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!

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…

Meet Cedar

I did plan on doing a longer post this week, but between puppy training, knitting, re-setting up my Etsy shop (might as well try and sell some of the knitted items to make money to buy more yarn...) and revising Fractured Sight I've been pretty busy. So I will leave you with some puppy pixs of the new addition for the time being...

The Knitting Bug

I’m a knitter. My house has a yarn stash that’s big enough to open my own shop. And this is after I’ve culled through it and handed off at least half the stash to friends and family.

But so far my knitting has been strictly basic items. Scarves are a favourite, along with mitts, socks, afghans, hats, dishcloths, baby items and some Christmas ornaments. I really haven’t ventured too far beyond that though I have always wanted to. But part of me always balked. I don’t have time, it’s pretty confusing, I don’t understand the directions. All these things would run through my head and in the end I would go with what I knew and told myself I’d get to the other stuff at another time.

The other stuff being sweaters and intarsia knitting.

Last year I didn’t do a whole lot of knitting. I lost the urge, overwhelmed with other commitments and life in general. But as Christmas approached I had to get on the stick (or sticks I guess, in this case) because I had planned on doing several projects as gifts. And the more I did, the more the bug re-bit me. My love of knitting that had taken a back seat for the past year resurrected itself with a vengeance.

Adding to this, I received a copy of Kate Jacob’s Friday Night Knitting Club and, well, that was it. I have to knit. Now. All the time. I think about it at work and try to figure out how I could smuggle the needles in and work on a project without anyone noticing…not really doable, but oh if it was…

So this year, since the knitting bug has re-bit, I have decided its time to learn how to make a sweater and how to do intarsia. I’ll start off small and drive my mother crazy while she tries to teach me the ins and outs. I’m itchy to get started, but first I promised myself I would finish the scarf I had started last year. It’s made of this very fine specialty yarn and knit on small needles, but it’s a basic garter stitch so I should be able to finish it in a week or so if I dedicate the time and can figure out a way to do it without the new canine deciding he wants to get a piece of it.

Speaking of the new canine, Cedar has settled in quite nicely. And I realized this morning I had inadvertently taught him how to sit. I’m not sure how or when this happened but after telling him to sit several times this morning and having him obey I didn’t question it. Now, if I could only get him to stop mouthing everything…

The SuccessTeam

A group of my writing pals (including Anne who did a fabulous job on my new website) have gotten together to form a SuccessTeam. Basically, the gist of this group is to meet every two weeks, set specific goals and then egg / encourage / harass each other into meeting them. But, while this group consists of said writing pals, it isn’t just a ‘writing goals group’. We can set goals on anything we want to accomplish be they writing, health, money/finances, etc. And given that I function much better when I have a goal, this is right up my alley.

I mean really – if it involves a calendar, set dates, specific goals…why, I get positively giddy. It’s sad really. My friends and family razz me mercilessly about this at times, but hey, this is how I get things done. I make a plan. Then I make a back up plan (and yes, my back up plans also have back up plans – easier to shift gears at a moment’s notice if Plan A or B need tweaking). Then, I give myself a deadline, and then, finally, I put the proverbial pedal to the medal and get things done.

You’ve likely heard the expression: There’s no “I” in “TEAM”. Maybe not. But there’s an “M” and an “E”. And ME is going to put it into high gear this year and get some serious stuff accomplished. Manuscripts revised, research done, weight lost, health improved, books read and knitting projects completed.

And I’ve got ME and the TEAM to make sure that happens.

Slow News Week

I've been busy this week going through the first draft of Brimstone and making edits. So far there is little that has to be changed. Some areas are being condensed or combined and there's a scene or two that can probably be removed entirely. But for the most part it has proven fairly painless.

I still have to thread in the mystery plot, but I think I need to get the second draft done with the edits before I can determine the best place to fit this in. It just gets started in Book 1 and isn't the main focus, but it does affect things in some respects and then going forward it gets built on.

This series is four books, but I discovered that Book 1 and Book 4 have characters that show up which need their own stories. And oddly these two characters turn out to be linked. So once I'm done this series, I already have two books of the next one that will be ready to go. Right now I just have two of the characters and the premise of how they know each other, but I'm sure the rest will develop as things go along.

And that's about it for this week. I haven't had my head up long enough between writing and work to do much else, other than add a few items to my etsy shop. Can't remember if I mentioned this before or not, but there's a link to it over to the left. It's a website where you can sell handcrafted items. There's a lot of amazing stuff on there - art, jewelry, pottery, knitted items. It's pretty amazing. Anyway, I figured I might as well try and make some quid off my knitting to fund my habit so I set up shop.

And that's all she wrote.