Marketing Stats, Creative Feedback, and Art: https://devonellington.wordpress.com/2026/03/17/tues-march-17-2026-marketing-stats-creative-feedback-and-art/

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Tues. March 17, 2026: Marketing Stats, Creative Feedback, and Art

Tuesday, March 17, 2026

Dark Moon

Mercury Retrograde

Snowy and cold

Happy new week!

Pull up a chair and a beverage, this is a long post.

If you celebrate St. Patrick’s Day, I hope you have a good one. Between living/working in NYC, where St. Patrick’s Day is even more of an excuse for people to behave badly than New Year’s Eve, and living on the Cape, where people were usually drunk by 10 AM – not a fan.

Friday, I did the laundry early, hauled it back, got it folded and put away. I headed up to the library to drop/off pick up books. There weren’t many to pick up, and I only dropped off those that were due, so I didn’t need the rolly cart. Swung by the post office to mail thank you notes from the birthday stuff. Ran two more errands on the way home. Was worn out, although I managed to get them done in good time, even on foot.

A Marketing Tangent

I got my royalties from the past few months (so I don’t have to have a Come to Jesus talk with D2D – we’re all caught up). The months I steadily marketed saw sales 10X the months I let it slide. I’m only spending about 15 minutes a day on weekdays marketing, but it made sales jump 10X.

Those sales cover a couple of bills. If I can maintain and then grow those sales, I am in good shape. Not that one can count on royalties, and they fluctuate, but if I can get back to steady and growing sales, it helps a lot.

The Nina Bell Mysteries are steadily growing their audience. If I can keep writing/releasing on a steady schedule and keep marketing steadily, we should be in good shape. Layering in the ANGEL HUNT series is a solid plan, because urban fantasy usually does well, and ANGEL HUNT was the most popular of the serials. There’s a lot of interest in the Coventina Circle series again, so getting those in the print editions and then finishing out the series is a good idea. 4 of the 9 planned books are out (I’ve got book 5 halfway written). After that’s complete,  working on the spinoff series that goes deeper into urban fantasy rather than paranormal romantic suspense should work. Those spinoff characters introduced in RELICS AND REQUIEM, who show up now and again and even crossed over into the Gwen Finnegan series, are very popular. And getting back on the Topic Workbooks and prepping more for release should also help. The Topic Workbooks have always been steady sellers.

The trick is to find the sweet spot, both of creative energy to create the work, and to know when to release it. Every series has a different sweet spot. Wait too long between releases, and you lose audience. Release too much too quickly (in spite of the current binge desires many have), and people feel overwhelmed or as though if they miss one release, there will always be another. I find that especially true of the shorts, although sales of holiday-themed shorts bump up when promoted around their holiday.

It needs to first be about serving the work, or it can’t connect. But then, it also needs to look at the metrics of the business side of it, which are constantly shifting.

I’m getting questions about when LEGERDEMAIN will release in novel form from people who loved that world. The answer to that is that I’m not sure. The first arc of the serial (41 episodes) is pretty solid, but the rest sprawled too much, and it needs a lot of work to go in and tighten it as I adapt. I’ll have to pull out some of the shorter arcs and put them in separate stories, instead of trying to weave so many multiple plot lines at once. I need to have the main plot for each book, then a B subplot that gets resolved, then an over-reaching series arc that goes on for several books. Once in a while I can weave in maybe one more strand, but not the half dozen or so that were going on past episode 41. It will take a lot of work, and I need to have at least three volumes in solid shape before releasing anything. Plus, there were requests for spin-offs, especially when it came to the adventures of the all-female crew of the dirigible the Nervy Molls, and more built around the Fathomless Library. I’m so glad people connected to all of this, but it takes time and planning to make it all work, and I’m not sure I can do any of it this year.

Because I can’t drop the ball on the stage plays, either, and I have to get at least one-full length in shape for submission by the end of August, per a request. I can’t re-submit to this venue, so it needs to be something new.

I’d also love to get back to work on REP (the theatre company in space comedy) as a novel, but I can’t see fitting that in this year, either.

The most sales come from people who find me on Mastodon, with Instagram a close second. Bluesky is a distant third, with Tumblr and Threads trailing behind them. It took several years to build the audience on Mastodon and it’s a slower process than on other social media channels, but by posting/interacting regularly, marketing regularly, and taking part is games such as Writers Coffee Club, I’ve built connections there and am finding a growing audience. If all one does is post promos on a channel, sales don’t happen. There has to be interaction that has nothing to do with promotion, and that takes time and thought, which needs to be built into the workday.

I no longer promote on FB, and my sales have improved. TikTok was somewhat useful for serials, but hasn’t been for my books. I don’t do the kind of BookTok videos that work,  nor am I willing to do them, and I’m not dealing with TikTok considering who owns it now.

Good to know.

I seriously would like to dump the FB accounts completely. Every time I open it, the first things that show up on my feed make me want to throw up. Blocking those accounts does nothing. For every block, 5 more of the gross things show up. The only reason I keep FB is because that’s how the city sends out information on emergencies. And birthday reminders, so I don’t miss anyone’s birthday (although I’m starting to add those to my paper datebook again).

The marketing that works (at the moment) is not brain surgery. It’s not spending a lot of money. It’s consistency.

It’s also looking at data over a period of months, and then tweaking one thing at a time, so you can see what kind of changes actually make a difference. I’m grateful to the Assets4Artists workshop and the local chamber workshop that gave me those tools to analyze this kind of data.

Now I have to figure out how to build on that, while continuing to have enough time and energy to keep feeding eager readers AND doing the more lucrative freelance writing work. I do that, knowing that I will have to look at the data every few months, and make changes. It’s not a career path on a highway, it’s more like floating down a river. Sometimes, there are rapids, and sometimes you get caught in the shallows.

