#I’ve got some edited content ideas too in the works but need more local computer space to work with because files tend to save locally when

[r0semultiverse]

I need to set up a kofi account too & tipping for posts. There’s some near future stuff going on where any help would be greatly appreciated.

[panda-writes-kpop]

One Year of ‘Panda-Writes-Kpop’, And I Think It’s Time We Had An Honest Conversation

Yep, you read the title right - it’s been one WHOLE year since I started writing on this blog. Well, technically, this Friday (the 22nd) is the one year anniversary, but I didn’t want to mess up my writing schedule, and it’s more convenient for me to publish this now. 

Now, before I continue, I just want to state that I mean to cause no alarm with the title. I promise I’m not going anywhere, but it’s time that I be honest with all of you about what goes on behind the computer screen sometimes. 

Let’s Talk About The Elephant In The Room - The Avengers AU!

Okay, so maybe you guys wouldn’t consider this the ‘elephant in the room’, but it is to me since I, you know, published the last teaser in January and haven’t done more than allude to it since then... whoops. Moving on, I am happy to announce that all of the chapters are fully written, and I just need to edit them and send the first chapter or two off to a beta reader (or two or four; you know who you are ;P) to make sure that I am producing the highest quality of content for you all!

This being said, I am finally ready to announce a date and schedule for the Avengers AU - granted that nothing else goes sideways. So... September 5th will the release date of the first chapter, and a new chapter will come out every three to four days. Now, if you’re scratching your head and wondering, “Katie, how will you work this into your writing schedule?” 

Oh my goodness, do I have a great solution for you, my pearls! I actually will not be posting any of my regular content during this time. I know that this may be disappointing for my readers who aren’t interested in this series, but think of it as a great time to explore other fantastic writers (I have plenty of recommendations, feel free to hit me up for some!), or if you feel so inclined, maybe you want to explore some of my content that you haven’t read yet! 

Also, something else to add, if any of you are fans of the Take Me Away series, then you’ll know that I explicitly stated that I was not going to take requests for that series. Well... that won’t be the case for this series. There are a lot of loose ends and potential dates/endings/relationships to be expanded upon, and I think you all would have way more creative ideas for what should be done from the ending point of the series than I would.

Writing’s Hard. I Know You All Probably Knew That, But It Doesn’t Make Anything Better

Yeah... I’ve been lacking a lot in creativity and motivation as of late. I don’t really know why, but it sucks when I have a lot of ideas and I’m not sure where I want to take them, or if I even want to write them at all. 

I feel pressured by my own very high personal standards to put out only the best of the best for people to read. I’m scared that people won’t like what I write, and, by correlation, me whenever I publish a new fic. Despite what you may or may not think about me, others’ perception of me is part of the validation I need in order to get through my day. I want people to tell me that I’m a good writer, not for the ego boost or anything, but because it helps me feel less like garbage when I get too much into my own head.

I don’t know, everyone, I just want to write because it’s my form of escapism. Sometimes, just writing helps me process my feelings better than talking to someone else. I love writing, just as I love different types of music. K-Pop is a music genre that I adore, along with the groups and idols in it, so it made sense to me to combine these two loves of mine. I didn’t think I’d get this far, and don’t get me wrong, I am so thankful for all of the love that I receive. Every person that I’ve had the pleasure of interacting with has been nothing but lovely and kind, and I hope I’ve had the same impact on them. 

That got quite sad fast... let’s move ahead and talk about something different.

What Does That All Mean, Katie?

I said I was going to be honest, so I will be. This fall, I’m going to be attending a local university to major in Chemical Engineering. I’ve spent the last few days applying to different workplaces in the hopes of getting a part-time job before I start going to college. I’m getting my first debit card in the mail sometime this week or next week.

Basically, I’m becoming an adult, and honestly, it’s terrifying. The realization that there’s a limit on the free time that I’ll have is scary to think about. I’m going to a new school that is exponentially larger than the high school that I went to. I’m scared that I’ll hate what I’m majoring in, and that everyone will be disappointed in me if I don’t please them.

I promise I’m not trying to be sad or anything, but I want to be realistic and honest. While taking a look through my blog, I had to be honest with myself. Do I love writing with all of my heart? Absolutely. Do I eventually want to take the experience I’ve had from writing here and use it to publish my own original novel? Yep! Is this blog something I can manage while toggling being a full-time university student and holding a part-time job?

Well, I guess we’ll find out together, huh? I promised you all in the beginning that I won’t be going anywhere, and for the most part, that statement is true. I won’t be abandoning this blog - but I will be making a few changes.

First off, the upload schedule’s got to change. After the Avengers AU is fully out and done, I will be going to one post a week. I’m thinking about doing Saturday or Sunday (aka the days I don’t have school LOL). I’ll probably be working on Saturdays in order to have some sort of income while I’m in college, so it’ll probably be either late Saturday night or sometime Sunday.

Second, anon asks - I’m going to try and dedicate one day a week (separate from the posting day, of course) to answering non-request anon asks all at once. I’m thinking about Wednesdays since that’s usually when I reply to anon asks, plus it’ll be a nice way to relax and unwind from college since I enjoy talking to you all.

Third, requests and the groups/idols I take requests for - I will keep requests open, but I ask for your patience since I will have a much smaller amount of time that I can spend on writing than I had before. A high school student has way more freedom than a college student has, or at least, that’s what I’m expecting. Something I’ve been thinking about changing, however, is the groups that I take requests for. I recently got a request for a 4th gen rookie girl group that I don’t write for, and I honestly want to write the request since I really enjoy that group’s debut. The problem is that I don’t know the group or idol well enough to write for that group yet. So, I’m going to allow requests for girl groups I don’t have on my Masterlist, but when you request for a group that I don’t write for, you understand that the request may take longer to be added to my WIP since I don’t know them that well. I would prefer if you all requested idols/groups that were on my stan list, but I’m not opposed to exploring new groups that I haven’t listened to yet.

The Future Looks Brighter Than Before... I Wonder Why That Is?

I know we’ve discussed some heavy information in the past sections, so I want to end on a positive note. Thank you all so, so much for supporting me through every hill and valley that I’ve had to climb over and under in order to bring you the highest quality content that I can. It doesn’t matter if you’ve been here from the beginning, if you’ve just met me, or if you come from somewhere in between. I love and appreciate all of you for everything you’ve done. You helped me survive and endure the last year of hell high school, and I can only hope that you will continue to support me for many anniversaries and future projects to come.

Speaking of future projects, since you’ve come this far, I do suppose you could use a bit of a ‘thank you’, huh? Feel free to let me know which fic or idea you’re looking forward to the most. 

The 7 Dreamers Separate AU Project - Basically, since I already wrote three longer AU fics for my ult girl group (Gunslinger! Dami, Ghost! Gahyeon, and Demon! SuA). I figured that the other four deserve to have a chance to shine as well. Look forward to fics about Princess! Handong, Monster Hunter! Siyeon, Egyptologist! JiU, and Zombie! Yoohyeon - the last will be a Halloween Special, FYI)

Gunslinger! Dami will make a return with more fun characters to be revealed, and more love and shenanigans to be experienced. Will Gahyeon get into another bar fight? We’ll just have to see...

Ghost! Gahyeon will also be making a return. I like to publish two Halloween fics - one that’s more angsty and horror (Ms. Zombie! Kim Yoohyeon for this year) and one that’s fluffier and sweeter. We’ll finally get some resolutions to the unanswered questions that left people on the edge of their seat.

I’ve done an elaborate AU for my Dreamcatcher girls, but don’t you think that some of my other girls deserve the same amount of love? Well, it won’t be as long as Dreamcatcher’s, but they will get lots of love from me. In case you were curious, here’s what I’ve been thinking:

Greek Mythology/Goddesses! - Itzy

Witch! - Blackpink

Dating Otome-Style AU! - Twice

Don’t have any ideas for the soloists, Red Velvet, or Mamamoo, but I’m more than open to suggestions!

To end the spoilers, I’m looking to add more soloists to my masterlist, and I have a couple in mind, but I’m curious about who you would like to see added to the list next! As for groups, I’m looking to balance out the Masterlist with some fourth gen girl groups, but there are so many potential candidates that I’m facing a bit of indecision at the moment lol.

[blackbutterfliescal]

With Eyes To Hear

A Michael Clifford One Shot

Pairing: Barista!Michael Clifford x Deaf!Reader

Word count: 3.4K

Rating: Fluff

Requested by: N/A

Content: second person POV, gender neutral reader insert, Deaf!reader (uses sign language & lip reading primarily), first date, singular mention of smoking

A/N: The Deaf community is very near and dear to my heart. I’ve been taking ASL classes for just over 2 years but I’m not Deaf/HoH. I will not claim to be a voice for this community but if you are Deaf/HoH, I welcome any thoughts you want to share with me. If you want to read a really sweet Luke fic by someone who is hearing impaired, check out Can You Hear Me? and Valentine by Frankie. 💕 Also!! big big shout-out to my bby Adri for making this pretty moodboard for me 😇😘

✨ Masterlist ✨

Get added to my taglist here 🌺

AO3 Link

Feedback is always appreciated! 😊

———

This afternoon was proving to be the longest in recorded history. At least that’s what it felt like to Michael. The cafe had been dead since he got there after lunch and it was nearing closing time. He felt like he could count this shift’s customers on one hand. Rainy days were always slow, but today seemed never ending.

Michael could hear the rain falling outside the door, which Calum left propped open for one last smoke break. As he moved around the pastry case to sweep the small seating area, Michael glanced out the windows to see that any hint of daylight was gone. The street lights had flickered on outside the cafe and reflected brightly off the rain-slick pavement.

He resumed his sweeping, determined to leave on time today. He broke out of his cleaning trance at the jingle of the bell above the front door. He did his best to plaster on a smile, knowing he had less than ten minutes until close.

“Oh, sorry we’re-” He stopped short.

Heavy boots hit the floor repeatedly in an effort to knock the water off on the welcome mat. The door slammed shut behind you and, though you didn’t seem to notice him, Michael winced slightly at the sound. You shrugged the oversized rain jacket off your shoulders and hung it on the coat rack by the door.

So much for leaving on time tonight,he thought.

He made his way to the register as you approached. You gave him a small smile and wave and he couldn’t help the tired grin on his face. “Sorry,” you mouthed, eyebrows furrowed. You really wouldn’t be out for coffee so late if you weren’t desperate. And you were trying hard not to track the rain all over his clean floor.

“What can I get you?” he asked. The exhaustion was evident on his face.

“Do you have a pen and paper?” you signed.

“Ummmm…” Michael dug in the pockets of his apron quickly for the notepad and pencil he usually kept. He handed them over to you in a hurry and you let out a giggle at his frantic actions. Michael’s stomach picked up with butterflies and his face cracked into a smile at the sound. You slid the notepad back across the counter with your order and your name scrawled at the bottom. When he looked up to meet your face, you gave him a timid smile.

He read out your name as he leaned down to grab a to-go cup and started to make your coffee “I used to go to have a babysitter with the same name. They were so strict! I remember this one time….” He trailed off as he turned to the machine behind him. Michael always rambled when he got nervous. And he was always nervous around people he thought were cute. When he faced toward you again, you noticed his lips moving and waved your hand to get his attention.

“I’m deaf. I can’t hear you. But I’m pretty good at reading lips! Just face me when you talk.” You kept the polite smile on your face as his cheeks flushed red. This wasn’t new territory for you by any means and you had become an expert at navigating situations like this, unfortunately.

“Oh! I’m sorry! I wasn’t thinking.” he sighed and looked at his feet.

You waved again to draw his gaze back to you. “It’s fine! Just remember to look at me when you speak.” Michael smiled at you sheepishly with a small nod. “Okay.” He wasn’t familiar with the signs you were using, but he could piece together what you needed from him.

He quickly finished the order and placed the coffee on the counter, telling you not to worry about paying for it. Besides, he’d already counted the money drawer and didn’t want to have to do it again for a single coffee. You held his gaze with a toothy grin for a few beats before pointing at the door awkwardly.

“I’m...going to go. Thank you very much! I’ll see you around,” you signed.

You pulled the raincoat on again and wrapped your hands around the warm coffee before disappearing into the rain, letting the door slam behind you.

Michael stared at the door long after you’d gone. It wasn’t until Calum came back in to do some last minute clean-up that he snapped out of it.

———

That night when Michael got home, he sat in his usual spot at the computer. His phone buzzed on the table next to him, lighting up briefly to show a text from Calum.

Are you joining the game or not, man? We’re getting our asses kicked.

Michael had been at this for hours and could probably use a break to play. After a moment of thought, he shot back a quick reply.

Not tonight.I’ve got something else going on.

He sat his phone face down, causing him to miss Calum’s cheeky response, and glanced at the clock at the bottom of his computer screen. He’d been researching for hours. He decided to watch one more video before calling it a night. A yawn that stretched across his face as he clicked play on yet another video titled Deaf Culture 101.

———

It had been almost a week and Michael was still hoping to see you come back into the cafe. He’d been working on signs for anything he thought might be helpful but practicing your name was his favorite. He made Calum quiz him every day when the mid-afternoon lull hit. Calum completely understood where his friend was coming from but sometimes Michael got on a soapbox about inaccessibility for hours and that always made Calum roll his eyes, regretting his decision to be helpful.

When you appeared in the cafe that morning, Calum threw a wink at Michael and watched as a nervous blush crept across his face and neck. Calum gave him a small thumbs up and made sure to stay out of his way as you got closer to the front of the line.

“Good morning!” He spelled your name out at an agonizingly slow pace. “How….are you…..today?”

A wide smile took over your face and you suddenly felt a little embarrassed that you didn’t get his name last time you came in. You quickly found the name tag pinned to his apron and let out a sigh of relief before replying politely. You did your best to use signs you thought he might recognize and give him time to register them.

It took a lot of concentration for him to remember the right signs now that you were here and you could tell that he was panicking and clearly flustered. He remembered your order and your smile reached your eyes at his thoughtfulness.

“And one of these!” you said, leaning forward to point at your favorite treat in the pastry case for clarity. When you looked up from the baked goods, you met Michael’s light eyes. He must be the sweetest thing in here, you thought while holding his gaze. Your eyes went wide with shock at your own mind, causing you to glance around the rest of the shop before realizing the two of you were holding up the line.You quickly shuffled to the cash register where Michael rang up your breakfast.

As he gathered the change in his hand, you motioned for him to keep it and he slid it into the tip jar. “Thank you!” he signed with a smile. His nervous brain got ahead of him and he couldn’t come up with the right signs before he blurted out, “I wanted to ask if you’d want to hang out this weekend? I’m available Sunday afternoon?” You smiled again, reading the question on his lips. “Sure! That sounds great! Do you want to text me and make plans?” you asked, looking around for a pen and paper to write down your cell number.

Shock and excitement ran across his features as he picked up your coffee cup from the counter. He scribbled his phone number on the cardboard protector and handed it to you. Michael always felt so awkward making small talk and a new language made him even more nervous. He genuinely couldn’t believe you had agreed to a date with him. You gave him a small wave as you pivoted toward the door, giving him another smile over your shoulder before making it outside.

Michael was stuck in the same place with a goofy grin on his face until the next customer made their way to the register. Calum clapped his hand across his friend's shoulders to pull him back to reality but he didn’t come down from cloud nine for the rest of the day.

———

The two of you exchanged constant messages until Sunday rolled around. Your conversations were effortless and, most of the time, about nothing. You’d discussed every favorite you could think of, the strangest orders he’d taken each day, the interesting people you saw on your commutes, and he’d even snapped you hilariously edited candids of Calum. Poor guy had no idea his friend was turning him into a pirate or a pilot or a heavy metal rockstar.

You’d gotten a slow start to your morning as you made breakfast and sat down to watch the news until it switched to local programming around eleven o’clock. As you were getting ready for your afternoon with Michael, you realized the two of you had never decided what you were doing. He did ask you to hang out after all, so you hoped he had something in mind. When you messaged him to ask, you felt the tiniest bit guilty nixing a couple of his ideas immediately. Movies just weren’t practical since captioning devices were notoriously bad and, though a nice restaurant sounded lovely, the lighting was almost always too dim to read lips. He was throwing ideas around pretty quickly, so you thought it a little odd when he disappeared for a few minutes after a couple of rejected ideas. You knew he wouldn’t just leave you hanging, so you sat your phone down and continued your routine, deciding that if you didn’t hear from him by the time you were done, you would pitch a few plans of your own. After about ten minutes of silence, just as you picked it up to propose a place to go, your phone buzzed and lit up with Michael's name at the top of the screen.

I have a plan but it’s a surprise. I’ll send you the address but promise me you won’t look it up! Oh, and wear sunscreen 😎

You can’t help the amused smile that took over your face as you promised not to ruin his surprise. You wondered what in the world you’ve gotten yourself into but knew you’d have a good time with Michael no matter what.

After another half hour, Michael texted you that he’s ready when you are. He sent you the address and you couldn’t help trying to piece it together. You were somewhat familiar with the part of town where you were meeting, but not enough to figure out what he had planned. You let him know that you were on your way, sunscreen and sunglasses in tow.

After a short drive across town, you pulled into a fairly empty parking lot. Panic started to creep into your stomach until you spotted Michael standing outside his car at the other end, waving happily with a big grin on his face. As you parked, he came to the side of your door to help you out. He was always so sweet and thoughtful that it caused a permanent blush on your cheeks.

“Hi! How are you? I’m excited to see you again,” he signed, much improved from the last time you’d seen him. The smile on your face always seemed to accompany the warm blush when you were with Michael. “Me too!” you said as you looked around to see where he’d brought you. Your brows furrowed as you turned back to meet his gaze, “What are we doing here?” Determined to keep it a surprise, he told you that you would just have to be patient and wait. 

Patience is a virtue but not one you were known to possess, so you quickly pulled the things you needed out of your car and locked it up. Michael took your hand and led you down the sidewalk. You knew you were near the banks and you could smell the water but you still were at a loss for what you were doing.

The two of you strolled hand-in-hand for a few blocks, content with the silence between you. You had only known each other for a short time, but it made you happy to see that he had so quickly become comfortable with you. He wasn’t the same nervous, rambling man you first met, though you will admit you found him charming either way. When it came to navigating the hearing world, you were almost always outside of conversations and it made you feel warm that Michael didn’t see the need for mindless jabber. He was waiting until he could properly sign with you and that meant more than you could let him know. Instead, as you made your way wherever, you both watched the sparse tourists out and about the area for the afternoon. 

As you came upon a small path toward the banks, he motioned to the side to let you know that’s where you were headed. After a few more steps, you cleared the last row of buildings and saw the pier stretched out in front of you. Of course it was the pier and you couldn’t believe you didn’t realize sooner! You stopped for a second to take it in. It had been a while since you had gone to the pier because it was always a draw for visitors and you tended to avoid the large crowds. You took in the rows of carnival games and fried food stands outfitted in flashing lights before seeing a pair of tourists flying from one end to the other on a giant zipline. Your eyes went wide with shock and you shot a quick, worried glance at Michael. He began to laugh before he replied, “don’t worry - we’re just here for games and food!” He barely finished signing to reassure you before he wrapped your hand in his again and he took off, pulling you toward a pair of whack-a-mole seats.

The light crowd that afternoon meant that you could walk up to any stand without a wait to play and you were convinced Michael wanted to play every game there. When you were both beat out at whack-a-mole by the ten-year old next to you, you decided buzzer games probably weren’t your strong suit. The two of you raced between game stands in a never-ending fit of laughter. Some games had you competing against each other and the playful trash-talk amused the game attendants. Then, just as quickly as you’d started your banter, you’d find a single player game and become each other’s biggest cheerleader.

After losing at the cat rack, tin can alley, and the balloon bust, Michael wanted to try his hand at a game of chance, since clearly precision was not for him. His pace between games had slowed down considerably since you’d arrived and he was determined to win something to take home. He just hadn’t found much luck. The two of you wandered down the wooden platform with your fingers lazily entwined until you found the ring toss booth. You dropped his hand and signed excitedly to him that you’d find another game to try.

When he came very close to winning on several rings from the first bucket, Michael decided to give it a second go. The two of you tossed one red ring after another, almost making it many times but always watching them bounce off to the side. You picked up the last two rings in the bucket and handed one to Michael. His eyes met yours and you both nodded before turning back toward the game. He used his free hand to count down from three and you both sent the rings sailing through the air. You watched intently as they bounced around the bottle tops before Michael’s landed squarely around the golden glass bottle in the center.

He threw his arms up in the arm in victory as you looked at him with surprise and celebration on your face. His arms came down around your shoulders in a quick hug before the game attendant came over to help him claim a prize. Without hesitation, he turned to you and asked “Which one do you want?” You glanced up at the options and pointed out a small stuffed animal hanging right above you. As if on instinct, you hugged it to your chest when the attendant handed it over and thanked them and Michael. Smile on your face, stuffed animal in one hand, and Michael in the other hand, you couldn’t have been happier as you wandered between stalls.

The smell of something sweet caught your attention as you looked around to find the source. Michael must have read your mind because he began guiding you in the direction of the food stand without warning. To your surprise, the person inside the booth knew enough sign language to take your order without needing a pen and paper. Michael beamed from ear to ear watching your happiness as you were able to order treats for both of you. He only caught every second or third word, but he could see the elated smile on your face. Michael had needed to step in at most of the games throughout the afternoon, so you felt very excited to find someone who spoke your language.

Once you’d retrieved your treats and thanked the worker again, you began to walk back toward the parking lot leisurely. Just as you finished your snacks and were about to approach the end of the pier, you spotted a small photo booth kiosk. You grabbed Michael’s hand and tugged him off in that direction without much of a choice.The two of you piled onto the narrow seat and closed the curtain before you fed money into the machine. You selected a decorative frame with the date in the corner and the onscreen countdown began.

For the first pose, you held up the prize Michael won you with a toothy grin and he threw up a thumbs up, earning a laugh from you. You both pulled a funny face in the next pose and when it popped up on screen, you noticed that Michael had the tiniest bit of food stuck on the outside corner of his lips. You turned toward him and reached your hand up to rest on his cheek as your thumb swiped away the residue. Michael let out a small gasp as his face turned to you. The camera flash for the third picture caught you off guard and caused you to pull away as heat flushed over your cheeks. Before his confidence faltered, Michael cupped your face and brought his lips to meet yours. Your eyes fluttered closed briefly before he pulled away and looked into your eyes. You could read the hesitance in his expression until you placed a peck on his lips to tell him that it was okay. His mouth stretched into a wide smile and you felt your cheeks burn even hotter as you pulled back and glanced timidly at the stuffed animal in your lap.

