binnie-writes

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houseofisis.co

We are the mother-daughter duo at House of Isis who create 100% plant-based, non-hormone altering hair & skin care products that heal, not harm! Our vegan formulas are developed by our Founder & Licensed Cosmetologist Gina Spence. Created with the FINEST natural ingredients including essential oils, House of Isis products promote holistic healing & wellness. Our products are non-toxic & safe for all ages! Together our products restore, replenish & rejuvenate the hair & skin! Visit our website here: https://houseofisis.co/ to shop all of our wonderful products!

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Happy Black History Month! Shop some of my favorite Black women-owned beauty & wellness brands this year! 💁🏿‍♀️

Skincare

Topicals

Shani Darden Skin Care 

Eadem 

ROSE Ingleton MD

Epi.Logic Skin Care 

KNC Beauty

4.5.6. Skin

Hair Care

CÉCRED

Bread

Highbrow Hippie

Adwoa Beauty

Briogeo

Brown Butter Beauty

TGIN

Body Care

OUI the People 

Luv Scrub

Chatham Natural Skincare

Homebody

54 Thrones

Wellness 

HealHaus

Vanessa Marc Spa 

Black Girls Breathing

Grounded Plants

Therapy for Black Girls 

Peak & Valley

Black Girl in Om

Hike Clerb Inc.

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Examples of Protective Hair Coverings

I had to scroll through unreasonable amounts of white people for this. Oh, Google.

Durag

Silk Bonnet

Silk Scarf

Loc Socks

Okay, I admit. I've been using loc sock and loc bonnet interchangeably bc I've worn both and I know what I mean, but I cannot do that anymore.

Different styles will require different night time protective care! If your Black character has a silk press, she may choose to wrap her hair in a scarf. If they've got long locs or braids, a long silk bonnet will be better. A teeny weeny afro? A short bonnet will suffice, or they might even go bare. These are far from the only methods! We have oodles of options on how we maintain specific styles. Black hair care requires effort! Research and pick one!

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people who write fics. how do you feel about comments on super old ones you wrote like 2+ years ago

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Do you have any tips on writing a mystery plot?

Good books don’t give up all their secrets at once. - Stephen King

Start with the end and work backwards.

Understand fully the complexities and tiniest details of the mystery, while also keeping in mind which character knows what. It’s just as easy to slip up and give something away too soon as it is to forget a single crucial detail. 

Timing is important. When will the reader need to know such-and-such detail?How long will it take for your character(s) to discover it? Should the timing of a certain event be obscured or emphasized?  

Other, More Educated Opinions on Mystery Writing

Plotting a Mystery (for Non-Mystery Writers)

5 Tips for Plotting a Mystery

Ten Rules for Mystery Writing

General References of the Helpful Variety

Dramatic Structure and Plot

Five Ways to Restore Tension 

Coincidences in Fiction: What You’re Doing Wrong

The Secret to Writing the Killer Plot Twist

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I’m trying to expand this project and add all kinds of new features. If you want to help, you can pledge 1$ to my patreon here, and in exchange, you’ll get access to a second project where I try to create the coziest/warmest art collection on the internet.

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this poem is about being nonbinary.

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My taste in romance has less to do with how romantic the relationship actually is (though that is a bonus) and more to do with how interesting I find the dynamic between the couple. Which is why fluffy vanilla romance usually bores the hell out of me. I want to see how these characters dramatically affect each other and fundamentally change each other and their individual understandings of the world!!! I want to see a beautiful tie-in between the romance and the themes + messages of the story and how it all builds to a climax!!!

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https://archiveofourown.org/works/34387570/chapters/96198661#workskin

When Shenanigans Happen (and chaos ensues) by makeouts_and_murder on AO3.

Iida creates a group chat between the Eri rescue and the sports festival to better communicate with the class. Chaos ensues. Clubs form. People get punted. The class becomes even gayer.

Definitely a regular day at the U.A dorms.

There is queer and trans representation. It is mostly just a chatfic for the fun of it but further on in the story and in their lives as second years exploring their queerness will it be made clearer. This story tries to convey a progression of discovering oneself, knowing oneself, and accepting oneself in the various ways that can happen.

I hope you enjoy reading it.

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By popular demand. The second part. WOAH HAY!

Please don't pay attention to stylistic differences.

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i love when characters get angry when they're frightened. shelter dog characters. i love when they bite, not able to tell the difference between a hand that feeds and a hand that strikes. there is no difference. a hand is a hand is a fist. i love characters that are deemed unadoptable. unlovable.

and i love when someone loves them. i love when someone sits with them, patient. they don't flinch at the snarling and snapping. they're not trying to fix it—there's nothing to be fixed. this is you, all of you, and ill wait. because one day, one day you'll take the treat. go on, draw my blood. spit and curse and rage. you're safe with me. one day, you'll feel safe with me.

