#My goal is to write or draw a little something at least once a day

[solardee]

UTEV - Drabble #1

The castle was calm and quiet, for all intents and purposes. Sure, his boys were wandering about, causing their usual mischief as they were want to do, but otherwise it was quiet.

His office was undisturbed, paperwork neatly filed away in the drawer below. Dusk’s hands were folded in front of him, hiding his mouth as he gazed emptily at the door. It would be flying open any moment now, if the telltale steps of his brother down the hall were anything to go by.

There has always been a balance to maintain, after all.

He was the Guardian of Negativity, in stark contrast to his energetic brother; it was inevitable they would conflict. Natural even. Life is not always filled with ease or joy. Disagreements, betrayals, tragedies, all find themselves at home in all of our existences.

Some, perhaps more than others, the cracks in his skull dripping corruption was testament to that.

Keeping a balance, between striving against adversity and being rightfully discouraged and grief stricken in honesty isn’t easy. An ever-lasting fight between positivity and negativity, that shows no signs of settling soon. A fight to last all of eternity.

The door slammed open in front of him. Dusk’s gaze didn’t flinch, slowly traveling up until his singular eyelight bore into shining save stars in his brother’s sockets.

“BROTHER,” Dawn hissed, the talons hidden under his glove gouging slightly into the wooden frame, “I know what you’ve done.”

“Oh, do you now?” Dusk responded, head slowly tilting to the side, the corruption pooling on the inside of his skull. His hands remained folded in front of his face.

His brother scoffed, slamming his hand onto Dusk’s desk to tower over his sibling (though it isn’t like he needed Dusk sitting down to do that) “Of course I do!” Dawn shouted indignantly, “and I won’t allow this crime to continue!”

Dusk’s unoccupied tentacle curled around his chair as he lowered his hands, the barest hint of a smirk on his apathetic face, “You won’t allow it?” he mocked. His other tentacle laid comfortably on his lap.

Dawn’s wings flared out in rage, “That pudding cup in the fridge was mine and you know it!”

Dusk shrugged, raising the aforementioned confectionery in front of his chest, but out of Dawn’s reach, “What a shame. I didn’t see your name on it…” he drawled despite Dawn’s offended huffing.

“Dusk…” his brother warned.

“If you want it so badly, come and get it.”

Thus, the fighting begun.

Feathers flying, apathy dripping to impede determined progress, what Dusk lacked in height he made up for in maneuverability. Dawn shoved and reached for the treat, even as Dusk twisted further away.

It was a good five minutes before Dawn shoved his wing into Dusk’s face and made him choke on feathers, his good arm snatching the slightly crushed cup from the distracted tentacle with a shout of victory.

‘Well,’ Dusk thought to himself as they settled down from their vicious battle, ‘There are worse ways to spend an eternity, I suppose.’

“You’re such an ass sometimes, you know that?” Dawn muttered as he sprawled in the chair across from his office desk.

“Brother, you simply give me far too much to work with,” Dusk replied simply, pulling a drawer in his desk open to grab a treat of his own.

The battle for balance paused, if only briefly.

[thechekhov]

do you have any advice on how to start a tumblr for a project (like a fanfic or a comic like yours)? im working on a fanfic of my own, and id like advice from someone who succeeded like you(:

Here's the thing.

I don't think I'm a good candidate for this question because if I'm being honest... the success of the WDAU blog mostly fell to the success of THIS blog.

What I mean is:

When SU started, I had already developed a large enough following to get me relatively ok engagement with my audience because I'd been on tumblr for over 5 years.

When I started to watch SU and draw comics for the fandom regularly, it attracted MORE people to follow me and reblog my stuff.

When I started the WDAU blog, I simply migrated a lot of my SU-interested followers over, and it created a preset of a crowd of people willing to engage with and reblog that stuff.

And that kind of kickstarted the popularity of that blog.

Of course, on tumblr you don't NEED to have that in order to be successful. But my advice boils down not to secret hints, but very common-sense bruce-forth methods. For that I apologize.

Post often. Reblog often. Interact often. Make friends, find common interests. Join a community.

It's not about the follow-for-follow culture, it's about being a consumer in the economy you want to create for. You have to know your audience and you have to give if you want to get. Don't just expect engagement and comments if you, yourself, don't engage or comment.

When you create a blog, name it something that's straight to the point and easy to remember/find.

Tag all the posts consistently. Write a header for what it's about. Invest time in making a nice, eye-catching banner. COMMUNICATE to your audience as clearly as possible.

Post CONSISTENTLY. I don't mean every day. I mean at least once a week, just check in and remain active, even if it's reblogging something.

People appreciate it when you're just there, even if you don't produce chapters/episodes at a breakneck pace. In fact, I don't recommend posting more often than you need to. You're not a machine.

Aside from that.... just... work on your craft I guess? If you have trusted beta readers, ask someone to proofread your work. Try to improve little by little. Remember that no matter how long you write, you will never be a 'perfect' artist or author. Perfection isn't a realistic goal, but baby-step improvements are. :)

PS: why is the breloom in your avatar nakey

[xannador]

Whisper, Banana, and Quasar are the three main dragons of Dragonstar. Quasar was the only one I hadn't posted a glimpse of yet.

I've finished writing the backstories of all the important characters, their personalities, goals etc, and established the most fundamental aspects of worldbuilding and the magic system. With all those important building blocks gathered into a chaotic little pile of 11K words, I am ready to start mapping out the whole story. This is going to be the hardest part. But once I am past this hurdle I will know if I have something worthwhile on my hands or not.

After that, I can start writing a script for the first 3 episodes or so. Then I gotta do prepro of all the bg assets, color boards, storyboards, final character designs, learn sketchup, yadiyadiyada.

That first episode still seems pretty far away...

And this was supposed to be the easier choice of story lol. (At least compared to Skyworld.) But progress is being made every day. I'd love to start drawing the first episode in April but that might be a stretch, even for me.

But enough of my ramblings.

