#my rule is going to be put it in the amazon wishlist and if it’s still there and i still want it the next time i’m in there adding stuff

[fingertipsmp3]

Okay what do we consider to be an impulse buy though. Because I’m thinking about buying a waterpik flosser thing but is that an impulse buy or is it actually going to improve my life

[morningstarlucemon]

Cheap Sketches!

Okay, i need the money to come in a LOT faster. So-- i'm offering in-stream sketches for $30 a piece. I'll work on them for approximately 30 minutes, and they'll mostly look similar to the example above. Rules -- 1.) ONLY contact me via my Discord: shinigami_of_excellence . I MAY NOT SEE YOUR REQUEST OTHERWISE. 2.) Accepted payments: PayPal, KoFi, Patreon donation, GoFundMe donation, and Amazon List Purchases. You will need to send me a screenshot or other confirmation of payment (your name as it will show up in the received payment). 3.) Payment up front. 4.) I reserve the right to turn down comms for any reason. Won't do: - animal death/cruelty - non sexually mature characters in sexual situations (littlespace and aged-up characters are fine) - hate art (queerphobia, racism, ablism, etc.) Will do: - almost anything else - Just ask. Worst i'll say is, "No thanks." STREAM LINK: https://picarto.tv/ShiniDraws ___ My partner and I are disabled queer folk facing homelessness. We finally both have emergency plans in place, but we need moving money. We also will likely need to split up unless we can get enough money to get a place together very quickly. We've been together for over six years and we have cats and a dog we take care of as a couple, and we're trying our best to stay together. We need to be out of our current living place by February 14th, and I need to know where I will be going by January 31st. I have until then to earn as much as i can to put towards finding somewhere to live. All funds will go to moving expenses, household necessities, and rent wherever we end up going. My goal is to get to 5,000 before I stop streaming. I will be trying to stream CONTINUOUSLY until this goal is reached. If i am unable to do so, i will take breaks to sleep, then promptly resume when i awake. I'm going to be working on commissions and trades the majority of the time. I'm going to attempt to get as many finished as possible. All donations help, even something as small as $5. If you cannot donate at all, please share this post around social media, discord servers, and anything else you can think of. If you know someone inside the US willing to take in the two of us, our four cats, and my service dog, please contact me via Discord at shinigami_of_excellence . Here are the links to help us: Our GoFundMe: https://gofund.me/4da28a83 Ko-Fi: https://ko-fi.com/shinigamiofexcellence/goal?g=33 PayPal: https://paypal.me/excellentshinigami?country.x=US&locale.x=en_US Amazon List: https://www.amazon.com/hz/wishlist/ls/2CE66WB1CWVZ9?ref_=wl_share Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/shinigamiofexcellence STREAM LINK: https://picarto.tv/ShiniDraws FOR THE CUSTOM ADOPTS: You may request a custom adopt using my pony base or my canine base for $20, or using one of my previous lines from my tummyache adopts for $30. You can suggest any color pallet, themes, or whatever you'd like. I will do them on stream. Simply send a donation with the note "for an adopt," then contact me via Discord. I will also do sketches in stream for $45. Same operation: donate with tag, then contact. Please, please, please. We are running out of time.

Posted using PostyBirb

[pankosmios-girl]

Emma Winchester - the amazon girl

written by Lynn / she/her / 28 / est Indie 'Supernatural' rp, Selective & 20+ inspired by rage with spn for killing off interesting women too soon Follows back from habitualvolunteer Warning: mentions of cannibalism and patricide

Amazon Lore —_—_—_— Pinterest —_—_—_—_— Wishlist —_—_—_— HCs

I’m only willing to RP with partners who are 20+. There’s plenty of talented writers out there who are younger but as someone who is slightly older in the RP community, it’s just what I prefer. If you follow me that’s not a guarantee I will follow back, I consider myself selective, most of which has to do with how much I can handle having on my dash. .

I will block and blacklist you if I see any of the following; racism, islamophobia, homophobia, zionism and antisemitism. I don’t have time for it and I hate that this is something I even have to put a rule about and that the rp community can still be like that in some places. This was usually around when drama posts were being passed around left right and centre a few years back and unveiling some pretty heinous behaviour. .

Message me, do it, I love talking to people and while starters are great talking to each other and getting a feel for our characters together is even better. Please don’t just make it ‘Hi’ though or something stagnant just start yelling at me about muses. I love that kind of thing. .

I can be slow at times but that doesn’t mean I’m no longer interested if it’s been a while feel free to give me a little nudge about things. However, dropping threads does happen at times and if a thread just isn’t working then that might happen but I will always, always message if I’m choosing to do that. Maybe even discussing it again might get the muse for it flowing again, who knows. Really I'm best at keeping in touch through discord and talking things out there. I love casual plotting and just going wild. .

I love making connections, family, friends literally anything, on the aspect of shipping Emma ranges anywhere between 16-25 depending on the season. Check the HCs tag for the timeline thanks to thefallengrace . .

I love OCs and female OCs get so much shit and get ignored and I'm extremely not cool about that. I mean I'm literally making a character because of how pissed I was about her canon treatment, so just know this is a perfectly fine space to chuck ur OCs of any kind at me.

I'm too tired to make her a whole carrd so we're doing rules under the cut this time around

[warmest-wishes-directory]

FAQ

Q: why warmest-wishes instead of holiday_wishes? A: although the idea is taken from holiday_wishes, and much of the structure is lovingly ripped off from it, it’s a different platform with different mods and slightly different rules. Using the same name felt like false advertising. Also, while there is some cultural weight to why we’re doing this in November and December as opposed to, say, July, not everyone celebrates a holiday this time of year. We hope this change will make it more immediately obvious that all are welcome.

Q: who can participate? A: anyone with a Tumblr account. In rare circumstances, a user may be banned due to repeated rule violation. Please don’t be the person who makes us change this rule.

Q: what about under-18s? A: Minors may participate. However, mods suggest that minors only wish for digital gifts or gifts that can be sent without revealing your address (such as via Amazon wishlist). If you’re a minor who wants to make wishes not meeting these criteria, please check with a trusted adult first. Most people on the internet are completely harmless, and some are downright cool. Some are neither of those things, and we don’t want to be the reason you encounter one of them.

Q: what about this person who did this bad thing? A: people you don’t like can be blocked and you can scroll on. If the issue is something like stalking or extensive cyberbullying, contact mods privately to review the situation.

Q: what about people in areas experiencing conflict, like Ukraine? A: sorry for the bad situation. You can participate, but it may be easiest for you to recieve digital gifts (you know your local situation better than the mods do; use your best judgment on what works for you). If you’re sending a physical gift to another country, please let the recipient know you’re in an area of conflict so they know shipping may be delayed.

Q: why do charities have to be registered? Isn’t charitable intent enough? A: the mods have no way of determining if an unregistered charity is real-but-disorganized, or a scam. Either way, it’s unlikely your money will go where you want it to. Likewise, it’s easy for anyone to make a GoFundMe or Kickstarter and claim it’s legitimate when it’s not; scams like this have been around for decades both online and offline, and the mods have been burned by such fundraisers before. To ensure your bank information remains safely in your own hands and your money is going where you intend it to go, we can only allow registered charities.

Q: I want to pick a charity that isn’t one of the usual ones like the food bank or Doctors Without Borders. A: excellent choice! There are millions of tiny charities doing critical work and receiving no press. The simplest way to channel donations for these small charities is to ask for donations to United Way, which pools and distributes donations among over ten thousand small charities. You can also share a small charity that’s local to you, or check out our Suggested Charities list.

