Mel Thorn's Blog, page 3

Tale of an Amateur Guitarist: My First Electric (and How it Came Into My Possession)

Over many years, I’ve wanted to learn how to play the guitar, but my intrigue was heightened in recent months when my brother-in-law told me about this little thing called “Rocksmith.” The way he described it made it sound like it was Guitar Hero… that actually taught you how to play a real instrument, rather than a piece of plastic. Perfect, I thought. I love music. I love games. I want to learn how to play a new instrument. I want to learn how to play a new game. The protagonist in my current novel is a guitarist– his guitar is one of his few passions in life, other than the person he eventually falls in love with. Writing that character really made me want to give it a shot myself. What was holding me back was the fact that I didn’t own a guitar.

“So get one,” I told myself. “Uh, after you make more money first,” I replied. Yeah, believe it or not, a guitar costs money. Sometimes, a lot of it. I was set on getting an Ibanez for my first guitar, as I’ve heard many good things about that brand, and I’ve also heard that some models make great beginner guitars that will last you through intermediate playing over the years. So I went on Craigslist and looked for one in the area, one that I could pick up.

Two of the first guitars I checked out happened to be sold already, and the seller left the ads up on the site. Already feeling a tad dismayed, I started looking for another. I found an Ibanez GIO GRX40 for seventy-five bucks (if you’re not familiar with guitar pricing, that is a steal). It’s in beautiful condition, looks almost brand new, and it’s fully functional. The guitar itself seems to have no problems (so far). Buying the guitar, however, is a story to remember.

First off, the seller was a pawn shop twenty minutes away from us. I don’t have anything against pawn shops per se, but the one I purchased my first guitar at happened to be one hell of an interesting place right from the get go, and not necessarily in a positive way. As soon as me and my husband arrived and pulled into the parking area behind the shop, we saw a young man standing outside talking on the phone, in an elevated voice. Not quite yet screaming, mind you, but whatever conversation he happened to be having was clearly a stressful one. Already a little wary, me and my husband stepped out of the car and headed for the entrance. The man speaking in a raised voice was now quite literally screaming at the top of his lungs. The subject matter was questionable, but it revolved around something to do with the person on the receiving end “knowing a bunch of lazy kids” and he wasn’t sure what to say or do about it (other than yell– really, really loud).

My husband and I passed each other disturbed glances, as even as we passed by the fellow, he continued to holler into his cell phone, even after meeting our gaze. Come to find out, I spoke to this gentleman on the phone no more than thirty minutes beforehand, the very one I asked if the guitar was still available in their shop. As I’ve said earlier, I was set on buying this guitar because it was exceptionally cheap for what it was. The guitar is damn fine, sounds great, and even getting it at a hundred would have been practically snatching it.

Gio GRX40 on Ultimate Guitar

What my new baby looks like

So, going into the pawn shop, I already knew I wanted to purchase the thing. I know how pawn shops work. You walk into one, and any broker within immediately lights up with joy and treats you like you’re their favorite customer, despite whether or not they know you. This shop was no different. However, at this particular store, the air was badly stirred because of Sir Screams-a-Lot, and when he reentered the store after his lengthy throat-busting contest, the other men dwelling inside had the sense to talk him down while in my presence and keep him from panting. “How can I help ya?” asked one of them, diverting my attention from the dramatic episode that had unfolded before me.

“I was interested in purchasing your GIO Ibanez that was up on Craigslist.”

He proceeded to ask me which one I was talking about, referring to the color schemes of the various guitars on the wall. I told him it was the one in red and white. The funny thing is, I had this exact same exchange with the young man that was yelling earlier. I had called the shop prior to visiting to ensure the thing was still available, and when I asked if it was, there was a long pause before he asked me: “What color is it?” I took this for what it was; that maybe they didn’t know a lot about guitars. They don’t need to, really. I’m the one buying, and I know I’m getting it for a very good price. In the shop, they also had a B.C. Rich Warlock, a Reynolds, and a couple other Ibanezs. They were cheap, but over my budget. The guitar I did end up with is perfect, anyhow, especially for the price. As for how I knew it was McScreamy I was speaking to on the phone beforehand, he confirmed it when I mentioned the GIO. “Oh, you called earlier!” His mood was lighter by this point, which I was really, really thankful for. Actually, he was quite nice to me. Very polite man. People are interesting.

