Away Without Leave

I've been AWOL. For months it seems. With only a little check-in here and there. When last we met, I was on my way to a 5 day stone setting class in the mountains of Southern California. It was a wonderful experience, I learned so very much, had a great time with my friends and thoroughly enjoyed the fresh, mountain air. I wrote about my experience here.

Didn't finish (of course), but I learned a lot.

Since then, I've been furiously working on my e-book tentatively titled Crafting Your Artistic Voice. And am really excited that Glendale College has agreed to present a live class based on the first three chapters. I was hoping to have all of the text for the book finished by the end of August, but I got side tracked by life and I'm a bit (or more) behind. Now I'm aiming for the end of September. And then there will be the formatting, photographing images, perhaps a tiny bit of graphics and marketing. Whew! So much goes into making a book. Even an e version. If anyone out there in cyber space has information to share, I'm open to suggestions. ;D

My Pretty New Booth

In between teaching, coaching and writing, I've been thinking about how else I want to spend my professional time. I told you about the last craft show I did. I put so much energy into that show. I bought some new display pedestals for a totally new booth set up, made quite a few one of a kind pieces to sell, set up with the help of my friend Dawn and broke down by myself, stood and greeted shoppers for three days, and managed not to buy myself a single solitary thing! Then I spent the next three days recovering. All for a show that is only 2 miles from my house. I was so tired by the end of it, that I started to wonder if the satisfaction I get from offering my work to the general public is worth the stress of preparation and the strain on my body. I've always said that teaching is my vocation and selling is my hobby.

I'm very lucky and grateful that my MS is hardly noticeable. If you didn't already know I had it, you couldn't tell by watching me. But fatigue is really raising it's ugly head, and I haven't figured out yet how to combat it. Really, I've been too tired to want to figure out how to combat it, but I know how important it is to my sanity - so I'm going to get on the supplement bandwagon and start yoga and try to get back to my normal. Anyway - I've decided to put all my energy into my first love, teaching, and leave the shows to those who make their living selling their work. More power to 'em. So, I'm out of the craft show business. Anyone need some collapsible pedestals?