The Dragon's Lair

I've never been a New Years resolution kind of person because I'll make goals whenever I dang will please, thank you very much. (Plus I'm not a big fan of New Years). But this time I... kind of, sort of did? I guess? And that is buckling down and writing up notes and outlines for new story ideas, rather than planning them a little here and there then taking notes only when I'm ready to write.

Which, technically, is a goal I actually started last year, but it was mostly world-building I'd focused on, with only a vague synopsis of what the story is about. Thing is, story ideas have been coming to me a lot quicker an a lot more put together than they used to be. Usually it takes me about a year to fully plan a story out. But recent stories have only needed a few weeks to a few days for me to flesh them out. So I don't want to focus on just world-building with only a vague synopsis, I want to get cracking on outlines.

Because I am sick and tired of having all this time to write with not a single story ready to be written. My hope is to get quite a list of story notes and outlines so that when it's time to write something else, I'll be ready to go.

Meanwhile, on a completely unrelated note, for Christmas I got Batman: Beyond the complete series. At first I was a little worried that it might not be as good as I remembered. I was wrong. I love this show. Still good as ever. Although I gotta laugh a little that the characters use flip phones.

December is being interesting this year, it seems. For one, we're actually - finally -getting some real winter weather: cold tempreatures and even snow. But Kansas being Kansas the weather is still trying to be all over the place. It's supposed to be in the upper fifties on Sundy, but I'll believe it when I see it. Last time the weather said it was going to be in the fifties it also said it was going to be sunny. It was neither, it was freezing and cloudy and that was the day my mom had us help put tarp over the storage trailer.

But, surprisingly, I'm not complaining even though I hate the cold. We've been needing a real winter, mostly to cut down on a lot of the bugs that have been driving us nuts the past two summers. Plus it helps you appreciate warm weather more.

I also sold my first doll! But being my first sale I keep fretting over the package. Did I write the address clear enough? Should I have put more bubble wrap on the doll? That kind of thing.

Also for the first time we've have to put up a barricade around the tree to keep it safe from the dogs. Usually it's the cats that are a problem, but we have a lot of stubborn boy dogs who have been having a peeing contest with eachother. We've also resorted to putting diapers on them, that's how bad the peeing thing has gotten.

I've also opened up my Etsy store to making custom dolls, so we'll see how that goes.

It was so nice to go back into the Harry Potter world. I think my only complaint was that I wished we got to know Newt a little more, otherwise it was a wonderful movie. I'm really hoping they do more if possible.

I swear writing is, like, 10% actual writing, 10% getting it ready to be published and 80% doing what you can to advertise. The new book - previously titled All the Devils are Here, now titled Magic's Perdition - is about a week away from going live but can currently be pre-ordered on Kindle. You can read excerpts of it on my author journal, and there's even pictures. Journal is updated, websites are updated, Facebook is actually being utilized, passwords had to be changed because I forgot half of them...

Meanwhile all the art stuff I'd had planned today probably isn't going to happen. Except, maybe, some drawing if I don't get distracted by other things.

In other news, thanks to Windows updates the sound on my laptop doesn't wrok as well as it used to and I have no idea why. I hate updates so much. We also have a hawk that's been harrassing out chickens and doves, the little punk. We've also been getting an influx of squirrels due to all the bird seed and chicken feed. They're funny little guys.

Our weather has also been absolutely gorgeous, but instead of anjoying it I'm worried it's going to be another mild winter. As someone who hates the cold, a mild winter wouldn't be a big deal except it's mean a major increase in bugs, most especially flies, mosquitoes, and the kind of bugs that like to destroy garden vegetables, so we need a nice cold snap to do some population control on the insects. Still, I have been enjoying the ability to open my window.

(And I do think we're at least starting to head toward cooler weather, since it seems we're going more and more into the sixties. So I'm hoping that we will have a real winter, it'll just be a little later than usual).

We need more Westerns. Also, despite having seen the original and knowing what was coming, I still didn't see any of that coming.

Okay so I really have to question my search skills. Ever since I started making dolls I couldn't find squat in tutorials about making even stuffed animals, only to one day stumble onto a tutorial even though I wasn't actively looking for one.

