Day Six – Settling In

It’s been hot, but we’re about four days in, and things couldn’t be much better.

Without realizing it, I established a protocol for myself, and I employed it again today. Wake up, shower, have breakfast (did I mention I have had pain de chocolat every day? I have!), and do a revision in the morning, working until lunch. After lunch work on a new creation until dinner. Be social after dinner, then head up to my desk and write my nightly blog post.

The protocol was disrupted slightly when I accidentally stepped on a bee in my room. I am slightly allergic (not EpiPen allergic, happily) so some swiftly applied ointment, a band aid, and some Allegra kept things under control. I think the bee was dying already–there was a reason it was on the floor. However, it didn’t go without a fight.

With that sorted, I started on my morning revision: my feature screenplay, “Ashes.” I had some feedback from contests in which it had placed, and I wanted to carefully absorb the feedback and use it to improve the script. Although some of the notes made little sense–sometimes I think reviewers are annoyed you didn’t write the script they thought you should–most of it was helpful, and I feel the script is now better.

After lunch, it was time for a new creation. A couple of years ago, someone in my neighborhood in Connecticut posted this on a telephone pole:

I don’t know why or whom it was for. I took a picture because I knew there was a story here. I didn’t know what it was, but I hung on to the photo until I found it. I did today–and turned it into a ten-minute play.

Before dinner, I visited the wine cave for some non-alcoholic beer (quite good), another delicious bag of Tyrell’s potato chips (which did not last as long as I had hoped) and a bag of peanuts to snack on over the next few days. We had our usual delicious dinner (the sauteed asparagus in particular was so good) and I joined some residents for another writing share. This time, Sommer and Tilly read the two short plays I had recently written and were kindly enthusiastic about them. Then Hannah G. and Ambrose joined us, and we had a lovely chat about writing and religion and even took turns reading from a poetry book that Sommer had brought. She purchased it thinking it was written by an Australian; turns out the poet was from Texas.

In the midst of everything else done today, I found time to reread one of my favorite plays: “Inherit the Wind.” I love reading new plays; I also enjoy rereading some of my favorites, because I love the experience of having the familiar language knocking around my head while I am in the writing zone. It helps lubricate things. After I finished the play, I donated it to the chateau library. It’s not a huge library, but what it may lack in quantity it makes up for in quality.

And it’s very cozy.