#scriptwriting — Public Fediverse posts

A story from Sepp Forscher on Medium
Read “What films and contemporary politics have in common“ by Sepp Forscher on Medium: https://medium.com/@seppforscher/what-films-and-contemporary-politics-have-in-common-3091a2cde472

#uspol #democracy #politics #scriptwriting

A story from Sepp Forscher on Medium
Read “What films and contemporary politics have in common“ by Sepp Forscher on Medium: https://medium.com/@seppforscher/what-films-and-contemporary-politics-have-in-common-3091a2cde472

#uspol #democracy #politics #scriptwriting

Tues. July 28, 2026: A Weekend of Ups and Downs

Tuesday, July 28, 2026

Day Before Full Moon

Pluto, Neptune, Saturn Retrograde

Cloudy and humid

Here we are, nearly at the end of July. Saturn has joined the retrograde parade. Saturn is about life lessons and structure. If you ignored certain things in the last Saturn retrograde, they will come back and smack you upside the head. If you learned and grew, there will be new questions coming up between now and December 10. It’s about finding long-term structure to best support your life on all levels.

I wanted to take a minute to talk about Isabel Klee and what she and her fiancé Jacob have gone through lately with her beloved dog Simon. She is @simonsits on various social media accounts. I’ve been shedding most of the big accounts I’ve come across/followed over the years, because, frankly, they are about numbers to get endorsement dollars and not about actual connection. Isabel is the exception, because of all her work fostering dogs and with dog rescue. She does wonderful work and has helped so many people and so many dogs. Her dog Simon was amazing, and so good with all the fosters. He was very ill with epilepsy and then cancer, and she had to let him go this past weekend. She shared his last days, and we all cried with her. Anyone who has lost a beloved animal companion understands the grief.

People who love her account have comforted each other in our grief, while also hoping Isabel’s family knows how much her grief is being held by the people around her. I hope she also takes time off camera to grieve as she needs to grieve. It was galvanizing for people to hold her family and each other in grief, but the part that can only be done alone is important, too.

I think the grief goes beyond this particular family and dog, though. I think we all remember the grief of lost pets in our lives. And we also grieve the world we’re living in, the intentional cruelties and the murders of humans. Isabel and Simon showed the world so much empathy and love, and that’s a sharp contrast to the murders of Renee Good, Alex Pretti, Nolan Wells, and all the others. I think the grief goes beyond this one particular event and family, and is about the world we are mourning. The lost potential and possibilities.

On Friday, I got the script commission pitch out the door. The window closes on the 31st, so I got it in a bit early. It’s a topic I’ve wanted to explore for several years, so I’m glad I had the chance to put the ideas together and work up some sample pages.

I was happy to hear that Melissa, Mark, and Gilbert Hortman’s murderer got two consecutive life sentences plus 40 years. A tiny candle of justice in all the injustice going on.

I folded and put away the laundry. I’m almost caught up on all the winter fabrics, and hope to have them done before it’s time to turn the house over for fall/winter! Times like these, I miss having laundry in the house. But it’s not worth buying my own machines in a rental unit.

I did the free-write session later than usual (because I was out at the laundromat) and played with an idea so I have notes for it when I want to come back to it.

I focused on the ghostwriting assignment that’s due tomorrow. I know why I’m frustrated, but I don’t know how to solve it. Talking to the client won’t, because this conversation has happened before and doesn’t get us anywhere.

I decided not to punish myself (for once), and finished up what I was going to do by around 2 PM. I got changed and headed to Williamstown. I swung by the Milne Library, which I hadn’t visited in too long. I got three terrific books from the free cart, one for my mom, two for me. Then I went to the Clark, where I haven’t been since the opening of the exhibit earlier this summer. I ran into an artist I know there, and we had a nice catch-up chat.

I spent my time there sitting by the reflecting pool, reading and resting. Some of the dragonflies flitting around the pool came to visit, which was lovely.

When it was time to go, I packed up and headed to Theatre 62 at Williams College. What a gorgeous space! We were in the dance studio upstairs (shoes off), with a wall of windows looking over the mountains. WAM’s resident artists had an open rehearsal of their project. It’s a musical. The lyricist is also writing the book (which is somewhat unusual). They talked about the project and played us a section of the song as they first wrote it, and then in the version that’s now evolved.

Then, they broke us up into groups to do a worldbuilding exercise. At first, I was somewhat resistant, because – busman’s holiday. But I also figured, why not, and learn something new. Our group of four held the woman who used to run Many Forks up in Clarksburg, and a pair of tourists visiting the area this weekend who happened to come upon the listing. We came up with our setting and the sensory specifics (haunted house – gee, what a surprise, since I was involved, right). Once the time was up, each group read out their bullet point list of their built world (there was a magical soccer field, a spaceship orbiting Mars, and fairytale treehouse built by the others). The composer listened, then created music for each world. It was pretty amazing.

We chatted with them after, and I asked to be put on their mailing list, so I can continue to support their work. It was great to learn so much about the process of creating a musical, the actual nuts-and-bolts of sitting down to do the work. They started working on this musical eight years ago, and just talked about it for the first two.

I first headed out to Blue Mango on Spring Street, planning to bring back Thai food. But they are “closed for maintenance” and, from the notes taped to the door, it looks like they’ve been closed for awhile and may be closed indefinitely. I stopped at Chopsticks instead, which was on my way back, and picked up Chinese.

Came home, frustrated by the musical chairs in the parking lot again, ate, then found very frustrating notes from the ghostwriting client on the project I turned in a little over a week ago – that will delay payment on what I’ve done (again – gee, what a surprise, yes, that’s sarcasm). We seem to work out trouble spots and things smooth out for a couple of months, and then the contradictions and chaos start up again. There’s a difference between natural growth of a series and chaos, and this tilts toward the latter for me too often.

I went to bed very unhappy. I slept reasonably well into Saturday, until Charlotte started fussing around three. I moved to the sofa. It took her about an hour to find me, and then she started kneading my kidneys (ouch). Bea finally got me up (gently) just before six. I had steadfastly refused to capitulate to Tessa’s howling and Willa’s general shenanigans.

After that slow start and dealing with chores and plants, I sat down and wrote four pages of a play I need to get done by early August. I’d already written pages on it, I’m continuing to finish it. I’m about a third of the way there. I hope that by writing 2-4 pages/day for the next few weeks, I can get it done.

I was sad and angry to hear about the attack at Berlin Pride. There are too many horrible people in the world, and there need to be harsher and faster consequences for them.

I rehearsed my sections of the poem several times. I read the next book for review, which was quite good. I was in rough emotional waters most of the day. I grieved about many things, not just a lovely dog I’ve never met.

Heated up leftovers for dinner and had a quiet night, feeling completely drained.

Charlotte fussed at me around 3 AM again on Sunday, so I got up and moved to the sofa and went back to sleep (after cuddling Bea). By a little before 6, Bea, Charlotte, and Tessa were all fussing at me, so I got up and fed them.

I did the morning routine, and the Community Tarot Reading for the Week, which you can read here. I made a birthday gift for a friend who hoped to make it to the poem.

I rehearsed the poems a few dozen times. Once I had the reading rhythm I wanted, I timed the sections and adjusted, until the timings were consistent.  Each section can be 30 sections. The more complex one, with the harder words, ran 29.17 seconds regularly. The second ran only 18.12. So I was well in the parameters.

Pretty soon, I need to decide what I’m reading for the Boiler House reading, and what I’m workshopping during our residency. For the reading, I will have to start rehearsing and then time it with the stopwatch. I’m hoping I can read a flash fiction (250 words) that was published a few years ago, a prose poem/drabble, and an actual short poem, but we will see how it times out. If I need to cut/rearrange/swap out pieces, I will. I know one of the poems I want to bring into the workshop, an ekphrastic piece inspired by an art piece in the FutureLabs group show earlier this year. I have to do some work on it before I can bring it in. I have some other poems I’ve played with, but I’m not sure which ones to bring in yet. I’m still struggling to write the comic horror cleave poem. It’s still beyond my skill level, but I keep trying. We have 5 workshop sessions, so I will have to see if I bring in 4 poems and 1 short scripted scene, or 3 poems and 2 short scripted scenes. I’m leaning toward the latter, using one stage play and one radio play for the scripted scenes. But we’ll see how it shakes out. All the radio plays might already be out by then.

I worked hard to get myself into the mental headspace for the poem. Feeling so physically and mentally drained made it difficult. This is one of my favorite events all year, so I knew once I actually got there, I would perk up, but trying to properly prepare to be the best I could be in support of the rest of the group was a challenge.

Got dressed and left a little after 1:30. My mom decided to come, too, which was nice. She’s always been interested to see how it comes together. I stopped for gas on the way, and off we went. Traffic was a little sticky around Pittsfield (as usual), but not too bad. It was a lovely day to be out and about.

We arrived a little early. I got my mom settled, and found my chair. On one side was one of the poets I’ve known for the past 5 years of participating in this creation, and it’s always great to be around her. On my other side was a poet who has also been doing this regularly, but this was the first time we were positioned together and could really talk. Her mom (who is 96) sat with my mom (who is 101), and had a good natter. I also caught up with another poet I’ve been friends with since the first year, who is a wonderful playwright and historian, and also is the person who got me hooked up with WAM. Two chairs away was a younger poet whose first year was last year, and who now works in the marketing department for the Mount. A few more chairs down was a poet who’s done the event for several years who beat cancer. Down the other way was a skilled poet I’ve known for all the years I’ve done this whose poetry took a huge leap this year and it was beautiful to see. There was also a poet I met the first year I did this (who hasn’t been back until this year), and we were then in a playwrighting workshop together, and further down, the leader of that workshop, which is where FALL FOREVER was born. So there’s a lot of my personal history woven in with these poets. I WILL BE DIFFERENT was also born at a Word X Word event, although it was one of their Poets in Conversation series, rather than the large poem.

It flowed well. Many of the poems were far more political and pointed this year than in previous years, some funny and some angry. It always amazes me how the sections wind up supporting each other, when all we have is the final word of the previous poet’s poem to start our own.

We were called in earlier this year, and had more rehearsal time, which worked well. And we had a break to have a bit of food and drink in between the rehearsal and performance, and be silly together. That translated well when we got back into the tent to perform the poem.

Melissa Quirk, who wrote the first and last poem of the piece, also wrote a poem during the piece weaving bits of all our poems into a final poem. She creates with more love than just about anyone I’ve ever met, and it’s always an honor to be involved in anything with her.

The afternoon reminded me how healing poetry is. One of my fellow poets spoke to how important this kind of creation, in small pockets all over, is to our resilience.

A friend showed up to the poem. I wasn’t sure she’d make it, since it was her birthday, but she did. She loved the experience. It’s so difficult to explain it, because it’s so experiential. I got to give her the gift I made for her, and hang out for a bit. She gave us some tomatillos from the community garden at which she volunteers. We had a bigger audience than usual, which is always terrific, including some random people who were visiting the Mount and got curious.

The drive home was smooth. I guess the tourists and weekenders cleared out! We stopped at Adams Market, where a bought a mixed berry pie and some – I’m not sure what they are – custard wrapped in Belgian chocolate.