Michael reached for the copies of the printed film strip at the bottom of the machine and flushed as he realized the last picture was of your kiss. He handed you a copy as he signed “cute” with a smile before opening the curtain and stepping out of the kiosk. You carried the photo strip in the same hand as your ring toss prize so you could hold Michael’s hand in the other. As you made your way back down the sidewalk to your parked cars, you leaned your head against his shoulder. He placed a sweet kiss to the top of your head with a smile, earning a contented hum from you before you fell back into silence for the next few blocks. You had known you would have a good afternoon with Michael, but it had exceeded all expectations.

———

taglist: @easierlftv @haikucal @kingcals @youngblood199456 @bookercth @atlcalm @another-lonely-heart @ashtonsos @castaway-cashton @itsjen223 @softbabiestan​

[comicteaparty]

April 15th-April 21st, 2020 Reader Favorites Archive

The archive for the Reader Favorites chat that occurred from April 15th, 2020 to April 21st, 2020.  The chat focused on the following question:

If all webcomics everywhere suddenly costed money to read, how much would you be willing to pay to read them?

carcarchu

i've currently spent about 10 dollars reading paid webcomics and got about 60 chapters with that much. i'll be buying more webcomics in the future but if it's too pricy i'll be less inclined to buy

chalcara [Nyx+Nyssa]

I buy the print volumes of my favourite webcomics, which is about £10-15 for around 100-200 pages? Depends on the comic. But I do get a book to leaf through, so dunno if that counts.

carcarchu

as an added note the app i use to buy webcomics has an interesting feature where u can purchase "food" to donate to the author directly without / in addition to buying the chapters themsevles(edited)

oh now that chalcara mentioned it i also buy the physical copies of webcomics as well and i've probably spent close to 100ish on that

also also that same app gives u daily login coins and u can also watch up to 5 video ads per day to gain extra coins which u can use to buy more chapters or donate directly to the author

chalcara [Nyx+Nyssa]

I DID try a monthly subscription to a rather specific comic content webpage, but I don‘t like that comittment. Vastly prefer buy-once-keep-something-forever; even if it‘s just pdf.

Yeah, have bought pdf‘s of comics before because of shipping expenses.

So yeah, buy once, get something, yay! Subscription, boo.

carcarchu

i had to buy a monthly subscription thing for a webcomic once too but it was a completed comic and the app has a download button so i just downloaded all the chapters of it all at once. i could see the monthly payment being annoying if u had to keep paying it in perpetuity though

Eightfish (Puppeteer)

i've paid for comics before

I'd probably pay to keep reading the comics I love

but I'd be reluctant to invest money to read a new comic i don't know is good or not

i'd need a good friend, person I follow, or well written review's recomendation first(edited)

Feather J. Fern

I will buy physical copies most of the time. I do like having the print in my hands. If it was like a site sub though, like you can put your comics on a site and everyone gets paid a share, then I wouldn't mind because you get options.

But if it is just one comic though, I would be worried,

For example, if people were paid to upload onto Webtoons, but you have to pay like 5 dollars for reading for 1 month, I wouldn't mind because I still can choose what to read

But if for example, my comic is five dollars to read monthly by itself, I don't htink people want it

Especially new readers

Deo101 [Millennium]

Yeah i think that I wouldnt want to have to spend money to try a comic. Im really very picky and I wouldnt want to risk basically just losing money because I dont like a comic. To continue reading the ones I like I think I'd spend money, but honestly I'd probably only do that once they're complete, too. A monthly payment/subscription for a service with many comics, though, I could see myself paying for

shadowhood (SunnyxRain)

Depends. I’m fine with paying it at once to read it in one go, but not necessarily per month

Also would pay if I got to see a preview first

Joichi [Hybrid Dolls]

As a reader, I also prefer to know what the comic is about first, before committing to pay to read it, like going in blind. I prefer the subscription option to read any comic but not per comic chapter. I like to support the authors if the story appeals to me or purchase their ebooks(edited)

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

I would likely pay to keep reading the ones I'm already into. But I would be very reluctant to check out new ones if I had to pay to even check them out. The first few pages aren't enough in most cases. I also wouldn't be averse to the subscription idea, assuming the platform isn't like, catering to a genre that I'm not interested in. Physical volumes actually don't interest me in most cases. Storage is a huuuuuge issue for me.

DanitheCarutor

Depends on digital vs. physical, the amount of content and quality. Usually I prefer a physical copy since I like collecting indie comics and am willing to pay 10USD - 30USD, I'll even pay high price for hardcover collector editions if I really, really like the creator's work. Like, I actually have a section of my bookshelf dedicated to printed webcomics, which isn't very full yet but I plan on practically overcumbering it someday. Digital copies and subscriptions, I'm oddly a little more stingy about. I tend to forget about stuff like that very easily, so to save myself from wasting money I would have to be almost a mindless fanatic about the webcomic to buy it digitally or keep up with a weekly/monthly pay subscription. As far as price, if it's a subscription I can't afford a whole lot since I'll probably be trying to take on multiple comics, a digital copy I may pay around the same amount as with a physical book.

I'm not too picky about what I would buy, if it looks really good or interesting I'll maybe subscribe to give it a look through, or buy a chapter/volume if I can afford it. Worst that would happen is I didn't like it after all but supported an indie creator trying to get their work off the ground. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Cronaj (Whispers of the Past)

I actually have in fact read many pay-to-read webcomics, and my experience has been somewhere in the middle. I think the most important thing is that the webcomic in question has the first few chapters as free-to-read so that new readers can get a feel for the story, because I wouldn't pay for something I didn't know I would like. The other things is for comics to be affordable. I'm not very wealthy, so the price of a comic chapter needs to be pretty cheap for me to invest. $1 per chapter is the absolute highest limit, and the chapter has to be at least 10+ pages. I'm way more willing to spend more money on print comics because it is something physical that I can put on my shelf, and because I know printing costs can be expensive.

LadyLazuli (Phantomarine)

No way I'd pay to read a comic without having at least the first chapter free. Even if people are recommending it to me, I still want to see it for myself first. But even then... I don't know if I would spend money on an online subscription - I'd probably wait to see what people are saying about it, save my money, and shell out a bit extra for a print edition (if that's in the cards for the comic). If a comic is free online, I feel even more like supporting it with a physical purchase. If a webcomic is locked behind a paywall... I get it, but it certainly discourages me as a reader.

Eilidh (Lady Changeling)

Same here really. I much prefer giving money to a Patreon or buying merch for something I love than pay to take a chance on something I might not like

Tuyetnhi (Only In Your Dreams!)

I agree. I don't mind subscription if it's someone's work I enjoyed but I'm more inclined to buy physical copies or get my own digital pdf of the same thing tbh

Feather J. Fern

I wouldn't mind an idea of like, you get 1 page free a month (Slow I know) but you can buy the full thing now as an Ebook or something. That system would help the author get money (for people who want to support and love their comic from the slow post rate) and great for people who can't afford comic, and read them free at the library becuase they can't even afford computers at home.

I like the print comics too for libraries, gives comics more free access

Eightfish (Puppeteer)

ah imagine if we could check out print webcomics at the library now

Tuyetnhi (Only In Your Dreams!)

there is a few libaries that are doin that

Feather J. Fern

Yes! Actually, a few librarians went to Vancaf as long as it has an ISBN it makes it easier (Well we hope there is a copy catalogue somewhere lol) And I know in the US there are a lot more librarians grabbing comics for their shelves

Tuyetnhi (Only In Your Dreams!)

yesss which makes it super good

makes me wish I could go to my local libary but like everything else here, it's currently closed orz

Feather J. Fern

Hell, from a podcast I know there is a large interest in comics for libraries, and I know recently they are using comics to try to bring more literacy to people who don't want to read.

This might be off topic I will move it somewhere else

Eilidh (Lady Changeling)

Maybe when I get mine printed I'll go see if the local library would like a few

Tuyetnhi (Only In Your Dreams!)

that is why I'm going to be a teacher. Get more people use comics for education lol

GuildmasterPhill

The tricky thing would be finding new comics to get into... how would you get exposed to them? And there are so many, how would you know which ones are worth whatever pricetag goes with them? It would certainly change the whole landscape of webcomics, to be sure.

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

It would probably increase the demand for webcomic reviews.

Cronaj (Whispers of the Past)

yeah

And again, the first few chapters being available as a sample would be really important.

Erin Ptah (BICP | Leif & Thorn)

Put in requests for webcomic print collections at your local library! They probably won't get bought during the lockdown, but at least your interest will be on record when the librarians get back.

Mine stocks some, although it's skewed toward really well-known ones -- Homestuck, Digger, Nimona, Cucumber Quest, Skin Horse, Penny Arcade, Gunnerkrigg Court (there's more, I just can't remember them off the top of my head).(edited)

Capitania do Azar

If I have to pay before I can know if I'll like the contents? I'd probably pass, unless there was some other big incentive for me to read it (like a friend's recommendation). Paywalls can be a big turnoff if you don't know what you're paying for, that's what I'm saying. However, if there were previews or free chapters, and then I had to pay to read the rest? I'd probably invest those €€€.

kayotics

I read Stand Still Stay Silent at the library, actually. That’s how I managed to actually get into it, I felt like it was a better experience. As for paying: I will sometimes buy a physical book of a comic I want to read but haven’t yet, just because reading on paper is easier on my eyes. So, sometimes I’ll pay money if I’m really interested in it. But it usually takes me a while to get to that point. If every webcomic went to a paid platform, I’d probably be less likely to read Webcomics.

Feather J. Fern

A thought occurred to me, if all webcomics are paid to read, how would the newbies, or highschoolers, get an audience at all if no one would buy to read their comic?

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

The under 18 creators does pose an interesting question -- are they allowed to make money at all? Would they have to get their parents to sign a thing for them?

snuffysam (Super Galaxy Knights)

I believe so

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

As for small creators with no existing fans, I imagine they'd have to rely on subscription platforms where readers don't have to pay for their comic specifically.

Cronaj (Whispers of the Past)

Yeah, or just make no money like now

snuffysam (Super Galaxy Knights)

well, it would just also mean no readers because in this world, there isn't even an option to make no money in this world, the webcomic emperor has decreed that all webcomics must cost money to read, and you shall be thrown into The Pit if you make yours free

Cronaj (Whispers of the Past)

Exactly

snuffysam (Super Galaxy Knights)

actually i guess you could kinda get around it by making your comic cost a penny

Cronaj (Whispers of the Past)

But yeah, you'd also not have readers and be unable to build a following

Basically the barrier to entry shifts and becomes more like traditional print publishing

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

Slightly different from trad publishing since anybody CAN still post up their comic -- even if no one would read it X'D

Cronaj (Whispers of the Past)

TRUE

snuffysam (Super Galaxy Knights)

actually you know what it would kinda be like? steam like basically any game devs from the smallest indie devs to the massive corporations publish their PC games through steam. and to my knowledge, all games on steam cost at least some money so indie creators' only option to get eyes on their comic would be the same as indie devs getting eyes on their game. find someone popular willing to review it, and hope for some word of mouth.

Feather J. Fern

Odd take, hold a seminar or not really that but a group gathering where people pay like, 2 dollars, because money still needs to happen, so a bunch of newbie comic artists and pitch their first chapter or something

Oh wait I know what my brain was thinking

like comixlogy

If you can have like a section like "New comics starting out, you can read the whole first chapter for just 0.99" then I might scroll through and be like "You know what, I wouldn't mind some entertaiment"

I think also defintely reviews are really important with this situation

If someoene was like "This art is good, plot is good, grammar is good" I woudl be like "Yeah I would read the first three chapters"(edited)

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

Steam sounds about accurate

Cronaj (Whispers of the Past)

I definitely think that in this case, good reviews would be like gold

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

Yeah

chalcara [Nyx+Nyssa]

Even Print comics do freebies to rustle up new audience. And steam has a pretty lenient „don‘t like this game? Get your money back“ policy.

RebelVampire

For me the answer here depends on a lot of factors. If it's a one time "bulk" purchase, I'd probably go from $5-$10 depending on amount of pages, time to read, and just overall quality. I'd of course have to be interested as well, but that's an aside point for me in terms of what I'd be willing to pay. Anything past $10 is just kind of too rich for my blood sort of thing, unless it's like a super volume or something. As a subscription, this would heavily depend on the service. How are they curating content? Do they add more content regularly? How much content do they have? How are they innovating to improve my experience as a reader and to be able to find content? How is the industry as a whole? Are there a few competitors making it an affordable option, or is it becoming like tv cable because everyone wants their slice of the pie? With this many questions, it's hard to put a price on a subscription service. Definitely no more than I pay for Hulu or Netflix. But honestly, with the state of the industry right now, I don't think the price would be justified if they made it even like $10/month. Cause as it stands none of the hosts really do anything to improve my experience as a reader and only make things harder for everyone.

Feather J. Fern

This topic makes me love webcomics more, people are giving it to us for free, and It is amazing the internet can give someone an outlet to do so. Thank you internet

Joichi [Hybrid Dolls]

If you can have like a section like "New comics starting out, you can read the whole first chapter for just 0.99" then I might scroll through and be like "You know what, I wouldn't mind some entertaiment"

@Feather J. Fern dang I would sign up so fast if there was a good subscription service like this. And same time it helps give something back to New creators!

Feather J. Fern

To be honest, if I had the money, and the power, and the programing skills I would. I would love to support creators like this. Becuase it also gives people confidence too.

[krinseldraegun]

All the video game asks

Played obsessively? Kingdom hearts!Influenced me creatively? Final Fantasy Tactics AdvanceWho did I play with as a kid? Nobody really. I played single player games for a long timeWho do I play with now? I'm back on a single player binge, but my best friends occasionallyCheat codes? Yeah, pretty often when just burning through emulated games for fun. Outside of that not too often.Ever buy strategy guides? Only for Final Fantasy and pretty much just to collectMultiple copies? DDR Supernova and KH1Rarest/most expensive? I have no idea. I don't have many expensive gamesMost regrettable purchase? A couple games in my steam library were pretty fucking bad and I got them for cheap like half a decade agoMidnight release? I went to the LoZ Breath of the Wild midnight release despite not preordering it bc I had a friend who didEver made new friends from a game? I met my best friend because of maplestory!Picked on for liking games? NahA game you've never played that everyone else has? Most Legend of Zelda games, most spyro games, most crash bandicoot gamesFavorite game music? The OSTs for most Square games are absolute bangersIf you had to, game related tattoo? If I'm doing a game related tattoo I'd rather go all out than get some small tattoo. Like a sleeve of Yojimbo's FFX designFavorite game to play with friends IRL? Mario Kart!Lost a friend over a game? Kinda, I knew a person who was convinced that if the game wasn't structured like Mass Effect or a Telltale game it wasn't an RPG which is objectively wrong.Date someone that hates gaming? It's a big part of my life and always has been. That'd be like asking someone who's been on a football team his whole life up to graduation and maybe college if he'd date someone who hates sports. I don't think I could. Someone who doesn't play games but doesn't hate them? Maybe. I don't really have to worry about this question though 🖤Favorite handheld console? 3DS hands down. It's just fucking goodGame that I know like the back of my hand? KH1. I can beat it without dying with starting equipment in under 9 hoursGame you didn't understand but now love? FFX had quite a confusing leveling system for me when I was a first grader. Good shit now thoughGame related clothing/accessories? I have a couple different KH necklaces, a couple KH shirts, a moogle pin, a palico pin, and the KH 2.8 limited edition pinGame you've logged the most hours in? Recently it would be FFXIV, but Modern Warfare 2 is definitely the mostFirst pokémon game? XD Gale of DarknessArcade game player? I'm really good at time crisis 2 and for a while I was really good at House of the Dead 3Gaming rivalries? Nah, neverGame that makes you rage? Dark Souls and For Honor, but I still 100% Dark Souls 2 SotFSEver play in a tourney? A small local one with friends for Sm4sh. I'm not good at sm4shGaming setup? My computer desk has my gaming pc, wii, ps2, and ps4 hooked up to my TV in my room next to my mini fridge and my ps3 is out in the front roomHow many consoles? 5. PS2, PS3, PS4, Wii, Xbox 360 that's collecting dust in my closet3DS/virtual boy headaches? Everyone gets Virtual Boy headaches, that's what it does. My 3DS doesn't give me headaches thoughGame based off favorite media? YESS I played a LOT of Megaman Battle NetworkBootleg/plug & play? I had an atari plug & play for a bit iirc. We got it for free and it didn't survive longGaming parents? Both used to play, now my mom doesn't and my stepdad only plays panzer general and candy crush despite having a ps4 proEver work in a game store or have a favorite game shop? Never worked in one but my favorite is a local store ran by a really chill dude named David who also hosts smash bros tournamentsSweat blood or tears because of a video game? Sweat often. I get really into games and start stressing a lot. Never blood. Tears is an almost because of the lightning field minigame in FFXE.T.? Never played it, but a game that ended up being shoved in a landfill to that degree must be terribleGuilty pleasure game? None that I can think ofDream sequel? YA BOI WANTS A NEW .HACK// GAMEVR and motion control? I absolutely love VR. I'm waiting to get my own VR setup, but I'm kinda waiting for the cost to go down and better games to come out, but games like superhot and RE7 really show promise for the idea. I've always been a fan of the .hack// series so I've been waiting for VRGenre not for me? RTS and fighting games. I'm terrible at both and I kept getting people telling me I'd be good at starcraft because I'm 1/4 korean and it just isn't happening and it's made me hate the game.Game that started it all? It actually was my first game, and it was Kingdom HeartsGaming when you shouldn't? Too often. Way too oftenMost played arcade cabinet? Either Time Crisis or House of the DeadMario Kart? I'm pretty damn good if I say so myselfRelaxing games, animal crossing, harvest moon? Not really. A lot of them require you to come back day after day for progress without a clear endgame and I can't do that. The idea of needing to consistently log into a game just for maintenance doesn't work for me and is why I burn myself out on mobile games fast.Competitive games? Absolutely! Team based shooters I love competitive modes and ranked modes forCustomization time? It varies, but in games with a lot of customizing it can take around an hour or two if I'm trying to get something specificPreferred class? Tanks! I like being on the frontline being the wall between my team and the enemy!Dream game to make? Real time open world action RPG that's a mix between high fantasy and magitek that has a story mode and an open, create your character and group with friends mode that has its own list of quests and missions separate from the main line but has events that overlapForgotten to eat or sleep? Yeah. Not on the eat part but definitely the sleepGame I begged for as a kid? Kingdom Hearts 2, Kingdom Hearts 358/2 days, KH Re:Coded, KH 3DDLC? Expansions that add a decent amount of new content to a game are wonderful. Locking non-episodic main story content, fighting game characters, and non-cosmetic items behind paywalls is wrong and games shouldn't be pay to win.Steam sales? I have no money to give in with and I'm picky with games I enjoy.Sims voodoo doll? Never played a lot of the sims and if I did it'd likely be more just dumping OC's in a houseRoller coaster tycoon murder? Never played it100% games? First game I got the 100% trophy in is Dark Souls 2 SotFS, and that's after miracles were nerfed into the ground3 games for the rest of your life? Pls don't make me do this. I can't choosePhone games? FFD opera omnia, mobius FF, KHUx, but rarelyKonami code? Ye boiTrade in or keep forever? I keep specific games and trade in the restBuy a console for 1 game? Almost? I bought a 3DS for monster hunter and kingdom heartsGaming convention or tournament? No... I wish...Gaming specific tv or monitor? I don't have any mahney. If I did have the money I definitely wouldGameshark etc? I had a ps2 gameshark. It never corrupted anythingOld nokia with snake? Nope, but I had friends that didHappy childhood gaming memory? Pretty sure I cried the first time I beat Kingdom HeartsArcade tickets for prize? Nah, the games that didn't give tickets were more funBest game ever? Can't think of any. My favorite game is KH, but it isn't the best game. No game is perfectFirst game beaten? Kingdom hearts!

[weekendwarriorblog]

The Weekend Warrior Home and Quibi Edition July 17, 2020: WE ARE FREESTYLE LOVE SUPREME, DIRT MUSIC, THE PAINTED BIRD and More!

Apologies for being a day late with this week’s column... things came up. 

Since this is a relatively quieter week, at least compared to last week,  I want to talk about something that’s been getting a lot of ridicule and unwarranted hatred in recent months, and that is something called Quibi, and so…

IN PRAISE OF QUIBI

You know, I’ve heard a lot of shit-talking about Quibi for one reason or another.  I think it’s mostly the “too cool for school” #FilmTwitter kids, who haven’t even bothered to watch half the programming and content on the streaming platform – which has absolutely nothing to do with movies, mind you -- so they honestly have no fucking idea what they’re talking about. Sure, I understand the trepidation… short programs that you watch on your phone? Why would anyone get behind that? I mean, everything needs to be a 3 ½ hour Martin Scorsese movie that needs to be seen on the biggest screen possible, right?

Well, no. You see, CEO Jeffrey Katzenberg saw how successful YouTube was with their model – maybe not necessarily their original programming – and he figured he could do them one better. Instead of following the normal TV model of 22 to 60 minutes episodes, he decided to make every episode under 10 minutes. Maybe this seems weird to many people but if you watch any commercial network television, that’s actually the norm. All programs are broken up into smaller increments to allow for the commercials, and the smart shows time those breaks with mini-cliffhangers that makes the viewer want to return after the commercial break rather than switching the station. For the comedies and dramas, it just means you can watch as many episodes as you want without investing the hours involved with binging most shows. You can watch a lot of a series in an hour or more, and you’ll know right away if it’s for you. (There are some I really didn’t like at all such as Dummy and a few others.)

The big problem is that we really shouldn’t be looking at Quibi as an attempted competitor to Netflix, Hulu or any of the other streaming services. Quibi isn’t meant to be for watching movies or to be watched on the biggest screen possible. It’s quick, short bytes of entertainment similar to what you might normally watch on YouTube, but with actual programming. It’s a service geared towards people who don’t have 8 hours a day to binge-watch shows and maybe just want something to watch on a 5 or 10-minute break from sitting at their computers working. (That’s another good reason why having to be viewed on a phone/tablet makes it a good way to take a break from the computer.)

I totally understand some of the trepidation based on the early programming, because I haven’t found much in the narrative realm that has jumped out at me. I like Will Forge and Caitlyn Olsen’s Flipped, since it stars two of the funniest people on television, and the second story on Sam Raimi’s United States of Horror was far better than the first one. I also found a great guilty pleasure in shows like Chrissy’s Court and Dishmantled, each which put a spin on favorite TV genres, the court and cooking shows, both which are hilarious. I binged both of those series, which are about 10 to 12 episodes in a little over an hour, and Reno 911 and Jason Reitman’s The Princess Bride adaptation have been some great recent additions to the service.

