#writing art music crochet knitting editing

[castielsprostate]

having talented friends is so wild!!!!!! like. YOU!!!!!!!!!! YOU made THAT. YOU DID THAT?!?!?!?! YOU created!!!! THAT!!!!!!!!!!! WOAH!!!!!! praise!!!!!!!! praise for one thousand years!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[obae-me]

I have been asked to expand on the MC with trauma scenarios, and you know what, I need the comfort, so let's do it! (No these are not based on myself, I don't know what you're talking about....)

Also I've seen a ton of people's responses to the last one and just know that I am spiritually patting you all on the head and wrapping a soft blanket around your shoulders.

--

MC with ~Trauma~ PT 2!

Imagine an MC who has been mocked, berated, or criticized for their joys and hobbies. They don't do those things anymore or go to great lengths to hide them.

They never share their writing or their art with anyone. They are surrounded by demons and angels much more talented than them. The thing that they felt they were moderately talented in is below average compared to these beings... Everything they create is hidden in secret digital folders or kept in notebooks under their mattress or tucked in secret spots on their bookshelves.

They never sing or dance or play their instruments. They almost avoid the music room altogether. It's almost too painful for them to think about. If they attend a dance they just stand off to the sides... They don't participate in karaoke. They don't hum to their favorite songs.

They hardly cook, or garden, or read, or edit, or color, or knit, or crochet, or embroider, or anything else that they might enjoy.

Imagine some of the nosier brothers not realizing the pain that hides behind their passions and either playfully spying on them or digging up their secrets. Their hearts are fully destroyed when their human breaks down in tears. Now, every single day, every character encourages them to do what they love and giving them private time and space to do it in a place where they feel safe. They all hope that maybe one day MC will feel comfortable enough to share what they love with them but they will never pry it out of them, and all the while giving them the support they need behind the curtain.

Imagine Satan, Levi, and Mammon grouping together and creating a PowerPoint presentation. With Satan's organizing skills, Levi's technological know-how, and Mammon's morally grey skills of espionage, they gather all the characters together and teach a class on what to do and not to do around MC. Things like having a clear voice in text messages to keep them from having anxiety. Or not slamming doors, not entering their room without knocking, reminding them to drink water, knowing when to give them time to breathe etc. Everyone takes it seriously (some might say too seriously), including Belphie who didn't even sleep for a second during the whole thing.

What about an MC who takes on too much and never says anything about it? At first, Lucifer, Barbatos, and to a lesser degree Diavolo, are pleased that they've found a human with a strong work ethic and a love for responsibility. Little do they know that while part of that might be true, they are doing it because they are non-confrontational, a people pleaser, or try to prove their worth through success (or all of the above). They burn themselves out and forgo their other needs to conserve all their energy for the work that's been given to them, and it's not until it becomes a serious health issue that anyone really notices. They all take a blow when they come to know how much they had been pushing a human beyond their capabilities. So they tell MC to do less, not expecting the human to try and convince them that it wasn't an issue, maybe even apologizing for failing. Now they all have to keep an eye on MC and make sure they don't take things too far, and make sure that MC knows that their worth isn't tied to how much gets done in a day and they don't think of them any less for taking breaks or time for themselves. And maybe they all learn to take care of themselves a little more for it too. Especially one work-a-holic demon known as Pride.

How about an MC that hates the way they look? No matter what that might be. Body size, shape, height, skin-tone, skin-color, scars, blemishes, freckles, etc. What if it was drilled into their head since they were a child that they were not beautiful? What if they can't look into the mirror or take any photos of themselves without feeling sick? How about being around a demon like Asmo? Maybe resenting him, maybe avoiding him, maybe wishing they were like him. It probably would hurt Asmo to see someone hating themselves and their body so intently. Maybe it's because it reminds him of himself. Maybe they both have to sit down and rethink what beauty really means? It's a long process for both of them.

All of them work with the human with their image and not in a shallow way like trying to deny the things they have and who they are. They find ways around pictures, because there are more ways to keep memories rather than selfies and commemorative photos.

Or what if:

Beel: *In MC's room.* Alright, we'll just do some basic stretches.

MC: Okay, just tell me what to do.

Beel: Well, if you want, you can put on some music to make it more relaxing.

MC: Music? *Looks a little nervous.* If you want...

*MC then turns some music on their phone on the lowest setting and sets it on their bed.*

Beel: Um...you can turn it up more than that if you want.

MC: Louder? Really?

Beel: Don't you think it's a little quiet?

MC: Oh...um...okay... *turns it up by one more click.* Is- Is that okay? I can turn it down again.

Beel: *Opens his mouth, confused for a moment before shutting it again. In the quickest second, he's in his demon form.* Who do I need to find?

MC: B-Beel?!

[marveltrumpshate]

Want to participate in Marvel Trumps Hate, but don't know what to offer? Think outside the box!

Stumped on what to offer because you don't write fic or draw? Marvel Trumps Hate welcomes a huge variety of fanworks and fan labor (see our sign-up post), so there are different ways you can contribute. You'll be amazed by the breadth of skills, talents, knowledge, and types of creative expression found in fandom!