Q: do you have to grant a wish in order to have a wish granted? A: in theory, no. In practice, if everyone expects gifts but nobody gives them, then nobody’s getting anything. Don’t grant wishes you can’t afford, but consider at least sending cards.

Q: is there a price limit?  A: in theory, no. The biggest gift ever given on holiday_wishes as of 2010 was a mobile home for a recently-displaced family, complete with Christmas tree and gifts, by an anonymous gifter. In practice, there aren’t a whole lot of people who can afford to give away a mobile home. If you want to use your list for pie-in-the-sky dreams just to put them into the universe, you can! But small-ticket wishes are more likely to be granted.

Q: what if I’m not comfortable giving out my address? A: you control 100% of where your address goes (or doesn’t go) during warmest_wishes—people who want to grant your wishes can contact you through your DMs or askbox to get it. If you’re uncomfortable with even limited sharing, however, digital wishes or asking for wishes to be granted via an option where your address remains private, like Amazon wishlist, may be the way to go.

Q: you didn’t answer my question. A: send a message to the mods!

[tzekkaz]

Unboxing: Various historical wargames

Recently I ordered a number of historical wargames as I figured it is my thing now, fantasy and science fiction wargaming just does not appeal to me now. Some of the rulebooks I ordered were updates or new editions of rulebooks I already own, these are Hail Caesar second edition, Saga 2.5 and Swordpoint. Others are rules completely new to me such as Lion Rampant, L'art de la Guerre and Milites Mundi. I will go into more detail about these games once I have had chance to read them and hopefully try them out.

Hail Caesar is produced by Warlord Games and came with a resin model of King Richard I 'the Lionheart' and a free sprue of Imperial Roman Auxiliaries. Of my numerous purchases of wargames Hail Caesar is probably my favourite for value for money as when I ordered it it was on sale and I had enough points from Warlord games' reward scheme to get a £35 game for less the £20. I already own a copy of first edition, second edition seemed like a natural choice, I had held off buying it for sometime

The second game on my recently bought list is Saga 2.5, from Studio Tomahawk, the book is an update of the second edition rulebook rather than a completely new edition. The FAQs have been folded into the rulebook thus taking away the need to carry a handful of printed pages.

The third rulebook in my list of new editions and updated rulebooks I needed was the Swordpoint from Gripping Beast. The second edition has been out for a while now and been on my to buy wishlist for nearly as long. When second edition was released Gripping Beast provided a free document that allowed players to carry on using their first edition rulebook, this document was very long with the adjustments to the rules, I caved in in the end and replaced my second edition document with a second edition rulebook.

The first of the completely new to me rulebooks is Lion Rampant. produced by Osprey Publishing. I ordered the book through Amazon and the book arrived through the letterbox with an ominous thud! Thank you amazon man for putting a dent in the back of my nice new hardback rulebook.

Next up is Onyx editions game L'art de la Guerre. The book has a nice piece of art on the cover and what I have read of it is a good solid ruleset.

The final rulebook is Gripping Beasts Milites Mundi which is designed for smaller scale models using the Swordpoint mechanics.

Anyway that is all for now, in the future I shall go into more detail with each one.

Stay safe

Happy hobbying!

[maniamega]

HI HELLO SO GLAD YOU ASKED

Let's talk Courting! (Long Distance Edition!)

The main aspects of courting

Gifts

This one is super easy to do over long distance! Amazon has a wishlist feature that allows you to make a list and whoever you share it with can buy off of it! If you don't like supporting Amazon, you can make a google doc wishlist and add links to it when you see something you like online! Your mate wants to be the one to choose the gift? Easy peesy. Here's a guide on how to send something larger than a letter in the mail: Step 1: Choose gift! Step 2: Go to the post office to pick up a box big enough for the gift. Step 3: Package gift! (Add a letter, some teabags, some candy, a poem, maybe some art if you're artistically inclined). Make sure the address you're sending it to is correct! Step 4: Go to the post office to mail your package. They will weigh the package and give you the price based on the weight. If it's light, prepare for $5-$10. If it's heavy, it could go anywhere up to $60+, so be prepared to spend a lot of shipping if its VERY heavy.

Food

This one's a bit tougher to do long distance, but not impossible! You can deliver food to your mate's house through a food delivery app (UberEats, Doordash, Postmates) OR you can even delivery groceries to them through Walmart's (or your chosen grocery store) website/app. If that doesn't sound good, you can always order them non perishables online to send to their house (even in bulk)! Jerky, Japanese snacks, their favorite chips or sodas (wait to open any soda you get in the mail LOL). You can even send them food in the above package, but check you post office's laws/rules regarding food you can send in the mail and NEVER send perishable foods like bread, meat, cheese, etc. Stick with snacks! You can also send recipes in the mail for your mate to try out if they cook at home! Jewelry

Yup, this one is separate from gifts! Jewelry itself can be very personal/personalized to suit you and your mate.

Here are my recommendations: Necklaces! Similar to a collar, a necklace can be ornate or a more practical simple chain or charm. This is good for couple's who want that added "ownership" in their relationship/dynamic, and it has an added bonus of sitting over the scent glands on your neck!

Bracelets! Decidedly more casual, but still works with that "ownership" angle. You can go with a dainty or sturdy chain, maybe even charms, jewels, or a leather cuff is very popular!

Earrings! Very front and center- my recommendation is gold or silver hoops! Something for nice occasions or even just every day wear (just don't sleep in them)! Earrings are good for being very obvious if you want everyone to see your claim.

Nest/Den Materials

That's right- the big one! Here are some materials to give your mate for their nest/den if they have one! Clothes: You can send your mate your clothes (scented or otherwise!) for their nest/den, or you can order some online that they might like! Hoodies and scarves are my main recommendation since they carry so much scent on them. Blankets: Again, you can send your mate some of your blankets or order some offline! Great for nesting with. Stuffed animals: The same as above! If your mate has a stuffed animal they've been eyeing for awhile, now's your chance! This is great for nests AND dens! Cologne/Perfume: Pick out a cologne/perfume that smells like you and send it your mate's way! A great way for you mate to have your scent on hand for their nest, den, or even just their own clothes!

Letters

This is my own bias, since I've been sending and receiving letters for years, haha! But letters are a great (and inexpensive) way to court your mate!

Since I know sending letters has fallen out of style, here's what you should put on your envelope once you're ready to send:

You can buy stamps from your post office or online (there's more styles available online)! If you order your stamps online, make sure it's from your post office's website/app, as those are the official stamps you can use.

You can (and should) add extra stamps if your letter seems particularly bulky! If you're not sure, add an extra one just in case. If you don't have enough stamps on your letter, it will just be sent back to you.

What to put in your letter:

Letter

Candy

Tea bag/hot cocoa packet

Poem(s)

Drawings

Check what your post office allows to be sent in the mail and DO NOT send unidentified powder. I'm sorry if you have a fancy jarred hot cocoa you want your mate to try, but please don't send it in a plastic bag, haha!

And that's that! If I remember anything else, I'll add on, but for now this is all I can think of!

Happy Courting! ૮ ･ ﻌ･ა

does anyone have any cool experiences with courting or being courted? I'm quite traditional when it comes to this and I'm looking for inspiration especially something you can do online for long distance hehe

[violettelueur]

— ITADORI YUJI + FUSHIGURO MEGUMI + GOJO SATORU + INUMAKI TOGE || TEXTING THEM THAT YOU ARE GETTING HIT ON

↳ featuring : itadori yuji + fushiguro megumi + gojo satoru + inumaki toge from jujutsu kaisen

↳ warnings : swearing + grammar issues

↳ form : headcanons

↳ published : 08 april

↳ pronouns : non specified in headcanon

↳ request : My ask got eaten :( So I'm requesting again! Can I get megumi, yuuji, gojo, and inumaki reacting to their s/o texting them they're getting hit on? As in they're in a grocery store or mall but just away from each other? Thanks! Love you!

