#proud of myself for it. would like to edit them and compile them into a book or zine of some sort. theyre all pretty short

[blueish-bird]

I FINISHED MY SELF-INITIATED MAJOR ARCANA POETRY EXERCISE!!! is it 22 poems? yes! is it cohesive? dont give a shit rn!

[inthelittlewood]

So, just out of curiosity, are you thinking of making episodes for rats 2 like you did for all the other pow creations smps? If not, that's okay (:

I'm really not sure currently. For full transparency, the previous episodes of both series made on average about £40 individually. The occasional one flicked up to NEARLY £100, but they're real anomalies. Thumbnail costs take up a good portion of that 40, then what's left, divided by the hours it takes to condense masses of content down to episode form would be a wage grossly below minimum wage. It's not smart financially or motivationally to proceed that way.

I've always been proud of the end products of each episode / series but I had revenue coming from other sources that have since dried up. I can't make purely artistic decisions when I have mouths to feed and a home to maintain.

I've been quiet on video content this year because I've not had an SMP play in, so streaming became a primary earner. Even that was propped up significantly by our Logitech/Streamlabs sponsorship - which concluded unexpectedly early at the end of September due to budget adjustments on their end (zero bad feelings regarding that btw, it was all done fairly and by the contract, it was quarterly renewals and I was communicated respectfully with)

I'm lucky that Wild Life has come along when it has, as it gives me a little breathing room to try and secure a new sponsor or at least compile a content plan for late 2024 / early 2025.

Even my Life series barely pass the threshold to where an editor wouldn't gobble up the majority of the revenue. That one is a real 50/50 between coming out net neutral, or coming out with a minimal profit. It's rough. Speaking honestly, I'm a tad nervous about the immediate future, but I promise this isn't a post trying to rouse pity or spur on donations/subs etc, it's just transparency as I've always operated. It feels better laying it out so analytically because it gives people context and answers the FAQ of "why don't you just hire someone", the overhead isn't there.

I'm going to start putting the feelers out to try and secure a new partnership, I have one conversation pending and if we can I'll nab some sponsored streams more often to raise the tides.

That said, we are headed in to the best time of year for ad revenue on YouTube especially, but it's not quite the 5x multiplier I would need to sensibly navigate my situation ha

The only viable solution currently would be to crowd source funds to cover the costs of the work for making the episodes, whether that be paid to me and I edit them myself or more ideally, an editor, so I can focus my efforts in to producing another piece of content. I've no idea what the Patreon/Kofi/Crowdfunding landscape is like currently both mechanically and socially. Are they a thing people subscribe to anymore? They inherently come with more pressures too which I'm nervous to take on.

I'm likely to get inbox messages offering to edit for free or at a reduced fee, but PLEASE DON'T DO THAT. Even if you're framing it as good practice, or a portfolio/client list piece, I wouldn't feel comfortable with that. It's a very sweet gesture and I totally understand showing that initiative / sincerity, I've been there, but those scenarios can too often be miscommunicated or misconstrued and it gets messy. People's time and talents deserve compensation.

So tl;dr answer is I'm not sure, I might try an episode 1 to see how it performs, but it's not looking great. Sorry.

[sweetmariihs2]

🪄My thoughts on Cedric The Sorcerer🌙 (until now)

(not that anyone cares idk i just wanna talk about him, it's a lot of random thoughts and it's messy, but it's fun to read I guess)

Did you like that cute moodboard I did for him? It took me like 10 minutes I loved it. It fits him so well I'm so proud of myself for doing this. The whimsigothic aesthetic matches him so well I wish more people knew it so we would have tons of moodboards and cute stuff of him in this aesthetic it would be so nice. Ok let me start my post

I wanna share some headcanons, talk about my first impressions, it's not really organized I just wrote down whatever I remembered and the result was that. I wanna share my new hyperfocus with more people, that's what I'm doing here today :)

Everything started when I saw this man on Tumblr and though "who's this guy and why is princess Sophia next to him?", when I clicked on the hashtag out of curiosity I understood that it's because he's a character from the cartoon, and I was like "lol another tumblr sexyman again let's move on keep doing my things and interacting with my fandoms" (december 24)

I also mentioned it to my friend on IG bc I saw a reels that was like "you don't have any weird fictional crushes right?" and then proceeds to show us an edit of him with millions of hearts around. I sent it to her and said "omg I saw ppl talking about this on tumblr" and we just laughed a lot because it was something we did not expected (not mean laughs, they were genuine laughs of shock and because that was very unexpected like HOW IN THE WORLD, and she remembered him in the show while I didn't)

Some days later I saw more fanarts of him on tumblr and that made me a little curious, but not enough to search about the subject.

After some days I just couldn't forget him, and that's when I searched his name on youtube purposely trying to find compilations of his funny moments to understand what was happening

And boy I did

At this point was just having fun and laughing thinking "omg another guy who's sassy, has good personality and is another ugly-atractive character that has a fandom on tumblr, I got it, he's very nice" and I went to do other stuff again but this man just DIDN'T CAME OUT OF MY MIND

Just making an interruption here, I loved watching Disney Junior as a kid, maybe when I was six or seven, idk I don't remember, and I was a huge fan of Sofia The First, it was one of my favorite cartoons from Disney Jr alongside Doc McStuffins and Art Attack. AND I JUST DON'T REMEMBER CEDRIC IT'S LIKE I NEVER SAW HIM IN THAT SHOW, EVER. I literally don't remember him being part of the cast i'm sorry Cedric 😭 now he stands out so much to me, he's carrying the whole show on his back. Btw now that I mentioned Disney Junior I would like to say that here in Brazil Sofia First is actually called Little Princess Sofia, and Doc McStuffins is Doctor Toys. Sometimes I call Sofia "Princess Sofia" but I don't even know if that's how they call her in the english version, I watched everything on portuguese 😭 but ok let's move on (I have more things to say related to the brazillian dub, but let me finish my train of thought first)

As I was saying this man just didn't came out of my mind, and I was like "Oh no another hyperfocus where people around me will make fun of me because they will say that he's ugly and that liking kid's shows is something weird 😭 I can't take this anymore" and I tried to deny it but I CAN'T i'm almost making a pinterest board for him, I just accepted my fate (gonna draw fanarts soon and no one can stop me)

I found a list of every chapter he's in and i'm watching every. single. one. of. them. I watched the movie first, and boy this is gave me so much nostalgia because I remember some vague objects and scenes from when I was a kid, I used to love the Disney Princesses, when I got a little older I started watching Descendants, I grew up watching Tangled and Frozen and I swear to god I almost teared up from nostalgia during the episode Rapunzel shows up, and they didn't changed her voice actor, that's what got me. It was like travelling back to a time I didn't even remembered that existed anymore. Because since I haven't seen Sofia The First in about 10 years, I don't even remember anything FROM the show except for some parts, and that this show had so much old Disney energy that I didn't even know made a difference, but it does.