The reason it takes me only 15 minutes a day is because I put in plenty of prep work. I have a content calendar for the month that I do about mid-month the previous month. (In other words, I better sit down and do April’s this week). It has the social media slots for each weekday, and what promo goes in each slot. I only promo one project per social media channel each day (except if I’ve dropped a day), so that I don’t saturate the channel and get annoying.

The only time I have the same ad on all channels on the same day is release day. Otherwise, I have them rotate through the channels: series ad, series video, single book ad for each book (one per day), single book video (ibid), and so forth. That way, it doesn’t come across as spam, even though content is repeated more than once in a month. Although I don’t do separate videos for each Topic Workbook. I have one for the group, and then flat ads for each book. For instance, February had a Nina Bell release (VICIOUS CRITIC), so all the promos in February were for various Nina Bell books. March has Nina, Topic workbooks, anthologies. April will include “Plot Bunnies” the short Twinkle Tavern mystery that happens near Easter, along with Nina, Workbooks, anthologies. And so forth.

As each book is going through the final production process, I work on the ad and the video. Or I edit/add to the series ad/video. That way, it’s all set up when it’s time to go. I’ve got the graphics, I’ve got the copy, I’ve got the links, I just follow the day’s schedule for the content calendar, and it takes 15 minutes to post through the channels. Each ad takes about an hour or so to create, but is designed to be evergreen and easily updatable if links or prices change. The videos take between 2-4 hours, depending how complicated they are. Longer, when the software I use updates claiming improvements that are actually detriments. As I explore new software, I might find something that helps me streamline that.

I treat myself  like my own client. That was the biggest factor in making it work. It’s the same way I prepare materials for small business launches, and what I used to do for clients when I handled their social media promotions.

When I handled promos back in Twitter’s heyday, I could schedule an entire month’s worth of promos on Tweetdeck in about two hours. Under their current ownership and new name, I won’t deal with them. Hootsuite was useful to a point (not all the channels I need within my budget, but useful for some clients), but now they contract with the frozen water thugs, so I will not use them. Buffer doesn’t have enough of the channels I need within my budget.

Again, this is all about systems and information and tracking that then is used to support the creative work so the creative work can continue. It’s often difficult to face the reality of the business side of things, but it’s imperative if you want it to support the creative. They are the yin and yang of working in the arts.

Those who try to talk you out of paying attention to the business side of it are trying to exploit you and get your work for free, so watch out.

Back to the Life/Writing Stuff

On a completely different note, I did not get a slot in a 7-year residency for playwrighting. I knew it was a long shot, and they had 799 applicants. I had decided not to even apply, but then figured what the hell, nothing ventured and all that. But 7 years would mean I was in my early 70’s when we were done, and that’s not practical in my life right now. I’m glad I applied, and actually a little relieved I didn’t get it. Commuting to NYC at least once a month for 7 years would have been a lot, especially since they couldn’t guarantee the level of funding for the duration, just for the coming year. So why did I even apply? Because I felt there was possibility in the opportunity, and if I landed it, I was determined to find a way to make it work and grow in my playwrighting.

I am curious to see how many of the playwrights chosen actually stay in the residency program for the full seven years. I will follow along to keep track, and see how they blossom in the program (once they’re chosen).

Friday afternoon, I sorted out some practicalities with the ghostwriting client, and then go to work on the assignment due this Friday. I didn’t make as much progress as I hoped, but I have some ideas on how to fix that.

It started snowing around 3:30 or so. Sigh.

Got some research reading done for the May Morris project in the evening.

Didn’t sleep well Friday into Saturday. Up around the usual time, with Tessa shouting down the house because she wanted her breakfast. The morning routine was fine, although the 15-minute free write was more on the practical side than the creative side. But it sorted things out in my brain a bit, so it served its purpose.

It was supposed to snow from 9 AM – 1 PM, but started before 8.

After breakfast, I did some housework. I gesso’d my canvas for the collage. Tessa “helped” which means I now have to work a figure of a black cat into the collage to explain any cat hair I couldn’t wipe off. No, there isn’t any place in this house I can work where the cats can’t wander in.

Thankfully, Willa watched from a safe distance. Charlotte was asleep on the freshly made bed, and Bea was busy in the living room.

I got caught up doing more admin work than I hoped. I also re-read the first eight episodes I wrote of REP, and it’s funnier than I remembered, which is good. It plays a lot with tropes in theatre and science fiction.

I wrote myself into a corner on the latest chapter of BETTING MAN, and tried to get myself out of it, which was a chore. Not quite there yet.

I layered up and went out into the snow to pick up my mom’s prescription. They had two ready, which was nice. Usually, I go to pick up one, and the minute I get back home, there’s the notification for another one. Because making anything easier for their customers is beyond them. CVS = Corporate Vicious Hassle.

But there wasn’t hassle today, thank goodness. I stomped across town in the snow and into the wind, picked up the prescriptions, and picked up Chinese food on the way home. As I waited for my order, I read one of the local print publications, and there was an article by a colleague! I was so pleased for her, and it was very well done.

Trekked home, this time with the wind at my back, and we had an early lunch. It was yummy.

On the way back, as I trudged through the snow and wind, I had a breakthrough for something where I was stuck on the play CONSEQUENCE. It means going back and rewriting what I have of it so far, changing it a bit structurally, but still keeping it at three characters on stage. So that was good.

Then, I unpacked the 16 lb. bag of dry cat food and put it into smaller glass jars, which keeps it fresher and is easier to use. I set up the next couple of weeks’ worth of wet food on the shelf. I did some research. I finished reading the next book for review. It snowed on and off all afternoon, and there was a lot of wind. I started the spring cleaning, and got most of Tessa’s room done, although I still have to decide what I’m putting on the walls and how I’m hanging it. Cleaned all the lampshades, which always is more of a task than I remember.