Here's a smorgasbord of offers that we've either had before or seen people discuss as possibilities for MTH 2024 or future years to help inspire you. What you can offer is not restricted to the list below; these are just examples to get you brainstorming about what you can auction off because trust us, even if you think you might not have something to offer, you probably do!

ART (VISUAL/ILLUSTRATIVE)

Drawings/illustrations

Single-page and multi-page comics

Pixel art

Paintings (oil, acrylic, gouache, watercolor)

Mixed-media artwork on canvas

Ink-on-bristol art

Embroidery on canvas

Pour paint/spin art

Rotoscopes

Digital coloring books

AUDIOVISUAL WORKS

Fan music or filk inspired by characters, ships, or fics

Podfics

Videos (fic trailers, themed edits, vids set to songs)

Animations (making original art/animation or turning existing art into animation)

BETA SERVICES

Editing

Cheer reading

Soundboarding/planning/development work

Fact-checking

Culture-picking

Sensitivity reading

Knowledge about specific topics or experiences (e.g., identities, lifestyles, professions, interests, fields of study)

Research

CRAFTS & MERCH

Candles

Lip balms

Soaps

Stained glass/suncatcher

Scented beanbag-style sachets

Candy/chocolate/baked goods/jellies/sweets

Fic/character/ship/theme boxes (like book boxes)

Pins, magnets, patches, charms, standees, key chains, ring holders, calendars, stickers, bookmarks, temporary tattoos

Sculptures and clay figures

Ceramic mugs and other ceramic items

Apparel/wearable accessories (shirts, jackets, scarves, gloves/mittens, hats, face masks, regular masks, cowls, pajamas/onesies)

Backpacks, tote bags, itabags with custom window shapes, leather dice bags, wallets, pouches/pencil cases

Plushie animal or Tsum Tsum versions of Marvel characters

Dolls (crochet, needle felt, matte board, hand-sewn)

Embroidery hoops/wall art and cross stitch pieces

Jewelry (diamond painting, macrame, metal, crochet, wire, beads)

Woodwork/wood burning (cheese board, box/chest, USB stick, coasters, photo frame, alphabet blocks)

Glasswork

Custom Funko Pops

Paper cut light boxes

Pillow cases, quilted pillows, baby blankets, dishcloth/washcloths, potholders

Handmade leather journals

Linoleum stamps

Dog/cat/pet toys

Artbooks, paper doll books, and coloring books

Hand-dyed yarn skeins

Custom tea blends

DIGITAL (GRAPHIC DESIGN)

Gifsets

Graphics/edits

Mood boards

Photo manips

Fic covers/posters/banners

Icons and headers

Webweaving

Tumblr or website layouts

Digital calendars

Wallpapers

Custom Discord emojis

FAN LABOR & TRANSLATION

Typesetting

Bookbinding

Recipes based on characters, ships, or themes

Names, tags, and summaries for fics

Audio/sound editing and/or soundscaping for podfics

Book cover design and printing

Art/comic/fic translation

Website/game/AO3 skin coding

Fic rec lists

Fic playlists/fanmixes

Knitting/crochet patterns

Art coaching

Help with launching and organizing fan events

WRITING

Fic

Poetry

Meta posts

Social media AUs

Physical letters written by characters to the reader or between two characters

Remixes of your fic or an existing fic with the author's permission

Whether you can do something on this list or something else altogether (we're sure there are a lot of other things that you can do that we haven't thought about or seen before), we hope you'll consider signing up before the deadline: September 28, 11:59 PM ET.

[a-cat-in-toffee]

okay so I'm ginna try to write this in a way that makes sense and you're gonna try to understand it.

so all of the strilonde create, right? Dave with music, Rose with crochet, Dirk with robots, and Roxy with code.

well their forms of creation all exist on some sort of shit fucked political map where the x axis is arts and science and the y axis is physical and nonphysical.

Dave creates with music. artistic nonphysical.

Rose creates with crochet. artistic physical.

Dirk creates with robotics. scientific physical.

Roxy creates with code. scientific nonphysical.

this doesn't exactly completely hold up because they're complex characters with many interests and roxy whole thing is creation but this is actually so important to me and idk why.

edit: I FUCKED UP ROSE KNITS SHE DOESNT CROCHET. SORRY GUYS.

[tamlinweek]

How to Participate in This Event

Character Appreciation Weeks like this one are all about creativity!

If you think you're not a writer or an artist but you still want to participate, consider the following list of ideas!

Writing

Fanfiction (it does not have to be long to count as fanfiction!)

Headcanons

Theories

Essays

AU (Alternate Universe) ideas

Poetry

Song Lyrics

Quotes (especially when paired with a fan edit; see below)

Audio/Visual

Fan edits (aka digital photo collages aka moodboards)

Fan trailers (using existing clips of movies and music to make a "movie trailer")

Fancasts (photos of actors you'd like to see in the role)

Playlists (YouTube, Spotify, etc.)

Art/Photography

Fanart (both 2-D and 3-D; Digital and Traditional)

Pencil/Colored Pencil

Pen and Ink/Marker

Paint (Watercolor, Acrylic, Oil, etc.)