↳ barista’s notes : so...i decided to add a man and his cat in my wishlist on amazon, so thank you to the anon that told me about that manga and the other suggestions are on my reading list - i also ordered komi can’t communicate since my cousin told to me read it...so i am going to give it a go...by spending my money on volume one ʕ ㅇ ᴥ ㅇʔ but yeah, i am still thinking about going to central london to get more manga because i am an impatient barista (don’t worry, i am not breaking covid rules since everything will be open on the 12 april by government guldelines) moving on from that, i hope you enjoy your cup of classic black coffee and please come again soon ʕ •ᴥ•ʔゝ☆

When you and Itadori go shopping together, he is the type to go somewhere randomly without telling you because he got distracted by the sweet section of the store.

So overall, you do lose your boyfriend from time to time because of his habit of his - it’s adorable because he has a cute smile on his face when you find him, but you do get a little annoyed when he does it.

So when he went on his own trip, you decided that it was the best time to do a little prank since you just needed him to come to you - also, you weren’t bothered to go find him.

So when you text him that you are getting hit on, Itadori will reply to you with an emoji like this 🤔 or a text saying “Eh? Where are you, babe?”

When you reply to him, he won’t text you back at all because, after one second of you texting him back, he is already behind you with his arms wrapped around your waist and his chin hooked on your shoulder - scaring you slightly.

Itadori will look around from side to side before asking you if you are okay because he thought he had missed the person before he came - which is lowkey impossible because this guy can run a while 10 laps in 3 minutes.

Like he would be like ʕ·ᴥ·　ʔ ʕ´•ᴥ•`ʔ ʕ　·ᴥ·ʔ - where is this bitch?

When you giggle and tell him that it’s a small prank, he will pout at you before calling you a ‘little meanie’ because you are - like why would you do that to your poor axolotl of a boyfriend? Like that is so mean Y/N…

Give him a few kisses on his face and he will 

Of course, after his little whining session, he will show you all the snacks he has picked up for your movie date and how he wanted to pick up more...before you decided to pull that little stunt on him.

So your wallet better be ready for the sweet treats he is going to purchase - sorcerers get paid a lot so….

It’s rare that you and Fushiguro ever get separated during a little grocery shopping trip since he seems like a well-organised person.

What I mean by that is that he will have a shopping list on his phone or one he wrote out before you guys went out - since he just wants the process to be easy and quick.

However, there are times when he does have to separate from you because he missed something from the list - he is perfect with some imperfections.

So during this lovely rare time of him disappearing, you being the wonderful person decided to do the little prank that you have been seeing on TikTok - because you know Fushiguro doesn’t have that app.

So after waiting a few minutes, you decided to message your boyfriend that you are getting hit on by some random stranger.

You know he is coming to find you when you just see the ‘read’ below your text message - he does reply to your message but there are times where you just see that annoying ‘read’

After a few more minutes, you notice a feeling of a hand on your lower back and Fushiguro next to you, who is giving a glare to the side of the aisle that you are in - the poor innocent customer that is a victim to it.

He will ask if you are okay in a softer tone (because you bring out that side of him) and when you tell him you were just playing a little prank on him...he will give you a fed-up look.

However, he would also hide his face in the crook of your neck because he is really shy about how he rushed over to you to make sure you are okay - only for you to play with him.

“Did Gojo put you up to this?”

Yeah, he is annoyed at you but he is happy that you are okay - just let him hold you if he wants to because he deserves to.

SO...when you and Gojo are grocery shopping together, he is the type that will drag you around everywhere, especially somewhere in the bakery section.

Just know there are also times when Gojo will go on a little detour on his own like Itadori - because you are adamant to get the food that you need.

However, what gets annoying is when Gojo gets hit on by other people in the store when you are in front of him - like hello?

So imagine when he isn’t around you…

In the case of that, you decided to have a little payback with him and let him know how it feels, now from his perspective.

When you inform him that you are getting hit on by someone, just know you don’t need to close your phone because he will text you immediately - like within a second.

“Excuse me 😀 send the location honey~”

So when you do tell him where you are located, he will run to where you are with something that he found in one section as a weapon - maybe like a large leek or a cucumber (yes, it does weird people out)

When he finds you and doesn’t see the ‘person’ that was flirting with you, he will immediately ask you for their location - with the little glasses tilt and everything.

When you told him that it was a lie, the seriousness in his face just drops and now he has a huge pout and goes all whiny with you like “honey~ whyyy would you do that to me? Do you know how much I was worried about some random creep talking to you, and you do this to your handsome husband?” - dude...you ain’t even married yet.

He will now cling on to you like a koala, whining how mean you are and how much he is hurt by your actions - so if you suffocate him with affection, he will slowly quickly forgive you.

First I need to point out, texting Inumaki is the most amazing thing on this Earth because he can say what he wants to say - memes, gifs and everything.

Going back to the headcanon, when you and Inumaki go grocery shopping together, it’s basically a little date and the most random visit to the store because you both got nothing planned - probably Maki forced you to go, so you can prepare the hotpot that everyone was planning for.

So when you both decided it was best to split up the ingredients on the shopping list and split up to get the job done quicker, that’s when you get the idea since it was the perfect opportunity.

When you are about done with your side of the shopping, you decided to put your little prank into action - and it’s perfect for you as a couple because you both probably have a prank war going on with each other.

So when you text him that you were getting hit on, Inumaki will send you a whole gif as a response... there is no question about it.

You will probably laugh at it before he comes running in from the side - he is also the type that will slide off to the side before coming back into view as he runs towards you.

“Tuna, tuna?” - I’m laughing as I am typing this.

He is also the type to grab your arms and shake you lightly when you don’t answer quick enough (for him) - he is just worried.

When you laugh and tell him that it’s just a prank, Inumaki will give you a little look - like it is a mix of surprised and just ʕ – ᴥ – ʔ

“Okaka!” - Inumaki will say this to you before crossing his arms in ‘anger’ because he was actually worried… as he embarrassed himself for you.

For him to forgive you, just collect some other ingredients to have tuna mayo onigiri for him - because a way to a man’s heart is through his stomach ;)

© violettelueur 2021 : written and published by violettelueur - do not steal or repost

[writermuses]

Hello friends! I was so burnt out from returning to work I slept about 24 hours total since I got home late Friday night. I've just gone between reading, napping, eating, napping, and yeah... a side slice of naps.

Some reminders:

I only have time to write on weekends now that the school year has started. Any posts during the week are likely something I put in queue or wrote at work while covering a class.

I don't write in any particular order, so please look at the thread tracker if you think I'm missing your thread. DM me if something's wrong. There are currently ~175 replies in my drafts.

Note my rules before you come at me with requests. I'm simply over people using me for my guys or people complaining about how slow I am. There's a lot of other amazing writers on here that are fine with nothing but smut and mega threads and insta-replies. I'm on here for fun, so like, chill please or I'm just going to block people at this point, I guess.

Lastly, Donovan has been retired due to the FC's passing. Please don't try to talk to me about it and no you can't write a kill off of my retired muse.

