artist-mondrian

[stevethehairington]

ALSO i did not realize that hannibal the tv series was based on ALL of the hannibal books. i thought it was just red dragon but it's NOT its ALL of them and i am living for this realization while reading these books bc i can see how the details from them all are being mixed and melded together to form the masterpiece that is hannibal tv and im LOVING that

[caermis]

❝Hesitation.❞

❖Karasuno 1st years X Black!Reader

❖Reader: Female ❖Characters: ↠Hinata S. ↠Kageyama T. ↠Tsukishima K. ↠Yamaguchi T.

❖Word Count: 2.2k

❖Warnings: ↠None ❖Prompt/Summary: I tried to ignore these feelings. I really did. ❖Notes: ↠Team Captains are next-  

❝Haikyuu!! M.List❞ ❝Taglist Request❞

Dedication. 

❖To Kageyama and Hinata, that’s all that mattered. Volleyball. That’s all that made their hearts flutter and feel immense joy. So what made you different? A foreigner from a different country, that seemed to always be writing or reading in a language they didn't understand. Hair that stood out, E/C eyes, a wider nose, and bigger lips.

You were in Kageyama’s eyes, weird and strange. In Hinata’s, you were different and new. 

❖A third-year student, that seemed to know not a single thing about Volleyball, so why were you in the gym where they practiced. They watched you glanced around the room before landing on Asahi and racing over to him. You both talked silently, a smile spreading across your lips as he passed over a notebook. A notebook Hinata and Kageyama had seen you writing in.

Why did Asahi have it?

❖They watched you leave, happier than you came, and before they knew it, they were surrounding Asahi and why you were here. “She let me read one of her stories.” He stumbled over his words, inching away from them. 

Stories. So you wrote stories. 

Kindness.

❖You were kind, even if neither of them talked to you, you seemed sweet. Tsukishima and Yamaguchi had met kind people before, so another one didn't impact their life. You looked different and spoke with an accent and at times spoke in broken Japanese. Yet you what made you stand out besides being a foreigner?

In Tsukishima’s eyes, nothing. In Yamaguchi’s, everything.

❖Another day walking through the same halls, and they had passed a certain classroom. Your classroom. Peeking through the windows, you seemed upset. Not the usual smile, or the resting bitch face you had, you looked sad. 

Why were you sad?

❖You repeatedly tapped your pencil against the blank page, you had writer's block. Or maybe you didn't want to write, but maybe you had to. “Hey L/N!” The two watch Sugawara walk into the room sitting across from you, still not noticing the two 1st years, your smile had returned as you spoke with your friend?

Did he make you happy?

❖A volleyball game and everyone was on edge. They would surely lose, but what was different? You appeared with a smile before the game and wished them the best. Hinata and Yamaguchi believed they could do anything, especially with you on the sidelines with Coach Ukai. Kageyama and Tsukishima both refused to lose in front of a 3rd year, especially if this was your first Volleyball game for their team. 

They won.

❖“Congratulations on winning.” A small smile across your lips, you stared at them with pride. “Thank you for believing in us L/N!” Hinata was the first to speak to you, he couldn't hold in his excitement. “You did amazing Shōyō.” You had known their names. 

❖“Do you know mine!?” Kageyama went next. He refused to let Hinata of all people have your attention. But why? “Kageyama Tobio. I know all your names.” Did it matter to you? They wanted to know why.

❖Every game, they invited you too. Hinata coming to you jumping up and down about a new move he learned and how you just had to see it in action. Kageyama would leave a note on your desk, or just expect you to come to the game. Yamaguchi would shyly mention that he had practiced, and he did better if you were there. Tsukishima would just say the date and time of the game and walk off. 

To you. It was very obvious they liked you.

❖Your graduation came sooner than they hoped. Not once ever confessing until that night you were to head back to America. They all showed up on your doorstep and confessed in the dead of the night. They expected to be shot down, to be rejected, but all you did was let out a soft sigh.

“Find me again once you graduate. I’ll tell you if I like you or not.”

❖The next day, they watched your plane leave. 

❖Kageyama and Tsukishima wanted to move on. They wanted to forget about you, to ignore you and devote all their time to volleyball, but how could they. That night Tsukishima gave you a pair of his headphones, demanding that when you both met again, you’d give them back. Kageyama gave you his volleyball, saying it was good luck, and he’d need it back.

❖Two years passed like a breeze at their last High school Volleyball game. Sugawara, Asahi, and Daichi all sat in the stands cheering them on, and there you stood, near the back with a smile.

“Good luck!”

❖How’d they hear you over the loud cheers of the crowd, no one was sure, but they did. Tsukishima’s headphones around your neck and Kageyama’s volleyball tucked beneath into your arm. Hinata’s scarf wrapped loosely around your neck, along with a headband that kept your hair in a puff, that Yamaguchi bought as your graduation gift. 

❖They won that game. Play harder than before, but before they could greet you. You had disappeared. 

You were in Japan, that’s all that mattered. 

❖“You're going to keep hiding from them?” Settling into the guest bedroom, Sugawara stared at me with a questionable look as he placed my bags to the side. “I'm not hiding.” 

“Then why won't you go see them?”

“I'm just waiting.”

“They have feelings for you. I hope you see them at graduation.” Turning to Suga and slipping the headphones off and plopping down on the edge of my bed. “I will.”

“Oh, my goddess Y/N. You actually like them back!” Suga grabbed my face and stared into my eyes. His smile spread across his lips. Slapping his face away, I turned my head to the side. “I don't...”

“I gotta tell Daichi!”

Hesitation.

❖Most things I've accomplished within my life I had been hesitant on. Coming to Japan, I wanted to, but I was hesitant. I would be on my own. Writing, something that I believed myself in most times, to where I published a book, and it did well. Yet I was hesitant to share it to Asahi, but I did. My first volleyball game I went to, seeing Karasuno play, I was hesitant to go. Like I was a bad omen, and I would mess them up somehow. 

My feelings. 

❖I tried, I really did. An 18-year-old being in love with a few 16 years old, that’s depressing. When I went back to America, I tried to go on different dates, move on, but it didn't work. With Tsukishima’s headphones tucked neatly on my desk and Kageyama’s ball in the corner of my old apartment. With Hinata’s scarf hanging on the wall and Yamaguchi’s headband on my dresser. Every day, I saw these items, every day I wanted to contact them, but I didn't. I didn't want these feelings to be true.

❖So why did I come back to Japan if I wanted to forget them so badly? It was their last volleyball game, and I wanted to see it in person. So before I knew it, I was on the next plane to Japan and stayed at a hotel before contacting my old classmates. In a place that felt so foreign two years ago, became my home. I cried when I saw them. 

The volleyball game

❖I didn't them to know I was here, so when all their eyes whipped up to me, I broke and quickly ran once the game ended. I couldn't face my feelings. I regretted it, too far to turn back. Too late to run and apologize. I hesitated again. 

“Dammit.”

❖Graduation came sooner than I expected. The next thing I knew I was sitting with Sugawara and Daichi waiting for the once baby flightless crows to walk across the stage. Every fiber in my being wanted to run and leave, while the other half of me refused to listen to my panicking brain and im 100% sure that if I attempted, Daichi would drag me right on back. Letting out a soft breath before my ears picked up Hinata’s name and he proudly strutting across the stage. He had grown taller. He looked out into the crowd, scanning his eyes across before landing on me. 

❖Feeling my heart stop, I watched his smile widened before he left the stage. 

❖Kageyama was next, walking across the stage seeming to know exactly where I was. Averting my eyes quickly, I could still feel his intense glare. Daichi and Koushi making fun of me, which earned them a painful pinch on the shoulder. Tsukishima went next, then Yamaguchi. Their stares less intense but determined. All mentally vowing to find me, I made a promise after all.

❖Soon the ceremony was over, letting me dart outside before the crowd came and get some fresh air. Mentally psyching myself up for this encounter. “Found you.” Stiffening in my position, I slowly turned around. It was Kageyama. And he is tall, staring down at me before glancing down at the old volleyball in my hands. “You kept it... Why?” Looking at the volleyball before passing it to him. “You said it was good luck and to give it back to you.”

❖“They got yo’ ass surrounded!”

❖Hearing Koushi yell, before I realized it, the four volleyball players surrounded me. “We graduated Y/N.” Hearing Tsukishima mutter, just as warm arms hugged me from behind, careful to avoid my hair. “I've missed you Y/N...”

❖“Shōyō,” Muttering quietly, my hand moving up to his head, softly patting it before remembering where we were. Pulling away, I turned and faced all of them. “Congrats.” Smiling, I looked towards Koushi and Daichi for help, but they only waved happily, before mouthing that they'll text me where to meet for dinner. “You owe us an answer.”

❖“Right now?” Tsukishima rolled his eyes and before I knew it, I was being pushed through the crowd and towards the empty gym. An answer… I didn't want to admit it, I didn't want to say that whatever i felt, love, was true. That i felt what I did for them. Yet at the same time I was ready, ready to tell them.  Tsukishima was the one to slide the gym doors open, letting Yamaguchi and Hinata push me inside, Kageyama close behind. Hearing the gym doors shut, I turned around, facing them. Standing on the court, I pulled off Tsukishima’s headphones and passed them to him. 

❖“Keep them.”

❖“You told me to give them back--”

❖“I lied. I don't need them.”

❖Dropping my hand to my side, I felt like I was in high school again. “I still like you a lot, L/N.” Yamaguchi spoke confidently, his hands in his pockets. “I know.” Muttering, avoiding their gazes. “Do you like us?” Turning to Hinata, I took a hesitant step back, clutching the headphones tightly.

❖“It’s fine if you say no.” Kageyama shoved his hands in his pockets, letting his old volleyball drop and roll to my feet. If I say no, I’ll be running away. Regretting this decision. Covering my eyes with one hand, a shaky breath left my lips as tears spilled from my eyes. “I tried to ignore these feelings. I really did, but i missed y’all a lot while i was away...it scared me to be honest. That I fell in love with four different people. That I... I couldn't decide--” I explained everything, while crying my eyes out. It felt like a heavy burden was off of my shoulders, that I could finally be honest. 

❖Once I stopped crying, I looked up. Both Hinata and Yamaguchi in tears, Tsukishima with a smirk, and Kageyama with a rare smile.

Dedication.

❖To Kageyama and Hinata, that’s all that mattered. Volleyball. That’s all that made their hearts flutter and feel immense joy. So what made you different? Maybe it was the way your lips curled up in embarrassment when you became flustered or when you looked fully entranced by something you read. Or when you always held their hand as they walked or you cheering loudly in the crowd, always making time for them to appear. Or when you introduced them to western ideas and food. 

You were in Kageyama’s eyes, different and strange. To make his heart flitter like volleyball did to place a gentle hand on his shoulder and comfort him.

In Hinata’s, you were understanding and loving, to indulge him on his late night walks, and even after he’d lose you’d be proud of him.

Kindness.

❖You were kind, even after knowing you for years, you were sweet. Tsukishima and Yamaguchi had met kind people before, so why did another one impact their life so differently? You being their biggest cheerleader and helping them every step of the way, or never you choosing between them and choosing to compromise. Or after a long day passing out in their arms only to wake up at three am with 15 different story ideas. 

In Tsukishima’s eyes, nothing. You were nothing like the other kind of people he had met. None made his heart so full or raise his body temperature.

In Yamaguchi’s, everything, like the kind people he had met, but yours was 10x, you believed in his capabilities and that alone was more than you could ask.

[lesbianklance]

Hey! Hope you don't mind me asking, what are your thoughts on HOO so far?

i dont mind at all i love these questions!

okay let's break it down

TLH: it was hard to read for me for a while because the writing is so different than pjo and the third person pov (which dgw i usually prefer butvi had just gotten used to the first person pov of pjo) and the lack of percy and me,,,, not liking jason so much.

okay listen i dont have anything against jason, he's simply too perfect and idk kinda boring to me personally (no hate to the dude tho he's just not for me)

however i did end up enjoying it cause i loved piper and leo and the storyline was cool. still not one of my faves tho

SON: it may had taken me a long time to finish but i really loved this book. it was nice to go back to percy and his pov i love him so much. hazel and frank are really cool characters i really loved them and the dynamic between the three was so cute. also percy only remembering annabeth,,,, i will cry

moa: i mean i read 100 pages idk if my opinion matters but so far im loving it. i read the first annabeth and leo chapters and let me just tell you? the whole thing with sammy and leo is intriguing me because i did not get spoiled on that however I have some theories

also im very excited to see the dynamics between the seven cause goddamn, really interesting plot i think im gonna love this one the most

(i do know the ending tho and im excited to read it lmao)

all in all thoughts so far: i really fucking loved pjo i read all 5 books in 2 weeks. what im sensing from hoo is that it's dedicated to the pjo fans that grew up now and hence the books give a more grown up mature vibe if that makes sense?

i know not many people like them or like compare them to the greatness of pjo, which fair, but i really like them so far

(again tho, im not even half way through hoo yet skdhsjdh)

[asfaltics]

subfluence merged in an ornamental lake

  but these very subfluences       1 subfluence over boundaries or lands       2 subfluence which natural causes have on the limity of the reflection       3 subfluence, recording occurrences       4 subfluence over ennui. I had not the       5   subfluence. What do we do? What does the       6 subfluence, discoverable or unexplained       7 subfluence, at nights       8 subfluence in production or waste, used freely       9 subfluence literally incalculable, the principle on which       10   the heart-beat is subfluence.       11 subfluence diffused       12 subfluence full of romance       13 lies, and other caustic or irritant subfluence       14 subfluence, the signaling, the adjustment of huge mechanisms       15   subfluence merged in an ornamental lake       16 subfluences subdued       17 his special subfluence, for he was an omnivorous reader, and had a picturesque and even romantic outlook on       18 subfluence, with the colors still       19 subfluence the entire cotton trade       20   subfluence spread far and wide.       21 subfluence, the possibility of human flight       22 subfluence for lack of language : error       23 Subfluenz-Prozesse       24 Subfluenz, einer varistischen       25  

sources (most, and mostly OCR misreads)