Home, cooked dinner, sat on the porch looking at the almost-full moon. The cats behaved while we were gone.

Slept reasonably well, although I woke up at 3:33 on Monday. It wasn’t Charlotte’s fault this time. I stayed in bed until just before 5, then started the morning routine.

Monday was pretty packed, that moon-in-Capricorn thing being a taskmaster.

I had to prepare paperwork and a strong response (cc’d to two attorneys general) in response to a company trying to scam my elderly mother out of an account she’s had for decades. That took a bit of work, and then I had to trot down to the post office and send things off via certified mail. I also deposited a check in the bank, a small payment for something I wasn’t expecting, but for which I am grateful. Lovely orange and black butterflies joined me on the walk, which was fun. I sent a polite but measured response to the ghostwriting client on the one project, and then another polite response when they were “checking in” to make sure I was still on schedule with the other project. I have not missed a deadline the entire time I’ve worked for them. I asked once for an extension of a single day when they sent me a massive rewrite. I’m so burned out on all this right now.

I worked on the ghostwriting all afternoon and am still behind. I need to do a big push today, because one assignment is due tomorrow, and then I have to start the rewrite on the other project on Thursday.

I didn’t get any of my own work done, which is self-sabotage and needs to stop. I did, however, get some work done on one of the LOIs, which is good.

Upset to hear about the mass shooting in Seattle.

I was sad to learn about the death of choreographer Hope Clarke. I knew her from waaaaay back in the days when I was an office assistant at the Stage Directors and Choreographers Foundation back in NYC, in my pre-Broadway days, when the office was so small it was only the executive director and me. Hope was involved in a lot of our programming and outreach, and was such a lovely person, in addition to being enormously talented. Being around her was always joyful, and I looked forward to any meeting or other activity in which she was involved.

I got a notification that a package was delivered, only it wasn’t. The notification said it was in the mailbox, which was ridiculous because it wasn’t an item that could fit (although they shove plenty of stuff that doesn’t fit in the mailbox, and then I can’t get it out). Usually, it’s left on the porch or in front of the door. Nothing. And I went down as the postal van was driving away, so it’s not like anyone had time to grab it (not that they would, we’re all pretty good about redelivering the misdelivered mail). I have to wait 24 hours to file a non-delivery claim. I am also sick and tired of paying for delivery and then WE are told to run around the neighborhood doing the unpaid labor for which we paid someone else, looking for the delivery. It’s from a company with whom I’ve already had issues, although this part is not their fault.

We had two of the mediocre frozen salmon patties left, so I made a salmon hash with them, potatoes, onion, garlic, and then peppers and spinach from the CSA box. The mediocrity was hidden within the good stuff.

Slept reasonably well, in spite of the humidity. My hip is bothering me a lot today. I tried stretching it out in the morning yoga. If I need a pain patch later, that’s what I will do. I think it will be Thursday, when I run all my regular errands, that I finally get the vacuum to the Fed Ex drop off.

So tired of all of it.

We are under a flood watch until tomorrow night. I doubt I will make it to yoga, if it’s pouring (like it has for the past few weeks). The rain was supposed to start overnight, but hasn’t yet. I hope it starts soon, to cut the humidity a bit. The temperatures aren’t bad, but the humidity is a bit oppressive.

Hope you’re having a good start to your week!

Tues. July 28, 2026: A Weekend of Ups and Downs

Tuesday, July 28, 2026

Day Before Full Moon

Pluto, Neptune, Saturn Retrograde

Cloudy and humid

Here we are, nearly at the end of July. Saturn has joined the retrograde parade. Saturn is about life lessons and structure. If you ignored certain things in the last Saturn retrograde, they will come back and smack you upside the head. If you learned and grew, there will be new questions coming up between now and December 10. It’s about finding long-term structure to best support your life on all levels.

I wanted to take a minute to talk about Isabel Klee and what she and her fiancé Jacob have gone through lately with her beloved dog Simon. She is @simonsits on various social media accounts. I’ve been shedding most of the big accounts I’ve come across/followed over the years, because, frankly, they are about numbers to get endorsement dollars and not about actual connection. Isabel is the exception, because of all her work fostering dogs and with dog rescue. She does wonderful work and has helped so many people and so many dogs. Her dog Simon was amazing, and so good with all the fosters. He was very ill with epilepsy and then cancer, and she had to let him go this past weekend. She shared his last days, and we all cried with her. Anyone who has lost a beloved animal companion understands the grief.

People who love her account have comforted each other in our grief, while also hoping Isabel’s family knows how much her grief is being held by the people around her. I hope she also takes time off camera to grieve as she needs to grieve. It was galvanizing for people to hold her family and each other in grief, but the part that can only be done alone is important, too.

I think the grief goes beyond this particular family and dog, though. I think we all remember the grief of lost pets in our lives. And we also grieve the world we’re living in, the intentional cruelties and the murders of humans. Isabel and Simon showed the world so much empathy and love, and that’s a sharp contrast to the murders of Renee Good, Alex Pretti, Nolan Wells, and all the others. I think the grief goes beyond this one particular event and family, and is about the world we are mourning. The lost potential and possibilities.

On Friday, I got the script commission pitch out the door. The window closes on the 31st, so I got it in a bit early. It’s a topic I’ve wanted to explore for several years, so I’m glad I had the chance to put the ideas together and work up some sample pages.

I was happy to hear that Melissa, Mark, and Gilbert Hortman’s murderer got two consecutive life sentences plus 40 years. A tiny candle of justice in all the injustice going on.

I folded and put away the laundry. I’m almost caught up on all the winter fabrics, and hope to have them done before it’s time to turn the house over for fall/winter! Times like these, I miss having laundry in the house. But it’s not worth buying my own machines in a rental unit.

I did the free-write session later than usual (because I was out at the laundromat) and played with an idea so I have notes for it when I want to come back to it.

I focused on the ghostwriting assignment that’s due tomorrow. I know why I’m frustrated, but I don’t know how to solve it. Talking to the client won’t, because this conversation has happened before and doesn’t get us anywhere.

I decided not to punish myself (for once), and finished up what I was going to do by around 2 PM. I got changed and headed to Williamstown. I swung by the Milne Library, which I hadn’t visited in too long. I got three terrific books from the free cart, one for my mom, two for me. Then I went to the Clark, where I haven’t been since the opening of the exhibit earlier this summer. I ran into an artist I know there, and we had a nice catch-up chat.

I spent my time there sitting by the reflecting pool, reading and resting. Some of the dragonflies flitting around the pool came to visit, which was lovely.

When it was time to go, I packed up and headed to Theatre 62 at Williams College. What a gorgeous space! We were in the dance studio upstairs (shoes off), with a wall of windows looking over the mountains. WAM’s resident artists had an open rehearsal of their project. It’s a musical. The lyricist is also writing the book (which is somewhat unusual). They talked about the project and played us a section of the song as they first wrote it, and then in the version that’s now evolved.

Then, they broke us up into groups to do a worldbuilding exercise. At first, I was somewhat resistant, because – busman’s holiday. But I also figured, why not, and learn something new. Our group of four held the woman who used to run Many Forks up in Clarksburg, and a pair of tourists visiting the area this weekend who happened to come upon the listing. We came up with our setting and the sensory specifics (haunted house – gee, what a surprise, since I was involved, right). Once the time was up, each group read out their bullet point list of their built world (there was a magical soccer field, a spaceship orbiting Mars, and fairytale treehouse built by the others). The composer listened, then created music for each world. It was pretty amazing.

We chatted with them after, and I asked to be put on their mailing list, so I can continue to support their work. It was great to learn so much about the process of creating a musical, the actual nuts-and-bolts of sitting down to do the work. They started working on this musical eight years ago, and just talked about it for the first two.

I first headed out to Blue Mango on Spring Street, planning to bring back Thai food. But they are “closed for maintenance” and, from the notes taped to the door, it looks like they’ve been closed for awhile and may be closed indefinitely. I stopped at Chopsticks instead, which was on my way back, and picked up Chinese.

Came home, frustrated by the musical chairs in the parking lot again, ate, then found very frustrating notes from the ghostwriting client on the project I turned in a little over a week ago – that will delay payment on what I’ve done (again – gee, what a surprise, yes, that’s sarcasm). We seem to work out trouble spots and things smooth out for a couple of months, and then the contradictions and chaos start up again. There’s a difference between natural growth of a series and chaos, and this tilts toward the latter for me too often.

I went to bed very unhappy. I slept reasonably well into Saturday, until Charlotte started fussing around three. I moved to the sofa. It took her about an hour to find me, and then she started kneading my kidneys (ouch). Bea finally got me up (gently) just before six. I had steadfastly refused to capitulate to Tessa’s howling and Willa’s general shenanigans.

After that slow start and dealing with chores and plants, I sat down and wrote four pages of a play I need to get done by early August. I’d already written pages on it, I’m continuing to finish it. I’m about a third of the way there. I hope that by writing 2-4 pages/day for the next few weeks, I can get it done.

I was sad and angry to hear about the attack at Berlin Pride. There are too many horrible people in the world, and there need to be harsher and faster consequences for them.

I rehearsed my sections of the poem several times. I read the next book for review, which was quite good. I was in rough emotional waters most of the day. I grieved about many things, not just a lovely dog I’ve never met.

Heated up leftovers for dinner and had a quiet night, feeling completely drained.

Charlotte fussed at me around 3 AM again on Sunday, so I got up and moved to the sofa and went back to sleep (after cuddling Bea). By a little before 6, Bea, Charlotte, and Tessa were all fussing at me, so I got up and fed them.

I did the morning routine, and the Community Tarot Reading for the Week, which you can read here. I made a birthday gift for a friend who hoped to make it to the poem.

I rehearsed the poems a few dozen times. Once I had the reading rhythm I wanted, I timed the sections and adjusted, until the timings were consistent.  Each section can be 30 sections. The more complex one, with the harder words, ran 29.17 seconds regularly. The second ran only 18.12. So I was well in the parameters.

Pretty soon, I need to decide what I’m reading for the Boiler House reading, and what I’m workshopping during our residency. For the reading, I will have to start rehearsing and then time it with the stopwatch. I’m hoping I can read a flash fiction (250 words) that was published a few years ago, a prose poem/drabble, and an actual short poem, but we will see how it times out. If I need to cut/rearrange/swap out pieces, I will. I know one of the poems I want to bring into the workshop, an ekphrastic piece inspired by an art piece in the FutureLabs group show earlier this year. I have to do some work on it before I can bring it in. I have some other poems I’ve played with, but I’m not sure which ones to bring in yet. I’m still struggling to write the comic horror cleave poem. It’s still beyond my skill level, but I keep trying. We have 5 workshop sessions, so I will have to see if I bring in 4 poems and 1 short scripted scene, or 3 poems and 2 short scripted scenes. I’m leaning toward the latter, using one stage play and one radio play for the scripted scenes. But we’ll see how it shakes out. All the radio plays might already be out by then.

I worked hard to get myself into the mental headspace for the poem. Feeling so physically and mentally drained made it difficult. This is one of my favorite events all year, so I knew once I actually got there, I would perk up, but trying to properly prepare to be the best I could be in support of the rest of the group was a challenge.

