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facepalming-since-chernobyl · 4 years

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State of the pilots, ABC, TSE, etc.

I didn’t even realize today was the day of you know who and you know what till just now. I’d imagine everyone in both “camps” is going to be severely on edge today so we could all use a distraction. The discussion about the TSE pilot is brewing so I thought this is a good time to talk about a few things.

Disclaimer: First off, I want to say like all of us here, I wish nothing but amazing things for Chris in his career. Anything I say here is not because I want him or his show to fail or wish he were back for karamel endgame or to play Kai or anything like that. Everything I’m going to discuss is just the facts and how things go.

Like I said before, ABC has a few pilots in contention this season and a few guaranteed vacated timeslots and the possibility of more. Here’s a list of all its shows in a table to look at just for reference:

https://www.spoilertv.com/2019/09/spoilertv-broadcast-cancellation.html

To address these comments from Peggy and chelsea before I continue:

“TSE is a drama script, it will fight against other dramas not comedies” - not true, ABC doesn’t have two different networks, one for comedies, one for dramas, it is all one network and regardless of the type of shows it picks up, there are limited timeslots so all the pilots are in the same boat and competing against each other. Whether it’s drama or comedy doesn’t necessarily matter except to affect what time length of timeslot it’ll take up.

“I know revivals are hit or miss but this has so much going for it, it’s hard to imagine it not being successful.” - right now, the first stage of this show, or any new show, isn’t ratings or performance success, it’s getting beyond the pilot stage and making it on the air. That’s where TSE actually is at the moment.

Some background on how the process works because I think people got caught up reading the news about Chris and thought the show is all ready to go. It may be and we don’t know it yet, but formally, this is not the case. Here’s how the process works behind the scenes the few months up to a show actually getting or not getting on the air:

1. Each network buys hundreds of pilot scripts a year. They go through as many as possible, and the ones that look most promising are pared down to only a handful.

2. Of those handful, the network tells the people behind those properties to make a pilot episode (the stage TSE is in). They’re told to make an actual episode of what the show would be like. It’s like seeing recipes on a menu for a start-up restaurant and one of them is made into the actual dish. If they like what they get, they can order more, if not, they can pass on it.

3. Of the pilots that are made into actual episodes, the networks go through them. They watch them and sometimes have them shown to test audiences and gauge their feedback which is necessary to see how the people actually watching will react. Do the audiences hate/love a particular actor/character? Storyline, something else? All this is good to know if the reviews are mixed and the network really likes the idea/creators/etc. and want to keep the show but need to make changes to get people to like it or like it more. Sometimes this means casting changes too - the original Charmed series recast Lori Rom with Alyssa Milano for the character of Phoebe.

4. Depending on the availability of timeslots due to ending/cancelled shows, they’ll order the necessary number of shows to series. One thing about this: if they love something enough from the get-go for a particular reason, they’ll forego the pilot process above and order it straight to series. Example: the Walker pilot (Jared Padalecki) and Superman one, easy to see why CW didn’t bother with the pilot for those and just gave a series order to both. ABC also has one of these this season which is guaranteed a timeslot and chance to air, a thriller based on a book series starring respected producer David E. Kelley who was behind The Practice.

So here’s my concern. There are many shows on ABC already, ones that have been there for years with varying guarantees of renewal. There are only so many scheduling hours on a broadcast network so it can’t pick up everything. Here are the current guaranteed shows ending this season:

1. How to Get Away With Murder

2. Fresh off the Boat

3. Modern Family

4. Agents of Shield

I don’t know about the comedies, but Emergence (*SOB*) is also definitely cancelled and Stumptown could be too according to the TV Grim Reaper is also reporting the ratings have been dropping of late: https://www.tvgrimreaper.com/2020/02/10/predictions-week-21-stumptown-is-likely-to-be-canceled/5226/

Okay, so let’s say they’re both cancelled. That vacates I would say about close to 6 hours of vacant scheduling time ABC must account for in the fall/spring season. I’m not going to include other shows that could also be cancelled and other shows not on the list because that makes it too complicated for now. I’ll be generous and say ABC has 5-6 hours to fill.

Here are ABC’s pilots in contention so far according to Deadline, one of them is already ordered to series and guaranteed a timeslot this fall:

https://deadline.com/pilot/2020-abc-pilots-series-orders/

Thus far, it’s 6 shows in contention to make it to air though I’ve read stories in other places saying ABC has also picked up two more comedies. If my math is correct or at least reasonably close, I would say at most ABC can order maybe 3 of the drama pilots and 1-2 of the comedies or something else depending on the drama/comedy ratio.

Here’s my wild guess of what will happen/hope happens based on the loglines only: ABC orders Rebel, TSE, and The Brides and whatever comedies it wants and the rest of them get a pass. Here’s why I think so:

Rebel - based on the life of Erin Brockovich and has cast Katey Segal as the lead character, I’m sure they’re clamoring to bring in fans of the movie/Julia Roberts and Katey Segal is probably in demand too

The Brides - premise sounds completely ill-fitting for an ABC show to me but everyone wants to work with Berlanti nowadays, he’s the new Shonda on steroids and produces like ½ the shows on tv now and he has a history with ABC, produced the very successful Brothers and Sisters which coincidentally the Olins worked on as did several Arrowverse actors including Calista Flockhart

TSE - I’ve said enough about it of late, Karey Burke was a fan of the original, supposedly they’ve been given the green light to set up a writers’ room though no official overtures of it being ordered to series - I am optimistic, I think the only real concerns I have other than the lack of space is how good not only this pilot is but the others are

So here’s what going to happen now and in the near future. The TSE pilot is shooting next month. From news I’m seeing on Deadline and the trades, the others have been casting and are probably getting ready to shoot too or shooting already. Sometime between the time the pilot is finished and network upfronts in May, ABC will screen all of them and make decisions on each: which to order to series as is, which to order on the contingency they make changes (like recasting if needed) and which to just pass on. These made a pilot episode but they will most likely never see the light of day though it can be shopped to other networks/outlets.

Once the cast is done shooting, they’ll be placed on holds for another 2 months in case the show goes to series, they’re not committed to other projects and the network doesn’t have to go through the time/expense of recasting that role. Once the decision is made - whatever is picked up to series will be presented at upfronts - they all gather in early fall to begin shooting the show.

Basically, we’re in a waiting game now for the next few months to hope the show is picked up and sending good thoughts that once it is, it’ll do well in the ratings, a whole other topic entirely I think is too soon to comment on. I know the news we’ve gotten so far is very promising that it could be successful, sure, but it is a waiting game till it’s announced at May upfronts, if it is. Bottom line being? Everyone keep your fingers crossed still. And if you don’t mind reading through all the scripts, let me know how good/bad they are. I know I made my predictions for what I think will be picked up and passed on but the reality is no one will know for sure till the dust settles. For all we know, the pilots I think get chosen are terrible and the ones I think will get passes are fantastic. You can just never know.

EVERYONE send out plenty of good thoughts for Chris and Odette!!!! Thanks for coming to another overly long TED talk. ;)

***

Wow, thanks for submitting it :)

#submission #chris nation

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comicteaparty · 4 years

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November 23rd-November 29th, 2019 Creator Babble Archive

The archive for the Creator Babble chat that occurred from November 23rd, 2019 to November 29th, 2019. The chat focused on the following question:

How do you personally deal with hiatuses, both in regards to planned and unplanned breaks?

carcarchu

I feel very guilty when I go on unplanned hiatuses and I avoid going to tapas and webtoons at all until I've got an update completed. i'm scared to see comments complaining about the lack of updates and how many people have unfollowed me in the meantime. i also find it very hard to bounce back from a hiatus. when i've got a groove going it's easier to keep the momentum than it is to start again after a prolonged absence

Deo101

Kinda a rough question haha. I don't go on any hiatuses other than unplanned ones. It's only out of necessity, in the past I did it if school/health got rough, and I'd try to be back the next week with a normal update!!! However.. I have a second comic which has been on hiatus for a year. I miss making it, but I lost the person who I was working with on it so it has been hard to start again. I'm kind of not really dealing with it, as the anxiety of starting again gets worse the longer it's been! But, I know that the only way to get out of it is to just do it, and I have to do it as soon as I can or it will never end. So, I just work my way through them to get back on schedule.

LadyLazuli (Phantomarine)

So far I've only taken one official hiatus, after I finished the second chapter of the comic - I worked on the next chapter's pages for the next two months, then came back and luckily haven't been off hiatus since.

I have another planned hiatus after the next chapter, and this time, I'll be accepting guest art to fill the space - it's not something I was aware was a thing until it was suggested to me. It'll be interesting to come up with a cool way to feature any art I receive. I like the idea of highlighting other artists' work while I'm taking a breather!

eli [a winged tale]

There’s such a huge mental barrier for me when it comes to announcing a hiatus but ultimately life and health come first. I have a comic on hiatus since 2015 (one day it’ll come back haha), and sometimes things happen to push my current one back for updates. I want to tell myself that since I’m producing free content, it should be for fun and not a source of stress (despite industry standards and what I want to achieve). It’s a balance. I think the readers who wait are the ones I am most grateful and treasure.

Cap’n Lee (Flowerlark Studios)

I have chronic health issues that can be very debilitating, so having hiatuses is something I have to deal with all the time. I might be able to update regularly for a few months, but eventually and inevitably, a sudden hiatus will come. It’s something that causes me a lot of stress on top of an already stressful situation. Readers leave, and then when I’m well enough to work, I don’t just have to churn out as many pages as I can while I can, I also have to rebuild my audience all over again. I hate going on hiatuses and having such an unstable update schedule, but there’s not much I can do about it.(edited)

Cronaj

Aw man... I also have been dealing with chronic health conditions, so I feel you. I finally got treatments that have been working, so I'm able to update consistently now. That being said, I was on hiatus for a year and a half until just recently. It really did destroy the momentum I was building up, and readers I had accumulated. Because of that, I am determined not to take long hiatuses anymore (a week-a month at most) and to announce it beforehand. I do find it important to prioritize health and mental well-being above my comic, but I find my mental health suffering every time I neglect to update my comic, so I find a middle ground by taking short breaks occasionally. Moral of the story: build up a buffer, kids. Don't be like me.

Cap’n Lee (Flowerlark Studios)

Yeah, same. I'm still trying to get a diagnosis, but I'm kind of an outlier in medicine- my body chemistry is very atypical. I build up those buffers whenever I can, but they always run out sooner or later. I love making comics so much that my mental health suffers, too. I get depressed if I'm not making progress on my comics. I'm really glad you've found a treatment that helps, though! I hope I can too, one of these years.

eli [a winged tale]

What is this mystical buffer everyone keeps talking about

I jest. Keep up the great work everyone! Everyone is trying their best and that’s most important

Capitania do Azar

I always take a small hiatus on the end of each chapter so I can rest and work on writing the next one, usually for a couple months.

sssfrs

I generally take my time with updates anyway. I've lost followers after hiatuses (strangely people only actually started unfollowing me after I came back with a new update) but I'm more focused on getting more of my comic done and progressing towards it being a finished work than keeping a consistent audience. Even though it would be nice...

DanitheCarutor

Fff coincidentally I'm going on a planned hiatus in December. At the end of every chapter I go on one to get feedback, and have some downtime to better plan the next chapter, as well as to get build some buffer. Usually during this time I either hold a Q&A, or do a call for guest art/comics, and I only ever plan to be on break for a month. I don't like being away for longer than that, and the intermission stuff (Q&A's, call for guest art) is announced a month or so beforehand, that way no one is scrambling when the scheduled break starts. As far as an unplanned hiatus, I don't usually have any with my current project. There have been times I've missed the posting deadline due to my fulltime job, but would post either once the page is done or the next week. With my old comic I took a lot of unannounced breaks, not so much because I was busy but I was going through a lot of crap, and morale was really low. It didn't help that it was my very first real attempt at making comics, so I had no idea what I was doing, the story was also hot garbage and became more of a chore to work as time went on. Eventually I just stopped, went on perma-hiatus totally unannounced to this day. I should have let my readers know, but I was really ashamed of myself for not wanting to work on the project (I promised I would complete it), and with a bunch of things suddenly happening in my life I forgot. I'll probably have to go in an unannounced break someday. A lot of things can happen, and being a traditional art only comic creator I'll probably end up running out of supplies eventually, needing to scrounge up some money for more. The nice thing is soooome, hopefully most, of my readers would understand? They know my comic is super time consuming, and that I've been working on it nonstop for 4-5 years now, so they should? Maybe? Hopefully that won't happen, though!

keii4ii

For those of you who take a break after each chapter, how many pages go in an average-length chapter?

🌈ERROR404 🌈

depends on how you're planning to set up your story, whether u want to prioritize to certain print sizes, but the general average chapter size is about 30 pages

Cronaj

I hadn't been planning to take a break between chapters, but we'll see what actually happens. I have chapters ranging from 35-50 pages in length(edited)

DanitheCarutor

Not sure how everyone else is, but I wing it with chapter length. The chapter I'm currently capping off will be 57 pages, although 30-45ish pages is preferred.

eli [a winged tale]

47 for me for this first chapter!

keii4ii

Cool! Was mostly asking a "so how frequently do you take scheduled post-chapter breaks" worded differently

sssfrs

I do 8-12.. I wish I could do more

Cap’n Lee (Flowerlark Studios)

I am taking a short holiday break (that was actually planned this time) in between Eryl chapters. My Eryl chapters usually run 30-35 pages, and the break will be around..., 3 weeks I think? I can’t remember exactly. I’m probably going to have to put it back on hiatus partway through the chapter when my buffer runs out because of the aforementioned chronic health issues, though.

spacerocketbunny

I've only taken one hiatus and that was just while my site was being built! But even then we were able to have a short extra comic updating on an alternative site for that time being. We've been updating consistently for 5 years and that's thanks to the stability we've been lucky to have and the fact that there's two of us sharing the work. We've been able to work ahead enough so we've never ran out of a buffer, I'm pretty proud of that tbh(edited)

DanitheCarutor

@keii4ii Oh! So you were asking the time frame in which a chapter is finished? Correct me if I'm wrong. Normally each chapter takes about a year to complete, sometimes a couple months more than that. (for me, that is.)

spacerocketbunny

Nothing wrong with a hiatus though, especially after chapter breaks, I think those are pretty good to keep yourself from burning out!

Cronaj

I do 2-3 pages a week, so I finish a new chapter... about every 4-6 months

keii4ii

I appreciate the answers, everyone!

AntiBunny

I answered this one on Twitter, but I'll answer more at length here. FIrst of all I think a distinction should be made between a Hiatus, which is a planned break, and an extended delay, which is more missed updates compounding with each other.

The former is easier to deal with. Announce it with a clear return date.

The latter is rougher. The artist hasn't planned it, and feelings of guilt can make it harder and harder to return. The best thing to do in that case is to again, get out ahead of it. When you're delayed point people to your social media, and keep posting to make it clear you're still working, or if work has halted completely at least keep posting to let them know when you will be working on it again.

Either way I try to avoid even using the word "hiatus" because webcomic readers tend to read it as "abandoned." Sadly they're all too often right to do so.

Cronaj

Yeah, usually, when announcing a hiatus to my readers, I like to use the word "break" instead

It's a bit softer for some reason

You know, I am 95% certain that my readers thought I had abandoned the project—or died—when I disappeared for a year and a half

Because I know that I have gotten invested in a comic, only for the creator to go incognito

And I always wonder... Are they alright?

keii4ii

I usually figure either life got too busy, or the creator outgrew the project. Or both.

AntiBunny

I know. I stopped updating for almost a year because I wasn't happy with the planned ending of Nailbat. I lost readers I still haven't regained over that one.

In retrospect "waiting for inspiration" was not the ideal way to handle that.

Cronaj

Yeah, the fact that I returned at all is pretty crazy, from a reader's perspective(edited)

I've seen more abandoned projects than I have, "Hey sorry guys! Was dealing with stuff, but now I'm back!"

I mean, it happens

But very infrequently in comparison to the previous sadly(edited)

AntiBunny

Combine the fact that not updating is easier than updating, and the guilt of not updating making you feel like your return has to be even more awesome with every missed update, so you build for yourself a unsalable mountain of imagined expectation, and you have a recipe for abandonment.