I'm sounding like a granny here but (i'm not even in my 20s yet) it feels like another time, Disney changed so much. Some of the new movies are good, some are bad, I see Disney much more as a company that wants money and makes movies instead of that perfect place where all dreams come true and every girl is a princess (Here in Brazil I never had a dream to go to Disneyland because Disney in the early 2010's invested more in products and blue ray DVDs in Brazil, since the parks were in the United States and we weren't really the target audience for that. So they didn't minded making publicity about it, so I just watched the movies and Disney Junior). Everything felt more magical when I was a kid, I spent my days watching DVDs and sometimes had some Disney princesses themed toys, it was so fun playing pretend that I was a princess and I really felt like one. Rewatching Sofia The First made me feel like this again because they made this show at the time that their public were HUGE fans of the Disney princesses and it has the same characteristics, plots, even styles of the songs and soundtracks, visuals + I watched it when I was younger. It's not just "princesses" it has the whole Disney girly early 2010's magic into it and it made me so bittersweet, even if they tried they could never do nowdays a movie inspired by that time and give me the same feeling as a REAL movie from that time does. Sofia The First: Once Upon a Time was like watching a new movie from that old Disney, one that I didn't saw before, but at the same time I did, and that's the best part. The end of the movie gave me so much nostalgia that I almost cried too. That experience was amazing :")

It gives me the same nostalgia that I feel when I hear that song "a dream is a wish your heart makesss" it makes me cry how I miss to be a little girl again (i'm crying right now btw i'm very intense with my emotions)

(And hell I don't remember Cedric at all, since when he was there the whole time? Now that I know that he's there I'm feeling like really reeeeaaaaalllyy vague memories are trying to come back in my head, but I don't know if my brain is doing this on purpose or i'm just confusing him with an equally vague memory of Cruella. I guess it's the first option, I'm trying so hard that my brain is making up memories. Weird.)

But yeah at first I saw everyone falling to his feet and even though I understood that he was very funny and had a well-writen personality I couldn't really get why people were romantically in love with him. Well um I actually got it, he was a good character and was one more of these strangely atractive characters that people fall in love with, I've been there too. But I just couldn't see what was so atractive that people were simping over him, for me at that moment he was just funny and fits very well the "let's make a fandom" type of character, like for example Preminger from Barbie Princess and The Pauper. But then I thought "idk what i'm talking about i'm demisexual lol let's wait a few days" (That happened before. Many times.)

And I'm like. I don't know what's happening to me I'm so susceptible to weird (in socially non-fandom people's words) crushes and I thought I wouldn't be afected this time. Just so you can have an idea some of my last crushes were: Dr Flug from Villanos, Jackson Jekyll from Monster High, Raggedy Andy, THE Eddie Munson (for a whole year and some months, and I was so bullied after his "trend" ended because people said that his fans were cringe and everything (that's fake lol they are very nice)), 70% of my list are just nerds and sensitive guys with different types of mental illness yay my fav type

and now I think I'm feeling unironically atracted by this man it's just happening really slowly 😭 (DEMISEXUALS ‼️‼️⁉️⁉️💥💥💥💥💥👊👊👊👊)

I'm gonna be honest with you, at the moment I can't decide if I like him or not I'm so confused at the same time that I get it I also don't like how tf am I atracted by this man 😭 and then I'm like hmm he's acually cute let me search for some fanfiction

I'M SO CONFUSED I DON'T KNOW WHAT TO DO ANYMORE i guess I'll just wait to see what happens

you guys know that tiktok audio "at first I was like 'hmmm feet' as a joke,,,,, but bro....... I don't think that's a joke anymore...." (that's me rn but with Cedric)

Also I would like to take this oportunity that you're listening to me talking about Cedric to say the most important thing that this fandom needs to know:

We need more Cedric representations in Whimsical/Whimsigoth/Whimsigothic aesthetic it's like it was made for him just search that on Pinterest please you won't regret

And I'm here wondering what kind of songs he would listen to. I think he would like dark fantasy music, or witch music. I don't care if he's on medieval era and people didn't had access to a lot of music genres at that time, we are talking about disney nothing is historically correct

I can't help but think about Lana Del Rey but being a huge fan of her songs I don't think that it matches his tastes. I guess he maybe would like Aurora's last album, The Gods We Can Touch. I don't know why, it's the witchy vibes I guess. But I don't know, it's still not something that matches him a lot. EXCEPT FOR THE SONG MIDAS TOUCH FROM AURORA. IT'S PERFECT FOR HIM YOU GUYS SHOULD CHECK IT OUT

The cover isn't giving the aesthetic though, Aurora made this song for a show and then put the show album cover unfortunately. But her aesthetics are usually whimsical and magic, inspired by theatre, greek gods and tarot. This song is so good 😭

And of course there are songs like Everything Matters that fits his vibe but idk it depends on who's listening since it's not about the lyrics. The Innocent has a small part who matches him a little, the whole song has that witchy vibe dancing around the fire, I don't know how to describe it.

Coming back to Cedric I think my favorite scenario is him having an apprendice not too much younger than him. I think it's cute. I've never seen any fics like this (in fact I just read like 5 oneshots which is almost nothing) and if you guys know any let me know. I think it's just nice the idea of living with him and being his apprendice while having like a romantic tension between the two characters. It's cute

Also remember when I said I was going to talk a little more about the brazillian portuguese dub? So, something that I thought was really funny happened to me: In the first season he had his voice actor obviously and I was already used to his voice some time after watching the cartoon. It was very funny to me because the first time I saw a "scene compilation" of him it was in english, so hearing him talk in my language was fun. And btw his voice actor did a really good job voicing him, he (had a similar voice and) was really expressive just like his english VA, so like, really nice 👍

And then at some point in season two, from one episode to another, his voice actor suddently changed????? And obviously I got a little sad because his first VA was really good and I was used to his voice :( but the thing is: The new VA wasn't just a new one, IT'S THE SAME GUY WHO VOICED DR FLUG HERE IN BRAZIL AND I WAS LIKE OMG

THEY ARE SO SIMILAR IN PERSONALITY AND NOW THEY HAVE THE SAME VOICE WITH THE VOICE ACTOR'S MANNEIRISMS AND EVERYTHING (because that VA really has an specific way to talk, he stutter a little, sounds a little ironic but at the time really anxious, make some funny sounds for no reason sometimes like his screams)

I was really upset when they changed all the brazillian voice actors in Villanos, and that Flug didn't had his full-of-personality-and-expressive voice anymore :( the new episodes now have new voices and eveything, and they did their best, but it's not the original voices anymore and it doesn't hit the same yk? And then BAM CELDRIC HAS DOCTOR FLUGS VOICE NOW BITCH TAKE THIS

and the fact that Sofia The First was dubbed even before Villanos came out it's so funny to me

So yeah let me show you guys his amazing work at voicing two of my favorite characters:

After they changed Cedric's voice actor I was a little annoyed by the fact that I couldn't hear Cedric anymore, just Flug 😭 but now I'm slowly getting used to it and it's starting to sound like Cedric again.

Before that happened I could see some similarities between the two but I thought that I was just thinking too much and trying to connect two fandoms that I like, so I just forgot about it. After that happened my mind just blew it all make so much sense right now

And they are so similar in personality that I had to make a list of everything they have in common:

They work for guys that are completely blind to their talents and think that they're just idiots all the time

They have more potential than people think

Their projects/spells always go wrong because people keep disrupting their public moments, and so they are seen and weak and dumb (when they're not)

Science/Magic guys (they keep throwing liquids from one pot to another and saying difficult words, only for someone to stop them halfway and the substance explodes in their face, making them angry because this person once again interrupted their project that was going perfectly)

Self-confidence issues

Anxious mess, are always nervous and scared of something bad happening all the time

Childhood trauma because people never really saw their acomplishments and again and again kept repeating that they are idiots who don't know nothing (when they are geniuses!!)

