Tag Archives: balance cards

Livestream Card Draw in Fifteen Minutes!

Posted by on July 6, 2012 No comments

Start Time: 9 PM EST-ish

URL: http://www.livestream.com/mcah

What do I do? Go to that URL, open the chat window, choose a name for yourself and say hi! If you have a Flash/script blocker you will need to unblock the page to see the stream.

Activity: Tonight I’ll be doing a One Card Draw! Come by and get your card draw in person, and see how I interpret the flipping, twirling, springing and flopping in real-time.

Prices: As with the traditional One Card Draw, your card is free! However, you can tip me if you’re so inclined, and if you’d like elaboration on your card you can get an extra 2 cards down (a three-card reading) for $5. Also, I’ll be accepting balance card painting commissions; those are $50, plus shipping.

We always have a great time on the livestreams! Watching you all talk with each other is wonderful, I love reading it and having a chance to chat with everyone. So come say hello, even if you don’t want a card!






Upcoming: Friday One Card Draw Livestream

Posted by on July 3, 2012 No comments

I’ve decided this week to do a One Card Draw on Livestream on Friday night, starting around 9 PM EST and probably running a couple of hours. As usual, one card is free or you can request three for $5. Also, as before you can pay for someone else’s three card reading, and there will also be a general tip button if you want to just feed the reader.

Finally, after some poking from Deyaniera, I’ve put up a page for the balance cards to replace the website, which is now inactive.

The Forthcoming Con, Kickstarter Projects and Writing

Posted by on June 9, 2012 No comments

The Con, and Next Week
Next Friday I’ll be on a plane for Anthrocon before the roosters are awake, where I’m looking forward to meeting many of you! I have a couple of panels, I believe, and I’m due to sign at Sofawolf’s table on Friday and Saturday; I’ll have times when I sort them out. But importantly, I will not be working on Thursday or Friday, so we will not be eligible for a Friday Black Blossom. I will also not be working on doodles for most of the week, since I have art to mat and a lot of packing and planning to do. So there won’t be many, or any, updates on the Kickstarter until the Monday after I return.

So much work to do for only two days! I don’t even know what to wear anymore, now that so much of my old fancy convention clothes fits again.

The One Card Draw
On the Kickstarter front: several of you have asked when I’m going to try the One Card Draw Kickstarter, and the answer to that is: I don’t think I can. Kickstarter prohibits self-help projects, so powerfully that they rejected a nonfiction business book; I think running something specifically to do card readings for people would strike them as far more self-help-like than that. I have toyed with the idea of running a Kickstarter for people to buy One Card Draw paintings, and then using the profit from that to fund the One Card Draw, but that’s getting somewhat convoluted… plus, I’d have to find 20 takers for the card paintings to make it work. Doodle-Kickstarter notwithstanding, I’m not sure I’ve got fifteen people with that much left in their pockets at this point…!

If you want a card, for now, your alternatives are to either wait for a livestreamed draw, or buy a one card reading for $3.

I am still looking for other ways to do the One Card Draw, but I can’t get around the reality that a 2-hour One Card Draw generates 6-8 solid hours of work for me, and I am lucky right now to get 30-40 minutes of work a day right now. That may one day change, but not at this point.

If you have other ideas on how to get the One Card Draw funded, I am certainly listening.

Next Kickstarter/Writing Projects
Several of you have also asked me if I’m planning to do another sketch Kickstarter, given the success of this one, and the answer to that is yes! But it will not be my next project. The next Kickstarter you can expect from me will be for a print, e-book and possibly audiobook version of Black Blossom, which is so close to completion I can count the scenes between now and the end. I’m guessing another 1.5 months or so, maybe a little more, or maybe a little less. But by end of August, certainly.

Once I’m done with Black Blossom, I will probably take a break, and maybe write a short story or two, or use what time I have off to clean up my woefully-in-need-of-it existing e-books, some of which have errors or could use new covers. I’d also like to have a look at my currently in-need-of-editing trilogy about Reese and Hirianthial, with an eye to seeing how much work it will take to get that up for sale.

When I have my breath back, I’ll be starting on the Faerie Farmer book. I may or may not serialize that one; I’ll see how my free time looks when I get there.

***

To be honest, I have no idea what my life is going to look like in the forthcoming months, so all these plans are incredibly soft ones. But insofar as I can plan, these are the things that will probably be coming up.

The Fate of the One Card Draws

Posted by on April 14, 2012 No comments

First… let me say thanks to all who attended last night! The chat was awesome; I loved how involved everyone was in everyone else’s questions. That was some wholesome stuff there, and I was proud to be a part of it.

So, while I was working, I got a couple of backchannel questions about when I’d be doing another Livejournal-based One Card Draw and I realized the answer to that is… I don’t know.

See, here’s my thought process. If I open a Card Draw for an hour, the resulting work can take me 4-6 hours to get through.

This bears repeating. That’s one hour spawning four to six hours of work for me, which may or may not be paid for.

Four to six hours is two work days for me. Which means the money I make has to equal what I’d earn doing something else… and I can get a lot of other things done in two work days, so the income it’s displacing is not insignificant. It’s been a long time since the One Card Draw has made that much money.

So my options are… to accept the income hit (not acceptable, I am paying for my daughter’s schooling); to not do it (sad for everyone); to shorten the window even more, to a half hour maybe or less (which will get me angry/sad people; I already get people sending me upset emails that “they keep missing it”); or to charge for it (closing it off to many of the people who are requesting).

The Livestream draws, on the other hand, don’t make much money, but they are also done when they’re done. I usually handle about twenty requests, and it takes about an hour and a half, and boom, I go to sleep without something hanging over my head.

So. What to do? I don’t know. I don’t like any of the options, so I have been defaulting to “don’t do them at all.” (Though people can request a single card draw at any time, for $5). I like that Livestream gives me an option, but sadly it shuts out people who can’t handle streaming video.

I love doing the written One Card Draws. It’s a different feel from doing the camera versions, and I like them both. So I wish I had a better answer. Maybe one of you will have a suggestion… I am all ears.

Livestream Card Draw Tonight!

Posted by on April 13, 2012 No comments

cards!

Looks like I’ll be hosting a livestream session tonight!

Start Time: 9 PM EST-ish

URL: http://www.livestream.com/mcah

What do I do? Go to that URL, open the chat window, choose a name for yourself and say hi! If you have a Flash/script blocker you will need to unblock the page to see the stream.

Activity: Tonight I’ll be doing a One Card Draw! Come by and get your card draw in person, and see how I interpret the flipping, twirling, springing and flopping in real-time. You can request your response either in text (I’ll type it out for you) or in audio (I’ll talk for the camera).

Prices: As with the traditional One Card Draw, your card is free! However, you can tip me if you’re so inclined, and if you’d like elaboration on your card you can get an extra 2 cards down (a three-card reading) for $5. Also, I’ll be accepting balance card painting commissions; those are $50, plus shipping.

We always have a great time on the livestreams! Watching you all talk with each other is fabulous, I love reading it and having a chance to chat with everyone. So come say hello, even if you don’t want a card! :)