BitterSuites

eBay Sales: alarm clock, action figure, earrings, computer disk

Craft Projects Completed: 0

#MilWordy Update: 87,169 words (3074 word/day to complete)

#Nano Update: 9042/50,000 (1781 words/day to complete on time)

I was taking my very relaxing Sunday bath, when I looked at the clock and thought, “Oh! It’s almost 745. I need to get out so that my father can go to bed.”

Thing is, it turns out that the clock in the bathroom with the good tub and not just a shower, has not been set back for Daylight Savings. So, bugger. I got out an hour earlier than I needed to. I feel cheated.

On the other hand, I’ve been able to decide that I don’t like the brand of bath bombs I’ve got right now and I need to go back to the other ones. This brand has too many essential oils in it and it leaves me feeling as though I have a slight film on my skin. Ah, well. I will work through the stash of them I have and then move on to the previous brand.

My rent is going up, in order to try to stymie my father’s insistence that we need to refinance the house again. Seriously, he’ll be dead. I’ll have no choice but to sell it, and the likelihood that that will end up with me being upside right on the property is low. So, seriously, he needs to let me take on something more of the bills. Okay, that’s just a general whine at this point, so we’ll see how things go when Mom and I put our minds to the task of actually getting a functional budget going. Enveloping is the way to go at this point, I think.

I’m trying to find all the little things I’ve already picked up for people’s Christmas presents and get them packed and ready to ship. “Grandmother Express” is not going to be a functional model this year. I’ll have to ship directly to the different families. Luckily, my cousins and I have never actually exchanged gifts, and the aunts & uncles have quietly agreed that 18 is the cut off date for giving gifts to the kids. And yes, I’m sorry for talking about Christmas before we’ve even hit Thanksgiving, but it’s important to get these things sorted before the shipping madness of the holiday hits the USPS.

Well, while I have an extra hour I wasn’t planning on this evening, I’d best go work on Nano.

TTFN – Ta Ta For Now!

eBay Update: lot of mugs

Craft Projects completed: 0 Progress made on a mixed-media piece

#MilWordy Update: 83,699 words (3,044 words/day to complete)

#Nano update: 5800/50,000

There’s an elephant in the room and I don’t plan to address it.

So, let’s talk Nano and eBay and submerging myself in the practice and the love of writing. I’m getting to know a new character and it’s so much fun because she is so very different from me. And I am getting to know, if not the antagonist, the instigators of some things. I’m seeing where the character and the magic system are going to intersect in this book.

The magic in this universe is small and not public. It interacts differently with different people and they don’t compare notes, so no one is noticing that it exists anymore than someone today would believe you if you started talking about a book who unwrites itself or using a cantrip to fix a torn suitcoat.

People don’t talk about magic or miracles because they don’t want a handful of pills and a nice self-hugging jacket. Or if they do, it’s only with a small handful of people that they trust and they know will not commit them. So magic gets missed or ignored or assigned to coincidence.

It opens up the questions: What sort of wonders are you ignoring? What miracle happened that you didn’t notice?

eBay Sales: piece of Fandom stuff

Craft Projects Completed: None and No progress on any of the open projects

#MilWordy Update: 77,243 (3,016 words/day to complete)

The entire day was slow and attenuated.

I tried Death Wish Cold Coffee. My heart can’t take that level of caffeine. It was good, mind, but I think I need to save it for, say, The Night of Writing Dangerously or something. Any time I really, really need to be awake at three a.m. or something.

Lit incense for the first time in a long while and I’m trying to remember why I haven’t done it more often. The fan is moving the smoke around the room as though it’s wrapping the room in scent. It’s lovely and soft like a hug.

I’ve gotten myself some new writing software. It’s for timelines and world-building and keeping track of characters. I’m planning to use it more for universes rather than stories. I’ve got several series in the works and I need something to hold onto all the details of the worlds.

