#I’m going to publish a book in 2026

[mermaidgirl30]

About 40k words into my debut novel. This is so wild, scary, and imposter syndrome hits at times, but I’m going to keep going! I’m hoping my first draft will be done by end of June, then I’m leaving it in the editor’s hands 🙌🏻

And I can’t wait for you all to read; that’s what I’m most excited for 🥹

[cassandraclare]

A bit of publishing stuff (if you get my newsletter you've already seen this)

So by now you lovely people have all seen the announcement about what books I have coming up next. Ragpicker King is coming March 4, 2025, and The Last King of Faerie is coming early 2026.

I know a lot of you were hoping for LKOF to come earlier. It’s going to be a big gap between the last Shadowhunter book and the next — three years. Previously the longest gap between Shadowhunter books was two years, between Mortal Instruments and the Dark Artifices.

I announced last year that I was taking time off — six months. It was the first time I’d taken any real time off since 2005. The pandemic had just happened and I was wiped out physically and mentally. I also needed to take stock of where I was in my publishing journey and really think about what I wanted — it had been years since I’d had time to consider whether I was happy, because I always had another deadline and that was always more important.

  When I came to the end of The Last Hours, I was “out of contract” — meaning I didn’t have any further Shadowhunter books that were owned by or owed to a publisher.  it was the first time that had happened since, again, 2005. Being out of contract is your one chance to change anything you want to change about your career, and I knew I was going to leave my longtime US publisher of the Shadowhunter books and move to Random House, who published Sword Catcher.

This isn’t a small decision for any writer to make. It sometimes happens when a writer has been at a publisher for a very long time that the nature of the publisher changes. Maybe all the people you worked with when you first came to that publisher have gone elsewhere, so your team has inherited you rather than having chosen you. Maybe your publisher has been sold to another company whose vision for that publisher doesn’t fit with yours. Maybe your publisher isn’t interested in your genre anymore. 

I spent a lot of time agonizing over the decision—I certainly could have stayed where I was, but I knew that was no longer the best decision for the books. So those of you who pay attention to these kinds of details will note that where the other Shadowhunter books have all been published by McElderry Books, these next ones will be published by Knopf. (Who are an amazing imprint. They make great books.)

Normally a writer wouldn’t really address switching publishers — it happens a lot, and most readers don’t care who publishes a book. I’m talking about it now because I know there will be a lot of people who are angry and don’t understand why Ragpicker King is coming out before Last King of Faerie. The short answer is: Ragpicker King has been under contract since it was sold along with Sword Catcher, years ago now, and I’m obligated to get it done when I said I was going to. The books of The Wicked Powers are only just now securely under contract enough to be announced, as you just saw! So Ragpicker King is planned to be turned in in a couple of months, and after that I will be able to focus entirely on The Last King of Faerie (which I already began, but since it was only sold to Knopf last October, I was only able to get started after that).

And it takes a a year at least to write a book and another good year or so to publish it, and that gets us to the pub dates we’ve got. I would love if I could get it to you earlier, but multiple factors have brought us to this point, and in the end, not rushing through them is the best thing for the books, and will produce the best version of those books. I always want to get you my best work — that’s what is important to me above all things.

In terms of other publishers in other countries — I’m staying with all my longterm Shadowhunter publishers. Nothing’s going to change for y’all — Walker Books is still publishing Shadowhunters in the UK, even though a different publisher is going to publish In Fire Foretold there (due to spiciness.) ;) 

For those of you who backed the Kickstarter, that will mean you do get new Shadowhunter content between now and early 2026* — which was part of the reason I did it! I’m also talking to my new publisher about bringing Better in Black out — with at least a six month gap for the Kickstarter backers to have it to themselves — so fingers crossed. There’s also Black Volume of the Dead, the final Eldest Curses book, which is still planned and which I am still excited to write, but since it is set after Last King of Faerie, it hasn’t been scheduled yet. More news on that as it develops—for now, I wanted to talk directly about the schedule in the next couple of years, since I feel confident it is set and will reliably happen this way, something I can’t yet say about 2027 and beyond. The point is, I’m really excited to bring you Wicked Powers just as soon as it is ready, and I know enough about it to say  it’s going to be quite a ride!

And also an early look at In Fire Foretold.

[abarbaricyalp]

For the intimacy prompts: "a hand written note", Sam/Bucky

Wowee is this so super duper late! Very sorry. But unfortunately, this prompt reminded me of a fic I started all the way back in 2022 for Valentine's Day and I just could not let it go this time. AO3 Link

In 1950, several years after the war had ended and just as the excitement and tragedy surrounding the short-lived career of Captain America was dying down, a collection of war time letters from the Captain’s second-in-command, James “Bucky” Barnes was published.

In 2026, the only edition with new letters was published

Selected Texts from: The Barnes Letters : Revised and Expanded 11th Edition, 2026

[Letter to Sam Wilson (36 years old, former Air Force Pararescue, current VA therapist, new best friend of Steve Rogers) left in an apartment while Wilson was running the trash out, 2015]

Birdbrain,

Don’t get so irritated with this cat and mouse game that you give up and just opt for pouncing over me and eating me. I dunno, maybe I shoulda gone with the early bird and the worm metaphor, but whatever. Maybe I’ll slow down for you in the next place. Spend a little bit of time at some farmer’s market or something. Use an alias that you might know about, depending on how much you read.

Take it easier, birdy.

-B

The first Barnes letter of the 21st century paints a stark contrast to the paragon found in the original text of The Barnes Letters. This book does not attempt to psychoanalyze Barnes or the events of his life, as the original did not. The 11th edition of The Barnes Letters merely wishes to build upon the corpus of the original and to bring a conclusion to the questions brought up in subsequent editions.

The text of these letters have been transcribed exactly as found, but the spirit of them would be dampened slightly if it were not brought up that the letters were found on everything from sticky notes to napkins to sheets of lined paper to sketchpad pages with doodles on the other side or around the words–clean, crumbled, torn, creased. These letters, perhaps moreso than the original, were cherished and protected and clearly read several times over.

The Wakanda Letters

[Collection of letters left for Bucky Barnes, by Sam Wilson, in the Wakandan Palace’s medical facility, 2016-2018]

Hey, Tin-Can,

You’ve gotta wake up soon ‘cause you still owe me a car.

Sam

Robocop,

I’m tired of being a fugitive for your broody ass. You better have a whole slate of apologies lined up for when I see you next ‘else I’m gonna put you right back under. I haven’t showered with seriously hot water in ages. (Barring the one I just got in the palace. Wait until you wake up and see the water pressure here. It’s gonna blow your poor little 40s mind.)

You know, Steve really wants us to get along. Gotta say, I do see the appeal. You’re so quiet and a great listener. I always know where to find you.

He just read that over my shoulder and called me a jerk for you. I figure you’d use stronger language, but hey.

Oh, hey, I heard there was some crazy fight here a few weeks ago. Did you see anything you wanna gossip about?

Alright, alright, I’ll stop. Heading out somewhere new tomorrow morning. Always some new fight, new monster, new injustice, right?

Well, good dreams or whatever.

Sam

B, you’ve gotta try a drink at this bar. (Bringing the napkin in won’t get a discount, I asked) It’s called…get this, get this, get this, it’s called a Bucky Bear Brawl. Bucky Bear. Gonna lose my mind. -S

Barnes,

If I bleed all over this paper, you won’t use it to create an even better super soldier serum, right? (Cause, let’s be honest, my DNA is a catch for mad scientists. Looks, brains, body, personality. I’ve got it all.)

I don’t get why you didn’t give up the chase after DC. We coulda done all of this shit, avoided all of this shit, if you’d just come back then. You knew I was there. You kept me in the corner of your eye or your rearview or your scope, I assume, so why not just stop running?

I’m so tired of this. I want to go home. I want to see my friends and my family and sleep in a real bed. And you gave all that shit up for…what? They still found a way to ruin your life. Steve’s life. My life.

How did I end up giving up everything for you and the star spangled man, huh? Seventeen infuriating hours in a car with you and suddenly that makes you worth something to me?

I always try to do what’s right, help people who need it. At great personal cost, lost people important to me. I’ve never done this much for one person, though. And I don’t even know you. I have your files. I’ve read history books. Hell, I even know the fruits and fish you like. But I gave up my family and my reputation for this. I have a bullet in my shoulder for this.

Who are you to drive me to that, huh? You’re not even awake. You’re not out here with us while we do this for you. This is bullshit.

Sam

PS, I lied the other day. I don’t prefer you being quiet. I want you to argue with me. I want you to hear what I’m saying. I want you to come back. Fuck, that’s all I’ve ever wanted. I want you so far gone that I never think about you again or I want you to come back. But you keep just existing right in my periphery. A shadow I can’t shake. A stray that’s followed me all the way to my door stoop. Fuck.

Bucky,

Sorry.

Sam

B,

I’ve thrown away seven other sheets trying to find something to say, but I suppose it doesn’t really matter what I write down now. You’ll be able to hear it straight from my pretty mouth soon enough.

Sorry we won’t be around to see you through all of it. Princess’s orders. Besides, there’s a new bad guy out there fucking something up. And, surprise surprise, Ross hasn’t sent anyone after them, so duh-da da da-dah, here we come, to the rescue.

I’ll see you soon, though, alright.

Not that, like, you care about when I’ll see you. Ah, shit, I’m gonna throw this one away too.

And Sam had kept his promise, showing up a week afterwards with a sharp quip on his lips but a tellingly earnest patience as Bucky had walked him and Steve around the spaces that had become his life. He’d even left a note on Bucky’s bed wishing him good dreams again.

So it only made sense that Bucky slipped a note into his go-bag.

[2018]

Tweety,

You musta been real bored without me around to fuck shit up if you had this much time to write all these letters. Did keep me busy for a while though. Maybe next time you could be more verbose and flowery, give me something to really sink a literary analysis into.

I’m gonna keep this one short, though, ‘cause you’re nosey and pay attention to everything I do. I ain’t gonna throw you around no more, so you can unclench. Heard you argue with S1 and S2 about whether or not I was ready to go out again.

I’m not.

I know it’s selfish when all of you are still fighting the fight, but I’m so tired. And I’m unstable on my feet. I need some time to get the ground under me again. But if you tell Steve I agree with him, I’ll burn your letters without looking at them.

You could stay, y’know. You don’t have to keep fighting. I could use the company. Talking is supposed to help rebuild neurons or something, right? Maybe I’m just making that up.

Anyway, hope you find this at an inopportune time.

-Tin Can

[Left on Barnes’s pillow in Wakanda, 2018]

B,

Sorry the world doesn’t wait for what we want. Sorry the world’s ending. Maybe you can show me all your goats again when all of this is said and done. Maybe it’ll be a little quieter for once.

-S

Read the rest on AO3

[brookewritesbookss]

INTRO!!!

