#freelance — Public Fediverse posts
Live and recent posts from across the Fediverse tagged #freelance, aggregated by home.social.
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I'm accepting a few new #freelance #editing 📝 clients in the coming months. If you're interested, let me know ASAP. Spots are limited :) #writers #amediting #amwriting #indiepub #indieauthors http://www.venessagiunta.com/editing-services/
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I'm accepting a few new #freelance #editing 📝 clients in the coming months. If you're interested, let me know ASAP. Spots are limited :) #writers #amediting #amwriting #indiepub #indieauthors http://www.venessagiunta.com/editing-services/
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🎯 Available for remote web projects! Building & managing WordPress/Wix sites with flexible hours.
Perfect for small orgs, NGOs, tourism businesses. Fixed-price per project (no hourly traps!).
Based in Sweden/EU, trilingual (ES/EN/FR). Let's chat! 💜
#Freelance #WebDev #WordPress #RemoteWork #SmallBusiness #NGOJobs
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🎯 Available for remote web projects! Building & managing WordPress/Wix sites with flexible hours.
Perfect for small orgs, NGOs, tourism businesses. Fixed-price per project (no hourly traps!).
Based in Sweden/EU, trilingual (ES/EN/FR). Let's chat! 💜
#Freelance #WebDev #WordPress #RemoteWork #SmallBusiness #NGOJobs
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Fri. July 31, 2026: Scattered and Messy
image courtesy of Alicja from PixabayFriday, July 31, 2026
Waning Moon
Pluto, Neptune, Saturn Retrograde
Cloudy and warm
We’re at the end of another week AND another month. I can’t believe tomorrow will be August. The light is already changing, both in the morning and in the evenings. I already switched out some candle colors and put up the marigold garland across the fireplace.
Online meditation was good, and Charlotte was happy. We are now on break until Sept. 10. I will still maintain my 40-minute sit every morning and my 20-minute sit at bedtime.
The lovely person who received my misdelivered package left it at my door either in the night or yesterday morning. I’m so glad I don’t have to fight with the post office and the company about this! When I tried to file the paperwork with USPS yesterday, the form said I had to wait 7 days. I could have sworn the previous day, it said 24 hours. But I’m glad I don’t have to do it at all.
After breakfast, I loaded the car and headed out. I dropped off the vacuum at the FedEx dropoff spot, then did a light grocery shop and ran some other errands, including the library. Home, hauled everything up the stairs, and played with the cats. I did two batches of vegetable stock in the slow cooker over the late morning into the early afternoon.
The #FreelanceFriends chat went well, and it flew by! Hosting always feels fast, because there’s posting the questions, and then making sure to respond to everyone.
After lunch, I finished jarring up the veg stock, washed all the dishes, etc. I have way too much stock in the freezer at this point, and I still have two bags of veg bits that have to go into the next batch. Yes, I was procrastinating on the ghostwriting. But I got to it and started digging it. My opinions on it don’t really matter. It just needs to get done. I made some decent headway in the first few chapters, and thought through a few of the requested changes, which will help me in today’s session.
I tried to work on the play after, but ended up deleting everything I wrote, so I’m back to where I was yesterday.
Someone whom my mother nannied in England in the late 1940’s/early 1950’s sent an email with a bunch of questions. He’s a great grandfather now! It will take her a few days to pull those memories, if she even has the knowledge he wants of those times. They’ve been in touch regularly over the years, so it’s not like she doesn’t remember him. She was the nanny to him and his five siblings for six years.
I craved enchiladas for dinner last night, so that’s what I made!
It looks like Chewy is already sending the replacement vacuum, once they got confirmation I shipped off the one that doesn’t work.
The parking chaos is out of control. It’s to the point where I feel like I can’t ever use my car, because I won’t be able to get into my – or any – off-street spot THAT IS PART OF MY LEASE AGREEMENT. I can park on the street now, but when overnight street parking is forbidden as of Oct. 1, there will be a problem for the winter. The fact that the people who are supposed to deal with this won’t is aggravating.
This morning, we are going to Whitney’s. It’s the last day I can use the “Whitney’s Bucks” they gave us after we did our spring shopping, and I want to get some Black-eyed Susans. When we get back, I will work on the play and BETTING MAN, and then switch over to the ghostwriting. This play has a closer deadline than the radio series, so I had to push the radio series back to get this done.
This evening, I’m going to the closing of my colleagues’ show at FutureLabs. I missed the opening, being under the weather IN the weather of early July, so I will trot down to the closing tonight. Tomorrow is Lammas, a big day on my personal calendar. Sunday, I want to do a whole lotta nothing! Next week is busier than I would like it to be, so I need to prepare, mentally as much as physically. As much as I’m glad last Wednesday’s meeting got moved forward a week, it puts more pressure on me this week. And I have to take my mom down to Lenox for a specialist appointment late morning on Tuesday, so I lose most of the day with the prep and the travel time.
I hope you have a terrific weekend, and we’ll catch up on the other side.
#freelance #inconsiderateNeighbors #Plans #writing -
Fri. July 31, 2026: Scattered and Messy
image courtesy of Alicja from PixabayFriday, July 31, 2026
Waning Moon
Pluto, Neptune, Saturn Retrograde
Cloudy and warm
We’re at the end of another week AND another month. I can’t believe tomorrow will be August. The light is already changing, both in the morning and in the evenings. I already switched out some candle colors and put up the marigold garland across the fireplace.
Online meditation was good, and Charlotte was happy. We are now on break until Sept. 10. I will still maintain my 40-minute sit every morning and my 20-minute sit at bedtime.
The lovely person who received my misdelivered package left it at my door either in the night or yesterday morning. I’m so glad I don’t have to fight with the post office and the company about this! When I tried to file the paperwork with USPS yesterday, the form said I had to wait 7 days. I could have sworn the previous day, it said 24 hours. But I’m glad I don’t have to do it at all.
After breakfast, I loaded the car and headed out. I dropped off the vacuum at the FedEx dropoff spot, then did a light grocery shop and ran some other errands, including the library. Home, hauled everything up the stairs, and played with the cats. I did two batches of vegetable stock in the slow cooker over the late morning into the early afternoon.
The #FreelanceFriends chat went well, and it flew by! Hosting always feels fast, because there’s posting the questions, and then making sure to respond to everyone.
After lunch, I finished jarring up the veg stock, washed all the dishes, etc. I have way too much stock in the freezer at this point, and I still have two bags of veg bits that have to go into the next batch. Yes, I was procrastinating on the ghostwriting. But I got to it and started digging it. My opinions on it don’t really matter. It just needs to get done. I made some decent headway in the first few chapters, and thought through a few of the requested changes, which will help me in today’s session.
I tried to work on the play after, but ended up deleting everything I wrote, so I’m back to where I was yesterday.
Someone whom my mother nannied in England in the late 1940’s/early 1950’s sent an email with a bunch of questions. He’s a great grandfather now! It will take her a few days to pull those memories, if she even has the knowledge he wants of those times. They’ve been in touch regularly over the years, so it’s not like she doesn’t remember him. She was the nanny to him and his five siblings for six years.
I craved enchiladas for dinner last night, so that’s what I made!
It looks like Chewy is already sending the replacement vacuum, once they got confirmation I shipped off the one that doesn’t work.
The parking chaos is out of control. It’s to the point where I feel like I can’t ever use my car, because I won’t be able to get into my – or any – off-street spot THAT IS PART OF MY LEASE AGREEMENT. I can park on the street now, but when overnight street parking is forbidden as of Oct. 1, there will be a problem for the winter. The fact that the people who are supposed to deal with this won’t is aggravating.
This morning, we are going to Whitney’s. It’s the last day I can use the “Whitney’s Bucks” they gave us after we did our spring shopping, and I want to get some Black-eyed Susans. When we get back, I will work on the play and BETTING MAN, and then switch over to the ghostwriting. This play has a closer deadline than the radio series, so I had to push the radio series back to get this done.
This evening, I’m going to the closing of my colleagues’ show at FutureLabs. I missed the opening, being under the weather IN the weather of early July, so I will trot down to the closing tonight. Tomorrow is Lammas, a big day on my personal calendar. Sunday, I want to do a whole lotta nothing! Next week is busier than I would like it to be, so I need to prepare, mentally as much as physically. As much as I’m glad last Wednesday’s meeting got moved forward a week, it puts more pressure on me this week. And I have to take my mom down to Lenox for a specialist appointment late morning on Tuesday, so I lose most of the day with the prep and the travel time.
I hope you have a terrific weekend, and we’ll catch up on the other side.
#freelance #inconsiderateNeighbors #Plans #writing -
#SchlePaZ - Die schlechtesten Projektanfragen aller Zeiten
"Senior Full-Stack Developer | AI & Blockchain"
Blockchain, AI, SaaS, ein Budget von € $ 179.999,00? - Wir sind dabei!
Leider ist diese Anfrage wohl mal wieder Fake.https://www.alles-bekloppte.de/senior-full-stack-developer-ai-blockchain/
#job #jobs #jobsearch #jobsuche #freelance #freelancer #it #fail
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Thurs. July 30, 2026: Keyboard Time
image courtesy of Simon from PixabayThursday, July 30, 2026
Last Day of Full Moon
Pluto, Neptune, Saturn Retrograde
Rainy and mild
You can read the latest on the garden over at Gratitude and Growth.
