and checked out, reporting the bug problem and suggesting they spray the room.

No, I didn’t get a discount. Or even ask for one. The room was prepaid through Hotels.com, which meant the desk couldn’t even print me a receipt. However, they sent me a survey. Yeah, I have a few things to say.

The car was fine on the way home. And believe me, I was paying attention to every nuance. I did not go back through the rural roads suggested by Murder Maps. I dropped down to Northampton to pick up my preferred Rt. 9 and headed west. It was really pretty. I was just hoping I could make it home without breaking down.

The original plan (I’m saying that a lot today) was to stop at a large grocery store in Pittsfield that I haven’t been to in a long time, look around, and maybe stock up. I decided instead to drive straight through and go to my usual local store. I didn’t have a meal plan, I didn’t have a list, I just plowed through the store picking up whatever, and I will figure out what to cook with it this week. I will also have the CSA box, so that will help.

Made it home, hauled everything up the stairs. Anything that was in the hotel room was hauled up the back stairs, put out on the balcony, sprayed down first with flea and tick repellent, and then with Lysol. Yes, I sprayed the clothes, and I will put them in a separate laundry load when I go to the laundromat this week. I also sprayed the inside of the car with flea/tick repellent and Lysol, just to make sure. AND took another shower at home. I’m all for the hotel being pet friendly (I’m all for everything being pet friendly) but disinfect the room in the turnover, please.

I had gone from being really hungry when I first got on the road this morning to the point of not wanting to eat at all. I’ll cook a nice dinner and that should get me back on track. Missing a meal is not going to hurt, other than energy levels.

The cats are happy I’m home. I’m exhausted, and will probably take a nap. I got there, I got back, we’re all safe. A chunk of the next ghostwriting payment is marked for the new tires and an oil change, and I’ll ask them to check a few other things, too.

I’m off to take a nap! Belmont Stakes and Tony Awards this weekend. It’s supposed to be sunny, so I might even get some sewing done. And work on the radio series pitch.

But first, I’m taking a nap, probably with a pile of cats.

Have a great weekend!

Published in: on June 5, 2026 at 12:29 pm  Comments (8)  
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Thurs. June 4, 2026: Time to Hit the Road

image courtesy of Igor Podobriy from Pixabay

Thursday, June 4, 2026

Waning Moon

Pluto Retrograde

Sunny and pleasant

You can read about the latest on the garden on Gratitude and Growth.

I got two of the three requested play submissions out to the producer yesterday morning. It took longer than I hoped, because I was reading through various scripts and making tweaks. The third I have to write, for the anniversary special, because I don’t have anything on hand that will fit. 10-15 pages, shouldn’t be bad, if I can come up with some fun characters and a good premise, and get it written and polished by the end of the month. Earlier, actually, I want to get it out before Mercury goes retrograde. I sent a thriller and a comic noir piece. I got an idea for a radio piece that would be dark and fun, but it needs more pages and more characters than the parameters requested here, so I will save it for something else. The more I thought about it, the more I realized that idea works better onstage than on radio.

I noodled on the series pitch, did some admin, did a bunch of housework so everything will be fine while I’m gone, make sure there were plenty of meal choices for my mom, and did not get as much done on either the play or BETTING MAN. I decided not to beat myself up about it. Mentally, I’m all about “Dawn and Dorothy in the Afterlife” until after tonight’s reading at the very least, but probably a few days out, depending on the feedback.

Checked over everything I needed to bring with me today (for the 84th time). I have my overnight bag, the script bag, the snack bag. I’m all set. It’s not like I’m travelling into the wilderness. If I forget something, I can pick it up locally or do without.

Received the ETA for my words for the exquisite corpse poem. This year, it looks like they will work out perfectly, on days when nothing else is booked, and I can devote plenty of time to working on my sections of the poem.

In an email this morning from BookRiot, they had a list of book recommendations from Barnes & Noble. I immediately shot off an email telling them that a list of book “recommendations” from a place stocking/selling AI slop has no value to me, and frankly, makes me reconsider BookRiot. I hope I’m not the only one calling them out on this crap.

