writeblr library!

i'm looking for a few beta readers to check out The Messy Writer!

if you're interested, maybe check out this form?

The theme for August is Silverwood because Ithea's creation date is in July and Anthem's is in September, so what better month could there be for them?

In order for it not to be completely overwhelming (because it's Silverwood lol), I am limiting this to generation 1 only!

The winning three options will get art and also information about the characters and their relationship, whatever form that relationship takes~

The options cover a range of romantic, platonic, familial, and antagonistic.

Not every possible combo or character from gen1 is being explored, just the most important ones

Chibi cheat sheet for those who haven't been listening to me talk about this since 2004:

Art poll tag list: @bloodlessheirbyjacques @tryan-a-bex @hakbot @Kaket123

i'm looking for a few beta readers to check out The Messy Writer!

if you're interested, maybe check out this form?

me: sweet hit me with the good stuff

media: so there's this marginalized underclass of people, right?

me: okay

media: and they're like, stigmatized for something that's mostly an aspect of how they are born, or where they're from, or they're badly misunderstood, right?

me: yup, got it, I'm with ya

media: so these people are rebelling against the current social order, because it's the instrument of their suffering

me: oh good great sure

media: but also they're violent and deranged and need to be stopped

me: ...what

media: yeah they're going too far, they're trying to overthrow the system and assassinate the nice cop trying to help them and also they burned down an orphanage

me: ...why? would they burn down an orphanage??

media: extremism is bad

me: still not seeing what this has to do with their fight though???

media: also now they've shot a dog. oops they shot another dog

me: what?! why? I though their motive was to overthrow oppression??

media: yes but their suffering has also made them evil

me: ...???

media: don't worry though, the good guys will defeat them and restore the status quo

me: the status quo that's been killing people?

media: well it turns out it was only killing the kinds of awful people who burn down orphanages and shoot dogs :)

me: oh. this is actually a pro-authoritarian story, isn't it?

if you are doing any creative project with someone else in which money will be involved, make a contract. Doesn't need to be super formal. Get something laid out in writing that very clearly indicates what the person you are asking to do something is responsible for, the timeline in which they're expected to complete it, and the compensation they'll get for doing so.

"oh but we've been best friends since eighth grade" make a fucking contract.

"oh but this probably won't make much money anyway" make a fucking contract.

"oh but I don't know all that legalese" there are tons of pretty accessible templates available online if you research, just make sure it's one that suits your needs and you understand what's in it (it can be written in normal language without legalese, as long as it's clear), and make a fucking contract.

You will often notice when you’ve made an error, or when there’s something you could have done better, or etc, and sometimes other people will notice too. But often, they won’t. So don’t point it out.

It’s really a sign of a lack of self confidence – you think that if you point out the error first, it will save someone else from having to point it out for you. That by being self-depreciating, no one else will feel obliged to point out your flaws.

But here’s the thing. People don’t notice jack shit, most of the time. Sure, yeah, sometimes you’ll fuck up and people will notice and mention it, and thats fine, but 95% of your errors will go unnoticed. Unless you choose to point them out, in which case, you ensure that 100% of your errors get noticed.

The above sentence was said to me during a dance rehearsal. I’m not a pro dancer by any stretch of the imagination – this was a fun little between-friends dance that we were going to perform at a medium sized function full of people we knew. Half the people in the group did have dance experience, which made me - a non-dancer - feel self concious. So every time I messed up the steps, I would laugh at myself or made an “agh” sound or be verbally frustrated with myself that I was struggling to get that move, or whatever. Which drew peoples attention to the fact that I’d made an error.

There were like 10 of us doing this dance; me missing one step went largely unnoticed in the scheme of things, because with ten of us, anyone watching the dance had so much to look at that the likelihood of them seeing me misstep was extremely low. Unless I made a big deal about it, which would draw their attention to me, and ensure that they were made aware.

I used to point out my mistakes all the time. Not just with the dance, but across the board in general life, too. “Agh, whoops,” or handing over a completed project like “I know I could have done [thing] better, but hopefully the rest is ok,” or whatever. People were often frustrated with me, and I feel, in hindsight, that they were frustrated with me because in their eyes, with me constantly highlighting my own errors, they knew I could do better but instead here I was, giving them a shoddy, half-assed, error-filled effort. By me pointing out my every mistake, they were aware of how many I was making, and they were frustrated by my seemingly endless errors.

Then I got told to “stop advertising your mistakes,” and it was a bit of a revelation moment for me. I made a concious effort that day to minimise my reaction to my own mistakes – for the rest of the rehearsal and into the final performance – and you know what happened??

After the performance, countless people said some iteration of the phrase, “I didn’t know you could dance!!”

