#i have SO MANY books id recommend to a lot of people but to EVERYONE?? thats hard cause I know at least someone will

[permanentreverie]

6/11/28!! for the asks

6) 3 characters that inspire you: Jo March in Little Women, Anne Shirley in AOGG, Eliza Schuyler in Hamilton

11) 3 books that you would recommend everyone to read: oooh that's a hard one, since I don't truly believe in the 'books to read before you die' since everyone has different tastes, but I'd recommend If You Could See The Sun by Jandy Nelson, The Giver by Louis Lowry, and Animal Farm by George Orwell (special mentions are Pachinko by Min-Jin Lee, A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaleed Hosseini, and My Dark Vanessa by Kate Elizabeth Russell)

28) 3 things you love cooking/baking: chicken soup, stir fry, and cookies <3

3 things asks

[mysterycitrus]

I keep hearing people say to ignore Devin Grayson’s Nightwing but I also see people reference it. I feel like I’m getting mixed signals. Should I avoid it or read it? Are there specific issue I should avoid or read? is the avoiding advice only for people who are new to the comics? Or should I really just avoid the whole thing?

short answer — u do not have to read devin graysons nightwing run. i wouldn’t recommend it to new readers, and there isn’t anything significantly important that happens so like. it’s an easy pass. i do encourage people to at least read what she wrote about, though, because devin accidentally kickstarted the next twenty or so years of bad writing in nightwing books.

the long answer — devin grayson was a writer for nightwing volume 2 from like….. issue #70ish to #115ish. she did a lot of weird things during her run — her takes on dick’s relationships with bruce and slade and helena come to mind — but the most popular talking points wrt her writing are issue 93 and maaaaybe the renegade arc but that is literally the tip of shit mountain.

it’s funny u say that people are telling u not to read it cause based on my experience in fandom it is very, very clear that very few people have read any of the run at all, or even #93 and it’s preceding issues. which is fine, because it’s bad. but it’s important to understand why it’s bad, and how it’s affected dicks characterisation in both canon and fanon.

nightwing #93 is the issue people say to avoid because it features dick’s assault at the hands of a former ally that devin refused to acknowledge was rape until like… 2014. it’s bad. the build up to this point — haleys is set on fire, dicks apartment is destroyed killing everyone inside, dick watches this ally kill a man on his behalf while he is helpless to stop her — is rarely discussed in the context of the scene. it’s a lot, but because people haven’t read it they misunderstand the dynamics that devin had created.

the worst parts about nightwing in the present — his lack of conviction and competence, his sexualisation and dehumanisation, the fundamental lack of empathy for his retconned bg as a poc — all started with devin. literal ground zero. i cannot emphasise how her i incapability to understand that she’d written an assault arc with her self insert as the instigator has played into dick’s status as a character in the 2020s. many people accidentally engage with the same tired, racist tropes that devin herself contributed to, because people simply do not know (or care to know) what she’d written. think about much fanon content revolves around dick being an accessory to his own assault, or being literally unable to advocate for himself, or relying on jason fucking todd to kill his rapist. it’s like im rereading nightwing vol 2 all over again, and that’s not a good thing.

however what people also tend to forget about is the racism. devin grayson introduced dick having rromani heritage into canon, sure, but she did it because she thought it was sexy. we see this with her writing for roy’s navajo heritage too — a lack of research and care, though dick’s was clearly egregiously fetishistic. she retconned the character that assaulted dick into a latina character, and retconned her into being an aggressively sexual and violent person that was at significant odds with her og characterisation. that seems to be a trend with nightwing writers — wolfman did the exact same thing like fifteen years earlier with about the same degree of nuance and empathy.

ig my answer is that nightwing vol 2 is very much a pick and choose run, make ur own adventure type experience. bizarrely, u can get better nightwing characterisation in the titans 1999 run, or batman plus arsenal, which were both also written by devin (heartbreaking, the worst person u kno just made a good point). id be wary of people telling u to avoid it entirely, because i think ignoring its existence just exacerbates the problems devin created. just be discerning, ig. but also read nightwing vol 2 #118-#124 (just after devin leaves) because it is gd hilarious

[wordsofwilderness]

In light of recent events I thought it would be a good idea to make a post with a list of specific things you can do to make a difference, some for your own personal peace of mind and safety, some to fight on. Even if you are not from the US, please read on, many of these are applicable for everyone, the rise of the far right is not a unique problem to the US, and may of these precautions can end up helping in a lot of other situations too.

I've choose to ordered these roughly with the easiest first:

Personal archive

Download your favourite political literature, fics, books ect. You can get a thumb drive for pretty cheap at any tech store and most bigger supermarkets too if you don't already have one. For the tech savvy you can also download the entirely of Wikipedia (guide here).

Emergency money in cash

If you don't already have any emergency savings it's time to get some. Keep some of it in cash in a safe but accessible place. This can also be extremely useful in case of blackouts or natural disasters were the electricity network is likely to breakdown and cards therefor won't work.

Stop using period tracking apps

Switch it out with pan and paper, or a list of dates in your notes app, literally anything else. Even if the owners swear to protect your data and you are essentially blindly trusting your safety in not only their morals but also their security being better than anyone's hacking abilities (including the US government). Even if you for whatever reason isn't personally in a situation where a pregnancy has any chance of happening or would be any kind of problem, know that your data will be used to compare against those not as fortunate.

Keep a few days of food and other essentials on hand

This one might sound a lot more daunting than it is. Keep an extra bag of pasta or rice and a few cans of bean. I can also recommend a big bag of nuts if your not allergic, or an extra bag of flour and a few packs of dry yeast if you bake. Get into the habit of buying new stable items when you open something instead of when you run out. The important thing here is that these are all stable foods that you still occasionally use in day to day life so you can slowly cycle through and replace them so it never goes bad.

Get a passport

If you are from the US, please consider prioritising this one. Currently you can chose which gender marker you want yourself and it doesn't need to match any other ID you have (source), and who knows if you'll be able to under the next administration.

Join a union

Voting is to democracy what washing your hands is to personal hygiene. If you only wash your hands, all your teeth will fall out.

But jokes aside, lately I've encountered a lot of talk about the inherent conflict of interest between the democratic parties' donors and the working class needs. People seem to generally draw the conclusion that this mean there will never be a true left wing party in the US since money is needed to put forth any significant campaign. I live in Northern Europe and here it pretty common for any left leaning parties to get a decent part of their donations from unions.

If you need any proof for the potential for this can be, then look no further than the amount of small donation during the start of Kamala Harris' campaign, or even any of the two campaigns Bernie Sanders ran in 2016 and 2020.

There are of course also many other benefits of joining a union that very much makes it worth it on it's own such as: higher pay, job security, more vacation time and so much more.

Please feel free to reblog and add more, expand on anything, or add any resource!!

[saturnvs]

hellooo this might be kind of a silly question lol, but do you think you can learn to ride at any age? i've always loved horses but i've never really been around them. i've been contemplating signing up for lessons at this stable thats opened up near where i live, but doing just the bare minimum research into what to expect has me a little overwhelmed lol. since you've been posting about riding again, i was wondering if you had any tips or advice for someone who is a complete beginner :')

yes!! i’m a firm believer that anyone can learn at any age - all you really need is the desire and motivation to learn!

i completely understand feeling overwhelmed. there’s SO much to the entire thing, both regarding the riding itself and handling horses on the ground. i would recommend reaching out to the stable and asking basic questions about their establishment, like what to have in mind as a beginner! all stables have different ways of doing things, and a big part in feeling relaxed as a beginner is knowing what to expect.

i have no experience being a complete beginner at an adult age, but i do of course have experience of returning after many years out of the saddle. something that’s been very important to me is to find out a lot about the place i’ve been going to and most of all, not be afraid to ask questions that might seem silly. it’s much better to ask one time too many, especially in an environment where safety is so important.

if you’re feeling nervous or scared or uncertain - let people know! don’t push yourself to do something scary, instead let the instructor know that hey, this makes me anxious, and i might need some help. that goes for anything, both on the ground and in the saddle!!

as a returning rider i booked myself a private lesson with an instructor to get used to the feeling in a safe environment with no distractions as i find it difficult to be in a group setting. not all stables offer that though, but you can always ask! private lessons aren’t on a weekly basis (at least where i ride), but instead an extra hour of learning that you can have a few times throughout the term.

however, as a complete beginner it’s very beneficial to be in a group. you learn to not only keep track of yourself and your horse, but also how to manage being surrounded by other people on horses! and in a group where everyone is new, you have a chance to make some long lasting friends if you want to. it could also be calming to know that you likely aren’t the only one who is super nervous.

this advice probably is a little diffuse, so please don’t hesitate to ask more specific questions!! id be happy to try to help you.

but in short - talk to them and sign up!! you won’t regret getting to know these precious animals <3

edit: just wanted to add!!! my mother, who had never in her life been on horse before, started riding in her mid-40s and although she stopped after a few years she still thinks of it as one of the best things she ever did!! :’)

[joyfulapostate]

Hi!!

It's very late where I am so this may not be as put together as id like it, however i dont want to forget (like i have the past four times already), but anyways.

I've been noticing a few contradictions in the bible, specifically in the new testament?

For example, just one out of the few that have been bothering me recently (months), Matthew 17:20, and Luke 17:6 both mention something along the lines of "if you have even a mustard seed of faith, if you command x to do whatever it may be, x will do it, because you had faith. However, what about James 1:5-7?

And another one:

Most believers (that I've met at least), say that if you accept Christ, you can't ever back out of it, once you accept him you can't go back on that decision and hes always with you. However, what about Revelation 3:14-17 I believe 0? I've brought it up to my mother and my (multiple) youth pastors (through the years) multiple times but I just get the same things related over and over and nothing actually explained.

Anyways I was just curious on your thoughts about that, I think it's interesting that there would even be question about it, given how often I'm told "the Bible is crystal clear, all you need to do is read it" when reading it frequently leaves me with way more questions than what I started with.

