Category Archives: Life in Random

eBay Sales: Vintage Waltons figures, Baby Dino figure, 3 books

#MilWordy Update: 119,583 words (5,435 words/day to complete)

To follow up on my half-finished thought about weekends. I have, historically, not really taken weekends. In essence, my weekends have always been filled with something else. Working at a side job, fixing things, writing, building businesses. All of that. My weekends have always been *productive* time for me.

We’re often told “Time is Money.” And “Pursue Your Passions”. And this has left me with a very odd dilemma and a sub-conscious belief that if I am just doing something because I enjoy it, not because it has some sort of financial gain, I am wasting my time and losing money.

Think about that for a moment. This niggling little invisible script – to steal a phrase – has been playing in the back of my mind. It tells me that I can pursue my painting and collage work, as long as I put it out for sale. I can work on my writing, as long as it’s something I can publish. I can work on my photography as long as I put it up on Redbubble or Etsy or a stock photo site. I can go thrifting as long as I resell it.

That is pernicious and turns every activity into a job. Rather than finding the fun in the job and making it bearable, I have instead, taken the fun and made it a job.

I have come to the conclusion that I have to trick my hind-brain back into having fun. And relaxing. There are things I strictly do not do anymore.

I do not write book reviews anymore because that ruins books for me. Book challenges are fine. Making a list of the books I own or the books I’ve read is fine. Searching out rare books or first editions, is fine. Those are mine. (And I can afford to spend a little extra dosh on fixing up my latest find of 3 1897 books because it’s not about selling them, it’s about having a pretty book for my shelf with some pages that I have been searching for for a very long time.) Hmmm… they are out of copyright… no! Bad business brain. Back into your corner.

I don’t knit for other people unless it’s a gift. I’m a slow knitter anyway, but the scarves I make either go to charity, as gifts, or for my own use. I will never craft with needles and yarn for money. (My wrists thank me.)

I do not work on Sundays. Sundays are for goofing off. Spend time walking outside. Take a bubble bath. Read a book. Craft something I want to work on – like a diamond painting. Watch a movie. Or stream something. Even if I do go back to running additional businesses at the same time as my day job, I cannot go back to working on every Sunday. And if I am going to work a Sunday, I cannot work on a Saturday. And we all know that this is probably doomed to failure, but I’m trying it anyway.

This is a slow reclamation of my energy and time. There are things that happen on weekends that are business related. But in general, they are things I enjoy doing.

I have seen a huge upswing in my productivity and my mood since I’ve started doing this. It has helped me refocus and become better at what I do choose to do. And hey, I’ve actually started reading books again. Though, I didn’t finish many this month, I did read and that’s a step forward.

Americans are predisposed to not taking their vacation time, even when they have it. I have never believed in that. I have always used every scrap of my leave time and will continue to do so. But I forgot that weekends were also supposed to be leave time.

People died for me to have weekends. Striking workers were shot so that I could have a weekend.

Then, I worked retail as my fist jobs. What are weekends? Weekends are days that you can get called into work and you have the highests chance of actually making commission or hitting your sales goals. And “part-time” retail can be anything but when you’re working at three different retail jobs. (College was not fun.)

That screwed up my brain. It’s been a long few months trying to pry back away from that. And I am trying to set reasonable goals for myself.

I will need a lot of concentration to keep from backsliding on this.

• Goal: Finish 2 books & 12 short stories — 3 short story complete. 1 in edits. So, I broke and counted just the stories I have open — that’s 53 including novels and short stories. Maybe I can actually get one of them finished tonight.
• Goal: Keep a journal, even if it’s only one line per day — Nope. Let’s see if I can fix that tonight too.
• 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. — Back at it.
• Goal: 15 eBay listings a day while I’m not working elsewhere — I have been doing pretty well at managing the $200 per day in listings, but some of that is really reliant on some of the more obscure and more expensive items that I need to get listed. I don’t have too many of those, but it’s possible to get to the price without much more than listing books. Today I was listing trading cards. The other day I managed it with nothing more than books, so it is doable. And if I start to see the actual sell off of items, that will mean I’ve done something right.

