#like please -upload the videos on Canvas instead of in the slides!

[northwestofinsanity]

These professors and their PowerPoints with embedded videos and massive graphic size, man... (This one wasn't even close to the file size of the one I had last week, and it still caused trouble)

[minyoongijjangjjangmanboongboong]

Sweet Dreams Chapter One

Lucid dreaming: The process of being aware that one is dreaming. Some researchers believe that in lucid dreaming, the individual may be able to change the outcome of the dream or control their degree of participation in the imaginary (dream) environment.

Description: Lee Eunbyul has been plagued with hellish nightmares since she was a child. Not the sort of nightmares you may be familiar with. There are no monsters to evade, no serial killers to outrun, no auditoriums of classmates in front of whom to stand naked. Instead there is just...darkness. Endless darkness. With professional help, the dreams come less frequently. But after moving away from home to live with her sister, Eunbyul’s nightmare returns, only this time it’s different. This time...she’s not alone.

What would you do if you had the chance to change the outcome of not only your dreams, but your life?

Genre: Romance, Drama, Fluff, Angst, Slow Burn

Pairing: Namjoon x (f) OC

Word Count: 8.0k

Tags: Non-Idol!Au, Producer!Namjoon, Bookstore Clerk!Seokjin, Potter!Jimin, Producer!Yoongi, Dancer!Hoseok

Warnings: Frequent mentions of mental illness, infrequent swearing and mentions of alcohol

A/N: Hey guys! Here we are at the start of a new series! Ahhhh I can’t believe it. I’m so so excited about this one, so I really hope you guys like it. I hope I can continue it with your support! I tried uploading yesterday, but it didn’t get much traction, so I’m trying again today! Hopefully this time it works out. Regardless, I’m really enthusiastic about this plot so I’m excited to hear your thoughts! Please don’t be shy and send feedback, critique, questions, theories, and comments my way. I’ll be sure to respond to all asks I receive within a day of receiving them! Links will be added later, so for now check my masterlist to find previous chapters!

And again, if you want to follow my Twitter, my username is @/plzpunchmebts. I’m super active over there and hopefully in the future I’ll do some livestreams/chats with you all! 

- Mercury

Previous Chapter – Next Chapter

Masterlist

Weekly updates: Sunday, 1PM (PST)

Eunbyul

Some people say dreams don’t mean anything. That we assign a story to them when we wake up to make sense of all those disjointed electrical impulses, to glean meaning from the random energy. I always kinda liked that theory. Something about it is a little charming: finding the reason in the chaos. I read somewhere that dreams might serve as a form of psychotherapy, letting us deal with difficult issues without bringing them into waking life. I don’t like this theory as much. I also read somewhere that Sigmund Freud thought dreams give us an insight into our unconscious.

I really don’t like that one.

The air was quiet, half-dead after most of the customers had taken their leave, and smelled of instant coffee and old books. Rows of bookshelves lined the scuffed wood floor, endless greenery swaying in hanging baskets or draping over the tops of shelves. Distantly, I heard the sound of the old coffeemaker straining. Sunset rapidly approached on the horizon, encroaching on the city like a curtain. With a sigh, I let my eyes slide from the tabletop beneath my fingers to the window beside me, overlooking the broken outline of stout buildings, green hillsides, and ocean beyond. My eyes ached a little from straining them for hours and I took a moment to give them a rub with my palms, jimmying my glasses up my nose so they pressed into my forehead.

“Need some coffee?”

I jumped, my glasses clattering onto the old table, and I squinted up toward the voice. Chagrined, my cheeks flamed and I scrambled to grab my glasses once more, placing them carefully on the bridge of my nose so I could see him properly. There he stood, terribly handsome with wide eyes and full lips half-parted, brows raised as he looked down at me like a peculiar creature to study. Kim Seokjin.

When I took a moment to really look at him, there wasn’t a single thing I didn’t like. From the caramel top of his head to the bits of smooth forehead that showed through his hair to his playful round eyes to his lopsided half-smile.

“You okay?” he asked, leaning down at the waist to examine me.

My back went rigid and I coughed a little, slamming my book shut and standing to my feet. “I…I was about to leave,” I said without looking directly at him. If I did, I might embarrass myself again.

He chuckled and watched me shove my things into my satchel haphazardly, edges of paper sticking out at odd angles and several book corners straining against the canvas fabric. With a bow, I walked past him in the narrow aisle, careful not to touch him.

“Take care!” he called, whistling as he wandered back toward the register in the corner. He greeted the customer waiting there with a smile.

I watched from the doorway for a moment, scanning him in profile. Even his shapeless maroon bookstore smock looked handsome on him. He nodded gently as the customer made idle conversation, the two of them chatting easily. He placed her books into a paper bag and slid them across the counter, resting his chin in his hand and raising his eyes to offer his full attention. The customer, a young girl maybe a few years my senior, flushed just a little and a nervous smile spread across her face, eyes flitting around as she avoided his gaze.

I sighed and pushed the front door open, exiting to the sound of the overhead bell.

“You smell like bad coffee,” remarked Gaeul as I fell onto the plush living room couch.

She sat in front of the TV on the floor, criss-crossed, nursing a can of lukewarm beer as reruns of Produce 48 droned on. “Went to the bookstore,” I mumbled into a pillow, laying face-down on my stomach with my legs bent against the arm of the couch.

She reached back and gave my arm a smack before returning her attention to the screen. “Stupid,” she said.

I sighed and nodded, reaching out my fingers toward her. Without saying a word, she handed me her can and I took a greedy sip, wincing as the stuff slid down my throat. I bumped the can against her shoulder once I was finished and silently she retrieved it. I let my arm dangle, fingers brushing the plastic-covered floor, and shut my eyes.

“Did you talk to him?”

“Mhm.”

“What’d you say?” she asked.

I opened one eye. “Something dumb.”

She nodded, gaze glued to the television. “Predictable,” she said.

I inhaled slowly, glancing toward the new mural she was working on. A nature scene, the wall behind the TV was now dedicated to a half-finished paint project Gaeul had started the week after I moved in. Green pine trees were poking through grayish fog that ended abruptly where the unpainted white wall began. She’d been following a Bob Ross tutorial after seeing a video of someone else doing it online, but lacked the followthrough to see it to completion. The floor was still covered in plastic tarps from the living room to the kitchen, and each step crinkled, but it made cleaning easier. Consider cleaning your rent, Gaeul had said when she agreed to take me in, At least until you get a job.

“Wanna order in?” she asked, eyes affixed to the television.

We’d ordered in more times in the last few weeks here than we ever had at our parents’ house, mostly because of me. Chinese food containers formed skyscrapers in the recycling bin and not one of Gaeul’s nice ceramic plates had seen use since I moved in.

I sighed, shutting my eyes once more, and gave a defeated nod. “Yeah,” I said.

I washed my hands in the quiet restroom at Hyejin’s Books, trying not to look too long at my gaunt reflection in the mirror. Since moving, my skin had gone lackluster from lack of time outside and my once-long hair was now chopped short, curling from the beach town humidity, sticking up around my shoulders. Why’d you cut it? Gaeul had asked upon my arrival at her apartment. I hadn’t answered, only shrugged. After all, how was I supposed to explain to my sister that cutting it off felt like the only thing I could do? The only thing that made me feel like I was moving forward, even a little?

I adjusted my round rims on my nose bridge and patted my flushed cheeks, nodding once as I turned on my heel toward the exit. But as my fingers clasped around the doorknob, I heard a distinctive sniffle coming from the farthest stall. My back stiffened. Was someone crying? I swallowed hard, body like firm glass, and waited with bated breath for the sound to come again. Had I been preening in that bathroom while this stranger cried? All along?

I peeked over my shoulder, just a little, and bent enough to see the ground beneath the stalls. Indeed, a pair of sneakered feet rested on the polished linoleum, and a person sitting on the ground attached to them. I swallowed hard and lingered in the doorway, awaiting another sniffle, another sign of distress.

But none came. Just silence.

And despite my misgivings, I simply exhaled and absolved myself of guilt. Whoever they were, they didn’t want to be bothered or they’d be making themselves known. I didn’t want to risk upsetting them further, or earning someone’s anger. I pushed the door open and made my way out into the narrow hallway, my mind hanging back in that bathroom.

Gently, I repositioned my meager belongings — wallet, glasses case, memo pad — back into my bag with a sigh. Seokjin wasn’t working, and while he wasn’t the only reason to come to a lazy bookstore and kill time, a place where I knew I wouldn’t be in anybody’s way, he was a big part of why I braved the two-block walk along a busy main street nearly every day. How pathetic. I stared down at the tan skin of my hands, still poised to shove a book or two in my bag, and sighed. What use were hands if they were idle?

I shook my head. A flash of that endless darkness crossed my mind. If I thought too much about my disappointments I’d have the bad dream.

