tiffanyshearn

Faire Booth Preparations

I mentioned recently that my application for a booth at the local Renaissance Faire was approved. This weekend, I planned to go shopping for additional items for an outdoor booth dressed in the necessary theme. I hoped to have ninety percent of the materials and do a test run in the backyard. I would take some pictures of how amazing it looked and share them with you to bask in the glory of my creative use of limited funds.

As you can imagine, little of my shopping today went according to plan. The canopies we have are too big—my booth space is only 5×5—and none of the stores we stopped at had any options smaller than 8×8 or a 7.5-foot circle. Looking for decoration accents was also a bust. The craft stores were too DIY for my skill/time, while Party City’s merchandise was too modern.

Fortunately, our most important stop of the day paid off and made the shopping headache worth it. Looking into suggestions for decorating a Ren Faire booth, there were many recommendations to use old sheets to wrap modern supports to make them look more like a medieval cloth tent.

We went to Goodwill to search the linens, picking up a number of sheets to cover the tent, table, and chairs. I plan to use our twine to tie it all to the supports for that billowy tent feel. On a pass through the decorations, we also found another picture stand and a wood box to replace some of the more modern items we used at my first book signing in February.

This was the table at my first signing. I will use most of this again in August.

The rest will need to wait for delivery, as it had to be ordered online instead. I should have most of it before the end of the month to do a trial run. In addition to the tent, I ordered more sealing wax for more wax seals, some cute butterfly hair clips for potential giveaways with books, and some bookmark charms shaped like swords and other old weapons. Along with the advertising flag I ordered, I think my booth is going to look marvelous, and most of the supplies can be used again in the future!

Books at the Faire

I have seen a lot of advice on how many books to bring to events like this, and it still feels like I am stumbling in the dark. Some say 20 per 1,000 attendees at the event (I’m not sure if this is for each book or total), which would mean about 600 for this event for me. Another person recommended 50-100 of each book for a two-day event, depending on size. This would put me at about 400 books for this two-weekend event. I have decided to order 250 more of my first book, which will give me around 280 available. I’m debating between 150-200 of the second book, which I hope will arrive before the first weekend. The books will not go bad, so hopefully, my guesses will not be a massive overspend.

As for my second book, it has been with the editor for a couple of weeks now. This one is about 30k words longer than the first, so it is taking a bit more time. She expects to have it back to me by next weekend. Over this next week, I want to finalize the cover, frontmatter, and backmatter so it is all ready to upload to quickly order a proof copy. If that first proof looks good, then I will have about six weeks for a large order to be printed and shipped in advance of the event.

This also means the book is likely to be released ahead of schedule! I need the paperback to be live to order author copies on KDP (yes, I know there are other options). Sign up to follow my blog here or for my newsletter on the homepage to hear when Hidden Sanctuary officially goes live.

As a final note today, thank you to all the new readers leaving reviews for Hidden Memory. I am now up to 16 ratings/reviews! Reviews are amazingly important to new authors, and I appreciate all of you for taking the time.

Have another great weekend!

Of the Realms – Orientation

Elaria is a realm where the current inhabitants are not all native in origin. Throughout the Hidden Series, I make references to other realms and the races coming to Elaria from them. For the story in this series, the specifics of how the realms interact are not critical. It is enough to know humans, dwarves, and magai are immigrants.

However, I have been asked about the realms by readers. I could add more explanation into the books, but it adds little to the story, slows down the pacing, and can start to feel like a lecture. Instead, I have decided to lecture here and offer these “realms” posts as bonus insight for my readers who check out my website. Details on specific realms will come later. Today, we will look at the general structure and interaction of the realms.

Orientation

So, what are the realms?

The realms exist upon another dimension. I’m not referring to the “everything that can happen, does happen” type of multiple dimensions, but about X/Y/Z dimensions.

3D, Time, and the theoretical “mystical power” dimensions.

Back and forward. Right and left. Up and down. These are the physical dimensions in which we exist as we pass along the time dimension. I am not a theoretical physicist, so this is where I will depart any proven/measurable science to delve into the world of fantasy.

The various realms exist along a spectrum of mystical power and governing forces with diverse expressions.

Aryanna (Earth), Elaria, and Scorcellen as they currently sit on the dimensional line.

Our realm exists toward the physical end of the spectrum. Toward this end, science and the laws of physics hold sway. One plus one will equal two. Actions and reactions, from a physics perspective, will be calculable. The further this direction a realm goes, the further it departs from magic and mysticism and becomes more structured and standard.

Moving in the other direction along the spectrum is where things become more chaotic and fascinating. Magic and other arcane forces change how the people of a realm interact with the world around them.

In Elaria, the world and its creatures exist connected to the people evolving there. The natural world strives for balance, and it exerts influence on and through those people. While there is power beyond the physical, most life conforms.

Further down the line, Scorcellen sits seeped in magical energy at the edge of what the magai call the boundary between high and low magic. Our world is on the low magic side. On the high magic side? Wonders. All you can imagine, glorious and terrible, can exist in those realms.
Fae, dragons, and even god-like beings dominate independent high-magic realms.

