#I had big plans for all the creative projects I wanted to achieve

[rainia]

anyway it’s ok if you didn’t achieve as much as you intended this year it’s ok if you just survived; you are not your achievements you are a whole universe and you’re worth so so much more than you could imagine

[rebirthgarments]

Hi friends! We have a couple of updates to share. 

Firstly, Seraj needs more than $3,300 to pull off his final Ramadan project before Eid. He wants to distribute it on the last day of Ramadan, which is in 3 days, so we need to get to $20k ASAP! 

contribute at bit.ly/serajfund

The financial situation in Rah Fah continues to decline, with intermediaries taking a 15-17% cut when people get cash out. He is so hopeful that this project will work out! Helping others and bringing smiles to faces–especially those of children–is clearly one of Seraj’s passions. 

Here are the project details, all thought up by Seraj himself. He has amazing ideas! 125-130 cash envelopes containing either 50 or 100 shekels each. Seraj will distribute them based on how large each family is. Seraj will also make 40 envelopes for kids, each containing 20 shekels. 

Currently, Seraj’s plan is to distribute his envelopes on the last day of Ramadan, before Eid al-Fitr. Last time he tried to print something, the printer had no electricity. He has a plan this time for checking in early to make sure he has a chance to print. 

Working with Seraj on his mutual aid projects has been such a tangible reminder that we reject the notion of charity (which is very rooted in the white savior complex and pity of Black and Brown folx), and even allyship (not enough action)  instead are partners and collaborators with Seraj self directing, leading us, and constantly motivating us to to get to the next goal so he can achieve his vision! 

 Because Seraj and his family have managed to survive, he’s been able to give back. No NGOs or governments, just a 21-year-old young man helping as many of his neighbors as he can. In his words, “This is my duty, sisters, as long as I can help! Why don't I do that!”

Seraj is genuinely a superstar to everyone on our team. His generosity is humbling to us. We have so much to learn from Pale-eh -steinians. 

Secondly, we have a date for our upcoming virtual dance party! Mark your calendars for Monday, April 29th in the evening (Pacific time). Sky is hosting this event to hype up our virtual auction for Seraj. Follow Sky on Instagram for more details @rebirthgarments or @radicalvisibilitycollective

If you’d still like to contribute items to the auction, go to bit.ly/fundraiserforseraj ! Seraj’s Support Soirée would like to offer an item or service for every budget. And we encourage a wide variety of dough-nation types! While many of them will be creative objects, they do not have to be.

Some examples:

a book you love or wrote

a framed photograph

a massage (local area bidders only)

a meditation session

a piñata

a tarot reading

a t-shirt you love or designed

stickers

a virtual lesson on social media marketing

visual art

a virtual dance lesson

Your items will be listed this week on Give Butter! (stay tuned for details!) 

Our support soiree dance party will hype up the auction featuring selections from the archives of Rebirth Garments fashion performances while you can dance with Sky!

Thank you so much for being here for Seraj. He and his family are so deeply grateful for all of the ways folks have supported them and partnered with them to help others. And our team is so thankful for how you all have stepped up. Please share and contribute! 

-Written by my team member Bex with additions by me!

[image Description: a flyer featuring a photo by Seraj of a small little kid with a blue plastic bag full of fresh fruits and vegetables. The kiddo has a heart emoji over their face and is smiling really big. They are wearing a red shirt that says “sleep time” with a sleeping bear on it. They are standing on a sandy ground in front of a tent. Text to the right of the photo on a red background reads: Gaza Sky Seraj’s mutual aid project for Ramadan in Rah-fah For part 2 of Seraj’s Ramadan project, he gave out 32 food parcels for 32 families around him in the displacement camps. Send support to his family + others! bit.ly/serajfund “ Underneath is a QR code with the link. ]

[hangingslothcentral]

this right here is a screenshot of the end of the first novel i ever finished. it was a version of Clockwork Bird, which would go on to become my first ever audio drama in 2020, 6 years after i finished wriitng the novel. it has been a whole TEN YEARS since i finished the first version of this story.

this makes me emotional for a bunch of reasons. firstly, i can't believe it's been an ENTIRE DECADE since i started finishing novel-length projects, what the actual FUCK.

it's kind of sobering because around July/August this year will mark 10 whole years of trying to get published.

since writing Clockwork Bird, I've written seven other novel length pieces, two of which I've attempted to run for publication. I've also rewritten and re-polished three of those stories, including Clockwork Bird, to give a second shot to. Two of those projects are currently making the rounds of literary agents.

I'm feeling hopeful that I'll be able to cross the finishline at some point in the next couple of years. I have wanted to be a writer for my whole life, and I know it's one of those things where all you really need to do to be the thing is to do the thing, and that's magic, and i also know that on top of all those prose writing projects, I've written three audio dramas and numerous other projects, too. the audio dramas have been pretty successful! I'm very proud of them.

one thing that's hard about looking at other people's creative careers is that, sort of by necessity, it all ends up getting flattened and smoothed out as part of the storytelling of who that person is as a creative. we tell rags-to-riches tales or spin another sort of narrative of who this person is and where they're from. the only commonality in all of those stories is that they make it all sound much more straightforward and much more understandable than the reality.

this is okay; it's important we do this in order to stay sane. we cannot reasonably conceive of every up and down in every author's trajectory. and it's kind of a consequence of the way we inevitably end up telling these stories because we start at the end. we know when we think about Charles Dickens, for example, that he ends up to be a celebrated novelist, even as we're talking about his difficult childhood and horrible relationship with his wife. all of his struggles and personal failings are a part of a story whose ending is 'and he was a famous, successful novelist'.

when we're living our lives, we don't know the end, because that's not how it works. you can hope and believe and plan and work extremely hard towards your goals and you still aren't going to know the outcome.

when i finished Clockwork Bird i had NO idea it would be an audio drama 90,000 people would listen to. i didn't know it would be another ten years MINIMUM before i even found a literary agent, let alone saw my work professsionally published. i didn't know i'd spend years barely writing a word of prose because i felt so disenfranchised. i had no idea.

there isn't a big thesis statement to this post, i'm just having a lot of feelings. they say we overestimate what we can achieve in a year, and underestimate what we can achieve in ten. remember you're hearing the stories of other people's lives with the benefit of hindsight; that's why yours always feels much weirder and messier than theirs when you think about it. keep going. u got this. ily. xxx

[ongreenergrasses]

✨ End of Year Questions ✨

tagged by @genyathefirebird thank you 💜 i was apprehensive to answer these because i thought i hadn’t written that much but uh. Turns out i wrote a lot it’s just that nobody’s seen any of it.

