#You have to pay attention to the macro and the micro of your life. No other human gets to parse it out.

[allycat75]

In case anyone needs this.

Quote from the totally disturbing GQ Oct. 2023 cover article that should have raised major red flags for anyone who cared about the subject (sickly photos not included):

[physalian]

How to Make your Writing Less Stiff 4

Let’s keep this train rollin’! This time less down to line edits and more overall scope of your narrative

Part 3

1. Foreshadowing

Nothing quite like the catharsis of accurately predicting where something’s going to go. It doesn’t have to be a huge plot twist or a character death, it can (and should) be little things that reward your audience for paying attention. Double points if it adds to rewatch/re-readability.

Example: In The Dark Knight, this exchange happens:

Harvey: “You’ve known Rachel all her life.”

Alfred: “Oh, not yet, Sir.”

You won’t think anything of it on your first watch. Alfred is just making a witty joke that throws Harvey off. Watch the movie again, when Rachel dies, and it becomes some incredibly dark foreshadowing. Turns out Alfred has, actually, known Rachel all her life.

2. Chekhov’s Gun

Chekhov’s Gun is a narrative concept where a seemingly inconsequential element introduced at some point in the narrative (a gun) must “fire” by the end of the narrative. Sometimes this element leaves audiences uneasy or anxious, because they know something bad must come of it. Sometimes they think nothing of it until it’s about to fire and you get a one-two punch of the realization that it’s about to hit, and then the impact of the hit. It helps create tension, and tension is incredibly important (if you want a whole post of my take on it, lmk).

It also helps your narrative look more cohesive, where nothing is left on the table. Your set-ups and payoffs leave no threads dangling.

3. Repetition

The Rule of threes can apply on a micro and macro scale. I like doing lists of adjectives in threes, (e.g. My cat is soft, fluffy, and adorable) because the cadence and the flow of three is something we’re familiar with in spoken language. We like three supporting examples for an argument. Any less doesn’t feel strong enough, any more feels like you’re trying too hard. This is not a rule it’s a suggestion.

On a grander scale, you can look at the script of Curse of the Black Pearl for a masterclass in macro rules of three, like three parlays. Doing this helps your narrative look more cohesive and like every detail is thoroughly interwoven and nothing is coincidence. Your audience will get to the third instance and mimic that DiCaprio pointing meme—they will absolutely notice.

4. Motifs

Motifs as well, beyond threes, help. Colors are a huge one. For example every time you mention the color purple, you could attach it to an emotion, or a character, or an important plot beat, like how leitmotifs work for character themes in movies and TV shows.

Obvious examples in film are like lightsaber colors or dressing up the good guys in white and the bad guys in black. I did this whole post about color in fiction.

It’s a lot of other things too. Weather elements and times of day, or specific inconsequential objects popping up over and over again, like birds, or litter, fallen leaves, clothing items. Whenever the narrative mentions them, the author is trying to clue you in on some subtext within that scene.

—

My new novel is here!!! Do you like supernatural fantasy? How about queer vampires? How about acespec characters? Then Eternal Night of the Northern Sky is for you!

[lamemummy59]

Aabshrn vent post warning for transphobiaaaaa

I love being the only openly out to everyone trans person (that I know of) at my school! I love micro and macro aggressions! I love overhearing people across from me in computer class say

" heard she thinks she has a dick. Shes like, delusional or something!" I Love hearing kids at the table in front of me in shop talk about how im a "quiet kid" (referring to the school shooter stereotype thing) while referring to me as "Spedy Eddy" (that is a real thing they thought was funny.) I love people yelling my government/dead name down the hall at me trying to get my attention just so they can say "see! It is your name! You responded to it" I love it when my English teacher tells me that she is not going to call me Eddy because "that just goes against my morals." I love being constantly asked what genitals I have and what bathroom I use and "do

I really haaaave to use he/him on you?" and "how can you use he/him when you dress like that???" I love being told that if you have a shlong you're a boy and if you have vava you're a girl and that i should repent because god made me a girl and he doesn't make mistakes! I love it when people ask me constantly EVERY. SINGLE. DAY. "DiD yOu NaMe YoUrSeLf AfTeR eDdle MuNsOn?!?1?1?'(that's not against me being trans I think it's just annoying) I love popular kids randomly sitting by me and calling me their friend and talking to me and about me like I'm their

"bestie" for about a week before inevitably dropping me because they no longer get any clout from being friends with the weird shy transgender kid. (I'm not even shy, I just keep to myself when there's no one there worth talking to, which is most of the time at my school.)I love being used as a jester for entertainment by kids who wouldn't care if I lived or died. I love being scared to piss! I love kids using me as a database for transgender information they could easily google, so I have to stop doing my work and paying attention so I can explain how hormones work or else they could possibly never find correct information and could keep on believing transphobic things for the rest of forever. I love being afraid that I could get beat up just for walking down the hallway to class. I love living in fear everyday that Texas could pass a bill saying it's illegal for me to exist! I love living in fear that the current law they have about trans youth could affect me and I could be ripped from my not really expecting of me but still okay i guess family and put in an openly and aggressivly transphobic foster family! My life is great! Everything is great! I'm great! Why wouldn't I be!?

[fleetroot-blog]

How The Last-Mile Delivery Solution Helps To Visualize Business Growth Peaks And Lows

What is Last Mile Delivery? Let's look at a typical order fulfillment process: The customer places an order: The order is shipped from its place of manufacture through the distribution channels (e.g. master warehouses, sub-warehouses, warehouse agents, distributors, etc.)

The final point in the distribution chain (e.g. retailer, distributor) to the consumer, e.g. Retailer (in brick-and-mortar stores), and the consumer's home (in ecommerce) since “last mile delivery” 

is the last leg of your order travels before it reaches its destination.

But why is last-mile delivery so important? We are now in the most competitive age mankind has ever seen. From an economic point of view, companies are in global competition and constantly under enormous pressure. Consumers have a wealth of options and can switch from one provider to another at any time. It is imperative that you keep customer satisfaction as your most important metric. In today's age of technological pervasiveness, it is almost impossible to build sustainable businesses solely on the functional elements of your offering, and customer loyalty increasingly stems from the Customer Experience (Cx). And since “last mile delivery” is the touch point with your customer and therefore has a major impact on your Cx, you would be missing a trick if you weren't paying attention. By knowing your Cx Pulse, you can not only build��a loyal customer base, but you can also create effective business forecasts for peaks and troughs in demand and plan your supply accordingly. Therefore, the 'economic impact', ie the impact on price, cost, and revenue (micro) and growth, profitability, and productivity (macro) that Cx or last-mile delivery has been enormous. Remember that last mile delivery is not just the “last mile” that your order physically travels, but also the logistics, efficiency, cost, customer lifecycle alignment (etc.) that make this “last mile " turn off. Has last-mile delivery gained momentum lately? It allows businesses to predict demand patterns and adjust the supply side accordingly, resulting in greater profitability, countering competitors, managing costs, resources, etc. Last Mile Delivery can be found in all previous Cx articles (except #1). In the future, the modern customer will only deal with companies that can offer not only a quality offer but also one that suits their lifestyle and exists in their universe of touchpoints (both online and offline). For example, you have exactly the product a consumer wants, but if they just want to buy online and can't deliver it within 3 days, they will go elsewhere. Using last-mile delivery to predict demand patterns Cx helps companies measure buyer behavior;eg. whether customers are returning for future purchases, buying the same product, including other products, ordering the same or different quantities (etc.), which helps companies predict demand patterns.