HIYA i’m brooke, they/them! this is NOT the first time i’ve made a tumblr account, but it IS the first time i’ve made one solely to focus on my writing, and more specifically, my book!

i’m a fantasy, realistic fiction, and YA writer who hopes to publish their first book by may of 2026. and i SWEAR i’m GOING to do it i PROMISE once i SIT DOWN and ACTUALLY DO IT i SWEAR i PROMISE.

i dont struggle with adhd im actually quite skilled at it for your information

uhhh h i’m interested in undertale, gravity falls, object shows, and quite literally nothing else other than the OC universe that’s been marinating in my head for five years and i need to get it OUTTT

i’ve been interested in writing since i can remember and i PROMISE i’m good at it, just gimme a minute to. yknow. write something i feel like posting.

never in creative block, perpetually in writer’s block, nice to meet you i’m brooke

[fantasyforbeginners]

When you’re constructing characters, how do you figure out everyone’s personalities without listing off character traits or relying on nebulous “vibes?” I’m able to figure out the characters’ trauma, values, motivations, justifications, etc..but, so to speak, I’m missing the wrapping that’s supposed to go onto the present. So you have any advice?

Honestly, I find the most useful question when I'm writing scene-to-scene stuff, or trying to figure a character out, is What are they hiding (and why)?

Say a character doesn't want anyone to know they're upset. The source of the upset can range from something small to something larger (or appear to be small but actually be large, or vice versa). Do they hide it because they're ashamed to admit they're upset in general, or the source of this upset specifically? Do they hide it because they think there's more important things to focus on? How do they hide it? Do they get snappish, or force smiles/jokes?

It sounds to me like you have a good idea of the characters' Core (their inner workings, fears, hopes, etc) but are lost on the Presentation. Gonna copy and paste from a meta I did for the fantasy show The Dragon Prince, since they're really good at demonstrating the difference in their foil/character dynamics:

One thing that I find particularly useful when it comes to discussing/analyzing characters, or when creating them, is the difference between a character’s core vs their presentation. The most classic kind of example we see is the “jerk / bad boy with a heart of gold” archetype where the character’s presentation is one way (outwardly prickly and/or mean) but their internal core (values, priorities, ‘truest self’ etc) is very warm, loving, and caring. We see it so often it borders on the point of being cliche. However, it is useful in explaining just how much a character’s core can differ from somebody else’s, but their presentation might be similar, or vice versa, with their presentations being different but their cores being similar. And obviously even that is simplistic (characters can have pieces of one another’s core but still be very different.

I'll use an example of two of my own OCs from @alvoskia (aka my fantasy debut is getting published in 2026 and I'm very excited!!) since I had considered merging the characters because they fulfilled similar purposes, but ultimately decided on keeping them separate because of their presentations were different enough.

George and Bill are two very similar characters. They have a similar background—in the fact, the most similar out of anyone in the main case, since they were raised by the same adoptive mother figure since they were very young (under 1 year)—and similar goals. They love their friends, want to help them, are generally good/kind hearted, slow to anger, etc.

However, Bill is more of a peacemaker where George is more avoidant. Bill attempts to address and smooth things over, whereas George puts everything in a box. Bill is more responsible and George younger and more mischievous. Bill will hide his problems because he doesn't want to burden others, and George hides his problems because he's pretending that he doesn't have any.

Similar cores, different presentations.

That said: how to craft presentations?

There are certain characters where I knew their personalities right away, others where I thought I did and then they surprised me while I was actually writing. (For example, I gave my main protagonist—George and Bill's mutual friend—a fierce temper, which I thought would be her main character flaw from the start. It turns out her temper is secondary to her current main flaw, at least, of constant comparison of herself to others / her ego and penchant for resentment.) Some characters, like George because he's a side main character, took a while (aka multiple books/drafts) for me to feel like I fully had his reactions ironed out.

That said, if we feel like we don't know anyone's personality, it can make us feel like we don't know where to start writing wise, so "finding the personality along the way" isn't necessarily helpful advice.

What I find, then, is that most characters fall into 2 categories: they have certain traits/values and the personality traits we expect, OR there's a purposeful contrast between traits and personality. The "jerk with a heart of gold" is a contrast, for example, that we see so often we do expect it.

For an example of the 1st category (i.e. when the core + presentation are the same and played pretty straight), basically every character in Avatar: The Last Airbender has the values/cores and then presentations of what you would expect. Fire is wild and out of control and more overtly violent; Zuko is hot headed, destructive, and impulsive. He has to learn control of his temper and improved control of his bending, as well as to let go of the more violent ways of his people.

Meanwhile, my Fire aligned character isn't angry or impulsive. She's very bright and warm and sunny, but also performative and deeply caring / passionate.

Or, for a less element/power aligned variation: say you have a character who is a Healer. The Expected Character Traits (Presentation) is someone who is very caring and therefore very selfless, someone who is going to be patient and understanding. Their Core is probably going to be wanting to help people (values) and afraid of not being able to help/save others.

The immediate contrast to that would be a more prickly, less compassionate doctor (common on live action tv shows who have an "genius but an asshole" character, less so in novels) who has a softer side occasionally shown, but is a lot tougher, maybe jaded from the patients/loved ones they couldn't save. An example could be Bones from Star Trek.

To be clear, the contrast isn't necessarily better than the played straight option; both can be extremely interesting (or boring) depending on the execution. Shows like Grey's Anatomy have everyone be a nurse and/or doctor, and have a wide array of personalities on display. There's also a variety of ways to get in the Middle between contrast and playing straight. Perhaps the healer character only cares about healing their loved ones, or will withhold certain aid because they think others need to be tougher, or is also motivated by their faith and that puts them into some kind of crisis with their profession. Maybe the healer is nice and gentle to everyone but when someone tests their patience or doubts their knowledge, they get immediately cold/terse, etc.

It can also be useful in creating conflict. If a character's core values peace/rationality, than a loud/emotional/impulsive character (some of which are more personality than not) would get on their nerves, even if their plot goals may align.

Basically:

Think about what personality traits would either contrast (hide) or highlight (accentuate) the cores and conflicts you want your characters to have.

Other useful questions to ask are:

What is the line of separation between how my character reacts to adverse situations when they're scared, or when they're not?

How does my character react because of their unaffected personality, or because of their trauma?

If two characters have similar cores, do they get along with one another? Why or why not?

If two characters have similar presentations (i.e. both are show-offs) do they get along, or dislike each other? Why or why not?

How much does my characters' traits change personality wise because of circumstances? (ie. a character who is very observant when relaxed or concerned could be deeply caring, but when they're stressed, it can turn to 'right for the jugular' style anger)

More ideas on character construction can be found here!

[chronicallydragons]

2026 is getting closer....

Your book is getting closer to being published...

You hangin' in there, bestie? Got any stuff you wanna hype about? This is a perfect Ask to scream and self-fangirl on if you want. :)

Aahhhh yes! I’m mostly just waiting SO impatiently for my turn with dev edits! Going small press means they typically do one book at a time because there’s just the one or two editors, so it means waiting forever, but when it’s my turn, it’s *just* my turn!! I recently did a reread on my own though to try to catch any issues before dev edits and ended up adding a super cute new scene and ran it by my editor and she loves it! So not much to report yet, I’m just constantly trying to convince myself it wasn’t a dream 😅

In middle grade werewolf book news, it’s been querying really well so far?? I have more active full requests right now than I got with Child of the Dragon combined??? Which, it doesn’t mean anything yet, since they could all say no, but it’s still super exciting! Also, my press for Child of the Dragon doesn’t do middle grade nor did they ask for first refusal rights, but I still checked in with them to make sure I didn’t need to do anything before querying a new book and not only did they assure me I can just go right ahead, they were also SO supportive! Said to keep them in the loop so they can celebrate any successes but also said I’m welcome to come for support if needed and can go to them to get any tea they might have on agents and stuff too and it was just really nice. I love my press 😭

[zamorawrites]

Hello Friends!

I just wanted to jump on here and give everyone an update since it’s been so long since I’ve posted anything. Five months here on Tumblr, 16 months since there’s been an update to any of my fanfics at best and 50 months at worst. (And for some reason One White Blank Page seems to be going through a renaissance period of new readers despite the fact that it’s been 16 months since there was an update.)

It’s crazy looking back at it, but I started writing One White Blank Page 4 years ago when I was a full time college student! A lot has changed since then, in the world at large, and in my own little personal bubble of a world.

In 2022 I took a hiatus from posting or updating any fanfics at all. It was a year where everything felt so incredibly out of control for me, and that feeling spiraled into my creative life and took away most of my drive to hunker down and actually create. I’m looking at 2022 as having been a ‘fallow’ year where my metaphorical fields had to sit untouched for a while in order to prepare for a new season of creating.

This year I’ve been brimming with creative energy! And I’ve been focusing most of my efforts into a piece of original fiction that I’ve talked about here a bit before. It’s a New Adult novel that I’ve tentatively titled You Got The Wrong Hero, and I do aspire to one day query and publish that novel. Of course, in order to do that I have to actually have a finished novel to publish!

So, this year, I’m choosing to focus the brunt of my creative efforts on YGTWH. At this time, I’m planning on having the first draft of YGTWH finished towards the end of this year. Because I’m going to be focusing so much of my creative energy and free time into getting the first draft of YGTWH finalized, I’m not going to have much time to focus on my existing fanfics.

Now, this isn’t to say that I’m abandoning my existing fanfics! I love those fanfics that I’ve written and I have every intention of returning to them. But this is a notice that I’m going to be on a fanfic hiatus until I finish that first draft of YGTWH.

Apologies to everyone who loves my Megamind and ATLA fanfics I have up, but it’s been a lifelong dream of mine to write a book that gets published and I genuinely feel like the idea, plot, and characters of YGTWH are enough to get me there if I can only give them the time and effort they deserve and actually get them down on the page.

I threw a (very) tentative schedule for my upcoming writing life for the next few years down below for those who are interested in when they can start expecting me to return to my existing fanfics. And below that I have a short list of tropes and ‘comp titles’ for YGTWH for anyone who might be interested in being a beta reader once I get this first draft done!

TLDR; I’m not dead and I haven’t abandoned any of my fanfics! I’ve been on hiatus and will be for a while longer while I finish some stuff up. See the (very) tentative timeline below for an estimate of when I will return to working on your favorite fanfic!

SCHEDULE

Q2 & Q3 2023 - 1st Draft YGTWH

Q4 2023 - 1st Draft YGTWH; OWBP as time permits, may add an additional chapter

Q1 2024 - One White Blank Page, add at least 3 chapters

Q2 & Q3 2024 - 2nd Draft YGTWH

Q4 2024 - One White Blank Page, add at least 3 chapters

Q1 & Q2 2025 - 3rd Draft YGTWH

Q3 2025 - One White Blank Page, add at least 3 chapters

Q4 2025 - FINAL Draft YGTWH

Q1 2026 - FINAL Draft YGTWH

Q2 2026 Onward - Focus on fanfics in the following order of priority; One White Blank Page, You Bare Your Fangs, Cupid’s Got A Gun, Gangster’s Paradise, Time and Time Again. (Not to say the fics at the end won’t be updated at all until the prior ones are done, but they’ll be updated less frequently than the others.)

If you came this far and you want some You Got The Wrong Hero deets… here ya go:

Imagine if you dumped Stranger Things, Venom, Fullmetal Alchemist, and Twilight (but only the vibes) into a big stockpot, simmered for 12 hours, attempted to perform an exorcism on the remains and failed… and you would get something similar to You Got The Wrong Hero.

