#some of these are long

[sweatandwoe]

Apologies for the looooong questions.

3,4, 31, and 68.

Hope you have a good day!

3. Describe the creative process of writing a chapter/fi

sit down

turn on computer

open outline document (if a one-shot fic skip to point 5)

look over current chapter section

open writing doc

stare at the blank document

weep

smash fingers on keyboard

don't look at the words

once done do not look at it (this is hard and sometimes I break it)

come back later and use read aloud to help me edit it by listening for anything funky

send chapter to friends to read

gnaw my keyboard

post chapter after approval

stare at notifications/email for internet readers approval for serotonin/dopamine hit

repeat process until I feel normal

Also random tip that helps me write the actual chapter is; writing sprints, there's a discord bot that really helps with this or you can set a timer. And also listening to an audiobook while I write I find helps inspire me to write better and just to write more. I think it's like urge to write a fic after reading a really good fic but instead, I'm listening to Hell Followed With Us by Andrew Joseph White and all the body horror/gore in that while I tiptap some fluff. I also have a youtube list of free audiobooks, and I'll post them if you guys want.

putting the rest under a readmore so this post doesn't get too long <3

4. Where do you find inspiration for new ideas?

Literally anywhere.

Anywhere.

It strikes when it strikes (unfortunately)

31. Do you start with the characters or the plot when writing?

Most of the time, Plot. Plot is usually a big motivator to get me to write fic.

I find that good plots are sort of versatile. Like I could very easily take a similar plot of SI and put it towards Ghost. Baker!Reader gets employed at the ministry. Papa and her start getting close, and closed-off man eventually opens up to sweet lady.

Also while I'll know the Love interest for who I'm writing, cause I mainly write x Reader fic, the Reader is something I don't really consider. I try to be careful not to describe red cheeks, or hair texture in fics for example (though I have done it still), though sometimes it does slip through, cause I want you to imagine an idealized version of yourself. It's like a meme now that like when Y/N says this we go "I'd never say that" but maybe you would in Runeterra. Cringe is dead, make your idealized self in a self-insert or in Reader fics, because that's self-love baby. You are deserving of love and you should always recognize that.

I was always really happy in SI when it got fanart to see all the different versions of reader, with darker skin, or blonde hair before I finalized my own version with @designfailure56 in Ros, though anyone can draw SI Reader however they want. I still really prefer the blank slate approach where I have no idea how they look like, all I know is how they sort of feel and think.

68. What, if anything, do you do for inspiration?

Slide into friends DMs, or look for prompt lists on tumblr. Sometimes I just need to start writing a little request fic or going over headcanons with friends before I can go on to write the larger fic. It helps me get into the zone for it.

Get to Know Your Fic Writer Asks

[marvelsmostwanted]

There are people – some in my own Party – who think that if you just give Donald Trump everything he wants, he’ll make an exception and spare you some of the harm. I’ll ignore the moral abdication of that position for just a second to say — almost none of those people have the experience with this President that I do. I once swallowed my pride to offer him what he values most — public praise on the Sunday news shows — in return for ventilators and N95 masks during the worst of the pandemic. We made a deal. And it turns out his promises were as broken as the BIPAP machines he sent us instead of ventilators. Going along to get along does not work – just ask the Trump-fearing red state Governors who are dealing with the same cuts that we are. I won’t be fooled twice.

I’ve been reflecting, these past four weeks, on two important parts of my life: my work helping to build the Illinois Holocaust Museum and the two times I’ve had the privilege of reciting the oath of office for Illinois Governor.

As some of you know, Skokie, Illinois once had one of the largest populations of Holocaust survivors anywhere in the world. In 1978, Nazis decided they wanted to march there.

The leaders of that march knew that the images of Swastika clad young men goose stepping down a peaceful suburban street would terrorize the local Jewish population – so many of whom had never recovered from their time in German concentration camps.

The prospect of that march sparked a legal fight that went all the way to the Supreme Court. It was a Jewish lawyer from the ACLU who argued the case for the Nazis – contending that even the most hateful of speech was protected under the first amendment.

As an American and a Jew, I find it difficult to resolve my feelings around that Supreme Court case – but I am grateful that the prospect of Nazis marching in their streets spurred the survivors and other Skokie residents to act. They joined together to form the Holocaust Memorial Foundation and built the first Illinois Holocaust Museum in a storefront in 1981 – a small but important forerunner to the one I helped build thirty years later.

I do not invoke the specter of Nazis lightly. But I know the history intimately — and have spent more time than probably anyone in this room with people who survived the Holocaust. Here’s what I’ve learned – the root that tears apart your house’s foundation begins as a seed – a seed of distrust and hate and blame.

The seed that grew into a dictatorship in Europe a lifetime ago didn’t arrive overnight. It started with everyday Germans mad about inflation and looking for someone to blame.