Last Mile Delivery Powering Cx in the Age of Giant eCom - eCom is now our way of life. This makes last-mile delivery even more important for your Cx as it is the “touch point” with your customer – it is the “face” of your business that your consumer sees. And Cx, as we have already seen, is a crucial metric for efficient business planning. For example, if you are in the grocery delivery business and deliver hot food to your customers, your last-mile delivery is essential to a positive customer experience. Only then will you have repeat orders. Every time you deliver groceries late (or cold and stale), you lose a customer. Result? One less unit in your inventory. Conversely, consistently meeting customer expectations will generate WoM (word of mouth) for your business and will almost certainly result in more orders and more customers. Result? More inventory is required. The example above typifies how last-mile delivery is increasingly helping companies to predict demand patterns. Advanced last mile management tools: GPS-enabled vehicle and fleet tracking systems Efficient logistics is essential to effectively manage your last-mile delivery. Enables companies to achieve optimal efficiency in managing the logistics side of their last-mile delivery, ensuring customer orders are fulfilled on time, every time. In addition, these GPS-enabled fleet management systems provide extensive MIS and real-time data, enabling companies to continually improve their last-mile delivery management. Last-mile delivery has become a core tenet of a company's customer experience. Customer experience, in turn, is crucial for companies to predict buyer behavior and, based on this, to predict demand patterns. This helps companies to best manage their businesses and stay competitive, grow operations, and maintain profitability. Therefore, investing time, effort, and resources in managing your last-mile delivery is critical to the success of your business. Ignore it at your own risk! Automate last-mile delivery by solving your last-mile routing challenges with last-mile delivery software.

Read More about How The Last-Mile Delivery Solution Helps To Visualize Business Growth Peaks And Lows

[necronymie]

Meet the Writers of gen:LOCK Season 2 Panel Summary

Summary under the cut because this shit is LONG

There's a fun ad before the panel about how attractive MBJ is

“We may be lesbians, but we’re not blind!”

Moderated by Dorian Parks, editor in chief of Geeks of Color

Panel starts with a thank-you to HBO Max for facilitating the production of Season 2, as well as other RT shows.

Panel members include:

Daniel Dominguez: Head writer of s2

Maasai Singleton: Writer’s assistant, wrote a few episodes

Evan Narcisse: Staff writer, wrote on s1 as well

Kristle Peluso: Staff writer

Gavin Hignight: Staff writer

How did the writer’s room come together?

Dan and Evan are old friends

Kristle and Dan were introduced by a common friend/coworker

Dan and Gavin also knew each other before working together

Maasai was the only person who Dan did not know previously

To Evan: How has your journey as a writer informed your writing choices

He began as a critic, and that has made a big impact

He now pays much attention to the impact of a show’s message

To Dan: what made you want to write for GL?

He's been writing his whole life, as cheesy as that is

His first novella was written at 6 years old and it was a rip off of Nightmare on Elm Street

It was 7 pages of a woman turning into a cockroach

Kristle jokes that it's his best work to date

They joke that s2 is 8 episodes of a woman turning into a cockroach in the shower.

(Honestly I’d still watch it)

What drew him to GL: its this wonderful diverse cast telling a meaningful story about giant robot battles.

To Maasai: How was this as a start into the industry?

“We just vibed.”

“We would always say, there's mindshare in GL, and there's mindshare between the writers!”

Everyone cries at that

His first script was amazing, according to the rest of the writers

Daniel talks about how incredible Maasai is

Maasai and Kristle talk about how creative a leader Daniel is

The writers talk about how insane some of the pitches for s2 were, and how the environment in the writers room was very accepting of the more outlandish ideas

“At the end of the day, our job is about being vulnerable, because that's what storytelling is”

What inspired you and made you want to write?

Gavin has always been writing

Evan is an old school comichead; he's always been a reader, and for the bulk of his career, he was a journalist and critic. 

Helping create the worlds he used to analyze is fascinating

Daniel jokes how Evan is going to get a kick out of the terrible reddit thread that will come from s2

Kristle remembers in second grade when she wrote a comedy for class and a kid laughed so hard that he fell out of his chair, and that made her realize that words have power. 

She was a journalist and worked in marketing for a while (she hated it)

Especially as a woman, its very exciting working in a male-dominated industry

How do you guys feel about how inclusive the writers room is, and how did that affect the writing?

It was very intentional. No one can better tell the stories of these people than the writers who understand their struggles

Hollywood has been dominated by a monoculture of writers

Dan jokes that he is “the whitest Mexican-American that you've ever met”

Our writers room needs to look like the people whose stories we’re telling

There was a good amount of religious diversity in the room, and that shaded the story in various ways

Its implied that the above comment has a lot to do with the storyline of s2

Dan kept running around the table and yelling “Where is your god now?”

Evan recalls how Dan made the team pull apart the DNA of s1 to construct s2

What do you think the turning point of inclusivity came?

Never. It still hasn't happened

Shame is an incredibly powerful weapon, and that is what forces the people in charge to change

Evan talks about how media like the Black Panther movie definitely inspire writers and creators to create more inclusive media.

gL is a part of the movement, but the wave hasn't crashed yet

Dan talks about how lucrative inclusive media is

“Do it for the money, if not the people!”

We don't just want to see ourselves in protagonists, we want to see other people, we want to see other viewpoints, experience other experiences

“I personally don't know what it's like to pilot a giant mech, but-” “you don't?”

Looking for a common ground like this important for the storyline of s2. This struggle and this attempt of unity through looking into each other's minds is a key theme.

Maasai brings up that diversity is good because you need conflict in a story. Our character's diversity drives their character arcs, and forces them to change. They make each other think differently, literally and metaphorically

The conflicts that we see in s2, both micro and macro, the seeds are all there in s1, the camera is just pulled out to see the larger picture. 

Evan jokingly “spoils” that there is war in season 2

What media inspired s2? Did you draw from any specific influences?

Gavin says that he focused on the horror of the technology. How does this technology affect those who use it?

Dan talks about how Gavin made him think more about how terrifying gL is, made him question his own humanity.

They drew from so many influences from youtube video essays to Shakespeare

They ripped off even more of Tempest in s2

Kristle talks about keeping the hope in the disaster that is s2

She says that s2 has many parallels with 2020 and the pandemic, some explicit, some not

Evan always worked remotely; that prepared the room to work from home when the pandemic struck

Evan says that he was inspired by writers who focused on how prejudices perpetuate over centuries, and how humanity changes the world

Evan has always tried to emphasize the mutual responsibility humanity has to care for each other, and the past year has made him put more energy behind that message.

Dan talks about how s2 tries to make people ask themselves if humanity is even capable of fixing our mistakes

“We got big robots, man!” “its dope!”

Can you spoil anything about s2 before the panel ends?

In GL, in the future, the only restaurant left is Taco Bell

Chase has some heavy stuff ahead of him.

[thegeneralreturns]

Thoughts on Cyberpunk 2077

Even apart from its bug infestation, the lies that sold it, and the cruelty involved in its development, Cyberpunk 2077 had detractors whose view was that the game was not representative of the Cyberpunk genre.

Which is fair, if only because Cyberpunk 2077 is the most brutal critique of the genre I’ve ever seen.  Were I a true believer in the genre (and I never have been, there's no inherent value to it apart from the aesthetic), I would be furious.

Because Cyberpunk runs on grand, dramatic gestures of sticking it to some corporate, governmental, or religious Man, and Cyberpunk 2077′s Night City is where those grand gestures go to die.

Decades before the game starts, a fella named Rache Bartmoss destroys the internet to bring the corps to their knees.  Thing is, they’re only on their knees for a day, until they start making their own micronets.  The only thing that changed was that everything got more expensive for the people on the ground.

Johnny Silverhand nukes Arasaka Tower, and the Arasaka Corporation doesn’t even slow down.  All Silverhand did was murder a few hundred thousand people.

And Silverhand himself is very much a refugee from the 1980s of which this game (at least on the surface) is an act of nostalgia.  Long hair, shitty music, rampant misogyny, and a lack of self-awareness that would stun a Kardashian.  He does nothing but sneer and bloviate, brag and belittle, while you attempt to put out the fires in front of you.  He’s a twelve-year-old’s idea of a revolutionary.  He’s a Che Guevara t-shirt with another, smaller Che Guevara t-shirt underneath it.  He is the most true-to-life anarchist in the history of narrative art, because he goes to his grave only ever having succeeded at making everyone in his life completely miserable.  And he is the vector through which CD Projekt RED skewers Cyberpunk itself.