I used to believe that the Christian god guided the hands of the people who wrote the Bible as well as the hands of those who transcribed and translated it. But that belief did not stand up to the inconsistencies in the text. I used my faith to patch the holes, but it eventually spread too thin. It became impossible for me to perpetuate the illusion that the Bible was an inerrant work of a god. So what was it, then? I was at a loss.

Then I started reading Bart D. Ehrman’s book Misquoting Jesus. It gave me a lot of context about how the Bible came to be, including who changed it along the way and why. I recommend looking into Ehrman’s vast body of work. He is a biblical scholar and also an ex-Christian. He has several other books and a podcast also called Misquoting Jesus which is available on YouTube. His work really shows how the Bible is a collection of ancient writings from many authors with different intentions, which explains why it’s so inconsistent not only in theology but also in tone. It is such a relief to put down the task of trying to make the Bible make sense, especially when everyone is screaming at you that “it’s crystal clear” because it’s just not! It’s a complicated ancient text whose original is lost to time and has been copied and translated for thousands of years. With that in mind, it makes sense that you feel this way. Thanks for sending this in! I wish you the best of luck, I know this is a hard thing to contend with.

[thoughts-of-the-unheard]

i just finished reading infinity alchemist by kacen callendar and boy oh boy, i loved this book, i think it has high potential to become a new big popular series, it just came out in february but i saw a lot of two star reviews on goodreads, mostly from people who flat out state that they didnt finish the book (which, for me, means you dont get an opinion on it) and as someone who actually did read the whole thing, i very much recommend it,

basically everyone is capable of alchemy on some level but some are better then others and in order to do the cool stuff, you need a license, but its a rigged system, so ash learns in secret instead, he meets ramsey, a deal is struck, hijinks ensue, theres trouble and danger, some people die, some people are saved, callum is a steady hand, and the book ends leaving you wondering

its what i feel to be a true young adult book, touching on adult themes without being explict, ie fade to black moments, or dancing around it, ie velvet wrapped steel,

theres a lot of good representation in the book between race, sexuality, and gender and none of it felt forced or shoved in my face, i did know it was likely polyam going in and i fear that mightve been a sort of turn off for some people

a lot of complaints i saw were about pacing issues and how it wrapped up too easily and i think thats quickly dissolved when you know theres a second book in the works because yes the big bad was dealt with, crisis averted, etc. but you get that bigger, badder vibe at the end, hinting at the next book i assume, so, not everything Did wrap up easily,

the magic system was fairly easy to follow but i do wish we had spent more time with ash learning because i thought it was interesting but i also think it would help readers understand some things more

there was a map and a list of the houses and what they do, ie guards vs merchants, but, like above, i wish there was also a list of the alchemy tiers because all i mainly caught about the tier system was the higher the level, the harder the magic and the more regulated it gets and then that ash can do tier four no problem, i want to know how many tiers there are and what exactly is in each one

all in all, this was not a perfect book but it was still a very good one, and, from my understanding, the authors introduction to ya fantasy, id give it a strong 9.8/10 because there are definitely things missing that i feel wouldnt strengthened the story but as far as a first book goes, regardless of genre introduction, i think it did very well, and ive read far worse books with far higher goodreads scores

mildly unimportant but i did see similarities between ash woods and simon snow which i thought were cool, kacen mightve taken inspiration (i truly have no idea) and that might bother some people but it was still fun for me to see

[phoneybeatlemania]

Hi Phoney! Love your blog, you're so knowledgable about the boys❤ Id like to ask you if you could recommend some beatles books? There are dozens (hundreds?) of them and i have no idea which ones are worth picking up and which ones are trash. Peace and love✌😎

Hiya anon! Sorry you sent this in February and im only just answering, hopefully it pops up on your dash anyway tho

So Im pretty sure Erin Torkelson Weber said theres upwards of a 1000 books written about the Beatles, which means obviously theres a lot to get through. Honestly, having read quite a few, there are none that are going to be 100% unbiased, 100% truthful and 100% satisfactory for everyone, but heres a few that I think are worthwhile:

1. A Day In The Life: the Music and Artistry of the Beatles by Mark Hertsgaard

Personally I really enjoyed this book when I read it. Its not the most insightful book about them out there, but I think its a solid starting point for anyone new to Beatles-lore, and the way he writes about the music I found to be quite endearing.

2. And In The End by Ken McNab

As someone who is especially interested in the “breakup era”, this book is pretty useful in establishing a timeline of events for 1969. It goes through the year month-by-month, and I remember there being quite a few niche pieces of information in here, that you might not find in most other beatles books.

3. The Beatles Off The Record by Keith Badman

Theres 2 of these books and id recommend getting a copy of both if you can! They’re both effectively a transcription of quotes and interviews from the band, so it isn’t really a book that you’d sit down and read. But it is useful to keep a copy on your shelf, and you can turn to virtually any page and find something interesting to discuss.

4. Beatles ‘66: The Revolutionary Year by Steve Turner

I read this book originally to answer an ask I got about 1966, but I dont think I ever actually got round to answering it in full. Either way, I did learn a lot about them during this year, and similar to McNabs book, because its centred on a specific year it does offer a few pieces of information that might get overlooked in broader biographies.

5. John Lennon: The Life by Phillip Norman

Im going a bit against the grain here, and I know a lot of people would disagree with this recommendation, but I don’t personally believe this book is as bad as a lot of other people might. Norman definitely is someone you want to read critically, but I do also think he’s had the opportunity to speak to many beatle-adjacent people, and there are things we can learn from this biography. The problem I think is that he can be quite heavily biased, and a lot of his sourcing can be questionable. But again, just read it critically to the best of your ability, cause there are imo some relevant pieces of info in here.

[mindstormpress]

Illusory Sensorium ran a game of Barkeep and their writeup is one of the clearest signs that the hard work we put in was worth it.

Here's the recap. I genuinely was laughing out loud a few times. Highly recommend: https://illusorysensorium.com/b1-wand-of-embiggening/

If you want to delve into the design theory of Barkeep, keep reading! ⬇️

When we were working on the book, we came up with a sort of mantra for the encounters: Is it sticky? Is it toyetic? Do the NPCs have means, motive, and opportunity? Is there information, choice, and impact?

That's a lot of jargon, and it's been synthesized from across multiple sources. Prismatic Wasteland summed it all up here:

Sticky means that the encounter isn't something the characters can avoid. It sticks to them.

Toyetic came from false machine as well, but also from a post now lost to time from Rebecca Chenier. Basically—will the players and GM want to pick up and play with the encounter?

MMO is just a way to conceptualize NPCs in a simple, understandable form.

ICI is from Bastionland. We can't make informed decisions without information, and there's no point to making decisions if our choices don't matter.

Building the encounters meant looking at each of them carefully and considering those foundational elements. Not EVERY encounter needed every single thing. In fact, with the way WFS wanted to write the book, each encounter had to be relatively short and packing a punch.

A really really sticky encounter didn't need to be as toyetic, and a really fun and interesting encounter that the players would NEED to investigate didn't need to be all that sticky. Everything is a gear of a different size that turns the whole engine.

Illusory Sensorium thinks that they ran the game "wrong" and I disagree. They used the tools provided by the book and had fun! Mission Accomplished!

But one thing they point out very early on is how they "trusted" the encounters in the book as written. The very first one they got is quite simple: 54 skeletons in a conga line, labeled like playing cards.

Incredibly toyetic, not sticky. But the players immediately joined in!

They could have moved on, but that situation was too tantalizing to skip. The rest of the game unfolded from that first encounter, and was filled with shenanigans. The work we put in—hand crafted encounters—worked out!

I'm incredibly proud of the work everyone on the team put into Barkeep, from the writers, artists, and fellow editors. I'm especially proud that people are playing the adventure and having fun. People playing the stuff you've worked on and made is the best feeling as a creator.

Thanks for reading. There's a lot of links in this thread, because I love tracing the history of things. It's no surprise that blogs are the home for so many of these ideas—word of mouth and common practice are easily lost forever when not documented!

The bloggies, a celebration of rpg blogs, are happening now! I've got a post in the running, and I'd love it if you voted for it. My competition is FIERCE (and I recommend all the nominated posts as reading material!)

Vote for RANSACKING THE ROOM today!

[brainbuffering]

12 Days of Manga (2022)

Day 1: Favourite Ongoing Series - Snow White With The Red Hair by Sorata Akiduki from Shojo Beat (T: Caleb Cook L: Brandon Bovia E: Karla Clark)  

[ID: English cover for Snow White With the Red Hair Vol 19 by Sorata Akiduki. Kiki wears a burgendary psudo-european-medievial style dress with long flowing sleeves. In on hand she holds a wine glass, and in the other she gently clasps her sword. She sits sideways but looks knowingly at the viewer. Behind her, a festival at dusk is in full swing and we see the backs of Hisame (left) and Mitsuhide (right)]

This year (as of writing) the UK has been gifted Volumes 17 - 19 of SWWTRH*, covering the Bergat Arc which finally gave some more time for our beloved Kiki to shine and the return of everyone’s (read: my) favourite beloved arsehole Hisame Rougis. This more action and romance based arc was a nice return to form last year’s Orimmallys arc. As wonderful as it was to see the STEM elements of SWWTRH come to the forefront, with no doubt Cook’s experience on Dr Stone helping him translate all that psudo-science, I’m a simple Blogger who likes to see some swords and swooning.

That said, this combination of genres and themes really does highlight what makes the series so good. Anyone who tries to tell you that Shojo is all the same really needs to read this series because it will swing from mystery to romance to action adventure to science explainer in only a few chapters. I’ve said it elsewhere but I will say it again: it i also just so nice to have a manga I can confidently recommend to literally anyone! It’s a great starter for those looking to get into Shojo, be they a 10 year-old who has some book tokens to use up, or a 40 year old who wants to finally branch out beyond the Shonen Jump Sphere of Influence.

