#i've been on blogs with really a really good theme and well curated posts and can spend hours on them

[whoatemyshoe]

holy shit my new theme has a toggle for light and dark mode

[daincrediblegg]

no you know what I'm going to scream about the stuff I talked about in the tags of this post publicly

I'm tired of the well-meaning "don't feel bad if your work only gets 20 notes your genius is what counts and do it for you!" bullshit. I've had a good handful of friends who have straight up DEACTIVATED in recent months because their work was not getting reblogged AT ALL. No, it wasn't from lack of not being well-liked, no it wasn't from lack of trying to make sure it was getting out there to the people they knew would engage with it. It was because no matter how much they were praised privately for their work, when push came to shove, absolutely NOBODY reblogged it and gave it the audience that it was due, and I'm tired of people shoving the "unsung genius" narrative as an excuse for it. Nothing excuses that. And the boop event really proved that.

because I know given the opportunity, indiscriminately pressing a button (sometimes 10 thousand times, as I did) is not beyond this website's capability. y'all loved doing that. and look at what it wrought. nothing but love and affection and happiness. just from a couple of quick clicks of a little paw button. sure. nobody knew who you booped but the other person (which is how likes used to work on this website, btw). there was an element of anonymity to it. but that is kind of the core of this website that no other social media platform still has: the ability to be anonymous. and hyper-curating a blog on here like you might on twitter or instagram to project an image is simply not viable. and hey. you wanna know a secret: literally nobody cares what you post or whether it goes with the "theme" of your blog or not. yeah. I know. CRAZY concept in this day and age. but literally. I myself have reblogged things that have had nothing to do with whatever I am currently fixated by and you know what happened to my follower count? not a damn thing. in fact, I actively try to reblog things specifically BECAUSE it's my friends who made them (even though I'm not always good at KEEPING UP WITH HOW MUCH THEY POST @prismatica-the-strange will NEVER GO UNRECOGNIZED by me).

And you know what fucking sucks? I have to deal with this too. surprise right? you ever wonder why I reblog fics or art I post like 20 times the day that I post them? do you ever wonder why I ask about tag lists and beg for asks all the time? IT'S BECAUSE EVEN I GET LIKE. 5 LIKES ON THE THINGS I POST. AND THE REST OF THE REBLOGS ARE MINE SO I CAN MAKE SURE THAT PEOPLE WHO WANT TO SEE WHAT I MAKE GET TO SEE IT. and I say that knowing that I'm certainly not an unpopular blog, or an unpopular writer. I know that people love the stories that I create. Hell, half of the people that I've talked to about lady terror have told me that they consider her to be canon (AND EVEN SOME!! THOUGHT SHE WAS!!! WITHOUT EVEN HAVING WATCHED THE SHOW! WHICH IS STILL SO SO WILD TO ME!!!) But especially in the last 4 years (which really dates this phenomenon), my posts, no matter how well received they've been amongst people I've talked to about them directly, I still go into the notes and at least half (often more than half) are MY reblogs to make sure people saw what I posted. and it happens every single time, and I can't tell you how much it crushes me considering that it used to be that I would be able to post it only once, and people would reblog it sometimes even HUNDREDS of times.

It's not about popularity. it never has been. it's not about anxiety. or shifting website cultures. even if you lurk, the simple fact is, that if you want people to keep making what you love. you have to reblog. your theme won't suffer because you reblogged a fanfiction that you really admire. your posting won't be ruined because you reblogged some fanart from someone in a different fandom. really. I promise. and if people do unfollow you for that? who needs em. followers come and go but you should NEVER have to cater to them. on this website it has ALWAYS been the other way around. lean into it. make it yours. put stuff you ACTUALLY WANT to be seen and that you love and appreciate on your blog. no matter how old it is, how new it is, no matter how niche or off-theme it is.

so please. if you really want to show your appreciation for someone's work? you reblog. it's really as easy as that. check the tags. add some when you reblog if you like. but please for the love of god reblog. it's as easy as booping and even more rewarding for the people who you reblog from. if you want to let someone know that their work is genius and appreciate it? show it. reblog. then DM them if you're too nervous to say what you want to say but not in a public forum. but for christ's sake. REBLOG.