What is your favorite thing you created?

i think my favorite is zombie movies, because that felt like closing a chapter that i didn’t even know i’d left open. runner up is something slightly cursed encouraged by @xar626 whether she knew it or not where i returned to something I wrote this summer and it turned out it was 2k about a very pivotal blowjob. which i consequently wrote in comic sans. it needs at least another 2k before it’ll be ready for polite society

Which work are you proudest of?

AMARYLLIS i forgot i posted Amaryllis this year. i am so proud of it

Is there anything you are proud of that you achieved this year?

i’ve had brief shining moments where i’ve been writing every day and i’m proud of that. i absolutely believe that it was what allowed me to pass the big test i took this year because i had practice quickly organizing my thoughts and putting them to page

Did you explore anything new this year?

i learned to crochet! i took a class and then i was like yeah this is the life so i’ve crocheted a hat a lot of granny squares with my scrap yarn and am working on a strawberry bag

Which work gave you the most difficulty?

shout out to that time i got caught writing porn on a plane this year and i was like i have to post this or it’ll mean NOTHING and it still isn’t posted because i’m only halfway through revising and i have negative sixteen ideas for a title

What was your biggest creative challenge this year?

i found myself in multiple situations this year where i was confronted with something genuinely close to my worst fears in term of my PTSD, and in both situations i was required to do my absolute best on creative work, once taking a test (lots of writing!) and once playing in the pit in a very long and difficult production. being able to tap into my skills and perform to my best ability was one of the hardest things i’ve ever done and THEN i cut my finger and had to do 3 shows without use of a finger. so that was exceptionally challenging but i succeeded and overcame!

Which work brought you the most joy?

be on your way for sure, first serious smut i’ve ever published and a rarepair passion project. loved writing it and loved posting it

Which of your works do you think people should check out?

i would say i write pretty varied stuff, a lot of it is about grief and a lot of it is angst, so it’s hard to say but i think the series love, persevering is some of my best writing. prompt fills are all under #prompts and my ao3 is here

Do you have creative plans for next year? Is there anything exciting you’re currently working on?

i do want to set myself the goal of posting a lot of the fic on my phone if i can get it up to my personal standard. i’m really nervous about posting it because it’s a big departure from the type of thing i normally write and it’s also for a pairing that is very personal for me, i also know that it’s for something that’s older so i know it won’t be that popular which is always something that makes posting less fun

in terms of music, this is the year i fully learn the prelude to Bach’s 6th cello suite, it’s one of the most beautiful pieces of all time imo. i am also very fortunate in that i’ll get to play Largo from Dvorak’s New World which has been a dream of mine for a long time, plus i get the beautiful little solo 💖 and in terms of fiber arts, it’s the year i finally knit a sweater (or three) and crochet a couple blankets

Lastly, any words of wisdom or advice you’d like to share?

i think writing a lot and posting almost nothing has reminded me why i write, and that’s just because i love it. the external validation is nice and important but if you’re writing just for that, you will inevitably lose your joy for it, which is what happened to me in 2022. set goals for yourself, write what comes naturally, and you can keep it forever or post it, whatever serves you.

tagging @goldheartedsky @sigurism @godihatethisfreakingcat @scorchedhearth @shatterthefragments @bakingmoomins and anyone else who would like to 🌸 important note this doesn’t have to just be about writing!! Anything creative goes

[idril-la-wiccan]

Status Update - November 2023

Finally ! I was not a disappointment to myself ! /light-hearted

Ok, on a more serious note, I'm always happy when I achieve my goals, because I have a track record of projects I've started and never finished for X or Y reasons. Probably because of my scatterbrain attitude that I suspect to be due to undiagnosed autism and ADHD.

But that's a me problem, you're not here for that. You're here for this :

Out of the Abyss

Status : in hiatus.

I can't believe I've started this AU in 2021. I've worked on the entirety of Act I for two years, can you believe it ?

No wonder my motivation had been dwindling near the end : I was running out of creative juice ! That and I got brainrots towards other media/fandoms.

But at least, I was able to complete a good full chunk of the story, even if it ended on a cliffhanger. (Weh he he he ! >=])

And, for now I can't tell when I'll get back to it, but it's gonna be a little while. I still love OMORI, but it's not as much on my mind as it was at first. I can still enjoy other's content about it, but I must take a break from making content of it myself.

(By the way, I won't say your name because I don't know if you want people to know what you're up to with your own project yet, but know I'm reading it ! I've read up to section 1.7 of your chapter. I'm just a very slow reader, sorry about that... ^^')

On another note, I'll soon make a Masterpost for an easier access to most of my content for the different fandoms I've made content for. I remember someone had asked me about doing something like that for my Cookie Run comics and stories so I'm actually going to try that.

Speaking of which :

Cookie Run

A thief can learn a lot from a magician : in hiatus/pending.

3 New Oneshots : pending.

3 New Longer Fanfics : pending.

Yeah, it's gonna be a mess for my Cookie Run content. You guys are just gonna have to wait and see for this one. I'll at least try to tackle back the one unfinished fic whenever I can.

Pikmin

Castaway Redesigns : work in progress.

1 Fanfiction : pending.

Eye-Sprout AU : pending.

This is more streamlined. These projects are in order of priority so you at least know what to expect.

I've had difficulties to find time for the castaways but I'll finish what I started !

Eye-Sprout however, while I have ideas, I don't know where to go with it. Just don't expect it to be a full fanfic like Out of the Abyss, just ideas thrown together as long as they make sense.

Now, for the fanfic I DO intend to write, it will be Rescue Corps focussed and set after Pikmin 4 (with the idea that the timeline goes 1, 2, 4 then 3).

This will also be set elsewhere than PNF-404 (so no pikmin, only aliens) with our rescue team on a nerve-racking mission to save people from the clutches of a renowned scientist gone mad with power.

Expect some savory angst. =)

*****

Now, for these projects I just talked about, they will all be second priority compared to my next long term project that I plan on working on until it's done.

