insanity? who’s she?

Let’s be honest - we all forget to leave a comment sometimes. We don’t always go out of our way to click the “come talk to me on tumblr” link on AO3 to scream about the fic in the author’s inbox. On August 21st I encourage you to take a moment and show fanfic writers that you appreciate them!

How can you do it?

leave a comment and kudos on every fic you finish reading. Doesn’t matter how short. Doesn’t matter if you’re just repeating what other people have already said. Just be kind! Keysmashing, Caps Lock, and live commenting appreciated! (Bonus points if you leave a comment on every chapter)

ideas for what to put in a comment: one | two | three | four

floaty review box for ao3 (super useful for commenting as you read + it has a ‘review tips’ button if you feel stuck)

reblog ficlets, drabbles, fics, fic rec posts, etc. Put a nice comment in the tags. Remember that likes, while appreciated, don’t give the writer any exposure, meaning the posts don’t reach more people

go to your local fanfic writer’s inbox and talk to them about their fic of your choice. Let them know how long ago you’ve read it and what story point/sentence/scene still makes you smile when you think about it

send thank you messages to fic writers. In a world where you have to pay for almost everything, they’re supplying you with countless hours of free entertainment. It can get quite lonely without getting messages acknowledging the hours they spend writing stories - let them know their time and effort is appreciated

make fic rec posts and @ the authors whose fics you’re recommending! (believe me, fic writers love to see their stories in these posts)

create something inspired by a fic! You can draw fanart, make a moodboard or aesthetic post, or even write a song for the fic you love. Whether you’re a beginner or a pro doesn’t matter - the thought alone is what counts more than anything <3

buy the writer a coffee if they have a ko-fi page and you have some change lying around c: Caffeine keeps most fic writers awake when they struggle with a particularly slow draft or a difficult scene. More coffee, more content.

At some point, I stumbled upon this post by the amazing @chickpeamcb, with Elias sporting some phenomenal pink footwear. Naturally, I had to have them for myself (and who wouldn’t want them? I mean, seriously, those shoes are awesome). So, I went on a hunt for the right shoes!

I don’t typically do a lot of craft projects with shoes, but I’m absolutely thrilled to try with these. I consulted a few friends and we finally settled on a certain color for the shoes—leading us to...

Step One: Acquire the Shoes.

I ordered them a few days ago, and when I came home today...

They’d arrived! I was quite excited to open the box, and even more excited to see the actual shoes!

Step Two: Acquire the Paint Supplies

I dragged my mother into the car and drove to the nearest Michael’s to find some fabric paints and the like.

The shoe came with me, as a reference, and I’m glad it did! A very kind store employee informed me that I’d do better with acrylic paint over the Converse logo, so I went to find a matching paint color.

I’ve never been so excited for anything in my life!

I set out everything that I purchased at Michael’s before separating my painting supplies from all the jewelry things I got. I’m using an acrylic paint (shade is cotton candy, which seems to work perfectly with the “blush” Converse I purchased!

For working with the paint, I chose a shader brush (8). It took a few coats of the paint; I was working with fast-dry acrylic, but make sure your paint has fully dried before you continue. As the paint dried, I started with the Sharpie paint pen over it. This took a few coats as well. I pulled both a medium-point and an extra-fine-point in the white paint pens, the latter for lining.

Before I did the paint pen, I cut out an eye template to use as a guide for my eye shape!

Once I’d finished with the white, I got out my black paint pen (fine point) and started with the black lining over it. This went on rather easily, which was surprising and nice!

I’m really quite pleased with the final product! Once I finish the other shoe, I’ll seal them both and complete this post. I feel like I’ve achieved something big...

The final step has arrived!

I finished off the second shoe before prepping to seal both designs. I used a matte varnish, which seemed to work quite well and went on very quickly!

After putting on one coat, I let them dry before adding a second coat for insurance.

When I was initially making these, I applied the paint right over the decal on the Converse. I discovered that this can lead to peeling/impermanent/cracking paint, which is obviously something nobody wants if they’re trying to make a project permanent!

My solution to this was to take some nail polish remover (acetone) and rub it around the edge of the decal; I pried up an edge using a blade (be very careful if you do this!) before pulling the whole decal off. I applied more acetone underneath as I pulled it off, just to help. The rest of the painting and sealing process went just the same, but I had no need for the pink paint! In my opinion, the final result was much better!