Yesterday, I suited up in what I call my “Cornwall coat” and my Wellington boots and headed out the door shortly after breakfast. It was bucketing down. Good thing I wore the boots. Because of the non-design elements in the sidewalk replacement last year, the water just pools on the sidewalks, and it was up to my ankles. I call it my “Cornwall coat” (a hooded bright yellow coat with blue trim) because I bought in the town of Falmouth when we were over in Cornwell back in 1999 (but it doesn’t seem like that long). I bought it after I was stuck in a thunderstorm on top of Tintagel and got soaked, and decided I needed raingear. It has served me well. (There’s a whole story about local rescue coming up to get me and me taking them to the pub in thanks because I figured I’d just have to huddle next to the chimney ruins until I could get down on my own, but that’s a story for another day).
Anyway, I got my errands done in about 20 minutes. The coat kept me dry except for a bit exposed between the bottom of the coat and the top of the boots around my knees. I took things off in the bathroom to let them drip in the tub.
I sat down and wrote 7 pages on the play. I’m at the halfway point of this draft, which is a good thing, since it has to be finished within the first week of August. My original plan for the day was to work on the ghostwriting first and then the play when the ghostwriting was out the door. But I wanted to be in the midst of my own work when the full moon peaked at 10:36 in the morning, so I focused on my own work first. Which is what I need to do EVERY day. My own work first, client work fit around it. I don’t resent the client work when I prioritize my own. I do better work in both realms.
Once I was finished with my own pages, I had an exchange with the library about the author fest in September. I switched over to the ghostwriting just before lunchtime. I finished it and got it out the door before I made lunch.
Then, I kind of felt like I’d been kicked in the head by a mule, so I wasn’t going to be particularly creative in the afternoon. We were still under a flood warning (5 inches of rain fell yesterday). I wrestled the vacuum into the box and slapped on the return label.
I managed to get some admin done and get out an LOI, so it wasn’t a total loss. I prepped the materials and graphics for today’s #FreelanceFriends chat. The rain just kept bucketing down.
Heated up leftovers for dinner, read a bit in the evening, honored the full moon, although I couldn’t see it. Slept reasonably well until about 4, when Charlotte started fussing, and moved to the sofa until nearly 5:30.
It was pouring again with rain when I woke up. I hope it will pause while I run my errands later this morning.
We have our final online meditation session before summer break, so Charlotte will be happy. After breakfast, I will drop off the vacuum at the Fed Ex dropoff, then do the grocery shopping, library, and other usual Thursday errands.
I am hosting the #FreelanceFriends chat at noon EST today over on Bluesky, where we’re talking about unusual skills feeding into our work.
In the afternoon, I have to start the rewrite from the notes they sent me last Friday. I’m dreading it. But that’s the way it goes. I also want to do some work on the play and write/submit the book review.
Lots to do, let’s hope I can get it done. Have a good one!
#freelance #playwrighting #practicalities #writing -
Thurs. July 30, 2026: Keyboard Time
image courtesy of Simon from PixabayThursday, July 30, 2026
Last Day of Full Moon
Pluto, Neptune, Saturn Retrograde
Rainy and mild
You can read the latest on the garden over at Gratitude and Growth.
Yesterday, I suited up in what I call my “Cornwall coat” and my Wellington boots and headed out the door shortly after breakfast. It was bucketing down. Good thing I wore the boots. Because of the non-design elements in the sidewalk replacement last year, the water just pools on the sidewalks, and it was up to my ankles. I call it my “Cornwall coat” (a hooded bright yellow coat with blue trim) because I bought in the town of Falmouth when we were over in Cornwell back in 1999 (but it doesn’t seem like that long). I bought it after I was stuck in a thunderstorm on top of Tintagel and got soaked, and decided I needed raingear. It has served me well. (There’s a whole story about local rescue coming up to get me and me taking them to the pub in thanks because I figured I’d just have to huddle next to the chimney ruins until I could get down on my own, but that’s a story for another day).
Anyway, I got my errands done in about 20 minutes. The coat kept me dry except for a bit exposed between the bottom of the coat and the top of the boots around my knees. I took things off in the bathroom to let them drip in the tub.
I sat down and wrote 7 pages on the play. I’m at the halfway point of this draft, which is a good thing, since it has to be finished within the first week of August. My original plan for the day was to work on the ghostwriting first and then the play when the ghostwriting was out the door. But I wanted to be in the midst of my own work when the full moon peaked at 10:36 in the morning, so I focused on my own work first. Which is what I need to do EVERY day. My own work first, client work fit around it. I don’t resent the client work when I prioritize my own. I do better work in both realms.
Once I was finished with my own pages, I had an exchange with the library about the author fest in September. I switched over to the ghostwriting just before lunchtime. I finished it and got it out the door before I made lunch.
Then, I kind of felt like I’d been kicked in the head by a mule, so I wasn’t going to be particularly creative in the afternoon. We were still under a flood warning (5 inches of rain fell yesterday). I wrestled the vacuum into the box and slapped on the return label.
I managed to get some admin done and get out an LOI, so it wasn’t a total loss. I prepped the materials and graphics for today’s #FreelanceFriends chat. The rain just kept bucketing down.
Heated up leftovers for dinner, read a bit in the evening, honored the full moon, although I couldn’t see it. Slept reasonably well until about 4, when Charlotte started fussing, and moved to the sofa until nearly 5:30.
It was pouring again with rain when I woke up. I hope it will pause while I run my errands later this morning.
We have our final online meditation session before summer break, so Charlotte will be happy. After breakfast, I will drop off the vacuum at the Fed Ex dropoff, then do the grocery shopping, library, and other usual Thursday errands.
I am hosting the #FreelanceFriends chat at noon EST today over on Bluesky, where we’re talking about unusual skills feeding into our work.
In the afternoon, I have to start the rewrite from the notes they sent me last Friday. I’m dreading it. But that’s the way it goes. I also want to do some work on the play and write/submit the book review.
Lots to do, let’s hope I can get it done. Have a good one!
#freelance #playwrighting #practicalities #writing -
Wed. July 29, 2026: Brick by Brick
image from Pixabay.comWednesday, July 29, 2026
Full Moon
Pluto, Neptune, Saturn Retrograde
Rainy and mild
Wednesday and a full moon. Of course, with all the rain, I doubt I’ll get to see it. . .
Today is the 54th anniversary of my father’s death. He’s been out of my life longer than he was in it, but I still honor him every year.
I had a hard time getting started yesterday morning. I slogged through a lot of email and did a bunch of chores.
I sat down and wrote four pages of the play, which made me feel better. It’s different than my regular wheelhouse, in both content and tone, but I like what’s happening with it.
The rest of the day, I worked on the ghostwriting. I have a little bit more to do this morning and the final polish, and then off it goes. I feel good about it, but then I felt good about the last thing I sent and that was a huge mistake. But, get it done and out the door. That’s all I can do, is my part of being a cog in the wheel. I’m frustrated at not having enough thinking time for any of this. Having to create this amount of material and do what would normally be 4-6 months of research for books like this in 4-6 days AND figure out the rest of what needs to be figured out in the 6K/20K configurations every 10 days (with revisions taking only 4) is taking a toll. And they’d really like me to work faster.
It started raining hard around midday, and went through bands of monsooning and then just sitting with heavy air.
The news that AI companies are buying up pallets of out of print/rate books, tearing them apart to feed them into AI and then destroying all the physical copies makes me sick. Remember, these are individuals hiding behind company policy. There are individuals doing this. May each one experience the same fate as the books they are destroying. No ethical human being does this, and it’s time for there to be consequences for ALL of it.
I’m not even going to get going on all the other awful crap going on. It’s time to get rid of the establishment Democrats enabling all of this and put people in who will remove the corrupt in both parties and the administration, so we can finally get something done.
I am also angry at the ATLANTIC magazine for the hit piece they did on a Black romance author the day before her traditional release. It should be a day of celebration and joy for her. Written by a white dude, of course, who fed hers and other authors’ work into AI WITHOUT THEIR CONSENT (gee, white dude not honoring consent, imagine that) to write lies about an author in a genre in which he doesn’t have knowledge. The ATLANTIC should know better. And that “journalist” should be sued until he’s living under a bridge somewhere like the troll he is.
On a happier note, the other reader of the rough assemblage of I WILL BE DIFFERENT sent back wonderfully thoughtful and detailed notes. Between the two sets of notes (which are very different from each other, both from people I respect), I have a lot to figure out. I need to accept that this is a play that will take as long as it takes to shape. Every project has its own innate rhythm, and I have to work with that as much as with the consistency it needs to get done between the rest periods needed to figure out the best way forward. I need to build it stone by stone, brick by brick, not put up something prefab.
It’s still bucketing down rain this morning, and supposed to rain all day. I have two small errands to run on foot after breakfast. Then, I will finish the ghostwriting, do a final polish, and send it off, hopefully this morning. In the afternoon, I want to work on the play that needs to be done in the next few weeks, and on BETTING MAN, which keeps getting pushed aside, and really needs more attention than it’s getting. My meeting this evening was postponed to next Wednesday, so that takes a little pressure off.
Tomorrow, I’m hosting the #FreelanceFriends chat at noon EST on Blueskey. I have to make sure all my bits are in a single folder and easily accessible for that.
