Balancing with Two Inks...

Does anybody remember Robert Pattison pre Twilight?  Aside from being Cedric Diggory in the Harry Potter films, he was a talented musician.  If you saw Twilight, you would have heard his song, and his talents as he played (yes, it was him, not dubbed over) the piano.  So what happened to his music career?  It could have developed alongside acting right?  Or no?

My point is that I must be barking mad trying to balance two difficult careers.  My writing is doing very well at the moment and despite my having developed my jewellery making skills and photography (pics for the jewellery) it’s just not going anywhere.  I love it.  I really, really love it.  It also keeps me sane when I’m battling it out with editing.  But it’s not making anything.  Do I keep at it or focus just on writing?  I’ve just registered my maker’s mark with the Assay office – expensive, but a legal requirement for the UK if I’m making larger items of precious metal.  I don’t want it to just be a hobby.  I don’t do hobby-level crafting; it’s usually all or nothing.

So how does Pattison deal with it?  Does he moonlight as a musician under an assumed name, hoarding off the adoring vampiric fans?  Or will he wait until the acting career has fizzled into a comfortable level and then do a bit of band work on the side (thinking of Adrian Edmondson and The Bad Shepherds - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Aulos-NGsk)

Getting paid for my writing today and not for any of the rings I’ve made this month is probably the sign that I’ve been putting off.  The problem is that I can’t STOP.  So… if you’ve read this, thought, hmm… I need to wear some pirate rings to put me in the piratey mood while I read Blood Tide… http://www.amazon.co.uk/Blood-Tide-Promise-Freedom-ebook/dp/B0099POPGW/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1359111765&sr=8-1 please visit my etsy shop and knock yourself out with a 10% discount (type in NEWCUST10 in the discount code box) http://www.etsy.com/shop/SeadrakeCreations?ref=si_shop

Because balancing the two is what I do best :-)

January inklets

So much to do and so little time.  I’ve been working on more rings and other jewellery for Seadrake Creations.  My photography has certainly improved, but I’m still struggling to be seen and found on etsy (http://www.etsy.com/shop/SeadrakeCreations?ref=si_shop) as there are so many millions of people selling there.  I do very well at the craft fairs, so this year, I’ll be looking for more fairs to sell at.

I loved doing the bat ring for Berni.  She’s going to wear it to the next Dracula Society meeting – a perfect setting for such a goth ring.  Other jewellery projects have been doing more rings, working with traditional sterling bezels (look at the etsy moonstone ring which blends fine silver with sterling https://www.etsy.com/listing/120699333/beautiful-6mm-moonstone-in-fine-silver).  My wax ring is looking beautiful with celtic spiral and trinity knots, but it’s too expensive to have cast just now. I’ll have to wait until I’ve sold more work.

As for writing… I suppose I needed a break.  I’ve not written anything new for knowonder save for the forward to the next anthology coming out soon.  The ideas seem to be bottlenecked in my head but come out as dark teen fiction – probably because I’m still editing my YA 16+ fantasy book, Downtrodden.  Blood Tide was swept up in the free offers after Christmas – over 400 readers downloaded the book internationally in three days, but only one person left a review.  Thankfully, it was a five star review, and that did make my day.  After years of toil, research and rewrites, it has come to pretty much nothing. Yet I’m happy I wrote it.  It is, in my opinion, my best work – something that I may never top, which is a scary thought.

The days are passed wondering what else I can do to promote my work.  There is always more to be done, but there is danger in just throwing out cash for google-ads only to find your time and efforts would have been better off spent on something else.  So what on earth to do next?  I really want to get this fantasy edited, dusted and kindled.  A wonderfully supportive fellow author has shown me the path to Smashwords – an online resource that allows authors and publishers to upload to most retail outlets for little to no cost.  So I suppose I’ll continue to slog forward, blinded by the icy headwinds, recklessly delusional in the hope that someday, someone will pick up my work and hand it to someone who might send me a good contract.

Four Leaves

*I wrote this children's rhyming tale last year but it never found a home until now...

Four Leaves

 

Four leaves on my clover,

four leaves, I can see!

I picked it when Dad used the mower,

and now I’ve got wishes for me.

 

It was a tricky thing I’ll say

to get to it in time,

because the mower was so fast

and its blades are sharp and fine.

 

I did a tumble, roll and jump,

just like they taught at school,

(that’s acrobat school don’t you know

don’t think that I’m a fool).

 

As I said, I jumped and rolled,

or something of that sort.

And when I plucked up that clover,

I knew I was a clever sport.

 

It happened so very fast,

when I saw it had four leaves.

I’d been sitting on the rooftop,

hidden among the eaves.

 

Impossible? No, not at all,

not when you know the moves.

From roof to tree to grass I rolled

and without even wearing my shoes.

 

Now, now, don’t think me odd,

I do it all the time…

I liberate small things you see,

that I think are so divine.

 

Last week it was a chocolate cake

that my sister had.

She would have eaten it, truly so!

But instead I made her mad.

 

I swooped down on a rope,

(I’d been practicing high wire).

I popped that cake into my mouth

and Sister swore blue fire.

 

And two weeks before,

I rescued a lost cat.

She was about to be eaten, (I swear!)

by a large lady in a blue hat.

 

I got in trouble of course,

but it’s worth it in the end.

With cat and cake and clovers all

any rule I’ll bend.

 

Anyway, I digress, what was I to say?

Ah yes, my lovely, leafy clover.

Four leaves all for me to wish,

but for what I’ll think it over.

 

Should I wish for a new bike,

with shiny red new paint?

Or maybe a huge trampoline,

with that I’d have no complaint.

 

Then, I suppose, I could wish something nice,

for all my family to share.

Nah, I think I keep all four wishes,

a nine-year-old shouldn’t care.

 

“Alan, get back inside,”

a voice shouted from behind.

And all my wishes vanished,

blanked by the daily grind.

 

It was just my imagination after all,

but a boy’s got to wish sometime.

It’s back to homework now for me,

No trampoline or bike so fine.

 

Until, at least… maybe Christmas time.