Hello my neglected readers!
Happy November. How did this happen? The last time I blogged I was in the middle of a family crisis and that was back in July. I am a lazy, lazy, lazy blogger. Well, life has been crazy and uncertain and I was finding it difficult to write anything that wasn’t negative, so that usually meant that I ended up writing nothing.
But I’m trying to do better and be a better blogger and person and cheer up as we are heading out of 2025. I published a book a few weeks ago, so that always help me feel good about life. I feel miserable when I’m not being productive, which leads to me being less productive. And then more miserable. And then–but you get my point, it is a vicious loop. So having a book birthday is always a sure way to perk me up.
I’m also engaging in my new hobby of cardmaking. Yes, in a world that is speedily moving away from postal mail (or probably you can get an AI to email cards to other people), I have taken up the hobby of making greeting cards. Kind of like buggy whip making, I suppose, but maybe not quite that bad yet….
Anyhow, I have been having a blast making cards and even had a card making party a few weekends ago and it was delightful to engage in social cardmaking with a group of like-minded crafters. I find it relaxing to make something that takes no more than a few hours. Usually, when I conceive of a project it ends up taking months (like sewing something or knitting, etc.) So this is a new approach to crafting for me. Who knows, maybe it will carry over into my writing and I’ll produce a few of those novellas I keep wanting to write.
I have a growing collection of cards, although I must admit they often take longer to make than I anticipated (some took 4 or 5 hours!!). In my newsletter I offered to exchange cards with anyone who wanted to do so. I will be sending Christmas cards, but those who offer to exchange can send any sort of card they want: Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, or just a plain greeting card. So, like a “Happy Whatever” card exchange.
If you are interested in exchanging a card:
send an email to minerva@minervaspencer.com with CARD EXCHANGE in the subject line and,
make sure to include your mailing address in the email.
I will respond with a confirmation email that will have MY mailing address.
I’ll accept card exchange requests until November 15, 2025, but I’ll need to cut it off at that date. That will leave me enough time to get my cards made and then bring them to the post office in small batches. That will keep the postal clerk from hating me as I DO use postage stamps (usually several) on all my envelopes which seems to drive lots of post office people bonkers. Huh, who knew they would hate stamps?
So, if you want to get some increasingly rare snail mail (and a super cute handmade card!) now is your chance.
I’m diligently working on DAUNTRY right now. The writing is going better (that means that I’m clocking a bunch of words) than anything I’ve written in a while. I think the stress of life has finally reached the tipping point and my brain just shorted out and said, “Hey, you can’t stress over how messed up the world is without losing your mind, so stop stressing and focus on writing.” (yes, I even use quotation marks when engaging in inner dialogue!)
The result of my conversation with myself is that I am a LOT happier when I’m writing. Mr. Spencer is much happier, too, lol.
Okey dokey, that’s about it for now. I will leave you with some pictures of my greeting card efforts thus far. The first one is my only lighted card! (it took FOREVER to make)
Yes, those are Christmas VW busses!