The reason why you should be watching Quibi is for the daily programming, which is every bit on par with anything currently on television, mainly because Quibi has joined forces with some of the best news sources and content creators. For instance, the BBC show, Around the World with host Ben Bland, takes all of the great news from the BBC and puts together a daily six-minute “montage” of the most important news from outside the United States. There’s also NBC’s The Report, which offers two episodes on weekdays – the Morning and Evening Report – and two Weekend Reports, and it’s solid news reporting but also nothing that outlasts its welcome like the normal 24-hour news.

Then there’s so much other great programming, including Answered by Vox with host Cleo Abram, where you can learn about so many relevant and timely topics, and it’s become a particularly beneficial during the COVID pandemic. I have to admit that when I first started watching this, I was kind of amused by Abram’s twitchy interviews where she seemed unsure of herself, but over the course of the last couple months, her bubbly personality has really come out, as she’s tackled topics of special interest to herself. Quibi has rightfully been promoting the heck out of the show by advertising it on other shows. I also am impressed by the topics Shan Boodram covers on Sexology, an extremely candid and honest discussion of what some might consider taboo topics.

Similarly wonderful to watch every day is EW’s Last Night Late Night with Heather Gardner, which sums up the previous night’s late night shows – the best jokes, the best bits from the interviews, performances etc. – and there’s also Rotten Tomatoes’ Fresh Daily with Maude Garrett, which gives you a look at the best things to watch on streaming and digital on a day-to-day basis. (For full transparency, a person I greatly respect and one of the few I genuinely like in the industry, Mr. Simon Thompson, writes and produces the show.)  Video game fans may enjoy Polygon’s Speed Run, although it recently changed format and is now three days a week, rather than five, and each episode is now on one subject rather than the segment format previously used. I hope this isn’t a sign of Quibi or these companies trying to save costs because there’s some nervous about the platform lasting.  

Personally, I love Quibi, and I didn’t even hesitate for a second to shell out the $5.30 a month (including tax), mainly for the daily programming. Honestly, I really hope that we’ll get more of Chrissy’s Court and Dishmantled, and I hope to eventually get to some of the shows I haven’t watched, as well. (I’ve had a few issues with streaming and buffering in the last week, which I hope Quibi will resolve, because it’s very frustrating to sit down for my daily watches and just get the spinning ball repeatedly.)

Anyway, let’s get to the movies… and is it possible that Hulu may be receiving the coveted “Featured Flick” two weeks in a row? Certainly looks like it. If you’re trying to figure out what to watch after watching Hamilton on Disney+ for the 20th time, how about going back to the very beginning?

Andrew Fried’s doc WE ARE FREESTYLE LOVE SUPREME (Hulu) looks back at how Wesleyan alum Thomas Kail and Anthony Veneziale put together the group of improvisational performers that would include one Lin-Manuel Miranda. I was lucky enough to know about Freestyle Love Supreme way back when they were starting out, since a good friend of mine managed the East Village club, Mo Pitkins, where the group frequently performed. I knew pretty early on how much talent Miranda had from seeing him perform. Make no mistake that this is not a movie only about Miranda, as it’s as much or more about Kail and Venziale’s efforts to keep the group’s shows happening while Miranda is pulled away to do In the Heights on Broadway, and then ultimately doing his magnum opus, Hamilton.  

For some reason, I thought this doc would mainly be about the idea of bringing Freestyle Love Supreme back for its limited stint on Broadway, but it goes all the way back to the beginning and how they met and came together, plus how they found new members to fill in for Miranda and Christopher Jackson when they went to Broadway.  Freestyle Love Supreme is a pretty amazing group because as the name implies, they’re a bunch of freestyle rappers who improvise every show based on things they get from the audience, but it also allows them to explore their own personal lives and histories and incorporate them into each show. I’m actually a little bummed I never got a chance to see it even though I’ve known about them since the early ‘00s. This doc might feel a little long even at under 90 minutes, but it’s worth sticking with since they’re such an interesting group and the combination of performances and interviews makes it a fine doc about these amazingly talented individuals and how the sum is bigger than the whole of the parts.

Another long-gestating project that has finally seen the light of day is the romantic drama DIRT MUSIC (Samuel Goldwyn), based on Tim Winton’s popular Australian novel that people have been trying to adapt since back when Heath Ledger was still alive. I believe Russell Crowe had been trying to adapt it, too. It stars Kelly Macdonald, who I’ve loved since her first appearance in Trainspotting and who I’m always hoping will find some of those great roles we see other actors her age getting. (Sorry, but Puzzle just wasn’t one of them.)  In Dirt Music, she plays Georgie, a woman living with fisherman Jim Buckridge (David Wenham), a widowed father with two sons, although they’re not married. When Georgie begins a relationship with troubled local musician Lu Fox (Garrett Hedlund), it causes problems within the tight-knit community, but instead of getting into a confrontation with Jim, Lu runs off.

I actually quite enjoyed this drama, partially because it marks the return of Gregor Jordan, an Australian filmmaker who has quite a few decent movies under his belt, including an earlier Ned Kelly movie. It is a little hard to figure out what is happening, partially from the accents but also from the decision to tell the story in a non-linear fashion that isn’t always apparent where each of the characters are in the story. Obviously, a major thing to pay attention to is how great Macdonald and Hedlund are in their roles in this possibly unlikely romance. You can totally see Ledger in the role of Lu, and the fact that Hedlund is so good should help you appreciate him more as an actor. Macdonald also still has this youthful energy despite being in her ‘40s, and that gives their relationship something akin to her relationship with McGregor in Trainspotting.

What really captured my attention was the gorgeous music by the Fox family, and I was even more  impressed to learn that the actors – Julia Stone, George Mason, Neill Maccoll, and yes, Garrett Hedlund – all performed their own vocals in the songs, which includes a gorgeous version of Tim Buckley’s “Song of the Siren” (famously covered by This Mortal Coil). Frankly, I’m most surprised by the fact that Hedlund had musical talent I never knew about, and you can combine that with the emotion he brings to Lu with very few words, and you have another example of why Hedlund just isn’t getting the credit as an actor he deserves. I really liked the way this story was unfolded and where it ended, and I hope we’ll see more great work like this from Jordan.

I was a little more tentative about Wetlands director David Wnendt’s THE SUNLIT NIGHT (Quiver Distribution), which was adapted by Rebecca Dinerstein from her own novel, but not only because it premiered at Sundance way back in early 2019. If you’ve been reading the past few months of columns, you’ll know that there are a lot of recurring themes of movies that play at Sundance, and this one stars Jenny Slate, who had such an impact at Sundance with the movie Obvious Child, which I really didn’t like.  Yeah, I’m not really a fan, even though I like her in smaller roles like her role in Gifted a few years back. In this one, Slate plays Frances, a New York artist, whose parents are about to break up and looking for a change, she accepts an internship with an artist in Northern Norway where the day lasts for months.  It’s a pretty obvious “fish-out-of-water” comedy premise like one we may normally see at Sundance, but it never really delivers on  

Probably my favorite part of the movie was seeing David Paymer as France’s father, mainly because we just don’t see Paymer in many movies these days, but Zack Galifianakis’ character, one of the Norwegians who has an affinity for Vikings, just doesn’t add very much to the story. While I liked the set-up for the movie and Slate is generally likeable in the lead role, the movie just isn’t funny enough to be deemed a comedy nor enough drama to have much of an emotional impact, and the romance between Slate and a local didn’t do much for me either. By the end of the movie, Sunlit Night had veered too far into the most obvious indie territory, so it ultimately fell short for me. I just wish Dinerstein had more (or anything) to say with this story, and I feel like Wnendt and his cast probably did the best they could with what they had to work with.

A movie that’s finally being released after playing a number of festivals last year is the Czech Republic’s 2019 Oscar selection, Václav Marhoul’s THE PAINTED BIRD (IFC Films), based on Jerzy Kosinski’s novel about a young Jewish boy navigating the landscape of WWII-era Eastern Europe all on his own, ending up in one horrifying situation after another.

While this is a beautifully-told story featuring equally beautiful and quite stark black and white cinematography, I can’t wholly recommend it to everyone, because that beautiful camerawork is used to depict some of the most horrible depravity and violence, all experienced by this young boy who just can’t seem to catch a break.

There is very little dialogue in a film that takes an episodic approach to following this young boy’s journey as he either watches horrifying things or is put through grueling torture and even rape as he’s handed and bartered from one adult to another. The “painted bird” of the title is a literal bird that’s painted to attract other birds that attack it, and it’s clearly meant as an analogy for the boy.

If you’ve watched any Czech films over the years, you’ll know that they’re generally pretty grim (they’re a grim people), and you’ll probably know fairly soon whether you want to sit through the entire 2 ¾ running time to see how this boy fares with everything he faces. (Note: A big deal has been made about some of the more horrifying violence in the movie, but honestly? Being in black and white, it isn’t that gory, and I’ve seen far, far worse. A lot of the worst of it is off-screen and your mind tends to fill in the blanks much like last year’s The Nightingale.)

Barely saying a single word, Petr Kotlár is able to carry the film, and it’s interesting when more familiar actors like Udo Kier, Harvey Keitel, Stellan Skarsgaard, and Barry Pepper are brought into this world Marhoul has created from Kosinski’s book. Like so many other movies right now, it’s a shame this won’t be seen on the big screen where you’re forced to really focus on what you’re watching without distractions.  

The Butterfly Effect writer/director Eric Bress’s latest horror film is GHOSTS OF WAR (Vertical) about a group of American soldiers -- including Brenton Thwaites, Sklar Astin and Theo Rossi -- who travelling across France during WWII when they come upon a French Chateau where they decide to hole up. That is, until they learn there’s a supernatural enemy that may be worse than the Nazis they’re hiding from.  

The premise for Bress’ latest venture into the supernatural is a fairly simple one, and it’s hard not to watch this movie and not think of the far superior Overlord from a few years back. As soon as the soldiers get to the estate, it’s pretty obvious (mainly from the title) where things are going to go from there, and unfortunately, the bland casting doesn’t do very much to elevate that simple premise, the weak writing, and none of it feels particularly scary.  If that general premise doesn’t seem very interesting to you, then Ghosts of War introduces a pretty out-there last act twist that’s either gonna be praised for changing things up or it will be condemned for being so out there. The problem is that the movie just hasn’t built enough good will to earn its twist, and viewers will probably just be even more annoyed by it.

Ghosts of War will be available On Demand, via Virtual Cinema Screenings and digitally after being on DirecTV for the past few weeks.

Down at New York’s Film Forum, you can rent Elizabeth Coffman and Mark doc Flannery (Film Forum), winner of the Library of Congress Lavine/Ken Burns Prize with its look at author Flannery O’Connor. The repertoryVirtual Cinema adds Jean-Luc Godard’s Made in the U.S.A. (1966) and Carl Theodor Dreyer’s Michael (1924), the latter part of the Forum’s “Pioneers of Queer Cinema” program.

Starting on Film at Lincoln Center’s Virtual Cinema this Friday is Koji Fukada’s Mayak (Andreevsky Flah Film Company/Anniko Films), while FilmLinc is also starting its annual Dance on Camera Festival, the 48th edition, although this time virtually.

Available via Film Movement’s Virtual Cinema is Emily Harris’ adaption of Joseph Sheridan le Fanu’s Gothic vampire novella, Carmilla, starring Hannah Rae as 15-year-old Lara who lives in isolation on her family’s country estate with her strict governess Miss Fontaine (Jessica Raine) until a carriage crash brings a mysterious girl into their lives.

Now we’re getting to more movies that I just didn’t find the time to see even though I had screeners for a couple of them, like the latest in Hulu’s popular monthly horror series, INTO THE DARK:  THE CURRENT OCCUPANT, which will hit the streamer this Friday. It’s directed by Julius Ramsay and written by D.C. speech writer Alston Ramsay, taking place in a psychiatric ward where a man trapped with no memory, played by Barry Watson, believes that he’s the President of the United States and the subject of a political conspiracy. No, it’s not a documentary.

Over on Netflix, there’s Catrin Einhorn and Leslye Davis’ doc Father Soldier Son, which follows a former platoon sergeant and his two sons over a decade after his return home from a serious injury in Afghanistan, showing the long-term effects of military service on a family.

Dan Wingate’s doc Kaye Ballard - The Show Goes On (Abramorama) will get a Virtual Cinema release this Friday. I actually am not familiar with the actress, singer and comedian but apparently, she’s had a career that has spanned eight decades, starting in the 40s, and her friends include Ann-Margret, Carol Burtnett, Carol Channing, my good pal Red Reed and more, all of whom are interviewed, along with Ballard.

Also out on Digital this week is Steve Ohi’s sci-fi horror comedy Useless Humans (Quiver Distribution) about a ruthless alien who crashes a 30th birthday party causing four friends to team up to save the world. Will Addison’s Easy Does It (Gravitas Ventures), stars Linda Hamilton, as well as Ben Matheny and Martin Martinez, the latter two as friends who want to escape their Mississippi hometown when they learn there’s a cache of hidden loot in California. Hamilton plays their hometown criminal matriarch “King George” who learns of the money and has her bounty hunter daughter (Susan Gordon) chase the friends down.

On Friday, New York’s Japan Society will kick off its annual “Japan Cuts” program of new and repertory Japanese cinema, and like most other festivals and series this year, it’s going on line, beginning with Shinichiro Ueda’s Special Actors (the Opening Night film), Fukushima 50 (the Centerpiece) and Labyrinth of Cinema, for $7.00 each, which is a pretty good deal. (There’s also a new competitive section called “Next Generation” which focuses on new Japanese talent.) And then for $99, you can get an all access pass to watch all 42 films in the festival, which includes a lot of movies you may never have a chance to see in the States otherwise. You can watch a playlist of trailers from the movies here. All 42 films will be available starting this Friday, so make sure to include this in your weekend plans.

In related news, the New York Asian Film Festival (which cancelled this year altogether) and the Korean Culture Center of New York are teaming once again for Korean Movie Night, this year doing them virtually with a new program called “A League Of Its Own,” which focuse on Hit Korean Baseball Movies, plus there’s a bunch of other Korean films you can watch (FOR FREE!) here until July 25.

Also, if you’re anywhere near some of the drive-ins taking part in Amazon’s summer movie program, you can catch “Movies To Make You Proud” Black Panther and Creed on Wednesday night.

Next week, more movies mostly not in theaters!

By the way, if you read this week’s column and have bothered to read this far down, feel free to drop me some thoughts at Edward dot Douglas at Gmail dot Com or drop me a note or tweet on Twitter. I love hearing from readers … honest!

[yourkeeperoftherunners]

You Sound so Good on Radio (RapMon AU)

Plot: AU You’re a DJ at your university’s student-run radio club and were called in to do a sample show last minute for a tour group of potential students. You caught his attention and he knew that he couldn’t go anywhere else. Especially if it meant he could share the airwaves with you at some point.

Rating: PG-13 (Language, implied cheating)

Characters: University Student!Kim Namjoon/Rap Monster x female Reader, University Student/Radio Club President!Kris (EXO-M), University Student/Fellow DJ!Johnny (NCT-127), and mentions of Seokjin and Yoongi (BTS)

Notes: This is an AU setting – all characters, background content, and storyline are fictional! This was an idea I’ve had kicking around in my head inspired by the writer’s personal experience of working in student-run radio shows at school. (It sat on the back burner until I realized it would be a good fit for music lover and brainy student Kim Namjoon.) Y/S/N stands for “your screen name”, Y/E/N is “your ex’s name”, and Y/DJ/N is “your DJ name.”

Happy Birthday Namjoon!

“Can I ask you to do a last minute show?”

“Uhhh maybe,” you drawled as you pressed your phone to your ear, “when?”

He sucked in a sharp breath and forced a smile as he revealed that he needed you to get over to the student radio booth in 40 minutes. Your eyes widened and you changed direction.

“Damn you Kris,” you hissed as you dug around in your bag, briefly checking that you had the essentials. “You’re lucky my next class was canceled – what’s this all about?”

“Potential students tour,” Kris explained. “Sorry Y/N – they threw this on me last minute too. Admissions wanted to show off the student radio program and they wanted a show playing live when the tour came through. I sort of panicked and didn’t know who to ask.”

“You owe me,” you warned him as you made a beeline for the studio, unlocking the door with your ID card. “Are there any rules Admissions set?”

“No profanity because it’s a daytime show, don’t run over into the next scheduled show’s slot…” Kris trailed off, biting his lip. “Um maybe pick some happy tunes or something? I don’t know – just make it seem cool to join radio, okay?”

“I’ll try. Wonder why they care all of sudden,” you droned as you pulled out your laptop and began pulling songs into a playlist.

“How do you take your coffee?” he asked.

“Make it the largest size available and you’re a godsend,” you said before hanging up. You plugged in the cords from the dashboard and began adding in bumpers that would play in between every 3 songs to promote the studio radio station. Complaints aside, radio was a welcome escape for you whenever you wanted a break from the stress of college. Anyone could apply to have a radio program, as long as they showed up for their time slot, followed the radio airwave rules, and attended the radio meetings that took place every other week.

“You’re listening to a special broadcast of Nocturnal Beats, coming to you live and in stereo from the radio station,” you announced into the microphone. “You just heard music from Halsey, a beautiful cover of Adele’s “Hello” by Alice Olivia, and “Skool Luv” by BTS. Speaking of school love, why not show your support for our talented lacrosse team at this Saturday’s game? Game starts at 7 PM, tickets are $7 at the gate…” You tore a glance at the bulletin board nearby to make sure you were covering all of the announcements posted during your talking break. From the corner of your left eye, you spotted a large group of families coming into the building, led by a student tour guide. Satisfied that you covered everything posted, you wrapped up your talking segment as you teased the next few songs coming up in the hour.

“Over here is the student radio booth – all of the programs broadcast are put on by students for students,” the guide said as she gestured to the booth. “Parents and friends are welcome to download the app or live stream it from your computer or WI-fi enabled devices to listen in as well. We have programs running 7 days a week from 7 AM to midnight, ranging from music, talk shows, and we’ve even had a few radio dramas played during the airwaves.”

You avoided the crowd’s gaze as you slotted in a bumper that announced that they were tuned into the student radio site, before blending it out to the next song – a mellow R&B tune from BIGBANG called “Blue”. You pulled the headphones off and switched the mic to off before checking the volume controls and scrolling through the radio instant chat function to answer messages.

js_giraffe: U cheating on me for daytime?

You resisted the urge to roll your eyes as you typed back to Johnny, AKA your friend who hosted a late night rant/talk show on Wednesdays. Occasionally you put in a guest appearance if he needed someone to banter with on the topics of choice for the shows – most people found your dynamic with him hilarious, especially if he tried to switch accents while you called him out for being a loser.

Y/S/N: ha try Kris needed someone to show off for the tour groups.

js_giraffe: O.o The model DJ…

js_giraffe: I’m not worthy! I’m not worthy!

Y/S/N: STFU

Y/S/N: It’s a one-time deal – get over your damn self!

“Now if you follow me, I’ll show you the mailroom,” the tour guide announced as she gestured to a hallway. Most of the families began to follow her to the next room while one young man lingered behind, tilting his head as he watched you switch between answering Johnny’s IMs and queuing more music for the remaining 15 minutes. He glanced over his shoulder at the group and quickly made up his mind to walk over to the glass separating you from him, tapping lightly on it.

You jerked your head up from looking at your laptop screen and held up a finger as you got up, making your way over to the entrance to the booth.

“Hi, may I help you?” you asked as you stuck your head out.

“Oh um ye-yeah!” the young man said. “How is the radio program here? Do you like it?” he asked with a faint accent.

“It’s a lot of fun,” you said slowly with a smile. “I really like it – this is my second year doing it. I started last spring and I’ve been doing it ever since. You can focus on any topic/style of show you want for the most part.” You frowned when you noticed the tour group was long gone.

“Oh I think you um-”

“I’ll find them – no worries,” he replied. He asked you more questions about the studio equipment, scheduling, requirements, etc. before you realized you were at the final 2 minutes of your program.

“Hang on, I need to close out the hour,” you apologized before running back into the station. You slipped the headphones on and turned the mic on, fading out the last song that was playing. “Looks like it’s last call gang – thanks for tuning into this special edition. I’ll catch you at my usual slot Friday night from 10-11 PM. Until then.” You turned off the mic and carefully unplugged your laptop, turning on instrumentals recorded in the station’s dashboard’s memory to fill the void while you packed up. Once you secured your bag on your shoulder, you headed to the door and frowned when you saw the young man was gone.

“So are you crossing this school off your list Joonie?” Yoongi asked his friend over the phone. “I mean, it’s kind of far and you don’t know a lot of English –“

“Actually I think I’m going to apply,” Namjoon replied with a grin as he leaned against the wall. “Campus is nice, professors seem decent, and I like their student life.”

“Wae?! But you can’t leave meeeeeeee!!!” the other male whined. “You’ll be too far away!”

“I think you can survive without me,” Namjoon chuckled as he ran a hand through his hair. “Besides, we can always call or Skype. Plus I’ll be home for the holidays.”

“But you have to apply first,” Seokjin interrupted, taking the phone from Yoongi. “There’s no guarantee this school will take you. Make sure you have back-ups in case.”

Namjoon snorted as he changed his phone to his other ear. He reassured Seokjin that he’d apply to a few local schools back home, just to be safe before hanging up and heading back to the area where the tour started. It was clear in his mind – he was getting in here no matter what.

“Welcome back,” Johnny greeted you as you took a seat in the auditorium beside him.

“Right back at you,” you replied, dropping your bag on the ground. “How was your summer?”

He shrugged and muttered that he split his time between Chicago and South Korea, thanks to his parents’ divorce. You listened as he described the tension during each stay, as both single parents had expressed their true feelings about one another to Johnny.

“Sorry Johnny,” you said with a sympathetic smile, “hey so, are you doing late night again?”

Johnny nodded and you confirmed that you were in again for another late night slot, as it was your favorite time to broadcast. You weren’t forced to be as strict with the profanity during timeslots closer to midnight and it was a fun way to get hyped for the weekend. Because this would be your third year of radio, you’d get first dibs on timeslots. A few days prior to the start of the new semester, you had gotten an e-mail from Kris asking if you wanted your old timeslot back, which you replied you did.

“All right guys! Can I have your attention please?” Kris called out, trying to regain control of the large group of students chattering away. He waited a few minutes before speaking again.

“Welcome to University Radio Club,” he began, “if you’re here because you’re taking radio as an elective or just because you want to, you’re in the right place. We meet every other week here at 9 PM – attendance is mandatory for those taking this as an elective. If you are brand new to radio, we’ll start taking sign ups for timeslots via e-mail. Please send us your top three choices and we’ll let you know if any are available. Past DJs will get first choice. Any questions so far?”