Cronaj

Yep!

I'm still trying to regain my momentum

And I always feel so bad if I publish a less-than-stellar page

AntiBunny

There's also the fact that people grow and change. One problem with long form story webcomics is that an artist can outgrow their story.

Cronaj

That is so true

AntiBunny

The most successful tend to be the ones that can grow and change with the artist.

Cronaj

As a novelist as well, I can say that is incredibly accurate

I have dropped so many novels after writing 30k words or more

The only project I've stayed faithful to for over 5 years IS my current comic project

AntiBunny

Sluggy Freelance for example is very different today than when it began. Gunnerkrigg Court as well, and I like to think mine can too.

Though I'll admit I do have a character I've outgrown, and it bugs me people want to see her again.

Cronaj

I think that's just a desire for closure, and for things to come together in the end

AntiBunny

She was more of a comic relief character really. her sort of humor just isn't something I want to write anymore. That kind of edgelord "lol murder," humor isn't something I can write anymore. And unlike the core cast who've grown so that they don't have to come from the same place I was years ago, she hasn't.

I may be drifting off topic a bit there. Anyway I think it serves well as a reminder that for a long term story the characters need to grow with the artist to keep a comic going.

keii4ii

Not every story is meant to grow with the trends, and that's 100% fine. Just means you have to accept the risk of potentially outgrowing the project.

Using the word "trends" pretty broadly

Mine is not very adaptable, and I can't imagine making it more adaptable without altering its core. It doesn't make it less worthy as a story, just... yeah, bigger risk

seetherabbit

I always took breaks or "hiatus" way before I ran out of pages I could in theory add to the buffer

that way I could more easly relax

but also so I don't have to take an hiatus in the middle of a story

Pistashi

everyone needs a break sometimes

I've been updating and working constantly not only on my comic, but alto my yt channel and freelance jobs (because money is always welcomed, even tho I HATE FREELANCE WITH ALL MY CORE)

but I feel like I got momentum now and I dont wanna stop suddendly

sometimes I feel exhausted but then one day later or after 10h of sleep Im fine

I'll take a break later for sure, but rn I feel like this weight of responsibility is helping me build my work ethics

because we cant work just when we are inspired, we dont have that luxury :P

we cant overwork either, so we gotta be smart with our breaks and hiatuses

mathtans

I've been on hiatus more times than I want to count. One of those things where not having much of an audience helps... if no one's really saying much, they either continue not to say anything, or suddenly surface to wish you well.

I will say that I like concluding arcs. My first hiatus was when my wife went into hospital for a bit, I said I'd return but didn't know when. Most of my other hiatuses have been at the ends of arcs... and I'll add that while they were breaks from the comic, they weren't from content. I put up a few behind-the-scenes things, explaining backstory, and had a friend write a column for me too. I've seen other comics do similar, or use guest art.

And for those of you wondering "who's this guy", I've been on hiatus since my daughter was born. Meaning we're going on 17 months. (I may not return to comic work. I have another website I run where I do serials that I'm still maintaining.)

Phin (Heirs of the Veil)

In most cases I take a hiatus at the end of a chapter. I have taken two official hiatuses and I think there were some shorter, inofficial ones that I had to take because of other obligations like my studies/family issues/freelance work or finishing books for print. Personally I have managed to not get myself too worked up about hiatuses. I'm doing comics for free and I can't live off of them, so it's inevitable to take breaks. Though I have to say I'm starting into a new chapter without having to go on hiatus, which is pretty neat C:

Pistashi

@Phin (Heirs of the Veil) thats niice! its like the more we work on comics the better (and faster) we get, so keeping the momentum between chapters without a hiatus is an awesome thing! Its the little things tbh

also, you're right. its inevitable to take breaks. specially when you're not working full time and can't live off of them. and like @mathtans said, responsibility shows up and sometimes we have to put things aside

like having a daugther! thats awesome dude! hope your family is doing well (and I know you said you might not get back to comics, but if its something you enjoy keep it up when you're free! making comics is fun) ahdksjnd

Neguri-Senpai-Author

I've actually never gone on a hiatus ever since I started really doing my comic. I can't really go on any hiatuses because I market mine as a weekly comic and additionally I have an oddly strong obsession over consistently in my life so I just feel really really weird if I'd do something like a break from my comic even if I needed it ^^; But currently it's not really that bad. I've been consistent with weekly uploads for a bit over a year now (I've started doing it weekly in September of 2018) and I don't plan on going on a hiatus any time soon. Maybe I'll work a bit in advance but I'm not gonna go on a hiatus to get a break

Phin (Heirs of the Veil)

@Pistashi Yeah it's really nice when you finally get a little faster because you optimized your workflow

mathtans

@Pistashi Thanks! Family's doing great, but yeah, most of my free time goes to writing rather than drawing these days. We'll see how things play out.

Desnik

I didn't spotlight my hiatus, but when I finally return to acknowledge it, I'd like to have something to show for it, like a new project or 'this is where I am now' or 'This is what the comic meant to me' so that at least my readers get closure

#ctparchive #comics #webcomics #indie comics #comic chat #comic discussion #comic tea party #ctp #creator interview #comic creator interview #creator babble

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the-canary · 6 years

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Pastel Colors - B.B (9/15)

Summary: If only the cute teacher would stop pestering you for a pen.(Library/Teacher AU! Reader/Bucky Barnes)

Prompt: you’re always asking me for a pencil because for some damn reason you don’t know that there is a whole store for stationary—happy birthday here’s a gift card to that store. wait, you work there? what the hell?

Masterlist

A/N: This is for @bithors writing challenge. another out of season chapter, enjoy!

Feedback is always appreciated.

If there is one ugly part of James Buchanan Barnes’ personality is that he cuts off anything that might hurt him and tries to best strategize how to move forward with the hurt on his own. After everything had failed with Dot, he knew he couldn’t go on with everything that he had built up in Florida, even if it had been his childhood dream, thus he cut all ties and ran back to New York. Now, he was doing the same with you, it wasn’t like you liked him that way, you were much happier with that whatever his name was. So, Bucky tried his hardest to move on by trying to ignore anything that he connected to you -- he stopped visiting, he cancelled those weekend meetings, he hardly went out. James holed himself in his apartment and worked, barely talked to anyone besides Steve.

He prepared himself the whole week to see you again for the VR installation, only to be greeted with a somber Steve.

“Steve, why are you here? Where’s …” Bucky freezes, unsure of how to feel if you had decided to cut him off as well. It would make sense, but it didn’t stop the painful feelings from drilling themselves into his chest all of a sudden.

“Buck, didn’t you hear?” the blond man questions, as he hands Bucky all the files you have been working on, “She collapsed on the last week of school, been out of it since. Wanda’s been giving all of updates.”

“What? Why?” Bucky’s voice gets a little higher, as he pushes his hand through his hair in sudden frustration and disbelief.

“I don’t know, Buck.” is the only way Steve can answer, as the physics teacher gets up ready to leave and rush to your side, though he doesn’t know where you are at the moment, “Hey, where are you going?”

“I have to see her. I’ve been such a fucking idiot,” Bucky declares in annoyance with himself, as Steve just shakes his head, having dealt with this side of his best friend more than once in their shared lifetime.

“Don’t you think she would want you to watch them install this first? You guys have been working so hard towards this for months,” Steve calmly explains, as Bucky begins to cool down a bit, though he’s still pacing back and forth.

“I..Yeah,” he grumbles, remembering how much time and effort you had put into this -- into one upping him and always having some new type of research that blew him away. You were dedicated in your research and wanting to move this project forward, Bucky would be doing you disservice if he walked away from it all -- you deserved that much.

“Watch this happen and then tell her all about it,” Steve gouges him on the idea and Bucky nods. The two friends later on watch as the cable and proper equipment are installed all around the library, it certainly updates the look and feel but the books and everything is left untouched due to the majority of said devices being portable. There were still extra computers to be added here and there, but James knew that you would be proud and excited of everything was being setup.

The whole installation process takes about three and half hours and Bucky makes sure to take pictures, so that he can show you when he can. He asks questions and makes sure to know what the next steps are going to be, so that he could tell you in person. After all the movers left, Steve was going to ask Bucky if he wanted to grab a late lunch, but the dark-haired man only asks for your address and is out the door before Steve can asks his intended question. Steve grins,though he knows he owes Sam a beer now.

“And the Oscar goes to…” Steve whistles as he leaves the school grounds and heads back home.

Now, Steve wasn’t completely lying when he said that you were ill, though it was just some stressed induced exhaustion and catching Michelle’s cold at the wrong time that had you fainting on the last day of school before winter break. Wanda had freaked out and so had Pietro, but some good medicine and sleep brought you back up quickly with just a minor cough. The danger had past but you were now alone since Carol had deadlines to met, Vision and Wanda had made of love nest in his apartment for the holidays, and Pietro was spending it with some friends from his graduate course. It was lonely, but you were used to that and you used the time to prepare for your upcoming course, though that didn’t stop you from thinking about James every once and awhile -- you hadn’t seen him in a long while.

“Steve, is James all right?” you ask during one of your quick lunches with the man that had become part of your life since getting to know him better after the bar incident, but it didn’t replace the ones you used to have with James and the Library Club, “I haven’t seen him in awhile.”

“He’s writing some papers for a science journal,” he explains with an exasperated smile, “He’ll come around after the holidays. Don’t worry, he’s just like that.”

You could only hope that he was doing all right, especially since you didn’t know how he spent his holidays? Was he going to spend with the woman he was supposedly in love with? Were they together already? Without much to do, your head often ran around with these thoughts. However, this time around it is broken due to the loud banging at the door as you turn to look at it from your place in the living room, piles of papers and books around you in regards to curriculum with a romcom playing as background noise. You grab your shawl as the banging continues. You open the door to see James holding two large bags with a very concerned look on his face.

“Bucky, what are you doing here?” you let out a small cough, as he frowns while making his way into the small apartment. You shake your head as he looks around, his scold deepens at the sight of you being all alone and even working in your current state. He puts the bags down and turn to look at you.

“Where’s your boyfriend?” He asks in exasperation, as you raise an eyebrow, pulling your shawl closer to your body.

“What boyfriend?” you ask, as a dumbfounded but cute (did you really just think that?) look lights up his face.

“That Pie guy,” he further explains, and you have to wonder how he knew about Pietro since you hadn’t seen him the night all of Steve’s friends and yours meet.

“Pietro isn’t my boyfriend. He’s my Steve,” you laugh at your own description, before stopping since it still hurts your throat, as he gives you a flabbergasted look.

“W-What?” is all he can say.

“He’s been with me since high school. We’re like the three musketeers at this point,” you shrug, mildly annoyed that you have to explain this to James, couldn't Steve had just done this. However, your thought process seems to stop once he lets out a relieved chuckle and pushes a hand through his hair, you’re still confused.

“Oh, thank god,” he whispers to himself before getting to work. You watch him setup all the chicken and vegetables in the small kitchen countertop. He asks where your pots and pans are before turning on the stove and setting to work. You sit across from him and watch him move around the kitchen, like he owns the place and while it is a bothersome thought, it still makes you smile.

“James, not to be mean or anything. But why are you here exactly?” you question as he chops up the carrots and rinses them before placing them in the boiling pot. He leans on the counter, his upper body closer to you and blue eyes completely glued to yours.

“Just making up for lost time,” he explains cryptically and with a soft smile. He leans in a bit more and you’re stuck there, frozen and watching his next move more but before anything happens, the time starts beeping that the chicken is ready.

After a meal of homemade chicken soup and some cold medicine, James makes you sit down on the couch while pushing away all the material you had cluttered (promising that he would help work on it with you later) on the table to make way for some healthy snacks, medicine, ( he’s such a dad , you thought to yourself) and an array of movies, but halfway through watching Home Alone , a question pops into your head.

“Bucky, how do you normally spend Christmas time?” you turn to look up at him from his side of the couch, only to notice that you had gotten closer as the hours moved forward. He had even gotten underneath your blanket at some point.

“It’s a little disjointed this year, but we all usually meet at my parents’ house,” he explains as you listening intently, “Big tree, even bigger dinner ‘cause of my sisters and their loved ones and kids. We used to carol and wait until morning to open presents.”

“That sounds lovely,” you sigh out as James laughs, thinking about what he missed since he was working through the holidays and due to all of his family being in Florida for the time, a place that he didn’t want to be in at the moment, maybe not for a long while.

“What about you?” he asks trying to move away from the heavy feeling in his heart and Bucky swears that his heart stops at moment you smile softly, reminiscing of your own past.

“I’ve spent it more with the twins recently,” you explains as James wants to groan for a moment at his stupidity, but your voice stops him, “But when I was younger, my ma would always take me to the library Christmas read-along than we go walk around the neighborhood to see all the lights. I always got some type of stationery for Christmas,” you laugh awkwardly towards the end since James can’t seem to stop looking at you.

“Oh that reminds me!” you shot up from the couch and run towards the back of the apartment. James gets up slightly from his position on the couch, as he hears you rummaging through something. You quickly run back in with a small package and jump on the couch to hand it to the confused man.

“Merry Christmas!” you smile brightly as he tries his hardest not to blush at the sight of you : bedhead, flushed and smiling, with a present just for him. God, Steve was right, he had it bad.

“Thanks, doll,” he smiles as he takes the package and quickly opens it only to see a package of 100 cheap ballpoint pens, and in the moment he realizes that you know what he has been doing. You laugh loudly as he shakes his head, embarrassed at being found out but relieved that even if you disliked it you hadn’t pushed him away like he initial thought it would.

“Ya got me,” he chuckles as you keep laughing before the coughing fit gets a hold of you. James soothes your back and after a few moments, you find yourself leaning more into his warmth than moving back to your side of the couch. The paused movie now entirely forgotten as you can’t stop staring at him.

“James, thank you for everything,” you mumble sleepy, the drugs and food starting to kick in, as you rub his stubble softly with your right hand, “You’re a good friend.”

“Only the best for you,” James whispers as he places his hand over yours. He feels a little confident for a moment and decides to pull you in closer underneath the blanket once more. Your head is placed directly underneath his chin as his humming and warmth dips you further into the land of sleep. Too deep that you don’t feel the light kiss on your forehead and the anguish in his voice.

“God, I love you so much.”

Part 10

#kumis5kchallenge #bucky barnes x reader #bucky x reader #bucky barnes fanfiction #bucky barnes teacher au #bucky barnes library au #series: pastel colors #fabiola trying to write

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quicksilversquared · 6 years

Text

How to Fake A Marriage Ch. 29

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28

(AO3) (FF.net)

Marinette was in the middle of puzzling over a kid's summer romper at work when she noticed her phone flashing with a new message next to her elbow. She set the design to the side for a moment to check it, and found a new email waiting in her inbox. Marinette clicked on it and found another commission request, this time from what was apparently a symphonic metal band.

Nibbling on her lip, Marinette considered the email for a few minutes before opening a new tab on her computer and emailing the band name to find out a little more about them. It didn't take long for Marinette to skim the first page and find out that they was a relatively well-known band in their genre, as far as she could tell. If she took the commission and did a good job with the outfits that they were asking her to create- a few stage outfits and some screen-printed t-shirts, and wow were those ever some interesting concepts, her imagination was already sparking- then maybe they could become a long-time client, or at the very least another strong point on her resume for when she was applying to things back in Paris again.

Maybe she could do it. If she set a long deadline, pointing out her normal job and vague other obligations (read: the commissions she had already committed to), then she could push to finish her other projects while getting the initial sketches done during her breaks at work and then approved. The cape they had asked for- well, there would be some screen printing on it, and bedazzling, but overall it wouldn't take long. The rest of the pieces would take a little more time, but nothing too bad.

Marinette really wanted to say yes. Sure, it would be a busy few weeks to catch up, but requests had been slowing down after that initial burst right after Jagged Stone's album dropped (and half of the requests had been dropped after people who wanted custom designer outfits but didn't want to pay custom designer price learned that yes, she did actually expect to be paid fairly, oddly enough). They would no doubt slow all the way to a stop soon, and then Marinette would be left with nothing to do in the evenings while Adrien studied.