When I told the man dealing with me the color of the specific guitar, he suddenly became an expert on it. “Ooooh! Special Edition.” Then he fans me a “are you impressed with me?” look. I made no remark, though I was amused. He takes it down for me to check out, which I do. I notice right away that all of the strings are loosened. He explains this to me before I can question it. “I loosened the strings because sometimes guys will come into the shop, ask to see a guitar, play on it for thirty minutes, then leave without buying anything.” I told him that they might have been trying to “relive the glory days” and play in front of a free audience. He laughed and said “maybe they should buy it and relive them at home.” I was inclined to agree.

The guitar didn’t come with a strap, but it did include a free case, which was a nice touch. I ask him if I can plug it into an amp to test the sound of the strings. He allows me to do so. After tightening them up, I give them a strum to see if they aren’t faulty. Hearing no problems, I told him everything sounds good and I’m ready to buy. He tries to sell me an amp, but I’m going to have Rocksmith soon, so I don’t need one.

In the background as I’m doing all of this, the other men are still chatting with their buddy, telling him “they can see the vein in his forehead popping out,” and mentioning that his family always gives him problems. I have to admit, I was at the point where I also wanted to ask the young man if he was all right. While deciding ultimately on purchasing it, he told me that when I “make it big” to remember the little guys that sold me my first guitar. I assured him that I would never forget this encounter.

As my skill progresses, I’ll be keeping a journal here on my site on how I’m doing. I’ve already gotten past step one: buying the guitar. Now it’s time to order Rocksmith, a strap, and some new picks, and really learn what makes rock music so incredibly great.

The guitar in action (note: this is not me playing. Yet!)

When Art Isn’t Fun Anymore… and What to do to Fix It

For a long time, drawing hasn’t been fun for me. While I can draw, and if I work really hard at it, I can do it well, I’ve been lacking the motivation and desire to do it for some time now. For some reason, drawing and painting are the only areas where I feel this tremendous hopelessness. Challenges in writing don’t stop me from writing. Challenges in games don’t stop me from trying again and again until I get it right. Challenges in life are things I shake my fist at and try something new. I love to learn new skills and teach myself new things. Art in particular has been nothing more than a tedious affair for years, something I do only because I know I can, and thus, do it in cases when I have to, rather when I want to, such as for book covers. It isn’t laziness, nor is it because I don’t like challenges. It’s become work, and nothing more.

A lot of things can cause this to happen. I tend to start projects only with the intent to finish them by the end of the day. If I think an art project will take me several days, I’m fed up already, as I’ve already got five different types of things I’m juggling at all times. Writing is work, but it’s still fun for me to tell a story and do so with good grammar, and books can take up to a year and a half for me to complete. Editing is fun for me, too, always has been. With drawing and painting, it’s a gigantic chore, even when I’m drawing something I like, and I think this is because I strain myself way too hard when I’m not feeling in the mood because I need to get “work” done. Cover artwork is “work” that supports the novel beyond it. As you can imagine, getting bored with drawing my covers can cause problems as an author. If the cover looks terrible, a lot of people are going to judge it.

Obviously, this is something that bothers me, because as a child, I once adored drawing, and had fun, no matter what I drew. I would draw entire comics and color them, filling entire sketchbooks with panels and artwork. I also used to have a more fun “cartoony” style than I do now. More often than not I think to myself that I want to go back to a cartoony style, but then I think how much I prefer my art to look “realistic,” and thus, I never know how to draw my pictures, and they turn into some odd combination of both, and sloppy. I’ve stopped thinking about what’s fun in art and more about what I’ve convinced myself is “acceptable.” I’ve hit sort of a wall in terms of how art feels to me. I “like” to draw, but I don’t want to draw. It feels, shamefully, like a waste of time and energy now.

So, I’ve begun to feel like I should “start over,” re-inspire myself, maybe find a particular model I’d like to draw a portrait of, or start practicing my figure drawing. There are lots of great things out there I could draw, and the idea of doing it again is exciting, even though it bores me now. To get back in the habit of it would be difficult, though. Growing up, I drew every single day and got better over time. Now I draw maybe once every couple of months, or less. The mood doesn’t strike me as much as it once did. It helped when I was still in school, since I would draw in class and would get my necessary daily sketching done. I have to admit that I was a better artist back when I had a passion for it. Even when having a better idea of how to interpret anatomy and shading now, my art had life back when I was in high school. It had a soul. You could tell I cared about every little thing I drew. It saddens me to look at them now, remembering where I was and how much I enjoyed it when drawing it.

Now that I’ve addressed the issue, I’m leaving a bit of advice and vow to myself.

