#trying to find a specific image in a specific hours book i don't know the name of

[artoodeeblue]

Sometimes my work is very boring but other times i get to look at medieval manuscripts all day <3

[burntoutdaydreamer]

Things That May Be Causing Your Writer's Block- and How to Beat Them

I don't like the term 'Writer's Block' - not because it isn't real, but because the term is so vague that it's useless. Hundreds of issues all get lumped together under this one umbrella, making writer's block seem like this all-powerful boogeyman that's impossible to beat. Worse yet, it leaves people giving and receiving advice that is completely ineffective because people often don't realize they're talking about entirely different issues.

In my experience, the key to beating writer's block is figuring out what the block even is, so I put together a list of Actual Reasons why you may be struggling to write:

(note that any case of writer's block is usually a mix of two or more)

Perfectionism (most common)

What it looks like:

You write one sentence and spend the next hour googling "synonyms for ___"

Write. Erase. Write. Rewrite. Erase.

Should I even start writing this scene when I haven't figured out this one specific detail yet?

I hate everything I write

Cringing while writing

My first draft must be perfect, or else I'm a terrible writer

Things that can help:

Give yourself permission to suck

Keep in mind that nothing you write is going to be perfect, especially your first draft

Think of writing your first/early drafts not as writing, but sketching out a loose foundation to build upon later

People write multiple drafts for a reason: write now, edit later

Stop googling synonyms and save that for editing

Write with a pen to reduce temptation to erase

Embrace leaving blank spaces in your writing when you can't think of the right word, name, or detail

It's okay if your writing sucks. We all suck at some point. Embrace the growth mindset, and focus on getting words on a page

Lack of inspiration (easiest to fix)

What it looks like:

Head empty, no ideas

What do I even write about???

I don't have a plot, I just have an image

Want to write but no story to write

Things that can help:

Google writing prompts

If writing prompts aren't your thing, instead try thinking about what kind of tropes/genres/story elements you would like to try out

Instead of thinking about the story you would like to write, think about the story you would like to read, and write that

It's okay if you don't have a fully fleshed out story idea. Even if it's just an image or a line of dialogue, it's okay to write that. A story may or may not come out of it, but at least you got the creative juices flowing

Stop writing. Step away from your desk and let yourself naturally get inspired. Go for a walk, read a book, travel, play video games, research history, etc. Don't force ideas, but do open up your mind to them

If you're like me, world-building may come more naturally than plotting. Design the world first and let the story come later

Boredom/Understimulation (lost the flow)

What it looks like:

I know I should be writing but uugggghhhh I just can'tttttt

Writing words feels like pulling teeth

I started writing, but then I got bored/distracted

I enjoy the idea of writing, but the actual process makes me want to throw my laptop out the window

Things that can help:

Introduce stimulation: snacks, beverages, gum, music such as lo-fi, blankets, decorate your writing space, get a clickity-clackity keyboard, etc.

Add variety: write in a new location, try a new idea/different story for a day or so, switch up how you write (pen and paper vs. computer) or try voice recording or speech-to-text

Gamify writing: create an arbitrary challenge, such as trying to see how many words you can write in a set time and try to beat your high score

Find a writing buddy or join a writer's group

Give yourself a reward for every writing milestone, even if it's just writing a paragraph

Ask yourself whether this project you're working on is something you really want to be doing, and be honest with your answer

Intimidation/Procrastination (often related to perfectionism, but not always)

What it looks like:

I was feeling really motivated to write, but then I opened my laptop

I don't even know where to start

I love writing, but I can never seem to get started

I'll write tomorrow. I mean next week. Next month? Next month, I swear (doesn't write next month)

Can't find the time or energy

Unreasonable expectations (I should be able to write 10,000 words a day, right????)

Feeling discouraged and wondering why I'm even trying

Things that can help:

Follow the 2 min rule (or the 1 paragraph rule, which works better for me): whenever you sit down to write, tell yourself that you are only going to write for 2 minutes. If you feel like continuing once the 2 mins are up, go for it! Otherwise, stop. Force yourself to start but DO NOT force yourself to continue unless you feel like it. The more often you do this, the easier it will be to get started

Make getting started as easy as possible (i.e. minimize barriers: if getting up to get a notebook is stopping you from getting started, then write in the notes app of your phone)

Commit to a routine that will work for you. Baby steps are important here. Go with something that feels reasonable: every day, every other day, once a week, twice a week, and use cues to help you remember to start. If you chose a set time to write, just make sure that it's a time that feels natural to you- i.e. don't force yourself to writing at 9am every morning if you're not a morning person

Find a friend or a writing buddy you can trust and talk it out or share a piece of work you're proud of. Sometimes we just get a bit bogged down by criticism- either internal or external- and need a few words of encouragement

The Problem's Not You, It's Your Story (or Outline (or Process))

What it looks like:

I have no problems writing other scenes, it's just this scene

I started writing, but now I have no idea where I'm going

I don't think I'm doing this right

What's an outline?

Drowning in documents

This. Doesn't. Make. Sense. How do I get from this plot point to this one?!?!?! (this ColeyDoesThings quote lives in my head rent free cause BOY have I been there)

Things That Can Help:

Go back to the drawing board. Really try to get at the root of why a scene or story isn't working

A part of growing as a writer is learning when to kill your darlings. Sometimes you're trying to force an idea or scene that just doesn't work and you need to let it go

If you don't have an outline, write one

If you have an outline and it isn't working, rewrite it, or look up different ways to structure it

You may be trying to write as a pantser when you're really a plotter or vice versa. Experiment with different writing processes and see what feels most natural

Study story structures, starting with the three act structure. Even if you don't use them, you should know them

Check out Ellen Brock on YouTube. She's a professional novel editor who has a lot of advice on writing strategies for different types of writers

Also check out Savage Books on YouTube (another professional story editor) for advice on story structure and dialogue. Seriously, I cannot recommend this guy enough

Executive Dysfunction, Usually From ADHD/Autism

What it looks like:

Everything in boredom/understimulation

Everything in intimidation/procrastination

You have been diagnosed with and/or have symptoms of ADHD/Autism

Things that can help:

If you haven't already, seek a diagnosis or professional treatment

Hire an ADHD coach or other specialist that can help you work with your brain (I use Shimmer; feel free to DM me for a referral)

Seek out neurodiverse communities for advice and support

Try body doubling! There's lot's of free online body doubling websites out there for you to try. If social anxiety is a barrier, start out with writing streams such as katecavanaughwrites on Twitch

Be aware of any sensory barriers that may be getting in the way of you writing (such as an uncomfortable desk chair, harsh lighting, bad sounds)

And Lastly, Burnout, Depression, or Other Mental Illness

What it looks like:

You have symptoms of burnout or depression

Struggling with all things, not just writing

It's more than a lack of inspiration- the spark is just dead

Things that can help:

Forget writing for now. Focus on healing first.

Seek professional help

If you feel like it, use writing as a way to explore your feelings. It can take the form of journaling, poetry, an abstract reflection of your thoughts, narrative essays, or exploring what you're feeling through your fictional characters. The last two helped me rediscover my love of writing after I thought years of depression had killed it for good. Just don't force yourself to do so, and stop if it takes you to a darker place instead of feeling cathartic

[sakascal]

Living Fiction - Chapter 1

This story was written for @hazyconstellationss as a part of the Good Omens Reference Library Discord Server Gift Exchange. Hello @hazyconstellationss, this is your secret demon trying to tempt you into dropping everything to read this now. 😉

You gave me the prompts for a human AU where florist Crowley gives writer Aziraphale a gift and somehow that turned into this little story of two idiots pining over each other. I hope you like it! This is my first ever AU and I had a ton of fun writing it, so thank you very much for that fabulous prompt! 💜

Thank you to the GO Reference Library for setting up this gift exchange.💜

Thank you to my wonderful friends and fellow writers at @whickberstreetwriters for friendship and moral support and especially to @rcreveal, @playdohangel, @bohoteacher, @angie-words and @sixshotsinatumbllr (and for this chapter specifically @rcreveal, @playdohangel, @bohoteacher, @sixshotsinatumbllr) for phenomenal beta reading, fun comments, helpful insights and wonderful ideas on how to improve this. And for fixing spelling and especially grammatical errors aplenty. 😁 Couldn't have done it without you.💜

Also thank you to my lovely daughter who went above and beyond when I handed her my iPad and pen and asked her for a quick digital drawing of a plant to use as a cover for a story. Two hours later I had this little masterpiece you see below. Yes, I may be laying it on a bit thick here with the praise, but I am a very proud mom of a very talented 9-year-old, so I think I may be permitted a bit of gushing. 😊

(If you see this, Mausi: Hab dich lieb! And don't go to my AO3 account. You are nine, that's not the right place for you. Especially not because you go 'eeewww' every time you see me kissing Papa.😂)

Rating: T

Summary

For two years self-published romance writer Azariah Fell has been coming to this café, three times a week on a schedule. He likes to work there, with easy access to refreshing hot drinks and delicious pastries, and always sits at the same table, directly at the window with the street right in view. And if he is honest, it's the view that he's coming for - but not of the street.

