because ink + yarn make cozy friends

Strait waistcoats would be called for and padded cells dusted off. -- P.G. Wodehouse

It was a love-at-first-sight kind of idea.

Mom was the one to mention it... I was sniffing and dithering about how to earn money while still working hard on writing. Draft Three is nearly done, and I already have some ambitious plans for the next draft, for agent research, for what it will take to finally launch this much-loved book of mine.

(Note: I do know that many many successful people balance full-time jobs and spin engaging novels at the same time. And yes, I've had people tell me to just get a job and let the chips fall where they may. But you've heard all my rants and fears about how long this novel takes... I can't imagine slicing another twenty-plus hours out of each week. Checks in my savings account just don't feel worth that kind of heartbreak. And yes, I do know that this makes me insane. See the epigraph. I know.)

Anyway. I took a break from feeling mournful and showed Mom the knitting projects I'd done while she was away for a week: two hats, a set of fingerless mitts, and a long skinny scarf. They all turned out happily enough, and I was twisting the scarf into knots when Mom mentioned Etsy.

Etsy, where I could sell the things I knit. The things that I'm knitting as I write.

Yes, my mother is a genius.

I've given it intense thought and have decided to take the plunge. After all--it's autumn! We're coming up to Christmas... what better time to knit up a storm? Besides, I've always wanted to get carpal tunnel syndrome before the age of thirty... (joke.)

Bonus: my brilliant and talented sister will be joining me on it, which broadens the scope of what we could sell... And she has so many great ideas! It's fun to be doing something like this together...

I could wallpaper my room with the lists I've made this week--ideas, plans, time tables, required materials... My ideas for knitted goods have fast outstripped anything I could reasonably do! But oh, it's so very exciting. Daunting... but exciting.

Part Four (of my novel) is still going very well. If it's intimidated by its writer giving her heart to all things yarn, it hasn't shown it yet. So we'll just be one happy family, me, this little Etsy store, and my monstrously long and lovely novel.

I'm hoping to open my Etsy site in a month... about the same time that I'm hoping this latest draft of the novel is done. (Wow. That will call for confetti. Confetti, fine food, and hysterical laughter.) I'll keep you posted!