They say that they're mean and they say that they do mean things when actually they are just really nice. They just choose that path because they think it's the only one that can bring them sucess and recognition in the future, but they were never made for this. They just do that because they want to proof their value to people who can't see it.

At the same time that they are mentally unstable, sometimes their confidence is so high that they start to act arrogant because "they're too smart and their projects are amazing": "I love what I do I'm the best sorcerer/scientist in the world"

But when they need to show that to people something bad always happens (because of other people!) And their plan fails, leaving them with confidence issues

"I'm too smart you guys don't deserve me"

"I can't do anything right omg i'm so stupid"

Their movements and maneirisms are so expressive, they're both skinny and tall and keep making those anxious poses, fidgeting with their hands, always anxious, scared of something, thinking too much and overall being nervous and ankward around their bosses

Boss just treats them as failures and gives them orders, in which they respond in the most submissive and saddest way because they're just miserable and just two little guys who are trying to proof their value in a place where no one even see them as people

But sometimes they are genuinely egoistic and egocentric because duh they're the best sorcerer/scientist out there, hello everybody is gonna know their name when they rule the world bye

They act so stupid and lovesick in their official crushes episodes, it's so funny

And even if we never saw Dr Flug's official face there is a design out there in the fandom where he has black hair with white streaks on his bangs so like 👍👍

Well um I guess that's all I have to say about this subject for now

These are my thoughts 🫶

I feel like I said a lot in a short amout of time but I'm here writing since 04:30 AM and now it's 07:47 AM so like. yikes

[nicksmoderncouch]

hello fellow yardigans!!

i took it upon myself to make a compilation of all my favorite moments from ludwig and slime’s you laugh you lose videos. i’ve watched all of them soooo many times, like. way too many. and even though i have no video editing experience or tools, the vision of a clip video started rattling around in my dumb lil brain. so with iPhone screen recording and CapCut in my back pocket, i threw together this video and finally got it to a version i really like (i actually had another version of this posted a couple weeks ago but i wanted to tweak a few things lol). it doesn’t have an intro/outro or any cool editing flair but overall i’m proud of how it came out :> if u want to check it out that would be so sick and cool, if not that’s ok too!!! have a good day, friends :-)

[sitp-recs]

Fandom creators self rec game! Choose five favourites from your own creations (and tell me why, if you like!), then pass on to at least five other people. I'd love to hear what you're proudest of.

Hello beloved! It’s always a privilege to see you in my inbox, thank you so much for this lovely ask and apologies for taking two centuries to reply lol this was a quite emotional trip down memory lane for me - I couldn’t decide whether to go with rec lists or single recs (oof I haven’t written one in so long 🥲) because they’re both so different and special in their own way. In the end I’m gonna do lists because I think they’re generally more helpful and popular! I’ve been going through a creative / fandom slump for a while now, so this was great encouragement as it made me look back at my own recs with joy and kindness. Thank you babes 💜

1. I actually still love the Drarry for Beginners series! Fun story, I wasn’t very confident about it at first - I was getting many requests for a classics rec list back then but I don’t really vibe with the “MUST read these or you’re not a valid fandom member” mentality so I tried to come up with a different format that felt more like an invitation than a lecture. I think I found a good balance of well known fics and hidden gems, so I’m very proud of that. Also, the banners looked really good! Especially the redemption arc and the Muggle!Draco AU ones if I do say so myself.

2. The Hidden Gems series is also one of my most precious babies - it took me a long time to plan it out, read all fics and prepare the small blurbs for each one and I really love how it came across, the authors I chose to highlight, and the fact that I was able to mix Drarry and rare pairs. I remember getting an ask back in the day that accused me of only reccing my friends (anon really overestimated my network size 🤣), they could have at least checked the hidden gem series before going for public embarrassment lol there’s so much to explore there, and I really wanna come back to it one day to finalize the second edition that I started posting in 2022. Hopefully this year!

3. 35 Romantic Shorts: my heart is so very soft for this one, not only because the ever generous @bluebutter-art has let me use her stunning art for the banner, but I’m also such a passionate champion of short form and I feel like this list really embraced the concept and delivered great recs. I’m not a fluff gal by any standards so this was a nice exercise finding the softest, most romantic and soothing reads that made my heart beat faster. It would be lovely to go back and maybe add a couple more lists with new shorts, or alternatively make new lists for medium-length and long fics. So many ideas, so little time!

4. It feels like a lifetime ago but I’m still very fond of my “smutty recs week” that I made to celebrate one of my first followers milestone. Ahh the nostalgia! All lists can be found here and include a wide variety of themes and kinks like voyeurism, dirty talk, gang bang and others. Those banners are some of my favourites too, they turned out very sassy and clever if I do say so myself. I had so much fun with them! I gotta find the time to sit down and update some of those lists with newer treats!

5. Now highlighting something more recent (from Feb 2023… LOL) I’m super proud of my Rare Pair Romance list for Valentine’s Day. It was a great chance to compile (most of) my favorite rare pair fics in one place and include different ships and tropes. I’m always looking for an excuse to rec het pairings which I know it’s not everyone’s cup of tea, so this was the perfect way to do it.

[nonsensical-pixels]

do u have any reshade preset recommendations??

hello, anon! i actually am very indecisive when it comes to sticking to reshade presets because i love them all, so if i were to compile a list of all the reshades i've ever used, it would probably be longer than the tumblr post limit, xD. as it is though, i've compiled a list of my top 5 reshade presets just for you!

these are in no particular order, and they're very much based on my own personal preference, so do keep that in mind! <3

(previews also are from the original creators, they're not mine unless otherwise stated!!)

MY TOP 5 RESHADE PRESETS FOR TS2

1. dove 2.0 by @kindlespice

i love this preset SO MUCH, like many of the reshades i use it's originally meant for ts4 but looks really cool in ts2 as well! especially with clay hair.

i have made some of my own edits to it in my game to make it match my semi-realistic save more, but here is how it looks in my maxis-match save! <3

2. permasummer by myself!

self-promo but this was my first preset and i'm still quite proud of it! i only use it for certain builds now as my style has really evolved since i first started playing with it, but it still has a special place in my heart :3

3. longdistancewinner by @dreadpirate

i just love the dreamy look my game has when i use this reshade--so pretty! it also fits with almost every style you have, maxis match or alpha :)

4. gia by @kindlespice

another kindlespice preset that i really love! again, it's for ts4, but who cares when it looks so cute in ts2? build wip of the oldie-pleasant home for reference :D

5. tv dinner by @microscotch

there are actually 3 presets on that download post and i've used all 3 with varying results, but i love this one the most! it looks especially good at sunset.

hope this is enough to satisfy your hunger for reshades, anon! <3 <3 <3 if you guys would like any other cc/mods recommendations, feel free to ask :3

[tellthemeerkatsitsfine]

So, what does everyone else do when there’s really depressing news on a weekend that’s painful and triggering and makes them want to distract themselves with the very silly other things? Does everyone else make a second edition of their thing that was originally meant to be a relatively short compilation but got out of hand and became a feature film?

The original version started out as a way to collect clips from various Bugle episodes in which John Oliver talks about the harrowing experience of existing on the same plane of reality as Sarah Palin, because I thought his absolute devastation about that was funny. But as it went along, I added some Daily Show clips, and then I added pictures over the audio, and then I added some video over the audio, and then next thing I knew, it was 74 minutes long. I had accidentally made a documentary/romcom about the story of John Oliver and Sarah Palin. A story that Andy Zaltzman, at one point during the documentary, acknowledges is like a romcom, and they suggest it’s like John Oliver is living the Groundhog Day movie. So that became the title of my, I’ll say it again, feature film. I called it A Groundhog Day of Hatred.