Right across the street is the florist shop 'Serpens et Horto', and the proprietor Anthony Crowley keeps drawing his eyes. Azariah regularly finds himself buying plants and flowers at that shop, even though he had known nothing about plants when he first came to this café. So, is it really a surprise when one of the main characters in his latest book has a striking resemblance to Anthony Crowley?

Excerpt

It wasn’t like he was staring at the man, like a creep or a weirdo or anything. He was just idly gazing out his shop’s window when he had nothing better to do, and that table just happened to be right across from it. And that was simply right where the man was. Three times a week. He was hard to miss with his pale hair and old-fashioned clothing. Waistcoat over a button-up shirt, a bow-tie and even braces. During the summer when the man had opened his waistcoat to evade a heatstroke, Crowley supposed, he had seen them peek out. Like he was cosplaying a bloody librarian. And those tiny reading glasses sitting low on his dainty, pointy, upturned nose were ridiculous - and bizarrely charming.

“Is he back again?” Warlock had come up behind him while Crowley had not been staring at the man across the street.

“Hmm? Oh, him,” Crowley said in an attempt to salvage the situation. Pining after a man didn’t fit his image.

But apparently he couldn’t even fool a tween. “So, have you asked him out yet?”

“No,” he answered with a sigh, crossing his arms over his chest. Crowley didn’t even know his name, for fuck’s sake. “Not that it’s any of your business,” he added, growling, when he realised that might have sounded slightly pathetic.

“Really don’t know what you’re waiting for,” Warlock went on, obviously unperturbed.

Crowley knew. Kind of. He wasn’t even sure if the man was truly interested - or just really liked plants. As often as he came in here to buy one. His flat must be a veritable green house by now. Or maybe he was simply terrible at keeping them alive. If that was the case, he would actually be morally obligated to stop selling him plants, wasn’t like they could defend themselves.

But those times when the man came into ‘Serpens et Horto’ were the only chances Crowley got to talk to him. He enjoyed talking to him and used every opportunity he got. And still, he didn’t even know his name. Somehow, he just never found a good enough reason to ask for his name. The man certainly knew his name, though, not that it was difficult with Crowley wearing a name tag.

“You know,” Warlock continued, “men your age really shouldn’t hesitate on these things. It’s not like you have time to waste.”

“Men my–!” Crowley swatted at Warlock, who jumped out of range just in time, laughing. Fucking reflexes of youth. “I’m 45, not half dead!”

Read on AO3

[queer-eggman]

Rocket's Backstory

*deep breath* God help me

This is the most inconsistent Marvel backstory and I, the top expert on Halfworld, am here to clear it up.

I'm going to split the variants into the following catagories: 1985, 2014, modern comics, show, and mcu. (the show is simply called Guardians of the Galaxy and is on disney+ and i highly recommend).

I have compiled a spreadsheet to go over the main points

As you can see, it's a shit show.

(As i go over the stories as best I can, please note that i am not a comic buff i am a 15 yo with Asperger's and an obsession with Halfworld and if i get something wrong plz don't be mad at me just tell me and I'll fix it :3)

1985 Rocket Raccoon- Rocket is a genetically modified caretaker on Halfworld, a mental asylum used to hold the insane of the galaxy, known as loonies/shrinks (extremely offence things to call mentally ill ppl but it was the 80'ssss). They have a book called the Halfworld Bible, which holds the secrets of the planets and it's people. The planet is ruled by Mayhem Mechaniks and Dyvynicies Inc; rival toy companies owened by Judson Jakes and Lord Dyvyne respectively. Jakes killed Lylla's parents to steal the company and it's... horrifying robot clowns. Pyko steals the Halfworld Bible for it's instructions on how to escape the planet in a giant human-shaped ship. Jakes and Dyvyne find out about this plot and team up to crash a party and there's a big battle and Rocket, Lylla, Pyko, Wal, Blackjack, and possibly Pyko escape Halfworld on the ship, leaving it in shambles as the loonies are left to the own devices to rebuilt the planet with their newfound wisdom (Pyko manages to 'cure' them)

2014 Rocket Raccoon (my fav series :3)- This one doesn't have much in the way of backstory, all we know is what Captain Sale gives us in the last book. Throughout the series it is shown that Rocket has no memory of his creation and believes he is the last of his kind. Until he ends up on Captain Sale's ship. She gives he the key to the Book of Halfworld and he takes 4 hours to read it. He is shown to be disgusted and horrified at the contents, leaving it with Sale and going home. (Clowns and the toy factory etc are mentioned, implying it is a sequel to the 1985 version.

Modern Comics- This section is specifically about v5 GotG #8 as I don't recall any other comics going into much detail. Here, there are loonies and robots, but no clowns. They must have thought it was too silly. Rocket is a therapy animal turned sentient with cruel experimentation. This is the first version of Rocket's backstory to show him sustaining significant and lasting trauma from his past. Not to mention the debilitating physical effects of having a metal skeleton and countless other weird things he doesn't understand. After his transformation, he is shown with the 1985 gang and other past team ups in a montage. It seems there is also an attempt at continuity here but it misses the mark a bit.

GotG Show 2015- This is by far the worst adaptation in my opinion, as it completely overhauls the story. So note that I have bias here. Here, Rocket is a simple Earth raccoon that has been transformed with the purpose of being a living weapon. His purpose was more 'artificial genius' than 'genetic marvel'. Immediately after being let into a more open enclosure, he meets Groot and effortlessly destroys the robots and steals a ravanger ship. After freeing all the creatures, of course.

(i am unable to provide images for this section as disney is a pussy ass company and won't let me screenshot but just imagine it sucking)

MCU- Anyone reading this has already seen the movies but I'll go over it anyway. The High Evolutionary is a man trying to recreate a sentient Earth-like planet by modifying creatures. Rocket is one of these poor souls. He lives his early years in a cage with Floor, Lylla, and Teefs. Rocket manages to open the cage one day, only to have his friends shot in front of him by the High Evolutionary. He then escapes. He meets Groot later in a well, not shown but confirmed by James Gunn.

Wow this took long to write. Time for the conclusion. Here i will 'average out' all the stories and throw in my personal theories.

My version- Halfworld is an insane asylum built by the Kree where they experiment on mentally ill people to try to cure them(we used to do this here on earth until the 60's). The 'toy factory' is a cover-up for this operation. The robot 'doctors' use clown faces to put the patients at ease. But what do psycho robot doctors do when the asylum is abandoned and not longer supplied with patients? They turn to the animal inhabitants on the planet. The Halfworld Bible/ Book of Halfworld is an engineering manual documenting the disgusting progress of making an innocent creature sentient. Pyko frees his people after decades of slavery in a grand rebellion and Lylla becomes the Priestess and guardian of the book like in 1985. Unfortunately, during the rebellion, 89P13 and Groot get stuck in an escape pod and sent away from the Keystone Quadrent, leading him to believe all of his people are dead or re-enslaved.

I think this version harnesses the soul and vibe of all the backstories while making it make more sense in the long run.

I had a lot of fun putting this together and I hope y'all appreciate it :D (Follow for more Halfworld content <3)

[amandacanwrite]

How do you begin the first chapter of a story you already have planned out?

Always with an action!!

I personally don't believe in telling people there are wrong ways to do a thing, but I will describe what I personally think is best for the opening scene of a new story/novel.

