#just am going through a creative rut rn

[bugtoast]

Hello lgbt ieytd community

I know I haven’t been active in the fanbase for a while, but the hyperfixation came back like a motherfucker and now I wanna doodle these goobers again Mainly just wanted to draw some other people's phoenix designs. Kinda inspired by this post

The designs creators (in-order) are: @icecreampizzer, @salezmanradioz, @purplebehittindifferent, @solobodor, @ghostplasmas @operationjetset and @malfunctioning-mantis

(hope y'all don't mind the @ gjfdkjhnfdjk)

[doubledyke]

hey, i’ve read some of your writing and i really like it. do you have any tips?

aw dude that's really sweet. i'm really self conscious about everything i write so i appreciate hearing that. i'm still learning myself, so my advice is probably gonna be kind of obvious yet nebulous (much like my writing). oh and im not great at following my own advice, but we can ignore that.

first and foremost i'd say try to have fun. get weird with it. don't stress too much about it. it's supposed to be an enjoyable pastime, so write what YOU like, how you like. the "rules" of grammar and composition are helpful, but you're allowed to be a lot more lax with creative writing. i know i am 👀

in my humble opinion, you can never have too many details, even- or especially- oddly specific ones. personal experiences are a great way to inject some minutiae, and i enjoy the insight they provide into the author's perspective, background, thought process, etc.. there are infinite other tools at your disposal too. like the number of times i've found myself browsing ancient, niche forums just to confirm one insignificant bit of information is ridiculous.

don't be afraid to take your story as seriously or unseriously as you want. sometimes i'll be snapped out of focus with the thought of "am i really writing this rn" 😂 but i just try to remind myself that i'm (usually) having fun, i'm not hurting anyone and someone might even enjoy the final product.

for eene, try to listen to the voice acting as much as you watch the animation. and don't be afraid to step outside your comfort zone when writing a character. i'm neither comfortable, nor very good at writing for ed, but i nutted up and gave it a shot recently and yeah it's nuclear level cringe but i suppose it can't get any worse, right? RIGHT???.... i love learning new words, so when i'm writing for edd (and in general) you know i keep that thesaurus tab open. with eddy, there's always room for more irreverence. i'm also one of those people that cannot help but drop almost every g when i write eddy. and it's just as important to get their idiolects down, which can be tricky. BUT that's mostly if your goal is to stay close to the source material, which is definitely not necessary. i'm just not a very creative person 😂

if you're in a rut, skip to another section, or hell even another chapter. the fic i'm working on rn was hatched from a simple premise several months ago, so i started at the end and have been building on that. an unconventional starting point can be really helpful when you're struggling to start at all. because i'm me, it's turned into a nightmare beast that i can't seem to contain, but i still have a general idea of where we're going and we'll get there eventually lmfao. to that point, outlines, bullet points, notes, etc. are all very useful.

take breaks, let her sit for a while. i'll write a whole bunch, leave, come back to review and be like girl what the hell is this. fresh eyes make a big difference! however, don't be like me and get too caught up in the weeds. i make compulsive little tweaks of my shit up to the point and even after i hit post. more often than not, it's more stress than it's worth. i just can't help it 🥴

and then of course, read other people's stuff. i'm not much of a fiction reader but i make exceptions for the sake of my hyper-fixation. it truly does help to see different perspectives and styles of writing. everyone has a unique voice that really comes through in creative writing, which i love. i've gleaned a lot from reading other people's work as well. i frequently come across new and creative ideas for changing up sentence structure, dialogue tags and narration by reading stuff from fellow fans.

aaaaaand yeah idk what else really. like i said, i'm not the best at writing but i think as long as you're getting your ideas across in the way that you want to, you're golden. anyone who makes shitty remarks about someone else's writing can sit and spin honestly.

[dcrbyalbright]

What! Is! Up! Hullo all, I’m Olive, here to introduce myself and my trash can girl. I’m 23 and I live in Boston but rn with this damn global pandemic I’m staying with my parents! Something you need to know about me: typos are my brand. I will absolutely fuck up every sentence I ever write in this rp and you just gotta accept that. I like craft beers and reading trashy memoirs and.... idk! Gonna drop the intro before I ramble too much. Kisses!

