#it looks like they had 2 important issues and were like hmmm whats another topical buzzword to put on the list to make me look righteous

[cinderbagels]

I just saw a post where the person outlined three major issues to focus on in a specific event:

-humanitarian aid in central Africa

-discussing the current global discourse regarding sexual and gender diversity

-rallying political support for Gaza

The virtue signaling is so off the charts they didn't even try to pretend they care about Gaza enough to send humanitarian aid there. Just political support. Lol. Lmao even

[lily-of-the-eyrie]

🎓🔍 Scene Commentary: Colonel Edition ③

Notes for [SQ3-3] Circumstances [video here]. Come join me as we talk about more theories surrounding the Colonel’s manipulation skills, hints about his history before Shay met him, and Gist being charmingly sassy.

Highlights this time include: 　❗️The Colonel's Finances 　❗️Gist and the Colonel

Without further ado, here we go:

[SQ3-3] Circumstances

― Part I: Heading to Albany ― Shay, having retrieved the Morrigan, follows Gist's advice to set sail for Albany, where the Colonel's waiting.

　The Colonel himself isn't present while Shay and Gist are on the way to Albany, but on the flipside, we got this great opportunity to see these two gossiping about the man.

　Gist opens the scene pondering out loud what the Colonel might want them to do next. Now this bit is mildly amusing because he said "I wonder what he has in mind for us to do next"―did Gist just...slip up? Shay naturally went wdym-"us"-👀 at him over here, because he's pretty sure he hasn't signed up to be part of their team...

　Still, Gist doesn't even trip over his words as he follows up with how he's really just all giddy about doing his part in making the Colonel's ideals a reality. Aside from the impressive save he pulls here, another highlight of this section is that Gist frames "the Colonel's ideals" in extremely concrete terms: "secure borders, prosperous farms, fair trade". These are very specific large-scale implementations of the Freedom From Want theme compared to what we heard from the Colonel himself two chapters back, which was more on the philosophical/ideological side.

　Next up, the Morrigan docks at Albany, where the Colonel's waiting. I just have to say that it's incredibly cute of the Colonel to address Shay as "Captain Cormac" following Gist's example after seeing the Morrigan.

　The issue on the table for their meeting this time is the French forces' movements into British territory, which is likely to break out into a full fight between the two kingdoms' armies. Now watch how Shay wound up working with these two again despite the question of him agreeing to run for more of the Colonel's errands was left hanging at the beginning of this scene: the moment the Colonel mentions that "New York could burn" if they don't do anything about the French forces encroaching upon British territory, Shay throws his weight in with them.

　We've already established that Shay's the kind of person who cares about the little guy, so this isn't all that unnatural; especially now that he's a good friend of the Finnegans', not doing anything when New York's at risk is going to sound unreasonable to him.

　However, the audience isn't the only one who understands this―at this point, so does the Colonel. After what happened at the Greenwich gang HQ and Fort Arsenal, he knows for a fact that Shay isn't going to turn his back on a chance to save innocent people. Did he, then, strategically bait Shay by presenting the fact that New York is in terrible danger and joining him is the best way to save all those townspeople? Or was it just something he said because he's also the kind of guy who's concerned for the safety of New York etc., and by saying this he's also trying to communicate to Shay that their goals are aligned? The trick to this is that of course these two possibilities don't have to be mutually exclusive―I'd say the Colonel feels that he knows Shay well enough at this point that he'd want to both get Shay to help him out while also letting him pursue what seems to be his calling.

― Part II: Gathering Supplies ― Shay and Gist, having reunited with the Colonel, head to a nearby French outpost to gather supplies and thwart French expansion into the River Valley.

　In order to dislodge the invading French forces, Gist then suggests that they raid a nearby French outpost for supplies. The trio covers a range of interesting topics during their time sailing to that outpost, chief among which is Shay's skepticism towards the Colonel's intentions behind all his seemingly charitable actions. This is an important bit for two reasons:

(1) Despite all they've done together so far, Shay doesn't stop questioning Monro. He's cooperative with the Colonel, sure, but just because he kinda sorta trusts that he's not a bad guy right now, that doesn't mean he's going to do whatever he says until he gets to the bottom of why he does it.

(2) The Colonel, again, calmly faces off against Shay's doubt by being straight with what he wants: that the colonies become "a place of safety, development, and purpose". Now this is something literally every one of us recognizes as a Templar Line™, even if Shay might not (did he? Hmmm). In any case, the most important takeaway here is that it strongly links the Colonel's concern for the common man with core Templar tenets, giving us a clear look into his personal take on how the Order's beliefs were meant to be applied to the world. He's not part-timing “being a Templar” half the time and “being a benevolent authority figure” in the other half, those two things are one and the same for him.

　On a random note: I’m just gonna mention here that Gist being cheeky as hell with the Colonel's noble "money is only a means to an end" talk in this bit is hands down my favourite part of this scene.

❗️The Colonel's Finances

　On a more serious note, the Colonel's comment on how he's "not a rich man" did get me wondering about his financial situation... I mean, obviously he's not dirt poor, and while there's that idea that Templars tend to be loaded, he doesn't look like he's just rolling in gold, either.

　Realistically speaking, being a military officer in the early 18th century can be a rather pricey career―the pay's far from great, and with all the spending for supplies and equipments, it can be quite a while until even the officers could expect to turn a profit from their job (one exhaustive source about the economics of the 18th c. British Army I’ve read pegged it at around the time they get promoted to Captain). And while the Colonel did come from what you might call a respectable family, it’s more of a modest than aristocratic one.

　However, assuming he's a long-time player in the field of renovating cities, a.k.a. the sidequest that, in the long run, gives you way more money than you know what to do with in Rogue, I guess his finances are quite stable. Now the question is, how much of those renovating gains he put back into more renovating... 😂

― Part III: Taking Down the French Fort ― Having obtained their supplies, Shay & co. sail the upgraded Morrigan to the French fort and take it down.

　With the party ready to take on the French fort, we see the Colonel show a pacifist streak as he reins in Gist, who was being a little too excited about the prospect of throwing fists with the French. Really, these two have such amusing interactions.

　Next, he shows a strategic side as he agrees with Shay's suggestion about taking out the fort's commander to force the French to surrender; he may not be against pitching a battle when necessary, but he also seems to be a big fan of minimizing the overall casualties.

　One really paltry but personally highly interesting thing I picked up in this scene is how the Colonel, commenting on how the French soldiers in the fort would put on an aggressive defense under pressure, said they'd just "dig in like a wounded bear", which does sound like an uncommon expression... I mean, "like a wounded animal" is something anyone can say, but him specifying "bear" over there just makes it sound like he'd gone up against one himself before. Considering he’d likely not have met a bear before he got to the colonies (bears had been extinct a long time in Britain and Ireland), if he did have a bear encounter, it must’ve been after 1750... Did you get chased around by this fuzzy creature in the frontier's wilderness at some point before you settled down in New York, Colonel? 😂

❗️Gist and the Colonel

　Since the amount of interaction the Colonel has with Gist is second only to his interactions with Shay, analyzing how things are between these two can tell us quite a lot about the Colonel's personality.  

　First, it's obvious that these two are close friends―the kind of relaxed bantering they have on board the Morrigan sounds pretty much on par with what Shay's got going on with Liam, which isn't all that surprising considering Gist and the Colonel had known each other (and presumably worked together) for 6 years at this point.

　Still, while the Colonel may be the older and higher-ranking of the two (ie.-He is Gist’s senior in both the military sense and the Templar one), therefore putting a clear superior-subordinate dynamic at play here, you don't see the Colonel trying to roast his colleague for stepping out of line (which he clearly does all the time, judging by his behaviour in this chapter), and what he does when Gist gets a little too rowdy is to gently but firmly prod him back onto the proper path. Maybe it's just his brand of leadership, but he displays similar tendencies when dealing with Shay, who has his default setting set to "unruly" most of the time. He’s clearly skilled at handling people much more hot-blooded than himself, and has a good hang of how to be an authority figure while still standing on the ground with his subordinates instead of putting himself on some distant, overbearing pedestal—honestly, a pretty good way to end up with their respect and loyalty.

　Another highlight is Gist's adoration of the Colonel's ideals. Now I think we all know that the Colonel's utopian take on Templar ideals is one of his greatest charms, but what I'd want to bring up here is the fact that, if Shay followed the Colonel because he was inspired by the man's idea of making a better world, he wouldn't have been the first―Gist had been there before, citing how he used to wonder if he’s doing the right thing, but “not since [he] met the Colonel” . I'm not saying that the Colonel's deliberately going out there to steal people's hearts with his brand of Templar beliefs, but judging from his success at inspiring Gist (and presumably Finnegan Jr.) into joining his fight, his winning Shay over to his side isn't a one-off thing.

[artificialqueens]

Beyond My Wildest Dreams, Ch.2 (Nina West/OC) - multifandomgeek

A/N: Thank you to the kind @alexandriabelle1 for being my first beta ever <3

ao3 

Pride season had always been a busy time for Nina. Not only it was a time where the queer community came together stronger than usual, but it also brought the mainstream spotlight to their issues, every year more so than the previous, and Nina was gonna be damned if she didn’t take this opportunity to highlight important topics and engage people in important initiatives.

This year, however, was absolutely crazy! Her popularity was insane, the projects she was doing barely one week in were already so successful she didn’t even know where to put how fucking grateful she was for all of this. She was in drag practically every day. She did parades in heels, talked to people, chanted political rhymes, performed in front of crowds bigger than she ever had before. Living her best life didn’t even begin to describe it.

