BitterSuites

eBay Sales: tea for one teapot,

#MilWordy Update: 124,119 words (5,579 words/day to complete)

On the subject of goal setting and not being perfect:

As you see at the end of this post, I have several goals for this year. A few of them are daily goals and a few of them are yearly goals. Each goal has a measurable component to it.

Goal 1: is to finish 2 books and 12 short stories. I have promised 6 short stories to the Golden Fleece Press Patreon. The monthly load is being spread between me and another author for this year. However, if I try for at least one short story every month, then I will have a surplus and will have stories which I can start submitting to outside publications or possibly offer on my own Patreon (when I get around to actually getting that up and running.) I also owe two books to my publisher. (A sequel to Sugar and Spice and a sequel to To Market.) Thus, goal one is very measurable. I either finish the projects or I don’t. And to be honest, if I don’t finish them, then I will be breaking my promises and I hate that.

Goal 2: is to keep a journal. I have never been very good at journaling. I did pretty well at the three pages of brain dump a day process for about three months once. But in general, I turn to journaling when there’s something horrible in my life that I need to process. This goal is to try to circumvent this. We’re living in some pretty historical times. There’s something to write about every day. But there’s also the mundane. I’m trying to find at least one sentence a day. That means it should be simple to achieve. Why haven’t I been doing this? Because I put something on top of my journal. Yep. That’s it. It’s really that simple to create a barrier to the completion of a goal. So, how can I fix this right now? I’m going to move the things on top of my journal to the other side of my desk. Right now. As I type. It’s just a book and a CD drive, but now I can see my spangled Captain Marvel journal. (Don’t at me people. I love sparkly things. I am part magpie.) Let’s see if this helps any.

Goal 3: is to take a photo every day. Or at least to get 365 photos in a year. I haven’t managed a photo every day, but I’m within a week of the goal. That’s a lot better than the years when I’ve only taken one photo outside of vacation or eBay listings. The end goal is to create a book with just one picture per page as a record of the year. The photos will be everything from a photo of my walking team, to a close-up of a train wheel. But those pictures will be able to trigger memories, and that’s the whole point. Even if I don’t end up with a full 365 photos? I’ll have taken more than I would have without the challenge.

Goal 4: MilWordy. I’m attempting to write one million words this year. Is that easy? Heck no. Was it easier before I missed a few weeks of writing anything? Yes. Can I still do it? Probably. If I focus up a bit. I need to write more consistently, and MilWordy is making that happen. It’s encouraged me to do more sprints and to participate in a weekly YouTube write in. (Shout out to Porscha Writes, hosted by Porscha Simmons. You should come join us on Wednesday nights! There are speed demons like me, and well-thought-out turtles. It’s not how many words you do, just that you do them. And it’s a lot easier to do that when you’re surrounded by people who challenge you to write. There’s usually at least 2 and sometimes 3 writing sprints during the session.)

Goal 5: Blog every day. Well, anyone who’s been around here for any length of time knows that this is not happening. However, I am blogging more than I ever have before. Does that make this goal a success? Yes, I think so. I think the intention is to blog more. But I am not a moderation person. I am an every day or no day sort of person. If I let myself just “blog whenever” I will fail to blog for months at a time. When I have a goal to follow up on? I blog more often. I even can count my Sunday Night Music blog posts toward this goal. So, I think it’s working. I’ve gotten a lot more consistent and I’ve even thrown up a few blog posts that are saved by other people for one reason or another.

Goal 6: eBay listings. This goal has been modified several times. At first it was listing 20 items per weekday. Then, it was $150 per day. Now, I’ve upped that to between $200 and $300 worth of items per day. The theory is that you generally see a sell through of about 5 percent of the items you have listed. And if you list on a consistent basis your items are captured by the eBay algorithm more easily. Have a seen this borne out? A bit? I am selling more often. And a few things sell over-night. It ebbs and flows. This week will be slow because it’s Spring Break and it’s the last week of Lent leading up to Easter and people are not focussed on shopping right now. Next week might be different. You can’t really count on it, but I also think that it’s probably true that more active users get more sales. It just makes more sense. If you’ve got more items available, you’re more likely to find clients. It’s the math of abundance.

Overall, I think the goals have been going well. And in another three months, I’ll look back on them. And every day, I’ll consider whether they need to be updated or modified. Goals are not static things. They’re something to use to make yourself better at something one day at a time.

What sort of goals have you been working on?

If you found this interesting, or you’d like to support my content, please consider buying me a coffee.

• Goal: Finish 2 books & 12 short stories — 3 short story complete. 1 in edits. The new story is definitely a crime story.
• Goal: Keep a journal, even if it’s only one line per day — I removed a barrier to this today. Maybe that will help.
• Goal: Take a photo every day and make myself a book at the end of the year. — Got four photos today. That’s helped me catch up with my goal.
• Goal: Complete MilWordy. — I have words today. That’s a help.
• Goal: Blog every day. — I missed a day, but I think today’s entry is strong.
• Goal: Modified eBay goal: List $200-$300 per day. It’s Sunday and I am not supposed to be working, but I still did about $50 worth of listings today.

eBay Sales: puzzle, mcDonald’s Toy

#MilWordy Update: 121,973 words (5,522 words/day to complete)

I went to an estate sale today and picked up a bunch of Nancy Drew books. There was a Dana Girls mixed into the middle of the grouping. I was happy to see it. I always enjoyed the Dana Girls, but they’re hard to find. I picked up a few odds and ends, but in general the sale was a bit too costly for my blood. I much prefer the auctions or thrift stores out in the wild more than a lot of estate sales. I hate to say that people over-value items, but in general, now that eBay and WorthPoint are easy to find, it’s a lot harder to find deals. It’s one of those things that I understand. Go for all you can get out of an item. At the same time, I am not your buyer.

