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The magic of the word “SALE”

By / June 6, 2007 / 1 Comment

This morning we had a clearance sale on closeout Schlock merchandise. Mostly I was tired of having it cluttering the basement, but I couldn’t bring myself to just throw it out. I’m glad I didn’t. I’ve gotten multiple emails from people who are excited to have it and thrilled at the low prices because now they can actually afford it. This makes me happy.

Naturally the endeavor has not been without headaches. I am mystified by the ebay combined shipping calculator. Sometimes it is right on the dot. Other times in charges almost twice what the actual shipping costs are. I ended up checking all the orders and issuing refunds when people were overcharged. Also my enthusiasm for answering emails and filling orders left the rest of the house neglected. This wouldn’t be such a big problem, except that I spent most of yesterday doing accounting so it was all neglected then too. I really need to tear myself away from the electronics and go pay attention to house and kids. Otherwise I will have overtaxed the goodwill of the other people living in my house.

Summer Schedule

By / June 5, 2007

Summer days are very long. I’m not just talking about hours of daylight here. I’m talking about the huge swathes of time where I have no constraints on my schedule. It is now 2:45 pm and I keep having the nagging feeling that I’m supposed to be somewhere. I am accustomed to having a rush of activity this time of day because I have to pick up kids from school and drop them at various activities. Today there is nothing. I have nowhere to go. For today this is good because I have a pile of accounting to plow through. But I need to not get lazy. I need to not look at the big blocks of time in my schedule and put things off because there will be plenty of time to do it later. In fact I’m doing my best to break up the days into manageable chunks dedicated to particular tasks. Mornings belong to the house and the kids. Early afternoon goes to business stuff or outings depending on the day. Evening belongs to the kids. But there is still so much time to fill. I love it. It frightens me. I get so much more done when I have a million things to do.

Strengthening Families

By / June 3, 2007

Today I was in a church meeting where the speaker was talking about how to strengthen families. I believe that strong families are the best preventative for many of societies ills such as drug abuse and violence. The speaker gave six principles which if followed will strengthen families. I know that not everyone who reads this blog shares my belief system, but perhaps some of it may be useful to you. I know that thinking about these things was helpful to me. At different times I’ve done each of these things with my family and when we are doing them we have more peace in our home and more happiness as a family.
Six things that will strengthen families:

Family Prayer: Taking time to gather together to express gratitude for the many things we have given and to ask for help with our problems. This shared petition connects the family members with each other as well as with God.

Family Scripture Study: This provides a place for parents to discuss beliefs and values with children. It also provides a time for everyone to remember that we are all trying to become our best selves. Most importantly, it provides a quiet space where the spirit of inspiration can provide the family with direction.

Family Home Evening: This is one night each week when all distractions are set aside and the family does something together. Sometimes it is a game, sometimes it is a discussion of a family problem, sometimes it is a religious lesson. The primary purpose is to build a group identity and shared memories.

Attend Church as a Family: This has many of the same purposes as scripture study. I know that my attendance at church has made me a better person. Each week it reminds me of the person I am striving to become and gives me renewed energy to keep trying to be better. I’ve seen the same effect on my kids.

Eat at least 1 meal together daily: Interestingly the speaker focused on this one as the most important of all. He said that discussions with a parent do more to help kids make good decisions than anything else. It is in casual conversations that parents can do much to pass on values and beliefs. But we have to make a space for those discussions to come into being. Our most likely meal together is breakfast, but sometimes dinner happens as well. The key point is to have a time where you and your kids are together with nothing to do but to talk.

Pay tithes and offerings: Making kids part of charitable giving helps them see their role in the larger community. I have been given much, I should pass it on. Not only that, but I should allow my children to see me giving so that they can learn to give as well.