Which is :

Sweet Nightmares

My Yume Nikki-like/Yume Nikki Fangame (whichever you prefer to call it) that I began to work on long ago but then neglected because I was unsitisfied with my middle-schooler skills.

But NOW, as of writing this post, I will soon be 27 years old and long gone is the teenager who kept doubting herself ! And I have been itching to get back to this project ever since my motivation for Out of the Abyss winded down.

However, I won't go into details about it now, I'll make a seperate post for it when the time comes.

TL;DR : My next big project and top priority will be a Yume Nikki-like game called Sweet Nightmares. My OMORI fanfic AU is in hiatus until further notice and my Cookie Run and Pikmin projects will be low priority on my "To do" list.

Cordially, Idril.

[firsttarotreader]

Question for the tarot. Does he miss his theatre days? Does he still love doing theatre or does he enjoy doing movies and series more now?

Hello! Let’s see what the cards say, shall we? I first asked if he might possibly miss his theatre days. The Major Arcana were Strength, The Hermit and The World.

Strength means he might have needed a lot of inner strength and courage to deal with his theatre days. He had to harness his anger, his drive and his passion and gather the courage to make the big moves in his career. The Hermit points to him thinking and re-thinking and re-evaluating everything about his career and his life, and there might have been many lonely times when all he had were his own thoughts and questions and doubts. The World shows us he has found his “happy ending” though, he has achieved his goals and everything he fought hard to get during those days, so he is satisfied now (not that he doesn’t have new goals for the future, but in comparison with what he wanted back then).

The Minor Arcana were the 5 of Cups, Page of Swords and King of Pentacles. 5 of Cups with Strength means he had to be strong and brave to deal with all the disappointments from his theatre days, with things not going the way he wanted, with the pain and failure. Page of Swords with The Hermit points to him making an effort to be smart, to use his intelligence and his communication skills to understand himself better and also what he wanted from his career. He might have made mistakes and tried to correct them every time. King of Pentacles with The World shows him being finally stable, wealthy, successful, structured, being able to make his career and financial decisions with confidence.

So, honestly, given the point where he is now, it doesn’t look like he misses those days a lot.

I then asked if he possibly prefers to do movies and shows now instead of plays and the Major Arcana were The Empress reversed, Strength and Death.

The Empress reversed could be telling us he might feel like doing plays could be kind of monotonous right now, he could feel stale and unfulfilled, and it could even mess with his insecurities again. Strength is here once more to show us he still feels like he needs a lot of courage and inner strength for movies and shows, but Death means he has also been through some major changes in himself and in his career. He is no longer who he was back then, everything has changed, that part of his life has ended and another one has begun.

The Minor Arcana were the Knight of Pentacles, 10 of Cups and Ace of Swords. Knight of Pentacles is interesting because it shows him not really being energized and willing to do the everyday repetitive work he would have to do. 10 of Cups with Strength basically points to him feeling happy and satisfied the way he is now and how he still needs inner strength and courage to do the movies and shows work. Ace of Swords with Death means he is aware he is in a different moment of his life and the changes he’s been through and he is full of ideas and plans, he has the clarity he needs and he is excited about all the new possibilities and all the new projects he can have now. He’s feeling creative and seeing a lot of potential in his work.

So I would say at this moment he might actually prefer to do movies and shows. Not because he doesn’t like theatre anymore, but because he’s not who he was back then, he’s just in a different phase of his life. This might change moving forward and he might do plays still, but his mind seems to be more directed to movies and shows.

[faintprojection]

Darth KOTOR Post Mortem

While they're still being posted, I finished drawing @darthkotorcomic a little over a week ago. While it might not look like it, this was a deceptively challenging project for me and I find myself wanting to talk about it. So... here we go.

The comic was a challenge I set myself because I was finding the experience of a dark side play through of KOTOR 1... unpleasant. But mixed with these odd moments where the game didn't feel like it was reacting appropriately to the things it let your character do. I wanted to see how it worked out, but I needed a reason to push through. Making short comics riffing on the experience ended up being that reason. But there were a few non-obvious obstacles here.

First, color blindness. I've got some moderate red/green color blindness. At the very start I'd planned to stick to black and white to dodge this, but very quickly decided that wasn't going to work. I tried to compensate by using a color picker to get colors from screenshots, but that had its own challenges. I assume there's probably some color weirdness in the result. Not much for it.

The second is I'm one of those people who can't really picture things in their head. Which means I struggle to picture what it is I'm trying to draw. Even trying to draw a character or scene from reference the moment my eyes leave the reference it just tumbles out.

Third, I am both untrained and unpracticed. I've fiddled with programs like GIMP and Inkscape off and on over the years, but I basically haven't tried to draw since I was a teenager, and even back then I wasn't drawing much.

And finally, I have a habit of getting caught in revision loops with anything creative.

With those in mind, here are the strategies I used to get this done.

First, breaking big problems into smaller and smaller problems until a big, unmanageable task became a lot of small manageable tasks. In this case, that meant making drawing characters, drawing scenes, and posing characters in scenes separate problems. There are probably better tools out there, but I knew I could do this with some very basic vector graphics tools so that's what I did. Hence, the character template.

Inkscape doesn't do character skeletons so no arms or legs to fiddle with. Also no mouths or eyebrows. I figured I could do a decent range of expressions by manipulating the hidden rectangle you can see in the color block version, which ended up being mostly true. I never did find a good way to convey an eye roll.

The second thing I had to do was time boxing every task. I didn't use a rigid timer or anything, but if I spent more than a few hours working on any individual character or scene I'd stop, look at what I had so far, and if it at least vaguely looked like the thing I was trying to make I'd stop and move on. I just accepted that this was going to be a bit of a sloppy project. The goal was for a thing to exist, not for that thing to be perfect, or even good.

With that in mind, I also didn't spend much time writing any individual comic. I'd play the game until I had 3ish events pop out at me and spend a little time riffing on those moments before making whatever I'd come up with. Then repeat the cycle.

The last thing was actually sharing the comics here. Making them public forced them to be done. Which helped maintain forward momentum.

The result of all this is... fine. I ended up making 45 comics in 35ish days, heavily weighted towards the end. I don't know that I got much better at drawing in that time, but I did get a lot faster. Some are more amusing than others. Some characters never looked quite right. I need to work on posing (especially eye lines since Player is slightly shorter than everyone else). If I could go back I'd probably find a different way to do the dialog bubbles. And I have mixed feelings on the early choice to have Player and Bastila speak in different fonts than everyone else.