Somewhere in the middle of June, she was in Columbus (she wasn’t even gonna pretend she knew the date), glad to be home even though the workload there was bigger because of all the partnerships and projects pre-Drag Race. She had a meeting with the people from the Nina West Foundation today. They were gonna talk about the results of the videos they were releasing about the charities they worked with, and apparently Kevin had a briefing to present to Nina, a big idea that promised to use her fame to bring in big money.

Nina would be lying if she said she wasn’t nervous about seeing Kevin. She hadn’t seen him in person in a while, though they kept talking pretty frequently even with Nina as busy as she was. Brooke asked her about him now and then and fueled her hope that her feelings weren’t one-sided. It had been a cute fantasy to entertain in her head until now, but she felt incredibly self-conscious about seeing the man in person. She was sure she was going to embarrass herself some way or another, and her mind was already going from “maybe he’ll kiss me” to “what if he shows up with a boyfriend?” while she put way too much thought on what she was wearing while getting ready.

The Foundation was more of an idea than an actual place, and for today they were using a meeting room in one of Nina’s friend’s office. The room had a big oval table with about a dozen chairs and a good structure for projections, conference calls, the sort of business things you could eventually need, but other than that it wasn’t especially fancy. Nina got there about 5 minutes earlier than necessary, opening the door to see Kevin already settled in, frowning in concentration while hunched down in front of his laptop. Nina smiled fondly and sighed, feeling like a teenage girl and basking in it.

“Hey,” said Nina gently, managing to startle Kevin anyway. She chuckled.

“Nina!” said Kevin with a wide smile, getting up and rounding the table to hug Nina tightly. God, he smelled so good. “Come here, come see the new project,” he said, pulling her to sit beside him by the computer, “Steven is gonna be a little late with the girls, and I’ll do the whole projection thing for everybody, but I can’t wait to show you,” he finished excitedly, fiddling with the touchpad to put up a powerpoint presentation. Nina caught herself staring at his face and promptly looked at the screen just as he started explaining.

The idea was definitely ambitious, almost arrogantly so, and call Nina crazy, but she thought they could make it happen. It would take time and a lot of behind the scenes preparations, they would need a few more extra hands to help with the technology aspect of it, and if that went wrong the whole thing would be a disaster. Even so, they could prepare well, have lots of backup plans. It definitely had a good chance to go right. She had seen what the fans could do, this could definitely happen!

“We’ll need you fully on board with this, though,” said Kevin, looking at Nina expectantly, “You’re gonna have to be the one making calls and bringing the big people in. Without you, and without them, it doesn’t go anywhere.”

“Are you kidding me, of course I’m on board with it! I can already think of half a dozen people that would agree from the top of my head! And the fact that it’s all digital, I mean, just the schedule issues that would avoid… I even think we can top your initial numbers!” her mind was already planning schedules and making lists and rehearsing convincing speeches.

“You’re amazing, Andrew,” said Kevin quietly. Nina looked up from the computer to see him staring at her with a sweet smile on the corner of his mouth. Her heart fluttered.

“You are the amazing one. I could never think of something like this by myself,” responded Nina, reaching for his hand. She was in awe with this idea, it was genius! As if she needed another reason to like Kevin.

They were staring at each other, and suddenly the excitement gave place to tension. Kevin squeezed Nina’s hand firmly, caressing the back of it lightly, sending shivers through Nina’s arm. She searched into his green eyes for any sign that she was reading this wrong, and found none. Nina licked her lips. She was gonna do it, she was gonna kiss him.

Then, the door opened.

Luckily, the group of people that entered the room was too engrossed in their own conversation to notice if they interrupted something. Kevin looked down and bit back an adorable shy smile, squeezing Nina’s hand one more time before letting it go. Nina just adjusted her seat to be a little further away from him, trying to force her mind back into focus when the only thing she wanted to think about was how the warm lips from the man beside her would taste.

The meeting went on as planned. They discussed the foundation’s past month or so, their actions for Pride, and Kevin presented the new project by the end. He did it in a more structured and professional way than he did to Nina, which made her think he was comfortable around her, instigating a bubbly feeling in her chest. Everybody was excited about the idea, but the others were a bit more down to earth than Nina had been, and the rest of their time boiled down to planning and budgeting and building a timeline for it.

Nina had to leave before they finished in order to make it in time for a gig. It pained her to think that maybe if she had stayed, she and Kevin could have gone for coffee after the meeting and picked up where they left off, but she had no choice. Just the thought, however, that they had been that close to really kissing, that Kevin would kiss her back, touch her, that she would know for sure he liked her back, oh it was so nice. Plus, that project? If they really could pull it off, it could even become an annual thing! There was so much hope inside of Nina that the only thing she could do was share it away, and that made her go into the gig in full power, giving the public her all and leaving them with a sense of satisfaction she hadn’t felt in a while.

When her day finally ended, she was laughing with one of her local queen friends as they made their way to the dressing rooms. The club was still somewhat full despite the late hour, so when someone touched Nina’s arm to ask if she had time for one more fan, she was ready to turn away another drunk person politely until she met a pair of familiar green eyes, squished with a smile, and all but swooned.

“Kevin, hi,” said Nina, forgetting all about her friend, who took the clue and kept walking by herself. “What are you doing here? You don’t even like clubs.”

“I don’t, yeah,” he said, shrugging, “but I didn’t know when you were leaving again, so,” he finished, looking away shyly. Nina’s smile was so wide it was starting to ache.

“I’m in town until Wednesday,” she said. “I like that you came here though, that’s very sweet. I may have a little free time tomorrow if you want to maybe grab a coffee with me,” she asked, touching the back of his hand with her knuckles. He was looking at her again with those eyes and she was getting drowned in them. “Or ice cream. I’m an ice cream now. I’m very delicious if I say so myself,” she said, touching her fluffy hair with playful pride.

“I’d love to taste you,” said Kevin waggling his eyebrows, eliciting a full belly laugh from Nina. “Come here,” he said, pulling her by the hand and guiding her to the back of the stage. Nina went willingly, if confused.

“What are you doing?” she asked, still laughing a little.

“I’m finding a step,” he said, climbing one of the few steps leading to the back of the stage. He turned to Nina and pulled her close, now barely an inch taller than her in her high heels. He touched her face, and her smile faltered. “You’re too tall in drag for me to do this like I wanted,” said Kevin, keeping one hand softly on Nina’s cheek while the other lifted her chin, barely, to place a soft kiss on her lips.

Nina felt like a princess. Her eyes fluttered closed and her hands moved to his waist, steadying her as Kevin kissed and touched her like she was made of glass, a precious, soft thing. Nina was not a delicate man, nor a delicate woman, or a delicate drag-queen, and although she had loved and been loved many times in her life, she couldn’t recall ever being touched like that. It took her breath away.

Kevin pulled back, all half-lidded and dreamy, still touching Nina’s face. She smiled closed-mouthed, feeling her insides all bubbly.

“You have my lipgloss all over your mouth now,” said Nina, chuckling. Kevin reached to clean the corner of his mouth, not tackling even 1% of the problem. Nina giggled, and tried to help him, but ended up just smearing the bright purple all over his juicy lips even more. He was trying to keep still but was also giggling. “Ok, that didn’t help at all. You look cute, though.”

“Hmmm I might as well get them dirtier them,” he said, leaning down to kiss Nina again. Her mouth closed against his tightly while her chest still shook with laughter, but it soon died down, especially when Kevin tilted his head and his hand traveled to her back to pull her closer. Nina was loving the softness, but she also loved the added pressure and the tease of the tongue.

She was, however, still in drag. She couldn’t feel his chest against hers because of her fake boobs, some parts of her body were numb by now, and when his hand touched her neck it went too far and unbalanced her wig. She pulled back, resisting the urge to nuzzle him and get a little foundation to match his lipgloss.

“I have to de-drag,” she said. He nodded. “Come with me so I can get a wipe for you. Unless you wanna rock the gloss, I mean…”

“I think it’ll work better if I apply directly from the bottle? Unless it’s a new trend I’m not aware of,” said Kevin, stepping down from the stage stairs to follow Nina to the dressing room. She forgot he was perched up there. It was funny.

“Who knows, the beauty gurus are full of surprises these days,” she opened the door and entered the room with Kevin right behind. She didn’t even think about the other queens undressing there, going directly to her things and looking for her wipes. Kevin followed hesitantly, trying to avert his gaze from the other people in various states of undress also in the room. “Don’t worry, they’re used to people coming and going,” said Nina, bringing the wipe to his mouth and cleaning it easily. She had to crouch, only remembering to take off her shoes after she was done. “There you go, no evidence of the crime now,” she said with a smile, throwing the wipe away and kicking her shoes to the side.

“Can I help you with it?” he asked, pointing at the general direction of her stuff, taking Nina by surprise.

“Nah, I’m good, I do this every day,” she said dismissively.

“I know you don’t need it,” he said quietly, still wary of the other people around them. “I want to.” Nina was done, melted into a puddle on the floor. “But, I mean, I don’t wanna bother you, of course,” he said, flustered, like it occurred to him Nina might not want him there and he should leave immediately.

“Stay,” said Nina, grabbing his arm gently, her smile completely gone. Somehow, it made her feel vulnerable. Kevin smiled only with his eyes, which was maybe just as beautiful as the full-mouthed one.

Nina turned around and asked for his help with her zipper. She wasn’t getting naked, there were quite a few layers until that, but the gesture made her feel like she was. As if her prom date was taking her gown off at the end of the night, and not as if the guy she liked was going to see her in a weird state of under-drag in a room full of other people.