I think going back to the basics of art will make it fun again. As experienced as I am, I never stop learning, and learning should be fun. The problem now, though, is finding time to draw in between working on novels and chainmaille. I really should be making time for it, but my novels are my priority. If there is something to “work” on, it needs to be the current draft of one of my books. I care a lot about my stories and want to perfect them to the point of near-exhaustion. I want to feel that way about art again.

I’ve mentioned to my husband that I wanted to draw portraits of people again. Here’s hoping my model jumps out at me soon and inspires me to get back to it! I want to draw because I want to again.

The Perfect “Poor Man’s” Standing and Treadmill Desk

For those who don’t know, I do a lot of writing, and a lot of crafting. It’s my job, essentially. Up until now, I’ve been sitting while working. Unfortunately, I learned that the more I sit, the more years I’m shaving off of my lifespan, which, unlike this new desk, is the complete opposite of “cool.” Fretting, like the anxious person I am, I became determined to try one of these newfangled “standing desks” that have swept… well crept… onto the market. The first thing I noticed was that a few slabs of wood elevated off of the ground with no chair costs twice as much as a normal cheap flat desk does. Why? Beats me. Maybe because they only want rich people to exercise so we can differentiate between rich and poor at first glance (because we need more ways to do that, right?).

Not fitting into the “I’ve got tons of money to blow on wood and steel legs” category, and really adoring DIY projects, I looked into other options. As it turns out, there are much, much cheaper alternatives, and in my opinion, way cooler ones. So before you dump about three hundred bucks on a standing desk, check out what I did:

Hey, you can see my house from there!

Corny jokes aside, so far, this has been a bangin’ awesome setup, and it only cost me sixty bucks, as opposed to the usual hundreds that actual standing desks go for. Not only is this sucker incredibly sturdy (it can withstand about 1000 lb. load), I think it looks a lot cooler in silver wires than it does in traditional desk form. It’s twice the size of my old desk, and I have a lot more room to move about. The only drawback is that my feet are really tired. I did not get a comfort mat for this because I plan to get a treadmill for it! A treadmill that, at most, will cost me about two hundred dollars. A traditional treadmill desk that you can buy from the market ranges in the thousands. So, two hundred and sixty bucks for a treadmill desk is… pretty damn sweet for those of us who want to have the healthy option, and don’t have a Swiss bank account or rich mommies and daddies.

So, what is it exactly, and where can I get one to turn into my own standing desk?

Good question!

I bought this bad boy from Wal-Mart. It’s simply just a 5-tier wire storage shelf. The shelves are adjustable, so you can move them to the level of your eyes and hands, and once connected, they feel pretty damn firm. I found it in the home section, in the shelving isle. If your Wal-Mart store doesn’t carry them (or you have no idea WTF Wal-Mart is), there are other stores that do. I saw one at OfficeMax that looked identical to the one I’m using. Definitely look into getting one that’s especially sturdy, that can hold lots of weight, especially if you have more stuff. I don’t really have a lot.

As far as the treadmill goes, I’m going to post updates on that as it occurs. I am definitely planning to purchase one, since I heard that moving is better than just standing there. And I get to lose weight in the process!

So, if you’ve been wanting to check out a standing desk, and/or treadmill desk, this might be the option for you.

Two New Chainmaille Items/Weekend Book Sale

Two new chainmaille bracelets have been released in my store:

Caged Beads Captive Inverted Round Maille – At Etsy

DNA Helix Spiral – At Etsy

Kindle book sale for For the Sake of Happiness began today and lasts until Monday.

Promotional Weekend Book Sale – Starts This Friday!

Starting on Friday, the eleventh at 7 am PST, the Kindle version of For the Sake of Happiness (US only) will be on sale until Monday at eleven pm. The starting discount will be at $0.99 (88% discount), and will go up to $3.99. After Monday, it will reset at the regular price of $7.99.

In addition, I’ve completed some new chainmaille which I aim to take photos of later this afternoon.

Just Married – Chainmaille Shop Re-opened!

I finally took the time necessary to get my business information sorted out. There are still more things that need to be done, more supplies to order, but in the meantime, my bracelets are back up for sale!

Check out my shop at: https://www.etsy.com/shop/thornmaille

As it says in the title, I just got married on the seventh. Naturally, I’ve been busy as hell with that, but now that things have settled down, I can get back to work. I’ve been actively writing, mostly working on the series I’d like to release, and plan to craft wedding rings for me and my mate :D

Also in celebration of my marriage, I plan to soon do a promotion for my book. What kind of promotion? That depends on what I can afford at the time. It will likely be a promo for the Kindle edition, and I hope to do it within the next week. Stay tuned!