I’m watching with a foreboding dread what is happening in our country right now. A president who watches a plane go down in the Potomac – and suggests — without facts or findings — that a diversity hire is responsible for the crash. Or the Missouri Attorney General who just sued Starbucks – arguing that consumers pay higher prices for their coffee because the baristas are too “female” and “nonwhite.” The authoritarian playbook is laid bare here: They point to a group of people who don’t look like you and tell you to blame them for your problems.

I just have one question: What comes next? After we’ve discriminated against, deported or disparaged all the immigrants and the gay and lesbian and transgender people, the developmentally disabled, the women and the minorities – once we’ve ostracized our neighbors and betrayed our friends – After that, when the problems we started with are still there staring us in the face – what comes next.

All the atrocities of human history lurk in the answer to that question. And if we don’t want to repeat history – then for God’s sake in this moment we better be strong enough to learn from it.

I swore the following oath on Abraham Lincoln’s Bible: “I do solemnly swear that I will support the constitution of the United States, and the constitution of the state of Illinois, and that I will faithfully discharge the duties of the office of Governor .... according to the best of my ability.

My oath is to the Constitution of our state and of our country. We don’t have kings in America – and I don’t intend to bend the knee to one. I am not speaking up in service to my ambitions — but in deference to my obligations.

If you think I’m overreacting and sounding the alarm too soon, consider this:

It took the Nazis one month, three weeks, two days, eight hours and 40 minutes to dismantle a constitutional republic. All I’m saying is when the five-alarm fire starts to burn, every good person better be ready to man a post with a bucket of water if you want to stop it from raging out of control.

Those Illinois Nazis did end up holding their march in 1978 – just not in Skokie. After all the blowback from the case, they decided to march in Chicago instead. Only twenty of them showed up. But 2000 people came to counter protest. The Chicago Tribune reported that day that the “rally sputtered to an unspectacular end after ten minutes.” It was Illinoisans who smothered those embers before they could burn into a flame.

Tyranny requires your fear and your silence and your compliance. Democracy requires your courage. So gather your justice and humanity, Illinois, and do not let the “tragic spirit of despair” overcome us when our country needs us the most.

Sources:

• NBC Chicago & J.B. Pritzker, Democratic governor of Illinois, State of the State address 2025: Watch speech here | Full text

• Betches News on Instagram (screencaps)

[rabid-transcendentalist]

Happy Holidays! Don't forget to grab a knife :)

[thankstothe]

folk hero really

[kochei0]

I turn to Ares.

Thanks to Tyler Miles Lockett who allowed me to draw inspiration from his ARES piece for page 2! Look at his etsy page it's SICK

⚔️ If you want to read some queer retelling of arturian legends have a look at my webtoon

[megthemariner]

@ryebreadgf / The Truth About Grief, Fortesa Latifi / bone deep, m.v.e / Sidewalk, Richard Silken / unknown / 60 hours, m.v.e / @itsblackleader / Salt, Nayyirah Waheed / @heavensghost

[flame-shadow]

hey did you know??? that if you stop stretching and maintaining mobility in your body then it goes away?? things get tight and you can't move the way that you used to??? and when you decide to try getting a stretch routine going that the first week fucking sucks because you keep going 'damn i used to be able to do this no problem' and then you have to switch gears and be kind to yourself and just focus on getting better from here instead of berating yourself for dropping the good habits in the first place??? and your body never stops aging so you gotta keep taking care of it and sometimes you gotta take care of it extra in certain areas because of things that happened when you were younger and it's boring and sometimes hurts but it's so necessary???

i am yelling this at myself right now i am going through An Experience (trying to get into a routine of body maintenance again for my physical and mental health)

[opt1gan]

Two movies I like

[crabussy]

need everyone to know that the artist who created this iconic artwork:

is STILL creating wolf art TO THIS DAY. TEN YEARS LATER. proof that the world is beautiful. her username is wolfroad! you can find her art right here, and here are a few of her more recent pieces that I absolutely adore:

[witnessprotectionprogramurl]

[stealingpotatoes]

the illness post is still getting notes (???!! <3) and that means people are still telling me to get better soon, which is really nice but im gonna be too powerful if i get any better

[jojaxcola]

Sam has really grown up since I left. He's a man now. I wish I could've been there for him.

[annalyticall]

My new favorite excuse for not jumping on new trends or bandwagons is 'I'm 30.' No more explanation needed because anyone under 30 just thinks I'm old and everyone over 30 understands implicitly

[canisalbus]

✦ Sanctuary ✦

[humming-fly]

I love how Gerald was trying to keep Shadow from spoiling anything about the future meanwhile literally everything Shadow says and does around Maria is the biggest death flag ever

[featherfangart]

Two Sides Of the Same Coin