A really common pitfall, in my opinion, for any fictional narrative is getting caught up in exposition. It makes sense that we get the urge to do things this way, because it's how we tell stories to friends about things that have happened to us.

"Okay, so let me give you background so you know who is who or whatever..." or "Okay, so for context..." are how I start a lot of tea spilling sessions, and its great for colloquial storytelling, but not a great way to get readers engaged from the start.

Whenever I start a book, I think of it less as a historical account and more of myself as the writer arriving to the character's life at a specific point in time, and leaving it at a specific point in time. Because of this, I think the best way to start a story is in the middle of something in their day. Here are some of the first paragraphs from my vampire story:

I scraped another jagged line in the already-worn paint on the wall, marking another tick among the other tidy rows of carved lines in the wall. I relished the feeling of old paint and soft, decaying wood sliding beneath my too-long fingernail. It hurt, but at least I was feeling something.  The first thing they did to me when I arrived at The Tower was glamour my name away.   One moment I was a person, and the next I wasn’t. All I was left with was the milk-warm feeling of the glamour on me dissipating too quickly, leaving me cold and without a sense of self. I could remember everything about my life—everything that had led me to this horrific moment, but not the core of my being. Not the most basic of identifiers. Not my name. 

And another from my Unseelie Court Meets Peaky Blinders WIP:

I pressed my back against the cold, damp brick outside the public house on Main and Besom. My heart raced so fast that I could feel the steady thump of it painfully in my neck. I didn’t know how far I’d run, but I knew I’d done it faster than I ever had before.   How many days late was I now? Five? No wonder Thomas had two others in tow.    I panted, my ribcage straining against my corset, even with it only loosely laced. I felt like I could hardly get a breath in at all. Closing my eyes and forcing myself to slow, I looked down the alleyway behind the pub. If I dodged down that way, I’d have to walk through some of the dodgier areas of The Strid, but it would be better than risking running into the Half-Blind Barber’s men.    I’d heard about Thomas’s proclivities from my friends in the Rose Garden, and I knew that he would relish the chance to carve me up like a roasted pheasant. 

I like starting stories this way because 1) it's way more fun to write for me than to spend hours trying to come up with an engaging, yet exposition-y opening and b) I get to lead with character instead of trying to find some way to shoehorn them into the lore.

The thing that's really awesome about your reader? They usually read a lot and can fill in a lot of the blanks. I found when I was first writing I always panicked about the reader seeing my story EXACTLY how I saw it in my mind. But at the end of the day, that's not actually that important and over-explaining anything can actually ruin reader immersion.

I try to never write two thousand words of description where a well-placed metaphor or comparison will do. Let your reader's mind do the heavy lifting.

Could I describe a castle in thousands of words talking about the period of architecture and the way that the buttresses look? Yes. I can. You know what's faster and more entertaining to read?

"The castle has the austere elegance of a sacred temple, and was nearly as quiet as you would expect one to be, too."

You have an image in your mind, reading that, right? See, in my head, I see a mormon temple; not because I am mormon, but because I have been to a mormon temple and I find their structures beautiful but also incredibly, deeply haunting.

Someone else may think of the time they visited the Sistine Chapel. Or of the Wayfarer Chapel in Palos Verdes, because they had an aunt who got married there. Yet another person may thing of their local jewish temple. Another person may think of Wyrm's Crossing in Baldur's Gate. At the end of the day, it doesn't truly matter what they see in their heads or understand is going on based on the text--what matters is that they can glean what this place looks, sounds, and maybe even smells like because they have linked it to a place that they have ALREADY experienced IN REAL LIFE)

All of those tangents to say--I don't worry about backstory until I need it. I like to try to make the reader feel like they're getting to know the characters at the same time they're getting to know each other.

Sorry for this very long winded answer--thank you for asking me about writing! I LOVE talking about it (as you can tell rip)

[fox-daddy]

Baby Fever with my main 3 Mc's

I've wanted to write this prompt since I saw baby fever appear in a poll so when it won I was over the moon. Then my adhd hit and I did nothing but sit on it and the prompt closes soon so- Incase I don't get it done on time here's how I think my Mc's would deal with baby fever.

Hunter;

Immune. Totally does not get baby fever. What is baby fever? sounds stupid. Too cool for baby fever. They don't even have a fever they checked!

The fact their babing their Li's familiar? totally normal. Pepi was asking to be carried like that since she wouldn't stop trying to eat their lunch, Inanna's paw was sore they couldn't have her walking around on it. Malak? Okay, yeah they have no excuse for holding Malak like a baby outside the fact playing with his bird feet is fun.

Forces their Li to be their pillow more often. In general being way more cuddly wanting to just be held more often than usual.

eats way more meat more specifically rare stakes and Liver pâté.

suddenly seems to always have at least one piece of candy on them.

Julian;

Just happens to pick up more mini lollipops for the kids that visit his clinic. It would be a tragedy if he ran ou- oh he already has a packed in the draw? these one's are different flavors though what if a kid doesn't like grape and apple and wants strawberry?

Slowly more often uses the amount of medical books Julian has to look up random questions. Until they basically have a certain book by the bed so they can just reach over and grab it if they wake up with a burning question.

Becomes more aggressively protective of urchin kids running around keeping closer eye on them which indirectly means bringing kids to Julian to be checked out whenever injured. Typically bad grazes and small cuts.

Seems to always know where Malak is. Did I mention they baby their Li's familiar way more? holding like baby, giving treats, making sure their happy and content.

Portia;

Them taking learning how to cook more seriously.

Spending more time around the castle garden because theirs baby birds everywhere? nah totally just got lost on their way to the cottage. (what do you mean they've been together 2 years? they can still get lost)

Why are they reading the cuter fantasy books instead of their usual darker taste? don't worry about it.

Muriel;

spends way more time with the chickens than they used to.

may have built a new chicken coop. Okay their wild and their neighbors not their pets but they deserve a good house with nice roosting spots.

why are they holding a chicken and having it from their hand? it's being bullied and they just wanted to make sure it was eating enough.

Kyle;

Goes from no thoughts towards children to actually thinking about it a lot more.

work on the logistics of having a child and what that would mean, can they afford it? do they have the time and energy? etc

then theirs the fact he's a transdude if he has to carry it he doesn't want to risk hating himself the entire time. It's going to have to be something he's serious about.

dreams about the future way more and with a higher chance of looking after a child during it.

spent a solid half hour crying over accidently killing a butterfly/moth. had to be consoled.

becomes way more cuddly.

feels more bedtime urges if you know what I mean. (if you don't this image or it's description will explain; VVV)

Asra;

visits Salim and Aisha more for both tea and stories about Asra's childhood.

more defensive? snappy? about certain topics without realizing it. Not enough for it to be aggressive but more akin to someone not wanting to think about something.

stays home more often than before especially for long trips as they don't have the appeal for him right then.

I wouldn't say he babies Faust but he definitely lets her get away with more than he normally would.

Nadia;

becomes more attached? needy? hard to find the right word but Kyle is sitting through more meetings than normal to be by Nadia's side. Not necessarily needing her attention just presence.

Lucio left behind a bunch of untamed animals you say? within a month or two they mostly have homes or are now Kyle's ill-tamed animal. (he actually cares for the animals under his care)

daydreams more often and rearranges the bed every few days like a fussy hen. (only the bed since Nadia had to put a limit for how often Kyle is allowed to rearrange the entire room.)

subconsciously avoids alcohol more even though he doesn't drink much to begin with.

Bluebell;

goodluck noticing their baby fever. They burry it as deeper as Asra buries his truma. As deep as Julian buries his self-worth. as deep as-

Lucio;

more cuddly, cuddling with Lucio and the dogs more than before.

somehow ends up looking after a baby animal. If the animal grows up and they still have baby fever then they somehow end up with another baby animal in their care.

occasionally talk to Lucio about if he want's kids. If he doesn't drops the topic faster than you'd drop a hot potato.

