#How To Get Over Your Analysis Paralysis

[billa-billa007]

How To Get Over Your Analysis Paralysis

Analysis paralysis is a term used to describe a situation in which an individual or group overthinks or overanalyzes a decision or problem to the point that no decision or action is taken. This state of indecision can result from having too much information, conflicting information, fear of making the wrong choice, or simply getting stuck in a cycle of analysis without reaching a conclusion.

[shiori8]

Di Angelo Siblings

Sooo, to absolutely no one's surprise the new Percy Jackson reboot kicked me into full-blown pjo brainrot mode again lol. I saw these super cute fits and some vintage photos of Venice alleyways floating around on Pinterest and was consumed with the need to draw the Di Angelo siblings in them (it's probably wildly "historically and geographically" inaccurate for them, but we're just going to have to deal with the fact that I'm dumb and uncultured xD It's the vibes™ that count, okay!)

Psst, wanna see something cringe😂? Found this old sketch of them from one of my first forays into digital art years ago:

And to quote past-me "I can barely look at the old one, but at least that means I improved, aye?"😂

[asterafroditis]

𐔌 . ⋮ be my valentine? ♡ .ᐟ ֹ ₊ ꒱

☓┆Second Years x gn! reader

𓏵 1151 words

ᝰ.ᐟ headcanons, no pronouns used, fluff, a bit ooc(?)

First Years are done! Third Years coming up next! feel free to like, reblog, or comment!

ᝰ.ᐟ masterlist

I think Riddle would approach Valentine’s Day with strict formality. He’d see it as a day where everything must be done correctly—from the timing of the gift to the wording of the confession. He likely spends days researching the proper etiquette for giving someone chocolates, but when the moment arrives, he’s stiff and clearly overthinking every step.

Riddle doesn’t handle romantic feelings well, and though he wants to make you feel special, his nerves get the best of him. If you show genuine appreciation, he short-circuits a little, his face turning red as he struggles to regain his composure.

"Ahem! I prepared this for you. Naturally, it would be improper of me to let this day pass without offering a gift. It is simply… expected. N-Not that I mind! In fact, I—I wanted to! So, um… please accept it."

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I think Ruggie would act super casual about Valentine’s Day, like it’s no big deal. He’d shrug it off, saying stuff like, "Man, people are really splurging today, huh?" while totally pretending he didn’t get you anything. But in reality, he’s had a little something tucked away for you all day—he just doesn’t know how to give it without looking sappy.

When he finally hands it over, he plays it cool but is very alert for your reaction. If you get flustered, he’ll smirk and tease you. If you act chill, he’ll nudge you, trying to get more of a response. But if you look genuinely happy? He gets quiet for a second, ears twitching before he grins like you just handed him a gift.

"Psh, don’t make a big deal outta this. It’s just a little somethin’ I swiped—uh, I bought for ya. You like it? Heh. Yeah? Thought ya might. Oi, don’t get all mushy on me now!"

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I think Azul would plan his Valentine’s Day gift like a business deal—something elegant, refined, and impressive. He wants to sweep you off your feet while also ensuring you recognize his generosity. But deep down? He overthinks it so much that he gets stuck in analysis paralysis, agonizing over whether his gift is "too much" or "not enough."

When he finally presents it, he masks his nervousness behind his usual suave demeanor, but his fingers might fidget slightly. If you genuinely love his gift, his confidence wavers just a bit, and he has to adjust his tie to hide how flustered he is.

"Ahem. As a token of my regard, I have procured this exquisite gift for you. Of course, you need not feel obligated to accept it, but— Oh? You… like it? I-I mean, of course you do! Hah… Why are you staring at me like that?"

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I think Jade would treat Valentine’s Day like a very amusing social experiment. He’s incredibly perceptive, so he’d tailor his gift perfectly to your tastes—but the way he presents it would be so unpredictable. He might casually set it down next to you with a cryptic, "For you," and then disappear before you can respond. Or he might wait until you least expect it, handing it over with a knowing smile.

Jade’s true enjoyment comes from watching your reaction. If you’re flustered, he finds it utterly delightful. If you try to act casual, he’ll push just a little—his smooth words making it impossible to keep your cool.

"Hm? You seem surprised. Did you not anticipate that I would partake in this charming human custom? Fufu… your expression is rather endearing. Perhaps I should gift you things more often."

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I think Floyd would be completely unpredictable about Valentine’s Day. One moment, he’s dramatically declaring, "Ughhh, too much effort, Valentine’s is boring!" and the next, he’s shoving a gift at you with zero warning, just to see your reaction.

He doesn’t plan things in advance—if he gives you something, it’s impulsive, based purely on what he feels like doing. And if he’s in a really good mood? He might just squeeze you while laughing, declaring you’re his "favorite little shrimp" before bolting off to cause more chaos.

"Here ya go, Shrimpy! I dunno, thought it looked fun, so I got it for ya. Huh? Why ya lookin’ at me like that? Hehe, you gettin’ all blushy on me? Awww, maybe I shoulda got ya two gifts!"

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I think Kalim would love Valentine’s Day because it gives him an excuse to spoil you. He doesn’t just give you one gift—he gives you several, and it’s clear he put his heart into every single one. Handmade treats? Jewelry? A handwritten letter? Yes. He throws it all at you like an overexcited golden retriever.

Kalim doesn’t do romance with subtlety—he’s all about pure joy. He beams when he sees you happy and might even pick you up in excitement. If you tell him he made your Valentine’s Day special, expect him to get so overwhelmed with happiness that he nearly tears up.

"Surprise!! Hehe, I got you all this ‘cause I just had to make today perfect for you! Huh? Too much? No way! You deserve way more than this!!"

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I think Jamil would act like Valentine’s Day is just another chore on his endless list of responsibilities. He’d roll his eyes at the whole thing, saying it’s a pointless tradition and that people get too worked up over it. But despite his complaints, he still makes time to prepare something for you—quietly, efficiently, and without drawing attention to himself.

He’s not the type to make a grand gesture, so his gift is something subtle yet undeniably thoughtful, like a homemade treat tailored to your tastes. He’d pass it to you casually, like it’s no big deal, barely sparing you a glance as he mumbles something about “getting rid of extras.” But if you comment on how much effort he put in—maybe teasing him a little about it—he exhales sharply, brushing his hair back with practiced indifference.

"You’re imagining things. If you don’t want it, I’ll just throw it out." But the way his fingers linger when you take it, the faintest twitch at the corner of his lips—it gives him away.

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I think Silver would approach Valentine’s Day with complete sincerity. He doesn’t overthink it—he just sees it as a day to express his feelings. His gift isn’t extravagant, but it’s something genuinely meaningful. Maybe a small charm for protection or a simple but beautifully written note.

However, since he’s Silver… there’s a chance he might accidentally fall asleep before giving it to you. If that happens, you might find the gift resting next to him as he sleeps, with a note written in his slightly messy handwriting. When he wakes up and sees you holding it, he flushes slightly but stands by his words, no matter how direct they are.

"I wanted to give you this. It’s nothing grand, but… it reminded me of you. Hm? You… really like it? I’m glad. You deserve to be cherished."

[harmonysanreads]

Idk if you saw but Phainon apparently has a hobby in appraising antiques. Just imagine if for his partner he fondly refers to them as his greatest or most priceless treasure. Though on the other hand, it certainly gives "dragon coveting its hoard" kinda vibes. Possibly romantic depending on who you ask, but it speaks volumes of how much he cherishes them.

Yup I've seen his shenanigans regarding this and I must thank you because, I feel like this is a great opportunity to discuss how possessive Phainon can be.

The idea seems contradictory to what Aglaea and Tribbie have told us about him — he's selfless, willingly takes on more burden than he should and pushes himself constantly to meet that image of a ‘perfect vessel’ in order to protect Amphoreus. The term possessiveness should be absolutely unthinkable to be put in the same sentence as his name. Such a noble hero couldn't possibly be... selfish, right?

Phainon himself battles with these doubts, well, it would be more precise to say that he's the one who thinks about it the most out of anyone living in Amphoreus.

The first time he notices the evidences of that particular behavior, it has to be pointed out by someone ; you, one of his comrades or just a random person. Phainon relies on external validation to a degree, his sense of self can be altered through a strong enough comment on his personality.

The process of it developing isn't different from how it would be for anyone ; an attachment to you is secured, outside influences threaten it, he realizes a need to be in your presence more, becomes annoyed when your attention is stolen until it reaches to a point where he's actively trying to maintain it on himself alone. But the thing is, he's so swept up in all the emotions of being in love that he doesn't stop to process them all for quite some time. That's why an external call out is required.

