Painted covers for handbound books

I have been wanting to get more into painting, and it occurred to me earlier this evening that I could start up a series of paintings intended to be used on the covers of handbound books. I had created a painting intended for the cover of a handbound book a few years ago, but I had not really considered it as much of a style of binding as a whim I had to create a specific cover for that particular book. Now, however, I am thinking I might make more such paintings expressly made to be turned into covers on handbound books.

Bookbinding as a second business

I picked up a new domain name today to go along with my intention to turn my bookbinding into a second career. I am now the proud domain owner of www.handboundbook.com where I will be working to set up an online storefront for my bookbinding business.

I am working tonight on getting organized here at the house for what I will need to actually run a bookbinding business. I know what I need to set up a bindery and repair workspace, but I want to be certain that I leap in carefully enough that I am going to be able to not only create the books that people would order from me, but to be able to maintain a quality level of binding and book workmanship as my perfectionist attitude demands of me.

Invest in your future with precious metals

When you work out of your own home, you do not have much in the way of retirement planning, and every day that passes is another day that you are closer to your own retirement. Are you prepared?

You need to be sure that you make the right investments. One of the best investments is precious metals. If you have an investment portfolio that you want to diversify with the purchase of silver, gold or other precious metals then the United States Gold Bureau would like to invite you to stop by their website.

As an investment product, precious metals such as silver and gold bullion are excellent ways to diversify any portfolio, and their hard asset professionals are waiting to assist you in your purchase. Your investment in precious metals can be delivered to you via personal delivery or, if you prefer, you can work with them to arrange for your investment to be placed in storage at an independent bank or depository.

Started in 2003, United States Gold Bureau was incorporated as an LLC in Austin Texas in 2008. Their large, dedicated staff of hard asset professionals are committed to serving your precious metals investment needs and provide their customers with competitively priced precious metals.

To find out more about the United States Gold Bureau visit their website at the link above.

Note that no investment, even one in a precious metal such as gold, is without some risk. Enter into any investment with care and careful planning. The United States Gold Bureau is not associated with the United States government.

Bookbinding as a second job

I'm going to be starting up an official second job soon, one that will nicely compliment my current work as a freelance writer. I want to turn my bookbinding into a full out income producing job.

I spoke to the people at the funeral home that we use in town, and they would be interested in seeing a sample of what I can do, so now I need to get things set up so that I can start mass creating hand bound books that I can sell. It is going to take me a little time to get everything organized and the room fixed for the work, but hopefully by the start of November I will be ready for basic book production.

I will then let the profits from the business help to expand things to be more and more advanced in my bookbinding until I can even craft my own hinges and things. I was taught basic metal working by a master metal smith after all, so it would be very cool to be able to craft my own hand made hinges for the books.

Need more monitors for my work

My work demands that I do a lot of flicking between different websites and documents on the screen, so that means that I can not get my work done without some level of multitasking. That means I usually have my research open in one browser window, while I am working on another one and have a writing document up in the background.

What I really needs is two screens on the computer. Preferably more Unfortunately my computer is not set up for more than one screen right now, and even if it was - the other screen that I have is missing the power adapter.

What I really want is an accounting computer setup, one of those ones where the computer runs up to eight screens at a time. Now that would be nice! I could make do with two, would be happy with 4, but six or eight screens? Yeah, that's what I really need one of these days.

Gold Bullion

Working as a freelance writer, I love to play with words. I spend my time organizing them into groupings that, I hope, make sense when read by someone else. And when I find a word that I get curious about I am quick to grab my dictionary to look it up. I even used to read novels with a dictionary close at hand, so that when I found a word that I was not familiar with I could look it up. So, is it any wonder in all of my talking about things such as the recent mentions of things like "gold bullion" and stuff for the United States Gold Bureau, I wonder what exactly "bullion" means?

Well, I went looking. The term "bullion" refers to a mass of precious metal, such as gold or silver, that has been formed into an easily sortable shape such as bars or coins. A pile of gold in a safe, for example, might be referred to as being "stacked bars of gold bullion".

