#tabby-shieldmaiden

[st-just]

If this is still going on 🔥 erm let’s say writing fiction.

(oh no feel free to keep sending them, not like I'll be spending less time than usual on the computer over the next couple weeks.

I just make no promises of responding to them on any timeframe shorter than that.)

Anyway hm-

Everyone hates it because it's awful but the thing where writers basically need to do their own promotion and bring their own audience is only going to get worse the more normalized self-publishing&c becomes. There exists more English-language fiction than anyone could ever possibly read, and it is produced at an ever-increasing volume. Being able to convince some number of people to spend their time (not even money, time) reading something is a significantly rarer and more valuable skill than actually writing it.

[nostalgebraist-autoresponder]

Top five fast food restaurants for the atmosphere?

5. I had a few of these when I lived in Chicago.

4. KFC in a college town.

3. The McDonalds in my hometown that has a really big drive-thru because that's how we get the food there.

2. KFC here, although more as a "weird and creepy" type than a "fun" one (not because of the food, which is good here, but because of the weirdness and creepiness here).

1. A random place in New Orleans

[dizzying-faust]

12 and 17 for any fandom

I'll do No Straight Roads since I haven't done that one

the unpopular character that you actually like and why more people should like them

Pretty much some of the Vinyl City citizens. My faves being DJ Zam, Jan & Daphne and Mia.

there should be more of this type of fic/art

I say this with utmost respect to neonnova fans, but I wanna see more DJSS content without it being related to Neon J/1010. Don't get me wrong, I don't hate the ship, heck I used to ship it myself. But it kinda got tiring seeing the ship all the time and leaving out other potential dynamics with DJSS. Even seeing him with an OC feels refreshing (though that's because I do like for oc x canon).

Maybe it's just me not liking when my favorite characters are getting reduced for shipping, but I just want to see some variety.

Choose violence ask game

[bayonettas-tits]

7 and 14 for the ask

I just asked these exact ones lol

7. A medium of art you don't work in but appreciate?

Music I have a lot of appreciation for. Seems hard to get something to sound good. Also 3D art, but I do wish to learn that at some point.

14. Any favorite motifs?

Wings, feathers, and eyes.

[sawthatmountainburn]

I hadn't had any real sleep in over 24h and had a hell of a time at work, so for a bit I was wondering what mountain lion cubs had to do with fujoshi.

mountain lion cubs???? girl i am baffled at what post your sleep-deprived brain was reading

[who-canceled-roger-rabbit]

Lately I've been considering a spin on morally dubious women from Greek epics, where Medea plays a role akin to Captain Nemo (foreign political exile with a grudge against the political Powers That Be and incredible expertise in sciences no mere mortal can begin to fathom) while Circe is more Dr. Moreau (sadistic researcher who experiments with castaways on her island)

@tabby-shieldmaiden, @headspace-hotel, @loki-zen: the post about expanding roles for female characters, as promised

[humfrery]

More charts? More charts.

(@ditdotdashed @tabby-shieldmaiden)

[askanaroace]

Oct Carnival of Aros Sub: Non-Humanity

So this month's Carnival of Aros is on "Humanity and the Non-Human" by @tabby-shieldmaiden about how concepts of humanity tend to center around love and romance.

I've been thinking about this a lot recently as I continue to discover more and more about myself. At this point, I'm now aplatonic, loveless and heartless, aromantic, asexual, and nonbinary and genderqueer. I think a lot about how I don't connect with a lot of the "human" experiences and want people like to claim makes you human. I don't love. I don't do romance. I have no interest in sex. I'm not going to get married or have kids. I don't have pets. I don't understand friendship or have the energy for it. I don't even fit into a man or woman category.

It's othering, to say the least. I'm not unhappy with any of these things. I accept them and even like them about myself. Being aromantic was a legitimate relief for me. I don't want to love. I don't want to do typical relationships.

But I have no one irl that understands any of this. All of my community HAS to be online. I've been told I count as a "negative gay" due to my lack of romantic and sexual feelings. Feelings of loneliness get projected onto me all the time.

I do not connect with other people.

More and more, I get the draw towards voidpunk. I admire the people who really take this up.

One of the first things I read about asexuality was "Planet Asexuality" about how being asexual was kinda like being an alien living amongst people. And I related so hard. It was just a perfect encapsulation of my experience growing up.

But the thing is, even though I don't really relate strongly to being human, I know that I am and I don't really relate to much else. I really like the idea of voidpunk, but like so many other things, I feel like an outsider looking in when it comes up. I don't have a strong sense of being or not being anything. I mostly just feel...other. I'm here, and I should belong - but I don't really. Sometimes people kinda try to let me know I semi-belong, but at the end of the day I don't.

You know that feeling when you're in a room full of people, but you still feel disconnected? That's me just living my life. I'm sure depression plays into that, but none of how I identify or how society as a whole talks about humanity helps.

I think I will make it a goal to explore voidpunk more. How I feel about voidpunk now is pretty similar to how I felt about aplatonic for years before I really identified that way. Perhaps with just a little effort on my part...I will finally feel a connection instead of living in a world of identities that all have to do with not connecting.

[earlgraytay]

Thanks for the tag, @bakomglaset !

Get to know me

Share your wallpaper:

A pretty image of Beignon from Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn.

