Hihi! This is NOVORENO!

This is the first of something I’m going to do I’m calling a “monthly retrospective” at the start of each month, I shall talk about my thoughts, feelings, processes. I’m being open not to just you, but also myself, you really have to find ways to enjoy yourself on the internet nowadays. I’d say it’s for me and not for you, but I cant be selfish to someone who’s reading this right now! Plus, it’s good to be honest, to know what I want and what I’m doing. I heavily appreciate your interest, it’s what keeps these things alive.

Spring is here!! The S.A.D gunk is gone and I’ve shed a new layer. Dr.Bunny is now up and happier than ever. Well, he’s gotta go work now! Such is life.

Well… this happened! My artist name! I’ve had the name NOVORENO for years, and only started up my blog on January, but now, I see the light of a brand new identity waiting to take hold! If you see me now, I need to say thank you! It is myself, an artist, that has built myself so, but it is you that has truly affirmed this to me!

But now, let’s get the bitty points out of the way.

MY FIRST MERCH DROP Opens on the date, money on the plate, food that I ate - it’s time to be only a slightly hungry artist! And with that, over the past three months I have made original merchandise to be sold to others, novoreno.store! I am very lucky to be part of a scene that loves the integrity of the “knick knack”.

Now, I opened the store on the 25th March, and I said to myself “Okay. Its not gonna be big at all. But let’s have this goal: 5 orders. If i get 5 orders by the end of this month, that means I won.” Well, its time to say I goooot… 0 orders! Whaaaat, you think you can pass your exams the first month of studying there? I don’t really care about that right now, and it’s not like everyone has money. Build a foundation!! Build a soul!! Thats what matters right now.

But my word, was the last 5 days the most stressful one. A lot of my merch wasn’t there, and I had to basically update the shop a few days in with the proper photography. I knew, before the opening, I was 100% not gonna be all there from the get go, so I gave myself the grace period of 10th April to ship everything. Buuut, packages are still packaged, just not the things that haven’t fully came in my mail yet. Maybe it’s a professional blunder, or maybe it’s a sticky situation, but thank you for being patient either way (if you do so choose to order) If you do have concerns, complaints, that sort, then please, email me on contact@novoreno.store with the order number. But the email is for business and shop enquiries only! Anything else, then I’ll ignore ya.

SIDE TANGENT, ON PROMOTING MY MERCH Now the shilling begins. In an attempt to spread the news, I did a “blazed post” on tumblr, which basically means you give money to them in order to show your post onto others.

It was paid advertising, and that, on Tumblr, or any social media, is incredibly risky business. I only paid for 2,500 confirmed views; and it… ate a tenner from me? I tried it twice and only one worked… Anyways. It’s a small enough number to be low-key, so if I do get some backlash, it’s a good sign to take back with what you’ve done, apologise and forget it ever happened. But, I guess in some ploy to get me to buy even more blazes, I got a message from tumblr that they will instead hike up the confirmed views to 100,000. Extremely worrying, to just do that to a tenth of a million people, but I was surprised to see pretty much no consequences from that, the post lead to 800 notes, and 50 new followers, which, for a post purely about a promotion of purely original content, with no other origin, and as an artist that only started this blog three months ago, it is an incredible payout and start to what I have to do! I would like to thank all of you for that, because it is, in the end, a genuine expression of goodwill, and value towards me as an artist. But, it also taught me a lesson: the importance of retention.

According to logistics, there was 120k views and only less then one thousand interactions, that’s less than one percent! Not only does it make those thousand that did take that piece of retention incredibly important to me, but it also shows that despite being in your face, the opposite has to happen… plus tumblr has a track record for eating my money without doing anything. So… not doing that.

Meanwhile, on tiktok, I did it too, it was cheaper for more and it did NOT eat my tenner, and though I guess the extra views were nice, it does feel far more sacrilegious on tiktok to do that then tumblr even, because at that point everything just feels like a scam. But hey, my channel is going quite nicely, to my shock and horror, so I guess… more short form videos….. for me……

It did made me realise that I do like making short fun vids, its just all about what I put into it that makes it fun, gotta put that NOVORENO quirk into it! Plus, I used to think the watch and forget model was a bit disappointing, but it actually does give the opportunity for a ton of experimentation! Even now, my visual skills have improved greatly if I just try something new every video I make.

I do appreciate the offer it gave me, but I don’t think I’ll do it again, the whole paying for advertising online thing. My persistence in marketing right now honestly is just due to the fact that it’s not only new to me, but a lot to take in. Its not something you can flub, and social media does just give you that sense of… urgency? It basically makes you believe that desperation is the best thing to do, I see it often, unfortunately, but no bad feelings towards those people, its just nature…So to everyone listening- be careful with that! Always think on what you’re going to do and say first, and throwing money saying “it’s going to happen” will only take you so far. And the most important part of it all? Do what you ACTUALLY like. Sometimes they feel like a bane, but, if I do it to the music I actually like and listen to, make it in a style I enjoy or want to experiment with, it feels more like a true expression of self rather then some form of goading towards people… then well… maybe people will see the light in all of that!