[gribok-art]

My drawing list I'm so excited to do or try in the near future Because I've got a much longer list but I gotta focus on something and aaaaahhhhh I wish I had more time Tried to put in order of priority

✦ Finish my Snufmin comic and admire it and print it with my new printer that will arrive this weekend, a little treat for myself <3 ✦ Togafuka challenge obviously not gonna be able to do in time but it's gonna be there I promise I have gooood ideas 🤌 ✦ Really wanna adapt the Blue Wagon song from "Crocodile Gena" into a Moominvalley AU illustration/comic ✦ Wall-e illustrations I gotta finish if I find inspiration. Otherwise I won't force myself and leave it until I find a better idea that excites me. ✦ There's this idea of a Moomin comic that I've just written down the dialogues for but I don't wanna make it too long and I'm stuck at writing Little My. It's Snufmin coded but there's all the characters. ✦ Gotta draw more of my OCs or at least design them... ✦ Maybe 1 redraw of an oooold art since I'm going through them right now for my portfolio and for the sake of nostalgia ✦ Maybe draw some photos of myself when I was a kid that I love. They are are rare, but I've got two, that represent me good, I think it'd be neat ✦ Start a new comic, this time something original, come up with a 10-20 page story like Moomin. It's a priority goal before the end of the year but I gotta organize all the rest first. ✦ It's been a while since I made angst huh... since my last Togafuka chapter where everybody cried... hmmmm... I really really wanna break hearts with a Moomin comic this time... but I've got no ideas yet, and I already have enough on my plate, but know... be prepared... because one day, you'll cry (I hope). I really want to come up with a good realistic one. So until then, I'll have to read all the comics and buy the novels to learn the characters in depth.

Boy I have so much more I wanna do Wall-e I wanna pay tribute with illustrations of a niche Wii game that was all my childhood I wanna maybe get back into the old "On the ship" comic I put on hiatus but it's been so long since DR2 but I had such a long list of ideas for that too I wanna try some illustrations that take random stuff that are not even characters just to try pretty things out aaaahhhhh

For once not a vent

We'll see how I'll be feeling next week, because boy oh boy there are things that could happen, or not, and I won't be calm until next weekend comes.

[brotrustmeicanwrite]

How do you balance maintaining a consistent writing routine?

Oh boi if only I could actually do that. Ok here we go~

Writing Creating Consistently

Creating consistently is one of the biggest challenges for any creative out there, not just writers. But despite so many people experiencing the same exact problem there is no universal solution. And the reason for that is simple: every person is different and the reason behind their struggles are just as diverse as humanity itself. For some it’s just difficulty keeping a habit alive, for others it’s circumstances of life and for people like me it can even just be their neuro-type.

But it’s not like there’s nothing you can do. So, here are two ideas to try to write more consistently, for both the organised and the chaotic:

Journaling +

This idea works best for those who don’t struggle too much to keep a habit alive or those who already journal or do something similar regularly anyway. Basically all you do is add a daily writing task to your routine. It can be anything like writing a short paragraph, working on character details or even just researching something. What exactly you do doesn’t matter as long as you’re doing something. But the most important thing to keep in mind is to keep the task tiny.

Once we start doing something, more often than not, much more will follow naturally. But if we make the task too big, we risk ending up dreading it. For that reason, your daily task should be something easy that can be done in no more than 5 minutes. That way you’ll get the satisfaction of doing something almost every day and don’t disappoint and demotivate yourself with piled up days of being unable to fullfill your goals.

Tiny Book

This technique works best for the more chaotic (and/or audhd) type and is the one I personally use for both writing and art. The basic idea of this technique is to simply always have something on you to catch your random bursts of inspiration throughout the day. For most people this will probably be their smartphone and maybe one of those cheap mini pens with the rubber stylus at the end. If you don’t like the notes app or just writing stuff down in a text document (or a hundred separate ones) here’s some apps that I use(d in the past):

Obsidian - very similar to a notes app, except you can link documents and build your own little Wikipedia. Including the clickable links within text and all.

Concepts - gives you an infinite canvas to take notes and draw stuff like mind maps. You’ll need a stylus for this one if you don’t want to write with your fingers. There are in app purchases but you really don’t need them and I’m using the free version with no problems too.

Campfire Blaze - (also as website) is specifically built to plan and share your writing projects. It has a lot of pre built functions to plan characters, maps, lore, magic systems etc.

Story Plotter - very similar to campfire except the focus is on structuring your story. A lot of people swear by it but I personally can’t give much more details because it just isn’t my style of program.

If you’re more of the traditional type though, get yourself a small notebook to always (and I mean always) carry around. Preferably a durable one that fits in your pocket and has a loop for a pencil. Also I recommend using a short technical pencil with an eraser at the end to avoid having to carry that and a sharpener around. Remember, we want the most comfortable quick and easy access so it doesn’t become a hassle to always have access to your materials.

On that note,

Why oh why, IKEA, did you stop making those cute but sturdy notebooks? That’s it, we’re breaking up. Søstrene Grene, you’re my new paper supply girlfriend. You may be more dainty and delicate, less sturdy than Ikea, but at least you’re there for me.

Ok but seriously, tip for the artists: søstrene grene has those teeny tiny blank books with really nice paper (easy 100+ pages) that fit into even a women’s front pocket and are perfect for quick thumbnailing. Just make sure to enforce the binging by putting some washi tape ore sum around the edges and glue it down on the backing bc they fall apart easily.