“The D-bag’s not doing radio anymore, right?” Johnny whispered as he leaned closer to you.

You shrugged, trying to seem indifferent. The “D-bag” in question was your ex, who cheated on you for two sorority chicks during a Greek life party. You swore he purposely chose the timeslot after you so he could saunter in and ruin your good mood with his presence, as his show was after yours for 3 semesters.

“I’ll deal with it like usual,” you muttered as you watched Kris start discussing the history of radio to the students taking this for credit.

“Welcome back to your place for top hits, fresh sounds, and jams to get you in the mood for your weekend – this is Nocturnal Beats!” you said into the mic with a smile. “Hope everyone stayed cool this summer. The bell may have rung but the fun’s never ending – I’ve got some new sounds to share from EXO and Twenty One Pilots so keep it here for this hour.”

Once you switched off the microphone, your phone buzzed with a text from Kris.

Galaxy

I’ll buy you a drink this weekend if you can do a last minute training for the rookie coming in after you.

Sent 10:07 PM

You

Fine.

Sent 10:08 PM

Hang on – rookie? Not Y/E/N?

Sent 10:08 PM

Galaxy

Nah he never answered my e-mail about radio this semester. This guy’s a first year – asked specifically for this slot.

Sent 10:09 PM

Tall, blonde hair in an undercut, name’s Namjoon Kim. He’s doing a rap show.

Sent 10:10 PM

You frowned as you re-read the texts and typed back a simple OK to Kris. Well, you could breathe easy – no asshole ex to deal with this semester. But you were surprised this kid got a prime spot – most first timers weren’t so lucky and would get an afternoon slot or an early morning time. Albeit his radio show content was probably better suited for nighttime versus editing out every curse word and innuendo possible. You’d meet him soon enough.

You shuttled a few IMs to Johnny and tore your gaze away from your laptop to see a tall Asian guy approaching the station, eerily fitting the description Kris texted you. He was busy typing something on his phone as he approached the radio station, walking into the door with a thud.

You blinked as you scrambled to your feet, eyes wide as he staggered back a few steps, wincing and cursing in Korean as he touched his forehead. Without wasting more time, you queued up a few more songs and a bumper before opening the door and checking on him.

“Hey you okay?”

“Huh? Oh yeah, yeah I’m fine,” he said as he pushed his dark framed glasses up on his nose. He shot you a sheepish smile and put his phone away in his pocket.

You studied him thoughtfully, examining his features. He looked awfully familiar…

“Hey so Y/N right? I don’t know you if you remember me, well I had dark hair last time we met, but um…” he trailed off, a shy smile on his face.

“Hang on, were you the guy who got left behind by the tour group to ask me questions about the radio station?” you recalled as you stepped out of the doorway. “Last semester in mid-March, right?”

He nodded as his smile spread across his face, resulting in the cutest dimples on his cheeks. You blinked as you silently compared the previous image you had of him in your mind to the guy standing before you now. He was cute then but with the blonde color and new haircut, he looked hot. It also sounded like his English had improved and the lingering trace of his accent was barely noticeable. Summer sure was kind to him…

“Wow I didn’t know you got in – congrats!” you replied as you nudged the door open wider, letting him into the station waiting room. “Welcome to university! I can’t believe you decided to take up radio too.”

Namjoon stepped through the doorway and watched as you closed the door to the station. “Well, it’s a funny story,” he began as he shoved his hands into his pockets. “A really chill DJ was doing a special show during my tour visit and she had a really hot voice. I was kind of a loser just staring at her and asking her dumb questions about radio, but she was so patient and really nice. So I felt encouraged to apply – I mean, I liked the classes and the professors too, but hearing this DJ was like the icing on the cake. I wanted to come here and do radio too. Maybe run into her again.”

You ducked your head and smiled, crossing your arms over your chest. “You found me Namjoon,” you replied.

He squared his shoulders and allowed a slightly cocky smile to cross his lips. “Rap Monster. No DJ, just Rap Monster around here.”

You contemplated his moniker and nodded in approval.

“It suits you,” you said. “Well you’ll go live for your first show in 10 minutes – think you’re ready?”

He removed his glasses from his nose and swapped them for a pair of dark wayfarers, pushing them up on his nose.

“Bring it on Y/DJ/N.”

[oliverphisher]

James Foley

Brobot (S. Tinker Inc) By James Foley

James Foley is a children’s author and illustrator. He makes picture books, junior fiction and graphic novels. He is in high demand for talks and workshops in schools and libraries across Australia. He comes from a long line of queuing enthusiasts. He lives in Perth with his wife, son and labrador.

James Foley makes picture books, middle grade novels and comics for kids. He’s the author/illustrator of the S.Tinker Inc graphic novel series for middle primary: Brobot (2016), Dungzilla (2017) and Gastronauts (2018) star Sally Tinker, the world’s foremost inventor under the age of twelve, and Joe Tinker, her stinky baby brother. James also illustrated Toffle Towers (2019), written by Tim Harris, and Total Quack Up (2018), an anthology of funny short stories with proceeds going to charity. James’ earlier books My Dead Bunny (2015) In The Lion (2012), The Last Viking (2011) and The Last Viking Returns (2014) have all scored several honours, including children’s choice awards, shortlistings in the Children’s Book Council of Australia Book of the Year awards, and selection to the International Youth Library’s White Raven list.

What are one to three books that have greatly influenced your life?

The Artists’ Way, by Julia Cameron

The Artist's Way: 25th Anniversary Edition By Julia Cameron

Roland Harvey’s Drawing Book, by Roland Harvey

Roland Harvey's Drawing Book (Young Designer Series) By Roland Harvey

The Eleventh Hour, by Graeme Base

The Eleventh Hour: A Curious Mystery By Graeme Base

What purchase of $100 or less has most positively impacted your life in the last six months (or in recent memory)?

It’s not related to writing or illustrating in any way ... my wife and I recently bought some reusable produce bags to replace the soft little plastic bags you use at the shops to put fruit or veggies in. They’re made from recycled plastic bottles too so they’re extra good for the environment. We also bought some bulk produce bags so we can go to our local whole food shop and buy bulk of rice, oats and other things we’d usually have to buy in little plastic bags at the supermarket. It’s reduced our plastic consumption A LOT and that’s making us feel a bit better about our impact on the environment.

How has a failure, or apparent failure, set you up for later success?

I first submitted illustration samples to publishers when I was around 20 years old. I didn’t get any invitations to illustrate books back then; my work wasn’t up to a professional standard yet, and I wasn’t ready mentally or emotionally either. But I did have one publisher who liked one of the images I’d pulled together, and they said they’d keep it on file. Nothing ever came of it, but that one little bit of encouragement was enough for me to keep going.

I was working on a picture book idea around that time too; I had character designs and a theme … but the story wasn’t working. 7 years later, I got my first publishing contract. The story had the same theme as the one I’d been working on way back when, and my old character design was definitely applicable. In fact a whole bunch of different little sketches that I’d just been doing for fun ended up finding their way into that first book. It was as if I had been working towards that first published book without knowing it.

Are there any quotes you think of often or live your life by?

There’s one that’s (supposedly) from Confucius that I’ve had written on a post-it on my computer for a long time: “Man on hill with mouth open wait long time for roast duck to drop in.”

What is one of the best investment in a writing resource you’ve ever made?

It was an illustrating resource, and it was my first graphics tablet: a Wacom intuos 3. I bought it back in 2006 and it served me well for a decade of making illustrations; I illustrated my first four books with it. It still works, too!

What is an unusual habit or an absurd thing that you love?

I’ve collected the ticket stub from every movie I’ve seen since 1994. The first in the pile is Independence Day, which I saw with some high school classmates after class one day.

In the last five years, what new belief, behaviour, or habit has most improved your life?

I had a near-death experience in 2016; I was in a major car accident. It could have gone really badly but somehow I emerged unscathed. That gave me a clear sense of my own mortality for the first time, and has changed the way I look at my life and work immensely. I recommend a non-injurious near-death experience to everyone! I also got married and had a son in the last three years, so that’s changed my outlook again.

What advice would you give to a smart, driven aspiring author? What advice should they ignore?

You don’t need to submit things straight away. You don’t need to get published straight away, and you shouldn’t expect to. It’s important that you get knocked back a few times. It’s extremely likely you’ll get knocked back a lot of times. The knockbacks and the constructive criticism will help you develop your craft and get your work up to a publishable standard. Take on the feedback that you truly feels rings true (because sometimes you will get positive constructive criticism from people who really get what you’re trying to do and see the potential in it); ignore the feedback that doesn’t really click or seems petty or mean (because sometimes you will get discouraging feedback from people who just don’t get what you’re trying to do). For this to work though, you need to be willing to take on feedback in the first place, and that’s absolutely vital. I see lots of people who are overconfident in their ability, and react very badly when given feedback that contradicts that belief. You need to be confident in your ability to put in the work of course, but also humble, as you have a lot to learn, and you will never stop learning.

What are bad recommendations you hear in your profession often?

Sometimes people say, submit your manuscript to one publisher at a time. That’s terrible advice! You will be waiting months and months to hear back from a publisher, if you ever hear back from them at all. The better thing to do is send to multiple publishers at once, and mention in your cover letter that this is what you've done. That way all the publishers know what the deal is, and they can contact you to check if the manuscript is still available before they start putting time and effort into reading it and considering it at their meetings in-house.

In the last five years, what have you become better at saying no to (distractions, invitations, etc.)?

Having a toddler means my wife and I have very little free time, so we’ve both had to become better at saying no to things; I think I still need to learn the lesson on a regular basis! It’s always a balancing act between work and home life; and within work, there’s a balance between spending time on the next book/s, spending time doing paid talks and workshops; getting admin done; and doing the other unpaid things that pop up (volunteer opportunities, media and promotional events, etc).

What marketing tactics should authors avoid?

On social media, don’t just talk about yourself all the time, and don’t just talk about your book all the time. You can share things that interest you, share reviews of what you’re reading, even just share a photo of your dog - social media is about being social, not just hammering people with advertisements and saying ME ME ME.

What new realizations and/or approaches have helped you achieve your goals?

I’ve gotten better at time management and networking, and I’m learning to draw quicker too; these are things that I guess anyone develops with practice. It’s meant I’ve been able to work on more projects at once, though I definitely bit off more than I could chew this year, so I’ve also realised that there’s a limit to how many goals one can realistically work towards at any one time. This year I’m illustrating three middle grade novels (the first is called Toffle Towers: Fully Booked, written by Tim Harris); I’ve also illustrated the follow-up picture book to My Dead Bunny, which will be out in 2020; I’m also working on a bunch of freelance jobs, and starting another graphic novel and developing some picture book ideas. So it’s all go at the moment.

I’m also finding that the sleep deprivation of having a toddler is really affecting everything in my life - my immune system, my energy levels, and of course my mental health and my work - EVERYTHING. So I’m becoming more health conscious, and realising I have to set aside time for naps, exercise, and just plain old downtime. If you don’t make time for rest and exercise then you’ll have to make time for ill health later.

When you feel overwhelmed or have lost your focus temporarily, what do you do?

Procrastinate. But I’m getting better at recognising when I’m in this state and I step away from the desk and do something else. That might be some deep breathing or some yoga stretches, or some mindless chores around the house.

Sometimes I’m overwhelmed because there’s too many things to do, so I’ll make a list. I’ll look at all the tasks and the time I have, and I’ll prioritise what needs to happen and when. Once I have a plan then I feel more in control and can calm down a bit - then I can get on with each task in turn.

Any other tips?

I’ve got a whole bunch of tips on my website at https://ift.tt/3dZDfr1

________

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source https://www.thecommunitywriter.com/blog/james-foley

[ciathyzareposts]

The Shareware Scene, Part 1: The Pioneers

The digital society which we’ve created over the last few decades has upended many of our traditional notions about commerce. Everyday teenagers now stress over their ratings and advertising revenues on YouTube; gamers in “free” games pay staggering sums for the privilege of advancing through them a little faster (wasn’t the actual playing supposed to be the point of a game?); “clicks” and “likes” have become commodities that are traded in the same way that soybean futures are in the “real” world; consumers have become speculators in their own future entertainment on crowd-funding platforms like Kickstarter; a writer like me can ask for support from readers like you to allow me to make content that I then give away for free. (Thank you for that!) And, in the most direct parallel to our main topic for today, even some of the biggest corporations on the planet have learned to give away their products for free, then ask us to pay for them later.

Some of these new modes of commerce reflect the best in us, some perhaps the very worst. They all share in common, however, the quality of being markedly different from the old model wherein you paid someone an upfront amount of money and got some concrete good or service in exchange. As those of you with elderly parents or grandparents may well have learned, our modern digital economies have departed so far from that model in some areas that just explaining how they work to someone still wedded to the old ways can be a daunting task indeed. (I know that my 86-year-old father has literally no idea what I do all day or how I can possibly be earning money from it…) Maybe we too should ask the question that so many of our elders are already asking themselves every day: exactly how did we get from there to here so quickly?

It’s a bigger question than any one article can possibly answer. Still, it does turn out that we can trace at least one point of origin of our strange new ways of commerce to a trio of American pioneers who, all within a year of one another, embraced a new model for selling software — a model which has, one might say, taken over the world.

Andrew Fluegelman

The first of our pioneers is one Andrew Fluegelman. Born in 1943, Fluegelman within his first 35 years of life finished law school, passed the Bar exam, took up and then gave up corporate law, and settled into a whole new career as the owner, editor, and sole employee of the Headlands Press, a boutique book publisher in Marin County, California. He worked from time to time with the techno-utopian visionary Stewart Brand on The Whole Earth Catalog, and even the books he edited and published on his own had much the same counter-cultural DIY flavor: The New Games Book (a selection of friendly outdoor sporting activities for groups of adults), How to Make and Sell Your Own Record, Worksteads: Living and Working in the Same Place. Yet for all their hippie bona fides, Headlands books went out under the larger imprint of the international publishing titan Doubleday. The ability to speak the language of both the idealistic dreamer and the everyday businessperson proved a vital asset for Fluegelman throughout his life.

Like Brand and so many others of a similar bent, Fluegelman saw great potential in the personal computer as a force for social liberation. Therefore in 1981, before ever actually purchasing a computer of his own, he signed a contract with Doubleday to embark on a new book project, this time with himself in the role of coauthor rather than just editor. It was to be an exploration of the role of computers in the writing process, in terms of both current practicalities and future potential. He would of course need to buy himself a computer to complete the project. Just as he was about to pull the trigger on an Apple II, the IBM PC was announced. “I took one look at it and just had this gut feeling,” he said in a later interview. “This is what I want.”

While he waited for the machine he had ordered to arrive, Fluegelman, who had never touched a computer before in his life, started teaching himself BASIC from books. Even after the computer came in, learning to word-process on it remained on the back burner for a time while he continued to pursue his new passion for programming. His bible was that touchstone of a generation of amateur programmers, David Ahl’s million-selling book BASIC Computer Games. Fluegelman:

I got Ahl’s [book], and I said, “This is just what I want to do.” I typed [one of the games] in. It took me a day to get the bugs out and get the thing to run. And as soon as I saw the program running, I immediately started thinking, “Well, gee, I’d really like to add up the scores, and say this, and make a little noise…” I’d look through the book, and I’d say, “Oh, there’s something I could use. What happens if I stick it in there?”

I’m a real believer in the Berlitz method of programming. Which is: you learn how to say, “Please pass the salt,” [then] you look in the dictionary and look up the word for “pepper,” stick it in there, and, by God, someone gives you the pepper. And you know you’re making progress. Purely trial and error.

I liked it a lot. I abandoned all bodily functions for about a month.

Programmers are born as much as made. You either feel the intrinsic joy of making a machine carry out your carefully stipulated will or you don’t; the rest is just details. Clearly Fluegelman felt the joy.

Still, the book project wouldn’t wait forever. Fluegelman and Jeremy Joan Hewes, his coauthor, had the idea that they would indeed write the book together, but with each working on his own machine from his own office. They would share their files electronically; it would be one more way of practicing what they intended to preach in the book proper, about the new methods of working that were unlocked by the computer. But Hewes had an older CP/M computer rather than a flashy new IBM PC, and this stopped them in their tracks — for the only telecommunications package currently available for the latter came from IBM themselves, and could only swap files using IBM’s proprietary protocols. Fluegelman thus found himself in the ironic position of being able to trade files with an IBM mainframe, but not with most of his peers in the world of personal computing. He could see only one solution:

[I] started out to write a communications program. I said, “Gee, I’d really like to do this, and I’d like to do that, and we should have a dialing directory, and we should have some macros…” And I just kept adding to it for my own use.

We eventually typeset the book using the program I wrote. In the process, I gave it to a lot of my friends, and they started using it. At the time it was the only program that let you do these things on the IBM PC; this was the early spring of 1982. And inevitably one of my friends said, “You know, you really ought to publish that.”

If I hadn’t been in the publishing business for eight years, I would have gone the traditional route — find a publisher, royalties — but I’d been through all that, and I’d seen the pitfalls and all the ways things can get derailed. And this was kind of a new medium, and I was still very exhilarated by it. And I said, having had all this fun, I just can’t go the same publishing route that I’ve gone before.

Throughout his life, Fluegelman had a special relationship with San Francisco’s Golden Gate Bridge. “I think it’s a power point,” he said once only semi-facetiously. “I have more inspirations driving across the Golden Gate Bridge…” One day shortly after finishing his program, he was driving across while thinking back to the pledge drive he had seen the night before on the local PBS television station.

My American readers will doubtless recognize the acronym, but, for the benefit of those of you in other places: PBS stands for “Public Broadcasting System.” It’s a network of over-the-air television stations which show children’s programs (most famously Sesame Street) as well as documentaries, news, and high-culture content such as symphony concerts and dramatizations of classic literature. Although the stations are free to watch, they are unlike other free stations in that they don’t sustain themselves with advertising. Instead they rely on a limited degree of taxpayer funding, but most of all on donations, in any amount and frequency, from viewers who appreciate their content and consider it worth supporting. In some ways, then, PBS can be called the great forefather of the many non-coercive digital-funding models of today. And indeed, the tale of Andrew Fluegelman makes the otherwise tangential thread that runs from PBS to so many modern Internet economies much more direct.

For, driving across his favorite bridge that day, Fluegelman had a PBS-inspired epiphany. He would market his little telecommunications package under the name of PC-Talk, using a method no one had ever dreamed of before.

I said, I’ll just set it out there, encourage people to use it. If they like it, I’ll ask them to send me some money. [He set the initial “suggested” donation at $25.]

So, I sent out the first version of the program that way. I put some notices on The Source and CompuServe: I’ve got this program, I wrote it, it’ll do this and this. It’s available for free, but if you like it, send me the money. And even if you don’t like it, still make copies for your friends because maybe they’ll like it and send some money.

The response was really overwhelming. I was getting money! I remember on the first day I got a check in the mail, and I just couldn’t believe it. I almost got driven out of business filling orders. At the time I was still producing books, and software programming was my own late-night thing. And suddenly I was standing there all day filling orders and licking stamps and sending things out, and I had to hire someone to start doing that. I was totally unprepared for it.

While I had written the program to work very well in my own situation, once you start sending software out into the world you start hearing about people with all sorts of crazy circumstances that you haven’t anticipated at all. I think if I had tried to publish this first version of the program [conventionally], people would have reacted very negatively. But they didn’t because I’d sent it out in this unrestricted way. So people would write back and say, “This is great, but why don’t you add this? Why don’t you try this?” In many cases people even helped me re-program to deal with their situations. And I ended up calling that “freeback” instead of “feedback” because it was really getting free support back from the community.

The usually savvy Fluegelman did make a couple of puzzling decisions during these early days. The first was to name his revolutionary scheme for software distribution “Freeware.” If you twist your synapses around just right, you can almost arrive at the sense he was trying to convey, but under any more straightforward reading the name becomes dangerously counter-intuitive. Thousands upon thousands of developers who came after Fluegelman would work desperately, but only partially successfully, to make people understand that their software wasn’t in fact “free” in the sense that using it regularly placed no ethical demand upon the user to financially compensate the creator.

Then, having coming up with such a flawed name, the lawyer in Fluegelman came to the fore: he went out and trademarked it. He imagined creating a proprietary “Freeware catalog,” collecting a lot of software that was marketed on the same model. Accordingly, he also included in his program’s liner notes a request for other programmers with useful software of their own to contact him, thereby to join him in a “unique marketing experiment.”

In the meanwhile, PC-Talk’s success was such that it quickly caught the attention of the business-computing mainstream. Already in August of 1982, the widely read InfoWorld magazine published an article on the subject, under the heading “CA man likens ‘Freeware’ to user-supported TV.” Fluegelman noted sensibly therein that, rather than fighting against the natural desire people had to make copies of their software and share them with their friends, Freeware leveraged it. He estimated that five copies of PC-Talk were made for every one that was downloaded directly from one of the commercial online services or sent out on disk by himself in response to a mailed request — and, unlike a conventional software publisher, he thought this ratio was just great.

Jim Knopf/Button

Our second pioneer was a far more experienced programmer than Fluegelman. Seattle-area resident Jim Knopf was only one year older than the our first pioneer, but had already worked for IBM for many years as a systems analyst by the dawn of the microcomputer era. He built his first personal computer himself in 1978, then sold it to partially finance an Apple II. Among other things, he used that machine to keep track of the names and addresses of his church’s congregation. Knopf later wrote that “I liked what I produced so much [that] the program itself became a hobby — something I continued to work on and improve in my spare time.”

When the IBM PC was released in 1981, Knopf sold his Apple II and bought one of those instead. His first project on his new computer was to write a new version of his database program. As soon as said program was far enough along, Knopf started sharing it with his colleagues at IBM. They in turn shared it with their friends, and soon the database, which he called Easy File, went beyond his office, beyond Seattle, beyond Washington State. People encouraged him to upload it to the early online services; this he obligingly did, and it spread still faster.

Knopf was gratified by its popularity, but also bothered by it in a certain way. His database was still under active development; he was improving it virtually every week. But how to get these updates out to users? He included a note in the program asking users to “register” themselves so he could keep in touch with them; he maintained the resulting mailing list in Easy File itself. Yet keeping everyone up to date was prohibitively complicated and expensive in a world where most software was still passed around on floppy disks — a world where the idea of a program as a changing, improving entity rather than a static tool that just was what it was barely existed in the minds of most people. “How could I identify which of the users were serious ones – those that desired and required enhancements?” Knopf later wrote about his mindset at the time. “How could I afford to send mailings to notify them of the availability of improvements?”

