#for future reference this was scheduled exactly 4 months before posting

[ferretwhomst]

lawrence kutner has been dead for 16 slutty, slutty years

[shadowsong26fic]

Coming Attractions!

First Monday of the month, woohoo!

(And also kind of a NaNo roundup post because that was last month, after all…)

NaNo:

Sooooo I didn’t finish, lol. Not that I was…super expecting to, exactly, but I was hopeful! I think I just missed too many days in a row and lost all my momentum.

In terms of my goals, I was hoping to write:

1. 20-25k on Precipice 2. 20-25k on our faces like a mirror 3. 10-20k on Other Projects. 4. 50-70k total

In terms of what I actually accomplished:

1. 9,241 on Precipice (Sooooooo....about half of what I’d hoped, a little less. But I still got a fair amount done/prepped for upcoming chapters, plus a couple chapters actually posted, even while doing other stuff, so...go me!) 2. 9,043 on our faces like a mirror (Again, a bit less than half of what I’d hoped for, but I got enough done for the story/etc. to take a real Shape in my head. ...ish. See the specific OFLAM stuff later on in the post...) 3. 10,601 on Other Projects (Hey, I actually met this goal! ...barely, but still! Mostly thanks to the Nikita/Rebels crossover, lol...) 4. 28,885 total

Original Fiction:

I got a decent chunk of a big backstory piece for Lux done (in the form of a “then” and “now” set of scenes/vignettes for the five Archangels)--that being said, I’m not sure I actually like what I have there, lol. I know more or less what I need to cover, but the details are fiddly. Also not sure whether I should refer to Lux by her current name, for consistency’s sake, or use a different name (either Lightbringer or just Lucifer) since she does technically reshape her name after being released when the main Apocalypse storyline kicks off…also debating whether Lux should be/present as female way back when--angels don’t really do gender the way humans do in this ‘verse, but the closest human term for Lux would be genderfluid, sooooo IDK. Also also, for the ‘Now’ part…ehhh, I’m not sure I should have this be the first thing I post involving Trixie…but I’ll keep poking at it and see what comes out.

(I’d also planned to work on the big Kesshare character study saturation for The Farglass Cycle this month, and maybe go back to my untitled first-contact story, but neither of those happened, lol.)

Precipice:

We’re in the home stretch! Kinda. So to speak. Probably three to four more chapters in Arc Seven, which I’m hoping-fingers-crossed I’ll finish by the end of the calendar year??? (But given how much other stuff I hope to work on (see Other Fanfic Projects for more details…)

At that point--and I know I’ve said this before, and I’ll probably put it in an A/N in the next chapter or so, but following the end of Milestones, I’m planning to break off into a second/sequel fic, working title Protectors. This is at least in part because length (over 200k wtf I was anticipating 50-75k, maybe 100k, for these seven arcs @.@), but also was sort of planned even without the Length issue, due to some thematic/structure shifts following a six-year timeskip. Which, if you do the math, you can probably figure out where that’ll land us and why I might be structuring it this way…

Anyway, I’ve increasingly realized that there’s some stuff I should probably set up that I’ll need for later arcs in Part 2 involving some Rebels characters, more with the Last Batch, plus a Sith Apprentice who needs to turn up and die (although the gap between Infernalis and the next apprentice I actually care about/have a name and some kind of Plot for is only about four years in my mental timeline, so maybe there isn’t an active Apprentice in that period*…hmmmmm…), some background about the Hands, etc. But I feel like it’s all a little too disjointed for an entire additional arc. So, Arc 7.5, tentatively titled Preludes, is also going to be a thing XD I don’t think I’ll have a fixed schedule for that vs. the main storyline--and, honestly, it’ll probably work more like a collection of one-shots taking place during the timeskip than a proper Arc, but a little more Relevant than stuff that goes in Bonus Content, if that makes sense? It’ll probably be posted alongside at least arcs 8 and 9. Which, incidentally, take place more or less back-to-back and cover a fairly short period of time, but there is A Lot of plot/setup that goes into them. Like. If I tried to do it all as one arc, it’d be at least twice as long as any of the other arcs I’ve done, possibly including Arc Four--certainly over twenty chapters, I think--plus there’s a good (and by good I mean Horrible) place where I can split the arcs, so…we’ll see how that goes.

(…still not sure what to do with Maul, lol. He may just be Sir Darth Not-Appearing-In-This-Fic, or he might turn up in arc 10/11/13, which are the sort of vaguest of the next seven arcs which make up Protectors, in terms of how much I have planned out…)

(*On a semi-related note, I’ve been asked about Inquisitors a couple times in comments lately, and…well, I’ll probably mention this when I reply to the commenter in question, but I figured I’d set it out here as well, in case anyone else was wondering the same thing but doesn’t read other peoples’ comments. Like I’m pretty sure I mentioned at the start, when I plotted out** the bulk of this fic, I hadn’t seen Rebels yet. I’ve since decided to integrate a few characters/plot points (Kallus and Zeb will feature prominently in a subplot in arcs 13 and 14, for example), but, as a rule, characters and plot points from Rebels haven’t been taken into account unless I Really Like Them and/or they’re a good way to fill in a plot hole in a later arc, as with Kallus and Zeb. So, for example, when I include Thrawn, I’m writing more towards Legends!Thrawn in terms of personality, though the two have blended a bit in my head and I do reference specific events in Disney!Thrawn’s personal timeline; and b) more relevantly, I hadn’t made any plans to include Inquisitors, and that…hasn’t really changed. So, I might have them in Preludes, but they almost certainly won’t show up on-page/be super-relevant in the main arcs of the fic, sorry :/ )

(**Loooool I say “Plotted Out” like I’m the kind of author with a Master Plan or at least an outline. But I did have a general idea of the Major Plot Points going in, such as when Rex and Ahsoka would turn up, Luke’s storyline with Lavinia, how many Apprentices I would need to make them work, etc., and I’ve had parts of Arcs 8, 9, and 14 written for like at least two years now, so I know more or less where I’m going--though they’ll be edited once I have more of the connective tissue in place, in case I’ve accidentally Jossed myself…or I change my mind, which is becoming A Possibility with a major event set to happen in Arc 14, so…we’ll see.)

Aaaaaanyway. Exciting times ahead, I hope!

Other Fanfic:

This month, I finally posted another AU outline, woohoo! …I mean, it was a super-niche Nikita/Rebels crossover with a handful of OCs thrown in but who’s counting XD (I do actually intend to finish Let’s Go Steal a Crossover and update the Ventress one at some point but…yeah).

I also put out a Kallus one-shot that I think turned out really well. May do more of those at some point, who knows…

I made some significant progress on our faces like a mirror, as mentioned above! But now I’m waffling a little bit over structure. Basically, the fic covers Bo-Katan’s backstory from the time Satine becomes Duchess, through the Civil War, and eventually leads to Bo’s eventual break with her sister to join Death Watch. It comes in two pretty distinct halves--what I call the Fugitive arc in my notes, which covers the Civil War, and the Breakdown arc, which is everything after her return to Sundari.

So, my original plan was--prologue covering at least part of the final Epic Screaming Match that leads to Bo’s departure; jump back to the Fugitive Arc; and then follow through until we catch up to the prologue, with a coda/epilogue with her and Pre Viszla. The problem is, there’s…really not a lot to connect the two halves??

I’ve got a couple options on what to do about this, but I’m not sure which would be best.

Option One: Keep the structure as-is and just let it be episodic.

Option Two: Keep the structure as-is and find some way to connect the two halves (i.e., a recurring antagonist; I do have an idea of who this could be, but the problem is, it takes away a good chunk of the focus from Bo and Satine’s relationship for the Breakdown Arc…which I don’t really want to do.)

Option Three: Remove the framing device and focus on the Breakdown Arc, and include the Fugitive Arc as flashbacks, since the Breakdown Arc can’t really stand on its own. (The main issue I have with this one is that, if I want to actually write out future chunks of Bo’s life later--meaning, her time with Death Watch, and getting her from TCW to Rebels--I won’t have these flashbacks and I don’t want to change the structure too radically for any eventual sequels? Also, I’m not sure how I feel about a flashback structure for this fic in general…)

Option Four: Remove the framing device and focus on the Fugitive Arc, ending the story with Bo’s return to Sundari. (Two issues with this one--I really do want to go into the Breakdown Arc; that’s where my interest in this story started. Also, due to the constraints of setting and so on, Bo interacts with…like…two canon characters over the course of the Fugitive Arc? And while I don’t really have a problem writing a story that’s essentially a Backstory Epic for a tertiary character, populated by about 90% OCs, I’m not sure anyone actually wants to read that, except as the lead-in to the Breakdown Arc??? But maybe I’m overthinking…)

…so, yeah. Any thoughts/opinions on which option would be Best? (I may make a separate post asking the same question later, but figured I’d lay it all out here, too!)

Also, I’m working on a Secret Santa project, and probably not going to use OFLAM for SWBB, which means I need to come up with and write a different plotline of some kind, so back to the drawing board on that one…

Also also, I do genuinely plan to get Distaff off hiatus At Some Point, especially since I’ve gotten some new comments/responses lately…but given how much else I have on my plate, writing-wise, that probably won’t happen until next year, alas.

Anyway, the long and short of it is--lots of writing planned for this month! Now let’s see how much I actually get done XD

What about the rest of you? What’ve y’all been up to/what do you have planned for next month?

[tsukiyaki]

2020 LC: Prologue

Sometimes, dreams come in whispers, and those whispers don’t stem from selfish desires, but rather God’s promises. When that happens, God can answer even the prayers that you didn’t have the guts to put words to or wrote off as impossible or wishful thinking. His timing is perfect, so trust Him in the waiting. The days, months, or years it takes Him to set up the dominoes in your life are so worth it. When the time is right, everything falls into place in a way that will leave you in awe and unable to do anything but worship Him.

Tomorrow, I set out on a journey that He has been preparing me for over the last 3 years. It’s hard to surprise me, but God gets me every time--I was clueless to what He was up to until I found myself in front of an open door I never had to fight for. 

Pray for me, that I would take all that I learn from this leadership cohort and be fruitful, gladly yielding to His pruning throughout. Celebrate with me, for God has been good beyond measure. Read on if you want to know the full story!

November 11, 2016, I met A. Until the last year or so, I called him “Pastor A” (and sometimes referred to him half-jokingly as “Father A”), as most contexts in which I encountered him were within the church, with him at the pulpit.

In 2016, he spoke at a youth leadership retreat. The way he taught and spoke blew my mind--it was his understanding of how humans work, his uncanny ability to read all kinds of people and really get through to them, the way he ended every message with practical application exercises that grew all of us, students to young adults alike. Away from the pulpit, he was incredibly down to earth. I will never forget wondering, should I be concerned that the same man who left me awestruck moments ago with his preaching seems to have a lot of creative ideas about how to break into a car? Nah, this is way too entertaining. (Context: A was helping an uncle try to get into his locked car after said uncle lost his car keys.)

April 28-29, 2017, I couldn’t contain my excitement being under A’s tutelage again at counselors’ retreat. It was during this retreat that I learned about the company he works for, and the tools and models he uses to build leadership pipelines and empower people across all kinds of institutions, not just in the church. I was deeply unsatisfied by my career at the time. I felt lost and aimless in life. A shined like a beacon of hope, living proof that there could be something professionally worth doing in this world that actually connected to my passions. And then was born my unspoken prayer: How I would love to learn from him and do what he does one day. 

But you see, A doesn’t live in California, and I wasn’t planning on leaving. The competency gap between us was daunting. I had no reason to believe that out of all the people he met, he would take notice of little old me. Even if he did, why would he choose to invest in me? I decided to know my place and be grateful for the fact that he even remembered me and was willing to spare a few minutes of his precious time to check in on me over the upcoming years. 

At one point, he made me cry in public, and I thought it might be nice to not have that experience again--all the more reason to move on with life. (Context: He rebuked me for undermining my influence out of false humility as a group of friends standing to the side couldn’t help but listen in because what he was saying was that convicting, and it was the most loving correction I’ve ever received from a human being, but also embarrassing and really hard because criticism of any kind makes me initially feel like a failure.)

May 4, 2018, after a grueling 6 month interview process that in and of itself was a miraculous work of God, I signed the offer letter to my current company. Finally, I was a full time employee who would soon experience the full force of imposter syndrome and fear of selling out. But I also had the most clarity at this point in time that I was excited for this opportunity because I knew my purpose was to proclaim the gospel and establish His kingdom at work.

January 24, 2019, A somehow found my number (probably through my work profile) and texted me about coming to my company to start a leadership pipeline. He invited me to come to the introductory workshop on the 30th. I went. Even though it was material I’d already seen multiple times before, it still deeply impacted me. However, I decided not to join the 2019 cohort, and fell out of contact with A after February.

February 22-24, 2019, Ignite retreat. Pastor D, whom I also deeply respect and adore, returned for a second year as our speaker. I left retreat with 2 major takeaways: I need to journal, and I need mentors (plural). Pastor D taught me that mentorship comes in different forms, and paying to be part of a cohort or to take a leadership class is an option that I ought to be open to. The first thing I thought of was A’s leadership cohort, and I wondered if I had missed out. But I knew I hadn’t made a mistake, because I had no motivation to join that cohort, given that it was aimed at the specific context of developing me as a leader at my job, which was the last thing I wanted to invest more time into. Nonetheless, the importance of self awareness and guidance sat at the forefront of my mind for the rest of the year. 

June 11, 2019, I won’t explain in detail how serendipitous it felt on this day when God once again by no accident brought about a major turning point in my career. But this was the day that hope broke through. My manager started the process of helping me switch to a product I love. The transition happened officially on September 3rd. For the first time in 5 years, I actually found my job life-giving. I started to see a future here that I wanted to invest in.

October 7, 2019, I don’t remember exactly how this happened, but I suddenly realized I really missed A. I texted him to check in, half expecting to be ignored because of how long it had been (clearly, I still had issues believing that he cared about me, which now that I think about it, was probably because I hadn’t been useful to him for months, and my core Enneagram fear is that nobody would want me around if I’m not useful). I happened to check in right after he had completed his 2019 cohort, just in time to be invited to another kickoff meeting. The thought of mentorship was swirling through my mind again, and I realized I was in a place of genuine interest in joining the 2020 cohort. However, the financial barrier was holding me back. I was planning on buying a new car, I’m still paying for my Invisalign, and I just didn’t know if I was willing to take another hefty sum out of my budget.

November 13, 2019, I missed the entire kickoff meeting due to work, but I dropped by at the end to say hi anyway. All my fears and anxieties about being forgotten or unwanted melted away, and I realized on this day how much of a mentor figure A already is in my life. I told him afterwards that ever since I met him, he has shown up consistently at key moments/turning points in my life and given me the push I need to move forward. His existence reminds me that God sees me and takes care of me. He told me he’d be around again in December and actually have time to catch up, which is rare, given how packed his schedule usually is. He also encouraged me to consider joining the cohort this time. I promised to think about it.

December 10, 2019, we caught up over a casual dinner, during which A learned just how ridiculous my work life balance has historically been, how I believe that my experience has been unique because God has graciously given me all the time I need to fulfill His missional purpose for me at work, and how my passion lies in championing the people around me. Having heard my story, he went full big picture mode and basically told me to not only join the 2020 cohort, but to do so as his apprentice, that he may raise me up to one day be able to do what he does. He addressed every barrier I once had, and they were no longer an issue. The dominoes fell. 

My mind short-circuited as it took some quantum leaps down memory lane (imagine all the details in this blog post and more crashing into my brain at the same time). A stared at me expectantly, slightly amused but mostly confused as to why I was not visibly excited, but rather either at a loss for words or spewing nonsensical protest coming from a place of not feeling worthy of this offer. Honestly, I was in extreme shock that God would not only do the bare minimum of turning my unspoken prayer from years ago into a possibility, but that He went the extra mile to meet every condition that I added on top of that prayer before making it a reality. 

I helplessly looked to my friend sitting next to me to help me make sense of what just happened. He said something along the lines of, “Why are you looking at me? I think this is a great idea!” I still hit the brakes as gently as I could and told A I needed time to process, and I would officially confirm my participation with him only after I talked to my manager. 

I got manager approval the next day. 

Tomorrow, January 29th, will be our first cohort meeting. I hope to document this journey, my lessons and takeaways, so I don’t forget them, and so that I have a record of God placing down the next set of dominoes in my life.

[nathsketch]

Answer Time!

Hey dears! Sorry it’s taking me so long to reply to your questions but I always want to take some time to answer them properly and hopefully provide some insights that may help you in the future! Here is a very long reply and long overdue to fellow artist Archie, from Indonesia!

“Hi, Mrs. Erica, It's nice to know you. I've seen your artworks on your website and they're all awesome, great post, love your artworks, keep it up. Oh yeah, first of all, let me introduce myself. My name's Archie. I'm 23 years old and I'm from Indonesia. I'm currently graduated from visual communication design major (concentrated in animation) in 2017. Currently, I worked as a freelance in different fields. I do animation, illustration, photography, cinematography, and video editing, but I want to focus my career on animation, concept art and illustration. By the way, if you don't mind, or if you have a time, can I ask you some questions about concept art or illustration?”

1. Do you have any tips/advice to make a professional illustration portfolio for applying to studios/company (especially for a fresh graduate)?

The timing for this question is indeed excellent because I’m currently working on my own portfolio! The main advice would be to set a goal for it: story, visual development, character design, lighting etc. In other words, what do you want to achieve with that project? After you defined the purpose of your portfolio, you need to organize your ideas, try to refine them as much as you can so you end up with a clear plan of what is going to be created during the coming weeks/months. For example, my focus and my main interest is visual development and character design, so when I chose my portfolio themes (A Series of Unfortunate Events and The Lord of the Rings) I had to spend a lot of time trying to narrow down the countless ideas that these impossibly rich books brought to my mind to a reasonable number of artworks that hopefully will help me get a job in these areas in the future. Lists are very helpful at this moment. Also, those wonderful “The Art of” compilations are such invaluable resources. You can learn so much from them and their insanely talented artists! Finally, I would say that patience is also a huge factor because after months of working on a project this complex and that demands so much from you, you can easily get sidetracked and lose interest or feel unmotivated, but you have to remember that this is something you’re doing because you love it and because it is absolutely possible to achieve your goal if it’s what you really really want (totally not a Spice Girls reference ha!).

