#this has been in my drafts for a while while I kept updating and tweaking it but I think this is the best way to say what I'm trying to say

[kazbiter]

very interested in how the storyline of ronan's sexuality is developed in the dream thieves as a battle between kavinsky and gansey while adam is almost never present in these scenes, which makes it even more interesting that we found out in CDTH that ronan was set on adam the moment he saw him. i think that ronan is attracted on some level to both gansey and kavinsky (you can draw the lines of how much romantic intention you think he hold towards either of the yourself, that's a rabbit hole I would need a whole other post to go down) but more so I think he was attracted to the IDEA of both of them and certain qualities that each possessed, and that the real question wasn't does ronan want gansey or kavinsky because we know he wants adam but rather who's qualities resonate more with who ronan is, or who he is choosing to be at this critical moment in his character development. kavinsky is a dangerous thrill and often comes wrapped in ronan's other favorite self destructive attempts to outrun himself, while gansey is ronan's history and proof of his deep capacities for loyalty and love. he tells kavinsky it was never going to be me and you and that it's not going to be ronan and gansey because that was never the question- maggie was obviously always planning on bluesy and pynch. the answer to who ronan WANTS in adam. the question of who ronan IS- that's what he's trying to decide here. his self hatred is such a heavy weight on him and theme in tdt, and the kavinsky/gansey dichotomy represents the the path he will choose to take to deal with it- keep try to drive faster than his demons or accept that he can still be loved even if he isn't the person he once was. the dream thieves my beloved ronan lynch my beloved

[insomniaccipher]

EDIT (24/3): so um, I posted this way way too early. In my sleep deprived state I guess I posted it rather than save it as a draft, since it's clearly not done. I'm not going to private it, people have already seen it so expect this to be updated with the remaining notes. Sorry and thank you for understanding!

(tw for mention of depression and a depressive episode)

After a few days of me being absolutely fucking drained and progressively chipping away at this, and having a surprise d3pr3ssiv3 episode

(seriously though, don't do what I did and work yourself into a depressive episode. I'm okay now, but I should have rested before I crashed.)

And I can finally present the original sketches, notes (internal dialogue included) and with additional notes provided by present me.

Thank you to the few people who showed interest in my little character for being patient with me, I know I wasn't super loyal with the time frame and kept having issues arise but here it is. I apologise for not having a full illustration of them, It's one of those things that I have to be 100 percent satisfied with and right now, it's not there.

Thank you so so much again and I hope you like them, please feel free to critique them or ask questions but try to keep it polite please. Love you all!

Page 1 (left) - Bits and bobs

- Originally I was thinking of giving Arc moving tattoos. This was because I wanted them to have a more clear connection to ink since they would already be around it quite a lot also I imagine it would have been funny for Arc, who is a very calm and collected person, to be in a frustrating situation but can't express it so their tattoos just fucking loose it showing that they are fucking fuming but looks calm as can be.

After I decided on the hat with a veil however I decided to scrap the idea, or at least save it for a different character, as I realized the character would feel too busy and between the two ideas I liked the hat and veil more.

- There was a short-lived idea of them having blackout tattoos but after a bit of research I decided not to ask I wasn't sure if they had any cultural significance, so better safe than sorry.

- Arc, as stated in the notes, is seemingly always calm. That doesn't mean they can't feel frustrated, sad, embarrassed it just means they can keep their composure and level headed. They're like one of those people that if you upset them they'll walk out the room yell and throw shit and walk back in calm as can be.

- Their role has by now developed more than just being an archivist, as now I see them as just a general records keeper. They find and keep old records and text organised, while also writing down new information and such. I'm not changing their name though, cause honestly I've just grown attached to their nickname.

Page 2 (right) - the first note and ideas

- Weirdly enough, the very first idea I had for this character wasn't their story or personality: but their hat and veil. Yup. I just liked the idea of a character with a big halo hat and a veil hiding their face.

- There was another character at one point or they might have been the same, I don't exactly remember and the details between them were similar enough that it's possible that they were just the same character just with minor tweaks. But that character was more connected to the band (again as in the personas/characters they play, not the irl people) while Arc is more of a solo unit.

Mentioning this other character is relevant because, and this is purely based on memory, I think the whole reason they were reworked/scrapped/whatever-the-fuck I did with them was because a hat and veil wouldn't be practical on stage.

- Anyway whenever they do take the veil off, either for more delicate work or they have to be in public, they'll put on a basic mask that covers the majority of their lower face.

- A lot of stuff I see, so forgive me if it's not actually a popular concept, seems to make the band members some form of inhuman. Which I fucking love, however to be honest the inhuman stuff was always kind of going to be part of them no matter what, even if I hadn't chosen the hat and veil concept (See top bullet point for the moving tattoos concept).

[krisravencroft]

Darkwhisper Chronicles: December 2023 Update

Hello again; it has been a little while. In my introduction, I mentioned my interest in documenting and sharing a bit of my journey as I continue my writing projects. As of now, I will be trying my hand at posting updates and figuring out how I want to go about that. In time, I may adjust the format for clarity, ease, and balancing the amount of information given. Perhaps I might even extend the amount of time in-between updates to avoid putting unnecessary pressure on myself and to avoid flooding those who would follow along with equally unnecessary posts. As of right now in the latter case, I'm thinking bi-monthly (the longer meaning) or even quarterly updates, but we will see how that goes.

As will be reflected on my blog, there has been a leap in progress since my introduction. In balancing life events with my work, my progress has been steady at an average of one writing fugue per week. In working on the novels "The Nhordara Crusade" and "Damnation Trilogy I: The Scouring of Morthir," I have found that the scale of each entry is rather consistently going to be about three-times the size of my early projections, and for that, I will avoid noting progress on books of mine that are sub-100 pages even if they are close to said marker. With that said, let's begin.

I tend to scale my work in one of two formats. The first, which I will call my draft format, is a very simple page adjustment that helps me structure my paragraphs neatly and be more conservative with how many words I try to shove into a page. I use it primarily to soothe any sort of quirks I have about the presentation on individual pages. Once I have a substantial enough draft, it then goes through my review format (as suggested by my friend) which gives the pages a more realistic book scale and appearance that is no longer subject to my eccentricities about presentation. I have found that when converted to review format, there is around a 10% decrease in page-count per chapter, and that is spectacular news for me as it means chapters will be more digestible and I will have more room for writing as I continue the story unabridged and even add onto it. When sharing progress, there are a few things I advise be kept in mind: 1. Page counts provided are derived from draft format, and ideally, published format will condense even unedited work into fewer pages; 2. I do not keep track of edits and additions I make to older chapters, and so page counts alone do not reflect how much writing has been done or how much progress has been made; and 3. Typically, edits are adding information or tweaking wordage (and thus expanding content), unless a substantial overhaul is required for earlier chapters.

Now, most of my writing since my introduction has been concentrated on the first book of the Damnation Trilogy; enough so that it has caught up to The Nhordara Crusade in terms of scale. As of present, removing dedication and disclaimer pages, removing the glossary from the back and the timeline with lore context from the front, removing the table of contents, and leaving exclusively prologue and chapter content: The Nhordara Crusade is sitting at 414 pages representing 20 chapters, and Damnation 1 (The Scouring of Morthir) is sitting at 443 pages that also represent 20 chapters. Damnation 1 is certainly halfway finished and The Nhordara Crusade is ambiguously also past that threshold... though by how much is unclear even to me, since it will take exploring all of the plot points and scenes I want included to see just how long the story continues before reaching its intended ending. Unless stated otherwise, I will not be counting going back and editing older chapters in progress reports, nor accounting for compression by format changes. Over the past two months, I have been on a Damnation Trilogy kick, and so I can safely say that with those disclaimers in mind, I have written seven chapters representing 136 pages in Damnation I: The Scouring of Morthir.

At the start of this month, I have written an additional 24 pages in Damnation I, but I may be scrapping most of them and starting again from relative scratch. I believe that with the diverging narratives in the current act, the novel will be better served if I write them completely out of order while riding off of specific inspiration, so that way the tone remains consistent throughout them all, and so not a one is written unevenly from the rest. As far as I am concerned, I can stitch them all back together later.

I look forward to sharing more of my journey. I will be back in a couple months.

[trickster-shi]

Okay so. I've read your home across the universe series fully, and I'm busy with my second read through. It's just so good. I'm waiting for my AO3 account to set it up and be able to actually bookmark and comment that way but I seriously need you to know how amazing the whole 'verse you've created is. Reading it and seeing all the updates pop up has been the highlight of a very bleak year.

I absolutely love your writing style, it captures everything in such a perfect measure and mix of the emotional, physical, thoughts, actions etc. It's honestly incredible. I can picture everything so clearly as I read and it's wonderful.

I especially love the way you characterise everyone. Even while making the 'verse your own and tweeking the characters personalities cuz if their ages and lives and backgrounds, you stuck to the basics of all their personalities and that's an insane talent you have.

I'm a massive fan of Noah Stilinski and the way you write him is literally my favourite written version of him. I eat it up like I'm starving. The whole dynamic and flow of his and Stiles' relationship is brought to incredible life in your writing. I LOVE me some Stilinski fam. The acknowledgement of the ways Noah can fall short while having him do better and all that was awesome.

Also, what first gave you the idea for the series at all?? And what ideas can you share that you might have for it in future? Do you have any headcannons that you have specific to your verse?

Just go ham and talk about your writing cuz I love it and I would love to hear and see more!!!

Loads of love and support!

- Tae

Oh my gosh, Tae, this comment made my morning and made me cry! Thank you for your kind words, I’m so very happy you enjoyed my ‘verse so much, it’s the highlight of my day to know it brought someone happiness. (Internet hugs!) And I can definitely go ham talking about this ‘verse :D

To be honest, I wrote this series because I needed to prove to myself I still could write something, anything. When I started it I was near to burnout. I’d self published a book I’d been writing and rewriting for years, and every draft I wrote for the sequel just did not work. I kept finishing drafts, editing, tweaking, and nothing in it came out right. So I would start from scratch and try again, and again, until I got to a point where it was like…I didn’t know if I could write anymore. I felt like I had lost the ability, like everything I’d ever learned about writing was trickling away and there was no way to stop it.

All my words felt like garbage.

I kept trying because writing has been the main constant in my life and living without it, giving up, was too scary to contemplate. But there was a wall I just couldn’t seem to get past, so I turned to fan fiction more and more to lose myself in when writing left me feeling like a fraud.

I got hooked on time travel au’s and read everything under that tag for Teen Wolf. I also read some superhero au’s, and ideas just started click-clacking in my brain, bouncing off each other, trying to make a picture. I resisted at first because I’d never written for Teen Wolf before, just Supernatural, so I was apprehensive about getting the characters wrong. Iin the end I decided, what the hell. Fanfic was supposed to be fun, I needed something fun, something interesting and new.

And I wanted more Sheriff Stilinski because, hell yeah, he is an AWESOME character and his relationship with Stiles was one of the first things that really fascinated me when I started watching the show. I always wished more had been done with him, there was so much potential. So once I had enough ideas mashed together in my head I wrote Teenage Vigilante Witch fast and hard. I didn’t let myself sit too much on it. In fact, it was finished before I started posting and I got the whole thing up in one day and then just sat back and marveled at the fact that I’d finished something. Finished it, threw it out into the world, and didn’t let my perfectionism get in the way for once. And it grated, because that story was (and still is) incredibly rough.

But I proved I could still write. That gave me hope.

Then the comments started pouring in. It was like discovering what water was like after wandering a desert for an eternity. The kindness, the encouragement, the love that came through from everyone who read it was amazing and I couldn’t believe it. That initial validation warmed me and commenters wondered if there would be more. I was still gun-shy about sequels, especially since I hadn’t written the Sheriff’s POV yet. So Case 405 came about as testing the waters with his POV and inner voice, and that was well received, so I sat down to figure out what else I wanted to explore, because I loved playing in this world and I knew there was more to tell.

Before I started on Whistle in the Dark, I decided on some parameters for the series to keep it narrowed down and deliberate. I have a bad habit of wandering sometimes, and losing the plot, and then getting myself stuck, which was part of what happened with the sequel I wrote and burned out on.

I decided that I wanted to focus on the father-son relationship, as well as the budding brotherly relationship between older and younger Stiles. I wanted to explore the canon trauma Stiles came with and to build off it for what I changed, because so much of his suffering was swept under the rug. I wanted to dig into what it would mean to be transported to a parallel world with no hope or point in returning, how that would effect someone, how they would learn to build a new life for themselves.