[cozylittleartblog]

Oop, hello there! ^^ I remember you from DA, still think your art is so cool!! Still fond of the vintage characters and the world of Tessa n' Val! I'm currently testing the waters on Tumblr lol, hoping to get around a different vibe for documenting my projects n' chatting about stuff I like, and wanted to ask: as someone who's been on Tumblr for a while, what are your main tips for a starting artist in the platform? Wish ya a great day! Stay artful n' creative :]

HI!!!! i remember you too, i always get really excited when artists i like come here. tumblr is the only website i really use for myself and not just to post art, so it means i get to follow them and interact with their art 🥺 i ditched deviantart for everything that isn't posting art and bitching about the website via status updates lmfao, the new inbox and watched deviants tabs are so... out of the way and counter intuitive. hate it there.

anyway, I've written a general tumblr how-to post because there's been so many exoduses (exodi??) from other platforms over the last few years, but I don't think I've ever written one for artists? or at least I can't find it if I did. so here are some hot tips 😎👉👉

NUMBER ONE BIGGEST RULE: if you're an artist and you want to actively gain a following and curate your art, please have a separate art blog where you post exclusively or near exclusively art. it's ok to reblog a post here or there, but tumblr is a website About curating and having specific blogs! it's not that people don't want to see or hear about the artist behind the work, but they don't want 43289 unrelated memes and posts for fandoms they're not in 😅 admittedly i have skipped following some good artists here because their reblogs completely drown out their art and clog my dashboard. people really like curated blogs, almost every artist has a separate art blog 'round these parts. (it's completely fine to post WIPs and text posts discussing your art too, some people would like to see your process!)

speaking of curating: tags are your best friend! tumblr tracks the first 20 tags I believe, so use the first 20 tags to add your important search terms. this is where you put anything you'd want to turn up in the search. really you probably wont have more than 10 of these tags. after that you are welcome to ramble in the tags or use organizational tags for your specific blog.

not sure how to tag? search up what terms you'd use to try to find your own post if you were someone else, and see what tags popular posts in that tag used. you should ALWAYS use the #art and #artists on tumblr tags, as well as any relevant common trigger/content warning tags :D here's how i do it:

FOR FANDOM POSTS: where applicable, I tag Fandom, Fandom Acronym, Featured Characters, Featured Ships, and sometimes #[fandom] fanart and/or #[fandom acronym] fanart. FOR ORIGINAL POSTS: you can tag your art medium (digital art, traditional art, sculpting, etc), the general aesthetic or themes, time periods, and if it features your OCs you can use #oc and their names so if people want to see all your OC content they can find it. admittedly i mostly post fanart so i am very spontaneous with the tags i use on my original art posts lol

4. shorter captions seem to be preferred by the masses, I personally either dump my extra comments in the tags of the original post or I'll put them under a cut. unless it's extremely relevant to the post, like explaining ideas or headcanons

5. have all your handy links in your bio! you can use basic HTML coding to insert links with text and put in line breaks. you should have links to other socials (or something like a carrd that links them for you) and your support streams, like shops and tip jars and patreons. and ofc a little about you and what people can expect to see you draw!

6. have your inbox open! you don't have to take requests, but sometimes someone will throw a brilliant idea at you that you may Coincidentally be inclined to draw. it's also just fun to interact with people who like what you do! sweet comments go a long way

7. last one i can think of - do a seIf-reblog at some point in the day. people live in different timezones and not everybody finishes their dashboard. personally I schedule posts for 12 pm cst and then one seIf-reblog at 8 pm cst. it's also okay to reblog your older artworks for new followers to see, especially if you haven't posted in a while. TV airs re-runs and so can you B)

hope some of it helps!

[urconductor]

#URCONDUCTOR; indie roleplay blog for pom-pom from honkai: star rail, written by ender. canon & headcanon-based. please read rules before interacting!

DOSSIER. (tbd. pom-pom is an adult and goes by they/he pronouns tho)

RULES BELOW CUT.

Hello, hello! I’m Ender, an adult and an extroverted gal with autism and ADHD. Thanks for taking the time to read this! There’s no password to send in, so no need to look for one! Please read these carefully. Be 16 or above to interact.