Perhaps it would've been best if no one pointed it out to begin with, because now he's simmering in guilt and shame in his head. The Chrysos Heir is notably rigid for some time, mulling over his every action and word until he's caught in analysis paralysis. Because even if he'd like to convince himself that he's nonchalant, he cares about how you perceive him, a lot.

At the same time as this inner turmoil almost frying him, there is no notable change in his paranoia — if anything, it gets worse. The more he tries to test distance and respect for your personal time and space, the more his anxiety worsens, suddenly devoid of a medium to soothe it with. Two greeting texts increases to ten, phone calls are no longer enough, he needs to see that you're okay and safe.

At one point, a sinister thought somehow plants itself in his mind. He's lost so much ; his home, his family, his friends, his peace and his identity. But he continues sacrificing more, he continues giving up things for the sake of others, for a future marked by uncertainty. Now that there is someone who makes him happy, who he finds solace in, who he genuinely loves... he's demanded again to ‘tone it down’ when all he wants is to spend time with them? Is that not unfair to him?

And well, he brushes it off quickly — not that it completely goes away. These ideas only really torment him when he's not with you, which is another reason why separation will have a physical effect on him if it is extended to a point. Which direction all these inner conflicts and overthinking will take him towards, depends on him alone.

As for the ‘evidences’ mentioned previously, they're so him that it's honestly difficult to tell whether he's being driven by something less than innocent. He usually tends to whine and sulk to prolong your presence, gives you the doe eyes and kicked puppy look. There is also the matter with texts and calls as mentioned previously. He responds to your texts very quickly and tries to keep conversations going for as long as possible, low-key spirals if you're taking too long to respond and insists on hearing your voice, unless you tell him strongly that you aren't comfortable with it.

Is not afraid of showing physical affection in public, likes holding hands and/or linking arms with you at all times. Uses his height to his advantage as well, as in, serving as your personal shield — whether you want it or not. He doesn't really lash out at people, unless of course, they were rude to you. Given his naturally amicable personality, most people don't try to do something outrageous in front of him either. His jealousy is kind of obvious as well and since he tends to use the ‘kicked puppy method’ frequently, it can be difficult to take it seriously, to be honest. Make sure to not let your guard down though.

As for the matter of him calling you his treasure, I personally like to think that he sees his darling as above him, above everyone actually. Treasure implies towards something that was acquired and typically has a material value. Phainon is out there thanking fate and every holy being everyday for blessing him with someone like you, he struggles to even answer the question of ‘what he likes most about you’ (it's everything). He might say it out of affection in the spur of a moment once, but in his heart, your worth exceeds the notion of treasures.

[cyb3rtarot]

Pick a Pile: What's an Insecurity You Need to Confront?

Disclaimer: tarot readings are not replacements for professional advice! Take what resonates; don't force a reading to fit. Readings are based on current energy; your future's in your hands. For this reading I used a recolored Smith-Waite, the Osho Zen tarot, and the Oracle of the Radiant Sun.

pile 1⋆pile 2 pile 3⋆pile 4

(:̲̅:̲̅:̲̅[̲̅:♡:]̲̅:̲̅:̲̅:̲̅) 

Pile 1:

What’s the insecurity?: hi pile one! You seem to have interests that aren’t very socially accepted. You could like things considered “nerdy, childish, cringe, or weird.” Some of you feel like you’re a frivolous or immature person. You may also feel this way about your friend group or job. There’s some sense of awkwardness, embarrassment, or shame about the things that fulfill you. This may be a career that others don’t take seriously—like the arts—or something really niche like being a clown. However, I see most of you still try to pursue what feels right despite others’ pressure.

Why do you feel this way?: I feel you’re wrapped up in how others perceive you. You may fear being shunned, ostracized, and alone. Some of you have already experienced that level of loneliness before, so you don’t want to be pushed out again. You could be or have been the friend who feels least important, like the one who gets pushed off a sidewalk while everyone else walks side by side. Many of you have social anxiety; you could feel like everyone is staring at you or get easily embarrassed.

Current method of dealing with this: you like to take your mind off your insecurities and emotions as fast as possible. When you feel judged, you change the topic really fast, like by making a joke. You might blurt out something you didn’t really mean to redirect attention, like making a joke at someone else’s expense. Your constant flight or fight pushes you towards impulsiveness, and flip-flopping between embarrassment and defensiveness. This could take a physical toll, like feeling very tired after socializing. A few people in this group could’ve been bullies to deflect from their own issues (though others of you were on the receiving end).

Advice for healing: reflecting on how projections create shame is beneficial. When we judge ourselves, we feel everyone else is judging us too. When others judge us unfairly, they’re projecting something from inside themselves outwards. We can stay trapped in a cycle of shame where everyone is unhappy, or accept that we deserve happiness in our harmless interests. By taking a different perspective of your fears instead of accepting them as the full story, you can leave thought patterns you no longer align with. For those who often say things they regret, there’s emphasis on thinking before you speak, and working through thoughts before projecting them outwards. A few of you are entering a new community that will be a great opportunity to work on this. If you were drawn to pile 2 I encourage you to check it out!

Extra details: a bench (especially green), staring, golf carts, driving, dancing, physically active, excitable/hyperactive, bubbly, theater kid, geeky, black hair, cringe culture, shy, fandoms, the comedian/funny friend, always smiling, secret/hidden life, bullying, travel/moving, leaving friends, feeling dumb, fake persona, panic, school friends, college, dorms, fairies (fairly odd parents?), Are We Friends or Not by Zeph

(:̲̅:̲̅:̲̅[̲̅:♡:]̲̅:̲̅:̲̅:̲̅) 

Pile 2 [TW abuse/childhood abuse]:

What’s the insecurity?: hi pile two! You guys may feel insecure or struggle in what you want to do with your life. You may feel stuck in “analysis paralysis;” constantly ruminating over all the possibilities but never reaching a conclusion. If you compare yourselves to others, it might seem like you’re going very slow in life, a late bloomer, have no solid plan, or like you’re regressing. Some of you struggle with a heavy past, like major childhood trauma that contributes to your present feelings. 

Why do you feel this way?: you have a lot of thoughts in your head that pull you every which way. You might have an inkling of what you want to do, but you get caught in the planning versus the doing. Some of you are stuck between choosing something lucrative or something more purposeful. There are also opinions from others that are confusing you. A few of you have imposter syndrome about a new opportunity, and another few are having problems at a job which is pushing them away.

Current method of dealing with this: this pile seems to deal with it by not dealing with it lol. You want to make the perfect choice so much that you either don’t make any decision or you turn away from what you like. The latter is specific to some of you that have already chosen a more material-focused path but still feel indecisive. However, I don’t feel like you guys are living in an illusion; you’re aware of your situation and the different aspects. You may enjoy the position you’re in despite the insecurity. For example, if you don’t have a job right now, you could enjoy the free schedule. You may like still being taken care of by your family and not having to work. Or, you could enjoy the potential of having many possibilities and not fully committing.

Advice for healing: you need to take a serious look at what you want out of life, what’s important to YOU and not society or others. This includes being more selective with the perceptions and advice you consider; you might also need to be more selective with who’s in your circle. Are there people in your energy who are only there for themselves? Are you maybe a bit too free with sharing your plans and ideas with just everyone? Find out who and what makes you feel fulfilled and empowered. If you also felt drawn to pile 1 I encourage you to look it over!

Extra details: looking for a job or between jobs, optimism, eagerness, vests, libraries, plants, round glasses/brown glasses, light brown hair (especially a bob), quiet or shy kid (some of you outgrew it), teacher’s assistant, childhood trauma or abuse, masculine or androgynous look, horror (the genre), drawing, pop music (some of you love ariana grande 🤨), drag, job opportunities, meditation, overthinking, inner demons, nickelodeon, moving, being busy, lack mindset

(:̲̅:̲̅:̲̅[̲̅:♡:]̲̅:̲̅:̲̅:̲̅)  

Pile 3 [TW mental illness, substance abuse]:

What’s the insecurity?: hi pile threes! Is everything all right?? You guys have an indecisive energy like pile 2, but it feels philosophical instead of material. The insecurity is life itself. You could be having an existential crisis or existential anxiety. You don’t know your purpose or why you’re here, and this creates a stagnant but chaotic feeling inside. Some of you don’t want to be here. Another part of this “insecurity” is that you don’t share this struggle with most. Because others can’t comprehend what you’re going through, it’s isolating. This pile could be very disappointed with how society and survival works, and don’t want to put their energy into the broken system.

