My stupid ass thought that the logos were in different languages
Wow, Sans owns 5 businesses, good for him.
What this tells you is that graphic designers have a single shared braincell that screams "Don't do anything fancy. Just do the most basic shit with the lamest font. Your client will still think you're a genius"
I speak from experience
After a few years of trial and error, I think I’ve finally found the perfect organization method.
In the early years of high school, I had a bullet journal. I was an artsy kid who found a way to combine art with organization in a way that benefited other parts of my life.
However, as I approached the end of high school, my schedule got busier, and I was involved in a lot more things, so owning a bullet journal was less practical. Because of that, I switched to an app called Edo Agenda.
I continued with digital planning in college since I knew I wasn’t going to have as much time. But all the apps I tried out—Taskade, Actions by Moleskine, Any.do, Todoist, Wunderlist—weren’t suited to my planning and organizational needs. They didn’t have the specific functions I required and didn’t incorporate an organization system I liked to use. The predefined apps were too restraining, but the more customizable apps weren’t customizable enough.
So then I switched to a bare bones, uber minimalist bullet journal method. That worked pretty well my second semester. It was simple, portable, and most importantly, flexible—all the things one could wish for in a planning system. However, it wasn’t always the most convenient to use since I couldn’t effectively integrate all the different aspects of my life, which, to no surprise, is mostly recorded digitally.
There was just one huge problem with my digital organization system that made me hesitant to switch back in the first place: everything was fragmented. Notes were in Google Docs. Financial records were in Google Sheets. To-Do Lists were in my bullet journal. Team projects were in Trello. My poetry was on Bear. Things I wanted to try are carelessly pinned to random pinterest boards or added to my YouTube “watch later” playlist. It was a mess.
Over the summer, I found out about Notion from a friend, and I thought, this has so much potential, it could even be exactly what I need. It’s essentially like an empty notebook on your computer with functions that make it 10x more powerful. Notion allows you to integrate all aspects of your life and work into one app. Some of the advantages that have made me partial to Notion are:
Notion has some pretty awesome features, but how does one actually use it? Personally, I have four top-level pages: my planner, my personal journal, songwriting, and blogging.
I’ve been using my planner to, well, plan and track my day to day activities as well as my week and month. The way I’ve structured it is a calendar or monthly overview with links to pages of weekly overviews, and if needed, daily overviews within the weekly overview. This links things up so nicely, i.e. I don’t have to be constantly flipping pages in my physical bullet journal or planner to find what I need.
I also have entertainment lists, which is mainly a table with all the shows I want to watch, the books I want to read, etc. I keep track of whether or not I’ve watched them, as well as my personal ratings. What I love most about this is that each entry is its own page, so I can type my notes for each book, show, or film and easily find them in the future. (Also the reason why I have plural “lists” instead of just one entertainment list is because you can filter entries by type of entertainment, e.g. movies, tv shows, books, articles.)
For personal notes, goals, journal entries, etc. This is kind of like an extension of my daily journal and just where I dump all my thoughts and keep track of the different aspects of my life: mental, emotional, spiritual, social, physical, and travel.
Another page I have is called “Stray Thoughts” and, well, it’s pretty self explanatory. It’s a lot easier to dump all my thoughts as they come and reorganize them later. Of course, this requires sacrificing the rawness of journaling, i.e. when the thoughts come and how you process them, which is why I still keep a regular journal that I write in daily.
I’ve been writing a lot of music over the summer and it’s often hard to keep track of all of my songs and how far I’ve gotten in the songwriting process. So I created a table of songs - each entry of a song is a page with its lyrics. These are then tagged with the status of the lyrics (i.e. completed, in progress) and the status of the music itself (i.e. melody only, instrumental, mixing, mastering, revised). Eventually, I’ll include demos in the database by embedding audio files in the document.
I have a separate section for inspiration and ideas, which is a kind of brain dump, e.g. words I think would make a good song, a certain theme for a song, a melody that’s been stuck in my head, a vibe I’d like to try out, etc.
I’ve also been watching a lot of tutorials for music production and there’s a section where I write my notes for that.
The last section of my Notion app is for this blog. Which has pages for
As you can probably tell, I’m absolutely obsessed with Notion since it has such awesome features and endless possibilities for customization. So far I’ve been using Notion for personal projects, which, since they are quite big in scale and have no set deadline, are important to organize well. My summer courses were only 6 weeks and weren’t difficult to organize.
