Luna's Gathering

Dreams

2011-09-21T01:08:00.002-05:00

For a very long time now I've talked about all the big plans I have for my site and my store. And I've yet to show any real progress. I'm great with the big ideas and grand schemes; not so much on the follow through. Also, there is that flaw in my genetic make-up, the ability to focus on one thing at a time until it is complete. Of course life outside of the business hasn't exactly been kind either.

I haven't given up on my dream, not even a little. I just know I need to be more realistic. And to depend solely on myself for now to accomplish my goals. Luna's Gathering is about to come full circle and become what I wanted it to be from day one; a store for Pagan greeting cards. I want to give the community a line of cards that, as I've told a few non-Pagan friends, are like the typical Hallmark cards but for the Pagan holidays and sentiments. Simple, clean illustrations and wonderful words to express our feelings instead of the usual fantasy art. Don't get me wrong though. I like the cards with the beautiful and detailed artwork. That's not quite my style (well, won't be once I've developed mine). And I know I could never compete with that. I'll find my niche and we can all offer something unique and magickal.

I've recently acquired several tools that will assist and a possible avenue for selling locally to test my marketability. It also gives me a deadline. This may be the motivator I need to finally reach for that long sought after dream.

Trying to streamline

2011-07-02T03:23:00.003-05:00

For a long while now, the goal was to update the shop with handy shopping cart software. The problem always came down to figuring out the PHP and creating a database on the web hosting server. Now the server that hosts our site has added shopping cart installation right into the hosting package. The cart is installed and soon adding products and making the store professional will be a snap. This is perfect as there will also be lots of new items coming to The Apothecary; spell kits, handmade jewelry, as well as the basic supplies. Change has been slow. With the new resources, they should come more steadily.

Time lost and starting yet again

2011-03-14T00:52:00.003-06:00

Times have changed, as have priorities. Demon Hunters Quarterly was a nice idea, one that others have done much better. And the passion for the inspiration has waned. The site is no more. The main focus MUST be Luna's Gathering and the Apothecary. Too many lesser priorities put LG off track for too long. The main site has been streamlined yet again. The newest change should allow for regular updates. The Apothecary won't be a sub-domain anymore. It's also slowly moving to the new LG. With help from a friend, one I thought I'd lost, we've come up with a way to make LG a bit different, to offer something other Pagan sites don't have. The only way to stand out is to be unique. The basic supplies may come down, making way for spell kits designed to be effective without being expensive, which is still in line with the plan for the company, magick on the cheap. Updates will show up here and on the FB and Twitter accounts. More news coming soon!

For Amanda

2010-04-01T23:00:00.001-06:00

I will be participating in this walk for my niece on April 24th. Please check my personal page for ways you can contribute or participate.

Major hiatus

2010-03-19T01:12:00.002-06:00

Many changes and problems in my personal life have taken their toll on business and creative endeavors. All of the websites have gone untouched for months. Also no fan fiction or new designs for Cafe Press. The two hardest things have been personal losses, one I couldn't expect and still can't believe.

New Years night my oldest niece was killed by a drunk driver. She was on her way home from a friend's and ran out of gas on the Tollway. She was sitting in her car waiting for help to arrive when the guy hit her. She would've been 24 next month. My sister is still at a loss on how to deal with losing her baby girl while still taking care of her youngest, who is only 13 and missing her big sister. The other loss was foreseen, but still painful. A friend was diagnosed with cancer last year and given pretty good odds on recovery. The doctors seemed very optimistic. Chemo did absolutely nothing and almost seemed to accelerate the growth. Just a week or two after burying my niece, my friend died in hospice, the cancer taking over his lungs. His last few months, he'd made peace with things and was ready to stop hurting. Not such an easy thing for those left behind.

It will be therapeutic to have work to focus on to make things hurt less one day at a time. Hopefully the next few weeks will bring the new direction for DHQ, new designs for Cafe Press, and finally marketing Luna's Gathering into a profitable business. Better to harness the energies for the positive than wallow in self pity. Maybe I can even make a little time for something as frivolous as some fan fiction.

Procrastinating

2009-07-22T02:33:00.002-05:00

I've let a lot of stuff get my priority list all out of whack.

But on the plus side, I did get the new layout for Luna's Gathering uploaded. The site is so much easier to navigate. It is easier on the eyes and even has some new content. I try to add at least one new bit each week. The job that pays the bills is more than crazy in the summer and leaves me exhausted by the end of the night. I figure that little bits of success over a long period of time is much better than no success waiting for the big payoff. The farm site is in DESPERATE need of new content, but it is a bit depressing. The extreme heat has killed all the plants, so there's nothing happy to post right now. I found a nifty new layout for my Supernatural fan site. When I upload DHQ's new look, the site will also change its purpose a bit. With the show possibly ending next season, I wanted to expand the theme to keep it fresh. Demon Hunters Quarterly will be about the paranormal in all parts of life, not just the one show. There will still be a place for Supernatural on the site, but it will encompass so much more, including other great shows, the paranormal in films and literature, how it affects and has affected our culture, and even have a section for real encounters.

Still haven't worked on any SEO for any of the sites. That is still coming. Haven't added anything new to CafePress. I am averaging about 8-10 sales a month, which is pretty awesome with no work on my end. I also plan to help another friend with her up and coming SPN fan site. I'll post a link here when it is live.

