#(Advice

[reasonsforhope]

Btw you do NOT need to read the news to help people

You can do all of these things without reading the news:

Go to protests

Volunteer

Join a mutual aid network

Write to your representatives

Donate

Clean up trash and pollution

Curate and provide resources for your community

Citizen science/citizen history projects to help the environment/etc.

Much, much more

Reading the news is not a moral obligation. Following people whose posts make you spiral is not a moral obligation.

I am more able to help people when I don't regularly read the news. I volunteer more. I go out early to go weed invasive species at a nature reserve. I have more capacity to support my friends and the people I care about.

I have more energy to work on this blog, for that matter. (Obviously I regularly read a lot of good news. Which I recommend. The rest of this post is about normal news, which highly rewards negative content.)

You cannot pour from an empty vessel.

What matters is doing something to help.

[reasonsforhope]

There's a saying my dad taught me, that I've found is very true in life:

The antidote to anxiety is action.

If you're like me, you're probably anxious right now. And scared. And quite probably angry. About climate change, about the Palestinian genocide, about Donald fucking Trump.

That only makes sense. It hurts to find out that people aren't as good as you thought, or hoped. It hurts to know how much better we could be doing, and then see all the ways in which we aren't doing that. It hurts to know that people are going to die.

This is something I've been grappling with myself since the US election. I had hopes that were higher than this, and I had reasons for those hopes, but in several spheres, those hopes have been disappointed.

That's not a reason to give up, though. It's not a reason to give up on the world, on yourself, on your life, or on hope.

The antidote to anxiety is action.

(Nobody is allowed to interpret this statement as being about/against psych meds btw. Meds are great and help a lot of people. But this isn't about them.)

Fear and anxiety exist for a reason: to warn us when there is a threat. And to motivate us to do something about that threat.

That's why, the more you push anxiety down down down, the worse it tends to get.

Your brain - your self - is telling you that something is wrong, and that you need to do something about it.

So listen. And find something you can do to help. Anything.

It will make you feel better, I promise. Maybe not right away, but it will.

And the more you do to help, the more you'll see the difference it can make. The more you're surrounded by people who are also helping, who also care. The more you'll see more and more ways to help.

Look up organizations near you - especially organizations that help protect the groups that are most vulnerable right now: undocumented people, immigrants, trans people, BIPOC, queer people, Muslims, Jewish people, disabled people, unhoused people.

Find someone who is helping, and find a way to help them.

The more we do to help each other, the more we organize, the more we resist fascism and work to beat climate change and make those fuckers pay for every. last. fucking. inch...

The more we will change. The more people we will protect and save.

We're stronger together. So find something you can do. And do it.

[thatsbelievable]

[meanbossart]

How did you start posting du Drow? I would love to post about my own tavs but I feel like I’d be infodumping into the void. Did you start with art and questions came later, or did you just drop a full backstory and continue adding on? (Obsessed with your guy btw, the angst you write is so good)

I mean, aren't we all "info-dumping into the void" until something happens?

It was definitely the art that caught people's attention first, and for some baffling reason many folks were ALSO interested in his backstory and my writing once I started posting small bits about it. I think it has a little bit to do with him falling outside of some commonalities from the time - he was a big buff dude, his formative "bhaalspawn" relationship was Orin rather than Gortash, and I'm at least told that my characterization of Astarion and his relationship with him is a little "unique", though I couldn't tell you why exactly... In all likelihood, that is just something that every artist gets in their own inboxes from the people who resonate with their personal characterizations!

If you want my honest opinion, I think it's a lot of "luck". I know I'm a talented artist and at the very least a competent amateur writer, but MANY people are, too, and not all of them manage to garner an audience - no wonder so many artists (myself included) feel as if they have stumbled into the limelight by complete accident.

That said, i think its always a good idea to be passionate, and I think that really resonates with people - either because they are passionate themselves, or because they wished they could be - I've had a lot of folks (politely) ask me how can I not be embarrassed about posting the art that I make or being so into dissecting the lives and creating narratives for these fictional characters, saying that that's what holds them back from diving into their own creativity... What that says to me is that a lot of people aren't really putting everything that they have to offer out there, or do so with a lot of palpable reluctance/insecurity that, unfortunately, does tend to be very off-putting.

