#bc i am OVERWHELMED

[inkskinned]

i got my isbn today for the book. 8 months to go. my mom and i were talking about what the next steps are. i was eating trail mix, standing on one foot, phone tucked into my ear.

"yeah," i said. "the problem is that tumblr as a market is like, not something that can be studied." there's this weird wave of nostalgia and affection for this place that came up over me: how lovely we avoid consumerism. okay, it sucks as a creator. but also? keep stickin' it to 'em.

my mother made the sound at the back of her throat that i also make, the one that means i've got an idea. "you should figure out some kind of reward for presale amounts. maybe you give out poems or a mug or a signed book or something. would your followers like that?" my mother is sweet, and kind, and i have no idea how to explain on this website you can buy someone crabs.

i put more m&ms down the hatch. i had to speak through peanuts and almonds. "if it passes 25 thousand i will print the book out in its entirety and eat it live on camera."

"oh god. no, you don't have to do that." she was anguished. "just tell them that you'd love them to read it, and that they've inspired you to write. you got started on that site, and they helped you keep going. raquel, you love these people. the community? you talk all the time about the other writers and artists and whatever else. tell them that you're hoping for their support, they'll come through."

"no," i assured her. i discovered i had dropped an m&m, but an ant had already found it, so it belonged to him now. i will let his little life have a surprise blue treasure in it, too. "i'm gonna fuckin' eat the book."

[mossy-aro]

ultimately i think my insistence on aro positivity honestly is as much a political stance as a personal one.

when i say aro positivity is crucial and that i dislike doomer-ist posts that express sentiments like 'I hate being aro so much I wish I was dead instead’ it's not because I don’t think there can and should be a space for negativity and acknowledging self-hate, or the many ways being aromantic can really suck sometimes. i find that to be very important!

that being said. there is smth here about how self-hate posts are sometimes just arophobia that we inflict on ourselves. and when we put that out into the ether it (intentionally or not) can become arophobia that we inflict on other members of the community. i think there absolutely needs to be a place for negativity and the expression of anger and frustration and self loathing even - these are all good things to talk about because these are things that we experience. that being said, it can also be genuinely upsetting and triggering to people to have what is essentially arophobia shown to them and then have that be validated by other aspec people. your personal thoughts can affect your wider community on a level you may not anticipate. and i understand it i truly do! it took me so long to be able to recover from accepting being aroace - it threw my entire world off kilter and made me question everything about my place in the world.

but my insistence on aro joy and positivity is because ultimately i do believe that building is at the core essence of it all. that ultimately discussions and the purpose of community should be about construction, not destruction. and this is both a personal and a political stance. talking about how much you hate yourself and cultivating online discussions/spaces where negativity about aspec identity is the main and only theme is destructive - if that’s where we let the conversation end. these thoughts can and should be used as a vehicle to look for a path forward!

joy and positivity create a space where the focus can become on forging a path forward, on construction, on community building instead of tearing ourselves and others down with negative thoughts. it’s not productive or healthy when it stops at a place of negativity - it becomes actively destructive to the essence of community.

and i do think that this is especially poignant considering the fact that being any kind of queer, but especially aromantic (and/or asexual) means forging a path for yourself and making your own happiness where there is no obvious way forward. our communities exist mostly online (right now, anyway), there is little recognition of our existence in the real world, the effects of amatonormativity are both pervasive and actively dehumanising, and there are legal, economic and social structures in place actively making our lives more difficult. yes that all sucks! it’s good to acknowledge that. we need to in order to change it. but more importantly, that’s not the end. we are still here and our happiness, our future is for us to determine. even if we can’t change the laws or society, loving yourself and understanding aromanticism as a political identity (as well as personal), as a radical worldview, and as a protest against amatonormativity is essential for both community and personal well being. the personal is political.

tldr. i guess my point is that as a community, we should focus on building, improving, and nurturing ourselves and each other (construction) as opposed to destruction. we should recognise aromanticism and asexuality as political identities as well as personal ones and rely on community and self-love in the absence of anything else as a form of protest and political power. destruction (the recognition of everything that is wrong) is essential as a starting point - but where do we go from there? we rebuild.

[kaiminluu]

visited the louvre a few weeks ago and did some studies anyway baroque warrior mike

[science-lings]

so the Dark Knights of Steel didn't give any of the robins backstories or heavily defined characteristics and I want to change that. I love a good fantasy AU and the batfam. What could go wrong?

