#like they got my brain CHURNING with writing ideas in one single video

[sexynetra]

Real talk guys… that finale top 4 viewing video might have turned me into a sashnetra truther 😭 look at them I love them so much 😭

Like???? Them constantly putting their hands on each others thighs?? Falling into each others sides multiple times??? I love them so much???

[crimsondestroyerofgarlicbreadth]

They Will NEVER UNDERSTAND

I had a good friend of mine tell me they ‘understand’ what being aro is like. In the same breath they told me that I can’t understand what being allo is like. And I was shaking in anger because they can’t understand. They have no idea what being aro is like. I have spent more time researching being allo for writings projects than they ever have into what being aromantic is like!

They will *never* understand the feeling of disappointment when someone tells me its in my head or an illness. They will NEVER have someone tell them to force themselves into a fucking relationship because I’m ‘just too young’ to know. They will never know the crushing feeling in your chest when you thought you could trust someone and found out you couldn’t. They will NEVER understand how it felt when my driving instructor told me that aromantic isn’t a real thing, and that he would NEVER say that about being gay or bi because those *are* real things.

They will NEVER understand the mental ramifications of coming out to someone and trying to figure out if this person is worth getting the PowerPoint out for and the dread that they may dismiss you as well. They will NEVER understand the uncomfortable feeling that follows me everywhere, to every family function, because someone may ask me about my love life; if I have a boyfriend yet. They will NEVER the crushing weight of guilt I feel every time I lie to someone because my grandparents won’t understand the concept of being aromantic but they do understand the concept of putting my studies first. It’s not that I don’t WANT to tell them.

They will NEVER understand the fear or the worry about the future that permeates my brain at every single damn opportunity because I know my friends will get partners. That isolating feeling - despite being surrounded by people - that creeps in that they will NEVER feel, thinking that I have to make the most out of every hangout session or gaming night or simple chat because once they get SO’s, this is going away. I will be alone. They won’t have time for me anymore.

THEY WILL NEVER understand how I am excluded when people around me talk about love and ONLY about love, and refuse to listen when I TRY to explain what being aromantic is. I once tried to explain to someone in my college course how their relationship was a walking red flag and got told by another person entirely that my opinion doesn’t MATTER because I’m aromantic. As a bonus, they ignore my asks for them to stop talking in detail about sex because obviously its just because I’m asexual and aromantic and NOT because some people genuinely don’t want to hear about it.

They will NEVER BE ABLE TO UNDERSTAND the crushing feeling I used to feel in my chest at the THOUGHT of romance. The sick, churning feeling in my stomach and the idea that I had to have a SO and the pure relief at finding out what being aromantic was. They will NEVER understand the denial I was in for a year because our romance focused society puts SO MUCH EMPHASIS on finding a ‘the one’ that I despised the idea of being left out. When the media tells you that being single is sad, imagine knowing that you most likely WILL be alone forever.

They will NEVER understand the doubt that is constantly going through your brain because *what if that was romantic attraction*. What if you were just faking being aro this whole time? The endless hours of researching to be sure and the tight feeling in your chest in case it is.

They will NEVER UNDERSTAND the OVERWHELMING JOY I felt at finding the aro community, or seeing a character like me depicted accurately in media or meeting another aromantic person in real life. They will never understand why I nearly cried when reading Loveless, or why I screamed when I saw the Jaiden Animations video and scrambled to send it to my aro best friend. They will never understand the excitement leading up to aro week, or stumbling across a post about aromanticism on a popular person you follow’s social media. They will NEVER understand the pride I felt at reading a comment about how I helped someone realise they weren’t broken but aromantic. They will NEVER UNDERSTAND why I’m so angry about the INSINUATION that they will EVER UNDERSTAND what being aromantic is like.

So no. You do not get to tell you YOU understand. YOU who hasn’t even searched the term aromantic in google once, and the only information about being aro you have is from me. You do NOT get to tell me you understand the complexities behind being aromantic in a romance obsessed society. You do NOT get to tell me I DON’T UNDERSTAND what being alloromantic is like to turn around and tell me YOU UNDERSTAND what being aromantic is like.

I’m glad you’re considered ‘normal’ in our toxic amatonormative society. Congratulations. You’re an aphobe.

[steviewashere]

🧩 and 🌿 for the ask game!

I'm answering this with blurry vision because I've removed my glasses, but don't want to get up to use them. So...If there are any errors, we know why, lol. But thank you for the ask!

🧩 "What will make you click away from a fan fiction immediately?" Before I answer, you should know that I will read basically anything. If it piques my curiosity, then I'll start it, but will click away if I end up just not being into it. So that's one reason.

But I don't have many reasons to click away, honestly. If the formatting is weird (like all the text is one single block), I'll close tab. Simply because I have a hard time reading already (see the thing about my glasses above, lol), but if I've got glasses on, I might try to read it.

I'll also click away if the grammar and spelling is way too all over the place. Like, I can get behind some minor mistakes or something because I get that not everybody uses English as a first language, or maybe not everyone has the best ability to do a grammar check, or they don't have a beta. But if there are just random punctuation marks in places, I'll click away. Again, I think this is just because it makes it hard for my eyes to actually see and read the text. Accessibility is important, y'know?

🌿 "Give some advice on writer's block and low creativity." Oh, boy. Okay. This'll be a long one, buckle up.

Personally, if I find myself hitting a wall, I just close my writing off. I walk away from my computer, give myself a twenty or thirty minute break. Maybe lay down and listen to some music or watch a YouTube video.

It's important to take breaks. I feel that the advice of "pushing through" is just the key to making writing as an art not enjoyable or fulfilling. Over exerting your brain is terrible. So take breaks. Take as many as you want, y'know? That's my biggest advice when it comes to writer's block.

Low creativity, though. I find spikes in my creativity from a lot of things. For instance, my fic Your Body is Warm Next to Mine came from another person's idea on Twitter. Wish You'd Bother Me, Since Week Two, and It's Just a Talk all came from Tumblr prompts in my ask box. In it For the Long Haul (And Then Some) came from a memory I had of my mom's own struggle with amputation.

Creativity comes from everywhere, if you know where to find it. Word generators are excellent, they make some good one word prompts. Maybe a song that you listen to and really listen to the lyrics, which is how I got Two Slow Dancers (my platonic Stancy fic); it's inspired directly by "Two Slow Dancers" by Mitski.

I also would recommend writing in short bursts. Like 15 minute free writes where you take a singular prompt, say the word 'Eggs', and type or pen whatever comes to mind. Sometimes, you'll find your brain doesn't even care about eggs, but the process of making them. Maybe you end up writing something about Easter and religion, y'know? When you find yourself running out of information to write for the prompt, start writing other shit. Write out your shopping list, or when you need to take medication, list your favorite movies and why, put down some loose ideas about ships or pairings that you like. Write until that fifteen minutes is done, take a break, read what you have. See if any of that inspires you. Words don't have to mean anything, it's what you can pull from the words; if that makes sense.

And sometimes, to be creative, you have to be kind of goofy and stupid. If you're low on creativity, but you think of something ridiculous and you think: that might work. Then, who knows, it might work. Write stupid shit. Write terribly, you know?

But, at the end of the day, give yourself breaks. Take a breather and step away. Fan fic writing, or writing in general, is not content creation. You're not a machine churning out ideas. You're just a person with a passion. And to nurture that passion, you have to not suffocate it. Cause that'll fucking kill it. Which always sucks. Creativity and words will flow to you if you allow your brain the ability to catch its breath. Burn out is no fun, brother. Sometimes you just gotta not light the candle, cut the wick a little bit, before you can make it glow again.

——— That got a lot longer, but I hope that this is good? I don't know, haha.

Writers Truth & Dare Ask Game

[bulletnotestudies]

☁️ 10 tips on studying when your motivation’s nowhere to be found

i got an ask about this yesterday and decided to turn my reply into a post because having trouble focusing when you’re super unmotivated is really common, so i thought more people might find this helpful :) buckle up kiddos, this is gonna be a long one!

1. i want you to remember that this is a universal experience.

every student out there struggles like hell sometimes, and that’s completely normal; you’re not a machine and that means you can’t possibly churn out work 24/7 without burning out. so try not to beat yourself up too much okay, you’re doing great!

2. take a deep breath and identify the reason you’re feeling like this

are you burnt out because of stress or overworking yourself? are you overwhelmed by the amount of tasks on your plate? is there a particular assignment or exam scaring you to the point where you don’t want to start studying? these are all normal reasons for lack of motivation and knowing the why will help you figure out the how - you gotta know the problem to solve it.

3. i know you feel like you’re months behind, but start small

small achievements accumulate. repeat this sentence to yourself daily, write it on a sticky note and keep it on the wall above your desk (it’s exactly what i did). break up daunting tasks into smaller ones; got a billion formulae to know by heart? memorise 3 every day (you’ll have memorised more than 20 by the end of the week!). got a long chapter to study? divide it into smaller chunks and just focus on 1-3 pages a day. slow and steady, you can do it

4. the pomodoro technique is a lifesaver!

i always use this technique when i’m feeling unmotivated and cannot focus. sometimes, your mind just won’t stop wandering off and so scheduling regular breaks is a must! try going for 25 minutes of work, followed by a 5 minute break, then repeat the cycle :) you’ll be less tempted to prolong your break if you know there’s another one coming in less than half an hour. if 25min is too long, try just 15 minutes of focus and work your way up form there - there’s no shame in studying in really short bursts! sometimes that’s all you can bring yourself to do and that’s okay! and if you can, i really recommend a 45/15 or 50/10 ratio (those are the ratios me and my friend - 2nd year med students - use the most :))

5. track your productivity

use the forest mobile app or a hand-drawn productivity tracker in your bujo - a visual representation of productivity will activate the reward system part of your brain. it’s the same part that’s involved in addiction formation and you can use it to your advantage - get a mini high from seeing your effort, not only from seeing your results!

6. set up a reward system

continuing on that tangent: sometimes, a short break isn’t enough motivation to stay focused. sometimes, you gotta pull a little sneaky on yourself and bribe your brain. some examples: - ‘if i can manage to reach 3 hours of productivity today, i’ll watch my fave movie in the evening’ - ‘i’ll have a bubble bath once i finish reading this chapter’ - ‘if i complete this assignment by the end of the week, i can do absolutely nothing the whole day come Saturday’

7. consider different sources/modes of studying

switching things up can do wonders; try making flashcards on quizlet, watching youtube videos on the topics you’ll be tested on, you can read wikipedia articles (wikipedia is severely underrated!), browse for podcasts on the topic, there’s a million different ways to learn, not just sitting down and reading from your textbook for hours on end :) on a similar note, if you have the option, try studying elsewhere - go to the kitchen table or study on the floor - beware of the bed and sofa! not a good idea, you’ll most likely end up taking a nap.

8. take care of your body and your mental health

have you drunk enough water today? have you eaten enough vitamin-rich foods? make a healthy snack! or get your fave comfort food, that works too, extra serotonin :) have you been outside in the past 3 days? if not, i highly recommend a short walk outside (if your corona regulations allow it, ofc). i know getting out of your house is hard, i suck at it myself, but getting fresh air and direct sunlight is crucial for your wellbeing! think of yourself as a slightly more complicated house plant:) you gotta nourish to flourish!

9. stop for a second and think how you value your work.

i’m sure you’ve done more than you give yourself credit for. it may seem too little, a drop in the sea of assignments you’ve yet to hand in, but every single minute of effort counts! every little task you do brings you closer to your goal! replied to a school email? good for you, you’ve got your correspondence covered and your professor knows you’re working hard. took 3 minutes to clear your study space? wonderful, a fresh setup = a fresh mindset! got more than 6 hours of sleep? yay, your brain had time to recuperate from a day’s worth of activities!

10. and again, you are not alone in this!

i promise there are at least 50 other people feeling exactly the same as you at any given moment. we all struggle with the same things, in one way or another, and motivating each other always helps. whether it be aggressive pep talks or gentle words of encouragement, studyblrs always have each other’s backs and you can message practically anyone in this community if you’re in need of support :) our job is to hype each other up and watch as we reach our respective goals <3

take care and good luck with your studies!

some additional posts you may find helpful: ◦ a wonderful ‘how to get stuff done’ guide ◦ energy management ◦ focus & productivity tips ◦ a very straight to the point guide to starting a successful study sesh ◦ how to handle having too much to do 

my other masterposts: study sounds⎪dealing with failure⎪chrome extensions for students

[studythenight-away]

Hello! As finals season (aka 5-research-papers-due-in-a-week season) dawns on many of you, I thought I would share the process I used to write papers in college. This made writing long research papers much less daunting (but can also work on shorter papers). I really hope this helps some of you who feel stuck. Especially during these ridiculous times, when you're stuck at home and might have other uncontrollable factors affecting your mental health, a clear framework of what to do could be helpful. Good luck, my friends! You got this.

About me

I graduated college in 2018 with degrees in Political Science + International Studies and will be starting law school this fall. I wrote nearly 20 15 to 25-page papers, never earning below an A. I loved researching about my topics but hated writing. It's tedious, takes so much time, and everything I write sounds bad at first. Plus, I was a terrible procrastinator so most of these essays were written in under a week. Talk about stress.

Over time I found a process that worked for me, one that made churning out a paper seem straightforward, like going through a factory line rather than this terrifying concept of writing 10,000 words. It kept me sane without decreasing the quality of my work (or more importantly, how much I learned!) 

I'm thinking about making a short video to show this in action… let me know if that could be helpful!

Step 1: Research

How you organize your research is a key step in keeping you sane. Usually I'll have a pile of 20 books in my dorm along with dozens of JSTOR tabs open on my laptop, and that can get overwhelming very fast. Right now just focus on collecting ideas, not developing an argument or even an outline! As with most research papers, you could be starting with little to no background information on the topic, so it is still too early to be thinking about an argument.

Put all your research in one document

Open up a new doc: this will be the heart of everything. For a 15-page paper I usually end up with around 14-18 pages of typed research, 10 pt font, single spaced, tiny margins. This seems like a lot, but essentially all I do is type up anything I read that seems relevant to my topic, so luckily this step does not require that much brain power. Just type type type!

Use the table of contents

Find the chapter(s) that are actually relevant instead of skimming through the whole book. Time is of the essence here!

Use Zotero, cite right away

You can also use easybib or whatever you're used to, but keep track of your sources. I like Zotero because I can keep a log of all of my sources and copy the footnote or bibliography version whenever needed. Before you even begin reading, cite the source and copy it into your research doc. This will save you so much time later when you have to put in your citations in the actual paper. 

