#freelancefriends — Public Fediverse posts

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

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!

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

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!

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

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!

Fri. Jan. 23, 2026: Long Distance Support

Friday, January 23, 2026

Waxing Moon

Uranus and Jupiter Retrograde

Partly sunny and bitterly cold

The end of another week. Although my weekend started already, and I am honoring the strike today.

Charlotte was delighted by our ZOOM meditation, and everyone was delighted their favorite feline princess participated.

Missing last week was fine, because the regular leader was out ill, so probably Madame Download ran it.

After breakfast, I bundled up and headed out to brush off the car. It wasn’t as difficult as I feared, and I was soon on the road. Grocery store, library, liquor store, home. I made it back before it started snowing again.

I joined the #FreelanceFriends chat on Bluesky, which was fun, ate lunch, and then turned around the edits for the 2027 Spells. They were just minor tweaks, and my editor was right about everything (as usual). I wanted to make sure to get them to my editor yesterday, since Llewelleyn is located in MN, and I wanted to honor their choices today.

My bad hip was giving me a lot of trouble, so I decided to try one of those pain patches that you slap on and it gives topical relief. The first forty-five minutes or so, it made me dizzy. Then it was better for a few hours. Then, later in the evening, it made me dizzy again, and when I took it off, I was nauseated. I think I prefer Tiger Balm or the Badger brand rubs and a heating pad.

Read in the afternoon. Slept reasonably well, although I had odd dreams. There’s a very specific [fictional] hotel that turns up in a lot of my dreams over and over again. I need to figure out the various symbolism in that place.

I did not want to get up this morning, but Tessa and Charlotte managed to get me out of bed just before 7. Very late for this household. Everyone was fed, morning routine, free write, art journaling.

I am honoring the strike in Minnesota today by not doing any client work and not spending any money. I will, however, be doing community-based work offline.

I am furious that 7 House Dems voted to keep funding a domestic terrorist organization. May they be driven out of office this autumn, and may none of them have a moment of peace again. It also underlines how useless Jeffries is. He can’t keep the coalition together, didn’t even TRY (he refused to whip the votes), and basically, doesn’t give a damn that people are being kidnapped and murdered in the street. He can go to hell right along with the rest of them.

It will get well below freezing tonight and tomorrow night, and then another snowstorm on Sunday into Monday, dumping about 7 inches or so of snow. I have not made plans to leave the house this weekend. I will hunker down here at home, and hope the power stays on.

Have a good one, and we’ll catch up and warm up together on Tuesday.

#freelance #FreelanceFriends #reading #walkTheTalk #writing

Thurs. Jan. 22, 2026: Getting Colder

Thursday, January 22, 2025

Waxing Moon

Uranus and Jupiter Retrograde

Cloudy and cold

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

Yesterday, I caught up on some admin and email. I saw a project call I really want to submit a proposal to – I have until February 1, so it can percolate. It’s site-specific, and I think I could really run with it. No pun intended.

I had trouble settling into the ghostwriting. My mind wanted to wander to other things. There’s so much to worry about right now that it’s difficult to settle in and work.

But showing up and doing the work matters. The free writing is another tool for that, as it the art journaling. Show up. Do the work. Throughout my theatre career (and my writing career), there have always been others who have more talent and greater skills. But I show up and do the work, which is how I can actually build a career. Does it take a toll? On some days, a big one. But that’s the trade-off. And I hope that our generation can set a healthier foundation for future generations. In spite of what’s going on right now.

I forgot to mention in yesterday’s post that my invoice for the book reviews was paid, so that was a relief. I still have to worry about the car inspection next week. Hopefully, I will get paid on one of the ghostwriting assignments before the end of the month.

There’s an intriguing job listing at a company with whom I’ve wanted to work since I moved out this way, so I need to put together an LOI today.

I worked on the ghostwriting all day, and submitted it a little after 4 PM. And then my brain ached!

I tried to read a little. I gave up on a book that presents itself as a cozy mystery but is a bundle of right-wing garbage. I gave up on another supposed cozy mystery with older characters because it was full of overused clichés. I’m finally reading another mystery that’s okay, but not great.

The human trafficking of a five-year-old child wearing a spiderman backpack and a bunny hat still isn’t enough for Congress to get off its entitled ass and do something. I am so disgusted. They are just going to let these goons run rampant and kill or imprison thousands of people. They can all go to hell. I don’t want to see anymore posts from Congress people about “this is so horrible!” Yes, mofo, we know, and it is LITERALLY your JOB to stop it. So do it.

I played with some poem ideas that I hope I can work on in more detail over the weekend.

Slept reasonably well, although I woke up a few times. Morning routine was fine, including the free write and the art journaling. The sketches in the latter are rather chaotic, but reflective of current times and emotions.

On today’s agenda: meditation, dig out the car, go to the grocery store and the library, #FreelanceFriends, turn around the edits on the 2027 Spell-A-Day, get some work done on BETTING MAN, and start the next ghostwriting assignment.

I am the only one who hasn’t dug out the car yet, and I dread it. It’s supposed to be in the mid-30’s, so I hope it won’t be too bad. I want to do my errands and bivouac for the weekend. Tonight, it’s supposed to get brutally cold, -10F with windchills in the -30s. I want to be in for the weekend before noon today, if at all possible.

#books #disgust #fiction #freelance #FreelanceFriends #ghostwriting #reading #weather #writing

Fri. Jan. 16, 2026: The End of Another Week

Friday, January 16, 2026

Day Before Dark Moon

Uranus and Jupiter Retrograde

High winds, cloudy, cold

The end of another week. The weeks both fly by and so much happens, each feels like multiple months.

I wound up missing meditation yesterday. I’d had an inkling, earlier in the morning, that it would be a good idea to skip it, dismissed the intuition, but then got distracted and did. I’m sure it was the right outcome. Charlotte slept right through and didn’t notice.

I finished the VICIOUS galleys. Yowza, my editor caught a good logistical hole. Fixed that, and some inconsistencies the copyeditor caught. We think we’ve sorted the formatting issues. One final proof, and hopefully we can sign off on the digital, and then get the print proofs.

Got so caught up that I was late to #FreelanceFriends, but got there eventually.

Bea is getting very chatty, and knocked my phone out of my hand when I tried to check messages at a time she asked for attention. She knows how to stand up for herself.

Updated my Fearless Ink site to replace all references to “content” with “copy.” I am not “creating content”  or “managing content.” That has come to mean they want to hire one freelancer to do 12 jobs underpaying what one should cost. I write copy. I tell stories. I added in rates for script coverage. Since I’m not going through a coverage agency, I can set my own rates. And they ain’t cheap.

I need to figure out what I want to do with the Ink-Dipped Advice blog. Possibly go down to once a month, in the middle of the month. I basically abandoned it last year.

I had a good, solid session on the next ghostwriting assignment, and read the next book for review, so I can review it today. I’ll read the next book tonight, and then invoice the batch.

Today, I’m headed out for errands: grocery, library, and a couple of other things. Maybe mail a few cards at the post office. Then, writing and ghostwriting (my deadline for the next project is next Wednesday). And doing the final proof on VICIOUS. And riding my elected officials.

Schumer, Jeffries, and even Cory Booker are all useless. Yeah, train murdering goons to be better at murdering, there’s a plan. No, guys, you defund the murder squads.

On the weekend’s agenda: I’m hoping for a quiet day tomorrow, just reading, writing, and some housework. Sunday afternoon, I back up a friend who’s doing tarot readings at the gallery.

I want to keep the weekend simple. I need some downtime.

#bookReview #books #fiction #freelance #FreelanceFriends #NinaBellMysteries #reading #writing

Fri. Jan. 16, 2026: The End of Another Week

Friday, January 16, 2026

Day Before Dark Moon

Uranus and Jupiter Retrograde

High winds, cloudy, cold

The end of another week. The weeks both fly by and so much happens, each feels like multiple months.

I wound up missing meditation yesterday. I’d had an inkling, earlier in the morning, that it would be a good idea to skip it, dismissed the intuition, but then got distracted and did. I’m sure it was the right outcome. Charlotte slept right through and didn’t notice.

I finished the VICIOUS galleys. Yowza, my editor caught a good logistical hole. Fixed that, and some inconsistencies the copyeditor caught. We think we’ve sorted the formatting issues. One final proof, and hopefully we can sign off on the digital, and then get the print proofs.

Got so caught up that I was late to #FreelanceFriends, but got there eventually.

Bea is getting very chatty, and knocked my phone out of my hand when I tried to check messages at a time she asked for attention. She knows how to stand up for herself.

Updated my Fearless Ink site to replace all references to “content” with “copy.” I am not “creating content”  or “managing content.” That has come to mean they want to hire one freelancer to do 12 jobs underpaying what one should cost. I write copy. I tell stories. I added in rates for script coverage. Since I’m not going through a coverage agency, I can set my own rates. And they ain’t cheap.

I need to figure out what I want to do with the Ink-Dipped Advice blog. Possibly go down to once a month, in the middle of the month. I basically abandoned it last year.

I had a good, solid session on the next ghostwriting assignment, and read the next book for review, so I can review it today. I’ll read the next book tonight, and then invoice the batch.

Today, I’m headed out for errands: grocery, library, and a couple of other things. Maybe mail a few cards at the post office. Then, writing and ghostwriting (my deadline for the next project is next Wednesday). And doing the final proof on VICIOUS. And riding my elected officials.

Schumer, Jeffries, and even Cory Booker are all useless. Yeah, train murdering goons to be better at murdering, there’s a plan. No, guys, you defund the murder squads.

On the weekend’s agenda: I’m hoping for a quiet day tomorrow, just reading, writing, and some housework. Sunday afternoon, I back up a friend who’s doing tarot readings at the gallery.

I want to keep the weekend simple. I need some downtime.

#bookReview #books #fiction #freelance #FreelanceFriends #NinaBellMysteries #reading #writing

Fri. Jan. 16, 2026: The End of Another Week

Friday, January 16, 2026

Day Before Dark Moon

Uranus and Jupiter Retrograde

High winds, cloudy, cold

The end of another week. The weeks both fly by and so much happens, each feels like multiple months.

I wound up missing meditation yesterday. I’d had an inkling, earlier in the morning, that it would be a good idea to skip it, dismissed the intuition, but then got distracted and did. I’m sure it was the right outcome. Charlotte slept right through and didn’t notice.

I finished the VICIOUS galleys. Yowza, my editor caught a good logistical hole. Fixed that, and some inconsistencies the copyeditor caught. We think we’ve sorted the formatting issues. One final proof, and hopefully we can sign off on the digital, and then get the print proofs.

Got so caught up that I was late to #FreelanceFriends, but got there eventually.

Bea is getting very chatty, and knocked my phone out of my hand when I tried to check messages at a time she asked for attention. She knows how to stand up for herself.

Updated my Fearless Ink site to replace all references to “content” with “copy.” I am not “creating content”  or “managing content.” That has come to mean they want to hire one freelancer to do 12 jobs underpaying what one should cost. I write copy. I tell stories. I added in rates for script coverage. Since I’m not going through a coverage agency, I can set my own rates. And they ain’t cheap.

I need to figure out what I want to do with the Ink-Dipped Advice blog. Possibly go down to once a month, in the middle of the month. I basically abandoned it last year.

I had a good, solid session on the next ghostwriting assignment, and read the next book for review, so I can review it today. I’ll read the next book tonight, and then invoice the batch.

Today, I’m headed out for errands: grocery, library, and a couple of other things. Maybe mail a few cards at the post office. Then, writing and ghostwriting (my deadline for the next project is next Wednesday). And doing the final proof on VICIOUS. And riding my elected officials.

Schumer, Jeffries, and even Cory Booker are all useless. Yeah, train murdering goons to be better at murdering, there’s a plan. No, guys, you defund the murder squads.

On the weekend’s agenda: I’m hoping for a quiet day tomorrow, just reading, writing, and some housework. Sunday afternoon, I back up a friend who’s doing tarot readings at the gallery.

I want to keep the weekend simple. I need some downtime.

#bookReview #books #fiction #freelance #FreelanceFriends #NinaBellMysteries #reading #writing

Fri. Jan. 16, 2026: The End of Another Week

Friday, January 16, 2026

Day Before Dark Moon

Uranus and Jupiter Retrograde

High winds, cloudy, cold

The end of another week. The weeks both fly by and so much happens, each feels like multiple months.