I’ve made another Captive Inverted Round Maille bracelet recently which I plan to post for sale. More news on that as it occurs.

I’ve had a growing interest in sculpting. I’d love to learn how to sculpt statues. Depending on my income, that will be the next thing I learn how to do.

Everything I Learned About Business, I Learned From Online Gaming

Most people who don’t game aren’t familiar with the way online games operate. They know people play it for fun, perhaps take it a bit too seriously, and possibly even consider us a bunch of loser nerds, but what they probably don’t know is that sometimes, in the world of gaming, many aspects of it are similar to real life. You just look cooler and have more adventures.

One example of that similarity is the game’s economy, and just how important it is to have a business sense in both the real world and the gaming world.

In most online games, if not all, there exists an “auction house” or “bazaar” where players post items to sell for virtual currency. Just like in reality, this currency buys you things you probably need to make your character efficient. Without these things, you can’t really do much. Think of it sort of like buying groceries, clothes, and tools. You can’t function without those things (well, you’re not supposed to anyway).

So what, exactly, could a pile of virtual currency have in common with real dollars? Well, let’s take a look.

1. You need to work hard for your money

While this rule obviously doesn’t apply to everyone in the real world, it does to most of us. Collecting this virtual currency requires you to, more often than not, break your back to farm goods, such as crafting materials, to make ends meet. In fact, I’ve found that at times, I’ve worked just as hard in a game to collect these materials as I do to make real money in real life. Just like in reality, you don’t earn gold by sitting on your ass (despite needing to sit down in order to play). You have to work for it. The process can be time-consuming and requires patience.

2. There’s always competition

This applies more to people like me who own their own business. You learn, firsthand, that you’re not the only one doing your job. There are hundreds, and in some cases, thousands of others performing the same craft as you. In gaming, someone may have just posted hundreds of crafting materials of the same type you just spent hours farming, meaning that the chance of you selling your items decreases. Most of the time, you have to advertise, to let people know you’re selling yours, maybe even at a discounted price just to get them sold.

3. Undercutting hurts you, and the entire economy

I can’t stress enough how important this is, not just in games, but in real life (especially online businesses like Etsy), because it means just as much in both worlds. Let’s say you have some stock, some inventory, that you desperately need to be rid of. You want it off your hands, and don’t care about its worth. You have a ton of it available, and none of it means anything to you. Perhaps you need some quick cash to save up for that… bike, or whatever. You post your items, and when doing so, you cut the average price in half, or even more. It’s pretty common knowledge that doing this hurts you, but try explaining that to someone who has no patience, or even worse, doesn’t know how much they are worth. By practically handing your items over for free, you not only eliminate the chance of earning good money for your product, but you tank the market, and force other sellers to drop their average price, making them less money, and making their undercutters less money, and so on and so on until someone decides to bring the market back to normal (and in many cases, that never happens. It stays ruined forever). Know what you’re worth. Know what your items are worth. Nothing is free, not in the gaming world, or in the real world. Chances are high that you spent time to make those items, and time is money (friend), no matter how desperately you need that bike. Sure, you might sell it faster, but you might not, and either way, you just ruined an economy for nothing but your own unwillingness to wait. Have patience, and do some research.

4. You need to do some bookkeeping

Believe it or not, not everything sells, regardless of how cool it looks or how useful it is. Sometimes it could take you months. Most of the time, if not all, that item took a lot of materials and a lot of time to craft. This forces you to consider your expenses. Whatever materials you used to craft that item, they cost you, whether its costing your time or money (and yes, they are both COSTS. Again, nothing is free). You need to always keep track of your expenses, and whether or not you obtained a profit from those expenses. If you only acquire a loss, then you need to keep that in mind for the next thing you sell. You also need to keep trying to sell the old item (while retaining its original price– seriously, don’t undercut, ever). While it may take a while, someone out there will eventually need it. Everything costs something, and you need to keep track of it.

