March 2019 Mid-month Update

Every time I sit down to write a mid-month review I’m shocked by how fast time flies. For the last two years it seems like the mid-month is a blindside of time lapse. Evidently, the last couple of years have been stuffed with goings on and busy developments I never seem to notice until my notification goes off that a check-in is due.

This month’s review is a peek at the coming busy season, spring, and the culmination of two years of development on my latest book, and my second business, the cannabis grow. The month, of all months, finally has something to show for the last two years of busting ass.

1. A new book, Scold of Jays, goes to market
2. A new business goes into production

Both of these projects were put into action two years ago, and it’s taken me this long to wrangle finances, energy, resources, and time to get to the pieces to line up.

If you were with me on the other blog, or have crossed over from the Patreon site, then you know what a tight squeeze it’s been.

​I had a very difficult time coming out as a licensed grower, because it was such a huge departure from my usual work, and because I feared it would negatively impact my publishing business. After some time of wobbling and stressing, I realized it would only benefit my publishing to be able to have another creative outlet for writing copy and story, as well as expand my reach into new demographics and readerships.

It was also important to me to let people know the measures to which I felt pushed in order to be self-reliant and be able to continue to publish my works. Yes, that means growing weed. Drugs for art. It’s just a sign of the times, I suppose.

Anywhoo, this header into the deep end of the cannabis community I’ve known very little about, as well as learning a new trade, set of regulatory requirements, business model planning, and development has been, shall we say…a bit overwhelming.

On an average day while we were prepping for licensure, I might wake up, have coffee and drive an hour to the grow site, install security cameras, then drive an hour to my nine hour shift at the restaurant, get off at ten thirty or eleven, and sit in the car for an hour where I have cell service to be able to send emails, and manuscript instructions to proofer, and layout, then drive an hour home. I’d roll into the house at 1AM. Rinse and repeat as necessary. The days were long, and very little creative work was actually happening.

​I’ve been teetering on exhaustion and burnout for the last six weeks or so, staving it off by not doing any of the necessary house upkeep or other creative projects. Sleep catch-up is my favorite game at the moment. 

Winter storms cracked the tree next to the beehive. No bees were harmed, and the hive is still useable.

​It sounds like I’m complaining. I don’t mean to. This schedule was entirely within my control to alter—but I really just wanted to get it all done and everything going so I can get onto the next steps.

Which means:

1. Plague of Gargoyles into beta
2. First grow harvest to testing labs
3. Home projects back on the queue: prepping garden, bee hives, and chicken coop
4. Busy season at the restaurant

If I stop and take a breath, I realize spring is happening. The daffodils are pushing up, and the song birds are starting to make their voices known in the morning.

​Life is good. 

Bottled Honey Weed Mead. Gotta start somewhere. My house smelled like warm, yeasty bread for a month during ferment. Love it! #cannabismead

Raspberry wine that came out more like a sparkling cider. Harvested 2018

Busy, but good. There’s a light on the horizon that with a new business I’ll be able to work for myself, and pay for my own publishing someday…someday soon. And that’s enough to get me out of bed, and back into the groove.

Books to write. Weed to grow. And I never in a million years thought I’d write that on a blog….
It’s all starting to come together.

A summary of the last month’s other projects include:

• First bottling rounds of cannabis honey mead (honey from my hives Borg Station #1 and Borg Station #2, and weed from our testing breed)
• Bottling the raspberry wine.
• First round of ginger lemon kombucha
• And first round bottling of Orc’s Blood.

Here’s to an exciting spring with first steps toward true independence, and a financial shift that will allow me to publish as fast as I can write. No more manuscript piling up on my desk waiting for funds. Imagine that!

With proper financial flow I’ll be kicking out Plague of Gargoyles, and Tangle of Mermaids in no time at all. And if we time it correctly, the product released by our grow business, will dovetail with my books in nomenclature, characters, collectibles and copy writing experiences. It should be an immersive journey into a merged space between both worlds.

​What a trip. Mind blown. 

Winter Ferments left to right: Lemon ginger kombucha, honey weed mead, raspberry wine/cider. #fermentation

#cottagestead #elderglade #cannabiscommunity #meadhead #amwriting