#Honest Labour

[mrdyketator]

the cacophony version of the song labour by paris paloma just hits me so hard. the female solidarity of so many women painting and drawing and singing and doing archery and dancing and just being themselves all together gives me goosebumps. the song itself is so good, with almost every line having so many different meanings but i was struck by the weight of how it resonates with so many women all over the world💗

[approximateknowledge]

one thing about looking for a job online is that you discover what it's like to be viscerally annoyed in a way nothing else can quite manage

i should just go live in a hole in the ground i think

[hedgehog-moss]

I’m proud to say that the stairs between my house and the greenhouse, which in this post only existed in my imagination, are now a thing!

Here’s the before picture:

And here’s Pandolf demonstrating proper stair-climbing protocol:

If he could give me a thumbs up, he would.

(I had trouble getting him to agree to these pictures because during construction he was not allowed to set foot on the fragile stairs-in-progress. He scrupulously respected this new rule and whenever I went to the greenhouse he would make an unnecessarily-broad detour to follow me while showcasing how much of a good dog he is. It’s always easier to teach him he’s not allowed to do something, than to undo it later and convince him the thing has now been legalised. He’s very worried about misinterpreting you and accidentally becoming a criminal.)

[sebsrainbowbicycle]

If I hear a single British person talk about how bad propaganda and biased reporting is in “other countries” I’m going to shake them until their brain is a smoothie.

One glance at our “neutral and impartial” bbc reporting SHOULD be enough for you to realise that they are very much pushing the narrative of the political party in power. They are trying to make you scared, make you believe that the abhorrent acts of terror our governments are doing are for the greater good.

And it’s not just the bbc. It’s almost all media outlets here.

[pancoleon]

Absolutely one of my least favourite genre of responses to political posts. You see it for the US too, the assumption that anyone expressing displeasure at being made to choose between dog shit and cat shit must be trying to undermine an election in favour of "the bad guys".

You're not doing yourself or anyone else any favours by ignoring the blatant shitness of the other parties. In the UK, the most likely party to get the Tories out (and these party the post this response is to is criticising) is the Labour Party under Keir Starmer.

Under Starmer the party has been characterised by hostility to anybody not deemed to be in the in-group and with a very centralised iron grip on the party. He has broken just about every promise he made to get elected into leadership. In fact, half the promises the party has made since have also been broken. They spend most of their time sticking to the narratives handed to them by the Tories and saying they won't reverse any changes the Tories make.

These non-reversals include laws that aim to ban protests, restrict strikes, and reduce civil liberties. They include letting 100 new fossil fuel extraction licenses in the North Sea continue. They include keeping the 2 child benefit cap, which has contributed to 27% of children in the UK living in poverty.

Labour's current proposed trans policies are also worse than what they were in 2017/19, and the current Shadow Health Secretary advocates for the privatisation of the NHS and has accepted thousands of pounds in bribes lobbying from private healthcare interests.

Maybe the reason you're seeing posts like this isn't people wanting to undermine the general election/secretly support Tories. Maybe it's because Labour promise to fuck people over a reverse a positive policy every other week.

[thepavementsings-archive]

love love love watching DWade come into his own as a father it's so beautiful to see.

[trujellyfish]

thinking too hard abt how this rise of "mental health" discussion still only seems to focus on the Cute and Quirky symptoms and still demonizes other mental health (personality) disorders

like my carefully curated tumblr space is fine, but everytime i get sucked into insta reels i inevitably see tens of different reels of the same 3 symptoms of autism/adhd

like im glad theyre getting this positive moment but it just kind of fucking sucks to listen to people talk about how they ToTaLlY have a "touch of the 'tism" and ur friends are sending u "relatable adhd memes" so u think u have a little more support and understanding but then u mention how ur struggling with self harm and suicidal thoughts and violent/disturbing intrusive thoughts and suddenly everyone's like

😳

whats the matter babe, my mental health problems not palatable enough for you? :/

[whatyoutaughtwasfear]

Me watching politicians argue on the news: This has an obvious answer. Why is everyone shitting on that woman if she's right?

[An hour after googling a bunch of shit about how the government works]: Oh fuck, get her ass!!

[garrandia]

just so yall know zine mods asked mi to gave shoko a bra (i was praying so hard for them to ignore the naked side boobie)

she's topless here in my heart (and my drafts lol)

[thesobsister]

Two-party systems seem to be the bane of Western democracies even as multiparty systems often get mired in deadlock and uncertainty. Not sure what the answer is beyond knowing of a certainty that an imperial presidency under the orange fuckwit would be worse than COVID.

[not-poignant]

random genuine question. how do you write a book? I've written multiple fanfics successfully and want to be a full time author nothing too crazy but just enough to make a good living. But I'm finding myself stuck when it comes to executing my original ideas. I plan them out well but when it comes to the acts/chapters and actually writing I can't seem to pull the trigger. I understand it takes time and I may just be overthinking but still I'm worried I won't be able to execute.

Hi anon,

You are probably better off asking someone who writes books for a living, because I definitely don't, and when I did publish two novels, they have never done as well as my serials (and writing a serial is very different - for me at least - to writing a book). Like, they did moderately well, but I consider myself a professional serial writer and not a novelist, and those two things are 100% not the same thing. (Which is also maybe where you're struggling.