Anyway

Happy writing creating <3

[caluski]

again, a brief moment of self-reflection :-)

turning a little older yet again, i think its funny to see myself changing still. i wont lie that my life feels that much different from what it used to be - but other than boring things such as employment or housing or the lack of relationships, something has perhaps shifted in a bit quiet way, one you usually notice upon retrospection much later.

i think im still pretty much a hopeless romantic, in that stupid, proud, dramatic way that makes me absolutely fucking insufferable. everything must be either grand or tragic. obviously, its not a bad thing in itself, but it does make me far too self indulgent for my own good. i know i have to learn patience towards others, and domesticate my solitude, otherwise soon life will drive me even madder... there is a lot to reconsider when it comes to what i expect from life and people in my life, even if it feels like i overthought everything to death and back already.

the big goals for 29th year is definitely going back on meds. or should i say, finding meds that actually work for me. theres a lot that i want - such as moving out and becoming independent, having a stable job i dont have to worry about losing, or finding companionship in my daily life - but i want to be realistic just once. last year, i remember finding out about the layoffs right before summer ended, and i thought - my next job will be the one that fixes everything. obviously, its not, not yet at least. even the minimum wage aside, im annoyed with lots of aspects of it, so its far from perfect. i wish i could land a safe, corporate job that pays enough to keep me afloat on my own, but, well.

but like, other than all my actual flaws, i dont think my attempt to romanticize everything is that bad in itself. it does make good-but-normal things seem far too good to be true (like having friends, being loved, having a safe home - how can it ever be real for me, if its so beautiful???), but other than that, i do like the way it makes me feel. i like treating every coffee like the biggest blessing of the day. i like how good music makes me tear up. i like it when days are so good, theyll feel like a dream when i look back at them. i just have to keep it under a little bit of control. i have to get used to the thought that the world is not out there to cater for me, that i am not in fact the center of the universe, that everything goes on no matter what. i always liked the thought of being not the main character of life, but more of a best friend or love interest; youre still there, you can participate, you can be significant if you put your mind to it, but the world wont stop for you. also, i do like the sentiment of someone's main purpose in life being both giving and receiving of love. i might lack the brains and beauty for much more, but love, i think everyone is capable of, no matter what - and it includes me, in the end.

i want to spend more time taking pictures and listening to music. going to cafes and having long walks. i want to try going back to drawing. i wanna get better at writing - god, if this wall of text alongside all my other silly little posts arent a proof of that...... - which of course, means reading more, too. i wanna hear more live music. local, or maybe the big performances, if artists i like come over to warszawa or kraków or something. also, i wanna travel a little more. even if just to sit in a local cafe and watch the traffic. i wanna visit żmija (if youre reading this, i swearrrrrrr im not trying to invite myself over - but maybe if im in kraków or something, we could see each other closer to your home. which could also be fun because its such a big city, so much to see, so many cafes to experience. maybe a gay bar to visit? are there any worth dancing in?). and i do wanna continue collecting vinyls - slowly, as they are so costly, but still. and i do wanna become more outgoing, i want to take more risks, even if it leaves my stupid little heart sore and exposed.... rejection is inevitable, right? and i do want to catch up with romantic experiences, too. i want to feel something for someone again, even if its one-sided and desperate and miserable. but i miss it so badly, so so badly. i want to have someone to pour out my affection on - consensually. i want someone to want to be loved by me as i am, with all this mess of loud, intense feelings, without being freaked out. or maybe getting freaked out in a good way.

anyway. such a gloomy day calls for love & food playlist promo. have a good evening everyone! mwah

[marabarl-and-marlbara]

hello. i'm not sure how to phrase this properly but do you have any advice on not being afraid of being social with real humans? i admit i am a bit paranoid. i do not want to share anything about myself with anyone in real life, i do not want to use any social media that can be easily traced back to my real identity, i am afraid of meeting up with and talking to people i can meet locally etc. i know that human connection requires vulnerability and being "real", but i've seen far too many examples of people being bullied for being themselves and from my experiences relationships don't last that long, i can't keep friends, so it's almost not worth it to open up that much because it can be used against you later once you stop talking etc etc etc., at least that's what i think. i don't know how to perceive people as kind and stop being afraid. it's hard. sorry if this question is not phrased well.

hi anonymous; i:m terrible to ask for this!

i have basically no real-life relationships and my whole life has basically been a tomb built upon an inability to change, connect, and grow; spiritually i:m like what happens if the bacteria inside an empty house is allowed to stagnate and flow in-to the floorboards till it becomes like a fat pungent jelly saturating the baseboards, principal post, foundation; nasty and tepid and like a black mold :-))!

any-ways: what helped me get-over my social anxiety, slightly, was just gradual exposure at my own behest: forcing myself to go-out and get something nice for myself weekly/daily; when i had a little more money: this would be stopping out for coffee; or: just going to a thrift-store and looking at books.

for internet stuff and bullying: being open and facing consequence for your own existence is just part-and-parcel of being a person; even: if you are "making a career out of yourself" (whether it be an artist, or just some prolific poster (i:d consider this a career, absolutely, because when i was "way emotionally worse" i:d more-or-less literally get financially incentivized for being actively suicidal and mentally ill--blood sacrifice)) you sort-of implicitly are surrendering a barrier between yourself and other, cause ultimately it:s All About Connection & people don:t connect to barriers super well; incidentally, i think i had a worse time with "bullying" when i had more to be ashamed about myself, and had more internal insecurities -- but i also cared more about my identity as an artist; i:ve Confronted(!) the parts i:ve been too ashamed to confront and made peace with them, and now am mostly content with just housekeeping.

But: i:m still terrifically lonely. purpose and identity helps there; the only things that have ever abated the loneliness for me is being completely ensorcelled with /something/ (like a writing project, drawing, fleshing out an inner world, feeling like i am furthering my goal to the Communication/bacteria) -- and those only come as impulses for me; without: every-day is just a lonely dead-quiet stretch between meals that:s filled up with finding excuses to keep myself busy.

~but: i think that:s also "better;" i keep myself to a routine and give myself responsibilities that i don:t let myself shirk (my praying, my cleaning, my exercising, forcing myself to go to church once a week, my cooking, my grocery shopping); it:s like what moto realizes at the end of boogiepop phantom episode 1,

unfortunately we have to reconcile ourselves by ourselves, and likely: that is a life-time struggle that none of us get to shirk;

if you:d like a recommendation, anonymous, i:d like you to watch "boogiepop and others" (not "boogiepop phantom") episode 6; it:s an episode about that struggle, suema talks about it; if i:m feeling super-duper down i:ll listen to that conversation @ the end of episode 6 between suema and aya, about the struggle with the imaginator, and whether-or-not boogiepop is real.

anyways, i don:t think i gave you great advice here anonymous; even: i doubt any of this will lift your spirits >:-)) but @ minimum: try to be kind to yourself, including patience with yourself, and also responsibility to yourself; often it seems like people are awaiting another to come and pluck the dirt out of us: but that dirt is us, and all another can do is add more slurry to us.

take care chief.