Why do you feel this way?: This group has pressure from themselves and others to be successful and “well-adjusted.” To achieve, move forward, and at least appear “normal.” There’s a great internal struggle happening and the pressure to keep up appearances adds to the stress. Mental health issues feel very significant for this pile. You may still conform to so-called normal life while feeling ready to snap.

Current method of dealing with this: most of this pile puts a lot of energy into keeping up the image. There’s a split self where the external you and internal you are living two different lives. You may like to hang out with friends a lot and focus on their lives instead of your own. Your friend group or the activities you do together seem to be filled with gossip, drama, or other excitement that distracts you from what’s going on. I also see a big struggle with overindulgence or addiction. There’s a sense of feeling out of it during the day and then coming alive at night; you might like to stay up or go out really late. Some of you also use partners to fill the void.

Advice for healing: there’s an extremely strong emphasis on removing yourself from people who no longer align with you. There could be a few people or places that always “enable” you to make choices you regret, or always bring drama and toxicity into your life. Specific people in this pile are in a romantic relationship that makes them feel very unhappy. The advice is to reflect on what takes peace from your life and what you can do to protect yourself from toxicity. If you use relationships to never face yourself, you can re-evaluate the energy you put into them. Some time has to be spent with the self to see what the self wants and needs (if you’re drawn to meditation it can be helpful). I highly encourage everyone who wants or needs them to see what mental health services are accessible to you, and to explore potential healthy coping mechanisms.

Extra details: impatient, may like to sing, vocal stim, or rap, goofy, “IT’S FAKE!”(?), a facade/mask, hiding feelings, uses humor to cope or avoid a topic, trap house, memes, spiritual, viewing life as sacred, anti-capitalism, immigrant family, questioning orientation, substance abuse, painting, bathrooms, the middle of nowhere, courage the cowardly dog, pop music, karaoke, bars and clubs, I think we ALL sing, housing insecurity, the characters Mabel or Sarah Lynn could be significant

(:̲̅:̲̅:̲̅[̲̅:♡:]̲̅:̲̅:̲̅:̲̅) 

Pile 4:

What’s the insecurity?: hi pile four! This is an insecurity about being vulnerable as your true self due to the oppressive environment around you. It feels like you carry many responsibilities. You’re expected to act strong, carry out duties, maintain tradition, and in most ways you’ve done this. On the inside you reject this way of life, but also feel fear in fully living out that rejection. This pile may deem themselves as weak, immature, or sinful. I also feel many of you want to be taken care of or protected instead of always having to be the carer and protector, and this could contribute to feeling weak.

Why do you feel this way?: living as your true self may mean becoming the black sheep wherever you are. You may be afraid that the fallout will push you into an unfavorable situation, such as having to leave where you currently are. You might’ve already seen it happen to others. I feel many of you have had to live in a mature role or take care of responsibilities since childhood, and this adds an extra layer as to why it’s so hard to break free.

Current method of dealing with this: I feel like you guys are doing the best with what you have! A good amount of this pile has left or is leaving their hurtful environment, and you’re moving into new communities that align with you. For others, this may just be an internal change. Either way, I feel you’re refusing to be bullied into agreeing with things you don’t believe in. One way or another, you’re going to find a way to rebel how you can and live the way you want. It’s just been hard to reflect on ingrained beliefs and sometimes you catch yourself falling back on ideas you don’t mesh with anymore. But great efforts have been made towards the path you want to be on.

Advice for healing: be open to a completely new journey you would’ve never imagined before! There’s already a lot of energy directed towards the life you envision for yourself. You’re encouraged to be open-minded and allow yourself continuous evolution. There’s an emphasis on giving your inner child a lot of grace and space to heal, even if your first impulse is to judge them. Just as others shouldn’t keep you in their box, don’t keep yourself in your own box either! You may have had to develop certain traits to help you leave old, toxic situations, such as having a hard exterior or going ham during your rebellious phase. Keep what still feels good and let go of the rest; embody what you need and want to be in the present and not the past. But, there’s no need to shame other versions of yourself that had different personalities and beliefs; compassion for past selves leads to compassion for the present and future selves :]!

Extra details [TW abuse mention]: teeter-tottering/off-balance, scooby & shaggy, religious trauma, conservative community, church, childhood trauma, abusive relationships, regretting parenthood, religious deconstruction/leaving, becoming more spiritual, new religious beliefs, Buddhism, moving, financial struggle, single parent, hesitating, sea/sea animals, parties or gatherings, moving/travel across the ocean, writing/journaling, nature, herbalism, plant-induced spiritual experiences, acupuncture, purple

(:̲̅:̲̅:̲̅[̲̅:♡:]̲̅:̲̅:̲̅:̲̅) 

[thorraborinn]

While we're all talking about not buying the newest electronics because of the apparatus of death and slavery that produces them, it might be worth considering getting comfortable with Linux for those who haven't thought about it before. I learned to use Linux (Ubuntu) in an act of desperation many years ago to extend the life of a computer I couldn't afford to replace but I ended up favoring it so much that any time I get a device with Windows on it I purge it immediately. I don't buy computers, I just use others' busted, obsolete hand-me-downs and I make them faster and more reliable than the brand new thing they paid retail to replace it with. And I don't even know what I'm doing, I have been a completely casual user this entire time, because it really doesn't require you to know very much anymore. It isn't hardcore nerd shit with a huge barrier to entry like it may have been once, and in my (admittedly limited) experience of using recent Windows it's harder to force that into compliance than to troubleshoot Linux.

Almost any distro (version) that you'd want to try is free. I've mostly seen Linux Mint recommended to newcomers which I think is a good choice. I have Debian on my (at least 12-year-old if not older) desktop right now. https://distrowatch.com/ is a site that tracks and reviews distros but if you get analysis paralysis Mint is a safe bet. There really is no risk (though, do back up your stuff before messing with your computer, but you should be doing that anyway) and as long as you already have a thumb drive there's no cost. You don't even have to actually install it, you can run it off a USB stick and leave your hard drive intact if you want. You can install it alongside your current operating system and pick which one you want to boot at startup. I'm not a gamer and I don't know anything about streaming but I know there are people who do that stuff on Linux distros. This isn't remotely a solution to resource extraction, forced labor, and planned obsolescence but it's an easy, free way to have more control over how you make use of electronics.

[phyrestartr]

The Starved King [Miguel x M!Reader]

(King!Miguel x Knight!Reader)

Note: Just a drabble that I want to throw out into the universe while I consider how to continue it lol I like the idea, I just don't want to dwell on it too much and get stuck in analysis paralysis 🫠 lmk if you'd like to see me continue this!!

Miguel found you. Amidst the plethora of flashy royals, he somehow managed to pick you out of the crowd–that handsome face, a fox-like smile, dragon-fire eyes all rang true in his memories of dying and bleeding on the battlefield until a young knight from a cursed kingdom chose to spare him instead of spear. 

Memories curled around him in the same way your fingers once did, buzzing with something rich and sinful that'd mend his wounds over the coming weeks left in that war-wrecked cottage. Miguel, the enemy king, was so close to death, yet you, injured and exhausted yourself, kept him breathing.

“Why do this?” Miguel asked one night while you busied with the fire, working whatever magics you had to make the flame dance. 

“Why do what?” You wondered, not looking away from the glow. 

“Keep me alive.” Miguel coughed and winced. Still, he forced himself to sit, and earned the sharp snap of your gaze on him. 

“You shouldn't–”

“I'll keep what dignity I have left,” Miguel scoffed. Then, sitting back against the wall, he got a good look at you; it seemed you’d run into some trouble with a knife, so suggested the long streaks of red tearing across your young face. A sword would have taken your head clean off. You wore typical armour of a knight from your kingdom, yet the flash of a muddied brooch caught his attention a moment before you looked away from him and back at the fire. 

“Where are you from?” The tired king asked. 

“Does it matter where I hail from? Right now, we’re two men simply trying to survive, yes?” You jabbed at the fire with a half-burnt stick. “I’m not interested in being a king-killer, so you needn’t worry; in fact, be glad it was I who found you and not one of my beastly brothers. They’d have had your head strapped to their horse in a second.” Your accent was foreign, not one that he could say was even a bit familiar. It struck his nerves as much as it piqued his interest further. 

“Then you come from a damned kingdom.” 

“A rightfully damned one, yes. Small. Unremarkable. Yet still hated, or perhaps just feared.”

“Most wouldn’t say that about their home.” Miguel adjusted his posture and took a moment to take a look at his wounds: bandaged torso, splinted leg, a splinted arm. Fantastic. “Unless you despise your people.”