But as I turned on my heel and stepped into the walkway, I heard the sound of footsteps rapidly approaching. Perhaps if I’d have been more alert, the sound would have made me pause, but my mind still lingered on that sniffle. I was making something out of nothing, right? It wasn’t even my business, really. If they wanted to cry in a bookstore, they had that right, didn’t they? Who was I to pry anyway? And what if asking if they were okay made them mad at me?

My body collided with someone else’s. Someone solid, with more flesh and height than I had.

“Ah!” exclaimed a voice from in front of me, too loud for the mellow bookstore.

Another bookstore employee, the girl was holding a beautiful potted plant in her gentle hands, and as if in slow motion, she was swaying back on her heels from the force of our collision. With long, pin-straight black hair and a crooked smile, she was the goofy sort of pretty that made you feel at ease. Or at least, it should make you feel at ease. Unfortunately, looking at her now as she peered down at me with wide, chestnut eyes and lips forming a surprised ‘O’ I felt nothing short of panicked. She swung her hand out, seeking purchase, and clasped hard onto the strap of my satchel.

“Ah, sor-,” I began, voice weak, but before I could continue I heard the distinctive rrrriiiiip of fabric tearing apart.

Too late.

I didn’t even have time to mourn the torn-open satchel because with her pulling so hard in one direction and me still walking in the other, when the tether between us snapped she ended up yanking me down with her. Arms flailing as they scrambled to cushion my fall, my knuckles brushed something hard and another upsetting noise ripped through the quiet store, like someone had thrust open the emergency exit on a plane.

Crash!

I sat on my hands and knees, eyes wide and watering and focused on the ground in front of me to avoid looking at the ground beside me where I knew the carnage lie. Out of my peripheral, however, I saw the unmistakable array of broken pottery, mingling with moist soil and prematurely torn leaves. It seems my momentum had been strong enough to cause a casualty, and I’d grabbed the beautiful potted plant she’d been trying to protect on the way down.

“Oh no!” she cried, horror etched into her gentle features.

The two of us lie in a heap, limbs tangled, belongings strewn about in all directions. My heart was racing, face hot. I eyed the broken pot as it lay splayed out on the ground beside my fingertips. The shock and embarrassment had rendered me immobile, sitting slack-jawed on all fours, eyes wide. Why had I done that? Why hadn’t I contained my fall? Why couldn’t I keep from being in somebody’s way?

“Shoot…,” she mumbled as she scrambled toward the wreckage on her knees. She began collecting the jagged clay pieces, but before she could handle too many I jumped and clasped her hands to stop her. “Huh?” she asked, eyes round as she turned to me.

“You’ll cut yourself,” I said, eyes on the pieces.

I pursed my lips and turned the remains of my satchel upside down, wrapping my hands in the canvas as my belongings rolled around the floor, adding to the mess. I collected the pieces in my covered palm, holding the bigger chunks between my index finger and thumb.

“Thanks,” said the girl, her voice low as she used her smock to help. “I’m sorry for grabbing you on the way down.”

I shook my head, letting my mind focus on the pieces instead of the palpitations of my heart, the sweat gathering in my palms. Doctor Kim said when I felt it coming, I could circumvent it with enough focus. Just…focus on something else. So I did, watching with an almost catatonic gaze as my hands worked on their own accord, independent of my will.

“This thing was kinda expensive…,” she mumbled, sighing as I deposited the pieces I’d collected into the hamper she’d made of her smock. “I bet they’ll take it outta my pay.”

I swallowed hard and nodded, struggling to track her words as they left her mouth. Folks around the shop were staring now, spectating. It was hard to find something else to focus on when all I could think of was disappearing right then and there.

“Anyway, thanks for helping,” she said with a soft smile.

“Uh, yeah,” I said, nodding and pushing to my feet.

“I really am sorry,” she said, helping gather my things from around the floor.

I swallowed hard. “It’s okay.” I kept my eyes on the ground, eager to disappear from that book store and find a new place to spend my endless days.

I collected my things and carried them awkwardly in front of my stomach. I glanced around and found that every patron had paused their individual activities to watch the show. My throat constricted and my breaths became slightly more shallow. Before I could think too hard, I rushed out the door and down the stairs.

I sat by myself on a swing, all alone in a big, sprawling park. I’d only just turned seven, and the world seemed all at once too big and too small for me. Gaeul told me to wait for her there, wait until she was done with soccer practice so we could walk home together. But as sunset began to bleed across the sky in red and purple, the shadows started to look too long, the trees rustling too loud in the breeze. Picking at the skin around my fingernails, I slouched over my knees, eyes on the sand below that my toes couldn’t quite reach. My throat felt a little tight, and swallowing didn’t fix it any.

“Byul!” called Gaeul as she ran down the sidewalk toward me, waving her arms above her head with a gummy grin.

Upon seeing her, I smiled and slid off the swing. I ran to meet her halfway. “How was practice?” I asked, slurring a little with my missing front tooth.

She whistled and rested both hands on her hips with the smile of a champion, cleats tied and slung over her shoulder, kneepads slid down to her ankles. She was skinny, like a waif, knobby knees emerging from beneath too-big gym shorts. But to me, she looked like a superhero with the sun silhouetting her. My big sister, here to save me.

I hadn’t learned yet that there were things even she couldn’t save me from.

“Nevermind that,” she said, waving a hand with a loud laugh that crashed and echoed against the trees. “Jaehyun’s mom gave me some money for helping out with her lawn. Let’s go get some snacks at Auntie’s!”

My eyes went wide at the mention of food and I beamed up at her. Her round face was flushed, hair a mess, eyes nearly invisible with the force of her smile. And I knew that, if I had her around, I’d be okay.

“Let’s go through the woods!” said Gaeul, sliding past me on the playground path and pointing with one spindly arm towards the line of trees ringing the west side.

I stared into the rapidly darkening forest, squinting into its depths. It seemed the longer I looked, the deeper the woods became, and despite having played in those woods enough to know them like the back of my hand, something about it felt a little ominous that day.

I should’ve listened to my instincts.

“Let’s go!” called Gaeul as she jogged toward the tree line, leaving me to toddle cautiously in her wake.

I awoke with a start and stared at the analog clock on my wall. Squinting against the barely breaking morning outside my window, I saw the time. 4:03. My fingers found the empty bridge of my nose and squeezed. I grabbed for my glasses and slid them on, rubbing my jaw. There was no hope of falling asleep again, not after a dream like that.

At least it wasn’t the bad dream.

I stretched in bed and gave my fleshy thighs a squeeze, massaging the tension out of them with my fingers. My body had a tendency to seize up during dreams. Doctor Kim said it was because of my fitful sleeping habits, and that seemed to make enough sense. But it had certainly been a while since I’d felt these cramps.

I sighed, pushing myself out of bed and padding in my socks toward my yet unpacked luggage. I rifled through the clothes I’d been cycling for weeks, some of them washed and some not, and settled on an old Nirvana shirt Dad gave me before I left and a pair of shorts that allowed the warm air to unknot the cramps in my legs. Tiptoeing out onto the tarp-covered living room floor, I made my way to the front door and slipped on a pair of tennis shoes, not bothering to tie them, and slid a baseball cap on my head.

With a glance over my shoulder at the still, quiet apartment, I stepped out into the hallway and made my way to the stairwell.

Walking helped the muscles loosen up, and after thirty minutes of wandering the dawn-drenched alleyways and sidewalks around Gaeul’s apartment, my body felt relaxed again. Dawn was a nice time of day. Nobody was out yet, the businesspeople still tucked in bed, the late night wanderers making their ways home. It was just me, the lilac morning, the sleeping city, and the ground beneath my untied shoes.

Well, and the sound of jazzy lofi.

As I rounded the corner toward the arts district, about a block from Hyejin’s, I heard the muffled sound of music bumping quietly from an open window on the first floor of a narrow shop, nestled between two tall, windowed buildings. The storefront looked a little out of place in such a modern area. In fact, it probably suited the beachfront more with its brown shutters and faded turquoise paint. I approached it slowly, rubbing my bleary eyes to get a proper look at it. Who was up and working at this hour?

Park’s Pottery.

The sign was old, weathered, propped out over the sidewalk to attract attention from passers by. Well, it certainly attracted my attention. I wandered closer to the open window and peeked inside. I scanned the dim shop with a squint. It was small, but crammed with vases and teapots and bowls. Floor to ceiling were metal racks housing all manner of trinkets. The walls were adorned with tapestries, paintings, and posters from all over the place, and the floor was home to several elegant rugs, all splattered with dried clay. To the right of the front window was a cash register and to the left was an alcove with a bright, yellow warehouse light. That was the source of the music.

I crept a little closer, placing my hands on the windowpane, and craned my neck to see better. In that alcove was a spinning table and, with his back hunched over it, a young man with a bandana holding his hair off his shiny forehead. I raised my brows as I got a better look at him in profile. Dark hair and focused, serious eyes, he had cherubic cheeks and pouty lips as he worked his hands over the clay, smoothing it as it spun in rapid circles. His fingers looked capable, certain as they molded the material, occasionally dipping into a bowl of sludgy water and returning with biceps straining. It was almost like a dance. The hypnotic motions had me in a trance. He seemed so sure of himself, so confident. In control.