BLACKLIST: TRIGGERS. i NEED these tagged. i have a physiological and psychological response to these topics that can greatly affect my mental health. if you can't respect my triggers, we cannot write together. My catch-all tags are "ender dont look" and "ender don't look".

any religious themes, emphasis on them when they're minor, and/or religious intolerance.

use of the word “god” in reference to powerful beings. Replacing such things with “ruler”/etc and generally making relations akin to king/subjects are good buffers that I can work with.

excessive verbal swearing

craneflies and daddy-long-legs

Extremely heavy organic gore visuals, especially in regard to organs, guts, and the heart

vi.vziepop, good omens, supernatural, c.ult of the lamb

BLACKLIST: SQUICKS. i'd appreciate these being tagged as well, but they do not spawn a severe reaction from me. i just want to avoid them.

any deep, in-depth descriptions of non-fantasy occult/magic + occult in general (like direct mentions of ouija boards, details of rituals, and stuff)

all smut and lewd content

politics/drama

TAGGING. I tag writing and fictional-related talk of potentially triggering topics as #trigger cw. various medias are tagged as #media cw. If I miss anything or you need something tagged, please tell me in DMs! i’m happy to help you curate your experience, and i want everyone to stay safe. /gen

INTERACTIONS.

non-roleplay blogs, please do not reblog any of my posts. if it's someone else's art/musing/photo/etc I've reblogged, those are free game! but please do not touch posts made by me whether they are in-character, out-of-character, or just my sketches. thanks!

I am mutually exclusive but am generally super friendly! I'll give nearly everyone a chance, even if I don’t know the muse or media! Crossovers, even with no plotting beforehand, are really fun.

i require a rules page to read before I follow, and won’t follow until I’ve read the rules. I tend to like promos to bookmark them so I can read the person’s rules later.

i won’t follow people who do not tag any of their posts. even basic “ic” or “ooc” or “musing” tags and such are good! I don’t care how fancy or simple your tags are, I just care that you have them and use them consistently.

i am duplicate and OC-friendly! For OCs, I require at least a simple About page to look at ‘cause I prefer to know your character a little before interacting! Duplicates are also fun for me to plot with ‘cause past/future meetings, AU meets canon, etc. are SUPER epic plots and very fun! I’m very used to duplicates and have been for years across different RPCs ^.^

i do not roleplay in “character: text” or *action* format. I prefer to interact with people who roleplay paragraph style and have a basic grasp of grammar, punctuation, and spelling; I completely understand if English isn’t your first language, though!

i do not mind unplotted violence against my muse, especially if they're messing around and finding out. however, make sure you are also prepared for the consequences. I love action and battle threads, but anything significant must be plotted.

MUN POLICIES.

Mun does NOT equal muse. Just because I, the mun, think or know something does not mean that my muse will. I’m an omnipresent narrator, they are characters in-universe. They each will have different thoughts and opinions than I will. It should go without saying that I do not condone everything any of my muses do.

i am a slow writer. I have college and several other things that take up my time, so I can’t be here twenty-four-seven! Also, my muse fluctuates. I may reply to something instantly if I have the muse for it, or I may get to it weeks later. I hoard drafts and asks like a dragon to get to them eventually! BUT feel free to nudge me if you want to remind me, I won’t mind!

importantly, I match my partner’s energy. If someone frequently engages me to talk about our characters, I’m likely to do the same! Unfortunately, the same applies if we hardly interact or talk at all; I’m good at interacting and communicating first, but I have a limited pool of energy.

i do not ship romantically on this blog. I don’t mind others’ romantic content, I simply personally abstain from writing romantic ships due to being harassed over them in the past. However, I love familial ships, platonic ships, rivalries, work relationships, enemy/antagonistic dynamics, and relations that can't necessarily be defined with words!

ON FANDOMS & MEDIA.

