#do people subscribed to me check for ratings etc.

[silverutahraptor]

Evil thing part of me desperately wants to do: write a f/f fic for my OTP. Then change *just* the pronouns to make it m/m. Post both on AO3 with slightly different titles and slightly different summaries and see if anyone notices

#raptor speaks #come on I KNOW some people read m/m AND f/f #but you gotta admit this idea is kinda hilarious #this would also be a writing exercise for moi #do I write my fav characters differently depending on the gender? #are they the same? #do they get the same reaction? #(i mean duh NO because f/f fics usually sink) #(but like. is something that is gentle in male Izuna too girly for female Izuna? #is something that’s badass for male Izuna too vicious for female Izuna? etc) #(to be clear *I* don’t think it. but feedback would be interesting. hm.) #it would also be an exercise in… reading comprehension? #do people subscribed to me check for ratings etc. #do people actively filter out f/f content etc

[cleolinda]

I’ve read a few of the umpteen thousand upset comments about the paid Watcher service, and I’ve read comments angry about the upset comments. There’s one thing I want to point out, and it’s that this isn’t, or shouldn’t be, “You’re saying people don’t deserve to earn money for their work.”

The Watcher guys do deserve to earn money. I already give them money. I give them $5 a month on Patreon, not because I think they do or don’t give me $5 worth of media, but because I want to support them. I canceled Netflix for pissing me off with its price hike/ad tier, but I give Watcher Entertainment money.

They’re saying now that the Patreon will be solely about the podcasts, and they understand if people leave. I’m perfectly happy to switch the support I can afford to the streaming service. With the early adopter 30% discount, I’d actually save money. In fact, I tried to subscribe, but the site didn’t work.

Watcher wanting to profit from their shows isn’t the problem. It’s that they’re now discovering that their fanbase is young and broke in a terrible economy, judging by tens of thousands of comments on multiple platforms. I can throw them $5/month, so I do. But the Patreon only has (checks notes) 5874 paying followers, and there’s a reason for that. $60/year upfront would not be “accessible.” Patreon is literally patronage from the people who can afford it.

If the guys had said up front, “ONLY new shows and episodes will be exclusive to the service,” I think we’d be having a different conversation right now. But at first they did say, “We’re pulling all our content from YouTube,” to the point where Variety had to issue an update. Like, that’s in print and I’m pretty sure it was on video. Now they’ve backtracked to ONLY new etc.—but most people haven’t heard, and they feel crushed. And the trust is probably gone regardless.

So now four years of back catalogue will stay public. And now, you’re paying $6.99 a month for one episode, maybe two, of something a week, and now, not an exclusive back catalogue. I would pay for Watcher shows before I’d pay for anyone else, but I just don’t think the company is big enough yet for a SVOD at that price. They’re not Dropout size. They needed to build more programming and get a higher follower count first, or at the very least, charge less.

The international price/exchange rate situation is a nightmare and I don’t know what it is they’re not doing to make it… not… be like that.

I don’t know what they should have done instead of a full streaming service, but surely there were alternatives? I’ve seen comments from people suggesting they GET a Patreon. Lean on that more! Do the shows exclusive for a month and then let them roll onto YouTube! I don’t know! Anything but One More Fucking Streaming Service, which enraged me, and I was willing to move my support to it!

And I shouldn’t say this, but I will. In the “Goodbye YouTube” video the guys posted, they say that setting up the streaming service has allowed Steven to do a remake of Worth It where he and his cohosts travel the world and eat expensive food. This is the first new show they announce. Not “We have always been committed to diversity and we’re now able to bring on new creator(s) to expand our programming.” No, a redo of an old show that by definition has got to be expensive. Commenters are saying they can’t pay for the streaming service because they can’t make ends meet in this economy. The optics are terrible. I genuinely question what the thought process even was here.

I love the guys and I still watch their shows. I want to see Watcher succeed. I started watching Buzzfeed Unsolved in 2018 while recovering from surgery—as with a lot of people, their shows got me through a tough time. I’m as attached as anyone. If I can continue to afford monthly support—this is not a certainty—I’ll give it to them. I’m not a ~hater who doesn’t want Watcher to make money. But I am absolutely BAFFLED by every single decision here. I want them to figure out how to turn this around and go in a better direction, because right now, this ain’t it.

#long post #I hope nobody hates me for this but like #this is someone supporting you #this is the best I can do #and that should tell you something #watcher

[theladyofbloodshed]

what’s the best way to purchase your books to ensure that you get the most available profits from it?

sincerely, a girl that wants to buy it, but hates giving money to amazon

Thank you sweetheart.

I will be honest in that Amazon is the only way to purchase it :(

I will be super transparent under the cut about prices/amazon/self-publishing as I didn't realise a lot of these things when I signed up to KDP. If anybody is interested in self-publishing this way or wants to ask questions, feel free.

This is all for The Story of Old: End

These are the price breakdowns for the ebook

I selected the 70% royalty which means it costs me $0.09 to have the book delivered to somebody's e-reader but I make $2.74. If I selected the 35%, I wouldn't have to pay delivery costs but I make less money. This is typically selected by people who have lots of images/graphs etc and it would cost them a lot to pay for the delivery. Ebooks are the way I make the most money because the royalties are higher.