Once her dress was folded up and stored in her suitcase, she pulled up a stool for Kevin to sit behind her, instructing him on how to loosen up her corset while she took her wig and lashes off. They small talked while they did it, and Nina kept looking at his face in the mirror, the same frown of concentration she caught him with earlier on the day, creasing his forehead. She let him work on it for more than was strictly necessary, and once he was done with that there wasn’t much he could do except organize her things while she wiped her make-up away and pulled off her undergarments. She made sure he wouldn’t touch those, they didn’t need that level of gross-smells-intimacy just yet. He also turned away for the naked part of the process and pretended to fiddle with her brushes, which was a real gentleman move.

Kevin did get to see Nina shirtless though, which almost made her say she deserved to see him shirtless too, but she bit it back. She caught him looking at the red marks left by drag with some kind of worry, and thought maybe he wanted to touch them but refrained to. She would have liked it if he did.

It was different than having an assistant or a friend helping her out. There was a sense of calm and care she wasn’t used to, something warm and gentle that turned routine into affection. In the end, the process was over way sooner than Nina wanted it to be.

It occurred to her, however, that now she could very well invite him over to her place, and that thought brought a whole new excitement with it. She hurriedly asked him to wait while she said goodbye to the queens and staff.

“Now that’s the kind of trade I deserve, honey,” Nina heard a voice say while she made her way back to Kevin after properly talking to everybody. “Hot and useful? Where can I get a piece of that?”

“Nina’s a Ru girl now, baby, they bend over backwards for them,” responded another voice. It made Nina uneasy. She looked around but couldn’t pinpoint who said it.

Kevin wasn’t just some trade, and he wasn’t helping Nina to get in her pants. He could get in her pants any time of day without lifting a finger. It bothered her that people saw a moment so tender and twisted it into something sexually-founded. He didn’t even care if she was a Ru-girl or not. Right? Ok, now she was getting paranoid.

Kevin was leaning against the wall by the time she came back to him, looking down. He was close enough that Nina lost all hope he hadn’t heard the same comments she did. She didn’t know what to say about it.

“You ready to go?” he asked with a smile when he noticed her close, but it didn’t reach his eyes. Nina nodded, getting her suitcase and following him to his car. He had promised her a ride home since he hadn’t drank, and she just had to let her friends know. They were silent, there was tension and not the good kind.

Goddamnit.

[davidaccampo]

Breaking Down Comics

A friend of Amanda Donahue, one of my co-creators on THE MARGINS, asked me some questions, and they were so good I felt it was worth dusting off Tumblr to answer. Thanks, Nick, and I hope these rambles give you something worth your while! 

Below are Nick’s two questions and my VERY long answers.

Sooo, my first question would just be how you got into it. Is it your primary form of writing?

Great question. So, is it my primary form of writing? Hmmm. I just finished a commitment to a set of 4 interactive mobile game scripts that took up quite a chunk of the last few months. In that time frame I also released a one-shot licensed 22-page comic and a 12-page digital creator-owned comic. So, on balance, I don’t think it’s currently my primary form of writing, but it’s definitely my favorite form, and it’s a medium and industry that I’m both very familiar with and passionate about, so whenever I’m given the chance to write comics, I take it.

However, comics as an industry is a difficult one to navigate. With the two biggest publishers owning incredibly popular franchises, the prime means for writers to make a living on comics is to essentially write super-heroes that you don’t own. And that, in itself, is neither good nor bad. It’s just worth noting that if you want to make comics your primary form of income, then DC and Marvel are going to come into your orbit in some shape. And that type of writing will come with its own set of thrills and challenges.

On the flip side, creator-owned comics and graphic novels can be an extremely fulfilling creative experience, if financially tricky to produce and sell. But the comics industry is still intimate enough that you can find ways to make and sell your comics. There’s a lot more to talk about there with regards to distribution and comics retail, but that’s another conversation.

It’s also worth noting that while the prevailing understanding is that digital comics sell only a fraction of the numbers of printed comics, it’s also a very accessible platform. With time and effort, you can put a comic book out to a global audience.

I may have veered slightly off topic here, but I think the point I’m trying to make is: if you want comics to be your primary form of writing, they most certainly can be. And you can and will make comics passionately and whole-heartedly, and you’ll put them into the world.

But making a living off of them is much more complicated scenario and every creator out there will have different advice for you, but be prepared for an equation that’s pretty familiar to any who has ever freelanced: less control = more money. Generally speaking, of course. There’s always a Walking Dead situation, if all the stars align.

Oh, and I never answered the first part of that question — how did I get into it? I’ll try to bullet point my personal path, which is super wonky, but probably not much stranger than most writers.

It kinda went like this:

Dave’s Writing Career: A Timeline

I always loved comics. In high school, I even wrote and drew 80 pages of a comic that was a horrible pastiche of Marvel/Epic’s Elektra: Assassin by Frank Miller and Bill Sienkiewicz and DC’s The Question by Denny O’Neil, Denys Cowan, and Rick Magyar. However, in my 20s, I’d attend conventions and discover that I had no idea how to move from fandom into professional writing.

I went on to study English and Creative Writing, thinking I’d write prose novels.

Then I moved to LA and fell in with a crowd of Hollywood screenwriter types. I wrote a few screenplays with a writing partner, Jeremy Rogers, but when nothing really came from it, we decided to make our own short films.

We made 3 short films that went into film festivals.  At this point, I was tired of spending so much time and money making 10-30 minute films that didn’t result in much. We hatched a new plan: what if we availed ourselves of the iTunes platform and released an audio drama as a podcast?

Wormwood: A Serialized Mystery was the result. It allowed us to tell long, serialized stories, much like my first love: comic books.

Toward the end of the Wormwood run, an illustrator named Jared Souza contacted us. He’d adapted scenes from Wormwood into sequential art, and  was curious if we ever thought about turning it into a comic book. We jumped at the chance, and with Jared we wrote and drew an 12-page mini-comic that we printed and took to the San Diego Comic-Con. Hermes Press was interested in our book, and they offered us a deal shortly after the show was over.

From there, I kept thinking about what else I could do with comics. I partnered with Chris Anderson for Lost Angels, and we made another 12-page mini-comic as a sales pitch, and we were offered a digital-first deal with a new publisher, Comicker.

And it keeps going from there, but that is the long and windy road telling stories in a LOT of different formats, each with its own strengths and weaknesses. Learning the strengths of one format does help you to understand the strengths of another. For example, for Wormwood we could really lean into long, twisty passages of monologue because it was all about the actors’ voices. However, as soon as you bring that to comics, you realize the amount of word balloons those monologues would take would utterly cover up any artwork on the page. And so you adjust.

Which is a nice segue to your other question…

Secondly, I'd love to hear how you work things out. As far as layout in regards to story. The most challenging aspect for me is to convert my thinking from imagining in film to now these static images. Do you put a lot of thought into that area, or do you focus mostly on the story and then sort of work that out as you are getting it down?

My initial thought is: “I do both.” But let’s break those up.

In terms of static images: think about the key moments. The perfect still frame of film that sums up the core of a moment of story in your mind. You want to build out from there.

But almost more importantly: think about the gutters. The space between panels. The gutters are actually where all the magic in comics reside. I recommend reading Understanding Comics by Scott McCloud. McCloud is great for understanding how a reader processes the information when we’re as absorbing art in a sequence. And the key is the gutters: The narrative “time” between panels can last a millisecond or a millennium. And the reader understands that from the context. So you’ve got to figure out how much you can get away with in between panels.

A panel exists in one moment in time. One action can occur. Imagine a father and son playing catch. What’s the most important part of that scene? The father throwing? The son catching? That’s two panels. Or, it could be a wide shot of the two, the ball in mid-air, but that wide shot probably should take up as much space on the page as two close angle shots of throwing and catching.

So, you ask yourself: what’s the emotional context of the scene? Is it important to show the father about to throw the ball (perhaps metaphorically teaching his son)? Is it important to show the son catching that ball (perhaps showing the son absorbing the lesson)? Is the activity itself the most important part (the wider shot might work best). It really depends upon the what you want to get out of the scene.

Another example: A man sits in his living room. There’s a knock at the door. He answers. It’s his landlord.

How many ��panels is that? The only concrete answer I can give you is that it’s ”more than one” — because the of multiple actions involved.

It could be two panels: 1) the man sits reading a newspaper, but his head is cocked because he’s JUST heard the SFX of knocking on his door. 2) he’s standing at the open door and the landlord is asking him for a rent check.

It could be five panels: 1) the main sits reading a newspaper. 2) We show the front door, with knocking SFX. 3) The man opens the door, but we don’t show who it is, building suspense. The man is nervous. 4) we reveal it’s the landlord, standing there, arms crossed and angry. 5) The landlord asks for the rent check.

How important is that scene to your overall story? Five panels is roughly a whole page. Do you want to spend a whole page to show that the man is late with his rent?

That’s brings us to the next part of your question, and the other aspect that’s really important to comics: page count.

Page count is crucial because of the amount of time it takes an artist to draw a page, and also because of the printing costs. A standard issue of a comic is roughly 20-22 pages. So you’ve got to start by knowing how much space you’ve got (some writers will refer to this as “real estate”).

As a general standard, I’m going to assume that you’re looking at a mini-series or story arc that’s probably 5-6 issues, at 20-22 pages per issue. That works for comic book issue publishing, and it collects nicely into a graphic novel.

Even if I know I’m writing a graphic novel (as we did with The Margins), I tend to think in those general terms because it helps me break the story down.

So, I might start by assuming I have 5 chapters that are each 20 pages. Then I figure out — where is the best place to end Chapter One? It shouldn’t just be a moment of pivot — a cliffhanger, something that pushes the reader to start the next chapter as quickly as they can.

