Victoria Zigler's Blog: Zigler News, page 78

#Christmas Themed #FurkidFriday: Lilie The #Westie's Letter To #SantaPaws

The following letter first appeared in this post as part of Ani's Advent 2018 on Sue Vincent's blog. Don't forget to pop over and check out the other guests Ani had to help her count down to Christmas.

***~~~***

Dear Santa Paws,

The humans say you're coming to visit again soon. I'm really happy about that.

I didn't see you when you came last time. It must have been because I was still a little puppy. I'm older now though; I'm going to be two in March. Maybe being older means I'll have better luck staying up for your visit? The squeaky things in cages don't think so. They're older than me, and say they've never seen you. But they're stuck in cages, so maybe that makes it harder? I don't know, but I'd like to see you. I love visitors!

Anyway, I've been a very good dog this year. Well, mostly. I've tried to be good anyhow, and that counts. At least, it should. Is it my fault if the humans leave things at my height, and they happen to fall apart while I'm playing with them? No! Just like it's not my fault my toys happen to fall apart when I'm playing with them... Even Noodles isn't looking so great these days.

Speaking of which: I could do with some new toys. Could you bring some with you when you come to visit? I like balls best, but also really love cuddly toys with squeakers in them. Also, the humans still haven't gotten me a harder puzzle toy, so one of those would be great. I love doing puzzle toys!

I love treats too, so if you also want to bring some of those, that would be awesome! My favourites are things that taste like chicken or cheese, but I also love a good piece of rawhide. Just so you know.

Lots of licks,
Lilie

#Christmas Fun: The 12 Days Of Christmas Book Tag - #AmReading

I saw this post from Ari with this 12 days of Christmas book tag, which she got from this post from Nicola. Then Rachel did it too. I don't know Nicola, and I haven't known Ari and Rachel long. But what I do know is that I always find things like this fun. So, though I wasn't tagged, I just had to play along. Feel free to play along too. Anyway, here are my answers:

On the first day of Christmas, my true love sent to me: a partridge in a pear tree. 
The partridge stood alone in the pear tree. What is your favorite stand alone?

It's got to be "A Little Princess" by Frances Hodgson Burnett, which is my absolute favourite book ever. Of course, I could name others. But this one practically leaps to mind, so it has to be my choice.

On the second day of Christmas, my true love sent to me: two turtle doves.
Love is in the air! Who is your one true pairing?

I'm going to have to go with Ayla and Jondalar from Jean M. Auel's "Earth's Children" series. They go so well together, even if I sometimes want to slap some sense in to them.

On the third day of Christmas, my true love sent to me: Three French Hens.
In the spirit of threes, what is the best trilogy you have read?

This is a tough one. One that immediately leaps to mind is David Estes' "Slip" trilogy though, so let's go with that one. It really is an awesome series, after all.

On the fourth day of Christmas, my true love sent to me: four calling birds.
Since series usually consist of four or more books, what is your favourite series?

It's definitely more than four books, but I have to go with J K Rowling's "Harry Potter" series. There are others I love, but I can't get enough of Harry Potter, so I have to pick it, even though there are several others I could list too.

On the fifth day of Christmas, my true love sent to me: five golden rings.
One ring to rule them all! Who is your Favorite Villain/Antagonist?

The ghost from "Dark Matter" by Michelle Paver.  Very few books scare me, but this one did, and it's because of him.  Even now, more than a year after the last time I re-read the book, I get a shiver down my spine thinking of him.

On the sixth day of Christmas, my true love sent to me: six geese a laying.
Creation is a beautiful thing. What is your favourite world/world-building?

Having several favourite books, there are a lot of books - stand alones and series, but especially series - where I absolutely love the worldbuilding. I could easily mention the "Harry Potter" series again, for example. In fact, I just did. But I also want to mention the worldbuilding in Terri Brooks' "Landover" series, which is just amazing. That's another favourite series of mine, and one you should totally read, if you love fantasy books, and haven't read it already. Then there's the "Chronicles Of Narnia" books... I want to go to Narnia! Actually, I also want to go to Landover, and Hogwarts, and... Oops! I think I was only meant to pick one book or series...

On the seventh day of Christmas, my true love sent to me: seven swans a swimming.
Who needs seven swans when all it takes is one good animal sidekick? Who’s your favourite animal sidekick?