[urlocalnonbinarybastardwrites]

Hey! This is for the ship thing. My pronouns are she/her and I am a bi demiromantic and demisexual. I am 5'4 and have kind of a chubby body. My hair just goes past my chin and I have brown hair and brown almond shaped eyes. I also have an oval shaped face and wear glasses. I am an ambivert who is very passionate about what she does. I am also very ambitious and cunning to get what I want. I also bottle up many of my feelings. I want leadership positions because I want to help people. With people I don't know, I can be formal and friendly but with people I know and don't like, I can be very cold and formal. As a friend I can be very childish and make many dirty jokes and. I also am the mom friend and I am pretty loyal to the people I love and care about. I am also very argumentative and firm in my actions and beliefs (but am open to change). I can be pretty lazy and am usually a night owl and can stay up pretty late without coffee. I also am bit of a nerd for things that I like (Greek Mythology for example). My hobbies include: writing poetry, writing stories, reading, knitting and drawing mandalas. A few fun facts about me are: I know taekwondo (green one belt) and my moto in life is, 'What is the worst thing that can happen?'

I would prefer to get characters from PJO, Cruel Prince and Batman.

Thank you!

Ah, a slytherin I see. Well I am too! But fr why are you literally so much like me and I do aikido!!!!

Your Fandom Ship: Cardan Greenbriar (TFOTA, The Cruel Prince)

Explanation: starting off with physical appearance, I think he would find you very attractive from your brown hair to your brown eyes and I think that your glasses wouldn’t intrigue him and he would ask a lot of questions about them at first because they don’t really have things like that and he’s genuinely curious about what they do and they make you look very cute (hot) He kind of likes how short you are and I think he would just find your entire existence to just be very adorable not in a condescending way (well at least later on into the relationship, he might be a bit condescending and think that you’re a cute little mortal at first, but then you quickly managed to flip that) he gets bottling up his feelings and I feel like that is something that you guys would kind of need to break down together and help each other communicate in a much clear way because he’s also so used to hiding his feelings for saving face and not letting anyone hurt him as much as life has. He admires your ambition and while he’s not as ambitious as you, he will help you to achieve his goals in anyway that he can and he thinks that you’re coming this is a quite attractive feature of your personality. he’s not always been the type of person to immediately help people so he very much admires your leadership skills and the fact that you want to take a step up just out of the kindness of your heart. He doesn’t necessarily get it at first, but he thinks it’s a truly admirable trait that’s rare to find in these days. after you guys get past the cold stage where you’re both kind of enemies and because y’all do have enemies to lovers tension I will say that once you guys kind of get past that stage, and you guys get to the more friendly versions of yourself or you guys can goof off and joke around a lot. I think that he would love that and you guys a sense of humor is surprisingly similar so I think that to make very flirty or dirty and would definitely goof off with you while still maintaining a serious relationship whenever you guys rule over Elfhame. He’s never had any particularly strong beliefs because I think a lot of being a royal child is being told what you shouldn’t shouldn’t believe and he’s kind of a rebellious so I feel like he’s a bit wishy and it blends well with your strong beliefs because you can kind of help him advocate for his self and his own things. He thinks your interests are fascinating and I feel like you guys would spend long hours discussing them with each other and he would love just seeing you rant about your passions and thinks it’s one of the most attractive things ever he just loves the way that you get so into detail and he can see the sparkle that lights in your eyes as you talk about whatever you’re currently interested in and he would engage in the conversation with you as well and say productive things too. You guys could just be putting in a room talk about your interests and you would never ever get bored. Incredibly hot martial arts and if you ever did anything like beating his ass or demonstrating a move on him or some shit like that, he would love it. He would think it’s so hot like I will tell you this man loves dominant people like I just feel like he loves people who can fight dominant people that that is that is his type right there and I feel like that is you with martial arts and he would find it so hot whenever you did demonstrated on him or anyone else. He also likes writing and reading so I feel like that’s something fun you guys can do together just like sit down and a beautiful location and read a book together and then talk about it afterwards like your own little mini book club or you guys would totally write stories together poetry I feel like that’s one of the ways that you guys would learn how to express your emotions to each other is through your poems so if you can’t quite say clearly, you guys can make poems and trade and that that’s one of your coping mechanisms and you guys can maintain a healthy relationship when you both struggle with expressing your emotions. Anyway yall cute 💚

[ifidiedinadream]

Here is my Joel x Reader request

(Thanks again for reserving me a spot 🥺)

Reader "forcing" Joel to go an autumn walk with them because they noticed Joel has been isolating himself lately and hasn’t floated their chat with messages like he usually does. So, one day reader shows up at Joels' flat and drags him along for a walk to distract him. Maybe they come across a flower shop and reader buys Joel some flowers to lift his mood or they walk through the park hand in hand admiring the colourful trees. And when reader is about to leave, Joel shyly asks them to stay at his place for the night cause he doesn’t want to be alone (and because he obviously is madly crushing on reader).

(Yeah, I know we still have like 25 degree outside but I’m ready for autumn 🍂 ✨)

liam this request made me go AAAAAAAAH 😭😭😭 it's so sweet and i loved writing it so much, hope you can tell when you read it 🖤 also yeah we still have 30+ degrees but i want autumn and i want it NOW

also on ao3

Joel opens the front door on the second series of knocks. His hair is all messy and he’s wearing an old t-shirt, whose light color does nothing to conceal the wrinkles all over it. The skin around his eyes is dark and his very eyes are puffy, like it’s the first time he sees any type of light in ages. 

“Get ready, we’re going on a walk,” you say, entering the door without further preamble. Knowing your way around the house, you walk into the living room. You draw the curtains and open the windows, letting the fresh early autumn air caress your skin and come in the room so it no longer smells stale. “I’m gonna let the house aerate while you shower. I’ll be waiting right here.” 