So that became the focus of the new stories and as I built and explored I listened to the comments people were leaving to get a feel for what worked and what didn’t and the feedback was so helpful in how the series came to be shaped. For once I didn’t feel alone on the journey, and it continues to humble and amaze me that so many other people found comfort in the story and loved it enough to keep up with it for over two years. The entire experience taught me a lot, enough that I feel way more confident returning to original stories because my biggest dream is still to be a published author and for my books to support me.

But I’m still going to write fan fiction. Some sandboxes are too much fun not to play in and I have a TW/Firefly series that will be updated soon, as well as a couple unrelated one shots that I’ll be finishing next year when I’m not working on a new original project that I hope to have published by the end of 2023 or early 2024 (fingers crossed!).

As for the future of the series, I have one more story planned to tell in it. More of like an extended epilogue that takes place about seven years down the road for all the characters. That one will complete this series. I don’t want to give too much away, but I will say that the Stilinski clan continues to expand a little, the young pack continues to get into shenanigans, the hunters are still sort of around, and the sheriff is still watching over everything with a sharp papa bear-eye. ;) Oh, and Derek and Stiles are even more adorable and supportive of each other (or more obnoxious, if you ask Mini-Stiles, he's got Opinions).

Oh, headcanons. I could be here for days with this, lol! I will say there is one head canon I really hold onto but didn’t use for this series, and that is that Parrish is actually Camden Lahey. I saw that one going around on Tumblr and forgot about it, then saw it again after writing Camden into the story and it was one of those moments I wanted to scream, because that would have been such a cool element to include and for Stiles to grapple with. But I’m okay with how Camden turned out anyway. And Parrish may find a way to appear in the epilogue in some shape or form, we’ll have to see.

Thank you so much for messaging me today, Tae. It was a wonderful present to find after I woke up this morning and thank you for asking me to talk about the series. It truly became a labor of love and it helped me combat the darkness in my own life so I’m so happy it was able to do the same for others. I would not mind doing this again if there’s anything else you want to know.

Thank you again, and I hope you have a wonderful day and/or holiday! <3<3<3

[lilithderayne]

My WIPs: The Others, Book #1 of The Others Series

I thought I would give an overview of my WIPs, as I would like to post more about their progress in the future. I will make an initial post about each WIP, then post updates accordingly with the proper tag.

The Others (The Others Series, Book #1)

It is mostly complete, but the drafting process is going to be long and vigorous. There is going to be some rough and merciless editing. No matter how much it hurts me to remove certain things, they have to go. (Shoutout to @stolenavalanche for being the only person reading and editing this trainwreck thus far btw.) Fantasy world set inside the human world. Supernatural creatures. Werewolves. Half-humans. A Troll or five. Some Spirits/Ghosts. No unicorns, sorry!

This is going to be really hard for me to explain, I failed every English assignment that included summarizing. But, here goes nothing.

It is a pretty normal good vs. evil fight, but it has so much leading up to that point that I can't even begin to summarize it. This would be 10 feet long. (It already might be.) Basically, there is a fight to save their kind, and possibly human kind, from the world domination of an evil, extremely powerful mofo.

The plot centers around a young woman named Divinity Lea Matthews, or Divinity No Last Name when she finds her own kind. She later becomes Divinity Lea Gray-Richards. Divinity has been a freak since her birth, constantly suffering in the human world, until Chandler Berk finds out who and what she is and brings her to the mansion to be kept safe. It is there that it is discovered she will be the savior of their kind.

Let’s visit the basics.

The World:

This WIP is about two kinds of creatures created by spirits breeding with humans. There are the Darkling's, or the Kindling's. These two species' are called, overall, either Others of Halfling's.

The Darkling's, despite their name, are not inherently evil. Nor are Kindling's inherently good.

The Halfling's, as the main characters prefers compared to Others, are created when a spirit inhabits a human man and breeds with a woman.

The Dark Spirits do this by force, possessing a man who is already cruel and twisted. They proceed to devour the human's memories and soul, until they can pass as the host they inhabit. No one is ever the wiser.

The children of this coupling are powerful half-humans with a slew of superhuman powers. They look like humans, mostly, however a form of transformation can take place when they are angry. They must be taught to control this, and their powers.

Good Spirits, which create Kindling's, make a trade of sorts with their hosts. The human retains full control of their minds, souls, and usually bodies. They get longer, fuller lives without sickness. In return, the spirit gets to experience life again.

Kindling's are also gifted with powers, but they are more defensive. Many are healers. Some can see the future. Some are used as vessels to bring prophesies into the world. Unlike fortune telling, these prophesies are guaranteed to come to pass.

All Halfling's are unnaturally attractive. The children are bordering on ethereal.

The world itself is on earth, and it has all the normal, modern things we see today. There are a couple things maybe a little sci-fi-y, but it's pretty normal overall.

It is centered mostly around a mansion set below a mountain in a fictional part of California. However, the opening chapters are in Nevada. There are a few parts that are in Washington and Oregon, fictionalized, and Russia, also fictionalized.

The Dynamics of this world:

Halfling Powers:

Halfling's powers, or gifts, come in a wide range. The most prominently mentioned among Darkling's are:

Telekinesis.

A few different versions of Telepathy, or The Touch as the main characters choose to call it.

The ability to tweak time, to a reasonable extent. NOT TIME TRAVELING.

“Retrievers” who feel others of their kind.

The ability to make others feel things (physically) that are not there. (Itching, bee stings.)

The ability to imbue objects with feelings, emotions, and sometimes the product of others powers. (Calmness, levelheadedness, bravery, energy, healing.)

Shields, they come in all different strengths. (Pretty self-explanatory otherwise.)

Reading the future or seeing the outcome of certain decisions.

Healing. (Very rare in Darkling's but there are some.)

The ability to converse with animals.

Kindling's can have all these abilities as well, but they are usually less offensive.

Kindling's are most often:

Healers, all different strengths. Some can only heal bruises or scrapes, others can bring their people back from the very brink of death.

Prophesiers. Unlike fortune tellers, what prophesiers say comes to pass. No matter what.

Powerful affinities to plants and animals.

(I freely admit that I don't focus as much on Kindling's. They stay to their own, mostly. They are more secretive by nature. My main character often sarcastically compares them to elves.)

All Halfling’s have the ability to Dream Walk, or enter each others dreams to communicate. They also have extreme control over their memories, so much so that they can either: A: Watch a memory from a third person point of view. Or B: Relive the memory like they were there all over again, from inside their (past) body.

Power Limits:

If Halfling's overuse their gifts, they can become weak or even die. Even my protagonist, dubbed the strongest of her kind, is shown to have some limits. Her Shield is especially draining in battle.

However, their gifts can be exercised and built like muscles. Some are simply weaker than others by nature, but they all have something about them. It is a very diverse power system.

Magic:

While I find magic fun, and it receives quite a few mentions, it is not a focal point of the first book, nor the second. There is no clear magic system, except that some people, human or otherwise, can use it and some can't. Magic is mostly mentioned when speaking of the mansion where Halfling's of North America dwell, as it is heavily enchanted to deter trespassers. (There are some fun loopholes that cause lots of juicy problems, though.)

Werewolves, when they appear, are more frequent users of magic than Halfling's. Which brings me to...

Other supernatural beings:

There are, of course, my original creatures that I created. (Including their reproduction!) But there are also other supernatural creatures.

Werewolves perhaps get the most plot time besides Halfling's, and they're pretty normal for folklore. There are some differences, like the way the Pack is run. It is split into Domestic Affairs (more like a regular government) and then the Pack Alpha and hierarchy that we know and love.

Third most mentioned supernatural creature after werewolves is Spirits and/or Ghosts.

Not your run-of-the-mill pale white, nearly invisible ghosts. When they walk the earth, they are in full color. Their edges are transparent and sometimes flicker, but they can touch others.

Spirits, on the other hand, are usually non-corporal versions of ghosts. They are not generally helpful, and are often the typical we think of with ghosts. Stuck between death and life. They can be the same ones that possess human hosts, but I honestly don't go into the distinctions much. (I probably should.)

There are also mentions of trolls, which the antagonist has in his army of general evilness. Trolls are human beings, twisted by dark magic in a bid to gain superhuman strength. They become stupid killing machines, with no sense of self. Easy to control by anyone with evil intentions.

There are mentions of vampires, but they are NOT what you think when you think vampires. I won't go into it much, but they are evil spirits of a different kind. Only corporal and vaguely human to feed, they are utterly uncontrollable and created from the darkest magic.

And then there's skeletons or dead people, resurrected by necromancy to fight the war that occurs in this book. Again, evil, twisted spirits will be called into dead bodies to reanimate them. Extremely strong, and hard to kill. Unless you've got a match and some lighter fluid on your person.

God(s):

Halfling's do not believe in any gods and have found no proof, however there may be some confusion near the 2/3ish mark of the book on this point.

A character dies and goes to a dark, empty abyss. There, they are met by Death's Mistress, or what is referred to as Reaper. Reaper then gives them a new prophesy, and a life lesson, before breathing life back into the character and sending them back to the living to continue the fight for Halfling kind.

Reaper continues to aid the characters throughout the book, even allowing certain spirits to return to earth for brief moments to speak to their loved ones. At a ceremony, Death himself appears alongside Reaper and loved ones near the end to witness the turning point in Halfling history.

Whether Reaper and Death are gods, that I leave up to personal opinions. (For the first book, at least. I'm toying with revisiting this as a sub-plot.)

Life Span, Health, Boring Physical Stuff:

Halfling's can live anywhere from 100 to 300 years, on average. In some rare cases, they can live up to or over 500 years. They are NOT immortal, although users of dark magic or gifts can twist themselves into becoming fairly close to it.

They are immune to most diseases, and burn off most drugs completely or at least very quickly. Some drugs, specifically created by Halfling's or werewolves, do work on them. They have to drink A LOT to get drunk.

Briefly mentioned somewhere around the 1/3ish part of the book, Darkling's have a distinct mark on their backs. It is personal to each of them. (Honestly I should revisit this too and elaborate because damn I missed some great sub-plot by only mentioning it in passing ANYWAYS MOVING ON.)

They have major reproductive issues, theorized to be due to their origins. Not quite human but not quite spirits, their bodies are different. This causes a drastically different way of continuing their race, with nearly 80% of pregnancies not making it. This causes children, whether their own or others, to be cherished.

And finally,

Characters!:

I won’t go into all my characters and their personalities, that would take days, but here are some of the main characters physical features we see regularly through the book:

Divinity Lea Matthews: Darkling. Hazel eyes. Dark brunette hair, red-gold highlights. Five feet two inches. High cheekbones, full cheeks. Medium breasts. Full hips and thighs. Sarcastic little shit.

Marcus: Evil monster of this series. Will not describe because hate his guts.

Chandler Berk: Darkling. Jade green eyes. Sandy hair. Six feet four inches. High cheekbones, native features. Muscular. Wide shoulders. Also a sarcastic little shit.

Darius Samual: Nasty human that doesn’t deserve recognition.

Detective Marx: Not gonna lie, I never really described Marx. He’s a big guy, weather worn, but gentle. Nice human that deserves more recognition than I give him.

Alvin The Cuddle Moocher: A cat. He deserves all the cat treats.

Elaine: Alvin’s slave. Kindling. Long bright red hair. Vivacious. A bit crass. Very sassy and head strong. Puts Divinity in her place, which takes mad ballsiness.

Nathaniel Gray: Storm cloud gray eyes. Reddish-brunette hair. Six feet. Kinda a wuss but it gets better once his Archilles Heel is out of the way.

Lucy Gray: Light blue eyes. Platinum blonde hair. Four feet eleven inches. Gentle, soft facial features. Full breasts. Tiny, birdlike. Loving. Mothering. Hoarder of knowledge and creepy books. (Surprisingly one of my favorite characters somehow.)

Bane: Darkling. Blue and silver eyes. Dark brunette hair. Six feet. Strong boned, sharp jawline. Muscular. Sexy as fuck. Sometimes sarcastic. Sometimes badass and scary. Usually very sweet and kind. Caleb Richards: .....How to describe very sexy werewolf that I would definitely bang. He hot. That’s all I’m willing to be forthcoming about. You just gotta read him to believe him.

Word Count: Nearly 235k. Might be more or less by the end of editing, who knows.

(Apologies in advance for shitty summary. I tried!)