In this morning’s free-write session, I got an idea for the final play for the producer who requested 3. I think I can pull it off in 10-15 pages, it has 3 characters, and is both fun and a little dark. I will try to do a few pages this morning, before I leave. And maybe I’ll get a little bit done on the radio series pitch, too.

On today’s agenda:  my script pages for End of Play, and head out the door for the reading of my play tonight. Madame Download is running the online meditation group this morning, so I’m skipping it, but did my own regular daily 30-minute practice (along with the yoga and free-write sessions). I have my travel yoga mat packed, too, so I can do my morning routine in the hotel tomorrow. I’m not sure if I will post later in the day tomorrow about the trip and the reading, or wait until next week. It depends on when I get back home. I have no intention of rushing back! I intend to meander and enjoy myself, in both directions!

I’m not leaving the house empty, people are in it while I’m gone, so I’m not worried about posting that I’m leaving.

Have a lovely day.

Published in: on June 4, 2026 at 6:34 am  Comments (7)  
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Wed. June 3, 2026: Steady On

image courtesy of Welcome to All ! ツ from Pixabay

Wednesday, June 3, 2026

Waning Moon

Sunny and pleasant

Here we are at Wednesday.

Yesterday was just beautiful out, not too hot or humid, bright, sunny, and clear. After breakfast, I wrote out the bills and a couple of thank you cards for the people who opened their spaces to the crib crawl last week, got stamps on everything and walked down to the post office to mail them. It was just lovely to be out and about on foot.

Good thing I decided to go on foot, because Ashland, the most direct way between the post office and me, was down to one lane due to construction. Much quicker on foot.

Home, took a break to catch my breath and play with cats. I had a bunch of admin to do, including answering a survey about the Small Business Expo. Instead of complaining about the food, I said it wasn’t as “effervescent” as the choices when there were food sponsors, and I wondered if the Stationery Factory was making the expo use their in-house catering.

Mentally, I already left on the trip I won’t be taking until tomorrow, so it was difficult to settle down and get work done.

But I did. I wrote my three script pages for End of Play. I got out a radio play (to a different producer than the one who wants the three radio plays). I got a very nice acknowledgement within a couple of hours, and a request for an additional piece by mid-July. I went through my radio scripts. I have some partials in there that might work, if I can finish in time. They also mentioned that they are looking for series pitches (8-10 episodes). So I will put something together for that, too. And yes, those are all paid (or I wouldn’t be doing them). I figured out one of the three plays to send to the producer who requested plays earlier this week, and will send it either later today or when I get back after the reading, then figure out the other two.

Switched over to BETTING MAN, and got a little over 1K done on it. Not as much as I hoped, but progress.

Heard there was a major drug raid up on Church Street a few blocks away – a house I pass walking to and from yoga.

Got ready for yoga. Walked up to yoga and was glad I was there. We had a really good class. One of my colleagues from the gallery is in the class. He handed out postcards for Friday’s opening. I feel bad that I will miss it, but I have no idea when I will be back or how tired I will be. I’ll go to the closing reception instead.

After yoga, I trotted down the hill all the way to Hotel Downstreet on the other end of Main Street to show my face at the town councilor’s campaign launch kick-off as state rep. I was glad it was a journey down the hill – not so sure I would have attended if I had to walk UP the hill! It was held in Door Prize NAMA, which took over the old 413 restaurant space in the hotel. Jenny of Door Prize was one of the first people I met when I moved here. She worked for Berkshire Cider at the time. She and her husband spent a couple of years doing the Farmers’ Market, pop-ups, and individual catering, and then opened in their own space. There was an article in the local paper a few weeks ago about how four brick-and-mortar businesses have launched in the past few years from starts at the Farmers’ Market.

Anyway, the place was packed, I saw a lot of familiar faces. I didn’t stay long, just long enough to show my support.

Picked up takeout on the way home. We ate, then hung out on the front porch for a bit, watching the light change.

Slept reasonably well, although Tessa and Charlotte were impossible, starting far too early. Morning routine was fine, and I started figuring out the radio series pitch in the free write.