1 OCR misread for “substances,” at “Of points wherein we and Papists differ, viz., Transubstantiation, &c.,” in John Rawlet (1642-86 *), A dialogue betwixt two Protestants, in answer to a Popish Catechism (Third edition, corrected; London, 1686) : 82 2 ex “A sketch of the life and public services of Gen. William Henry Harrison.” in (Isaac Rand Jackson?), General William Henry Harrison, Candidate of the People for President of the United States (Baltimore, 1840) : 6 Harrison (1773-1841) would have a short (31-day) tenure as president, but had done enough damage in previous roles, particularly with regard to indigenous people. see wikipedia 3 ex “Scripture and Geology” (by N), in The Mirror of Literature, Amusement, and Instruction (Saturday, August 14, 1841) : 99-103 (100) see wikipedia for its publisher John Limbird (1796?-1883) 4 ex “Druids and Bards,” being an extensive notice/review of three books — J. B. Pratt The Druids Illustrated (1861), John Williams, ed., Brut y Tywysogion (1860), and Godfrey Higgins, The Celtic Druids (1829), in The Edinburgh Review, 118 (American Edition; July 1863) : 20-36 (35) 5 ex “A Rolling Stone.” By George Sand, translated from the French by Carroll Owen, in Library of Famous Fiction 2 (1879) : 1-113 (109) 6 OCR cross-colum misread, involving M. H. Cobb, “Common Sense Applied to Living” (pp 5-7) and “A Parlor Drama, in Two Acts” by Augusta De Bubna (pp 7-13), in The Brooklyn New Monthly Magazine, Henry Morford (1823-81), editor and manager; 1:1 (January 1880) : 7 7 ex A. Ernest Sansom, “The Dyspepsia of Infancy,” in The New York Medical Times 19:2 (May 1891) : 33-37 (34) 8 involving obituaries (memorials) for James Holmes and David Wright, in the section “Connexional Biography” in The Primitive Methodist Magazine 73 - London, 1892) : 51 on “Connexionalism” (and its relation to “network”), this, from wikpedia — “The United Methodist Church defines connection as the principle that ‘all leaders and congregations are connected in a network of loyalties and commitments that support, yet supersede, local concerns.’ Accordingly, the primary decision-making bodies in Methodism are conferences, which serve to gather together representatives of various levels of church hierarchy.” 9 ex “Brief Gleanings : The treatment of Leanness and Obesity” in The Medical Brief (A Monthly Journal of Scientific Medicine; J.J. Lawrence, Proprietor) 20:10 (St. Louis, Mo; October 1892) : 1240 10 ex W. Garden Blaikie, “St. Paul’s Pastoral Counsels to the Corinthians.” in Exegetical and Expository Section, The Homiletic Review 29:5 (May 1895) : 451-453 11 Aloysius O. J. Kelly, “Essential Paroxysmal Tachycardia — Report of Four Cases.” (Read October 14, 1896), in Proceedings of the Philadelphia County Medical Society 17 (Session of 1896) : 166-180 (171) Kelly (1870-1911) obituary at Boston Medical and Surgical Journal (now NEJM) March 9, 2011) : 360 12 out of chronology (and unlinkable snippet, only), mea culpa, ex The Evangelical Magazine and Missionary Chronicle 21 (1813) : 328 13 snippet only, evidently from Chapter 9 “Signs and Tokens” of Charles Dickens, Bleak House (1852-53), here ex Works Volume 3 (1899) : 374 14 misread involving “Milk a Universal Antidote” and “School-Meals for Underfed Children” in The Dietetic and Hygienic Gazette (A monthly journal of physiological medicine) 16:1 (January 1900) : 20 15 ex Edward Nelson, “Electricity in Service on British Battleships,” in Electricity 29:23 (December 6, 1905) : 311-313 16 preview snippet only, at (Commonwealth of Australia) Parliamentary Debates 57 (1910) : 3207 17 ex index of volume, Proceedings of the American Society for Psychical Research (Section “B” of the American Institute for Scientific Research) vol. 5 (New York, 1911) : 771 18 ex entry (by “C. L. G.”) for Meredith White Townsend (1831-1911), in Dictionary of National Biography, edited by Sidney Lee. Second Supplement vol. 3, Neil – Young (New York, 1912) : 532 19 preview snippet only, ex The American Year Book 5 (1915) : 300 20 § 816. Corners... in William Herbert Page, The Law of Contracts Second edition; revised, rewritten and enlarged with forms. Volume 2. (Cincinnati, 1920) : 1441 21 ex “Balboa Day, September 17th, 1919 in Honolulu,” in Bulletin of the Pan-Pacific Union (January 1920) : 6 22 misread, involving report on “The Langley Flying Machine” (and some controversy between S. P. Langley and the Wright brothers), and “The Impurity of Pure Substances” (review of A. Smits, Theorie der Allotropie (1921)) in Nature 108 (November 3, 1921) : 298 23 misread, involving Booth et al v. Floyd (No 2358) and Blackstone v. Nelson, Warden (No 2457) in The Southeastern Reporter 108 (August 27 - December 3, 1921) : 114 24 H. J. Behr, “Subfluenz-Prozesse im Grundgebirgs-Stockwerk Mitteleuropas.” Zeitschrift der Deutschen Geologischen Gesellschaft 129 (1978) : 283-318 25 K. Weber, “Das Bewegungsbild im Rhenoherzynikum Abbild einer varistischen Subfluenz.” Zeitschrift der Deutschen Geologischen Gesellschaft 129 (1978) : 249-281 referring to the Variscan Orogeny (wikipedia)  

method

1

There is no word “subfluence,” or only barely one. This started with the self-written biographical note of poet Jack Hirschman, in A Caterpillar Anthology (Clayton Eshleman, ed., 1971) —

“They are lyrical poems, in verse or free-form, as distinguished from the poems in this anthology, which are breath forms reflecting a more total slavery to the conditions of the spirit’s war-torn years. The major influences on my works are influence itself, in as many levels of order, disorder, disaster, paranoia, joy and ecstasy as the deathless magic of being alive permits a vessel now of fire, now of air, to spark, glow, flame and ember according to the law of nature.”

“Influence” — that word — led to thinking about variations, e.g., effluence, outfluence, pre-fluence... “subfluence” — an underground stream a less-than fluency (stammering, stuttering) a brittleness?

Little — or nothing — surfaced in a google books search, save for errors — typically a “sub” at the end of one line, a “fluence” at the start of the next (in a different column). Quite enough for present purposes. And so these subfluence derivations are built around a word that isn’t quite a word. Some license has been taken with the text in this post: dispensing ellipsis or [brackets] where text is erased (or rather, dropped); in some instances, some words that preceded the subfluence, are moved to follow it.

2

And yet, the word does appear, in some (and only a few) geological texts, typically having to do with the geotectonic unterströmungshypothese (undercurrent) concepts — and field work done in the Northern Calcareous Alps — of and by Otto Ampferer (1875-1947). More on Ampferer to come. For now, these references —

Wolf-Christian Dullo and Fritz A. Pfaffle, “The theory of undercurrent from the Austrian alpine geologist Otto Ampferer (1875-1947) : first conceptual ideas on the way to plate tectonics,” Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences 56 (2019) : 1095-11 here

Karl Krainer und Christoph Hauser, “Otto Ampferer (1875–1947): Pioneer in Geology, Mountain Climber, Collector and Draftsman,” in: Geo.Alp Sonderband 1 (2007) : 91–100 here (pdf)

wikipedia (in German)

Dr. Otto Ampferer. “Über das Bewegungsbild von Faltengebirgen” (On the movement pattern of folded mountains), in Jahr. Geol. Reichsanstalt (Yearbook of the Austrian Geological Survey), 56:3-4 (1906) : 539-622 “Mit 42 Zinkotypien im Text” here

3

“Subfluence” also surfaces as a company name, social media handle, &c., &c.

—

all tagged subfluence  

[neuvostoliitto]

LOL just went ahead and read the guide book for history students at my uni about what i still need to do for my masters degree fuck my life omg... first, i havent spoken to the teacher who was assigned for me to make a study plan.. well since my fist year at uni xDD nobody has asked me to do the plans! i’ve just done studies! im supposed to have done the third plan, the one for my masters when i started doing them but im only learning about it now. honestly, i dont want to talk to that teacher lol he doesn’t remember me even and the only feeling i have about him is intimidation.  then i read the part about having to do a training period (! i knew about this but have been ignoring it because i dont want to do one!) and ughhh ghh  hghh. . i cant even get a summer job how am i supposed to get this one...  then i read the part about the master’s thesis...it’s :D gonna have to be at least 70 pages long..... :D  i understand but at the same time (screaming) - am i supposed to know what im gonna write it about because i don’t know. i have no idea. 

then i read the part about what history students do for living after graduating :) and how you’re supposed to do all this socializing and connecting while studying lmao i havent even made single friend in 6 years. aghh . . . i didn’t think shit when choosing my minor subjects i just took the default ones xd xd like its ok.. i have enjoyed studying both of them (politics & sociology) but fuck i could have taken something else... only fucking job on this list that i can imagine myself kind of in is librarian but you would need to take 60 op (shit ton) of courses in information studies ... im at the part of my studies where i’m 90% done with my minor studies i think :D not 100% sure but also pretty done with history, only 1 or 2 courses and the stupid training period and the masters seminar.   the joke here is i took my time doing the bachelors and forgot everything and ifeel like i dont know shit about history anymore (theories and methods) :D :D and you kinda need to know something right for the thesis. i dont know who i can talk to this about. i dont want to talk to the teacher i mentioned.

(intermission: being alone at uni) i feel so dumb and like a hermit... :( i don’t like to go to student events or parties because i dont know anyone and i dont wanna drink with random people. + im super intimidated of everyone tbh i feel like everyone knows im trans and is judging me secretly (probably not true). :( also nobody ive talked to is into games or even anime or even the same kind of music that i like. im just a huge introvert lol. 

back to the point. i don’t know what im doing with my life. i don’t want to end my studies because i enjoy some parts of it and am almost done (in a way lol). but at the same time why am i doing this to myself xD. - debt, sadness, probably no career.. 

at the same time ive done pretty decently or even well so far it’s not all bad. >_> idk this was the monthly crying about uni post. idk if this makes any sense it’s mostly just for me. i hope i can work things out. 

honestly as i’ve told you guys, i went to uni because i felt like i have to (both parents have degrees - pressure) and didnt know what else to do. the studies have been interesting but i dont know how i can make anything out of this. i dont want to be a teacher, cant see myself as a researcher, working in government lol, and didn't do studies required for working in museums etc... :D i have ten thousand euros of dept and i know stuff.... i actually want to do something creative like art or writing and learn to do games ... idk. yeah. it’s not like i can’t do those things, i know.. i know... 

[falconsandfishes]

platonic relationship

i have a bone to pick with plato. see the socratic method is basically the scene in montynpython in which a woman is weighed against a peice of wood to determine if she is a witch. and this is pretty much also the measurement system women use for me judge a cardio junkie by his ability to withstand smoke fumes. ive been up all night listening to eminem because i wish that i had the mysogny that he had because logically i should be mad at these females who lie to me but apparently developmentally theyre limited. 

so pretty much i just want my neck not to hurt and my side and platonic love isn really the kind which could support my lumbar spine but if you think im angry you are right and maybe if i rhyme my brain will work this time and ill finally be able to explain was never targeted at my objects of affections at all i like to walk around the mall see a cutie with a skirt on and she sees me looking at her tells her grandmother to leave her there because this place looks fun as she smiles at me there comes abu my friend who judges me and judges you and as i stare at her i can tell she wants me too probably more emotionally mature than my mom and a virgin with her skirt on and its workun but i have the confidence of a plastic bag floating in the wind shes cheesing while i hide behind her even though shes 4 11 and im 6 4 and because he was there i didnt pass because i dont cross paths but even thinking about having a girlfriend makes him mad. if shes too young for me i would have figured that out but it doesnt help that no matter how young or how old even the weather lady im told shes not right for me so will you make up your mind please can someone define maturity because apparently there is a reverse correlation between it and age and socrates was no sage im not really impressed that he drank poison similarly i smoke weed which takes me back to age three and birthday parties then i think about how much my life failed but only because everyone always stood in front of me. so snitch on me when i talk to you when youre in front of me at your desk and say your story about butterflies is the best begging middle and end. meawhile i havent even gotten to the first page of my legend of the sword it had a much more compliated plot which was cut off. then tell me i didnt count to tenthousand while you were listening to the teacher say the is spelled t h e and put me in a remedial reading class with a bunch of girls and address us as the girls so we can read books about a mouse who lives with his family in a house but if girls and boys are the same how can you explain i was the only one in that group to be bumped up to the advanced on by 2nd grade. i guess reading the encylopedia of animals wasnt a wase memorized their latin names bufo sativa phylobates. so by third grade i was getting so good at math that they took me out of class and had me testing material meant for 5th graders and it was really lame how can i explain all the flaws in the system to all the other people who were also ruined by it.

finally one girl who was definitely old enough for me waved at me when i looked at her and i got a boner and walked over to the ladies at the tea shop who looked at me with a disgusted look on their faces then some gangster looking dude older than i am replaces me with his hand on her shoulder.

before i was 18 i could beat up my dad and ever since then i knew not many people in my generation had much of a chance against me but i looked so thin they were not understanding. high iq causing depression have anothe smoke session even though you have athsma everyone remember to complain that i prefer to get high off one big hit i stayed in high school till i graduated but i left.

unfortunately with brain damage i could still make straight as which made me think i was ok gpa jumping above 3.68 when i only show up an agerage of 3 days.

practice your sky hook do your pushups get embaressed when an asian princess sees you do them 20 hanlaps perfect form and im not even a jock wow id better stop. next thing the girl i like is sitting on my lap in class telling me she likes me back shes sitting on my desk shes rubbing my face my life isnt gay justnsaynsomehing and youll get laid.

nah ill let some kid with adhd steal her seat and ill help him with math instead because i didnt tell her this but im alread braindead. my soul probably died with my pet lizard or my kitten perhaps it was internet addiction. 