So, in September of 1982, Knopf made a few moves which would define his future. First, he changed his own name for purposes of business. Worried that his Germanic surname would be too difficult for potential customers to pronounce and remember, he quite literally translated it into English. “Knopf,” you see, is the German word for the English “button” — and so Jim Knopf became Jim Button. (I’ll refer to him by the latter name from now on. Coincidentally, “Jim Knopf” is also the name of a character on a popular children’s television show in Germany.) Next, he registered a company that referenced his new nom de plume: Buttonware. And, last but by no means least, he added a new note to his program. “I would ask those who received it to voluntarily send a modest donation to help defray my costs,” remembered Button later. “The message encouraged users to continue to use and share the program with others, and to send a $10 donation only if they wanted to be included in my mailing list.”

The very first person to contact Button in response told him that his approach was just the same as the one used by another program called PC-Talk. Button found himself a copy of PC-Talk, read its pitch to other programmers interested in joining the ranks of Freeware, and sent his own Easy File to Andrew Fluegelman. Fluegelman phoned Button excitedly on the same day that he received the package in the mail. The two of them hit it off right away.

While they waited for Fluegelman to find enough other quality software to make up his Freeware Catalog, the two agreed to form a preliminary marketing partnership. Button would rename his Easy File to PC-File and raise its price to $25 to create a kinship between the two products, and each program would promote the other, along with the Freeware trademark, in its liner notes. Button:

My wife said I was “a foolish old man” if I thought even one person would voluntarily send me money for the program. I was more optimistic. I suspected that enough voluntary payments would come to help pay for expansions to my personal-computer hobby – perhaps several hundred dollars. Maybe even a thousand dollars (in my wildest dreams!).

As it happened, he would have to learn to dream bigger. Like PC-Talk, PC-File turned into a roaring success.

The founding staff of PC World magazine. Andrew Fluegelman stands in the very back, slightly right of center.

Both programs owed much of their early success to the extracurricular efforts of the indefatigable Andrew Fluegelman. Shortly after releasing PC-Talk to such gratifying interest, Fluegelman had given the final manuscript of his word-processing book to Doubleday, who would soon publish it under the title Writing in the Computer Age. Still as smitten as ever by the potential of personal computing, he now embarked on his third career: he became a full-time computer journalist. He initially wrote and edited articles for PC Magazine, the first periodical dedicated to the IBM PC, but got his big break when he was asked to join the staff of a new rival known as PC World. Within a few issues, Fluegelman became editor-in-chief there.

Not coincidentally, the magazine lavished glowing coverage upon PC-Talk and PC-File. The latest version of the Button’s program, for example, got a six-page feature review — as much space as might be devoted to a major business-software release from the likes of Microsoft or VisiCorp — in PC World‘s September 1983 issue. “What was previously a very desirable program is now just about mandatory for much of the PC population,” the review concluded. “If you use PC-File and don’t send Jim Button a check, the guilt will kill you. And it should.”

Button and his family were vacationing in Hawaii when the review appeared. Button:

The response was overwhelming. Our house sitter had to cart the mail home daily in grocery sacks.

When we arrived home, the grocery sacks were strewn all over the basement floor. We had to step over and around them just to get into our basement office. My son, John, worked days, evenings, and weekends just catching up on the mail. Life would never be the same for any of us!

Button would later date the beginning of Buttonware as a real business to these events. Nine months later, he quit his job with IBM, by which time he was making ten times as much from his “moonlighting” gig as from his day job.

Ironically, though, Button had already parted ways to some extent with Fluegelman by the time that life-changing review appeared. Fluegelman was finding it difficult to focus on his idea of starting a Freeware catalog, given that he was already spending his days running one of the biggest magazines in the computer industry and his evenings improving and supporting PC-Talk. Button:

Andrew got questions about my program and I got questions and requests about his. Checks were sent to the wrong place. The work required to correct all this grew exponentially. We had to make the separation.

Button came up with his own moniker for the distribution model he and Fluegelman had pioneered: “user-supported software.” That name was perhaps less actively misleading than “Freeware,” but still didn’t really get to the heart of the matter. Other names that were tried, such as “quasi-public doman,” were even worse. Luckily, the perfect moniker — one that would strike exactly the right note, and do it in just two syllables at that — was about to arrive along with Bob Wallace, the third principal in our little drama.

In this iconic picture of the early Microsoft, Bob Wallace is farthest right in the front row.

Like Jim Button, Bob Wallace was based in Seattle, and was a veteran of the kit era of personal computing. In fact, his experience with microcomputers stretched back even further than that of his counterpart: he had been the founder in 1976 of the Northwest Computer Society, one of the first hobbyist user groups in the country. Shortly thereafter, he was recruited from the computer store where he worked by Paul Allen, whereupon he became Microsoft’s ninth employee. In time, he became the leading force behind Microsoft’s implementation of the Pascal programming language. But, as an unreformed hippie whose social idealism paralleled his taste for psychedelic drugs, he found both Microsoft’s growing bureaucracy and its founders’ notoriously sharp-elbowed approach to business increasingly uncongenial as time went on. In March of 1983, he was for the first time refused permission to barge into Bill Gates’s office unannounced to argue some technical point or other, as had always been his wont. It was the last straw; he quit in a huff.

Taking note of Fluegelman and Button’s success, he wrote a word processor using his own Pascal implementation, and released it as PC-Write under the same payment model. To encourage its distribution, he added an extra incentive. He sent to any user who mailed in the suggested donation of $75 a special registration code, which she was then expected to enter into her copy of the program. When she gave this copy to others, it was thus tagged with its source. If any users of those copies sent in the fee, Wallace would send $25 to the user whose tag it bore; he later claimed that at least one person made $500 in these commissions. In its roundabout way, the scheme pioneered the idea of not just asking users for a donation out of the goodness of their hearts, but marking and altering the functionality of the software for those who sent in the payment, all through the use of the soon-to-be ubiquitous mechanism of the registration code.

But Wallace’s biggest contribution of all came in the form of a name. And therein lies a tale in itself.

Back in July of 1982, an InfoWorld magazine editor named Jay Lucas had started a column on “freeware” without being aware of Fluegelman’s counter-intuitive use of that term; Lucas took the word to mean any and all freely distributed software, whether the author asked for an eventual payment in return or not. The following spring, Fluegelman contacted the magazine to inform them of his trademark and ask them to cease and desist from violating it. So, Lucas launched a contest among his readers to come up with a new name. He reported in the InfoWorld dated May 30, 1983, that “at least a dozen” readers had sent in the same suggestion: “shareware.” He announced that he would be using this name henceforth. At the time, he still made no distinction between “free” software that came with financial strings attached and software that didn’t. He was, in other words, effectively using “shareware” as a synonym for all types of freely distributed software.

But when Bob Wallace saw the name, he knew that it was perfect for his distribution model: pithy, catchy, with all the right intimations. He contacted Lucas, who told him that he was free to use it; InfoWorld made no legal claim on the name. So, when PC-Write went out later that year, it described itself as “shareware.”

In early 1984, Softalk IBM, a brief-lived spinoff of a much-loved Apple II magazine, hired one Nelson Ford to write a regular column about “public-domain software.” Unsure what he should call the distribution model being used by each of Fluegelman, Button, and Wallace under a different name, he started off by employing the manifestly inadequate placeholder “quasi-public domain.” But in his May 1984 column, he announced a contest of his own: “A free disk of software and widespread publicity for the person sending in the best name for quasi-PD, contribution-suggested software. Since Andy won’t let anyone use ‘freeware,’ we’ll have to come up with another catchy name.”

He received such dubious suggestions as “conscience-wear” — “the longer you use the software, the more it wears on your conscience if you do not pay” — and “tryware.” But, just as Lucas had over at InfoWorld, Ford kept getting most of all the suggestion of “shareware.” Unaware of the name’s origin at InfoWorld, but well aware of its use by Wallace, he suspected that “shareware” would be as impossible for him to appropriate as “freeware.” Nevertheless, he inquired with Wallace — and was pleasantly surprised to be told that he was more than welcome to it. Ford announced the new name in the August 1984 issue of Softalk IBM.

It’s questionable whether the actual column in which he made the announcement was all that influential in the end, given that the issue in which it appeared was also the last one that Softalk IBM ever published. Still, Ford himself was a prominent figure online and in user-group circles. His use of the name going forward in those other contexts, combined with that of Jay Lucas in InfoWorld, probably had a real impact. Yet one has to suspect that it was PC-Write itself which truly spread the name hither and yon.

For, perhaps because a word processor, unlike a telecommunications program or a database, was a piece of software which absolutely every computer owner seemed to need, Wallace was even more successful with his first piece of shareware than the two peers who had beaten him onto the scene had been with theirs. The company he founded, which he called QuickSoft, would peak with annual sales of more than $2 million and more than 30 employees, while PC-Write itself would garner more than 45,000 registered users. Staying true to his ideals, Wallace would always refuse to turn it into a boxed commercial product with a price tag in the hundreds of dollars, something many conventional software publishers were soon pressuring him to do. “I’m out to make a living, not a killing,” he said.

Jim Button was less inclined to vocalize his ideals, but one senses that much the same sentiment guided him. Regardless, he too did very well for himself. Already by 1984, he was getting approximately $1000 worth of checks in the mail every day. While PC-File itself never garnered quite the popularity of PC-Write — about 7000 users registered their copies in the end — Button soon branched out well beyond that first effort. Buttonware would peak with annual sales of $4.5 million and 35 employees.

Those who jumped on the shareware bandwagon afterward would find it very difficult to overtake these two pioneers in terms of either income or market impact. As late as 1988, Compute! magazine judged that the two most impressive shareware products on the market were still PC-File and PC-Write, two of the first three ever released. But PC-Talk would have a shorter lifespan — and, much more tragically, so would its creator.

The founding staff of MacWorld magazine. Andrew Fluegelman can just be seen at the very back, slightly left of center.

The PC World issue with the landmark review of PC-File was still on newsstands when Andrew Fluegelman had his next life-changing encounter with a computer: he was one of a select few invited to Apple for an early unveiling of the new Macintosh. He was so smitten by this whole new way of operating a computer that he immediately began lobbying for a companion magazine to PC World, to be named, naturally enough, MacWorld. Its first issue appeared in time to greet the first Macintosh buyers early in 1984. Fluegelman held down the editor-in-chief job there even as he continued to fill the same role at PC World.

He was utterly unfazed to thus be straddling two encampments between which Apple was trying to foment a holy war. He spoke about the differences between the two aesthetics of computing in an interview that, like so much of what he said back then, rings disarmingly prescient today:

People [say the Macintosh is] more of a right-brain machine and all that. I think there is some truth to that. I think there is something to dealing with a graphical interface and a more kinetic interface; you’re really moving information around, you’re seeing it move as though it had substance. And you don’t see that on [an IBM] PC. The PC is very much a conceptual machine; you move information around the way you move formulas, elements on either side of an equation. I think there’s a difference.

I think the most important thing is to realize that computers are tools, that unless you want to become an expert programmer, the main thing that a computer provides you is the ability to express yourself. And if it’s letting you do that, if you now have hands on those tools, then you can be a force for good out in the world, doing the things that you used to do, that you’re still doing — representing your own ideas, not changing your persona to suddenly become a “computer person.”

And I think that may be the advantage of the Macintosh.

At bottom, Fluegelman himself wasn’t really a “computer person” in the sense of Button and Wallace, both of whom had been programming since the 1960s. And then, running not one but two of the biggest computer magazines in the country could hardly leave him with much free time. Thus PC-Talk was somewhat neglected, and other telecommunications software — some of it released under the burgeoning shareware model — took its place. Fluegelman accepted this with equanimity; he was never inclined to stay in one place for very long anyway. In an interview conducted at the very first MacWorld Expo in January of 1985, he spoke of his excitement about the future — both his personal future and the world’s technological future:

I think this is just the next adventure for a lot of us to get into. I know the intellectual excitement the [computer] has caused for me. It’s really been a rejuvenation, and anything that gets you that pumped up has got to be something that you can use in a good way.

I also think that people who do get excited about computers and involved in all this are almost uniformly intelligent, interesting people. I never have been as socially involved, as interconnected with as many different kinds of people, as when I started getting involved with computers. I think that the easier it is for people to express themselves, and to share their views with others, that’s got to be a good democratic force.

It’s great to go along for 40 years and still find your life changing and new things happening. It makes you look forward to what’s going to happen when you’re 60, what’s going to happen when you’re 80.

Quotes like these are hard to square with what happened to Andrew Fluegelman just six months later.

On July 6, 1985, Fluegelman left his office as usual at the end of a working day, but never arrived at his home; he simply disappeared. A week later, police discovered his Mazda hatchback parked near the toll plaza at the entrance to the Golden Gate Bridge. They found a note addressed to his wife and family inside, but its contents have never been published. Nevertheless, we can piece some things together. It seems that his health hadn’t been good; he’d been suffering from colitis, for which he’d begun taking strong medication that was known to significantly impact many patients’ psychology — and, indeed, friends and colleagues in the aftermath mentioned that he’d been acting erratically in the final few days before his disappearance. There are reports as well that he may have recently received a cancer diagnosis. At any rate, the implications seem clear: the 41-year-old Andrew Fluegelman went back to one of his favorite places in the world — the bridge where he had invented the revolutionary concept of shareware if not the name — and jumped 220 feet into the water below. His body was never recovered.

The legacy of those brief four years between his discovery of the joys of BASIC and his death by suicide encompasses not only the shareware model but also PC World and especially MacWorld. It went on to become arguably the most literate, thoughtful computer magazine ever, one of the vanishingly few to evince a genuine commitment to good writing in the abstract. In doing so, it merely held to the founding vision of its first editor-in-chief. One can’t help but wonder what else this force of nature might have done, had he lived.

At shareware’s peak in the early and mid-1990s, at least one glossy newsstand magazine was devoted exclusively to the subject in quite a number of countries.

By that fateful day in 1985, shareware was already becoming an unstoppable force, with more and more programmers throwing their hats into the ring. To be sure, most of them didn’t build seven-figure businesses out of it, as Jim Button and Bob Wallace did. Inevitably for a distribution model that placed all of its quality control on the back end, much of the shareware that was released wasn’t very good at all. Yet even many of those who didn’t get to give up their day jobs did receive the satisfaction and capitalistic validation of being paid real money, at least every once in a while, for something they had created. In time, this loose-knit band of fellow travelers began to take on the trappings of a movement.

To wit: in February of 1987, a “Meeting of Shareware Authors” assembled in Houston to chat and kibitz about their efforts. Out of that meeting grew the Association of Shareware Professionals six months later, with founding chairmen Jim Button and Bob Wallace. In the years that followed, the ASP published countless shareware catalogs and pamphlets; they even published a 780-page book in 1993 called The Shareware Compendium, which represented the last attempt anyone ever made to list in one place all of the staggering quantity of shareware that was available by that point. But perhaps even more importantly, the ASP acted as a social outlet for the shareware authors themselves, a way of sharing hints and tips, highs and lows, dos and don’ts with one another.

There arose more big success stories out of all this ferment. For example, one Phil Katz was responsible for what remains today the most tangible single software artifact of the early shareware scene. In 1986, he started a little company called PKWare to distribute a reverse-engineered shareware clone of ARC, the most popular general-purpose compression program of the time. When the owners of ARC came after him with legal threats, he switched gears and in 1989 released PKZIP, which used an alternative, much more efficient compression format of his own design. Although he sold PKZIP as shareware — $25 donation requested, $47 for a printed manual — he also scrupulously documented the compression format it used and left the door open for other implementations of it. He was rewarded with sweet revenge: ZIP quickly superseded ARC all across the digital world. Striking a fine balance between efficiency and ease of implementation, not to mention being unentangled by patents, it has remained the world’s most common compression format to this day, a de facto standard that is now built right into many operating systems.

Another success story is less earthshaking and more esoteric, but instructive nonetheless as an illustration of just how far the shareware model could be stretched. In a time when desktop publishing was one of the biggest buzzwords in computing, a veteran of print publishing named Gary Elfring took a hard look at the current state of digital fonts, and noted how expensive those offered by major foundries like Adobe tended to be. He started Elfring Soft Fonts to distribute shareware typefaces, and made a lot of money from them in the late 1980s and early 1990s, before the established vendors of word processors and operating systems got their acts together in that department.

I could go on and on with such stories, but suffice to say that many people did very, very well from shareware during its heyday.

Like any movement, shareware also came complete with internecine disputes. One constant source of tension were the many third parties who collected shareware which they didn’t own on physical media for distribution. As early as 1984, the librarian of the Silicon Valley Computer Society users group caused an uproar when he started selling floppy disks filled with shareware for $6 apiece, a figure somewhat above the cost of blank disks and postage alone. “It’s not legal,” said Andrew Fluegelman flatly at the time. “I’m opposed to it because when somebody spends even $6 for a disk, they feel they’ve paid for it and see little reason to pay again for it. I’m concerned about somebody building a product around my product.” But, in a rare break with Fluegelman, Jim Button had a different point of view: “With that [price], all he’s doing is helping me distribute sample copies.” He continued in later years to believe that “distribution is one of the cornerstones of sales. All other factors being equal, if you can double your distribution you will double your sales.”

In the end, Button’s point of view carried the day. Shareware authors were never entirely comfortable with the “parasites” who profited off their software in this way, and Fluegelman’s worry that many users would fail to distinguish between paying a cataloger and paying the actual creator of the software was undoubtedly well-founded. Yet the reality was that the vast majority of computer owners would not go online until the World Wide Web struck in the mid-1990s. In the meantime, floppy disks — and eventually CD-ROMs — were the only realistic mechanism for reaching all of these otherwise isolated users. The catalogers and the authors had to learn to live with one another in an uneasy symbiotic relationship.

Another, even more bitter dispute within the ranks of shareware was touched off near the end of the 1980s, when some authors started opting to “encourage” registration by releasing crippled versions of their software — programs that only functioned for a limited time, or that blocked access to important features — that could only have their full potential unlocked via the input of a valid registration code. Although Bob Wallace had ironically pioneered the idea of a registration code that was input directly into a program, he and most of the other early shareware pioneers hated to see the codes used in this way. For the socially conscious Wallace, it was a moral issue; his vision for shareware had always been to collect payment from those who could pay, but not to deprive those who couldn’t of quality software. Button as well preferred to rely upon the honor system: “Don’t get off on the wrong foot with your users with things like crippled programs, time-limited programs, and other negative incentives to register your software. If you can’t trust your users to pay for truly good software, then you should stay out of the shareware business.” Under the influence of these two founding chairmen, the ASP refused for a time to admit shareware authors who freely distributed only crippled versions of their software.

In the end, though, the ASP would be forced to relax their stance, and “crippleware” would become nearly synonymous with shareware in many circles, for better or for worse. In 1989, Nelson Ford, the earlier popularizer of the name “shareware,” set up a service for authors which let people register their software over the telephone using their credit cards instead of having to mail checks or cash through the post. The ease of passing out registration codes this way, without having to send out disks and/or documentation or do any additional work at all, probably led many more authors to go the crippleware route. In fairness to those who decided to implement such schemes, it should be noted that they didn’t have the advantages that went along with being first on the scene, and were often marketing to less committed computer users with a less nuanced sense of the ethics of intellectual property and the sheer amount of work that goes into making good software of any stripe.

In a strange sort of way, Windows 10 is actually a shareware product.

The buzz around shareware gradually faded in the second half of the 1990s, and by soon after the turn of the millennium the term was starting to seem like an antiquated relic of computing’s past. Even the Association of Shareware Professionals eventually changed their name to the Association of Software Professionals, before doddering off entirely. (A website still exists for the organization today, but it doesn’t appear to have been updated in some years.)

Yet it would be profoundly inaccurate to say that shareware died as anything but a name. On the contrary: it conquered the world to such an extent that it became the accepted means of distributing much or most software, and as such is no longer in need of any particular name. Just about everyone is selling shareware today — not only the sometimes honest, sometimes dodgy small vendors of “try before you buy” utilities of many types, but also some of the biggest corporations in the world. Microsoft, for example, now distributes Windows using what is essentially the shareware model: users download a copy for free, enjoy a limited trial period, and then need to purchase a registration code if they wish to go on using it. Many other software developers have stuck to their idealistic guns and put their creations out there uncrippled, asking for a donation only from those who can afford it. And, as I mentioned to open this piece, the overarching spirit of shareware, if you will, has infected countless digital economies that don’t involve downloads or registration keys at all.

Jim Button and Bob Wallace got to see some of these later developments, but they weren’t active participants in most of them. Wallace cashed out of Quicksoft in 1991. Ever the hippie, he devoted his time thereafter to the study and promotion of psychedelic drugs and other “mind-expanding technologies” via publications and foundations. He died in 2002 at age 53 from a sudden attack of pneumonia that may or may not have been related to his quest for chemical transcendence.

Jim Button (né Knopf) very nearly died even younger. At the age of 49 in 1992, he had a major heart attack. He survived, but wasn’t sure that he could continue to cope with the stress of running his shareware business. At the time, big players like Microsoft were pouring enormous resources into their own productivity software, and the likes of little Buttonware had no real hope of competing with them anymore. This combination of factors prompted Button to slowly wind his company down; after all, his decade in shareware had already left him with enough money to enjoy a comfortable early retirement. He died in 2013, a few weeks shy of his 71st birthday. He continued until the end to downplay his role in the evolution of software distribution and digital culture. “I’m not a visionary man,” he said. “I never saw the future, but I was lucky enough to be in the right place at the right time, with the right ideas and a proper amount of energy.”

Some might say that the “right ideas” are synonymous with vision, but no matter; we’ll let him keep his modesty. What he and his fellow pioneers wrought speaks for itself. All you have to do is look around this place we call the Internet.

(Sources: the books The New Games Book by the New Games Foundation, Writing in the Computer Age by Andrew Fluegelman and Jeremy Joan Hewes, and Gates by Stephen Manes and Paul Andrews; Softalk IBM of May 1984, June 1984, July 1984, and August 1984; Byte of June 1976, June 1983, July 1984, March 1985, and September 1987; 80 Computing of May 1987; Ahoy! of February 1984; CompuServe Magazine of December 1990 and March 1992; Family Computing of March 1984; InfoWorld of July 5 1982, August 23 1982, December 20 1982, March 7 1983, May 30 1983, June 27 1983, July 30 1984, September 17 1984, October 22 1984, July 29 1985, December 23 1985, August 25 1986, and December 7 1987; MicroTimes of May 1985 and August 1985; Games Machine of October 1987; Compute! of February 1985 and June 1988; PC World of September 1983; MacWorld premiere issue. Online sources include The Association of Software Professional’s website, Michael E. Callahan’s “History of Shareware” on Paul’s Picks, The Charley Project‘s entry on Andrew Fluegelman’s disappearance, the Shareware Junkies interview with Jim “Button” Knopf, “Jim Button: Where is He Now?” at Dr. Dobb’s, the M & R Technologies interview with Jim Knopf, the Brown Alumni Monthly obituary of Bob Wallace, and a 1989 online discussion of the newly released PKZip archived by Jason Scott. My thanks to Matthew Engle for giving me the picture of Shareware Magazine included in this article.)

source http://reposts.ciathyza.com/the-shareware-scene-part-1-the-pioneers/

[josephborrello]

Magnitude and Direction, Issue #47 | 29 Nov 2019

Hardware, Prototyping, and Fabrication

Pwnagotchi is without a doubt the cutest wifi-cracker I've ever seen. 🧱⛓ It turns out that some of the structural geometries that make carbon nanotube materials so strong also work when you scale them up and produce them using 3D printing. The result? Bulletproof plastic. 🧻 Is this article about a giant roll of Charmin toilet paper sponsored Buzzfeed content? Yes. It is crazy that Charmin has actually manufactured this item (plus the equipment you'd need to install it - although that was probably white-labelled)? Also yes. ➰ What if the fiber optics networks that provided information to cities could also gather information from them?