Sorry for the ramble, I feel as if this wasn't super helpful... But I think a point that can be drawn from it is that there isn't really any reason not to share your work and thoughts, as that seems to be the only true commonality among people who do find a following to entertain and share their ideas with!

[angstandhappiness]

True

tbh when i hear some people talk about 'breaking cycles of abuse', it becomes clear pretty quickly who has come to understand that phrase to mean 'since i was a victim of abuse/neglect by my parents/caretaker/s i will do everything to be nothing like them' and that is all. its not a completely flawed way of thinking either - something that hurt you would very likely hurt someone else; through empathy we learn to understand not to hurt others the way we were hurt too.

but what 'breaking cycles' looks like is more complicated than just not being your parents/caretakers - it's about recognizing how the things that happened to you changed you and how you can heal so you don't hurt someone else in turn. the survival skills you learned in an unhealthy enviroment often translate to poor if not unhealthy interpersonal skills in an enviroment where things ARE safe.

its a difficult pill to swallow for a lot of survivors of abuse (trust me, i know) because we have a tendency to simply want our pain to be recognized. by painting yourself as "absolutely nothing like my abuser" you can abstain from recognizing your own harmful tendencies and live comfortably in the role of victim hood for the rest of your life. it can be tempting to do this especially when so many people will do their best to deny what you experienced - almost like leaning into a stuck door that just won't budge.

the problem with this is if you never recognize that being mistreated made it so you LACK a lot of what other people learned from a loving enviroment, you can hurt people pretty badly even when doing your best just not to replicate what your parents/caretakers got wrong.

this also hurts for victims because, when it comes down to it - it's not FAIR. you were hurt for no reason, and most of us will never hear an apology or even admittance from the person who did it - so why do YOU have to change? why do YOU, the person hurt unjustly, have to put in the work?

and i mean. that's what breaking a cycle is. it means pushing against what's fair and comfortable deliberately so that you can stop something that's been repeating. it's work. its not just recognition of pain, it's the purposeful healing and treatment of it. but thats scary, and it's not fun, so a lot of people fall right back into it. its a lot easier said than done.

[thefemigirl]

★ Level Up Your Finances - Prt 1

Hey, lovely! Let’s talk about something super important that often gets overlooked—financial literacy. I know, the term might sound intimidating or even boring, but trust me, it’s your golden ticket to independence, confidence, and making smart life choices.

As young women, understanding money empowers us to live life on our terms, invest in our futures, and say goodbye to financial stress. So, I have five of the easiest and most important ways to up your financial game!

▸ Set a Weekly List of Topics to Learn

Learning bit by bit makes the process less overwhelming and ensures you’re always growing your knowledge. Topics could include budgeting, saving, or investing.

Pick one topic today (e.g., “How does a savings account work?”) and spend 30 minutes researching it. Write down what you learn—it’s like building your own money cheat sheet!

▸ Watch Finance Videos Daily

Finance videos break down complex topics into bite-sized, relatable lessons. Plus, you can watch them while chilling on the sofa!

Search for beginner-friendly finance YouTube channels (like The Financial Diet) and aim to watch one 10-minute video a day.

▸ Talk to Friends About Money

There seems to be a big taboo on talking about money with other people. But you can start to break that! Start money conversations with trusted friends can teach you new tricks and remove the stigma around finances.

Ask a friend, “How do you manage your budget?” or “What’s your best money tip?” or "What's your girl money math tip?" It’s fun, helpful, and builds a support system.

▸ Read Economics Columns of News

Understanding the big picture helps you make better decisions about your own money, especially when it comes to trends like inflation or savings rates. This ties into Economics a bit, for those interested.

Subscribe to an email newsletter like Morning Brew or pick one day a week to read the money section of a news site.

▸ Listen to Money Podcasts

Podcasts are great for multitasking—you can learn while commuting, walking, or cleaning. Many are packed with actionable tips and inspiring stories.