On the writing front, I started the SPN/CSI crossover. I only have the one chapter so far. I also joined a drabble challenge group. A drabble is basically a story or scene told in exactly 100 words. The leaders of the group send out a new word each week. We write a drabble that incorporates that word and post it for all to read. As usual, I'm late to the game. They've already done 50 challenges. I will try to write about 2 or 3 of the older challenges a week to post with the new words as they are sent. It is a great writing exercise. It'll help me write tighter, cleaner stories. And it is a blast trying to find new and unusual ways to use a word, hoping you don't do the same as all the other participants. The "group" started out as two people. They are now the admins for the group that has grown to almost 100 people. All of my writing can be found at my ff.net profile.

Crazy busy and a little lazy

2009-05-18T01:31:00.005-05:00

Lately there have been mood swings that alternate greatly. Most of it swinging low. My attempt at a nifty shopping cart software just about fried my brain. All because I couldn't figure out what I was doing wrong with PayPal. Well, much to my embarassment, I fixed my PayPal issues very easily and didn't dare tell many people what stupidity was holding me back. As of this post, I have shiny new PayPal buttons on all but one of the products in my store. Yay!! Make sure to check it out at http://theapothecary.lunasgathering.com/ and let me know what you think. I'm actually kinda proud of my little shoppe. It's small for now, but everything is easy to find.

Next comes a MAJOR overhaul of the main site. As I've added new pages, the navigation went awry. Things are too hard to find. I have a new template with much better navigation. It is also more visually appealing (at least I think it is). I will post back here once the new site is ready. After that comes SEO on all of my sites. I believe I have something cool to offer. No one will know if my sites get lost in the massive sea of crap that is the internet.

Not much new to report with the Cafe Press stores. I did post a new Supernatural design a while back. I sold one of that new design just a few days ago. Sales have been slow but steady and much better than this time last year.

On the creative front, all but one of my fan fics are finished. "Final Betrayal" took forever, but the ending was well received and earned me a few favorite story and author nods. It didn't win the fan fic award it was nominated for, partly because it wasn't finished at the time of voting. My first strictly humorous one was a hit as well. Now that I only have the sequel to "What If?" languishing, my muse has two more ideas it wants me to start, one of them being a Supernatural/CSI crossover. I know it has been done, but I'd like to add mine to the mix.

Baby steps

2009-04-02T23:12:00.003-06:00

Ok, the store is online. Well, sort of. I have pages up and some products listed. I haven't worked out the kinks in the PayPal buttons and cart. That should happen sometime during my vacation from the day job. The last couple of months there have been very draining, making work on all of my other endeavors next to impossible. I am taking 11 days off from retail and have big plans for all of them; most of it being personal stuff that has been piling up. After it is cleared up once and for all I can focus more energy on the important business stuff. All of the websites should see fresh new content over the eleven days; a whole new issue for DHQ, lots of info in the library on Luna's Gathering, and updates on farm business on Covenstead. I also hope to have a couple of new shirt designs. Then it is a matter of promotion. I have to get the word out to the right people.

On a more personal creative note, I finally finished three of my fan fiction stories, two of them for Supernatural and one InuYasha. The SPN story I've struggled with for over a year and a half, "Final Betrayal" at last has an ending. I also finished a funny one I started while stuck on Betrayal and posted the InuYasha story I wrote long before the SPN ones. I originally planned to adjust the ending. I decided I liked it the way it was and posted it. The posted ending was simple and understated, more suited to the characters as I've seen them in the show than flowery declarations of love I would've added.

A full plate

2009-03-24T00:06:00.003-06:00

Much has been going on, though nothing is complete. With the addition of the site for Covenstead Farm, actual work on said farm, and an assist on another Supernatural site, we've been busy with very little results. Product has been ordered and mostly delivered for the upcoming shop on Luna's Gathering. The shop is under way and hopefully put online within a couple of weeks. We've planted seedlings that will hopefully become home-grown herbs for the shop. Once the basics are set in place it will give us time to work on marketing; for Luna's Gathering, the farm, and even the Cafe Press store. Then time can be taken to update the fun sites, the SPN fan sites. All in its own time. The farm and online shop must take top priority.

New design!!

2009-02-17T02:58:00.004-06:00

Yep, time to show the newest design at Luna's Gathering. It's been in the store for about a month. It hasn't sold yet, but about half of my designs have never sold, as yet. I have about 5 designs that sell fairly regularly and a few that sell sporadically. My best seller is "WWWD What Would Dean Do?" My most recent sale was the design that simply says "really?" With set backs in getting stuff on lunasgathering.com and everyday life keeping me busy, I hadn't created a new design since the design I put up for Yule. I plan very soon to find some creative, free ways to promote my stores, as well as my websites to boost sales. Every little thing I can do to increase my chances of quitting my crap retail job, I will. Until then, gotta keep the day job. Now to the newest addition!

No more holiday craziness

2009-01-02T23:07:00.003-06:00

With the day job and personal life taking such a huge chunk of my time, there's been precious little time to work on the business stuff. I did manage to squeeze a couple hours here and an hour or so there to make some important changes to www.lunasgathering.com. The focus of the site has officially changed from my CafePress store to a more broad audience. I don't have any of the product up or major content, but the beginnings are set. I have a snazzy new logo, the shells of most of the new pages and have removed all the excess shirt design pages. I even have the beginnings of the new site for the farm. I'll be back again soon with more details.