Expect headcanons to sometimes fluctuate and also expect canon divergence.

i am unaffiliated with any fandoms or creators.

i will interact with/make AUs for the following fandoms. Still, they can be tagged upon request: Final Fantasy(i know the most about VII, VIII, IX, X, XV, Unlimited, Dissidia, Dissidia 012), Sonic The Hedgehog, Pokemon, Portal, Gravity Falls, Ducktales 2017, A Hat in Time, Little Nightmares, Over The Garden Wall, OMORI, IB, The Legend of Zelda, Don’t Starve, Pocket Mirror, Super Mario Bros., Spiderverse, and Overwatch. I am very selective but not opposed to Five Nights at Freddy's, Murder Drones and The Amazing Digital Circus interactions. For these, if I followed you first/we’re mutuals, then we’re chill!

[ruby-white-rabbit]

Things that don't happen on Tumblr for new bloggers:

Monetization. If that's a thing, it's new/rare. Just because you get a lot of followers, doesn't mean you get paid for it. We're broke hoes here.

Virality. A post may get popular, but that again doesn't mean you will. I can name at least 5 well known posts of mine that people have seen SOMEWHERE. They keep getting stolen and I have been sitting at 7k followers for nearly a decade, which is how long I've used this site. They have collectively over a million notes and I have not received a single cent for any of that chaos.

People don't know you. Honestly I've been in discords and had people talk about my posts and they freak out when they realize "oh shit that's you???" My name is the same there as here. No one really pays attention to the URL unless it's funny. (Like one-time-i-dreamt- and even then it comes after the post and people have to check). They know your posts unless you did something fucked up like Old Dogs or Pizza.

Algorithms. Thank GOD you can actually curate your own experience and have things posted in order but to continue that you have to REBLOG/share from others. Liking is fine, but no one is gonna see it if it isn't shared. You don't even have to add a comment. If you do but don't want it on the post, you can put it in the tags. It's fine.

Also, sharing/liking things from AGES ago? Also fine! Posts get brought back all the time. "It's that time of year again!!" No one will judge if something from 5+ years ago is shared or liked.

There used to be cliques because the aesthetic/hipster blogs had their whole posting thing, and then there was the fandom blogs. There were the porn blogs (like legit porn not just bots), sport blogs, literally anything themed blogs because that's what people liked. They followed blogs they liked the content of and shared it. Some people, like me, don't HAVE a theme and post whatever they like. Or, have side blogs for other purposes like special interests or I like to Roleplay and use them for my characters.

If you want followers, you have to interact more than just liking. You have to share things, post things, so people can FIND you. And it sometimes takes time. You gotta curate your experience and people will do the same and find and follow you. And not everyone interacts. Again I have 7k followers, quite a few I consider friends, and I don't get asks. I don't get interaction that way but I see my friends in my likes and reblogs.

Tumblr is a whole other beast compared to tiktok or twitter and Instagram. And that's OKAY. ITS GOOD.

It Tumblr a broken trashfire of a site? Also yes but we love it because it's still OURS and not some megacompany using us for money. We can be weird here. We literally lost Yahoo MILLIONS of dollars and weird we remain. They bought us for 1 billion and sold us for 3 million. We don't play cooperate games here. So stop expecting the algorithms to curate to you. Be your own person and make your own experience.

[ronearoundblindly]

sending this w love but it's really hard to read ur comments if they're purple *and* tiny

First and foremost, thank you. That is good to know, that is a great example of constructive criticism, and I appreciate you helping me make what I write more user-friendly for readers.

Second, this has stirred something in me that I cannot tamp down, and so here goes a well-meaning rant. Sorry in advance (especially if this is one of my moots on anon).

There are several reasons I do the tiny, purple text; among them are personal esthetics, good conditioning, and bad conditioning.

I don't know why I've sorta chosen purple/lavender/etc as a theme for a while, but meh, I like it, and to have purple text show up works with the theme. Speaking of themes, Tumblr has various ways you can see your dash, called 'palettes' I think, and mine is set to idk 'goth rave' or something which has purple text on black as the default. It's easier on my eyes and makes the tiny, purple text stand out nicely in my draft posts. Because that's how I see them when formatting, I didn't notice it might be much harder on a white background or any of the other palettes. Thank you for pointing it out! I hadn't thought of that.