[jungkookverse]

this is the funniest thing they've ever done

[myokk]

Ok a little diary post for today as I wait for it to stop raining so I can walk my dogs♥️

1 & 2: the view I’m leaving behind & the mountains I am moving to♥️ this move is SO bittersweet for me, because I genuinely love the sea so much and the best part of my day is often when I go swimming in the morning. I go every morning, rain or shine, 0° or 20°, and sometimes I’m lucky and get to see the most breathtaking sunrises like this🫶

3: rainbow I saw today (I always get excited when I see rain and sun and can’t take my eyes off of the sky JUST IN CASE🤭🤞)

4 & 5: as I clean and packed everything up, I found SO MANY FREE SAMPLES of makeup and skincare😅 I’m trying them out and pretending I can afford these brands for a few days💅 plus David and I went to a village recently and just hiked from beach to beach until it was dark♥️

6: later sunrise + the two goblins👹👹

Ok I know that normally i am so positive and I don’t like to complain or anything on my blog…but this has genuinely been one of the worst weeks EVER😭😭 moving is the most stressful thing, and I every night I get lucky if I get 3 hours of sleep🥲 I lie in bed at night with my brain just screaming at me everythinf I need to be doing & I’m just so so so stressed out and anxious about everything. I feel like all I’ve been doing lately is clean or cry and I’m ready for it to be over😭😭😭 my dogs are finally done being sick as of yesterday (all the dogs in my city seemingly caught a stomach virus), but I think a really bad sickness is just starting for me due to stress/no sleep & Thursday can’t come fast enough!!! (We turn in our keys on Thursday and then I just need to accept that it’s over)

If I’m not super active or responding to anything these days just know that it’s because ummmmm this has been the worst month ever🥲 but thinfs will slow down a lot in the village & even though I don’t like change that much, I think this is going to be an amazing one once we are all settled in♥️

[marimbles]

It seems to be pretty well established that most fanfic authors don’t mind when readers leave comments on old fics and in fact welcome it. But what about authors replying to old comments?

Do readers care in general whether an author replies? Is it expected and seen as rude if they don’t? Is it nice when they do but not expected? Is there a time limit to the welcomeness of replies? Like is it nice if they respond within a few weeks but if it’s been months or years it feels awkward because you don’t remember the fic anymore? I’m curious!

[epic-sorcerer]

“Arthur can totally dress himself he’s just spoiled” why are you giving him that much credit

[sergle]

There's something about like. A certain genre of posts / Online Opinions about insecurity/depression/misery/complaints that are so unhelpful that they wrap right around to being straight up hilarious. and it's the ones that are more or less written to the tone of "Feeling bad? That's gross!" Like, just so you know, don't voice your insecurities/ have low self esteem, because that's offputting! You're gross and weird. Don't be insecure about that, though. That would be stupid if you felt insecure about people disliking you for being insecure. Not attractive. You should be thinking about being as attractive as possible. You shouldn't make comments about suicide, even if you're suicidal! Keep those thoughts entirely to yourself. Make sure nobody around you knows you're thinking about this. It would Make Them Uncomfortable. It's better to keep these thoughts in your head where they can fester. Don't post OR talk to friends with complaints about you feeling miserable or depressed. Tbh people who are sad/upset a lot? Kinda a red flag! You are probably miserable because you're a bad person and you've brought this on yourself. If you don't have friends, it's because you're awful to be around. Easy! Solved the problem for you. And no, there is no nuance to this, got it? So, make sure to feel bad about feeling bad, but don't feel bad about it, because, well, that's just gross. And annoying! You might've wanted your brain rotted thoughts to be Peer Reviewed, you might have just needed to vent- you might've been hoping for some comfort, to get things off your chest. Well, don't! Don't talk about thoughts or feelings that are negative with your friends, you'd be burdening them and that's only meant for THERAPY. #SponsoredbyBetterHelp #MentalHealth like, DAMN. that's so helpful. you're so good at helping. I um really liked the part where these are all hard and fast rules that encourage keeping feelings bottled up and keeping your friends at arm's length. That's really funny of you.

[starwarsanthropology]

The tragedy of ur boyfriends not letting u bite them just a little. As a Treat.

A Tup from @trudemaethien’s excellent fic Edeemi, Baby, One More Time that I drew back in May! I didn’t have a Star Wars tumblr at the time and wasnt planning on posting it anywhere so I forgot about it until now, but I had such a fun time playing around with lighting effects and his expression!

I really love their mer universe and I’m especially fond of Tup’s POV in this fic. It’s such a good job of expressing the confusion and frustration of communication barriers and reasonable, best-intent misunderstandings between all of them, while still leaning into the positive aspects of discovering the world and representing it from slightly different perspective than people normally take 10/10 highly recommended

Closeup of the sketch for his expression under the cut because I was super happy with it

[makersruin]

i feel like amaurotine society's conformity is something that often gets overlooked in the english-speaking fanbase. not just in the way people bend canon for the sake of their azems, but i mean that it seems, at least for an american audience, that the ancient way of life is so odd and unlike what we're used to that it seems almost alien. unfortunately i'm also east asian so i can assure you that amaurot is real and is located in seoul, south korea. hell on earth.

[puppy-steve]

save me chest organization. chest organization save me.