(NICOLA PELTZ, CIS FEMALE) - Have you seen FREYA ADLER? FREY is in HER JUNIOR year. The THEATRE MAJOR is 21 years old & is a LEO. People say SHE is GREGARIOUS, CHARMING, SECRETIVE and CHILDISH. Rumors say they’re a member of KINCAID SOCIETY. I heard from the gossip blog that SHE SLEPT WITH A PROFESSOR TO PAY HER RENT LAST YEAR. - (OLIVE. 23. EST. SHE/HER.)

21 years old!! From NY!

Her parents were wannabe hippies who missed the days of the 60’s. In their twenties, they met riding around on a bus through all of America, living on the vinyl seats and smoking weed as they traveled

Freya was an accidental pregnancy and so they left the bus life and moved in with her maternal grandparents, got part time jobs and eventually moved to a small apartment on their own

They never wanted to be parents and never saw themselves living a typical lifestyle, so Freya got the message pretty early on that she wasn’t wanted. They were never unkind or abusive, just generally uninterested in their daughter. She was like an awkward antique coffee table from your relatives, something that you aren’t quite sure what to do with but know you can never get rid of

Like seriously she might as well have been a piece of furniture to them. They spent most of her childhood in the basement smoking weed and playing The Grateful Dead while she cooked herself meals of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches

Her dad worked as a party clown and her mom was a bus driver so she got picked on a lot in school ghgfdsdfg

Has an intense and burning desire to be loved because she never got it from them!! She made up for her lack of love by throwing it in any direction she could. She’s always been pretty popular at school because she’s kind to everyone and has an ability to make anyone feel comfortable around her

She found in school that she has a fantastic talent for anything artistic. Painting, sculpture, photography, she does it all. Also plays guitar and piano!!

When she was 13 her parents accidentally got pregnant again and gave birth to her little brother Alistair, called Ali for short.

Her parents actually tried to be good parents for Ali which?? Pissed her OFF!! Like, they went to every parent teacher conference, nurtured him, were just AROUND which was heartbreaking for Freya to watch

She wanted to hate Ali just bc of this but she really couldn’t… there was something special about him and he was incredibly smart. Started reading at age two, and was a mathematical prodigy in the way that his older sister was an artistic prodigy. By age four Freya and Ali were having intense intellectual debates and she just found him incredibly fascinating, as well as kind

Loved her little brother to pieces!! When she got her driving license she volunteered to drop him off at primary school every day and they rocked out together to all her favorite songs and she taught him the words to David Bowie’s Heroes

But then the accident happened, and Freya’s life was upended. Ali was kneeling down in her parent’s driveway, out of sight as their mother was backing up and leaving the house. She hit Ali and his lung was punctured by a rib. He was rushed to the hospital but he didn’t make it.

The family split after that like a dropped snowglobe, the emotional shards of Ali’s death exploding in its wake. Her father left, unable to even hold their mother’s hand during the funeral. He blamed her for Ali’s death even though it was an accident.

Freya’s mother fell into a deep depression that she’s never shaken. Her grandparents moved Freya and her mom back into their mom, and her grandparents are now the full-time caretakers for Freya’s mother. She wanders around most days in a drugged haze clutching Ali’s baby blanket with a bathrobe on.

As soon as she could, Freya got out of the house. She applied to Northshore, packed her bags and got out. She still doesn’t like to talk about her family

Umm despite the tragedy she’s remained a really kind, positive person?? Her motto is “always be a little kinder than necessary.” She’s actually super embarrassed about how much she cares for everyone dfhgfds

Is a bit inspired by Noora from SKAM in that she’s not a fan of dating and keeps her walls up!! But different in that she keeps her walls up by having sex with everyone sdfgfds

Umm kind of has too much sex? She got chlamydia last year and was most upset that she couldnt have sex for a few weeks not that she caught an std HGFDSDFGH

She loves vintage t-shirts, converse, mom jeans, plaid skirts, red lipstick, big sweaters, pastel colors and her mom’s old Doc Marten boots from the 80’s

Doesn’t really drink to get drunk, but she does love drugs!! Of all kinds!! Mostly weed, but occasionally for big parties she’ll drop acid, or she’ll get high when she’s in a creative rut and needs to just go hog wild and paint sdfgfds

Can also get along with anyone tbh

Stubborn! As! Hell!