On today’s agenda: script pages for End of Play, work on BETTING MAN, work on the radio series pitch. I want to get that out next week. Checking the bags to make sure I have everything I need to head out the door tomorrow, and that I’m not scrambling.

I’ll have time to settle into the hotel and get dinner before going to the theatre. My play is up first, so then I can sit back and enjoy everyone else’s pieces without waiting for mine!

Off to the page!

Published in: on June 3, 2026 at 6:31 am  Comments (6)  
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Tues. June 2, 2026: Clackity-Clack Go the Keys

image courtesy of M. from Pixabay

Tuesday, June 2, 2026

Waning Moon

Pluto Retrograde

Sunny and Pleasant

Happy June! Hope you’re having a strong start to the month.

You can read the Community Tarot Reading for the Week here. We are using the Mystic Mondays Tarot, which is a brightly colored, modern deck.

Friday was a beautiful, sunny day. After the morning chores, I sat down to go through some email, discuss some author fest info with the library, and then get to work on BETTING MAN. I did 1K, which was a good morning’s work.

I switched over to the ghostwriting in the afternoon, and had a strong session, but didn’t finish, as I hoped. It wasn’t due until yesterday, but I wanted to get it in a day early. Sadly, I ran out of steam right before the climactic sequence. Since I need that to be strong, I shut down for the day.

Cooked dinner, including a side dish of bok choy, spring onions, and baby garlic, all from the CSA box, that was absolutely wonderful. The CSA ingredients make such a huge difference.

For some reason, I was completely wiped out and went to bed far too early. That meant Charlotte fussed, and by the time I got her settled, I was wide awake again.

Managed to get back to sleep, and Charlotte was impossible on Saturday morning. The cool nights make good sleeping weather, but it was cold enough for the heat to kick on Saturday morning, and it rained overnight.

Up early, morning routine. In the free-write session, came up with the outline for a completely different play to work on during End of Play than anything I’d considered so far. But it’s a topic I want to explore, and I think it will fit the parameters of the program. It’s actually contemporary, not historical. Got to switch it up sometimes, right?

Too many hours of housework ate up most of the morning. Then, I set up the first piece of fabric (even though it was rainy and a bit dark) only to find out that it wasn’t enough to do that pattern on that fabric if I followed the grainline properly. On paper, it was enough yardage, but not when I actually set it out to cut it. And if I don’t go on the grain with this fabric, it won’t drape properly on my body and will look bad. I searched through my other patterns, and couldn’t find something I wanted to do that would fit this yardage, so I decided I need to modify the pattern.

But first, I had to eat lunch, and then work on the ghostwriting.

Before I got started on the ghostwriting, I got news that the colleague that went into hospice about two weeks ago has died. She actually died a couple of days after entering hospice, but one of the group of friends found the obituary today and sent it around. Something else to grieve. Five of Cups indeed.

I spent the afternoon on the ghostwriting, reworking the climactic sequence until I was satisfied. It took longer than I hoped, but I’m happy with the quality of the work.

Cooked a lovely pasta from my favorite book of pasta sauces. The sauce was pancetta and peas with spring onion, milk, and parmesan (basically an Alfredo-like sauce, but not as thick). Charlotte was delighted that I grated an entire cup of Parmesan, and yes, she had a few bites. She loves Parmesan, but only freshly grated, preferably in front of her. Because she is a princess. I also tossed in some pea shoots, baby garlic, and thyme (using things from the CSA box). It was delicious, and fairly quick/easy to make. The kitchen smelled glorious while it cooked, too. Another good dish to go into the regular rotation!

Read a bit in the evening, played with the cats who all wanted attention all the time.

Slept through the night (I was as surprised as anyone), although I put the winter quilt back on the bed. It went down into the 30’s overnight, and on Sunday morning, the car windshields needed scraping.

I made a concoction of blueberries and plain yogurt as part of breakfast. We are not big yogurt people, although we know we should eat more of it. I copied something that was served at a writers’ residency I did in Vermont around 2015. I thought it was okay. I didn’t love it, but I could deal with it. My mom hated it. So I guess I’m not serving her yogurt, although I will try to eat it every now and again.

