The Hats We Wear

Have you ever thought about the vast number of hats we wear as a ‘writer’ (and in your life in general)? Mine look something like this: Writer; Editor; Web Designer; Administrator; Blogger; Podcaster; Marketer… the list goes on. And, lately I’ve been using an awful lot of those hats as I’ve been tidying up odds and ends.

For starters, things are heating up in our writing space. I feel like we’re growing ever closer to FINALLY starting our next novel (bear with us, I know I’ve been saying this a lot recently!). There have been a couple things which have slowed us down.

One is the unbelievable amount of research effort both Ashley and I have been putting into the book. Even when we thought we’d done most our research, creating characters has thrown up a few more questions, so we’ve had to go back to the drawing board so we can get each character’s backstory straight. But, we’ve also been simultaneously looking at agents for When the Rain Falls. We’re both cautiously optimistic about this, but as a pragmatist, my brain has put into place a long term plan so, come hell or highwater, we will eventually get our books out into the world.

On that note, you might ask why we’ve been delaying so long? We’re keen on doing things properly, and being sure that things will work for us long term; making sure that we’re protecting our individual assets and treating our books ultimately as a business venture rather than a leisure activity. It’s been amazing how much I have learned about website development, marketing, and creating a brand over the last year. There is plenty that I could (and need to) streamline to extend our reach, and I’m sure as I continue to feed my knowledge in this arena I will continue to hone my skills in this regard.

Right now, I am devouring all information on how to do things better. And, if you ever find anything that frustrates you about the website or podcast, I’m all ears! Let me know and I will do my best to fix it. For example, I’ve already noted that we really need a previous/next button at the top of our single blog posts to save you, our readers, from constantly having to return to the blog homepage for more. Working on that and will hopefully have that sorted soon, though I might need hubby’s help on this as our theme seems to put the button in a weird place.

Yes, I’m looking at you, Avada. What’s that? Keep my hair on? I’m trying. And all of my hats, too.

My ‘lab’ course has finished, and I have a couple weeks of bliss while I await the next one. So, so, close to being at the end of this journey and returning to nursing. This brief break has been good though, it’s given me some extra drive to return to my creative endeavors, which I must admit got put on the backburner. I didn’t play my guitar for nearly a whole week straight, which really weighed on my soul, let me tell you.

And speaking of creative endeavors, I’m not sure how many of you know about my parent’s foray into cider making. A few years back, Mum decided she wanted to try her hand at it, and she and Dad took several professional cidermaking courses, and launched Hairy Horse Cider Co. I am so proud of how well they’ve done, securing two bronze medals for their small batch cider at this year’s NZ Cider Awards. If you’re ever in New Zealand, be sure to give it a try!