#finally did get an Etsy order shipped out the other day though

[captainkingsley]

calling off work tonight because of an intense migraine, maybe I'll actually get some art done later tonight when my eyes aren't so. hurty

[orphancookie69]

BACKERKIT: Oracle Dice

I recently received, after a long time of waiting, my Alleyman’s Tarot! The maker who was making that mentioned he was making an Oracle Dice. I have some Oracle Dice from Etsy, but I was excited for this one as I think with the card side options, it will play well with the Alleyman Tarot, which somehow became my favorite go to deck? (Don’t tell my other decks)....

https://www.backerkit.com/c/publishing-goblin-llc/oracle-dice#top

One thing I think is interesting is that last time the Publishing Goblin used both Kickstarter and BACKERKIT. One to start it and one to finish it. Apparently BACKERKIT wanted to start playing Kickstarter’s game. I don’t know who I have my money on for being better. I am also not expecting this for at least a year, I ordered this on June 2022. 

It funded in July 2022, and before it funded I added enough money to get two journals for reading notes but the campaign said it would be available if it made it to a certain amount, and I guess it did but no one could see it? It made it with preorder sales. I am happy for the maker, but I wish I was better told this, because I otherwise allocated those funds as tip. I don’t mind tipping but I wanted a journal more. But Backerkit is still working out how it does add ons and hopefully in the future its a more straight forward process so opportunities, like the journal. 

Preorders are finalizing in August, and I should be charged for shipping in August/September. Timing wise, if they can ship in September 2022 (even though I would prefer to have shipping included, I get it) I would be thrilled. Of course more delays happened. And I know I am being kind of harsh, it happens, but it would of been cool if it did not happen this time. Shipping is now going to be in February 2023. What reads odd is other projects come out, and they mention on there they have THOSE shipping times solid but not others. 

Got an update in December of 2022, and it looks more like March 2023 for shipping. At least there is more of an end in sight? I would love to get an update that says we are on track not more and more behind but that is ok. I would not be shocked if this took a year to materialize again. Got an update in March, ya know when shipping was supposed to happen. Dice are being finished, and shipping is now supposed to be April 2023. 

In April, shipping was charged. While it would be less than a year since the original order was placed, I still kind of can’t believe how long these take. 

(Almost) 1 Year Later...

It has arrived. Well part of it, the first part of the order came in May. I had my dice, oracle cards, wooden holders in this shipment. The second shipment should of had my clothes, oracle books, and tarot book. I ended up getting two oracle dice/card sets and an alley man tarot deck for my sister. Who doesn’t want matching nontraditional divination tools? The second shipment arrived the next day with books, cloths, and booster packs. So everything arrived! 

So I know the question on everyone’s mind, have I played with them yet? Almost. They function like tarot cards, and there kind of needs to be some understanding. Playing with them is one thing, but reading makes it that much more deep. So the “getting to know one another” process has been slow but food. I made a couple of posts about it so far, and I love the content coming out of this playtime. 

Realistically, I am not shocked just a little disappointed in the year long timeline. But, after this came in-me and my sister will have a matching set of oracle dice and tarot cards and I can’t imagine what more we would need. So I don’t mind the wait, it is worth it but makes me less inclined to be open to future projects. There is an Alleyway’s Oracle and while that would be a fun addition for the collection, do I feel like waiting another year for project? We shall see...

[kerikaaria]

Borahae Slimes Haul #2 Review!

Dean ( @eternalseokjin​ ) restocked with some new slimes, so of course I had to snatch a few!

Full disclosure, Dean is my friend and knew my birthday recently passed so he gave me some extra goodies (a free full slime, extra candy, and I’m pretty sure the amount of photocards and stickers were extra too lol. Dude gave me 3 Yoongi photocards because he knows how soft I am for that man) with this because he’s just amazing and sweet like that ^-^ Thank you, Dean!

First, here’s the link to Dean’s Etsy store, so if you would like to purchase some BTS-themed slime, definitely give his shop a look! And check out the store’s tumblr @borahaeslimes​

I was lucky for the order to come really quickly, especially during this time of year. And once I started opening up the package, I got so excited! He didn’t tell me he had added Until Spring for free as a birthday gift, so it was such a pleasant surprise! (And a surprise blessing with the extra containers as well, for reasons I’ll explain later). Keep reading for a detailed review with pictures!

Also. my apologies for the pictures not being more condensed. Every time I attempted to adjust them on mobile, tumblr decided to give me an error so... ugh lol.

I’ll Show You

I’ll Show You is themed after the song ‘Magic Shop,’ and has such a lovely, relaxing scent. It comes with little iridescent flakies (if you’re a fan of Simply Nailogical like Dean and I, you’d probably call it Unicorn Skin) that are optional to put in, as well as a key charm. The flakies do somewhat poke your hand while you play with it, but it’s not hard at all so unless you have very sensitive hands I don’t see it being a problem.

The color is a gorgeous iridescent cream, and the flakies add another really nice layer to it as well. It’s a very beautiful slime, and I easily see myself taking it out when I’m having a rough day because of how lovely and calming the chamomile and lavender scents are.

Anpanman

The slime is themed after the song of the same name and comes with a  custom-made clay charm with a comic-style onomatopoeia (recommended to NOT store inside the slime). The version I bought is the Bingsu one, since I didn’t know if I’d enjoy larger blocks being in my slime.

There is an option to leave it unscented to keep the clear slime from getting cloudy/tinted by it, but I really LOVE the blue raspberry jolly rancher scent and am so glad I opted to keep it! I enjoy the soft crunchy texture to the Bingsu, and this slime is just jam packed with them so it’s super satisfying to play with!

Until Spring

This one is themed after ‘Spring Day,’ and comes with 4 individually packaged colors which you can mix as you please, and a snowflake charm. One is a thick white snow fizz, the pink a bingsu (not quite as packed as Anpanman), and the blue and purple are clear-based slimes. The metallic shimmer of the blue is GORGEOUS, and I almost feel guilty for blending it all into the overall mixture.

The end result is this beautiful pastel purple, with the sporadic snow fizz and pink bingsu adding a unique texture. The smell is also very soft and lovely.

Sweet Life

Sweet Life is themed after BTS’ recent single, ‘Dynamite!’ The clay donut and record charm (again, recommended to NOT store inside the slime) are both handmade by Dean, and it also comes with a small bag of fake sprinkles. The donut came wrapped in plastic wrap and inside a smaller plastic tub than the slimes. And the slime itself is a very sweet scent - a little too strong to me personally, but nothing I can’t handle.

Alright, now this is the only hiccup I had in the order, so I’ll explain what happened. 

While I did think something was a bit odd when I tore the donut in half, I didn’t pay enough attention before I started trying to mix it with the slime. It turns out, the container the donut was shipped in ended up getting cracked during shipment, and the clay had half dried by the time it got to me. So it was rather hard trying to mix that part into the slime. You might be able to tell in the second picture above, that there are chunks hardly mixed, if at all, into the slime.

Knowing that it was because the container ended up cracked doesn’t personally make me too concerned that others would have the problems I did. I spoke with Dean about it, and he helped me figure out what to do. The part I already started mixing with the slime started to absorb moisture from it and became softer and easier to work with as I let it just sit for a bit. The other half, I put into a (not cracked, airtight) container and poured just a bit of water on it. I let it sit while I was working with Until Spring, and periodically went back to it to mix up the slime or knead the water into the clay to help it along.

It didn’t take too long before it was able to all mix together and I ended with my final slime! I really love the texture. It’s really thick, almost like a putty and super satisfying! Also a side note, Dean said he isn’t quite sure how the slime he used for making his shop post ended up so brown, because his personal slime of this also ended up a similar shade of a blue-gray to mine. I do really like the color though, it’s a neat muted, almost teal color.

And this is where the extra containers due to the four individual slimes for Until Spring came in handy, since the tub containing the donut was cracked. I was able to use the little 2 oz containers for the rest of the slime that wouldn’t fit in the big container after mixing in the clay, so I didn’t need to go finding something else to put it in. What a happy little coincidence!

Extra Slime - Anpanman Block version

The extra slime I got this time was a sample of the block version of Anpanman, probably because Dean knows I’m new to exploring different types of slime and wanted to let me try it out. I can say that I’m glad I got the Bingsu one in my purchase, but I also don’t hate the chunky blocks as much as I thought I might. It’ll still be a very nice one to fiddle with here and there.

So overall, I’m incredibly happy yet again! I don’t blame Dean for the hiccup with the clay donut, since the tub getting cracked most likely happened in shipping - and everything was very well packaged, wrapped in bubble wrap and then tissue paper, and in a padded mailer so he did everything he could to try to keep it safe. And besides, although it was extra work, it still blended into the slime in the end so I’m happy :)

If you want to support small shops, Dean’s is a great one to go to! Unfortunately because of shipping prices being crazy, he can only sell in the US, but if you do live here and are interested, then definitely give his shop a browse! Here is the link one more time. --> Borahae Slimes on Etsy

[cindylouwho-2]

RECENT NEWS, RESOURCES & STUDIES, August 19, 2020

Welcome to my latest summary of recent ecommerce news, resources & studies including search, analytics, content marketing, social media & Etsy! This covers articles, podcasts, videos and infographics I came across since the late July report, although some may be older than that.

Please note I am taking the next week off, starting tomorrow (Aug. 19), so I might be a little slow in replying to any comments. 

TOP NEWS & ARTICLES 

USPS has become the focus of investigations due to reported mail slowdowns. Some small businesses who rely on USPS to deliver are suffering. “The longer the policy has been in effect, the worse the backlog gets.” As of today (August 18), the postmaster says they will rollback the changes until after the election in November. This is a rapidly-moving story in part due to the push for voting by mail, and should concern anyone who ships to US customers using regular mail (as opposed to couriers). Meanwhile, they plan to temporarily raise commercial rates during the holiday shopping season, but retail rates will not change. 

Ecommerce sales are still up year over year. "Before Covid-19 hit the US in March, e-commerce made up roughly 12% of retail sales in the country. That figure grew as states issued shelter-in-place orders that shut stores and kept shoppers at home, creating tailwinds for a company like Amazon. But even as states have begun to reopen, e-commerce has remained elevated, according to Bank of America data."..."The Economist used Google search traffic for hints of how lifestyles are changing and found users are still searching terms related to cooking, crafts, and exercise above pre-pandemic rates. There has been a noticeable spike in interest around such products as gardening supplies, baking flour, and Crocs." The UK is still seeing a good increase despite the ease in reduction in lockdown restrictions. The growth is slowing a bit in the US, though. 

Half of US small businesses fail in the first year (and other stats on small business). 

It’s been second quarter report season, covering company performance from April to June 2020.  Here are results for major companies involved in ecommerce in some way (comparisons are year-over-year):

Amazon US: sales up 40%

eBay: sales up 26%

Etsy: sales up $146% [click the link to read my summary]

Facebook: revenue up 11%

Google: revenue down 2%

PayPal: revenue up 22%

Pinterest: revenue up 4%; active users up 39%

Shopify: revenue up 97%

Walmart [2nd quarter ran May to July]: ecommerce sales up 97%, same-store sales up 9.3%

ETSY NEWS 

Admin are now posting a monthly update thread, in case you fear you have missed anything. This is how they chose to announce that non-seller accounts can no longer post in the forum. Since those account owners can still read the forum, that doesn’t mean you can call out your customers now. 

Sadly, there wasn’t much media coverage of Etsy’s nearly-annual billing screw up, but this one did get some attention. 

Etsy continues to get good media coverage for masks, including masks for your dolls. They also apparently got a decent slice of Google ranking for various pandemic-related searches in May [scroll down to the “Protection and Prevention” section]. 

However, Etsy is getting some bad press (along with Amazon), for allowing QAnon merchandise, because “the FBI has warned of the movement's potential to incite domestic terrorism.” Etsy replied to a request for comment saying that “that product listings associated with certain movements are allowed as long as they don't violate the company's seller or prohibited items policies, which ban items that promote hate or that could incite violence. The company said it is continually reviewing items on the site and could remove items in the future if they're found to violate Etsy's policies.”

More search trends on Etsy, this time kids’ items. I love how they think tie-dye was a ‘90s thing and not a ‘60-70s thing LOL. “a 318% increase in searches for kids tie-dye items...71% increase in searches for dinosaur wall art or decor*, and a 37% increase in searches for school of fish items….we’ve seen kid-friendly crafts spike in popularity, with searches for DIY kits for kids up 336%.”

Also, the holiday trends guide is out. “With the holidays approaching, and most shopping happening online, more shoppers will be looking for your help to make the season feel special.” The report is lengthy, covering Halloween to New Year’s, and most listing categories, while pointing out the possible pandemic changes to the usual trends. There is also an accompanying podcast with transcript. 

Speaking of the holiday season, here are Etsy’s tips for shops. Note that it is a bit late, as businesses need to have their holiday items posted no later than July if they want to be eligible for most fall media coverage. Almost every point refers to an Etsy tool or feature, some of them costing you money, so use this as a very broad guideline & be careful to read between the lines. 

They are still rolling out Etsy Payments to more countries: Morocco & Israel are the most recent. Note that Etsy Payments is not yet compulsory in these new countries. 

Etsy Ads once again has graphs. Do you find them useful? (I haven’t run ads at all this year, so I can’t check.)

Sendle is the latest shipping company to have a label integration with Etsy shops. 

Etsy asked US sellers to lobby their reps for more support for small business and other initiatives in the pandemic aid package.

SEO: GOOGLE & OTHER SEARCH ENGINES 

Google has stated that content on tabs is indexed and contributes to ranking as if it were on the page instead, but yet another test demonstrates that tabs may limit you. 

Due to the pandemic, Google has delayed finalizing mobile-first indexing until March 2021. (They originally announced it would be finished this September.) That means you have more time to update your website’s mobile version, ideally with responsive design. 

Site speed does matter to SEO, and Google is now asking some searchers how fast certain sites loaded for them. 

User comments on your products, blog posts and website can help you improve your SEO. The article suggests ways of getting that feedback, and ways to use it. [I’ve even had buyers give me new keywords to describe my items, in their messages and reviews.]

Getting links back to your site is important to SEO, but don’t annoy people while doing it. [sort of humour & sort of a rant, but does give some useful background on why backlinks matter.] Internal links also matter. 

There are some special tricks for food/recipe SEO, including structured data and even a WordPress plugin. 

Another WordPress plugin: submit any new or updated pages to Bing to be automatically re/indexed.

Do your keyword research before setting up your website’s sections and sub-sections, as they should serve the buyer experience, not your perception of it. Same with choosing which pages link to each other. 

SEOs are still trying to work out what happened with recent Google algorithm changes. Search Engine Journal claims that the May update was at least in part about demoting sites that had out-of-date or inaccurate information, so they suggest getting rid of the bad content on your site, or at least updating it. “Content pruning” has some advocates, but I wouldn’t worry about investing tons of time in this unless you have tons of time to spend. Just get rid of the blog posts that were wildly wrong, and the out-of-date filler. If you have a lot of sold out products, redirect those to relevant active pages. 

Meanwhile, a “glitch” on August 10 led people to think there was a massive Google algorithm update happening, but it all got fixed in less than a day. 

If you are behind on Google search news, here is a 7 minute video [with time stamped subtopics & resources links listed below], direct from Google. 

(CONTENT) MARKETING & SOCIAL MEDIA (includes blogging & emails) 

It’s tough to get started in social media if you don’t know the terminology, so here’s a list of the basic definitions you can consult if you get lost when reading.  

Don’t know how to blog? There are formulas you can use; here are eight options, nicely laid out, with downloadable templates. Don’t forget to figure out what your audience wants to read. And make sure you avoid these common blogging mistakes. 

If you have an email list but do not know how to take advantage of all the bells & whistles the companies (MailChimp, Constant Contact etc.) offer you, here are 4 ways to segment your lists. You can then send different offers or newsletters to different segments. 

You can optimize your social posts for people with visual impairments; excellent tips here. 

By the time you read this, the TikTok mess will likely have changed again, but here is an article on Trump’s order to prohibit US companies from doing business with TikTok owner ByteDance if the platform is not sold by September 15. 

Instagram has released its TikTok challenger, Reels, in more countries. 

Instagram is now offering a fundraising option, although it is a slow launch with some beta testing in the US, UK & Ireland to start. 

Here are step-by-step instructions on setting up your “Shop on Instagram.”

Pinterest says that searches around self-care & wellness have spiked during the pandemic lockdowns. “Pinterest has recently seen the highest searches ever around mental wellness ideas including meditation (+44%), gratitude (+60%) and positivity (+42%) that jumped from February to May….Pinterest says that searches for ‘starting a new business’ are up 35% on average, as are searches for ‘future life goals’ (2x), ‘life bucket list’ (+65%), ‘family goals future’ (+30%) and ‘future house goals’ (+78%).” There were also some searches clearly about spending more time at home: “Productive morning routine (up 6x), Exercise routine at home (up 12x), Self care night routine (up 7x)”

LinkedIn has a new algorithm; here’s how to make it work for you. [Many of these tips also apply to social media in general.]