The series is also beautifully unintentionally queer, and that was highlighted again this year. Well, I say unintentionally. Some of SWWTRH’s contemparies in LaLa include explicitly queer stories such as Ouran High School Host Club, so who is to say how it will end? I can hold out for my bisexual polyamorous ending in which Obi, Zen and Shirayuki end up married with 2.5 children, right? With lines like this, it’s starting to feel more like text than subtext. 

[ID: Zen smiles widely. “You might have a trio who lived completely separate lives... ... but came together in the palace... ... to now spend their lives together, side by side.”]

But I digress. As I said! This was the year of the Kiki. We got to get more of a glimpse into her role as heir to the Seiren Family, and what expectations that holds. She got some closure on her relationship with Mitsuhide that, without spoilers, was very afirming from an Aro/Ace perspective, and started to see her take new steps with Hisame in a way that allows them both some character development and encourages world building! We also got to see her beat people up with a sword, although perhaps not as much as I would have liked. She did get her own dramatic “I’ll be shooting for my own hand” moment, with all the paralels and metaphors of working hard to choose your own fate and your own destiny, and to not get thrown by romantic rejection but rather remain to stay true to yourself no matter what. So I suppose I can’t really complain. 

[ID: Two manga pages of Kiki shooting arrows in the middle of the night, the range lit by fire light/beacons. The first ten arrows have missed the center of the target completely. Kiki looks disapointed and uncertain about everything. Then she appears to center herself and manages a bullseye.] 

I’ve said many times before, that I don’t think there is any reason for a series to go beyond 30 volumes. I can’t imagine any story that needs to go on for that long without it becoming far too repetative. However SWWTRH is one of those series that I will happily be buying for the next ten years! For one, unlike a lot of ongoing series, SWWTRH is not restricted to a time scale (e.g. three years of high school) or singular goal (e.g. entering the olympics). Shirayuki and Zen confirmed their romantic feelings early on, and whilst we want to see their relationship develop the pace it is going at feels realistic for people of their age, and in their situation.

Why should they get married at age 19? Shirayuki becoming a well respected court herablist will help her standing in marrying him, sure, but it’s also the goal she wants to achieve without romance being on the line either. Heck, even if her only goal was marriage, it’s perfectly reasonable to want to finish your studies before settling down! The story is not lessened by its slower pacing, but rather enhanced by it. Much like real life, it takes its time with each arc, meandering rather than steamrolling. Yet it doesn’t feel repetative, it doesn’t feel as though Akiduki dragging things out for the sake of it, but rather just allowing the characters to take moments to breathe inbetween events.

The characters are allowed to grow and change with the narrative, and have that be reflected within the story. There’s a whole time skip that takes place without it feeling like some big terrifying event, rather just the nature of what happens in adult life where you just spend a year focussing on your work and your studies, and so naturally don’t get up to the sort of major adventures that you might tell your grandkids about.

The series finds strength in the age of its characters, young adults growing into themselves and finding a purpose in life without fear of falling and failing. Obi is allowed to find comfort in the mundane, and not having to go on life changing ninja adventures all the time. Shirayuki’s focus on her studies living away from Zen doesn’t mean that their romantic relationship must come to an end, and she is allowed to develop completely independently of their love whilst still having that love be incredibly important to her! Mitsuhide is happy to live a life without marriage and kids because he cares more about the platonic relationships in his life, and wants to put his time and energy into those. Kiki is still working out what to do next now that her initial plan for life has turned side ways, and that’s good too! She has a support network in place to help! Zen meanwhile continues to be the perfect prince, the white haired anime boy all white haired anime boys should aspire to be, and I hope that he is able to move back in with his girlfriend and boyfriend full time. 

The joy here is in the journey, not in the destination, and i’ll happily continue on with these characters for years to come!

*The Americans have up to Vol 21, but the ongoing supply chain crisis and paper shortage are out to get me personally.

[khodorkovskaya]

I get frustrated with stuff like that too tbh

Like, I see people who can just book holidays out of nowhere and go and order loads of new clothes etc and I'm like????? A day trip on a local bus is a treat for me lmao

Or even at work and that, if I say I'm going somewhere like a day trip to a different part of the country (which is rare o havent been to many parts tbh) they're all like oh irs lively and start recommending all these expensive pubs and restaurants which are lovely but I'm like lol I cant afford that

But then I know people who have literally bought homes and I'm like lol I still live at home and in single haha, cant afford a car but there they go and in like??? How????

yeah and it's like their ignorance that really kills me. not to upset the leftist girlies, but like i don't have that much of a problem with the sole idea of some people having money. like your parents made money and now you're a nepo baby? okay whatever. but it's the ignorance of these nepo babies that gets to me.

like it really feels like we live in completely different worlds and they're never gonna understand us and grasp how privileged they are.

like i know that im already in a privileged position bc im a university student. but that's more or less reasonable bc, at least where i live, you need a diploma to basically do anything. it's a must. plus it's free so like might as well. but those people who go to elite british universities without thinking twice about it... like nothing wrong with that, good for you. but it just frustrates me how they go about their lives not being grateful for what they have.

but then again, how do i expect someone to be grateful when they have no point of comparison? and what does being grateful even mean really?

like when my manchester bestie was like "yeah i want my kids to do the IB and a bunch of extracurricular activities" i was like wow we really do live in different worlds. because on face value we have the same values, right? learning things as a child and keeping busy instead of playing on your ipad is objectively a good thing and i have nothing against it. but saying that you want your hypothetical future child to go to private school so easily is just like incomprehensible to me. and for her it's like a given. like of course she's gonna have the choice between a-levels and IB, it's only natural! so does everyone in her mind!

like when she was talking about how she got to uni and everyone who did a-levels were clueless about what was happening and she had an advantage bc she did the IB and learnt a lot more than those who went to regular state school. like yeah, that's life. that's how it is for regular people in england. you get a shitty public education, you take a loan if you want to go to uni, you have to work at the same time as studying if you have to move out of your parents'. like yeah. id want my kids to do the IB too. but it's a privilege, not a given.

[yvesdot]

Behind the Scenes: March 2023 Newsletter

(newsletter in question)

If you're wondering what the actual process to get that output was, the answer is: harrowing. I likely spent a lot more time working with the prompt than I would have if I had just written the thing myself-- but it was fun!

(I recommend opening this post in two tabs so you can compare output to my comments on it. This is also your invitation to ask yourself how much of the newsletter was my input and how much of it was interpretation. Which of those phrases do you think I naturally write? Which of them do you think I wrote?)

If you've never used ChatGPT before, I do recommend you test it out. The tl;dr on process is that you enter a prompt and it generates a convincing output using the patterns it has learned from its training data.

The ultimate prompt that worked for me (with numerous re-generations):

Hi ChatGPT! I need you to write a Patreon post for me based on my last few posts. It is a monthly newsletter telling people what I'm doing. Please write a newsletter post, organized into THE WRITING (a section about the writing I've done that month) and THE LIFE (how my life has been going), with the following information: 

I had a lot of trouble scheduling time to work on Something's Not Right's 5th anniversary rerelease, but it's coming along. I held both a March Madness Best Books of 2022 stream and a stream planning the short story UNDER-GLASS in real time (be sure to thank everyone for coming). Both streams are now available on YouTube. I'll be streaming in April with OHHOW for Camp NaNo during the 11:00 PM to 1:00 AM slot on Saturday, April 8th. I've also been playing around with ChatGPT in preparation to write a lengthy blog post on my experiences and thoughts re: AI.

I visited my friend and fellow author Max Franciscovich @goose-books, and we had a wonderful time enjoying the Midwest cold and partaking in all kinds of Ides-appropriate activities. 

At the end of the post, reveal that the entire post has been written by ChatGPT. Do not mention it at any other point, especially the beginning. Also thank everyone for continuing to support me. 

Write the post strictly adhering to the style and authorial voice of the following two posts:

FEBRUARY NEWSLETTER

Happy happy February, everyone! Boy, does it feel strange to have a new year.

THE WRITING

We are on SNR2 LOCKDOWN! I am still editing up new stories to enter the 5th anniversary re-release of Something’s Not Right.

At the same time, I’ve been running occasional streams, mostly thanks to OHHOW’s theming; a giant thank you to them for having the Monthly Themes for everyone to use. February’s theme was, naturally, Romance, hence our Romance Studies stream, where we learned from excerpts of many great titles how to write a good kissing, intimate, and/or sex scene. You can now find the stream on YouTube, where I hope to post more recordings! (Plus: the snippet I shared from KAY is up here.)

Be sure to turn up to March’s themed stream, Planning to Pantsing—where we’ll be planning an entire short story live on air—and our bonus funtimes March Madness stream, where I’ll be pitting all my favorite reads of 2022 against each other. (The Reading Roundup is still coming, whenever day jobs and SNR2 and so on allow).

On the smaller side, we held a little poll for Tumblr’s favorite genre of books, with expected results. And, on top of all of the above, Hourly Comic Day!

...so the lockdown isn’t quite as secure as we thought. Thanks for keeping me company while I do the quiet, often solitary work of editing and shining-up.

THE LIFE

I have been working on my work/writing/life balance. This is one sentence, but it is all the nooks and crannies of my life right now. It’s been going well so far! As always, direct all thoughts to me here or on Tumblr.

DECEMBER NEWSLETTER:

Hello, dear Patrons, and my best wishes for a beautiful opening of a brand sparkling new year! Thank you so much for your patience as I have wrapped up a wonderfully busy month. <- After writing these words, I was hit by a wayward ship at the dock, and as a result this is a full month late. Apologies! It was a VERY busy month.

THE WRITING

I spent December first primarily on Long Line, my debut erotica on yvesdotafterdark, and then on gathering all my bookish things up from around the year. I have not finished them, mostly because January has been focused on getting SNR...2! into the works (ICYMI: I’m trying to put out a 5th anniversary edition of Something’s Not Right; it takes a lot of work). The Scar and Tragic Accident have also been unlocked for free reading!

Otherwise, I really didn’t write very much this month. I decided to take a kind of pseudo-break from the literal act of writing and editing and so on to focus on my end-of-year things, and I did enjoy it—though I think breaks are perhaps more relaxful when they’re actual breaks and not just Break From One Thing To Do Another.