They thought I was a dancer. That I’d been dancing for years. They hadn’t noticed any of my missteps.

I messed up multiple times during the final performance. If I watch the recording and focus on me, I can see my missed steps, the time I span clockwise on the spot instead of anticlockwise, the time I was slightly out of alignment with the other dancers, etc. But if I watch the dance as a whole, watching all 10 dancers instead of just me….. I dont notice the mistakes I made. They blend in. Theres too much other stuff going on for anyone to notice the one dancer who spun on the spot in the opposite direction to everyone else.

And everyone thought i was brilliant. All I noticed, while dancing, were my mistakes, but no one else saw them, and everyone who saw the dance was super impressed with it and with me. That would not have been the case had I reacted to every one of my errors as I’d made them.

So I took that concept and applied it to the rest of my life. And you know what???? People were less frustrated with me. Because they weren’t noticing my minor errors, and I wasn’t pointing them out any more, so from their perspective, it looked like my output had improved. It looked like I was making “less errors.” I wasn’t, its just that before, I was pointing every one of them out, and now, I was letting people notice them on their own. And they didnt notice them.

You are always going to be hyperaware of yourself and your own mistakes, but other people are way too distracted by their own crap and have too much other stuff drawing their attention to notice your every misstep. So stop pointing your mistakes out. Stop being your own worst critic. Everyone fucks up now and then, its fine. You fix the error if you can, and you move on. You dont have to pre-empt someone else pointing out your mistakes, because its extremely likely that they wont notice your errors. Unless you point them out.

LADIES OF THE KNIGHT IS OUT TODAY!

The print book is available now in the US (and a little later elsewhere)

The final 16 pages have been added to the webcomic <3 Some of my favourite pages are here at the end. 222 pages of knights for you to enjoy in web or print.

ladiesoftheknightcomic.com

how about this: when i was 9 and my stepdad beat me until i passed out and i told my friends at school, my teacher over heard and i was interviewed by cps. they also went to my house when i was at school. when i got home, my step father was waiting on the couch, and told me who visited him that day. he told me if i ever snitched again he would beat me to within an inch of my life.

how about this: my mother locked me out of the house when i was 14 and when i cried so loud the neighbors called the cops, the cop told me i should have been respectful of my mother who was trying to sleep.

how about this. the demon you know is less scary than the demon you don’t.

children in abused households are raised to fear the idea of being taken away. children in abusive households see that help makes things worse.

ChatGPT in particular has been so incredibly helpful in my writing process! It works perfectly in fueling my undying hatred for the slop plagiarism machine. Spite has been my singular motivator as I spend every day loathing the amount of AI covers and slop books flooding the market. AI has done what no motivational video on YouTube has managed to do: it has motivated me to sit my ass down and fucking write because I am a writer and'll be damned before I let some second hand thinker get the last laugh

The theme for August is Silverwood because Ithea's creation date is in July and Anthem's is in September, so what better month could there be for them?

In order for it not to be completely overwhelming (because it's Silverwood lol), I am limiting this to generation 1 only!

The winning three options will get art and also information about the characters and their relationship, whatever form that relationship takes~

The options cover a range of romantic, platonic, familial, and antagonistic.

Not every possible combo or character from gen1 is being explored, just the most important ones

Chibi cheat sheet for those who haven't been listening to me talk about this since 2004:

Art poll tag list: @bloodlessheirbyjacques @tryan-a-bex @hakbot @Kaket123

The idea that listening isn't reading is insane to me.

My memory doesn't work well with spoken words if I'm even a little distracted. I need to see the words to retain the information, or I have to make the audio my sole focus, which means if I'm going to listen to a story (audiobook, podcast, video, doesn't matter) I have to focus entirely on it. It's the same as sitting down to read a book for me.

Which is where I think the issue lies?

Here's one reader who takes time out of their day to sit and read, it is an event, it is special.

Here's another who listens to their book while doing chores or running errands, it is not an event on its own it is mulitasking.

Both are retaining the story, both enjoying the story.

One of them is jealous.

Quick pic to celebrate Marion getting his name. After the tiebreaker, it was quite a landslide victory ^__^

And Eugene too! 

As stated previously, I do think they get along better with each other than with some of their other siblings but, you know, adventure and romance often go hand-in-hand. 

I'm sure I'll draw them again haha

Royal Road   |   AO3   |   Patreon

In which Reeve reaches a breaking point with Hannah's concern, and Freddie thinks someone else in Neptune has noticed there's something off about LAHQ.

“You’re making yourself sick,” she told Reeve. “Let me help you taper down. Just a little.” 

Why? So I can have the pleasure of burying someone else I love?