Because Silverhand’s constant endorsement of the most blunt, the most dramatic, the most violent solution to each problem in the name of his ideals (no matter how worthy they might be deep down) can’t stand against the human cost.  Pay attention in Night City and you’ll see that nothing you do in the macro matters.  Die in a big enough fireball, and maybe someone will name a drink after you.  But it’s in the micro, much like The Witcher III before it, that Cyberpunk 2077 truly shines.

The game seems less occupied with how the player can affect Night City, and more occupied with the kind of characters Night City can produce.  The people on the ground floor, trying to hustle a no-win paradigm so it works for them, no matter how briefly, no matter how temporarily.  It loves its sex workers and its mercs, its mechanics and its nomads, its palm readers and its cab drivers.  Most of whom have to be dealt with gingerly as, unlike the main story, every choice you make with them really does matter.  The grand Fate-of-the-World narrative is just a curtain rod for the rich character drama, which is the game’s true narrative priority.  CDPR games have a rep for juvenile edgelordery that only The Witcher 2 earns, as the rest wear their dangerously enlarged hearts on their sleeves.  You’ll notice that the last thing you see in the game isn’t the fallout from the ending you got... but rather all of your friends facetiming you to see how you’re doing.

I really do love Cyberpunk 2077, its considerable warts and all.  It’s buggy as shit, and dickery went into its making.  I’m not saying you can't be angry about it.  I can only humbly suggest that you may wish to judge slowly.

Because you can say the same things about Fallout New Vegas.

[natural-hazard]

Language games and "why do you care?"

epistemic status: wailing and gnashing of teeth The sexual tension between the terms "pragmatic" and "meaningful". We've leaned towards using pragmatic more, I believe because Spendo and Crispith love them some William James. The thing that underlies both of them is this sense of hooking in to what matters to you. I could do without the word "pragmatic"s association with a particular narrow view of what can matter ("his head was in the clouds, he had all these big ideas but no pragmatic inclinations"). I bemoan "meaningful" and "meaning"s rumored (big if true!) association with, well.... "meaningless shit that doesn't connect to real humans, and is something that people play act at". Pragmatic evokes imagery of my "no-nonsense" grandpa who worked at a glass manufacturing plant his whole life and always focused on providing for his family. Meaningful evokes my artsy-fartsy sister who's desperately trying to escape the capitalist machine by trying to become a shaman in Ecuador. Take David Chapman's post (but give it back when you're done, the internet runs out after a while) Meaningful Perception. From our point of view it could just as easily be called "Pragmatic Perception". The structure of how you perceive is shaped by the structure of how you care. When we talk about pragmatic classification systems, though I defs expect lumber-jacks to be more like my grandpa than my sister, we're tapping into the sense in which classification systems are made by people who care about stuff, and are using the classification systems to get more hooks into interacting with what they care about. As it has been, and as it shall be, talking about care can spawn plenty of strife. Because I'm not referencing the things that your self-concept or your Narrative Self (explanation needed, not forthcoming, life's cruel ain't it?) say that you care about. I don't care about what other people think of me... except, of course for all the ways that I do. Having a self-image defined via negative traits (I'm not this, I'm not that) involves paying just as much attention to how others asses you as for positive ones.

"How can you not care?!"

Sometimes it's shouted in a tone of self-righteous indignation. Sometimes it's blurted out in a confused state of reality-shock. Sometimes it comes out as barely more than a whisper, a quiet spell soaked in sadness trying to magik reality into being other than it is. Hypothetical: you and your friends have a little group where y'all get together and talk about movies. Old and new, low brow and high brow, anything that's been on a screen. You gain a reputation in your broader social network as The Movie Folk, ones who are wise in the ways of film, those of nuanced takes and discerning gaze. One day, you find out your friend Ihsmael (it's always an Ihsmael isn't it?), who by the way is one of the more respected and venerated critics in your group, has never watched any of the films you all talk about. He watched a few movies growing up, but decided he doesn't actually enjoy watching films that much and hasn't seen any since he was 8. I can image one who has righteous indignation. WTF Ishmael? The rest of us have been putting in the work for years, and you've just been reading the plot on wikipedia and mashing up takes you found on the obscure and weirdly high quality forum that no one else happened to know? You've cheated! You're a sham! You don't deserve all the adoration you get for your hot takes, I demand you immediately refund everyone who ever gave you social capital! I can imagine one who's brain momentarily glitches as they try to understand how the fuck this is even possible. Why... have you been hanging out in our explicitly movie centric friend crew for multiple years when you don't watch films? The reality-shock alternates between "this makes so little sense I most be missing something" and the existential horror of realizing another human can look at the art you prize most and only care about a minuscule superficial aspect of it (critiquing with friends). Maybe you don't see them as committing status fraud, but you can't help but think that they live in a small sad world, content with only shadows of the real. ---------------------------- Variation in what people care about is fine. Not everyone needs to love A Serious Man as much as me. What's tragic is when I see systematic forces attempting to destroy ways of caring. In one of my favorite blog posts on the internet, Ben Hoffman talks about such an experience when trying to share with a friend a new technique he learned called Goal Factoring (pick some goal you have, see if it's actually you trying to get a few different things which are actually separable as in you could satisfy each of them better by trying to achieve them in different ways)

Naturally, I wanted to share this with others. When I got back home to DC, I tried to teach goal factoring to the Less Wrong meetup there. One participant told me that they'd had a hard time engaging, because their experience with any exercise around explicitly describing goals pattern-matched to things they'd been forced to do in school. For instance, they described an exercise they'd been forced to do at the beginning of the school year. The first step was to list a goal for the year (usually for that particular class), and the next steps were about figuring out how they'd accomplish that goal. They didn't really have specific goals in mind, so they had to make something up. Usually something that they imagined the teacher might approve of. They had effectively been trained to think of reasoning explicitly about goals as something where you have to follow someone else's rules, and has little to do with getting what you actually want. It should be easy to see how this might poison the whole thing. If someone's had enough experiences like that, where something that sort of looks like explicitly reasoning about goals is forced on them in nonsense ways, they might be ruined for goal factoring – and for many other things.

This breaks my heart. The particular connection to the particular technique that is goal factoring isn't important. But the fact that a person's interaction with the school system has effectively poisoned their ability to apply the entirety of their mind the timeless question "what do I see as the good life, and how shall I pursue it?" Many moons ago, in highschool, I suggested to a group that we get gyros, which I pronounced "j-eye-rows". Some nasally voiced twerp "ummmmm AKTUALLY it's pronounced 'year-ohs'". "Great", I thought to myself, "I will now never in my life ever pronounce it the way this fucko just suggested." Many. Such. ✨Cases✨. Schools at their worst (and also at their medium) act as 12 year programs who's end result is smashing one's ability to genuinely care about huge swathes of reality. ----------------------------- Which takes us back to language games (what, you don't remember us ever being at language games? Pal, we've always been at language games). I need to go to work now, so you figure out the connection. It's something like: language games fight each other. Language games have macro-structure (The Situation you are in and it's logic) and micro-structure (how do words actually combine to mean anything?). When people care about vastly different things, it changes the relationship between macro and micro structure of a language game. Two apsie nerds discussing trains is a language game that has a macro-structure, but it's less salient than the specific details they're conveying to each other via highly systematic micro-structure. Two dudes hurling insults at each other in a bar, The Situation screens off other details. The macro screens off the micro. The point of an insult is that it peforms the Insult Move in A Situation. It doesn't matter to much if I call your dad an ass-hat or your mom a cuck. The meaning of the micro is used to understand the move in the macro, and is then unimportant (except via contributing to a certain aesthetic quality and intensity to the macro move). Some macro-structures want to destroy micro-structures that I care a lot about. I aim to do something about this.