[caixxa]

WIP week day 3: Canon-Verse fic

I think it’s arguable whether rpf fic is ever canon-verse. But as far as it can be, the fic I kept working on today is. It keeps quite strictly to real-life timeline and the story is in many points tied to real-life occurrences, news, people and connections.

I got the edit ready. The word count of the 5-chapter fic has grown from 27,7K to 29,5K. I’m now going to let it rest for a moment before I start to update the ao3 version; that process has been started, though. I have downloaded the existing version so I can refer to it if I later want to.

Today was mostly about editing and making minor corrections. The additions to the first 2 chapters required only a little tweaking in the end.

Anyway, from my point of view this WIP week has already served its purpose: one WIP less!

I added these (draft-stage, at this point; I don’t know if I’m 100% satisfied with them and that’s the main reason I’m letting the text rest for a while) sentences between two paragraphs:

But, on the other hand, Olli was the first one he told about Sebastian. And he has lately let Olli know how wrongly he had judged him.

It’s only fair that Sebastian knows about their shared past.

This is the fic: Jussi at Jussi’s (in the brightness of my night) / hockey rpf, locked to users only.

[purkinje-effect]

The Anatomy of Melancholy, 14

Table of Contents Go to first. Go to previous. Go to next.

Updated 2019.01.29. Minor name tweaks.

Pretty hard surveillance tw on this one, ah. And you get a cookie if you can spot the historical conspiracy reference.

Melancholy locked the pharmacy's front door behind himself, then wheeled to the back and took the elevator to the second floor. As he exited the car, Angel came from the break room about the same time, and stopped him in the lounge area.

"Ah, Sir!" It paused, genuinely confused. "Did you just come from downstairs? I was just thinking I needed to check on you. How did your little rooftop rendezvous go with your chums, ha ha!"

"--About that." 'Choly chewed at his lip and eyed his Handy-bot. He favored pushing past it in the belief it would follow. "I know it's a bit early, but could I bother you for a bit of dinner? Really, anything will do."

"Good that you're open to variety," Angel replied, right behind him as expected, "for we haven't got it. I'm afraid all we have left is Halloween candy, a few boxes of Instamash, and BlamCo Mac. Really, we should consider replenishing our pantry next you feel up to it. Perhaps a trip to the grocer's is in order, hm? You did outfit me with this dandy harness, and update my hydraulics, so that I might facilitate that kind of endeavor, after all." It held up two boxes, a red and gold square one and a thin flat teal one. "Would you rather the potatoes or the macaronis?"

"Mm. The macaronis."

While it put back the square box and commenced preparation of the other, it hummed a jaunty vaguely-British tune which its owner couldn't quite place. 'Choly set down his syringer and hood on the table, and with a lump in his throat, he watched the robot.

"Angel, I've been giving it some thought. About how Defense Intelligence Agency gifted me with you when I first came over. I... I know the DIA used you to spy on me. That it wasn't just nationalization effort to adjust me to culture and language. I also know the DIA fell with the rest of the government. We can talk more openly now, don't you think? Being honest with you is going to help us both help each other. Sure, the mandatory name change didn’t fool anybody: everyone still all thought I was a Russian spy or something. But really? They approached me, offered me the position at Deenwood. Part of transplanting key Asian experts into the US military, best I can tell. What can I say? I get bribed easily with promise of access to big toys. But really. All I was hiding was chem trafficking. Lots and lots of chem trafficking."

"I know, Sir."

"--Hawthorne and I--" The chemist cringed and glazed over. "Wait, what?"

"I know all about you and Mister Hawthorne's business practices. I didn't report any of that because it's not what I was programmed to identify and report. They cared only how you handled confidential information. My objections to your proclivities have always wholly been in my interest of preserving your health and quality of life, Sir." It stopped a moment to let the saucepan boil on the hot plate, but readily resumed stirring it as needed. "I am still transmitting this to proper authorities, mind."

The inability to process Angel's response elicited a strange smile.

"Yes, of course. You're likely transmitting to skeletons, but I understand."

He nearly related that Communism had lost, but so had Capitalism. It didn't serve to argue no clear winner when in the nuclear exchange, everyone had lost. His head hurt, between the goings-on with Jared and learning his robot had concealed this level of self-awareness from him from the beginning. In attempting transparency so his activities would come as no surprise, he could have never expected his robot to reciprocate such honesty.

Back when he trafficked chems under the paranoia of crossing the DIA's scrutiny, he'd taught himself enough robotics to defuse what bugging technology he could identify, such that these variably sophisticated sensors transmitted all-clear, where simply disabling them would have drawn attention to any tampering. Yet, even now the remnants of his robotics knowledge would benefit him, to perform maintenance on this stunning testament to the longevity of General Atomics craftsmanship.

Still, the possibility nagged in the back of his head, that Angel's transmissions might ever amount to conflict. He'd discounted the possibility of an existing surviving population, after all. He could get all manner of things wrong, including the radio death of the DIA. He'd have to do something about the bugging equipment, to sate his paranoia. Regardless, it relieved him that his cyclomorphine research had only come up between him and his business partner within the month leading up to the apocalypse. The nature of the chems he had skimmed hadn't stimulated his Handy to rat him out, but provided that it ever determined that any of the military compounds he'd formulated had left the compound...

Worst of all, he understood with horror, was the likelihood he was entirely right about the demise of the Agency. The only thing that had kept him in line after his American conscription was the threat of surveillance. Who now existed in this wasteland save himself compassionate enough to mitigate his moral compass for him? He doubted even he could keep himself from acting out on fantasies any longer, the more he recognized them trickling into mundane waking world. Of any aspect of this creeping reality, that terrified him most: more than the ghouls, more than the mutated insects, more than anything else he had not yet encountered that his imagination could not reliably fabricate. Who had the audacity to grant him self-agency?

Angel, presenting its owner a bowl of creamy reconstituted pasta, startled him from his waking nightmare.

"Bh--hoze--" He found himself frowning as he rapidly and repeatedly retraced his platysmal scar. Angel joined the bowl with a shot glass and the near-empty bottle of whiskey, and he poured himself a glass with his head hung. "Thanks, Angel."

"Sorry to startle you. You were most lost in thought."

"Doesn't change a thing." He favored eating over starting with the liquor for once. After a few bites, he cleared his throat. "So, I suppose I should explain my sudden willing openness. I have a job now. Salaried. I might still pick at the by-commission rooftop sales on the side, if it goes smoothly."

"My stars! What exciting news." Angel's movements seemed lyrical and airy a moment before it shifted to a scattered panic. "When do you start! Oh, oh dear. We've nothing for you to take for lunch! We must--"

"Angel. Angel, it's all right." 'Choly snapped his fingers a few times, then continued eating. "Stay with me. Maybe once I get Jared the information he needs, we can make a trip out of the pharmacy. That way, I can draft a laundry list of what all we need to scavenge for."

"Apologies, Sir. I'm just..." It idled beside him with its tendril-limbs curled up close. "I'm so eager for both of us. You've no idea how elated I am that I can foster vocational habits in you again. Tend to you, like... before. The normality of routine--that's the cement you need to get back to your old self. Ha ha!"

"Mmh. Makes two of us." He washed down the cardboardesque pasty mouthful with half the shot and, with a sigh, absently tapped his spoon in the dish. "I doubt the lab here would be suitable for the scale of distillation he described. Don't much like the idea of that much manure in the pharmacy, anyway. You're fond of reminding me not to bring home my work with me, and I think we can both agree that this building is very much becoming my home now. I don't think you need to remind me to leave that elsewhere."

"I haven't the slightest what you're on about, but manure? Yes, I'm quite glad we're in agreement that it doesn't belong indoors."

"Talking aloud. Imagine it doesn't make much sense. Mm mmh." He finished off the serving and shot glass, and sat back in thought. "I surveyed the assembly plant before I returned, and I think there's a good place there to set up a vat-style rig. Lots of pipes to make use of. Maybe... maybe refining a few water heaters...." With a sniff, he adjusted his glasses and glanced down to his Pip-Boy. "I'm going to get working on my invoice. Thank you for dinner."

"Of course, Mister Carey!" It cleared the table for him.

"I'm going to have to fix that one of these days," 'Choly mumbled to himself as he wandered off in the chair to nurture a Berries-induced engineering conflagration.

Taking stock as he navigated the building, he absently annotated in his Pip-Boy with blind keyless keystrokes, and as he went, he cross-referenced these against a more coherent draft he composed for Jared. In his ramble, he listed off various possible equipment which they could combined into a small-scale substitute for the mechanisms by which to load the crate of empty inhalers he had on hand in the pharmacy lab. To sustain the chem habit Jared sought to cultivate, there would have to be a tacit recycling effort of paraphernalia until they could locate more actuators. Too, he requested minimal opposition from Jared's crew as he toured Lexington, endearing that the city must already belong to the raider boss, or inevitably that it would. Something of this new world civility tickled 'Choly, and he guarded any potential conflict with the raiders by asking permission to scout the Super Duper Mart. Self-serving, he also tacked on a postscript that Jared's crew supply him with large quantities of Abraxo cleaner, to make possible synthesizing fresh Mentats of any variety, and he cited the need to stay sharp for the task at hand. By the end of the evening, he read it all over one more time and transcribed it onto a piece of card stock packaging, then shoved the results in the capsule pipeline.

He sank into his seat at Eleanor's desk and slumped his head along his outstretched arms. He popped a few painkillers in his mouth and chewed them mindlessly, and washed it down with the stale coffee he'd forgotten on the desk at some point. The familiar post-Berries headache crawled across his skull, but he hardly cursed it. The brain was just like a muscle in some regards, after all--running a marathon is a very different thing for someone who's prepared at length for it as opposed to someone who dashes from start to finish without even stretching beforehand. The habit would return. He'd gladly nurse it.

As he started to drift off, radio static echoed in Eleanor's office. Bewildered, he squinted and rubbed at his head as he pushed the button on the intercom.

"Chemist--" The caller was Jared. "You expect me to read this novel when you've got a working comm?"

'Choly grunted and resumed leaning on the desk. He hadn't expected Jared to come himself.

"I can hear your awful face paint loud and clear." He stiffened, double checking whether the button was depressed for automatic two-way chat, or if he'd simply held it a moment to check the caller. He swallowed hard and pushed the button again, hoping Jared hadn't heard that. "Sorry. I have more than a bit of a headache right now. And this is the first I knew that restoring power to the building had also restored the intercom."

"Fuck you're longwinded." Jared paused at length. "It's always the quiet ones. Ugh."

"Apologies. I was just trying to be thorough. Operating on the presumption that our correspondences over the invoice would all be written word, I just figured that a comprehensive list of everything that came to mind would limit how much time got wasted. I'm guessing you've had a chance to look it over?"

"Yeah, I got it. Flattery will get you everywhere in my town. You have the most unnervingly good handwriting I've ever seen, but I still can't believe I'm reading this right. You want in the SDM? You really are crazy. I'm not wasting warm bodies on that, but far be it for me to turn down the proposition of you spreading around any profit to be had of your confidence that you can manage it. Try not to die before we even get started. And get me some Sugar Bombs while you're at it."

Even Jared thought it a terrible plan to try to scavenge the grocer's for food reserves. 'Choly would have to think things through for certain, and he hid his anxiety over it behind a tiny chuckle.

"Heh, I can do that. What... about the other things I mentioned?"

"You've gone from asking for cash to asking for a metric fuckton of soap. That's marginally more sane than most of the things you've said today, but even that's pushing it. We're going in the right direction. Yeah, I've got a lead on where to load up on Abraxo, but remember. I'm only interested in Mentats as far as they're helpful to distilling my Jet. My project takes priority over any of your unrelated fun, and don't forget it." Jared snorted. "Still, you're going to have to let me try some of these infamous Berries you won't shut up about."

"Oh, for certain." 'Choly rubbed at his temples, his voice strained. "I swear by them. Only way I got through my military contract."

When Jared had nothing to say for a little too long, 'Choly realized that had been entirely the wrong thing to say.

"You a fuckin Brotherhood defector? That takes balls."

"Oh, I, no. The actual military. I'm a Pharm Corps chemist. Nine years, eight months, for Anchorage."

That had been an even worse thing to say.

"--I grow impatient with this conversation, chemist. Give me a few days to gather up what you've requested. Answer your damn comm when I come knocking." Jared snarled. "You're really starting to piss me off. If you're gonna get high like this all the time, at least journal your trips so they're useful to more than just you, all right?"

