Open Sorcery

Tag: friends

  • I don’t feel like I did all that much today,

    But the crowdfunding for May rent is almost done, at least, we only have a bit more to go and then I can chilllll. I also talked with a friend for the first time on the phone today, and that was lovely.

    If you’d like to help with the crowdfund for May rent, anything helps. My pay links are as follows:

    Cashapp: $persephonejam

    Venmo: opensorceryy

    PayPal: trinrigel@gmail.com

    I love y’all so much.

    -Allēna

  • Emerson and I went to see a reading of a play at County Clare Irish Pub tonight.

    It was simultaneously very funny but also very emotionally heavy, and I took a much needed smoke break towards the end of it. Two girls were discussing their guy drama and I told them to just be bold and also trust their gut because we live in a hellscape. I told them that that’s how I met Emerson and we’re married now 💛 They said that they appreciated my wisdom, so there’s that, I guess. I also met a very inquisitive and affectionate dog named Keaton. Both his owner and I think he might be a boxer mix of some kind, but he’s also very small, so he might have been the runt of his litter. He was a very precious baby who reminded me of my childhood dog, a purebred Lab named Eli, who was constantly excited about everything and was very handsome. Everyone loved that lad even though he was extremely small for his breed.

    I also figured out that a friend of Emerson’s and mine works at County Clare. I almost didn’t recognize her outside of the events I normally see her at, but it’s a small world, I suppose, and I was grateful to run into her. She’s lovely.

    It started raining on the way back to the car, and I think my body is deeply unhappy with all the storms we’re having. I feel like I got hit by a train.

    I think I’m going to go to sleep soon. I definitely need it. I managed to finally go to sleep around 5 AM today. I feel like I was hit by a train.

    Juneau is in one of his states again – I think he might be splitting on me or starting to. He’ll probably come around in about 2 business days with an apology or something to that effect, and we’ll kiss and make up, as it were. I think it would be in poor taste to inform him that he might be splitting on me, he’s an adult and he’ll come to that conclusion on his own. In the meantime, there’s nothing to do but live life, dispense advice to strangers on the sidewalk like I’m some faerie that haunts the shadows, see really heavy plays, and scritch adorable dogs.

    -Allēna

  • What’s this? Another prompt I want to actually take somewhat seriously?

    Who are your favorite people to be around?

    People who are straightforward, honest, and the only bullshit they give me is the joking kind. Preferably, they can see shit about me that I can’t, and can do shit that I can’t without making me feel like shit for it. They don’t talk my ear off constantly about meaningless shit and believe that words have as much power as actions and use both in tandem.

    I’m very picky about the people I surround myself with, and it’s a high bar because I have made peace with solitude most days, being mostly housebound and all, to the point where if I prefer being alone more than I enjoy spending time with a person, I simply won’t engage with them if I don’t have to. I am too tired and have too much shit to do (as well as people I actually like) to pay the people I dislike much mind. My energy is precious and I don’t have much of it. So I do my best to use it wisely. My favorite people get that and go to great lengths to help me protect the little energy I have.

    I’m not proud of a lot of the way my life has gone, and there’s a lot that happened that’s entirely outside of my control. However, I’m damn proud of the fact that I picked great people.

    -Allēna

  • New painting just dropped!

    My friend mk saw my post about cursing profile photos and asked for a new banner for its socials. So I delivered. It has a cool hot pink and blank void punk aesthetic across its socials which I frankly love (hot pink is my favorite color) so this was a pleasure to paint.

    The banner is below!

    I also highly recommend following mk for excellent takes on what’s going on in the world and brilliant poetry, etc..

    If anyone wants their socials artistically cursed by us truly, drop us a line!

    -Allēna

  • AJ Rose – In Conversation

    Hello! My name is Siege, and I’m a newer addition to the Ashley system. We recently asked one of our friends, the author, lyricist, and creator AJ Rose, to do an interview with us here on Open Sorcery. I don’t want to keep you all waiting with my rambling, so without further ado, here is our conversation with the brilliant AJ!

    Introductions Are In Order

    Hey. My name is AJ Rose and I am an independent author/lyricist. My pronouns are he/they. I am openly transmasc and focus my writing toward being inclusive of the LGBTQIA+ community. If you’d like to follow me on Facebook for updates, memes, shitposting, and/or an all around good time I welcome you.

