#Thankful Thursday

[the-golden-comet]

✨Thankful Thursday/Favorite Fiction Friday✨

Hi everyone! This week has been kind of crazy, but I haven’t forgotten. June’s a fantastic month for many different reasons: Pride, end of the fiscal year, for some it’s the end of the school year. But, there are many things to be thankful for.

I will start with, a MASSIVE thank you to @autism-purgatory , who made me fanart of Peter Hart that I am still gushing about and showing to my husband. You took time out of your day to draw my characters and make me smile, and I cannot thank you enough for that. I know how much joy it brings to see your characters come to life, and really inspire people. Thank you, G.J.

HUGE thank you to @thatuselesshuman who made me laugh from this meme about my stories, because it is entirely accurate and hilarious. Another one for my collection ✨

Gigantic thanks to @gioiaalbanoart, @wyked-ao3 and @sunglasses-in-the-bentley , who are reading Peter Hart for a second time (anyone else who is, please let me know too!) To read my works the first time is a gigantic honor; to go through the adventure again is one of the highest praises for an author, next to receiving fanart, fanworks, and fanfiction.

Thank you to this kind stranger, who made me beam all day from this comment. And thank you this community, who has shown so much kindness and support that I wonder why I’ve kept my talents hidden so long. Well, NO MORE. You will get art, you will get stories, you will get support, the best way I know how. I will do my best

Okay, enough gushing. Here are my favorite authors, and my favorite fiction from them:

@autism-purgatory — Loop Of The Hollow

@alinacapellabooks —The Tengu and the Angel

@gioiaalbanoart — Too Far Gone?

@justabigoldnerd — I Am Your Lover (I Am Your Jailor)

@fortunatetragedy — Doom Metal Love Story

@wyked-ao3 — Tuesday event or is it

@poorreputation — Dimples

@sunglasses-in-the-bentley — I Won’t Hurt You

@pippinoftheshire — Sing Me A Lullaby Before I Go

@lychhiker-writes — Snippet Dump

@brigidfromthecelts — The Devil’s Sonata

@dyrewrites — Before Deluca

@froggy-pposto — oblation

@deanwax — Cycle’s End

@far-cry-from-finality — The World’s Not Ending As Long As We’re In It

@theverumproject — The Verum Project

@snugglesquiggle — Hostile Takeover

@zackprincebooks — Dear Heart

@bookish-karina — Your Average Fangirl

@glasshouses-and-stones — The system’s breaking down

@thatuselesshuman — Bloody Hands are Kind

@piscesapplelady35 — As Lethal As Holy Water

@shards-things — Meant To Be

@sic-sempervirens — Taarasthari

@katenewmanwrites — Whispers In The Moonlight

@noblebs — Everything With Teeth

I’m most likely missing a few, but if YOU know of some amazing authors and literature, feel free to add to this list and spread the positivity!

For everyone reading this: Your fiction is fantastic, your stories are inspiring, and you are an amazing writer, artist, and human on this planet. Thank you for everything. 💫

[walkswithmyfather]

Amen. 🙏

[meandhisjohn]

I appreciate you!

#thankfulThursday Have a great day.❤️

[onpurposeilovehimonpurpose]

Thankful Thursday - Strong Henry

Another change I am thankful for from the book to the movie is that Henry did not ever want to get rid of Alex when they first met. He was so overcome by the situation he was forced to be in, and Alex, that he needed to get out of there. I'm so glad this misunderstanding allowed the pacing of their blooming relationship to have that past 'altercation' put to rest. Moving forward, it made a lot of sense for the movie. (still wish we had more emails between them featured in the movie though)

There's a lot I can go on about the moment directly before this, but beginning with this one, seeing how strong Henry is to actually not only apologize for his behavior, to tell Alex that what he says next isn't an excuse... We all know he loved Alex from the start, but just because you love someone, it doesn't mean you know them and know how they will react to an apology (especially when they've been smarting over the thing you're apologizing for, for as long as you've loved them). For all Henry knew, Alex could've just laughed his apology off or acted like it didn't matter. Thankfully he truly is listening to Henry.

