#There was a moment where I wanted to make a haiku cuz I love haikus

[catstar91]

Man, everything in my life comes back down to Minecraft!

Like I was having this existential moment to myself, thinking about the through line between the stories I write and the ones I find most interesting to me. Then suddenly I realized that’s also why I feel so nostalgic for Minecraft!

Minecraft is basically a core memory at this point! It’s literally forged my life! Minecraft has been with me through everything! No matter how much it changes it’s always there for me, and no matter how much I change I’m still here for it, and that’s a beautiful thing about life that’s somehow rooted itself back into Minecraft!

Marceline was right! Everything changes ever so slightly but it’s still there! Minecraft is eternal and I’ll always come crawling back!

[quackspot]

i started thinking about that gay bastard oc of yours. platano. can u tell me about him

omg u wer thinkgin about platano..... mr banana man... mr 4011. i am obsessed with the banana code srry i just got back from work (it was good :-D)

any way. um. im going below the cut. he kidnaps people and he murders people and i hate him because he’s also a massive weeb so. hm

HISTORY OF PLATANO... yea his name is spanish for banana

his father, pablo, will probably get a name change someday but i literally never think of his father since the only thing he did in platano’s backstory was disappear 

since platano’s world has characters based off like. fruits and vegetables (there aren’t really any limit to what the characters are based off of. it was in my lazy google translate name phase so we have like... a gay character named arcenciel who becomes dadlike through my powerful canon-changing touch. also arcenciel wears the colors of the rainbow as often as he can i haven’t figured out a good design for him since i’m not used to using more than 5 colors. he also owns a hat factory)

i think arcenciel and platano are friends they met when platano was like. 17 probably and arcenciel would be around uhhhhh ummmmmmm 21??? idk man but in canon he’s probably around 30 . yes i m saying “in canon” because i wrote a really dumb and horrible story back in 2018 arcenciel used to have HUGE internalized homophobia and i turned that into a running joke and i dislike that so that’s a reason why i’m not sharing the fun little story i wrote for my friends

(the best part of that story is when arcenciel threw his light-up rainbow heelies at platano, thus starting the boss fight which the main cast LOST.)

ok back to the topic at hand. platano.

i have a whole doc named platano where i just wrote drabbles about him so i’m going to summarize them

the first one was his friend, percisi (my only cishet oc he’s very short and very aggressive while also dressing in a soft-colored turtleneck since he’s based off of peaches) using a misunderstood form of satanism to summon satan. guess what percisi and platano summoned satan for. it was a manga update! wow

i won’t say the mangas name it was an inside joke

so platano was like “hey satan can i have this manga now please please” and satan went “sure just kill people for me” 

that determined platanos job for the next 7 or so years <3 wonderful. 

(it was basically me writing a backstory for a scene to happen in the main writing i wrote for my friends. he killed someone because someone else in the building was trying to summon satan. very confusing but okay i guess.)

i think right after that i wrote about platano meeting his boyfriend, sage, for the first time. i have horribly mixed feelings about their relationship since it’s very. Hm.

so platano kidnaps people to watch anime with him because all his friends left him and his best friend, mangue, is too busy being a dictator over the Land of the Fruits. i shit you not fruits oppressed the vegetables. i wrote that dynamic between the two because i was learning about the revolutionary war in US History. something like that at least

(the Land of the Fruits is not the official name)

on the topic of kidnapping people. guess who his favorite person was. sage. it was sage. so he tried to take sage often but they probably discussed Proper boundaries since everyone else tried to run away. hmm i am now going to write a bit right now 

“Platano,” Sage started. “Why do you keep kidnapping me? It’s rude and I hate it.”

“What else am I supposed to do?” The yellow-haired fool leaned on his sword, digging the tip deeper into the ground. 

“ASK ME IF I WANT TO HANG OUT??” 

“I can do that?”

“You keep making my dads worried.” Sage looked around the area, fidgeting with his hands. 

“Oh. Okay. Want to hang out? Watch some anime?” Platano paused for a moment, but managed to say “Maybe kiss?” before Sage got to answer.

“I- KISS??? We can watch anime together. We can go now.” 

Sage ushered Platano through a portal as fast as he could. 

His dads were never worried.

hmmm maybe that’s alright idk i’m a little tired so it’s probably a little out of character. sage probably isn’t that loud but i think it was trying to be the dynamic of “oh, we’re not dating” when they kiss every sunday at 5 pm by a romantic river scene 

he’s a character who is, at his very core, horrible and bad. he is portrayed in a way i DESPISE but i’m too lazy to correct it. his interest in sage actually started with me going “hmm i think platano would draw sage like this” then sauce giving me fun facts about his oc, sage, yea sage is sauce’s oc <3 epic win . so sauce gave me fun facts about sage and i was like “time to doodle these in platanos ‘art style’” when in reality it’s just the mockery of people just getting into an anime art style, with the chin so pointy it could cut a cake 

i might reread my old writing from 2018. i gotta agree with the judges for that year i did not write very well

it mightve actually been made in 2017 which would be FUCKIN CRAZY im gonna check rn 

yea it was started in 2018. february 14th... huh . finished it completely in june of that year it was 41 pages total and it’s not even double spaced how did i write something without double spacing it

OH MY GOD BOB IS GOING TO HIJACK THIS RANT JUST FOR A LITTLE

so bob is a fluffy little anthro cloud with a grey top hat and bowtie. he is amazing. i love bob. bob is another one of sauce’s character and mangue (mentioned earlier) was made by my friend jamie 