The thing is, I’d love to do a separate conversation about it, think of it as a think piece; I’m learning, youre all learning, that sort of thing. In the end, promotional work… I think everyone, including the audience, knows that they are, at the end of the day it’s just a means to a monetary and advitisory end. I know its a necessity, but part of me does hate it, its like trying to grasp on the last remaining fragments of your identity. But I’m only a beginner, I know grasping for straws isn’t forever, so just do the hard frenzied work for now!!

CHILLING Three months of guild work, industrial work tours, and making a living in art, oh, it’s just too much!! But now… most of that is alleviated! I got my store open now (granted, the opening week is stressful), finished the work tours and just building my job applications for that in the comfort of my own home, and a two week spring break! Im gonna be having a hearty holiday, wine-ing and dine-ing with my best friend away from my current home i live in, and its gonna be great! After that, well, it’s back to all of that again!

EXPAND ART STOCKISTS The biggest goal of this month. Summer only starts when I say this mission is completed!!

Northern England! A beautiful place thats my home, a home I love and never want to hate and leave ever! The scenery, the culture, the art, my belonging!!

So, whats a better way to make a mark on the place I love more than bringing my art to this silly, silly half-a-country. It’ll start with West Yorkshire, because I couldn’t be happier to be a part of a place with such a landmark of industrial history and craft! Sometimes, it seems like the only place in the country that still loves the traditional trade that makes me so happy! Meeting all of these stores, many of whom are artists themselves, it makes me smile massively to see the way they smile at me. And with that, there’s a beautiful boom of an indie art renaissance, the high street has long been dead and the value of creatives are starting to be realised! Long live art!

I have already been graced to have accepted so willingly by the CraftyPraxis in Huddersfield! Thank you Katie, and the rest of the CraftyPraxis sellers! If you live near there, lucky you! You can go over and buy my things, among other local artists and yarn materials, just over there!

Im hoping, if my goals are fully achieved and things go great everywhere, I can make location exclusive merch showcasing the grand, historical buildings most of these stores reside, and the people in it! These are places I have been in, had history, even down to when I was a child! But thats a more bigger, longer to plan, pricier project, in due time!

But of course, I will take the opportunity this month to better promote my presence in these places, make short vids, add links, alllll that sort. Im also making a product catalogue and can hopefully have a spot of places where you can go to shop my goods!

WEBSITE UPDATES It does feel bad that despite I link this blog always, this site is still so shoddy!! It’s still probably going to be in its ‘beta’ stages for ages, but I still want more workable spots. Have an update every once in a bit to overhaul a lot of stuff, til I like what I see. Doesn’t have to be fancy, just workable.

Make veryyyyyy long projects.

WRITING CONTESTS Honestly, competitive writing is a guilty pleasure of mine now, and Ive only found out how much I love it just last year. Its great to build your skills as a writer, time management, word count and pacing, it really puts you in a breakneck rush to make the best thing you’ve ever made in your life, and its great to look at previous entries to see how to refine that to a professional, admirable standard.

Despite starting my love for it last year, I’ve only started submitting this year! I now feel like I’m, at the very least, confident enough to make a piece of completed, competent work, and have enough ideas in my notebooks to have an interesting concept to basically blaze past my prose for. Now, I cant say anything yet, but I have made just one or two entries the start of this year. If I had a goal in terms of that, I’d say, maybe by the end of the year I get enough credit for one of my entries to be published in an anthology! Now, its not the publishing deal I care for, nor the prize money, its more like a sign of validation. I’ve always feared my ability to write, if I saw something that said to me “this, what you have, it has something genuine about it, you actually have the ability to do something great” well, that’ll be just enough to write for miles!!

It is fun to write these entries, thinking I’m gonna be titled number one person in the whole entire world!! But in the end, winning… is just fantasy. They do fuel the motivation machine, but let’s be humble and keep them as fantasies, yes? Too much praise is scary anyways. So you should never compliment me, unless I did something realllyyyyy goooodddd…

SHORT STORY?? I wouldn’t mind to do so, well, Im doing it right now. And I’m hoping that the first draft will be done by spring. Now, I will not tell you what it is, what it’s about, who’s in it, or whatnot. Because for all we know I could end up hating what I see on paper and just realise it’s not worth my time. But just know, the need to do something like that is there! But Id like to see if my writing is actually good first before I start writing whole stories (See above for writing contests).

SPRING 2026 RETROSPECTIVE AND SURVEY They say it’s the initial steps thats always the most important, and it definitely will be here! A mailing list and end of season survey! A bit brief, but it’ll help me, I hope, and heyyyy… maybe you’ll get a cool thing or two from it! Cmon… sign up… sign up…

Well that’s the end of it. What a long month… I will admit, I do feel quite run down, too much of everything, but! It’s a start.

Thank you thank you, and goodbye!!

Dr. Bunny , NOVORENO