what makes you think youll be make it as a porn star? you know im hot. well maybe i just didnt want you to act like a slut. i still remember the blonde who waves at me and smiled my freshman year it was clear that the world was my oyster the only problem was i couldn make my own choices.

i wanted to be an actor but i was so good at acting nobody got it. was so good at debating everyone liked to argue. was so succinct couldnt get the last word. so fast nobody would pass me the ball so dominant in wrestling i had to pretend i couldnt win just to have a friend.

pretty much i feel like the last cro magonon stuck on an island without charlotte saisselin bounce baby bounce three story house you look so cute in a blouse. hey look theres charlottes stalker i think il wave my arms around.

bounce baby is a reference to eigth grade i was watching a 100 meter race and then some black guy said that she never raced again. weed turned her from a goth into a wigger and after that i figured id become one too but it wasnt till 2009 i started to dress like you. what happened was i got some clothes from olympia sports to wear as warmups on the basketball court and to work as a salesman i shaved my head smiled knowing i was dead but still i couldnt even say i wanted to kiss  girl without that not being cool enough for my nephew and her bowl broke too

it fell from her car on the pavement and she said that he didnt even get to hit it.

so now im living in my dads room on the floor and finally my back isnt sore i have a well paying job im away from mom i have iron lungs and dad still doesnt approve because now i play too much basketball.

hi im interested in going to california. i meant connecticut but califonia will do since its warm there. sure steve come on out west but read the fine print your 20s are dead.

prove you wrong shame on me. dont prove you wrong brag proudly. stay out west and let your dad die. watch him act like an asshole at home back east one more time. your reward for having surived on the street for years as a middle clas kid

your friend says he thought you were dead. by the way he has this girlfriend in connectiut. oh you were the one who set him up with her? theres a whole website or three centered around her? 

better get you to spend your money on heroin and make you seem like a jerk in front of my dad. my excuse is im skitzophrenic.

all because my dad shamed me for growing up even crazier than him. thats why i called up my friend and asked him to date my girlfriend. 

there must have been something in those amphetamines which made me keep stopping at her house. i found them up on the shelf years after i tried to spill them out.

it was the first time an adult had ever called me immature. he also said my handwriting was bad and i needed a cure. talking to him i began to get red where even to begin? i have a lot of prblems at home and this isnt fair. see my dad camps in the yard and gets drunk watches us through windows andmy sister punches me in the head. mom pretty much works till shes in bed.

every day she watches the same soap opera and oprah which i record for her on tape. my sisters friends call me gay so i go over and play with the kids from the other neighorhood all day. 

one of them listens to a lot of eminem. his favorite song is if you dont like it you can suck my dick. hes in reform school and proud to be off his meds. when i talk about biking down a steep hill and blending into traffic he thinks i meannliterall blend in.

two gay twin brothers end of the road honor roll kids. play baseball and have alcoholic parents. hey ill tell the girl steve likes he likes her then she will never talk to him again. accept his chalenge to a fight and he will bang my head into a tree which is the same thing i did to another kid who tried to jump me but got sperated from his friends. 

refuse to dance with the only girl in middle school who has hips. make fun of the girls intelligence who sits next to you in math and has giant tits. refuse to eat candy off the first girls tounge then your science teacher who pushed pills on you flips on the tv its 911

stare at a girl all day and say you dont like her. girls think youre gay if you have a boner. telll me a calculator doesnt mattrer for a test but i do worse without one. make a flag pencil it isnt cool enough for the other kids.

sit with the retarded kids timmy and jimmy. watch nick all night fresh prince and bill cosby.

your sister wont stop torturing you so hold her at knife point. buy knives at school try to resell them and for the first time ever the kids you sold them to ge caught witth knives.

stay in the program with three teachers who gave up on you. one leaves to become a dean suddenly your grades go up. kids are jealous because you dont do homework. girls smile at you knowing that your test scores are high despite that.

throw shotput as far as a high school kid without any exercise or practice. run around the track dozens of times in pants you still arent good enough yet.

go to an alternative program reluctantly in high school its sort of like jail. everyone smells like cigarettes the air is stale. this isnt good for you but we will make you think if you leave you will fail.

[langernameohnebedeutung]

Ask the Author

I was tagged by @78669! Thank you! ok!

1) is there a story you’re holding off on writing for some reason?

A third installment for Un/Hurt - I have a pretty good idea what it would be about, but I started about five times and I was never. quite. happy. I feel a bit guilty because I hinted at a third one. I think the longest version I’ve written about it is about 2k words so. not much.

2) what work of yours, if any, are you the most embarrassed about existing?

Aaah. aaaaaaaah. That one. Snow White.

ok. So if I ever critise other writers - professionals or friends or anyone ever - I do so in the full knowledge that I gave life to a monstrosity.

Okay, let me talk about Snow White (a title that - in retroperspective, also describes the main-cast pretty well)

One story I started writing in 9th grade. 

It basically ticked all the edgy-teen stereotypes. Little village: check. Edgy teen protagonist who’s Not Like The Other Girls: Check. Dumb parents who JUST DON’T UNDERSTAND: Check. Lots of casual drug use and alcohol: check. 

I guess the only strong point was that she didn’t have a love interest (because she was Too Smart for anything but casual sex with her best friend). Oh and her neighbour was a murderous, torturous rape-y cult member and if I had finished the thing she would have killed him and gotten arrested for it and stayed quiet about her (pretty valid) reasons for killing him because in prison she would be away from her parents who I don’t think ever did much wrong except tell her that she’s got issues. Oh I think one of her teachers was a spy or something. Also there was a lot of references to Japanese stuff in there because again. I was in 9th grade and I loved to plaster Kanji on things. (Although now that I looked at the document again, WHICH I DID, I ACTUALLY OPENED THE KURSÉD DOKUMENT FOR YOU) the Kanji chapter titles are gone. So I came to my senses about that one.

So far you’re going to say: Wow so you wrote an annnoying, slightly problematic story when you were That Age we all did, big deal. That doesn’t make it a monstrosity.

Well.

The thing is -

The whole story might even have had potential if I had thrown out some of the bullshit and given the main-character some sort of personality, but unfortunately it’s also basically almost unreadable. Like. At that point of my writing, every tip I ever gotten from teachers and advice books was: “Take your time, don’t rush! Describe!” Because that’s young writers tend to do - rush - but unfortunately they didn’t expect Josie’s dumb ass, who quickly concluded: 

The Longer The Story - The Better!

and that was the downfall of the entire story. Because bitch, I can talk for ages without saying anything and the result was:

464 pages of Word Document,

Times New Roman 12pt, smallest possible spacing. 257k words. And it wasn’t nearly finished. There hadn’t even happened much.

Just to give you a sense of how unreadable it is. I’ll allow you (if you speak German) a peak at my greatest shame. Or at least the opening.

What 9th grade me wanted to say: “It was warm outside.” What 9th grade me actually wrote, because she’d been told not to rush and to describe:

The entire scene is just about Protagonist and Friends being angst-y in the garden. Literally nothing plot-relevant happens (like in most scenes). Aaaah. 

Just to make you realise the extent of this catastrophe, I randomly just scrolled for a while and then here we are at page 264.

What 9th grade me wanted to stay: “Main Character is lying on her bed. She’s looking at the ceiling. Probably looking for a personality.”

What 9th grade actually wrote:

(Did I mention that this goes on for almost 300k words? Like. These days I’m proud when I write 20k words. Ninth Grade me, where did you find this much energy and why was this what you invested it on??? this giant chunk of text with no content - like yeah there’s characters and stuff happening but it’s mostly just...endless mind-numbing descriptions of things happening in metaphor) 

3) what order do you write in? front of book to back? chronological? favorite scenes first? something else?

Usually chronologically, but ever so often I jump ahead to a scene that I really look forward to writing. The problem is that sometimes when I get there, something changed inbetween - because I’m a bit too spontanous and I love details - and then usually I have to re-write it anyway.

4) favorite character you’ve written

Usually the current one. And at the moment I’d probably answer the story from my latest original work - because they’re pretty fun and feral and also pretty simple. But with some distance this Victorian Demon Detective who gets hired by the murder-victims to avenge them was pretty fun. Was a giant dick. I enjoyed the entire 20 pages I wrote with him in them, before my attention wavered and I moved on.

5) character you were most surprised to end up writing

I’m pretty much suprised every time I write a nice, likeable character.

6) something you would go back and change in your writing that it’s too late/complicated to change now

I wish I’d ever really bothered to learn how to right good transitions. Mostly it’s just: Scene SMACK Next Scene SMACK Another Scene. Also I wish I could describe the passing of time more naturally.

7) when asked, are you embarrassed or enthusiastic to tell people that you write?

I don’t talk about it with strangers much. Except you people on tumblr.com. Depends on how it’s going. When I got a project I’m excited about and it’s going well, I’ll talk about it. If it’s not going well, I will pretend I haven’t ever written aything.

8) favorite genre to write

I don’t really have one. Although I don’t do Romance much and Crime/Thriller isn’t my cup of tea either. Mostly I beat the trope: Unlikely partners forced to work together - to death. 

9) what, if anything, do you do for inspiration?

Buy notebooks and scribble into them.

10) write in silence or with background noise? with people or alone?

I usually have music on - I got a Spotify playlist for my current story and listen to it on Shuffle - but I can write anywhere, university - even on the underground I type on my phone (when I’m in the mood). In school I got called out for writing in the lessons so often I learnt to write Kurrentschrift so that the teacher wouldn’t be able to tell what I’m doing lol.

11) what aspect of your writing do you think has most improved since you started writing?

I feel like I used to be better at some point in the past, actually. But mostly the characters?

12) your weaknesses as an author

I can never really stick to an outline, so I will go into one direction with the plot and then I’ll have another idea and I sometimes worry there isn’t enough of a red thread.

13) your strengths as an author

Hmm...I can throw a lot of problems at my characters at an astonishingly efficient rate?

14) do you make playlists for your current wips?

For the last one I did, as I said. It’s a very weird mixture of Viking music, Electro-Synth, Opera and pop-songs.

15) why did you start writing?

I just always did, I think?

16) are there any characters who haunt you?

Most of my major characters while I’m writing them, but it’s usually the current one. So at the moment it’s Nith, the main-character of my current story, because they deserve so much better and everyone fucks my magic child over and they just want to be accepted but at the same time the thought of living around actual...people terrifies them, because they’ve been considered cursed and were rejected for the biggest part of their life and now they’re kinda twisted and due really dubious shit so that they don’t have to be alone in their icy wasteland. Then they met a literal prince and they were forced to work together (because that trope is my jam) except Nith panicked and poisoned him so they’re in even deeper shit now. 

17) if you could give your fledgling author self any advice, what would it be?

YOU CAN’T WRITE COLD CASE FANFICTION IF YOU NEVER WATCHED THE FUCKING SHOW AND DON’T EVEN KNOW THE CHARACTERS’ NAMES oh, ok you already did. And they go to Mars. ofc.*

(No, but serious advice: Don’t let anyone ever tell you it’s useless. As long as you enjoy yourself, just keep writing.)

*yep that’s a thing 11 year old me did. I liked the blond woman in the trailers on Kabel1 ok?

18) were there any works you read that affected you so much that it influenced your writing style? what were they?

When I was about 18 we had Tauben im Gras in school and I got obsessed with writing like that. I got pages after pages just filled by me writing in that style. It’s like a dubstep remix of what my 9th grade self wrote, but I won a price for one of those so there’s that.

But usually, whatever I’m currently reading influences me. Like, not even because I want it to. For example I was once switching to and fro reading fanfiction and writing something of my own. But the fanfiction was in English and my writing in German and I first adopted the same tense, then the POV and suddenly my brain insisted I need to write this in English. fuck.

19) when it comes to more complicated narratives, how do you keep track of outlines, characters, development, timeline, ect.?

- I take a lot of notes in a document which are mostly written as me dragging and insulting my characters

- then I split it up into scenes and write down plot-points for every scene

- I also note what it does for the characters individual storyline.

- then I start writing and ignore all of that because the character saw a butterfly and it sparks an entire dialogue with another character and they decide not to save the princess at all but to start an ice-cream truck.

20) do you write in long sit-down sessions or in little spurts?

Little spurts are usually draft-versions of scenes. Long sessions happen when I’m really inspired. What works best for me is putting a bowl of snacks in front of me and having a chip or a peanut every 100 words and to keep writing until the bowl is empty (at that point, usually there’s a sunrise outside)

21) what do you think when you read over your older work?

I don’t ever do that much. but since you made me look at The Cursed One, I was actually surprised that it was not quite 100% as horribly cringy as I made it out to be in my soul. I didn’t want to spoon my eyes out of my skull.

22) are there any subjects that make you uncomfortable to write?

Not really. Nothing I would want to write in the first place.

23) any obscure life experiences that you feel have helped your writing?

not really obscure, no

24) have you ever become an expert on something you previously knew nothing about, in order to better a scene or a story?

At the moment a lot of norse mythology stuff

25) copy/paste a few sentences or a short paragraph that you’re particularly proud of

I’m never really proud of anything I write, but I’m kinda fond of the opening for one of my story-ideas, because I think it’s pretty efficient when it comes to world-building and setting the scene and explaining how the people in that place tick:

[arplis]

Arplis - News: My 22 Goals for 2019 Week 49 of 52

My 22 Goals for 2019

Goal #1 Spend More Time Doing What I Love

Red alert people, RED ALERT. It was 6 degrees this morning when I woke up. SIX!!! That.Is.Chilly. The Girl and I were going to walk Lucy on the beach this morning but those plans have been scraped. Gaaaa. I think if its 6 degrees outside, all bets are off and you can most certainly declare it a pajama day. Whos with me on this?

Goal #2 Garden, Garden, Garden

Garden are done for the year. Yipee!

Goal #3 Plant an Orchard {Calling it Quits on this one.}

Lemon baby #3 is on the way and we are patiently awaiting her arrival.

Goal #4 Gussy Up the Potting Shed Done!

I gussied up the potting shed at our old house, but I would like to add some sort of potting station to the backyard here somewhere, but Im not sure where I would put it yet.

I did come across this photo on Author Susan Branchs Instagram page though of a picture she tooth at Colonial Williamsburg. Isnt it cute? I think I need one of those.