Here is an example of what my research doc looks like:

Full citation is my heading for each source just so it’s crystal clear

I ignore all typos (I don’t think there are any in this part though, go me!) because my head is buried in the book just trying to get all the info down

I always start with the page number so I know what to cite when I go back

Create a shorthand 

While typing up research, you might think of something that the author didn't talk about that you'll want to write in your paper. Or perhaps a few sentences already start to form. Put them all in one place, with your research, so you know what source you'll have to cite to then lead into your idea. I type "!@#" before anything that is strictly my own idea so I'm never confused. It's fast and stands out.

This is an example: the two bullet points above are evidence from my source, which made me think of this argument I could make, which I noted with “!@#”

Step 2: Read Your Research

Now that you have all your information, go back and read through it all. Every time you read about a new theme/person/event, write it down somewhere. You may come up with a list of 20+ different ideas in your research. No matter how small, as long as there is something about it, write it down. Each of these mini themes is going to end up being a paragraph in your paper or combined with another mini theme. 

Once you’ve made your list, look for larger overarching themes. In the paper I’ve shown you, I had mini categories like “political party x” “religion” “labor groups” “little organization” and “hierarchy.” When I looked back I though, hey these are all groups and how groups are working together, so they each became their own mini paragraph under the subsection of “Alliances.”

As with most research paper structures, I try to find three general themes/subsections (like an extended version of that 5-paragraph essay we wrote in middle school). It makes the paper less messy and also makes sure I’m not covering things that are beyond a reasonable scope.

During this step, you are also searching for your thesis. It won’t be your final version. As you fill in your outline in the next step you may make slight changes. But this is definitely when you start thinking about it.

Step 3: Outline

We’re ready to outline! Once I’ve collected all my different themes and organized all my subsections and paragraphs, it’s time to fill in that outline. I start a new doc just for the outline and take advantage of google doc’s headings function to make a clear document outline.

Here comes the fun part, I read through my research one more time, this time copy and pasting all my research into each section of the outline. The document outline in google docs makes this easy because I can just click on each subheading to get me there (super helpful when you’re dealing with 15+ pages of research).

Here is what it looks like:

Let’s say I need to add something to my outline about labor groups. Boom, labor groups. Also, the typos are really abound here haha

Step 4: Write the Paper

Okay, I get it, easier said than done. BUT! You already have everything set up. Your outline is essentially just a list of your paragraphs and all you have to do is paraphrase, cite, and create a topic sentence. And that’s how you should think about this: you’re essentially transforming bullet points into sentences and adding footnotes. 

In high school my English teacher introduced us to Sh*tty First Drafts for creative writing, but honestly the same applies to research papers. Sometimes I’ll even have phrases like “wait no that’s not what I meant but basically...” and when I go back to edit, I realize that what came after “but basically...” is fine! And I keep it. So just start typing.

How do you cite while you write? Because we’re trying to get a constant stream of writing going, inserting proper footnotes after each sentence you type is too bothersome. I usually split screen with my outline and my paper so I just copy and paste a few words from my bullet point into my footnote, like so:

(This is from a different paper about cluster munitions.)

Step 5: Edit the Paper

I work best when I print out my first draft and make all edits in red pen. I feel more productive and can visually see where I want to move sentences and what I need to change. The more red there is the better I can feel the paper getting. (Whether or not that’s true doesn’t matter. We’re trying to stay motivated here!) When it’s all digital I don’t really see the progress. Plus, once I finish all the red, I get another moment of passive brain work, where all I’m doing is transferring edits rather than thinking. And at this point in the process, that kind of relief is much welcomed. 

The good thing about this process is there’s not usually a need to cut entire paragraphs or pages because the paper you end up with is just a formalized version of your outline. Because you started with such a detailed outline, the cutting and editing now is just to refine your word choices and get rid of the “but basically”s. You’re almost there!

Step 6: Replace your citations

Now it’s time to go back and replace your footnotes with actual citations. Zotero makes this easy because in Word you can just insert and add the page number, and it’ll automatically do “Ibid.” for you when needed. Ctrl+f in the original research doc to quickly find the source.

Step 7: One More Read-Through and Submit!

Congratulations!! You’ve got a fully-researched and well-backed paper! Of course, even though the process is straightforward, it’s still a lot of work. In ideal situations I would start researching two weeks before the deadline, but if need be, I believe I’ve done this all in three miserable panic-filled days as well. 

Please message me if you have any questions at all! I really hope some of you find this helpful! Good luck!

[bnhablessings]

Can I request a oneshot/headcanon for Hawks x pregnant fem!reader? I was thinking of Hawks being super cute taking care of her and showing her off proudly to other hero's. this is my first time making a request, so feel free to do with this as you please lolz! also I really want the end to have reader going into labor and giving birth at the end with a very proud Hawks at her side (you get to choose the gender!)💖

It took me so long to get to this omg but I did and I hope you like it, Hon! It is past midnight and I have a weird obsession with tomatoes right now.

Warnings: Pregnancy, just a fluff overload, Profanity, All Might is retired, Dabi and Hawks are good friends AU (we ignore the manga, only happy feelings here lmao)

*I have fixed grammar issues. My brain power was not activated when writing this lol.

Words: 2438

Takami Keigo (Hawks) x Female Reader

“Isn’t she just amazing?” Hawks questions not really speaking to anyone else as he just admires the woman waddling down the hallway.

The other Pro Heroes around him stare at him with confusion. Aizawa, Yamada, Yagi, and Todoroki Enji all take a glance at each other before they wait for the woman to make her way to them. All of them but Hawks are profoundly confused.

“Uh… This was supposed to be a parent-teacher conference so may I ask why Hawks is here as well?” All Might asks.

Hawks ignores them as he watches the woman stopping for a moment to speak to a student. She looks genuinely concerned and it makes his foolish heart swell from how caring she is. Endeavor wants to slap the foolish look off Hawks face but ignores it to answer All Might.

“I apologize. We had lunch together before this meeting. He decided to follow me but I have no idea why.” The tone to Endeavor’s voice shows that he is irritated but curious as to why the number 2 hero seems to be enamored with a simple U.A teacher.

She hasn’t noticed him yet thankfully and he has proudly gotten a video of her waddling. The closer to she gets the more the expression on her face slowly turns into one of realization. The students at U.A respect and care for her so they always make room for her.

“Hey, Honey, what are you doing here?”  You ask softly as you place a hand on your very large bump.

He goes to respond when your colleague Present Mic starts to let out an inhuman sound that turns into a surprised scream. “What?! Honey?! (NAME) YOU’RE MARRIED TO THE HAWKS?!” Present Mic screeches.

You ignore the change in volume and laugh as you nod your head. Aizawa seems to nod as he pieces it together. “Ah… You did mention Tokoyami’s internship being close with your husband.”

“BUT WAIT! You’re married? All my attempts on wooing you have been in vain,” Present Mic mumbles.

Everyone seems to freeze at this but you just laugh more. “Yamada, have you not noticed my ring? I’ve been wearing it every day since working here!” You manage to say after laughing.

He has absolutely no reply but to slowly put his hands up to show surrender from Hawks’ glare on him. Without a care, Hawks pulls you to him so he can hug you with your baby bump blocking it fully. His hands go to rest upon it and he smiles widely.

“See! I told you I have a beautiful family too, Endeavor.”

Endeavor for once has to hide the smile on his face as he looks away. He replies, “Yeah. I thought you were speaking nonsense or showing me pictures of random pregnant women.”

“Nope! I can guess why you would be confused… Since I never showed her face. We have a little chickadee coming on the way!” The excitement is clear in his voice and on his face from the happy lazy grin plastered on it.

He looks at the others and bids them goodbye. “Well, I am going to steal her so she can have her lunch with me. See ya.”

~*~

“Baby, I promise, it is okay! I’ll be fine. I’ll see you later when you get home! I’m just happy you visited for lunch,” You say into the phone. Your other hand goes to your purse to look for your keys.

You hear Hawks mumble and whine on the other side of the phone but you ignore it until you find the keys successfully. “Alright, babe. I’ll be fine. I’ll text you when I reach the house. I love you!”

After hearing his ‘I love you more’ he hangs up and you smile feeling great. This is unusual since the pregnancy hormones have made you feel like shit lately. It’s all going to be worth it though.

“Hey, do you need me to walk you home?” Aizawa questions as he enters the hall.

You think for a few seconds before you ask, “Would you be willing to walk me to the station? I’ll be fine from there since I’m planning on stopping by a store! I don’t want to waste too much of your time!”

He nods and the two of you begin the walk to the station. It starts as a comfortable silence before Aizawa speaks up with a smile on his face. “You know, I had no idea you were married to the Number 2 Pro Hero. It surprised me but at the same, it didn’t. What surprised me though was seeing the way he stared at you. You have a good thing going,” Aizawa states.

It was odd for him to give his input like that but it made you feel happy to know that Hawks’ love for you was just that noticeable. Once at the station, Aizawa gives you a look, something an older brother would a younger sibling or parent would their child before giving a demand.

“Call me if anything happens. I’m on patrol for a while so I’ll be near this area. Be safe going home, (Name).”

Today has been such a heartwarming day and Aizawa’s words only bring you more joy as you bid him a farewell.

It doesn’t take long to reach the store close to your home. You salivate at the thought of getting what you crave most. An odd combination that most people would puke from but what you need to satisfy you and your baby right now, tomatoes and frosting.

You can just imagine Hawks’ disgusted look but it wasn’t the worst thing you’ve had yet. You go to turn when your baby bump hits something off the shelf. Thankfully, it was just another plastic can full of icing so it didn’t break. Now the new problem was picking up the jar.

You know it was a near-impossible feat but you try anyway. You probably look very silly trying to reach and barely scraping the can with your fingernails but you don’t care. You are determined to do it. That is until you hear an obvious cough trying to get your attention.

You give up for now and look at the owner only to smile upon seeing the man you saw earlier. “Hello, Mr. Endeavor! We’ve met officially earlier but not formally. I am Takami (Name). It’s a pleasure to meet you and I apologize if my husband gets a bit too much to handle. He can be very chillaxed but he does take his job seriously,” You ramble.

“Pleasure.”

He merely observes you with serious eyes before he bends down and picks up the icing jar. He hands it to you. “Thank you! I would’ve been in a pickle there if I couldn’t reach it,” You murmur placing it back on the shelf where it belongs.

One of his eyebrows betray his lack of expression to show his slight confusion and you laugh. “I already have my icing in this arm! The baby bump knocked over that one.”

He doesn’t say anything in reply to that. Instead, he seems to contemplate saying something. He just needs a few seconds before he decides to say it against his better judgment.

“Hawks... He’s the Number 2 Pro Hero and extremely famous. How is it I never even heard or seen you? I thought he was fibbing about having a wife since he only produced photos of your bump and not of your actual face,” He didn’t want to ask it but the curiosity got the best of him and it was unusual to him.

The question made you smile but this time with a bit of sadness. You’ve received this question just a few times before but the answer remains the same. “We try to hide our relationship and it is easy when his fans like to think he is single. It doesn’t matter but we have private social medias for our friends. We like to keep my face hidden and such.”

The atmosphere turned a bit tense and for once (actually probably like the fifth time since Hawks had been determined in making him a better Number 1 Hero) he feels guilty. Something strange feels like it’s churning in his chest and he quickly fixes it.

“He does talk an awful lot about you though. It’s clear as day how much he loves you and your baby.” It was a simple two-sentences but it brought comfort to you.

He leaves without any more words and you are brought back to your cheerful self and go to pay for the items. By the time you get home, it is already showing signs of getting dark. You are quick to send a text to Hawks and it distracts you from realizing something odd is wrong with your door. The fact that it is unlocked.

You lock your front door once inside and go straight to the kitchen to slice the tomatoes and spread icing on them. You waste absolutely no time as you have it all ready on a plate and leave the room to go change into something more comfortable.

Of course, only Hawks’ shirts have been fitting you lately and you prefer them much more than your maternity clothing. So you wear that and a pair of shorts before coming to get your treat and hopefully take a nap. That was the plan before you have a fucking heart attack from seeing a burnt toast eating your food.

“How the fuck do you eat this?” Dabi questions spitting a tomato slice out of his mouth.

Your heart is absolutely broken at the scene. You ignore the bully of a man and stare at the red and white mess on the ground. How dare he do this to you?

“Oh fuck… (Name), please don’t do this. I’m sorry. I’ll go buy you a new fucking tomato if you want. With the fucking confetti icing and shit. Just don’t cry… Or tell Hawks,” Dabi says.

It is too late though. The damage has been done as your hormones go berserk from seeing what you craved on the ground (yes your mind is ignoring the perfectly good slices still on the plate). Tears prick at your eyes and before you can rub them away or cry, Dabi brings you into a hug.

As you cry into his chest he is already on the phone with Hawks but with your uncontrollable sobs, you don’t hear the conversation. After a few painful minutes (for Dabi) he finally pulls away only for your face to be smothered by your loving husband’s chest.

He hushes you gently and rubs soothing circles on your back all while glaring at his best friend.

Dabi raises his hand in defense. “Hey man, I just came here to visit the princess with good intentions. Thanks for bringing the tomato. I owe you one.”

Another minute later Dabi presents to you a brand new plate with a tomato covered in icing. You sniffle lightly and take it before mumbling, “Thanks. Sorry for the way I acted. That was pathetic.”

“Hey no, it wasn’t Doll. I take full blame for eating your weird food. That and it is 100% Hawks’ fault for knocking you up Beautiful. Anyway, I got to bounce but are we good?” Dabi asks opening his arms for another hug.

You smile and give in. “We’re always good. Now get out of here. We’ll invite you over for a chicken wing dinner,” You offer.

He leaves with a stupid smile on his face and Hawks smiles as he can finally full-on cuddle you without interruptions. Of course, after you are done eating. He pulls you to cuddle on the couch with him, his wings stretched out and resting against the couch.

“You good, Babe?”

You nod the exhaustion pouring in on your face, “Yeah. Sorry I ended up making you come home early. I didn’t mean to get like that.”

“It’s all good. I would do anything for you and the baby. No tomato is safe from being devoured by you if that is what you desire.”

You are too tired to even give a response to that. Instead, you try and curl up into him as you make sure your bump is comfortable at the same time. His hands rest on your belly as he hums into your ear.

“What only two months left now?”

Yeah, and they are going to fly right by.

~*~

“You had to come in through the window?” Hawks asks in a hushed voice.

Dabi only smirks before his eyes fall on your resting figure. Hawks is sitting right beside you on the bed. The sweet bundle of joy he came to meet is resting in Hawks’ arms right beside you.

“Can’t impress anyone if I didn’t. All the Heroes come by already?” Dabi asks as he takes slow and steady steps to the three of you.

You smile weakly as you recall your three colleagues coming in to check on you and meet the baby (that Hawks may or may not have shoved in their face from how proud he was). Endeavor came by as well to congratulate you and Hawks.

“Yeah. All there is left now is to meet you,” You murmur as Hawks stands up.