Spotify is now doing “video podcasts”. Apparently a lot of their podcasters already did a video version of the Spotify podcasts, but had to publish it elsewhere up until now. 

Twitter now admits it is considering offering subscriptions to shore up its revenue numbers. “Shares of Twitter rose 4% in early trading Thursday following the earnings results....Twitter's growth plans are under close scrutiny as many advertisers pull back due to the pandemic. On Thursday, Twitter reported second-quarter ad revenues of $562 million, a 23% decrease compared to the same quarter a year ago. The company has also been hit by advertisers participating in an ad boycott of social media, linked to the nationwide racial justice protests.” Also, the recent hack is not helping them. 

That said, it is still possible to market using Twitter, and here are some of the basics. 

YouTube is no longer sending email updates when a channel you follow posts new content. 

ONLINE ADVERTISING (SEARCH ENGINES, SOCIAL MEDIA, & OTHERS) 

Ad spend has increased again as lockdowns end, in some cases beating last year by a decent margin. 

The Buy on Google program is ending its commission fees. Participants will also be able to integrate their PayPal and/or Shopify payment options. As often is the case, they are starting with the US first, but plan on rolling it out to more countries in the future. There are more details here, and a review here (with some of the drawbacks). 

Google Product Ads are now showing the item’s “material” on the listing card (before you click). If you are doing your own feed for your website, you may have the ability to add the attributes needed for the details to show up.  

If you find Google Ads too expensive, consider buying search ads on Bing. 

eBay is experimenting with showing ads mixed in with unpaid listings; placement would depend on the same algorithm. 

Here’s a new guide to Facebook Ads [videos & text]

STATS, DATA, OTHER TRACKING 

Bing has launched a new version of Webmaster Tools. 

There are ways to reduce the amount of traffic that Google Analytics designates as “direct traffic”; here are 15 of them. 

Currently in closed beta testing, the Google Search Console now has an “Insights” function, just like Google Analytics. I’ve found the GA one useful for telling me things I don’t always look at, so crossing my fingers that they release this to everyone soon. 

 ECOMMERCE NEWS, IDEAS, TRENDS 

Shopify helped many businesses stay open during pandemic lockdowns, giving it the boost to start competing with the likes of Amazon in ecommerce. “Shopify merchants that had previously or entirely relied on brick-and-mortar sales would later report they were able revive nearly 95% of that revenue online.”

eBay started rolling out its Managed Payments system to more sellers worldwide on July 20th. Things seem to be going slowly, with some confusion. 

But eBay is also having a 25th anniversary party for sellers on September 25th; don’t forget to register. 

Walmart is still delaying its new subscription model to challenge Amazon Prime, Walmart+. 

Amazon in the UK has launched a “Face mask store” part of the website. I haven’t seen this on other versions of Amazon. They’ve also increased some fees for some UK sellers, based on the new UK digital tax. And they are launching a site & presence in Sweden. 

The Competition Bureau of Canada has launched an investigation of Amazon’s treatment of third-party sellers. “The bureau is asking any person or business that has conducted sales via Amazon.ca to contact them if they have any insights into the issues it is investigating.“

Amazon Prime Day has been postponed to later dates this year, starting with India on August 6-7. The remaining countries will apparently be announced soon. 

If you use WooCommerce, here are a bunch of free plugins, with brief descriptions. 

BUSINESS & CONSUMER STUDIES, STATS & REPORTS; SOCIOLOGY & PSYCHOLOGY, CUSTOMER SERVICE 

Buyers do not all make purchase decisions the same way; Google uses its massive collection of data and some new studies to provide some examples. “Worldwide, search interest for “best” has far outpaced search interest for “cheap.”

It’s cheaper to keep repeat buyers than it is to find new ones; here are 16 ways to do that. One of my favourites is ““proactively providing information on how to avoid problems or get more out of your product” creates a 32% average lift to repurchase or recommend.”

It seems that researchers can never produce enough marketing guides on Gen Z and millennials. 

MISCELLANEOUS (including humour) 

I see a lot of new sellers, and some older sellers, confused about the idea of a business plan. HubSpot not only explains them, but also provides a downloadable template. 

If you are thinking of changing careers, or just want to add skills to better run your current business, Google has many different courses, some of which they offer for free. 

There are ways you can increase your productivity without (usually) working more hours. “A study published by John Pencavel of Standford University found that how much employees get done takes a sharp drop after 50 hours of work in a week, and even more drastically after 55 hours. The study found that employees working 70 hours per week actually produce nothing more in those extra 15 hours...taking a power nap in the middle of the day can help you process new information and even learn new skills.”

[allaboutthebooz]

Send My Love (To Your New Lover) Part One

Summary: Y/N and Jensen have been working on Supernatural together for ten years. They’ve also been dating for eight years, until Jensen called it off, months before their wedding. A year later, Jensen is getting married and Y/N feels it’s time to move on. Her contract is up and she’s ready to expand her resume, but can she give everything up when they want her to sign on for more seasons? Can she keep her distance from Jensen as he prepares to get married to someone that isn’t her? Can she move on?

Pairing: Jensen x Reader

Warnings: Angst

A/N: Hey guys! It’s been a little while since we’ve had a series. I’ve been working on the first few parts for months now. Usually I have no problem getting things like this finished within hours, but I’ve been super busy. It’s the holidays, so not only have I been spending time with my family, I’ve been shopping and wrapping gifts, I have my Etsy shop that has been having orders coming through more than I thought they would, and I have have been maintaining my ao3, wattpad, and wordpress. I also said that I would only be posting my new material on those other blogs, but I can’t leave you all behind. I’m not going to force you all to join other sites. Even though I’m not happy with the changes, my blog hasn’t been affected...yet. So, I will go down with this ship. Okay, enough rambling, Ashleigh. They want the story, not your nonsense! Enjoy guys!!!

A/N/N: Also, there will be a tag list! So let me know if you would like to be added!

It’s always difficult moving on from a relationship that you thought was going to last forever. Even if it ended almost three years ago, it still hurts to see him with his new girlfriend. It’s hard to avoid with today’s internet access. You can only avoid social media for so long, before you decide to scroll through your newsfeed. It never gets easier seeing him with her and knowing how quick he was able to move on after you both called your eight-year relationship off. You two were going to get married. Months away from saying ‘I do.’ Now he was with her a year after the break-up and while scrolling through your Instagram between answering emails, you learned that he proposed to her.

Sitting on your couch in your big empty house, you rub your chest to try and ease the ache that his post has caused. Sure, you had dated someone else, but they weren’t Jensen. Unlike him, you were having a hard time putting aside your relationship with him. Eight years is a long time to be with someone, just to have them say they wanted to move on, especially when you see them every day. It’s hard to move on when you work together. Or used to, since your contract was up and you were ready to say goodbye.

You threw your phone beside you on the couch and stood up. You needed to get ready for the day and you couldn’t let this news hold you back. You knew that as soon as you left your house today that the camera would be shoved in your face. You have to pretend that you were indifferent to the news. Pretend that you hadn’t seen it, if they ask. Pretend that you’re happy for them.

After taking a shower, you’re picking out your outfit for the day when you hear your phone ring from its spot on the couch where you left it. Moving through the house to the living room, you pick it up and answer with a simple “hello,” not looking at the caller ID, expecting it to be your manager, ready to give you a pep talk. What you weren’t expecting to hear was the rough voice that you used to hear every day.

“Hey Y/N.” You stop in tracks on the way back to your room.

“Jensen.” You managed in a small voice. “Uh, hi. How are you?”

You can hear the smile in his voice when he responds. “I’m doing great. How about you?”

“I’m okay. You know, just living the life.” You try to make it sound less depressing, but you know he can tell something is wrong.

“That’s good. Um, I just wanted to call and uh,” You can hear him struggling to tell you the news that you already knew, so you decide to spare him.

“I know, Jensen. I saw it about an hour ago.” You finish walking back to your room and start pulling clothes on. Not wanting to have this conversation in your underwear.

You hear him clear his throat. “Oh. I was hoping to reach you before you saw it.”

“Then you should have called me last night. Kind of hard to hide something like that when it’s all over social media.” You let out a huff of a laugh.

“Yeah. You’re right. I should have called you sooner.”

“Not like you have any reason to. We’re not together anymore, haven’t been for some time now.”

“I know that. Doesn’t mean that I couldn’t be the one to tell you.” He tries to argue.

“Jensen, it’s fine. Don’t worry about me. I’m fine. I’ll be fine. You need to focus on her. You should be enjoying this time with her, not fussing over you ex that you haven’t spoken to since her last day on set.” You can hear the spite in your voice and wince.

He doesn’t say anything for a long time. You can just hear him breathing on the other end. Before he can respond, you decide to end the call short. “Look Jensen, I gotta go. I have a big day ahead of me and I have to be out of the house in less than an hour to make it to a meeting with my Jena.” You try to swallow the huge lump in your throat. “I’m happy for you. I really am. All I’ve ever wanted was for you to be happy and you are. So, go be happy.” You feel your nostrils flare and the tears form. “Go be with her. I’ll talk to you later.”

Clearing his throat again he says, “Yeah, okay. I thought I would just call and let you know.”

“Yeah, thanks for that. Uh, tell Jared I said hi and that him that I’ll miss him.”

“Yeah I will. Take care of yourself, Y/N/N.” You close your eyes at the name he used to call you, a tear falls between your lashes.

“You too, Jensen.” You pull the phone away from your ear and end the call. Letting a few more tears fall before squaring your shoulders and wiping your face. The only proof that the call even happened, being your red eyes.

Tossing your phone on the bed, you finish getting ready by pulling your hair up and putting light makeup on your face. Deciding to cover your eyes with your Ray ban sunglasses, until your eyes calmed down. You climb into your car and drive to your first meeting. Pulling the car into a parking spot next to the curb that is a few blocks from the office, you take a few minutes and prepare yourself for the parade of cameras that are always lurking the California streets. Grabbing your purse, you open the door and climb from the car. You barely make it ten feet before you see them rushing towards you, calling your name and shouting their questions. “Y/N! Did you hear about Jensen proposing to Danneel?” “Y/N, what do you have to say about Jensen’s proposal?”

“I’m happy for him. He deserves to be happy.” You give them your best smile.

“Are you still in love with him? Are you heartbroken?” One asks.

“I’ll always love Jensen, he was a big part of my life for a long time, but it’s a different type of love now. I’m happy that he found someone to love him the way he deserves. She’s beautiful and everything he needs.” You try to keep the answers simple and vague enough. It’s none of their business, but it’s their jobs to pry. You can see your managers office building up ahead and quicken your pace. You catch the attention of the guards standing outside as soon as your close enough and they rush over to keep the press back as you make your way into the building.

Climbing into the elevator once the doors open, you keep your composure until they close again. Falling back into the wall behind you, taking a deep breath, and shake your head to try to keep the next round of tears at bay. You push your sunglasses onto your forehead as the doors open to the floor that Jenna’s office is on.

Moving through the floor with your eyes forward, to ignore the other employees as you pass them. You can see Jenna behind her desk talking on the phone, through the glass walls of her office. Her door is open, so you knock on the doorframe to get her attention. She looks up at you and smiles, ushering you in. You sit in one of the chairs in front of her and wait for her to finish her conversation.

“Okay. Well Y/N is here, so I need to go over everything with her and I will give you a call later to give you her final decision.” She speaks into the phone. “I will, Bob. Take care.” She hangs up and turns to face you.

“Bob?” You ask her.

“Robert Singer.” She says as a small grimace graces her soft face.

Your shoulder sag and you give her a tired eye roll. “No. I can’t.”

“I know. I told him that after the news breaking about Jensen today, there would be no way that you would agree to continue working on the show, but you know how they can be. They really want you to stick around for a few more seasons.”

“Well, they can find someone else. I don’t think I can work with him anymore.”

“I know that, Y/N, but this would be great for you. I know it will suck and you will have to see Jensen every day but think about what this could do for you.”

“I already have a lot going on. I’m getting ready to fly out to London to work on Spider-Man. I would be working on that for a few weeks and then have to fly to Atlanta to work on Stranger Things. And you want to add flying back and forth to Vancouver again? I would exhausted, Jenna. When would I have time to rest?” You explain to her, already feeling tired.

“I know, but you haven’t signed all of the paperwork for Stranger Things yet, we’re still going back and forth with them about your contract. Bob sent me the script for the first episode that they want you to work on next season. You should at least look it over and then give me a call later.” She hands you the packet containing the script.

“You would really rather I do Supernatural over Stranger Things?”

“I want you to look at every option. I don’t want you to regret no doing the show. And who knows, maybe we can work out a better filming schedule. Let me call everyone and see what we can come up with.” She explains as you look down at the packet in your hands. “I know it’s going to suck seeing him, but this would be so great for you. You’re blowing up in the best way, kid. And don’t think of it as working with your ex, think of it as you get to work with Jared again. Before Supernatural, you two haven’t worked together since Gilmore Girls.”

You nod. “That’s true. It would be amazing to see Jared again.”

“Just think about it. Go to lunch, read the script over and call me later. I’ll call Bob and tell him that you will have your answer tomorrow. If you decide to take it, we’ll figure out your schedule so that you aren’t killing yourself.”

You look up at her and take in a deep breath. “Okay. I’ll think about it.”

“Great. Now, get going. You have a flight to New York to catch tonight for your spot on Jimmy Kimmel tomorrow.”

“Thanks, Jenna.” You stand up and with a final wave, leave her office.

[assortedfruitsnacks212]

I miss you, Tumblr! + Life update on stuff and things

Heyyyyy everyone. I figured it was high time I made a proper post talking about, well, everything that’s happened since I stopped posting so much. I don’t like that I disappeared - this site was where I discovered Reylo and made some truly awesome friends. So I want to stick around, you know? And I do hope to come back more often from now on. It’s just hard juggling so many social media platforms...

But ANYWAY. I promised an update, so here we go.

1. I’m moving across the country!

That’s right ladies and gents, I’m fleeing the New Jersey coop for my old hometown of Huntsville, AL. 

Why, you ask? Well, Huntsville is very much a city of the future. As the home of NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center (where they built the Saturn V rockets!) Huntsville has earned the well-deserved moniker "Rocket City USA." It's also undergoing a huge economic boom, which has led to a thriving arts community.

New Jersey? Eh.

I'm tired of just treading water and not making headway toward my dreams. I’ll talk about those dreams a bit more in this post. Needless to say, they’re very, very important to me.

So I'm not settling anymore. In August/September, I'm packing up shop and heading down south. It's the start of something new, and I can’t wait.

2. I started a Patreon for my passion project, and it’s going well <3

My passion project, The Oracle Fragment, has been the one thing I’ve returned to over and over again for the past 10+ years. Late last year I decided to step up my commitment by starting a Patreon. I’ve only done a soft launch so far, and I’m already at 38 Patrons :) It’s been a rewarding month!

My official launch is scheduled for Wednesday, February 27. I’ll be celebrating with a Twitch stream with fun games, sketch requests, and maybe a little giveaway ;) The stream starts at 9pm EST. Let me know if you want to come - as you know, I take Reylo requests ;)

3. I’ve returned to my roots: pencil drawing!

A friend of mine convinced me to do some traditional drawing again, and I’m so glad he did. I’d forgotten how lovely it is to put pencil to paper. Also, I know I’m far better at it than I am at digital sketching. So I’m gonna let myself indulge a bit - and maybe even find a way to marry my pencil art TO my digital art. People do it all the time, I hear ;)

People who are waiting on commissions: if you want me to sketch your ideas traditionally, shoot me a message and let’s talk about it! If I do a pencil sketch for you, I can actually mail it to you OR to the friend of your choice. Shipping is free! (unless it’s international in which case we’ll discuss it) @reylorianlovechild @immortalpen @faithren @rebelrebelreylo @jesssssah

4. I’m putting my art in local stores

My favorite stores in Woodstown, Barney Loves Books and the Woodstown Coffee Shop and Bakery, have agreed to let me display my art on their premises. I’m REALLY excited and also a little overwhelmed :) I’m gonna start small, with just a basket of prints and originals... BUT who knows where it could go from here :) 

If you’re in the Woodstown area, come take a look sometime! Woodstown is about 40 minutes away from Philadelphia. As a bonus, we could even meet - just message me and we’ll go get coffee from the bakery!

5. I’m raising money for Star Wars Celebration

I bought Saturday passes for my husband and me some time ago. Now it’s time for me to either (A) raise the money for travel and lodging, or (B) sell the tickets to someone else. :p For a while I was leaning toward just selling them, but hell, it would be SO nice to go, if only for a day! So I’m going to give it a shot. Keep an eye out for commission openings (once my current ones are finished) and other cool stuff!

6. I’m doing more portrait work

Again, this is all because my friends and family convinced me to... BUT I’ve decided to make a whole-assed attempt at making my portrait work a thing. I’m printing up brochures to display with my art, and I’ve revamped my listings on Etsy.

