#putting this here…….. again to motivate myself…… to make progress with this

[roppiepop]

JayTim K-POP AU WIP

A plastic box gets shoved to his chest.

Only because he allows it, obviously, because the little gremlin of a brat is still several lifetimes away from being able to get a drop on him.

Though the demon spawn is also a picture of silence, lips pursed and shoulders tense where his fist extends to press whatever he bought on Jason’s pecs.

With a barely audible sigh, Jason peels that arm off to see what it was that demanded his attention so badly that the kid broke into one of the few safe-houses Jason thought was off the Bat-radar.

The answer is a thick box, covered with a glossy sleeve. On the cover are a group of five men piled on top of each other, composed artfully to look like a playful candid rather than an unfortunate accident. The only other thing on it is a logo stylized to look like a clock. Jason might be able to read where the lines form ‘SPF50’.

He sends Damian a blank look. The kid visibly heckles.

“Tt.” he starts, “This isn’t for me- I would like to emphasize that, for the record.”

Pause. Damian crosses his arms. “It’s Jon. He gave me an adequate birthday gift. It would be a dishonor to reciprocate with anything less.”

Jason replies to that with a hand gesture. What the hell does that have to do with him?

Damian looks at him like he’s rotten meat. Jason returns the glare twofold.

A frustrated groan. The kid almost swipes his arm back- like he was about to reach for his katana before realizing he’s out of costume. “Are you daft, Todd? I am asking for a favor. Name your price.”

“Yeah, Shrimp, I got that.” Jason bites back, “I’m just wonderin’ why the hell anythin’ related to this-“ he holds up the album, “-would be somethin’ I have an in with.”

Without missing a beat, Damian swipes back the album and pulls a card out from the middle to show him.

It’s a low angle selfie, cutting the pictured man off at the forehead. Stray locks, black with a blue-ish tint, fall just at the edge of the frame, and shadow a pair of striking blue eyes. Below that is a lopsided grin showing off a row of straight teeth. The rest of the picture is a swath of yellow- maybe a hoodie? Its laughably big though, dipping low enough to show the prominent curves of the man’s collarbones.

“This is why.” Damian says, before Jason could get a word in. “Your paramour, he’s Jon’s favorite in the group. He must be detestable if he has stooped low enough to romantically engage with you of all people, but nevertheless. Have him and his group sign this album and I will owe you one favor.”

“Huh.” Jason starts. Stops. Considers if he’s in the mood to start a fight. Sighs instead. “You’re outta luck, kid. I don’t know any of these guys.”

Damian’s eyes narrow. He steps forward in a stomp. “Don’t try and lie to me, Todd. Everyone has confirmed you are dating this idol. Agree to my terms before I am pushed to use force-Ow!”

Jason’s fingers moved to flick Damian’s forehead before he even registers that they did. “You can’t force me to do anythin’, Brat. I’ll send you back to your Mom.”

He flicks the other’s nose this time before he can respond, garnering another indignant squawk. “And two- just because you heard Blondie constantly yammerin’ about it doesn’t make it a public fact.”

Jason moves for the chin this time, but Damian has jumped away from striking range and looks a second away from hissing.

Jason would probably hiss back at him if he did. Something about this kid is just makes you want to mess with him.

But Damian seems to already be in retreat mode, sulkily skulking back to Jason’s fire escape with a deep scowl.

“Fine.” he says, right by the threshold of the apartment. “You prove yourself yet again useless. But just so you know Brown isn’t the only one talking- Father also suspects.”

And he’s gone just as Jason opens his mouth.

“Bruce?”

[tarabyte3]

I see writing tips on here all the time that are designed to help you work through writer's block or a lack of motivation: Write it badly. Set a timer. Build an outline. Have a word goal. And they're all great tips!

Except...they don't work for me. And I could never figure out why, which was always a little frustrating. Like, what am I supposed to do then?!

Until one day, I opened a WIP document and thought, "You know what? I'm going to write 2 sentences. I can write 2 sentences. Plus, if I do, that's 2 more than I wrote yesterday." And I did! I even wrote more than 2 because once I achieved that goal it felt easier. When I eventually hit a wall, I walked away for a bit, and, after some time had passed, I started it all over again.

Then it hit me: All of those other tips focus on volume writing and just getting it done, which was still putting a lot of pressure on myself and felt overwhelming.

...Which is the same problem I have when cleaning or doing any other big, nebulous task and don't know where to start. Because I have ADHD. I'm neurodivergent. You know how I learned to cope with cleaning? By breaking everything into smaller, manageable tasks to help me focus and keep me grounded. I'm not cleaning the kitchen. I'm emptying the dishwasher, gathering dirty dishes, refilling the dishwasher, wiping down the counter, putting the mail away, sweeping, taking out the recycling, etc.

Suddenly I had a new way to approach writing—a small, easily attainable goal I could latch onto—and it's been SUCH a relief. I'm actually making progress!

So if you're stuck, don't beat yourself up or feel bad you aren't writing 2000 words a day after reading a bunch of tips. Just write 2 sentences. You can do 2 sentences.

[evertidings]

— DECEMBER 2023.

accomplishments.

happy new year everyone ! i hope 2024 has been going well for you all !! now, as you know, at the beginning of each month i give you all an update as to what i’ve been up to. truthfully though, december was a dull month. i was focusing on my exams and decided to take a break from writing after that burnt me out. so, word count wise, we’re not looking at a lot. you could almost say i’m at the same spot i was when we started in november, but with my motivation replenished from my break, i’m ready to start up again.

while progress for chapter eleven has been slow, i’m really happy with the direction it’s taking so far. there’s not much to say since i’ve written so little, but it’s exploring some themes i’ve been itching to dive into for a while and wrapping up some key ideas.

i’m not sure how long it’ll be until the chapter release, but either way, you’ll be getting something in february for my three year (!!!) anniversary. i’ve already decided what i’m writing for it and what it’s going to be, so you’ll have to keep an eye out. initially, i was going to post a poll asking how interactive you want the special to be, but i’ve since decided that if i want it to come out on time, i’m going to have to make some restrictions for myself. so, unfortunately due to time restraints and hopefully putting less pressure on myself, it’s not going to be as interactive as the main game but i still expect it to be a fun time.

sorry for being so mia on here lately. i have a bunch of asks to get to and i don’t know when i will, so please forgive me. eventually. i promise. (maybe i should hire a secretary fr).

much love <3

stats.

