Author Archives: Melanie Fletcher

Musing About A Story

21 Friday Apr 2023

Posted by in Arts and Crafts, Writing

≈ Leave a comment

There’s a short story I want to take a crack at writing this weekend (if I can find the time between working on the Nicola WIPs, doing promo, cleaning, making jewelry, and keeping the J Crew entertained). I have the shape of it in my head, and I think I have the chops to pull it off. We’ll see—if nothing else, my writer’s group will be happy that I’m finally submitting something for them to crit.

There is just so much on my plate at the moment. I’m juggling being an indie author with all the hats I have to wear in that business, a jewelry designer (don’t judge—my sterling silver jewelry brings in decent money and it gives me a break from the writing), and managing everything in the house and, yeah, it can be a challenge at times.

But I could also be stuck in an office job that I loathed and dealing with a micromanaging boss. So I’m looking on the bright side here and reminding myself to schedule a little free time in between everything else.

Speaking of the jewelry, I now have a placeholder page here where I’ll be putting new pieces as I get them. If I’m correct I can add a Buy Now button to each piece that will take people to PayPal where they can purchase the piece with their PP account or a credit card. At some point I’ll probably want to look at PayHip or one of the assorted storefront apps so that I can sell jewelry and signed books, but that will be at some point down the line.

First Anniversary of My New Knee

20 Thursday Apr 2023

Posted by in Personal

≈ Leave a comment

One year ago today I was in a hospital bed recovering from total knee replacement surgery on ShitKnee. During that time I learned that I will vomit copiously if given IV opiates and Zofran is the only thing that will stop it (good to know for future surgeries), the inside of my joint looked like a bomb had gone off in there, and that the nurses, CNAs, and PTs at Medical City Frisco were incredibly professional and kind. Also, my surgeon had one hell of a good stitching technique.

Today the knee is considered to be 100% healed and I pretty much have full mobility. There is some scarring on the outer side of the knee that has nothing to do with the surgery and everything to do with 38-year-old adhesions. one of which I broke last May. That area is still a little tender but it’s getting better and better as I keep moving and wearing down the little buggers.

In the picture above, taken about this time a year ago, I have my nice grippy socks, an elastic wrap and the cooling pad of my ice machine below my brace (the black thing with the blue stitching), and a pump on both calves that squeezed them intermittently to keep blood flowing and prevent blood clots. The blue foam pillow is an instrument of torture designed to promote my knee straightening to 0°. Going to the bathroom required a nurse to unhook me from my IV, ice machine, and calf pumps, and I used a walker to get in and out of the bathroom. But I was able to do it on my own, and I astounded the physical therapist when I walked to the end of the hallway and back to my room the next day.

One thing i learned and will pass onto anyone looking at joint surgery—do prehab. These are exercises that will get your joint into the best condition possible for the surgery and they will cut down on your recovery time. I am living proof of that. And keep doing your post-surgery PT exercises. They suck, but they keep your joint mobile.

Today is also another interesting milestone in my life in that I am now officially in menopause. My last period started on 4/18/22 and ended on 4/20/22 which means I have gone a calendar year without a period and am now a Crone. Personally, I’m relieved. Perimenopause was no joke (imagine going through a second puberty, only with this one you get hot flashes, night sweats, and gum problems along with the pimples and body changes) and I’m glad to be done with all that. I just threw out some really ratty t-shirts which means there’s room in my drawers for a new one—I need to find a really good Crone t-shirt.

New Sparklies!

19 Wednesday Apr 2023

Posted by in Arts and Crafts

≈ Leave a comment

Since I shut down my Etsy store I really do need to set up a section here for Belaurient Arts where I can sell jewelry. In any case I finished setting the stones, cleaning up the bezels, and polishing the pendants today. Considering that I haven’t done any bench work for at least a year I’m really pleased with how these turned out.

The rutilated quartz on the left is for a giveaway Nicola will be running this weekend (this kind of quartz has a starring role in one of the most recent releases so I thought making a pendant out of it would be a nice giveaway prize). The giveaway will be open to anyone who joins Nicola’s reader group on FB (The Cameron Club) or subscribes to her newsletter, so if you want a crack at winning this piece feel free to join either or both groups.

To my surprise the polished ammonite pendant has already been sold. I’d originally made it for myself, but when I posted these pics on FB a friend said, “Ooh, can you make me one?” Since I’m pretty sure I can pick up more of these ammonite slices I decided to sell this pendant to her.