“Oh please, I don’t despise my people,” you spat, eyes growing fierce and venomous. “They’re just people. Peasants. Workers. The poor, the hungry, the needy–the people are subjected to the idiocy of greedy elders and mislead ways. The queen wants to change things, and yet–” You took a deep breath and rubbed your face. “And yet things cannot change as they are. More time is needed. Until then, we participate in useless battles with your ilk. To, what, prove something? To show our might?”

“Killing a king would turn the tide,” Miguel said. He really shouldn’t have. That one statement might have changed your mind, might have ended his life and shirked the responsibility of a kingdom to his daughter. 

“Do you want me to kill you?”

“No, I–”

“Then shut up. Your blabbering isn’t useful.” 

“I just–if your kingdom is in such a state, then why–”

“I don’t want to.” 

Ah. 

“Kill-shy?” Miguel asked with a slight smirk. “Doesn’t seem very righteous of you.” 

“Excuse me?” Your face, suddenly animated and brimming with heat, turned to him again. You moved closer, half-crawling, half-scooting on the dusty stone floor to his bedside. “Look at you. You should be glad I’m more interested in healing than I am killing, you prick.” You sat up on your knees and leaned into his space. Miguel’s mind swirled in a way it used to when a pretty woman leaned into him during his courting days.

“I still don’t see a point in mercy,” Miguel whispered, his voice caught between his mouth and his heart. 

“Because I’m gifted. An asset. A good pick for an ally.” You tilted your head and gazed up at the older man through your lashes. Your hand, bare, pressed against Miguel’s skin, smoothing over the gauze wrapping around his chest. “Perhaps once I’ve secured my place as king myself, you’ll remember me, and what I can do for you.” 

What I can do for you. Ah. That sent blood rushing south and ideas flooding north. 

Miguel’s hand grasped one of your wrists, and he too leaned in the slightest bit. “And what is it you can do for me, exactly?”

“Everything,” you whispered. “Anything.” 

A wave of warmth pulsed through his chest, radiating from your palm. It came in one wave, but so suddenly like an explosion easing into the steady comfort of his chamber hearth, glowing quietly throughout the night. The stiff warnings in his chest melted and eased, and suddenly, he could move freely again. His arm and leg still ached terribly, but his chest seemed to have been…healed? 

“Magic,” he breathed. 

“Magic,” you whispered.

He closed the gap and kissed you. You whimpered something soft and sweet into his mouth as he took the lead, his one good hand digging into the space connecting your neck to your shoulder, not allowing you to run away. But he learned quickly you’d no desire to leave with how you clambered onto the bed and shed just enough of your clothes to take him. 

[hermitsmirror]

Tarot to Transform Your ... Problems?

<This is a snippet from the full blog post>

When I introduced a three-month small-group coaching program designed around tarot, Tarot to Transform Your Life, I designed it around embracing the full potential of tarot as a structure and support in mapping your life and specific projects you want to pursue.

It’s a tool to help you see yourself and understand what’s reflected; to help you articulate your strengths, weaknesses, and patterns of moving through the world; to help you identify opportunities and challenges through strategic forecasting and assess their alignment with what you know about yourself; and finally to help you use the lessons of the tarot structure to help you actually get things done in a way that’s natural and effective for you. And all the while, you’re deepening your relationship to tarot.

In short, Tarot to Transform Your Life is a program for exploring how to use tarot as a tool for inner knowing of the self, outer knowing of cycles and forecasts, and aligned activation between the two.

Surely, I thought, this is good and useful stuff for everyone, at least everyone who reads tarot.

But I marketed the program based on how I learned to use tarot to overcome a personal problem. I marketed it based on the main problem I had found in my evolving years of tarot reading: analysis paralysis and information overload.

I had just assumed that most diviners, like me, were good at collecting information from the cards, but they didn’t know when to stop, and eventually we all would learn that sometimes more is not better. Just processing the information is all we can handle, so there’s nothing left for acting on that energy.

At that point, what’s the point of forecasting? Sitting in the anxiety of what could be?

Anxiety around what’s coming is something I hear from clients who seek out predictive readings, such as my Portals of Being year-ahead readings and the month-ahead readings that are available to patrons over on Patreon (included monthly with Sovereign and Sage tier membership). Some want to know what’s coming so they can plan ahead to minimize the impact or set expectations around things that might not work out. Others want to know when something good is coming but get major anxiety when something bad is likely.

Well, wouldn’t you know it? When I opened the latest newsletter from Truity, there was a post about burnout by Enneagram type that resonated on both these fronts. According to them, overload and anxiety are key burnout triggers for Enneagram Types 5 and 6, respectively, in high-pressure careers. Others, such as indecision (Type 9) and neglecting their own needs (Type 2), are also relevant to the work we do in Tarot to Transform Your Life. In fact, it turns out that there’s something—no, there’s a lot—in Tarot to Transform Your Life for everyone who’s been slinging cards for more than a couple months.

(Full disclosure: I currently have zero affiliation with Truity. It’s just a website featuring lots of blog posts keyed to different personality types, but I started subscribing to their newsletter because they helped me understand my Enneagram type in a way that helped me think about how I move through the world, which none of my Enneagram-dabbling friends had done. I ignore most of their non-Enneagram content.)

Let me just say that I’m very excited to share more about the way that I think intentional use of tarot (or any form of multifaceted, structured divination) can help you transform your life, whether you’re an Enneagram 5 like me or not.

What follows is my take on tarot as a tool for managing the core trigger areas for each of the Enneagram types (at least as identified by Truity—I’m not the expert on Enneagrams). And if you couldn’t care less about Enneagrams, there are still useful considerations here about how to use tarot in general and about Tarot to Transform Your Life as a program. The Enneagram thing is a framework for organizing this post and providing coverage from outside of my own primary experiences.

Of course, if you don’t already know what Enneagrams are or what you are, it might be fun to read through this, go find your dominant Enneagram, and then come back to see how yours compares to your own findings. What parts of this seem most useful and relevant to you? And what should, based on your Enneagram?

Read on at HermitsMirror.com to learn how your Enneagram's core fear and overwhelm pair with transformative tarot.

[mybeautifulchristianjourney]

Living His Word

"Seek the Kingdom of God above all else, and live righteously, and he will give you everything you need." — Matthew 6:33

I find myself typing this from a hotel room after a move to another state. A friend and I were recently discussing how the acronym BUSY means "Bearing Under Satan's Yoke." In seasons of stressful transition, it's easy to get up in the morning, frantically checking the text messages on the phone before meeting with the Lord— "Did they reply yet about the job!?" The reality is that even activities that aren't satanic or demonic, per se, can keep us BUSY, distracted from God.

Our inheritance in Christ, or the certainty of God's promises—amid uncertainty— allows us to develop patience before those much-needed phone calls about landing the job, reconciling with a friend, or receiving a cleared doctor's report.

I like to remember the certainty of God's Word in three specific ways when going through a season of transition. First, Ephesians relays that God has given us wisdom and understanding (1:8). The fact that, as believers, we are blessed with the gift of wisdom and understanding cultivates patience because we are being promised this knowledge by an all-knowing God. Often stress is caused by "not knowing" what the next right step is. Yet the Lord showers wisdom and understanding on all who seek those specific details about their lives (Psalm 32:8; James 1:5).

Second, God promises to never leave us or forsake us (Hebrews 13:5). Half the battle of staying calm and patient during the transitory phases can be conquered if we remember that we have a living deity within us, Christ, the hope of glory (Colossians 1:27). And if that isn't enough, this God chooses to remain loyal and steadfast, even when the people around us have not.

Lastly, God will not allow the believer to stumble (Psalm 55:22). How many times have you been hindered by "analysis paralysis" when going through change? We want to please the Lord so much that we can get stuck over-analyzing, worried that we may not be "in God's perfect will." We do this in the name of "patient waiting." Still, it's okay to let yourself breathe! True patience means you recognize that your inheritance includes "a light for your path" in the decision-making process (Psalm 119:105).

Don't BUSY yourself. Seek the kingdom first, remembering that you have wisdom and understanding, you have God within you, and therefore, you can't stumble. In doing so, you'll naturally develop the patience necessary to wait for God's answers to prayer during your next transitional season.

Copyright© Bible League International

[thydungeongal]

Hey! If you don't mind a little game design question for you, do you prefer classed systems or classless? Personally I always find myself drawn to classed systems since they tend to give a stronger character identity of what they can do, but would love to hear your opinion!