The package that the post office claims they delivered still hasn’t shown up, so I have to file a claim this morning. Yet more wasted time and undue burden of administrative work shoved off onto customers instead of the people paid to do it. And pixabay wouldn’t let me download this image (it just kept saying “downloading” so I had to put it into Canva and download from there. More wasted time.
I’d like to just go back to bed, but too bad for me! Have a good one.
#creativeTime #freelance #playwrighting #undueAdministrativeBurdens #writing -
Wed. July 29, 2026: Brick by Brick
image from Pixabay.comWednesday, July 29, 2026
Full Moon
Pluto, Neptune, Saturn Retrograde
Rainy and mild
Wednesday and a full moon. Of course, with all the rain, I doubt I’ll get to see it. . .
Today is the 54th anniversary of my father’s death. He’s been out of my life longer than he was in it, but I still honor him every year.
I had a hard time getting started yesterday morning. I slogged through a lot of email and did a bunch of chores.
I sat down and wrote four pages of the play, which made me feel better. It’s different than my regular wheelhouse, in both content and tone, but I like what’s happening with it.
The rest of the day, I worked on the ghostwriting. I have a little bit more to do this morning and the final polish, and then off it goes. I feel good about it, but then I felt good about the last thing I sent and that was a huge mistake. But, get it done and out the door. That’s all I can do, is my part of being a cog in the wheel. I’m frustrated at not having enough thinking time for any of this. Having to create this amount of material and do what would normally be 4-6 months of research for books like this in 4-6 days AND figure out the rest of what needs to be figured out in the 6K/20K configurations every 10 days (with revisions taking only 4) is taking a toll. And they’d really like me to work faster.
It started raining hard around midday, and went through bands of monsooning and then just sitting with heavy air.
The news that AI companies are buying up pallets of out of print/rate books, tearing them apart to feed them into AI and then destroying all the physical copies makes me sick. Remember, these are individuals hiding behind company policy. There are individuals doing this. May each one experience the same fate as the books they are destroying. No ethical human being does this, and it’s time for there to be consequences for ALL of it.
I’m not even going to get going on all the other awful crap going on. It’s time to get rid of the establishment Democrats enabling all of this and put people in who will remove the corrupt in both parties and the administration, so we can finally get something done.
I am also angry at the ATLANTIC magazine for the hit piece they did on a Black romance author the day before her traditional release. It should be a day of celebration and joy for her. Written by a white dude, of course, who fed hers and other authors’ work into AI WITHOUT THEIR CONSENT (gee, white dude not honoring consent, imagine that) to write lies about an author in a genre in which he doesn’t have knowledge. The ATLANTIC should know better. And that “journalist” should be sued until he’s living under a bridge somewhere like the troll he is.
On a happier note, the other reader of the rough assemblage of I WILL BE DIFFERENT sent back wonderfully thoughtful and detailed notes. Between the two sets of notes (which are very different from each other, both from people I respect), I have a lot to figure out. I need to accept that this is a play that will take as long as it takes to shape. Every project has its own innate rhythm, and I have to work with that as much as with the consistency it needs to get done between the rest periods needed to figure out the best way forward. I need to build it stone by stone, brick by brick, not put up something prefab.
It’s still bucketing down rain this morning, and supposed to rain all day. I have two small errands to run on foot after breakfast. Then, I will finish the ghostwriting, do a final polish, and send it off, hopefully this morning. In the afternoon, I want to work on the play that needs to be done in the next few weeks, and on BETTING MAN, which keeps getting pushed aside, and really needs more attention than it’s getting. My meeting this evening was postponed to next Wednesday, so that takes a little pressure off.
Tomorrow, I’m hosting the #FreelanceFriends chat at noon EST on Blueskey. I have to make sure all my bits are in a single folder and easily accessible for that.
The package that the post office claims they delivered still hasn’t shown up, so I have to file a claim this morning. Yet more wasted time and undue burden of administrative work shoved off onto customers instead of the people paid to do it. And pixabay wouldn’t let me download this image (it just kept saying “downloading” so I had to put it into Canva and download from there. More wasted time.
I’d like to just go back to bed, but too bad for me! Have a good one.
#creativeTime #freelance #playwrighting #undueAdministrativeBurdens #writing -
Hey 👋 I'm an engineer and project/product manager in the Web Development sector.
Looking for paid work.
#PHP · #Laravel · #SQL · #React · #TypeScript · #Docker · #GitHub · #wfh · #freelance · #remote
kodakodra.github.io/projects.html
🔗 linktr.ee/kodakodra
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Hey 👋 I'm an engineer and project/product manager in the Web Development sector.
Looking for paid work.
#PHP · #Laravel · #SQL · #React · #TypeScript · #Docker · #GitHub · #wfh · #freelance · #remote
kodakodra.github.io/projects.html
🔗 linktr.ee/kodakodra
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On this episode of The WP Minute’s Agency Action podcast, Kurt and Toby examine the challenges of taking time off. A sabbatical can be great for the soul. However, it’s also a test for your agency’s processes and team members. Can they keep things going while you’re away?
You’ll also find takes on pricing projects in the age of AI, the role of trust in agency work, and the future of […]
https://thewpminute.com/what-happens-to-your-agency-while-youre-away/ -
Tues. July 28, 2026: A Weekend of Ups and Downs
image courtesy of Luvmissile from PixabayTuesday, July 28, 2026
Day Before Full Moon
Pluto, Neptune, Saturn Retrograde
Cloudy and humid
Here we are, nearly at the end of July. Saturn has joined the retrograde parade. Saturn is about life lessons and structure. If you ignored certain things in the last Saturn retrograde, they will come back and smack you upside the head. If you learned and grew, there will be new questions coming up between now and December 10. It’s about finding long-term structure to best support your life on all levels.
I wanted to take a minute to talk about Isabel Klee and what she and her fiancé Jacob have gone through lately with her beloved dog Simon. She is @simonsits on various social media accounts. I’ve been shedding most of the big accounts I’ve come across/followed over the years, because, frankly, they are about numbers to get endorsement dollars and not about actual connection. Isabel is the exception, because of all her work fostering dogs and with dog rescue. She does wonderful work and has helped so many people and so many dogs. Her dog Simon was amazing, and so good with all the fosters. He was very ill with epilepsy and then cancer, and she had to let him go this past weekend. She shared his last days, and we all cried with her. Anyone who has lost a beloved animal companion understands the grief.
People who love her account have comforted each other in our grief, while also hoping Isabel’s family knows how much her grief is being held by the people around her. I hope she also takes time off camera to grieve as she needs to grieve. It was galvanizing for people to hold her family and each other in grief, but the part that can only be done alone is important, too.
I think the grief goes beyond this particular family and dog, though. I think we all remember the grief of lost pets in our lives. And we also grieve the world we’re living in, the intentional cruelties and the murders of humans. Isabel and Simon showed the world so much empathy and love, and that’s a sharp contrast to the murders of Renee Good, Alex Pretti, Nolan Wells, and all the others. I think the grief goes beyond this one particular event and family, and is about the world we are mourning. The lost potential and possibilities.
On Friday, I got the script commission pitch out the door. The window closes on the 31st, so I got it in a bit early. It’s a topic I’ve wanted to explore for several years, so I’m glad I had the chance to put the ideas together and work up some sample pages.
I was happy to hear that Melissa, Mark, and Gilbert Hortman’s murderer got two consecutive life sentences plus 40 years. A tiny candle of justice in all the injustice going on.
I folded and put away the laundry. I’m almost caught up on all the winter fabrics, and hope to have them done before it’s time to turn the house over for fall/winter! Times like these, I miss having laundry in the house. But it’s not worth buying my own machines in a rental unit.
I did the free-write session later than usual (because I was out at the laundromat) and played with an idea so I have notes for it when I want to come back to it.
I focused on the ghostwriting assignment that’s due tomorrow. I know why I’m frustrated, but I don’t know how to solve it. Talking to the client won’t, because this conversation has happened before and doesn’t get us anywhere.
I decided not to punish myself (for once), and finished up what I was going to do by around 2 PM. I got changed and headed to Williamstown. I swung by the Milne Library, which I hadn’t visited in too long. I got three terrific books from the free cart, one for my mom, two for me. Then I went to the Clark, where I haven’t been since the opening of the exhibit earlier this summer. I ran into an artist I know there, and we had a nice catch-up chat.
I spent my time there sitting by the reflecting pool, reading and resting. Some of the dragonflies flitting around the pool came to visit, which was lovely.
When it was time to go, I packed up and headed to Theatre 62 at Williams College. What a gorgeous space! We were in the dance studio upstairs (shoes off), with a wall of windows looking over the mountains. WAM’s resident artists had an open rehearsal of their project. It’s a musical. The lyricist is also writing the book (which is somewhat unusual). They talked about the project and played us a section of the song as they first wrote it, and then in the version that’s now evolved.
Then, they broke us up into groups to do a worldbuilding exercise. At first, I was somewhat resistant, because – busman’s holiday. But I also figured, why not, and learn something new. Our group of four held the woman who used to run Many Forks up in Clarksburg, and a pair of tourists visiting the area this weekend who happened to come upon the listing. We came up with our setting and the sensory specifics (haunted house – gee, what a surprise, since I was involved, right). Once the time was up, each group read out their bullet point list of their built world (there was a magical soccer field, a spaceship orbiting Mars, and fairytale treehouse built by the others). The composer listened, then created music for each world. It was pretty amazing.
