qqueenofhades - Tumblr blog

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i really like looking at google image searches for “firemen rescuing cats” or something because you get super cute pictures like

AND THEN THERE’S THIS ONE

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Where is that text post about procrastinating on a task for literal months only to find that it takes less than 10 minutes to complete and is so very easy. Because etc etc I am in this picture and I don't like it.

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motherfucker said PROFESSIONAL

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hiii ❣ it's a bit random but do you have any advice for a beginner writer?

i want to write web series and while i'm going to write for my pleasure, i still would love my work to be good enough to have readers.

but while i read stuff and write fics, i don't think it's enough to help me write an original several episode work. + i want to write in english but i'm not a native english speaker.

do you have a textbook or any resource in mind that you'd reccomend to a beginner writer?

Unfortunately, I don't have one single one-size-fits-all resource or silver-bullet magical writing improvement tool that I can recommend, as everyone learns/practices in different ways and some people swear by things that don't work for other people. I can't speak to the value of Grammarly or any other online tool that promises to make you a better writer, as they can often be used to feed your work into AI, make bizarre and/or flatly incorrect suggestions, or otherwise be confusing and unhelpful for a newbie writer, especially someone whose first language isn't English. If you work better within an interactive framework or just want to see if it does seem useful, then by all means do check it out, but don't feel like you HAVE to use it (or anything else) if it doesn't offer much to your process.

As ever, and unhelpfully, my advice for becoming a better writer is to write a lot and read a lot, in all kinds of genres. There's really no get-good-at-writing-quick hack to suddenly get you where you want to be overnight, but you CAN get there by dint of steady and sustained progress. You say that you already read things and write fics -- which is great! You clearly already have some practice with the overall concept, and you are not starting from total scratch. While a lot of writers have a goal of something they really want to do (i.e. in your case, write a web series) and feel like the first one they write has to be The Real and Good One that they only launch into after appropriate years of practice, that's not the case. You can start writing the series now, if you want to. You'll have to also share it with people who you trust to give you helpful and honest feedback (the mortifying ordeal of being known, etc) while also respecting the skill level that you're currently at and not tearing it down for being up to professional standards or something else that doesn't accurately reflect where you are and what you need feedback on. But yes, you will have to write steadily, share your writing with others, and challenge yourself to read and write in different kinds of texts -- i.e. not just fic or amateur fan content, but literature, nonfiction, genre fiction, academia, special interest subjects, and so forth. Writing by professionally published authors is not necessarily always better, but it does give you a sense as to what is deemed marketable, what the general skill level and standard is, and what you might like to emulate or try to do with your own projects.

Also, as a side note, I think that plenty of amateur or fan-written content on the internet is not necessarily outstandingly good, technically speaking. This doesn't mean it's bad -- plenty of people read and enjoy it anyway, and aren't coming in expecting it to be an award-winning piece of fine literature. Standards for what is good, enjoyable, or well-written vary dramatically by genre, medium, what your audience is expecting and/or paying for, and so forth. Some people also have high and/or picky standards for what they will read or what they find enjoyable to read, while others will just go along with the story and don't care as much about the format or technical prowess or so forth. So it is very much a subjective measurement, and if you get to a place where you enjoy reading your own stuff and find it engaging -- regardless of what arbitrary skill level you feel yourself to be on -- chances are that other people will too.

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is jake gyllenhaal gay??

why would you ask us, a narnia blog, this

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I am fucking dying

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I will say, however, that doing source collection/preliminary research with the assistance of an actual university library always makes me mad with power.

Etc etc yay prospective book chapter accepted for publication, boo horrible gross terrible now I have to actually write it.

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This may be a stupid question but do you really believe MTG is funded by Putin? In my head she's too fucking stupid to be calculating enough to actually enrich herself.

I don't know if she is actually getting money from the Kremlin or she's just a moron who loves to believe whatever conspiracy theorist nonsense she's told, but I think it's pretty clear she is either being handled fairly directly by Russian intelligence or is closely plugged into sophisticated Russian propaganda systems. Example A, Marge submitting an amendment to the Ukrainian aid bill insisting that aid not be disbursed until the Ukrainian government allegedly stopped "oppressing Hungarians in Transcarpathia." This is a key part of the Orban regime's anti-Ukraine talking points that has in turn been directly amplified by Russia, but it is so specific and so obscure (not to mention, there's literally zero chance Marge knows what any of those words or issues mean, or could find Transcarpathia on a map) that there's no way she organically came up with it on her own. She's also been otherwise echoing word-for-word Russian propaganda about them being "the defenders of Christianity" by invading Ukraine, which is one of Putin's preferred/favorite narratives and plays into the function of the Russian Orthodox Church as a Kremlin booster. Hence, if Marge is directly repeating Putin's personal justifications, I'd say it is more likely than not that she's getting something out of it.