2. Is it too idealistic or “picky” if I want to work as a freelance (for a long-term) than work at the office/studio? Because I feel like sometimes it’s hard to get a job for the fresh graduate. Almost every company/studios were looking for people who had a work experience while being a freelance has to interest clients from our portfolio or social media feeds to make a money. I would feel so insecure if I tend to be jobless while everyone's growing up on their career and work. Currently, I just do some daily stuff and focus on learning and practice every day and also studying from online art course while there’s no job from others.

I don’t think it’s picky nor too idealistic. I think it’s extremely important that you know exactly what you want and that you focus on achieving it not because it’s said to be the easiest path and because the alternative (being employed by a company/studio) can seem harder in comparison. Freelancing is great but it can be just as hard, and as a freelance artist myself, I can say that there will always be a lot of challenges to overcome, despite the apparent freedom to choose the jobs you want, to make your own schedule and to have your own work rhythm. I completely understand your insecurity and I do too worry about the whole work experience requirement but fortunately for us artists, the quality of our art is a determinant factor to help us get our dream jobs. I live in Brazil and the clients I’ve had so far weren’t concerned at all that I have little work experience in this area or that I’m mostly self-taught. The mere fact that you’ve found me all the way from beautiful Indonesia and were interested enough in my work to ask me these questions is an example of how our art can touch people’s lives even though we haven’t necessarily worked on a studio or have had that many professional experiences. You keep doing what you feel is better for you at the moment, keep practicing, keep learning, and above all else, keep believing in your potential to grow. It may seem difficult not to compare yourself to those incredibly famous and talented artists, especially in our social media age, where we can be easily overwhelmed and intimidated by their number of followers, likes, reblogs, retweets etc., but I read somewhere - and I completely agree with this phrase - that we cannot compare our start with someone else’s middle. It’s not a competition, it’s a journey.

3. When studying anatomy, is it very necessary to strictly learn and practice to draw the details of each part of the anatomy itself and also draw human/animal anatomy from every angle?

I wouldn’t say it’s strictly necessary but of course that a big part of being a good artist is learning how to draw a bit of everything. You don’t need to be an Andrew Loomis of anatomy but try to fit in some life drawing lessons every once in a while. No matter what your style is (realistic, cartoonish, abstract, surrealistic etc.), you will always be grateful for taking the time to learn a bit of anatomy. Drawing animal anatomy is also pretty important and I particularly love it! I never post any life drawings here but I should follow my own advice and start working more on them! I never formally studied Art before my sudden career change (more of that later). Only recently did I finish my studies in Traditional and Digital 2D Animation, just so I could have a proper degree that wasn’t related to Law, but I like to think that most of the challenges I had to face were overcome by me being self-taught. Definitely not an easy thing to do and of course I would have preferred it if I had gone to art school from the start, but I’m very grateful to know that we can pretty much do everything if we just set our minds to it.

4. When was the first time (I mean, how old are you) you started drawing and began the career as an artist? and how long do you draw a day?

Sneaky question haha! I’m a 90’s girl! I have been drawing since I was very little (three or four years old I think, or so my mum says) but in the meantime I went to Law school, I got my degree and my law license believe it or not, and I’ve only decided that I really wanted to be a professional artist about three years ago. So for me, it was a rollercoaster indeed. I didn’t have that much time to get from it being just a hobby to it becoming my livelihood. If I’m being honest, it still amazes me to think that I get paid to do what I love and that feeling is something that I always try to keep in mind when I get anxious about the future or uncertain about having left my legal career behind. So, it’s all pretty new to me too! I try to draw every day because practice and determination are the secrets, not gift or talent.

5. If you have a time, can you please take a look at my artworks and give some feedback/critics/advice (and what I need to work on). I know it’s still lack of artworks, I’ll add more of my artworks soon. I would really appreciate it. Thank you very much.

I will send you this little feedback via email!

As always, you’re very welcome to send me questions, here on Tumblr or via my site and I’ll do my best to answer the most helpful way possible!

Happy Monday!

[truthfulrebellion-blog]

Hysterectomy

Let’s call it what it is. No pussy footing around it. A necessary evil on the way to the end game: phalloplasty. I had been waiting almost six months to hear back about my approval for phalloplasty. I currently have health insurance through Kaiser Permanente, and they had a laundry list of things for me to do in order to present my file to the medical board. I had to transfer my files over from the organization I was seeking healthcare through, as it was cheaper than paying out of pocket for an endocrinologist, to Kaiser. I also had to obtain letters from two medical professionals confirming my need for bottom surgery. The whole process took nearly a year and several trips to medical facilities nearly thirty miles away from my home. My case manager finally called and said in order for the final review to occur, I had to get a hysterectomy.

At the time, I thought that was done by the surgeon performing the phalloplasty at the time of the phalloplasty. With Kaiser, that is not the case. They want anything and everything they have the capability of doing done within their facility. Likely to keep costs down. I didn’t mind. My hysterectomy was scheduled for December 15th, 2018. I had to get blood tests done and watch several videos that didn’t pertain to my situation regarding the procedure. The videos are, obviously, geared towards women. I did what I needed to do and prepared myself for the surgery date. I got a call to move my surgery up about 10 days, even better. Then not 24 hours before the surgery, I received a call stating that it was being delayed for a week. My new date was the 11th. This was terribly inconvenient as my care giver for after my surgery had already taken off work for the original surgery date.

I walked into the facility to check in about an hour early. I had yet another interesting surprise. The surgery was going to cost me money. $475, or close to it. Luckily, I had the money. I was very upset that I wasn’t told about this ahead of time, however. I am paying for the most expensive coverage this company offers so I had as little to pay out of pocket as possible. In the grand scheme of things, $475 is better than $10k. It still would have been nice to know before I showed up. If you have Kaiser, please make sure you know exactly what the costs are before you walk in the door.

I got checked in. I had to remove all of my clothing, put on a hospital gown & surgery cap, and take one final per break. I also forgot to mention I had to stop eating at midnight the day of and wipe my body down with these pre-surgery wipes. I was hungry and my skin smelled weird. They hooked up my IV, fed me my “lunch”, and several doctors came in to ask me questions and verify information. My surgery was supposed to occur at 3pm, but was delayed until closer to 5/530. My surgeon came in to make sure I knew what was about to take place. He also talked to me about a surgeon for bottom surgery in Arizona or New Mexico he was going to refer me to. He had given me the name in our prior consultation. When I looked that surgeon up, I was horrified. The man was fired from the California region Kaiser Permanente for botching transwomens vaginoplasties. The guy didn’t even specialize in phalloplasty. I expressed these concerns to him and told him it probably wouldn’t be a good idea to partner with him for any trans surgeries. Hopefully he heeds my advice. He confirmed that after the surgery, he would stick to the decision to refer me to Dr. Jens Berli of Portland, OR.

I knew nothing of Dr. Berli. There are no results to been seen online, barely anyone who has undergone his procedure even talks about their results, and I couldn’t find any other information besides his starting point in Maryland. I found his Facebook page and did some pretty intense research on him. He seems to genuinely care about his patients and has a passion for what he does. His only negative review is from someone who never had surgery with him because of a communication issue with his staff. Everyone else gave him five stars. So, I figured why the hell not. Hopefully my progress will help others who may be going to Dr. Berli for their phalloplasty be more comfortable with moving forward with him or the surgery itself. I am flying as blind in this moment as some of those who might read this in the future might feel. Trust me. I feel your pain.

I finally went in for my surgery. This time I wasn’t put under until I was on the surgery table. For my top surgery, I was out before I turned the corner on the way to the operating room. The next thing I remember is waking up several hours later and in pain. I couldn’t keep my eyes open. I was very disoriented. I’m not surprised considering I was on anesthesia. Apparently I wasn’t breathing enough either since my O2 alarm kept going off. I had to stay for an extra hour until I could get my breathing going regularly. Which is hard because I believe I have sleep apnea, and when I sleep I breathe much slower than I do when I’m awake. So I would fall back asleep, stop breathing, and be woken up by the nurses to get me to breathe. I didn’t feel any different than I usually do. I was actually quite comfy. But I’m sure it was uncomfortable for others around me to see me breathe 1-2 times a minute while asleep.

I was in so much pain. The pain meds hadn’t kicked in yet. I had had a total hysterectomy, oophorectomy, and partial vaginectomy. Let me tell you. When your genitals are covered in stitches, sitting fucking hurts. I couldn’t get comfortable. Then I had to go to the bathroom. Lord, that was an adventure in of itself. Once I was done, I had to have the nurse help me pull my maternity disposable underwear and extra absorbent pad on. And to help me get dressed. The was a humbling experience. But those disposable underwear are comfortable AF. I wish I had had more of them. I was only sent home with the 1 extra pair. After I got dressed, they sent my care giver to get the car. They sat me in a wheel chair and wheeled me to the pick up area. Wheel chairs are super uncomfortable. I begged the nurse to let me sit on the plushy waiting area seat, but she told me no. I couldn’t wait to get out of that chair. It hurt so bad.

I’ll spare additional details about the trip home. I was basically in pain in the seat, it took over an hour to get home, and I got right in the couch seat I’d be in for the next week and fell asleep. I had to wake up every 1-2 hours to pee and every 4 hours to take my pain meds. Compared to my chest surgery, the pain of the hysterectomy actually wasn’t too bad. I barely needed any medicine. The worst pain came when I peed. It burned like the surface of the sun, and I could barely get the urine out. This lasted for about 2-3 days. I was bleeding pretty regularly for 1-2 weeks and spotting until the 6th week. I had horrible colored discharge the entire recovery. I actually had to go get adult diapers when my last pair of those comfy underwear got worn out. I couldn’t find any of those huge puffy pads or anything without adhesive.

I think the worst part was not being able to poop. I could feel the poop in my back. I really could. But I could not get my bowels to work. Apparently, this is normal. I ended up pooping on day 5. Best advice? Take stool softeners religiously. I would go so far as to say take a laxative on day 3 or 4 because that poop is going to be quite solid. TMI alert, my first poop after surgery tore a little bit of the inside. Like a hemorrhoid. I’m getting into these details because I wish I had had them. It’s not rainbows and butterflies. It’s bleeding and inability to poop. I also could barely sleep as I had to sleep on my back, and I can’t sleep on my back. I get so unfortable. By day 3 I was sleeping on my side on the other couch. I’m also a bigger guy, so I had to hold my stomach when I got up since there was a lot of pain from my belly hanging. I’m not 300+ pounds or anything, but I do have a beer belly. If you are the same, just be prepared for tummy pain when getting up.

I slept on the couch for 3 weeks. It was so much more comfortable than my bed. And it was easy access to everything. I am almost 8 weeks post op and still get tummy pain. But for the most part, pain and blood free. I do still have discharge coming out. I’ll probably continue to wear the diapers until I run out just in case. I had already ruined a pair of pants when I thought the discharge was done. But after about 7-10 days, I was walking around and driving and doing what I needed to do. It was uncomfortable to sit and bend over, so my roommate had to help with a lot of things. My final observation is to leave the scabs alone. I accidentally picked at my belly scab and one of the dissolvable stitches came loose from my incision. I had that stitch hanging out for at least 2 weeks until it finally dissolved at the base and popped off. My scars look great and my hair has finally grown back on my stomach.

I’m doing all of this well after my surgery, so I am sure I have missed a thing or two. If you have any questions, please give me a comment or a message. I will answer anything.

[idolizerp]

LOADING INFORMATION ON NIGHTMARE’S LEAD VOCAL, DANCE KYO AREUM...

IDOL DETAILS

STAGENAME: N/A CURRENT AGE: 20 DEBUT AGE: 19 TRAINEE SINCE AGE: 15 COMPANY: Koala.T SECONDARY SKILL: N/A

IDOL PROFILE

NICKNAME(S): ‘ari’ used mainly by group-mates and friends. ‘bunny-reum’ given by fans because of her full cheeks and often toothy smile that resembles a rabbit. INSPIRATION: she was born with an inherent knowledge for music, but the true love and respect for it came from her older brother who would often sing to her when she was young. she looks up to him a lot and decided to make the jump from piano to singing because of him. SPECIAL TALENTS:

sense of perfect pitch; can identify or recreate any given note w/o a reference tone

excellent at reading lips; comes in handy when playing the ‘telephone’ game

NOTABLE FACTS:

younger sister to an older generation idol

can play the piano at an expert level; often posts videos playing on her insta

enrolled at seoul institute of the arts, majoring in composition

known for being a lookalike to a prior generation idol beauty

achieved perfect pitch at age 4

IDOL GOALS

SHORT-TERM GOALS:

her current priorities are nightmare and finishing school. she believes in their sound and concept, especially with the addition of subunits. she’s committed to helping them succeed, and lord knows she isn’t the best at variety, so she turns to modeling to gain them attention. at the moment, she prefers group schedules because it’s easier for her to play off the other girls.

LONG-TERM GOALS:

areum is a smart girl; she knows nightmare isn’t exactly set up for long-term success due to their niche music style. so she sets herself up for a career. school, modeling, etc. it’s all to set her up for her future. she has a natural talent for music and she doesn’t plan on wasting it. her goals are to write and produce music, though she has yet to decide if that will be for herself or others

IDOL IMAGE

talking never came easy to areum, so it was no surprise to her management that she wasn’t the variety darling that other girls seemed to be. she wasn’t particularly funny, she didn’t posses endless amounts of aegyo. but she had a pretty face, and that was enough for koala t. music to work with.

she watched, observed, absorbed every little thing going on around her. but she rarely spoke. to some, it was seen as a problem. they wanted people who could charm the audience. and what was she, stuck up? did she think she was better than everyone else? why wouldn’t she talk? these were concerns they had during her trainee days; she was talented and a hard worker, but how were they going to market her?

it wasn’t until a fan on some forum pointed out that she looked exactly like a former idol beauty that they figured out what to do with her. silent beauty, that’s what they called her. but she wasn’t cold, no. rather, she seemed to cling to her members for support, smile proudly when one of them succeeded and laugh at the right moments. she had a warmth to her that shone through in her smile rather than her words. and when she did speak, it was smart and articulate. she thought through what she was going to say before she said it, making her answers to questions meaningful and insightful.

she wasn’t invited to much solo variety. she wasn’t quite talkative enough for that, or as naturally charming as some of the others. most of her solo endeavors involved modeling or playing the piano and singing. but she thrived when she was put in front of the camera with the other girls. they brought out the best in areum, the side koala t. liked to see. the side that made them money.

IDOL HISTORY

the kyos weren’t particularly remarkable people. they had money, sure, and for them that was all that mattered. despite this, they had high expectations and standards for their children. kids were something you paraded around and bragged about. they had to impress so that you could impress your peers.

when areum was born, they weren’t sure she would live up to expectations.

she was a cute baby, sure. full cheeks, wide eyes, perfect button nose. but she was quiet.

she didn’t babble on like the children their friends had. she cried when she needed something, but that was it for the first six months. understandably, the kyos were concerned. there had to be something wrong with her. after multiple appointments with different specialists, everyone told them the same thing: nothing was wrong, she just chose to be silent.

it was at a party thrown by their family that she made her first noise. a pianist had been hired to play that night and at the first notes played, she cooed and did the best clap a baby could muster. her family was shocked and spent the rest of the night near the piano with areum. the noises continued and she displayed more enthusiasm than they had ever seen from their daughter. but when the party ended and the music stopped, she fell silent once more.

ever since, areum has been surrounded by music. she seemed to be most expressive when listening to music, whether it be a recording or (a personal favorite) her older brother singing to her. her love for music begin to manifest, starting first on the piano. it was obvious that she had a natural talent for it, and at a young age her parents hired a teacher for her. even though she still didn’t talk much, if it all, she was able to pour her emotions and dedication into the piano. she outgrew her teachers quickly; her family had to hire experts, and at age four, they were told areum had a sense of absolute pitch, a rarity in someone so young.

from that moment on, music was all that mattered. piano lessons and recitals took precedent over school. at every party they threw, she would have to perform for their guests. areum didn’t mind. sure, it would have been nice to have parents that actually cared about her rather than what she could do, but she had seokyung to fill that void. and music; music would always be there for her.

in other ways, she developed slowly. speech therapists were hired due to her lack of talking. young areum just didn’t see why it was so important to talk when she could express herself in other ways. but she had to be normal; not speaking was seen as something wrong with her, and there could be nothing wrong with their little girl.

from an outsiders perspective, things were perfect for the kyos. it was only their children that knew otherwise.

areum had never been dumb, or stupid. and she wasn’t blind to what went on in their family. with her father constantly working, he trusted his brother to help out with the children. a parental figure that he couldn’t be. areum knew he was never the positive male influence everyone thought he should be. he was overly critical, often harsh and unfair. he hurled insults at her for not being able to articulate just what she wanted or needed. he made fun of her stutter and once tore up all the sheet . but that was the extent of her ‘punishment’. he never took it further, but when she was six, she figured out why: her brother. he had saved her and took the punishment on himself. she remembers sneaking into his room that night to wrap herself around him. a silent thank you that she hoped spoke volumes louder than words ever could.

it was then that she learned the only family she could rely on was him.

so she clung to her brother. when he would sing, she would sing along. she wasn’t as naturally talented as him, but she learned and worked hard. her family hired a tutor for her when she insisted she wouldn’t continue piano lessons without voice lessons too. she was eight when he left home to pursue his passion and she envied him for escaping. her world had to shift focus now that she didn’t have her brother around to rely on. she only had herself.

areum learned to avoid her uncle. if she made herself as small and sparse as possible, he left her alone. nothing was perfect, and she made mistakes. she experienced more than once first hand exactly the kind of punishment her brother had taken for her all those years. but she was tough, always had been. she buried any emotions in her school work and musical lessons. she found it difficult to make friends; she wasn’t as easy-going and carefree as the other kids and found most of them unbearable to talk to. and most of them knew her as the girl who didn’t talk correctly. the teasing only pushed her to try harder.

her brother was already famous by the time she decided to become an idol. if anything, it was an escape from her family. she knew what they wanted for her: become a world class pianist and composer. but the fact that they wanted that so badly made her push against it. she had cultivated a love for music and to areum, it didn’t matter how it manifested itself. all that mattered was getting out of their clutches.

so she made promises to them. if they would let her audition, if they would let her follow in her brother’s footsteps, she would continue to practice on the piano. areum convinced them she wasn’t giving up on her dream, just changing course. she would continue to make them proud. and despite all her problems with her parents, she did want to make them proud.

while she had hoped her brother’s company would take her on, she didn’t fit. her personality didn’t match with what they had planned, so she tried elsewhere. two more failed auditions before koala t. decided to take her on at age fifteen.

she practiced harder than she ever had before. all her life, things had come easy to her when it came to music. but dancing, that was different. that was something that just didn’t… click. at first, at least. it wasn’t until one of the other trainees decided to help that she really understood how to feel the music, how to let it take control in a way she never had before. it was freeing.

things improved from that point on. slowly, she began to warm up to others. they all shared the same love and the same dream; it was easier to relate to these people who loved music as much as she did. on her own like this, away from her family, she was able to find herself more and more. the areum she discovered learned how to connect with people, learned that it was okay to let people in every once in a while. they taught her how to be a teenager, that maybe the world could be more than just lessons and practices. they taught her to speak with confidence, and to speak in other languages. and by the time she was chosen as part of the lineup for nightmare, she had made leaps and bounds towards becoming the person she wanted to be.

of course, parts of the old areum still remained. she maintained contact with her brother and mother, cutting off her father years ago. he wanted her to attend yonsei and forget about these idol aspirations. he told her she was wasting her potential, but for once she ignored him. she enrolled in the seoul institute of the arts instead, not wanting to let her passion for writing and composing waste away.

university and nightmare schedules were no easy feat to balance, but if anyone could do it, it was areum. her priority stuck with her group now; she was an new person thanks to them, a better person. so she worked hard on the her performances, and even her image. it was new and terrifying to rely on the help of others, but it was for the good of the group.

people constantly asked her why she chose this life over a future as a concert pianist. in areum’s mind, it’s simple. a pianist was a solo job, and she was tired of being alone.

she wasn’t alone anymore.