Pondering

By / June 2, 2007

Today my head is full of the business side of writing. I realized that there is a “Writing for Children” workshop running at BYU in a little over a week. This workshop would give me the opportunity to pitch Hold On To Your Horses to an editor and an agent. But it would cost me $120 to go. I’d also have to arrange babysitting for while I was gone. I’m torn. I’d love to give the book a chance to fly nationally, but I already have my plans in place. Pitching the book would delay those plans because I’d have to wait for rejections before going ahead and publishing through Tayler Corporation. If I did get a national deal, they’d almost certainly want changes made. The project then becomes less personal. Also if the book sells well, we could potentially make more money printing it through Tayler Corp. The flip side of that is that we also stand to lose money if it doesn’t sell. Perhaps I’d be better off talking to the editor and agent next year when I have sales numbers to show. Alternately I might be better off talking this year before it is a previously published work. I haven’t found any answers yet. I’m still pondering.

Light in Dark Places

By / June 1, 2007 / 4 Comments

Gleek is the proud owner of a pair of silver sparkle-encrusted flip flops. This morning as we drove in the car, sunlight struck the sparkles and sent little dots of light all over the back seat. Gleek was enraptured. Then the car turned and the sunlight no longer hit the sparkles. Fortunately for Gleek we turned several more times. Each time the sunlight hit those shoes, Gleek would announce it to the world in general. “Sparkles again!”

This incident would have been fairly ordinary, except that Gleek made the observation that sparkles from her shoes sent light even into the darkest places of the car. I thought about that. Then I thought how when the sunlight did not hit the shoes those dark places remained unlit. In order for a reflective surface to send light into dark places, the reflective surface must remain in the light. If, in an effort to get more light into the darkness, the reflective surface is moved closer to the dark and is no longer in light, then all the light is gone. Since the sun is constant, the only way to shine more light into the darkness is to improve the quality of the reflective surface.

I thought about all of that. I made connections between reflective surfaces and people. Then I reflected on how thoroughly the analogy can break down if technology like flashlights are introduced. I’ve decided that I like the beauty of the analogy. I like the idea that if we stand in good places we can reflect some of that goodness into places that are dark. It is a nice thought.

Last Day of School

By / May 31, 2007 / 1 Comment

Today I dropped Kiki at school, dropped Link at school, attended Gleek’s kindergarten graduation, picked up Kiki, and picked up Link, all in the space of 90 minutes. Then we were done with school. I am finally finished with the insane schedule of 5 drop offs/pick ups per weekday. For the next four days we’re all going to play. On Monday a new schedule begins. Link will be attending some summer school and Kiki will be starting Clarinet lessons. So I’ll still have running around to do, but not nearly so much. July and August are pretty empty.

This could have been a spring for serious nostalgia. Kiki is leaving grade school behind. Gleek leaving Kindergarten. I would probably feel more wistful about the whole thing if I hadn’t been run ragged this last month going to school programs and carnivals and graduation ceremonies. Oh, and parties. In the last two weeks I’ve been invited to 4 baby showers, 1 purse party, 1 game party, 2 block parties, and hosted Kiki’s birthday party as well as a BBQ for Howard’s gaming group. Insane. I didn’t go to all of them. I couldn’t. Here’s hoping for a quieter June.

I sold a story!

By / May 30, 2007 / 22 Comments

Julie Czerneda accepted my story “Immigrant” for her Ages of Wonder anthology that is due out this fall. I’m so happy that I want to dance around the room. I have in fact danced around the room. Twice. I also startled both Howard and Kiki by running up to them, flapping my hands wildly with joy, to announce the news. Yes folks, this is how we calm, professional, writer people act when we make our first sale.

I really didn’t know whether to expect it or not. The optimistic part of me was sure my story would be picked. The pessimistic part of me already had a half composed response which included “Please consider me for your next anthology.” The pessimistic part was, appropriately, disappointed. The half composed response will not get used. I’ll have to file it away for a probable future rejection.