I wound up missing meditation yesterday. I’d had an inkling, earlier in the morning, that it would be a good idea to skip it, dismissed the intuition, but then got distracted and did. I’m sure it was the right outcome. Charlotte slept right through and didn’t notice.

I finished the VICIOUS galleys. Yowza, my editor caught a good logistical hole. Fixed that, and some inconsistencies the copyeditor caught. We think we’ve sorted the formatting issues. One final proof, and hopefully we can sign off on the digital, and then get the print proofs.

Got so caught up that I was late to #FreelanceFriends, but got there eventually.

Bea is getting very chatty, and knocked my phone out of my hand when I tried to check messages at a time she asked for attention. She knows how to stand up for herself.

Updated my Fearless Ink site to replace all references to “content” with “copy.” I am not “creating content”  or “managing content.” That has come to mean they want to hire one freelancer to do 12 jobs underpaying what one should cost. I write copy. I tell stories. I added in rates for script coverage. Since I’m not going through a coverage agency, I can set my own rates. And they ain’t cheap.

I need to figure out what I want to do with the Ink-Dipped Advice blog. Possibly go down to once a month, in the middle of the month. I basically abandoned it last year.

I had a good, solid session on the next ghostwriting assignment, and read the next book for review, so I can review it today. I’ll read the next book tonight, and then invoice the batch.

Today, I’m headed out for errands: grocery, library, and a couple of other things. Maybe mail a few cards at the post office. Then, writing and ghostwriting (my deadline for the next project is next Wednesday). And doing the final proof on VICIOUS. And riding my elected officials.

Schumer, Jeffries, and even Cory Booker are all useless. Yeah, train murdering goons to be better at murdering, there’s a plan. No, guys, you defund the murder squads.

On the weekend’s agenda: I’m hoping for a quiet day tomorrow, just reading, writing, and some housework. Sunday afternoon, I back up a friend who’s doing tarot readings at the gallery.

I want to keep the weekend simple. I need some downtime.

#bookReview #books #fiction #freelance #FreelanceFriends #NinaBellMysteries #reading #writing

Thurs. Jan. 15, 2026: Feeling Heavy in Spite of a Simple Day

Thursday, January 15, 2026

Waning Moon

Uranus & Jupiter Retrograde

Rainy and raw

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

Yesterday was a solid, quiet workday. I got the laundry folded and put away. I took down the stair lights. I did some other tidying up. I contacted my elected officials, on state and federal levels. I’ve contacted my federal officials daily, but I needed to ask my state officials to vote “no” on an upcoming bill. I worked on the ghostwriting. I did 124 pages of the proofs of VICIOUS CRITIC. There are some formatting issues that I hope can be resolved. I may have to rekey a few things. I’ll get back to that today, and, hopefully, finish this round, and we can see where we are.

I’m much happier with VICIOUS now that I’ve had some time away from it. I’m sure I’ll be sick of it again after all the proofs and tweaks, but at the moment, I like the way it’s shaped up. It stands well where it is, and is very much a love letter to working off-Broadway at that time, and also sets some good foundations for series arcs.

I haven’t had the heart to do the marketing rounds, but I need to get back to that.

Leftovers for dinner, which were very good. In the evening, I read THE SECRET CHRISTMAS LIBRARY by Jenny Colgan, which was sweet, and played with the cats.

I managed to sleep until 4:30 this morning, with strange dreams, but didn’t get up until 6. Morning routine was good. I have the online meditation group later this morning (Charlotte will be thrilled), and then the #FreelanceFriends chat at noon my time. I’ll do the daily rounds of elected officials. My House Rep’s contact portals are still all down. I’m sure it’s deliberate. I hope someone primaries him this year, because I don’t want to vote for him. I want someone who will actually listen and fight. I have to file paperwork with the Attorney General’s office about a scammer who’s been harassing me since early December. I sent a cease & desist letter by certified mail, and that’s been ignored, so I’m letting the AG’s office handle it from here. I’m not sure if I can block this bozo now, or need to keep all the contact attempts as evidence. The AG’s office will let me know.

The bulk of the day will be the proofs and the ghostwriting, and hopefully one of the books for review. They’ve started new protocols on all of it, and it’s a PITA.

I’m feeling tired and heavy today. But we just keep on keeping on, you know? Have a good one.

#books #freelance #FreelanceFriends #life #mentalHealth #NinaBellMysteries #reading #writing

Thurs. Jan. 15, 2026: Feeling Heavy in Spite of a Simple Day

Thursday, January 15, 2026

Waning Moon

Uranus & Jupiter Retrograde

Rainy and raw

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

Yesterday was a solid, quiet workday. I got the laundry folded and put away. I took down the stair lights. I did some other tidying up. I contacted my elected officials, on state and federal levels. I’ve contacted my federal officials daily, but I needed to ask my state officials to vote “no” on an upcoming bill. I worked on the ghostwriting. I did 124 pages of the proofs of VICIOUS CRITIC. There are some formatting issues that I hope can be resolved. I may have to rekey a few things. I’ll get back to that today, and, hopefully, finish this round, and we can see where we are.

I’m much happier with VICIOUS now that I’ve had some time away from it. I’m sure I’ll be sick of it again after all the proofs and tweaks, but at the moment, I like the way it’s shaped up. It stands well where it is, and is very much a love letter to working off-Broadway at that time, and also sets some good foundations for series arcs.

I haven’t had the heart to do the marketing rounds, but I need to get back to that.

Leftovers for dinner, which were very good. In the evening, I read THE SECRET CHRISTMAS LIBRARY by Jenny Colgan, which was sweet, and played with the cats.

I managed to sleep until 4:30 this morning, with strange dreams, but didn’t get up until 6. Morning routine was good. I have the online meditation group later this morning (Charlotte will be thrilled), and then the #FreelanceFriends chat at noon my time. I’ll do the daily rounds of elected officials. My House Rep’s contact portals are still all down. I’m sure it’s deliberate. I hope someone primaries him this year, because I don’t want to vote for him. I want someone who will actually listen and fight. I have to file paperwork with the Attorney General’s office about a scammer who’s been harassing me since early December. I sent a cease & desist letter by certified mail, and that’s been ignored, so I’m letting the AG’s office handle it from here. I’m not sure if I can block this bozo now, or need to keep all the contact attempts as evidence. The AG’s office will let me know.

The bulk of the day will be the proofs and the ghostwriting, and hopefully one of the books for review. They’ve started new protocols on all of it, and it’s a PITA.

I’m feeling tired and heavy today. But we just keep on keeping on, you know? Have a good one.

#books #freelance #FreelanceFriends #life #mentalHealth #NinaBellMysteries #reading #writing

Thurs. Jan. 15, 2026: Feeling Heavy in Spite of a Simple Day

Thursday, January 15, 2026

Waning Moon

Uranus & Jupiter Retrograde

Rainy and raw

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

Yesterday was a solid, quiet workday. I got the laundry folded and put away. I took down the stair lights. I did some other tidying up. I contacted my elected officials, on state and federal levels. I’ve contacted my federal officials daily, but I needed to ask my state officials to vote “no” on an upcoming bill. I worked on the ghostwriting. I did 124 pages of the proofs of VICIOUS CRITIC. There are some formatting issues that I hope can be resolved. I may have to rekey a few things. I’ll get back to that today, and, hopefully, finish this round, and we can see where we are.

I’m much happier with VICIOUS now that I’ve had some time away from it. I’m sure I’ll be sick of it again after all the proofs and tweaks, but at the moment, I like the way it’s shaped up. It stands well where it is, and is very much a love letter to working off-Broadway at that time, and also sets some good foundations for series arcs.

I haven’t had the heart to do the marketing rounds, but I need to get back to that.

Leftovers for dinner, which were very good. In the evening, I read THE SECRET CHRISTMAS LIBRARY by Jenny Colgan, which was sweet, and played with the cats.

I managed to sleep until 4:30 this morning, with strange dreams, but didn’t get up until 6. Morning routine was good. I have the online meditation group later this morning (Charlotte will be thrilled), and then the #FreelanceFriends chat at noon my time. I’ll do the daily rounds of elected officials. My House Rep’s contact portals are still all down. I’m sure it’s deliberate. I hope someone primaries him this year, because I don’t want to vote for him. I want someone who will actually listen and fight. I have to file paperwork with the Attorney General’s office about a scammer who’s been harassing me since early December. I sent a cease & desist letter by certified mail, and that’s been ignored, so I’m letting the AG’s office handle it from here. I’m not sure if I can block this bozo now, or need to keep all the contact attempts as evidence. The AG’s office will let me know.

The bulk of the day will be the proofs and the ghostwriting, and hopefully one of the books for review. They’ve started new protocols on all of it, and it’s a PITA.

I’m feeling tired and heavy today. But we just keep on keeping on, you know? Have a good one.

#books #freelance #FreelanceFriends #life #mentalHealth #NinaBellMysteries #reading #writing

Thurs. Jan. 15, 2026: Feeling Heavy in Spite of a Simple Day

Thursday, January 15, 2026

Waning Moon

Uranus & Jupiter Retrograde

Rainy and raw

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

Yesterday was a solid, quiet workday. I got the laundry folded and put away. I took down the stair lights. I did some other tidying up. I contacted my elected officials, on state and federal levels. I’ve contacted my federal officials daily, but I needed to ask my state officials to vote “no” on an upcoming bill. I worked on the ghostwriting. I did 124 pages of the proofs of VICIOUS CRITIC. There are some formatting issues that I hope can be resolved. I may have to rekey a few things. I’ll get back to that today, and, hopefully, finish this round, and we can see where we are.

I’m much happier with VICIOUS now that I’ve had some time away from it. I’m sure I’ll be sick of it again after all the proofs and tweaks, but at the moment, I like the way it’s shaped up. It stands well where it is, and is very much a love letter to working off-Broadway at that time, and also sets some good foundations for series arcs.

I haven’t had the heart to do the marketing rounds, but I need to get back to that.

Leftovers for dinner, which were very good. In the evening, I read THE SECRET CHRISTMAS LIBRARY by Jenny Colgan, which was sweet, and played with the cats.

I managed to sleep until 4:30 this morning, with strange dreams, but didn’t get up until 6. Morning routine was good. I have the online meditation group later this morning (Charlotte will be thrilled), and then the #FreelanceFriends chat at noon my time. I’ll do the daily rounds of elected officials. My House Rep’s contact portals are still all down. I’m sure it’s deliberate. I hope someone primaries him this year, because I don’t want to vote for him. I want someone who will actually listen and fight. I have to file paperwork with the Attorney General’s office about a scammer who’s been harassing me since early December. I sent a cease & desist letter by certified mail, and that’s been ignored, so I’m letting the AG’s office handle it from here. I’m not sure if I can block this bozo now, or need to keep all the contact attempts as evidence. The AG’s office will let me know.

The bulk of the day will be the proofs and the ghostwriting, and hopefully one of the books for review. They’ve started new protocols on all of it, and it’s a PITA.

I’m feeling tired and heavy today. But we just keep on keeping on, you know? Have a good one.

#books #freelance #FreelanceFriends #life #mentalHealth #NinaBellMysteries #reading #writing

Wed. Jan. 14, 2026: Vacuums and Laundry

Wednesday, January 14, 2026

Waning Moon

Uranus and Jupiter Retrograde

Cloudy and raw

Slogging through the week, here. Yesterday seems like it was far away, somehow.

I did hearth and home stuff, like putting the dinner in the crockpot, dealing with some email, doing some filing, creating the questions for the #FreelanceFriends chat I’m hosting on February 5, taking out a lot of garbage, and finally putting together the new vacuum. Of course, the directions were wrong, and they didn’t mention connecting a rather important hose, but I figured it out.

And it works really well. I spent about 90 minutes vacuuming, which is a good session to get things done for a place of this size, although I’ll leave deep corners and moldings for the deep spring clean in early March. But it does a good job. Tessa, Bea, and Charlotte hid while I worked, but Willa kept pointing out where I missed a spot. The vacuum doesn’t faze her at all.

In the afternoon, there was a webinar with the Author’s Guild about the current Anthropic Settlement. Chances are there will be more suits, since there was a cutoff date and not everyone’s books that were stolen (per the ATLANTIC database) made it into the suit. So there’s a lot of paperwork and a lot of hoops. But it was good to get the information and know the steps.