RED, WHITE & ROYAL BLUE (2023) dir. Matthew Lopez

And the amazing strength he had to explain himself, to tell Alex something so incredibly personal. This he didn't have to do, but he opened himself up, he trusted Alex with something that had to have been so hard to talk about. Henry Fox, you are one brave man, from the very start, you've always been brave. From asking Shaan to get you out of there, because you needed to take care of your mental health no matter what the palace wanted to parade you around at the climate conference for, to being brave and and vulnerable in the face of a man who you don't think even likes you. Because it was the right thing to do, (the apology) and because you want him to like you (the explanation) and understand your behavior, even if you regret it.

I am thankful for Henry's honesty and the strength we see, and instead of giving in to being trapped and shutting down emotionally, ignoring the man beside him, instead, Henry stays in the moment, is vulnerable, and loves Alex so much, even then.

[bindupthesebrokenbones]

Today's Thankful Thursday exercise is to write a letter of gratitude. You don't have to send it if you don't want to - you don't even have to address it to a single person, or a real person.

For example, I regularly write letters to an angel, who I tell about all the things that are going on in my life. It's not quite prayer, and there's no structure to it, but having a solid entity that I address helps a lot with getting out the thoughts.

So, let's get started!

Step 1: Identify your target

As you may know, all letters start with a salutation. If you're writing your gratitude letter to a specific person, you would write "Dear Aunt Sally," for example, or "Dear mom". If you would prefer to write your letter to an entity, you can try "Dear God," or "Dear Frodo Baggins," or any other being of religious, cultural, or fandom/hobby significance to you.

You can also go with "Dear Diary," or "Dear Journal," if you'd like to keep this letter in your private journal. The idea here is to have a target that you're addressing, whether you intend to pass this letter along or not.

Step 2: Determine your format

If you're writing this letter to a specific person, then the format of your letter is going to center on what you're grateful to that person for.

"Dear mom,

Thank you for always being there for me. I'm so grateful for the way that you have my back in difficult situations, and how you stand up for me when I struggle to hold my own."

If you're writing in more of a diary/journal format, the letter will look a little different. It will be more general and broad, rather than focusing on a single person.

"Dear Diary,

I'm thankful for the bright sun today. The good weather made it easy for me to go out and spend some time with my friends at the park. I had a lot of fun that I might have skipped if it had been cloudy or raining."

And if you're addressing your letter to an entity, a higher being that you don't necessarily interact with one on one, or even a fictional character, you could pick either of these formats, or combine them.

"Dear Mr. Baggins,

Thank you for being the sort of character that I can admire and draw inspiration from. Today I went out with some of my friends, and while we didn't go on a long journey across the continent to save the world, we still had a lot of fun, and being so familiar with your story made me appreciate what I get to have and experience even more."

Just remember, a gratitude letter is different from a gratitude log - you don't have to write the letter like a list of things you're grateful for. Just talk about things that went well, that you appreciate, and that you want to call attention to as being positive.

Step 3: Write the Letter

Now that you've decided who you're writing to and how you're addressing them, all that's left is to write the letter. Try to narrow the focus in to a single incident or event if you can. Even if you're writing to someone and you feel that you have a lot to thank them for, or that your thanks are long overdue, you don't want to go on too much of a tangent - that way lies choppy waters. My recommendation is to write 1-2 pages. Less than that and you're not getting the full benefit of the exercise, and more than that and you might get overwhelmed or stress yourself out.

You can do this! And I'll see you all tomorrow for Finance Friday~

[lightfromthelighthouse]

[mercurygray]

@shoshiwrites said:

Happy Thankful Thursday, Merc! I keep making jokes about how long it's been, but my OC Jo has really been a way for me to try and recapture my creativity over an admittedly tough few years. She continues to bring me joy, whether that's writing her in her story or daydreaming different scenarios or picking out cute vintage outfits (very important). I'm so so excited to keep at my draft to be able to share her with the wider world, and I'm thankful to you and to my wonderful group of friends and fellow writers for welcoming her, and me, with open arms.

The biggest of shout-outs to @floydmtalbert and her mega-babe Louise, and to you Merc, @basilone, @junojelli, @tortoisesshells, @loveduringthewar @upontherisers, @noneedtoamputate, and @latibvles. I also very recently took a (published) step into M/M for the fandom, and was met with really wonderful reactions. I appreciate it so much, and really want to write more in the new year <3

I'm super thankful for Jo, too - and for you, kind friend. 💞 Explore more at [when the war came] on Shoshi's blog!

