Category: Convention

Mass production

#books, #design, #nerd, #publishing, Abnormal, Art, Celebrity, Convention, Crafting, Fandom, Geek, Learning, Novel, Promotion, Sci-fi, Sewing, Stress, Time, Work

As Tucson Comic-Con grows ever closer, I am scrambling to get more bookmarks made to sell at the con. I suppose I wouldn’t be scrambling as much if I hadn’t sold 5 or 6 of them last Friday and Saturday, but hey, money is money. If that’s any indication, though, I will need to step up my production game if I’m going to have enough to last me through TCC.

As it is, I’ve got, like, 12 done, with another 4 or 5 completely cut out (interfacing and all) and another I-don’t-know-how-many of just the fabric cut out. I’m running out of geeky fabric, but I’ll have other prints to work with as well. Just gotta figure out the logistics of the fastest way to get things done.

Right now, it seems that cutting-sorting-ironing-sewing-turning-ironing-sewing is the best method. I just have to bust butt on the ironing, because the iron-on interfacing takes a specific amount of time, and I have limited space on my ironing board. I can get a handful of bookmarks ironed at a time, but then I have to move them off the board, grab the next handful, lay them out, and iron again. Lather, rinse, repeat. 

I’ll get it figured out, but it’s a learning process for sure. I’ve never produced at this level before. One or two or a handful of items, but not dozens. I’ll be glad when it’s done, but I’ll be more glad to see happy to purchase them at the con.

Ten days left.

I’d better get cracking…once I get home from work, that is.

Let the madness begin (again)

#books, #design, #dystopian, #nerd, #publishing, Abnormal, Art, Art for sale, Celebrity, Convention, Crafting, Fandom, fencing, Geek, Health, Novel, Promotion, SCA, Sci-fi, Sewing, Stress, swordfighting, Time, Work, Writing

Though I kinda already knew they would, I’m ecstatic that RhetAskew Publishing has requested the full manuscript of Escaping the Light. 🙂 I sent it in this morning, and though I–and they–know it needs a lot of work, I’m excited to get started on the next step in my publishing journey.

Books for Tucson Comic-Con have been ordered and one of the two business licenses I will need has been requested (still need to find an envelope to mail in the second one). Going to be selling the books and of course the bookmarks I’m making. I even found a cool new fabric at Wal-Mart of all places to make a bunch of sugar skull bookmarks. Yeah, the con is a couple days after Halloween, but hey, sugar skull sells. That’s a fact. I’m out of town this weekend, though, so there won’t be any production of bookmarks until I get home. I’ve got roughly 17-18 made (that aren’t set aside for gifts and the like), so I’ll really have to get hopping if I’m going to have enough for the whole weekend.

One bad thing about the con being only 13 days away? I started getting a cold sore on my upper lip yesterday. FML. I guess it’s the stress starting to get to me. Almost couldn’t have come at a worse time–because it can take 10 days or more for a cold sore to go away. I bought some OTC stuff to put on it a few times a day, so I’m hoping that helps shorten the healing time. I don’t want to be selling books in front of hundreds or thousands of people with a big-ass scab on my lip. (Okay, I don’t want to be working up patients with said scab on my lip, either.)

Today will be mostly spent at an SCA event, where I’ll get to do some rapier fighting in my chain mail shirt for the first time since I got it a couple of months ago. Time and my busy schedule haven’t allowed me to use it yet. The one day when I did have it on and ready to go it started storming right as practice was about to begin, and they’re real sticklers for not waving around long metal rods while there’s lightning nearby.

Also, it’s lightning, NOT “lightening.” One means bolts of electricity from the sky, one means to make lighter in color or tone. One is a noun, one is a verb. This has been a PSA.

Marked for success?

#books, #design, #dystopian, #nerd, #publishing, Abnormal, Art, Celebrity, Convention, Crafting, Fandom, Geek, Marketing, Novel, Promotion, Reading, Sci-fi, Sewing, Stress, Thoughts, Time, Work, Writing

I thought about it, and I decided on making bookmarks for Tucson Comic-Con to sell alongside my books.

As you can see, the bookmark slides onto the corner of a page, and it’s nice and graphic–with a whole slew of them on-hand, I’ll have something cool and geeky to display next to the book to draw in congoer attention and potentially get them to check out (and hopefully buy) the book. I have made several using different printed fabrics, so I’ll have a selection. I only have roughly ten ready for sale at the moment (not counting ones I’ve set aside for gifts and special requests), but I still need to make more. 

It takes roughly ten minutes start to finish for one bookmark, but with a little mass production-style work I can cut out materials for over a dozen and then work in five-bookmark increments to iron, pin, sew, iron, and sew, which takes roughly half hour to 45 minutes. I’m getting faster, though.

Credit to Crafty Staci at www.craftystaci.com for the vendor apron pattern and the bookmark tutorial. Her tutorials are super straightforward and easy to follow. Excellent work, Staci!