Portraits are my strongest point, after all. There’s something about the human face that utterly enchants me, and people tell me I have the ability to capture the subject’s heart and soul on paper. I’ve decided to believe them. :)

If you’ve been thinking about commissioning a portrait of a friend, family member, or other loved one (including fictional loves *coughKylocough*), you can go to my Etsy here, or just message me here on Tumblr.

Speaking of Etsy...

7. I’m adding lots more stuff to my Etsy store

I haven’t done much with Etsy since last summer, and it’s time I fixed that. Over the weekend, I FINALLY added a print option for Elf lord Kylo Ren (!!), and I’m about to add merch for him, too. Oh, and I just ordered fine art prints of Elven Kylo and Hades and Persephone Reylo so I can put out hand-embellished versions of them!! That’s where I paint on the prints with gold or silver so they look extra shiny and pretty. You can see a pic of my embellished Art Nouveau Padme here.

Other plans I have for my Etsy: 

- add pillow inserts to my custom pillows - add MORE fanart - add MORE originals

If you have ideas for other things I can add to my Etsy, please let me know! Especially if it’s Reylo things ;) 

8. I’m starting a regular Twitch stream with an art/storytelling focus

I’ve wanted to be a Twitch streamer for a long time, but I could never figure out what to do, exactly. Just recently, inspiration hit me like a bolt of lightning:

I want my stream to be all about storytelling.

Life gets crazy, depressing, and devoid of magic sometimes. I want to bring a little of that magic back by creating an intentional space outside of daily life for imagination and exploration. Dreaming, brainstorming, chasing plot bunnies, painting, sketching, talking deep subjects, and playing games - these will all be welcome activities in my magic circle. So if that sounds good to you, come make magic with me <3

My inaugural stream will be Saturday, February 23 at noon EST. After that, I hope to stream at least 3 times a week in the afternoons.

---

As for Reylo stuff...

Believe me, though I’ve been absent from Tumblr, I’ve never, EVER stopped thinking about Reylo. And I haven’t forgotten about any of my ongoing Reylo fics and projects!

I’ll make a separate post about that, though. I’ve talked your ear off quite enough for one post ;)

I’ve missed you all. If the urge strikes you, PLEASE come and see hi. I’d love to hear from you!

@reylocalligraphy @reylo-convert @enjoyallneednothing-blog @raven-maiden @obsessivepropulsive @ever-so-reylo @monsterleadmehome @reylolujah @pacificwanderer @dreamsdescent @faequeentitania @thewayofthetrashcompactor @deafield @dvrkrey @reylotrashpiler @recklessdarkness @cosmo-gonika @aionimica @creationsvixen @collegefangirl3791 @inmyownidiom @midnightbluefox

[ttawoabw]

Wow, the last book haul I did was back in August of 2017!  I might have forgotten a few books or there may be repeats from old book hauls, but I honestly haven’t bought that many books in the past 7 months.  Wow.. 7 months without buying enough books to warrant a haul? I should receive an award. I am an affiliate for the Book Depository so in full disclosure, the links to purchase the books in this post may give me a small commission.

Rebekah

by Jill Eileen Smith

Book two in the Wives of the Patriarchs series.

Christian Historical Fiction

When her father dies and she is left in the care of her conniving brother Laban, Rebekah knows her life has changed forever. Her hope for the future is restored when she falls in love with her cousin Isaac, and their relationship starts strong. But marital bliss cannot last forever, and the birth of their twin sons marks the beginning of years of misunderstanding, disagreement, and betrayal. The rift between them grows wider and wider until it is surely too deep to be mended. And yet, with God all things are possible.

Book Depository: Paperback

Scarlet

by A.C Gaughen

Book one in the Scarlet trilogy.

Young Adult Historical Fantasy Romance Retelling

★★★★

I won this in a giveaway held on Twitter by Kelly from @divabooknerd.  I love this retelling of Robin Hood, I’ve read it over and over and I’m so happy to finally have a physical copy of it to read!

Will Scarlet is good at two things: stealing from the rich and keeping secrets – skills that are in high demand in Robin Hood’s band of thieves, who protect the people of Nottingham from the evil sheriff. Scarlet’s biggest secret of all is one only Robin and his men know…that she is posing as a thief; that the slip of a boy who is fast with sharp knives is really a girl.

The terrible events in her past that led Scarlet to hide her real identity are in danger of being exposed when the thief taker Lord Gisbourne arrives in town to rid Nottingham of the Hood and his men once and for all. As Gisbourne closes in a put innocent lives at risk, Scarlet must decide how much the people of Nottingham mean to her, especially John Little, a flirtatious fellow outlaw, and Robin, whose quick smiles have the rare power to unsettle her. There is real honor among these thieves and so much more – making this a fight worth dying for.

Book Depository: Paperback

Gemina

by Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff

Book two in The Illuminae Files trilogy.

Young Adult Science Fiction

When Illuminae came out I thought I would read it straight away.  I did not.  I read Illuminae the week the last book in the trilogy came out.  And I loved it! So I went out and bought Gemina and Obsidio because I needed to continue to story.  Even though I was hoping to get all of them in hardcover from the Book Depository.

(THIS BLURB IS FROM ILLUMINAE SO THERE WON’T BE ANY SPOILERS)

This morning, Kady thought breaking up with Ezra was the hardest thing she’d have to do. This afternoon, her planet was invaded.

The year is 2575, and two rival megacorporations are at war over a planet that’s little more than an ice-covered speck at the edge of the universe. Too bad nobody thought to warn the people living on it. With enemy fire raining down on them, Kady and Ezra—who are barely even talking to each other—are forced to fight their way onto an evacuating fleet, with an enemy warship in hot pursuit.

But their problems are just getting started. A deadly plague has broken out and is mutating, with terrifying results; the fleet’s AI, which should be protecting them, may actually be their enemy; and nobody in charge will say what’s really going on. As Kady hacks into a tangled web of data to find the truth, it’s clear only one person can help her bring it all to light: the ex-boyfriend she swore she’d never speak to again.

BRIEFING NOTE: Told through a fascinating dossier of hacked documents—including emails, schematics, military files, IMs, medical reports, interviews, and more—Illuminae is the first book in a heart-stopping, high-octane trilogy about lives interrupted, the price of truth, and the courage of everyday heroes.

Book Depository: Paperback

Book Depository: Hardcover

Obsidio

by Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff

Book three in The Illuminae Files trilogy.

Young Adult Science Fiction

  Book Depository: Paperback

Book Depository: Hardcover

Barnes and Noble: Special Edition

Daughter of the Siren Queen

by Tricia Levenseller

Book two in the Daughter of the Pirate King duology.

Young Adult Fantasy Romance

It took me a LONG time to get around to reading Daughter of the Pirate King, I mean I loved the premise and I love pirates and I was so excited when it first came out.  But it wasn’t until the sequel was about to be released that I actually picked it up.  And devoured it.  I went and pre-ordered Daughter of the Siren Queen (unfortunately I was too late to receive the pre-order incentive gift, but I still got the PDF first chapter of Daughter of the Pirate King from Riden’s POV so that was exciting!) and I also ordered it on Kindle so I could read it as soon as it came out.

(THIS BLURB IS FROM DAUGHTER OF THE PIRATE KING SO THERE WON’T BE ANY SPOILERS)

There will be plenty of time for me to beat him soundly once I’ve gotten what I came for.

Sent on a mission to retrieve an ancient hidden map—the key to a legendary treasure trove—seventeen-year-old pirate captain Alosa deliberately allows herself to be captured by her enemies, giving her the perfect opportunity to search their ship.

More than a match for the ruthless pirate crew, Alosa has only one thing standing between her and the map: her captor, the unexpectedly clever and unfairly attractive first mate, Riden. But not to worry, for Alosa has a few tricks up her sleeve, and no lone pirate can stop the Daughter of the Pirate King.

Book Depository: Hardcover

Rosemarked

by Livia Blackburne

Book one in the Rosemarked series (duology, trilogy?)

Young Adult Fantasy

★★★★

I was originally a bit hesitant about this one, the blurb just sounded so cliche and I was worried I wouldn’t ever get around to reading it if I bought it.  But then I just sort of caved (can’t remember why?) and bought it.  Then when it arrived I read it.  AND LOVED IT!  I didn’t write a review but in the cover reveal fro Umbertouched, the sequel, I expressed some of my thoughts – so you can check that out HERE.

A healer who cannot be healed . . .

When Zivah falls prey to the deadly rose plague, she knows it’s only a matter of time before she fully succumbs. Now she’s destined to live her last days in isolation, cut off from her people and unable to practice her art—until a threat to her village creates a need that only she can fill.

A soldier shattered by war . . .

Broken by torture at the hands of the Amparan Empire, Dineas thirsts for revenge against his captors. Now escaped and reunited with his tribe, he’ll do anything to free them from Amparan rule—even if it means undertaking a plan that risks not only his life but his very self.

Thrust together on a high-stakes mission to spy on the capital, the two couldn’t be more different: Zivah, deeply committed to her vow of healing, and Dineas, yearning for vengeance. But as they grow closer, they must find common ground to protect those they love. And amidst the constant fear of discovery, the two grapple with a mutual attraction that could break both of their carefully guarded hearts.

This smart, sweeping fantasy with a political edge and a slow-burning romance will capture fans of The Lumatere Chronicles and An Ember in the Ashes.

Book Depository: Hardcover

The Case for Jamie

by Brittany Cavallaro

Book three in the Charlotte Holmes quartet.

Young Adult Contemporary Mystery Retelling

I read A Study of Charlotte way back in 2016, and I loved it so much I wrote a review for it (you can read that HERE).  When The Last of August came out I also loved it.  And then I forgot all about this series.  It was by chance that I came across the third installment and discovered it would be a quartet.  I look forward to reading more about Jamie and Charlotte and seeing the character development that a year has had on them.

(THIS BLURB IS FROM A STUDY OF CHARLOTTE SO THERE WON’T BE ANY SPOILERS)

The last thing Jamie Watson wants is a rugby scholarship to Sherringford, a Connecticut prep school just an hour away from his estranged father. But that’s not the only complication: Sherringford is also home to Charlotte Holmes, the famous detective’s great-great-great-granddaughter, who has inherited not only Sherlock’s genius but also his volatile temperament. From everything Jamie has heard about Charlotte, it seems safer to admire her from afar.

From the moment they meet, there’s a tense energy between them, and they seem more destined to be rivals than anything else. But when a Sherringford student dies under suspicious circumstances, ripped straight from the most terrifying of the Sherlock Holmes stories, Jamie can no longer afford to keep his distance. Jamie and Charlotte are being framed for murder, and only Charlotte can clear their names. But danger is mounting and nowhere is safe—and the only people they can trust are each other.

Book Depository: Hardcover

A Court of Thorns and Roses Coloring Book

by Sarah J. Maas and Charlie Bowater

Colouring book companion to the ACOTAR series.

Self explanatory.  It’s the colouring book for A Court of Thorns and Roses drawn by the greatest ACOTAR artist, Charlie Bowater.  I bought it in anticipation of A Court of Frost and Starlight.  I’m excited to start colouring it!

Book Depository: Colouring Book

Impressive Wingspan

by Jessica from JCroftDesigns on Etsy

A Court of Thorns and Roses series Sticker

★★★★★

I saw this sticker and could not resist!  I love it so much and the letter from Jessica was really sweet!  I have it on my laptop (my boss had questions….) and I love it so much I actually went ahead and ordered two more! It’s just  so cute, and funny and makes me swoon a little thinking of Rhysand.

Etsy: JCroftDesigns

  Second Hand Books

Trashed by Alison Gaylin

Trashed by Alison Gaylin

Trace by Lori Foster

Ranger’s Apprentice: The Burning Bridge by John Flannagan

Palace of Darkness by Tracy L. Higley

  What books have you bought lately?

Have you read any of these books?  What did you think?

  My Links:

Goodreads : Becca Winter

Instagram : bookie_becca

Twitter : @Becca_Bookworm

Facebook : The Troubles And Woes Of A Bookworm

Affiliate: Book Depository

Referral: OwlCrate

Referral: The Bookish Box

Referral: Romance Reveal

Referral: Cratejoy

Becca

xxx

(A Short but Long Overdue) Book Haul #16 Wow, the last book haul I did was back in August of 2017!  I might have forgotten a few books or there may be repeats from old book hauls, but I honestly haven't bought that many books in the past 7 months. 

[pockets-of-peace]

Black Friday Loots 

R and I don’t really do Black Friday. Usually that’s a pay day and in the middle of holiday preparing there isn’t much wiggle room with cash. Sometimes though, we have a little to mess with - usually just for Christmas gifts. This year was one of those years. If we do anything it’s always after he gets home from work that day. I just don’t like the concept of Black Friday, or the crowds, the commercialism. The whole thing just isn’t my cup of tea. 

So the week before we started looking at the ads, seeing what deals were available and making our game plan. 

We decided on this toy from Toys R Us. They had it marked half off so for $24.99. They had free shipping on all orders over $29, so I tacked on a medium sized dice cast car from a line that he loves as a stocking suffer to get me over the free shipping. I think that’s going to be his gift from Santa. 

We found the main game R wants for $24.99 on Amazon so I ordered that as well. If you’ve read my delivery issues with Prime - I marked it to be delivered to his work. lol 

Both of those items I purchased online that morning. He and I had spent a good portion of Thursday thoroughly cleaning the living room; so Friday morning after the online shopping I brought in all the Christmas tubs and boxes from storage. The boxes need a clean so I did that too, and stacked the tree, ornaments and decor in the corner. The gift wrap and ribbon/bow/box & bags boxes are stacked in the hallway waiting for a trip upstairs. So that’s all done and waiting. 

I did take a minute to go through the box the tags are in. I was right. I tossed all the vintage gift tags I had left. However, I did find a stack of tags from when sticker tags were just becoming a thing. They’re all individually backed on cardstock and as I found out last year the sticky just isn’t the best on them. Those I did take out for journal ephemera.

The only stores we went to that night were Target and Dollar Tree. DT more for some necessities. Target however, always has the best deals on movies on BF. I picked up The Peanuts Movie (stocking stuffer for R) for $4. I had Hidden Figures also on my list but they were sold out. Bummer. I also got the Angry Birds movie for $4; and if you’d have told me a year ago that that movie would end up as of my favorites I’d have laughed in your face, but here we are. (It’s streaming on Netflix. It’s funny af, (except for the peeing part) watch it maybe?) The last movie score was Cars 3 for $10; that’s a stocking stuffer for Bud. And I picked up Skyrim on the PS4 for R for $15. There were a few other little things, but those were the main purchases. 

Then we went out to dinner at our favorite dine in pizza place. 

Oh, I totally forgot! After dinner I popped into both Micheal’s and Joann’s (crafts stores) since they’re in the same shopping center. One crafter I watch on youtube showed a tour of her craft room and had a killer idea for organizing themes for journals. Neither had the particular storage containers I was looking for. Another bummer. And then I fell into the trap of Michael’s Black Friday sales. They had Christmas paper crafting 50% off. Lord have mercy. Paper is my weakness. Pair that with Christmas and it’s a lost fucking cause. I bought this, this, and this for journals. And I found a pad of paper that I won’t go into detail about, suffice to say it will make a great Crystal Witch journal. I walked away from it three times before caving. It’s just gorgeous. I’m really excited about that idea! 

And I confess, I did some Etsy shopping that morning as well. I’ve been looking for vintage Christmas ephemera for weeks now and I just haven’t found anything I loved enough to spend the money on. But I did finally cave and buy a lot of vintage gift tags, and another lot of vintage Christmas sheet music. 

So I’m waiting on those orders, and I ordered a few nesting metal cutting dies from Aliexpress a few weeks ago. I’m waiting on those to make tags and such. But other than that all I really need to do is start tea dying my paper and then I can begin making Christmas themed journals. I’m so excited!!! 

