What I did on my summer vacation

My kids are all on vacation at my mom’s house. They’ve been gone for two weeks, so I’ve been focusing on labor-intensive projects — the kind of jobs that are hard to finish when people keep pestering me for food, clean clothes, and affection.

Now that they’re scheduled to come home tomorrow, I’m scrambling to wrap things up. This post has two purposes. First, it’s a review of the work a did manage to finish — but it’s also a list of things I still need to do.

My biggest project was my website. Over the last two weeks, I’ve redone the entire thing from scratch. I had wanted to redo it all for along time, but the work took on a new urgency for me since I moved to a new office in May.

• First I had to backup all my old files on my server. Some of them went back to 2001; I wasn’t using them anymore, but they still had information I wanted to keep. What a mess. It was like cleaning out a basement.
• Once I had everything backed up on my hard drive, I erased my old files from the web. My heart was in my throat the whole time; I didn’t really know what I was doing, and I didn’t want to break the Internet. Luckily, nothing bad happened, and my main web folder was still there when I finished, so I could upload new files — which were complicated enough, in and of themselves.
• My new site template made it easy to categorize the books, classes, and readings that I offer, but it also forced me to learn how to program PayPal’s “Order Now” buttons and shopping carts. Argh! HTML makes my head hurt.
• I have to say, though, that my new pages are a lot easier to edit on the fly than my old pages. I had been filtering everything on my old site through typepad.com, but that was a futzy process. Whenever I wanted to add something new to a page, I had to go through the typepad interface — which wasn’t intuitive for me. I always had to click around and check the help files, which means I didn’t update my pages as often as I should have.
• With this new site design, I went back to my “old-fashioned” FrontPage setup. In the process, I had to call my ISP guys to manage all the technical stuff. Someone had to undo the typepad domain mapping, for example. I still don’t understand the details; all it really meant to me was that I spent an hour online with some tech support guy in India, and then I had to kill two hours waiting to see if my website would work again.
• Since typepad was also my blog host, I wanted to find a newer, simpler format for my blog. When I learned that wordpress software could automatically import all of my old blog posts, I decided to give it a try. I was ready to spend a day on that project, too, but the move went so smoothly I finished it before breakfast. I like the free wordpress templates just fine. In fact, I kind of like the fact that they’re not highly customizable. (It takes some of the pressure off me to always be original.) I especially like the fact that I can add links on the fly. I have a blogroll now!
• At the same time I was organizing my online life, I was organizing my real-life materials and supplies — my runestones, my palmistry handouts, my astrological reports, and my teacups for tea-leaf readings. Those are all things I’ve dabbled in for the last few years, so I figured I might as well list them on my website.
• For each additional service, I had to come up with photos and samples to post online. I spread that work out over the course of the last two weeks, but it’s all gone smoothly enough. I’ve been making a special effort to go totally legit; I either licensed the photos on my site from istockphoto.com, or took the photos myself.
• People had been asking me to offer an online version of my Tarot for Writers Workshop, so I found a nice-looking online forum to manage those files. It took a while to find one that was reasonably priced, but I did, at websitetoolbox.com. (I really didn’t want a free ad-supported forum, since I want my online classes to be completely professional.)

But wait! There’s more!

Loft Proposal

I took a class in short-story writing at the Loft Literary Center two weeks ago, on the first Saturday my kids were away. That’s when I saw that they were looking for proposals for next year’s classes.

The next day, I came up with a proposal to teach “Tarot for Writers” — but the deadline was immediate, and I didn’t have a copy of their proposal format, so I don’t know if the one I sent will fly or not.

Proofreading

I used a thermal binder to collate the proofs for my next book, Simple Fortunetelling with Tarot Cards. I have to finish reading those fast; it’s going to the printer soon.

Deck Reviews

I reviewed the Goddess Inspiration Oracle, and I started reviews of the Faery Tarot and Necromicon decks. I should finish those up and post them soon.

Tarot Credentials

Last winter, during the longest, coldest days of the year, I started playing with a way of recording tarot credentials — as a sort of “do it yourself” certification. I’m still playing with it, but this weekend I formatted all of my work as a record book. Now I have to send it out to a few people to see what they think of the idea.

Crystal Vision Kits One of the projects I put together came to me at the last minute, as I was falling asleep on Saturday: Crystal Vision Kits.

Ever since I wrote Crystals for Beginners, I’ve felt like I should do more with crystals. At the same time, I didn’t want to lose my focus on tarot cards — especially when it came to my professional readings or my website.

I’ve seen other tarot readers who offer crystal healing kits, and crystals for channeling or meditation, and even crystal spell kits … but those ideas don’t really fit in with my tarot work. And then it hit me: crystals would be the perfect addition to a creative visualization package. That way, my focus would still be on tarot cards, so I wouldn’t be opening a whole new kettle of fish.

At any rate, I’m still putting the finishing touches on the instructional brochure, but the kits are going to be very impressive, and I hope everyone will order one. They’re just really neat.

Furniture Assembly Last week, I also ordered a new table and chairs for my tarot office. It’s been hard to find just the right furniture for the place. I had been using a wrought-iron bistro set, which was nice looking, but hardly the height of elegance.

My new furniture — a dark wood pedestal table and red velvet chairs — came from overstock.com. I did have to assemble them myself, which took a full evening … but I did the work while I watched “America’s Got Talent.”

Yeah. I’m a multi-tasker.

Twins Game

On Saturday, I broke away from my computer long enough to go to a Twins game with my husband, my sister and brother-in-law, and my next-door neighbors. They won free tickets at our National Night Out block party, which was August 7.

During that event, I was in charge of setting up tables and chairs for the neighborhood. I was supposed to make the coffee, too, but I delegated that task to my husband.

Still On Deck

So … Do you want to see my “to do” list? I was really hoping I’d have everything on this list done already, but time flies on now matter how hard or how fast I work.

• I have to finish up those fortunetelling proofs right away.
• I also have to keep plowing ahead on my Book of Shadows designs.
• I need to finish my Crystal Vision Kit instructions.
• I want to post reviews of the Faery and Necromicon decks.
• I have to send my “Tarot for Writers” manuscript to my publisher. I keep telling people about it, but there are typos I need to fix first.
• I want to send my “Tarot Credentials” stuff to a few people for their input.
• Julie Cuccia-Watts and I are talking about some new activities we can put together for the Ma’at deck.
• And I want to reformat the “Tarot Symbolist” book I did years ago, as a new and expanded guide to the cards.

I’d better hurry. My kids are taking the train home tonight, and they’ll be here at 7:30 tomorrow morning.

PS: Did I mention that my niece and nephew are here right now? They’re playing “Jumpin’ Monkeys” about three feet from my chair, but really, their version of the game seems to be “Screamin’ Monkeys,” “Slappin’ Monkeys,” “Suckin’ on the Monkeys,” and “Fightin’ Monkeys.”

They’re so cute.