Well, that wasn't entirely true. She could do her own for-fun designs, and she did have some mending that she could do as well- her pajamas had a rip at the moment so she had stolen an old t-shirt of Adrien's to wear instead (and Adrien had looked a bit surprised when she told him that she was too busy to do the mending, but he definitely hadn't protested her wearing his clothes). But neither of those things would result in her getting paid extra money, which she needed right now if she wanted to build up any real savings by the time she and Adrien left London. Sure, next year they wouldn't have the expense of her apartment to pay, but that was still months away.

Giving herself a good shake to refocus, Marinette read over the email again and reminded herself to not get ahead of herself. She hadn't even given these people a quote yet and she didn't know if they would be willing to pay the right price. They might drop off when she emailed them back, just like so many others had.

Marinette made a mental note to get back to the band over her lunch break- she could use the general response email that she sent out to everyone requesting a commission and just tweak it a little bit to fit their request- and then set her phone aside to refocus on her design.

With that spark of inspiration still lingering from the band's aesthetic, it didn't take long for Marinette to make a few tweaks on the romper to make it unique. She cleaned up the drawing, and then got it uploaded into her team's shared folder so everyone else on her team could see it and give her some feedback. With that assignment done, Marinette turned her attention back to the pile of runway designs that she had to alter into streetwear looks.

"Nice design, Marinette!" Emily called from her cubicle thirty minutes later. Marinette glanced up from her work and grinned in Emily's direction, even though the junior designer wouldn't be able to see her.

"Thanks!"

"Dibs on making a dress for that line!" Sarah called. "I already have an idea for one to go along with the romper!"

"I'm making overalls!" Abbey chimed in. "And a sun hat. Whatever your inspiration was for that romper, Marinette, I approve."

Marinette ducked her head, grinning shyly as she did. She hadn't expected her piece to be the focal point for their summer kid's line, but it was a good feeling to be so appreciated.

By the time lunchtime had rolled around, Marinette had drafted up three potential runway-to-streetwear outfits. She headed to the break room and powered up her laptop while the leftovers she had brought heated up in the microwave. It didn't take long to alter her basic letter to fit the band's requests, and then it was ready to send.

Before she hit Send, Marinette paused one more time, wondering if she should really even be considering taking the commission. After all, she was already pretty busy, so much so that Tikki had even argued with her about Marinette insisting that she plan at least part of her and Adrien's Valentine's Day date. Tikki thought that she should leave all of it to Adrien, since he was clearly eager to do it, but Marinette hadn't been about to just sit back and not put in some effort for Adrien on their first Valentine's Day as a couple.

Besides, it had been nice to have an excuse to take a break from the designing and the commissions to bake a cake. It was really nice to have the near-instant gratification that came with starting a project and finishing it in only a little over an hour and a half.

"I can handle it," Marinette assured herself, hitting send. Most of the commission would be the screen-printing, and that wasn't hard at all. In fact, she rather enjoyed those kinds of commissions, because just like the cake, they were relatively quick to do and check off the list. Besides, she had already seen how the band's aesthetic inspired her. She wanted to work with them.

Right after her email sent, her phone lit up with another message. Marinette set her laptop aside and grabbed her phone, just as a second and third text came through in quick succession. They were from Alya, and Marinette grinned as she read the messages.

"What is it, Marinette?" Tikki whispered so that the sewing room workers who were taking a break wouldn't hear the voice coming from Marinette's pocket. "What did she say?"

"Alya was just told that she got past the first round of the competition," Marinette whispered back, grinning.

Tikki perked up. "Oh, that's amazing!"

Marinette shook her head, checking her phone again. "Not really. About half to three-quarters of the entrants make it past the first round. The first cut is just to make sure that there's enough research that they've done and recorded to justify needing a trip. Alya knew that she would make that first cut, but it's good to have that confirmation, at least." She texted Adrien with the news, just on the off chance that Alya hadn't let him know as well. "It'll be the next two cuts that we're more interested in."

"Working over lunch again?" Sarah asked, appearing at Marinette side with a sandwich and Marinette's food from the microwave. She slid the hot dish over to Marinette before sitting down to eat her own lunch. "You gotta take a break sometime."

"I was just responding to some email," Marinette defended herself, though she knew Sarah was right. Every other day of the week, she had had sketches to work on over their lunch break. "And I was responding to a text from my friend Alya back home- she's made it past the first cut in this research competition."

"Oh, cool!" Sarah said immediately. "What is she researching?"

By the time Marinette finished telling Sarah about the kinds of things Alya was researching, the rest of her team had arrived and most were listening.

"Oh, I remember hearing about the superheroes in Paris," Abbey said. "Only vaguely, though. Some of my classmates were super excited that there were real-life superheroes. But I bet you know all about them, since you were there and all."

Oh, the irony. "Yeah, they were at my school all the time," Marinette said, only years of practice allowing her to keep a straight face. "There were a lot of akuma fights in my neighborhood."

"Oh, I would hate that," Emily said, shivering. "That would be so scary, to have superhero fights nearby all the time!"

The rest of her team nodded. Marinette managed to just smile and nod, trying not to laugh at what her coworkers' reactions might be if they ever found out that she had been right in the middle of every single one of those fights.

The rest of the afternoon flew by as the entire team came together to toss ideas around for the summer lines and to discuss the upcoming spring/summer Runway week. They ended the day with a strong plan going forward, a good start on their summer kid's line, and a bunch of sketches for the runway-to-streetwear pieces.

(Marinette also ended the workday with a response from the band- they had already heard about her prices from one for the other bands Marinette was already working with and were fine with it, so now she had a whole slew of new outfits and screen-printing screens to design.)

"How's the husband?" Sarah asked, appearing at Marinette's side as she walked towards her apartment building. "I've seen him in passing, but we haven't be able to talk for long. Either he's trying to get somewhere or I am. Or both. Often both."

"One of these days, one of those annoying reporters is gonna overhear you calling Adrien that and they're going to take you seriously," Marinette said, rolling her eyes fondly. Plagg would get along well with Sarah, what with his insistence on calling Marinette Adrien's wife and Sarah's insistence on calling Adrien Marinette's husband. She had even gotten the rest of the team in on it from time to time.

Sarah shrugged. "Eh, who cares about them. I'm not going to say anything to them to get you in trouble, though," she added quickly. "And if they do overhear me, I can just explain that duh, I'm referring to the prank because I was there, don't they recognize me from the bridesmaids photo? I won't say anything about how ridiculously married you two are."

Marinette thought about protesting that and then decided against it, because Tikki had said that in the past, too. If it weren't for the fact that they apparently couldn't hide their "married-ness" from everyone else, acting married would be quite a good thing, really. To her, acting married meant that she and Adrien were comfortable with each other and worked well together, and that was a good thing.

"Have a good evening with your husband," Sarah told Marinette as they separated once they were in the building. She grinned at Marinette's groan. "Don't be too cute."

"Right, right, of course," Marinette grumbled, waving her friend off and trying not to grin as she did. She headed through the door to her floor's hallway and made an immediate beeline to Adrien's door. Her boyfriend would surely be working on homework- he had a lot of projects and papers to do this semester on top of his usual studying- but that didn't mean that he wouldn't welcome the interruption.

And just like she suspected, Adrien was hunched over in front of his computer at the dining room table, headphones plugged in as he worked. Marinette grinned, dumping her bag on the couch and heading over to greet him.

"Hey, kitty," Marinette sing-songed, sliding up behind Adrien and sliding the headphones off. She dipped down to press a kiss to his cheek, and he twisted in his chair to return the kiss. She didn't miss his wince of pain when he twisted and she frowned. Clearly he had been sitting and studying for too long. Again. "Where's your heat pad? You should be using that if you're going to be sitting for so long."

Adrien jabbed a finger over his shoulder. "I was using it when I was sitting on the couch, but Plagg claimed it when I got up to use the bathroom and threatened to bite me if I moved him off of it. I think he likes the heat, because he does this whenever I have the rice pad out."

Marinette huffed and turned to glare at Plagg. Sure enough, he was napping on top of Adrien's rice heat pack on the far end of the couch, looking deeply content even though the heat from the pack was sure to have mostly dissipated by now. She stomped over and grabbed the pack out from under Plagg, ignoring the kwami's squawks.

Tiny god or not, she was not letting him steal Adrien's heat pack, especially not when Adrien clearly needed it. And even worse, it sounded like the stealing the rice pack was a common occurrence.

"I was sleeping!" Plagg complained, floating after her. "And there was some lovely residual heat still, and-"

"This is Adrien's," Marinette scolded as she brought it back to the microwave. "And he needs it. Go sit in the sun or something."

"But I like the heat!"

"It's not yours!"

"But I'm-"

Tikki zipped up after Plagg and twisted his tail, making his squeak. "You can't steal from your Chosen, Plagg!" she snapped at him as Marinette set the timer on the microwave. "You can maybe perch on the pad if Adrien allows, but you can't claim it and not let Adrien use it. And your poor Chosen is in pain right now because he couldn't use his heated pad!"

Plagg scoffed. "No, he's in pain because he was hunched over like an old man all afternoon. If he ever got up and stretched for a bit then he wouldn't have this problem."

Tikki let out a wordless shriek in Plagg's direction.

"As much as I hate to admit it, Plagg is at least partly right," Marinette said as she removed the newly-heated bag out of the microwave. She swatted Plagg away when he started drifting closer, drawn by the heat. "Adrien has to stop sitting in place for so long without getting up and stretching and taking breaks. But having this available to him would have helped." She tugged her (ridiculous) boyfriend off of his chair and face first onto the couch. Once he was settled, she draped the heating pad over the small of Adrien's back and he let out a happy sigh, relaxing into the couch.

"You gotta take better care of yourself, Adrien," Marinette sighed, rubbing his shoulders. A quiet purr floated up into the air between them. "I know your classes have really stepped up this year, but you need to take breaks and stretch. You're all tense."

"I have an exam on Friday," Adrien explained, voice muffled by the couch. "I was studying for that, and then trying to work on my paper. I swear that once I get both of those done I'll be able to relax a bit more."

Marinette dug the heels of her hands into the knotted muscle in Adrien's shoulders, making him yelp. "You'll be able to study better if you aren't stiff as a board, you dweeb."

"Rude."

They fell into silence, broken only by Adrien's quiet purr as Marinette worked on his tense muscles. Plagg floated over and settled on top of the hot pad, burrowing around to make a little divot in the heated rice. After a few more minutes, Tikki joined him.

"Feeling better?" Marinette asked after several minutes. She ran her hand up Adrien's back and into his hair, mussing it further. She adjusted the heating pad so it wasn't in danger of slowly sliding off. "I'm starting to think that I should have made two of these things. Then you could have one on your upper back, too."

Adrien made a happy little noise and wriggled slightly.

"I want one, too!" Plagg announced, rolling over and staring up at Marinette with pleading green eyes. "One that I can carry around wherever I want!"

Marinette gave Plagg a Look. "Will you stop stealing Adrien's if I make you a heat pack of your own?"

"Yes!"

Marinette made a face and gave Adrien a few light scratches behind his ears. She didn't want to reward Plagg by giving him a gift when he was stealing from Adrien (and she didn't exactly have a ton of spare time to spend making a kwami-sized rice pack, especially with the newest addition to her list of commissions to do), but Adrien was apparently unwilling to cross Plagg and risk being bitten. If she gave Plagg a miniature heat pack of his own, then Adrien wouldn't have to deal with his spoiled kwami stealing his when he needed it.

Fine. She would make a mini heat pack for Plagg, then. Maybe Adrien could occasionally steal it for his neck or something, just because turnabout was fair.

"D'you wanna order takeout tonight?" Marinette asked after a few more minutes. "I don't think there's much in the fridge right now and I don't really feel like cooking." She really wanted to get a good chunk of work done on her commissions tonight, and cooking and cleaning up just took up time that she didn't really have at the moment. She reached for her phone, scrolling with one hand as the other rubbed up and down Adrien's back. "Sarah recommended this Greek place. I've actually been there before with the people from work. It's not too expensive and they deliver."

"Sure." Adrien reached his arms forward and stretched, arching and twisting back and forth. "Mmm. I think I'm gonna bring this thing to bed tonight. If I stay here much longer, I'm going to fall asleep."

Marinette giggled and ran a hand up Adrien's spine as he stretched again. "You can take a little cat-nap while our food comes. It might help you focus better once you wake up again."

Adrien laughed and started to wriggle his way upright. Marinette hopped off of his legs so he could sit back up. "It's a little too late in the day for a cat-nap, I think. I'd just end up tired."

"If you say so."

Marinette went to order their dinner while Adrien moved his study materials to the floor so he could lay down and finish some assigned problems for one of his classes while keeping the hot pad on his back. Once their order was in (maybe Marinette had ordered a little more than they would eat, but she liked leftovers for lunch and so did Adrien), Marinette grabbed her tablet and settled down on the floor next to Adrien so she could draw with one hand and rub his shoulders with the other hand.

It was comfortable. Adrien leaned his head to the side, resting it against Marinette's knees as he worked. Partway through their wait, Marinette got up to reheat the rice bag and then resettle it on Adrien's back.

"Thanks, bug," Adrien said as she settled the bag across his shoulders. He smiled over at her as she settled back down at his side and picked up her new tablet again. "My back is feeling a whole lot better now."

"Promise me you'll take better care of it this weekend, when you have your test and the paper out of the way?"

Adrien grinned. "Well, then I'll have another two papers to focus on and another test to start studying for... but I suppose I could manage to screw up my back less than normal once my test on Friday is done."

Marinette sighed. She supposed that that was as good as she was going to get. "It seems like you have a lot more tests than normal this semester." Normally he just had a cluster of exams around the middle of the semester and again at the end, but now he had exams and paper due dates sprinkled through the semester. Adrien always seemed to be studying, but that wasn't a huge problem.

After all, she certainly had enough commission work to keep her busy. More than enough, even.

So much for their be-done-with-classwork-and-projects-by-a-certain-time pact from the fall. It seemed that these days, they worked up to it or over regularly, but it really couldn't be avoided. At least they did try to spend a chunk of time together without commissions or studying distracting them several times a week, even if those times had been shortened somewhat. And of course they tended to try to go to bed around the same time, too, and early enough that they didn't have to go to sleep right away.

"Yeah, I seem to be having tests at the end of every large unit for one of my classes," Adrien agreed. "I think it's because the units are so different, it wouldn't make sense to stick them together. And there's some other classes with a strange exam schedule, or that just have papers instead of exams."

Marinette hummed in acknowledgement, and kept sketching. She was currently working on finishing up a set of preliminary drawings for an earlier commission, and she wanted to get them down and approved soon so she could go and get the fabric and other things she needed at the same time she was picking up the stuff she needed for yet another order over the weekend. Not getting feedback and approval in time would mean that she would have to waste time going on a separate trip to the fabric store, unless she wanted to put to put off getting supplies for that commissions off until she was getting the things for her latest commission.

Needless to say, she would rather not have to do more trips than strictly necessary. And sure, maybe she should be focusing on finishing up her in-progress commissions first, but it was nice to have options for when she got to the fiddly work on a piece and she was too tired to do anything but sew long straight seams for one evening.

She had just finished the basic sketch when the take-out arrived. Marinette grabbed her wallet and trotted downstairs, meeting the delivery guy at the front door. One exchange of food and money later, and Marinette was trotting upstairs with her prize.

"That's a lot of food, Marinette," Adrien said with a laugh after Marinette set everything out on their table. He rolled to his feet with a quiet grunt, snagging his rice bag before it could fall to the ground. "Are we expecting guests?"

"It's not that much." In her defense, she had kind of thought that the serving sizes would be a little smaller. She must have misremembered how large they were. Whoops. "I mean, we'll have enough for two meals, but that's not a bad thing."

They dug in eagerly. Adrien still wasn't looking completely comfortable in the chair- clearly his back was still bothering him at least a little bit- but the discomfort hadn't affected his appetite at all.

Maybe they wouldn't have enough for two full meals after all.

"I might go to bed early tonight," Adrien told her as he scraped his plate clean. "I think that with all of the work I've done this afternoon, I should be in good shape."