Random, but I'll just shoot my shot, soooooo if you want to get anything for my classroom here's my amazon wishlist. 😂 the building ran out of desks and chairs so I'm literally about to have kids standing/on the floor. I have more students than ever and we're at about 1/2 our students living in poverty. AKA it's going to be rough, from pencils to snacks, it's just gonna be a lot. So even if you got just a pack of stickers (I put stickers on every assignment because 99% of them just like to peel them off and put them on their chromebooks and love a reward) then that's helping me put money toward something else. ANYWAYS okay byeeeeeeeeeeeee

[ginnyzero]

8 Signs Your Book May Not Be Ready to be Self Published

https://youtu.be/w7NPRA6SgHs

I’ve taken up doing a review booktube for indie SFF books, and have decided only to do 4 or 5 star reviews due to some social pressures being an indie author and also being a reviewer. This means I’ve been SLUSH reading. (You can get lots of indie books free if you trawl twitter and start an amazon wishlist and wait.)

Self-publishing has its pros and its cons. The biggest pro of self-publishing being you are in complete control. The second is anyone can do it. There are no gatekeepers. So, like on a fanfiction website, you’re going to find a range of quality in self-published books. There aren’t any bad books. I personally don’t believe in bad books. There are books that aren’t to my taste and there are books that were published too early.

In order to keep you from publishing too early, here is my list of 8 signs your book may not be ready to publish; a reader’s perspective from already self-published books in author terms because I’m also an author.

1) You have a Prologue

Hold up. Bear with me a moment. I know out there are writers and readers who love prologues. And I can hear you going “Ginny, there’s information in my prologue readers need to know to understand my story!” I’ve already created a post called 8 Reasons Why Prologues Don’t Work. So, you can get into detail with it by reading that post.

So hard truth, most traditionally published fiction doesn’t have prologues. Because agents and editors screen them out. Before you start listing off names, established traditional authors can do pretty much whatever they want because they have followings who will buy their books. You, as an indie author, especially if you are a debut indie author, do not. You’re trying to build one.

Prologues for an average reader for all the reasons I listed they don’t work are a very, very hard sell. Adding in a prologue reeks amateur. I know. That’s harsh. And face it, self-publishing because of the lack of gatekeeping and anyone can do it has a very bad reputation for being vanity projects and ‘complete rubbish’ that ranks only a little higher than fan fiction.

Up your professional look, ditch the prologue.

2) Passive Voice

Obligatory disclaimer of not all passive voice is bad. However, if 75% of your book involves the verb ‘to be,’ telling emotions, filter words (he/she/they looked is my Achilles heel at the moment,) and masses of summarization and list descriptions of everything from chewing the scenery, clothes no one cares about, and character traits, your book needs a serious ‘active voice’ edit and isn’t ready to be self-published.

Passive voice drags the reader into slow motion and ruins immersion by putting distance between them and the main character(s). Sometimes, there’s information being told me to I don’t need to know yet (or at all for the story to make sense,) and other times I’m getting these great scene summaries that I want to see happening in real time with interactions between characters!

I wish I was exaggerating on the 95% thing.

3) Paper Thin Characters

Paper Thin Characters can be a result of passive voice. Or, the result of having a story so heavily plot based the words aren’t taken to flesh out these characters in the first place. 80K words seems like a lot, then you get into the plotting and it can get eaten up very quickly. If you’re self-publishing, well, 80K words is a guideline not a rule and guess what, you do have those words.

The largest thing I notice as I’m reading is the characters have no conflicts given to them. Their personal stakes are non-existent, and sometimes, they don’t have a valid grievance even if they do have conflicts. They don’t like things, they don’t dislike things. They don’t have any fears. Their sole purpose is to move the plot along like robots.

Worse, is if they’re the loner type. Loner types aren’t given a lot of people to interact off of, so they have to be really interesting and intriguing to keep the reader’s attention. You may like or dislike Harry Dresden all you want, however, he reads as a loner type who’s interesting enough to continue reading.

(Until Butcher’s sexism gets to you.)

4) Your plot can be solved with a five minute conversation

If your plot can be solved with two people sitting down and yakking it out for five to ten minutes, then you need to rework your plot. Plots of miscommunication, unless you’re Timothy Zahn, tend to feel incredibly contrived. And I’m talking specifically about plots where people care for one another and are supposedly not talking to the other person ‘for their own good/safety.’ Or whatever petty reason the one character has not to talk to the other person over something really important.

Save it for soap operas.

5) You’ve started the story in the wrong spot

This one is easy to do. It is really easy to start your story in the wrong place. Finding the right place where your story begins is something that takes time, practice, an editor, a few beta readers, and developing your gut and intuition. You may think ‘oh the story begins when so and so comes to town.’ And that might not be the case at all, unless strange or bad things start happening immediately. What is the incident that causes the story to really get going?

Or, you’ve gone too far into ‘in media’ res and have started the story at the climax. In today’s day and age, the inciting incident needs to be in the first chapter, not the fifth.

6) Your book lacks structure and a satisfying ending

This can often be a result of several things, the aforementioned you started it in the wrong spot, or there’s been a lack of development and you’ve got a beginning and middle but you’ve flubbed the landing.

Lack of development can lean in two directions, you’ve got too much exposition and world building and not enough story. Or you don’t have enough exposition and world building to support or explain the story you’ve got and you aren’t utilizing what you’ve got effectively.

Books need structure. They need beats and bones to hang everything else off of them. If your story lacks an inciting incident, rising action, a climax, falling action, and a satisfying ending where most of the questions raised in the story are tied up into neat little bows, then your book isn’t ready to be published.

And it’s possible to get these in the wrong order, see starting in the wrong place. The beats need to make sense as they follow one right after the other and not leave the reader confused. Sometimes, if you’re hopping around back and forth in time this can be especially difficult. If you do this, please, make sure things are labelled clearly.

Or, you’ve decided to cut the story in two to make two books because you want to end on a cliffhanger at the climax to get people to buy your second book. (You’re planning a loss leader.) Please, don’t. It doesn’t work. Stories need clear beginnings, middles, and ends. A cliffhanger works if the story prior to it has been resolved enough the cliffhanger makes sense. If you cut the book in half and leave it at the climax, it doesn’t. Readers can tell.

7) You’ve set up a different story in your plot than the one you’re telling

Foreshadowing. There are times when I’ve read a book where I’ve seen clues the author is putting into the book about the plot, and then we get to the climax and falling action and the author veers off into left field with a totally new plot that I didn’t see coming because it wasn’t set up in any way shape or form in the previous 50 to 75% of the book.

This is not good. This leaves the readers confused and feeling unsatisfied about the story because it wasn’t set up properly. A good twist has a reader going back and looking at the clues and foreshadowing and going “Oh, I get it now,” not going “Uh, where did this come from?”

Beta readers and development editors are your friends for this type of feedback. If they’re telling you your plot isn’t matching your foreshadowing, it’s time to do some thinking on how to make them jive.

8) Lack of Proofreading and Copy Editing

Your book is riddled with spelling and grammar errors. You’ve mixed up homophones and the formatting is painful to the eyes. This just shows a lack of respect for your work and for your readers.

Get thee to Grammarly or another copy editor service for your spelling and grammar and hire an edit to make sure the coffee cup finds it way in and out of your character’s hands!

Writing a book is hard work. Getting a book to where it is publishable is even harder work in order to make it enjoyable and satisfying to the reader. Readers can’t ‘read’ your mind and they need to see things played out on the page and only told information when they need it. So, here are 8 signs to look for that your book isn’t ready to be published from a self-published author, reviewer, and reader.

[cerberuscomms]

DONATION / CHARITY POST!

