Busy is as busy does

Yep, that sums it up. If I weren’t busy enough I have to go and borrow trouble. Well, not trouble per se,  just jumping into more projects than you can shake a stick at. It’s marvelous to be able to use those wonderful cliches that when writing a book they frown on it.

Well back to my plethora of projects. The first one is I’m doing the final read-through of Book 3. Now that in itself has several problems. I keep changing this and that then realize did I just change it back to previous writing that wasn’t as good or do I think it’s better now or then. My poor critique partners will be pulling out their hair when they see what I’ve done.

The second has a back story: In May I was supposed to attend the CHEA conference as a vendor to sell my books and also my greeting cards. As we all know the world shut down. So here I am with an exceeding amount of cards all nicely tucked away in boxes, yes boxes.

So someone said, “Open an Etsy store”. Me? If only I was a computer geek. Jenny my publisher can run circles around me when it comes to computer stuff. I still have to use my cheat sheets to upload this blog to Facebook. Sometimes I’m afraid my dog will eat them or to be honest I’m afraid I’ll misplace them. That happens to a lot of stuff. If I can’t see it, then it doesn’t exist. So my webmaster (who is a great guy and knows everything about this stuff) agreed to help set up the store.

Great, but I need to figure out how this all works. I know lots of people do it, but I’m one of those types of people that procrastinate because they are afraid of–what? failing, or succeeding? Well yeah, one of those things is bound to happen. Or is it a time factor? Where do I get the time to research this out so I won’t be afraid. Now would be a good time, don’t you think? But I want to create, not research so now what?

I kept getting this weird niggling feeling inside like something was wrong, but I don’t know what it is. So finally I decided to find out about Etsy. Boy am I glad I did.

Disclaimer: This is strictly my opinion and I have nothing against anyone who uses or sells on Etsy, but I found it wasn’t for me.

First of all, I know you need to spend money to make money, but I have already done that in purchasing supplies to make my cards. (Also the bookmarks that I make and give to those that purchase a book from me personally.) Well, I didn’t want to sink more money into a project that might not succeed, plus pay even if I hadn’t sold anything. So my webmaster did some research and found an e-commerce store called “Bonanza” It’s free to set up and you only pay if you sell. Now I can do “Free” real well. So this is project #2.

My 3rd one came out of the blue and I’m really excited about it. It touches my heart and uses my creativity. Mom sent me a Guidepost article on making Christmas cards for the troops. I contacted the organizers and they were very happy to hear I was interested. These cards are given in care packages for the troops for them to send home to their family or friends. It is a non-profit which is fine with me as I love to give to good causes. I have been busy creating since July 5th and desiring to see how many I can get done by the middle of October. I make 8 cards with each design and I’m up to number 15. My creative juices are flowing all over my work table.

I guess that’s about it for now. Oh before I go I want to give a shout out to my new illustrator Faith Jones. She has such a wonderful talent and I can’t wait for you to see her work in my third book coming this fall.

So I leave you with this part of a favorite hymn “Count your blessings name them one by one and see what God has done!”