I didn’t even notice when the music stopped.

But he did.

He turned his head sharply toward the desk behind him and stared at his cell phone with a sigh. He sure was pretty. But before I could admire the stranger properly, his smart, dark eyes were upon me, sweeping naturally from his phone back to his clay. I stiffened in the windowsill and, as he opened his mouth and widened his eyes, I jumped and ran down the sidewalk, pumping my arms.

What was I, a criminal?

I sprinted quickly, squeezing my eyes shut as embarrassment turned my skin into hot leather. Great, I thought, another place I have to avoid.

“Wait!” called a high, gentle voice from behind me.

I turned to glance at the stranger as he exited the building, leaving the front door swinging behind him. He took off in a jog after me, fists clenched and still dripping with wet clay. I flushed and ran faster, desperate to avoid this awkward confrontation. My throat was closing, and not from the running. Each time I glanced over my shoulder, the stranger was right there, just a few paces behind me.

As I forced myself to run faster, I felt something tug at my ankle and before I could react, the untied lace from my right shoe was trapped beneath my left foot and I went sailing through the air. I flew for a foot or two before skidding to a stop on my bare knees, crying out in pain as my palms collided with the rough concrete. Wincing, I examined my hands and let out a strangled yelp as I found the skin had begun to peel away, revealing a layer of blood.

“Shit! You okay?” asked the same voice from behind me.

Heart hammering, I kept my head low, face obscured by my baseball cap, and nodded my head. “Mhm.”

I felt him approaching as he squatted beside me, glancing over my shoulder. “Ah,” he exhaled with a sigh. “Come back with me. I’ve got a first aid kit.”

I made no move to leave my spot, sitting on my skinned knees. But the young man was persistent and, upon seeing my reluctance, huffed and grabbed me by the crook of my elbow, leaving fingerprints of clay on my skin. Without a word, he led the way back to his pottery shop and I followed like a scolded child.

Well, at least the city was still asleep.

The young man kept his serious dark eyes trained on my hands as he applied several large bandages to them. He’d already taken care of my knees, and had demanded I sit in front of the pottery wheel while he took his time dressing my wounds. After what felt like an eternity in that dark shop, he finally spoke.

“Why’d you run away?” he asked.

I stiffened. Why had I? “I…,” I began, then shook my head. My heart rate had slowly returned to normal with the passage of time, and despite this man being a stranger I felt at ease around him. Probably because he hadn’t properly looked me in the eye. “I got nervous.”

He chuckled and patted my palm, glancing toward his half-finished work on the wheel behind me. “Nervous?” he asked.

“I was watching you through your window,” I said with a sigh. “Kinda creepy.”

He glanced at me for only a moment before shutting his eyes and offering a shrug and an easy smile. “I like having an audience,” he said.

I eyed him, his soft face, his slim shoulders and the dirty smock he had draped over them. He didn’t look like a potter. “Are you an employee?” I asked.

He opened his eyes and raised his brows. “Me?” he asked, then laughed and waved his freshly cleaned hands. “No, I own this place.”

I felt my eyes go wide, but tried to manage my expression. “You’re…you’re pretty young to own a pottery shop.”

He smiled. “Twenty-four,” he said with a nod. “It’s a family business, but my dad retired and handed the place down to me.”

I hummed as I glanced around. It sure was rustic. But charming nonetheless. Like a relic lost to time. “Your pieces are pretty,” I remarked as I scanned the racks.

He hummed, patting his thighs with a nod. “Well, after so long learning I’d sure hope my wares are good.”

“You get a lot of customers?” I asked, peeking at him out the corner of my eye. This was the longest conversation I’d had with anyone since moving out here, and for some reason I was reluctant to cut it short.

He chuckled and rubbed his jaw. “Mhm,” he said. “Why else would I be out here so early?”

“You work all day?”

“Nearly.”

“Every day?”

He smiled and met my eyes. “Nearly.”

“Wow,” I mumbled as I took in the shop from this new angle. I sighed. “Must be nice.”

“Hm?”

“Having something to do.”

I felt his eyes on me as my own eyes wandered, catching on little details all throughout the shop. A painting of Venus beside the door, a bare lightbulb, unlit, dangling from the ceiling beside the checkout counter, the frayed edge of a red and purple rug. I wasn’t sure what he was thinking, wasn’t even sure what I was thinking, but wordlessly I felt him shift as he sat on a crate in front of me.

“You wanna take something with you?” he asked quietly, lilting voice barely above a whisper in the silent shop.

I raised my brows. “Can you do that?”

He shrugged. “My shop.”

I chuckled and nodded. “I guess that’s true,” I said, sighing as I pushed myself to my feet. The young man joined me and gestured with one swooping hand toward the racks.

“Choose whatever you want,” he said, walking beside me as he weaved his way through the aisles. My gaze landed on a particularly beautiful flower pot sitting at eye level, just beside the throwing table. “Teapots are over here. Bowls are over there. Got a few-,”

“I want this,” I said, reaching for the pot with two careful hands.

He blinked a few times and met my eyes from the other side of the rack. “Oh,” he said, then nodded. “Alright.”

I ran my fingers over the flower pot. It had been intricately carved with swirling roses and twisting vines, leaves floating everywhere. It was definitely prettier than the one I broke, that much was certain. It looked about the right size. Hopefully they hadn’t already bought a new one.

Well, if they did I could just keep the thing for myself.

I offered the young man a tight-lipped smile and bowed my head, excusing myself to the exit. He followed beside me, eyeing the pot in my hands with a curious expression. Once in the doorway, I turned to him and gave one more bow.

“I’m sorry for spying on you,” I said, meeting his eyes carefully.

He smiled and, lucky for me, his eyes nearly disappeared. “Don’t worry,” he said. “Stop by again sometime. Maybe you can buy something.”

I nodded and smiled at the flower pot. “I will.”

“I’m Jimin, by the way. Park Jimin,” he said, holding out a hand for me to shake.

I hoisted the flower pot up on my hip and took his warm hand, shaking twice. “Nice to meet you,” I said. “I’m Lee Eunbyul.”

He smiled again. “Pleasure,” he said, waving as I slipped out the front door. “Hope to see you again soon, Eunbyul.”

I slipped through the front door of Hyejin’s Bookstore, still holding the flower pot close. I’d waited an hour for the shop to open and, allowing the morning staff a ten minute grace period to set up shop, was the first patron to enter. The shop housed two stories of books and, navigating the stacks expertly like a covert agent, I maneuvered my way to the second floor unbeknownst to the two opening employees. I hadn’t had the time to figure out which ones they were, but from the broad back and chestnut hair of the man standing at the coffee maker I was pretty sure I could guess at least one.

God, of course. During my most important stealth mission, my Kryptonite shows up.

Nonetheless, I tiptoed toward the register and, using the sides of my fingers as cushions, set the flower pot down beside the register with a wince. By then, several other patrons had begun filing in, braving the steep stairs to the second floor and lining up beside the ancient coffee machine. I kept an eye on everyone, but mostly Seokjin as he restocked the paper cups and coffee stirrers. Once I was certain the pot was placed perfectly, I took a half-step back and glanced over my shoulder at Seokjin, still unaware of my presence.

His hair was quaffed out of his face today, styled to reveal his forehead, and his skin was practically glowing. I wasn’t sure if I was more jealous or in love with the guy. Sighing, I wandered lazily toward my favorite spot by the window, resting my hands palms-down on the tabletop. A few moments passed in silence before I heard someone speak.

“Oh…,” breathed a voice from the register.

To my dismay, there stood the same girl from the day before, eyes wide as she stared at the intricate, detailed flower pot with wonder-filled eyes. She turned it around a few times, appraising it, before smiling softly and scoffing once. She swept her gaze around the bookstore and I let my head fall downwards, heart racing. If she spotted me, I was cooked. She’d know for certain who had left it there.

“Jin!” she called with a disbelieving laugh.

Seokjin jogged over toward his coworker at the register and, rolling up the cuffs of his white button-down, glanced down toward the pot. “Whoa!” he exclaimed, grinning. “Someone left it here?”

“Seems like it,” replied the girl, smiling stupefied at the gift. “I was just about to buy a new one after work.”

I had to admit to a little swell of pride at that expression. It felt good to do good, that’s what Dad always said. And even though the pot was just repayment for the broken one, I felt a little piece inside me slip back into place. Like cogs in a clock.

“Huh,” said Seokjin, and without warning his eyes found me.

I stiffened, ready to make a run for it, but was stunned into stillness as our gazes locked and his handsome face broke into a small, knowing smile. “Seems like someone’s looking out for you,” he said gently, still smiling my way.

I cleared my throat and glanced out the window at the pastel morning sky, resting my burning cheek in my hand and allowing my mind to wander to the faraway clouds that ringed the horizon.