[gymmanagementsoftware-blog]

11 Benefits of Exercise and Workout Daily

Perhaps you've been signed to begin however simply haven't discovered the correct routine or even the correct exercise hack. Maybe you're recuperating from damage or haven't gotten around to it. Whatever your reason, I'm here to disclose to you that today is the day to begin working out.

That is on the grounds that the advantages of activity are much more than simply getting thinner or accomplishing that "fit figure." Exercise benefits everything from your rest quality to your vitality level, and even your memory. From making you more joyful in helping you live more, consistent Fitness Center Management Software is vital to carrying on with a sound, healthy lifestyle.

1. Boost Happiness Levels

Regardless of whether we're completely aware of it or not, we're continually searching for how to be upbeat. What's more, practice is a standout amongst the most evident strides to take, as it is anything but a fortuitous event that you feel better after a decent exercise: It's science. A Penn State University think about found that individuals who worked out, regardless of whether it was a gentle, direct or incredible exercise, had more wonderful sentiments than the individuals who didn't.

These same individuals were likewise more joyful on days when they were more physically dynamic than expected, implying that raising the stakes on GYM Software can give much to a greater extent a bliss help. The takeaway? Working out can make you glad long haul; including additional force can improve you feel even.

Another investigation utilized a cell phone application to have members track their movement, area and joy levels for the duration of the day. It got in excess of 3 million reactions per year — and clients were at their second-most joyful post-exercise.

2. Learn to set — and Achieve — Goals

Regardless of whether it's choosing to run a 10K, expanding the sum you can deadlift or expanding your bicycle mileage, defining and accomplishing wellness objectives is a mind-boggling fearlessness help. Yet, in the event that you discover your resolutions tumbling to the wayside, science has revealed the key to progress: setting clear goals.

A recent report inspected three gatherings of individuals. Gathering one, the control gathering was advised to track how GYM Management Software every individual practiced consistently. The second gathering, the inspiration gathering, was given similar guidelines yet, in addition, read a motivational discourse. Gathering three, the goal gathering, included in the past gatherings by requesting that individuals make an arrangement that set a particular day, time and place to work out.

Think about who was best? Gathering three had a significantly higher rate of really finishing, at a tune of 91 percent, while the control aggregate practiced no less than 38 percent of the week. The inspiration assemble really practiced the slightest, with only 35 percent.

By finding the intensity of objective setting by focusing on achieving an activity point of reference and after that working out exactly how you'll accomplish it, you can appreciate the advantages of activity and the certainty that joins it.

3. Reduce your danger of Heart Disease normally

Escape the pharmaceutical bureau and lessen your danger of coronary illness the characteristic way. A meta-audit of an assortment of studies and preliminaries led by scientists in 2013 —enveloping 305 preliminaries with in excess of 339,000 members — found that no measurably recognizable contrasts existed between the individuals who practiced and the individuals who were given medicines in the aversion of coronary illness and prediabetes.

Indeed, in those patients who as of now had endured a stroke, physical action GYM Member Management Software was more compelling than tranquilize treatment. Work with your specialist to set up an activity arrange for that works for you.

4. Sleep Better

In the event that you can't rest and rather are inclined to hurling and turning, practicing can enable you to rest better. By fortifying circadian rhythms, practicing can help keep you all the more splendid peered toward amid the day and Fitness Center Management Software rest around evening time. It additionally advances the better nature of rest.

While the impacts may not be a prompt convenient solution — an ongoing report found that it can take up to four months for those starting an activity routine to positively affect rest ­—beginning a working out arrangement is the best way to guarantee you'll rest soundly consistently.

5. Get an Energy Boost

When you're feeling depleted, the exact opposite thing you should need to do is crush in an exercise. In any case, as indicated by specialists, that is precisely what you ought to do. They found that low-force workout, the likeness a restful walk, encountered a drop in weariness levels and a 20 percent jolt of energy.

Much additionally energizing is that the low-power practice gathering's weakness levels dropped more than the higher-force gathering, Club Management Software news for the individuals who may avoid an exercise since they don't have time or vitality for a more exceptional session. The two gatherings detailed relentlessly expanded vitality over the traverse of the six-week analyze.

6. Increase Strength and Flexibility

In the event that quality preparing and extending aren't a piece of your wellness schedule, it's an ideal opportunity to consolidate them. In spite of the fact that numerous grown-ups participate in cardio exercises, many avoid obstruction preparing and fabricating muscle — and that is a misstep.

Quality preparing, regardless of whether you're lifting weights, doing bodyweight practices or fusing yoga moves, enhances muscle quality and bulk, especially critical as we age. It additionally keeps bones solid, in this way filling in as an awesome common treatment for osteoporosis. Additionally, Health Club Membership Management Software muscle enables your body to consume calories all the more proficiently long after your exercise is finished.

What's more, keep in mind extending: It builds your body's adaptability, helping regular undertakings wind up less demanding. It likewise sends more blood to your muscles, enhancing dissemination, and can bring down the danger of cardiovascular ailment. Only a couple of minutes daily of profound extending can have any kind of effect.

7. Enhance Memory

Is it accurate to say that you are always losing your keys or attempting to review names? Practicing consistently can help refresh your memory. A recent report found that oxygen-consuming activity, such as running or swimming, GYM Software of the hippocampus, the piece of the mind in charge of memory and learning, in ladies with a perceived hazard factor for dementia. Other than hoping to cerebrum sustenance to support your memory and mental aptitudes, begin starting to sweat!

8. Increase Self-Confidence

Feeling down on yourself? Practicing can enable you to feel better about yourself — regardless of what kind of exercise you do or how to fit you are. One investigation found that "the basic demonstration of activity and not wellness itself can persuade you that you look better." With such a great amount of accentuation on our outward appearances in the public eye today, it's consoling to realize that one of the advantages of activity enables individuals to feel better about themselves and what they look like normally.

9. Perform better at Work

Could the way to being more gainful and more joyful at work lie in work out? One investigation thinks so. It found that those Health Club Management Software who worked out before work or amid their lunch hour revealed feeling less pressure and being more joyful and more profitable than days when they avoided an exercise. That, as well as performed better on practice days. It's the ideal reason for a noon walk or strolling meeting.

10. Become Healthy

From sustaining your invulnerable framework against future growths to diminishing the danger of bosom disease, standard exercise ensures your body. In spite of the fact that analysts aren't totally certain how practice helps the resistance, Online GYM Management Software extends from microscopic organisms being flushed out of the body to a lessening in pressure discharged hormones that may expand the danger of disease.

While we sit tight for the science to get up to speed, plainly captivating in direct to serious exercise benefits your body in ways we're not in any case beyond any doubt of yet.

11. Live Longer

Being there for our friends and family and appreciating the greatest number of unique minutes together as we can — that is the thing that life truly is about. Keeping your body upbeat and beneficial to enable you to carry on with a more drawn out, more full life is one of the activity's greatest advantages. Subsequently, it's incredible news that exploration distributed in 2012, which considered in excess of 650,000 individuals, found that 150 minutes of direct exercise (or about half hour five days seven days) builds your life expectancy by 3.4 years.

So shy of moving to a blue zone, practicing for only 10 minutes every day, or 75 minutes per week, can acquire you an additional 1.8 years. The discoveries remained constant notwithstanding for those people who were overweight or corpulent; including exercise helped them live more while being stout and latent diminished life expectancy by up to 7.2 years. The advantages of including more exercise expanded and afterward leveled at around 300 minutes of week after a week work out (or an hour five days seven days) including an additional 4.2 long stretches of life.

[braindamageforbeginners]

Ice Floes

Quickly, before we begin: 1. this is a mostly-true anecdote that ties together several different, ideas I’ve had in the last two-ish days, including... 2. There are no ice floes here, it’s a reference to senecide in certain cultures (rarely practiced in Norhern Tribes and never practiced in the usual, “Send Grandma floating away on a chunk of ice!” way).

So, the first concept idea for this pieces my younger brother, Andy, who is working this summer s a fire-spotter in Idaho and/or Montana (he’s stationed in a national park that covers really big portions of both states). This is a cool, Norman Maclean manly-man style job for a grad student, and we were all fairly certain Andy would like his job (which, as a per-diem, is hard to beat, I’ll admit), and we’d all love to drop in and say hello, except I’m in very specific chemo ward 3-4 times a month (and that last week when I don’t have chemo, I still have to get them to draw my blood and run labs), so my schedule’s a little hard to work. And I started joking that, with our family’s luck, Andy would wind up in someplace with a name like ‘Dead Man’s Gulch” or “Rattleasnake Ridge” (remember that line) that we’d just as soon not bother with. Well, parents won’t be discouraged, so Dad’s thinking he might scratch off a bucket list item AND visit Andy... by backpacking to him (or near him). Which, even though he’s a nut for the treadmill, is not exactly the first phyisical task you’d nominate Dad for if you saw him in person. However, he’s decided to start training to address that very problem. Also, Andy’s fire station is somewhere in the Rattlesnake Mountains. I’m absolutely not making that up, Also, since my more-twisted jokes are apparently reshaping reality in their wake, I’d like to joke that I’ll be a multi-gabillionaire in a few years after someone reclassifies these scribbles as science-fiction.

One of the issues/questions I’m faced with all the time (aside from, “Why did we catch you tying truck nuts to Deputy Pierson’s police vehicle*?”) is how much of my time I really do devote to staying healthy and managing your disease/prescriptions/insurance/appointments. The short answer is, almost all of it. I know I spent a post last week essentially boasting how healthy I was, apart from having Stage IV cancer. What’s important is to know is that I take a weird sort of pride in that, and, as Dad has pointed out, in most cancer cases, the death/survival rate refers to elderly people who have other diseases or health issues in addition to cancer; he hasn’t heard of patients who get chemotherapy, then go for a 3-hour leg day the next day (I’d point out that having a pediatric cancer - as I did, sort of (another brain tumor) has serious long-term health implications for survivors, and now that I’m having toxic sludge pumped through me on  regular basis has a few more long-term associated-problems that I’d like to avoid. The point is, it is slowly starting to dawn on me that he might have a point, and I’m definitely doubling down on that bet, too. Which Dad knows, and knows I’ll be up for any dangerous stunt, as long as there’s even a minor probability of increased healthfulness. Which is why Dad and my step-mom invited me on Dad’s inaugural training hike; The Path of Pain (that’s not the official name, but it’s more accurate than the real thing). Now, bit of context; it’s not true that the Inuit would kill people by putting them on an ice flow and then sending them off. What is accurate - from my sources  - is that in times of famine, some Northern tribes (probably including the Inuit) would suddenly decamp in the middle of the night without telling Grandma and Grandpa. effectively leaving them to the mercy of the elements and luck/fate (to be fair, if the grandparents made it to the new camp, they were honored and informed of all future camp locations). So, I was aware of this when the following conversation occurred: SELF: This hike isn’t one of those obscure traditions where you’re going to leave the sick, infirm, and old - the societal deadwood, if you will - out in the elements to save the rest from starvation or something, is it? DAD: No. Why, are you worried we’d leave you behind? SELF: Nope, just stating - on behalf of the ill - that I have absolutely no intention of being out-distanced by the old just so I can be dire wolf bait. Also, I am absolutely prepared to lie and cheat in the name of that goal. Other people probably have better father-son chats. Other people are boring.

So, before I start describing the festivities - which involve a severe and horrifying betrayal - I might need to describe my disability status, and disability as it stands. GBM diagnosis is an automatic disability according to social security, because of that whole “really, really, high fatality rate and incredibly fast progression (although I’m okay now - I think, maybe - when I fist met Radiation Oncologist, she said the tumor had a 20% growth rate, which means it would double in size every five or so days - I shudder to think how bad, how quickly that could’ve gotten). And, even though I’m mostly-fine at the moment, for the first two weeks after my neurosurgery, I couldn’t walk. This was because I was completely numb on my left side for that time. Remember the last time you got a cavity filled and the dentist used novocaine? Imagine that sensation - or lack thereof - throughout your left side. Walking was a problem because I had no idea where my feet were (unless I was looking). I’ve come a long, long way since then, but that was not even eight months ago (before anyone asks, after a rather dismal showing by the physical therapists at the hospital, I haven’t been doing anything special to recover, other than exercising like my life depends on it). So, testing it on a steep, dangerous slope seemed bright.

Those of you who’ve been hiking with me probably have no trouble picturing the image. I don’t exactly skip up paths, but I do power through them the same grim, pig-headed determination that I’m bringing to the rest of this damned disease. The peak in question is about 1500 ft - not a prize-winner, to be sure, but it’s not a bad accomplishment for someone who couldn’t even go 150 feet not too long ago.

Now, with that smirking sense of triumph and gold star accomplishment, imagine my dismay when my wicked step-mother announced that this wasn’t the goal of the hike, the actual peak we were looking for was... 22 miles away. Okay, so that’s a bit of an exaggeration, the sum-total route was six miles, all on difficult trail. Greek heroes in classic tragedies endured less betrayal.

Now it would’ve been well within my power to request to go back; but, at that moment, I was feeling physically good at marching a mile in less than an hour, and that sensation somehow fused with testosterone, the Stetson, and male vanity, so, even though I knew at the time it might not be a good idea, all I could do was just grimly forge on with a few complaints. Good news, after a severe challenge to my dexterity, balance, and endurance, I’m still mostly-intact. I’m painfully sore from the waist down (I’ve said before, I’ll say it again, why isn’t codeine OTC in this Godforsaken country like it is in every civilized place on the planet). Left leg (and side) are not too bad, but the right foot’s killing me (I’ve tried stretching and rolling it on my yoga roller, which helped, but it’s still not up to snuff) - when I first got out of the car after arriving home (it’s a California thing; we drive for an hour to walk), I couldn’t, because that stupid right heel was too tender, And after all this, my reward to myself was an extra beer and another Tylenol. What have I become? Anyway, Dad and I have quietly agreed that sitting up and getting out of bed should definitely count as a trip to the gym (he’s also ordered a tree that’s sitting by the garage, so there’s a distinct possibility he has darker plans in store for me), and I’m personally going to try and keep my step-mother from any and all topographic maps. Still, you can’t outpace time and you’ll die if you ignore new constraints placed by disease, so I’ll look into some sort of walking stick (I spent the first five minutes back in the car slumped in the driver’s side because that’’s how achey/creeky I felt all on the left) before attempting anything that stupid and arduous again *I’ll credit Dad with this joke when he discovered that you can get a discount on these items if you order them online in bulk

[fromthedeskofelizabeththird]

Fracture 6/10

Please note that this chapter references torture

If you like Juyeon, go love on @yoosungshoodie, since Juyeon is her OC and gave me her blessing to use her. The banner comes from @kiserusmoke!

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Epilogue | AO3| Masterlist

There’s something else. I believe that whoever left the note is an employee of C&R.

“C&R?”

Suddenly, Seven’s mouth was dry and he mourned the soda Vanderwood scrubbed from the floor.

“I asked my security team for the full details of who came and went to the apartment today and the last people to leave were Nari, Juyeon and housekeeping, in that order.”

“I’ll look into it!” He cried out, hoping his enthusiasm masked his concern. “Don’t worry about---”

He hung up before Jumin could even respond and hopped out of his chair to gather together as many maps and files as he could carry.

“Hey, hey,” protested Vanderwood, “what are you-” He flinched as Seven threw car keys in his direction.

“Come on! We have to go.” “Go? Go where?”

Seven frowned over the top of the mountain of research in his arms.

“If there’s a mole in C&R, we need to warn V. There’s no telling exactly how much they might know or use to their advantage...it could jeopardize the entire investigation,” he said. “There’s a safe house not too far from the castle, so come on, we need to hurry!”

Vanderwood frowned, glancing from the messy floor to his flustered expression. Neither mentioned that the safehouse Seven referred to came into their possession in the earlier days of the Mint Eye investigation, nor that every single team to use it was MIA.

“Fine,” he said. “But just so you know, this means the photographer guy owes us double.”

Jihyun arrived at the castle boundary at midnight, which was strangely apt the more he thought about it. The outhouse he had previously used as a camp had changed a good deal in the last few months, which he supposed made sense. It belonged to the cult in the castle, after all, perhaps intended as a sentry post or something far more sinister. Either way, the last time he saw it it contained little more than a handful of water bottles, a worn bible and a pamphlet or two. He had been careful not to disturb the shelves much on his last visit, sniffing at the water in the bottles before taking a tentative sip. Whether or not it was clean was anyone’s guess, but at the very least it didn’t make him sick. Now that he was back, it had a few new boxes filled with musty uniforms and somebody’s shoes. In the far corner was a crate of wine bottles, though he recognised none of the labels.