Software and Programming

Finally, an app that can tell if something is art or not. Tired of the rudeness and vitriol of twitter? "Whenever you see a rude or abusive tweet, simply reply to it with '@GoodnessBot' and [the bot] will magically turn it into a positive tweet." A good idea, but I'm not of the opinion that bots on the internet will solve our core societal problems (if anything, they'll probably exacerbate them). Sound control lets you use a variety of motion inputs to control new digital instruments - definitely something I'll be playing around with this holiday weekend. ‍ AI and machine learning doesn't have to solely be the domain of expert computer scientists (at least for some cases), thanks to Google's Teachable Machine. ⚖ This one goes out to the handful of IP attorneys that I know read M&D: Can AIs own the copyrights on the content they create? From recent M&D subscriber Ana: Google's AIs come through again this week with a tool that turns your shoddy scribbles into impressive icons.

Science, Engineering, and Biomedicine

🪐 There's a good chance you've seen other "size of space" websites out there (or on here - I don't remember what I may have shared on this topic, tbh) but this one is particularly impressive. Dog vision gives you the power to see what your goodest boi sees (although after you use it you might not consider this a power - and you'll be glad they've got great senses of smell). ➡ While we're on the topic of dogs, scientists have come up with a more accurate method to convert dog years to human years, rather than just multiplying by 7.

Mapping, History, and Data Science

The 1920s was when, for the first time, more people in the US lived in cities than in the countryside. More recently, however, cities have become even more of a nexus of power, with the age of winner-take-all cities resulting in hyper-concentrations of resources, talent..., and inequality. 🥁 It takes a certain kind of dedication to build a drum machine out of an excel spreadsheet. Here's a reasonably exhaustive list of video game console logos. You're either going to love or hate this map of the most popular jingles in each US state. Also from Ana: Information is Beautiful is going beyond the headlines with an informative data visualization covering one news story per day.

Events and Opportunities

Get ready for some of the last events of 2019 (it's still a pretty long list)...

Tuesday, 12/3 Join NYDesigns for their December Women in Tech Happy Hour, happening at Bierocracy in LIC. As always, Men and individuals who identify as female are welcome to attend, too.

Tuesday, 12/3 The Transit Techies are back with the December edition of their meetup. As always, you can expect great talks and awesome maps and data visualizations, plus lots of cool people to talk to.

Tuesday, 12/3 Join Cornell's BioVenture ELab for the 2019 Accelerating BioVenture Innovation Final Pitch, the culmination of their annual Fall course and training program in biomedical entrepreneurship known as Accelerating BioVenture Innovation. Some of Cornell's most exciting life science innovations will be on display.

Monday, 12/9 New Lab and JLABS are back with the 6th edition of their existential medicine series, this time covering the promise of personalized medicine and how innovations in computing and biology may actually get us to a world where medicine is tailored to each individual. Register with code NewLab2019.

Wednesday, 12/11 Join the SciArt group for their December Synapse mixer, a a casual evening of cross-disciplinary networking over drinks at favorite laid-back city bar, Peculier Pub. Come to discuss your latest projects and make new connections with artists, scientists, technologists, and cross-disciplinary practitioners.

Thursday, 12/12 Head over to A/D/O in Greenpoint for Women in 3D Printing's next event. They've put together a jam-packed itinerary prepared with activations from local companies and kickass women in the NYC 3D printing industry speaking on the topic of community.

Thursday, 12/12 The new NYC Health Professionals networking group is holding their first meetup over at Clinton Hall in west Midtown. Based on the existing RSVPs, there promises to be a great mix of innovators, entrepreneurs, investors, and practitioners.

Some other upcoming events to keep on your radar...

Wednesday, 12/18 The Mid Atlantic Bio Angles host their annual end-of-the-year 1st Pitch event, featuring the year's 1st Pitch winners from New York and Pennsylvania going head to head pitching biotech angel investors and getting the business critiques that would normally happen after they leave the room. The 1st Pitch events are always a great gathering of the NYC biotech community, but the year-end Best of the Best events are especially so.

Wednesday, 12/18 JLABS hosts their December Innovators and Entrepreneurs mixer giving attendees a chance to meet the current JLABS residents, the NYC team and not to mention, expand your network with fellow NYC Innovators and entrepreneurs.

Thursday, 12/19 Join the most friendly and fun group of scientists and engineers in the city for the inaugural Nanotech NYC Holiday Party! Meet up for great conversation and laughter at the CUNY Graduate Center from 6:30-9:30PM. There'll be food, drinks, and music - and all are welcome to attend!

DUE Friday, 1/17 Apply to NYDesigns Hardware Accelerator, a program designed to provide early-stage hardware entrepreneurs with access to prototyping facilities; light industrial manufacturing space to build, assemble and distribute products, and an expert team of investors, mentors and manufacturers.

Map of the Month

The Urban Archive takes tons of historical photos of New York City and aggregates them all onto one map for you to peruse for hours on end.

Odds & Ends

🥁 Deep learning for jazz.

[topicprinter]

Hey all! I'm a small business (print shop) owner and, having established my business locally over the past few years, have decided to spend 2019 studying and immersing myself in online marketing- Facebook/Instagram/Youtube/Tik Tok...I spent the past few months studying the Tik Tok alogrithm, figuring out what makes videos successful and best practices are when using the platform. Below is a rough draft of a write-up I'm planning to release on Linkedin in a few weeks. I think it's got some very useful info for those new to the platform and am open to debate with anyone who has successfully built a following and disagrees on any of the points :)Thank you!----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------What is Tik Tok:If you haven’t heard of Tik Tok yet, it’s time to start familiarizing yourself with the social networking platform. With over 500 million active users and a higher organic reach than every other social media app on the App Store, Tik Tok is well on it’s way to overtake instagram (just like instagram overtook Facebook) as the must-have app for millenials and gen Z in the next half decade.I was put on the app by my younger brother, now twelve, who started using Tik Tok over two years ago. Back then the platform wasn’t as popular in the US, with most of its user base being centered in China and India. It also went under a different name- “Musically”. In 2017, the company was bought out by ByteDance and rebranded. Since then it has seen explosive growth in the United States, mainly among kidsA strange shift has occurred. Rather than gen Z following in the footsteps of millenials and adopting Facebook and Instagram as their platform of choice, zoomers found their own place on Tik Tok. Stranger still, month by month, I see my friends and peers downloading and using the app, and the older demographic on the app growing.For those not in the loop, Tik Tok is an app that allows users to take short, 15-60 second videos and share them with followers and strangers. The in-app video editor features a host of features, including fun filters and effect (like those seen on Snapchat and Facebook Messenger) and an audio embedding feature that plays a pre-recorded audio loop behind you clip. Users can borrow each others audio clips and record their own video over them sort of like a template, fostering as meme sharing culture. It’s really much easier to understand simply by hopping on the app and spending a few hours watching videos.Personal Experience:As I mentioned before I first heard of the app through my brother, Jimmy. He has been on the platform for about two years now and makes at least a video a day without fail, sometimes more. Most clips are shot in his room and the content ranges from short, highly edited, silly dances to 60 second videos of him talking about his day. He averages about 50 views a video and, on a good day, may get 15-20 likes.I made myself an account over a year ago but have only been a lurker up until last week, when I decided that I understand the ecosystem enough to throw my hat in the ring. I shot my first video on my iphone 8, made some minor edits on my computer, and posted the clip. Within the first 48 hours the 16 second video had over 200 thousand views and 30 thousand likes (edit: now 300k+ views and 50k likes). What’s even more impressive is that the clip wasn’t a random dancing video or funny skit, it was a product video. Specifically, it was a short montage of me printing a tshirt at my home studio, a tshirt I sell online. I’ve since posted several other clips with various success and hope that Tik Tok will be a viable marketing platform for my business and my personal brand in the coming years. (feel free to check it out at @this_is_jonjon on TikTok)The success of my first post was not a fluke but a function of proper search engine optimization and my familiarity with the Tik Tok algorithm. While the video itself was nothing out of the ordinary, everything else- the caption, the thumbnail I chose, the hashtags used, even the backing track in the clip were all vital to it’s reach. Below is a more detailed explanation of the Tik Tok algorithm and a list of the factors I believe made the clip go viral.The Algorithm:I’ll mention right off the bat that no one other than ByteDance developers know exactly how the Tik Tok algorithm works, however, while minor points can be debated, the overall idea of how Tik Tok distributes and "rates" content isn't a secret.When you first load the app, you land on the “For You” page, similar to the discover page on Instagram or Facebook/Linkedin news feed. This is where you, as a consumer of Tik Tok content, will spend most of your time. The app will show you videos in all sorts of random categories- car videos, funny videos, dancing videos.. And will decide based on view time (how long you continue watching each video before clicking away) and interactions (whether or not you like/comment/ or follow the creator) whether or not you have any interest in said category. Despite only working with these limited variables, Tik Tok very quickly figures out what you’re interested in and begins feeding it to you, still occasionally throwing in unrelated content to see if you’ll “bite”. You don’t need to tell Tik Tok anything about your interests, they figure it out for you, and they’re almost always right.The content that ends up on your “For You” page isn’t content that’s made by your friends like on instagram or creators you subscribe to like on Youtube, it’s completely random content. Whenever someone uploads a video, regardless of what category the video is in, Tik Tok will try to show it to 50-100 people to gauge the viewers’ reactions. If the video has a good engagement rate, Tik Tok will continue showing it to random users, and if it has bad engagement, it will be swallowed by the void. About a quarter of the videos on my For You pajjge are these “tester” videos, made by unknown creators and with (usually) less than 50 impressions. Tik Tok found a perfect balance between showing you proven content you’re genuinely interested in and showing you “tester” content to figure out whether that content is worth sharing with more users. If the app senses you’re getting bored, it will feed you less “tester” content and more videos with proven positive responses, and visa versa.Gaming the System:Your first video)There is one final detail I failed to mention in the previous few paragraphs. The first video that any user on Tik Tok posts gets an instant spike in impressions. As a new user, Tik Tok metaphorically “throws you a bone” and will in most cases show your video to more people right off the bat than it would a video by a repeat poster. This means that it’s vital to make your very first post on Tik Tok engaging.Unlike Youtube, for example, where you can feel free to post tons of crappy content as you get comfortable in front of the camera and find your voice, Tik Tok will literally punish you for having a bad start. The app will rate you based on your first video, and while it’s possible to climb back up after a bad start, it’s better to just hit the ground running.Consider making a “tester” account to try out a few different video formats before having an official launch on another account, or simply take several videos and save them all as drafts until you find something that’s worth launching your Tik Tok journey with. Whatever you do, don’t open your account and launch with a boring “Hello World” style video, it’s instant death.Follow general video guidelines)Your videos need to be engaging, so it should go without saying that they should be of decent quality. If your video is grainy and pixelated people will click away before even hearing your message (I’m calling you out, Android users!). The majority of Tik Tok creators are teenagers filming on the cheap, front-facing camera on their smartphones. Simply using the back-facing camera on a newer model iPhone and finding good lighting is enough to set you apart from the competition. I mention iPhones for a reason, by the way. It’s not because I’m an Apple fanboy, it’s simply because apps like Tik Tok and Snapchat are better coded for working with Apple hardware.Make sure not to go the opposite extreme, however. Tik Tok culture values authenticity, high definition videos filmed on 4k DSLR cameras come off as too professional and almost feel like advertisements. Tik Tok users want to see you filming on a handheld device, they want you using the in-app filters and sounds, and will click away instantly if they sense your content is fabricated and ingenuine.Trend hopping)In my personal experience, understanding the culture of Tik Tok is the most vital part to anyone’s success on the app. My viral post used an audio clip that had just become popular a day before, and therefore rode on the success of about a dozen other viral videos using the same clip. Just like a musician can gain their first small group of followers by doing covers of trending songs, many Tik Tok influencers gained notoriety by jumping on trends that were already proven to be popular. Much like Tik Tok feeds its users popular videos and interjects “tester” clips every once in a while, many popular Tik Tokers post mostly trending videos- clips of them lip syncing popular songs and copying current memes, and interject personal skits and less popular content within.There is no way to explain Tik Tok culture and current trends in an article like this, especially since new memes and trends appear literally every day. The best advice I can give to aspiring influencers is to download the app and spend 30-60 minutes a day over the course of the next two weeks browsing the For You page. You’ll quickly begin to recognize common themes and motifs, and will get an understanding of the culture I’m talking about.Ask for the close)Even at only 20 years old, I find a lot of the content on Tik Tok cringy and childish. This is likely because, though the user base is growing, gen Z’rs still make up the majority of content consumers on the app. Regardless of the reason, attention-seeking behavior tends to do fairly well on Tik Tok. Actually, very well.Simply adding “I worked super hard on this vid pls like” at the end of your clip is enough to boost conversion. My biggest mistake in my first post was not asking for the close. I didn’t embed my Tik Tok username in the video, I didn’t have good profile picture or bio on my account, and I didn’t ask people to follow me in the description. As a result, no one followed me. After the first 24 hours or so the video had reached over 100k views and 15k likes but I had about 50 followers on my account. Upon realizing this I quickly changed my profile picture to a clear photo and changed my bio to something along the lines of “follow me for more cool content”. My follower count more than quintupled within the next few hours.Though this may seem in-authentic to the average marketer, it really isn’t. Tons of kids on Tik Tok pour their heart and soul into their content and genuinely want people to follow them. These creators, as well as most of the audience, see nothing wrong in asking for likes or follows. Asking for the close, in the Tik Tok community, is seen as more of a friendly reminder than a pushy sale.more info on: https://influencermarketinghub.com/tiktok-statistics/ (this is not my website, just a source)Thanks for reading! Hoping this helps some people launch/grow their account. I haven't seen a decent writeup on Tik Tok best practices yet so I'm hoping this can serve as a foundation. Please debate/add on points in the comments. -Jonathan.

[floridageekscene]

Matthew Rottler is an Orlando audio/visual hopeful that’s making strides in the central Florida community with Studio Green 557. From the looks of his projects, I feel he’s got some good quality media going on.

Matthew has achieved his education for his craft via the DAVE school (Digital Animation Visual Effects). I recall seeing the DAVE booth up constantly at many conventions and they have an impressive and informative set up.

Cecil Garner and other cosplayers partnered with Matthew Rottler to produce a symbiotic ensemble in order to promote said cosplayers and to get their name further into the ether and to continue garnering their exposure to geek fans everywhere!

I’ve personally witnessed Cecil Grimes and Shellane Deamarest partake in their fan-made Walking Dead projects. The Studio Green 557 company just further helps reinforce these actors/cosplayers’ star power. Rottler is hoping to make a name for himself, and with these passionate and successful cosplayers backing him, I’m sure he’ll make an amazing experience for prospects interested in taking him on for quality projects.

I had spoken with Mr. Rottler about Studio Green 557 and how it operates. He even has an origin story of his own and explains how original his work is and how he stands out against the competition. His recent passion project is that of the all too familiar post-apocalyptic zombie variety and I delved into some of the actors he worked with.

  1. How did Studio Green 557 get its start?

My love of the arts started at an early age. As a child, I watched my grandfather paint pictures of nature scenes many nights after dinner. I began my formal study of the arts in high school where I took drawing, computer-aided drafting, and photography. Later, I moved to Orlando, FL to attend the Digital Animation Visual Effects School (DAVE school) to learn 3D modeling, texturing, and animation skills to broaden my interests in the arts and learn to create movie magic. I graduated from the DAVE school with a degree in Digital Animation and Visual Effects in December 2011. After graduation the business was launched.

2. What makes Studio Green 557 a stand-out in their methods, what sets you apart from the rest…your focus?

As a visual effects multimedia production company I use my combined skill sets of photography and 2D/3D computer animation to create traditional portraits, pet portraits, enhanced portraits, videos, product photography, business design/social media content, and social events. The current focus is photography and video content for social media usage to help businesses grow and promote.

3. Are you reaching out to other mediums and methods to spread the word about Studio Green 557?

We currently have a website (StudioGreen557.com) as well as a presence on Instagram, and Facebook. As we grow we plan more places and ways to spread the word.

4. I see you had collaborated with the local Florida cosplayers, some of which have done well for themselves. Care to elaborate on what that project entailed?

Shortly after my graduation in 2011 I started to follow Cecil Garner of Cecil Grimes Cosplay on social media as well as in person at conventions. As our friendship grew, we both saw the value of a collaboration. I wanted to give back to the DAVE School and after a few meetings we set up the first zombie photo/video shoot on their green screen stage. This provide Cecil and Studio Green 557 with new photos and videos to promote our brands while at the same time it was a live educational workshop for the DAVE School students to learn and get some hands-on experience.

One of my favorite jobs I was booked for was a 50’s themed birthday party for Kimmy Roschewski a great friend and amazing cosplayer.

I’m currently working doing freelance work for Cos-A-Commotion creating social media content and videos to promote future events they are booked for and to help expand their brand awareness. I will be traveling with Cos -A-Commotion to conventions to capture those behind the booth and on the road stories and with Shellane and Dean backing this miraculous setplay, this is when “The Cosplay Looks Real“!

The below is a nice tease of Matt’s Walking Dead project.

5. Cecil Garner had informed me that the photo shoot had evolved into a film short of sorts, with the intention of being entered into film festivals. Any idea when the big reveal on that will be and which festivals?

Yes! After I process all the footage form the recent photo/video shoot and finish the editing process there will be a short fan film. We had 3 cameras running on every scene so there is a lot. It will be one of those untold encounters between Rick Grimes and Negan. It will feature Cecil Garner of Cecil Grimes Cosplay, Gene Russell (Negan Unchained), and Shellane Demarest of Cos A Commoton.

We had an amazing crew, and some came great distances to be part of it. I would like to thank the entire crew helping make it possible. This is a Walking Dead fan film made by Walking Dead fans that came together to express their love for the show and be a part of it in their own way to give back. There is no release date currently and what film festivals we hope to be included in. I will release a teaser trailer asap so be sure to follow Studio Green 557, Cos-A-Commotion, Cecil Grimes Cosplay, and Negan Unchained for updates!

6. Anything else you’d like to add?

We have many original projects being developed as well as other fan films in our future we will be part of. More details on those projects as they become available. I would like to thank Florida Geek Scene for this opportunity to share our journey thus far.

The following are cosplayer testimonials from those who have a passion for their craft as well as entertainment. Cecil Grimes is a world renowned Walking Dead Rick Grimes cosplayer that has a setplay diorama a la the Alexandria Safe-Zone and he gives his testimonial regarding his cohort Matthew.

Cecil Grimes (Garner) – It has been a pleasure working with Mathew Rottler and studio green screen 557.. He is always on time and well equipped to do the job at hand.. Mr. Rottler is very talented and knowledgeable and takes the extra time to explain everything he is doing to the last detail.. i would recommend as a goto for any green screen needs photo shoots and video projects.

Shellane and Dean Demarest, popular for their convention setplays that portray a live-action diorama,weighed in on their Studio Green 557 experience.

Shellane Demarest (Michonne, Fish Mooney, Wakandan Warrior, Gamora) – Matthew Rottler, the owner of Studio Green 557, invited me to this fun project and although I was extremely fatigued from an earlier shoot, I had so much fun. Once the project began, I forgot how tired I was! Mr. Rottler’s preparation made this shoot flawless. From his storyboards, assistants, and professional equipment, it didn’t feel anything less than a television production set. For anyone looking to create a movie reel, short film or anything requiring a video project Studio Green 557 is the talent you should hire.

Dean Demarest (Doctor Strange, Oswald Cobblepot, Rick Grimes) – I have been working with Studio Green for several months now. Matt has helped our business tremendously with his creativity and work ethic. Highly recommended.

Kimmy Roschewski, who has a cornucopia of costumes rather vast, gave accolades to Matt as well. From something as personal as a birthday celebration to an event at the well known Gods & Monsters locale off of Int’d Drive, Orlando, it sounds like Kimmy feels this is a company that can be relied upon.

Kimmy Roschewski  –  (Most common cosplays are Wonder Woman variations, Harley Quinn, Pocahontas and Moana, Tia Dalma and Mary Sanderson. Recently I’ve also done Mera from Aquaman a few times ) – I worked with the studio twice once I hired them for my birthday party and at another occasion I worked with them at a anniversary party for Gods & Monsters. Roger has always been a friendly kind and professional photographer who is very well informed about his craft.

He never fails to make it a fun time and never stresses about time or rushing through the process he values quality over quantity. He takes the time to get to know those he works with and it always open to doing new projects whether it be active shooting walking around during an event or a stylized shoot in a single location.

(Kimmy’s more detailed cosplay line-up) My most common cosplays are Wonder Woman variations, Harley Quinn from Suicide Squad, Pocahontas for which my arm tattoos are real and Moana from Disney, I’m also well known for my Tia Dalma from Pirates of the Caribbean and Mary Sanderson from Hocus Pocus. Recently I’ve also done Mera from Aquaman a few times.

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Studio Green 557: A Look Into A Media Production’s Journey With Florida Cosplayers Matthew Rottler is an Orlando audio/visual hopeful that's making strides in the central Florida community with…

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Wombwell Rainbow Interviews

I am honoured and privileged that the following writers local, national and international have agreed to be interviewed by me. I gave the writers two options: an emailed list of questions or a more fluid interview via messenger.

The usual ground is covered about motivation, daily routines and work ethic, but some surprises too. Some of these poets you may know, others may be new to you. I hope you enjoy the experience as much as I do.