[sarahboyerdigiexpert]

Today's Thankful Thursday reminds us to cherish both visible and invisible blessings in our lives. Let's appreciate every gift, seen or unseen, and find joy in the hidden treasures of our daily journey.

[dogdaz]

Thankful Thursday: The Beg Is On

[the-golden-comet]

✨Thankful Thursday✨

Hello lovely readers, writers, and artists!

This day is an appreciation post of YOU, my mutuals, the community, and everyone who has been liking, noting, reblogging, commenting on my stories, reaching out with amazing support in the DMs, making fanarts and tagging me in writeblr games, sending asks, and so much more.

You have been fantastic motivators for my art, writing, and positive posting. I feel like Kermit here drowning in all this amazing positivity, and that’s an excellent thing. ✨🌈✨

Part of my philosophy is that it doesn’t take a whole lot of effort to be kind. Kindness can go a very long way, and when reciprocated can go even further. Complimenting one thing, or wishing a person well, can make their entire day, and the world needs a little more happiness. It’s about time for some joy. The fact this community is taking kindness and putting it back out to the community is incredible.

Keep writing, keep inspiring, keep creating. You all are doing amazing. Thank you all so much 💫

[walkswithmyfather]

Amen! 🙏🕊️🙌

[meandhisjohn]

Happy Thursday to you all ❤️

[onpurposeilovehimonpurpose]

Thankful Thursday

There are many things I am thankful for in Red, White, & Royal Blue, and in this scene. Hearing Henry say this was so important to his story. And to Alex's. I'm so glad we got to see it, to hear it. It makes everything Alex says in Kensington even more powerful.

[bindupthesebrokenbones]

Hello again everyone! It's time for another Thankful Thursday. We didn't get a lot of responses last week, but that's okay. Like I said before, you can do the activities on this blog privately!

Last week I lead you in an exercise of naming what you're thankful for. This week, let's take that a step further and set up a gratitude log.

As a reminder, the purpose of Thankful Thursday is to jostle negative thinking and self-talk out of your mind. We're not going for toxic positivity here - there is a time and a place for acknowledging and dealing with your negative thoughts! Sometimes, however, they can get to be too much, and practicing activities or exercises that re-center your focus on more positive topics can help to break you out of a spiral and deal with those negative things at a later time.

Why a gratitude log?

A gratitude log is great because it's a low energy activity that you can do once a day, and even just writing out a single thing that you're grateful for is enough.

Keeping a gratitude log is also an exercise in mindfulness: by logging at least one thing that you're grateful for every day, you center yourself in the present and train your brain to unstick itself from unhelpful trains of thought. It also helps train you to recognize good things in your life and break out of negativity bias - a distortion of thinking that emphasizes everything bad that happens and minimizes everything good.

Again, we're not trying to deny or repress the bad thoughts, but rather bring them into a healthy balance with the good ones.

How to do it?

There are a million different ways to keep a gratitude log. You can add it to a small section of your daily/weekly planner, dedicate an entire page to it every week or month, or keep a journal just for gratitude logging. You can record the things your grateful for as a list, mind map, brain dump/unloading, or doodles. You could even make a video log instead of a written one, if you want!

As with all activities focused on improving mental health, how you approach logging is entirely up to you, and you have freedom to try many different things before finding the one you want to make permanent.

My personal recommendation, when you're just starting, is to make a 1-month gratitude log that goes in your planner. You can put it in at the beginning or end of the month, and every day just write a single line of what you're grateful for. As you build a habit of logging your gratitude, you can try out fancy layouts, doodles, and spreads until you get a good feel for what you like best.

You can get a free Gratitude Log Printable from my Ko-Fi shop (that's where I'll be putting all of my printables, both free and not!)

Feel free to upload your filled out log and tag us!

[lightfromthelighthouse]

[mercurygray]

It's almost Thursday, guys!

For the last couple of years, it's been my tradition to open my askbox up to let people give a shout-out about something they're feeling thankful for.

Is there someone in your fandom life you're particularly grateful to this year? Maybe an original character you're excited to finally share? Or a character or story that you're glad someone else wrote?

Write a little something about that, and drop it in my askbox! On November 23rd - that's tomorrow - I'll queue them up to publish them throughout the day, with links to stories or blogs where needed.

I know family holidays can sometimes be tough, and I do this in the hope that someone might get a tiny ray of sunshine in the middle of that.