Dabi gets a close look at the baby’s squishy face. He wants to say it’s hideous as a joke (he was planning on how to do joke about it though) but he couldn’t. The baby was actually cute. However, to his absolute horror, Hawks starts to proceed to give the baby to him.

“What the fuck. What if I drop it?”

You answer in a sleepy voice. “Drop her and I will personally send you to hell.”

“Her… What name did you guys come up with?”

Hawks answers without hesitation. “Tomato.”

Dabi physically freezes and looks up before seeing the stupid grin on Hawks’ face. He turns to you and you smile a gentle smile and give up the true answer. “Takara, it means treasure. Takami Takara.”

“I’ll take the chair. I’ll hold her while you guys rest up for a bit.”

You thank him and Hawks silently thanks him before showing off his severely bruised hand that you no doubt, destroyed when pushing during labor.

It is a pain Hawks would gladly go over again and endure for you because you are everything to him. You and your beautiful daughter mean the world to him and he would go through this life a million times if it meant having the two of you again.

[someonefantastic]

My Way or the Highway

Welcome back folks! Huge shoutout to @victoriantrashjohn for this headcanon that Shawn gets migraines sometimes due to overworking his abilities and also to the folks on the psych discord for some of the other ideas in this fic. I loved writing this!

Summary: For Shawn, being pushed past his limits with a headache and no sleep is not the most fun way to spend a day. Warnings: headaches, vomiting, dizziness, emotional manipulation also on ao3 ___

“Shawn focus!” Henry’s sharp voice reverberated around the small conference room. “You need to solve this case.”

“Dad, come on. I just spent all night solving that murder case you put me on. This one’s just a carjacking, it can wait until morning.” Shawn complained, slumping down into a nearby chair and rubbing the bridge of his nose. He was exhausted. The murder of a local official had so many clues and variables and pieces that needed fitting that he had forgone sleep in order to work on it. Not to mention, he felt like his brain was being stabbed, a telltale sign that he needed to get some rest soon or suffer the consequences of a full-blown headache.

“Oh, it’s just a carjacking case,” His dad mocked, waving his hands around and pitching his voice, “Shawn, justice never stops. Do you want that poor single mother to live with the fear that the guy who took her car is going to come back and kill her this time?”

Satisfied with his son’s reluctant nod, he walked over and firmly patted his back. “Good. Now I need you to focus. Try to find something from those parking lot security tapes.”

Shawn put a finger to his head, his eyes moving around as he recalled the surveillance videos. A woman got into her car, after a few minutes someone wearing dark colors and holding a gun got into the passenger seat, then the woman got out and put her hands up and the guy drove away.

He slumped back into his chair, the sharp pains turning into throbbing on the right side of his head, “Dad I’m not seeing anything. There wasn’t a good shot of the guy and it happened so fast, there’s nothing to notice.”

“Bullcrap.” Henry crossed his arms over his chest, “There’s always something to notice. His walk, his height, his clothes. You just need to try harder.”

“I am trying harder, maybe I’m not picking up on anything because my head hurts and I’m tired.” He shot back, standing up abruptly. He had to shut his eyes to keep the room from swaying.

“Or maybe you’re just lazy and looking for an easy way out. The pain in your head just means you’re getting close, every cop feels some sort of tingling when they’re on the precipice of a big break. So try. Harder.” He put his hands on the table and leaned forward, his eyes sharp and narrow.

Shawn sighed and closed his eyes, happy to shut out his dad’s face and the bright lights. With a flick of his wrists, his hand returned to his head and he ran through the footage, again and again, trying to find any clue towards the guy’s identity.

Every single minute that ticked by, the pain in his head doubled. He had to sit down to keep from falling over, winding up with his head between his knees, sucking in breaths to keep the burritos he ate for lunch from coming back up.

But he persisted.

He kept going, kept replaying the footage and focusing. It took several minutes of trying before he noticed that as the perp opened the car door, the sleeve of his shirt pushed up a little, revealing the faintest bit of a scar.

“I’ve got it!” He yelled, shooting his head up and instantly regretting it as his vision swam. “The guy had wrist surgery, pretty recently too. It’s not much to go on but along with our basic profile, it should help.

“Took you long enough. It’ll suffice. I’ll pass it along. You can go home now.” His dad said with a nod before walking out of the conference room.

With a small smile, he turned to leave, pitching forward as he took a step. His stomach churned and he grimaced, quickly changing course and heading towards the garbage can where he pitched his lunch.

Scowling, he sucked in air through his teeth, hunched over the side of the can. At this rate, his migraine wasn’t going to go away anytime soon. He just needed to get home, turn on his red lights, wrap up in a blanket, and go to sleep. Getting home though, that was going to be a challenge.

Bending back over the trash can, he retched again, wrinkling his nose as the stench hit his face. He really needed to get home.

When the waves of nausea turned more into ripples, he peeled himself away from the can, wiping his face with his sleeve. His fingers went to his temples, rubbing circles, trying to soothe the pain away. The need to sleep was almost overwhelming and he glanced at the clock. The conference room wasn’t to be in use for a few more hours, nothing was really stopping him from falling asleep here.

Staggering to his feet, he kept his eyes closed, fingers pressed firmly into his temples. Just a couple of steps and he could turn out those blazing fluorescent lights.

His movements were shaky, chairs bumping into his hip with every step but he refused to open his eyes just yet. It wasn’t his best idea though as his foot caught on the leg of a chair. The top of his body pitched forward, the bottom half staying still. He caught himself, hands slamming into the wall, lightswitch jabbing into his palm. At least he found it.

Flipping it off, he slid to the ground, welcoming the newfound darkness. His father had shut most of the blinds earlier, not wanting to subject the rest of the station to their father-son discussion. Faint streaks of light fell across the room, creating an almost peaceful glow.

He kicked back a few of the chairs before shrugging off his flannel, bunching it into a ball. Crawling underneath the table, he curled into a ball, using his shirt as a makeshift pillow and shutting his eyes. It wasn’t the best place to sleep but it would suffice. And if Lassie, Jules, and the Chief found him sleeping there hours later, they certainly wouldn’t disturb him, just shutting off the lights and letting the exhausted pseudo-psychic rest on.

[maomao-words]

Hewo *≧ω≦* I still have a few ideas of my own stuck in the back of my head and I want to write them out before turning my full attention to my ask box!

My ask box is open now! I’m looking forward to your requests ❤

MLQC Boys during an Apocalypse: Part 1 (Victor and Gavin)

Victor:

The destruction, the carnage, the thick rivers of blood and throaty screams came all of a sudden. It was as if the whole world decided to rage against humanity one morning and no one had the time to even blink in protest.

You were watching the news in horror, hand clutching at your phone tightly, waiting for Victor to arrive to your apartment. Few hours prior, you had been woken up by your lover at dawn. Before you even had the chance to complain about your lost sleep, Victor’s voice, laced with extreme urgency and worry, snapped you out of your sleepy state and into a horrifying consciousness. Victor didn’t say much. Just few instructions and a quiet stay safe until I reach you before hanging up the phone. You packed up your luggage in a hurry, making sure to only bring the necessities as he ordered. You changed out of your sleeping gown and turned on the TV despite Victor’s warning. You had to know what was going on.

By the time Victor called you to let you know he was downstairs waiting for you, you were struggling not to throw up. With your head spinning and your stomach tightly knotted, you picked up your purse and your single suitcase and almost ran out of the door, glancing back in fear at your apartment as the door closed. Once you got out of the door, utter chaos enveloped your gaze. Police sirens were ringing everywhere, cars were honking at a frequent pace as they were stuck in a horrid traffic jam, people cursed and yelled at each other and faint screams could be heard at the distance. You barely managed to take all of this in when a firm hand grasped at your waist and pulled you close in a tight embrace. Victor’s breath sounded ragged and rushed in your ear and he quickly released you before you got the chance to embrace him back. He lifted your suitcase from your hand into his car’s trunk and turned around to face you. For the first time in your life, you saw fear in Victor’s eyes.

Once inside the car, Victor briefly filled you in with the information which the LFG managed to get a hold of. The more you listened to Victor’s seemingly detached voice the more you could feel panic rising within your chest until you could no longer breathe. Only Victor’s hand, tightly holding yours, anchored you to reality and kept you from breaking down. 

Traffic was completely jammed as cars came to a halt once and for all. Victor’s fingers impatiently tapped on the driving wheel as he dialed a number in his phone and waited for a response. After a curt conversation in Japanese with an unknown man, Victor hang up and stopped the car’s engine. He turned his head to catch your confused gaze before lowering his eyes at your legs. “Good,” Victor sighed, “you’re not wearing heels.” 

Whatever Victor was informed with at his last phone call did not seem good as he ushered you out of the car. In a few seconds, he opened the trunk again and pulled out your suitcase before turning around to properly face you for the first time since the morning. You clenched your jaw and balled your fists, bracing yourself for whatever was coming.

“No need to sugarcoat things at the moment. The world is heading to its end and it looks like nothing can be done for now,” Victor calmly said, stepping closer to you. “What I want from you now is one word and one word only. Do you trust me?” Victor’s eyes, dark and full of unspoken words seemed to be looking at your soul. “If you do, take my hand. We have to run.”

It took your head a split of a second to be filled with all of the memories you shared with Victor. All of the times he saved you and protected you from harm. All of the times you have confirmed that placing your faith in him will never lead you astray. All of the times you swore to yourself that you will follow and trust in him til the end of the world. You head swam with all of those memories and you felt tears pricking at your eyes. “If I don’t trust you,” you whispered, “who am I supposed to trust?”

The next events happened so quickly. Once he had your affirmation, Victor took your hand in his and guided you towards the back alleys of the city. You were both lightly jogging, not yet fully running, as Victor informed you of the plan he had. Since going by car was impossible at the moment, you both had to travel by foot to reach the airport where the LFG’s private jet was waiting to deliver you both to the safe vault Victor’s family has prepared for such events. But you had to hurry. The situation was escalating too fast and no one could guess what would happen if you somehow end up not boarding that plane. Time was not on your side and you could already hear the once-muted screams grow in intensity and draw closer to your location.

But Victor was with you. You were tightly holding his hand as you both quickened your pace. The world was crumbling all around you but strangely, you still felt safe. The apocalypse was upon you, but you will be damned if you let go of that hand up until the bitter end.

Gavin:

You made a mistake. A grave mistake. 

The news channels were all talking about the same topic. The gory pictures, the sickening videos, the ever increasing toll of deaths and all of the screams right outside your window were slowly driving you to the brink of madness. Gavin told you not to go out until he finishes up preparing and comes to get you and you initially intended to follow his orders. But the screams were only growing louder, the police sirens which were the only comforting sound to you, suddenly grew quiet and disappeared completely. And when the night came with no news on Gavin, you tried calling and paled at the robotic automatic response informing you that this number is not available at the moment. Your sanity and sound judgment, which you were barely holding together, snapped and you were out of the door before you could really fathom your actions.

 Broken shards of glass and a long trail of blood greeted your eyes in the hallway. You could feel blood draining out of your face as the sounds of some glass breaking echoed in the upper levels of the building. You clutched at your phone and hugged your hands tighter to your chest, before sprinting towards the stairs. You ran as fast as you could, barely avoiding tripping and falling down more than once. You dialed Gavin’s number again, but the same cold voice answered you and you could feel rage rising within you this time. As if inside your building was not chaotic enough, the outside world was a turbulent mess. Burnt tires, heavy smoke, blotches of blood on the pavement and the scent of something rotten filled the air. You placed the hem of your shirt on top of your nose and mouth and squeezed your eyes shut before sprinting again towards the city center. 

Right before your communication with Gavin was cut off, the last thing your lover told you was that he was on his way to meet up with an acquaintance who had some information that Gavin desperately needed. It was the very last stop before Gavin promised to meet up with you and move together to a safe spot. You panted as you ran, eyes barely taking in the disaster around you; the enraged crowds, the screams, the blood, oh god, the blood which was now covering most streets and pavements. You were thankful that tears filled your eyes and blurred your vision, temporarily blocking the bitter reality you found yourself in. You were running out of breath when you finally arrived at the intersection Gavin mentioned in his last call. There were too many people around but all were too panicked to be of help to you. You pushed your way through them using the little force you had left before suddenly coming to a stop in front of a dark alley. Your heart was beating loud enough for everyone to hear as you took a hesitant step forward, eyes glued at the silver bracelet lying on the floor. You extended a hand to pick it up only to gasp in terror as the tips of your fingers were covered in a sticky and warm liquid the second you touched it. Blood. Your brain whispered against your will. The silver bracelet, the one you gifted Gavin for your first year anniversary, was covered in fresh blood.

Your mind was too focused on the broken bracelet in your palm, head swimming with all sorts of dark thoughts and horrible ideas to the point that you did not hear the footsteps coming from the depth of the alley. The rotten smell grew stronger in intensity all of a sudden and you gagged, feeling your stomach churn as you heard low growls behind you. You jumped from your spot, barely putting some distance between you and the creatures before other growls sounded in the distance. You cursed under your breath, slowly backing from them until your back hit the wall. The horrid smell, the rotten flesh and the inevitable doom all caused your mind to come to a stop, incapable of coming up with a solution to this trap. You clutched the bracelet tight inside your palm and braced yourself. You were going to risk ducking underneath them for a chance to escape. At best, their slow speed would guarantee your safety. At worst, you could risk getting scratched and infected. It was a gamble, but you had nothing else to bet. It was all or nothing. You held your breath and waited for the split of a second where they are close enough for you to crouch and duck when the sound of a bullet echoed and the creature close enough to touch you suddenly crumbled at your feet.

The creatures, sensing a newcomer, turned around at the promise of fresh prey but they did not expect the new bullets that pierced through their heads in a instant. You stared dumbfounded at the scene in front of you, incapable of grasping the situation. The next thing you knew was two arms pulling you in a warm and tight embrace and Gavin’s husky voice tinged with anger whispering in your ear “You idiot. I told you to wait for me.”

Tears flooded behind your eyelids and you bit your lower lip in a futile attempt to hold them back as you hugged Gavin closer to your body, feeling his warmth and his solid heartbeat. He’s alive, you cried out. Few seconds ticked by before you collected yourself enough for Gavin to look at you in the eyes. But before you could utter a word, faint growls echoed once again and Gavin frowned as he sensed the upcoming danger. Wasting no time, Gavin picked up the bag he threw off on the ground earlier, before pulling you in a hug again. You could feel cold air gather around you both as your feet slowly left the ground. “Hold tight. I’m going to get you out of here.” Gavin’s voice was back to its usual warm tone as he confidently announced to you. You buried your face in his chest and breathed in his familiar scent, your heart settling in for the first time since the world began collapsing. Gavin was finally here. You are going to be okay.