I’m dreaming, I thought to myself as I examined my hands, the fuzzy edges where my brain tried and failed to remember the finer details. Last thing I remembered was falling asleep in bed. What had Doctor Kim said? If you know it’s a dream, you can wake yourself up if you try hard enough. I tried hard to feel my body, the mattress beneath it, the covers I’d kicked off of it in the middle of the night. I tried to reason myself back into a physical space, out of this dark, cold, colorless void. But the more I struggled, the more suffocating the darkness felt. I squeezed my eyes shut, but like when I was young I could find no solace in the pitch-dark backs of my eyelids.

“Alright, alright,” I said aloud with a nod, shaking out my hands. I glanced around the void for a moment, eyes scanning the depths. “Detail, detail,” I said. I managed my breathing. “Doctor Kim said to find a detail.”

I scanned the darkness, searching for something, anything, that stood out. Something that clued me in to this being a dream. Something I could use to shake my brain out of sleep. I took a tentative step forward, or rather what might have been a step, and felt the same cool air I always felt in this void. My throat was constricting the longer I spent in here.

“Detail,” I said, squeezing my eyes shut. I begged for it. I longed for it so hard I wondered if I could simply will it into existence. “A tear,” I began. “Or a fray.” I scoffed as determined tears marched down my cheeks. “A fucking shoelace!” I shouted into the nothing.

Frustrated, I fell backwards onto my bottom and submitted to the sobs that began wracking my frame. The chill bit my exposed skin and raised goosebumps on my arms. “Jesus,” I said aloud, rubbing them down through tears. “For a dream, this shit is too realistic.”

I sniffled and stared around me at the darkness. When I was young, I used to search for the end of it. I walked for what felt like miles in one direction each night, wandering endlessly until eventually I woke up.

I never did find the end.

“Because there is no end,” I mumbled to myself, kicking my toe into the nothing beneath my cold bare feet.

“Yes there is.”

I screamed and jumped upright, scrambling backwards away from the voice behind me. Gasping for breath with my heart hammering, I peeled my eyes open and saw to my horror and immense relief…

A young man.

Standing about six feet tall with kind, dark brown eyes and a dimpled smile, the man seemed…inexplicably gentle. He stood dressed in plaid pajama pants and an old t-shirt, no shoes like me, honey-blonde hair sitting like a mop atop his head, standing in all directions. He yawned and scratched his jaw, eyes half-shut. Had my brain conjured another person to keep me company?

For the first time, I wasn’t alone in here…

I adjusted my posture, staring at him for what felt like a long, desperate moment. And, without meaning to, I rushed toward him and wrapped trembling fingers around his arm. Despite my expectations, he was real. Tangible. My fingers clamped down on actual flesh. They didn’t pass through. A fresh wave of emotion swept me up and carried me away and wordlessly, hot tears rolled like raindrops down my cheeks. Still holding on to his arm, I dipped my head, leaning it against his firm chest, and sobbed.

Startled, he tried to step away from me, but I was putting too much weight on him. He coughed a little before, almost reluctantly, he raised a hand and patted my shoulder.

“Ah…um…it’s okay…?” he said, trailing off.

I sniffled. “I can’t believe it.”

“Hm?”

“Detail,” I mumbled, wiping my messy eyes on his white shirt.

“Ah!” he shouted as I leaned away and he saw the wet spots. “Oh shoot.” He freed his arm from my grasp so he could pat the stains with the pads of his fingers.

I sniffled and stared up at him, juxtaposed against the unfathomable darkness, eyes downturned to focus on his shirt. “You’re not real, are you?” I asked slowly, edging away. My brain wasn’t tidy enough to worry about a stained shirt…

So whatever he was, he couldn’t be from me.

His eyes flashed back toward me, sweet, heavy-lidded, pupils huge in the dark. “I…yes? Are you?” he asked, then squinted at me with those sweet eyes. “Have you been crying for a while? You’re very red.”

I blinked at him and took a half-step back, not trusting myself to speak again. I glanced down at my bare legs, covered only by frumpy panties and a big shirt, and tried to subtly guide the hemline down the skin of my thighs.

“You…you’re really a real person? Really?” I asked.

He chuckled. “Really really.”

I furrowed my brow and examined him from where I stood several inches shorter. His cheeks went pink under my scrutiny, but it was incomprehensible to me. “I’ve been having these dreams since I was seven and I’ve never seen another person,” I said.

He raised his brows. “Seven?” he asked. “Huh.” He peered down at me. “How old are you now?”

“Does that matter?”

“I’m just trying to make sense of it too,” he said, watching me carefully.

I sighed. “Twenty-two,” I said.

“I’m twenty-four…,” he said with a hum, rubbing his jaw with his right hand. Something about him was oddly intellectual, like he had answers to any question I could conjure. But my heart was still racing, my palms still slick with sweat. No matter how forthcoming he was, he was still a stranger in my dream. “Guess it doesn’t have to do with age. Maybe time?”

“What are you talking about?” I asked, frustrated.

He glanced at me before squinting into the darkness. “Well I started having these dreams at age nine,” he began, eyeing me. “Same time you did. I was just two years older.”

“So?”

“Maybe it’s connected?” he asked with a shrug.

“Doctor Kim said-,” I began, then stopped myself short, clamping my mouth shut. I crossed my arms and sighed. “It’s trauma-based. This whole thing.”

“Is it?”

I glanced at him. “Isn’t it?”

He smiled. “I’m not so sure,” he said, then sighed and took a step forward. “Why’s it so dark here?”

“You’ve been having these dreams since you were nine and you don’t know it’s gonna be dark?” I asked, cocking a brow as I sat down on the nothing beneath me.

He blinked at me. “Wait, it’s always like this for you?” he asked.

I shrugged. “Is there anything else it could be?”

He scoffed and crossed his arms, disbelief etched into his features. “Well,” he began, glancing around. “It can be anything, really.”

“Huh?”

Before I could interrogate him further, the blackness around began to give way to something else. Like spilling paint across a canvas, vibrant colors began to bleed from behind the stranger’s back, extending forward toward me. A frightened cry escaped me and I leapt to my feet, scuttling away from the colors as they spread like a drink tipped over. At first, the colors seemed shapeless but as they grew the image began to clear up, revealing soft edges and patterns and before I knew it I was standing on a beach, golden sand between my bare toes, purplish ocean rising and falling behind the man’s back as an invisible tide drew waves against the shore.

Tears pricked my eyes as I stumbled back once again, only this time I felt the warm sand beneath me, cushioning my fall. Gaping, I sat with my legs bent awkwardly on the shoreline’s slope, staring at the endless ocean and the cliffside forming a ring around the beach.

“W-w-what the hell is this?!” I screamed, and my voice didn’t echo, it just seeped through the landscape, swallowed by the sound of the waves. My tears returned, trailing hot down my face.

The stranger approached and crouched beside me, eyes wide. “Shit, I didn’t mean to scare you or anything! It’s just-,”

“Wh-what the fuck are you?” I asked, hands trembling violently. “I-I-I’ve never s-seen it do that.”

He blinked at me, genuine worry in his soft eyes, and shook his head. “I’m sorry. I thought you could do it too.”

“Do what?”

“Control it.”

“Control what?”

“The dream.”

I swiped a hand across my face, wiping my tears, and glanced around the beach. The longer I looked, the more beautiful it was. Like a snapshot in time. The sky was drenched in shades of lilac and amber and the sun seemed to live perpetually against the horizon line, never dipping below. A never-ending sunset. When I inhaled, I could even smell the salty seawater and fresh summertime air.

“What’s your name?” asked the stranger, coming to an uneasy crouch beside me.

I turned my wild eyes toward him and blinked. “Eunbyul,” I said weekly. “Lee Eunbyul.”

He smiled gently and held out his hands for me to shake. I was struck by the memory of Jimin from earlier that morning. Was this perhaps all he was? A manifestation of my memories of the day? “Kim Namjoon,” he said as he clasped his hand around my bandaged palm. “This is a first for me too, you know,” he said as he fell onto his bottom by my thigh.

I glanced at him. “What?”

“Having someone else here,” he said with a chuckle. “Not that I think you’re real.”

“I’m not real?” I asked, eyes wide, as I pointed a finger toward my chest.

He raised his brows. “Well how could you be? It’s not like this is a different dimension. It’s just my dream, right?”

“It’s my dream,” I said. “Listen, you’re really freaking me out.”

He turned to me with a furrowed brow. “Then you’re real? Are you sure?” He then rolled his eyes and rested his chin in his hand. “Stupid question. If you’re something I made up then of course you’re gonna say you’re real.”

“I’m a real person, Namjoon,” I said seriously, meeting his eyes. “I have a sister named Gaeul and a mom named Iseul and a dad named Doyeon. I’m from Sangdo-dong-,”

“You’re from Sangdo-dong?” he asked, eyes wide.

I nodded. “Yeah,” I said, timid pinned underneath his incriminating gaze.

He furrowed his brow and crossed his arms. “Huh.”

“Do you believe me?”

“I don’t know.”

“How can I prove it?” I asked.

He eyed me. “I don’t know.”

I swallowed hard. “Do I really seem like just character you dreamed up?” I asked, rubbing my eyes. “Do you really think your brain is that powerful?”