[chaoslynx]

I’m a bit late but HAPPY BIRTHDAY!! For the ask: 👀 (favorite response to one of your works)

Probably one of my favorite responses was when someone went into an entire analysis of my soulmate AU specifically and how the universe affected the characters. Here’s the whole comment, by YumikoFuchan on ao3:

*Claps* All right. I have to write an essay on this. Let us break this chapter down (and likely what has been established so far), shall we? ^^

On a macro-level, this universe glorifies the connection between people. This is a society that not only values social relationships and communication to a high degree, but potentially drives people to obsess over making deep soulful connections.

There is an overwhelming amount of pressure on people’s shoulders since, unlike our world, soulmates are not a mere concept. The bond between soulmates is no longer an interpretation; a soul-bond is tangible and attainable in this scenario (if the rules of this universe are designed to be infallible, of course). It would certainly be interesting to see cases where ‘soulmates’ do not function together at all, but that would be a whole other conversation and I digress. Essentially, there are repercussions to participating in a world that pities those who lack a soul-bond or have lost the opportunity to find their soulmate due to external factors (i.e. burn in Ash’s case). The implications of not finding ‘the one’ in OUR world is scary enough. The world being presented here, with these particular characters—characters that are already burdened in some way by a difficult past—is bloody terrifying. But I also love the pain so give me more. XD

On a micro-level, let us look at that quote again: “I wish I could feel it with you. How you feel when you fly.”

The fact that Ash hyper-fixates on being ‘undeserving’ of Eiji’s connection in this context is notably more painful. There was a point in Ash’s life in which he COULD have vividly, physically experienced ‘flight.’ Not just imagined it, but TRULY felt it. That line above is heartbreaking, because that level of emotional synchronicity will probably never be possible. In our eyes, not being intrinsically compatible to another person is fine. To us, it’s not the end of the world. But in Ash’s eyes, it is everything. He feels that his past has ruined him, robbed him of ever successfully fulfilling the ‘role’ of a soulmate that has been superimposed on him up to this point. It’s just… so tragic. We see this boy miraculously spot his soulmate and miraculously befriend him only to continuously stop himself in his tracks because of past trauma and the weight of societal expectations. The confession about his past (Oh Lord the feels) and starting a relationship with Eiji (Oh Lord the feeelssss) will definitely help in this regard!

So, pertaining to this specific chapter:

“He is not alone!” Eiji insists, catching Ash off guard. “I’m here with him, and I will stay by his side.”

I love Eiji here. He doesn’t even NEED to know that this boy is his soulmate. Ash is his friend and he will protect him no matter what—that’s it. He just stands for what he believes in. I love Ash’s character as much as the next person, but Eiji deserves more appreciation. He’s such a great friend in general too. The way Eiji pays attention to Ash as he zones out is terribly lovely too. The kiss was… unexpected? But also… incredibly sweet?? I feel so happy for them??? On a final note, Yut-Lung and Sing together? YES. YES. YES. I could also mention Arthur, but I think the asshole speaks for himself. ^^

Holy ship. That was a lot to uncover. Don’t fret if you can’t make sense of my chaotic thoughts. BASICALLY, I love what you’re doing, so… keep doing it! XD This is seriously amazing. Keep writing!! <3

I wouldn’t say that it’s necessarily my favorite comment, but definitely my favorite response to one of my fics.

Ask game one!

Ask game two!

[darkest-fluid]

That beautiful writer ask meme: Imagery, Juxtaposition, Symbolism, Allegory, Repetition

This got long, so I’m putting it under a cut.

Imagery: How much do you worldbuild in your current writing project? How do you make your setting seem real and vivid?

I have to admit: world-building is actually not one of my strong suits as a writer. I think I’m better at crafting characters than I am at crafting the worlds they live in. Which makes fanfic pretty great for me, because I can be lazy and piggy-back off of an already established world. 😉 I don’t have to do much world-building for Undertow, since a lot of that is already done for me, but I do have some original projects that involve more creativity on that front. I think when I do world-building I often focus most on cultural things: local beliefs and ideology, art, politics, etc.

As for the setting, I like to highlight sensory/impressionistic details as the character experiences them. The same setting can be experienced very differently depending on a character’s frame of mind and what sorts of things they tend to pay attention to. Specificity is also really helpful in making the world seem real. I like to try and zero in on a few small/specific details when writing my descriptions.

Juxtaposition: Do you include subplots in your writing? How do you balance them alongside your main plots?

I usually do have subplots. A lot of times what I like to do with my stories is focus on an overarching theme, and then find ways to express those ideas on both a macro and micro level, or as both symbolic and literal. With Undertow, that theme is trauma and recovery, specifically how it relates to personal agency and growth. And so I have multiple interwoven plot threads that all deal with that same theme. So it isn’t so much like... separate plots, as it is one big plot tapestry.

Symbolism: What does writing mean to you? How has it impacted your life?

Oof, man. This is a big one. I think growing up I always really struggled to express myself and to have a voice. And writing became my outlet for that. I wasn’t naturally good at it, but I kept working at it, and over time I improved a lot. I think a lot about narrative, and the role it plays in human culture. Both as individuals and as a society, we define our reality through storytelling: the stories we tell ourselves, and the stories we tell to others. I very much want those stories to be as real and true and organic as possible, even when crafting these totally fantastical, fictional realities. Because every story we tell and every story we consume influences our reality... even if it’s just in these subtle, fractional ways.

So there’s the personal, of course: I want to have a voice, I want to be able to reach out to people and show them what I see and feel. I want to be able to point to something and say: “Look at this. This is important. This matters.”

Then there’s the social: knowing that people are engaging with the things I wrote and making it their own.

Then there’s the bigger narrative: I want to make a ripple in our shared reality, even if only a very small one.

But I struggle to do that. Because... well, because of a lot of things. Mental health, physical health, life circumstances, etc. So writing is both this super important thing that I love and a lifelong struggle to overcome massive personal obstacles.

But I genuinely believe that I would not be alive today without it.

Allegory: What is the theme of your current writing project? Is there a message you’d like readers to consider?

I talked about this a bit under Juxtaposition, so I’ll try not to get too repetitive. I also don’t necessarily want to state all of the messages outright, because as a writer I kind of like to just let the subtext speak for itself. But yes, there are definitely themes and messages that I hope readers will pick up on. Some of it involves a bit of meta-criticism over the whole good vs. evil, black and white worldview of D&D and similar fantasy worlds. Which ties into the overarching trauma theme because... hmm, how do I explain this? We cannot as a society take ownership of our sins if we refuse to claim them. People are not inherently good or bad. It’s our actions that matter.

Also, trauma doesn’t have to mean an end to things like love and happiness. Sometimes those things just come to us in unexpected and complicated ways.

Repetition: Is there anything you find you repeat across your witting projects? Symbols, tropes, descriptions, themes? 

Oh gosh, so many things. I use water symbolism a lot. I talk about trauma a lot. Most of my writing is pretty angsty. I also have a penchant for using theories in astrophysics as emotional metaphors. 😏

I love to plant little seeds that end up bearing fruit later on in the story. Like, a character will say something, and then that thing will get repeated later by another character, but with added nuance/weight/irony. I love to connect things. Seemingly disparate characters and stories might all eventually link up in some way.

I tend to use a lot of subtext. The things characters don’t say are often just as important as the things they do. That can also be true of the narrative itself. I convey a lot of things by implication. (I tend to stress a lot over whether any of that is actually clear to readers. Ideally I’d like to be one of those authors who rewards close/repeat reading, but it’s also possible I’m just being way too opaque.)

A lot of my characters have bad relationships with their parents.

A lot of my characters have intense/complicated sexualities.

I use a lot of visceral imagery. I often talk about the body (and the breaking open of it) as a metaphor for emotional intimacy. (Hoo boy is this relevant for my current fic.) Blood isn’t just blood. It’s also feelings.