The formats above are just how I personally use notion. You could make some of your own, or if you don’t think you want to build your pages from scratch, there are tons of templates to choose from. Here are some I think I’ll be using in the near future and may be helpful for others as well, especially students like myself:
One drawback, however, is that Notion has a rather steep learning curve, but there are tons of tutorials online (especially YouTube) and I guarantee you it’s all worth it.
Notion is not just a productivity app. It’s a way to concretize your entire life.
Notion is free to use, but there are higher tiers that allow for more blocks, greater file size, etc. I use a personal account, which is $4 per month with unlimited block storage and no file upload limit (although I got it for $33/year). Personally I think the free plan would suit most people’s needs, especially if you’re not uploading large files.
rawest fucking florence and the machine lyrics in no particular order:
I havent seen anyone talk about this yet so im making a post.
So lets say you’re researching something for a paper (or just for fun) and the research paper you want to read is behind a paywall, or the site makes you create an account first, or makes you pay to download, or limits you to only 5 free articles, or otherwise makes it difficult for you to read what you want.
do not fear! copy the link to the article
go to sci-hub.se (the url is always changing so its best to check out whereisscihub.now.sh to find what the current url is)
slap the article link in there
This is a sheet given to me by my college’s business department and I thought it was helpful so I’ve typed it up fr you guys. All credits to my college business department.
1. Tell me about yourself. What it means: What are your career goals for the next 1-3 years/5-10 years?
2. How did you choose this line of work?
3. Why did you leave your last job? or Why do you want to leave your job? or What did you enjoy/not enjoy about your last job?
4. What experience do you have in this field? or Why should we hire you? or Give me an example from your experience or education that shows your readiness for this role.
5. What do co-workers/former employers say about you?
6. What do you know about our firm? or Why do you want to work for us? Or Why do you want the job?
7. What kind of salary do you need?
8. Provide an example of your ability to think quickly and clearly on your feet.
9. Tell me about a time when you helped get a team focused and led them to success.
10. Are you applying for other jobs?
11. Have you ever been asked to leave a position? I
12. What is your greatest strength? Follow Up: Tell me about a time when this professional strength made the difference between success and failure.
13. What kind of person would you refuse to work with?
14. Tell me about a time when you had an idea to improve a process.
15. Tell me about a problem you had with a supervisor.
16. What motivates you to do your best on the job? or What do you expect from your employer?
17. Do you have any blind spots or weaknesses?
18. Tell me about a time that you had to analyze several solutions to make a sound decision.
19. How do you stay organized?
20. What questions do you have for me?
**The STAR Technique is a way to frame answers to behavioral questions in an organized manner that will give the interviewer the most information about your past experience. (This is the part where the paper says to have at least 10 of these ready but I think that’s insane. Have a couple and be prepared to tweak them based on the question. Don’t use the same few for the same interview. i’d say having about 3-5 ready is good enough.) As you prepare to answer each question, organize your response for clarity by answering each of the following components of the STAR technique:
IMPORTANT TIPS: Give a good amount of detail to paint a very clear picture at each step, focus on YOU versus the group, and if the Result wasn’t very positive or does not place you in a great light, that it is not interview material!
ok please note i had no idea what i was doing for any of this and theres probably a much better way to construct a base BUT this is what…. ended up happening
the vague shape of it is getting there … . .
needs more bands
MORE BANDS
becoming a flat onion
the top is removed so i can get inside of it
… and then a band of cardboard is placed on the inside to support it ( its standing !! )
the bands are cut on the places where they jut out and then overlapped and taped, so the shape is smoother but its STILL an onion
so i cut the whole damn thing in half and added a big band of cardboard in the middle to lengthen it out. the Orb is being born
its rounded out a little bit more on the sides and then the mouth is cut out
FABRIC
F A B R I C ( this is the point in the game where my gluegun stopped working, and so everything from this point on is glued by me heating the sticks over a candle flame. nice
the seams on the fabric are cut and glued into place ( and hand stitched in a lotta places and a lot of em look, Really bad in the back h hah HA ) and the teeth ( fleece, cardboard to keep em flat, and a little bit of stuffing ) are thrown in the mouth
tongue cuttin
handstitched the seams on the tongue, got the base for it ready and the eyes cut out
the EYES ( cardboard with white on one side, black on the other, and a little thin strip of black going along the edge ) ( also the pupils arent glued down yet hey )
EYES
TONGUE
THERE THEY ARE
tulle time, so much goddamn tulle
SO much of it just everywhere on the back its a mess, the back looks like an awful grape but it doesnt matter its the BACK
heres the Looking Hole ( theres black mesh netting over the top ) - the little pink eye details are also in
and then here it is, this Mess ( tights and boots both are probably gonna change but Oh Well ) i dont know what the tongue was doing so crooked in these shots but its TOO LATE UPDATE: THERES actually a video of it in motion heyooo
This is cursed but I love it
A fine and excellent handmade thing with legs
I believe that this is a Pokemon.
