Slice

Two posts in a month!

So, like many other people in the world, I am now working from home. I am grateful I am still employed, as is my husband.

I’ve been a little injury-prone since moving to work from home (WFH from here on out). On Thursday I was walking into the bedroom and my elbow hit the door. It just hurt so I didn’t think anything of it, but later I looked at it and realized I’d been bleeding. There’s a nice little 1/2″ laceration right on the pointy bit.

And then this morning, I was washing dishes. Most of my knives are dull as I’ve owned them for ages and haven’t sharpened them ever, but I used a different one than usual on Friday when preparing dinner, and when washing it, it slipped and it tried to cut off my fingertip. Both Youths stepped up and one finished the dishes for me while I tried not to faint or barf while the other was willing to wait for brunch while I recovered.

I haven’t been walking as much as I was doing in the latter part of February and the early part of March, but Junior Youth and I went for walks on Thursday and Friday because the weather was so nice.

I am very grateful that our school district is providing free lunches to go for the entire student population, not just those on reduced price lunch plans. We’ve been going by every day, and I get the feeling that not a lot of families are taking advantage of it. I don’t know how long it will last, but it’s giving us a little relief.

There have been a couple of ideas tickling my brain lately. One, I think it would be fun to have a YouTube channel. I’ve always kind of thought it would be fun, but I figured I’d never be good enough at Minecraft to give it a go.

But then again, why do I have to be good at it? I keep the blog because I like it, not because I’m particularly witty, or regular, or anything like that. It just feels necessary. And yeah, it’s more online journal than it is blog – that’s a result of when I started, I’m sure. I started when Greymatter and Livejournal were the things. Does anyone out there remember Greymatter and Noah Grey?

So the thought is I start a YouTube. It may just start out as a video journal that ends up being a diary of my family’s trip through this New Normal. It may be gaming (although I doubt it). It’s basically going to be more content to fill the need that people like me to have things to watch to distract us from our own problems.

The other thought I had was to start a Patreon account. Much like YouTube, I don’t really know why I’d like to do this. I mean, clearly there’s a potential to bring in extra income. However, I could do that by continuing to write books and sell them. There’s the fact that it’s another income stream, and that’s a good idea to have a bunch of those (as a writer or as any independent contractor, to be honest).

But I don’t have a huge tribe, and I don’t have a huge following – these have felt like prerequisites in the past. I also don’t have a newsletter right now, and I am not shelling out money again for a post office box I won’t use, so I am unlikely to have one for the foreseeable future.

A Patreon still sounds like a good idea, though, as a way to allow people who like my stories to support me, and as a way to keep me accountable. I’m thinking I could just have a $1 level (because I have found other creators do this and I like the no-pressure approach) and put up a short story every week. I also thought about having that same $1 level and putting up a story every two weeks at that level, and then on the opposite weeks post something for free. All of those stories I could then put up for sale on Smashwords, because sometimes it’s easier to read in your e-reader of choice, and sometimes people want to pay more.

I don’t know. It sounds like an idea, and it’s an idea I like.

So that’s what’s been going on lately. Some thoughts I had, some injuries I’ve sustained, and some things I’m grateful for.

Oh, and I haven’t forgotten about the A-Z challenge that starts on Wednesday. I mean, I haven’t prepped for it yet, but I have thought about it.

Close enough.