Canva (with photo resources like Pixabay, Unsplash, etc.)

Cosplay (costumes, hair, makeup, nails)

Model-Making

Miniatures (clay, 3-D printed, etc.)

Customized Dolls (e.g. Funko pops, poseable dolls)

3-D Models (Hero Forge, etc.)

RPG Character Makers (Dragon Age, Baldur's Gate, World of Warcraft etc.)

2-D Models (Azalea's Dolls, Doll Divine, Picrew, etc.)

Crafts

Book Nooks

Bookmarks/Book Binding/Altered Books

Pins

Cross-stitch/Embroidery

Knitting/Crochet (e.g. Amigurumi)

Candles

Stained Glass

and many, many more!

There are so many options that don't rely on the use of AI art (which we will not accept as submissions), so please consider making something yourself! And if you can't or don't have time, consider commissioning an artist to make something for you!

We look forward to seeing everyone's creativity!

[lisahafey]

15 QUESTIONS FOR 15 FRIENDS

Tagged by @gentlebeardsbarngrill

ARE YOU NAMED AFTER ANYONE?

Yes! An ancestor my mother was obsessed with, I think the original Irish immigrant in our family to move to Australia. Her name was Eliza, but that didn’t work with our surname so instead I was given one of the most popular names from the year I was born. I prefer to think I was named after my grandmother whose name was Elizabeth.

WHEN WAS THE LAST TIME YOU CRIED?

A couple of days ago when my legs were hurting (I have RA).

DO YOU HAVE KIDS?

Yes! 4! All apparently adult (but I’m in denial)

WHAT SPORTS DO YOU PLAY/HAVE YOU PLAYED?

I used to be both a state level (field) hockey player and cross country runner in high school. I can swim really well too. I started running again a few years back but my knees started collapsing under me because of RA so that really put a stop to that.

DO YOU USE SARCASM?

Like, duh. I’m Australian. I’m using it right now.

WHAT IS THE FIRST THING YOU NOTICE ABOUT PEOPLE?

Their eyes.

WHAT’S YOUR EYE COLOUR?

Blue/grey/green depending on my mood.

SCARY MOVIES OR HAPPY ENDINGS?

I want a movie with a satisfying conclusion. So it doesn’t matter if it’s scary or happy or whatever, so long as it ties up nicely. Like, Saoirse Ronan’s film, ‘Brooklyn’, was really nice right up to the end, and then it left a whole lot of open stuff, and I was like, what was that all about? You know what I REALLY like? Bond films. They end satisfyingly.

ANY TALENTS?

I sing! Oh I also make Electronic Dance Music (I will eventually get around to adding my vocals to them but songwriting isn’t one of my talents apparently)., and you can check it out here - https://open.spotify.com/artist/1WhBvqgiMqgjlAnxoLKVHT?si=CQ24uvluST-ZiTE3ZyUWKA I like to do visual arts too, which is what I studied at uni. Oh I crochet VERY WELL too. Knitting also but not as much as crochet. I write too, which is what I also do for a living.

WHERE WERE YOU BORN?

Australia.

WHAT ARE YOUR HOBBIES?

Social media haha! All of the above in talents, plus I run a music and entertainment magazine which is kinda hobby like except I have to pay taxes.

DO YOU HAVE ANY PETS?

No.

HOW TALL ARE YOU?

5’ 5.5” (this is very satisfying)

FAVOURITE SUBJECT IN SCHOOL?

Art, English, History

DREAM JOB?

I’m doing it! Music journalist. I didn’t train to be one (see art school above), but I used to write the entertainment column for my uni newspaper, and then about 12 years ago I used this background to blag my way into writing for PopWrapped and CelebMix, the latter of which I used to co-edit when it first started, until I started Essentially Pop in 2014. So basically I’m here to say you can pretty much do anything if you want it badly enough.

No pressure tagging!

@edsbacktattoo @chaoticturtleturtle @knotwerk @skrifores @poison-into-positivity @wearfinethingsalltoowell @snake-snack-stede @sonnetforbonnet @ofmdsource @ofmdaily @blakbonnet @merryfinches @snejpowa @daria-meoi @bizarrelittlemew

(Sorry I think some of you have been tagged already!)

[alightinthelantern]

wanted: poetry penpals/friends

I am a poet and visual artist who's looking for poetry pen pals, people to chat with about poetry and literature. Other potential topics include art cinema, visual art, history, music (I love romantic classical, ethnic, indie, and folk music), good novels, D&D, and general life things, but poetry is my main passion right now. I am also willing to listen to you talk about crafts like knitting, crocheting, sewing, etc. although I know nothing about these things. I am 30 years old but am open to chatting with anyone of any age as long as they are legal adults, are mature, and don't mind my age. Both fellow poets, and people who like poetry but don't write it themselves, are both welcome, but for fellow poets I am seeking people who write reasonably mature poetry, not stereotypical angsty teenage vent poetry.

Edit: minimum age for pen pals is now 21. Preferred age is 24+.

My modes of communication are tumblr, instagram, reddit, discord, and email. I am also willing to write and send physical letters through the mail sometimes but I'm not enthused about the idea.