I also got some hair dye. It’s only temporary. I’m debating whether or not I’m actually going to bleach out my hair or not. I’ve never actually colored my hair, but that’s mostly because I’ve been in fairly conservative office spaces. (Even granting that we had a high-level deputy with green hair at the position before the last one.) I am nervous. I should have taken the advice of the little punk that I met when I was in college who encouraged me to do it while I was in school and it wouldn’t affect anything. She was right. I should have.

Of course, looking back on the world, I also realized that I was probably completely blind to the fact that she was flirting with me. That is not an unusual problem in my life though. I’m usually completely blind to that sort of thing. Mostly because I don’t care about being in a relationship. LOL. I can see it so clearly when it involves someone else. but I am blind when it’s with me. As with a lot of insights.

I feel slightly better now that I’ve had a day to process that I’m not beholden to anyone outside of myself right now. It’s a new sensation. Into the future!

To infinity and beyond!!!!

• Goal: Finish 2 books & 12 short stories — 3 short story complete. 1 in edits. Typed up a new one tonight. I think it’s going to be a crime story.
• Goal: Keep a journal, even if it’s only one line per day — Nope. I did not fix this last night. Will today be different?
• Goal: Take a photo every day and make myself a book at the end of the year.
• Goal: Complete MilWordy. — *maybe????*
• Goal: Blog every day. — Back at it. Four days in a row. This is almost unheard of.
• Goal: Modified eBay goal: List $200-$300 per day. Not today, but I did get about half-way there.

eBay Sales: vase

#MilWordy Update: 121,676 words (5,490 words/day to complete)

I am officially looking for a new day job. We’ll have to see how this flows.

But that being said, I’ve had a chance to look at insurance costs versus COBRA costs and damn. I am hoping that the company I applied to takes me on. I would like to make sure that I have coverage as of April and if I have to take COBRA (which costs more than $100 more than I would pay on the market and I find that less than helpful.

That being said, I am truly torn between trying to build my business and my freelance career and having something steady that pays all of my bills easily.

The business and freelancing would happen regardless of the day job, so I think I will keep looking for something steady. But if I start being able the kludge together enough on a regular basis to pay the bills, then… well… if I don’t need a day job? That would be wonderful.

I see such a very clear need and I’m working through a business model for it. If I can make that work for me? If I can do that by getting some freelance help in or if my VA would be willing to help me with it? (I need to talk to her about it.)

This is going to be a little weird and my blog posts will probably be a little more disjointed than usual. (And that’s saying something.)

Anyway. Love, luck, and lollipops, my loves.

• Goal: Finish 2 books & 12 short stories — 3 short story complete. 1 in edits. Started a new one. I just can’t help myself.
• Goal: Keep a journal, even if it’s only one line per day — Nope. I did not fix this last night. Will today be different?
• Goal: Take a photo every day and make myself a book at the end of the year.
• Goal: Complete MilWordy. — *maybe????*
• Goal: Blog every day. — Back at it. Three days in a row! Woot!
• Goal: Modified eBay goal: List $200-$300 per day. Not today, but I managed it yesterday.

eBay Sales: None

#MilWordy Update: 121,259 words (5,458 words/day to complete)

One of the things I have always loved to do is write letters. Back in ye olden times before email was a glimmer in the programmers eye, people communicated across the world via the written word.

Back when I was a youngling, I had friends and family who lived in different states, or even countries. I had penpals with friends that I’d kept from when I shared a school with them. Friends who’s parents got posted to different countries. I moved a lot as a kid.

One thing I always did was write to those friends I’d decided to keep tight.

I have been too scatterbrained to properly keep up with that for a year or so. I will say that they don’t always write to me. But I do owe at least one letter to one of my friends and I am embarrassed that it’s taken so long for me to respond. I have actually added writing letters into my to do lists. And I’m going to try to schedule them regularly, so that I don’t have to really think about it. It’s just on my list to do and I’ll set aside time for it.

I have gotten to the point in my life that if I lose my external brains (AKA my planner and my phone) I will be a sad wreck. And then I will write down everything I can remember onto note pads.

Part of my new planner routine this year has been designating certain days for certain activities. While I don’t think that I could blast through all of my letter writing in one day. I could perhaps designate a day of the week and then a week of the month for each penpal. That could work.

Okay, I’m off to do that. I’ll follow up on whether or not this has worked in a few months. Well, I say that now, but I may or may not remember to do that unless I put it into my planner. LOL. So, we’ll start there. Then, I’ll update my calendar to include writing letters throughout the year. I mean, I’ve added writing out Christmas and Halloween cards already. This is just more of the same.

I feel like such a nerd sometimes.

• Goal: Finish 2 books & 12 short stories — 3 short story complete. 1 in edits. Started a new one. I just can’t help myself.
• Goal: Keep a journal, even if it’s only one line per day — Nope. I did not fix this last night. Will today be different?
• Goal: Take a photo every day and make myself a book at the end of the year.
• Goal: Complete MilWordy. — *maybe????*
• Goal: Blog every day. — Back at it. Two days in a row! Woot!
• Goal: Modified eBay goal: List $200-$300 per day

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.