Tatted Eye Patch

I sold a tatted rose eye patch yesterday, so I spent some time tatting up a new one to put in my etsy shop, which I have been woefully neglectful of as of late, because of, well life. I've also been keeping busy with a new activity in my life. Actually it's a really old activity that I used to spend all of my time doing, but I haven't been doing so in over twenty years. I'm doing theater again. My daughter started over the summer and once I was back in a theater, I couldn't stay away. I'm in rehearsals now for my first show since college. Yikes, right? It's called Men on Boats and it opens in January for a two weekend run. So yep, still tatting and crocheting, but also writing and acting, and look I even found the motivation to write here, so yay! Maybe it'll stick this time...don't make any bets on it though.

So Weird

So these just came in the mail. I ordered just a couple of copies of my book so I could have them. As weird as it was to see the listing on Amazon, it was orders of magnitude weirder to see it in print. Thanks to everyone who has picked up a digital copy, all ten or so of you. I have no illusions that this is going to sell many copies. It was mostly about the writing and the actually putting it out in the world for me. I've got more projects in various stages of creation and now that the bandage has been pulled off the self-publishing wound...wow, that was a labored metaphor. The point is, the first time has to be the hardest, right? So here are the links again, it you're interested.

Hidden Gods Paperback

Hidden Gods e-book

A Book That I Wrote

So, again I disappeared into the real world and left this space lonely. If it weren't for the collection of patterns I've posted here over the years, I might have even entertained the thought of just deleting the whole thing. No worries about that though, there's really no good reason to not let it linger, but that's not why I'm here today. Today I'm here because after I wrote a novel, and then sat on it for quite sometime while I edited off and on with the help of my daughter, I actually pulled the trigger and self published in on Amazon.

I know, right? Scary. Anyway, it is available now as both an ebook, which is free to read if you subscribe to Kindle Unlimited, and paperback. Fair warning, it has literally nothing to do with lace or any other fiber art. It's a urban fantasy sort of story with gods and monsters, a little danger and weirdness. It's the sort of thing that I would read, because why write something if you wouldn't want to read the story yourself.

Hidden Gods 

If you do read it and actually enjoy it, please do leave a review on Amazon...so you know, I can pretend I'm a real writer. No worries if it's not your kind of thing, but I'd love you to share if you know anyone who might like it. There's no point in telling a story if no one hears it. Either way thanks!

Still Alive

I'm getting awful neglectful here again. In my defense I have been hard at work on several different projects. I've finished the third draft of my novel and it's currently being copy-edited by my 10 year old. I know that might sound like a daft idea, but if you could see the skill this child has at finding typos, missing commas, and the like, you would be seriously impressed. Anyway, once she's done with that and I've tackled a few more details, I plan on self publishing it on Amazon. Regardless of how that goes I'm already at work on two other stories that may or may not become novels. The point is to keep writing, right?

Other than the writing, I did tackle an interesting tatted art project though I'm not at liberty to discuss the particulars of that. My part in the task is complete and now and it's up to the real artist to do the hard parts. I'm crossing my fingers that the idea works out because I think it's genuinely interesting and I really want to see it finished. I will of course share if and when I can.

The Armenian lace piece is really my fall back project. I work on this when I'm catching up on the scads of television I try to consume and while I read. This is the last image of it that I posted on all my social media places. I'm much better about updating those while the blog languishes untended. Of course that's mostly because I can post a picture across everything in a minute and here, well it's a much larger time commitment. So if you're actually missing what I'm working on and I know that's a big if, you might want to pop by my facebook page, twitter or instagram. It's generally the same things on all of them, so dealers choice.

I'm also been lucky at least the last week or so to have some orders in my etsy shop. A couple of them have included custom pieces, so I'm alternating the tatting of those with all my other projects and homeschooling the kids. I guess I really am pretty busy. I'm also pretty happy that the summer and it's subsequent expensive air conditioning bills is past us for now and crossing my fingers that these orders represent a trend for the fall. Here's hoping.