WANTED CONNECTIONS:

Her bandmates. She started a band her first year of uni and they play mostly die bars and pubs, but they’re together all the time. Bonus points if there’s some bandmate sexual tension??

Art friends! People who get together to create, pull all nighters working on projects, support each other through their art coursework

The Serena to her Blair. Give her a messy friend that she’s always picking up from the bar at 3 AM in her pajamas bc they called in the middle of the night and needed Freya to get them out of a jam sdfgfds

A bad influence! Someone who’s like c/mon Freya having a seventh drink fghgfds

Childhood friends from NY! Maybe people whose parents knew each other, or someone whose parents kind of took Freya under their wing bc her parents were so absent

Friends, best friend, ride or dies, friends who are like siblings to her, maybe someone with an unrequited crush on either side??

Someone she used to date but pushed them away when she started to fall in love bc she’s afraid of getting hurt!!

[thisismetryin]

hello again joyce... im pretty sure i sent an ask yesterday but honestly? who knows? not me! i think im slowly losing sanity as finals season gets into full gear. to keep on theme, what are some of your favorite ~self care~ strategies when life gets stressful? asking for a friend ;)

heyyyyy!!! i’m sorry i forgot to answer this yesterday i’m big dumb klasdfjlaksf i’m sorry fam that you’re struggling! i am not good at self-care BUT here are some tips i guess:

do physical acts of self care - like a mask! not like masquerade masks but skincare masks. skincare is something i’ve always been horrible at, like i never really take care of my skin, but one time i was sobbing in the shower and then i decided to #treatmyself and i did a mask. it wasn’t a sheet mask, it was an expensive mask that i bought on vacation. it made me feel so good? like i felt cleansed, weirdly enough. also doing masks forces you to sit/lie there and do nothing for a short period of time which is good for relaxation anyway! also conditioning your hair is something i love doing? when your hair feels silky smooth it’s truly chef’s kiss ngl.

watch a comfort movie - some of my comfort movies include the cat returns by studio ghibli and... well i can’t recall anything else. i also highly recommend the cat returns, it’s quite mellow and funny, and the plot doesn’t get so dramatic that my mood gets affected. the cat returns is about this girl who saves a cat from traffic. turns out that cat is a prince in the kingdom of cats and she gets carted off by the cats into the kingdom so she can marry the prince. a super handsome cat will have to rescue her before she becomes a cat! another movie i can currently think of is the polar express. anyway any childhood movie can be a comfort movie. i love movies that are comfortable. // you can also read a comfort book, watch a comfort tv show/cartoon, listen to a comfort album/playlist. 

distract yourself with something funny - a funny movie/tv show? tumblr memes? dad jokes/@badjokesbyjeff? go for it! sometimes i’m very stressed and upset but looking at /r/tumblr posts helps me relax a bit, often because they’re hilarious and i laugh and forget what i was stressed about.

journal/draw - i love writing in the journaling sense. it’s very therapeutic to just write what you’re feeling, what thoughts are going through your head, what your current hopes and dreams and goals are, what you’re currently struggling with etc. and i think doodling also helps? like when you’re completely not judging what you’re making, that can be helpful. i like writing random words in cursive and then making them into faux calligraphy (where you make the downstrokes look thicker as if they were drawn with brushes and stuff). draw stick figures if that helps you relax! write wacky little poems! vent to no one in particular! write vengeful letters to people you hold grudges towards that you’ll never send! you don’t always have to be creating for an audience. sometimes you just need to do something creative for you and yourself only. like i record me singing for no reason. 

idk if this counts as a self care strategy, but when i’m completely stuck in a rut, and feeling utterly unproductive and feeling all that self-hatred, guilt and self-pity washing in, i try to make to-do lists that break down every bigger task into a smaller task. and i try to trick myself into doing a task. the smallest task will do. sometimes you need that push, that “oh i can do this, i’m not failing” and you’ll be in a better headspace. try not to focus too much on what you did/didn’t do in the past, try to focus on the time you have left. also talk to a friend? venting to no one in particular is good for getting it out your system but also talking to someone is equally good?

that’s all i can think of rn, thank you for reading all of this my dearest nut buddy! i hope everything’s going well, ilysm and i believe in you! i’m rooting for you!