After that, I did a little prep work for the next ghostwriting assignment, which is due on the 21st.

And then it was time to head out for yoga. The sidewalks were pretty clear, except for a few patches, and I got up there easily. I’d considered skipping it, because the thought of hauling myself out of the house was a lot, but I’m glad I did. We all needed it. One of my fellow yogis is going through a tough patch right now and works almost across the street from me, so I told her if she ever needs to take a break and decompress, to come over, have a cup of tea, and a cat on her lap. At least she knows she has that, if things continue down the current path.

Home, and it was lovely to have the crockpot meal waiting. It was pork chops with apples that had been cut up and mixed with brown sugar, soy sauce, garlic, cinnamon, and ginger. It was good, but I think I would either cook it for a shorter period, or put just a bit more liquid in with it.

And yes, more leftovers. I won’t cook much next week, because we have to eat down the leftovers.

I read in the evening and played with Bea, who wanted extra attention. The catnip crayons are a big hit with all of them. Thank you, Auntie Chris!

Woke up a little after 3 again, and got up around 5 to get the morning routine going and to get things out to the laundromat. Two loads, they’ve raised the prices again, and it’s kind of ridiculous. But we have clean clothes.

It’s easier to fight the world burning down in clean underwear.

Next week will mostly be fabrics from the holidays and the usual sheets and towels, so it shouldn’t be too bad. After breakfast, I will fold things up and put them away. I also have to unbag the 16 pounds of dry food into jars. The little monsters finished everything. They were very happy to be fed at 5 AM this morning, though.

Tessa was waiting for me at the front door when I got back from the laundromat to tell me everything that happened in the hour I was gone. Tessa is rarely down at the door, so it was pretty funny.

Also on today’s agenda: asking my state elected officials to vote “no” on a particular bill, and get on them for not doing enough to protect citizens against the cosplaying domestic terrorists; get on my federal officials (again); work on the galleys for VICIOUS CRITIC; work on the next ghostwriting assignment; work on the next book for review.

I’d rather take a nap.

Have a good one.

#cats #FreelanceFriends #householdChores #laundry #life #vacuum #writing #Yoga

Wed. Jan. 14, 2026: Vacuums and Laundry

Wednesday, January 14, 2026

Waning Moon

Uranus and Jupiter Retrograde

Cloudy and raw

Slogging through the week, here. Yesterday seems like it was far away, somehow.

I did hearth and home stuff, like putting the dinner in the crockpot, dealing with some email, doing some filing, creating the questions for the #FreelanceFriends chat I’m hosting on February 5, taking out a lot of garbage, and finally putting together the new vacuum. Of course, the directions were wrong, and they didn’t mention connecting a rather important hose, but I figured it out.

And it works really well. I spent about 90 minutes vacuuming, which is a good session to get things done for a place of this size, although I’ll leave deep corners and moldings for the deep spring clean in early March. But it does a good job. Tessa, Bea, and Charlotte hid while I worked, but Willa kept pointing out where I missed a spot. The vacuum doesn’t faze her at all.

In the afternoon, there was a webinar with the Author’s Guild about the current Anthropic Settlement. Chances are there will be more suits, since there was a cutoff date and not everyone’s books that were stolen (per the ATLANTIC database) made it into the suit. So there’s a lot of paperwork and a lot of hoops. But it was good to get the information and know the steps.

After that, I did a little prep work for the next ghostwriting assignment, which is due on the 21st.

And then it was time to head out for yoga. The sidewalks were pretty clear, except for a few patches, and I got up there easily. I’d considered skipping it, because the thought of hauling myself out of the house was a lot, but I’m glad I did. We all needed it. One of my fellow yogis is going through a tough patch right now and works almost across the street from me, so I told her if she ever needs to take a break and decompress, to come over, have a cup of tea, and a cat on her lap. At least she knows she has that, if things continue down the current path.

Home, and it was lovely to have the crockpot meal waiting. It was pork chops with apples that had been cut up and mixed with brown sugar, soy sauce, garlic, cinnamon, and ginger. It was good, but I think I would either cook it for a shorter period, or put just a bit more liquid in with it.

And yes, more leftovers. I won’t cook much next week, because we have to eat down the leftovers.

I read in the evening and played with Bea, who wanted extra attention. The catnip crayons are a big hit with all of them. Thank you, Auntie Chris!

Woke up a little after 3 again, and got up around 5 to get the morning routine going and to get things out to the laundromat. Two loads, they’ve raised the prices again, and it’s kind of ridiculous. But we have clean clothes.

It’s easier to fight the world burning down in clean underwear.

Next week will mostly be fabrics from the holidays and the usual sheets and towels, so it shouldn’t be too bad. After breakfast, I will fold things up and put them away. I also have to unbag the 16 pounds of dry food into jars. The little monsters finished everything. They were very happy to be fed at 5 AM this morning, though.

Tessa was waiting for me at the front door when I got back from the laundromat to tell me everything that happened in the hour I was gone. Tessa is rarely down at the door, so it was pretty funny.

Also on today’s agenda: asking my state elected officials to vote “no” on a particular bill, and get on them for not doing enough to protect citizens against the cosplaying domestic terrorists; get on my federal officials (again); work on the galleys for VICIOUS CRITIC; work on the next ghostwriting assignment; work on the next book for review.

I’d rather take a nap.

Have a good one.

#cats #FreelanceFriends #householdChores #laundry #life #vacuum #writing #Yoga

Wed. Jan. 14, 2026: Vacuums and Laundry

Wednesday, January 14, 2026

Waning Moon

Uranus and Jupiter Retrograde

Cloudy and raw

Slogging through the week, here. Yesterday seems like it was far away, somehow.

I did hearth and home stuff, like putting the dinner in the crockpot, dealing with some email, doing some filing, creating the questions for the #FreelanceFriends chat I’m hosting on February 5, taking out a lot of garbage, and finally putting together the new vacuum. Of course, the directions were wrong, and they didn’t mention connecting a rather important hose, but I figured it out.

And it works really well. I spent about 90 minutes vacuuming, which is a good session to get things done for a place of this size, although I’ll leave deep corners and moldings for the deep spring clean in early March. But it does a good job. Tessa, Bea, and Charlotte hid while I worked, but Willa kept pointing out where I missed a spot. The vacuum doesn’t faze her at all.

In the afternoon, there was a webinar with the Author’s Guild about the current Anthropic Settlement. Chances are there will be more suits, since there was a cutoff date and not everyone’s books that were stolen (per the ATLANTIC database) made it into the suit. So there’s a lot of paperwork and a lot of hoops. But it was good to get the information and know the steps.

After that, I did a little prep work for the next ghostwriting assignment, which is due on the 21st.

And then it was time to head out for yoga. The sidewalks were pretty clear, except for a few patches, and I got up there easily. I’d considered skipping it, because the thought of hauling myself out of the house was a lot, but I’m glad I did. We all needed it. One of my fellow yogis is going through a tough patch right now and works almost across the street from me, so I told her if she ever needs to take a break and decompress, to come over, have a cup of tea, and a cat on her lap. At least she knows she has that, if things continue down the current path.

Home, and it was lovely to have the crockpot meal waiting. It was pork chops with apples that had been cut up and mixed with brown sugar, soy sauce, garlic, cinnamon, and ginger. It was good, but I think I would either cook it for a shorter period, or put just a bit more liquid in with it.

And yes, more leftovers. I won’t cook much next week, because we have to eat down the leftovers.

I read in the evening and played with Bea, who wanted extra attention. The catnip crayons are a big hit with all of them. Thank you, Auntie Chris!

Woke up a little after 3 again, and got up around 5 to get the morning routine going and to get things out to the laundromat. Two loads, they’ve raised the prices again, and it’s kind of ridiculous. But we have clean clothes.

It’s easier to fight the world burning down in clean underwear.

Next week will mostly be fabrics from the holidays and the usual sheets and towels, so it shouldn’t be too bad. After breakfast, I will fold things up and put them away. I also have to unbag the 16 pounds of dry food into jars. The little monsters finished everything. They were very happy to be fed at 5 AM this morning, though.

Tessa was waiting for me at the front door when I got back from the laundromat to tell me everything that happened in the hour I was gone. Tessa is rarely down at the door, so it was pretty funny.

Also on today’s agenda: asking my state elected officials to vote “no” on a particular bill, and get on them for not doing enough to protect citizens against the cosplaying domestic terrorists; get on my federal officials (again); work on the galleys for VICIOUS CRITIC; work on the next ghostwriting assignment; work on the next book for review.

I’d rather take a nap.

Have a good one.

#cats #FreelanceFriends #householdChores #laundry #life #vacuum #writing #Yoga

Wed. Jan. 14, 2026: Vacuums and Laundry

Wednesday, January 14, 2026

Waning Moon

Uranus and Jupiter Retrograde

Cloudy and raw

Slogging through the week, here. Yesterday seems like it was far away, somehow.

I did hearth and home stuff, like putting the dinner in the crockpot, dealing with some email, doing some filing, creating the questions for the #FreelanceFriends chat I’m hosting on February 5, taking out a lot of garbage, and finally putting together the new vacuum. Of course, the directions were wrong, and they didn’t mention connecting a rather important hose, but I figured it out.

And it works really well. I spent about 90 minutes vacuuming, which is a good session to get things done for a place of this size, although I’ll leave deep corners and moldings for the deep spring clean in early March. But it does a good job. Tessa, Bea, and Charlotte hid while I worked, but Willa kept pointing out where I missed a spot. The vacuum doesn’t faze her at all.

In the afternoon, there was a webinar with the Author’s Guild about the current Anthropic Settlement. Chances are there will be more suits, since there was a cutoff date and not everyone’s books that were stolen (per the ATLANTIC database) made it into the suit. So there’s a lot of paperwork and a lot of hoops. But it was good to get the information and know the steps.

After that, I did a little prep work for the next ghostwriting assignment, which is due on the 21st.

And then it was time to head out for yoga. The sidewalks were pretty clear, except for a few patches, and I got up there easily. I’d considered skipping it, because the thought of hauling myself out of the house was a lot, but I’m glad I did. We all needed it. One of my fellow yogis is going through a tough patch right now and works almost across the street from me, so I told her if she ever needs to take a break and decompress, to come over, have a cup of tea, and a cat on her lap. At least she knows she has that, if things continue down the current path.

Home, and it was lovely to have the crockpot meal waiting. It was pork chops with apples that had been cut up and mixed with brown sugar, soy sauce, garlic, cinnamon, and ginger. It was good, but I think I would either cook it for a shorter period, or put just a bit more liquid in with it.

And yes, more leftovers. I won’t cook much next week, because we have to eat down the leftovers.

I read in the evening and played with Bea, who wanted extra attention. The catnip crayons are a big hit with all of them. Thank you, Auntie Chris!

Woke up a little after 3 again, and got up around 5 to get the morning routine going and to get things out to the laundromat. Two loads, they’ve raised the prices again, and it’s kind of ridiculous. But we have clean clothes.

It’s easier to fight the world burning down in clean underwear.

Next week will mostly be fabrics from the holidays and the usual sheets and towels, so it shouldn’t be too bad. After breakfast, I will fold things up and put them away. I also have to unbag the 16 pounds of dry food into jars. The little monsters finished everything. They were very happy to be fed at 5 AM this morning, though.

Tessa was waiting for me at the front door when I got back from the laundromat to tell me everything that happened in the hour I was gone. Tessa is rarely down at the door, so it was pretty funny.

Also on today’s agenda: asking my state elected officials to vote “no” on a particular bill, and get on them for not doing enough to protect citizens against the cosplaying domestic terrorists; get on my federal officials (again); work on the galleys for VICIOUS CRITIC; work on the next ghostwriting assignment; work on the next book for review.

I’d rather take a nap.

Have a good one.

#cats #FreelanceFriends #householdChores #laundry #life #vacuum #writing #Yoga

Wed. Jan. 7, 2026: More Plowable Snow

Wednesday, January 7, 2026

Waning Moon

Uranus and Jupiter Retrograde

Snowy and cold

I still feel like I’m in that space where I have no idea what day or time it is. Not that I mind it.

