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Here's How it Happened
Oooh, that would be a GREAT title for a novel. In fact, I kind of want to go change the title so I can hoard it for my next story! But, I won't.
Here is the story of my night...
The plan: write the novel.
The reality: Having just finished a chapter, I am minorly directionless on what comes next. Also known as, I gots me a case of Writer's Block.
The solution: Not a good one. I started browsing real estate listings which had been sent my way. This lead to me finding a property I'd actually looooove to buy. On the waterfront in Chase, BC. A PERFECT spot for a tiny home -- and they have kind of become an obsession of mine.
The Logical Next Step: Spend hours researching tiny home builders, and tiny home plans, then finding one which I would love with only a few minor tweaks, 'cuz it has a reasonable living space floor plan, the potential for a clawfoot tub in the window alcove in the bathroom, and a main floor bedroom/office space. Sold! All I ask is you take a foot of space away from the bathroom, move the entire kitchen down that foot, add that extra space to the living area, add a skylight in the loft, add sliding patio doors to the office, change up the colour scheme, let me choose different furnishings, change the kitchen cupboards for home-constructed cabinets built from apple boxes (I am an Okanagan girl here!), change the lighting fixture in the kitchen, shorten the window counter, change the kitchen counters to butcher block, and add a handrail to the stairs. Oh yeah, and add ceramic tile with my photos on them to the bathroom in spots I will instruct. And then, sold! Easy Peasy.
What Came Next: The realization that as perfect as the space now would be for me and Lily, there was no room for the children to visit unless they wanted to sleep on the living room floor. And that would be tight. So...
Round two: Find a smaller secondary home plan aka the guest house. And THAT lead to tonight's actual brainstorm -- I should totally open a tiny home book store!! How cool would that be??
Sooo, here's the way I see it -- one little lottery win, and my future is set. I can build a tiny home to live in and a second to turn into a tiny book store -- with tiny hours.
I mean, one of the best jobs I ever had was working in a book store, so I know the drill. I also managed a pet store, so I know that half of the drill, too. I also worked in a Starbucks, so I could also add barista skills to the drill. Also, I figure if I started this up in the small town I have in mind, I could have opening hours from noon to five, Tuesday through Saturday, could write in the morning before going into the bookstore (and at the store if it was a slow day), and could do any paperwork, orders, etc, in the evenings. My store, my rules!
I LOVE this idea. Since it pivots upon that small lottery win I glossed over ever so briefly, I may have to settle for turning it into a novel series. Either way, this idea is a winner!
And, on that note, here is a cool article on how to run a bookstore, by someone who has clearly thought it through a lot more clearly than has my Internet rabbit hole brain.
This has bookstore written all over it! Makes me wanna!