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.

eBay Sales: none

#MilWordy Update: 115,006 words (4,733 words/day to complete)

Dragged my father on a roam around the manmade lake in the center of our housing complex. It was a nice enough walk, but the path is seriously damaged by roots and frost heaving. It needs repair pretty badly, but I doubt that’s going to happen this year. I haven’t heard anything about it from the HOA. (As if the HOA sends out actual newsletters or something. I don’t remember the last time I even saw a sign for a meeting. I mean, Zoom is a thing that they could use….)

Met a sweetheart of a puppy today. Tiny thing that was smaller than the last cat we had, but a sweetie that was very friendly and its humans who were nice. I vaguely recognize them, but not enough to actually strike up a conversation beyond, “cute puppy.”

I took several pictures around the lake and I think that brings me closer to my goal of a picture for every day of the year. It’s the principle of taking more pictures, rather than the number of pictures that I’m pushing myself about. Some of them are “art shots.” At least one of them I think will end up being the cover of a book. Not sure which book, but it seems appropriate to use my own photos for that. Even if I throw them through a few filters and modify them that way.

The auction that I’ve been working on is finally over. Now we need to organize everything by person and by time that they’re coming. Only a handful of items didn’t sell and I’ve got plans for them. A couple will go in the box lot for next time and a couple will end up on eBay because I think I can grab a few dollars that way.

In a random eBay whine — since they’ve gone to managed payments, the fees seem to be steeper. One simply cannot make money on $0.99 items at all anymore. There’s a $0.30 fee per transaction + a percentage of the sale that includes *shipping*. And so, when I charge accurate shipping and don’t pocket a few dollars there, I lose money. Seriously, eBay, way to live up to the Fee-Bay title you used to have. I haven’t hung out on the Trust and Security group for awhile, but I might have to wander my way back into the bulletin boards.

I think that’s about it. I’m a little over-caffeinated and eager to see invoices pop up as paid on the auction site so that I can get things ready for Sunday’s pick-ups.

• Goal: Finish 2 books & 12 short stories — 3 short story complete. 1 in edits.
• Goal: Keep a journal, even if it’s only one line per day — I need to catch up with this
• 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.
• Goal: Complete MilWordy. — Progress, but the goal seems just out of reach for every day.
• Goal: Blog every day. — Third in a row, can we make it 4?
• Goal: 15 eBay listings a day while I’m not working elsewhere — got 12 done today by 1500. That’s pretty darn close. I’m pleased with it.

eBay Sales: plush bear, Disney collectable

#MilWordy Update: 114,639 words (4,709 words/day to complete)

Picked up an instant collection of troll dolls today. I don’t think I ever actually had any back in the day. I’m not sure exactly when they got popular, but it was somewhere between the 1980 and 2000…. which doesn’t really narrow it down.

I am almost done with another short story. So, that’s a step in the right direction.

I’m participating in a reading challenge, so you might notice a theme of books each month. You can find the challenge here on StoryGraph. You can join the challenge or just get some ideas from the books people have been tagging to the different words. It’s a lot of fun and really helped me focus in on the books to read for the month. March’s theme is “Time.” So there needs to be a reference to time somewhere in the title: “Time,” “Minute,” “Second,” “Year,” etc. That’s it. Simple as pi. (That’s a Doctor Who reference, for your edification. Old school DW too.)

I’m diving hard into books recently in a vain attempt to tame my To Be Read (TBR) shelves. My TBR is somewhere along the lines of “good luck sucker” and “heat death of the universe” in length. I’ve tried my best to call a moratorium on buying any new books. And I haven’t gorged myself at the library. (because it’s closed for browsing, not out of some form of guilt or self-punishment.)