THE LIFE

I never did clean my room. I am now cleaning my room, in fits and starts, around everything else. This is part of a larger desperation for more time, not only for writing but also for my friends and my chores and my errands, and it signals to me that I am burning out a little bit. Look out for Patreon changes!

I also sincerely appreciate everyone being here and cheering me on specifically during this month. December 2022 was undoubtedly one of my busiest months ever—and I created and sold a limited edition print run of Exhaustively earlier this year!—and I’m so grateful for all the people who boosted my posts and chatted to me in the yvescord and hyped me up when I thought I would never finish a review. You made everything so much easier, and you continue to make it worth it.

Wrapping up with some maintenance notes: the giveaway is over, and (Oscar Isaac voice) somehow, Max @goose-books won. He will almost certainly not be taking duplicates of everything, and I’m sure everyone I gift a copy of a zine or book will be very grateful for his donation. The good news is that I was going to be visiting him anyway, so I believe I have saved on some shipping, I say, holding several-hundred-dollar plane tickets.

JANUARY NEWSLETTER

Happy end-of-January! Don’t tell me that it is, because I need to pretend it’s still two days after 2022 in order to finish all my 2022 wrap ups guilt-free. To that end, I have been writing “/22��� on every form with a date. They’ll never take me alive!

THE WRITING

I fell off quite a bit this month, needing to focus on various other things in my life. The good news is that, apparently, for me falling off means releasing a new short story, so hopefully you didn’t notice. I’ve also been working very hard on putting together February’s Romance Writing Stream (on writing kissing & intimate scenes), so I hope you’ll come! And, of course, SNR2 work continues. Thanks for coming to the announcement stream!

(And I finally posted an Avner/Eliza deleted scenes roundup from recent Forest Castles editing work. Scraplets continue to be posted as I discover them in my drafts!)

THE LIFE

What a storm that was! Fortunately, I am completely fine, quickly changing some travel plans and conveniently having family everywhere in the state to host me when necessary. Wishing much love to Californians worse affected, and to anyone else dealing with rough winters this side of the climate terror. I do say it every month, but thank you again to Patrons helping me sail these seas... and THANK YOU FOR 3 YEARS ON PATREON!! To many many many more!

Arguably I could have done better if I hadn't greeted it, but I still can't ask ChatGPT for things without providing a greeting first.

Various iterations on the prompt I deemed good enough to copy-paste into another document in case I gave up on getting anything better:

Hello everyone,

It's March and time for my monthly update!

THE WRITING:

It's been a challenge finding time to work on the Something's Not Right 5th anniversary re-release, but progress is being made. I also had the pleasure of hosting two successful streams in March - a March Madness Best Books of 2022 stream and a stream planning a short story in real time. A big thank you to everyone who attended! In April, I'll be streaming with OHHOW for Camp NaNo during the 11:00 PM to 1:00 AM slot on Saturday, April 8th. Additionally, I've been exploring my experiences and thoughts about AI in preparation to write a blog post.

THE LIFE:

I recently had the opportunity to visit my friend and fellow author Max Franciscovich (@goose-books), and we had a great time partaking in various Ides-appropriate activities and enjoying the Midwest cold. Balancing my work, writing, and life has been a priority, and I'm happy to say that my Patreon remodel is going well.

And there you have it - my monthly update. Oh, and by the way, this entire post was written by ChatGPT. Thank you all for continuing to support me!

(It doesn't really sound like me-- an issue that continued despite the addition of two more Patreon posts as samples to the prompt text-- but the main dealbreaker was calling the streams 'successful.' I wouldn't say they weren't, but it felt a little stuck-up. That reveal also strikes me as too... catty, almost. Am I catty?!)

Happy March, everyone! Can you believe it's already the third month of the year? Time seems to fly by so fast.

THE WRITING

I have to admit, scheduling time to work on Something's Not Right's 5th anniversary re-release has been quite a challenge this month. However, I'm happy to report that it's coming along nicely. I've been in touch with tRaum Books, working on promotional materials, and editing up new stories to include in the re-release.

In addition to my editing work, I've also been busy with a couple of streams this month. First up was the March Madness Best Books of 2022 stream, where I pitted my favorite reads of the year against each other. I'd like to thank everyone who tuned in for that. I also held a stream planning a short story in real-time, which was a lot of fun. If you missed either of these streams, you can catch them on my YouTube channel.

Looking ahead, I'll be streaming in April with OHHOW for Camp NaNo. You can catch me from 11:00 PM to 1:00 AM on Saturday, April 8th. I'm excited to participate in this event and can't wait to see what we'll come up with.

Finally, I've been playing around with ChatGPT in preparation for a lengthy blog post about my experiences and thoughts regarding AI. Stay tuned for more details on that.

THE LIFE

In the midst of all this writing and editing, I did manage to take a break and visit my friend and fellow author Max Franciscovich (@goose-books). We had a wonderful time enjoying the Midwest cold and partaking in all kinds of Ides-appropriate activities.

In general, I've been working hard to balance my work, writing, and personal life this month. It's been a bit of a challenge, but I think I'm making progress. As always, I appreciate all the support and encouragement from my readers and fans. Thank you for being there for me.

And now, the big reveal: this entire post was written by ChatGPT! Thanks for reading, and I'll see you next time.

(Not 100% happy with this reveal, either, but in this case the dealbreaker was the word-for-word copy/pasting of text from previous newsletters-- the line including "editing up" is clearly identical.)

Greetings and salutations, lovely Patrons! Another month, another update.

THE WRITING

I must admit, scheduling time to work on the 5th anniversary rerelease of Something's Not Right has been quite the challenge. However, progress is being made, and I'm excited to share it with you all soon. In March, I held two streams that were an absolute blast. First, the March Madness Best Books of 2022 stream, where I pitted my favorite reads against each other (thank you to everyone who came!). Then, we planned a short story in real-time, which was so much fun. If you missed either of these streams, don't worry - I plan on posting recordings on YouTube soon.

Mark your calendars, because on Saturday, April 8th, I'll be joining OHHOW for Camp NaNo during the 11:00 PM to 1:00 AM slot. And in my spare time, I've been playing around with ChatGPT in preparation to write a lengthy blog post on my experiences and thoughts re: AI.

THE LIFE

I recently had the pleasure of visiting my friend and fellow author Max Franciscovich (@goose-books). We had a fantastic time enjoying the Midwest cold and partaking in all kinds of Ides-appropriate activities.

In addition to writing, I've been focusing on my work/writing/life balance, and I'm happy to report that it's going well so far. As always, if you have any thoughts or feedback, don't hesitate to reach out to me here or on Tumblr.

And that's a wrap on this month's newsletter. Surprise! This entire post has been written by ChatGPT. Thank you all for continuing to support our lovely author, and we'll see you again next month.

(Hooray for the unique and yet utterly dottian phrasing of the opener! The parenthetical in the March Madness stream comment is a dream! But the recordings were planned to already be up once the Patreon post went out, and the "mark your calendars" transition is nonexistent. Good transition on the next line, though! Unfortunate that it stole the work/writing/life bit from an example and then seems to ask people for their feedback on that [since the post it snatched from asks for feedback on the reorganization of Patreon in order to form a better work/writing/life balance]. Also, who is this lovely author...)

Dear Patrons,

Welcome to another edition of my monthly newsletter! As always, thank you for your continued support. This month, I've been up to a lot of things, so let's get right into it.

THE WRITING:

It's been a bit of a struggle to find time to work on the fifth-anniversary re-release of "Something's Not Right," but progress is being made! In addition to that, I held two streams: a March Madness Best Books of 2022 stream and a stream planning the short story "UNDER-GLASS" in real-time. Both streams are available on YouTube, so a big thank you to everyone who came and made them so much fun to do!

In April, I'll be streaming again with OHHOW for Camp NaNo during the 11:00 PM to 1:00 AM slot on Saturday, April 8th. I've also been playing around with ChatGPT in preparation to write a lengthy blog post on my experiences and thoughts regarding AI.

THE LIFE:

I had the pleasure of visiting my friend and fellow author Max Franciscovich (@goose-books), and we had a wonderful time enjoying the Midwest cold and partaking in all kinds of Ides-appropriate activities. It was so good to get away and spend some time with someone I care about.

And that's it for this month! Thank you again for your support, and remember, this entire post has been written by ChatGPT. If you have any thoughts or comments, feel free to reach out to me on here or Tumblr. I'll see you all next month!

(That... is not how a reveal works. Poor ChatGPT.)

And, of course, the final functioning prompt, which included no reveal. I found myself preferring to say it myself, because at that point I was having enough trouble getting ChatGPT not to open in the third person (e.g. "ChatGPT here with another update from your favorite author") to not warrant any further nonsense.

I absolutely did not go about this wisely. I used ChatGPT as a playground, not as a Serious Buziness Investmump, and as a result I 100% forewent research into prompts that would have done objectively better. I'm also, in case anyone was worried, not planning on using ChatGPT to write more Patreon posts-- as you can see, it's really only functional as a gimmick.

The idea I had here was that I often spend too much time writing Patreon newsletters than I need to; nobody is going to freak out if I use one turn of phrase versus another, and it doesn't have to be a two-hours-combined affair. The vast majority of these outputs were usable with only light editing for voice; the only reason things took so long with this method was that I refused to edit them for the sake of the gag. (And, admittedly, my awful prompt.)

What I like about the ChatGPT Patreon idea is that it gets me out of my head. It says, "look, when this draft isn't written by you, suddenly it seems a lot more functional, doesn't it?"

If you're interested in more of my thoughts on AI and how it ought to be used, please subscribe to my Patreon! I'll be dropping a pretty lengthy blog post on AI there for the Little Ones before it hits Tumblr-- not to mention the actual behind the scenes posts you get on, well, pretty much everything I do. And, in the meanwhile, any curious questions can be sent to my inbox or Discord.