Download an episode of HerMoney with Jean Chatzky or The Budget Mom Podcast and take notes on one tip you’d like to try.

Raising your financial literacy isn’t about becoming a math genius or sacrificing fun—it’s about taking small, consistent steps to feel more confident with money. Start with these tips, and remember, every little step counts.

You deserve a better future,

[barrenclan]

i've absolutely LOVED reading PAFW and i'm excited to see what the rest of the epilogues have in store! (you've been posting them right before my planning period so they've been a nice mental break from working with middle schoolers all day lol) sorry if you've answered a question like this before, but i'm curious to know about your process for actually writing the comic! did you do a bunch of writing for issues and then go back and draw them out, did you do the issues one by one and thumbnail as you wrote… i tried making a comic years ago and it went very poorly, and i've never seen a comic formatted like this one before, so! just wondering as a fellow writer :]

Thank you! Working with middle schoolers takes a lot of strength so all the power to you.

In terms of this specific question, I had written an outline for about half the issues when I started the comic; basically a paragraph describing my ideas and what I wanted to happen.

A couple of months after I started, I wrote my outlines for the rest of the issues and decided how I wanted the story to end. I would then fully write out each issue as I went along, and render them (make all the drawings and lay out the text) after I finished writing one issue.

I talk more about the minutae of making an issue in this post here!

[teresablogs]

"Wealth is the ability to fully experience life."

[zeekszooks]

.... Good advice. Yoink.

I was asked by a friend yesterday if I could offer basic tips about comic paneling. As it turns out, I have a lot to say on the matter! I tried breaking down the art of paneling using the principles of art and design, and I hope it helps you out!

EDIT: uh uh there are a lot of people reblogging this, so i figure i may as well append this now while i can lol

This whole thing was very much cranked out in a few hours so I had a visual to talk about with a friend! If this gives you a base understanding of paneling, that's awesome! Continue to pull in studies from the comics you see and what other artists do well and don't do well! You can tell paneling is doing well when the action is flowing around in its intended reading format.

Here's the link to the globalcomix article from which I pulled the images about panel staggering! Someone sent in a reblog that it wasn't totally clear that the 7th slide mostly covers what NOT to do in regards to staggering, and that is my mistake!

I saw in a tag that someone was surprised I used MamaYuyu too, and I don't blame them lol. If I had given myself more than a couple hours maybe I would have added something else on, I just really admire MamaYuyu's paneling personally.

uh uh, final append: I am by no means a renowned master of paneling, so if you find anything off base here, by all means, counter it with your own knowledge and ways you can build upon from here! Art is always a sum knowledge of everything we find. 💪

[dotiiva]

if you ever struggle with writers block just write shit.

i mean, like write bad stuff. actually, write the worst thing you can think of. and im talking like, beyond-sensible-grammar bad.

the sentences - the words - dont have to be good. they are not you.

eventually you'll think "i can do better" and find that drive again.

eventually you'll think"i can't do better" and find someone else who can, and who did, and find that inspiration again.

[earthkittytarot]

PAC READING - (PICK A CAT READING!!!) 🐈‍⬛🐈‍⬛🐈‍⬛

By EarthKittyTarot.

What does spirit want you to release in 2025?

Using your intuition, pick a cat you feel the most drawn to. If anything calls out to you, that is your cat/message from spirit!

Left cat ☺️ : 1

Right cat 😎 : 2

Pile 1:

Spirit wants you to release old ways of coping this year.

The wheel of fortune signifies fortunate events, therefore spirit is asking you to embrace new ways of feeling. Release emotional burdens you’ve carried along. Spirit is saying to release the emotional baggage from the past and look forward to positive changes and clarity. Despite loss, sadness or grief you should allow yourself to to embrace what’s to come. Spirit is also reminding you that all is not lost, which you will soon start to see! (Two upright cups in the 5 of cups). You don’t have to stick or stay tied to the past, you can embrace change. Clearing out the the past so you can embrace changes will be important. Freshness is to come. Spirit is saying “it’s okay to move on”. Don’t block yourself from fortunate events and experiences due to emotional loss! Embrace your destiny and do not shy away from new offers of love due to past experiences. Surrender to fate and don’t hold any expectations from anyone. Gain a higher perspective on an experience you had to endure.