[mdhwrites]

Jumbled Thoughts: The Passive Character/The Passive Paradox

Oh no, I didn’t have anything to say last week! Oh, but it should be fine. I’m confident enough to not care. But maybe I’m just being nice and not saying anything. Which why should I do that!? It’s not like I can’t speak up for myself! Now might not be the best time though. Maybe next time? Oh, if only I had any consistency! Evil grin. Let’s talk, shall we?

So, for now, we won’t talk about the Paradox aspect of this. We need to first clarify what the archtype is, which in and of itself is paradoxical. After all, when you think about a passive character, people like Hinata or Fluttershy. Shy characters who are willing to listen and stay quiet and allow others to do things around them without input. They act, theoretically, passively. That’s the crux of the problem. Being shy is an archtype with being passive being a trait within that that is directly tied to their character because being shy often means being quiet.

A passive character is only this singular trait but in a macro sense. A passive character is not, in fact, a character, but a writing tool. The most common version I see is one that is CLOSE to a shy character. One who is kind and gentle enough that when they give into other’s demands it seems like it’s just part of that social awkwardness and fear. But then, they’ll be more than happy, even happy, to go to social events and large crowds because they think it’ll be fun, but only if other main characters want to join in. They’ll say things don’t bother them and that they’d rather avoid conflict but are ALWAYS ready for it and seem to be able to have their fight switch flipped at any second unless that day they’re feeling extra serene. They are happy, kind, caring, and completely likable.

But fuck you if you want to pin down an actual character in that mess. After all, what mask do you use? Do you use their happy, cheerful mask? Their shy, quiet mask? Their angry mask? And I call these masks because they’re face value. They aren’t character depth, like a shy girl’s anger (though that is a topic for another day because I am getting fucking tired of that trope), but instead just roles they slip into for when it’s convenient. They’re a plot device that can talk to. Without a properly defined character, the audience has a lot harder of a time ever saying they’re ‘out of character’ while they do anything that helps move the plot along or develops other characters.

But they do do things which is part of the paradox. How much their actions define their character rather than feeding off of, or benefiting, others is a lot of how to figure out what they’re like. These characters’ actions more often define either the situation or other characters. Need to have a character revelation? Include another main character while making it about one of those basic traits the audience knows about and you don’t need to do anything with the passive character to expand on this but instead a door opens for this other character. Need someone to make a heroic action that means nothing? Sure looks good for the passive character to do it if you can’t justify anyone else doing it. But the second that it would be better for them to stay quiet or step back, they do it without a second thought. They meld into the background, waiting for the next time they’re needed outside of maybe a token representative of their one interest so they aren’t literally just a part of the wallpaper.

And... you’ll like them for these things. That’s the bigger part of the Paradox. Passive characters are LIKABLE. Everything they do is meant to be inoffensive but also interesting enough that as a kickoff for other things, you at bare minimum don’t mind it. You don’t question it. That’s part of why these characters emulate shy characters so much. They can borrow all that relatable awkwardness with not having that infuriating problem of not acting when it is genuinely important because that would make them less likable and make them less useful. The fact that they’ll easily fit as a catalyst for other character’s growth that can’t be done through friends shouting at each other or tragedy will make you see them as a crucial element of the party and the good feelings you have towards that other main character rubs off on them for being so useful in helping define their character.

It’s also why this is a MACRO talk. In a micro sense, if done well, you wouldn’t notice this. If done poorly, they’ll slide into something less likable like a walking exposition dump or someone who exists purely to be kidnapped without a personality attached to them. However, what happens if you want to do a character piece on them? Do something that is focused on them? Where you actually have to define their character in order to have a story happen? Well... you can’t. Not without losing the tool.

This is also the best litmus test as a writer to double check if one of your characters is slipping into this. Of course, it’s actually better to have people outside of yourself do this because you may be able to figure out something because you have novels, seasons, etc. of development for them in your mind and just haven’t gotten that on the page. Well, what can someone who doesn’t have that do with them. And another caveat is that having them as just the main character isn’t enough. These stories should include other main characters as little as possible. Any interaction with other characters should purely reflect on the character in question’s personality and how they deal with things. If it’s a buddy episode where the angry person takes out the passive character and, oh, this time they simply pushed their friend too hard and so they learn that they should respect other people’s boundaries isn’t about the passive character, it’s about the angry one.

Which, for most people, won’t be hard. Archtypes exist and so long as they can identify some real part of them to one of those, you should be able to make a short story for them without contradiction. Your smart guy? Nuerotic breakdown as they overthink a problem and have comedic failures as their desperation grows larger and larger until at the end another character shows up and points out they forgot the most basic part of it and the smart character finishes their project. This other character doesn’t even need to be another main character but anyone who will let the smart character be reminded to start with the simple instead of assuming that their intelligence would never fail them in such a dumb way.

Angry character? An episode all about them going through the aggravations of normal life where we get to see them deal with situations they can’t just punch or scream at which ends with them showing why they’re so explosive with their friends because that’s there one real chance to let out all of those things that bother them and how much they trust the other characters to be understanding that that’s just who they are.

Shy character? A PROPERLY shy character? Send them to market. Flea market, farmer’s market, etc. and WITHOUT prompting from someone else. Have them notice that they need or want something and thus have to go out. Then we get a chance to see how this character who is normally so afraid and seems like they’d have a panic attack the second they left their house alone functions from day to day. But don’t have them just talk to people. What tricks do they have to get transactions over with as fast as possible? How do they avoid the really big crowds? What calming techniques do they have for when they are stranded and in over their heads? How as a person do they function?

Meanwhile, the passive character goes to market, goes to the stall they want, pays for the item they want, and then leaves. They roll their eyes at everyday nuisances like some normal person and gets to where they’re going without a problem because it’s not important enough to act upon, either to themselves or the plot. They also don’t obsess enough to miss little things, or get truly upset at failure. You can theoretically try to get a passive character into any of those three situations, as they’re usually knowledgeable enough to be able to help the smart character in the group but not so smart as to not be explained at too, but because they aren’t defined enough in any of these things being so crucial to them that they won’t fit without someone else pushing them hard enough to make them act. Without that outside catalyst, you will actually manage to make them feel either out of character or redundant because you could have done the concept better with someone who is actually that sort of character.

And as a quick note: These examples I gave would of course be commonly overblown and exaggerated but they have a basis in real world issues and questions that actual people with these traits have to face. How do you handle errands when being around others gives you anxiety? When you have anger issues, how do you deal with it and how do you release it? When you think you know everything, how could you forget to make sure your computer was plugged in? These are relatable issues that will ring especially hard with people like them, even if taken to an extreme.

So, the end takeaway? Don’t fear using archtypes and make sure you give characters definition. Don’t make characters who serve only other characters. I know these are basic things that feel like they shouldn’t need to be mentioned but, well, did you make sure your computer is turned on?

-

Anyways, what do you think of the concept? Think I’m blowing up to something that isn’t a real problem? And what passive characters can you think of? I didn’t use an example this time because it felt like too much like simply a character dissection but the one who brought this to my attention was Willow Park of The Owl House, who has an episode literally titled “Understanding Willow” where we learn nothing truly new about them and it only really serves to help another character’s development and redemption arc. I am not even kidding. But, until next time, I hope you all have a wonderful day and farewell.

[maverick-guy]

How Awareness Strikes the Human Being

Awareness is a state of being mindful. It is the consciousness of ongoing and past events. It comprehends the ease and struggle of people and society. The status quo perceives awareness as a movement, rather more of an inclination to humanity. 

Awareness is customary nowadays. 

Due to the complexity of stuff happening on micro and macro levels, awareness is there to save us. It explains the benefits and drawbacks of each situation. Possessing judgment is a gift we all exercise, so it is safe to say that everyone is aware. 

Such awareness stimulates how profound incidents are, how things come into action, and understanding one’s personality.  