Today, I needed a distraction from the fact that everyone in the world is a terrible person, so I updated it. I added onto the end a clip from last summer’s Last Week Tonight, and a clip from last week’s Strike Force Five podcast, as both of those had not aired when I originally made this last year. It now runs at 119 minutes. Getting to the point where if this were a real movie, it would be too long.

Here’s the shiny new one, in all its glory. A Groundhog Day of Hatred, second edition:

Okay, that would be a bit of a weird thing to do with my time today, but not that bad. You know what would be worse? If in my search for distractions, I'd created a romcom-style movie poster for it:

Look, I'm being self-deprecating about what a colossal waste of time this was, but I also think this is fucking hilarious. That poster might be the funniest thing I've ever made. I will draw your attention to the top of the page, in which I chose to advertise the film with a pull quote from Richard Ayoade (whom I remembered today was John Oliver's best friend at Cambridge, and God, fuck that guy). Richard Ayoade really did write that exact thing as a pull quote, though in reality, of course, it was for Graham Linehan's book. I think we should all start a trend of quoting that Richard Ayoade statement but pretending he was talking about something besides Graham Linehan. That is a good bit, everyone get on board with it.

There is also a pull quote from the excellent @lastweeksshirttonight, who really outdid themself in capturing the style of bullshit faux-academic language in things like that.

The picture in the bottom right corner also appears in the video itself, and I was so proud of myself for finding it last year. In one of the Bugle clips, Andy Zaltzman talks about opening The Daily Mail website and seeing a picture of John Oliver and Sarah Palin on the front page. I searched for ages to find that picture, knowing I had to put it in the documentary, as visual accompaniment to the part of the audio where they talk about that. After literal hours and hours of searching, I finally thought to use the Wayback Machine, where I spent another hour trying various dates from the week before that Bugle episode aired, before I finally found it, halfway down a page that was actually a link away from the main page. But it was worth the effort, because I managed to find a picture that perfectly encapsulated the spirit of my documentary.

It has all the elements of a great film. It has anger, confusion, one man's descent into darkness. It has a battle for the soul of a nation. It has an educational element about a period of American political history. It has some tasteful nudity (audio nudity only, no visual nudity, that's what makes it tasteful). It has a star-crossed relationship. It has a harrowing journey with a note of hope at the end, followed by an epilogue. What more could you want?

It has one part where Andy Zaltzman makes a somewhat less-than-ideal comment about how she can't be VP because she has five kids to raise. In his defence, he was trying to point out the hypocrisy in someone preaching family values and then taking a job that stops them from raising their family, and I've heard Zaltzman point out that exact hypocrisy in male politicians as well, so this wasn't a specifically gendered comment. But still, I thought I'd acknowledge that it doesn't come off great when someone says something like that about a woman in the public eye. You live and you learn. You cannot hold people to everything they said in 2008.

I do think this is a genuinely interesting relic of a bygone era in American politics, when this sort of ludicrousness seemed shocking and worth being horrified about, rather than totally normalized. So my film has value as an archive for posterity. I shall premiere it at Sundance next year.

[guildtree]

Silly Things Tree Has Done

Sadly I am not a gifmaker and I do not know how to edit wikis or make videos in general, so I cannot contribute my own work to the latest appreciation post, but here are a few semi-artistic or slightly impressive things I HAVE done on a whim that I am still rather proud of:

got map completion on Laurel before mounts existed

attempted to sync up a griffon ride through Verdant Brink to Guns and Roses' Welcome to the Jungle

got ALL the Season 2 story achievements done by myself before the Aurene amulet came out. apparently I just felt like doing it. then I ran some guildies through the achievements because they needed them

attempted to scientifically measure how tall each NPC character was by comparing them to my own toon. my procedure was ultimately flawed, but I did learn that Logan is kinda short and Ellen Kiel is very tall

found a build that would allow me to kill the 3 bosses underneath Zen Daijun BY MYSELF in order to farm jade runestones from them

spent a solid 3 days doing the Halloween clock tower jumping puzzle one year until I finally completed it. after that it became super easy and i now farm it for trick-or-treat bags

got all the fishing achievements

ran an impromptu scientific experiment while doing Belcher's Bluff with a friend, which ultimately led to them editing the wiki

compiled all the Bottle Your Emotions dialogue in the What Lies Within update here

The fun thing about a game as big and expansive as Guild Wars 2 is that there's a lot of stupid stuff to waste time doing! If you're me, that is. Oh well, I'm having fun, that's what matters.

[solace-saphylos]

Hey hi!! Maybe you're getting tired of hearing about it but I, as a new Sabine simpee, just found your works and stayed far past regular sleeping hours to read the entire thing, everything you had to offer!! That was the final nail in the coffin and has awakened my inner lesbian, thank you for confusing me so But I wanted to ask, I enjoy writing headcanons and scenarios for myself to hoard like a dragon and never post or share, but trying to write for Sabine is a challenge; when you write for her, how do you get it to seem so right? Even in the later chapters of the main fic, doing something probably so far out of canon that the real Sabine would maybe spontaneously combust, you still made it sound entirely... Sabine-y.

Is there a certain way of thinking when you write? Did you study how she speaks in game? Are you secretly Sabine? How do you do it? Sorry if this is a lot to ask or hard to answer, but I really adore her design and want to do it right, and no one does it more right than you!! If that makes sense. Thank you sm for reading my nonsensical perils, and you hope you have an amazing day <33

Sabine Introspection - The Ask Edition

[This exchange was originally a private message, but it is now reposted as a public ask with permission from Anon <3 ]

I got this long message when I was out and about, so sorry for not replying right away. It did however make me laugh a lot! Am I secretly Sabine?? God, I sure hope not! It brings me so much joy that I helped awaken your inner lesbian. She was there all along, but that coffin metaphor actually makes me wonder if she ought to be fashioned a vampire or something? The final nail gone instead of hammered in, she rises, ready to be gay and party.

I still love my Sabine fics so dearly. It's an honour to have written something that affects people so. Since you're asking, I'm more than happy to talk about it! Your questions do however ask me to lift the veil a little, so I may talk about the fic in much closer building block detail than most readers ever get to see.

When it comes to my writing, my initial answer to your question is a boring one. But since I thought about this all throughout my day, I still have some advice for you. See, the little people just talk in my head. I've always loved writing dialogue, or making up dialogue, or just reading characters talking. I love to talk! These years of practice has become something that others like to call talent. On my recent Bully fanfiction (which has exponentially more characters than SSO) I recently got the compliment that I make ALL characters read as in-character despite my wild storyline. To achieve this I do study dialogue in game. For Bully I listen to all voicelines a character has, trying to get at the vibe their voice actor gave beyond the script. For Sabine I studied only her new dialogue in last years Equestrian Festival when she debuted, but I took into consideration everything her full character had done in SSO plus the backstory she has sort of had throughout earlier games. Once that is gathered, I somehow compile this knowledge into a little character nugget in my brain, which I then measure my own writing to so that it stays in line.