[banshee-cheekbones]

Are you still taking prompts? If so, can you write something about Standrew and the tongue pops? Or just standrew in general, because there's not enough of them. You're really cool, by the way.

this took so darn long to write and I am so sorry! anyway, here’s the one with all the tongue pops! 

features the following: friends to lovers, so much goddamn fluff, insecure Andrew, pining Steven, an absurd amount of cuddling, first kisses and literal sleeping together. 

4.4k, read under the cut or on ao3 here.

and it was me and you (this could last forever).

Steven is already halfway to Andrew’s desk, a heavy paper bag from a gourmet candy store near Pershing Square dangling from his fingertips, before he starts to think that this might be a bad idea.

The thing is, while him and Andrew aren’t exactly strangers, he wouldn’t go so far as to say that they’re friends. Colleagues, yes. Acquaintances maybe, but even that might be pushing it a bit.

(Of course, there’s also the slight thing that he has for Andrew, the thing that relates to how his arms fill out his shirts and how his rarely seen smile wholly illuminates his face, but, so far as he knows, Andrew is unaware of that thing, and Steven doesn’t plan on telling him about it anytime soon.

Or ever, ideally.)

But now that they’re officially going to be co-hosts, thanks to the helping hands of fate (and a suggestion from Adam), it had seemed imperative to Steven that, after filming their first episode together, he should get Andrew something to show his gratitude, something that said thank you for agreeing to this and saving my show. However, now that the present is actually in his hands, the problem is that Steven doesn’t actually know how Andrew feels about spontaneous gifts, particularly ones that are presented in public (although most of the other people who work in this pod are gone for lunch, so at least there’s that). Truthfully, he doesn’t know how Andrew feels about a lot of things, doesn’t even really know his favorite foods (which, considering the whole premise of Worth It, is a little bit yikes).

So even though he spent twenty minutes driving around the block looking for a parking spot, another thirty minutes trying to narrow down the perfect gift and a frankly absurd amount of money, the whole thing is definitely starting to seem like a bad idea.

However, before he can back out and go hide the present in one of his desk drawers (it might still be salvageable as an end of season gift), Andrew glances up at him, and Steven freezes with one foot half-raised, stuck in an awkward half-pivot position.

“What’s in the bag?” he asks, pulling his headphones off and draping them around his neck.

Technically, Steven could still get out of this, could say that the bag is nothing and he was just coming over to talk about the next episode. However, his intuition tells him that, somehow, Andrew will know that he’s lying, which is bound to lead to an awkward dynamic that will bleed through into their next video, and Steven didn’t lose one co-host only for things to get immediately weird with the next.

So he sets the bag down on the corner of Andrew’s desk (a little too hard, based on the sharp clink of porcelain that comes from inside).

“It’s a present!” he answers, and his voice seems too loud in the unusually quiet space. “Like an unofficial ‘welcome to the Worth It family’ kind of present.”

“A present,” Andrew says suspiciously as he hooks his fingers into the bag’s handles and tugs it closer. The top is taped shut, and as he picks it open, loose strands of clear tape sticking to his thumbnail, he continues, “This better not be a prank.”

“When have prank videos ever been my thing?” Steven asks, more than a little bewildered that Andrew’s mind would even go in that direction. After a moment, Andrew shrugs minutely.

“Never, I guess.” When he finally finishes picking at the tape and reaches into the bag, Steven’s anxiety shoots through the roof. His stomach is viciously churning, and his brain is filled with the thought that he should snatch the bag and run before it’s too late.

Before he can really debate the pros and cons of that particular decision, Andrew pulls four packages of candy corn out of the bag, followed by the small porcelain dish, which Steven is relieved to see is undamaged. Andrew cradles it in his palms for a few moments, turns it this way and that, expression impossible to decipher, before he carefully sets it down and turns to the candy.

“Gourmet candy corn,” he says with a slight uptick to the corner of his mouth, the precursor to a genuine smile. At the sight of it, Steven’s anxiety is replaced by something almost akin to triumph. “I didn’t know this existed.”

“Those aren’t even the weirdest flavors they had.” Steven had done a quick Google search before he actually went shopping, so he’d had some preparation for when he’d actually walked into the store, but he’d still been overwhelmed by the truly bizarre array of candy corn flavors that had filled an entire shelf. In the end, he’d gone with four of the more normal flavors: s’mores, pumpkin pie, toffee, and caramel apple. After a moment of careful consideration, Andrew grabs the s’mores package, slowly tears it open and fishes a single piece out.

“Did you find any truffle flavored ones?” he asks, looking appraisingly at the piece of candy caught between his thumb and forefinger. “Or gold coated? Can we do a whole episode on these?”

“Maybe in a few seasons. When we run out of other ideas.” Andrew makes a sound that might be a laugh before he casually tosses the piece of candy into his mouth. Steven hasn’t tried any of the flavors and doesn’t have any particular interest in doing so, but he’s prepared for Andrew to either be very into it or find it absolutely disgusting.

What he isn’t prepared for is the sound that comes out of Andrew’s mouth.

It’s a surprisingly loud popping sound, a little softer and rounder than a click. It’s not a sound Steven’s ever heard anyone make, and he has no idea what it’s supposed to mean, if it signifies a good or bad reaction, if what he actually heard was a poorly disguised gag.

Naturally, his curiosity is piqued.

“What was that?” he asks with a surprised laugh.

Immediately, Andrew’s face goes totally and utterly blank.

“Nothing,” he mutters. After pushing the bag of s’mores candy corn over so that a few loose pieces spill out onto his desk (and Steven almost groans in protest, because that’s exactly why he got Andrew the bowl as well), he wraps his fingers around his headphones. “I have to get back to work. Thanks for the candy.”

Before Steven can say so much as you’re welcome, Andrew jams his headphones back on, and if that isn’t a sign that the conversation is totally over, Steven doesn’t know what is.

As he trudges back across the office to his own desk, stomach roiling with anxiety, two thoughts fight for space inside his mind.

The first is that, the next time he gets the idea to give someone a surprise present, he’s going to run it past Adam first or sit on it for a few days, because unless he read the situation totally wrong, he might have to find another new co-host.

The second is that, while he’s definitely curious about the noise Andrew made, if he ever hears it again, he’s going to keep his mouth shut about it.

Thankfully, despite the certainty that grows with each subsequent day that passes, he doesn’t have to find a new co-host.

After three days of doing his best to avoid interacting with Andrew in any way, Andrew shows up at his desk and sits on the edge of it, which makes it more than a little difficult for Steven to ignore his presence. That being said, he doesn’t have it in him to look Andrew square in the face yet, so he settles for fixing his eyes on where the sleeve of Andrew’s t-shirt bisects his arm.

It’s not exactly a great decision, because his face flushes with unwelcome heat, but he can only hope that if Andrew notices, he blames it on something else.

“Are we still doing this whole thing?” Andrew asks with a frown. “Or did you find someone else?”

Steven shakes his head rapidly, tongue nearly tripping on the words spilling from his mouth as a fresh wave of anxiety and guilt hits him.

“No! I mean, yeah! Of course we’re still doing this. If you want to. Do you?”

Andrew nods. “What are we doing next?”

“I was thinking steak.” Steven grabs his laptop and slides over a few inches so that Andrew can better see the screen. Bringing up his planning documents, he continues, “If that’s cool with you.”

Andrew’s face lights up, and Steven suddenly understands why moths are so attracted to bright lamps and flames.

He only allows the thought to linger for a moment before he clears it away with a firm shake of his head and goes back to the planning documents.

They don’t talk about what happened with the candy corn, about the sound and the way Andrew utterly shut down when Steven asked about it, but by the time Andrew strolls back off to his own desk, they have some semblance of a game plan for the next episode and frankly, for the time being at least, Steven thinks that’s more important.

As time goes by and they finish season one, begin production of season two and somehow become actual friends along the way, Steven hears the sound often enough to get some idea of what it actually means.

It’s definitely not a thinly disguised gag or retch. When it slips out during filming, it’s usually after Andrew has bitten into something that he particularly likes-

(and while the three of them never discuss it, all of those moments are edited out during post)

-but it’s not exclusively contained to food. One day, a few days after they start filming for season two, they stop by Annie’s house to hang out for a few hours. Mere seconds after walking through the door, Andrew ends up with Annie’s cat bundled up in his arms, both of them looking as pleased as can be, and as Steven follows Annie and Adam into the kitchen to grab some drinks, he catches the sound. When he glances back over his shoulder Andrew is simply scratching the cat between the shoulders, but Steven knows what he heard.

So the sound seems to be related more to general happiness than culinary satisfaction. But even though he’s fairly sure that he’s identified the cause of the sound, Steven still has no idea why Andrew shuts down when it happens, like he’s ashamed of it.

On more than one occasion, he almost tells Andrew that it’s okay, that he doesn’t need to hide it from them, but he always stops himself before the words can fall from his mouth. Bringing it up, even if it’s in a positive light, is bound to make Andrew even more uncomfortable, which is the exact opposite of what Steven wants to accomplish.

For the first time in his life, he thinks that he truly understands what it means to be stuck between a rock and a hard place.

The next time Steven hears the sound when it’s just the two of them, it’s after the cocktail episode.

Technically, they aren’t alone, because Matt is in the driver’s seat, but he has a podcast playing and seems wholly focused on listening along. Steven could have moved up to the passenger seat when they dropped Adam off, could have at least moved to the other side of the backseat, but that would have required him to move away from the warmth of Andrew’s side and that, frankly, is the last thing he wants to do at the moment.

He isn’t exactly drunk, but his head is pleasantly fuzzy on the inside and difficult to hold up, which is how he ended up leaning it against Andrew’s shoulder. He’s not really sure how one of Andrew’s arms ended up wedged between his lower back and the seat, but he has no intentions of complaining about it. He’s happy just to reach down for the bag of candy in his lap, which they’d grabbed from a convenience store earlier in the day. It’s nothing special, cheap and obscenely sugary and vaguely peach flavored, and it feels almost crass to be eating it so soon after the crazy expensive scotch and the fancy snacks at the last location, but it’s hitting the spot all the same.

Andrew hasn’t said a word since they dropped Adam off, but if there’s one thing Steven has learned about Andrew, it’s that he has a sweet tooth, so after popping a piece into his own mouth, he roots around for another, tilts his head up so he can sort of see what he’s doing, and holds it up to Andrew’s mouth. Andrew glances away from the rain-streaked window and pauses for a moment before he sinks his teeth into the edge of the candy and pulls it into his mouth. His lips brush against Steven’s fingertips, and a light shudder courses through Steven’s body, one that he hopes Andrew doesn’t notice.

Before he can worry too much about that, Andrew makes the sound again.

Immediately, his arm goes as rigid as a tree branch against the base of Steven’s spine, and his hand stops gently moving back and forth against Steven’s waist (which is a movement Steven didn’t even notice until it suddenly ended). Steven doesn’t want to draw any attention to it but, on the flip side, he wants Andrew to know that it’s okay, that he likes the sound, that it’s just one of many things about Andrew that make him smile. Unfortunately, with all the fuzz filling his head like so much cotton, finding the words to express all of that seems like an utterly insurmountable task so instead, he drops his cheek to Andrew’s chest, curls his fingers into the soft hem of Andrew’s shirt, and says words that he can find.

“Thank you,” he murmurs, meaning it with everything he has. “Today was amazing.”

Andrew stays stiff for a few blessedly short moments before, with an abrupt exhalation, his whole body goes lax, and he slumps back into the seat. His fingertips graze against Steven’s hip as his arm relaxes, and he turns his head and presses his face into Steven’s hair.

“You’re welcome,” Andrew mumbles. The words brush against the top of Steven’s head like a gentle kiss, and another shudder courses from the crown of Steven’s head all the way down to his toes.

They stay like that for the rest of the ride.

After that, Andrew touches him more a lot more.

His fingers trace over Steven’s knee when they’re sitting beside each other during meetings or while they’re editing, he bumps their arms together when he’s made a particularly groan worthy pun, and he makes a habit out of slinging his arm around Steven’s shoulders when they’re sitting in a booth together, whether they’re filming or out with friends. While Steven tries to tell himself that it doesn’t mean what he wants it to mean, that he shouldn’t reciprocate too heavily because that’s a road liable to end in disappointment, he does it anyway. He leans his head on Andrew’s shoulder when they’re waiting for Adam to finish setting up a shot, occasionally musses up Andrew’s hair just to be a pain, fiddles with the sleeves of Andrew’s shirts or his watchband when he’s bored.

In addition to the sudden increase in their physical contact, there’s also a noticeable increase in how often Steven hears the tongue pop.

They still edit it out of the episodes when it happens during filming, but outside of that, while Andrew still flushes when it slips out, he no longer freezes. Instead, after a momentary pause, he continues with what he was doing, whether that was working on something on his laptop or whether it was letting Steven absently run his fingers through his hair while they watch a movie in their hotel room.

But even though Andrew seems to be more comfortable with it, Steven still doesn’t ask. He doesn’t want to upset the balance they’ve found with each other, doesn’t want to ruin things just as they’re starting to get good.

Mainly, he just doesn’t want to make Andrew unhappy.

He never asks, but in Australia, Andrew tells him.

They’re both lying on Andrew’s bed, tipsy on one hundred year old wine (which Steven thinks is possibly the most decadent thing he’s ever consumed, gold and truffles and caviar be damned). They’re on top of the covers, and while Andrew’s head is resting on the pillows, Steven’s is down towards the end of the bed, and his feet are brushing up against the headboard. One of Andrew’s hands is resting on Steven’s ankle, covering the strip of skin between the hem of his jeans and the top of his sock. Every so often, his thumb drags back and forth along Steven’s skin, and every time it happens, Steven has to bite back a soft sigh.

The sun went down an hour or so ago, and there’s only the soft, dim glow from the lamp between the beds illuminating the room. The window is open, and the sheer curtains are gently swaying in the breeze coming off the sea. Adam is on the balcony of the room adjoining theirs, and Steven can hear him quietly talking to someone, probably Annie, on the phone; the individual words are lost underneath the wind and the call of seabirds, but the steady murmur of his voice is nothing less than utterly soothing.

Steven thinks that, if he could save one moment in his life to return to whenever he needs a moment of peace and quiet, he would choose this one.

He’s on the verge of drifting off to sleep when Andrew clears his throat and lightly squeezes his ankle.

“The sound,” he begins. His fingers carefully slide underneath the hem of Steven’s jeans and skirt along his shin, and this time, Steven can’t bite back his sigh, even as he waits patiently for Andrew to keep talking. After a moment, Andrew pops his tongue off the roof of his mouth, and Steven automatically smiles. “It’s something my mom does when she’s really happy. She’s done it for as long as I can remember.”

“That’s really sweet,” Steven says. He hasn’t had the pleasure of meeting Andrew’s parents in person yet, but he’s talked to them over FaceTime in the past, and both of them seem like absolutely lovely people.