A post shared by Pamela Quevedo (@totusmel) on Sep 29, 2017 at 3:07pm PDT

Back Again

Well, I am certainly getting lazy when it comes to writing here, sorry. Things around here have gotten into a nice routine as of late. Schooling has reached a comfortable rhythm and I'm working on all sorts of random things like I picked up some large day of the dead skulls to paint for our walls. It's been slow going on those, but it's something different to do and that's what I wanted them for.

I've had a couple of small orders in the past week that have gotten me tatting a bit and of course work on the Armenian lace is ongoing and very close to hitting the 4 foot across mark. I've also been hard at work editing my novel. It is a glacially slow process though and I'm barely a third of the way through it. I missed the pure writing process so I've already started writing another thing. I'm less certain about how long this one might end up though. It could be a short story or a novel or somewhere in between. Since I achieved my first goal of simply writing a book, everything else just feels like cream at this point.

I may actually have another art tatting project soon. It's a little early to say for certain, but if it does pan out, I should have more to write about in the near future. Otherwise it's now schooling, painting, editing, writing and knotting for now.

A post shared by Pamela Quevedo (@totusmel) on Sep 5, 2017 at 4:22pm PDT

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.

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.

Weekend Recap

I know this is shocking, but I have new tatting to share with you today. A loose idea has been percolating in my brain for a little while, but then one of my favorite people shared an image with me as inspiration and it was so close to that percolating idea that I actually started work on it.

A post shared by Pamela Quevedo (@totusmel) on Jul 28, 2017 at 10:52am PDT

The idea is a potential headpiece that will come down in a point across the forehead and then also down on the sides of the head with the top edge being a bit like a crown. There are a lot of details to work on on how to will be worn and how this prototype shape will be further adjusted to form the other shapes.

The shape here started with an antique edging that I twisted into a square. I've actually made up three different versions already and I think I've sussed out how to join them. The next challenge will be to modify the shape for the side sections. I'm working slowly on it, so I can keep working on all my other summer projects as well. I've reached about 45,000 words on my writing and received some wonderful and unexpected supportive messages to keep it up from a couple of people that I really respect. I can't tell you how nice it was to get those and it out a bit of a fire under me to work harder on it. Hopefully this week will see some substantial progress on my writing and my tatting. I won't say no to some orders in my etsy shop either.

On Writing and Tatting

My sale has been over for a bit now and I did get a few orders out of it. Even nicer was the large one I got after it. I've got a few tatted bracelets I'm remaking for the shop as well as a couple of the crochet and Armenian lace ones. As always it is wonderful to send lace off to someone who will appreciate it.


I've also been writing pretty consistently for the last few weeks. I'm up to I think 27,000 words now. If you were curious about what it exactly that I'm attempting to write, it's trying to be a novel. If I had to attach a genre to it, it would be urban fantasy or horror, but it's really not scary.I guess really it's too soon to tell what it wants to be. There are moments that I swear it's like it's writing itself, pulling me in directions I had not initially meant to go. I am also starting to understand a few things about writing that I never thought I would, like how continuity errors are born as I frantically tried to make sure changes I make are consistent throughout the 80 some odd pages I've gotten written so far.

In other news I'd like to take a moment to thank Fox for her lovely compliments on her blog the other day even if it was wrapped up with a slightly depressing thought. I fear that I do agree that tatting seems to be at bit of a stalling point. I am humbled that I ever had an impact on the art at all and now I feel a bit guiltier about my own creators block with it. I wish I had a solution or that I just suddenly felt inspired to create, but I have to concede that my inspiration has more often that not been tied up with selling pieces and knowing that someone will one day own the things I make. Since my sales have slowed to nearly nonexistent most days, making more things just seems futile as they will likely just get thrown in a storage tub never to see the light of day again.

I do hope that this lull is temporary and maybe come fall and the routine of schooling, I'll feel the need to create again. In the meantime I'll just keep creating in the ways I am inspired to do so.

Sale is Still On!

I haven't had a lot of takers for my sale, but it is still on until tomorrow at least. You can get 25% off with the code SUMMER25 in my etsy shop. In the meantime I have spent my days reading and writing. I've managed to pen over 16,000 words now and I am not yet burned out, so there's a chance I might actually see this one through.