Joel still hasn’t said a word. This isn’t the first time something like this happens; the man is sensitive and sometimes his demons get the best of him. Especially when autumn starts, with his birthday coming a bit too quickly for his liking and the sun shortening its stay in Joel’s personal little world the way it does in the physical one. It’s nothing new. All Joel needs is a little push from the outside and usually his mood settles to a background melancholy, which is still sad, but it’s still better than whatever is going on now. 

Joel nods. He knows fighting it won’t help; it isn’t the first time for him either, after all. 

*** 

The weather is crispy, a little too much so for a simple leather jacket, but Joel doesn’t seem of the same opinion. His hair is in a bun so it doesn’t get in his face when the wind blows. His expression is hard and dark as he extracts a cigarette and a lighter from the pocket of his jeans, bringing the cigarette to his lips. You wait until it’s lit. He’s looking straight ahead as he takes a drag, avoiding your gaze, but still he grabs your hand to hold. That’s how he finds the strength necessary to finally start your walk. 

There’s a small park just outside his apartment building, with trees all around it, a couple of benches and a statue surrounded in flowers in the center. Its grass is incredibly green in the summer, the flowers mostly purple, the trees robust and thriving; now the little park is starting to lose its brightness and the leaves on the trees are turning brown, yellow and red. Some of them are on the ground, some even on the sidewalk you and Joel are strolling along, brought there by the gentle breeze. It fills your heart with joy. 

“It’s so gloomy,” Joel sounds raspy, probably because he hasn’t used his voice in a while, or maybe because of the smoke. You squeeze his hand. 

“Fall is not that bad. Cozy evenings spent under a blanket watching tv shows and drinking hot chocolate, warm baths, candles, saunas, warm meals, Halloween… don’t tell me it doesn’t excite you.” 

Joel takes a long drag of his cigarette. “Thank god I’ll be in the USA through October.” 

You give him a sympathetic smile. Your goal is to have the corners of his mouth tug upwards at least once by the end of afternoon: Joel can make it as hard as he wants, but you won’t lose your spirit. 

“Look, a flower shop! Wanna check it out?” 

Joel frowns, looking at you like you’re insane; but when the excitement on your face doesn’t falter, he just rolls his eyes and finishes his smoke, putting it out and throwing the butt into the nearest bin. He follows you inside. 

The strong perfume inside the shop makes all your muscles relax instantly. The florist greets you with a polite smile and you walk over to her, asking for three dahlias in three different colors. You specifically ask for one of them to be red.  

“Do you remember when we first met?” you ask Joel, “It was at Olli’s birthday party a few years back. There was a red dahlia in a vase at the center of the table. Olli can be pretty sophisticated when he wants to be.” 

The florist gives you your bouquet and you pay for it, grabbing Joel’s hand back on your way out of the shop. 

“For you,” you say, handing Joel the flowers. And maybe it’s the cool air, but Joel’s cheeks turn pink as he looks away. 

“C’mon, don’t be silly.” 

“I’m not being silly. These are for you.” 

Here it is, finally, the little smile you’ve longed to catch a glimpse of all day. Joel takes the flowers and smells them with his eyes closed, looking like he’s getting lost in it for a second. It makes you feel all fuzzy in the chest. 

“Where are we going next?” 

“Pumpkin spice latte is back at Starbucks. Just fyi.” 

“You know I don’t like spice.” 

“But I do. Let’s go.” 

Joel doesn’t fight it this time, so you effortlessly drag him over to the nearest Starbucks shop, with no rolling of his eyes nor cigarette breaks. He orders a drink that’s way too sweet for your liking. His eyes end up in the back of his head as soon as he takes a sip. 

“Fuck, I needed some sugar.” 

He chooses to sit at a table with three chairs, so he can rest the flowers on one of them. He’s unnecessarily gentle with them but you figure he’s been feeling unworthy of kind gestures these past few days, so those flowers must mean a lot to him. You smile to yourself. That’s what friends are for, right? 

“You haven’t eaten much these days, have you?” 

With his lips still closed around the straw, Joel shrugs, avoiding your gaze. You don’t want to bring him down again, so you change the subject, and soon you fall into an easy conversation, even managing to elicit a fit of laughter or two out of him. 

When your drinks are finished and it’s silent, Joel’s gaze lands on the flowers on the chair again. He reaches his hand to touch the petals. 

“They’ll need to be put in water soon,” you say. Joel nods and with that, you head home. 

You can’t help but notice his skin is no longer grayish and his face muscles are way more relaxed than they were earlier. His mood seems to be less grave, but you know perfectly he isn’t safe from seasonal depression yet. Still, you’re grateful you could do something for him, all things considered. 

You continue your chit chat as you walk, but the closer to his apartment you get, the quieter Joel becomes, as if he isn’t looking forward to being back at all. You hug him tightly when it’s time to part, but not as tightly as him: his arms could crush you and you can only barely breathe, but a light, pleasant feeling spreads across your chest nonetheless, making you wish you never had to let go. 

“Thank you. For everything,” Joel says softly. 

You pull away with a kind smile. “Anytime.” 

This was supposed to be Joel’s cue to go inside and close the door, but he simply stands there in the doorway, worrying at his bottom lip. There’s something he has to say and he’s struggling to find the words, so you don’t leave either, waiting for him to speak his mind. 

“You… there’s no way you can spend the night here tonight, is there?” he scratches the back of his head, looking elsewhere. “I don’t… I don’t really feel like being alone but I don’t wanna, like, interfere with your plans or anything. Also if you don’t want to -” 

“It’s fine, Joel,” you cut him off, smiling, loving how his cheeks turn red once again when his eyes find yours. “I’ll stay. But on one condition: we’re doing sweater weather stuff.” 

Joel grins and it’s both amused and thankful. “Alright. I’ll get the candles and the blankets, but we’re gonna have to use your Netflix account.” 

He moves from the doorway, letting you in. “Sounds like a plan.”