News and new designs

2008-11-11T03:21:00.005-06:00

With help from my new roomies, I have about 7 new design ideas basically done and ready to upload and add to products. I've already put up two so far, one for each store. I've begun to see an increase in sales for this holiday. I was averaging about one sale a month until a couple of weeks ago. From there it was one or two a week. I am now seeing at least one a day, occasionally two. It is exciting when people choose my design over so many others. After work, I will add two more designs, possibly three. I am having a harder time coming up with original ideas for the DHQ store than for Luna's Gathering. Though right now I think the best thing for DHQ is to find ways to promote the designs I have now and worry about new designs later. Finding a way to market my designs above others is the only way I will be able to get my stores to succeed. I know the designs are solid. They just have to be seen. When there are over three thousand designs for the chosen tags and categories, there has to be another way to stand out. The designs on the first page of a search are the ones that sell. But how do you sell if you can't reach that first page? Finding the right keywords is only a small part of that conundrum. Ok, now to the news. :)

Luna's Gathering is now officially a business, registered with the state, tax ID and all. I also found a couple of wholesalers who dropship. They are suppliers of Pagan wares. I can add the items I choose to my site, take retail orders from customers, and they will ship the items directly to my customers. Pretty cool for starters. I eventually would love to have an actual storefront with space to just buy wholesale and sell in-store and online. I've also started compiling a list of good wholesalers. I think this is the only way I'll ever get a storefront. I'll have to save capital myself with an online business to start the bricks and mortar store. And I'll have to keep my "day job" so we don't starve. Things are starting to come together slowly but surely. Baby steps to success! And to the left, my newest design, appearing in my store tomorrow night.

NaNoWriMo 2008

2008-11-02T02:09:00.002-06:00

Today was day one of NaNoWriMo or National Novel Writers Month. It is a challenge to writers to get 50k words of a story written in thirty days. No editing, no serious planning. Just lots of writing of words to get the jist of the story down. As usual, I'll be getting a late start. With so many other things going on, not much thought has gone into the new Supernatural story I'll write this year. Today I at least chose which of my story ideas to use. Now I have to decide when in the series it will take place and where. Once I have those two basic pieces of info I can start busting out the story. The spirit in this one feeds on hidden fears and insecurities. This is the main reason I have to narrow down a time frame. Each of the seasons had a whole new set of fears for both of the Boys to deal with. Though Dean's insecurities are still basically the same. I also need to choose a setting not so close to home. I don't want to end up setting all of my stories in Texas. Now to go find a good haunted college. :) The sooner I can start writing, the easier it will be to catch up from the word count deficit.

Following Through

2008-10-21T02:51:00.004-05:00

As I said in my last post, I needed to update both of my websites. I can finally say, "I did it!" I still haven't done the major overhaul I want to Luna's Gathering, but the content is fairly fresh and the dead links are gone. The major reworking will come soon. And even better, I got the new issue of Demon Hunters Quarterly up. It lacks only a completed main story (which should be done in the next couple of days), but other than that it's complete. For the first time since I started the site I don't have empty spaces with the "coming soon" promise. I added a featured author to the fan fiction section and a few smaller things. Now that my sites aren't stagnant I can start producing a few new designs. I need at least 4 more to get ready for the Christmas rush (if there is one with this economy). I'll post the new designs here as I add them to my stores.

Oh, and the move was successful. Now to the unpacking. :D

Super excited!!

2008-09-25T05:05:00.005-05:00

I know it's been quiet here. With all the packing and the moving (which finally started in earnest on Tues) I haven't posted anything. Here's some good news on the creative front. I finally decided to break down and open another Cafe Press store. It is called DHQ Apparel, to go with my Demon Hunters Quarterly website. I moved all my "Supernatural inspired" designs there and added a couple of new designs. One is a logo design for the website. The other is from a line in the Season 4 premiere. Which was freaking amazing, btw! Yesterday I sold a WWDD mini button, and just 20 minutes ago I sold one of the new designs, not the logo but the one called Chew Toy. I couldn't believe I sold that so quickly. It's barely been up a couple of days. This good news tells me I need to take the time to fix both websites so I can get more customers to my stores. I have to promote myself. No one else will do it for me. Just need a little sleep first. ;)

Must watch video

2008-09-15T07:02:00.004-05:00

Regardless of who you are planning to vote for in the upcoming election, there are some facts that EVERY American should be made aware of. We live in a country that claims to be a democracy. It even gives a decent illusion of being such. But this video, called Hacking Democracy shows how quickly and easily an election can be purchased. Just as it probably was the last two elections. When the CEO of the company that supplies the computers to tally the votes freely admits to vote tampering, we have to wonder if an election will even matter. The election will go to the highest bidder, which most likely means the Republicans. It begs the question, "If the last two elections had not been helped along by a greedy corporation, would we have had to suffer through these two debilitating terms under Bush? What would the economy look like? Would we already have the beginnings of a greener way of life?" Why the hell bother to vote if they can tweak a computer in seconds to fix the results?

I hadn't intended to put this on my business/creative blog, but I wanted to reach as many people as possible with the link to the video. Not that I have huge readership here, but what the hell? One more person reached is a step in the right direction.