(you can always ask for their tumblrs but i’d ask them if its okay to share their tumblrs. i might just look at them and reblog their stuff cuz i like their art!!! maybe jamie posted a drawing she made recently on her blog but tbh i don’t think she would she’s more of a twitter user)

ok so im skimming thru UMG which is the story it stands for “Universe of Magic Gardens” and it was originally made for a prank on ponytown so people would go “what’s UMG” and my friends and i would be like “ur mom gay xDDDDDD” or something like that . horrible but i’m glad i’ve changed from . that.

here’s a bit i actually like AKLJFISJFIO

“What the actual FUCK, Ilkie?!” Arcenciel cringed in fear. “Put it back- it’s too ugly.” He pointed at Platano, whose arms were crossed. 

why is it bolded. anyway.

i just saw a part where eau used y’all... water cowboy moments <333 i really need to make refs for all of those old characters. all of my umg-related characters have to be my oldest-living ocs. 

i cant believe this is making me genuinely reread my old writing just to go “WJHFSIDAJKSFIOJ WTF????” 

some of the lines on it sound like something you would hear on like. a school bus or somethin 

looking at umg like “wtf how did i add so much Meat to this writing” bc most of my writing now is mostly quotations to progress the story (like the quickie i wrote earlier. i could add meat to it but im  tired lol)

OK THIS IS MORE GENERAL BUT MY FAVORITE THING ABOUT THIS WAS WRITING HAIKUS FOR PORTALS. after you visit a place enough times it’s kind of just an instinct to open a portal there so you don’t have to recite a haiku 

uhh ok here’s another bit becuase im feeling like living la vida loca.  ur biggest regret should be “can you tell me about him” by this point bc i’ve written too much to go back now

He landed on his face once he was outside of the hat. Meko quickly walked over to the guest room, opened the Portals for Dummies book, and flipped to a page. It looked devious.

“Banana, mango,

Each tasting amazingly.

A taste of evil.” 

Meko did the dance on the page, it consisted of something that looks like it’s from an anime. A portal opened, the familiar scent of bananas and mangoes coming from it. With some hesitation, Meko stepped in. He quickly made it so only his head peeked in.

it wasnt bolded this time but i like it bolded. ok i understand how i added meat it was just shitty expired meat ALKFSJSHDAIUJKFEIODSJAK . it wasnt even that much meat DAMN. it just looked like more.

actually that’s all i will write. i could  do more w platano but yea at his base he is a blonde twink who kills people because he wanted a manga but now he’s friends with a dictator. woo! wow. amazing character writing. i cant wait to get motivation to rewrite everything and make platano a good villain (he will still be very interested in anime sadly. idk why around that time i liked making characters who were obsessed with anime i didn’t even watch it much myself. i think it was because i wanted to put capes on them)

[rosies-pastimes]

you got this let's zoom zoom past the lessons ~ (I um haven't been able to play because my laptop's being a bit unstable ;-; looking to get it fixed!)

yayay (o´▽`o)

the fork- hope you enjoyed your zhongli kin moment hehe (I haven't collected things in my teapot for a few days oops) childe and Bennett are very thankful, and tohma (thoma?) better be when he comes home to you

ah yes the dance scene I remember being all 👁👁 at the manga panel- mm yes ✨ spice ✨

oh. mhm yes it runs in the family! (I keep thinking things that have already happened in the anime happen later but no, my perception of the timeline of events is a whole mess)

I want to watch ittt but school! I don't know when I'll finally start the anime but I will tell you :D

hasfgda yeah don't get bewitched by those pretty, pretty eyes- *slaps cheeks* snap out of it

ohh mm yeah :( hug? *opens arms* summer 2020 was like the best period of being in the haiku fandom from what I've seen quite a few people say, and unfortunately as one gains more fans, there will be some questionable ones in the mix :/

re: the second ask

ahaha yeah he just slipped away and disappeared into his room without so much as an explanation?? he was acting so suspicious and all too argh

true! I just thought it would've been nice to have been able to have a part where we just roam around the human world, but I suppose since the only actually characters we see aren't there we got back to devildom pretty quickly (game-wise)

I have no items for the cards (mostly the watches... and it's a little frustrating when you use quick clear and only get the gems !!) yess please I just want to get to that point in the lesson and actually see what happened let me win the battlesss

ahh but also trying out the different dialogue options is quite fun too sometimes! but of course, where there's a will there's a way

- 🎮

i've been playing cookie run kingdom the whole day 🥲 plus rushing through my modules ownxiaja BUT IM HERE NOW 🥰 still trying to salvage my teapot (◕ᴗ◕✿)

hold up- OBEY ME HAS A LAPTOP OPTION? :0 i slowed down a little too cuz my cards arent strong enough again zkanakak HELP HAHAHAHA I KEEP RUNNING OUT OF THE GAME CURRENCY 😭

I LITERALLY WENT 👁️👄👁️ leviathan where the heckie do you think you're going-

i would have been happy if the brothers themselves went into the human world to snatch mc away or something cuz they missed her skdjso HAHAHAHA THEN LUCI WOULD HAVE GOTTEN SO MAD AT THEM AND SO HAPPY AT THE SAME TIME