5. There Are Fees

Yes, there are fees in games with virtual currency. You pay fees. To be honest, I admit this is actually ridiculous. In the real world, the fees go to a person charging that fee. In games, the fee doesn’t go to anybody– it’s just a deduction of your gold (or platinum, or whatever) meant to balance the economy. Regardless, just like in the real world, you have to pay them. There are fees for all sorts of things: sending mail, posting auctions, buying materials, you name it. Consider them sort of like game taxes. Selling something via auction takes out a percentage of your currency– it keeps that percentage. You have to consider this percentage each time you post something. Sometimes, you have to post it a few silver or gold over your original price to make up for the extraction. It works sort of the same way with selling something online, sometimes with listing fees and shipping costs.

6. There are scam and rip-off artists

Yes, even in a virtual world, people are looking for a “break” from having to do any actual work. This is why bots exist (an automatic program that does work for you without you having to play). There are people who steal accounts from others to take their gold and items. There are people who promise you items and don’t follow through. There are people who take things for themselves unfairly. Just like in real life, people will try to scam you. It’s just as transparent in the gaming world as it is in real life, but what can really annoy you about them is how badly they can ruin the economy, and how quickly. As you can imagine, someone who is using a bot can “farm” materials more efficiently than someone who isn’t cheating at the game. They can post twice as many auctions, a lot of the time, undercutting prices severely. You might see this sort of thing on Ebay once in a while, where things are priced much cheaper than they should be. It can also happen the other way around– someone posting an item for much higher than it’s actually worth, attempting to fool people who don’t know any better. It’s a lot like seeing a silver-plated bracelet that is priced about the same as a bracelet made from pure Sterling. You have to know when people are trying to rip you off, whether you’re buying materials, or buying items. Always do research before buying something. You might be able to get it from a vendor for half the price someone is trying to scam you for.

7. The rarer the materials (or items), the higher the price

Just like in reality, some items, or materials, are rarer than others, and you’d better believe that the richer folk are willing to drop tons of money on that. However, the time has to be right, and the customer does, too. It becomes especially imperative with rare materials to never undercut them. It’s inevitable that someone is going to drop the price way too low, but because it costs you so much to get it, whether it’s time or materials, reselling something you make out of those materials is important, and you have to know how to price it. In the gaming world, it could cost you hundreds of gold (or whatever the currency is in your particular game) to buy rare materials. If you make something out of those rare, precious materials and plan to sell it, you have to price it higher than what it cost you, always, or obviously, you lose a ton of money.

8. Sell enough of something, and you will have customers coming back

If your prices are good, and your items are good, people will continue to buy from you, especially if you’re pleasant to deal with. Always remember to treat your customers with respect– they’re the ones making you money.

9. You need to have fun doing what you do

Chances are, if you don’t like to work, you aren’t going to (in a gaming world, that’s an option, unlike reality). Some people are, for lack of a better word, “lazy”. It’s difficult to explain to everyone who asks me how I can keep doing the same things over and over, but I can do it best in this way: the repetition is comforting, and making new things is fun. I like to go on endless searches for materials to craft new things. I like to put stuff together. I like to work with my hands, to create, to work. If it’s not any fun, you’re likely to abandon it before getting very far with it. Sometimes it can be frustrating if you can’t get things just right. Sometimes you’ll be angered that someone else is ruining your shop by lowering their prices too far. Sometimes you won’t sell something for a while. But I honestly could never give up what I do. It’s fun, and it passes the time. I always play music, or listen to something amusing, or watch a film while working, in both worlds. It’s best, when running a business, to take it seriously, but it’s also important to relax.

10. Your friends will always support you

Assuming you have more friends than I do, and you probably do, you will have plenty of people there to help you if you get stuck. If I needed materials and didn’t have the money for them, someone was kind enough to give me or buy me some. Someone was there to influence me and encourage me to continue. In return, I provide them as much information as I can about how I do things, and how successful I am, as well as craft them gifts or loan them gold. Nothing beats a supportive group of people.

I’m absolutely a nerd for getting so involved in intricate things like this in games, but it taught me a lot about business before I opened my own one in the real world. Online games have been training wheels for me to be an entrepreneur, and continue to be, even to this day.

For the Sake of Happiness: Kindle Edition Now Available

The Kindle edition of my novel has been released. It’s enrolled in both KDP Select and in the Kindle Matchbook program.

Get it here for $7.99

If you order a print copy, the Kindle copy is only $2.99.

Using Writing to Aid Depression

I’ve been writing for a very long time– pretty much as soon as I was capable of stringing a sentence together. I would write when I was happy, and excitable, but I’d also write when I suffered from depression.

