From Our DeviantArt Post

Reanna: I don't think I'd ever realize I'm bigender without my headmates. I'd have probably just continued thinking I'm making it up.

It happened in 2022. The feeling may have been triggered by a dream Chaz had in 2021 (link to the dream.) It caused his form to go back and forth between male and female. This happened so much that he made a character to make it stop.

Then, we did research on trans men for a scrapped story idea in February. I noticed a desire to be a man, but when I imagined a full transition, it conflicted with my womanhood. So, I told myself that I was making it up, that it was the research talking.

But the feeling didn't leave.

A desire to be a man while remaining a woman. I didn't know why I was feeling this way. We felt confused. There was so much conflict.

Then, on April 19, Brian was thinking about all of this. He realized something and said, "I think we're bigender." Because I represent the body, it means that I'm bigender. The conflict stopped because the word fit.

Without Brian's realization, I would have still felt confused. Without Brian's realization, I would have continued dismissing my feelings as "making it up."

Happy Thanksgiving from Mint Phalanx!

Carnival: Profile

Title: Carnival (links to Amazon) Edition: second Genre: gothic horror comedy Year self-published: 2022 (through B&N Press), 2024 (through KDP)

Copyright status: CC BY 4.0 (do whatever you want as long as you credit the original work.)

Blurb: A car explodes while leaving Lakeside Amusement Park. Rebecca is assumed dead. After James and Chaz argue over what happened, they and their friends go there to look for her. Instead of entering Lakeside, our heroes find themselves in Carnival, the park’s Faerie counterpart. It is a backdrop which makes finding Rebecca only one of their worries.

Format: novella Page count: 76 (seventy-six)

MPA Rating: R (Restricted) Reasons: profanity, violence, child death, drama, spirit possession, and horror

Price: $6.50 (paperback), $13.00 (hardcover)

Note: This is the one we portrayed ourselves in. It was like acting in a movie. Chaz, Brian, and Rebecca are the only tulpas in this story that still consider themselves part of the phalanx. The rest chose to live in a place we call The Background to relieve head pressure (a sense of pressure, not actual pressure.)

SL: The flowers we got our mum yesterday have roses, so F.M. and I plan to remake the cover of The Year After with one of them. We already took the picture.

The current cover has a white carnation with pink stripes. It represents love that wasn't shared. We only used it because we got the flower on our birthday.

But a red rose represents true love. The Year After is a romance after all. Plus, we used a rose for The Murder After (a yellow one representing friendship.) Here's a link to that cover.

I'm glad we can use roses for both books.

Reanna: I made three posts about my anxiety, but I decided to delete them. This should be more private. Sharing in detail was probably making it worse. I thought it would help, but it didn't.

I am feeling better now. Have a good day!

Happy Valentine's Day from Mint Phalanx!

New Project

Reanna: We're preparing a new project to work on once SL finishes The Year After. It's about a girl in charge of describing short silent films to make a dark ride accessible to the blind. All films we plan to use are in the United States' Public Domain.

We don't have a name for this story yet, so we're calling it Whatever Terrance is Doing. (It was his idea. We came up with the working title when he started bookmarking videos of old films with no idea what to do with them.)

F.M.: I told Reanna our midterm for recreation class was due on the 15th, which is the 14th at 11:59 PM in Arizona. (We live in Colorado.) It was actually due on the 13th. Now, it's my job to finish the assignment. At least we weren't kicked out.

Update: We did it! Now, we can feel stupid for thinking it was due today!

Reasons to Buy The Murder After

You like mystery and dramadey.

You want to give these genres a try.

You want a short book that doesn't take long to read. (It's 44 pages. One chapter a day plus the sneak peek is eight days.)

You want a mystery but don't want to solve it.

You want to read an attempt at narrating in the British dialect.

Link to its page on Amazon (Note: We would give this book an MPA rating of PG-13.)

Reanna: The Plural Positivity Word Conference's admission changed, so we won't be able to go. The organizers said the change was caused by Airmeet changing its contract. General admission is $50, and scholarships seem to only be available to members of The Plural Association online community. We relied on the scholarships for free admission.

This sucks because we were looking forward to bringing Terrance. Plus, we went almost every year. Going to the Plural Positivity World Conference made us feel like we were part of the community. Tumblr and Dreamwidth can never substitute that.

If you can, please donate to The Plural Association. Maybe that might help the organizers give scholarships more freely next year.

Link to Donorbox