  Rachael Ikins

Rachael Ikins has been nominated for the Pushcart Prize & CNY Book Award multiple times and won the 2018 Independent Book Award for Just Two Girls. She featured at the Tyler Gallery 2016, Rivers End Bookstore 2017, ArtRage gallery 2018, Caffe Lena, Saratoga Springs, Aaduna fundraiser 2017 Auburn, NY, Syracuse Poster Project 2015, and Palace Poetry, Syracuse. Her work is included in the 2019 anthologies Gone Dogs and We Will Not Be Silenced the latter Book Authority’s #2 pick for the top 100 Best New Poetry Books for 2019. She has 7 chapbooks, a full length poetry collection and a novel. She is a graduate of Syracuse University and Associate Editor of Clare Songbirds Publishing House. She lives in a small house with her animal family surrounded by nature and is never without a book in hand.

Associate Editor Clare Songbirds Publishing House, Auburn NY

https://www.claresongbirdspub.com/shop/featured-authors/rachael-ikins/

2018 Independent Book Award winner (poetry)

2013, 2018, 2019 CNY Book Award nominee

2016, 2018 Pushcart nominee

Www.writerraebeth.wordpress.com

https://m.facebook.com/RachaelIkinsPoetryandBooks/

@poetreeinmoshun on Instagram

@writerraebeth on Tumblr

@nestl493 on Twitter

Above all, practice kindness

The Interview

1. What inspired you to write poetry?

I started writing poetry in second grade when I was 7. I still know that silly poem by heart that I’d written for Halloween. And it was about cats. Some things never change, although I write about more than cats now. As far as inspiration I suppose it was hearing it—I speak several languages— poetry is its own language. My first grade teacher had us copy poems to learn penmanship from the chalk board. My father used to have me read psalms from the Bible at bed time as I learned to read more. I think I was just born a poet. Only one period of my life was I unable to write and that was caused by serious adverse reaction to medications. It was a bleak time.

2. Who introduced you to poetry?

I have already mentioned my dad and my first grade teacher. The most significant person was my 8th grade English teacher. A poet and author herself, she presented the unit on poetry ( met with groans esp. from the boys) by having us go out into the community to find poems in magazines and periodicals and cut them out. To create a notebook of poems. She had us each get a copy of two seminal poetry books, Poetry USA and Reflections on a Gift of Watermelon Pickle and we were assigned poems and practiced. We performed for a small crowd one afternoon in the school library. It made a huge difference to be taught by someone who was passionate about poetry. No English teacher for the rest of my school years ever came close. We are still friends. She is in her 80s now and still writing in multiple genres, attending workshops and publishing.

3. How aware were you of the dominating presence of older poets?

I’m not sure what this question refers to. Older in history poets or older people I knew who liked or wrote  poetry. My father was given, as were all soldiers, The Pocket Book of Poetry.  Soldiers would carry it under their helmets. My dad still had his copy, and we used to read from that little book. So I was aware of the masters as a kid, but had not known an actual adult poet until I was 14.

4. What is your daily writing routine?

I tend to work in the mornings. I browse markets using social media a lot, too. If I find something interesting I will match up the pieces I want to submit and then revise and polish. As far as new work, again, it tends to be written mornings. I was riding my bike yesterday morning, and a poem started up in my head. This has always been a way I write. Other days something will happen, something that has been subconsciously simmering will say “It’s time!” Whatever else I had planned that day will take back seat to the need to write, and I may write for 5 hours straight.

Walking or riding and letting my mind roam. Once the body is craving relief, all extraneous clutter- thought goes away and clears space for something new to appear. I just listen for it.

5. What motivates you to write?

A feeling of not having achieved some mysterious rubicon yet. I have won a lot of prizes and as well published quite a lot of books with three publishers in multiple genres, and yet I  am just driven. I also have to say, I think I can’t help it. Writing is like breathing to me. “Write or die.” I would also like to make a significant amount of money at my craft/passion to make a dent in my monthly budget. Would I like to support myself at it? For sure, but I don’t know if that will ever happen. I have intense focus and ability to pursue something no matter who detracts from it. That has done well for me, too. Because in spite of teacher support, my family never took my writing seriously until the past decade.

6. What is your work ethic?

My work ethic has always been work hard and  help one another. We are all in this together. Contests aside, we are not competitors though some act that way. Help someone else. Don’t trample someone with your ambition. Pay it forward. Honesty. Write honestly.

7. How do the writers you read when you were young influence you today?

Oh, that is an easy one. I first tried to read Tolkien to myself as an 8 year old. Was a tad daunting. Instead I read all of Milne’s Winnie the Pooh books. The classics. Read Tolkien again in my 20s and was hooked. Both these authors made a mark on me somehow, scarred my heart and brain because decades later after writing nothing but poetry since age 14, in my 40s I wrote a series of children’s stories and the initial chapters of what became the first book in the Tales from the Edge of the Woods series, Totems. My understanding of fantasy and my choice of magical characters and so on was sparked by those great authors. My children’s stories stayed in a box until about a year ago, through 7 moves. I showed them to a publisher last year and we worked on edits. A Piglet for David will be coming from Clare Songbirds Publishing House later this year, the first in a series of young reader chapter books.

8. Who of today’s writers do you admire and why?

I admire J. K. Rowling though I am not a Harry Potter fan. Like her, I have known horrible poverty. You just do the work, period. And if you become successful, you do good with it. I also have always admired poet Marge Piercy. Since her book The Moon is Always Female in the ‘80s with its erotic poems connected to the natural world and also cat poetry Marge has seemed to appear along the journey just when I  needed an example to follow. I have also been at work on straight fiction, a lesbian adventure/ romance for awhile. I have never been fond of reading explicit sexual descriptions. It bores me. Do it, don’t discuss it lol.

I had to write a love scene and had no idea how to do so. One thing about love scenes is it is easy for them to be unimaginative.

I was in a bookstore and found an anthology Best Lesbian Erotica, not sure of the year. Looking through the table of contents I saw Marge Piercy had a short story in it. So I bought it, read her story and the rest of them, then faced off one night, sweating, in front of my computer and wrote the scene. A few years later my story “The Horse Rescuer” was accepted for publication, and I was paid probably the most for one piece I’ve been so far.

In 2014 I noticed Marge on FaceBook so I private-messaged her, one of those “You don’t know me but…” expressions of gratitude for her presence in my literary life. She responded and suggested I submit to her June Poetry Intensive. She chooses 12 students for a week long workshop every year. I finally got to meet my hero.

I like Mary Oliver’s poetry, too, but Marge is the one who has always been there in some sort of magical way. There are really too many authors for me to list.

9. Why do you write as opposed to doing anything else?

I can’t not write. And when a poem in particular or a scene if we’re talking prose, starts coming together in my mind, I have to stop whatever else I’m doing. It’s like going into labor I guess. You can’t tell the baby you’ve changed your mind, stay in there.

10. What would you say to someone who asks “How do you become a writer.”

You write. The best way to become a writer is to read everything you can get your hands on. Then you write. Maybe you start out emulating a style of someone you like to read. Keep writing and eventually your own voice will be heard. Writing is the most labor-intensive, long-term gamble of a profession going. You can theoretically spend, for example, 5 years writing a novel, another several seeking an agent and publisher if you want to go the path of the big 5 publishers, and yet you can spend a whole decade of your life on that one project and it may never be accepted. Or sell. Know that up front. Study. Go to workshops. Find a writing group. Read at open mics. And if/ when you reach a point where you have something to submit, read the specs the publisher lists as to how to submit to their publication. It shows respect. Many a writer has been summarily rejected for not submitting the way the publisher requested. Be tough. Opinions are completely subjective. Being rejected by a publication is meaningless. Editors are human beings. We all have different tastes. Don’t take it to heart. If you are lucky enough to get a note of feedback along with the rejection, learn from that. Read books about writing.

It’s hard. Be aware. Being a writer is not for the faint of heart. If you are serious about it you will pursue it no matter what. We only pass this way one time. So if you really want to do this, do it.

11. Tell me about the writing projects you have on at the moment.

Right now I am in the midst of launching my mixed-genre memoir, Eating the Sun. It is the love story of my husband and me. Organized by seasons of the year, the garden is the vehicle that takes the reader on the journey. Each section starts with narrative and then has poetry related to it, and finally recipes created by us from garden ingredients we grew. I use my artwork often in my books when publishers allow it.

This book has pen and inks, photography and cover art by me. I have a second manuscript submitted to a publisher. It is all poetry titled Confessions of a Poetry Whore. Another poetry  manuscript  to be sent this fall is titled Riding in Cars with Dogs.  It will be the companion book to my previously published For Kate: a Love Story in Four Parts written after the death of my beloved cat, Katie.  Since grief is a universal experience and so is love, no matter what shape the beloveds, this book is accessible to anyone who has lost someone. The second fantasy book of the Tales of the Woodland series,  Beach Wrack has been written and edited professionally and is in the queue with a mid-level publisher. Book 3, Through the Hedgerow  is half written.

All four or five of the young reader chapter books are written as well. A Piglet for David will be Book 1. These also have my artwork as illustrations.  My work is contained in 5 upcoming anthologies, and I am eagerly awaiting copies. All releasing this summer and fall. Both writing and artwork.

Last but not least, I am at work on a thriller/horror genre novel. Haven.

Wombwell Rainbow Interviews: Rachael Ikins Wombwell Rainbow Interviews I am honoured and privileged that the following writers local, national and international have agreed to be interviewed by me.

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Start Playing Dungeons & Dragons #1: Group-forming and social tips

So you want to play Dungeons & Dragons (D&D), but you’re not sure where to start? Got a group of friends who’ve never played before but want to? Is everyone looking for you to start the group and be the Dungeon Master (DM)?

The world of D&D can be intimidating. Grabbing the book and opening its thousands of words, some you’ve never heard of before, is a bit much. Fear not, traveler. I’m here to help.

A quick introduction. I’ve been playing D&D on and off over the last 2 decades, mostly playing in 2nd and 5th editions (5e), though I’ve had experience in 4th and Pathfinder as well. I’ve recently started DMing 5th edition campaigns for new players.

D&D has seen a sort of revival in the last few years. 5th edition cleaned up and simplified a lot of rules from previous editions. Web shows like Critical Role also brought a lot of people to and back to the game.

I’ll be doing a series of posts built around getting a group together and playing D&D. Most of it will be from the Dungeon Master’s perspective, but much of this is relevant to players. Even though these discussions should take place before the first session, they can (and will) take place as the campaign progresses as well. The things here come from a combination of my personal experience and what I’ve heard from other DMs. Many of these things I adjusted as I discussed as we played.

This first post will have tips for anyone trying to form the group, which is usually the DM, but could be anyone. I’ll be discussing some of the social aspects of D&D that are not specifically related to the gameplay, but are still important. Here we go.

1. Personality compatibility

D&D groups can form in many ways. Sometimes it’s a bunch of people from the same group of friends. Sometimes it’s a mix of different groups. It can be coworkers. It can include girlfriends/boyfriends. It can include family. The possibilities are endless.

Group compatibility is very important. If the group is going to be gaming for hours together at a time, the last thing you need is people not getting along.

It’s also not black and white. Two people who seem like they won’t get along, may. People who seem compatible may not game well together. A harmless joke outside of the game’s context may not be so harmless when someone’s character or play session is affected.

If you’re in a group that doesn’t have the luxury of being discussed beforehand (such as a pick-up group at your local game store or convention), don’t fret! My experience is limited, but I’ve had some success. It comes down to people coming in with an open mind.

2. Setting expectations on game type

Topic#1 — Amount of combat vs non-combat:

This isn’t called “Dungeons & Dragons” for all the fight-avoidance built into the ruleset. A large chunk of the “Player’s Handbook” is dedicated to how combat works.

However, there are plenty of non-combat things to do. You could run a game with little to no combat. Pretty much all D&D games will be a mix, with the dial moving between the two as the campaign progresses.

Most players are excited to just play, ready to be enthralled into the world of whichever DM they play with. But, it could be something worth discussing.

If you, as the DM, spend hours crafting layers of political intrigue and a conflict that requires intense deliberation, but your players want to kick in the door and kill some dragons, you may have set the wrong expectation.

On the flip side, if you spend hours building expansive dungeons with puzzles, traps, loot, and finely tuned combat encounters, but your party wants to frolic at the local bath house and get involved in whirlwind romances, you may have set the wrong expectation.

This doesn’t have to be a huge part of the pre-campaign discussion. It’s good to talk with your players for some ideas, but run the campaign you want to run and be willing to take feedback as things progress.

Topic #2 — Theme/feel of the world and game play:

It is well known that in serious situations, comedy is needed to keep one’s sanity. However, there is a general overall tone you can have with your campaign.

Is the subject matter serious? Are you dealing with heavy subjects like murder, mental health, genocide, or drug dealing? Or is it more light-hearted? Are your players trying to save a princess from the frog prince who wishes to charm her like a fairy tale?

Do you want a strictly developed and consistent universe, or do you want to pull from many sources? Do you mind if pop culture references or memes are featured heavily?

Players immersed in your carefully constructed fantasy could get frustrated if an out-of-place meme shows up during a tense moment.

Topic #3 — Player investment:

It’s nice to have invested players.

An ideal situation: When the game is going, all distractions are kept to a minimum. Phones are only checked periodically or when necessary. Players are paying attention even when they’re not involved in the present circumstance. If a joke is cracked, it’s not a full-scale digression that stalls play for the rest of the group.

But this is not guaranteed. Your players may not pay attention during important scenes. They may play on their phone when it’s not their turn.

If you’re players aren’t involved, ask yourself why. Is your content not compelling? Is the story moving too slow? Are they not taking notes and forgetting things? Are there too many players?

It’s possible your group “isn’t meant to be.” Maybe what you are looking for in players and what they’re looking for in a DM just don’t match up. Some players may not enjoy pen-and-paper as much as they thought they would.

Games without some level of player investment can grow boring, ending up as a slog of rolls and outcomes that feel meaningless and uninteresting. Not all players have to be actively involved and debating on every party decision, but all players should be paying attention, even if that involves sitting back and enjoying the show, jumping in only when they need to act. As the DM, it is important to discuss with your players your expectation of them.

Topic #4 — Rule strictness:

If you’re like much of my generation, you’ve probably played video games. To me, what makes D&D so special is that it’s not like a video game (though I still love video games, but for different reasons).

The “computer” of D&D (the DM) being a reactive human being opens up the game. Adding/subtracting rules can be as simple as adding or removing a dice roll. Making a playtest-ready version of a new class can take only a few hours.

On the other hand, modding a video game can take hours (unlikely), days, months, or years!

When I was a youngling, playing D&D with a group of friends, I remember a situation where a player wanted to kick a door down, but it was being held shut on the other side by goblins. The player still wanted to attempt it and the DM said he could. The DM assigned a -4 penalty (to signify the goblins holding the door) and allowed the roll. I don’t remember the outcome, but I do remember what I thought at that time:

The DM thought of that on the fly! If this was a video game, and no door-kicking mechanic was implemented, he couldn’t even attempt that.

In my mind, the world of D&D was opened. I became enlightened. I was snake-bitten by Gary Gygax’s ghost.

Therefore, I am personally very open-ended with my D&D games. Running for new players especially, I am more lenient on rules and I homebrew heavily to show the freedom of D&D. You want to play Batman? We can do that. You want to play some really cool character idea you thought of but couldn’t make in Skyrim? We’ll make it work. You want to try flipping off the table and catching that flag so you can climb to escape? You can certainly attempt it!

I’ve talked with other players and DMs who run strict ruling games. From what I hear, it’s just as fun, just different. It really depends on the group you want to run.

3. Scheduling and play frequency

If possible, most groups I’ve talked or been in run once a week, same day, roughly same time. But that may not be possible or wanted.

The recent group I DMed ran Saturday nights every other week. While I’m a nerd who spends most of my Saturday nights gaming, and such is true for most of my players… things would come up (random events, concerts, dinners, wanting to relax, etc). I didn’t find it reasonable to hold my player’s Saturday hostage with that much frequency.

I also played in another pen-and-paper game on alternating Saturdays. This meant, for the foreseeable future, all my Saturday nights were booked for a social activity. Being the introvert that I am, this started to wear on me.

Play frequency is important though. It can be tedious to have every session start with the players going “what are we doing again?” Any excitement for an awesome plot twist from the previous session may be gone by the time the next session rolls around if too much time has passed.

Find a schedule that works for your group. Playing at night on a workday may be viable. Playing once a month can work if your group is cool with it.

4. In Conclusion

Don’t overthink it! If you want to play D&D, play D&D. If you have the luxury of a group of friends who want to play, be the DM if no one else wants to be. If you don’t have that luxury, try searching for a group. If you have a veteran friend who wants to run and teach everyone how to play, that’s great! That’s what I am to many friends.

Just start playing. The things I mentioned in this article are important, but they shouldn’t be the reason you don’t play. You’ll get better as you play. Groups can change. People can come in and leave. Rules and themes can adjust as you find what interests your group.

Here are some great D&D channels with a ton of information. These guys have much more experience than me. They’ve taught me a lot and many of my own findings have been verified by them.

Critical Role (on Geek & Sundry) — https://www.youtube.com/user/geekandsundry

Matthew Colville — https://www.youtube.com/user/mcolville

Web DM — https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC7XFmdssWgaPzGyGbKk8GaQ

So, what are you waiting for? Get a group together and roll some dice! Oh, and come back for my next article where I’ll be going over game mechanics.

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INTERVIEW WITH ARIELLA MOON

Today we have Ariella Moon, Author of  the Young Adult Fantasy “The Amber Elixir” .

Thank you Ariella for participating in our interview.

Can you tell us a bit about yourself and how long you have been writing

I am an author, shaman, and the mother of a brilliant, beautiful daughter, and mum to two spoiled dogs. I set upon the writer’s path in the sixth grade when I won a national essay contest. Decades later, in 2011, my first novel, Spell Check, Book 1, the Teen Wytche Saga, debuted. Since then, I’ve had three more books published in the Teen Wytche Saga (Book 4, Spell For Sophia, will be re-released soon). More recently, I have delved into fantasy with my historical Two Realms books, The Beltane Escape and The Amber Elixir.

Please tell me about your books in  “The Amber Elixir” and what gave you the idea for this one.

Remember the tagline for Wicked, “So much happened before Dorothy showed up?” I felt the same way about my Two Realms Trilogy, which begins with The Beltane Escape. The trilogy is told primarily from the point of a view of Fenella, a kidnapped heiress in medieval Scotland. A spell cast forward in time by the Lady of the Lake lures Fenella and her cousin into fairy. But what happened in Avalon and Fairy before Fenella?

The Amber Elixir is the first of a planned series of novellas set in the magical realm that augment the stories in the Two Realms Trilogy. In The Viking Mist, my upcoming sequel to The Beltane Escape, a character is thrust into a deadly quest to recover a stolen magic potion. The Amber Elixir tells the story behind the magic potion.

What sort of research did you do to write this book?

Although I had a basic knowledge of the Arthurian tales, I researched the different interpretations of the stories. It was fascinating and disheartening to see how both Viviane, the Lady of the Lake, and Morgan le Fay’s portrayals changed over time from healers, to temptresses, to evil sorceresses.

I also traveled to England and Wales to research the settings associated with the Lady of the Lake and Merlin. I wove into The Amber Elixir the supernatural forces I encountered on Glastonbury Tor, at the White Spring, and in Merlin’s Cave in Tintagel, Cornwall. Walking the land is a great way to get a feel for what my historical characters might have experienced.

Where do you get the inspiration and ideas for each of your books?

I used to eavesdrop while driving the carpool for my daughter and her friends back when they were in middle school. It was a sad day for the Teen Wytche Saga when my daughter got her driver’s license!

My frequent research trips to the United Kingdom have been a huge inspiration for the Two Realms series. I travel with Mara Freeman, an Archdruidess in the Druid Clan of Dana. Through Mara, I have seen fairies, heard ghosts, held a ritual inside Stonehenge, exorcised evil entities from fellow travelers, experienced Avalon, and was tricked by the enchantments in Merlin’s cave. All very inspiring!

Do you outline books ahead of time or are you more of a by-the-seat-of-your-pants writer?

I outline, not in detail, but enough to make sure a story idea can sustain a whole book. When writing a trilogy, outlining is even more important. I need an arc for each character in each book, plus a story arc that plays out over three books.

How long does it take you to write a book?

Most take a year; I am a slow writer. I channeled Spell Struck, so it came to me very quickly. The Viking Mist is taking forever.

Do you have an agent or a publisher, and if you can share, who they are?

I have been un-agented for a few years. Recently, I won back the rights to The Teen Wytche Saga, which I am re-releasing with new covers and new content.

What are you working on currently / next?

I am revising The Viking Mist, which brings back the love triangle from The Beltane Escape. In it, Talfryn, a half Viking/half fairy, is charged with recovering a potion from The Amber Elixir that can change the balance of power in the Two Realms.

What does a typical workday look like for you?

I get up early, and before breakfast walk a mile or more with my dogs, Gracie and Avalon. After eating, I read emails, then write until mid-morning when the dogs get a short walk. I write some more until lunchtime. After lunch, I check emails again, and then write some more before the evening dog walk. Sometimes I write off and on until bedtime, though I usually decide to give my eyes a rest by 8 PM. Too many days are taken up by admin or promo work. Social media, especially Facebook, is a huge time thief. Sometimes, I take a mental health day and go to brunch and a movie with a friend.

What does your writing space look like? 

I have a huge executive desk. The back third is empty to allow room for the window shutters behind the desk to be pulled open. The front two thirds of the desk are littered with notes, two calendars, my computer, printer, landline, dust, and a lamp that used to be on top of my daughter’s piano. I need to get better organized. I waste a lot of time searching for notes that never make it into my file system.

I have noticed that a lot of authors have a spotify music playlist to work to, do you like writing to music and if so what playlist is your favourite?

I grew up in a quiet household because my parents both worked the night shift. So even now, I rarely listen to music. Sometimes for the Two Realms books, I will play Celtic music. For The Amber Elixir, I might play something obscure that evokes the middle ages and a sisterhood, like 11,000 Virgins, Chants for the Feast of Saint Ursula, by Anonymous 4. Not the sort of music one would find on Spotify!

What do you do in your free time when you are not writing?

I volunteer at my local middle school as a mentor for the Ophelia Project. I love working with the girls! My dogs and I walk whenever it isn’t too hot. (I live in southern California.) I love escaping to the movies, traveling, reading, and brief jaunts on my bicycle.

Out of all the books you have written, do you have a favourite?

I love them all for different reasons. Spell Struck is a particular favorite because I channeled it, and so it was the easiest to write. I adore its hero, Aidan, a homeless teen.

Do you have any favourite authors?

Several: J.K.Rowling, Gail Carriger, Shelley Adina, Suzanne Collins, Veronica Roth, and tons of fantasy and romance writers.

What books have you read recently?