This time, 'Choly remained silent for a bit. Had he heard the raider right?

"You... want a transcript of my high?" 'Choly licked his lips and held in a breath as he stared at his Pip-Boy. "I... I can absolutely do that. You're in luck that that's... already an habituation of mine."

"All right. Now that, I like to hear. Expect to share. Both... experience and goods. Heh." At first, 'Choly had thought that was the end of it, but then Jared came back with somewhat sarcastic enthusiasm. "Let me know how your grocery trip goes."

"For certain."

When the intercom stayed idle for several minutes, relief oozed out of him, and he slouched back in the chair with a groan. He removed his glasses and dug his fingers into his eyelids. He could appreciate that Jared was on board with his plan, and that the raider was willing to accommodate interests that ran in direct tangent to the grand scheme. But, this conversation also solidified the contract into something tangible and unable to ignore. The chemist had a job again. Responsibilities. Someone he had to answer to. On the other hand, this also meant more of the building worked than he thought previous. If he intended to set foot outside the pharmacy, he was going to have to throw together a sign for the intercom, so that anyone who came calling would know he wasn't just blowing them off.

In the mean time, he took to the couch in Eleanor's office and passed out halfway through disrobing.

Go to Next »»»

[cyndecreativity]

RE: latest ask game

L, O, X, Z

How do you select the names of your characters?

Names? Over the years I’ve made a bunch of characters for video games and DnD and stuff and MOST of the time, I will just use whatever pops into my head first. In the beginning, that meant I was using things I enjoyed, like Lucretia. But I’ve tried to move away from that by virtue of people deciding those names are memes now. In some video games, where there’s a randomizer, I would randomize until I found a good name that I could tweak to something I liked. Siliandra was my name in FFXI and then I used it again in World of Warcraft, then I shortened it to Liandra for Dragon Age and Dark Souls.

For Zodiac, the names were all my husband’s idea. The characters were originally his, and they’ve changed into something else, but kept the names. He’s a huge DnD player and the names are things like William Fymithral or Garren Grin. Characters I made are things like Idania, so named because I looked up a name for my Spanish class (Mireya) and found Idania to mean something like hardworking in some other language and liked it. And I’ve never found it again. The other names were just from Wikipedia. EXCEPT for Jorgus. 

We were talking about the outline I had and he suggested a character he called Jonesy as like this shitty bully kid. I said that’d be his last name, of course, and since we were watching all of JoJo, he said his name should be something to facilitate JoJo. I said I was gonna name his Fergus because it’s a sufficiently bad name that would warrant wanting to call him something else, like Jonesy for his last name. My husband laughed and said we should just call him Jorgus, that way it’d be JoJo. And I made a face and then said, you know what? Yeah. His name is Jorgus now.

What types of scenes are hardest for you to write?

Scenes that are the hardest for me to write are usually scenes with some kind of broken thought process or struggling not to identify the POV character. I was trying to write a scene that I eventually gave up on with one of my characters tied to a post and scared because they’re supposed to be “feral” from being in the woods for years, alone, and hunted. I just couldn’t do it.

I used to think I couldn’t do fight scenes, but I read a fanfic I wrote in like 2014 and there was a pretty cool fight scene near the end and I was like Oh, maybe I can do that? I guess they’re still the hardest.

(I spend a lot of time instrospecting so those aren’t really the hardest for me.)

I also have problems with either knowing where I want a scene to end, starting it, and finding the characters reacting to stimuli in ways that don’t lead to the conclusion I wanted. So, like, trying to get two characters to bone and they won’t. Or getting two characters to reconcile and they won’t.

I have found, however, that I’ve turned to Stage Direction style writing wherein I have too many short sentences depicting like a turn or a look without any kind of thought. And with my Dragon Age fanfic, I used that as my first draft. But now I’m self-conscious about it so it’s getting harder to look at it as a First Draft, which means I can’t just go on. Ah, the struggles of being a writer.

What inspires you as a writer?

I actually feel like I answered this a while ago, let’s see. Without reading it, let’s see if I can answer this with any similarity.

I’ve been having this argument with my husband about ART because he’s an artist and he respects and admires Nier and Nier Automata for it’s artistic value and he loves Evangelion. And I can’t... find it within myself to do so. So I’ve decided to call myself a philistine in defense of my distaste for these things. I don’t find beauty or meaning in them. Either because their messages are not clear enough or they’re desiring a specific reaction that I’m not able to have because I am the beholder and what I glean from the piece is not necessarily what you said. Maybe.

So inspiration for me comes in the form of gaining that beauty and enjoyment from something and wanting to also do that thing. I really enjoyed, say, FF6 and the character that I loved the most was Edgar. So I want to write something that gives him a happy ending with a character that totally isn’t some better version of me an OC. I loved watching my favorite Youtuber play a randomizer, so now I’m going to play one. I loved reading a book, so now I’m gonna write one.

That’s kinda the long and short of it. What inspires me is the joy I can feel from the thing I’m engaging with, either the fandom’s love or the media itself.

What made you decide to write your story?

I want to say that I didn't consciously decide anything. Most of the stories I come up with are solely because I couldn't sleep of I'm inspired by fixing something in a given story I've experienced. I want to see these two characters smooch or help one get closure and better mental health, etc.

My husband has been having a bit of an issue with his mental health re: his own art, and I’ve explained this same thing to him: You have to decide if doing the thing you like to do is worth more than the pain of NOT doing it. For me, that manifests as writing even if, like, once a month, I am miserable because I didn’t get the attention I wanted on the work I’ve put in on something. Why bother writing when no one reads it? Because the writing is more fun to me than the misery of being ignored.

And that’s kind of all of it. I don’t really have any conscious themes or activism or anything that I’m trying to convey in my stories, they’re just stories I came up with and had to write because I was having One Fun doing it. Zodiac is too fun for me to give up, it’s a nice healthy default state to settle into whenever I can’t sleep. “What if Alden is in the basement? That’s where they fight? Eli would notice that, though. So Tristan fights him in the burrow- how long would he had been there?”

Or, you know, “I should go back and update these stories I wrote and enjoyed when I was a kid. Make this Edgar/OC fanfic better, fix up this Protomen fanfic, tweak this Loki thing, rewrite the FF7 one. Yeah, that’s nice.”

Thank you for asking!

[kineticallyanywhere]

Arrowverse-Pokemon AU Masterlist

THIS HAS BEEN SITTING IN MY DRAFTS FOR AN EMBARRASSING AMOUNT OF TIME HERE JUST TAKE IT BEFORE I FORGET ABOUT IT COMPLETELY

I encourage the overlap of au ideas as well as the separation of different aus for the same topic! That being said, this is the masterlist of pokemon teams for the Arrowverse-Pokemon AU that I want to curate myself. What I’ve collected so far includes my own inspiration as well as inspiration from others here on tumblr, including @hedgiwithapen, @zapiarty, and @fouroct (if I’ve left you out, or we’ve talked after the original posting of this, please let me know so I can add you to this list!) Again, I highly encourage the cultivation of other pokemon aus, even with the slightest differences, if what I’ve collected isn’t quite to your liking. 

So here’s what I’ve got:

Arrow

Oliver:

Leafeon - an eevee he received in childhood which evolved on Lian Yu

Decidueye - received as a Rowlett from Yao Fei, which evolved to Dartrix after year 2, and into Decidueye during year 5. Decidueye is representative of the Green Arrow, and is kept secret from the general public. Oliver even passes Decidueye to John when he passes off the mantle during season 6.

Persian - childhood pokemon. He was afraid of boats, and was left behind during Oliver’s five years away. When Oliver, disappeared, so did he. When Oliver secretly came back to Starling City during year 3, he found Oliver almost right away and even evolved during the fight with the drug dealer. However, Oliver left Persian behind to protect Thea, and to be his reminder to come home. Persian came back to the spotlight the same time Oliver Queen did. 

(Undecided fighting type. Mienfoo maybe?)

John:

Felicity:

Porygon Z - Felicity hacked the code for Porygon and posted it online during her hacktivist days. In her free time during her days at Queen Consolidated, she put together a software upgrade for Porygon 2. She got a hardware upgrade from Cisco after season 3 to get to Porygon Z.

Thea:

Pangoro - Pancham was a gift from Oliver that he picked up on his way home from Lian Yu. She evolved during Thea’s training with Malcolm.

Persian (Alolan form) - childhood pokemon. Evolved only after her decision to hang up her quiver after season 4. 

Liepard - childhood pokemon, evolved while Oliver was away when she was a teenager. She never wants to talk about the evolution event itself.

Furfrou - a gift from her mother in hopes to help Thea cope after the Queen’s Gambit went down. 

Curtis:

Rene:

Dinah:

Umbreon - 

The Flash

Barry:

Jolteon - 

Growlith - 

Caitlin:

Glaceon - “Dr. Wells” gave Eevees to his top employees. Caitlin’s didn’t evolve until the first time she went full Killer Frost. 

Vulpix [Ice] - before their wedding, Caitlin secretly bought a Vulpix egg for Ronnie. 

Vulpix [Fire] (Alolan Form) - before their wedding Ronnie secretly bought a Vulpix egg for Caitlin. 

Cisco:

Klinklang [Ma Jun] - Ma Jun was one of the pokemon who belonged to the school where Cisco took his first college engineering classes. Klink has some behavioral issues that put it’s own life at risk and made it ultimately useless to the teachers, so Cisco took it in himself and worked to make sure that Ma Jun would always be spinning enough to stay alive, and named it after a Chinese Mechanical engineer. 

Aipom [Tesla] - childhood pokemon who was cheap because he had a birth defect - he doesn’t have a tail-hand. So, Cisco made him a robotic one. It gets upgrades every once in a while. 

Porygon Z [Ghost] (shiny) - In high school, Cisco found a pirated copy of the code to made a Porygon. He was hoping that by slightly tweaking the code, he could get a Porygon that would be able to connect to the internet and help keep Cisco updated on the latest mechanical feats and programming developments. Instead, his Porygon came out the wrong color, and spends all of its free time taking Buzzfeed quizzes. He named it Ghost, in honor of the hacktivist who released the Porygon code, GhostFoxGoddes. After meeting Felicity, she shared the software upgrade to evolve Ghost into Porygon 2. During his down time after the events of season 1, Cisco developed the hardware to evolve Porygon 2 into Porygon Z. 

Espeon [Ada] - “Dr. Wells” gave Eevees to his top employees. Ada evolved seemingly out of nowhere during Cisco’s kidnapping by the Snarts. 

Lucario - “Dr. Wells” gave Cisco a Riolu for protection after Cisco’s kidnapping. There were some trust issues for a while after “Dr. Wells” was revealed to be Eobard, but Riolu didn’t know either, and is ultimately loyal to Cisco. She evolved when Cisco stepped up to fight Cynthia (and her own Lucario). 

Cosmog [Sirius] - under the singularity, as it tried to suck up Central City, a small pokemon flew out of it and hit Cisco in the face. And then didn’t leave. (Eventually becomes Solgaleo)

Iris:

Growlith - 

Joe:

Arcanine - 

Wally:

Skitty - 

Cynthia:

Espeon (shiny)

Lucario

Cosmog - (Eventually becomes Lunala)

Legends of Tomorrow

Rip:

Sara:

Vaporeon - childhood pokemon who evolved while on the Amazo. 

Ray:

Jax:

Flareon - Ronnie was given an Eevee by “Dr. Wells”, just like Cisco and Caitlin, which evolved into Flareon the day the accelerator exploded. Flareon protected Ronnie and Martin in the months they were alone, and Caitlin knew Flareon wanted to continue being a protector. So, she gave him to Jax. 

Martin:

Mick:

Leonard:

Kendra:

Nate:

Amaya:

Eevee - childhood pokemon who is the daughter of the Eevee of the last holder of Amaya’s totem.

Zari:

Rotom

Taillow

Supergirl

Kara:

Sylveon - 

[theres-a-fine-line-fic]

Chapter Fifty Three - Let Me Catch You Up To Speed

In less than 2 days, I was fully finished up with working in the studio and starting maternity leave. Josh was more than relieved that I would be at home more often, but still concerned that I would get bored easily or wouldn't have much to do. I wasn't really in the mood to do much, as by now it was the start of April, and the wedding planning was in full swing. The planning was taking up the majority of my time, between fixing the menus, the decorations, the seating plan... the list was endless!