The eople who make these kind of dolls are incredibly tight lipped about it. The reason being... well, I'm not sure about the reason. They say it's because of trade secrets and in order to keep themselves in business. Which, to me, doesn't make sense. For one, it isn't exactly going to cause in influx of doll makers and competition, since with these dolls it's more about sculpting and painting/decorating skills than it is about sewing, and people with poor sculpting and painting/decorating skills aren't going to sell much. For another, People in other mediums have no problem sharing their secrets on how to do things, even if those things are their livelihood. I mean, it's art, and art is always going to be diverse. Some make their dolls styalized, others realistic, others cartoony, and there's a market for each. The only real difference between these dolls is how people sculpt them, paint them, and decorate them. Other than that it all involves wire or stuffing, fake fur, and a lot of sewing.

To me it would be like someone who paints or draws saying "Sorry, no tutorials, trade secret."

Unless people are afraid someone is going to copy their doll style for style? I don't know, I just find it odd how hard it is to find anything on making stuffed animals and poseable dolls.

(Which had been a massive frustration for me where sewing was concerned. My sculpting has been improving but how I sewed the fur on hadn't improved, and I swear it was only getting worse. I finally found a video that offered a few tips on sewing and I'm going to try them out for my next doll. I don't know why giving people sewing tips is so dang hush hush ).

So after some discussion with some fellow indie writers over at SIA I actually managed to compile a longer list of title ideas for my upcoming story, and I wanted to get a little feedback.

Which title do you personally prefer for a story that's a fantasy/murder-mystery set during the 1940s?

[Poll #2053325]

I know I tend to say this about a lot of movies but... that was so much fuuuuun! I want to see it again!

So this is yet another show I got into after the fact, mostly because I didn't know what day and time it came on, and but mostly because I'm really not into watching TV as I used to be. Actually I hardly watch any TV at all these days save for a small handful of shows (which I mostly record and binge on when in the mood). But I'd been wanting to watch the Flash for some time, so I turned to Netflix.

The show is cheesy, a tad cliche, and I'm a week in and already half-way through the season and thus far I adore it to bits. It pretty much has everything I love in a show - action, adventure of the week, underdog hero, sci-fi/fantasy elements, teaminess, family, and just good-old fashion fun without tyring to be all serious and grim dark. Every single character in this show is likeable, even the ones you're not meant to like.

I also love that so far this isn't a show to brush things under the rug or prolong drama for the sake of drama. The things that don't need to remain a secret don't remain a secret for fippin' ever but neither are they tossed out there quick as possible. It's a show that acknowledges that death and the terrible things that happen to people are actually terrible things. It follows through on its consequences, and even the death of a minor character - heck, even a villain - is acknowledged as it should be acknowledged.

And the whump. My gosh, the whump! It is a thing of absolute beauty and I love the fact that they have it pretty much every episode because they can! I have never had a show that was this satisfying where the whump is concerned. I love how this show takes so much into account where The Flash's powers are concerned, how they effect him and how his physical well-being is still extremely important even though he can heal fast.

(Now watch as I finish the season and end up hating the rest of it :P Except the more I watch the better it gets so, naaah!)

(Also, what is it with guys who have the power of superspeed? The Flash, Quicksilver, them being awesome, them being whumped. They have been doing nothing but right by me :D).

My gosh it's finally done. After days of research and dithering and more research, my Etsy shop is open: The Critter Emporium.

Right now I just have the two dragons for sale although I plan on doing more than just dolls. The store is also up and running - http://storytellermelissa.wix.com/dreamscape - although I kind of feel like I made this store more to help sell my books than the dolls. But either way... I've got a business!

Now, will this business actually pan out, especially since I swear I have the worst luck when it comes to trying to have any kind of an income. Even now I'm kind of wondering if I should lower the price from $200 to $150. But the dolls are rather large, and looking at other dolls I've come across, even slightly smaller ones are priced similar or slightly more. What do you guys think? Is 200 hundred reasonable, should I go slightly lower, or should I just wait and see and lower if needed?

Also can I just say again how much I love Wix? Putting the site together may have been a pain with the way it slowed my computer down, but the end product has made me so dang happy.