[cleverusernameh]

Might As Well Put 2024 Art Summary Here

et voila

tons of dragons, a few non dragons, and one dinosaur (that's the really hard to see one on the paper sorry :{)

March-May and December dragons are fully viewable on my Youtube channel, as well as the rest of the animation Feburary's singular frame comes from. October and July are fully visible on my ArtFight. As for the others, I'll slide them in here, with baby descriptions and more bonus art, hopefully below the cut (apparently you can manually add these?)

like, i thought this was just some skill seasoned tumblr bumblrs had, inately knowing how much of any given text/images would show up before a given cut. crazy. anyway, arts!

January - Fantasy Creature ft. Gay People

Fantasy creature on left for Book Series #2 I Want to Write (coincidentally where the gays come from as well). The fantasy creature is based off of dinosaurs, essentially. Nice and feathery, with actual ears and such. Actually, I developed it from a Picrew played so, shoutout to StaticStray's Monster Picrew.

The gay people are there, and are some of my most beloved right now.

June - Big Birthday Bdragon

Made this for my friend's birthday around the same time I was whipping up my commissions sheet (you can also see it there, and also maybe think about commissioning me for something pretty please?). I designed him (Thundertalon) with the same mentality I do with all my "humans into dragons" drawings: how do I put these aspects of this specific person into a dragon? Favorite color, eye color, spines mimicking hair, and any other general key features are adapted as well as I can into dragon form.

I also made another fullbody dragon the same day because I didn't realize two of my friends had the same birthday until the day of, so needless to say, one of them got more sauce than the other.

So here's Snowdrop, Leaf/Night hybrid:

July - The Rest of ArtFight

I put up half of my attacks/defenses earlier, but not all of them, so here they are:

These characters belong to wackygeluga, Natural_Disaster, allergies.

August - Doodle of DND Character + More Gay People

school means being crazy busy, so finding good stuff i made (digitally) during the school months was a bit harder. this is just a headshot of a DND character I played as for two sessions. He is a thinly veiled Dan from Dan Vs. I miss him.

Also one night I traced a base I found on Pintrest, and accidentally ate so hard and I can't hide it anymore:

literally why

September - Design Doodle and oh... oh wait that's sans undertale

Moons forbid I try to give my characters an alternate outfit lest they become sans undertale. This is Edward, one of the gay people from earlier. His book takes place in 2016, so if he were to ever wear this in the story, I will definitely make Terrence say something about it.

Wait, he wouldn't know what Undertale is.

...

COMMENT DOWN BELOW TO MAKE A CAMEO IN A TWO SECOND SCENE IN A BOOK THAT WILL CERTAINLY DEFINITELY COME OUT

November - Maize Birthday Piece

I don't talk enough about my OCs on here, nor show them off. But like, every (other) year, I do a little art for them on the birthday I made up for them. November 4th is the birthday of Maize Bliss. (pronounced "may-zee"; yes I'm sorry, but not enough to change it until forced to at gunpoint). Here's just a random cool shot of her activating her healing powers to fix those internal organs or something. I also used markers on this, and as someone much more familiar with crayons and pencils as art mediums, this was a fun experiment to do.

And that's about it---except for these sillies I made in the middle of animating for something else:

that's my cat Pumpkin. I love her.

Anyhow, see you next year, and now for me to spend 6 hours filling in the appropriate tags and then some fun ones on top of that.

[boyfhee]

hii could you please give tips on how to find fonts for your fic banner + the the font you have in your tags and navigation page. i also want to know how to find aesthetic pictures like you find them. i also want to know what are the best times to post on tumblr, and i also want to know how do you over come writer's block and get ideas fpr your fics/headcanons. sorry if i am being a bother and sorry for asking too much. pls do ignore me if you dont have time. i am sorry

hello ^_^ please don't apologise for asking, i'm always ready to help if possible :]

— FONTS

for banners, i use canva and the fonts provided there. some of my favourites are abril fatface, bernoru, burgues script, charm, coterie, slight, more sugar, apricots. there are a bunch of free options so just hit and try to see which one suits your design the most

for tags and navigation, i use yaytexts. cursive one is the cursive script, paragraph of text on the pinned is in sans serif and title is in sans serif bold. you can scroll down the styles column to find these

— AESTHETIC PICTURES

i use pinterest and there is no way except searching and curating your feed. try to specify your searches as much as you can. some keywords are : white typography ( or any colour, ) [ brand ] aesthetic, [ colour ] gradient, acubi. try using visual search or reverse image search. you can download images from mood boards on tumblr too

— POST TIMING

you need to know your audience for this, as in their demographic distribution, when they are most active. for me, it's usually after 6 pm ist. to find yours, try posting at different times and see when you got the most notes in a specific period of time ( like an hour or two, or more maybe ) that is most likely when your readers are most active.

there isn't really a set way to find or maybe i don't know that yet, but another way to make sure your work reaches more audience is self reblogs. it simply means reblogging your work every few hours, preferably two or three ( you can schedule it ) to make sure it hits almost every timezone. the icymi tags are for this purpose only

— WRITER'S BLOCK

i get the worst writer's blocks and i literally force myself to write or else i will be posting once bimonthly TT what i recommend in writing whenever you get inspiration. it can be anywhere, you don't have to worry about grammar, vocabs or sentences, just jot down the ideas as soon as you get them.

another thing i do is read a lot. it helps me get back to writing, sometimes gives me inspiration. reading helps with vocabulary as well so that's double the benefit

— INSPIRATION

songs, movies, webtoons, prompts on tumblr or pinterest, books. you need to keep your brain juices flowing. try to think about how a single dialogue prompt can be used in fluff and angst works both, for example. sometimes, random scenarios come to me out of no where, but i think you will get there when you start writing / get in the flow of writing

alternatively, discussing with friends, other reads / writers, reading ( very important, i cannot stress enough ) can help you come up with ideas for fics. for headcanons, a thousand of them have been done you can literally start by picking one and doing your take on it.

[obscurecharactershowdown]

Group E Round 1

[image ID: the first image is not of S.T., but an image that the submitter felt fit his vibe. it's an American crow wearing sunglasses. the second image is of The Cashier, a Thai man in a white or light blue polo shirt and black cap. at least one of his ears are pierced. end ID]

S.T.

He's a talking crow that's well-versed in human culture (aka barely knows what he's talking about and mostly incorrect) from a post-apocalyptic Seattle. He likes to think of himself as a human since he was raised by one and has not had much contact with wild crows. He's incredibly sassy and sharp witted but equally self depreciating and over dramatic at the same time. He's also vaguely trans-coded, this quote specifically comes to mind "Crows don't have dicks but that doesn't make me any less of a dude". This dude has beef with half the animal kingdom and loves cursing out penguins and god for no particular reason. He also calls humans MoFos. Caw caw motherfuckers. The book he's from is a mind-fuck but in a good way, it manages to be profound and hilarious all at once. Did I mention the apocalypse in question is caused by the usage of technology? It's thinly veiled criticism of internet usage but mostly it just seems goofy/horrifying out of context. Touch grass or become an abomination to the nature order. (lotsa body horror) But it also has some vaguely philosophical excerpts about identity, finding your place in the world, and ecosystems/succession of species. Which is Neat. There's also a sequel in which S.T finds a human child and attempts to raise her all the while he praises himself for being a caretaker while barely keeping it together. 

The Cashier

The world is literally ending. The moon is exploding. And this guy is still working as a cashier at some convenience store because the world might as well end anyways. He still insists that people pay for what they get from the store even though the world is going to end in a few hours. Then this strange guy shows up and questions him about it and asks him if he's afraid to die. The cashier is like "no not really" and the guy responds "well clearly you don't know what it's like to die" and the cashier responds "well have you died before" and the guy is like "no. I'm Death >:3" so what does the cashier do? he buys the man a drink and lets him crash at the store for the next several hours until the guy gets possessed by a different supernatural entity and runs out of the store to try to save the world. The cashier is just such a chill guy and insane customer service worker I love him so much I wish he had a name in canon.

[thejackofalltrades42069]

Become the hero (updated! version 2.0).

Image taken from the amazing TV series "Ping Pong the Animation".

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Intro.

This idea came to me mainly from watching Ping Pong the Animation (a short animated series), also from reading The Book of Five Rings.

One of the main themes’ in Ping Pong the Animation is about characters overcoming hard circumstances, finding meaning in life, and achieving things at the same time (this is just my personal interpretation for this post).