I did get a few orders in my shop including a custom order for gold and gray bleeding heart earrings and this wide cuff bracelet, whose name escapes me at the moment. So I've been tatting quite a bit too, just not as much as I wish I was.

Unfortunately I've also had a package go missing in France. It was marked as delivered, but the customer has not been able to locate it. It was likely stolen off a porch or by a carrier, so that means I need to make a new bracelet and send it off again. The worst part is that postage to Europe is ridiculously expensive so honestly it's costing me more just to send another than I got from selling it in the first place, never mind the loss of the bracelet on top of that. Insurance would have been too much on such a small order. Oh well, that's the cost of doing business when you have to rely on others to make final delivery. Luckily the customer seems patient and kind about the whole thing.

So just to recap, I'm alive, reading, writing, tatting, oh and I'm still knotting away on the Armenian lace as well. I'd really like to make a few more sales, so I may leave the sale up for another week to see if that helps. Otherwise I'll keep on working like I have been and I may try to start writing more often again. I think it might help with my other writing if I'm doing so. Time will tell.

One Hundred

I didn't even realize that I was up to this momentous post until I actually logged on to write this morning. One hundred posts, wow, I haven't been this faithful about writing since I was an angst ridden teenager writing in my diary. I really don't know what to do to celebrate this milestone, but I guess I could share some numbers. I've had over 6000 different people read my words, even if it was just a half a second before they clicked on, they were here. Of those 3400 of them returned again and 1000 of those have returned an insane amount of times. I know that compared to some these numbers are really sad, but to me they are a lovely reminder that I occasionally have something interesting to say and I do a pretty good job of saying it. A sincere thank you to all of you who visit and read my ramblings, I hope that I continue to engage you with quality content.

Of course I was distracted by my milestone and now I can't remember what it was that I was going to write about this morning. You see, I usually come up with a few good ideas over the weekend and I write a rough draft of my posts in my head. I know that is not the most reliable place to store the information, but it usually works. If anything interesting happens before I reach the laptop in the morning, I can kiss all that creative thought goodbye and I end up babbling nonsensically about whatever I can come up with while I'm typing. The only reason I'm sharing this is because I felt you were entitled to an explanation for my short and sometimes off posts. So there you go, hopefully I'll return tomorrow with the good stuff. I'm sure I'll remember it all eventually.

Do You Understand The Words I Am Writing?

Yesterday, someone exposed me to the "Blog Readability Test". The test uses a mathematical algorithm to determine the reading level needed to comprehend the document or in this case blog. Since math can't actually tell whether the writing is actually good or not, this is suppose to be used only to predict if the document is suitable for it's intended audience. In a thread discussing this test and it's results it was suggested that one should aim for a junior high or high school reading level so as not to alienate too many readers. Though I've done no research to support this, the claim was that the average adult reads at that level. So the logic follows , if I want to reach the most people I should write at that level. To that, I say phooey!

I have a confession, I can be a bit of a snob, an elitist if you will. Although I haven't had much time as of late to read anything but children's books, I enjoy a good challenging read. There is no point, in my opinion, to reading something that does not challenge you in some way, be it intellectually, creatively or emotionally. When I decided to write a blog, I had no illusions of fame or popularity. I knew that I had to write something that I would enjoy reading or I would get bored quickly and this would just be another abandoned project. I assumed by doing this, I would attract an audience that I would actually want to talk to. So far, I have been right in that assumption. I have no interest in expanding my demographic using this method, though I do not fault people for using it for other purposes. Your local newspaper for instance should be readable by everyone, but I don't have a need to attract everyone.

You'll notice that I haven't posted the level I received from the test. You can check if you want to, but I was actually a little disappointed that it wasn't a bit higher. To that end, I plan on busting out the thesaurus and using some real twenty dollar words from now on. So, I apologize in advance if you can no longer comprehend my verbiage, if you can't, you are apparently no longer in my target demographic and you will have to go elsewhere for wisdom and wit.