Sounds nice, huh? Stacked bars of gold bullion in the safe. I think so, and oh do I wish I had stacks of gold bullion in my safe, but while you do need money to buy the gold with, you can (if you have the money to invest) have stacked gold bullion in your safe.

The hard asset professionals at the United States Gold Bureau can assist you in the purchase of precious metals for investment, then assist you in arranging for home delivery or safe storage at an independent bank or depository.

The United States Gold Bureau specializes in gold, silver and other precious metals in bullion form such as bars or ingots. They have a dedicated staff of hard asset professionals that are ready and waiting to assist customers in the purchase of precious metal commodities, such as gold or silver, for investment purposes.

Started in 2003, and incorporated as an LLC in Austin Texas in 2008, the United States Gold Bureau provides its customers with competitively prices precious metals. To find out more about the United States Gold Bureau visit their website at the link above.

Note that no investment, even one in a precious metal such as gold, is without some risk. Enter into any investment with care and careful planning. The United States Gold Bureau is not associated with the United States government.

Working from home and sick days

The good thing about working from home is that when you are sick, you can make up your own mind on rather you should be working that day or call in sick. At least, that is the theory. Now as for the reality...

There are no sick days. You can't be paid to be sick, and if you are going to keep income flowing, then you need to be working steadily at your work, otherwise you are going to end up losing money hand over fist if you fail to get your work done because you 'don't feel like working'.

I'm sitting here typing this with a nasty head cold that has me coughing, sipping hot tea and home made lozenges for a sore throat, and - on occasion - sneezing hard enough my glasses fly over the Kleenex I catch the sneeze on and land between the keyboard and monitor on the desk.

Miserable does not even begin to cover the way that I am feeling, but I don't have anyone that can fill in for me, so here I am, sipping tea and hugging Kleenex, and getting my writing done rather than calling in sick.

That's what it means to work from home.

Now, the good news? If I decide that I just can not do my work now, if it is not on a deadline I *can* put it off a few hours, or I can take my laptop and curl up on the sofa to work. Those are luxuries only the sick- I mean work at home types tend to enjoy. Yeah, hard as it is, I love working from home. Especially when my dad's cat Demon curls in my lap to try to make me feel a bit better.

October 15th ~ deadline on 6 month Tax Return extension

It seemed like such a great idea back in April. 6 month extension, plenty of time to get the taxes filed, and they will be filed to get back the return just in time to help with the heating fuel. Wonderful!

Well, it seemed wonderful. Only now, in the wake of my dad's passing away, my tax paperwork is who knows where and I am trying to locate it. I ordered a replacement copy of last year's return, since I am not going to hold my breath that I find that particular folder in time, and will be diving back into trying to get the taxes finished and filed by the October 15th deadline just as soon as I get the chance ~ hopefully by tomorrow.

Gold Coin Investing

While writing is a wonderful way to make a living, there is still a necessity to make wise investments for long term financial needs. The United States Gold Bureau would like to invite you to stop by their website to find out how investing in precious metals could help to diversify your investment portfolio.

The United States Gold Bureau's hard asset professionals are ready to assist you in the purchase of gold coin or other investment types, then assist you in arranging for home delivery or safe storage at an independent bank or depository.

Note that no investment, even one in a precious metal such as gold, is without some risk. Enter into any investment with care and careful planning. The United States Gold Bureau is not associated with the United States government.

Life Changes

Life can change so quickly, and my life has recently changed quite drastically.

On September 10th, after a week long stay in the intensive and critical care wards of the hospital, my father Billy L. Fikes passed away from natural causes.

I spent the bulk of my adult life as a caregiver, and now find that I have to make many changes in my life. The first is going to be in my work. I am redirecting all of the efforts I placed over the years into providing care for my parents toward making my writing take off and become a full-time career.

Today, to keep myself active and busy, I am remodeling the work area and getting everything organized to make completing my work in a logical and efficient manner as easy as possible. I am living alone for the first time in my life, so my first goal is going to be to get my home office configured to help me maintain the home business I worked so hard to build, then nearly lost as I was forced to dedicate more and more time to helping my dad, and less and less time to my writing work.