I'll talk about a way I thought that helps me overcome many things and stay motivated to keep working hard to achieve different things in life.

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*Note, the first time I wrote this post, I was thinking it was okay wanting to achieve too many things, BUT, at least for me, I found out it's not okay, because it's exhausting, I had stopped doing things that were more important for my health and for enjoying life in general.

Here's the updated post (:

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Context and example.

There are many moments in many people's lives where we think that life's way too hard and complicated, or when we think that achieving certain goal is impossible (like buying our own house or having a relationship that we like, that is functional, and that works in the long term). Most people are never able to overcome many difficult situations, they just stay in their comfort zone, other times, they simply don't have the means.

An example, many people's comfort zones include many addictions like consuming different stimulants through the day and on weekends, they consume them so much, that it affects their health in a negative way in the short and long term (things like medicine they don't need, supplements that are not needed either, alcohol, cannabis, other drugs, way too much caffeine, etc.).

Some other addictions and comfort zones include using social networks all day without much interaction with real people, some other addictions can range from someone's who's addicted to exercising and having a balanced diet (this can become a problem and an addiction too! I've experienced it) to some other people who just watch TV shows or play videogames way too much daily.

I'm not judging anyone, people can do whatever they want, the tendency of mankind is to do things that are easy and to stay in comfort, and we only live once. The problem about addictions is that we lose too much energy to those addictions that prevents us from having the energy to do other things.

Sometimes people are way too tired daily because they aren't sleeping well, they are using their cellphone too much, they have a really bad management of everything in general and waste a lot of time and energy, they have terrible diets, they're dehydrated, they don't exercise at all, they're spending all their energy on social media, they're addicted to drugs that end up consuming their energy (including alcohol), etc. It is important to solve these one by one (IMO), one step at a time if we want to achieve other things. We need to change our habits, and that is really hard.

For a specific example, in some moments of my life, I've had a really hard time sleeping, I know many people who do too, but instead of really trying to figure out the problem and finding long term solutions, most people look for the easy and fast way out, consuming a medicament or drug that will put them to sleep. Some others simply embrace the fact that they're going to be sleeping 4-6 hours every night and that's it, they just drink a bunch of coffee and stimulants during the day to be able to be somewhat functional. Both the easy way out with taking medicine and just sleeping less daily are not long term solutions and can be bad for health in the long term (unless of course, the medicine is diagnosed and needed).

If I have a couple of bad night's sleep, I can't really accomplish everything that I want to do on a daily basis because I'm tired, so I needed to fix that problem, it is always hard and it was really hard, but there's always a way to solve problems. I needed to change many of my habits and change things from my environment to have a better sleep, and for that I had to do a ton of reading, researching, and trial and error. I now know what I need to do to have a good night's sleep, it took me years to truly be able to achieve that, it was a lot of learning and experimentation (I won't go into detail, this is just an example, but I had to change many of my habits, my diet, my exercise, zero drugs, seeing sunlight early, no screens 30 minutes before sleeping, etc. I even made an appointment with a psychiatrist to see if the root of my sleep problem lies somewhere else, we'll see, but good habits help me sleep much better).

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How to become the hero.

When this idea about "becoming the hero" came to me, I was lying in bed having a hard time falling asleep, I was also thinking about the huge burden that my life has become with so many responsibilities and so many things that I want to do during my spare time (these include the relationship I have with my girlfriend, my new job, owning a small business besides my job, continue with the plan I've had for years to buy a house, the need to exercise, to have a healthy diet, wanting to learn new things, wanting to become good at my new job, wanting time to watch TV shows and play videogames, wanting to spend time with my friends, etc.).

I thought, how am I going to achieve all that? *note: I recently realized that wanting and trying to do all these things mentioned above is not realistic and it was making me feel stressed, I decided to quit wanting to do some things and take it easy with other things, just focusing on the most important and trying to have more chill and fun afternoons and weekends.

In perhaps what is a dumb and too optimistic way I remembered about Ping Pong the Animation and thought, "I need to become the hero", I must sleep well, exercise regularly, have a good management of many things in my life, have energy, stop wasting time on my cellphone, and do everything I need and want to do. This thought that I needed to become the hero gave me a lot of motivation and energy, and a good reason to keep doing everything that I do (of course, shortening and taking it easy with the list of things I mentioned earlier).

I noticed that I've spent about the last 8 years of my life learning new things on purpose that specifically have helped me have a better understanding about everything in general (things like psychology, philosophy and science), I've also been improving my habits and leaving many addictions behind, of course that I'm not perfect and I sometimes use social networks more than I would like to, sometimes I eat too much food for supper, or watch a TV show too late, and can't sleep well, but with the knowledge that I've acquired, I feel that I can overcome almost anything.

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Circling back to the beginning of the post, when a difficult situation appears, I suggest we try to solve it for good, we have a lot of information available, we can learn that information, we can do trial and error, we can always save some energy to learn new things and overcome anything (one tiny step at a time, I insist). And I don't mean this in a dumb and optimistic way, we can't always overcome cancer for example, but if we really try, if we find the right motivation and do things progressively, we can become the hero and overcome difficult situations, land on our feet, and become great at things.

Musashi wrote in his Book of Five Rings, and I completely agree that even if we "are not talented", we can work hard, and we will learn and become good at anything (we can't always become the best, but we can become great), we just need to find the correct way to do it, and do it progressively. In my case, I can say that in a lot of moments in my life I've met people that seem to be incredible talented at something, or really smart and knowledgeable. After working hard and learning more and more, I've noticed that I can be like that too, I can achieve that too, I just need to constantly work hard. After all, we are all just humans, and most of us really have the same capacity, but we're using it in different ways (many times in my opinion, we're wasting our capacity by spending a lot of time on TikTok, or spending too many hours on entertainment).

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Motivation and inspiration.

Staying motivated is a must, so find something that keeps you motivated and interested, if we just work hard always, our lives can lose meaning. No joke.

In my case, I've found that stories keep me going, they keep me interested and inspired (and I learn a lot from them), stories can come from TV shows, books, comic books, video games, so on. Practicing a sport is also a great thing that keeps me inspired, I've been playing ping pong often lately, it's great.

Going out and talking to friends or people I meet is also a great activity for this purpose.

My suggestion is to find something, and activity, a hobby that keeps you interested in life and that motivates you to do things that are hard (like work). That's up to you to find. But, limit the time you dedicate to whatever keeps you inspired, it's really easy to be addicted and to spend way too much time doing that activity, it will drain all your energy, even if you have time left daily to do things, you won't have any energy left.

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A few last notes

When we don't like our jobs and don't accept that we have to do certain things and just keep procrastinating certain tasks, we create stress and anxiety upon ourselves, becoming the hero includes accepting that you have to do whatever you need to do, and doing it without distractions that drain your energy (if a job is too awful, it's a good idea to switch jobs of course). Doing this during your job and finding satisfaction by doing certain tasks at the job is good for our dopamine system which is tied to our motivation and energy. What is terrible for example is, when we keep looking at our cellphones often or during short breaks, we completely ruin this dopamine/ energy system and just lose a lot of energy for the rest of the day (familiar with the social media burnout?).

One habit that's really important is our energy management, really learning what consumes our energy, and not wasting energy on things that at the end of the day will be pointless.

Another habit that's related to everything in general is to learn better management, for example, not consuming too much time cooking daily, finding a way to eat healthy, not spending too much money on food, and perhaps cooking 2 days a week and freezing food in food containers for different days of the week.

Another management tip is to stop trying to solve issues as they show up, we should take a note and make time to solve them later.

Making lists helps, for example, when we run out of some food from our kitchen, making a note, and then having a list for the sole day of the week we're going to the supermarket (or for the day that we're ordering it online), avoiding going twice a week to the supermarket and to other places we don't need to go saves a lot of time, going to the supermarket early during the weekend can also save a lot of time (no people).

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Conclusion.

Learning, practicing, working hard, making good habits, dropping bad habits, becoming more versatile, limiting ourselves with stimulants, drugs, and leisure activities, having a hobby that keeps us interested in life, learning to like and accept or change our jobs, and so on, these are all the things that together mean "become the hero" (for the use of this post lol).