[arplis]

Arplis - News: My 14 Goals for 2020

Goal #1 – Take Full Advantage of Having My Husband Home 24/7 On Monday it snowed 8 inches, but by the time Friday rolled around the HH and I were both working hard in the garden from sun up to sun down. Our house doesn’t have gutters {maybe it’s a New England thing because of all the snow that accumulates in winter? I don’t know}. So we are moving the pea gravel a little at a time to where the snow melt hits on the ground but it’s been slow going. Our current outdoor projects include removing the previous owners fire pit {it’s smack dab in the middle of the backyard} digging out the plants we don’t want {which is 95%} and creating new brick flower borders around the back of the house. Oh, and there’s also a bunch of tree limbs and rotten log rounds we have to haul to the recycle center {where there’s a spot to drop off all your yard waste for free}. The HH keeps saying we need a truck. And I’m like WHAT ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT!? Just put a tarp down in the back of the wagon… it will fit. And it always does and it makes him crazy. Goal #2 – Take Better Care of Myself.  Well, collecting heart shaped rocks along the beach is over for a while… the town closed down the beaches. Goal #3 – Get Organized My plan went out the window this week {too much time on the computer looking up the news, working in the yard, dyeing wool and separating a big bowl of jelly beans The Girl have me}. There’s always next week though, right? The plan: March 22 – 28 Paint Kitchen Walls, Trim Doors and Office Door March 29 – April 4th – Finish Garden Beds {Raspberry & Asparagus Beds, 3 New Flower Beds Along the Back of the House} April 5th – 11th – Paint Master Bedroom Walls, Trim and Doors April 12th – 18th – Make Window Treatments for Master Bedroom April 19th – May 2nd  Make Window Treatments for Sunroom Goal #4 – Get Proper Window Coverings on All Our Windows.  Working on it. If only in my mind. Goal #5 – Master Bedroom Make Over Hey! I finally got around to cutting the plastic off our lamp shades {only took 6 months}! I also painted the back wall in our bedroom white {the other walls are still currently purple} and we moved the bed and other furniture in place. Now all that’s left to do in there is paint the rest of the walls, the radiator, the windows and throw up some window treatments. So you know, it could be a month or two or it could be a year…. who knows. But I’m hopeful it will be sooner than later. Goal #6 – Kitchen Update Poor Mrs. HB. She is bored out of her mind…. And she doesn’t understand why I’m not. I’ve got a list of painting projects {the kitchen included} and could live on a deserted island 11 1/2 out of 12 months of the year. She needs people. And TJ MAXX and doesn’t know what to do. Goal #7 – Install Vegetable Garden The garden boxes are in place! But we still need to: Figure out what to do with the old pavers. Create 2 more brick edged flower borders. Till up area for raspberry and asparagus beds. Plant hydrangeas along the back of the house Create a seating area {a super simple one} Figure out where to put all the extra pea gravel LAST CHANCE! If you still haven’t ordered your seeds, Botanical Interests is currently offering 30% off online seed orders with code SEEDS30 at checkout through the end of March. They are also offering FREE Shipping on orders of $40 or more through the end of the month as well.  Goal #8 – Explore More of Maine  Looking forward to my next day trip with the HH! Harpswell, Maine is on the list next, but it will have to wait a bit. On the radar for exploring Maine this month: Bar Harbor, Maine Lincolnville Center General Store in Lincolnville, Maine Wallace’s Market in Friendship, Maine Alewives Fabric Store in Nobleboro, Maine Harpswell, Maine and Bailey Island Goal #9 – Host Some Sort of Get Together I think it will be a summer BBQ. Goal #10 – Read/Listen to 12 Books Did I wake up in Washington? Seriously! I guess mud season has arrived. I didn’t listen to any audio books this week but here’s a list of other books I’ve read/listened to this year: Olive Kitteridge Smitten Kitchen Every Day: Triumphant and Unfussy New Favorites Natural Color: Vibrant Plant Dye Projects for Your Home and Wardrobe  The New Bungalow Kitchen  Container Gardening by Stephanie Donaldson  A Piece of the World The War I Finally Won Vertical Gardening Front Yard Gardens The Complete Cooking Light Cookbook Beach House Style Goal #11 – Learn A New Skill or Craft Hopefully this fall? Right now I’m on a mission to get the garden in place. Goal #12 – Visit 12  Museums, Historical Homes or Botanical Gardens {and bakeries too!} Currently on hold. January Maine Maritime Museum Maine Mineral and Gem Museum The Island Market  Cafe DiCocoa Hungry Hollow Country Store February Two Fat Cats Bakery Portland Museum of Art Speckled Ax  Atlantic Baking Company Rockland, St. George, Cushing and Port Clyde Maine March Bar Harbor and Desert Island Adventures Day One, Day Two and the Summer Cottage Rental Tour. Tinder Hearth Bakery in Brooksville, Maine Goal # 13 – Reach 5,000 Etsy Sales by the End of The Year  As of this morning, I have made 3354 sales on Etsy. That’s up from 2804 on January 1st. I dyed a bunch of wool last week and updated my Etsy shop with a few new wool bundles. As far as rug hooking goes, I wasn’t able to get anything hooked this week. So far for my April 3rd listing update, it looks like it will be all wool bundles and no finished rugs or pillows. And while I’m a little disappointed in myself for not getting any hooking done this month, it is a busy time of year for me {hello garden and house projects} but it makes me feel better knowing that come this winter the house will be done and I’ll get to cozy up on the couch and hook without distractions. Goal #14 – Once a Month Menu Planning {for 2} Our freezer is totally full so even if I wanted to make a few freezer meals, there wouldn’t be any room to put them. But that’s a good problem to have so I’m not complaining. Have YOU made any goals for this year? If so, DO TELL! We all want to hear about them. Have a great Sunday everyone, ~Mavis Mrs. Hillbilly’s Update Mrs. HB said she will send us updates once a month now. So she’ll be back the first Sunday in April. The post Week 13 of 52 appeared first on One Hundred Dollars a Month. This content was original published at One Hundred Dollars a Month and is copyrighted material. If you are reading this on another website it is being published without consent.          Comments In reply to Mel. Mel, in my next life, I want to be you! ... by A I'm not bored, my master closet is done…drywall patches, new ... by Jen M In reply to Terena. Thank you, Terena!! Stay safe and strong. ... by ann in E. oregon In reply to Margaret @ Live Like No One Else. I saw a poster ... by Mable In reply to Dawn. Ditto here. by Mable Plus 5 more... Related Stories Week 14 of 52 Week 12 of 52 Week 11 of 52 #12GoalsForTheNewYear

Arplis - News source https://arplis.com/blogs/news/my-14-goals-for-2022

[rachaelacheson]

Day 20: Sunday, April 5, 2020

Cases in Iowa: 868. Cases in Story County: 5.

Cracked into my reserve of Coffee and a Classic book boxes.

Amazingly, I had never read any Agatha Christie before today. Obviously, I’ve encountered many parodies and retellings of And Then There Were None; I don’t live under a rock. But somehow, I’d gotten it into my head that I “wasn’t really a mystery-genre person.” So I’ve been avoiding — well, no, not exactly “avoiding” so much as “meh”-ing out — of the original Christies for a while now, thinking they were going to be dry, high-concept antiques, rendered shallow and predictable by the generations of writing that have built on them since. Sort of like gothic horror or early SciFi. And boy was I wrong. But I’m glad I was. It’s comforting to remember how many good things I’ve yet to encounter in the world. And not just brand-new things, either. There is still so much that has been here all along that I haven’t had, or taken, the time to get to know.

  Day 21: Monday, April 6, 2020

Cases in Iowa: 946. Cases in Story County: 5.

Thunderstorms. Makes me think of the opening line to Jane Eyre: “There was no possibility of taking a walk that day.” Sigh. Good thing I got outside yesterday.

It never occurred to me that there would be so many make-up pictures in this series, because I genuinely never wear make-up. But here we are.

It was hard to get a good shot of the sparkly eyeshadow (second photo was the best I could manage), but it was particularly nice blended-ombre, and the colors came from a particularly Rachael-ish palette that I bought myself on eBay for Christmas (it had been featured in a December Boxycharm box, so there were a slew of unopened ones going for cheap).

I used “Enchanted” for the base color, “Beauty” for the outside shading, and “Fairies” for the corner and brow highlights.

Très romantique, n’est-ce pas?

  Day 22: Tuesday, April 7, 2020

Cases in Iowa: 1,048. Cases in Story County: 6.

More make-up! Different concept. Unfortunate amount of white liner in the lash line. But whatever. Whitewash is a mood these days.

Since it was also GORGEOUS outside (nearly 80 degrees Fahrenheit!) I also spent the evening reading outside on the porch.

  Day 23: Wednesday, April 8, 2020

Cases in Iowa: 1,145. Cases in Story County: 6.

Hadn’t thought to try to get pictures, but wasps have been getting into my house. One camped out in my bathroom all morning, and started buzzing around angrily every time I went in to pee. Would suck enough normally, but in current circumstances, there’s nowhere else to go — nowhere to get away.

Day 24: Thursday, April 9, 2020

Cases in Iowa: 1,270. Cases in Story County: 7.

Looking at mega-mansions with underground spas, private cinemas, boutique-sized closets, gyms, and backyard waterparks on YouTube. I’m clearly quarantining in the wrong place.

Also, listening to Harry Potter (yet again) on Audible while I work. I know I should be taking the opportunity to read new things. But this is the most comforting thing I think I’ve done since quarantine started. I think I might just go through the whole series.

  Day 25: Friday, April 10, 2020

Cases in Iowa: 1,388. Cases in Story County: 7.

35 cases in Black Hawk County where Mom, Dad, Andrew, and Steph are. Now at 31 deaths in-state.

Went to the store again today, but did drive-through curbside pick-up, since I finally (FINALLY) snagged a time slot. I had been stalking the pick-up times on Hy-Vee’s website for well over a week before today’s 8AM slot opened up on, I think, Tuesday or Wednesday. But it was worth it, because, even with the inevitable “out-of-stock” and substitution notifications, I managed to get hold of some paper products (napkins, bowls, etc.) and medicine stuffs (Tylenol and cough drops) that I couldn’t find on my in-person run to Faraway. Plus, of course, fresh food (eggs, milk, spinach for salads, sausages) that you can’t order online.

I forgot to make another napkin/tissue/duct tape/rubber-band mask the night before, though. So, instead, I tied a dish towel around my mouth and clipped a clear plastic sheet protector onto my glasses once I got to the front of the pick-up line, and just prayed that I didn’t look like I was trying to rob someone at gunpoint.

Precautions definitely proved excessive this time, however, as I only had to roll down the window once to tell them what my name was, and they didn’t ask me to sign or handle anything.

The worker was also wearing gloves, thank goodness, so I guess Hy-Vee is taking safety a little more seriously than Fareway was. It’s too bad they haven’t also given their hourlies masks (and guaranteed insurance, sick leave, and a fat raise for being “essential workers”!), but it’s something. Guess I’ll be shopping there for the remainder of the pandemic.

It’s unrelated, but, as a bonus, here is a picture of me multi-tasking while “at” work. Watching an SAA webinar on my work computer, creating a documentation project submission form on my personal computer, and petting a very lazy cat all at the same time. And also beginning to pack for moving (that’s what the mess of boxes is in the background).

  Day 26: Saturday, April 11, 2020

Cases in Iowa: 1, 510. Cases in Story County: 7.

Cracked into a second box from my Coffee and a Classic stash. I’ll need to pace myself better from now on. But the March Once Upon a Book Club should finally ship next week, so I will have more options. I mean, of “special,” curated book boxes. As opposed, you know, to my gigantic library of ordinary, unaccompanied books. How could I possibly read any of those without getting to open coordinating presents?? Gosh, I’ve gotten spoiled.

  This one isn’t entirely from Coffee and a Classic. The mug, tea, colored pencils, and black-and-white artwork are. But the full box was out of stock. So I paired this gift set with my own copy of Robert Frost and a couple of other themed goodies I found on Etsy. Supporting small businesses, whoo! And perfect box for a dreary, rainy day.

Self-Isolation Week 4 Recap Day 20: Sunday, April 5, 2020 Cases in Iowa: 868. Cases in Story County: 5…

[oingoz]

so i totally made a frerard reclist. i enjoyed reading every single fic on here, it was just a matter of putting them all together in one place, which i’ve finally done! what to heck! so real quick, here’s a few notes:

- i am a gigantic bottom frank stan and therefore there is NO exclusively top frank fic on this list. actually, there’s only four that have frank topping at all, but even then gerard’s definitely the Main Top - long fics and oneshots combined, there’s a total of 87 recs on here, woo wee - the long fics have essentially been ordered from most favorite to least - the oneshots, listed below the long fics, have been sorted into categories rather than ordered based on how much i liked them. also i didn’t put descriptions on them as i did for the long fics

aaand that said, here’s the recs:

LONG FICS

✰ The Anatomy of a Fall [ 107k ] The unholy union of a high school AU and a ghost story. Gerard’s the new kid in town and he meets Frank, the strange kid who lives in the woods. This has gotta be my favorite fic ever… my love.

✰ Unholyverse series [ 177k ] Religion! Horror! Exorcisms! Piercings! And Gerard is a priest. SO brilliant, it is an actual masterpiece.

✰ Between The Wish And The Thing [ 23k ] Gerard has been in love with his best friend and bandmate for years. It’s basically nonstop domestic cuteness??? Your heart will melt???

✰ King and Country [ 52k ] Frank hasn’t really been a stable boy since he ended up in the archduke’s bed, but now Gerard’s exile is over and he’s king. Listen it’s an established relationship BUT don’t let this deter you as the author does tell how they got together- what I’m trying to say is, it’s a complete love story and they absolutely adore each other. Read it.

✰ Paris!Verse [ 43k ] They meet at Mikey and Alicia’s wedding and then fall in love in Paris. I really, really, really loved this fic.

✰ Promises, Promises [ 26k ] Gerard kidnaps Frank. A Stockholm syndrome fic with a fair amount of violence and dubious consent. If this doesn’t bother you though, I’d highly recommend it.

✰ Ain’t Nobody Gonna Love You Like The Devil Do [ 40k ] Frank is a good, God-fearing Catholic boy, and then Gerard happens. Essentially, Frank falls in love with a rebellious Gerard and it’s absolutely fantastic.

✰ To Cast Turpentine Kisses [ 22k ] (must be logged in to read!) And the subbiest Frank fic of them all is a not!fic. Frank is a student and Gerard is his teacher. What a blast, oh my GOD.

✰ Can Never Wrong This Right [ 23k ] It’s 1949 and Dr. Way is a professor of Archeology and Frank is his constantly exasperated (and secretly pining) assistant. Two words: soul bonding. Read it.

✰ Strange Steps [ 33k ] Gerard likes: A) popular Frank, and B) dancing. Everything’s chill until those two things are brought together when Frank suddenly needs dance lessons. Everyone loves a nice high school AU, right??

✰ In Repair [ 33k ] In which Frank has the hots for Gerard The Robot. This fic is chock full of things that are guaranteed to make your heart happy, I promise you that Gerard being a robot isn’t a burden in the slightest.

✰ Conclusions [ 49k ] Gerard moves in with Frank, and cozy domesticity and pining blossoms. Bexless never fails to please.

✰ He Was A Teenage Werewolf [ 45k ] Gerard is transfered to Queen Of Peace, a Catholic school, where he meets a weird kid named Frank. Another great high school AU except one of them’s a werewolf. (Don’t get deterred if werewolves aren’t your thing, it’s not even confronted until halfway through the fic.)

✰ Hearts Warmer than the Ice Keeping the Spinach Lasagna Cold [ 19k ] Gerard is in love with the punk boy who works in the deli department ♥️

✰ Becoming Joan [ 35k ] A complicated situation leads to Frank having to dress up as a girl. It would be bothersome except, he’s kinda totally alright with it…. Totally not what I was expecting based off of the fic’s original summary, it’s so good!!! Read it!!!

✰ Variations on a Fugue [ 36k ] An Early Edwardian AU. Frank Iero is a young nobleman currently living with his parents in the Lake District, where he plans on leading a quiet life away from London and its temptations. However, temptation moves into his neighbourhood in the face of one Gerard Way. Involves old-timey dialogue, soul melting intimacy, and a line that I’ve thought about everyday since I’ve read it.

✰ On the Midtown Direct [ 22k ] A love story, one train ride at a time. Just thinking about it makes me want to go read it again, it’s so precious.

✰ Buy Handmade [ 18k ] Gerard has an Etsy page and Frank works in a bakery. Mega cute.

✰ When We’re Both Thirty [ 84k ] They had agreed to use each other as a backup plan. If, by the time they both reached their thirtieth year, they hadn’t found someone to marry, they’d marry each other. They had thirty days left……. So maybe the concept is unrealistic and the fic is a bit long-winded BUT I think it’s completely worth it, there’s several scenes that are just Too Good, trust me.

✰ Moth to Flame (or whatever) [ 31k ] Frank owns a flower shop and Gerard likes to frequent it. Frank’s so soft in this fic, he loves his flowers and does yoga and !!!!!! you will love him.

✰ Catholic!Frank and Artist!Gerard Not!Fic [ 21k ] Frank starts to like Gerard a little too much and his faith is challenged because of it. Also he owns a vegan restaurant and Gabe takes a fancy to Mikey. A fun read!!!

✰ Professional Healers [ 34k ] In which Frank is a pediatrician and Gerard is his patient’s father. This is such a feel good fic, I love it so much.

✰ 24 Frames Per Second [ 79k ] The 1984-Movie!AU: everyone works at the Belleville Film Palace. This fic is angsty but I- normally not fond of angst- really enjoyed this because it’s so unique and realistic and, most importantly, they love each other a whole lot! It’s really good, I promise.

✰ Companion [ 33k ] A workplace AU full of cutesy domestic fluff!!!

✰ We Each Play The Part Written For Us [ 27k ] Gerard’s had a crush on Frank since forever and Frank’s only just now getting around to returning those feelings….. That’s the gist of it but it’s not as angsty as it sounds, it’s actually super sweet.

✰ Black Market Blood [ 16k ] Frank has a crush on Gerard The Vampire. They’re both sweethearts in this omg.

