Some Changes Ahead

To begin the process of dipping my toe into self-publishing I went and tried to create a website for my new pseudonym on Wix, which turned out to be a massive headache that I don't need right now. So to save time and pain I've created a simple blog on Blogger for my alter-ego, and over the next couple of days I'm going to be relocating most of my posts about the NA series over there and deleting the rest. I might mention how it's going on this blog now and then, but I want to keep the NA project and Valerean separate.

I'm beginning to realize just how much work and aggravation self-publishing is going to be -- massive -- but I'm trying my best not to freak out or talk myself out of it. I still think I can do this if I don't let the challenges discourage me. I'm not stupid, just intimidated. I've already solved the web site problem by opting to do what I know versus what I don't. On the side I'll be working on some free stories to put out there for the new readers.

Once all the books are written and I have cover art -- and it's starting to look like there might be seven novels instead of six -- I hope to have learned enough about digital platform publishing to put them online for sale, and have the NA author blog firmly established with plenty of content.

Wish me luck. :)

Comments

nightsmusic said…

It's always better in something like this, to stick with what you know. A new platform could suck hours and hours out of otherwise productive time :)

February 26, 2021 at 8:49 AM

Downsizing

This was my fabric stash once I sorted everything -- 22 full bins. I spent a day taking out and boxing up what I could part with, with the goal of trying to reduce it by half, so I'd have 11 bins. I was very strict with myself, and removed everything that for one reason or another I was sure I wouldn't be able to use. This is what I ended up with -- 12 bins of fabric that I'm keeping. It's not quite half, but close enough. Half of what I took out went to a local quilter friend, a school and Goodwill. These four tightly-packed bins will be going to the local quilting guild once I make arrangements with them for a drop-off place. I am relieved and a little sad and now determined to control my impulses to thrift more fabric. I don't want to do this again, so until I use up six bins, I can't for any reason bring any new fabric into the house.

In Progress

I promised myself I would show you the good, bad and ugly of my cleaning this year. This is what it looks like when you dump thirty years' worth of stashed fabric on the floor -- and oy, what a pain in the butt to pick up again! This is what it looks like after it's been sorted, folded and placed in containers, which took me about a week. Now the hard part is to downsize my stash by at least half, I think (that's my goal, anyway.) I've already e-mailed the president of the local quilting guild, a local friend who is a quilter, and a public school art teacher I know to see if I can donate some of the excess to them. The rest will go to Goodwill. Already I've reduced my vintage textiles from two bins to one, and my scraps from three bins to one. It's probably the hardest clean-out I've done, which is why I saved it until last. I know I have too much fabric, more than I can use in my lifetime -- but at the same time, I love it. So I have to

Other Stashes

Along with clearing out the spare bedroom and tidying my office and our guest bedroom, I decided to reorganize some of my stashes. This is all the yarn I have on hand, sorted by color. It looks like a lot, but lately I've been using up a minimum of half a bin every month, so this is approximately a year's supply. All of my solid color cotton perle thread. I go through a lot of this every year, too. I need a container in which I can fit all of it together, but I haven't found the right one yet. I won't show you all of my fabric -- I'm still reorganizing this stash -- but I went through everything and donated two bins of fabric I won't need to the local quilter's guild.

Valerean

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