#also if anyone asks . its on yt and you can find it on their site i didnt pay for it its free i promise

[walking-circles]

genuinely in tears trying to listen to this

[b1adie]

ADRIENE ANGELVIRUS xxiv × mirror pronouns × aro lesbo

… or just adriene, or adri…

this is a sideblog, main is a secret ^_^

uid: 604304306 (north america)

SOME RULES;

please don’t send me fetish content, especially if you are on anon, a minor, or have no age listed. tbh don’t send me any nsfw unless you’re an adult and i’ve asked

i would appreciate if you could avoid tagging my posts with anything like ‘daddy/mommy’ even in a joking way, unless you are using it only as a parental term. keep in mind that i’m a real guy and have to see all of your tags…

don’t comment sinophobic stuff on my posts (ie. “they’ll never make a gay relationship canon because its a chinese game” etc). don’t do any bigoted stuff really but thats the one i’ve mainly seen

if you want to repost some of my stuff, if it’s just a text post edited onto a pic, credit isn’t required (but still appreciated)! if it’s anything more complex, please do credit me, preferably with a link back to the original post. i spend way longer on my silly little edits than you’d expect.

you’re welcome to dm me, but please keep in mind that we start off as strangers, so something you think is funny could be misconstrued as rude or confusing on my end. tone indicators are absolutely fine to use if you’d like. conversely, feel free to ask me for clarification on anything you need, i don’t mind! i know i can be hard to read sometimes.

i’d also prefer you have an age (or at least age range or indicator like minor, 20+, etc) listed if you dm me, but obviously you don’t need to tell anyone anything. that’s just for my own personal comfort. i’m fine being friends with anyone, but a friendship with a high schooler would look a lot different than a friendship with someone around my own age.

if you make/find any art or content about worm theory you have to show it to me asap

FAQ;

(something about genshin impact or wuthering waves or zenless zone zero)

please send that to my genshin blog or my wuthering waves blog OR my zenless zone zero blog instead! (@nabumalikata + @threnodian + @nicoledemaras)

(any lore question)

if i know it i’ll go find the source for you. if i don’t know, you can ask anyway and there’s a good chance i’ll go hunt down some answers for you. i love lore. i know everything

how do you make your (edits/gifs/etc)?

for silly edits usually just picsart, but procreate for the more intense ones. gifs i use a yt downloader site, then capcut to edit, then ezgif. videos either splice or capcut. glitters i made a tutorial here, but like, my method is really complicated since i’m always on my phone, so there’s probably an easier way if you have a pc…

can you make a gif/edit/glitter of this?

probably! be specific with what you want— send me pictures or direct links if you can. requests are always open, just keep in mind i may not do every single one i get (but i do tend to do them all eventually).

why didn’t you answer my ask yet?

sometimes i see an ask pop up in my activity feed so i answer it right away. otherwise it has to wait til i decide to open my inbox. if it’s an ask that requires some time, like asking about lore or builds or opinions, it’ll probably take me longer to get to. i’m a busy guy, i work 13 hour shifts irl and have chronic hand tendonitis which makes typing hard. ofc if you’re worried tumblr ate your ask, you’re fine to send another, just please don’t be rude or pushy about it, i promise i’ll get around to it ^^;

(worm theory) actually the noblesse worm died because it had so much knowledge so ratio cant be—

he’s a new worm. aha’s second worm. and, the first worm didnt die because it had too much knowledge, it died because aha took its power away.

do you ship (xyz) / how do you feel about (ship)?

probably sure + fine. i can pretty much get behind anything, i’m a multishipper, fine with poly and switching and whatever. the exceptions are child x adult and shipping family members in a romantic or sexual way. 👎.

this thing you said was incorrect!

woops! it happens. bring a source if you’re gonna correct me though— not cuz i don’t believe you, but because i love being right and need to be right next time. if this is about a theory, though, well… sometimes theories dont turn out right. its not MY fault hsr wasn’t cool enough to make Something Unto Death the corrupted remnant of Mikhail’s soul. whatever… my theory is just better than canon

you tagged a post with (character) but they’re not in it!

ah man. i mass tagged everything and am gradually going back and fixing it… send me a link to the post and i’ll edit it!

i’ll add more as i think of it…

[thequeenofsastiel]

Leofiat in TharnType Season 2

Writing this for @virtueofthemind but making it its own post for anyone who's a fan of leofiat but doesn't want to have to watch season two of TharnType.

They first interact in ep 3. The context is that Fiat injured his knee and has been a total brat about it, taking out his temper on everyone around him. Type is his doctor, and gives off Dom energy, so Fiat starts to have a crush. Everyone in Fiat's life mentions Leo with hushed tones, saying that he's the only one who can control Fiat. The timestamps for their interactions in ep 3, from the version on Viki, are:

40:31-43:17

46:07-49:54<<<One of the most important and my favorite scene between them. Establishes their D/s dynamic

Episode 4

4:26-8:55

16:18-18:45 This one includes Type, it's worth watching to see how jealous Leo gets when meeting him

19:35-21:52

44:34-46:10

Episode 5

17:03-21:28

Episode 6

33:47-43:04

46:53-50:10

Episode 7

5:50-6:57

Episode 8

26:22-32:54

Episode 9-Context, Tharn and Type are fighting, Fiat and Type go to a bar to get a drink, Fiat starts to try sexually assaulting Type

3:45-7:42

11:22-16:12

44:25-45:26

Episode 10-Context, Fiat kisses Type without asking, Tharn sees and throws a huge fit, then afterwards while they're taking time apart, one of Type's friends tells him about Leo and how they're clearly more than friends even if they don't realize it.

19:04-20:50

Okay, so, after this is when the bullshit starts. Spoilers below

The scene is 20:56-23:15. This is how the bullshit starts. Type confronts Leo, says he knows how Leo feels, and that they should join forces to get Fiat to leave Type alone. What they do is very, very stupid.

Starting at 35:20, they have one of the friends, a Daddy Dom, start to emotionally seduce Fiat while Fiat is crying in a bar about Leo and Type. Then they kidnap Fiat, take him to Leo's home and tie him up, and Type terrorizes Fiat and threatens to break his knee if Fiat won't leave him alone while Leo watches. It lasts until 44:08. It's not fun to watch.

Then, at 46:30, Leo comes into the room and says it never would have happened if Fiat realized that Leo loved him. It's very stupid. There's a love confession, and apparently I'm still salty about this. It's not really necessary to watch it, I've given you what matters. It lasts until 51:33.

Now, here's the thing. There's an Episode 0 on the MeMindY Official YT channel that includes some, but not all of the scenes up until now. I don't recommend watching instead of watching their Tharntype scenes because they don't include important scenes and change the music in a way I think doesn't work as well. But in Episode 0 there's a part that doesn't happen in TTS2. It starts at 44:00 and goes to 46:42. Then they make out and it's censored which is hella frustrating. I'm having a hard time finding the uncensored version on a legal site, so I'm afraid you'll have to look for it yourself. Still, here's the yt version:

There's also a part from 48:28-53:40 that you can watch. The rest of it happens in DSN.

Now, back to TTS2

Episode 11

17:36-19:44

20:53-27:25 This part is Fiat apologizing to Tharn for what he did. It's a moving scene, but it does involve Tharn, if that bothers anyone

Episode 12

7:53-11:11

And that's their last scene together in TTS2! They have a tiny scene in the special episode that's just a commercial lol, so it's probably not worth finding.

Hope this helped!

[concerningwolves]

Sorry about being vague last night. I was asking about sign language. I don't know sign language and I didn't want a bad source when I describe movements. I get anxious if I just look up sources online about disabilities, so I try to ask people with said disability for their sources.

That’s okay! I’ve just looked at your reblog, and I get where you’re coming from now.  I totally get that searching online is overwhelming – especially if you can’t verify the source, and don’t know enough to make a critical judgement about it yourself – so I’ve taken this as an opportunity to put together a masterpost. (Which I’ve admittedly been meaning to do for like, half a year? a long time, anyway. oops 😅)

Sign Language-Related Resources

For describing sign language and understanding the culture that surrounds it, and knowing how to put this into your writing, this masterpost includes resources that cover as many sign languages as I could find. The source material ranges from YouTube videos to online dictionaries; non-fiction books on the subject to novels that I thought did a great job of representing sign language; and other stuff in between that I think might be helpful.  