✰ Distance in the Afterlife [ 15k ] Gerard comes out during Projekt Revolution and drama ensues.

✰ Public Enemy [ 21k ] In 1932, Gerard Way has been making a name for himself robbing banks up and down New Jersey. Frank Iero, analyst for J. Edgar Hoover’s Division of Investigation, is determined to catch him. Good good stuff.

✰ sing it for the n00bs [ 17k ] Gamer AU, wherein the Danger Days universe is an MMORPG. Frank has a strange way of going about winning Gerard’s affections.

✰ A World So Small [ 31k ] Victorian AU. When Frank is advised by his doctors to leave London for the country, he makes arrangements to stay with his friend, Michael. What Frank has no idea of at the time is that Michael has an older brother, whose presence in the house he conceals. So so intimate and sweet. I really do have a soft spot for historical AUs.

✰ Under the Hide of Me [ 18k ] Prohibition in New Jersey means mob bosses and bootleggers running hooch up and down the shore and into the city. Gerard, Mikey, and Ray are running an operation for the Capo Maranzano, but when rival factions are trying to take over the business, Frank Iero, from a prominent Mob family, is sent to them as their new driver. Also the Ways and Ray are werewolves. This was a good read, Gerard’s a major alpha.

✰ Five Times Gerard Pays for it and One Time He Doesn’t [ 22k ] A rentboy fic wherein Gerard (the customer) falls for Frank (the service-provider) and can’t figure out how to go from paying-for-sex to “dating” or if that’s even possible. A great read.

✰ Cover To Cover [ 32k ] Frank is fine until Gerard opens his large branch of Way Books & Café down the street, putting his small bookshop in danger. He basically hates Gerard because of it. Except, Frank doesn’t know that coffeeaddict, the anonymous guy he’s falling in love with over the internet, is actually Gerard himself. I was hesitant, at first, going into this one because they’re both in relationships at the start of the story, but reading this totally paid off because it’s so good. There’s a scene in particular that was so precious, I got emotional..,.,.. good stuff!

✰ What Ships Are For [ 22k ] Gerard is most concerned when he finds that, while away at university, his father has taken in a new ward of his own brother’s age. But upon his return home, he finds the young man to be particularly enchanting. Includes old-timey dialogue and a whole bunch of pining.

✰ Break The Walls (And Kill Us All) [ 27k ] Frank owns an antique store, but he’s not very good at it. About the only thing he IS good at is having a crush on his best customer. And housing ghosts in his shop, apparently.

✰ Thing-Thing [ 43k ] When Gerard signed the admissions paperwork for the Fordhaven School for Boys, he knew he was signing up for four years of sexual frustration. No one was gay at Fordhaven. In his senior year, though, this stupid gay freshman disproves Fordhaven’s straightness, and throws Gerard’s entire world off-kilter. (Includes a fair amount of underage drinking/drug usage.)

✰ Chimerical Romantics [ 22k ] A 19th century love story. If you're into beautifully written historical AUs, then this is for you ;)

✰ I’m Not On Desolation Row series [ 21k ] Desolation Row!Gerard meets I’m Not Okay!Frank at an illegal show in New York on Halloween. Frank’s such a twink in this, not even in a smutty way, he just has a twinky personality and it’s great.

✰ Love and Other Cliches [ 28k ] Bob Bryar is Gerard’s guardian; he is also a witch. When it becomes obvious that Gerard and Frank are hopelessly, silently in love with each other, Bob finds himself on a mission to get them together. But when nothing seems to be working, he resorts to real spellwork, and now Frank and Gerard are stuck in a romance novel with only one way out.

✰ Is It Enough to Have Some Love? [ 15k ] Frank and Gerard used to be best friends before Gerard decided to leave the little town they lived in and study art in New York. Four years later, he comes back to live at his parents’ house. He’s not Frank’s friend now, he’s not even the old Gerard anymore - he’s someone new and strange and when Frank gives in and starts spending time with him again, he realizes they might never be friends again. But they might be something else… This is kind of like friends to enemies to friends to lovers?? It’s cute.

~

ONESHOTS *(note: fics marked with a heart emoji are Big Faves)

~

bottomy bottom frank!

✰ Showers and Sexts [ 9.3k ] (alright i’ve just gotta say, this is probably my favorite oneshot Ever??? they love each other so much,) 💕

✰ In The Music Of Time [ 12.9k ] (okay and one more comment, this one’s a TRIP omg) 💕

✰ Curriculum [ 7.6k ]

✰ Kings Harlot [ 8k ] 💕

✰ As Mine See It [ 2.4k ]

✰ a story about two boys (hope is all we’ve got) [ 4.4k ]

✰ Only for You [ 3k ]

✰ I’m Yours (the Valentine’s Day fic) [ 4.8k ] 💕

✰ Cross My Heart [ 2.2k ]

✰ Veins Are Red, Veins Are Blue [ 8.4k ]

✰ Full Moon [ 4.8k ]

✰ The Neighbor [ 4k? ] 💕

✰ Even a Father Has Sins to Confess [ 9.2k ] 💕

✰ You Want A Ride, Cowboy? [ 5.4k ]

✰ forgiveness [ 2.6k ]

✰ the penitence ball [ 4.6k ]

regular get-together AUs (aka everything’s basically normal except mcr doesn’t exist)

✰ Falling For You [ 6k ]

✰ Crazy Mad For Him [ 7.3k ]

✰ Static [ 8.5k ] 💕

✰ Breathe on your neck, make knots with our fingers [ 8k ]




✰ I Know What It Means To Me [ 9.1k ]

✰ By the Book [ 10.5k ]

✰ Food For Thought [ 8.6k ]

✰ Pulse [ 9k ]

✰ Life as a Symptom [ 10.8k ]

teen AUs

✰ Difficulty to Concentrate [ 6.8k ] 💕

✰ Not Friends [ 671 ] 💕

✰ And the wonders you can do [ 2.8k ]

✰ When You’re a Boy [ 3.9k ]

✰ Kerplunk! [ 4.2k ]

✰ This Is Us [ 3k? ] 💕

✰ I’ve got the cure you’re thinkin’ [ 3k ]

✰ Crayon Hearts and Trembling Hands [ 1.7k ]

✰ Cigarette Smoke and Strawberries [ 5k? ]

bandfics (aka mcr does exist)

✰ I’ve Got Friends in Closed Spaces [ 4.2k ]

✰ Sucker Bet [ 2.7k ]

✰ Mind The Gap Between The Train And The Platform [ 8k ]

✰ Sunday Best [ 6.9k ]

✰ A Necessary Requirement [ 3.8k ]

fluffy PWPs

✰ Then Came You [ 1k ]

✰ A Soft Radiance [ 2.6k ] 💕

✰ The Dazzling Lances of Our Love [ 1.6k ]

misc. AUs

✰ Mixed Bathing At Home [ 7.1k ]

✰ Roses Are See-Through [ 6.7k ]

✰ you probably couldn’t see for the lights [ 3.2k ]

✰ And The Autumn Moon Is Bright [ 10k ]

the end :)

[cindylouwho-2]

RECENT NEWS, RESOURCES & STUDIES, May 2 2020

Welcome to my latest summary of recent ecommerce news, resources & studies including search, analytics, content marketing, social media & Etsy! This covers articles I came across since the late April report, although some may be older than that. I will do my best to keep posting these at least once every 10 days if not sooner. 

Have any topics you would like to see me cover in more detail? Drop me a line here on Tumblr, or email me through my website. I’m also on Twitter and YouTube if you prefer social.  

TOP NEWS & ARTICLES 

If you sell on Etsy, this is your reminder that the Offsite Ads program kicks in on May 4, and people who make under $10K a year on Etsy can opt out if they want to avoid the additional fees. I have a summary here. 

Issues with mail delivery during the pandemic continue. Canada Post has suspended on time delivery guarantees and warns of December level volume.  USPS is not shipping to 113 countries, including many APO addresses. 

I am still interested in posting articles and lists of resources for small businesses and artists during the pandemic, so please pass on any good resources you know about. HubSpot did a page for Australia, and one for the United States.  See my previous edition for a longer list. 

ETSY NEWS 

Mask sales have created a huge boom for Etsy, but also some busts. “Suddenly millions of people were logging on to Etsy, searching for masks nine times every second, the company calculated.The site was not ready for the rush….There are now 50,000 sellers on Etsy who have each sold at least one mask; 10,000 have sold at least 100. Etsy staff spent time calling the most popular sellers to weed out scams, but also to ensure well-meaning sellers were not over-promising.” There have been many threads from sellers whose shops were de-indexed due to both bots and to Etsy wanting to limit their sales until they catch up on open orders, creating a lot of complaints at a time when their customer service response is hugely delayed. 

Some sellers report receiving listing credits for masks, although several who received money did not sell masks, and many others who did sell masks got nothing. 

Another Seller Handbook post on what people are looking for while they are under lockdown (TL;DR: home decor, activities, bath & beauty) , as well as suggestions for how you can pivot your shop. They include the top search terms for each area; some examples: washable paper towel, garden, birthday gift,  printable wall art, puzzle, board game, puzzle adult. “As shoppers transform their living spaces for multifunctional uses like working, exercising, and homeschooling, they’re looking for cozy comfort as well as fresh, on-season style updates that offer mood-boosting appeal….113% YoY increase in searches on Etsy for “home office...127% YoY increase in searches on Etsy for “indoor garden...“Face mask” was the top searched term for the last five weeks (as of April 23, 2020)” Finally, “In recent Etsy buyer research, one third of shoppers who anticipated purchasing on Etsy in the next three months reported planning to buy gifts.” [Although the article doesn’t mention this, I strongly recommend emphasizing somewhere in your shop that you can send the order directly to the gift recipient, if you sell giftable items but sales are down right now. I am getting a lot more requests for gift notes than usual, and more people are paying for tracking so they know when the gift arrives.]

A study says that 30% of Etsy sellers do not save for emergencies, and 74% want Etsy to help them when emergencies arise. 

Two new features for users of Etsy’s USPS labels: free pick up requests, and easy customer return labels. 

Etsy launched an exclusive collection with Joseph Altuzarra. 

SEO: GOOGLE & OTHER SEARCH ENGINES 

Moz just came out with an excellent guide to keyword research that you all should at least bookmark to come back to later, even if you don’t do keyword research now. The introduction contains a good definition of long tail with a graph; “Only about 20% of the keywords people search for will be popular "head" terms. The majority of keyword phrases will be less-frequent, long-tail keywords.” There’s even a downloadable 2-page cheat sheet on the basics at the end. 

There may have been a Google search update around April 16, but I am mostly posting this article for the graphs showing search volatility in the past 1-2 months; those changes in the second half of March into early April seem to be mostly user-driven due to the pandemic, rather than algorithm changes. 

Backlinks are not all created equal, and time is sometimes one of the factors in weighting them. [text and video] 

This analysis of near 12 million Google search results turned up some interesting correlations with ranking. Not surprisingly, sites in first place have many more backlinks on average than the other sites on the same page. It was a bit surprising to learn that page loading speed didn’t correlate with ranking at all (that may change once everyone goes to mobile first indexing in the fall), nor did using the keyword in your title tag. “Pages in Google’s top 10 results contain 65% to 85% of the keywords that they’re ranking for in their title tag. However, we found very little (if any) correlation between keyword-optimized title tags and higher rankings on the first page.”

Google may delay its move to complete mobile-first indexing by September, depending on how sites are managing due to the recent disruptions.

Some businesses are moving the money they spent on advertising over to SEO, because there is a longer-term payoff vs. a short term impact from someone seeing an ad on a given day. Good SEO can get you ranking on many search engines for years, if you are lucky. 

(CONTENT) MARKETING & SOCIAL MEDIA (includes blogging & emails) 

Not surprisingly, the top times for social media traffic have changed during the pandemic; here’s an updated list. 

Thinking of starting a YouTube channel? Here’s a beginner’s manual including screenshots on how to set it up, as well as tips on YouTube SEO & other marketing tactics. 

Don’t know what to put in your email newsletters? HubSpot picked 17 examples they think are awesome. 

Facebook rapidly revamped & expanded its video chat option to compete with Zoom & Houseparty, called Messenger Rooms. Note that “Room calls are not end-to-end encrypted, but Facebook says it does not view or listen to calls.” The are also working on the ability to charge people to watch live streams. 

Twitter had a good first quarter but the stock still fell because it does not look like they are recovering from the pandemic effects very quickly. 

ONLINE ADVERTISING (SEARCH ENGINES, SOCIAL MEDIA, & OTHERS) 

As mentioned in my last edition, Google Shopping is now offering free listings on its US platform, and rolled out a bit early for some even though the start date was given as April 27. Your Etsy listings will not be shown in the free ads if you opt out of Etsy’s Offsite Ads program, and you are not allowed to add marketplace listings to GS yourself, but this may be something you are interested in for your website, if you sell to the US. Some tips on setting up Merchant accounts correctly for this here and here, and optimizing your listings here. If your standalone is on Shopify, they have instructions here. 

As ad prices are dropping for some items on some platforms, it has become easier for small businesses to start campaigns, especially experienced online sellers who can now take advantage of the ecommerce boom. [I agree with this for the right types of items or service, but I don’t think it is going to work for everything.]

New to online advertising, and don’t know where to start? HubSpot has a good introductory overview here, with details on the main options available. 

Google is offering ad credits to small & medium sized businesses as pandemic relief, starting in late May. Note that you need to have been running ads last year with Google to be eligible. . 

Google Ad users will soon need to submit proof of identity & location, starting with US users. The move is to help prevent scammers and increase transparency. Early response to the announcement is mixed. 

Facebook is no longer forcing advertisers to use its Campaign Budget Optimization, meaning businesses will continue to be able to set different budgets across all of their campaigns. 

STATS, DATA, OTHER TRACKING 

If you have an ecommerce site built with Wordpress, here’s how to track your email newsletter clicks through Google Analytics. 

And for your ecommerce site, the best alerts to set up in GA. 

Bing Webmaster Tools has a great feature that tracks traffic to connected accounts other than your website or blog - but Twitter has been removed from this list. 

There are far more Instagram analytics apps than I thought. 

ECOMMERCE NEWS, IDEAS, TRENDS 

Many ecommerce platforms/website providers are being pressured to reduce the fake COVID-19 disinfectants on their sites, including eBay, Facebook, Shopify & Alibaba.

There is a new app that lets buyers shop with multiple businesses who run their sites through Shopify, called Shop. Among other things, it will feature businesses local to the user: “A recent survey of global consumers by Ernst & Young found that 34% of respondents are willing to pay more for local products amid the pandemic.”

Shopify’s stock is flying high right now, and it has become the second-most valuable company in Canada, in part due to the surge of sign ups after the start of the pandemic. 

Since page loading speed is important to buyer conversions as well as SEO, if you have a Shopify site, you will want to read about which themes are the fastest & slowest to load. A few are ridiculously slow, & you will want to consider your goals if you are thinking of using them. 

Jeff Bezos has moved back to managing Amazon operations due to the pandemic. “Bezos was also personally involved in Amazon’s decision to suspend third-party vendors from shipping non-essential items to Amazon’s warehouses, helping ease the load on workers so that they could more efficiently ship goods like baby products, groceries, pet supplies and personal care products.  He also signed off on Amazon’s move to halt tactics it normally uses “to encourage customers to put more items in their shopping carts”.

Meanwhile, Amazon VP states that Amazon has done a lot for sellers during the pandemic, including suspending “repayment of all Amazon Lending loans for sellers in the United States and the United Kingdom until April 30.” I guess that is why their profit fell to only $2.5 billion in the first quarter of 2020 despite their gross sales being up 29% due to the pandemic buying. 

Amazon’s pilot program for verifying new sellers by video calls is continuing; contrary to previous reports, they say they are not using facial-recognition technology, but they are checking photo ID against the video call. 

eBay has extended its suspension of most seller performance standard rules until June 19 for sellers in the UK. They are also extending their free listing offers, and after banning mask sales are now apparently envying Etsy’s sales and are encouraging sellers to make fabric masks.They are also planning a way to confirm sales that involve local pickups [podcast & transcript]. 

eBay had lower 1st quarter results than they & others had predicted, so the stock went down. Here is the call transcript for those interested. 

BUSINESS & CONSUMER STUDIES, STATS & REPORTS; SOCIOLOGY & PSYCHOLOGY, CUSTOMER SERVICE 

The pandemic sales trends have switched from hoarding essentials to food & home comfort items. “As spring eased toward summer, cooking at home also began to include gardening. "We see continued growth in gardening," said Ventry. ... Growing herbs, he said, played well with the home cooking trend, too. "We saw similar trends from 2008 to 2010, during the recession."

Ecommerce sales are way up, perhaps 50% up in the US right now, and some of these people will continue their increased online shopping, so it is a good time to launch many types of new campaigns. (warnings - some “not safe for work” language) 

HubSpot has been producing a weekly pandemic report on its customers core business stats, such as website traffic & sales rates. They speculate that we might be seeing a bit of an overall recovery as of last week. 