An action packed dystopian with sci-fi/supernatural elements and lots of romance. You have these tropes: Long lost friends to lovers, Love across battlefields, Slow burn romance, Touch her and I’ll kill you, a Morally grey protagonist, the ‘Villain’ gets the girl (and the girl is the ‘hero’), Mutual pining but they’re idiots, Hurt & comfort, Angst & fluff, EVERYBODY has daddy issues, When he’s with her he’s a golden retriever but when she’s not there he’s a rabid dog, Extremist terrorist groups and the government agencies dedicated to catching them.

Again, if you want to be a beta reader once the first draft is done (or want to hear more) just hmu!

Thanks for reading everyone! ❤️

[windmill-nightingale]

I’m going to write a book

Do I know how to? Nope! Not at all, but I really want to y’know? It’s okay, I think my goal is doable, I have a base plot line and working on my outline, and I won’t be doing it in a short time instead my goal is to have it published by 16th April 2026, which I think it’s a nice, long span

I’ll have reminders set, I’ll write the hell out, I’ll take classes, I’ll do drafts and then get an editor, and eventually research into self vs traditional publishing and see what’s better, I’ll translate it from my native language (Spanish) to English, better yet, write it in both…

This is a dream, and a long shot, it’s probable it fails… but I want to try and I think that matters, so yeah! I’m going to write a book.

Edit: and I’ll give updates in this blog

[ilightmytorch]

My Year in Writing, 2024

I wrote 201,352 words in 2024. That was considerably less than the 300,000 I was aiming for, but is still a personal best. I have officially crossed the 1 million word mark!

Although I didn't win NaNoWriMo, November was still my most productive month. You can see the dip in the graph below related to packing and moving during July-September. Overall, I wrote 551 words/day, 488/day outside of November, and December 31 was day 2,871 of my write-every-day streak.

About 2/3 of the words I wrote were fanfiction and the other 1/3 was original fiction. I finished Electric Boogaloo (Jatp Season 2), Wrong Coast (an Arrow fanfic), and They Don't Know About Us (original fiction).

According to AO3, I published 268,014 words this year. However, 148,863 of those words are me re-publishing all of the individual fics for Electric Boogaloo in one fic, so it's really more like 120k.

Plans for 2025

I'm going to try again to use the same word count goals as last year:

I want to hit 50,000 for NaNo in November. For April and July Camp NaNos, I want to write 1,000 words/day, so 30k and 31k.

I want to take it somewhat easy in the three months after NaNo events, so May, August, and December - 600/day, or 18,600 words/month.

For the other six months out of the year, I’m going to try doing “NaNoWriWeek” or 1,667 words/day for the first week of the month and then 600/day for the rest of the month, which will get me around 25k per month.

All of this totals up to about 300,000 words.

With the caveats that 1) I might be moving again, in which case I'll have another 3 months of little productivity, and 2) I may need to spend more time on editing, revision, and marketing this year which might cut into writing time

Fanfiction

I trunked a couple of projects, so I only have 3 fanfiction folders left in my writing folder. I expect Battle of the Five Phantoms to be the only one I actually work on in 2025, though. This is going to be a totally new experience for me--publishing chapters of a multichapter while I'm still writing instead of waiting for it to be done. If I dedicate half my words for the year to fanfiction, I don't think I'll quite finish writing it by the end of the year, but I think I will have made substantial progress. I should have the first 30-40 scenes published--I'll aim for releasing at least 2 scenes/month, but I haven't been writing in order so I may end up with nothing to publish while I fill in scenes that I skipped.

Original Fiction

I'm aiming for February 2026 as the release date for Don't Date the Guitarist, my first book, which sounds like a long time from now but it's really not--I need to put a push on to finish the first draft so that I can do some rounds of revision, editing, and getting feedback. I need to do the same for my lead magnet, They Don't Know About Us, a ~10k short story in the same universe which I'd like to release sometime around September-October. If I can write about 150k in original fiction, that's all of DDTG and Don't Use the Bassist, the sequel. There's also a novella in this universe I need to work on sooner rather than later, so I may start that, too, if I have time. And I will most likely work on other books in this 'verse and/or Christmas in the City when I need a break.

Writer Stuff

Beyond writing, there's so much I have to do to prep for the book launch, including:

picking a penname

launching a website

setting up social media and posting regularly

figuring out processes for self-editing/revising

figuring out how to get feedback

finding a professional editor

going through a whole editorial process for TDKAU and DDTG

getting covers for TDKAU and DDTG

figuring out what kind of marketing to do

probably a lot of other tasks I don't know about yet!

And now I need to get to it! I'm meeting the local writing group at a coffee shop in a a couple of hours, so I need to get ready to leave so I can get started on my words for the year!

[literaticat]

Hi Jenn. I mostly write adult fiction but one of my novels fits into the YA or YA crossover space so I sent it to some children’s publishers, one of whom has expressed strong interesting publishing it. If it ends up being published by them it does have series potential and I’m not sure what happens then. How do I keep querying agents and publishers with my adult fiction? Do I mention the children’s novel (potential series) or not? Do I use different names to avoid confusion? And when do I start with that if so, with the children’s book or with subsequent adult queries? I wasn’t really expecting to ever potentially have a kidlit deal, and I might be jumping the gun here as I still might not end up with one, but if I do, it’s made me feel excited yet confused. I’m just wondering how to try to progress a potential career with adult novels if this takes off? It might not lead to anything but I want to feel prepared just in case it does.

I say this with all the love in the world: you're getting ahead of yourself friend. There's no reason to worry about any of this RIGHT NOW. It will all be fine. There are plenty of people who write YA and grownup books. It's really not a problem. Relax.

You build a career like you build a Lego set - one brick at a time. Let's say your goal is a Lego Castle. Now, there is no reason you can't do ALL the things you want to do and add as many turrets as you want eventually, but you start with the base layer. The foundation is all the work you've done to be a great writer -- learn about revision -- the time you've taken practicing your craft, research you've done, etc. (I'm sorry to say that without a solid foundation, it's likely your castle won't be too stable, but you can add layers during construction, so...)

Assuming you are not yet published at all -- you just have to start with SOMETHING and build from there. Let's say they buy this YA and want to publish it in Spring 2026, and it's a one-book deal. Great. Now you have a floor. And the parameters of the floor will inform where the walls go.

(After all: It's too early to start worrying about where the pictures will be hung when you haven't even got WALLS yet.)

If you are querying agents later with whatever the next book is, you tell them "I have a YA novel coming out in Spring 2026" -- they won't think that's weird. If you are submitting to publishers, same. If one wants to publish one of your adult novellas or whatever it is -- they should try and NOT make it be during that Spring 26 timeframe because you want to be able to adequately promote both, give each its time to shine, etc. That's fine, they will appreciate knowing that. There's no reason you can't publish, say, the YA novel in Spring 26 (floor!) then different adult novellas or novels or short stories or *whatever* at other times. (walls! windows!) Then if they want to do a sequel to the YA novel, great, same thing again (wow another wall!).

Now, as you build, you don't want to add things that will disrupt or BREAK what you already have going. Ideally, as you are adding elements, you are making the whole stronger, or at least more interesting!

...

re the pen name of it all:

If you WANT to do "kids books" and adult books under different names you can. But you certainly don't have to. Especially given the fact that you are calling this a "YA Crossover" -- what do you think YA is crossing over INTO? That's right, adult books. Both teens and adults read upper YA/crossover. So it's probably not a big deal. This can all be part of the same castle.

If the books are VERY different thematically, or you DO think there's a chance of confusion, you can just style your name differently. (Like V.E. Schwab writes adult SF/F, Victoria Schwab writes MG/YA -- they are obviously the same person, she's not hiding that fact, it just makes it a little clearer for the audience.) Still the same castle.

If at some point you want to add something that is totally out of left field -- a space ship! -- OK, then you either figure out how to integrate it into your castle in a way that makes some kind of sense (special launch pad on the roof?) -- OR, if you truly cannot make the two work together without breaking the castle, THEN that would be the time to worry about taking on a whole other identity and starting a space station build under another name.

There are already a ton of pen-name posts on here so I really don't think I need to get further into it, go look at those if you still have questions!

[sam-and-buck]

At Home With Captain America

Fandom: MCU

Pairing: Sam Wilson/Bucky Barnes

Rating: G

Words: 7.7k

Also on AO3

“What can you tell me about how you got to know the Winter Soldier?”

Wilson chuckles. “The first time I met Buck—Sergeant Barnes—he ripped the steering wheel out of the car I was driving on the freeway. He got on the roof, punched through the windshield, pulled the steering wheel off. Just like that.” He mimes with his hands as he describes it.

This doesn’t sound like an auspicious beginning to me, but Wilson is laughing.

At Home with Captain America

By: Adrien Davis

Published: February 2, 2026, 3:35 PM 

To say I’m intimidated by interviewing Captain America in his own home would be an understatement, and I would never have thought to ask if I could do that if he hadn’t personally invited me. Normally, I’d start one of these articles by describing the location, maybe even throw in an anecdote or two about how I got there, but that’s not going to be possible here.

Sam Wilson lives on [REDACTED] in [REDACTED]. It was a windy day.

Here’s what I can tell you: it’s an apartment. A nice one. Two bedroom, two bath.

“Am I allowed to describe the inside of your house?” is one of the first things I say to him, after getting his permission to turn on my recorder.

“Go right ahead,” he laughs, arms crossed over the worn USAF logo on his gray t-shirt. “Just don’t put the street name in there or anything.”

Wilson gives me a moment to poke around. Whoever decorated this place has good taste; it’s no haphazard bachelor pad. There’s an exposed brick wall in the otherwise slate blue living room, several plants (which I assume are fakes—albeit convincing ones—since Wilson is, by his own admission, not home as often as he’d like to be), a sturdy walnut coffee table, and a magnificently squishy-looking red couch.

It’s unmistakably lived in, though. I don’t get the sense that the place has been scrubbed spotless or particularly arranged for my visit. There are two abandoned mugs on coasters sitting on the coffee table, along with several different remote controls, and a stack of half-finished books with dog-eared corners. A pile of mail has been pushed to the side. Next to the door, a wall-mounted coat rack holds several leather jackets in shades of brown and black, and at least as many sweaters, mostly navy blue, charcoal and maroon. The shoe rack underneath houses multiple pairs of black combat boots, worn running shoes, house slippers. And next to that, on the floor, a large, gleaming silver case with red detail that could only contain Wilson’s Falcon wingpack. The legendary shield is propped up against it, ready to go at a moment’s notice.

I’m trying to imagine how it would be to leave the house for him. Got my keys, wings, phone, shield, wallet?

There are pictures on the walls and the mantle above the fireplace, under the television. People who I can only assume are Wilson’s relatives by their similarly gap-toothed smiles. Veterans. Wilson in full air force gear next to a blond man I don’t recognize. Then Captain Steve Rogers, in the 1940s with the Howling Commandos, and in the twenty-first century by himself. Wilson with Rogers, and Natasha Romanoff. One conspicuously empty nail where a large frame would clearly fit. 

Scattered among these are several very old, dour black and white photographs of a dark-haired family. The first shows a mother, father and two small children, a boy and girl. The second is the mother and children only, taken some time after, judging by their apparent ages. The third is several years later still; the same children with light eyes and dark hair, but they’re teeangers now, and without parents. They look haunting and out-of-place among the glossy prints of Wilson’s big, happy family in matching 80s colorblocked tracksuits, or Wilson and his sisters in front of a Christmas tree, surrounded by wrapping paper and toys.