• Goal: Finish 2 books & 12 short stories — 2 short story complete. 1 in final edits.
• Goal: Keep a journal, even if it’s only one line per day — I need to catch up with this
• Goal: Take a photo every day and make myself a book at the end of the year. — a few days behind again.
• Goal: Complete MilWordy. — Progress, but the goal seems just out of reach for every day. But, I know that I can devote a weekend to writing soon. That should be a way to do it.
• Goal: Blog every day. — Second in a row
• Goal: 15 eBay listings a day while I’m not working elsewhere — got 8 done today by 1500. That’s half-way. I might get a few more in once my phone recharges.

eBay Sales: 4 books, 1 frame, 1 comic, 1 doll, 2 photo album covers, 1 pottery piece

#MilWordy Update: 113,777 words (4,689 words/day to complete)

Got more than 10 listings done today for eBay. I consider that a win.

On Monday, I gathered with friends to celebrate the completion of a joint reading of a book. Believe me when I tell you that this book barely deserves the name. And I have read slush. I have read literary slush. short story slush. novel slush. And none of those unpublished works, no matter how bad or disjointed, were as bad as this piece of publishing that someone has the temerity to charge money for. I have read more entertaining letters from people with schizophrenia in the midst of an episode which causes word salad. (This is an industry term for completely disjointed thought-streams which are poured forth onto paper. It’s a diagnostic tool actually.)

But this book. This book makes me wish I could drink until I forget its existence. It has occasionally made me attempt to summon Cthulhu from his slumber in the water depths, because the madness created by the lingering gaze of the old ones is actually an improvement on the madness which this book induced.

This book induced our intrepid team of readers to keep track of such things as “gross,” “F**K YOU!!! to the infinity to the infinity power!,” “That’s not how this works. That’s not how ANY of this works,” and “unutterable stupidity and the inability to plot.”

There are fan-fics which are famous for being so bad they’re enjoyable. Unfortunately, this book was not enjoyable to that level. It was not “Plan 9 From Outer Space” levels of camp to be made fun of.

It was an endurance race.

And I will not grant the author the courtesy or ignominy of being named. If it were possible, I would blot the existence of all of its copies out of the world.

I put the file in a separate folder on my computer so that it would not infect anything else with its stupidity.

It has so firmly lowered the bar of readable that I wish I could grant it negative stars.

But, I must dwell happily in the knowledge that it’s over. And I pray that I will never see anything as insipid, disgusting, or infuriating again.

My blood pressure couldn’t handle it.

• Goal: Finish 2 books & 12 short stories — 2 short story complete.
• Goal: Keep a journal, even if it’s only one line per day — I need to catch up with this
• Goal: Take a photo every day and make myself a book at the end of the year. — a few days behind again.
• Goal: Complete MilWordy. — Progress, but the goal seems just out of reach for every day. But, I know that I can devote a weekend to writing soon. That should be a way to do it.
• Goal: Blog every day. — Ha ha. that is, to laugh.
• Goal: 15 eBay listings a day while I’m not working elsewhere — got 11 done today! That’s close at least.

eBay Sales: GS Badge, MCM prints, 2 plush, rolling pin, 6 books, 1 figurine, blood pressure cuff, Madame A box, reel to reel tape, McCoy planter, board game, tea infuser (It’s been awhile hasn’t it?)

#MilWordy Update: 113,385words (4,570 words/day to complete)

I have been intensely working on a downsizing project for the last week. Organizing, photographing, and drafting up 175 lots of items for auctioning off and pick-up in a week. It’s been an adventure. My legs ache from getting the proper pictures. My back aches from moving items. But it’s done and ready to launch as soon as the managing group lets it go live. It’s going to make a significant difference, but dear GODS, I should not have given myself this short of a timeline. Next one will take more than a month to line up. I swear. I think it’s going to be the end of March, but maybe it will be April, just to give myself some downtime. On the other hand, it makes a quick difference in the house.