Got dressed and left a little after 1:30. My mom decided to come, too, which was nice. She’s always been interested to see how it comes together. I stopped for gas on the way, and off we went. Traffic was a little sticky around Pittsfield (as usual), but not too bad. It was a lovely day to be out and about.

We arrived a little early. I got my mom settled, and found my chair. On one side was one of the poets I’ve known for the past 5 years of participating in this creation, and it’s always great to be around her. On my other side was a poet who has also been doing this regularly, but this was the first time we were positioned together and could really talk. Her mom (who is 96) sat with my mom (who is 101), and had a good natter. I also caught up with another poet I’ve been friends with since the first year, who is a wonderful playwright and historian, and also is the person who got me hooked up with WAM. Two chairs away was a younger poet whose first year was last year, and who now works in the marketing department for the Mount. A few more chairs down was a poet who’s done the event for several years who beat cancer. Down the other way was a skilled poet I’ve known for all the years I’ve done this whose poetry took a huge leap this year and it was beautiful to see. There was also a poet I met the first year I did this (who hasn’t been back until this year), and we were then in a playwrighting workshop together, and further down, the leader of that workshop, which is where FALL FOREVER was born. So there’s a lot of my personal history woven in with these poets. I WILL BE DIFFERENT was also born at a Word X Word event, although it was one of their Poets in Conversation series, rather than the large poem.

It flowed well. Many of the poems were far more political and pointed this year than in previous years, some funny and some angry. It always amazes me how the sections wind up supporting each other, when all we have is the final word of the previous poet’s poem to start our own.

We were called in earlier this year, and had more rehearsal time, which worked well. And we had a break to have a bit of food and drink in between the rehearsal and performance, and be silly together. That translated well when we got back into the tent to perform the poem.

Melissa Quirk, who wrote the first and last poem of the piece, also wrote a poem during the piece weaving bits of all our poems into a final poem. She creates with more love than just about anyone I’ve ever met, and it’s always an honor to be involved in anything with her.

The afternoon reminded me how healing poetry is. One of my fellow poets spoke to how important this kind of creation, in small pockets all over, is to our resilience.

A friend showed up to the poem. I wasn’t sure she’d make it, since it was her birthday, but she did. She loved the experience. It’s so difficult to explain it, because it’s so experiential. I got to give her the gift I made for her, and hang out for a bit. She gave us some tomatillos from the community garden at which she volunteers. We had a bigger audience than usual, which is always terrific, including some random people who were visiting the Mount and got curious.

The drive home was smooth. I guess the tourists and weekenders cleared out! We stopped at Adams Market, where a bought a mixed berry pie and some – I’m not sure what they are – custard wrapped in Belgian chocolate.

Home, cooked dinner, sat on the porch looking at the almost-full moon. The cats behaved while we were gone.

Slept reasonably well, although I woke up at 3:33 on Monday. It wasn’t Charlotte’s fault this time. I stayed in bed until just before 5, then started the morning routine.

Monday was pretty packed, that moon-in-Capricorn thing being a taskmaster.

I had to prepare paperwork and a strong response (cc’d to two attorneys general) in response to a company trying to scam my elderly mother out of an account she’s had for decades. That took a bit of work, and then I had to trot down to the post office and send things off via certified mail. I also deposited a check in the bank, a small payment for something I wasn’t expecting, but for which I am grateful. Lovely orange and black butterflies joined me on the walk, which was fun. I sent a polite but measured response to the ghostwriting client on the one project, and then another polite response when they were “checking in” to make sure I was still on schedule with the other project. I have not missed a deadline the entire time I’ve worked for them. I asked once for an extension of a single day when they sent me a massive rewrite. I’m so burned out on all this right now.

I worked on the ghostwriting all afternoon and am still behind. I need to do a big push today, because one assignment is due tomorrow, and then I have to start the rewrite on the other project on Thursday.

I didn’t get any of my own work done, which is self-sabotage and needs to stop. I did, however, get some work done on one of the LOIs, which is good.

Upset to hear about the mass shooting in Seattle.

I was sad to learn about the death of choreographer Hope Clarke. I knew her from waaaaay back in the days when I was an office assistant at the Stage Directors and Choreographers Foundation back in NYC, in my pre-Broadway days, when the office was so small it was only the executive director and me. Hope was involved in a lot of our programming and outreach, and was such a lovely person, in addition to being enormously talented. Being around her was always joyful, and I looked forward to any meeting or other activity in which she was involved.

I got a notification that a package was delivered, only it wasn’t. The notification said it was in the mailbox, which was ridiculous because it wasn’t an item that could fit (although they shove plenty of stuff that doesn’t fit in the mailbox, and then I can’t get it out). Usually, it’s left on the porch or in front of the door. Nothing. And I went down as the postal van was driving away, so it’s not like anyone had time to grab it (not that they would, we’re all pretty good about redelivering the misdelivered mail). I have to wait 24 hours to file a non-delivery claim. I am also sick and tired of paying for delivery and then WE are told to run around the neighborhood doing the unpaid labor for which we paid someone else, looking for the delivery. It’s from a company with whom I’ve already had issues, although this part is not their fault.

We had two of the mediocre frozen salmon patties left, so I made a salmon hash with them, potatoes, onion, garlic, and then peppers and spinach from the CSA box. The mediocrity was hidden within the good stuff.

Slept reasonably well, in spite of the humidity. My hip is bothering me a lot today. I tried stretching it out in the morning yoga. If I need a pain patch later, that’s what I will do. I think it will be Thursday, when I run all my regular errands, that I finally get the vacuum to the Fed Ex drop off.

So tired of all of it.

We are under a flood watch until tomorrow night. I doubt I will make it to yoga, if it’s pouring (like it has for the past few weeks). The rain was supposed to start overnight, but hasn’t yet. I hope it starts soon, to cut the humidity a bit. The temperatures aren’t bad, but the humidity is a bit oppressive.

Hope you’re having a good start to your week!

I've finished the first draft to the Kronos PC build video. There are parts that needs radical rework (which I have started since taking this screenshot)... But I'm glad I got the general gist down to work with! :apartyblobcat:

So here is a snippit of the very end of the script. :3

#foss #scriptwriting #libreofficewriter #workinprogress

Fri. July 17, 2026: Perpetual Laundry

Friday, July 17, 2026

Waxing Moon

Pluto, Mercury, Neptune Retrograde

Partly sunny, cooler, but humid

Wildfire haze

We’re almost at the weekend! Woo-hoo! I’m planning a quiet weekend of working on the script commission pitch, reading the scripts for the WAM literary committee meeting at the end of the month, and reading some background information for the project my friend wants me to work on with her.

Online meditation group was good. I waffled about attending, but I’m glad I did, and it made Charlotte happy, too.

After breakfast, I headed out for the usual Thursday rounds of grocery shopping, library, and a couple of other stops. It was very busy (summer season, and a little better after days of heat), but I got everything done.

Home, hauled it up the stairs, put it away. Willa wanted some playtime, so we played. She has no idea she is a senior cat. She thinks she’s still a kitten. Which is very cute.

I got about 4 pages done on the script commission pitch pages (I need 15 pages and an outline).

#FreelanceFriends chat was fun.

A friend sent us fans and cooling towels, and they arrived today. The fans are amazing. They are small clip-on fans that run on battery power (charged via USB cords, but long charges) and they are fantastic. I’ve never used the cooling towels before, and I’m looking forward to them. Some research books also arrived.

I turned the edits around for the anthology story. I really liked the editor’s suggestions. Sent it off by the middle of the afternoon.

I did the August marketing content calendar, putting a lot of emphasis on the new anthology. I start up again with the marketing on August 3.

I hope to get release dates on the other two anthologies soon. Feeding the new work into the content calendar while also promoting backlist works well, when I am consistent. But I do need to have something new at least once per quarter.

I did some work on the requested script pages I need to get out. I’m changing my mind about one of the submissions every five minutes. But I did some thinking overnight, and made decisions.

I didn’t get as much done on the ghostwriting as I hoped, and I didn’t get any work done on the radio series. But I still had a decent day.

Last night was the big beach party on Eagle Street. The city trucks in 500,000 pounds of sand (donated by a local company), it’s raked out over Eagle Street, and people show up with umbrellas, beach chairs, etc. There are food trucks and games for kids, and it’s a big old block party. I did not go. For some reason, I thought it was on Saturday (it’s usually on a Saturday), and by the time I saw the Instagram posts of them prepping the sand, I was settled in for the night. I hope everyone had a fantastic time.

The wildfire haze is thick enough that all of us who showed up at the laundromat at way-too-early-o’clock masked. My heart breaks for those directly affected. The haze is inconvenient, but a scratchy throat is not the same as losing everything. Air purifiers on today.

I was out the door early to the laundromat, and back a little after 7. We are making pancakes for breakfast, and after the morning chores, I will fold it and put it away. The non-dryer items are hanging up inside. Even if I had the outdoor line in place, I wouldn’t hang laundry out in the wildfire haze, which leaves a sticky residue on everything.

Have a great weekend, and we’ll catch up on the other side.

Fri. July 17, 2026: Perpetual Laundry

Friday, July 17, 2026

Waxing Moon

Pluto, Mercury, Neptune Retrograde

Partly sunny, cooler, but humid

Wildfire haze

We’re almost at the weekend! Woo-hoo! I’m planning a quiet weekend of working on the script commission pitch, reading the scripts for the WAM literary committee meeting at the end of the month, and reading some background information for the project my friend wants me to work on with her.

Online meditation group was good. I waffled about attending, but I’m glad I did, and it made Charlotte happy, too.

After breakfast, I headed out for the usual Thursday rounds of grocery shopping, library, and a couple of other stops. It was very busy (summer season, and a little better after days of heat), but I got everything done.

Home, hauled it up the stairs, put it away. Willa wanted some playtime, so we played. She has no idea she is a senior cat. She thinks she’s still a kitten. Which is very cute.

I got about 4 pages done on the script commission pitch pages (I need 15 pages and an outline).

#FreelanceFriends chat was fun.

A friend sent us fans and cooling towels, and they arrived today. The fans are amazing. They are small clip-on fans that run on battery power (charged via USB cords, but long charges) and they are fantastic. I’ve never used the cooling towels before, and I’m looking forward to them. Some research books also arrived.

I turned the edits around for the anthology story. I really liked the editor’s suggestions. Sent it off by the middle of the afternoon.

I did the August marketing content calendar, putting a lot of emphasis on the new anthology. I start up again with the marketing on August 3.

I hope to get release dates on the other two anthologies soon. Feeding the new work into the content calendar while also promoting backlist works well, when I am consistent. But I do need to have something new at least once per quarter.

I did some work on the requested script pages I need to get out. I’m changing my mind about one of the submissions every five minutes. But I did some thinking overnight, and made decisions.

I didn’t get as much done on the ghostwriting as I hoped, and I didn’t get any work done on the radio series. But I still had a decent day.