Josh was still on the Oceania leg of the Emotional Roadshow Tour, and was beginning to get sick of being away from home and the bump. He had left the country with Tyler, Jenna and the crew on March 22nd and had one more show on the 8th in Perth before he could fly home and relax for a little while before the wedding and the resuming the North America portion of the tour.

I'd been kept busy so far with Doctors appointments, check ups and wedding planning. So far, I didn't know the sex of the baby, I wanted to be surprised, I handed the envelope containing the information over to Jenna and Tyler for safe keeping! I had told them they could know, and Josh too if he wanted, but not to tell me until closer to the time.

Josh was currently near Perth, and 13 hours ahead of me, meaning when he video called me just before bed, it would be closer to breakfast time for me.

"So we have the show coming up tonight, and then I swear as soon as we finish, I'll head straight to the airport and I'll be home with you as soon as I can!" Josh looked exhausted, probably not sleeping much with us being on opposite sides of the world.

"As much as the baby and I can't wait to see you, just make sure you're staying safe and doing what you have to do before you get home!" I smiled, trying to reassure Josh that we would be okay in the meantime.

"I know Ava, but it's just so difficult being away from you both! I know we have friends and family there with you, but it just doesn't feel the same y'know! I want to be with you every step of the way, not missing anything." By this time, I was 5 and a half months along, more than halfway through the pregnancy, and I knew it felt like Josh was missing out.

"I think the most exciting thing is that I have a lot more stretch marks now!" I laughed, lifting my top and turning to the side so Josh could see.

"You still look as beautiful as ever, just means our little bun is getting bigger and healthier every day!" Josh smiled at us. As small as extra stretch marks seemed, it was something huge to us. We were so excited at every milestone and new occurrence, apart from the random nosebleeds that had began to happen at odd times- apparently a common side effect of being pregnant for some women! So glad to be one of the lucky ones... not!

As I turned back I could feel a hard kick just below my ribs, causing me to exclaim "Ouch!" loudly.

"Are you okay? What's wrong, Ava, do you need me to come home?" Josh jumped up, panic written all over his face.

"No, no, no! Everything is okay, the baby just didn't like me moving, that's all! They're getting stronger by the day, I can't wait for you to feel the kicks soon! It feels like we're going to have another drummer in the family!" I laughed, rubbing my hand over the spot where I'd felt the kick. Josh instantly began to calm down, looking relieved at the simple explanation. We were interrupted by a loud knock on the door, before Tyler entered the room.

"Hey, we have an interview in about 20 mins and then we have a soundcheck in about an hour- hey Ava! What are you doing up so late?" Tyler walked over to Josh and sat next to him, beginning to chat to me.

"Hey Tyler, it's not really that late, it's only-" I paused turning my head to check the time on the clock on the bedside table. "Oh, it's 2am! I didn't think it was so late!" Josh quirked his eyebrow at me, as Tyler shook his head.

"You should probably be in bed, get some rest and we'll call you after the show, okay?" Tyler suggested, while Josh agreed. Tyler then said his goodbyes and left the room so Josh and I could say our goodbyes too.

"I promise I'll be home as soon as I can! Look after yourself and the baby and I'll be cuddling you and making you endless cups of tea again before you know it!" Josh smiled, waving and telling me he loved us before hanging up.

================================================================

I woke up around 9am with a start, there was a loud banging coming from the front door. I pulled on a pair of leggings and a tight T-shirt, dressing quickly before sliding my feet into a pair of fluffy sliders. My usual Adidas sliders were now far too small and uncomfortable for my swollen feet and ankles.

I moved as fast as I could to the front door as the knocking continued, making me question the importance of my early visitor. As I opened it, I was greeted by Jordan holding a large parcel box. "Hey, sorry I hope I didn't wake you up? I was too excited to wait any longer, it's been sat in our house for 10 minutes now!"

I laughed as I let him in, carrying the box before he set it on the kitchen table. "I was almost awake anyway, besides I'm excited to see what this is!"

Jordan gave me a big hug, before finding a pair of kitchen scissors so we could open the box. "I swear that baby gets bigger every time I see you, and I only saw you a few days ago!"

"Tell me about it! Do you want to see the latest trick? C'mere!" I grab Jordan's hand, placing it on top of the bump, before asking the baby, "Hey, Josh will be home in a few days, are you ready to see daddy? Are you all excited to cuddle daddy again?"

A shocked look appeared on Jordan's face as he realised how hard the baby kicked. "Woah that's some kick! She's excited to see daddy for sure! When is he due home?"

"It should take him about a day and a half to fly back, so hopefully I'll see him tomorrow afternoon? Maybe tomorrow evening at the latest? Not too long to wait, but you know I'll just be wishing the time away until then! So anyway, what's in the box?" Jordan smiled, handing over the scissors for me to open it.

I began to carefully open the box, removing the layers of packaging tape, only to be met with little mesh bags of flower petals and biodegradable confetti resting on top of the white tissue paper. I raised an eyebrow at Jordan who grinned and shrugged. He clearly knew what it was, but wouldn't ruin the surprise. I carefully lifted the delicate bags out, placing them on the table beside the box. Pulling back the layers of tissue paper, I could see a beautiful blush coloured material, adorned with diamanté's. It wasn't until I pulled it fully out of the box that I realised why I thought the shade looked familiar! It instantly brought back memories from when Josh and I had gone out on our date the first time he was expected to propose. We had stopped by a bridal shop on our walk back to the hotel, and I had seen the most beautiful dress.

"It's the dress you saw when you were in Lincoln, Josh called the shop and asked what they could do, he explained that you would be almost 7 months pregnant when you're ready to get married, but that you had your eye on this dress before you were even engaged. He also asked them to tweak the dress a little so it wouldn't be the exact copy of the one you both saw. So it's like he hasn't seen the dress before the wedding. No more bad luck!" Jordan smiled as my eyes began to fill with tears, I couldn't believe Josh had gone to all this trouble! As I laid the dress on the table, I could see the changes Josh had made, the bottom of the dress had a subtle cotton Candy pink ombré trim that faded into the blush coloured dress. The fabric was almost a jersey style material, allowing for growth while still holding tight to the bump, and at the back of the dress at the bottom of the skirt, the words "Dun and Dun" were embroidered into the train with a golden thread. It was so perfect, better than I had ever hoped.

"Jordan, it's perfect, he did such an incredible job!" I tried to hold back tears, as Jordan beamed beside me. It wasn't a traditional dress, the same way that Josh and I didn't have a traditional relationship, so it was a perfect match.

"You still have a matching veil, that should arrive in the next few days, along with your shoes. We're getting so close to you becoming my sister in law officially!" Jordan explained, everything was all tying together quickly and there was definitely excitement in the air. "I think we're going to pick our suits on Wednesday, so that gives Josh some time to get home and get settled back in again before we get into the final preparations right?"

I nodded agreeing with Jordan. "Well that would give me time to invite Jenna round to try on the dress and make any alterations necessary, then I think we have planned to start making little party favours?" Everything was coming together nicely! For a relationship that had blossomed so quickly, to becoming a family in such a short time, it still felt like this wedding and birth was a long time coming. It wouldn't be long before Josh and I were finally Mr and Mrs Dun, and then only a little longer before our child would make their debut.

********************************************

Hi long time no update! So the photos give an idea of what I think the dress would look like just to give you an idea. Hopefully this chapter isn't too bad as I'm definitely rusty at writing! There will be a time jump in the next chapter, but excited for it, as that chapter has been sat in my drafts since 2017! As always, let me know what you think! Xo

[coutelier]

WIP - Irongate

Many fairy tales begin with a child. Broken, orphaned, rejected, then found by a seemingly magic being that will grant them any wish. Many fairy tales, and this is no exception. Dreams become reality, but there is usually a price, terms, conditions. And dreams can be twisted into nightmares. This is a fairy tale, but not everything is as it seems.

Kaya Cade is having a really bad day/week/month/life. The guitar player has been trying to better herself, break away from the villains she’d fallen in with as a teen, but either fate or karma or the universe seem determined to drag her back down. Then, the real icing on the mycotoxin cake, it seems now the fae are real and plucking out the eyes of any who look on them without permission, as she has.

There is a story shared by the children in town that a witch has taken up residence in a lighthouse out in the hills. With few options Kaya goes there for help, but the ‘witch’ is someone that remembers Kaya’s past not too fondly. Will she help? Where have these fae-like beings come from? And how is it related to a child who won’t sleep until she’s exacted revenge?

Irongate is a story about friendships, family, growing up, hidden people zealously guarding their privacy, and about a world undergoing great change. Things that were once only dreamed about are suddenly becoming real, but twisted into nightmares by the irresponsible and reckless. Monsters hunt men, while in the shadows future Gods lie teething.

Check out the story with pictures coming to this site and Youtube in 2020 (a novelization will follow):

Genres: Science Fiction, Mystery, Adventure. Elements of horror and quite a bit of action, and a lot of inspiration and reference to fantasy, folklore, and mythology.

Warnings: Violence and death, but I try to avoid going into much graphic or gory detail about it and the main characters are mostly safe. One character is seen abused by her mother in the beginning. Some mild swearing.

Irongate is set in a contemporary-ish world, but in this version of reality corporations (some of which may in fact be cults) have grown more powerful than most nations. Although for the most part these are a neutral evil - helping when it suits them but ultimately only concerned with profit - some employ private militaries and fund all manner of reckless project that invariably end up wreaking havoc. It’s up to just a few brave souls to mitigate the damage as best they can.

Characters:

Pythia - AI created by Meridiem, meant to predict rises and falls in share prices, but has grown far beyond her original programming.

Tenley Tych - Perpetually angry tween. Tenley’s mother made her learn martial arts practically from the day she could crawl. And now, after meeting a strange woman in the woods, she’s become pound-for-pound one of the deadliest warriors of all time.

Titania - Proclaims herself Queen of the Forest, and the hunt. Clearly not human, with her deep black eyes and skin that constantly shifts in color and pattern.

Lilian & Ella - Titania’s lieutenants. Not much is known about them, but it seems they were orphans who ran away together. They were found by the Queen and became Changelings. They remain fanatically loyal to this day.

(More are on the WIP page but are a bit outdated - over a year old and lots of tweaks have been made since. I’ll update as I post new versions).

Writing History:

I in fact started writing this story back in 2014, although it was adapted with characters and ideas that had been nestling in my mind far longer. That year (2014) I hurriedly typed a 70,000 word story to self-publish on Kindle and other sites. On that occasion I did everything wrong; the story was rushed (most of it written in just weeks), themes and several characters not yet fully developed, and I cut a great deal out of my original story idea in order to keep to 70,000 words. Finally, like many self published novels, it wasn’t edited or properly proof-read. Essentially it was really just a first draft.

Yet, that story, world, and characters, continued to nag at me. And so I sporadically kept working on it, writing some shorts and considering how the world might develop. I worked out the themes, reinforced them, and have kept developing the characters to bring them sharper into focus, and ensure they all have a proper role in the story. Also I made big changes to the plot (although in some cases it’s returning to what I had originally intended before cutting and simplifying certain things).

I also changed the title a few times. First it was Jenn Air, after one of the main characters - originally my idea was for a series of detective-type stories, and while there’s still a bit of that Jenn isn’t the only main character (in fact she doesn’t appear until a few chapters in). Then I changed it to Pharos One: Project ELF - this was only intended to be a working title. Pharos One is a file kept on Jenn, who lives in a lighthouse, and her associates. Finally I decided to just name it after the fictional town it had been set in all along - Irongate.

[ebenpink]

10 Tips for Setting Up a Blog and Reaching 1 Million Hits https://ift.tt/2TlBRDR

I set my blog up in 2014 purely to help fundraise for a charity walk along 2000-year-old World Heritage site of Hadrian’s Wall. But it also gave me a platform to tell my story – awareness of Neuroendocrine Cancer was also a listed aim of the adventure.

In the beginning, I had to rely on family and friends but I slowly attracted a small patient following. However, at this time, I had no inkling that it would become anything other than a low-level storytelling effort with a temporary life span, eventually to be signed to internet ‘shelfware’.  After my charity walk, I kept the blog open and reasonably lively but I confess that was just to scrape in a few more pennies!  Readers demanded more words and I complied.

Fast forward 4 years, I recently won the 2018 WEGO Health ‘Best in Show: Blog’ award and it was the third attempt having made the finals in 2016 and 2017.  I’m actually a user of many different platforms and apps for my advocacy work but the blog was the one I really wanted to win. My blog functioned as the foundation for everything else, it was central.