[robogart]

i love love love how you draw women, i used to see ur art all the time when i was a young teen and it really did make me feel soo good about the way i looked,, and the women u draw,my god,, i think your art is how i found out that i loved them

anyways ur art is a blessing, please keep making it ,,u dont gotta resopnd to this, just very glad i found ur account again :>

This honestly means SO much to hear, anon 🥺💕💕💖💖 thank you so much for sharing this omg I want to cry!! ;; w ;; 🥺🙏💕💕💖💖💖

I'm so grateful my work then could make you feel good about the way you looked and that it could help open up the door more to loving women (Welcome My Friend 🥳💖🏳️‍🌈)!! That is honestly so incredibly amazing to hear and I am so touched to be a part of it! 🥺🥺🥺💖💖💖💖

Thank you for your kindness and encouragement and reaching out on here! I'm so glad to be able to share more work with you again! 🙏💕💕💖💖💖

[drolta]

We got a lot of Louis’ anger this episode and all I can say is it’s unnerving. Especially with the combined factor that it’s his trigger for the fire gift.

[tetzoro]

hiya friendz !! happy monday lovelies !! i’m buzzing in to wish you all the best week ahead and giving you guys big big hugs !! i will be on a hiatus for a little while. see you soon 🤍 take care of yourselves & each other ! ✨

[the-bi-space-ace]

I’m trying really really hard to be positive about stuff and focus on my hobbies and in the spirit of that I wanted to share something that I wrote for one of my new long fics for 2025 and maybe it’ll bring a little joy to your day.

I hope you enjoy this sneak peak into the 'Batch Horror Fic' I keep talking about.

Echo stared out as evening fell over the chilled landscape. His mood had settled but it was still soured, still so wrapped up in his doubts. This mission wasn't as simple as the others, couldn't they see that? Tucking his hand under his arm to keep it warm he ignored the door behind him opening, already knowing it was Hunter by the way his steps crunched on the small buildup of snow on the porch. Hunter brushed against his shoulder, taking in the scenery in nearly the same way Echo had. Breath came out in short puffs, steam billowing into the air then disappearing upwards.

"You understand my decision, right?" Hunter asked. Can something really be a question if you already knew the answer?

"Understand or agree?" Echo asked back coolly. It drew a sigh from his sergeant who cupped his hands to warm them with his breath.

"I need you with me on this one." Hunter said. Echo tried not to roll his eyes but his face had always betrayed him, no matter how hard he tried to cover it up. Truthfully, he wasn't trying too hard in this instance, but still. "You may not see it but the rest of our squad looks to you as much as they look to me."

Tech, Wrecker, and Crosshair were just returning from scouting out the area, barely even pretending that they hadn't given up on actually doing their jobs already. Half of Echo didn't blame them, seeing them chat as they traipsed through the snow covered yard.

"You are our sergeant." Echo let his eyes fall onto Hunter's, already softening to the pleading look behind them. He knew exactly how to tear through to Echo's soft side in what felt like a blink of an eye. Maybe it was skill, or his enhanced senses, or maybe Echo was always just that damn transparent. At this point he wasn't sure.

"And you are my second in command. I look to you as much as anyone else. I need you." Hunter's expression was so sincere, so determined. It was hard to say no to. Echo's shoulders slumped but he didn't get to respond, distracted by Wrecker's voice cutting through the cold.

"Hey, Cross, catch!" Wrecker called. Crosshair turned in time to get a snowball right to the side of the head, letting out a disgruntled yelp while Wrecker laughed maniacally. Crosshair practically growled, shooting a glare at the bigger man.

"You son of a-" Crosshair got a face full of snow for that one, this time courtesy of Tech, poorly suppressing a smile. Echo hid his amusement behind his hand.

"I believe Wrecker wishes to engage in play out of boredom and therefore I cannot allow name calling." Tech countered, making Hunter snort, trying to hide his amusement by tipping his chin towards his shoulder, eyes glinting in Echo's direction.

Crosshair shook snow off of his front, shaking off his hands then bending down to start forming his own method of attack. "Fine, then I guess this means war." Each of them darted towards the treeline to shield themselves, quickly forming snowballs in their hands to toss at each other in an attempt to win.

"Not seeming so bad right now, huh?" Hunter asked, eyes still shining. The sun set fast here, what was moments ago bathed in the setting sun now had an eerie blue glow about it. He didn't answer but shrugged begrudgingly. Couldn't let Hunter win that easily.

They stood and watched as the other three members of their squad battled, even discussed forming their own team for an offensive if it seemed too easy for them. Echo could admit that it was an unfair alliance from the get go. Tech and Wrecker were sure to win if neither of them assisted Crosshair but it was fun to watch them take him down even if the odds were stacked in their favor.

Doubt. It still wept inside him as if begging to be heard. Although, he could put it to rest for one night.