This might also be me as a distracted person, but the visual of a divider such as this:

...doesn't seem like enough of an end-cap to the actual story portion of the post, so I change the way the A/N looks afterward to really separate the two. (Special shoutout to the fact that the divider's message seems utterly useless in encouraging/reminding readers to leave comments or reblog. You've all heard that tirade. Let's just say I know the reminder is ignored, so I gotta try something else as a transition.)

Writing/posting on this platform, as you may have heard, is a bit of a crapshoot mixed bag. Readers feel limited both in number and in time, so we creators tend to try various things to make our posts stand out, to make them appealing. Color or text variation is one of those ways. Now, I have no flippin' idea how to get rainbow or gradient text; I barely figured out how to put hyperlinks into my bio, bless my heart, so there's little chance of my blog looking super unique or fancy. Instead I vary the look between actual prose and my notes/warnings/summaries, which leads me to the sad bit.

I am conditioned by this site and others to understand that you are here to consume content. That content is the writing that I have curated and edited into a story which doesn't involve me, just the character of 'you' and other OCs or canon IP, so my thoughts and opinions are not and never have been the reason anyone follows me. Those are quite literally small compared to the actual work I generate.

I still think of comment reblogs as flooding your dash with stuff most of you have already seen. I think I'm being annoying--even though I know it's the only way to have my writing go farther on this site--and because I will do so very, very much IRL to *not* annoy anyone, I put opinion and random side comments and little thoughts in small text that is color-coded so you can ignore it as "not-story bits."

It is taking everything in me to NOT make this small text or purple. Honestly, my palms are sweating so badly, I've wiped my computer keyboard four times.

No, I don't want anything to be hard for you to see or read. Yes, I am really grateful you pointed this out. *Do* please remember that we are all doing the best we can to get the experience we want from Tumblr by customizing what we can.

*

The comment I posted in tiny, purple text immediately before this was sent to me has been changed to regular, default color. Hopefully that helps, and I will try to keep in mind how things will look in the future.

**

I did purposefully choose to not put a readmore in this post fwiw.

[linaket]

February wins, March Writing Goals

So yeah, I missed my weekly update, but I knew I wanted to do something for my goals for March.

The end of February has been a bit rough for me. I started some construction in my house, and it's made me realize that I cannot sit and write much if there's someone nearby. I simply can't concentrate. So that's thrown a bit of a wrench in the plans I had.

Still, I'm excited to say that I made some progress on Tinder Saint in February, even if it wasn't as much as I wanted. I hit the 20k mark which is a kind of magic number to me because it feels like the thing I am writing is... an actual solid thing at that point.

I also made this writeblr in the last month, and I'm very happy that I did. I've already made a few new writer friends, and what more could I ask for? However, I do wish I had thought through the blog names a bit more. I'm likely going to rename this writeblr and my main so that they make more sense together. I wish I could just flip which of my accounts is my main, but that's apparently not a thing that one can do on tumblr. I've got about 12 years worth of "inspiration" things on @oh-sisyphus and I like to keep it highly curated, because often I like to scroll through it with my brain on low, and there's absolutely no way a tagging system would be something that I could suddenly integrate on over eight thousand posts and I can't even begin to figure out what it would look like so. Here we are.

I do want to try and make some goals for March, mainly because I actually do really well when I have solid, manageable goals to tackle.

March 2023:

reach 30k on Tinder Saint. It's a low number, I know, but I've got quite a bit of life stuff swirling around including a huge editing job I need to start, as well as things happening in my "day job" and my house. I don't want to feel too much pressure on reaching something that would be harder to attain because I will likely shut down and not do anything. So. Another 10k in a month. That's doable.

organize tumblr things. I did take time before "officially" launching my writeblr to get a theme that I (mostly) liked and thought would work, but y'know how it is when you don't really know what you need until you start using a thing? I still need to put together a WIP intro/page for Shadow's Prey, which is my primary project and the series that Tinder Saint is actually a part of, as well as maybe think about what tags I want to use and possibly make a list at least for myself so I can be consistent with them.

read / comment more on others' work, and also participate more in the writeblr community. I want to get to know more writers and their works, and send more asks! I love when I get them, so I'd like to make someone else's day, too, if I can.

