Getting Crafty for Fall

Fall is my season. It’s the one time of year that I really feel charged with energy. Maybe it has something to do with the fact that it’s the one time of year where the weather is truly perfect here in Arizona. Not too hot, not too cold. Or maybe it’s the fact that everything has pumpkin spice in it. J Of course, my favorite holiday is part of the Fall celebration too. I love Halloween!

Even though I’ve been filled with a renewed sense of energy at this time of year, I’ve been very remiss in blogging, which I’d made a promise to myself to do once a week. It’s been what? Months? That’s because I’ve been doing a ton of other things, and while I considered writing blogs to update on what I’ve been up to, I just never got around to actually doing it.

I did complete a 65,000 word first-draft manuscript, as well as the beta reader’s copy for Balfor’s Salvation, but most of my energy has been spent in non-writing related activities, although I still had to burn some of my creative energy by making crafts.

I’ve become hooked on building these little miniature rooms that come from kits you can get on Amazon. Most of the miniatures are made out of paper, so they are exceptionally time consuming to create since they are also 1/24 scale rather than 1/12. Still, it has been a fun craft and I love the finished results. I made four of them so far and have two more kits to finish.

I also have this weird Christmas ornament fascination. I picked up a couple of these satin ornament kits off Ebay. They used to be sold on Herrschner’s website, but they are collectible, so if you don’t get them in time, you have to get them on… well, Ebay.

The crafts kept me busy at night and the writing kept me busy in the morning, but I had to fill my daylight hours with something, so my husband and I remodeled our kitchen: laying floors, painting walls, replacing trim and cabinet hardware. Fortunately, we were able to hire someone to paint the cabinets for a reasonable rate, so we didn’t have to tackle those ourselves, but it was a close thing.

Throw in a belt review for my karate class, and I think I may just qualify for having had a busy month or so.

Fall is still hanging around for a bit, but I have officially exhausted my store of seasonal energy. I have to settle down in one place for a while, although I get to do that with a tremendous sense of accomplishment. Yay! Fortunately, the timing couldn’t be better, as my beta readers have returned their verdict on Balfor’s Salvation, so I can now start working on final edits in the hopes of getting it published before the end of this year.

So that’s what I’ve been up to this last couple of months. I apologize for the lack of posting during this time. I hope you all have had a wonderful Fall season thus far as well. If you have any questions about the kits that I mentioned, please let me know in the comments below.