At this he chuckled and a little bit of the tension I’d been holding in my gut dissolved. I glanced at him, bathed in gentle dying sunlight, and found my proof. There was no way my mind could conjure someone like him. Something magnificent like this scene. I wasn’t equipped like he was.

“How did you do it?” I asked quietly, still scanning his fine features, his honeyed skin.

He raised his brows. “I don’t know how to explain it. I just kind of…do it,” he said with a nod.

I blinked. “That’s super unhelpful.”

He laughed. “Well…I guess the best I can do is say…think of a vivid memory, something really sensory, and try to put yourself there.”

“So you’ve been here before?” I asked, glancing around.

He smiled. “It’s a beach in the town where I live,” he said softly. “I came here when I graduated high school. All alone. And I just watched the waves until night came.”

“And what if I want to go to…I don’t know, Barbados?” I asked.

He laughed, a vibrant, bellowing sound, and his eyes squeezed shut. He hooked his elbows around his knees and grinned at the skyline. “Then I’d say study up.”

“Have you ever done it? Created a place you’ve never been to?” I asked, my curiosity forcing my inhibitions to rest.

He hummed. “Once or twice, but it’s harder. Gotta know what you want to see like the back of your hand for it to work.”

“And you do this every time?”

“Mhm,” he said with an easy smile. “A lucid dream is defined as a dream during which dreamers, while dreaming, are aware they are dreaming,” he said, sounding like an encyclopedia. Like he had it memorized. “That’s what specialists say.”

“So this is just a lucid dream to you?”

“Is it not a lucid dream to you?” he asked, raising his brows.

I blinked, mouth agape, and returned my eyes to the sea. “I never thought of it that way,” I said quietly, picking at the skin around my nails. “I guess since I couldn’t control them…”

He smiled. “But you can,” he said. “It’s your dream after all.”

I turned to him, brows furrowed, and exhaled slowly. “It’s my dream…,” I repeated with a nod. I turned to glance at the ocean. “I think I figured out a way to prove I’m real.”

“Mm?”

“If I can show you something you’ve never seen…that would be enough, right?” I asked, watching the waves lapping the shore.

He smiled. “I suppose.”

I nodded and squeezed my eyes shut. I focused on all my senses. The scent of old wood, pancakes cooking in the kitchen, far away. The feeling of Mom’s quilt beneath my fingertips, the cool air-conditioning blowing strands of hair around my face. The sound of muffled conversation through the walls, footsteps falling through the wood-floored hallways. The way my bed looked, tucked in a corner beside the window, white sheer curtains blowing with the breeze that Mom scolded me for letting in, the dresser in the corner, the narrow door, my box of toys half-open by the bed. I saw and felt it all so vividly I was certain that when I opened my eyes-

There it was.

I blinked at the dark wood paneling of my childhood bedroom, the beams criss-crossing overhead, the shiny floor. A few scoffing breaths escaped my lips in uneasy puffs, but before I could say a single thing, a voice retrieved me from my reverie.

“Wow,” said Namjoon from beside me.

And with that, the illusion crumbled and my bedroom faded away like sand through my fingertips. The image slipped in the blink of an eye, leaving behind only the black emptiness of nothing, all around us. I swallowed the lump in my throat and stared at the blackness for a few tense seconds. It had been there. My room had really, truly been there right before my eyes. I could feel it, smell it, touch it. Like I was right there.

I glanced at Namjoon and found him smirking at me. “Well,” he said with a chuckle. “I’ve certainly never seen that before.”

Before I could reply, I felt a vague tugging sensation in my chest, like I was being yanked from the inside. “Oh,” I breathed.

He glanced down at his own chest and nodded. “Yeah, me too.”

“W-wait!” I called, resisting the pull and reaching my desperate, clinging hands out to him once more. I grabbed his forearm in my hands and stared up at him, pleading. “I…I don’t wanna go yet,” I said, shaking my head. “I have so much to ask you.”

He smiled gently and gave my hand a pat. “It was nice to meet you, Eunbyul,” he said, taking a step away from me and breaking the tether of my grip. My hands fell to my sides and the pull became too strong to fight.

“Namjoon!” I called, but my voice was fading and so was he. “I’ll come back! I swear!”

“Maybe we’ll see each other again,” he said with an echoing laugh. “Maybe even in real life.”

I felt like I might cry again. So much had happened in one night. The fear I’d always harbored for this dark nightmare was all but gone. In its wake, anticipation so great it threatened to sweep me away like the inescapable force of a tide.

I awoke panting, sweat beading along my hairline. I swallowed hard past the dryness in my throat and reached for my water bottle, removing my glasses from the bridge of my nose and slipping them onto the table. I usually didn’t sleep with those things on. I drank greedily, shutting my eyes, and ran a hand through my hair before collapsing once more against the cushion of my bed. 4:03.

I huffed and set the bottle aside, lying still on my back and staring at the fuzzy outline of the ceiling, unable to see it properly with my glasses.

Again, I was awake before the sun.

Only this time, I couldn’t remember what sort of dream had woken me up.

[zanytimetravelenthusiast-blog]

Sketch Maker PRO Review

Sketch Maker PRO Review - Are you searching for even more expertise concerning Sketch Maker PRO? Please review my straightforward evaluation regarding it before selecting, to review the weak points as well as toughness of it. Can it be worth your effort and time and also cash?

Introducing Sketch Maker PRO

The 5 Finest Explainer Videos (& & How to Make Your Own) (Component 3)

Step 2: Recording the Voiceovers

Once you have a manuscript, you'll require a voiceover. Some options are:

Voices.com: This site has a huge network of specialist voice stars to choose from.

Craigslist: Ah of course, old reputable. You can find just about anything on crazy Craigslist, consisting of voiceovers.

Fiverr: Yup, you can obtain a good voiceover for your explainer video clip for simply $5 on Fiverr! You'll possibly have to pay a little bit more than that ($5 is generally the starting price-- some fee by the second, others by the word. Chances are you won't be in the most affordable Sketch Maker PRO price bracket). Still, you aren't most likely to locate a voiceover anywhere for cheaper.

Action 3: Explainer Video Production

There are a number of various paths you can take when it comes down to the actual creation and manufacturing of your explainer video clip. Alternatives include ...

Highlight the Pros: There are some extremely skilled specialist video clip manufacturing business out there that can aid you make an awesome marketing video clip. You'll have some high explainer video clip prices if you go this path-- be prepared to pay out anywhere from $5,000 - $20,000 for a solution similar to this. The advantage is that you'll have video professionals aiding you every action of the means, and you're video clip is assured to look excellent. Trial Duck, Wyzowl, LessFilms, Flikli and also Studio Pigeon are a couple of explainer video business to think about.

Pow Toon: if you're making computer animated explainer videos, have no computer animation experience, yet want to do it on your own on a budget, Pow Toon is the method to go. Any individual with some basic computer skills can utilize this animated explainer video software. It likely won't be a masterpiece, but it's easy to create and free (to begin at the very least). They also have a guide collection to stroll you with building your development.

Do It Yourself Explainer Video with iPhone: That's right, you can movie your very own explainer video clip on your iPhone! This incredible article from Wistia will reveal you exactly how. Do It Yourself recording is a wonderful means to develop cheap explainer videos. For the editing, iMovie or Camtasia are good choices. If you intend to take on a Do It Yourself computer animated explainer video clip, this computer animation toolkit from Salsify can offer you with a lots of terrific animation devices and also sources.

Employ a Freelancer: Experienced freelancers can provide high-quality explainer video clip manufacturing aid at a much lower cost than a huge production firm. You need to be able to find one easily enough on craigslist or various other freelance sites.

Crowd Sourcing: One alternative you may give a go is the video crowd-sourcing business Video clip Brewery. Submit a general job review and also obtain a bunch of propositions from Video Brewery's network of relied on freelancers. Pick one you like and you get on your method! Sketch Maker PRO notes that these explainer video clip expenses normally run someplace between $3,000 - $5,000.

Step 4: Songs & & Noise Impacts

Chances are your animated explainer video and even your online action explainer video requires some wonderful sound impacts as well as music. Some locations to rack up tracks include ...

MusOpen: Supplying totally free songs sources such as recordings, sheet music, etc.

. Free Sound: A data source of Creative Commons accredited audio examples and recordings. YouTube: The king of video clip itself provides some complimentary background songs to make use of in video clip creations.

Audio Forest: Nobility cost-free audio documents consisting of loopholes, sound effects, and a lot more.

Audacity: This free device isn't a source of audio data, yet instead aids you create your own.

Keep in mind to check out the small print carefully on these websites with regards to what is or is not allowed under the audio documents's licensing arrangement. Some are an economical one-time purchase and also aristocracy free, others require attribution, etc .

Sketch Maker PRO Evaluation & Introduction

Maker: Jimmy Mancini

Product: Sketch Maker PRO

Launch Date: 2019-Apr-18

Release Time: 10:00 EDT

Front-End Rate: $18

Sales Web page: https://www.socialleadfreak.com/sketch-maker-pro-review-from-a-real-user/

Particular niche: Video

What Is Sketch Maker PRO?