Self-awareness

As I’ve always mentioned to those dear to me, I would always argue over what decisions to make and choices to alter – from choosing what side of me should I expose to the public to developing my inner self. The mixture of my pettiness and goodness has contributed to the young man I am today: more sensible, active, and reflective. What I’ve learned from the past years is that the step to understanding other people is firstly understanding yourself. Herewith, you can recognize how people see you in return.

With that said, gone are the days of apathy and indifference.

Let me ask you a series of questions: have you been questioning yourself by your understanding of stuff, your traits, beliefs, thoughts, and feelings? Are you conscious enough to discern your likes and dislikes? Do you know what is and what is not best for you? And, is self-awareness fully achievable?

Well, with the progression of time, our surroundings and perspectives change. Even our beliefs and identities change. One’s comprehension develops. All of these aspects yields awareness. It displays complexity, but it solidifies the thinking of the human person. It exhibits the totality of humanity.

Embracing diversity

George Orwell had mentioned that happiness can only exist in acceptance, and I agree with that. When you embrace yourself and accept every bit of your flaws, it may result in a breakthrough. But is it that easy to accept oneself? I bet most of us still struggle with accepting ourselves due to society's standards.

Let us look into the concept of diversity. We are all made differently, but our fate is destined equally. No matter what your social status, race, or educational background may be, the fact that we are equally challenged means we deal with life events in our own manner.

The mere thought that the world we live in enforces and sets specific standards for us to conform sounds contradicting, especially when it is something unacceptable due to sheer subjectivity but harmless. In fact, it is us, occupants of this world we live in, constructing and expressing such preferences and ideals.

Conformity stimulates social norms and may veer away from risky and offensive acts, but it is not a fundamental step to identify yourself. It may help you with your life decisions, but conforming to societal standards to fit in and look acceptable won't guarantee growth and personal development. You don’t have to live by the rules of others. As we are given the free will to think for ourselves, let's not alienate people's right to think and decide for themselves. We must remind ourselves to acknowledge individuality and let people think what's best for them and comforts them – unless if it's something detrimental to society; that's another story to tell.

It is then important to note that we have to be aware of our motives and actions whilst embracing diversity because our varying degrees of sensitivity and openness might harm others.

Now that I've tackled one's liberty to think for themselves, is it safe to claim that you are self-aware? Your parents and teachers might have told you when you were young that awareness is extensive; you can attain success with it. But what is awareness teaching us? Would it change our value systems, change our viewpoints, and actually accomplish our ambitions? Does it provide a great support system?

Is privilege a requirement to improve awareness?

With many events happening in local and international affairs, there might be something lacking before we respond and take action – and that is understanding what is happening in our surroundings.

Self-awareness is political in itself. When awareness starts within the self, you are starting to acknowledge the problems and struggles of society. As I’ve mentioned earlier, the first step in understanding other people is to understand yourself. But in our political situation right now, awareness itself is still insufficient. Because people who are conscious of their privilege have an added responsibility: to interrogate. Yes, interrogation must be active to combat the cruel and oppressive system that establishes the disparity between people and classes.

So, it may be more maddening for those who admit to being conscious of systemic oppression (that is in condition with their privilege), but instead of humbling themselves or educating people, they brag on how much aware they are and wear it as a decoration that spells out: I am better than you.

I am still not sure if privilege is something to be proud of, as privilege is a product of commercialism, but it has its advantages too. Privileged people have the power to educate and maximize their platform for thought-provoking discourses and reflect humanity.

To be clear, this is not a personal attack, because I do not have the plan to measure the merits of privileged individuals. But this is the root of self-awareness – checking your privilege and being sensitive of those around you, more or less cognizant than of you are.

Regardless if you are well-off or not, you can still improve your awareness. Within your volition, you evaluate yourself and think of your capacity on how persuasive you could be to share your knowledge on the right platform, and be alert to your habits. Awareness isn’t only for your own benefit, so you must also ask yourself: is this for the common good?

It’s being mindful that counts.

Now, what is the most important factor to enforce awareness? Is it knowledge? Power? Money? Privilege? Connections? No. 

It’s involvement with empathy.

To begin with, you might want to start small to attain the big to take action and involve yourself with the causes you are passionate about. This is one of the instances you will stumble upon. It takes a huge step to engage yourself in movements against a system that you are dissatisfied with, hence, promoting development.

It is necessary to utilize the resources you have by taking notice of situations and, if possible, help alleviate an infuriating situation. Little by little, this will help you understand people's dilemmas and contribute to public knowledge for raising awareness. If you have your own community, you might want to start and connect with them. This is an opportunity to grow and make significant changes because these small steps can make the world a better place. We, human beings, are agents of change – we can see the light from each other and appreciate our motives in improving our mentality and attitude for a purpose.

Being rich in knowledge and impressive credentials does not matter – it’s your good intention that counts. You are mindful enough if you pay attention to present circumstances, as well as to your feelings and thoughts.

So that’s how involvement with empathy could go a long way, ergo improving one’s awareness.

[kaylewiswrites]

It’s Not Working: Macro Pacing Troubleshooting

Pacing...kind of sucks, if I’m being honest. It’s one of those things that’s hard to quantify into ‘rules’. It’s more something you just feel. But we’ll do our best to break down some common problems that might be troubling you with pacing. 

Macro vs Micro

There’s two types of pacing: the pacing of your story overall (macro) and the pacing of each individual scene or exchange (micro). We’re focusing on the macro today, the way each scene interacts with each other to keep the story moving in a steady and satisfying way. Read through your outline or glance through your chapters to answer some key questions to figure out if your pacing needs some troubleshooting. 

Define your Scenes

What tone or pace does each scene have? Assign each scene a label. I like to use quiet (characters talking about their feelings, having personal, emotional moments) and loud (everyone is running for their lives), but use whatever works for you and your story! Fast, slow, angsty, energetic, anxious, optimistic, etc. But try to differentiate at least two distinct tones your scenes come in. 

What is each scene contributing? Generally, a scene should either develop the plot, subplot, character, or world building. Assuming all of your scenes do, label each one with what they contribute. 

Analyze 

Ratios - Now, I’m not saying there should be a fifty-fifty split between ‘fast’ and ‘slow’, or whatever quantifiers you chose-in fact, depending on your genre, that would actually be a bad thing. But there should be breaks between your fast paced scenes, for readers to catch their breath and absorb all the amazing things they just read. And there should be some moments of high tension in even the slowest slice of life novels, to keep the readers engaged. Do you have the right ratio for the story you want to tell? Action/adventure, murder mystery, fantasy, and dystopian, are all examples where, generally, you’ll find more fast paced scenes. Romance, historical drama, and literary fiction usually have more slower scenes. Figure out what works for you! 

Sequence - Look at your labels in scene order. Do you have three chapters in a row where the characters sit around the campfire and talk about their feelings, even though readers were promised a fast paced adventure novel? Then you are me, or you’re plagiarizing my last draft. Doing this exercise can help you notice long stretches where you’re either not spicing up the tone of the scenes, or the type of information the reader is getting. Four scenes in a row that set up exposition is no fun for readers. Likewise, not every chapter can be a big character driven moment. Make sure your scenes are artfully diverse, like a good bag of trail mix. 

Too fast, or too slow? 

Doing the above exercises might have helped you notice that your overall plot moves too fast or too slow. But if you’re an admitted overwrite or underwriter, you might already be fully aware of this issue. Let’s break it down. 

Moving too fast? - Everything in the plot is happening bang bang bang, one after another. All of your scenes are fast paced. The plot develops with every sentence written. The readers barely noticed reading it because the plot threw them over its shoulder and sprinted to the finish line. Let’s talk solutions

Make sure your protagonist is challenged. Nothing slows ‘em down like getting stuck on a problem, or needing to find a creative solution. Let them be muddled for a bit. 

Let your protagonists fail. You know what stops your hero from defeated the big bad in the third chapter? If they lose, horrifically. 

Introduce a sideplot. Or two, or even three if you can handle it. Romance is a common one, but it can be anything from a side character desperately trying to put together pieces of an ultimate sandwich through the mission, or trying to get a job while the main plot is on the romance. 