This one is the easiest question on here. It's got to be Hex from David Estes' "Salem's Revenge" trilogy. I know I named some of his books in a previous question, but the things that dog can do are just amazing. Best fictional dog ever!

On the eighth day of Christmas, my true love sent to me: eight maids a milking.
Milk is so 18th century. Which book or series takes beverages/food to a whole new level?

This is another time I could give a shout-out to the "Harry Potter" books. But I also have to agree with Ari about the Dwarf Bread from Terry Pratchett's "Discworld" series. Don't know what it is? Read this:

“Rock-hard (and indeed contains various rocks such as gravel), never goes stale, and is terribly sustaining. A traveller can go for miles, just knowing there’s dwarf bread in their pack. A traveller can think of just about anything to eat rather than dwarf bread including their own foot and even pumpkins”
~taken from this page on the Discworld and Terry Pratchett Wiki

On the ninth day of Christmas my true love sent to me: nine ladies dancing.
Dancing is just one skill of a Lady! Who is your favourite kickass female lead?

This is a really tough one to answer. But I'm going to have to go with Adelle from David Estes' "Dwellers Saga" books. Yeah, I know this is now the third time I've mentioned David Estes. But he's a great author, and I love his books. Anyway, Adelle is a great character. She's tough, and can fight her way out of a situation when she needs to. But she's also got a quick mind, and a big heart. She's the kind of person you want on your team, that's for sure. I'd like to give a mention to Pippi from the "Pippi Longstocking" books by Astrid Lindgren too. She's great fun, strong and brave, and has a horse. I wish she was my neighbour and friend!

On the tenth day of Christmas my true love sent to me: ten lords a leaping.
How about your favourite leading lad?

Again, this was a difficult one to answer. I think I'm going to have to go with Harry Dresden from Jim Butcher's "Dresden Files" series though. I haven't actually finished the series yet, but I've loved the books I've read so far. Harry is funny, his heart's in the right place, and he has a nice balance of extra abilities from his magic, and restrictions because of being a human. He's kind of like Batman, but with magic instead of gadgets. Batman being my favourite superhero.

On the eleventh day of Christmas my true love sent to me: eleven pipers piping.
What is your favourite book or bookish thing with musical influence? (It can be about music, reference music a lot etc.)

I just loved Anne McCaffrey's "Harper Hall" trilogy. Menolly is a great character, and the books are wonderful.

On the twelfth day of Christmas my true love sent to me: 12 drummers drumming.
Drum roll please…what is your favourite read of this year?

I'm sure you won't be surprised to learn that this is another really difficult one to answer. I've read a lot of really awesome books this year. But, since I need to decide... I'm going to pick two. One for fiction, and one for non-fiction. My choices are "Ready Player One" by Ernest Cline for fiction, and "Endurance" by Scott Kelly for non-fiction. "Ready Player One" was a fantastic book, with amazing worldbuilding, and a great cast of characters. "Endurance" was fascinating; I loved getting to learn about Scott Kelly's year in space.

#WriterWednesday - December 19th 2018

I've been busy.

No. Not writing. Though that would have been nice. What I've been doing is something else. I could have been just writing instead, but I decided to do this, because I wanted to get it done before the end of the year, even though it meant a guarantee of no writing time while I did it. I figured I'd get it done, and then next year maybe I can actually spend my author time doing some writing, which would be wonderful.

Anyhow, I've been making Kindle versions of my books available on Amazon.

Those who have followed me for years might know that I actually started doing Kindle versions of my books in the past, and then I got annoyed with Amazon, and frustrated with the KDP dashboard's lack of screen reader accessability. So I stopped making Kindle versions, and unpublished the ones I'd put up. Smashwords does mobi (AKA Kindle friendly) versions, so I figured people could just go there, and save me the headache of dealing with Amazon's KDP dashboard.

Fast forward to this year, and CreateSpace merging with KDP, forcing me to either use the KDP dashboard, or find somewhere else to publish my paperbacks. Since I have more than 50 titles, learning to deal with the KDP dashboard seemed like the easiest option. So, that's what I decided to do. With that being the case, I figured I might as well also use it to make Kindle versions of my books available. Especially since I happen to know there are people out there who only buy books for their Kindles via Amazon, so would possibly appreciate my doing so. At least, I hope they appreciate it.

Luckily for me, in the few years since I last used it, Amazon has improved their KDP dashboard, and it's a lot more accessable. So, well done to them for that, because it totally helped. There's room for improvement, but it's a start.