I’m almost finished with my first Sherrilyn Kenyon book, Dragonmark. I haven’t had much time to read for fun recently because of my heavy writing and editing schedule. I can’t wait to finish revising The Viking Mist so I can return to reading for pleasure.

What has been one of your most rewarding experiences as an author?

I write a lot about teens that have been traumatized or suffer from mental illness. It has been rewarding to hear from people who suffer from depression, or post-traumatic stress disorder, or obsessive-compulsive disorder that tell me, “You nailed it.” I strive to create empathy and understanding. Its rewarding when reviewers say a character like Ainslie from Spell Fire won them over and gave them a better understanding of mental illness.

What were some of the challenges you faced with your writing and on the road to getting published?

One challenge I faced was improving my craft. I credit the Romance Writers of America for their tremendous support of aspiring writers. Through RWA writing contests, and attending workshops at their annual national conference, I steadily improved. It was also through RWA that I found my first two agents. And a friend I met through RWA led me to my first publisher. Now I am a contest judge for RWA, and I teach writing boot camps.

Do you have any wisdom to impart to any aspiring writers?

Enter writing contests that offer feedback and have agents and editors as the final round judges. Join organizations like Romance Writers of America and The Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators. They will help you hone your craft, stay updated on the publishing industry, and offer access to editors and agents through their annual conferences.

And finally please let our readers know where we can purchase your books.

My books are available in ebook and paperback on Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and in e-book only on Kobo. Here are the links:

https://www.amazon.com/Ariella-Moon/e/B0071NUOAK

http://store.kobobooks.com/en-us/Search?Query=Ariella+Moon

http://www.barnesandnoble.com/s/Ariella-Moon

https://itunes.apple.com/us/artist/ariella-moon/id507847259?mt=11 (The Beltane Escape only)

Viviane, the new Lady of the Lake and High Priestess of Avalon, accepts a challenge from Merlin unaware her bold actions will have tragic consequences. Two of her priestesses are turned to stone. A forbidden love deserts her. Now alone, she has six young handmaidens to train and protect.

When Morgan le Fay demands assistance with a spell that could change the balance of power in the Two Realms, Viviane refuses her. But what if Morgan’s secret knowledge could restore the stone priestesses? Will an alliance prompt Viviane’s love to return? Or will the gamble cost her all she holds dear?

      FOLLOW ME :… @tfaulc (click links below)

        #INTERVIEW – Ariella Moon Author of The Amber Elixir – @ariellamoon.author @XpressoReads INTERVIEW WITH ARIELLA MOON

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227: 3 Travel Bloggers Share their Stories and Tips

3 Travel Bloggers Share Their Tips and Stories

Once again I’m handing the podcast over to you, our listeners, to share your stories and tips of starting and growing your blogs.

I started this series towards the end of last year with episode 221: From 0 to 500,000 Page Views a Month – A DIY Blogger Shares Her Story

Today I’ve got three blogger stories for you. And like our ‘tech blogger’ episode 222, I’ve put together stories from three travel and tourism bloggers.

Links and Resources for 3 Travel Bloggers Share their Stories and Tips

Captivating Cappadocia Blogger Duke Dillard

14 Types of Stories You Can Tell On Your Blog

Red Sweater MarsEdit 4

Travelletto Blogger Dianne Bortoletto

Amateur Traveler Blogger Chris Christensen

Start a Blog Course

Facebook Group

Full Transcript Expand to view full transcript Compress to smaller transcript view

Darren: Hi there, welcome to Episode 227 of the ProBlogger podcast. My name is Darren Rowse. I’m the founder of problogger.com – a blog, a podcast, event, job board, a series of ebooks, and a course all designed to help you to start an amazing blog, to create great content for the readers who come to it, find those readers, and to build a profit around that blog. You can learn more about ProBlogger over at problogger.com.

In today’s episode we’re continuing our series of blogger stories where I’m handing the podcast over to you, podcast listeners and blogger readers, to tell your stories and tips of starting and growing your blogs. We started this series back in episode 221. We’ve had six episodes since that time. They’ve all been from bloggers from different niches. In today’s episode, I’ve got three blogger stories for you. They’re all relatively short, one of them’s only 2 ½ minutes. Like in our tech bloggers episode last week, today’s three stories all come from bloggers from the travel or tourism space. I thought it would be nice to put them together because there are some similarities there. I know a lot of you do have the dream of becoming a travel blogger. I hope you find some ideas in today’s show.

This is all part of our series of podcast all to help you to get inspired to start a blog. If you haven’t started a blog yet, we encourage you to join our Start a Blog course, which starts from the 10th of January. You can head over to http://ift.tt/2Cz9que and find out more about it. It’s completely free. There’s an opportunity there to put your email address in, and we’ll let you know when that course goes live on the 10th of January. More about that at the end of the show today. I want to hand over now to our three bloggers. I’m going to just jump in in between each of the stories just to pull out a few of the thoughts that I have about the stories, a few little tips, and a little bit of further listening for you today as well because I do mention some things that I find quite fascinating.

Let me hand over to our first blogger now who is blogging American accent but living in Turkey and blogging about Cappadocia.

Duke: Hi, my name is Duke Dillard. My blog is Captivating Cappadocia. It focuses on the amazing Cappadocia region of Turkey. The URL is http://ift.tt/1crEpDf. Cappadocia is in the center of Turkey. It’s an ancient region mentioned a couple of times in the bible. We were living in Anchorage before. I just finished a master’s degree and then decided to move to Cappadocia. During my MBA, I have been researching blogging and started thinking about doing a blog for our visitors to Cappadocia. I thought it’d be a great way to meet lots of people and motivate me to get the most out of the area.

We moved here in July 2011. I started the blog in September. I’ve been reading all I could and gathering resources. I had a name, and a logo, and tagline, and I’ve written a few posts. One weekend I got away, put it all together, setting up the host, getting a theme, setting the parameters, and plugins, all the technical stuff. I’ve been anxious about it but once I got to work, the site came together nicely. I didn’t have much money so I did it all myself. In the end I was happy for the learning experience.

In doing research, I knew I couldn’t compete with the big travel sites like TripAdvisor and Booking.com. I tried to discern what advantages I would have as a resident. I also knew I wanted to spend time with other local residents and not tourists. As I thought about a niche, the idea came to me that what only I could offer would be the backstories of the Cappadocians who were serving the visitors. We write about hotels and restaurants and tourists and sites and activities, and have some list posts. But our bread and butter is telling the stories of the owners and managers and guides when you visit. How great is it to check into a small cave hotel already knowing the personal story of the owner who’s checking you in? How much easier is it to form friendships that can last a lifetime?

One of my best friends here owns a small hotel. He’s traveled to Australia, New Zealand, and America himself, and stayed with people who stayed in his hotel. That’s the kind of place Cappadocia is. Our blog helps make that happen more often. Recognizing this niche gave the blog a real focus and for that I’m grateful. It has allowed me to meet tons of people. It has opened the doors all over the region. I’m also glad I built the website myself since I love to learn and enjoy the process. Understanding how a blog works and forcing myself to learn some basic coding gave me more confidence when things went wrong. I didn’t have to call or write someone and be at their mercy.

But probably the most beneficial thing I did early on was connect with as many Turkey bloggers that I could find. There were a number of people around the country doing blogs about their regions similar to mine. I wrote to them and asked if they would go through Darren’s 31 Days to Building a Better Blog book with me. “We could do it all together,” I said. I think five agreed. We spent the next month doing the daily activities and reporting to each other about them. It built camaraderie, encouraged all of us and really helped our blogs. Building that community early on was very powerful.

But it didn’t save me from some early mistakes. Doing everything myself, man I messed up. I messed some things up sometimes. A few times I was making a change to the child theme and shut my whole site down. I made some changes, tried to open it on the browser, and got an error message. I freaked out, to say the least. Fortunately I was able to figure out what I did wrong but it was stressful for me.

The biggest mistake I made, however, was not putting my domain and hostname in auto-renew on my credit card. I thought I had but one day I went over to my site and got nothing. After running through the house, my hair was on fire, scaring my wife. After that I logged into GoDaddy and thank God that there was a grace period. Paid the bill, set up auto-renew, and then made a reminder to double check whenever my credit card expired. I still, sometimes, log in and double check that auto-renew’s on just to be safe.

Over all, the blog has been a huge boon. But it hasn’t made me financially rich but I have made a little money, made many friends, received lots of thanking emails from happy tourists, and I’ve enjoyed lots of free stuff in the region like hot air balloon rides, hotel stays, tours, meals, ATV rides, and on and on. Best thing to do in a tourist diary is to promote everyone and have no competitors. As I look back over the last six years of blogging, I’ve been blessed.

Here’s my very practical tip to those thinking of blogging. I was thinking of saying something like find your passion or do what you love or don’t do it for the money but those sounded way too cliché for me. The most helpful and practical step I took was to get a program called Mars Edit, which only works on Macs but there are equivalents for Windows. It allows me to manage my blog from my desktop, even offline. Having a way to write, publish and archive on my computer without needing to be in WordPress is quite handy. If you’re considering starting a blog, I pray it brings you as much joy as mine has.

Darren: That was Duke Dillard from captivatingcappradocia.com, beautiful part of the world. Spent some time there with Vanessa, probably 10 or so years ago now or even further back from that. I have vivid memories of our hot air ballooning experience we had there, which I’m sure Duke Dillard have written about.

I wanted to include Duke’s story today because it shows, I guess, some of the other opportunities that blogging can bring. We quite often talk about profitable blogging. Profitable blogging of course brings to mind money, which we certainly do some teaching about. But I love that this story, I guess, really illustrates the rewarding experience that it can be to have a blog that really is helping people.

I particularly love in Duke’s story the idea of storytelling being such a big part of what he does. I’ve seen this time and time again used with great effect in blogs from all kinds of niches, where people really tell the stories not only of themselves but of different people. I love that Duke’s blog really tells the story of the owners, and the guides of that particular area. I can imagine going to that particular region having read Duke’s blog. It would really bring a lot of the experience there and have a massive impact. It would be the type of blog I will want to read again and again. If you want to learn a little bit more about storytelling, we’ve got a great episode back in episode 81 where I go through 14 types of stories that you can tell on your blog. I’ll link to that in today’s show notes.

I also love the tip there from Duke of connecting with other bloggers in the niche. You could quite easily look at other Turkish travel bloggers as the competition. But Duke really has stumbled upon a very powerful thing, that is when you work and get to know other bloggers in your niche. The opportunities that come from that can be quite amazing. This is something I have experienced for myself.

When I started ProBlogger, I began to reach out to other bloggers, pretty much anyone who’s writing on a similar topic. I would reach out and get to know them. Some people you connect with naturally and some people you don’t, but the ones that you connect with and the ones that you build a relationship can quite often become your collaborators. Many of the people that I reached out to in those early days or that reached out to me, we became friends, we’ve ended up being partners in many ways. I’ve promoted their blogs and their products an affiliate. They’ve promoted mine. Whilst you could see them as competition, actually everyone grows as a result of those relationships. I love the idea there of Duke joining with those other bloggers, and particularly doing something together. Doing the 31 Days to Build a Better Blog ebook is great. We’ve actually got another course coming up after the Start a Blog course that would be great to go through as a niche. I do encourage you to reach out whether that’s doing something at ProBlogger together or whether it’s just getting to know each other is a very powerful thing.

To that tip there of checking your domain name that it’s on automatic renew, please double check that. I had exactly the same problem. My first blog I never renewed. I didn’t get it back, it’s gone now, unfortunately. Luckily it wasn’t a profit blog but I do grieve the loss of all that content. I’ll also include in the show notes today at http://ift.tt/2CqkGN1 a link to Mars Edit. It’s a tool that I love and use everyday as well.

Okay, that was Duke’s story. Next I’m going to hand over to Dianne Bortoletto from Travelletto, who’s another Aussie blogger, a different accent again today. She’s going to tell you her story too.

Dianne: Hello, my name is Dianne Bortoletto from Travelletto, travelletto.com. Travelletto.com is a blog about delicious travel adventures with a bit of an emphasis on Western Australia or in Perth where I live, Margaret River where I love, and Italy that I’m just obsessed with.

I started the blog because I was living in Rome back in 2007. Yeah, it was more than 10 years ago. Blogging was pretty new back then. Not many people had a blog. I started it, I can’t believe it, on something called Microsoft Live, which is just horrible. But it’s a platform that doesn’t exist anymore. I started because the blog was a way of sharing my stories and adventures and things that had happened to me while living in Rome, without the need of sending lengthy emails with lots of attachments with photos and whatnot. That’s why I started the blog. I got such a big surprise when other people started reading the blog, people I didn’t know. They’re reading, they’re commenting. That was pretty cool.

It was probably only about a year after Microsoft Live that I moved everything across to WordPress. That was the best thing I’ve ever done. I’m grateful for WordPress. If you’re starting out blogging, don’t even consider anything else, WordPress is the way to go. It might take a little bit of time to learn it and get things set up. You can pay someone to do that for you. It’s not that complicated, a bit of trial and error. But nothing else compares.

A mistake I would suggest bloggers avoid, all bloggers not just new bloggers, is never ever change your permalinks. I changed my permalinks by some bad advice. It wasn’t even advice, someone commented on a Facebook post that I shared on the ProBlogger Facebook page a couple of years ago. This person said, “Change your permalink. Take the date out of your permalink, Google doesn’t like it and penalizes you for it.” I was like, “Oh.” I went into the back end and changed my permalink to remove the date. It broke my blog. My traffic went from 130 visitors per day to 3. It’s taken a huge effect, a major effect to reverse that. I’ve had to pay someone to help me get things back on track and build the audience up again. It’s happening, almost there, but never change your permalinks.

The good things that have happened since I started my blog is that my blog’s been discovered. Admittedly, I’m more of a hobby blogger. I don’t put in a huge amount of time or effort into my blog. I don’t really monetize my blog. I use my blog more as a marketing tool for what I do. My day job is public relations. But the good thing that’s happened since I started the blog is that my writing has been noticed. I’ve picked up some freelance writing jobs as a result to that. Now freelance writing is a new career stem if you like. It’s something that I love to do. I’m focusing a bit more of my efforts into building that side of my career. I filed for Broad Shape, they found me via my blog. I filed for redbull.com. I’ve got a regular writing gig with a magazine in Margaret River, that’s been going for two or three years now. There have been some good things that have happened. I’ve been invited to a few events. But like I said, I’m not positioning myself as an influencer. I’m not going to great lengths to build a huge following on social media or an audience. But still, there have been some good things that have happened since I started my blog.

A tip I would give to new bloggers is to find your voice. Don’t try to be someone else. Don’t try to be something you’re not. Be you. Find that voice. Think about how you want to talk and communicate with your audience. What sort of language are you going to use? Will it be quite formal in structure? Is it going to be very chatty and informal? Find the things you’re passionate about. Write about those. Blog about those. I’m sure a million people say that passion is key. Blogging is a huge time investment, huge. It’s never a five-minute job to put a blog together. If anyone tells you otherwise, they’re lying. It takes time. It’s a commitment. Be passionate about what you’re doing. If you don’t really care about what you’re writing about, no one’s really going to care enough to write it. Find your voice, find your passion, and blog about that.

That’s all I’ve got. Thanks very much. Enjoy the blogging journey. I’m sure you’ll make friends along the way online, and then hopefully in real life. Thanks, bye.

Darren: That was Dianne from travelletto.com. I like Dianne’s story, partly because of the Aussie accent, of course love to support Aussie bloggers. But I love the idea of bringing together a blog about delicious travel adventures. I guess the first thing that stood out to me as I listened to her story is that really it’s bringing together of two other niches, we have travel bloggers and we have food bloggers. Dianne brought those together. That’s one way of making your blog stand out a little bit from all the other blogs in the niche. I’m sure there are a lot of other blogs out there that do write about Perth, where Dianne’s from, and Italy. But bringing together the food aspect of it is one way to just, I guess, add a little more flavor to what you’re doing. I’ve seen that used many times over. If you’re struggling and thinking about should I do this topic or that topic, is there a way you could bring them together in some way to make you more distinct?

Her story there about changing the permalinks on a blog, that is something you definitely want to be careful about. If you’re starting a blog, this is a really good time to make that decision about your permalinks. I, too, would encourage you to not have dates in your permalinks if you are starting a blog. Set it up that way so that you just got the keywords that you’re trying to rank for. That’s something that we can talk about in the Start a Blog course. But if you do want to make that change, it is possible to do but just don’t make the change straight away. Do the research and really what you’re wanting to do is to redirect all the old links to the new ones. If you are getting the dates out of your permalinks, that’s fine. Just research how to do 301 redirects to get from the old ones to the new ones. Double check it and get someone else involved if you’re not confident in doing that.

I also love Dianne’s story. This is something we’ve heard a number of times in this series of how blogs open up other opportunities. Whilst Dianne’s not making a lot of money as a blogger directly, she’s used her blog to open up opportunities for her other work in PR but also in writing services. This idea of using your blog to open up freelance writing opportunities is what I want to hammer home because this is a big stepping stone for many bloggers. This is probably more for those of you who already started your blog. But if you are looking for a new income stream for your blog and you’re in those early days, this is one that I see many people are using. That is almost their writing regime that then I would use to get other writing jobs and to get attention from other potential employees.

They do that freelance writing, sometimes forever. In fact I’ve met a blogger recently who’s making over $100,000 a year from freelance writing work. He’s barely blogging anymore because he’s become so well-known in his niche. But often bloggers do use this freelance writing as a stepping stone to other full-time work from their blog. They might do some freelance writing to supplement the income while they’re also building up their traffic on their blog to get it to a point where it’s able to make a full-time living. Be open to that as you go along.

Lastly, that advice from Dianne to find your voice, don’t be someone else. You’ve got to find your own, unique, distinct writing voice. That really comes through experimenting with different writing styles. But it also just comes with practice. You’ve got to be at this for a while to really feel comfortable with your voice. I really do encourage you to build up that archive of content, experiment with different styles of writing. Watch to see what connects well with your audience but also watch to see what gives you energy as a writer as well.

Our last story today is a really short one, just goes for 2 ½ minutes. I’m just going to hand over to Chris to tell his story now.

Chris: This is Chris Christensen from the Amateur Traveler Blog and podcast at amateurtraveler.com. I started the podcast in July of 2005. Within the first year of podcasting, ironically, I thought I was late getting into podcasting at the time. Then I started the blog a while later. One of the reasons I started the blog is, even today where my podcast numbers are over 100,000 downloads a month and my blog numbers are 45,000 page views a month, some people in my industry still just don’t get podcasting and blogging as easier to explain to them. I think what I hoped for was more travel. I hoped that somehow I’d be leveraged this into either more income for travel or more travel opportunities. The first is happening, although slowly in the second which is definitely happening in a big way.

I have to say I’m most grateful actually that I started the podcast because even though that’s been harder to explain, it’s an area where I have been able to stand out, part because I started so much earlier. When people go to the Amateur Traveler, we talk about a destination a week. We’ve talked about just hundreds and hundreds, almost 600 different destinations by now because we started so long ago.

The first mistake I made and the most obvious one, besides the name Amateur Traveler, was that when I started I thought I was going to be talking about my travels even though I was podcasting 48 weeks a year and traveling 4 weeks a year. That math just didn’t work. The show turned into an interview show and if it hadn’t, it would’ve stopped. One thing I would say is make sure you have content going forward. Make sure you have a plan for where you’re going to get ideas for more content because my plan just didn’t make sense.

I mentioned it’s led to some interesting opportunities. It’s led to some strange opportunities. I got invited to the Obama White House for the Travel Bloggers Summit. I was invited to be paparazzi for the Pope with an official press pass in Jordan for a day. If you want to get a job with the foreign ministry of Thailand, you’d be required to listen to two episodes of Amateur Traveler and graded on your understanding of the English in them. On top of that, lots of trip invitations like, “Would you like to come on this cruise?” Or, “Would you like to come to the Yukon and land on a glacier?” Some amazing opportunities have come from the blog and podcast.

In terms of a tip for new bloggers, I would say it’s probably as important to figure out who you are not for, who is not your audience, and just not worrying about doing content for that audience. In the travel space for instance, I just don’t talk about the fly and flop vacation, we’re talking about culturally deep kind of travel. That means we’re not the right podcast for some people, we’re not the right blog for some people, and that’s okay. Sometimes it’s as important to understand who is not your audience.

Darren: That was Chris Christensen from amateurtraveler.com. The mistake he mentioned, I think, is well worth mentioning again. Make sure you have enough content going forward. I love the fact that he pivoted really quickly there when he realized that the schedule that he’d set himself and the type of content that he wanted to create just wasn’t possible. He was able to pivot there. But this really reminds me of that exercise that was recommended in yesterday’s podcast of really brainstorming those topics that you’re going to write about before you start your blog. You want to really do that work to work out whether you are able to sustain it. Such an important tip that was given yesterday and reinforced, I guess, today. I guess the other thing I’d say about that is as you’re blogging, and as you realize that maybe what you have thought isn’t quite working, it’s okay to pivot, it’s okay to make those changes. I love that Chris was able to do that too.

That tip that he gave of working out who you’re not writing for is just as brilliant as well. This is something that a lot of bloggers do struggle with. We want to please everyone. We want a large audience. We want anyone to read our blog. But when you try to cater for everyone, you end up with very vague and diluted content. But when you work out that I’m just writing for this type of person and I’m not writing for that person, I’m not writing for the other person over there, I’m just writing for the one type of person, you’re able to really serve that one type of person so much better rather than trying to please everyone. This idea of really narrowing your focus to a certain type of content, to a certain topic can be a very powerful thing. You’ve heard this time and time again over this series, their blog is really taking off when they narrow their focus down and really just concentrate on serving a particular audience and not everyone. Such a powerful thing.

Thanks so much to Chris, Dianne, and Duke for sharing their stories today. We’ve got five more episodes coming in this series over the coming week. I do encourage you to look out for those. Also if you are thinking of starting a blog, and all these blogs started by someone who didn’t have an audience, they didn’t really know what they’re doing, and they started out many years ago now. We designed this course to really shortcut that process and help you, as a blogger, to start a blog with good foundation.

I encourage you to head over to http://ift.tt/2Cz9que. Pop in your name and email address. We will reserve a spot for you in this course and let you know when it goes live on the 10th of January. Over the coming few weeks after that, we encourage you to consume the content. We’ve got seven modules there for you to work through. Once you’ve done that, we’re going to give you an opportunity to highlight your blog to our audience as well to let the world know what you started, and hopefully to help you find a few readers, and to celebrate all of the new blogs that start as a result of this. There are hundreds of people who have already signed up for that free course, http://ift.tt/2Cz9que.

Thanks for listening. Chat with you tomorrow with another story from an amazing blogger.

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  227: 3 Travel Bloggers Share their Stories and Tips