Last night was the big beach party on Eagle Street. The city trucks in 500,000 pounds of sand (donated by a local company), it’s raked out over Eagle Street, and people show up with umbrellas, beach chairs, etc. There are food trucks and games for kids, and it’s a big old block party. I did not go. For some reason, I thought it was on Saturday (it’s usually on a Saturday), and by the time I saw the Instagram posts of them prepping the sand, I was settled in for the night. I hope everyone had a fantastic time.

The wildfire haze is thick enough that all of us who showed up at the laundromat at way-too-early-o’clock masked. My heart breaks for those directly affected. The haze is inconvenient, but a scratchy throat is not the same as losing everything. Air purifiers on today.

I was out the door early to the laundromat, and back a little after 7. We are making pancakes for breakfast, and after the morning chores, I will fold it and put it away. The non-dryer items are hanging up inside. Even if I had the outdoor line in place, I wouldn’t hang laundry out in the wildfire haze, which leaves a sticky residue on everything.

Have a great weekend, and we’ll catch up on the other side.

Netflix NextGen India Writers' Program Opens Up For Scriptwriters; Here's How To Apply

https://fed.brid.gy/r/https://in.mashable.com/culture/111626/netflix-nextgen-india-writers-program-opens-up-for-scriptwriters-heres-how-to-apply

Calibration: https://devonellington.wordpress.com/2026/06/23/tuesday-june-23-2026-calibration/

#Writing #WritingCommunity #Freelance #Scriptwriting

Calibration: https://devonellington.wordpress.com/2026/06/23/tuesday-june-23-2026-calibration/

#Writing #WritingCommunity #Freelance #Scriptwriting

Tuesday, June 23, 2026: Calibration

Tuesday, June 23, 2026

Waxing Moon

Pluto Retrograde

Rainy and mild

And here we are, at a new week. You can read the Community Tarot for the Week here.

Friday, Willa supervised the folding and putting away of laundry. Bea decided to be in my office instead of hanging out in the living room where she usually does.

The clips from the opening of the Obama Presidential Center the previous day (Thursday) were filled with love and grace and joy. Just what we need in these times of grift and cruelty.

For me, the best way I could celebrate Juneteenth was to support Black artists and writers and to stay quiet myself. I don’t have to yap all the time.

I worked on the 3rd episode of the radio serial. I still have 7 minutes of airtime to fill. Time to figure out a subplot. I may rough out a few more episodes and then weave in a multi-episode arc.

Cooked dinner, had a quiet evening, slept reasonably well.

Charlotte was fussing, so I was up far too early on Saturday. Morning routine was fine, got started on the housework. Just before 10, I took a break to tromp up the street to the library to pick up the books that got separated from my stack and didn’t make it home with me on Thursday. It looked like it would rain, so I took my umbrella with me to guarantee that it wouldn’t.

Didn’t feel like doing much. Once the day’s housework was done, I read. I finished a novel by an author who I don’t find to be a particularly strong writer, but I’m trying to figure out why I keep reading the books. The first was marketed as a mystery, but really wasn’t. The subsequent ones have been what I call “amiable fiction.” The stakes aren’t particularly high, the characters are a little too predictable, the story ambles, it’s reasonably pleasant in spite of the gaping plot holes. So why have I read 7 books in the series? Because the characters show up for each other in ways that rarely happens in life. I do think I’m done with the books, now that I understand what kept me reading them. The ensemble is spreading out a little too much for solid storytelling for me. But now I understand the appeal of the books, so it was a good creative exercise.

I read yet another one of the books in this latest trend of tip-the-hat-to-Agatha-Christie-group-stuck-on-an-island-suspense-and-horror-adjacent. I figured it out from the first time the murderer appeared (which was very early in the book and supposed to be a big reveal/twist), and it was no surprise that characters kept getting murdered, since they were too dense to figure it out. There were also points where it moved from close third to third omniscient near the end, talking at the reader to give information that didn’t work in the tone of the rest of it and could have been communicated a chapter or two later in active scenes. It made me tired more than anything else. But it’s a premise that inspires plenty of writers to put their own spin on it, which is at least fun for them to write, and when it’s a little out of their usual realm, fun for their readers who don’t read all the rest of this type of book that comes down the pike. I keep hoping to be genuinely surprised by one of them, because I do like the premise (which is why I keep reading books with the premise), but so far I have gotten too far ahead of the characters in the books built around that I’ve read to be satisfied. I keep hoping, though!

Paged through a book about women writers and their homes that I assumed was from the 80’s because of the dearth of information in it and the writers that were skipped, and then found out it was from 2023!

Made a chocolate mousse in the afternoon, and heated up leftovers for dinner.

Up early on Sunday to watch the sun come up for Summer Solstice. Morning routine was fine, played with some ideas in the morning free-write, more to amuse myself than because I think it will be anything submittable.

I felt very fatigued, which was silly, because Saturday was a restful day.

However, I did the Community Tarot Reading for the Week, which you can read here. I used up the kale and the spinach making pesto out of each of them. We’re getting yet more spinach this week in the CSA box, I think, so I wanted to use up what we had. I used both kinds of kale in the kale pesto. I froze the spinach pesto to use in the future, and put the kale pesto in the fridge to go with that evening’s dinner. I also made vegetable stock – turns out it made just the amount I need for tonight’s crockpot dinner.

I read a bit. There was a downpour as I began cooking dinner, which worried me as far as my friends doing the big outdoor Solstice ritual in Williamstown. But it cleared up after about a half hour or so to be a lovely night, so I hope it went well for them.

Honored the Solstice at the start and end of the day. Slept well.

Up early on Monday. Because of the bad weather predicted, I decided to take my mom for her Xray on Wednesday morning instead. Trying to navigate up the hill and in and out of the facility and the house and the parking lot in bad weather is too much. The storm is supposed to clear out at some point today, so it should be fine to go tomorrow. And it’s a walk-in appointment, so we can go whenever. The referral’s already been put in.

A listing for a corporate scriptwriting job landed in my inbox. At first, it looked interesting. Until the bit about it being 40 hours a week on a 1099. So, in other words, a non-benefitted full-time employee. Nope.

I finished the reading/notes for the scripts for tomorrow’s literary committee meeting and sent them off.

I then did another pass on I WILL BE DIFFERENT, which has been sitting and marinating for a few weeks. I made some tweaks. I have to make my decision pretty soon about splitting it or making massive cuts to it, because each choice will send rewrites in a slightly different direction. I need to have a submittable draft of at least the first play (if that’s the direction in which I go) by the end of August for a deadline, or I miss that request to submit. I’d hate to do that, because it was an individual invitation.

I tried to get some work done on BETTING MAN, but I wrote myself into a corner. Last time I fly in something like this without a tight outline. I’ve really gotten myself into a muddle. I need to sit down with the manuscript pages I have, re-read them, and then write up the rest of the outline. I know points I want to hit between now and the end, but I don’t have a truly viable way to get there. The notes I’ve made along the way are islands along the path, but now I need a bridge.

My own damn fault, but that doesn’t make it easier.

You can bet STAGE FALL will have a solid outline. I’ve already decided I’m starting it at a different point than the draft I began way back when it was envisioned as the second book in the series (it’s now the 5th).

I finished the book for review, and will get that review out this morning.

Slept reasonably well, although I have sense memory fatigue, I think, because there’s no reason for me to feel the level of fatigue I’m currently feeling.

Up early today, morning routine was fine, although the 30-minute meditation felt like 10 minutes. In the morning free-write I did a rough outline of the next episode of the radio series, and I’ll get started on that today.

After breakfast and the morning chores, I put together a turkey chili in the crockpot. I picked things I liked from two different recipes and did some of my own tweaks. So we will see how that turns out. Pretty soon the house will smell amazing all day!

It’s rainy again today, although it’s supposed to clear up overnight. I don’t think I’ll make it to yoga today, unfortunately.

Tomorrow morning, we have to be out the door early to take my mom up the hill for her Xray, so I don’t know if I’ll post before we go or when we get back.

Today is the 5th anniversary of our actual move here, where we left early in the morning, arrived here with the cats, and then the movers arrived a few hours later with our stuff (they’d packed the truck the day before). I’m glad we landed here.

That’s probably where the fatigue comes in, the sense memory of it. Overall, the sense memory stress has been better this year. I’ve been able to catch it early in most cases, and redirect, using tools I’ve acquired in the past few years. The body remembers, and it’s about teaching the body and the brain that the memory is past and not present, and feeling calm and safe in the moment, in spite of all the chaos out there in the world. I’ve made progress, and just have to take it one step at a time.

I hope your week had a good start! It’s supposed to warm up over the next few days, but I hope it doesn’t get too hot. Have a good one, and I’m headed back to the page.

Tuesday, June 23, 2026: Calibration

Tuesday, June 23, 2026

Waxing Moon

Pluto Retrograde

Rainy and mild

And here we are, at a new week. You can read the Community Tarot for the Week here.

Friday, Willa supervised the folding and putting away of laundry. Bea decided to be in my office instead of hanging out in the living room where she usually does.

The clips from the opening of the Obama Presidential Center the previous day (Thursday) were filled with love and grace and joy. Just what we need in these times of grift and cruelty.

For me, the best way I could celebrate Juneteenth was to support Black artists and writers and to stay quiet myself. I don’t have to yap all the time.

I worked on the 3rd episode of the radio serial. I still have 7 minutes of airtime to fill. Time to figure out a subplot. I may rough out a few more episodes and then weave in a multi-episode arc.

Cooked dinner, had a quiet evening, slept reasonably well.

Charlotte was fussing, so I was up far too early on Saturday. Morning routine was fine, got started on the housework. Just before 10, I took a break to tromp up the street to the library to pick up the books that got separated from my stack and didn’t make it home with me on Thursday. It looked like it would rain, so I took my umbrella with me to guarantee that it wouldn’t.

Didn’t feel like doing much. Once the day’s housework was done, I read. I finished a novel by an author who I don’t find to be a particularly strong writer, but I’m trying to figure out why I keep reading the books. The first was marketed as a mystery, but really wasn’t. The subsequent ones have been what I call “amiable fiction.” The stakes aren’t particularly high, the characters are a little too predictable, the story ambles, it’s reasonably pleasant in spite of the gaping plot holes. So why have I read 7 books in the series? Because the characters show up for each other in ways that rarely happens in life. I do think I’m done with the books, now that I understand what kept me reading them. The ensemble is spreading out a little too much for solid storytelling for me. But now I understand the appeal of the books, so it was a good creative exercise.

I read yet another one of the books in this latest trend of tip-the-hat-to-Agatha-Christie-group-stuck-on-an-island-suspense-and-horror-adjacent. I figured it out from the first time the murderer appeared (which was very early in the book and supposed to be a big reveal/twist), and it was no surprise that characters kept getting murdered, since they were too dense to figure it out. There were also points where it moved from close third to third omniscient near the end, talking at the reader to give information that didn’t work in the tone of the rest of it and could have been communicated a chapter or two later in active scenes. It made me tired more than anything else. But it’s a premise that inspires plenty of writers to put their own spin on it, which is at least fun for them to write, and when it’s a little out of their usual realm, fun for their readers who don’t read all the rest of this type of book that comes down the pike. I keep hoping to be genuinely surprised by one of them, because I do like the premise (which is why I keep reading books with the premise), but so far I have gotten too far ahead of the characters in the books built around that I’ve read to be satisfied. I keep hoping, though!