Goal #5 Grow Enough Extra Vegetables, Eggs and Flowers to Earn $1500 at my little roadside vegetable stand.

It was totally my intention to grow a ton of fruits and vegetables to sell at the farm-stand when I made my list of goals for 2019 last winter, but then we moved. So, that whole goal was sort of a bust. I do miss it though.

Goal #6 Finish Every Single Unfinished Rug Hooking Project in My Pattern Bin + 10 Things from back Issues of Magazines/Books Ive Been Meaning to Make.

While I didnt add any new finished hooked rug pieces in my Etsy shop this past week, I did hook 4 totally new rugs {1 of which will become a kit and 2 will be offered as patterns} as well as hand dyed a bunch of wool {that I was able to get listed in my Etsy shop}.

I have decided to go back to my old schedule of only listing new hooked rugs items on the first Friday of every month for next year as it seems less stressful to me. It allows me more time to hook, rather than stopping every few days to take photo, write up description and then post a single piece online. Doing it all in one big swoop seems less chaotic to me.

73 rugs in my pattern bin {now down to 16} < SO CLOSE!

183 hooked flowers {finished 150, now down to 33}

10 things from back issues of magazines {finished 0}

Goal #7 Create 12 New Rug Hooking Patterns {with at least half of them being large ones} DONE!

So far this year Ive added 12 new rug hooking patterns and 14 beginner rug hooking kits to my Etsy shop. I just added Santa and Rudy 1892 yesterday and am hoping to squeeze one more kit in before the end of the year.

New rug hooking patterns Ive created and added to My Etsy Shop this year:

Santa and Rudy 1892

Tullia and Thomas Turkey

Double Nantucket Whale Runner

Miss Henny and Penny

Miss Penny

Simple Kitty

Primitive Flowers

2 Fat Cats

Annabells Big Day

Old Fashioned Double Tulip

Fat Brown Hen

Busy Little Bee

Queen Bee

Rug Hooking Kits

Busy Little Bee {in 2 different colors}

Folk Art Heart

Small Nantucket Whale

Primitive Crow

Miss Robin {in 2 different colors}

Simple Kitty

Primitive Flowers

Sunflowers

A Basket of Spring Posies

Fat Brown Hen

Chickys Garden

Goal #8 Split and Stack 2 Cords of Wood for Next Winter

All that firewood! We sold it.

Goal #9 Do Something with the 5,002 Photos on My Phone

Currently at 2415 Back up to 2565.

Goal #10 -Lose the Muffin Top Done!

Sweet digity!

Goal #11 Run, Walk or Crawl a 5k, 10k, Half Marathon and Marathon

As long as its not pouring rain tomorrow. The Girl and I are on for the Half Marathon. Wish us luck!

Goal #12 Read or Listen to 26 New Books {21 down, 5 to go}

No new books this week but we are planning a trip to the library later this week.

Books Ive Read or Listened to So Far This Year:

Marilla of Green Gables #1 Still my favorite

The Great Alone #2

The Aviators Wife #3

Before We Were Yours #4

Secrets of a Charmed Life #5

Whered You Go, Bernadette #6

Carnegies Maid #7

The Gown #8

Unbroken #9

Drama#10

The Alice Network #11

The Shape of Mercy #12

Wills Red Coat #13

Big Little Lies #14

Mr. Churchills Secretary

Born to Run

I Feel Bad About My Neck

Bunny Mellon {Doesnt count because it was my second time}

On Writing {Doesnt count because it was my third time}

Walden

Finders Keepers

Delicious!

50 Things to Do in Maine Before You Die

Following Atticus

Goal #13 Try 52 New Recipes.

39 down, 13 recipes to go. We tried 2 new recipes this week. 1 was a dud and the other I will share on Tuesday. And its a good one!

Goal #14 Clean Up 52 Old Recipes on the Blog

9 down, 44 to go. Why did I make this goal? Note to self: Make fewer goals for next year.

Goal #15 Fill 100 Canning Jars 72 down, 28 to go.

I made a batch of Christmas Jam for gift giving PLUS I tried a new recipe {that was inspired by Mrs. HB} this past week and the HH and I loved it so much, that Ill be making another batch {or maybe 2} of it today {Ill share the recipe on Tuesday}.

So far this year Ive I canned:

9 Jars of..

6 jars Christmas Jam

7 jars Spiced Pomegranate Jelly

7 jars Peach Jam

7 jars of Strawberry Jam

15 jars of Carrot Cake Jam

15 jars of Spiced Pear Jam

4 jars of Almond Pears.

Goal #16 Finish Furnishing Our House

We finished the roman shades for the kitchen nook and kitchen window. I plan on taking a break from making roman shades for the next month so I can finish making kits for my Etsy shop and paint out the entire kitchen area as well as finish a couple of art projects for the walls.

Goal #17 52 Dates with the HH {44 down, 8 to go}

The HH and I went on 2 date days this past week and one of them was to the Sabbathday Lake Shaker Village for their Shaker Christmas Fair and it was so overwhelming, we left after 5 minutes.

Overwhelming in the sense that although we could tell there was going to be a lot of people at the event by the distance we had to walk to the village, what we werent expecting was that once we walked in the doors of the trustees office {where the craft fair was being held}, it was SHOULDER to SHOULDER.

Like, being at a rock concert crowded. The HH didnt even make it 2 feet in before walking out and it took me nearly 5 minutes to get from the entrance and through 3 rooms and back out the door again without even being able to look or pick up anything it was so crowded. It was nuts. And totally not in the calm, welcoming Shaker spirit and all we wanted to do was leave. And so we did.

I do want to go back though at some point to visit the museum, but it will have to be an ordinary weekday with nothing on the event calendar, thats for sure.

Goal #18 Take One Adult Education Class Done {Ive taken 3!}

Block Printing Class with my neighbor.

Spoon Carving Classwith Heather.

Mini pottery lesson {I loved it! and now I want to sign up for a full class}

Goal #19 Secret Holiday Project{s}

Block print towels

Seed packet wreaths

Tea Bag Trees

Goal #20 Create 12 Wowie Zowie Party Platters

8 down, 4 to go. We are planning on making #9 tonight!

Goal #21 Visit 12 General Stores

10 down 2 to go. We visited a new country store yesterday!! The kind that offers human made {and local} baskets to customers to do their shopping with. Ill tell you all about it next week.

H.B. Provisions in Kennebunk, Maine

Chases Daily {I think it should count}

Squam Lake Marketplace

Harrisville General Store

Dodges Store in New Boston, New Hampshire

Zebs General Store in North Conway, New Hampshire

Dan and Whits in Norwich, Vermont

Husseys General Store in Windsor, Maine

Goal #22 Compete with Carole.. Get on My Front Door Game On

Would you believe not a single person walking by {or even a neighbor} has made a comment about the leg lamp in the window? I think theyre showing restraint, while my husband keeps telling me that they are in such awe of it, they just dont know what to say.

Ummmm Okay.

Front Door Bling Ive Made So Far This Year to Compete with Carole:

Late January : Valentine Heart

Late February : Shamrock

Late March : Giant Carrot

May: White wave petunia hanging basket

June/July: Tin Star and Flag Bunting

August : Sunflower

September: Indian corn and pumpkins

October: Pumpkins and spinner do hickeys

November: Indian corn and big pumpkins

December: Leg lamp and nutcrackers in the window and giant Christmas balls on the porch

**************

How about YOU? What are your goals for 2019? If you told us about them HERE, check in! We want to know how you are doing. Because seriously, its so much easier to get those goals checked off your list when you have people rooting for you!

Have a great day everyone,

Mavis

P.S. If you are looking for a last minute gift for neighbor or a friend, I still have a few ornaments left in my Etsy shop and you can find them all HERE. UPDATE: The barred rock chicken is sold out but there are a few more chicken ornaments HERE.

You can read more about my 22 goals for 2019 HERE.

Have a Great Day!

The post My 22 Goals for 2019 Week 49 of 52 appeared first on One Hundred Dollars a Month.

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My 22 Goals for 2019 Week 48 of 52

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Arplis - News source https://arplis.com/blogs/news/my-22-goals-for-2019-week-49-of-52

[l0chn3ss]

I SEEYOU REBLOGGING THOSE WHICH-OC-WOULD POST TELL ME ABOUT YOUR CHILDREN PLS MY SOUL NEEDS WHO ARE THEY

YOU BRING ME TEARS OF PURE JOY DURING THE DARKEST DAY OF THE WEEK

I have three children so far and all three are a part of the ToT story I’m currently plotting, short for “The Tome of Tombs.” As a background for this story, when someone dies because of external forces and not an age-ly old death (maybe this may change), their body leaves behind a book in its place detailing every single life event and memory of that person, personalized to fit secrets and summarized important moments through that person’s entire life span. More details later or on a more private convo :3 I have a basic idea going but you caught me just barely creating this so I hope this is enough!

The first child is Cinder Mactare- 

I was fortunate and lucky enough for blessed @mrsashketchum to draw our lovely bby girl! she posted it here.

Cinder is the protagonist of the story The Tome of Tombs, a chaotic (though outwardly she looks lawful) good sweet gentle orphan muffin with too much money and not enough stories in her life. Everything in her life is seemingly perfect– shes very popular and volunteers with every philanthropy imaginable and loved by everyone and exceeds all expectations, (picture perfect) but she is passive aggressive, very manipulative in the sense that she can control a situation to benefit her (for good or for self benefit, usually to protect the underdog), and she is a bookworm.

She has a fatal flaw that is what sets the plot into motion, which is that she desires knowledge past what anyone can provide for her– alive that is. She wants to know everything, is a little bit of a kleptomaniac, and her greatest happiness is curling up in the sun with secrets no one else has discovered yet. (copy and pasted from a previous post here)

Additional information that I have on her now is that she is a sweet girl but with grey as fuck morals when it comes to knowledge. Absolutely well loved and lives in an inherited mansion with live-in servants who have known her since birth. She has a secret catacomb just full of books and collected letter openers which she uses as bookmarks as well as an upstairs library of rare books that she has an unhealthy obsession over. Her favorite color is 100% light pink and she loves a good mystery. While she isn’t the type to have close friends, her best friend since childhood is Amber, who she still can’t bring herself to trust with her life.

Also spoiler alert: bae is a serial killer, the cutest

Second child is Ashton Libellus-

This moody awkward child also comes from old money, but he is much less eager to use it and would much prefer wading around in the shadows, not drawing attention to himself. He’s a smart lad, especially because he comes from a genius family with more secrets than Cinder herself. Fretting, blushing, and unwilling to help anyone except for himself, everything changes when his uncle is murdered. He needs to learn to be generous and to help others and to even accept the help being offered to him, but it’s much easier said than done. You gotta care for other people my son.

Enlisting Cinder’s help after finding out that her family is part of an underground society of gross rich people, he goes on a search for his uncle’s murderer to take back his Life Book, which contains secrets that could potentially ruin his family. (his own fam is a part of it, but he’d rather be burned than ask for their help; hello estranged son) He quickly figured out that his uncle was killed and the book was stolen for the contents, which is why he wants to find it again.

He meets Cinder in middle school, introduced by his parents who wanted him to take a liking to her (hello match making). From this experience, he actively avoided her for the rest of his life until high school when he was forced to partner up with her for a project. He grumbles, knowing that Cinder can pass without him and his help, but he gets the feeling that Cinder isn’t that perfect child she wants people to believe.

Third child is Amber Coroner-

Amber shares everything with Cinder, from her dreams to her nightmares. She is always seeking the truth and doing what is morally correct to her and is readily trusting anyone until they’ve proven her wrong. Cinder tries her best to swerve Amber away from anyone who tries to manipulate her and avoids asking for too much from Amber too (is it out of pity or actual feelings of compassion?). She runs the school newspaper and is constantly given shit over how persistent she is, though people do enjoy reading her conspiracy theories and other front page spreads that she writes.

Her family is very immersed into a religious faction that does not accept the existence of Life Books and so they burn any that they find-- which is the only way to truly destroy it. The life of the individual belongs solely to themselves, and people who hunt for those books must be persecuted. While Amber doesn’t like destruction of any sort of truth, she knows in her heart that those books are not something that should be coveted.

Yes the fire motifs are intentional. Yes there is a plot device to this.

edit: it’s 9/6/17 and i just finished answering this ask which is a year old. im. sorry. you still bring me joy in the darkest days kirste ily. It’s still v small and my ocs are still wee and teeny but I hope that they can grow with time~

[walterlitfyafricablog]

Why digital literacy

Part two

In part one I did not get the chance to clearly point out the advantages of why we should invest in digital literacy. In 2017 together with friends we founded a charity  organisation called Mabvazuva Trust. Our mission was "To raise a generation that does not complain but is optimistic for the future". By not complaining i don't mean roll over and take it from behind i mean stop complaining for a second and see the opportunities around us. People who complain never found out the truth and they never contribute anything. The reason why we don't see the vast opportunities right in front of us sometimes. A dude from America Jeremy Johnson discovered that in Nigeria, Africa's largest country over half of young people were unemployed and he founded an organisation called Andela. This brings me to my first point:

JOB CREATION

We can create jobs in the field of computer science for those who are unemployed. Andela has a goal to produce 100 000 developers by 2024. Initially they launched in Nigeria receiving funding from the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative. Andela is trying to solve the global tech talent shortage because their stats reviewed that there are five open jobs for every software developer looking for one in the U.S. alone. That means in the US they are looking for people to fill these job post and we are crying about unemployment here. The good part you don't need to go to America or struggle to get a visa etc you can work remotely. I read an article by Andela that claim that over two thirds of firms in america prefer to have remote employees. I believe we can create more jobs in the technology area if we invest in digital literacy and this is not fiction there are people already doing it. Andela has only accepted 1 200 developers out of 130 000 applications they have received. That means the other 128 800 applicants did not get the opportunity to fill this gap. I guess that's why econet launched Muzinda Hub to try to train as many developers as they can and its another article for another day about what they have done so far, whether they are succeeding and the fact that they can't close this gap alone.