In high school I used to be terrified of faliure, getting a bad grade, not getting what I want in life. When I started uni I was sure I was gonna ace it, but, despite giving it my all i failed a lot of exams and even had to retake one of my classes. High school me would have been crushed. But I survieved. I’m alive. I didn’t quit. Here’s my advice if you are in a similar situation:
1. Be honest with yourself - each time you fail is a chance to learn something and prevent this in the future. Did you study enough? Did you study effitiently? Did you take breaks and find time to take care of yourself? Did you give yourself enough time?
2. Put things into perspective - uni isn’t high school. Things are harder. Professors have higher expectations. It is normal to fail in uni. Happens to everyone. Even the best students. You are not a robot and you can’t succeed everytime.
3. View faliure as part of the journey - it is going to happen sometimes. It’s not the end of the world. There is always next time
4. Reassess what you view as success - it is great to have ambitious goals, dont get me wrong, but make them realistic. Just because you didn’t achieve something you thought you wanted doesnt mean you cant be happy and successful
5. Misery loves company - when I’m going to a particulary difficult period in my accademic life, it helps a lot to be surrounded with people that are in the same sitiation. You don’t feel so alone and somehow as a group you always find a way to pick eachother up
6. Cry it out and move on - give yourself some time to be sad about it but at the end of the day its better to not waste too much time and just try to make the best out of the situation
Read this and then read it again ⤴️
KY語 as a term came about in reference to one of the earliest slang abbreviations using romaji, being KY. This acronym is shortened from”空気読めない,” which, in short, describes people who can’t discern the atmosphere of a room/ situation, so someone unaware and kind of clueless. A lot of KY語 are mostly used on the internet, but some tame examples, like KY, are also used in real-life situations. Technically, some slang I have listed here aren’t KY語 since they aren’t romaji acronyms, but are still abbreviated slang that use romaji.
General:
w: quintessential Japanese internet slang. Short for 笑（わら）meaning “to laugh”
kwsk: short for 詳しく, meaning “in detail,” used to prompt people to tell/ say more abt a topic
YR, ヨロ, or 46: short for よろしく(if making the whole number into numerals, it can be written as 4649)
wktk: short for ワクワクテカテカ (an acronym for excitement)
ksnm: short forくそ眠い, or tired as shit
ktkr: means 来たこれ (this (event or prospect is implied) has come), basically means one is excited for a coming event.
Hshs: stands for 吐く吸う, meaning breathe out- breathe in, but the acronym reflects heavy breathing.
ROMる: the act of lurking (reading w/o posting) on message boards and chats.
うｐ: shortened from typing the English word upload
こｎ: shortened form of こんにちは orこんばんは
Mjk: an acronym for マジか, meaning “are you serious?”
MK: shorterマジ感謝, which is like saying you’re “seriously grateful,” or “thank you so much!”
HK: shorter 話は変わるけど, or “changing the conversation/ the conversation changed”
OL: short forオフィスレディー, is also used in irl speech. In that case, the acronym is read as オーエル.
Insults/ Rude:
ggrk: short for ググレカス, which is like saying, “google it yourself, idiot”
sst: this is short for the expression”最低最悪詰まんない,” which basically means “boring as shit.”
超SS: shortened 超最低最悪, meaning “super lousy,” or “the worst”
BIJ: バカ言ってんじゃねえよ, meaning literally “don’t say stupid things,” or, for a phrase we’d use in English, “cut the crap!”
