Project Update 11/14/18

It feels like it's been a while since I posted an update. Here's a quick rundown of what I've been up to (besides the usual work and family stuff):

Writing: I'm closing in on 50,000 words for Dryads to Discover, but since I started it last year, it definitely doesn't count for NaNoWriMo. I've temporarily set it aside to work on a short story for an anthology. By the time this post goes live, I should be over 2,500 words on that. The submission period for this anthology opens 1/1/19, which is hopefully enough time for even this slow writer to finish the story. However, there's a second anthology that opens around that time that I also want to write for. I have an idea for that story, but I need to do more research before I can crystallize my idea into words. After that, there's just more projects all the way down.

Sewing: I finally managed to finish the holiday Jawa costume for a special parade Thanksgiving Day weekend. Sorry, no pictures until after the parade. I may try making a dress out of the leftover material, but it would have to be a simple one. I also need to make a second set of normal Jawa robe and hood to replace the one I've used for over three years. At least after that's done I should be able to start the Jedi costume. It would be nice to have that for Celebration.

Crochet: I still have a few projects that I need to finish, including a custom Wookie, Spiderman, and a poodle. I did make a green Porg to help celebrate the holidays:

I guess by now you shouldn't be surprised that I have yet another long list of things to crochet once I finish with my current ones. At least I manage to keep myself occupied!

I have a three-day weekend coming up since my son has Friday off, so hopefully I can make progress on a couple of things. I'll let you know more next week.

More Crochet Photos

Although I keep coming up with more writing projects than I have time for, I keep on crocheting as well--and coming up with more projects that I want to do. As long as I do a little both of both every day, I make some progress. I don't like sharing my writing projects when they're still in the rough draft stage, but the smaller crochet projects work up quickly. Here are some of my recently completed ones:

I started this pterodactyl right before the comic con at the end of September. I think it took about a week or so to finish. He's actually a darker purple in person.

 These are Halloween-inspired porg. From left to right, they are a jack-o-lantern porg (though my family thinks he looks like Deadpool, so maybe the next one won't have black eye patches), a vampire porg, a black cat porg, and a ghost porg. If I can figure out how to make a turkey tail, I might make some turkey porg next month. And yes, I have some ideas for Christmas....




I hope you enjoyed the pictures. Now to decide which writing project to tackle next.

Gail Borden Comic Con

I blogged a few months ago about being one of the vendors at my local library's comic con. It finally took place on Saturday. Here's what my table looked like. My son helped me set up and run the table. The most popular items were my amigurumi, particularly the porgs. I only brought five with me, but sold all of them. In fact, the first one I sold was a "Dark Side" porg in black, gray, and red to a girl dressed as Kylo Ren. I also sold the BB-8, a couple of lanyards, a book, and several raffle tickets. Tyrone the T-Rex found a new home. While I probably could have done more to promote my books instead of the amigurumi, it was one of my most successful appearances. I was able to give my son some money for helping out and put the rest of my earnings into our Star Wars Celebration fund. Here are a few things I learned that may help other authors/crafters at similar events:

1. I made sure to adjust my prices ahead of time to account for local taxes. However, I didn't think to include fees for paying with credit cards. That'll have to come out of my profits.
2. The library staff was kind enough to supply us with water and snacks, but it doesn't hurt to have your own food with you, especially if you have special dietary needs or preferences.
3. While it's good to have something to do as you wait for people to stop by, you're not going to get as much done as you think you will. It's also not the best time to try to teach someone how to crochet.
4. Most of your sales will be impulse purchases. It may be hard to strike a balance between setting a price low enough to be attractive while still making a profit.

I wouldn't mind doing this again at other comic cons or craft fairs. The key will be learning about them ahead of time to get a table and finding events that don't charge vendors.

Porg Lanyards for Sale!

Reposting this from my Facebook Solar Unicorn Stitching page. I'm not ready for Etsy or Shopify yet, since I have so many other demands on my time. And no, Pilot Porg (the model) isn't for sale!

Porgs are friends, not food. And friends do favors for you, like help you keep track of your keys, badges, or flash drives. These porg lanyards are made out of four layers of fabric and are about 18" long. They come with either gold (13 available) or silver (7 available) hooks. $10 includes shipping in U.S. paypal.me/smua70 Please either message me your shipping address or include it with your Paypal payment, along with your hook color preference.

A Plethora of Projects

As if I didn't have enough to do already between writing, crocheting, and making a new set of Jawa robes, I've discovered a new project: making lanyards. My family and I are planning to attend Star Wars Celebration next year, so naturally we need suitably themed Star Wars lanyards for our badges. Rather than spend $10 each for the official Celebration ones, I did a little searching and found instructions for making my own lanyards from porg-patterned fabric I already had. (See photo.) They're so (or sew) easy even a beginner like me can make them, though it takes me longer than ten minutes (as promised by the pattern). I plan to make more, but this project cuts into time I need for other activities. I'm not sure exactly why I'm inspired to do so many other projects, though it could be a way of avoiding my current writing project.

How many projects do you juggle at once? Do you find yourself spending more time on projects that are lower priority than the ones you really need to do? Feel free to share your thoughts in the comments.

Dozing with Dinos--and Porgs

Saturday night was our third Dozing with the Dinos event at the Field Museum. I don't think I blogged about it last year, but this year we brought Porgs in addition to Stan (the T-Rex), Rex (the brachiosaurus named after clone trooper Captain Rex), and Oscar (the stuffed orca we adopted on our honeymoon). The original trio may be a bit jealous of the porg, but surprisingly they all behaved when we got to visit the Fossil Prep area and the dinosaur storage area. (The first three pictures are from the fossil prep area outside the Evolving Planet exhibit, and the porg is checking out dinosaur eggs in the storage area.) They also checked out some other exhibits, as you'll see below.

Studying porgs' relationship to other birds.













I think the porg were a little too curious when they examined this cast of a T-rex skull.

 The boys check out Sue's new digs.

















The boys try to offer the porg to the Egyptian dead.
















Did the Egyptians have a porg-headed god?

 Off to all go exploring together!

Project Updates

I have so many things going on right now it's difficult to keep track of them all, but here's a quick summary.

I'm continuing to crochet Star Wars characters and other items.Here's a TIE fighter I finished last week. My son thinks the wing arms are too long, so I'll make them shorter the next time I try this pattern. The Porg, of course, continue to be popular. At least they don't take very long.

Since I crochet so many Porg, I've decided to create a "Mother of Porg" outfit for C2E2 when I'm not in my Imperial Officer uniform. (I may leave the Jawa costume at home this year to simplify packing.) I have Porg-themed clothes and accessories from head to toe--though I'm still waiting for some of them to arrive. I'm planning to sew a skirt from Porg-print fabric in case the skirt I ordered comes late. When everything is complete, I'll post pictures.

All these other projects do take time away from my writing. Although I'm nearly done drafting a short story for Uncanny Magazine's Dinosaur issue, I don't expect to have it ready by the deadline, which is this Thursday. Maybe I'll save it for my newsletter subscribers. Hopefully I'll have more news to share about my short stories soon.