HELP ENTREPRENEURS BECOME COMPETITIVE

African entrepreneurs especially my fellow zimbabweans need to understand that they can use technology to become competitive in a global world and use social media platforms like WhatsApp, Instagram, Facebook and Twitter not just to post how great they were when they went to church last Sunday but to use social media as a business tools. Some try by opening facebook pages  and just post their logo or something and that's it the page is abandoned. Would one claim to be on facebook or whatsapp if they are there once a year. A few months back when i was doing research about digital literacy i bumped into a company based in South Africa called Digify Africa. Digify Africa & Facebook Africa are on a mission to "DIGIFY" businesses owned by young people through their digital PRO STARTUP which is a 12 weeks digital training course to help young entrepreneurs take their business to the next level. The programme is aimed at helping youth enterprises become competitive through digital skills, in particular understanding facebook and Instagram as business tools.

 HELP ARTISTS MARKET THEMSELVES

When we founded Mabvazuva Trust it was one of our objectives to equip musicians, actors, poets, comedicians, painters, footballers etc with the digital skills they need to market their talent and expose themselves at a global stage. Having knowledge about technology enables one to use the internet to meet customers, fans, promoters and agents etc. The agent who discovered Lionel Messi by the name Josep Maria Minguella acknowledged in a interview the importance of technologies like fieldoo to discover talent. "Absolutely! Internet has totally changed the way a football agent does his/her job and the transfer industry. There are no more boundaries and limits – you can see, observe and connect with way more players (and other people) than years ago, as you’re not limited to physical presence. Not so many years ago you had to go around the world if needed, to see and meet players, while nowadays you can do it through the internet – with videos, detailed information and all you need to learn about the player you’re interested in." I remember in 2017 talking to football players trying to get them to open youtube channels so that they could upload their videos as a way to get noticed. Josep Maria Minguella also noted it was difficult to discover talent back then because the internet wasnt as developed as it is now. "Back then we hadn’t been operating through the internet on a daily basis as it had not been developed yet in all parts of the world. Because of that, I had to rely on videos I received from Rosario, where Leo Messi was playing." Now life is easy if you know how to use technology. Artists like Ann Kasiime used digital platforms to showcase their talents and it helped her grow. "According to recorded interviews that she gave in 2014, Anne began posting some of her sketch comedy skits on YouTube. She received positive feedback and that encouraged her to post more videos."

Iam happy these days when i see comedians like Comic Pastor using YouTube as a business tool to get their content to their audience and so many comedians are popping up online here in Zimbabwe. Digify Africa realised the need for equiping artist with digital skills and they have what they call OWN YOUR MARK. This programme is designed to give artists the skills they need to grow their creative hustles. The training program is designed to give artists the skills they need to make the most of the digital world and to grow their creative markets.

MAKING MONEY ONLINE

In this section im going to talk about someone i met on LinkedIn. His name is Taylor Chiyangwa a Digital Marketing and Online Entrepreneurship enthusiast.

After chatting with him online i started researching anything i could find about him and i started reading his blog. He has posted several blog posts about digital marketing. What inspired me the most was his story about how he was tired of his day job and knew that wasnt it for him until he used the exposure he had to computers and started teaching himself digital marketing. He kept his day job for a while when he was learning until he took a leap of faith quit his job and focused fulltime on his digital marketing and online entrepreneurship passion. Since then Taylor went on to open three online businesses that focus on digital marketing, content and copywriting services to businesses and forex education. He is now an entrepreneur and he has employeed a few guys in his company some working full time some as freelancers. Taylor wrote a free ebook called 25 ways to make money online. This book will show you that they are many ways one can make money online. And guess what all you need is a phone or laptop and internet to get started. 

PROBLEM SOLVING

Steve Jobs: “Everybody in this country should learn to program a computer, because it teaches you how to think”. I believe i think and have a problem solver mentality because im a programmer. Programmers write programs to solve problems. I think programming doesnt teach you to thing only but it teaches you endurance, perserverance and a never give up mentality. My friend Lionel said to me that the reason my ventures havent succeeded was because i did not have a thick skin. For a second i believed him but then it dawned on me the reason why i have succeeded as a software developer was because i had a thick skin. So maybe i was only thick skinned when it comes to code but if i apply the same concept in my business ventures i will suceed. It was because of my thick skin and never give up mentality that i did the Truworths Zimbabwe in a month with drupal a CMS i had never studied before. It was because of my thick skin i developed a ussd application with technologies i did not know about like nodejs, express, angular and  mongodb that when you dial *558# on your econet line you will see a seedco menu. I did that project with Tapiwa Jeka at Dataage Solutions and i remember we took turns having sleepless night to code that application and we usually slept at the office 2 nights a week until we finished that application. I remember talking to Seth Mutasa one of my students that you dont learn to code but you learn how NOT TO code. Which means you learn through the failures so a programmer should embrances errors and fix them otherwise you are toast. The worse thing for me when im programming is code that doesnt give me feedback where i did wrong that way im clueless what to do next. 

I strongly believe if we had more programmers we wouldn't be whinning too much but do something using technology to change our world one community after another. I taught my brother Rann web design and it 6 weeks he made a site to aware youths in our community about the dangers of drugs they were taking 

OTHERS

I did not point out every reason why we need digital literacy but i think you get the idea.i left out some other good stuff like reducing the digital divide, economic growth and reduced poverty.

[hoorayfornicepeople-blog]

February 26, 2018

Where to begin? Probably with a deep breath. Two months from today, I will be on a plane back to the States, which means I have reached the half way point. Time certainly doesn’t slow down. Today I went to the immigration office in Kampala to swap my tourist visa out for a student visa, symbolic of some sort of greater permanence, of this becoming a kind of home and less of a quick stop along the way.

This week is probably also the busiest week of the semester so far (or so it feels). Last week was spring break, which I spent on my rural homestay, with a family in Soroti, in the Serere district of Northern Uganda. We left last Friday on the 16th and returned just last night (Sunday). The week left me with an awful lot to process through, which made jumping into this busy week quite challenging. Today, I struggled to balance the need to prioritize processing, with some of the pressing academic tasks that needed to be done. This has been a consistent thread this semester, but it felt particularly heightened today. I spent the week totally unplugged from technology and the rest of the world and reentry last night brought me 169 new emails and zero desire to read any of them. The emotional energy required to talk with people and explain my week to them proved difficult to find. Many of you have already responded to my inability to explain with understanding and grace.

Tonight, in an attempt to sort through the emails remaining unread from last night, I read the notes from the first La Vida training, which happened last week while I was away. (Update in case I haven’t told you— headed to the Adirondack’s to Sherpa in August!!) Per usual with God’s timing, the “devo thought” from the training was so poignant and relevant to my inner dialogue that I could have cried. It was taken from Elton Trueblood:

“The man who supposes that he has no time to pray or to reflect, because of social tasks which are urgent and numerous, will soon find that he has become fundamentally unproductive, because he will have separated his life from his roots….A man has made a step toward a genuine maturity when he realizes that, though he ought to perform kind and just acts, the greatest gift he can give others consist in being a radiant and encouraging person. What we are is more significant in the long run, than what we do. It is impossible for a man to give what he does not have.”

Yesterday, Will had reminded me to give myself permission to prioritize my mental, emotional, spiritual health/need for processing and reflection, even if that meant temporarily setting aside an assignment or other academic task. You know me enough to know that this advice is a tough pill for me to swallow, even though I know it’s true. Today, it was abundantly clear to me that lack of processing, even briefly, was leaving me “fundamentally unproductive,” no matter how much I tried to discipline myself. And so here I am, engaging in one of the most cathartic exercises I’ve ever known, writing. As usual, I am grateful for your willingness to sit patiently and listen while I attempt to sort through the richness of this experience and put it into words.

Spring Break 2k18… last year during spring break there was a giant blizzard. This year, in Sortoti, the average weekly temperature was somewhere around 100 degrees (not even hyperbolizing here). I went into the week expecting I would sleep in a hut, slaughter a chicken, carry water on my head, and milk a cow. I did none of the above. There’s a lesson on perception and expectations in there. When I was dropped off on Saturday, my host mama matter-of-factly informed me— “This week, it will be too hot for activities, but we will prepare food, eat, and sit.” That turned out to be an incredibly accurate synopsis of the week. In addition to the heat, we are currently on the tail end of dry season, which contributed to the lack of activity, since my host parents primarily farm. The third and final factor that shaped the level of activity of the week was that both of my host parents are in their 70s,  incredibly strong and fit, but still doing less physically demanding work at this stage of life.

However, here are some things that I did get to do:

Bucket bathed… a lot

Drank 4,000 Nalgenes a day (don’t worry Mom, I stayed hydrated)

Rested

Star gazed

Ate food

Went to church

Visited the village center

Learned to remove the internal organs of a chicken prior to cooking it

Washed dishes

Did laundry

Drank tea

Swept and mopped the house

Learned to cook a lot of things in the outdoor kitchen— posho, lots of different kinds of potatoes, soup, greens, millet/potato/sorghum bread…

Constructed an underground oven and cooked sweet potatoes in it

Rested

Read 600+ pages (spread between three books)

Sat in silence

Listened to the radio

Beat, winnowed, and separated millet

Rested

Ate more food

Visited the neighbors

Sewed pillowcases

Shelled G-nuts

Picked, cut, and ate jackfruit

Spent too much time in the pit latrine after eating jackfruit

Watched thunderstorms from the porch (It rained four nights in a row. Before leaving for the week, Eddie told us the mzungus always bring the rain to Soroti. I thought it was a crazy superstition, but it turned out to be absolutely right.)

Drank more tea

Rested

Picked and ate fresh oranges

My mama’s favorite phrase was “you go rest now,” since my room was like an oven during the day, this usually meant finding the shadiest spot and reading my book or journaling, rather than taking a nap. In combination with the amount of time I already spent sitting in silence with my host parents, or by myself in between other activities, this was wild. Before leaving, I asked people to pray for my ability to be present. God responded by providing opportunities to be present in excess. Retrospectively, the time that I had this week to reflect, contemplate, learn, and rest was truly valuable, but my impatience made it difficult to recognize in the moment. I experienced a week of simplicity, with little urgency. A culture not enslaved to clock time or schedules, but guided by the needs of the present moment, subsistence, and the daily rhythm of the earth. It was simultaneously one of the most challenging, defining, and enriching (still convincing myself of the last part) parts of the week.

The week included some of my most challenging experiences in communicating cross-culturally– navigating difficult conversations, pushing myself not to be dismissive of a differences of opinion rooted in cultural conditioning, doing my best to practice humility and openness, and learning that I have an accent that is at times hard to understand. This is something I still need to unpack, but you can ask me about it if you’re curious.

Much of what I learned this week came through lots of observation and listening. I learned a lot about the historical and current politics of Northern Uganda and it’s rocky relationship with President Museveni, who punishes the region by withholding government resources or using discriminatory policies, because of the imbalance of power based in tribal/ethnic divisions. I learned about theology, community, he education system, marriage, death, parenting, family, environment, land and agriculture, politics, and history all as they’re shaped by the culture and context of Northern Uganda. Detailing each of these would  take an incredible number of words.

I also learned about some of the most prominent poverty related issues Ugandans are experiencing, particularly related to education and medical care. Serere is and has been one of the most impoverished areas of Uganda. However, hear me on this. When you close your eyes and picture poverty in Africa, that image in your mind is not a universal representation. I learned that about myself and my own preconceptions this week for sure. I wrestled (and still am, present tense) with the task of attempting to define and understand poverty and all that is wrapped up in that. In the West, one might look at my host parents and consider them poor. But they do not struggle to put food on the table, they sustain themselves through the land they own and the food they grow. They understand conservation, care for what they own, and work very hard. If measured, their land and animals could translate to monetary value that would increase their material wealth significantly. At the same time, in the village this week, I observed acute poverty that has been unmatched by anything in the previous two months. All the while, I was reading “The White Man’s Burden,” a convicting critique by a former World Bank economist of Western involvement in the developing world, particularly through aid, military and political interference, and all forms of residual neocolonialism. I don’t think I will ever stop grappling with the irreparable damage we have done in our pursuits of materialism and power, and our misuse of resources and privilege. This paragraph is insufficient to express my questions and tangled thought processes about this particular topic, but for now, it’s what I’m capable of writing.

By the end of the week, I had more questions than answers. Honestly, what else is new. On Friday morning, we were picked up and drove to Kapchowra, about an hour away, where we spent the weekend. On Friday night, we spent time in intentional debrief, which was helpful, but in many ways only began to scratch the surface of our 25 different experiences. Saturday, we had a day of emotional (but definitely not physical) rest. After a lovely breakfast, we hiked Mount Elgon, an extinct volcano and home to the famous Sipi Falls, one of Uganda’s bigger tourist spots. The ten mile hike was exhausting, but refreshing and breathtaking. I’ll let the pictures speak for themselves.

We had a quick thirty minute respite after the hike before we began a “coffee tour.” Kapchowra is the OG home of the Arabica coffee bean, discovered long ago by a lucky farmer who just wanted to find out why his goats were getting hyper after eating the leaves of some tree with redish colored berries. On the tour, we got to learn about and help with the process of making coffee, from picking beans  to pouring a steaming cup and everything in between. Definitely a highlight for me, even if it was a horribly touristy activity. Shown in the photo below is me shelling coffee beans. Not pictured was the slap happy, caffeine induced state my roommates witnessed me in after the effects of having more coffee than I’ve had in two months kicked in. Let’s say I was laughing at everything and didn’t get the most sleep I’ve ever gotten, but it was quite worth it.

On Sunday morning, we hiked to the top of the little hill above the guest house for a small worship service before our departure. I was asked to give a brief testimony about what God has been teaching me in this first half of the semester (in 5-10 minutes??). I spoke about patience. presence, and newness, the ways that He has been revealing my restlessness to me, but it felt next to impossible to come up with some concise summary of the work He has done in me in the past two months (and is surely continuing to do). Thanks for sticking with me and reading this long post to the end. If it feels open ended, that’s because my thoughts are open ended in so many ways right now. I don’t want to settle for a pretty packaged or over-simplified version of the week. In some areas, I settled for brevity in this post, because I don’t want to risk sounding like I have the answers.  I know the week was hard; I know the week was valuable. I know it left me with even more to ponder than I already had, which I didn’t know was possible. As I talk with you individually in the coming weeks, don’t be afraid to ask me questions, because they will help me in my pondering, but know that I am unresolved and still figuring out how to understand.

