#relace

[rabid-invertibrate]

The absolute state of the lack of garmadon content is a travesty of catastrophic consequence

[cozybearz]

did the roofing guys throw out my fucking plant while i was gone

[calechipconecrimes]

finally beat the executive dysfunction and relaced my favorite sneakers that got caked in mud while hiking in West Virginia about 9 months ago. taking a walk with them to celebrate and I realized I'd forgotten real comfort

[nanowrimo]

3 Things NaNoWriMo Taught Me That I Didn’t Learn In College

NaNoWriMo can teach you a lot about writing, especially if you’re not used to writing novels! Ellen Relac talks about three valuable things she’s learned as a NaNo participant.

I concentrated in creative writing with a short story emphasis at UCLA. My technical writing improved greatly and my prose was able to develop its own distinct and unique style because of the amazing instruction I received there. However, writing a novel brought up three challenges I had never encountered in my short story career.

1. All the ways long form writing differs from the art of the short story

The short story process often entails a fight to keep said story short. You can’t dwell on irrelevant events or dabble outside the scope of the story you’re telling. I have often had to take out entire extraneous scenes to let my short stories stand on their own and affirm my confidence that they contain all the information they need to be a story worth reading.

I’m used to the compulsive concision of a neat short story, as well as my own personal habit of delivering exposition through breezy lines that cover entire seasons (“Spring turned into fall, but Jessie never once looked out the window to notice the change”). The contrasting challenge of filling an entire novel with things happening forced me to do the opposite of condensing my plot and let it breathe.

Recognizing the challenge of filling the page (of the hundreds of pages—in my specific case, 197) doesn’t even begin to get at the mounting challenges of continuity. If you, like me, enjoy throwing in random details as flavoring, you’d better remember that that second-chair flutist is named Cormac Ingalls and that he and Sierra are two years older than the protagonists.

Sometimes during NaNo, it felt frivolous to add scenes depicting idle conversation or day-to-day interactions. Allowing myself to recognize these scenes as pivotal opportunities for characters to develop was key to my understanding the art of the first draft.

2. The uncomfortable truth that being “good” is the wrong goal

Writing a novel in a month is a Herculean endeavor. I think the well-adjusted writer considers themselves lucky if they make any progress that feels substantial during NaNoWriMo. You don’t have to hit 50K to make potentially life-changing progress. It’s natural that doubts crop up about the quality of your writing, but do not let this dissuade you from accomplishing the amazing task you’ve undertaken! I truly would not have finished my draft if I had allowed myself to go down the rabbit holes I occasionally eyed of “this book probably sucks.”

Bottom line, it’s okay to suck sometimes. But you’ll rarely be any good if you don’t make peace with the possibility of sucking first.

3. You can write so much more than you think!

Focusing on the short story in college allowed me to hone my writing abilities with a micro-lens. I had to embrace the exact opposite of this in Nano.

I’ve gotten away before with letting a story flow out of me the two days before it was due and giving just the palest skim of a revision before finalizing it. NaNoWriMo demands much more.

It demands that you cajole yourself into writing the bare minimum on days when you would rather bathe in Elmer’s Glue than hit your word goal. It demands that you get your laptop out on the Wifi-less commuter train en route to a weekend visiting friends so you don’t fall too far behind. It demands that you carve out a five-hour day to slog through the 3000 words you need to make up on the following Monday. It demands that you are creative, clever, and extremely persistent in problem-solving. It demands an astonishing level of self-discipline and tenacity. It demands a set of triage skills (mostly to save yourself in those moments when your book appears an irredeemable wreck).

Rising to this challenge, though, pays infinite dividends. You emerge from the process of drafting a book—particularly your first—insanely proud of the difficult thing you’ve done. It gives you enough confidence to qualify as one of the best cures for imposter syndrome imaginable. NaNoWriMo gives you a community to cheer you on, a particularly satisfying word-tracking meter, and best of all, the indescribable boost that comes from doing the would-be impossible. It’s probably far more possible than you think.