Sketch Maker PRO is a brand-new Whiteboard Video clip Manufacturer that deals with any type of Internet browser connected to the Internet (Chrome, Firefox, Safari ...) enabling you to develop amazing Explainer Videos in Minutes and all is done on the Cloud!

Sketch Maker PRO Features & Conveniences

Advantages

Use it when you are online

Forget about downloading significant data, installing bulky software program, obtaining intallation mistakes or absence of space. Currently with the brand-new Sketch Maker PRO you just open your Browser (Chrome, Firefox ...) login as well as done; after that you can start creating outstanding Explainer Doodle Videos!

Produce Videos With Different Formats as well as Dimensions

We understand that you may want to produce video clips with differente sizes/dimensions, that's why we developed Sketch Maker PRO in such a way that will permit you to choose your preferred video clip layout 16:9 or 1:1 * (for social networks) or your preferred measurements, 1920x1080 *, 1280x720 *, 640x360 - * PRO PLUS Accounts Only).

Easy to make use of!

Yes, it is so easy to use! You simply select or drag and drop your preferred photos or include some message to the canvas preview and then preview it before developing your video. That's it!

Maintain a couple of Videos Online or Download them

When you crate a video clip, your video is stored on the cloud, after that you will certainly have the alternative to download it, maintain it saved online (restricted area) or delete it. So you can constantly monitor your 'Master Pieces':-RRB-.

Export it in Minutes (Making)

Some 'other' devices on the marketplace make you wait a long, long, time to produce a video clip. Sketch Maker PRO making engine is among one of the most effective as well as fastest on the market, so you obtain Impressive Whiteboard Videos done very quick! (* if your video clip is as well large it will certainly take longer that common, it wil depend exactly how busy the server in fact is, but generally is quick).

Produce Fantastic White Boards Videos in Minutes (Save Time & Cash)

There is no need to pay a designer or a company to do it for you, you simply spend a few minutes and you will certainly get it done! Map out maker PRO will certainly allow you to create fantastic explainer videos, that look professional as well as are done quick! Saving you Money And Time!

Functions

FUNCTION 1: Add the consisted of Images or your OWN photos

We have actually consisted of a number of photos for you to select from, beginning with animated SVG pictures to wonderful looking personalities from various particular niches. You simply need to browse the consisted of classifications and choose the one that fits your specific niche.

And also, we have actually added the alternative to upload your very own pictures or logo designs (Just on PRO accounts), so you can individualize your video clips even more. You just click on the upload switch, post your photos and then they will stay saved on the server (restricted MEGABYTES per account).

FEATURE 2: Include Text

Adding message to your explainer video clips is much more easy then ever before, you just compose your text, click the include switch and also the message will certainly be added to the sneak peek (and also in the future your explainer video clip). As Easy as that!

You can individualize your text by changing the font kind, typeface size and font style shade! Plus the message is integrated with the audio of your video clips so if we include the hand composing impact (consisted of) your video clips will certainly look impressive!

ATTRIBUTE 3: Include the consisted of backgrounds or add your OWN Backgrounds

We have actually included some wonderful backgrounds for you to choose from, there are some great histories however certainly you will have the option to get even a lot more histories (optional).

You just require to go to the background's tab as well as scroll down to have the ability to see all the readily available histories!

ATTRIBUTE 4: Add History Songs Tracks (Included or your own)

Sketch Maker PRO features a few music tracks to contribute to your videos (around 3 minutes each), yet you might have the option to upload your own songs as well.

You'll have the alternative to get monthly songs tracks (optional).

ATTRIBUTE 5: Add Text To Speech * (optional), Add Your Own Audio File or Record Your Voice

Sketch Maker PRO comes with several Human-like Text To Speech voices to add to your video clips (optional).

You'll have the alternative to tape your very own voice using your OWN microphone * or simply publish SHORT audio data * to develop your video clips. * PRO PLUS Accounts Just).

FUNCTION 6: Preview an Slide or All your Animation (Adjustment hands also!)

You can sneak peek your video prior to rendering it. You can preview each slide or all your computer animation on the preview canvas.

Plus you can change the hands made use of, also the pens/pencils the hand utilizes to simulated the composing message could be changed!

FUNCTION 7: Slide Consequences, Allocation, Download Your Video clips!

We've included the option to use some slides effects, even an arbitrary impact is consisted of to enable you to provide your video clips a much more professional appearance!

Inside your account's web page you will have the ability to see your individual information as well as your Allocation per day! We've included a distinct web page to enable you to access all the videos you have actually produced, you can simply download them by clicking the download switch.

Rate & Evaluation

Front-End $17.95: Sketch Maker PRO (PRO Variation).

Produce 48 Video clips per day (2 video clips per hour)

Shop 10 Sketch Videos (Cloud)

Up to 10 slides per task

10 Songs Tracks

20 Backgrounds

144 SVG Characters

199 SVG Path animation images

Publish very own Images/Music/Backgrounds (5mb)

OTO 1 (Month-to-month) $12.95

Develop 96 Videos per day (4 videos per hr)

Shop 20 Lay Out Video Clips (Cloud)

As much as 30 slides per job

10 Songs Tracks Monthly

10 Backgrounds Monthly

50 SVG Personalities Monthly

100 SVG Path computer animation photos Monthly

Submit very own Images/Music/Backgrounds (50mb)

Text To Speech Voices

TTS Summary: 28 Voices/ 11 Languages

OTO 2 $19.95: Commercial Certificate.

Extra coming quickly

Conclusion

" It's A Good deal. Should I Spend Today?"

Not just are you getting accessibility to Sketch Maker PRO for the very best cost ever before supplied, however additionally You're spending entirely without danger. Sketch Maker PRO include a 30-day Money Back Assurance Policy. When you select Sketch Maker PRO, your contentment is guaranteed. If you are not totally pleased with it for any type of factor within the very first 1 month, you're qualified to a full refund - no question asked. You have actually got absolutely nothing to shed! What Are You Waiting on? Attempt It today and get The Complying with Bonus offer Now!

[wandajouellette]

How to Create a Yes/No Optin for Your WordPress Site

Recently, one of our readers asked us how they could create a popup with Yes/No buttons?

Perhaps you’ve seen these used in an email list optin, or another special offer on a big website. These multi-step Yes / No campaigns can be very effective in improving your conversion rate.

In this article, we will show you how to create a Yes/No optin for your WordPress site.

What Is a Yes/No Optin and Why Use One?

A Yes/No optin is a popup form that has 2 options, either buttons or links. You can click the ‘Yes’ to opt-in, or click ‘No’ to refuse the offer.

Sometimes these are called 2-step optins or multi-step optins, as they involve the user taking 2 steps instead of 1.

Here’s an example of a Yes/No optin from Advanced Coupons:

Note: The options don’t necessarily need to have ‘Yes’ and ‘No’ labels.

It might seem strange to get users to go through an extra step before they can join your email newsletter or take some other action.

However, Yes/No popups can be highly effective. This is because they use a special psychological tactic called the Zeigarnik Effect.

The Zeigarnik Effect is the principle that when someone starts a process, they’re likely to finish it. In this case, that means that someone who clicks Yes is likely to go ahead and put in their email address.

Plus, a Yes/No optin gives your visitors a choice. That feeling of freedom is powerful. It makes it more likely that your visitors will make the positive choice to opt-in to your list.

Even better, you can use the ‘No’ option effectively, too. For instance, you could create an optin like this one from WP Mail SMTP. It appears if a user looks like they’re about to leave the WP Mail SMTP site’s pricing page:

If the user clicks the ‘Get WP Mail SMTP Now’, then they stay on the pricing page. If they click ‘I have a few questions first’, then they’re directed to the Contact page. Here, they can easily contact your sales or support team, which may ultimately lead to successful conversion.

Creating a Yes/No Popup for Your Website

We’ll be using OptinMonster to create a Yes/No optin popup.

OptinMonster is the best lead generation software that helps you convert website visitors into customers and subscribers. It allows you to create beautiful popups, countdown timers, slide-in forms, and more to nudge users in the right direction”

Setting Up OptinMonster and Creating a New Campaign

First, sign up on the OptinMonster website. You will need the Pro plan or higher in order to create Yes/No optins.

Then, you need to install and activate the OptinMonster WordPress plugin. This lets you connect your WordPress site with your OptinMonster account.

Upon activation, you will see the OptinMonster welcome screen. You need to click the ‘Connect Your Account’ button and follow the onscreen prompts. Then, your WordPress site will be connected to your OptinMonster account.

Now, go to the OptinMonster » Campaigns page in your WordPress admin. Simply click the ‘Create New Campaign’ button at the top to make a new campaign.

You will be taken straight into the OptinMonster app. We’re going to use a Popup for our optin. You can pick a different Campaign Type if you want.

Next, select the template you want to use for your campaign. We’re going to use the Split template:

You’ll be asked to give your campaign a name and choose which site you want to show it on.