I’m not sure how many I’ll be able to make prior to TCC, but I’ll try to get a good stock on-hand. Right now I’m using scrap fabric I have lying around that wasn’t being used, but if I run out I know I can count on JoAnn’s to have some cool stuff to grab like a quarter yard of or something. Maybe some cool-looking fat quarters. Those are cheap. 😉

A little bit anxious, a little bit freaking out

#books, #design, #dystopian, #nerd, #publishing, Abnormal, autoimmune, Celebrity, Convention, Crafting, Fandom, Geek, Marketing, Novel, Promotion, Sci-fi, Sewing, Stress, Time, Work, Writing

So the con is 16 days away.

Sixteen days to order books, order a PayPal chip reader, get the things I need to buy for the table, and get something together to sell besides just books.

FML.

I don’t know how this snuck up on me. I mean, I have a widget for my phone that tells me exactly how many days are left. I shouldn’t be surprised that it’s almost here.

I think I’m either going to print photos of some of the Instagram graphics I’ve made from Abnormal quotes (see below) or make up some fabric bookmarks. Handmade geeky stuff is good for cons, right? Either way, it’ll be something nice and quick that I can churn out before the con.

I think photos of images like the one above might be fun to print out, and I can sign them as well. A buck or two for those wouldn’t be too bad, right? If that fails, though, I can make bookmarks out of the fabric I already have and just have some geeky bookmarks on hand to sell for a buck or two, and those would go with the books nicely because hey, books and bookmarks go together like peas and carrots.

Either way, it means more work before con. I can do it (provided the rheumatoid arthritis doesn’t get too painful), but I’ll have to bust butt to get it all done.

Better get busting.

Finding my balance

#books, #design, #dystopian, #nerd, #publishing, Abnormal, anxiety, Art, Celebrity, Convention, Crafting, embroidery, Fandom, Geek, Insomnia, Learning, Marketing, Mental Health, Musings, Novel, Promotion, SCA, Sci-fi, Sewing, Sleep, Social Media, Stress, Time, Work, Writing

Work. Home. SCA. Books. I have many different facets to my life, and I’m having a bit of trouble finding the right balance between them all.

I forgot something at work last week–something major, in relation to my new position. That was embarrassing. At home, my sleep schedule is still very off despite the new dosage of meds. I’m pulling back from the SCA to try to manage the other parts, and I’m slacking on the book promotion.

I will have to force extra time between patients for the new position. I don’t know what I’m going to do about the sleep, aside from making offerings to Morpheus or something. I’m slowly finding the balance of SCA–I need to take at least one weekend a month off from it, it seems, to be able to keep sane. And as far as book promotion goes, I’m back at it this morning–between embroidery and catnaps, that is.

*Sigh.* How do busy people do it? I’ve been mostly a couch potato my whole life, and now I have work life, social life, home life, and author life. It’s a little overwhelming.

I’m going to have to apologize to my potential future Laurel for my absence from the SCA and for my complaining in this blog about wanting to take a break from the arting. From what my husband tells me (he went to an SCA event this past weekend while I stayed home), she thought I meant I wanted to take a break from working with her on arts. Not so. I just needed a break from period art in general, and I think my “weekend off” might have given me a chance to recharge and regroup.

This week, I’ll do better. I’ll work harder. Sleep more (maybe?). Craft more. Promote more.

There are people out there with fuller schedules than mine. Surely I can juggle these few things and still allot myself enough time for each.

Coordination before con

#books, #design, #dystopian, #nerd, #publishing, Abnormal, Celebrity, Convention, Crafting, Fandom, Geek, Novel, Sci-fi, Sewing, Stress, Time, Work, Writing

Tucson Comic-Con is just 20 days away, and I’ve got my vendor stuff all ready.

Well, the stuff I can make myself, that is….

I made a vendor apron a week ago, and today I made a composition book cover and a little cell phone pouch. Observe:

Aside from about ten bucks for the zipper, buttons, thread, and solid print fabric to coordinate, all of the above were made with materials I had on hand. Fabric that I already had (gotta love the exploding TARDIS!), binding that I already had on hand, Elastic that I already had on hand, a little chain clip that I already had on hand (though I don’t remember why I had it on hand), interfacing, batting–all stuff I had. For ten bucks, that’s not a bad deal. The cell phone pouch fits my phone snugly, and I’m hoping the PayPal chip reader that I plan on ordering will fit in the button pocket.

I kinda want to make more stuff, but I think I’m just manic and I need to take a break from making stuff. What I need to do is brainstorm some more on these lists of things I need to get ready before TCC. I’ve got to buy some stuff, print some other stuff, and send in some applications for business licenses. Fun, fun, fun.

I know where on the map my table is. I know when my target setup time is. I know (I think) what-all I need to bring. The key is surviving the next twenty days. Twenty days where I still have work, still have normal life stuff to do, etc.

Twenty days.

Tick, tock.

Seeking a swift kick in the ‘nads to get my ass moving

#books, #dystopian, #nerd, #publishing, Abnormal, Celebrity, Convention, Fandom, Geek, Marketing, Novel, Promotion, Sci-fi, Social Media, Stress, Time, Work, Writing

Yeah, I know. I’m a slacker. If I don’t have constant pushing or motivation, I tend to drift away from the stuff I need to do in favor of stuff I want to do.