478,842 words (+2623 ; i told you i was on a break)

[memovia]

Hey guys, it’s been a hot minute since I am on here to share my random ooc stuff or even write. This is a notice for my spotty activity and how it will continue to be spotty until I steady myself again. Of course, I will be lurking from time to time and work on drafts but this is my official notice for why my activity is so low.

heavy topics below, proceed with caution:

I got a new job & yes, my boss is very happy with how I’m teaching kids so far— which is good for me. But I am stressed out because he does not communicate the schedules of my work properly in which I have highlighted to him and hopefully, he understands where I’m coming from.

But not only that, he has been using my drawings to send to my colleagues, telling them to “stay humble”. It goes against my views and it frustrates me to no end, knowing that my art was a catalyst for putting people down. Art is never a competition to me and I believe that every artist has their own journey and own style. It is what makes art great, I love all art. But this was the opposite of everything I stand for, I had to message my colleagues individually to apologise and explain myself. But thankfully, they didn’t take it to heart and weren’t upset with me. But of course, it did make my anxiety spike— I did not want anyone to feel bad over their own progression because of me.

He also talked down to us in several meetings and told us we were “nothing” in the industry— that’s why we were “here”. I don’t even know why he said that but that wasn’t very motivational for me and the rest of the staff.

All I can say is, I’m stressed out thinking about these things— while I do like teaching people how to draw, I really cannot stand my boss’ ethics. It’s very hard for me to go to a class without any information given to me, and I don’t want to let the kids down by going in blind. I’m scared that people will be upset with me and I don’t want any work politics happening because of me. Who knows how much sleep I’ve lost over these thoughts— I’ve only been here for less than a month, I don’t know if I’m able to judge this company accurately but it is sad to say that I don’t foresee myself staying long.

I’ve also recently lost two friends to heart related diseases and have tried to take some time for myself. I visited their graves last Sunday and it broke me. So young, below mid 30s, their attitudes were larger than life— they loved living and they were taken away so early.

I don’t know how to describe this feeling but it is like an empty space in my heart that can never be filled again. One of them was a senior of mine in school, and they are one of the reasons I draw till today. She used to draw together with me, we would exchange sketchbooks and return it to each other the next day.

I miss them very much.

But yeah if you’ve made it to the end of my ramblings— thanks for reading and I’m sorry it’s so long… I just needed to get it out. I will try to write or work on more things whenever I’m free, I just really miss writing and everything.

thank you for the wait as always. Love you guys and please take care. If you need me, you can dm me here or discord. Whichever works best for you, I might take awhile to reply and I hope that’s alright with you guys.

Big hugs and love,

R.

—-

TLDR:work stress and the loss of two close friends took me the fk out

[icaruspendragon]

I know you've really struggled with the passing of your brother (and I'm sorry if this reminder is too painful) but if I may ask a personal question?

How do you motivate yourself? Because I look at you and I see that your life is hard and you maybe be struggling at times but you're still pushing forwards- and I want to be able to do that. I want to try to better myself but it's like every time I start, I spiral deeply and I have to crawl my way back up, never truly making progress.

So how do you motivate yourself?

cw for discussions/mentions of suicide, death, and grief:

it was 6:30 am on my twenty-fifth birthday when i woke up to my mother standing in my bedroom, my husband already awake and dressed and next to her. i knew something was wrong. she wished me a happy birthday and then said she had to tell me something. the first words out of my mouth were “is this going to ruin my day?” and she said, “yes, it is. your brother is gone.”

i still have not found the words to describe the everything that happened inside of me in that moment. i don’t think they exist. despite this, i continue my search.

at the time, i had just embarked on my mission to create meaningful chaos (which can be summed up as doing good things in weird ways) because i had realized my platform on tiktok gave me the privilege to have more of an impact than most. and i wanted to use this privilege to help who and where and how i could. my entire plan for my birthday was to commit acts of chaotic kindness and ask my followers to do the same. instead i had to try and come to terms with my brother killing himself.

i had to start planning a funeral.

i made a video sharing what had happened because i had been hinting at my birthday plan for weeks and wanted to give my followers an explanation as to why it was no longer going to. and because i felt compelled to make sure that something good came out of that horrible day.

and to my bittersweet amazement, tens of thousands of people took heed my call for chaotic kindness. in the days and weeks that followed my brother’s suicide thousands of dollars were donated to a plethora of charities. thousands of dollars were sent to me. day after day after day my po box was overflowing with cards and letters and offers of comfort. an incomprehensible number of strangers saw my sorrow and my hurt and my pain and they decided to try and counteract it by putting as much good into the world as they could. they eased the weight of my grief by picking some up, not because i asked them to or because they had to, but because they saw an absence of good and decided they could create some.

it was these acts of kindness done by strangers on the internet that gave me the strength to put one lead laden foot in front of the other. their kindness gave me the strength to spread my own. these people gave me the determination to try and return some of their kindness to the universe and those in it who desperately need it. i needed something good to come out of my brother’s death. even if it were one life saved or one person helped with the story of him taking his own, it would be enough.

then, i got a card in my po box that kinda changed my life.

the card was sent by a stranger as most of the mail i receive is.

this is what they wrote:

in my almost 24 years of existence i have searched far and wide, for an answer. i have looked and looked, for a while, long before i even knew what i was looking for. the answer to the question that every Human Being has at some point asked.

Why?

“What Is The Meaning of Life?”… why are we all here…. what is it all for… yada yada yada

and time and time again, i have failed to find one. the best i can come up with is that we are just here for shits and giggles and you should try not to be a dick. just have some happy moments when you can and don’t actively cause damage.

however you, dear berklie…

you have decided to break through neutrality. you, in your quest to spread Meaningful Chaos have entered the terrifying realm of Positivity. you, in this cold, dark universe that is constantly trying to snuff out the light, have fished in you pocket, pulled out a lighter and started committing arson.

and for that, you have my utmost respect, awe, and if i am being honest, envy. it is no easy task to stand up and say ‘fuck this. there can be good. and where i cannot find it, i will create it.’

that last sentence has rattled about in my brain every single day since reading it. the words this stranger wrote for me, about me were so incredibly profound. i wanted to be the person they wrote about, so i started looking everywhere for ways to create good.

i will say, the projects i come up with to help with my creation of good are also distractions so i do not have to be left alone with my thoughts and my grief, so they’re not entirely for selfless reasons.

with every single word tenderly crafted and given to me about how i have helped someone in someway somehow my need to do more for more people, grows.

so anon, here are some words tenderly crafted for you.

this world is awful and terrible and overwhelming and isolating and in desperate need of change.

in terrible need of good.

but how can i, as one single person, change anything? there’s just too much.

i am here to tell you that you canchange this world or change yourself or change something because you’re not alone.

if enough one single persons get together, everything looks a lot less awful and a lot less lonely, and all of those one single persons doing what they can becomes an entire group of people making what they think are meaningless little changes, but are meaningful acts to be both seen and felt.

in the six months since my brother took his own life, i’ve had dozens and dozens of people tell me that my grief was their sign not to do the same to their families. i’ve had hundreds and hundreds of people tell me that seeing my grief was helping them feel less lonely in their own. i’ve helped raise over 20,000 for charities all across the globe not because i had 20,000 dollars to give, but because i exist in a community of people who want to do good. it is easier to get one hundred people to give five dollars than to get one person to give five hundred dollars. the change enacted because of that act will be felt the same by the people who need it. they don’t care that it was a hundred people doing what most would consider to be nothing. they care that it happened at all.

it matters not the size of the gesture, it is the effort in doing something at all.

i’m motivated because i know i’m not alone in my attempts to make good where i cannot find it.

neither are you.

i hope this helps you in some way.

i’m rooting for you. we all are.

and just know, i have a spare lighter for you.

