View from my comfy chair at the Berwyn Shops. It’s a really gorgeous fall day, so I’m hoping we get some nice foot traffic this afternoon. In case it’s helpful to people thinking of applying to the Shops, or doing something similar where you live, I thought I’d run through some specifics.
Rent is $575 / month, the shops are open May – December, and you need to cover your shop Friday 11-6, Saturday 10-6, and Sunday 11-5. When they asked me if I was interested in doing this, I paused for a second and thought about my schedule. I’m teaching Tues / Thurs this semester, and this only runs through mid-December, so that seemed do-able.
I’ve got my space set up so I can do some crafting when it’s slow, and there’s WiFi so I can do computer work, so it seemed like I could be pretty efficient here. I didn’t really think about the fact that when I’m at home, I tend to intersperse a lot of household stuff around crafting and computer work — oops!
Also, I’ve had to ramp up production of stuff (so there’s stuff to sell in the shop), so that’s eating up most of the evenings. And there was a fair bit of set-up work too — moving in furniture, putting up wallpaper, staining wood, etc.
So Monday is my only real day off (I schedule a lot of meetings with students and staff on Wednesdays), and that is now when all the normal household stuff needs to get done. My garden is in dire need of watering, and the indoor plants are mad at me too. Let’s not discuss the laundry.
I only think wistfully about writing most days — I thought I’d be able to write in the shop when it’s slow, but I get interrupted enough that it’s hard to focus enough for writing. Maybe I could write more poetry.
I actually managed to cook a chicken curry yesterday, and that was the first time I’d cooked in a week. Kevin’s been making sure the kids get fed something nutritious; I’ve just been scrounging, and after three weeks of this, I definitely need to spend a little more time planning healthy meals, as I can feel my clothes starting to get tight. No good!
I don’t have to be here every weekend — I had one conference I knew of, and since I was swooping in late to fill a hole where somebody had left, the Berwyn Development Corporation folks gave me permission to have the shop closed that weekend (next week, when I’m at World Fantasy), but I’ve now found staffing for the weekend, so the shop will be open then, yay!
Paying for staffing is expensive, and if I did that all the time, it would eat up all my profits (such as they are), but for a weekend, it’s do-able, and I’d rather have the shop open than not. Connor (former student, now managing director at the SLF) will be covering for me on Friday and Sunday, and Kavi’s friend Tess will take Saturday — she just stopped by for an hour’s training, and I think we’re good.
I’ve got some urgent e-mail to deal with now, so I’m going to switch to that for a bit, planning to start putting up Halloween decorations in late afternoon. (We’re here ’til 5 on Sundays). If you stop by, I have supplies set up for a floral pendant-making workshop — $10 to make a pendant, about ten minutes. Fun.
I do love teaching in this space — if I ever do manage to expand to a larger space (I’m hoping to be here in 2025, but maybe 2026?), having a makerspace component would be just so, so great. It’s all a question of paying for the space, though!