Take the book marketing/promotion, for example: I’ve seriously let that slide in the past couple of weeks, and from what my publisher tells me it’s shown in my sales. I’m really frustrated with myself for that, because I want the book to do well. I just am not good at pushing myself.

I’m hoping to take my promotion back on the road in the next few days to get more people interested in/hearing about Abnormal. I need to set goals and meet them, though, if I’m going to be successful at this. I can’t just keep tweeting excerpts from the sequel-in-progress or what have you. I have to remind myself that publishing and marketing a book takes hard work, and I have to treat it like the job it is. Set times each day for researching and contacting influencers, set a number of influencers per day to contact, etc.

Tucson Comic Con should help sales pick up a bit, but I have to promote that appearance, too. Gotta get word out that I’ll be there, and I have to think up something other than just books to have at my table. I’ve got some ideas (one excellent one in particular thanks to my Editor in Chief), but it’s going to take some–you guessed it–work to get them done.

Too bad “author” isn’t a job where you can clock in for your hours worked and rake in the dough that way. That would be awesome.

Of course, if it was like that, G.R.R. Martin wins the game. Straight up trolling his fans by letting the TV show surpass the books in story and just, as far as anyone can tell, not finishing the series. Not cool, man, not cool.

Crafty

#books, #design, #dystopian, #nerd, #publishing, Abnormal, Art, Celebrity, Convention, Cosplay, Crafting, Fandom, Geek, Learning, Marketing, Novel, Promotion, Sci-fi, Sewing, Stress, Time, Writing

Tucson Comic Con is rapidly approaching (27 days), and I have gained too much weight to wear any of my cosplays. Bummer, right? Well, I found a compromise the other day, and yesterday I made something new.

I only spent about nine dollars on the zipper, thread, and button–much less than if I’d decided to make even one new cosplay! There are a couple of mistakes in the apron, but they’re small mistakes and nothing I can’t live with. Plus, with making it myself, I was able to alter the pattern and make a ton of pockets for markers for signing my book. 🙂

I used a pattern I found on Pinterest, and I’m happy with the results. Crafty Staci I think was the name of the woman who came up with the design. Great tutorial, great design.

So far that’s the only real prep I’ve done for TCC. I need to bust butt getting books ordered and setting up my PayPal reader with my phone and figuring out how much change to bring for cash. Every time I think I have all the plans solidified in my head, new things pop up. I’ll get there, though. And this experience will prepare me for future cons and appearances.

The long and short of it

#nerd, Convention, Crafting, Hair, Novel, Sewing, Writing

Well, I did a thing this morning…

Yeah. That happened.

So here’s what’s what: I was at an SCA baronial meeting last night (bored out of my skull), and my hair was down, and I noticed a lot of split, broken, and dead ends. Too many. So I did something about it.

This isn’t the first time I’ve gone and chopped off half my hair (or more), but it’s been a couple of years. I gotta say, it feels nice. Lighter. Not bugging the shit out of me. And the maintenance will be easier, too.

Of course, heading into what will eventually be cold weather (I’m in Arizona so as of late the weather has been still scorching in the daytime), that means I’ll need to make use of the Star Wars scarf I made myself a while back. Darn. (<–Insert sarcasm.) The hair was like a built-in scarf when it was long, but no more.

Next up in the do-it-yourself department: a vendor apron for Tucson Comic Con. I just happen to have some nifty exploding TARDIS fabric that’s been dying for a chance to be used, and this will be a great way to use it. That, and it’s an excuse to make something. Always a good thing. 😉

Thirty days before my first con as an author!

Not very con-tagious

#books, #design, #dystopian, #nerd, #publishing, Abnormal, anxiety, Art, Celebrity, Convention, Crafting, embroidery, Fandom, Geek, Mental Health, Novel, SCA, Sci-fi, Sewing, Sleep, Stress, Time, Work, Writing

I went to a gaming convention the last two days–a small one–but I spent most of the time, er, not gaming. 

I had intended on playing games, but I only played one the whole day and a half I was there. It was a fun game, but I got peopled out pretty quickly. Thankfully, my friends were gracious enough to give me a copy of their hotel room key so I’d have a place to escape from the crowds. It was nice. I took a solid two-hour nap today. That was really nice. 

Tucson Comic Con won’t give me that luxury. I’ll be there, and I’ll be stuck. I think it’ll be okay though. I’ll be behind a table surrounded by my books. I’ll have a barrier between me and them.

I got a lot of progress done on the embroidery for my husband’s Viking hood this weekend though, and I’ll get more done tomorrow. I won’t get done, but I’ll maybe get from a quarter of the way done to maybe a third or even halfway done.

Book 3 hasn’t gotten any more written yet. I am still waiting for the alpha readers to finish their feedback on Book 2, so I don’t want to get too far and have to rewrite the whole thing like I had to do with Book 2.

Hopefully soon things won’t be so stagnant. I feel like I’ve been neglecting this blog because I haven’t had anything to say. Work is work…oh! Except I got a new certification… now I’m a certified medical laser safety officer. I’ve done an audit and everything. So yeah. There’s that, and then work is work.

Things will pick up once I get back to work on Book 2 and once Tucson Comic Con gets closer.