There’s also a wood-framed painting that stands out: an idyllic watercolor of a little farmhouse with a green roof and shuttered windows in a field. A small pile of lumber and a white mailbox make up the foreground. The most distinctive feature is the signature at the bottom: S.G.R. I know those initials. 

“Captain Rogers painted this?”

“Uh huh,” Wilson nods fondly, hands now in his pockets. “Man of many talents. Maybe every talent. Having a hard time thinking of anything he wasn’t good at.”

I hear the unstated in that. A tough act to follow.

I think, for purposes of journalistic integrity, I should probably insert my bias before we go any further. We had never met before this interview, but I am and have always been enormously supportive of Captain Wilson and the work he’s done, and have written myriad articles and think pieces about him over the past several years. He’s shown himself time and again to be a man of unshakable integrity and endless emotional intelligence, and frankly, I’m more worried about the poor sucker who’s going to have to follow Wilson. Rogers did a lot of great things, but among the best of them was choosing a successor.

I tell him as much and he smiles, looking down at his shoes.

“Yeah, I know that’s how you feel,” he says. “I requested you for this piece, actually, because of that. People are going to accuse me of wanting a softball interview here, and maybe they’re right. For this one, I think that’s what I need.”

I’m not sure what he means by that, but he continues before I can ask.

“We should probably do this in the kitchen.” Wilson indicates behind us with his thumb, after I’ve stood silently in his living room for probably way too long. “That couch is too comfortable. I end up falling asleep every time I sit on it.”

The kitchen is, perhaps, a little cramped. There’s a large, dark marble-topped kitchen island that just fits in the center of the room with four bar stools tucked under it. The cabinets are tall, with glass doors showcasing a massive collection of healthy, but non-perishable food. The shelf nearest us holds several well-used bags of pantry supplies: chickpea flour, arrowroot starch, raw sugar. There’s a pasta shelf above it, but no Kraft Mac in sight; everything is lentil-based, chickpea-based, black bean-based.

“Have a seat,” Wilson says, inclining his head towards one of the barstools. “Can I get you something to drink?” He opens the refrigerator.

“We have…” he pauses. “Water. Sorry, just got back from Ecuador this morning. Sparkling or still?”

I accept a glass of still water from Captain America. He sits down on the stool next to mine.

His house, or what I’ve seen of it, is homey in a way I can’t imagine any of the late Tony Stark’s buildings ever were, and I mention this.

“I lived at the Avengers Tower briefly,” Wilson tells me. “Tony liked everything streamlined, really modern. Kinda sparse for my taste. I needed some real furniture when I got out of there, you know? Like, things that were made by human beings. Stuff with ‘character,’ that’s what Steve would call it.”

“So you decorated this place?”

“I think it’s about fifty-fifty,” Wilson says, indicated with vague hand motion.

This is my in.

This interview, as you may have read on the cover description, is actually intended to be an exposé about the working partnership between Wilson and Sergeant James Buchanan “Bucky” Barnes, but I didn’t want to be the one who brought him up first. 

All I knew going in is that they’re a package deal in the field, a unit. We’ve all seen the footage.

Also, Barnes lives here too, but evidently, he’s not home.

“What can you tell me about how you got to know the Winter Soldier?”

Wilson chuckles. “The first time I met Buck—Sergeant Barnes—he ripped the steering wheel out of the car I was driving on the freeway. He got on the roof, punched through the windshield, pulled the steering wheel off. Just like that.” He mimes with his hands as he describes it.

This doesn’t sound like an auspicious beginning to me, but Wilson is laughing.

“I hope he apologized to you for that,” I tell him, because I’m not exactly sure how else to respond.

“Oh yeah, of course he did, even though he knows I don’t blame him for it. He doesn’t remember it at all,” says Wilson. “There are a lot of gaps, to be honest. Most of it is gaps.”

What Wilson is likely referring to here is the decades-long period in which Barnes was under the complete mental and physical influence of the Nazi splinter group known as HYDRA. If you’re unfamiliar with the history of Sergeant Barnes, I’ll list a couple of great articles for you to read at the end of this one. I assure you, it’s worth your time. 

Wilson has without a doubt been Barnes’s most ardent supporter. He’s spoken out many times about not judging Barnes based on the actions he couldn’t control, and has masterfully refocused the national conversation towards Barnes’s invaluable contributions in World War II and in the recent war to bring half the universe’s population back into existence. Wilson has been quoted as saying, “The least extraordinary thing about Sergeant Barnes is his vibranium arm.”*

But perhaps Wilson’s most effective act towards building public confidence in Barnes was his decision to designate him as an almost exclusive mission partner. Even if the general populace has been reluctant to trust the Winter Soldier, it is abundantly clear that Captain America does, absolutely. Barnes is a constant in the footage of Wilson’s exploits. The moment he touches down on the ground after a successful arrest or negotiation, Barnes is right there. He’s been sighted treating Wilson’s minor injuries, tightening straps on the Falcon wingsuit before Wilson takes flight, and he stands quietly behind Wilson during almost all of his many public appearances.

Despite his ubiquitous presence in Wilson’s company, Barnes has remained elusive for comment. He has no social media, and the only public statement he’s made to date was in November of 2023, in support of Rogers’s decision to pass on the legacy of Captain America. Barnes expressed his categorical agreement that Wilson is “the best and only choice for this job,” describing him as both “worthy of the honor,” and “equipped for the burden.”**

“Is it fair to say that Sergeant Barnes almost comes with the shield?” I ask.

Wilson makes a face.

“No, it isn’t,” he shakes his head. “The shield is an accessory; my partner is not. I really don’t like it when people lump him in with the shield. It sort of minimizes how Bucky and I have made a series of conscious choices to be the way we are now. Especially because he’s experienced being fully stripped of his personal autonomy—as a veteran, I can say I’ve had a taste of that, but nothing like what he’s been through—and I think it cheapens his choice to do what he does if we imply that he, as a person, is a package deal with my title, you know?”

The therapist in Wilson is showing. In addition to his decorated military history and service as Captain America, he has a background in psychology, and a Masters degree in Social Work with a focus on Veterans’ mental health issues. He’s worked extensively with the VA as a leader in group therapy.

“So Sergeant Barnes is by your side day in and day out because he wants to be?”

This, Wilson has another unequivocal answer for. “Yes. He wants to be there, and I want him there. And here at home.”

“Tell me a little more about that,” I say. “After the...steering-wheel-stealing incident. Once he was more or less himself. Did you two hit it off right away?”

Wilson laughs again. “Not at all,” he says. “I think there was this resentment, kind of, in the beginning. Like I’m Steve’s best friend and no, I’m Steve’s best friend. Real elementary school stuff. He really got on my nerves; just everything about him annoyed me, and the feeling was mutual. Looking back…”

And here Wilson pauses for a moment. He chews on his bottom lip, and I notice all at once how nervous his body language has become. His fingers are drumming on the table, the line of his shoulders is taut, his leg is bouncing. He clears his throat though, and seems determined to continue.

“Looking back, I can see where it was coming from. It wasn’t clear to me at the time, but now I get it. There was this one time, it was during the fight over the Accords. We barely knew each other at this point. Buck and I, we’re fighting Spider-Man—who neither of us had ever even heard of before, like, that afternoon—and he pins us to the floor of this hangar with that goo he shoots out of his wrist. Really gross. I manage to get Redwing [Wilson’s drone] to fling Spider-Man out the window. So we’re just laying there, me and Bucky, stuck. And he goes ‘you couldn’t have done that before?’ And I just turn to him, and I’m like, ‘I hate you.’”

At this, Wilson really starts cracking up. He relaxes visibly, just a little.

“Did you mean it?”

“I sure thought I did,” he says, still chuckling. “Like, I wasn’t about to take it back.”

He continues: “Anyway, so after Steve, you know, passed on the shield to me, that’s when things really changed. Actually, back up a second. After the whole Accords incident, we ended up sending Bucky to Wakanda for like… to hear him describe it, it’s like we sent him for a two-year spa retreat. They unscrambled his brain as best they could—and really, I think it’s a good thing they couldn’t do any more because I wouldn’t wish some of his memories on my worst enemy—and he spent like months meditating in a hut and milking goats and going to therapy every day. When I met up with him again, I barely would’ve recognized him.”

“So that’s kind of when you guys reconciled? The arguing stopped?”

“Oh, it never stopped,” Wilson says with a grin. “We still argue all the time, about all kinds of things. Just ask Rhodey [Lieutenant Colonel James Rhodes, aka War Machine] or Scott [Lang, Ant-Man] or anybody. But the dynamic shifted a little, I think. Bucky’s got… Like I can’t imagine some of the stuff he’s been through, but he’s just kind of learned to roll with it. He is hands down the most resilient person I have ever met. Easily. It was real hard to keep hating him when he was so dead set on getting me to like him, too.”

“Can you walk me through the process by which you two decided to live together?”

“Yeah,” he says, and the nervousness is back. He smooths his hands on his thighs over his jeans. “So, basically, once I got the shield, we’d just barely come back. Like everyone else who got… I—I still don’t know if this is like an okay question to ask people. Do you mind me asking if you were dusted?”

I don’t mind. “Yeah, I was.”

“So you get it,” Wilson says. “Might be the most vulnerable I’d ever felt. I got nothing. Nowhere to go, just the clothes on my back. Then Steve hands me this shield and this enormous legacy—and I look back and there’s Bucky, standing a couple of yards behind me, nodding like, yeah, it should be you. He was the first person who knew, and he’s been right by my side ever since.”

“So you decided to stick together?”

“The original conversation about it was pretty logistical,” Wilson says, rubbing his beard. “There was so much going on, it’s hard to remember exactly what was said, but I think it was along the lines of him offering to fetch the shield for me while I learned how to throw it, and stuff like that. Just easier to do when we’re together 24/7.”

“So rooming together didn’t actually grow out of field partnerships?”

“It was definitely the other way around,” says Wilson. “Basically, I’d get a call from the powers that be that there was something I had to go check out, and it was easier to just walk across the hall than to pick someone else, try to wake them up, and then have to rendez-vous and strategize.”

“I’ll bet,” I say.

Wilson nods. “Easier and faster. Bucky can go from dead asleep to fully geared up in under three minutes. The first few times were like that, with me just knocking on his bedroom door like ‘hey, I need—’ and he comes barreling out covered in knives thirty seconds later like, ‘where are we going?’ We just… clicked. And I’ll be honest; I was really surprised. He’s got my six, I’ve got his, and I never question it. I started asking for him specifically on all my assignments after that, and Fury [Nick Fury, Director of S.H.I.E.L.D.] and everyone caught on quick that that’s how it was gonna be. I don’t have to ask anymore.”

“Do you see this continuing long term?” I ask.

Wilson doesn’t hesitate. “Definitely.”

“How would you describe your relationship with Sergeant Barnes now?” I ask. “Clearly you’re partners in the field, and roommates, but…”

Wilson takes a deep breath. His hands are shaking, but he clasps them together in front of him and looks me straight in the eye.

“As of last month,” he says slowly, “Bucky and I are married.”

In the spirit of my interview with Captain America, who stands for honesty and justice and integrity, I think you deserve to know the truth. I want to say that I didn’t drop my recorder, but I did. It clatters to the floor, luckily undamaged.