I’ve mentioned this to many people who already enjoy writing, but writing when depressed is an incredible therapeutic tool. In my case, my characters end up being projections of deep-seated feelings of resentment. It’s easy to use characters to channel your sadness and rage onto, much easier than it is real people (not that we’d ever want to do that to real people!). Fiction has its way of telling you how you feel without you even knowing it.

By default, many of my characters suffer from depression, whether it be derived from a tragic past, or they simply cannot function correctly in the world, usually due to social awkwardness. It’s identifiable to me. What’s important is how that character reacts and communicates with your other ones. I sometimes have other characters with sunny, upbeat personalities to contrast the weary hearts of my depressed ones. They’re usually the shoulder to lean and cry on, a true friend that is there to comfort the one in need of guidance. It can leave a person suffering from depression feeling a bit more hopeful; that times don’t always have to be dark.

The circumstances you write your characters in can also be very telling of your mood and state of mind. In my case, I’ve subconsciously recreated real life occurrences in my fiction writing to have more of a sense of control over them, and to discover how differently things might have turned out if the opposite had happened. Your characters’ awareness can be quite stunning! They have a way of comforting you when you need someone to talk to (when you don’t necessarily want to talk to anyone real) by revealing that it’s okay to feel a certain way about something. It can be relieving when you see “everything turns out okay” for the characters you invest time in that also suffer too much and too long. Assuming you want everything to turn out okay for them. Sometimes it’s better the other way around ;)

Many times in my writing, I create an instance where one character hurts another in some way, whether it be emotionally or physically. That moment of reconciliation is imperative to improving my mood. Redemption for doing wrong is a powerful message, and can melt away feelings of guilt you may possess. When one of your characters forgives another, it’s a lot like forgiving yourself. At times, my characters truly surprise me with how they react to certain situations. One that seemed humble and forgiving could suddenly snap at something small and unimportant, something that triggers inner frustration. It’s then up to my other characters to calm them down, or give them a big dose of reality. Again, when that moment comes, it’s like taking a painkiller. That hot-headed teenager that blew up and yelled at someone he loved and held dear will probably hate himself for doing it, and will seek forgiveness. He will try all he can to make things right again, and when he does, despite of how he manages to, it feels good to see your other characters take him in once more. They don’t only forgive him, but you.

Unfortunately, this obviously means that there are times when I write tragedy. Sometimes, I don’t want to be happy. I don’t want everything to work out. Sometimes, I look at a situation, however fictional, and say to myself “that doesn’t happen in the real world.” This is much less “depression” and more “fury”. This is when I end up writing characters with horrible personalities, vicious, cruel ones that hurt my other creations, despite how much I love and cherish them, and they do so in the worst ways possible. I can admit that in times of anger and frustration, it’s exciting and again, therapeutic, to take rage out on someone who isn’t real. All the same, though, my characters are still a part of me. I don’t like seeing them hurt, especially when I’ve grown very fond and attached to them, as I would real people. That’s usually when I write in someone who is a guardian or protector to avenge the abused. Just as it had been therapeutic to hurt someone who doesn’t deserve it, it feels ten times better to hurt someone who does. Things come full circle. That innocent person who was being taken advantage of doesn’t have to look at the world like everyone in it is fucked up. Someone cares about him. Someone loves him. Someone would die to protect him.

I’ve created, essentially, my own universe where all of my characters co-exist. Some of them are happy. Some of them are miserable. Some of them pretend to be happy while they remain miserable. Whoever they are, and whatever they become, they’re in a world all their own. When I’m feeling my worst, I think of them, whether they’re sharing my depression or not, and either way, it makes me feel better. Whether I’m picturing two of them in a happy, harmonious relationship, sharing romantic moments with one another, or they can’t stand each other and they’re trying to come up with a resolution, they all have the same effect on me when I’m depressed. Being able to look at them as more than characters, but as family, as close friends, writing them becomes much more important.

I can’t imagine what I’d be like without all of them.

New Chainmaille Bracelet Available!

Just released a new chainmaille bracelet today in the Etsy shop: a round maille weave in black and blue. I know. I already made one in black and blue, but they look so damn good together!

You can order it on Etsy here: https://www.etsy.com/listing/177923907/round-maille-black-and-blue-anodized.

As of right now, it’s up for $22.95, and only ships in the US.

I’ve been really looking forward to making more, and not just in black and blue, and I love to keep myself busy. When I’m not writing, I’m working on a bracelet, and it’s so much fun! No matter what weave I’m working on, I get really lost in it, and it passes the time extremely well. I would recommend crafting to anyone looking to hone a new skill! It feels awesome!

-Thorn out!