"Lots of homework?"

To her surprise, Adrien shook his head. "Well, some. It was mostly cleaning up a rough draft for one of my papers this semester and writing up a lab paper for another class. That stuff always takes forever."

Marinette could understand that. Writing in English tended to take an annoyingly long time as she puzzled over the right words (and the right tenses, and the right form of the word to use, in some cases), and while Adrien had Ben to help get things polished up, he didn't like to give his papers to his tutor in too rough of a shape. "When are your papers due?"

"Most of the rough drafts are due close to midterms, but the lab paper is due next Thursday," Adrien said, making her start in surprise. That was ages out- right? Or had more of the semester passed her by than she realized? "I just want to get the bulk of the work out of the way now, because I never know what will come up closer to the due date. Ben has said that sometimes things can get intense around midterms and that people who tend to put stuff off until closer to the due date end up pulling all sorts of all-nighters. I've been trying to avoid that."

Marinette was of the opinion that Adrien was going a little over the top with trying to be prepared, but maybe Ben was right. Since it took Adrien longer to research and write in his second language, maybe it was a good idea for him to get that as much out of the way as he could now.

"I'm going to stay up a little longer, I think," Marinette said, glancing over at where her sketchbook and tablet sat side-by-side on the small side table. "I have some stuff I want to finish up tonight for commissions."

Adrien pouted at her for a moment, then sighed. "Okay. Honestly, I'll probably just take that rice pack with me and end up falling asleep straight off anyway. And I'll take better care of myself tomorrow, I promise. Really. I don't like my back hurting, either. It make it harder to focus. And it makes me feel old besides."

Only half an hour after they finished dinner, Adrien started getting ready for bed. He wandered into the kitchen to get Plagg his evening cheese chunk and to heat up the rice bag, then paused to kiss Marinette good night before heading back to the bedroom. Marinette watched him go, then turned back to her tablet.

One last cleaned-up sketch, and then she could send the files to her client. It still wouldn't be that late by that time, as long as she didn't spectacularly mess up and, like, delete the file once she was most of the way through it. Saving her work periodically would keep her safe from that, and then she should have time to start on the album cover art that she had just gotten the details ironed out for earlier in the week.

Hopefully.

"I thought you were just telling Adrien about how he shouldn't be overworking himself," Tikki said disapprovingly once Marinette had sent her email with the six attachments and immediately started some quick outlines for the cover art, general sketches and lines to get an idea of where she wanted different elements to go. "And now you're working later than you two agreed on your commissions."

"I'm not overworking myself," Marinette protested. "I just have some things that I need to get done to even come close to staying on track with the number of commission requests that I've been getting. And this particular art needs to get done sooner rather than later, since the shirt designs depend on it."

Tikki did not look impressed.

"I just want to get my general ideas for this drawn out while I still have them in my head," Marinette added. "I'm not going to complete the whole thing tonight. It'll be two hours at most, and you know Adrien went to bed really early."

Tikki's expression didn't change. "One hour more, tops."

"One forty-five."

"One fifteen."

"An hour and a half, and that's all I'm willing to budge."

Marinette went back to her work, drawing and re-drawing lines as she tried to get a rough sketch done. Fifty-seven minutes in and Marinette's rough outline started taking on more detail- though not too much, because then it would get too difficult to replicate as a print on a shirt. Since the band had also commissioned her to do the screen-printing of their shirts for them, Marinette had to make sure that she delivered an interesting, unique cover while still keeping it clean enough that it wouldn't be a pain to print.

Needless to say, Marinette was very happy that the band had wanted the cover in only black and silver, because having to print multiple colors on one shirt was just a pain. It would be simple enough to print in silver-grey on a black shirt or black on a grey shirt, as long as she didn't give in to the temptation to add too much detail.

"I thought you said that you weren't going to design the whole thing tonight!" Tikki complained as Marinette cleaned up more of the sketch. Slowly but surely, it was starting to look less like a quick sketch and more like a proper album cover, though it wasn't anywhere close to completion yet.

"I still have five minutes to work on it!" Marinette protested. She carefully erased a section and redrew a line. "And I'm not going to finish it tonight, you don't have to keep mother-henning me about that. I've still probably got two hours of work left on this for another night, and more than that if the band requests any changes."

Tikki let out a little hmph and zipped off. Marinette checked the clock one more time- now she only had four minutes left to work- and then worked on evening out a line. She had just finished cleaning the upper corner up when her watched chimed, letting Marinette know that her time was up and she had to go to bed.

Trying not to grumble (if she didn't have work the next day, then she definitely would have tried to power through another hour or two of work), Marinette saved her work one last time and powered down the tablet. It got carefully tucked away in her bag, in the carefully padded pocket that she had made just for it, and then she headed back to the bedroom to wash up. It didn't take long, and then Marinette was slipping into bed next to a sleeping Adrien. He was sleeping on his stomach, which puzzled her for a moment until she remembered that he had mentioned going to sleep with his rice bag.

Sliding her hand over, Marinette felt for the bag. It was cold under the blankets, so Marinette carefully tugged it off of Adrien. After a moment's consideration, she headed back out to the kitchen to warm it back up again. Adrien didn't stir when she replaced the pack on his back, but he did let out a happy sigh that trailed off into a purr.

He was such a cat. Marinette couldn't deny that it was really, really cute.

It only took a few minutes more to set up her alarm for the next morning and get it arranged on the bedside table, and then she was sliding back between the sheets. Marinette could feel the heat from both Adrien and the heat pad as she curled up next to his side. His face was relaxed and angelic in sleep, finally free of stress and tension.

"Sleep well, chaton," Marinette murmured, leaning over to press a kiss to the part of his forehead that wasn't obscured by hair. "You need it."

#Miraculous Ladybug #My writing #How to Fake a Marriage #Adrien Agreste #Marinette Dupain-Cheng #ahh meant to post this earlier but dinner took forever to make

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occupy-my-meanwhile · 6 years

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Shane.

Okay, I got to say this because if I don’t then I’m going to be annoyed with myself for putting out a different thought/idea that others may have.

Let’s talk about Shane Dawson...

So, here’s the tea.

I love Shane. I’ve been with him since 2009. I’ve seen his highs and his lows and I support him. As you all probably know, his DocuSeries have been getting a lot of heat and a lot of talk.

I just need to put out my opinion.

1) Let’s begin...

Again, I love Shane and the episodes are so fucking good. The Quality is incredible and you don’t even notice the time pass. They’re such fucking good content and I am always there.

2) The Videos

The vids have improved rapidly but with an acceleration of content comes a delay in frequency. Is this a bad thing? No. It’s him and fucking Andrew. Two guys making a documentary. Imagine Making a Murder if it was made by two people. I love their effort and it’s so appreciated.

3) But that being said...

When you post a deadline. Stick to it dude. I get it. You’re busy, you’re overworked and you can’t do it with just two people. Set responsible deadlines. Set accurate targets to meet.

If you tell us, there’s going to be a video on Thursday? I’m going to be waiting for that shit. Mentally, I’m going to think ‘yes, I have something to look forward to!’ If you can’t meet that deadline, you let me and the fans down. I get it. Shit happens. I GET IT. But come on man. Set a responsible deadline.

4) College.

Let’s look at this in a college perspective right now. You have an assignment , you’re set a deadline by a Teacher and you’re expected to meet that deadline. Can you get an extension for personal reasons/health? Yes.

But what you don’t do, is you don’t fail to meet that deadline. You work towards it and even if you do it the night before. You get it done. You submit it on time.

5) YouTube.

YouTube isn’t Netflix. It isn’t Hulu or any other kind of streaming service that hosts TV programs. Shane is making TV type content and again, it’s so fucking good.

But what we expect with YouTube is daily/weekly/frequent content. That’s why I think some people are getting pissed. You see other YouTuber’s posting regularly. No, they’re not posting as much content, but they’re posting.

Honestly, I would sit here and watch a five minute vlog of Shane playing with the dogs, talking to the squad and editing and I’d be happy with that. It doesn’t need to be edited. It doesn’t need to be anything special. It’s something to keep us going until the new part. That’s why I enjoy Ryland/Morgan/Garrett’s content inbetween.

6) Netflix/Streaming Service

Would Shane be better on Netflix? Fuck no. Here’s why. Executives, Producers, Directors, people to please. Shane works, on his own with Andrew and that works. The more people involved the more voices and the more diluted Shane’s content becomes.

7) What should he do?

Be honest. If you know you need a week, a month or however much time to put together an episode or a series? Take it Shane. Take the time to put in the energy and commitment for the project. I’ll wait. I have Ryland/Morgan/Garrett to keep me going. As long as you’re okay mentally/physically, you’re working and you’re doing something you love. Then keep going. I feel like all the hate you get for not delivering is getting to you and it’s getting to me. You work hard and we can see that.

But please, to avoid the hate, take time to put the work in.

I don’t know anything from this part on so just go with me...

If you know it’s going to take a full week to record footage for a 5/6/7 part series. Take it. Film it. Saying nothing. Don’t get people hyped, don’t get people excited. DO NOT SET A DEADLINE. Do not give something for people to test you on.

Next, get into editing. Do what you guys do and do not stop until you’re ready to post at least 3/4′s of the series. Then when you have 3 or 4 episodes ready to post. Drop a release date.

Let’s say two weeks before you’re going to finish the series so that by the time you post, you’re also finishing the series while people are enjoying the part 1 you edited like a month ago.

You can still get the feedback and you can still work towards your target.��

That’s it. I support Shane. I’ll doubt he’ll see this but if he does I hope it helps.

**As a sort of additional thing here, I mentioned earlier about looking forward to a part when he announces it, because with this series and a few others, he failed to meet those targets, I un-followed Shane on every social media except YouTube so I’m not getting my hopes up. I’ll re-follow when the series ends but I’m so sick and tired of thinking ‘Great, I have something to get me through Wednesday!’ then I come back from my job to get nothing... Like, dude. You have one of the best jobs out there and as someone who works for pay that isn’t worth it, these videos are just a shinning jewel in the shit of life.**

#shane dawson #shane #jake paul #shane and friends

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margaretbeagle · 3 years

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4-Day Work Weeks: Results From 2020 and Our Plan for 2021

In March and April of 2020, work and life as we knew it was changing. I surveyed our team members (all 84 of whom are spread out across the globe) to understand the best way to help them cope with so many things shifting at once. I especially wanted to hear from parents about what could help them as many schools were shutting down and partners or spouses were also required to work from home. The results? Most people wanted more time to get through the new challenges they faced. As a remote organization, we already offer a lot of flexibility to our employees, and it’s one of the many benefits of remote work. The ideal solution for us at the time was to both lean into flexibility and offer more time at once, which is when we started considering a four-day work week.

The concept of a 4-day work week gained a lot of traction in early 2020 as many companies saw better flexibility and thus happier employees when moving from five eight-hour days to four. Microsoft trialed this in Japan and saw a 40% increase in productivity, and Unilever New Zealand also rolled out 32-hour work weeks. Given the stress, shutdowns, and uncertainty of the COVID-19 pandemic, this was also touted as a helpful way to address childcare, quarantines, and other things. The combined survey of our teammates and increasing global proof that the four-day work week could be a good solution is what spawned our one-month trial. After that trial, we saw that not only had happiness and stress improved, but productivity hadn’t dipped. We opted for a 6-month trial to validate if this was a sustainable practice, and it was. Now, we’re continuing four-day work weeks for the foreseeable future. Here’s a look at some of what we’ve learned from surveying our team about the four-day work week over the course of our two trials.

What our internal surveys have told us about a four-day work week

The four-day work week resulted in sustained productivity levels and a better sense of work-life balance. These were the exact results we’d hoped to see, and they helped us challenge the notion that we need to work the typical ‘nine-to-five,’ five days a week. It’s worth noting that though we’ve seen sustained productivity levels, we’ve been gauging that based on teammate feedback and not company-wide goals, that is changing in 2021. As we looked back on the impact of working a company-wide four-day work week in most of 2020, we decided to push forward with this model into 2021, with a few clarifications and exceptions. Here’s how we evaluated our six-month pilot program and why we decided to continue operating on a four-day work week. Starting in May of 2020, I measured the following:

output based on area deadlines and goals

teammate’s individual autonomy

stress levels

general work happiness

Here’s a bit more about how each of those measurements has gone.

Our output during a four-day work week

In our May trial, we saw that teammates felt overwhelmingly as productive or more productive on a four-day work week as they did on a five-day work week. That was only the one-month trial, so it could be easy to ignore, but we saw the pattern emerge in our six-month trial. Nearly 34 percent felt more productive than when we had a five-day work week, nearly 60 percent felt equally as productive, and less than seven percent felt less productive.

While teammates reported feeling more productive, I also spoke with managers. I rounded up the data from our managers around team output to help establish if the data matched the teammate’s feelings and what my recommendation would be for going into 2021. For our Engineering teams, the number of total coding days went down. However, we saw significant increases in output. Our Engineering Manager, Ivana, shared: "Weekly coding days went from 3.4 to 2.7 for product teams, and from 3.2 to 2.9 for Mobile and Infrastructure, while the productive impact increased significantly for product teams and doubled for Infrastructure and Mobile!" Many of the managers I spoke with echoed Ivana’s feelings of seeing an increase in output. The exception to these results in productivity was our customer advocacy team. We had a harder time maintaining productivity levels, which was to be expected because this role is unique in its unpredictability of volume. Anecdotally, our advocates still cited feeling they were about 85 to 90 percent as productive as they had been during five-day weeks outside of the customer inbox, i.e., on other projects. However, customers did wait a bit longer to receive an initial reply to their emails. As was mentioned earlier, we were asking teammates and managers to gauge overall productivity and not measuring it for ourselves based on company-wide goals. That is changing in 2021 as we’ve set down more specific company goals, so we will be able to see how well we achieve our goals each quarter, and it will be another key measure of the success of the four-day work week.

Individual autonomy

Reported autonomy and flexibility in May of 2020 was at 4.3 out of 5, with 5 being “total autonomy.” This increased to 4.7 by the end of our six-month pilot:

Reiterating that our teammates have control over their schedule has been a key goal of the four-day workweek.

Stress levels

Our stress levels in May 2020 (when we first launched the experiment) was 3.3 out of 5, with 5 being high stress. Reported stress dipped down to 2.7 at our June survey, and then only slightly up to 2.9 at our October survey.

General work happiness

Our overall happiness trend for the entire company stayed consistent, and given the volatility of the events of 2020, I felt this was a good trend.

Our exact quarterly numbers were:

Jan: 4.1/5

April: 3.8/5

July: 3.8/5

Sept: 3.7/5

How we’re continuing the 4-day work week into 2021

Given that the data was primarily positive for a four-day work week, we’ve decided to continue this practice into 2021. Throughout the year, I’ll continue to keep an eye on productivity and team engagement through our quarterly surveys to ensure that the four-day work week is ultimately helping Buffer’s business needs. Our guidelines for our four-day work week in 2021: We adjusted a few things based on our experience in 2020. Here’s what I sent to our team about our guidelines for the four-day work week:

We’ll continue with:

No meetings or expectation of communicating on Slack on Fridays.

Fridays as a default day off for most areas.

Customer Advocates’ workweeks will look different due to the nature of the role. More communication will follow on schedules and expectations.

Further defining weekly output expectations at the area and department level.

Clarifying performance standings. Teammates who are not meeting their objectives may choose or be asked to work 5 days.

Evaluating this schedule at least quarterly on the basis of overall team productivity, hitting OKRs, teammate stress levels and feeling ownership of your work schedule.

We will continue to reiterate that while this is a special benefit, we as a company must meet our collective deadlines. Some work weeks might need that Friday as an overflow work day to finish up what we’ve committed to do. Everyone is still expected to get their work done. While as a company we originally adjusted deadlines to factor in the four-day work week and the unique situation of the pandemic, we’ve since moved forward with establishing ambitious goals for the coming year and recognize that this will likely push the limits of the way we’ve been operating in a four-day work week and force us to keep adapting to this new way of work. Personally, I know every teammate at Buffer is capable and up to the challenge. Because our Customer Advocates don’t have as much project-based work as other roles, we have specific targets to meet:

Customer Advocacy 4DWW Strategy 2021

Goal: Successfully work four-day workweeks as a team whilst delivering an above the bar customer service experience customers rave about.