  Last updated: 23.06.2020

To start with, I’m going to direct you to some resources that I’ve made myself, all right here on Tumblr: 

#sign language tag

#deaf characters tag 

Sign Language F.A.Q 

Those tags have a lot of links, infographics and posts that I’ve collected over the three years I’ve been here; the F.A.Q addresses some common questions I’ve received. 

DEAF YOUTUBERS 

Jessica Kellgren-Fozard | BSL / SSE | English – I recc her videos a lot, but that’s because her YT account really is a goldmine of resources. Whether you want to know about deafness, chronic illness, vintage fashion, disability-related issues, queer history or makeup (or more!), she has you covered. Some playlists/videos you might find helpful are: 

Sign Language Tutorials (playlist) – what it says on the tin. A playlist full of tutorials on sign language. They’ll help you get a basic understanding of BSL (British Sign Language) and SSE (Sign Supported English), if you’re interested. 

My Sign Language Story (video) – Talks about her own experience with sign language, deafness, and the importance of making sign language more widely known. Worth watching just to give you a good idea of what sign language (in this case, Sign Supported English) looks like in conjunction with speech. Note how the signs are incorporated into her body language. 

Nyle DiMarco | ASL | American – Haven’t watched his videos (only a few for the purposes of this ask), but he’s a prominent Deaf activist and model with a really extensive selection of videos on American Sign Language and Deaf culture (American-centric). 

Representation Matters: Why Deaf Actors Should Play Deaf Characters (video) – DiMarco explains why it’s important for deaf actors to play deaf characters. This may seem irrelevant in light of what you’re asking, but I think this video has a lot of value because it shows you the nuances of sign language and the importance of considering ASL culture when speaking/writing about sign language. 

[TEDx] Making Education Accessible to Deaf Children – Again, great to watch to see how ASL looks in action. As with Jessica’s My Sign Language Story video, note how the sign language and body language intersect. (And also a very valuable and educational video in its own right; it gives you a look at what the Deaf community is like around the world and the difficulties faced in language acquisition for young deaf people). 

Dr. Bill Vicars | ASL | American – His YouTube is dedicated to self-study and providing free ASL resources for interpreters, students, parents of deaf children, and anyone else who wants a reliable way to learn ASL without the cost. 

MISC. YOUTUBE VIDEOS

Maltesers | Theo’s Dog – Maltesers advert featuring a funny conversation in BSL between two friends. The whole lighter side of life series of adverts brings me a lot of joy whenever they’re on. Note how there aren’t exact closed captions for everything they say – at the end, the one in the flowery shirt asks “how?” and the other just motions. That’s the sort of dialogue that would seep out into the body language descriptions when you’re writing signed dialogue.

ASL Conversation – How ASL looks in a casual conversation (i.e., when the speaker isn’t addressing an audience or talking with a preformative aspect. Just two people having a good old natter). 

BSL Dinner chat – A deaf toddler (two years old) chats with her mum over dinner. Again, this is an example of spontaneous chatter, but it also shows you the differences in how children sign vs adults 

BSL Imaginary Play – from the same people as the last video, two years on. Note how the sign language works in a group conversation. 

WEBSITES & DICTIONARIES 

BSL Zone – a brilliant site from the British Sign Language Broadcasting Trust. Here you’ll find TV series and documentaries commissioned specifically for a Deaf/BSL-speaking audience. 

signbsl.com – a free dictionary of British Sign Language 

Handspeak.com – free dictionary of American Sign Language 

Spread the Sign – an international online dictionary for sign languages around the world 

BOOK RECS: FICTION 

The Shape of Water by Daniel Kraus and Guillermo del Toro – The MC, Elisa, is mute, but this book is an excellent example of how you can write sign language in a way that differentiates it from verbal speech without othering. 

The Quality of Silence by Rosamund Lupton –  A great book, told from the POV of a deaf child and her mother. Another one in which I loved the way sign language was written. 

BOOK RECS: NON-FICTION 

British Sign Language: Teach Yourself by Paul Redfern and Deafworks – this is the book I’m using to (very slowly) regain my fluency in BSL! 

If you found this helpful and want to support what I do here, you can LEAVE A TIP (Ko-Fi), or check out MY PATREON for more of my content. 

[spacegirl-daydreams]

I searched for a YouTube DJ for years and when I found him 9 years had gone by. This is the story.

If you’re a maladaptive daydreamer than you know how important your music playlist is. Around early 2009 I had gotten into underground musicians who remixed video game music on YouTube. Being still a kid and new to the online world it was exciting for me to find alternate versions of my favorite songs, and it didn’t take long for me to implicate them into my dreamworld. However there was this particular song that i considered my favorite. I could literally put myself in any situation, any scenario with it, and would be satisfied with listening on loop for long periods of time.

Back then I did have a playlist of music saved on Windows Media Player, but for some reason I didn’t download the song onto my computer. YouTube was still in its early stages back then, and having a YouTube playlist wasnt abnormal in these times. I simply just had it in my favorites. I remember onetime a teacher had got on to me for my headphones being too loud in the library. Fun times~

Fast forward it’s around October 2010, and I’m searching for the song in my playlist, but I couldn’t find it. I looked up and down for the video, but it was nowhere to be found. That’s where reality set in, the guy had deleted his channel.

I was devastated.

I never saved the video, and it was never uploaded again from any other channel. Ever so often I would check to see if he would make a return, but he never did. I would also check to see if anyone else might have uploaded it, but nothing.

Now I have to mention this point so that you may have a bit more understanding.

Back then there was a community of guys/girls who remixed music, and most of them were popular among the videogameing community. Around late 2010 a YouTube channel had appeared honoring those musicians for their hard work, and awesome tracks. This channel would post their work (with permission I think) to this channel. I started to reach out to the channel, and other musicians who were affiliated with the guy. I was concerned because he was rather popular, and everyone seemed to like him.

None of them knew who I was talking about. It was as if he had vanished and everyone forgot about him. After not finding anything on his whereabouts I sort of just gave up, but through out the years I would remember the song and try to find him yet again.

I did it all.. (I’m embarrassed to share this) I used multiple search engines. (Bing, Yahoo, Google) you name it.

Searched the song, his channel name, and little bits of information would pop up. I would find old instant messenger accounts, old social media platforms he long deserted etc. It was always the same thing for years. I know at this point it seems like I was an obsessed stalker, but I didn’t want to cause him any harm or distress, I was just a concerned fan who couldn’t accept the fact that he vanished. It was like interacting with him, and his music created a safe space in my life for happiness, and when I lost it.. it was like a piece of that was ripped away from me.

I’ve already wrote a lot so I will try to wrap it up the best way I can. So around 2019 I was bored and surfing the web, and decided I would give it another go just for the heck of it. I didn’t mention this earlier, but the guy was asain, and I’m only mentioning it because that was the key to finding him.

Despite all the years of searching on google for his channel I had came across an asain site that for some reason had YouTube’s videos on it. There I found a video of his friend, which lead to me finding the friend’s YT channel. The videos were old and outdated, but at the time this particular DJ was trying to get his music known. I found videos of him and his friend just being silly and dancing.

—— Under this is where I start to feel really awkward sharing this with you guys. ——

I start looking at the comments hoping to find something of his, but I didn’t see anything. I had gave up on looking, but ended up subscribing to the channel just in case I wanted to try again. A few days later something told me to check the other videos, and that’s where I saw it.

The guy had an old comment on one of the videos from a new channel. I clicked it and found out that the guy actually never left YouTube.. he had just left the community. None of his old videos were on the channel, so of course that song wasn’t there. I was excited that I had found him, and decided to send him a comment on one of his videos.

I asked him if he was *so and so* and if he was thanked him for his contribution to the music community. He actually responded and thanked me, but he wondered how I found him.

I couldn’t tell him..

I couldn’t tell him.. oh ever since I found out you deleted your channel I’ve been searching for you off and on for nine years. I seriously couldn’t believe it had been nine years since the search had begin, and I felt so embarrassed. What’s funny about it all was that it didn’t feel like nine years. So much time had gone by and I didn’t realize it. That’s the thing with maladaptive daydreaming. You lose so much time in your own reality..

My best friend at the time didn’t judge me though, and congratulated my persistence. I think that was the only incident that I was ever persistent in something. I ended up subscribing to his channel and left him alone. As I was saying before my goal wasn’t to stalk him, I just really wanted that song back.. Maybe that’s what it was all along. That piece of peace it gave. I just craved it for all those years.

I had to suck it up and finally let it go. I had to let that part of the past go. He had moved on with his life, and probably hasn’t thought about it since then.