That startles Wilson into a laugh. For the second it takes me to retrieve my recorder from under my seat, I wonder if he’s kidding.

“Come on,” he says. “Say something. I’m getting nervous.” He’s smiling, but not joking.

“Congratulations,” I blurt out. “I...really?”

“Yeah.” The tension leaves his body in a rush. “We, uh, it’s official.”

I’m struggling for questions at this point. The talking points I was planning on hitting in this interview are all suddenly moot, and I decide to throw out my mental to-do list entirely. I finally settle on, “How long have you two been together?”

“A little over two years,” Wilson answers. “About three months after I took up the shield.”

“How did it happen?”

Wilson grins. “Uh, well. I had sort of been…having feelings about him, you know, for awhile. Actually, it’s more like I had noticed that I was having more-than-friendly feelings in the few weeks leading up to that. I think the main reason we had so much trouble getting along in the beginning is that it took some time to process those feelings as attraction. So in a way, I was interested on some level right from the get go.”

“Even if that person wasn’t...behind the wheel of their own brain, so to speak—” I start, but Wilson interjects.

“I see what you did there.”

“—I think it would take a lot for me to be attracted to someone who had previously tried to kill me.”

“Less than I would’ve expected, that’s for sure,” Wilson says. “But it’s not like I was checking him out while he was busy tearing my wings off my back; I’m talking about once he was mentally present in his body. That was like...two years after the whole steering wheel incident, and I hadn’t seen him at all in the interim. I didn’t even know where he was during that time.”

“So it had at least been awhile since he had tried to kill you?”

“Oh yeah. And plenty of other people tried to kill me in those two years, and they weren’t even sorry about it. You gotta adjust your standards, you know?” he says with a laugh.

“Anyway, if you ask him, he says he’s been all in since the moment he saw me back in Wakanda after his little vacation. Now we’re talking about four years since the steering wheel thing. Me, Steve, Nat and everybody; we landed in Wakanda and Bucky’s there. He and I look at each other over Steve’s shoulder, and like, bam, that was it for him. 

“And then there’s five years where neither of us exist. We get back, we fight the monsters, Steve gives me the shield, and while all this is happening, apparently Bucky has come to the conclusion that he’s in love with me. After that, he was just waiting for me to catch up.”

“And he just knew you’d get there? Did you give him any indication that you were interested, or…?”

“I definitely did, but not intentionally,” says Wilson. “He’s very perceptive—like way more than I was giving him credit for—but I think it’s a combination of that and me not being as subtle as I think I am.

“Because, see there’s this invisible line I’ve drawn here—at least that’s how he was thinking about it—and I keep dancing a little closer to that line every day, the line being the no homo line; the point where you can’t take it back. The flirting, I mean. I, of course, think he has no clue and that I’m being slick about it. Actually, lemme ask—how much detail are you looking for here? Like do you want to know the whole story or just—”

“Lay it on me,” I tell him. “Just however you want to tell it.”

“Alright. Where was I? So I’m just there going back and forth on whether or not it’s a good idea to risk this roommate-partner-buddy thing we’ve got going here by trying to make a move that, frankly, I have no clue if he’s gonna be receptive to. You have to remember we’re talking about a guy from the Great Depression here, like that’s the time period he grew up in. I’m no historian, but I think it’s common knowledge that if you were a man who was attracted to men back then, you mostly kept that to yourself. The chances of him bringing up his sexual orientation unprompted are very low. And like, I’m 90% sure I’ve caught him looking before, but that’s never a guarantee, you know?

“So, instead of sitting down and having a mature conversation about my feelings, I keep doing this thing where, for example, say he’s trying something new with his hair, and I’ll say something nice about it. And then I follow up immediately with, ‘Almost makes up for your ugly mug,’ or whatever, which—I mean, he’s such a good-looking guy, like what ugly mug, obviously I don’t mean that. And he’s not stupid, he knows what he looks like. So he picks up on what I’m doing, doesn’t say anything, and lets this go on for months.

“Eventually, there’s one night… We’re on the couch, watching like, I don’t know, Seinfeld or something. Whatever was on. He’s reading a book on my tablet, looking all relaxed and handsome. I can’t have that, so I start egging him on like I usually do, and I guess I got close enough to the line that he just puts the tablet down, turns to me and says, ‘Sam, you know there’s no line, right?’ 

“And I’m going, okay, what does that mean? Like, is this a conversation I was previously a part of and forgot or...? Where is this ‘line’ thing coming from? And so I ask him—I think I just said, ‘What?’ At that point he looks me right in the eye, and he goes, ‘You can kiss me if you want to.’” So I did, and he was ready for it, like no hesitation. Like I said: waiting for me to catch up.”

This, as you can imagine, is far beyond the level of detail I could have ever imagined I’d get about Captain America’s love life in my wildest dreams. I decide to ask a new question, because I feel like I’d be pushing my luck to delve further when he’s already been so open about this experience. 

“Who proposed and when?” 

“Ooh,” says Wilson, “I guess technically I did, but I’m gonna go on record saying that one was a group effort.”

“Well, now you’re gonna have to explain that,” I tell him. “What’s a ‘group effort’ proposal look like?”

“Hmm. I backed myself into that one, didn’t I?” he says. “First, I want the record to show that before I called you guys to set up this interview, I specifically asked Bucky if there were any us-related topics or whatever that were off-limits to discuss and he said ‘No,’ and I said, ‘Are you sure?’ and he said ‘Yes, I’m sure,’ and I said, “You better be sure, because whatever I say is gonna be public knowledge after that,” and he said “I know, I get it, Jesus.” Then I dropped it because he sounded like he was getting kinda irritated. If he didn’t want me to tell you any of this stuff, that would’ve been the time to speak up, so here we go:

“We were at… Well, I can’t tell you exactly where we were, but let’s just say we were working. There was nobody else in the room, but we were getting ready to go out in the field; seemed like it was gonna be a pretty...intense situation out there. I had my whole suit on, he was calibrating his arm, and the conversation ended up at living wills. As you can imagine, that’s an important thing to have when you’re in this line of work. So he proceeded to tell me that the last time he’d updated his was never and that his next-of-kin was nobody. And I was like, ‘So what, your grenade launchers are all gonna go to the state? I don’t even get the red one?’ and I’m just giving him a hard time, you know, and he’s like, ‘Sam.’ 

“And then, my god, he just goes all the way off about how much he loves me and trusts me and I—we don’t usually go there. I mean, we’d been on the same page for a long time as far as, we’ve established that we’re in love, this relationship is going well, but it’s not something that we’d verbalized in any real depth. That’s just a level of like, exposure, vulnerability, I think, that doesn’t come naturally to most people, myself included. 

“So he just keeps talking—and I think it’s fair to say he’s not a very talkative guy most of the time—and I’m standing there with my jaw on the floor because he is not holding back, and this is all clearly unrehearsed. Like, this is just how he really feels about me, apparently. By the time he’s finished, I’m crying, he’s crying, it’s a mess. And so I open my mouth, and I have no idea what I’m gonna say to all that, but what comes out is, “Will you marry me?” I wasn’t planning on it, but suddenly I just knew. Best decision I ever made.”

“And you’ve made some very important decisions in your life.”

“That’s right. I know which ones I’m leaving out by saying this was the best, and I stand by it.”

At that moment, as if on cue, the lock clicks, and Sergeant Barnes walks through the front door carrying two very full bags of groceries on his vibranium arm. He tosses a set of car keys into a little dish and locks the door behind him.

“Hey, babe,” Wilson calls out, catching his eye.

“You did it?” Barnes asks.

“Yeah.” Wilson tilts his head up.

Barnes rounds the corner, pecks Wilson on the lips with all the comfort and familiarity of a couple who have done it a thousand times. I hear him murmur, “Proud of you,” under his breath.

Barnes sets the groceries on the counter in front of me as Wilson introduces us.

“Call me Bucky,” says Barnes, reaching out with his right hand to shake mine. There’s a silver band on the fourth finger, and when I look back over at Wilson, he’s slipping his wedding ring out of the pocket of his jeans and putting it back on his left hand.

“Wasn’t sure if I’d be able to go through with all this,” he says, gesturing to me and my notepad. “I took the wedding pictures down in the living room too, before you got here.”

“I knew he could do it,” Barnes tells me. His voice is low, soft, and so quiet, a hint of an old Brooklyn accent underlying his words even now, despite everything he’s been through and everywhere he’s been. He shrugs out of his nondescript hoodie and tosses it on one of the unused stools, grabbing a kettle and putting it on the stove.

“Hibiscus or chamomile?” he asks me, pulling two boxes of tea bags from one of the grocery bags and letting me choose before turning to Wilson. “Bad news, hon. They were out of your whole wheat pita.”

“Again?” says Wilson, with feeling. “Really?”

“They only had the gluten free. I guess I could check the other store tonight, but it’s supposed to rain later, and I kinda don’t feel like going out again,” Barnes says, head buried in the cupboard as he stacks cans. “I was thinking maybe I could just try making ‘em. How does that sound? How hard can it be, right?”

“‘How does homemade pita sound,’ he says,” Wilson repeats, jabbing a thumb towards Barnes. “Can you believe this guy?”

“I honestly can’t.” It’s the truth. My brain refuses to reconcile this man with the supposed playboy I read about in my 11th grade history textbook, nor the internationally feared assassin.

“Is that a yes or no on the experimental homemade pita?” Barnes asks Wilson, still deep in the cupboard. “No promises on quality.”

“That’s a yes, Buck,” says Wilson, then he turns to me. “Don’t listen to him; he’s a great cook.”

The Winter Soldier is a great cook, I write in my notes. And then I realize this is my moment to shine.

“I actually know a good recipe for homemade pita,” I tell them. “It’s whole wheat.” That gets Barnes’s attention.

“You do?” he says, pulling out his phone. “Can you send it to—hmm.” He frowns. “Sam, it’s not showing the thing.”

“What thing?” Wilson asks, taking Barnes’s phone from his hand. “Oh, yeah, that’s cause it’s set to Contacts Only, Buck, you have to switch it to Allow Everyone.”

Wilson looks at me, smiling. “Bucky here hates technology—”

“—I don’t hate technology—”

“Oh yes you do, you won’t even let me get you an iPad—”

“Yeah, for what? What do I need it for? I wouldn’t even use—”

“You wouldn’t use one, huh? How about I stop letting you borrow mine for a couple of weeks, then we’ll see how you feel.” Wilson turns to me, passing Barnes’s phone back to him. “He should be showing up on your AirDrop now.”

Sure enough, I’m able to send the recipe link to Bucky’s iPhone. He thanks me and starts scrolling right through it, argument apparently totally forgotten.

As Barnes continues to read, periodically checking on the kettle; Wilson excuses himself to help put away the rest of the groceries, which are mostly produce. 

“I hope you have like, immediate plans for these,” Wilson says, inspecting the avocados as he pulls them out of the paper bag. “They are ripe, man. Tomorrow’s gonna be too late for them.”

“Yeah I do, I was gonna make grilled chicken and avocado sandwiches for dinner,” Barnes replies. “I got tomatoes, swiss cheese—”

“What’s all this about pita then if we’re having sandwiches?” Wilson asks.