MISCELLANEOUS

There are still more good work-from-home articles coming out that can also be relevant for those of us who have been doing this for a while now. Using a schedule to be more productive is a common topic. As is managing to be productive with kids around. 

[diario-secreto-bjd]

2017 New Year's Doll Meme:

((Lo traduzco tan pronto encuentre las ganas, que se me han perdido por ahi entre los decorados de navidad...))

As every year, let's start! What sculpt do you wish you could see more owner photos of?

- BuddyDoll dolls in general. I know the factory died long ago but I still find them to be the most special sculpts for me. And the few there are are owned by Russian artists in the majority it's not easy to find any picture at all nowadays

Do people choose names for their dolls and characters the dolls are based on and then check excessively to see if anyone is already using the name? Are they bothered if they find other dolls having the same name?

- Personally I'm not. I come up with a name, I never give a single fu*k if anyone else it's using that name. I bet there is a thousand if not more humans using "my name" and I'm not obsessed by it so why should be obsessed about my dolls names..?

What company do you wish were more popular? What company do you wish were less popular? Why?

- I will say BuddyDoll again but since they're closed, I'll go for Obitsu, the big ones, are exactly the same as any other Vinyl ball jointed doll like DollfieDream or SmartDoll but people somehow hates them, I never knew why... And I wish SmartDolls weren't so popular, me, personally, fell like cheated, Danny C. was supposed to give us "the next step on doll evolution", a robotic doll you can command trough an app in your smartphone, and then he reconsidered the cost of production and ended up giving us 'anime flat faced characters' who are ALL ""Mirai with the exact same clothing"" (almost), and for some unknown reason people praise him like if he had invented something marvelous. Wellp, he didn't, he just made another version of DollfieDream but uglier and less imaginative, not the "dolly robot" he promise, and the reason why his brand was called SMART-DOLL to begin with.

Based on the characters written, out of your dolls, your friends’ dolls or even other owners’ dollies, which doll would you most like to be friends with? And which doll is most likely to be your mortal enemy?

- My, this is a good one, since I have a saga of published books about my dolls histories and their character I know them all very deeply and I can say for sure, "Star" will be the one to most likely becoming my friend since he's pretty much like me in many ways, intolerant, nasty for fun, sarcastic, unpredictable, every mistake I have he have almost the same so there will be a problematic friendship but surely we will remain friends for a lifetime. And "Lily" will most possibly be my sort of "mortal enemy" since she is so vain and thinks so high of herself as a doll that this will continuously might generate 'girl cat-fights' over the smallest things.

What’s the longest you’ve waited for a doll to arrive? What’s the shortest?

- Longest?, MOC (mint-on-card), their costumer service sucks and they're rude and they threat you with cancel your order after months of waiting if they don't like where you live even though they had previously told you they had no problem shipping there. It took over 8 months to get Star his own proper body since I wanted a very specific 'over-articulated' body from a specific company who wasn't selling if not trough agents and MOC was the only-one who accepted to ship internationally so I had to suck it and wait while they insulted me over months and months, the final insult, supposedly "extra hands" they had to send me, they send me a pair of hands doing the fu*k you, yes, they ultimately gave me the middle finger on resin. I still have the hands, no idea what to do with them actually... - The shortest?, easy, a week from paid to product arrival. From recaster S/L (China BJD).

Do you like to sew for your dolls? Where do you usually get your fabric?

- I HATE to sew for everyone and everything. Is not like I "can't", is literally, I HATE IT. And when I do have to sew because I don't have any other choice I find fabric in the most weird places. Never online, I live on a "clothing factory district" so I can buy my fabrics here or even real clothing for humans on sale and use the fabric I need from there (since dolls are smaller than humans a t-shirt for a human will have enough fabric for a doll t-shirt for sure).

Do you like to create things for your dolls, be it clothes, wigs, accessories, ect? If so, what?

- As previously stated I do hate to create clothing items, and shoes. I avoid it as much as I can, but I love to make eyes, doll heads, bodies, wigs (fur or fiber), jewelry, and sometimes even props... (though I don't use them much).

If you have pets, do you let them near your dolls? How do they feel about your dolls?

- I have (currently) 3 cats. I let them near my dolls under my strict supervision. One of them wants to steal Star's bed and sleeps on his lap every time he can, but I doubt Star will like that and it might be even a danger for the animal if Star long fingernails break so I never actually let him do so. the other two cats, one ignores my dolls as he ignores humans too, and the lat one it's too curious and can't stay put for a second so he usually just smell my dolls and move on to the next shinny thing.

Is there any character of yours that you wouldn’t want to get as a doll? Why?

- Pfff, hard one here, now that I think of it....... mmm....... no, I don't think I have any character that's a "NOPE" if it comes as a present.... Why?, well, maybe because I only relate the dolls to the characters I make and whatever I hate from them, is in some sense a "part of me", so I can live even with the parts of me I don't like. It's called self-esteem. - Plus, I have Lily, and it's my less favorite character so.... right now I can't think of any. Sorry.

Has anyone ever broken one of your dolls? How did you feel? How did they react?

- By the time I started with BJDs I had already had a lot of "bad experiences with assholes/friends coming home and breaking stuff". The one I remember the most right now, was my best friend (at that time) taking a very rare/expensive/hard-to-get "Kaiyodo Evangelion Eva 05 figure" back in the 90's, and detaching the legs...then he lol'd about it...........that guy now lives 12 hours away, in another continent. Problem solved.

Where do you like to get your supplies? (Elastic, eye puddy, ect.)

- At first (since I didn't knew any better) was all online, the imports on my country are/where expensive but we didn't had all the stupid regulations we have now. Nowadays I tend to actually use my head and look for the stuff I need where I can buy it directly on a real (physical) store around the corner, so I always have a lot of supplies at had. You just need to know what you need and where they sell it. It's not that hard and much more fun.

If you could have a doll of any fandom character, who would you get and why?

- I think Sephiroth from “Final Fantasy VII” series. Thus his armor (specially the shoulder plates) are a pain in the arse'... I did had one of my dolls customized to be him but ultimately ended up using the doll for a character on my book and giving him, a more 'easy to deal with' clothing.

Where is your favorite place to host your doll photos? What other places do you like to share them?

- Mainly DeviantArt, but I also use Tumblr and FB (sometimes). I tend to change over the years but this are the sites I use almost all the time.

What type of camera do you use? What about light set up?

- I hate photography almost as much as sewing clothing items. Sorry.

Where do you usually buy your eyes from? Do you prefer glass, acrylic, urethane, ect?

- I buy my eyes everywhere I can and I do actually prefer glass eyes.

What is the best deal you’ve ever been able to score (be it direct from a doll company, an etsy store, the second-hand market, etc.)?

- Recast from S/L. Purchased 3 1/3 SD dolls and got a mini and a 1/4 for free. + their respective eyes.

Face up artists: What were some things you struggled with when you first began face-ups, vs. things you struggle with now? How do your first face-ups compare to your more recent ones?

- When I first began faceups the most common mistake where the eyebrows, now I don't think I struggle too much about anything anymore... practice do make the master.

What color resin is most of your crew? What color resin is your favorite? What color would you like to get next or in the future?

- Most of my crew it's Normal Yellow, but I have all sort of colors, Tans, blue, white, grey, pink, even Glow in the dark resin... it all depends on the sculpt and the character I'm making.

Do any of your dolls celebrate a holiday other than Christmas?

- Guest you could say Star celebrates his birthday (the day he was order) as a reminder of how I started in this hobby and how long I've being up with this until today.

If you could change one of your dolls into an outfit that isn’t their aesthetic (aka pastel lolita into gothic punk, bad boy into nerdy jock), who would you choose and why? (Also, would they go along with it, or would they protest?)

- I think "Wind" will make a good dark Gothic "something", since he is (as a character) continuously changing his look in search of "who he is" don't think his character will mind neither...

Have you ever bought through Taobao? If so, what did you get, and how did it go?

- Yes, dolls items and dolls, it went perfect. Thank you very much.

Do any of your dolls have a ‘theme song’?

- Star does. It's the song "Iris" from "GooGoo Dolls".

Are any of your dolls more popular than other ones when it comes to likes, reblogs, ect? Are any of them less popular?

- I never notice about "my dolls popularity". I'm not in high-school anymore. And to be honest I gave a sh*t even when I was on high-school so... I'm a very happy outcast, so are my dolls.

If you have more than one doll, how are they connected? Are they from the same story line? If not, do you think they’d still get along?

- All my dolls are connected, all share the same universe and are tied to the events of their main story depicted on my books. Some get along better than others like in real life real people would.

Do you ever smoke (cigarettes, cannabis, ect.) around your dolls? If so, do you worry about the smell? If not, would it bother you if others did?

- I don't smoke. It kinda' bothers me the smell of cigarettes on anything (-or "dirty/wet dog smell", that is on my top ten list of smells I don't want EVER smell again on my LIFE-), but I've learn to live with it since my dad it's a heavy smoker so his belongings always smell like cigarettes... As long as it's not on MY dolls your doll can smell however you prefer and I have no reason to get mad at anyone for it. It's not my doll. Period.

What are your favorite places to hang out within the community? Do you like a specific forum, or fb group?

- I think the community sucks all the joy out of this hobby. I have decades of experience on this community and other fandom related communities and let me tell you, is not worth it. It's a drama over another drama over ANOTHER drama... sooner or later you will be in the center of a hurricane and you won't know what the hell just hapend.

Tell me about your dolls personality! If you have more than one doll, pick a few of your favs! I’d love to know all about them. ^^

- All of my dolls are intertwined into a main story. There are a lot of characters each with an unique story and motivation. I can't really resume their lives as OC's here, but if you like you can read my book. Main characters personalities are a bit like: Star (selfish, unpredictable, values his freedom over most things but it's not an idealistic guy, sarcastic and acid, oftenly apathetic), Doc (curious, loving, gentle and smart but a bit bitter at times), Max (strong, intimidating, never let's his emotions out unless necessary, manly and quiet, can't stand being a slave or other weaker dolls), Swan (smart, fierce, beautiful despite her defects, courageous, stubborn), Angel (distant, quiet, very powerful, mysterious), Pax (strong and kind to others, particularly the weakest ones or the ones in need, honorable and a very good person/doll, values everyone's lives above his own), Night (agile, not as fast as Star but still a skillful doll, very sociable and likes to joke around), Light (serious for his age, tends to be taking care of Night and considers him his brother although they are not related, very loyal), and so on...

Are any of your dolls in a relationship, or married? Do they have any children?

- Spoiler Alert. Yes. Not going to point fingers at them.

What’s your grail doll? (’Grail’ can be interpenetrated any way you desire.)

- I don't really know.... I'm still waiting on a strong actually BIG and not "soom ridiculously thin legs" centaur, like SoulDoll Chiron kinda' centaur, 70 fucking centimeters for real, bad side is that much resin is not something the companies are willing to use on a single doll if they can use half and still sell you the doll for the same price so.... keep on waiting I guest. Most of my grail dolls I already have them so I'm not like "desperate" about getting a specific sculpt.That being said, there is always a doll I will like to own but is not like I'll die if I don't own them...

Do you usually get dolls for a specific character, or create a character once you have the doll?

- I usually get the doll for a specific character but this doesn't mean I haven't piked my good share of dolls just because they're pretty and felt obligated to give them a character afterwards...

Do any of your dolls have an accessory or piece of clothing that they always wear?

- "Night" have a "bow and arrow" set. "Star" has a yellow/orange sparkling scarf, "Max" have dog-tags, "Doc" have black long boots, "Pax" have a blue feather hanging on his neck.., almost all of the characters/dolls I have, have something special that they wear of like to have around at every situation...

Do any of your dolls participate in any clubs, or sports?

- I hate sports, I never did took interest or asked them if they did. But I'm guessing no...

Do your dolls have any pets? If so, would you ever get their pet as it’s own doll?

- Some, and in some cases, yes... but mostly they don't have pets.

What is something about your doll that no one else knows?

- I can't seem to change the eyes of my first doll, I tried like 4 times and ended up back to his original eyes in less than a day. It's like the eyes are the window to the entire personality of that particular doll and without that specific eyes he doesn't looks the same...and I can't tolerate that fact. I fell like I've just killed someone whenever I change his eyes...it's a weird felling knowing he is a doll and it's not actually alive but damn...fells like shit. :/

What is your dolls favorite color? What about their favorite color to wear?

- "Star" preffers redish with a bit of blue, "Doc" loves everything black and specially red... "Lily" loves Pink and white, "Max" prefers military-like colors or simple things...and so on...

Are any of your dolls spiritual?

- I'm not sure on how to interpret this question, ...do you mean if they (their characters) are involved in "spiritual" or so activities..?, or if I use them as "spiritual dolls" to hold the spirit of the dead in real life..?, really, this question needs some context.

Do any of your dolls have tattoos? If so, do they represent anything?

- Not that I recall, maybe a couple. Not going to spoil the story and their meaning. Sorry.

Do any of your dolls have a nickname? Is it one they like, or do they dislike it? Who gave it to them?

- Star usually call Max “the old guy” or “the old men”, and Doc nickname Max sometimes as “the warrior”. But Max doesn’t know they called him nicknames.

* All this questions belong to: "Bjd Discussion Time!" please check their blog for more.

** Disclaimer, right now, Jan 2017, I have over 80 (or more, stop counting them a long time ago) Ball Jointed Dolls, so it's a LOT difficult to list them all and I replied this questions to the best of my knowledge. Hope you have less dolls and can actually give more precise answers.

[pisati]

I don’t remember too much about my birthday last year, besides having to work and mom taking me out to the cat cafe and the brewery. but despite having a pandemic birthday it was actually pretty nice.

I finally got 3 days off in a row. I did tell my friend Cassidy that I’d help them take their stuff to the UPS store to ship it back to CA, but I honestly thought it would only take part of the day. I didn’t mind grabbing lunch and also staying for dinner, but I didn’t really want to have to be driving all over that part of the DC area all day. which was what happened. I didn’t end up getting home til 1am, and while I DID tell them I could help, it kind of felt like a wasted day. wasn’t really an off-day. BUT Cassidy did cover all my food, got me a lovely birthday cake, and gave me some coloring book-style postcards and a little stuffed brain cell. plus a literal fuckton of crafting supplies they didn’t feel like hauling back to CA. I asked how much they’d want for it; they did say I could just have it but seriously that haul has got to be worth at least $150. there were 6 bottles of resin/hardener and those ALONE have got to be worth $80 at a minimum. they said they’d just ask $40 and like... shit, sure. that’s a goddamn steal.

they also sold me their 4x4 ikea kallax shelf; I remember helping them put it together when they first moved to MD. we took it apart and I had my brother come over sunday to help me carry the pieces upstairs. then put it together entirely by myself, which... I probably shouldn’t have done? I made it work, but that shit is Heavy and also very difficult to put together on your own. even the manual says you should have two people. every muscle in my upper body is incredibly sore now, and I managed to bruise both arms in multiple places (not even doing anything seriously injurious, I’m just an overripe banana). but in making room for it in my living room I rearranged the couches, relocated all my yarn to the new shelf from my old craft shelves (and it took up 12/16 of the cubes 🙃), re-sorted and organized the remaining craft shelves, took the two 1x3 shelves up to the rats’ room (and now they’re being used as towel storage), and actually cleaned up my living room area. my dining room table is sewing-machine-free for the first time since march. I just moved it to the craft shelves, and now I actually have the room there for the machine to just sit. the accessories have their own shelf bin. 

mom wanted to do dinner sunday night instead of today, and I guess that was okay. but it didn’t leave me much down time since I spent all day cleaning and organizing. but it was nice anyway. I got home and mom had blown up some balloons, and she had RHCP playing all evening. I’d requested homemade mac & cheese rather than noodles & co this year, and she found a pretty good recipe. she also made a cinnamon sugar doughnut bundt cake, which was good, though maybe a little dry. but served with ice cream it was better. mom told me she had another piece today and it was more moist today somehow.

mom and my brother had ordered me a bunch of things off my crafting wishlist on amazon, and those had come in during the week. my brother ordered the animal keychain molds, a mica powder dye set, black/white alcohol inks, and a silicone mold kit. mom got me a coaster mold set, another resin/hardener set, and a bunch of the sandpaper with the different grits that I really needed. I was kind of surprised she’d ordered me more things, since she already got me the huge rat cage. and she even told me today I should be getting another coaster set tomorrow, this one with 4 of the same size; the other one she ordered had 4 or 5 round molds but they were all different sizes. I can still make coasters with them, but the biggest one is small-tray sized and the smallest one is like... coin-sized, honestly. it’s tiny. and I can only make one at a time, so a set of 4 of the same size would take 4 days at a bare minimum; longer than that possibly if I were doing layers that needed to cure first. so with a set of 4 I can whip up a whole set at once. 

mom’s boyfriend got me things too, which was super nice of him. they saved it for the dinner night, so I got to open it there. he got me a geode coaster mold, the set of animal butt shaker molds I put on my wishlist kind of as a joke, but also I thought they were silly and adorable. I’m so excited to make those little shakers. also got a set of 3 trinket box molds with molds for the lids, and a little bag of snake charms I’d added so I could use the charms for mold-making; I could make my own little snake charm earrings!

so yesterday was a long day. and then I slept like garbage and woke up early this morning, but I at least got a few things done before Charlotte came over. we planned on a lazy day but since I’d wanted to make yesterday my craft day and never got around to it, I wanted to do that today. Charlotte I guess didn’t have the same idea, but she’d brought her laptop so she could play this video game she and her brother and husband and so on had played together. we ordered five guys for lunch, which is always nice. she brought me homemade cinnamon sugar cupcakes, and gave me a hand mixer, a few bath bombs, and some face masks as a birthday gift. she was right, I really do need my own hand mixer, ha. 

