An Etsy Tale and NaNoWriMo Urgings

A very busy last week full of chores, errands, holiday preparation, Halloween and eleventh wedding anniversary celebrations so here is a late blog post. I have not forgotten, just had to prioritize life. Because of this, I wrote myself a note of two topics to share and talk about at you, whoever you are, my readers, as soon as I had the chance to sit down and write it out at length.

First up, my friend, Ashley, had made some Louise Belcher (from the show Bob's Burgers) pink bunny ear hats, and was looking to sell. She came over during the week and we set her up with an Etsy store of her very own. Before you're allowed to officially open for business, you must create at least one listing for an item. So I grabbed my wicker head, we put the adult-sized hat on it, set it on my desk, and Ashley took a few quick photos with her phone, uploaded them and typed some words about it. She then followed through with the final steps, clicked the "open shop" button, held her breath (me too), and then had a brand new shop of her very own, called Chameleon Workshop. Ash headed home, having gotten the basics and could then flesh it out on her own. About an hour later I went on Etsy to add her shop to my favorites. But when I got there, she didn't have anything listed; the hat wasn't there. . . . BECAUSE SHE HAD SOLD IT WITHIN THE FIRST HOUR OF OPENING SHOP! AND THEN SHE PROCEEDED TO SELL A HANDFUL MORE OVER NIGHT! Everyone wanted them for Halloween so then she was a busy monkey making hats to order and many trips to the post office. I'm excited for her and a tiny bit jealous, but mostly excited to see her do so well so quickly. When she gets the chance she might make some cool sewn bags, she's really good at them, to add to her shop. Visit her shop here: Chameleon Workshop.

My second thing to type at the world about is that today, November 1st, is the start to National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo), a fun challenge to write a novel, or, more specifically, 50,000 words, during the month of November. I've signed up for it again this year, have participated the previous two, and won, meaning I reached the word count goal, in 2013. A coworker of my husband's was considering signing up and giving it a try. Husband blew his mind--the coworker's--when he said that I hand wrote and used a typewriter because it gets me away from the huge distraction that is the internet. I loved the energy behind NaNoWriMo and I just really like the website and keeping track of your progress and everything.

I don't intend to keep up with the pace and just want to see if I can get a little writing done on a preexisting story and world I have worked on over the years but haven't done anything with in a long time. Last year I did some writing, a short story's worth, and it was some of the best writing I've ever done. So even if I don't follow through to the goal or even the daily goals, I would like to have something, even just another short story, come out of it. If I can do that, I'll have achieved my personal goal and have gotten to participate in a magical experience. Winning NaNoWriMo was one of the greatest things in my life, that's how awesome it is, and I get excited for others when I hear they're going to give it a go and follow through with it. Sign up for NaNoWriMo if you've ever wanted to write a novel (or non-fiction work). Seriously! Do it! I'm getting all energized just thinking about it.