Over the course of the story, that nugget shifted slightly to accommodate the new motivations and feelings she gained for Y/N. This was possible because in the beginning I had Sabine believe "I'm not loveable" and "I'm scary, nobody wants to touch me". They were virtually headcanons, but they made sense to me. These kinds of beliefs in a character may sound emo and sad, but Sabine showed them rather by being standoffish and proud. Y/N starts breaking those down on the first date already, both of them staring out at the sea while holding hands. Even if I say breaking, it might just hs modifying. "I'm not loveable, but Y/N is different. Why shouldn't I take advantage of that? Is it advantage if she loves it?" Or "I'm scary, nobody wants to touch me, except my crazy bottom gf. She loves to touch me, and I like to touch her." The readers inadvertently follow Sabine while this shifts inside of her, which is why she still feels in character in the later chapters. My writing lead both characters and reader alike there gradually, so that's why it works.

In this way of thinking we're sort of expanding that character nugget into something that's possible to explain instead of just a jumble of knowledge in my brain. When writing a character to make it feel right I like to define some core beliefs, or say headcanons, that are relevant to the drama I'm putting them through. The next important question is if even the characters KNOW about these core beliefs. Sabine was very self aware to me. My current narrator in my Bully fic is surprised to find out she has a crush on her roommate in chapter 9, even though I wrote it in her subtext in chapter 1. I love playing around with characters when they don't know everything, either about themselves or other characters.

Depending on what they know, they expect different things to happen. Sabine was wholly convinced that going on a date, arranging a fight by that one portal, all of it would lead to Y/N hating her! She as a character is rightfully upset and surprised when the opposite happens. Part of Sabine's rage as a character is against ME, the author, because I keep putting her in SITUATIONS she's not prepared for and makes her act like a fool! But that's life. I love it when characters are uncomfortable and need to deal with it.

Consequences are the rail tracks of coherent plotting. Keep giving out consequences, even when the characters cry for it to stop... So that's my answer to your question. If you have any more I would be happy to reply, just at a rather slow pace I suppose. Life is happening big time for me right now. Luckily connecting with fellow Sabine fans online is part of that life!

[data-privacy-blog-2ndsem]

Module 2 - Journal Entry

A Warband of Data

I woke up and saw myself at the hands of a data subject. I am a wandering data, drifting upon the sea of the internet. I saw as the castle walls have been breached; the treasures they hid were stolen. The persons guarding them, persecuted. All hope was forsaken. The upkeep was costly, yet the downfall is worse. “What is the point of paying so much?” I asked. Of course it was to avoid paying a much bigger price, the lord replied. As the army of data grew, the harder it is to manage and handle. The harder it is to feed. The harder it is to appease. How can we protect such a large collection? How can we make such a large hoard hidden? How can we ensure we share them with the right people? All questions I kept asking myself. As I watched as the warband of data grew. As the bandits and highwaymen flocked to steal it.

I remember this module to be a blur, as the discussions were continuous. There was no clear indication that module 1 has ended neither was there an indication that module 3 has started. As I am writing this now after taking a long break from the first entry, I found myself trying to remember what happened back then. Module 2 has been discussed a few weeks ago. Maybe even a month has passed by. Yet I carry with me the lessons I learned from those discussions. Granted I was not battling my drowsiness in class. However, I do remember that Module 2 started with an activity. Wherein we were grouped and asked to discuss about issues and challenges of the online enrollment system of the university. I shared my experience in class along with the opinions of my groupmates relating the topic. I shared how the old enrollment system of the College of Education was flawed. I helped my ex-girlfriend with her enrollment, and I observed that they compile all the PRF of their class into a google drive. Wherein everyone has the right to write and edit the contents. I can easily open the PRF of her classmates and even have the power to delete them. After that, my group also discussed about the new system wherein we will submit our PRF into an online website and track if its being processed. However, we also found that we can track the PRF of other students if we know their ID numbers.

The story that started this blog entry is a short story regarding A warband of data. This story is connected to this module of Data Privacy and the previous one. This is inspired by mount and blade warband wherein the player raises an army, besiege castles, and acquire equipment. As this module discusses data breaches, I remember it is like having a castle breached. Even though a castle is well defended, there is always no perfect security that can keep enemies away. The digital war is much bloodier behind the scenes and there is a lot hidden away from us. Even in relation to the university. Sir asked us if the university has suffered a security breach or has been attacked in the past. I decided to check online by searching Google and surfing through the university website, however I did not find any information. Therefore, me and my classmates decided to ask some of our other teachers about the question. We were able to gather information from them that the university website suffered a defacement and that it is being attacked regularly by attackers from China and Russia. Despite the information they gave, it was not specific nor complete. I believe they are purposely hiding such incidents to protect security and privacy of the university. Why would they hide such incidents if they were able to successfully fend them off? Are they not proud of their accomplishments? Are they not proud of the battles they won? These are questions I asked in my head as to why they would hide them. Even before taking this course, we had an introduction about the security system of the school and the server rooms from our previous course last semester. The system that the university is using is expensive, but I expected as much. The university is handling a lot of information about faculty, students, and other processes which meant they need a robust security system. I can relate because to secure a castle in my game, I need a lot of strong soldiers and they need to be fed and paid. One entity cannot  have a strong security without paying the necessary amount.

Even before taking this course, we had an introduction about the security system of the school and the server rooms from our previous course last semester. The system that the university is using is expensive, but I expected as much. The university is handling a lot of information about faculty, students, and other processes which meant they need a robust security system. I can relate because to secure a castle in my game, I need a lot of strong soldiers and they need to be fed and paid. One entity cannot  have a strong security without paying the necessary amount.

[autisticlio]

I can’t remember too much from my childhood cause of you-know, but I do remember I’d draw Rayman on occasion and show my therapist and guidance counselors it. I’m sure if I still had any of those drawings it’d look like crap, but I remember being proud of them. I would also play the games, specifically Rayman Origins a ton. I thought the art was so cool and the game was super fun but hard. I remember trying to 100% it, but can’t recall if I ever did. Don’t have an Xbox anymore. I would also watch Raving Rabbids mini game compilations alongside Mario Party ones and played the second game on my brother’s Dreamcast.

I haven’t really talked about the character or series a lot before despite that, so I’m sure this all seems to be coming out of no where all because of him suddenly being relevant. The most I really do usually regarding the series is looking into the CD samples used in the original trilogy’s ost. Don’t really talk to anyone about it except for recently. If I talked about it with anyone irl, I’m sure they would just make fun of me like they do with all my other interests.

With autism, there’s a kinda consensus you need to have a ‘valuable’ interest by neurotypicals. So I’m only praised for my sewing or bad translations for example. Maybe wiki editing too. Just, it’s nice to have something from my childhood hit harder again, then turning into a special interest. Maybe the last time something similar happened was with Epic Mickey, but that I both have hurt people and been hurt by people. Bad experiences all around.

If I do end up getting annoying about Rayman, I don’t mind being told that. I’m just glad to finally have something that doesn’t feel like my interest in it is ‘artificial.’ Obviously I am still into other stuff, but nearly all of them have bad experiences associated with it or feel like I have to force myself to keep being invested.

[thewertsearch]

Asks Compilation 16/6

The best thing about categories like Sburb Titles is that once you have a big enough sample size of Person/Category mappings, you can extrapolate their traits to any character you like. 

Example: I got an ask a while back asking whether I have any Titles for my own OCs, and to be totally honest I can’t stop thinking about it

Oh, that is awesome. I’m bookmarking that for reference, when I’ve finished the comic. Biology is not my strongest suit, but I do find it fascinating, and speculative biology is my jam. 