If you didn’t realize by now I have a hard time letting go of things that brought me joy, because I have a deep fear that I won’t find happiness anywhere else. I’m working on it though. It’s been a tough 2 years, but I’m making progress.

Sorry for the wall of text, I just felt that if I shared this with the community that I could get it off my chest. A weight has been lifted sort of.

Thanks for reading and if you got this far share your thoughts! Have you had a similar experience?

[atiny-piratequeen]

Hello everyone. I’m here to get a bit serious, but I don’t apologize for my tone in this. 

Truth be told, I’m vibrating in pure rage at this, but I’ll do my best to formulate what I have to say in a mature manner. I will also lead off by saying, in the event that any of you happen to follow the link to report the work or tell the op to take it down, please remain respectful and keep your tones mature. I’m not keen on the idea of mobbing someone and bullying them (even though I feel very hurt and wronged), and I am only posting this link here for us to one) politely and maturely tell the plagiarizer to take down my work and two) hopefully locate the authors of the other stolen works.

Today, thanks to a followertiny-I won’t name bc idk if you feel comfortable with that-informed me of my work (Specifically, 1:28am, the Jongho Jacob’s Ladder piece I posted a month or so ago) being reposted onto Wattpad. 

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, I do NOT allow reposting of my works ANYWHERE.

All of my necessary accounts I post to have links available to them that are easily accessible either in my bio or my masterlist. If I had any update in this, you all would know. 

I do not consent to ANYONE taking my work off of their designated sites. Hell, my timestamps aren't even on my ao3 account. (I consider them little lovely gifts for my tumblrtiny followers so I haven’t really posted any of them there for that reason, though I may in the future). I do not use FF, Wattpad, and most of my works are too long for me to post to my Twt. I wouldn’t put them on YT or anywhere else. 

I’ve been writing fics for over a decade, the first thing I posted was a rinky dink pokemon fic as a literal elementary school kid in like ‘07, ‘08 on fucking Quizilla. That site doesn’t even exist anymore. Even then, I have never stolen or plagiarized anyone's work. I do nothing here but try and boost up my fellow writers, but this? Stealing? This isn’t it. 

What’s worse, is it not just my Jongho fic affected. This person has not only stolen my work, but the works of other writers to tack on together for their ‘daddy’ story or whatever, some of the writers not even being Atiny, as Admin Cy of KSC has pointed out to me, they’ve even stolen works from Army writer, since one of their stolen Yeosang pieces refers to him as ‘Jungkook’, but a few sentences down, he’s back to being Yeosang. There are also at least two works as part of this person’s stolen collection that are stolen from @ateezlust ,as well as them stealing from OTHER writers on OTHER sites as well

If you have all the energy to take and edit and steal people’s work, I highly suggest looking into making some of your own. 

There is nothing wrong with being inspired. I’m inspired by the writers and media around me when I write. But taking someone’s work, covering it up to pretend like it’s yours, changing the original author’s words here and there to try and tailor it for you...that disgusts me. 

I don’t care how ‘bad’ you think your writing is. How much you talk yourself down and say you’ll never be as good as the ‘popular’ authors, you keep trying. You work hard. You adapt over time. What we aren’t gonna do, is take someone else’s hard work and claim it as your own because you can’t be assed to better yourself. That’s what we won’t do. 

It is well known here that I personally sometimes stay up to ungodly hours of the morning to make my content for you all. So this really...disgusts me on so many more levels. My content, and the content of other creators is not here for you to steal and put on your fridge and say it’s your own. Most of us put these things here for free. The least you can do is respect us as creators and our work. 

I’ve issued a full DMCA takedown of the stolen work and Admin Cy is working hard behind the scenes to find the other authors of the other stolen works bc of course, like with most shameless reposters, they usually steal more than one. I take this very seriously and just so everyone is clear;

Plagiarism is illegal. It is punishable by law. 

Just because my work is not fully original and it does use idols or whoever I decide to write a fic about, does not omit it from the fact that legal action can and will be taken. As the writer, I own the copyrights to my own work and if I find my shit on your blog, you bet your ass I’m gonna have it shut down. 

Share works, support them, be inspired by them, but do NOT go and fucking slap us creators in the face like this by stealing our shit, especially when you try to pass this off as your own. 

If you are reading this, and have someone else's work reposted somewhere else, I implore you to take it down, apologize to the person you stole it from (whether they caught wind or not, you owe them that much for stealing in the first place) and reevaluate yourself. Better yourself as a person and then try the writing thing again. Your own work this time.

And those of you who may scoff at this, think you can't be caught, think somehow in your mind that you stealing peoples work for your own selfish benefit is okay...unfollow me. Leave and dont come back. All of my works, dont touch them. I dont need likes or reblogs or comments from someone who would so carelessly put aside a content creator's feelings and ignore the fact that we all say this to people, writers and artists alike to NOT repost our hard work.

Idk where you're from in the world, its 2020, the concept of "reposting is stealing" /"dont repost my work" is not foreign or some niche thing. We have artists and authors who post it in their bios and everything telling you not to repost bc they're tired of it. You have NO excuse for this behavior and if you condone this behavior and see nothing wrong with these actions, I ask you leave my blog(s) and dont come back. I do not tolerate this at all, not for myself or others.

Thank you.

-Fie, Atiny-PirateQueen/Flora-Jimin

[gusdapperton-inactive]

Recently someone asked if I would do a gif making tutorial, so here I am! I’m going to make this as in depth as I can, but if you have remaining questions or problems, feel free to send me them and I will try to help you to the best of my abilities.

Disclaimer: There are many ways to make a gif, but this is the method I’ve been using for years. This tutorial is very long and may make the process seem tedious, but I assure you, once you get the hang of making gifs you could do it in just under a few minutes!

This tutorial includes:

links to all of the sites and programs I use

lots of rambling (w/ pictures)

a short masterlist of my favorite photoshop sources at the end

Links:

Adobe Photoshop CC 2017

PotPlayer (64 bit)

uTorrent

4K Video Download

Photoshop, PotPlayer and uTorrent are the three programs you MUST have for this tutorial. The 4K Downloader is for YouTube/Instagram, which there are other sites you can use for that, but I prefer 4K to make sure I’m getting the best quality I can get. Best part, they’re all free :)

Torrent sites: 

PirateBay

yts.lT (favorite)

Nyaa (anime)

These aren’t the only sites that offer torrents (nor are they the only ones I use). When you download torrents, try to be careful; if you think it’s sketchy, go ahead and try to find another. It’s not as scary as it seems, just be aware of what you’re clicking. Some are total duds but I usually have a pretty smooth time finding what I need unless it’s something unpopular or obscure. Whatever site you’re on, try to use the latest links (past hour/day/week) if it’s for a new movie or ongoing show. Also, if there’s the option, download magnet. 

PirateBay gives me an ongoing issue with their links, so I try to avoid getting torrents from there if I think I can find it elsewhere. YTS is my favorite site for movies; they’re trustworthy and I’ve never had an issue :) 

HD/1080p torrents often start popping up when the BluRay comes out, so don’t depend on any site to have it the day something premieres. Usually you’ll have to wait a few weeks/months. Until then it’ll just be CAMs which no one likes!

For this tutorial I’m going to be making a gif from IT: Chapter Two (link- click 1080p.WEB). Once you’ve gotten your torrent, open up uTorrent. It’ll ask you where you want your download stored, which I always just choose my Downloads folder. 

It’s normal for it to take a while. It doesn’t take all day, but 40 min-2 hrs is usually what I have to wait. My laptop is pretty slow, RIP.

After it says it’s downloaded, you’ll have the .mp4 sitting in your Downloads folder (or whatever destination you chose, but Downloads is the default). 

Before you close uTorrent, press the torrent file and then delete it (trash can icon above) so you can delete it from your Downloads folder. Otherwise, your computer will tell you the torrent is still open in the program and won’t let you. You won’t need it after you’ve gotten the .mp4.

So now we have the movie! Go ahead and open it up in PotPlayer. Right click > Open file(s) and select the movie. It will start playing automatically. 

Note: You need to make folders for the frames to be held in. Its been so long since I’ve set up PotPlayer,  I can’t remember if the program made the capture folder that’s in Desktop or if I did... if not, go ahead and make sure you have designated folders. (If you’re making 4 gifs, you need 4 separate folders, and so on.)

Go to the scene you’d like to gif. The scene I chose in this movie is one of the end scenes of the young Losers Club on their bikes (2hr43min).

