Q: Where did the name Kryson come from?

Kryson is a combination of my first name and my last (maiden) name with the spelling changed. I thought I was being so original at 12 or 13 when I came up with it! Little did I know. When I found the internet in 1990, I found out that Kryson is the last name of a football player, the name of a business (Kryson Technologies, Inc. I believe), and the name of a character in Dr. Who.

I read a post the other day where someone was talking about updating 30+ blogs. I have problems finding the time to update one blog. I can’t even begin to imagine what it would be like to try to keep up with over 30 of them. Sheesh.

Based on the last random question, I’ve decided to try podcasting a short story in the next couple of weeks. I’m not quite finished with it yet. I’m trying not to be a perfectionist about it or I’ll never be happy with it and I’ll never release it. The first one is going to be the hardest. I think it will be easier after that.

So, I’ll be launching this thing for real in a couple of weeks. No more Starting From Nothing. First will be the short story I’m working on now, then I’m going to launch into a series of short stories I’ve been working on over the years. This is all leading up to the launch of my first novel, which probably won’t happen until 2009. Unfortunately, November and December are entirely too busy for me to attempt the novel before then. I also won’t be participating in NaNoWriMo this year. I wish I could. I enjoyed myself in 2006, but I tried last year and failed miserably due to time restraints. This year is going to be worse.

Things are not all quiet on the podcasting front, but things are in flux as I switch gears. Just a couple of weeks and I’ll be doing this for real. Scary!

Q: Why aren’t you releasing your fiction on your podcast?

A: I’m trying to get the hang of podcasting at the moment. I don’t want it to sound completely horrible when I put my fiction out there. I’m not going to be attempting a huge production nor tons of special effects because I simply don’t have the equipment for it, but I also don’t want it to sound like crap either.

I’m going to be trying my hand at a short story in the next couple of weeks.

Happy Birthday, Mom! See you in a few hours!

Because I’m too lazy to put together an FAQ at the moment, I bring you random questions people have asked me. For some reason, people have asked me a lot of questions about my name.

Q: Why are you using Kryson Macabre instead of your real name?

A: My real name is so common you could probably guess it in just a few tries. It doesn’t stand out, it isn’t cool, it blends in to the 4,000,000 people that have the same name I do. I’ve also been using the name Kryson since 1984-ish and more people know me by Kryson than anything.

Have you ever had one of those days where everything you say comes out totally wrong… you trip up the stairs with a full pop/soda and dump it all over the carpet… you put your keys down on your desk then search for them for half an hour… you send an email intended for a friend to your sales rep… you misunderstand a joke someone tells and instead become the butt of a new joke… then, to top off everything, you fall down the stairs with a full plate of food in one hand and a drink in the other?

This, metaphorically in some places and not in others, was my day. Sheesh, I’m glad it’s over.

Falling up the stairs… not so bad. Falling down the stairs… my tailbone hurts!

I was going to try to keep myself seperated from the business so as not to drag it down with all this “goth stuff” and horror and such, but I find it impossible to keep something that is such a large part of my life seperate from everything. So, hopefully no one will look down on my business if they happen to stumble in here and see all this.

Originally posted on Macabre Manor’s forum: http://forum.macabremanor.com/index.php?topic=153.0

In Jan of 2007, I started my own business called Crescent Moon Haberdashery. We started selling at local shows then and in March of 2007, we started selling on Amazon.com. The business has been growing and growing ever since. It’s been keeping me pretty busy of late.

I love photography and also in Jan of 2007, I started putting photos and art on cafepress.com. So far, it has been supporting itself, but needs a huge update. I have tons of photos sitting here begging to be added. You can find it at http://www.cafepress.com/crescentmoonhab if you’re interested in seeing what I’ve done so far. At some point, I’m going to be putting some of my poetry on mousepads and framed pictures as well. I’ll be crushed if they never sell, but I’m doing it anyway.

In June of 2008, we launched Crescent Moon Haberdashery’s own store at http://www.crescentmoonhab.com We haven’t been doing too bad considering we only launched a few months ago. We sell t-shirts, incense, greeting cards, knives (until they’re gone), and some magnets made from photos I took. I’d love to carry more of the magnets, but they aren’t selling enough to warrent bringing in more. Our biggest seller is the Life is Crap line of t-shirts.

At the moment, we’ve sent more Life is Crap shirts to New York than any other state… I wonder if that means something…

We have a few goth shirts too, which is our second best seller. I wanted to get in more goth shirts before Halloween, but it doesn’t look like that’s going to happen. We’re going to be adding long sleeve shirts, tank tops, and hats soon, too. Don’t know where we’re going to store it all, but that’s the plan.

While I’m not the only slave to CMH, I’m the primary slave and it takes more time than I ever anticipated. I really enjoy it though. It’s nice to be the boss and not the peon for once. It’s also nice because I feel like crap more often than I feel good anymore, so I can do as little or as much as I feel I can accomplish. Most of the time, I work way too many hours anyway, but when I really feel like death warmed over, I can take it a little easy. Still have to work, but not quite as hard.

So, check out Crescent Moon Haberdashery and laugh at the shirts! They’re a lot of fun.

I go through long periods of not playing any online games, or any games at all for that matter, because I’m simply too busy. Shroud is still playing WoW and recently I’ve played some myself since things have been slowing down a bit after the back to school rush… and I needed a break… needed to have some fun for a bit. However, we’re about to start gearing up for the Christmas selling season, so I doubt I will have time to play much very soon. That and I need to run an inventory. Wheeeee!