Once you are ready, go ahead and click on the ‘Start Building’ button.

Your chosen template will now open up in the OptinMonster campaign editor.

Editing Your Yes/No Optin in OptinMonster

First, you need to create a Yes/No campaign. Simply click on the Yes/No tab near the top of your screen then click the ‘Enable Yes/No for This Campaign’ button:

This is a new part of your campaign. It will have a main button with a ‘No Thanks’ option below it:

Note: Some templates will not have a built-in Yes/No view. With these, you will instead get a blank canvas to create your Yes/No view.

Go ahead and edit the Yes/No view as much as you want. Simply click on the part of the template you want to change. We are going to edit the header text:

It’s easy to edit the image. Just click on it and then upload the image you want to use:

You may also want to change the Yes and No buttons. Simply click on them to edit the buttons. It’s easy to change their text, color, and more.

Just make your changes in the left-hand pane and the preview of your optin will automatically update.

By default, clicking the ‘Yes’ button will take the user to the optin view of the campaign. Clicking the ‘No’ button will simply close the campaign.

You can change these actions if you want by selecting the button then clicking the ‘Button Click Action’ dropdown. We’re going to set our ‘No’ button to redirect to a URL:

You now need to edit the optin view of your campaign. This is the view that your users will see upon clicking on the ‘Yes’ button.

Simply click on the Optin tab at the top of the screen to edit the optin view:

Then, edit the text, image, and anything else you want to change as before.

Finally, you need to change the ‘Success’ view of the campaign. This is the screen users will see after entering their email address.

First, click the Success tab at the top of the screen. Then, go ahead and click on the things you want to edit.

Here’s the finished success view for our optin:

Once you’ve finished creating your optin, make sure you click the ‘Save’ button at the top of the screen.

Connecting Your Optin to Your Email List

If you’re using your optin to gather email addresses, you need to connect it with your email marketing service.

To do this, click on the Integrations tab then click the ‘Add New Integration’ button:

Next, select your email provider from the dropdown list. OptinMonster will then give you instructions for connecting your account to that email provider.

Once you’ve connected your account, go ahead and click the Display Rules tab for your campaign.

Setting the Display Rules for Your Yes/No Campaign

By default, your optin will appear after the user has been on any page for 5 seconds. For our optin, we’re going to give them a little longer to check out our site and products first.

To change the display rule, simply click the ‘Edit’ button on the right:

Now, go ahead and change the rule. We’re going to set the time on page to at least 15 seconds:

On this page, you can also select from lots of different rules. For instance, you might want to only display your Yes/No optin on a specific page, such as your pricing page.

Make sure you leave the ‘Then…’ option to ‘show the campaign view: Yes/No’ for your optin.

When you have set your display rules, click the ‘Save’ button at the top of the screen.

Putting Your Yes/No Optin Live on Your Site

Now, it’s time to make your optin live on your site.

First, you need to click the Publish tab at the top of the screen. Then, set the Status slide to the ‘Live’ instead of the ‘Paused’ setting:

Your Yes/No optin will not be live on your site straight away. You need to put it live in WordPress too.

In your WordPress admin, go to OptinMonster » Campaigns then click the ‘Refresh Campaigns’ button:

Now, you should see your campaign listed here. Go ahead and click the ‘Edit Output Settings’ link:

Here, you need to make sure the ‘Enable campaign on site?’ box is checked, then click the ‘Save Settings’ button:

Your campaign will now be live on your website. Here is how ours looks on our demo site:

We hope this article helped you learn how to create a Yes/No optin for your WordPress site. You might also like our article on the best WordPress survey plugins to boost your user engagement, and best WordPress page builder plugins to create custom landing pages.

If you liked this article, then please subscribe to our YouTube Channel for WordPress video tutorials. You can also find us on Twitter and Facebook.

The post How to Create a Yes/No Optin for Your WordPress Site appeared first on WPBeginner.

from WPBeginner https://www.wpbeginner.com/wp-tutorials/how-to-create-a-yes-no-optin-for-your-wordpress-site/

[themesparadise]

New Post has been published on Themesparadise

New Post has been published on http://themesparadise.com/mt-colias-premium-responsvie-magento-theme/

MT Colias Premium Responsvie Magento Theme

MT Colias is now compatible with Magento 1.9

Important Support Tip

Due to the limited of this discussion box so if you have any issue please feel free to open a new ticket at http://help.zooextension.com/

Magento Theme Features

Flexible Layout

Magento themes features

MT Colias document

Powerful admin control panel

Header Style Option allows you to change the header style

Right To Left (RTL) language

Amazing Layer Revolution Slider supported

Fully customisable Control the look of every aspect of your store. Extensive theme editor lets you control the colour style fonts etc.

Unlimited colours Change virtually every colour option in your store

Retina & Fully Responsive Responds to the screen resolution, works on all desktop and mobile devices.

Drop-down shopping cart in header

Sticky Menus Your viewers/customers will navigate more quickly through your site

Mega Menus A $100 value that is free when you purchase this theme Allow you add categories, custom static block (video, banner, links..), CMS to the navigation

Off Canvas Menus

Smart menus Allow you to show the categories as a drop down menus or accordion menus on the sidebar

Ajax Add to Cart, Compare, Wishlist You can add products to cart, wishlist and compare without leaving current page.

Drop-down shopping cart in header

Ajax shop by price slider You can now adjust price range with a fancy slider without refreshing a page

Ajax Paging & Toolbar

Promotion & Newsletter Popup A $80 value that is free when you purchase this theme

Previous & Next functionality for the product view page Now you can navigate to next and previous products without going back to listing page.

Quick View Allows you to view product details without leaving current page

Slider for Up-sell Products and Related Products blocks. Now you can show as much related and up-sell products as you want.

Alternative images show alternative product images on mouse hover

Product zoom Allow your customers to take a closer look at the product

Product thumbnail Slider Allow you slide all images of the product

Best Seller Product

Product label “New” and “Sale” on product page, in categories and on other product listings (editable from admin panel).

Powerful Product Widget A $200 value that is free when you purchase this theme

Parallax Effect Choose to set a background image, add text & additional images

Google fonts Choose from over 650 google web fonts

Back to top button

Background patterns and color chooser Easy to change or upload your background images, you can set unlimited for your store

Tabs/accordion Tabs smoothly turns into accordion on narrow screens

Grid / List view Allow to display your items in either list or grid view

?Additional Information? tab for individual product attributes Create and display custom product attributes

Brand logo on product page. Logo can be a link to any page (to category with products from that brand, to search results or to any custom CMS page). Alternatively brand names can be displayed instead of logo images

Customizable image size on product page. Specify any size you like, images don?t have to be square ? you can keep the aspect ratio

Lazy loading If enabled for product sliders, images outside of viewport will not be loaded (to improve performance) before user scrolls to them

One-click import Import CMS blocks and pages with sample content from the demo

Delivered with source Adobe .PSD files

Well-comment CSS and PHP code files

Cross Browser Support Chrome, Safari, Mozilla Firefox, IE 8+ , Opera 9+

Compatibility

Compatible with Magento: 1.9, 1.8.x, 1.7.x, 1.6.x

Change Logs

------------ 2.0.8 Release Oct 13, 2015 ------------ * upgrade to Magento 1.9.2 * Improve store switcher ------------ 2.0.7 Release May 22, 2014 ------------ + Added Newsletter popup feature + Optimize core theme for speed up Magento + Added One Page Checkout feature + Added Retina Logo feature + Added Social Sharing button feature + Added Product image Aspect Ratio feature: Allows admin to set any product images format (Image Aspect Ratio), so admin can use images for the products of any dimensions. # Fixed minors issue + Improved Lazy load ^ Upgrade ajaxcart and verticle menu ^ Upgrade Product Product list grid ^ Upgrade ajax cart compatible magento 1.9 ------------ Version 2.0.6 released Apr 15, 2014 ------------ ^ Upgrade Header Sticky Logo ^ Upgrade Ajax compare & wishlist ^ Upgrade Ajax Quick View ^ Upgrade Prev Nex Product Buttons ^ Upgrade Show new/sale label in detail ^ Upgrade Increase/decrease quantity button # Fixed error while updating/importing static block: PHP Fatal error: Call to a member function children() on a non-object in /home/s1024417/public_html/app/code/local/MagenThemes/MTBelano/Model/Import/Cms.php on line 50 # Fixed error: Duplicate Toolbar Item IDs # Fixed error: Registering a new user account is ok. Then, log out and re-login with just registered user account is impossible. # Fixed error: When updating or clearing shopping cart, cart page is not auto refresh. # Fixed error: Adding one product to the cart, it was not possible to use user account to check-out # Fixed error: The product has not any related product, but there are still a message showed: this product has not related products matched ------------ 2.0.4 Release [Feb 05, 2014] ------------ ^ Updated FontAwesome icons for toplinks ------------ 2.0.4 Release [Feb 05, 2014] ------------ # Fixed bug when restore theme setting ------------ 2.0.3 Release [Jan 23, 2014] ------------ + Added lazy load feature + Added back to top button + Added header option: allows you change the header style easy + Added Sticky menus + Replace all icons by FontAwesome Icons ^ Updated Typography ^ Upgraded Ajax Add to Cart feature # Fixed toolbar issues ------------ 2.0.2 Release [Jan 08, 2014] ------------ ^ Upgrade Config for Smart Menu and Canvas Menu ^ Upgrade Config to default For column Menu + Add New widget parallax backgound video and image # Fixed bug import block # Fixed bug: enable widget scrolling can't work # Fixed minor css issues # Fixed javascript conflict issue # Fixed bug can't login ------------ 2.0.1 Release [Dec 12, 2013] ------------ ^ Upgrade RTL Language ^ Upgrade Help & Support ^ Upgrade magento 1.8.1 ------------ 2.0.0 Release [Dec-01-2013] ------------ ! Initial Release

License Note

The MT Revolution Slider extension does NOT include the Slider Revolution Responsive jQuery Plugin. So you need to purchase Slider Revolution Responsive jQuery Plugin in order to use jQuery plugin.