While trying to win the blog award in 2016, I actually won the Best in Show: Community award. This was a shock but made me think of my advocacy work in a totally different way. The accolades that followed made me realize that all the different social media accounts I used to share my blog, were, in fact, functioning as a community. I guess that’s why more people voted for the community nomination than the blog one.  The community aspect has actually changed the way I blog and is something I’m still developing today.

I’m so thankful to WEGO Health for giving me this platform for my advocacy work and for making me realize I was doing something important, something people actually wanted. Moreover, I found that people outside my community were actually interested. Being a WEGO Health Award winner has opened up new doors, allowing me to develop myself as a patient leader and to help and collaborate with others outside my own community.

As I write this article, I have almost 810,000 views of my blog site and I’m scheduled to pass the ‘magic million’ mark around June 2019 based on current averages.  I suppose that’s not bad for a condition not many people have even heard of?

So.… what happened between 2014 and 2018?

What is the secret of my apparent success in setting up a blog and attracting so many followers? 

Actually, there is no secret; I’m not even sure how I managed it other than hard work.  I just plowed on doing what I thought was right.  There’s a saying along the lines of “doing things right” and “doing the right things”.  Some will say that the latter is more strategic thinking and the former is more tactical thinking. Using this analogy, I guess I started off tactically by trying to do things right and then gradually (without realizing I was doing it), I became more strategic in my approach by ‘doing the right things’.  Having now written my 10 tips below, I can see that change developing.

When WEGO Health asked me to share my top tips and advice for blogging, I initially gulped because I didn’t have anything documented, I didn’t know exactly how I went from 10 hits per day to an average of one thousand.  Sometimes as a patient advocate and a blogger, I feel like I have been more responsive than proactive in my activities.  However, in accepting this task from the WEGO Health team, it suddenly dawned on me that my sub-conscious way to doing things is perhaps something that needs to be documented in the hope that others may benefit.

So here goes:

  Best In Show: Blog Winner Ronny Allan’s 10 tips for setting up a blog and reaching one million hits

  We’ve compiled Ronny’s tips and more into a downloadable document. Download the document below or keep reading!

Download Patient Leader Tip Sheet

  1. Find yourself a blogging app

There are many around.  I use WordPress, I find it relatively easy but like all the other apps, it takes a while to get used to all the features.  I eventually upgraded my package to provide better capability and features.  I advise starting with the free version which will be sufficient for most.

  2. Find Yourself an Audience

Most health advocates will have a condition in mind and most will already be a patient with that condition or be caring for one.  Others may operate on a wider basis or a specific aspect of living with the condition, perhaps a campaigning aim.  Decide if you are focussed on a single geographical region or open to international patients.  My condition is not that common, so I was eventually forced to go international to expand, although many patients came to me due to the power of the internet – if you build it, they will come. Just be aware of language, cultural and healthcare differences in place (it’s a steep learning curve).  It’s fairly easy to set up Google translate in WordPress. 

  3. Find yourself a brand 

I didn’t give this much thought at the beginning but there is some scope for change downstream. If possible, try to make the big changes early on.  I’m still working on this one!

  4. Study and understand your audience

This is really a follow on from finding the audience.  If you’re dealing with the same condition, it really helps with the understanding. I actually joined a number of forums/groups/email subscriptions and read (lurked) a lot before my blog really took off.  I was, therefore, able to hit the ground running in terms of what I understood the key issues to be (although when I read some of my early blog posts, I often cringe).  That said, some of my early posts remain my most successful.

  5. Tell them about you

Do this first. This was easy for me as I had written a patient story well before my blog was set up. I had all the medical letters and reports so it was relatively easy to document that in as much ‘patient speak’ as possible and in a way that others could compare and empathize. This is a very individual thing, some stick to the ‘technical aspects’ of their condition, others focus on life impacts. Personally, I try to avoid a ‘pity party’ and try to focus on the positives. That said, I can talk about the horrible aspects but in the context of a particular subject with a particular aim in mind – even positive patients have vulnerabilities.  In fact, I often add in personal stories in the opening or closing lines of my articles, this is a combination of setting the scene or for emphasizing.

  6. Listen and learn from your audience

Just when I think, I’ve written about ‘everything’, a subject comes along which not only resonates personally but also seems like something that needs to be ‘fleshed’ out, something that needs an answer or at least some thought leadership.  Often there can be a common thread on many different forums but the answer seems to be quite elusive. I look at those scenarios as challenges and an article frequently follows. Sometimes the ideas come thick and fast and the draft section of my blog site is always full of ideas.  I set up my own closed Facebook group 12 months ago which is providing a whole new learning (and humbling) experience and blogging ideas.

  7.  Grow

If you want to get to the ‘million club’, you need to grow your followers and find more outlets to share your material.  My following is totally 100% organic (nothing purchased) and that goes for all my social media platforms.  After a year of blogging, I decided to set up a Facebook and Twitter account to match my blog site (on a much smaller scale, I also use Pinterest, Instagram, LinkedIn and Google Plus).  Facebook made the biggest difference – I actually have 5 Facebook pages for various purposes. All of these need sites to be public to allow people to find and share your material.  I also use a newsletter feature based on Twitter. Again, there are a few of these around but I use Nuzzel, I find it really easy to use, I can add stuff directly to the app and schedule accordingly.  I find this is now competing with Twitter as the second biggest source of hits.  I also use Buffer, a scheduling tool which allows me to post many items up to 2 or 3 days in advance. I currently only use it for Twitter posts. My Facebook posts are often scheduled directly in the Facebook tool but many are ad hoc. If you have an international following, consider the time zones of your main country groupings.

  8. Knowledge is not power

I pride myself on researching from the most impeccable and trustworthy sources (some at my own cost). With a less common and complex disease, this is really important – the internet is a dangerous place, full of fake news, myths, snake oil sellers and other such quackery. Many of my posts are written in the style that I have used since day 1 – something which takes away the complexity and mystery in order that patients can understand what is being said.  Most posts will have reference articles or other links for those who like the detail.  This knowledge should be free to all patients and not held close to the chests of doctors and other healthcare professionals. In order to spread this further, I set up a closed Facebook group 12 months ago which has really taken off. The group is based on all the principles in this article.

  9. Try to be consistent

If your posts start to appear contradictory or you have wildly differing views on the same subject, you will ‘draw fire’.  I think I have stuck to my guns on the vast majority of subjects, clearly, healthcare is a moving picture so older articles may need tweaking, updating, or in some cases deleting (although I tend to ‘reinvent’ those to build on the existing hits within my statistics).

  10.  Be ‘You’

I try to put over the human side in all my articles. I’m just a wee Scottish guy with a computer and a complex and less common disease.  I write about things I think people want to hear about (having done 1-9 above). I can relate to other people with the same condition and they appear to relate to me.  I try my best to put over what I think about living with Neuroendocrine Cancer and how to best advocate for myself and others.  I’m a naturally positive person so that comes out in my posts but I can still empathize and sympathize with others having a bad time.  It seems to work and I will, therefore, continue to be ‘me’ going forward.

  Download Patient Leader Tip Sheet

The post 10 Tips for Setting Up a Blog and Reaching 1 Million Hits appeared first on WEGO Health.

from WEGO Health https://ift.tt/2Hzf9GF via IFTTT https://ift.tt/2UNmKV4

[edsenger]

10 Tips for Setting Up a Blog and Reaching 1 Million Hits

I set my blog up in 2014 purely to help fundraise for a charity walk along 2000-year-old World Heritage site of Hadrian’s Wall. But it also gave me a platform to tell my story – awareness of Neuroendocrine Cancer was also a listed aim of the adventure.

In the beginning, I had to rely on family and friends but I slowly attracted a small patient following. However, at this time, I had no inkling that it would become anything other than a low-level storytelling effort with a temporary life span, eventually to be signed to internet ‘shelfware’.  After my charity walk, I kept the blog open and reasonably lively but I confess that was just to scrape in a few more pennies!  Readers demanded more words and I complied.

Fast forward 4 years, I recently won the 2018 WEGO Health ‘Best in Show: Blog’ award and it was the third attempt having made the finals in 2016 and 2017.  I’m actually a user of many different platforms and apps for my advocacy work but the blog was the one I really wanted to win. My blog functioned as the foundation for everything else, it was central.

While trying to win the blog award in 2016, I actually won the Best in Show: Community award. This was a shock but made me think of my advocacy work in a totally different way. The accolades that followed made me realize that all the different social media accounts I used to share my blog, were, in fact, functioning as a community. I guess that’s why more people voted for the community nomination than the blog one.  The community aspect has actually changed the way I blog and is something I’m still developing today.

I’m so thankful to WEGO Health for giving me this platform for my advocacy work and for making me realize I was doing something important, something people actually wanted. Moreover, I found that people outside my community were actually interested. Being a WEGO Health Award winner has opened up new doors, allowing me to develop myself as a patient leader and to help and collaborate with others outside my own community.

As I write this article, I have almost 810,000 views of my blog site and I’m scheduled to pass the ‘magic million’ mark around June 2019 based on current averages.  I suppose that’s not bad for a condition not many people have even heard of?

So.… what happened between 2014 and 2018?

What is the secret of my apparent success in setting up a blog and attracting so many followers? 

Actually, there is no secret; I’m not even sure how I managed it other than hard work.  I just plowed on doing what I thought was right.  There’s a saying along the lines of “doing things right” and “doing the right things”.  Some will say that the latter is more strategic thinking and the former is more tactical thinking. Using this analogy, I guess I started off tactically by trying to do things right and then gradually (without realizing I was doing it), I became more strategic in my approach by ‘doing the right things’.  Having now written my 10 tips below, I can see that change developing.

When WEGO Health asked me to share my top tips and advice for blogging, I initially gulped because I didn’t have anything documented, I didn’t know exactly how I went from 10 hits per day to an average of one thousand.  Sometimes as a patient advocate and a blogger, I feel like I have been more responsive than proactive in my activities.  However, in accepting this task from the WEGO Health team, it suddenly dawned on me that my sub-conscious way to doing things is perhaps something that needs to be documented in the hope that others may benefit.

So here goes:

  Best In Show: Blog Winner Ronny Allan’s 10 tips for setting up a blog and reaching one million hits

  We’ve compiled Ronny’s tips and more into a downloadable document. Download the document below or keep reading!

Download Patient Leader Tip Sheet

  1. Find yourself a blogging app

There are many around.  I use WordPress, I find it relatively easy but like all the other apps, it takes a while to get used to all the features.  I eventually upgraded my package to provide better capability and features.  I advise starting with the free version which will be sufficient for most.

  2. Find Yourself an Audience

Most health advocates will have a condition in mind and most will already be a patient with that condition or be caring for one.  Others may operate on a wider basis or a specific aspect of living with the condition, perhaps a campaigning aim.  Decide if you are focussed on a single geographical region or open to international patients.  My condition is not that common, so I was eventually forced to go international to expand, although many patients came to me due to the power of the internet – if you build it, they will come. Just be aware of language, cultural and healthcare differences in place (it’s a steep learning curve).  It’s fairly easy to set up Google translate in WordPress. 

  3. Find yourself a brand 

I didn’t give this much thought at the beginning but there is some scope for change downstream. If possible, try to make the big changes early on.  I’m still working on this one!

  4. Study and understand your audience

This is really a follow on from finding the audience.  If you’re dealing with the same condition, it really helps with the understanding. I actually joined a number of forums/groups/email subscriptions and read (lurked) a lot before my blog really took off.  I was, therefore, able to hit the ground running in terms of what I understood the key issues to be (although when I read some of my early blog posts, I often cringe).  That said, some of my early posts remain my most successful.

  5. Tell them about you

Do this first. This was easy for me as I had written a patient story well before my blog was set up. I had all the medical letters and reports so it was relatively easy to document that in as much ‘patient speak’ as possible and in a way that others could compare and empathize. This is a very individual thing, some stick to the ‘technical aspects’ of their condition, others focus on life impacts. Personally, I try to avoid a ‘pity party’ and try to focus on the positives. That said, I can talk about the horrible aspects but in the context of a particular subject with a particular aim in mind – even positive patients have vulnerabilities.  In fact, I often add in personal stories in the opening or closing lines of my articles, this is a combination of setting the scene or for emphasizing.