We chatted with them after, and I asked to be put on their mailing list, so I can continue to support their work. It was great to learn so much about the process of creating a musical, the actual nuts-and-bolts of sitting down to do the work. They started working on this musical eight years ago, and just talked about it for the first two.
I first headed out to Blue Mango on Spring Street, planning to bring back Thai food. But they are “closed for maintenance” and, from the notes taped to the door, it looks like they’ve been closed for awhile and may be closed indefinitely. I stopped at Chopsticks instead, which was on my way back, and picked up Chinese.
Came home, frustrated by the musical chairs in the parking lot again, ate, then found very frustrating notes from the ghostwriting client on the project I turned in a little over a week ago – that will delay payment on what I’ve done (again – gee, what a surprise, yes, that’s sarcasm). We seem to work out trouble spots and things smooth out for a couple of months, and then the contradictions and chaos start up again. There’s a difference between natural growth of a series and chaos, and this tilts toward the latter for me too often.
I went to bed very unhappy. I slept reasonably well into Saturday, until Charlotte started fussing around three. I moved to the sofa. It took her about an hour to find me, and then she started kneading my kidneys (ouch). Bea finally got me up (gently) just before six. I had steadfastly refused to capitulate to Tessa’s howling and Willa’s general shenanigans.
After that slow start and dealing with chores and plants, I sat down and wrote four pages of a play I need to get done by early August. I’d already written pages on it, I’m continuing to finish it. I’m about a third of the way there. I hope that by writing 2-4 pages/day for the next few weeks, I can get it done.
I was sad and angry to hear about the attack at Berlin Pride. There are too many horrible people in the world, and there need to be harsher and faster consequences for them.
I rehearsed my sections of the poem several times. I read the next book for review, which was quite good. I was in rough emotional waters most of the day. I grieved about many things, not just a lovely dog I’ve never met.
Heated up leftovers for dinner and had a quiet night, feeling completely drained.
Charlotte fussed at me around 3 AM again on Sunday, so I got up and moved to the sofa and went back to sleep (after cuddling Bea). By a little before 6, Bea, Charlotte, and Tessa were all fussing at me, so I got up and fed them.
I did the morning routine, and the Community Tarot Reading for the Week, which you can read here. I made a birthday gift for a friend who hoped to make it to the poem.
I rehearsed the poems a few dozen times. Once I had the reading rhythm I wanted, I timed the sections and adjusted, until the timings were consistent. Each section can be 30 sections. The more complex one, with the harder words, ran 29.17 seconds regularly. The second ran only 18.12. So I was well in the parameters.
Pretty soon, I need to decide what I’m reading for the Boiler House reading, and what I’m workshopping during our residency. For the reading, I will have to start rehearsing and then time it with the stopwatch. I’m hoping I can read a flash fiction (250 words) that was published a few years ago, a prose poem/drabble, and an actual short poem, but we will see how it times out. If I need to cut/rearrange/swap out pieces, I will. I know one of the poems I want to bring into the workshop, an ekphrastic piece inspired by an art piece in the FutureLabs group show earlier this year. I have to do some work on it before I can bring it in. I have some other poems I’ve played with, but I’m not sure which ones to bring in yet. I’m still struggling to write the comic horror cleave poem. It’s still beyond my skill level, but I keep trying. We have 5 workshop sessions, so I will have to see if I bring in 4 poems and 1 short scripted scene, or 3 poems and 2 short scripted scenes. I’m leaning toward the latter, using one stage play and one radio play for the scripted scenes. But we’ll see how it shakes out. All the radio plays might already be out by then.
I worked hard to get myself into the mental headspace for the poem. Feeling so physically and mentally drained made it difficult. This is one of my favorite events all year, so I knew once I actually got there, I would perk up, but trying to properly prepare to be the best I could be in support of the rest of the group was a challenge.
Got dressed and left a little after 1:30. My mom decided to come, too, which was nice. She’s always been interested to see how it comes together. I stopped for gas on the way, and off we went. Traffic was a little sticky around Pittsfield (as usual), but not too bad. It was a lovely day to be out and about.
We arrived a little early. I got my mom settled, and found my chair. On one side was one of the poets I’ve known for the past 5 years of participating in this creation, and it’s always great to be around her. On my other side was a poet who has also been doing this regularly, but this was the first time we were positioned together and could really talk. Her mom (who is 96) sat with my mom (who is 101), and had a good natter. I also caught up with another poet I’ve been friends with since the first year, who is a wonderful playwright and historian, and also is the person who got me hooked up with WAM. Two chairs away was a younger poet whose first year was last year, and who now works in the marketing department for the Mount. A few more chairs down was a poet who’s done the event for several years who beat cancer. Down the other way was a skilled poet I’ve known for all the years I’ve done this whose poetry took a huge leap this year and it was beautiful to see. There was also a poet I met the first year I did this (who hasn’t been back until this year), and we were then in a playwrighting workshop together, and further down, the leader of that workshop, which is where FALL FOREVER was born. So there’s a lot of my personal history woven in with these poets. I WILL BE DIFFERENT was also born at a Word X Word event, although it was one of their Poets in Conversation series, rather than the large poem.
It flowed well. Many of the poems were far more political and pointed this year than in previous years, some funny and some angry. It always amazes me how the sections wind up supporting each other, when all we have is the final word of the previous poet’s poem to start our own.
We were called in earlier this year, and had more rehearsal time, which worked well. And we had a break to have a bit of food and drink in between the rehearsal and performance, and be silly together. That translated well when we got back into the tent to perform the poem.
Melissa Quirk, who wrote the first and last poem of the piece, also wrote a poem during the piece weaving bits of all our poems into a final poem. She creates with more love than just about anyone I’ve ever met, and it’s always an honor to be involved in anything with her.
The afternoon reminded me how healing poetry is. One of my fellow poets spoke to how important this kind of creation, in small pockets all over, is to our resilience.
A friend showed up to the poem. I wasn’t sure she’d make it, since it was her birthday, but she did. She loved the experience. It’s so difficult to explain it, because it’s so experiential. I got to give her the gift I made for her, and hang out for a bit. She gave us some tomatillos from the community garden at which she volunteers. We had a bigger audience than usual, which is always terrific, including some random people who were visiting the Mount and got curious.
The drive home was smooth. I guess the tourists and weekenders cleared out! We stopped at Adams Market, where a bought a mixed berry pie and some – I’m not sure what they are – custard wrapped in Belgian chocolate.
Home, cooked dinner, sat on the porch looking at the almost-full moon. The cats behaved while we were gone.
Slept reasonably well, although I woke up at 3:33 on Monday. It wasn’t Charlotte’s fault this time. I stayed in bed until just before 5, then started the morning routine.
Monday was pretty packed, that moon-in-Capricorn thing being a taskmaster.
I had to prepare paperwork and a strong response (cc’d to two attorneys general) in response to a company trying to scam my elderly mother out of an account she’s had for decades. That took a bit of work, and then I had to trot down to the post office and send things off via certified mail. I also deposited a check in the bank, a small payment for something I wasn’t expecting, but for which I am grateful. Lovely orange and black butterflies joined me on the walk, which was fun. I sent a polite but measured response to the ghostwriting client on the one project, and then another polite response when they were “checking in” to make sure I was still on schedule with the other project. I have not missed a deadline the entire time I’ve worked for them. I asked once for an extension of a single day when they sent me a massive rewrite. I’m so burned out on all this right now.
I worked on the ghostwriting all afternoon and am still behind. I need to do a big push today, because one assignment is due tomorrow, and then I have to start the rewrite on the other project on Thursday.
I didn’t get any of my own work done, which is self-sabotage and needs to stop. I did, however, get some work done on one of the LOIs, which is good.
Upset to hear about the mass shooting in Seattle.
I was sad to learn about the death of choreographer Hope Clarke. I knew her from waaaaay back in the days when I was an office assistant at the Stage Directors and Choreographers Foundation back in NYC, in my pre-Broadway days, when the office was so small it was only the executive director and me. Hope was involved in a lot of our programming and outreach, and was such a lovely person, in addition to being enormously talented. Being around her was always joyful, and I looked forward to any meeting or other activity in which she was involved.
I got a notification that a package was delivered, only it wasn’t. The notification said it was in the mailbox, which was ridiculous because it wasn’t an item that could fit (although they shove plenty of stuff that doesn’t fit in the mailbox, and then I can’t get it out). Usually, it’s left on the porch or in front of the door. Nothing. And I went down as the postal van was driving away, so it’s not like anyone had time to grab it (not that they would, we’re all pretty good about redelivering the misdelivered mail). I have to wait 24 hours to file a non-delivery claim. I am also sick and tired of paying for delivery and then WE are told to run around the neighborhood doing the unpaid labor for which we paid someone else, looking for the delivery. It’s from a company with whom I’ve already had issues, although this part is not their fault.
We had two of the mediocre frozen salmon patties left, so I made a salmon hash with them, potatoes, onion, garlic, and then peppers and spinach from the CSA box. The mediocrity was hidden within the good stuff.
Slept reasonably well, in spite of the humidity. My hip is bothering me a lot today. I tried stretching it out in the morning yoga. If I need a pain patch later, that’s what I will do. I think it will be Thursday, when I run all my regular errands, that I finally get the vacuum to the Fed Ex drop off.
So tired of all of it.