As I have said before, it is pretty clear that Putin is ordering Trump to get the House GOP to stall Ukraine aid in exchange for help in the election, and there is a significant chunk of the House GOP that is eager to suckle at the Russian propaganda teat in all circumstances. (See: Hunter Biden's laptop being a Russian disinformation operation from the start that got exposed when the House GOP impeachment effort went up in flames.) We have also consistently had networks of Russian agents and Russian money be exposed in Europe, where they are offering financial incentives to EU politicians to serve as Kremlin shills. Russian dirty money has beyond doubt entered the Republican Party at many, many levels; we had that whole investigation about how Trump and the Russians have been working in concert for a long time. Now, because getting Trump in power again is so important for the Russians, and the Russians' help is so important for Trump in trying to stay out of jail, the corruption is pretty systemic.

In short, I figure it is only a matter of time if/when we find out that the most stridently pro-Russian members of the Treason Caucus are actually being paid by or otherwise benefiting from Russian lobbyists, because they are fascist traitors who love money, will kiss Trump's ass in any circumstances, and are willing to do anything in the name of undermining America, Ukraine, Biden, and Western democracy in general. We know it is the way Russian destabilization, disinformation, and influence operations customarily work, and that they have previously and consistently worked in cahoots with MAGA, so yeah. If Marge and Co. aren't active Russian assets, financially or otherwise, I would be very surprised.

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How long do you think we have before Mike Johnson gets the boot as speaker of the house?

I have no idea why he suddenly came to his senses after MONTHS of stalling at Trump's behest and finally allowed the Ukraine aid package to be passed, but I'm glad he did. As such, yes, the Putin Treason Caucus wants to boot him, but I have heard that the rest of the House GOP is so incredibly against the idea that several of them have threatened to resign on the spot if Moscow Marge actually brings a motion to vacate to the floor. Which, since the Republicans only have a one-vote majority, would have the effect of flipping the House majority to Democrats. To which I say, PLEASE. DO IT, MARGE. DO ITTTT.

However, we must remember that they are Republicans and thus can be counted on to actually do the right thing approximately never. So there might be another motion to vacate on the floor depending on how insane the House crazies get, but it might also blow up in their faces and we end up with Speaker Hakeem Jeffries, which a) would be better for the country in literally every way and b) hilarious. So there's that.

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Of course, what happened when I finally sat down this weekend with some precious free time, some coffee, and the earnest intention of writing was that my brain went "BZZZ WHAT ARE WORDS? LOL NEVER HEARD OF WORDS IN MY LIFE," and progress was uh, minimal. But we will keep trying.

I realize it has been approximately 800 years and I am sorry for that (though I am very excited about the new novel!), but I am pleased to report that I am finally working on chapter 10 of the unknown and static strange (Dreamling/The Sandman) and chapter 9 of in the land of snow and shadow (Fivan/Shadow and Bone season 3). The latter is closer to completion and might be posted this weekend, but yes. Maybe the fic muse will (slowly) return to me. We will see.

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Etc etc yay prospective book chapter accepted for publication, boo horrible gross terrible now I have to actually write it.

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Thank god they brought back An Amount Of Daylight That Makes You Want To Live. It was getting a bit scary for a minute there.

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Hi Hilary! Please excuse my coming back to bug you for history help. Im trying to find resources on medieval clothing/ fashion, mostly 12th and 13th century, but have been flailing a little. I was wondering if had any advice on finding legit sources?? I browsed some of your old posts, but I very likely missed something. I plan to check the medieval manuscripts blog, but any other suggestions would be so appreciated

Here are my usual starting-point suggestions for finding good scholarly material in medieval history overall, though all of them except for the Smithsonian will (unfortunately) probably need an institutional login/email to access full text or download. You can see what you can find by keyword searching, looking for journals or databases on the subject, checking articles, etc:

Also, if you are at a university, remember to ask your reference librarian for help/sources/suggestions for what to look at in the collection! Good luck.

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last year i was eating in a fancy, large restaurant when i began to hear a rumble and the distant sound of people chanting ‘potassium, potassium’ and suddenly hundreds of people dressed as bananas flood this restaurant chanting potassium over and over and we were trapped there for a very long time because the bananas would not leave and they were everywhere

i wasn’t joking

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Total Solar Eclipse l April 2024 l U.S. & Canada

Cr. Deran Hall l Rami Ammoun(236) l GabeWasylko l REUTERS l KendallRust l Joshua Intini l Alfredo Juárez l KuzcoKhanda