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Novel Formatting & Printing Update
Ruinview Book Writing, Formatting, & Printing If you're looking for book formatting tips, you've come to the right place! For the first time since our 2019 trip, Quinn and I were able to re-attend the D&D in a Castle event at Lumley Castle in England, with our...
D&D in a Castle 2022 – Ruinview Book
For the first time since our 2019 trip, Quinn and I were able to re-attend the D&D in a Castle event at Lumley Castle in England, where we were paired with Dungeon Master Kelly Lynne D'Angelo, and players Vincent, Chris, David, myself, and Quinn, to play Kelly's...
D&D in a Castle 2022 – Ruinview Campaign
For the first time since our 2019 trip, Quinn and I were able to re-attend the D&D in a Castle event at Lumley Castle in England, where we were paired with Dungeon Master Kelly Lynne D'Angelo, and players Vincent, Chris, David, myself, and my hubs Quinn to play...
The Empty Void Tavern
WE HAVE A TAVERN (OVER OUR GARAGE)!!!!! Quinn and I became first-time homeowners in the summer of 2021, much to our surprise. The house came with a 1 bed/1bath ADU (alternate dwelling unit) over the garage. We briefly considered doing the "responsible thing" of...
Writing Music
Looking for some new music to listen to while writing? I've got some recommendations! Ever wish you were writing in a remote cabin in a forest while it's raining, but one that somehow also has the same white noise and feel of a coffee shop? Try out these background...
Sequential Chapter Numbers in Word
This issue may only apply to a select few of you, but if you've ever been writing a novel (or legal discovery) and wanted an easy way to auto-update all your chapter numbers after removing or adding chapters, I picked up this trick while I was a litigator and figured...
Making Dice – Cap Molds
In April 2020, I blogged about making sprue molds based on the Rybonator method. Today, I'm blogging about making cap molds via the Dice Witchery method. Why cap molds? Well, we've seen some really cool petri dice, dice with heavier inclusions (like chunky glitter),...
New Book Art Commissioned from Rachel Denton
I love commissioning artwork of my D&D and novel characters--and now I've managed to do both at the same time! I'm currently working on adapting a D&D campaign written by my hubs, Quinn Sellers (who is now a dungeon master for hire) into a true novel format...
Beadle and Grimm’s Pathfinder 2E Kickstarter 2020
My hubs worked with the fellas over at Beadle & Grimm's on their new Pathfinder 2E Kickstarter project, and while we’ve not yet run a game in 2E you can be sure we're going to do so now! The project was funded in under 15 minutes, and they have a lot of cool...
Turkey Cheeseburger Soup Recipe Review
Last week, I received a suggestion from a friend for a turkey cheeseburger soup recipe by Gina Homolka of SkinnyTaste. I say "last week" because I also discovered last week that the blender which came with our condo did not work. I'd only used it once in the last 5...
New Writing Desk
Thanks to Covid-19, my home desk has unwittingly become my working, gaming, and writing desk. Pre-pandemic, I always had a strong separation between my work, gaming, and writing spaces. I'd work in a company office, I'd game at home, and I usually wrote at a local,...
D&D in a Castle
Dungeons and Dragons? In a Castle? Hell. Yes. 2019 marked a milestone for Quinn and me, as it was our 15th anniversary together. Finding D&D in a Castle is the one and only time a Facebook ad ever got it right, because as soon as I read about the event, I was...
Women in Gaming D&D Stream 2020
In June 2020, I was so lucky to be a part of a fantastic group of Women in Gaming's streaming of a D&D session for charity, featuring the women's shelter Hope Haven of Cass County. The event was organized by the amazingly coordinated @D&DElise (see her DM's...
Risks with Embedding Tweets & Instagram Posts
In the event you're posting, blogging, or otherwise covering news of your games, note that you might potentially run into legal issues if you're embedding photos or posts from Instagram, Twitter, or other social media platforms. This is not legal advice. Case #1:...
#BlackLivesMatter
BLACK LIVES MATTER. VOTE. BE REPRESENTED. Please look up and VOTE in the elections of your congress members both the House of Representatives and especially the Senate--not just the president. But, for the love of all that's holy, please vote for that too. It's plain...