“Yeah. It’s one of my favorite things about her, actually.” He goes quiet again, and while Steven doesn’t know if there’s more information coming or if that’s the end of the story, he doesn’t want to push. Dropping one hand to Andrew’s leg, he busies himself with tracing his fingers along the curve of Andrew’s knee, along the seam traveling down the inside of his calf, and then back again. Eventually, Andrew continues, “I used to do it all the time, when I was younger. But people always commented on it. Some of them made fun of me for it. So I tried to stop doing it. It was easier than explaining or fighting back.”

Maybe it’s the wine floating around his brain, but a sudden flush of something like anger floods through Steven. He wants to find every person that ever made Andrew uncomfortable and make them apologize.

After a moment, he realizes that he’s one of those people.

Reluctantly, he moves his hand away from Andrew’s leg and scrambles to flip himself around. He miscalculates slightly and ends up flopping down with his face mere inches away from Andrew’s, so close that their legs are touching, but he doesn’t bother to move away.

“I’m sorry that I made you feel bad about it,” he starts. “I’m sorry anyone ever made you feel bad about it. You don’t have to hide it, not around me and not around Adam.” He knows that he hasn’t actually said that much, but it still feels like he’s been talking for too long, so he finishes with, “I love hearing it. Really.”

The silence between them seems to drag on for an eternity. Andrew barely even blinks; he just stares at Steven with wide eyes, lips parted slightly. Every second that ticks by without him saying something makes Steven antsy, makes him want to fill the silence somehow, but he tamps that urge down. This is Andrew’s moment; he isn’t going to walk all over it just because he’s impatient.

Eventually, Andrew clears his throat again.

“Thank you, Steven,” he says, voice quiet and raspy, like he hasn’t spoken in ages. His hand rises and hovers in mid-air for a moment before it carefully descends and comes to rest on the side of Steven’s face. In response, Steven shuffles forward an inch or so, until he’s close enough to see the lighter flecks in Andrew’s eyes.

There’s a part of him that thinks, maybe, he should stop things before they go any further. Maybe he shouldn’t close the gap between them. Maybe he should get up and move to his own bed. Maybe, even though he’s about ninety-eight percent sure that Andrew wants this as much as he is, he’s deluding himself.

In the end, after giving it some thought, he decides that he’s willing to take that chance.

The first brush of their mouths together is more gentle than the breath that follows it. Steven keeps his eyes open and trained on Andrew’s face the entire time, so that he can back away at the first sign of any potential trouble.

That sign never comes.

Instead, Andrew moves forward, until the space between them is non-existent, wraps his arm around Steven’s back and curls his fingers tightly into the loose fabric of his shirt. Their noses bump together, and when Andrew speaks, voice even lower than usual, like he’s trying to eliminate any chance of it traveling beyond their own little bubble, his words brush against Steven’s mouth.

“Can we do that again?”

Steven’s pretty sure that, if he tries to answer that verbally, a veritable barrage is going to spill out of his mouth, an embarrassing jumble of yesand please and wanted this for so long, so he nods instead, curls his fingers into the front of Andrew’s shirt and meets him in the middle.

This time, the kiss is considerably firmer than a breath.

Steven quickly loses himself in the feeling of Andrew’s mouth pressing against his own, in the feeling of his tongue tracing Steven’s bottom lip and his fingers tightening in the back of his shirt. They kiss until he can’t breathe, but he only pauses long enough to pull in a heaving gulp of air before he swoops back in and slots one of his legs between both of Andrew’s.

Eventually, after he’s lost count of how many quick breaks they take for breath, he needs a more substantial pause. Reluctantly, heart thudding against his ribs, lungs aching in the most pleasant way he’s ever experienced, he backs away a few inches. For a second, Andrew chases after him, instinctively it seems, before he comes to his senses and slowly flicks his eyes open. He looks wrecked; his pupils have nearly overtaken his irises, his hair has been tugged into an unruly mess, and his mouth is glistening and swollen.

Steven can’t help but feel a twinge of pride, deep down in his chest, at the thought that he did that all to Andrew.

“Steven,” Andrew says, slipping his hand underneath Steven’s shirt and splaying his fingers wide at the base of Steven’s spine. “Was that okay?”

Steven’s fairly certain that okay doesn’t come anywhere close to describing what just happened. Frankly, he’s not sure if there are enough words in any language in the world to accurately describe the airy feeling in his chest and head, to describe the sheer level of utter joy permeating every inch of his body.

So he doesn’t bother trying to describe it.

Instead, he pops his tongue against the roof of his mouth.

It doesn’t sound exactly like when Andrew does it; it’s more muted, less crisp, but Andrew’s cheeks immediately flush the loveliest shade of pink, and a grin that’s nothing less than dazzling, brighter than all the neon in the world, spreads across his face. After a moment, Andrew ducks down and presses his forehead against Steven’s sternum. When he mirrors the sound, it’s muffled against Steven’s chest, but Steven hears it all the same, and more joy flows through his body like sap in a tree.

Eventually, that’s how he falls asleep; pressed against Andrew in more spots than he can count, still on top of the covers, with one arm tucked underneath Andrew’s head and the other draped around his waist, happier than he can ever remember feeling.

And even though he wakes up just after sunrise with horrible morning breath and an arm so asleep that it’s totally numb, he regrets nothing.

The next time the sound slips out while they’re filming, Andrew doesn’t freeze. He just goes back in for another bite.

When they’re editing the raw footage afterwards, Adam pauses right after that moment. Caught in mid-tongue pop with his eyes closed and his mouth half-open, Andrew looks a little bit ridiculous. Steven, on the other hand, is a little staggered to see the look on his own face; he’s pretty sure he’s never seen anyone so vividly embody the term ‘heart eyes’, and even though he’s not ashamed of it in the least, he still flushes.

“Do you want to cut that out?” Adam asks, turning in his chair to face Andrew, who has been absently drumming his fingers against Steven’s knee since they started going through the footage. Steven’s pretty sure that he knows what Andrew’s answer is going to be; regardless of the fact that Andrew’s stopped trying to hide the sound around him, having it broadcast to all of their viewers is another thing entirely.

Then again, Andrew has always been full of surprises.

“No,” he answers. Settling back in his chair, he tilts back a little and presses a gentle, lingering kiss to the corner of Steven’s mouth, and even though his next words are directed towards Adam, his eyes don’t leave Steven’s face. “It’s okay.”

Steven grins.

Yeah. It’s definitely okay.

[ashyblondwaves]

I adore you’re writing. Can we get a sneak peak into an idea and how to deal with blocks please? I’ve got chapters in the future written but I’m stuck on how to get there.

Hey there!

Thank you so much, I'm so glad to hear you enjoy my stuff :)

As for blocks, that's a tough one. Sometimes you just have to take that break and do something else. For me, that meant stepping away completely and playing video games. For some reason, as I played the games my brain started churning out ideas and got me inspired again.

Another thing that helps is scaling back your ambitions a little. Like, instead of writing a 20k chaptered story, write a 1k drabble to get the creative juices flowing so you can get back to those chapters with a clearer head.

Also? Outlines. However you want to make them. Bullet points, idea dumps, graphs, charts, whatever. Always write your ideas down. If you're sitting in the car driving somewhere and an idea for a single scene comes to mind, throw it in an outline. Well, your version of an outline lol.

I hope this was somewhat helpful for you. If you want to chat more about writing or story ideas to help with the block I am totally down for that!

I hope you have a great Sunday <3

[twerkstallion]

Cars Fandom Tag Meme

Tagged by @a113cowgirl THANK YOU!! 

Created by @pixelthenerdcat 

“Just because I love doing these tagging memes :) 

For the Cars films, what is your…”

Favorite male character: LIGHTNING MCQUEEN! He is so fucken funny 

Favorite female character: wow there aren't enough so Sally!! (But I have a feeling Ima love Cruz) 

Least favorite male character: prof z. What a fucken creep. Why does he have car hair. What- 

Least favorite female character: minny, or the french lady with tit eyes 

Favorite scene: the opening scene of Cars changed my entire life. Every single thing Lightning does is iconic to the max  

I mean: you're in a movie theatre. It's dark. The Pixar lamp turns off. The screen is dark. It's silent. Suddenly, you hear Owen Wilson breathing and talking to himself about eating breakfast. The screen lights up a few times from the blackness, but it's just flashes of speeding racecars with roaring engines in the thrill of a race. You and the other 40 occupants of the theatre sit stone still, bewildered. What the fuck is this memefuckery, Pixar, what the f- 

Favorite actor and their role: uhhhhh wtf they're all so awesome????? They all put so much into their characters and you can just TELL and wow. 

Favorite Cars videogame (yes this includes mobile games like Fast as Lightning): the original Cars on the 360. All of the dialogue and paintjobs and stories and subplots and races and jokes had me LIVING. ESPECIALLY THE SOUNDTRACK HOLY FUCK!! AND LIGHTNING!! FALLING ASLEEP! IN THE MIDDLE OF GAMEPLAY! I N C R E D I B L E 

OTP: uhhhhhhhhhhh I'm not super shippy with cars honestly?? Because they're... cars.... 

I love salqueen tho 

BROTP or Platonic OTP: Lightning being friends with people without realizing it, like Mack and Strip tho... 

NOTP: I'm not here to bash ships... excEPT THAT ONE SHIP I WONT MENTION!! 

Why do you like the films: why do I- 

Why do I like caRS!??!?????!!! 

WHY??!??? 

I WISH I FUCKEN KNEW BUDDY!! YOU TELL ME WHAT THE FUCK HAPPENED!! Cars is corny as fuck!!! It's garbage basically!! But somehow I just... SAW Lightning McQueen and my brain just.... locked on!! Like, "HERE WE GO, tHE ONLY THING YOU’LL EVER GET THIS EXCITED ABOUT IN YOUR E N T I R E LIFE, THIS IS THE THING, FOREVER.!" And now I'm stuck like this!!! It doesn't make sense!!! I literally have NO explanation!!!! I wish I did!!!!!! 

What are you hoping to see the most in Cars 3: 

-THE SOUND PRODUCTION. I WANT THE ENGINE SOUNDS TO FLATTEN ME IN MY MOVIE THEATRE SEAT 

-the realistic, good dinosaur-esque rendering  

-chick! 

-salqueen smooches!!! 

-DESERT RACING 

-SNOW RACING 

-Lightning McQueen yelling noises 

-Lightning driving under a WAVE at the beach with the sun shining thru the water 

-the new settings!! 

-I could go on but uhhh the movie still might suck 

“Okay, now for some fandom related questions:” 

Favorite part of the fandom: the memes, the Freakouts™, the keyboard smashing, the art, the fic, the Reactions™, the fanon, the in-jokes, when people find a post that says "woah there's a cars fandom???" And the entire tumblr cars fandom replies "hi", the edits, the MVs, the spoof videos, the creative humanizations, the shitposts, the Actual Car Nerds, the FEELS TRAINS, the speculation, the quotes blog haha, the art styles, the rare gifset, ok this is a lot, 

Favorite Cars fanartist: @edgyroses, @hillbillyhell, @paralleldragons, @kiwi-likes-cars, @radiationstinks, @flatter-pencil, @invalidincorrect, there are more i swear...

Favorite Cars fanfic: these aren't tulips, Fillmore' freak juice, stormy weather, the jaguar syndrome series, Doc Hudson autobiography, stuff from @a113cowgirl, @radiatonstinks, @pixelthenerdcat ... I feel like a lot of my classic faves got deleted or didn't age well with me so that's it basically

What you enjoy putting out in the fandom (this could be anything, including rambly text posts): I love when I make a killer shitpost and the entire fandom just breaks down around it. (eg. “Get your Chicks”, “Lightning doesn’t have tits”, “car condoms”) Edits and fanart are fun too. And this is the only fandom I've written fic for. (And if I had the means to do video, you bet your ass I'd churn out memes and edits like no tomorrow.) Oh, and META!!

Do you think the fandom will survive after the release of Cars 3? (I know, evil question, but still >:D: uhhhhhh ok at first I thought NO WAY, but then... the Cars fandom was bangin' for YEEAAARSS after 2006, so if Cars 3 is good, the kids will go nuts and we will stay for a little while longer.... 

What made you become part of the fandom?: um well definitely FF.net. The original Cars trailer switched a GIANT fanfiction switch on in my head. It was instant, a lightbulb, a revelation. I was eight years old and suddenly pacing around, feverent and brimming with ideas and predictions for hours and hours and hours. I didn't even know what fanfic was despite writing so much of it in my head until... I found FF. Then I saw that OTHER people did the SAME thing, and I went nuts. I remember I read all 403 cars postings and I'd check daily for updates on any of them. (I ended up reading some untagged smut at a young age because of this though, and it fucked me up pretty bad honestly. Suddenly there was sex in a k+ rated story. Major yikes) But yeah I hopped on FF and DA and followed the content. I never actually talked to anyone in the fandom (thank god) until now, here on Tumblr. The tumblr cars fandom is a fucking INCREDIBLE niche here on the vast internet, I'm so glad I've been a part of this. Thank you for bonding together ya fucken nerds. I love you.

[virginieboesus]

A Special Thank You And Look To The Future

Well, there’s no top 7 list today, nor a review anything else along those lines. In fact, today’s post won’t even directly be about retro gaming. Instead, we are going to be doing something a little different, obviously.

I wanted to say a massive thank you to everyone who reads this blog, watches my streams, chats in the 16-Bit Tribe Discord and/or follows me on Twitter. You guys are all incredibly awesome, and thanks to you all, I had a huge surprise last Friday.

A Huge Thank You

So last Friday, the UK Blog Awards went live on YouTube to announce the winners for their awards for 2019. One of their categories was Gaming, and I was so extremely proud to be nominated. It was an amazing feeling. Then, to get through to being a finalist was incredible. However, the point in which my brain exploded was on Friday when they announced that 16-Bit Dad had won the Best Gaming Blog 2019 award!

That is insane! And it’s all thanks to you guys!

Every single one of you that has read a post on here, or interacted with me in some way, helped drive 16-Bit Dad forward. You helped me get to this point, and I will be forever grateful! Along the way, there have been some things that really hit my confidence, but you guys pulled me through. So yeah, thank you.

Don’t Let Others Break You

As a way of giving something back, I wanted to share the one really important thing that I have learned over the past 2 years, and share the story behind it.

For the first 6 months of blogging, this site was getting about 200 visits per month. It was small, but I was so happy that 200 people cared enough about what I was writing that they came to look at the site. It was, at that point, where I started getting small companies wanting to work with me in a variety of ways. After a couple more months passed and I’d done work with a few companies, I decided to take the first step for a change and contact one business that I wanted to work with.

The response that I got was heartbreaking. They said that this site was an extremely low-quality blog that would “never be worth their time to look at” and that they would never work with me.