Assuming the inner workings of the castle had not changed too much, the guard rotation changed at five o’clock every morning. He did not have the luxury of time, though, and after taking the tarpaulin from the back seat of his car and stretching it across until he was satisfied its dark shape was almost invisible in the forest, he shrugged on one of the newer looking sets of robes from one of the outhouse boxes.

He reached for his phone before leaving, sighing at its low battery and reaching to dial Nari’s number. He paused, though, taking in each of his missed calls from both Luciel and Jumin. Even considering the best case scenario: that Luciel was the only person looking for him, Nari’s phone was not at all compromised and she was being kept in a relatively safe environment, he did not know her well enough to presume her response to the revelation she was in danger. The worst case scenario, on the other hand, was one he did not want to entertain: that he was being traced by multiple hackers and had been for some time, Nari’s phone was compromised and had been bugged since her death.

He threw his phone into the river, watching it disappear into the darkness as he pulled up the hood of his robes.

A few hours from then everything would be changed forever, and though the optimism of it was clear even to him, he hoped it was for the better.

Ordinarily, Jumin took his good instincts for granted; he was confident making increasingly difficult business decisions and planning the future of C&R in an ever changing climate. Items and industries that dominated their accounts in previous years no longer held any value and keeping the company ahead of the game was as much about intuition as it was careful research.

When it came to Nari, though, he felt scrambled; every negative possibility equally as plausible as the next. Deep in his gut he knew there was something strange about Nari’s disappearance. Perhaps she was in danger, or had left him the note only as an afterthought.

It seemed almost distasteful to prefer the scenario where she was in danger, and yet he spent the night waiting for a callback from Luciel that ultimately never came.

After their argument, he had scooped up Nari’s engagement ring, meaning to give it back to her when they next spoke. In her absence, though, he placed it on his bedside table and hoped that when he woke up it would all be a bad dream.

Come the next morning, Luciel had not returned his call and any to Nari went straight to answer machine. As much as he wanted to dial her over and over again until she answered, the off chance that she genuinely meant to leave held him back.

He hoped he was wrong, considered that as he put on his tie the next morning. Before leaving for work, he put the engagement ring in his pocket, smoothing his fingers across the metal in the backseat of his car.

It took him half the journey to draft a message and even then it was only half complete:

We need to talk.

Nari woke early, the time on her phone screen one that would ordinarily leave her groaning and pulling the covers over her face. This time, though, she all but flew out of bed, changing into her clothes from the previous day and carefully folding the itchy nightdress. To say it was a relief to be out of it was an understatement; as she rinsed her face in the bathroom mirror, she saw that her neck and collarbones were red and blotchy from the irritation.

After dressing for the day, she dialed Driver Kim’s number and sighed when he did not respond. She doubted he was still asleep, for that particular time of day perfectly matched Jumin’s daily departure for the office. Juyeon did not answer either and Nari sank onto the bed, logging in and out of the messenger to no avail. She remembered the number Ray had written down for her as an afterthought and for a moment or two considered calling him; he had, after all, offered her an ear morning or night. It was very early in the morning, though, and surely he had a home to go to.

By something of a coincidence, he answered her question not long afterwards; barreling into her room with a tea trolley while she scribbled notes in her organiser. She had several appointments that afternoon that quite possibly needed rearranging, though the scent of Darjeeling made it more difficult than usual to pay much thought to problems beyond the castle walls.

“Good morning,” said Ray, “did you sleep well?”

He lifted the teapot into his hands as he said so, only turning to pour the tea when she nodded.

“I feel much better today,” she said, accepting the cup he offered. “I’ll be out of your hair in no time!”

It was good tea; its warmth spreading from the top of her head to the tips of her toes. At first she did not notice Ray’s expression of conflict.

“About that,” he said, “I received word from your driver this morning.”

“Is he alright?”

“He will be better soon,” he said, “don’t you worry!”

He seemed reluctant to tell her any more than that and, as a consequence, her imagination ran wild. Suddenly all she could think of was Driver Kim standing in Jumin’s office describing the events of the previous day; Driver Kim bed bound with the flu; Driver Kim receiving word of an emergency in C&R. Each possibility was worse than the next and Nari cupped her hands around her teacup, pushing each dark thought to the back of her mind.

Even so, she did not know what Ray meant by ‘better’. 

“Our lady meant for you to take breakfast in the garden today,” said Ray, turning to her with a grin. “I wasn’t sure of your preferences, so I filled in a few of the blanks myself.”

“Will your boss be coming to eat with us?”

She had seen so little of the castle that she found herself increasingly curious of it. Were all of the rooms like her own? What sort of person was in charge? All she knew of the owner came from the few references Ray had made. Those small details were not particularly helpful in forming either an opinion or mental image, however, and Nari feared she had invented so much of the owner and her personality that the reality would leave her disappointed.

Ray had not expected her to ask such a question; it was written across his face. Almost immediately she wished she had never asked, for the owner surely had a busy schedule too and her overnight stay had inevitably left a few noses out of joint.

“Ah,” she said, “it doesn’t matter. I’ll grab my coat.”

When it came to his son, Chief Han liked to think that he knew him the best. Business was in the boy’s DNA and even as a child he had understood the proper order of proceedings for any given eventuality. His engagement to a commoner had come as a shock to everyone, Chief Han most of all.

Sometimes he forgot the circumstances of Jumin’s birth; forgot Jieun. Before Jumin, she had been the person he thought he knew best of all, only to learn otherwise when it was far too late.

“What was it you wanted to speak to me about?” He asked, sitting back in his chair to properly observe the man opposite. Jumin had skipped most pleasantries when they arrived at the restaurant, not even bothering to read the menu. In the end, Chief Han was the one to order coffee and light refreshments, wondering why he had been summoned for a meeting on such late notice.

“I wanted to talk about Nari,” said Jumin, his own cup untouched.

Retrospectively, he should have seen it coming. He had learned the hard way how difficult weddings were to organise, especially when the bride did not come from a privileged background as he had. More than one of his brides to be had ended their relationship without ever making it down the aisle, in part because of the influx of offers from media outlets and other companies. With this in mind, he had taken Jumin’s engagement as an opportunity to pursue every business deal and proposal he had previously dismissed. If the unreasonably short deadline didn’t strain their relationship, the more ridiculous of his suggestions surely would.

So far, Nari had not only been flexible, but almost excessively so. Chief Han knew it was only a matter of time before his requests became intolerable and doubtlessly that was why his son had insisted on a meeting. Perhaps the girl had already left him and his strategy had finally blossomed into fruition.

“I see,” he said, helping himself to coffee. “How is my future daughter in law?”

“Don’t speak as if you don’t know,” said Jumin, “I expected this sort of behaviour from my mother, not you.”

That was a low blow and Chief Han grimaced into his coffee cup before setting it down.

“I did not expect for my son to resort to petty insults,” he said, “and yet here we are.”

“As far as I can see, you have two options,” said Jumin, shrugging off the barb. “You give my wedding a wide berth and we start again with a clean slate.”

“Or?”

“Or I leave my post at C&R.”

Only then did Chief Han realise exactly how far he had underestimated his son. It was true that business was in Jumin’s DNA, but in his arrogance he had forgotten that outmaneuvering people was too. He had no idea if Jumin was serious or calling his bluff and that uncertainty was dangerous, as he was almost certainly aware.

Suddenly Chief Han was thirty eight again, with clammy hands and a fluttering stomach, staring down the mother of his son. It had been a long time since anyone backed him into a corner in such a fashion and for Jumin to do so twice in only a matter of months left him oddly sentimental, a fact that must have transferred to his face.

“Is something funny?”

“No, no,” he said, “it’s just that the way you said that...it reminded me of someone else.”

Only after he arrived at the castle did Jihyun realise any of the flaws in his plan. He had not thought very far beyond his arrival, heart thumping with adrenaline at the thought of breaking Nari out of one cell or another.

A lot had changed since his last visit to the castle, though. The staff he once knew by identification number had since been promoted, whether to a different division or rank, and many of the chambers that had been barricaded off were now fully realised. Worse, from what few tidbits of information he could glean from other acolytes, the saviour had devoted most of her attentions to the control room and a guest on the third floor.

The gardens were new; all manner of brightly coloured flowers where before there had been plain earth. There were mazes and archways, fountains carved out of stone and pathways so well worn that it was difficult to believe how recent they actually were.

Halfway through, towards the castle, he rested a hand against a tree and sucked in one breath and then two. His chest was tight, his mind foggy, and worst of all he did not know where he planned to go next.

No one he had talked to knew much about the mysterious guest on the third floor, only that she was important to the cause and being treated as a VIP. The obvious answer was Nari and Jihyun did not know if he should be relieved or not. Not one of the answers he had received confirmed or denied her involvement in the organisation and, as foolhardy as it was, he refused to accept it. There had to be a better explanation than Nari betraying the RFA.

He had thought about confronting Rika; begging and bartering for Nari’s life. Luciel’s words, though, were clear in his mind, that his plan was reckless to the point of suicide. Jihyun supposed he agreed with him, but there again, none of his imagined attempts at saving Nari ended with him going home. At some point, he had made peace with the fact that the chances of him leaving alive were slim to none.

If he was completely honest, he was ready to die; ready to rest his body and his conscience.

As if in response, someone called out from the garden.

“This place,” they said. “It must take you such a long time to maintain it!”

It took everything he had not to run to her the moment he saw her; Nari, her hair loose about her shoulders, hugging herself as she walked the main path to the pavilion in the center. Two steps ahead of her was a man in magenta clothes, pointing out individual flower beds as he walked.

“These are Lily of the Valley,” he said, stopping to kneel and lift one by the root. “Here-“

He twisted the stalk in his fingers as she turned to see, forming a simple chain that he lowered onto her head. Nari had not been expecting it, that much was clear and she took two steps back at his touch.

“Perfect,” said the man in magenta, turning to the side and giving Jihyun a clear view of his face. He had bleached his hair and his eyes were a different shade, but it was unmistakably him: Saeran. 

“Oh,” said Nari, reaching up to the flowers in her hair, “I...thank you!”

Jihyun had no idea what Saeran was doing in the castle, nor what exactly they had planned for Nari. She did not appear to be in any immediate danger, though, which left one possibility.

A possibility that became far more apparent as someone behind him clapped a hand to his shoulder.

Breakfast that morning was no less extravagant than the one from the day before. Someone, possibly Ray, had assembled a feast under a large pavilion in the center of the garden, surrounded by sweet smelling rose bushes.

Nari wished she had several more heads so that she could better admire the flowers, and her heart skipped a beat when Ray placed a crown of lilies on her head. She was not sure how to thank him for the gesture and stammered a thank you before approaching the breakfast table.

“Is something the matter?” Asked Ray, noticing her hesitant steps.

“Oh it’s...it’s nothing,” she said, blushing a bright red at her own transparency. “I just thought Juyeon would be here.”

The prospect of her own increasingly complicated schedule and the absence of Driver Kim left her more desperate than ever to see Juyeon. Perhaps Juyeon had passed on a message to either Jumin or C&R already. At minimum she must have gotten in touch with everyone they had arranged to meet.

“Oh, don’t worry, your assistant will be here soon,” said Ray, reaching to pull out a chair for her, “she told me that she had business to attend to and will join us as soon as she’s done.”

That did sound like Juyeon, though Nari hesitated before accepting the seat he offered. The castle, the grounds, Ray...it was all like something from a fairy tale and at the back of her mind she had a strange feeling about it. Perhaps because it was so idyllic, she felt more inclined to seek out its darkest secrets.

“Are you alright, Miss Song?” Ray asked after she had been silent for quite some time.

“I,” she said, a sudden rush of guilt when she noticed the concern on his face. “It’s nothing. Thank you for this meal!”

She accepted the chair he offered and watched as he reached for a tea set, preparing her Darjeeling just as he had before.

“If there is anything I can do to make you more comfortable, just say the word.”

Nari sighed at that, wondering how she could explain to him-to anyone- her feelings from the past few days.

“Do you ever just wish that you could live your life again? The same years, but with different choices,” she said, absentmindedly running her fingers over the empty spot where her engagement ring used to be.

It was a question that had lingered at the back of her mind even before she entered Rika’s apartment. Before she even graduated high school. Just saying it out loud made it seem like nonsense, though, and she chuckled as Ray positioned a fresh cup of tea in front of her.

“I’m sorry,” she said, hiding her face behind the cup, “that probably sounds ridiculous...I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have-“

“Oh no!” Ray said, snatching up her hands in his. “I understand completely. Before I came here, I was…”

He shuddered at the thought, though tried -and failed- to pass it off as laughter.

“I was weak before,” he said. “Our Lady, she gave me purpose again, showed me the truth. I only wish I had known then what I know now, but spreading the word about everything we’ve accomplished here..well...it’s comforting. Surely there are others waiting to be saved as I was.”

Nari had yet to meet the manager of the castle grounds, but she thought she got a feel for her as she glanced around the garden. Only someone with a good deal of ambition and a kind heart would build such a unique environment and reach out to those in need.

“I think,” said Nari, squeezing Ray’s hand, “I’m going to like your boss.”

Believer B401 was far from pleased and Jihyun did not need to know the inner workings of the castle to guess why. He had frogmarched him out of the garden without so much as a word, pushing him through a side door and locking it behind them both. At first Jihyun thought he had been caught, only for Believer B401 to chastise him about his lack of discretion in regards to their guest.

“How do you mean to explain your robes,” he snapped. “Mister Ray gave us clear instructions!”

In a way, he was grateful for the interruption. Left alone to his devices he would almost certainly have acted without thinking.

“I’m sorry,” said Jihyun, “I’m on the intelligence team and only returned to the castle today.”

As excuses went, it seemed to do the job. Believer B401 let out a sound of annoyance and hit him in the shoulder.

“Don’t let it happen again,” he said. “If you jeopardize the operation, the Saviour might never forgive you.”

“What’s so special about the girl?” Jihyun asked, knowing exactly why Nari was important, but willing the acolyte to reveal more. Did they plan to recruit her? Was she a hostage, as her picture had implied? Just how did Rika plan to use her?

Unfortunately, he was out of luck in that regard. The acolyte did not know anything.

“All I know,” said Believer B401, “is that they put her under the care of Mister Ray and Miss Jenny.”

“Mister Ray?” He repeated, louder than he meant to.

“Ah, of course, you probably missed the ceremony. Mister Ray was the man in the garden.”

“Mister Ray,” said Jihyun, sounding out the name and wondering at its origins. There had to be a reason Saeran had chosen such a name…

And then there was the other question burning away at the back of his mind. If Saeran was Mister Ray, then who was Miss Jenny?

“Ahhhh, I always get the dirty jobs.”

Believer C607 leaned her head against the bars of the cell, taking in the shivering form of the prisoner.

“Hey,” she said, giving him a tentative nudge with her toes, “hey wake up.”

Despite her efforts, he lay still and she motioned for the nearest acolyte to open up the door. The cell smelled quite strongly of sweat, medications and other things she did not want to think about and she wrinkled up her nose in disgust as she stepped inside, taking extra care not to dirty her shoes.

“You had better start talking,” she said, kicking over the bucket of water they had positioned in the corner. The prisoner gasped as water spread across the floor of his cell, chancing a look at her as he repostioned his weight.

He froze on the spot as he took in her face, eyes suddenly desperate with recognition.

“J-Juyeon,” gasped Driver Kim as he reached to grab her by the waist, crumpling the magenta fabric of her blazer, “Juyeon, we need to get out of here, Miss Song-“

He groaned as she kicked him away, realisation setting in too late.

“First of all, don’t touch me with those filthy hands,” she said. “And secondly-“

She stepped back out of the cell and smiled at the second acolyte; a new girl whose hands shook as she held up a tray of instruments.

“If you want to leave here alive,” said C607, taking a set of pliers, “you will call me Miss Jenny.”

AUTHOR’S NOTES:-

Jumin’s Mum’s name is Ji Eun and she shows up in my other fic The Other Woman

My headcanons for her (or rather the head canons and backstory I put together for vabverse) are thus:

Like basically she is also from a chaebol family except all of her brothers went into the top positions and her parents wanted her to get married because it was like?? The 70s?? Maybe even the 60s man idk how old she is anyway, she studied corporate law and took on a job with chief han, since he thought she was hot and she used him to get a job

She planned to use her position at C&R to prove she was good enough for a job at her parent’s own company, all while taking C&R apart from the inside

She fell for chief han though and agreed to marry him, later stabbing her family in the back and ruining their company instead

And then she had jumin and chief han started seeing another woman while she was pregnant

She left when jumin was like 3/4. She said if was for work and a new opening but in truth she wanted him (Chief Han) to change and see sense

I bet she made it super hard on chief han’s other girlfriends

Like they’d sneak around her and lie and she’d be like... Cut the bullshit, i know youre screwing my husband

Blackmailing them through various means. Paying them off.

Jieun works in business law and im betting she created So Many Contracts with the Worst fine print

Chief Han’s lovers (the ones who have illegitimate children) receive this tiny ass stipend but come public about it and they’ll be sued and lose their home

Eunha got her bitchiness from Ji Eun

I love her. 

[dreaminginthedeepsouth]

LETTERS FROM AN AMERICAN

February 24, 2021

Heather Cox Richardson

At 4:42 p.m., exactly a year ago, then-President Trump tweeted: “The Coronavirus is very much under control in the USA. We are in contact with everyone and all relevant countries. CDC & World Health have been working hard and very smart. Stock Market starting to look very good to me!”

On February 7, Trump had told journalist Bob Woodward something very different. “This is deadly stuff,” he said. The coronavirus is “more deadly than your, you know, your, even your strenuous flus.”

And now, here we are. As of February 24, 2021, the United States has suffered more than 503,000 official deaths from COVID-19. We have 4% of the world’s population and have suffered 20% of deaths from coronavirus. On Monday, Dr. Anthony Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and the chief medical advisor to President Joe Biden, blamed political divisions for the horrific death toll.

Vaccinations rates are picking up, and now nearly 1 in 5 adults have had their first shot. Today, the Biden administration announced it will be distributing “no cost, high quality, washable” masks to community health centers and food pantries across the country, supplying masks for 12-15 million Americans. Dr. Fauci announced $1.15 billion in funding for studying those whose Covid-19 symptoms are not going away.