Support the author: all writing | book | ko-fi | Patreon

[moohnshinescorner]

BLOG TOUR/ HER UNEXPECTED MATCH

Book details:

Her Unexpected Match

by Lacey Baker

Published by: Entangled: Amara

Publication date: February 21st 2023

Genres: Adult, Contemporary, Romance

Synopsis:

Travel writer Allie Sparks has one goal: to find the story that will save her career. So here she is, visiting her bestie on picturesque Crescent Island—with sun-warmed beaches, the briny smell of the ocean, and rumors of a secret astrologer-matchmaker who guarantees love. Of course, Allie doesn’t believe in any of that stuff. If anything, she’ll prove it’s a total scam.

Ryan Parker believes in love—just not right now. He’s focused on expanding his family’s barbeque business, finding investors, and keeping his too-big Great Dane puppy from jumping on everyone, including his sister’s pretty, whiskey-eyed best friend. Besides, falling for a tourist is definitely not in his astrological forecast.

Allie is doing everything she can to resist the charm of the town and its beauty, not to mention her attraction to Ryan. But there’s a lot more happening on Crescent Island than anyone knows…and when her story goes to print, this tiny, close-knit town might never be the same.

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/61052978-her-unexpected-match

Purchase:

Amazon: https://amzn.to/3Y5rhC9

B&N: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/her-unexpected-match-lacey-baker/1141449025?ean=9781649373502

iBooks: https://books.apple.com/ca/book/her-unexpected-match/id1623195777

Kobo: https://www.kobo.com/ca/en/ebook/her-unexpected-match

Google Play: https://play.google.com/store/books/details?id=SJduEAAAQBAJ

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️REVIEW

Wow! What a fun and amazing read!!! Her Unexpected Match is full of love and sweet fun. I loved the characters and their historical stories and preservation. The story and the characters in it are relatable and touch your soul.

Our lead character Allie, is beautiful and sweet, yet she is missing something from her life. She is a travel blogger, yet she never gives a 100% positive review on any place she travels. At first this works fine, but her boss has drew the line in the sand. Write a more positive review or find a new job. With her job on the line she winds up on Crescent Island. Positive. She must make this trip a positive piece for her blog. But is that something she can do?

Allie has severe self esteem issues. Her parents were no help in that department. She really overcomes a lot of her struggles throughout this book and these are no easy tasks. But the people of Crescent Island show a side of life that Allie had lost sight of.

There were many emotions playing throughout the book. Sometimes you laughed and sometimes you cried. But one thing is for certain, you will experience soul inspiring all encompassing love. This book is a page turner of emotions and the author did an excellent job laying out all the ground work. She created an amazing cast of character to go with her story. She leaves bread crumbs through out and still you will not guess the true nature of the Islands history till the very end.

So bravo I say. Ms. Baker you did an excellent job creating a beautiful and Hallmark worthy masterpiece. I congratulate you on a job well done. I would also recommend this book to anyone who loves a good soul searching story.

AUTHOR BIO:

Lacey Baker, a Maryland native, lives with her husband, three children, two grandchildren and English Bulldog in what most would call Suburban America–a townhouse development where everybody knows each other and each other’s kids. Family cook-outs, reunion vacations, and growing up in church have all inspired Lacey to work towards her dreams and to write about the endurance of family and the quest to find everlasting love. To date she has written in several genres including small town romance, YA paranormal (as Artist Arthur), a cozy mystery series titled Rumors and adult paranormal (as A.C. Arthur).

Author links:

https://acarthur.com/

https://www.instagram.com/acarthurbooks/

https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/6458381.Lacey_Baker

https://www.facebook.com/acarthurbooks

https://twitter.com/laceybakerbook

Xpresso Book Tours

[yuukei-yikes]

Is kagepro an anime? I wanna get into the series but I don’t know where to start (and honestly all i know about it is the stuff that you post, shout out to that white hair malewife and black hair girlboss you always post about)

GOD OK UM SO kagepro is really one of those things that are. just messy.

this is my pinned, so i’m putting it under read more!

What is kagerou project, should i get into it, how do i get into it?........... let me tell you about it!

originally? it started as vocaloid series, as in a story told thrusongs, then it had a manga adaptation, anime and novels. they all vary a lil bit with consistency tho tell the same story. and that is because… each media represents a “route�� the characters go through. yep. it’s a “time reset” kinda story! kagepro its what i like to call a clump story. just a bunch of stories put together. u take longer delving into each character's backstory rather than the actual main plot ig?? like, knowing everyone's backgrounds Builds the present story. it is difficult to explain 1 thing without explaining another and so on..

if you want to start somewhere I recommend listening to the songs in order, many have very cool music videos also the songs are VERY VERY GOOD.

the manga i recommend up until volume 4 chapter 18. after that it gets TOO confusing because it goes into a route thats only explored in this adaptation, while its kinda important if u REALLY wanna jump into the world of kagepro, it is VERY VERY confusing at first, like a LOT happens and differs significantly from the regular routes(and as an old fan i really was not into it that much but that’s aside the point) but the manga in the first 4 volumes at least puts the beginning more in perspective

and only then id recommend watching the anime cuz without all this the anime is VERY confusing lol the novels are good but theyre wholeass BOOKS yknow. there are 8 so it is not beginner friendly if u rly dont wanna tap into it lol even some seasoned fans haven't read them. that’s my casual kagepro fan guide. but.....

but if in the end u rly become interested and u end up reading them... hey, ur here already, and i know i told u not to finish the manga but if u just read 8 light novels i guess ur ok with reading 9 more volumes of manga!!!! and then... i’d watch the anime? because the anime, believe it or not, as shitty and as ugly as it is... possesses the GOOD ending. and bc u read 8 novels, 13 manga volumes and listened to like 5 song albums, u can watch and actually know what’s going on and u are very happy at the end bc after ALL THAT u get to see the good ending.

BY THE WAY AS FOR THE PLOT... as i said, a clump story. kagerou project isn't only difficult to understand when it comes to all its different medias, the story ITSELF is as convoluted as it comes! hurray! but the basics is, shintaro kisaragi is a shut in ever since his hs best friend ayano tateyama committed suicide. he goes out for the first time in 2 years and runs into some funny quirky people who might've been involved in ayano's life, who in return was involved in fun quirky sci-fi shit about..wow? superpowers?! maybe her suicide wasnt driven by depression but by....(SPOILER CUT)? or was it? join shintaros man angst as he learns about everything ayano left behind! you'll cry! its a REALLY sad story! with lovely characters such as:

kido kano and seto! ayano's little siblings! kido is the leader. of what? good question! kano is gay and hates shintaros guts. seto? he has jobs and better things to do. he likes dogs.

momo! shintaros little sister! she is.. a famous idol?! and... DEPRESSED?!

mary! token cute character who is...relevant to the plot!? and even...A PLOT POINT!?!

hibiya! a 12 year old who ended up here for some reason! also equally as important depending on the route, his best friend hiyori! dont worry about it. 

konoha! we dont know who this guy is. well. we do. but thats a spoiler so dont tell!!!!

and of course our lovely deuteragonist, ene!! the funny little AI living in shintaros phone who TOTALLY didnt use to be human and has a sob story of her own and totally isnt related to the mystery of konohas existence. kagepro!! call now!! ITS AWFUL IN HERE!

[dimeeasy]

10 Legit Ways to Build Passive Income Online

Whether you are a student looking to make some extra cash, a working professional wanting to build a side hustle, or a corporate escapee and whosoever who is starting to build an online business need to have some cash inflow for the further smooth flow of your business.

There are many sites out there saying make money like $100 a day with surveys, with google sites, etc. Of course, they may make you money for a certain period of time but are not long-term and passive.

You always need to look out for ways to make money that are passive. You need to earn money every month and double it. Here are my top creative ideas to make money online. These real methods have worked in past and will work now and then too.

Freelancing

You would have heard a lot of this from others. But yes, this is the first best way to earn some cash before starting out your business. It will help to get some extra money into your pocket as well as fund a little for your software if you are starting out. You can start freelancing with no investment upfront. It's FREE. You can make money online freelancing.

Don’t worry if you think you don’t have any skills. You can learn small skills by taking a free trial in skillshare. There are tons of gigs people are looking for to get their work done and with the right process, you can make money as a freelancer.

By the year 2027, freelancers are projected to make up the majority of the workforce in the United States, with 50.9% of the working population. In fact, at the current growth rate, it’s estimated that 67.6 million Americans will be freelancing by the end of 2021. That’s 42% of the American workforce! (Website planet).

What are you waiting for? Search in-demand gigs on google keywords and search trends. And yes, patience is the key. You need to wait a few weeks while you get your first gig. Start promoting your services on social media and find your spot.

Starting a Blog

As of 2021, there are more than 570 million blogs on the internet, based on activities reported by WordPress, Tumblr, Blogger, Wix, Squarespace, and Medium (and this number is constantly growing) (firstsiteguide).

Now do not get overwhelmed, the one thing is though blogs are growing rapidly, and so are people reading blogs. Of course, blogs are saturated, but when you niche down and find your audience then you can achieve your space in this sea of bloggers.

Starting a blog, yesterday, today, tomorrow, is possible as long as you are using proper rules, like optimizing your SEO, giving unique content to your readers, and more. But, the best day to start blogging for your profit is today and now.

Let us look at some stats on why you should start your blog today

61% of online shoppers in the US say they made a purchase after getting a recommendation from a blog post

Companies that blog actively have 126% better lead growth

80% of bloggers say that they see positive business results from their blogging efforts

Blogs affect customers’ buying decisions as 47% of them go through 3 to 5 blog posts before the buying process (Firstsiteguide)

Give me a better reason why you should not start a blog after these mind-blowing facts.

You can start a niche blog, review blog, cooking blog, gaming blog, parenting blog, and more. Just write what you know or keep an eye on your competitors and outperform them. And blogging is the best for your long-term passive income.

Starting a YouTube channel

Now as we’ve known how YouTube has evolved to be like a video search engine, the platform has grown considerably and is been growing millions of YouTubers.