My personal favorite part about doing commissions is the fact that I can take a portion of the money and spread it out over charities whenever I possibly can. A few dollars here, a few dollars there doesn’t seem like it would amount to a lot of money, but for these non-profit organizations it means the world. It’s the difference between being able to afford medication and transportation, to being able to afford food for all of their residents. I know for some people, these won’t seem like a big deal; it’s not a gigantic push for a global movement nor is it offering aid to people out there. Those are charities that have a good following, who are in the public eye, and who get a lot of traction. Which is a good thing! However, the charities I’m going to be spotlighting (and pinning) on my blog are two animal sanctuaries / rehabbers that are very near and dear to my heart. As you can imagine, since the pandemic has hit and due to all of the wild weather, new state regulations, etc, these charities have been suffering quite a bit. If you could donate anything to them, that would be wonderful. A dollar goes a long way with these organizations. These are people / organizations that I believe in with my entire heart and have been donating my own money to since I’ve been able. If you could check them out, that would be fantastic. If you could SPREAD THIS POST AROUND, that would be so helpful for them. Please note that I have to write out the urls for the charities given Tumblr’s strange rule of not putting things in tags. 

FUZZY FAWN WILDLIFE

A rescue that is very near and dear to my heart, all puns intended. They are located in the Western New York area and mainly take in whitetail deer fawns during the fawn season, but they don’t just stop there. They also take in adult deers that have been injured if they can possibly help them. Of course, these are all for rehab / release, meaning that while they may grow up there (as fawns), they are still released into the wild. There is also the factor that if a deer cannot be helped, she ends their suffering humanely. She doesn’t only just rehab deers, as this year she’s taken in birds, rabbits, foxes, and even some possums and squirrels! Given state regulations this year, she’s gotten more calls than ever and has had to face more diversity than ever. She is an absolutely wonderful woman who’s had a lot of struggles with the pandemic, with having COVID herself, and I have spoken to her quite a few times about questions I have about deers, opportunities with wildlife, etc. 

YOU CAN REACH FUZZY FAWN WILDLIFE FOR DONATIONS @ FUZZYFAWNWILDLIFE DOT COM. You can donate via paypal, venmo, amazon wishlist, etsy, and even patreon! I suggest checking out her instagram for more up to date information on her newest rescues.

ROAD TO REFUGE ANIMAL SANCTUARY

When I tell you that you will fall in love with this sanctuary, I mean it. I’ve been following Peachy the goat’s story for a long time now. If you never thought you could fall in love with one before, you’re wrong. This lovely little girl is a queen and knows that she is. They specialize in taking in animals with “defects”, meaning that most of their goats are either blind or have specialized prosthesis that they use to walk, including wheel chairs! They give these babies the best life that they possibly can, and it warms my heart to see the stories developing. They also take in horses, cows, and a whole slew of animals that they rescue from going to auction, being put down by farmers, etc. This year has been especially rough on this one –– they’ve been hit hard by the past few hurricanes in that area, causing flooding damages to their pastures. They’ve also endured pandemic loss just as everyone else has, and the past few months especially have been incredibly tough. They are all so full of light and optimism here and are doing the best they can with their babies. Truly wonderful people who deserve all the help in the world.

YOU CAN REACH ROAD TO REFUGE ANIMAL SANCUTARY FOR DONATIONS @ ROADTOREFUGEANIMALSANTUARY DOT COM. There’s some neat opportunities to sponsor residents, volunteer if you live close to the area, send them gifts from their chewy wish list, amazon wishlist, etc! Of course, there’s also paypal, venmo, and patreon in order to support as well! If you’d like to see their rescues and them in action, I highly recommend checking out their instagram!

[renlimotroll]

Mintoooosu!!!

Today I'd like to talk about our favorite green robot streamer, Mintosu! 🤖

Our streaming berseker has his own Youtube channel which has over 40,000 subscribers and a Twitch channel which has over 9000 subscribers (as of this writing). 🤖😊

Mintosu-san is a part of BinTRoLL and one of Hana-chan's (voice actor Hanae Natsuki) friends. He often appears at both channels, so please check it out~ （　‘д‘⊂彡☆))Д´)ﾊﾟｰﾝ

He also plays Mario Kart with his subscribers called Mintosu Cup (MCup), every Saturday around 8:00pm JST! 

He often only plays games that he wants to play, and two of the games he is known for is Dead by Daylight and APEX Legends. 

Mintosu has some rules regarding live stream chats and comments, so please read them below. My good friend Shichi let me borrow her translated script (visit her Twitter here!) Let’s all follow the rules so that we can enjoy the live stream together!

Mintosu-san’s Twitter currently has over 48000 followers! Here are the hashtags you can use~

#M教  <--- for tweets during his live streams on his personal youtube channel

#ミントス教 <--- for reactions and impression about his videos and live streams

#ミントス教Art <--- for fanarts and illustrations regarding videos from his personal channels (please only use it for content related to his own videos)

List of links related:

Youtube

Twitch

Twitter

Rules

Amazon Wishlist

(Pictures are from Mintosu's Youtube channel. The thumbnail I used is made by my friend Ken-chan 😊)

🌻Ren's personal opinion corner!🌻

I assure you, you'd definitely enjoy Mintosu-san's videos! His voice is always energetic, and his reactions are funny. You might even learn a thing or two, as he is very skilled and his game plays are so fine, although at times unconventional and a bit crazy hahaha. I love that he is always trolling others, especially his fellow Bintroll members. His friend Akoroshi-san sometimes appear on his videos, and the two of them think at the same wavelength, as they are both very skilled, both in games as well as trolling. (I might make a separate post for Ako-san).

He is also a very serious gamer in a sense that, he's always streaming at any time of the day (a running joke among us is he doesn't really sleep, like a robot he just charges his batteries). He really loves games!

One thing you shouldn't overlook is that although he may be a troll, he's really kind as well. He gets along with everyone and is friendly. His fun nature is a delight in Hana-chan's videos, and sometimes the games they play is a recommendation from him. Though he is Bintroll's resident troll, most often he teaches the others about DbD things (after teasing them of course) and he always makes an effort to include everyone in the conversation (as evidenced when some members appeared for the first time in Bintroll).

Mintosu-san is also very kind to his subscribers. You might find that he is strict about his rules, but that is because he wants to avoid conflicts and for everyone to enjoy. He reads chats and thanks donations mid-stream, which is very difficult to do, and I find that thoughtful. He always reads the comments on his videos and sometimes even reply to tweets! Mintosu-san is really amazing and I love him.

If you're looking for fun-filled videos, do give Mintosu-san's videos a try! Don't worry, even though he's hard to understand (he has his own language, a joke among us fans) (even Siruko-san has admitted that sometimes he has no idea what Minben-san is saying) (Mintosu once said that when he puts subtitles on his videos sometimes he himself don't know what he said), he's really awesome and suddenly you'll find yourself attached to this berseker robot streamer. His addiction for curry, gorillas and games are one of the things I admire about him, and he's an amazing gamer, no doubt! Go check him out! 🤖

Thank you for reading! ~Ren 🌻

[fl-oralfawnarchive]

Fl-oralfawn’s 300 follower appreciation GIVEAWAY!!!

🌼GENERAL INFO🌼

This has been a long time coming but I am finally prepared to start my 300 follower appreciation giveaway!!! I loveeee me the number three, so there will be THREE (3) winners for this giveaway! And it will last for THREE (3) weeks, mostly in order to get the slime to you all in a good state. Therefore it will end 11:59pm EST on September 30th!!

🌼RULES🌼

You must be following me, as this is an appreciation giveaway for my followers. I will check. Please don’t follow just to unfollow it’s not fun!!

You MUST NOT go against my DNI(ÑSFW, l8+, MÄP/NÖP/variants, rádfem, ant! agere, exclúsionist, or a minor in k!nk.) I will check.