My second fan fic

2008-08-12T04:00:00.003-05:00

I've been working on a story since November. One much longer than my first one-shot. I've put off posting any of it until I had an ending. Which, I realized, is what I've done. Put it off and put it off. It was the perfect excuse not to just post it and hope for the best. I know now that the only way to learn from my writing mistakes is to put them out there and let others tell me what those mistakes are. I have 7 chapters posted so far. The story should end up with maybe 2 more chapters, 3 if my muse starts adding more like it has since last November. I also figured out that I work better under a deadline. With bunches of readers bugging for an ending, maybe I can finally put this one to bed and work on the next story, a sequel of sorts to my first story. I have almost the whole first chapter done on that one. Here is a link to my fanfiction.net profile, lunasgathering39, which includes links to both of my stories. I also plan to finally finish an InuYasha story I started well over a year ago. It merely lacks a better ending. It seems the end of the story is my weak spot.

Went for funny this time

2008-08-12T03:41:00.003-05:00

Another co-worker request, this was also another very easy one to create. I simply traced a spork image in Illustrator, put some text to it, and gave it all a bevel. It worked out very nicely on the spork itself. I created the black for the light shirts and vice versa. I am left with only one other design ready to go. Which means getting my rear in gear and making more before the Christmas "rush" begins. I don't expect sales to be like they were last year with the economy in the toilet as it is. Not that my sales were spectacular compared to other shops. But I would like to have as much available as possible, just in case. In fact sales have already dropped to almost nothing. I went several months without a single sale. Had a few sales this month. Just a couple of buttons and bumper stickers.

New design at last

2008-07-25T03:10:00.004-05:00

Another co-worker request, this one is from the most recent Doctor Who and its spin-off, Torchwood. The request was for the Union Jack with the specific text. The only parts of the design that are completely mine are the text placement, the font choice and the fun gradient on the text. I can never help giving the text a bit of bevel or embossing. It just gives the words that extra little oomph. :D I should be posting another new design next week and big changes to the website. Luna's Gathering has sat unchanged for so long. It is time it started paying for itself. And then some!

Time got away from me again

2008-07-02T22:40:00.002-05:00

It never ceases to amaze me how I make plans, try to create a routine, and time throws all my plans out a window. I had big plans to post a new design every week on my store to keep it fresh, make it easier to find in searches. I still have about three designs completed and ready to go. It's a simple matter of squeezing enough minutes into my day to do that and everything else. Unfortunately, that won't be today. Not until I clear my plate of a few more things. And get rid of a stubborn cold (or allergies or whatever it is). After I get the new design up, which takes more time than some might realize (You know what I'm talking about, right Ghost?), I will get my website updated. That needs to be a bigger priority than even new designs. If I can get people to my site, then they find my CafePress store and ALL of my designs. Keeping the store fresh helps someone find one of my designs. I want them all to be seen. :) I'm kind of greedy that way.

In the meantime, I've been reading a book suggested by a friend "I Could Do Anything If I Only Knew What It Was". I've only gotten through the first chapter so far. But it is a great start because it helps me to pinpoint when I stopped thinking about what I want and tried to do what others wanted me to do. The first chapter is called "What are you supposed to be doing?" As in, what does your family and friends think is right for you. In reading it, I realized I am basically doing what was expected of me. Nothing.

Growing up, I was expected to go to school, get decent grades, and that was about it. Plans for the future were never discussed. Not that talking ever really happened at my house.Hell, I never even got "the talk". Now, when I talk to family, it isn't about what I could be doing, but what I'm doing wrong.

"You're too smart to still be in retail." Ok, so what should I do instead? They say to get a job in the field I went to college for, but guess what? There are no entry-level jobs in my field unless I live in India. And I don't even know that graphic design will be anything more than a hobby or side business. I'm certainly not passionate about it. Unless I'm designing my Supernatural website. :D

I'm too fat, too plain-looking, and too single. But I never learned to do anything but exist. So yeah, that's what I do. One thing I did get from my family is the ability to have big ideas that I never do anything about. We are big on dreaming with no follow through. It is something I am working on (along with a bucket load of self-doubt; hmm, wonder where that came from?), but it will take time. And finding the thing that makes me happy.

New design number two

2008-05-23T01:38:00.004-05:00

This one was more complicated. I got to use both Illustrator and Photoshop to complete it. The picture was obviously created with Illustrator, using the pen tool and the gradient mesh tool. I love the gradient mesh tool. It's also how I got the cool look to the butterflies on "Transformation". I haven't perfected the use of it, but it is a blast to play with. I use Photoshop for all of my text. The beveling and embossing are much easier to use in PS than in Illustrator. The font in this design begged for embossing. :) It kind of gives it that extra funkiness that is opposite of the manic look on the boxing sun. Thanks go out to my friend at work for coming up with the idea. I merely had to execute it.

New design!!

2008-05-17T02:02:00.010-05:00

It took an unscheduled loss of internet to get my rear in gear, but I finally have a new design in my store. Actually, I've got four completed designs. I will put up one new design a week to help keep the store fresh for the search engines. Apparently that is a huge key to getting designs seen, a fresh front page updated regularly. They were all special requests from co-workers that were simple and quick to create. Most of what I've done and will post over the next few weeks took very little graphic design talent. Just the ability to make text look more interesting than black, blocky letters. But this first design is one I'd love to wear to my day job. Every retail employee should be allowed to wear it and wear it proudly. :D

The dark green one is for the light shirts and the the lighter one has a nifty white outline so it will pop on the black shirts. I opted for a fun font and color that were neither masculine or feminine. This design is for everyone.