Paged through a book about women writers and their homes that I assumed was from the 80’s because of the dearth of information in it and the writers that were skipped, and then found out it was from 2023!

Made a chocolate mousse in the afternoon, and heated up leftovers for dinner.

Up early on Sunday to watch the sun come up for Summer Solstice. Morning routine was fine, played with some ideas in the morning free-write, more to amuse myself than because I think it will be anything submittable.

I felt very fatigued, which was silly, because Saturday was a restful day.

However, I did the Community Tarot Reading for the Week, which you can read here. I used up the kale and the spinach making pesto out of each of them. We’re getting yet more spinach this week in the CSA box, I think, so I wanted to use up what we had. I used both kinds of kale in the kale pesto. I froze the spinach pesto to use in the future, and put the kale pesto in the fridge to go with that evening’s dinner. I also made vegetable stock – turns out it made just the amount I need for tonight’s crockpot dinner.

I read a bit. There was a downpour as I began cooking dinner, which worried me as far as my friends doing the big outdoor Solstice ritual in Williamstown. But it cleared up after about a half hour or so to be a lovely night, so I hope it went well for them.

Honored the Solstice at the start and end of the day. Slept well.

Up early on Monday. Because of the bad weather predicted, I decided to take my mom for her Xray on Wednesday morning instead. Trying to navigate up the hill and in and out of the facility and the house and the parking lot in bad weather is too much. The storm is supposed to clear out at some point today, so it should be fine to go tomorrow. And it’s a walk-in appointment, so we can go whenever. The referral’s already been put in.

A listing for a corporate scriptwriting job landed in my inbox. At first, it looked interesting. Until the bit about it being 40 hours a week on a 1099. So, in other words, a non-benefitted full-time employee. Nope.

I finished the reading/notes for the scripts for tomorrow’s literary committee meeting and sent them off.

I then did another pass on I WILL BE DIFFERENT, which has been sitting and marinating for a few weeks. I made some tweaks. I have to make my decision pretty soon about splitting it or making massive cuts to it, because each choice will send rewrites in a slightly different direction. I need to have a submittable draft of at least the first play (if that’s the direction in which I go) by the end of August for a deadline, or I miss that request to submit. I’d hate to do that, because it was an individual invitation.

I tried to get some work done on BETTING MAN, but I wrote myself into a corner. Last time I fly in something like this without a tight outline. I’ve really gotten myself into a muddle. I need to sit down with the manuscript pages I have, re-read them, and then write up the rest of the outline. I know points I want to hit between now and the end, but I don’t have a truly viable way to get there. The notes I’ve made along the way are islands along the path, but now I need a bridge.

My own damn fault, but that doesn’t make it easier.

You can bet STAGE FALL will have a solid outline. I’ve already decided I’m starting it at a different point than the draft I began way back when it was envisioned as the second book in the series (it’s now the 5th).

I finished the book for review, and will get that review out this morning.

Slept reasonably well, although I have sense memory fatigue, I think, because there’s no reason for me to feel the level of fatigue I’m currently feeling.

Up early today, morning routine was fine, although the 30-minute meditation felt like 10 minutes. In the morning free-write I did a rough outline of the next episode of the radio series, and I’ll get started on that today.

After breakfast and the morning chores, I put together a turkey chili in the crockpot. I picked things I liked from two different recipes and did some of my own tweaks. So we will see how that turns out. Pretty soon the house will smell amazing all day!

It’s rainy again today, although it’s supposed to clear up overnight. I don’t think I’ll make it to yoga today, unfortunately.

Tomorrow morning, we have to be out the door early to take my mom up the hill for her Xray, so I don’t know if I’ll post before we go or when we get back.

Today is the 5th anniversary of our actual move here, where we left early in the morning, arrived here with the cats, and then the movers arrived a few hours later with our stuff (they’d packed the truck the day before). I’m glad we landed here.

That’s probably where the fatigue comes in, the sense memory of it. Overall, the sense memory stress has been better this year. I’ve been able to catch it early in most cases, and redirect, using tools I’ve acquired in the past few years. The body remembers, and it’s about teaching the body and the brain that the memory is past and not present, and feeling calm and safe in the moment, in spite of all the chaos out there in the world. I’ve made progress, and just have to take it one step at a time.

I hope your week had a good start! It’s supposed to warm up over the next few days, but I hope it doesn’t get too hot. Have a good one, and I’m headed back to the page.

Thurs. June 18, 2026: Hopes for a Quieter Thursday

Thursday, June 18, 2026

Waxing Moon

Pluto Retrograde

Rainy and mild

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

It is horrifying that a Walmart employee in Mississippi claimed a Black woman stole diapers (the woman did not, she had paid for them), sent the cops after her, and the cops shot the one-year-old baby in the car. It is inexcusable. It is complete and utter racism. That is what this regime has intensified (it’s always existed, but it’s getting exponentially worse). There have to be consequences, not just for the cops, but for the malicious individuals who set these events in motion. Because it is malicious. There are ways to resolve disputes without shooting dogs and babies, and those who set these events in motion CHOOSE the violence they know will result. They must face consequences. None of these incidents were a result of an “honest mistake.”

My mom’s doctor appointment turned out better than expected. They listened, which is helpful, and we’re taking action to make things better. Two medications are being changed (I will pick them up today on my rounds of errands). I have to take her in for a chest X-ray early next week, just as a precaution. I will have to take her down to Lenox to a specialist for another appointment at some point over the coming weeks. She got her ears cleaned out properly, so now she can hear again and her balance is better. I mean, she’s doing pretty well for 102, but we want to keep that up.

It was a longer appointment than usual, but at least there was progress.

Stopped at Wild Oats on the way back to pick up a few things.

MailerLite is making things worse for their clients. Again. Urgh. The thought of having to move the newsletter yet again is exhausting, and I’m hoping I won’t have to do so until early next year. I have an account at beehiiv that I’ve never used. If it’s still viable, that may be where I go in time for the March 2027 newsletter. It will screw up too much to move it for September and/or December of this year.

Once we came back from the doctor, I had to dig down into the ghostwriting. I dealt with some admin first, because I was dragging my feet on the ghostwriting, even though I worried about the end-of-day deadline. And then we (all the ghostwriters) got yet more changes in the way things are done, and it’s frustrating. But it’s motivation to get some LOIs out this week.

Dug into the ghostwriting and got it off by the late afternoon. Was way too tired, especially mentally, to get anything else done.

Cooked dinner, read for a bit in the evening, played with the cats.

On today’s agenda: online meditation group, errands, #FreelanceFriends chat, working on the radio scripts, working on BETTING MAN. Waiting for them to sign off on the ghostwriting for the assignment that should have been paid at the beginning of the month, but they kept asking for changes.  I would not be surprised if they want even more changes and drag it out further. I might get some work in on the book for review. And I have to read the scripts for next week’s literary committee meeting over the next couple of days.

Somehow, it will all get done. Once my errands are done this morning, I can settle into the radio scripts and BETTING MAN for a decent afternoon’s work. I prefer to do this kind of work in the morning, but I need to clear the errands out of the way first, so I need to flip the workday. It might mean I won’t get as much done as I could if I worked in the morning, but something is better than nothing.

I hope you have a good and peaceful day.

Thurs. June 18, 2026: Hopes for a Quieter Thursday

Thursday, June 18, 2026

Waxing Moon

Pluto Retrograde

Rainy and mild

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

It is horrifying that a Walmart employee in Mississippi claimed a Black woman stole diapers (the woman did not, she had paid for them), sent the cops after her, and the cops shot the one-year-old baby in the car. It is inexcusable. It is complete and utter racism. That is what this regime has intensified (it’s always existed, but it’s getting exponentially worse). There have to be consequences, not just for the cops, but for the malicious individuals who set these events in motion. Because it is malicious. There are ways to resolve disputes without shooting dogs and babies, and those who set these events in motion CHOOSE the violence they know will result. They must face consequences. None of these incidents were a result of an “honest mistake.”

My mom’s doctor appointment turned out better than expected. They listened, which is helpful, and we’re taking action to make things better. Two medications are being changed (I will pick them up today on my rounds of errands). I have to take her in for a chest X-ray early next week, just as a precaution. I will have to take her down to Lenox to a specialist for another appointment at some point over the coming weeks. She got her ears cleaned out properly, so now she can hear again and her balance is better. I mean, she’s doing pretty well for 102, but we want to keep that up.

It was a longer appointment than usual, but at least there was progress.

Stopped at Wild Oats on the way back to pick up a few things.

MailerLite is making things worse for their clients. Again. Urgh. The thought of having to move the newsletter yet again is exhausting, and I’m hoping I won’t have to do so until early next year. I have an account at beehiiv that I’ve never used. If it’s still viable, that may be where I go in time for the March 2027 newsletter. It will screw up too much to move it for September and/or December of this year.

Once we came back from the doctor, I had to dig down into the ghostwriting. I dealt with some admin first, because I was dragging my feet on the ghostwriting, even though I worried about the end-of-day deadline. And then we (all the ghostwriters) got yet more changes in the way things are done, and it’s frustrating. But it’s motivation to get some LOIs out this week.

Dug into the ghostwriting and got it off by the late afternoon. Was way too tired, especially mentally, to get anything else done.

Cooked dinner, read for a bit in the evening, played with the cats.

On today’s agenda: online meditation group, errands, #FreelanceFriends chat, working on the radio scripts, working on BETTING MAN. Waiting for them to sign off on the ghostwriting for the assignment that should have been paid at the beginning of the month, but they kept asking for changes.  I would not be surprised if they want even more changes and drag it out further. I might get some work in on the book for review. And I have to read the scripts for next week’s literary committee meeting over the next couple of days.

Somehow, it will all get done. Once my errands are done this morning, I can settle into the radio scripts and BETTING MAN for a decent afternoon’s work. I prefer to do this kind of work in the morning, but I need to clear the errands out of the way first, so I need to flip the workday. It might mean I won’t get as much done as I could if I worked in the morning, but something is better than nothing.

I hope you have a good and peaceful day.

Tues. June 16, 2026: Sometimes It Feels Like a House of Cards

Tuesday, June 16, 2026

Waxing Moon

Pluto Retrograde

Sunny and pleasant

Happy new week! I hope your weekend was lovely. Pull up a beverage for a long Tuesday chat.

There’s a lot that’s not lovely in the world right now, and we need to acknowledge it and do our part to demand/create change and make sure the despicable and the cruel face consequences.

What happened to Karmelo Anthony was racially motivated injustice, and I hope he wins on appeal. They let white boy rapists and shooters get away with anything, but if a young Black man defends himself, they throw the book at him.