I ABSOLUTELY HATE IT WHEN THE THING YOU NEED ISNT IN THE REWARDS YOU GATHERED NOT EVEN ONE LIKE HELLO?? GIVE ME BACK MY AP 😭

there's one particular part that im itching to just look up because my heart kennat 🥲 it kennat 🥲

i always look myself in the mirror and go hoe behavior whenever the dialogue suggests that mc flirt with multiple brothers akzjossk HAHAHAHAHA OMG WHATS WRONG WITH ME HAHAHAHA

the zhongli kinnie moment isnt the most fun moment, any childe kinnies out there to pay my bills? 🥲 but not really because strong independent woman 😤

childe and bennett are, they can hit thingies pretty hard now 😌 (tohma and thoma are both correct bestie btw) HE WOULD 🥰 tohma = good man 🥰

YES TELL ME AND WE CAN SQUEAL OVER DOMI TOGETHERRRRR

it feels like he's staring into my soul sometimes with how he looks into the camera and stuff BUT PRETTY EYES so i dont look away 😌 they're glowy too hehe i like glowy things in case yoy couldnt tell

*accepts your hugs* i am touch starved someone hold me 🥲

yeeaaahh I AGREE there were so many tiktok audios, trends, and all the good stuff that i LOVED being part of a a great fandom sm, but now, like i said, im not as invested in it anymore, so thats a bummer :( i even bough haikyuu stickers that arent all used yet and are just chilling in my drawer, a kenma lamp (the greatest purchase of my life idc what my wallet was screaming at me) and like i even crocheted things in the color motifs of the schools i liked, namely and aoba johsai top and a nekoma hoodie, with cat ears even ksnsja THEY TOOK SO LONG TO MAKE 😭

i still love it though, defo a fave cuz it's one of the first anime fandoms i joined :)

[coffeeandcalligraphy]

(a year of) Doing the Write Thing #70

So. This DtWT update is a special one, as today marks a year of posting Doing the Write Thing updates! I have a lot of things to say, and most of that comes back to how amazing all of you are? I seriously never thought this series would take off as much as it did, and garner as many beautiful followers as it did. My blog has grown a lot since I started this series, and while it’s never been about the number for me, this continues to be so surreal. 

I didn’t think DtWT would mean as much to me back when I created it as it does now. This series kickstarted me back into writing when I was in a really bad rut this time last year, but I wouldn’t have done all of that without your support. So thank you so much for following these writing updates, even as they’ve gotten more infrequent as intended. 

This blog also turned three on the 25th (I always miss the date :() so also, a huge thanks to that? I know I say it a lot, but I never never never expected the following I’ve garnered over the last three years, so similarly, it’s super surreal to be here three years later. I don’t want to get mega sappy, and I’m running out of time since I want to get this up before twelve, and it’s currently 11:12, but seriously, thank you so much for the support. I can’t put my thanks into words as well as I want to, but you all deserve the world, thank you for making mine so much brighter. :)

So today’s writing session was a different one, ha. I started at around 9, and ended a few minutes ago! The reason it was different was because I actually enjoyed it, which hasn’t been a thing that’s happened all that often in the last four months? I think things are looking up a bit, so yes, quite enjoyed writing tonight! I started a little late after prepping for a competition I’ll be at on Friday, but I’m quite happy with how everything went!

Daily word count goal: 250

Words written: 759

Total word count: 33 139

Total page count: 57

Songs played: Guuyyysss, plot twist, guess who listened to some music while writing today! It wasn’t for super long, but *plot twist intensifies* it wasn’t Daughter?? Can we?? I was listening to Current Joys before writing and didn’t turn it off whilst I was writing (in the beginning lol srry nick love u), so listened to quite a lot of that (entire collection was on shuffle). When Fear from A Different Age came on I was like YAAAAAS BIIITCH DIS FITS THE SCENE DOE

Things to know: A bit of this writing came from notes I have had for a while, which were cool to finally incorporate. Also, I was having a hard time getting to the point, almost? I needed to transition out of this very internal moment to a very external moment, and had no clear pathway to do so, so most of this session was me navigating through the scene to achieve this. I finally did it though, bless. 

How I felt: Also great?? Like no lieee, this writing session, I did not have one inclination to shut my computer and just go upstairs cuz I couldn’t deaallll, I seriously enjoyed taking my time and mulling with my words. It was cool. 

Bad haiku to describe writing session: It’s been a year and / These haikus still suck so no / Development here

same tho

Rating of writing session out of 10 and why: A 9.5! Seriously had so much fun, toward the end I was like ahhhh need to do this post so I need to successfully transition this, so that was a minor *oh nooo* moment, but overall, everything was chill? I talked a lot about mothers, ha. 

On a scale from 1-10 my level of stoked-ness is: Like an 8... Not sure exactly where I’m going with this, so I can see myself quitting after five minutes cuz I’m frustrated, which is nootttt ideal... But I’ll definitely brainstorm more to give myself some ease. 

Lyrics to describe writing session: You're the pretty smartest captain of the team / I love you more than being seventeen

--Evening Sun, The Strokes (First Impressions of Earth)

deez makin me feel all warm and fuzzy like dis writing session doe

GIF to describe writing session: 

also the fact that it’s been a year of casablancas gifs tho can we @ this dedication to keeping the jc consistency (srsly just for the memez at this point, maybe I’ll break protocol and use another gif who knows)

Excerpt: 

So most of what I wrote was actually pretty long, so I’m saving those excerpts for my monthly writing update, but maybe I can find a line or two? 

I haven’t edited this at all so I’ll probably tweak this at some other point but for now:

Hate your mother. Kick her back, steal the ring she wears on her finger or hides in the chest upstairs, sell it, or propose with it. Take her things, gather her loves and ambitions with one hand.