But at the end of the day, goal achieved! A thing exists. I hope it amuses you.

[vibeless15]

3,000!? Thank you all

What an absolutely insane Milestone we've come over this fine year it felt like yesterday and when there was only a thousand of you but now three thousand people that's just that's just crazy. I'll be the first one to say I didn't think starting in a you project like this anything like this big would give me this far I'll admit I had my times where I've failed to take a moment to realize what I was capable of such a good moment to realize how my stories can affect the people in such an impossible in emotional way.

Which is why I've which is why today I want to make that announcement that I that after I finished with my projects that I have set up already I plan to start a branch of my own new ideas and my own new storylines is a lot of comics and idea what I want to do a lot of things that I want to achieve and move forward towards but I can't do that tied down to this pandan as much as I've been in the past.

This Fandom has meant the world to me in the past few years not and not just that small bit but almost everything about what I've done has been for this fandom that I grew up with so passionately. Everything about this fandom sparked my creativity sparked my talent sparked my life but I won't bow be the first one to admit that I don't know owe this place anything I owe nobody nothing. I've been dedicated to this project until a story not to devote my life to a single place so I could run away and never understand what it means to truly makes in the people enjoy something that is your own. Toby Fox was one of the greatest men I've had the privilege of being inspired from his small in the project has sparked almost a million-dollar franchise of his own Scott cawthon a man who's almost a localized is being an underdog than Indy Community to spark it all it's all been an amazing and emotional message to everybody especially to small creators like myself who wants to create things that are that mean something to people.

I want to give it my all to give you off what you really deserve a story we're sharing a community born Anew but I can't do that tied down to the fandom as much as I have been in the past which is why I need to start growing some wings venturing out words making new things. This Sonic comic is just the beginning sued I'll start making more original ideas more even grander ask things to come I will give you all something truly worthy to read about Philly to take home to families so I need to take some work to read and perhaps one day someone deserving of a TV show or movie One Day. Which is why this isn't just a thank you to all of you who have dedicated your lives to contributing and support and supporting this small creator that you found but is also a large sign to people who want to make something more themselves who want to spark something new sure this fandom is the first place you can do that at the what happens when this place dies then your ideas die if you go out Branch out and start making new things that no one has ever thought I could work in any of the lights you'll be the first and only that you'll be able to start your own community that will live on for years to come we have that power you have that power use that to all its intent glory and I will be doing the same. Thank you all so much for 3,000 followers thank you all for your immense support and I love you all three thousand.

And please do take a moment to take a read at my first official stand alone Book, Talia's Jester.

[fountainpenguin]

FOP Fic News

Overview

I’ve always had table of contents docs for projects like Origin and Knots, and since I’m returning from hiatus, I recently moved them to a spreadsheet and mapped out what dates I should plan to upload chapters on and how long it will take me to finish these stories. I went through lots of docs with a critical eye and combined or cut chapters to get a better idea of how things are looking.

Posting at my current schedule of one chapter every other week, it looks like  Origin and Knots will come to an end in 2025 (if I stay on top of my buffer) and although that feels so far away, there’s a certain relief in it since my combining and cutting helped me bring that down from 2026.

That schedule doesn’t leave wiggle room for other projects like Come What May, the 130 Prompts, and work for my other fandoms that I’ve been drafting over the years. I don’t really like the idea that if I wrap up Origin and Knots in 2.5 years, I’ll still have another several years of Prompts left to go. I always knew these were big projects and working on them made the long years of school more fun, but it’s always been my intention to finish them, and I’d rather do that sooner than later. After all, I’m still sitting on pieces I wrote in 2016 about Cavatina, and 2026 isn’t as far away as it seems... The idea that the 10-year anniversary of his arc might hit before I actually post it leaves me shook, my dude.

I’ve given it some thought and realized that if I post 130 Prompts on the weeks between Origin and Knots chapters, I can wrap the series up in 2026, maybe 2027. I can live with that a lot more than I can live with the idea of working on this project past 2030, ha ha.

In other words, I’m setting a goal of a ‘fic update every Friday, starting soon (I’ve got the next Prompt done, but I’m sitting on it for a sec to build the buffer out farther). There might be some Fridays where there’s nothing, but keep your eyes out for things that interest you. I hope you enjoy :)

--

130 Prompt Details

So, many of you are probably familiar with my FOP one-shot series, 130 Reasons Why I’m Fairy Trash. I've had all the 130 Prompts planned out for years, but I lost interest in some of those plans as time went on (Not the big plot stuff, that's still the same, but some minor standalones).

I recently went through my docs to refresh my memory on what’s to come. I had some vague ideas that I never fleshed out and realized that I never will, so I’ve scrapped those. I also had stuff I scrapped years ago, but fell in love with the drafts all over again and am eager to see them finished off.

In 2022, I took an FOP and Tumblr hiatus to focus on other things like my IRL job and personal projects, and I couldn’t maintain the spark of inspiration for FOP at the same time. Mostly, the reason for that was just that I was busy and was putting my time and creative energy into other projects, and I simply didn’t have time for both. I didn’t realize until now, but I think I also felt pressure to create something big and meaningful with what I submitted, and I became paralyzed with thoughts of putting out something “boring” or “weird” and facing critique that my work was confusing or unenjoyable.

Anyway, while recently looking through my WIPs, I remembered the 130 Prompts were always meant to be a series of short side stories and that there’s nothing wrong with dorky little one-offs. I don’t need to put pressure on myself to turn everything into a polished 10k+ story when just a few thousand words will do, or overthink the humor and flow to the point I talk myself out of doing something.

I spent some time a bit ago looking over my stuff and making a new plan for the order I want to post things in, and it feels much more achievable to me now. I’m excited to get back to it. Hoping to post some dumb and silly things more often because “I had an idea and it made me laugh” is valid.

--

Stuff Getting Scrapped / Kept

I’ve realized that I’m not going to write Identity Theft and Acacia Arcadia as standalone ‘fics. I scrapped some scenes and the rest will be recycled into 130 Prompts to replace the ones I cut. I’ve set my plan up so that the next Prompts in line are ones that have solid drafts and I’m excited to work on, so I’m hoping to get on a regular posting schedule with those soon, alternating weeks with Origin and Knots.