One of the teams at work dressed up as MIBs. It was amusing. It was costume day at work. I was planning to wear the Evil Queen dress I’d picked up for Halloween, but the sleeves were just so painfully itchy that I couldn’t even handle wearing it long enough to get out of the house. I ended up in one of my Halloween dresses instead. It was nice to see the site getting into the actual spirit of spirit week. However, I did not participate in the photographs. There are just some things that I avoid when I can. Group photos is one of them. No one in my immediate family circle really enjoys those. However, I have been forcing selfies on my parents when we’re on vacation. Family fun will be enforced, damn it!

Well, I’m going to sign off with the exhortation to VOTE. VOTE. VOTE. Time to make your voice heard. You want change? You want things to stay the same? Now is when you decide. Here. At the polls. VOTE.

eBay sales: 4 decorative plates

Craft Projects completed: 0

#MilWordy Update: 77,090 words (3006 words/day to complete on time)

Another sort of bland day.

I miss Shabu Shabu. The restaurant near me is still closed for obvious reasons. And obviously, there’s no way of doing delivery of that experience. Ah well. That’s life, I suppose. We adapt. And maybe, maybe, I get the nerve to try making it on my own at home.

I am contemplating running a partial “estate” auction in the next month or so. I just need to collect everything. Catalog and get it ready for the site and get the lots set up. And decide if I want to actually try that in November. What with Nano and all. *wrinkles nose* I don’t know if that’s actually wise or not.

Ah well, there’s time to make that decision.

Talk to you all tomorrow. Night!

eBay sales: doll, figurine, and deck of cards

Craft Projects Completed: 0. No progress at all.

#MilWordy Update: 74,944 words (3,013 words/day to complete)

It’s been a day of just meetings. Lots and lots of meetings and hauling my butt all around the compound today. It’s been long and pretty boring, to be honest.

Though I did have a wonderful lunch of homemade chicken curry.

That’s about it. Night y’all.

eBay Sales: Large ornament, book, mini-fig, and a plate

Craft Projects Completed: 0, but I got a good four rows on my scarf. I’m starting to see the end. And moved my loom so I can work on the shawl that was supposed to be a Christmas present years ago.

#MilWordy Update: 74,323 words (2996 words/day to complete)

It’s been a day of very little being done. I’ve not written anything beyond an email and I’ve not finished much in terms of my to do list. There were a few things I managed to knock off: I used the 2 domes which have been sitting in the parlor waiting for me to put something into; hung two pictures for Mom; helped change the sheets in Mom’s room; carried down a tub of stuff for eBay down to the eBay staging area; and helped Dad change the lights in the front lamp.

Huh, that was more than I expected once it’s all been written out.

I’m looking to integrate Ko-Fi onto the site. It’s a tip jar basically. In case you like one of the short stories I post and want to kick in a couple of cents. I am working towards making writing my career, but that’s a little ways down the road. I need to kill off a couple of credit card bills first. And secure a nice place to live out my golden years, as the phrase goes. Maybe a nice apartment in New Orleans? Or a small house further south in Virginia. It will depend on where my social network ends up, I think. I don’t have any siblings, so it becomes much more important to have a good circle of friends.

Well, that’s depressing. Let’s look at something else.

GO VOTE!

Well, that’s that topic taken care of. I could go on about things, but that will raise my blood pressure, and probably yours, so I’m not going to. I AM going to say that if you don’t vote, you are disappointing the men and women who have died to first, give us the right to vote on our government, and second those who fight to protect that right. Our men and women in uniform fight for our way of life. That way of life includes democracy.

Democracy means you need to vote. Make your voice heard.

Vote early if you can. Vote on the day if you need to. If you need an emergency absentee ballot due to health reasons — that might be an option. In Virginia, there is a curbside option. This was a blessing when my folks and I went to vote. It’s a great option for people with mobility issues.

I guess I did have more to say on the topic. I will sum it up here for my generation and younger: VOTE and post your “voted selfie” on Facebook or Instagram. It’s just the done thing now, and I love it! Those selfies are how I learned about early voting being an option in my state.

Well, I’ll step down off my little soapbox now.

Love, Luck, and Crunchy leaves on your way to the voting box, darlings!