Also I was hella inspired by @sarahkelsiwrites’ liitttttt excerpt from her writing update yesterday, so this is the same concept so @ dem Sarah creds (I wrote this yesterday while delirious and sleepy, and almost forgot about it!). I wasn’t going to include this in the book since it is similar to hers (not really in execution/tone, but in the content itself ha), but she was like noooo doooo it, so here we are:

(context cuz apparently i write in a lot of choppy fragmenty-type sentences, this is about mothers ha)

Won’t cry when you steal her face and leave her sightless, when you break her fingers and fit them to your own knuckles. You are supposed to be the patchwork marionette of her and yet she ends up as the one with the disjointed face and rusted hinges, your abandoned game of slots.

ALSO what is up with me and the POV in this book, Rachel stoooppp. At this point I’m literally accusing the reader, lol what happened to the first person present tense bro like. (Since I’m not publishing this sometimes I do these things where I change things up and experiment but sometimes it needs to gooo). 

I’m going to scream at myself for how many semi colons I have in this chapter but I can’t stop nooooo:

Did she teach him to bicker like he does with Lonan? Dispute until he’s dried of anger? Teach him to scowl with a slouched back; doesn’t he know to stand up straight?

If this chapter had a title it would be Table Manners (which is now in my title list because I kind of like it), because of this excerpt (the grammar in the first line seems wonky af probably should fix that but the more I look at it the weirder it gets lol):

Where’s his please and thank you? Indoor voice, and ironed button up? Perfect son, yes, salute and serve, but he isn’t. Unruly, slapdash, doesn’t care to wash his mouth before he speaks. Where are his table manners?

I don’t really know why I’m sharing this since I don’t particularly like it but this whole fuck you on place cards is something I’m down for:

“Can we just fucking eat?” That’s my shout, an attempted bullet to knife away their echoed argument. Please. I should add. My apologies, I should extend. Fuck you on the place cards.

FIRST of all SAME Reeve, saaaame. It’s all about the food girl yas. I also use knife too many times as a verb in this book so gotta change that. (This is at breakfast so she’s referring to place cards at a breakfast table, for example.)

(this comes directly after the table manners things by the way)

I’m sharing this because Darren is me right now, Darren is so much me. Very much so me. I also did a similar name list thing in book three, so here it is again!

It remains silent like that. Reeve. Harrison. Lonan. Darren. Around the kitchen table. Harrison. Lonan. Darren. Reeve. Listen to the clock tick. Lonan. Darren. Reeve. Harrison. Group gazed, we’re not telepathic. Darren. Reeve. Harrison. Lonan. Fed up, what kind of children are you?

So that’s all for now! Thank you guys so much again for a year of these... I know there should be around 300 more of these than there are, so thank you for being patient with these not so daily daily updates, seriously, I appreciate it so much. Your support means the world. <3 Here’s to another year!

--Rachel

[pokemon-au]

[Meds, Lin, Kin and Lorn belong to @filthy-alien-meat]

Aoi introducing Kin to Cery: "Kin, meet my girlfriend/big sis Cery. You may address her as Ceryneian. 'Cery' is mine. So you cannot use it."

“....ceryninium..cermunin..” CANT SAY IT....it’s difficult..

"Hmm... Then you can call her Lady Bisharp. Isn't that right, Cery?"

“Eat your ice cream” *gives him a smol head pat.*

“>:o your girlfriend is a warrior...I’ve seen her ribbons of valor..” 

Lorn is a very impressive "little weed" from Sprout Tower. He hopped ship and done a bit of traveling. He likes to fight and he's adamant. Lin, his mentor tugs him back from ridiculous opponents he thinks he can handle like "no no little weed..."

"You wanna go!! YOU WANNA GO!!" And starts pinwheeling his little leaves. LET HIM FIGHT

Meds cannot understand why she is BOTHERING...since clearly he's going to evolve into something with even less limbs. If he grows up he can just swallow Meds whole and whip like his sensei. I imagine he becomes heavy like a roly-poly toy that can't be knocked down.

Lin calls him "little weed". Unlike Kin and Aoi who like to poke fun about their mentors he would not stand for it.... That's when the Riolu tie this nerd to a tree.

Lorn can best Kin in most situations just cause he's a freaking noodle and uses others weight and moves against them so idk what he'd do against someone like Naga. Lmao Naga not sure how to feel about beating a piece of grass in battle....

Aoi thinks Lorn is cheating cuz he can't land a hit. In the end he'll dig and pull Lorn's root feet down and trap him in the dirt so he can kick him with fire. Aoi please. (!!!!!! CLEVER kin would be most impressed)

Lorn's sneaky too, has the powder moves. He's stubborn about using them though; he wants to hit stuff, not throw fairy dust at things in order to win.

He knows Leech Seed (gets Aoi all tangled up and gives a tiny evil cackle)

Lorn is probably a smart little bugger but a major snipe, he will rat you out, brag and cause unnecessary discourse but in Lin's eyes he's a perfect little weed.  If he saw that fence art, he would be all ">:O Ohhhh....i'm tellin'"

If they drew one of Lorn, he would cry. AND KIN WOULD HAVE A PANIC LIKE..."ahhh that was a bad idea, why did we do that, it was MEAN....no no no...." FRANTIC WIPING OF CHALK. Aoi's like "Aw it's just a joke, Lorn. Don't be a baby." This is when Don would usually smack him with his leaf hand if he was around.