  6. Listen and learn from your audience

Just when I think, I’ve written about ‘everything’, a subject comes along which not only resonates personally but also seems like something that needs to be ‘fleshed’ out, something that needs an answer or at least some thought leadership.  Often there can be a common thread on many different forums but the answer seems to be quite elusive. I look at those scenarios as challenges and an article frequently follows. Sometimes the ideas come thick and fast and the draft section of my blog site is always full of ideas.  I set up my own closed Facebook group 12 months ago which is providing a whole new learning (and humbling) experience and blogging ideas.

  7.  Grow

If you want to get to the ‘million club’, you need to grow your followers and find more outlets to share your material.  My following is totally 100% organic (nothing purchased) and that goes for all my social media platforms.  After a year of blogging, I decided to set up a Facebook and Twitter account to match my blog site (on a much smaller scale, I also use Pinterest, Instagram, LinkedIn and Google Plus).  Facebook made the biggest difference – I actually have 5 Facebook pages for various purposes. All of these need sites to be public to allow people to find and share your material.  I also use a newsletter feature based on Twitter. Again, there are a few of these around but I use Nuzzel, I find it really easy to use, I can add stuff directly to the app and schedule accordingly.  I find this is now competing with Twitter as the second biggest source of hits.  I also use Buffer, a scheduling tool which allows me to post many items up to 2 or 3 days in advance. I currently only use it for Twitter posts. My Facebook posts are often scheduled directly in the Facebook tool but many are ad hoc. If you have an international following, consider the time zones of your main country groupings.

  8. Knowledge is not power

I pride myself on researching from the most impeccable and trustworthy sources (some at my own cost). With a less common and complex disease, this is really important – the internet is a dangerous place, full of fake news, myths, snake oil sellers and other such quackery. Many of my posts are written in the style that I have used since day 1 – something which takes away the complexity and mystery in order that patients can understand what is being said.  Most posts will have reference articles or other links for those who like the detail.  This knowledge should be free to all patients and not held close to the chests of doctors and other healthcare professionals. In order to spread this further, I set up a closed Facebook group 12 months ago which has really taken off. The group is based on all the principles in this article.

  9. Try to be consistent

If your posts start to appear contradictory or you have wildly differing views on the same subject, you will ‘draw fire’.  I think I have stuck to my guns on the vast majority of subjects, clearly, healthcare is a moving picture so older articles may need tweaking, updating, or in some cases deleting (although I tend to ‘reinvent’ those to build on the existing hits within my statistics).

  10.  Be ‘You’

I try to put over the human side in all my articles. I’m just a wee Scottish guy with a computer and a complex and less common disease.  I write about things I think people want to hear about (having done 1-9 above). I can relate to other people with the same condition and they appear to relate to me.  I try my best to put over what I think about living with Neuroendocrine Cancer and how to best advocate for myself and others.  I’m a naturally positive person so that comes out in my posts but I can still empathize and sympathize with others having a bad time.  It seems to work and I will, therefore, continue to be ‘me’ going forward.

  Download Patient Leader Tip Sheet

The post 10 Tips for Setting Up a Blog and Reaching 1 Million Hits appeared first on WEGO Health.

10 Tips for Setting Up a Blog and Reaching 1 Million Hits published first on https://brightendentalhouston.weebly.com/

[lauramalchowblog]

10 Tips for Setting Up a Blog and Reaching 1 Million Hits

I set my blog up in 2014 purely to help fundraise for a charity walk along 2000-year-old World Heritage site of Hadrian’s Wall. But it also gave me a platform to tell my story – awareness of Neuroendocrine Cancer was also a listed aim of the adventure.

In the beginning, I had to rely on family and friends but I slowly attracted a small patient following. However, at this time, I had no inkling that it would become anything other than a low-level storytelling effort with a temporary life span, eventually to be signed to internet ‘shelfware’.  After my charity walk, I kept the blog open and reasonably lively but I confess that was just to scrape in a few more pennies!  Readers demanded more words and I complied.

Fast forward 4 years, I recently won the 2018 WEGO Health ‘Best in Show: Blog’ award and it was the third attempt having made the finals in 2016 and 2017.  I’m actually a user of many different platforms and apps for my advocacy work but the blog was the one I really wanted to win. My blog functioned as the foundation for everything else, it was central.

While trying to win the blog award in 2016, I actually won the Best in Show: Community award. This was a shock but made me think of my advocacy work in a totally different way. The accolades that followed made me realize that all the different social media accounts I used to share my blog, were, in fact, functioning as a community. I guess that’s why more people voted for the community nomination than the blog one.  The community aspect has actually changed the way I blog and is something I’m still developing today.

I’m so thankful to WEGO Health for giving me this platform for my advocacy work and for making me realize I was doing something important, something people actually wanted. Moreover, I found that people outside my community were actually interested. Being a WEGO Health Award winner has opened up new doors, allowing me to develop myself as a patient leader and to help and collaborate with others outside my own community.

As I write this article, I have almost 810,000 views of my blog site and I’m scheduled to pass the ‘magic million’ mark around June 2019 based on current averages.  I suppose that’s not bad for a condition not many people have even heard of?

So.… what happened between 2014 and 2018?

What is the secret of my apparent success in setting up a blog and attracting so many followers? 

Actually, there is no secret; I’m not even sure how I managed it other than hard work.  I just plowed on doing what I thought was right.  There’s a saying along the lines of “doing things right” and “doing the right things”.  Some will say that the latter is more strategic thinking and the former is more tactical thinking. Using this analogy, I guess I started off tactically by trying to do things right and then gradually (without realizing I was doing it), I became more strategic in my approach by ‘doing the right things’.  Having now written my 10 tips below, I can see that change developing.

When WEGO Health asked me to share my top tips and advice for blogging, I initially gulped because I didn’t have anything documented, I didn’t know exactly how I went from 10 hits per day to an average of one thousand.  Sometimes as a patient advocate and a blogger, I feel like I have been more responsive than proactive in my activities.  However, in accepting this task from the WEGO Health team, it suddenly dawned on me that my sub-conscious way to doing things is perhaps something that needs to be documented in the hope that others may benefit.

So here goes:

  Best In Show: Blog Winner Ronny Allan’s 10 tips for setting up a blog and reaching one million hits

  We’ve compiled Ronny’s tips and more into a downloadable document. Download the document below or keep reading!

Download Patient Leader Tip Sheet

  1. Find yourself a blogging app

There are many around.  I use WordPress, I find it relatively easy but like all the other apps, it takes a while to get used to all the features.  I eventually upgraded my package to provide better capability and features.  I advise starting with the free version which will be sufficient for most.

  2. Find Yourself an Audience

Most health advocates will have a condition in mind and most will already be a patient with that condition or be caring for one.  Others may operate on a wider basis or a specific aspect of living with the condition, perhaps a campaigning aim.  Decide if you are focussed on a single geographical region or open to international patients.  My condition is not that common, so I was eventually forced to go international to expand, although many patients came to me due to the power of the internet – if you build it, they will come. Just be aware of language, cultural and healthcare differences in place (it’s a steep learning curve).  It’s fairly easy to set up Google translate in WordPress. 

  3. Find yourself a brand 

I didn’t give this much thought at the beginning but there is some scope for change downstream. If possible, try to make the big changes early on.  I’m still working on this one!

  4. Study and understand your audience

This is really a follow on from finding the audience.  If you’re dealing with the same condition, it really helps with the understanding. I actually joined a number of forums/groups/email subscriptions and read (lurked) a lot before my blog really took off.  I was, therefore, able to hit the ground running in terms of what I understood the key issues to be (although when I read some of my early blog posts, I often cringe).  That said, some of my early posts remain my most successful.

  5. Tell them about you

Do this first. This was easy for me as I had written a patient story well before my blog was set up. I had all the medical letters and reports so it was relatively easy to document that in as much ‘patient speak’ as possible and in a way that others could compare and empathize. This is a very individual thing, some stick to the ‘technical aspects’ of their condition, others focus on life impacts. Personally, I try to avoid a ‘pity party’ and try to focus on the positives. That said, I can talk about the horrible aspects but in the context of a particular subject with a particular aim in mind – even positive patients have vulnerabilities.  In fact, I often add in personal stories in the opening or closing lines of my articles, this is a combination of setting the scene or for emphasizing.

  6. Listen and learn from your audience

Just when I think, I’ve written about ‘everything’, a subject comes along which not only resonates personally but also seems like something that needs to be ‘fleshed’ out, something that needs an answer or at least some thought leadership.  Often there can be a common thread on many different forums but the answer seems to be quite elusive. I look at those scenarios as challenges and an article frequently follows. Sometimes the ideas come thick and fast and the draft section of my blog site is always full of ideas.  I set up my own closed Facebook group 12 months ago which is providing a whole new learning (and humbling) experience and blogging ideas.

  7.  Grow

If you want to get to the ‘million club’, you need to grow your followers and find more outlets to share your material.  My following is totally 100% organic (nothing purchased) and that goes for all my social media platforms.  After a year of blogging, I decided to set up a Facebook and Twitter account to match my blog site (on a much smaller scale, I also use Pinterest, Instagram, LinkedIn and Google Plus).  Facebook made the biggest difference – I actually have 5 Facebook pages for various purposes. All of these need sites to be public to allow people to find and share your material.  I also use a newsletter feature based on Twitter. Again, there are a few of these around but I use Nuzzel, I find it really easy to use, I can add stuff directly to the app and schedule accordingly.  I find this is now competing with Twitter as the second biggest source of hits.  I also use Buffer, a scheduling tool which allows me to post many items up to 2 or 3 days in advance. I currently only use it for Twitter posts. My Facebook posts are often scheduled directly in the Facebook tool but many are ad hoc. If you have an international following, consider the time zones of your main country groupings.

  8. Knowledge is not power

I pride myself on researching from the most impeccable and trustworthy sources (some at my own cost). With a less common and complex disease, this is really important – the internet is a dangerous place, full of fake news, myths, snake oil sellers and other such quackery. Many of my posts are written in the style that I have used since day 1 – something which takes away the complexity and mystery in order that patients can understand what is being said.  Most posts will have reference articles or other links for those who like the detail.  This knowledge should be free to all patients and not held close to the chests of doctors and other healthcare professionals. In order to spread this further, I set up a closed Facebook group 12 months ago which has really taken off. The group is based on all the principles in this article.

  9. Try to be consistent

If your posts start to appear contradictory or you have wildly differing views on the same subject, you will ‘draw fire’.  I think I have stuck to my guns on the vast majority of subjects, clearly, healthcare is a moving picture so older articles may need tweaking, updating, or in some cases deleting (although I tend to ‘reinvent’ those to build on the existing hits within my statistics).

  10.  Be ‘You’

I try to put over the human side in all my articles. I’m just a wee Scottish guy with a computer and a complex and less common disease.  I write about things I think people want to hear about (having done 1-9 above). I can relate to other people with the same condition and they appear to relate to me.  I try my best to put over what I think about living with Neuroendocrine Cancer and how to best advocate for myself and others.  I’m a naturally positive person so that comes out in my posts but I can still empathize and sympathize with others having a bad time.  It seems to work and I will, therefore, continue to be ‘me’ going forward.

  Download Patient Leader Tip Sheet

The post 10 Tips for Setting Up a Blog and Reaching 1 Million Hits appeared first on WEGO Health.

10 Tips for Setting Up a Blog and Reaching 1 Million Hits published first on https://venabeahan.tumblr.com

[jesseneufeld]

10 Tips for Setting Up a Blog and Reaching 1 Million Hits

I set my blog up in 2014 purely to help fundraise for a charity walk along 2000-year-old World Heritage site of Hadrian’s Wall. But it also gave me a platform to tell my story – awareness of Neuroendocrine Cancer was also a listed aim of the adventure.

In the beginning, I had to rely on family and friends but I slowly attracted a small patient following. However, at this time, I had no inkling that it would become anything other than a low-level storytelling effort with a temporary life span, eventually to be signed to internet ‘shelfware’.  After my charity walk, I kept the blog open and reasonably lively but I confess that was just to scrape in a few more pennies!  Readers demanded more words and I complied.

Fast forward 4 years, I recently won the 2018 WEGO Health ‘Best in Show: Blog’ award and it was the third attempt having made the finals in 2016 and 2017.  I’m actually a user of many different platforms and apps for my advocacy work but the blog was the one I really wanted to win. My blog functioned as the foundation for everything else, it was central.

While trying to win the blog award in 2016, I actually won the Best in Show: Community award. This was a shock but made me think of my advocacy work in a totally different way. The accolades that followed made me realize that all the different social media accounts I used to share my blog, were, in fact, functioning as a community. I guess that’s why more people voted for the community nomination than the blog one.  The community aspect has actually changed the way I blog and is something I’m still developing today.