Cooked dinner at night, read some more. Had busy dreams of working on various things all night with people I knew well in the dreamscape, but don’t recognize out of it. I felt like I put in a full day already when I woke up.

Good morning sessions of yoga and meditation. I figured out, in more detail, what to sort out in CONSEQUENCE during the morning free write, and also did some figuring out work on the sculpture.

After breakfast, I sat down and wrote a little over 1K on BETTING MAN, which was good. I’m still way behind where I hoped I’d be at this point, but I’m getting there. I wrote myself out of the corner, and had to remove a character from a previous chapter. But I made forward progress, which is important.

I did the Community Tarot Reading for the Week, which you can read here. I also wrote and submitted the book review, and scheduled the invoice to send on Monday morning.

I worked on some graphics that will be included on the sculpture, and started figuring out the text handout that will go with it.

I did research reading in afternoon and evening. I sort of kept an eye on the Oscars, but didn’t really watch them. I was, however, delighted with Autumn Durald Arkapaw’s win as the first woman to get an Oscar for cinematography. About damn time. I did some prep for Monday night’s Athena Project event (since my play was in it and all).

I did not sleep well, and was awake by 3 AM. When Tessa started complaining at 5, I just got up, without a fuss. Morning routine was fine. I like it when it’s early. It would be so easy to let the yoga or the meditation or the free write slide, but once you let it go for a day, it’s easy to keep letting it go, and the day is so much better when I don’t.

Again, consistency.

I knew Monday was going to be challenging because of all its moving parts.

By 8:30, I’d written a little over 1200 words on BETTING MAN.

I measured out the gesso’d canvas and started painting the background. The collage is satirical, so I’m using bold, bright colors, almost cartoonish. I had to mix the green with some white, to get it to the shade I wanted it, of “young child green grass.” Then I had to prop it and move chairs, etc. away from the kitchen table, so no curious cats would investigate it while it dried.

Bea also spent a good bit of time exploring my bedroom, and trying to figure out how to sneak on the bed without Charlotte noticing.

I received an invitation to join a playwrighting group about an hour and a half away (for a fee). I’d like to be involved with the group, but I am not an “aspiring” playwright. I’m a playwright, it’s part of my profession. I do not pay to work, I am paid to work. I sent a pleasant refusal.

Tried to catch up on some other email, and then switched over to the ghostwriting. I usually ghostwrite in the afternoon, but since my afternoon and evening were about playwrighting, on Monday, after I wrote my Nina quota and painted, I switched over to the ghostwriting. Since tomorrow, with the car repair, everything is a toss-up, I wanted to make sure I caught up yesterday and today, so I would be where I wanted, even if something goes cattywampus tomorrow.

I ran into an obstacle with the ghostwriting, and had to ask some questions, although I tried to work around them while I waited for an answer.

Honor Roll Playwrights session was on ZOOM for two hours, and that was good. We had a nice group. I rewrote/restructured what I have on CONSEQUENCE, and managed to move forward for a few pages. The restructuring didn’t add as much new material as I expected, which is good for pace, and I have a few ideas on raising the stakes.

After that session, I had a snack, then went back to the ghostwriting. They still didn’t answer my questions, which is unusual. So I will solider on in my own way. Whichever of the two roads I take will be the opposite of what they decide, and I will adjust as needed. I am behind where I hoped to be, and I don’t know how much I will get done tomorrow, with the car repair situation, so I will have to make up for it today and Thursday, in order to get it out on Friday on time.

We are having issues with a running toilet, so I had to make arrangements for maintenance to come this morning and take a look.

Cooked dinner and prepped for Athena Project. I gave the cats a snack right before the start of the session, so they settled down and napped, instead of crawling all over the computer and the screen.

It was a good session. Two of my friends who read earlier drafts of the play were there, and I appreciated it. It was a small group, but a good discussion, of both our plays. I appreciated that the readers loved the romance of the play as well as the more challenging elements, and they were all fascinated with the background.

Today, I will update the dramaturgy note at the back of the play to include thanks to Athena Project. It was great to work with the same dramaturg again, too. She really loves my work and gets the play.

It took me a bit of time to settle down and get to sleep. I woke up around 2:30 AM because of the rain. I managed to get to sleep again, and when I woke up a little after 5:30, it had changed over to snow. Sigh.

Today, I will send out thank you emails, update the Pages on Stages site with the play’s new information, deal with maintenance, try to get some work in on Nina, but the bulk of the day has to be about the ghostwriting.

This has been a really long post. Thanks for sticking with it! I hope you have a great day, and a great week.

Calling all #climate conscious #playwrights!

The Climate Playwriting Prize 2026 | Discover | Shakespeare's Globe

We believe that playwrights have a vital role to play in the conversation around the climate. Theatre is a space for animating audiences, forming communities, and experimenting with form; a space for processing the past, articulating the present, and imagining the future. Beyond the West End, regional and touring theatre is playing a vital role in engaging audiences.

This moment is marked by rising temperatures, escalating impacts of change on communities and ecosystems, but also by the unprecedented call to arms to storytellers at COP30 in 2025. The need for new stories that help audiences grapple with the realities and possibilities of this crisis has never been clearer. 

In order to surface the breadth and diversity of new stories about this planetary moment, the Climate Playwriting Prize is an open invitation to playwrights to respond creatively to this subject matter. We are partnering with organisations all around the country to deliver workshops to writers, unlocking how they might want to tell their climate story.