Yesterday was not as productive as I hoped. I dug out the car. I went to the grocery store for the big shop, the library, the post office, and a couple of other errands. Came home, hauled everything up the stairs and put it away.

After that I had to prepare the meal for the crockpot. I made a curried chicken, and part of that was peeling and dicing a butternut squash. Which is kind of a pain, but still easier than the acorn squash!

Once I got all that layered and plugged in, most of the morning was gone.

I used the parsnip-and-pear puree cold, spread on our ham sandwiches, and it was really good. Nice to know it has multiple uses.

I did research and follow up in the afternoon for the ghostwriting and got some work on it – that didn’t save properly, so I have to recreate it all again today. Frustrating, but that’s the way it goes sometimes. The bulk of today will be spent on the ghostwriting, although I want to get a couple of other things done, too.

I didn’t make it to yoga yesterday, which turned out okay, because a sleet and ice storm began during the time of the session, and I would have been miserable trying to get home in it. So it all worked out. My body sank into the usual quiet at regular yoga time anyway, so I just did a similar session at home.

The crockpot curried chicken was good. It was also full of spices that serve as anti-inflammatories, so about a half hour after dinner, I wasn’t in pain anymore, which was a nice change.

The news is just insane. The country is being run by deranged extremists right now. If Chuck Schumer and Merrick Garland had done their jobs in February of 2021, we wouldn’t be here. But they CHOSE not to. Remember that.

Read in the evening. Slept well, up a little before 6 AM, to plowable snow and school opening delays. As I type this, it’s snowing again, a wet, heavy snow instead of the fluffy snow we had earlier. It’s supposed to change over to rain at some point, as the temperatures rise, although a notification popped up that we will get 2 inches of snow in the next 3 hours. I don’t have to go out today, so I’m not going to worry about it.

I planned out two articles in the morning writing session, so I will get to work on those later in the week, when I’m back where I need to be with the ghostwriting. I need to get a couple of LOIs out later this week and early next week, too, and send off my questions for the #FreelanceFriends chat I’m hosting in early February.

All I want to do is cook and read, so I need to get my act together on everything else!

As I’m typing this, Willa sailed past, her tail up, right into my room, and hopped onto my bed, happy as can be. She usually lives on my mom’s bed. She’s trying something different today. She didn’t stay long, but she’s branching out. Charlotte is in the living room, in my mom’s chair, pouting, because Bea didn’t share the kick stick this morning. Bea is teaching Charlotte the difference between sharing and taking. There are times when Bea shares, and offers toys to Charlotte, and times when she keeps them. There’s no fuss, no growling, just quiet boundaries. Charlotte is learning. But, being a princess, she still pouts when she doesn’t get her way.

Have a great day!

#cats #freelance #FreelanceFriends #snow #winter #writing

Prepping the #NYE lasagna and thinking about software architecture.

🍝It’s the perfect analogy for MVP development:
The Ragù = The Backend Logic (needs time to simmer/validate).
The Béchamel = The UX (the glue that makes it consumable).
The Resting Phase = The Staging Environment (skip this, and production collapses).

Too many teams try to microwave their MVP. In 2026, let's respect the process.
If you need a "Head Chef" to organize your dev flow this year, my DMs are open.
#DevOps #SoftwareEngineering #MVP #2026 #FediHire #FreelanceFriends #nye2026

Prepping the #NYE lasagna and thinking about software architecture.

🍝It’s the perfect analogy for MVP development:
The Ragù = The Backend Logic (needs time to simmer/validate).
The Béchamel = The UX (the glue that makes it consumable).
The Resting Phase = The Staging Environment (skip this, and production collapses).

Too many teams try to microwave their MVP. In 2026, let's respect the process.
If you need a "Head Chef" to organize your dev flow this year, my DMs are open.
#DevOps #SoftwareEngineering #MVP #2026 #FediHire #FreelanceFriends #nye2026

Prepping the #NYE lasagna and thinking about software architecture.

🍝It’s the perfect analogy for MVP development:
The Ragù = The Backend Logic (needs time to simmer/validate).
The Béchamel = The UX (the glue that makes it consumable).
The Resting Phase = The Staging Environment (skip this, and production collapses).

Too many teams try to microwave their MVP. In 2026, let's respect the process.
If you need a "Head Chef" to organize your dev flow this year, my DMs are open.
#DevOps #SoftwareEngineering #MVP #2026 #FediHire #FreelanceFriends #nye2026

Prepping the #NYE lasagna and thinking about software architecture.

🍝It’s the perfect analogy for MVP development:
The Ragù = The Backend Logic (needs time to simmer/validate).
The Béchamel = The UX (the glue that makes it consumable).
The Resting Phase = The Staging Environment (skip this, and production collapses).

Too many teams try to microwave their MVP. In 2026, let's respect the process.
If you need a "Head Chef" to organize your dev flow this year, my DMs are open.
#DevOps #SoftwareEngineering #MVP #2026 #FediHire #FreelanceFriends #nye2026

Fri. Dec. 19, 2025: Approaching Winter Solstice

Friday, December 19, 2025

New Moon

Chiron, Uranus, Jupiter Retrograde

Rainy and warm

Here we are, at the end of another week, and the final new moon of the year. Can I just say how ready I am to boot this year out the back door?

That is a tradition I’d heard of for years, but only got a chance to practice when I had my own front and back doors. On New Year’s Eve, a few minutes/seconds before midnight, you open the back door to let the old year out (I will be putting my boot firmly on its backside this year). Right after midnight, you open the front door and invite the New Year in. Remember: Year of the Snake/Year of the Horse is part of Chinese tradition. That does not shift on December 31/January 1, no matter what the internet says. Lunar New Year is on February 17, 2026. So we are still in snake, even past the stroke of midnight.

Some idiot was out there yesterday with a leaf blower. Boo, everything is iced down except the sand to keep people from falling. You’re going to cause an accident when you blow the sand away.

Of course, because it was a little warmer, the Sidewalk Chewing Demons were also back. They are the mayor’s pet construction company, so they know they’ll keep getting hired even when they are jerks. So they continue to be jerks.

At least they’re being jerks a couple of blocks away, even though they’re still causing problems on our street with noise and heavy machinery driving the wrong way down the street several times a day.

Wrote and turned in the book review. Requested my next assignment.

I revised the next 3 chapters of VICIOUS CRITIC, about 7.5K words. Decent progress. Lots of detail work and fact-checking at this point, but all good. Did my marketing for the day, per content calendar (I’ve actually stuck to it pretty well this month).

#FreelanceFriends chat was fun, although hashtags weren’t working on Bluesky for whatever reason.

Got the revision notes on the ghostwriting project (not the one I just turned in, the other one). I will get started on those notes today, although I doubt I can get them done before the end of the year. They had me invoice for the last project, which I turned around earlier this week, and for this section of this one. And the money was in my account this morning, which definitely makes for less holiday stress!

After dinner, I put on Real People clothes and some makeup. It wasn’t that cold, so I didn’t need to bundle up in 17 layers like a toddler in a Hallmark Christmas movie. I could just wear a coat.

I walked down to Downstreet, the hotel a few blocks away that’s opened up gallery space to local artists. Two of my Future Labs colleagues had a show opening. It was a good turnout, the space is lovely, and Door Prize NAMA donated the food for the event, which was lovely of them (and delicious). The pieces are interesting, and the comparison/contrast of showing together in such a space was also interesting. I had some good conversations with people, getting to know them better. We are all very excited for January’s show, the workshops, the potluck, etc. It’s a good group of people, who are creative and smart and funny and kind.

When I came back, we put on the tree, and Tessa was so happy! She sat in front of it, enthralled, until we unplugged it at bedtime.

It was 50 degrees when I woke up this morning, which is just wrong for this time of year in New England.

On today’s agenda: library, grocery store, liquor store, writing (work on Nina Bell, the historical mystery, the ghostwriting).

This weekend, we finish decorating the tree on the porch and the front hall. I will finish the textile piece and work on the text portion. At the show last night, I mentioned I was deliberately  printing it out in Calibri, and the artist doing all the labels said she’ll do the same. [If you know, you know, that’s been yet another layer of political ridiculousness here].

Sunday is the Solstice, so it will be about rituals and food and celebration. I am making something for dinner I’ve never made before (I’ll tell you about it next week), and I think I will do a Bishop’s Cake for dessert (from THE SILVER PALATE COOKBOOK).

Have a good weekend, and we’ll catch up next week!

#art #cats #community #decorating #freelance #freelanceFriends #FreelanceFriends #futureLabs #NinaBellMysteries #writing

Fri. Dec. 19, 2025: Approaching Winter Solstice

Friday, December 19, 2025

New Moon

Chiron, Uranus, Jupiter Retrograde

Rainy and warm

Here we are, at the end of another week, and the final new moon of the year. Can I just say how ready I am to boot this year out the back door?

That is a tradition I’d heard of for years, but only got a chance to practice when I had my own front and back doors. On New Year’s Eve, a few minutes/seconds before midnight, you open the back door to let the old year out (I will be putting my boot firmly on its backside this year). Right after midnight, you open the front door and invite the New Year in. Remember: Year of the Snake/Year of the Horse is part of Chinese tradition. That does not shift on December 31/January 1, no matter what the internet says. Lunar New Year is on February 17, 2026. So we are still in snake, even past the stroke of midnight.

Some idiot was out there yesterday with a leaf blower. Boo, everything is iced down except the sand to keep people from falling. You’re going to cause an accident when you blow the sand away.

Of course, because it was a little warmer, the Sidewalk Chewing Demons were also back. They are the mayor’s pet construction company, so they know they’ll keep getting hired even when they are jerks. So they continue to be jerks.

At least they’re being jerks a couple of blocks away, even though they’re still causing problems on our street with noise and heavy machinery driving the wrong way down the street several times a day.

Wrote and turned in the book review. Requested my next assignment.

I revised the next 3 chapters of VICIOUS CRITIC, about 7.5K words. Decent progress. Lots of detail work and fact-checking at this point, but all good. Did my marketing for the day, per content calendar (I’ve actually stuck to it pretty well this month).

#FreelanceFriends chat was fun, although hashtags weren’t working on Bluesky for whatever reason.

Got the revision notes on the ghostwriting project (not the one I just turned in, the other one). I will get started on those notes today, although I doubt I can get them done before the end of the year. They had me invoice for the last project, which I turned around earlier this week, and for this section of this one. And the money was in my account this morning, which definitely makes for less holiday stress!

After dinner, I put on Real People clothes and some makeup. It wasn’t that cold, so I didn’t need to bundle up in 17 layers like a toddler in a Hallmark Christmas movie. I could just wear a coat.

I walked down to Downstreet, the hotel a few blocks away that’s opened up gallery space to local artists. Two of my Future Labs colleagues had a show opening. It was a good turnout, the space is lovely, and Door Prize NAMA donated the food for the event, which was lovely of them (and delicious). The pieces are interesting, and the comparison/contrast of showing together in such a space was also interesting. I had some good conversations with people, getting to know them better. We are all very excited for January’s show, the workshops, the potluck, etc. It’s a good group of people, who are creative and smart and funny and kind.

When I came back, we put on the tree, and Tessa was so happy! She sat in front of it, enthralled, until we unplugged it at bedtime.

It was 50 degrees when I woke up this morning, which is just wrong for this time of year in New England.

On today’s agenda: library, grocery store, liquor store, writing (work on Nina Bell, the historical mystery, the ghostwriting).

This weekend, we finish decorating the tree on the porch and the front hall. I will finish the textile piece and work on the text portion. At the show last night, I mentioned I was deliberately  printing it out in Calibri, and the artist doing all the labels said she’ll do the same. [If you know, you know, that’s been yet another layer of political ridiculousness here].

Sunday is the Solstice, so it will be about rituals and food and celebration. I am making something for dinner I’ve never made before (I’ll tell you about it next week), and I think I will do a Bishop’s Cake for dessert (from THE SILVER PALATE COOKBOOK).

Have a good weekend, and we’ll catch up next week!

#art #cats #community #decorating #freelance #freelanceFriends #FreelanceFriends #futureLabs #NinaBellMysteries #writing

Fri. Dec. 19, 2025: Approaching Winter Solstice

Friday, December 19, 2025

New Moon

Chiron, Uranus, Jupiter Retrograde

Rainy and warm

Here we are, at the end of another week, and the final new moon of the year. Can I just say how ready I am to boot this year out the back door?

