fbpx

Branching Out

Branching Out

2021 has been an interesting year. We started out with the wonder if there would be many if any conventions to attend, and we finished the year with a total of six events under our belt. Not a record by any stretch, but still a good showing given the circumstances.

2022 looks to be trending more favorable as everyone is growing accustomed to what I guess we are going to call the “new normal”. This means more conventions and more opportunities to get out, see people and share my books and products with you.

Since we began this journey back in 2016, we have confined ourselves to our familiar territory of central Indiana where we are based. This coming year, 2022, we are going to start moving out into strategic areas. We are currently looking into some convention opportunities in the south-central part of Florida including none other than Tampa Bay Comic Con.

This event takes place the last weekend of July, just one week before our big show Gen Con in Indianapolis. We’ve put in an app, so we’ll wait and see.

We are also exploring some events on the East Coast near the Washington DC area. At this point, I have not applied for any events, but if you know of a good event that would fit our books and products, please let me know as I do not know the convention scene in that area like I do Indiana.

2021 also saw the launch our newest endeavor Silverwood Tableworks and Wood Designs. I’ve enjoyed working with wood ever since I was a pre-teen. I credit my grandfather and even my great grandfather, whom I never knew, with getting me into wood working. So this year, we launched a line of custom wooden gaming accessories and tables.

Currently these products can be purchased at shows, online via our own website or through our new Etsy store linked above. Right now, we make dice towers, dice trays, dice chests (coming soon), several styles of deck boxes, game storage cases, and we crown it all off with custom gaming tables/dinning tables.

As someone who spends their most of their professional time on a computer, having an outlet to work with my hands is a great life balancer.

Silverwood Tableworks and Wood Designs

Card Storage
Speedsting
Talisman
dice-tower-zebra-nightfury
Box_dice-tray-speedsting-in-Padauk
The Puzzler
carcassone box interior
Legacy Table with Spinout Trays
Basic Convertible Table
Basic Table
Card Storage Speedsting Talisman dice-tower-zebra-nightfury Box_dice-tray-speedsting-in-Padauk The Puzzler carcassone box interior Legacy Table with Spinout Trays Basic Convertible Table Basic Table

The gaming tables have started to take off since Indy Comic Con. If you’re interested in checking one out in person, you can stop by our friends at the Spartan Gaming Lounge on the southside of Indianapolis.

I still have plans for books. I’ve got several that are in different stages of development right now including a science fiction novel, a mystery, a college anthology of works, and a non-fiction book about board game design. I am having a lot of fun with developing the wood working side of things right now, so the books are taking a lot longer to get done.

mgraphman

Website:

Matthew Graphman is a thirty year veteran in the information technology world. He studied writing, drama, as well as computers while attending Bob Jones University in the late 80’s and early 90’s. There he met his wife, Wendy, of twenty-five years and started a family. He currently resides in Bloomington, Indiana with his wife and two children, Kathryn (Kat) and Ethan. His oldest son, Sean, is married and lives on the East Coast. Matthew has long been a fan of fantasy fiction. His first attempt at writing was brought on by his roommates in college. As a result, he wrote his first - still unpublished - fantasy novel. After graduating, Matthew continued his writing exploits, but his focus was mostly around theater. After developing a series of children's skits in the 2000's, he was encouraged to take the skits and convert them into a series of children's chapter books. To date, he has written five of the fifteen stories in the "Chel & Riley Adventures" series. Taking a break from creating children's fiction and drama, Matthew decided to reach back, at the request from his daughter Kat, and create a fantasy world that mixed all of her favorite thematic elements. This series is currently outlined to cover five volumes; however, he is convinced that there could be many more stories that evolve out of this new universe. Matthew is a recent winner of the 2016 and 2017 NaNoWriMo challenge.