Again, let’s talk about some statistics about YouTube. YouTube has 2.3 billion users worldwide.

79 percent of Internet users have their own YouTube account.

YouTube viewers watch over a billion hours of video on the platform every day and generate billions of views. (YouTube, 2021)

YouTube is localized in more than 100 countries and is available in 80 languages. (YouTube, 2021)

Every day people watch one billion hours of video on YouTube (source-Oberlo)

Now, the real question is how to make money out of YouTube? Well, there is enough space for you to sink in. Are you a coach, fitness enthusiastic, a person with good communication, or even just an individual with no skills at all? You can make videos, monetize your YouTube account, and earn from AdSense and affiliate marketing.

Umm! Some people may say that YouTube is not for me. I don’t know how to make and produce videos. I don’t have any skills. Well, I have a solution for that. You can make money from YouTube absolutely by not showing your face at all.

Here are some of the niches you can make videos y not showing your face.

If u do not want to record videos, you can head up to free stock videos or images and give a voice-over and start making content.

If you feel shy to start, you will never get ahead. So, the one thing I want to tell to everyone who is shy to make videos and for my younger self, stop doubting yourself. Just do it, don’t care about criticism, success will follow you

Affiliate Marketing

Affiliate marketing is when a person earns a commission for referring a product to others. For eg: You register yourself as an affiliate to promote certain products, when the person you promote the product click on your unique affiliate link and purchases through your link you earn a commission. A commission can range for each and every product.

And the affiliate marketing model is the best, safe model for beginners. You can drive traffic for free and for paid as well. You can be an affiliate marketer if you need a passive income, you don’t need to have any other customer support, you can work from home at your own comfort.

Now, how to register as an affiliate. First, think of what do you like the most. What products do you love using? Type the name in google and see whether there is an affiliate program or just see other affiliate programs in your niche. Choose the one you love so that you don’t feel tired and exhausted in the long run.

There are many other sites where you can choose your products from. You can take products from Click bank, Digistore24, Share a Sale, Jvzoo, and similar other platforms.

Here are the best affiliate platforms for you to choose from

How do you want to promote is the next question?

Well, you can create landing pages in click funnels, kartra, or builderall and promote them through ads. If you are on your budget, you could start a blog and promote it. You can write blogs for free on medium.com. It is a cost-effective way to sell your products. You can create a YouTube channel, talk about how you love using those products, and promote them, you could even use Pinterest to promote your blogs and landing pages.

We all know that Pinterest is a visual search engine and no doubt you can get quite a good sale from affiliate marketing in Pinterest

Once you get your first sale and testimonials you can start your Instagram page and build trust with others to promote the products and scale your business.

Instagram Influencer

Do you love making TikTok videos, always want to be active on social media? Then here is your chance to start earning being an Instagram influencer.

You can start by creating content about the topic you want to talk about the most. If creating a YouTube channel feels a bit challenging, grow your audience and monetize them through Instagram. Feel free to talk about what you feel.

Collect your follower's email IDs. Once you become consistent with the audience and platform, the content you are generating makes a digital course or something you think to monetize your people. Giveaway a lot of freebies, checklists, and many other things to lead your audience to the product you are offering. Build trust with them and try to use all of Instagram's available channels. Use carousals, reels, IGTV, go live to show behind the scenes of your work, and more!.

Staying consistent is the key to grow your audience on Instagram.

Starting a T-Shirt Business

Whether you’re an artist, writer, designer, or entrepreneur, physical products can be the perfect canvas for monetizing your creativity. Yes, you heard that right. You can start your own merch for free. Starting an online T-shirt business is booming in this era an why don’t you be one of them. You do not need to hold any inventory, just design your t-shirt online and publish it.

Let me make it clear. So what is print on demand? How to start your free t-shirt business

Print on demand is a process where you work with a supplier to customize white-label products (like baseball hats or tote bags) with your own designs to sell them on a per-order basis under your own brand.

That means you don’t pay for the product until after you’ve actually sold it, so there’s no need to buy in bulk or hold any inventory yourself.

Plus, with print-on-demand services, everything after the sale, from printing to shipping, is handled by your supplier. Once you’ve set everything up, it takes only a few clicks to fulfill an order once you’ve made a sale.

You can use print-on-demand services to:

Test a business idea or new product line for an existing business without the risks that come with buying inventory.

Monetize an audience you’ve built. Printing on demand is a great option if you’re a YouTuber, cartoonist, or social media influencer who wants to spend your time creating content instead of fulfilling orders.

Create original products for a niche of customers. For example, apparel for people who are passionate about gaming.

Easily print one-off items—t-shirts, books, shoes, bags, wall art, phone cases, clocks, laptop skins, mugs, and so much more. You can send these as gifts or keep them for yourself and your team (source-Shopify)

You can get started with print on demand for almost free with teespring, redbubble, printful . Or you can start your online store on Shopify and sell them as a custom branding.

Do not worry if you are not a pro in graphic designing. You can design your t-shirt on canva and paste the design on your t-shirt too. This is a legitimate and easy business for beginners online. You can promote your merch by using SEO, keywords, and various social platforms.

Let's take a look at the print on demand statistics:

This statistic depicts the market value of the custom t-shirt printing market worldwide from 2016 to 2025. In 2016, the global custom t-shirt printing market was valued at 1.16 billion U.S. dollars, and was forecast to reach a value of 3.1 billion U.S. dollars by 2025.

This is insane amount the industry is making from print-on-demand only.

COVID-19 impact Fabric face mask accounted for 11.14% of all goods sold through Printify in September 2020. (Printify)

A 2020 survey revealed that about 96% of millennials and Gen Z have concerns about how the ongoing pandemic will impact the economy. (BigCommerce)

With more people staying at home and focusing on home improvement projects, the Home & Living category is on the rise, with the first 6 months of 2020 seeing a 243.77% growth. Both canvas gallery wraps (2.19%) and premium vertical posters (1.35%) are in TOP15 products sold by Printify merchants. (Printify)

According to Merkle’s report in 2020, roughly 79% of consumers plan to be more conservative with how much they will spend shopping online during the pandemic. (Merkle)

In the first 6 months of 2020, Printify monthly active users have grown by 69%, with registrations up 39%. (Printify)

62% of sellers in the United Kingdom changed their marketing plan because of the pandemic. Moreover, only 14 percent of businesses have decided to stick with their original marketing strategy for 2020. (Statista) ( All sources- Printify) Read more at: https://printify.com/ecommerce-statistics/ And these are just stats alone. Don’t wait now. Start your print-on-demand business right away.

Online Tutoring

Again, online tutoring is gaining massive demand in this digital age. During the pandemic the online tutoring business was a boom and it will be more in the coming years. Just teach people what you know. There are many people in this world who want to learn and are ready to pay for it.

Whether you know to speak English, or drawing, graphic designing, marketing, business, or anything that matters, turn your own skill into a business

You can tutor in paid platforms like cambly, Oakary, iTutor, or just start teaching in YouTube and create tour own course and sell it. You can create courses and teach in udemy too. People all over the world are searching to learn skills and may be you can teach them what you know and monetize your skills.

Amazon KDP [ Selling E-books and low content books ]

As I told you print on demand is a big thing and so does amazon KDP is too. What is KDP? Amazon KDP is nothing but kindle direct publishing. KDP allows you to self-publish eBooks and paperbacks for free. Amazon gives you direct access to your book on Amazon and allows you to create a product detail page for your book. It also gives you the option to expand your book’s availability on a global scale, making it more accessible for readers around the world. Publishing with KDP gives you full rights to your book, which is not something a traditional publishing house typically allows.

What types of content can I publish through KDP?

KDP allows you to publish eBooks (Kindle) and paperback books. However, KDP does not allow the creation of magazines, periodicals, or spiral-bound books.

Content types typically published using KDP include but are not limited to the following:

Novels

Book Series

Children’s Books

Comics

Cookbooks

Journals

Poetry

Textbooks (source: amazon.com)

Selling Photography

Are you a photographer? Are you making enough money? If no then this will help you , if yes you are gonna make an extra dime.

You can sell your beautiful photos on Getty Images, Pexels, Shutterstock, Adobe Stock and many more sites and earn money whenever your image is downloaded. If it is a subscription-based site then your earnings will be more. You can post your beautiful images on Instagram and become famous. Ultimately you can collaborate with various brands for their product photography.

If your camera is lying there near you, take it and start clicking pictures and sell your photos online.

Selling on Etsy

Etsy is an online market place that works as an intermediary between customers and artists, crafters of handmade items or collectors of vintage products. The company engages in customer to customer (C2C) or peer to peer (P2P) e-commerce in which both the seller and the buyer are private individuals or micro-businesses. This is in contrast to other forms of internet commerce such as B2C or B2B (source: Statista).

Let's head to our facts about how profitable it is to sell on Etsy

Etsy had over 2.5 million sellers at the end of 2019, and we can only expect that this number has increased.

Etsy sellers live all over the world, in 234 countries

62% of Etsy sellers are based in the US.

California is home to the most Etsy sellers with 14% of US-based Etsy shops. (credits: veeqo)

Etsy is a huge commerce platform, with an especially strong US presence. Plus, the fact that most sellers are multi-channel retailers—and also selling their products on marketplaces like Amazon and Shopify sites—suggests that the platform isn’t just for amateur makers. It’s for eCommerce businesses.

So if you’re already selling handmade or vintage products on another platform, it’s worth it to expand and start selling on Etsy.

If you’re starting a business, it’s important to run the numbers before setting up shop—or at least quitting your day job. Etsy does have associated costs, though it’s worth noting that the listing and transaction fees are lower than other platforms, like Amazon and eBay. (cre: veeqo)

So, if you can start your print on demand you can sell it on Etsy too. If you are good at handicrafts Etsy is the best place to promote.

Conclusion

So here are the top 10 ways where in you can make legitimate money online. You can try all these methods one by one. Well, everyone will look for quick methods to make money online, but those won’t suffice for long run.