Again, more racism – a neighbor in LA  called the cops because a woman was cheering on the Knicks victory and the cops shot her dog, who was wearing a Knicks jersey – and NO ONE gave her any help. Because heaven forbid a Black woman and her dog celebrate without punishment. I wish every bad everything on both the neighbor and the cop. There is NO excuse for that behavior. It wasn’t a mistake. It was deliberate on that neighbor’s part, and that despicable individual needs to face consequences. And those neighbors who stood there and did nothing as she wept over the body of her murdered dog, whom she loved deeply – every single one of them deserves to suffer a similar loss. There is NO excuse for this behavior.

And this weekend was the anniversary of the murders of Melissa and Mark Hortman, and their dog Gilbert. Their killer hasn’t faced justice, either.

Why is anyone surprised that Gwyneth Paltrow is a shilling sleaze? She’s always been a waste of space.

Tim Allen blaming the actors who played his sons (who are now grown up) as having issues and that’s the reason there’s no HOME IMPROVEMENT reboot just made me roll my eyes. Like re-casting isn’t common in the business. Another waste of space, and again, not surprising at all.

So happy That Thing was forced to remove his name from the Kennedy Center. And not just removed – the façade had to be restored to its previous state. Now do the Rose Garden and the East Wing. Algae in the reflecting pool is just symbolic of this entire regime.

As I prepared the switch over to the ghostwriting on Friday, I heard a fire alarm going off. It wasn’t in our building. It was in the college’s science building a block away. A couple of minutes later, two fire engines came howling up.

I couldn’t smell any smoke, and I didn’t see any (I can see the building from my bedroom window). But the alarm kept going and going and going. I don’t think there was any damage. Not sure what was going on.

Dug into the ghostwriting assignment for another revision pass and polish. Did the best I could with it, and got it out the door just before noon. Very frustrated and burned out.

The next 20K assignment has to be turned around by tomorrow, but those notes make a lot of sense. We’ll see what they come back with after this revision.

I was really out of steam by then. Plus, it hit 90F with high humidity. We were promised severe thunderstorms, which never materialized. After lunch, I was cat furniture on the couch with the fans and cooler going. I read this month’s Agatha Christie book club pick, THE MURDER OF ROGER ACKROYD, which I’ve read multiple times over the years, and actually remembered!

I’m also reading a book called WE KILLED IT, about women in comedy from the 60’s through present day. It’s very interesting, and studying how these writers and writer/performers create and structure there work is useful.

We had an early dinner, I got dressed and got my act together, and headed over to the Clark for the opening of the exhibit that was discussed at the preview presentation in Lenox a few weeks back. It was packed. My friend arrived, and we had a drink and caught up on life, the universe, and everything, and then meandered downstairs for the opening remarks. We wandered through the exhibit, which is gorgeously curated (as usual). It was hard to really take it in, because it was so busy. We will go back early on a weekday in a few weeks and take our time. There are some specific pieces we each want to sit with for a bit.

Drove home, peeled off the dress, hosed down in the shower. I fixed myself a Blue Angel (vodka, blue curacao, lime juice), and enjoyed that with some snacks. I keep my vodka in the freezer, so it was nice and cold. I guess I got very dehydrated over the course of the opening, because after I finished the cocktail, I downed two cups of tea, and then drank everything in the water bottle I usually take to yoga.

Read some more. I had the fan going in the bedroom, and then used the cooler for about a half hour. I figured out how to turn off the lightshow. Unfortunately, Charlotte figured out how to turn it back on around 2 AM, so I was startled awake, thinking I was in a disco. I guess I should be glad it doesn’t also play music?

Unplugged it, and went back to sleep, getting up at the usual time on Saturday. Morning routine was fine. I’d gotten my first word for the exquisite corpse poem overnight, so I acknowledged that, and used the morning free-write session to start work on it. Tessa supervised me when I watered the plants.

I worked a few drafts of the poem, then did morning chores and got my act together to get out the door by 9:30. I headed to Williamstown, to be the extra set of eyes for a friend looking at a property there at an open house. It was very interesting, and we both really liked the realtor showing the property. I was surprised the place wasn’t swarmed, and disappointed that several of the other attendees were dicks.

After the open house, we headed over to Wild Soul River for an iced herbal tea and a debrief, hashing through various impressions.

It was quite hot by the time I headed home. I had a bite to eat and changed into more comfortable, casual clothes. Again, having a functional closet again makes such a positive difference. I have plenty to wear, and most of it mixes and matches well, provided I can get at it.

I came home to find my check from the LAVA Center reading, which was a nice perk.

In the afternoon, I helped my mom turn her closet over for the summer, then worked the poem a few more times before I sent it off. I should get my second word around 4th of July weekend. The poem flows in one direction and then comes back, so each of the 30 poets writes 2 short sections. My first word, around which I build the poem, is the previous poet’s last word. My last word becomes the first word for the previous poet. I can continue to work the poem until performance day, provided I keep it to 30 seconds, and the first and final word remain as set. I may do some more work on this one. I’m worried it’s too much rant and not enough rhythm (as inspired by my starter word), although I worked the beats quite a bit in each draft. I’ll let it sit for a week or so, and then look at it again.

I read a bit in the evening, but I was pretty worn out. The property we’d viewed in the morning was quite large, so there was a lot of tromping around inside and out, and stairs and fields and all the rest. I hadn’t realized how much I walked. I didn’t even have a glass of wine with dinner. I had several glasses of peach-cranberry juice instead.

When I turned on the cooler in the bedroom, the light show came back on, which delighted Charlotte. I made sure to unplug it before drifting off to sleep. It cooled down overnight enough to be reasonable sleeping weather.

Up at the usual time on Sunday morning. Morning routine was fine, although I felt a little burned out in the morning free-write. But got everything done. Made omelettes for breakfast, because I was going to be out of the house before lunch and not back until dinner.

Did the Community Tarot Reading for the Week, which you can read here. We’ve got an interesting set of cards this week. I mean that in a good way!

I worked on the June newsletter a bit.

I got my act together to head out to Lenox. I realized I’d gotten a bit of a sunburn the previous day. Not too bad, just enough to notice.

The drive to Lenox wasn’t too bad. Pittsfield, as usual, was a little sticky, but I made it through. I was certain I would be late, but I was at Ventfort Hall early. Ventfort is a restoration in progress, and it’s lovely to see what they’ve done at each interval when I visit.

The reading of AMANI, by a.k. payne, was beautiful. The cast and director were fully committed, and brought the love and the beauty of the play to life, along with the harsher aspects, in ways that could open the audience’s heart. Really lovely work. I hope we can nurture this script from reading to full production next year.

There was a short talk back after, and then I headed home. Except for a few sticky bits in Pittsfield, the drive was fine. I stopped in Adams and picked up a cherry pie.

Home, heated up leftovers for dinner, enjoyed the pie. Read a bit in the evening. Intentionally stayed away from the disgusting display down in DC. It takes white trailer trash  to a whole new level, and the comments made against Michelle Obama were a new level of despicable. There is no low too low for this administration. I do not want my tax dollars spent that way.

Gave Charlotte a few minutes of her disco light show at bedtime. Slept reasonably well, although Tessa got me out of bed at 4 on Monday, and I couldn’t get back to sleep.

It rained quite a bit overnight, and the morning was gray and gloomy, but cooler.

I needed to flip my workday somewhat, since we had an Honor Roll session from 12-2. That meant working on the ghostwriting in the morning, instead of in the afternoon. Not to mention all the admin that had backed up over the weekend.

I tried to get some of the admin sorted out first, while dealing with the repeated requests to confirm my mother’s Wed. appointment. I should be able to confirm ONCE and be done. I shouldn’t have to reconfirm 5 times on the same day. I’m going to start invoicing them for administrative time.

A job listing for script writing landed in the inbox. Sounded solid and well within my wheelhouse (mission-specific entertainment and comedy), although the pay was a little under what I charge. But, as I kept reading – there it was. “Answer this prompt” – in other words, write an unpaid sample script as part of the process. How many scripts will they collect, telling the submitters they didn’t get hired, then tweak them and use them? Nope, nope, nope. I do not do unpaid, project-specific samples or tests as part of the interview (or in this case, pre-interview) process.

I was already feeling grumpy and out of sorts (for no good reason), and this did not help. I am also tired of agencies sending me in-person non-writing listings when I have made it clear I am only interested in remote writing positions. If I am signed up for remote copywriter listings, why are you sending me in-person construction jobs? I’m not qualified for construction, and that is not why I signed with you.

Got about 6K done on the 20K ghostwriting revision.

At least I got another assignment from the client from whom I haven’t had assignments for the last two months. Maybe I’ll finally be eligible for the batch payment they’ve been holding since April. I am rethinking my association with them and actively looking for a replacement for this income.

I got my royalties from my books. I’ve slacked off the last few weeks on marketing, and it shows. I was hoping to take July off marketing, but I’m not sure I should.

Honor Roll writing session was fun. I managed to finish the script for the UK producer. I will give it a polish this morning and send it off. I hit the sweet spot of 13 pages (the script could be between 10-15). I only had to write the rest of the scene linking what I had to the last scene, and it clicked, which is always great. I did a pass to smooth over the bridge into the next scene.

Then, I switched over to the radio series. I integrated the producer’s notes into the first part of the pilot (the pilot episode is, technically, two episodes) and made a few other tweaks to make sure everything works. I then got to work on the second half/second episode. This is running a little short, even integrating the producer’s notes, so I have to write 1-2 more minutes. I filled it out a little bit, with some fun stuff that’s not padding. Each of these episodes has to be around 20 pages/minutes. I have a little flexibility, more so than with some other producers, where I have to be precise to the second.

It was two hours of writing time well spent. We had a larger group than usual, since it was End of Play, and it was the group leader’s birthday! So we celebrated her.

All in all, a good writing day. We love those, when we have them.

An interesting job listing landed in my inbox as I was shutting down for the day. I might send an LOI with more questions. If the price and the workflow are right, it could replace the client whose change of direction I find unethical.

Ate a late lunch and then took a break from all the screen time. Got some reading done. Pulled myself together and headed down to Bright Ideas Brewery at MASS MoCA for the Assets4Artists cohort meeting. Artists from the current cohort and the past two were there, so it was fun to chat, catch up with those I knew, and get to know those I didn’t.

A friend of mine from the cohort I was in arrived late (coming straight from work) and we sat and chatted for about an hour after everyone else left. He’s working on project that’s really cool, and encouraged me to be a part of the group and create my own section of it. It would be a dream of many years turned into reality, but I need more information, and I need to be sure I could afford the time and have enough other income steadily coming in to cover the time needed, since this is not a lucrative endeavor.

Came home, heated up some leftovers for dinner, read a bit before bedtime. Got an email from a theatre in the Midwest requesting a play submission. I’m not sure I have what they’re looking for, but I’ll go through my script roster today. If I find something that fits their guidelines and is available, I’ll send it off. Always nice to be asked!

Woke up at 1:30 from a dream that I was behind packing to move – sense memory stress from the move here. I’ve been pretty good about not having it this year, or at least having much shorter/lighter bouts of it, but this was bad, probably because I’d talked about how I arrived here at the cohort meeting. The worst of it is usually from around June 22 – July 5th, but it’s steadily lessened each year. I’d hoped it was almost gone this year, it’s been long enough, but maybe this was the big echo. I mean, there’s plenty of other stuff that needs my attention and causes stress, and there are also plenty of good experiences over the years since the move layered over that time frame (April 30-July 5) that positively adjusts the sense memory each year a little bit more.