The pandemic has crippled the nation’s economy, and a new The Economist/YouGov poll reveals that 66% of Americans said they support Biden’s $1.9 billion American Rescue Plan; 25% of Americans said they oppose it. This means it is the most popular piece of legislation since the 2007 minimum wage hike. Also popular is the proposed $15 minimum wage hike, which is supported by 56% of Americans and opposed by 38%, making it more popular than anything former president Trump did while in office.

More than 150 of the nation’s business leaders are now backing the rescue plan, saying it is necessary for “a strong, durable recovery.”

And yet, Republicans are, so far, united against the proposal. While the party remains split, party leaders appear to be lining up behind Trump and the big lie that Biden stole the election, entrenching them as a hostile opposition rather than giving them any room to work with Democrats to move the country forward. They are devoting their energies for the future primarily to voter suppression.

Studies of Republican voters suggest that they continue to support former President Trump and are turning against anyone who accepts Biden’s victory as legitimate. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell’s (R-KY) popularity has dropped 29 points among Kentucky Republicans since he broke with Trump.

Republicans appear to be solidifying their identity with the former president, at the state level, at least. In Virginia, Republicans have decided to nominate candidates for November elections simply with a drive-up convention held on May 8 on the campus of Liberty University, a private evangelical Christian school founded by Jerry Falwell, Sr. Voters will choose candidates for governor, lieutenant governor, and attorney general at that time and location.

The internal fight over the swing into Trump’s corner was on display today when Republican House leadership was asked whether they thought Trump should speak at this weekend’s Conservative Political Action Committee conference (CPAC). Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) responded: “Yes, he should.” Immediately, Republican Conference Chair Liz Cheney (R-WY), who voted to impeach Trump in January over his incitement of the insurrection, said: “That's up to CPAC. I’ve been clear on my views about President Trump. I don't believe that he should be playing a role in the future of the party or the country."

Trump is scheduled to speak at CPAC, where there will be seven panels echoing his insistence that voter fraud plagues our elections. And yet, as Trump and his supporters continue to insist that the election was stolen, news broke this week that two separate audits of the 2020 election in Maricopa County, Arizona, found no fraud.

Today, in the interest of stopping voter fraud, which is virtually nonexistent, the Iowa Senate passed a bill shortening the period of early voting and creating a strict cutoff for absentee ballots. All the Republicans voted in favor; all the Democrats voted against.

Georgia lawmakers, too, are advancing measures to slash mail-in voting to protect against voter fraud, even as two counties in the Atlanta area want attorneys’ fees from Trump and the chair of the Georgia Republican Party for frivolous lawsuits designed to overturn the 2020 election. “Given the number of failed lawsuits filed by the former president and his campaign, petitioners apparently believed that they could file their baseless and legally deficient actions with impunity, with no regard for the costs extracted from the taxpayers’ coffers or the consequences to the democratic foundations of our country,” wrote lawyers for Cobb County.

In Congress today, Postmaster General Louis DeJoy, a Trump backer whose reorganization of the United States Postal Service last summer appeared linked to an effort to hamper the delivery of mail-in ballots, testified about those delays. Representative Jim Jordan (R-OH), whose approach to hearings is generally to try to manufacture sound bites for right-wing news shows, accused Democrats of attacking DeJoy to score points before the election. “It was all a charade,” he said. “It was all part of the predicate for laying the groundwork for the mail-in balloting, and all of the chaos and confusion the Democrats wanted.”

Representative Gerry Connolly (D-VA) noted that a number of federal judges prevented DeJoy from implementing the changes he wanted, and that Trump had lied to supporters for months that mail-in ballots would create fraud. Then he pushed back angrily against Jordan’s accusations of partisanship. “I didn’t vote to overturn an election,” Connolly said, referring to Jordan’s objection to counting electoral votes on January 6 and 7. “And I will not be lectured by people who did.”

News broke today that a close friend of new Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA), Anthony Aguero, was part of the January 6 insurrection, breaching the Capitol. “We were all there,” Aguero said in a video posted the day after the riot. “It was not Antifa and it was not BLM. It was Trump supporters that did that yesterday. I'm the first to admit it, being one myself.”

He said: “We need to stand up for our country. So patriots stand up for their country and they come out here to physically try to take back their house. The House of the people…. Now you have people on the right acting like they’re holier than thou, holier than holy…. ‘Oh, I'm appalled. I don’t condone this.’ What the h*ll do you expect conservatives to do? Do you want us to continue to sit there? Complacent, continue to take the higher route and keep getting f**ked in the a**. I’m sorry for using that language, but I’m sick and tired of the hypocrisy.”

“I stand with people like Marjorie Taylor Greene proudly,” Aguero said. “That woman has more courage than most of the men that were in that building. No, not most. That woman has more courage than every single man that was in that Capitol yesterday.”

Although Republican lawmakers might not admit publicly that Biden is president, they met with him today in the Oval Office to discuss something of interest to members of both parties: bringing vital supply chains home. Today, the president signed an executive order to review our national supply chains of vital materials to bring outsourced chains back to the U.S. Both Biden and Republican lawmakers spoke highly of their meeting. Representative Michael McCaul (R-TX) told the Wall Street Journal: “It was very substantive and they want follow-up meetings to move with some speed on this.” Moving supply chains home from China, among other places, should create jobs.

—-

LETTERS FROM AN AMERICAN

HEATHER COX RICHARDSON

[shadowsong26fic]

Index Post

This list will be updated as and when I remember to. My fanfiction is primarily hosted on AO3 (though I do have an old FFN account if you can find it), but I figured this would be a good idea/make things easier to find, especially for the content that’s Tumblr-exclusive, as well as my original fiction which is hosted elsewhere.

Stories marked with an * are complete.

My AO3

Star Wars:

Precipice

An AU in which Anakin Skywalker does not follow Mace Windu and the others to Palpatine’s office after they leave to arrest the Chancellor. As a result, he doesn’t get that final push over the edge, and doesn’t Fall.

…well, that’s where it starts, anyway. Our Heroes reunite with some old friends and pick up some new ones; Sidious find substitute apprentices…the story continues on for several years after the breakpoint, with the Rebellion gradually taking shape and the twins growing up, as well.

Content warnings for war, genocide, strongly implied child abuse (not from any of Our Heroes; Palpatine is raising a child), the Emperor is a POV character.

On AO3

Bonus Fic 1: Father’s Day; Untitled*

Bonus Fic 2: 100k; Margins*

Bonus Fic 3: One Year Anniversary; Secrets*

Bonus Fic 4: Valentine’s Day; All My Love, - A*

Bonus Fic 5: Mother’s Day; Untitled*

Meta, answered asks, deleted scenes, etc., can be found in the Precipice Verse tag

Updates (theoretically/ideally) approximately once every week/two weeks, usually somewhere between Thursday and Sunday night.

I have been on semi-hiatus for the past few months due to getting super-busy at work and then Moving, but I’m planning to get back on track for June, so we should be back to regular updates in the near future! ::...knocks on wood::

Distaff

In which Anakin Skywalker is a cis lady and the twins' gestating parent.

This story’s working title was The Crack AU That Takes Itself Too Seriously. In essence, Anakin Skywalker is a cis girl. So is Padme. Anakin still somehow gets pregnant. She is very confused. Everyone is very confused. And then ROTS happens...

Content warnings for war/violence; also, while no one is, has been, or will be assaulted, the topic of sexual assault does come up a couple times. I believe I’ve left a note on all the chapters where it comes up.

On AO3

Bonus Fic: Mother’s Day; Untitled*

Meta, answered asks, etc., can be found in the Distaff tag

Updates as and when I complete material, does not have a fixed schedule.

Masks

A near-canon AU in which Emperor Palpatine has a daughter.

An In Spite of a Nail AU, for the most part; though I tend to operate in a blended Legends/official canon. For those of you who follow Precipice, this is essentially Lavinia’s story if she existed in a canon-aligned timeline, rather than a true AU.

On AO3

Meta, answered asks, etc., can be found in the Masks Verse tag

CURRENTLY ON HIATUS

Auxiliaries

This is an AU in which Queen Amidala’s ship stopped someplace other than Tatooine for repairs. (The rest of TPM goes basically as in canon–someone else blew up the control ship, I’m sort of handwaving that detail, at least for now).

Eventual ObiAniDala; either Anakin-centered vee or full triad, I haven’t decided. There will also be at least one key OC involved, though I haven’t actually introduced her yet. This is the most divergent timeline I’ve written (or probably will write) for SW, but I have a lot of fun with it.

Auxiliaries is a little different from how my other stories are structured, in that it’ll be told as a series of short fics/vignettes in the overall AU (the title of which will be explained in later sections), not necessarily in chronological order.

General content warnings for war/violence/slavery; anything else that comes up in a specific story will be tagged accordingly.

A Day at the Races: Part One; Part Two [upcoming]; Part Three [upcoming]

                  Around three years after the Naboo Crisis, Jedi Knight Obi-Wan Kenobi is sent on a mission to Malastare, and meets a certain champion podracer for the first time…

Bout*

              Five years after meeting Anakin Skywalker on Malastare, Obi-Wan is back at the Temple, observing a senior initiate saber class.

Updates as and when I complete material, does not have a fixed schedule.

The Phoenix

About halfway between The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi, Luke and Vader crash onto a planet that is essentially a typical fantasy world.

A crossover with my original fantasy world, The Farglass Cycle

Content warnings for some body horror, slavery, impending genocide, some mostly oblique references to previous genocide, other violence.

On AO3*

On Dreamwidth*

In theory, there are two other parts to this story, working titles The Caladrius and The Hercinia. I do intend to put them up eventually and have been poking at them off and on, but do not have an estimated completion/start date or anything at this time. So it’s less a hiatus and more a…waiting for the next season to start, I guess…?

AU Outlines

Heralds of Star Wars (Jedi of Valdemar?)

              Crossover/fusion with the Heralds of Valdemar series.

The Rabbit Hole AU: Part One; Part Two

               Temple-raised Palpatine

Bail Unfucks the Timeline

               Exactly what it says on the tin.

Distaff Variant 1a

               A Distaff AU in which Palpatine’s solution to the problems presented by Anakin’s pregnancy is to poison her and induce a miscarriage because yes I do in fact write AUs for my AUs. CW for discussion of miscarriage/abortion, as well as the same as the main/actual story.

Ventress and Her Tiny Time-Travelling Conscience: Part One; Part Two

               In which ten/twelve-year-old Luke Skywalker walks through a Magic Canyon and lands about a year/year and a half before the end of the Clone Wars.

Everyone Is Time-Travelling and No One Will Admit It

               Okay, okay, so the title is a little bit disingenuous; the entire PT trio is time-travelling (but they’re the only ones), Anakin and Obi-Wan have told each other but no one else, and Padme is keeping things entirely to herself. CW for some portions that could read as suicidal ideation (i.e., the last like ten minutes of the animated BatB movie ‘maybe it’s better this way,’ with a side of Act Five of Cyrano de Bergerac.)

               (Also, I may end up redoing/reworking this one at some point)

Distaff Variant 2

                 A distaff AU in which Anakin decides to go to Utapau with Obi-Wan. Which, if she weren’t, y’know, pregnant, would probably have been the best possible thing for her to do...

Let’s Go Steal a Crossover: Part One (Background); Part Two [Upcoming]

                 A crossover between an AU of Masks!Verse (specifically, the Lavinia Organa AU, the background for which is described in Part One above) and Leverage.

You can also check out the AU Outlines tag

One-Shots:

Sanctuary: Tumblr; AO3*

              Rey wants to find her place in all of this. When she finds a reference to Mortis in one of Luke's books, it seems as good good place as any to start looking…

To his family, send him*

                In a world where Shmi survived, Obi-Wan brings Luke to safety.

It’s Like Déjà Vu (All Over Again)*

                 Three days ago, Padme Amidala closed her eyes for the last time in a sterile white room on an asteroid at the edge of nowhere. Three days ago, she opened them again in a sleek, chrome starship, watching Dorme put the finishing touches on Corde’s headdress, her own weighted braids a comforting blanket on her back.

                Padme decides to change things, decides she can save Anakin this time. Except, as time passes, she starts to realize things aren’t happening exactly the way she remembers…

                   Content warnings for war, violence, referenced genocide, referenced murder, these two dorks and their AOTC angst…

The Magic of Midwinter*

                  A little more than a year after the start of the Clone Wars, Padme, Obi-Wan, and Anakin celebrate Naboo's Midwinter together.

                  Written for JediFest 2017 December Drabbles exchange; Prompt: ObiAniDala, Holiday

These Three Remain*

                  Immediately after the Festival of Light (and Obi-Wan's stint undercover as bounty hunter Rako Hardeen), Anakin and Padme leave Coruscant on impulse, in response to an anonymous tip sent to Padme's office about vital intelligence hidden in a cache of stolen goods. But things go terribly wrong, and they find themselves stranded and injured, with limited resources and no one knowing exactly where they are.

                  Meanwhile, back on Coruscant, when Padme and Anakin don't return as planned, Obi-Wan does everything he can to find them and bring them home.

                  Their situation, dire though it is, forces the three of them to process everything that just happened, and what it might mean for their relationship, moving forward.

                     Written for SWBB 2018.

Untitled Mother’s Day Ficlet*

                       Quick, meditative little ficlet about Shmi and Anakin and lullabyes/bedtime stories.

Original Fiction:

The Farglass Cycle

This one is very difficult to summarize. It’s a big, sprawling fantasy world with loads and loads of characters. The main plot has to do with a war with Feredar, one of the major nations on the continent. Principal characters involve certain members of the Feredar royal family, members of the royal family of the City of Glass, who are primarily fire-mages; a water-mage pirate captain and her lover and sister; a water-mage who was held captive in Feredar...The war is kicked off when a prince from Glass goes into Feredar as a spy, to find out if the situation there regarding the enslavement of mages is serious enough to justify a war.

Content warnings for war, violence, slavery, impending genocide. There’s also a serial killer subplot, and some espionage and murder.

(...I need to get better at summarizing things...)

This archive, as a note, is incredibly out of date—I think I last updated it in December of 2014.

Lux

It’s the thirtieth century, and the Biblical Apocalypse is about to begin. Translator Mariko Anders gets swept up in the action when she meets and falls in love with the titular Lux, an Alien whose species she can’t quite identify. There’s also an immortal wandering around who periodically gets his memories erased, a sprawling human Family that traces itself back a thousand years, the newly-awakened Horsemen, the Antichrist and the Second Coming are growing up in hiding, and, of course, angels—some terrifying, some warm, some a little bit of both.

Basically: the Apocalypse. In Space.

(With lesbians.)

(Archive last updated in December of 2014.)

Battlestar Galactica:

Serenissima

Joseph Adama is the Doge of Venice, which is in graceful decline from its peak of maritime economic and naval power. His younger grandson, Zak, has recently eloped to King Louis' court in France with one Kara Thrace, and a dangerous politician, Thomas Zarek, is soon to return from a twenty-year exile related to the untimely death of a previous Doge.

Between Don Zarek's imminent return and the likely imminent increase in the Serene Republic's long-standing rivalry with the Ottoman Empire, Doge Adama wants to shore up a few alliances. He arranges for Laura Roslin, a widowed noblewoman, to marry his similarly-widowed son, Commander William Adama. His elder grandson, Lee Adama, is likewise engaged to the young daughter of Cardinal Gaius Baltar. The first wedding is to take place immediately, the second in approximately a year.

In Istanbul, the Sultan, John Cavil, is indeed scheming and preparing to launch a massive attack on Venice, while internal politics within his own family and court may not be quite as clear-cut as he thinks.There are spies everywhere, and nothing is certain but that looming problems foreign and domestic promise trouble for the Serene Republic in days to come...

A Total AU set in Baroque Venice, somewhere between 1650 and 1750. One key OC is involved, because I like my OCs. Cowritten with tigerkat24.

Currently more or less on hiatus.

For Sorrow Sung

Nineteen days before Baltar's trial is set to begin, a teenage girl is shot just outside of Dogsville. Helo investigates.

CURRENTLY ON HIATUS

Nothing AO3; Livejournal*

Alternate ending to Crossroads: you never know how you'll meet the end until there's nowhere left to run.

End of Line*

Poetry; stream-of-consciousness in prison, persona poem.

[I believe that’s everything I actually posted; I may update this if I find something else digging through my archives. I know I wrote some bits that I never posted anywhere for various reasons]

Supernatural:

Note: I’ve more or less fallen out of this fandom, so pretty much everything listed here can be considered on semi-permanent hiatus; though I’m happy to discuss them if anyone’s interested.

Heaven on Their Minds

An In Spite of a Nail AU where Judas Iscariot is a key player.

Arc One: Livejournal; AO3*

                  While Castiel tracks Crowley down, looking for the Colt, Bobby finds a reference to a Weapon that can banish anything. Seeing a shot at a Plan B, Sam and Dean go to meet with a professor who might be able to help them track it down. From there, they are put on the trail of Judas Iscariot, who is not exactly what history claimed he was.

Arc Two*

                  It's been eighteen months since Lucifer and Michael were trapped in the Cage, and Sam now has his soul back at last, but things aren't going as smoothly as hoped. With the war between Raphael and Castiel heating up, Gabriel scrambling to keep his old lies from coming back to haunt him, Judas AWOL, and whispers about Purgatory floating around, it isn't going to be easy to keep things from totally falling apart at the seams. Again.

                  Then, one day, Dean gets a call from Jo about an old friend wandering back into their lives...

Arc Three*

                  Gabriel is struggling to control the chaos in Heaven in the wake of Castiel’s destruction. Meanwhile, with Castiel gone, his wall gone, Lucifer and Leviathan everywhere, Sam gets closer to Judas. After all, no one knows psychic pain, and guilt, and the long, hard road to redemption, better than the two of them.

Sidestories

                  These are bits and pieces that take place in the Heaven on Their Minds universe, but, for various reasons, didn’t make it into the main story. All of the ones up there take place either prior to or during Arc One, but reference a significant spoiler.

There were further arcs planned, but I don’t anticipate them turning up, due to the aforementioned falling out of the fandom.

The Promises of Angels: Livejournal; AO3*

Nick has never been anything more than a pawn, and he knows that--but even a pawn, strategically placed, can change the game for everyone.