That message hit me like a tonne of bricks. I had been pouring my heart and soul into this blog, spending around 20 to 25 hours per week on the site on top of my full-time job and my family time. Yet, here was a company that I wanted to work with, telling me that all of my time and effort were wasted on a low-quality blog. It was so disheartening.

However, rather than give up, I decided that I wanted to prove them wrong.

So, I kept slogging away at the blog, pushing as much as I could to grow. Over time, more and more of you awesome people found the site, and it grew with every month. Now, about a year and a half later, we hit over 15,000 people reading the blog in one month! From 200 to over 15,000! That still blows my mind.

On top of this, I’ve been able to work with a whole host of companies, many of which are much bigger than the one that put me down. I’ve been able to do a semi-interview with the director of my favourite game, and the blog has gone on to win the aforementioned award. Oh, and I’ve since been contacted by that same company asking to work with me – I just replied with a copy of their previous email.

And that leads me nicely into the point of this story; no matter what someone says about the content that you are creating, don’t give up! You’ll get there, and you’ll prove them wrong! Don’t give up on something you love just because others try to put you down.

A Look To The Future

So now that you know that, and the fact that I am not giving up, it’s time to look forward and start thinking about what the future of 16-Bit Dad is. So far, we have a blog and live streaming on Twitch. But I want to make sure I can give you guys the best content I can, in a variety of ways. Therefore, I have a few ideas (some of which have already started but only just).

The Brand

For those who follow me on Twitter, you may have already seen that I have finally come up with a tag line for 16-Bit Dad. This tag line now defines the focus of what 16-Bit Dad is moving forward;

Obscure Is The Cure

Specifically, this refers to the fact that I am not a fan of repetitive game design and churning out a reskinned version of the same game every single year. I prefer experimentation and originality in game design. I prefer to games that don’t get the huge advertising budgets and the massive following.

So, I’ll be doing a lot of posts and showcases for games that you may have missed because of how prominent the “big” games are. I want to share these games with you so that you can find new and exciting games to experience. And to do that, there are a few ideas that I am going to be implementing over the coming months.

The Blog

As it seems that people prefer reading my top 7 posts over more focused reviews, I’m going to focus on doing those lists more than other types of posts. That way, I can share some of the games that you may have missed. But don’t worry, I won’t be doing a tonne of “hidden gem” posts… MetalJesusRocks already covers that side of retro gaming pretty damn well.

Instead, I’ll be focusing on games that you should play but probably haven’t; games that did not get the publicity they deserved or games that are just downright weird but enjoyable.

Twitch

Over on Twitch, I’ve been doing two streams per week based upon two “categories”, as it were. Specifically, on Fridays, I have been playing through Retro Games such as Final Fantasy VIII and Legend of Dragoon, whilst on Saturdays we have been playing through Modern Games, starting with Persona 5.

However, I am now adding an extra stream on Sundays.

This stream will feature a random retro game, different each week. The game will be chosen from a Master List of games using a random number generator, and once a game has been played, it can’t be chosen again. Oh! And the Master List can be added to by anyone in the 16-Bit Tribe Discord, so you can add any games you would want me to try out and stream, as long as they are at least 10 years old and not HD games (as I don’t have a capture card that can handle HDMI yet).

YouTube

For a while now, the 16-Bit Dad YouTube channel has largely been used to back up my streams on Twitch, with the odd unboxing or pickups video thrown in. However, I want to actually spend some time on getting new and unique content for the YouTube channel.

On Twitter, I recently ran a poll to see whether people still enjoy Let’s Play videos.

What’s your opinion on recorded let’s play videos in the current YouTube world? (Not livestreams, but old school let’s plays) #smallyoutuber #SmallYouTuberArmy #gamersunite #retrogaming

— Gareth @ 16-Bit Dad (@16bitdadblog) April 14, 2019

As you can see from the results, it was a resounding win for the idea that Let’s Play videos are still relevant and enjoyable. As such, I will be adding Let’s Play series onto YouTube in the coming weeks. I plan to record quite a few 15-minute episodes at one time, in order to give consistent content for a few weeks at a time. This means that you get good quality content on YouTube without me having to sacrifice the content for the blog or Twitch!

I’m also looking at other ways to expand the content offering on YouTube, but haven’t finalised any ideas yet.

And That’s All Folks

In the end, there wasn’t really an amazing point to this post. I really just wanted to say thank you to every single one of you, and discuss my plans for 16-Bit Dad and how I can give you all more content. I hope you are as excited about the future as I am.

If you have any suggestions on what content you would like to see, then feel free to leave a comment below!

from More Design Curation https://www.16bitdad.com/blog/a-special-thank-you-and-look-to-the-future/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=a-special-thank-you-and-look-to-the-future source https://smartstartblogging.tumblr.com/post/184259355475

[smartstartblogging]

A Special Thank You And Look To The Future

Well, there’s no top 7 list today, nor a review anything else along those lines. In fact, today’s post won’t even directly be about retro gaming. Instead, we are going to be doing something a little different, obviously.

I wanted to say a massive thank you to everyone who reads this blog, watches my streams, chats in the 16-Bit Tribe Discord and/or follows me on Twitter. You guys are all incredibly awesome, and thanks to you all, I had a huge surprise last Friday.

A Huge Thank You

So last Friday, the UK Blog Awards went live on YouTube to announce the winners for their awards for 2019. One of their categories was Gaming, and I was so extremely proud to be nominated. It was an amazing feeling. Then, to get through to being a finalist was incredible. However, the point in which my brain exploded was on Friday when they announced that 16-Bit Dad had won the Best Gaming Blog 2019 award!

That is insane! And it’s all thanks to you guys!

Every single one of you that has read a post on here, or interacted with me in some way, helped drive 16-Bit Dad forward. You helped me get to this point, and I will be forever grateful! Along the way, there have been some things that really hit my confidence, but you guys pulled me through. So yeah, thank you.

Don’t Let Others Break You

As a way of giving something back, I wanted to share the one really important thing that I have learned over the past 2 years, and share the story behind it.

For the first 6 months of blogging, this site was getting about 200 visits per month. It was small, but I was so happy that 200 people cared enough about what I was writing that they came to look at the site. It was, at that point, where I started getting small companies wanting to work with me in a variety of ways. After a couple more months passed and I’d done work with a few companies, I decided to take the first step for a change and contact one business that I wanted to work with.

The response that I got was heartbreaking. They said that this site was an extremely low-quality blog that would “never be worth their time to look at” and that they would never work with me.

That message hit me like a tonne of bricks. I had been pouring my heart and soul into this blog, spending around 20 to 25 hours per week on the site on top of my full-time job and my family time. Yet, here was a company that I wanted to work with, telling me that all of my time and effort were wasted on a low-quality blog. It was so disheartening.

However, rather than give up, I decided that I wanted to prove them wrong.

So, I kept slogging away at the blog, pushing as much as I could to grow. Over time, more and more of you awesome people found the site, and it grew with every month. Now, about a year and a half later, we hit over 15,000 people reading the blog in one month! From 200 to over 15,000! That still blows my mind.

On top of this, I’ve been able to work with a whole host of companies, many of which are much bigger than the one that put me down. I’ve been able to do a semi-interview with the director of my favourite game, and the blog has gone on to win the aforementioned award. Oh, and I’ve since been contacted by that same company asking to work with me – I just replied with a copy of their previous email.

And that leads me nicely into the point of this story; no matter what someone says about the content that you are creating, don’t give up! You’ll get there, and you’ll prove them wrong! Don’t give up on something you love just because others try to put you down.

A Look To The Future

So now that you know that, and the fact that I am not giving up, it’s time to look forward and start thinking about what the future of 16-Bit Dad is. So far, we have a blog and live streaming on Twitch. But I want to make sure I can give you guys the best content I can, in a variety of ways. Therefore, I have a few ideas (some of which have already started but only just).

The Brand

For those who follow me on Twitter, you may have already seen that I have finally come up with a tag line for 16-Bit Dad. This tag line now defines the focus of what 16-Bit Dad is moving forward;

Obscure Is The Cure

Specifically, this refers to the fact that I am not a fan of repetitive game design and churning out a reskinned version of the same game every single year. I prefer experimentation and originality in game design. I prefer to games that don’t get the huge advertising budgets and the massive following.

So, I’ll be doing a lot of posts and showcases for games that you may have missed because of how prominent the “big” games are. I want to share these games with you so that you can find new and exciting games to experience. And to do that, there are a few ideas that I am going to be implementing over the coming months.

The Blog

As it seems that people prefer reading my top 7 posts over more focused reviews, I’m going to focus on doing those lists more than other types of posts. That way, I can share some of the games that you may have missed. But don’t worry, I won’t be doing a tonne of “hidden gem” posts… MetalJesusRocks already covers that side of retro gaming pretty damn well.

Instead, I’ll be focusing on games that you should play but probably haven’t; games that did not get the publicity they deserved or games that are just downright weird but enjoyable.

Twitch

Over on Twitch, I’ve been doing two streams per week based upon two “categories”, as it were. Specifically, on Fridays, I have been playing through Retro Games such as Final Fantasy VIII and Legend of Dragoon, whilst on Saturdays we have been playing through Modern Games, starting with Persona 5.

However, I am now adding an extra stream on Sundays.

This stream will feature a random retro game, different each week. The game will be chosen from a Master List of games using a random number generator, and once a game has been played, it can’t be chosen again. Oh! And the Master List can be added to by anyone in the 16-Bit Tribe Discord, so you can add any games you would want me to try out and stream, as long as they are at least 10 years old and not HD games (as I don’t have a capture card that can handle HDMI yet).

YouTube

For a while now, the 16-Bit Dad YouTube channel has largely been used to back up my streams on Twitch, with the odd unboxing or pickups video thrown in. However, I want to actually spend some time on getting new and unique content for the YouTube channel.

On Twitter, I recently ran a poll to see whether people still enjoy Let’s Play videos.

What’s your opinion on recorded let’s play videos in the current YouTube world? (Not livestreams, but old school let’s plays) #smallyoutuber #SmallYouTuberArmy #gamersunite #retrogaming

— Gareth @ 16-Bit Dad (@16bitdadblog) April 14, 2019

As you can see from the results, it was a resounding win for the idea that Let’s Play videos are still relevant and enjoyable. As such, I will be adding Let’s Play series onto YouTube in the coming weeks. I plan to record quite a few 15-minute episodes at one time, in order to give consistent content for a few weeks at a time. This means that you get good quality content on YouTube without me having to sacrifice the content for the blog or Twitch!

I’m also looking at other ways to expand the content offering on YouTube, but haven’t finalised any ideas yet.

And That’s All Folks

In the end, there wasn’t really an amazing point to this post. I really just wanted to say thank you to every single one of you, and discuss my plans for 16-Bit Dad and how I can give you all more content. I hope you are as excited about the future as I am.

If you have any suggestions on what content you would like to see, then feel free to leave a comment below!

from More Design Curation https://www.16bitdad.com/blog/a-special-thank-you-and-look-to-the-future/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=a-special-thank-you-and-look-to-the-future

[wjwilliams29]

How to Write Content & Build Quality Links for Boring Niches

Content Marketing is dominating the internet. It stays at the core of everything, be it an article, a video or even an ad. So, in order to succeed or even attempt to be successful at digital marketing, you have to create some form of content.

  However, many people find it very difficult to create content or do link building, especially if they’re in a ‘boring’ niche. This complaint often comes not only from the website owners themselves, but also from various digital marketing experts trying to promote their clients.

    In this article we’re going to write about how you can overcome this barrier and show you that it’s possible to create interesting content and do efficient link building in any niche.

  Content Creation Tips

The Boring Niche Excuse (Busted)

Idea Generation

Structuring & Content Types

Personas

Storytelling

Proofread

Monitor Your Results

Link Building & Content Distribution Strategies

The Boring Niche’s Big Advantage

Stealing Links from Your Competitors

Social Media: Groups & Pages

Blog Comments

BrandMentions

Link Reclamation Method

  The article doesn’t cover any OnPage SEO tactics. Technical SEO should be dealt with on any website, regardless of the niche it’s in. There is not excuse for a slow web host and website and for not having an SEO Plugin installed. If you haven’t fixed that already, I really recommend you to read these SEO resources first to make sure you don’t have any major OnPage issues:

  How Your Website’s Theme Affects SEO & Rankings

How to Write SEO Friendly Blog Posts – The Complete Checklist

Vital Hreflang & Multi Language Website Mistakes That Most Webmasters Make

How to use Google AMP (Accelerated Mobile Pages) to Rank Better on Mobile

  There are two main issues when dealing with ‘boring’ niches: content creation and link building & content distribution. We’ll discuss both of them in more detail, so that you can take the actions that will provide the best results.

  1. Content Creation Tips

  I’ve listed below some really useful things you can follow to make your life easier when creating content. They are placed in an order, so you can follow them as you start the content creation process. But, before we get to them, let’s start with busting the ‘boring niche’ excuse:

  1.1 The Boring Niche Excuse (Busted)

  Many times when I talk about implementing a content strategy for someone’s more narrow niche website, I get this remark:

  “That’s not going to work for me. What are we going to write about? I’m not doing rocket science, like Elon Musk.”

  If you think rocket science isn’t boring, I’ll remind you what’s it like (probably) to be a rocket engineer every day:

  iopscience.iop.org

  I don’t know about you, but it looks pretty boring to me (no offense intended to engineers/physicists).

  It’s not about the niche, it’s about the way you put content out there. Musk is more interested in his actual customers, but likes to create hype around everything and he knows how to do it very well.

  Source: indianexpress.com

  If you’re not his customer, you’re not really interested in the technologies that he’s working on, but you think it’s cool, so you share it.

  And that’s the secret to a content marketing strategy that also benefits SEO: getting people to share your content, even though they’re not your direct customers. Creating hype and convincing people to link to you.

  “There really is no such thing as a boring subject. Just boring, unimaginative writers.”   Ben Hurt  

  Now that ‘hurt’, right? Well, I actually got this quote from CreativePool, where Magnus Shaw also said this: “It’s a nice sentiment. But any article on leech breeding is going to come off a little dull. Unless you’re a leech breeder, I suppose. Or a leech.”

  That’s true. I mean… just thinking about leeches makes me go a little “eww”. But I have to use my marketer’s side of the brain. So immediately, I remembered that leeches are often used to treat different illnesses. It’s also Taboo and will probably cause some controversy. It might be a little dull, but it will work.

  You might be thinking “Hey, that’s not actually about leech breeding!”. Well, it doesn’t have to be. One thing you can always do is think outside of your direct niche. People might not buy your leeches, but they definitely want to know what health benefits they might bring, or much, much simpler than that, how to remove them from the skin.