It’s a balancing act, trying to make a quirk both unique and readable. i thought about a capitalization quirk WHERE i only capitalize common programmINg keywORds, but it looks kind of funky, and I wasn’t sure how to define what keywords to include. 

@capribornio​ submitted: Part 1! Terrible memes to help you cope with what just happened.

Part 2! (Dunno why tumblr wouldn't let me submit you the two images at once, but.)

jettison to the moon drop it on those stupid pawns bye bye kids, you're gonna die now your session's dead and gone

That was made by abysswarlock! Their blog is linked below the main links in my bio.  It’s great, isn’t it? Really makes the Land come to life. 

Man, I’m really mad I missed the Club Penguin craze, because if I’d played it, I would absolutely have answered this ask with penguin designs for each of the kids. 

Classic Tumblr. When you edit you blog description in the appearance editor, it actually scrubs all the HTML you added, and replaces it with plaintext. To update your description properly, you need to do it in the theme editor. 

I fixed the blog description on desktop, but I don’t think it ever worked on mobile, since tags generally don’t work properly on the app. I think it should work if you access the blog through say, Firefox, rather than the app itself? 

So do I!!!

That’s one of my favorite anime tropes, and it’s vary Homestuck-friendly, considering how many characters are bespectacled. I’m glad that my ‘sona is continuing this proud tradition. 

Thank you!  I think a big part of it is just that Homestuck happens to deal with stuff I’m really into. I love time travel and alt-self/identity shenanigans, so I was already looking at the Paradox Clone system from every angle even before the Veil. Once that cursor targeted Nanna, a lot of things immediately clicked into place. 

I didn’t see the paired tubes coming, though. I don’t think I’ll ever forget that moment. 

Maid! That was the first class I chose for myself, because I liked the connotations around ‘organizing’. 

I’m planning on doing a bunch of Title tests over the weekend. The Official Sally Classpect will be an open question for a long time, but I am interested in how much the various tests will agree. 

We’ve already talked a bit about it on the blog, but Homestuck is a kind of meta story on a lot of levels. 

We saw it with the reader suggestions at first, but there are other things too, like Hussie’s narration interacting with WV. Is that ‘canon’, per se? Much to think about...

[ sent on the 12th! - Cat ] 

Happy belated birthday Carcino ‘Cancer’ Geneticist! May this year bless you with Grist, Boondollars and a successfully salvaged Sburb session!

Honestly!!! 

Hussie is very good at turning on the waterworks. It doesn’t happen much in Homestuck, but when it does, it hits hard. 

True, true. But that was just John’s opinion - now Hussie’s narration is saying she sucks!

These guys really have been great recently. It’s like Hussie has spent a while giving them improvised character traits based on reader commands, and now that their personalities are fully established, they’re actually getting full arcs with awesome moments of development. 

I honestly can’t wait to see what the Windswept Questant’s real plan is. She’s abdicated to PM, and seems to be putting a team together. Did she know WV had the Ring all along? What’s up next? 

[perplexingluciddreams]

This is a collection of thoughts that I have about my brain and how it relates to words and language. I wrote most of these sections separately, and so when I read this back it doesn’t seem to “flow” very well, but I’m still proud of myself for managing to put all this into words - especially because it took such a long time! I had all of these parts saved in my notes, and then yesterday I transferred it all into one page and edited it to make more sense grammatically and get my meaning across more accurately. I called it “compilation” in my notes, so I suppose that’s what it’s called now.

So, here is a “compilation” of words from my head:

I don’t think in words. I view words - no matter what language - as foreign and unnatural to me. That’s not how my brain works.

Other peoples words mean nothing to me. I can’t see myself in them. When I write, I take pieces from the memory bank of words and phrases and their meanings, and fit them together like a jigsaw.

Always taking the raw thoughts in my head and trying to translate them into a language that, despite being my first, I’ve never felt fluent in.

No language - no matter how fluent or proficient I seem to be in it - ever feels known enough to directly communicate thoughts, feelings and ideas. Despite hearing and speaking English from birth, it will always feel as though it’s a second language to me (or third, or fourth, or fifth).

The only problem with that is, nobody else in the world speaks my first language, because it’s unique to me. I don’t expect anyone else to learn or change anything, this is not an angry rant aimed at those around me. It’s more of a quiet plea for the world to listen to what I’m trying to scream out loud, but in reality only makes sound within my head.

At the same time, my words are incredibly precious to me, and I choose them carefully. I have a constant fear of not being (fully) understood, as I’ve spent so many years unable to get my own words across to another person. I know a lot of autistic people don’t enjoy the “locked inside their head” or “in their own world” metaphors, but for me they explain how I’ve felt for such a long time - nearly my whole life.

When I type, I feel as though I’m trying to hold tight onto thoughts that slip away like water between cupped hands, just trying to grasp them long enough to put into words. Then I repeat those words like a mantra in my mind until my hands and fingers obey me enough to type something. Afterwards I go through and heavily edit what I’ve written, fix my grammar, spelling errors/typos, and edit sentences to either “flow” better, or to better be understood by other people. This is just another aspect of me constantly translating in my mind - not the hardest part of the task, to be sure, but challenging nonetheless.

Whenever a word pops into my head totally of its own volition (which is rare, but does occasionally happen), I run through the synonyms in my mind over and over. If I don’t do this, I’m scared the words will just evaporate. When that happens, words disappearing, evaporating, slipping away, the whole world seems to lose meaning for a while. I can’t hold onto anything, nothing makes sense. It’s scary.

Most of the words I used to use to describe myself as, were put on me by other people. I never really understood the meaning of these words, just that I was supposed to be them, so I would repeat them as a mantra over and over in my head, as if to make it come true, or perhaps keep it being true. I’ve never known what others perception of me is, so these labels were the only thing I had to go by, and it was extremely confusing when the words that my parents used were so starkly different to the words I was hearing people call me at school, for example. I didn’t know what my “personality” was (and to be honest, I still don’t know), I just felt that if I repeated those words to myself enough, that they would stick and become true. I still don’t know how I would describe myself or certain aspects of me, but I’m quite happy with that now. I’m just Ezra. That’s all I need to be.

[yvesdot]

yves.'s Camp NaNo Bingo!

As per usual, I have many priorities, and many goals to achieve. Let's lay them out, and start updating bingos under a cut.

The Locked Tomb fanfiction

You may have seen my post compiling TLT fanfiction I wanted to write. I only have two left now, but both require rereading, so I have to set aside a bit of time to get that done. Then I'll post them all up in chunks and you'll be able to DM me for Google Docs links to each set of three.

Exhaustively proof

The cringe of the matter is that I have already ordered the proof and it will be arriving at my home in the middle of Camp. However, that does not mean that the proof will be perfect, and if it is not perfect I shall have to perfect it before printing new copies for everyone interested in Exhaustively's re-release and special bound edition. If you're interested, though—it's happening!

Forest Castles editing

I am still editing Forest Castles, despite many distractions, and would like this NaNo to establish a coherent goal for myself. I want to learn exactly how much work I can do on it a day, how quickly I can go through chapters, and how long it will take me to complete the second draft. I think a large part of my struggle has been in not-knowing, and just as NaNo makes writing easier with the promise that "it'll all be over at the end of the month," I want a due date for FC.