On today’s agenda: polishing the script and getting it out to the UK producer, checking my roster for the requested submission, working on the radio series, finishing the revision notes on the ghostwriting. I hope to get to yoga this evening.

Have a good one!

Tues. June 16, 2026: Sometimes It Feels Like a House of Cards

Tuesday, June 16, 2026

Waxing Moon

Pluto Retrograde

Sunny and pleasant

Happy new week! I hope your weekend was lovely. Pull up a beverage for a long Tuesday chat.

There’s a lot that’s not lovely in the world right now, and we need to acknowledge it and do our part to demand/create change and make sure the despicable and the cruel face consequences.

What happened to Karmelo Anthony was racially motivated injustice, and I hope he wins on appeal. They let white boy rapists and shooters get away with anything, but if a young Black man defends himself, they throw the book at him.

Again, more racism – a neighbor in LA  called the cops because a woman was cheering on the Knicks victory and the cops shot her dog, who was wearing a Knicks jersey – and NO ONE gave her any help. Because heaven forbid a Black woman and her dog celebrate without punishment. I wish every bad everything on both the neighbor and the cop. There is NO excuse for that behavior. It wasn’t a mistake. It was deliberate on that neighbor’s part, and that despicable individual needs to face consequences. And those neighbors who stood there and did nothing as she wept over the body of her murdered dog, whom she loved deeply – every single one of them deserves to suffer a similar loss. There is NO excuse for this behavior.

And this weekend was the anniversary of the murders of Melissa and Mark Hortman, and their dog Gilbert. Their killer hasn’t faced justice, either.

Why is anyone surprised that Gwyneth Paltrow is a shilling sleaze? She’s always been a waste of space.

Tim Allen blaming the actors who played his sons (who are now grown up) as having issues and that’s the reason there’s no HOME IMPROVEMENT reboot just made me roll my eyes. Like re-casting isn’t common in the business. Another waste of space, and again, not surprising at all.

So happy That Thing was forced to remove his name from the Kennedy Center. And not just removed – the façade had to be restored to its previous state. Now do the Rose Garden and the East Wing. Algae in the reflecting pool is just symbolic of this entire regime.

As I prepared the switch over to the ghostwriting on Friday, I heard a fire alarm going off. It wasn’t in our building. It was in the college’s science building a block away. A couple of minutes later, two fire engines came howling up.

I couldn’t smell any smoke, and I didn’t see any (I can see the building from my bedroom window). But the alarm kept going and going and going. I don’t think there was any damage. Not sure what was going on. Or maybe there was an issue with the buildings behind the science building, that are in the process of demolition to make way for a new art center, and the alarm in the science building picked up the issue. I don’t know.

Dug into the ghostwriting assignment for another revision pass and polish. Did the best I could with it, and got it out the door just before noon. Very frustrated and burned out.

The next 20K assignment has to be turned around by tomorrow, but those notes make a lot of sense. We’ll see what they come back with after this revision.

I was really out of steam by then. Plus, it hit 90F with high humidity. We were promised severe thunderstorms, which never materialized. After lunch, I was cat furniture on the couch with the fans and cooler going. I read this month’s Agatha Christie book club pick, THE MURDER OF ROGER ACKROYD, which I’ve read multiple times over the years, and actually remembered!

I’m also reading a book called WE KILLED IT, about women in comedy from the 60’s through present day. It’s very interesting, and studying how these writers and writer/performers create and structure there work is useful.

We had an early dinner, I got dressed and got my act together, and headed over to the Clark for the opening of the exhibit that was discussed at the preview presentation in Lenox a few weeks back. It was packed. My friend arrived, and we had a drink and caught up on life, the universe, and everything, and then meandered downstairs for the opening remarks. We wandered through the exhibit, which is gorgeously curated (as usual). It was hard to really take it in, because it was so busy. We will go back early on a weekday in a few weeks and take our time. There are some specific pieces we each want to sit with for a bit.

Drove home, peeled off the dress, hosed down in the shower. I fixed myself a Blue Angel (vodka, blue curacao, lime juice), and enjoyed that with some snacks. I keep my vodka in the freezer, so it was nice and cold. I guess I got very dehydrated over the course of the opening, because after I finished the cocktail, I downed two cups of tea, and then drank everything in the water bottle I usually take to yoga.

Read some more. I had the fan going in the bedroom, and then used the cooler for about a half hour. I figured out how to turn off the lightshow. Unfortunately, Charlotte figured out how to turn it back on around 2 AM, so I was startled awake, thinking I was in a disco. I guess I should be glad it doesn’t also play music?

Unplugged it, and went back to sleep, getting up at the usual time on Saturday. Morning routine was fine. I’d gotten my first word for the exquisite corpse poem overnight, so I acknowledged that, and used the morning free-write session to start work on it. Tessa supervised me when I watered the plants.

I worked a few drafts of the poem, then did morning chores and got my act together to get out the door by 9:30. I headed to Williamstown, to be the extra set of eyes for a friend looking at a property there at an open house. It was very interesting, and we both really liked the realtor showing the property. I was surprised the place wasn’t swarmed, and disappointed that several of the other attendees were dicks.

After the open house, we headed over to Wild Soul River for an iced herbal tea and a debrief, hashing through various impressions.

It was quite hot by the time I headed home. I had a bite to eat and changed into more comfortable, casual clothes. Again, having a functional closet again makes such a positive difference. I have plenty to wear, and most of it mixes and matches well, provided I can get at it.

I came home to find my check from the LAVA Center reading, which was a nice perk.

In the afternoon, I helped my mom turn her closet over for the summer, then worked the poem a few more times before I sent it off. I should get my second word around 4th of July weekend. The poem flows in one direction and then comes back, so each of the 30 poets writes 2 short sections. My first word, around which I build the poem, is the previous poet’s last word. My last word becomes the first word for the previous poet. I can continue to work the poem until performance day, provided I keep it to 30 seconds, and the first and final word remain as set. I may do some more work on this one. I’m worried it’s too much rant and not enough rhythm (as inspired by my starter word), although I worked the beats quite a bit in each draft. I’ll let it sit for a week or so, and then look at it again.

I read a bit in the evening, but I was pretty worn out. The property we’d viewed in the morning was quite large, so there was a lot of tromping around inside and out, and stairs and fields and all the rest. I hadn’t realized how much I walked. I didn’t even have a glass of wine with dinner. I had several glasses of peach-cranberry juice instead.

When I turned on the cooler in the bedroom, the light show came back on, which delighted Charlotte. I made sure to unplug it before drifting off to sleep. It cooled down overnight enough to be reasonable sleeping weather.

Up at the usual time on Sunday morning. Morning routine was fine, although I felt a little burned out in the morning free-write. But got everything done. Made omelettes for breakfast, because I was going to be out of the house before lunch and not back until dinner.

Did the Community Tarot Reading for the Week, which you can read here. We’ve got an interesting set of cards this week. I mean that in a good way!

I worked on the June newsletter a bit.

I got my act together to head out to Lenox. I realized I’d gotten a bit of a sunburn the previous day. Not too bad, just enough to notice.

The drive to Lenox wasn’t too bad. Pittsfield, as usual, was a little sticky, but I made it through. I was certain I would be late, but I was at Ventfort Hall early. Ventfort is a restoration in progress, and it’s lovely to see what they’ve done at each interval when I visit.

The reading of AMANI, by a.k. payne, was beautiful. The cast and director were fully committed, and brought the love and the beauty of the play to life, along with the harsher aspects, in ways that could open the audience’s heart. Really lovely work. I hope we can nurture this script from reading to full production next year.

There was a short talk back after, and then I headed home. Except for a few sticky bits in Pittsfield, the drive was fine. I stopped in Adams and picked up a cherry pie.

Home, heated up leftovers for dinner, enjoyed the pie. Read a bit in the evening. Intentionally stayed away from the disgusting display down in DC. It takes white trailer trash  to a whole new level, and the comments made against Michelle Obama were a new level of despicable. There is no low too low for this administration. I do not want my tax dollars spent that way.

Gave Charlotte a few minutes of her disco light show at bedtime. Slept reasonably well, although Tessa got me out of bed at 4 on Monday, and I couldn’t get back to sleep.

It rained quite a bit overnight, and the morning was gray and gloomy, but cooler.

I needed to flip my workday somewhat, since we had an Honor Roll session from 12-2. That meant working on the ghostwriting in the morning, instead of in the afternoon. Not to mention all the admin that had backed up over the weekend.

I tried to get some of the admin sorted out first, while dealing with the repeated requests to confirm my mother’s Wed. appointment. I should be able to confirm ONCE and be done. I shouldn’t have to reconfirm 5 times on the same day. I’m going to start invoicing them for administrative time.

A job listing for script writing landed in the inbox. Sounded solid and well within my wheelhouse (mission-specific entertainment and comedy), although the pay was a little under what I charge. But, as I kept reading – there it was. “Answer this prompt” – in other words, write an unpaid sample script as part of the process. How many scripts will they collect, telling the submitters they didn’t get hired, then tweak them and use them? Nope, nope, nope. I do not do unpaid, project-specific samples or tests as part of the interview (or in this case, pre-interview) process.

I was already feeling grumpy and out of sorts (for no good reason), and this did not help. I am also tired of agencies sending me in-person non-writing listings when I have made it clear I am only interested in remote writing positions. If I am signed up for remote copywriter listings, why are you sending me in-person construction jobs? I’m not qualified for construction, and that is not why I signed with you.

Got about 6K done on the 20K ghostwriting revision.

At least I got another assignment from the client from whom I haven’t had assignments for the last two months. Maybe I’ll finally be eligible for the batch payment they’ve been holding since April. I am rethinking my association with them and actively looking for a replacement for this income.

I got my royalties from my books. I’ve slacked off the last few weeks on marketing, and it shows. I was hoping to take July off marketing, but I’m not sure I should.

Honor Roll writing session was fun. I managed to finish the script for the UK producer. I will give it a polish this morning and send it off. I hit the sweet spot of 13 pages (the script could be between 10-15). I only had to write the rest of the scene linking what I had to the last scene, and it clicked, which is always great. I did a pass to smooth over the bridge into the next scene.

Then, I switched over to the radio series. I integrated the producer’s notes into the first part of the pilot (the pilot episode is, technically, two episodes) and made a few other tweaks to make sure everything works. I then got to work on the second half/second episode. This is running a little short, even integrating the producer’s notes, so I have to write 1-2 more minutes. I filled it out a little bit, with some fun stuff that’s not padding. Each of these episodes has to be around 20 pages/minutes. I have a little flexibility, more so than with some other producers, where I have to be precise to the second.

It was two hours of writing time well spent. We had a larger group than usual, since it was End of Play, and it was the group leader’s birthday! So we celebrated her.

All in all, a good writing day. We love those, when we have them.

An interesting job listing landed in my inbox as I was shutting down for the day. I might send an LOI with more questions. If the price and the workflow are right, it could replace the client whose change of direction I find unethical.

