BitterSuites

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?