Measurement: Team members are expected to achieve their ticket targets each week (number of tickets replied to based on level + personal commitment/goal agreed upon with lead) as well as average 2.8 ACE score on tickets and/or team members working outside of the inbox will be expected to complete projects, hit deadlines, and achieve key results.

We’ll continue to craft and iterate on ways to both serve our customers well and provide flexible work weeks to our teammates.

Looking ahead

I will continue with periodic surveys around team productivity, personal stress levels, autonomy, and happiness. Buffer is also diving back into using OKRs as a tool to track our productivity and progression, which will give us another measuring stick to use in the overall evaluation of our four-day work weeks. We aren’t sure that we’ll continue with the four-day work weeks forever, but for now, we’re going to stick with it as long as we are still able to hit our ambitious goals. Want to keep talking about the four-day work week? Reach out on Twitter and use the hashtag #BufferCommunity. 😊

4-Day Work Weeks: Results From 2020 and Our Plan for 2021 published first on https://improfitninja.weebly.com/

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lindaliukas · 6 years

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Year in review 2017

Fourth year in review. This year I did more work with schools and was excited to see school districts start to embrace my work. Ran roughly 400 kilometres around the world and read 60 books. Flew over 120 flights and did over 60 talks. Published the third book in Ruby series.

2017 was a weird year. On the other hand I felt like I found professionally the guidelines I had been looking for: maximising freedom, maximising curiosity. Early on in the year I stumbled upon Robert Irwin who “decided to step in to his own curiosity” and knew I had found what I had been looking for. On the other hand I experienced first hand how easy it is to tip out of balance and ignore the things closest & dearest to you, resulting in a big mess.

Here are 2016, 2015 and 2014. And here is 2017:

January

Changed the year in Långvik with minimal hassle, maximum friends. Moved offices to Maria, again in snow & cold. Enjoyed the quiet days after Christmas and found kindred spirits. Met Andre Agassi at NBF (whose book I loved a few years back), but was most impressed with his charismatic manager who told me war stories about building schools.

Saw Arrival and Jackie. Loved this Tumblr story on Harry Potter and the CS classics list. Celebrated Nils' and Saku's birthdays. Ate more veggies and bought a Vitamix!

Went to Hawaii with Ville and enjoyed St. Regis & hiking. Kauai was green and lush and beautiful. Rode around the island to get one of my magic books of the year: Seeing is Forgetting (more on that later).

Washed my passport in the washing machine. It was a bad year for passports: I lost all together three.

Read:

The Girls.

Seven Brief Lessons on Physics. (Ended up studying a lot more physics this year than I originally anticipated!)

Juniper. From this Radiolab episode. If I were to start a tech company it would be in this space.

Where Wizards Stay Up Late.

Tale of Shikanako #1. I forgot to read the next parts, need to put it in my reading queue.

Whiplash.

Mothers.

The Gene.

February

Spent most of the month in US: New York, DC and Boston. Visited DC public schools, took mom to see Bowery Poetry Club in NY. Had really wonderful, snowy, concentrated days in Boston and got to hang out with Jie & rest of LLK team + dinners with friends.

Atlantic wrote about Ruby & the philosophy behind it!

Did my first STEM Institute with Roxanne and the CS4All team of New York Department of Education. Was exhausted, happy, loved the thorough feedback and can’t wait to run the course again.

Left my laptop in an Uber in Boston and ran around like crazy trying to get it to New York in time. Bought a new iPad and started experimenting with tools like Astropad, Apple Pencil and PS Sketch that would later in the year replace my old system of drawing.

Wined and dined with Henrietta in a very random evening.

Read:

Beloved. Loved this. More Toni Morrison for 2018.

Association of Small Bombs.

Seeing is Forgetting the Name of The Thing One Sees. On of the three most important books of the year. Oh Robert Irwin. His entire doctorate acceptance speech:"All I want say is that the wonder is still there." Walks away.

The End of Absence.

The Underground Railroad.

March

Went to Melbourne for a few days to speak at NGV Victoria (and Australian TV!). Started my David Hockney obsession that would last the entire year.

Settled into New York life and the TED residency. Started new routines with hip hop yoga! Did an Arduino workshop at School for Poetic Computation and enjoyed feeling like a beginner.

Worked a lot on the Internet book, reading a ton of the original research papers of WWW and Internet. Fell in love with Fermat’s library. Spent a lot of time thinking how to structure the book between software, hardware and culture of Internet.

Visited Switzerland shortly and was chosen as one of the 50 most inspiring women in tech in Europe.

Saw two plays: Tove Jansson in Helsinki with Jemina and an immersive piece Strangest in New York with Paul. Had a really fun, magic, sparkly afternoon with Hugo in Whitney Biennal.

Read

Small Pieces Loosely Joined.

The Vegetarian.

Homo Deus.

Commonwealth

April

Tried to balance living in two continents. Wrote a lot, but also saw a lot of friends. Went to see Puerto Rican / New York Poetry Slam with Roxanne and loved it. Brunched with Jason & Sara, went flywheeling with Zach, had dinner at Farhad’s insane apartment and cooked for Otto.

Saw Ghost in Shell and a live version of Israel Story (and got many ideas for my own performances). Backed Climate Change Coloring Book, which was one of my favorite Kickstarter projects of the year.

Turned 31 in New York. Got to go to Sesame Workshop!!

Got a new, beautiful goddaughter.

A quick trip to Barcelona to see Hola Ruby out in Spanish & Catalanian. Had a magical midnight dinner with a locals and visited one of the most eclectic schools. Continued working on Internet (and concept stage boardgame).

Tried to read David Foster Wallace, but gave up. This year maybe.. Still, always, Björk.

Read

The Handmaid's tale

A Tale of Love and Darkness. Enjoyed this one a lot.

In the Woods

May

The spring was starting to catch up and felt mostly jetlagged for the entire month. On the upside: lots of wonderful encounters with new and old friends. Saw Mikito for the first time in a long time and talked art & technology (TBC!!). Met Fawn! And Karen! Had breakfast with Yon & left with the biggest grin. Celebrated Eve’s engagement.

Celebrated Vappu in Central Park and had one of those funny, warm, random New York dinners where there just happens to be some of the most celebrated musicians, cooks & tech people of Nordics all under same roof.

Saw the Commes des Garcons show in Met and felt Rei Kawakubo’s personality. Saw Georgia O’Keeffe (+Marimekko, Finnish pride!) exhibition with Tiina (and later read this great article). Organised Computing & Stories summit in SFPC and felt the future of computing.

Did another PD on Internet with the NYC teachers (and tested ideas for the book, win-win!) and also in Sweden for Swedish teachers.

Fell in love with China. 你好 Ruby! Hello Ruby won the prestigious DIA Award by China Academy of Art out of 2700 applicants. My visit in Hangzhou was short, but can’t wait to go back and learn more about the country and it’s technology & education culture. Here are a few stories: 1, 2, 3

Read

Startup.

The Wangs vs. the World

See you in the cosmos.

Americanah. LOVED this.

June

Ended TED Residency with a talk. Really wish I would have prioritised the residency more, but luckily the community doesn’t come with an expiration date.

Took my parents to Japan and was really excited to show them all the experiences I loved. Visited Kyoto & Osaka for the first time.

Flew to Birmingham CAS conference. Miles and the UK computing organisations have inspired me a lot and I was glad to be able to give back. Loved being back in London for a few days and spending time in Kew Gardens with Minna and her family + seeing house of Minalima with Emma. Celebrated Tuula’s 60th.

Worked too much. Had a familiar midsummer stretch with Ruby 3. Me & mom going through proofs at 4 AM in the morning. Decided to move the next deadline to May to avoid the summer panic.

For most of the year my phone only had data service. Realised how much I hated being interrupted with calls. Ville had also sold his car, so we were for the first time in 5+ years a car free household. Felt like the future.

Read

On China.

Seeing is Forgetting the Name of the Thing One Sees. Finally finished. Best book I read all year.

American War.

July

Had my traditional summer vacation month and lived it vigourously by going to the dentist, eye doctor, doctor.. Oh well, ran and swam also and enjoyed the cold Nordic summer by biking in the soaking rain. Got Nintendo Switch and played hours and hours of Zelda.

Visited Berlin and danced my worries away with girlfriends. One of the most important weekends of the years with big consequences.

Celebrated the wedding of Pete & Liisa, met Juha 6/5, watered plants with little Isla, saw Valerian and had lunch with Miki with omnious predictions.

Did a biking trip to Kristo’s & Anna’s island with Ville and loved the archipelago and sense of summer childhoods. Visited the new Moominmuseum in Tampere and can warmly recommend it. Visited Meidän Festivaali, summer tradition.

Found A16Z AI Playbook and got inspired for the next book - it’s really amazing how much good educational material is out there. Some of my favorite newsletters on the topic for the entire year were: ImportAI, Exponential View and Creative.AI

Read

Artificial Intelligence: What everyone needs to know.

The Thirst. My summer tradition with the Nesbo’s..

In Dialogue with Reggio Emilia. Reggio was a lot on my mind through the year.

Sweetbitter

New York 2140

The Thing About Jellyfish.

August

Had a lot of family problems and overall a very sad month. But was also much more gentle towards myself and had a very strong idea of persisting. Stark contrast to the PR stuff happening around same time. Talked to everyone and everywhere. Cried a lot.

Third Ruby book came out in Finnish. The tetralogy is one step to being finished. I wanted to talk about the Internet, but everyone else still wants to talk about coding. Oh well. This was a nice, long talk about the book, although in Finnish.

Spent a lot of energy making home feel like home. Hosted dinners, spent a fun evening in Lonna, celebrated Flow weekend, had dinner in the Marimekko factory floor, went to the wedding of Johanna and Kalle.

Did two really important things for myself: started seeing a therapist and joined an all-girls running club. Monday evenings of track, hills and forests were the highlight of the week for the entire fall. Thanks Helsinki Core Trainers & Jarno. Went also orienteering for the first time in 20 years and found it very soothing.

Favorite things of the month: Melissa Kaseman’s art project, Preschool Pocket Treasures and Young Explorers.

Read

Rikinkeltainen taivas

The Idiot

The Sellout

Walkaway

September

Went to Copenhagen for Techfestival and enjoyed the small, weird, ambiguous, quality driven discussions. Felt fresh for a technology conference.

Worked on the English version of Internet book and started planning an illustration exhibition around Ruby with mom. Did some play testing at the English School.

Nelli had a masquerade party, dressed up as Alice in Wonderland and made a special dress! Celebrated Marjaana’s birthday in Lonna, ended up at an old friends apartment eating pizza at 7 AM.

Organised a surprise birthday party for my sister together with her friends and baby shower to my cousin’s wife. Hung out with goddaughter on a crips autumn day. Enjoyed doing small things for others.

Judged a hackathon at Marimekko and ended up doing my first machine learning project inspired by it! Found Liu Cixin’s books and mind exploded.

Went to Amsterdam and did a teacher workshop. Walked alone around a lot. Month ended up in better news.

Kept running. Kept reading this essay by Robert Macfarlane. Influenced my work a lot.

Read:

The Beautiful bureaucrat

The God of Small Things

When Marnie was there. Still haven't seen the movie!

Standard Deviation

Sophie's Choice

Sourdough. Loved this. Bought five immediately to giveaway.

Three Body problem. One of the other important books/series of the year.

A Mind at Play

River Town

October

Weird month. Mostly happy and relieved, but also way too much travel. I feel dizzy only reviewing what happened.. Was really happy to get a good review of the second Ruby book in US. The timelines of publishing really kill me.

Ran the Sipoonkorpi Trail and admired the baby kitten of a friend. Had a 15 year old intern who was bold enough to apply! Met with a lot of school people. Was back in Berlin for a few days, fell in love with my German publisher and their worldview.

Had pizza and watched Lady Gaga documentary with friends. Enjoyed this drawing from Aura.

Did an insane around the world few weeks: started with David’s birthday party in Copenhagen, followed by a very hungover flight to South Korea. Ran the best run of the year at Namsan Trail in Seoul, hung out with friends old and new. Saw Hillary Clinton live! Bucket list. Flew to Wisconsin and met with very cool librarians (and woke up to the news I had won an award on future of culture in Finland!). Spent a day in New York: saw friends, did a book event at my favourite bookstore, ran in Central Park.. and met my biggest kidlit idol, Oliver Jeffers, accidentally!

Visited four Finnish cities and three Swedish ones in a week. Did a project for Swedish teachers and tried reading Ruby aloud på svenska. Sounded like moomintrollet, but whatever. Flew to Japan.

Read:

Hold me tight.

Close to the Machine. This was like Patti Smith with computers.

Dark Forest.

Machine Learning: the new AI

Room of One's Own. Thousand times yes.

Little Fires Everywhere.

November

Went to Japan to accept the Rakuten Technology & Innovation award. Loved the other prize winners - among them an 80 year old app developer lady. Soaked for a rainy Sunday in onsen and visited the new Yayoi Kusama museum.

Went to Lapland with Ville. Enjoyed season's first skiing and started knitting again. Saw Tuntematon Sotilas movie. Dear friends got married and we got to be the witnesses. Met a new baby relative.

Very briefly visited Malmö and Oredev - wish I could have stayed longer. Flew to Miami and played Super Mario Odyssey almost entire flight. Got to visit an amazing school in Coconut Grove.

Finished Liu Cixin’s the Remembrance of Earth trilogy and a la Emily Dickinson: “I felt a cleaving in my mind / As if my brain had split; I tried to match it, seam by seam, / But could not make them fit.”

Went to Greece and had the warmest & most enthusiastic crowd. Hope next year will bring more collaborations.

Thought a lot about this essay from Stephen Wolfram and this one from Cory Doctorow.

Read

Forest Dark.

Stoner. This was the suprirse Ferrante of the year: kept popping up everywhere..

Draft No. 4: On the Writing Process. Loved this.

Death's End.

The Obelisk Gate.

The Fifth Season.

At the Existentialist Cafe. Took me almost a year to finish, but I can sense the reverberations..

December

I MET AL GORE. Everyone who knows me (or the 1.6 million people who watched the TED talk..) knows this was a huge deal, like a circle closing after 17 years. (The biggest daily of Finland also wrote a piece about the meeting on their economy pages. Teenage girls & their enthusiasm change the world <3). (Also, had lunch with Prince William, which on any other day would have been a huge deal, but all my excitement had already been used on Gore..). Slush was everything it promised: late from everything, random encounters, techno parties in the tunnels of Helsinki that went on until morning.

Went to Australia, spent half of the trip with a flu and lost my bank card, passport, and a few other gadgets. Decided it was time for a vacation. Loved seeing Australia beyond Melbourne and promised to come back for more than a few days..

Got a bit emotional about Finland turning 100 after being pretty nonchalant for the entire year.

Met with more childhood idols and got feedback on my projects. Met with a mentor and planned a trip to Dubai. Took a metro to Aalto University and heard about their AI research and quantum computing. Got really excited about visiting India. A teacher in NYC dressed up as Ruby for Computer Science week. Wrote about work and worked on writing.

Finished the Hockney book and was happy as a child with the Hockney-Falco-thesis. Perception (be it AI or art) seemed to be the theme of the year. Read Sherry Turkle's work and found direction(s).

Made gingerbread cookies with goddaughters family, took another goddaughter to movies to see Moomin. Celebrated Maija's doctoral dissertation (and surprise wedding!). Went to Christmas concert with Nelli & Juha, had many Christmas celebrations with friends. Saw Star Wars (if I had to choose, liked the new Blade Runner better) and Mozart's Magic Flute (loved the Komische Oper Berlin visuals). Watched the Crown.

Had girls over for wrath meaning and planning the new year. Spent Christmas together with Ville, just the two of us. Loved our tree, the new traditions and the quiet.

Read

Dinner at the Center of the Earth.

Manhattan Beach.

Minun Amerikkani. Felt this strongly.

True to Life: Twenty-Five years of Conversations with David Hockney. One of the big books of the year.