“No, the pita is the bread here,” Barnes explains. “You stuff everything in the pocket. I’m gonna have to get started pretty soon; probably gonna double the rising time since it’s cold out.” Wilson hums in apparent approval of this course of action.

I lose Wilson to the refrigerator for several minutes. He stands back up after arranging things in the crisper to his liking.

“Any chance I could get a peek at those wedding pictures?” I ask.

“Oh,” says Wilson. “That okay with you?” He turns to Barnes, who nods, carefully steeping bags of tea in three steaming mugs, and then leads me back to the living room. 

Wilson has stashed two silver-framed pictures in a drawer of the coffee table, apparently in anticipation of my visit, and he pulls them out to show to me. Both are taken in front of a familiar-looking farmhouse, which I struggle with for a moment before placing it as the exact one in Captain Rogers’s watercolor painting that’s hanging to my left. Wilson’s suit in the photo is a matte but brilliant shade of cobalt; Barnes wears black.

One is of just the two of them, arms around one another and foreheads together. It’s almost too intimate to look at; I feel as though I’m intruding on something intensely private, even though Wilson is standing right here offering me a glimpse of it.

He puts that one back up onto the mantle.

The next is them in the center of a large group that consists of some people I recognize and others I don’t. Familiar faces include Dr. Bruce Banner [The Hulk], Clint Barton [Hawkeye], and Maria Hill [Deputy Director of S.H.I.E.L.D.]. Also present: King T’Challa of Wakanda and his sister, Princess Shuri. There’s a young girl in a white dress, carrying a flower basket and missing a front tooth, standing in front of [C.E.O. of Stark Industries] Pepper Potts. Next to them is a teenager with floppy brown hair doing an indescribably awkward double thumbs up.

“Who’s that?” I ask, pointing at him.

Wilson snorts. “Some punk. Family friend.”

That picture gets hung on the empty nail next to Captain Rogers’s painting.

Barnes knocks quietly on the doorway behind us. “Tea’s ready.”

An awkward silence settles in with us once we sit back down in the kitchen, Wilson and Barnes next to one another, and me across from them. I flip through my notes, taking a sip from my mug.. My drink is sweeter than I was expecting, because apparently the Winter Soldier has added agave to the hibiscus tea he made me. It’s delicious.

Barnes eventually breaks. “So whatcha go over so far?”

“How we got together, how we got engaged,” Wilson answers him. “In detail too, so if you don’t want that published, you’re gonna have to grovel at the journalist yourself, because you said—”

“Oh my god,” says Barnes, old-school New York sarcasm dripping from every word. “How dare you tell people about the best thing I ever did, huh? Now they’re gonna think I’m like, a sensitive, good guy, and here I’ve been coasting along on this murder cyborg image. What have you done, you dick?”

Wilson rolls his eyes.

“So...you’re okay with it?” I ask them, absolutely ready to scrub the record if he hesitates.

“You kidding me?” says Barnes. “Every other week comes up some new atrocity I committed against my will in like...the 70s, and you think I’m gonna be upset with people knowing that once in a while I say nice shit to someone I love? Write it. Please. Knock yourself out.”

Okay then. Since Barnes seems willing to talk, I ask them if I can throw them a few questions I have for them as a couple. Barnes looks as though he wasn’t anticipating this.

Wilson turns to him. “You wanna be here for this?”

Barnes nods slowly, hesitantly, chewing on the inside of his cheek.

“You’re okay?” Wilson asks. “You decide you’re done at any point and I’ll end it. Or you can go hang out in the other room, your call.”

“I’m good for now,” Barnes decides. “I’ll let you know if that changes.”

“You can ask whatever you want,” Wilson says to me. “I can’t promise we’ll answer everything, but go ahead and shoot.”

“I guess the first question I have is: what’s the hardest thing about navigating your jobs as a couple? What bothers you the most about that?”

Wilson exhales loudly. “I mean, the obvious answer is the danger,” he says. “The nature of what we do is fundamentally unsafe. I think it goes without saying—I’ll still say it—that we’re always aware that one of us might not make it back from a mission, which is...” Wilson trails off for a moment, shaking his head. “You don’t get used to that feeling. The fear.”

“Mm hmm,” Barnes agrees, from behind his mug.

“And,” continues Wilson, “I’m also aware that by doing this interview, I’m putting Bucky in additional danger. I’m not naive enough to think that the people working against us won’t try to use my relationship with him as leverage against me.”

“That makes sense,” I say, because he’s absolutely right, and pretending that public knowledge of his marriage doesn’t put them both in a new kind of danger seems disingenuous. I face Barnes. “Your turn.”

“Racist assholes,” says Barnes immediately.

Wilson smirks and cocks his head in agreement. “Sometimes I think I’ve talked that subject to death, other times it’s like I could never hope to address it enough. Today feels like the first one.”

A diplomatic, but clear answer. Time to move on. 

I’m about to ask the next question when he adds: “Another thing that gets under my skin is how it’s like Bucky’s image in the eyes of the general public is totally dependent on me hyping him up all the time. As far as I’m concerned, he’s proven himself a hundred times over, and yet if I’m not on T.V. reminding people of that every day, it’s suddenly like ‘oh, the Winter Soldier, can we ever really trust him?’ 

“I just… It bothers me. I want us to come to a collective understanding that everything that happened happened to Bucky, not because of him. It kinda circles back into another of the things I’m passionate about, which is mental health care and awareness. I think if we as a society were better about recognizing and addressing mental illness, and particularly Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, I wouldn’t have to keep having this conversation about my husband.”

Barnes’s face is getting pinker and he says nothing, but he’s smiling a little at Wilson, who puts an arm around his shoulders.

“Anyway, we can move on,” says Wilson, his expression going easy again. “Just had to get that out there one more time.”

“Hopefully this one’s a little more pleasant,” I say. “What inspired you to come forward about your relationship? I know you guys—” I gesture between them, ”—have been together for a couple years, so why now?”

“I want to go on a date in public,” says Bucky. “I haven’t been on a date since the 40s.”

“That’s right,” says Wilson. “We’re doing all this so I can take him Denny’s and hold his hand over a $6.99 Super Slam.”

When I finish laughing, Wilson continues. “Part of it’s because we realized it’s gonna get out there whether we like it or not. You already knew when you got here that we lived together, and that’s because that information got leaked to the public last week, so it was always just a matter of time before people found out anyway. I’d rather have some control over that narrative; better you hear it from me and Bucky, how we want to tell it, than in some tabloid.”

He’s right about that: they would undoubtedly have been outed one way or another. Their status as “roommates” was reported by TMZ a week and a half ago, and there was a Buzzfeed piece only yesterday, rife with gifs, entitled 15 Times Captain America and The Winter Soldier Made Us Wish We Were Their Third Roommate, that ended on the note of how Wilson and Barnes are “absolute BFF GOALS.” Wilson continues:

“But I think the biggest reason is that we decided, together, that we actually think it’s good for people to  know. I’ve seen firsthand the impact that having a Black Captain America has had on the Black community and on the national topic of race, and we think—we hope—that a Captain America who is a member of the LGBT community will have a similar effect. 

“The people who already hate me aren’t going to like me any better or worse for being bisexual, but some bisexual teenager out there is hopefully gonna read this article and feel a little bit better about themselves than they did before. That’s really the impact I want to have here. Got anything to add, Buck?”

“Actually, yeah,” says Barnes, staring at the counter in front of him and fiddling with his wedding ring. “I grew up gay in thirties. The idea of being able to just...tell people, that’s still amazing to me. The fact that I’m sitting here talking about it with a stranger and you’re not screamin’ in my face right now…”

“You do know I’m not straight either, right?” I ask him. I’m not exactly shy about that, it’s the kind of thing most people can tell just by looking at me.

“Even so,” says Barnes, finally looking me in the eye. “You fool around with a fella back in the day—or worse, you make a pass and he turns you down—then he knows about you, and then it’s like, what if he tells someone? Some of the worst shit I ever saw came from people who found out that way. So, other gay guys. Basically you never felt safe.”

“What about Captain Rogers?” I ask. “Did he know?”

“Oh yeah, Steve knew,” says Barnes with a dismissive wave of his hand, like that ought to be obvious. “He wasn’t gonna tell anyone; I got too much dirt on him.“

“Pfft. He’s messing with you,” Wilson interjects, directed at me. “There’s no dirt on Steve anywhere; believe me, I’d know by now if there was.”

“I want you to guess how many times I’ve had to clean up Steve’s puke,” says Barnes in a total deadpan, leaning forward. “Whatever number you think it is, the real answer is higher. 

“This again,” says Wilson. “I keep telling you Buck, Steve throwing up on you at Coney Island isn’t the big scandalous story you seem to want it to be.”

“Sam wasn’t there, he didn’t see it,” Barnes insists. “We were with these girls and they just left us standing there by the Cyclone, covered in hot dog chunks. Actually, that part was kind of a relief ‘cause one of ‘em was definitely jonesing for me to kiss her before that, and I really didn’t want to. 

“But seriously, after everything we went through together, I knew I could trust Steve with anything. And that made me luckier than most—at least I had one person. Lots of guys had no one. 

“Anyway, my reasons for coming out with all this are probably more selfish than Sam’s. You know some of those Nazis—we’re callin’ ‘em something else these days, like ‘alt-right’ or whatever, but I know a Nazi when I see one—they have this crazy idea of what I was like back in the day. They’ve got this fantasy, like a golem of toxic masculinity with my face on it, and I just want to publicly shit on their dreams. Every date I ever went on with a girl was a total sham, and I was scared down to my bones that someone would figure that out. I fight because someone needs to and I’m good at it, but I hate hurting people and I’d much rather be sitting here cuddling on the couch with a man. This man.”

Barnes is grinning big and wide by the time he finishes—a real, genuine smile that brings out the sparkle in his eyes—and suddenly I feel like I’m catching a glimpse of what Wilson must be seeing in him. Wilson himself is laughing.

“I like how you snuck your little buzzword in there, baby,” he says. “Toxic masculinity. That’s one of Bucky’s things he learned about from his Wakandan therapist. 

“Obviously super important,” Wilson adds, lest I think he’s making light of something serious.

“I think it’s great that we’re talking about it so openly now, especially with respect to the military.”

Barnes tilts his head in agreement, checking the time on his phone. We’re probably approaching the point at which he wants to get started on that pita bread, and I’m definitely in his way.

“So what’s next for you guys?” I ask.

“Isn’t that always the question?” Wilson asks, taking Barnes’s right hand in his left and resting them, intertwined, on the countertop. “Sometimes it’s aliens. Sometimes not. Who even knows anymore?”

“Hopefully, a whole lot more of this,” says Barnes, looking down at their hands.

Wilson smiles. “Well, that’s a given. That’s always.”

This is when Barnes gets up to pull a stand mixer out of one of the cupboards, and I read that as my cue to take my leave. I end my recording, Wilson thanks me for stopping by, I promise to give him an advance copy of my writing to make sure he’s comfortable with what I said, and I find myself standing back on the sidewalk of [REDACTED] moments later.

I’m not typically in the habit of including as many details about the dinner plans of my article subjects as I have here—and I’m certainly testing the limits of my editor’s patience with the word count—but in the spirit of Wilson’s wishes for what his coming out story will mean to the people of America, I wanted to emphasize how human his marriage is. 