Honestly? That might be all I can manage this month. I think they are good goals, though, and I hope I can say at the end of the month that I've got them all checked off.

[cantuscorvi]

♻️♦️☂️⚓☀️

Sweet munday meme ( mfw it's wednesday now but shhh )

♻ Any advice on improving Tumblr RP experience?

Engage with your mutuals as often as you can IC or OOC and you will unlock lots of fun dynamics and have a good time.

Don't be afraid to curate your engagement circle as you see fit.

Try not to stress or feel guilty. This is supposed to be fun!

Take your time. Do things whatever way you like, and try not to worry how other people think of you. It's your blog, your life, etc.

♦ How has roleplaying on Tumblr improved since you started out?

Oh boy. Has it really improved? Idk. I started out here in like 2011 maybe, and I bounced around a bunch of different communities. I feel like it's not that different, but maybe the tumblr demographic has aged up a little since then, so people are a bit more mature. I think people tend more towards para than they did in the past, which is good for me bc I never know when to stop writing lmao. Acessibility is a bit better now, pinned post feature is awesome. IMs are bad but at least they are better than the fanmail feature. Almost everyone has a rules/about and fairly clear theme. Back in the day it was wild west of pages and themes and autoplay and all sorts of garbage to try and figure out what people's blogs were about lmao

☂ What’s your best RP experience?

This is such a tough question to answer, especially since I've had this blog for so long, and previous muses before that. I don't think there is one best experience, but really... I took a long break from this for a few years, and I only came back a few months ago. I was so afraid that I wouldn't fit in anymore. But the feeling of returning has been so good, like much better than I felt even back in the day. Being able to reconnect with you, and other previous partners, as well as make new ones has been awesome, and just being able to write this heathen again is far too much fun.

⚓ Are there any small details you tend to like in roleplays?

Isn't it so good when we get to incorporate each other's headcanons in the thread? Even if it's just random details of stuff the muse likes, hobbies they do, turns of phrase they use, etc. Like this is especially fun in asks responses/drabbles where sometimes we control each other's character a little, maybe for a few lines of dialogue, or thinking how they would react to a situation. I get such a kick out of it when I see other people write Raum in different ways, and getting into the headspace of my partner's character is really interesting.

☀ What’s the best thing about roleplaying?

The best part for me is when I can feel that our muses are clicking, when they start to affect each other and cause change. It's one of the coolest things about rp imo. Also when you've made a really juicy plot with your partner and you're both hanging on the edge of the seat, starving for the replies. It's so good.

[lawfulgoodness]

I've been planning to make a themed blog (around the concept of duty to one another, service, kindness, etc.) for a while now, and have been saving up posts to do so, but my main blog is a huge jumble of everything that interests me. You've always been a favorite blogger and you keep your blogs (this and wearecleric) well curated. Would you have any advice on how to pull this off without falling into whatever pitfalls there are? Either way, thanks for always brightening my dash.

Wow, what a nice message! Thank you so much!

I've considered making a few "How to Tumblr" posts over the years, but they change features & layouts frequently enough that whatever I wrote would probably be inapplicable in a few short months. I do have a few things that I've done consistently that I think have helped:

PICK YOUR THEME

I actually have over 25 URLs here on Tumblr, but I regularly update less than half a dozen of them. My main here & WeAreCleric are definitely where I put most of my efforts, but I have the others for various reasons ranging from personal projects (writing tips & recipes) to professional pursuits (blog for a local hackerspace) to coordinating efforts (claiming a few extra URLs for @weareadventurers ). Each of these have very specific uses with very specific content. Even here in my "main," which is a little less focused, there is still a personality and theme all its own. 

It sounds like you have a good idea of what you want the sideblog’s theme to be, so good for you! 

PICK YOUR TAGS

This part will probably unfold as you operate the blog, but tags are a great way to organize your blog, as well as a way of letting people know what kind of things you’re interested in or blog about.  This can help you find other blogs to follow, as well as get more followers to your blog.  Common tags for this blog are of course things like “RPGs” or “DnD,” but it’s important to decide what tags you’re going to use so you can be consistent.  It took me a while to land on “RPGs,” and for a while I was randomly assigning “RPG” “TTRPG” or other such variations.  Just pick something, and be consistent, but don’t be afraid to make a change if you realize something different would be more effective.