Hawthorn Haven and Devil’s Backbone will prrrobably still exist as their own ‘fics someday when the time is right, as when I first made their outlines, I was already prepared to work on them “when I’m older.” I don’t feel the same pressure to finish them. I’m still looking forward to them, but they’re in “Can’t talk about these things until we’re in that point of the timeline” jail. I’ve always intended for Devil’s Backbone to be the end of my FOP writing days, so it’s on the backburner for obvious reasons, but when the time does come to close out all the stories and wonderful worldbuilding, I hope it’ll be a blast.

I do still have a draft for a ‘fic called Along the Cherry Lane which focuses on Timmy and his friends growing up, marrying, having kids, etc. but that’s on the backburner for now too. I’m not sure if I want to keep it, but also not ready to let it go. If I do let it go, I’ll find a place for the scenes I liked within the Prompts or I’ll post one or two one-shots instead of the whole ‘fic. I do intend to get back to Come What May once I get the spark back for it and I might even return to Snips and Snails... who knows.

--

Tl;dr

I still have several years of FOP content that I plan to release, as I’ve never wanted to abandon these stories I love. I knew I was starting big projects and I knew they would take me years to finish, but as my 10-year anniversary of writing FOP ‘fics creeps nearer and nearer... Yeah, there’s a certain part of me that's ready to jump back into a schedule and see if I can wrap up all three of these big projects by the time I hit that mark. Crazy how it’s been so long.

Currently I have an Origin / Knots ‘fic buffer through the end of June. We’re entering the phase of the story where the drafts are pretty solid, which means they hopefully won’t take long to polish. Exciting!

--

The Schedule

Throughout 2023, you can expect Origin and Knots to alternate weeks. These two ‘fics are main priority in my ‘fic-writing life, so they get buffer priority and I intend to keep up with this goal as best I can. If all goes according to plan, we should be wrapping up towards the end of 2025. I hope to see y’all there :)

I’ll be sprinkling in updates to other projects throughout the “off” weeks. Sometimes there might be no update at all, and I’m okay with that because the “off” weeks are simply meant to be “If there is something, it can be shared” weeks. I’m not holding myself to posting at those times in the same way I’m holding myself to keeping Origin and Knots on schedule, but I look forward to getting to share some fun things like 130 Prompts, more Come What May chapters, miscellaneous one-shots, and content for other fandoms.

Even if I stay consistent, I definitely don’t expect to wrap up the 130 Prompts until 2026 or 2027, and that’s okay. These next few years will be busy, but I’m looking forward to forming a healthy work-life balance- there’s a certain value that a scheduled writing system has in helping you look forward to the next creation you get to share... It makes the work week a little bit nicer.

--

Closing

As a reader, your interest in silly fairy fanfics might come and go, but thank you so much to those who’ve loved my work over the years, reblogged posts, left reviews, sent Asks, chatted with me, and so much more.

Also, thank you to those who’ve left me kudos on AO3. I still get emails every time there are kudos, and while I don’t track how many kudos my little stories receive in this old, quiet fandom, it is really cool to see how much love has been given to some of the short pieces I wrote 6 or 7 years ago.

As the years have gone by, it’s been a good reminder that people have really liked some of those pieces that I don’t think about as often as my longer stuff. I don’t need to psych myself out worrying that my quick one-shots aren’t good enough... I’m looking forward to posting some short things again soon.

Thank you for the love and support! I hope you enjoy what’s next <3

[qlala]

Hi, Q! As a big fan of your writing, I'm really curious about your nanowrimo process. Like in terms of what keeps you motivated/validated? Did you set some goal for yourself beforehand that you're trying to achieve (aside from the daily word count)?

I've tried it twice, the first time I was actually posting every day what I wrote the previous night. It wasn't my greatest work by any stretch of the imagination, but at least the process itself was fun, validating and interactive. I've enjoyed it a whole lot. And then the next year I decided that I would spend some actual time and thought on finessing what I wrote, instead of half-assedly editing it during my lunch break, and then I would post the whole thing after the fact. Well, guess what, this fic has never been finished, its 40000 words skeleton is buried in my drafts forever. I cannot even look at it, it makes me physically ill.

I really wanted to try again this year but there seems to be a mental block in my head I cannot break through. What keeps you going? Do you have a self-validation tip for this process that you could share?

first, let me let you in on a secret:

I have been trying to write this fic. for five years. and three NaNoWriMos jsldkjslkj

So I am not necessarily THE best person to give advice about staying motivated with writing projects. But I can say a few things that have been making this year work really, really well for me as opposed to previous years! And this answer got pretty long, but if even one part of it helps, I’ll consider it a success!

So the short answer: 1) making a detailed outline, 2) not editing in November, and 3) a healthy dose of external motivation. The longer answer:

Detailed Outline

If I’ve already lost you, please come back. I promise I hate outlines. I didn’t have an outline for this fic for five years. The outline was a hail mary throw, at least half motivated by panic that the show was going to end and no one would care about the fic by the time I posted it, and I did not expect it to work. But it changed absolutely everything about the writing process for me.

I didn’t realize until after I made myself stop typing scenes and start just figuring out the major beats in a notebook that up until then, what I’d been calling “writing” had actually been two things at once: writing, and planning. 

By figuring out the major plot beats, then making a scene-by-scene outline, I got to do all the planning ahead of time. I know which plot points I need to foreshadow and when; I know what’s going to coax the characters two steps forward, and what’s going to send them one step back; I know exactly what the antagonist’s next move is and when they’re going to make it. 

I thought I would miss that, and that I’d have no motivation to write once I knew everything that happened, but it turned out to be the opposite. Because by doing the planning ahead of time, I don’t have to multitask anymore, and I have so much more mental space to create. It’s like having all your paints mixed and your canvas primed before you even pick up a brush. You can just focus on the art. 

I love being able to pick any scene off my list, in any order, and just let myself have fun writing it. The extra time I have that I’d previously used for utilitarian things like “how does this lead into the next scene” can now be used for fun things like “how can I set this scene up to call back to something that happened the show?”

2. Stop editing

Because actually I lied, before. What I used to do, and what it sounds like you did, wasn’t just two things at once: it was three. Writing, planning, and editing. 

