Saturday, January 4, 2014

Now it feels like the New Year.

So my wonderful husband spent hours with me this morning taking down the tree and all the decorations and packing everything back up and storing it in the garage and then CLEANING. He's so great.

Now the house, at least the downstairs feels mostly clean and ready for the new year. The kids go back to school on Monday, which they aren't too stoked about, but I'm ready. It's not that I haven't enjoyed being with them or I'm anxious to get them out of the house. It's that I have drafted such a great plan for the year, specifically first quarter and this month in particular, that I can't wait to get started. I've got so much mental energy, and so many lists!

Monday morning my new work schedule starts and I'm really looking forward to it.

This blog will be shortly packing up and moving to a new location, it's time for an actual web site and not just a blog. So stay tuned for those upcoming changes.

Finally, I'm weighing my options on my book. I've sent in a proposal to yet another publisher and we'll see where that goes. I'm going to just keep plugging away on getting it completely written so I have a full fledged manuscript to work with. I've got to figure out how to manage writing a book, processing the tons of wool I have in the garage, spinning, blogging, etc. in the 6 hours I have each weekday while the kids are at school. It's going to take a lot of focus. But I'm SO looking forward to it.


Friday, January 3, 2014

Decisions Decisions

I am at a cross roads. I heard back from the publisher I submitted my book proposal to. They liked it, a lot. And they've offered me a contract. However, it's an author subsidized one. Which means I need to come up with close to $3,000 to have this thing done. The plus side, they have worldwide marketing reach in both e-book and print (amazon plus brick and mortar stores), they will do the cover art, the editing, the layouts for each e-reader set up, all the marketing (I'll get a personal publicist), and manage the sales and I get a great royalty rate.

The downside is coming up with all that cash 30 days from the day I sign the contract, if I decide to sign. I'm investigating other options, like self-publishing but honestly the reach isn't as far and I'd be doing 100% of the work, all the editing as well as finding and paying someone for cover art, and editing. This is not a novel, it's a going to require more of what an academic level book requires and I'm not sure I can do that all on my own for free.

So I'm also considering a crowd sourcing campaign. Maybe I can get enough people interested in what I'm writing to contribute to the contract subsidy.

I also have some other publishers I'm thinking of submitting a proposal to but I need to check all the fine print for everyone because often times there is a non-compete clause.

It feels like a busy and crazy January so far!

Thursday, January 2, 2014

Planning Day

Today I'm letting the kids do literally whatever they want all day, without my nagging and suggestions etc. This is not purely altruistic however. I have loads of planning I'm doing for my business and personal life for 2014 so I need/want the uninterrupted time and the kids are loving the freedom. I made them lunch and they can eat it whenever they want (it won't get stale or yucky) so no need to nag them about that.

They wanted clarification, "So we can play video games all day long???"

"If that's what you really want."

"Well, I don't think I'll play ALL day. I mean I should get outside too."

"Whatever you want."

"Wow."

Right now they are playing Minecraft together.

I'm shortly to head to the back patio with a cup of tea and start working on my 2014 Biz Planner from Leonie Dawson.  I've almost completed the personal edition and I'm really feeling good about the year so far.

Part of the personal edition is to do a 12 month tarot pull just to see what the cards may hold for the year. I first did this pull using my Herbal Tarot deck but the results were very un-nerving. Very negative.

So I did a new pull with my Good Witch Bad Witch deck and I'm much happier with the results. They do somewhat align with the first pull but they have a much more positive tone.

I have so much desire to get into my large stash of unprocessed wool and get washing. But I really want to get these two workbooks completed before I start. So I'm giving myself till Monday when the kids go back to school to finish my planning for the year and getting organized. For the first time since I became a mother, 8 years ago, I have mapped out a year ahead and that feels really, really good.