Checking In

I've been pretty busy lately getting ready for the beginning of the homeschooling year that started yesterday. There were of course all sorts of issues that needed to be sorted out before we started. I'm sure we'll have a few more bumps before we really get into the groove of things, but so far so good.

I've done a lot of work on the Armenian lace piece. It's just a couple of inches shy of being 4 feet across now. No, I'm not stopping anytime soon even though it's now large enough to be a bit unwieldy on my lap. I'm going for ridiculously large now.

Yesterday, I was fortunate enough to get a nice sized order that needed a few pieces made up before I could ship it. Since we're back to schooling that has to wait until after classes are wrapped which means I still have a bit more work to do on them before I can get them in the mail. There are also a couple of pieces that I will want to remake for the shop even though sales are coming maybe every other week or so at this point, save for pattern orders that are a bit more frequent.

Last bit of news is that I finished writing the first draft of the novel I've been working on much of the summer. It topped out at over 82,000 words. There's still a ton of work that I'll need to do before it sees the light of day. There's editing and proofreading and probably more editing. Since I'm back to work so to speak, it may be quite a while before I get these processes done, but for now I'm reveling in the fact that I did indeed write a book.

Birthday Sale

I've not got much to share this week. I've been working slowly on the Armenian lace, but most of my time has been spent reading and writing. I'm at 66,000 words now so if I keep working at the same speed I should be done with the first draft of the book by the end of the month. Of course I really have no idea where to go from that point. I made a point of not thinking beyond the actual writing of the thing, so I don't have a clue what might or might not happen with it after I edit and proofread it. I guess I'll have to do some research at that point.

That's not why I popped by though. It's my birthday, so I've set up a coupon code for a birthday sale. It looks like soon I'll be able to run a proper sale in my etsy shop as tools for that have just been released, but won't be live until next week. So for now get 25% off anything in my shop through Friday with this link: https://www.etsy.com/shop/TotusMel?coupon=BIRTHDAY25 or you can use the code BIRTHDAY25 at checkout like usual.

Armenian lace piece is 42.5" across now.

A post shared by Pamela Quevedo (@totusmel) on Aug 8, 2017 at 1:26pm PDT

Monday

I really did mean to write here again last week, but I was yet again distracted by life. The children are back to homeschooling at the end of the month and the prep work for that has already begun which includes a myriad of issues that need dealing with. I did get a order for earring last week so I spent some time making a custom green pair and then remaking these firefly ones. It was nice to get something out in the mail to a customer, but that was about it on that front for the week. I have been selling more patterns than usual, which is nice, but since they are such small cost items, it really doesn't add much to my income.

I also worked some more on the new headpiece project. I'm really taking this one much slower than usual. I like the shapes I'm getting, but I think it needs more. The idea right now is to have it be worn with chains over and around the back of the head so I don't have to worry so much about sizing. I'm also debating whether or not it would be a good idea to use a wire base for the center part that's meant to sit up like a crown or just use stiffener. Obviously I'm got a lot more playing around with the piece before it's ready to move from the prototype phase.

I've also still been writing and reading a lot. I've broken 51,000 words now and the whole thing is starting to get a little unwieldy. At first it was easy to remember where each character was and what they'd said last time I wrote about them, now I feel slowed down as I reread what I've written to make sure I'm not contradicting myself. There's still no end in sight as I've still not worked out the resolution to many of the situations the characters have managed to get themselves into without much help from me really. This writing thing is real work, but I'm determined to finish this sucker.