The main dish for breakfast was omlettes. I did a pea shoot and thyme mixture (CSA box) and a little cheese. They turned out beautifully, in both appearance and taste. I’m even getting better at the foldy bit. I might do dinner omlettes sometimes in summer.

I heard that a meteor exploded over the eastern side of the state, causing some consternation around Boston and the Cape.

I did the Community Tarot Reading for the Week, which you can read here. We’ve switched over to the Mystic Mondays Tarot, a modern deck with bright colors I just love. I also was pleased by the cards that turned up, since this is a busy week. The cards indicate a strong creative potential, and I want to turn that into reality.

Trotted down to Cumberland Farms and got us the day’s Boston Globe. It’s been ages since we had a Sunday paper. There wasn’t much heft to it. It was okay, but not something I’d get every week again. There is too much catering to rich shelter fantasies, and that’s a huge disconnect both from the way I live my life and from I what I want from my life. I don’t want the life they are pushing us to strive for. I like the one I’m building. However, it was the week of the summer reading in the book section, and I was happy to spend time with that. Some of the books mentioned were already on my list for the summer. Others I hadn’t yet heard about, and will put on my library list.

Packed for Thursday’s trip for the play reading. Because I always need to be packed well ahead of time. All I have to do is toss in my toiletries kit. Later in the day, I finished packing my script bag (script, hotel confirmation, directions, books to take with me).

There was a ton I could/should have been doing, but since I worked all day on Saturday, I wanted some quiet time on Sunday. I’m finding I need more time in between activities as I age. I can’t do as much back-to-back as I used to, and I don’t really want to. I don’t want to feel like I’m rushing all the time. I want to enjoy where I am instead of always worrying about where I need to be next.

I modified the pant pattern, and was able to cut it out the right way per the grain, and even had enough for pockets. The pattern itself doesn’t have pockets, but I have a pocket pattern, and if a pattern has side seams (which this does), I generally put pockets in it, unless it’s a style and fabric that wouldn’t work with pockets. Some knits and body-skimming styles don’t look good with side seam pockets. I mean, I’m past the point in life where I’m comfortable in body-skimming styles, but whatever. I prefer side seam pockets to patch pockets most of the time. This is a cotton blend, so it’s fine. I should be able to use the same pattern modifications for the black jacquard fabric, too.

The problem was that I didn’t feel like setting up the sewing machine, testing the bobbin, and actually doing the sewing part. I usually enjoy that bit. It’s the measuring and cutting that gives me agita. Anyway, I ran out of steam.

I got some reading done, some that is background research for the ghostwriting, and some for pleasure. It was rainy and raw out, so I cooked chicken and mashed potatoes for dinner, and used the giant parsnips from the CSA box for my carrot/parsnip dish.

I couldn’t actually see the blue moon because of the cloud cover!

Slept reasonably well, although Charlotte and Tessa started fussing around 3:30. I wound up putting Charlotte in her playpen until I got up.

Morning routine was fine. Found an email from an audio producer requesting 3 scripts this month (short ones), so I have to figure out what to send. Or if I have to come up with something new (which is separate from anything I do for End of Play). Or if I should just adapt one of my short stage plays.

I did my first 3 pages for the day on the script for End of Play before breakfast. The goal is 2-4 pages per day for these 30 days. Tessa decided she had to share my chair while I wrote them, so I was perched on the edge, which made it a little more difficult.

I had to flip my day a bit yesterday, because the 20K ghostwriting piece was due. I spent the morning with tweaks, layering, and a polish, getting it out the door right before lunchtime.

I hoped to work on BETTING MAN in the afternoon, but caught up in other things that needed attention, and did not, so I will have to make up for that today. I tried to figure out which audio plays to submit per the producer’s request. I decided on one, and have to come up with two more.

Heated up some leftovers for dinner, read in the evening, trying to deconstruct a genre book by a popular author to figure out why it’s so popular. I have thoughts on it, but I’ll share them on a shorter post!

The seedlings I ordered arrived: patchouli, tomato, fennel. They were in rough shape. I’ll go into more detail on Thursday’s garden post. Let’s just say some triage was in order.

Slept reasonably well. Charlotte and Tessa started fussing way too early and I just let them fuss. I refused to get up until 5:30. After I fed them, Tessa and Bea had a good playtime session.