Slide the edge of the program in to minimize the screen a little for the next step. 

Now, right click > Video > Video Capture > Capture Consecutive Images

This will pop up: 

Here is a closer look at the settings:

The key things to look at are the Image Type, Image Size, and Numbers/Frame to capture. And of course, make sure you have the right destination chosen in the Storage box because that’s where your frames are going to be. PNG and BMP are the best quality for the type of image. Always choose the original size of the frames. And, make sure you’re saving every frame (Every # frame must be kept at 1). 

Make sure to start a few seconds before where you actually want to make a gif. Sometimes (every time lol) the start will lag and you won’t get every single frame you want or thought you were getting. In my case, the screen is fading from white, so I’m going to capture a few frames where the white can still be seen before the full color appears. This way I know I’m getting the most frames I can, and I don’t have to redo it later when I think my gif is too short because I’m missing frames. 

While the movie is still paused, press Start in the smaller window, then press Play on your movie. Keep your mouse over the Pause button and end it when you’ve gotten all the frames you wanted. Then, Stop back in the small window. 

I’ve saved 56 frames to my folder.

The size of the gif you want to make dictates how many frames you’ll be using. Remember the file size needs to be under 3MB. Recently Tumblr increased that size to 8MB, but the quality of the gif will drop drastically, so I ignore it now. (Although, it probably won’t look too different if it’s at like 3.1MB and barely goes over that limit.

540px wide- ~30 frames and under. Because these gifs are so wide, naturally, they’re already going to be a large file. 

268px wide- ~50 frames 

177px- ~70 & up

These numbers aren’t concrete, though. The taller and/or more contrasting colors in a gif, the bigger the file will be. The shorter and less contrast in colors, the smaller, and more likely you will be able to fit more frames into your gif. These are just what I find to be the case most of the time. 

For the gif I’m making now, I’m going to keep it at 30 frames, so I know I’ll be deleting ~26 out of the 56 I saved to that folder. 

Tip: I rarely make big changes to the coloring of my gif if I really like the way it looks. If my gif exceeds 3MB, I’d rather delete frames. IMO, nice coloring comes before fitting in as many frames as I can. 

Moving on, now that we have the frames we want, go ahead and open up Photoshop. Go to File > Scripts > Load Files into Stack. The drop down that says ‘Files’ I change to ‘Folder’ and simply select wherever your frames are held. For me, they’re here:

Press OK, let them all load up, then you’ll press OK again in that grey window. 

It takes a minute for all of the frames to load up in photoshop. The more you have, the longer it’ll take. Again, my laptop is slow as hell, so maybe it will be really fast for you.

When they’re done loading, go to Window > Animation.

Then, inside the Animation tab, make sure you have Create Frame Animation selected:

Then once you’ve pressed it Create Frame Animation, your first frame will appear. But we need them all, so look over to that four bar icon to the right of the tab and press Make Frames From Layers.

They’ll load all at once, but the gif is backwards. To fix that, simply go back to the same four bar icon and click Reverse Frames.

I’m going to go ahead and delete the frames I don’t want. For me, the beginning frames are unusable because there’s that white fade out in the start of the scene I chose. I’m going to delete those, then go ahead and delete any frame that comes after frame 30. 

Here’s where I’m at now:

Now to resize it. I like the dimensions it currently has, so I’m not going to use the crop tool at the moment. But once you’ve cropped it to where you like, go to Image > Image Size and a new window will pop up. The widest a gif should be is 540px. How tall it is is up to you. Since I’m keeping the dimensions currently, my gif will resize to 540x225. 

It’s VERY important to note, where it says ‘Resample:’ you need to have Bilinear selected. This effects the borders of your gif. Also, don’t make the mistake of resizing it in centimeters instead of pixels. 

Now that it’s resized, you need to set the the frame delay. I choose either .05, .06, or .07. Anything outside of that looks to fast/slow to me (but I know a lot of people who like the way .03 or .04 look. It’s all preference.)

To select all of your frames at once, select the first frame, hold shift, then select your last frame. Then press where it says ‘0 sec.’ > Other > type in however fast you’d like your gif to be. I’m going to use .06. Double check every frame says .06, otherwise it’ll stay at 0 and be way too fast. 

Now, again, click that four bar icon and select Convert to Timeline. The Animation tab looks like this now:

For now, look at our Layers Tab, so we can delete every frame that doesn’t show an eye icon next to it (as you can see, my first 5 frames):

With all of the excess frames gone, select all of the frames you have left (hold shift again) and then right click > Convert to Smart Object

Now, we see this left:

And, technically we’re done with the very basics of making a gif. But you definitely should sharpen and color it for it to look ‘nice’ and aesthetic. I’m going to color my gif now. Personally, I rarely use psds. It takes way too long for me to look through millions of psds, so I make coloring my own for each gif I make. I have two of my own psds, if you’d like to use either of those. 

PSD01- this is a super basic psd I use to make any gif look brighter and more vibrant. There are more details in the post on how I use it.

PSD02- I included this psd within another tutorial for how I do color edits. 

Both of these are my base psds, but if anyone wants me to do a separate tutorial for how I color gifs on a regular basis, I’ll gladly make one of those too!

Once you’re happy with how the colors look, it’s time to sharpen. Select your gif layer and go up to Filter > Sharpen > Unsharp Mask. 

Here are my settings: 

(Amount: 100%, Radius: 0.3px, Threshold: 0 levels)

Now sharpened and colored, here is my final result ready to post:

If you’re wondering, this gif is 2.42MB, so I could still make it brighter/more vibrant if I wanted to!

To save, go to File > Export > Save for Web.

A new window will pop up. There are more settings that you should check to make sure your gif looks as nice as possible, but they’re also up to preference and can range from creator. This is what I prefer:

Diffusion is good for bright and/or colorful gifs, but if the gif is dark, I’ll change it to Noise to see if I like that better. Also, always double check you have the loop set to forever, otherwise your gif will only loop once.

And you’re all done!

Here is a short masterlist of resources I recommend checking out and use often:

allscallie (DeviantArt)

Their psds are beautiful, especially if you’re into making moodboards. Everything is very aesthetic!

sttoneds (DeviantArt)

More psds, especially if you’re into gifsets/photosets that are color focused. 

BEAPANDA (DeviantArt)

Literally everything they publish is gold. From brushes, textures, psds, renders; they have it all. Their packs are extremely well made, too. I highly recommend bookmarking them. (The renders and brushes look beautiful when you use them in your headers!) 

allresources (Tumblr)

There are so many photoshop resource blogs here on tumblr, so to make it easy on you, theirs is the one I recommend the most! The tutorials and resources she makes herself are really great too.

Thank you for reading, and good luck  +.ﾟ(*´∀｀)bﾟ+.ﾟｲｨ

[lacklusterswirl]

The Choices You Make (Ch. 3)

Hey all, so this is Chapter 3, and we start the action :). Deadlines are picking up irl, so updates might be slower, but I’ll try to get them out as quickly as I can.

As always, you can comment your choices on AO3 or to directly on this site. Hope you enjoy :)

(Chapter under the cut)

.

Frost hopped off the vehicle and took a breath of musty air. Just the same as she remembered.

“Control? This is Tina “Frost” Lin Tsang. Team Charlie has arrived and are setting up. It’s currently 08:33:05, and the skies are clear, but I see some clouds coming that may suggest rain early afternoon. Am I missing something?”

“Copy that. And Ciel has his reasons for asking for that info, you know?”

“Oh, I know. I just disagree with his controlling tendencies. He used to be much worse.”

“Ok, well, there are multiple entrances here, I’d recommend you block off the direct entrance to Slater and Laurier. The path closest to Confed. Park is long, so you can set some traps and cams.”

“Sauer is on her way. There’s a motion sensor and bulletproof cam being set up down that path. I’ll drop off a few mats there too in case.”

“Sounds good. I need to check in with Alpha and Bravo. Let me know when your set up is done so I can look in.”

“10-4”

First thing to do was to put on Rook’s plates. Then, to reinforce the garage doors so they couldn’t get flanked from inside the building.

“I totally could.” Jameson was talking up a storm with Clash. “Here, I have a few different coins. You randomly toss one, and I’ll tell you which one you threw.”

Clash shook her head, though Rook was more than happy to take the pile of coins and sort them out.

“Working hard?” Frost asked the three.