We are under a flood watch until tomorrow night. I doubt I will make it to yoga, if it’s pouring (like it has for the past few weeks). The rain was supposed to start overnight, but hasn’t yet. I hope it starts soon, to cut the humidity a bit. The temperatures aren’t bad, but the humidity is a bit oppressive.
Hope you’re having a good start to your week!
#attacks #collaboration #commissions #freelance #poetry #scriptwriting #theatre #writing -
Tues. July 28, 2026: A Weekend of Ups and Downs
image courtesy of Luvmissile from PixabayTuesday, July 28, 2026
Day Before Full Moon
Pluto, Neptune, Saturn Retrograde
Cloudy and humid
Here we are, nearly at the end of July. Saturn has joined the retrograde parade. Saturn is about life lessons and structure. If you ignored certain things in the last Saturn retrograde, they will come back and smack you upside the head. If you learned and grew, there will be new questions coming up between now and December 10. It’s about finding long-term structure to best support your life on all levels.
I wanted to take a minute to talk about Isabel Klee and what she and her fiancé Jacob have gone through lately with her beloved dog Simon. She is @simonsits on various social media accounts. I’ve been shedding most of the big accounts I’ve come across/followed over the years, because, frankly, they are about numbers to get endorsement dollars and not about actual connection. Isabel is the exception, because of all her work fostering dogs and with dog rescue. She does wonderful work and has helped so many people and so many dogs. Her dog Simon was amazing, and so good with all the fosters. He was very ill with epilepsy and then cancer, and she had to let him go this past weekend. She shared his last days, and we all cried with her. Anyone who has lost a beloved animal companion understands the grief.
People who love her account have comforted each other in our grief, while also hoping Isabel’s family knows how much her grief is being held by the people around her. I hope she also takes time off camera to grieve as she needs to grieve. It was galvanizing for people to hold her family and each other in grief, but the part that can only be done alone is important, too.
I think the grief goes beyond this particular family and dog, though. I think we all remember the grief of lost pets in our lives. And we also grieve the world we’re living in, the intentional cruelties and the murders of humans. Isabel and Simon showed the world so much empathy and love, and that’s a sharp contrast to the murders of Renee Good, Alex Pretti, Nolan Wells, and all the others. I think the grief goes beyond this one particular event and family, and is about the world we are mourning. The lost potential and possibilities.
On Friday, I got the script commission pitch out the door. The window closes on the 31st, so I got it in a bit early. It’s a topic I’ve wanted to explore for several years, so I’m glad I had the chance to put the ideas together and work up some sample pages.
I was happy to hear that Melissa, Mark, and Gilbert Hortman’s murderer got two consecutive life sentences plus 40 years. A tiny candle of justice in all the injustice going on.
I folded and put away the laundry. I’m almost caught up on all the winter fabrics, and hope to have them done before it’s time to turn the house over for fall/winter! Times like these, I miss having laundry in the house. But it’s not worth buying my own machines in a rental unit.
I did the free-write session later than usual (because I was out at the laundromat) and played with an idea so I have notes for it when I want to come back to it.
I focused on the ghostwriting assignment that’s due tomorrow. I know why I’m frustrated, but I don’t know how to solve it. Talking to the client won’t, because this conversation has happened before and doesn’t get us anywhere.
I decided not to punish myself (for once), and finished up what I was going to do by around 2 PM. I got changed and headed to Williamstown. I swung by the Milne Library, which I hadn’t visited in too long. I got three terrific books from the free cart, one for my mom, two for me. Then I went to the Clark, where I haven’t been since the opening of the exhibit earlier this summer. I ran into an artist I know there, and we had a nice catch-up chat.
I spent my time there sitting by the reflecting pool, reading and resting. Some of the dragonflies flitting around the pool came to visit, which was lovely.
When it was time to go, I packed up and headed to Theatre 62 at Williams College. What a gorgeous space! We were in the dance studio upstairs (shoes off), with a wall of windows looking over the mountains. WAM’s resident artists had an open rehearsal of their project. It’s a musical. The lyricist is also writing the book (which is somewhat unusual). They talked about the project and played us a section of the song as they first wrote it, and then in the version that’s now evolved.
Then, they broke us up into groups to do a worldbuilding exercise. At first, I was somewhat resistant, because – busman’s holiday. But I also figured, why not, and learn something new. Our group of four held the woman who used to run Many Forks up in Clarksburg, and a pair of tourists visiting the area this weekend who happened to come upon the listing. We came up with our setting and the sensory specifics (haunted house – gee, what a surprise, since I was involved, right). Once the time was up, each group read out their bullet point list of their built world (there was a magical soccer field, a spaceship orbiting Mars, and fairytale treehouse built by the others). The composer listened, then created music for each world. It was pretty amazing.
We chatted with them after, and I asked to be put on their mailing list, so I can continue to support their work. It was great to learn so much about the process of creating a musical, the actual nuts-and-bolts of sitting down to do the work. They started working on this musical eight years ago, and just talked about it for the first two.
I first headed out to Blue Mango on Spring Street, planning to bring back Thai food. But they are “closed for maintenance” and, from the notes taped to the door, it looks like they’ve been closed for awhile and may be closed indefinitely. I stopped at Chopsticks instead, which was on my way back, and picked up Chinese.
Came home, frustrated by the musical chairs in the parking lot again, ate, then found very frustrating notes from the ghostwriting client on the project I turned in a little over a week ago – that will delay payment on what I’ve done (again – gee, what a surprise, yes, that’s sarcasm). We seem to work out trouble spots and things smooth out for a couple of months, and then the contradictions and chaos start up again. There’s a difference between natural growth of a series and chaos, and this tilts toward the latter for me too often.
I went to bed very unhappy. I slept reasonably well into Saturday, until Charlotte started fussing around three. I moved to the sofa. It took her about an hour to find me, and then she started kneading my kidneys (ouch). Bea finally got me up (gently) just before six. I had steadfastly refused to capitulate to Tessa’s howling and Willa’s general shenanigans.
After that slow start and dealing with chores and plants, I sat down and wrote four pages of a play I need to get done by early August. I’d already written pages on it, I’m continuing to finish it. I’m about a third of the way there. I hope that by writing 2-4 pages/day for the next few weeks, I can get it done.
I was sad and angry to hear about the attack at Berlin Pride. There are too many horrible people in the world, and there need to be harsher and faster consequences for them.
I rehearsed my sections of the poem several times. I read the next book for review, which was quite good. I was in rough emotional waters most of the day. I grieved about many things, not just a lovely dog I’ve never met.
Heated up leftovers for dinner and had a quiet night, feeling completely drained.
Charlotte fussed at me around 3 AM again on Sunday, so I got up and moved to the sofa and went back to sleep (after cuddling Bea). By a little before 6, Bea, Charlotte, and Tessa were all fussing at me, so I got up and fed them.
I did the morning routine, and the Community Tarot Reading for the Week, which you can read here. I made a birthday gift for a friend who hoped to make it to the poem.
I rehearsed the poems a few dozen times. Once I had the reading rhythm I wanted, I timed the sections and adjusted, until the timings were consistent. Each section can be 30 sections. The more complex one, with the harder words, ran 29.17 seconds regularly. The second ran only 18.12. So I was well in the parameters.
Pretty soon, I need to decide what I’m reading for the Boiler House reading, and what I’m workshopping during our residency. For the reading, I will have to start rehearsing and then time it with the stopwatch. I’m hoping I can read a flash fiction (250 words) that was published a few years ago, a prose poem/drabble, and an actual short poem, but we will see how it times out. If I need to cut/rearrange/swap out pieces, I will. I know one of the poems I want to bring into the workshop, an ekphrastic piece inspired by an art piece in the FutureLabs group show earlier this year. I have to do some work on it before I can bring it in. I have some other poems I’ve played with, but I’m not sure which ones to bring in yet. I’m still struggling to write the comic horror cleave poem. It’s still beyond my skill level, but I keep trying. We have 5 workshop sessions, so I will have to see if I bring in 4 poems and 1 short scripted scene, or 3 poems and 2 short scripted scenes. I’m leaning toward the latter, using one stage play and one radio play for the scripted scenes. But we’ll see how it shakes out. All the radio plays might already be out by then.
I worked hard to get myself into the mental headspace for the poem. Feeling so physically and mentally drained made it difficult. This is one of my favorite events all year, so I knew once I actually got there, I would perk up, but trying to properly prepare to be the best I could be in support of the rest of the group was a challenge.
Got dressed and left a little after 1:30. My mom decided to come, too, which was nice. She’s always been interested to see how it comes together. I stopped for gas on the way, and off we went. Traffic was a little sticky around Pittsfield (as usual), but not too bad. It was a lovely day to be out and about.
We arrived a little early. I got my mom settled, and found my chair. On one side was one of the poets I’ve known for the past 5 years of participating in this creation, and it’s always great to be around her. On my other side was a poet who has also been doing this regularly, but this was the first time we were positioned together and could really talk. Her mom (who is 96) sat with my mom (who is 101), and had a good natter. I also caught up with another poet I’ve been friends with since the first year, who is a wonderful playwright and historian, and also is the person who got me hooked up with WAM. Two chairs away was a younger poet whose first year was last year, and who now works in the marketing department for the Mount. A few more chairs down was a poet who’s done the event for several years who beat cancer. Down the other way was a skilled poet I’ve known for all the years I’ve done this whose poetry took a huge leap this year and it was beautiful to see. There was also a poet I met the first year I did this (who hasn’t been back until this year), and we were then in a playwrighting workshop together, and further down, the leader of that workshop, which is where FALL FOREVER was born. So there’s a lot of my personal history woven in with these poets. I WILL BE DIFFERENT was also born at a Word X Word event, although it was one of their Poets in Conversation series, rather than the large poem.