BKB: this stands for バカバカしい, meaning “ludicrous” or “insane”
ABS: アホ、バカ、死ね!,, meaning “fool, idiot, go die”
ABK: アホ、バカ、カス fool, idiot, scum
ABM: アホ、バカ、間抜け: fool, idiot, dunce
DQN (どきゅん): stupid, anti-social person
OBK: stands for 大馬鹿, or “a big fool.”
AB: represents あんたバカ, or like asking “are you stupid?”
SBK: そんなバカな: “that’s stupid, no way!”
Japanese Slang that share an Abbreviation with English ones:
OK: still technically the same as the English, but in Japanese it tends to mean “great!” or something more enthusiastic. This word, along with GET, are frequently used in advertisements, but aren’t really KY語, since they aren’t abbreviations, but they’re good to know.
AM: the quick form of 後でまたね, nothing to do with ante meridian.
BK (びけい): ブサキモ: “ugly and creepy.” Poor Burger King.
GM: abbreviated ごめん, nothing to do with good morning.
jk: short for 女高校生（じょこうこうせい）no kidding involved.
おMG: …just the same as OMG, surprisingly.
Bonus:
orz: more an emoji than anything, but it’s supposed to look like a stick figure kneeling to express an apology. It doesn’t fit as an abbreviation, but it’s cute so don’t be mean to me about it.
Thanks for reading everyone!
Moving tip: the first thing you should bring into the new house is a roll of toilet paper. The second thing is drinking glasses or water bottles. The third thing is curtains or blinds. Then everything else.
Nope, router first. Otherwise agreed.
Router last. Otherwise this happens:
I’m on my 11th house in 23 years and here’s what should be in your “first” box:
Toilet roll,
Kettle,
Tea/coffee,
Mugs (enough for the number of people helping you to move),
A bottle opener (wine or beer at your discretion)
Disposable plates and cutlery (because the last thing you want to do once you’ve unpacked is wash up)
This was the system perfected by my parents who’ve lived in about 40 houses between them.
ADDITION:
When you get to your new place send someone out for milk for the teas and coffees also maybe biscuits.
Order takeaway your first night. I’m told in America the traditional moving dinner is pizza. We’ve always had a Chinese.
First Box: keep this box handy, pack it while you’re packing and put it in the truck LAST, or up in the front with you so you can get to it right away:
PURCHASE, FIRST NIGHT:
To Do Upon Arrival, even before unpacking:
DO NOT ATTEMPT ON DAY 1
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This theme is kinda inspired by the tumblr dashboard posts and mobile layout?? Idk I had a lot of fun with it and it’s probably one of my favorite themes I’ve made. This is also my second theme release on the first day of the new year, maybe a belated Christmas present to you all?? lol anyway! If you have any problems send me an ask (please read my FAQ first)! Happy new year!!
Does anybody have any writing tips for adhd writers?
@quousque Do you have any helpful tips or resources?
@bookcaseninja @kingarthurscat hmmmm depends on what I’m writing, but I do have a bunch of methods that I’ve worked out that really help. Since most of what I write is academic papers (thanks, college), that’s what I have the most developed method for, but I do have strategies for fiction writing, too.
General tips:
#1 tip is meds. It’s nigh impossible to write anything when you can’t focus for longer than like 8 seconds. Me without meds = 2 sentences per hour. Me with meds = four hours writing continuously, end result is 20 pages of Iliad Sci-Fi AU.
#2 is, if you happen to hit that Hyperfocus Highway, and you’re writing something that’s vaguely close to what you’re supposed to be writing, ride that train until it fucking dies. A 25-page data-driven research paper isn’t quite the 7-10 page research-based persuasion essay I was assigned, but hey, it’s a complete assignment, and turning something in is better than turning nothing in.
#3, kill the perfectionist, or at least dodge them. Don’t have the perfect way to phrase something? Use parenthesis, or a different font color, and paraphrase what you want to say. My rough drafts are full of things like “hurrr something about how the prospective aspect /= imminent future” and “character x says something heartfelt here that makes character y mad”.
#4. Environment. Pay attention to what distracts you when you write, and design an environment where those things aren’t present. I have a really hard time writing anything in my own home or on my own computer, so I use google docs and the library for everything. This works really well, especially since I can’t remember by tumblr password so I can’t log on on the library computers, lol. There are internet blocking apps that block certain webpages or the entire internet for a set period of time. I once found a program that, once opened, won’t close or minimize until you’ve written a set number of words.
