Hi, guys!

Ever since I put Guns up for sale I've gotten a lot of emails, some of
them very concerned. I wanted to send out a clarifying post here on
the mailing list in case anybody else was wondering what's going on.
So hopefully this email won't get too long, but I wanted to make sure
everybody who cares knows what's going on.

As you may have noticed in the ad for Guns and the yellow dun Nevada,
I am no longer collecting and I am selling off my models. Yes, this
means that my plan is to leave the hobby. No, that doesn't mean I'm
going to vanish over night, so don't worry. :) Way back in October I
decided that this would be best for me so that I can be more flexible
and creative with my limited free time. Since I made that decision,
some cool things have started to happen with my writing, so I think it
was definitely the right decision to make!

However, since I have just a massive amount of resins to sell it would
be pretty dumb for me to just put everything up for sale all at once,
since that would flood the market and ensure that I got the crummiest
possible prices for everything. So I made up a rough schedule for a
"planned retreat," if you will. ;) In order to avoid flooding the
market with my own work and with resins in general, I'm going to sell
just a few models at a time, which will take...a while. I'm not sure
how long, but my estimate is more than a year. So I'll still be
"around" and easy to get hold of until the last horse is sold.

Once the last horse is sold, its time payments are collected, and it's
shipped off to its new owner, I will vamoose. Before I disappear, I
will give an update so that those who are interested can keep an
eyeball on my writing career. If I've planned my slow exodus from the
hobby just right, I should be all wrapped up just in time for some
really cool writing stuff to begin. I'm not going to say any more
than that because I don't want to jinx anything. ;) No contracts
have been signed...yet!

I guess you can think of me as slowly trickling out of the hobby, ha-ha!

Another question I've received a lot is whether I'll be at NAN next
year, since it's in Portland. Yes, I will! I will probably still
have at least a couple of models I'd like to show (hey, they'll
probably sell better if they can win at NAN!) and I already promised
Amy Elkins quite a while ago that I'd help out in any way I could if
NAN was held in Portland. It sounds like fun and I'm looking forward
to it. It will be my last NAN, so I plan to make it a good one and
have a blast. :) I hope to see some of you there!

And the last big question.... Yes, all of my models will be for sale,
with the exception of two minis that have a whole lot of sentimental
value to me. (Petaluma and Squishy, for the curious!) However, I
don't know when I'll put each one up for sale, and I don't know for
how much yet. I won't know until I decide it's time to sell that
particular one.

I'm not going to do any first dibs, holds, deposits, or any other
method for selling them except for first-come, first-served.
Occasionally I'll put one up on Auction Barn. I think that's the
fairest sales method and it's also just plain easiest for me to keep
track of. Simplicity is good!

I *will* give about a week's advance notice on this list. I'll let
you know who I'm planning to put up for sale next so that you can
prepare if you want to have a shot at that particular horse.

Thanks again to all of you who have written! I appreciate the support
and the well-wishes. There are some great folks in this hobby! But
keep in mind this is a long-made decision, and it's a long-term,
planned withdrawal. I'm not going anywhere immediately, but if you've
ever thought of adding one of my paint jobs to your collection, now is
the time to start thinking about it. :D

I hope this email has cleared up some of the confusion over what my
plans are with regards to the hobby. Have a great week, everybody!

Melissa