Day One of Thea and Viv’s Big Adventure: Door/Starting Gate
Welcome to the first day of Thea and Viv’s Big Adventure! It’s an exciting blog tour, and Viv and I had a lot of fun creating it. We hope you enjoy it as much as we have!
Today I’m writing about developing a non-writing hobby. It might come as no surprise that I work a lot. I love just about every aspect of my job, and not just the storytelling. I really enjoy revisions and editing, and the networking and blogging as well. In fact the only part of my job that I don’t really enjoy is the accounting and administrative part, but that’s a necessary component of any self-employment venture.
Also, I have a strong deadline schedule, but I have not yet reached a place where I am ready to hire an assistant. And nowadays, even when I sit down to read I find myself processing the book from a professional point of view, which is not a bad thing at all but it is work related too.
So I have been in search of a hobby that has nothing to do with reading or writing, some kind of activity that I can do for fun that is a real change of pace. One of my friends, Bree from the writing team that publish under the name Moira Rogers, has tweeted a couple of pictures of one of her own hobbies, making soap. It looked like so much fun that when I went to Hobby Lobby and walked up and down their aisles, looking at the craft supplies, I decided that I wanted to try to make some soap too.
In keeping with the theme for today’s blog, which is the Door, or Starting Gate, I bought supplies and first tried making soap a few Saturdays ago. I was worried I would trash the kitchen and create a total monstrous mess of things… but I didn’t. I discovered that I enjoyed making soap, and the results look fun!
In fact, I got so encouraged from that first attempt that I went back to the store for more supplies, and I’m branching out to create different kinds of soap now. Now I’m getting ambitious. I’m thinking about trying to make homemade bath salts and sugar scrubs. I might actually try to make birthday and Christmas presents this year, which is something I’ve never done before.
Then, because my job is not just a job but more of a vocation, inevitably my thoughts turned to work again. I realized these pretty little soaps I was making might make wonderful gifts and prizes for giveaways.
Cue my fun friend Vivian Arend, who has been the driving creative force behind our 10 day blog tour. We got to discussing prizes, and while we’re having daily giveaways of our backlist at Samhain Publishing, we’ve also created some lovely bigger prizes. Two of the prizes are swag bags that will hold some of these handmade soaps, Godiva chocolate, a hand-woven back scrubber imported from Ecuador by Viv, a candle, a copy of my first book DRAGON BOUND, and a copy of Viv’s first two novellas UNDER THE NORTHERN LIGHTS. For more information on the prizes and the dates and details of the blog tour, check my blog post from yesterday.
In the meantime, you can also toodle over to Viv’s blog to see what she has to say today. For now I’m smashing a bottle of virtual champagne on the prows of both our websites as we launch the tour!
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THEA AND VIV’S BIG ADVENTURE is brought to you by Thea Harrison and Vivian Arend, New York Times and USA Today bestselling authors with a love for both travel and writing. They have joined together for the nefarious purpose of celebrating their next Samhain Publishing ebooks.
Thea’s DEVIL’S GATE releases June 5. The novella returns readers to the world of The Elder Races. Available at: Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Samhain Publishing
WOLF LINE, #5 in Viv’s bestselling Granite Lake Wolves, is available June 12. Available at: Amazon | Barne’s & Noble | Samhain Publishing
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Comment for your chance to win:
Information re: Grand Prize can be found at Thea or Viv’s
DAILY PRIZE: One commenter here at this blog will win their choice of one of Thea or Viv’s backlist Samhain ebooks from either the Elder Races or Granite Lake Wolves series. If you’ve got them all, you can gift this to a friend!
Winners for all the tour stops will announced HERE at my blog and at Viv’s on JUNE 13.
Question for today:
What have you started recently that you enjoy doing? What are some of your favorite hobbies?
Your soap looks great. I love to garden, cook/bake and read. 🙂
I’ve had many hobbies – my favorite was stained glass but I don’t have the space in my house for that any more. Now I’m designing jewelry. Your soap sounds like fun!
I’ve actually just started two new hobbies. Both entirely for myself, not my kids, not my hubby, but all mine! Excercise and Writing. Both are going well and I am loving all the new stuff I’m learning about each of them!
Congrats on the soon to be new release. Some of my favorite hobbies are reading, baking, and making earrings.
Is it bad that I want the soap more than the chocolates? :p
I’ve recently taken up fencing (which is FUN! Except when the guys get tired and sloppy in which case it’s painful but fun.) and cooking, a necessary part in any student’s life if they wish to end their year in roughly the same shape as when they started it. After observing with some trepidation my rapidly thickening middle I decided to nix the microwave meals and try to actually MAKE food from scratch. My crowning glory (which I crow about in a somewhat obnoxious manner) was Christmas dinner for my me and my flatmates.
My hobbies are reading books that’s NOT school related (I’m studying to be a vet), playing with my kids, baking…
But what takes my time at the moment, when I’m not studying or spending time with my family, is helping my friend with her bookblog. It is SO MUCH FUN! I’ve always loved to read and to now be able to share my joy with others, maybe even help them choose a book and help spread the word about other amazing books and authors? The ONLY backdraw? We have a little pesky thing called timedifference between us – 8 hours to be precise. 🙂 But oh, the joy!
I need suggestions for a new hobby. I tried scrapbooking, but it’s not much fun by yourself. Photography is something I have been interested in for a while, but the cost of a good camera is prohibitive.
I love the soap! It’s gorgeous ~ if it smells as good as it looks, SCORE!
Awesome you found a hobby you enjoy so much ~ my niece called me a few weeks ago and told me she was sending me a pkg., filled with her foray into soap, bath salt & lip balm making! I’m so lame, I love this stuff but lol, like you I’m always worried about how big a mess I’ll make, if it’s worth the trouble…and usually wind up buying it from Lush!
My hobbies, when I’m not studying or working, are knitting, reading, and sewing. Since school is out for the summer, I am trying to complete all the knitting projects I can while I still have to time to before I start my RN program this fall.
Of course, my favorite hobby is reading. Recently I started taking Kung Fu classes and I’m enjoying it so much that I wish I’d started it 20 years ago!
I love the soap. my favorit hobies include raising animals, doing as many 4-H projects as i can, knitting, learning diffrent wreasling moves from my bf, and reading as much as possisble.
How cool! I haven’t tried soapmaking! I’ll be the results smell wonderful, and naturally keep you clean 🙂
I’ve been a little lazy at trying new things–the dance studio’s spring recital is coming up, and my “new” old thing this year is that I’m working on making sure there’s a smile on my face as I dance (instead of my usual look of fierce concentration, which my kids call “Mommy’s mad face”… ;))
Some of my hobbies are reading,gardening and baking.I start and stop a lot with digital art too.
Your soapbars are looking good! I like origami, myself. 🙂
After my son announced that I will be a first time Grandma in the Fall, I started researching digital cameras. I’ve never had one, but this looks like the easiest way to take baby pictures, and now that they are turning out. Right now, borrowing cameras from my assorted family to narrow down which one I would want to buy.
I crochet as a hobby, and as far as hobbies go it is a pretty relaxing pursuit…but I pretty sure my friends and family may be getting tired of hand-crafts for Christmas gifts. 🙂
I haven’t started anything new but my favorite hobby is reading. I didn’t start this hobby until I was 30 (4 yrs ago). Growing up, I never liked to read and now, there just aren’t enough hours in the day to read!
I love taking pictures of everything I do. Family parties, hanging out with friends, and puppy in the snow. I then scrapbook all of it.
I have started a blog and I also like to bake. When you go st ship those swag bags make sure you put the soap and the chocolate in seperate ziploc baggies and maybe put them in more than one ziploc too and don’t pack then side by side. I had soap and wrapped chocolate in a back pack and when I went to eat the chocolate it tasted like soap- yuk. Great to see you are enjoying your new hobbie.
Z
Besides reading, I’ve been wanting to start gardening. I redid part of the front yard, added pots of flowers, herbs and a cherry tomatoe for my daughter to take care of. Now we have the back to do. We also like to bake.
Hobbies… I enjoy drawing, but do not do it as much as I used to… love reading… just started trying to teach my little nephew to swim. Congrats on the tour and for your upcoming release! 😀
I haven’t tried anything new in a little while. I’m kind of tired and just vegging if you know what I mean. I am a knitter and a crocheter and do most needle work.
Your soaps look like they turned out very well.
I like to make jewelry, bracelets especially. They can be complex or quick depending on my mood. I have something to match almost all of my outfits! I’d like to branch out into chain mail.
Doing something totally unrelated to writing engages different areas of the brain. Helps with preventing burnout. I just started exercising and have been using math and muscles in ways I have not in years.
I haven’t started anything new recently. I like to read.
Ah, I start to writing a full length story. I never manage to finish it before, and the idea always swamming in my head without I have courage to write it. As for hobby, I love to read, write, drawing and sometimes pet cats at my dorm 🙂
I love reading about all your hobbies! Hopefully suggestions here will help those in search of a new hobby (and I might try a few new things myself). Sometimes starting something new takes courage. It can be hard to branch out into the unknown.
I might like to take a jewelry class some day.
started working with a personal trainer a couple days a week a few weeks ago & really enjoy it (although I sometimes wonder why I started it when I’m getting sweaty & worn out during the work out or particularly sore afterwards) 🙂 but I do enjoy the sense of accomplishment & energy that I get from the workouts 🙂
I love to scrapbook. Secretly, I’m a paper freak. I love to collect paper. I enjoy it very much. Scrapbooks make great gifts too.
I also like photography. I’m not a professional, but I like trying to be creative. I’m also trying a little bit of writing.
scrapbooking, photography and reading.
scrtsbpal at yahoo dot com
Something that I’ve recently started and enjoy is working at my local charity shop, I’m currently out of work so it’s a great way to fill time, socialise and feel useful.
So far as hobbies go, I obviously like reading but I am also quite crafty and make my own cards and occasionally decorations, mostly papercraft but I just got a mini sewing machine that I love. I also like rock climbing and when I go to my home town (Plymouth, England, UK) I like hiking on Dartmoor and maybe doing a bit of body boarding or just walking on the beach.
Those soaps look so pretty. I love to read and travel, those are my two main hobbies, but I also enjoy cooking. I’d stop doing much of it because of my work schedule, but I’ve recently gotten back into it and I’m enjoying myself.
I love to try new cuisines. It’s been a while since I tried something new, but there are many places here to be adventurous. I’m looking forward to trying some Moroccan food.
Wow! You are making your own soap, it’s impressive. And they are beautiful, too. Congratulations!
Recently, I’ve started writing and I really like it. And I enjoy reading, drawing and painting.
My favorite hobbies are reading and baking. Soap making sounds cool.
mythic021@gmail.com
What are some of my favorite hobbies? Oh wow the lists boggles the mind! I work with crafts, almost any kind of crafts: knitting, crocheting, sewing, fabric painting, counted cross-stitch, scrapbooking, bead work/jewelry making… Those are just the highlights of my crafting. I love to create with my hands in almost any medium. I leave the wordsmithing to you and others. I stick with the tactile arts 😉
I love crafting of all sorts. I’m not good at all of it, but I still enjoy it! It’s going to sound dorky but I have started scanning all of my books and sorting them into Collectorz software. I find it really relaxing to get all of my book collection info into one place.
Earlier this year I started practicing archery. I’ve done it in the past, but coming back to it again years later has reminded me of how much I enjoy it. It’s challenging and relaxing all at once.
I try to make jewelry. My other hobbies are to collect stamps, movie poster, bookmarks and reading.
Thank you for the giveaway!
Wow I so want to learn how to make soap, candles too! Really haven’t started anything as of yet. I do want to start a small little garden in the front of my house. First I need hubby to build a little box and get me the soil.
I started bike riding again. Its helping me get back into shape and I really enjoy doing it. Its been a long time. My biggest hobby is reading. I am not the most creatively talented person.
Making soft pretzels! from scratch. My work sells them for $1.49 each! So I hunted for a recipe online and started making my own. LOL
Thanks,
booklover0226 at gmail dot com
Try wire-wrapping. Although there are some tricks (using square wire for multi-wire pieces) that help make formal designs possible, you can just grab some wire and start twisting, twirling, etc. to make free-form art. NOTE: Lower wire numbers mean fatter/stronger wire.