[kitkat-the-muffin]

*drum-roll*

*louder drum-roll*

*even louder drum-roll*

*loudest drum-roll*

GUESS WHO? IT’S WEBTOON!!!!

Here's a quick little bio for you:

She/Her Pronouns

Obsessed with Drama (default skin)

Verified Sword Lesbian™️

Wields a one-handed cliché anime sword using the upper body strength of a Mary Sue

Has terrible taste in everything (movies, character design, advertising methods, friends)

Enjoys Amino's presence (disrupts a canon event)

Exchanges cryptocurrency with Amino on a regular basis

Creative, artsy, and colorful

Jumps to conclusions easily

Not immune to propaganda (will believe ANYTHING)

Easily susceptible to clickbait

Overconfident gambler and gold-digger

Optimistic Derse Dreamer

Unhealthily invested in the romance lives of other people (and fictional people)

Constantly forgets to renew her Spotify subscription

Doesn't know what an adblocker is

Forgets to use trigger warnings sometimes

Probably has an ongoing feud with TappyToon

"How can you read this? There's no pictures!"

Her genre changes depending on her mood and the topic of discussion

Her skirt and bow change with her genre

The bell on her zipper rings whenever her genre changes

I will make a separate post of all her genres for easier access later and put the link [here].

Funky little rant under the cut as well as a single progress-shot at the bottom

I've been working on this character for a few months now and I'm happy with how she turned out. It was a lengthy process of trying to make her look the way I wanted her to and part of that was changing aspects of her design and allowing my friends to help and support me. At one point one of my friends told me the drawing was too stiff and ordered me to doodle ugly things until I felt confident enough to break out of my comfort zone, and that really helped Webtoon feel more personalized I think

To be honest, Socialstuck has pulled me out of my artist's block. For the longest time I had no motivation to draw anything at all because I wasn't confident enough in my abilities and art style to even try. I'm still not good at drawing poses, and even now this drawing is an imitation of Cloutchase's art style. However, the simplicity of that art style inspired me to draw, and suddenly I found myself creating more and more drafts. Whether those drafts will ever be completed is up to the future, but it's a big step for me to finally try again

This piece may be in Cloutchase's art style, but it's also got a little bit of me in it as well, and I'm more than happy to contribute to a fun community of people making stuff together by adding my own OC into the mix

Funny addition: At the bottom of my Webtoon notes is a small section of past-me complaining about how hard it was to draw with my dog staring at me. I got peer-pressured by my dog XD

Anyway here's the progress shot and also Webtoon's beta-design I made with a picrew (I beta all my character designs in picrew lol)

And here’s a vertical draft of her final design in HD as a treat:

[izicodes]

Improving Your Work Ethic

I had a meeting with my manager on Friday on three key skills I need to look out for when working. She said being in school/apprenticeship and working in a company are two different situations. There are skills you only learn by working in a team with real-life projects. She mentioned; Work Ethic, Communication and Time Management.

I decided I would talk about each one and give tips that she mentioned and others I found out myself and over searching online. This post will be about improving your work ethic. The advice my manager gave is from a Senior Software Developer's point of view but the advice can be carried over to other industries you work in!

What is Work Ethic?

Work ethic refers to the values and principles that guide how a person approaches their work or responsibilities. It involves having a positive attitude, being diligent, and demonstrating a strong commitment to doing your best.

Imagine that school project you had to complete. Having a good work ethic means that you approach the project with enthusiasm and dedication. It means taking responsibility for completing your work on time and putting in the necessary effort to produce high-quality results!

Tips To Improving Your Work Ethic

This is a long list but worth while to think upon! Here are all of the tips that my manager gave me and some extra notes I made afterwards:

Understand Expectations

Do you know what is expected of your role and responsibilities at work? If you don’t, you need to. Not just what the job description said when you applied but directly from your team manager or your boss!

Be Punctual

Arrive on time for meetings, scrums, and work-related commitments. Being punctual demonstrates respect for others' time and shows your dedication to the team.

Meet Deadlines

If you know me, you’ll know I struggle with this a lot. Consistently meet the deadlines for your tasks and projects. Plan and prioritize your work to ensure timely delivery. If you’re struggling with the project/work somewhere, ask for help.

Take Initiative

Show initiative by seeking opportunities to contribute beyond your assigned tasks. Take ownership of challenges, propose solutions, and actively participate in team discussions. I like this because I always come up with new add ons a project!

Be Accountable

Take responsibility for your actions and outcomes. Admit and learn from mistakes, and avoid making excuses. It may be hard but just say you messed up and it won’t happen again.

Practice Self-Discipline

Develop self-discipline to stay focused and motivated in your work. Minimize distractions and maintain a strong work ethic even when faced with challenging tasks. This is why if you struggle with this, do a Studyblr study challenge to stay on track and be motivated!

Be Proactive In Learning

Continuously expand your knowledge and skills by staying updated with the latest industry trends and technologies. Seek out learning opportunities and take advantage of professional development resources. Especially in my field of Tech, something new is happening all the time! My workplace gave us Pluralsight for free so we can be studying on the site as we work!

Communicate Effectively

Work on your communication skills to convey information clearly and professionally. Keep your team members, stakeholders or anyone necessary informed about your progress, challenges, and achievements!

Get Feedback

Actively seek feedback from your teammates, supervisors, and mentors. Constructive criticism can be good, see it as an opportunity for growth and improvement!

Collaborate Effectively

Practise positive and productive collaboration with your team members. Contribute to team discussions, listen actively, and support others when needed.

Be Adaptable

Changes at work, project or whatever can be scary, and sometimes quite annoying, however, embrace change! Be open to new ideas, technologies, and processes. Learn to adapt quickly to shifting priorities and evolving project requirements!