Set up more character moments. Let your characters talk to each other. How they feel about whats going on, or who they are as people, or what happened in their past. Readers love this, just make sure it doesn’t happen too much too often. 

Story Dragging? - It feels like it’s stuck in molasses. Every chapter is only a tiny step closer to the finish line. No one knows where the plot went. Let’s talk solutions. 

Kill your darlings. Do all of your slow, talking scenes really need to be there? Is there any way to combine them into fewer, or can some just be deleted entirely? Same goes for subplots, side characters, and other ‘quiet’ scenes. These weigh your story down and muddle the plot. 

Streamline the plot. How many tasks does the hero have to complete? How many times does the hero have to return to the bookstore before he sees the love of his life there again? Do we really have to go all the way up the most dangerous mountain in this fantasy world to get the sword blessed so the evil can finally be defeated? Take out any unnecessary obstacles between your protagonists and their goals. Let the plot run for a bit. 

Lessen up on the details. Not every strand of hair needs to be described, or every blade of grass. You’re a good writer. You can paint a scene in sweeping terms, instead of microscopic brushes. 

Blow something up. Ok, it doesn’t need to be an explosion, but let something unexpected and exciting happen in your story to spice it up. 

Other Tips

Beta Readers - Ask beta readers directly about the pacing. If they’re not experienced with how to put their thoughts on pacing into words, ask where they thought the story dragged, or when they couldn’t keep up with the plot. Those will usually help point you to your problem spots. 

Pay attention when you read - When you read stories of your genre, pay special attention to the places you get bored or lost, and the places you somehow didn’t noticed you just spent three hours reading because you were so immersed. Figure out what works for you as a reader, to take with you as a writer. 

Make your pace intentional - Remember what we talked about with genre earlier? Make sure you know which way you want your pace to be leaning. What would best serve the story your telling? If you know in advance, you can make sure your plot is loaded with the right toned scenes before even writing them. 

This is only the briefest glimpse into the issue of pacing. It’s a nuanced and difficult topic, but I hope this has helped! Check out the tag It’s Not Working: Troubleshooting for Writers to find other topics, or send any questions. Good luck!

[movemequotes]

When deciding what goals you want to set out to achieve and how you want to utilize your life energy, pay close attention, not only to the macro-vision that represents the ultimate manifestation of achieving your goal(s), but the micro-vision of how you’re going to spend your moments getting there.  In fact, I urge you to pay closer attention to the moments on your journey and how they make you feel than the visions in your head of what your life could look like at some point, one day, down the line.

Every moment that you embrace fully with complete awareness and vigor, is a moment of your life realized and fulfilled.  Every moment that you spend in your head cycling through past memories and future aspirations, or doing something that you hate, or passively consuming media, is a moment gambled away with an unknown return.

Is reflecting on the past important?  Yes.  But once the lesson is learned, then it’s time to move forward—enough replaying.  Is it important to plan for the future?  Yes.  But once a plan is set forth that represents an end and a means that is acceptable, enjoyable, and in alignment with your being, then it’s time to re-focus on the present moment—enough replanning.  Do we have to sometimes make sacrifices today to have a better tomorrow?  Of course.  But make sure that those sacrifices aren’t making you unnecessarily miserable and leaving you completely unaligned with your present moment.

Because what is our life but a series of moments?  How can we live our best life if we’re never mentally present in what could be our best moments?  How can we lead a happy, fulfilled, and meaningful life if our moments are miserable, unfulfilling, and merely means to an abstract end?  If I have learned anything from Eckhart Tolle, it’s that our present moment is the only guaranteed moment of our life.  And if you want to gamble it away, then that’s your choice to make.  But our moments are limited.  And while it may feel like we have plenty, we don’t.  I’ll take the guarantee over the gamble any day of the week.

[xuanxinpeng999-blog]

Covid vs. the hockey community

Let's talk about the impact of the epidemic on athletes'careers from a macro perspective. The first is the suspension, which is a huge blow to athletes whose careers are already short, such as gymnasts and competitive sports. Then there are the effects on heart and lung function. It now appears that the new coronavirus's damage to the lungs should be irreversible. Some people end up with a career that is very damaging, while others take a while to recover and then return to competitive form.

And from a micro point of view, that's what we talked about in this panel discussion. As a national sport, hockey is very popular in Canada. So during the pandemic, hockey had to be stopped, and travel was restricted.

Bessonov  (2020) reported that even hockey players can not successfully block the spread of the virus by wearing masks according to experts. It is also well known that hockey is a very competitive sport, and if heavy masks are worn to prevent the spread of disease, they can cause some breathing difficulties for the players. So through our group discussions we felt that the impact on the sports community as a whole would be extremely significant if the sport were to continue. So we think it's better for athletes to stay at home during this pandemic.

Then there are my personal views on this matter. As far as China is concerned, the main market of the sports industry is competitive performances, but the Chinese Super League, CBA, women's football and other events affected by the epidemic have all been delayed or relocated to other countries. So the fans can't watch the game, and the market doesn't make any money. There are also offline training gym, Club Training Institutions also stopped, affecting the normal operation and consumption. The sports equipment is also losing money. It is also highly unlikely that such an arrangement would be replicated in Canada, assuming that the risk to athletes would be greater if stadiums were moved to the United States.

So I think if hockey players have to take part in training, then they'd better pay attention to their contact with others in their daily life. First of all, they should take precautions against themselves. It is necessary to wear a mask when going out. Then, if conditions do not permit, the players can not get to the training ground smoothly, then they can create their own training ground, such as doing some daily physical training in their own backyard, at the very least, this will keep your body in good shape and get you ready to get back in the game.

All in all, I think the outbreak is not only a huge impact on the sports industry but also a test for all kinds of industries, making online work bigger than offline work, but it now appears that Canada's economic development may be somewhat hampered. In terms of government subsidies to the unemployed during the epidemic, it is likely that this will have a huge impact on tax rate increases in the second half of the year, but I believe that this battle will not only bring people "disaster" , but also bring people to think about how to reform and innovate the sports industry in the future, such as the development of online industry, the development of broadcasting platform. At the same time, we should also think about our consumption, to live within our means, refuse to advance consumption, borrowing consumption, to have their own cash reserves.

Reference：Bessonov, A. (2020). Is it safe to play hockey? Your COVID-19 questions answered. CBC News. Retrieved from https://www.cbc.ca/news/health/hockey-covid-questions-answered-1.5632890 

[betterglobebettergreatness]

Great Leaders Pay Attention

You're a leader. And now, you want to move from good to great! What's it going to take?

You've read, even studied the inner workings of emotional intelligence. You're bringing it to light more and more in your daily routine. Now what's all this about Focus?

What does Emotional Intelligence have to do with Focus? And why should you care?

Because you can't reach your potential as a leader without it! Period!

The guru of emotional intelligence has written succinctly on both. There is a practical, meaningful link that will impact your leadership - whatever your style, wherever you are geographically and regardless of the type of organization you lead.

How has he answered the question about the connection between EQ (emotional intelligence) and Focus?

According to Goldman, emotional intelligence requires self-awareness-awareness of our own minds and emotions-as well as empathy, both of which can be cultivated by honing our skills of attention.

"When I set out to write this book, I knew I was going to explore the explosion of new important research about attention," says Goldman. "But what I didn't realize was that it was going to lead me back to emotional intelligence."

Paying attention is critical. Goldman talks about focus on inner, other and outer.

Daniel Goldman: The fundamental thing to understand about inner focus is that we can be aware of our own awareness. There is such a thing as meta-awareness, meta-cognition, meta-emotion-the perspective we can take that allows us to monitor our inner world rather than just be swept away by it. That, in turn, gives us a point of leverage for handling that inner world better-without it, we're lost.

For example, in Emotional Intelligence I looked at distressing emotions, which are generated by the brain's amygdala and emotional threat. In order to manage the amygdala hijack, you have to be aware that it's happening. Meta-awareness becomes the fulcrum from which you can handle emotions, handle your inner world, handle the thoughts which generate upsetting emotions or which help you, in a positive way, manage them for the better.

