The Stuff Is Winning

Waaaay back in August '12, I was determined to get the basement organized and the wall finally painted. I worked my tail off, and made significant headway. I got shelves up for the action figures (which eliminated a lot of boxes). And then... I never finished the job.

Over the course of the next 16 months, Life happened. I got busy doing other things, had more inspiration, needed to devote time to more pressing projects. None of that stopped me from finding more stuff, however, it just meant that the piles got bigger.

I needed to finish a update for my book, and I did. I kept writing my ideas down in a sketchbook, and I finished some of them. I traveled. I gamed. I procrastinated... All the while, heading to the basement searching for things needed to complete whatever obsession was nagging me that minute. I've said it before, and I've meant it every single time, but this time I don't have any more excuses: It needs to get done. I'm tired of searching for things I know I have (and can't find). I'm tired of looking at the mess. I'm tired of not having that wall painted -- just one wall! I want my dance space. I want to be able to lay hands on the materials for a project I want to work on. I want to be able to go down there and relax over a movie*, without the mess distracting me.

I worked until my back hurt yesterday. I desperately want to work on it now (but the foul headache lurking behind my left eyebrow says uh-uh!) This may be a planning day, a couch day, because bending/lifting/sorting would make my head explode.

If I work on it a little bit, every day, I may be able to paint this summer. If I can get the wall painted, everything organized, and boxes and crates eliminated, I promised myself we could have a "geek tree" in the basement once it was all done. Plus once the space is free of all that clutter and stuff, I can actually decorate the space, like I've been planning.

I've got some pretty powerful motivation to get this done. Let's see if I have the strength of purpose to actually get it accomplished...


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* I sort of have ulterior motives with that -- we have a hard time getting out for "date nights." So I'm thinking, if I can get the basement all done to my satisfaction, we can have "date night" in the basement, and not worry about needing a babysitter!

Hats on Hold

Yeah, yeah, it was bound to happen. When you have the attention span of a caffeinated puppy, it was pretty much inevitable. I'm not done with hats -- they're too much fun to make! -- but they're going to be on hold for a while, as I've bounced to other things. I would like to point out that before I bounced, I made 27 hats (no, I haven't posted all of them, obviously). So while I may not meet my Hat A Month posting goal, I have certainly made a year's worth of hats in quantity.

I'll get back to them, I have too many Plans not to.

Writing

It's been ages since I did any serious writing (not counting blogging, and that's often pretty sporadic). I wrote Creating an Heirloom and got it published, and now it's overdue for an update, and I can't get moving on that. Basically, I only have a single chapter that needs rewriting, but it's a pretty important chapter.

Various professional writers will tell you to treat your writing like a job because it is one. Treat it like a hobby, casually, and that's how you can expect to make money from it. Since I was in high school (before, really), writing was something I wanted to do. Over and over, I've let it take a back seat to other things in my life. I've treated it casually. Since I've been pretty cavalier with it, it's not treated me any better. Creativity is a muscle -- it atrophies when you don't use it. And while I have been creative in other outlets, I don't treat that any more seriously.

I finished a short story, about 2500 words (too long for micro or flash fiction, too short for what most people consider to be a "short story"), and now have to decide if I want to shop it around or go the epublishing route that so many authors are using. I'd really like to sell it, but anxiety can be pretty crippling. It's what keeps me from doing most things, actually. I hate it, that evil little voice in my head.

A friend made a suggestion about taking the completed short story, and turning it into a series of related vignettes. I kinda like the idea, I think it would make a nice "package" to publish, but after the (somewhat crazy) inspiration of the first, I'm not sure the others will come as easily. (Back to that creative muscle again...) I got an idea for another story, but the inspiration for it is taking me in the direction of a considerably longer work.

There are other things, too, of course -- there are always distractions. I have an art show this weekend, the first commercial art-related thing I've done since the gallery closed in December. (Shame on me...) I've had some health issues come up this summer. Meetings and appointments for my daughter. Stress. Depression. Frustration. It's been a rough year. You'd think that losing myself in fiction writing would be just the thing! And maybe once I get back after the weekend art show, I'll be able to do that. But today will be consumed with the mundane: dishes, laundry, packing for the weekend.

It's only quarter after 7. Maybe I can sneak some writing in before The Kid gets home from school...

Chipping Away

I had the thought this morning, that if I could finish one project-in-progress a week, I could maybe, maybe, get caught up to the point where I didn't feel overwhelmed by everything. I could feel productive, work on new projects guilt-free, and have that sense of accomplishment that has been missing lately.

I want to start writing again, and because of the many many things racing around in my head -- ideas, thoughts, images, textures... -- I'm too distracted to do so. If I could chip away at the WIPs and the UFOs, it might allow me some breathing room. in my head (if you'll pardon the clumsy phrasing) to do some other creative work.