On today’s agenda: I have to trot down to the post office and mail some bill payments. Then, it’s the day’s script pages on the play and work on BETTING MAN. If I get notes on the other ghostwriting assignment (that I turned in a couple of weeks ago), I will try to turn them around today and tomorrow, but if I don’t get them in time, they’ll have to wait until next week.

I hope to go to yoga tonight, and then make a quick stop at my town councilor’s launch party for his campaign as state rep.

It was in the 30’s last night again, but is supposed to be quite a bit warmer the rest of the week.

Back to the page!

Published in: on June 2, 2026 at 6:49 am  Comments (7)  
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Mon. June 1, 2026: Intent for the Week — Create

image courtesy of Pexels from Pixabay

Monday, June 1, 2026

Final Day of Full/Blue Moon

Pluto Retrograde

Sunny and pleasant

Welcome to a new week and a new month. I hope you had a great weekend.

You can read the Community Tarot Reading for the Week here. New deck for the new month!

Today, I have a 20K ghostwriting deadline. It’s also the start of End of Play, and I wrote my day’s 3 pages before breakfast. I also have a request from a producer for three short audio scripts by the end of the month. And the reading of “Dawn and Dorothy in the Afterlife” is this Thursday, out of town.

All good stuff. All requiring focus. So my intent for the week is to focus and create.

What’s your intent for the week?

Published in: on June 1, 2026 at 7:23 am  Comments (7)  

Fri. May 29, 2026: The Right Kind of Busy

image courtesy of Andrew Martin from Pixabay

Friday, May 29, 2026

Waxing Moon

Pluto Retrograde

Partly sunny and pleasant

Here we are, another Friday! I hope you have some fun plans for the weekend.

Yesterday morning, I managed to get out a play submission before meditation, but that was about it. By the time I got the blog post up, it was too close to the start of meditation group to pull up the BETTING MAN chapter and try to dig in.

And then meditation was cancelled with us sitting there waiting in the ZOOM for it to start, because the group leader was “travelling.” They couldn’t let us know ahead of time?

But I decided to make the most of it. It meant breakfast could be earlier and I could get out the door earlier for my errands: grocery store, liquor store, library. I felt very efficient.

At the library, I stopped upstairs to talk to the assistant director, who was glad to see me and said I read his mind – he was just composing an email to me. We chatted about the final details for the Boiler House Reading in October, and he also invited me to be part of the Author & Book Festival that the library is doing on Sept. 9, and I’ll be moderating a panel discussion of local authors! I’ve moderated this type of thing at conferences before, and I’m looking forward to it. I suggested some other authors for the event, too. By then, I should have copies of the cat anthology I’m in, as well as more copies of the Nina books and more CELLULOID CRIMES. Maybe even a few of the Spell-A-Day books for 2027. At least I have time to design a cool table display!

Love it when things come together like that.

I got the all-clear from the contest I judge that I can donate whatever books I don’t want to keep from the contest, so I will pack those up and take those to the library after the LAVA Center reading.

By the time I got home, everything hauled up the stairs and put away, and emails out, it was time for the FreelanceFriends meeting. It was a lot of fun.

I switched over to the ghostwriting, and had a good session, although I didn’t get as far as I hoped, so I will have to make up for it today.

We had pizza for dinner, and then I got my act together to go on the Crib Crawl, which is something put together by FutureLabs. Everything this crawl was in Adams, the next town over. I don’t know the town well, except for Adams Theatre and Adams Fresh Market, so this was a good chance to expand my knowledge.

Our first stop was the Anahata Schoolhouse. It was much closer than I expected, not even a 10-minute drive from me, and just lovely. Built in the late 1880’s, it used to be a schoolhouse for the German-speaking children of the mill families in the area, until about the 1940’s. It’s been several other things, including a gym in the 1990’s. Now it’s a yoga center, with a gorgeous studio and community room on the main floor, healing/massage/reiki rooms downstairs, and the couple who owns/runs it lives upstairs. They showed us their top floor apartment, which is just gorgeous. They have a strong class schedule, do New Moon Nidra yoga (Nidra is one of my favorite types), and host community dinners every month. It’s a really lovely space run by lovely people, and I’m so glad I got to meet them. This is definitely a place where I want to spend more time.