A brief post-script. Some people (not necessarily any of you) have made comments to my USP friends and I that come with a perceived bravery or accomplishment in what we did last week. “You lived in a rural village in Africa?! That must have been so hard, you are so brave!” or something of the sort. All I will say is that I am not brave. My attitude at points during the week was not even in the ballpark of praiseworthy. This whole thing is as far from being about me as possible. I felt like an outsider this week, even though I was being welcomed into a community. Don’t hear me being dismissive of your encouragement. But I challenge all of you to not let your perceptions of African poverty to shape your visions of my experience. I think these kinds of comments, while well intentioned, are rooted in subconscious (read: often distorted) pictures of the reality of a place like this. I hope that as I communicate to you, the things I say will never glorify or manipulate the things I am experiencing as a result of my own pride and desire for affirmation. Please call me out if you ever see or hear this in my words. Thanks again for being in my corner.

All my love,

Abs

Spring Break February 26, 2018 Where to begin? Probably with a deep breath. Two months from today, I will be on a plane back to the States, which means I have reached the half way point.

[ihavetodothissorry-blog]

Hello! We have to write about our holidays so here I am. My holidays were really...Normal. For some maybe boring. But I don't think so. Even if most of my time I spent on laptop. I don't have many friends near my house. Most of them live in other towns, really far from me. But we have Facebook! Ninety-nine percent of my time im chatting with them. We have our own group chat even if there's only three of us. We like same things but that's not most important. It's kind of friendship that just exist no matter what you're interested in. I don't even remember how our friendship started. It was...Maybe four years ago? Something like that. A true accident. It's hard to me to hold a friendship with other people. Along with time we're forgetting about other and that's how everything ends. But not with these two girls. We just can't stop talking. Somethimes we're calling each other because we want to hear ourselves. Especially one friend who I can easilly call my best friend or even a soulmate. Her name is Ola. She's a nerd like me so we're talking or chatting whole day. And we can't get bored of it. We're writing something called Role Play. How can I describe it...It's like writing a story but with another person. You're creating characters and you play them. Actually our friendship started because of that. And now we can write a story for about six months and don't get bored of it. Now we're writing it too. A fantasy of course. It's more interesting than normal stories. We can just put there everything we want. Creating your own story with someone close to your heart is really funny. Time is passing really fast. Sometimes I think how would it end if someday we publish a book based on one of our Role Plays! We create funny, serious, sad and even romantic moments. I can say that what we're writing is a part of my life. I spent most of my free time on it. And Im glad of it. It's really good way to have fun and raise your writing skills. (We're actually writing a really dramatic moment and our characters are suffering emotionally. But it's for something bigger! For a good plot! I have to stand it somehow even if my poor creations are in despair now. I will reward them with peacefull days later.) But I wasn't Role Playing for all time. I was helping my mum too. Im always helping her with washing dishes and brooming terrace. And always at Saturdays. It's helpful with spending time. At Saturdays Chinese Cartoons (Actually Japanese but whatever) are airing and I have to wait whole day to watch it online. It's annoying! Waiting makes me angry. When we're done with brooming episodes are usually online and I can watch them peacefully. Okay, maybe not. Im always screaming when somethin epic happens. Or I see a character Im in love with. And of course Im crying because something bad happens to my lovely characters and then everything in my life is ruined. For about an hour. When I calm myself down Im going back to watching or something else if I end every show that aired this day. But this isn't all! You could not belive me, BUT I WASN'T SITTING IN HOUSE WHOLE TIME! Yes I was at horse riding camp! For about two weeks. But still at evenings I was talking with Ola. We just can't live without talking or chatting to each other. But let's get back to the camp. Two weeks with working in stables, taking care of horses, riding them and playing with other girls. It was really funny! My best friend on camp was a girl called Wiktoria. She hadn't had same interests as me but that wasn't important because we just liked spending time with each other and doing crazy things. One day a bee sting her in her leg and I had to carry her from a paddock to our house. Other girls from my room were taking photos of us. We looked really silly then. I added two best photos of us at the top. I really like them. I rarely look good on photos. Two weeks passed really fast and I was at my room aka bunker again. Finally I can sleep to 12 am. And I had to watch latest episodes of Chinese Cartoons! I couldn't watch them at the camp. Shame, shame, shame. And everything went back to normall. I was chatting and writing Role Play with Ola again. Helping mum at Saturdays, watching new series and episodes that're airing in this season. I found a lot of beautiful and amazing new things this holidays. Of course Im talking about Chinese Cartoons, artworks and music. I love listening to music. It's with me every second of my life. Well in most time. Whenever Im on my laptop Im listening to something. I can't write Role Play without climatic music. For example, when it's sad moment I play slow and piano music. Usually from games or series I love. Sometimes it makes me really emotional and Im starting to cry. Sound weird but that's how it is. I love collecting artworks from different series. It think I can call it my hobby. I know many pages which artist adds their works and I save the ones I like. I can spend whole day searching for the most beautiful arts. It's really addictive! When I start I can't stop until I save over one hundred arts. Okay, that's not a hobby. That's an obssesion. This Holidays number of my saved arts striked to over thirty thousands! AND IM NOT JOKING. I have exactly 34 263 pictures and 444 folders. I think I should start treating myself from this. But Im proud of this collection. And It's still growing! I wonder when will my laptop run out of memory to save more. The artwork in background of this blog is my favourite female character and one of her best arts. I couldn't decide which should I choose and I ended up sitting for half an hour and deciding. Geez. So many new series. I already have a lot to watch but they're still coming! And Im too lazy to watch it. Yeah that level of laziness really exists. Im happy especially of one series that I decided to watch. I started it a long time ago but i dropped it. I think I just grew up enough to understand it and like it. But something tragic happened. I just fell in love with it and again I can't decide about my favourite series or character. I even sympathize myself with protagonist. Thank goodness it's a really long series. First season has about 102 episodes. Secont has only 12 but that's okay. Everything comes from comic that is...Inspiration? I don't know. I have forgotten that one word don't beat me please. I hope you understand what I have on my mind. But let's come back. New chapters are still coming out but unfortunately author is sick and can't draw so we have have really long breaks between chapters. The shortest break was about six months. Pretty long, yeah? It's been five years since we saw my second favourite character...Okay, maybe third. I said earlier that I can't decide. It's painfull because there're so many plot twist and sometimes I can't understand what's going on. But Im okay with that. Im angry at myself because I keep creating crazy theories that will never happen. But we don't know! This author is unpredictable! I just want my lovely protagonist to be happy and I will be okay. But he isn't right now so my soul can't rest in peace. It was supposed to be blog about Holidays but I had to start writing about something totally diffrent. As always. Okay I think it's best moment to end this blog. It's starting to be really weird and private. Some people might think my Holidays were really boring and I done nothing positive. That's not true. I liked them very much. And still they were too short! I still have too many series to watch...And think about crazy plot twists in my Role Play with Ola. I think that's all. Thanks for reading! Oh. That picture at the end is a meme because I like memes. And it decribes my Holidays perfect so I think it fits there. Please note that I wrote this in middle of Saturday night just because I was waiting for Ola to respond me in Role Play. I had to find something to do except scrolling random posts on facebook. And Im not joking. 100% truth. JUST BELIVE ME PLEASE. Peace~

[trendingnewsb]

10 books every entrepreneur should read in 2017

Image: Mascha Tace/shutterstock

Entrepreneurship is a commitmentnot only to your venture or business, but also to a unique learning process. Where others seek guidance through big universities and established companies, I know many entrepreneurs like myself who have a desire to go their own way and learning becomes a self-guided experience. As a result, Ive gained a whole new dimension to my learning experience, having combined it with what I have chosen to read and what I have learned in the field.

Many entrepreneurs are avid readersnot just out of curiosity, but necessity. I love listening to podcasts and audiobooks because its something I can do while Im on the go whether that is traveling or exercising. Reading is one of the only ways you can learn from the worlds best and brightest, especially those who choose to share their thoughts on paper instead of through a weekly podcast.

Here is an entrepreneurs reading list for 2017 that include ten books that I have been motivating, insightful, and humbling for me. I hope that they leave a positive impression and assist you on your journey toward building something impactful in the world.

1. “All In” by Bill Green

This is a must read for any first-time entrepreneur who thinks building a business is an easy process. Author Bill Green uses “All In” to both inspire entrepreneurs on their quest for greatness and put things in perspective. Starting in a flea market and ending with a publicly traded company, Greens story demonstrates what it means to go all in on an ideaand not stop until the goal is achieved something that stands out for me in terms of the perspective that has helped me in bringing my own business ideas to fruition.

Greens company was Wilmar Industries, a corporation that ended up employing more than 2,300 people. When Wilmar went public in 1996, Fortune rated Wilmar as one of the best IPOs of the year. In 1999, Wilmar was named by Forbes as one of the top 200 Best Small Companies in America. “All In” describes Greens humble beginnings, his bootstrapping mindset and, ultimately, his rise to building a company that today is owned by Home Depot, with revenues topping $1.8 billion.

2. “Top of Mind” by John Hall

In a noisy world of digital marketers, how do you stand out? CEO of Influence & Co. and business thought leader John Hall has some valuable insights. After all, his recipe for staying top of mind with your consumers is the same step-by-step process he used to build Influence & Co to one of Forbes Most Promising Companies In America.

Top of Mind is full of tactics, with insights into how consumer needs and expectations have changed over the past few years; how you can build a brand that serves both your ideal customers and your own employees; and ways to use digital content to build lasting trust with your readers, followers and subscribers. I have put many of these tactics to work already with great success in my own business.

3. “The Miracle Morning for Entrepreneurs” by Hal Elrod and Cameron Herold

Consider this your wake-up call. Few books can change your daily habits as effectively as “The Miracle Morning for Entrepreneurs.” Author Hal Elrods original “The Miracle Morning” was a self-development crash course. In this follow-up page-turner, wisdom is added from Cameron Herold, a bestselling author and widely respected business coach, using the Miracle Morning framework as a foundation.

The book has given me six daily practices to create and sustain positive change in my lifepersonally and professionally. I have found that one of the most difficult challenges is to maintain a balance between building a successful business and taking care of myself. It has taught me that if Im off, then the whole picture is off. The principles in this book have put balance back in my life, which has benefitted my business, helped me feel better, and made my family a lot happier.

4. “Grit” by Angela Duckworth

Can success be reduced to a process? Pioneering psychologist and New York Times bestselling author Angela Duckworth thinks it can. She calls it grit. “Grit” does an incredible job of exploring what makes someone exceptionaland, as Duckworth has discovered, it certainly isnt talent or inherent intelligence.

She argues that the most successful people discover their own genius through the daily habit of persistence while always remembering to lead with what they are most passionate about. I thoroughly enjoyed the personal stories as well as interviews with peak performers and industry leaders, ranging from JP Morgan CEO Jamie Dimon to Seattle Seahawks coach Pete Carroll.

5. “A Paperboys Fable” by Deep Patel

This book struck me for its title because it made me think about my first job and the other ventures I tried when I was younger.

Part story, part riveting interviews with professors, entrepreneurs, CEOs and more, “A Paperboys Fable” creatively shares some of the most tried and true lessons learned in business. Like the Arbinger Institutes Leadership and Self-Deception, what makes “A Paperboys Fable” a worthwhile read is its ability to take high-level and timeless business lessons and make them both easy to understand for beginners and poignant reminders for us more seasoned entrepreneurs.

6. “Rich20Something” by Daniel DiPiazza

The brand, Rich20Something, was started by Daniel DiPiazza, a recognized digital marketer and influencer. A website, a massively popular Instagram page, and now a book packed with lessons, “Rich20Something” is DiPiazzas story of being a typical twenty-something, unsure of what to do in life, and how he built a brand around the hustling mentality that can turn any young entrepreneur into a success.

Unlike the conventional corporate ladder path, “Rich20Something” is essentially a guide to hacking your way to wherever you want to go. DiPiazza shares his own advice from the trenches along with anecdotes from other successful entrepreneurs and mentors and step-by-step techniques for building businesses around my personal skill set. Its helped me beyond the dream and make things happen.

7. “Managing the Mental Game” by Jeff Boss

Who better to learn mental fortitude from than a former Navy SEAL? In Managing the Mental Game,” Boss reflects on his experiences as a SEAL and walks readers through techniques that build self-confidence, mental endurance and positive habits.

The book is comprised of over 23 mental exercises, covering topics such as how to deal with stress, how to avoid common mental traps, how to handle uncertainty and even the neuroscience behind change. Ive used these in my daily work life to deal with those unexpected issues and barriers that seem to pop up with a startup, which has provided me with a much more measured and logical approach when these do happen.

8. “Disrupted” by Dan Lyons

What is Silicon Valley really like? After 25 years at Newsweek, journalist Dan Lyons lost his job to younger talent. Shortly thereafter, he found himself working for a famed Silicon Valley startup, Hubspot, which had over $100 million in venture capital. “Disrupted” is Lyons take on the idealized entrepreneurship scene in California. As a resident of Silicon Valley, this book hit home in terms of familiar situations and advice on how to navigate the territory here.

One part crash course on entrepreneurship, two parts humorous stories and unfortunate conclusions, this book shows that heavily funded startups arent all they seem to be from the outside. According to Lyons, Its a world where bad ideas are rewarded, where companies blow money on lavish perks, and where everyone is trying to hang on just long enough to reach an IPO and cash out.

9. “Be Obsessed or Be Average” by Grant Cardone

Grant Cardone is a success story, to say the least. In addition to having one of the strongest personal brands, Cardone has made a name for himself by building five successful companies and turning himself into a multimillionaire. “Be Obsessed or Be Average” is like his other NYT bestseller,The 10x Rule a humbling reminder of just how much you have to want success in order to e ventually have it. It reads just like Cardone sounds in his videos and on his podcastfull of energy and motivation. His quotes have stayed top of mind long after finishing the book, which have been inspirational when faced with some critical issues in my business.