Random environmental tips that work for me:
-standing desk, or sitting on an exercise ball.
-white noise. There’s tons of white noise generators online.
-egg timer. If I’m having trouble with distractions or spending too long on one thing, having the constant soft ticking of the egg timer really helps, since the sound isn’t too distracting, but is just distracting enough to remind me that time is a thing that is actively passing.
#5. Don’t know what words to write next? Talk out loud. Or whisper, if you’re in the library. Seriously, read aloud what you’ve last written and then continue on with whatever you want to say next, letting yourself phrase it however it comes naturally. Write down what you say, even if it’s full of umms and likes, even if it’s shit, and edit it later.
#6. set tiny, tiny, goals, and do them one at a time. I’ll write out overviews of scenes, or, when I’m writing papers for classes, of individual paragraphs. The overview is basically one sentence or sentence fragment that states the main point, and a list of everything I need to make sure to include in that scene/paragraph. Then, I take each goal individually, one at a time. I don’t have to write a paper proving x thesis, I just have to write a paragraph explaining what I mean by “Scylla is a vagina metaphor”. If I do that enough, I suddenly have an entire paper.
My process for writing academic papers:
#1. Word vomit.
Open a new document and type everything you can think of onto the page. Talk about the prompt, your sources, your thoughts and opinions, whatever comes to mind. Opinions, especially, since that’s usually where your thesis ends up coming from. Get mad about it. Work yourself up. Yell about why everyone else is wrong about this topic, or why you’re right.
#2. Thesis and outline:
Read over your word vomit. Chances are, there’s a thesis somewhere in there. Your thesis is whatever you’re trying to prove, and your outline is why you’re right. Unless you’re completely pulling things out of your ass, “why you’re right” will be rooted in the text/sources you’re supposed to use. Now, write your thesis (aka your opinion), and make a list of reasons why you’re right.
E.G. “Obviously, x character is really feeling like (y) at this point in the book, because way back in chapter one, they said (blah blah blah), and later on they did (whatever), and when you put those two together, it’s like (this), and also because of (another reason).
That is a thesis, and four-ish sub-points. This is your outline. It doesn’t need to be any nicer than that. Make a new document, and put your thesis/outline there.
If you’re having trouble organizing it, figuring out what order your subpoints should come in, or even what your thesis really is, talk it out. Out loud. If you can’t find a willing victim to talk at, rubber duck it (i.e. grab a rubber duck or similar and explain it, out loud, to the duck).
#3: writing the body
Open a bunch of new documents, one for each sub-point in your outline. Copy-paste one sup-point into each document. Now, all you have to do is write several individual paragraphs explaining your subpoints. You’re not writing a whole essay (which is haaaard), and you don’t have to worry about what comes before or after each paragraph- that’s why you made an outline. Each document is its own isolated little task, and all you have to do is read that sentence, and spend a paragraph or two explaining what you mean by it. If you have any quotes or sources you think you’ll cite, copy/paste them into the document when you start.
#4. put it together
Once you have all your paragraphs written, copy/paste them into another doc, in order. Read it through, and add any transitions you need to make it flow. You might need to add a few more paragraphs or explanations, depending in how solid your outline was. Once you’ve done that, write your conclusion, then your introduction.
#5. Editing: Print your essay, and go at it with a pen/highlighter. Yes, you have to print it. Doing it physically makes it so much easier. While editing, I always create a to-do list, which includes things like, insert citations, format essay properly, make sure to re-phrase (x) paragraph, etc.
Read it out loud. It’s much easier to catch typos and awkward phrasing that way.
#6. While writing: keep the flow of writing. Don’t break it. If you know you need to cite a source for a certain statement, but can’t quite remember which one, just type (CITE) in place of a citation. You’ll come back in and fill it in later. Use ( ) or different text colors to mark where you think you need to go back and change later, but skip over whatever it is for now and just keep going.
Don’t let those random ideas die, or distract you! If you have an idea/thought, or think of something you need to do, but don’t want to break what you’re doing right then, either note it down in a separate doc as a to-do later, or change the font color to red and note it right in the middle of your draft.
#7 if you get stuck
ask yourself:
-What, precisely, am I stuck on? The phrasing of a sentence? The organization of this part? Some small task, such as looking up a quote? Framing your obstacle out loud in words can make it seem smaller and more conquerable.