The site

2008-03-27T05:03:00.004-06:00

Finally the site is coming along great. I have content on almost all of the pages, though some of it needs to be changed. I put up my shirt designs without script to keep it from being copied. That will have to be changed very soon. I got most of the designs for Celestial Spiral's store up and linked directly to her store. We have to get this site to generate traffic to our Cafe Press stores as none of our designs come up in the first few pages of the search of the Marketplace. If you don't show up in the first few pages, you normally don't get seen. The Marketplace search is a lot like searching Google. If you don't find what you want on the first few pages, you give up and try a different search term.

All the site needs now is some graphics that will be free for all to use. After the content is added, I can start to get the meta tags and descriptions fixed to help with SEO. Then I can start to submit to other Pagan sites for link exchanges. From what I can tell, links back to my site from reputable sites can make a difference in Google search rankings. With the site well in hand, I can start refreshing my Photoshop and Illustrator skills in order to create more cool designs. It is busy circle of things always needing to be done.

Unexpected progress and a new name

2008-03-18T07:14:00.004-06:00

As I mentioned on my main blog, I've made some strides creatively over the last few days. I got a new design up in my Cafe Press store and improved my word count on the Supernatural fan fiction story.

Tonight I made a huge leap towards one of my major goals. I've talked about, promised myself, and basically whined about needing an off store site to promote the designs that aren't being found right now, my Pagan designs. I'm thrilled that I'm making any sales, but the whole point of the store was Pagan graphics. I've owned my domain for at least two years. I paid for six months of web hosting before putting it to use. Well, happy dance all! I found a free template that was easy to tweak and to my liking. I now have 4 pages on my site with actual content. I will add more over the next few weeks. Then I can start getting the SEO stuff figured out. Check out my site at www.lunasgathering.com and let me know what you think. Time to be the guinea pig so my cohort in t-shirt design can know if it's worth it, if an off store site will generate any traffic

I am changing the name of this blog as it will now be the official blog of the website. I really want to work on brand name recognition and having the name in as many places as possible will help.

All quiet on the creative front

2008-02-12T03:51:00.001-06:00

I only have one bit of news here. I finally have another computer. A brand spanking new beautiful laptop that will help me with many creative things. And shouldn't die on me anytime soon. She's an HP Pavilion dv6000 model with loads of memory and an awesome video card. And thanks to a suggestion by a dear friend, I've decided to give her a name. Maybe that way, she'll stick with me for many years to come. Don't laugh. I know the name is a bit cheesy, but it's part me and part my obsession that has inspired me to try new creative things. I christen the new baby computer Artemis Winchester. Told you it was cheesy, but it makes me smile. :D It does fit though. The goddess of the hunt should naturally be a Winchester and I identified very much with her long before I met the Brothers Winchester. And this baby will churn out many a fun Supernatural fan fiction story, if I have my way. I also have a general idea for series of Pagan designs. It's only a matter of specific details and implementation. I hope they work out the way my mind sees them and the newly loaded graphics software doesn't fight me. Photoshop and Illustrator have both been known to do that on occasion. Probably just user error. :D

Not much new

2008-01-20T02:56:00.000-06:00

I haven't been able to meet my planned goals for the end of 2007, though this time not due to my own procrastination. Thanks to a dead computer (yet again) I haven't gotten any new designs or the website for my store created. Thankfully, none of my designs were permanently lost. The layered files were all saved to a CD the last time my computer started acting up. The crash also took the only digital copy I had of my fan fiction stories. Luckily, the one-shot was uploaded to fanfiction.net. My multi-chapter story started during NaNoWriMo wasn't, but I do have a hard copy. I'd printed them out so I could make additions and changes on my lunch breaks. I'll have to re-type almost 15k words. At least I don't have to rely on my memory. And I can add the new stuff as I go along.

I hope to have lots of creative news to report as soon as I have a proper working computer again. That should be no later than the end of February.

Store milestone

2007-12-03T23:21:00.000-06:00

I'm very excited because sales have picked up for the holidays. It makes me wish I'd worked harder on new designs before now. I will make sure to be ready next year with lots of new stuff and an off-store website promoting it. My store did have a new milestone. I had my first repeat customer today. Someone actually ordered one of my shirts, got it and like it enough to order another one a week later. How freaking cool is that!?! This gives me hope that the store wasn't a dumb idea or a waste of time. My designs are better than I'm willing to give myself credit for. If I'd listened to my friend Rivercrow to start with I could've saved myself loads of self-doubt about my CafePress store.

On the writing front, as the meter on the side of the blog shows, I never got close to the 50k goal for NaNoWriMo. But the 13.5k I did get was at least two-thirds of first draft of my story. I won't stop writing just because the contest is over. I want to have the story finished to post on fanfiction.net by the end of the year.

Long time gone

2007-11-19T04:53:00.001-06:00

I've been so sidetracked by so much that Artist's Way has been impossible. But at least the biggest thing requiring my attention is an artistic endeavor. I signed on to participate in NaNoWriMo. It is much more work than I originally anticipated. Completely enjoyable work, but still work. For anyone wanting to keep up with my progress, small compared to others but good for a rookie author, my profile is here. Next month, I plan to get some new designs uploaded to my store and start work on the website I keep threatening to create to help boost sales. As far as next year, I have no idea what it holds in store for me.

More new designs

2007-10-07T04:02:00.001-05:00

Thanks to special requests from co-workers and a slight obsession with the show "Supernatural", I've added not just one but 3 (well, 4 as of tomorrow) new designs. I have several other requests that haven't made it to my Photoshop yet. I've been struggling to come up with ideas that might actually sell and my co-workers are all trying their best to help. The first design shown here was really just for me. I am such a Dean fangirl. The second, one of the special requests, is a birthday gift for someone who's turning 30 and understands the "Logan's Run" reference.