It's a world full of angels, demons, and humans all fighting for control of the board. And while all he's really playing for is what he was promised in the first place--peace that never seems to come--Nick finds himself dragged back into a high-stakes game he can't afford to lose. No matter how much he wants to break free, it becomes increasingly clear that something buried deep inside him has changed, in ways he can't possibly understand; ways that just might keep him involved in the horrors that Heaven and Hell both inflict on humanity and, in the end, make things better--or worse. Along the way, there are friends and foes, wardens and protectors, and those who would try to use him to shape the future they want to see...

This is canon compliant until, depending on how you’re counting, Swan Song or Goodbye, Stranger; most of what happens up through Goodbye, Stranger could theoretically happen alongside canon events/doesn’t contradict anything we see onscreen, but sets up the significant AU from that point on.

There were originally sequels planned, but as I’ve largely fallen out of this fandom, I doubt they’ll materialize.

Cartography Verse

Named for the Seanan McGuire song.

Moving On*

                  While Dean is in Purgatory and Sam is in Texas, Jody joins a grief support group and stumbles onto a case. Canon-compliant through 10x23.

Compliance*

                  Three years after meeting Nick, Jody learns the rest of his story. Canon-compliant through 10x23.

Fragments: Livejournal; AO3*

                  In an attempt to talk Sam out of seeking Lucifer’s help with the Darkness, Dean tracks down the next best thing on Earth--Nick. As it turns out, he’s closer than they think, and the trace of Grace left in him when he was dispossessed may be vital to defeating the Darkness. Unfortunately, Sam and Dean are not the only ones chasing Archangel fragments, and at least one other person on the trail seems willing to kill Nick to get what they need...

the summers die; one by one: Livejournal; AO3*

                  The aftermath of Hammer of the Gods. CW for discussion of canonical character death.

Avatar: the Last Airbender

UNDER CONSTRUCTION. I’ve more or less fallen out of this fandom, as well, though there’s a chance I’ll get back to it at some point. Almost everything I wrote was one-shots, and they’re scattered around in several different places. I don’t expect to put out any new content in this fandom for the foreseeable future.

I’ll probably dig around and put together a specific link list at some point, but for now, a lot of it is on AO3, some of it is on my LJ, under the avatar tag 

Miscellania

Lighter than a Feather*

               Wheel of Time fanfic;  The night after Rand and Nynaeve cleanse the taint from saidin, Mazrim Taim goes to deal with an Asha'man who recently snapped. CW for murder and saidin-taint madness. Some alternate character interpretations, as well. Spoilers through Winter’s Heart.

              This was originally going to be the springoff point for a much longer AU. I don’t know if I’ll ever write it, even if I fall back into this fandom, but I may take some of the concepts/plans and file the serial numbers off for an original fantasy story.

The Epic Crossover RP OF DOOM

               (I linked the Tumblr tag because it’s easier)

               A crossover between Precipice, Marvel/MCU, BSG, The West Wing, Castle (technically), Miss Fisher’s Murder Mysteries, The Daisy Dalrymple Mysteries, Thin Man, Thrilling Adventure Hour: Beyond Belief, and The Phantom of the Opera.

               Cowritten/RP’d with tigerkat24. OCs abound.

The Blood to be Repaid*

               A crossover between The Farglass Cycle and Pirates of the Carribean

Support of Family*

               Sequel to The Blood to be Repaid

The Hands of Cain*

               A crossover between The Farglass Cycle and Criminal Minds

[website-packages]

FastandSocial.com - Local Seo Guide London - https://fastandsocial.com/local-seo-guide-london/3 Reasons businesses Should Invest in Local SEO If you are a business in London, you are aware of how hard it can be to attract new clients. While some clients come through a referrals many others choose to self-refer. When that happens, the prospective client will generally run a Google3 Reasons businesses Should Invest in Local SEO If you are a business in London, you are aware of how hard it can be to attract new clients. While some clients come through a referrals many others choose to self-refer. When that happens, the prospective client will generally run a Google search and simply call the first one on the list. To maximise your client base and get your phone ringing you need to make sure you are in the top 5 positions in your local area search results. We will walk you through our proven step by step process to move your business to the top of the list in your area. But before we do that, let’s analyse why local SEO is absolutely critical for any business. New Clients: Getting new clients used to be a simple matter of placing a Yellow Pages ad and waiting for the calls to come in. In today’s internet age 97% of prospects look for local businesses online and Google is by far the dominant force in search. Free Traffic: Although the ads of the Yellow Pages are no more, advertising is still one of the biggest expenses for the majority of small to medium businesses. If you can improve your Google rankings, you will benefit from a constant stream of free traffic that you need only convert into clients. Quick Results: On average, national and international companies must wait at least 3 months to a year to see a significant improvement in their Google rankings. As a local business you have a huge advantage. The reason is that you are competing only against other businesses like yours in your local area, not those on the opposite side of the country. And a lot of your competitors have not yet discovered the power of local SEO. With a targeted local SEO campaign, you could hit the first page of Google local results in as little as 60 days!   Step 1: Select Your Keywords Step 1 of your local SEO campaign is simple: list the keywords that best describe your services. For example as a florist, you might try such keywords as “Flower shop”, “florist delivery”, and “florist near me”. Once you have a fairly sizeable list, sign up for a free Google AdWords account. You do not need to develop or pay for an ad campaign, but you do need to have an account to use Google’s free Keyword Planner. This tool lets you input your chosen keywords to find out how much traffic they get. It also offers suggestions for related keywords that you might not have thought about. With all of this information available, you are now ready to decide on exactly which keywords you will use. All keywords fall into one of two basic categories: Buying Intent: These keywords are used by people who are imminently ready for your services. For example, someone searching for “root canals shepherds bush” probably knows that he or she needs a route canal, and is ready to choose a dentist for the job. Focus your local SEO campaign on buying intent keywords, which produce the fastest results. Make sure those keywords are featured on your homepage, and structure your service pages around them. Research Intent: Research intent keywords indicate that the prospect is just shopping around. He or she might need dentist work at some point, but is not ready to have it done. For example, someone searching for “fillings colours” might have a feeling that fillings are in his or her future, and is curious what they might look like. Make research intent keywords a lower priority, since they do not drive quick conversions. However, they can still be useful in FAQs and blogs. These posts introduce your product or service to prospects who might think of you when they are ready to have work done. Step 2: Optimise Your Keywords Once you have a final list of keywords, you are ready to optimise for them in two different places—your Google My Business page and your website. Here’s how: Google My Business Your Google My Business page is a mini-website that appears in the “Map” section of Google listings. It increases your overall presence online and gives potential clients a quick summary of your practice. In addition, it is much easier for a Google My Business page to become highly ranked than for a website page, which means you can boost your Google rankings even more quickly. Follow these steps to make sure your Google My Business page is accurately and fully filled out: Verification: First, claim your page and submit to Google’s verification procedure. You will know this step is complete when you see a checkmark and the word “Verified” next to your company name. NAP: Your business name, address, and phone number (NAP) must be accurate on your Google My Business page and entirely consistent across the internet. Make sure Google knows that your business is local by listing a local phone number instead of an 800 number. Categories: Google categories can be a bit confusing, as Google requires you to list your services rather than your results. Besides Lawyer, you might try such categories as Bankruptcy Lawyer and criminal lawyer, if you provide those services. Try to list 3 to 5 categories. Description: Think of the description as a 100 to 200-word overview of your business that ends with a call to action. This format generally works well: {Name of Business} offers professional {"Your business" services, or similar} in {Your City}. {Provide some information about your background and/or why clients love you.} Call {Phone Number} today for a free consultation or sample etc. Hours: Make sure your office hours are up to date, and are listed consistently throughout the internet. If you offer emergency after-hours services, list that information in a separate paragraph. Images: Images are a wonderful way to boost patient engagement and show prospects that you are trustworthy. Try adding a few photos of the office or work space, or of satisfied clients(with permission!). Your images must be sharply focused, sized between 10KB and 5MB, and have a minimum resolution of 720px x 720px. We also recommend replacing the generic Google My Business background image with a branded image. Website Optimisation Start by optimising your homepage and service pages, also known as your “core” pages, for your chosen buying intent keywords. Later, you will shift your attention to your “content” pages, or blog posts and FAQs, which are centered around your identified research intent keywords. Here is how to optimise: Homepage: The title tag is the most important part of your homepage. Think of it as a book’s chapter title, and make sure it is between 50 and 65 characters. Try this format: Business type in {Your City} | {Name of Your Business}. The next most important element is the meta description, which calls attention to your primary services and ends with a call to action. It should be between 100 and 150 characters in length, and use a format similar to: {Name of Business} offers quality {Cakes and Wedding cakes, or similar} in {Your City}. Call {Phone Number} today to schedule your Recipe! Known as the H1, your visible headline must be descriptive yet concise, and include your primary category. Try this format: {Type of Business} in {City, Town}. Finally, consider your page copy. It should be 500 to 1000 words long, cleanly written, and well edited. It should give background information about your business, briefly describe your main services or products, and end with a strong call to action. Include your primary keyword in a natural way. Service Pages: Each primary service should have its own page, and each should be tightly focused on a single keyword. Optimise each service page in the same ways as your homepage. Step 3: Build Citations and Links With your local SEO campaign’s basic structure in place, it is time to build citations and links. These elements improve your online reach and help to boost your Google rankings. Citations: A citation is a listing of your business NAP (name, address, and phone number) in an online directory. You can use general national directories such as yell.com and Facebook, as well as general local directories such as the website for your town’s Chamber of Commerce. In addition, seek out directories that are targeted to your type of business in particular or closely related. Make sure your NAP is identical in every listing. Although many directories are free, some provide only paid listings. Before you invest, use Google Analytics to find out whether that website is driving traffic and conversions. Links: You can easily boost your Google rankings by developing inbound links from top-quality, authoritative websites. Build relationships in person and online with businesses that offer complementary services, such as suppliers etc. Then ask those companies if they would mind trading links. Step 4: Ask for Reviews Client reviews are critical for two reasons: they convince prospects to try your services, and they reassure Google that you have a legitimate business. Although all review sites play an important role, Google My Business page reviews provide the fastest increase in your rankings. Send an email to your satisfied customers with a link to your Google My Business profile, and ask them directly to write a review. If you do this on a consistent basis (Don't hound them), you will soon have a frequently-updated stream of reviews. Step 5: Track Your Progress You can only learn how well your local SEO campaign is doing, and find those areas that need improvement, by tracking your results. Although there are innumerable ways to track and analyse page data, focus on these three core metrics: Rankings: Since Google customizes its search results based on past browsing behavior, the only way to know how a particular page actually ranks is through a tool. Previously known as Google Webmaster Tools, the free Google Search Console is a good start. Ask your webmaster to install it, and then check your report once or twice per month. Traffic: Google Analytics is the best way to track your traffic, or how many people visit your website. You can look at your total traffic, which pages draw the most visitors, and the percentage of visitors that come from Google search. Check your traffic report each month, and keep an eye out for any long-term trends. Conversions: A conversion is any specific action you want your website visitors to perform. For example, you might want them to schedule a free evaluation. Google Analytics lets you track telephone conversions as well as web conversions, see which services draw the most conversions, and even determine which pages have the highest and lowest conversion rates. Let’s Get Started! As you can see, a comprehensive local SEO campaign is key to driving more potential patients to your orthodontics practice. Make your way through the five steps in order, finishing one in its entirety before moving on. Here is a recap: Keyword research Keyword optimization Citations and Links Reviews Tracking Want Help with Local SEO? At Shane Media DMA we specialise in helping businesses attract more local clients through Google. If you’d like help with your Local SEO,  0208 611 2798 contact us for a free consultation or send us a message through our website.

[one-soul-two-brothers]

one-soul-two-brothers’ ultimate fic recs: j2 non au edition (part IV)

why I chose these: J2 non au are my absolute favorite fics to read Happy endings are a requirement A fic doesn’t have to have sex to be good (but it doesn’t hurt) They have all been thoroughly vetted (aka I’ve read them all at least twice, and will definitely be reading them all again) (Also, someone sent me a message a month or two about preferring first time fics, so I thought I’d start indicating on these recs the type of relationship they boys are in)

ENJOY!

best FLASH FORWARD

title: It’s Never Too Late rating: explicit word count: 55k relationship: first time summary: It's 2018 and Supernatural has just ended. Jared and Jensen find a new life post-show. They experience many joys, and sorrow, too. And despite it all, they manage to help a couple of friends find love along the way. anna’s notes: I fucking squealed when I found this fic. It’s really really lovely. Basically the end of Supernatural and the idea of not being such a huge part of each other’s day-to-day lives force Jared and Jensen to finally acknowledge the feelings they’ve had for each other for 13 years. This is a first-time fic and what I love about it is that it’s not a slow burn. It’s a story about how they got together, yes, but mostly about what happens after that. I love it. (This also has a couple of timestamps to go with it.)

title: After the Tone rating: explicit word count: 24k relationship: first time summary: Years and years on the same show can spoil a guy, so it's no wonder that Jensen finds himself at loose ends after Supernatural's over. With Jared's schedule already filled up and no desire to play the Hollywood game anymore, Jensen takes a role in an Off-Broadway production in New York City, and starts himself on a journey to find out just who he is and exactly what - or who - he wants from life. anna’s notes: This has some minor angst and some will-they-won’t-they, but I think you all know the answer to that because I accept nothing less than a happy ending. Anyways, this is great and sweet and yeah go read it.

title: Bottles on the Beach rating: explicit word count: 72k relationship: first time summary: Supernatural has been over for six years. Jensen's moved on & is close to starting back on daytime TV but no one's seen or heard from Jared in nearly five years. At a press event Jensen is approached by a reporter with a photo of his friend living on a beach. Confused & alarmed, he goes to find Jared to learn what happened. When he does, Jensen must also face the very reason he pulled away from Jared to begin in. As he does, and he learns that Jared's kept his own secret feelings hidden the truth behind Jared's disappearance comes out and Jensen finds out just what someone close to him was willing to do to keep him and Jared apart.

title: My Name Is Trouble rating: explicit word count: 22k relationship: first time summary: Six years after Supernatural ends, Jensen Ackles and Jared Padalecki find themselves in completely separate lives after a falling out. It's possible neither of them has ever really recovered from the other. But an unexpected turn in Jensen's life brings them back together to sort themselves out again. anna’s notes: In which Jared is a physics teacher in New York, Jensen begins to get stalked, and both of them might have slept with Danneel (but no hard feelings, right?) I was actually surprised, I thought there would be quite a lot more angst but it was pretty mild. Mostly it’s just a sweet story about the boys reconnecting and (re)discovering their feelings for each other.

title: When the Levee Breaks rating: explicit word count: 55k relationship: established summary: Season 14 is the last season of Supernatural. The show is ending at 300 episodes, and Jared and Jensen have big plans for their future...plans that don't involve wives or bearding or lying to everyone. But even the best-laid plans go awry... It all comes to a head at the series wrap party, and Jensen has to figure out a way to help Jared pick up the pieces, making sure he himself doesn't fall apart in the process. anna’s notes: Another shameless self-promo (are you sick of seeing me rec this yet? Yeah? Does that mean you’re gonna break down and go read it now?? Mwahaha my evil plan has worked). When I wrote this, I tried to keep all the facts and references to events that have already taken place as accurate as possible (so like, I guess you could kind of call it a tinhat-adjacent fic? Except that it’s set in the future). Anyways, if you do decide to read it I really hope you like it. (And just so you now, this is going to be a part of a series; I already have a companion piece and a sequel in the works.)

best A/B/O

title: New Life series rating: explicit word count: 32k (4 works total) relationship: first time summary: [work #1] Jensen really shouldn't have walked home alone on Halloween night. He is attacked and bitten by a werewolf, but come morning he has only the vaguest memories of the attack - and a bite scar that wasn't there before. Soon the curse starts showing its effects: his senses are going haywire, he has to control instincts that are definitely not human and, worst of all, he's feeling increasingly protective and possessive of his best friend and co-star Jared. Every day is a battlefield. The best thing to do would be to keep away from him, unfortunately, his inner wolf violently disagrees and Jared seems troubled by something, even though he won't tell Jensen who or what it is - which really doesn't help with the whole protective issues. [work #2] Jared and Jensen have settled into being mates. An emergency call from home sends them back to Texas to face Jared's parents and the consequences of Jared's actions. [work #3] Supernatural ends and it's time for Jared and Jensen to move on with life. Problem is, Jared doesn't know what to do now and it takes a toll not only on him but his relationship with Jensen. [work #4] Jared is struggling with everything to do with being pregnant, from sickness, to the strain on his relationship with Jensen, to feeling like his body isn't his own. Then his body betrays him.

title: Rising Heat rating: explicit word count: 45k relationship: first time summary: Season 4 has just come to an end and so has Jensen’s long-time relationship with his beta Danneel. When his best friend comes up with the insane idea to head out to the jungles of Peru, Jared assumes it’s Jensen’s way of dealing with his heartbreak. Jared couldn’t have been more wrong. anna’s notes: THIS IS SO GOOD.  

title: Meant to Be series rating: explicit word count: 6200 (2 works total) relationship: first time summary: Jensen and Jared mate during filming of the Pilot episode of Supernatural. anna’s notes: This is short and sweet and I love it so much. I dunno why, it’s just...it just makes me feel all fluffy and happy inside. Really well done, A+++.

best THE PLOT DEVICE MADE US DO IT

title: Win-Win Situation rating: explicit word count: 12k relationship: first time summary: The boys have to make out on camera. anna’s notes: While being interviewed about the show’s PCA nomination, the boys make a spur-of-the-moment bet that obviously comes back to bite them in ass: if they win, they’ll kiss on camera during their acceptance speech. Three guesses on what happens next...

title: The Discovery of Jensen Padalecki rating: general word count: 3750 relationship: first time summary: Jensen Ackles was a prankster extraordinaire. Nay, he was the king of all pranksters. So when Eric Kripke decided it was time for payback, Jensen had to resort to desperate measures to come out on top. He was just a little clueless as to how this suddenly involved misusing what he's learnt from the Discovery Channel and kissing Jared Padalecki. anna’s notes: This is hilarious because I could 100% see it happening.

For all my other ultimate fics recs (j2 non-au, j2 au, and wincest), go here.

[theripertoire]

New Wife, New City, New Home ... And I’m Still Learning 

... Learning new things about myself everyday. 