#Playwright #playwrighting #playwriting #climatestorytelling #climatestories #climateaction #shakespearesglobe #GlobeTheatre

https://www.shakespearesglobe.com/jobs-and-opportunities/climate-playwriting-prize-2026/

Finding the Right Fit:
https://devonellington.wordpress.com/2026/02/18/wed-feb-18-2026-finding-the-right-fit/

#Writing #WritingCommunity #Freelance #Playwrighting

Wed. Feb. 18, 2026: Finding the Right Fit

Wednesday, February 18, 2026

Waxing Moon

Jupiter Retrograde

Snowy and cold

Midweek, although it feels like yesterday was a whole week on its own. We’re supposed to get 6 more inches of snow today. It was supposed to start at 7 AM, but hasn’t yet, although my pre-storm headache tells me it should start soon (and then the headache will go away).

This blog’s dashboard is glitching in Google, and I had to do a workaround. It seems to be coming up okay in other browsers.

Urgh.

Before anyone has a fit that a white girl enjoys Chinese Lunar New Year, my mom’s best friend is Chinese, and always included us in the celebrations. Plus, I worked on a bunch of shows with large Asian casts, and I was honored to be included in their celebrations. I celebrate in honor of them, their families, their ancestors. It’s not about me; it’s about honoring people who welcomed me into their celebrations for years.

RIP Jesse Jackson. I learned a lot from that man’s work.

I packed up the boxes I need to mail and then decided I should go down and mail them, instead of waiting until this morning. Which was a good idea, because with  6 more inches of snow incoming, I won’t be tromping out in that or going to the laundromat or going to the library like I planned.

So much for it being in the forties all week, as promised!

Anyway, I mailed everything, and picked up a couple of things at Cumberland Farms on the way back. My hip was very unhappy because of all the refrozen snowpacks I had to climb. They partially melt, then refreeze in lumps on the sidewalk, and are a mess. In order to get around them and walk on the street, I have to climb the snowbanks between the sidewalk and street. So it’s all just a big mess. It was raining by the time I got home. Not hard, just enough to be annoying.

I got some reading done, and around lunchtime the notes from the ghostwriting came back. They will be the priority today. I need to get them turned around by end of day tomorrow, because I have plans with a friend on Friday.

I managed to get my hip feeling better through a bunch of stretches, etc., without using the pain patch. I try to use it as little as possible, because it nauseates me for whatever reason.

The seeds arrived from Johnny’s, and I already resent them (yes, there’s a story there). I also ordered some seeds from Baker’s Creek Heirloom. More on all of that in tomorrow’s Gratitude & Growth post.

I managed to fix the glitch in the Google version of this blog. I fell down some research rabbit holes on WorldCat for several different projects. I can order several books/manuscripts/ephemera I need (over several different projects) through the Clark library, but I have to talk to them to see if I can just order/have them order, or if I need the special scholar card. I also want to see if any of the material is available through the college library across the street, which is easier to access.

I made chicken Lo Mein for dinner, which turned out well. A quiet evening, which I needed.

I realized I hadn’t written and submitted the book review, so I will do that today. I still have plenty of time before deadline.

I had a weird dream that didn’t make sense literally, but made sense symbolically, so I guess that’s good?

I did not get the grant for the May Morris project, but the funding organization likes the premise and has offered me some resources that are not the grant. The grant would have solidified the project’s position in the queue, but we will see. At least I’m not under any deadline pressure, can research pleasurably at my own place, and then contact the organization when one of the resources they offered me would be helpful. They have also offered support around I WILL BE DIFFERENT. I’m trying to remember how they know about that, although I probably referenced it in the May Morris proposal. They’re in Brooklyn and I’m not, so we will see how that shakes out. But at least they’re interested. And I have a specific individual in the organization as my primary contact for my work. On the one hand, I’m disappointed; on the other hand, it takes a lot of pressure off me in the immediate months, and usually, things fall into place in the right way. A couple of years ago, I was disappointed at not getting a particular residency in the midwest, but if I had landed it, I wouldn’t have been able to accept a reading slot for one of my plays with another company, and the reading had more immediate weight in the career path than the residency would have offered.

While I work well within deadlines, there’s a certain point where too many deadlines becomes counterproductive. Having the research for this project be unpressured pleasure will, I think, serve it in the long run. And let me finish the plays ahead of it that are still in progress.

In other words, I’m disappointed, but not devastated. I didn’t get the grant, but I’m now a known quantity to the organization and they are interested in my work, so I have to make sure to follow through on that and build that relationship. If I drop the ball and let things slide, that loss is firmly on me.

Morning routine was good. I will wash some hand laundry in the morning (since my plans to go to the laundromat were jettisoned), write and submit the review, and figure out how to get the next book for review into my Kindle. It still hasn’t shown up, and I sent did the whole “send to kindle” and then “send to device” about a week ago. The bulk of the day will be spent on the ghostwriting. I also have a couple of hours to spend on a DNA Forensics workshop I’m auditing out of the University of Cambridge in the UK. That will be useful not just for the ghostwriting, but for a lot of projects. It’s a 5-week course with 2-5 hours/week commitment, which is reasonable. I didn’t realize it started today until I signed up early this morning.

Anyway, I better get going. I need to turn around a 20K revision before end of day tomorrow.

Have a good one!

Tues. Feb. 17, 2026: Welcoming the Fire Horse

Tuesday, February 17, 2026

New Moon

Jupiter Retrograde

Fat Tuesday/Mardi Gras

Chinese Lunar New Year

Solar Eclipse

Cloudy and cold

All the things going on in the heavens today! Whew!

Happy Mardi Gras, and Year of the Fire Horse! Let’s hope we’re racing to some positive, collective change.

You can read the Community Tarot Reading for the Week here. Still on the Enchanted Tarot.

I put in the Instacart order first thing on Friday morning. It shouldn’t be as stressful as I find it. I’m making a list and trusting someone else to go down the list and get the stuff. There’s no reason for me to worry so much. It was fine last week.

The cats are starting to shed their winter coats. That means the worst of the cold is over, and that I need to vacuum multiple times a week.