Our second stop was Mendel’s Stained-Glass Art Studio, only about a mile away. Lisa Mendel teaches workshops on making stained glass pieces using different techniques, and also jewelry. She even does custom work for people. Her building has been a Polish deli, a community newspaper office, and a convenience store over the years.

After that, we had just a short drive to the Adams Theatre, for the opening reception for photographer Thaddius B. Kubis. His stunning black and white photographs cover industrial history in Adams, especially around the limestone plant.

I had a chance to wander around the downtown blocks a bit, down some of the alleys to find tucked away gems and private green spaces. It’s really an interesting town.

The final stop was the Mausert  Block Building, which used to be the old Woolworth building and has been renovated into a restaurant and apartments. Things were running a bit late by then, and I was running out of steam, so I skipped that one, with apologies.

I’m so glad I went, though. I got to chat with some of my fellow FutureLabs artists and get to know them a little better. I got to meet some new people and see new, interesting places, and people doing interesting work. There were nearly 50 people on the crawl, so it was quite the group.

Home, took a bit to settle down, read a bit. Slept well, up early to start the day.

On today’s agenda – writing. BETTING MAN, but mostly ghostwriting. Which is a perfect workday. I planned a quiet weekend. I might nip down to the Farmers’ Market tomorrow for eggs, but other than that, it’s housework, ironing, mending, and, if the light is good, sewing.

The first part of next week is clearing off deadlines, and the second half is about my show.

Have a great weekend!

Published in: on May 29, 2026 at 6:38 am  Comments (4)  
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Thurs. May 28, 2026: Putting One Word After Another

image courtesy of Gordon Johnson from Pixabay

Thursday, May 28, 2026

Waxing Moon

Pluto Retrograde

Sunny and pleasant

You can read the latest on the garden over on Gratitude and Growth. There’s actually something to write this week.

After breakfast, I did a bunch of admin, then got the laundry folded and put away, and put aside the pieces that need ironing and those that need mending. I slogged through a bunch of email. A few days ago, I got a request for a script submission, and I’ve been rolling around what to submit. I picked the play (THE WOMEN ON THE BRIDGE) and sent it off. If I WILL BE DIFFERENT is ready by August, I can submit that, too (I can submit two scripts this year, per their request/instructions).

I pondered what to work on for END OF PLAY starting June 1. Some characters are starting to talk, but I’m not sure in which world they fit.

Part of me wants to finally work on the play inspired by the time Kit Cornell’s company took the train from Buffalo to Seattle on tour, got stuck in a snow storm, were late, the audience waited, so actors took turns on stage telling stories while the crew built the set around them, and they did the play, ending around 3 AM. But I don’t feel settled enough in the research, and I can’t re-read the books between now and the 1st. I should put those research books in a project bin so they are handy. I tracked down several memoirs by members of the company. It’s not ready to write yet, though, and I don’t want to push it when it’s not the right time.

Some projects one can leap into and sort it out on the way. Others, like this one and the May Morris play, require lots of specific research so the world of the play is reflexive and one doesn’t have to look up the details as one goes, because those details affect everything in the scene. I have to be comfortable in the world while writing the scene, not layer the details in later on.

Managed to get some work done on BETTING MAN. Not enough, but some. Decided to make another change in the overall arc, which will affect this book and future books. I’m hoping that will lift the obstacles I’ve been feeling as I work on it these past weeks, that I was on the wrong track with it, and now I’ve course corrected.

Switched over to the ghostwriting. Didn’t get as much done on a word count level as I hoped, but I’m happy with the quality. I will have to make up for it today and tomorrow, which will be a challenge, because today is packed.

The literary committee meeting went well. It’s always such a pleasure to have these monthly meetings and get into deep topics around the plays involved.

Word X Word confirmed I’m one of the poets in the exquisite corpse poem. We’re performing it July 26 at the Mount. It’s one of my favorite participations of the year. This will be my 5th year with them.