    The Interview

    1. You’ve told me several things about what you’re working on over the course of our friendship thus far – a novel series with accompanying concept albums. What do you want readers to know about the series?

    My series focuses on the right to love who you love and goes over several different concepts while being centered as a paranormal romance (heavy on the romance). It is meant to show how there are many different forms of romantic love in the world while also highlighting challenges faced for being who you are.

    1. Where do you find your inspiration? Why does that spark creativity for you?

    I find inspiration from a lot of other authors. Deborah Harknesses All Souls Series is what initially inspired me to get back into writing. I love her series and it helped me formulate my story in the way I want it to be presented.

    I also draw inspiration from music. I heavily focus on metal style music. Motionless In White sparks a lot of lyrical creativity for me and the reason is mostly because their music is usually about real world issues, relationships, and how horrible the American system is.

    1. You’ve spoken a fair bit to my system about being plural yourself as well as being bigender. Do either of those facets of your identity influence your characters or stories at all?

    Yes and no. I find it is easier for me to create characters because I am a plural person. I can give them a voice in my head. I can visualize who I want them to be. I can make the characters talk to one another and play out the scene for myself while I’m writing.

    Being part of the LGBTQIA+ community influences my characters overall. My novel series features straight, gay, bisexual, lesbian, and poly relationships.

    I have also dropped considering myself bigender and embraced that I am actually transgender. Transmasc just helps encompass my ENBY self as well.

    1. You’re writing a series about a metal band. What got you into metal?

    The series isn’t about the metal band. They are just a part of the novel. A character in the novel fronts the band. I apologize if I didn’t clear that up during our discussions.

    In terms of what got me into metal, my parents were heavy rock music lovers. My dad was a huge Metallica fan when I was growing up which is considered metal. As I got older, my sister would show me their music and it was heavier metal. Pretty much, I grew up on it and it’s the genre that speaks the most to me.

    1. On the musical side of things, if you could work with anyone, living or dead, to bring your concept albums to life, who would you have play on these records? Who would you have produce?

    This will be no surprise to the people who know me but Motionless In White. I am a huge fan of their work and Chris Motionless has an amazing voice. He would do my songs well. Production wise, I’m unsure. I’ve never really looked into producers.

    1. Have there been any challenges so far in writing novels about musicians? How have you overcome them so far?

    When it comes up for the character it can be challenging to wrap the concept of how hard musicians have it versus the character himself as he has gone through some awful things in his past. In overcoming that challenge, I try to keep it as realistic as possible. I write the songs as if I were him bleeding his innermost thoughts on paper.

    1. Has anything surprised you about the writing process? Have you learned anything about yourself or your system through this project?

    It hasn’t really surprised me as I’ve known my whole life that writing is hard. It’s something I’m super passionate about. I have learned that my system is very helpful in untangling thoughts for me. If I feel particularly stuck, I can usually work it out with my alter by bouncing it around in my head.

    1. Do you have any musicians or authors that you look up to, of any genre?

    …well here we go again lol Motionless In White is my biggest musical one. Then it’s Bad Omens. Authors, I really aspire to have the ability to write like Deborah Harkness. She’s actually a historian and her novel series is very well written in the historical parts. There are historical parts in my series.

    1. Are there any songs, albums, or novels that helped you learn more about your system and the different facets of who you are, or that got you through a very hard time?

    Headache by Motionless In White perfectly sums up my head. That’s really all I can say there.

    1. What advice would you give to a young author or musician just starting out, especially if they’re plural or queer?

    Just do it. Be you and do what you love. If people don’t like it, that’s on them. The love will vastly outweigh the hate.

    1. When can we expect the first installment in your series to be published?

    I’m not sure. I’m still working on editing. My best advice is to follow me on Facebook or TikTok @WitchySerious.

    Closing Thoughts

    I hope you enjoyed this conversation! I personally can’t wait to see more of AJ Rose and his work. I think they have some great advice and really wonderful experience to pull from.

    It has been a Day, so I’m going to wander off now. However, stay tuned for more magic!

    -Siege