I’ll use the film THE MATRIX for this example, but I’m doing this from memory, so this may not be the best story breakdown.

At first thought, knowing I have 5 chapters of 20 pages each, it seems to me a great end to the first chapter might be Neo waking up in his pod in the real world. I mean, you have to read Issue #2 if that’s where Issue #1 ends, right?

If that’s page 20, you now have 19 pages to get there. And you have to get through: Trinity and the agents, Neo following the white rabbit, Neo meeting Trinity, Neo getting a call phone from Morpheus, Neo taken by the agents and getting the tracker put in him. Neo getting the tracker removed. Neo taking the red pill.

That’s a LOT! (It’s probably more than 20 pages, but please bear in my I’m just using this as an example.)

Next I’d think about: how much real estate do I give to Trinity vs. The Agents. Maybe four pages. The first two are the fighting and running across the rooftops. The second two could be a DOUBLE-PAGE SPLASH (two pages that make up one giant image) of Agent Smith ramming his truck into the phone booth. That’d also make for a good title/credits page.

I can probably script that, but I first have to think if I can get though the rest of it with 15 more pages. Ack!

Luckily, the next bits contain a lot of conversations, so we can probably get away with 5-9 panels per page, lots of back and forth conversation, condensed onto fewer pages. And that’s key because we’re going to have to go to larger panels for key action sequences like Neo climbing out on the building ledge. Neo getting the tracker put into his belly.

To be honest, at this point, I’d probably have to rethink some of this — this feels like too much for 20 pages. But hopefully that example shows you how I approach the process. It’s basically taking the whole story and then breaking it into issue-sized chunks, then pages, then finally panels.

And as you think about panels, you do want to make sure you have a mix. Some kind of big splash page is important — it allows you to focus on the biggest moments, and it also gives the reader a bit of a chance to relax, slow down and take in the art. A sequential page can have more panels, but it becomes denser, and each panel can contain less information — one or two dialogue balloons, limited backgrounds, etc. The more panels, the less room and detail each panel can contain.

Personally, I like to think about most of my sequential pages being about 4-8 panels, peppered with one or two splash pages. I can bump up or lower the panel count as needed. If you start by thinking about 3-4 panels for big cinematic action and 5-9 panels for dense conversation or smaller actions, then you’ll probably find yourself with a decent balance through your comic.

Those are my long-winded answers. I hope this helps. There’s much more to talk about in terms of craft, but this covers most of what I think about when breaking down a comic book story.

[opalknightfire]

INFJ Defense... YOU are NOT INFJ!!  (or maybe you really are)

So, for today I wanted to broach a subject that has kind of been starting to nag at me.  The subject is the MBTI personality typing, specifically for INFJ.  But before I get to the real meat of the issue, I shall give a breakdown of how this issue has arisen for me.  Maybe others will be able to relate, if at least at the core of the issue, not the specific path to get there.  Or just skip down to the *******  to get right to the point.

I have been spending the last several months attempting to do some deep-down soul searching.  It came as maybe a Mid-Life Enlightenment moment.  And by Mid-Life Enlightenment I mean that I have hit mid-life, but I don’t feel like I hit a crisis, I feel like I hit a moment when I needed more clarity, more direction for where my life was going, a turning point if you will, but a turning point that required I dig deeper into my core and discover what I really needed to start focusing on.

I had finished a chapter of my life, so to speak; accomplished the small-picture goal that had been driving my younger life.  And as I stood, realizing my main goal had been achieved, I needed to start looking for what my next goal was going to be.  But I also knew that it had to be more. Yes, I could spend my entire life setting small, easy-ish to achieve goals and come out the other side content with the knowledge that I had done it.  I had lived.  I had completed a life on this wide world.  But somehow I felt that that wasn’t all I that I should do.

And so I started down the trail of self discovery:  What were my flaws?  What did I need to improve?  How could I make myself a better person?  What about me could others see that maybe I could not?  How could I actually affect the world for better?  All these questions bombarded me over and over as I searched different topics, issues, and sources of information. 

Finally I fell onto the MBTI personality type descriptions.  Maybe if I could get my type figured out, I would know where to start.  Maybe I could see how my mind truly worked, could figure out it’s weaknesses, could pinpoint any strengths and use those to probe deeper into some meaning that I could direct my life towards.  And so I ransacked Youtube, free MBTI test sites, and looked up sites that people had dedicated to understanding the MBTI and Jungian/Neojungian personality typology.  I started with broad generalizations to lead me closer to the type I might be and slowly learned more and more about how the different types functioned and not just the superficial stereotypes that the types were labelled as.  I took different tests, but spaced them out between months so that I could get a fresh look each time.  And my answers varied between 3 or so different types.  And many times I thought, “Hmmm, that’s probably right, but how does one know for sure?”  And so the searching and testing would continue on.

It wasn’t until I came across the cognitive function flow and breakdowns that I truly hit home to how my mind must work.  (as an aside I found the personality test that Erik Thor has put up on his site erikthor.com was one of the ones that better spelled out the cognitive functions in the results, so if you are curious about yourself, that might be a good place to start)  I thought back to many of the distinct thoughts that I had had growing up, as a teen, in college, and my life since and saw the patterns that kept reappearing.  The functions I relied on over and over became apparent, as well as those that I shied away from which lead to some of my bigger fears or hurdles throughout the years.  And the type that fit my mind was INFJ.

                                               *******************

So the point of my rather long intro is to show that I was doing my homework, I was trying to be thorough as well as objective.  I didn’t start with an assumed answer and try to prove it.  I sifted the info at hand over and over until all the pieces started to fall into place.  And once they did, the picture that emerged became clearer and clearer and my mind suddenly made a whole lot more sense to me.  It was like stepping back from a mosaic that one has been staring at too closely for too long.  All the colors haphazardly scattered about slowly form a picture as you can see where different clusters of similar colors blend together to form shapes and lines.  And I felt I had finally gained some clarity as to who I am.

Now, I may still have mistyped myself (I’m not perfect by anyone’s definition) but I feel fairly confident that how I now perceive my own mind and it’s intricate workings falls very well into the many (sometimes contradictory) descriptions associated with the INFJ personality.

However, the more I delved into the INFJ personality, the more I found that other people (specifically those that identified as INFJ) somehow felt the need to warn other people that if they come up with INFJ as their personality type, they are probably wrong and have mistyped themselves.  Hmmm . . . why is this the case for INFJ and not the other types?

Well first off, many, many, many, many, many, many (you get the picture) INFJ descriptions start by stating that INFJ is the rarest type!!!  Oh my!  Really?!  Can it be!!  (shock and awe!)

Has personality typing somehow entered a reverse popularity contest? 

Personality is just who people are: in their heads and how they react to the world.  People don’t become a personality or acquire a personality, they have a personality.  Maybe statistics can be gathered to get a basic breakdown of what types of personalities there are out there, but statistic gathering can be a rather imperfect measurement to begin with.  Especially when the statistics are based off of self-analyzed test answers.  People don’t always accurately assess themselves, especially when it comes to cognitive abilities.  And maybe INFJ is the rarest type, but it isn’t that far off from some of the other rarer types, so that’s a bit of a misleading statement from the start.  I mean is 1% really that far from 2% or 2.5%?

Also, maybe the statistics are just off.  Maybe, of the people who took the test in places where the statistics were gathered, more of the INFJ types mistyped themselves as something else than other types did, lowering the actual percentage of people who really are INFJ.  If mistyping is so prevalent, than who is to say that the statistcs don’t have just as many mistyped people as the people who are typing themselves where statistics are not being gathered?

And, if INFJ’s are really the rarest type, why broadcast that as some sort of lure for people who have the proclivity to want to feel special?  By stating “Are you an INFJ, the rarest type?” you are just inviting people to want to see if they are, indeed, as rare as they may want to feel.  Only for you to dash them down by saying, “NO, you are not rare, you are just wrong!”  I mean, come on, that just seems mean . .  and maybe spiteful.

It seems more likely that the INFJ’s who are questioning other people’s being INFJ’s are the ones who somehow feel threatened by not being special enough.  After all, the goal of personality typing is to get a better picture of oneself for understanding, improvement, or possibly just for fun.  People probably aren’t out to type themselves based off of what sounds good to them.  At least I don’t assume most people are.  And for those people who are, well, they probably aren’t taking the whole personality typing seriously enough for it to really matter.  But for those people who are truly trying to learn about themselves through personality typing, it’s a bit arrogant to simply decry them as misinformed because you believe you know better based off of some percentage statistic.  After all, people who have introverted intuition as their main function probably aren’t that apparent to other people what it is their mind is doing inside their heads.  How does a person see someone else and just assume that the other person’s cognitive functions must be working differently than what that specific person feels about themselves?

Now, I’m not saying that mistyping doesn’t happen a lot.  It does.  It did for me because I did not always come up as INFJ when I was taking different tests.  And the few times INFJ did come up for me, before I had gathered a lot of data, I assumed was wrong because the first statement I came across was, “This is the rarest type!!!”  While I know I’m unique (honestly, everyone is) I’m not necessarily rare or special.  And I’m OK with that.  So I figured I must have gotten it wrong and moved on.  But once I understood the processing that goes on in the mind of INFJ personality types, well then I started to realize that I was, in fact, probably INFJ after all.

Now, I’m running out of time here, but there is another point I want to make on this subject, but I’ll have to try and make it quickly.

