#as it’s near to the radiator

[littlehen]

I walked into the room to find them both in the dog’s bed

[lanagrants]

Eraserhead (1977) dir. David Lynch Lady in the Radiator Song

[cemeterything]

seeing the chernobyl fanfiction ask i got last month on my dash again and while i have never and will never write chernobyl fanfiction i feel like i might as well confess that i used to play littlest pet shop nuclear fallout disaster rp as a kid (nobody lives/everybody dies, graphic descriptions of radiation poisoning) so like anon wasn't that far off i guess

[thefanciestborrower]

Nowhere more comfy to spend the winter than inside your pred buddy am I right? Race, Finch, and Romeo absolutely love spending as much time as they can all tucked away during the colder months, and right now they’re are all just hanging out in their goofy long underwear cause Davey refused to swallow all those heavy winter layers lol Mostly just a cute goofy continuation of this post I made a while ago haha.

[pastafossa]

How do you get past writer's block? I have a fic that I'm working on that is updating on a schedule, and I made the mistake of giving myself a month off in between parts and now I can't really get back into writing it. I don't want to leave it abandoned because I have a few people who I know are really invested and I don't want to leave them hanging, but I'm having a hard time getting as excited to write it as I did before.

Ok so I'm in a weird place for this, hilariously. Because The Answer That Usually Works For Me (TM) and that carried me through a regular weekly update schedule for almost two and a half years is, in fact, not at present working for me apparently my brain can write through a pandemic but not through recovery from the shit that went down in December/Jan so we found my writing kryptonite. However, I'm going to assume you're closer to 2021 Pasta than 2024 Pasta. SO LET'S GO WITH THE METHOD I NORMALLY USE SINCE IT WAS SUCCESSFUL FOR YEARS. Cause that's the thing: sure, I've written almost a million words, and pumped out chapters for years (ignoring the past few months) but I promise, I hit the same walls as everyone else even when nailing weekly uploads. But over those years, I came up with a fairly solid list of steps that I'd go through one by one.

Fun one first: when I'm in a block, I almost always try re-engaging with canon first. I'd rewatch my favorite episodes, binge a whole season, or even the whole series depending on how much of a boost I needed. For me at least that was often like Pavlov's bell, my favorite story triggering a flood of affection. I'd remember why I loved this fandom and the characters so much, and it could often kickstart my brain and excitement back into gear. If you really want to dangle a carrot and your fic touches on canon, focus on watching parts you're excited to get to in your story. A big one for me in TRT for example was the post-Nobu, Nelson v. Murdock episode, since I'd had that planned for TRT almost since the start, and I was very excited to reach the hurt/comfort I had planned. Even if your fic isn't following canon though, see if it'll give you a creative rush again!

So let's say step 1 doesn't work, either because the canon just isn't hitting the spot or because your fic is dealing with something else. In this case, my next step was usually to jump ahead to write a scene I was really eager to get to. It was often a short blurb, but it was always something I REALLY wanted to explore, and because I'm also a reader who likes exactly the tropes and plots I'm writing, I want to read what fucking happens. Except, fuck, I'm not there yet, am I? And I can't see how that scene finishes until I write my way up to it and finish it. This is my own carrot. Multiple scenes in TRT were written months or even years in advance, simply as a way to bribe myself. This is also an option!

But maybe this doesn't work. Sometimes it didn't. This is when it got a bit more serious. For anyone who was reading at the time, you'd have noticed that I'd sometimes drop side fics, either Matt POVs or one-shots. This was me, in essence, working on the shower principle (basically, ideas/solutions will come if you stop thinking about it and do something else, like take a shower). I figured if I went and wrote something else - either with less stress, or something fun and dopamine-inducing - the part of my brain focused on my Big Fic would wander around the writer's block beneath my notice. And it almost always worked, all while I still kept my brain trained that, hey, even if we're not writing This Thing, we're still writing.