Something that came up while I was revising was making necklaces with stones/“philosopher’s stone”. You can be reborn emotionally. Don’t doubt your ability, shift your focus on the good life has to offer.

Awakened dreamer oracle message for cat #1 :

Pile 2:

Spirit wants you to release insecurity, doubt and poverty consciousness.

Spirit wants you to tend to your mind so that you may find stability and security in all areas of life. Taurus, Virgo, Capricorn energy. Release thoughts of insecurity as what you have to offer can benefit those around you. Spirit is saying to fully embrace your purpose. Create relationships and connect with those from your past (could even be past lives) who can offer you support and wisdom. Let go of being idealistic all the time. Being pragmatic and grounded will help you this year to realize your goals! Don’t be afraid of planting new seeds and fully engage with your work/passions. What you create now will bring emotional harmony. (You could have also started this during Capricorn season as that’s the last earth season we just had). Through diligent work spirit is saying you can reach your dreams. Ground your ideas as they can bring needed structure and emotional bliss. Put effort into your goals or ideas. You can create peace, stability and a sense of belonging. Release the idea that you can’t achieve a goal or personal desire. Through dedication, what you desire, can be yours!

Something that came up when I was revising was that people from your past may be of service to you, bringing stability, advice or an offer (they may be a Taurus, Capricorn or Virgo) You may also be focused on building a connection with someone from your past.

Awakened dreamer oracle message for cat #2 :

More PAC readings will be posted in the near future! Stay tuned ! 🔮

Feel free to let me know what topics or questions you have for future PAC readings!

[helpful-writing-tips]

if you're trying to get into the head of your story's antagonist, try writing an "Am I the Asshole" reddit post from their perspective, explaining their problems and their plans for solving them. Let the voice and logic come through.

[foldingfittedsheets]

Something that literally changed my life was working with a friend on a coding thing. He was helping me create an auto rig script and was trying to explain something to me but his words were just turning into static in my brain. I was tired and confused and there was so many new concepts happening.

I could feel myself working toward a crying meltdown and was getting preemptively ashamed of what was about to happen when he said, “Hey, are you someone who benefits from breaks?”

It broke me.

Did I benefit from breaks? I didn’t know. I’d never taken them.

When a problem frustrated or upset me I just gritted my teeth and plowed through the emotional distress because eventually if you batter and flail at something long enough you figure it out. So what if you get bruised on the way.

I viscerally remembered in that moment being forced to sit at the table late into the night with my dad screaming at me, trying to understand math. I remembered taking that with me into adulthood and having breakdowns every week trying to understand coding. I could have taken a break? Would it help? I didn’t know! I’d never taken one!

“Yes,” I told him. We paused our call. I ate lunch. I focused on other stuff for half an hour. I came back in a significantly better state of mind, and the thing he’d been trying to explain had been gently cooking in the back of my head and seemed easier to understand.

Now when I find myself gritting my teeth at problems I can hear his gentle voice asking if I benefit from breaks. Yes, dear god, yes why did I never get taught breaks? Why was the only way I knew to keep suffering until something worked?

I was relating to this same friend recently my roadtrip to the redwoods with my wife. “We stopped every hour or so to get out and stretch our legs and switch drivers. It was really nice. When I was a kid we’d just drive twelve hours straight and not stop for anything, just gas. We’d eat in the car and power through.”

He gave a wry smile, immediately connecting the mindset of my parents on a road trip to what they’d instilled in me about brute forcing through discomfort. “Do you benefit from breaks?” he echoed, drawing my attention to it, making me smile with the same sad acknowledgement.

Take breaks. You’re allowed. You don’t have to slam into problems over and over and over, let yourself rest. It will get easier. Take. Breaks.

