Wren Handman's Blog

Step one: Build your bookshelf!

I bought craft wood from the dollar store; as you can see, mine wasn’t tall enough to do the whole shelf, so I made two small shelves and glued them together. I put a square piece on the back to help secure it. Make sure you buy wood that’s nice and thin, so you can cut it with scissors! The first package I bought was too thick and I could NOT figure out how to chop it.

I didn’t measure ANY of this, I just eyeballed it, but honestly I like how it’s a little obviously handmade, I think it looks cute. The one part you really should measure is the shelves. Whatever size your books are going to be, you want the shelves to be just a LITTLE bit deeper, otherwise you end up having to make a little bar at the base of every shelf so the books sit nicely like I did… cough cough.

*Note – you could also use a premade shelf. I found one at the dollar store but I didn’t like how skinny it was, I wanted something that was a little wider.

Step two: Make your drawer. This part almost killed me because I kept mis-measuring it, lol. You want the drawer to fit nicely inside, so I made the face of the drawer a little bigger and then made the inside box a little smaller? Also, punch the holes for the drawer handles first, it will be much easier! I used a push pin. I HIGHLY recommend this magic craft glue for this step, I tried tacky glue and it kept falling apart and it was a nightmare, whereas this stuff bonds really fast but then still lets you adjust afterward, which is a lifesaver. https://www.unicorntoys.com/products/diy-miniatures-glue-30ml

Next, you want to get two beads, and two flat-head jewellery pins. I was lucky I had already had these so I didn’t have to buy a whole package just to do this step. You could just glue the beads on but it wouldn’t be strong enough to pull the drawer open with the handle!

Put the bead onto the pin, cut it down, stick it through the hole you made, fold it down with pliars, glue the pin in place, and then stick some tape over it to hold it in place while the glue dries. You need the tape, trust me! I used black electrical tape.

Step three: Paint! The wood will probably be very light coloured and won’t look like a bookshelf. You can paint it whatever colour you want. I also used matte Modge Podge on top of the paint to stop it from getting scratched up too easily.

Step four: Make your number hangers. I used square “dice” blocks from the dollar store and painted them gold (or silver for the dark blue shelf). Then I used small nails from a dollar store paint hanging kit (everything is from the dollar store, lol) and hammered the nails into the centre. Glued them on and voila, a place to hang numbers!

Step five: Make your numbers! I got these cool wooden tags from the dollar store. They had letters on one side, so I painted that over in black. Then I painted the other side gold (or silver) and stuck number stickers onto them! I got a big bag of like 100 for a dollar.

Step six: Make your book covers! If you go on Pinterest and look up “mini book covers” you can find a TON. I made to resize them all to be the right dimensions, though, which was a bit annoying. If I was doing it again I would probably make the books whatever dimensions they started as, but here’s my template!

I used a roll of “mounting tape” which is foam tape that’s sticky on both sides (from, you guessed it, the dollar store) and stuck in 1 to 3 layers depending on how thick the spine of the book was. Having the different thicknesses really looks good! One trick is to lay down all of the layers and THEN cut the extra off. It’ll make it easier for it all to line up.

Step seven: The cute little sign! I cut it out and glued it onto a piece of plastic (I used a cut up strawberry container), then used the push pin from earlier to poke holes in it. I used jewelery jump rings to make the little metal chain. I used pliars to bend two jump rings in half and glued them to the top to hold it in place. This was a tricky step! Getting the jump rings in place without pulling them off was hard. Use more glue than you think you’ll need! (The image is designed to be 8.5 x 11 because I can’t figure out how to make my printer print things the size I want them unless I lay them out on a blank page, lol.)

Step eight: Home stretch! The last step is the little accessories. I used baking polymer clay and made candles, a little cat paw symbol, a tea cup, a crow’s skull. Whatever feels like you!

I think that’s it. Comments are open if I left anything out or you have any questions as you go. Happy crafting!!!

Thank you so much to everyone who voted in the qualifying round of the Indie Ink Awards! Thanks to your support, my novel A Midnight So Deadly made it through to the final round in four categories:

Writing the Future We Need: Bisexual or Biromantic RepresentationWriting the Future We Need: Asexual or Aromantic RepresentationWriting the Future We Need: Trans or Nonbinary RepresentationPrettiest book interior

The next round is fully judged, no more popularity contest. Cross your fingers for me! The awards ceremony is August, 2025.

When love is at risk, what won’t we do to save it?

Enter Midvalen, a world of kings and kingdoms, princes and pretenders.

In the Kingdom of Miranov, Taya seems to have it all: she owns her own store, she’s engaged to be married to a handsome man, and she’s a success. But the truth is more complicated than anyone could guess. Her engagement is a sham, an agreement of convenience. Taya thinks things have become complicated when she realizes that she’s fallen in love with Darrin, something she never planned to do. But what’s worse is discovering that her simple sailor boy is actually the crown prince of neighboring Sephria, and his usurping Uncle is trying to kill him.