Take Care Of Your Well-Being

Prioritize your physical and mental well-being. I had a time when I was mentally stressed from my apprenticeship, I took a week-long holiday off and rested at home. You should maintain a healthy work-life balance, manage stress effectively, and take breaks when needed. You're not you when you're tired, mentally strained and hungry...!

Reflect And Improve

Regularly reflect on your work ethic and areas for improvement. Set personal goals and actively work towards enhancing your work ethic over time.

Improving your work ethic is an ongoing process that requires self-awareness, discipline, and a commitment to personal growth. Some people can do it alone whilst other people need a little push, such as myself and my manager.

Think over the tips I gave and see how you can change things to improve your own work ethic. If you're not working, this can be applied to a school setting or something you can be wary of when looking to start working!

Hope this helped you and thanks for reading! 👩🏾‍🎓💗

[youredreamingofroo]

a bit of a message talking about inactivity and my possible hiatus. I dont know if this counts as a cw but i talk about depression here and there at the beginning (nothing graphic) and as usual, its a rant

im gonna be straight honest rn, i'm probably not gonna be active on tumblr for these next few days, ive been super up and down depressed and im just unmotivated and too tired to do anything, im still gonna check in here and there but dont expect me to reblog or reply to many posts, if at all. This could mark the beginning of a hiatus, but with mood swings and up and down depression, i could be back, active as ever tomorrow. Ever since ive uninstalled Sims 4, i did feel a weight lift off my shoulders, but simultaneously made me depressed due to the lack of... well... doing something, i dont... really know how to put it into words, its just something in my brain that i just cant explain, i guess a good way to put it is playing sims 4 gave me the motivation to stem off into other mediums, blender for example, gave me something to do, something to learn, and while i can still use blender, i just get progressively slower and slower at doing stuff in it because of my limited resources, some scenes i want to do require specific outfits and i dont have the facilities to make those outfits... i mean i probably do but i just dont feel motivated to do all that. I still play other games, ive been playing a lot of slime rancher 2 and have been trying to branch out to other games (indie games and bigger games), I want to post gameplay but if youve seen me rant about tumblr before, one of my biggest gripes is just how fucking annoying it is to upload images, so i just get completely unmotivated to post images/gameplay especially if its just some silly post. if uh if anyone is still reading this, ill be honest, i havent even been motivated to write about WAS at all, probably havent touched the planning doc in about 2 weeks. This... 'spiral'... has been noticeable for me for the last week as my sleep schedule gets swapped around from sleeping at night and awake during the day... to sleeping during the day and awake at night, this is all my fault, but its also just something that happens rotationally for me, i go from sleeping VERY early in the evening (6PM at the earliest) and waking at VERY early times in the morning (4AM at the latest) to sleeping VERY late in the morning (6AM at the earliest) and waking up late in the evening (3PM at the latest), i dont really know what causes the shift, but it happens, and i often blame myself for it even though i dont know what causes it...

anyways sorry, this will probably mark a very iffy hiatus, like i said ill be active but not... super active, i didnt check tumblr at all yesterday/monday, so thats kind of the pattern to expect from me depending on the day. In the meantime... i might try to get back into older sims games, ive mentioned this before, but i do have sims 1 on my laptop so maybe ill post stupid little gameplay posts from there (granted i havent played in like... a month 😐). I'll probably put up a poll after this post for people to vote on which sims game i should play- i KNOW i did it once before but im probably gonna do it again cuz i cant find the post and i have over 1000 posts 😭

if you read thus far, thank you for sticking around, if your a random person who read this for no reason... thanks? if your a follower of mine and cant understand where im coming from with this lengthy post, see yourself out or deal with it 🙃 otherwise, thank you all and i will be lurking about

[poupeesdecirque]

Photo Challenges - Why I do them & why I do them alone

Time for a new blog, my topic this time: Photo Challenges!

With the new year a lot of people attempt to do the "A Doll A Week" a weekly photo challenge, some are even that ambitious to do the 365-Challenge, a photo for each day.

Back in 2014 I started my very first attempt to do a photo challenge, I got a DSLR as gift 1 1/2 years in before and kinda wanted to do more with it than just taking photos here and there. The weekly challenge of the ADAW seemed fun. On the top of this entry you can see my very first entrance for it. As you can see it started with a quite random photo.

I can tell I didn't make the full 2014 according to the ADAW but as I checked my files I noticed I indeed took photos each week?! Therefore I failed but .. also did not. It was somehow weirdly motivating for me to see that I can do it.

2015 was the first true attempt for me to finish the ADAW, this time with more effort. Because just taking photos is boring right? Aside taking more photos I wanted to feature each doll I had, around that time that was still very much possible with 52 photos for the 52 weeks of the year.

I was prepared, this was the first pic of 2015 .. well.. no. It wasn't I took it in advance and this is one of the points I later on disliked how I approached the whole thing. I was in a flickr group for some time and the same theme was going against my own liking, that people just took 20 photos at a time, posted them (all looking alike) and were finished with the whole challenge within half of the time.

I asked myself if this was what I wanted? The whole thing started to frustrate me, as I tried to come up with cool ideas and I saw other people half-assed their entries. Of course each to their own but no passion for the project, 'cheating' with multiple photos from one photoshoot just to make it "full" that seemed wrong for me.

But I managed to finish 2015! My first year with 52 weekly photos taken. The next year started with a photoshoot as well but I didn't use it for the ADAW.

Instead I took a break to regain and started with another idea:

Names! Like this one was named "ADAW 01 - Frost Pattern" I made it into an own challenge to add creative titles to go with the photos, also I added more and more photos, not just one but multiple. This was to challenge myself more and more. Still I tried to be motivated by others and motivate them but somehow... it still was turning me off that people approached the whole thing less .. uhm.. strict? I can't really put it into words, I just can tell as I later on within the years tried to build up a guide how to do the ADAW I got so demotivated seeing others doing it that I had to put the thread in the forum on full ignore and do my own instead? It's super weird.

What really got me going though was that I started to print my photos. 2 Photobooks for one year, having my photos printed made them more precious to me. I still make photobooks and last year I reached the maximum page count for the books and uhm.. might need to do three a year if that continues.

I can tell I got hooked by photos. Sometimes it felt hard to start over though, to start with "nothing" all over again, as I tend to null & void my own progress in my mind and well.. "new year, nothing done" got me hard sometimes, that's why the first days of the new years were hard for me to find ideas.

Also the fact that I still tried not to feature a doll twice got harder and harder even given I had more than enough dolls. But you know how it is, right? When you restrict yourself you want to do exactly that what is restricted.

Did I feel drained in the process of taking photos weekly? Oh yes, I did. Especially because I decided I have to take WHOLE PHOTOSHOOTS and sometimes even posts with outtakes to share fact about the characters. Some weeks I was so demotivated.

