Torn

It is hard to keep my feet squarely on the ground and live in the here and now because at any given moment, I have a dozen things that need to be done and two dozen more things I would like to do. 

I will not say I am good at multitasking because I do not believe that to be true; however, I am exceptionally good at formulating a schedule and getting things done, one-at-a-time, as efficiently as humanly possible.

Which means, I get a lot of things done.

It also means there is a never-ending list of things I would so much like to do.

What can I say? 

It keeps me going. 

Now that the studio is dedicated solely to weaving, my work desk is set up in the game room. I had a secondary desk in the bedroom, but that desk is gone and everything remotely office-like or work-related has migrated upstairs. The pool table is covered with boxes of envelopes, extra copy paper, spare ink cartridges, and files galore. 

I have a fair bit of organizing to do. 

Instead of addressing those items, I decided to clean out one of the cabinets in the utility room where I kept the wool dyeing equipment. 

Back when I was all about the knitting, I dyed a good deal of wool.

These days, I am much less about the wool and all about the cotton.

I decided if I unloaded the wool dyeing equipment, I would have a place for the cotton dyeing items.

My first thought was to put up a Facebook post to see if any of my friends in the area would like any of it.

My second thought was to ask a sweet friend who just knitted me a hat out of Kool-aide dyed wool, if she were interested. 

She was!

YAY!

So, much to the husband's chagrin, the wool dyeing stuff will move into the garage for the moment (she should come by sometime in the next week or so), and I will neatly tuck away the cotton dyeing equipment. 

With the Christmas rush upon me, I have not touched a loom, at least not to weave. 

Instead, I took a few minutes to peruse my queue. I decided two of the warps I prepared back in May and June were on deck. I studied the drafts for each and selected which of the looms available was most appropriate for the projects. With that, I printed the drafts and carefully laid a warp over the respective looms.

That was the sum total of my time in the studio for the last week or two.

My mother arrives in a few days. 

This will sound terrible, but it is true. 

I tend to work when she is here. Otherwise, she finds dozens of things for me to do, and it drives me nuts. She is much better at entertaining herself when she knows I am on the clock.

With that in mind, I decided to take the remainder of the week off to get some much needed things done, before she arrives.

At the top of that list is the manuscript. It has been finished since August. I have gone through it several times and edited; however, I tend to read quickly and my mind automatically fills in what it thinks should be there. Thus, I am not the best editor, unless I have it printed on paper and read it out loud.

I took a pdf copy of the book and had it printed. 

Once I go through it one more time, I will need to format it properly, add a title page, dedication, etc.

However, I do have the ISBN!

I also have a cover. 

As I am self-publishing, it is not as fancy as one might hope, but I took the photograph, which graces the front, in Bandera a month or two ago. I am pleased with it.

Here is a snippet of the cover:

For some reason, I am sure it has to do with the settings, screen shots on this computer do not cover the entire screen. ::EYEROLL::

I just have not had the mental bandwidth or patience to try to figure it out. 

As to the book, I am excited and terrified at the same time. 

What if it truly stinks?

What if people leave atrocious comments on Amazon and completely trash it?

What if...

Those things will probably happen. 

And, I am bracing myself, as much as I can, to weather them. (By "weather" I probably mean cry in the shower when no one is around...)

I keep telling myself it will be fine, it is just a book, a romance at that. 

I make no claims that it is the next great American novel, but I think the story is good. Not only that, I absolutely LOVE the characters. 

Writing it was a struggle and a joy. 

I am half-way through the next one, too. 

It will be fine. 

More importantly, even if no one reads it, I will have accomplished something I have always wanted to do. 

YAY!