Their customer service when I was dealing with getting the old titles unlocked was better too. Their technical team was slower than I think they needed to be in getting it done, but at least the customer service people were attempting to be helpful, which is an improvement on how things seemed in the past.

I even managed to get them to link me as one of the authors for "Wyrd Worlds II" (which I have a story in) and accept that "Frank The Friendly Ogre" is free everywhere else, so they should list it as free too (which is currently being arranged, so it should show up as free soon).

So... My books now also have Kindle versions.

Although, since I couldn't make it let me back date newly added titles - I'm not sure if they no longer let you do this, or if it's an accessability issue - I had a choice between having all the titles I hadn't previously added show up as being published in December, or pre-releasing some to publish over the next few months. I chose to do the latter. I still have several books publishing each month between now and March, because it wouldn't let me go past three months in advance, I had a lot of titles I hadn't previously added, and I wanted to get it all done before the end of the year. But at least I was able to space them out a little.

I don't suppose it really matters when the release dates are though. Not for my older titles. It will matter more when I'm bringing out new books, and want to do promotional stuff, release announcements, etc. For now, the point is, if you prefer to get Kindle books directly from Amazon, you can now do that with my books. You're welcome!

You should be able to see all my books - a full list of all formats Amazon offers, even though I haven't had time to work on getting Amazon to link those that for some reason didn't link their various editions properly when I was making the Kindle versions - on my Amazon author page. I've linked to my author page on Amazon UK, but you can find my books on Amazon sites in other countries too, so go ahead and look on the Amazon you would usually use.

Anyway... Let's see what writing related links I've managed to find for you in between publishing Kindle books, shall we? There are quite a few, so you might want to make yourself comfortable.

First, take a look at these tips for writing story middles, and then check out these tips for writing endings.

Regardless of what part of your story you're writing, remember to write medium.

Remember: your first draft is a terrible giant mess... Love it anyway!

Is it time for you to start on the rewriting and editing phases of your current project? Then check out these reminders about editing, these early draft cuts for a stronger manuscript, and these self-editing tips. Also, if it sounds like writing, rewrite it.

You'll also want to examine your dialogue during the revisions and editing. So, here are some tips for writing dialogue that isn't boring, and moves your story along.

Do you write fantasy? If so, here's a post about the importance of city guards in fantasy, which you might want to give a quick read. Also, have any city guard characters in your story take a look at these tips to being a city guard in a fantasy world. *wink*

Regardless of the genre you write in, are you writing a series? Do you want to create a mascot for that series? If you answered yes to both of those, check out these tips to creating a series mascot.

Or, are you someone who enjoys writing flash fiction? If yes, check out this post on resolutions, which is the fourth in a series about writing flash fiction (I'm sure I shared the others in previous posts, but links to the others can be found in the post I just linked to anyhow).

Whatever you write, here's some advice on what not to do in your marketing.

Speaking of things you do for marketing: here are some ideas for Christmas promos for writers. Might be a bit late for this year, what with Christmas being in less than a week. But you can always bear them in mind for next year.

No matter what you do to market the things you write, this is why you need to stop comparing yourself to other writers.

You probably know this, but writing is not a 9-5 job. Sometimes writers work odd hours, and sometimes we work long hours to finish projects on time. The trick is to find that balance between working extra to finish projects and not over-doing it, and hope your loved ones will at least pretend to understand. If you can though, find someone who believes your writing matters. But, here's what to do when it feels like no one 'gets' you.

Mind you, this is why writing is stressful, and sometimes you also have to learn how to say no to a new idea, because there aren't enough hours in the day to invite every single one in, and start working on it. I know, shame, right? But that's the way it is. Although, even if you do have that time available, pace yourself, and don't use up all your creative energy at once. Yes, big dreams need big to-do lists. But don't try doing it all at once.

No matter how much you write, or when you do it, if you've received some negative feedback, these tips on how to recover from painful negative feedback in five steps might help you. Also, here's a bit more advice on reacting to feedback.

By the way, are you a writer who finds yourself trying to balance your writing with another job? If you answered, "Yes," to that question, you may like to check out these tips for writers that have day jobs. Or, perhaps, in your case, weekends are for writing?

Regardless of your job situation, if you write poetry, and have a published poetry book - or more than one of them - here's how to request that your book is added to the catalogue of the United Kingdom's National Poetry Library, in case you'd like to have it listed with them.

