#just to say as well

[obstinatecondolement]

I usually don't write Advice on Tumblr these days, however I do have a few editing tips and tricks that I think might be worth giving a shot if you're a writer who has similar problems to me in separating out the "drafting" and "editing" stages of writing that end up letting a billion typos sneak through your supposed Final self-edits.

I write and edit in different fonts*, and use print layout in my word processor for writing and web layout for editing to create a very obvious visual demarcation between the two processes.

I turn on tracked changes in my word processor when I'm editing, and when I'm finished a section, I'll accept the changes and then change the colour of that text to purple. Once something is purpled, I'm not allowed to touch it again until I've completed a full round of editing on the rest of the draft.

I use text to speech to listen through the draft, stopping to change things only when there's a mistake, accidental repetition of certain words really close together, or extremely clunky phrasing.

I export the document as a PDF and use a PDF viewer to mark it up like I'm copyediting a physical draft on paper. You could also print out your draft if this doesn't create enough of a barrier to stop you from getting up to your old tricks, but this might not be feasible based on your printing/nosy roommate/length of draft situation.

Bonus tip: this isn't something I've done myself, but similar to my first tip about changing fonts and page layout, you could put a different font colour or background colour on any new text you add in when you're editing.

I remember going to a con when I was a teenager and seeing Terry Pratchett talking about his pre-word processor novel writing workflow from before personal computers became ubiquitous, and he said that he used to write every draft on a different colour of paper and he physically cut out and pasted bits of the old draft onto the current draft as he went. Apparently by the time he had a finished manuscript, the pages would be an inch thick and have paragraphs in several different colours on them, but if it's good enough for Pterry!

*I personally draft in a serif font and then edit in Lucida Sans because the latter is the body text font on AO3, and I have had so many times where I've only seen howling mistakes once I publish a fic. I don't know if the specific font choice helps, but I do think using two very distinct fonts and changing the page layout helps a lot with telling my brain that we're doing something different now.

[fireheartwraith]

[beebfreeb]

Messaging people for the first time is so hard. What am I supposed to say? Like, "You seem really odd and your blog intrigues me. Do you want to have philosophical conversations or perhaps talk about fictional characters?" What! Whatever. I will just follow you back and stare at your blog with my big beautiful brown eyes.

[dramatic-dolphin]

when we were studying the bible in literature class (so we have the context necessary for later works that reference the bible), i think we were at the book of jonah, and one of my classmates was studying the text very intently, and then looked up and earnestly said "professor, i don't understand the will of god"

the teacher was just like. well sadly i am a literature teacher and not a priest so i can't help you there. but if it helps, many people throughout history had the same problem.

[rivetgoth]

It's honestly crazy that discussion around testosterone HRT skews so much towards the beginning stages of it (to the point that you have dozens of guys thinking their transition is "failed" if they don't pass by like a year in lol) and what the initial changes of the first couple of months to years look like, like the classic laundry list of those early basic changes like bottom growth, voice drop, etc, when IMO literally none of that compares remotely to the depth and intensity of the long term total masculinization you start to experience like 3-5+ years in.

[tuttle-did-it]

David Tennant for Prime Minister, please.

edit- Since this is getting so much attention, edited to include descriptions of screenshots.

This woman has lost her fucking mind.

Jo, are you okay?

[lettuce-king]

*sigh* me and may friends paid Theo Solomon to say in Wyll's voice that he's "in da club straight up jorkin it" so of course I have to infect as many people as possible with this newly created cursed audio

Update: we met him at dragoncon and he actually recognized us from the cameo 😭 he was very sweet and enjoyed our wyll ravengard fanclub/sus coven shenanigans

[stemmmm]

more people gotta try this shit where bill has not improved and will not change but he's just chilling so its fine probably. its great

[inkskinned]

the tradwife movement is the same as it has always been - back in the kitchen, back to breeding - it just has better branding.

when i was younger, i hated pink. i was not like other girls. this is now something i'm embarrassed of - this was not me being a "girl's girl."

but it was expressing something many of us felt at the time: i literally wasn't what girlhood was supposed to be. this is a hard thing to explain, but you know when you're not performing girlhood correctly. it isn't as easy as "i liked x when girls liked y" - because there were other girls that liked x, too - but i never figured out exactly the correct way to like x, or to be interested in y.

now there is the divine feminine. this is the same rhetoric it has always been: women are biologically driven to like pink and ribbons and submitting to our husbands.

the problem is that the patriarchy found a better PR team. because yes, actually, i want every woman to have the choice to be a homemaker. i also want her taken seriously for her legitimate home-making labor. i want her to be recognized as also having a job, just unpaid. i want men to have this opportunity, too.

but it is no longer "i made this choice and I love it." instead it is a sixteen-paragraph rant about how selfish it is that my generation isn't having kids. instead it's long videos about how if you feed your children processed foods, you're going to kill them. instead it is "this is what womanhood is supposed to be. i feel bad for any other choices you're making."

the shame spiral is just prettier. it is large houses devoid of personality. it is the implication: if you don't have this, you aren't happy. the solid, everlasting assurance: women are actually supposed to be submitting. this is the default. this is the natural state of things. all other attempts inflict suffering.

but you can no longer say i'm not like other girls. you can no longer reject this image completely. you cannot find it revolting, even if you know that the underbelly is toxic and festering. sure, it is the same repackaged patriarchy. but the internet does not have shades of grey. you should support and reward other women! your disgust is actually internalized misogyny. not because you are seeing a vision of yourself the way they're trying to train you to be. not because you feel her ghost pass within an inch of your earlobe. not because your father will eventually ask you - why can't you be like her?

because they figured out how to make it beautiful: women will sell other women on this idea, and we will find the singular loophole in feminism. sure, she's shaming you in most of her videos. sure, she implies that a different life is obscene. but she just wants you to be happy! you'd be happier if you were listening!

and the whole time you're sitting there thinking: i'd actually just be happier if i had that kind of money.

[perfectlyripeclementine]

calling my lover "mine" but not in the way that my toothbrush or notebook are mine, mine in the way my neighborhood is mine, and also everybody else's, "mine" like mine to tend to, mine to care for, mine to love. "mine" not like possession but devotion.

[chiptrillino-art]

(ID in ALT text) i gotta admit, start of this year was mostly me drawing a bunch of outfits (don't ask me if sokka or suki got the most... i think sokka) if you like these, check out my zuko here as well! these are still influenced by @ranilla-bean fic the iconoclast fic.

[jvlianbashir]

"haha these alpha trad men really just have dom/sub kinks!" i know misogyny isn't real to a lot of you guys but did you know that some people just actually do genuinely think women are inferior creatures

[jekyll-hatepage]

I will forever be obsessing over Laios imaging himself as a wolf (a dangerous animal, and one that is [albeit falsely] associated with loneliness) and Marcille imagining him as a cute dog. It shows how negatively he thinks of himself after his fight with Shuro, and how even if he worries now that he's a nuisance to people/can't fit in, NOBODY PERCEIVES HIM THIS WAY. HE'S JUST A SILLY GUY. MARCILLE ASSOCIATES HIM WITH THE DOG BECAUSE HE'S LOYAL AND LOVEABLE.

[eydilily]

would you bite the hand that feeds you?

[snarkspawn]

did I doodle this mostly so I had an excuse to draw this spite reaction image?

(YES HAHAHA YES!!!)

[stiffyck]

Good luck during pride month to all the aroaces who are gonna be blasted with "love is love" everywhere

Edit:

This post includes aplatonic people, loveless aros and any other people who fall anywhere on the aro and ace spectrum.

Stop saying "but theres platonic love and familial love-"