[whydidisavethistomyphone]

[followerofmercy]

Networking/Knowing A Guy: A Guide

This is the autism website. Now, as an extension of the power of love and friendship, there are few things more useful than Knowing A Guy. Knowing A Guy means you have a support network. Knowing a plumber, or a tax accountant, or just that one dude that's really fucking good at finding the information you need when you're really overwhelmed, can be the difference between being able to pay rent and having a fun party with friends to fix your shit.

How does one end up Knowing A Guy? It's a skill you can develop called Networking and it is one of the foundations of society. Unfortunately making those connections with people is fucking hard and nobody makes a tutorial for it. So, here you go:

The golden rule is you scratch my back and I scratch yours

It is necessary for survival to seek out useful people

Great news! Everyone is useful in some form or fashion - including you! When given the opportunity to learn about someone, do it! Extroversion does not come naturally to some people and that's okay. Just take whatever falls in your lap.

Types of usefulness: trade skills, connections of their own, personality you jive with, pleasant to talk to, niche interest in shared hobby, security - the list is pretty much endless. I know a guy that lives in the metro area - no job, no major hobbies, inoffensively annoying to me personally, kinda ignorant, not attractive to me, but you know what? He knows how the fuck to get around the city by foot. My rural-raised ass APPRECIATES the guide.

Remember important information: general personality, background, skillset, likes and dislikes. You can find this information by making smalltalk about their life. There is no such thing as pointless conversation. (Yes, even the annoying smalltalk)

The more people you know, the higher the likelihood that one of them will be useful in a given situation - or will know someone who is.

It is overwhelming. In a given clique/community/workspace/whatever, there is A Guy Who Knows The Other Guys. This Guy is a shortcut. Find them. They're often elderly, extroverted, a little bit annoying, a secretary or in some otherwise forward-facing position. Look for people that are gossipy/talk about other people a lot but not in negative ways. If they constantly talk shit, they'll talk shit about you too. They're still useful but be careful with the information you share

You do not have to like someone for them to be useful.

You do not have to like someone for them to be useful.*

If you have low self esteem, you're going to feel like you're using people. You're not. That's the devil talking. People like feeling valued and the connections you are making are the threads holding community together. Recognize people for their talents. It's only a problem when you're taking advantage of people

So: don't feel scummy about it. You're an animal. You have to claw out your right to survive and people will respect you more for it.

Luckily mutualism is the name of the game in the animal kingdom. Offer something back. The foundation of a Know A Guy relationship is Mutual Benefit

Sometimes that Mutual Benefit is just spreading news of the The Guy far and wide. My plumber friend is my actual friend and I love her to death, but I'm maintaining our backscratch relationship by pimping out her plumbing business to anyone that'll listen

Food is a good Mutual Benefit. People across cultures for all of human history have bonded over food. I have good success asking people for a favor and then offering to buy them lunch in return **

General compensation is also good. Offer a service in return and always do your best to offer financial compensation as appropriate. Having your plumber friend take a look at your drain: doable with a case of beer. Having your plumber friend redo the pipes in your entire house? You need to pay for that.

Being transactional is not necessarily a bad thing. I would advise against keeping an itemized list of things owed, but fish don't seek out cleaner shrimp just because they enjoy their company. Everyone gets something

Unfortunately being extroverted and generally personable is a huge benefit here, but that's the value of the Guy That Knows A Guy. There's someone out there that has consolidated All The Guys so you don't have to be the local expert. Always remember nobody can do everything and you don't need to master every skill

* This is the foundation of a functioning community. I have many acquaintances that I find incredibly annoying. They include doctors, welders, artists, social workers, lawyers, construction crew and random fuckers at the grocery store. I do not hang out with them. I do not have to in order to maintain a civil Know A Guy relationship. I can drop them useful tidbits and fuck right off so I don't have to spend any more time than necessary with them

** People may assume romantic intent. Be prepared for that. I generally denote that it's a friendly/work lunch by calling them bro at some point if they're my age. Otherwise my general demeanor is sufficient to show that I do this with everyone

Source: personal experience, mother's teachings of crime, booth vending and poverty