Being a nurse tends to eat up one's free time, but I can't stop creating (it just slows me down a bit). Being a nurse actually was the inspiration for an uber fun sewing project that I finished just a month or two ago.
You see, "back in the day" (early to mid-1900's), nurses wore navy blue wool capes. They're cute as heck and, being a nurse myself, thank-you-very-much, I wanted one. Buuuuut no one makes them anymore; and I had no desire to buy a vintage/antique one. Well then, I happen to be a garment-maker!! So I made one. Mine has a hood though, which is great. I wear it a lot as I've since become a footcare nurse and need something easy to put on and take off, that I can have my tool pack on my shoulder underneath and that'll keep me warm from the car to my client's house. This cape foots the bill most nicely!
Wool fabric is hard to find though at a decent price, so I ended up getting a wool camping blanket. It's light and warm and worked perfectly for this project.
There's other sewing projects I'd love to dive into, but I'm actually not home most of the time anymore as my job has me working out of state (albeit driveable from home; it'd just be one heck of a commute!).
Writing, though, can be done from anywhere!
In either December of 2023 or January of 2024 I decided it was high time to get some books published! After complaining to one of my niece's in-home tutors about my agent-scouting woes, he said, "Why not just self-publish?" Which is something he did.
After noodling on it for a day or two, I decided, "Hell, why not!"
The Tree Mage Story and the Vampire story were the two on the docket. Now, I've read many a self-published book and the biggest problem I find with them is the lack of an editor. You can get beta readers up the wazoo, but if your story isn't as tight as it can be, it'll come across as sloppy.
So, first and foremost, I went editor-hunting.
Since the one I reached out to for the Vampire story got back with me first, that became the foremost project. I sent her the manuscript and in March, she gave me back about 30 pages of comments and feedback, along with the annotated manuscript. Wowzers! So I had a lot of editing to do.
In the meantime (after researching the heck out of self-publishing) I got cover art commissioned for both books, bought a butt-load of ISBN numbers and put together a website for my "imprint" (Four Turns Press, btw) so that Amazon won't be listed as the publisher.
I'm annoyed to admit that edits continue <looking at watch> ONE YEAR later!!
Seriously, the editor I hired gave me a lot to think on. At first I thought only some minor rewrites would be needed for the second half of the book. Then I realized that pretty much all of the second half needed to be rewritten. THEN I realized that the front half was going to need some heavy reworking too.
*sigh*
I'm not a terribly fast writer and, unfortunately, I really have to be in the mood to sit down and write. I also need a good chunk of peace and quiet, which can be hard to come by these days. Ah well, it'll be done when it's done!
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