KAY RAINIER outline

This last one is a bit of a treat; I've been wrestling with this outline and I'm realizing that I can't keep putting it off. I have so many ideas for Book Two every day, and I've been writing out little sketches of scenes to make sure I don't forget any of the good bits. I am rapidly approaching 10,000 words of non-chronological scenes written for both books, and I need to have this all done eventually. "if you like working on KAY RAINIER's outline so much," I thought to myself, "then why don't you work on it?" and so that is exactly what I shall do.

The four little bobs at the bottom are actually a final priority-- to keep up on Patreon throughout all this. They stand for April's $1 post, April's $5 post, May's $1 post, and May's $5 post. That shrub in the middle is the April Newsletter, which will naturally come last (at the end of Camp).

And, on top of all that, I'm running HOUSE RAINIER—which you are still welcome to join! Happy Camp!

FINAL BINGO UPDATE!

I’ll keep things brief. I did a very little for TLT fic, ordered a proof for Exhaustively which subsequently got lost in the mail, edited FC consistently, and added a few things to the KAY RAINIER outline as they came to me. And the April Patreon posts went up, of course. I don’t really feel satisfied with anything but FC—I spent a lot of the month writing totally unrelated things and as a result I feel like I didn’t get enough done for TLT and KAY. Nonetheless I’m proud of what I’ve accomplished and I’m certainly glad I did NaNo. Have a graph.

(I hit 70K!)

[dailyhypnos]

Hello. I'm in love with Hypnos, the lanky, weird, cloud-haired, Looney-Tunes-voiced twink from Hades (Supergiant Games, 2020).

This is a blog I've made to document and share all of the Hypnos dialogue (and dialogues about him) I found in Hades. That includes all forms of deaths and every special event I can find (I'm still missing some, like the 300th and 500th death milestones, or a Nyx dialogue I think). Not all of them include Zagreus' reply, depends on whether I found it funny or not. Don't ask more of me, this was terrible to organize already

If you find one that isn't listed, please tell me! I'd prefer if you told me the method so I could get it myself, instead of showing me the screenshot. EDIT: I accept screenshots now! I would like them in 1080p and taken from the game, not from a video. If you’re not sure I’ve posted it, just ask! It’s easy for me to check

INDEX - I will update this post with links

0 First times dying (I think)

TARTARUS

1 Spike Trap 2 Dart Trap 3 Explosive urn

4 Wretched Thug 5 Numbskull 6 Wretched Lout 7 Wretched Witch 8 Wretched Pest 9 Wringer 10 Brimstone

11 Inferno Bomber 12 Wretched Sneak 13 Doomstone

14 Megaera 15 Alecto 16 Tisiphone

ASPHODEL

17 Magma and magma spout

18 Bloodless (white skeleton) 19 Bone-Raker (blue skeleton) 20 Wave-Maker (red skeleton) 21 Burn-Flinger (green bomber skeleton) 22 Slam-Dancer (purple bomber skeleton) 23 Gorgon 24 Skull-Crusher 25 Dracon 26 Spreader

27 Witches Circle 28 Barge of Death 29 Megagorgon  (You don't get anything new if you die to the Dire Skull-Crusher)

30 Bone Hydra

ELYSIUM

31 Phoenix Urn 32 Phalanx Statue 33 Archer Statue

34 Exalted Brightsword 35 Exalted Greatshield 36 Exalted Longspear 37 Exalted Strongbow 38 Flame Wheel (the small ones) 39 Nemean Chariot (the big ones) 40 Soul Catcher 41 Splitter

(I have some doubts here on which screenshots are which character, but anyway) 42 Asterius 43 Theseus *44 Asterius writing the autograph *45 Hypnos receiving the autograph

TEMPLE OF STYX

46 Falling Axe 47 Saw blades 48 Noxious gas 49 Bother 50 Crawler (also Tiny Vermin) 51 Gigantic Vermin 52 Satyr Cultist 53 Snakestone (All their Dire counterparts give the same messages)

OTHER DEATHS

54 Hades 55 Natural Causes 56 Charon 57 Exagryph (with the Daedalus Hammer upgrade Hazard Bomb, which makes its special able to damage Zagreus) 58 Dying before the 5th room 59 Dying of Tight Deadline (from the Pact of Punishment) 60 Dying X number of times

NECTAR + AMBROSIA

61 1st Nectar 62 2nd Nectar 63 3rd Nectar 64 4th Nectar 65 5th Nectar 66 6th Nectar 67 1st Ambrosia 68 2nd Ambrosia

OTHER DIALOGUES 69 Dusa and the line of shades 70 Hades and late reports 71 Nyx talks to Zagreus about Hypnos 72 First victory against Megaera 73 Your dad’s mad 74 Hades’ private chambers 75 Megaera receives advice 76 Thanatos and killing all the mortals 77 Divine chaise 78 Hypnos asks Megaera out 79 Dusa and the line of shades again 80 Megaera breakup 81 Megaera sulking in the lounge 82 Dusa and the line of shades, third time 83 Dusa talks to Zagreus about Hypnos 84 The Queen’s back 85 Zagreus’ new job 86 Thanatos reprimands 87 Thanatos warns 88 Hypnos speaks to Persephone 89 Thanatos gives advice about lists 90 Dusa is impressed 91 Thanatos congratulates 92 Zagreus and Thanatos talk about Hypnos 93 Hades congratulates 94 Thanatos apologizes 95 Hypnos is grateful (unlocks hearts) 96 Zagreus and Thanatos talk about Hypnos working better 97 Thanatos is proud 98 Hypnos’ portrait 99 Nyx doesn’t talk to Hypnos 100 The feast with the Olympians 101 Hypnos find out about Thanatos and Zagreus

GENERIC DIALOGUE COMPILATION 1 - 2 - 3

[dropofgoldensun]

omg hiiiii i am here from cat (@luvdsc) wondering if you could offer any advice about college apps 🙏 especially about the uc piqs? thank you so much i hope ur doing well!!!!!!!!

yes yes hello friend !! 💝 miss cat directed you to me because i did my college apps last year !!! (yikes one year passed already?? why does that feel ages ago 🤧)

first of all, congratulations on making the decision to apply to college !! i know it’s been hard for a lot of people our age to figure out the college situation recently, so i’m proud of you for choosing to take the extra step this summer to buckle up and write those essays 💞

i’ve compiled a few tips on answering the PIQs (i was actually in the middle of typing this up when i received your ask haha), but some of them can be applied to other essays, as well !! they’re all under the cut (because, unfortunately, being brief is not my forte) 😊

(and for reference, the prompts i chose were #2 (creativity), #6 (subject), #7 (community), and #8 (anything) !!)

tip #1: understand the prompt.

before you even begin writing, it’s important to understand what the question is really asking. for the UC PIQs, this will look different depending on which four prompts you decide to do.

in question one, for example, they want to know about your skills in leading others, but notice that they’re also curious about your resolution abilities and teamwork experience. or in question two, they don’t want to know that you paint and that you love painting—they could be asking how resourceful you are, how you think outside the box when you have an idea.

once you know the question you’re going to be answering, you can move on to brainstorming!

tip #2: write down three (3) key takeaways.

these are like the most basic, not-even-a-sentence answers you would give to each question. so for me, in response to question eight (“what do you believe makes you stand out as a strong candidate for the UCs?”), my answers were perseverance, courage, and character. i had a story about that, so i wrote about my experience with martial arts.

i recommend you do something similar. decide on three things that you want to communicate to your audience, and write them in the footnote of your document. your goal is to cover all three points so that, if anyone were to read your essay, they would walk away understanding those three things about you.