Ate a late lunch and then took a break from all the screen time. Got some reading done. Pulled myself together and headed down to Bright Ideas Brewery at MASS MoCA for the Assets4Artists cohort meeting. Artists from the current cohort and the past two were there, so it was fun to chat, catch up with those I knew, and get to know those I didn’t.

A friend of mine from the cohort I was in arrived late (coming straight from work) and we sat and chatted for about an hour after everyone else left. He’s working on project that’s really cool, and encouraged me to be a part of the group and create my own section of it. It would be a dream of many years turned into reality, but I need more information, and I need to be sure I could afford the time and have enough other income steadily coming in to cover the time needed, since this is not a lucrative endeavor.

Came home, heated up some leftovers for dinner, read a bit before bedtime. Got an email from a theatre in the Midwest requesting a play submission. I’m not sure I have what they’re looking for, but I’ll go through my script roster today. If I find something that fits their guidelines and is available, I’ll send it off. Always nice to be asked!

Woke up at 1:30 from a dream that I was behind packing to move – sense memory stress from the move here. I’ve been pretty good about not having it this year, or at least having much shorter/lighter bouts of it, but this was bad, probably because I’d talked about how I arrived here at the cohort meeting. The worst of it is usually from around June 22 – July 5th, but it’s steadily lessened each year. I’d hoped it was almost gone this year, it’s been long enough, but maybe this was the big echo. I mean, there’s plenty of other stuff that needs my attention and causes stress, and there are also plenty of good experiences over the years since the move layered over that time frame (April 30-July 5) that positively adjusts the sense memory each year a little bit more.

On today’s agenda: polishing the script and getting it out to the UK producer, checking my roster for the requested submission, working on the radio series, finishing the revision notes on the ghostwriting. I hope to get to yoga this evening.

Have a good one!

That Old Time Radio: https://devonellington.wordpress.com/2026/06/10/wed-june-10-2026-that-old-time-radio/

#Writing #WritingCommunity #Radio #Freelance #Scriptwriting

That Old Time Radio: https://devonellington.wordpress.com/2026/06/10/wed-june-10-2026-that-old-time-radio/

#Writing #WritingCommunity #Radio #Freelance #Scriptwriting

Wed. June 10, 2026: That Old Time Radio

Wednesday, June 10, 2026

Waning Moon

Pluto Retrograde

Cloudy, hazy, humid

Another mid-week.

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

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

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

However, I still had stuff to do.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Have a good one!

Wed. June 10, 2026: That Old Time Radio

Wednesday, June 10, 2026

Waning Moon

Pluto Retrograde

Cloudy, hazy, humid

Another mid-week.

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

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

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

However, I still had stuff to do.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Have a good one!

Sliding into Summer: https://devonellington.wordpress.com/2026/06/09/tues-june-9-2026-sliding-into-summer/

#Writing #WritingCommunity #Freelance #Scriptwriting

Tues. June 9, 2026: Sliding into Summer

Tuesday, June 9, 2026

Waning Moon

Pluto Retrograde

Sunny and warm

I hope you had a lovely weekend.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Behind Altitude: What Episode One Actually Took

https://majestymusa373737057.wordpress.com/2026/06/05/behind-altitude-what-episode-one-actually-took/

Behind Altitude: What Episode One Actually Took

https://majestymusa373737057.wordpress.com/2026/06/05/behind-altitude-what-episode-one-actually-took/

I tried writing a movie script once...
It did not take.
But hey, I gained a lot of appreciation for the craft.

#Movie #Scriptwriting #WritingCommunity #Writing

I tried writing a movie script once...
It did not take.
But hey, I gained a lot of appreciation for the craft.

#Movie #Scriptwriting #WritingCommunity #Writing

VAD: Behind the Scenes of Altitude: Sky Stories

https://majestymusa373737057.wordpress.com/2026/05/15/vad-behind-the-scenes-of-altitude-sky-stories/

VAD: Behind the Scenes of Altitude: Sky Stories

https://majestymusa373737057.wordpress.com/2026/05/15/vad-behind-the-scenes-of-altitude-sky-stories/

Video Shorts 231: Are Procedural Drama Characters Created Just to Annoy You?

from Into Your Head podcast - IntoYourHead dot IE. #humour #CriminalMinds #TVwriting #television #characterdesign #scriptwriting

https://intoyourhead.ie/2026/05/08/video-shorts-231-are-procedural-drama-characters-created-just-to-annoy-you/

Video Shorts 231: Are Procedural Drama Characters Created Just to Annoy You?

from Into Your Head podcast - IntoYourHead dot IE. #humour #CriminalMinds #TVwriting #television #characterdesign #scriptwriting

https://intoyourhead.ie/2026/05/08/video-shorts-231-are-procedural-drama-characters-created-just-to-annoy-you/

Screenplay or Novel? Understanding Your Idea’s Potential

Tim Schildberger explains how to figure out if your story idea is best as a screenplay or a novel, plus more from Writer's Digest!
The post Screenplay or Novel? Understanding Your Idea’s Potential appeared first on Writer's Digest.
https://www.writersdigest.com/screenplay-or-novel-understanding-your-ideas-potential

#Resources #screenplay #Scriptwriting #writingadvice #WritingCourses

Screenplay or Novel? Understanding Your Idea’s Potential

Tim Schildberger explains how to figure out if your story idea is best as a screenplay or a novel, plus more from Writer's Digest!
The post Screenplay or Novel? Understanding Your Idea’s Potential appeared first on Writer's Digest.
https://www.writersdigest.com/screenplay-or-novel-understanding-your-ideas-potential

#Resources #screenplay #Scriptwriting #writingadvice #WritingCourses

Hollywood writer's room...!
www.joke-bots.com
Joke Bots
#computer #AI #hollywood #Films #script #ScriptWriting #Filmmaking #coding #executive #RoboticsForKids #robot #writing

Hollywood writer's room...!
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Joke Bots
#computer #AI #hollywood #Films #script #ScriptWriting #Filmmaking #coding #executive #RoboticsForKids #robot #writing

I got in a row the other day with a woman, who shared a post with her opinion about the toxicity of persons critical of Mary Sue characters.
https://philosophics.blog/2026/03/15/encounter-with-mary-sue/?utm_source=masto&utm_medium=social
After much pushback, she turned off the ability to comment, so she forced my hand to respond otherwise. I resorted to my blog – and here.

#philosophy #writing #blog #critique #scriptwriting #authors #movies #novels #storytelling #bollox #language #perception #marysue

I got in a row the other day with a woman, who shared a post with her opinion about the toxicity of persons critical of Mary Sue characters.
https://philosophics.blog/2026/03/15/encounter-with-mary-sue/?utm_source=masto&utm_medium=social
After much pushback, she turned off the ability to comment, so she forced my hand to respond otherwise. I resorted to my blog – and here.

#philosophy #writing #blog #critique #scriptwriting #authors #movies #novels #storytelling #bollox #language #perception #marysue

Je découvre que A24 a mis à disposition les scénarios de ses films produits en 2025. De Marty Supreme à Warfare en passant par The Smashing Machine ou Friendship, il y a de quoi faire : https://a24awards.com

#scenario #script #scriptwriting

Calling all filmmakers, writers, and fellow actors! 🎬 I’m looking to expand my circle and maybe collaborate on some digital projects.
​As Euron Legends, I’m focused on high-quality narrative content. If you're into #IndieFilm, #Scriptwriting, or #VoiceActing, let’s connect! I’d love to see what you’re working on. 🚀
​Drop your portfolio or just say hi!
​#Collaboration #ArtConnect #Filmmakers #Actors #CreativeNetwork #MastodonArt

Calling all filmmakers, writers, and fellow actors! 🎬 I’m looking to expand my circle and maybe collaborate on some digital projects.
​As Euron Legends, I’m focused on high-quality narrative content. If you're into #IndieFilm, #Scriptwriting, or #VoiceActing, let’s connect! I’d love to see what you’re working on. 🚀
​Drop your portfolio or just say hi!
​#Collaboration #ArtConnect #Filmmakers #Actors #CreativeNetwork #MastodonArt

‘Long and meticulous’: Ricky Lee defends scriptwriting workshop selection

https://fed.brid.gy/r/https://interaksyon.philstar.com/trends-spotlights/2025/12/09/306098/ricky-lee-defends-scriptwriting-workshop-selection/

From Crime Scene to Court Room: What Happens After The Body Is Found?

Walk through the steps that real-life investigators take once a crime is committed until it reaches trial status, plus more from Writer's Digest!
https://www.writersdigest.com/from-crime-scene-to-court-room-what-happens-after-the-body-is-found

#Resources #podcast #scriptwriting #WritersDigestMembership #WritingCourses

Themes of Objectivity versus Subjectivity (From Script)

In this week’s round up brought to us by Script magazine, Twinless filmmaker James Sweeney discusses the importance of theme and point of view.
The post Themes of Objectivity versus Subjectivity (From Script) appeared first on Writer's Digest.
https://www.writersdigest.com/themes-of-objectivity-versus-subjectivity-from-script

#Resources #Script #ScriptMag #ScriptMagazine #scriptwriting
@indieauthors

Ah, yes, because clearly everyone needs their very own Command Line Interface Übermensch to navigate the mind-boggling complexity of... writing basic scripts. 🙄 Why buy a tool when you can spend eons building a half-baked one with more acronyms than usefulness? 🛠️💡
https://martinfowler.com/articles/build-own-coding-agent.html #CommandLineInterface #ScriptWriting #TechHumor #SoftwareDevelopment #ProgrammingJokes #HackerNews #ngated

What ‘Fantastic Four: First Steps’ Can Teach Screenwriters (From Script)

In this week’s round up brought to us by Script magazine, learn key takeaways from The Fantastic Four: First Steps on how to make your characters resonate.
https://www.writersdigest.com/what-fantastic-four-first-steps-can-teach-screenwriters-from-script

#Resources #Script #ScriptMag #ScriptMagazine #scriptwriting
@indieauthors

Serving Character Through Action (From Script)

In this week’s round-up from Script magazine, the director of the new action-comedy Fight or Flight discusses the narrative needs of actions scenes, and more.
The post Serving Character Through Action (From Script) appeared first on Writer's Digest.
https://www.writersdigest.com/serving-character-through-action-from-script

#Resources #Script #ScriptMag #ScriptMagazine #scriptwriting
@indieauthors

Writing the Historical Script That Sells (From Script)

In this week’s round-up from Script magazine, read an interview with “Government Cheese” Filmmaker Paul Hunter, dive into “Andor” season two with Tony Gilroy, and more.
https://www.writersdigest.com/writing-the-historical-script-that-sells-from-script

#Resources #Script #ScriptMag #ScriptMagazine #scriptwriting
@indieauthors

The Shows That Shaped Us (From Script)

In this week’s round-up from Script magazine, examine why comedy’s that are celebrating a major milestone this year have had such a pop-cultural staying power, and more.
The post The Shows That Shaped Us (From Script) appeared first on Writer's Digest.
https://www.writersdigest.com/the-shows-that-shaped-us-from-script

#Resources #Script #ScriptMag #ScriptMagazine #scriptwriting
@indieauthors