After Much Hemming and Hawing

I have (almost, pretty much, nearly definitely) decided against trying to do National Novel Writing Month this year. I know this will be the second year in a row I've dodged it, but I'm probably going to need the time to write the first book of my next series for work. If I'm not doing that (unlikely), then I might.

I don't know. I've tried to be an active and friendly participant, but mostly I think I intimidate other writers just by rep. What do you guys think? Are you joining in, or giving it a pass? Let me know in comments.

Comments

Maria Zannini said…

I guess I've known you for so long, I know how generous and selfless you are when it comes to sharing your experience, but I guess to a newbie you might come across as intimidating. I remember years ago soaking up every bit of advice you gave to new writers.

And now I can't remember the blog but you used to blog on a group blog didn't you? You were the only reason I visited that blog. You were hilarious most times, and down to earth. That's when I fell in love with you.

October 8, 2022 at 1:48 PM

nightsmusic said…

It's probably your reputation that's intimidating to some. You're the least intimidating person I know. When I first met you, you were so kind and generous to me, I wondered if you were for real. But you are. And you're a treasure to me.

And I'm not doing NaNo either. I've really been struggling with my depression this year. I have no imagination for anything this year.

October 9, 2022 at 7:20 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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