I’ve been frustrated with the 45-day art journaling workshop for awhile now. The prompts have been too much psychobabble and not enough creative expansion. They also seem somewhat familiar in the wrong way, but I can’t put my finger on why. Plus, one never knows when they will show up, so it’s been difficult to plan time to do it. Nothing came through at all on Thursday, and then, on Friday, there was suddenly an email that the workshop leader decided to take a vacation for her son’s school break and “pause.” No idea if/when it starts up again. Maybe Monday, but who knows? So, you ask people to commit for 45 days, and then you haven’t planned everything out ahead of time? Why would you start it if you knew you were going on vacation? It’s not like one doesn’t know about school breaks ahead of time. Why not either schedule posts or wait to start the 45-day stretch until you get back? If it was impromptu, as she claimed, she could still schedule things to post. This is not someone who can be trusted. I planned to grit my teeth and stick it out, because I believe in honoring my commitments, but no. I am done. That’s not creating a safe and creative space for people. Safe space means one can count on it and trust it. This behavior does not do it. It wasn’t an unexpected emergency. It’s being untrustworthy and not being honest with people who committed time and energy toward your event when you asked them to do so, after weeks of intense promotion.

A new prompt came through on Monday morning, and I considered starting up again, but my instinct was not to. It’s not the right atmosphere for me. So I unsubscribed, and it was like a weight off.

Buh-bye.

And I will avoid this person and her work in the future.

There are still plenty of pages in that journal that can be dedicated to other things. I will find a different way to work on the art/text stuff.

I bundled up, packed up the books, and headed out mid-morning. The temperature was higher than it’s been and the sun was out, but the wind made it feel colder. I trudged up to the library, dropped off books and picked up the 12 that waited for me. Good thing I had the rolly cart! I rolled down the hill and mailed the cards and bills that needed to go out. The post office is only about a block from the library, and downhill. I ran another errand. I got everything home and up the stairs.

I managed it all in 45 minutes, which was pretty darn good.

I basked in the sun with the cats for a bit, and finished reading a literary novel that wanted to be AS Byatt’s POSSESSION, but was not. There were some good portions of it, but it added an additional POV in the last quarter of the book in a way that didn’t work for me, structurally.

I had to be available during the shopping, and had to change a couple of things, but it was no big deal. The order was there by 1:30 again, although it was a different shopper who was more interested in being on her phone than paying attention to the two minutes for customer drop-off, which annoyed me.

If the weather is at all amenable at the end of this week, I’m taking the cart and going my damn self. While I’m grateful the service exists, I’d rather be in the store myself seeing what looks good and adjusting as needed. I like to have a basic idea of what I want/need (and my list), but then see what looks good and is on sale and adjust. That means moving a bunch of ingredients around in a way that doesn’t really work if someone else uses a pre-written list. It’s totally a me problem, not at all anything wrong with the service itself.

I did some community-based work in the afternoon, and also read the February pick for the Agatha Christie book club, MRS. MCGINTY’S DEAD. It took me a bit to get into it, but once I was intrigued, it carried me along. I paged through the research books for the two different projects that came in, trying to decide which one to spend time with first.

I re-read what I have of the play LAUGHTER AND TURPENTINE (the Playland Painters one) so I can figure out what needs to happen next. I sorted through some possibilities in Saturday morning’s free write.

We had a late lunch of pizza, and then I didn’t feel like dinner. I made sure my mom ate something, but I wound up having a sandwich around 9:30 at night. I read the first book of a new-to-me series (it came out in 2011), that I liked on character and setting arcs. The plot was a little shaky, but interesting enough so I’ll read the second book in the series, at the very least, and see.

Slept well. It was supposed to snow overnight and be done by 7, but didn’t start until nearly 8 on Saturday morning. I had a good morning routine. I forgot to mention that Thursday was Day 175 of the free write sessions.

I tried making omlettes again for breakfast. I’m not good at them, but I keep trying. My favorite Elizabeth David book is AN OMLETTE AND A GLASS OF WINE. I went back and re-read her instructions on making an omlette and tried again. I still don’t have the foldy thing down, and the bottom is too brown, but the inside was fluffy with just a little runny for the cheese and herbs. It tasted good, even if the look of it wouldn’t win any awards. I keep trying. The pan I used was too small, probably, too.

After breakfast, I got the crockpot meal going. Instead of the usual Tuesday crockpot, we decided to do it on Saturday. Since Tuesday (today) is Chinese Lunar New Year, I’m making a special meal for the holiday, and moved the crockpot meal to the weekend.

Then some housework, because there is always housework.

I love following decorating and thrifting and cooking and sewing and gardening accounts on IG. (I mean, cats, too, but that’s something different). Even when something isn’t my style (like neutrals) or something that I would do, I enjoy seeing what other people are up to, and how happy it makes them. And I do learn stuff. But, I mean, sourcing at thrift stores has always been my first choice. It started way back when I was a teenager prop shopping for shows. Things with stories and histories have always been my preference. I love that more people are discovering the fun of it, although when I see a 20-something act like they are the first person to ever figure it out, I do roll my eyes. But that’s also part of being 20-something. I have no doubt I was just as annoying.

It snowed all morning, and I didn’t feel like trotting around in it, so I stayed home. I went through an exhibition catalogue built around May Morris’s work as background research for the play I want to write inspired by Mary Annie Sloane’s sketch of the women working in May’s embroidery workshop. I found names, so I can actually research them. One of the women who worked with May for years was Lily Yeats, the poet’s sister, although to hear tell, there was tension between Lily and May. Another embroidery worker was the actress Florence Farr. It took me a bit to figure out why the name was familiar. She was friendly with Annie Besant (who is mentioned in my play FALL FOREVER) and with Pamela Coleman Smith (who illustrated the Rider Waite tarot), and they were all involved in the occult society The Golden Dawn together. I hadn’t put together the concurrent timelines in my brain. The more I dig, the more interesting connections I find with other interests and projects. Quite the web!