I don't have a strong preference for one over the other, because I think they are both valid answers to the question of how to differentiate between different characters! As you mentioned, classes (and similar features like Skins, Playbooks, Professions, Careers) can provide a character with a strong archetype and if designed really well can also really tie them into the setting from the get-go. Having said that, they can often feel constricting, especially if the fiction and the mechanics aren't in harmony! In some cases it can lead to this weird design where new classes are allowed to proliferate because there are so many niches that need to be filled. Pathfinder 1e is a great example of this design: of course its roots are in D&D 3.5, but D&D 3.5 never went quite as hog wild with the proliferation of specific classes and alternate versions of those classes and so on and so forth. Which is to say, a class-based system absent coherent design goals can often end up as effectively being a weirdly designed classless system. (I know there are people out there who like Pathfinder 1e and the number of options it has, and I don't think they're wrong. I just think that type of design dilutes classes and puts the entire need for classes into question since they're no longer arguably fulfilling their role of providing a clear archetype and place in the setting.)

I think one role that classes fulfill very effectively in the context of cooperative action adventure games (the most ubiquitous genre of RPGs) is that they provide a clear method for niche protection as well as allowing for an intraparty metagame where each character seeks to fulfill a different role! However, if party balance is not a concern (or the idea of a party isn't even present) in the game, classes might not be necessary, but they can still act as like. Almost comeddia del arte style archetypes so each character's niche in terms of the narrative is still somewhat unique. This is how I look at Apocalypse World playbooks and Monsterhearts skins.

On the flip side, a classless system often gives players a lot of freedom over character creation, which is really cool, but without some structure or scaffolding it can easily lead into analysis paralysis. This is why I like classless systems that while relatively open when it comes to advancement provide the player with very clear discrete choices at character creation. For example, RuneQuest and Mutants in the Now and Gamma World 7e are all classless systems, but none of them overwhelm the player with too many choices. Like, in RuneQuest you don't just start spending skill points until you run out, your character has a set of skills determined by their culture and career that those points can be spent on! Conversely, Hero (as much as I love it) and GURPS commit the cardinal sin of simply giving the player a bunch of points and. Telling them to go at it. (Some versions of GURPS, like Dungeon Fantasy, effectively have class packages to help with character creation, which is basically what I just praises RuneQuest and Mutants in the Now for!)

Anyway I think there's also something to be said for games that don't have classes as such but also actually kind of do. Vampire: the Masquerade's clans are not as prescriptive as classes, but they effectively serve as a package that grants access to a small set of abilities. Or you could take an even wider view: comparing the different splats of Chronicles of Darkness to each other one could argue that Vampires are a class and Werewolves are a class and so on, because each of them unlocks very specific abilities. Heck, even though Eureka: Investigative Urban Fantasy explicitly doesn't have classes, it has multiple monster types straight out of the box, and arguably those all represent strong archetypes.

Anyway point being classes and classless design answer very different questions. If you want something that tries to go for a world sim approach I would generally advise against classes. Classes, however, are perfect for your party-based adventure games because it provides players with a quick way to gauge party balance, and even in some non-party based games they can provide an interesting means of making sure each character has a specific role in the narrative that is theirs.

[the-campaign-coach]

Game Review #4- Wanderhome

This past weekend I had the pleasure to play my 89th RPG in the Magpie Games Server, and it was a wonderful one in Wanderhome. Looking over my list of games, I am hard pressed to find a single other that lives up to the premise and promise of completely removing what many consider to be a core pillar of RPGs. Wanderhome is an RPG doesn’t discourage combat, but simply forbids it.

This was in fact how I was pitched Wanderhome, as a game where the core resolution will never come from violence,  and its been on my to play list for many years because of it. I was never able to find a game of it on Start Playing or at cons that fit my schedule, and with such a twist in the foundation of RPGs, I was hoping to experience it as a player before I ran it. I was very excited to have this chance, and had a wonderful GM who also helped us explore some of the other unique concepts that make this game shine. 

This game has a collaborative world building element to it, but at least as we ran it, it starts with the world as defined by the relationships our characters have bult with each other before the game even begins. As I explained this to my partner on a hike the day after, our party isn’t meeting for the first time in a dark tavern, given their mission by a old man who will either end up saving or betraying us later in the adventure. I have played a lot of games that ask us to point to other players at the table, and create a fiction about our relationships to each other, but Wanderhome particularly excels at this. Since so much of the world can be defined in this stage, it really helps flesh out a world that really is only defined in the book as a (recently) peaceful place. When you start to define the relationship between two PCs, its takes the choices we made in a vacuum about our own PC make more sense. I chose to make a circus performer, and when I asked  the question “how does my PC get on your nerves”, to another player, embodying their child character, they told me they had already gotten sick during our travels of the stories about growing up in that life. I of course could reject that fact, or twist it to better fit my narrative, but instead it gave me an opportunity to lay further into my hyper rabbits, tendencies and flesh out a flaw that gives the character more dimensions. 

Now that we have a more firm idea about our characters and the world they live in as defined by our relationship to each other, we then got to spend some time defining the world we would interact with. The GM had some helpful starting prompts picked out since we were doing a one shot in 4 hours, which prevented some analysis paralysis, and got us along our way. From that one seed, we were able to quickly spin a yarn about a world darkened by a rainy season that drenched more than just the soil. These processes so far took about 90 minutes, but I expect with a less experienced GM , it would often take a bit longer. That being said, unlike many session zeros, it was engaging enough to feel like a true part of the game rather than a chore one has to do to simple start the game.

Once formal role play started we were introduced to the final two tenets that make this world shine. In another upheaval to the status quo we would be playing a game that I would like to call GMless-ish. Often when playing GMless games, we would need to consult a table or otherwise be called to balance our own interest and the interests of NPCs. While I haven't’ yet played a game that is GMless that has combat, I can only assume those can be quite difficult to balance. Instead in this game we can each act as the world our characters are in, and the narrative friction that is needed for the fiction to have meaning. Our “GM” was great at helping us transition from the more passive player role to a true collaborative performer. 

The final conceit of the game, that makes it different than the vast majority of games I have played, is of course the way to resolve when our players may not get what they want. Without appropriate  resistance the narrative would fall flat. Instead it is up to each player to in a sense, get in their own way, or at least be okay when someone else does it. This is a game that does not have dice. Instead a character earns tokens, in a variety of ways, but the most likely trigger is when they make decision that get in the way of their own goals. This is where Wanderhome will either rewire your mind for how stories can be told at the table or completely fall flat. When you earn those tokens, you can simply succeed against all odds later in the session. You get to decided when you get tokens, and when you would spend them. The reasons to gain them, aren’t just having your character sacrifice for the greater good, and to spend them isn’t just to “win” the encounter, but at its core it helps you balance the moments that tell a good story. Your character often is rewarded for growth, participation, and generally diving in heart first into the tale. If you are still playing with the mindset of efficiency or even just completion you aren’t likely to find the soul of this game. It is for that very reason I would suggest working this into your game nights. This game will not be for everyone, but I think many players won’t know that this is something they have not only been missing but have been dying for.  So its pretty obvious I would recommend this game, as I would any game I ever take the time to review. At this point though I want to start a trend with these articles to help sum up the games, and talk about the tools they present us. Not mention previously there are some wonderful safety tools that help contextualize them not as limitations to a narrative but also a tool to push them forward. These are the most literally tool you can take from this game, but there are plenty of others. The world building prompts are great even if you aren’t going to be playing a game of Wanderhome. Also I feel if you are gearing up for a big long campaign of something heavy or even are coming off of one, this could be both a great creative warm up or emotional cool down. Finally I have to ask myself, and in doing so help give you one last piece of context that could help you decade if this game is for you, how I would use Wanderhome. While I am not entirely enamored with the all animal setting as whole, and it would be a poor fit for some of my gaming tables, I have an “Oops All Familiars” Campaign idea that we accidently created during a Game of Kids on Bikes, that happens on a different sub plane of the main games reality that would work very well for Wanderhome, so I do expect this to hit the table at some point.

[howlingday]

Honestly, i'm kinda disappointed in how WBYJ kinda brushed off Ruby and her issues throughout V9. So, I have taken matters into my own hands to look for a song to cheer up Ruby, and I have found it!

I now pass this song on to you to post, as I am both very unskilled a writing and very lazy. The song is Tom Cardy's H.S, and a link will be given to a tumblr post within this ask. Wether WBYJ sing it to Ruby or Jaune shares it with her as a ln apology is up to you.

https://www.tumblr.com/inthefallofasparrow/727759896307761152/hot-shit-tom-cardy?source=share

If an outside link is needed, I am willing to give the link to the YouTube video.

Sing a-long!

"Now and then, we all get a thought that stops us in our track. Am I living to my full potential, or am I holding myself back?" Jaune spins Ruby around, putting his hands on her shoulders. "You've gotta stop with that shit, 'cause you're P-P-PERFECT~!" He slid from his seat, walking away to the bookshelf. "Check out that analysis paralysis!"