But let's say this doesn't work either. You're well, and truly, stuck. Been there now and then. And, you're going to hate this one. I hate it but it works 9 times of 10. And it is: Write anyway. Half of it was spite. I was not going to give up my schedule, I liked my schedule. The other half was that I knew myself. I knew if I could just get past the chapter/plot/dialogue I was struggling with, I'd be able to roll along again. And so I made a rule: whatever I wrote didn't have to be pretty. It just had to exist. If that meant I wrote, "Jane chased the cat in circles and caught it. She was happy." then that's what I wrote. Because everything, EVERYTHING, can be fixed in editing. But you can't fix what doesn't exist. And so there were those nights when I would scowl and groan and snarl and bash my head against that writer's block until 5 in the morning, but in the end Jane chased that fucking cat adn caught it, it was written. Hilariously, sometimes those chapters have wound up amazing (likely because I spent so much time hammering at them) and reader favorites. There are absolutely, I believe, moments where you can, and should, see if you can push through.

But that brings me to *waves* now. A lesson I've only recently recently and with encouragement. Namely... sometimes brain no go and that's ok. My steps work for me 99.9% of the time, but I've done the above during the past few months, and it just... hasn't dragged me out entirely out of it yet. Sometimes, our brains demand that break, especially when things just aren't going great. There's a reason TRT had a break of roughly 2 years between chapter 4 and chapter 5 (feel free to check the chapter index with dates on AO3!). I had some life things happening and I just was not in a place to write, even if I was still busily plotting and planning and thinking about TRT behind the scenes. And that was ok. We're not machines. I came back like a bulldozer in Jan 2021, yes, and bulldozed through weekly updates, but that break was needed. And now I'm obviously taking a short one again while I recover from everything. It's ok if you're not in a place for it. So the last step is one I've been told a lot by dear friends recently as they helped me through this: be kind to yourself, and try not to stress if none of the above works. The story will always be there, and if TRT is any indication through all its highs and lows, your readers will be there when you start up again.

[theladyfae]

they need to invent an easier way for girls who are so so scared of spiders to get rid of them without killing them or having to ask an unsympathetic family member / significant other to remove it from the vicinity for them

[freensrcha]

Kinn not being obvious at all 🤫

[lucalicatteart]

-- Poorly Constructed Enchanted Tool --

A small tool carved from a fruit tree seed. Energy to power the enchantment has seemingly run-out long ago, and the method of recharging is unknown - but, based on the appearance, it's very likely that this was once used for detecting magic. Usually, looking through the glass center would highlight areas of higher magical energy concentration present in the viewer's environment, even if they were otherwise obscured to the naked eye. While this form of enchantment itself is highly advanced, the craftsmanship of the item is far less neat or complex than what might be typically seen in similar devices. It may have been made as part of training/practice, or as a hasty replacement for a previous tool that had broken.

[puppyeared]

How'd Augusta end up being radioactive? :o

A second chance.

// suicidal themes below

Augusta originally worked as a part time astronaut at a Star Depot, which collected star Fragments and sent them back to earth to be used as fuel similar to nuclear power.

Augusta wasn’t really in a good place at the time while working there. She never had any kind of big ambition in life and wanted to live life peacefully, but knew that “getting by” isn’t enough for her to survive. People around her kept expecting so much of her that she didn’t know what to tell them.

Working as an astronaut helps take her mind off things at first, but then she starts to feel worse. She doesn’t get invited out to things, but she doesn’t really make any effort to try, and relatives are asking how she’s doing and she doesn’t know what to tell them without it turning into a lecture. and over time it piles up

First she starts asking for more shifts handling and shipping the stars. Then she asks to do overtime. And finally one day she finds a tiny Fragment on the floor.

The thing about Fragments is that they change your body and can make you very sick if youre near them for too long.

Tomorrow would be a holiday and the building would be closed. The Shift manager, who promised to close up, left early for drinks with coworkers. So she was the only employee working.

So she picks up the star and swallows it expecting to die. But instead her hair turns pink and the dust around her floats, and when she breathes no air comes out. The Star fused to her body and latched to her heart.

