Coffee & Books

Immigrant

fandom culture is so, so good about giving artists the credit they’re due, but we gotta start doing that for writers too. you’ve got no idea how much people put into their stories and get maybe a handful of reblogs and a dozen-odd kudos. that’s not enough. writing is an endurance sport and y’all need to start giving fic writers a reason to endure it and improve their craft. encourage writers like you encourage artists. reblog fics, leave tags, leave comments, acknowledge that these stories do not just spring into being for your entertainment. 

Artists have the ability to show off preview sketches, host art streams, and get feedback during almost every step of their creative process, and we do not.  We can’t really share outlines and half-finished sentences, choppy first-drafts, and have anyone get excited about that.  When we say it’s an endurance sport, we really mean it.  

THIS.

And of course we write because we love it. We have ideas–BIG HUGE IDEAS–that we want to get out there, just how we see it in our heads, and be able to go back over and over it again, even if no one else cares. Of course we write because we love it.

But we’re human and crave validation. We create these things because We Just Think They’re Neat and want others to agree that the concept or execution or both is also neat and fan about it with us! 

It doesn’t even necessarily have to be about WHAT WE HAVE ACTUALLY WRITTEN. Tell us how much you love the concept or the plot device, start going off on tangents in your comments or tags or replies, because HECK YEAH WE’RE IN THE SAME BOAT. WE’LL JOIN IN WITH YOU.

About a week ago I posted this.

I’ve been getting horrible messages like this in my ask for months, including:

and my personal favorite

After getting the message saying “Just go kill yourself” I was completely done dealing with this person’s horrible messages and replied with just an “Okay.” and logged off tumblr.

About a week later I logged back on with 17 messages in my ask, most of them from the anon. I scrolled down and at first when I logged off, the anon messaged me things like

I scrolled up more and all of a sudden they started sending me more and more messages like

This was extremely surprising to me. I thought “After all those horrible messages you sent to me for MONTHS about hating me and wanting me dead, you say ‘sorry’ and that you ‘cant be responsible for someone’s suicide’?”

But I guess the lesson goes like this:

Gluttony was never supposed to be just about food. It’s about overindulgence. Greed is about the uncontrolled desire of wanting things you don’t need, just to have them. Gluttony is basically hoarding things and overindulging, especially and specifically when those things are needed by other people.

Food was often used as an example because it was meant to be shown as one of the things that, when overconsumed by one person or a specific set of people, it would cause the deaths of others. It also had other ways in which it was used, yes, but overall, gluttony is about fucking overindulgence.

It’s also mentioned to often be about overconsumption of alcohol, but hey. We don’t really go after alcoholics the way we do fat people, do we?

this stage of heartbreak is softer than i remember. which is to say i have run out of tears weeks earlier than usual. the fits of sorrow more violent this time around. sob sessions on weekend mornings missing you. fighting the urge to call. panic attacks in locked bathroom stalls because hadent you promised?

but it is over now. and the edges of my broken heart are softer. less jagged. not shattered just, broken.

i can catch your eye without having my heart skip a beat. but sometimes i think that when we lock eyes that that beat of my heart belongs to you. for only a moment. before i smile quickly, glance away.

did you know i can do that now? look away. walk away. i can walk away and not look back. have my thoughts drift away from you by the time i turn the corner…most of the time.

your voice and name do not evoke summer sautls from my stomach. instead fond memories dipped in regret and baby blue sadness.

superhero party!

Anger:

Grinding teeth

Narrowing eyes

Yelling

A burning feeling in the chest

Heavy breathing

Unjustified or justified accusations towards other characters

Jerky movements

Glaring

Violence

Stomping

Face reddening

Snapping at people

Sadness:

Lack of motivation

Messy appearance

Quiet

Slow movements

Crying

Inability to sleep

Frowning

Red eyes

Isolating oneself

Fatigue

Not concentrating

Have you ever felt as if you just can’t write?

Have a look at this infographic filled with helpful tips to get you back on track.

please, no matter what you do, never stop dreaming. hold on tight to every thread of every wish you can remember or fathom, and don’t stop until you reach it. i promise, you’ll have time to find new dreams, but every single one is worth it. please, no matter how hard it is, never stop finding love in things.

when it’s sunset and you’re on the bus home from the city, and your music is playing softly, and you feel in love with the world? smile. tap your fingers against your leg, gaze out of the window, make polite conversation with the little lady who takes the seat next to you; ask her about her day. you’ll stumble, you will. but don’t think that falling means you’re any less worthy of getting back up, and being stronger than before.

you were made to be brave, made to be strong. read new books, or ones you’ve read one hundred times before, and don’t feel ashamed to tell your friends and family. it’s something you love, and that means it’s something true to you, true to your heart. even though it may not feel like it, always know that you are loved. somewhere, someone is waiting for you, whether that be a partner, a friend, a child or even a pet.

you’ll fit in, so don’t worry about being different, because as much as it may seem like it, different is not synonymous with bad. stretch your legs and go for a walk if you’ve been sitting down for too long, turn your phone off and write silly letters freehand, drink a glass of water if you’ve forgotten, and make yourself a calendar to remember things like medication and important dates.

please, no matter how impossible it seems, keep finding beauty in things, because things are made from stardust and sugar; delicate and soft, but safe in the right pair of hands. don’t worry about the ‘not knowing’. “in life, you don’t always know what you want, and that’s okay. it’s knowing who you are that makes all the difference. with that in your pocket, you can conquer the world.”

with love,

If you can’t say “I’m beautiful,” begin by shutting down the “I’m ugly” thoughts and saying “I’m a person.”

If you can’t say “I’m valuable” begun by shutting down the “I’m worthless” thoughts and say “all people deserve basic respect, and I’m a person.”