Ok, with that bit of guilt out of my system, I can go work on my fan fiction some more. I always feel a bit guilty when I let my store go without regular updates. I think the new designs make up for some of the lost time. And after the fan fiction, I will get my website up so my designs can be found on Google. My monitor has become a minefield of Post-it notes to keep me focused and on track. And so I don't lose the great ideas from my co-workers. I am a Post-it kinda girl. :D

Finally some inspiration

2007-09-04T02:04:00.000-05:00

It's been a while since I've been able to come up with a new design for my store. It took actually wearing one of them to help me with a new one. I think I might have to make a whole series. Check out how it looks on the shirts and let me know what you think. :D

Getting my crap together

2007-08-28T15:02:00.000-05:00

I've followed one piece of advice and ignored another. Too bad I got it backwards. I've recently been reading up on how to make a CafePress store successful. Almost everywhere I found information, the person said that the shopkeeper should always charge the premium mark-up. The reasoning behind it was the people shopping see the higher price and figure it is higher quality. That is a load of excrement. I was averaging at least one sale a week, sometimes even two. I know, not that much in the scheme of things, but it paid for the store. On the advice of the "experts", I changed the mark-up on all of my designs to premium. No sale for almost two weeks, also not a huge deal. But I changed my prices back to what I'd had before and the same day I made another sale. It could be a coincidence, but I see it as a sign. The "experts" are probably just other shopkeepers who figure the best way to get rid of competition is give lame advice. We newbies, trusting they know what they are talking about, follow like sheep. Well not anymore. Like I told my friend Rivercrow, I'd rather make $2 per shirt and sell 2 or 3 than make $4 a shirt and not sell any.

The first bit of advice still doesn't explain why my Pagan designs don't sell. I believe it's because I didn't follow the second, more helpful, information. I have several very nice designs. But no one sees them. That's because I added them to my store without bothering with a description. Having tags for each design is all well and good. But the description increases the number of times the target keywords appear on the page. Not only does it help in searches on CP, but searches on the major search engines as well. If we can get our designs to show up on Google, maybe we can reach the audience we are targeting. I posted this info on my main blog almost a month ago and blew it off. I plan to spend the next few days correcting that oversight. I will post here if it has any effect on my sales. :D

Milestone

2007-08-17T02:25:00.000-05:00

As of about two hours ago, and thanks to a few friends and even more total strangers, I've sold 30 items through my Cafe Press store. My Naruto design is still my best seller. I've let my store sit on the back burner the last few weeks. I still need to add descriptions to my current designs. I need to come up with some new stuff. And need to put content on the website I finally forked out web hosting money for. Though that will all have to wait a few days until I get my first fan fiction story beta read, edited and posted. I know it won't bring any income, but I'm excited to get feedback from other fanfic authors. I've never written before and didn't realize how fun it would be.

Advertising

2007-07-27T05:47:00.001-05:00

Here's a link to my squidoo lens, the first of many places I will request or create for free advertising for the Pagan designs in my (and Rivercrow's) Cafe Press store. I am determined to get people to see what great designs we've created. Until I can afford the web hosting for my own site, I will find whatever free options I can. If I have to create free accounts on every site available, I will. Pagans have to know there are quality design options available. No clip art and no tacky lines like "Want a taste of Religion? Lick a Witch." My most successful Pagan design so far is this one:

Artist's Date 2

2007-06-11T00:34:00.000-05:00

I know, I know. It's been much more than one week. But with real life always cutting in, I'll need to do as Rivercrow suggested. Don't start all over again and again. Pick up where I left, or I'll never finish. And I really NEED to finish this.

My artist's date this time didn't net any visible results. But it will have results in the long run. I've always been very hesitant about putting pencil to paper and just drawing. It has to be perfect. With as few erasures as possible. Which is very stupid. My logical brain understands that I can't create perfection every time I sketch. It's my right brain that freaks. And that very reaction is why I started AW in the first place. So this date, I got online and spent at least an hour going through basic lessons on drawing. I don't remember any of the art lessons I might have gotten as a kid. I feel like I'm trying to build an artist starting with the second floor. Like I skipped the foundation and the first floor completely. Things that are obvious for other artists, I can't quite wrap my mind around. The logic behind these things make sense. The actual execution is where my brain goes "My give up!" Putting in a foundation just might help me get past my fear of imperfection. That and dealing with loads of self-doubt.

In the next few days, I'll post the answers I got to from a few of the tasks, like naming 5 dream professions, from the first few weeks of the program.

A great feeling

2007-05-30T04:56:00.000-05:00

For the first time in a long while, I didn't give up when things got hard. And my persistence paid off. I got past my block yet again and added a new design to my store. Even better, I sold my first shirt to someone I don't know. Not that I would ever complain about friends buying my stuff. It just felt like real validation that a total stranger bought one of my designs. I really need to figure out the best way to market designs and not just for my sake. For now, someone in Tennessee will be wearing my first anime inspired design. I did the happy dance. :)

More flowers

2007-05-26T01:36:00.001-05:00

I seem to be partial to the little yellow one. Well, that and they are the ones I got the best pictures of. I don't have any new updates on AW, but I wanted to at least post some more of my photos from the first Artist's Date. The field I got these nice shots in is right behind my apartment complex sandwiched between the apts and a Costco. Behind it is a big dirt and gravel hill probably created when they built the Costco. And near it is a pond where several ducks live, but it's near a freeway. Too much trash made any nice photos impossible. This is why most of my shots are close-ups. Even a couple of my close-ups will have to be touched up due to random bits of trash I couldn't see when taking the picture, but were quite obvious in the photo.