If Don and Kirby ever cross paths and have to battle, I think Don is infinitely more experienced but Kirby could put up a tough fight. He's outmatched though, since Don has not missed a single day of training in his life (well, except for the rare occasions when he's sick)

Zion and Don are the kind who will insist to work even tho they are sick. Aoi will fake illness to sleep in. Naga will help him sometimes with enough pleading.

Meds: "Or you could just...NEVER GET SICK????" (Has never experienced a virus ever) Kin probably gets the sniffles but nothing more than that, not with that brutal diet he's on.

If Kin does get to the point of immobility due to training and his limbs are all bruised and torn up, Meds does take care of him and shows an uncharacteristic tender side, so if Kin became very ill he would handle that as well, if it got serious he'd address his trainer. You can only do so much on the mountain and while it is possible to make cures from whats there he just isn't that inclined...

There's a time Zion was ill and Aoi was looking after him. As Zion is laying in his futon, he beckons to Aoi and gives him a pat on the head, telling him that he's a good boy; and I imagine Aoi looks very touched at first, looking tearful and all...but then he grabs Zion's hand and goes "Are you going to die?! QAQ" and he recieves a withering glare.

He IS A GOOD BOY. If Cery catches wind of Aoi being sick at some point, she just kicks in doors...WHERE IS HE?! She can't be stopped, it is futile. Her precious darling baby is SICK. The evil would just be radiating off her for the entire household, how could you let this happen. She likes pampering him, they aren't together all the time so it's A-OK.

Aoi likes to hold Cery's hand. He loves her!! So much!

Aoi quite enjoys the treatment and attention when he's sick so you can be sure he plays it out more dramatically and longer than nessecary even after he's recovered. But Don always figures it out and puts him back to work. He has a lot of training to catch up.

Meds lets Kin make a full recovery, probably has to make him STAY PUT until he's healed although he can appreciate the determination.

If Don met Kin he's gonna shake his head and wonder why Aoi isn’t more like Kin. Now that's a pupil!

To be fair, Aoi does try to take as many shortcuts and slack off as much as he can. He does his best if you tell him there's a prize in it for him. MOTIVATION!

I don't think Meds would ever ...get sick but if Kin ever saw him lose and get hurt, his whole world would be ruined. He holds him in such high regard anything that tainted that might break his spirit. It's a very fragile dependency I guess, it's terrible.

Meds is legendary as far as Kin is concerned. I bet the boys like to compare and boast that each of their mentors can defeat the other no problem.

Kin would brag that his master has attacked humans :I SEEN HIM DO IT....THEY WON'T BE COMING BACK EITHER!

Aoi's kind of uncomfortable about that bit of information. He thinks Kin is playing it up to sound dangerous and cool.

Kin would have that very unsettling truth to his words, he's too genuine to lie or even try to make something up. "He attacked them,wouldn't tell me why.....I don't think I was supposed to see."

"I think thats why the humans put up signs on the trees....i can't read them all that well but I think it's a warning" He'd trail off, not thinking much of it, he sees them every day...sometimes a new one would be posted.

Aoi is uncomff but doesn't want to be one upped so he's like "Yeah...well...Don can beat up bad guys too...! Burglars are too scared to come by." (changes the subject)

"Don is cool :3..."

"We have signs back home too...!" (thinks about the signs he drew and put up in the garden in hopes to keep pokemon out) "It says KEEP OUT. PRIVATE PROPERTY" ("get your own goddamned veggies")

!!!!! Kin would be impressed that Aoi can read.

Aoi is suddenly very smug. (proudly) "Heh, I can also write" "I wrote the signs actually" (does not mention that his were rejected and replaced)

He makes a grandiose show of "COME! LET ME SHOW YOU HOW TO WRITE YOUR NAME (in kanji or something)" and waxes poetic on education that he's heard a thousand times but never cared for until this very moment.

All of Aoi's haikus would go right over his head, WHAT DOES THIS MEAN??? ...who is this Cery that you love so much...? He is not very artsy or creative to say the least if he can't say it with his fist then .....well.

Lin can probably read and write, she will insist that Lorn know how to as well.

Kin has no experience with people, the ones that have seen him give him weird looks because he's BRIGHT ASS YELLOW but it's never anything he would call positive.

Aoi believes if you hurt a trainer that looks after you, you're a bad Pokemon.

[coffeeandcalligraphy]

Doing the Write Thing #48 after 10 years and 3 seasons of criminal minds + Foster’s birthday

It’s been so long... Dudes...

Many things have happened. Sort of.

My last DtWT update had me outlining how I was super stoked to see Precious Kid in Pennsylvania, and that happened... It was honestly so amazing, and Justine, Chuck, and Kassie are the sweetest human beings in the entire world + they gave us their setlists and had a loooooooong conversation with @sarahkelsiwrites​ and I. Amazing live also.

I also went to Mexico with my family last week! It was an interesting experience, and I do miss it looking back. I’m really bad at long vacations in general, and there wasn't much to do on the resort in terms of activities daily, so I had a lot of time to myself. It was a nice week to kinda chill and detox from my normal mega busy life, but OH BOY did I miss writing...

Like I mentioned before, I had a LOT of free time on the resort, so @sarahkelsiwrites​ made it our business to binge watch 2 full seasons of Criminal Minds in that week... (Started season two on Monday, finished it today lol).

Here’s my relationship with Criminal Minds in a nutshell:

I’ve been watching this show for ages. I can’t even pinpoint when I first started watching it because it’s been so long. I’m going to say I was even as young as 8 or 9 when I started watching this show (can’t quite remember though). So to put it simply: I've been watching Criminal Minds for most of my life.

