#beginner help

Oh jeez it’s been forever since I went to school but —

I thrifted my Demonia Mary-Janes but I believe they have a silver buckle… They’ve lasted a long time though, the previous owner scuffed them and it was super easy to buff out.

I also have a pair of Jambu shoes that are small Mary-Jane wedges and they velcro, so they’re all black with no buckle. I honestly cannot remember the name of the style, but they’re so freaking comfortable. I wore them all over college and high school and they’re still in great condition.

An-Tai-Na and Angelic Imprint on Taobao have some school-appropriate styles. Remember, you can always use permanent cosplay paint to make the buckles suit your needs if you find a pair you really love! (Angelic imprint left, An-Tai-Na right)

So, let’s say you’ve done all your spell-prep, gathered all your ingredients, and raised all your energy... now what?

Well you can’t hold on to all that energy forever—even if you could it probably wouldn’t do you any good—so you’ve got to release it, send it out into the world where it can do its thing (work its magic, so to speak).

And how are you supposed to do that? However you want, actually. As long as you’re keeping in mind what it is you’re trying to accomplish, you’re golden.

Still not sure how to release your spell? That’s cool, too, no worries. There are plenty of tried and true methods to choose from if that’s a little more your speed. Consider:

Burning down a dedicated candle

Breaking your circle (if you’re partial to the casting of circles)

Dedicated NSFW activity (solo or with a partner)

Burying your spell components (provided they’re eco-friendly)

Burning or soaking/dissolving your spell components (provided it is safe to do so. Please burn/dissolve responsibly. Do your research.)

Vocation (Saying “I release you” or “So mote it be” or “Aw hell yeah beech fuck it up aauauuu” or whatever you like)

Sound (bang a gong, ring a bell, clap your hands really loudly, etc)

Seriously though, play around, experiment, find out what works best for you. Different spells might do better with different send-offs, and different send-offs might perform differently for different people. It all depends on your personal practice, so don’t be afraid to try something new.

Cheers and Happy Casting,

For me, I know if I feel like I pushed myself in some way. Soreness isn’t a good indicator for me since I have to do completely new exercises to shock my muscles enough to get sore. But that’s the feeling side of things.

You can track you workouts to see if they are effective. You should be making some sort of progress, either more reps or more weight. Sometimes you wont be able to make progress because you didn’t eat well or sleep enough the day before and that’s alright. You can still feel the burn at the gym and feel like you’ve pushed yourself as long as you try to match your previous numbers when stuff like that happens.

So this will be my first post helping people with writing while I work on more content for you guys. Today I'm gonna tackle common issues for both beginners and people that have been writing for a while.

1. "My writing is terrible and I don't know what to do." So this is very common. And I do mean very. Writing is always a struggle between authors feeling like they aren't good enough and readers thinking they are. Every writer I know, including myself, has the belief that their writing is terrible. The solution is to this is to find a group of people willing to read your WIP and give you an honest opinion. The best readers are those that give you both the good and the bad. Remember no writing is perfect and no writing can not be salvaged. Figure out what people like and don't like and work from there. Lastly keep in mind that writing, like all forms of art, gets better with experience and exposure. Writing more and reading more give you more ways to improve your talent.

2. "I have an issue with constantly having plot holes." Again, very common in my experience. Plot holes are a result of trying to have too much go on or not planning well enough in the beginning. If you find yourself running into constant Plot holes within your stories there are a few things you can try. First, writer stories of a smaller scale. Working on concepts within a fewer number of plot points gives you experience with resolving those plot points. As you get better on that you can begin working on longer scale stories. Second, make a story board to write down the events that happen and when they should happen. This gives you a better idea of everything thats going to happen so you know what events should be resolved by certain points of your story. Finally, ask for people's opinions about what plot holes they find. When people give you their opinions and tell you what plot holes they find, you can work on fixing them so you don't resort to scrapping your whole WIP. That's why editing exists and why writing has many, many drafts.

3. "I have writer's block, what do I do?" Welcome to the world of writing. Every writer, and I do mean every writer, deals with writer's block, and every writer has various ways of dealing with it. The things that have worked for me in the past: reading over my past writing to get my mind back into the mindset for the story, reading either other people's works or one of the books on my book shelf, finding a type of music that helps my creativity, or free writing until ideas begin to form. Again, every writer has different methods, these are just the ones that work for me.

Howdy! I have tag called beginner help / ryocos tips. Its a collection of asks / posts that I think can help beginners in general. I even have a guide for some of the main exercises. 

I also have some youtube videos, though some are pretty outdated but most of the exercises are things I still do.

As for my food, I eat whatever I want! I just count calories (I eyeball my calories though, since I’m pretty used to how much I can/can’t eat. I recommend beginners pick up MyFitnessPal to get started). I eat mealpreps for my lunches and regular dinners, along with other snacks throughout the day.

My current routine is a bro-split with a focus on arms and abs:

Day 1: Chest, triceps and abs.

Day 2: Legs, biceps and abs.

Day 3: Shoulders, triceps and abs.

Day 4: Back, biceps and abs.

Day 5: Legs, tricep and abs.

When I first started I was pretty nervous about the lifting area (at my first gym it was cardio upstairs, weights downstairs so the dudebros were all in one place). What I did was start with the machines while I looked up lifting routines and how to do exercises with proper form in my free time at home. My fear was that I was going to do an exercise the ‘stupid’ way and everyone would laugh at me…

Now I’m part of the dudebro crowd and I’ve come to realize that the majority of us honestly don’t care about 90% of the people in the gym. The other 10%? It’s the other dudebros, but the ones that are bigger than us. Do I spend any time looking at the new people in the weight area? No, not really. Am I watching the girl with the bigger arms than me, trying to figure out what her routine is? Yup.

There are the dudebros that go to the gym and try to pick up people for dates and whatnot, just put in some earphones and practice your best RBF (resting b**** face). I’ve mastered mine, which means I NEVER get hit on at the gym. Plus, if you ever have a problem with a dudebro, know that the gym staff is there to keep you safe. 

I don’t currently have a tag, but on my next day off I can compile some of my beginner help and beginner asks together on a page with a new tag for it!

Here is a link to a post with form help for a couple exercises.