February - From Stay-at-Home-Mum to Work-at-home-Mum - Diary of a Transition

February
This has been a weird month from the point of view of the business.  I've honestly not got much more made.  I think I've got enough for my craft fair stall so that it doesn't look empty, but also not too crowded.  I've a few things to finish off, and ideally I'd make a few more things to sell, but in reality I don't think I'm going to get around to much.  

• The washing machine has now been out of action for a fortnight, so I'm spending at least an hour of each child-free day at the launderette.  
• It's half term next week.  
• I've also committed to making a few other things which aren't for the business.  It's Bug's 4th birthday next week, and while we've got her a gift voucher for an experience for her present, I want her to have something a little more exciting to open as well - I'll post more about this when I have finished the make and can show!  I'm also making two more gifts for people, but I'll post about those another time as well, with pictures.
• I'll be focusing after half term on getting everything ready for the stall to make it look great, pricing the items, getting business cards etc. (which also means I need a website up and running!)

The writing has been going okay.  I had a bit of a revelation at the beginning of the week.  I was getting a bit frustrated because Hubby seemed to be faintly amused by my business efforts, rather than being supportive and really believing in what I was doing.  He smiled and said 

"I just think you're funny.  I thought you wanted to be a writer."  

He's right of course (he always is).  That was always the plan.  

I liked the idea of making things and selling them, and that really came through when other parents at pre-school started commenting on the things that I'd made, and suggesting that I should sell them.  I worked at the making, to build up the quality, and once I put things on my on-line shop I found that people were actually buying them, just a few here and there, but enough that I got the whiff of success.  

Writing on the other hand, comes easily to me and I love doing it.  When I day-dream, I'm not dreaming of spending my days in front of the sewing machine, I'm dreaming of tapping away at the keyboard, I'm dreaming of the letter from a publisher telling me that they want my book, or the editor commissioning an article.  I'm dreaming of a royalty cheque.  I'm dreaming of being a writer.  

Writing isn't just about writing though.  It's about sending off ideas and them being accepted, and there will be an awful lot of rejections before there are successes.  So not only do you need to be ready for that, but preferably you need to be able to concentrate and work at the computer for a couple of hours, and that is extremely difficult at the moment.  

He is right though.  

So, my priorities over the next couple of weeks are to 

• prepare for my first craft sale
• set up a website that combines everything - my blog (yes, I may be moving - watch this space for more information on that), my crafting and my writing, all under one headline brand, and order some business cards.
• Up the ante on my queries to various writing contacts.

The crafting needs to be something that I enjoy, and a sideline.  

The writing needs to be something that I enjoy, and the headline.

The parenting is still obviously pretty high on the agenda too, and we have lots of exciting plans for next week.

My running and swimming has taken a complete backseat.  I didn't do much the when my dad visited at the end of January, then I did something to my back, then I trapped a nerve in my elbow, and now I have a cold.  I'm just about to go out for a quick bike-ride with the dog, so I'm still exercising, but after the last couple of weeks, especially the very sore arm and back, I'm easing back into it. 

This is a crazy ride, a bit on the bumpy side.  I hope you're holding tight.