My own poetry can be found at @awindyattic.tumblr.com My art instagram is @oceanforsail My discord handle is @BeltaneBugle My reddit handle is @Ok_Usual_669 My email or physical address will be provided only if asked for via private message on any of these sites.

Note: I don't like video games, sports, or TV shows, and am not interested in discussing these topics.

I am a friendly, intelligent, caring, earnest person, so please give me a try if any of this sounds at all interesting.

[rainbowninja00]

I just looked at some of my pre-covid writing and literally cringed.

that was painful but not the worst, I'm proud of how far I've come and I think younger me did good for being in grade 10 and suffering from anxiety.

remember! your old work is something to be proud of, more than anything it shows how much you've grown and will continue to grow! this applies to anything you create, art, writing, singing, dancing, crocheting, knitting, acting, cosplay, editing, ETC!

you write bad fanfic, draw shitty fan art, wear cringe cosplays, sing off-key, dance to no rhythm, make cringy edits of your favourite characters, audition for that play or musical, knit that scarf with an atrocious colour pattern, whatever makes you happy!!!

[stargatelov3r]

tag game !! thanks for tagging me @sassycordy <3

were you named after anybody?

nope! my parents tried to give me a name that couldn't be shortened. but i rarely use it anymore xD and i named myself after... myself i guess?

when was the last time you cried?

oohhh good question, i always forget. I think maybe like three weeks ago? i read "The Panopticon" by Jenni Fagan (tw: substance abuse, child prostitution, child abuse, self harm, suicide, mental illness, animal cruelty and i'm sure i'm forgetting a bunch) and it just absolutely drained me. It's a fantastic book, but also very very very emotional.

do you have kids?

nope!

do you use sarcasm a lot?

no.

what sports did you play/have you played?

i did figure skating for like ten years, then basketball, that's about it. Nowadays I don't really do anything except that i go everywhere in my town by bike.

what’s the first thing you notice in somebody?

um... clothes i think?

eye color?

blue

scary movies or happy endings?

happy endings allll the way. or at least good endings. but yeah scary movies are not for me (also why are these the two ends of the spectrum? akdjhfksda)

any special talents?

talents as in inately given abilites? i'm not sure. but I think i'm fairly good at writing, drawing (if i do it), and i'm a pro in getting passionate about things. I guess you could call that a talent

where were you born?

my grandparents house

what are your hobbies?

fandoms, writing, reading, art, crocheting, knitting, editing, trying not to kill my plants, singing, music in general...

do you have pets?

i have plants and they have names

how tall are you?

5’2 / 160cm

favorite subject in high school?

German and English I think

dream job?

owning/working in a book shop/book café or librarian (yes i'm probably romanticizing this but LISTEN i would love to do that shit <3)

no pressure tagging: @foxmuld3r, @kira-nerys-rocks, @wonkyelk, @aurelia-which-means-sunrise

[babyvampirefangs]

i would like to add that this 100% applies to writing or literally any form of art. i found writing a lot easier if i just. put words onto the paper

just write, if you want to go back later and edit it? awesome!!

but remember to do art--which could be painting or drawing or writing or making music or crocheting or knitting or making jewelry or sewing or anything--for you, do it to make you happy, don't do it because that one person or that group of people is pressuring you

who cares if you write fanfiction? does it make you happy?

who cares if your crochet sweater is a bit wonky? did making it make you happy?

who cares if your song doesn't sound exactly how you want it? did you have fun making it?

your colours don't match? statement piece! its unique to you

do not let yourself feel like people are entitled to your time and creativity, do things at your own pace

Does doing art feel too hard? Can't bring yourself to start even though you want to?

Lower your standards

And more importantly, Lower your expectations

Just start it. You can just put down some colors, or just sketch, or just do lineart. It doesn't have to be more than this. Even starting is enough. Don't think about all the work you need to put into it. Don't set unnecessary expectations for your art.

If you get some sketches going but decide to do something else, that's perfectly okay. If you get to coloring but leave it halfway, that's perfectly okay. There's also no wrong way to start an artwork. And don't second guess what to draw first, because you can draw whatever you want and you can always draw other things some other time. You can start on an idea and abandon it, or move onto the next idea. You can always come back to unfinished artworks. But you don't have to do that either. An unfinished work isn't a failure. It's just a memory

If you want to draw, just draw. It doesn't need to be more than that

[iviarelleblr]

Do you have medium of choice, art wise? Are there any rules to what you consider art?

(I'm bored and it got me thinking.)

For things I'm taking in, I find reading non-graphic stuff easier than anything with visuals or audio. Something about my brain wiring, possibly my lack of mental images, means I use far less energy-effort to process material I read as printed words. When all else fails, I can usually read. When I can't read, I know I'm in trouble.

For creating, my preferred medium is knitting. Once in a blue moon I'll write a couple hundred words of standalone, just exploring one sudden flash of inspiration... but most of my creative drive is for fiber art. Knitting's what I'm most familiar with and most comfortable improvising within to meet my project needs, but I'm able to follow a crochet pattern as well as cross stitch, and theoretically embroidery though I haven't done much of that yet at all. I can doodle as long as I have references or can remember enough detail to reconstruct a reasonable likeness but without mental images I get stuck very quickly with making any sort of flat or rendered visual art at scale so I've never spent much time refining those skills. I could probably do audio edited stuff because I could listen for cues, but I would never be able to do video essay type stuff because I struggle to create or conceptualize what images to put on the screen to back up any points I might have.