From Cardones perspective, success ultimately comes down to three basic rules: first, be willing to set crazy goals, and aim to reach them, every single day; second, value your money and make it work for you; and, third, use your haters as fuel. These rules have worked for me and many colleagues, so they will work for you, too.

10. “The Fire Starter Sessions” by Danielle LaPorte

Theres a reason “The Fire Starter Sessions” has sold over a million copies. Author Danielle LaPorte explains that many of the things we believe about the road to success are actually wrong, and that we end up driving ourselves mad by searching for things that dont actually exist.

Some of the controversial topics covered in this book include the fact that life balance is a myth, that our principles and beliefs might be the very things holding us back, and that happiness has far more to do with how we feel while were working and not necessarily the achievement of our goals. “The Fire Starter Sessions” offers helpful reminders for any entrepreneur who wants to build a meaningful future. Its certainly given me a lot of food for thought on how Ive looked at my own business and leadership style.

John Rampton is serial entrepreneur who now focuses on helping people to build amazing products and services that scale. He is founder of the online payments company Due. If you’re looking for even more to read, check out his book: “Self Employed: 50 Signs That You Might Be an Entrepreneur.“

WATCH:

John Rampton

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Getting to Know the Ghost: The Complete Beginners Guide to Snapchat

This post has been refreshed for 2017

Snapchat is the latest platform taking the social media world by storm.

Since its launch, in September 2011, Snapchat has shown incredible growth. The Venice, California-based company now boasts over 161 million daily active users and 10 billion video views, daily.

And with consumer attention comes ad dollars, with many major brands turning to Snapchat as a way to connect with their audience. Gatorade is one of the brands getting involved; they ran a sponsored Lense during the Super Bowl and generated over 100 million views.

So how can you get in on the action? And how can you use Snapchat to grow your business?

This post will give you the lowdown on Snapchat, from the basics of how it works to 5 super-actionable tips for brands and businesses from marketer, Everette Taylor.

Ready? Let’s get started 

Getting to Know the Ghost: A Handy Guide to Using Snapchat for Marketers

Contents:

– What is Snapchat?

– Snapchat 101

– Everette Taylor’s top tips for brands on Snapchat

– Recommended accounts to follow

What is Snapchat?

In a social media age where saving and preserving moments has become the norm, Snapchat found a way to go against the grain.

With Snapchat, every moment is temporary. What’s shared is rarely saved. It’s about in the moment connections.

In its rawest form, Snapchat enables us to share temporary, self-destructing photos, videos, and messages (also known as ‘Snaps’). Images and videos will last anywhere from one to ten seconds, and users can embellish each Snap with captions, drawings, and filters.

Once a Snap has been viewed, it’s gone forever.

Though the temporary nature of Snapchat may sound a little strange, when you think about how we interact with each other day-to-day, Snapchat mimics that behavior closer than any other social network, as Gary Vaynerchuk explains:

  The way Snapchat works is much closer to how we communicate face to face than any other social network. What I mean by this is that: when we talk to each other, passing in the halls or just living out our lives, those moments disappear. Snapchat emulates that behavior and psychology.

Sidenote: The infamous ghost in Snapchat’s logo is named Ghostface Chillah, based on Ghostface Killah of the Wu-Tang Clan.

Snapchat 101: Everything you need to know about getting started with Snapchat

So we’ve covered a little about what Snapchat is, but how exactly does Snapchat work? Let’s dive into some of the main features, and frequently asked questions.

Snaps, Stories, and Chat

What’s a Snap?

Snap is the word used to describe disappearing photos and videos – the main functionality of the app. When you send a Snap to a friend, you can make it last anywhere between one to ten seconds and then once it’s been viewed, the Snap will disappear.

What’s a story?

A Story is a collection of Snaps played one after the other. Stories, unlike Snaps sent to individual friends, can be viewed by anyone who follows you. Stories last up to 24 hours after being posted and people who follow you can re-watch stories as many times as they like.

Pro tip: When you’re watching a Snapchat story, you can reply to a particular photo or video by swiping up from the bottom of the screen.

What are Memories?

With Snapchat Memories, you can now, for the first time, share photos and videos captured outside of Snapchat to your Story.

Memories enable Snapchat users to tell bigger stories that incorporate more than just in-the-moment photos and video. Instead of purely spontaneous content, Snapchat can now be used to share much more thoughtfully — similar to the approach you’d take with platforms like Instagram and Facebook, where the content you post doesn’t disappear.

How does chat work?

Snapchat also has a Chat feature, to start a conversation with someone just swipe right on their name from your recent Snaps page. Like Snaps, Chat messages disappear once you’ve read them.

More than 60 percent of users use the app’s chat function every day.

You can find out more about how Chat works in the below video:

Further reading: Everything you need to know about Snapchat Chat

Snapchat Chat: Everything You Need to Know About Snapchat’s Excellent Messaging App

Lenses and Filters

Whether you want to add an Instagram-style image filter or add a monocle or mustache to your selfie, Lenses and Filters are fantastic, and fun, ways enhance your Snaps.

Lenses

Launched in September 2015, Lenses are a fun way to augment your snaps.

Lenses are usually funny or goofy animations that are overlaid on top of your selfie and around 10 million snaps use Lenses every day.

Snapchat explains how Lenses work on their blog:

When you’re using the camera to take a selfie, just press and hold on your face to activate Lenses. You can play with Lenses before taking a Snap — just select one from the row at the bottom and follow the on-screen instructions!

Here’s an example Lens:

Sponsored Lenses 

To achieve long-term success, any social network must figure out their monetization strategy.

Initially, Snapchat experimented with sponsored ‘brand stories’ and a Lens store. However, for now, they seem to have settled on sponsored Lenses as their primary revenue stream.

Around a month after releasing Lenses, Snapchat debuted their first sponsored Lens in partnership with Twentieth Century Fox, who used the Lens to promote the release of The Peanuts Movie.

Since the first sponsored Lens, many brands have tested the water. One uber-successful example is Gatorade’s sponsored Super Bowl Lens which generated over 100 million views over SuperBowl weekend – that’s almost as many views as the game got live in TV (111.9 million).

Snapchat reportedly sells these sponsorships for between $450,000 and $750,000 per day.

Filters

Much like other social networks, Snapchat allows you to to enhance  your content with filters. To view the filters available to you swipe right after recording a video or taking a picture.

Pro tip: You can add multiple filters to an image by holding a finger on the screen once you have one filter selected and continuing to swipe.

Geofilters

Geofilters are unique overlays for Snaps that can only be accessed in certain locations. Here’s an example from Monterrey, Mexico:

Creating a geofilter

Anyone can submit their own geofilter, and Snapchat encourages artists and designers to use this these filters to bring their own style to the Snapchat community.

Here are Snapchat’s recommendations for geofilter submissions:

Filters must be submitted as a web-optimized, transparent PNG

Your PNG should have a width of 1080 pixels and a height of 1920 pixels

Your PNG must be under 300KB in size

Sponsored geofilters are currently being rolled out with a few selected brand partners and are working on launching a broader geofilters product later this year.

To learn more about Snapchat geofilters and how to submit your own, check out our guide.

On-Demand geofilters

Snapchat have now introduced a third type of geofilter. On-demand geofilters enable anyone to pay Snapchat have their own, unique geofilter available in a specific location for a set amount of time.

As TechCrunch report:

The minimum size for these geofilters is 5,000 square feet (enough to cover an office building) and the minimum amount of time the geofilter can exist is 30 minutes. On the other side of the spectrum, users can spread their on-demand geofilters as far as 5,000,000 square feet.

The turnaround time for review is about a day, and pricing starts at $5.

This is hugely exciting and could open up a wealth of opportunities for small and medium-sized businesses to use Snapchat as a marketing channel.

Imagine you run a restaurant, you could create a filter to celebrate a new dish and make it available in your town. Or a local cinema could run a geofilter for a new movie coming out. The possibilities here are endless.

Are you excited by the prospect of on-demand geofilters? I’d love to hear your thoughts and ideas in the comments below this post. 

Learn more about Snapchat Geofilters and how to build your own with our step-by-step guide: 

Everything You Need to Know About Snapchat Geofilters (And How to Build Your Own)

Discover: Snapchat’s media destination

In January 2015, Snapchat launched Discover, “a new way to explore Stories from different editorial teams.”

Discover launched with 11 top media companies such as ESPN, The Bleacher Report, CNN and Vice. Discover put these brands in a prime position to grab the attention of Snapchat’s young audience.

Here’s how Discover works:

How to add friends

There are a number of ways to add friends on Snapchat. The first thing you need to do is tap the ghost icon  displayed at the top of the camera screen and select the ‘Add Friends’ option.

From the ‘Add Friends’ screen you can add other accounts by Username, from your Address Book, by Snapcode or Nearby.

Add by Username

If you know the username of the account you’d like to add, just type their username in the ‘Add by Username’ field and then tap on the ‘+’ button to connect with them.

Add from Address Book

This option will enable you to search the contact on your phone to see who is already on Snapchat. From here, you can also send an SMS invite to anyone who isn’t currently on Snapchat.

Add by Snapcode

A Snapcode works just like a QR code and you can add friends  by scanning their Snapcode using your smartphone. You can scan a Snapcode directly from someone else’s Snapchat app, or scan it from a photo you’ve received via email or IM. 

To scan a photo that includes a Snapcode, you just have to tap on  ‘Add Friends’ > ‘Add by Snapcode’ > ‘Photos.’

Add Nearby

Nearby is a location-based feature, enabling you to search and connect with other Snapchatters who are in the same area as you. Tap on ‘Add Friends’ > ‘Add Nearby’ and Snapchat will find nearby users.

Sharing your username

Snapchat has also released a way to share your username publically and allow people to connect with you.

To do this, tap on ‘Add Friends’ > ‘Share username.’ This will then generate a link for you that will look something like this snapchat.com/add/ashread14. If you share this link with someone, they can then add you on Snapchat (this works really smoothly on mobile, on desktop your URL will link to a Snapchat download page).

Snapchat icon guide: What do the emojis next to friends mean?

If you check your Friends list on Snapchat, you may notice icons/emojis next to some of your contacts, for example, a  or a :

Each of these emojis means something different, and they change over time based on how you interact with that friend. These emojis are private and will only ever be seen by anyone other than you.

Here’s a breakdown of what each emoji means:

Gold Star  – Someone has replayed this person’s snaps in the past 24 hours.

Yellow Heart  – You are #1 best friends with each other. You send the most snaps to this person, and they send the most snaps to you.

Red Heart ❤️ – You have been #1 best friends with each other for two weeks straight.

Pink Hearts  – You have been #1 best friends with each other for two months straight.

Baby  – You just became friends with this person.

Face With Sunglasses  – One of your best friends is one of their best friends. You send a lot of snaps to someone they also send a lot of snaps to.

Grimacing Face  – Your #1 best friend is their #1 best friend. You send the most snaps to the same person that they do.

Smirking Face  – You are one of their best friends …but they are not a best friend of yours. You don’t send them many snaps, but they send you a lot.

Smiling Face  – Another best friend of yours. You send this person a lot of snaps. Not your #1 best friend but they are up there.

Fire – You are on a Snapstreak! You have snapped this person every day, and they have snapped you back. Increases with the number of consecutive days.

Hundred - 100 Day Snapstreak. The 100 emoji appears next to the fire when you snap back and forth with someone for one hundred days in a row.

Verified account emojis

If a story is shared by a verified account (usually reserved for well-known public figures, major brands and celebrities), you’ll see a custom emoji next to their name, so you know they’re the real deal!

Emojis for official stories vary from person to person. For example,  the basketball emoji   appears next to official NBA stories, Calvin Harris’ stories are accompanied by a tiger, and DJ Khaled uses the key emoji .

5 Top tips for brands on Snapchat

To bring you the best, most actionable Snapchat tips, we teamed up with Everette Taylor, who gave us the lowdown on how to use Snapchat to deliver value for your business.

1. Bring value through variety of content

With Snapchat, you have to bring value with every piece of content you share, Taylor explains:

Take a minute and think about most of the Snapchat stories you see and how similar the content is. The fact is, for most – originality on Snapchat is lacking. That’s the case for many social media platforms but can be the most apparent on Snapchat due to the nature of the app. That’s the cue to step your game up.

The best way to bring value to users on Snapchat is by providing a variety of content that your users will either find entertaining or helpful information. Don’t be afraid to think outside of the box and take risks. Monotony = loss of interest.

It’s also important to keep Snapchat’s user base in mind when it comes to content creation – 45% of Snapchat users are under 25.

The point is to be fun, creative and experiment. Remember the audience on Snapchat tends to skew to be a lot younger. If users know what to expect from you, they will be a lot less likely to click on your stories which means less impressions for you or your brand. Take to time to strategize a marketing strategy for your Snapchat like you would any other channel or funnel.

In the early days of TV and Radio, if you missed a show, it wasn’t on again. There were no DVRs or on-demand services. Snapchat is much the same, once your story has been live for 24 hours, it’s gone forever.

To keep your content interesting and engaging, you could create a schedule to give your audience an expectation of what’s coming up:

Create custom content, for example having “Motivation Mondays” where you offer inspirational quotes or highlight inspirational stories/people or “Tasty Tuesdays” where you cook a new recipe or review a new restaurant. Whatever you do, just have fun!

2. Create your own Snapchat KPIs

Measuring your performance on social media can be a tough task at times, especially on some of the newer platforms.  And currently, there aren’t any public ways to get analytics or data around your Snapchat account.

So when it comes to measurement on Snapchat, Taylor advises that “a little ingenuity is needed.” 

First thing you want to figure out is VPS, Views Per Snap. In my opinion, this is the “one metric that matters” when it comes to Snapchat. The best way to do this is to calculate the average views for your Snapchat videos each day and record that number in a spreadsheet. You can then start to track the progress of your views daily and begin to set goals.

Alongside Views Per Snap, Taylor also recommends tracking followers and screenshots:

If you have the time and the patience to manually count, you can calculate new follower metrics and figure out your follow rate – daily, weekly, monthly and even annually. This allows you to set acquisition goals as well.

