Angel Breath
Beads, Books, Design | by N.M. King
Interests
I don’t initially present as an interesting person.
I’m quiet in social situations, until I come to know the people around me enough to feel comfortable. This could take almost the entire social event, if it’s a one-time thing, or several weeks if it’s something like a Meetup group, Bible Study, or Church gathering. Because of being a wallflower, I don’t volunteer information about myself unless pointedly asked questions by others.
Actually, honestly, even once I am comfortable with people I don’t even think about volunteering information about myself because of my long career as an observer and a writer happily residing in her own universe. There may be more to it than that, since I, myself, don’t view my life as interesting, but that’s straying from the main focus of this post. So we’ll move on.
A person’s interests expand and shift as we read books, watch videos, interact with others, and continue to grow from our inter-, intra-personal and life experiences. Sometimes, there is no way for us to know of these shifting and expanding interests unless we actually ask the question: “So, what interests you these days?” You might be taken aback by the answer.
For me, over the last two years especially, I have been thoroughly enjoying watching videos about:
- Quantum Mechanics (Theory, Biology, Physics) and the Philosophy behind it
- Virtual Reality theory and the Philosophy behind it
- Evolution theories and the Philosophies behind them
- Biblical accounts and how the historical record + archaeological discoveries support them
- How things are made, why things are made, and how they have affected the course of history
- History and purpose behind abandoned places (Mysteries of the Abandoned)
- Lore and ‘Tolkien Explained’ videos about the world(s) of J.R.R. Tolkien
- Lore and ‘Star Wars Explained’ videos about the world(s) of George Lucas
- and many more of the same…
I’m a “why” learner, which means that I learn best if I can understand why something works the way it does. I also enjoy history, archaeology (ever since I was a child), and future possibilities posed by post-apocalyptic or dystopian movies/books. Plus, the more I open myself up to such a variety of things, the more interesting my story characters will be. 🙂
And then there are my hobbies:
- Blogging, Writing
- Jewelry making including stringing beads, wirework, and resin
- I want to get ‘back’ into ceramics from my childhood days
- And I am tinkering with the idea of decorating plain journals and selling those on my Etsy account
Unfortunately, I don’t think anyone has asked me about what interests me for over a decade. Actually, I don’t think I have either. Perhaps it’s time to add that question to my regular list of things to ask when faced with an opportunity for a conversation?
A Striped Awning
Lately I’ve been considering, again, the possibility of selling items I create on my site to “cut out the middle-man”. There are a lot of things to take into account when thinking of taking on a task such as that because places like Etsy focus on all the details to help you market your items and make it supposedly easier for customers to find your products.
So, one of the ideas is to simply have a link leading people to my Etsy Store while placing additional images of my crafts or books here on my site. That way Etsy can direct them with payments and shipping and all the specifics of the orders can be organized there.
The other idea is to incorporate Woo Commerce on my site, but that could mean a lot of heavy lifting which – at this point in time – I would rather not do. Why? Because I would rather focus that heavy lifting on my crafting, writing, or designing (or the organizing of my creative space so that I can more easily begin a project).
Starting anything new, be it a project or a storefront (digital or physical), should never be decided upon lightly.
UPDATE – 3/9/2023
Considering Woo Commerce is an additional $583 annually, I think I will opt for simply adding the link to the products on my Etsy page. ^-^,
Habit Forming
It has been a minute or three since I wrote anything on a regular, daily basis. I stopped writing in my novels around the time I started actually living life instead of living vicariously through my characters. Instead of noveling, I shifted to only journaling while I navigated – both internally and externally – life and its many opportunities for experiences and growth. (Journaling on a regular basis is highly recommended on multiple fronts.)
Unfortunately, I eventually ceased journaling as well. My only creative, writing outlet was the occasional bout of NaNoWriMo, or some blogs and character studies. Eventually that too faded away, and I didn’t seem to truly notice how it affected my attitude and outlook – or how I interacted with life and those around me because of losing that internal conversational tool with myself and with God.
Recently I have finally begun noticing a darker and less engaging self when compared to the person I was while writing on a regular basis. I’m not as happy or content. I don’t have anything exciting to talk about, even though I know others look at me with an odd expression on their faces because I would speak of my characters as if they were alive (which, of course, we all know they are!).
So, because it takes 30 days to create a habit, I’ve decided to start this 30-day journey back into daily writing by Journaling; taking time to write about “honest introspection” so that I can start growing again. I’m not certain, yet, if I will start fiction-writing within the 30-days, or if that will be a 2nd 30-day writing habit goal once this first goal has been met. It’s 30-days to make a good habit at the same time we struggle through the 30-days to break a bad one.
This should be interesting.
Angel Breath 