The Second Self: Computers and the Human Spirit.

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tombraider-china · 7 years

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Exclusive Interview with Phillip Sevy - Tomb Raider Comic Artist

June: Could you introduce yourself to the fans in China? (How did you become a comic book artist? What was your first comic book? How many series have you done so far and which ones are your favorite?)

Phillip: Sure. My name is Phillip Sevy and I’ve been working in comics for a few years now. I’ve wanted to draw comic professionally since I was 9 years old and bought a copy of Chris Claremont and Jim Lee’s X-Men #1. It’s been a long road (I started showing my portfolio of comic art at San Diego Comic Con in 1999) but I love making comics and am blessed to be able to do so. After attending the Savannah College of Art and Design I drew a miniseries called “The F1rst Hero” for Action Lab comics before placing as a runner-up in the Top Cow talent hunt. For Top Cow I drew a few oneshots for their Aphrodite IX series before I drew issues 5 – 8 of “The Tithe.” While drawing The Tithe, I got offered Tomb Raider, so I drew two series at once for a few months (I don’t recommend this as sleep and life was sacrificed to do this – ha!).

Since the end of Tomb Raider, I’ve turned my attentions toward my own projects. I released a scifi oneshot for free online called “Paradox.” (you can read it at paradoxcomic.tumblr.com)

Around the same time, Drew Zucker and I started releasing our long-gestating horror series “The House” on Comixology that I’m just writing and Drew is drawing. Issue 5 of the series just came out and there will be 7 issues in total.

Tomb Raider was a fantastic experience that introduced me to so many passionate and welcoming fans, but my favorite series (so far) has to be Paradox. It was short and very different from my other works, but it was very personal. It was also my first venture into creating a series where I do all aspects of production (writing, penciling, inking, coloring, and lettering). I’m working on a pitch for an longer series right now where I’m doing just about the same.

June: Most fans in China got to know you for the most recent Tomb Raider comics, could you tell us how did you start the Tomb Raider series? and how long did it take to complete those 12 issues?

Phillip: The editor of the first six issues or so was Patrick Thorpe and I met him over two years earlier at San Diego Comic Con. We had kept up with each other since then as I’d sent him samples of work. Early fall of 2015 I had emailed him some pdfs of the work I was doing for Top Cow as a way of updating him on what I was doing. I was busy with “The Tithe” and wasn’t looking for a new project at the moment, but Patrick responded and asked if I was available to start a new project that was “pretty big.” He called me up and as soon as he said ‘Tomb Raider” my heart skipped a beat. I was a big fan of the earlier Tomb Raider series that Top Cow had produced – Michael Turner was and is one of my all-time favorite artists. I knew that no matter how crazy my life would be – I HAD to draw Tomb Raider. I talked to him at about 6pm on a Monday night. I started the next morning.

It took me roughly 14 months to draw the 12 issues. I had deadlines that ranged from 3 – 5 weeks per issue, depending on a lot of factors. It was really hard and exhausting, but I wouldn’t have traded it. Looking at the numbers, I haven’t drawn the most issues of Tomb Raider (that record belongs to Andy Park, I believe), but I’m one of the longest runs by an artist on the title. I feel very proud to be able to say that.

June: In your opinion, what is the difference between your art style (in Tomb Raider series) from the other Tomb Raider comic artists (in Reboot or Classic Topcow version)

Phillip: I was very lucky in that I was allowed to put my style on the series. My style is more in line with the reboot comics/game – more realistic and grittier – but I think my work is darker and more textured than the reboot comics that came before. I loved being able to push the blacks and textures in my work.

June: What is the general process of making the artwork of this Tomb Raider comic series? Did you involve any other part other than line art?

Phillip: Again, I was very lucky to work with great collaborators. Mariko (Tamaki) would send me drafts of the scripts and ask for feedback or input. She looked at the work I was producing and found ways to play to my strengths and allowed me to cut loose. So even before I started drawing an issue, I’d have been involved in the issue. She’s a great writer and did a great job not only writing but making me feel apart of the process.

Once her scripts were approved by Crystal Dynamics, I’d work on layouts that would get approved by my editors. From there, I’d pencil the whole issue and send to CD for approval. From there, inks and approvals. After that, Michael Atiyeh would work his color magic while Michael Heissler would add the final touch of great letters.

June: What was the most difficult part to you? Did you have to follow certain guidelines?

Phillip:It took me a little bit to get the look of Lara down right. I was drawing her too muscular at first. I have lots of female friends who are big into crossfit – so that got into my early drawings and I gave Lara much broader shoulders and muscled arms. Working with Crystal Dynamics, they helped me develop a look for her that was more consistent with the games. But after that, we were set.

(Above is an early drawing of Lara Croft from page 2 of issue 1, which emphasized her muscular build)

(Published version)

June: We heard the storyline of this series was completed by both of you and the writer - Mariko Tamaki, could you tell us more about it? Did you make any twist on the storyline?

Phillip:There were a lot of great discussions and back and forth between Mariko and I as we worked on the book. Obviously, she’s an award-winning, fantastic writer so I always trusted the choices she made and did my best to bring them to life. One of the big areas of focus she had was the relationship Lara had with her friends – often times the price her friends paid because of Lara’s actions – but that her friends were what gave her the strength to do what she did. I believe I suggested that Jonah be the one to save Lara and shoot the head bad guy at the end of issue 6. Lara is strong and capable and can do anything because of who she surrounds herself with. She’s strongest when she’s with others. That’s part of her strength – her love.

June: Obviously, many TR comic followers were focusing on a specific character – Sam. In your interview of “20 Years of Tomb Raider”, you mentioned Sam is also your favorite character other than Lara Croft, what is your thought between these two characters? What is your explanations on the ending of #12 issue between Lara and Sam?

Phillip: What I love about the dynamic between Lara and Sam is that as far as Lara goes into the world of adventuring, cults, spirits, ancient evil, artifacts, etc – Sam is the person who grounds Lara and returns her to normalcy. Sam is who she cares about above all and it’s what will always guide Lara to do the right thing.

As far as the ending to issue 12, I’m curious to see where the story goes from there. Obviously, we had some plans that we weren’t able to see through, but I know Tomb Raider is in good hands and I can’t wait to see where the story goes.

June: We noticed you started the series with pencil sketch and then transfer to digital process, what is the difference between the two process?

Phillip: My process evolved over the course of the year plus I spent on the book. The first five issues, I penciled digitally and then printed my pencils on the board and inked the pages by hand (combination of brush, nib, and pen). By issue 6, I switched to full digital work. As my deadlines got tighter, I had to find ways to speed up. It took about two full issues until I adjusted to the digital workflow, but I loved it. There were a few pages in each issue I’d normally ink by hand, but the bulk of 6 – 12 were done digitally.

With digital work, I was able to make corrections and changes much easier. I was also able to build 3d models of the environments for each issue and then drop them into my pages and ink over them.

June: What is the current comic book you are doing ?Will you come back for the future TR series?

Phillip: I’m working on a new series that I’m writing, penciling, inking, and coloring. It’s the first time I’m doing full-fledged colors on a sequential work and it’s been both intimidating and exciting. The project doesn’t have a publisher yet, but I’m pitching it to a few companies next month. Fingers crossed that I’ll be able to announce it in the next six months or so.

I would love to come back and do more Tomb Raider work. Even though I got to do 12 issues, it felt like I was just starting to hit my stride.

June: Would you like to say anything to your fans in China? Many of them want to become a comic book artist, what is your advises to them?

Phillip: I want to thank them for the support of the series, my work, and Tomb Raider, in general.

As far as becoming a comic artist – if I can do it – anyone can. Ha! Each market for comics is very different, so the best advice I can give is to educate yourself. You don’t have to go to formal art school, but study anatomy, visual storytelling, perspective, etc. Just practice won’t make you a great artist – you need to study your craft and then practice.

It has been a great pleasure to get to know and talk to Mr. Sevy and found out all the back story about this most recent Tomb Raider comics series. Mr. Sevy is very easy to communicate with and super friendly to talk to, many of us adore his artworks and the image of Lara Croft that he drew in this series. He is definitely one of my favorite Tomb Raider comic artist other than Andy Park.

If you are interested in his artwork, please visit his face book page or other social medias (see below).

Facebook: facebook.com/phillipsevycomicart

Twitter：@phillipsevy

Instagram： @phillipsevycomicart

Personal illustration of Lara Croft

中英文双语版请点击这里

#phillip sevy #tomb raider #tomb raider comics #lara croft #comic artist #dark horse comics

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mrsteveecook · 5 years

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the backless shirt, the person who frosted cupcakes at her desk, and more of your cringeworthy work moments

Last month I asked people to share things they did at work in the past that they now cringe over. In lieu of any more posts today since it’s Thanksgiving, are some of my favorites.

1. “I was executive assistant to the president of a local college. She left for a business trip, after sternly telling me that I needed to be more proactive ‘managing’ the things in her office (like Christmas cards, etc.). So while she was gone, I rearranged the items in her desk drawers. I don’t think she ever got over the shock of finding that I had straightened out her entire desk, and I sure wish I hadn’t done it. I believe my time was limited after that. But on the other hand – it was a good job but she was a terrible boss, and in retrospect maybe it was, after all, not a bad idea. Never mind! :)”

2. “I wore a backless shirt to an internship at a political consulting firm in college. What was I thinking? I was generally fairly savvy about such things, even!”

3. “Internship… I was upset that I had to hotdesk while all other employees had permanent desks/offices/whatever. We had an available office that wasn’t being used and didn’t have any furniture in it, so I decided that would be my permanent home. I spent the morning moving furniture into the office and ‘customizing’ my space, including extra chairs for when people came into the office to meet with me (WTF was wrong with me?!). I was setting up the computer when the CEO (my direct supervisor) came in and was like no….

Thankfully he and I knew each other from a previous internship I did, and he had a pretty good sense of humor about it so I completed my internship and got a great recommendation. But good Lord that was bad…”

4. “Oh the shame. One time when I was a fresh and new manager, I asked a job candidate to give me a ride after we had an interview. I had been in a car accident a couple weeks prior, and my rental car coverage time was maxed out. I needed to take the car back that day before they closed or I’d have to personally pay for it (I was so broke at the time, I would not have been able to pay). Immediately after the interview, I asked her if she’d give me a ride. She was gracious, though I’m sure she felt extremely pressured to do it. Needless to say, she didn’t take the job. I saw her at a street fair a few weeks later and gave her a hug. Why or why did I do these things? I’m going to go hide for a bit.”

5. “Back when I worked in food service, my manager kept getting on my butt for me to do delivery instead of just working in the store. I point blank refused, but he kept nagging me about it. Finally I just decided, ‘Well, he can’t make me use my car if I don’t have one.’ I lived in the next town over and I walked five and a half miles to go to my store. When I showed up, my manager told me that he really needed me to delivery that day because some people had called in. I told him I didn’t have a car. He asked where it was, I told him at home. He stared at me and said ‘don’t you live in the next town over?’ and I said I did.

I was an uppity little shit but he never asked me again and never brought it up. I don’t think that was very professional but it proved my point.”

Note from Alison: This is not cringe-worthy; this is awesome.

6. “Just out of college, I was working a very boring job at a law firm where I was supposed to manage files for one of the lawyers but often had very little to do. I was also DEEPLY disliked by his secretary, Agatha Trunchbull (she was very possessive of the dude and was proud of the fact that she had run off three young women before me), who tortured me daily. At this job every bit of billable time had to be accounted for in the company software system, and I had been told that for people in my position the descriptions were never read and we just had to put down SOMETHING. So, whenever I had time blocks where I literally had nothing to do I would (very, very stupidly) put down things like ‘Thinking of puppies’ and ‘Imagining Agatha Trunchbull being eaten by a Canadian Trap Door Alligator.’ Ultimately, this did not work out well.”

7. “As a first year grad student, I asked my grad advisor (a tenured professor) to remind me of my project deadlines because I worked better with a little pressure from authority. He gently told me that managing my own deadlines was my own responsibility. Yup.”

8. “My first job would send out a peer feedback form every 6 months. The first time it came out, I wrote long, obnoxious diatribes about the supposed shortcoming of all of my peers. We had some really inexperienced managers who then forwarded the feedback, verbatim, to the people it was about. Everyone spent weeks speculating about who wrote which comments, while I tried to keep my head down.”

9. “I once got some very much-deserved criticism that I was taking too long (1-3 weeks) to resolve invoice issues that should have, at most, taken a couple of days to work out. The actual problem was that I was prioritizing other work that I found more interesting and only tackling the invoices when someone yelled about them.

My suggestion was to have Accounts Payable print the problem invoices for me on color-coded paper, with a different color for each day of the week, so I could see at a glance when my GIANT PILE of invoices contained too many older ones, so I’d know I needed to tackle them. My boss somehow refrained from slapping me upside the head Gibbs-style, and actually discussed the suggestion with our A/P manager – at the time, I thought she took it to him as an actual possibility and he said no, but now I think they probably had a mutual ‘this is what she said, omg wtf?!??!!’ conversation about it before telling me to consider actually getting my work done as a solution.”

10. “I took a year off from college and my aunt got me a job at a place called ‘the onion factory’ one winter before going back to college. It was a processing plant for onions and they had big trucks come in full of onions that were weighed and then would dump their load into the hopper for processing. Part of my job was to do data entry of the weight of the onions that had come in. They had pre-printed slips of paper that said gross/tare/net. Sometimes they only filled in two of the three sections (but it wasn’t consistent which ones were filled in). I didn’t actually know what those words meant, so I wasn’t sure what to do when only two of the three sections were filled in. This was in the late 90s, before the internet, so I couldn’t just google it. And at that time I was mortified of ‘being a bother’ and ‘asking too many questions’ so I decided to just split the difference: sometimes I put the numbers in one column and sometimes in another.

My boss didn’t even check my work until the end of the season. When she finally asked me what was going on with the data I meekly explained what had happened. This usually verbose woman was speechless. I think she was in awe of my incompetence? An entire season’s worth of data was useless.”

11. “I used to come to my first internship at a magazine with hickies all over my neck. I was newly in a relationship with my then-girlfriend, and I guess we liked each other a little too intensely. It got to the point where my supervisor wrote me an email to tell me to make sure they’re not showing when I go to interview people. To this day that is the single most embarrassing email I’ve received.”

12. “In an interview I said I admired the ingenuity of a guy that had gotten fired from my previous employer for embezzling money. Srsly ???”

13. “I used to wear knee-high stockings and if my feet got too sweaty (yes, gross), I would take them off in my cube, wash them in the office restroom, and hang them to dry on my cubicle wall. My manager at the time even came by and saw them hanging on the wall, looked at me, looked at them, looked back at me, and said ‘Hmm!’ with a perplexed look. But no one ever said anything to me about it, so I kept doing it.

My reasoning was, no one ever told me it *wasn’t* okay to wash, hang, and dry stockings on your cubicle wall at work.”

14. “I once asked my manager if I could take the afternoon off because I was feeling hateful. Yes, those are the exact words I used.”

15. “My first job after college was a very straightforward clerical job, 8 am – 5 pm. Many of friends had jobs that were structured differently, with later hours or less predictable hours.

So, at 5:01 pm when I was “off the clock,” I would hang around at work, because I was waiting for my friends to get out of their jobs, and it seemed pointless to go home just to go out again later. AT MY DESK, which was IN THE C-SUITE, I would put my make-up on, do my hair, call all my friends (loudly) to ask important questions like “do you know if the hottie bartender is working tonight?” or “I was going to wear my black boots but do you know if Tami is wearing her black books because in that case I would wear my silver pumps but tell me if you think they look slutty because if so then I could wear my red sandals unless it rains in which case maybe my Mary Janes etc etc etc etc.” I would bring projects to keep myself occupied, like plugging in a hot glue gun to work on a Halloween costume, or (this is real) frosting cupcakes that I was bringing to a party later on that night. Even though I was finished at 5 pm, there were still plenty of people still working, or wrapping up for the day, including senior leadership. I am dying thinking about it now.