When I was in early elementary school, my sister and I would come home from school and watch the show with our two older brothers if they happened to be watching it (which was often cuz yo oldest brother watched this thing a lot), or we’d watch the marathons, and the list goes on and on.

When driving up to MusikFest in Pennsylvania to catch Precious Kid, my oldest brother pulled the show up on his phone, and oh my did Rachel remember the good times she used to have as a kid watching this show. I seriously think I forgot about my love for this show, since this was my first time watching it probably since the start of the year. This was the start to a huge problem... (the best problem you could ever have)

I’ve watched a TON of Criminal Minds episodes over the years, but since I watched them YEARS ago, I’ve forgotten about them. So @sarahkelsiwrites​ and I decided to watch the show again and...

How does this relate to writing at all?

Oh, my friends... I’ve been so inspired by this show, I’ve written 4500 words of just IDEAS over the past two weeks. These aren't even fleshed out scenes.

(Also if you have no idea what Criminal Minds is, it’s the best crime show you will ever watch. Fetus me loved this show. Present me understands why.)

In my last DtWT post, I talked about sort of being bored by my scene. It was something I really wanted to write, but the words were churning out slow and painfully. Because of this show, I’ve sort of combatted this. Not perfectly, I’m still having issues (which I’ll get into later), but this has become my favourite form of procrastination and I have zero regrets because I hardcore fancasted the FOSTERED cast to the Criminal Minds cast and every time I watch an episode it’s like OH HELLO.

If you’re a Criminal Minds fan and want to get to know my characters, these are basically them:

Hotchner = Lonan

Hotch and Lonan are the same people. I kid you not. If you don't know what Lonan’s like, just Hotch.

Morgan = Harrison

Dunno what else I can say about this one but ermagherd.

JJ = Reeve

also another ermagherd (ESPECIALLY SEASON 10)

Reid = Foster

cuz have u seen morgan + reid’s relationship

also when I was like 10, my mall had an advertisement with matthew gray gubler in it (who plays reid) and I highkey loved going into this store because of this. reid made child me really proud to be geeky af thank you reid.

Prentiss = Glenne

SO MUCH.

So yes. Thank you Criminal Minds. *bows down to Criminal Minds*

I think that’s all I had to say about Criminal Minds so in other news, guess who’s incredibly sick?

ME!

I caught a really bad cold on Monday (like right as I got home from Mexico, I get sick at home smh), and haven't shaken it yet. Which means I’ve been getting really bad fevers etc and yeah... Not fun. SO I’ve been resting (and probably still should be instead of writing this but I missed you guys, so hello) and watching Criminal Minds. And not writing. Except for about an hour ago.

This is the cause for my temporary block at the moment since it’s really hard for me to concentrate when sick especially with a scene I've struggled with previously. Today’s writing session was just the bare minimum of fleshing out an idea I got in Mexico. Onto the update, shall we?

Daily word count goal: 250

Words written: 686

Total word count: 122 078

Total page count: 221

Songs played: Planning vacation days for next summer in no music land at this point

Things to know: Wrote this with a sore throat (TM) with very little sleep because I had the worst sleep ever (TM)

How I felt: Better than bored as f so yayyy! THANK YOU HOTCH FOR REPLENISHING MY SALTY LONAN VIBES.

Bad haiku to describe writing session: Criminal Minds is / The best way to cure no vibes / Because now I vibe

is this not art.

Rating of writing session out of 10 and why: Like a 7, it wasn't very long, and I wasn't thinking all that deeply, lol.

On a scale from 1-10 my level of stoked-ness is: Also a 7

Lyrics to describe writing session: But it’s hard when I don't know what to do / I'm angry and I'm tired and confused / I've got so many thoughts stuck in my head / And none of them make much sense

--Forever Dumb, Surf Curse (Sad Boys EP)

Cannot even explain how me this is but also cannot explain my excitement for next week cuz ya girl sees these two dudes live next week.

GIF to describe writing session:

Saw this while scrolling down my Tumblr dashboard and saved it just for this update since this is actual footage of me writing tonight.

ALSO: HAPPY BIRTHDAY JULIAN CASABLANCAS. JULIAN CATSNBLANKETS. JULIAN CASABLACKPEPPERANDSALT.

oh my.

Excerpt:

“What if I’m lying about all of this, because it’s some sort of game in my head? Like my own real life chess match?”

someone needs to wait and tell this boy LIFE AIN’T CHESSSSSSSSS.

that was the only reason I shared that excerpt. good day.

should that sentence end with a period or a question mark now I'm doubting myself oh myyyy.

I also have news!

TODAY IS NOT ONLY JULIAN CASABLANCAS’ BIRTHDAY.

It’s also Foster’s birthday! WEE!

I mentioned in a writing update I *believe* that every single year since I’ve written the FOSTERED books, me and @sarahkelsiwrites​ go out of our way to celebrate dear Foster’s birthday. The only reason being the 23rd of August is usually a mundane day where I’m bored and have nothing to do, since Foster’s a bit of a geeky dudeface I don’t talk about much on here even though I always poke fun at him even tho he’s actually a great person but cinnamon rolls gotta attack cinnamon rolls cuz cinnamon roll I want a cinnamon roll.

So this year since I was sick, @sarahkelsiwrites​ made me the most AMAZING cake for the dude, and holy moly is it so good. I’m particular about my cakes, but this thing is so amazing. It’s also gorgeous.