But a thing that helped me going was ... routine. And the photobooks. I picked a day during the week I was taking photos, which for me is Saturday, and it's still mainly Saturday to be honest.

It was 2019 already and you can see I returned to taking new year's photos, 2020 was similar. But I got tired of the ADAW thing, because it was kind of still setting to close borders for me. Taking photos weekly was becoming easy for me because I did it for so long. I still kinda tried to keep up with other hobbyists but in 2020 with the pandemic I cut ties with my local community and decided that 2021 would be the first year of me not doing a 'A Doll A Week'

Wait? What? Yes, you read that correctly.

Welcome to my own challenge the ... Weekly Photo!

This might seem not much of a difference but allows me to take photos, not just of dolls but of landscapes, people, animals and that was important to me. I still mainly use it for dolls but I wanted to do an own challenge, without any link back to the 'rules' of the ADAW and without the mental connection to the community I had left behind.

With the Weekly Photo I started to thrive. No more (own set) boundaries, every doll could be featured, even 20 times in a row, no rules, no titles, no themes, just me and my camera. For the sake of being creative.

And that's what I can tell you about my challenges... do it for the creativity, do it to challenge yourself. Don't be that dumb like I was and think you have to stick to what everyone else does or that you have to do it a certain way.

Now taking photos became so easy for me I see it as challenge to use the seasons as canvas to come up with something, to learn what light/time is the best.

I can tell my photography has envolved because I dared and tried, I challenged myself, revisted ideas but didn't try to set boundaries to my own creativity.

To be honest I now see photo ideas everywhere and almost have to stop myself from taking TOO MANY PHOTOS because .. I still need to sort them out :')

Oh a little thing that still is a rule for me ... I didn't bury them all: the first photo has to be taken in the actual year. Yes, I stayed up super late to take Tamani's photos as the first set of 2024 just to be sure I have that done.

I'm not sure if this entry is helpful for someone, for me looking up the old photos (I put in one for each year of a challenge) was super interesting and with a super busy week and weekend behind me I wanted to do a lighter topic for once.

I can tell writing down really helps me to reflect the hobby and to think through some decisions.

[naranjapetrificada]

Fanfic Friday!

I still don't completely understand it, so this week I'm just gonna reflect on things that happened while writing this arranged marriage longfic, some of which I posted about on here and some of which I didn't.

I gave up on the Soup Paragraphs that were haunting me and realized I can introduce them later if I must.

I got in some "let go and let god" practice when I realized I don't have to get every little throwaway detail right, especially when it slows down my progress/makes writing miserable.

My therapist wants me to see about applying this Free Yourself skill in my non-writing life, to which I say I know you are but what am I

Characters put themselves in situations without my input and it was great!

Ceremonies are hard to write but at least I now know what Ed and Stede would be like if they were kids in a school play.

I started watching Rome again after thinking about it last week in the wake of the cancelation (I've had it on DVD for years). Still problematic in the way something made in 2005 will be, but otherwise it holds up incredibly well.

I've also stopped caring as much about all the people using the world's problems as a bludgeon against OFMD fans and the campaign to to save the show. For all the reasons other people have already articulated well but also, on a personal note, because of what this show has done for my relationship with writing.

I won't get into too much detail but suffice it to say I have a lot of baggage around writing, because of all the "gifted" nonsense of my childhood and my MFA experience as an adult. I don't blame anyone per se, but unhelpful social frameworks were unhelpful. Let's just say that when Pop-Pop said "if you were ever good at anything go do that" to Ed, it didn't not remind me of feeling obligated to do something that used to be rewarding but isn't anymore because it's what you're "supposed" to do. Anyway.

I wrote three short (<2000 word) fics between seasons 1&2, the first fic I've felt like writing in over a decade. It was liberating as hell to write again in a low-stakes environment, and with blorbo motivation to power me through the difficult parts. I never, ever thought I would write anything longer than 2000 words, but for the past (several?) weeks now I've been alternating between two drafts in tropes I can't get enough of, the shortest of which is around 10,000 (admittedly unedited) words.

The other is longer, and every time I work on it I keep having to break shit up so the chapters stay under 5000 words. This is unprecedented for me, and I've wanted to share it so much that I'm running out of shit to post on WIP Wednesday that won't reveal the plot or require too much context. I've never been in a fandom as creative (and creatively inspiring) as this one, nor have I every written so much in a single fandom before.

My relationship with writing wouldn't be healing like this at all if it weren't for this show and this fandom, and in particular I want to highlight the freedom in embracing the "David Jenkins School of Historical Inaccuracy." In fact, I've been keeping a running list of AO3 tags for the fic I've made the most progress on, and there are several "David Jenkins School of ________" tags, including Archaeology, Theology, and Comparative Politics. Thanks to seeing DJ's philosophy at work it's now possible for me to move on from certain details when I get stuck because they're "inaccurate" for the setting or whatever in a way I never could before. Now I feel empowered to move on from tricky details by asking myself:

Is it funny?

Is it related to the plot?

Is it character-building?

And if the answer to all of those is no, then so is the answer to question 4: "does it matter?"

Assuming I finish these longfics they'll be the longest creative pieces I've ever written and beyond the longest works of fiction I ever thought I would write, and for that I'm eternally grateful. Even if the world we live in is a crumbling disaster. Especially if the world we live in is a crumbling disaster.

[kaengeru]

HELLO! yes, i am not dead! my brain hasnt been able to focus on art or writing currently, but i have been lurking

due to my own hubris (in overextending myself) and the unfortunate ai creep (which isnt threatening so much as exhausting) im gonna be withdrawing a lot of myself to posting almost exclusively on this nifty little site im still in the progress of completing. i will cross-post between onto tumblr. MAYBE twitter. but thats about it. gonna focus on putting everything together

i will - once my brain gets back into the groove for it - work on replies, but i just. cant jump into another social media site. im tired. ive been tired for a while, honestly - which can be attributed to me being in my thirties as well lol. the internets a fun place but its not suppose to take more work than something i get paid to do

also ive been wanting to slowly wean myself off the Internet for a while so at least i have more motivation now than ever to actually start doing it

ive been intending to make this post for a while, though with more ic information. hopefully ill be able to complete all that ehh eventually (its not necessary to give enya a reason to be around less but there will be one that ive been working on for way too long)

feel free to message me, be it to chat or come up with some thread ideas. im happy to do so!

you can find me here (@kaengeru) / @limlnal as well as @thylacoleocarn - these will be your best bet twitter too but not super active discord is thyla#4699 (i think??) but im way more spacey at being there and thylacoleocarn.neocities once again c:

ya'll have been (and continue to be) super awesome and wish u all the best in ur own goals <3

[miillloooo]

Something experimental I tried with oil pastel????"?" Was feeling pretty awful so I tried drawing something with oil pastel for fun. Felt a little better👍

Unedited ver + kind of my thoughts behind this drawing under this cut.