So glad that May kept detailed records of the workroom. I’m hoping I can find a digitized version online, a little later in the research, and flip through it.

There isn’t a lot of material easily available on Mary Annie Sloane and her work, but I will keep digging. As much as May’s designs and exquisite work captured me, it was Mary Annie’s sketch that lit the fire under the idea.

I have at least six months’ to a year’s worth of research to do before I even start writing, but having names and women to research is a terrific starting point, much like with my Playland Painters. The grant proposal for this project is out. If I get the grant, the project moves into a priority position in the queue. If not, I can leisurely research until the project’s turn. Knowing something about the women who worked in the embroidery workshop and what a range of interests they all had changes the original character arcs I played with quite a bit. These are far richer and more interesting. May was known for paying her workers well, and encouraging financial literacy and independence.

Gabriel Dante Rosetti was William Morris’s business partner (he was May’s father, yes, that William Morris), and Rosetti had an affair with her mother, Jane. May and Jane often sat for Rosetti. The big Rosetti volume I have from my time working at Abbeville Press is in storage, but I’m eager to get my hands on it again.

May and George Bernard Shaw were in love, although they each married others, and remained good friends all their lives. So now I have to re-read that massive, multi-volume Shaw biography by Michael Holyrod. My copy of that is also in storage, but I will get them from the library at some point. I have other books coming in on that circle already ordered from the library that I will read first. I will head over to the college library in the next few days and see what they have, too. Once the car is fixed, I’ll do some digging in the Clark’s library, too.

It was a lovely way to spend a dreary, snowy morning, inspired by the beauty of the work these women created.

I started to do some research for the article, re-reading material I originally read in my twenties, but the contrast between May and her socialist, progressive circle and the self-involved material for the article was in too much conflict for me to deal with one right after the other.

I read the next book in the mystery series by the acquaintances from way back. The setting and background were great, but the character relationships were left so undeveloped, and the love interest didn’t even show up in the book until 7/8th of the way through it, so when they declared their love for each other at the end, it felt false. Over the three books in the series I’ve read, the relationship has been underwritten and underdeveloped (and they certainly haven’t spent much time with each other), so the declaration doesn’t land properly. I can’t source the final book in the series through the library even as an e-book, so I don’t know how it all played out. (The series has been out of print for a good long time). If the relationship had been more in balance with the plot (and it could have, without taking away from the plot), I think the series would have worked better (and probably lasted more than four books).

It didn’t live up to the promise of the premise, which is something I find a lot in script analysis work, but here it came up in a series of novels.

The crockpot dinner was good – potato, ham, cheese casserole-type thing. Sort of like a croque monsieur, but with potato rather than bread, and done in a crockpot.

Slept well, up at the normal time on Sunday, good morning routine. Switched out a bunch of winter/Valentine’s stuff with springier, Ostara/Easter stuff. And switched out the heart on the front door with shamrocks.

The neighbors have started decorating their doors, too, and using fun mats. Now that the building is painted, everyone is inspired.

Did the Community Tarot Reading for the Week, which you can read here. I wasn’t happy to see the Tower as central, but the other cards are very positive, so I’m intrigued by the week’s potential.

Sunday was day before the dark moon, always my least energetic day of the month.

Around noon, I wrapped up and went down to Brewster’s Thrift, the new thrift store that opened across from MASSMoCA a few months back. I’ve been hearing good things about it. The assortment is very eclectic and interesting. I found a lovely, silver-plated candleholder with intricate grapes and other summery/harvest raised detail. I posted a photo on Instagram.

Ran another errand on the way home. It was sunny and much warmer than I expected. I had too many layers on, which I guess is a good thing.

I had a quiet afternoon, and cooked a tuna/vegetable/pasta/pesto dish in the evening.

Read a charming and fun first book in a series that understood typical conventions and chose to break them in interesting ways that served the story, characters, and genre. I’m looking forward to reading the second book in the series.

Up at the normal time, the morning routine was fine. Did the rounds with the week’s intent and the tarot post. Got through some email. No matter how much email I slog through, there’s always more. I’m unsubscribing from a bunch of lists, including authors who do not support my work as a colleague, but are always marketing at me. Read the two scripts for the evening’s Read ‘n Rant and made notes for the evening’s discussion.

We had our monthly Honor Roll! Session from noon to two. It was a nice turnout, and we all got a lot done on our various projects. We felt so good by the end of the two hours!

I got the opening of I WILL BE DIFFERENT, and the next scene. I’ve been playing with ideas in the morning free write, and decided to start with Josephine in the midst of handling five children and her husband and everything, and Alice at age 10. The same actor can play Amanda as a child a few sections later. I’ve been debating whether the first mother should be named Josephine or Margaret. In the free write, I’ve been calling her Margaret, but in these pages, she came out as Josephine, with “Maggie” being Alice’s older sister. I’m pretty sure I will double cast Josephine and Milly. It’s pretty clear in the later sections that Josephine died before Milly was born.

I had planned to finish the Alice section first, but because I’m struggling to get the timeline right with years/historical events, I was stuck. I did set the Josephine section/Alice’s childhood in my hometown of Rye, before Playland was built. I have to figure out one or two more Josephine/Alice scenes, and that will give me a better idea of the when with Alice/Archie, and then I’ll know how to complete the Alice section. If I just cut where Alice and Archie talk about him going to war, I can fix a lot. Yes, that scene is good, but it doesn’t fit the timeline, unless it’s Word War I, and then it sets everything else out of whack. So I basically have somewhere between three and five more scenes to write, and then I’ll have a rough assembly of way too much material that I can then hone down.