-What is the next thing I need to do, right now, to make progress on this essay?
-If I’m truly stuck here, what other useful thing can I do, right now, to make progress?
Tips/strategies for writing stories:
My overall approach is basically a watered-down, less rigorous version of how I write academic papers. I word-vomit all about the story/idea I have, aiming to get at least a general plot overview. Then, I write a plot outline of the story, and break it into scenes. I make a new document for each scene, and put a bulleted list at the top of things to make sure to include in the scene, so that I can write each scene as its own individual unit, without having to constantly think about the whole product. Then I write!
I tend to produce pretty good prose on the first go-round, and I don’t spend a lot of time editing, because if I did, I’d never post anything. As my dad says, delivery is a feature! An imperfect product that is posted is infinitely better than a perfect product that no one ever sees.
I write good fiction prose because I read a lot of fiction prose, so I have a good innate understanding of what the kind of writing I want to produce looks like. When I want to describe something or narrate something, I have a general idea of what those parts of a story look like, so it’s easier for me to produce them on my own.
That being said, when editing, the #1 tip is still to read it aloud! You’ll easily catch any awkward phrases that way.
Motivation: ADHD brains are motivated by Interest, Challenge, Novelty, and Urgency. Waiting until the last minute to get that sweet, sweet Urgency Boost is not fun or healthy, so try to use one of the other ones. Interest is usually your best bet, especially when writing stories! Before you sit down to write, try to get excited. Read what you’ve already written, remind yourself why you wanted to tell this story in the first place, emotionally invest yourself in your characters. Read your outline/plan for the next scene, and get yourself excited to write it! If you can’t get excited about a scene, that’s a sign that that scene might just be boring- your readers probably won’t find it very interesting, either. Cut the scene, and try to fit any necessary plot info into a different scene (or just skip it altogether- readers are really good at filling in the blanks!)
Another way to motivate yourself is Tiny, Doable, Concrete, Time-Oriented Goals. I generally use this one more for academic papers than for stories, but it works for both. Set a small concrete goal with a solid endpoint (”generate preliminary outline” or “write this paragraph” is better than “write all body paragraphs”) Then, set yourself a time limit. 40 minutes is usually the max time limit that I find actually motivates me. Yours may be different (fyi the size of your tasks should be tailored to whatever time limit actually motivates you). Then, your only problem in life is to finish that task by the time limit, at which point, you’ll come up with the next task and a new time limit.
Ultra God Mode is creating an artificial sense of urgency to motivate yourself. I accomplish this with my Google Calendar, which I update twice a week (full disclosure: this is only possible for me because I have an ADHD coach, who sits me down and makes me update the calendar). I list everything I have to do for the week, generously estimate the time it’ll take, and literally schedule each individual thing on the calendar, including eating, laundry, etc. When I’m having trouble starting on or focusing on a task, I look at my calendar, and I can physically see the limited time that I have. There are big, colorful blocks filling up the whole page, and that makes it real to me that, if I don’t write this essay (that’s not due for a week) right now, in this block of time I have it scheduled for, there is literally no time for me to write it later, since the rest of the time is filled up with other stuff I have to do. So sometimes, I end up feeling that “due in five hours” urgency, a week before something is due!
Lastly, and perhaps most importantly:
ACCEPT AND CELEBRATE IMPERFECTION. I know I’ve talked about this above, but it really is true. This applies to everyone, but especially to people with ADHD. The sad reality of ADHD is that it is a disability, and our ideals and our goals will always be higher than what we can realistically achieve. And, since ADHD brains are incapable of emotional regulation, we are especially affected by feelings of failure. If you allow yourself to think of every missed goal or imperfect product as a failure, it’s gonna suck. Really hard. Allow yourself to re-define success. I might not have written the 50,000 word emotionally deep epic that I wanted to, but I published three chapters of a story that I wrote in my downtime, and I’m proud of that. I might not have updated that story in a month, but hey, I still published it. Be proud of what you do achieve, instead of beating yourself up for what you don’t.
On a more general note, the writing process is a physical thing that takes place on the page in front of you, especially for ADHD people. No one formulates the perfect writing piece all in their heads and then deposits it onto the page in the first go. Writing a whole bunch of shit says precisely nothing about you as a writer. Writing is a skill, and you’ll get a lot better at it by practicing a bunch of shit and meh writing, than by laboring to occasionally produce one perfect piece.