DO NOT tag as ‘giveaway’

You must be 18 or older, or have written parent permission to give out your address. I realize this can be faked, but a return address WILL NOT be on the package. If you get in trouble for recieving it, you will be the one to deal with it.

You must be a US resident or willing to pay shipping cost. I’m so sorry, but I currently don’t have the funds to pay for international shipping. 

(edit) If you’re reblogging to a sideblog PLEASE message me with the name of the blog you’re following me with or your entries will not count. (It’s okay if your main is ÑSFW as long as you only interact with your SFW sideblog.)

This is my giveaway and I will disqualify people as I see fit. (I will not disqualify unfairly, but WILL NOT tolerate rules being broken.)

🌼ENTRIES🌼

Reblog this post for 1 entry! You may reblog as much as you like, but if I notice you spamming your followers I will disqualify you.

Likes will not count as an entry, but you are more than willing to like in order to bookmark this post!

🌼EXTRA ENTRIES🌼

Send me an ask for 1 extra entry! Please make the ask contain an actual question for me to answer and put (giveaway) somewhere in the ask! 5 allowed per person

Sumbit something to me for 2 extra entries! Just make sure it’s SFW! 5 allowed per person

Purchase something from my wishlist! 5-9 dollars spent will earn you 5 extra entries. 10-19 dollars spend will earn you 10 extra entries. And if someone is feeling squirrley and spends 25+ dollars on something from my wishlist you will get 20 extra entries! You must send me proof of purchase for the extra entries to be counted!

🌼PRIZES🌼

1st Winner

$75 in any form you like! I can PayPal it to you, buy a list of items off of any online website(provided shipping cost is reasonable), purchase from your amazon wishlist or really anything else you can think of! We’ll work it out!

First choice of 2 1oz slimes(they were bought from Snoop Slimes)

First choice of 1 pack of 96 stickers

1 Shopkins Playpack

First choice of 3 coloring/activity books

2nd Winner

$50 in any form you like! 

Second choice of 2 1oz slimes

Second choice of 1 pack of 96 stickers

1 Shopkins Playpack

Second choice of 3 coloring/activity books

3rd Winner

$25 in any form you like!

2 1oz slimes that are left

Pack of 96 stickers that is left

1 Shopkins Playpack

3 coloring/activity books that are left

[docholligay]

On Doc watching Revue Starlight

HELLO AND WELCOME MY LITTLE TOP STARS, TO REVUE STARLIGHT, SPONSORED BY @yamadara87!!

This is my liveblog of Revue Starlight! Here are some ground...not rules so much as ideas/thoughts for you to bear in mind when watching me, watch this. 

I have seen all of the show ONCE, and the first musical ONCE, and loved it. So this time I’m going through knowing the major twist, and I’ll be spending some time looking for and commenting on foreshadowing, character work, my own personal pet loves, and the revue songs in particular. PLEASE DON’T SPOIL ME FOR THE SECOND MUSICAL OR THE MANGA. I have no idea if this will be a problem, but I’m looking forward to them, and please don’t make me pull an Utena and have to put a giant-ass thing on the bottom of every post. 

I am concentrating specifically on what my sponsor is asking for and looking for to the best of my ability, and within a time frame. This means I might skip some details or story points. This doesn’t mean I don’t know or don’t notice, or even that I’m not interested. It just means I’m trying to compress time. 

Okay, now, here’s the one thing that is KIND OF A RULE. I am allowed to feel however I want about any of the characters, y’all. This became an issue for me with Utena. If I hate a character you love, either block the tag or skip my posts about her. 

On that note, tag to block or follow is #Doc Watches Revue Starlight

Love this, and by extension, me? 

You can support my monthly work at my Patreon including more like this! Get writing, witten pics, recipes, and more!

Did you just particularly enjo Revue Starlightt? Tip me at my ko-fi!

I have a wishlist right here with direct links to non-Amazon companies, and you can mail it to the address below! (a good point was made–if you want to send a food gift, let me know and I’ll give my physical address, since I get to my PO box once a week)

If you want to send me love letters, hatemail, or anything else, my address is:

Doc Holligay

P.O. Box 1621 

Billings, MT 59103

USA

LET US PULL BACK THE CURTAIN AND BEGIN. 

[booksandgeckos]

I was tagged by @foxingfae​, thank you so much!! I love these tag games!

the rules are as follows:

Look at your TBR pile or list

Get 3 numbers from a random number generator (Google it if you’d like to use a different one)

Talk about what books correspond to the numbers you were given. (Why are they on there? Were they recommended to you? Etc.)

Tag people to do the same

On Good Reads I only have 156 books listed as want to read, this definitely doesn’t count everything on my shelf and Amazon wishlist though but hahaha I really need to build that list more.

Book 1 - A Winter’s Promise (The Mirror Visitor Quartet) by Christelle Dabos

I remember seeing this one in a bookstore. I read the blurb and was interested to learn more, it seems very whimsical. I also saw some Booktubers read it and gave mixed reviews, so I want to find out for myself to see what it’s all about.

Book 2 - Putin: His Downfall and Russia’s Coming Crash by Richard Lourie

Adding to my list of books on Russia, I remember putting this one on my wishlist when it was announced. The title is a huge claim in itself so I was interested in the author’s argument, but I’m not sure if I’ll ever get around to it given the reviews.

Book 3 - Six of Crows by Leigh Bargudo

Okay I hear about this series and author EVERYWHERE. I’ve heard many good things about it and want to see what the hype is all about. The premise isn’t very interesting to me, but who knows, I want to be surprised. I placed this on hold at the library and was notified a couple days ago that I can pick it up, so I’m going to read it soon!

I’m interested in hearing what you guys are reading! I tag @reags-studyblr​, @teaandstudythings​, @journals-and-journeys​, @polisciandcoffee​, @coffeeandbookworld​, and @noellethe0l​ if you guys want to do it!

[midwestmontessori]

Montessori Gift Ideas for 2018

There are dozens of Montessori gift guides out there in blogland, so if you’re finding yourself here, I’m sure I’m not your first stop. After all even I have my own gift idea lists from the past several years (2015, 2016, 2017). I’ve also made an ultimate gift-guide for 1-year-olds, a list of newborn essentials, and recommendations for puzzles and fine motor toys for infants up to 3-year-olds. 

Not everything is going to resonate with every person. Children are different, families are different, so I know this won’t be the end-all list for any of you. Gather inspiration, take what is helpful, leave the rest. 

When starting this year’s gift list I thought, “What new do I have to offer you all?” Each year my children get older they have new developmental needs and new interests, so it isn’t terribly difficult to come up with a few ideas to share. However, this year, I’d love to offer not only some material gift suggestions, but also some gift-giving fundamentals that have helped guide our family for the past few years.

Ever heard of the 4 gift Christmas rule? It goes like this: “Something they want, something they need, something to wear, something to read.” We haven’t adopted this, but the idea inspired our own gift “template” as I’ll call it.

Here’s how it goes.

“Big” gift

Smaller gifts (~2 to 4 gifts)

A game for the family

Books, typically 1 each and then 1 for both

Music - CDs, 1 each

Socking stuffers

But before I begin, I want to say that first and foremost, we don’t have our children make wish lists. 

Since the very beginning, we have reject the notion that children should create their own expectation of what their Christmas gifts should be. We know that eventually they will grow to have expectations and wishes, which we will acknowledge. 