Ellen Relac is an LA-based actress, writer, and photographer originally from the southwest of Connecticut. This year, she's kept busy graduating from UCLA, producing a film (https://www.instagram.com/bedtimefilm/) and tackling her first novel. Current favorite books include Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow, The Firekeeper's Daughter, and Daisy Jones and the Six. Photo by Hadis Malekie on Unsplash

[a-ikuoliver]

WHY ARE WE SO DAMN CLENCHED

[sndwave]

on one hand cosplay accuracy. on the other hand i want to walk around the con with my dragon plushie in a baby sling and have sparkly rainbow laces in my otherwise accurate boots

[javiersprincess]

javier and his horrible tendency to draw out your orgasm by keeping his thumb at your clit even when you are tight and cumming around his cock to the point of tears

[eggthew]

my shoelaces begging for the release of death

[kurjakani]

Okayyyyy ummm 🥺 i prommy ill finish the gloves too but i did start up a massive sweater i can work on whever i need smth passive 2 do<3 im gonna essentially copy the model of the sweatwr im wearing here (made by my lovely mom). Its like p much a very wide sweater dress. Ill be working on this for a year tho so ill defi do other more complex lwss time consuming projects meanwhile.

[plague-vulture]

I suffered in the shoe store heres the cool docs my mom bought me so my feet don't get wets

[dullahandyke]

[ID: stats from Marathon Tetris from the 3DS, showing a game that lasted half an hour with 574 cleared lines and a new high score of 1,061,867.]

Tetris update look at me go!!!! Love having tetris skills in a way that are specifically useless in any version of tetris other than marathon. If you put me in a fever session I'll die on the spot

[nyaskitten]

Give the gays a victory and make Jay and Cole kiss during the ToE after their fight in ANS. It would so epic if they did it while everyone was there watching the tournament with two dudes that obviously got beef with each other and they just kiss at the end??? I just wanna feed the Enemies to Lovers fans

RGJHOR:HJORHJPORHJ I'm gonna be SOOOO honest anon I have NO clue which ships are canon in ANS other than MAYBE Jaya, Scruffshipping, Garsako, and Amberphoenix. I've been TRYING to play around w ideas like Glacier or Lava or Pixane, but I'm VERY unsure of any ships. Even the ones I DO plan to use I'm not 100% sure about, more like 92% sure..

[eldritchmochi]

finally got the docs store to let me check out i have spent 500 doll hairs on BOOTS but one pair is for my siblings crimmus presembt

[lolli-says-stuff]

Ok Aldi cashiers in Germany Are really quick and in Germany you have to bag your own groceries and I’m super duper anxious at registers so here’s what I do: you always grab a trolley. Even if you think you’re only buying one or two things. Grab. A. Trolley. That’s step one. Step two is preorganising your stuff in the cart and on the belt at the register. and you’re gonna Organise on the belt like this: at the front you want the big sturdy things, boxed, bottles etc. then come the smaller non fragile things. On top of that you’re gonna wanna layer the more fragile things (mainly stuff like a carton of eggs & fruits / veggies) and on top of that you may lay really really light stuff like a salad or something like that. I needed to get this off my chest because nobody is interested in this around me but I’m really proud of myself for finding a way to make shopping easier for me.

[vhaenan]

🌿

been feeling very insecure and junky about this muse so I haven't been here much lately. I'm sorry. it's me in my own head. don't mind me. this isn't a vague post or meant to guilt trip anyone. I'm just feeling low lately and that's reflecting on my muse. I'll perk up soon. it's my birthday this week. I have to perk up, right?

[lemonofthevalley]

Also! (same anon hi:]) the pentagrams laces are so cool, its kinda hard to see the black laces on the black boots, i think red laces on black boots would look the coolest (but like lace code you probably shouldn't do that) but purple laces would also be sick af as pentagrams!!:]

LOL YEAH I forgot abt lace code tbh . these laces r just the ones that came with the shoes :3