PICK YOUR RHYTHM

I blog almost 100% from my queue.  As a matter of fact, with the exception of asks or direct interaction with mutuals, every post you see on this blog was most likely spat out by my queue.

Not only that, but before these posts made it to my queue, there’s a good chance they sat in my “Drafts” folder for quite a while (again, with the above exceptions).  This helps me a few different ways:

If there’s misinformation in the post, usually you can just wait a few days before the truth comes to light.  Everyone likes to be the first one on the bandwagon, but waiting until tempers aren’t quite as hot can keep you from reblogging a lot of misleading posts.

More recent versions of the post might have really good additional information, funnier comments, or that one perfect gif to sum everything up.  This can keep you from reblogging 50 million versions of the same post in 24 hours because it just keeps getting better.

It helps your blog be more consistent in generating content.  Rather than dumping a bunch of posts all at once, and then not having anything again for several days or maybe weeks, saving the posts you like gives you a well of content you can draw from whenever you need it.  Right now I have 375 drafts in my folder, waiting to be thrown into my queue.

It allows you to create variety where you want variety, and consistency when you want consistency.  Specifically for “WeAreCleric,” I’m constantly trying to balance the serious and sometimes controversial aspects of various real-world religious, with the silliness of roleplaying games.  Collecting posts in my drafts folder lets me be careful about what posts I’m putting next to each other.  It lets me provide comic relief when necessary, but also allows me to make sure I’m not sticking something funny fart joke next to a somber post about real-world issues.

As an example, here are the rhythms I use for my two main blogs.

LawfulGoodness Queue Pattern

1st post of the day: RPG

2nd: nerd-related non-RPG (comics, scifi/fantasy, etc)

3rd: "off-topic" not really nerd-related, but something I think is worth mentioning/reblogging

4th: nerd-related non-RPG

5th: RPG

My main has the most content saved up and I’m able to find useful content the most readily for it, so I’ve found having my queue set to 5 posts per day works pretty well.  Plus, when you scroll through my blog, it feels like there’s more RPG content on there than there is, because so much of it is back-to-back (one day’s first post shows up next to the last post from the day before).  I’m not spamming anybody’s dash with unwanted content; even if they don’t like any of my off-topic content, it never fills their dash experience, so I don’t annoy my followers too much.

WeAreCleric Queue Pattern

I have a harder time finding the right balance for WeAreCleric, mainly because there’s less content I feel comfortable posting.  I don’t want it to be a strictly “religious” blog, but it needs a certain amount of positive religious content just to be consistent.  As a result, my queue pattern over there varies a bit more, but it something like:

Day 1 Post 1:  RPG post

Day 1 Post 2: Encouragement / positivity post

Day 2 Post 1: Real-world religious post 

Day 2 Post 2:  Fantasy Art

I used to try and blog various religions on specific days 

Stained Glass Sundays

Muslim Mondays

Tranquility Tuesdays (Buddhism)

Wheel of Wednesday - Hindu

Thorsday (Pagan Myths)

Fugeki Fridays - Shinto

Semite Saturdays (Judaism)

While that was fun for a while, I realized that I had to spend a LOT of time searching for content for some of them, while others were easier to come by.  I started feeling like I was giving unfair preferential treatment to some religions over others, almost feeling guilty for sharing my own beliefs if I hadn’t shared enough of somebody’s else’s recently.  I was expecting way too much of myself and keeping it from being fun, while also wrecking my conscience.

“What’s that? The Lawful Good was inventing rules with the best of intention but that nobody should be expected to live up to and that take the fun out of everything?  Say it ain’t so!”

Conclusion

So, all that to say: having a blog should be fun.  Unless you’re some kind of social media content director for a startup or something, don’t stress about it too much.  There’s certainly a few tricks you can use to help organize and establish a voice for your blog, but you should only use them if they are helping.  Hopefully, some of these words are useful!

Now, to add this to my queue for the 3rd post of the day (ie, “off-topic”) and to give it the tag I use for all my musings on Tumblr and Tumblring: meta