Uhhhh also a very messy explanation on what I was thinking when I drew this sorry if my sentences are jumbled. If you don't wanna read it here's a very short summary: "I've been thinking alot ever since I'm getting older and I want to stop thinking and go back to being some naive child I used to be."

I made like a whole essay about my thoughts it's okay if you don't wanna read it💀

I guess this whole drawing was my way of expressing how I felt knowing I'm growing older. Ever since I turned 16 and being a teacher's child loved by many, the only thing I started thinking about is my worth in many stuff like work potential, art potential and academic potential???? Idk how to explain it but I'm only thinking about my worth in all aspects to make sure I maintain a perfect student image. Ever since I kept thinking about my worth, everything got really worse especially during exams. I get beyond dissapointed and I'd cry lots when I get below 70 or 60. Worse if I get below 80 in language (both in my native language) and arts. It's like I was pointing a gun at myself, mess up once and I'd die. Because that's what it's like with my mom. She gets VERY disappointed if I get below those score and she'd constantly shame me and say she would've taken my friend (who's smarter than me) as her daughter instead of me. I kind of hate her since she only thinks about money and fame.

17 years old I'm starting to think about more and more about myself. What if I'm too childish to people around me? What if I were to put my teacher's child image to shame? What if my mother gets disappointed at me again for the smallest things? I studied and studied alot to be a perfect child to her, making sure I maintain a perfect score and stuff in arts and all. But of course she still gets disappointed if I didn't get am 80 or 85 or whatever. Worst part is I'm literally every teacher's hope, especially my arts teacher that knows about my skills and stuff. Everything started to feel like a mess from here. I started to enjoy the things I once enjoyed less, I started to hate the way I act, I started to hate the way I keep on trying knowing my mother will be disappointed anyways. It's gotten bad I attempted like twice that year and even almost had an urge to get some pills to see if I can get some sort of relief after almost a whole year messed up. But at least I'm still alive and 'healthy' so there's that yippee🎉. Also I'm envious with my irl friend circle's art skills and how their paintings are better than me so I've been trying to isolate myself from them. My friends became an example in art paintings TWICE and it's usually me so I've gotten so envious and mentally losing it a little. Even my friend that's ass in drawing got a compliment instead of me. Also my art teacher told me that I was being 'cocky and prideful' when I wasn't making any progress in my painting during some art improvement program for the art students. I would've screamed at him about how I was feeling but it'll give a bad image of me since I'm a prime example so I stayed quiet and skipped my at class the rest of the day. It's getting exhausting and now I'm losing motivation to paint or even draw for myself.

And 2024 I'm kind of technically 18 all my thoughts are only getting worse. My emotions are a bit out of control, probably worse than last year and I'm feeling exhausted and tired for the start of 2024. Currently taking a HUGE exam before I graduate highschool and it literally decides my future, of course my mother plays the part as the one that pressures me and guilt trips me. Arts exam is coming soon and my mind is in absolute shambles. The only thing I think is if it'll be good enough and if I'll be able to make one of the few most perfect paintings out of the other 30k whatever whatever candidates out there. Knowing there's people better than me I'm getting tired in wanting to even pick up my brush. Hell even looking at an empty drawing paper makes me go haywire and eat the paper because I feel like it.

Now I'm rethinking about my whole life after I became 16, and I kind of wished I wasn't pressuring myself so much for the sake of validation and some words of affection and praise from my classmates or parents or teachers. I think joining the art class in my school made me graduate highschool mentally exhausted and overwhelmed at my hobby that I used to really cherish and was passionate about. Now I'm just really wishing I could turn back time and be a kid again so I can relax a little. At least a little.

[the-himawari]

A3! Troupe Event Translation - Journey to the Colours (3/11)

*Please read disclaimer on blog; default name set as Izumi

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Kazunari: “Going on a journey with someone you don’t get along with is hell…”

Kumon: “Ehh? You think so? Travelling is fun no matter who you’re with!” “Ah, it says they’re holding a festival right now. I wanna go!”

Kazunari: “Listen, Goku. This is an ascetic journey to Tenjiku in order to study sutras. It is not a sightseeing trip.”

Yuki: “Since I’ve come all the way here, I’d like to stop by a town a little further south.” “I heard there’s a popular sweets shop. They have fluffy pao cakes.”

Misumi: “No festivals and no sweets shops. There will be too many women. It’s dangerous. I’d much rather pass through the mountain range over there where we’re bound not to meet anyone.”

Yuki: “If a regular human like our master climbed such a steep mountain, he would freeze to death.”

Kazunari: “…That’s enough. I will head to the temple lodging where we are staying today by myself.”

Izumi: (Everyone has already captured the image of their roles at the read-through stage. Once again, the casting was perfect.)

-pause-

Banri: All of their images are close, so it doesn’t feel off.

Izumi: It looks like everyone’s handling it well. If we keep progressing like this, then I don’t think we’ll have any problems.

-pause-

Izumi: Okay, today’s rehearsal will go up to here…

*walks in*

Manager: Heave-ho, heave-ho…

Testuro: …

Manager: Alright, just put them over there.

Kumon: ?

Izumi: Ah, Manager. Could that be—.

Manager: Director, Tetsuro-san brought what you requested over~!

Kumon: Ah, it’s the magic staff! Awesome!

Kazunari: The khakkhara looks totes legit too~.

Yuki: They’re exactly as I imagined. As expected.

Muku: Kinkaku and Ginkaku’s weapons look cool, don’t they!

Tenma: They’re authentic as ever…

Izumi: I intent to have Yuzo-san use these props to gradually add some action, so let's do our best!

Kumon: Yeah! Let’s get hyped up~!

Izumi: Thank you very much, Tetsuro-san!

Tetsuro: …

Manager: I think he’s saying you’re welcome!

Misumi: I wanna try holding the magic staff~.

Kumon: Be my guest! Let me borrow yours too~.

Tenma: Don’t break them as soon as you get them.

Misumi: Kinkaku and Ginkaku’s are cool too~!

Muku: They came out really well even down to the fine details.

Banri: …Man, as usual, the vibe’s is totally different from Autumn troupe’s rehearsals.

Izumi: True. This is Summer troupe’s—.

Kazunari: Colour. Am I right!

Banri: Well put.

Kazunari: I guess Settzer’s not only gonna help us with our acting, but also the action for this show. We’re counting on you, bud.

Banri: All of us of Autumn troupe are supportin’ you. Since we’re doin’ this, we’re gonna do it seriously.