He slammed the door shut behind her, loud enough that she flinched. He took a breath and went on, keeping his tone low. “You have no idea how exhausting this conversation is for me. It’s done now.”

Thanks for reading!

First snippet of writing for a new WIP about my Neon Odyssey OCs, the Saffron crew!

Word count: 821

CW: guilt

Fandom: Neon Odyssey (D&D)

Hacked

———

Aeza’s blood ran cold as the decrypted message typed itself across the console’s hologram screen. 

[The program. I know you have it. Bring it to the attached coordinates.

Or will you have yet another’s blood on your hands?

PHAZE]

Aeza could only stare at the tagline.

“Who…” Jay fussed with the console screen, urgently tabbing back and forth through menus as he echoed, “‘The program.’ They know about Coda. Who—how did they find out?”

<Tracker bug?> Jet suggested with a twitch of his antenna. 

Coda’s pale blue hardlight dimmed and gained a tint of a fearful, Somber lavender hue as she looked back and forth between Jay, Jet, and the console. “I can run a scan on the Saffron’s systems—”

“No!” Jay shoved a hand between Coda and the console. “Kid, if there’s a tracker bug, if you connect with the system you might get detected. We can’t risk that.”

“But if they already know about me—”

Jet gently pulled Coda away from the console and stepped around her, propping himself up on his tiptoes to reach buttons on the console. <I got it.>

Aeza’s breath quickened the longer she stared at the message on the screen, now surrounded by other windows as Jay and Jet pulled up status report upon status report of the Saffron’s computer network.

Phaze.

Her breath escaped her with a muttered, “No…”

She knew that name.

She knew that name. 

Jay started to turn around and ask, “Aez, why would the message have come to—”

But Aeza barely heard his voice as she pivoted and ran. 

She all but flew down the stairs from the bridge, dashing through the lobby. Her hand caught the handrail to the main stairs, and her momentum spun her into the stairway. 

A chorus of footsteps behind her rang dully on Aeza’s ears beneath the racing of her own heart and breath. At the base of the stairs she flung herself forward, dashing down the corridor to her quarters.

The automatic doors couldn’t slide open fast enough. She shoved herself through them before they even parted fully. 

There had to be something here. 

Something had been bugged. Aeza threw her covers aside, her drawers open, and all but her most fragile belongings out across the floor. Her more fragile belongings she lifted and inspected more gently but no less frantically before setting them aside as well.

I must have missed something. What could she have bugged?

She threw herself at another set of drawers, holding nothing but a handful of spare pairs of socks and an old photograph she usually kept hidden.

Normally she pulled it out for comfort and nostalgia. Now she frantically turned it over and over. Searched it for anything amiss, anything she must have overlooked that could possibly be a tracker.

Nothing. 

I need to look again.

The doors to her quarters slid open again as she dashed to her closet for another round of searching. 

“Aez! What’re you doing!?” Jay demanded, his pale eyes darting around the rapidly increasing mess of Aeza’s room before fixing on her. 

Aeza ignored him, instead darting again to the desk.

But his firm hands stopped her, grabbing her on the shoulders and spinning her to face him. “Aeza! What’s going on? What’s gotten into you?!”

“I—” Aeza pulled herself out of his grip and turned. Every nerve she had pled at her to search her room again, but she froze when she finally registered the mess. Everything she owned now lay across the cold floor, seeming to join with the industrial walls in mocking her failure. She could only run her hands through her hair and mutter, “It’s all my fault.”

“What?”

“It’s all my fault,” she repeated, voice soft even to her own ears. “I—she found me. She must have. She found Coda because of me.”

Jay frowned and spun Aeza around with a firm but gentle hand to her shoulder again. “What are you talking about? ‘She’ who?”

“Phaze!” Aeza insisted, meeting his eyes before glancing down and finally noticing Jet and Coda standing in the doorway behind him. Guilt shot a dart of frost through her heart as she met Coda’s eyes, still tinted lavender instead of innocent blue. She had to pry her eyes away, else she feel Coda scanning her soul and finding her guilt as she forced out, “I…I know who Phaze is. Or…I used to. I used to know her. But I…I thought she was dead. But now she—she’s found Coda. Because of me.” Her voice weakened as she groaned again, “It’s all my fault. Again.”

“Aez, listen to me,” Jay said, stepping forward to put himself in her field of vision again while Jet waddled into the room and looked around. “I don’t know what you’re on about, but we’ll figure this out, ok? Doesn’t matter whose fault it is; we’re not gonna let her get Coda.”

———

For this week’s prompt courtesy of @flashfictionfridayofficial!

your writing is great

your writing is great

YOUR WRITING IS GREAT

your writing is great

YOUR WRITING IS GREAT

YOUR WRITING IS GREAT