I finally got to work on my silicone molds, and it was super messy. I didn’t realize how much worse it would be than resin. but I tried my best to mix it well. I’d accidentally bought a $25 kit at michael’s a few weeks ago, because I’d picked it up from a clearance section and wanted to price check but forgot and forgot it was in my basket when I checked out; didn’t even realize I’d bought it until I was already back in my car looking into the bag. oops. but I ended up using the whole thing. and I had planned to make a crochet hook mold, so I was excited to try it. mom gave me an old tennis ball can that I cut up, and I used hot glue to seal it and position the hooks. I felt SO bad that it used up almost all of the silicone kit my brother got me; that shit is NOT cheap. and I was terrified I didn’t stir it well enough or mix the parts well enough because that would’ve been such a waste. but I demolded it after the few hours’ cure time and it came out beautifully. I cut slits in it with an xacto knife, so that way I can at least coax the hooks out more easily when I go to demold. it did seem like kind of a waste of a lot of the silicone, since I didn’t use up all the space, but hopefully I can sell enough crochet hook sets that I can maybe buy myself more. I’m nervous about those pours, because they’re not going to be easy, but I’m also excited bc I have a gorgeous, usable mold, and I got a ton of resin for [almost] free that I can experiment with. 

after that I finally got around to some of the resin I’ve been meaning to do. my friend in PA requested some resin earrings; she’s bought so many masks off my etsy for herself and family that after this last order I offered her a resin or crochet thing at no charge. so I’ve got to do some moon earrings; too bad I don’t have more than one moon mold. also my brother babysat some kids the last few weeks of summer and he’d taken them out to gather wildflowers for me to put into resin, so I offered to make them little resin keychains. I got little transparent letter stickers, and I’m super glad they worked as well as they did; the transparent stickers don’t show their borders in the resin so it almost looks like the letters are printed in it. I decided to make letter keychains with each of their initials, and I spelled their names with stickers in the letters. for the girl’s keychain, I added some of the flowers. I’m not sure what to put in the boys’ keychains quite yet. I’m told they’re harry potter fans, so maybe I’ll do some kind of transparent blue with gold glitter or maybe star glitter or something. I also had leftover colored resin from the moon mold so I added them to the J for my mom. nothing like the scramble for appropriately-sized molds when you’ve got extra resin. I also made another set of cat earrings, and I’ll see how those end up. I tried a drop of gold alcohol ink, and hopefully the white helped it sink. otherwise I’ve just got some weird looking cat earrings. 

(update, they turned out weird. gold doesn’t sink :/)

---

I wasn’t quite ready to go back to work today. I had a pretty good weekend, all said. don’t get me wrong, I enjoy what I do. but I feel like I need another gap year. I just want to stop existing for a while. stop having to go out and be around other people. having to talk to other people, all day almost every day. I’m tired. my brain is tired. my last gap year didn’t help with that, so I’m not sure how much good another one would do me. but I just... I need a damn break. 

I have another therapy appointment tomorrow. it may end up being my last one for a while. I already can’t really afford the copay, and I’m switching insurance to one she doesn’t take. my credit card bill this month is incredibly painful. not going to be too upset at not having to spend almost $100 a week to just ramble to someone I barely know. she’s pointed out a few things to me that I didn’t really notice I do, which is nice. but is it worth $400 a month? not right now. not when I’m about to lose my insurance and have to pay for my own. my rent is already half my pay, and now I’m going take a pay cut of somewhere around $100 a month for fucking health insurance. I hate this. I fucking hate the concept of health insurance. insurance in and of itself isn’t bad; property insurance is helpful. but having to pay money for other people to pay money for your healthcare? and you still have to hit a deductible somewhere in the thousands before insurance will even start covering your shit. and even then they can decline coverage or only cover parts of your expenses. literally what is the point

 back to worrying I guess. 

I’ve started a kind of ridiculous undertaking at work as a side project, now that I’m done scanning all the files that were up front. I printed out the list of all the clients in our system that had physical folders, and I’m going through the scanned records and making sure the active ones have new client paperwork and the hours disclosure attached. the head receptionist asked me to start with the ones my former coworker had scanned in, and there are a lot of disclosures missing. some are missing both. I don’t know if he just didn’t scan them or if they didn’t have them at all or what. but I’ve been putting alerts in charts so people know that they need to give the forms to the clients when they come in. we had one client get kind of mad that he’s been coming to us for 10-some years and didn’t want to fill out the paperwork again, even after we clarified it was for our records and for legal reasons. but whatever. 

I don’t know how many physical folders there were, but the list is very long. the folders go from 0 to somewhere in the 8000s I believe, but thankfully a lot are missing. missing as in possibly inactive, so there might only actually be 1000-2000 or so. but I’m going through every single one of them. I made myself a little system with highlighter colors: yellow means the client is active and they need something filled out (and I mark on the sheet what they need), purple means they’ve been seen within 3 years but more than 1 year ago, and they need to fill out something, pink mens inactive, and orange is kind of a catch-all for things like active clients who have recently moved (not sure whether to mark those as inactive). so far, since starting this a week or so ago, I’ve managed to get through 4 pages and a little bit on a 5th. many, many more to go.

the head vet wants to turn the back room into a little employee lounge area of some sort, but we want to get rid of those shelves first too. which means I have 2 big shelves of folders left before I’m officially done. thankfully the files in the back should *mostly* be clients that are inactive, but I still have to go through all of them to make sure. I know I’ve gone back there a number of times to find a folder for an active client because I wasn’t sure whose phone number was whose and I knew it would be in the record. 

---

I’ve been writing this post over the last two nights but I keep falling asleep while I’m writing. I did a lot more resin stuff last night, so I ended up going to bed pretty late. I wanted to finish up those keychains but I’m bad at gauging how much resin I’ll need for things so I ended up with a lot of random extra pours. I’m excited about a few of them; I poured a few into the new molds I made so I’m looking forward to seeing how those turn out. 

not really sure where I was going with this. not really sure where I’m going in general. I’m just going. trying to keep up with work, trying to remember doctor appointments. trying to keep the rats happy and as healthy as I can get them, trying not to let the cat get on my nerves too much. trying to do crafts. trying to remember to talk to people, but I don’t know. I feel lonely sometimes but since I’ve been working so much I kind of just want to be alone. I don’t have the energy for conversations a lot of the time. 

---

hm. maybe another post for therapy thoughts. I was asked to think about a few things.

[topicprinter]

Hey - Pat from StarterStory.com here with another interview.Today's interview is with Paul Lee of HUSKYBEARD, a brand that sells beard care products.Some stats:Product: Beard care.Revenue/mo: $12,000.00Started: November 2016Location: Atlanta, GeorgiaFounders: 1Employees: 1Hello! Who are you and what are you working on?Hi I’m Paul, a 22-year-old Korean American entrepreneur and founder of HUSKYBEARD, a 6-figure beard grooming brand. This was my first ever business and I’ve since sold it. I am now operating another Shopify store with a partner, on set to produce $1M by next year. I also consult and mentor eCommerce store owners on ecomswift.com.With HUSKYBEARD, the focus from the start was to build a strong brand with beautifully crafted, unique, premium quality beard care products for passionate beardsmen. Our customers and community are men who are passionate about their beards and identify their beards as a lifestyle choice, rather than a grooming choice.I’ve scaled using Facebook Ads primarily, with some SEO, Amazon, Reddit, and Email Marketing on the side. I’m proud to have accomplished a 30% customer retention rate with this passionate community.What's your backstory and how did you come up with the idea?So here’s how HUSKYBEARD achieved success despite many beginning failures!Summer of 2016, I wanted to grow a beard with my friend Daniel. Being both Asian, we had a pathetic, pubic-like patch on our chins, after a full month. With ambition, I wanted to explore how much facial hair I could grow as an Asian male (side note, most Eastern Asian males are bare-faced, so I wanted to stand out). Very soon I stumbled upon Minoxidil 5% (or Rogaine) and its application towards facial hair growth. I actually documented my 1 year experience with this ingredient on Youtube, and have had over 2 million people view my patchy beard growth. It’s weird I know. (Youtube link at bottom if you are curious lol)While I was on this Minoxidil Beard Growth Journey (as they call it), I learned that hundreds of thousands of men had the same desire as me: to grow facial hair. Being a natural born entrepreneur, I decided to execute the idea of a beard growth cosmetic and solve this problem.I was immediately stigmatised and bashed on YouTube and other popular online forums, and was accused of being a scammer trying to sell “snake-oil”. My reputation plummeted but I decided to go for it anyway. I wanted it to be so effective and prove all of the haters wrong.So I spent about about $1,000 on this project, read 100s of 30 page clinical studies on hair growth ingredients and the science of hair growth, and consulted with cosmetic experts, regulators, and chemists. Over 1,000 hours was spent on this project. I had a dream and I know how to achieve it.But one day, a cosmetic legal regulator advised me to surrender this pursuit. This “cosmetic” I dreamt of creating was, under FDA’s regulations, a “drug”. And drugs require over 8 years of experimentation, and over $2,500,000 for it to be approved and ready for the market. I entertained the idea of “skipping this process”, but he told me of a guy who ignored his advice and ultimately had $800,000 worth of his materials destroyed by the FDA, just like that. Without warning, without mercy. That crushed any hope I had left.I had spent 10 hours, every day, for months, got ridiculed and vilified, spent almost all of my savings, and got “nothing” in return (so I thought at the time). It was hard on me.But rather than dwell on this “failure”, I took it as an opportunity and shifted from the idea of beard growth, to beard care. This pivot was the most important event that defined my success to come.

Describe the process of designing, prototyping, and manufacturing the product.After creating the Shopify store, huskybeard.com, in Nov 2016, I spent a few months analyzing successful businesses, reading hours a day, and watching countless Youtube videos on success, all with intense focus and purpose.To test the viability of the business, I started off with the low-risk business model of dropshipping from Aliexpress. And to my luck and surprise, I was able to find a “winning” product almost immediately.Revenue growth by the month.Monthly revenue grew from $200 in March, to $2K in June. Problems of course arose with this dropshipping method: very slow shipping times, angry customers, poor retention rate, damaged products upon delivery, etc.I understood that dropshipping was not the means for creating a long-lasting brand that customers love. So I quit this method, had all my products branded, formulated cosmetic beard oils myself at home, purchased inventory in the bulk, and shipped all orders myself.The beginning process for this was first ordering only the best-selling products in bulk from Aliexpress/Alibaba, getting them branded by talking with the supplier, and dropshipping the other products. I made sure to ONLY pay through Alipay/Alibaba trade assurance order for security reasons, and gave my supplier strict conditions for the relationship: refund for each damaged good during shipment transit, quality standards and inspection, negotiating wholesale price, etc.I was also only selling products like Combs and Brushes, so I knew I needed to start providing actual beard cosmetics (aka “Beard Oils). So I purchased $70 worth of my competitor’s products to analyze their products, the feel/scent of them, and their packaging. I understood what it means to have great packaging, and learned exactly how to create a bottle of Beard Oil, right from home. It took about 10 tries, to get the formulation down. Afterwards, I created 3 different scents and hired a graphic designer to create the product labels.I still to this day don’t understand how I managed to do all of this: marketing, customer service, business operations, order fulfilment, and juggling between a part time job. Working all night until 7AM was very common during these times. It got so difficult managing all of these things, so I finally quit my job (after having worked there for 4 years), and brought in my cousin to help out.Describe the process of launching the online store/business.I knew this was the niche I wanted to get in, so I spent a good deal of time thinking about what kind of brand I wanted to create and who my ideal customer was. Many other competitors in this space were hypermasculine (think “If you’re not bearded, you’re not a man” attitude) and the design aspects didn’t seem very modern.I decided on HUSKYBEARD because it was catchy, and I thought “everyone loves dogs, men and women alike”, so a husky mascot would be broadly appealing. (I actually think this is why many wives and girlfriends of bearded men purchased from my brand).I didn’t do any sort of launch campaign at the start, I just rolled the store out and slowly made the site look better and better, while learning everything I could. Thinking now, I made the mistake of consuming information non-stop and not actually taking action. It wasn’t until March that I actually started to acquire traffic and spending money on advertising.Since launch, what has worked to attract new customers?For traffic and sales, I focused primarily on Facebook advertising. I told myself I would master Facebook Ads first before I touched the other platforms. All the profits I made were immediately invested back into testing and scaling more Facebook ads.The $5/day ad sets soon became $15/day, $25/day, and even $150/day. But I wasn’t making the figures I wanted to with Facebook ads. I slowly utilized other sales channels like Amazon, Etsy, eBay, etc. and also took on some SEO strategies as well as Email Marketing. With just a month or so of effort, I was able to rank #2 for a keyword that had 10,000+ searches a month and acquired over 8,000 leads through running a free contest giveaway.As far as my top marketing channels, these were the ones that produced the most revenue:1. Facebook Advertising:Since I was advertising beard products, it made sense to advertise Facebook audience demographics of men who liked pages related to “Beards”, “Facial Hair”, “Mustache”, etc. These were a bit too broad though, somewhere in the 5 million+. So I “flex targeted” (act of narrowing layers of audiences in one ad set). So people who liked “Beards” AND people who liked (competitor brand). Facebook ads is one of the trickiest to master, and took me over 6 months to get down. This is one of the most requested services from my clients: Facebook Ads Consulting and Managing.2. SEO:Right from the start of my store, I implemented good SEO practices like writing down alt tags and descriptions and compressing images. I got introduced to techniques (both black hat and white hat) such as utilizing back links and getting “juice” from other sites, like my competitors. I spent some money on optimizing my store (making page load time quicker), and on acquiring backlinks (from packages and guest blog posts, like “Top 10 Beard Oils”. After several months, I was able to achieve 2nd ranking for the term “Beard Comb” which had ~10,000+ searches/monthly. Not bad.3. Email Marketing:I absolutely loved Russull Brunson’s invaluable advice in DOTCOM SECRETS and his well known welcome series templates and branding techniques. After writing up 5 emails, I set them up from 1st email the lead gets to the last email (in the 5 day series) and gave them a huge discount off of a $100 product. This email series is automated, and still automated to this day and allows the customer to know us better before they purchase something from us. I’ve also setup many different automation series for when customers abandon cart, enter a giveaway contest, purchase a specific product, have not purchased a product, etc. In summary, email marketing is not dead!In regards to sales and marketing, I would emphasize the power (and profit margins) of branding, and really understanding who your customers are and really catering to them. After understanding who they are, the next step would be to test continuously, and to not fall in love with your product/marketing campaign/etc. Do not get your ego attached. If you’re profitable, keep it going and test for better results. If what you’re doing is not profitable, be quick to revise and make the necessary adjustments.How is everything going nowadays, and what are your plans for the future?Every month of 2017 produced more revenue than the month preceding. Q4 of 2017 was when I had achieved the most sales.Though the revenue was getting higher and higher, I did not understand the concept of higher revenue not always equaling higher profit. I was just so focused on squeezing in as many sales as I could.So in the beginning of 2018, I stopped being so aggressive with my front-end advertising, in order to focus more on giving value to my existing audiences (through email marketing and retargeting). I was able to increase my customer retention rate from about 13% to 30% in a very short time. And I only spent about $50-$80/day on advertising, which generated much higher margins. I also implemented an ambassador program where bearded men can receive free products in exchange for video reviews, product selfies, etc. (which can be used as ad creatives and social media posts).Through starting the business, have you learned anything particularly helpful or advantageous?This journey has taught me so much about entrepreneurship, business, and achieving goals in general. Any success in any sense comes with a very heavy price, which most will not be willing to pay. I was foolish in thinking that I could live glamorously, after just a few months of making a few grand. Had I splurged in instant gratification, the business would’ve probably failed.Anything great worth achieving requires you to sacrifice your comfort, your time with friends and family, and many of your hobbies/interests. Juggling between many different things and distractions, while attempting a big goal, is almost never going to work out. Because success is so much harder to attain than people believe. I had so much fun in college, going to parties, chasing girls, socializing, etc. And I dropped all of it (including college), in order to focus with 100% intensity on the growth of my business.Going against society. Imagine a beardless guy telling you he wants to start a beard grooming business. Crazy right?Culturally, my Asian parents wanted me to become a doctor/lawyer, yet I dropped out of college...to make beard products. Nobody believed in me. Not my family, nor my friends. I wanted someone to believe me, or someone to be proud of the small little successes I had. I didn’t have any of that. Facing endless discouragement from my loved ones, and going after a dream alone, was definitely the hardest part of my journey.I’m only 22 years old yet I know my time alive is not long. Last year, my cousin, 22 at the time also, woke up, got in his motorcycle, and was killed in a crash. Just like that. No warning, no expectation; his life was taken away by a careless elderly driver. I know my day is coming, but I don’t know when. This is why I have such an urgency to do all of the things I want to do while I’m conscious and alive. And young. As young as possible.What platform/tools do you use for your business?The tools/apps/services I’ve used and recommend for eCommerce stores are: upsell/cross-sell apps (like Personalyzer and Zipify OCU), automated and segmented email setup, IFTTT for social media content distribution, a pop-up app for collecting leads and giving discounts (Privy or Zipify Coupon Countdown), and an accounting app that will track your profits (like SimplyCost).I highly recommend Shopify for those starting out with selling physical products, dropshipping, etc.. I recommend Clickfunnels for those selling digital products, professional services, high-ticket consulting, etc.What have been the most influential books, podcasts, or other resources?It’s absolutely necessary to rewire and recondition your mind. We are socialized and conditioned to live “normal”, ordinary lives and not achieve great magnitudes of success.Here are 5 books that have had tremendous impact on business, pursuit of success, and self-growth (no particular order):The FountainheadThe 4 Hour Work Week - Tim FerrisDOTCOM SECRETS - Russell BrunsonE-Myth Revisited - Michael GerberThe ONE Thing - Keller PapasanAdvice for other entrepreneurs who want to get started or are just starting out?Here are some lessons and advice that I hope will help anyone reading my story:When starting, ONLY listen to those who are where you want to be, or those who are masters at the craft you are learning. Everyone gives their opinion (even me right now), so you need to only give weight to qualified people/sources. It’s very likely your parents/friends are giving you the WRONG advice. Instead, go to books, mentors, consultants, etc.Everything has an ROI to it. And no I don’t mean monetarily. The things you do either produce positive benefit, or negative consequence, in the short or long run. Drinking beers with your friends could have a positive ROI if it means you’re in desperate need for a break and need to loosen up. Contrastly, this could have a negative ROI if it means you’ll be hungover the next day and incapable of any productivity. Choose your behaviors wisely.The mainstream narrative is almost always wrong. Not wrong in the sense that it’s not true (although many times just outright not true), I mean that what the general masses think and do, is exactly what you’ll get. And if you want to achieve massive heights, you absolutely cannot do what everyone is doing. You have to be willing to go against your social conditioning and belief systems, and go for what you want and do it all the way.The man working smarter achieves more than the man working harder. Working hard and hustling doesn’t always get you results. You only have so much energy, time, and willpower in a day, so you have to strategically prioritize the most important and effective actions, as quickly as possible. Essentially, the 80/20 principle.Starting a business is the best way to learn about business. It boggles my mind that anyone would pay $40,000 for a degree in business/marketing/related studies, and after 4-8 years, expect to be ready to start their business ventures. Save that $40K, learn the education online (which is mostly free), pay money to people who are actually millionaires (and not to business professors who have MBAs yet have never sold anything ever), and be empowered to do it on your own. You’ll learn much more this way.Know your numbers. Use Quickbooks. Know your net costs. Aim for 400% ROI minimal, after all expenses. How much are you making today/this month/this quarter? You need to know this or else you are running in the dark.Do not do it alone. I cannot stress this enough, for your own success and your own sanity, you need to have support. Whether that’s a friend cheering you on when you hit those sales numbers, or if it’s a mentor telling you why you can’t scale your Facebook Ads. Going at it alone, like I did, is extremely expensive, and takes forever.Do ONE Thing and do it with all your might. The more cups you have to fill, the less amount you’ll have in each cup. Your focus and time are your biggest assets. Knowing this, I dropped school; quit my job; quit social media; moved into my parents (away from friends and the city life); limited time playing video games, hanging with friends, and dating; and focused SOLELY on my business.Where can we go to learn more?For personal, one-on-one mentoring/consulting, you can reach me at ecomswift.com.I also share my lessons and experiences on my ECOMSWIFT Youtube Channel. Check it out!My 1-Year Unsuccessful Beard Growth Journey Documentary: YoutubeLiked this interview? Check out more founders that shared their story on StarterStory.com.

