Updates and Scams and Kittens and Stuff

 Hello, hello!

Yes, it's been a little bit, but I hope you (all 3 of you, you know who you are) can forgive me. It's been busy.

First, I have been working to get this Kickstarter campaign for A Sinister Love off the ground. I'm making amulets I call "soul stones" because that's a thing in my book, but so far they all seem to get strange bubble-like patterns beneath the cabochon and I do not know why. It appears days later. I've been using mod podge, but I may have to try out an alternative, like UV resin. OR it might be the image not sticking right to the amulet. It's not a huge deal, but I want to be able to make the best product I can for you!

I've also been working on the audio for the video that will play. My brother and sister are putting together the video and various images. I finally got the voice over recordings from the actress I hired, but they were raw and needed to be mastered. Luckily, I've become rather decent at that if I do say so myself, on account of having to do it to my audiobook (which is a lot longer than 30 seconds). Somehow, I was able to remove all the mouth noises, background sounds, artifacts, etc. and put all of it together into one file (it's 35 seconds but close enough). Then I looked around for royalty-free music. I played one and it sounded good, it almost matched, so I deleted the first 5 seconds (it was a build-up anyway) and suddenly it fit the audio *PERFECTLY*. I was almost in tears. I love it!

My artist, Graziel (maybe I should ask if she'd like a character with her name in the book), has provided me several more pieces of art to showcase other characters. Now I just need the cover image, Surli's image, and images of the merch... then I think we can start throwing it all together! At some point I need to record myself to add to the video, but that's not a big deal.

The goal is to have it up by March 8th. Mark your calendars. (Actually, I would like to launch it on March 4th... but we'll see if that's enough time).

We also got a new kitten! He's a grey, medium-hair fluffball filled who is turning out to be full of affection and playfulness. It's just taken him a few days to come out of hiding.

I've been secretly teaching myself something that I plan on showing off when I meet with the family in April. I just have to make sure I've got it down pat or I'll ruin the effect.

We have the memorial for my father in April, as well as the total solar eclipse AND the release of my book (yes, I put them both down for the same day).

I've been tossing around an idea in my head for a tiktok series where I tackle fan theories or incomplete shows coming from a writer's point of view. I noticed that there is no shortage of fan theories (for everything under the sun), but soooooo many of them would make for a terrible show. Though I also think I could add that I have ADHD. See, it never occurred to me that I could highlight this as a reason to buy my book. Then I found this Youtube series called "How To ADHD" and wow... it's definitely worth watching, whether you have ADHD or know someone who does (and you probably do). The one that really got me so far is about rejection sensitivity and avoidance. As she started describing it, I started to realize that it explains SO MUCH about the choices I've made in the past, from my relationships to my schooling to my writing. It also never occurred to me that someone with ADHD may have *stronger* emotions than other people. I just learned to mask mine.

But enough about that. I wanted to finish this post up with a little story about this time I thwarted a scam artist.

Yeah. I know. Random.

(Hello? ADHD!)

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I used to work in a school district in South Carolina. I was their grant writer, but I was new and so they wanted to train me (which in the end didn't work, but that's a story for another time). They found this big seminar where some expert was going to give those of us who signed up a workshop and lecture about grant writing.

Well, they were supposed to send me a packet with information (like which building on the campus they were going to use, the itinerary, etc.). I kinda needed it. But they sent me an incomplete packet which didn't have the all-important information. So I called them up in California and got to someone who said they would send me the packet right away and told me which building and room it was supposed to be in. But, being the inquisitive researcher that I am, I started to look this up. Something smelled fishy (namely I had a piece of conflicting information). Well, the room *had* been set aside for the seminar, but the group putting it all together canceled their reservation with exactly as much time as they needed to get their money back (I figured that part out). The event space owners had no clue. MAJOR red flag. So I researched the lecturer. He had been quickly contacted by the group and asked to give a lecture about grant writing, but knew almost nothing else, not even that the reservation had been canceled. ANOTHER major red flag. Then I researched the group.

They had done this many times in the past. Their M.O. was to call local professors and get them to show up to give a lecture with the promise of pay (which never happened), make it look and sound all official by having pamphlets and a location and stuff, get a bunch of people to sign up, then cancel their reservation and pull out *fast*. I tried calling them again, but never got an answer after that first time. I wonder why. This left the professors hanging in the breeze and looking like they were responsible when a bunch of people showed up to a locked building. The professors never saw any pay from it, either. But the kicker is this—they had done this about once a month for the past 6 or so months, but after the lecture I was signed up to go to, their schedule massively ramped up to 1 or even 2 a week all over the country. 

I told the school district and called the bank to tell them about the scam. We were able to keep our $600 entry fee. And then I started sending out emails. You see, I managed to track down the location they were working out of. I no longer remember which agency or agencies I contacted with all the information I had. I also reported them to the BBB and began leaving scathing and truthful comments on every platform they had.

I don't know for certain that I shut down their operation, but I certainly did my best and would have made the cops' jobs easier.