  Here’s a really good example from The Art of Manliness:

  The Art of Manliness’ Infographic showing how to remove a leech from your skin

  In order to create share-worthy content in a ‘boring’ niche, you can use adjacent topics. This way you can address a larger audience and get more exposure.

  Now another thing you have to do after publishing something cool and useful is to distribute it properly:

  If you had a car detailing service and decided to promote it using some fliers, where would you send employees to share the fliers? Would you send them into a very populated mall, or would you send them to some car events? Well, I hope you chose the car meetings, because although the audience isn’t that numerous, they’re definitely more interested in what you have to offer.

  This is especially important on the internet. Don’t just share your content anywhere. The post above would go well in the survival niche. This means that you need to find some survival oriented websites and Facebook groups you can promote your content to.

  This infographic was eventually republished by LifeHacker, which proves that even big sites will share it.

  Remember, your purpose is to make that post get viral. The social shares and backlinks you’re going to get from it will help your domain grow the authority it needs to increase it’s overall strength in the search engines. This means that when you publish new less awesome posts targeting your customers, with some ‘boring’ content, it will naturally rank higher.

  Ok. We’ve seen how even leeches can be turned into something interesting. Let’s give some more examples, to prove that you can start creating interesting content in any niche:

  The pool-building niche:

  If you think pools are boring, excuse me dear Sir, pools are not boring. Not by far.

    If a Turkish airline company can make something awesome regarding a pool, why couldn’t a pool-building company do so?

  Here are just a few interesting content ideas from the top of the web:

  Top 10 most insane pools you won’t believe exist!

Awesome pool design ideas

7 cool ways to make an entry into your backyard pool

  How about blenders? You think blenders are boring? Over 800.000 Blendtec subscribers think otherwise:

    But dump all that! Here’s a really ‘boring’ niche. Poop smell.

    Well, I hope you get the point. Everything can be made interesting, funny and shareable. I know, I’ve mostly shared videos and images, but who says you can’t also build an article around that? Here, have a look at this awesome post from The Renegade Pharmacist. It went viral pretty quick and it’s about medicine, but it’s targeted to the masses.

  The problem isn’t that a niche is boring. The problem is that you have to find a way to target a broader audience, other than your very narrow niche, so that you can get the links and shares you desire so much. Now the post from the Renegade Pharmacist was actually written by a doctor. This means it is well documented and the information in it is accurate.

  One thing that can happen is that it’s hard to find someone to write content in your niche, because they have absolutely no idea about it. This can lead to misinformation of the audience and can result in negative feedback from your readers. That’s one of the reasons I believe that InHouse SEO and content creating works the best. You need a team of dedicated people that are genuinely interested in your product or subject.

  Having an in-house team of writers that are passionate about your subject can help you create better content and eliminate the risk of misinformation.

  The team from Examine.com turned these hard to understand scientific studies about nutrition into popular, easy to understand content that went on a tour around the web. This would not have been possible if the research hadn’t been done properly, or the writers hadn’t had any idea what they were talking about.

  This might be a little hard to do in the leeches niche, but you can always sketch the ideas yourself. If you can’t find them or can’t afford to hire them, at least make sure you closely collaborate with the team of writers you outsource your content to, so that the information in your content is accurate.

  Anyway, I hope I proved that you can turn regular, ‘boring’ things into something really interesting and share-worthy.

  1.2 Idea Generation

  When you first start writing, things might be simple. But as time passes and you churn through the topics, you get into a point where you have no more ideas. 

  Forums: Forums are a really good place to look for ideas. Even if forums aren’t as popular as they once were, old questions might still be unanswered. Forums are also very time consuming because you spend a lot of time reading everyone’s opinions before you can make a decision. You can synthesize the information into one single piece of content and eventually even share it with the forum users.

  Social media groups: This is the modern forum. Social media groups are full of interesting topic questions. If you can’t find a group about your very specific niche, just go into a parent category niche or an adjacent one. For example, if you’re selling only fishing bait, you can go into fishing groups, or survival groups. People always ask questions there and share interesting things. You can pick that up and create some content around it.

  Quora: Quora is a great resource to look for questions. Although the answers there are usually good, they still might not be so share-worthy. You can take that content, modify it and improve it and then make it 10 times more awesome. You will usually compete with Quora in the search engines if you write on the exact same topic.

  Brainstorming: This is where you actually use your imagination to its fullest. Now the basic principle of Brainstorming is that you gather with some people around a whiteboard or a piece of paper and you start pouring ideas in, as soon as they come up. They you select what’s the best and dump the bad ones. While this is a good approach, I’d recommend you also have a notebook with you, because ideas pop up randomly. Write them down when they do. If you’re more tech savvy, you can use your phone. Just not while driving (I used to quickly record it at a red light).

  Talking with friends: Talking with friends about the subject is really helpful in identifying new topics. You can talk with friends that are interested in the subject and with people that don’t have a clue. This way you’ll get some advanced topic ideas and some of the more basic ones, like questions that beginners usually ask.

  1.3 Structuring & Content Types

  Having a clear structure in mind before you start writing can help you maximize your productivity. This also helps the reader a lot. People don’t go through all the content. They skim through the article and skip video parts entirely. If you have a long article or video, break it down into smaller parts so people can get the main idea from just reading the headlines. If they’re interested in the particular headline, they’ll read it more in-depth.

  How to & Tutorials: People will always look for this kind of information on the web. You can use Brian Dean’s Skyscraper technique for it. The technique implies researching the web, finding gaps and building a piece of content that fills those gaps.

  Case study: Case studies are targeted to the readers interested in your topic on a deeper level. It usually goes well in the digital field, but can also work in other areas, like medicine and financial.

  Interviews & Roundups: If you’re out of ideas or want to make your topic a lot more interesting, you can interview or mention experts in your field. This works very well not only for building interesting content, but also for distributing it. The people you interview and mention in your articles will be more than happy to share your content. Don’t start with giants. They carefully craft their time for profitability. Go for the small guys and build up.

  Top list: As easy as it sounds, just make a top list of anything. Numbers in your title boosts conversions. It also helps if the numbers are odd. A good example is our article about SEO myths.

  Controversial: There are ways and ways of making content interesting. One way is to discuss/create controversial topics. Whenever there is a popular topic that nobody really has an answer to, or opinions are different, you can write about it. It will have a lot of engagement. Just make sure you have some people on your side as well and don’t offend anybody!

  Have you ever heard the saying “any publicity is good publicity”? It’s kind of true, you know?

  Think of #bloggergate for example. Although John V. Stenson was not a nice person (building his brand around being very blunt and disrespectful) the truth is that Elle Darby did hit around 1.5 million views on her monetized videos and added around 15k subscribers to her channel. So, one way or another, this helped them both become more popular.

  I’m not saying that Elle deserved to be treated like that or that I agree in any way with Stenson’s methods. You can’t excuse being an asshole with “It helped her as well.” However, Stenson’s theory is that if you can get into the middle of something where half of the people will be with you and half against you, you can profit. I think that you don’t always have to pick a side. You can just ask the question and avoid conflict.

  There’s one more thing that always seems to do the trick: nudity, or sexualizing the content. In my opinion, there’s no marketing there. Obviously, putting some naked people around will get you attention but the marketing in it is 0. There’s no real idea behind it. It’s just the bottom of the barrel, exploiting basic human desire, or whatever that is.

  Absolut Vodka recently published a commercial with what looks like their employees naked, under the pretext that “they’ve got nothing to hide”. But we hide our genitals for a reason. We hide them because we have evolved and become more selective, smarter. If alcohol truly had nothing to hide, they would put images of drunk people doing bad things, along with the ones of people having fun. They would put more emphasis on the “drink responsibly” thing. They would sponsor or build new detox centers. Now that, in my opinion, would bring your brand trust.

  Video & Graphic: It has been estimated that by 2019, about 80% of the content that will be consumed on the internet will be in video format. If you want to make people engage more with your content, images and videos can help. You can always include some text to go with your video, like the transcript for example, or a short article to go with your infographic, explaining everything in more detail. Check out this article about analyzing your competition to see an example.

  Answering all the questions: Answering all the questions on your niche website can be though, but very profitable, especially if nobody else does it. As an example, I have this really awesome video with Marcus Sheridan, where he explains this concept and proves that it works!

    Often, I hear people saying: well, if I answer to all my problems for free then users won’t buy my product anymore. Of course, if you have a digital product, you can’t put everything out for free. But many times, a product has much more than that. It’s an organized system, with the purpose of sharing the information in the right order. Publishing bits and pieces won’t affect you with anything.

  I’ve recently talked to someone who has a cleaning products seller as a client. I recommended that they create more interesting how-to-articles. One idea I came up with was “9 DIY cleaning solutions”. His answer was “He sells cleaning products! I can’t just tell people how to make them at home!”

  While the people who will share that article will probably never buy his products, the purpose here is to get the social activity and links. Obviously, it’s a good idea if your product doesn’t have harmful chemicals. You can always market the idea of “I’ve already made this for you. You can buy it from me.”

  1.4 Persona

  A persona is an imaginative representation of your users. A business can have many user personas. The trick with personas is to identify them so that you may address the audience in a way that will resonate with them.

  Think of an user persona as a fictional CV. Photo, age, location, interests, work places, experience, studies, etc. After you’ve created the persona, imagine talking to it. Get to know it and know how it acts. What gets it upset, you avoid, what gets it excited, you add more of.

  This way, you can create content that is targeted to your ideal customers.

  1.5 Storytelling

  If you’ve ever watched an internet marketing product ad or motivational videos, you probably know what I’m talking about. It resonates with you and makes you want the product a lot. But most of it is BS. As I got into marketing, I started thinking all of it is BS.

  But one video made me change my mind. A friend of mine was selling his product. His promotional video resembled everyone else’s. But I knew his story and I know it was true. The way he put it made it very appealing and even got me excited.

  Storytelling is not about lying. Storytelling is about getting your customer excited about what you have to sell. The more personal you make it, the more you touch their heart and the more they will buy from you.

  1.6 Proofread

  It’s not expensive. You can start by asking a friend to take a look. I ask my sister to proofread my content all the time. She’s been happy to do it so far. You can also use a basic spell checking software, like Grammarly. Depending on your niche, grammar might have a small or big impact on your readers. Better if you get it good!

  1.7 Monitor Your Results

  You won’t hit success the first time you publish. To be honest, you probably won’t hit success the 100th time. But you will learn, through failure.

  If you don’t monitor your results, you’ll have no idea what worked and what didn’t. That means you’ll always be relying on luck and will never have a strategy proven to give results. It’s very important to know what you should focus on and what not so that you don’t waste your time. Maximum results with minimum effort!

  While the tips in this article are useful, nothing is stopping you from refining your own process of doing things. Who knows, maybe you’ll discover something new!

  2. Link Building & Content Distribution Strategies

  Ok. So you got your ideas, you’ve followed our SEO friendly blog post checklist, you’ve done your keyword research and you have your awesome piece of content ready and well optimized. Now what?

  Well… you can’t just publish it and expect people to come roaring in to read it. You have to promote it. While promotion can take many forms, I’ll outline some of the things we use to promote our content and how you can apply them as well.

  But first… let’s talk about the advantage you might have when dealing with boring niches.

  2.1 The Boring Niche’s Big Advantage

  Do you know where SEO is the hardest? In the SEO and marketing niches. It’s popular, we write awesome content, we have the knowledge and we promote it thoroughly… But yet, getting links from other relevant authority sites isn’t that easy. Nobody will want to link to you, because they know that will help you and will always keep that in mind.

  Have you ever heard the phrase “Sure, I can link to you, but it has to be a nofollow link“?

  We hear that a lot! Even if the content is awesome. Even if we worked hard. Even if we know the owners of the websites.

  In a ‘boring niche’, however, when someone sees something awesome, you have the chance of them not thinking SEO first and actually link to you, just because the content you provide is absolutely brilliant.

  Of course, many people in other niches know this as well and some will avoid linking to you, but it’s not the first thing that comes into their minds. They have editors and writers that might naturally link to you without thinking “Wait, I don’t want to help anyone ever, even though I expect help in return all the time”.

  And with that, I’ll also recommend that if you see something awesome, share it! Even if it’s your competition. Not only that Google likes it when you share relevant and useful content, but you’ll prove to everyone else that you’re different. This can open up opportunities you never thought existed.

  2.2 “Stealing” Links from Your Competitors

  The best way to get backlinks quickly is by reverse engineering your competitors to find out how they’ve got their backlinks. Using the cognitiveSEO tool you can analyse your competitors to spot new backlink opportunities.

  First, you can use the unnatural link detection on your competitors to identify their bad links. We’re looking for websites that have a clean, natural link profile.

  Screenshot from the cognitiveSEO tool showing the Unnatural Link Detection feature

  In this case, the website’s link profile does look pretty good. Click on the green line to find the good links. You can export them, build relevant content and the outreach to pitch your content to those websites.

  Another interesting feature you can use is the Common Domains in the Competitive Link Analysis section. In the following graph, you can spot websites linking to all the competitors, but not linking to your website.

  Graph from the cognitiveSEO Tool showing common domain between competitors

  This graph tells us that those sites are very likely to share content in my niche. You can pitch them your content and expect a higher success rate.

  2.3 Social Media: Groups & Pages

  Social Media is a great way of getting your initial exposure. While Facebook Pages are the first place you probably share your content on, they aren’t necessarily the best for distribution, especially since the recent algorithmic changes. When you make your post, try to get people to comment on it. Facebook distributes your content depending more on the engagement rate, and comments are the best type of  engagement you can get on your posts.

  Another thing that works well is to find groups around your topic (the same groups you’ve used to get ideas from) and promote the content there. Don’t overdo it! The admins will quickly ban you if you do so. Start off by answering questions and being helpful. Always share other content as well. If the admin is a website owner, share their content from time to time. This will get you a greener pass to be able to post new things.

  Also, the purpose of this is to get social shares. Avoid posting promotional things. If you want to do so, create your own group. Which reminds me… are there any Facebook groups in your niche? If not, having the first one is not a bad idea!

  2.4 Blog Comments

  I love it when I start talking about blog comments being a legit way to get some backlinks. People always jump in and say “It doesn’t work!” or “You’re going to get penalized if you do that!”.

  But you know what the funny part is?

  They tell me those things in the comments! With links back to their sites, lol.

  Blog comments are a great way of getting initial traffic to your website. The key to it is not overdoing it. By overdoing I mean posting on irrelevant blogs, 20 times per day. If you instead find some relevant blogs and really have something to say about the topic, don’t hesitate to comment and leave a link back to your website.

  If your comment is good, people might even follow the link and end up on your website. Then you can capture them in your e-mail list and spam them from there. Just joking! Don’t spam through e-mail. It’s against the law.