Stage plays often have a much longer development process than other types of work, but this one is even longer. I’d hoped to have it ready for a particular submission call to which I’ve been invited at the end of this August, but I can’t see how it will be done, and through enough drafts to make it viable. I may have to finish a different full-length between now and then that’s less complicated to submit this year, and then submit I WILL BE DIFFERENT next year.

I also have to fact check some of my hometown’s history pre-Playland. I sort of remember it, from some research years ago, but I have to recheck it. And it’s not like anything worthwhile comes up in Google anymore, so I’ll dig into the Westchester Archives online information, or into the Rye Historical Society’s information.

I also got the list of dates to paint the gallery for the upcoming GLOW show in March, so I have to figure out which times and dates I can help out.

I did some housework in the afternoon, in preparation for today’s Lunar New Year, and took out the garbage, etc. The dumpster is emptied Tuesday and Friday mornings, so I had to squish the bags into a very full dumpster, but I got them in.

I did some work relevant to the dark moon.

Assets for Artists sent a two -year follow-up from my time in the cohort, so I filled that out for them.

Leftovers for dinner. In the evening, I joined the Athena Project’s Read ‘n Rant discussion. I had been sent one of the wrong plays, so I kept quiet in the discussion for one of them. There’s no reason for me to make things about me instead of the play. I mean, in every group, there’s always someone who hasn’t read the play, or hasn’t finished the play (or book or whatever in the relevant group), but has to take up time and space in the discussion anyway, making it about them. There was that last night, too, but I was not that person! I was able to join the discussion for the other play, which I’d read, so that was fun. Charlotte slept through the whole thing. Bea and Tessa were there at the beginning, and then settled down.

I’m looking forward to my play, THE WOMEN ON THE BRIDGE, being part of next month’s discussion!

It was 10:30 by the time the discussion was over (Athena is based in Colorado, on mountain time). Then, of course, I needed transition time before bed, so I read for a bit.

Dreamed about working shows all night, so woke up feeling like I’d already put in a full week.

The morning routine was fine, the free write was sorting out stuff for I WILL BE DIFFERENT.

We are having pancakes for breakfast, because it’s Fat Tuesday.

On today’s agenda: writing, ghostwriting, an errand, packing up some things that need to be mailed tomorrow, celebrating Lunar New Year. We are wearing lots of red today in honor of it, but no black or white.

Have a good one!

Greetings my name is House!   New to Mastodon and looking for folks who vibe with the art & sounds that I make in the worlds of

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Rambunctious Cats: https://devonellington.wordpress.com/2026/01/20/tues-jan-20-2026-rambunctious-cats/

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Tues. Jan. 20, 2026: Rambunctious Cats

Tuesday, January 20, 2026

Waxing Moon

Uranus and Jupiter Retrograde

Sunny and cold

And here we are, in another week.

The cat in the photo is not one of mine, but the attitude fits what mine have been up to lately.

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

And, if you didn’t get a chance to read “Redefining January” on the GDR blog, you can do so here.

The high winds on Friday were annoying. Which is a ridiculous thing to say, but we’ve had high winds for weeks now, and I’m over it. Power fluctuations, water main breaks, internet in and out, incorrect weather information. Done already, thank you very much.

But nature doesn’t really care if we’re annoyed, does she? And we certainly don’t give nature enough respect.

At least it was sunny, which meant everyone at least tried to be cheerful.

I had to pick up a new sketchbook for a 45-day art experience that starts today, so I did that, then went grocery shopping, to the library, the post office, and a couple of other errands. It took a little over two hours, including chatting with people, which is pretty good for around here. Unloaded everything, put things away. Rode my elected officials. Each of us needs to keep up the pressure EVERY SINGLE DAY. Until we can replace the lot of them. Really, there are so few who should even open their mouths at this point, because the bulk of them are useless.

We all KNOW they are going to cave yet again at the end of this month, and then pretend there was “nothing they could do.” There is SO MUCH that our elected officials could be doing, and should have been doing all along, and they CHOOSE not to do it.

Found out that Charles Coe, the poet, died. He died last November, but I just heard about it now. That made me very sad. I knew him, and we were in touch sporadically. I loved his work, and I loved spending time with him. He was funny and kind and insightful and very smart and pulled no punches when it came to injustice. I will treasure the books he signed to me even more than I already did.

Cooked dinner, read in the evening.

After weird dreams, I got up around the usual time on Saturday, fed everyone, morning routine. Housework. It was snowing quite a bit more than predicted. I finished the next book for review, wrote and sent both reviews, and sent an invoice for the batch. I’m a little frustrated that there’s nothing else in the queue. That’s because now we grab them, rather than the books being assigned, which means there will be reviewers who hoard. The previous editor assigned to avoid that.

The script contest sent another email, “reminding” me to send them a resume to read for them. Again, no mention of how much they pay or timeframe. And I’m not sending them a resume. They have one, plus 4 years’ worth of coverage reports. Unless they make me a good offer, I’m not doing it. I am certainly not begging them to work.

Slept well on Saturday into Sunday and did not want to get up on Sunday morning, but Tessa insisted. Fed everyone, did the morning routine. It was Day 150 of the 15-minute morning free write. That felt like a good milestone, and the work done in those notebooks definitely has helped organize my writing time.

I did the Community Tarot Reading for the Week, a little perturbed by the 3 of Swords coming up as the central card. However, it makes sense in context, even though it’s uncomfortable.

I dug out the back of the car, but left the snow on top as a layer of protection.

I ate an early lunch, filled up the insulated bottle with hot tea, packed my bag, and headed out to the gallery on foot. The snow had paused, and the sidewalks were cleaner than I expected, so it wasn’t a bad walk. It wasn’t windy, which also helped.