When Darrin shows up at her door, bleeding and fleeing assassins, Taya is drawn into a complicated mess of politics, fighting, and broken hearts. Her allegiances will be questioned, her love will find a new course, and she’ll do it all while trying to stay alive, save the day, and guard her heart.

Command the Tides is available to buy pretty much everywhere books are sold!

Buy The book

A Midnight So Deadly has been nominated for EIGHT categories in the Indie Ink Awards 2024! These awards are chosen by VOTE, so please please please consider taking the time to leave a vote for me. The entries are alphabetical, so I’m easy to find in the first or second row of most of the categories!

If you don’t have time to vote in all eight categories, the categories with the least competition are:

Prettiest book interior
Writing the Future We Need: Asexual or Aromantic Representation
Writing the Future We Need: Trans or Nonbinary Representation

And the others are:

Best book cover and cover artist
Best light read
Best setting
Writing the Future We Need: Bisexual or Biromantic Representation
Writing the Future We Need: LGBTQ+ Representation

Voting is open from December 18 to December 31! Thank you SO MUCH for supporting A Midnight So Deadly.

Command the Tides has a new cover for its second edition release!

Ten years ago, I released my first full-length novel. Command the Tides was a wild ride through a fantasy world, with a thrilling romance and a unique political setting. 

But it was ahead of its time, and never really found its audience.

Now that romantasy is here to stay, I’ve been hard at work rewriting Command the Tides, adding a whole new magic system and a dash of spice. I also did some updating and rewriting of the prose, as I’ve grown as a writer over the past decade. The second edition is done and in layout right now, and I’m thrilled to share the new cover with you.

I’ll be announcing a release date soon, so stayed tuned! I can’t wait to share it with all of you.

When dreams infect the waking world, what threats—and promises—do they bring?

“Crafted with precise prose and an engrossing plot, it’s easy to get swept away—though, given the emphasis on what happens with your eyes closed, it’s perhaps not a before-bed book.” – Georgia Strait

Maeve and Peri are ‘dreamers,’ creators who record their dreams and publish them to the delight of their fans. When Maeve dreams of the murder of her friend’s abusive ex—and then he’s killed in the real world—her ‘dream’ job becomes terrifying. At the same time, Peri is losing their grip on reality as they search for a woman who keeps appearing in their dreams. Who is this enticing stranger? How does she keep finding Peri, night after night? And what will it cost to hunt her down?

To find the answers to their questions, Maeve and Peri will first have to find each other. As their dreams begin to bleed into the real world, and the borders between reality and illusion come unstuck, reality itself faces deadly collapse.

https://books2read.com/u/47R1J7

https://parliamenthousepress.store/shop/pre-orders/a-midnight-so-deadly-by-wren-handman/

Releases Aug 28, 2024

https://books2read.com/u/47R1J7

A Midnight So Deadly by Wren Handman

When dreams infect the waking world, what threats—and promises—do they bring?

Fans of Kelley Armstrong’s Cainsville series and Leigh Bardugo’s Alex Stern books will love this cozy thriller about the unexplored realms within each of us.

Maeve and Peri are ‘dreamers,’ creators who record their dreams and publish them to the delight of their fans. When Maeve dreams of the murder of her friend’s abusive ex—and then he’s killed in the real world—her ‘dream’ job becomes terrifying. At the same time, Peri is losing their grip on reality as they search for a woman who keeps appearing in their dreams. Who is this enticing stranger? How does she keep finding Peri, night after night? And what will it cost to hunt her down?

To find the answers to their questions, Maeve and Peri will first have to find each other. As their dreams begin to bleed into the real world, and the borders between reality and illusion come unstuck, reality itself faces deadly collapse.

Parliament House Books has acquired my newest, with the work-in-progress title of The Way By Moonlight.

I am so excited for this book to reach shelves in the fall of 2024! Stay tuned for updates as I edit this darling and get it ready for your eager hands.

THE WAY BY MOONLIGHT follows two strangers as they travel through their recorded dreams, one looking for clues when their dreams start coming true, and the other on a quest for a mysterious woman. They are eventually united as the dream world’s mysteries unfold.

I close my eyes to hide the tears.

I take deep breaths and will the drops to sink back into my ducts. You lie beneath me, your heartbeat strong against my cheek. I explore the smooth planes of your chest as if I’ve never felt them before; my fingers move of their own accord, tracing alchemical symbols I don’t understand, or don’t remember. You root me to this bed, solid in a way I don’t quite believe in.

I blink in rapid-fire bursts, but the tears are slow to evaporate…and anyway, they’ll leave a mark.

Happiness has a way of doing that.

So, I wrote this book about werewolves in 2014. I updated it in 2018 but never did anything with it because werewolves felt a bit played out. But it’s fun and light-hearted, and I think we all need a little more of that in our lives right now! So what the heck, I decided to put it out. It’s a dollar! You should get a copy! (paperbacks will follow but sadly won’t be as cheap, because, you know, paper costs money.)

A Wild and Precious Life