It flowed well. Many of the poems were far more political and pointed this year than in previous years, some funny and some angry. It always amazes me how the sections wind up supporting each other, when all we have is the final word of the previous poet’s poem to start our own.
We were called in earlier this year, and had more rehearsal time, which worked well. And we had a break to have a bit of food and drink in between the rehearsal and performance, and be silly together. That translated well when we got back into the tent to perform the poem.
Melissa Quirk, who wrote the first and last poem of the piece, also wrote a poem during the piece weaving bits of all our poems into a final poem. She creates with more love than just about anyone I’ve ever met, and it’s always an honor to be involved in anything with her.
The afternoon reminded me how healing poetry is. One of my fellow poets spoke to how important this kind of creation, in small pockets all over, is to our resilience.
A friend showed up to the poem. I wasn’t sure she’d make it, since it was her birthday, but she did. She loved the experience. It’s so difficult to explain it, because it’s so experiential. I got to give her the gift I made for her, and hang out for a bit. She gave us some tomatillos from the community garden at which she volunteers. We had a bigger audience than usual, which is always terrific, including some random people who were visiting the Mount and got curious.
The drive home was smooth. I guess the tourists and weekenders cleared out! We stopped at Adams Market, where a bought a mixed berry pie and some – I’m not sure what they are – custard wrapped in Belgian chocolate.
Home, cooked dinner, sat on the porch looking at the almost-full moon. The cats behaved while we were gone.
Slept reasonably well, although I woke up at 3:33 on Monday. It wasn’t Charlotte’s fault this time. I stayed in bed until just before 5, then started the morning routine.
Monday was pretty packed, that moon-in-Capricorn thing being a taskmaster.
I had to prepare paperwork and a strong response (cc’d to two attorneys general) in response to a company trying to scam my elderly mother out of an account she’s had for decades. That took a bit of work, and then I had to trot down to the post office and send things off via certified mail. I also deposited a check in the bank, a small payment for something I wasn’t expecting, but for which I am grateful. Lovely orange and black butterflies joined me on the walk, which was fun. I sent a polite but measured response to the ghostwriting client on the one project, and then another polite response when they were “checking in” to make sure I was still on schedule with the other project. I have not missed a deadline the entire time I’ve worked for them. I asked once for an extension of a single day when they sent me a massive rewrite. I’m so burned out on all this right now.
I worked on the ghostwriting all afternoon and am still behind. I need to do a big push today, because one assignment is due tomorrow, and then I have to start the rewrite on the other project on Thursday.
I didn’t get any of my own work done, which is self-sabotage and needs to stop. I did, however, get some work done on one of the LOIs, which is good.
Upset to hear about the mass shooting in Seattle.
I was sad to learn about the death of choreographer Hope Clarke. I knew her from waaaaay back in the days when I was an office assistant at the Stage Directors and Choreographers Foundation back in NYC, in my pre-Broadway days, when the office was so small it was only the executive director and me. Hope was involved in a lot of our programming and outreach, and was such a lovely person, in addition to being enormously talented. Being around her was always joyful, and I looked forward to any meeting or other activity in which she was involved.
I got a notification that a package was delivered, only it wasn’t. The notification said it was in the mailbox, which was ridiculous because it wasn’t an item that could fit (although they shove plenty of stuff that doesn’t fit in the mailbox, and then I can’t get it out). Usually, it’s left on the porch or in front of the door. Nothing. And I went down as the postal van was driving away, so it’s not like anyone had time to grab it (not that they would, we’re all pretty good about redelivering the misdelivered mail). I have to wait 24 hours to file a non-delivery claim. I am also sick and tired of paying for delivery and then WE are told to run around the neighborhood doing the unpaid labor for which we paid someone else, looking for the delivery. It’s from a company with whom I’ve already had issues, although this part is not their fault.
We had two of the mediocre frozen salmon patties left, so I made a salmon hash with them, potatoes, onion, garlic, and then peppers and spinach from the CSA box. The mediocrity was hidden within the good stuff.
Slept reasonably well, in spite of the humidity. My hip is bothering me a lot today. I tried stretching it out in the morning yoga. If I need a pain patch later, that’s what I will do. I think it will be Thursday, when I run all my regular errands, that I finally get the vacuum to the Fed Ex drop off.
So tired of all of it.
We are under a flood watch until tomorrow night. I doubt I will make it to yoga, if it’s pouring (like it has for the past few weeks). The rain was supposed to start overnight, but hasn’t yet. I hope it starts soon, to cut the humidity a bit. The temperatures aren’t bad, but the humidity is a bit oppressive.
Hope you’re having a good start to your week!
#attacks #collaboration #commissions #freelance #poetry #scriptwriting #theatre #writing -
Intent for the Week: Attempt to Bloom as Best I Can: https://devonellington.wordpress.com/2026/07/27/mon-july-27-2026-intent-for-the-week-attempt-to-bloom-as-best-i-can/
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Intent for the Week: Attempt to Bloom as Best I Can: https://devonellington.wordpress.com/2026/07/27/mon-july-27-2026-intent-for-the-week-attempt-to-bloom-as-best-i-can/
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Check out my new video on animating a dragon head slapping to the ground!
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Fellow #science #editors — whether you’re on staff or #freelance like me — please submit your critical comment to help stop the weaponization of the National Science Foundation by Russell Vought's Office of Management and Budget. #NSF #OMB #research 🧪
https://fight2win.standupforscience.net/campaign/ProtectNSF_Comment/
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Fellow #science #editors — whether you’re on staff or #freelance like me — please submit your critical comment to help stop the weaponization of the National Science Foundation by Russell Vought's Office of Management and Budget. #NSF #OMB #research 🧪
https://fight2win.standupforscience.net/campaign/ProtectNSF_Comment/
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Fri. July 24, 2026: Soft Summer Days
image courtesy of congerdesign from PixabayFriday, July 24, 2026
Waxing Moon
Pluto and Neptune Retrograde
Sunny and cool
I can’t believe we’re at the end of yet another week. The weekend is busy, a good busy, although I hope to have some downtime tomorrow.
I finished a bunch of stuff before online meditation began, which was good. Online meditation was good, and it made Charlotte happy.
After breakfast, I grabbed all the stuff and headed out. Did the grocery shopping, another errand, and the library. Got home and hauled everything up the stairs and put it away. Had a bit of a break to deal with some admin before logging onto the #FreelanceFriends chat, which was fun. I’m the host next week, so I’ll have to be in fine fettle, as they say.
I made us a lovely salad using CSA ingredients (two kinds of lettuce, tomatoes, cucumber, carrots), and took a short break to rehearse the poems before tackling the ghostwriting.
That went slowly, and I was frustrated with my own plodding. I figured out why it’s happening, even though the quality of what’s getting done is good. Now I have to figure out how to solve the plodding (although the plotting is going well, so there’s that).
The warranty people at the Eureka vacuum company continue to ignore me, so I asked Chewy (from where I bought it) what steps to take next. They sent me a return label. I kept the box (I am a notorious box keeper), so I will pack it up and send it back on Monday, and they will ship me a new one. No muss, no fuss. I am grateful. We are a pet-friendly household that needs a working vacuum.
Got another book review assignment, so I have two in my queue. There’s been so little work from that client lately it’s been frustrating.
I made pizza from scratch, using CSA ingredients (mostly) and it was so good. We even have leftovers. Frozen pizzas have gotten much smaller (for higher prices) AND have so many empty calories you can eat the whole thing still feeling hungry AND the lack of flavor at this point that going back to making our own exactly the way we want it with ingredients that satisfy us is a better choice.
I do, however, want to try Dough Boys in Adams, which is owned by the guy who owns Grazie here in North Adams. I’ve heard good things about them. The pizza place down the street that was good when we first moved here isn’t anymore.
Read a little bit in the evening, a book that’s annoying me. It’s written to specific market tropes without fulfilling them particularly well or doing something fresh with them. Yawn.
So Substack now encourages readers to feed all the posts through an AI-tool, pretending it’s to let readers know how much of any given work was AI-generated. Which is nonsense, all it’s doing is stealing yet more work. As if there weren’t enough reasons not to have anything to do with Substack anyway. Zero respect for anyone who stays on that platform. Even “but oh, they’re doing good journalism.” None of it needs to be done on that platform. There are plenty of choices.
Slept well. It was actually chilly, when I got up, in the 40’sF. I did my yoga and a 20-minute meditation session before heading out the door to the laundromat. Got everything done and was back a little after 7.
After breakfast, I will put it all away, do the morning chores, do a polish on the script commission pitch and get it out the door, and focus on the ghostwriting. If I get enough done, I may get to spend a couple of hours at the Clark this afternoon. If not, I will go to Williamstown later in the afternoon – WAM invited me to an open rehearsal of their residency piece, and I will attend that.
Tomorrow, I hope for a quiet day to putter around the house and rehearse my sections of the poem. Sunday is all about the poem. Rehearsal is earlier than it usually is, but the poem itself will be performed at 5. It’s supposed to be lovely and in the mid-80’s. Fingers crossed that’s true.
I’m hoping for a quiet, pleasant few summer days on the home front in contrast to the larger chaos. I need to recharge.
