I apologize to you, if any of you were following this blog previously. Things started to happen, not necessarily things I wanted to share, I was not right with the world and it was not right with me.
Over the past year I found another job, a job I loved again, and again it was taken from me. Laid off, through no fault of my own, along with more than fifteen other people in my department, and more in others. And the industry seems to be doing the same thing, over and over, in several companies. I am at this point highly wary of jobs involving my industry, and looking for other things to do.
Other things to do:
Soapmaking- We went to the Ypsilanti Heritage Festival over the weekend, as an excuse to drive by our old MI house, and, through the whole arts and crafts setup, there was not one indie soapmaker. I see a niche.
Hand-painted canvas floor-coverings - We've offered on a house here that has hardwood floors. I don't want wool rugs, although those would be nice. They're very expensive and the kids would ruin theirs. Hand-painted canvas is durable and can be beautiful. I just have to learn the technique. And get the space to do it in. An apartment is not conducive.
Painting - I might be crazy, but I keep looking at this gorgeous August summer sky and wanting to paint it. How did I not see that Michigan clouds can be as beautiful as Colorado clouds?
Beading - I hoarded tons of beads when I worked at Michael's Crafts. I even started a necklace of mother of pearl and red coral, that got amazingly heavy, and that I never finished. Time to finish it, and make it a little lighter, damn.
Writing - Well, I've already started that, just now, with the blog, hah. If I have vivid, intense dreams, I try to remember and write them down so I can expand on them later. I have a few story ideas floating around, one I really like and am trying to decide how to approach. What I'm seeing from other writers is: just do it. Even if the writing's crap, do it, you can fix it later. Maybe I'll run my own little NaNoWriMo here in September. NaNoWriMoSept, just get it going.
I used to write, a lot, in high school and college. I think I mentioned that before. Long-hand, in notebooks, in pen. Kind of like George McFly, in Back to the Future. Like George, I didn't want anyone to see it until it was done. Of course, the stories were never done, because I thought they weren't good enough for anyone to read. Shy George McFly and me, living in a mysterious world few others chose to understand in high school.
But shoot, if Twilight and Fifty Shades of Grey can get published, maybe I can too. I'm not knocking those authors; it takes a lot of hard work to write a book, any book, and then get it published. But what those authors showed me is that there is a lot of leeway out there for what people like. If I can find a niche, like the soapmaking, maybe I can be happy with what I'm doing, make a little bit of a living, and not get laid off by some nameless faceless corporation looking to put profits over people.
At the moment my craftiness consists of knitting and crocheting. I love to make little flower-shaped washcloths in crochet lately. They go fast, help me learn the basic crochet stitches, and they are useful. Not to mention they help use up the hoard of yarn I've mysteriously accumulated.
I'm also working on a second sock of a pair, Grumperina's Jaywalker socks, in Madelinetosh Sock. I love the zigzag pattern and the first sock at least fits close and stays up.
I got yarn sent to me for my birthday to feed my addiction, some lovely colors and materials I might not have picked for myself but love all the same. Scarf? Cowl? More socks? The possibilities are limited only by my imagination.
And that's basically why I've started writing again. I have to do something, or my brain gets restless and circles on itself and starts saying, "Make, Do, Be....Something, Anything, or why exist at all?" I can't explain it, this need to create, to make something from other things, with my hands and mind. I just want to get on the road, and go, and see where it leads me.
- The Road goes ever on and on
- Down from the door where it began.
- Now far ahead the Road has gone,
- And I must follow, if I can,
- Pursuing it with eager feet,
- Until it joins some larger way
- Where many paths and errands meet.
- And whither then? I cannot say.
- --Bilbo Baggins, "The Fellowship of the Ring"
