Doings

Well, things have been going pretty well in Iowa as spring begins to dawn in the midwest. Yesterday we had hours upon hours of rain, which I wouldn't have minded except it was my afternoon to do the stable chores, and also I begin to fear for those who live by the river.

However, we are not by the river so we mostly ride by on our bikes and say, wow, the river is really high right now and then don't think about it much.

Among other things, I finished editing my novel to the point that I think it is ready to send to agents. Since I also have a few friends who want to read it, I thought I'd print a few copies and start mailing them around. I was just going to print them like normal on 8.5 x 11 paper and maybe bind them with a coil or something, but I discovered that there is actually only a negligible price difference between doing it that way and this one:


So, that's it. My novel exists in the flesh. Three copies arrived in the mail yesterday, and I flipped through one I couldn't quite fight down a giddy feeling (in spite of the fact that I somehow assumed they would add page numbers, so didn't do it myself. Oops. I suppose this is why books have editions...)

My other exciting diversion lately has been setting up a functional metal-smithing studio along-side/overlapping my existing art studio. This has involved acquiring many new and interesting items, including this lovely flex-shaft grinder.


My soldering torch should arrive today, I got my box of goodies (silver, copper, brass, saw-blades, bur life, polishing compound, etc.) from Rio Grande yesterday, and since my father passed on to me when I was in Tucson a beautiful box of tools he saved when an old friend of his who happened to be a jeweler passed away many years ago, I'm more or less ready to go. I'll keep you posted as to the results of all this activity, though my brother has wisely suggest I start selling bracelets on a website called MetalStrong. He even came up with a slogan...