iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Melanie Fletcher 📚🐈🧢 @melaniefletcher.bsky.social · 16/08/2026

Perfect for readers who love lush historical fantasy, sweeping romance, immortal heroes, Egyptian mythology, fated mates, and high-stakes supernatural adventure. #booksky #romancelandia books2read.com/u/4X7yY7

An ad for the Victorian romantasy novella GODDESS OF THE NILE, from the Hidden Empire series by Nicola M. Cameron. Against a background of the desert at dawn, a pair of ancient Egyptians and a pair of Victorians embrace on the edges of the scene, framing the text: "What happens when four immortals are the only things standing between an Egyptian demon and a pair of star-crossed lovers?" with pictures of the print book and an e-reader beneath the text.

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Melanie Fletcher 📚🐈🧢 @melaniefletcher.bsky.social · 06/08/2026

Picking up 3D modeling skills. Mainly did it so that I could print miniatures for my dollhouses, but I discovered that I truly enjoy doing design work. Frex, when we needed a bracket to hold a pool pump thermometer, I whomped up this little gem. Fits the thermo like a glove and has a snap-on lid.

A mechanical drawing of a bracket designed to hold a pool pump thermometer in a Hayward timer enclosure.

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Melanie Fletcher 📚🐈🧢 @melaniefletcher.bsky.social · 06/08/2026

Okay #Romancelandia and #Booksky -- I'm recovering my Olympic Cove series to match the current visual language for mythological romance, and this is a draft version of the new cover style. Would this make you stop and check out the book on Amazon/B&N/Kobo/et al?

A draft revised cover for the mythological romance novel Storm Season (Olympic Cove Book 1) by Nicola Cameron. A silver trident stands unsupported against a dark teal background of sky and sea, with pale steel grey baroque decorations framing the trident and title.

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Melanie Fletcher 📚🐈🧢 @melaniefletcher.bsky.social · 06/09/2025

Drafting: I'm learning how to create technical drawings in FreeCAD with proper measurements and manufacturing details. R&D: I do research on what machines we need, and use power tools to drill/saw holes in items upon request. Somewhere, my grandfather is smiling down on me in pride. 2/

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Melanie Fletcher 📚🐈🧢 @melaniefletcher.bsky.social · 06/09/2025

I'm becoming an ersatz mechanical engineer at the day job, which delights me. 3D Printing: I have been crowned the Print Master (I maintain the two 3D printers, set up the second one, and keep them in filament), I'm learning Blender and FreeCAD, and have designed some prototype elements. 1/

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Melanie Fletcher 📚🐈🧢 @melaniefletcher.bsky.social · 31/03/2025

I put on a video of birds and chipmunks for the J Crew today. They did not seem impressed. Maybe they’re more documentary cats?

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Melanie Fletcher 📚🐈🧢 @melaniefletcher.bsky.social · 31/03/2025

I am so tired. But the tax numbers have been crunched and are off to the accountant, there are clean sheets on the bed, food has been purchased, cats have been fed, dinner is ready, and I don’t have to do anything else today except hang my resin print to drip when it’s finished.

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Melanie Fletcher 📚🐈🧢 @melaniefletcher.bsky.social · 18/03/2025

I have managed to write a little over 200 words today. The fact that my sinuses are exploding from grass pollen did not help in this achievement.

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Reposted by Melanie Fletcher 📚🐈🧢

Cecilia Tan @ceciliatan.com · 16/03/2025

If you’re a Kindle Unlimited reader, the whole series is there for one more month before the books start falling out and going wide! So go binge it now! 😄

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Melanie Fletcher 📚🐈🧢 @melaniefletcher.bsky.social · 12/03/2025

find and install an appropriate hanging light on the balcony ceiling, add handles to the front and balcony doors, and build a weather vane for the tower roof. But the roof is shingled, stained, and weathered, and all the trim is on, which is what really matters.

A more exciting angle of my Painted Lady Victorian dollhouse where you can see the dormer windows in the bathroom. I love how the slate grey shingles go with the lavender/aqua/moss green/cream trim.

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Melanie Fletcher 📚🐈🧢 @melaniefletcher.bsky.social · 12/03/2025

And the exterior is officially 99.9% done. I still have to cut, paint, and install some trim along the dormers (which has to wait until they're glued in because I need to remove them while I'm working on the bathroom and writer's office), install the lantern lights next to the front door...

My Painted Lady Victorian dollhouse from Real Good Toys. I added custom window/door pediments, custom entryway and balcony arches, three dormer windows, and a whole bunch of architectural trim (thank God for having a 3D printer).

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Melanie Fletcher 📚🐈🧢 @melaniefletcher.bsky.social · 09/03/2025

Yeah, I really loved that combination of spring pastels.

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Reposted by Melanie Fletcher 📚🐈🧢

Indie Book Spotlight @bookspotlight.bsky.social · 07/03/2025

I am literally begging for nuance and understanding in this area for authors. Indies have incredibly limited options and KU is exclusive and will ban authors from publishing if their books are found on other websites. For indie authors whose entire income comes from KU, they can't just leave.