While Clash and Jameson knew she was just giving them a hard time, Rook froze before handing the coins back and preparing himself with a few grenades and moving his bags to their designated storage area, an abandoned convenience store that still had its shelves in place though the products were long gone. Rook was still a little unsure about being in there by himself, but that just made the situation better. Frost smirked and saw Sauer walking back towards them out of the corner of her eye.

“Cameras and motion detectors are in place.”

“Jameson SHOULD be nearly done setting up the signal detectors.” Frost turned to glare at the man who just smiled back in return. “Once those are up, I’ll get in touch with Control. For now, can you do a last check of the area?”

“What, you want a coffee?”

“That’d be great, thanks for offering!” Frost cheerfully responded. “I’ll pay you back. I always do.”

“Still playing rookie tricks with me I see.”

“Thanks, Sauer.”

“Frost!” Jameson was back from wherever he was off to earlier. “Signal detectors are up, and control has tapped into the feed now. They can basically listen to any conversation in the area, but—”

“Great, I’ll let them know.”

“But—”

Frost frowned at his persistence and motioned for a moment of silence.

“Control?”

“Copy. I see we have access to… hm?” There was another voice in the back. “Near them?”

“Frost, I swear I heard something near us!” Jameson finally exploded.

Control confirmed it. “We’ve got an unidentifiable sound coming in from Slater.”

“What?” Frost’s brain was racing to come up with a response.

“It’s… best we can say is that it’s a scraping noise.”

“A body dragging itself somewhere,” Jameson pitched in. “In your welcome mat…”

Huh. He was always known for his acute hearing abilities. It was why his favourite trick was to have someone throw different coins on the ground, and tell them which, and exactly how many of each coin got tossed. But to identify that as… as a body dragging itself?

“Control, get in contact with Sauer. She should be near Slater. Have her flank that alley from the main street. Jameson and I will approach from our side.”

“Copy.”

They both got out their suppressed pistols and carefully walked towards where Jameson claimed to have heard the sound. Once they got closer, Frost could hear the skrting noise that occurred in short bursts.

“Denim on concrete?” Jameson offered. “Only one person though.”

A slight groan and hissing came next, and Frost gave the signal to come out from behind their cover. Sauer, listening in, flanked like asked and they walked up to the single body now lying frozen on the ground.

“State your name and purpose!” Frost barked. “You’re surrounded. Any sudden movements, and we shoot.”

There was pure steel in her veins as the man on the ground managed to get himself on his elbows and look up at them.

“My name is Ryan Crowden. I’m an undercover cop. My leg… it got caught on this bear trap… I need help, please…”

Frost motioned for Sauer to cuff him and for Jameson to quickly put something together to move the man to their hold.

“Control, did Ciel say anything about the cop?”

“Yes. He said there was an undercover cop from one of the gangs, but… that information wasn’t given to him. I can pressure them to give up the name now, but… that’ll take some time.”

“Copy, get on that,” she said. Sauer and Jameson were already hoisting him up and walking back to their hold. Frost followed them back and watched with approval as Clash tied up the intruder before freeing their leg.

“Shit, that hurt,” the man was whining. “You can’t do this to me! I’m one of—”

“Riddle me this,” Frost snarled, getting everyone’s attention. She quickly signaled for Sauer and Jameson to seal off two of the major entryways. Control could easily have eyes and ears on the third. “How does a man escape a terrorist organization, crawl through the streets of a city during rush hour unnoticed, and somehow learn about a secret op in a back alley?”

“I-I…” They were trembling so hard that Frost couldn’t make out the next words.

Frost drew her handgun again and pushed the barrel against his forehead. “I asked for an answer.”

“I was on my way out of the gang. My extract just started when I got jumped.”

“Impossible,” Frost cut-in. “I would’ve heard about it had it happened anywhere near Ottawa.”

“Well…” he paused. “Look, you can’t say this to anyone else but…”

“But?” Rook adjusted his equipment, showing off the SMG against his chest.

Ryan took a look at the angry op and swallowed hard. “The extract was unofficial… off the books… I… I was at a friend’s house. They left the gang the moment they started talks with the White Masks, and offered me a safehouse.”

“Where’s the safehouse?”

“It’s on Gladstone. Near Centretown West—”

“If you were really that far, what made you think you should come here?” Frost interjected straight away. She pushed a little harder with her gun. “Where were you?”

“I was on my way there! I had a backpack and was at a bus stop when these guys pulled up and recognized me. Then they saw the bag and kinda… figured out my plan. I swear I’m not one of them.”

“What was in the bag?” Clash asked.

“Just fifty bucks and change of clothes. It was supposed to be temporary while I waited on my unit to clean stuff up.” Frost nodded at Clash to look through the bag.

“And why didn’t they kill you?”

“Because they didn’t realize I was a cop. They just thought I was deserting. That was it.”

“Convenient, huh?” Rook looked at Frost, who was still thinking hard about the story.

“Bag’s clear. Just what he said,” Clash murmured, taking out a nice pair of pants and a shirt Frost only wished she could buy. Leave it to criminals to get more money than actual law enforcement.

“What are they planning then?”

He looked around nervously, causing her to motion for Rook to take higher ground and scan for threats. “If my old crew goes back to the terrorists and tell them about me… they’re going to come for me, and try to assassinate me before I say anything about their plans. But they know something weird is going to be happening at one of their meeting points also near Centretown.”

Frost backed off. Buck… the only known cell in that area was the one he was going after… She motioned for Clash to watch him as she pulled away to talk with Control.

“You got all that?” she asked. “Should we…”

“Buck’s team is just about to go in. I’ll warn them about it, but… Do you trust him?”

“I… I—”

A gunshot went off and Clash was on comms, relaying information.

“Sniper on the roof. Rook is already on his way looking for them, I’ve managed to close all windows and I have my shield up and we’re waiting in our hold.”

“I’m going to go join Rook, everyone, hold your positions.”

Frost sprinted up the stairs to hear a few grunts before a shadowy figure ran up the stars while a frustrated Rook came tumbling down.

“I’m following the target.” She saw Rook get up and follow once he got his bearings.

Up and up they went until they reached the roof again. “Hands up and on your head. Don’t move, or I’ll shoot.”

White Masks were known to be fanatical, willing to even sacrifice their life for… well… no one really knew. It really shouldn’t have been such a surprise, but Frost still flinched as Rook’s bullets whizzed by and landed right between the sniper’s eyes as the terrorist turned with a pistol withdrawn.

“Tango down,” Rook announced.

Frost nodded her thanks.

As she and Rook searched the body, only finding a couple coins, a few random bullets, and a clear liquid that was already dripping from somewhere in the bag, though no container to hold it.

“Is this sugar water?” Rook’s lip curled in disgust as he pulled his hand out of the man’s pocket. “It’s smells kinda sweet, no? But not sticky…”

“Try not to breathe it in,” Frost told him. “Could be anything.”

As she pushed her hand into his jean pockets, she found a loose piece of paper. “‘Caesar salad’… what is this, Control?”

“Send a picture”

Caesar Salad.

YMJ XJWZR NX NS YMJ GZQQJY.

TSJ YT IJQNAJW, TSJ YT PNQQ.

BJ BNQQ RFPJ RYAN UFD.

XMJ BNQQ RFPJYMJ INXYWFHYNTS.

XMJ BNQQ YFPJ TZY YMJ TYMJW.

QNKJ KTW HFZXJ.

TWIJWX GD OZQNZX.

Rook waved a few wet pieces of paper in front of Frost. “I have something else here. Probably the key to solve the code, but whatever liquid was in his pocket has completely ruined and destroyed the page.”

“The bullets probably ripped the wet paper apart,” Frost murmured, seeing bits of the alphabet on the pieces of paper.

“Check-in, team Charlie.” Control suddenly requested. “We’re getting weird signals from someone’s phone.”

“This is Jameson. Laurier clear.”

“Sauer. Slater clear. Also, does this mean you’re gonna assign us to body duty?”

“Let me guess,” Frost said, drily. “Ciel’s orders?”

“You remember him after all.” Control even dared chuckle at her expense. “He requested we do this since the teams are too small.”

“Rook, and I’m uh… checking in.”

“Frost. Checking in. I’m fine.”

A silence while they all waited for the fifth.

“Clash?”

No answer. Frost sprinted down the stairs and into their hold with her gun raised. Rook went a different direction, and she had no choice but to call the other two in. “Sauer, Jameson, leave flank watch to Control. We have an unknown situation here.”

“Buck’s starting soon,” Control reminded Frost. Right. Control wouldn’t only be watching over them. Buck would need that warning, and…

“Doesn’t matter. I’m priority,” she hissed through gritted teeth. Her heart sank, but her choices were limited.