Writing fanfics successfully can often have zero bearing on whether you can (or want to) write a novel. Writing one is not writing the other! The processes are totally different, unless you were just writing novels and splitting them up into serial chapters and then, well, you wouldn't be here asking this question sdalkfjad)

There are some great novel-writing books out there, and many can be requested through libraries, and many of their authors have blogs or similar where they teach many of their techniques online. There are so many different ways of structuring a novel (and it can change depending on your genre, and I don't know what your genre is either!) I can't recommend any personally, because I don't read them, because I don't really write novels.

When it comes to actually sitting down and actually writing anything of length though, it's sometimes down to asking yourself a few things:

What feelings are happening in you that hold you back? Are you afraid it won't be good? (In which case there's no way but through, anon, you have to write some bad writing in order to get to the good writing, it's a mandatory part of the practice - a garden needs shit/manure in order to grow, lol).

Are you bored because you planned it all out? (In which case you may need to look into writing novels without plotting them first).

Are you more excited for future chapters instead of present chapters? (Write out of order! And make the present chapters shorter).

Are you more interested in fanfiction's regular feedback from readers? (In which case consider creating a reader group for your original writing, or finding a really good beta who can give you that feedback). (I can't get dopamine from writing novels, so I don't write them, I just find the process boring in a way that's pretty intolerable to me).

Is the novel too huge of a road into meeting your characters and setting/s in prose? (Consider writing small oneshots for your characters and world first. Consider writing side characters in the world in a 2-3k fic. Treat it like responding to a fanfiction challenge. It can often make access to the world a little easier).

Is something about the story actually broken? Do you need to go back to the drawing board re: the strengths of the characters?

Learn how to fall in love with your characters the way you've fallen in love with fanfic characters. If they're not strong enough to earn that 'love'/'obsession' - make them stronger. (Although, frankly, sometimes you can only learn that love by writing them. Think of it this way: When you start writing fanfiction, you've already invested hours of time into learning the characters and their depth. You need to invest at least the same amount into your own characters and their stories before you might stumble across that same love).

Outside of that you can apply any number of techniques to novel writing, but ultimately, a lot of it is sitting down and just writing (sometimes pretty terribly) and learning how to overcome writer's block and understanding why it's happening for you.

For me, I learned that the cons of writing novels just didn't outweigh the pros. The lack of dopamine feedback re: readers doesn't play well with my unmedicated ADHD brain, which means writing to no feedback at all tends to leave me extremely unmotivated. And fitting the novel formula re: story lengths ultimately just didn't work with me either, most of my long stories naturally hit or exceed the 250k mark, which is fine for serials, but not fine for most novels outside of epic fantasy or hard science fiction.

So I would also recommend sitting down and asking yourself what did fanfiction give you that made you able to write it? And what do you need novel writing to give you, to make you able to write it? Likewise, ask yourself - do you want to write original novels? Or original serials? There's a good market for both now, and novels =/= serials. Like, they are naturally written in different ways!

Do you think you would struggle to write an original serial the same way that you're struggling with novels? All of these things are important to ask yourself.

But ultimately, just... I hate to say it, but sometimes you have to force yourself through the struggle, and write stuff while groaning because you know it's bad, to get to the other side. It's like learning any new skill - and fanfiction writing does not naturally lend itself to writing novels with everyone! You are learning a brand new skill!! Just because I know how to draw with pencils doesn't mean I know how to paint with watercolours, and I may be even more intimidated to learn watercolours because I know now how long it took to get the hang of fanfiction. Sometimes you just have to actually sit yourself down and be like 'okay I have to get real good at being real bad at something for a little while, even if I hate it.'

Chances are it won't be as bad as you think anyway, and then even if it is, well that's a normal part of writing a novel. That's why the first draft is the first draft, and not the final product. :)

[allarrows]

[hydn-jpg]

my boss just invited my colleagues and i to dinner. at a seafood restaurant. knowing full well that i am deathly allergic to seafood.

[wetslug]

I saw your tag on that "what do you do for a living" post and like, are you a pathologist's assistant or something? because that is my dream job tbh haha

gurl yea hopefully !!! studying in edmonton canada :^)

[technoregression]

We’ve got a fucking housing crisis and their solution is to berate the Greens and call them stupid because the Greens don’t like their idea of “well the government is gonna step in and help moms and dads (only up to 40,000 households) buy their own home by reducing the amount they need for a deposit” which 100%; do you think it addresses the issue, Albo? Do you think it addresses the god damn issue??!!!!

Like imagine being stupid ohhhh my fucking god I can’t I hate these politicians

The second you say “mm no maybe we should focus on rent freezes, or reducing capital gains (and the other one) discounts” Albanese and his bitches go “well you’re just a bunch of dummies who can’t understand simple economics and you’re keeping us all back by acting like a bunch of children” ky actual self jesus christ please do us a favour I can’t anymore I’m genuinely at the breaking point

Everyone: “Hey Albo! We’ve got a tank but all the fish keep dying?? I think it might be the overpopulation of fucking piranhas??”

Albo: “aw she’ll be right just put more fish in her (just build 200 more houses (over the course of 10 years))”

Mhm. Mhm. Yep that’s. That’s perfect Albo you’re so fucking smart you really just champion the rights and wellbeing of the average person don’t you, fucking bravo you cunt.