Shembre

It's been a year since I wrote my last journal, so I think it's time to put something fresh up! Pretty general update journal.


A R T: I've been a bit more of a lurker here on dA and FA. I tend to draw in spurts now, but I've been getting back into a more consistent style that I really like. I feel like I've improved a fair amount in the last year, and I'd just like to draw more to make use of what I've gained, but I definitely have trouble motivating and not feeling mildly bored. I also don't sit down and just draw for the sake of drawing. Though, I did take over the sketchbook I originally bought for my boyfriend and I doodle in there sometimes just to get my hand moving.

I have a YCH posted on FA that I need to get back to. All slots are open but I think I need to polish it up more, and I've had a couple busy past couple weeks and I haven't been able to focus on that. It's spring picnic themed if you wanna peek at it.

www.furaffinity.net/view/23031…

W R I T I N G: A couple months ago I bolted out about three short stories that I fixed up and have been sending those around. I'm hoping to get those published, and know that will take some time to get them in front of the right people. I have a couple works in progress but they're longer and giving me issues.

King's Heir is going a bit slowly. I'm having trouble getting all the way through the first third of the story, and then figuring out what I'm going to be writing about in the middle of the story. I kind of have the same thing going on with "I Would Do Anything" and so that's partially drafted and has a whole entire outline, but I lost steam on it. These are projects I intend to finish, but I think they need to molder and stew for a bit.

But basically my plan for King's Heir was that it would be read with Pound of Flesh and Just Beneath the Surface to kind of explore Kovu and how his nature is influenced by who's in charge of nurturing him and steering him down one path or another.

E T S Y/ I G: <<< I've mostly been busy with this. I hit quite a few milestones at the end of last year, and I'm very close to 400 sales right now. I've been hustling a lot, especially on IG and it's been paying off. I've found my niche, which helps. There are ups and downs, and it does take a lot of my energy, but I love working with my hands and interacting with customers.

L I F E: Doing better than I was last year, and last week I actually finally decided to get on something, so I'm on a prescription that will hopefully help with my PMS (and potential other issues?). I hope I'll get back more of my spark and I'll be able to tackle more of the things I want to more often. I also spend most of my time at my bf's place but I'm not fully moved in yet (though practically I am. )

I have been cutting out squares of fabric and I'm hoping to make myself a cute quilt, and I've been playing Rimworld and reading a lot more.

Throwing this up even though I feel like my journals don't get read anyway. Just gonna write a big update.


A  R  T:

Art got pushed to the backburner a bit this month, and I didn't really have much to share. I was extremely lucky to have some great illustration commissions, but they're unshareable for a couple reasons. I have a couple new pieces posted on FA; be aware they're NSFW. Haven't really drawn anything new in about a week. Ooops.

I've also been feeling like my art has stagnated, but at the same time I know how much I've improved this year. It's weird. But I got realllly burnt out for a while there, and I'm struggling to relearn the same joy I once had about my art pre-2014. Where I am mentally often impacts my art. I don't usually create my best when I'm feeling down. I tend to get down about the art itself, which sucks, at least lately. I also feel kinda isolated on dA, or lost. When I don't post art, I feel forgotten.

If anyone could, I'd LOVE to get a few solid, helpful critiques because I normally know how to improve, but I've gotten to a point where I'm not as sure about what to do besides just draw. So, just lots of things that feel like they're getting in the way of me creating. This includes periodic trouble with disabled pen pressure on my tablet, but that's the least of my issues, lol.

But, please hit me up for commissions. I did raise my prices a bit and included PayPal fees in the prices. I've also started using Paint Tool and LOVE IT.


W R I T I N G: I had a new short story published! thewifiles.com/?p=645 And I've also been working on putting new stuff on ff.net. I will get "I Would Do Anything" up eventually, probably sometime this year. Or at least that's what I'd like.


E T S Y: I've really been hitting my Etsy shop hard in an effort to bring in more sales. It's frustrating, though, because I don't know where to find the people outside of Etsy to bring them in, and I'm not the best at social media promotion. At all. But what I have been doing to promote on Etsy doesn't seem like it's going in the wrong direction at least. Adding new things to the shop in the next week.

www.instagram.com/frostedsoswe…
www.instagram.com/frostedsoswe…

I also started an instagram account! I will be slow to update it because I have to borrow smartphones, but I'd appreciate some follows. It will be dedicated to my jewelry. I don't have one for my art yet. I'll try to share some stuff on my Shembre facebook page about the shop updates.

I'm also helping with her book project "Mask of the Dragon." She's hoping to have it out sometime soon, but there's no set date. I think it's pretty awesome, and that not just because I'm on the editing side of things. She has some stuff for it still on her page, but she will delete it before the release.

L I F E:

I don't post a lot of this kind of stuff anywhere usually, but wanted to post something now because it's become a pervasive issue for me. I've had rough patches that cycle through about every 4 months I've noticed, and I don't know if it's related to my hormones or the seasons, but it sucks. It dulls my personality a lot and leaves me feeling dead in the water because everything I want to get done takes so much longer. Early March was very rough, BUUUUT this week is the first week I've felt at least 80% or better pretty much every day all day, so I've been trying to get as much done as I can because I feel better. It does bother me a lot that I push hard with my art and etsy shop but don't really get anywhere it feels like. Maybe in hindsight this will just be a little roadbump.

The next few months could be... interesting... financially, but hopefully not bad.

My boyfriend is also hunting for a place to live where I can also live with him, so that's wonderful. He's a tech in the same school district we attended and we have our fingers crossed that he will go full-time this summer. I know he doesn't like to get his hopes too high, but I think he has a pretty good shot. He's a better people-person than I am, and I love that. I'll update about moving stuff when it is a sure thing.

In case anyone is interested, here's a list of the short stories (and a couple articles) that I've had published on various websites! I have a new publication in the works, but I don't know when the release date will be.

Literary Publications:
"Penguin Books" airshipdaily.com/blog/07302014…
"Ray Bradbury" airshipdaily.com/blog/08222014…
"Fear and Conquering" www.wordhaus.com/2014/09/24/fe…
"Against Nightmares" cloakreview.wix.com/cloak#!clo…
"The Gossip Dog" watertowerreview.wix.com/water…
"Reward for the Wolf" www.wordhaus.com/2015/06/10/re…
"Amvience" thestoryshack.com/drama-storie…
"Corporeal Cohabitation" on TheWifiles.com -- COMING SOON   


And then here's my one random Reddit story:

www.reddit.com/r/nosleep/comme…