"Paralysis~!" Ruby's team added, crooning from the hallway.

"If you need some help to see, take a lesson from me!" Jaune spun around, opening a book to the story of the Rusted Knight. "They say that I'm not a huntsman. Do you think that I really give a shit?" He tossed the book aside, causing Blake to jump in the air to save the spine from being ruined. "You know we're not gonna quit, 'cause we know we can take a hit, and we know what we is, and we know we is-"

Jaune spun around, tearing off his armor to reveal a pair of yellow spandex covering his body. He pointed his finger to the sky in his declaration.

"HOT SHIT~! And you know that we know it! We might never get registered, but it don't matter 'cause we know that we're still-"

"HOT SHIT~!" Team RWBY sang without their leader.

"Yeah, you're hot shit, too, so get out of your brain and do what you're 'born 'sposed to do!"

"HOT SHIT~!" WBY chimed in. "You know that we know it! Expect some real magic from us real huntress! HOT SHIT~!"

"And you're hot shit, too," Jaune pointed at Ruby, his finger inches from her face, "so get out of your way and just do what you were born to do!"

Before Ruby could argue, Jaune sat down next to her. "Before I got wise and said "gosh dangit," it's true that I was jealous of the big other huntress." He pulled out his scroll, opening to a news article published by various journalism sites. "But did you know that Winter, the biggest to you, was jealous 'cause Atlas would call her a rebel, too." He swiped to the photo album, featuring a familiar face to the red huntress. "The huntsman she was jealous of was your Uncle Qrow, who had self-comsuming thoughts that he would never become-!"

"SUMMER ROSE!" Yang held out a picture as Weiss and Blake sang with her.

"He was constantly chasing the dream that he would be so big that he'd be a legend!" Jaune left Ruby's side and stared out the window. "But trillions miles away that even Summer didn't see was a big guy strong enough to lift reality." He drew a signature S shape on the wall in chalk. "He turned his gaze into our world to see "There's a girl with a beret who's cooler than me!"

A new voice joined the choir as a woman with a black beret and dark shades entered. "But the most super awesome, coolest huntress to ever exist is probably at Vacuo saying "Now I'm seeing shit!" Coco lowered her sunglasses at the youngest leader. "I've seen a fight with a camera, I've even seen a memory lapse, but I've never seen a red huntress KICK SO MUCH ASS!"

"HOT SHIT~!" Everyone in the room was singing now. "And you know that we know it!"

Ruby stood from her seat. "I don't need to be a hero because I know that I'm still worth it, baby~!

"HOT SHIT!"

And you're hot shit, too!" Jaune wrapped an arm over Ruby's shoulder. "So stop doubting yourself and feel this huntress groove~!

"HOT SHIT~!" It seemed like everyone in Vacuo was feeling it, as singing came from down the halls in chorus. Was everyone in on this?! "And you know Ruby knows it! Expect some fucking stories from this red hoodie~! HOT SHIT~!"

"And you're hot shit, too," Jaune led Ruby out the doors, past the crowds, "so look out to the world, because we're all waiting for you~!"

Ruby stepped away from Jaune, looking down as she walked away. "Now and then, I get the thoughts that stop me in my tracks. Should I really be a huntress? Or should I just cut back?" The world held their breath as Ruby asked, fearing the worst had happened to her. "...I've got to stop with that shit 'cause I'm P-P-PERFECT!" Ruby roared to anyone who would spare the time to listen to her. "My life is fucking cool and so are you, if you only let me tell the rest of my story with yoooooooooou~!

"HOT SHIT~!" The world answered.

"And you know that I know it~!" She answered back to the world. "I might never get my register, but I'm still awesome as a leader~!

"HOT SHIT~!"

"And you're hot shit, too, so let's shoot for the stars 'til we break through the mooooooooooon~!" Ruby pointed to the sky, heedless of whether the moon was above or shattered or not or neither.

"HOT SHIT~!"

"Do you like my space metaphor~?" Jaune asked.

"HOT SHIT~!"

"Would you like to know what I use it for? To prove to you that you are hot shit, too, now stay out of my room and show Remnant what hot shit do~!"

"HOT SHIT~!" Ruby jumped through the air, cheering until she landed flat on her face. "Whuh? What just happened?"

"Emmy! You dropped it too soon!"

"Sorry, I couldn't hold it any longer."

Ruby looked up to see Jaune still sitting on his bed, patting Emerald's hand as she panted in a nearby chair. Nora loomed over her, barely held back by Lie Ren. To the other side of the room, she saw her team looking at her with mixtures of concern and worry. A gloved hand reached down to help her up, which she forgo to address the whole room and not just Oscar.

"What just happened?" Ruby asked.

"No more musical numbers." Emerald groaned.

"We... I was worried about how you were feeling since coming back from the Ever After and getting registered again, so I talked with your team and my team and, well..." Jaune shrugged. "Jaunty musical number?"

"Dude..." Ruby grumbled. "I don't care if it was your musical number or mine or Oscar's. Tricking me to sing is not cool."

"Don't blame 'em, kid." Coco said, leaning on the doorframe. "You were pretty jittery since you came back, so we all talked it over. The musical number was actually my idea, but unfortunately, I can't sing."

"Because you're too cool to sing?"

"Nah. Court order."

As Ruby balked, she looked to her team, who still didn't drop their looks of concern. As much as she wanted to be mad at being tricked into singing, she knew neither her team nor Jaune's would do this without some merit to their concern. So she relaxed a bit and sighed.

"Nobody recorded me, did they?"

[generating-functionology]

(ノಠ益ಠ)ノ彡┻━┻ real analysis week 2 (ノಠ益ಠ)ノ彡┻━┻

yeah, so, last week's verdict (by two independent reviewers) wasn't great. And as predicted the central culprit was multivariable calculus. However, I still have a lot of other areas for improvement.

This morning I ran six miles to get out the rage and frustration I feel over how much I struggle with this fuckass subject. Algebra is so much more delightful, so much easier. It's easy to make intuitive inferences with algebra. Just play around, manipulate your objects, find some isomorphisms, maybe do some induction. Divide if you can. Find nilpotent elements if you can't. Etc. etc. etc. Or if I'm working with a graph. Idk, delete that vertex, see what happens. Hell. What are the important vertices? What if we can find a partition of vertices with certain structural properties----

But no, these are the things that cause my brain to short-circuit. Those who are more versed in analytic techniques will probably laugh at me:

take a series, like

this little bastard is in Rudin's Principles of Mathematical Analysis, pp. 62. I wish I had reviewed the text more thoroughly before taking the exam, because this was a question on the winter qualifier. I initially looked at the series and felt my chest fill up with the pain and anguish of my ancestors. I knew that this looked like some form of application of a p-series test. I thought maybe I could find a p-series which bounded this series from above, and via the Comparison Test for Infinite Series, I'd obtain the result. I didn't know what to do from there, or how to express the larger p-series. I wasted a good amount of time trying to obtain the bound which wasn't obvious to my panicking brain.

In the back of my mind, I thought maybe I could use a lesser-known convergence test, which says

I couldn't remember what the terms of this series were, so it was a dead-end for me on the exam. Turns out this was the correct way to go. But I had zero intuition as to how this fuckass technique was the one to use. I just look at these types of problems and suffer complete paralysis, almost like I'm afraid of going down the wrong rabbit hole. I think it's also because it isn't immediately obvious what I should do - too many times I've been misled by functions that seemed like they behaved well for small values of n but then pop off as n approaches infinity.

So today the plan is

go running to silence the voices (done)

pilates (10 min)

multivariable calculus review

review the practice exam

practice problems related to strugglebus areas on that exam

[topazadine]

"I've Outlined Too Much and Now I Can't Write!" (Or: the Double Outline Method for Overanxious Plotters)

I see this a lot. I do this a lot. So let's talk about outlining, and how you truly can have too much of a good thing.

In 2022, I tried to write your typical boilerplate samurai novel called Birds of Japan. Standard fare: bisexual daimyō in an arranged marriage with a retainer’s daughter who prefers getting off with his karō (second in command), but slowly comes to love his wife after she helps him defeat a rival lord. Sword fights, gay sex, beheadings, abductions, etc etc, who cares.

I could have made something interesting out of it, especially if I added way more gay sex, but I got 119 pages in and never finished.

Well, that page count is disingenuous. Only 67 of those pages were actual writing.

The rest? All outline.

That’s right. Fifty-seven pages of outline. And there was even more, because I deleted the outline as I went along.

