#the new job is great but I'm stressed

[blonde-fraumell]

Hi, howdy. Just popping on to say hi and that I'm still around. I haven't touched Tumblr or AO3 since I vanished, but I do plan on continuing my stories and art. Things have been... hectic, to say the least. New job, family emergencies, among more.

[dcmksecretsanta]

Hello everyone!

I just wanted to give you a little update and let you know that, unfortunately, I won't have the time to host the DCMK secret santa event this year. Earlier this year, I've started working full time (+ still working my two mini jobs) and therefore, I just won't have the necessary time to host this event anymore. From my experience during the last six years of hosting this event, I just know how much time I usually need to put into this event to make it work as I want it to work and I know that this won't be possible this year with my current jobs.

I want to thank you all so so much for joining the event the last couple of year and for being such a great community to work with. I really had the best time hosting this event all these years and it does make me really sad that I won't have the capabilites to do it anymore.

If anyone wants to host another DCMK secret santa event on tumblr this year, feel free to do so (not that you were ever not free to do so lol just wanted to clarify it in case that anyone was apprehensive about it)! Feel free to let me know as well and I would love to signal boost (and join) it!

I'm wishing you all the best and once again, thank you all so much for the last couple of years!

[zevrans-remade]

.

[loumauve]

I snapped today at work, and by snapped I mean I politely commented on a help desk ticket by summing up an mess of an (type of) issue that's come up for at least the fourth time in the 2+ months I've been managing user accounts, and asked the person responsible to fix it (himself for once) because last time I fixed his mess-up it took me two whole days to work out the details with at least four other colleagues from different departments and I really don't want to do it again. there's other shit that needs doing, I've been working 10+ hour days for most of this week already, so I need to cut down not add on more.

(good thing tho - at least we managed to fix the issue where the dataset of a newer employee got mixed up with another one of the same name and therefore wasn't able to apply for any of the access/accounts she needed. technically not entirely my area but it does impact us not being allowed to create an account for her so I figured I might as well track that issue down. took three days and at least three other people, but hey - it should all work out now. yay for that)

[deadendtracks]

idk why i've been stuck on writing for so long. maybe i need to just write the scene i've been avoiding writing and might not ever actually make it into the story just to have it concrete for me and teh characters. i mean i generally know what i intended to happen but that's not always what actually ends up happening when the thing is written.

i want to write something that's not the wip i'm stuck on but i just somehow never find that hook that gets me going even though i have ideas. need to just write a bunch of bad stream of consciousness stuff that hopefully gets me going somehow.

[guinevereslancelot]

so proud of myself for putting a big part of my last paycheck in my savings like an adult but now im gonna spend all my savings like an idiot 😵‍💫

[spaghett-onaplate]

tomorrow is my first day back at school since early last year!! and if i actually attend for at least the next 3 weeks then it will be the longest continuous attendace i've had since halfway through 2021

[yohankang]

i went to see a room for rent yesterday but the landlady said she will give me a call the next day bc they need to decide who gets the room... but she called me back today and said they picked me hehe :) i got a good grade in adulting

[ohmytyong]

i just spent 5 hours watching a concert i promised myself to boycott but i have no self control so here i am now

[htonl-writes]

i don’t have a new chapter for you guys, but i do feel the need to explain my absence for the past month and a half. kind of. my absence in terms of fic was because i got very stressed, and if i’ve learned one thing in the past few years it’s that i can’t write when i’m stressed. but my absence from tumblr in general was because tumblr straight up deleted my account, while i was actively using it? i got it back, obviously, and the email i got from staff just said there’d been a glitch on their end, so who knows what’s up with that. but i’m back on tumblr, i have a job, and i’m moving literally tomorrow, so with any luck my stress will abate soon and i’ll be able to pick up where i left off!

[lenskij]

happy ides of march im going to fuckign STAB my boss

[mayspicer]

Mmm nothing like a good old full blown panic attack, I haven't had one in years. This time at least I have access to medication to make it stop a lot faster, but I have 6 pills left for the next 2,5 months and the recent trends in my mental state are not looking good.

[txmxkis]

love it when my bank account is in the negative

[squid--inc]

WHY CAN I NEVER FALL ASLEEP THE NIGHT BEFORE WORK, BUT I FALL ASLEEP IMMEDIATELY OR WAY EARLIER THAN USUAL WHEN I HAVE A DAY OFF?!?

[applejarjar]

To quote a friend,

'damnation!'

[emberwhite]

I spent the last 11 months working with my illustrator, Marta, to make the children's book of my dreams. We were able to get every detail just the way I wanted, and I'm very happy with the final result. She is the best person I have ever worked with, and I mean, just look at those colors!

I wanted to tell that story of anyone's who ever felt that they didn't belong anywhere. Whether you are a nerd, autistic, queer, trans, a furry, or some combination of the above, it makes for a sad and difficult life. This isn't just my story. This is our story.

I also want to say the month following the book's launch has been very stressful. I have never done this kind of book before, and I didn't know how to get the word out about it. I do have a small publishing business and a full-time job, so I figured let's put my some money into advertising this time. Indie writers will tell you great success stories they've had using Facebook ads, so I started a page and boosting my posts.

Within a first few days, I got a lot of likes and shares and even a few people who requested the book and left great reviews for me. There were also people memeing on how the boy turns into a delicious venison steak at the end of the book. It was all in good fun, though. It honestly made made laugh. Things were great, so I made more posts and increased spending.

But somehow, someway these new posts ended up on the wrong side of the platform. Soon, we saw claims of how the book was perpetuating mental illness, of how this book goes against all of basic biology and logic, and how the lgbtq agenda was corrupting our kids.

This brought out even more people to support the book, so I just let them at it and enjoyed my time reading comments after work. A few days later, then conversation moved from politics to encouraging bullying, accusing others of abusing children, and a competition to who could post the most cruel image. They were just comments, however, and after all, people were still supporting the book.

But then the trolls started organizing. Over night, I got hit with 3 one-star reviews on Amazon. My heart stopped. If your book ever falls below a certain rating, it can be removed, and blocked, and you can receive a strike on your publishing account. All that hard work was about to be deleted, and it was all my fault for posting it in the wrong place.

I panicked, pulled all my posts, and went into hiding, hoping things would die down. I reported the reviews and so did many others, but here's the thing you might have noticed across platforms like Google and Amazon. There are community guidelines that I referenced in my email, but unless people are doing something highly illegal, things are rarely ever taken down on these massive platforms. So those reviews are still there to this day. Once again, it's my fault, and I should have seen it coming.

Luckily, the harassment stopped, and the book is doing better now, at least in the US. The overall rating is still rickety in Europe, Canada, and Australia, so any reviews there help me out quite a lot. I'm currently looking for a new home to post about the book and talk about everything that went into it. I also love to talk about all things books if you ever want to chat. Maybe I'll post a selfie one day, too. Otherwise, the book is still on Amazon, and the full story and illustrations are on YouTube as well if you want to read it for free.