Our Featured Products

Purchase Now

[themesparadise]

New Post has been published on Themesparadise

New Post has been published on http://themesparadise.com/mt-belano-responsive-parallax-magento-theme/

MT Belano Responsive Parallax Magento Theme

Important Support Tip

Due to the limited of this discussion box so if you have any issue please feel free to open a new ticket at http://help.zooextension.com/

Update: MT Belano is now compatible with Magento 1.9

MT Belano is responsive parallax magento theme which best suite for any store such as: fragrance, Jewerly, accessories, beauty, car accessories, cosmetic, fashion, flowers, kids toy, food & recipes, restaurant…

Magento themes features

MT Belano document

Powerful admin control panel

Header Style Option allows you to change the header style

Right To Left (RTL) language

Amazing Layer Revolution Slider supported

One Page Checkout A $150 value that is free when you purchase this theme

Fully customisable Control the look of every aspect of your store. Extensive theme editor lets you control the colour style fonts etc.

Unlimited colours Change virtually every colour option in your store

Retina & Fully Responsive Responds to the screen resolution, works on all desktop and mobile devices.

Drop-down shopping cart in header

Sticky Menus Your viewers/customers will navigate more quickly through your site

Mega Menus A $100 value that is free when you purchase this theme Allow you add categories, custom static block (video, banner, links..), CMS to the navigation

Off Canvas Menus

Smart menus Allow you to show the categories as a drop down menus or accordion menus on the sidebar

Ajax Add to Cart, Compare, Wishlist You can add products to cart, wishlist and compare without leaving current page.

Ajax shop by price slider You can now adjust price range with a fancy slider without refreshing a page

Ajax Paging & Toolbar

Promotion & Newsletter Popup A $80 value that is free when you purchase this theme

Previous & Next functionality for the product view page Now you can navigate to next and previous products without going back to listing page.

Quick View Allows you to view product details without leaving current page

Slider for Up-sell Products and Related Products blocks. Now you can show as much related and up-sell products as you want.

Alternative images show alternative product images on mouse hover

Product zoom Allow your customers to take a closer look at the product

Product thumbnail Slider Allow you slide all images of the product

Best Seller Product

Product label “New” and “Sale” on product page, in categories and on other product listings (editable from admin panel).

Powerful Product Widget A $200 value that is free when you purchase this theme

Parallax Effect Choose to set a background image, add text & additional images

Google fonts Choose from over 650 google web fonts

Back to top button

Background patterns and color chooser Easy to change or upload your background images, you can set unlimited for your store

Tabs/accordion Tabs smoothly turns into accordion on narrow screens

Grid / List view Allow to display your items in either list or grid view

?Additional Information? tab for individual product attributes Create and display custom product attributes

Brand logo on product page. Logo can be a link to any page (to category with products from that brand, to search results or to any custom CMS page). Alternatively brand names can be displayed instead of logo images

Customizable image size on product page. Specify any size you like, images don?t have to be square ? you can keep the aspect ratio

Lazy loading If enabled for product sliders, images outside of viewport will not be loaded (to improve performance) before user scrolls to them

Font Awesome icons fully integrated

One-click import Import CMS blocks and pages with sample content from the demo

Delivered with source Adobe .PSD files

Well-comment CSS and PHP code files

Cross Browser Support Chrome, Safari, Mozilla Firefox, IE 8+ , Opera 9+

Compatibility

Compatible with Magento: 1.9.x, 1.8.x, 1.7.x, 1.6.x

Change Logs

## Version 2.2.0 released Jan 08, 2016 * Fix Revolution Caption Style issue * Fix Responsive issue that display not good on iPad ## Version 2.1.9 released Nov 26, 2015 * Compatibility with the latest Magento 1.9.2.2 and patch SUPEE-6788 ## Version 2.1.8 released Oct 15, 2015 * Add MT Belano Food quickstart package ## Version 2.1.7 released Aug 27, 2015 *Fixed : update quickstart via magento connect ## Version 2.1.6 released Jul 14, 2015 * Upgrade to Magento 1.9.2.0 * Fix image issue that can't load on mobile device * Add Color Swatches feature ## Version 2.1.5 released Jun 24, 2015 * Fixed the mega menu issue that source model "mttheme/system_config_source_category_attribute_source_align_align" not found for attribute "mtmenu_is_alignment" ## Version 2.1.4 released May 07, 2015 - Split the main theme to 5 child theme - Fix minor css issues ## Version 2.1.3 released Apr 11, 2015 - Fix https warning issue when loading google fonts. - Remove unneeded database in quickstart and demo site - Remove "IWD One Step checkout" to increase speed of checkout, payment processing. To know how to remove IWD One Step Checkout extension, please follow this guide http://docs.zooextension.com/post/how-to-remove-iwd-one-step-checkout ## Version 2.1.2 released Mar 14, 2014 * Upgrade megamenu alignment * Fix conflict quickview issue * Upgrade MT Belano Core Theme * Improve canvas menu style * Upgrade Sub Theme * Fix minor css issue * Fix RTL style issue ## Version 2.1.1 released Jun 27, 2014 ^ Add new style called "MT Belano Evo" ## Version 2.1.0 released Jun 18, 2014 # Fix "add to cart" issue on mobile: ?your cart is empty? ^ upgrade onepage checkout ^ Add elegant font icons ## Version 2.0.9 released Jun 03, 2014 ^ Upgrade Shop by filters for mobile phone ------------ Version 2.0.8 released May 20, 2014 ------------ # Fixed issue can't login when checkout ^ Added Product Image Aspect Ratio feature ^ Added social sharing button ^ Added Logo Retina feature ^ Added One Page checkout feature ^ Upgrade optimize core theme for speed up Magento ^ Ad? Newsletter popup feature ^ Upgrade ajaxcart and verticle menu ^ Upgrade Product Product list grid ^ Upgrade ajax cart compatible magento 1.9 ------------ Version 2.0.7 released Apr 15, 2014 ------------ ^ Upgrade Header Sticky Logo ^ Upgrade Ajax compare & wishlist ^ Upgrade Ajax Quick View ^ Upgrade Prev/Nex Product Buttons ^ Upgrade Show new/sale label in detail ^ Upgrade Increase/decrease quantity button # Fixed error while updating/importing static block: PHP Fatal error: Call to a member function children() on a non-object in /home/s1024417/public_html/app/code/local/MagenThemes/MTBelano/Model/Import/Cms.php on line 50 # Fixed error: Duplicate Toolbar Item IDs # Fixed error: Registering a new user account is ok. Then, log out and re-login with just registered user account is impossible. # Fixed error: When updating or clearing shopping cart, cart page is not auto refresh. # Fixed error: Adding one product to the cart, it was not possible to use user account to check-out # Fixed error: The product has not any related product, but there are still a message showed: this product has not related products matched ------------ 2.0.6 Release [Feb 05, 2014] ------------ # Fixed bug when restore theme setting ------------ 2.0.5 Release [Jan 26, 2014] ------------ # Upgraded Footer Static Block ------------ 2.0.4 Release [Jan 22, 2014] ------------ # fixed css issue of search box # fixed js issue of toolbar ------------ 2.0.3 Release [Jan 20, 2014] ------------ + Fixed bug can't import static block + Updated document ------------ 2.0.2 Release [Jan 17, 2014] ------------ + Added Lazy load feature + Updated header & mega menus styles + Updated Typography + Upgraded Ajax cart + Added Back to Top feature ------------ 2.0.1 Release [Jan 14, 2014] ------------ + Added Sticky menus option + Added Header Option: allows you to change the header style + Updated FontAwesome icon + Updated Typography page ------------ 2.0.0 Release [Jan-10-2014] ------------ ! Initial Release

License Note

The MT Revolution Slider extension does NOT include the Slider Revolution Responsive jQuery Plugin. So you need to purchase Slider Revolution Responsive jQuery Plugin in order to use jQuery plugin.

Our Featured Products

Purchase Now