Sky

“You really do have a talent for being a complete waste of oxygen.”

“If I cared less, you’d be legally dead to me.”

“Oh, look, a walking cautionary tale.”

“Your personality is the human equivalent of spam mail.”

“I’d call you clever, but then I’d be lying, and I save my lies for people I like.”

“That’s adorable. You really thought anyone asked.”

“The silence after you leave? That’s what joy sounds like.”

“Congratulations, you’ve lowered the bar yet again.”

“No, please, keep talking. I need the reminder of why I drink.”

“You remind me of Wi-Fi in a cheap motel—weak, unreliable, and not worth connecting to.”

“Do us all a favor and go haunt someone else’s patience.”

“Ah, yes. Another sentence from you that no one needed.”

“If ignorance was a currency, you’d be a billionaire.”

“You should bottle that confidence. People would buy it as comedy.”

“Every time you speak, God flips a coin on whether to smite us.”

“There’s a reason even your shadow looks tired of you.”

“You make me nostalgic for the sweet sound of nothing.”

“Some people brighten a room when they enter. You’re the other kind.”

“Your legacy? Being the cautionary example at someone else’s dinner party.”

wanton: sexually immodest or promiscuous

wonton: a type of dumpling commonly found in Chinese cuisines

requested on @promptful (also just in case anybody ever wondered, or maybe I want to complain LOL, I do manually number all these because tumblr/docs' numbering system sucks.)

DIALOGUE:

1) “You look cold.” 

2) “I’m sweating; you can take my jacket.” 

3) “Didn’t I tell you to grab a coat?” 

4) “This is why I buy the fuzzy ones.” 

5) “You’re shivering.” 

6) “Don’t fight me. I’m trying to keep you warm. 

7) “Here, you need this more than I do.” 

8) “…Is it too cliche if I give you my jacket?” 

9) “Use my jacket as a pillow.” 

10) “Your lips are turning blue. Why didn’t you say anything?” 

11) “I—I’m not cold.” 

12) “I don’t need your jacket.” 

13) “Stay warm! I have my own.” “Well, obviously it isn’t enough.” 

14) “Thank you.” 

15) “This may be weird, but what [soap] do you use? It… smells good.” 

16) “You’re so self-sacrificing.” “You’re welcome.” 

17) “ Is that better?” 

18) “You’ll be warm in no time.” 

19) “Why didn’t you put on more layers?” 

“This book should be taken off of shelves for featuring–” you are an anti-intellectual and functionally a conservative

“Schools shouldn’t teach this book in class because–” you are an anti-intellectual and functionally a conservative

“Nobody actually likes or wants to read classics because they’re–” you are an anti-intellectual and an idiot

Literally right after I saw this post, I saw another post in a discord chat for BOOK EDITORS in which an outspokenly liberal editor talked about how Nabokov should have never been published because he wrote about p*dophiles and described women's bodies in ways that made her uncomfortable. She described his writing as "objectively terrible" and said she wanted to burn his books. And other editors were bringing up classics they didn't like and talking about how they wanted to throw them in the trash. This wasn't like a light "unpopular opinion!" conversation. This was actual book editors talking about how books should be destroyed and censored.

There is something so scary and toxic in global culture right now. The revival of fascism is influencing everyone's mindset and approach to art, regardless of where they fall on the political spectrum.

I see far more books being censored today than when I was a kid. Librarians handed me The Catcher in the Rye, The Sexual Politics of Meat, and Animal Farm when I was literally 8-11. My mom would never have taken a book away from me. I read everything from the Tao Te Ching to the Qur'an to atheist texts under my desk at school. Teachers thought nothing of it or encouraged it. Books seemed universally acknowledged as sacrosanct to me.

Now I can't find any adults who don't hesitate or want to make exceptions when it comes to censorship. Even the most liberal social activist librarians I know go, "well except for book X..."

“This makes me uncomfortable” is NOT a valid reason for censorship

And to be clear, when I say this, I’m talking about shit like To Train Up A Child and The Protocols of Zion. One is a text responsible for the deaths of multiple children because it’s an abuse how-to, and the other is entirely fabricated “protocols” from a group that never actually existed but is claimed to represent all Jews, and it’s basically one long antisemitic screed.

stop writing with the word count on!

use a font like comic sans -- trick your brain into thinking that it's not important, that the writing can be stupid, if it's in a stupid font (if you can't tell i despise comic sans)

time yourself to get to a goal

or give yourself a certain amount of time

quantity >> quality in the first draft(s)!

jot down what you want to happen in that chapter

try organizing your writing (nanowrimo, for example)

do *not* reread! it doesn't need to make sense, it just needs to be there

try not to stick yourself to something you saw on tumblr. what works for someone else doesn't necessarily work for you!

take breaks. time those breaks.

practice writing short stories / oneshots of your characters.

try getting all your writing done within a certain goal (as much as I can for 30 minutes) rather than writing 5 minutes on or off

write down every little wormy idea that comes into your brain! sure, it's probably for a different plot, but maybe you can work it in somehow?

on that note, mash elements of your plots together rather than starting a whole new story

see maybe what little writing competitions you can submit your work to

proclaim your goal to the wide web for some peer pressure

rewards yourself. cheer on every thousand-word milestone. brag to your friends that you've written something, anything.

don't think of the big goal—don't think of publishing, or posting, etc. think of the end of your chapter, the development of your character, where it goes.

switch your writing environment! where are you most productive?

make a playlist only for when you write. never for anything else.

getting off tumblr, probably.

have people remind you of your goals.

remember that it all comes with discipline, but also your mental health is the most important!! don't sacrifice half your sleep to meet your nanowrimo goals. try to recognize when it's taking you too long and close the document. do something else. come back later.

The term “masterpiece” originally and traditionally meant a piece of work that an apprentice or other aspiring craftsman created to show off to his master or the town’s guild. So naturally, it was intended to be the best fucking thing that you could make, demonstrating just how fucking good you are at what you’re making - 100% to flex your skills. And if it was approved, the applicant was accepted as a member of the guild and could now call himself a master, and work in this craft in this city.

You have no idea how many people lurk on your work. No idea how many times people go back to revisit your work. How big they smile when they simply think about your work. How fast their heart beats, how excited they get when they see that you posted something.

People are shy with their feedback. Sometimes it’s because they’re simply shy. Other times it’s because they assume you already know how great and talented you are. Could be both.