Izumi: How dependable.

-pause-

Kumon: The Chinese congee and fried bread this morning were yummy~.

Yuki: Ma’s been making a lot of Chinese food these days, maybe since he’s aware of Summer troupe’s play. That’s Ma for you.

Kumon: By the way, were you drawing the designs for our upcoming costumes earlier?

Yuki: Yeah. I’m still simply sketching my ideas out though.

Kumon: I see~. I can’t wait to see how the costumes turn out this time!

Yuki: Yeah, expect it.

Cat: Meow!

Kumon: !?

Yuki: A cat?

Misumi: Kitty, this is the way if you wanna go outside~! I’ll open the window for you~.

Cat: Meow~.

Misumi: Bye byeee.

Kumon: Is he your friend, Sumi-san?

Misumi: Mhm. He said he’s going to take a walk now since the weather’s so nice out. Maybe I’ll go searching for triangles too~.

Kumon: Ah! In that case, why don’t we do a street act while you’re at it!? I wanna act! I feel super motivated right now!

Misumi: ‘Kay, cool with me~.

Kumon: Come with us, Yuki!

Yuki: Sure… I’d like to buy some materials if I’m going, so help me carry the bags.

Kumon: Leave it to me!

Misumi: We’ll do our best~!

Kazunari: …

Kumon: Ah, Kazu-san. Perfect timing! All of us are going to do a street act right now. Won’t you come with?

Kazunari: Sorry, guys. A prof called me so I gotta head over to uni.

Kumon: I see~. That’s too bad.

Kazunari: Invite me another time!

Kumon: Yeah, you got it!

Misumi: Kazu, we’re off~.

-pause-

Kumon: “There’s no more escape, Galucion, black knight of darkness!”

Misumi: “Good grief… how annoying. I shall end your life here and now.”

Yuki: “We’ve had it up to here with your attitude!”

Kumon: “Come forth, holy word excalibur!

Misumi: “What…!? Why, that sword—.”

Kumon: “Take this!”

Misumi: “GWAHHH!”

-pause-

*applause*

Kumon: Thank you so much~.

Misumi: Thanks for watching~!

Yuki: Thanks.

Spectator A: That was great~.

Spectator B: Good luck on your next show~.

Kumon: *Sigh*. That was fun!

Yuki: Your hobbies were fully exposed, Kumon.

Misumi: Stuff like that’s fun though~.

???: …

Yuki: ? Hey. Do you know that person?

Kumon: Huh?

???: …I knew it. You’re Hyodo Kumon, aren’t you?

Kumon: Yeah, that’s me…

???: Do you remember me? We played a lot of practice matches together back during little league…

Kumon: Eh… wait, are you Itoi from Dreams?

Itoi: Yeah, you got it. You haven’t changed at all from back then. Well, I haven’t either.

Kumon: You’re not wrong! What a throwback~.

Itoi: We’re in the same year, right? Are you going to university on a referral? I assume you’re still playing baseball?

Kumon: Ah… about that… Actually, a lot of stuff happened and I quit baseball.

Itoi: Huh? Seriously?

Kumon: Right now I’m an actor at a theatre called MANKAI Company.

Itoi: Wow, I see. That’s a shame. You were real good even during little league. I definitely thought you would make it to nationals. I was confused when I didn’t see your name there.

Kumon: Nah… you’re exaggerating.

Itoi: I thought I’d be able to watch you play again in university, so that’s a little disappointing. I was sure you were aiming to go pro. Do you not regret quitting?

Kumon: …

Itoi: Err, I suppose that’s none of my business. Sorry about that.

Kumon: Ah, no. Rather, thanks for remembering me.

Itoi: Anyways, good luck with your theatre company.

*walks away*

Kumon: …

Yuki: You were that well-known, huh?

Misumi: You’re amazing, Kumon!

Kumon: …That’s a story from the past.

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previous | next

[claudioseraph]

Here, I offer you my revenge gift :) . Lidia: 19, 24, 25, 43, 68 & Miguel: 11, 14, 28, 32, 46

Finally answering this something like two years later to commemorate Lidia's upcoming release from prison. Can't do them in first person this time. That aint me no more.

 Lidia:

(Reversing the order of the first two) 24.Do you ever feel like an imposter?

She does occasionally, because she never intended to become a politician but wants to now to assure the country is run the way her father would have seen it run. She feels like one day everyone will realize she’s only good at fighting and isn’t actually a politician, which she also knows is an insane thing to think after years and years of law school and being just in general a compassionate person who worries so much about the wellbeing of others. 19. What is the one compliment you always get that you’re too embarrassed to accept, so you deflect it? Answer to 24 is why she deflects many compliments on her position as prime minister/politician/leader/etc. She knows she’s giving it her all but doesn’t think she’s quite on the level of her grandfather yet, or precisely where her father would have wanted to see her, even though she knows he’d still be proud of how much progress she’s made. This is in large part due to how much chaos the world had fallen into and how Heihachi had just invaded Poland like it was nothing to him and refused to listen to diplomatic Asking Very Nice for Him to Leave.

25.Do your friends know how competitive you are?

Yes obviously of course they do. Remember in her T7 trailer when she said ��osu” instead of “goodbye”. It’s like that. She is always putting her all into everything and treating it with the same discipline as she does martial arts. She wants to prove herself in any aspect she can, but she also of course is a good sport about it. If she “fails” she just tries harder next time (and makes sure there is a next time).

43.What is the biggest risk you’ve taken just to prove yourself?

Putting her all into politics was a pretty big risk. But she had something to prove and a goal in mind so there was no way around it. She had to sculpt the balance between her passion for martial arts and the duty she felt to her country.

 68.What emotion motivates you the most when you’re down?

Responsibility. She has a responsibility to her people and a responsibility to continue in the footsteps of her grandfather and make sure nothing like what happened to her father ever happens again. She has to look strong for her people so that they can be and feel strong in turn.

 Miguel:

11.When do you think you began putting your guard up so much?

The moment he realized his parents wanted to change him more than they wanted the genuine him around. When he became the Black Sheep of the family he realized even blood-relations could falter if one or both sides weren’t interested in trying for the sake of other side, or if their “trying” meant trying to mold someone into what they wanted that someone to be.

14.What aspect of your life are you most delusional about?

Two-parter, he is a little delusional when it comes to believing he can find and successfully kill Jin Kazama because Jin is (was??? Idk what he does after Tekken 8) either surrounded by people who need him not to be dead or imbued with evil energy that automatically hits the Stop button and takes control when he’s about to be game-over’d. He doesn’t want to think of the logistics of if he can kill Jin, whether that’s about the physical ability to or the mental ability to. Second is his faith, but as someone who only pretends to know what religion is, myself, I could be wrong. However he seems to think he can balance his desire for revenge and violence with being a good repentant Catholic even when the Catholicism has to go on the back burner for rage instead.