Additionally, we don’t take our kids shopping at toys stores or take toy catalogs. We stay away from commercial advertising. Our children don’t watch television other than Mr. Rogers and Mighty Machines so they not only don’t see advertisements, nor do they have the character consumerism influence. Of course we aren’t impervious to consumer culture. Our children still see things in public and the toys their friends and grandparents have. They can recognize Disney princesses and super heroes. We just choose to not let it be a part of our family culture at their ages (3 and 5).

So instead of having our children come up with a list of what the expect, we take what we know about them and what we have observed and choose gifts based on that. This is what parents have to do for infants and young toddlers, we just choose to hold onto that for as long as we can. 

I curate the gifts we plan to give our children as well as an Amazon wishlist which is meant to offer suggestions and ideas, not expectations, of gifts for our families. Our families know us pretty well and have been excellent at respecting some of our family’s pickiness when it comes to the toys that come into our home. For example, we don’t do electronic toys, commercial characters/brands, etc. at this age.

The “big” gift. 

This is something we plan for each of them not based on dollar amount, but on emphasis or magnitude. This is where a doll, pair of roller skates, bike, etc. (for example) come into play. This is the gift that they’ll be most excited about. We pay attention not to give them multiple items that could constitute a “big gift.” We feel that if they receive 2 or more gifts great in magnitude, they begin to expect grandness and things lose their appeal. 

The beauty of going by magnitude instead of dollar amount is that you set the expectation of what constitutes a big gift from a young age, that is, you determine the magnitude. Giving less means each gift means more. A set of spinning tops can be a gift that is front and center, or if they are mixed in with 15 other things they could be the footnote. 

We also often like to build them something to use together. This is sometimes something of greater magnitude but also more practical that we have planned to make them anyway. Christmas just ends up being a decent time to give it to them. It isn’t something we do every year. In the past we have done a table and chairs and gross motor items. These kinds of things I think of as part of their prepared environment. They certainly constitute a gift, but we do get them other gifts.

This year we decided to build the woodworking bench we have been planning to make for them for a while. The one pictured below is from the Lord Company and is sold on their website as well as Montessori Services, who also sells lots of great hand-picked child-sized tools. The bench from Lord is very expensive - made for schools so it is very high quality, probably more than one would need at home. We plan to build our own for much less, though we will use this photo as somewhat of a guide. 

Our kids already have quite a few tools but we will fill in with a few that we don’t. Among those are a hammer, saw, vise, level, safety glasses, hand drill, tape measure, sanding block, work gloves, and containers for nails, screws, drill bits, and other hardware.

Individually we plan to get Charlotte a doll, and Simon a larger vehicle.

Charlotte has enjoyed playing with dolls like this at her grandparent’s homes and also is getting to an age where she is outgrowing quite a bit of the younger open-ended toys we have. She has been exposed to American Girl dolls as well as Barbies (not something I will be offering in our home). I decided on a WellieWishers doll (Willa) from American Girl. It is a smaller doll than the 18″ AG dolls. The books are very sweet: a group of friends who spend a lot of time in nature and work through typical friendship scenarios. The books are simple chapter books - something she will be able to catch onto reading herself in the next year or two - with lovely, simple illustrations. They also have a TV show on Amazon Prime that I have begun watching with her. They are short 10-minute episodes that are essentially short stories similar to those told in the books. The animation is simple and mimics the illustrations from the books. 

I went back and forth about whether to begin such a “grown-up” girly thing to be involved in, I ultimately decided that she will very much enjoy and identify with these characters. She is learning to navigate friendships and could benefit from some problem-solving examples, acting things out, etc. Plus she will be able to relate with the other girls who have dolls, though hers may not be the same kind as theirs. I am pleased with my choice and I feel as though if nothing else it is benign and won’t be anything harmful. We won’t be subscribing to the catalog and we won’t be buying many accessories. We plan to keep it simple.

We decided on a Bruder semi-truck with flatbed trailer and backhoe for Simon. He loves vehicles and plays with his larger ones more often, so we decided something like this would be something he would enjoy. We opted for something high quality because we know it will get a ton of use and also because Bruder seems to have the most true-to-life vehicles out there.

Smaller gifts

Aside from the main gift, we also get them a few smaller gifts. They are often accessories for the main gift, or just little things. This is also where we categorize clothing. We choose 2 or 3 items from this list to give them and the rest we put on their Amazon wishlist to send to grandparents and aunts and uncles. 

This category is also where sibling gifts come in. They each get each other one small gift, which, up to this point I have had a strong hand in deciding what that gift is. Starting this year I’d like to give them more of a choice, though I won’t be taking them into a toy store to choose just anything. We will talk about what their sibling would like and come up with an idea before we shop.

Below are some ideas based on things our own children are enjoying now and a few choices we have made for their gifts this year. 

Umbrella

AG WellieWisher doll accessories: pajama set, outdoor adventure set, & doll stand; We also included a couple other outfits on Charlotte’s wishlist for family members to get for her if they choose. We aren’t going to be getting any more of the AG accessories than this little adventure set. At some point we may build a bed or make a quilt, but we won’t be going crazy with the accessories.

Paper embroidery kit

Denim woodworking aprons 

Classic Lego set - We love these sets with miscellaneous parts and a few building ideas but no specific theme or agenda

Tractor set

Hammer

Broom

Discovery window boxes

Pentatonic-diatonic glockenspiel - removable bars; I strongly recommend looking up the benefits of using a pentatonic xylophone - it is so beneficial

12-piece puzzle set

Alphabet puzzle

Silk playscape (giant playsilk) - used to make tents, etc.

Books & Music

We have a book tradition at Christmas which I share every year. Basically,  instead of putting their books (1 each and 1 to share) under the tree where they may be overshadowed by other presents, we wrap them up and slide them under their doors after they are asleep. When they wake up they see them and can open right away. My husband and I hear them when they wake but we have a moment to get ourselves together before we join them, when we get to spend a few minutes together as a family reading before we get into opening presents. I cherish that time with them on Christmas morning. They are SO excited to get their book and I love to see their joy from something so simple and meaningful, that is reading. 

We also value music and so we get them each a CD each year. We do CDs as they are tangible and give that physical representation of the music. Though it is still fairly abstract it is much less so than digital music. They do still listen to music from our phones or on the radio but we like to have some way of tangibly representing the concept of musicians creating albums.

Below are some of our current favorites as well as some on our wishlist. We get them each a book and one to share and the rest go on their Amazon wishlist. 

Mog the Forgetful Cat by Judith Kerr

Abbey Road by The Beatles

The Story Orchestra by Jessica Courtney-Tickle

Strong Girls gift set (Ordinary People Change the World) by Brad Meltzer

My Big Wimmelbook - At the Construction Site by Max Walther

Slinky Malinky by Lynley Dodd

The Riddle of the Robin by Valerie Tripp - WellieWishers American Girl book

Natural History (Smithsonian) by DK Publishing

Rosie Revere Engineer by Andrea Beaty (also Iggy Peck Architect and Ada Twist Scientist and the new Questioneers chapter books)

My Basketball Book by Gail Gibbons, see also baseball, football, soccer in the same series

Poem for Every Day of the Year by Esiri Ali (I may give this book on NYE)

100 Classic Stories by Rosalind McGuire

The Dinosaur Book (Smithsonian) by DK Publishing

The Beach Boys Greatest Hits

Awesome Science Experiments for Kids by Crystal Chatterton

Maria Montessori (Little People Big Dreams) by Isabel Sanchez Vegara

Spinning Spiders by Melvin Berger - I love the Read & Learn About series

Flicka Ricka & Dicka and the Three Kittens by Maj Lindman

The Red Letter Alphabet Book and The Blue Number Counting Book by Ellen C. Gould

10 More Ten-Minute Stories from Usborne

Games

Every year we get a game for our family to play together. Often I will do one board game and then a smaller card game. This year we are doing Operation and Slamwich. The others are some of our favorites. 