[ichosepoorly]

I have come up with a goal for myself in these dark days. I am going to try my hardest to stick to it, and maybe you’ll join me.

At least once a week I want work on something creative.

Draw something, write something, bake or cook something nourishing to your soul. Pick up that Covid hobby that you let slide. Keep your hands, head, and heart busy.

Find an outlet to give you something to accomplish whether it starts when the regime changes in January or now in the freshness of this dread and despair.

Create things, color in those stress reducing coloring books that have been collecting dust. Tackle that to be read book stack, clear out that dresser that you’ve been meaning to tackle. Help yourself in the little ways you can.

I know it won’t change the world but we need to weather this storm by continuing on.

Please don’t lose all hope. Don’t give up.

Don’t give them the satisfaction.

[theonceandfuturequeenoftarts]

I'm going to attempt to do another month of prompts in October this year (which I'm calling Promptober).

If there's a prompt you'd like me to attempt, feel free to drop it in my asks! I can't guarantee I'll fill it, but I'll do my best (or keep it for later).

This year, a few other people joining me in Promptober ৻( •̀ ᗜ •́ ৻) If you're interested in participating, here are the extremely loose guidelines:

Like the idea of participating in a month-long prompt challenge, but want flexibility on themes and dates? Promptober might be for you! The goal of Promptober is to write or draw something for as many days in October as you like -- whether that's all thirty-one, every other day, once a week, or one day in the whole month. Instead of sticking to one type of prompt (kink, whump, fluff, trope, etc.) or having prompts associated with particular dates, Promptober focuses on choosing whichever prompt gets your creative juices flowing on any particular day. As long as you're creating and having fun (or at least not suffering excessively...), you're golden. Write as much or as little as you like for a prompt; draw with whatever amount of detail or complexity as you like. I can't emphasize this enough -- this is all about freedom and creation, with a little bit of structure to help get you going. You can buddy up with other participants if you want to set a particular prompt for a specific date or you can lone-wolf it. Whatever works best for you!

If you'd like to join the Discord support group, send me a DM!

ദ്ദി ˉ͈̀꒳ˉ͈́ )✧

[thetarttfuldickhead]

A Jamie-centric pre-OT3 Christmas story told in 25 short chapters.

Masterpost / AO3

14.

Another fucking draw. At least they’d actually scored in this one (Obisanya 26, Tartt 74), but what good was that when they let the other team net the ball just as many times? Jamie stared morosely at his Lynx collection, trying to muster the energy to change out of his kit. He was sweaty, his hair was a mess, and his side ached dully from a nasty tackle near the final whistle; taking a shower would be heaven. But he was too tired to move.

It wasn’t so much the game that left him exhausted, even though it sure took its physical toll. The past ten days had been a mad flurry of setting up surprise after surprise for Roy, and that had involved more gift hunting, eavesdropping and secret sneaking around than Jamie had ever thought he’d get up to. Between that and football and team Christmas bonding there’d barely been time for sleeping and eating.

And after all that, he still hadn’t called Mummy. He’d tried to, every single night, but he just. couldn’t. do. it. Apparently his efforts still weren’t up to scratch, which was baffling, to be honest: how fucking sad was Roy that not even the truly fanastic stuff Jamie had pulled for him had made him happy? Christmas was only days away, and Jamie was running out of both ideas and time. Could he get Sade to actually write Roy a song… ? Might be too much, though, even if he managed to figure out how to sort it. It’d give the bugger a heart attack or something, and that would make Keeley sad and probably not count as him doing a nice thing, even if it’d be dead unfair of the universe to blame him for Roy being a frail old man.

Perhaps he could invite Dani out for another brainstorming session; it had worked a treat last time. Jamie was pretty sure that Roy had appreciated his gifts and gestures, from what peeks he’d managed to sneak of the man. Just not appreciated them enough, apparently.

It also seemed like maybe Roy was getting a tiny bit suspicious. Yesterday, he’d kept turning his head every this way and that, and sometimes stopping dead in the street and whirling around, looking a little wild-eyed. At one point Jamie had had to dive behind a couple of large rubbish bins to avoid detection. That was a pair of perfectly ripped trousers he’d never wear again.

Fuck, but he wished that—

“Jamie, are you feeling well?”

Jamie turned to look at Sam, who had stopped by his cubby, already changed and with a concerned pinch to his kind face. He looked just slightly, slightly hesitant, as if he wasn’t sure if his question would yield an answer or something sharp and snide. Jamie made an effort to smile. “Yeah, bruv, I’m sound. Just, you know, tired of not winning.

“It is disappointing. But, thanks to you it was a draw instead of a loss. And it was a very nice goal too.”

At the praise, Jamie felt his smile grow easier, more sincere. It had been a very nice goal, hadn’t it? Good of Sam to notice. 

“Yeah, yeah, thanks mate. And yours were great too, you know?” he added, remembering what Dr. Sharon had said about how acknowledging other people’s accomplishments did not diminsh Jamie’s own.

The way Sam’s lips curled into a wide grin, mirroring Jamie’s own, and the way the sight of it made Jamie feel warm had him thinking she was onto something there.

“Thanks, Jamie,” Sam said simply, and gave him a friendly nod before walking back to his own cubby.

Still smiling, Jamie finally began to undress.

---

Once he was showered and changed and Ted had somehow talked them all into feeling determined and hopeful rather than dejected, Jamie hefted his bag and headed for the door. On his way out he passed by Keeley and Rebecca Welton, offering a smile to the former and a polite nod to the latter.

Keeley lit up when she saw him (and fuck, but that still did things to him, didn’t it?). “Hi, Jamie,” she said. “Listen, I was wondering if you could stop by my place tomorrow? I wanted to talk to you about some new tweaks to your brand, now that you’re playing again?”

Jamie perked right up at that. Talking to Keeley and discussing his brand? Fucking brilliant. Much better than spending another day trying to figure out what would possible make Roy Kent happy enough to appease the universe into letting Jamie call his mum.

He’d been working hard. He deserved a little break. Besides, hanging out with Keeley at her place might well yield some new Roy related ideas.