With that in mind, I decided to repair one of my daughter's threadbare blankets, that was coming apart at the edges. It's a quilted crib blanket my mother made for her, but the edges needed repaired. I bought bias tape, but wasn't happy with that, so I got some satin blanket binding and used that. This should be a simple and quick thing I can finish, before moving on to more work on the basement... HA! I had more trouble with that thing. The stitches are a mess, I had to rethread the machine several times, changed the needle, etc. etc. I'm confident that it was user error, not the machine. It seems to be working fine on material that's not got batting in it. However, I did get the binding on the blanket, even if it isn't pretty, and now she can have it back.

No more sewing for me today. Shoveling and sorting through piles of miscellaneous stuff will be like a vacation after the last hour + I spent fighting with this thing...

What I'm Working On

At any given moment, I have tons of UFOs (UnFinished Objects), but really -- doesn't every creative person? I'm not sure what it is, but I have a dreadful habit of bouncing between projects. Inspiration strikes, and I drop one thing to start another.

This summer has been kind of a rough one. I had some health issues that put me in the hospital after ER visits. My daughter didn't have summer school this year, so we've been sort of on top of each other. Stress levels (which may have contributed to the health concerns) have been pretty high, and to make things worse, my anticipated summer trip to Ontario disintegrated, in part due to those same health issues.

But what, you might ask, does that have to do with projects and UFOs? Well, earlier this month during a visit to my parents' home while Dad's sis was up, we got to talking about family history. When I got back home, I dug out a CD of scanned genealogy notes, sent to me by someone who's probably a cousin somewhere. I'd printed out maybe a quarter of them, and I finished (yay!) that, and comb-bound them. Once that was done, I started inputting that info into my genealogy program (Reunion), in a new family file, since I'm not sure where all these people connect. As I'm working on all this data entry, some familiar places keep popping up; these Loyalist cousins (at least, I think they're cousins...) were settled near where my friends live in Ontario! And there's a museum with researchers who know the line. So now my desire to get back to Canada is even stronger, since now there may be some research links there, and I might be able to tie myself to the original family that emigrated from Germany, pre-Revolution! But that's not creative, you may say, and I suppose you'd be right. "Creative" research is not the sort you should engage in. So even if it's not a creative endeavor, it IS a work-in-progress, so I mention it here.

Another semi-(un)creative project is my selective catalog of superheroines and villainesses; I've made it to the Rs. For someone who hates data entry, I sure have a bunch of it going on. Anyway, the point of that started out to be a more inclusive list of female action figures than the best one that existed online previously. The writer of that list stopped updating it (life goes on) and I thought I'd pick up the slack. But I went a step further and included the good and bad girls of note, regardless of whether they have an action figure. Why? Because I'm insane, clearly...

I still haven't finished my Flame Jacket, and all that needs doing to it is putting on the sequin appliqués. It's been sitting on Mathilda in the basement for months... *sigh* And if I'm going up to Ontario this fall, I might actually want a jacket. Better move this one to the top of the To-Do list.

I did finish one of the skirts, and am happy with how it turned out. I started working on a second, but stalled on that one. Hemming the dress is probably the easiest thing to finish, and if I hurry up and do it, I'll be able to wear it this summer. (Heaven knows it's been too bloody hot for long dresses!) I mostly finished one of the shrugs, I just need to get the right color of ribbon for the tie. (And that's another thing that's been sitting for ages, and would be so easy to finish!)

I sort of finished the t-shirt necklace, but I'm not sure if I'm satisfied with it, so it may not be finished. It's set to the side, while I consider.

I have a wall quilt planned and material purchased for the foyer. I have decided how I want to do the wall quilt with the Hawaiian fabric I bought on Maui (5 years ago...). And I want to make a wall quilt using material from my wedding dress and the bridesmaids dresses (Mom made them, so I have scrap material from those, will not be cutting up my dress).

I want to finish redoing my closets, but I need to consider the second space carefully, since I learned things on the first space. This is a more back-burner project, although fall is a good time to be working in the garage.

I've sort of taken the year off after the gallery where Shattered Photos pieces were sold closed. I'm trying to regroup, and haven't been very diligent about picking myself up from that and moving on.

I need to do a revised edition of my book, and that's sort of stalled, too. Really, all that needs revision is one (important) chapter, but I'm having trouble getting started. I'd also like to do a new/revised family cookbook, since so many children have gotten married and started their own families since I did the first one 12 years ago. Those two things go hand-in-hand, or would, if I could jump-start the process.

Plus there's various other small things, ideas, planned projects, etc. I have materials to make various things with, and haven't gotten started... Not to mention the basement, which is one huge UFO -- have the paint and the plan, need to finish reorganizing the space (still not completely unpacked from the move 2 years ago).

I'm exhausted thinking about all this. Maybe I'll go take a nap...

The Two I've Finished

So there they are, my first two mixed-media art quilts. I have plans for more, but I also want to try an art doll or two, using a print-to-fabric technique. I want to try it so much, in fact, it's sort of distracting me from other things. (Anyone else have this problem?)

Maybe I'll get to it later this week...