Most the walk was overcast, but just at the end the sun came out to help me get the brighter shots. Everything I've posted so far didn't require color or brightness adjustments, just upping the resolution and cropping. For all my whining, I really do like my little Sony Cybershot. It seems to capture the real color very well. The only bad part of this photo trip was the mosquitoes. The spring has been fairly wet. They were out in full force and I was quite tasty. Next post will be an update on my AW progress and hopefully a new design at my store.

They finally arrived!!

2007-05-18T04:19:00.000-05:00

I ordered manga pens, paper, and art boards ages ago from my local comic book shop. I'd given up actually getting them. But when I went to get my subservice (monthly comic subscriptions), there they were! The cool thing about the paper and art boards is that they come preprinted with rulers, print marks and cut marks in that light blue that won't show up when photocopied or scanned. It makes planning bleeds and multi-page images so much easier. Now all I need is to get the characters in my head on paper and get some story ideas for them. You know, the easy part. :D

Here's the company that makes the pens and paper. Their site also includes drawing tutorials and an online store. They have some great sets of colored pens that I would love to get.

Artist Date number one

2007-05-14T05:49:00.000-05:00

Here's a small sampling of the pictures I took this evening on my artist's date for week one. I'll tell you a little more about it tomorrow. For tonight, I wanted to at least post some images.

btw

2007-05-10T03:41:00.000-05:00

I almost forget to mention...I started AW again Monday. And so far, so good. Three days in a row of not missing or blowing off the Morning Pages. I've discovered that doing the pages before going to sleep instead of just as I'm waking is more effective. It clears my brain of all the thoughts that would normally be running through my head when I'm trying to get to sleep. I wanted to use today as my artist's date, taking some pictures. There are at least three fields in walking distance that are overrun with beautiful wildflowers. I want to capture them before the killer summer heat comes and kills them all. Next week date, I guess. I did spend a little quality time with Illustrator tonight. I put a new design up at the store. It's pagan with an Asian flare. I debated about coming up with some text for it. I think I like it just the way it is. I think I'm also going to add a section for anime designs. Not just Pagan specific, but some stuff for anime fans in general. I have design idea in mind. I just have to get it on "paper" and uploaded.

Goals

2007-05-09T15:13:00.000-05:00

As usual, I've set a goal I can't meet. But this time I won't let it be the reason I give up. I planned to add at least one new design a week to my Cafe Press store. I now know that if I miss one week, it isn't the end of the world. Things will get in the way. Higher priorities will come up. And as is the case this time, a creative block will slow my progress. I'll work through it, not give up. Now off to play with Illustrator and hope it will get those creative juices flowing.

A blessing for my new store

2007-05-01T05:36:00.000-05:00

I'm celebrating the grand opening of my Cafe Press store with a virtual candle ritual. May Goddess bless Luna's Gathering Designs with prosperity and creativity. I hope my designs can brighten days and lift spirits. Brown for prosperity and yellow for intellect and creativity.

Happy Beltane!

Grand Opening

2007-04-25T02:21:00.000-05:00

I've had my Cafe Press store up for about a week and a half now. I signed up for the trial of a premium store shortly afterwards. The trial ends after 14 days. My first day as an official premium store owner will be my grand opening. The most amazing thing is the day. My new store opens on May 1st. Beltane! How cool is that? What makes it even cooler is that it was totally unplanned

My store will have the beginnings of a polished new look and loads of positive vibes to help it succeed.

My first designs

2007-04-19T03:24:00.000-05:00

I thought I'd share some of my Cafe Press designs here as I post them in my store. I'm thrilled at having finally done something productive and creative. I have to tell everyone I can. :D

Here's the first one I uploaded and the only one that's sold so far. OK, a friend placed the order, but I have to start somewhere.

This one is my favorite. It turned much better than I'd originally planned. I'm glad that Cafe Press accepts the PNG format. It kept the design clean. As you can see here, JPGs lose crispness.

Until I can get back on track for the Artist's Way, I will post news about my store. Well, and even after. This just seems like the logical place for creative endeavors.

I did it!

2007-04-13T01:01:00.001-05:00

I finally took my first step in getting creative. I started a store at Cafe Press, Luna's Gathering Designs. I have two designs ready for sale on various products. Very soon, I will upgrade to a premium store and add a new design each week. It's the perfect way to get my creative juices flowing. From there, I'll start working on my cards again, the handmade ones. But I want to take it one step at a time, at a fairly slow pace, so I do it right.

Been away too long

2007-04-01T01:55:00.000-06:00

Very soon, I'm taking my life in a direction that makes finishing the AW program a must. I've had family business to deal with and a house guest staying until the end of this week. With that out of the way, I'm finally ready to get my rear in gear.

The first chapter is about enemies to my creative self-worth. After spending time with my whole family, I think I can face that chapter honestly. Without that honesty, the program just won't work. The first two times I tried starting this, I wouldn't admit that my family contributed to my problems. I told myself it was me that was my problem. Silly, silly me. Now my list of "enemies" will be correct and not include myself.

