I would like to say that I wrote a newsletter in June.

I then promptly forgot I had actually finished drafting the newsletter and only needed to write the private behind-the-scenes post for Patreon, and procrastinated dealing with it all month. Which means that said newsletter never actually went out.

I’m sorry.

I’m pretty sure the best way to term this is that life stress and ADHD ate my brain.

(Random aside: I have my Mac plugged in to a PC dock, and a PC keyboard, and let me tell you, as someone who uses keyboard shortcuts ALL THE TIME, this is driving me crazy. Nothing works the way I want it to. Like. It’s awesome, but it also sucks. I wonder if there is a random Mac keyboard around here somewhere I could use…)

Anyway…

What I’ve been up to for the past (two) month(s)…

As mentioned above, life has continued to be chaos—work, home, spouse, dog… it has all combined to keep me too busy to be able to think. Or adjust particularly well. Like yes, I enjoy spontaneity but I really hate having something come up all the time, and being scheduled into five thousand different things just to keep going forward. It’s stressful!

And obviously, balls get dropped. Like being present in online spaces, and remembering to finish and post my newsletter.

My spouse is continuing to recover well. He’s walking with a cane now, which is a huge improvement. He even travelled to Germany for work (which meant I was solo-parenting the animal crew). He can do a lot more around the house, and it’s not perfect, but we’re closer to normal.

There’s a lot going on in life/work/home spaces that I can’t talk about, but suffice to say, there’s some uncertainty hanging over my head, and wondering what the future will bring. That creates a huge level of anxiety for me, and leaves at least part of my brain in a constant state of fight-or-flight, which makes focus difficult. It also means I’ve been in a pain flare for a long time. 

Then there’s our pup. She’s fifteen, and partly blind, and a little deaf, and old and crotchety. She’s also a terrier, and spouse calls her a terror because yes, she is. She’s anxious around people, doesn’t like to be touched unexpectedly or in certain ways, and is difficult to take to the vet—she requires sedation to get her nails trimmed! Well, she needed a teeth cleaning, and it was scheduled for end of May (while we were supposed to be on vacation) and due to illness on the part of the vet, it got pushed to end of June. We didn’t notice that she ate less, and she lost weight before she finally had her dental appointment, during which she had two abscesses, twelve teeth pulled, and well, she was even crankier. And for two weeks she couldn’t eat anything vaguely normal due to the sutures.

She decided that nothing was food somewhere along the way. Soft kibble? Nope. Canned dog food? Nah. Baby food? Been there, done that, over it. Even when the two weeks were up, her eating remained sparse and confused. We can no longer put food down and assume she’ll eat it eventually when she gets hungry. She IS hungry. She just doesn’t want what we think she should be eating.

She’s currently eating ground turkey with bone broth, frozen blueberries (must be wild Maine, not normal), and sometimes Pupperoni or Nudges for treats. And she must be pointed at the plate until she thinks we’re stealing it before she starts eating.

We’re also treating her for a mild case of pancreatitis, brought on by the fact that at one point, the only thing she would eat was sausage patties (too much fat!).

So my life revolves around my dog at the moment. As she thinks it should, I’m sure. And lots of walks, because she’d rather walk than simply go in the backyard when she needs the “facilities” (to be polite and all).

/exhales

So. There we are. My life basically revolves around day job, chores, dog, camp, taekwondo (I will NOT give up my mental health kicking classes), and oh yes, markets.

Pride and Markets…

I attended my first Pride event this past June! I was a vendor at Troy Pride Night Out and I had an absolutely blast vending. My face hurt from smiling so hard, and I got a workout from dancing behind my table. I’ll also be vending at Collar City Pride in October and I’m really really looking forward to it.

I always say I want to do more during Pride, like posting more, and getting to events, and I never manage it. June is a tough month for me already because summer and camp, and lately it seems to be when life turns upside down as well. Some year, perhaps, I can be more active.

That market was my very first time vending on my own, and I just attended my second one this past weekend—a tiny summer festival in Grafton. It went well! I was really pleased with some of the conversations I had, including folks who were thrilled to see queer representation. I am definitely planning on doing that one again next year as long as I don’t have a conflict for the weekend.

I have everything all set up for my business now. Bank accounts. Taxes. I almost have enough saved that I could order new merch, when I get it designed, so that’s kind of exciting. Or at least I can pay entrance fees for the next market. I feel independent!

Things published and to be done…

I kept saying “I want to write a blog about this” and then… not getting to do so. I also made plans to write in a physical journal for a mere 10-15 minutes per day, and that barely happened. It’s shocking how easily time slips away, isn’t it?

That said, I did apply for a new online sales front for POD graphic design merch, and am working on uploading more designs to RedBubble as well. I have also signed up for more vending events.

If you want to check out my (slowly growing) ArtistStore, you can find that here: https://trislawrence.artiststore.com/

ArtistStore is run by Vograce, the same company I am using to fulfill my merch purchases. Shipping can be slow and expensive, but their quality is great, and I know I can eventually get everything on this site that I have been ordering to sell at markets. I will send updates as I get things online.

My Redbubble has been around forever here: https://www.redbubble.com/people/tryslora/shop

I need to spend time getting new designs up on RB, as well as refining some of the older designs.

What I will be doing for the next month or so…

I will be continuing to upload designs to my two shops, and work harder on advertising those and my market/convention appearances.

I am planning to reopen my Etsy so that I can sell my merch there—stickers, journals, etc. I am also finishing up modding my journals. I had them printed with my photography on the covers, and I am adding charms to the ribbons.

I am going to work on redeveloping new work habits for the side gig, both graphic design and writing. Establish boundaries, and routines, and ways of getting my brain to clock out of one thing and into this.

I am setting a goal of 100 words a day for August, with a high focus on either short/micro fiction, or blog posts. The real goal is to write (almost) daily, and find those habits again. One thing I have definitely confirmed—as much as I love drafting in a journal, I do far better when I’m typing. So we’ll go with that.

Upcoming appearances…

September 12, 2026 - Local Author Fair at the Guilderland NY Library

October 4, 2026 - A Big Gay October Market, Albany NY

October 11, 2026 - Collar City Pride, Troy NY

November 20-22, 2026 - Philcon, Cherry Hill NJ

I am continuing to schedule more markets and set the 2027 schedule (I do expect to be going back to Boskone and Balticon, and hope to attempt Readercon). Keep an eye on social media as I announce upcoming events!

And of course, find me on media if you want to chit-chat or just hear me natter on about life, writing, and fandom. I’m tryslora everywhere!