I know you two were friends, so I know it definitely must feel weird. Hopefully things are looking up for you.

Hey! I miss you man! ^.^

And Yeah. We were friends but then I lost touch with him after I started dating the guy who I eventually had kids with. >.> That started all this nonsense. I'm mad that somehow I missed the announcement of his celebration of life. It just highlights how isolated I've become and how out of touch.

Working 2 jobs to get my finances back on track. No time to create *anything* except stupid doodles... ugh. And this current administration causing so much financial chaos in the *world*...., I want to be a "gypsy" so badly. A mobile art studio would be great.... >.>

buh. Anywho. DM me if you want! :) I'd love to catch up!.

Kids definitely take up a lot of time and energy, so no shade that you've been busy parenting. I know I can't do everything I want to do, also working 2 jobs sucks.

Being a gypsy traveling around selling art sounds fun, but I don't know if you can easily make a living at that. I know some furry artists do just hit up cons, but it definitely requires doing the right stuff. As an author, I don't think I can move enough books to ever make a living doing cons.

Yeah being an author is a whole other hustle. A close friend here in Philly - her and her mother write romance novels. They are self published as well. So they are *always* writing something. Because, as she tells me, each book boosts sales for other books in her catalogue.

The core of her work, outside of writing, is advertising and marketing. It's a lot.

I think that part of being a creative is harder for a lot of us. Because a bulk of of the work is JUST advertising. And now, with AI scraping being a thing - that advertising or just posting of your artwork/story snippets now works against you as much as it does for you. It's nuts!

I don't mind the marketing part, but I'm not sure I do it very well. Doing cons is really my biggest thrust there, and that means I spend most of my con dealing. And that's enjoyable, but it does mean cons stop being a vacation for me.

I'm always juggling projects, and I do agree. The more books you have the better position you're in. That's also very frustrating for people who don''t have a back catalog to rely on and talk about. Getting a second novel out three will help me a lot, and it does mean my adult short story collection is even more relevant, because the characters in the novel originally came from a short story I put in there.

And ugh, AI. I have such strong opinions on that. It drives me crazy.

Wild! Yeah I realized the first time I did a Table at Anthrocon that if all I did was deal I wouldn't be able to do other stuff there. So it was a choice of, as you say, vacation or work?

If I could hire on someone to work my table, and still be able to go to panels, shop, or run a workshop, I'd be all for it.

However, I'd need stock - which means creating - which means time I don't have to create.... ugh. So going to any convention for me is a cost I cannot afford atm. I really do need to get out of the city. The costs of living here are insane. >.>

At bigger cons, I can usually get friends to watch the table when I'm away doing a panel. Things go smoother though when I'm at the table, because people like to talk to the writer.

And yeah, vending now does require having products, which is a lot of pre con work. Cons have changed from being mostly artists taking commissions to everyone having some form of merch and everything. The displays have also gotten bigger and such.

I've seen the merch "shops" now! I went to PAX two yrs ago and was shocked at how much effort goes into it. o.O For me it's a matter of how do I even begin to get back into it?? That's a lot of work even for a small vendor space.

I used to keep up with what was trending. Not so much anymore. I have no idea what sells best.

It's tough, and a lot of stuff artists get manufactured in China, if they're doing stuff like pins, which is going to be even more of a hassle to deal with.

yeeeeaaaahhh.. because apparently what they do over there is so toxic that few pin manufacturers here do it. >.>

I found that out after looking for a local source for pins, then did a double take at my own collection of them. >.> ahhh... oops? supporting eco-death? yeeeeaaaaah.

Can't stop folks from loving them pins though!

Oh, toxic chemicals is why it's not being done here? That's even more saddening now.

Also the counterfieting possibilities apprently... I just learned this little tid bit..

https://gamingpins.co.uk/blog/what-.....ng-enamel-pins


https://www.reddit.com/r/EnamelPins.....suk/?rdt=53407

Oh yeah, that's also a problem I've heard about.

Sorry, I saw the word counterfeit and I was thinking they were doing that to pins, which would not shock me. That still though could be an issue, depending on the vendor.

Yeah and depending on the manufacturer, they might use those molds to make pins of one's artwork to sell under a different name (like temu or shien).

Yup!

As for AI - I'm split. BUT! This is only because I look back at history to the other technological advances there have been, even in my own recent memory (Photoshop).

I can see the tool it could be - but I know that this power, this.... *thing* just makes other people's lives worse. AND the fact that these tech-bros just TAKE.... I can't.

I agree to a certain point that information should be free. But there is a limit. Just because it's on the internet and digital - thus made of data, doesn't mean it is "Free". If someone benefits off stuff I'm trying to sell, without compensation - not cool.

Yeah, what it's doing to artists really bothers me. The products are also not sneaking in to the mainstream, and that's so frustrating. Not everyone knows or realizes that's what they're getting.

Oh yeah. I ran into that. In Swandog's Telegram group, we were posting pics of products in brick and mortar stores that were obviously AI generated.

I'm also concerned with how the health industry uses AI to cancel/reject claims too. o.o it's awful.

Swandog? The author of Coyote Season? And oh yeah, they're definitely doing that.

hrmmn  swandog ?

No that's someone else. Thinking this over, I think they went by songdog, which is where I crossed my wires.

^.^ oops that happens.
Names get harder to create in the fandom (ad online) unless you want to create some multi-compound word, or use l33t speak.

Seems like someone out there some where is using "Drakenhart" now too. ^.^

That's a little sad, but what name do you prefer now?

It will forever either be Drakenhart or Trinity. :) heh. But as I noted it's getting harder to find that name freed up. ^.^

Gotcha!