Cooked dinner, read a bit at night. I’ve read Elizabeth McCracken’s BOWLAWAY these past few days, which is a unique book stylistically and story-wise. It’s literary fiction that mixes whimsy, pathos, and history in it.

Slept well, which surprised me as much as anyone, up a little early this morning because Tessa and Charlotte were fussing. Morning routine was good, and I figured out a bunch of stuff in the new BETTING MAN direction in the morning free write.

As far as I know, the online meditation group meets this morning, then I head out on errands, try to get some work done on BETTING MAN, join the Freelance Friends chat, work on the ghostwriting. I’ve been invited to two different things tonight. Whether I can go to either of them largely depends on how much work I can get done around all the meetings.

I’m going to try to get a little bit done now, before meditation group.

Have a good one!

Published in: on May 28, 2026 at 6:51 am  Comments (3)  
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Wed. May 27, 2026: Laundry & Other Dilemmas

image courtesy of Jill Wellington from Pixabay

Wednesday, May 27, 2026

Waxing Moon

Pluto Retrograde

Cloudy and warm

Mid-week, here we are.

After yesterday’s morning chores, I settled into work. I wanted to go back to I WILL BE DIFFERENT, but it needs to sit for a bit, so I can look at it with fresh eyes.

Checked with the problematic client. No work right now (it’s been nearly two months, and even when we had breaks in previous years, it was never more than two weeks), but they have a listing up to hire more freelancers. Right. I used to be able to count on that gig in that I could ease up a bit when I had other deadlines, and ramp up when I wanted to make a little extra. Now, I just can’t count on it at all. I do need to get a few other things into position before I make a final decision, but I see the writing on my wall, at least.

I printed out directions and maps on the route I want to the hotel in S. Deerfield, then from the hotel to the theatre in Greenfield, and also to the diner where I want to eat breakfast the next morning (the hotel is very no frills, which means no breakfast). My car is too old for GPS, and if I put Murder Maps into my phone, it often sniffily states that GPS “dropped out” if I don’t do exactly what they say when they say it, even if so doing would kill me. (Hence, Murder Maps).

So I print maps and directions instead.

Bea still hasn’t forgiven me for trying to get her to read a map. When I first brought her home from Beacon, Murder Maps tried to send us into a lake and then dropped out. I pulled over near said lake and pulled out a paper map and showed it to her, telling her we had to figure out the rest of the way home. She looked at me with, “I’m a feral cat from another state. I got nothing.”

I’ll put the directions together in the folder with my hotel confirmation, and then print out the script and put it in a small binder next week (it’s only a 15-minute play), and I’ll be all set. Toss in a notebook and whatever book I choose to take with me, and the script bag is packed. Okay, two books, because I can never take just one book.

Fingers crossed that’s not the day my “word” shows up for the exquisite corpse poem. A couple of years ago, I got the word to start my poem as I drove to the Small Business Expo in Dalton, so I sat at a picnic table and worked on the poem before the event began. I worked it some more when I got home, and sent it off by deadline. I know I can do it; I would just prefer it was more spread out. And no, I can’t request another day. You do the poem the day you’re up. That’s part of the deal.

Had troubling getting back into the rhythm of BETTING MAN, and didn’t get much done.

Dashed out to the library, where I dropped off a big stack of books and picked up a slightly smaller stack of books. Lunch was created from lettuce we’ve grown and things from our CSA box. It was very good.

I did some repotting, and put some of the plants that need to be out on the back balcony out there. I still have to get the shelf unit out there, probably tomorrow.

Turned my attention to the ghostwriting. I had a good session and am almost where I hoped to be by the end of the day, even with the research forays.

Changed, and headed to yoga. Yoga was good, but for some reason, my hip felt worse after class than going in. Don’t know what’s going on with that.

Heated up leftovers for dinner, read a bit.

Slept reasonably well. Up early to get most of the morning routine done before hauling the laundry out. I will fold it and put it away after breakfast.

On today’s agenda: writing, ghostwriting, picking up the CSA box this afternoon, a literary committee meeting tonight. So I better get going!

Published in: on May 27, 2026 at 6:40 am  Comments (4)  
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