It would be nice to say that I’ve been calmly waiting for news about this anthology. It would be a lie. I have been quietly lurking on the Czerneda news forum for the last week to catch any snips of information that might be dropped. This is why I knew when the notices had been sent out. The notifications had been sent out and I hadn’t received one. I was terrified that my story had been lost somehow and never been read. But I remembered that the same thing happened to the invitation to submit. It disappeared into some electronic black hole between Julie’s computer and mine. I used the same solution this time as last time. I emailed Julie. She kindly replied that she would resend the notification. The reply arrived, but the notification did not. I’m pretty sure there is an electronic gremlin lurking inside my cable modem eating the emails. But it only eats emails from Julie Czerneda. I guess they’re yummier or something. Fortunately Julie was kind enough to cut and paste the information into yet another reply. Have I mentioned how nice Julie is? She is very nice.

The inclusion of my story in Ages of Wonder means that I will have two works of mine published before the end of this year. Ages of Wonder is due in the fall and my children’s book, Hold On To Your Horses, will be out in July. I’m happy. I’m so happy that none of my icons were happy enough. I had to make a new one using some of the artwork from Hold On To Your Horses. Consider it a sneak preview.

Excuse me. I need to go dance a little more.

Hi. I’m Sandra and I’m a frugality slacker

By / May 30, 2007

Our family has been very busy lately. All the kids have activities, Howard is trying to put out his next book, and I’m trying to put out a book as well. We all spend a lot of time running here, there, and everywhere trying to get it all done. But recently I’ve had this feeling that I’ve been slacking. Specifically I’ve been slacking on doing the activities that help us live within our still slim budget. I’ve been buying time for my projects. I mean that literally. If I spend time formatting pages for my book instead of planning ahead for meals I inevitably end up choosing a pricier dinner option. So spending time on my projects costs our family money. I don’t intend to give up on my projects, but I should be making space for more frugal activities. With that in mind, I’m writing a list to remind myself what they are.

Frugal Activities I should be doing more often:

Gardening– specifically vegetable gardening. Right now we have no veggies planted. I need to get on this very soon or I need to accept that we’ll have no garden this year.

Garage Sales — This is where christmas came from two years in a row. Last Christmas we spent money, but I should probably still create a “looking for” list and hit some sales.

Menu planning — meals are more likely to be inexpensive if I plan them more than 10 minutes before I have to serve them.

Reading grocery store sales fliers — If I don’t read them I don’t know when the foods we eat are for sale at cheap prices. I should be buying in bulk when the prices are cheap.

Tracking food inventory — If I don’t keep track of what we have, then we run out of things. Then we run to the store and buy replacements despite the premium costs and the extra gas used. If I know I’m running low, then I can watch for sales and buy in bulk.

Repairing things when they first show signs of wear– If I repair frayed clothing then I never have ripped clothing and it lasts longer. Minor repairs can sometimes prevent major replacement costs.

Walking instead of driving — I can’t do this for all the places I go, but there are many places that I can. When I can, I should.

The return of cottage industry

By / May 29, 2007 / 5 Comments

Industrialization and mega corporations have been the death of cottage industry. It used to be that every town had a local grocer, bookstore, cobbler, jeweler, etc. The advent of mass production meant that the majority of people were no longer willing to pay the price for handcrafted items. The few left who did, were not enough to keep the small businesses running. This has changed. The internet provides a way for cottage industries to thrive again. It is possible for someone to make a living handcrafting jewelry because the whole world is available as a marketplace.

Obviously my family has benefited directly from this trend. Schlock Mercenary succeeds because people all over the world are able to read it and buy books. We were able to print the books ourselves and send them directly to the people rather than being forced to go begging for an alliance with a corporate publisher. We may eventually hand some of the work over to a corporate partner to reduce the burden on our family, but we will enter into that partnership from a position of strength.

I like the thought that there is space in the world for craftsmen again. I like that someone with skill and the love of the work can succeed. I want to be able to support such endeavors. I want to buy from artisans and craftspersons.

Yo Ho! Yo Ho!

By / May 28, 2007

Saw Pirates of the Carribean 3 today and I have three things to say about it.

1. I liked it. There were things that were mildly annoying. There were things that made me laugh out loud. I was satisfied with the ending. I’m glad I went.

2. I like the second movie better now that I’ve seen the third because the plot threads and character arcs are now finished.

3. Sit through the credits. There’s a clip at the end that you don’t want to miss.