So cuuuuuute. I’m amazed by how great this chocolate cake is honestly, it’s a new favourite recipe.

Since it’s his special day, I thought I’d do a quick questionnaire so you guys can get to know him a little better.

So this is Foster:

This is Foster’s lame aesthetic:

So now that we know all of this...

Nicknames and from who: Auggie (from Harrison), Prince Charming (from everyone in the entire world), Wary Sidekick (from Reeve hhhhhaaaaahhaa), The Other One (from Lonan mostly but also from everyone) and there are probably more I’m forgetting, this boy gets a lot of nicknames, especially from Harrison. OH real life nicknames (as in what people I actually know call him) Fosty from @sarahkelsiwrites, and Foss from @imdisappointed and I die lol

Favourite restaurant: Probably something fancy like Milestones HA canada

Favourite candy: Probably jelly beans or original skittles

Favourite type of cake: He’s lame and likes pie, but probably red velvet

Also how old is the dude now: 20 (ermagherd when he was only 16 children grow fast)

Favourite hobby: Probably doing something lame like reading science textbooks with at @imdisappointed​

Favourite colour: Blue (as seen in aesthetic)

Favourite cereal: Frosted flakes

Favourite breakfast food in general: Dino eggs (boi)

If he had a job in real life, what would it be: Either the dude that works the counter at a vegan café (with lots of quinoa), or a #freelance photographer who focuses on #lifestyle photos + #nature photos

Favourite thing to do: Say the cheesiest of cheesiness to Reeve who is like oh ma lord the cheese

Does he like The Strokes or does he not like The Strokes: Boy is such a Whitney type of dude, but I don't think he’d have much of an opinion on The Strokes. Lonan would blast The Strokes in the car if they were driving together, and he would just be like ok.

The cheesiest thing he has ever said anyone around him probs exploded because of a cringe attack: You’re everything in the world maximized by a million. or You’re the sunshine that I see first thing in the morning, and the last thing I think of at night. or you know what just everything he says oh myyyyy gahhhhhhhhd

His actual aesthetic: Going on a long morning hike just to watch the sunrise + there is fog and evergreen trees

If he was a gum flavour name: Pretentious Mint

Trying to be a sly ass mofo in book one but no:

“You were awake that entire time!” I scream at him, smacking his head. He winces, but I don’t feel an ounce of guilt for my action. “You – I was so worried and I –” “And you need me and you love me...” He cuts me off, his stupid smirk still on his face. “I thought you were still unconscious you idiot!” 

(I was 13 y’all shhhh)

Would he write books: Yes. One in the spinoff called My Best Friend Is Almost 30 And Doesn’t Leave Me Alone: A Memoir

What I (Rachel) wished for in his POV when I blew out his birthday candles today: Protect Reeve and live a healthy, prosperous life

The most pathetic thing he’s done: “Well, I thought, er, I, I brought this for you.” He says, holding a perfect red rose out to me. 

well er I er well

If he were a donut flavour: Boston cream

If he were a beverage: Fiji water

the aesthetic

this is a bottle of water

Alright so that’s enough about Foster. Hopefully you learned something about him since I don't talk about him ever on here... He’s sincerely one of my favourite characters, even though I always make fun of him. It’s okay. Everyone does it. Especially Harrison.

Cool. Hope you enjoyed this update. See you later dudes.

--Rachel

[coffeeandcalligraphy]

Doing the Write Thing #49 after figuring out what the heck the problem was

**I wrote this blog post last night while falling asleep, and as I state at the end, decided to wait to post it until today so not to embarrass myself because exhausted Rachel can’t sentence, so just keep that in mind**

So tonight’s writing session is interesting because I could totally end the book right here but also I’m sort of mid a Lonan Clark Interrogation (TM) scene and that would cause an interesting start for a book six that totally isn’t going to happen. Psh.

(por queeeeeeeeee)

I’m sitting on this one.

SO if you’ve been keeping up with these DtWT posts, you’d definitely know that I’ve been in such a weird slump of all slumps that’s not entirely writer’s block, but not entirely straight boredom, and more an icky middle in which everything is just awful and writing = hello migraine.

Well I figured out why!

If you’ve been following me since I started this blog in 2015 (honestly is anyone here from then, if so hellooooooooooooo even tho I'm pretty sure I was the only one who was reading my own posts in basically all of 2015 looool), but anyway. If you’ve been here since then, you’ve witnessed my Am I A Pantser Or Nahhhhh phase, of which I’m INCREDIBLY passionate about Pantsing. In recent days, I’ve found a middle between outlining and pantsing (except I’m also not a plantser), and blah, blah, the struggle is real, which label do I identify with etc etc.

WELL I feel as if I’ve sort of solidly figured that out

Here’s some insight on the chapter I’ve been writing for the past 3 weeks of my life (which is way too long and much too slow for my pace because I’m a GOGOGO kind of person, not that 3 weeks is too long if you write chapters in 3 weeks, I’m just addicted to not taking breaks, so yes, I digress). The chapter (chapter 29) is planned out in detail. I have tons of its pieces written out in notes (which you can see examples of in THIS post), lots of dialogue written--it’s just very planned out.

AND OH BOY HAS IT BEEN A PAIN IN MY ASS TO WRITE.

Even though I was so excited for it, and couldn't wait, and had so much energy when I first popped open that Word doc, my steam died. And it died really quickly. I was writing incredibly slowly. My prose was so lame and dry and choppy, and I was basically just filling in the details for the notes I’d already written. And that’s the thing...