It's a really hard thing to accomplish, there are way too many limitations, distractions, addictions in life that will get in the way, but, we can try.

Achieving just a part of our goals is better than nothing at all, it's completely fine if we don't achieve everything we want to achieve. It's okay to take things easy, actually that's best, but work progressivly toward your goals.

[n-brio]

✨About Me✨

Thanks to @somethingusefulfromflorida for tagging me!

NICKNAME: I've had a few over the years but none of them are current. I've been Lefty, Stan, Tuna, and a secret fourth one I won't tell you all because it's derived from my actual name.

SIGN: I have had a semi-active contempt for astrology ever since I politely sat through an ex whinging about how his friends all secretly hate him and it isn't fair and he doesn't even know what he did wrong etc. etc. nonstop for an hour over Skype way back when. "Why don't you just ask them what's going on?" "I can't do that. Pisces don't talk about their feelings." Take some responsibility for your choices!!

HEIGHT: 5'4"… and a half!

LAST GOOGLE SEARCH: "i hope somebody got fired for that blunder"

SONG STUCK IN YOUR HEAD?: Dusty Dunes Desert, Earthbound

FOLLOWERS: 27, and it is indeed that many and not a bugged/inflated count. I try not to let the fame get to me 😌

LUCKY NUMBER: I also don't believe in lucky numbers.

SLEEP: I shoot for eight hours, but I can survive as long as it's more than seven. Any less and I get real stupid (well, stupider) real fast. I used to fast for days with no problem, but I need sleep and I don't fuck around with that.

DREAM JOB: Writer or voice actor for a Crash Bandicoot cartoon… I know in my heart I have neither the talent nor connections to make it happen, but I can dream! 🥲

WEARING: Black-and-white floral print yoga pants, novelty T-shirt from Mother Bear's pizzeria in Bloomington, Indiana, a city I've never been to. Notable for its mascot which made my high school teachers do double takes and gives Tawna a run for her money:

FAVORITE SONGS: Too many to count, so I'll name just one from each of my playlists: Sloop John B by the Beach Boys Synchronicity I by The Police December, 1963 (Oh, What a Night) by the Four Seasons Animal Impulses by IAMX Useewa (Shut Up) by syudou Ekoroshia (Kill Command) by Masafumi Takada Cliff Town by Stewart Copeland Dive Remix by Mewmore

(Nobody is obligated to listen to these, just if you're curious. I'm not assigning anyone homework hahaha)

FAVORITE INSTRUMENT: Uhh, vocals? I took a couple years of choir and was the "weakest link", but I had fun… (´ᴗ` )

AESTHETIC: I'm not a fan of the "aesthetic"/"[x]core" style of self-expression. I think it's better to keep an open mind and try to find something interesting/appealing in all styles, images, art etc. You may notice patterns in the things I like/share, but I'm not fussed about putting names to them.

FAVORITE AUTHOR: I don't usually search out books by a specific author. I've recently enjoyed books by Khaled Hosseini (The Kite Runner and A Thousand Splendid Suns), Gillian Flynn (Sharp Objects), Douglas Adams (The Long Dark Teatime of the Soul), and Tara Westover (Educated).

FAVORITE COLOR: Individual colors are less important than the color scheme they are a part of. Any color can be beautiful if it is paired with the right complement. That said, any scheme that stars jade or olive green, pastel pink, burgundy, dark brown, or black tends to win me over.

FAVORITE ANIMAL SOUNDS: Cat purrs. Frogs chirping on a summer night. Cicadas buzzing.

LAST SONG: The Night by Aurelio Voltaire. So I (like many others) learned about this song through the animated music video by Daria Cohen, but I just learned now that there's apparently an alternate version with an extra set of lyrics that the original lacks.

LAST SERIES: If you mean like TV, I don't really watch much nowadays. My sister and I are working through Earthbound and Psychonauts right now though (alternating between the two).

RANDOM: Anime Dr. Frankenstein lives in my room. I didn't draw him.

Tagging @frostconebite, @mikey-putrid, @lesserbilboy, @worpworp, @sleuth-hounds, @rhadinesthes and anyone else who wants to do it \o/

[sugareey-makes-stuff]

9, 15 & a wildcard of your choice for the artist asks pls and thank youuuuu!! if those do not spark joy or you've already done them, feel free to swap 'em out!! xox

Hello friend! I am very late on this, but these q's look like some fun ones for art stuff, so here you are: 9. What are your file name conventions? I guess it depends on what it's for and if I have a title. And I'm not as omg about naming conventions like I am for work stuff, because I am lazy, but I still somehow have a way of finding things. 😅 If don't have a title for a piece yet, it's usually WIP, with the character or ship name, and if it's for a challenge/fest if applicable. Otherwise, if I have do have a title, I just use that for the image file name. And if there are multiple panels, I use numbers so I can keep track of the order (ie. 1, 2, 3, etc.).

7. A medium of art you don't work in but appreciate: Papercrafting. OMG, some of the stuff I've seen at cons and online are gorgeous. Trying to draw up an outline and cut all the pieces out to make a creation though? Yeah, I don't have the precision or patience to do that. I'm lucky I haven't stabbed myself with my Olfa or Exacto knives too often, and using those alone to cut wood or paper in straight lines is already a real struggle. And also I don't fancy bleeding all over projects either (and I almost have on more than one occasion, so 🤣) I def appreciate anyone who can take up this craft and spend hours making something amazing. Like, look at some of the stuff people have made?!!

15. Where do you draw? I'm usually chilling in my office/studio, which is my happy and safe space (and you got a sneak peek of that!). I have a bunch of art by other artists hung up on the walls for inspo, my Funko and HP replicas collections, my library of books, as well my art supplies on hand. And my workbench of chaos if i ever want to do all things mixed media stuff by hand vs. digital. It definitely makes it easier for me to change up mediums and techniques if I want (traditional vs digital), and I've got plenty of subject references for drawing. And it makes it super easy to throw some music on my desktop and draw away for hours.

Thanks for the asks! ___ Want to know more? Ask q's from the weirdly specific artist ask game!

[lauvra]

I've never experienced whatever emotional muck this is, but because of that I'm a little intrigued, like oh they just released a new version of despair and it's automatically downloaded to library. Some of you are too young for the U2/iTunes reference but it's just like that time... Anyway, I was in an actively cynical state of aggression for hours today. I snapped out of it by painting while watching comedy podcasts. Theo Von interviewed some anger specialist recently who barely said much but did talk about how exercise and things like break rooms (smashing shit) is less effective in resolving anger than calmer activities / creates bad habits / encourages the need to act out in a specific way so I guess it's lucky I'm lazy and enjoy painting. Here's a frankly shitty trait about me. I'll feel really lonely all day, then when people get home I'm pissed off they've impeded on my isolated protocol of rotting. It's self-pity pure and simple. Disgusting. There's an italian-american guy inside me (don't) slapping the hood of a taxi, and everybody who crosses his path becomes the taxi when I'm like this. Oh, you're existing in a perfectly reasonable way in a perfectly reasonable area—I'm fuckin' walkin' 'ere! It's awful. I've got a real temper problem, and yes it's funny when a short person's angry. Basically always. It's our lot. Not to say we aren't powerful though, our centre of gravity is *mwa* bueno. Getting to the barrier at a gig and staying upright? Oisy. So anyway. What else? Yeah I think everything I say is bullshit. It's laughably hard to live with myself lately. To be so honest, this anonymous writer began a satirical Substack mocking tumblr girls like me, essentially, and it goes so hard—is so eerily astute that my friend thought it was me. To be fair, he also thought that because Substack auto-subbed him to the page since I'd recommended it lmao. I cherish that which wounds me. The personality wounded my psyche deeply at the level as effective as holding a baby by their soft-spot with two fingers as if gearing to knock down all ten pins. What else? It's probably an age thing too. I'm suddenly coming to terms with thE ReALitY in general, but also deep into the specifics. See, everything I say is such bullshit. I feel like I'm having a mental breakdown. I'm trying to maintain my curiosity about the process. It's quite seriously the only tool in my tin. It's very possible I'm becoming a bad person, which does draw into question whether that's always been the case, because usually there's foreshadowing and when I look back it's awful. What you look for, you'll find. That's the thing. When I consider everything kind and golden about myself, I become enchanted again. It's a lifelong struggle for some people not to let other people's actions reflect on one's own self-image in the type of way that feeds the inner villain. It just looks so easy for some people to be good, I can't relate to that in a lot of ways, and sometimes I think "was anybody ever good who never had to choose?" because for real I've sorted through trash and treasure for 30 years inside my own gut, I've barely ridden a bicycle, and I'm convinced that's largely the source of all my turmoil. Plus, like if I was worth knowing, why would people act like I'm not? I push the feeling aside, it grows in the most barren, nutrient-shallow environments. Touch grass, bitch. I miss the ocean, rolling hills and car-window-wound-downness of the Sunshine Coast lately. I think about "going home" all the time, then remember all my books and Penny and the pursuit of independence. And the pursuit of pursuit. I miss my family, our gatherings around the fire and the red skin of my relatives. All month I've written long posts like this then backspaced them, pointless. I'll post this.