  2.5 BrandMentions

  A really good way to get links is to find the unlinked mentions that you already have. Sometimes, when people mention your brand or product, they forget to link to you, or might link improperly.

  Using a tool like BrandMentions can help you identify these link building opportunities. The tool monitors your brand and notifies you about fresh web mentions, as soon as they happen. You can contact the people that mentioned you and ask for a link to your website. Most of them will be happy to give one.

  Screenshot from the web mention monitoring tool, BrandMentions

  You can always try a free alternative, like Google Alerts, but it won’t always get you the results you want and deserve. However, it’s a good idea to try them both out, just to see the difference, hehe’!

  2.6 Link Reclamation Method

  There are many ingenious methods for link building. One of them is the link reclamation method. You can definitely use it to build high quality links. This method requires the cognitiveSEO tool and the concept behind it is the following:

  Website links to content > Content disappears because of various reasons > Website loses traffic

  What can you do? Profit, of course! Here’s how:

  1. Find your competitors’ broken pages and links.

2. Update or re-create the content of the website the broken link originally led to.

3. Contact the webmasters who have the broken link on their site and recommend them your alternative.

  Basically, you will be helping some sites clean their pages of broken links, while you gain some really relevant links your competitors used to have.

  Conclusion:

  Not every niche out there is interesting for everyone, but I hope that reading this helped you get some content ideas for your ‘boring’ niche. Now you have a general blueprint on how you can come up with ideas to create the content and also promote them accordingly.

  If you still think your niche is so boring that you can’t come up with new ideas, let me know your niche in the comments and I’ll try to help you come up with some cool ideas.

  The post How to Write Content & Build Quality Links for Boring Niches appeared first on SEO Blog | cognitiveSEO Blog on SEO Tactics & Strategies.

[fictionerd]

My New Year’s Resolutions

Warning, Wall of Text Ahead, proceed with caution!

With 2017 having flown the coop we find ourselves bringing in the newborn pup of a year 2018. With it comes the deluge of New Years Resolutions, from the likely to the ludicrous there are many who intend to make a change this year, and I am included in that number.

For 2018 I resolve to take the shotgun approach to my creative efforts. In the past by focusing down on single projects I've burned myself out on them causing me to grow bored or frustrated and abandoning them. This year the intent is to work around my narrow attention span and just "DO ALL THE THINGS!"

Writing, Youtube, Voice Acting, all of it. The intent is to be continuously switching up what I'm doing and keep my brain stimulated and churning. My first goal is to bring back the text reviews/impressions of currently airing anime each season that I started last year with.

Resolution 1: Bring back my text Anime reviews.

Last year I attempted to move those impression pieces to Youtube every day which simply didn't work, especially when I got it into my head to try and do two series a day. This year shall be the year of "Keep it simple, Stupid" in that regard. Going back to the model I used for the winter season of 2017. One series for each day (Assuming there are enough that haven't been snapped up by Netflix and AStrike to do 1 a day or I decide to bend on Astrike), and two or three videos on Youtube per month. This brings me to...

Resolution 2: Bring back my Youtube channel.

Rather than attempt daily episode content for the channel like I did last spring, this year I'll go back to do videos on full series, but it's more than that. My screen name is "Fictionerd" I enjoy all things Fiction, and should behave as such. To that end I want to make my videos on the channel about more than simply anime. There's been a little of this already with my Castlevania: Blues of Belmont comic dub, and my Battlerite gameplay video from the last few weeks. Throughout 2018 I want to do more full-series retrospective/review videos like at the beginning of 2017 and also post videos covering other topics. Therefore I'll be dusting off the old show-title from back in 2014 "Talk Fiction".

Resolution 3: Voice Acting

For Christmas I had one request for my closest family: A decent microphone and I got it. My aim was to improve my youtube videos and to look into voice acting online. My goal in this regard is to land at least one role by year's end that isn't in my own project.

Resolution 4: Writing

It may shock you all to learn, but the guy with the screen name "Fictionerd" is a writer, albeit one who has picked up and put down projects like a toddler growing bored of each of their toys in rapid succession. This is where my shotgun approach should come in. The idea is that by allowing myself to divide my focus among multiple ideas working on them a bit at a time I shouldn't get bored of any one project and drop it.

Resolution 5: Be happier

In many regards 2017 made me really tense, paranoid, and frustrated with humanity as a whole, and that's the last thing I want with my life. To that end my final resolution for 2018 is to not let myself get sucked into the world of ideological warfare, finger-pointing, and bullshit extremism the way I did this year. I need to spend less time focusing on the stupidity and unthinking cruelty of others and more time focussing on what I can do to make my presence online more pleasant and consistent.

And so those are my resolutions for the year 2018. Not much more to say really. I don't have any series lined up to start for the first of the year. Tomorrow the first stop on my anime journey of 2018 is A Place Further than the Universe. So maybe pack a coat?

Until then: Keep talking fiction, friends. I'll see you soon!

[samiam03x]

No More Hacks: Why Tired, Old, Boring Processes Can Make You a Better Marketer

Israeli researchers studied 200 of the best ads in 1999.

These were the top finalists and award winners, like the infamous “This is Your Brain on Drugs” campaign from years ago.

The most surprising thing? They weren’t ‘creative’.

89% of them could be classified into six ‘templates’, which were classified in the excellent Made to Stick.

The point?

Ideas aren’t in short supply today. Execution is.

The reason results aren’t kicking in like you expect is NOT because you’re missing some mythical growth hack. It’s because you’re not executing on the basics right in front of your face.

Here’s why, along with a few examples to get started.

The Escalating Content Marketing Arms Race

A 500-word blog post used take an hour or two to complete.

Problem? Nobody writes 500 words anymore. At least, not if they want results.

You know what it takes to get on the first page of Google today? 1,890 words. Thanks, Skyscrapers.

That’s backed up by excellent research from Orbit Media, whose survey results show that the average blog post is 1054 words long (19% longer than in 2015).

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Which means, they take longer to write, too. Today’s average blog post takes 3 hours 16 minutes to write (26% increase over 2015).

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Buffer has been spending a minimum of three hours on each post for years now. And some savvy marketers admit that they spend half-to-a-full day on one blog post.

The bar is high.

And it keeps getting higher.

We haven’t even touched on the quantity: two million blog posts published each day. (And that was already a few years ago in 2015!)

Not seeing results from blogging?

How much time are you spending on each post?

Most likely, it’s not enough. Because you’re too busy responding to client calls, boss’s emails, memes on Slack, or scouring Inbound.org and Growth Hackers for the latest silver bullet hack that will deliver instant success.

When the brutal truth is that the only way out, is the one path in front of you.

It’s the most obvious, yet least exciting option.

Don’t look at what those Inbound & Growth Hackers posts say. Look at what they’re doing.

The depth. The insight (based on real-world experience). The multimedia. And then replicate it.

In today’s world, average doesn’t cut it. Only exceptional gets rankings, traffic, leads, and sales.

Trouble is, there ain’t anymore hours in the day.

How are you supposed to do it?

The AdWords Quality Score

Back in the old days, AdWords was more of a straight-forward auction.

That meant anyone could bid as much as they wanted on whichever keyphrases they chose in order to generate more results.

But that came at the expense of relevance for us consumers.

Now, the Google’s ain’t dumb. So they introduced a few tweaks to the system, including the Quality Score.

Today it’s an approximation for how your results should perform in aggregate. And one of the things it looks for, is message match.

That is, an alignment between:

What someone’s searching for

The ads they see (that you create)

And the landing page they visit upon clicking

Long story short, this little guy plays a role in determining what you pay. The higher that number goes, based on a better ‘alignment’ between those three variables above (and a few more), the less you pay to drive traffic, net leads, and close sales.

Facebook’s got a similar metric, the Relevance Score, that says even a little boost in engagement (of 1%) is enough to deliver a 5% cost reduction!

Here’s the best news.

Quality Scores aren’t secret. Unlike Google’s organic algorithm, they tell you pretty much how it’s determined. Which means it should be a straightforward path to fixing.

You simply identify a few popular campaigns that are underperforming…

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Spin those out into their own campaigns to improve the keywords you’re targeting, the ads you’re showing, and the landing pages visitors are finding, in order to increase their overall experience.

Sure. There’s a little more involved. But that’s the basics. And just making those basic improvements can increase AdWords lead conversion rates 900% while also dropping Cost Per Conversions 99%.

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No tricks or hacks. Just execution.

Look.

It’s easy. All the information is out there in the open.

Take ad copy specifically.

Increase Ad Performance & Slash Your Time in Half by Systemizing Ad Copy Writing

These are a B– to write.

Only a few short characters. You’d think it’d be easy.

But you sit there and stare at a blank screen for twenty minutes before ever writing down a single headline variation or two.

Here’s the secret though.

Even if you’ve worked in this space for years, you have no idea how it’s going to work. You kinda do, but no guarantees in this game.

So relax. Use a system.

Digital Marketer’s Ad Grid is one of the best ‘frameworks’ to base your ad writing.

At the top of a grid, list out your customer personas. On the left, just simply copy-and-paste what they’re already spoon-feeding you: different proven ‘hooks’ that each tug at your prospect’s emotional, lizard brain telling them WHY they should care (to click, sign up, or change their ways).

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We’re not going into tactics here. But we don’t have to. It’s all there in that article. One of the keepers to follow and rip off (or emulate).

Now, ad writing should be easy. The hooks and messaging are in place for each segment or persona. Obviously adapted depending on the industry you’re working in.

Let’s use an example from my friends, The Yes Girls.

You can try the ‘zen’ approach, simplifying the life of consumers so they don’t have to worry ‘bout a thing.

Or you can go the complete opposite route, focusing instead on helping people protect themselves from mistakes they’re making.

This gets even easier in some highly formulaic industries.

Take local businesses. People look for these companies by searching for: [Location] + [Service]. So guess what keyphrases to choose, what to write in your ads, and what to put smack-dab on the middle of your landing page headline?

In these cases you don’t even have to reinvent the wheel. Click-through rate busting ads aren’t far away. It’s just a matter of writing a few variations (based on a solid framework or process) and then letting the winner surface to the top after a few days-to-a-week.

How to Create Nimble Marketing Processes that Can Adapt & Change On-the-Fly

Processes are mechanical. They’re routine. And they kinda suck to write.

But they’re the only way out.

If you (a) can’t work anymore hours in a day without dropping dead or getting divorced, and (b) need to UP your execution game so that results come quicker for clients and bosses, there’s only one solution my friend.

Rising PPC star, Jonathan Dane, admitted to almost quitting three times in the first year after starting Klientboost.

Then they systematically improved parts of the business (heavily influenced by The E-Myth) and are now doing over $3 million a year (in only about three years).

Ok. So where to start.

Step #1. Reverse-Engineer a Step-by-Step Process You Intuitively Already Do on a Daily Basis

It’s tempting to org-chart the hell out of your biz, but it’ll only stress you out more. It’s too much. Too big of a chunk.

Take something small. Like PPC ad writing. Or blog content.

And from A to Z, list out the steps you already take. OR, the steps you’d like to take based on the excellent example you see somewhere online already. Whatever. Doesn’t matter.

Here, I’ll even give you an internal example.

Step 7 of our “How to Create a Blog Post” process is about creating headlines. And I just straight stole the answers from Jon Morrow’s Headline Hacks – because it’s amazing, simple and straightforward. Someone with little-to-no blogging skillz can follow one of these and churn out a not-terrible headline on their first try.

Step #2. Visually Map the ‘Transitions’ that Need to Take Place After Completing One Action Before Starting Another

Zooming into a specific step or activity helps you see how tired, boring-old processes can deliver the goods.

But the real benefit in comes when you see the transitions; how you go from completing one thing to starting the next.

Mind mapping can help you visualize how all of these pieces fit together. XMind is one, but certainly not the only, option.

Here’s another personal example of the customer journey, along with How and What and Who from our side will align with each step.

So peeps complete Steps 1, 2, and 3. Great. Then what?

Processes create systems. And the best systems are a collection of subsystems. I think I just plagiarized that from Work the System.

The point, though, is not to lose sight of the forest for the trees.

Step #3. Make Processes Actionable & Accountable with Intuitive Tools that Reinforce the Actions You Want

Next step is to make this idea come to life. A Word doc is great… for getting lost on your hard drive somewhere.

But the next step is to use some tool – again, doesn’t matter which – to capture and manage and assign and enforce the system you just created.

My favorite is Pipefy. It’s amazing. Time-consuming to get right. But powerful once you get workflows up-and-running which allow other team members or contractors to step into various parts and do the job 80% as well as you.

Because that’s the goal at first. 80%. Transferring your years of experience and pattern matching and hard lessons isn’t easy. But over time you’ll learn how to create a process that enforces good habits and helps people bypass that learning curve.

Pipefy even has a few templates you can import to get started. Including, an SEM management one. How apropos.

The individual step (in the image above) can’t be completed until someone fills out each text box with an answer.

Once that’s done, you move onto the next step which will then bring up a new list of instructions, video tutorials, image examples, and more for the next person to know exactly what’s expected of them.

Which brings us to people.

Step #4. Processes Can Make Good People Better; Empowering Novices to Perform like Experts

Marketers live in a results-driven business. The pressure’s on.

One study says working in media is almost as stressful as flying a plane or cutting into people!

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Which means we usually have a short leash (and shorter temper) when it comes to those around us. If they can’t keep up, they’re not around long. #realtalk

Good people are hard to find. The ones who can read your thoughts and are already a step ahead.

These people should also be incredibly cheap in the grand scheme of things. Like, you can’t afford not too, cheap. That’s meant in a rational businessperson, not insensitive, way. They’re an asset, not an expense.

But they can’t be thrown into the deep end. Even contractors, who’re subject-level experts, need help understanding what you’re thinking and what you’re looking for. They won’t get it on the first try.

So whether you’re hiring new marketers or working with outside people (I’ve had great experiences so far with Worldwide101 ← and I don’t receive anything for saying that), the best thing you can do is plug them into a process.

People shouldn’t cause you to take more time out of your already busy schedule. They should add back chunks of time, while multiplying and leveraging your ability to execute.

But that’s only possible if they know exactly, step-by-step, what to do and why.

Conclusion

I hope this doesn’t come off as preachy. That wasn’t the intent.

I’ve personally wasted (and continue to waste) countless hours reading, instead of doing.

Chances are, you’re similar. You already know what it takes, or where to find it.

And there’s only so many hours in the day. You can’t possibly put in anymore.

So piling on another ‘hack’ to your already overflowing to-do list isn’t going to help.

Bookmark it. Save it in Evernote. Someday/Maybe it. And revisit it later.

For now, focus on improving your processes to get vastly more done in less time.

Execution dictates results. Not hacks.

About the Author: Brad Smith is a marketing writer, agency partner, and creator of Copy Weekly, a free weekly copywriting newsletter for marketers & founders.

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