“Understood.”

Rook went to the side closest to the street while she moved to the back and came face-to-face with Ryan, who was now holding Clash’s gun… There was no mistaking the little bunny charm she liked to hang on that gun.

“Whoa,” he gave a nervous chuckle. “I was just gonna come find you.” He dipped the barrel so it was pointed at the ground.

“The boarded-up section to Slater from the store has been broken down, Frost,” Sauer’s report came. She was behind the man, side arm drawn. “Rook is reinforcing it now, but it’s too late. Whoever came in is already back out.”

“Whoever came in threw a towel on my head. I only heard some struggling, but it ended when you guys did the check in. That guy must have run off then.” Ryan explained.

Frost took in the surroundings to try and collect her thoughts on what to do next. There were a lot of glass shards on the ground, which was new. They would make stealth a lot harder if it came to it here. “Where’s Clash?”

“With me,” Rook answered. “Jameson is coming to join you now, but Clash is breathing. Knocked out, but ok. And… Frost, that same liquid from the rooftop is around her face, but it’s drying too quickly to be sure. It was a White Mask that did this to her for sure though. The mask is still here.”

There was something she was missing. “Put down the gun and we can talk.”

“Ok… as long as you lower yours too.”

She did as asked and watched him as he pushed the gun away with his foot. “How did you get out of your bonds?”

“Glass shards. I started sawing from the moment they broke down the window.”

Control spoke up, “Frost, Avoledo is set to go in one minute.”

She played with the inside of her cheek while she thought about her options. “You can go help them for the start, but Before you go though… Got any updates on our stranger?”

Options: “He’s for real. I think he’s safe.” Or “I don’t trust him.”

[thepatchworkcrow]

I had been hoping to film part of my eighth YT Pagan Challenge video outdoors in one of my on-campus sacred spaces, but it seems the weather is just not willing to agree with me. So, so I can give you all a bit of a visual, this post will be jam-packed full of pictures of the places I was talking about in the video.

First thing’s first: my on-campus sacred spaces. I am blessed to be going to a university that is filled with small garden spaces and has a sprawling expanse of wooded ravines hugging along the side of campus. In my five years here, I’ve been able to find a number of places to relax, be one with nature, and perform a few rituals and magical workings in. Three of the major places where I tend to hang out and do my workings are the arboretum, the garden behind the religious center on campus, and a grove back in the ravines behind the art building.

In each of these spaces, I’ve found little places to leave offerings, quiet spots to sit and meditate, and have even done a few rituals there.

The arboretum is full of places to explore, and I admittedly spend a lot more time there than anywhere else. There’s a stump I’ve found a short distance off of the path that I use frequently for spell work, and have left offerings at over the past few years. It happens also to overlook a ravine in a pretty straight shot to the grove I’d found in the woods as well.

In the little garden behind the religious building on campus, there’s a statue of St. Francis that seems to have a presence and an energy all its own. I’ve made a habit of leaving little offerings in the hands of the statue whenever I go there to write, drum, meditate, etc.

And then, of course, there is the grove in the ravines. It’s just off the path, and was shown to me by a good friend who graduated a couple of years ago. It’s often where I go if I’m looking to communicate with the Wylde Hunt while on campus, and has been the site for a couple of rituals. There’s a large three-trunked oak that sits in its center, and there are a few places to sit in little nooks between its roots. I like this place because it is a little further away from the main part of campus, and therefore quieter. You can’t hear the bells from the clock tower and are a lot less likely to see people wandering by. There’s also a fantastic view of the stars on clear nights.

Aside from these natural spaces, I do tend to do much of my ritual / meditation / etc. within the safety (and warmth!!!) of my dormitory bedroom, as well. My room is almost always decorated with pictures that are sacred, beautiful, inspiring, etc. to me and I try to create a warm and welcoming atmosphere for myself to live/study/rest/etc. in and for my friends to visit.

My altar space is situated by the window, which overlooks a little courtyard and the woods beyond.While I’m at school, this is the most sacred space to me, and I work really hard to keep it that way while I’m here.

Of course, when I’m home for winter / spring / summer break, I have places where I go to practice as well. Due to the nature of the space situation in my parents’ home, most of those places are outdoors.

In my own backyard, I am again blessed to have a great expanse of land full of trees and a big ol’ forest beyond. In particular, there’s a small grove hidden among a bunch of pine and cedar trees where I do some more private rituals, and then there’s Treebeard, a cottonwood tree where I leave offerings, prayer ribbons, etc. and spend time enjoying the space on the shady hill just beneath him.

I’m also blessed to have other little places of beauty within my hometown such as the local state park, my local witchy shop, and my aunt’s gorgeous and wild garden. These are places that really make me feel attuned to the energies of the universe and the natural world, and where I like to perform tarot readings, have debates about different witchy/spiritual topics, etc. with my friends.

And of course, there are a number of places in Michigan that have spiritual significance to me. The biggest one is the Boyne/East Jordan/Charlevoix area up in the northern part of our lower peninsula. Over the years, it has been a place full of childhood memory as well as shared memories and explorations with one of my best friends, Mark.

Being a pagan who follows a primarily Celtic path and lives within the United States makes it a little difficult to visit holy sites associated with my practice. There are, no surprise, remarkably few here in the states. There are Native American sacred sites, but because that runs along the slippery slope of what is culturally appropriative and what is respect for the culture and traditions associated with those sites, you’ll note that none of the places I’ve shared above are tied to those places. I was fortunate enough, four years ago, to visit the United Kingdom and places like Stonehenge, Avebury, and Glastonbury. These are memories that I hold really dear to my heart, and feel very privileged to have experienced in my lifetime.

Two of my very favorite memories from my trip to the UK came from my experiences on the weekend we went visiting various sacred sites. While in Chalice Well Gardens, I’d sat down by the well head to meditate and get away from the rest of the crowd of students I was with for a while, and man and his young daughter sat down alongside of me. The little girl had to have been about 4 or 5 years old at most, and as most 4-5 year-olds are, she was a little rambunctious and was bouncing around a bit. Rather than be upset with her, or harsh, I heard her father very calmly explain this was a special place, and saw (much to my amazement and admiration really) her nod in understanding, and sit down to meditate with him.

The second vivid memory I hold dear from that trip (as far as sacred space and that goes) occurred while we were in Avebury. It was rather late, the sun was setting, and we really didn’t have much time to spend there, but I remember it being a much more tangible feeling of presence there. Perhaps it was because we could actually approach the stones; maybe it was just the liminal time of day we were there or the place itself. I couldn’t quite say.

As we wandered about the stones, we saw an older gentleman with rather wild grey curls sitting at the base of one of the smaller stones. He had candles, incense, etc. and was using dowsing rods. The rest of our group gave him sort of a wide berth, and I (as the sort of unofficial pagan authority of the crew) stood a respectable and out-of-earshot ways off, explaining to my roommate that he was probably using the dowsing rods to look for ley lines in the area. He then turned to look at us and asked: “Have you two got good imaginations on you?” We were a little surprised, but answered that yes, we supposed we did. “Do you know where the word imagination comes from?” We honestly weren’t sure. “I. Magi. Nation. A nation of magicians. Merlin is one of my guides, you know.” He then proceeded to tell us this tale about Merlin performing his first magic trick in the stone circle in which we stood: he’d turned a friend invisible and was unable to turn him back again. He also told us about how the Druids had used that place as a place for their initiations. I wasn’t at all sure on the historical accuracy of those things, but in the moment, you sort of wanted to suspend your disbelief. Awen was flowing, and you could almost see what he was describing in your mind’s eye. He then looked at us again and said: “I get Druid from both of you.” I was a little shocked because, of course, I was. I told him so, and he simply turned, and went back to his business of dowsing as though it had never happened. And for the life of me, I swear no one else seems to have seen or heard him say these things but my roommate and I. That is no doubt a mystery and a feeling I will remember for quite some time.

And finally, the last part for this prompt: circle casting. I’ll be honest, I don’t perform circle casting in my own work. For one, I’ve been studying off-and-on with a Druid organization for some time that doesn’t utilize them in their ritual formats. But, more importantly I find them to be distracting and a waste of energy and time. Circles, to my understanding, function for a few general purposes:

To contain and thereby magnify energy raised during a working until it comes time to release it at the end of the ritual.

To protect the individuals within and the magical working from the influence of any nasty / negative energy.

