Nayu's News #182 Big blog news for this summer!

Good news time!

I've waited both years and months to write a post like this one. Years because what's happening has been part of my dreams for ages, in one form or another, and months because I've known about the situation for months, but didn't know specific details until last week.

I am posting this simultaneously on my writing and  review blog, Nayu's Reading Corner, and on my craft blog, Nayu's Crochet Dreams. Apologies for readers on NCD – I'd planned to post this on Sunday instead of the usual Saturday post, but I got waylaid so opted to leave it another day.

The news is rather huge. Basically due to restructuring at work the opportunity for voluntary redundancy came up. I decided to apply for several reasons, some are too personal to say & I don't talk about my job online. I'm not a spy – not that I'm admitting to it! I just like privacy ^o^

Since I started work my health has had a significant decline with both fatigue levels and my severe chronic pain. This does affect my day job when my commute each way is 40-50mins driving myself, making my day a good 7 hours. I feel with the number of changes at work, I may as well undergo them closer to home in a new job, which in the long term will make things easier for me. 

Taking care of yourself is important.

That isn't happening at first though! I leave work at the end of June this year I'm having July and August to focus on my crochet business, Nayu's Crochet Dreams! And my writing, which makes my Muse a touch more patient when I'm too tired to write. There are a lot of things I want to do for my crochet business but with my day job and the need to rest, I simply don't have the time for it, and currently refuse to give up reading & reviewing less books. I'm a bit stubborn like that! A lot of the work is behind the scenes like being on more craft forums, actively following craft blogs, reading up on book keeping and various other skills I'll need for running a business, so you won't see them.

Thanks to the portability of technology I'll be able to blog in comfort wherever I go - same goes for crochet!

There are a few changes which you will see. There will be more posts, especially for Nayu's Crochet Dreams which I'm super excited about. There will be a wider product range! Having more time to crochet is exciting – I'm looking forward to spending afternoons doing crochet and watching DVDs or listening to audiobooks, just because I can ^o^ 

I'll have lots of quality yarn time with my cat.

Naturally I am working and trying to make this business get off the ground (shop coming soon...). I've already mentioned on Nayu's Reading Corner I'm looking to become an Audible affiliate. That will still happen, but the big change for both blogs regardless of which you visit is that I will be having ads.

Now, in the past I'm been fairly against ads, as they used to be annoying, more so when they weren't for anything I wanted and stuck out like a sore thumb. However, with adsense, when I've been on blogs with adverts I'm quite happy to have lovely, squishy looking balls of yarn staring at me. I know that initially and probably for a long while very few people will click on ads to hop to their favourite website (be it full of yarn, books, dvds, clothes or other items), because there's the possibility to make a smidge of money from adverts, it's something I'm going to be doing. I'll be doing everything I can to make Nayu's Crochet Dreams shine and become popular. My long term dream has been to be able to make a living by writing and not needing an external job. Over the last few years I was thinking that might not be possible for a long time, but now I've started up my crochet shop my new dream is to make enough from my crochet and my writing to not need another job. I've needed to look at all the ways I could potentially earn money, and ads is one of them.

I expect to start having ads before July, but it really does depend when I have time to set it up. Thanks to being on Blogger I think it's relatively easy, but I know better than to think it will be a 15 minute job with technology gremlins on the prowl!

Summary of changes coming up!

So to recap I'll be devoting myself to my writing and my crochet come 1^st July! There will be ads on both Nayu's Reading Corner and Nayu'sCrochet Dreams possibly before then, definitely after. I will become an Audible affiliate, and maybe others only if I believe in the product. There will be more posts on Nayu's Crochet Dreams, and undoubtedly a few more posts on Nayu's Crochet Dreams. The rest of the action will be behind the scenes stuff which hopefully will show results in the growth of my crochet sales.

Summer 2015 is going to be a huge change for me and my blogs. I'm looking forward to sharing the highs and lows of being a full time writer and crochet artist, even if it's only for 2 months. I will miss work which I genuinely love doing. I'll be able to see my friends a bit more, and that includes my work colleagues. I'll be able to see my family a bit more too, all of which are important to me. I'm looking forward to being able to take more of life at my own pace, to not need to go out when I'm feeling peaky which as you know in winter can be an awful lot. To not be so tired and worn out at the end of each day will be bliss. Don't worry, with rest firmly in my daily schedule now I won't be tempted to overdo things (at least not often...) I feel blessed that God's lined up life like this for me, and I hope I can make all my dreams come true!

I'd love to hear your thoughts about the upcoming changes to the blogs. If you have any questions I'll do my best to answer them in 24 hours of spotting them. If there are any particular features you'd like more of, please let me know! Nayu's Reading Corner has become a success over the last 6 years because all of you view my posts. I'm hoping that Nayu'sCrochet Dreams – both the blog and soon to be open shop – will do just as well with time, dedication, and visits from you. Thank you for your continued support and encouragement ^o^ 

The future is looking bright, and I'm racing towards it!