i found this strategy really helpful for keeping my essay streamlined while writing—if a sentence didn’t relate to any of those main points, i would cut it since those words would take up valuable space in the word count. stay focused on what needs to be in this essay, and if you have extra words left in the word count later, you can add those details back in.

and once you’re done with your essay, make sure to refer back to your takeaways and check that you covered all of them sufficiently!

tip #3: highlight your stories.

i sent cat an ask a couple days ago with a few pictures of my response to an end-of-year college counseling survey that referenced this tip (you can find it here). basically i said that, when choosing what topics to write about, pick things that interest you! if you get excited talking about it, your audience should get excited about reading it, because they’ll pick up on the passions you have and then everyone’s excited !!! :D

i’ll tell you a secret: everyone you meet, everyone you see, has countless unique experiences that few others may have. me? i spend hours making mashups out of kpop songs. i earned my black belt years after a traumatizing experience during training. i get russian harry potter and spanish dr. seuss books from the library. and i created a collaborative online google photos album for my classmates that now has thousands of entries. although these aren’t necessarily unique to only me, they’re still special enough to the point where, when you put them all together, you get a better image of the person i am, and what i value.

so find a story, a habit, a hobby that makes you different, because i believe that everyone has them. give them some food for thought, or that one-liner that sticks in their brain and won’t go away. and remember: these stories don’t all have to be extraordinary—they should be about people or moments of special value to you, because that’s what matters.

personal tip: when i was brainstorming ideas, i decided that the best way to get ideas out there was to go on a rant (because sometimes it helps to just have a conversation with yourself !!) and i recorded myself, so i could replay what i said !! this was so so crucial to me finding my own voice for writing essays. notice the way you word things when you talk—a good line or two may make it into the final draft :)

i found it helpful to read sample essays as well! they give a lot of great ideas on the kinds of topics people write about. (also, it’s kind of fun, because who doesn’t love a good story?)

but the people reading your essay won’t be there to just enjoy your story; what they really want you to do is to tell them what you learned from your experience. they want to know whether you’re teachable and willing to grow both as a student and as a young adult. so make sure to take note of the life lessons you learned, experience you gained, character you built, etc.

minor tip on ending your essay: if you’re telling a story that happened in the past, then close with what you learned and how you can apply that to your life moving forward. if you’re telling a story that has no definite end yet (like a passion or dream you have), you probably don’t have everything figured out (and you can say that in your essay!), so it might be better to close with your hopes for the future.

tip #4: ask your family for help.

peer-editing is one of the most effective ways to detect errors and inconsistencies in your writing, because, after staring at your essay for so long, you might gloss over glaring contradictions. for all of my essays, i printed them out and asked my parents to help me revise them. we’d meet every other night (or every night, depending on how much time was left) to review and discuss improvements.

i actually kept some of those printed drafts (only the first and the final ones for comparison), and let me tell you from experience—you’re probably going to have a lot of drafts (i think the most i did was seven? but you don’t need to go that far!). this part of the process does take some time, so remember to be patient and kind to yourself :) these essays won’t happen overnight!

enlisting the help of others also helps keep you accountable. one of the struggles many seniors face while writing essays is just... setting aside time to do them. and even though the constant reminders from your parents will definitely get repetitive and a bit stress-inducing, i can tell you from personal experience that i’m so glad they did; otherwise, i don’t think i’d have my essays done in time :’)

while writing college essays is challenging, your family will be there supporting you each step of the way. chances are that they’ll have their own pointers to pass on to you, since they probably remember doing this process themselves! and, out of everyone in your life, they probably remember the most about you (because you probably don’t remember much when you were four or five), so they might have a couple starter ideas for topics when brainstorming. you can rely on them for their advice and their experience.

tip #5: self-editing.

here’s the part that takes the longest time.

use action words. this is probably something you’ve heard all throughout elementary school where they didn’t like you to say “said” because it was “boring”… but honestly, the difference between “doing my own version” and “infusing it with my personality” could go a long way. also, use words that you would actually use in an essay—then it’ll have your own special flair, and not sound like it’s taken from some stuffy 80s textbook!

here are some of the words i used (once again, you shouldn’t use these words if they don’t sound like something you’d write/say): potential, overlay, wrestle, launch, analogous, weave, infuse, experiment, outlet, revel, fascinate, satisfaction, pursue, expand, distinction, capture, range, archive, engage, beyond, build, adversity, cultivate, preserve, commit, explore, convey, naturally

also, be on the lookout for repeated words. i once wrote an essay without noticing that i used “hope” three times in the same paragraph. don’t do that! use synonyms :) personally, i tended to run short on synonyms, so i always kept a tab or two open on my computer reserved for searching up new words.

side note: unfortunately, during my search for synonyms, i discovered that thesaurus.com just didn’t give me what i was looking for. i highly recommend using wordhippo instead; it has so many more options and they’re grouped by the different definitions of your word! i found the synonyms i needed really quickly and it was very satisfying!

avoid the passive voice! my teacher gave me this tip for theses or any other college-level writing. here’s an example of the passive voice: “there was a large part of me that wanted to turn back.” that’s twelve words taking up precious space in your word count! instead, say something like, “i considered turning back.” you’ve just freed up eight words :)

tip #6: final revisions.

this is the step where you fine-tune your essays. meet that word count.

read your writing out loud. does it sound like you? it should. every writer has a different voice, and you need to ensure that yours is pervasive throughout your essay. feel free to use contractions—not only do they reduce your word count (this was a good thing for me, since i had a problem with getting under 350 words), but they also give a more casual tone to your essay, as if you’re telling a story to someone in the room.

next, pretend to be an admissions officer and have someone else read your essay to you. do you get excited hearing about this student who shares your name? if you do, there’s a good chance the real admissions officers will love your essays, too. this also gives you a chance to review to your essay as a whole. pay attention to the overall flow. is there a clear beginning and end? do you resolve the issues and overcome the trials you brought up? listen to it as if it’s a story, and take this time to enjoy what you’ve written. you worked hard!

final thoughts / encouragements.

oh my goodness, did we make it to the end? honestly if you did, thank you so much 🥺

okay but despite my relatively optimistic tone throughout this post, i’m still going to be honest with you—the college essay writing process is difficult. it requires you to look inside yourself and analyze the “why” behind some of the things that you love, and that isn’t easy to do at all. it’s intellectually and emotionally challenging, because not only do you need to use so much energy writing, but you also have to dig deeper to understand yourself, and that’s not easy, either.

but i wanted to encourage you, too. no matter what you may think of yourself at 12am, 2am, 4am writing these essays, believe you have a personality that others love and will love when they meet you. you are an interesting person with unique experiences who deserves to share your thoughts with others. you have so many people behind you, supporting you during these next few months. and when you find that you can’t write any more, remember to take time to care for yourself. have a warm shower. go to bed early. i could go on and on about why sleep is good for your brain but i’ll spare you the details in this post 😉

one last thing: keep the bigger picture in focus. remember, by december or january, you will be finished with most of the application process. that’s no small accomplishment. you can do it. 💝

i really hope you found tips that you were looking for, and that they’re applicable to your own PIQs and other essays !! if you have any other questions, feel free to send in another ask (i promise my response won’t be this lengthy LOL) 💘💓

oh, and if you feel comfortable enough reaching out about anything in particular, i’m only a DM away 💕 i wish you the best of luck on writing your essays and i hope you enjoy your final year of high school !! 💗🌸💟💖