Does this sound like you? Do you have dozens of pages of outline, worldbuilding, character reference sheets, and so on? Okay, good. You're my target audience here.

If you don't have this problem, then congratulations! You are a good and moral person who doesn't torment yourself with outlines. You have nothing to learn from me in this post. You're golden.

Now, back to my fellow overplanners. Why are our Game of Thrones-sized outlines a problem? They create a lack of motivation.

Excessive Outlining Tricks Your Brain

In my post about spreadsheet word counts, I discussed intrinsic motivation, which is when you create goals and compete with yourself in order to get more done. The issue is that you can ruin your intrinsic motivation by planning too much.

This is called mental rehearsal, which Dr. Dev Rowchowdhury, a performance psychologist, explains:

Mental rehearsal involves imagined, mental practice of performing a task as opposed to actual practice. That is, when engaging in mental rehearsal, one imagines performing without having to actually do anything. Using Mental Rehearsal to Boost Your Performance and Well-Being in Sport and Exercise

This is all well and good for athletes, who cannot be physically performing their chosen sport at all times. Sometimes, they need to think through their actions and envision themselves performing it as they should.

However, it goes out the window for us writers. Yes, we do need some form of mental rehearsal, which we then capture in an outline. But if we fantasize too much, we have made our brain believe we’ve already done it. Given that we don’t need kinesthetic memory but actual execution, over-outlining is deleterious for our craft.

At other times, overplanning might cause analysis paralysis. Jodi Clark, a Licensed Professional Counselor, describes it as thus:

Analysis paralysis refers to overthinking a problem to the point that it becomes more difficult to make a decision. It often happens when people are overwhelmed by their choices or have too much information to sort through before they make a choice.  What Is Analysis Paralysis? How Overthinking Affects Your Decision Making

In short, you are doing so much thinking and planning that when you need to do the real work, you can’t because you’re overwhelmed by how much you’ve already done.

I think it is a combination of these two factors that leads to the heartbreaking posts from new writers who have spent months, or even years, daydreaming about their characters and planning their book, but then find themselves completely unable to work. They have rehearsed everything so much that now they have no motivation to continue.

But I’m not telling you to completely give up on outlining.

Planning is good, but not good when you become so rigidly obsessed with your outline that you can’t feel creative: now you’re just following orders you gave yourself and providing no space for different execution.

So, as with everything, whether that is descriptive density or characterization, you need to come to balance. How are we going to do that?

Think Once, Outline Twice

Or just be a heron. They don't think or outline. If only we all had that option.

Anyway. For this method, you will have a long outline and a fast outline. The long outline is where you get out every single thing that you want to include in a given scene, chapter, etc. Anything that you know you may want to have happen, you put it here.

This double outline example is from my beloved fanfic, "Midsummer Nightmare," but I've used this same method while writing The Eirenic Verses.

The words here don’t really matter, so don’t strain your eyes. You just need to see that it’s pretty long, a page for one chapter. I’ve mentioned the conversations, the way that everyone acts, their specific movements that show their emotions, a few snippets of what I intend to write, etc. All very helpful: I can see exactly how the story is going to go.

However, if I work off this, I don’t really have much room for creative freedom. It will feel like I’m plugging in piece after piece, line after line. I may even find myself tempted to tell rather than show because I can no longer visualize things other than what I have already told myself.

When beta reading, I can tell who used long outlines; their sentences read as if they are ripped straight off their planning document. Do not do that. Unless you have written a specific phrase in quotes that you want to use, or a really good piece of dialogue, follow this adage:

What goes in your outline stays in your outline.

You’re not using any of that; it serves as a reminder of what you actually want to write. So, now that you have things set up for yourself (but not written), you want something faster that will not stymie your creative process.

Next, make a fast outline that has only the most relevant plot points.

Much better: only a quarter of a page. I don’t have the action beat for beat, so I know I have to make it up myself in the actual writing. None of this reads as something that would actually happen in the real text (at least, I hope not) because it’s so boring and straightforward.

There are no showing details, almost no dialogue, no real feel for how the scene plays out. Now I feel like I have to get it done myself.

But! And this is a big, voluptuous but.

You Still Have Your Long Outline as a Lifeline

Because this fast outline only covers the most general of plot points, you might not include things that you really wanted to add in there, specifically regarding tension, setting, and so on. Thankfully, you’ve got it right there for you in your long outline, which you can scurry back to if you don’t know what to do next.

Sometimes we set things aside for a while and come back utterly bewildered about what we were trying to do, which is where the longer outline comes in.

We can refamiliarize ourselves with what we wanted to do, then put the long outline aside and turn back to the fast outline. This way, we’re not being tricked into thinking we’ve already done all the work.

I have already finished drafting the 8th book in my series, Perseity, and outlined the 10th, Plexity, because I did the project completely out of order. Now I have now jumped allll the way back to the very second book and will be working my way forward again. To be quite honest, I’ve already forgotten half the stuff that happens in Perseity and have a very, very vague remembrance of Plexity.

But that’s okay! When I’m finally ready to work on Perseity and Plexity, I have my long outline right there. I’ll then cut it down, just as I did before, and I will have a good working knowledge of how I want to proceed.

Many times, the long outline works as a type of “background program” as you write. You have the details in your head, but you’re not staring at them while you work, meaning you’re not tempted to copy-paste them right into your document.

Okay … I hear you complaining right about now.

“But Topazadine, that’s so much extra work! Why not have only the short outline in the first place?”

If you can work off just a few lines from the jump (or are even, dare I say it, a pantser), then that's amazing and I wish you the best of luck. However, not everyone is like that.

I'm talking to the people who plot, and plot, and plot like their lives depend on it because they get anxious not knowing where the story is going to go. Or they just get so excited about figuring out all the plot points that they kinda forget about the writing part.

So sure, it is a bit extra work: removing lines from the long outline, deciding what is so essential that you need to have it available to you, and checking back in with the long outline if you really have to.

However, this way fights the pesky mental rehearsing while still allowing you to plan ahead. It is the way that you can get it done but still have your big long comfort-object outline.

Double Outlines Give You the Best of Both Worlds

You get to meticulously plan without overwhelming yourself. You have some of the freedom that pantsers enjoy, but you also get the comfort of outlining – without sacrificing motivation.

A lot of times, I do the long outline and then never look at it again; I’ve memorized most of what I want to do and can follow the short outline. However, because I don’t have my full plans right there to review, I don’t feel like I’ve already done the work: I know I need to actually write the real thing.

This method works well for those who get anxious about the idea of pantsing but struggle to retain their motivation once they’ve completed their outline. It’s also great for those who have spent a lot of time analyzing and daydreaming about their work, to the point where they don’t even feel they need to write it.

If you often find yourself paralyzed after planning, consider double outlining.

Double outlines are simple and effective. Though they may seem like they take much more work than just a short outline, it’s actually not that hard to distill your plans into a brief. In fact, many use a similar method for developing their synopsis before they start to write, allowing them the freedom to cut everything down before they try to query.

Of course, no tool works for everyone. If you try this and don’t like it, you have my blessing to never do it again. Everyone is different, which is why writing is such a wonderful craft!

Knowing that there are other strategies can be incredibly helpful if you’re new to writing and have no idea where to start. I’m always happy to share, and I hope you get some benefit from dipping your toe into double outlining.

And, since I have demonstrated my utility to you, perhaps you'll consider purchasing my debut novel?

9 Years Yearning is a coming-of-age gay romance set in a fantasy world with poetry magic. It follows two young men as they grow from sorta-enemies, to frenemies, to friends, and finally to lovers.

If you do read it, please don't forget to leave a review!

Reviews are essential to getting visibility on Amazon, so every single one is golden to me.

[erik-even-wordier]

A word on the "move fast and break things" concept

A word on the "move fast and break things" concept. It comes from tech, as you probably know, and was very much the Amazon ethos. And I'm actually a fan of it, when it's deployed correctly. But it's now being used to justify malicious people doing reckless things in the stupidest ways possible, and that makes me mad.

So if someone in your life is under the delusion that Pres. Musk and his band of bros are just being "entrepreneurial" or "operating at internet speed" or whatever and the outcome will be glittering success, here's what "move fast and break things" is SUPPOSED to mean:

* Design and code products and features in an iterative way so that you can respond to customer/market needs quickly, vs taking forever to build something that might not even be relevant anymore once you're done. Launch something, get feedback, tweak or add to it, get more feedback, etc. This can be tricky to get right--we've probably all seen the definition of "minimum viable product" stretched to within an inch of its life at times--but I think it's a net good for companies and consumers alike.