[mitigatingacademics]

{11.09.2024}

Leaving my house for the first time since I entirely lost faith in humanity; I went to the library book sale yesterday.

These are the books I took to work last night.  

I'm seriously considering not going back to the Chemerinsky book at all. It may only be about 300 pages, but the idea that we're going to be doing anything other than trying to survive for at least the next four years, let alone magically replacing the Constitution with *something better* is so fantastical that it's offensive and my time is worth more than that ridiculousness. 

In the past few days I've slept twice as much as should reasonably be necessary and I'm still tired. 

I've dealt with depression before, but I've never had it hit so hard so suddenly. 

My mother suggested that I just need to 'talk myself out of it.' 

I burst into tears, shouted 'That's the best advice I've ever been given, I can't believe I didn't think of that!' and slammed a door. (I slammed the door specifically because she told me not to. I pay the mortgage. It's my door. I'll slam it if I want to.) So, ...that's going well. 

I feel numb and also as if my nerves are entirely fried. 

It takes a concerted effort not to entirely lose my shit over the smallest thing. 

I usually keep the majority of my politics on Twitter where I engage almost exclusively with folks that I don't know personally.

I'm done playing nice. I've taken it all to Facebook. I've lost at least five "friends" over it, too. 

The example response (middle) to the image on the left is the kind of thing that brought about a post containing the image on the right.

My keep the peace switch has broken ALL of the way off. 

I will no longer offer consideration to folks that they do not offer to others. 

If you are unable to conceptualize that our 'freedoms' ARE political and you think my expression of concern for society due to your inability to care about anyone at all beyond yourself (or even actually understand your own best interests) then you're welcome to see yourself out (it's not an airport, there's no need to announce your departure) -- and I *will* tell you that it isn't the first time this week that the trash has taken itself out. 🤷‍♀️

I did, at one point, suggest that I personally feel that some individuals are unworthy of the work it takes to put on a free and fair election...and some might find that offensive...but you put in a 17 hour day of being nice to and assisting folks only to find out the majority of them voted in a manner that demonstrated a complete lack of respect for the humanity of *several* groups you belong to and see how you feel about it.

I was never actually "friends" with the woman who showed herself before unfriending me, anyway. We became acquainted years ago via a FB game that doesn't even exist anymore. We hardly ever interacted. If I'd previously realized she was the kind of person she so proudly professed herself to be I'd have done her the favor of removing her a long time ago. 🤷‍♀️

Driving home from working the polls, I couldn't help but reflect upon other times when I had worked elections and the results had been, in my opinion, less than ideal. This felt significantly different. It was long before the Presidential race was called, and yet... the offense and disrespect I feel as a woman concerned with decency had taken on a life of its own. 

Immediately upon arriving home I posted a diatribe on FB about my experience that day. 

We had seen approximately 1,500 voters which is a huge amount for that location. There was a line *all* day. ...and even with that many people cycling through, only 3 of them tried to act up. They were all of the same persuasion - you know what I mean, even if you don't like that you know what I mean. Nearly all of the voters were friendly and pleasant. ...to have Ohio called for Trump before we were even released from our duties that evening DID SOMETHING to me. To be called that quickly meant that the vast majority of the folks I'd interacted with that day (as well as their counterparts in other precincts) smiled to my face and then voted against my right to feel safe in our shared society.

It's not a surprise that there are people like that out there, but it's incredibly painful to find them in the majority, especially after all that we have seen in the past few months.

Hours after the Presidential election was called I started writing a letter to my favorite judge. 

This woman, an actual angel, is a Child Protection Court Judge in South Texas. I sent her a Christmas card last year after finding her Zoom court on YouTube. She wrote back offering to serve as a legal field mentor - which, without exaggeration, meant just as much to me as my actual acceptance into law school. 

I'm sure she wasn't *at all* imagining the e-mail I sent her yesterday, which was a three page, single-spaced, 11-point font desperate attempt at stopping a despair spiral and figuring out what the hell happens next. 

I don't have *anyone* else that I think might be able understand what I'm going through right now as far as going from being *so* motivated to suddenly full-stop questioning if studying the rule of law will even be useful in any meaningful way. I keep coming back to wondering if they'll be cutting women's fingers off for reading by the time fall rolls around. 

I expressed to her the irony of being accepted to another law school in the midst of all of this. "Here's $70,000 to study something that won't even exist by the time you get around to using it!" 

...and I don't know anything about this woman's personal politics. I may be wildly out of line here. I'm fairly certain she is in an appointed position and there's absolutely nothing online that indicates her political affiliation. We did exchange RBG stamps, though. So, that's something. 😬🤷‍♀️

She's one of very few bridges I'm still concerned with not burning at this point. It would be somewhat tragic (and hurt my feelings a lot) if she dismisses me as a crazy over this. ...but I'm also kind of 'If you can't handle me at my worst you don't deserve me at my best!' about *everything* right now.

Also not at all about the company that I need to not be myself to keep. 🤷‍♀️

I'm trying to give myself some grace. 

I didn't even take the Constitutional Controversies book to work last night. 

Robespierre came along, but other things took priority. 

I didn't even look at LawHub.

I was working with a Trump supporting colleague who had the nerve to comment on how nice it is that anyone can do anything they want to in this country.

You won't be surprised to find that he's also a white male Elon stan.

He also felt the need to contribute that 180 million (I'm not fact checking his numbers, I honestly don't care) voters 'couldn't be wrong.'

It apparently never occurred to him that something being popular isn't a reflection of its justness. Hitler was popular, too. 🙄

Asking for focus, rationality, AND civility with that going on in the background was just too much.

Liz has been quiet.

With the exception of her (very much expected) Tweet above, there's been absolutely nothing. ...and that's beyond fair. She did everything she could - more than anyone has any right to expect of her, and she deserves a break. 

Since she's clearly *not* going to be Attorney General now, she also needs to figure out what's next.

It's just, selfishly, if you're going to remind me of my duties regarding the Constitution, rule of law, and our institutions...a little guidance on *HOW* we're supposed to do those things would be nice. 😢

Sounds real hard. Like, almost implausible. Send reinforcements.

I have less patience for Democrats like Michigan's Mallory McMorrow who feels entitled to imply that anyone asking any questions about unexpected or unorthodox election results are the equivalent of conspiracy theorists making plans to storm the Capitol. 

Like, for example, it's *interesting* that Democrats won Senate seats in six swing states ALL OF WHICH Kamala lost. Acknowledging this doesn't make you an 'election denier.'

She keeps replying to anyone taking issue with her approach here with a video of a speech she gave following the 2020 election. I recognize that said speech is the most viral she's ever gone, however, Ma'am, this isn't the same thing. ...FFS. 

Same Democrat leaders that had us practically convinced this race was impossible to lose think they can talk down to us now when we're shell shocked and trying to make sense of all the lies we were told by the folks we were supposed to be able to trust.

It's actual bullshit and entirely exhausting.

Ultimately, at least at this point, I feel pretty strongly that I may have worked my last election. 

Whether that be because I'm burnout and disillusioned or because we just don't have elections anymore remains to be seen. 

Coworker says 'he can't see' any way that Trump could do away with elections. ...He also thinks the United Nation's 2030 plan for Sustainable Development is 'the Democrat version' of Project 2025.