Sadly, there’s probably enough stuff for two or three more auctions too. And that’s with lots as well as individual pieces. Too many years of not moving, not sorting.

Obviously, I have not gotten my eBay listings goal met. No way was I going to spend another hour listing eBay stuff on the day that I spent 8 hours or so doing auction listings.

My writing has also been… non-existent. However, I finally figured out the soundtrack to one of my sequels and I should be able to get to the end of that one. It needed some sea shanties. *grins*

Well, that’s been my life for the last 11 days in a nutshell. What have you been up to?

• Goal: Finish 2 books & 12 short stories — 2 short story complete.
• Goal: Keep a journal, even if it’s only one line per day — I need to catch up with this
• Goal: Take a photo every day and make myself a book at the end of the year. — a few days behind again.
• Goal: Complete MilWordy. — Progress, but the goal seems just out of reach for every day. But, I know that I can devote a weekend to writing soon. That should be a way to do it.
• Goal: Blog every day. — Ha ha. that is, to laugh.
• Goal: 15 eBay listings a day while I’m not working elsewhere.

eBay Sales: 3 books, McDonald’s toys, figurine, 1 play,

#MilWordy Update: 112,914 words (4,327 words/day to complete)

I haven’t really met the 15 items every day goal with eBay. On the other hand, at least I have been listing on a regular basis.

I’m considering making a habit of not doing anything “productive” on Sundays. Just reading or doing a craft or streaming a movie or something instead. I have a hard time shutting myself down most of the time. And not working makes me twitch, which is a bad sign. I think I’m losing my ability to focus and that’s a stress signal that I need to pay attention to.

On the other hand, I have gotten to the point of posting on Medium for the first time. The interface is pretty good. Mostly plug and play. I still haven’t figured out how to properly add in photos yet. I’m also parsing through the rules on fair use about grabbing a screen cap to add to my game reviews. I think it’s necessary, but I’m not sure if I should grab the start screen or if I should snap a gameplay section. Do you have any thoughts on that?

I am trying to get ready for an auction, but the auction house has not emailed me back yet. If I don’t get a response from them, I think I’ll be doing a bunch of selling on Facebook marketplace or ebay local pick-up only. The stuff needs to go and I’d rather get a few quid… erm… bucks for it rather than just giving it away. Every penny you can towards debt right?

The printer is still not working and I was not in the mood to fuss with it today. I need to figure out how to install it on my network, it seems and I do not want to carry my printer down to the basement when it should be able to connect to the f’ing wifi with no issues. The wifi sees it. My computer sees it. I don’t understand why it’s not connecting. Grrrrr…..

• Goal: Finish 2 books & 12 short stories — 2 short story complete. 1 ready to send to beta.
• Goal: Keep a journal, even if it’s only one line per day — I need to catch up with this
• Goal: Take a photo every day and make myself a book at the end of the year. — a few days behind again. But not leaving the house makes it a challenge. (I do think a few I’ve taken are worthy of selling as prints though b/c they came out really well.)
• Goal: Complete MilWordy. — Progress, but the goal seems just out of reach for every day. But, I know that I can devote a weekend to writing soon. That should be a way to do it.
• Goal: Blog every day. — Ha ha. that is, to laugh.

eBay Sales: 2 prints, 1 fandom piece

#MilWordy Update: 110,852 words (4,234 words/day to complete)

I’ve set myself a daily goal of 15 eBay listings a day. If I want to ramp up sales, I have to list more. Which, usually, means you sell more not only because of the things you’ve listed, but because consistent listing seems to bump up all of your listings in the algorithm. That’s eBayer lore at least, and while we know that the plural of “anecdote” isn’t “evidence”, it’s still good to have a firm practice.

I’ve got a business meeting scheduled with one of my business partners for Friday. And while I would love to do it in person, it’s COVID years and that’s not happening.

Managed to get myself an appointment at the DMV for my Real ID. In April. At least that gives me time to gather up all of the paperwork I need for that. You know, birth certificate, SSN card, blood of a virgin, hair of a unicorn. All that. I still have plans to check every day for cancellations and try to get there sooner.