“Yeah, mint, yeah,” he said. Then a thought occurred to him and he frowned. “Or, actually, no, I can’t. The team’s doing a day trip Winchester Christmas Market after our recovery sessions. Sorry.”

He was, too. As much as he was growing to appreciate the lads and was looking forward to the trip, he’d rather spend some time with Keeley (and his brand was in sore need of some brushing up, ‘cause people were still being cunts and hung up about him walking out on City and Amy and stupid shit like that).

“Oh.” Keeley looked disappointed, which cheered him a little. “Tuesday?” she suggested.

“Sure, yeah. I mean, I’ve got training, but I could drop by after? Unless you wanna… “ He nodded towards her closed office door.

“No! I mean… No. There’s been… there’s an issue with the ventilation, yeah, it smells awful in there. Like dying animals and farts and baby vomit. Blegh. You don’t wanna go in there.”

Uh, yeah, no thank you, he sure as hell did not. Jamie made a face. “Yeah, all right,” he said. “I’ll just come by yours then?”

She nodded, looking relieved. “Great! Thank you, Jamie!”

“You’re all right.” He gave her another smile, Rebecca another nod (and noted that she for some reason seemed like she was struggling not to either roll her eyers or laugh, which was kind of rude, considering how hard Keeley worked for her and all, and she really should get Keeley’s office sorted), before heading out to his car.

So. Fun trip with the boys tomorrow – maybe he’d find something nice for Mummy and for Roy at the Christmas market – and then hanging out with Keeley the day after. So-so playing and his mummy issues aside, life wasn't so bad.

[inevitably-johnlocked]

Ahoy Steph 🙌, I was wondering if you could tell us a little bit about yourself and what kind of tropes and stories you enjoy? Wanna get to know a little more about who is behind the blog if you don't mind🤸

Hey Nonny!

Sorry for the delay in a reply... just haven't "felt it" the past couple months, and after a nice 2 week break (and now a slow day at work), I feel more up to answering a long-form ask today, LOL.

So, I won't reveal too much about myself that isn't already public, since I try to keep my online and personal lives separate (and I come from an age where people usually DID do this because no one needs to know every little bit about you). The basics are that I'm a 41-year-old Canadian dork who loves video games, animation, movies, drawing, writing, and making music. I'm a graphic designer by trade, and have been for nearly 20 years, and I love it (if you need something designed or laid out, hit me up, I freelance on the side for extra spending money). I love dragons and puppies and kitties. I've been in fandom spaces for as long as I can remember, even before the internet. First major fandom I was a part of was Sonic the Hedgehog in my teen years, used to be a pretty popular writer back then. I moved on to Darkwing Duck in my 20s, then TMNT and then Sherlock (I'm a fan of a TONNE more things, but these were the active fanbases I had a presence in). These days I'm more of a lurker than actively participating, though Sherlock has been the longest one I haven't really moved on from. I like the casualness of what I've built here, and I think that's been a huge benefit for my mental health.

Hmm... my fave food is mac and cheese, but had to cut back on it a lot, so these days it's mostly chicken, lol. Fave dessert is cheesecake. Again, not supposed to eat it because of the dairy and sugar, so if I make it, I use lactose-free cheese. I treat myself once-a-year on my birthday, usually.

My current dream is to own a home. I've been trying to make it happen for almost 10 years now, and every time I get close, the goal-post gets shifted as housing prices skyrocket. It makes me very sad.

My dream holiday is a Disney cruise OR somewhere tropical; wanted to do these since I was 20. Secondary dream WAS going back to Disney World for my 40th, but now it's for my 45th or 50th, hopefully with SOMEONE (no one wants to go with me, hence the back-burner on this one). Listen, I know how awful Disney is. I just... really loved being there. It's easy to forget a lot of things when you're there. Third dream is a cross-country LITERAL nostalgia road trip with my sister. We used to go on 2-week-long, cross-Canada road trips when we were kids, and I just... want to kind of relive those, y'know? Lots of fond memories. Again, something that's just a dream because while my sister wants to do it, she doesn't want to be an alternate driver, so. Yeah, I can't do the driving alone.

Uh... Hmm. Not sure what else I should talk about here, if there's something specific y'all want to know, just ask :)

As for fave tropes, I love fake relationship fics the most, I think, followed by pining and movie rewrites with characters... I'm actually pretty easy-going when it comes to tropes, really. Willing to read any trope at least once to see if I like it.

Oddly, though, I prefer stories that are SUPER in-character (to how I read them, anyway) AND focus a lot on character studies and relationships with other characters. Novel-length stories are usually the best for it, but shorter ones can be too. I prefer fanfics more these days because I don't have to think about how these characters SHOULD be and focus more on the world that the author created. When I do read published novels, though, they're usually fantasy books. One of my fave series ever is the Inkheart Trilogy. Just an easy read from book one.

Yeah, so that's a little bit about me, to start off 2023 AND for any newbies that have just recently found me.

Thanks again for your curiosity :) Again, if you have anything you want more elaboration on, I can at my discretion.

[katindeed]

writing and transness my two favorite worldly desires.