One of the most useful KPIs I’ve come up with screenshots. This shows that people found whatever you posted highly entertaining or valuable.

This leads nicely to the next tip…

3. Make Sure Users Anticipate Important Messages

One of the biggest barriers to entry for brands on Snapchat is figuring out how Snapchat can directly have value for their brand. One of the best ways is to give important messages and announcements on your Snapchat.

If you’re delivering an important message on Snapchat, for example, sharing a URL you’d like your followers to visit, asking them to screenshot it can be an excellent way to drive action.

When it comes to screenshots, Taylor advises giving your followers some warning of what’s coming up:

You have to be smart about how you go about this. You have to make users anticipate something is coming before it comes. Let users know that you’re about to announce something important before you do so or prompt them by saying “screenshot the next snap.” Yep, it’s that simple and can be highly effective.

4. Use Other Social Media to Promote Snapchat

Snapchat doesn’t have a public friends feed or a mechanic that will show people that their friends are viewing and engaging with your content. As such, a great way to build your audience is through your pre-existing followers on other networks, Taylor explained:

One thing I admire about Vine & YouTube influencers is the way they are able to shift their audience to other social media platforms. It’s an impactful tactic if done well. It requires you to be using other social media platforms to promote your Snapchat.

One of the most effective ways to do this is by scheduling posts on Buffer to promote your Snapchat throughout the week. Some platform-specific tips include: making your profile picture of Facebook and Twitter your Snapchat QR code, setting up a pinned tweet on Twitter and pinned post on Facebook promoting your Snapchat, and setting up automated direct messages on Twitter along with a value proposition for people to follow you on Snapchat, etc.

Taylor also recommends taking screenshots from your Snapchat pictures and videos and sharing these on other social networks:

Taking your interesting Snapchat pictures/videos and posting them on other social media platforms with your Snapchat handle is super effective. I’ve found this the most effective on Twitter and Instagram. Also if you’re doing something fun or exciting, you can tell people to follow you to see more. For example, “I’m at *insert event* – follow my Snapchat to check out my adventures.”

Here’s another example of Pepsi promoting their Snapchat lens on facebook:

Get a mind blowing taste of #PepsiMaxCherry with our Snapchat lens for today only! Send us your snaps to PepsiMaxUK to feature on our story! 󾁏

Posted by Pepsi Max on Saturday, 13 February 2016

5. Create your own content to promote your Snapchat

Creating Snapchat-focused content outside of Snapchat is a great way to promote your account:

Many people such as growth expert Morgan Brown and others have realized that one of the best ways to promote your Snapchat brand is to create your own content about Snapchat. This can be lists of best people to follow, best practices and tips, case studies, etc.

If the content is solid, people will share it, and there will be a lot more brand awareness for your Snapchat. Making lists is probably the best way to go about it, this will give you a distribution by influencers who will promote your content in reciprocation.

You can also use your Snapcode, Snapchat username, and profile URL within your content as a way to drive new followers:

A bonus tip with this that I haven’t seen any brands using….yet. That is the use of a Snapchat icon on their content, websites and emails. Snapchat now has a new feature where you can copy a link where people can add you on Snapchat. Including these icons on your content, emails, website and other forms of content could be helpful in building your audience.

4 Snapchat accounts to follow (and what makes them great)

One of the toughest things about getting started on a new social network can be knowing who to follow and learn from. With this in mind, I’d love to share a few Snapchat accounts that are rocking it right now:

Vaynermedia (@vaynermedia)

What they Snap: The Vaynermedia Snapchat account takes followers behind the scenes at the agency and into a day in the life of one of the team members.

Why it works: Snapchat is an amazing way to show the human side of a business and the people behind the brand. By sharing a day in the life on Snapchat, Vaynermedia can build stronger, more authentic relationships with their followers.

Gary Vaynerchuck believes there are two real wins of this approach to Snapchat: “it boosts the internal morale within the agency and connects people across offices and two it makes my employees true practitioners of their craft,” he explained on his Youtube show.

NBA (@nba)

What they Snap: Behind the scenes content from games, game previews, TV schedules (so you always know what you can watch), and much more.

Why it works: Sports fans love to get behind the scenes and Snapchat is the perfect way for the NBA to share authentic, behind the scenes content from events fans would never normally have access to.

Casey Neistat (@caseyneistat)

What he Snaps: Casey Neistat is a well-known Youtuber and filmmaker. Neistat’s Snapchat Stories are super-engaging and feel like vlogs as he invites his followers to follow along as his day unfolds.

Why it works: Neistat’s Snapchat stories are authentic. He lets each story build up naturally, too. Instead of jumping right in at the climax of a story, or the most exciting part of his day, he’ll build it up as his Story progresses.

Check out one of Neistat’s stories below:

DJ Khaled (@djkhaled305)

What he Snaps: DJ Khaled is the king of Snapchat! Throughout his Stories, Khaled entertains his followers by sharing his “keys to success”.

Why it works: DJ Khaled is a huge hit on Snapchat because he lets his personality shine through in his Snaps. He also delivers content based on a set theme, ‘success.’ This means his followers know what to expect when they start viewing one of his Stories.

Sidenote: DJ Khaled’s account became legendary when he shared a Story about being lost at sea on a jet ski.

Bonus: 5 more people and brands to follow

Gary Vaynerchuk (@garyvee)

Eva Longoria (@realevalongoria)

Product Hunt (@producthuntteam)

Major League Soccer (@mls)

Lewis Howes (@lewis_howes)

We’re on Snapchat too, you can connect with us by adding the username ‘buffersnaps’ or by scanning the Snapcode below:

Over to you

I hope you found this post useful and discovered a few new Snapchat features and tricks.

I’d love to send a huge shoutout to Everette Taylor for sharing his awesome tips with us – we’ll be sure to implement some of these in our Snapchat strategy.

You can follow Everette on Snapchat, his username is ‘everettetaylor’ or click this link from a mobile device to add him directly.

I’d love to hear your thoughts on Snapchat. Do you actively use the app? Have you tried using it from a brand perspective? Any tips or tricks you’d like to share?

Please feel free to add your thoughts and experiences in the comments below and I’m excited to jump in and join the conversation.

Thank Getting to Know the Ghost: The Complete Beginners Guide to Snapchat for first publishing this post.

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10 books every entrepreneur should read in 2017

Image: Mascha Tace/shutterstock

Entrepreneurship is a commitmentnot only to your venture or business, but also to a unique learning process. Where others seek guidance through big universities and established companies, I know many entrepreneurs like myself who have a desire to go their own way and learning becomes a self-guided experience. As a result, Ive gained a whole new dimension to my learning experience, having combined it with what I have chosen to read and what I have learned in the field.

Many entrepreneurs are avid readersnot just out of curiosity, but necessity. I love listening to podcasts and audiobooks because its something I can do while Im on the go whether that is traveling or exercising. Reading is one of the only ways you can learn from the worlds best and brightest, especially those who choose to share their thoughts on paper instead of through a weekly podcast.

Here is an entrepreneurs reading list for 2017 that include ten books that I have been motivating, insightful, and humbling for me. I hope that they leave a positive impression and assist you on your journey toward building something impactful in the world.

1. “All In” by Bill Green

This is a must read for any first-time entrepreneur who thinks building a business is an easy process. Author Bill Green uses “All In” to both inspire entrepreneurs on their quest for greatness and put things in perspective. Starting in a flea market and ending with a publicly traded company, Greens story demonstrates what it means to go all in on an ideaand not stop until the goal is achieved something that stands out for me in terms of the perspective that has helped me in bringing my own business ideas to fruition.

Greens company was Wilmar Industries, a corporation that ended up employing more than 2,300 people. When Wilmar went public in 1996, Fortune rated Wilmar as one of the best IPOs of the year. In 1999, Wilmar was named by Forbes as one of the top 200 Best Small Companies in America. “All In” describes Greens humble beginnings, his bootstrapping mindset and, ultimately, his rise to building a company that today is owned by Home Depot, with revenues topping $1.8 billion.

2. “Top of Mind” by John Hall

In a noisy world of digital marketers, how do you stand out? CEO of Influence & Co. and business thought leader John Hall has some valuable insights. After all, his recipe for staying top of mind with your consumers is the same step-by-step process he used to build Influence & Co to one of Forbes Most Promising Companies In America.

Top of Mind is full of tactics, with insights into how consumer needs and expectations have changed over the past few years; how you can build a brand that serves both your ideal customers and your own employees; and ways to use digital content to build lasting trust with your readers, followers and subscribers. I have put many of these tactics to work already with great success in my own business.

3. “The Miracle Morning for Entrepreneurs” by Hal Elrod and Cameron Herold

Consider this your wake-up call. Few books can change your daily habits as effectively as “The Miracle Morning for Entrepreneurs.” Author Hal Elrods original “The Miracle Morning” was a self-development crash course. In this follow-up page-turner, wisdom is added from Cameron Herold, a bestselling author and widely respected business coach, using the Miracle Morning framework as a foundation.

The book has given me six daily practices to create and sustain positive change in my lifepersonally and professionally. I have found that one of the most difficult challenges is to maintain a balance between building a successful business and taking care of myself. It has taught me that if Im off, then the whole picture is off. The principles in this book have put balance back in my life, which has benefitted my business, helped me feel better, and made my family a lot happier.

4. “Grit” by Angela Duckworth

Can success be reduced to a process? Pioneering psychologist and New York Times bestselling author Angela Duckworth thinks it can. She calls it grit. “Grit” does an incredible job of exploring what makes someone exceptionaland, as Duckworth has discovered, it certainly isnt talent or inherent intelligence.

She argues that the most successful people discover their own genius through the daily habit of persistence while always remembering to lead with what they are most passionate about. I thoroughly enjoyed the personal stories as well as interviews with peak performers and industry leaders, ranging from JP Morgan CEO Jamie Dimon to Seattle Seahawks coach Pete Carroll.

5. “A Paperboys Fable” by Deep Patel

This book struck me for its title because it made me think about my first job and the other ventures I tried when I was younger.

Part story, part riveting interviews with professors, entrepreneurs, CEOs and more, “A Paperboys Fable” creatively shares some of the most tried and true lessons learned in business. Like the Arbinger Institutes Leadership and Self-Deception, what makes “A Paperboys Fable” a worthwhile read is its ability to take high-level and timeless business lessons and make them both easy to understand for beginners and poignant reminders for us more seasoned entrepreneurs.

6. “Rich20Something” by Daniel DiPiazza

The brand, Rich20Something, was started by Daniel DiPiazza, a recognized digital marketer and influencer. A website, a massively popular Instagram page, and now a book packed with lessons, “Rich20Something” is DiPiazzas story of being a typical twenty-something, unsure of what to do in life, and how he built a brand around the hustling mentality that can turn any young entrepreneur into a success.

Unlike the conventional corporate ladder path, “Rich20Something” is essentially a guide to hacking your way to wherever you want to go. DiPiazza shares his own advice from the trenches along with anecdotes from other successful entrepreneurs and mentors and step-by-step techniques for building businesses around my personal skill set. Its helped me beyond the dream and make things happen.

7. “Managing the Mental Game” by Jeff Boss

Who better to learn mental fortitude from than a former Navy SEAL? In Managing the Mental Game,” Boss reflects on his experiences as a SEAL and walks readers through techniques that build self-confidence, mental endurance and positive habits.

The book is comprised of over 23 mental exercises, covering topics such as how to deal with stress, how to avoid common mental traps, how to handle uncertainty and even the neuroscience behind change. Ive used these in my daily work life to deal with those unexpected issues and barriers that seem to pop up with a startup, which has provided me with a much more measured and logical approach when these do happen.

8. “Disrupted” by Dan Lyons

What is Silicon Valley really like? After 25 years at Newsweek, journalist Dan Lyons lost his job to younger talent. Shortly thereafter, he found himself working for a famed Silicon Valley startup, Hubspot, which had over $100 million in venture capital. “Disrupted” is Lyons take on the idealized entrepreneurship scene in California. As a resident of Silicon Valley, this book hit home in terms of familiar situations and advice on how to navigate the territory here.

One part crash course on entrepreneurship, two parts humorous stories and unfortunate conclusions, this book shows that heavily funded startups arent all they seem to be from the outside. According to Lyons, Its a world where bad ideas are rewarded, where companies blow money on lavish perks, and where everyone is trying to hang on just long enough to reach an IPO and cash out.

9. “Be Obsessed or Be Average” by Grant Cardone

Grant Cardone is a success story, to say the least. In addition to having one of the strongest personal brands, Cardone has made a name for himself by building five successful companies and turning himself into a multimillionaire. “Be Obsessed or Be Average” is like his other NYT bestseller,The 10x Rule a humbling reminder of just how much you have to want success in order to e ventually have it. It reads just like Cardone sounds in his videos and on his podcastfull of energy and motivation. His quotes have stayed top of mind long after finishing the book, which have been inspirational when faced with some critical issues in my business.

From Cardones perspective, success ultimately comes down to three basic rules: first, be willing to set crazy goals, and aim to reach them, every single day; second, value your money and make it work for you; and, third, use your haters as fuel. These rules have worked for me and many colleagues, so they will work for you, too.

10. “The Fire Starter Sessions” by Danielle LaPorte

Theres a reason “The Fire Starter Sessions” has sold over a million copies. Author Danielle LaPorte explains that many of the things we believe about the road to success are actually wrong, and that we end up driving ourselves mad by searching for things that dont actually exist.

Some of the controversial topics covered in this book include the fact that life balance is a myth, that our principles and beliefs might be the very things holding us back, and that happiness has far more to do with how we feel while were working and not necessarily the achievement of our goals. “The Fire Starter Sessions” offers helpful reminders for any entrepreneur who wants to build a meaningful future. Its certainly given me a lot of food for thought on how Ive looked at my own business and leadership style.

John Rampton is serial entrepreneur who now focuses on helping people to build amazing products and services that scale. He is founder of the online payments company Due. If you’re looking for even more to read, check out his book: “Self Employed: 50 Signs That You Might Be an Entrepreneur.“

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