As for rules... I guess tl;dr art is messy. In my heart, my definition is more restrictive, but I'm trying to pry that space open to accepting damn near anything a person's put thought into. There's the drawing and the knitting and the sewing and the 3D stuff, sure, but I also think there's beauty in a data table. I don't think algorithmically generated images or music are art inherently, because it's not thinking about what to do, it's just procedurally generating what it expects to be the next desired pixel based on what was approved and denied in its training schema, it's following patterns and algorithms not thinking, not creating. It's why I refuse to call these algorithms "intelligent" when they're functionally no different from what existed five or ten years ago, they're just fancier and require bigger computers to run but they're not actually smarter. If they produce anything that humans can interpret as art, it's not because of any algorithm's inherent values, it's because it's interpreting many thousands of pieces of human art, and I think that's an important difference to keep forefront in our dealings. And, that training material raises ethical questions that I think need to be reckoned with before I'd ever feel comfortable with its propagation. But, if a human takes a generated image from an ethically trained algorithm, and recontextualizes it, edits this or that piece of it to make more sense, gives it a title and a placement and a purpose, I think that it can become art, just like humans taking modem noises and making electronic music can become art. Handing a chimpanzee a camera and its finger hitting the capture image button accidentally is not art, but if a chimpanzee could be taught what pictures mean, if they could hit the button with intent to capture that moment, or if a person made some meaningful alteration to the image or like, handed the camera a certain way to ensure they'd capture the image as a candid, I think it could be. It's messy and I don't think I'd want it any other way.

[etaleah]

You Can Instantly Become a Master in One of These Overnight. Which One Do You Choose?

[tethered-heartstrings]

Poetry or writing or drawing or sculpting or painting or photographing or digital or sewing or knitting or crocheting or graffiti or music or film or editing and every other form of art I didn't mention. Keep making art! Keep making the world better and brighter and softer and nicer and more beautiful.

[katyobsesses]

Katy my darling <3 I have a very fun ask for you!! What method of arts do each glee characters prefer and what is their favorite thing to create?

oooooo this is a fun ask!

I'm gonna do S2 New Directions for now, but may add S3-6 ND or other characters later 💛 (warning... this is LONG)

Artie: Film. 100% film. He loves using visual media to tell a story, he also really gets into the sound design side too when he learns it in College. He loves making music videos and after Uni that's mostly what he does. He also directs a lot of movie musicals and musical TV shows. Basically he loves making visual media for songs.

Blaine: Performing - mostly singing. He also love writing songs, which we never see in the show but I can imagine him learning about songwriting in NYU and loving it as a way to express his feelings. it's like a step up from using someone else's words to express them.

Brittany: Obviously dancing! I like to think that after marrying Santana she either goes to college for Dance, or maybe owns a dance studio/goes on tour with Mercedes a lot (with Santana as a guest singer) She really loves teaching little kids how to dance, she knows how to interact with them on their level and the kids love her.

Finn: Singing? I honestly can't think about what he likes. Like singing is the closest thing. He sings in the shower a lot and obviously he loves singing on stage. But he's not that much of an art person outside of that. He likes consuming it but not making it.

Kurt: Sewing, obviously, as well as sketching clothes. He loves making accessories for friends - scrunchies for the girls, bow ties for Blaine, a dog bandana for Sam's golden retriver (because you know he gets one) etc. - but he also loves designing and making costumes for small productions. Maybe he volunteers/works with a small theatre troop and makes & designs all of the costumes while also performing.

Mercedes: Mercedes likes making cards for everyone for Christmas and Birthdays. It started because she'd forgotten to buy a card for someone but had some card and pretty pens on hand and it spiralled from there. She now owns a fancy die pressing kit and lots of card toppers and pretty glitter pens and washi tape and all of that. She has a small kit she brings on all of her tours, it helps relax her after a show - making cards for the crew as a thank you/maybe selling some for charity because she makes so much? When she finally gets back together with Sam they both work together to make Christmas cards from them with cute pictures of themselves in terrible christmas jumpers and their golden retriver in a Kurt made bandana and later their kids in matching outfits.

Mike: Like Brittany he's a dancer first and formost. That's his art. He later goes on to be a professional on Dancing With The Stars where he reconnects with Matt on set (maybe they even get together in the end and the DWTS fans love their relationship and their jokingly competative instagram stories) He loves creating a story with only movement and music. Mike also really likes doodling.

Puck: Photography. I don't know why but I see Puck loving to take pictures of places he visits in his travels. He also scrapbooks but only Quinn knows that - he has a whole scrapbook of pictures of Beth that Shelby sends them and later makes them for all of his other kids too, and he has, like, travel journals and scrapbooks of roadtrips he's been on. Basically he's a Bullet Journal guy. He really likes washi tape and pretty papers and stickers and what-not. He will never admit this.