You know that little chant from Dune, where they’re like, “I must not fear. Fear is the mind killer”? That’s editing. Editing is the mind killer. By editing as you write, you’re like, reverse-validating yourself. You’re taking yourself out of the creative process to look for everything wrong with your writing and your story. 

It’s also a time suck, and NaNoWriMo is a sprint. Editing is what December is for. When you free yourself from both planning and editing—by planning before, and editing after—writing will feel a lot more internally rewarding. You’re just making. You can get it nice for other people to look at, later. The first draft is for you, and specifically the part of you that loves your story. Don’t let the rest of you nitpick it apart yet. 

3. External motivation

Here's the other thing: if I don’t update my word count on the NaNoWriMo website every day and keep my streak going, I will stop writing this fic. I wish I were joking.

Even with everything I just said, I need external motivators to actually get me to set a daily hard deadline of midnight to make myself carve time out of the day to write, and write fast. Missing a day last year and losing my streak was the nail in the coffin for that attempt (which had already been dying a slow, painful death, because I’d had no outline, and every day I was just adding another 1.6k of filler into the front half of act 2).

So I recommend using NaNo's website to keep a running word count and streak going, even better if you have add some buddies on there who will at least in theory be seeing whether you update every day or not. (You can add me, if you want! My username is fatherofthebride.)

I also definitely, definitely couldn’t be doing this without two great friends and beta readers, who endure some truly novel-length rants via text as I either talk through problem areas with them or send them excited recaps of a scene I just wrote and am really excited about.

If external validation works for you, but daily posting of the new writing doesn’t, I really recommend grabbing someone to chat to about how the fic is going and share snippets with, and/or posting about how it’s going/posting teaser snippets of the WIP.

And that's the end of the numbered list! I hope there's something at least a little helpful somewhere in here and I also really hope I actually answered your question <3

[cjp-film]

Critical reflections

Critique of process 

I took On Set Production as I know my strengths lie in the more practical creativity of roles such as production design and cinematography. I chose to focus my attention on production design this term. I have experience in set dressing, therefore wanted to push my limits and see what I could achieve in designing a short film. The first project where I was quite ambitious was exercise 2, working with Kushal to transform a room into a scene conveying a certain emotion. I really went out of my way to get the right props, and was really excited when I came across a shop giving me everything I needed. This drove me to want to keep up the visual world building, and try out other scenes. Setting the room up and creating this world really throws you into the whole process of the filmmaking, and seeing the results on the camera is so rewarding. Particularly when working with a talented cinematographer, it brings your work to life in the way they choose to light and frame the scene, placing the actor in amongst it all and making it as convincing as possible. I like to put myself in the shoes of the subject in the film when designing a set, thinking about how that character might interact with their space in whatever situation they might be in. This helps the audience to understand their mentality and the choices they might make. It is also important to be experimental. I feel that I have a good eye for composition, which may mean planning something to look one way, but changing it on set (this happened a number of times in Calculated Affection). Throwing things in at the last minute can be a brilliant idea - such as with the accidental matching blouses I mentioned in my Calculated Affection PD post. The experimental outlook is what drives a film to be unique. I loved working on Hands of Men because of this very reason. I knew it was set out to be quite surreal and absurdist, you can tell from the script alone. Bringing it to life visually with the enlarged hand was a really fun process. Cara and I made a good art department, but  I would have liked to have a bit more responsibility with props beforehand. On set, we made decisions together to ensure it looked good for the camera, keeping an eye on continuity as well. Ultimately, the set looked amazing, but as a secondary role I felt as though I didn’t have as much responsibility as I maybe should have done. Cara felt the same on shoot days, that perhaps our roles were not as important as others - though this of course was not the case. It may have been due to lack of communication between the roles, as it did not cause any problems - we got on with our job and the final film turned out brilliantly -  a product we should all be very proud of.

Critique of final work

Hands of Men - Watching this film on the big screen was quite an experience, after all the work that everybody put in. As art department, I feel like I did my job to the best of my ability. My main responsibility was painting the hand, which had to look good as it was the main motif of the film. I really admire the choice to make the aspect ratio 4:3, further making the film unique and memorable. There are a couple of shots in particular such as a close up of the hand and the shot where the hand is cut off that really highlight its importance to the story, as well as adding to the beauty of the film. The one thing we were worried about was how to make the hand look realistic. I think we achieved this to an extent, but of course as a student film it will never be totally convincing. It is especially noticeable in the shot where the hand falls to the ground, where the weight of it hitting the floor seems really wrong. I feel like getting this right would have made a big difference especially with the gore factor. However, the way the hand looks does fit in with the absurdist style of the film, extending the impossibility of the situation and touching on its genre of black comedy. I thought our decision to use the red props was an original and clever idea, subtly conveying the genre of the film and also giving a bit of an insight into the weird world of these two characters. 

Calculated Affection - Though as of now the film isn’t completely finished, I am still able to reflect on how my work as production designer looks on the screen. The scene is pretty believable as a birthday party, with the buntings and disco ball accenting the background. Also the wallpaper the location was offering did a lot for how the characters looked in the frame. I wish that the cake had been seen more in the version of the film I have seen, simply because it did look pretty. However this is not important because it is blatantly obvious that it was a birthday cake with candles being blown out - thanks to the lighting and (when completed) sound design. I think I did a good job with faking the drinks as well, as (unless you were looking) it is impossible to tell the difference between the apple juice and the whiskey. There were also no obvious continuity mistakes which is a relief as there was a lot which could have gone wrong in that area. I think if I was to change anything about my job as production designer on this film it would be making the costumes a bit more elaborate. Though I am happy with how they look, the dreamlike, ethereal theme of the film could have been communicated more through the characters and the way they were dressed. Overall I am pleased with my job and think our final product is really satisfying to watch considering the obstacles the production team went through to get here. 

OSP

[kennismccourt]

Final Evaluation

In order to answer the brief, I aimed to utilise Lincoln, the people who live there, and the impact they have had on me in order to show the story of me. I aimed to evoke emotions in my samples by using colour psychology. 

For my primary research, I used photos taken at various locations throughout the years, including my friend’s café, the local lake, and the football ground. I also wanted to include the people who matter most to me, such as my friends and family, as they reflect who I am.  