I recently got married on December 30, 2016 (see two blog posts ago and refer to my Instagram account for photo spam), and moved to Doha to join my husband less than a month later, on January 20, 2017.

It’s been a roller-coaster ride.

No matter what people tell you, being a newlywed is life-changing – both in wonderful and shocking ways. And, as though it weren’t challenging enough, add to that moving to a new city in a new country all at once. In the past three weeks, I managed to furnish our entire home (from cutlery, crockery and linens, to all kinds of furniture, accessories and appliances).

It’s been crazy. Meanwhile, I’ve been trying to:

-       go to as many meetings as possible to get better acquainted with the market,

-       create new content for the blog and Instagram,

-       discover what a f***ing induction stove is and how to use it,

-       decipher my dishwasher,

-       understand what a spin cycle is on a washing machine,

-       find the right pillows to sleep – those of which do not involve the stench of dying duck,

-       get over the fact that I’m now labeled “housewife” and that it’s not an insult,

-       accept that my husband and I share a bank account,

-       accept that my husband knows exactly when I’m buying shoes and how much they cost,

-       detach myself from my much loved skimpy clothing,

-       Control my nausea every time I prepare dinner and see the steak bleed on the grill,

-       accept that I look like crap on most days because I’m too busy to wash my hair,

-       accept the four kilos of Oreos and olives that I’ve gained,

And accept that for the first time in my entire life, I couldn’t be more clueless about anything.

I would like to take a minute to thank my Snapchat family and YouTube tutorials. Without you, I would have had a mental breakdown.

Jokes aside, I’m loving my new life in Doha. It’s a beautiful change of pace and I  love the feeling of security and stability I have here. Also, the food is truly on another level (four kilos, hello!), and our building and neighborhood have become my new happy place that I’m so proud to call home.

 What I love about Doha:

-       THE FOOD!! Some of my favorites include Toro Toro, Spice Market, The Market, La Spiga, Sugar and Spice, and Eggspectation. If you live in Doha or are visiting, please do go to every single one and gain some weight with me. Thank you.

-       The Qatar Airways airplanes and airport lounges – I’ve been raving about them for the past month or so, but honestly, I’m beyond impressed!!! How lavish!!

-       The Pearl. So this is basically where Toufic and I live, and if it were up to me, I’d never leave the area. I’m so in love with it and all things related.   

-       West Bay. Skyscrapers make me happy. Urban areas make me happy. Beautiful lights at night make me happy. Sometimes, I like to squint hard enough and imagine I’m back in New York. And that makes me happy.

-       The hotels. They’re more like architectural wonders. The Kempinski, St. Regis and Four Seasons top the list for me with their glorious facades and GLORIOUS architecture. So grandiose!

-       The customer service. So many people may wish to disagree with me, but let me explain: I haven’t seen one person frowning since I got here. Even if you get upset at them and shout (a little), they’re still so kind and polite, you feel ashamed of yourself for being so rude. They’re full of smiles and enthusiasm, and I applaud them for that.

-       The safety. When laws are well implemented and respected, this is the result. I could leave my purse in the mall for hours, and no one would steal it. I haven’t complained about potential rapists in weeks! I feel so safe all the time, and my stress levels are down thanks to that!

-       Our building. Toufic is going to kill me for even mentioning this. I can even hear him saying, “you sound like such pretentious showoff.” But, I don’t care. So, our building. It’s so pretty, I’m in love! I haven’t lifted a finger since I got here (except beat my pillows, move furniture around, do the dishes, make dinner, make the bed, and hoover broken glass off the floor). Jokes aside, it’s like a hotel – from the lobby to the staff. I feel like a spoilt little turd sometimes because I have people at my beck and call doing stuff for me all the time! I’m not sure I like feeling this spoilt...but I’m not complaining at all!

-       The community. Most people here are so kind, helpful, genuine, accomplished, honest, hardworking, friendly, and just absolutely lovely to be around! I haven’t felt a heavy, negative energy from anyone yet. It’s refreshing.

-       THE FOOD!! (oh yeah, I already mentioned this)

-       Our home. It truly is home, and I can’t imagine living any place else. I love everything about it, and it’s one of my proudest accomplishments so far…I made a home for us. IN FIVE DAYS. (I keep reminding Toufic of that. He’s getting so sick of me.)

-       And last but not least, my husband. I can’t imagine sharing a life with anyone else. He’s my best friend, the highlight of my day, the most annoying person ever, but the most wonderful, generous, caring, loving, and supportive soul I’ve ever come across. I wake up everyday feeling so lucky and blessed that he chose me to walk down this path with, and just the fact that he lives in Doha makes it the most beautiful city on the planet. This is home now.

(PS. as I write this, I can smell my pillows starting to stink again and I begin to feel depressed)

So, ahem, the reason I am writing this is because I’m sure tons of you have either gone through what I’m going through, or are about to embark on a similar journey, be it getting married or moving to a country – or both! So, since this stuff doesn’t come with a warning or a manual (which it SHOULD), I’m taking the liberty of writing down a few things you ought to prepare for and some other things that could be useful to you:

1.     I’m sorry I’m prioritizing this, but DO NOT purchase down pillows from IKEA. They STINK! Imagine the combination of these odors: a deadly fart; a dying, wet, filthy duck; raw, rotten fish; terribly bad breath; a badly aired chicken pen; and a rat that’s been dead for a month. So, that’s what my SIX pillows smell like. Mind you, they’re brand new, and I dedicated my ENTIRE afternoon to quench their stank – but, alas...nothing worked.

2.     Buy your cabinets and storage from IKEA (if available in your country). Those, unlike the stanky pillows, are amazing and you save tons of money. Here’s how I furnished our place. I spent the first two days jumping around from one furniture store to the next. We bought the hero items that spoke to us (couch, dining table, dining chairs, bed) then bought everything else accordingly. It was literally three days of furniture shopping and two days of setting everything up. Et voila! Tip: Mix and match from as many shops as possible. We went through over 12 places.

3.     Set a REALISTIC routine for yourself. There are days when you will feel down, useless, strange, nostalgic, ugly, fat, stupid, and all alone…. This is normal and fleeting. Keep reminding yourself that you’re adapting to great change and starting a new, life-defining chapter. It’s important not to give up too soon. Go easy on yourself. If you pack on the pounds, it’s normal (just hit the gym as soon as you set a proper schedule for yourself). If you’re not working, don’t sweat it. You’ll be back to work soon once you’re able to take on new responsibilities and tasks. I hate the word routine, but it’s the only way you can get through this transitional phase.

4.     Remind yourself of why you’re here. And remind yourself that life owes you nothing. You need to make your life beautiful through daily efforts. That’s what I’ve been doing for the past month. Trying to make everything around me beautiful. It takes time and lots of work, but I’ll get there. And you’ll get there.

5.     ACCEPT CHANGE. If you fight it, you’ll force yourself to move in an unnatural direction. If you accept it, there’s no telling what surprises life has in store for you around the next corner. Moving countries is the reason I started blogging seven years ago. It changed my life. Moving back to Beirut and turning down a job offer in NYC is the reason I met Toufic. Something beautiful and rewarding comes out of every “bad” or challenging experience. Remember that.

6.     If you’re a newlywed, remember this: there are days you will hate your spouse. You will wonder why you ever got married and notice how much they’ve changed. You will question if you’re even compatible and romanticize your life at your parents’ home. Those who refuse to admit this are either lying to you or to themselves. But, I’m going out on a limb here and tell you that this will happen, and it’s okay. Breathe through it and remind yourself that you’re both adapting to a new reality, a new routine, and new habits you weren’t used to before. For instance, Toufic and I both have OCD, but in different things. We are trying to deal with our psychoses on a daily basis, and it’s getting much better.

7.     If it’s your first time cooking, cleaning or home tending, remember, you weren’t born with a housewife manual built into your system. I went grocery shopping last week and had a mental breakdown. It was four hours of hell. But, I know that next time, it will be easier and more clear to me. I will eventually know exactly what to buy, what not to buy, how much to buy, and spend less time doing it. I tried cooking three times since I got here. The first time was an EPIC DISASTER. The second time was okay. The third time was phenomenal. I’m getting better every time, and seeing the smile on my husband’s face is everything.

8.     There’s no “I” in “team”. I’m learning this day by day. I’m learning to start making “we” decisions instead of “me” decisions. This is the toughest part about being married. Sharing responsibilities, money, tasks, your space, your food (this is painful), and your future. Every decision you make has to go through your partner for negotiation and approval. I’m making this sound like a business proposal – but, you know what I mean….

9.     Keep things private. I’m a hypocrite for saying this since so much of my life is out there, but I’m a blogger and a big part of my life is sharing my experiences with others in order to benefit and inspire you in some way. But still, Toufic refuses being featured on my Snapchat while we’re in Doha, and I (sadly) accept that. This is not what I’m referring to though. What I mean by keeping things private is, when you fight, keep it between the two of you. Don’t make it bigger by involving others. This is something sacred (and very difficult), but essential to the survival of a marriage.

10.  You will gain weight. Try, as hard as you can, to control your newlywed or new city appetite. Almost everyone I know gained weight during the first year of marriage or a move. Make an effort to lose those extra pounds and stay in shape, or you’ll keep gaining more and more on a yearly basis.

And for the bonus round:

11.  Things and people you once found important cease to matter in comparison to the new responsibilities you have. In my case, being outside the bubble always makes me see how small and silly it is. This time, more than ever…

Today, I’m slowly finding my balance, and gradually feeling more at home in this new city everyday. Step by step, I’m regaining my confidence to go out there and show this new world who I am and what I’ve got to offer; the confidence to be myself and trust that people will like me. I know where to go if I need something, and know who to call when the Internet isn’t working. I have a new number now, and I’m memorizing it a little better everyday. I found a detergent I love and the right temperature for the AC. I have a favorite corner at home where I like to work, and a spot in bed that makes me comfortable. When I’m thirsty at night, I know my way to the kitchen without turning on the lights. These may sound like very little things, but it’s little things like these that make you feel at home.

There is no way you’ll feel at home right away. There are days where you refuse to part of a new community and a new life. There are times where you’ll feel so alone and intimidated, you’ll cry. Remind yourself that it will pass. You will eventually make new friends, discover a new list of favorite hobbies and places to hang out. You’ll find a walking route that makes you happy. You’ll finally find the right mall and supermarket for you to shop at. Days will go by and you will realize that you’re no longer a stranger; you now belong. You will realize that you haven’t missed “home” in weeks because this is your home. These are your friends. This is your new job. Your new university. Your new life. Your new gym. You will miss your old home and life, but not the way you did before. You will realize that this is not a new chapter; this is your life.

Lebanon, you may not be home for now, but I love you always. I know there are many beautiful reasons the universe brought me here, and I can’t wait to discover them all. Meanwhile, Beirut, I’ll be seeing you sooner than you think, and often, and I’m looking forward to it. For now, stay beautiful.

XX -R

[heidiwschultz31]

Start An Affiliate Marketing Blog

If you want to start an affiliate marketing business, then you’re not alone. It might be difficult to go from wishing to doing, but you’ve come to the right place to make that change by yourself.

It’s easy to start planning your affiliate marketing career: think about what you can promote, how your blog might look, what content you want to write about, etc.

Actually doing something about it is a whole different story, though.

Maybe you don’t know how to start. Maybe you’re hesitant about getting a domain and hosting.

There are many reasons why someone doesn’t take that first step, but don’t worry; I’ll help you there.

Let’s get started.

Let’s set up some expectations

Now, affiliate marketing is one of the best ways to generate passive income.

If you want to make money without having to tie yourself to a full-time schedule, then the effort you’ll invest in affiliate marketing will be worth it.

However, a lot of gurus try to sell it as a way to make quick money with minimum investment, and that’s only half true.

Specifically, the only truth in those statements is that it doesn’t require a lot of money.

You can start your own affiliate business with about $100 monthly, and that greatly depends on which tools you get and the hosting service you decide to use.

You can get a domain for about $15 yearly and hosting for about the same amount every month, at least using what most people recommend.

On the other hand, if you’re like me and go for something like Bluehost, you could start with between $30 and $50 for the entire year.

That’s because Bluehost starts at $2.95 for their cheaper plan, and that comes with a free domain.

That makes up around $36 for the entire year, and even the more advanced plans won’t break your budget.

With that in mind, it’s far from a “get rich quick” scheme. You need to put in a lot of effort if you want to start making money in few months, and that’s still the exception.

It’s usually at least a year before you start making a noticeable income, depending on how many sales you make every month and your commissions in relation with the price of the products you promote.

That being said, it’s completely possible to make an entire living out of affiliate marketing, and lots of people end up replacing their full-time jobs with their affiliate income.

These people put in as much effort as they can, for it’s the same as starting any other type of business.

Finally, you don’t really need any tech experience—like coding or programming—since most platforms offer intuitive ways to design your pages and posts.

You’ll have a difficult time finding a CMS platform that requires you to mess with code when programming; most offer this as an option, but it’s never necessary.

Besides, this guide is for complete beginners, so don’t expect me to go crazy recommending you to get a degree in computer science or anything like that.

You want to start by identifying your niche

When it comes to online entrepreneurship, finding a niche is paramount.

Offering products from every industry might sound great: it lets you target even more people.

However, not only does that mean learning less about every category, it also makes your website lose focus and feel disorganized.

None of those things are good for any affiliate marketer.

You want to become an authority in your niche; the more you specialize, the better your content will be.

The result will also be that people trust you a lot more, thus they’ll be more willing to buy what you recommend.

Another very important thing is to pick a niche you like and can feel passionate about.

That will make it a lot easier to feel motivated to write new content, and learning more about it will become something you actively enjoy.

It’s also worth noting that if you go for a niche you actually consume from, it’ll be 10 times easier to get into the head of your audience.

After all, you’d likely desire the same things since you already enjoy the same things.

This will dictate more than a few things

Another vital reason for picking a niche is how much of your business will depend on it.

Yes, your products will come from your niche, and your business depends on those products, but that’s not the whole story.

You want to ensure your website feels like it belongs to the niche you’re in.

All niches tend to have their own “feel” manifesting via repeating patterns; color palettes, terminology, type of content, and similar elements will vary depending on the niche you’re in.

Once you’ve chosen a niche, the next step should be to research your future competitors.

Take note of all patterns you see repeating between the different sites and implement them while offering your own twist.

Don’t copy; you never want to do that both for legal and strategic reasons.

However, you do want people who visit your website to infer your niche properly after they land on your homepage.

The same goes for your content. You must offer relevant content to your niche.

If you’re selling pet products, you can’t write about musical composition; you want to offer content that’s useful for pet owners: your target audience.

Even your website’s domain will depend on your niche. It’s important for your domain to be related to the niche you’re focusing on.

Don’t worry, I’ll get into domains in the next section.

Just keep in mind how important is to choose your niche correctly, for your entire business will build on it.

Get your website into the internet

Alright, now that you’ve identified your niche, it’s time to create your website.

For the sake of simplicity, I’ll divide this process into 4 parts: from its name all the way to ranking it on search engines.

Let’s have a look, then.

Domain

I’ll cover keyword research in the last step, but you should identify the most important keywords for the niche you’re in.

If you’re going for the music niche, then main keywords would be: music, guitar, drums, music production, musician, and other words like specific instruments if you want to focus on that.

Take note of the words that come to your mind whenever you think about your niche.

Then, think about which of these words you can use for your website’s name.

This is another way in which your niche affects your site’s design.

Once you have a name—preferably a list with a few—it’s time to get your domain.

In case you don’t know, your domain name is the URL that houses your website. Amazon’s domain name is amazon.com, for instance, and Instagram’s is instagram.com.

You get the point.

It’s time to grab the lists of names you have and check their availability.

There are plenty of tools you can use for this purpose.

Now, the next step would be to register this domain, but if you decide to go for Bluehost, you can register your domain for free, so feel free to skip that for now.

When deciding your domain, take a few things into consideration.

Firstly, you want to make sure your name is specific enough to build a brand around it; however, you don’t want it to be too specific to prevent you from branching out into new products within your niche.

In other words, it’s better to name it after your niche instead of after a single product.

The other important consideration is to stick to .com domains.

It might be tempting to switch to other extensions, but they perform a lot worse than its .com counterpart.

This is the main reason why I recommend you list several names. If you find exactly the name you want, but it’s not a .com domain, then you might be making a mistake by going for it.

Hosting

Alright, hosting is a lot simpler than finding your domain.

It’s a lot more technical, sure, but you just need to worry about choosing a good company that will take care of the difficult side of things.

Basically, hosting refers to keeping entire websites in servers.

Hosting companies register your domain in their servers and take care of keeping it live and working properly.

Since they’re responsible for your website’s security and stability, it’s important to research your prospects enough to be 100% sure they won’t fail you.

That’s why I recommend Bluehost; It’s my personal favorite, and it’s served me and countless other people well.

It’s even the service recommended by WordPress.

Once you make your choice, the rest is easy.

You just need to head over to their official website, choose a plan that fits your needs and budget, create an account, and pay.

If you go for Bluehost, you’ll be asked to register your domain name for free during your account creation.

After you’ve created your account, password, and all that, you must install WordPress.

Thankfully, Bluehost also takes care of this for you, so you’re free to hop into WordPress and start working.

WordPress

Now, there are many CMS platforms available, but I recommend WordPress because it’s free and unbelievably flexible.

You can find free themes and plugins to make designing easier and add more features to your website as well.

Once you hop into WordPress and install your theme, feel free to play around the dashboard until you get used to everything.

Once you’re familiarized with it, you can start designing your website.

The theme you chose will most likely arrange everything for you.

Your only task will be to edit the layout and add your own content until it looks the way you want to. When it comes to content, it’s basically divided into pages and posts.

Pages are your website’s section: homepage, about us, contact page, privacy policy, terms of service, etc.

Those are the most important ones, so make sure to start with those.

Keep in mind you need to be 100% transparent about being an affiliate marketer.

Other useful sections might include an FAQ, testimonials for your products, etc. Make sure you cover the critical pages first before getting creative.

Then, we have posts. These are simply your articles and blog entries. If you’ve used Word or Google Docs, you have a solid foundation to work on your posts with WordPress.

Formatting is almost the same, but it’s more important to get things right. You have text types—different heading levels and paragraphs—lists, fonts, size, bold, italics, etc.