Have a great weekend, and we’ll catch up again next week!
#books #ethics #freelance #poetry #summer #writing -
Fri. July 24, 2026: Soft Summer Days
image courtesy of congerdesign from PixabayFriday, July 24, 2026
Waxing Moon
Pluto and Neptune Retrograde
Sunny and cool
I can’t believe we’re at the end of yet another week. The weekend is busy, a good busy, although I hope to have some downtime tomorrow.
I finished a bunch of stuff before online meditation began, which was good. Online meditation was good, and it made Charlotte happy.
After breakfast, I grabbed all the stuff and headed out. Did the grocery shopping, another errand, and the library. Got home and hauled everything up the stairs and put it away. Had a bit of a break to deal with some admin before logging onto the #FreelanceFriends chat, which was fun. I’m the host next week, so I’ll have to be in fine fettle, as they say.
I made us a lovely salad using CSA ingredients (two kinds of lettuce, tomatoes, cucumber, carrots), and took a short break to rehearse the poems before tackling the ghostwriting.
That went slowly, and I was frustrated with my own plodding. I figured out why it’s happening, even though the quality of what’s getting done is good. Now I have to figure out how to solve the plodding (although the plotting is going well, so there’s that).
The warranty people at the Eureka vacuum company continue to ignore me, so I asked Chewy (from where I bought it) what steps to take next. They sent me a return label. I kept the box (I am a notorious box keeper), so I will pack it up and send it back on Monday, and they will ship me a new one. No muss, no fuss. I am grateful. We are a pet-friendly household that needs a working vacuum.
Got another book review assignment, so I have two in my queue. There’s been so little work from that client lately it’s been frustrating.
I made pizza from scratch, using CSA ingredients (mostly) and it was so good. We even have leftovers. Frozen pizzas have gotten much smaller (for higher prices) AND have so many empty calories you can eat the whole thing still feeling hungry AND the lack of flavor at this point that going back to making our own exactly the way we want it with ingredients that satisfy us is a better choice.
I do, however, want to try Dough Boys in Adams, which is owned by the guy who owns Grazie here in North Adams. I’ve heard good things about them. The pizza place down the street that was good when we first moved here isn’t anymore.
Read a little bit in the evening, a book that’s annoying me. It’s written to specific market tropes without fulfilling them particularly well or doing something fresh with them. Yawn.
So Substack now encourages readers to feed all the posts through an AI-tool, pretending it’s to let readers know how much of any given work was AI-generated. Which is nonsense, all it’s doing is stealing yet more work. As if there weren’t enough reasons not to have anything to do with Substack anyway. Zero respect for anyone who stays on that platform. Even “but oh, they’re doing good journalism.” None of it needs to be done on that platform. There are plenty of choices.
Slept well. It was actually chilly, when I got up, in the 40’sF. I did my yoga and a 20-minute meditation session before heading out the door to the laundromat. Got everything done and was back a little after 7.
After breakfast, I will put it all away, do the morning chores, do a polish on the script commission pitch and get it out the door, and focus on the ghostwriting. If I get enough done, I may get to spend a couple of hours at the Clark this afternoon. If not, I will go to Williamstown later in the afternoon – WAM invited me to an open rehearsal of their residency piece, and I will attend that.
Tomorrow, I hope for a quiet day to putter around the house and rehearse my sections of the poem. Sunday is all about the poem. Rehearsal is earlier than it usually is, but the poem itself will be performed at 5. It’s supposed to be lovely and in the mid-80’s. Fingers crossed that’s true.
I’m hoping for a quiet, pleasant few summer days on the home front in contrast to the larger chaos. I need to recharge.
Have a great weekend, and we’ll catch up again next week!
#books #ethics #freelance #poetry #summer #writing -
Thurs. July 23, 2026: Just Plodding Along
image courtesy of Frank Magdelyns from PixabayThursday, July 23, 2026
Waxing Moon
Pluto and Neptune Retrograde
Mercury DIRECT (tonight, we still have to get through the day)
You can read the latest on the garden over at Gratitude and Growth.
Mercury goes direct tonight, thank goodness. We still have to get through the challenges of the day. It will go retrograde again on the 24th of October, but at least we have a little breathing space. Every time I see the internet trying to rehabilitate Mercury retrograde, I roll my eyes. Some periods just suck, and Merc Ret is one of them. Staying as quiet as possible and doing an odd bit of thrift shopping is the best way I’ve found to get through it.
I am tired, however, of all the urgency influencers out there. Sitting here on earth looking up, things are always moving across the sky. We can’t react, or even respond, to everything. We can be aware of it, but sometimes, we just need to look up and watch it cycle through. Enjoy that the sky looks pretty and there’s a lot to see up there. Every season will be different not just from the other seasons, but for us as individuals. It’s great to have information, but when it’s delivered with this constant frenetic insistence (especially when the person delivering it is trying to sell you something), take it all with a grain of salt.
Taking a break from posting promotional material for my own work, and really looking at what’s out there has been informative. I’ve done a lot of blocking these past six weeks!
After the morning chores yesterday, I settled into work. I had a case of the “I don’t wannas” because what I wanted to do was to go back to bed. Too bad for me!
I got some admin done, and a decent chunk of work on BETTING MAN. Switched over to the ghostwriting, and felt like I was plodding along. I like the quality of what I’m doing, but I’m not doing it fast enough.
The Nolan Wells situation gets more and more heartbreaking. And more enraging, as MS officials just think they can keep covering it up. Holding back the man’s throat and lungs from the second autopsy is very suspicious. While tox screens might not yet be complete (they usually take at least two weeks, sometimes more), when there’s a second autopsy, they need all the bits. And now one of his “friends” is going on a right-wing podcast to justify himself. Trash, all the way around. And on top of it, cops in Madison, WI shot a Black man in the head, executing him on the street in broad daylight.
Hakeem Jeffries proved he’s colluding with the right when 6 Dems voted (the exact number needed) to approve the bill that tacked on integrating our military with Israel’s and the SAVE act. Jeffries is as corrupt as the rest of them. He and Schumer have to be removed.
And now they’re all going on vacation until the middle of September. Disgusting. And they’re still covering up what’s going on with Mitch McConnell. If he’s dead, they’re committing fraud. If they’re keeping him in a vegetative state on life support, it’s beyond grotesque. As much as I loathe McConnell, there is a sense of tragedy that no one cares enough about him as a human being to allow him a dignified death. Not his wife, not his children, not his colleagues.
I plodded along on the ghostwriting, not getting as far as I wanted. I’m okay, as far as the deadline goes, but I’d hoped to get it in a little early. No such luck, I fear. We will see how today and tomorrow go.
Trotted down to pick up my CSA box in the afternoon. It was a nice walk, not too hot and humid, and good to get me moving.
The box is glorious: two pints of cherry tomatoes, lettuce, onions, green pepper, summer squash, and carrots. I used a lot of it in a pasta primavera, adding garlic and the basil we’re growing. I kept sneaking bites of everything as I chopped it. So delicious. We are so lucky, and I am so grateful.
Sat on the porch after dinner reading and watching the world go by. I’m reading a novel by a writer well-known for nonfiction (and I’m a fan of the nonfiction), but this is their first novel. It needed a developmental edit and some work on structure. The structure is basically non-existent. There’s some lovely writing in it, but it doesn’t hold together.
Slept reasonably well until Charlotte started fussing a little after 3, and she was just impossible. I got up just before 5 and started the morning routine. Today is online meditation group (I guess we’re breaking in August?). I’ll do the usual Thursday errands after breakfast, hop on the #FreelanceFriends chat, and then get some writing done and rehearse the poems. If I can find what I want in the store, I’ll make pizza from scratch tonight. It’s cool enough.
What I get done today on the ghostwriting will help define tomorrow, if I can add something to my afternoon, or if I have to just keep my head down and work. Wish me luck!
#corruption #CSA #freelance #MercuryRetrograde #reading #writing -
Thurs. July 23, 2026: Just Plodding Along
image courtesy of Frank Magdelyns from PixabayThursday, July 23, 2026
Waxing Moon
Pluto and Neptune Retrograde
Mercury DIRECT (tonight, we still have to get through the day)
You can read the latest on the garden over at Gratitude and Growth.
Mercury goes direct tonight, thank goodness. We still have to get through the challenges of the day. It will go retrograde again on the 24th of October, but at least we have a little breathing space. Every time I see the internet trying to rehabilitate Mercury retrograde, I roll my eyes. Some periods just suck, and Merc Ret is one of them. Staying as quiet as possible and doing an odd bit of thrift shopping is the best way I’ve found to get through it.
I am tired, however, of all the urgency influencers out there. Sitting here on earth looking up, things are always moving across the sky. We can’t react, or even respond, to everything. We can be aware of it, but sometimes, we just need to look up and watch it cycle through. Enjoy that the sky looks pretty and there’s a lot to see up there. Every season will be different not just from the other seasons, but for us as individuals. It’s great to have information, but when it’s delivered with this constant frenetic insistence (especially when the person delivering it is trying to sell you something), take it all with a grain of salt.
Taking a break from posting promotional material for my own work, and really looking at what’s out there has been informative. I’ve done a lot of blocking these past six weeks!
After the morning chores yesterday, I settled into work. I had a case of the “I don’t wannas” because what I wanted to do was to go back to bed. Too bad for me!