TL;DR: The general themes of all of my advice is break it down into tiny chunks, and get excited about it so you’re actually motivated to write, and learn how to call an imperfect product “good enough”.
Woot Woot!! I knew you were the one to ask! Thanks :D
All my current writing is fanfiction. It’s a hobby for funsies. So my tips are gonna be a little different than for things with deadlines.
I have a separate chrome window for whatever fic I’m working on. One or more tabs is the current google doc, and I often have another tab open of a post full of word ideas, or a thesaurus.com tab, or a tab or whatever research I was doing for the story. That kind of thing. In any case that window is fic-related stuff ONLY. It narrows my focus somehow? Compared to having those tabs open in my usual browser window where I have twenty tabs open of tumblr and gmail and ao3 and facebook and that article I was reading, and that dress I wanted, and and and…..
I find that highlighting text of things to work on later interrupts my flow oddly, so instead I just bang it out in all caps–that’s visually interesting enough to catch my eye later and takes less time ‘cause I hit capslock all the time. I’ve definitely had drafts of fics where suddenly mid-paragraph was like WTF IS HER MOTIVATION HERE WHY IS SHE ANGRY or whatever.
If you see a cool turn of phrase in something or a word you want to use in something, note that down immediately. You will forget it. Take a photo with your phone and email it to yourself if that’s what it takes. Or copy it into a new doc, or something.
Related: whenever possible, write down new ideas/thoughts immediately. I once was falling asleep and got an idea for a fic, and I opened my laptop back up, propped it up on my thighs still lying down, and banged out 1500 words of possible plot. It was full of typos ‘cause I didn’t even bother putting my glasses on and I couldn’t see what I was typing, but it was a dang good idea. (If you can stand the sound of your own voice, smartphones all have voice memo apps. There’s a few times I wish I’d pulled my bicycle over to blurt out the idea I’d just had so I could type it up later.)
Related, again: This is true of everyone but especially of ADHD people: If you’re stuck on something, get away from your computer and do something else, preferably something physical–bicycle rides are often very effective for me. A tip I read somewhere that’s helped me a few times, is read a few pages (up to where you left off), and then go do something else that isn’t mentally taxing–a load of dishes, fold some laundry, etc. Sometimes that’s enough to get your brain primed for new stuff.
Hyperfocus is both your best friend and your worst enemy. On the one hand, holy shit, you wrote a whole chapter in one sitting. On the other hand, you have to pee so bad you’re in pain, you should have been asleep two hours ago, and you needed to do a load of laundry. Whoops. If you catch yourself doing the hyperfocus thing, ask yourself–honestly–whether or not this is a good time for it. Sometimes it’s worth it. Sometimes it’s not.
Depending on how you best process information, having a friend who likes your writing and doesn’t mind spoilers can be more valuable than fucking gold. Having someone to talk to and bounce ideas off of is so helpful. When I haven’t had anyone, I’ve made long ridiculous posts in the middle of the night (which is when I’m usually writing) working through my thoughts and solving problems regarding plots.
Before posting a new fic to ao3 or whatever, make it look different and give it another reread. Popping it into the ao3 submit box is often enough for me (I always use the rich text option) but some people make the whole document a wildly different font size/font/color. You will catch more dropped/repeated words and/or typos.
If you’re an outliner, cool. If you’re a “seat of your pants” writer, also cool. Sometimes one works better for a fic than another. Sometimes one works better than another for you that specific day. I like to make really curse-filled notes on things that I want to happen later in the fic as a reminder but I rarely make outlines.