Of course, you can add hyperlinks, which is what you’ll use to link to your offers.

You can save your posts as drafts in case you want to write several and publish them periodically one by one, too.

Finally, once you hit “publish,” your website is live.

SEO

Now, you can just write anything you want and publish it, but that’s not the ideal approach if you want to rank your website on search engines. That’s where SEO and—most importantly— keyword research comes in.

Now, SEO includes a lot of variables you need to consider, and I’d recommend you research this topic yourself.

I can cover the basics, but you should consider watching tutorials and courses to grasp this concept fully; you also want to stay on top of any relevant changes to search engines.

When it comes to SEO, two of the most critical aspects are loading speed and uptime.

These depend on your hosting service for the most part. You also want to avoid using too many high-resolution images and videos on your website to keep a healthy loading speed; the same goes for installing too many plugins.

However, for bloggers, SEO mostly boils down to keywords. Keywords are the words and phrases people use when looking for something in Google and other engines.

For instance, you probably landed in this article after searching “how to create an affiliate marketing blog”; that’s a key phrase you could target if you were writing a similar article.

Research your keywords

Keywords will come from your niche. Just like you did for your domain, start brainstorming relevant words you identify with your products and niche.

Then, use those words to form phrases and find related terms you’d use if you were looking for your products or the information provided in your website.

You can search similar products in online stores if you want to find more keywords. Take note of the words and phrases that repeat the most.

Once you have your list, you should check out how competitive they are. You want to target keywords that people are likely to search, but that not many websites are using.

For instance, “how to build an affiliate marketing blog” is probably very competitive, so you could target “how to build an affiliate marketing blog for beginners easy steps”.

The same goes for any niche you’re in, and a solid rule of thumb is that the closer you can get your keywords to your affiliate products, the lower the chances for hard competition.

Once you have identified your keywords, try to use them in all posts you write.

There are some keywords you’ll want to repeat in all articles, and there are others more specific to the topic you’re dealing with. Just repeat the same steps I mentioned, and you should be fine.

Finally, don’t overdo it with your keywords. A good standard is to use each keyword a couple of times every 500 words.

Also, there are tools like Yoast SEO, which can make wonders for your SEO work. You should definitely consider investing in them if you want to make your life a lot easier; it basically analyzes your content and comes up with suggestions to improve your ranking.

Become an affiliate

The last step is to find your products to start writing content and selling them.

Finding affiliate programs today is as easy as typing your niche or product into Google and adding “affiliate program.”

You’ll be greeted with countless offers from different websites, but make sure you go for reputable ones.

You want to research all your potential programs and read their conditions carefully.

Some require you to work exclusively with them, and I’d personally recommend you avoid them unless they’re from a huge company that’s guaranteed to last a good while, has a good reputation, and can offer you more money than any other offer you find.

That’s because you want to try and offer different products from different programs.

You’re not in control of their conditions, and you could find yourself without a product if they stop producing it.

You always want a safety net, and several products offer that. You can also find products to promote on Clickbank or the Amazon Associates program. Udemy is also filled with courses you can market.

Conclusion

If you followed these steps, then you’re already an affiliate marketer.

Congratulations!

Now, the most important advice I want to give you before you go is to prioritize your content. Your content comes first, and sales come from that content.

If you write compelling and valuable articles, people will want to buy your product without you even inviting them.

The key to a good successful site is to focus on offering the best content you can.

If you can provide meaningful insights to help people’s lives, then your content will do the rest of the work for you.

In the end, that’s exactly how passive income works. Don’t forget it!

My #1 Affiliate Marketing Advice

I have personally been doing affiliate marketing for a few years now, and I can tell you that I have done so many things wrong when I first started my affiliate marketing journey. I made so many mistakes and end up wasting time because you think you see a couple of youtube videos on affiliate marketing and think you have it down. Then you end up wasting time and money. Honestly, I am glad I didn’t do paid advertising because I know people who have just started out and started doing paid advertising. Guess what happened? They ended up losing A LOT of money. That’s why I highly recommend anyone starting out to get a proper course which guides you through everything. Now, the problem is there are a ton of fake gurus claiming to be experts and selling you their overpriced course. They do this by pitching you a dream lifestyle and kind of/sorta play around words making you think it will make you an overnight millionaire. And it really gets people because they show their Lamborghini’s. Now, I have gone through a lot of these garbage courses, and frankly, I don’t want more people to buy their garbage courses. So, I recommend not just beginners but, advanced affiliate marketers to get a course called Savage Affiliates. It’s by Franklin Hatchett and he has been doing affiliate marketing for 8 – 10 years now. If you look at the amount of information it has, you’ll be shocked because I don’t know if you know this or not but, most other courses don’t even have 1/3 the information this one has. And it’s one of the most affordable courses out there so, when you start out, you can pay for hosting, and other sorts of expenses instead of just spending all your money on guru courses. Keep in mind that, I am not saying this course will make you rich or anything, this is not some overhyped guru course, you’re simply paying for a really high-quality course which goes over A – Z of affiliate marketing. It has Paid Ads training like google ads, Facebook ads, free affiliate marketing training where you getting traffic from Pinterest, youtube, blog commenting, SEO and a ton more content. But, make sure you read my Savage Affiliates review so you know EXACTLY what your buying, no impulse buying.

The post Start An Affiliate Marketing Blog appeared first on Affiliate Business Hub.

from Affiliate Business Hub https://affiliatebusinesshub.com/start-an-affiliate-marketing-blog/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=start-an-affiliate-marketing-blog from Affiliate Business Hub https://affiliatebusinesshub.tumblr.com/post/629098795009982464

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Start An Affiliate Marketing Blog

If you want to start an affiliate marketing business, then you’re not alone. It might be difficult to go from wishing to doing, but you’ve come to the right place to make that change by yourself.

It’s easy to start planning your affiliate marketing career: think about what you can promote, how your blog might look, what content you want to write about, etc.

Actually doing something about it is a whole different story, though.

Maybe you don’t know how to start. Maybe you’re hesitant about getting a domain and hosting.

There are many reasons why someone doesn’t take that first step, but don’t worry; I’ll help you there.

Let’s get started.

Let’s set up some expectations

Now, affiliate marketing is one of the best ways to generate passive income.

If you want to make money without having to tie yourself to a full-time schedule, then the effort you’ll invest in affiliate marketing will be worth it.

However, a lot of gurus try to sell it as a way to make quick money with minimum investment, and that’s only half true.

Specifically, the only truth in those statements is that it doesn’t require a lot of money.

You can start your own affiliate business with about $100 monthly, and that greatly depends on which tools you get and the hosting service you decide to use.

You can get a domain for about $15 yearly and hosting for about the same amount every month, at least using what most people recommend.

On the other hand, if you’re like me and go for something like Bluehost, you could start with between $30 and $50 for the entire year.

That’s because Bluehost starts at $2.95 for their cheaper plan, and that comes with a free domain.

That makes up around $36 for the entire year, and even the more advanced plans won’t break your budget.

With that in mind, it’s far from a “get rich quick” scheme. You need to put in a lot of effort if you want to start making money in few months, and that’s still the exception.

It’s usually at least a year before you start making a noticeable income, depending on how many sales you make every month and your commissions in relation with the price of the products you promote.

That being said, it’s completely possible to make an entire living out of affiliate marketing, and lots of people end up replacing their full-time jobs with their affiliate income.

These people put in as much effort as they can, for it’s the same as starting any other type of business.

Finally, you don’t really need any tech experience—like coding or programming—since most platforms offer intuitive ways to design your pages and posts.

You’ll have a difficult time finding a CMS platform that requires you to mess with code when programming; most offer this as an option, but it’s never necessary.

Besides, this guide is for complete beginners, so don’t expect me to go crazy recommending you to get a degree in computer science or anything like that.

You want to start by identifying your niche

When it comes to online entrepreneurship, finding a niche is paramount.

Offering products from every industry might sound great: it lets you target even more people.

However, not only does that mean learning less about every category, it also makes your website lose focus and feel disorganized.

None of those things are good for any affiliate marketer.

You want to become an authority in your niche; the more you specialize, the better your content will be.

The result will also be that people trust you a lot more, thus they’ll be more willing to buy what you recommend.

Another very important thing is to pick a niche you like and can feel passionate about.

That will make it a lot easier to feel motivated to write new content, and learning more about it will become something you actively enjoy.

It’s also worth noting that if you go for a niche you actually consume from, it’ll be 10 times easier to get into the head of your audience.

After all, you’d likely desire the same things since you already enjoy the same things.

This will dictate more than a few things

Another vital reason for picking a niche is how much of your business will depend on it.

Yes, your products will come from your niche, and your business depends on those products, but that’s not the whole story.

You want to ensure your website feels like it belongs to the niche you’re in.

All niches tend to have their own “feel” manifesting via repeating patterns; color palettes, terminology, type of content, and similar elements will vary depending on the niche you’re in.

Once you’ve chosen a niche, the next step should be to research your future competitors.

Take note of all patterns you see repeating between the different sites and implement them while offering your own twist.

Don’t copy; you never want to do that both for legal and strategic reasons.

However, you do want people who visit your website to infer your niche properly after they land on your homepage.

The same goes for your content. You must offer relevant content to your niche.

If you’re selling pet products, you can’t write about musical composition; you want to offer content that’s useful for pet owners: your target audience.

Even your website’s domain will depend on your niche. It’s important for your domain to be related to the niche you’re focusing on.

Don’t worry, I’ll get into domains in the next section.

Just keep in mind how important is to choose your niche correctly, for your entire business will build on it.

Get your website into the internet

Alright, now that you’ve identified your niche, it’s time to create your website.

For the sake of simplicity, I’ll divide this process into 4 parts: from its name all the way to ranking it on search engines.

Let’s have a look, then.

Domain

I’ll cover keyword research in the last step, but you should identify the most important keywords for the niche you’re in.

If you’re going for the music niche, then main keywords would be: music, guitar, drums, music production, musician, and other words like specific instruments if you want to focus on that.

Take note of the words that come to your mind whenever you think about your niche.

Then, think about which of these words you can use for your website’s name.

This is another way in which your niche affects your site’s design.

Once you have a name—preferably a list with a few—it’s time to get your domain.

In case you don’t know, your domain name is the URL that houses your website. Amazon’s domain name is amazon.com, for instance, and Instagram’s is instagram.com.

You get the point.

It’s time to grab the lists of names you have and check their availability.

There are plenty of tools you can use for this purpose.

Now, the next step would be to register this domain, but if you decide to go for Bluehost, you can register your domain for free, so feel free to skip that for now.

When deciding your domain, take a few things into consideration.

Firstly, you want to make sure your name is specific enough to build a brand around it; however, you don’t want it to be too specific to prevent you from branching out into new products within your niche.

In other words, it’s better to name it after your niche instead of after a single product.

The other important consideration is to stick to .com domains.

It might be tempting to switch to other extensions, but they perform a lot worse than its .com counterpart.

This is the main reason why I recommend you list several names. If you find exactly the name you want, but it’s not a .com domain, then you might be making a mistake by going for it.

Hosting

Alright, hosting is a lot simpler than finding your domain.

It’s a lot more technical, sure, but you just need to worry about choosing a good company that will take care of the difficult side of things.

Basically, hosting refers to keeping entire websites in servers.

Hosting companies register your domain in their servers and take care of keeping it live and working properly.

Since they’re responsible for your website’s security and stability, it’s important to research your prospects enough to be 100% sure they won’t fail you.

That’s why I recommend Bluehost; It’s my personal favorite, and it’s served me and countless other people well.

It’s even the service recommended by WordPress.

Once you make your choice, the rest is easy.

You just need to head over to their official website, choose a plan that fits your needs and budget, create an account, and pay.

If you go for Bluehost, you’ll be asked to register your domain name for free during your account creation.

After you’ve created your account, password, and all that, you must install WordPress.

Thankfully, Bluehost also takes care of this for you, so you’re free to hop into WordPress and start working.

WordPress

Now, there are many CMS platforms available, but I recommend WordPress because it’s free and unbelievably flexible.

You can find free themes and plugins to make designing easier and add more features to your website as well.

Once you hop into WordPress and install your theme, feel free to play around the dashboard until you get used to everything.

Once you’re familiarized with it, you can start designing your website.

The theme you chose will most likely arrange everything for you.

Your only task will be to edit the layout and add your own content until it looks the way you want to. When it comes to content, it’s basically divided into pages and posts.

Pages are your website’s section: homepage, about us, contact page, privacy policy, terms of service, etc.

Those are the most important ones, so make sure to start with those.

Keep in mind you need to be 100% transparent about being an affiliate marketer.

Other useful sections might include an FAQ, testimonials for your products, etc. Make sure you cover the critical pages first before getting creative.

Then, we have posts. These are simply your articles and blog entries. If you’ve used Word or Google Docs, you have a solid foundation to work on your posts with WordPress.

Formatting is almost the same, but it’s more important to get things right. You have text types—different heading levels and paragraphs—lists, fonts, size, bold, italics, etc.

Of course, you can add hyperlinks, which is what you’ll use to link to your offers.

You can save your posts as drafts in case you want to write several and publish them periodically one by one, too.

Finally, once you hit “publish,” your website is live.

SEO

Now, you can just write anything you want and publish it, but that’s not the ideal approach if you want to rank your website on search engines. That’s where SEO and—most importantly— keyword research comes in.

Now, SEO includes a lot of variables you need to consider, and I’d recommend you research this topic yourself.

I can cover the basics, but you should consider watching tutorials and courses to grasp this concept fully; you also want to stay on top of any relevant changes to search engines.

When it comes to SEO, two of the most critical aspects are loading speed and uptime.

These depend on your hosting service for the most part. You also want to avoid using too many high-resolution images and videos on your website to keep a healthy loading speed; the same goes for installing too many plugins.

However, for bloggers, SEO mostly boils down to keywords. Keywords are the words and phrases people use when looking for something in Google and other engines.

For instance, you probably landed in this article after searching “how to create an affiliate marketing blog”; that’s a key phrase you could target if you were writing a similar article.

Research your keywords

Keywords will come from your niche. Just like you did for your domain, start brainstorming relevant words you identify with your products and niche.

Then, use those words to form phrases and find related terms you’d use if you were looking for your products or the information provided in your website.

You can search similar products in online stores if you want to find more keywords. Take note of the words and phrases that repeat the most.

Once you have your list, you should check out how competitive they are. You want to target keywords that people are likely to search, but that not many websites are using.

For instance, “how to build an affiliate marketing blog” is probably very competitive, so you could target “how to build an affiliate marketing blog for beginners easy steps”.

The same goes for any niche you’re in, and a solid rule of thumb is that the closer you can get your keywords to your affiliate products, the lower the chances for hard competition.

Once you have identified your keywords, try to use them in all posts you write.

There are some keywords you’ll want to repeat in all articles, and there are others more specific to the topic you’re dealing with. Just repeat the same steps I mentioned, and you should be fine.

Finally, don’t overdo it with your keywords. A good standard is to use each keyword a couple of times every 500 words.

Also, there are tools like Yoast SEO, which can make wonders for your SEO work. You should definitely consider investing in them if you want to make your life a lot easier; it basically analyzes your content and comes up with suggestions to improve your ranking.

Become an affiliate

The last step is to find your products to start writing content and selling them.

Finding affiliate programs today is as easy as typing your niche or product into Google and adding “affiliate program.”

You’ll be greeted with countless offers from different websites, but make sure you go for reputable ones.

You want to research all your potential programs and read their conditions carefully.

Some require you to work exclusively with them, and I’d personally recommend you avoid them unless they’re from a huge company that’s guaranteed to last a good while, has a good reputation, and can offer you more money than any other offer you find.

That’s because you want to try and offer different products from different programs.

You’re not in control of their conditions, and you could find yourself without a product if they stop producing it.

You always want a safety net, and several products offer that. You can also find products to promote on Clickbank or the Amazon Associates program. Udemy is also filled with courses you can market.

Conclusion

If you followed these steps, then you’re already an affiliate marketer.

Congratulations!

Now, the most important advice I want to give you before you go is to prioritize your content. Your content comes first, and sales come from that content.

If you write compelling and valuable articles, people will want to buy your product without you even inviting them.

The key to a good successful site is to focus on offering the best content you can.

If you can provide meaningful insights to help people’s lives, then your content will do the rest of the work for you.

In the end, that’s exactly how passive income works. Don’t forget it!

My #1 Affiliate Marketing Advice

I have personally been doing affiliate marketing for a few years now, and I can tell you that I have done so many things wrong when I first started my affiliate marketing journey. I made so many mistakes and end up wasting time because you think you see a couple of youtube videos on affiliate marketing and think you have it down. Then you end up wasting time and money. Honestly, I am glad I didn’t do paid advertising because I know people who have just started out and started doing paid advertising. Guess what happened? They ended up losing A LOT of money. That’s why I highly recommend anyone starting out to get a proper course which guides you through everything. Now, the problem is there are a ton of fake gurus claiming to be experts and selling you their overpriced course. They do this by pitching you a dream lifestyle and kind of/sorta play around words making you think it will make you an overnight millionaire. And it really gets people because they show their Lamborghini’s. Now, I have gone through a lot of these garbage courses, and frankly, I don’t want more people to buy their garbage courses. So, I recommend not just beginners but, advanced affiliate marketers to get a course called Savage Affiliates. It’s by Franklin Hatchett and he has been doing affiliate marketing for 8 – 10 years now. If you look at the amount of information it has, you’ll be shocked because I don’t know if you know this or not but, most other courses don’t even have 1/3 the information this one has. And it’s one of the most affordable courses out there so, when you start out, you can pay for hosting, and other sorts of expenses instead of just spending all your money on guru courses. Keep in mind that, I am not saying this course will make you rich or anything, this is not some overhyped guru course, you’re simply paying for a really high-quality course which goes over A – Z of affiliate marketing. It has Paid Ads training like google ads, Facebook ads, free affiliate marketing training where you getting traffic from Pinterest, youtube, blog commenting, SEO and a ton more content. But, make sure you read my Savage Affiliates review so you know EXACTLY what your buying, no impulse buying.

The post Start An Affiliate Marketing Blog appeared first on Affiliate Business Hub.

from Affiliate Business Hub https://affiliatebusinesshub.com/start-an-affiliate-marketing-blog/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=start-an-affiliate-marketing-blog