I was talking about personality types with my brother recently, and we were both discussing how in businesses and in society the diversity of personalities plays an important role.  In any structure different tasks are accomplished by different types of people.  A well running company or business relies on having a bunch of different personality types doing things that their personality does well and other types are not so good at.  The same goes for the social structure of communities and even politics and government.  You need people of different abilities and thought processes to keep the various machines of humanity working well.  So, what if personality types become more or less prevalent based off of the current needs of society.  Just as nature can compensate for overpopulation or underpopulation in animals by changing genders or reabsorbing pregnancies, so too might the stresses of society make some personality types more or less likely to show up in a given population.  So maybe INFJ’s used to be rarer, but the needs of society has made the number of people born with that personality type rise?

It’s just something to consider when stating that INFJ’s are so very rare so all those people who think they might be INFJ must be wrong. . .

[kitsune-translates]

SCI 谜案集 English Translation Case 1: Number Killer

Previous  

Number Killer 01 Mouse and Cat

It’s still early in the morning, but the police headquarter at city S has already been buzzing with discussions. Everyone is standing in groups whispering to each other, gossiping about the newly formed S.C.I.

The moment Wang Chao and Zhang Long walk into the building, they feel that something is wrong with the atmosphere, what’s everyone doing?

The two of them were just up all night yesterday wrapping up a big case, as a result are sporting huge black circles. Scrolling to the lift, the two of them notice a white flyer sticking to the wall. Zhang Long rips the paper off and scolds, ‘which brave idiot has the guts to stick flyers into police station?’

Wang Chao takes a look from the side, ‘It doesn’t look like advertisement… Hmmm, the commissioner issued it?’

As they enter the lift, the two of them begin to study the piece of paper more closely.　　

Ten seconds later, two yells resonate from the lift, scaring the crowd waiting for the lift outside to step backwards.

Ding. The lift door opens at level 7.

Zhang Long and Wang Chao dash out like animals, yelling ‘Holy crap!’ They head straight for the criminal police office, causing the surrounding officers to stare.

The office door slams open from the two’s kick, and causing the officers inside to scramble behind the tables for cover.

The two do not even bother to spare a glance for the scrambling officers, and went straight for the captain’s office.

The office door opens at the moment of impact. As a result, the two of them couldn’t stop themselves in time and fall straight in and onto the floor.

Thud.

Someone from downstairs screams, ‘can’t you criminal investigation people give it a rest for one day? At this rate, if earthquakes really happen one day, the whole building wouldn’t know to evacuate!’

Zhang Long and Wang Chao pick themselves up from the floor, and notice that Bai Yutang is holding a cup of coffee, standing next to his working desk and looking at them with a an almost smile.

‘Captain, is it true?!’ Zhang Long asks, holding up the piece of paper.

‘What do you think?’ Bai Yutang takes a sip of coffee, sounding rather unconcerned.

‘So… it is true?’ Wang Chao confirms carefully.

Nodding, Bai Yutang continues to drink his coffee.

After a few moment of silence, the entire criminal police office is rocked by wailing.

‘Captain, you can’t leave us.’

‘Captain, you can’t go just like this.’

‘Wang Chao, Zhang Long, you guys can’t go.’

‘What will the rest of us do if you guys left?’　　

The other departments look in curiously.

Vice division: ‘What happened to criminal investigation unit? Did their captain Bai got killed in the line of duty?’

Economic division: ‘Impossible? I just saw him this morning, still lively as ever.’

Narcotics division: ‘you wish, as if the lord of underworld wants to receive their captain Bai.’

Bai Yutang finishes the last sip of his coffee and told Zhang Long and Wang Chao, ‘Pack your stuff. We are moving upstairs to level 11.’

At exactly 10 minutes before one, Bai Yutang, flanked by Zhang Long and Wang Chao steps into the lift and press for level 11, surrounded by the wailing of criminal investigation unit and the cheer of the rest of the officers at level 7.

The moment the lift door opens, they are greeted by the sight of a brand new office. The glass door was already printed with the word S.C.I. It really somewhat has the feel of FBI. Just as they are stepping out of the lift, they hear the adjacent lift door opening. Turning around, someone with one hand in his suit’s pocket, the other holding a file, walks out of the lift gracefully.

Zhang Long and Wang Chao tense up immediately, looks around at Bai Yutang careful. Just as they thought, their captain’s face hardens for a second.　　

Gongsun scrolls in from afar and sees Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang staring each other down in front of the lift. He smirks to himself, thinking, ‘there they go again.’

‘Xiao Zhan, Xiao Bai…(1) why didn’t you guys go inside?’

Wang Chao and Zhang Long swallow their spit, ‘more trouble incoming!’

The three of them are not your average Joe, they are considered to be the three geniuses of the police force, the crème de la crème of City S’s police force.

Bai Yutang, those who are close to him call him Bai five. It is not because he is the number fifth kid in the family, but because he is the fifth generation police in the family

Bai family has always been famous for great detectives; Bai Yutang’s grandfather, father and uncle are all famous criminal police. Even now they still hold positions in the police and armed force. And Bai Yutang himself has all the good genes from the previous generations. After graduating from the army academy, he joined the air force and received special trainings. After retirement from the air force, he returned to City S as the captain of criminal investigation unit. This few years has been good to him, having solved numerous major cases.

Bai Yutang is extremely daring and has the physical combat skill to match, but his temper is rather odd. Under his lead the whole criminal investigation unit has been extremely dominating. No one dares to mess with them in the entire police force. When the others walk past the criminal investigation division’s front door, they don’t even dare to breathe.

On the topic of Bai Yutang, the other genius, Zhan Zhao must also be mentioned.

Or the graceful man who just walked out of the lift. The three geniuses are famous, not just because of their exceptional ability. But also due to another important reason, that is they are all extremely good looking. This has made so many other police officers resentful. Especially Zhan Zhao, his refined looks combined with his lean figure and a well-fitted navy suits, will attract the attention of females from 80 years to 8 years old. When he smiles at you softly, to quote mama Bai, it’s an instant kill.

Zhan Zhao is a world-renowned criminal psychology doctor, young but already an authority in the field.

Zhan Zhao has an exceptional high IQ. During his school days, he skipped many grades. But he is not good at physical combat, so he usually provides consulting services to the police force to help with cases.

Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang in fact go way back, to quote mama Zhan, the two of them didn’t like each other the moment they were born.

Why is mama Bai and mama Zhan always mentioned? Well, because Zhan family and Bai family are actually neighbours. The mums have been good friends since primary school. In addition, the two boys were born together, just that Zhan Zhao was born an hour earlier than Bai Yutang. Because of this one hour gap, Bai Yutang was forced to call Zhan Zhao, Xiao Zhan Ge Ge (2). That was a grudge Bai Yutang has been holding.

So the two of them are really childhood best friends, but why do they dislike each other so much? Well, it has been like this since kindergarten, the two of them were both very competitive since young. When they eat, they would try to steal each other’s food. When they sleep, they would try to snatch each other’s pillow. Later, it escalated into that they fought for number one in exams, and who can skip more grades in school. Xiao Bai won the champion for Sanda (3), Xiao Zhan got the distinctive achievement scholarship. The two of them have been at it, until one of them went into the army, and the other went out of the country. However, the two of them still come back full circle in the police bureau, isn’t it just the case of enemies meet more often than they wish.

In Bai Yutang’s eyes, Zhan Zhao is not as well-mannered as everyone thinks, he is a devious cat!

In Zhan Zhao’s eyes, Bai Yutang is not as capable as he appears, he is an annoying white mouse (4)!

In his white lab coat, looking cultured and intelligent with a pair of frameless glasses, is Gongsun Ce.

Gongsun is a bit of a legend of forensic pathologist. He is a famous Anthropologist. He taught Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang when they were still in university. But in their eyes, this man who goes everywhere with his scalpel, has the face of a psycho murderer.

The three of them stand outside of S.C.I. staring at each other, until Commissioner Bao finally had enough and roared, ‘what are you all standing outside for? Come in! Time for meeting!’

Translator’s Footnote:

(1)    Xiao = small, a common prefix used in Chinese to address each other informally

(2)    Xiao Zhan Ge Ge: Ge Ge means older brother. Usually if people say Ge Ge, I guess it sounds quite cute (?)

(3)    Sanda: also known as Sanshou, Chinese kickboxing. Chinese self-defense system and combat sport.

(4)    White mouse: In Chinese, the word for white mouse is the same as lab rat. Zhan Zhao will call Bai Yutang white mouse/lab rat quite a few times throughout the whole novel. Depends on the context I will try to use the more fitting translation.

Next

[iloveposse]

Send a number ask 1-30

Mwahahahaha...don t blame me for the ling ass post, blame my dear hun^

Ok...so

1)how old werr you when you firat fell in love?

Now see this bothers me cause love can be very different. Cause romantically id say 14, but i do believe we must understand that when that is boiled down, the love and caring part is the same as in a platonuc sense, it s just added on attraction if sorts that makes it romantic. So truly, the first time i genuinely met someone i cared about deeply and, id say, loved a lot, more than anyone at the time, i was 13. And that was a pivotal point because i realised that being loved is a strength and power while loving someone is a great weakness.

2)name the first person who broke your heart.

My parents. Fuck them.

3) hiw many different best friends have you had?

Over a dozen by title, 3 that actually meant something

4) do you have a best friend?

Yes

5) do you have a specific talent?

The talent of being average. Im good at everything i try (except riding a bicycle)but im a jack of all trades, master of none

6)do you fit into any stereotypes?

Hmmm...don t think so. I guess depresses millenial/gen z kid?

7) sexuality

Confused mess

8) fav animal

Tarantula brachypelma, peacock spider, snakes, sloths....i love all animals more than people 😚💕

9)favourite pet names

Darling, pumpkin, asshole, the unknown material

10)what do you think love is....

