After many years of blogging, I’ve decided to take a WordPress course to draw a bigger audience and focus more on my writing. They suggested taking stock of what I have accomplished and what I liked to do for the next six months. So here’s what I got so far.
Taking Stock
The Chronicles of Princess Hot Flash started as a way to let my family and friends know what was going on with my life through travel, cooking, and baking, turning into restaurant madness, a multitude of crafting projects, and crazy cat lady moments. My trusty companions in my crazy world were my husband Oat and my cat, Click.
Three plus years ago, that all changed plus even more this past year due to COVID. My two companions have gone but hopefully watching over me, making sure I’m okay.
Things I’ll miss: (left to right, top to bottom) my beautiful Click, testing out desserts on my friends, hiking in National Parks, walking on our snowy path, and my funny Oat.
I have a new crew of four: Cora: my mom, the 91-year-old boss of all things and owner of Cora’s garden; Joe, my dad, the 93-year-old singer plus visual artist; Ollie, my stray that I found behind our restaurant; Orange, my round orange tabby. And my location has changed from New Jersey to Hawaii and back to my childhood home.
My new crew: (left to right, top to bottom) Mom modeling a knitted cowl I made for her, Dad the hipster in his new beanie, Ollie looking handsome, and Orange as tiny shy kitten (not any more, hahah).
The Pandemic took my job, and I became one of the many thousands unemployed. I’m currently a freelance graphic designer working part-time, volunteering at my favorite non-profits, and helping care for my parents. In between all of that, I’m working on too many project looking for something to inspire me to make something beautiful.
My slew of project, looking to inspiration: (left to right, top to bottom) Scheepjes 2020 CAL, (still going); trying out boro quilting on my pillow case; basket made from cord made from a lucet loom; trying my hand at pattern making, mom’s shorts; scrappy animals–pink cat;Hot Wheels the scrap dog; Arne and Carlos Quarantine squares blanket (done); hand quilting my aloha shirt blanket; and watercolor painting with embroidery.
The Next Six Months
Planning for the Next Six Months is the hard part. I’ve been putting this off for three-plus years. I guess this was my reason for signing up for this course. Here’s what I’d like to happen. I want to draw a bigger audience by creating more features like Cora’s Garden, posting about my too many projects and looking for inspiration, launching my Etsy shop and posting about my handmade items, and showcasing the photos I’ve been shooting these many years.
How about this does this sound like a plan?
You have an excellent plan.
LikeLike
I hope it helps.
LikeLike
Hey April, Always good to touch base and see what you are up to! Your mother and father are super impressive. Such wonderful looking people – you are blessed, and they too with you as their daughter.
LikeLike
Nice to hear from you.
LikeLike
Great intro and plan. I love your energy in this post!
LikeLike
Thanks for the encouragement. I hope I can keep it up.
LikeLiked by 1 person
For better or worse, we could start a club! Took a while for this to download to my laptop. Wifi speed here in the hospital in the town where I grew up is understandably not the the best. After living in the house I grew up in with my 87 year old mom, she finally had a bad enough fall that put her in the hospital just this week!
LikeLike
sorry to hear about the fall. Dad had a small fall yesterday. He was alright but insisted that I help him up by lifting him. My lower back has an issue from all this lifting that I need to show him how to get up. But he’s very stubborn, not sure if he will do what I say.
LikeLike
[…] struggling with that question for a few days since I saw it in my lesson. As I mentioned in my Hello post, I originally started to write for my family and friends to show them what was going in my world. […]
LikeLike