[cindylouwho-2]

RECENT NEWS, RESOURCES & STUDIES, December 2019

Welcome to my latest summary of recent news, resources & studies including search, analytics, content marketing, social media & ecommerce! This covers articles I came across since the October report, although some may be older than that.

I am also missing a lot here, but pared it down somewhat to make more readable. The lead up to the holiday shopping season was a lot crazier than I expected 🙃

Given the time of year, please do not expect another report until January. However, I will do brief posts of important news/blog posts in the interim as needed.

There are going to be big changes to this report coming in 2020. Have any suggestions or feedback?  Leave a comment below, email me through my website, or send me a message on Twitter.

TOP NEWS & ARTICLES

You are going to need to add Etsy’s tax ID to customs forms on New Zealand orders as of Dec. 1. Etsy’s ID is: 122-669-18.

FTC issues huge fines for selling fake likes & followers on social media, and for posting fake reviews online. “The [likes and followers] case could pave the way for further legal action on the same grounds, using the Devumi case as precedent. Indeed, shortly after the initial finding by the NY Attorney General, Facebook announced that it was moving ahead with legal action against several providers which it had found to be dealing in fake social media engagement.”

Everyone should read this article, if only to learn what not to do: Using “priming” to convert more buyers/users is a crucial marketing tactic.”Priming works by using associations made in our subconscious, and are almost always unnoticeable to the subject.” Example: “During a study, researchers approached customers in an electronics store, who’d entered to buy a new laptop.Half of the customers were asked what their memory needs were, and the other half were asked what their processor needs were...The group who were asked about memory, bought computers with higher memory and the group who were asked about processor speed, bought computers with much higher processor speeds.”

Etsy removed the word “Bugs” from the Bugs forum, & admits they will only will be monitoring it from 9-5 Etsy time (ET) Monday to Friday. They won’t be replying, but expect “hundreds of sellers” to do that job for them, unpaid. If you have an issue, you will now need to email through the Contact page, use the new 24 hour live chat, or phone them. [Note the parts they aren’t mentioning - Support is taking over a week to reply to emails right now, live chat will only be able to help with the simplest of questions (e.g., how do I change my email address?) & it is possible to spend over an hour on hold when you phone. You could spend quite a bit of money on long distance fees, especially if you are in a country that doesn’t have its own phone number, all for something you used to be able to get for free in the forum, sometimes on the same day. This is Etsy’s definition of “major improvements”.]

Check out this proposed US legislation, which wants large internet companies [yes, Etsy fits their definition] to reveal their algorithms & offer visitors a version with no “filter bubble.” You might not like Etsy search now, but I can guarantee it would become impossible if they removed all of the algorithm factors. [This editorial is a bit over the top, but does cover some of the key questions.]

ETSY NEWS

Items have been disappearing from a small number of Etsy searches since July, & Etsy still won’t tell us what is going on. If you discover you are affected, please let me know.

There have been a few threads on Etsy sending threatening emails about shops being below Etsy’s customer service expectations, often for just a few bad feedbacks or cases, which has shocked many long time sellers (even though they have been sending them for years; it appears they have decreased the number of “problems” you need to have to get an email.) Without announcing anything, Etsy released a page of “seller service level standards” that can help explain what they are looking for, namely cases & 1-2 star reviews, as well as the exact formula they use. I started a discussion thread here, & in case Etsy deletes comments in the thread, here is the dashboard showing your score. (Some people cannot make that link work; Etsy says only shops that received a warning can see it.) My blog post is here.

I summarized the 3rd quarter report here, and Etsy summarized it here. The stock market is not happy with management at the moment, with Morgan Stanley this past week stating that they expected Etsy’s 4th quarter to be worse than originally predicted, due to state sales tax laws and Etsy’s reduction in its Google Shopping ad buying. Note Etsy removed the “priority placement” for US free shipping about a week after the 3rd Q report, without any announcement, probably due to the blowback about it reducing first page conversions. (They didn’t announce anything; it just disappeared.)

Cyber Week traffic on Etsy was more than double what they saw on the average summer day.

They did a Q & A thread on the new stats, which wasn’t particularly useful. They admitted they intentionally removed the keyword & other data prior to November 2017 because “older data periods are less comparable to current stats”. [I believe that is code for “we’re too cheap to pay for the storage; investors need their payouts.”] They did finally add YOY comparisons back in a few weeks ago.

Etsy has again changed a few category & attribute options, including more baby stuff.

They did a holiday gift shopping promotion where people could call Etsy & get suggestions for gifts on Nov. 5. All gifts shipped free, so non-free shipping shops were not included. “It could also be a case study for personalization efforts to come from the long-running handmade marketplace.”

You’ve probably already noticed that Convos are now called Messages, but here is the announcement with the details just in case.

Etsy ran an Etsy search critique thread on November 13; the thread wasn't particularly useful, as almost all the staff who do the critiques aren’t experts in search. Basically, they say to use all of your tags, avoid repeating words in tags & titles, have 3-4 short phrases in your title, use commas in your titles (”Buyer research shows that using commas instead of dashes helps titles appear more clean and readable”), offer free shipping, and use all of your photos. The big takeaway for me was - they think we all have unlimited photography budgets, models, and time to do different modelled photos for every listing (including at the beach! LOL), photos of each of our different pieces in progress, photos of us working, & photos of each type of packaging. Needless to say, none of those things are bad if you have gobs of time or the money to pay someone to do all of that. But if you are like me and are a one-person business, live in a small condo, don’t have the strength to take photos all day, don’t have an abundance of people to model when I am taking photos (i.e., people I know have real jobs & aren’t around when I work on photos), and don’t have anyone to take photos of me making things, then this is pretty laughable. I wouldn't even consider doing all of this for my 5 best selling listings, never mind all 430+. YMMV. [The repeated mentions of process photos makes me worry they will be requiring those for everyone at some point …but I am sure I am just being paranoid.] One notable error was telling someone to use “color” (the US spelling) instead of “colour” (the proper English spelling) because the shop’s language settings were US English - Etsy currently treats these both the same, so there is no issue at the moment. Are they trying to give us a hint about something?

SEO: GOOGLE & OTHER SEARCH ENGINES

Introducing BERT: Google’s new technology to help organic search process natural language better. This isn’t likely a change you can optimize for, but it should help searchers get more relevant results for complicated queries. “Here is an example of Google showing a more relevant featured snippet for the query “Parking on a hill with no curb”. In the past, a query like this would confuse Google’s systems. Google said, “We placed too much importance on the word “curb” and ignored the word “no”, not understanding how critical that word was to appropriately responding to this query. So we’d return results for parking on a hill with a curb.” Moz’s Whiteborad Friday covered the basics. [warning - some bits are advanced. Just skip those if you need to.] A study said BERT still isn’t very good at understanding “not” and other negatives. The NY Times may be one of the sites that is affected.

If you were disappointed when keyword research tool Keywords Everywhere became a paid tool, a new alternative has been released. Note that Keyword Surfer is still in beta. I’m going to try it for a bit and write up a short report if I think it is worth using. (The traffic estimates are way off, as in almost 10 times too low, for the sites I have info on.)  If you try it, let me know what you think!

While we are on the topic, here’s 13 keyword research errors you don’t want to make. Short takeaways - not every high volume keyword phrase will work for your specific product, don't ignore long tail, and make sure you look at the search results for any keyword before you decide to use it.

Here’s another keyword and topic research tool that compiles questions people search along with a relationship tree so you can see how ideas are connected.

More common SEO problems with ecommerce sites.

If you code your own website, check out the new Google instructions on writing your organic search snippets. Note this is supposedly only about display & not about ranking.

Improve your Instagram traffic with 8 SEO tips for your profile and posts.

Which is better for SEO - Squarespace or WordPress? The results are likely skewed by the fact that “platforms like Wix and Squarespace tend to attract less SEO-savvy people than WordPress.” They agree with what I have been saying for a while: if you know what you're doing, Squarespace sites can rank just fine.

Excellent tips on how good SEO also helps you comply with US disability access laws.

The latest on Google updates - there was apparently one around November 7. This one may have hit affiliate websites more than other types.

The Wall Street Journal wrote an article claiming Google manipulated search results to favour its interests & those of its advertisers, including eBay. [The original article is behind a paywall; the link is in that news coverage.] However, many in the SEO community - most of whom are not usually reluctant to criticize Google when they are behaving poorly - feel the article is way off base, & demonstrates a fundamental lack of knowledge of how Google works. Barry Schwartz of Search Engine Land & Search Engine Roundtable even did interviews with t WSJ staff for the article, and was amazed at how much they got wrong. “Even a basic understanding of the difference between organic listings (the free search results) and the paid listings (the ads in the search results) eluded them…[Glenn] Gabe told us that not only were his conversations with the paper off-the-record but also that he was misquoted”

CONTENT MARKETING & SOCIAL MEDIA (includes blogging & emails)

Here’s something I don’t see discussed much: using templates (& other consistent branding) in your social media, blog and website posts.

Content hubs are a very useful way to increase your search engine traffic for a core topic while providing a landing page for social media, ads etc.

Good primer here for beginning social media marketing for your business. You’ll need to do more research depending on your target market and what platform/s you choose, but it is definitely a good overview of getting started.

If you think influencer marketing is right for your business, here are 10 places you can find influencers to work with.

Your email subject lines can change the open rates; here are 19 tips to make them more clickable.

Instagram started testing hiding “likes” on posts in the US as of November 11th, & then announced plans to try it out globally. A study on previous tests showed that there may be some effect on influencer engagement.

Facebook has introduced its own payment system, currently in the US only, for limited situations only at the moment.

Reddit is an often overlooked social media platform to use for business but the traffic is strong, so check out these tips on asking it work for your business. [infographic]

ONLINE ADVERTISING (SEARCH ENGINES, SOCIAL MEDIA, & OTHERS)

Pay for online ads (outside of Etsy) but don’t know what negative keywords are? Here’s how to use them with Google.

Hubspot continues their massive rush of “ultimate guides” with everything you wanted to know about Amazon ads.

Facebook now allows you to have different text in the same ads, which can be adjusted for different groups of users.

Amazon is predicted to continue cutting into Google’s online ad dominance through 2021; Google currently has 73% of money spent on online ads in the US.

If you are interested in long term brand building in your advertising, you might be interested in this article, where Adidas admits it was ignoring brand ads & pushing instant returns for too long.

Just in time for the holidays, Google Merchant Center rolled out a bunch of upgrades.

Buying TV ad time is losing popularity; it will be less than 25% of all advertising spend in just a few years, while digital spending is now over 50%.

STATS, DATA, OTHER TRACKING

Facebook changed how they count page impressions.

Everything you want to know about the Google Search Console. Oh, and also everything you want to know about the Google Search Console. Which one do you like best? [If you have your own website or freestanding blog and are not using the Console, you probably should be reading both of those. Seriously, just set the darn thing up, then learn how to use it later.]

Also, the Console now features a speed report, and has changed how they send you messages.

ECOMMERCE NEWS, IDEAS, TRENDS

Trend alert: many struggling or failed retailers sell clothing. “This sector is saturated with supply and is arguably over-stored.” … “For younger shoppers, as they choose which apparel brands do get their attention, sustainability and other cultural issues are often at the forefront.”

US sellers can now get discounted UPS rates through Shippo.

A bug is keeping suspended Amazon sellers from being reinstated.

BUSINESS & CONSUMER STUDIES, STATS & REPORTS; SOCIOLOGY & PSYCHOLOGY, CUSTOMER SERVICE

Don’t use these common customer service lines. ...“there are studies that support the use of positive language in customer service. Instead of focusing on what you can’t do for a customer, focus on what you can do. No one likes to be told no.”

Another article on the psychology of colour; beware that some of this is a bit simplistic, as there are always exceptions.

Holiday shopping will push further into December this year, with half starting around Cyber Monday (Dec. 2). 62% of “high spenders” (over $2100 spent on the holidays) will shop on their smart phones. 25% of respondents to this survey said they already started shopping in September. It turns out most people want gift cards, among other stats. Nearly half of US shoppers are more likely to shop with companies that are socially responsible. Mobile shopping is expected to beat desktop shopping for the first time this season. And yes, most Americans expect to add to their credit card debt before January, men more than women.

US retail sales fell 0.3% in September; online sales fell the same amount.  

MISCELLANEOUS (including humour)

Trend alert - apparently Generation Z is not big on makeup, and it is affecting large companies’ profits.

Google’s co-founders hand the parent company Alphabet over to the current CEO. They still work for Google and will focus most of their time there.

Google Webmaster spokesperson John Mueller tackles the controversial question - is a hot dog a sandwich? [humour]