To create a sort of liminal and marked out place in which a ritual can occur and entities (spirits, gods, whatever) may be more easily contacted.

However, as I’ve mentioned above, I don’t generally feel a need to do this. For starters, I always cleanse a place before I use it, and if appropriate might make small offerings to any outside spirits that might be poking about to say “Hey, please let me use this space for a bit.” I don’t perform rituals in places where negative energy is hanging about, and I certainly am confident enough in my own ability to raise and manipulate my own energy to not feel a need for the circle of protection, or the circle that focuses energy in an external space. I also work with many liminal deities. I think it’s very safe to assume I don’t need liminal space for them to get messages across. When I do a particular magical working, my own personal energy field acts in the way a circle might: raising, containing, and releasing energy for my working. It eliminates the need for a physical circle- which means less time/resources marking it out, and I don’t need to cut a door in it should I forget something (which I often do!). It also helps hone in my focus on the working at hand. I often find that by the time I draw and cast a circle, call the quarters, etc. I’m quite distracted from what I was originally intending to accomplish.

Please note, I’m not bashing on anyone who uses circles. They can be quite useful to one’s practice especially when you’re just beginning! I just don’t feel a need to use them.

And, thus concludes a very long blog post. Thank you for hanging in there and reading if you’ve made it this far.

Love and blessings to you all -Rachel

YT Pagan Challenge: Sacred Spaces, Holy Sites, and Circle Casting I had been hoping to film part of my eighth YT Pagan Challenge video outdoors in one of my on-campus sacred spaces, but it seems the weather is just not willing to agree with me.

[euro3plast-fr]

The top 10 mistakes in B2B Marketing

How to avoid the common pitfalls of B2B maketing campaigns

As a marketer with practical experience within the B2B space as well as working as a trainer, teaching a number of digital marketing subjects, means I have direct access to marketers and business owners. I've noticed a number of issues and themes have appeared quite frequently over the last 12 to 18 months. When coming up with the 10 mistakes for this guide I brainstormed with Dave and his team and it was a much wider list!

We boiled down to 10 themes that I have explored in detail, giving you some background into what they are and examples which you may sympathize with or are currently experiencing. The advice to tackle these issues includes a mini do to list to help shape your actions plans, and it goes without saying that there are more practical and detailed resources within the Smart Insights ecosystem of content.

Although the focus for this guide has been B2B, any marketers can get something out of this 10 mistakes guide.

1. Thinking that user experience is just for web and dev

If I'm honest, even though I totally agreed with the principles of user experience the 1st time I studied it back in 2008, and I loved Steve Krug’s book “Don't make me think”, I’ve read Jakob Nielsen “Web Usability”, and I’ve used user flows and use cases for my web personas.

However, post website projects I've left user experience alone.

What a mistake that was.

If you really want to succeed and provide products and services and market them in a way that's really going to connect with your prospects you need to get into this. It will make you more money, I promise.

Usability means making sure something works well and that a person of little experience can use it for its intended purpose without getting hopelessly frustrated.

The key fundamentals of good UX is to:

1- Identify the user needs. This comes from having a deep understand of your customers which take shape in the form of personas and customer empathy maps.

2- Understanding your business goals. You should have clear KPI's and map back to an objective first approach for all your campaigns and activities

3- Technical constraints. Does it Better will always beat Did it First.

Set up your personas with a customer empathy map to dig deeper into your prospects and customers and do some UX testing.

B2B marketing generally has a longer process and sales cycle than you find in B2C and you must have a good understanding of your decision-making unit and how they go about finding information on your products and services.If you have a persona drawn up, use them. I still see marketing teams that create a persona, tick a box in their head, and carry on as they did before.

  To punch up your personas a notch and really embrace UX, you need to create a customer empathy map for your personas.

The empathy map has 6 different components:

How the customer thinks and feels

What the customer hears

What the customer sees

What the customer says and does

The customer’s pain

The customer’s gain

A customer empathy map can improve your marketing. It can help you understand what keywords would be a better fit for your SEM, what content works, should you be doing paid social etc. otherwise you are just guessing.

It has become a lot more affordable to do UX test, you can get 10 videos of tests from whatusersdo.com for £300 and add filter questions to who gets the test so your matching to your target audiences.

Usabilityhub.com can give you insights on things like your navigation, or click tests for your latest DM campaign or landing page, responses start at $1 per response. $1! Cheap as chips.

Does it work?

I asked Timi Olotu, Senior Writer & Content Strategist for What Users Do, he shared a case study from Pan Macmillian, they increased click throughs to book retailers by 400% after watching user tests struggle with completing their business goals.

“It’s amazing the things we can overlook when we become acclimatised to our own sites or lack the mindset of a user genuinely in need of a solution. For example, Pan Macmillan – one of the world’s largest publishers and B2B businesses – increased click-through to book retailers by 400%, simply by adding a ‘Buy' button next to book descriptions. The company never had these because the site was traditionally considered to be an ‘online catalogue’. But having watched UX testing videos of how people actually use its site, the Pan Macmillan team realised a ‘Buy’ button would not only be great for users, it would also be great for business.” 

2. Not setting up your Analytics to correctly track your leads

This is a very deep subject, but for this guide so I just focused on some of the common issues I have seen with the B2B analytics accounts that you should be giving some attention to.

One of them is not having goals set up on your website.

I do a lot of analytics audits, and teach analytics in a monthly workshop for General Assembly, so I get to see a lot of analytics accounts. From my experience, around 40% of the accounts I see do not have any goals set up on their accounts. This is more down to not understanding how to set up analytics to create the goals. For example, if a goal for you is to submit a form, but that form does not have a destination URL , you need to set up event tracking, and with that, create an event goal. I always say “you don’t know what you don’t know” so don’t kick yourself. Just learn it, and fix it.

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You cannot expect anyone to put value on our marketing efforts if you are not able to track and attribute what you are doing. For me, this is a vital part of marketing.

I like to map out the flow of the business through their funnel, from top to bottom, and check what tracking solution they need (based on their website configuration). This is a worthy exercise to do as you may find that you’re not tracking everything correctly for you to understand and find a solution to the questions you are trying to answer.

For example, you have a lot of video content assets and you want to know if they help people convert for a free trial, therefore a micro goal would be ‘watched a video’. So, in your analytics audit you need to check and set up event tracking on your website to see this data.

RACEMacro and Micro GoalsType of tracking needed          In place ? Yes / No ReachScroll ReachEventN ActRead Blog / case study Watch Video Watch Webinar Social Share Live Chat CTA clicksStandard Reporting Event (YT script GTM) Event Event Event EventY N N N Y Y ConvertLead gen- form for content Request Free Video One Month Trial Create Account Watch Video (how to get started) Contact form (enterprise accounts)Event Event Event Destination Event DestinationY Y Y Y N Y EngageLog into SaaS accountEventN

In the guide, I talk about Event Tracking, Segmentation, Custom Dimensions and Data Import, so download and have a read!

3. Not testing improvements

“We don’t use A/B tests to pick winners. We use them to avoid losers as we stack confirmed winners”. @growthtactics

When you have FREE tools like Googles Optimize, Convert.com or Optimizely for your website, and nearly all campaign programs from Adwords to email have FREE options to test, and people are STILL not doing it. A few small changes is all it can take to make your marketing efforts go further. We all have a leaky bucket, wouldn't it be nice to understand what is stopping people from converting?

AB testing is not just for ecommerce testing to see if a man holding the shoe gets more people to convert that a woman holding the shoe. You should be testing everything, all the time. Make it a company culture.

You can test anything, and you can make an impact just playing around with words. Don't believe me, here are some A/B tests I did for a hotel company targeting B2B bookings. If we used the word star instead of using an asterisk I got more sales, it was a simple as that.

When it comes to testing, it can be easy to get lost in the sheer volume of “where the hell do I start”

I am a big fan of Widerfunnels PIE framework, as it really helps you to understand where you should be focusing your attention.

You need to rank each page with a score out of 10 over these 3 areas.

Potential – How much potential for a conversion rate increase does this testing opportunity have?

Importance – How important is this page? How many visitors will be impacted from the test? What is the traffic volume? What is the cost of the traffic? What is the quality of the traffic? What is the impact on ROI?

Ease – How easy is it to test on the identified page? What are the barriers, both technical and political, to testing that surround this page.

This gives you your test order.

Download the guide to find out how to create a good hypothesis and see a CRO case study in action.

