Scroll down for my ROW80 update…

I’ve been creative lately. Unfortunately, not in the writing sense, but that should change soon because as of tomorrow I will have both my children in school all day. Huzzah!

I’ve always been crafty. I even worked at a fabric store for a while, and then later at a craft store. Lots of fun for little pay, and too much of my paycheck went back into the store lol!

At some point in the last few years I decided I was a purveyor of aluminum foil hats. It began as a joke, as foil hats are one of the sillier affectations of eccentric SF writers… it gave me something to add to my twitter profile after “aspiring author.” It is SO much fun! Aluminum is very flexible and holds glue well. Since it is an innately silly project, I can go wherever I want with it.

Hands-on projects involve different aspects of creativity than writing projects. With my writing, I am immersed, even drowning when I’m at my best. With the crafty stuff, it’s just the opposite. I leave it out (often on the dining room table) and add to it little by little. I might spend two minutes gluing one bit together, and then leave it alone for hours while I move on to all of life’s other requisite tasks.

The two forms of creativity complement each other quite well. I can immerse myself until I find I’m drowning, then come up for air and get my hands a little dirty. Or glittery…

For this Round of Words in 80 Days…

Did I write at least 2k this week? Um… I don’t think so… maybe. I did a couple of tiny pieces and if I go back and check it might add up.

Did I help another writer? Yup… I’m back to editing (hubby had surgery and I took some time off from editing and writing and just about everything else) although I’m not sending back chapters as quickly as I was.

Did I work on my re-organization? Um…oops? I think I added a couple things to the database… WAIT! Yes, I absolutely did this one! I sat down and went through my unfinished lunar shorts and decided which needed just a bit of polish, which needed to be finished, and which need to be cannibalized. Then I polished two of the stories… Clean Room and Hippie Freaks and sent them to the editor.

Tomorrow, both my kids go back to school. My gooberry is in Kindergarten full day! I’ve been anticipating this for a long time. Finally, I have child-free days for some real writing time.

This weekend I’m doing the 3 Day Novel contest. I’m hoping for a 25k novella, which counts for the sake of the contest rules. It’s called Siren’s Web and it will be book two in my Steampunk series. That reminds me… I need to print a copy of this great cover I designed with an image of John Quinlan done by Phatpuppy Creations. I want to be able to look at it while I write.