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Tips for writing those gala scenes, from someone who goes to them occasionally:

Generally you unbutton and re-button a suit coat when you sit down and stand up.

You’re supposed to hold wine or champagne glasses by the stem to avoid warming up the liquid inside. A character out of their depth might hold the glass around the sides instead.

When rich/important people forget your name and they’re drunk, they usually just tell you that they don’t remember or completely skip over any opportunity to use your name so they don’t look silly.

A good way to indicate you don’t want to shake someone’s hand at an event is to hold a drink in your right hand (and if you’re a woman, a purse in the other so you definitely can’t shift the glass to another hand and then shake)

Americans who still kiss cheeks as a welcome generally don’t press lips to cheeks, it’s more of a touch of cheek to cheek or even a hover (these days, mostly to avoid smudging a woman’s makeup)

The distinctions between dress codes (black tie, cocktail, etc) are very intricate but obvious to those who know how to look. If you wear a short skirt to a black tie event for example, people would clock that instantly even if the dress itself was very formal. Same thing goes for certain articles of men’s clothing.

Open bars / cash bars at events usually carry limited options. They’re meant to serve lots of people very quickly, so nobody is getting a cosmo or a Manhattan etc.

Members of the press generally aren’t allowed to freely circulate at nicer galas/events without a very good reason. When they do, they need to identify themselves before talking with someone.

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If it keeps you from killing yourself it's not stupid. This applies to anything btw.

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The right FREE tools to write a book

hello hello, it's me!

today I was thinking of how much you loved my masterlist featuring some free tools for writers, and I thought I would do something like that again but, this time, featuring just one or two tools per step while getting the best of "the writer's workbook" (which is also free).

before going any further, for those who don't know, "the writer's workbook" is, as the name says, a workbook for writers, with over 90 pages. it has lots of sheets divided into categories, to help you build the skeleton of your novel. (know more about it here).

however, we can get the most out of it using other complementary tools to ease this process.

Brainstorming

Reedsy generator - it's one of my favorites, and it can be quite useful when you're stuck and want to get an idea. you're free to make changes to it so that it is as unique as possible.

Mindmap

Lucidspark - although it has a premium version, I find it so helpful when it comes to making a mindmap. I've used it multiple times before, including for college assignments, and it's one of the best I've found so far.

Mindmup - I'm sharing this one here as an alternative to lucidspark, since this one doesn't require to create an account, and you have access to unlimited maps. however, in my opinion, it is not as good or intuitive as lucidspark is.

Come up with names

Behind the name - it's a classic, but one of my favorites. you can search every name you could ever imagine, and get its meaning, history, variations, etc. it still has some tools you can use such as a name generator, anagrams, and much more.

Make a profile

Fake person generator - although it was not created for authors, you might find it useful since it gives lots of details and you can be interested in some fields.

Character generator - this one was made for writers, and is simple and easy to use.

Family tree

Family echo - it's so simple yet so helpful.

Maps

Inkarnate - it has a paid version, but you can use it for free and create a great map.

Politics

Filteries - this is sooo complete and accurate!

hope this was helpful! have a nice day <3

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A friend commented that

“This is what it’s like being autistic and masking your traits. Except that there is no rest.”

AND I RELATE SO MUCH TO THEIR STATEMENT

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research resources

The Eye - An internet library of all sorts of things, not just occult books, but its got a good assortment of those.

PDF drive - it has like, over a million free pdfs. no signup or anything. they got some good occult books there

Academia.edu - I found a link to Azoetia there, and there are likely more occult books available, but unfortunately you have to sign up. LOTS of free books tho

Grimoire Encyclopedia - the shriveled monkey's paw that is grimoire magic. contains spells and spirits from the actual grimoires themselves, and sorts them all very nicely.

Esoterica Archives - it's got that old-internet type vibe, and i quite like it. crazy amount of occult books here, a lot of the grimoires from Grimoire Encyclopedia can be read online here.

Holybooks - its like Esoterica Archives, but with an updated forum feel. People add in the pdfs themselves, like PDF Drive. it's got a wide array of different religious texts

l-o-r-e - a sadly abandoned website now, all about the folklore of food. contains quite a few good recipes, if you want em. this website makes me hungry

pantheon - contains numerous articles on folklore all around the world

theoi - everyone knows about this, right? greek mythology, absolutely excellent.

here's an edible flower chart, yknow, just incase

pinecone.pub - don't hear much about this one anymore, but i quite like it still. good.. inspiration

sigilscribe - it makes sigils for you

scihuß - iirc it moves domains every so often, but its an excellent resource for academic papers.

biblestudytools (psalms) - i find that this format makes it easy to find the specific psalms you want much faster, yknow, for you bastards who don't have a book on hand ;p

planetaryhours.net - calculates the planetary hours for you, for you magicians and witches alike who can't do it by hand

and of course, my favorite, google.com, (or duckduckgo, if you're pirating or just hate google.)