Speaking of publishing: did you know that audio books are the fastest-growing segment of publishing. Makes me glad I decided to make audio versions of my books available. Although, due to some production issues, I do have some that are yet to become available in audio. Those titles should soon join the list of my available audio books though.

Finally, and on a similar note to what we were discussing in the previous paragraph: yes. Blind people read books. We write them too. Please stop thinking otherwise.

Baby Gates, #Christmas Decorations, And #Crafting

It's been quite cold here. A bit stormy at times too. No snow though. There's been rain and hail. But no snow.

One of the flights of stairs we have to go down to get to street level is actually inside our apartment. To stop Lilie running down them when we don't want her to (like when we're trying to get to the door without her) we got a gate to go at the top of them. We did try just getting her to stay at the top, but she's a bit hit and miss with obeying the command. Plus, she's gotten over excited and fallen on the stairs herself a few times, which is not a good thing. So, like I said, we got a gate to go at the top of the stairs. Anyway, our friends, Lorna and Andy, came to help us put it together, and get it properly atatched to the wall, on Saturday afternoon.

The other gate we have used to be in a place in the hallway where it stopped her getting anywhere but the room that was a combined computer room and bedroom, the bathroom, and the laundry area (the latter being where her bowls and puppy pads are). But now we have the computer room and bedroom properly seporated again, we have the other gate on the living room doorway, to stop her getting to the rodent gang when we don't want her to, but allow her access to us regardless of which room we're in. But that left the access to the stairs unblocked too. Hence the need for a second gate.

The old one is a pressure fit gate. But this one is a proper stair gate, and needed to be screwed in. Kelly and me doing it with Lilie's help wouldn't have worked, and shutting Lilie out of the way while we did would have meant upsetting her by putting her in puppy jail the whole time, or letting her be in with the rodent gang without us while we did it. Neither option appealed to us. Plus, Andy is good at DIY projects. So he came to put it together with Kelly, while Lorna and I hung out in the living room with Lilie and the rodent gang.

It took longer than planned... They'd actually made another trip previously to come and sort it, but had to leave before it was done, since they had to be somewhere else, and it was taking longer than expected. After all, neither Kelly nor Andy have had much experience with baby equipment of any kind. But they got it done in the end. I don't think Lilie's too pleased, but I am. So, thank you Lorna and Andy. Especially Andy.

After they left, I put up some Christmas decorations. Only a few, like I said was going to be the case, but here they are.

A little table display involving our little wooden tree, the old Santa ornament I brought my first Christmas not living at home, a polar bear my Mam gave me last year, and several candles (the arch and the two pillar candles are battery powered, but the little one in the jar in front is a sugarplum fantasies scented candle, which I brought this year).


Another new addition to my Christmas decorations collection for this year was this mistletoe ornament, which I hung on the livingroom door frame (with some help from Kelly, because I struggled to reach, even standing on the very tips of my toes). If you stop to kiss under it, watch out for nargles!


A mix of old and new again now, as I show you the two cards we've had so far. You should be able to see that I decorated the door I'm putting the cards on. The bells are old. They were a set belonging to my Mam. The snowflake chain is a new addition this year though. Anyway, the cards are from two of my online friends. Rita and Corinne, and their furry family members. Thanks ladies, and furry types.


The only other decoration I put up this year was this driving reindeer, which is by my computer. It plays "Grandma Got Run Over By A Reindeer" when you press the button on its paw. I couldn't not put this one out... Kero used to love it.


That's all I put up this year. We don't have a tree, other than the little wooden tabletop one, and I didn't bother getting out any of the other decorations. I just wanted to have a few of my favourites out, just to make things a little Christmasy around here.

Then, on Sunday, I finished making the Christmas mouse kit. So, here he is:


He wasn't quite done in time to be in his place for the photos, but he's finished in time for Christmas, and does now have a spot among the things on the table. I think he's kind of cute, if I do say so myself.

I do have to admit to something though: I didn't follow the pattern 100%. I just took the stuff that was in the box, and used it to make my idea of a Christmasy mouse. I hope you like him as much as I do.

Now I'm working on the table runner again. I was going to work on the robin needle felt kit next, but I really want to have the table runner finished before the end of the year, even if it means I won't have the robin done in time for Christmas. He can be a new addition for next Christmas instead.

#Christmas Themed #MusicMonday: Frank Sinatra - Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow!