I don’t know why I always gravitate back to writing about being trans. On one hand it is quite the unique and different experience and I would add it’s fair to say it’s pretty all encompassing in my life whether I like it or not but it’s not like I don’t have anything else in my life to write about. I could write about my weird need to be independent or how differently I act by myself versus with even my closest companions. I do try to write about those things but then I get distracted and before I know it a week has passed but something weird happens when I write about being part of this strange little group. I’m able to let the words just flow out and almost nothing could distract me from finishing. If I had to guess why this happens I would presume it’s because of how inescapable it has felt in this point of life. I’ve barely just completely grasped my transness about a year ago (though I've been questioning since 10) and I’ve only really toyed with my name which didn’t take long considering I’ve always been weirdly drawn to the name Katherine. Recently for the first time I've had good enough friends I can tell and they’ve been wildly helpful yet still I feel as if I haven’t had enough initiative in a year of fully accepting myself. For make-up I’ve tried lip-stick once when my family were somewhere for a few days and I’ve been doing my nails more frequently but that's about it. I shave my face almost everyday to keep it at bay, but I don’t really have the tools for shaving anywhere else. And for clothes I have done zilch. It’s not like I haven’t done these things out of lack of effort, it's just hard to do them when in a packed house, when in constant fear, and having a lack of expendable income in a slew of more important expenses. With all this writing is my way to express these feelings I can’t in daily life. I’ve never been adequate at drawing and while I have been doodling more, I don’t think I care to really put a ton of work into it. So with the physical medium out of the way that leaves words. I’ve always been very creative with a lot of thoughts yet I’ve never had a great way to express it. I always thought I hated writing. Always forced to write a long drawl of something I truly feel passionless for. The odd free writes were always fun but the piles of essays and grammar mistakes were always there to make sure I always hated writing. Thank the stars, that recently for the first time I had a teacher who made me realize the joy that can come from writing when you care. Sadly that was last year's teacher but the essays don’t feel as grueling to get through and when we’re doing a paragraph on occasion they feel fun. Now with both these discoveries of late, both from last year interesting enough, I have been going through a bit of a change in how i am. For the first time in my life there is a very clear goal to why I should keep going to get out of this house. 1) so I can be who I want to be 2) so I can write. I've promised myself at the very least I’ll try to get myself there. No matter the obstacle no matter the strife I have to try because in the end memento mori.

[cherokeegal1975]

As it says in the text. I found this a long time ago and stuck it in my journal. Years later I did a trace just to make it sharp and clear and so that I could more easily replace it back in my journal when I eventually convert my handwritten journals into typed text. I'm a little worried about this project I'm planning so I'm putting it off some. I'm waiting to be in a better mental place before taking it on.

My goal is twofold. One is to consolidate all my journal entries into one book. I'm aware that no one but myself will give a crap about my writings and musings. But I still think it's important to get them as organized and cleaned up as I can. The second reason is self-reflection. Seeing who I was as compared to who I will be when I finally get to where I need to go. I think once the risk of falling into a deep depression has passed (mine is environmental, not physical), it might prove helpful to go through those entries and get some perspective. Or at least I hope that's what will happen. I'm all about personal growth and self understanding.

The project won't be a cheap one. Blub is expensive, but I still think it's worth it. The quality of their books is very good...though I think their prints of my digital art could be better. I hear no complaints about photos however.

Why make books when I have files? Well, I'd love to see my work in print. Computers are very reliable, but not completely. I do back up my files, but I don't know if this computer breaks down, if I can get another one. Each time I get a laptop, I do realize it may be the very last one I'll ever get. I'm not made of money and a good laptop is expensive.

Books also make great keepsakes! Of course, I want to see my works on my bookshelf. Who wouldn't? I'm also working on the contents of my future art journals. One for sale, that will be G Rated and public worthy, even if it barely sells. The other personal and not for sale. That one, anything goes. The good, the terrible, the bad ideas that seemed good at the time, the scribbles, the beautiful...whatever. That one will be for me and me alone.

I can't afford to make the books now, so, I keep drawing and building up content just in case I'll one day be able to create them.

As far as the Snake Lady...not my art, you're welcome to use her. I don't know who the artist was, I'd love to give that person credit for their work. The best I can do is make sure that everyone knows this isn't my artwork. Just a trace of something I found some years ago.

[recurring-polynya]

Writing/Art Update 3/7/2023

What even was last week? I don't know. It's gone now. I spent a lot of time putting medicine in my dog. The children had a three-day weekend. (The dog is recovering very well from her surgery, thank you all for your kind wishes).

I continue to write sentences. This fanfic. I don't know. Remember when I said I expected it to be between 5 and 10k? Well, it's over 12k now. Granted, a couple hundred words of that is working-scrap text that'll get deleted when I get a few of the scenes finished up. On the other hand, it's not done. This is not one of those fanfics that has such a sophisticated thing as a plot, so it's just... whatever I put into it, but I would like it to have some sort of narrative progression, and I'm not even sure I'm there yet. Have I even told you what it's about? I don't think I have. It's about the two weeks Rukia and Renji spent at the  District 70 Consolidated Shinigami Recruitment Station, waiting for approval to travel north to take their entrance exams. It's weird and rambly and it's kind of a break-up story and there's a old dude shinigami who noped out of the Gotei who teaches them a bunch of world-buildy stuff that I made up. I usually don't mind when my stories go long, because usually my writing is funny or at least enjoyable to read, but I am really questioning whether anyone wants to read 12k worth of Renruki doing SAT prep. Truly, I am in my weird art era.

I was able to tally up what I think is left to do, which is as follows:

4 partially written scenes I need finish

2 scenes to port over from the original story (how have I not done this yet???)

6 scenes to write completely

3 more optional scenes

Anything else i come up with in the interim

Edit edit edit edit edit

This seems like about two weeks of work, but I'm sure it's more like three, and maybe more than that. I'm kind of counting it to all magically come together in the end, but I think it may need a little more work than that. I'm also mentally preparing myself for a longer trip to the beta than usual. I can see my way to the end, though, and that's pretty exciting! I even have a title! I've thought about giving you some preview bits, but I think it's still a little too early for that. Maybe next week!

Ahhhh, also this week I started writing a porno. I'm sorry. You know how it is. The urge hits and I grab catch the wave or it just passes by. Don't get too excited. If you've followed these updates for any amount of time, you know that if I start writing an adult fanfic, there's about a 50-50 chance I'll get 1/3 of the way into it and just give up. It's 1500 words at the moment. Working on the porno does not count towards My Sentences, so I'm sort of using it as a bribe for myself to work on once I've already met my daily goal on the other one. It takes place in the Advanced Team Arc and they Do it in the Urahara Shouten storeroom. Unfollow me if you want, it's not like there's a glutted market of spicy Renruki stories.

I did not draw anything last week. I should draw something this week.

5500 words this week! I haven't had a 5k+ week since last November! I need to get over the fact that that 10k weeks aren't things that happen to me anymore, and this was a really good one, actually!