For my secondary research, I focused on finding artists who reflected my intentions for this project. To do this, I mainly focused on Chino Otsuka’s collaging work, which represents childhood nostalgia and, Yinka Ilori’s use of bold and vibrant colours that link to emotions. Additionally, I used “The Little Book of Colour” by Karen Haller to assist me with my understanding of colour psychology. 

After selecting the primary research images, my focus was on taking  the colours and emotions from them to incorporate into my samples. I also used shapes and patterns within my work where necessary. This was especially relevant in my weaves where I used the block colours to create the samples. 

The skills that have been taught throughout this module were all extremely new to me. Weaving was the skill that I excelled at the most. 

This is because I found it easy to create samples quickly and effectively. The samples created in these sessions were the ones I was most proud of. They are also the ones which relate most closely to my intention for this project. However, in the weave sessions, I was often creating one big sample instead of several smaller ones which meant I had less work to put in my sketchbook. My creativity skills were put to the test in print, which was something I enjoyed. I was able to do well with all the different techniques, but I particularly loved digital print. My samples from print turned out successfully as they were all different, adding lots of variety to my sketchbook. Embroidery was the skill that I struggled with the most, because I was inexperienced with the sowing machine. I struggled a lot with the sowing machine, but the samples I created were innovative and visually pleasing due to the colours used and the neatness of the samples. Overall, I believe that I was able to significantly develop my skills throughout this topic and have pride in the work I created. 

During the project, I made effective plans which helped in making progress. Firstly, I selected the photos that I liked the most and picked the main colours from them. With these colours, I thought about the psychology behind them and how to convey emotions through the samples. I also ensured that the photos I selected had enough variety to make my samples diverse. I split the photos and colours into three different categories which were the three different workshops.

I knew that colour-based photos would be ideal for weave, pattern-based ones would be fitting for embroidery, and those with a combination of both would match print.

Most of my problem-solving occurred during the embroidery workshops. I had to not only solve problems I was having physically but also mentally. I was having a hard time working with the machine which affected my confidence with my work. To overcome this, I had to change my mind set to a more positive one, which took a lot of work, but I was able to achieve this. To physically get used to the machine, I fully utilised the support of technicians and course mates who taught me how to use the machine properly. As I got more familiar with the machine, my work became neater which clearly demonstrated my progress.

I would say that throughout this project, I was able to make a lot of progress. At the start of the project, I was completely inexperienced with all the different techniques. However, by the end of it, I was able to work confidently and independently with all the techniques. The most progress made was in the embroidery workshop. 

 I consider my final outcome to be highly successful. I was particularly satisfied with my final board as I believed it showed my narrative successfully due to the digital print of Lincoln buildings. The colours used also effectively showed the colour psychology I focused on. I also liked how all the samples looked unified, due to the recurring colours. To develop it, I would add a weave sample, as although I had a hand weave, I didn’t have anything on the board to show my progress in that workshop. My sketchbook was something I was very pleased with as it has variety in it, due to the inclusion of samples from each workshop, it also clearly conveyed my narrative the whole way through. 

[gropingblindlyinthedarkness]

November 7, 2023

As 2023 draws to a close, I’m starting to think about what I did (or didn’t) accomplish this year. I’m a big goal setter. Goals drive me, and I think they’re fun. I had a lot of writing that I planned to get done this year, and I did spend a fair amount of time writing. I worked on some new short stories, revised a novel, moved back and forth between the first drafts of two new novels, and got a significant chunk of drafting and revision done on a CNF book project I’ve been working on.

But I didn’t reach any major milestones, and if I’m being honest with myself, the reason for that is likely because I’ve been dividing my creative efforts between too many projects.

So as I look ahead at the remaining weeks of the year, I want to focus my energy on two key projects: I want to finish the first draft of one of my new novels—the one that’s farthest along—and I want to complete the first seven chapters of my CNF book and finish drafting and revising the book proposal for this project. Both goals are realistic and achievable based on the time I have left and what I’ve already accomplished. But putting them into writing, committing to them, is going to greatly increase my chances of getting there.

So I hereby officially decree that I will accomplish these two goals by the end of 2023. Which means I will be able to hit the ground running in 2024 with some projects all ready to revise (the most fun and rewarding part of writing is, in my opinion, revising).

You ready, November and December? Let’s do this.

[digitalenergy001]

Blog Week 7

Reflection

This week in class consisted of tidying up my final project. Once again troubleshooting was another big part of my practice. As I have moved into the black box switching form the Capitol I had to work within the new dimensions. I measured the black box projector screen and the height the screen starts from being 79.5cm off the ground. I looked into if the screen could be moved to touch the base of the floor but was informed it can’t be. I looked into putting the structure on tables or something to elevate it. Although I thought that would take away from the experience. I came to the using a stand alone not attached projector that could be moved around. I trialed one of the projectors from the RMIT equipment rentals and when the projector was put on the floor I could have the projector screen hitting the floor aswell. With it being a smaller projector this means the screen stretches less far so I would have to figure out if my shape can fit projector dimensions. As it’s on the floor I wanted to have the audience sitting on the floor surrounding the shape. I originally thought about this on the first week on production. My desire it was this will make the experience more immersive as the audience is closer to the project. Also viewing the project in a non conventional viewing form ( sitting on a chair or standing). I am going to rent the projector and use it during the digital media break on one of the days on this coming week. In terms of storing the shape I am going to put it behind the black box curtains.

Research

Academic

This week I looked into the We are One / stunning 3D projection mapping art for Lusail Digital Media Festival. This installation had seamless integration of video effects onto the projection.  The use of shadows and highlights to create a three-dimensional space on a two-dimensional screen inspired me for my personal project. Created my a company called Limelight they go into discuss that isn’t this project they wanted to “open and transform the façade with 3D illusions”. This has made me start to pay with shadows and trial 3D illusions within my practice. In the work they used a series of lines that blended together and cohesive flowed onto the following edited video. This sense of flow I experienced as an viewer is something I want to achieve in my work for viewers aswell.

Creative Practice

My creative practice this week consisted of mostly troubleshooting. With taking inspiration from other projection mapping works I admired and seeing what design elements they had incorporated that I could implement.