4. Buying technology and not knowing how you will use it

Sales using one CRM, Marketing using a Marketing Automation tool, both not talking to each other and thinking that some new tech-tool is the magic wand to make things better. It isn’t. You need processes, you need procedures, you need data and content in place for it to work. I have spoken to a few marketing managers recently who are spending time doing admin to add more detail to the database which is just an email address and sometimes a name.

There are loads of cool tech solutions to make our marketing pop. However, if you jump in and buy the technology before you know how you will use it, and how it will fit into your current ecosystem, you can waste money, and actually hinder your sales. The tech works but with no data, it is just an expensive place to hold your mailing list.

I had a good chat about this topic with John Odam-Adjei, founder of Medasi, he has worked for large, multinational technology-oriented transformation projects for large multinational companies and now helps startups and established SMEs take advantage of cloud technologies to better engage customers, reduce their costs and increase profits. To do more with less, if you will.

“It’s really important to have a roadmap when deploying a new solution such as CRM. It doesn’t have to be complex at the start – that tends to happen anyway as the project unfolds. A roadmap is a good tool to hang, discuss and structure ideas for how the new business processes and tools will impact the business. From there, you can craft a project plan to get the outcomes you need.

Download the guide to get the 6 steps to creating a road map.

5. Content Mapping: Aligning content assets to the Sales Funnel

“We are thinking about content marketing as campaigns, we need to do better. 9/10 marketers are doing some content marketing, 50% don’t have a strategy or know what success looks like. On average only 30% of content is effective” Joe Pulizzi, Content Marketing Institute.

You know the drill, create original, relevant content that mirrors your personas pain points, use it to communicate a message to your audience and hope to drive a profitable customer interaction. Blahblahblah.

Content is a meaty subject, and needs to have a defined strategy, you NEED content! It feeds your website, your email programs, your social comms, everything. After you have defined your personas, and worked on your pain points, content themes, and objectives with clear and solid KPIs, I always do an audit.

I see people with an editorial calendar and they think that that is their content strategy. You need to audit your content to the funnel. Why? See what you are missing. I see clients either have too much at the front or back, and they never repurpose. That white paper you want people to download on twitter. That should be an intro to a blog post and a click to email the pdf to your desk which is a better UX and makes your content efforts go further.

6. Using social media as a billboard

"View social media as a two way medium. You have to offer something interesting or valuable in order to garner engagement. Simply broadcasting your offers will put people off. Think immersive store experience vs market trader”. Andrew White, Media Solutions Consultant, Linkedin

Social Media is supposed to be Social

I think there are a lot of brands, that see social media as a channel to broadcast their marketing messages. Personally, I think that we have become a little jaded and don’t ‘trust’ brands and their social content, and some brands struggle to have a unified and authentic brand voice on social media.

If a brand is using social as a broadcast channel, then that brand voice will never be heard. You need to understand your audience, how they use social media, and max this out with empathy. This is hard to do as you may need to let go of some of the control and be media neutral putting yourself in the shoes of your customers.

B2B brands that do social really well.

Intel on Facebook to celebrate the diversity of its own engineers. It called attention to the strength of Intel’s corporate culture and surely went a long way toward helping its recruitment efforts.

Oracle used Twitter to really show their 440,000 followers its philanthropy side, gives prospects, customers, and potential staff a chance to see a softer side to the brand.

7. Not cleaning your database

Hands up. Who has a data strategy?

It is not the most glam of all marketing tasks, but your data is the blood that runs through your marketing body, and your blood may be a little toxic. Having a data strategy and process of how you manage data will keep your blood flow moving in the right direction.

You have all heard the phrase that B2B data decays faster than B2C, around 25% of your data, on average, will be dead in a year, job moves and changes, that sort of thing, yet you will still meet businesses that have NEVER cleaned their data.

Data is just a proxy for people and the truth is, you can not do email, CRM, Direct Marketing campaigns to your prospects and customers if your data is poor.

Crap in, crap out.

The term dirty data was created for a reason, and you should be scared by it. But what to do? The first step to recovery is to define a data strategy.

Step 1- Do an audit

Step 2- De dupe

Step 3 – Check and honor preferences

Step 4- Enrich your dataset.

Step 5 -Write as formal document

Download the guide to find out what is involved in each step of a data audit.

8. Not following best practices in Organic or Paid Search

Search is a high intent channel, people head over to Google and are actively looking for information, you may have the best product, super smart website, but if no one can find you, you don’t catch any fish and will go hungry.

PPC

2016 saw quite a large change to Adwords in the form of expanded text ads. You have until January 2017 to edit all of your PPC adverts before they roll over to the new format. Previously we had headlines of up to 30 characters, a single description of up to 80 characters.   Now you have almost a 50% increase in the amount of space for your adverts.

Do an audit and tweak your ads also check for ad extensions and site links, You can use site links to drive people to different pages on your website, you can use call out extensions for specific value proposition messages, you can have all localization extensions to show where your business is located, what time you open till etc.

Remarketing

I am a big fan of remarketing, actually let me rephrase that, I am a big fan of people that don't do sloppy remarketing. I am referring to the business that follow me around the web like a little lost puppy based on the notion that I came to your website and didn't convert your big-hitting-we-are- going-to-die macro conversion……. so they stalk me. What's worse is when I actually convert and fill out your damn form or buy your products and services, you still follow me around the web.

You can build very clever bespoke remarketing lists based on the actions of your users on your website by creating segments and using these to build your remarketing lists.

Organic

I've always believed that as long as you adhering to Google best practice guidelines in creating and setting up your web site and you're producing valuable relevant content that people want to read and the people want to link to, then you're all good. There is a tool called Screaming Frog which is free to use and it will pull all of your web pages, the title tags, alt tags, meta descriptions, keywords for you to export as an Excel document for you to audit and tidy up your house.

“Only 3% of searches have the classic 10 blue links” Rand Fishkin, MozCon 2016

3% of searches show 10 blue links, I had to reread it, and what do we all ask for? ‘Hi SEO team, can I rank #1 for this page……” Download the guide to read how to use keyword research to improve your organic reach and find opportunities to rank within the SERP features.

9. Care sales copy

Yes, it is b2b, but that does not equal boring, b2b is personable there is a human emotional element as well as rational. You can have fun, you can improve your writing with storytelling, you can make better use of your email campaigns without making it all about the sale.

The problem with this is that your customers really don't want to listen to all the wonderful features and benefits of your products and services they just don't care enough. You need to bring storytelling to the table and inspire people to behave differently.

DropBox is a great example of using storytelling to connect to an audience, because the truth is your customers will relate better to the story if it can identify with the characters or personalities within.   Drew Houston the founder of Dropbox could have just started with the story of “we have invented a file hosting system offering a personal cloud as a service”. Back in 2007 people didn't really understand what a cloud was, the FAB message didn't stick. So instead he opted to start with a story that his target prospects could identify with and that story started by reminding people about the frustration of leaving behind USB sticks or being given a USB stick which might have made you worry about getting a nasty virus on your laptop and then he started talking about Dropbox .

How do you write customer centric converting copy? Yep, you guessed it, dowload to the guide for the tips.

10-Not aligning Sales and Marketing

Small or large , there is always some silo behaviour between work streams, but for us all to get along and achieve the same company wide objectives you need to work together. Sales and marketing need to align, agree on what a MQL is and when to hand over to sales, what is the user flow for that.

Could you have a service level agreement between the two departments and work together to master the technology you are using to manage your prospects and customers.

Could you have a service level agreement between the two departments and work together to master the technology you are using to manage your prospects and customers?

Your SLA document aims at providing mutual accountability by agreeing project plans and responsibilities together at the start of any marketing programs or campaigns through to what sales intend to do with leads when they get their hands on them.

Ideas for your SLA:

Quotas: how many leads do marketing need to deliver to sales over a set period.

Define what a lead is: all data is not equal, therefore not all leads are created equal. Agree with sales what a qualified lead looks like and either set this up in your automation system or take a spreadsheet approach.

Timescales for follow-up – agree what the follow-up will look like and within what time scales this will be completed. Do prospects get a welcome email as soon as they fill out a form, when will someone call if they request a call back?

Map strategy and tactics to RACE to visualize activity to achieve goals together. I have found this very powerful for the whole company to see how each cog turns the wheel, and to expand on this and identify how marketing is going to find customers, how they will manage the leads, and when they hand over to sales.

from Blog – Smart Insights http://www.smartinsights.com/b2b-digital-marketing/b2b-strategy/top-10-mistakes-b2b-marketing/