Weekend Warrior #64 Helping out a Charity & Cleaning Begins

Weekend Warrior #64 Helping out a Charity & Cleaning Begins

One of the things I am most proud of accomplishing in 2018 was writing From Where I am Sitting…A Collection of Cat Tales. There is a large percentage of people who say they want to write a book; many more than those who actually do write a book because it is not an easy task. I am working on my second book. I have a point, I am getting to it.

My book is a memoir narrated by cats, I have had to find creative ways to share this whimsical book and find readers. I have successfully approached four local stores to carry my book for sale on consignment. As an Indie Author, this means going to each of these stores to ask if they were interested in carrying it, in person. Thankfully, all four said yes. It is something that has the potential to help increase sales locally.

Authors attend events where we offer to sign books for people who want to buy them. It is something I am learning how to do locally. I have my first book signing event coming up in a couple of weeks at the larger of the four stores. It is a really big step. I am excited about it.

Unusual Book Signing Events

I have actually had four book signing events already. One was at a former place of employment. The second one was at the Pet Expo. A memoir narrated by cats sure did belong there. The third one was at The Purrfect Cup – A Cat Cafe. This weekend I was at a fundraiser for four local animal shelters. I helped the volunteers run what I must say was a very successful event. I was really surprised by the turnout. From Where I am Sitting…was there as an item for sale with a dollar donated to the fundraiser with each sale, and one book was donated to the silent auction. By the end of the event, I had sold a few extra signed books. More importantly, I had made some new connections.

What about the Bling?

In this city, I have tried to sell my jewellery with low success as the local market is saturated. Did I give up? Not a chance. I reinvented it, and this year I am bringing it to my online store. It will never be perfect. The website will always need changes. It is how managing your own website works. I am doing my best and asking for help if I need to. My inexperience is the biggest issue I am fighting against, and I am not shy about it.

I haven’t seen nearly the same reaction to the jewellery as I have to the book. Which reinforces the fact that I am doing the right thing. I am moving forward, and changing how I am doing things. It is slowly starting to pay off. Not in my wallet yet, that will come with time. For now, I am networking. Meeting people, and getting my name out there. To my knowledge, there is only one MacWebber in the whole world, and she is typing away furiously right here, right now.

Being fearless doesn’t mean I don’t get scared

I am working on my dreams, without a safety net. At times, it is terrifying. Who knew that picking FEARLESS for my word of 2019 would be put to the test right from the start of the year? I didn’t. This may be something I choose more carefully next year. The entrepreneur in me is pushing hard to succeed. I won’t benefit from playing safe. It will grow from being fearless.

After letting my Extrovert self out, the Introvert in me wants to be at home again.

I am an ambivert which is a mixture of an extrovert and an introvert. I love being around people, and I value my quiet time. It is a good thing. Besides,as a result of being unemployed or on a tight budget, if I stay home I don’t spend money. 😉

Sunday I spent the afternoon cleaning. There is a lot more left to do. I have a hard time tearing myself away from my computer as I am often working on graphics or writing. For myself, a group I run, and now expanding to make some for friends. I am in the process of designing a logo for a peer. A friend needed help for a new business cover photo for Facebook page. Things like this are fun for me. If I have happy clients, it builds my portfolio. With constant improvement and persistence, I will succeed to start taking on more paying clients, for this and for the writing. I know my potential.

I need the coffee to do the things!

Oh yeah, the cleaning. These days I can’t really stand to even write about it, I have a hard time actually working on it. I made progress Sunday, and I cleared a small space. I will continue tomorrow. The problem I have right now is that I am an overachiever. I optimistically think I can get things accomplished on time. With more on the go, I can get wrapped up in what I am working on, and never get to the other items on my to do list. There it is, the helpful process I need to follow to get things done.

If I skip drinking coffee in the morning I become very unproductive. I need coffee and really good multivitamins to keep going. With this plan, I can do everything. The problem then becomes only doing the bare minimum of what I need to do because I am having way too much fun doing what I want to do.

Which makes me wonder why the things I want to do are not considered important enough to be the things I need to do. Hmm. My solution in my mind is to break out the agendas I bought (yes, I bought 2 again this year one for home and one for my purse,) to try and schedule my time more effectively. On a positive note, I have lowered the number of cups of coffee I have been drinking in a day. I am trying to change things in my life, to make it better. How was your weekend? What are you changing?