I got some admin done, and a decent chunk of work on BETTING MAN. Switched over to the ghostwriting, and felt like I was plodding along. I like the quality of what I’m doing, but I’m not doing it fast enough.
The Nolan Wells situation gets more and more heartbreaking. And more enraging, as MS officials just think they can keep covering it up. Holding back the man’s throat and lungs from the second autopsy is very suspicious. While tox screens might not yet be complete (they usually take at least two weeks, sometimes more), when there’s a second autopsy, they need all the bits. And now one of his “friends” is going on a right-wing podcast to justify himself. Trash, all the way around. And on top of it, cops in Madison, WI shot a Black man in the head, executing him on the street in broad daylight.
Hakeem Jeffries proved he’s colluding with the right when 6 Dems voted (the exact number needed) to approve the bill that tacked on integrating our military with Israel’s and the SAVE act. Jeffries is as corrupt as the rest of them. He and Schumer have to be removed.
And now they’re all going on vacation until the middle of September. Disgusting. And they’re still covering up what’s going on with Mitch McConnell. If he’s dead, they’re committing fraud. If they’re keeping him in a vegetative state on life support, it’s beyond grotesque. As much as I loathe McConnell, there is a sense of tragedy that no one cares enough about him as a human being to allow him a dignified death. Not his wife, not his children, not his colleagues.
I plodded along on the ghostwriting, not getting as far as I wanted. I’m okay, as far as the deadline goes, but I’d hoped to get it in a little early. No such luck, I fear. We will see how today and tomorrow go.
Trotted down to pick up my CSA box in the afternoon. It was a nice walk, not too hot and humid, and good to get me moving.
The box is glorious: two pints of cherry tomatoes, lettuce, onions, green pepper, summer squash, and carrots. I used a lot of it in a pasta primavera, adding garlic and the basil we’re growing. I kept sneaking bites of everything as I chopped it. So delicious. We are so lucky, and I am so grateful.
Sat on the porch after dinner reading and watching the world go by. I’m reading a novel by a writer well-known for nonfiction (and I’m a fan of the nonfiction), but this is their first novel. It needed a developmental edit and some work on structure. The structure is basically non-existent. There’s some lovely writing in it, but it doesn’t hold together.
Slept reasonably well until Charlotte started fussing a little after 3, and she was just impossible. I got up just before 5 and started the morning routine. Today is online meditation group (I guess we’re breaking in August?). I’ll do the usual Thursday errands after breakfast, hop on the #FreelanceFriends chat, and then get some writing done and rehearse the poems. If I can find what I want in the store, I’ll make pizza from scratch tonight. It’s cool enough.
What I get done today on the ghostwriting will help define tomorrow, if I can add something to my afternoon, or if I have to just keep my head down and work. Wish me luck!
#corruption #CSA #freelance #MercuryRetrograde #reading #writing -
Layoffs Leave The Future Of Xbox’s Award-Winning Accessibility Efforts In Doubt
https://fed.brid.gy/r/https://aftermath.site/xbox-layoffs-accessibility/
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Layoffs Leave The Future Of Xbox’s Award-Winning Accessibility Efforts In Doubt
https://web.brid.gy/r/https://aftermath.site/xbox-layoffs-accessibility/
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Wed. July 22, 2026: A Comfortable, Rainy Day
image courtesy of Rajesh Balouria from PixabayWednesday, July 22, 2026
Waxing Moon
Pluto, Mercury, Neptune Retrograde
Cloudy and humid
Here we are, in the middle of another week. I hope yours is going well.
Yesterday morning, I did the usual chores and a bunch of admin. The sky got darker and darker, and I had to turn on the lights by 9 AM. Shortly after, a big thunderstorm came through, so I paused my work for a bit. Even after the thunder passed, the rain kept bucketing down. I do love a good thunderstorm, though.
I revised the synopsis for the script commission pitch, and went over the pages themselves again. I’m feeling good about both. I’ll let them sit for a couple of days, and then do another polish pass before sending it out at the end of the week.
I did some research for an LOI I want to send out next week. I really like what I’ve learned about the company so far, and would very much like to work with them.
I wrote a little over a thousand words on BETTING MAN. I’m trying to get back into the flow, and that means writing something on it every day. Taking off days during the drafting has been counterproductive, and I need to course-correct. I’m already later than I hoped to be on this draft. But I wrote a fun argument scene, which I will hone today before moving on.
It was cool enough to have soup for lunch, and then I switched over to the ghostwriting.
It was slow going, with lots of stops to check information, but the quality of the work is decent. I need to ramp it up the next few days, though, instead of plodding along.
It rained heavily most of the day, and I didn’t make it to yoga. The cats slept most of the day, and I wished I could, too. I heated up some leftovers for dinner, and then read and played with the cats at night. I’ve been doing a good bit of thinking the last few days/weeks, and I have a better idea of changes I want to make over the next few months that will serve us well in the long run. I need to be realistic as to where the best choices are for my time, energy, and creativity. I also did some meal planning, since I pick up the CSA box today, and tomorrow is grocery day.
Charlotte fussed at me starting a little after 3 this morning. I didn’t think I’d gone back to sleep, but when I finally got up it was after 6, so I must have. Getting up after 6 is late around here!
I will do some work on BETTING MAN this morning, and then switch over to the ghostwriting for the rest of the day. This afternoon, I head to Savvy Hive to pick up this week’s CSA, and I’ll use some of the ingredients to cook dinner. I will also rehearse the poems.
Tomorrow is a pretty stacked day, and I doubt I’ll get much writing done, so I need to make use of today’s hours.
Have a good one!
#energy #freelance #writing -
Wed. July 22, 2026: A Comfortable, Rainy Day
image courtesy of Rajesh Balouria from PixabayWednesday, July 22, 2026
Waxing Moon
Pluto, Mercury, Neptune Retrograde
Cloudy and humid
Here we are, in the middle of another week. I hope yours is going well.
Yesterday morning, I did the usual chores and a bunch of admin. The sky got darker and darker, and I had to turn on the lights by 9 AM. Shortly after, a big thunderstorm came through, so I paused my work for a bit. Even after the thunder passed, the rain kept bucketing down. I do love a good thunderstorm, though.
I revised the synopsis for the script commission pitch, and went over the pages themselves again. I’m feeling good about both. I’ll let them sit for a couple of days, and then do another polish pass before sending it out at the end of the week.
I did some research for an LOI I want to send out next week. I really like what I’ve learned about the company so far, and would very much like to work with them.
I wrote a little over a thousand words on BETTING MAN. I’m trying to get back into the flow, and that means writing something on it every day. Taking off days during the drafting has been counterproductive, and I need to course-correct. I’m already later than I hoped to be on this draft. But I wrote a fun argument scene, which I will hone today before moving on.
It was cool enough to have soup for lunch, and then I switched over to the ghostwriting.
It was slow going, with lots of stops to check information, but the quality of the work is decent. I need to ramp it up the next few days, though, instead of plodding along.
It rained heavily most of the day, and I didn’t make it to yoga. The cats slept most of the day, and I wished I could, too. I heated up some leftovers for dinner, and then read and played with the cats at night. I’ve been doing a good bit of thinking the last few days/weeks, and I have a better idea of changes I want to make over the next few months that will serve us well in the long run. I need to be realistic as to where the best choices are for my time, energy, and creativity. I also did some meal planning, since I pick up the CSA box today, and tomorrow is grocery day.
Charlotte fussed at me starting a little after 3 this morning. I didn’t think I’d gone back to sleep, but when I finally got up it was after 6, so I must have. Getting up after 6 is late around here!
I will do some work on BETTING MAN this morning, and then switch over to the ghostwriting for the rest of the day. This afternoon, I head to Savvy Hive to pick up this week’s CSA, and I’ll use some of the ingredients to cook dinner. I will also rehearse the poems.
Tomorrow is a pretty stacked day, and I doubt I’ll get much writing done, so I need to make use of today’s hours.
Have a good one!
#energy #freelance #writing -
Got another "translation job" offer today.
Except it wasn't a translation job at all.
It was training AI.
For pay that, where I live, wouldn't even reach minimum wage. But of course it was dressed up as "freelance contracting," because apparently exploitation sounds fancier if you invoice for it.
No.
I'm not helping build the machine that's already taking work away from translators while paying translators less than they deserve to teach it.
I'd genuinely rather earn nothing than spend my time feeding your slop machine.Hard pass.
#Translation #Translators #AI #WorkersRights #Freelance #NoAISlop
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Got another "translation job" offer today.
Except it wasn't a translation job at all.
It was training AI.
For pay that, where I live, wouldn't even reach minimum wage. But of course it was dressed up as "freelance contracting," because apparently exploitation sounds fancier if you invoice for it.
No.
I'm not helping build the machine that's already taking work away from translators while paying translators less than they deserve to teach it.
I'd genuinely rather earn nothing than spend my time feeding your slop machine.Hard pass.
#Translation #Translators #AI #WorkersRights #Freelance #NoAISlop
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Get ready for a special edition of The WP Minute’s Agency Action podcast! Matt Medeiros (filling in for a vacationing Kurt and Toby) is joined by developer and WordPress core contributor Brendan O’Connell. Together, they explore the increasing role of AI in agency life. The discussion touches on the technology’s impact on automation, creativity, and web hosting.
You’ll also find tips on […]
https://thewpminute.com/automate-build-or-buy-the-new-agency-playbook/