28.How do you deal when you know someone’s not willing to give you what you want?

His first answer is force, but if it's just something he wants over something he needs, he knows when to throw in the towel and leave it alone. He’ll act like it’s actually too much of a bother to keep trying for it. This is, of course, only if the force doesn’t work.

32.Is your need for revenge greater than your need for peace?

He would outwardly choose revenge over all else, but I think if he could see what peace was like (almost what we were given in his T7 ending, wherever that lies in canon or noncanon) he would reluctantly choose that over revenge. He’s been driven by revenge for so long that it feels like most of his personality. But it’s managed not to become all of who he is. Peace just doesn’t feel like the right option for him. He thinks it would be wrong to choose peace when his sister can’t choose anything anymore, like he’s giving up. But there’s a balance between “peace would be like spitting on her memory” and “revenge will only be empty if it ever happens”. He also can’t be sure if his sister would want him to choose revenge over his own inner peace. Not to say she wouldn’t desire revenge herself, but if she had to choose between revenge for her own death or her brother being happy, Miguel doesn’t particularly want to think of which one he knows she would pick.

46.What’s the most toxic thing about yourself you actually kind of secretly like?

I think he enjoys getting into fights in bars, getting too drunk to feel sorry for himself and just swinging at whoever is closest, purposefully getting too rowdy so someone tries to stand up to him. Thinking about a fight is easier than thinking about where your life might be headed.

[tokkiasnanowrimo]

nano | day 16

words: 1,779/1,667

notes: if i started a habit of writing early yesterday, i immediately broke it today. i stayed up so late writing to make up which i hope is understandable in the light of finding out my mum has cancer. again. the writers curse strikes me again, i cannot catch a fucking break. alas if i could write through her having cancer the first time and i could write through my dad having cancer last year, i can do it a third time. i very much considered just not writing today but emma reminded me that if i didn't get all the badges on the nanowrimo website by the end of this i would be annoyed with myself and she's right so i kept writing all the way up until 11:45pm to prevent this from becoming my super lame bummer personal diary i'm going to actually talk about what i worked on today. it was a lot of jumping between stuff (as it always is with me) but i decided i sorta needed to hunker down and write the wedding part of the fic because that's like chapter 2 and the whole set up to the rest of the fake dating. the reason i haven't been working on it is just because i've been dreading it honestly. so far it feels kind of boring but i managed to put together a really cute little dance scene that i'm pretty happy with and i hope you guys will like it just as much as i do aside from that, today was a lot of just sort of adding more substance to stuff that i already had. i've been feeling like i'm not making a lot of progress lately but i'm reminding myself that even if i only write 50 words on one scene, that is still 50 words i won't have to write later anyway. thank you everyone for your support on this project. it's been really hard on me and considering everything that's going on, quitting has been veeeerrrryyy tempting but right now i'm determined to see it through, if not for everyone who has said they're looking forward to reading it, then to prove to myself that i can. we were talking in the aan server about binding fics and i think getting this finishing and binding it into a physical copy would be a really good motivator for me. maybe i'll even do a giveaway or something with it. hopefully the only thing that will keep me from finishing nanowrimo is breaking all the bones in my hands, or dying, both of which i have gone 21 years without doing so i think i can go another 2 weeks

quote: as an apology for my long ass rant and for forgetting to put in a quote yesterday, take this whole ass except for today Couples filled the dance floor and Lucy simply sat and watched, her finger running around the rim of her champagne flute as she quietly yearned to be one of those happy couples. She glanced up at Natsu and realised that maybe for once she wasn’t just relegated to yearning. “We should dance,” she said suddenly. “Don’t wanna,” he drawled. “Why not?” “I don’t know how to dance,” Natsu simply shrugged. “You said you wanted me to be your girlfriend, the least you can do is dance with me,” she scolded, but Natsu seemed to remain unphased. “Fine, I’ll go find someone else,” she huffed. “I’m sure there’s a nice man here who will want to dance with me.” “No, no, don’t do that,” Natsu immediately backtracked. “I’ll dance with you.” It had been an empty threat—she had no real intention of finding someone else, but it seemed that Natsu had not quite seen through that and her plan had worked a charm. Grabbing his hand, Lucy led him into the fray of things.

total word count: 30,056/50,000

[humberg]

WIP Wednesday

I've been tagged by both @chevvy-yates and @elvenbeard for my first WIP Wednesday, thank you both <3

What can I show for WIP Wednesday... I've mostly been working on more VP's to do with Johnny and Vincent as well as working on Vincent's first tattoo mod which is still very much in the early stages.

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So far these are just concept ideas as I'm just playing around with recreating the in-game moments. (Points to anyone that can work out where in game they originate as at the moment the shots are very much raw and unedited.)

I dunno, I've been struggling to be happy with many of the shots I have taken recently in regard to expressing their dynamic relationship. I think I'm hitting a bit of a creative plateau where I'm finding myself unhappy with a lot of my work, and I can't get things to work the way I like. So I've decided to just sit on these concept ideas for now and to get back to them when I have more inspiration/motivation.

---

For Vincent's tattoo mod I have made very good progress! The shoulder sleeve is pretty much done and I've enjoyed the challenge of using wolvenkit and the reward that comes with seeing the design from procreate and to end up on Vincent's shoulder. :3

Again, this is a very slow process as I want all of the tattoos to have meaning and be significant to him so it is taking a while to design them. I've also found myself quite restricted as I'm running off the map of one of the original full-body tattoos, I'm aware that I can use the unique V framework to have free flow of where I place his tattoos as I would like to put tattoos that go all the way down to his wrist, but I'm unaware of how difficult that would be to achieve.

Happy with what I've made so far though! <3

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And finally, not a lot of you know this, well, not any of you apart from one person, but I also like to do some creative writing. Behind the scenes in my spare time, I've been writing Vincent's story from his childhood abandonment all the way through to post Mikoshi and living his life as King of the Afterlife. Here I've been unleashing my headcanons and fitting the cyberpunk plot to fit Vincent and not the other way round.

I haven't really gotten anything to show for it as it is so dysfunctional and jumping back and forth none of it really makes sense. I'm not entirely sure yet if I want to share it on Tumblr as I've mostly been doing it for my enjoyment (plus I'm a little anxious of sharing my writing to the world XD ), but it is my own current work in progress after all :3

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Not sure who to tag here but I will tag a few, sorry if you've already been tagged and no pressure! @theviridianbunny, @jaymber and @drunkchasind :)