"Get happiness out of your work or you may never know what happiness is."

SweetCrisis

Elbert Hubbard

One of the things I like to do on my writerly blog is keep a to-do list. I fell out of the habit for a while, but now I've started again, I'm going to keep one here as well. It's a great way for me to keep track of everything I'm doing in my various walks of life and (hopefully) it gives you guys an insight into what's going on, what's coming up, and why some things may be taking a back seat to others. As indicated above, I'm not just a perfumier; I'm also a starving writer and full-time PA (and a cat-servant and snake-keeper). To-do lists are pretty much essential to me if I'm going to do anything other than sleep all day.

So, without further to-do (sorry), here's this week's list.

Perfume Stuff

Finalise Halloween perfumes - done! And they're available for sale too!

Finalise Autumn/Winter solid perfumes - the scents are ready; I just need to make some up and take photos. Hoping to get that done this week. I was aiming to have them in stock in September, but between family weddings, book edits, and perfume orders, I just ran out of time!

Brainstorm essential oils-only line - this is on the back-burner as I'm not planning to launch the line until 2014. But then again, 2014 isn't that far away anymore...

Brainstorm Spring/Summer solid perfumes - already started. It's not as fun as brainstorming the Autumn/Winter range was yet, but that's probably because Spring feels so far away right now.

Make-over packaging - I've sent some new sample-sized vials to willing guinea pigs to make sure they travel well/don't leak/don't smash in transit. If the feedback is good, I'll be switching from wandcaps to roll-on sample vials this month. The next thing I want to do is get 10ml rollette bottles in stock, hopefully before Christmas.

Christmas scents - now that the Halloween scents are out, it's time to start thinking about the next seasonal batch. I'm doing a ton of research into Christmas and solstice traditions from around the world and throughout history to find some really unique twists on the theme. Stay tuned!

Other Stuff

Last weekend I signed up for a distance-learning aromatherapy course. It's one of those "go at your

Praisaeng

own pace" things, which is great in light of everything else I have to do! I'm really excited about starting and getting some formal training in a subject I've been fascinated by for such a long time. I'm also keen to see how it informs my perfume-making adventures in the future. It may also pave the way for an escape from the Dreaded Day Job *crosses crossables*

So that's the state of things right now. I am planning to send out a newsletter shortly and will aim to make those a quarterly event. If you haven't signed up, you can do so here for news, events, and cute baby animal pictures!