Oh, come on. You know you'd have been surprised if this song wasn't one I liked. *wink*

I love the song, because... Hello... Snow! I'm all for encouraging snow, especially around Christmas! But I also happen to really love listening to Frank Sinatra in general. I hope you enjoy listening to him too.

#Christmas #Music: Bing Crosby - White Christmas

Yes, I know it's Sunday. Like I said on Thursday, I ran out of Mondays.

Anyway, anyone who knows me well knows I love my snow, and I'm always dreaming of a white Christmas. So, of course, my Christmas playlist wouldn't be complete without the song "White Christmas" on it. Plus, Bing Crosby has a lovely voice. My Grandma (Mam's Mother) absolutely loves his music, and I can see why. I hope you feel the same way.

#Christmas Themed #FurkidFriday: Maizie The #Chinchilla's Letter To #SantaPaws

Dear Santa Paws,

I'm a very good chinchilla. I always eat all my nibbles, and share stuff with Mollie, even when she's being cranky. So there's no doubt I'm on the nice list again this year. See, I'm so nice I just saved you the trouble of checking your list to make sure I'm on it. I bet that will save you lots of time, so you'll be able to bring lots of nibbles and toys to me in record time. Oh, and to the others too, of course.

Anyway, I don't really mind what you bring me, as long as nibbles are involved somehow. I am quite fond of chinchilla cookies and oatmeal though... Just so you know. I also love having things to gnaw on, so some wooden toys would be great.

Squeak soon,
Maizie

#Christmas #Music: Elton John - Step Into Christmas

I know it's Thursday, but I ran out of Mondays, so you're getting some holiday music on other days too. You're welcome.

So, let's step in to Christmas with Elton John...

#WriterWednesday - #Quotes About #Writing And Creativity - December 2018 #WednesdayWisdom

The first draft is just you telling yourself the story.
~Terry Pratchett

I am a writer. If I seem cold, it's because I am surrounded by drafts.
~Unknown

Writing is easy. All you have to do is cross out the wrong words.
~Mark Twain

Any word you have to hunt for in a thesaurus is the wrong word. There are no exceptions to this rule.
~Stephen King

Your intuition knows what to write, so get out of the way.
~Ray Bradbury

There exists no one way to write any one thing, and as long as your writing has a starting point and an ending point, I think whatever shenanigans go on
in the middle serve you fine as a process as long as it gets you a finished book heavy with at least some small sense of satisfaction. If you’re not finishing
your books, you need to re-examine your process. If you’re not at all satisfied with your work, then again: re-examine that process. And that’s it. Everything else is just picking out drapes.
~Chuck Wendig

It is perfectly okay to write garbage—as long as you edit brilliantly.
~C. J. Cherryh

I think there are two types of writers, the architects and the gardeners. The architects plan everything ahead of time, like an architect building a house. They know how many rooms are going to be in the house, what kind of roof they're going to have, where the wires are going to run, what kind of plumbing there's going to be. They have the whole thing designed and blueprinted out before they even nail the first board up. The gardeners dig a hole, drop in a seed and water it. They kind of know what seed it is, they know if planted a fantasy seed or mystery seed or whatever. But as the plant comes up and they water it, they don't know how many branches it's going to have, they find out as it grows. And I'm much more a gardener than an architect.
~George R.R. Martin

If you have other things in your life—family, friends, good productive day work—these can interact with your writing and the sum will be all the richer.
~David Brin

We write to taste life twice, in the moment and in retrospect.
~Anais Nin

You don’t make art out of good intentions.
~Gustave Flaubert

The soul of the artist cannot remain hidden.
~Henri Nouwen

Use the creative process - singing, writing, art, dance, whatever - to get to know yourself better.
~Catie Curtis

Every artist dips his brush in his own soul, and paints his own nature into his pictures.
~Henry Ward Beecher

#Christmas Preparations, Medical Mutterings, And #Crafting

I called to chase up my surgery date, like I said I was going to.

Turns out the reason I don't have one yet is that my consultant left the NHS, so his patients had to be given to other people, putting things behind schedule. Nice of them to let people know. *rolls eyes*

Anyhow, to cut a long story short, since I'm sure you don't want to hear about my attempts to talk to people who have the authority to deal with things, but just happen to be in meetings, and will supposedly return calls, but never do...

I've got an appointment for a pre-op health assessment on December 18th 2018 (next Tuesday) at 11:15am, and my surgery is booked for January 24th 2019 (I have to be at the hospital by noon).

