Hellllllooooo....

I have been a very, very bad blogger this summer. I'd like to blame it on the lovely weather, but unfortunately we haven't really had any, so...

I have had my nose to the grindstone however and that has claimed a lot of my time. Since returning from RWA #11, I've been trying to spend every spare minute getting my manuscript requests completed.

So that's where my summer has gone. Writing, writing, and more writing. My fall is looking much the same. And when I'm not writing I've been reading up on marketing - both for my writing and for my Etsy shop, At Knit's End, and knitting items for said shop.

Somewhere in between there is the day job.

Which begs the question - how is the whole cloning thing coming along...?

But I am hoping to get back to regular weekly posts come September, so stay tuned!

The Week in Review

"The idle man does not know what it is to enjoy rest, for he has not earned it." ~ John Lubbock

It’s difficult to come up with a scintillating blog entry when you’ve only slept a few hours, so I’m going to forgo the linguistic gymnastics and just give a brief update on what’s been going on.

The past week has been a busy one prepping for the upcoming release of The Outlaw Bride scheduled for April 18th. (Like that little plug? That’s as subtle as I get while sleep deprived.) But here’s what I’ve been up to. I ordered my bookmarks and ad design from Croco Designs and just received word from GotPrint that they are on the way. I also ordered business cards from VistaPrint and they too are en-route. I sent in my first sale information to the RWR and that will show up in May’s edition, and then I reserved space in the June issue of RWR for my ad.

I have a few blogs I’ll be appearing on (in?) the week of April as well and received a list of review sites my book will be available to through Net Galley.

Then, in the midst of all this, my author’s copy of the book came in (which I had totally forgot about!) and I loaded that onto my kobo, ooh’d and ahh’d over it for a few minutes and then realized I needed to come up with some contest ideas for book giveaways.

There’s a lot of stuff that comes along with releasing a book. It’s true what they say about the real work starting after you sign the contract.

I’m also putting the finishing touches on Salvation Falls, cleaning up a few things, before doing the final revision on Invitation to Scandal in time for conference. I’m hoping to get a little time before conference to work on The Widow Bride as well, but we’ll see how it goes.

Meanwhile, I’ve decided to take 2 hours each Sunday to hunker down at the local Starbucks and write whatever I want. Yesterday was my first stab at this. I just sat down and wrote whatever came to mind and I realized halfway through the first page, what I was writing was the opening scene to a contemporary fiction story, Talking to Winston, that I’ve been kicking around.

Training for the 10K is coming along. My friend, Christine, took me hill training the other day and after 6.2K and a hill that I swore was never going to end, I crawled back to the office and questioned my sanity. Then I went out on Saturday and ran another 3K.

I’ve also been trying to squeeze in some knitting time to replenish items on my Etsy shop, At Knit’s End. I sold 3 items in the past week and a half and now I need to restock.

I’ve come to the conclusion, there are just not enough hours in the day, and not enough days in the week.

Turning Creativity Into Cash

I’ve decided to set up a blog to help promote my Etsy shop now that I’ve decided to get things rolling again and start adding items for sale. Feel free to check it out: it’s called Duly Knitted.

First I had to determine if I had the time to do this what with the writing, the day job, the new puppy, home life. Because I am completely insane, I decided that yes, I did have the time so why not try and bring in a little extra income to fund my habit.

However, much like writing, setting up shop isn’t just about what lands on the printed page – or slips off the ends of the needles. There’s promo involved, time needed to take photos of the product to its best possible advantage (something I’m still working with but I have some ideas…), different sites to network on, etc.

But what the heck. I’d be knitting anyway, and since I can’t possibly keep all the stuff I knit (I only have so much closet space), I might as well try to sell it. Besides, like my writing, I get way more done if I have a goal, and populating my shop with quality knit goods seems as good a goal as any.

To that end, I am enrolling in a two-day knitting course at a local yarn shop, The Loop, which runs over two Sundays to better get a handle on intarsia knitting. I’m also designing some of my own patterns which isn’t quite as difficult as I thought it would be, but I reserve the right to change my mind on that when I start getting into more intricate patterns.

Meanwhile, back in Revision Land, I am not sure whether or not the first third of my YA is working. I have a fair bit happening, but a lot of it is set up. Which is required but I’m concerned I might be dragging it out for too long. I’ve decided to keep going, tighten up where I can, and then go back and figure out if the pacing works when I do the read through. Hopefully I’m not as far off the mark as I feel right now.

The pup starts obedience training next Tuesday. I’m looking forward to that. He’s a pretty smart dog. So far he’ll sit and stay and come. But the mouthing of limbs needs to get under control and walking him where he isn’t rushing ahead practically choking himself needs to be addressed. Ah, the joys of puppyhood. There’s a reason they’re so cute, you know…