If you write using google docs, put it on your phone as well. You never know when you’ll get an idea and need to put it into the fic right now.
more on writing muslim characters from a hijabi muslim girl
- hijabis get really excited over pretty scarves - they also like to collect pins and brooches - we get asked a lot of questions and it can be annoying or it can be amusing, just depends on our mood and personality and how the question is phrased - common questions include: - “not even water?” (referring to fasting) - hijabis hear a lot of “do you sleep in that?” (we don’t) and “where is your hair?” (in a bun or a braid, usually) - “is it mooze-slim or mozzlem?” (the answer is neither, it’s muslim, with a soft s and accent on the first syllable) - “ee-slam or iz-lamb?” (it’s iss-laam, accent on the first syllable) - “hee-job?” (heh-jahb, accent on the second syllable)
- “kor-an?” (no. quran. say it like koor-annn, accent on the second syllable) - people tend to mess up our names really badly and you just get a sigh and a resigned nod or an awkward smile, maybe a nickname instead - long hair is easy to hide, short hair is harder to wrap up - hijab isn’t just covering hair, it’s also showing as little skin as possible with the exception of face, hands, and feet, and not wearing tight/sheer clothing - that applies to men too, people just don’t like to mention it ( i wonder why) - henna/mehendi isn’t just for special occasions, you’ll see people wearing it for fun - henna/mehendi isn’t just for muslims, either, it’s not a religious thing - henna/mehendi is not just for women, men also wear it, especially on their weddings - there are big mehendi parties in the couple of nights before eid where people (usually just women and kids) gather and do each other’s mehendi, usually just hands and feet - five daily prayers - most muslim kids can stutter through a couple verses of quran in the original arabic text by the age of seven or eight, it does not matter where they live or where they’re from or what language they speak natively - muslim families tend to have multiple copies of the quran - there are no “versions” of the quran, there has only ever been one. all muslims follow the exact same book - muslims have no concept of taking God’s name in vain, we call on God at every little inconvenience - don’t use islamic phrases if you don’t know what they mean or how to use them. we use them often, inside and outside of religious settings. in islam, it is encouraged to mention God often and we say these things very casually, but we take them very seriously - Allahu Akbar means “God is Greatest” (often said when something shocks or surprises us, or if we’re scared or daunted, or when something amazing happens, whether it be good or bad; it’s like saying “oh my god”) - Subhan Allah means “Glory be to God” (i say subhan Allah at the sky, at babies, at trees, whatever strikes me as pleasant, especially if it’s in nature) - Bismillah means “in the name of God” and it’s just something you say before you start something like eating or doing your homework - In Shaa Allah means “if God wills” (example: you’ll be famous, in shaa Allah) (it’s a reminder that the future is in God’s hands, so be humble and be hopeful)
- Astaghfirullah means “i seek forgiveness from Allah” and it’s like “god forgive me” - Alhamdulillah means “all thanks and praise belong to God” and it’s just a little bit more serious than saying “thank god” (example: i passed my exams, alhamdulillah; i made it home okay, alhamdulillah) - when i say we use them casually, i really mean it - teacher forgot to assign homework? Alhamdulillah - our version of “amen” is “ameen” - muslims greet each other with “assalamu alaikum” which just means “peace be on you” and it’s like saying hi - the proper response is “walaikum assalam” which means “and on you be peace” and it’s like saying “you too”
As a Muslim this post is so very important and it makes me so happy that it gives the small facts and details that one might be unaware of or confused about.
This is a summary of college only using two pictures; expensive as hell.
That’s my Sociology “book”. In fact what it is is a piece of paper with codes written on it to allow me to access an electronic version of a book. I was told by my professor that I could not buy any other paperback version, or use another code, so I was left with no option other than buying a piece of paper for over $200. Best part about all this is my professor wrote the books; there’s something hilariously sadistic about that. So I pretty much doled out $200 for a current edition of an online textbook that is no different than an older, paperback edition of the same book for $5; yeah, I checked. My mistake for listening to my professor.
This is why we download.
Alternatives to buying overpriced textbooks
Spreading this shit like nutella because goddamn textbooks are so expensive.
not necessarily art related but as someone who couldn’t afford their textbooks this semester this is a godsend
REBLOGGING because after a little digging, I found my $200 textbook for free in PDF form.
friendly reminder that this exists since I know we’re all going back to college soon
tip for healing via tumblr: blacklist everything from things that trigger you to only things that have just been annoying to look at. unfollow people you don’t want to see on your dash. unfollow that mutual that posts depressive shit that doesn’t help your mental health. block people who piss you off. etc. blacklist guilt trippy phrases. go to lengths to make your experience on tumblr more enjoyable and doesn’t have a negative impact on your mental health. you get enough of being annoyed and negative emotions in real life and during the day, but this is tumblr. it’s meant for fun, not to make you feel worse or affect how you see yourself. give yourself a break