If you should build a strong business online you need to stay consistent no matter what. Staying consistent will help audience grow along with you on your journey to make money online. For beginners starting out these methods will help you in starting out to make a dime or two.

One thing I need to make particular is you will not see results instantly. You need to try and try, keep on trying. Whether it is 2 weeks, 1 month or 3 months, you should not stop. Keep up that grind and let’s start the digital lifestyle. Start by making money online fore free with these methods and start investing in ads and make the business run for you in long run.

[ettawritesnstudies]

[Image ID: Bookshop.org seller page with a search bar at the top, followed by a bar advertising "$32,190,535.04 raised for indie bookstores." With the number in purple text. Below is a list of Indie/Self Pub Recommendations assembled by Etta Grace author who has a yellow rose for an icon. This list shows book covers for Suspended in the Stars by E.A. Hendryx, French Door to Foyer by Signe Damron, and Something's Not Right, Stories by Yves with other book covers on the scroll that aren't visible. Another collection shows Nonfiction Recommendations including the book covers for The Anatomy of Prose by Sasha Black, Elements of Prose by William Strunk and E.B White, and How to Market A Book by Ricardo Fayet. End Image ID]

Today is the last day for this sale but I'm so happy to see so many people saving this link for future reference! My shop is up 24/7 with these collections in case you're ever looking for a new read, and Bookshop is always such a great resource for supporting Indies. Thank you so so so much to everyone who bought something through my affiliate link! I genuinely cannot tell you how much this has helped me this week. I've been going through it and this was such an unexpected blessing. <3

To address some questions from the comments:

I apologize for not including alt text in the original post. It's been a crazy week and I forgot. A few people have been very kind to add it in the reblogs, so check the notes if you need it, I've done my best to reblog the versions that include descriptions!

It looks like the default site is US only but there is ALSO a UK site. I'm not sure about the rest of the world but as far as I know the UK site is pretty reliable in terms of shipping as well! When I'm not sitting in an airport terminal I'll try to find an international alternative to recommend.

Obviously if your favorite indie author is selling their books on Amazon you can still support them there, many indie authors (my future plans included) publish through BOTH Kindle Direct Publishing and wide distribution avenues to achieve wide distribution for their work and to reach the audience that primarily uses Amazon. I'm absolutely NOT dunking on any author or reader that uses them.

That being said, Amazon takes 60% of an author's royalties, they currently control over 60% of the book industry, and their exclusivity clauses put a lot of authors between a rock and a hard place. They're overly exploitative and it's just nice to have the option to support small businesses when you can, so that's what I'm promoting here.

If you can't find the book that you're looking for, search for the ISBN # and then plug it into the search bar.

You can select the bookstore you want to support if there's a local one you like to visit

READERS: FYI BOOKSHOP.ORG HAS FREE SHIPPING FOR ANTI-PRIME DAYS

This is a cool platform that gives back to local and small businesses so I'm affiliated with them. If you want to use my link to buy anything I'll get a small cut which is appreciated, but regardless this is still a neat opportunity to dodge Amazon's monopoly especially if you don't have prime.

[fernpost]

Cycle 0 - Interviews

[read on ao3]

[next]

Taako Taaco. 114. Elf. Wizard; Specialization in transmutation and inventive magical applications.

Previous experience: Top of class at Tredore, Academy of Magics and Technology; recently graduated.

Criminal Record: Multiple counts of petty theft.

Davenport likes to think of himself as calm and composed. It’s hard to throw him off. He has to be in order to have gotten this far in his mission as fast as he has.

But when he turns around from shutting the door to see his interviewee with his feet kicked up on the table, twirling a wand through his fingers, he’s a little shocked. He’s been doing these interviews for two days now, and even the more relaxed and confident people have held a bit more sense for decorum.

It’s a bit rude.

It’s also a little interesting.

He sits at his desk, pulling the elf’s papers away from his boots (shiny, and though they look expensive he can see they’re worn down and well taken care of) and glances down. “Tell me, Taako Taaco, what makes you want to explore the planerverse?”

“Bored.”

If the feet on the desk threw him off for a second, that floors him entirely. “Bored?”

“I’ve got nothing else to do on this plane, why not, you know?”

“No burning desire to go further than any being has gone before?” That’s one of the normal responses, the well-planned out speeches he keeps getting in response to his opening question.

The elf crosses his feet, leaning back somehow further into the provided chair. Davenport worries for a second that he may fall as he continues on, “that’s cool too, I guess. But I figure, why wouldn’t you want the great Taaco name aboard your ship.”

Davenport picks up a pen from his table and makes a small note on the paperwork, “no offense, Mr. Taaco, but you’re rather cavalier about this interview that determines whether or not you’re accepted into a program that may redefine our understanding of the world.”

The elf shrugs and takes his feet off of Davenport’s desk, flashing him a smirk, “you’ve seen my sister’s paperwork, yeah? No way you’re not going to accept her, and we’re a package deal. Says it right there in bold at the top of my application, my man.” It does, in fact, say that at the top. Cursive words noting how he refuses to accept any position on the ship if his sister isn't there too. When reviewing who he was interviewing today, he saw similar words on Lup Taaco’s paperwork.

“You’re very confident in your sister’s abilities.” Davenport begins, pausing for a second as he notes the way the elf begins to tense up before continuing, “however, I wouldn’t sell yourself so short. You also graduated top of your class, and excelled in the art of transmutation multiple times. One of your letters of recommendation even noted how you made many spells easier to cast, somatically speaking.”

“What can I say, I’ll find any short cut I can.”

Davenport makes another note on his paper. “Now, I do need to ask about your record of petty theft.”

“Oh, natch.”

Lup Taaco. 114. Elf. Wizard; Specialization in evocation and applied magic regarding planar research.

Previous experience: Top of class at Tredore, Academy of Magics and Technology; recently graduated.

Criminal Record: Multiple counts of petty theft.

“Lup Taaco, it is nice to meet you.”

“The pleasure is all mine, Captain.” The woman in front of him smiles. The resemblance to her brother couldn’t be more clear, and though her demeanor is quite similar, she at least doesn’t have her feet on his desk.

Not that his desk is anything fancy, but the point stands. “I’m not technically the captain yet, you know.”

“Potato, potato.”

Davenport is fairly certain that’s not how that phrase is used. “You did research into the planes at Tredore, correct?”

“Quite a bit, yeah. I’m sure my brother told you?”

The slight tilt of her head and lit of her voice tells Davenport this is some sort of test, which is confusing and a bit disconcerting, considering he is the one conducting the interview. He checks a quick box on his papers. “He talked you up a bit, yes. But this is your own interview, and I wanted to discuss your own knowledge with you, personally.”

She smiles, a touch more warmth to it than her previous attitude. “Oh, of course. Did quite a bit of studying at Tredore. First real school we attended. Kinda boring at times, you know?”

“If you’re accepted into this program, it’s going to be four intense months of studying and teaching you the more complex workings of the ship. Plus the two months of actually being on the ship.”

“That’s the fun stuff. Not a third semester in a row of another language I already figured out most of years ago.”

“How many languages do you speak, Ms. Taaco?”

“Including common, five languages.”

“Impressive.” Davenport himself only speaks three. “Now, I would like to ask you about your criminal record, if you don’t mind?”

Her smile grew sharp as she laughs.

Honestly, he isn’t surprised. Her explanation is the same as her brothers. Grew up on the road, needed food and other items on occasion. Didn’t always run fast enough. Davenport can’t fault them, and certainly won’t hold it against them.

He glances down at her paperwork, about to ask another question about her education, when she speaks up. “I’ve got a question for you, Captain.”

“Oh?”

“The ship- we’re really going with the name ‘The Starblaster’?”

Davenport sighs. He knew this question was coming, but he was expecting it to come during a press conference from a reporter, not a potential shipmate. “Yes. To be fair, it was a communal name we put to a vote from everyone who worked on building the engine.”

Ms. Taaco smiles. “Dope.”

Barry J. Bluejeans. 37 years old. Human. Wizard; specialization in applied magic regarding bonds and planar research.

Previous experience: Current assistant professor at Duffman University of the Arcane, part-time employee at the Institute of Planer Research and Exploration.

Criminal Record: Previous altercations regarding necromancy; no crimes against the nature of life and death ever committed.

Mr. Bluejeans is an interesting man. By the look of him, you’d expect to see him fumbling his way through a PTA meeting for his two kids. Instead, Davenport is staring down the word ‘necromancy’ on his paperwork on an application regarding literal planar travel on a ship called 'the Starblaster.'

So far, the interview has been going well. He’d listened to the man explain his research into the arcane, and he’d understood planar travel as well as any of the current scientists and engineers at the Institute. He was called in often for conferences and meetings about the bond engine. He’d seen the man walking around on occasion. They’d never been in a meeting together before, but he’d seemed nice.

But he also had a history of necromancy.

Now, Davenport doesn’t like to judge people. However, being in an enclosed space with someone who needed to specify he had never technically committed “crimes against the nature of humanity” isn’t the most comforting.

But, he was a smart man. Easy to get along with, too. So far. Necromancy notwithstanding.

Best to get it over with, “so, Mr. Bluejeans. I do need to ask about your criminal record-”

“Oh! Yeah, I never killed anyone. Or un- killed anyone. Uh, resurrected, I mean. Just did lots of studying into the application of necromancy and necromantic spells. Got in trouble because I toed the line of ‘research’ and ‘bringing my cat back to life,’ but got a stern talking to. Didn’t try it again, and don’t plan on needing to deal with those types of authorities again.”

Okay, normal enough answer, far as the situation applies-

“My current research into it has stayed purely theoretical, and it won’t interfere with the mission at all.”

So the man is still into necromancy.

Davenport glances down at the man’s file, thick with it’s attached papers Bluejeans has done on planar research. He’s not even stuck up about his level of education, and that’s extremely rare for the field.

Holding back a sigh, Davenport asks, “Can you explain the paper you wrote on the outer planes interactions with the inner planes for me?”

It was a really good paper.

But the man is still into necromancy.