[dstrachan]

DREAM WIFE 'SO WHEN YOU GONNA …. '

Dream Wife = Alice Go, Bella Podpadec and Rakel Mjöll, are back with their second album and as the title suggests, it is a record brimming with adrenaline and playful excitement.  Now I could go on and copy and paste the rest of their press release here but that would be extremely lazy, despite the fact that I fully agree with it. 

I haven't posted many album reviews recently because I felt that I was getting into a rather deep rut: right from the start I made a decision not to write negative reviews – artists and production teams for albums had clearly invested many hours along with copious amounts of blood sweat and tears to produce something that they believed in so what right had I to express my feelings simply because I hadn't liked the result?  My reasons for writing reviews was never about promoting my personal profile – only about seeking to help to highlight great musical talent in the hope of increasing their positive exposure, so I reckoned that if I hadn't been moved to write something positive it would be best to say nothing at all.  After all, I'm one of those who first heard Queen's 'Bohemian Rhapsody' whilst working in the Edinburgh branch of Bruce's Record Shop in Rose Street, and along with other staff, wondered what the hell they were playing at – who on earth was going to want to listen to the ramblings of somebody having a bad trip?  Well we all what happened next back then in 1975!

So, with that principle established I began to realise that my reviews were becoming really quite formulaic and could pretty much be summed up as follows; “I really like this music – because I have listened to such a wide range of great music over the last half century some parts of some of the tracks evoke memories of other, previous musical gems; I thoroughly enjoyed listening to this album and would like to wish the artists all the best for the future and invite you to give them a fair hearing to find out whether or not you agree with my enthusiasm”.  Consequently I came to realise that any further reviews would be quite repetitive and I pretty much took a step back from reviewing, with any reviews essentially being restricted to reporting on gigs that I had enjoyed.  Given the devastating effect of the coronavirus on the live gig scene since March this year, opportunities for attending live gigs have disappeared.  Many excellent live stream performances have been available and I have enjoyed a number of these but haven't got round to trying to review these as yet, perhaps that is because logging on to watch a live stream doesn't come with the same additional experience - driving many miles, parking, perhaps having a meal before the gig, getting into the venue and then driving home doesn't really stack up against remaining at home, sitting by my laptop and clicking a link.  But many thanks to all who have impressed me during these live streams, including Nervous Twitch, Not Now Norman and especially Reely Jiggered whose weekly 'live on the drive' performances outside their house have been exceptionally inspiring given Fiona and Alison McNeil's wonderfully infectious enthusiasm.

So, after that preamble, back to Dream Wife and their second album 'So When You Gonna?'; well I write this on 1st August 2020 shortly after receiving my neon pink vinyl copy of the album, the day that I announced my August 'track of the month' selection as being the opening track 'Sports!'.  I have always been extremely impressed by these three exceptional humans and had intended to begin this post by referring back to my review of their debut album – but it turns out that any such review is entirely in my head as I can find no record of it!  So instead of a brief reference to a TFL P4 bus journey from Lewisham to Brixton, believing that to have already been detailed in my apparently non-existent review of their first album, I will have to explain more fully.

It was Saturday 15th September 2018 and my daughter and I were traveling from Lewisham to Brixton on a route P4 bus when somewhere en-route (possibly the Nunhead area, but my knowledge of London really isn't that good) two striking young women got on and sat beside each other, directly in front of us.  Although they didn't speak to each other I sensed a bit of mutual chemistry and they seemed to be very pre-occupied.  I did actually wonder if they might also be heading to the O2 Academy for the Garbage gig that we were heading for but thought no more of it, especially when they got off a few stops before us.  We then went for a truly enjoyable ramen meal in 'Nanban', Coldharbour Lane.  Later, in the venue I watched with amazement as the support band (until then we had known nothing about them) came on stage – the guitarist and bass player looked very familiar – they were the two who I remembered from the bus!  Bella and Alice were then joined by Rakel and we were subsequently enthralled by a truly exciting, energetic and inspired performance as we wallowed in our first experience of Dream Wife (the Garbage set was excellent and entralling too, but that's really not the focus of this review).  Later, in the wee small hours of the following Sunday morning, as I lay on the sofa bed in my daughter's flat, unable to get to sleep as I recalled the gig, I got on-line and ordered a copy of Dream Wife's album on blood spattered vinyl.  For my review of that amazing album please refer back to my intro regarding the repetitiveness of my reviews!