Since I had so many friends jumping from blog site to blog site and wanting me to follow, I decided to start my own permanent blog at http://www.kryson.info awhile back. None of those friends actually go to my blog, of course. It’s only stuff I can post to everyone though, so no ultra personal stuff there. I’ve found that most people don’t want to read about the drama with the insurance company on the damage claim for our house, problems with bank screw ups, and family drama anyway.

I started a podcast on http://www.kryson.info as well. I’m planning on podcasting my short stories for now and work my way up to podcasting the 3 novels I have in the works. I’m not sure how I’m expecting myself to free up the time, but it’s something I’ve wanted to do since 2005 when I found out what a podcast was. I just recently decided to stop planning it and just do it. The podcast sucks at the moment, but I’m hoping it will get better as I get more practice at it. If not… well, it’s something that takes me away from working for awhile. I’m only interested in having some fun, making some friends, and sharing two of my hobbies with others (writing and now… podcasting).

Shroud changed jobs and is working 3rd shift now. It’s an adjustment and difficult for him to find the balance between sleeping and getting things done that he needs to do, but I’m sure he’ll figure it out soon… probably about the time they move him to another shift. He’s enjoying the new job though, which is the important part. I’m hoping he’ll become a trainer there at some point. He’s so patient and so good at teaching, I think he’d really enjoy it. I tried to talk him into being a teacher at one point, but with the way our school system is now, I don’t blame him for not wanting to. I still think he’d make an awesome teacher though.

Speaking of the school system, Sara is still making incredible grades and is becoming more active in school. She’s going to be in a musical this fall. Fiddler on the Roof! She has a bit tougher classes this time around, so we’ll see if she maintains her excellent grades. Traditional Chinese is probably her hardest class. In December she turns 16. Pick your jaw up off the floor! Time flies.

My mother always told me that kids grow up before you can blink and I never believed her until now. When I was a kid, time seemed to pass so slowly and now… I blinked and 10 years just flew by. Makes me wonder if tomorrow I’ll be in a wheelchair watching my grandkids graduate from high school. Yeah Sara… I know… you’re not going to have kids! Remember, I said that, too.

Sara’s got a boyfriend I absolutely hate. Just kidding. Did ya have a heartattack there, Sara? He’s actually a pretty nice kid. Pretty typical “indestructible” male teenager. As a matter of fact, the song Indestructible by Disturbed is her ringtone for him. He asked me, through her, what I thought about him one day and I told her to tell him that I don’t really know him very well, but I thought he was a pretty nice guy… and the best guy she’s gone out with so far. It’s funny though… she asked him what he thought of me and I guess he’s never given her a straight answer. Understandable though. I mean, most of her friends like me, but only her boyfriend has to put up with how strict I am.

Sadly for Sara, Shroud and I are some of the strictest parents. I just can’t understand parents that let their kids run wild. So many kids Sara knows just flat scare me with all the things they do and are allowed to do… or rather the parents never know because they don’t take an interest in their kids. I just couldn’t do that. At least Sara seems to understand that I care and that’s why she can’t do all the thing these kids do. She’s a lot like I was as a teen… I understood why my parents didn’t let me do things, but that didn’t mean I had to like it.

I haven’t actually written much of anything in years, but I’m slowly changing that. I need to have something to actually podcast after all. I’m hoping that eventually, people will want to play in my world and write for the podcast as well, but every time I’ve tried to get community activity going, it hasn’t actually happened. I’m hoping this time will be different, but if it isn’t… well… people will just have to listen to my rusty butt try to put something out there worth listening to. I’ve already had one person say I suck and I haven’t even podcasted any fiction yet! LOL!

I’m thinking about taking a few of the pieces of story I wrote for the round robins we did years ago and turn it into something else as well. Like the whole scene with Mordin in the virtual garden… I’m thinking about turning that into a sci-fi stand alone story… pulling all of the fanfic out of it and doing something completely different with it. There are a couple of others as well. I toyed with posting the pieces I wrote on my blog, but I didn’t think anyone would really be interested in reading bits and pieces of stories. I haven’t posted any poetry there either. I’ve posted it so many places it feel like beating a dead horse, ya know?

Man I miss those round robins.

So… that’s what we’ve been up to. How about you? What have you been up to?

It’s been awhile. I finally stopped waiting on PodPress to be fixed and found a temporary fix, so Episode 2 is FINALLY up.

I had planned on podcasting anyway during this downtime, but I kept thinking it would be fixed soon. Soon became longer and longer until yesterday, I realized it had been forever since the last one was recorded.

So… now I’m going to get back to podcasting again. Next time, not only do I wait to install an update, but I do NOT wait for someone to fix the problem before finding a way around it. Lesson learned.

Congrats to everyone that won a Parsec this weekend. However, most of the nomines were names I’d seen many times up for many awards. It makes me wonder, who are the underdogs out there that people are really enjoying… shows that aren’t necessarily new, but are underrated.

By now everyone knows I’m a Jack Jaffee fan, but another I’d throw out there is Basil Sands. I really enjoyed 65 Below and am currently listening to Karl’s Last Flight. You can find them both at http://www.podiobooks.com

So, who are your underrated underdog picks? Post a comment or email me and let me know!