Quinn: Quinn's a writer. In my head she goes on to write a book that's losely based on her high-school years and it becomes a best seller and is later adapted into a Netflix series directed by Artie. I just like the idea! Maybe Rachel plays, like, the Miss Pillsbury character... or Terri! Or maybe Shelby? I dunno one of the adult characters.

Rachel: Obviously her art of choice is performing. It's singing and acting and standing on a stage or a set and making the words in her script her own. Also scrapbooking/moodboard making.

Santana: Santana likes knitting. She won't admit it but she likes knitting little plushies for Brittany, her favourite is a little bi flag coloured bunny. She makes knitted plushies and blankets for all of her friends when they have kids but she never tells them she made them - everyone knows though, they're too perfect for the couple/person (a cat in a scarf or a toy poodle in a bow tie for Klaine, a teddy adorned with gold stars for St. Berry etc. etc.)

Sam: This could be an essay for me (and kinda is opps). Sam is the Art nerd of the group and tries every type of art he possibly can. Macaroni art, illustration, digital art, traditional art, crafts, pumpkin carving, glass blowing, handlettering, graphic design, knitting, crochet, rag rugs, sewing, card making, pyrography, etc. He will try everything he can in terms of visual art. He doesn't, however, write because dyslexia, and he can't wrap him mind around, like editing and film stuff - he does try though because why not. He also really likes songwriting and music arranging.

All of this i'm trying to do as close to canon as i can but going off of canon let's say Sam goes to Parsons for illustration because he's so good at art, he stays with Mercedes in her brownstone and they never break up, after graduating he becomes a comic book illustrator (which i believe is literally a minor at Parsons, so let's say he does a Major in Fine Art/Illustration with a Minor in Comic illustration) and illustrates a run of Young Avengers comics and becomes a fan favourite artist.

In canon, however, he loves teaching the new generation of New Directions but he misses art because he doesn't have that much time anymore (because being the teacher of the new directions is a full time job, apparently, judging by the lack of adult friends or hobbies Will has lol) he loves loves loves arranging music, however, and that becomes the type of art he does the most. He does doodle a lot during faculty meeting (also he does a music teaching certification during his first few years of coaching the nNDs) and goes all out with pumpkin carving at Halloween, and loves decorating his apartment and the choir room at Christmas. He loves doing sets for the musical (and has a lot of fun staging it too) and helps out with the decorations for Prom.

Basically Sam loves to be creative in any way he can. He loves making things, whatever they may be.

Tina: Tina writes fanfiction and draws fanart. She's a nerd 100%, she watched Supernatural, she was a SuperWhoLockian, she loves Merlin, she's loves Twilight but more ironically than, say, Mercedes, and prefers books like Morganville Vampires or PC Cast's series that I've forgotten the name of. She loves the Hunger Games and Firefly and Star Trek and Star Wars. She definately has a tumblr. She mostly writes all sorts of fanfiction and is a huge name in the Supernatural fandom. Only Sam and Blaine know about all of this becuase they found one of her Star Wars fanfictions and in an authors note she said something that they recognised - idk she ranted about Santana or Rachel or something.

This was so much fun omg, thank you for the ask Myle 💛

[mr-entj]

Mental Health Wellness Tips for Quarantine

Sharing a piece a clinical psychologist in my network published.

______________

After having thirty-one sessions this week with patients where the singular focus was COVID-19 and how to cope, I decided to consolidate my advice and make a list that I hope is helpful to all. I can't control a lot of what is going on right now, but I can contribute this.

Edit: I am surprised and heartened that this has been shared so widely! People have asked me to credential myself, so to that end, I am a doctoral level Psychologist in NYS with a Psy.D. in the specialities of School and Clinical Psychology.

1. Stick to a routine. Go to sleep and wake up at a reasonable time, write a schedule that is varied and includes time for work as well as self-care.

2. Dress for the social life you want, not the social life you have. Get showered and dressed in comfortable clothes, wash your face, brush your teeth. Take the time to do a bath or a facial. Put on some bright colors. It is amazing how our dress can impact our mood.

3. Get out at least once a day, for at least thirty minutes. If you are concerned of contact, try first thing in the morning, or later in the evening, and try less traveled streets and avenues. If you are high risk or living with those who are high risk, open the windows and blast the fan. It is amazing how much fresh air can do for spirits.

4. Find some time to move each day, again daily for at least thirty minutes. If you don’t feel comfortable going outside, there are many YouTube videos that offer free movement classes, and if all else fails, turn on the music and have a dance party!

5. Reach out to others, you guessed it, at least once daily for thirty minutes. Try to do FaceTime, Skype, phone calls, texting—connect with other people to seek and provide support. Don’t forget to do this for your children as well. Set up virtual playdates with friends daily via FaceTime, Facebook Messenger Kids, Zoom, etc—your kids miss their friends, too!

6. Stay hydrated and eat well. This one may seem obvious, but stress and eating often don’t mix well, and we find ourselves over-indulging, forgetting to eat, and avoiding food. Drink plenty of water, eat some good and nutritious foods, and challenge yourself to learn how to cook something new!