I have been fighting with a new printer install today. I decided to walk away after about an hour. And I’ll need to figure it out before I try to install my mother’s printer. It keeps trying to tell me that it can’t connect with the wifi, but the computer can find it as though it’s connected to the wifi, so the hell?

• Goal: Finish 2 books & 12 short stories — 2 short story complete.
• Goal: Keep a journal, even if it’s only one line per day — Hasn’t happened every day, but better than usual and I’ve actually added time for it into my planner. (Hoping the planner gets me back on track for everything this year.)
• Goal: Take a photo every day and make myself a book at the end of the year. — Almost caught up with this
• Goal: Complete MilWordy. — Progress, but I’ve not hit goal for the day
• Goal: Blog every day. — Cautiously optimistic here.

eBay Sales: 1 tin

#MilWordy Update: 110,447 words (4,216 words/day to complete)

Received 1 story back from beta and have turned it in. So, that’s 2 stories down and 10 to go!

Listed a bit on eBay today. But I am also getting ready to do a local estate auction. That’s going to take some serious prep time. But it will let me get rid of larger items that I don’t want to ship. And it will let me get rid of some glassware that just makes me cringe when I think of trying to wrap it up and ship it. It’s enough trouble keeping it safe in the house!

I’m considering starting a review series that will be posted over on Medium. It will be for casual games — the sort you play on your phone. If nothing else, I want to do something with a consistent format for awhile. It will round out my portfolio. And it will let me get the hang of using Medium before I try to get into the curated section of the site. I’ll let you all know that goes.

Watched a fascinating video over on Wired’s channel about accents in the US. It was especially interesting because it took into consideration Lantinx, African American, and Native American accents as well as white accents. And it discussed a little bit about socio-economic differences in accent as well. I can see a rabbit-hole in my future, but I am resisting the YouTube spiral for now.

Applied for a few freelance editing gigs to supplement my income. We’ll see if anything comes of it. Throw enough spaghetti against the wall and someone is bound to give me a second look. Of course, building a portfolio will help.

I’ve actually created a good schedule for my day tomorrow. We’ll see if I buck against it if I’m the one setting it. I know I get grumpy when other people tell me what to do, even if I don’t show it. 🙂

Well, I’ll talk to you tomorrow.

• Goal: Finish 2 books & 12 short stories — 2 short story complete.
• Goal: Keep a journal, even if it’s only one line per day — Done pretty well on this actually.
• Goal: Take a photo every day and make myself a book at the end of the year. — Caught up with several pictures today.
• Goal: Complete MilWordy. — Progress, but I’ve not hit goal for the day
• Goal: Blog every day. — haha. Nope! I think I’m getting better?

eBay Sales: 2 boxed sets of books, 3 doll outfits

#MilWordy Update: 110,225 words (4,158 words/day to complete)

Sent 2 stories out for reading. One as a final look over, one as a first beta. And I finished up the final edits to another story. That’s still only 1 completed. But that’s better than zero.

It was a relatively busy eBay day.

But I had an appointment cancelled for tomorrow, given that 2-5 inches of snow is presumably a blizzard in this state, which means I’ll have the day to finish listing some more items and packing up the last of the ones to go. And I will be able to finish the edits on another story. It’s currently a reasonable story, but it needs more details to make it really feel right. It works fine as a comment!fic type of thing, but not a proper story. I should be able to finish it sharpish tomorrow.

• Goal: Finish 2 books & 12 short stories — 1 short story complete.
• Goal: Keep a journal, even if it’s only one line per day — Done pretty well on this actually.
• Goal: Take a photo every day and make myself a book at the end of the year. — I’m a few days behind on this
• Goal: Complete MilWordy. — Progress, but I’ve not hit goal for the day
• Goal: Blog every day. — haha. Nope! I think I’m getting better?