Perhaps they have visited. Maybe it is only stories of their existence that have passed down through the realms. They exist out in the far reaches of the power spectrum, spinning and ever-changing.

“But how do they all interact and fit together?” you ask.

Such interaction is a topic I will touch on further in the upcoming “realms” blog installment. Until then, have fun imagining a realm of your own making.

Bionic Font

I see this new Bionic Reading font popping up on my social media accounts lately. It is the one that bolds portions of many words in a way intended to help guide the reader’s brain through the text and provide a means of faster, in-depth reading comprehension.

“What do we want? With Bionic Reading, we aim to promote reading and comprehension of textual content in a hectic and noisy world.”
bionic-reading.com

This article on uxdesign takes a look at it and the recent reaction on Twitter. It also has a couple of comparisons between “regular” font and the bionic reading conversion.

I like the text and think it speeds up my ability to read and retain the information I have read. Reading is one of my main hobbies, and I read a lot. Not the 100+ books a year I have seen some folks claim, but I think my annual book count is up there. This means I can already read relatively quickly with comprehension. It felt like the font smoothed this out for me, as though it built a road between reading and processing.

With that said, I would be hesitant to jump into an entire book in this font just yet. If I read for an hour, does it tire my eyes faster? Would it give me headaches? Would that road it creates decrease eye/brain strain over time? I do not know and have not taken the time to test this myself, but I am intrigued.

Check out the links and share your thoughts. Do you like it? What would you think about this font in your next eBook?

Being Unhappy

It has been a rough week emotionally. No, nothing really bad happened. Yes, some good things also happened. Yes, I’m fine. Sometimes, the bad worms deeper, and this is where my head is right now.

Work

I am not naturally confident about myself, but I have always stood by my work. Unfortunately, because I am more comfortable with my professional work, I also tend to place a great deal of my self-worth into that area of my life. When work is not coming up roses, it tends to shake the foundation of my confidence.

Lately, the day job has been a bit meh. There are some improvements in work I’m pretty excited about, and I get energized thinking about the opportunities. However, I also feel like a storm is hovering at the edges. We are not aligned, I do not feel heard, and the threat of “return to the office” remains. (Many of my fellow introverts can sympathize with the last sentiment.)

I’m trying. The leaders are trying. The puzzle pieces are not yet clicking into place. There have been a lot of organizational upheavals recently, and finding how everyone fits takes time. Part of me wonders if I will fit in the box they want for me. After seventeen years, I’m no longer interested in pretending to be something I’m not to fit someone else’s box.

I know my lines. I need to stop worrying about other people, but that is easier said than done.

Home

Again, no big event happened here to drive me into a lather, but my stability came crashing down this morning. All of those little things that seem inconsequential one at a time reached a tipping point when combined with the work uncertainty.

Bottom line? I’m feeling unappreciated. It feels stupid to write it, but there you go. I take care of all these little things that need to happen but are nothing groundbreaking. Day in and day out, and it is expected, receiving little to no thanks or acknowledgment. Usually, it doesn’t matter, I even enjoy doing the little things. Then, a threshold trips, and it matters a great deal.

I’m a big proponent of counselors and mental health check-ups, so maybe it is time for another chat. Being unhappy is nothing to be ashamed of, but it can be a symptom of something deeper. For today, I’m going to do some thought exercises that have helped me in the past and find my happy place.

Take care of yourselves!

Hidden Sanctuary Cover Reveal!

The time you have all been waiting for has arrived! Okay, maybe it is just me, but I’m going to share it and pretend everyone else has been biting their nails in anticipation. If you can’t wait even a moment longer, you can scroll down to see the new cover, but I first wanted to share some exciting news.

WA Renaissance Faire

The organizers have accepted my application for a booth at this summer’s Renaissance Faire! I will be there for the second and third weekends of the fair, August 13/14 and August 20/21. With Hidden Sanctuary set to release on August 16th, I am scrambling to make the necessary changes with enough time for author copies to arrive in time for inclusion at the booths. If all goes well, I will be able to sell some advance copies that first weekend!

August 13/14th is the “Fairytales & Fantasy Adventures” weekend, aligning perfectly with the story told in the Hidden Series. Then, on August 20/21, the theme is “Across the Multiverse,” for those who want to dress up in more of a geek chic than fantasy nerd. Either way, I will be there all four days selling books and signing them all!

Hidden Sanctuary

Thank you to Jonathan Lebel for another piece of beautiful artwork. He, once again, took a stick figure sketch from me and turned it into this beautiful landscape with inspiration from the stunning Cascade range we have here in Washington State.

After the entire series is released, I will probably look at changing up the covers to something more action-oriented and target-market, but I love the art of these images. These original covers will be for me, and I can appeal to the market later.

*Spoiler alert* This blurb below includes spoilers for Hidden Memory.

Larron’s hope fades as he discovers it is not only his people facing the brink of destruction. As the council tries to save what they can, a young mage approaches Annalla with a tempting, if crazy, proposition. He knows a story, an old family tale, and it might hold the answer to finding the fairy.

Join Larron and Annalla as they work with new allies to continue their desperate quest against a cruel dictator bent on destruction in Hidden Sanctuary!