7. Develop a self-care toolkit. This can look different for everyone. A lot of successful self-care strategies involve a sensory component (seven senses: touch, taste, sight, hearing, smell, vestibular (movement) and proprioceptive (comforting pressure). An idea for each: a soft blanket or stuffed animal, a hot chocolate, photos of vacations, comforting music, lavender or eucalyptus oil, a small swing or rocking chair, a weighted blanket. A journal, an inspirational book, or a mandala coloring book is wonderful, bubbles to blow or blowing watercolor on paper through a straw are visually appealing as well as work on controlled breath. Mint gum, Listerine strips, ginger ale, frozen Starburst, ice packs, and cold are also good for anxiety regulation. For children, it is great to help them create a self-regulation comfort box (often a shoe-box or bin they can decorate) that they can use on the ready for first-aid when overwhelmed.

8. Spend extra time playing with children. Children will rarely communicate how they are feeling, but will often make a bid for attention and communication through play. Don’t be surprised to see therapeutic themes of illness, doctor visits, and isolation play through. Understand that play is cathartic and helpful for children—it is how they process their world and problem solve, and there’s a lot they are seeing and experiencing in the now.

9. Give everyone the benefit of the doubt, and a wide berth. A lot of cooped up time can bring out the worst in everyone. Each person will have moments when they will not be at their best. It is important to move with grace through blowups, to not show up to every argument you are invited to, and to not hold grudges and continue disagreements. Everyone is doing the best they can to make it through this.

10. Everyone find their own retreat space. Space is at a premium, particularly with city living. It is important that people think through their own separate space for work and for relaxation. For children, help them identify a place where they can go to retreat when stressed. You can make this place cozy by using blankets, pillows, cushions, scarves, beanbags, tents, and “forts”. It is good to know that even when we are on top of each other, we have our own special place to go to be alone.

11. Expect behavioral issues in children, and respond gently. We are all struggling with disruption in routine, none more than children, who rely on routines constructed by others to make them feel safe and to know what comes next. Expect increased anxiety, worries and fears, nightmares, difficulty separating or sleeping, testing limits, and meltdowns. Do not introduce major behavioral plans or consequences at this time—hold stable and focus on emotional connection.

12. Focus on safety and attachment. We are going to be living for a bit with the unprecedented demand of meeting all work deadlines, homeschooling children, running a sterile household, and making a whole lot of entertainment in confinement. We can get wrapped up in meeting expectations in all domains, but we must remember that these are scary and unpredictable times for children. Focus on strengthening the connection through time spent following their lead, through physical touch, through play, through therapeutic books, and via verbal reassurances that you will be there for them in this time.

13. Lower expectations and practice radical self-acceptance. This idea is connected with #12. We are doing too many things in this moment, under fear and stress. This does not make a formula for excellence. Instead, give yourself what psychologists call “radical self acceptance”: accepting everything about yourself, your current situation, and your life without question, blame, or pushback. You cannot fail at this—there is no roadmap, no precedent for this, and we are all truly doing the best we can in an impossible situation.

14. Limit social media and COVID conversation, especially around children. One can find tons of information on COVID-19 to consume, and it changes minute to minute. The information is often sensationalized, negatively skewed, and alarmist. Find a few trusted sources that you can check in with consistently, limit it to a few times a day, and set a time limit for yourself on how much you consume (again 30 minutes tops, 2-3 times daily). Keep news and alarming conversations out of earshot from children—they see and hear everything, and can become very frightened by what they hear.

15. Notice the good in the world, the helpers. There is a lot of scary, negative, and overwhelming information to take in regarding this pandemic. There are also a ton of stories of people sacrificing, donating, and supporting one another in miraculous ways. It is important to counter-balance the heavy information with the hopeful information.

16. Help others. Find ways, big and small, to give back to others. Support restaurants, offer to grocery shop, check in with elderly neighbors, write psychological wellness tips for others—helping others gives us a sense of agency when things seem out of control.

17. Find something you can control, and control the heck out of it. In moments of big uncertainty and overwhelm, control your little corner of the world. Organize your bookshelf, purge your closet, put together that furniture, group your toys. It helps to anchor and ground us when the bigger things are chaotic.

18. Find a long-term project to dive into. Now is the time to learn how to play the keyboard, put together a huge jigsaw puzzle, start a 15 hour game of Risk, paint a picture, read the Harry Potter series, binge watch an 8-season show, crochet a blanket, solve a Rubix cube, or develop a new town in Animal Crossing. Find something that will keep you busy, distracted, and engaged to take breaks from what is going on in the outside world.

19. Engage in repetitive movements and left-right movements. Research has shown that repetitive movement (knitting, coloring, painting, clay sculpting, jump roping etc) especially left-right movement (running, drumming, skating, hopping) can be effective at self-soothing and maintaining self-regulation in moments of distress.

20. Find an expressive art and go for it. Our emotional brain is very receptive to the creative arts, and it is a direct portal for release of feeling. Find something that is creative (sculpting, drawing, dancing, music, singing, playing) and give it your all. See how relieved you can feel. It is a very effective way of helping kids to emote and communicate as well!