WHAT IS LOVE? BABY DON'T HURT ME, DON'T HURT ME, NO MORE!

11)when did you discover your favourite band?

Hmmm 14, but last month i listened to palaye royale for the first time and i already know almost all their songs....still finding favourite bands

12) do you want to get married?

Ah, now this is important, see i am undifferent to it, i find the idea of parties and people repulsive and legal bindings are not the sort of bondage im into.....but...if against all odds someone i somehow really loved wanted to marry me i would fucking kill putin and make gay marriage legal for the person (or more reasonably just move to another country)

13) do you want to have kids?

I have a huuuuuge phobia of pregnancy and i have serious anger issues stemming from a meh childhood.. .i would fucking suck with children, but i think i could handle adopting a teen.

14) when did you have your first kiss?

Like for realsies like 2 and a half years ago (14 i believe, at a cinema, right next to a mutual best friend who didn t find out her friends were dating till like ages after, it s actually a hilarious story)

15) nope

16)have you been cheated on?

Technically no

17) how many times have you fallen in love?

Idk, twice romantically, and also back to like the first question, though it might not be defined as falling in love, i do love my best friend very much, like more than anyone else. this whole post is basically gonna be an ode to her.

18) have you ever rejected anyone?

I tend to get very violent and/ or cold towards people when they show me a smidgen of affection so never got the opportunity cause i scare em off....im surprised i even have good close friends.

19)have you ever cheated?

Omg....U CONFESS I CHEATED ON A HISTORY TEST ONCE BUT I FELT BAD AND MADE MISTAKES IN PURPOSE IM SORRYYY

relationships ..no

20) have you ever been in a ling distance relationship?

All of these do not really apply i dated someone once, it ended horribly, i think i just really wabted to answer the 2 i saw when i first looked through this. But i am a lass of great determination and i will do this

21) romantic or sexual aspects of relationship?

Ummm i prefer the aspect of having someone who gives a rats ass about you and who you give a rats ass about. But like. Sexual stuff is cool too, not gonna discredit that.

22)na

23)na

24) favourite thing about best friend?

Where do i even start? She s marvelous! She s incredibly smart, intelligent and she studies a lot. But she also has a great way with people. She s incredibly dimplomatic abd resppectable. She could be a world leader! But she s genuinely kind but not to a fault. Shes extremely trustworthy

However she s also very funny and cool and just a blast to hang out with. We re basically two sides of the same coin. The basics are similar (smart, hardworking, determined, sense if humour) but then she s just so much better than me at almost everything. She s brilliant.

25) do you want a significant other?

Idc about the label, i just want someone who i can trust and talk to about everything and vice versa, cause i don t like bothering my aforementioned best friend. She s too sweet and worries too much.

26)do you like anyone?

Yes, my 2 friends, my cat, and someone i barely ever talk to (also a couple of lovely people from this hellsite that im not tagging cause they ll be forced to try to figure out wher they re mentioned in this mess)

27) who was the last peraon you loved?

Well right now i love my friends and....ok i get that this is like a romantic question and as i said i had one shitty relationship that ruined a fucking awesome friendship, and though i still care about the person and xould talk to them, but it s just said. This whole topic is sad.

28)do you have a celebrity crush?

Though many celebrities are very attractive both inside and out i do not have crushes on them for i feel uncomfortable thinking that.

29)name a song that makes you want to fall in love?

Um....any song directed to someone else? If we re getting music into this i just want to violently sing my affection at someone. Especially ma cherie by palaye and the only hope for me is you by mcr and smithereens by top.....all of the emo bops

30) do you think you ll be happy later in life?

Hahahahahahah. Um...this hits too close to home. There are moments when im semi happy but...ye...i ve kinda been stuck with the same mood in the background for years and it isn t great. Here s to hoping it doesn t engulf me and that one day (hopefully soon) i won t be surrrounded by people i hate so much i gave my stomach erosions (not kidding, the doctor said it was stress making the burning sensations that s caused by stomach acid basically neating away at various areas inside the tum)

Heeey venting actually made me feel better! Like a bit.. Thank you @thegreenpea. Cause yes im making you scroll through all of this just to let you know that i do love you very much and i appreciate your existence and the moments whenever we talk :)

[entj-werewolf]

ISFJ, INFJ, ISFP, ESTJ

1. ISFJ: What's a memory that you look back on often?

I’m not sure what memories I look back on often, so I don’t quite know what one to pick. But, hmmm... I think in general, I’ll look back on lots of my days that I had been pretty physically crippled from my anxiety. It comes back to mind a lot because I’m in such a better state, that I can’t help but realize how much better I really got after that. It doesn’t always fully hit me until I’m doing something I hadn’t been able to do for 4 years, y’know? But at the same time, I missed out on a lot during those years and got very behind in some of my own pursuits/passions (like programming). I want to “catch up” somehow and make up for that lost time, but I probably can’t. I can still dream though... And keep trying.

Related to those general memories of that rough patch in my life, the bigger memories that stick out are the times I ended up in the hospital from horrifying panic attacks (which shot my heart rate too high and needed monitoring and serious calming down). Stuff like that?

2. INFJ: Is there something that people tend to misunderstand about you?

Definitely depends on the person, but there have been times I was misunderstood as being neglectful and/or not caring at all about someone - this usually coming from friends who haven’t known me for too long yet or are in defensive/skeptical states of mind. I’m not blaming them, of course, as I did do things that probably came off wrong despite not having any ill intentions. It’s just one of those strange matters of different perspectives that everyone deals with in other people at some point. I have mostly Feeling type friends who do want to feel absolutely loved, valued, etc., so I have times that I screw up in my wording and the context bursts into flames at them.

I mean, one time I made some off-handed jokes to some friends about how I wasn’t sure what caused lots of people I know (including one of these friends) to have crushes on me and so on. And I talked about how idk what crushes feel like, and joked that it’s kinda a “waste” for people to have said feelings for me and they should try to “stop” the feelings. Then, I accidentally remarked something in the midst of it (can’t fully remember what anymore now though).

I was mostly intending its harsher tone toward the people I had left from my life since they were being too creepy/manipulative with their crushes, but one of the friends with this crush thought it was directed at ‘em too. That friend didn’t really react hurt at first, but later in a private conversation brought it up and thought I was treating those feelings as a joke or something. Didn’t help that I was telling these people how I find such feelings as things that can be stopped out of sheer will (which is something I’ve done and continue to do for some other emotion things). Ughhh... Whoops.

There’s also the weird misunderstanding my different family members have toward me, buuut I won’t get into those here, really. It’s messy and would make this answer too long!

3. ISFP: How do you express yourself?

Usually my artwork, since that’s where I can draw anything I enjoy and have interest in. Sometimes, I also express myself through the clothes I wear, but that’s if I have reason for using those clothes at all. (Like when I was having fun with the Pokemon Go craze, I had a blast wearing my Pokemon clothes to go with it!)

4. ESTJ: How would you describe your work ethic?

Okay, so... Let’s see how to explain my work ethics... I will quickly disclaim too, however, that I cannot consider myself an outright expert on this who knows everything. This is just what I’ve figured out at this point in my life at 22 years old, mixed with some things I find ideal for the best kind of workplace in general. There’s also some stuff I observe in a “how to improve or use to best potential” kind of way, so I might have a few views that aren’t “fully practiced” or “tried and true.” I cannot claim either that my views on this are perfect, blahblah. This just goes on ‘cause I don’t know if to expect anything explosive or just a-okay to come from this, pfffft.

(This got really long and probably seems boring, so I have it under a read more only for those who really are curious and have time to read a near-essay on this crud. -coughs-)

People need to be respectful to each other and not be whiny about stuff (they’re allowed to have complaints, but those have to be reasonable and legitimate). Overall, constructive criticism is much more preferred over people just complaining all the time for the sake of complaining. I sortaaa see this as a general “interact with anyone” rule too, though....

Don’t underpay, and don’t overpay either. Really know how to measure monetary value in things and/or employees. But, also take advantage of “deals” in value changes. Supply and demand is cool and should be used for good reason when it comes to making product prices! Position and purpose that each person has in a job, plus the amount of quality work they actually do (not just the time spent doing it), is also important to measuring their paycheck’s worth. No favoritism, just fair observations and analyses of all of these values.

Speaking of favoritism, really avoid that too. It can screw things up, shake things out of balance, and put too many others at a disadvantage. Then, they likely are the type of people to think you’re being stupid with such actions. (This is more of a strict case to people working as employers or have this higher position, though... Doesn’t matter too much if regular employees have “favoritism” out of being friends. It just has to not distract them too much while they’re clocked in, and it’s all okay!)

Another issue with favoritism is an employer that clings too much to the work one of their employees brings to the business/job/whatever. This can be a huge hinderance on this favored employee, but also hinder the employer and their business in the long term. It’s like one of those obsessive girlfriends/boyfriends that never leave you alone and leech off your work! Avoid at all freaking costs! Teach the employer to let go if you’re one of these favored employees and you want to do something else with your life. Quitting is a free option, but you do have to balance the consequences of it. Don’t quit if you don’t have the next job to join, but also make sure your leave is on a good note so you don’t obliterate your reputation as someone people want to hire. Also, if that employer is rich with a tantrum, maybe avoid upsetting them with any dramatic quitting or anything. Idk if a person can seriously be sued just for quitting, but hey, I’ve seen people get sued for dumber reasons. It’s just a form of caution you have to learn, ‘cause there are ridiculous people out there even in professional positions, man.

(I may or may not also be this favored employee and hate it because I want to move on, the job is bad for my carpal tunnel and respitory health, and the boss doesn’t seem interested in hiring anyone else or able to find another person to take my place.... Help.)