That is a tradition I’d heard of for years, but only got a chance to practice when I had my own front and back doors. On New Year’s Eve, a few minutes/seconds before midnight, you open the back door to let the old year out (I will be putting my boot firmly on its backside this year). Right after midnight, you open the front door and invite the New Year in. Remember: Year of the Snake/Year of the Horse is part of Chinese tradition. That does not shift on December 31/January 1, no matter what the internet says. Lunar New Year is on February 17, 2026. So we are still in snake, even past the stroke of midnight.

Some idiot was out there yesterday with a leaf blower. Boo, everything is iced down except the sand to keep people from falling. You’re going to cause an accident when you blow the sand away.

Of course, because it was a little warmer, the Sidewalk Chewing Demons were also back. They are the mayor’s pet construction company, so they know they’ll keep getting hired even when they are jerks. So they continue to be jerks.

At least they’re being jerks a couple of blocks away, even though they’re still causing problems on our street with noise and heavy machinery driving the wrong way down the street several times a day.

Wrote and turned in the book review. Requested my next assignment.

I revised the next 3 chapters of VICIOUS CRITIC, about 7.5K words. Decent progress. Lots of detail work and fact-checking at this point, but all good. Did my marketing for the day, per content calendar (I’ve actually stuck to it pretty well this month).

#FreelanceFriends chat was fun, although hashtags weren’t working on Bluesky for whatever reason.

Got the revision notes on the ghostwriting project (not the one I just turned in, the other one). I will get started on those notes today, although I doubt I can get them done before the end of the year. They had me invoice for the last project, which I turned around earlier this week, and for this section of this one. And the money was in my account this morning, which definitely makes for less holiday stress!

After dinner, I put on Real People clothes and some makeup. It wasn’t that cold, so I didn’t need to bundle up in 17 layers like a toddler in a Hallmark Christmas movie. I could just wear a coat.

I walked down to Downstreet, the hotel a few blocks away that’s opened up gallery space to local artists. Two of my Future Labs colleagues had a show opening. It was a good turnout, the space is lovely, and Door Prize NAMA donated the food for the event, which was lovely of them (and delicious). The pieces are interesting, and the comparison/contrast of showing together in such a space was also interesting. I had some good conversations with people, getting to know them better. We are all very excited for January’s show, the workshops, the potluck, etc. It’s a good group of people, who are creative and smart and funny and kind.

When I came back, we put on the tree, and Tessa was so happy! She sat in front of it, enthralled, until we unplugged it at bedtime.

It was 50 degrees when I woke up this morning, which is just wrong for this time of year in New England.

On today’s agenda: library, grocery store, liquor store, writing (work on Nina Bell, the historical mystery, the ghostwriting).

This weekend, we finish decorating the tree on the porch and the front hall. I will finish the textile piece and work on the text portion. At the show last night, I mentioned I was deliberately  printing it out in Calibri, and the artist doing all the labels said she’ll do the same. [If you know, you know, that’s been yet another layer of political ridiculousness here].

Sunday is the Solstice, so it will be about rituals and food and celebration. I am making something for dinner I’ve never made before (I’ll tell you about it next week), and I think I will do a Bishop’s Cake for dessert (from THE SILVER PALATE COOKBOOK).

Have a good weekend, and we’ll catch up next week!

#art #cats #community #decorating #freelance #freelanceFriends #FreelanceFriends #futureLabs #NinaBellMysteries #writing

Fri. Dec. 19, 2025: Approaching Winter Solstice

Friday, December 19, 2025

New Moon

Chiron, Uranus, Jupiter Retrograde

Rainy and warm

Here we are, at the end of another week, and the final new moon of the year. Can I just say how ready I am to boot this year out the back door?

That is a tradition I’d heard of for years, but only got a chance to practice when I had my own front and back doors. On New Year’s Eve, a few minutes/seconds before midnight, you open the back door to let the old year out (I will be putting my boot firmly on its backside this year). Right after midnight, you open the front door and invite the New Year in. Remember: Year of the Snake/Year of the Horse is part of Chinese tradition. That does not shift on December 31/January 1, no matter what the internet says. Lunar New Year is on February 17, 2026. So we are still in snake, even past the stroke of midnight.

Some idiot was out there yesterday with a leaf blower. Boo, everything is iced down except the sand to keep people from falling. You’re going to cause an accident when you blow the sand away.

Of course, because it was a little warmer, the Sidewalk Chewing Demons were also back. They are the mayor’s pet construction company, so they know they’ll keep getting hired even when they are jerks. So they continue to be jerks.

At least they’re being jerks a couple of blocks away, even though they’re still causing problems on our street with noise and heavy machinery driving the wrong way down the street several times a day.

Wrote and turned in the book review. Requested my next assignment.

I revised the next 3 chapters of VICIOUS CRITIC, about 7.5K words. Decent progress. Lots of detail work and fact-checking at this point, but all good. Did my marketing for the day, per content calendar (I’ve actually stuck to it pretty well this month).

#FreelanceFriends chat was fun, although hashtags weren’t working on Bluesky for whatever reason.

Got the revision notes on the ghostwriting project (not the one I just turned in, the other one). I will get started on those notes today, although I doubt I can get them done before the end of the year. They had me invoice for the last project, which I turned around earlier this week, and for this section of this one. And the money was in my account this morning, which definitely makes for less holiday stress!

After dinner, I put on Real People clothes and some makeup. It wasn’t that cold, so I didn’t need to bundle up in 17 layers like a toddler in a Hallmark Christmas movie. I could just wear a coat.

I walked down to Downstreet, the hotel a few blocks away that’s opened up gallery space to local artists. Two of my Future Labs colleagues had a show opening. It was a good turnout, the space is lovely, and Door Prize NAMA donated the food for the event, which was lovely of them (and delicious). The pieces are interesting, and the comparison/contrast of showing together in such a space was also interesting. I had some good conversations with people, getting to know them better. We are all very excited for January’s show, the workshops, the potluck, etc. It’s a good group of people, who are creative and smart and funny and kind.

When I came back, we put on the tree, and Tessa was so happy! She sat in front of it, enthralled, until we unplugged it at bedtime.

It was 50 degrees when I woke up this morning, which is just wrong for this time of year in New England.

On today’s agenda: library, grocery store, liquor store, writing (work on Nina Bell, the historical mystery, the ghostwriting).

This weekend, we finish decorating the tree on the porch and the front hall. I will finish the textile piece and work on the text portion. At the show last night, I mentioned I was deliberately  printing it out in Calibri, and the artist doing all the labels said she’ll do the same. [If you know, you know, that’s been yet another layer of political ridiculousness here].

Sunday is the Solstice, so it will be about rituals and food and celebration. I am making something for dinner I’ve never made before (I’ll tell you about it next week), and I think I will do a Bishop’s Cake for dessert (from THE SILVER PALATE COOKBOOK).

Have a good weekend, and we’ll catch up next week!

#art #cats #community #decorating #freelance #freelanceFriends #FreelanceFriends #futureLabs #NinaBellMysteries #writing

Fri. Dec. 12, 2025: Tessa Loves the Christmas Tree

Friday, December 12, 2025

Waning Moon

Chiron, Uranus, Jupiter Retrograde

Snow flurries and cold

Happy Friday! I hope you’ve had a lovely week.

Charlotte was delighted with online meditation group yesterday. She’s so funny and purry during her favorite Zoom sessions.

After breakfast, I piled on the layers and stomped out to the bank. It started flurrying as I walked, not badly. With all the street chaos, it was still much easier to go on foot than to drive. But at least it’s clear around the laundromat again, so next week, I can catch up on laundry.

Home, dug the back of the car out (not bad, but I still have to clear off the windshield and the top this morning), did some house stuff that needed attention, then managed to deal with almost 400 emails that have been stacking up. The scammer is still trying to catch me out. I am collecting evidence for the authorities.

The #FreelanceFriends chat was fun, as always.

Dug into the ghostwriting revisions, and did some good work. Still not as far along as I want – I think Tuesday is a realistic finish day for me. Today I will see if I can crack this next bit that has to be torn out and completely rebuilt.

The library trustee meeting tonight was cancelled, so I kept working on the ghostwriting, and then cooked pork fried rice for dinner, which was good.

The library cohort meeting, online, was still on, so I hopped on that at 8 PM, and we had a good catchup, and helped each other with a few things. I made a joke about turning some of my frustrations into an art piece for April’s gallery show, and that was met with enthusiastic response. We brainstormed how to do that, and that might be my second piece, along with the wooden spoon sculpture about women forgotten by history.

Read for a bit and played with the cats after the meeting. Tessa loves the tree so much. The minute we put the lights on, she sits under it until we turn it off at bedtime.

Had trouble getting to sleep, and then overslept, much to Tessa’s dismay. Morning routine was later than usual, but happened, and was good. It’s supposed to flurry on and off all day, so today’s errands will just take longer. And then I’ll go back to the ghostwriting.

I was invited to two things tonight, but I don’t think I can attend either.

Tomorrow, I hope to finally get the cookie deliveries to the neighbors, and then I have one more delivery, to the bookshop. A new thrift shop opened on Marshall Street, across from MASS MoCA – if I’m out and about, I might stop in to check it out. We’ll see how the weather holds. I need to work on the textile piece and do the domestic cards. And finish decorating. Sunday will also be textile piece, cards, decorating.

Have a good one!

#cats #errands #fiction #freelance #freelancefriends #holidays #meditation #writing

Fri. Dec. 12, 2025: Tessa Loves the Christmas Tree

Friday, December 12, 2025

Waning Moon

Chiron, Uranus, Jupiter Retrograde

Snow flurries and cold

Happy Friday! I hope you’ve had a lovely week.

Charlotte was delighted with online meditation group yesterday. She’s so funny and purry during her favorite Zoom sessions.

After breakfast, I piled on the layers and stomped out to the bank. It started flurrying as I walked, not badly. With all the street chaos, it was still much easier to go on foot than to drive. But at least it’s clear around the laundromat again, so next week, I can catch up on laundry.

Home, dug the back of the car out (not bad, but I still have to clear off the windshield and the top this morning), did some house stuff that needed attention, then managed to deal with almost 400 emails that have been stacking up. The scammer is still trying to catch me out. I am collecting evidence for the authorities.

The #FreelanceFriends chat was fun, as always.

Dug into the ghostwriting revisions, and did some good work. Still not as far along as I want – I think Tuesday is a realistic finish day for me. Today I will see if I can crack this next bit that has to be torn out and completely rebuilt.

The library trustee meeting tonight was cancelled, so I kept working on the ghostwriting, and then cooked pork fried rice for dinner, which was good.

The library cohort meeting, online, was still on, so I hopped on that at 8 PM, and we had a good catchup, and helped each other with a few things. I made a joke about turning some of my frustrations into an art piece for April’s gallery show, and that was met with enthusiastic response. We brainstormed how to do that, and that might be my second piece, along with the wooden spoon sculpture about women forgotten by history.

Read for a bit and played with the cats after the meeting. Tessa loves the tree so much. The minute we put the lights on, she sits under it until we turn it off at bedtime.

Had trouble getting to sleep, and then overslept, much to Tessa’s dismay. Morning routine was later than usual, but happened, and was good. It’s supposed to flurry on and off all day, so today’s errands will just take longer. And then I’ll go back to the ghostwriting.

I was invited to two things tonight, but I don’t think I can attend either.

Tomorrow, I hope to finally get the cookie deliveries to the neighbors, and then I have one more delivery, to the bookshop. A new thrift shop opened on Marshall Street, across from MASS MoCA – if I’m out and about, I might stop in to check it out. We’ll see how the weather holds. I need to work on the textile piece and do the domestic cards. And finish decorating. Sunday will also be textile piece, cards, decorating.

Have a good one!

#cats #errands #fiction #freelance #freelancefriends #holidays #meditation #writing

Fri. Dec. 12, 2025: Tessa Loves the Christmas Tree

Friday, December 12, 2025

Waning Moon

Chiron, Uranus, Jupiter Retrograde

Snow flurries and cold

Happy Friday! I hope you’ve had a lovely week.

Charlotte was delighted with online meditation group yesterday. She’s so funny and purry during her favorite Zoom sessions.

