It’s been a busy year and I’ve let the micro-business coast while I’ve been focused on other things. But now we’re heading into Q4 and it’s time to start things up again! 😁
Blockers
I have at least one large ‘non-creative’ event happening every month (and sometimes two!) for the rest of the year. Because of this, I’ll have less time to focus on commission work. I normally try not to ship anything in December, because of the holiday chaos, so digital goods with reign supreme that month.
The craft fair at the end of October is my focus at the moment, but a lot of that is just looking over the existing stock and deciding what to bring (and how to display it). I always end up bringing a LOT more than what sells, so I’m thinking of going minimalist this year.
Artwork
I normally take magnets, ornaments, and handmade tiny books to the craft fair. I have a decent stock of these, but I need to go through and focus on pulling together a (simplified!) coherent display. I’ve been very nonchalant about the booth in the past since I’m 99% there to support my mom (who runs the fair) and 1% there to actually sell things.
I’d also like to finish up a bunch more model horses, prototype some new scale model props, work on making fancier book-bindings, etc. etc. I will always have more projects than time, so until the end of October, I’m going to be focused on magnets.
Or at least I’ll try to be. 😅
The website is also in dire need of an art gallery overhaul. I’m way way behind in making sure everything is a) up in the shop and b) has a post and an entry in the corresponding art gallery. I also need to update my master inventory list in google sheets and my google photos albums for each piece.
Paperwork go-go-go!
Writing
With the implosion of NaNoWriMo last year, I’m not sure if I want to continue associating with that organization. My local writing group is planning on hosting an October event instead, but I’ve been doing NaNo since 2005 and it’s hard to walk away.
I’ve been feeling really disconnected from the writing community since the pandemic and wanted to take steps to correct that, but I’m not sure how. I’m going to try to be more internet-social as well… but I’m already in a LOT of writing discords, but haven’t really been reading them.
I figure September is a good month to try out a few new things and see which ones work for me. 🤞
On an actual project-oriented note, my top priorities are to continue work on the Harold the Normal universe (Harry Potter fanfiction) and get back in the habit of writing Saturday Story Prompts. I have no ideas for the non-NaNo story this year, but will likely start something from scratch (yet again!).
The story archive also needs an overhaul and there are a LOT of things not online (and not on AO3) that need to get setup properly. So, more paperwork! 😂
Weekly Updates
I am going to get back into the Live from the Writing Desk and Live from the Workbench weekly postings, but I’m not sure which days I’ll be using yet. I’m also going to be posting to Instagram and Facebook on a mostly daily basis, so it should make those weekly sum-up posts easier.
Social Media
I’ve gone ahead and soft-closed the writing focused Instagram and Facebook and put up notes I’ll be using the art ones as my main feeds going forward. I never got that much interaction on the writing side of things and I figure the art folks won’t mind a writing post now and then.
I’m not even going to poke at my Mastodon account until I have everything else rolling. 😅
Onwards!
So… yes, time to get up off my duff and start doing ALL THE THINGS!