Thursday, December 14, 2006

What I am up to.

First, a reminder! Tomorrow (Friday) is the last day to place an order if you want it shipped in time for the holidays! And also, any orders placed tomorrow that total $25 or more will receive an upgrade to Priority shipping at no additional cost to you! Oh yes, and I won't be writing a Fashionable Friday column tomorrow, as many other e-stores will be closing up for the holidays this weekend, so you wouldn't be able to shop much anyway.

I'm looking forward to my little holiday break. Oh sure, I'll make some things to list on the website, but I'm also going to make presents for family and presents for me. I have this lampworked bead that's shaped like a belly dancer dressed all in shades of amber with hints of green. I'm hoping to finally make a necklace for her over the holidays, or at least get started on it. I'm also going to finish my beaded belt, by golly!

As far as business-related beading goes, well, my spiral bracelet stock is getting a little low, so I need to make a couple more of those, and a few pairs of earrings to replace what has sold recently. On Tuesday I pulled out an old choker base which I had woven a while ago, and I'm working on adding the proper accents. It should look pretty smashing. And ideally, I'll make more anklets and strung bracelets, since I only have one item each in those sections right now.

The colder weather had deterred me from dancing for a while, so I'm trying to get back into that, too. Let me tell you, it is hard to feel sensuous and exotic when you're dancing in a sweater! :P I just danced a bit tonight, I'm finally getting better at this one challenging song. Now, bear in mind that I am a dancer, not a musician, so I have no grasp of musical terms. Basically this song has a lot of similar, repeating motifs, and sometimes those motifs have a flare or accent at the end, and sometimes they don't. Dancing looks awesome when your moves echo the accents of the song. It looks lame when you misguess where the accent is and do a sudden bold arm movement when there's no equally bold music. But ha ha! The song will thwart me no longer, I almost have its timing down :)

But the major thing I've been doing is editting the heck out of my book. How did that heck get in there? Well, you see, I was writing at 4am and not paying much attention... No, seriously. What I'm really doing is tightening up some phrasing, removing inconsistencies, adding a subplot with a character who got neglected, tying up more loose ends, and adding some extra character development. There are three people who are greatly deserving of shout-outs for reading the messy first draft and helping me with edits, and they are my awesome Dad Rick, my incredible husband Chris, and my dear friend Helen. Without them I never would have gotten this far!

I've told myself that after I finish editting the first book, I can start writing the third book. Of course, I also need to edit the second book, but my muse would really like to work on some new material for a bit. In the meantime, I have lots of ideas that I need to jot down for books 3-5, because I've been thinking ahead a lot.

Today's Cool Thing is the jewelry of Alex Sepkus. Usually I see gold and gem stones and I go "meh" but his work makes me go "WOW!" If I'm ever rich, I will own something of his. I especially like his earrings, and since they're gold, I could probably even wear them for a short time.

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