Finally, the office manager started hinting that if I wasn’t actually working, I didn’t need to be at work. And I was so clueless, I earnestly wanted to know if there was a policy against it, because sometimes I saw Reginald reading a magazine at his desk while he was waiting for his ride to pick him up, or a lady who was taking an evening class one night a week would sometimes do her reading in the break room between work and class. It was a friendly, casual office and all sorts of people sometimes spent some non-work time at their desks doing some QUIET and LOW-KEY personal business, but I could not see how there was any difference between someone occasionally reading a magazine while waiting for carpool, and me turning my desk into my Own Personal Rec Room several times a week. What was I thinking?”

You may also like:

can we make hot-desking work in our office?

how should you handle wardrobe malfunctions at work?

office tenant keeps stealing our supplies, professor turned down my request to be a reference, and more

the backless shirt, the person who frosted cupcakes at her desk, and more of your cringeworthy work moments was originally published by Alison Green on Ask a Manager.

from Ask a Manager https://ift.tt/2OYt4Fx

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williamjharwick · 7 years

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31 Tips from 31 Course Creators on How to Build and Launch a Successful Online Course

This was my first year experiencing what it was like to create and sell online courses. With one public course launched (Smart From Scratch) launched earlier in the year, and another one that just launched last month (Power-Up Podcasting), I’m already experiencing the benefits I always heard other course creators talk about:

Increased income, yes. But, more importantly, increased amounts of success stories.

Truly, there’s no better way to package up information you have to solve a problem, and provide a win for your customer while also getting paid at the same time.

As an advisor now to Teachable, the online platform I use to host and sell my online courses, I knew there were tons of other course creators out there—many more and different experiences than my own—who could offer tips to those who are just starting out. [Full Disclosure: I’m a compensated advisor and an affiliate for Teachable.]

So here they are, 31 course creators from various niches with their #1 tip for creating and selling online courses:

1. Do not prepare an online course for selling. Create an online course for what you love to do and then sell it. You will earn a lot if you tell a topic that you love to do.

– Resit, Master of Project Academy

2. Stop worrying all the time about how you will sell your course and start worrying about how you will create such a good course that will provoke a real change in your students’ lives. Then, I promise you the money will come. Great content means good reviews, and good reviews mean more money.

– David Perálvarez, Club SiliCODE Valley

3. Build content that people can’t find anywhere else in the world for the same price or at the same level of quality. If you do both at the same time, sales will roll in like crazy.

– Dakota Wixom, QuantCourse

4. Stop making excuses as to why you aren’t qualified to teach, set a deadline, and commit to that deadline. Do not let yourself get distracted by trying to make everything perfect. It will never be perfect. Strive for professionalism, but don’t derail yourself in the chase of perfection. You can’t fix what you don’t launch. So launch it, learn, tweak, and repeat.

More advice from Sarah on her experience getting started: I lurked around the SPI and Teachable communities for 14 months. I listened to all the course-related podcasts Pat did. And I got stuck in a cycle of trying to gather all this intelligence. I wish I had stopped going into “research” mode and just committed that time to DOING IT. Finally, in January I committed to launching my course by the first week of March. I did it, and got 52 students. I was actually literally sitting in the audience at a conference Pat was speaking at and I was getting student after student and refreshing my app to see how much money had come in!

It was an amazing feeling and I only wish I had done it SOONER :).

– Sarah, User Research Mastery

5. For a fast and profitable launch, plan a launch on Instagram. We flipped $2k in ad spend into $60k worth of sales on our Teachable course. Micro-influencers are the way to go!

– Julie Cabezas, Social Brand School

6. Each one of us has a secret passion. Maybe you know more about Star Trek than anyone on this (or any) planet. Maybe you can recite the relative strengths and weaknesses of every car on the market. Maybe you have all your grandmother’s recipes for your family’s special foods. You think you’re the only one who cares about these things. You are not. Use your secret passion as material for an online course and people will respond. Because people respond to passion.

– Eric Goldman, Profit Leader Academy

7. Test your idea first. Don’t waste any time creating a course unless you have a solid list ready to buy it. Start small with blog posts and expand as the traffic steadily increases. Launch your course when your audience starts asking for it.

– Sarah Crosley, The Creative Boss: Create the Ultimate Opt-In Offer

8. Don’t wait . . . set a date and get out there and pre-sell (better yet, create your webinar date to launch your yet-to-be-created course). Nothing will light a fire fast enough knowing that you have to get it done.

– Susie Parker, Family Success Academy: Baby Naps Made Easy

9. Don’t try to be perfect.

– Cassie Zeider, Mommy & Me Wellness & Nutrition

10. No course is ever perfect when it launches. If you try to make your course perfect before you launch, you will NEVER launch. It’s okay to start with an initial version of your course that you improve on after receiving feedback from your students.

SPI is the primary reason I was able to launch my course. Without the SPI podcast, I would likely still be tweaking my course trying to get it to be perfect before I launched. Regardless of whether I’m chosen or not to be featured, I just want to say thanks for all the GREAT content your team gives away as it helped me tremendously.

– Daniel Milner, Make TV Easy

11. The number one thing people need to know is to sell something that people actually need. And then know a thing or two about marketing to sell it. Love Pat Flynn. Love Teachable. Love helpful people and making a living doing it!

– Jen Kamel, VBACfacts Academy: The Truth About VBAC™ for Professionals

12. Teach MORE THAN your competitors for FREE. Selling is nothing but teaching genuinely. If you just teach without holding anything back, genuinely, and help people, everything becomes very easy. Why I am saying this? Because it’s not something I had planned before my course launch. It’s something I realised last month. My “Aha!” moment. After looking at last 4 months’ stats.

I did $20,000 in sales in the last 4 months without running a single Facebook ad or any kind of promotion. I have just 11 videos on my YouTube channel. But those 11 videos teach more than other paid courses. Somehow people are finding those videos, getting amazing value, and subscribing to my paid course.

– Mubaid Syed, T-Shirt Profit Academy

13. Roadmap actual deliverables and stick to a schedule that’s conducive to producing the outcomes you need to meet your plan. Too many entrepreneurs spend three years “making” a course, and not a single buyer will ever be exposed or even hear about it!

Our current course is doing well over $25k/month in recurring and we’re moving all of the outside stuff into Teachable as we speak!

– Scot Smith, Automated Inbound: Rainmaker University

14. Plan out your marketing and promotion strategy even before you build your course.

– Amir West, Online Entrepreneur Life: Amazon Phenomenon

15. Business success is not dependent on the size of your email list, nor what you’re passionate about. A large unresponsive list is a massive cost centre and your passions don’t mean a thing if people don’t want to pay for it.

Find a deep unmet need or hidden desire waiting to be addressed. Address that in your course, and then make THAT your passion. If you can do that, even a small list can be very responsive and profitable; and you’ll have a thriving business. You guys are doing such a stellar job towards making it possible for solopreneurs to be successful. Just a BIG thank you!

– Vikram Anand, Get Ahead Fast™

16. It’s all about creating a detailed, powerful outline. Armed with that, you’ll know how much of your course you can give away for free to attract the right audience, which parts of your course to promote or add to your blog/podcast, and how to build a sales page that highlights what you’ll share with people.

– Regina Anaejionu, Business School for Humans: Monetize and Market Your Mind

17. Whatever topic you have in mind right now, make it 5 times smaller. The biggest mistake is to think you have to cover everything in one step.

– Kerstin, Fluent Language School

18. Stop reading about it. Taking action is the best teacher! For years I have been studying marketing strategies, read articles, listened to podcasts (SPI rocks!). The more I studied, the more overwhelmed I became. I finally stopped worrying about it, moved my business to Teachable and simply took action. My business income quintupled (literally!) after doing those things. This is after 10 years of struggling with the business. Pat and Teachable, thank you!

– David Wallimann, Guitar Playback

19. Start right now even if you don’t have everything figured out. If you believe in yourself and the online course you want to create to help others, you’ll find your way to get there no matter what.

– Arantxa Mateo, 32 Mondays: What to Eat to Lose Weight

20. Just do it! Perfection kills progress. Like Pat, I live in San Diego. I’m a huge fan of the show. I literally shot my class in my living room. I duct-taped together my first sales funnel and I was trying and failing at Facebook ads on Black Friday (my launch day, which now I hear is the WORST day to launch anything, LOL). Now a few short months later it has made about $50,000 and enrollment has been closed much of that time. Testing deadline funnel now. Yes I will be adding more courses ASAP!

P.S. Did I mention I love Pat’s podcast, Smart Passive Income? It is likely one of the stories on there that got me to try a course. My first business is ecommerce.

– Gina Downey, Academy for Dance

21. VALIDATE, then create. Before pouring time and money into an online course, make sure that people will buy it by actually ASKING people to buy it! You may be able to get 100 people to sign up to be beta testers for your course, but if no one is willing to pay you for the course, then it’s not worth creating.

When I created my first online course, I sent a few people in my audience a personalized email where I gave them a description of what the course was and what it would include. If they were interested, I asked them if they wanted to pre-purchase the course at a special rate (yes, before it was built!). I made $8,000 off of the pre-sale, which validated that people wanted my course. I spent the next few months creating the course, and launched to my list of only 2,000 at the time. My first launch did $41k in sales. Validate the idea, then create the product.

– Abbey Ashley, The Virtual Savvy: VA Bootcamp

22. The number one tip I would give to course creators is start building your list immediately. Always be growing your audience and remember to nurture it as you grow. If you have a great audience who wants to hear what you have to say, you will be successful in your online course creation and sales!

– Fleur Ottaway, Venture Digital: Get Results from Your Facebook Ads

23. Jump and then figure out how to open the parachute. I started my course live before I had all the content developed. Each week I had 15 people who were showing up to my office to learn, so I needed to make sure it was ready for them. Eight weeks later my course was developed, recorded, and uploaded to Teachable. Over $70k in 6 months later and I’m happy I didn’t wait until it was “ready.”

I teach mindfulness from the Christian perspective as it differs from the Buddhist perspective (in a respectful way).

– Gregory Bottaro, Catholic Psych Academy: Take Control of Your Life Today

24. Don’t pressure yourself to create one module or even one PDF of the course BEFORE you’ve pre-launched and pre-sold the idea. That pressure can be a major mental block, and you’ll never take action to get it out of your brain and into Teachable (#speakingfromexperience).

So instead, craft your pre-sales campaign, do that, and then once the dollars are in and there’s PROOF that your people are willing to put their money into your idea . . . then your mental blocks will magically turn into action.

– Elise Darma, InstaGrowth Boss

25. Overcome any hesitations, any procrastination, any fear but writing a list about how fabulous you are, how helpful your course will be, what benefits you’ll be bringing to their lives. Jump up and down, get super excited, and GO! You’re now in the right buzzing mindset and vibrational vantage point to pour the right energy into your work. YOU’RE GOING TO NAIL IT!

– Heather, The Brain Trainer

26. Differentiate yourself and your course. Don’t be one of a thousand teaching HTML, or healthy lifestyles. Find something that makes you different. Find a way to be different. It’s the only way you can stand out and build a real business. If you’re the same as everyone else, no one has a reason to enroll in YOUR course. Differentiate yourself and make that differentiator your competitive advantage.

– Mark Lassoff, LearnToProgram: Become a Professional Developer

27. Start. Like, now. No, really. Like, do it. You’ll never learn or have success with course building if you never get started! Love the blog! Thanks for all you do

– Sarah, The Writing Room: Living an Inspired Life

28. Grab that camera (or phone as I did) and start recording. It will not be the best course, for sure. The market will decide if it’s good or not.

– Frici, Digital Lifestyle: Online T-Shirt Business in 3 Easy Steps – The Crash Course

29. Find one person and walk them through your exact process of the course you’re considering creating. Each step of the way becomes your working outline for the course and helps identify any steps you might overlook. As an added bonus, this person becomes your true raving fan and an amazing testimonial. Teachable rocks!

– Jeff Rose, The Online Advisor Growth Formula

30. Engage with your audience. Focus on helping people, money will follow.

– Sam (Sanjay) J, TIBCO Learning

31. Sell as you create! By sharing what you are working on, your fans feel like they are part of the process and they will be rooting for your success. Plus they will be thinking about getting the class when it comes out. I think it is enticing to know about a product that you can’t have yet and by the time it comes out they have convinced themselves that they need it and they jump at the chance to buy. Offering a special price for early buyers also removes a consideration and makes the purchase a no-brainier. Just make sure you deliver the good so they will come back for the next class

My first class literally launched 5 days ago and I already have 246 sales. I am not sure if that is awesome by other’s standards but I am beyond thrilled! I have created class content as a guest instructor for other companies like Craftsy, Lifebook (Willowing.org), and Wanderlust (Everything Art) to learn the ropes but there is nothing as satisfying as creating your own course from soup to nuts on your own platform. I just wanted to make sure you knew I am a newbie at creating courses on Teachable, so if you want that perspective, call me!

– Lindsay Weirich, Essential Tools and Techniques for Watercolor Painting

Thank you to everyone who contributed to this post! If you’re thinking of starting an online course of your own, now’s definitely the time. It can be a massive game-changer in your business income generation, but more importantly, it’s the ultimate way to serve those who are looking to you for advice.

For an online course platform that works and is easy to setup, check out Teachable!

[Full Disclosure: I’m a compensated advisor and an affiliate for Teachable.]

31 Tips from 31 Course Creators on How to Build and Launch a Successful Online Course shared from David Homer’s Blog

0 notes

andrewmrudd79 · 7 years

Text

31 Tips from 31 Course Creators on How to Build and Launch a Successful Online Course

Increased income, yes. But, more importantly, increased amounts of success stories.

Truly, there’s no better way to package up information you have to solve a problem, and provide a win for your customer while also getting paid at the same time.

So here they are, 31 course creators from various niches with their #1 tip for creating and selling online courses:

1. Do not prepare an online course for selling. Create an online course for what you love to do and then sell it. You will earn a lot if you tell a topic that you love to do.

– Resit, Master of Project Academy

– David Perálvarez, Club SiliCODE Valley

3. Build content that people can’t find anywhere else in the world for the same price or at the same level of quality. If you do both at the same time, sales will roll in like crazy.

– Dakota Wixom, QuantCourse

It was an amazing feeling and I only wish I had done it SOONER :).

– Sarah, User Research Mastery

5. For a fast and profitable launch, plan a launch on Instagram. We flipped $2k in ad spend into $60k worth of sales on our Teachable course. Micro-influencers are the way to go!

– Julie Cabezas, Social Brand School

– Eric Goldman, Profit Leader Academy

– Sarah Crosley, The Creative Boss: Create the Ultimate Opt-In Offer

– Susie Parker, Family Success Academy: Baby Naps Made Easy

9. Don’t try to be perfect.

– Cassie Zeider, Mommy & Me Wellness & Nutrition

– Daniel Milner, Make TV Easy

– Jen Kamel, VBACfacts Academy: The Truth About VBAC™ for Professionals

– Mubaid Syed, T-Shirt Profit Academy

Our current course is doing well over $25k/month in recurring and we’re moving all of the outside stuff into Teachable as we speak!

– Scot Smith, Automated Inbound: Rainmaker University

14. Plan out your marketing and promotion strategy even before you build your course.

– Amir West, Online Entrepreneur Life: Amazon Phenomenon

– Vikram Anand, Get Ahead Fast™

– Regina Anaejionu, Business School for Humans: Monetize and Market Your Mind

17. Whatever topic you have in mind right now, make it 5 times smaller. The biggest mistake is to think you have to cover everything in one step.

– Kerstin, Fluent Language School

– David Wallimann, Guitar Playback

– Arantxa Mateo, 32 Mondays: What to Eat to Lose Weight

P.S. Did I mention I love Pat’s podcast, Smart Passive Income? It is likely one of the stories on there that got me to try a course. My first business is ecommerce.

– Gina Downey, Academy for Dance

– Abbey Ashley, The Virtual Savvy: VA Bootcamp

– Fleur Ottaway, Venture Digital: Get Results from Your Facebook Ads

I teach mindfulness from the Christian perspective as it differs from the Buddhist perspective (in a respectful way).