Technical

This week has allowed a lot of feedback for my after effects video that will be projected onto the triangular structure. It has view as quite rigid and within establishing the triangular shape really early in the project it ruined the effect of creating a seperate constructed projection screen. The first two clips that don’t have any border tied to them were seen as effective and I am planning to keep the clips cohesive with those. Overall the video did not seem to have a great sense of flow and narrative within the series of videos. This is something I have been fixing up this week. Finally I have also been playing around the demo version of mad mapper. As I plan to use the 1 month trial software for the BPD awareness show. It does have a more synced response when changing keystone points. As I will have the program already downloaded I have considered switching my main project to mad-mapper as it’s more seem less and faster to troubleshoot issues. Although I am going to trial the touch designer project file first before I decide anything as I have finished all the requirements for that.

Progress

This week consisted of finalising the technical aspects of my project. This mostly included how it will be shown to an audience. Also tidying up my after effects compositions and the dimensions for my shape and desired projector sizes.

Bibliography

*We are One / stunning 3D projection mapping art for Lusail Digital Media Festival, 2022* (2023) *YouTube*. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=96n0QxwZ4Z8 (Accessed: 08 September 2023).

After effects tutorial - shape transition in after effects (2019) YouTube. Available at: https://youtu.be/HYjsAxKZ8r8?si=J-_D8Lopg4N77zMn (Accessed: 07 September 2023).

[cboeck-webdesign]

Why it can be worthwhile for you to write a success diary

Writing a success diary can motivate you

Why you should write a success diary? For a very simple reason, you write down what is already going well and in which areas you have had success. This motivates you to continue.  Most people know the classic diary, in which you write your experiences and thoughts. In diaries, negative experiences are often described, while a success diary serves to motivate you and to keep your success in mind. In difficult times you can look back and be happy about small or bigger successes. But what actually belongs in a success diary and how can it help you personally? Here is a little story from me. Until recently, I only wrote a diary in which I noted down feelings, thoughts and dreams or visions. But a success diary had made me curious, since I became attentive over it on YouTube. At first I had a small notebook, which then became one big mess. There were ideas, successes, election results, all sorts of things. I was looking for a more noble notebook that I also wanted to maintain as a success diary. But I didn't find what I was looking for. On my birthday, I was in the bookstore and my mother held out a notebook to me. Wouldn't that be something for you? Yes, it is, I like it very much and the price is perfect. I must have it, I thought, and that very evening I began to write down my successes in it.

What belongs in the success diary?

In it, you write down all positive experiences, conversations and experiences. You can keep a success diary for yourself personally or use it professionally. Here you could note promotions, further training or successful customer meetings. Also every small success counts, like that you get ahead faster at work or that tasks are more fun for you. Remember, a success diary should also motivate you. A look in it can bring you one step closer to your goals, because you are grateful for your successes. And that is also a very important point, write down what you are grateful for. You can also divide your success diary into categories, e.g. what you are striving for in terms of fitness, healthy eating, staying mentally fit, the realization of your own goals and visions, or fun and enjoyment of life. There are no limits to your creativity here, after all it is your success diary. The classic success diary includes: - successful projects - positive experiences or conversations - work and professional successes - social relationships - challenges mastered - improvements in one's own mistakes - Personal development - health progress

My personal success diary, as inspiration for you

I have expanded my success diary by: - Including motivational sayings or quotes - writing down important and successful dates - writing down interesting conversations - integrated a gratitude journal - as well as sketches and ideas e.g. for a logo For new ideas I generally use Trello, only special ideas also go into the success diary. I even included questions from the Millionaire Brain Training Club in my success diary. These can be asked in the morning and evening. In addition, I have structured my success diary like a Bulett Journal. For all of you who are now wondering what that is, a quick explanation. A Bulett Journal, is like a personal diary, an individual planning system. It is implemented with Maker, Stabilos and felt pens. Most Bulett Journals consist of a calendar, to-do list and goals for the upcoming week.

Questions for your success diary

Of course you can also use your own questions, like I do. This one is just meant as a suggestion. - What did I do particularly well today? - What can I still improve? - Who praised me today and for what? - What was I particularly happy about today? - What goals did I achieve? - What lesson did I learn today? - What am I happy about? - What goal am I setting for myself today? - What am I proud of? - What extraordinary thing happened? Should you write the success diary in the morning or in the evening? I use both, in the evening it is easier, because you still remember quite well what you wanted to write down. However, you may be agitated or still busy with other things. In the morning you have a clear head and see what you have achieved the day before and what can still be improved. But that's up to you, in the evening most people have more time to write down their successes and in the morning you start the day in a positive way. Why you should start writing a success diary A success diary boosts your self-confidence and helps you stay motivated when pursuing your own or professional projects. You will also see what you have accomplished during the day or week and may even feel proud of yourself. You can start as soon as you have a blank notebook and a pen. However, you can also keep a success journal on your tablet, the appropriate apps are now available. This way, your focus remains more on the positive and you can overcome lows more easily. Summary - Writing a success diary is worthwhile A success diary helps you to stay motivated and to keep track of your personal goals. You can note positive experiences and experiences that have brought you further. You can divide a success diary into business, sports and personal development. In a success diary you note only what your goals and progress are. Private and professional successes can also be noted in a column next to each other. So you keep the overview. The most important successes can be highlighted in color with a highlighter or Stabilo. Generally I recommend to work with colored pencils, because then we prefer to take the notebook in our hands. You might also be interested in: http://blog-engl.the-moneyinsider1.de/why-goals-are-important-for-your-success Read the full article

[floral-moon-cosplay]

2023 plans!

2022 was not a very good year for me creatively. I didn't get as many projects finished as I wanted or attend as many events as I usually do. I took time to sit down and think about what prevented me from creating. I have the ideas, materials, everything. I realized I had become overwhelmed by my own disorganization. Going into my costume closet and sewing room only made me think of all the work I had to do to pick up and clean before I even had the space to sew. This year my goal is to get organized. I have already purchased new cabinets for costume parts, wall shelves for the sewing room, and plan on getting shelving in the basement where I keep all my fabric. It is going to be a big and expensive project, but I know having my space clean and organized will motivate me to start creating again. I am excited for 2023 and the creative possibilities!

2/16/23 update: The step 1 goal has been achieved! Pictures have been posted on my Instagram of the cleaned sewing room and costume attic! I have 2 new projects in the works that will be done in March! Keep an eye out for Harrowhark and my new fantasy dress inspired by ghostly will-o-wisps.