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Melanie Fletcher 📚🐈🧢 @melaniefletcher.bsky.social · 08/03/2025

I cannot wait to see how it's going to look when it's done.

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Melanie Fletcher 📚🐈🧢 @melaniefletcher.bsky.social · 07/03/2025

Yeah, this house is exceeding even my expectations so far. :-D

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Melanie Fletcher 📚🐈🧢 @melaniefletcher.bsky.social · 07/03/2025

The empty attic space needed its own decor as well. I sized various acanthus triangular decorations to fit the gable spaces and the area around the oval window, then designed fish scale shingles (a very period detail for PLs) that I could 3D print in strips and added those to the attic wall.

The attic floor of the Painted Lady Victorian dollhouse kit. I added 3D printed acanthus decor to the main and smaller gables as well as around the oval window, then designed and printed fish scale shingle strips for the wall.

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Melanie Fletcher 📚🐈🧢 @melaniefletcher.bsky.social · 07/03/2025

I continued to go through the architectural files and kept finding all kinds of bits that would look fantastic on the house, like little drooping acanthus leaves that fit in the borders I added to the column plinths on the porches when I designed my own porch and balcony trim.

The modified porch and second floor balcony on the Painted Lady Victorian dollhouse kit. I didn't like the trim that came with it so I sourced the latticework topping both spaces, built columns to support it, and added wood and 3D printed trim.

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Melanie Fletcher 📚🐈🧢 @melaniefletcher.bsky.social · 07/03/2025

The result has been stunning so far, especially with the "stained glass" windows (done with vinyl cut on a Silhouette cutter and glass paint). Lyndon took a look at it once I got the window decor and said wistfully, "I want to live in that."

The tower bay window of the Painted Lady with added window pediments, window casing brackets, and corbels printed on a Bambu Lab A1 Mini.

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Melanie Fletcher 📚🐈🧢 @melaniefletcher.bsky.social · 07/03/2025

As Lyndon said, real Painted Lady owners were shown a wide variety of potential elements that could be added to their house exterior and said, "Yes." PLs are ELABORATE. And now that I could print architectural elements in scale, I could make my Painted Lady as elaborate as I liked.

3D printed architectural details in 1:12 dollhouse scale. Shown are window pediments with sunburst detail, carved corbels, and decorated window casing brackets.

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Melanie Fletcher 📚🐈🧢 @melaniefletcher.bsky.social · 07/03/2025

And then Lyndon bought me a Bambu Lab A1 Mini 3D printer in January. I had fun printing things like shower stalls and apothecary cabinets for the house. And then I found a pack of 1026 architectural and furniture elements on Etsy in STL format and snapped it up. Hoo boy.

3D printed shower stall in 1:12 dollhouse scale. Clear doors slide open.

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Melanie Fletcher 📚🐈🧢 @melaniefletcher.bsky.social · 07/03/2025

So I've been keeping sane by working on my dollhouse, a Painted Lady Victorian that's been sitting in the craft room since 2010. After the election I kicked into high gear to finish the outside (95% finished—all I need to do is finish shingling the roof and stain the shingles) and wire the inside.

The Painted Lady Victorian dollhouse kit from Real Good Toys. It has three stories and a tower on the left side. The main clapboard walls are lavender, flat walls and window/door trim are white with lavender, moss green, and robin egg blue accents.

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Melanie Fletcher 📚🐈🧢 @melaniefletcher.bsky.social · 05/02/2025

I know things are a dumpster fire right now. But remember to drink your water, eat something nutritious, and move your body. Outlive the bastards out of sheer spite.

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Melanie Fletcher 📚🐈🧢 @melaniefletcher.bsky.social · 23/01/2025

The word "remission" was used, and both the oncologist and surgeon gave their blessing for jawbone regeneration next year if everything remains stable. That will give me enough bone tissue for implants, so I may be chewing on both sides of my mouth again in 2027!

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Melanie Fletcher 📚🐈🧢 @melaniefletcher.bsky.social · 23/01/2025

Phoo. Last Friday I had a CT scan and bloodwork for my jaw. Monday I had a dental cleaning (everything looked great), Tuesday I had my oncologist appointment (everything looked great) and today I had my surgeon's appointment for a scope and X-rays (everything looked great).

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Melanie Fletcher 📚🐈🧢 @melaniefletcher.bsky.social · 13/01/2025

You have my ax. Both the bladed one and the string one.

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Melanie Fletcher 📚🐈🧢 @melaniefletcher.bsky.social · 13/01/2025

But it's all water under the bridge now. And every time I hear that thumping keyboard opening to Everybody Needs Somebody to Love, I smile because I remember how much fun it was to perform that in front of an audience.

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Melanie Fletcher 📚🐈🧢 @melaniefletcher.bsky.social · 13/01/2025

I think what wrecked me about the attempted coup was that *I* thought we had an absolute blast playing together. We even performed a couple of times afterwards, and at least one marriage came out of that band. Like I said, I don't know why J&E wanted me out.

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Melanie Fletcher 📚🐈🧢 @melaniefletcher.bsky.social · 13/01/2025

Oh, I cried over that. But the tenor sax player who eventually became my BIL flatly told J&E that I had formed the damned band and if I was forced out, the rest of them would leave with me. J&E backed down and we played at the talent contest. I honestly don't remember if we won or not.