Basically, her suicide attempt gave her her own way to live and pink hair as a bonus lol

Here’s what her hair looked like before and after The Incident <3

[son1c]

Does Sonic absorb the Chaos Emerld when he turns Dark, like when he turns Super with all seven of them?

uhhh well the only canon instance we've ever seen of dark sonic the emeralds are fake and it's just their energy that's reaching him i think. like he gets poisoned by exposure. but he doesn't absorb them

[thesteriuswife]

Since Nerine and Prof. Sycamore work in the same city they've definitely at least acquainted with one another... definitely not close at all though. He probably finds her a bit scary </3

[madegeeky]

Let me preface this by saying, no one got hurt and nothing else caught fire which is alarming to hear, I know, but less alarming than me just blurting out:

So our dishwasher caught fire last week. >.<

We were running it early. I was in the living room (which is right next to the kitchen) and Mr. Geeky was in the kitchen. We had turned the dishwasher on earlier than normal because it kept getting stuck at specific part in the cycle and we wanted to see it happen.

So, suddenly from the living room, I hear a pop/crack noise and a "oh shit" and a cabinet being slammed open and an absolutely horrific smell of burning plastic and Mr. Geeky comes out of the kitchen and goes "The dishwasher caught fire." And I was just like O.o

And he's not being dramatic, he was far enough away he could see a little under the dishwasher and there were literal flames. Luckily, the dishwasher has a kill switch so he turned it off immediately (its in the cabinet under the sink which is why there was the sound of the cabinet being slammed open).

It smelled awful, y'all. Fortunately, we were leaving for my Mom's the next day so we popped a window open, stuck a fan in it pointing outward, and put some mats and towels around it so any rain/snow wouldn't end up on the wood and left.

We got back yesterday and, good news, we no longer want to die going into the kitchen. Bad news, there is still definitely a smell despite it being a week. We've removed any melted/burnt parts we've can and have tried scrubbing the parts we can't removed to try to get off any extra burnt bits we can.

I am hopeful that the smell is coming from the dishwasher so once that is removed (later this week) the smell will be gone entirely. My fear is the smell has gotten into the walls or the floor in a place that will be impossible to get to once the new dishwasher is installed. And they are removing the old and installing the new one at the same time (which makes sense).

So later today I'm going to go sniffing around and see if I can smell it particularly strongly on the wall or something. Since the smell is coming from the bottom of the dishwasher there's not much point to trying to smell the floor but I'll probably still try anyway.

Y'all, it seems weird to say this, but we were so lucky. We normally turn the dishwasher on right before we go to bed (so it runs while we sleep) and we usually turn on the dishwasher right before leave to my Mom's (so it runs with our last minute dishes after we leave). We only had it on cause it was acting just a little wonky and we wanted to be there to see what was happening.

Mr. Geeky says that it wouldn't have caused a huge fire or anything but holy shit, y'all, can you imagine waking up or coming home to whatever the fuck it would have been like if Mr. Geeky hadn't been there to put it out within seconds of it happening?

So I guess salute to the universe for being cool enough that if this was going to happen, making sure it happened while we were here and awake.

And huge fucking salute to Mr. Geeky for having the fucking reflexes of a ninja cause I don't think it took even 10 seconds for him to see the fire and then turning off the dishwasher.

Anyway, cross your fingers that the smell is only in the dishwasher and leaves when it's removed.

[teavyy]

haiiiiiiiiii hi haiiiiiiiiii mrrp mew meoww mrrp nya mreow :3c

In response, (Bottom) hiiiii~~~ haiiii~ mreow mrrrp mrrp mew mrrrrrrm hiii :333

(English) Good evening indeed, I myself am faring quite well as of the moment, most recently having poured myself a glass of exquisite brandy, thank you for asking. Now, I simply must inquire how you yourself are doing my dear anonymous fellow.

[devotion-disorder]

WHAT DO YOU MEAN INTIMIDATING VIBES

Your blog makes me think of hot pink and tastes like cake, it's the cutest shit

(referring to this post!)

ADGAIWUDIUHDA IDK maybe its more of an irl thing, cause most of my friends say that their first impression of me is that i seem cold and hard to approach LMAO (which probably holds some truth, but still 🥲) its actually really cool to see your vibe assessment of my blog!! im definitely trying to be more silly and whimsical here but idk how successful ive been LOL