Jane was already there, and had started setting up for the readings. We talked through how to handle the flow, and the timing. I was positioned somewhat like a human shield up at the front of the gallery, and she was set up still in the front room, but near the back of it. She had a steady stream of people wanting readings, not stacked up, they just arrived in good time, with a bit of a break near the end. I took care of anyone who was just at the gallery to see the art, not there for the reading, and kept the list of those wanting readings, in case we got backed up. It was a good, steady afternoon.

Reading ART SCOPE magazine, I saw a phrase that will make an excellent poem title, so I jotted that down in my notebook, and will let it percolate to see how I will build a poem around it.

It was snowing quite steadily again by the time Jane and I shut the gallery, took in the flag, turned down the thermostat, shut off the lights, made sure all the doors were locked. Jane gave me one of her paintings as a thank you for backing her up today, which was a lovely gesture, and completely unexpected. And she drove me home, which was very kind.

Home, unpacked, unwrapped (I’d wrapped up so much that I waddled more than walked), and heated up leftovers for dinner. Did some reading in the evening. I was confused by a message from the workshop starting today. When I signed up, I was told that the workshop leader wanted to run it on Patreon, but would run it on Circle instead. This weekend, I reluctantly signed up on the Circle platform. I don’t want to be signed into something else with yet another password and I’m app’d out. No more apps. But on Sunday, I got an email about it being on Patreon. Um? Where am I supposed to go for the daily posts? Why did I have to sign up for Circle? I did not like the terms of service, and will likely delete my account as soon as this workshop is over. I’d rather they were just damn emailed, that’s what I signed on for. I guess I’ll find out today, when it’s all supposed to start.

Tessa vanished at some point, and we turned the apartment upside down looking for her. We were worried she had somehow gotten out when I took out the garbage or on the way to or from the gallery. I mean, I’m very careful with doors, but still, they sometimes slither past. Tessa doesn’t really dart out. Neither does Bea. She’s happy that she’s now an indoor cat. Willa and Charlotte will pull a Houdini at the slightest opportunity.

So we were worried about Tessa. And then, suddenly, she just appeared in the middle of the kitchen, where she hadn’t been a moment before.

Dimension hopping again, I guess. Sigh.

I should have worked on proofs, but I was just too tired all weekend.

Had weird, disturbing dreams Sunday into Monday, but Tessa yowled me out of bed by six. Finished the GDR article, polished, and posted it. Posted the intent for the week. Made the graphic for the tarot reading, and posted that. Did the blog rounds. Did the daily rounds of elected officials.

The fact that the government has declared war on its own population and sent an occupying force into a state because That Thing is a petty narcissist, and Congress continues to do nothing is unacceptable. 90% of Congress, at the very least, needs to be replaced.

No more Centrist democrats, fundraising on our murders.

Got some admin done earlier in the morning, and read one of the plays for that night’s Athena Project meeting. In the Honor Roll session, I started reading the other one, and also worked on the timeline for I WILL BE DIFFERENT. I have certain dates when things HAVE to happen, and I’m trying to adjust things in other scenes to match it. Milly’s father Archie (Alice’s husband) would have been too young for WWI and too old for WWII. I noticed, as I worked the overall timeline for what I have of Alice, and for the Milly, Amanda, and Joy sections, that I don’t deal with historical/current events/news things that would also affect the play. I do utilize 1974 as giving Amanda the chance to get her own bank account and break away from Mick, and the play ends on New Year’s Eve 1999, but there’s other stuff happening throughout that needs to be addressed. Next draft, when I put it all together, I guess. I have to sort out this Alice section to write it, and then write the opening section, and then I’ll actually have a full draft. So that was a good session.

I got a decent session in on the ghostwriting, but not as much as I hoped, so I have to double down today, since it is due tomorrow.

I got the first half of VICIOUS final proofs done. I hope to finish this morning, and sign off on them.

Heated up leftovers for dinner. Grabbed the next book for review, glad that there is a next book for review.

The Athena Project Read ‘n Rant started at 8:30 my time. I got the computer set up in the living room, so it wouldn’t disturb the downstairs neighbors, who have a bedroom under my office.

Charlotte, Bea, and Tessa were impossible. Charlotte wandered across screen a few times and finally settled down. Bea was behind me, fascinated by the screen, playing peekaboo around me. Then, one of the dramaturgs had a cat, and they started staring at each other. Tessa wanted to get into the act, too, so she checked things out, then found a piece of paper she balled up and started noisily playing with, soon joined by Bea. Sigh.

Fortunately, the others on the call thought it was hilarious, and at least I was on mute when I wasn’t actually talking.

Both plays were solid, and it was a good, lively discussion. I’m glad I attended. The project’s dramaturg has a play that is part of Barrington Stage’s 10 x 10 Festival in February and March, so I hope I will get down to see that, since it’s in Pittsfield.

After the session was done, I needed some decompression time before I could go to sleep, so I finished reading LIBRIOMANCER by Jim C. Hines, which was interesting. Definitely interesting enough for me to order the next book in the series from the library.

Went to bed a little after midnight. Slept well, but not enough until Tessa howled me out of bed this morning. Fed everyone, did the morning routine, did the free-write (Day 152). It was also the first day of the Sacred Palette 45-Day art journaling project I signed up for (hence the sketchbook I bought on Friday), so I did that, too, which was interesting. The prompt came by email, so there was no reason to sign up on any platform other than the original sign up, which rather annoys me, but I’ll just delete from Circle at the end of the 45 days. I did the art journal prompt right after the free write this morning, but I might have it as a floating creative time and try it at different times of day throughout the 45 days.

On today’s agenda: toss tonight’s dinner in the crockpot after breakfast, finish the final proofs of VICIOUS CRITIC, and work on the ghostwriting. Hopefully, I’ll make it to yoga tonight.

Have a good one!

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