After breakfast, I piled on the layers and stomped out to the bank. It started flurrying as I walked, not badly. With all the street chaos, it was still much easier to go on foot than to drive. But at least it’s clear around the laundromat again, so next week, I can catch up on laundry.

Home, dug the back of the car out (not bad, but I still have to clear off the windshield and the top this morning), did some house stuff that needed attention, then managed to deal with almost 400 emails that have been stacking up. The scammer is still trying to catch me out. I am collecting evidence for the authorities.

The #FreelanceFriends chat was fun, as always.

Dug into the ghostwriting revisions, and did some good work. Still not as far along as I want – I think Tuesday is a realistic finish day for me. Today I will see if I can crack this next bit that has to be torn out and completely rebuilt.

The library trustee meeting tonight was cancelled, so I kept working on the ghostwriting, and then cooked pork fried rice for dinner, which was good.

The library cohort meeting, online, was still on, so I hopped on that at 8 PM, and we had a good catchup, and helped each other with a few things. I made a joke about turning some of my frustrations into an art piece for April’s gallery show, and that was met with enthusiastic response. We brainstormed how to do that, and that might be my second piece, along with the wooden spoon sculpture about women forgotten by history.

Read for a bit and played with the cats after the meeting. Tessa loves the tree so much. The minute we put the lights on, she sits under it until we turn it off at bedtime.

Had trouble getting to sleep, and then overslept, much to Tessa’s dismay. Morning routine was later than usual, but happened, and was good. It’s supposed to flurry on and off all day, so today’s errands will just take longer. And then I’ll go back to the ghostwriting.

I was invited to two things tonight, but I don’t think I can attend either.

Tomorrow, I hope to finally get the cookie deliveries to the neighbors, and then I have one more delivery, to the bookshop. A new thrift shop opened on Marshall Street, across from MASS MoCA – if I’m out and about, I might stop in to check it out. We’ll see how the weather holds. I need to work on the textile piece and do the domestic cards. And finish decorating. Sunday will also be textile piece, cards, decorating.

Have a good one!

#cats #errands #fiction #freelance #freelancefriends #holidays #meditation #writing

Fri. Dec. 5, 2025: Still Baking

Friday, December 5, 2025

Last Day of Full Moon

Neptune, Chiron, Uranus, Jupiter Retrograde

St. Nicholas/Krampus Night

Sunny and bitterly cold

And here we are, at the end of another week!

Online meditation group was good yesterday morning, and Charlotte was happy.

After breakfast, I mixed up the batter for the batches of molasses spice cookies and set them in the fridge to chill. The jar of molasses used to be enough for two batches plus a little to use in cooking. This jar barely had enough for the two batches. I loathe shrinkflation. But there is allspice in these cookies (along with cinnamon and ginger) which always makes me happy.

By the time the batter was mixed and the dishes done, it was time for the #FreelanceFriends chat over on Bluesky. That was a lot of fun. I wound up sending the Chocolate Crinkle recipe to a colleague who made them that very afternoon!

When that was done, it was back to the kitchen, and rolling and pressing the cookies before baking. By rolling, I don’t mean with a rolling pin – I don’t do those cookies any more for the platters. I roll them into little balls and press them down with a sugared glass, which gives them a sparkle.

The anti-fatigue mat helped, so my back wasn’t quite as unhappy as it would have been, but still, after 12 dozen cookies, ow.

Set them to cool, got a little research done on the historical mystery, so I can dig back into that soon. Tried to read an acquaintance’s cozy mystery, but about 40 pages in, one of her characters that I’m supposed to like, used “witch” as a slur against another woman, so I’m out. You’re not cute, you’re not inclusive, you’re not a feminist if you use this slur. It’s not a valid substitute for “bitch” in a cozy. It’s derogatory towards women, and get out of my life.

So that series is a no-go for me.

Cooked dinner (no leftovers finally, yay). After dinner, we packed the cookies in tins and put them in Tessa’s room, by the porch door, because that’s the coolest room. We also closed the door between Tessa’s room and the rest of the house, because it was set to be -6F overnight.

Bea has gone from being feral to asking for tummy rubs, which is just adorable. She’s not quite a lap cat yet, but she will sit next to me on the sofa, so she’s lap adjacent. She will get there. She just turned 3.

I wound up taping a garbage bag at the gap at the top of one of the windows in my office, because it slipped down and I couldn’t get it back up. In spite of newish windows, every time someone slams a door downstairs (which is, basically, every time they go in or out), the top of  a window slides down up here, so I’m always running around climbing on things to get the windows back up. No, there’s nothing maintenance can do about it, at least not if I ever want to open one of the windows from the bottom again (which I do, in summer). I was worried it wouldn’t matter taping a piece of plastic up, but it made a big difference. No Arctic winds zooming through my office.

Slept so well that I overslept, waking up a little before 7 AM. Again. Tessa Was Not Amused. Again.

But I got everyone fed, and then Tessa coached me through yoga, as she now likes to do.

I dreamed about large green and black spiders, which I learned are lynx spiders. Why I dreamed of a spider I didn’t know existed, who knows? Trying to find an interpretation that’s not AI-generated has been a challenge.

I’m hoping the car will start without a problem this morning. I have the usual library errand, and then I’m getting the last few things for baking (and basic groceries for next week), and then running to Williamstown for the last few things on my gift list. I also have to stock up on parchment paper and wax paper. I ran out of parchment paper with the last tray of cookies yesterday. I need to remember to start stockpiling that over the summer.

I have three more kinds of cookies to bake over the next three days (one kind a day is sane), and packing the boxes to send off, and doing the domestic cards this weekend. I want to get things to the post office on Monday, and start delivering cookie platters, so that will be done next week.

It’s a big push this weekend, and it might not all get done, but we’ll get done as much as we can.

Then, I can focus on any ghostwriting coming in, the historical mystery, and the textile piece. And finishing the decorations, so we can enjoy the holidays!

There are a ton of events happening all around. I’m going to pace myself and do very few. Part of it is that people are running around sick and spewing germs unmasked, and I’m not having it.  I mean, more people are still masking here than in many other areas, but too many people who are sick are not. Part of it is that I just don’t want to be running around this season. I’m grateful to be invited, but I need some quiet time before the year turns. There are things that need to be sorted out and figured out for next year, and they won’t do it on their own. I need to lay some track in the next few weeks, so that I can move forward after the holidays.

For decades, I was always sick on the holidays because I wore myself out leading up to them and took on other people’s germs. By the time the holiday hit, so did illness. I don’t want to do that anymore. So I need to adjust my schedule, and I’m fortunate enough, as a remote worker, to be able to do so. And I’m not twenty anymore, or even thirty, so I need to pace myself better.

Tonight is St. Nicholas night/Krampus. We celebrate St. Nicholas night more in our house, a family tradition. Although I must say, the photos and videos of the Krampus parades in Europe look like a lot of fun.

That’s the plan for the weekend! Have a good one, and we’ll catch up next week to see where we are.

#baking #cookies #events #freelancefriends #holidays #recipes #scheduling

Fri. Dec. 5, 2025: Still Baking

Friday, December 5, 2025

Last Day of Full Moon

Neptune, Chiron, Uranus, Jupiter Retrograde

St. Nicholas/Krampus Night

Sunny and bitterly cold

And here we are, at the end of another week!

Online meditation group was good yesterday morning, and Charlotte was happy.

After breakfast, I mixed up the batter for the batches of molasses spice cookies and set them in the fridge to chill. The jar of molasses used to be enough for two batches plus a little to use in cooking. This jar barely had enough for the two batches. I loathe shrinkflation. But there is allspice in these cookies (along with cinnamon and ginger) which always makes me happy.

By the time the batter was mixed and the dishes done, it was time for the #FreelanceFriends chat over on Bluesky. That was a lot of fun. I wound up sending the Chocolate Crinkle recipe to a colleague who made them that very afternoon!

When that was done, it was back to the kitchen, and rolling and pressing the cookies before baking. By rolling, I don’t mean with a rolling pin – I don’t do those cookies any more for the platters. I roll them into little balls and press them down with a sugared glass, which gives them a sparkle.

The anti-fatigue mat helped, so my back wasn’t quite as unhappy as it would have been, but still, after 12 dozen cookies, ow.

Set them to cool, got a little research done on the historical mystery, so I can dig back into that soon. Tried to read an acquaintance’s cozy mystery, but about 40 pages in, one of her characters that I’m supposed to like, used “witch” as a slur against another woman, so I’m out. You’re not cute, you’re not inclusive, you’re not a feminist if you use this slur. It’s not a valid substitute for “bitch” in a cozy. It’s derogatory towards women, and get out of my life.

So that series is a no-go for me.

Cooked dinner (no leftovers finally, yay). After dinner, we packed the cookies in tins and put them in Tessa’s room, by the porch door, because that’s the coolest room. We also closed the door between Tessa’s room and the rest of the house, because it was set to be -6F overnight.

Bea has gone from being feral to asking for tummy rubs, which is just adorable. She’s not quite a lap cat yet, but she will sit next to me on the sofa, so she’s lap adjacent. She will get there. She just turned 3.

I wound up taping a garbage bag at the gap at the top of one of the windows in my office, because it slipped down and I couldn’t get it back up. In spite of newish windows, every time someone slams a door downstairs (which is, basically, every time they go in or out), the top of  a window slides down up here, so I’m always running around climbing on things to get the windows back up. No, there’s nothing maintenance can do about it, at least not if I ever want to open one of the windows from the bottom again (which I do, in summer). I was worried it wouldn’t matter taping a piece of plastic up, but it made a big difference. No Arctic winds zooming through my office.

Slept so well that I overslept, waking up a little before 7 AM. Again. Tessa Was Not Amused. Again.

But I got everyone fed, and then Tessa coached me through yoga, as she now likes to do.

I dreamed about large green and black spiders, which I learned are lynx spiders. Why I dreamed of a spider I didn’t know existed, who knows? Trying to find an interpretation that’s not AI-generated has been a challenge.

I’m hoping the car will start without a problem this morning. I have the usual library errand, and then I’m getting the last few things for baking (and basic groceries for next week), and then running to Williamstown for the last few things on my gift list. I also have to stock up on parchment paper and wax paper. I ran out of parchment paper with the last tray of cookies yesterday. I need to remember to start stockpiling that over the summer.

I have three more kinds of cookies to bake over the next three days (one kind a day is sane), and packing the boxes to send off, and doing the domestic cards this weekend. I want to get things to the post office on Monday, and start delivering cookie platters, so that will be done next week.

It’s a big push this weekend, and it might not all get done, but we’ll get done as much as we can.

Then, I can focus on any ghostwriting coming in, the historical mystery, and the textile piece. And finishing the decorations, so we can enjoy the holidays!

There are a ton of events happening all around. I’m going to pace myself and do very few. Part of it is that people are running around sick and spewing germs unmasked, and I’m not having it.  I mean, more people are still masking here than in many other areas, but too many people who are sick are not. Part of it is that I just don’t want to be running around this season. I’m grateful to be invited, but I need some quiet time before the year turns. There are things that need to be sorted out and figured out for next year, and they won’t do it on their own. I need to lay some track in the next few weeks, so that I can move forward after the holidays.

For decades, I was always sick on the holidays because I wore myself out leading up to them and took on other people’s germs. By the time the holiday hit, so did illness. I don’t want to do that anymore. So I need to adjust my schedule, and I’m fortunate enough, as a remote worker, to be able to do so. And I’m not twenty anymore, or even thirty, so I need to pace myself better.

Tonight is St. Nicholas night/Krampus. We celebrate St. Nicholas night more in our house, a family tradition. Although I must say, the photos and videos of the Krampus parades in Europe look like a lot of fun.

That’s the plan for the weekend! Have a good one, and we’ll catch up next week to see where we are.

#baking #cookies #events #freelancefriends #holidays #recipes #scheduling

Fri. Dec. 5, 2025: Still Baking

Friday, December 5, 2025

Last Day of Full Moon

Neptune, Chiron, Uranus, Jupiter Retrograde

St. Nicholas/Krampus Night

Sunny and bitterly cold

And here we are, at the end of another week!

Online meditation group was good yesterday morning, and Charlotte was happy.

After breakfast, I mixed up the batter for the batches of molasses spice cookies and set them in the fridge to chill. The jar of molasses used to be enough for two batches plus a little to use in cooking. This jar barely had enough for the two batches. I loathe shrinkflation. But there is allspice in these cookies (along with cinnamon and ginger) which always makes me happy.