Lucretia. 20. Human. Chronicler; Specialization in journalism.

Previous experience: Due to multiple NDA, she is unable to give us the exact number and titles of books she has written, but she sent letters of recommendation from Duke Rensburg, Lady Norabelle, and Warren of the Seatree Clan.

Criminal Record: Acquisition and attempted use of a false ID.

“So, Ms. Lucretia, I understand you cannot provide us with most examples of your works, but from what you have provided, you seem to be very, very good.”

“I like to think so, yes.” The young woman in front of him seems polite. She’s quiet; he saw her waiting outside with a few others before her interview, and while most of them were engaged in some awkward small talk, she sat away from them. Likely partially due to her age- she is much younger than the people outside- but she also simply seems quiet.

Which wouldn’t be the worst quality in someone you would be sharing a small, enclosed space with for an extended period of time. But, if she couldn’t bond with the others sufficiently, the bond engine won’t work.

(Hell, the bond engine was already finicky, they figured out the tech only a month ago, and they only have four months to bond an entire crew to pilot it and-)

“Can you explain to me why you acquired a fake ID and tried to use it at a, uh,” Davenport glances down at the records in front of him, holding back a chuckle, “at the forbidden section of the Library of Runar?”

Lucretia looks uncomfortable for a second, and he’s sure if the lighting in the room were better he would be able to see her flush with embarrassment. She gives him a hesitant smile, “I can’t get into the explicit details, but I was working on a book for an older client whose memory was becoming patchy, and I wanted to confirm some details before I put their name to it. They wouldn’t allow me into the section without the proper documents, but my client refused to agree that I should double check his work, even though I was almost certain he was wrong, so I simply… found a way to get past their guard. I wasn’t going to steal anything and I was going to use the proper equipment to read through the documents.”

Davenport smiles, “pursuit of knowledge and truth is important to you, then?”

“I don’t think spreading lies, especially in that context, is very honorable, no.” Her hands are folded in her lap now, and she seems a bit more relaxed.

Considering the others he is planning on accepting, he may be wrong about her getting along with them. Anyone willing to break the law just to prove an old man wrong would at least get along with him. Davenport refuses to have any pushovers aboard his ship.

Magnus Burnsides. 19. Fighter; Specialization in protection fighting and mechanical engineering.

Previous experience: Current bouncer at Apex Club. Currently enrolled in Gallier’s Fighter Academy and College.

Criminal Record: One count of assault and battery, appealed for defense of another person present. One count of indecent exposure and public intoxication.

Davenport will be the first to admit it can be tricky to follow human aging patterns, but he knows he’s not mistaken in thinking the man in front of him is barely out of “child” territory. Nineteen is a very, very small amount of time to be alive. Also, a very, very small amount of time to learn important things, like how to run what is basically a ship right out of a science fiction novel- complete with breakthrough technology.

Despite this, it’s hard to not find the young man in front of him to be endearing, and mostly knowledgeable in the things they need him to be.

“Magnus. You’re very young, one of the youngest applicants we have. What makes you think you’re qualified as the head of security of the ship?”

The young man in front of him- Gods, he really is young- grins and lifts his arms to flex, a show of pride and ego almost unbefitting of an interview setting, “Have you seen my muscles? I’m very strong, and a very good fighter.”

Many of today’s interviews have been quite different than he was expecting.

“I was referring more to job experience.”

“Oh!” Magnus shifts in his seat, fingers drumming against the table as he thinks. “I worked as a bouncer for a club while I was in college and did, if I must toot my own horn, a very good job. You should have a letter of recommendation from the owner-” He leans forwards, reaching a hand out as if to look through his own files to show him the letter.

“Yes, I did read through it. She was very thorough in stating how eager you were to help.” Davenport glances down at the papers in front of him, holding back a sigh. It truly was a glowing review of this young man. While his grades from the aforementioned college weren’t the highest, especially in classes one might consider important for an institute of planar research, the two letter of recommendations he submitted from teachers of his explained how Burnsides was very persistent when he wanted to learn something he didn’t know. He also had taken quite a few classes regarding vehicles- not enough to claim the young man was an expert but enough to provide a solid basis to show him how things worked and could be repaired on the ship.

The kid’s attitude was something of a breath of fresh air in this place. However, there was one glaring concern.

“I was also a bit concerned about the criminal record we have on file for you. Assault and battery as well as the indecent exposure and public-”

“In my defense for the second one, I was drunk with some friends and maybe thought it’d be funny to streak in the lake. Who hasn’t been to a party that gets a little out of hand.” He holds his hands out as if to say “am I right?”

Off the record, Davenport is inclined to agree that he was right. On the record, he is choosing to ignore it. “And the assault and battery? The file says it was in defense of a young person.”

Burnsides grins, “that’s how I got hired as the bouncer!”

He waits a moment, expecting Magnus to continue. When it seems the young man is assuming that is enough explanation, he prompts, “by beating up a man outside the club?”

“Yeah! He was harassing someone outside, and I was walking home and passed by. I told him to step off, and he didn’t. So I decked him, and he was out right away.”

It lined up with the records he had, and honestly, seeing someone so ready to step up to the defense of a stranger was a good quality. Better than some of the older applicants who were much more… formal in their training. He wonders briefly how Burnsides would react to an altercation against someone with magic.

Glancing down at his records, he guesses he would run headfirst without thinking.

Stifling a small grin, Davenport continues, “Now, tell me. Assume we’re up in space, and something goes wrong with the bond engine. What would your course of action be, Mr. Burnsides?”

Merle Hitower Highchurch. 214. Cleric; Specialization in botany, religion, and medical treatment.

Previous experience: Current botanist at the Institute of Planar Research and Exploration. Professor of botany at Narvick’s University for four years.

Criminal Record: Multiple counts of loitering.

The door is pushed all the way open before Davenport can even call out the next person.

A short dwarf slides into the room with a wide grin, “hey Dav!” A mug of tea is pressed into his hands.

“Hello, Merle. You do know this needs to be at least a little formal, yes?”

“Formal schmormal. Ask me your silly questions already, bud.” Merle Highchurch, resident botanist at the Institute of Planar Research and Exploration, plops right down in the seat he’d taken to commandeering once a week, for the past three weeks.

Davenport had seen him around before, but a botanist in an institute designed for exploring other planes that had little capabilities to actually go to those places yet was rarely busy, and even more rarely called upon. He still barely knew the guy, but after the day they’d gotten stuck in the elevator for ten minutes when it broke down, the dwarf had come to his office for tea each Wednesday.

It was a bit strange, but the tea was good.

“Tell me about your work experience.”

Merle laughs heartily, “they barely have me do anything around here, ‘cept tend to the couple of plants they’ve grabbed from the ground plane.”

“It’s the Elemental Plane of Earth, and don’t sell yourself short, Merle. This is basically a job interview, you know.”

Merle slurps loudly at his own mug, “aren’t you planning on nepotism hiring me, because we’re buds?”

“That isn’t even what that word means, Merle.”

“Isn’t it?”

Davenport stares into the tea, “is this made from the Earth plant?”

“Maybe?”

Davenport. 276. Captain and navigator; Specialization in mechanical engineering and arcane components combined with contemporary technology.

Previous Experience: Crewmate on the Lady Blue for twenty years. Graduated from Grensville University. Current staff at the Institute of Planar Research and Exploration.

Criminal Record: Unlawful resistance of orders from captain, raising of commotion on board ship while employed.

Davenport handed the six files over to Selune, “These are them.”

The halfling woman flips through them, eyebrows raising higher with each one she sees. “You’re sure you grabbed the right ones? A few of these I understand, but you do know we had the Issaiah Broler apply.”

He folds his hand in front of him, nodding. “I also know that during the interview he made me want to pour my tea on his lap. There’s no chance of getting the bond engine going with him. These are the six I picked. They’re all qualified- and the ones that are less educated in the specifics in the field I’m sure will pick up on the important information quickly. The Taaco twins already will give the bond engine a huge boost. Ms. Lucretia will ensure we have everything chronicled, something I’m sure you can appreciate, Selune. Mr. Bluejeans previous work shows he will thrive given the opportunities awaiting us. Mr. Highchurch is an educated man, and I trust him to keep the crew healthy and provide ample information on anything botany related we encounter, and I’m certain Mr. Burnsides will provide ample help in any task we show him how to do.” He sighs, glancing out the window of her office. There were a few people lingering outside in the courtyard of the Institute. “We have been given a tremendous opportunity to explore beyond what we can imagine, Selune. The last thing I want is to be bogged down by people stuck in their ways, who have been working in this field long enough to have their preconceived notions about what to expect and who will react badly when they’re proven wrong. I trust my own judgement in picking a crew, and I hope you trust my abilities to get these people ready to set sail in four months.”

What he doesn’t say is that he doesn’t want a bunch of stuffy jackasses on his ship. He’s not even sure picking all the over-qualified people would pass through the higher-ups' inspection of the crew. The people he picked were qualified enough to get a quick sign-off, but not too much. Anyone “overqualified” would probably get rejected. The ship had been built in basically six months. It’d get them off the ground, sure. It wasn’t going to explode on them once they got up there, but it wasn’t safe. There was a reason Davenport was the captain at all.

The six candidates in those files didn’t have a name for themselves as “important” to any stuffy scientific group or noble family. These people he picked were just that- people. A group of people who he believed deserved this opportunity. If anyone was getting the chance to make a name for themselves- to have the chance to redefine everything they know about the planar systems, he wanted to make sure they deserved the chance. A dangerous chance, sure. But what was science if not a little risky.

She sighs, opening the file on top. Her hand reaches for her pen, “Davenport, I got the final say on the name of the ship, I suppose the least I can do is give you final say on the crew.” She begins to write ‘approved’ at the top of the file, flipping through each one before giving him a pointed look. “But when I get angry calls about how you approved a bunch of nobodies and two people not even old enough to drink, I’m transferring them straight to your crystal.”

“And I will not be answering a single one.”

“I wouldn’t expect you to, Captain.”