Great leaders pay attention - to people, strategy, arising situations. AND THEIR INNER WORLD. And they do so with focus.

So what about other focus?

Does that mean they don't attach to the technological tools that often distract the rest of us? A resounding NO! is the answer. Great leaders are more strategic about their use of tools and time.

Goldman says that we are all "under siege" so concentrating on Focus is particularly timely now.

And leaders lead other people - often in challenging situations.

He says:... "being able to focus on the other person rather than the text you just received has become the new fundamental requirement for having a relationship with that person. And I think this is another reason to develop a meta-awareness about where our attention has gone. I think we need to make more effort and cultivate more strength to detach [our attention] from that thing that is so tempting over there, and bring it back to the person in front of us."

Finally, the third kind of focus - is systems focus. Again Goldman says, "This is more elusive. We have dedicated [brain] circuitry for self-management, self-awareness. We have dedicated circuitry for empathy. The brain doesn't have the equivalent of that dedicated circuitry for sensing, for instance, the ways in which humans systems of construction, energy, transportation, industry, and commerce are inexorably deteriorating global systems that support life. It's too macro or too micro for sensory systems in the first place."

We literally don't perceive global warming directly in the way we see a person's wince or wink, and register that immediately. We don't have an alarm system for that like the way we hear a growl-a growl alerts the amygdala and springs the stress hormones into action. But when it comes to global warming, actually, the brain shrugs. It's something we have to learn about and learn to care about and learn to detect indirectly, so it's a bigger stretch. We care about the present far more than the distant future, which is invisible-we don't notice it.

The neuroscience behind this?

For example, meditation is, from a cognitive science point of view, the retraining of attention-a bulking up of the neural circuitry that allows you to detach from where your mind has wandered, bring it back to the point of focus, and keep it there. That is the basic repetition of the mind in any kind of meditation. And that's also what builds up the willpower to resist the pull of electronics and stay with the human world.

And meditation comes in many flavors. As a leader, you can choose anything from breathing exercises to martial arts, yoga to mindfulness practice, Ongoing to observing a candle flame and everything in between.

Again, Goldman - "From a neuroscience point of view, I think the standard way this has been approached is exactly the wrong way to get people to care and act about global warming. Mainly they either threaten us with destruction or guilt trip us. That activates centers in the brain for negativity, for distressing emotions. And when we feel distressing emotions, the brain wants us to turn them off-either tune them out or do one little thing [to make us feel better]. And I think that's one of the main reasons why the environmental movement has had such a poor record of getting the general public to do much about the environmental crisis."

There is a more clever way of getting people involved: Rather than looking at footprints, which is all the bad that we're doing, look at hand prints, which is the sum total of all the good things we do to lower our footprint.

This is the brainchild of Gregory Norris, who is at the Harvard School of Public Health. The hand print approach means that you get points for every time you ride your bike to work or walk instead of ride, when you recycle, when you print on both sides of the paper, when you don't print at all. All of those things that help can be counted, and the idea is to grow your hand print rather than your footprint. That is a goal we can work toward in small baby steps that are manageable and that we can feel good about. And that motivates the parts of the brain which keep us working toward our goals.

So great leaders need to MOTIVATE their peeps and do it in a way that leads their teams to care about, think about and work on systems ( the invisible future) in the ways they care about the more immediate emotional and situational events arising now.

And while there is growing concern about young people's ability to focus, Goldman is encouraging. He covers in the book, that focus is to a certain extent under our control-that it's a skill we can build.

Goldman:... "we do have to work at building it. And for that reason I really advocate an intention-strengthening exercise as a kind of mental fitness that we practice daily, just as you might jog."

Goldman, the former New York Times science journalist turned best-selling author, is perhaps still best known for his 1995 book Emotional Intelligence, which was followed by Social Intelligence more than a decade later. Like those earlier works, Focus synthesizes findings from years of research across the social, behavioral, and cognitive sciences-in this case, on the roots and importance of our attention skills.

So as a leader on the road to greatness, begin practicing focus - the art and science of paying attention. Like all practice, it requires a strong intention, and the self-compassion to overcome the inevitable hurdles that arise. Yet, paying attention pays off - big time. So what's it going to be? Choose a practice and get an accountability partner on your side. Hire a coach, join a Mastermind Group, but do something because its clear, great leaders pay attention!

[bohemianblackbrainiac-blog]

#Motivation Mondays

In life there are many reasons to quit or feel defeated. Sometimes the overwhelming pressure of pursuing perfection causes people to become worse than they would otherwise be if they just decided to be mediocre. However, recently I’ve begun to contemplate the idea of imperfection as a strength. If life was perfect it would be boring, there would be no adventure or passion. Everything would be bland because there would be nothing to challenge us. This year I set many goals for myself. I reached a lot of them but have failed miserably at the others.

One of my goals was to keep an active blog. With this post being my fourth blog entry of 2019 I realized it was a goal I wasn’t properly prepared to meet. I also set a goal of reading 100 books this year. I think I’ve made it to about 12. Now my goal is to get to 30 books read by the end of the year and 54 in 2020. All this is to say that often times people (speaking of myself here) set goals that they are not ready or unprepared to meet. That being said I don’t believe that setting smaller goals is the answer but that we must all face our ego and question why we do things. Maybe our ego wants more than it’s willing to work for. I believe one of the great challenges of life is mastering the ego and taming your fears so that you are not a slave to inaction, indecisiveness, and mediocrity. 

I say all this to say my new challenge to myself is to make one blog post a week. Although I am a musician and educator by trade I realize my connection to these vocations is based on a shared believe that art and education have the capacity to change one's life for the better. So I’m starting this series called motivation Monday’s which I already know is a popular hashtag (algorithm points!!!) so maybe people will pay attention. In these posts I’ll share what I’m learning, researching, and consuming in hopes to motivate myself and others to be excited for the day, the week, and life in general. So if you don’t like reading I’ll share the mantra that I’m setting for the week and you can take it or leave it. I hope it helps and I thank you for joining me on this journey of personal growth and self discovery. 

Monday Mantra: My greatest gift to the universe is to know myself completely and to live every moment as the actualization of my highest self. 

I’ve been resonating with this concept recently as I reflect on opportunities I’ve lost as well as my great successes in life. Most of my perceived failures in life fame when I chose to ignore that little voice in my head/gut and try to act strictly from a place of logical analysis. Of course there’s nothing wrong with logic but from a spiritual perspective I believe logic is all that is contained within the understanding of our human capabilities. Whereas intuition draws on a force that is higher (astral) than our physical bodies or mental processing. In short every truly amazing experience that has happened in my life came from acting on instinct and intuition even when the decisions I made seemed to be the most uncertain. I believe the barrier between the life we dream of and want and the life we have is the relationship we have with our ego. 

In Eric Berne’s seminal work “The Games People Play” he speaks of a concept of three ego states: the Parent, Adult, and Child. He proposes that most social interactions are conducted with people operating from one of these three ego states. The subtle influence of our parents rules and regulations or patterns of being, the vulnerabilities of our inner child, and the rationalization of our adult mind all play a part in our sense of self. While I do believe this to be true, I also believe that each person is made up of the same energy that forms the celestial bodies and that our souls and spirits operate in communion with the universe. That at a macro and micro level we are all interconnected and that when you connect to your essence, soul, life force, God, divine purpose, etc you can move in harmony with the universe instead of against it. So I offer this mantra as a reminder to myself that the life that I desire and the person I desire to be already exist. My job is to walk down the path of inner discovery so that everyday I show up as my highest self. This is the only way I’ll have something worthwhile to contribute to myself, my family, my community, the world, and to the universe. 

“Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us.”

-Marianne Deborah Williamson

P.S. watch this Black Thought Speech that inspired this blog post:

https://youtu.be/8-INR986rZU