By the time the batter was mixed and the dishes done, it was time for the #FreelanceFriends chat over on Bluesky. That was a lot of fun. I wound up sending the Chocolate Crinkle recipe to a colleague who made them that very afternoon!

When that was done, it was back to the kitchen, and rolling and pressing the cookies before baking. By rolling, I don’t mean with a rolling pin – I don’t do those cookies any more for the platters. I roll them into little balls and press them down with a sugared glass, which gives them a sparkle.

The anti-fatigue mat helped, so my back wasn’t quite as unhappy as it would have been, but still, after 12 dozen cookies, ow.

Set them to cool, got a little research done on the historical mystery, so I can dig back into that soon. Tried to read an acquaintance’s cozy mystery, but about 40 pages in, one of her characters that I’m supposed to like, used “witch” as a slur against another woman, so I’m out. You’re not cute, you’re not inclusive, you’re not a feminist if you use this slur. It’s not a valid substitute for “bitch” in a cozy. It’s derogatory towards women, and get out of my life.

So that series is a no-go for me.

Cooked dinner (no leftovers finally, yay). After dinner, we packed the cookies in tins and put them in Tessa’s room, by the porch door, because that’s the coolest room. We also closed the door between Tessa’s room and the rest of the house, because it was set to be -6F overnight.

Bea has gone from being feral to asking for tummy rubs, which is just adorable. She’s not quite a lap cat yet, but she will sit next to me on the sofa, so she’s lap adjacent. She will get there. She just turned 3.

I wound up taping a garbage bag at the gap at the top of one of the windows in my office, because it slipped down and I couldn’t get it back up. In spite of newish windows, every time someone slams a door downstairs (which is, basically, every time they go in or out), the top of  a window slides down up here, so I’m always running around climbing on things to get the windows back up. No, there’s nothing maintenance can do about it, at least not if I ever want to open one of the windows from the bottom again (which I do, in summer). I was worried it wouldn’t matter taping a piece of plastic up, but it made a big difference. No Arctic winds zooming through my office.

Slept so well that I overslept, waking up a little before 7 AM. Again. Tessa Was Not Amused. Again.

But I got everyone fed, and then Tessa coached me through yoga, as she now likes to do.

I dreamed about large green and black spiders, which I learned are lynx spiders. Why I dreamed of a spider I didn’t know existed, who knows? Trying to find an interpretation that’s not AI-generated has been a challenge.

I’m hoping the car will start without a problem this morning. I have the usual library errand, and then I’m getting the last few things for baking (and basic groceries for next week), and then running to Williamstown for the last few things on my gift list. I also have to stock up on parchment paper and wax paper. I ran out of parchment paper with the last tray of cookies yesterday. I need to remember to start stockpiling that over the summer.

I have three more kinds of cookies to bake over the next three days (one kind a day is sane), and packing the boxes to send off, and doing the domestic cards this weekend. I want to get things to the post office on Monday, and start delivering cookie platters, so that will be done next week.

It’s a big push this weekend, and it might not all get done, but we’ll get done as much as we can.

Then, I can focus on any ghostwriting coming in, the historical mystery, and the textile piece. And finishing the decorations, so we can enjoy the holidays!

There are a ton of events happening all around. I’m going to pace myself and do very few. Part of it is that people are running around sick and spewing germs unmasked, and I’m not having it.  I mean, more people are still masking here than in many other areas, but too many people who are sick are not. Part of it is that I just don’t want to be running around this season. I’m grateful to be invited, but I need some quiet time before the year turns. There are things that need to be sorted out and figured out for next year, and they won’t do it on their own. I need to lay some track in the next few weeks, so that I can move forward after the holidays.

For decades, I was always sick on the holidays because I wore myself out leading up to them and took on other people’s germs. By the time the holiday hit, so did illness. I don’t want to do that anymore. So I need to adjust my schedule, and I’m fortunate enough, as a remote worker, to be able to do so. And I’m not twenty anymore, or even thirty, so I need to pace myself better.

Tonight is St. Nicholas night/Krampus. We celebrate St. Nicholas night more in our house, a family tradition. Although I must say, the photos and videos of the Krampus parades in Europe look like a lot of fun.

That’s the plan for the weekend! Have a good one, and we’ll catch up next week to see where we are.

#baking #cookies #events #freelancefriends #holidays #recipes #scheduling

Fri. Nov. 21, 2025: We Made It to the Weekend

Friday, November 21, 2025

Waxing Moon

Neptune, Saturn, Chiron, Uranus, Mercury, Jupiter Retrograde

Cloudy and cold; incoming rain or snow

And here we are, at Friday again!

Online meditation was good yesterday, and Charlotte was delighted. After breakfast (which is after meditation), I got a decent start on the historical mystery. I’m still finding my way into it. But the body dropped (literally and figuratively) nice and early, so I think I’m in good shape.

Caught up on some email, slogged through a bunch of job listings. This isn’t the best time to get out LOIs. I mean, with the economy tanking, it’s not anyway, but right before Thanksgiving, things tend to go astray.

Have you seen Emma Thompson in DOWN CEMETARY ROAD? Perfection. I love what she’s doing in that so much.

The #FreelanceFriends chat was good, and I agreed to host a chat again the first Thursday in February, so that’s on the calendar and I can plan the questions.

After lunch, I did some ghostwriting. I didn’t get as far as I hoped, but made decent progress. Still waiting for the notes on the other projects. I hope I get at least one set today, so I can turn around and invoice before the holiday next week. Finished the book for review, so I will write and send off the review this morning, and then hope there’s something else to request. Again, I’d like to do another book this weekend, send in the review, and be able to invoice before the holiday.

Tessa and Bea are full of pep this morning and playing. It’s so cute. Bea played with one of her mice, tossing it way up into the air. It landed in one of the plants on a table, and she wasn’t sure how to retrieve it. I got it down for her, and she was so happy. She really is adorable.

On today’s agenda: the review, errands, writing, ghostwriting. Over the weekend, we will put in some time on writing the domestic cards (I’m figuring two hours each day), I will work on the textile project, I will do some housework (never-ending), and we might start some of the winter holiday decorating. Sunday afternoon, a colleague from the gallery is giving an artist talk, so I will attend that to support her. Monday, I have the Feminist Writing Community session online and then a Friends of the Library meeting in the afternoon. Somewhere in all of that, I need to get to the laundromat. I also have to sit down with the recipes for the cookie platters and make the master grocery list for the baking. If Big Y is still out of cocoa powder and baking chocolate, I will have to source it elsewhere. Fortunately, we have options in a pretty decent radius, although I might have to go down (oh horrors) to Pittsfield.

When we had snow a couple of weeks back, in that one day, there were 28 car crashes in Pittsfield. 28 accidents in a single town in a single day. I will try to avoid Pittsfield for as much of the winter as possible.

I hope I can get my errands done before the weather turns too bad. It’s the usual round of pharmacy, grocery store, library, and only one other, so I should be able to be pretty efficient.

The Sidewalk Chewing Demons are out there again, making noise and not getting things done. Urgh. Maybe they’ll be quiet by the time I get back from the errands.

I made my opinions very clear to my elected officials yesterday after That Thing called for the execution of members of Congress. Completely unacceptable. I’m so sick of the corruption and the lawlessness and the intentional cruelty.

Anyway, I’m hoping for a reasonable calm and drama-free weekend, even though there’s plenty that needs to get done. Have a good one, and we’ll catch up next week!

#art #books #cats #freelance #freelancefriends #life #writing

Fri. Nov. 21, 2025: We Made It to the Weekend

Friday, November 21, 2025

Waxing Moon

Neptune, Saturn, Chiron, Uranus, Mercury, Jupiter Retrograde

Cloudy and cold; incoming rain or snow

And here we are, at Friday again!

Online meditation was good yesterday, and Charlotte was delighted. After breakfast (which is after meditation), I got a decent start on the historical mystery. I’m still finding my way into it. But the body dropped (literally and figuratively) nice and early, so I think I’m in good shape.

Caught up on some email, slogged through a bunch of job listings. This isn’t the best time to get out LOIs. I mean, with the economy tanking, it’s not anyway, but right before Thanksgiving, things tend to go astray.

Have you seen Emma Thompson in DOWN CEMETARY ROAD? Perfection. I love what she’s doing in that so much.

The #FreelanceFriends chat was good, and I agreed to host a chat again the first Thursday in February, so that’s on the calendar and I can plan the questions.

After lunch, I did some ghostwriting. I didn’t get as far as I hoped, but made decent progress. Still waiting for the notes on the other projects. I hope I get at least one set today, so I can turn around and invoice before the holiday next week. Finished the book for review, so I will write and send off the review this morning, and then hope there’s something else to request. Again, I’d like to do another book this weekend, send in the review, and be able to invoice before the holiday.

Tessa and Bea are full of pep this morning and playing. It’s so cute. Bea played with one of her mice, tossing it way up into the air. It landed in one of the plants on a table, and she wasn’t sure how to retrieve it. I got it down for her, and she was so happy. She really is adorable.

On today’s agenda: the review, errands, writing, ghostwriting. Over the weekend, we will put in some time on writing the domestic cards (I’m figuring two hours each day), I will work on the textile project, I will do some housework (never-ending), and we might start some of the winter holiday decorating. Sunday afternoon, a colleague from the gallery is giving an artist talk, so I will attend that to support her. Monday, I have the Feminist Writing Community session online and then a Friends of the Library meeting in the afternoon. Somewhere in all of that, I need to get to the laundromat. I also have to sit down with the recipes for the cookie platters and make the master grocery list for the baking. If Big Y is still out of cocoa powder and baking chocolate, I will have to source it elsewhere. Fortunately, we have options in a pretty decent radius, although I might have to go down (oh horrors) to Pittsfield.

When we had snow a couple of weeks back, in that one day, there were 28 car crashes in Pittsfield. 28 accidents in a single town in a single day. I will try to avoid Pittsfield for as much of the winter as possible.

I hope I can get my errands done before the weather turns too bad. It’s the usual round of pharmacy, grocery store, library, and only one other, so I should be able to be pretty efficient.

The Sidewalk Chewing Demons are out there again, making noise and not getting things done. Urgh. Maybe they’ll be quiet by the time I get back from the errands.

I made my opinions very clear to my elected officials yesterday after That Thing called for the execution of members of Congress. Completely unacceptable. I’m so sick of the corruption and the lawlessness and the intentional cruelty.

Anyway, I’m hoping for a reasonable calm and drama-free weekend, even though there’s plenty that needs to get done. Have a good one, and we’ll catch up next week!

#art #books #cats #freelance #freelancefriends #life #writing

Fri. Nov. 21, 2025: We Made It to the Weekend

Friday, November 21, 2025

Waxing Moon

Neptune, Saturn, Chiron, Uranus, Mercury, Jupiter Retrograde

Cloudy and cold; incoming rain or snow

And here we are, at Friday again!

Online meditation was good yesterday, and Charlotte was delighted. After breakfast (which is after meditation), I got a decent start on the historical mystery. I’m still finding my way into it. But the body dropped (literally and figuratively) nice and early, so I think I’m in good shape.

Caught up on some email, slogged through a bunch of job listings. This isn’t the best time to get out LOIs. I mean, with the economy tanking, it’s not anyway, but right before Thanksgiving, things tend to go astray.

Have you seen Emma Thompson in DOWN CEMETARY ROAD? Perfection. I love what she’s doing in that so much.

The #FreelanceFriends chat was good, and I agreed to host a chat again the first Thursday in February, so that’s on the calendar and I can plan the questions.

After lunch, I did some ghostwriting. I didn’t get as far as I hoped, but made decent progress. Still waiting for the notes on the other projects. I hope I get at least one set today, so I can turn around and invoice before the holiday next week. Finished the book for review, so I will write and send off the review this morning, and then hope there’s something else to request. Again, I’d like to do another book this weekend, send in the review, and be able to invoice before the holiday.

Tessa and Bea are full of pep this morning and playing. It’s so cute. Bea played with one of her mice, tossing it way up into the air. It landed in one of the plants on a table, and she wasn’t sure how to retrieve it. I got it down for her, and she was so happy. She really is adorable.