Last year we started the family tradition of celebrating the New Year on New Year’s Eve with a new family game, party decorations and music, sparkling grape juice for the kids, and champagne for us. It was such a fun little party. I am still deciding on a game for that. Send me your ideas!

Shopping List - our all-time favorite first memory game

Rhyming cards - We use these like a memory game

Kerplunk - take turns pulling out the sticks without letting marbles drop

Flower Families - a variation of Go Fish

Zitternix by HABA - take turns drawing as many sticks as you can before it falls

Creature Matching Game

Sonix Music - a musical instrument sound matching game

Go Togethers - We use these cards like a memory or matching game

Orchard by HABA - This is similar to Hi Ho Cherry-O though it is made of very high quality materials and is just beautiful. There are four types of fruit to pick, all before the raven gets them first. There is a version for younger children as well. We have both and love them equally.

Outfoxed - finding clues, identifying suspects, remembering details, taking turns, rolling die - such a fun game

Uno - classic card game, requires number and color recognition/matching

Candyland - also requires color matching

Aggravation - marble race game, requires counting traditional 6-sided dice

First Words Magnetic Poetry - not technically a game but these word magnets are fun to play with words on the refrigerator

Animal Soundtracks - matching animal sounds

Operation - lots of dexterity and pincer grip practice

Slamwich - a child-friendly version of Egyptian Ratslap or Slapjack; take turns playing cards and thus creating a stack of sandwich toppings; slap doubles to collect as many cards as possible

Stocking Stuffers

Finally, we fill their stockings with a few small things. They fill up fast so they don’t need much.

Walkie talkies

Toe socks

Earrings

Safety glasses

Work gloves

Hat & mittens from Primary.com

WellieWishers socks (the socks look like the boots of each of the WellieWisher girls in the books)

Fort clips (to be used with the silk playscape above)

Christmas ornament (not pictured)

There you have it! Our Christmas gifting in a nutshell. I hope this was helpful. Happy shopping. :)

[confessionsofaheaux]

Chapter 2. The Trainwreck

I am extremely grateful for sex work having given me the financial freedom to live a very comfortable life and put myself through school. However, i will say that the lifestyle is difficult to break free from. Once I was in it, it became a slippery slope. I ended up doing many things for money that left me feeling disgusted with myself. Cash addiction is real. I certainly still have it. And although my life is so different than it was when all this began, I’m still very allured to the making massive amounts of cash in short periods of time. Whether or not i need it. At this point in life, I really don’t need to continue doing sex work. I choose to, because I’m addicted to the money. I hoard cash.

I stripped for a couple more weeks after I graduated from high school, and decided that i would quit stripping in favor of webcamming from home.  My white whale, the client who paid for my boob job, and gave me close to if not more than $50,000 in the few months that i knew him, pretty much dropped out of my life once I left the club. His fantasy is strictly about strippers, not sugar babies. There were actually only a few times that I ever saw him outside of the club. Wherever he is now, i hope he’s still out there making some young girl very happy!

I got my own place, and no longer had to worry about keeping my story straight with my parents. They still hadn’t a clue, but things were much easier for me once I moved out. Mainly i just needed a place to cam. I had enough money for a luxury 1 bedroom, but i opted for a modest studio instead. I didn’t like spending money, i just liked collecting it. A male friend from one of the many high schools I had attended introduced me to webcamming. I was skeptical, but i quickly began making more than i was at the strip club. In just a few short hours! And on top of that, guys would buy me stuff off my amazon wishlist. It was awesome. I didnt have to go anywhere, deal with guys trying to touch me, be on a schedule, deal with jealous strippers being mean to me, etc. I just had to look cute and get naked on camera.

I had zero pause. I couldn’t even take a guess on how many guys had seen my naked asshole, so putting it on the internet made no difference to me whatsoever. I tried seeing how much i could make without masturbating on cam, but quickly learned that if i was going to do this, i had to go all the way. I bought myself a bucket full of sex toys, that i would use during private shows (where guys pay by the minute) or when i reached my tip goal to do it in public (the whole world watching). I did custom videos, photos, mailed my panties. One guy even bought a lock of my hair for $200. Another got a private show just to watch me eat a cheesesteak.

Because i missed having the cash in hand, i signed up with a private party stripping company. My first show, I was picked up by the stripper I’d be dancing with and our bouncer. Her name was Mandy, and she was chubby and tan, late 20s, with some of the largest fake breasts i’ve ever seen. They were hard as rocks! She was really nice to me, and I was happy to work with her even though she was clearly drunk. Anyway, we got to the frat house, got paid for the hour, and the guys went nuts. I felt like i was being attacked by a pack of wild dogs! But they were all hot and i was actually getting a bit turned on by the situation. Somehow I ended up on the floor and one guy did a body shot off me, another played with my boobs, while someone else started lifting up my miniskirt. Mandy announced we would do a ping pong show. The guys roared. What the hell is a ping pong show?? She didn’t tell me this before we got here. She goes over to the table and shoves all the cups off onto the floor. “Go grab me the balls”. I do as I’m told. Then she jumps up onto the table, spread eagle, and inserts a ping pong ball into her vagina. My jaw dropped. The guys clamor around her and she instructs them to stand back, she’ll put an eye out. She was right! She shot that ping pong ball out of her pussy like a BB gun! Some of the guys were trying to catch it in their mouths! I think we both ended up going home with around $500 that night.

I did a couple more parties after this, but they weren’t too memorable compared to that. Except for that last one. That was the one where i decided this was all just too much for me, and i didnt want to do it anymore. It was a retirement party for someone who a guy from a construction company. We arrived at a construction site. They had us do a strip tease on a makeshift stage, with a pole in the center. We played some games, one of which was having the drunkest guy put on work goggles that had been duct taped over so he couldnt see out of it, and a massive dildo glued in the center. The rules were we all had to stay on all fours. He chased us around the stage, trying to fuck us with the dildo goggles. I played along, but of course i wasn’t actually going to let him! Mandy, however, had no problem with it. The guys started getting too rowdy, and it didn’t help that Mandy was egging them on. I was extremely uncomfortable, but i didn’t feel like i could tell them to tone it down, or that our scrawny bouncer would do anything. Again, i felt like I was being attacked by wild dogs, but this time I wasn’t enjoying it at all. Then they brought out the double ended dildo. I don’t really like talking about this part, because i still remember how disgusted i felt after doing this. We went ass to ass on that dildo, as the guy encircled us cheering and yelling at us to cum. When it was finally over, we made about $400 each. Mandy said she would be a while, and i was annoyed because i wanted to leave. I figured she was probably just going to blow one of the dudes for a couple hundred bucks. A couple of the younger guys offered me some weed, so i smoked with them while i waited for Mandy to finish. After about 20 minutes, I got sick of waiting and went to find her so we could leave. Our bouncer was nowhere to be found. I heard moans coming from one of the construction trailers, and there were a bunch of guys standing outside it. “Whats going on?” I asked. They just kinda laughed. I peeked inside. I couldnt really see her with all the guys crowded around, but she wasn’t just fucking one guy. There were at least 10 of them all crowded around her, waiting for their turn. “Get off her!! Mandy!! What the fuck!! ” I screamed, trying to shove them out of my way. “I’m fine!” she yelled, sounding irritated “Go wait for me in the car!”, I ran back to the car and cried. I was just too overwhelmed by everything that night. I wanted to go home and forget this ever happened. I would certainly never do it again.