Print Your Own Novel – D&D Edition
Ever wanted to print your own novel? How about novelizing a D&D campaign? If so, you're in luck! While I one day plan to pursue traditional publishing options for my own novel, this project was never intended for commercial use, so I had to figure out how to print...
Chicken Curry Dish
We've been doing a lot of Hello Fresh meals during quarantine, but they get a little samesies when you're on a diet and only order the chicken/rice/vegetable options. This week, I saw a chicken curry video from a new-found favorite cook on Facebook, and decided to...
Making Dice – Part 2: Resin
The most fun part of making dice, in my opinion, is mixing and pouring the resin. It only takes about 10 minutes, so the joy is a little short lived. A very close second favorite part is taking the dice out of their molds (see Part 1 for sprue molds, or this post on...
Making Dice – Part 1: Sprue Molds
Hi, my name is Hanley, and I'm a dice goblin. <Goblins>: Hi Hanley... This post is about making sprue molds. We've also made cap molds! I play a lot of D&D, a bit of Vampire the Masquerade, and several other TTRPGs, so I LOVE dice. Mostly blue dice, but any...
Toss a Coin to Your Gimmer
Can't Get "Toss a Coin to Your Witcher" Out of Your Head? Yeah, me neither. It's ridiculous that Netflix won't release the soundtrack. ANYWAY... as I was novelizing our holiday one-shot (video below) to add to the overarching campaign book I'm writing, I decided to...
Holiday Special Dungeons & Dragons One Shot 2019
I attended Dungeons and Dragons in a Castle this past summer (full post about it here), and there my boyfriend and I met a phenomenal group of players, with the lovely Amy Vorpahl as our original dungeon master. Since then, we do a a monthly online one-shot session,...
Practical Contract Guidelines for Artwork Commissions
Getting artwork commissioned? Being hired to create commissioned artwork? This post is intended to give basic guidelines to your contract. First and foremost, this is not intended to be legal advice, and I'm not your attorney unless we have a signed contract. I...
My Second Motorcycle: Eve
Eve: My 2018 Kawasaki Vulcan S My first motorcycle was a 2018 Suzuki Boulevard S40. I was THRILLED to have a bike to call my own--especially one that seemed to fit me so well from my ATV days. Unfortunately, the lack of certain creature comforts made me re-think my...
My First Motorcycle, a Review of the Suzuki Boulevard S40
I recently got my M1 motorcycle license, and so I've decided to review the motorcycle I just bought: a Suzuki Boulevard S40. Exciting, yes? I loooooved riding out in the dunes. But, we don’t go out much anymore, and I really missed it because riding bikes was such a...
Director’s Commentary – Yay or Nay?
Director's Commentary... Much like cilantro, I feel like watching a film with director's commentary is a love-it-or-hate-it kind of endeavor. A college roommate introduced me to director's commentary in 2005 with, of all things: Yes, The Princess Bride. It was...
How Film & TV Get Law Wrong
In this week's episode of... I'll state flat out, this post may have been inspired by a slight dab of wine. Still, I've run into a phenomenon that I've mostly been able to avoid by watching only fantasy and Disney movies: FILM/TV WRITERS WHO DON'T GOOGLE THE LAW...
Europe Trip 2016
Our Whirlwind Tour of Western Europe In December of 2016, my (now hubs) "Q" and I took a 3 week trip through western Europe. For Q, this was his first time out of North America (he's been to Mexico and Canada). For me, I've been to several of the cities we hit on the...
Updating My Book Art
New Artist, New YA Look Just a quick check-in post that I'm working with a fabulous new artist (new to me, not art), Jackson Tjota, on updating the look and feel of my characters so they better reflect the YA direction my story is now headed. I still love my original...
Fantasy Swear Words & Slang
You might be surprised to learn that it is very difficult to make up swear words and slang for a fantasy world--especially phrases that, when read aloud, don't sound like you're saying something stupid like, "By Glurf's right eye patch!" Where we tend to see...
Where To Find Affordable Legal Assistance
This article was originally written for my law blog, aimed at game developers, but applies to any type of creator looking for legal assistance. I made this Lady Justice, and am still working out how to make her smaller on the blog preview. As a developer, newbie or...