I’m not a planner, my dudes.

I don't write my best stuff with outlines. I don't feel the best about the scenes I’ve outlined. I don't think the prose is the best in the scenes I’ve outlined. I don't get excited thinking about the scenes I’ve outlined after I’ve struggled to write them for 3 weeks.

I love the chapters I Pants. I love the rush of pantsing, and the way my fingers legit fly across the keyboard when I know exactly which words I need to place as I go along. I’m walking across a pathway I’m simultaneously paving. And I love that. I do my best work when I’m pantsing.

The problem was obvious, and I don't know why I didn't see it before but to be clear, the issue I had this entire time was because I had outlined the scene before this in such meticulous detail. Not because I wanted to, but because it just happened. In a moment, I had so much energy for a new scene, and wrote down a ‘scene screenplay’ of it. Was so stoked to write it. I was merely taking down notes.

But the issue here is, I planned it.

And I do this all the time. I write down ‘scene screenplays’ whenever I get an idea. I spill my brain out into my notes and pack in much detail as I need to every time I get an idea. This time was no different. I just figured out why I was having so much of a problem.

Unfortunately, there’s legit nothing I can do about this problem. I’m going to continue to get ideas (pls don't jinx that pls), and I’m going to continue to write them down. Because I don't like keeping everything all in my head when I see something super vividly. This problem is always going to happen, and the writing I pants is always just going to be more passionate than the writing I don't. I don't know why that is, but I figure it’s because I lose all my inspiration/steam after I’m done writing the idea in a note.

I don't know if anyone else has this issue, but I know I have to compromise to make it work. I don't think Pantsing everything in the entire world will work for me because I always get ideas for news scenes (which I love!). But something I noticed is, I usually don't get that same rush when I’m writing something I outlined. I don't have anything against outlining (in fact I think you’ll always need some sort of an outline at one point in the editing phase), and I do enjoy it, buuuuuuut alas, everything doesn't work for everyone all the time.

This is a trend I can pick up on if I just think back to the scenes I’ve written with direction VS without direction. It sucks since I like outlining and think it’s great, but it’s something I’ve learned to deal with since I’ve written 7 books like this. Sometimes writing planned scenes is much easier than others, other times not so much. It really does depend.

But that was the issue. lol. I’m sort of dumb for not seeing that sooner, but that’s what happened here. Not like I’m mad about it or sad about it or anything, I’ve been doing this for a long time. Sometimes it’s easier, and sometimes it isn’t. I do really enjoy outlining tho so I am a little bummed if anything.

ALSO: writing down ideas with less detail in the future also won’t help because I like having every single detail while also not having any details at all, so basically I can’t win here LOL. It’s an interesting game to play to say the least. But anyway, now that that’s been said, onto the update!

Daily word count goal: 250

Words written: 1407

Total word count: 124 942

Total page count: 226

Songs played: She abandoned all her music in favour of no music land. :(

Things to know: I’m incredibly delirious off exhaustion right now, so if anything I wrote above made no sense, and if anything I share below makes no sense, this is why.

How I felt: Oh so much better. Guess who hardcore pantsed the end of this chapter and totally enjoyed herself? Meeeee.

Bad haiku to describe writing session: Pantsing is something / I really do like to do / It is the best thing

I really hope it doesn't sound like I’m bashing outlining by the way, or saying outlining is problematic and inhibits creativity, because I really don't believe that. I hope my message makes sense under my exhaustion. I love to outline, but Pantsing for me produces better work. And it’s unfair for me to not to take that into consideration in the future. Thankfully I figured out why I was having problems, and I guess by tis, I really am sort. <<< Future Rachel is editing this post at 1PM and not removing this line lol. Honestly, I have no idea what I was trying to say here, but if this shows you how tired I was...

Rating of writing session out of 10 and why: Like a 7.8! Much better than before, though I was still a bit stuck initially.

On a scale from 1-10 my level of stoked-ness is: A 7, let’s see where this takes us.

Lyrics to describe writing session: I'm losing myself / Due to a lack of sleep I'll never quite be / What people expect of me 

--Falling Apart, Surf Curse (Nothing Yet)

cuz u always need some angst in ur life exhaustion angst 2k17

GIF to describe writing session:

oh the messing around thing is actually me because the end half of this chapter was written by delirious Rachel who needs sleep asap pls so it’s like how the f does this connect to a and b but delirious Rachel is like nah nah it makes sense and then it sort of does if you squint and turn your head at the right angle.

Excerpt:

First, some words from Lonan:

...and torture became your painkiller.

did u know lonan also writes hallmark cards:

We make the best friends in our worst moments.

and now onto the random shit my brain came up with i’m literally dying of no sleep my sentences make no sense wat:

I want misery, and in misery, company. And in company, solitude. And in solitude, suffocation.

ok whatever that means

I want love, but love is callous.

So in an effort to scavenge what I can of it, I drill a habitat for myself in my own body. I live here. Where the walls are made of ribbons of tissue and painted with blood. Where the foundation lies upon feeble bones, and the control centre nurses itself on bitter memories. This is my home. The place I can find love, but not the place love can find me. I rely on myself, rather on the incalculable doings of fate, or the cold hands of reason.

I mean that could mean a whole bunch of things buuuut tired me is like wut is English how does one decipher metaphor wat.

So that’s it. I’ll probably post this tomorrow after I re-read it so I don't post it now and embarrass myself in front of the internet. Ok cool.

--Rachel