The ornate spoon end set with peridots is one of those super Boho pieces that has a deliciously funky feel to it. Or maybe that’s just the weight of the thing—this piece has some serious heft to it. The pendant is available for $35, and a sterling chain in your choice of length is $10 extra.

So, yeah, the bench is now rechristened and ready to go. I’m going to take a crack at making some garnet and silver earrings next, and I want to go back to making some of my Victorian settings again with all of the scrollwork and curliques. It’s a PITA to do but the result is so incredibly pretty.

This Feels So Weird

18 Tuesday Apr 2023

Posted by in Arts and Crafts

≈ Leave a comment

So today I mailed off the throw quilts that I was commissioned to make, only to realize that I haven’t been working on any sort of crafty stuff since then. I mean, yeah, I cleaned off my jewelry bench and sorted through the various jewelry projects, but that was it. I haven’t really made anything since 4/13.

That simply wouldn’t do. So I marched out to the garage and got started on three pendants. The first one is the rutilated quartz cab I mentioned earlier—I decided to set that with some pretty gallery bezel wire and an open back so that light could come through the cab.

The second pendant is a wee slice of polished ammonite fossil much like the one pictured above that’s been sitting on the bench for quite a while. And while I managed to get the bezel and backing soldered together for that I had a stone bitch of a time attaching a jump ring for the bail. A lot of jewelers will put the setting upright in a third hand or reverse action soldering tweezers, add a dot of solder to the correct spot on the setting, then try to get it to melt while holding the jump ring in position so that the solder will connect it to the setting.

Yeah, ruined a good five jump rings trying that. Then I remembered that I used to do it by laying the backing flat on my ceramic heat block and butting the jump ring up against it with a chip of solder over the join. That worked a treat.

The third pendant is also a patiently waiting project where I sawed off the handle tip of an ornate solid sterling spoon in order to turn it into a pendant set with tiny peridot cabs. Making the super tiny bezels was an adventure and a half but I managed to get those fabricated as well. By the end of the night I had three pendant findings put together, tumbled, and ready for setting and polishing. Not bad if I do say so myself.

New Horizons

17 Monday Apr 2023

Posted by in Writing

≈ Leave a comment

Welp, I (wearing my Nicola hat) have dipped my toe into the brand new world that is Kindle Vella. For those who have never heard of this, it’s Amazon’s platform for selling serialized fiction where the reader pays tokens to read each chapter. Kind of like Wattpad, only monetized.

So why am I doing this? Mainly as an experiment—some writers have done extremely well on Vella, making as much as $2K a month. Others have gotten no traction whatsoever. From what I understand a lot depends on having an absolutely dependable release schedule, and ideally releasing at least two chapters (or episodes) a week.

But Mel, I hear you ask, you write novels. Why are you doing serialized fiction? Ah, that’s where the magic is. Y’see, you can also publish chapters of the book you’re working on as long as they’re clean and edited, and you don’t have to have the entire thing done. Once you are finished, you can take the episodes down thirty days after you’ve published the last one, then compile them into a book and publish that in e and print form.

I must say, this is also good story crafting process for me. In order to lure a reader from one episode to the next the story has to be attention-grabbing, thoroughly entertaining, and ideally have a bit of a cliffhanger at the end of each episode. Which can only benefit the overall plot of the story. Plus I used to do this all the time when I wrote fanfic so serialized fiction feels very familiar to me.

Do I think I’m going to make money at this? Hell if I know—that’s why I’m considering it an experiment. The worst thing that will happen is nobody pays to read my eps, I finish the book and post the last ep, spend the thirty-day waiting period polishing everything and setting up a pre-order, then release the completed book to a waiting audience who wants to read this. Basically, it’s a win-win situation for me.

Let’s see how it goes…

Jasmine, Must You?

16 Sunday Apr 2023

Posted by in Cats

≈ Leave a comment

I’m currently sitting in the library writing this with my left hand pinned to the keyboard because Jasmine is sprawled on it while she purrs and headbutts my left boob for scritches (which I do give her in between bursts of typing).

I could go upstairs and work in the office, of course, but this one is the skittiest of all the J Crew and really needs more assurance than the others. She’s taken to hiding under the bed at night and we don’t realize she’s in the room until I get up in the morning and she’s waiting at the door. I open it and she zips through like all the hounds of hell are after her. Or she’s hungry, I’m not sure.