2007-03-09T22:03:00.000-06:00

I never could get my printer to work, but thank Goddess I have a good digital camera. The only bad thing about that is it's less forgiving with tracing paper. Even so, the drawings still show up just fine. And, omigod, I can't believe how much I missed my Photoshop. Even if it was just for brightness and contrast. The first three are more traces. The last one is my freehand version of the third trace. I had a lot of fun with these.

Technical difficulties

2007-03-09T06:02:00.000-06:00

I'm finally back online. I haven't made anymore progress with the Artist's Way program at this time. But things are falling into to place so that I can focus more fully on it. In the meantime I was planning to post a couple more of my sketches. My scanner (actually an all-in-one printer, scanner copier, and fax) has decided to play hard to get. As it is late, I will attempt to get the thing working properly tomorrow and get my drawings posted. If the scanner refuses to work though, I can always take digital photos of them instead. One way or another I will post something tomorrow (well, today really.)

A couple more traces and some freehand

2006-08-22T02:39:00.000-05:00

The first two are traces (of course) and the last one is my first try at freehand copying something in a very, very long time. I still need a lot more practice, but it does at least look a bit like the trace. I am happy to see that it isn't too terribly deformed. Eventually I'll be able to create characters of my own instead of copying others.

Too long between posts

2006-08-18T23:46:00.000-05:00

I know it's been way too long since I've posted here. I don't have any new work to put up. Just a bit of news.

I have finally started putting one of my fan fiction stories on paper. I never thought of myself as a writer, but some dear friends have read what I have so far and say I'm good. Go figure. The current story is for Inuyasha. I will put the link here once I finish the story and post it on fanfiction.net.

I hope to have some new pictures in the next few weeks. It'll depend a bit on the weather and whether I have to walk to work in it or not.

I also plan to start AW again soon. I've realized that putting it off is just giving in to my self-doubt. Which is what the program is supposed to help me with. I've gotten some great ideas for Artist's Dates which seemed the hardest on such a limited budget. But my friends Rivercrow and derianti have helped with ways to have an Artist's Date without spending any money or having to leave the house. Check out their blog Frugal Creativity.

I think that's all for now in my creative life.

And ended on a completely different note

2006-07-05T22:06:00.000-05:00

Went to even cuter...

2006-07-05T22:05:00.000-05:00

Started with simple and cute

2006-07-05T22:03:00.000-05:00

Trying my hand at shading

2006-07-03T23:31:00.000-05:00

It's kind of hard to see in this picture, but I just traced the outlines and tried shading it on my own. I'll have to adjust this one some more and post it again.

More tracing fun

2006-07-03T23:22:00.000-05:00

This one came out a little better than I thought it would. I had to make a few minor alterations because he was holding a weapon right across the middle of the picture in the original. But I couldn't seem to get his collar to come out right. Ranma was my first favorite anime and manga.

Just a tracer

2006-07-02T22:43:00.000-05:00

Ok. I decided after talking with Rivercrow to go ahead and post this. It's just a trace right now, but I'm "getting my feet wet" again. It felt good to even be putting pencil to paper, even if it was tracing paper. I had a lot of fun with this. Naruto is a fun character to draw. I'll post a couple more tonight or tomorrow.

The longest week ever?

2006-06-19T23:19:00.000-05:00

Week one managed to become 3 weeks long. Procrastination, my biggest enemy, was working overtime. With encouraging words and a few explanations, Rivercrow got me back on track. Following the spirit of the rules is much more important than following them to the letter. She helped me realize that different lifestyles call for slight adjustments to makes things work.

The biggest hurdle in the first week is identifying enemies to my creative self-worth. To face them head on and realize I'm not the only one to "blame" for my self doubt. Then we have to list champions. This was a bit easier. Remembering the good is always easier. The best task of week one was one of the last ones. If you had 5 other lives to lead, what would you choose? My choices were:

singer

animator

astronaut

martial artist

store owner

My artist's date was a trip to Michael's. I slowly perused almost every aisle. In the end, I bought myself a new sketchbook, colored pencils, and stencil paints and daubers. These will be perfect supplies for future artist dates. I may even post a few of my new creations here.

Do Over

2006-06-03T17:01:00.000-05:00

My life went completely crazy last week. This made it virtually impossible to do anything but stress. I want to do this program the right way. So Monday will be a do over of week one. Now that I have DSL (and my life back on track), I'll post my progress at least 3 times a week. I really felt I didn't give it my all the first time I started.

Week One

2006-05-29T00:41:00.000-05:00

The first week, called "Recovering a Sense of Safety" is about facing the monsters in our past and realizing our support system. I was never really discouraged from being creative, but I wasn't encouraged either. I didn't know I had any artistic talent until I was an adult. So my "monsters" were of my self-worth in general. I was supposed to focus on specific instances in my past, but I have very few memories of my childhood. Just bits and pieces, the occasional feeling. So relating any specific stories was a bit difficult. The people who've been the most supportive of me were more recent, so that was a bit easier. I wasn't a complete success with the morning pages my first week. This does leave room for improvement. I only managed to write them 4 out of the 7 days, which was more than I expected myself to be able to get up early for. My artist's date was a bit shorter than two hours, but I didn't weasel my way out and I didn't bring anyone else along. If my ISP will allow, I plan to post a little more often than once a week. Writing things out, both here and on paper, has and will make a huge difference.

Tomorrow it starts

2006-05-22T00:01:00.000-05:00

Tomorrow is the first day of my journey of creative recovery through the Artist's Way. This blog will be a diary of my progress and feelings as I go through the twelve week program. I probably won't post every day, just as I need to share my thoughts.