On today’s agenda: the review, errands, writing, ghostwriting. Over the weekend, we will put in some time on writing the domestic cards (I’m figuring two hours each day), I will work on the textile project, I will do some housework (never-ending), and we might start some of the winter holiday decorating. Sunday afternoon, a colleague from the gallery is giving an artist talk, so I will attend that to support her. Monday, I have the Feminist Writing Community session online and then a Friends of the Library meeting in the afternoon. Somewhere in all of that, I need to get to the laundromat. I also have to sit down with the recipes for the cookie platters and make the master grocery list for the baking. If Big Y is still out of cocoa powder and baking chocolate, I will have to source it elsewhere. Fortunately, we have options in a pretty decent radius, although I might have to go down (oh horrors) to Pittsfield.

When we had snow a couple of weeks back, in that one day, there were 28 car crashes in Pittsfield. 28 accidents in a single town in a single day. I will try to avoid Pittsfield for as much of the winter as possible.

I hope I can get my errands done before the weather turns too bad. It’s the usual round of pharmacy, grocery store, library, and only one other, so I should be able to be pretty efficient.

The Sidewalk Chewing Demons are out there again, making noise and not getting things done. Urgh. Maybe they’ll be quiet by the time I get back from the errands.

I made my opinions very clear to my elected officials yesterday after That Thing called for the execution of members of Congress. Completely unacceptable. I’m so sick of the corruption and the lawlessness and the intentional cruelty.

Anyway, I’m hoping for a reasonable calm and drama-free weekend, even though there’s plenty that needs to get done. Have a good one, and we’ll catch up next week!

#art #books #cats #freelance #freelancefriends #life #writing

Thurs. Nov. 20, 2025: A Solid, Steady Work Day

Thursday, November 20, 2025

New Moon

Neptune, Saturn, Chiron, Uranus, Mercury, Jupiter Retrograde

Partly sunny and cold

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

New moon, yay, but with all these retrogrades, I want to keep it quiet and uncomplicated. There are so many posts about setting intentions and moving forward – it’s going to feel like swimming in molasses with all these retrogrades, so let’s just keep this new moon a little on the quiet side, okay? Frankly, I’m sick of all the “transformation” and “not your typical new moon” posts that have screamed at us all year. It’s been a rough year, and I want some quiet as I gear up to enjoy these holidays as much as possible. I definitely embodied a Hermit Year in many ways. (Hermit is the 9 card in most tarot decks, and 2025 is a 9 year – 2 + 2 + 5 =9)

Next year, 2026, is a “10” year or a “1” year, depending on how you want to look at it. 10 in the tarot is the Wheel of Fortune, and 1 is the Magician. So let’s use the Magician to turn the Wheel toward something better. But between now and then, let me rest, damn it.

I was absolutely exhausted yesterday. When the noise finally died down a bit in the late morning, I could barely do anything. I felt like I’d been released after a beating. It’s very unhealthy to have to be in such a state of hypervigilance all the time between the chaos just outside the building and the greater dumpster fire of the country.

I managed to get some planning done on the historical mystery, setting out some of the bones for the story. I still need to add a lot of historical details, but I want to use it like seasoning, not smother the story itself. And because it’s not an era I feel fluent in, it’s more of a struggle than otherwise. But the piece has to be set sometime before 1900, and I’m sure there will be a lot of submissions in the Victorian era, ancient Rome, and ancient Egypt. Very little, in general, is set during the reign of Queen Anne. Some is set a bit earlier, at the beginning of the Restoration, when the ban against women performing onstage was lifted. But mine is solidly during the Queen Anne years, when a group of women playwrights and actresses flourished, in spite of the odds.

I still have a lot of figuring out and reading to do, especially to cross-check historical details, but I should be able to start the piece early next week. If I can get the bones down and then layer the piece, I think I will be in good shape. Also, it’s only 5K, so I don’t want to overcomplicate it.

And I have my protagonist figured out, which helps a lot. I prefer to start from character and build the situation around it.

The anthology payment showed up in my account, which was a good feeling. It’s not a large amount, but it’s welcome.

I had a really good work session on the ghostwriting. When I’m not under a brutal deadline, I can tell myself the story first, and then go back and layer. I’m still waiting for revision notes on the three previous projects. I hoped to be able to invoice again before the end of the month. Fingers crossed that can still happen. In the meantime, I keep trudging forward, along with preparing LOIs.

Slept reasonably well, good morning routine, good 15-minute free write. For now, I’m keeping on keeping on with it. Figured out the opening, the murder, the murderer, and the motive for the historical mystery. So yes, I can get started on it soon, and then layer in the historical details as they are needed.

The Sidewalk Chewing Demons are out there making noise again this morning. Hopefully, it won’t be for too long. I have the online meditation group (provided Madame Download isn’t running it). I’m considering skipping it, but Charlotte would be disappointed, and since we won’t have it next week because of the holiday, I feel I should show up.

On today’s agenda: writing, ghostwriting, #FreelanceFriends, reading the next book for review.

Tomorrow is errand day. I probably won’t get to the laundromat until just before the holiday next week, provided there’s not another water main break.

Here’s hoping it’s a quiet day!

#astrology #freelance #freelancefriends #historicalMystery #life #spirituality #tarot #writing

Fri. Nov. 7, 2025: Hoping for a Quiet, Creative Weekend

Friday, November 7, 2025

Waning Moon

Neptune, Saturn, Chiron, Uranus Retrograde

Sunny and cold

And here we are, at the weekend again! When we meet again, next week, both Mercury AND Jupiter will be retrograde, meaning we are dealing with 6 retrogrades. I want to stay in my blanket fort for the rest of the month, please and thank you.

Yesterday was slow going, and a lot of admin. Meditation was good, and Charlotte was happy. #FreelanceFriends chat was good. I just sort of plodded along with the work. Nothing particularly exciting going on at the home front. Just keeping on keeping on, frustrated because everything is taking longer than I would like (hello, retrogrades). Somehow, it will all get done.

A judge told That Thing yesterday that he must fully fund SNAP by Friday. No more excuses. No defying court orders. Of course, the administration is putting in an appeal. I’m telling you, they want to stop the program permanently. You know they’re going to pull the same thing again in December, claiming they used up all the money per court order in November, even though the money won’t have gone out. Since Johnson already said he’s keeping the House in recess until at least January. . .although I fully expect Schumer to cave out of spite because Tuesday didn’t go the way he wanted it to. If and when the House reconvenes, there has to be a no confidence vote against Johnson and he needs to be replaced by someone who is capable of doing the job, rather than a mere toady. Nancy Pelosi announcing her retirement is also a big deal. I often disagreed with her decisions, but I also recognize how much she achieved in her career. And it sends a clear message to establishment Democrats.

Guess I should be glad things are quiet on the home front, with all the chaos going on at the larger level. On a local level, I had some solid congratulatory conversations with my local elected officials.

And the best local news – Hexagon Bagels opened in their brick-and-mortar space! I’m so thrilled for Patrick and Nicholas. They’re open right now Thursdays through Sundays. I will have to make a foray down there to get some bagels and congratulate them in person.

I finished the second book for review, so I will send off those two reviews this morning, and then request my next assignment.

I had a good 15-minute writing session this morning, which I hope will translate into some good writing, and figured out the central conflict of a newish piece, which is always a good thing. It helps me build the rest of the piece now.

I’m off to do the errands after breakfast– grocery store, library, etc. And then it’s back to the ghostwriting. Tonight is First Friday and an opening at Future Labs, so I will be off to that, for at least a little bit.

This weekend, I plan to stay home, do housework, and get some sewing done. Some of it will be on the textile-and-text piece, some of it will be clothing. I also have to read the research books for the historical mystery and start building that, so I can write it over the next few weeks and get it in ahead of deadline (I hope).

I’m trying to be consistent with my daily marketing moments from my content calendar, and hoping that will pick up momentum over the next few weeks.

Next week will be wonky, with Veterans’ Day being on Tuesday and some stuff being shut and others not. Next week, I also have to get my mom’s COVID booster scheduled. I have a feeling I won’t get mine until early December. I have to get it before the end of the year, while I still have insurance. I’m not sure of the details of our insurances yet – I got one notification that my mom’s monthly payment is going up by 53%, but I don’t know what’s going on with mine yet. I have to contact the navigator and see if we can just stay on what we have, or if everything is about re-enrollment (which is complete and utter b.s. – if people want to keep what they have, it should just renew, not have to go through all the paperwork all over again every damn year).

Heaven forbid we have a government that does its job to make people’s lives better. We have one that’s being looted to turn it into a medieval feudal system.

Anyway, I hope to have a quiet and creative weekend. Have a good one, and we’ll catch up in the retrograde-fraught next week!

#astrology #creativity #freelance #FreelanceFriends #life #sewing #smallBusiness #writing

Fri. Nov. 7, 2025: Hoping for a Quiet, Creative Weekend

Friday, November 7, 2025

Waning Moon

Neptune, Saturn, Chiron, Uranus Retrograde

Sunny and cold

And here we are, at the weekend again! When we meet again, next week, both Mercury AND Jupiter will be retrograde, meaning we are dealing with 6 retrogrades. I want to stay in my blanket fort for the rest of the month, please and thank you.

Yesterday was slow going, and a lot of admin. Meditation was good, and Charlotte was happy. #FreelanceFriends chat was good. I just sort of plodded along with the work. Nothing particularly exciting going on at the home front. Just keeping on keeping on, frustrated because everything is taking longer than I would like (hello, retrogrades). Somehow, it will all get done.

A judge told That Thing yesterday that he must fully fund SNAP by Friday. No more excuses. No defying court orders. Of course, the administration is putting in an appeal. I’m telling you, they want to stop the program permanently. You know they’re going to pull the same thing again in December, claiming they used up all the money per court order in November, even though the money won’t have gone out. Since Johnson already said he’s keeping the House in recess until at least January. . .although I fully expect Schumer to cave out of spite because Tuesday didn’t go the way he wanted it to. If and when the House reconvenes, there has to be a no confidence vote against Johnson and he needs to be replaced by someone who is capable of doing the job, rather than a mere toady. Nancy Pelosi announcing her retirement is also a big deal. I often disagreed with her decisions, but I also recognize how much she achieved in her career. And it sends a clear message to establishment Democrats.

Guess I should be glad things are quiet on the home front, with all the chaos going on at the larger level. On a local level, I had some solid congratulatory conversations with my local elected officials.

And the best local news – Hexagon Bagels opened in their brick-and-mortar space! I’m so thrilled for Patrick and Nicholas. They’re open right now Thursdays through Sundays. I will have to make a foray down there to get some bagels and congratulate them in person.

I finished the second book for review, so I will send off those two reviews this morning, and then request my next assignment.

I had a good 15-minute writing session this morning, which I hope will translate into some good writing, and figured out the central conflict of a newish piece, which is always a good thing. It helps me build the rest of the piece now.

I’m off to do the errands after breakfast– grocery store, library, etc. And then it’s back to the ghostwriting. Tonight is First Friday and an opening at Future Labs, so I will be off to that, for at least a little bit.

This weekend, I plan to stay home, do housework, and get some sewing done. Some of it will be on the textile-and-text piece, some of it will be clothing. I also have to read the research books for the historical mystery and start building that, so I can write it over the next few weeks and get it in ahead of deadline (I hope).

I’m trying to be consistent with my daily marketing moments from my content calendar, and hoping that will pick up momentum over the next few weeks.

Next week will be wonky, with Veterans’ Day being on Tuesday and some stuff being shut and others not. Next week, I also have to get my mom’s COVID booster scheduled. I have a feeling I won’t get mine until early December. I have to get it before the end of the year, while I still have insurance. I’m not sure of the details of our insurances yet – I got one notification that my mom’s monthly payment is going up by 53%, but I don’t know what’s going on with mine yet. I have to contact the navigator and see if we can just stay on what we have, or if everything is about re-enrollment (which is complete and utter b.s. – if people want to keep what they have, it should just renew, not have to go through all the paperwork all over again every damn year).

Heaven forbid we have a government that does its job to make people’s lives better. We have one that’s being looted to turn it into a medieval feudal system.

Anyway, I hope to have a quiet and creative weekend. Have a good one, and we’ll catch up in the retrograde-fraught next week!

#astrology #creativity #freelance #FreelanceFriends #life #sewing #smallBusiness #writing