She’s now shifted and is curled up next to the laptop with her head on the side of the laptop, her back braced against my arm, and my purse protecting her from any surprise attacks by the Orange One (who, to be honest, does enjoy stalking all the girls from time to time. Jessie smacks him, Jemma rolls onto her back and growls, but Jasmine is the one who starts shrieking, fear peeing, and doing her best to get away from him which just makes him chase after her more. I’m not sure what that says about male cat psychology but I’d rather have her half-sprawled on my arm than being chased by Jeremy.

I’m Using Fire Again

15 Saturday Apr 2023

Posted by in Arts and Crafts

≈ 1 Comment

Today dawned bloody marvelous so I fed the J Crew, did the usual Sweeping of the Floors, racked up 30 minutes on the treadmill, cleared some old bottles out of the fridge and took out the recycling, and now I’m putting together some chapters for Kindle Vella, whee!

But more importantly, I got my bench set up again so that I can start making jewelry. I just bought a pointed oval rutilated quartz cabochon like the one in the picture. I’m going to turn it into a pendant and use it as a giveaway (rutilated quartz has a featured role in Nicola’s A Theory of Crystal). But I have to get back into practice first so I’ll work on setting some pending pendants before I take a crack at this one.

Also paid the estimated taxes and the household bills, so I’m feeling good right now!

Talk About a Relief

14 Friday Apr 2023

Posted by in Personal

≈ Leave a comment

Yesterday I got fed up with my hair always getting in my face and found a salon that could take me. The stylist understood what I wanted, got me straight in the chair since I’d already washed my hair, and took off a good six inches of hair with a trimmer before settling in to shape and layer what was left.

The result—a lovely cut just above shoulder length with nice layers that fluffs up in the back. I must admit, I feel sassy as all get out with this do. And the cost was remarkably low so I added a 60% tip as thanks. Even with that it was a good twenty bucks less than I used to pay at Regis before the pandemic. I’ll definitely be coming here again when the hair starts getting annoying.

That’s An Improvement

13 Thursday Apr 2023

Posted by in Personal, Writing

≈ Leave a comment

Man. I don’t know what’s been in the air or my immune system for the last week or so but today it is gone and I feel freaking fabulous. Did a full half hour on the treadmill, sewed on the binding for Throw Quilt #2 and got that washed (I’m going to hold off on posting pictures of the finished products until the recipients get them), cleaned the downstairs rooms, added some new Amazon ads, worked on Crystal Blade, made dinner, and even repaired a rip in one of our sheets.

I also found out that the delicious Taffy Carlisle Huffington of the Pod is My Copilot podcast is going on a trans-Atlantic Disney repositioning cruise in May and immediately offered to serve as her PA, walk three steps behind her as I fetched her drinks, and throw myself into the mouth of any kraken that attacked the ship if she would only bring me along. She laughed and called me her mermaid. I don’t think she understands that I was perfectly serious.

I told Lyndon about this and his lip may have trembled a little as he said, “I always wanted to do that kind of cruise.” Now that I know Disney does them, I simply have to become a bestselling author so that he can retire and we can go on a two-week cruise to Barcelona. It’s GOOD to have goals.

Nearing the Finish Line

12 Wednesday Apr 2023

Posted by in Arts and Crafts, Cats

≈ 1 Comment

After a very, VERY long day of sewing I have the entirety of Throw Quilt #2 quilted. I didn’t intend to use the quilting pattern I wound up using, but once I saw how it was turning out I realized it was perfect. Hopefully the recipient will enjoy this quilt as much as I do (and I still wanna make a full-sized one for myself).

In other news the J Crew have been mightily entertained by the murder of crows that have been hanging out on our front lawn. I must admit, I may have been scattering peanuts here and there, ahem. But they’re here, they’re having a great time sunning themselves on the lawn, and the cats are rapt, I tell you. I had Jeremy, Jasmine, and Jemma all lined up in front of the library window this afternoon peering out at the feathered guests and clearly thinking, “I could take one of those, yeah. Just let me out the door, Mom, I’ll bring you back some dinner.”

Sorry, my darlings. Crows are off-limits, plus our back yard is proof that there are raptors out there capable of taking down fair-sized animals, and while the twins may be too big for a hawk I’d be worried for Jaz. Not to mention the coyotes and bobcats in the neighborhood. The J Crew will just have to keep dreaming about taking down a back yard wildebeest.