– Gregory Bottaro, Catholic Psych Academy: Take Control of Your Life Today

– Elise Darma, InstaGrowth Boss

– Heather, The Brain Trainer

– Mark Lassoff, LearnToProgram: Become a Professional Developer

27. Start. Like, now. No, really. Like, do it. You’ll never learn or have success with course building if you never get started! Love the blog! Thanks for all you do

– Sarah, The Writing Room: Living an Inspired Life

28. Grab that camera (or phone as I did) and start recording. It will not be the best course, for sure. The market will decide if it’s good or not.

– Frici, Digital Lifestyle: Online T-Shirt Business in 3 Easy Steps – The Crash Course

– Jeff Rose, The Online Advisor Growth Formula

30. Engage with your audience. Focus on helping people, money will follow.

– Sam (Sanjay) J, TIBCO Learning

– Lindsay Weirich, Essential Tools and Techniques for Watercolor Painting

For an online course platform that works and is easy to setup, check out Teachable!

[Full Disclosure: I’m a compensated advisor and an affiliate for Teachable.]

31 Tips from 31 Course Creators on How to Build and Launch a Successful Online Course originally posted at Homer’s Blog

0 notes

judithghernandez87 · 7 years

Text

31 Tips from 31 Course Creators on How to Build and Launch a Successful Online Course

Increased income, yes. But, more importantly, increased amounts of success stories.

Truly, there’s no better way to package up information you have to solve a problem, and provide a win for your customer while also getting paid at the same time.

So here they are, 31 course creators from various niches with their #1 tip for creating and selling online courses:

1. Do not prepare an online course for selling. Create an online course for what you love to do and then sell it. You will earn a lot if you tell a topic that you love to do.

– Resit, Master of Project Academy

– David Perálvarez, Club SiliCODE Valley

3. Build content that people can’t find anywhere else in the world for the same price or at the same level of quality. If you do both at the same time, sales will roll in like crazy.

– Dakota Wixom, QuantCourse

It was an amazing feeling and I only wish I had done it SOONER :).

– Sarah, User Research Mastery

5. For a fast and profitable launch, plan a launch on Instagram. We flipped $2k in ad spend into $60k worth of sales on our Teachable course. Micro-influencers are the way to go!

– Julie Cabezas, Social Brand School

– Eric Goldman, Profit Leader Academy

– Sarah Crosley, The Creative Boss: Create the Ultimate Opt-In Offer

– Susie Parker, Family Success Academy: Baby Naps Made Easy

9. Don’t try to be perfect.

– Cassie Zeider, Mommy & Me Wellness & Nutrition

– Daniel Milner, Make TV Easy

– Jen Kamel, VBACfacts Academy: The Truth About VBAC™ for Professionals

– Mubaid Syed, T-Shirt Profit Academy

Our current course is doing well over $25k/month in recurring and we’re moving all of the outside stuff into Teachable as we speak!

– Scot Smith, Automated Inbound: Rainmaker University

14. Plan out your marketing and promotion strategy even before you build your course.

– Amir West, Online Entrepreneur Life: Amazon Phenomenon

– Vikram Anand, Get Ahead Fast™

– Regina Anaejionu, Business School for Humans: Monetize and Market Your Mind

17. Whatever topic you have in mind right now, make it 5 times smaller. The biggest mistake is to think you have to cover everything in one step.

– Kerstin, Fluent Language School

– David Wallimann, Guitar Playback

– Arantxa Mateo, 32 Mondays: What to Eat to Lose Weight

P.S. Did I mention I love Pat’s podcast, Smart Passive Income? It is likely one of the stories on there that got me to try a course. My first business is ecommerce.

– Gina Downey, Academy for Dance

– Abbey Ashley, The Virtual Savvy: VA Bootcamp

– Fleur Ottaway, Venture Digital: Get Results from Your Facebook Ads

I teach mindfulness from the Christian perspective as it differs from the Buddhist perspective (in a respectful way).

– Gregory Bottaro, Catholic Psych Academy: Take Control of Your Life Today

– Elise Darma, InstaGrowth Boss

– Heather, The Brain Trainer

– Mark Lassoff, LearnToProgram: Become a Professional Developer

27. Start. Like, now. No, really. Like, do it. You’ll never learn or have success with course building if you never get started! Love the blog! Thanks for all you do

– Sarah, The Writing Room: Living an Inspired Life

28. Grab that camera (or phone as I did) and start recording. It will not be the best course, for sure. The market will decide if it’s good or not.

– Frici, Digital Lifestyle: Online T-Shirt Business in 3 Easy Steps – The Crash Course

– Jeff Rose, The Online Advisor Growth Formula

30. Engage with your audience. Focus on helping people, money will follow.

– Sam (Sanjay) J, TIBCO Learning

– Lindsay Weirich, Essential Tools and Techniques for Watercolor Painting

For an online course platform that works and is easy to setup, check out Teachable!

[Full Disclosure: I’m a compensated advisor and an affiliate for Teachable.]

31 Tips from 31 Course Creators on How to Build and Launch a Successful Online Course originally posted at Dave’s Blog

0 notes

davidmhomerjr · 7 years

Text

31 Tips from 31 Course Creators on How to Build and Launch a Successful Online Course

Increased income, yes. But, more importantly, increased amounts of success stories.

Truly, there’s no better way to package up information you have to solve a problem, and provide a win for your customer while also getting paid at the same time.

So here they are, 31 course creators from various niches with their #1 tip for creating and selling online courses:

1. Do not prepare an online course for selling. Create an online course for what you love to do and then sell it. You will earn a lot if you tell a topic that you love to do.

– Resit, Master of Project Academy

– David Perálvarez, Club SiliCODE Valley

3. Build content that people can’t find anywhere else in the world for the same price or at the same level of quality. If you do both at the same time, sales will roll in like crazy.

– Dakota Wixom, QuantCourse

It was an amazing feeling and I only wish I had done it SOONER :).

– Sarah, User Research Mastery

5. For a fast and profitable launch, plan a launch on Instagram. We flipped $2k in ad spend into $60k worth of sales on our Teachable course. Micro-influencers are the way to go!

– Julie Cabezas, Social Brand School

– Eric Goldman, Profit Leader Academy

– Sarah Crosley, The Creative Boss: Create the Ultimate Opt-In Offer

– Susie Parker, Family Success Academy: Baby Naps Made Easy

9. Don’t try to be perfect.

– Cassie Zeider, Mommy & Me Wellness & Nutrition

– Daniel Milner, Make TV Easy

– Jen Kamel, VBACfacts Academy: The Truth About VBAC™ for Professionals

– Mubaid Syed, T-Shirt Profit Academy

Our current course is doing well over $25k/month in recurring and we’re moving all of the outside stuff into Teachable as we speak!

– Scot Smith, Automated Inbound: Rainmaker University

14. Plan out your marketing and promotion strategy even before you build your course.

– Amir West, Online Entrepreneur Life: Amazon Phenomenon

– Vikram Anand, Get Ahead Fast™

– Regina Anaejionu, Business School for Humans: Monetize and Market Your Mind

17. Whatever topic you have in mind right now, make it 5 times smaller. The biggest mistake is to think you have to cover everything in one step.

– Kerstin, Fluent Language School

– David Wallimann, Guitar Playback

– Arantxa Mateo, 32 Mondays: What to Eat to Lose Weight

P.S. Did I mention I love Pat’s podcast, Smart Passive Income? It is likely one of the stories on there that got me to try a course. My first business is ecommerce.

– Gina Downey, Academy for Dance

– Abbey Ashley, The Virtual Savvy: VA Bootcamp

– Fleur Ottaway, Venture Digital: Get Results from Your Facebook Ads

I teach mindfulness from the Christian perspective as it differs from the Buddhist perspective (in a respectful way).

– Gregory Bottaro, Catholic Psych Academy: Take Control of Your Life Today

– Elise Darma, InstaGrowth Boss

– Heather, The Brain Trainer

– Mark Lassoff, LearnToProgram: Become a Professional Developer

27. Start. Like, now. No, really. Like, do it. You’ll never learn or have success with course building if you never get started! Love the blog! Thanks for all you do

– Sarah, The Writing Room: Living an Inspired Life

28. Grab that camera (or phone as I did) and start recording. It will not be the best course, for sure. The market will decide if it’s good or not.

– Frici, Digital Lifestyle: Online T-Shirt Business in 3 Easy Steps – The Crash Course

– Jeff Rose, The Online Advisor Growth Formula

30. Engage with your audience. Focus on helping people, money will follow.

– Sam (Sanjay) J, TIBCO Learning

– Lindsay Weirich, Essential Tools and Techniques for Watercolor Painting

For an online course platform that works and is easy to setup, check out Teachable!

[Full Disclosure: I’m a compensated advisor and an affiliate for Teachable.]

0 notes

mrsteveecook · 6 years

Text

giving a coworker a “World’s Greatest Dad” mug, is it rude to answer a voicemail with an email, and more

It’s five answers to five questions. Here we go…

1. Our intern wants us all to give a coworker a “World’s Greatest Dad” mug

A birthday came up for a person in the department named Bob. He is the oldest in the department and has been with the company for over 20 years. He is loved by many and is seen as a welcoming person to the department. He has a particularly jovial relationship with one of the interns I supervise, and they jokingly refer to each other as “dad and son.” The intern showed me the birthday gift he bought for Bob and it was a “World’s Greatest Dad” mug. He said he wanted the entire department to write loving messages to Bob that would go into the mug and be presented to Bob at a later date.

I recognize the intern bought the mug with his own money, but I feel uncomfortable promoting the “Bob is the department Dad” mentality to the entire department. I do not know why exactly, but I do not think it sends the right message. (Also, we already celebrate Bob’s birthday with a happy birthday banner signed by people in the department)

I have no doubt that many in the department will love the intern’s initiative, so I have been thinking about letting it go. However, I am curious if it is more appropriate to redirect the intern to make his gift a personal one for Bob and leave the rest of the department out of it.

Yeah, the “dad” thing is a pretty weird message to promote as any kind of official department gift. It’s asking people to buy into a label for the relationship that probably won’t resonate with some/most of them, and it’s age-focused in a way you don’t want any even quasi-formal gifts at work to be. If Bob and the intern want to jokingly refer to each other as dad and son, so be it — but that’s their own thing, not everyone else’s. (Oooh, and in a convenient tie-in, today’s episode of the AAM podcast takes on a different version of this — an admin who positions herself as everyone’s mom and literally calls them “my kids,” and not everyone is thrilled.)

I’d say this to your intern: “That’s your private joke with Bob, so go for it with the mug as your own gift to him! But I don’t want to promote the ‘dad’ thing more broadly than that, since ultimately these are professional relationships, warm and friendly as they may be.” Frankly, that’s not a bad message for your intern to hear anyway.

2. Is it rude to answer a voicemail with an email?

I spend a lot of time on conference calls, so I often can’t answer my phone when people call me directly. More often than not, the voicemails I get are along the lines of, “Do you have any information about the teapot design meeting on September 5?” Is it rude to answer these voicemails with an email, especially when the response is a simple answer? I understand that sometimes a quick call is easier, but what if it’s not?

I think it’s totally fine, but I’d include some context to explain why you’re choosing to do that — like “figured it would be easier to get you this in an email” or “running to a meeting, but here’s the info you wanted.”

Obviously the answer is different when someone is clearly calling because they want a back-and-forth (like “I was hoping we could hash out your concerns about the X project”). But for stuff that you can easily answer in an email, go for it.

3. My might might deny me a day off because I “might” be needed

My manager is possibly denying me PTO because it lands on the day of a conference that my team “might” need to help with. This manager has historically required weekend travel that was unnecessary because he is anxious and insecure about his place in the org and we all have to suffer for it rather than working for a boss with confidence and boundaries. I suspect this event will be more of the same. In the meantime, the PTO day for me is an opportunity to be part of a huge event at my school (I also work on a master’s in addition to full time work). It is a long-term career growth opportunity to participate, whereas there is little career growth available to me in my current role. Any ideas on navigating the conflict? Or my right to refuse and insist on PTO?

You can’t insist on taking that day off if your manager continues to refuse it; he has the ability to say yes or no to you taking that particular day. But you can certainly try pushing back and that might work. Say something like this: “This event is very important to me, and I don’t want to miss it just because we might need to help with something, when it doesn’t look likely that we’ll be needed. I wouldn’t normally push for this, but this is an unusual circumstance. Can you help me make this work?”

4. My coworker won’t stop talking about my hair

I recently (about a month ago) started a new role, and one of my coworkers (let’s call her Kira) is making comments about my hair that are making me uncomfortable. Some background: I’m Caucasian with a head of wavy/curly hair. I wear it this way because I like it, and I’m proud of it. It’s styled in a professional-looking, below-the-shoulders hairstyle, and even though I have frizz some days, I think it looks fairly good. Kira is from a culture that is different than my own (I’m in the U.S.). She has been coming to my desk almost every morning as soon as I get in to talk about my hair. First, she suggested under the guise of some small talk that I needed to get a product to “deal with my frizz.” I just wrote it off as a weird culture/language barrier issue, and changed the subject.

I didn’t think she had bad intentions, but it has been happening for around three weeks, and today it escalated. I hadn’t even set my stuff down on my desk when she came over and told me something to the effect of “You should go to my stylist, she can show you how to do your hair.” I was speechless. I told her something about liking my current stylist, but I honestly was at a loss for words!

I brought this up with another coworker, who is African American, and she told me that Kira has made comments about her hair before, like asking if it was “real.” Said coworker told Kira that it was rude and wrong to ask people questions like that, and Kira apparently got all upset that someone would be so “touchy.”

What do I do? These comments have been happening nearly every day. I have the ability to be direct with people when needed; I am just having trouble with it in this situation! I don’t want to make Kira hate me, but I also am getting sick of her making comments about my hair.

Be direct: “Please stop commenting on my hair.” Or, “I’m really not interested in discussing my hair anymore.” Or, “I don’t want to talk about my hair with you anymore.” If these feel like slightly rude things to say, they’re really not. They’re just the sort of comments that you’re probably not used to having to make, because most people aren’t commenting on your hair every day. But Kira is the one making the situation weird, not you.

Your measure of success here isn’t “Kira gets the message and doesn’t get upset.” Kira shouldn’t get upset, but who knows, she might. You can’t control that. But if Kira hates you forever afterwards because you made a perfectly reasonable request, that’s on her, not on you (and really, if she’s that unreasonable, you were likely to set her off with something else at some point anyway, and at least this way you get to end the constant commentary on your hair).

5. Our flexible schedules have me staying up too late at night while I wait for work to come to me

I’m a team lead who works on projects for a company that gives its workers the perk of working pretty much anytime they want as long as they are present for meetings, are in for the core hours and meet their goals. All of my teammates come in and go home at different times and the flexibility allows us to take our work home and finish up there.

So, this package is pretty awesome, right? It is! Except when projects are ending. We have a QA process where things are sent back for feedback among members of the team. The team member makes the changes and sends it back for approval. I really like this because high quality content comes out of it so I’m not complaining about that.

The complaint I have is that as projects close, some team members will bring their work home and respond to feedback long after business hours as if that part of the project is not due the next day (but it is!). Which means that the person waiting to check to see if the updates are made also has to be logged on waiting for those to come back in for review. This is stressful for me because I am the last step before the material goes live and that means that I will have to stay up and just wait for things to come in so I can check them. I’m exhausted all the time and nod off on the couch by 9:30 pm and I’m terrified that one day, I’ll sleep through a deadline because someone waited until 10:30 pm to send it to me.

Since I am not the manager, just a team lead and we all report to different managers, how can I approach my team about being considerate of other people’s hours and schedules? How can I say it without sounding bossy or inconsiderate of THEIR time? I’m a little worried about asking my manager about it because this perk may be taken away. I benefit from this perk by being in the office by being in the office at 8 and leaving at around 4. I also bring my work home with me if I need to catch up.

It’s reasonable to lay out your own deadlines, based on when you need to receive work in order to have enough time to finish it. When you know someone is due to send work to you that day, let them know ahead of time that you’ll need to receive it by 6 p.m. (or whatever time you pick) in order to finish your part on time. This is actually a pretty normal thing to do! It’s not overstepping your authority or anything like that; it’s giving them info about how long you’ll need for your piece of things.