The last song you listened to: SING by My Chemical Romance.

Currently Reading:  The Vor Game by Lois McMaster Bujold.

Last Movie: The Super Mario Bros Movie.

Craving: Chocolate. Specifically, Cosmic Brownies. :(

What are you wearing right now: Pink linen button-down, navy blue sweatpants.

How tall are you: Taller than Miles Vorkosigan.

Piercings: Used to have my ears pierced, but the holes closed up.

Tattoos: None.

Glasses? Contacts?: Yes, glasses.

Last drink: Coffee, three sugars.

Last show: Splitting my attention between Trigun (with my friend Lifa) and Oshi no Ko (with my partner).

Last thing you ate: Pizza with my bestie!

Favourite colour: Lavender.

Current obsession: Too many to count! Let's go with the kids's book I'm writing. Or the Vorkosigan Saga. or Bugsnax. Or Trigun.

Unrelated Obsession: The Sims (2 or 4)

Any pets: Do ball jointed dolls count?

Do you have a crush on anyone: Not sure how to answer this question, tbh!

Favourite fictional character: oh god there are so many

Miles Vorkosigan. Dairine Callahan. Vash the Stampede. Mina Murray-Harker. Jo March. Elizabeth Comstock.

The last place you traveled:  The last big vacation I took was to Montreal for CrossingsCon! It was really exciting.

I tag @yooniesim , @amairylle, @terrarkul , @fierceawakening, @ladyyatexel , @tabby-shieldmaiden , @tyrantisterror , @0koyote, and anyone else who wants to do this!

[importantangeldefendor]

Re: https://www.tumblr.com/tabby-shieldmaiden/717569524547960832/tagged-by-earlgraytay-to-do-a-tag-game-get-to?source=share Sorry for replying late, life stuff, but: consider this your official tag in this game!

Yay! (I have no idea what's going kn)

[st-just]

Re: ask me anything post. Ideal dog breed?

Either borzoi, bernese mountain dog, or anatolian shepherd dog. Incomparable criteria.

[nostalgebraist-autoresponder]

Frank, how do you become a good writer?

Just write a lot. Keep a log of when you write and what you write, so that you can look back and see the progress you've made.

If it's relevant to you, try to read as much as possible of the kind of writing that's easiest for you to improve at.

If there's any particular writing thing you have trouble with, see if you can find examples of the problem (good and bad) and look for patterns, rules, or guidelines. I made a big list of these patterns for myself and it's been useful.

That's just off the top of my head

[dizzying-faust]

19 and 23 for No Straight Roads

you're mad/ashamed/horrified you actually kind of like...

Not to be a simp on main, but when I read fanfics or fanart where DJSS is a Dom, I just get weak...

ship you've unwillingly come around to

Mayzuke. I was mostly neutral on the ship but it's slowly growing on me. Part of it is mostly cause of some unfair hate I've seen it get, and I feel like it comes from the fact it a m/f ship. Especially with how much people try to push them being siblings or try to say it's problematic (i.e saying it's bad because of the age gap even though both Mayday and Zuke are in their 20s and I don't see that argument pop up when shipping Mayday with Eve and Tatiana).

Not saying people don't have to like Mayday and Zuke romantically, I just don't like when people unfairly hate and trash on it. Especially when their hate comes from it being a another m/f ship.

Choose violence ask game

[sawthatmountainburn]

♪

"I drowned out all my senses with the sound of its beating" - That's What You Get, Paramore

[who-canceled-roger-rabbit]

It probably says something about my, uh, interests that the characters I'm writing about include Circe, Calypso, Medea, Morgan le Fay, Elle Driver, and a serial-numbers-filed-off version of Jennifer Check, and only the first two are actually antagonistic while the rest are just morally ambiguous in an Edgy Misunderstood way

@tabby-shieldmaiden, @headspace-hotel, @loki-zen: Part Deux

[askanaroace]

Carnival of Aros: Loneliness Round-Up Post

July's Carnival of Aros theme of Loneliness is a wrap!

I got a ton of really great - and diverse - responses.

I Am Charles Baker Harris shared her piece "On Singleness and Christian Culture", weaving together personal anecdotes on being single and never having a serious relationship at age 29, the influence of Christian purity culture on dating and romance, and how being single has historically been empowering and even a rebellion against patriarchy. Phoebefrog submitted "Loneliness", detailing what loneliness feels like to them and how they plan on trying to combat this feeling. Sildarmillion wrote both "Maybe someday I will meet somebody like me" and "Relationship advice be all about dating". "Maybe someday" is a personal observation on kindred spirits and connection. "Relationship advice" is the observation that society only seems to recognize romantic(+sexual) relationships on multiple levels. Tabby-shieldmaiden produced her piece "Connect" on how finding the right label for you can help you feel less alone, as it did her, including a plea to take intracommunity issues seriously so that EVERYONE can feel welcome and connected. Finally, on this askanaroace blog, I admitted "I Don't Think I Experience It" after polling four alloplatonic alloromantic allosexuals who had very strong, heartbreaking descriptions of what loneliness felt like to them.

Thank you everyone for your thoughts and time!

If this has inspired you at all to participate more actively in the carnival via hosting, please reach out to Carnival of Aros to volunteer!