Barnes and Wilson have extraordinary jobs that they are undoubtedly uniquely suited for and that most of us will never fully understand, but they are also two people who have been through a lot of hardship and found happiness and peace in one another. And that’s something that most of us do understand: love, the human experience that transcends the divisions we give ourselves.

*From a press conference Wilson gave on May 7, 2025.

**From a statement written by Barnes and issued through a S.H.I.E.L.D. representative on November 1, 2023.

For further reading on Barnes, the author recommends: 

1. Greatest Generation X: The Impossible Life of James Buchanan Barnes, by Ariel Guzman, published in 2025.

2. R.Y. Uhlencott’s column “The Wolf of Brooklyn” in the October 2024 issue of Time covers the basic timeline and trajectory of Barnes’s life.

[mermaidgirl30]

✨Jamie’s 2024 Favs ✨

Thank you for the tag @sanarsi @guiltyasdave 🩵 2024 has been a whirlwind, and I spent most of it here writing about that big, broad, silly old man ☺️ It’s very difficult to pick out some of my favorites because I love all of them, but I’ll say some of my top ones! These are all Joel Miller x fem! reader ones.

Saving What Was Lost - This has very quickly become one of my most favorite things to write! Joel being his big protective, soft self is just so comforting 🥹 I love this story with my whole heart.

Dark Shades of Innocence Lost - My next favorite. This story took me through all the emotions, and it all started with one single song that flooded me with the idea. I’m currently reworking it to be my debut novel, and my goal is to self-publish it sometime in 2026! 2025 will be all about getting the first draft ready and through the editor’s hands. Also getting the cover done in August by one of my favorite illustrators! Writing a book is so so much harder than writing fics, but I’ll gladly accept the challenge.

Fading Into Lilac Skies: Ahh. This is the one I keep going back to 🥰 I love how this one flowed and built into the song “Colors” by Halsey. I love these two very much and would very much like to write a part two when I get the chance.

Take Me to Wonderland: This was such a nostalgic and relaxing fic to write, and I just love how I got to tie the Alice in Wonderland world into Joel and reader’s. Definitely my comfort read 💜

Tear You Apart: There’s nothing more I love than writing angst, and this one was kind of like a little red riding hood x big bad wolf mix. I love them and think about them often!

Pulled by the Scarlet Reins: Another angsty witch trial one! Taylor Swift’s “Cassandra” inspired this one. Again, angst with a happy ending is my favorite thing to write.

Tagging some lovely fic writers and anyone who sees this 🩵 @sawymredfox @mountainsandmayhem @lotusbxtch @burntheedges @milla-frenchy

@aurorawritestoescape @bageldaddy @joelstummy @beardedjoel @almostfoxglove

@magpiepills @almostempty @joelsdagger @joelsoftie @pedrospatch

@ozarkthedog @justagalwhowrites @macfrog

[maklodes]

My view on the whole Dr. Seuss affair: as a society we should have access to all manner of books and materials. That doesn’t just include books which might incidentally include some offensive aspects, like the Dr. Seuss books, but includes books which are basically full-out hateful screeds, sometimes hateful screeds with few if any redeeming qualities: the rabid antisemitism of Mein Kampf, the misogynistic hatred in the Malleus Maleficarum, the vile misandry of the SCUM Manifesto, the Takfiri Jihadist theology in Milestones, etc. I don’t want any of it to be just rendered broadly inaccessible, even if I wouldn’t necessarily recommend putting them in a kindergarten reading curriculum. 

That does not necessarily mean that everything ever written needs to be currently in print (an impossible requirement), but I think it’s letting Dr. Seuss Enterprises off the hook too easily to simply say “sure, some Dr. Seuss books are now out of print, just like 90+% of old Victorian novels, but that’s their right as private owners of that particular intellectual property, not censorship. Instead of getting mad about the loss of under 10% of the Dr Seuss canon, look at all the other new kids’ books you could read, like Thomashia Booker’s Brown Boy Joy!” I think if you’re going to cease publishing something -- something for which there is still some extant demand, especially -- you should create some kind of license which at least partially releases the work to the public domain. Maybe the license says that you are relinquishing exclusive publishing rights for five years until 2026, say, but in 2026 you may reconsider, and in the 2021-2026 window anyone can publish If I Ran the Zoo or whatever. I don’t know the details of the law, but something like that would be reasonable.

I suppose there are a few caveats to this view. One is the concept of editions/revisions. If Scribner stops publishing the 2006 edition of The Joy of Cooking and publishes the 2019 edition of The Joy of Cooking instead, I think that they can justifiably say “no, we’re not releasing the 2006 edition into the public domain so that you can download PDFs or it legally or Penguin or Random House or whoever can just print it. Get the 2019 edition!”

Another caveat is one I’m more uncertain about, but still sympathize with: a living author who feels a lot of remorse and embarrassment about publishing some work who doesn’t want the work either published or in the public domain. I would sympathize with someone who writes a book talking about how terrible her mother is at age 23, then reconciles with her and recognizes some of her own mistakes a decade later, and says “I don’t want that book published or in the public domain in any fashion.” This is a tricky one, and I don’t know if I would fully endorse the right to revoke publication of something regrettable, but I would certainly at least understand it.

None of this applies to the Dr. Seuss affair, where these books are being pulled from publication after the author’s death, with no new editions replacing them.

[iconiceyesedinburgh-blog]

What Skills Do You Need To Work For Blizzard Entertainment As A Graphic Designer?

Though going to university can help you pursue the artistic profession of your desires, setting you up with the correct set of skills and skills, it isn't for everybody. Graphic design is great coaching for design work in lots of fields, which is why you will find graphic designers working in areas of specialization ranging from print design (books and magazines), to identity design (logos and branding), to product design, packaging design, Web design, and more. For while many people have been right about the best way all this pres- entism would have an effect on investments and finance, even expertise and media, we had been completely fallacious about how living within the now” would find yourself impacting us as folks. There was additionally a dialogue as to when the patroller may start doing their job-it was agreed upon, based mostly on the advice by Mr. Maduna that they should start immediately(although few days left that they need to receives a commission- and amongst the residents. Beneath particular questioning, he replied that the Colored Proteas could play towards the Rugby Springboks any time.6 November, The executive committee of the Worldwide Soccer Federation (FIFA) rejects an Ethiopian proposal to expel South Africa. With the coming of "Nyaope", which is decimating and wiping many generations of the African People, as has been witnessed first-hand here in Orlando East, and have posted articles written about it by the locals and some already banned FB'ers, that, the folks have now begun to work and build up on the street committees, and they're taking shapes from a pair or single household giving their sons and associates an obligation to patrol the streets and certain space-boundaries(small areas but strategic. This point can be dealt with a lot in-depth to debate the unknown civilization of Mzantsi that can be dated way back to 200,000 years ago(with pictures to present it a much more significant South African African historical structure and reality. Aimed at the impartial-minded, Find out how to be a Graphic Designer, Without Dropping Your Soul addresses the issues of young designers who wish to earn a dwelling by doing expressive and significant work and avoid changing into a hired drone engaged on soulless initiatives. Listening carefully and totally to the video, it does shed some gentle concerning the ancient ruins, but it lacks the historical, oral and customary views of the Africans, and these might be found amongst the folks themselves. Till the day we Africans of Mzantsi stop thinking of and for our particular person selves only, till they day we Africans of Mzantsi say sufficient is enough; and, until we come to our senses and go and see for ourselves what I'm speaking about or everyone seems to be writing about what these medicine are doing to us, our individuals, relatives and communitiesNation, we are going to forever be in our cocoons and do nothing, and we are clearly dealing with something extra harmful than HIV AIDs(Which is still battering and wiping the core of our communities), we'll ultimately taken-snuffed by the genocide we at the moment are facing. Graphic Designers design (or create) graphics to fulfill particular industrial or promotional needs, such as packaging, displays, logos, or imagery for print and digital uses including banner adverts, social media posts, web site graphics, journal advertorials, and many others. It's about time we stopped aping and emulating ineffective and different cultures foreign to us(though we must always understand international cultures) however we can't be the folks of international cultures as a result of they don't seem to be ours and they are not us. Most researchers, writers and authors agree that they got here seeking gold to restore the environment across the synthetic planet they called Nibiru, what some call Planet X. Our Galactic historical past, that many on our world are only now accepting as legitimate, was influenced to a terrific diploma by many off world Alien races and this has contributed a terrific deal to all kinds of social, religious and even physical, issues our current civilization endures, to at the present time. What's hanging about his cloning of humans in the purported lost civilization are improbable machination and creativeness on steroids as a result of this lis clear in that, throughout the talk, the Africans of South Africa are not even talked about, considered, nor their culture not attached or used so as to perceive the traditional ruins and so forth. A convergence of historical circumstance and a rise in innovative cellular applications may make Africa the first publish-PC continent, as a result of the vast majority of Africans would not have the posh of laptops, iPads, Kindles and the like (Wanjiku, 2011). Above I have been attempting to establish the human origins of mumanity from the nation of Mzantsi (South Africa), and have but to talk about about the acutal History, Culture, Customs, Traditions, Oral Traditions and history, Scared Rites Practices, languages, music, dance an traditional garb. Blue IQ had identified tourism as a serious progress space for funding, and its market research confirmed that for tourists visiting South Africa, a big part of the attraction is the ANC's world fame for having triumphed over oppression. No matter our understanding of the varied ways through which European methods of education sometimes failed African individuals, Africans proceed to be depending on the European method; an method that carries no high expectations of us. In local web designers iconiceyes.co.uk edinburgh , the European system relies largely on assumptions that we lack the intellectual and cultural capacity for thigh ranges of feat. I then worked as a pc-know-how journalist and PR author for about 15 years… writing for (and generally enhancing or managing) magazines like Well-liked Computing, Networking Management, Infosecurity News, Lightwave, Leaders, and the Harvard Business Review. Graphic designer employment is anticipated to grow by 4% (or eleven,000+ new jobs) from 2016 via 2026, slower than the 7% common progress price for all occupations, however this statistic could be very business dependent; for instance, graphic designers in print media (newspapers, magazines, catalogs, and so forth.) is predicted to shrink by 22%, while the job market for digital designers (web sites, computer systems and functions, and many others.) will develop by 20% over the same decade. On this explicit case in his travels in Botswana and Zimbabwe, we look specifically at his sojourn in Mzantsi."The word Boer merely means "farmer"and in the minds of the Africans it means a foreign "trekker', and is not synonymous with our word 'boor'. There are someplace round 300 totally different universities, postsecondary colleges, and unbiased establishments which can be accredited by the ​ Nationwide Association of Schools of Artwork and Design Any of these can provide you with the necessary qualifications to get a job ready with the graphic designer job description. The image we get at the moment of Africa in past ages from the historical past taught in our schools is that Africans were savages and that, though Europeans invaded their lands and made slaves of them, they assert that they were in a method conferring an important an excellent favor on them; since they dropped at them the blessings of Christian civilization. If a graphic designer is part of a advertising or growth team, they often work inside a studio with other creative talent Some firms have a number of graphic artists resulting from their specialties in areas like video animation, images, or illustration. Understanding how to hire a graphic designer and ourselves prior to now and in actual time is of prime importance right here: the Present future, would require us to pay attention to ourselves and the way we conduct or live our ways of life: Tradition, and so forth. Just like with planning a business, it's essential to perceive who your online buyer is. There are lots of factors that will play into the way you design your website based on who you create it for. James Sofasonke” Sofasonke Mpanza, a neighborhood chief and advocate for higher housing for African folks residing in Johannesburg'. It was a really enjoyable expertise which explains why I decided to change my main from Information Technology to Graphic Design. By the point you might be completed with studying this information it is possible for you to to talk in regards to the internet development course of competently and never get taken advantage of by among the less than principled web designers out there. When you've got the flexibility to take easy product packaging and elevate it to the level of artwork, you might be a graphic designer in the making. The graphic designer's job is to successfully talk the meant message of the undertaking at hand visually to a specified audience. Graphic designers create and affect branding, which can help to promote services to 1000's - sometimes millions - of shoppers from all all over the world. The only recommended training to be able to full the duties within the web designer job description consists of a bachelor's diploma in net design. In-home graphic designers work in an organization's advertising and marketing or creative division. For example, some create the graphics used on retail merchandise packaging, and others may go on the visible designs used on ebook jackets. As a contract graphic designer, you might be your individual boss, set your individual schedule and pursue your individual initiatives. Many professional graphic designs speak of the satisfaction of making one thing visible or constructing a brand identity that can be seen by 1000's, if not hundreds of thousands of people. Photographs of designers reflect this and have a tendency to contain them looking at designs or their pc screens.

