…or not.

“The Child” is the most recent release. Right now we’re filming “Bread and Savagery.”

I am curious, though, to see if I get a zillion hits on this post just because of the tag Bread and Savagery Spoilers.

I am so glad that this year I am finally working almost the entire Phase II shoot, with a real job, as opposed to previous years when all I could do was come by and visit every few days, bringing brownies and helping however else I could.

This year, a lot of things had to come together in order to make this happen. First of all, my parents drove up from North Carolina (we live in Vermont) to stay with the kids for the entire two weeks. Our youngest is just four, and our teenager has special needs, so childcare can be a very intense job. We have a PCA helping out with our teenager, and fortunately so far the little goobear seems content to spend lots of time with her grandparents even though she misses Mommy and Daddy.

The financial aspect of working on the shoot is a huge strain on our family’s budget, but we’re making it work. Hubby takes off two weeks from work, using his vacation days. We had to choose between paying money for an inexpensive hotel nearby (We’re staying at the Green Acres in Ticonderoga… not the fanciest, but they’ve been super helpful and eager to make us as comfortable as possible.) We only live just over an hour away, so we could drive home each night, but the problem with that is not only gas prices, but more the fact that we spend long hours on set and are often very tired when we finish late at night. I’d rather do a short drive to the hotel than risk driving sleepy for over an hour. Although my parents are taking care of the kids, there are extra child-care related expenses while we’re away. When all is said and done, though, the experience of being with these people… this family is worth far more than the financial strain we face.

Another thing that had to “come together” was a break in my routine. Not just writing, but my daily routine. I have OCD, but day to day it is fairly easy to manage as long as I have certain things in place. Sleep is one of those things. When I say “I don’t function well with little sleep” I don’t mean “I’m going to yawn a lot and not be able to concentrate well.” I mean there’s a long list of things that start to go wrong, including nausea, headache, and a long list of problems. That’s why I’ve built a few personal days off into my shooting schedule; time for me to rest, and time for me to spend with our kids. As far as writing goes, it’s no big deal to take a couple of weeks off as long as I can reboot by writing routine after the shoot. The fact that I get to hang out with a number of other writers (some of whom I’ve interviewed) while I’m there more than makes up for the lost writing time.

All right. One thing that’s happened that I will risk sharing is this: I removed a half-dead wasp and a very live spider from the set. Charles is trying to take credit for killing the wasp, even though he only wounded it. I’m pretty sure I’m not getting screen credit for “insect removal” lol!