So, I have the blood test coming up this Thursday to check my iron level, the pre-op medical assessment next Tuesday, what will hopefully be my last of the shots on the Friday between Christmas and the new year, and my surgery scheduled for just over a month's time. So... Yeah... Lots of medical stuff coming up. But at least I now have a surgery date, and can look forward to things finally getting sorted early in the new year. Won't that be nice?

***~~~***

I've done my Christmas shopping, and posted all cards and presents I'm sending out. Well, there are a couple of gift vouchers I'm sending out closer to Christmas. But I'm done other than that. Some people have even received their stuff already. The rest is on its way to people, apart from two that I'll be hand delivering closer to Christmas.

Arrangements are made for our Christmas dinner, which we're having on December 21st. We're having it at Oscars, since we love going there, and saw the option to book for Christmas dinner when we were there in November. Yes, we picked that date on purpose. We could have had one closer to Christmas Day, but I requested the 21st. We're really looking forward to it. I've booked the vegetarian version, which is a nut roast, and Kelly's booked the turkey dinner option, since he's not vegetarian. Even Lilie will be included, since she'll be getting a little bit of turkey. Well, it's Christmas for her too, right? *wink*

I'll soon be putting up some Christmas decorations. Although, I'm not putting up many this year, because things are still a bit chaotic from all the reorganizing from box unpacking now we're not having to move. Then there's the going in to hospital preparations... So, yeah... I want to have some up, but I'll only be putting up a few this year. Regardless, I'll get Kelly to take some photos of what we put up, so you can see them. I'm hoping to put them up in the next few days... Either tomorrow, or over the weekend. Anyway, once those are up, we'll be all ready for the holidays.

We got our first Christmas card in the post last week. I meant to share a photo of it today, but didn't get a chance to have Kelly help me sort that in time for it to be included, so you'll have to wait to see that. Thanks though, Rita!

Plus, the first mince pies, gingerbread men, and chocolate Yule logs of the season have been eaten.

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas...

Just as well really, since Christmas Day is only two weeks away! Can you believe it? Only two weeks!

How are your holiday preparations coming along? Are you ready? Are you feeling festive?

***~~~***

I have a new bedside cabinet.

The downstairs neighbour... Not the one who moved in where nasty neighbour was, but the one downstairs again, who had to deal with her alongside us... Gave it to us. Said he didn't have as much space as he thought in his bedroom. He'd brought two, but didn't really have room for both, and asked if we could use the extra one.

Mine was old and in need of replacing, but we hadn't gotten around to replacing it. So, we accepted it gratefully.

It's a little lower than my last one. But not by much, and I don't mind. It's nice, and was really generous of him to give it to us. Plus, mine was seriously considering falling apart, and this one is new and in great condition, so that's a definite improvement, and I'm really grateful to have a replacement for mine before it decided to retire itself.

So... Though I doubt he'll see this... Thanks, Dave!

***~~~***

I'd hoped to have both the Christmas mouse and table runner kits finished by now. But I haven't managed to complete either yet.

There's progress on both kits, but I'm doing them between other things at the moment, and when Lilie isn't feeling too energetic and playful. The former being by choice, because I've got some other things I want to finish up before the end of the year too, while the latter is a requirement, since sewing while having a ball thrown at you is tricky to say the least, as I'm sure even those of you who haven't tried it can appreciate.

However long they take to finish, I'll post photos when I'm done, like I promised.

By the way, my December SewMine box arrived a few days ago. In case you're interested, the kits in it this month are a penguin broach, and I think a pin cushion and needle holder. I can't remember for sure at this moment in time though, and don't want to get up and go check, because I'm making the most of one of Lilie's naps to write this, and my getting up would wake her. When this box's contents get their turn to be made, you'll get to see what it is anyhow, so never mind. Either way, the box for this month arrived, which is the main thing.

Now I know when the boxes are meant to arrive, I see that I've managed to pick ones that have my happy post spaced out nicely. My Sew Mine box is supposed to come towards the start of the month, my Makerly one is supposed to come towards the middle of the month, and my Harry Potter one is supposed to come towards the end of the month. They all did that last month, like they're supposed to, and it was great! That wasn't planned on my part. That's just how it works out when you get boxes for them regularly, because of the dates they send them out. They aren't perfectly spaced, but it's nice that it spreads out my happy post throughout the month like that.