Don’t be too pushy. This is coming from someone who’s seen as pushy sometimes (or lots of times), but there’s a time and place for everything no matter what position you have in a job. Often times, people are less likely to listen to you or value your opinions (whether reasonable or not), because instead they just see you as someone wanting everything to go your own way, and not open to anything else. Just, be wary of this. I’ve made mistakes on it (out of stress) and it probably diminished a bit of how my own parents view my ability to be an employee. It produces frustrating results - believe me. Wording is also important. If you’re careful with your wording and its timing, and how frequently you bring up the same reasonable or unreasonable criticism/complaint, then you won’t be seen as pushy quite that easily. You just increase your odds of seeming too pushy if you really are, y’know, lacking tact in your wording and constantly emphasizing stuff. It’s a bad habit of mine that I’m working on, but it’s something that all people gotta work on too in their own ways.

Clear communication is the most important thing in a job! No matter your position, status, role, whatever in a job.... This is key and can prevent so many future problems. If there’s a completely decided change in a schedule, policy, or anything else that affects the job, you need to make it clear ASAP. Don’t wait on it, don’t bounce around it, and don’t even try to be vague on this stuff to others. Make it clear, concise, and don’t screw up the information. Have it prepared as quick as possible, and then share it with others as quick as possible. It’s like the whole “rip off the bandage” thing. Slowly peeling it and delaying its removal is only going to hurt more, man. Comminucation is a bit of a problem in my current job, and it’s absolutely frustrating and exhausting. Not to complete fault of my boss, but that’s a whole other topic and again - not what I’ll get into here. Just saying, I definitely know how cruddy it can be for bad comminucation skills/tactics in a workplace (or anything involving cooperative efforts). I’m also saying this as someone who is still very socially awkward and is a bit shy, but if it’s something serious like this with vital consequences, I do try and step out of my awkwardness and hope to initiate this communication well. (I’m usually okay with responding to communication, but yeah, I try to force myself into the initiative parts for the sake of things like this.)

-DEEP BREATH- I think that’s the most I can write on this here. It’s as brief as I can keep this while also making sure the ethics are clear - in case this is actually decent advice for people. I’m not too sure myself, so who knows.

Thanks for the questions as always!

[actualyuuri-daily]

analysis (part one): if i’m never your hero chapter one

the Great Braveten has posted another fic so as the leading Braveten/Actualyuuri/Maddie Katsuki fanblog it is naturally my duty to get into the nitty gritty of their latest literature

buckle up folks

ok so right off the bat we see the tags,

“blind character”??? heck me up! 

“vigilante au that nobody asked for” um, excuse me, but when it comes to the Great Braveten fics there is nothing to ask. we will simply just accept it, and let it drown us, take over our lives, take our souls,, 

“in which yuuri leads a double life and victor falls in love with him in both” oh my god here we go again the trademarked Miscommunication Issues that rears its head in every single one of maddie’s fics yep yep i can feel it coming already

and now, the summary: 

their lives revolve around each other 

[starts sweating already] o god here we go 

[immediately opens daredevil wiki because i haven’t watched it whoops] 

see i only know the MCU so this is going to be a team effort, okay guys? when you see an allusion to a DC/superhero show that i don’t catch you need to make it known, alright y’all??

alright now that that’s clear let’s take a look at two details: (1) title of the fic and (2) title of the chapter

if i’m never your hero i can never let you down

we are already seeing some katsuki yuuri low self-esteem vibes here y’all. this is so yuuri. this is so yuuri we’re not even gonna question why i’ve already assumed this is yuuri speaking. we were all thinking this 

‘for what i’m about to do’ is not, in fact, a line off of ‘explode’ nor is it a daredevil episode title. so what does this mean??? let’s break it down:

[blank] for what i’m about to do. 

possible fill-ins: ‘i apologize’ for what i’m about to do? ‘prepare yourself’ for what i’m about to do?? a precursory glance at the chapter tells us this is victor’s pov, so is this chapter title victor speaking??? 

(wow we haven’t even delved into the chapter yet. i just --)

so let’s actually dig into the chapter shall we??? we’ll return to this chapter title situation in a jiffy 

EXT. ROOFTOP IN NEW YORK CITY — NIGHT

already we are seeing a slight divergence from braveten’s writing style what with how she is setting up the scene much like one would in a comic book. the superhero vibes are settling in already. and we’re in new york city, no less -- y’all seen that post about how new york city is always the first city to fall whenever there’s an apocalypse in movies?? so we already know it’s about to go down. new york city; the perfect backdrop for a vigilante. 

also, also. on the topic of the apocalypse. let’s go back to that patrick stump song and ohohoho. what do we have here? the opening lines are: 

HMMM... REAL INTERESTING YES YES... REAL INTERESTING... 

another thing of note: the sirens. sirens are incredibly important to Young Victor.

He hears sirens, sometimes, and starts writing about those. What could be happening across town, if somebody’s hurt, if a life is being saved. He wonders if his father is there, since Yakov had just gotten a job as the chief of police. Whenever he hears those sirens, he’ll grip his favorite book just a little bit tighter. (from scene 1) 

Victor stands and dusts off his knees, but then hears a siren go off. It’s nearby. He steps closer to the edge of the roof, and hears Yakov call his name again, with concern thick in his tone, this time. Victor squints to get a better look and can only see ambulances gathering a few blocks away. (from scene 1)

Yakov assumes that Victor is the same unruly teenager who had wanted to look out over rooftops and daydream about sirens with a child’s naivety. (from scene 2) 

sirens also appear in stump song right after the line from which the title of the fic is taken

REAL INTERESTING... things the sirens could mean: danger, crime, someone in need, someone being rescued... in any case we’re filing away this info for later

INT. HISTORY MAKER TRIBUNE BUILDING — DAY

victor is a journalist! a Very Serious one!! he chases around stories with seemingly no regard for his safety!!!!! ahhhh 

(But the fact of the matter is, as everyone knows, that the intimate details and photos he’d gotten have lead to the exact type of article needed to revamp the newspaper’s business. One dangerous expedition at a time, Victor is saving not only his own job, but dozens of jobs.)

ohohoho and now we have a lil snippet of a subplot: perhaps in the future victor will need to make a decision between unmasking a certain vigilante and saving the paper??? 

Just because Yakov is the chief of police doesn’t grant Victor immunity from bullets, blades, and crime—he knows that.

and here we have our first allusion to a superhero show other than daredevil!!!! like barry allen in the flash, victor’s adopted father is the chief of police. 

(unlike barry allen, victor is not in love with his adopted sibling) 

[Celestino] understands that what Victor is doing isn’t storytelling—it’s an unconventional method of catharsis.

another noteworthy piece of victor’s character 

what could his work -- his desire to take note of everything, his keen attention to detail -- be emotionally relieving him of? 

end of part one. to be continued.

[flames-bring-a-ton-of-ash]

hi! What's the best and the worst part about your job? :)

Oh, good question! Hmmm....the best and worst part of being a therapist...

*this got long, so I’m adding a “keep reading” bar

The best part is, hands down, helping my clients. I do all the intake sessions at my agency (as well as have a small individual caseload), so I get to meet everyone that comes into the program. Which also means that I get to hear a lot of life stories and am able to provide some initial support, since I’m the first clinical person clients meet with when they start our program. Some people just want to get their intake done as quick as possible, some don’t want to talk at all, and others are bursting to get out how they’re feeling. I’ve had people who held it together until the moment they enter my office, and then they  just break down because they finally have someone they can talk to, even if it’s just during an intake. And it’s in those moments that I really am grateful that I can be there for them. 

I’ve had people who I spent only 20 minutes with and then they’re telling me something that they’ve never told anyone else, and it’s amazing to see how cathartic that is for them. It’s an honor to be trusted by clients like that, and a huge privilege that I get to see the vulnerable side to people that most others don’t. It’s really helped open my eyes to how true the saying “don’t judge a book by its cover” really is. I’ve had clients whose resume says they were incarcerated for 30+ years, whether for drugs, theft, murder, etc., but when they come in my office, I get to hear the side others don’t. How they might’ve been abused from a young age, how they might’ve seen someone they loved die right in front of them (I can’t even tell you how many times I’ve heard of someone’s fiance/brother/son/etc dying in their arms after being shot or stabbed, and it breaks my heart every single time), how they struggled to provide for their loved ones in whatever way possible. How a lot of them grew up thinking they were less than, and that a person of color from an impoverished family can’t get anywhere in life, so they’ve felt defeated and unwanted their entire lives. How they turned to drugs because of these life events, because they didn’t know how else to numb the pain (or cope with their mental health issues, since there’s so much stigma around that topic, and people are told to ‘just deal with it’), didn’t know how else to make it day to day without just giving up and dying. And I hear their stories, and I often think, “Idk how they’re still alive, because idk if I could’ve survived all of that, myself.” 

Another best part is when a client makes a breakthrough in their treatment. I have some individual clients who I’ve been working with for almost 2 years. One client in particular, completely didn’t trust me at first, because he doesn’t really trust anyone. Most especially, he doesn’t trust women, period, due to events form his past. It took me literally 8 months to get him to say more than, “I’m fine, can I go now?” during his weekly sessions. Now, almost 2 years later, he says that I’m the one person he does trust, since I stuck with him and didn’t give up on him, and he actually looks forward to our sessions. He actually had a breakdown this past week, and for the first time I saw him cry. Now, I’m not saying that crying is always a good thing, but in his case, I think it was. He finally showed some serious vulnerability, especially since he was always taught that real men don’t cry (god, I hate that stereotype). It was such a bittersweet moment, to see him acknowledge that he was in fact hurting, and that it was okay for him to do so in front of me, and show me his pain. It was a bit overwhelming for me, and I held it together long enough for him to leave my office before I closed my door and had a cry myself. And it’s clients like him who motivate me to get up in the morning. It can be really emotionally exhausting at times, but being able to be there for my clients, whether it’s to cheer them on, laugh with them, tell them how proud I am of their accomplishments, or provide them with a safe space where they can rant, cry, curse, and feel like finally someone listens and cares....that’s what makes my job so worth it. That’s what makes me proud and humbled to be a therapist. 