Yesterday, I was trawling iTunes for a decent podcast about writing. After a while, I gave up, because 90% of them talked incessantly about “self-discipline,” “making writing a habit,” “getting your butt in the chair,” “getting yourself to write.” To me, that’s six flavors of fucked up.

Okay, yes—I see why we might want to “make writing a habit.” If we want to finish anything, we’ll have to write at least semi-regularly. In practical terms, I get it.

But maybe before we force our butts into chairs, we should ask why it’s so hard to “get” ourselves to write. We aren’t deranged; our brains say “I don’t want to do this” for a reason. We should take that reason seriously.

Most of us resist writing because it hurts and it’s hard. Well, you say, writing isn’t supposed to be easy—but there’s hard, and then there’s hard. For many of us, sitting down to write feels like being asked to solve a problem that is both urgent and unsolvable—“I have to, but it’s impossible, but I have to, but it’s impossible.” It feels fucking awful, so naturally we avoid it.

We can’t “make writing a habit,” then, until we make it less painful. Something we don’t just “get” ourselves to do.

The “make writing a habit” people are trying to do that, in their way. If you do something regularly, the theory goes, you stop dreading it with such special intensity because it just becomes a thing you do. But my god, if you’re still in that “dreading it” phase and someone tells you to “make writing a habit,” that sounds horrible.

So many of us already dismiss our own pain constantly. If we turn writing into another occasion for mute suffering, for numb and joyless endurance, we 1) will not write more, and 2) should not write more, because we should not intentionally hurt ourselves.

Seriously. If you want to write more, don’t ask, “how can I make myself write?” Ask, “why is writing so painful for me and how can I ease that pain?” Show some compassion for yourself. Forgive yourself for not being the person you wish you were and treat the person you are with some basic decency. Give yourself a fucking break for avoiding a thing that makes you feel awful.

Daniel José Older, in my favorite article on writing ever, has this to say to the people who admonish writers to write every day:

Here’s what stops more people from writing than anything else: shame. That creeping, nagging sense of ‘should be,’ ‘should have been,’ and ‘if only I had…’ Shame lives in the body, it clenches our muscles when we sit at the keyboard, takes up valuable mental space with useless, repetitive conversations. Shame, and the resulting paralysis, are what happen when the whole world drills into you that you should be writing every day and you’re not.

The antidote, he says, is to treat yourself kindly:

For me, writing always begins with self-forgiveness. I don’t sit down and rush headlong into the blank page. I make coffee. I put on a song I like. I drink the coffee, listen to the song. I don’t write. Beginning with forgiveness revolutionizes the writing process, returns its being to a journey of creativity rather than an exercise in self-flagellation. I forgive myself for not sitting down to write sooner, for taking yesterday off, for living my life. That shame? I release it. My body unclenches; a new lightness takes over once that burden has floated off. There is room, now, for story, idea, life.

Writing has the potential to bring us so much joy. Why else would we want to do it? But first we’ve got to unlearn the pain and dread and anxiety and shame attached to writing—not just so we can write more, but for our own sakes! Forget “making writing a habit”—how about “being less miserable”? That’s a worthy goal too!

Luckily, there are ways to do this. But before I get into them, please absorb this lesson: if you want to write, start by valuing your own well-being. Start by forgiving yourself. And listen to yourself when something hurts.

Next post: freewriting

how dare you make a comment when you reblog. how dare you.

Like, we all know that right? Like, this whole culture of commenting directly in the comment box when reblogging is seen as heinous and awful and YOU SHOULD COMMENT IN THE TAGS INSTEAD. Especially if it’s seen as “unnecessary” (as in not adding to a conversation, or it’s just like “THIS” or “YAY” or something).  

I mean, I’ve been on Tumblr since 2011, and I know that got burned into my brain. I still struggle with it, whether in feeling irritated when I see someone comment on a post “unnecessarily” or by feeling weird about commenting or even by staying in the tags to comment.

Literally that whole talking in the tags thing is a byproduct of that culture. 

Obviously this is tumblr-centric but like, come on, I would imagine that viewpoint would stay with someone and they would avoid commenting on other places (like FF.net or AO3) as a result. We’re all afraid of somehow committing a faux pas because tumblr is… well, it’s unforgiving. 

This is just a thought, to be honest. I don’t have a solution except that I think it’s a good idea to ignore that toxic opinion of Commenting on Posts is Bad and You Should Feel Bad. Just ignore it.