21. Find lightness and humor in each day. There is a lot to be worried about, and with good reason. Counterbalance this heaviness with something funny each day: cat videos on YouTube, a stand-up show on Netflix, a funny movie—we all need a little comedic relief in our day, every day.

22. Reach out for help—your team is there for you. If you have a therapist or psychiatrist, they are available to you, even at a distance. Keep up your medications and your therapy sessions the best you can. If you are having difficulty coping, seek out help for the first time. There are mental health people on the ready to help you through this crisis. Your children’s teachers and related service providers will do anything within their power to help, especially for those parents tasked with the difficult task of being a whole treatment team to their child with special challenges. Seek support groups of fellow home-schoolers, parents, and neighbors to feel connected. There is help and support out there, any time of the day—although we are physically distant, we can always connect virtually.

23. “Chunk” your quarantine, take it moment by moment. We have no road map for this. We don’t know what this will look like in 1 day, 1 week, or 1 month from now. Often, when I work with patients who have anxiety around overwhelming issues, I suggest that they engage in a strategy called “chunking”—focusing on whatever bite-sized piece of a challenge that feels manageable. Whether that be 5 minutes, a day, or a week at a time—find what feels doable for you, and set a time stamp for how far ahead in the future you will let yourself worry. Take each chunk one at a time, and move through stress in pieces.

24. Remind yourself daily that this is temporary. It seems in the midst of this quarantine that it will never end. It is terrifying to think of the road stretching ahead of us. Please take time to remind yourself that although this is very scary and difficult, and will go on for an undetermined amount of time, it is a season of life and it will pass. We will return to feeing free, safe, busy, and connected in the days ahead.

25. Find the lesson. This whole crisis can seem sad, senseless, and at times, avoidable. When psychologists work with trauma, a key feature to helping someone work through said trauma is to help them find their agency, the potential positive outcomes they can effect, the meaning and construction that can come out of destruction. What can each of us learn here, in big and small ways, from this crisis? What needs to change in ourselves, our homes, our communities, our nation, and our world?

(x)

[willow-salix]

I'm gonna give out the best advice I've ever had...

No one is ever too good to stop learning, stop striving, stop pushing themselves to do better, to improve.

This goes for every area of your life, the more you practise, the better you will get. But you also have to wish to improve, to learn new skills and to listen to others, practicing on your own will keep you at the peek of your current ability, it won't help you to reach that next level or your full potential.

One of the reasons I, as a witch, have never felt the need to join a Tradition, is because I like to keep all my options open. I like to talk to different people, learn new ways of working and to find my own style that works for me.

That goes for anything, drawing, writing, crochet, knitting, dancing, playing music, singing, anything.

There is a certain pride that comes from being "self taught" but the reality is often that by being self taught you miss important steps that you need to know in order to have your work be the best it can be.

As a writer you can have a natural flair for words, yes, but you also need to take some lessons or at the very least read writing tips, learn the basics, get beta readers and learn to craft a good product.

With art you can have a natural flair but you still need to learn basic skills to start with and then more as you advance.

As a musician you could have a natural talent with music, but you still have to take lessons to learn how to play your instrument, how to read music and keep practicing daily.

By thinking you are too good to learn, by being big headed enough to think that you don't need help or an objective eye you are basically cheating yourself and your audience.

Harsh reality incoming, it doesn't matter how long you have been doing something, it doesn't matter how many years you have been practicing your music, writing your stories or drawing your pictures. None of that matters if you don't have the basic knowledge you need. Quantity does not equal quantity.

If you never use guides to constructing a face you can kid yourself that it's just your style and that you like to draw this same face over and over, and yes, you might get great at drawing that one face, but you'll still be making the same mistake.

If you don't learn proper story construction and writing rules you will just be repeating the same mistakes over and over, you'll be writing the same stories just jazzed up with a different name. If you don't learn how to write different characters or emotions you'll be writing the same type of two dimensional versions for the rest of your life.

I'm here to tell you today that there is no shame in asking for help, there is no shame in watching tutorials or reading tips or asking others for their opinions and to check your work, because you will not see the flaws in your work because you will become blind to them. This is the same principle as not editing your own work because you don't notice the mistakes as you know the story too well.

People can still be an amateur twenty years into their career if they haven't learnt to spot their mistakes and work on them.

So I'm putting this out there now, as someone who has done numerous writing classes, has been taught proper story construction, has learnt how to critique and edit writing work, as someone who has the super power of making any plot work. I am here for you.

Jump in my inbox, send me an ask if you don't want me to know who you are, if you have a question or just need some support and advice. I am here for that shit!!

I am here as someone who wrote a cringey first fic ten years ago, did ten years of character development in role play, who did four years of writing classes, has written 7 books and a far too much fan fic to be considered healthy in too short a space of time, I am here to help because I've been there, done that and made all the mistakes so I can help you see yours.

Never be afraid to reach out to other creative people, never be afraid to throw a drawing at someone and ask them how to fix that one bit that's pissing you off. Never be afraid to show a chapter or a plot that isn't working and ask for help and advice, because that shows you want to learn, that shows you want to get better. That shows you are human.