Wow...that got deep.

So...the worst part....well, the pay for being a therapist is really not at all as great as people seem to think. I make a decent pay for how new I am to the field, yet I still need my family’s help to pay for my student loan bills every month, and even with that help, I still struggle. So that sucks. 

Also, what’s really difficult for me is when I see coworkers who are burnt out, and therefore no longer care. I’ve seen coworkers who are flat out rude to clients, who don’t want to take the time to listen or care. Who won’t go out of their way just a little bit to help out, because they’re too overworked and exhausted. And I’ve seen (and heard from) clients who feel like their therapist don’t care about them, and that is a really hard emotional blow for a lot of people (understandably). 

It sucks, because burnout totally happens in this field, especially since a lot of us have to work two jobs, or do side hustles, to make enough money. When you put so many hours a day into helping others, it means less time to worry about yourself, and that can be a slippery slope. I ALWAYS stress to everyone (clients, friends, family, myself) how important self care is. If you don’t take the daily time for self care, you will, in fact, burn out, and you will indeed become miserable. I’ve seen it happen to people far too often. And it’s scary, because I don’t ever want to become that person who just doesn’t care anymore, who is only going to work for the paycheck, and not at all because they want to help their clients. It’s really tough to see it happen to my coworkers, and even more tough to see how it affects their clients. So, I guess that would be one of the worst things, is how emotionally exhausting the job can be, and how it can negatively affect you, if you don’t take care of yourself. 

[search-engine-optimization-stl]

Ten Marketers And A Bunch Of SEO Tips I’ve Picked Up From Them Along The Way

Blog First Found On this blog . You can reach the original post here Ten Marketers And A Bunch Of SEO Tips I’ve Picked Up From Them Along The Way.

***First of all the above picture is me doing the (Steve) AOKI jump. I wanted to prove that I might just be a ninja, so I’m qualified to talk about a bunch of SEO tips. Wrong type of Ninja huh?***

I haven’t written a blog post in a long time, mainly because I haven’t had the time to do it. Let’s face it when one works at an agency and has multiple clients that they are developing and implementing marketing strategies for, there really isn’t much time for anything else.

Last week I broke my hand which probably has you asking shouldn’t he have less time then? The answer is YES! But, blogging and doing SEO (Whatever That Means) are still 2 of my favorite things. So, here we are, I am writing a blog post about my favorite tips that I’ve learned from some of my favorite marketers, SEO Ninjas, PPC Gurus and everything in between.

By the way that took me about 20 minutes to type due to the broken hand. MAYBE I DON’T HAVE TIME FOR THIS?

The tips nor the marketers are in any specific order and are simply tips that stood out to me when I heard them. There is no real time period here. Some are old tips and some are from 2018. But, you all get a GOLD STAR in my book!

A Bunch Of SEO Tips From My Favorite Marketers

Danny Sullivan – @dannysullivan

This is really simple now that I think about it, but at the time I never thought about how big of an impact local SEO could/would have.

Danny said, “Show up right in local SEO”. He spoke about the importance of having your information correct in Google My Business, monitoring Yelp and other review sites, because those sites would become important in local searches.

This is obviously right on point and it reminds me of a few services (hmmm) such as YEXT, Bright Local, White Spark, and Moz Local. Were they listening to you, Danny?

Rand Fishkin – @randfish

I remember when Rand said something about how SEO people or the “SEOs” on the team need to be involved with branding, design, and development. This way you’re taking advantage of your offerings before the end product goes to market.

I took this and applied it to my current position which is a digital strategist at a website development company that does digital marketing. I enthusiastically put myself into the beginning process of the website development.

This meant pissing off the design team, the “thinkers” or people working mostly on branding and the developers. It turns out having a good user experience design, sitemap and overall plan is a good thing and this became the common practice. Thanks, Rand Fishkin.

Barry Schwartz – @rustybrick

What I remember from Barry is when he said to not follow all of the changes and basically stick to what you know works. He said to continue pumping out good content and be the expert.

Barry is the one that drilled down that you need to know what you are writing about and be passionate about it. This way you will at least sound like you know what you’re talking about. Keeping your readers coming back is the goal and being the expert will do that and show Google that you are an authority on your topic.

We know that Google loves authority… Well as long as they’re the authority! Right?

Larry Kim – @larrykim

Larry Kim is why I heard about Medium and why publishing on the site is a good idea for your content. It was actually earlier this year before he went to do his Unicorn thing. Larry posted a blog post that had 10 reasons you should be publishing on Medium.

My only comment is he wasn’t wrong and I now use Medium as part of my repertoire. It’s nice to have another tool in the tool belt. Now if only Larry could make me a Chat Bot using Mobile Monkey. Those things are exhausting.

Neil Patel – @neilpatel

Now don’t get me wrong I have spent countless hours learning from Neil Patel, I’m not sure why I say Neil Patel, but for some reason when I say Neil Patel I have to use his whole name.

Anyways the first thing I can remember that really stands out from Neil Patel was when he was talking about making “how-to posts” and “Infographics”. Neil Patel had a very good point, he said “creating content that is interesting and worthy of sharing is a good thing. If someone can learn something valuable they are more likely to share it and keep coming back.”

OK, that was a paraphrase (Neil Patel is long-winded sometimes – best way possible), but you get it. Thanks for the advice, Neil Patel.

Joost de Valk – @jdevalk

First of all, can I just say Yoast SEO! I mean how many of us SEOs use it the right way and how many marketing people at companies think they can do SEO because they have that plugin? Am I Right? Please stop by the way, SEO is not THAT easy! 

But, seriously I think that a long time ago if my memory serves me right that Joost is who made it very apparent that having a keyword strategy is extremely important.  This includes coming up with a topic, getting search volume around your keyword(s), finding long tail versions to use and most recently the importance of using LSI keywords throughout your writing.

Write about your topic or an idea instead of just focusing on one keyword. I guess you can say I have evolved with Joost.

Aaron Wall – @aaronwall (Private?)

The biggest takeaway that I have received from Aaron is that SEO is not just people searching on Google. I changed my outlook to believe that “SEO” is holistic and we should look at everything online as a whole to be found everywhere.

He made a statement about being found on Amazon as an eCommerce store and it made me realize that SEO should be seen as a more broad term, maybe digital marketing or holistic SEO.

Brian Dean – @backlinko

While Brian Dean is a ball of SEO knowledge, the one thing I remember hearing and sticking with me is when he talked about the “Hilltop Algorithm”. This was something I had never heard of.

I knew that outbound links were important, but I would link to a Wikipedia site, not realizing that linking to high-quality pages was much better. Doing this tells Google that your page is a hub, such as a hub of information because it links out to high authority and relevant sources.

The study that he linked to on the topic sold me on this idea.

Aleyda Solis – @aleyda

I think my biggest takeaway from Aleyda is that she is way smarter than me. Every single time I read one of her blogs or watch a video I learn a ton! But, she does love charts and workflows and slides and she has so many steps that come along with her tips and tools – which is amazing and thorough!

I know that what I am saying makes her sound like one of my college professors, but I’m trying to say I learn a lot and it’s always very thorough. Which means I can’t think of just one SEO tip that stands out to me as there are just too many.

Freddy J. Nager – @atomictango

The only thing I remember about Freddy Nager is that one time I returned from my “Spring Break” vacation and he had put my fake Facebook Group on blast.

As you will see, as he put me on blast again, I made up a fake school project, I made up a fake persona (The reason I knew I would never do anything like this again), I made up everything and decided I would litter links to T-Shirts I was selling online throughout the group. Turns out the group took off. Like 800,000 people in a few days. Hell, my T-Shirt sales took off too.

Meanwhile, I was at the beach and had no idea what was going on. It turns out Freddy Nager and a few hundred other people were playing detective while I was playing drinking games. I came back home and read the blog posts he had written and the comments others had left.

Honestly, I thought it was hilarious and I was making some nice money at the same time. But, what did I learn from Freddy J, Nager? I learned how to be a marketer, how to be transparent, and that doing things the wrong way (at least normally) will get you nowhere or left behind. The reason I say normally is that the T-Shirts just would not stop selling.

He wrote something about how if I was doing this right I would have been nurturing the relationships I was building in order to sell to them again, I now realize that to be the case. But, at the same time, I think I saw the beginning of burn and churn marketing in the days of Social Media.

I also think this was the first time I saw how a profile behind a social media platform can be very convincing and convince people to do just about anything they ask them. For me, it was buying shirts (to others it might be to vote a particular way). Thankfully there are people like Freddy Nager out there to question things because that’s exactly what we need today!

In The End

As you can see I learned something different from each of these marketers. Some of these things were lessons in life, while other things were strictly actionable items. But, when put together these 10 tiny things helped me to be a better marketer.

To be 100% transparent I have learned 100s of things from all of these marketers and will continue to learn. Actually 100s of things from many other people as well. Hmmm, I think I just decided to make this a part 1 of who knows how many.

Thanks for the help guys and I’ll see you all next time.

  **Oh yea if there are spelling or grammar issues – blame my broken hand**

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