I’m so thankful to WEGO Health for giving me this platform for my advocacy work and for making me realize I was doing something important, something people actually wanted. Moreover, I found that people outside my community were actually interested. Being a WEGO Health Award winner has opened up new doors, allowing me to develop myself as a patient leader and to help and collaborate with others outside my own community.

As I write this article, I have almost 810,000 views of my blog site and I’m scheduled to pass the ‘magic million’ mark around June 2019 based on current averages.  I suppose that’s not bad for a condition not many people have even heard of?

So.… what happened between 2014 and 2018?

What is the secret of my apparent success in setting up a blog and attracting so many followers? 

Actually, there is no secret; I’m not even sure how I managed it other than hard work.  I just plowed on doing what I thought was right.  There’s a saying along the lines of “doing things right” and “doing the right things”.  Some will say that the latter is more strategic thinking and the former is more tactical thinking. Using this analogy, I guess I started off tactically by trying to do things right and then gradually (without realizing I was doing it), I became more strategic in my approach by ‘doing the right things’.  Having now written my 10 tips below, I can see that change developing.

When WEGO Health asked me to share my top tips and advice for blogging, I initially gulped because I didn’t have anything documented, I didn’t know exactly how I went from 10 hits per day to an average of one thousand.  Sometimes as a patient advocate and a blogger, I feel like I have been more responsive than proactive in my activities.  However, in accepting this task from the WEGO Health team, it suddenly dawned on me that my sub-conscious way to doing things is perhaps something that needs to be documented in the hope that others may benefit.

So here goes:

  Best In Show: Blog Winner Ronny Allan’s 10 tips for setting up a blog and reaching one million hits

  We’ve compiled Ronny’s tips and more into a downloadable document. Download the document below or keep reading!

Download Patient Leader Tip Sheet

  1. Find yourself a blogging app

There are many around.  I use WordPress, I find it relatively easy but like all the other apps, it takes a while to get used to all the features.  I eventually upgraded my package to provide better capability and features.  I advise starting with the free version which will be sufficient for most.

  2. Find Yourself an Audience

Most health advocates will have a condition in mind and most will already be a patient with that condition or be caring for one.  Others may operate on a wider basis or a specific aspect of living with the condition, perhaps a campaigning aim.  Decide if you are focussed on a single geographical region or open to international patients.  My condition is not that common, so I was eventually forced to go international to expand, although many patients came to me due to the power of the internet – if you build it, they will come. Just be aware of language, cultural and healthcare differences in place (it’s a steep learning curve).  It’s fairly easy to set up Google translate in WordPress. 

  3. Find yourself a brand 

I didn’t give this much thought at the beginning but there is some scope for change downstream. If possible, try to make the big changes early on.  I’m still working on this one!

  4. Study and understand your audience

This is really a follow on from finding the audience.  If you’re dealing with the same condition, it really helps with the understanding. I actually joined a number of forums/groups/email subscriptions and read (lurked) a lot before my blog really took off.  I was, therefore, able to hit the ground running in terms of what I understood the key issues to be (although when I read some of my early blog posts, I often cringe).  That said, some of my early posts remain my most successful.

  5. Tell them about you

Do this first. This was easy for me as I had written a patient story well before my blog was set up. I had all the medical letters and reports so it was relatively easy to document that in as much ‘patient speak’ as possible and in a way that others could compare and empathize. This is a very individual thing, some stick to the ‘technical aspects’ of their condition, others focus on life impacts. Personally, I try to avoid a ‘pity party’ and try to focus on the positives. That said, I can talk about the horrible aspects but in the context of a particular subject with a particular aim in mind – even positive patients have vulnerabilities.  In fact, I often add in personal stories in the opening or closing lines of my articles, this is a combination of setting the scene or for emphasizing.

  6. Listen and learn from your audience

Just when I think, I’ve written about ‘everything’, a subject comes along which not only resonates personally but also seems like something that needs to be ‘fleshed’ out, something that needs an answer or at least some thought leadership.  Often there can be a common thread on many different forums but the answer seems to be quite elusive. I look at those scenarios as challenges and an article frequently follows. Sometimes the ideas come thick and fast and the draft section of my blog site is always full of ideas.  I set up my own closed Facebook group 12 months ago which is providing a whole new learning (and humbling) experience and blogging ideas.

  7.  Grow

If you want to get to the ‘million club’, you need to grow your followers and find more outlets to share your material.  My following is totally 100% organic (nothing purchased) and that goes for all my social media platforms.  After a year of blogging, I decided to set up a Facebook and Twitter account to match my blog site (on a much smaller scale, I also use Pinterest, Instagram, LinkedIn and Google Plus).  Facebook made the biggest difference – I actually have 5 Facebook pages for various purposes. All of these need sites to be public to allow people to find and share your material.  I also use a newsletter feature based on Twitter. Again, there are a few of these around but I use Nuzzel, I find it really easy to use, I can add stuff directly to the app and schedule accordingly.  I find this is now competing with Twitter as the second biggest source of hits.  I also use Buffer, a scheduling tool which allows me to post many items up to 2 or 3 days in advance. I currently only use it for Twitter posts. My Facebook posts are often scheduled directly in the Facebook tool but many are ad hoc. If you have an international following, consider the time zones of your main country groupings.

  8. Knowledge is not power

I pride myself on researching from the most impeccable and trustworthy sources (some at my own cost). With a less common and complex disease, this is really important – the internet is a dangerous place, full of fake news, myths, snake oil sellers and other such quackery. Many of my posts are written in the style that I have used since day 1 – something which takes away the complexity and mystery in order that patients can understand what is being said.  Most posts will have reference articles or other links for those who like the detail.  This knowledge should be free to all patients and not held close to the chests of doctors and other healthcare professionals. In order to spread this further, I set up a closed Facebook group 12 months ago which has really taken off. The group is based on all the principles in this article.

  9. Try to be consistent

If your posts start to appear contradictory or you have wildly differing views on the same subject, you will ‘draw fire’.  I think I have stuck to my guns on the vast majority of subjects, clearly, healthcare is a moving picture so older articles may need tweaking, updating, or in some cases deleting (although I tend to ‘reinvent’ those to build on the existing hits within my statistics).

  10.  Be ‘You’

I try to put over the human side in all my articles. I’m just a wee Scottish guy with a computer and a complex and less common disease.  I write about things I think people want to hear about (having done 1-9 above). I can relate to other people with the same condition and they appear to relate to me.  I try my best to put over what I think about living with Neuroendocrine Cancer and how to best advocate for myself and others.  I’m a naturally positive person so that comes out in my posts but I can still empathize and sympathize with others having a bad time.  It seems to work and I will, therefore, continue to be ‘me’ going forward.

  Download Patient Leader Tip Sheet

The post 10 Tips for Setting Up a Blog and Reaching 1 Million Hits appeared first on WEGO Health.

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[thrashermaxey]

Injury Ward: Updates on Quick, Boeser, Raanta, Radulov, and more…

Here are the latest injury updates from around the NHL. If you notice a player isn’t on the list, there probably haven’t been any new developments since our last update.  As always, follow me on Twitter @BrennanDeSouza for the latest injury information and line combinations.

Ondrej Kase – Was on the ice during Tuesday morning’s skate, but he was wearing a non-contact jersey. We need him to be a full participant in practice before we can even start mentioning words like ‘return’. Concussions need to be monitored constantly, and he’ll need to be feeling better for a good stretch of days before getting back into the lineup.

Antti Raanta – Tweaked something in Tuesday’s practice. It doesn’t sound too serious, so he should still be available for Thursday’s game against the Flyers. He’s travelling with the team on their four-game road trip.

Charlie McAvoy – The Bruins haven’t revealed much about McAvoy’s upper-body injury, and we still don’t know when exactly he’ll be back. While he has been working out off the ice, he hasn’t been skating. I’ll probably have a better update for you next week (it sounds like he won’t be back before then).  

Petr Mrazek – Day-to-day with a lower-body injury. Doesn’t appear to be anything too serious, he was on the ice Tuesday (but came on as the team’s morning skate wrapped up).

Alexander Radulov – Has been skating. He’s aiming to return to the lineup on Thursday when Dallas takes on San Jose. The Stars managed just two goals in their last two games, and could definitely use Radulov back in the lineup.

Thomas Vanek – Out two to three weeks with a lower-body injury. He had four points in five games prior to the injury.

Andreas Athanasiou – Skated during Tuesday’s practice and is hoping to be cleared for Friday’s game against the New York Rangers.

Jonathan Quick – The Kings’ goaltender will miss three to six weeks after surgery to repair a torn meniscus in his knee. I’d definitely play close attention to how LA plays during the next few games, considering John Stevens (who was supposed to be an offensively-minded coach) was relieved of coaching duties. If Jack Campbell and Peter Budaj seem to be facing less high-danger opportunities in the coming weeks, it might be a good idea to try and acquire Jonathan Quick in your fantasy leagues. I don’t see how Quick’s fantasy value can be any lower than it is right now. Not only is he injured, but he put up a disappointing 0-3-1 record with 4.55 GAA and .845 SV% prior to the injury.

Viktor Arvidsson – Sported a non-contact jersey during Tuesday practice and didn’t participate in the line rushes. Usually, line rushes are a good indication of whether or not a player is going to play in the team’s next game. The fact that Arvidsson wasn’t skating alongside Filip Forsberg and Ryan Johansen on Tuesday, makes me think he won’t be in the lineup when Nashville faces Colorado on Wednesday.

Jesper Bratt – It’s possible he gets medical clearance to play before the team wraps up its current road trip. The Devils have two more games on the road before they head back home, Friday against the Leafs and Sunday against the Jets.

Brady Tkachuk – The fourth overall pick of the 2018 draft is extremely close to a return, he might even be available on Thursday when the Sens take on the Golden Knights. He was originally scheduled to miss a month with a torn ligament in his leg. A return on Thursday would be ahead of schedule.

Michal Neuvirth – Is probably a couple days away from being healthy, so he should be available for Saturday’s game against the Blackhawks. He’s had only one appearance this season – a 6-1 loss to the Islanders in which he allowed six goals.

James van Riemsdyk – Has been skating. He was scheduled to miss five to six weeks back in early October, so we’re still probably a week or two away from a return.

Brian Elliott – Will be evaluated on Wednesday morning, but the injury isn’t expected to be serious. If you want an update on Elliott’s status, follow me on Twitter @BrennanDeSouza. If you’re reading this, you probably own Elliott in your fantasy league, so let me take this time to offer my condolences for your loss of all goalie categories. 

Derick Brassard – Hasn’t been skating.

Tomas Hertl – Skated on Tuesday morning and was a game-time decision for San Jose’ game against Minnesota. He appeared to take a hit to the head on Saturday against the Flyers. While he didn’t play against the Wild, the injury isn’t believed to be too serious. Consider him day-to-day for now.

Brayden Schenn – Is day-to-day with an upper-body injury. Coach Mike Yeo observed that Schenn just wasn’t physically at the same level during the team’s morning skate, so he kept him out of the lineup on Tuesday.

Victor Hedman – Seems like it’s being treated as a day-to-day situation now, as his absence from Tuesday’s morning skate simply ruled him out for Tuesday’s game against the Oilers. Ryan McDonagh has been great in Hedman’s absence, with seven points in six games.

Ondrej Palat – Same situation as Hedman. Should be considered day-to-day until the team gives us a more definitive update.

Auston Matthews – Continues to skate and put some pucks on net, but not yet in a high-speed environment (practice). It’s encouraging to see him back on the ice, but don’t expect him back for another few weeks.

Brock Boeser – The Canucks’ forward sat out Tuesday’s game against the Red Wings because of  discomfort from a groin strain initially sustained on October 18. Keep in mind that Boeser is just 21 years old and seems to be part of a bright future in Vancouver that includes Elias Pettersson. The team would be smart to let Boeser fully recover from this groin ailment, so it doesn’t become something that bothers him throughout his career. 

Erik Haula – Was stretchered off the ice after landing awkwardly on his leg following a collision with Patrick Marleau. Expect an official update from the team on Wednesday, but this looks like it could cause him to miss some substantial time.

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  from All About Sports https://dobberhockey.com/hockey-home/injury-ward/injury-ward-updates-on-quick-boeser-raanta-radulov-and-more/