eBay Sales: A pair of vintage baby shoes, 9 books, 1 doll dress, 2 pen sets, 1 McDonald’s Toy, 5 Figurines, 2 Patterns, 5 packs of postcard protectors, 1 vintage AVON package, 180 Mid-century Modern Prints, 1 pin, 1 vintage plush, 1 screenplay, 1 craft tool, 1 purse, 1 Mid-century Modern lighter, 1 corningware handle, 1 painting on wood, and 1 hobnail vase
#MilWordy Update: 117,108 words (5,351 words/day to complete)
Well, it’s been awhile now hasn’t it? Let’s see.
The auction went well. We only had a couple of pieces which didn’t sell, and only four no shows. We’re already set up for the next one which will launch shortly. I am also starting to figure out the legalities of taking consignments. Because, hey, why not. I’ve even started working on a web-site and such for the business I launched to officially run these things. And I’ve got a schedule all the way out to September already. (And yes, a few of the items will be purchased for resale along the way. But for right now? Almost all of it is coming out of our personal collections and downsizing.)
Had a lovely score of a first edition today. It will turn me a nice profit as soon as I get it listed. Also found some lovely glassware at a local auction house and picked that up for listing on ebay as well. I’ve been trying to do the calculations to figure out how much I need to bring in to run on the day to day. My savings will only last so long and I’ve been on leave w/o pay for two months now. It’s not sustainable.
I’m also starting to explore the idea of writing fellowships and grants. I’ll need to start applying for some of those. If I can cobble together a creative career, I’d prefer that to going back into retail work. (Though, believe you me, the kind of retail where you only see customers when they come to pick up their stuff is far superior to having to work a store-front.)
Does anyone know of an antiques mall in the DMV that has booths available? (Caveat — please not Maryland. I don’t want to have to do the Maryland tax reporting. *shudders*) I’ve not found anything yet, but I’ve only started looking. It would be nice to be able to snap up some of the deals I’ve been finding, but storage is an issue. As is only getting a payout about once a month. And I don’t think doing more than one auction a month is sustainable for me.
I’ve been starting to poke a few other creative projects as well as looking for some freelance opportunities. One of the things I’m starting to do is reviews of casual phone games. It’s… sort of fun? I get an excuse to play games and I get to write something.
As for MilWordy, I am sooooooooooo far behind right now. And I flaked out on all of the write-ins that were available to me this week. I think either the time shift or the weather has been playing havoc with my brain. (Aside — I kept typing “Havok” and wondering why the spellcheck told me that was wrong. For those of you who don’t know Havok is Cyclops’ brother in the X-Men series. That is all. Ask me about the word “method” and the Highlander franchise someday to watch my face wrinkle into a grimace.) However, I did start a new short story last night because of a creature I couldn’t get out of my head during the night. I’ve figured out what it looks like and its habitat. I have a protagonist. Now I just need the rest of the plot. I still love my opening lines.
So Ko-fi is a thing that exists. And I have one. It’s sort of like Patreon, but the money goes directly into the PayPal account of the creator. Right now, I’ve got a goal to fund an audio editor to help turn my books into audio books. I’m going to be doing the reading. Unless it turns out horrible. In which case, I shall abandon ship on the idea until I have a little more dosh free.
- Goal: Finish 2 books & 12 short stories — 3 short story complete. 1 in edits. So many in draft form that I refuse to count them.
- Goal: Keep a journal, even if it’s only one line per day — *nervous laughter*
- Goal: Take a photo every day and make myself a book at the end of the year. — a few days behind, but I’m catching up. This has been going very well in general. I think the end of year book will be really interesting.
- Goal: Complete MilWordy. — *gulps*
- Goal: Blog every day. — Now this was a failure. But I’m back at it today. If nothing else it makes me put something down and eases me closer to my MilWordy goals.
- Goal: 15 eBay listings a day while I’m not working elsewhere — I am taking weekends off (future blog discussion on this concept, I think). And I’ve moved to a dollar amount goal instead. There’s a lot of math that goes into everything, but for right now, my goal is $200/day 5 days/week.
BitterSuites 