* Understand when you have ENOUGH information to move forward responsibly, even if you might LIKE to have a little more. Analysis paralysis is real. (I can personally attest to this as one prone to it.) Certainty is seductive. But endless dithering over edge cases and what-ifs means no forward momentum. This also applies to over-reliance on consensus. You need your key stakeholders on board with your plan, but waiting for universal approval is a route to getting nothing done. When people ask how I succeeded for twelve years at Amazon, a company the average (and saner) employee leaves within eighteen months, my answer is that I learned how to navigate and even thrive in ambiguity, so that I could make decisions in fast-changing circumstances and take measured risks.

* Distinguish between one-way and two-way doors. Two-way doors are decisions that can readily be reversed if it turns out that when you moved fast, you broke something important. One-way doors are permanent, and a sign to slow way down. When I took those "measured risks," I mean I was also aware of when making a mistake would mean real damage to customers or the business--and thus potentially also to my own reputation--and proceeded much more cautiously.

Here's what it's NOT supposed to mean:

* Recklessness with foundational systems. For one thing, remember that it's a TECH maxim, meant to apply mostly to digital environments where code is easily deployed and rolled back. One of the teams I led at Amazon experimented with different kinds of email subject lines. If one of them had disastrous open rates, we could just pull it (or the algorithm would pull it for us). Yeah, it meant that tens of thousands of customers had received a mail from us that they didn't find useful. That's not great, because once you've trained a customer to ignore or even unsubscribe to your emails, it's really hard to get their attention back. But that was the price of learning. And it didn't HARM customers, or break their trust. And even in a tech environment, we would never EVER have played it fast and loose with, say, the system for storing customer data or managing employee benefits. The stakes are way too high, just as they might be with, say, safeguarding the nuclear stockpiles of the United States of America.

* Failure to plan. Even when you know you might break things, you try to anticipate those things in advance and have a mitigation plan. At Amazon we even tried to anticipate "dogs not barking," our phrase for unintended consequences that happen below the radar and so go unnoticed for too long. Did DOGE take the time to either ensure it wasn't firing HUNDREDS of mission-critical people or to have a fast rollback plan? Apparently not. (The nuclear scientists' email accounts were wiped as soon as they were fired, forcing HR to hunt people down one by one via personal accounts.) I also wouldn't consider these firings a two-way door. Even if your people come back to work, the experience of being fired (illegally, let's not forget) by a ketamine-addled billionaire who is ALSO operating illegally--and who the White House claims is neither the DOGE director nor a DOGE employee--won't fade anytime soon. The chaos and breach of trust are irreparable.

* Lack of coordination. Even in a rambunctious tech environment, teams did not take it well when some other team's code changes broke their stuff without plenty of advance warning. That's amateur hour, not to mention assholery. Before you fire the one locksmith for all of Yellowstone, maybe you give his boss a heads up and time to arrange coverage.

To be clear, I don't think Elon Musk and his band of young bros are TRYING to "move fast and break things" in the right way. Their goal is to destroy the federal government, not improve it, so they don't think they need to take any care. (Which is the Achilles heel of the whole Trump administration; instead of taking the time to ruin things in a legally defensible way, they proceed with all the finesse of thugs using Adderall as chaw and get smacked down in court, again and again.)

But they ARE banking on the public being dumb enough to believe that this is just how the wealthy, successful, super-ultra-modern tech class got that way. It's not true. So don't fall for it.

PS: also, THE GOVERNMENT IS NOT A BUSINESS AND SHOULD NOT BE RUN LIKE ONE. Would I like our government to be more agile and efficient? Absolutely. I think we all would. But a large bureaucracy will NEVER run like a corporation, and that’s not just inevitable, but desirable in some ways. Institutions are MEANT to be stable and predictable.

[cosmiccannibalcamille]

How to Survive 2024 Mercury Retrograde in Virgo & Leo

What: Mercury Retrograde in Virgo & Leo

When: Aug. 4 - Aug. 28, 2024

Who’s Impacted: EVERYONE, but esp. Virgo, Leo, Gemini, and Aquarius

Takeaway: A forced slow down and reassessment of your writing projects, travel plans, and everyday communications. Subscribe

     There’s a decision every astrologer must make in their forecasts: to be real, to be Pollyanna, or to be doom-and-gloom. I aim to be real and proactive, with a tinge of Pollyanna optimism about astrological transits, because I don’t believe astrology is here to ruin or run your life. In fact, I believe that when armed with the themes and potential struggles of planetary transits, you can better work with them, you can use them to better your life. But above all else, I believe YOU have power over your own life. I don’t believe the “stars” dictate your decisions anymore than your Mom does (unless you’re a Cancer, of course). 

     That said, I don’t want you to fear this (or any) Mercury Retrograde. This is a transit that happens three times a year; which means it’s a normal part of the astrological cycle. That also means that it isn’t something to fear, fret over, or fuss about. (I mean, it’s happening in Virgo, so there will likely be some fussing—but you know what I mean.) Will it be a little messy? Probably. Is it still an opportunity? Abso-fucking-lutely. So, let’s unpack why this is, shall we?

Mercury Retrograde in Virgo: An OS Overhaul

     Virgo is the sign of precision, detail, and efficiency. It’s like that diligent system admin who’s always optimizing, debugging, and fine-tuning every aspect of the operating system of your life. When Mercury is in Virgo, it’s like having a high-speed processor that makes everything run seamlessly. But during Mercury retrograde? It can feel like your OS decides to install a series of untested updates. They can wreak havoc on your once-flawless system—if you ignore the notifications blaring in your face about upgrading. (That’s mostly for me, because I’m the WORST at upgrading my apps.) 

     How to avoid havoc? First, run a diagnostic check. Just as you would run a diagnostic on a glitchy OS, take time to assess where things are going haywire. Identify areas of your life that need extra attention and care. If things feel overwhelming or convoluted, it’s probably because you’re trying to run too many programs. So, close all those browser windows and clear the cache. Your mind can quickly get bogged down with too many details, too many projects, too many thoughts. Clear the mental cache by taking breaks, slowing down, or simply stepping away from overwhelming tasks. Fresh eyes can solve many problems. 

   When Mercury Retrograde hits Virgo, perfectionism panic is practically inevitable. Your inner critic might go into overdrive, spotting flaws everywhere, even where none exist. (Olympian Caeleb Dressel, who has natal Moon & Mercury in Virgo, talked about his OWN experience with this inner critic.) This hyper-awareness can lead to analysis paralysis, where decisions you usually make in a snap suddenly feel like life-or-death scenarios. And don’t even get me started on tech tantrums—your meticulously planned schedules and lists could go haywire thanks to those pesky tech glitches. But remember: it’s not all doom and gloom. This is a cosmic nudge to let go of the need for everything to be perfect. Because spoiler alert: it never will be.

Mercury Retrograde in Leo: Star Power

     Mercury in Leo is all about bold self-expression, confidence, and a flair for the dramatic. But when it goes retrograde, expect the drama to hit a new high. Your inner diva might rear its head, leading to ego clashes and misunderstandings. Everyone wants to be the star, but there’s only one spotlight, and it’s flickering! Public missteps and foot-in-mouth moments become almost inevitable, making you feel like you’re trapped in a never-ending blooper reel.

     Indeed, Mercury Retrograde in Leo can feel like an unscripted reality show where everyone’s vying for the spotlight. Ego clashes are probable. Misunderstandings fueled by pride will be the main act. And that brilliant creative idea / creative project you’ve been nursing? It might feel stuck in your head, leading to frustrating creative blocks. The likelihood of having public missteps (or metldown) is higher than average, so beware of saying something cringe-worthy in the heat of the moment—or worse, on social media! With Mercury Retrograde in Leo, it can seem like you’ve been handed a microphone with a faulty connection, and your words aren’t coming out as intended.

     So, how do you survive this two-week cosmic drama without becoming a meme-worthy disaster? First, think before you speak. Save yourself from unnecessary drama and embarrassing slip-ups by pausing before you open your mouth (or penning that post). Next, channel your creativity and mental heat constructively. Leo is a fire sign, and fire signs can get overheated FAST. Meltdowns, either mental or technological, could happen; but they can also be avoided when you channel your frustration, anger, and/or irritation into creative / playful / performative acts. Sing. Dance. Play tennis. Do SOMETHING physical. Oh, and be sure to revisit and refine your creative projects. That stuck idea? It’s a chance to polish it to perfection. That frustration? It’s a sign you’re not expressing yourself the way you’d like.

This is a condensed excerpt. Get the FULL SCOOP on Mercury Retrograde in Virgo & Leo on The Cosmic Almanac: