The Crafty Princess Diaries

Tammy Powley’s Crafty Weblog

January 21, 2018
by Tammy
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2 Short Stories Published!

I have been focusing on creative writing lately versus craft how-to writing or blogging. It’s very different than the idea of writing something that I might get paid for. Instead, I write because I simply want to and then, hopefully, find a place that will accept it for publication with little to no intention of payment. Yes, writing for free, a very weird concept for anyone who has spent so many years freelance writing. However, the publishing world has really changed. Many craft companies prefer to have in-house (as in not freelance) content writers and designers. Craft book publishers have gotten lean and mean in order to survive. There is also a ton of free content on the Web, so the need to pay someone to write it is not really there like it was back in the day when I freelanced for a number Web networks and wrote books about how to make jewelry.

With this in mind and the fact that I’m not getting any younger, I realized how much I missed the creative writing I used to do when I was in my teens and twenties, so for the past few years I’ve been writing fiction for (gasp) pleasure and no real thought about making money from my efforts. However, I still want validation, which requires sending out my work and dealing with rejection (and more rejection). I was just about to the point of thinking I would never get anything published when within days of each other two short stories of mine were accepted for publication. Yippy!

My first story is called “Potluck Party” and is published in issue 7 of Constellations. This is a print journal that is published out of the Boston area. My story is a little PG-rated, but it fit in well with this issue’s theme of “transgression.”


Soon after this first story was accepted,  a second story of mine called “In Search of the Yoga Master” was accepted by a literary magazine called Typehouse (volume 5, no. 1, issue 13). This story was one that I really hadn’t sent to too many publishers, so I was surprised that it was accepted relatively quickly.

In a few more days, Typehouse will be out and in my hands. I look forward to reading the other works in it as well as the issue of Constellation I recently received. And, of course, I’m still writing away. I have a few more stories in the works, one of which has been rejected by dozens of journals, but I did a major rewrite on it, so I’m feeling pretty good about it. There is also the doll doctor novel I’ve written (which I’ve mentioned in videos on Youtube as well as here on my blog before). I plan to take a carving knife to it this summer and get the word count down to something that might be more appealing to publishers. Plus, tightening up a work of writing is always a good thing to do.


January 7, 2018
by Tammy
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2018, Back to Reading for Pleasure

A love for reading was the original impetus for my writing. As a child, probably around five or six years old, I distinctly remember having a moment of clarity when I realized that people wrote all of the wonderful stories I enjoyed reading, and thus, this meant that I would also be able to write them. I was hooked!

This past year, I’ve become cognizant of  how much I miss this, reading for pleasure, just sitting myself down in a chair or on a couch and reading (a book or story of my choice) for an entire day. Instead, with the exception of an occasional short story from a literary journal here and there, I was reading students’ essays and research papers, dozens upon dozens, which meant reading a lot of writing by authors who don’t want to write, who are being forced to squeeze out words and splatter them on a page to earn some kind of reward in the form of a grade. There are some writing students who shine when they are writing, but there are many more who find it drudgery, and this is very evident. It wasn’t a pleasure for them to write it, and thus, it’s not a pleasure for me to read it.

To help redirect myself back to my love of reading, I’m going to treat reading for pleasure similar to my daily yoga routine: it maybe hard to find the time, but I’m going to do it. And, once I’ve done it, I always feel so much better afterwards.

I’m not going to be overly ambitious and have created a short stack of “to be read” books and short stories (from One Story). I have no particular order I plan to read them in. So far, I’ve started with On Writing: 10th Anniversary Edition: A Memoir of the Craft. While Stephen King doesn’t normally write work that I enjoy reading (I’m too much of a chicken), I’ve heard good reviews from writers about this book where he discusses his personal approach to writing, and there’s no denying the man can write.

So far, I’ve enjoyed the little bits of time I’ve carved out to get a page read here and there and look forward to my year of learning to love reading again.

January 4, 2018
by Tammy
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Looking Forward to Summer Caribbean Cruise

I’m planning on another Caribbean cruise this summer, and as I have in the past, I plan to do some video podcasts on the trip. While I’m not a world traveler, I have started a small collection of cruise videos on my YouTube site. If you have cruised before or are thinking about taking a cruise, head over to my Cruise Reviews & Info YouTube playlist. You’ll learn the good, the bad, and of course, the ugly about past trips I’ve been on. Stay tuned for more videos popping up this summer.

December 22, 2017
by Tammy
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Yoga Everyday, Or Just About

After getting very sick last spring, I decided that once I got over a nasty bug that did not want to go away that I would start taking better care of myself. I don’t really eat a lot of junk food, and I’ve never really liked eating much meat. My main issue with food was just eating too much. Even if the food you eat is healthy food, you can eat too much of it. However, another big issue concerning my health was my lack of activity. I was a sloth. I did almost zero exercise. I had lots and lots of reasons why this happened, but rather than talk about reasons why I didn’t exercise, this post is about why and how I started to exercise just about daily. Even if it was five minutes, my goal was to start moving, and yoga was my choice of exercise.

As a tween, then teenager, and then young adult, I was very active when it came to dance. I took ballet, jazz, and tap for many years. Mixed in here and there with dance classes was the occasional exposure to yoga, usually on PBS television. There are many similarities to dance and yoga, especially alignment and stretching.

As I got older, I would often come and go to various yoga classes, but I never had the discipline to keep at it. Then I joined Gaia online. You’ve probably seen those ads on Facebook about doing yoga at home. Well, I checked into a number of similar programs online, and I decided on Gaia because I was familiar with them (and Rodney Yee too), and the price was right (about $10 a month for unlimited access).

With the new year on the way, many of us start a new program of some kind, so full disclosure, I’m offering my affiliate link to join Gaia. From now until the end of January 2018, I’ll receive some freebies if anyone joins through me. I suggesting trying it out with the 99 cent offer for one month (which is what I did). Then you can see if it really works for you. There are thousands of videos available, and I like that you can find anything from a quick 7 minute workout to a longer and more intense hour plus workout. There are also all levels, but I have to admit, I stick mainly with the beginners to level 2-3 still. Some of my fav instructors over there are Rodney Yee, Clara Roberts-Oss, and Colleen Saidman. Another reason this program works for me is that I can use my ipad or even phone and do it anywhere in the house. With that said, my yoga mat is calling me.