Dream Wife have always been outspoken about holding up other women and non-binary people in the creative industries, but these aren’t just words or sentiments.  With a gender divide in music production currently estimated at around ninety-five percent male to five percent female, the band are proud to have worked with an all-female recording team for 'So When You Gonna...', including producer and mixer Marta Salogni (Björk, Holly Herndon, FKA Twigs) engineer Grace Banks (David Wrench, Marika Hackman) and mastering engineer Heba Kadry (Princess Nokia, Alex G, Beach House).

“It was a way of us practicing what we preach,” says Alice, “It felt like an honour to be able to deliver this baby with these three amazing midwives.” “Put your money where your mouth is!” adds Rakel, quoting the lyrics of “Sports!”

In the first week following its release, 'So When You Gonna...' was the only one in the UK top 20 chart that was not backed by a major label, in addition they were the only one band with an album entirely produced by a womxn.

As the band posted, “the ONLY band/musician in the top 20 that is not backed by a major label. The ONLY band/musician on that list who’s album was entirely produced by a womxn. Let alone had a whole team of womxn behind it.

Which is messed up... it’s 2020 ppl?”

In addition 'So When You Gonna...' was the album of the day at BBC Radio 6 Music for 7th July, and it was Rough Trade ‘s album of the month.

Around that time the band offered people a chance to win 'Bender', the loving member of their tour family; a customized silver Burns marquee which had played probably 300+ shows with the band and was a big part of the writing and recording of both their albums.  In the end Elina Lin was announced as the winner and she decided to gift the guitar to Girls Rock London – much respect to Elina :-)

So, after all that, what about the actual album that I'm supposed to me reviewing?  Well, it's truly a breath of fresh air.  The selection of eleven tracks is absolutely inspired, and pleasingly varied in content and style whilst simultaneously maintaining a coherent sound and identity.  I refer to my earlier comments about my overall approach to publishing album reviews, but will add that having seen the band's videos does help to add to my enjoyment of this album. Rakel's voice readily evokes images of her cheeky,  infectious smile, especially when during 'Sports!' she asks, “do you even play this sport”?  I was also extremely taken by the reerence to Kylie in 'Hold On Me', some more pretentious bands might have viewed such a reference as a step too far, but given the make up of my show playlists, I have absolutely no problem at all with this and applaud them for their honesty.  In addition the use of archive footage of much young band members for the 'Hasta La Vista' video is really quite inspired.

There are some tremendously high energy of tracks such as my 'track of the month' selection 'Sports!', the title track 'So When You Gonna …' and 'Hasta La Vista', and these are masterfully counterpointed with such intensely emotive ones such as 'Temporary', about miscarriage and 'After The Rain' with it's hauntingly intense vocals about abortion.   This album covers all bases and I genuinely believe that it deserves to be given a fair hearing.

In summary I truly feel that any future reviews should probably be more along the lines of. “if you like most of the music that I play in my radio shows, then please believe me when I say that you really should check out ….......”

One other spur for writing this and is that I have selected the album’s opening track, ‘Sports!’ as my ‘track of the month’ for August and am just about to give it its first play.  Perhaps in future I should aim to focus mainly on covering my 'track of the month selections which I am very pleased to play around half way through the second hour of every one of my shows.

Track listing:

1/ Sports!

2/ Hasta La Vista

3/ Homesick

4/ Validation

5/ Temporary

6/ U Do U

7/ RH RN

8/ Old Flame

9/ So When You Gonna

10/ Hold On Me

11/ After The Rain