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Melanie Fletcher 📚🐈🧢 @melaniefletcher.bsky.social · 13/01/2025

We were all symphonic/jazz band vets—we were a couple of steps above a garage band. Not to be vain, but we were pretty damned good. Until then I found out that, for reasons I still do not understand, the guys playing Jake and Elwood tried to get me booted from the band. That I started. I ask you.

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Melanie Fletcher 📚🐈🧢 @melaniefletcher.bsky.social · 13/01/2025

The keyboard, guitar, and bass player learned their music from the piano sheet music and the drummer (who was very, very good) learned his parts from the album as well. We practiced in my garage, much to the delight of the neighborhood kids who came around to listen.

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Melanie Fletcher 📚🐈🧢 @melaniefletcher.bsky.social · 13/01/2025

So I borrowed a trombone and a sax from band members, sat down with the album and wrote out the sheet music for each wind instrument. I had perfect pitch and knew how to transpose into different keys and clefs so this wasn't the big deal Mom thought it was.

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Melanie Fletcher 📚🐈🧢 @melaniefletcher.bsky.social · 13/01/2025

Why, I do not know. She talked a music professor at the U of C into writing them for us. The prof, who was very ill at the time, pretty much transposed the piano music, which wasn't what we needed. Mom got really pissed when I told her this (once again, I do not know why).

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Melanie Fletcher 📚🐈🧢 @melaniefletcher.bsky.social · 13/01/2025

I then went through the symphonic and jazz band to find the rest of the band members. And then it was time to start practicing. One problem—we had no sheet music apart from piano music. I wanted to write out the parts for each wind instrument, but my mother insisted that I couldn't do that.

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Melanie Fletcher 📚🐈🧢 @melaniefletcher.bsky.social · 13/01/2025

In 1981, my high school held a talent contest. Being 1) a trumpet player who 2) loved the Blues Brothers and 3) knew lots of people who played instruments, I decided to take a crack at forming a BB band for the contest. I recruited two seniors to play Elwood and Jake.

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Melanie Fletcher 📚🐈🧢 @melaniefletcher.bsky.social · 13/01/2025

Did I ever tell y'all about my Blues Brothers band? So many, many years ago, I was in my high school symphonic band, which meant I knew kids who played a variety of instruments. Now, the Blues Brothers movie came out in 1980, which was of great import to those of us on the south side of Chicago.

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Melanie Fletcher 📚🐈🧢 @melaniefletcher.bsky.social · 11/01/2025

I finally demonstrated the common sense that God gave goats and put the humidifier in the bedroom last night. Woke up feeling 150% better.

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Melanie Fletcher 📚🐈🧢 @melaniefletcher.bsky.social · 11/01/2025

It's 50°F here in the clavicle of Texas, and the snow we received on Thursday and Friday is melting in a roar of dripping water and sunshine. Which is good because it'll sink into the ground and buffer the plants against the summer.

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Melanie Fletcher 📚🐈🧢 @melaniefletcher.bsky.social · 11/01/2025

Ever have the situation where you've written a story, and it's done, and yet you know you're missing something but you don't know what? In other news I'm poking at an SF short story that refuses to play ball. I think I need to go away and mull over this some more.

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Melanie Fletcher 📚🐈🧢 @melaniefletcher.bsky.social · 11/01/2025

What with the storm, I made some bread on Wednesday. Had a couple of slices in a sandwich today and may I just say that I make damn fine bread. Mm. May go downstairs and toast up a couple of slices, then slather them with butter.

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Melanie Fletcher 📚🐈🧢 @melaniefletcher.bsky.social · 11/01/2025

Will it work? Who knows—it's charging now, so we'll see. But while I am still sleepy, I am also feeling accomplished, so I have that going for me.

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Melanie Fletcher 📚🐈🧢 @melaniefletcher.bsky.social · 11/01/2025

I wanted to take a nap this afternoon because 1) it's cold and 2) it's cold. Instead, I partially disassembled our Neato robot vacuum so I could figure out what was binding the brush, because of course I did. I think I pulled out enough hair/dust/schmutz to make a tribble.

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Melanie Fletcher 📚🐈🧢 @melaniefletcher.bsky.social · 08/01/2025

We are about as set as we can get for Winter Storm Cora. All battery banks charged, food stocked up, water shutoff tool available if we lose power and have to drain the pipes. And apparently Cancun Cruz was seen at Hobby Airport so God knows where he's headed.

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Melanie Fletcher 📚🐈🧢 @melaniefletcher.bsky.social · 03/01/2025

If you include alt history as SF, I have an alt history mystery titled A MOST MALICIOUS MURDER. What happens when Edgar Allan Poe and Lewis Carroll team up to stop a murderer?

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Melanie Fletcher 📚🐈🧢 @melaniefletcher.bsky.social · 29/12/2024

Someone is missing out on their chance to check in early and choose stateroom stuff for their upcoming cruise. If only they’d used their Gmail addy instead of mine…

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