[techcrunchappcom]

New Post has been published on https://techcrunchapp.com/astronomers-see-possible-hints-of-life-in-venuss-clouds-national-world-news/

Astronomers see possible hints of life in Venus's clouds | National/World News

Astronomers have found a potential sign of life high in the atmosphere of neighboring Venus: hints there may be bizarre microbes living in the sulfuric acid-laden clouds of the hothouse planet.

Two telescopes in Hawaii and Chile spotted in the thick Venusian clouds the chemical signature of phosphine, a noxious gas that on Earth is only associated with life, according to a study in Monday’s journal Nature Astronomy.

Several outside experts — and the study authors themselves — agreed this is tantalizing but said it is far from the first proof of life on another planet. They said it doesn’t satisfy the “extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence” standard established by the late Carl Sagan, who speculated about the possibility of life in the clouds of Venus in 1967.

“It’s not a smoking gun,” said study co-author David Clements, an Imperial College of London astrophysicist. “It’s not even gunshot residue on the hands of your prime suspect, but there is a distinct whiff of cordite in the air which may be suggesting something.”

As astronomers plan for searches for life on planets outside our solar system, a major method is to look for chemical signatures that can only be made by biological processes, called biosignatures. After three astronomers met in a bar in Hawaii, they decided to look that way at the closest planet to Earth: Venus. They searched for phosphine, which is three hydrogen atoms and a phosphorous atom.

Searching for phosphine

On Earth, there are only two ways phosphine can be formed, study authors said. One is in an industrial process. (The gas was produced for use as chemical warfare agent in World War I.) The other way is as part of some kind of poorly understood function in animals and microbes. Some scientists consider it a waste product, others don’t.

Phosphine is found in “ooze at the bottom of ponds, the guts of some creatures like badgers and perhaps most unpleasantly associated with piles of penguin guano,” Clements said.

Study co-author Sara Seager, an MIT planetary scientist, said researchers “exhaustively went through every possibility and ruled all of them out: volcanoes, lightning strikes, small meteorites falling into the atmosphere. … Not a single process we looked at could produce phosphine in high enough quantities to explain our team’s findings.”

That leaves life.

The astronomers hypothesize a scenario for how life could exist on the inhospitable planet where temperatures on the surface are around 800 degrees (425 degrees Celsius) with no water.

“Venus is hell. Venus is kind of Earth’s evil twin,” Clements said. “Clearly something has gone wrong, very wrong, with Venus. It’s the victim of a runaway greenhouse effect.”

But that’s on the surface.

Seager said all the action may be 30 miles above ground in the thick carbon-dioxide layer cloud deck, where it’s about room temperature or slightly warmer. It contains droplets with tiny amounts of water but mostly sulfuric acid that is a billion times more acidic than what’s found on Earth.

The phosphine could be coming from some kind of microbes, probably single-cell ones, inside those sulfuric acid droplets, living their entire lives in the 10-mile-deep clouds, Seager and Clements said. When the droplets fall, the potential life probably dries out and could then get picked up in another drop and reanimate, they said.

Looking for proof of life

Life is definitely a possibility, but more proof is needed, several outside scientists said.

Cornell University astronomer Lisa Kaltenegger said the idea of this being the signature of biology at work is exciting, but she said we don’t know enough about Venus to say life is the only explanation for the phosphine.

“I’m not skeptical, I’m hesitant,” said Justin Filiberto, a planetary geochemist at the Lunar and Planetary Institute in Houston who specializes in Venus and Mars and isn’t part of the study team.

Filiberto said the levels of phosphine found might be explained away by volcanoes. He said recent studies that were not taken into account in this latest research suggest that Venus may have far more active volcanoes than originally thought. But Clements said that explanation would make sense only if Venus were at least 200 times as volcanically active as Earth.

David Grinspoon, a Washington-based astrobiologist at the Planetary Science Institute who wrote a 1997 book suggesting Venus could harbor life, said the finding “almost seems too good to be true.”

“I’m excited, but I’m also cautious,” Grinspoon said. “We found an encouraging sign that demands we follow up.”

NASA hasn’t sent anything to Venus since 1989, though Russia, Europe and Japan have dispatched probes. The U.S. space agency is considering two possible Venus missions. One of them, called DAVINCI+, would go into the Venutian atmosphere as early as 2026.

Clements said his head tells him “it’s probably a 10% chance that it’s life,” but his heart “obviously wants it to be much bigger because it would be so exciting.”

___

Follow Seth Borenstein on Twitter: @borenbears

___

The Associated Press Health & Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

(function(d, s, id) var js, fjs = d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0]; if (d.getElementById(id)) return; js = d.createElement(s); js.id = id; js.src = "https://connect.facebook.net/en_US/sdk.js#xfbml=1&version=v2.5&appId=730238567043245"; fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js, fjs); (document, 'script', 'facebook-jssdk'));

[wallpaperpaintings]

This Is How Ceiling Paint Will Look Like In 19 Years Time | Ceiling Paint

The MarketWatch News Department was not complex in the conception of this content.

Jul 14, 2020 (AmericaNewsHour) — All-around Arrangement Acrylic Bazaar AnalysisAccording to Verified Bazaar Research, The All-around Arrangement Acrylic Bazaar was admired at USD 9.31 Billion in 2018 and is projected to ability USD 13.08 Billion by 2026, growing at a CAGR of 4.58% from 2019 to 2026.

What are Arrangement Paint?Textured acrylic is one of the best accepted types of acrylic on the bazaar at the moment. The acceptance of textured acrylic can be attributed to not acute the use of a album as the acrylic is so thick. Textured acrylic can be acclimated in several applications and comes in orted variations as well. Textured acrylic can be acclimated to awning imperfections such as orted irregularities, cracks and holes. Textured acrylic is about added advantageous and is advised to adumbrate the imperfections of the bank or ceiling. Textured acrylic can additionally be acclimated to actualize altered and artistic bank designs.

The Final Address will awning the appulse ay of COVID-19 on this industry:

Download Sample of This Strategic Report:https://ift.tt/386qzev

Global Arrangement Acrylic Bazaar OutlookIn the report, the bazaar angle area mainly encompes axiological dynamics of the bazaar which accommodate drivers, restraints, opportunities and challenges faced by the industry. Drivers and Restraints are built-in factors admitting opportunities and challenges are acquired factors of the market.Factors such as the booming architecture industry and the growing appeal from the average chic are acceptable the advance of the market. Added factors such as the aloft backdrop of textured

This Is How Ceiling Paint Will Look Like In 19 Years Time | Ceiling Paint – ceiling paint | Delightful to help the website, within this time period I’m going to show you concerning keyword. Now, this can be the primary graphic:

CEILING FINISHES — AH & CO: Decorative Artisans – ceiling paint | ceiling paint

What about photograph above? is actually in which wonderful???. if you’re more dedicated thus, I’l t demonstrate a number of photograph all over again under:

So, if you desire to obtain these fantastic pictures related to (This Is How Ceiling Paint Will Look Like In 19 Years Time | Ceiling Paint), press save link to download the pics for your computer. These are available for save, if you’d prefer and want to obtain it, click save symbol in the page, and it’ll be immediately downloaded in your laptop.} As a final point if you desire to find new and latest image related with (This Is How Ceiling Paint Will Look Like In 19 Years Time | Ceiling Paint), please follow us on google plus or save this website, we try our best to give you regular update with fresh and new pics. We do hope you enjoy staying right here. For many updates and latest information about (This Is How Ceiling Paint Will Look Like In 19 Years Time | Ceiling Paint) graphics, please kindly follow us on twitter, path, Instagram and google plus, or you mark this page on book mark area, We attempt to provide you with up-date regularly with all new and fresh images, enjoy your searching, and find the right for you.

Here you are at our website, contentabove (This Is How Ceiling Paint Will Look Like In 19 Years Time | Ceiling Paint) published .  Nowadays we’re delighted to declare that we have discovered an incrediblyinteresting topicto be discussed, namely (This Is How Ceiling Paint Will Look Like In 19 Years Time | Ceiling Paint) Some people attempting to find specifics of(This Is How Ceiling Paint Will Look Like In 19 Years Time | Ceiling Paint) and of course one of these is you, is not it?

Painted ceiling – ceiling paint | ceiling paint

How to Paint an Unfinished Basement Ceiling – Semigloss Design – ceiling paint | ceiling paint

Dress Up Your Ceiling With Paint – Room Painting Color .. | ceiling paint

How to Paint a Ceiling | The Family Handyman – ceiling paint | ceiling paint

How to Paint Your Ceiling – Perfect The Painted Ceiling Trend – ceiling paint | ceiling paint

How to Paint a Ceiling – ceiling paint | ceiling paint

Ceiling Paint ультраматовая для потолка, скрывает неровности поверхности – ceiling paint | ceiling paint

Painted ceiling at Cozia Monastery – ceiling paint | ceiling paint

29 Painted Ceilings That Add Unexpected Contrast to Any .. | ceiling paint

Life of the Lorenzens: Kitchen: Ceiling paint – ceiling paint | ceiling paint

Savard Studios: Dramatic Dining Room and Foyer Ceiling .. | ceiling paint

The Advantages of Using Flat Paint on Your Ceiling – Sheldon .. | ceiling paint

6 Paint Colors That Make A Splash on Ceilings – ceiling paint | ceiling paint

19 Designer Rooms with Gorgeous Painted Ceilings – ceiling paint | ceiling paint

Ceiling Paint Color: Does It Change the Light in a Room? – – ceiling paint | ceiling paint

The ceiling paint was falling onto the floor and dresser .. | ceiling paint

What Color Should I Paint My Ceiling? Part II | Decorating .. | ceiling paint

Master Bedroom Makeover | Master Bedroom Makeover, Bedroom .. | ceiling paint

from WordPress https://www.bleumultimedia.com/this-is-how-ceiling-paint-will-look-like-in-19-years-time-ceiling-paint/