When I responded that that interpretation is nearing a level classified as psychotic he said "Democrats like the United Nations."

...this is the electorate.

At this point I don't even know why I'm surprised we are where we are.

[maniculum]

(First, I apologize for the delay. I lost about an hour of research time to an extremely chatty colleague -- I couldn't think of a good way to say "please stop trying to make conversation with me because I'm very invested in finding a thesis on snart for Tumblr".)

Some items from the notes

#oh fuck I KNOW the thesis you're talking about OP but I don't remember the person's name!!!#this is going to haunt me. I can see the person in my brain but I don't remember their name!!!!!#they were (are?) on tiktok or instagram because I saw a tiktok/reels style video from them about their snail symbolism research

@werewolf-transgenderism if you remember, please post it and tag me because this is driving me nuts.

@carryonlikewedidbefore I got stuck on that same Killacky garden-path for like half an hour. "Surely," I thought, "a current PhD candidate who published an article for a popular audience about this topic is more likely than most people to have written an MA thesis about it in the past ten years." It was unusually hard to find as theses go, but I can now tell you that her MA thesis was entitled "Kingship and Warfare in Malory's Morte Darthur" -- a ctrl-F of the PDF I was able to dig up (just in case) indicates that the word "snail" appears in the document exactly zero times.

Also, everyone posting articles and saying things like "I'm not sure if this is a thesis" -- an MA thesis is going to be at least five times as long as those (assuming a longish article and a shortish thesis) and will have a cover page that unambiguously labels it as such. It'll look something like this:

The specific format varies with the idiosyncrasies of each institution, but the cover page is (as far as I've ever seen) always present, and the verbiage is pretty much identical across the English-speaking world.

The book chapter from Whose Middle Ages? is infuriatingly lax on citation, to the point that it is virtually disqualifying by the standards of any serious publication. This is deeply annoying because if they had a bibliography it would be likely to reference our snesis (snail thesis) and the issue would be solved. Of course, if they can't be bothered to write a bibliography, I don't trust that they did any in-depth research in the first place.

Results thus far from my research

Anyway. So far the closest thing I've found to a recent MA thesis on the subject is by the same author of the article I've seen a few people post already -- "'I Have The High Ground!': The Snail and Knight Motif in the Margins of Manuscripts". Her PhD dissertation, completed in 2020, isn't about snails per se, but does spend some time on them. Here's the citation for that:

Shartrand, Emily R. Sexual Warfare in the Margins of Two Late-Thirteenth-Century Franco-Flemish Arthurian Romance Manuscripts. 2020. University of Delaware, PhD dissertation.

You'd think the bibliography from this dissertation would have some breadcrumbs to follow -- if someone's spending several pages of their dissertation on a subject, it's expected that they would have located and read an MA thesis about exactly that -- but the works she cites for the snails* are the same two that you see in every other article on the matter. This would indicate that the MA thesis we're looking for came out after Shartrand had already done the research for that section, which tracks with the timeframe suggested by OP.

* Camille, Michael. Image on the Edge: The Margins of Medieval Art. Harvard University Press, 1992; Randall, Lilian M. C. “The Snail in Gothic Marginal Warfare.” Speculum vol. 37, no. 3, 1962, pp. 358-367.

This doesn't necessarily mean that 2020 is our terminus post quem -- a dissertation is a multi-year process and while it would be expected for a PhD candidate to find this kind of source if it existed when they began their dissertation, it would also not be surprising for said candidate to miss said source if it became available during their dissertation process. So we're still looking at a "past ten years" time frame depending on how long Shartrand spent dissertating. I would actually place our TPQ in 2013: Shartrand has her Curriculum Vitae publicly posted online, and she completed her MA in 2013. Had The Snesis existed in 2013, she would have almost certainly found and cited it during initial research, but if it came out after she began, it would be easy for her to miss it. Unfortunately this fails to narrow the "past ten years" time frame at all.

Now here's a wild swing I'm going to take. OP, is it possible that the document you're thinking of isn't an MA thesis, but a BA thesis? When I was trying to narrow the timeline for when the Snesis could have appeared, I (as mentioned) checked Shartrand's CV. Her BA thesis was entitled, "The Functions and Meanings of the Snail and Knight in the Margins of Manuscripts". This is outside our definitely-within-ten-years time frame (completed 2012), but it would explain why The Snesis is so difficult to find: undergraduate theses generally aren't published anywhere, because they're rarely considered a serious work of scholarship. (If someone does make a real contribution to the field in their undergraduate thesis, they usually recycle the work into some other form later in their career.) So if you wanted to get a copy of Shartrand's BA thesis and see if it's the one you're thinking of, you'd have to ask either Shartrand herself or Barnard College (the institution generally keeps BA theses on file somewhere).

I'm going to keep looking for possibilities other than Shartrand's work, but the Snesis seems elusive and I promise nothing.

Hey @elodieunderglass, other nerds on this webbed site, et al, can I have a signal boost for a very silly request?

you know the motif of snails in medieval art (snart)

I'm looking for a particular master's thesis on this topic, which was:

- probably written within the last 6 years

- definitely within the last 10 years

- the author is probably a woman and

- probably did the masters in the USA

Given snail art (snart) as a topic, there's a nonzero chance the author is a fellow tumblrina

[works-of-magic]

Hello there! I hope you don't mind messages from random first time trainers, but the gym in Hearthome City specializes in ghost types. I know I can't challenge it yet. (I don't even have a full team of Pokemon.) But I would also like to conquer my fear of ghost type Pokemon beforehand. Do you have any tips? - Audrey (kittypokemuses)

Oh, hello! I don't mind at all. :}

First of all, heck YEAH the Hearthome gym specializes in ghost types! Its gym leader is perhaps the one and only singular famous person I keep up with. Her contests appeals are gorgeous, her ghosts are clever and powerful, and she's the only gym leader I've ever battled! You'll definitely want to be in a steady mindset when you go up against her.

I also want to commend you on taking the steps to conquer your fear! That's a brave thing to do, and it isn't easy.

Where you start will probably depend on how afraid you are currently. If you can't be around one in battle, maybe spend a night observing them in the wild. (Though with ghosts specifically, that might not help because they DO like to spook people...) Well, maybe try to find a tame one first. if you can't be around them in person, it might be best to watch videos and get used to them that way! If videos are too scary, there's no shame in starting with calm, still images. And if you can't even look at them, maybe it's best to start by reading about them.

Much like bug types, a lot of ghost types unnerve people because they don't understand them! Learning about them and how they fit in their environments is a good way to foster curiosity and appreciation, even for things that creep you out. You don't have to fall in love with them, but it can help to learn There's A Lot More To Them than being Scary.

As a cautionary measure, I would say... don't start with something like a Spiritomb or Dusknoir. They're rather large and intimidating just to look at! They're not the most social ghosts, and poorly trained ones are prone to behavioral issues. Try to find something like a Mimikyu or a Greavard!

And also, if you can help it, don't assume that they're going to hurt you. The vast, vast VAST majority of ghost types are just looking for a laugh, and it's rare that they'll really hurt anyone! Certainly the more social species like Shuppet and Misdreavus don't mean any harm.

Heck, a Misdreavus can even take your fear away by absorbing it for nutrition! It's their most natural talent! It's a really fascinating process actually, but both Misdreavus and Shuppet have been used as therapy Pokemon for their ability to absorb negative emotions and help the people they're "feeding on" feel calmer.

On a personal note, if you'd like some information on the ghosts in our world, I give talks at smaller local conventions, usually around Eterna City and Hearthome or Solaceon Town or Celestic Town, just wherever I can book on a breeder's budget. I'm networked with a few groups that work to dispel misinformation on them, so if you'd like, I can get you their numbers and websites!

And finally, my breeding center is open to visitors! If you'd like to meet a few friendly spooks, we keep visitation hours. If you're feeling especially nervous, the permanent residents here are all trained to be gentle with visitors if you wear the indicator I'd give you, they know not to startle anyone wearing that. Missie and Starpoint especially would probably love to meet you, we don't have company often!

Anyways, it's really nice to see someone making the effort to undo their fear of ghost types. It's better for both you and the ghosts, and I wish you all the best!