Now, for the paperback as this has to be listed as a different entity on KDP.

The book is priced at $13.00 and I make $1.78 from it. The minimum I can put it up for is $10.03 because it costs just over $5 to have it printed so I wouldn't make anything from it. Amazon gives you 60% royalties which is actually a lot higher than traditional publishing (but I think with traditional contracts, you do get a lump sum stipend for writing, you don't have the costs involved with artists, formatting, editing, promotion etc).

I can also select "Expanded Distribution" which means my book is available on B&N and Waterstones, but my royalty rates drop to 40% because the book still has to be printed by amazon and shipped to them, so Amazon is essentially a middleman and takes the money I would have earnt to ship it to that store. I haven't selected it because I would earn a sum of zero. I get that people don't want to give Amazon money, but they would still print the book and it earn money even if you purchased it from B&N.

Onto Kindle Unlimited...

Yesterday, somebody read the entire copy of The Witch and The Monster and I earned a whopping 59p. This figure is estimated because the actual amount depends on how many people subscribe to kindle unlimited and how many pages are read across the whole system. Each month, the amount "per page" varies.

Also, if you read the same book more than once, we only get a payment for the first time you read it (so if you really love a book on KU, please consider just buying it).

You have to meet certain thresholds on Amazon then you get a payment. On the US Amazon site, I think you need to earn around $100 before you get your payment - it's not like somebody buys my book and I get $2.74 straight into my bank. So, if somebody in Germany reads my book - that's amazing! - but I won't "have" that money until more people in Germany read it and I hit the threshold in that market, e.g. one person in France has a copy of my book, but I won't get that money until I earn €100 from the French Amazon site. (Bonjour if it's you).

Many people do go down the self-publishing route but there are many expenses involved:

I've paid the same artist to do the covers for The Witch and The Monster as well as The Healer and The Alpha (I did the Old ones, that's why they're bad lmao). I'm proud not to use AI. I've also commissioned two other artists to make fan art because we all have to support each other.

I also pay for a proof copy of the paperback to come so it can be checked for errors. I had the page/margin size wrong a couple of times, so I had to order more proofs.

I also then wanted a finished copy which doesn't have PROOF over it for my bookshelf but I only have to pay the raw printing costs.

I could order author copies because I just pay the price to print them and then sell them at local fairs etc, but I can't take them to local book shops due to the amazon isbn.

I've paid a little bit of money for marketing on facebook/instagram/amazon which I don't think really had any effect.

I've done giveaways which cost me money and didn't reach a massive audience.

I post a lot on facebook/reddit/instagram/twitter which is free but does it have much of an effect? Probably minimal.

I have also utilised the amazon book promotion where I can offer the book for free for a limited time and I had massive numbers of downloads but not really any reviews as a result so people must just like free things.

I also used Booksirens (which is similar to netgalley) and had a lot of clicks but I wouldn't use it again. 2 of the readers they found never posted a review so I'm owed credits (because I essentially had to pay every time somebody downloaded my book and they didn't fulfil their end of the deal) which I can't use unless I pay again for a book to be hosted.

All of this is to say that self-publishing isn't "easier" than traditional publishing. There is so much competition and you are fighting to be seen. Amazon is the only avenue that I have right now to have my books published, but I completely understand if you do not want to give your money to them. I love writing. I love creating. If I was doing this for money, I would have quit. Whatever you decide, thank you for wanting to read it <3

#anon asks

[thesensteawitch]

🔮TEA-SER🔮

Hey, Senstea Souls!

I welcome you to my world with open arms and a loving heart.

I am Bhavyaa aka The Sensteawitch.

This username is derived from the word, “Sensitive”. Because that's what everyone used to call me but not in a good way. Well, now I have turned that into my strength.

Below are some AI versions of me. AH! Just look at them:

I am a professional Tarot Reader and Writer. The old-school writer who loves to send letters to people who she barely knows (soon I'll be doing that for you too!). Connecting with people is what comes first for me.

Art, music, and poetry generate 99% oxygen for the souls who can not help but feel a profound connection to the cosmos. Everything holds meaning for them. Such souls are rare to find but I have transformed myself into one of those. Haha, not boasting but claiming my worth.

I have chosen to dive into the world of esoteric subjects. I know it's the road less traveled. But I have chosen this path to help many souls find their way out of the low vibrational and never-ending patterns of life.

The journey of my spirit is still on! Because the learning has no end. Astrology, Numerology, Tarot, Art, Books, Magic, Herbs, and everything that makes me understand myself, this planet, and the Universe better is something that I can never let go of.

My purpose is to bring awareness and help those in need of a little magic.

That's all from my side for now! I'll see you soon.

Till then subscribe to my newsletter and step into the world of magic and healing. You will be getting monthly new moon and full moon ritual updates, special tarot offers and limited spreads, divine channeled poems for the ending year and the upcoming year, yearly tarot readings based on zodiac signs, etc.

Also, check out my Tarot Rate Card and book your reading now!

Oh, by the way, the reason why I address you all as ‘Senstea Souls’ is because I believe that we all can sense the tea. We all were once psychics. It's just that we have forgotten our true essence.

Don't overthink it. Just join me in this journey. You'll know who you are and what's your purpose.

See Ya, Senstea Souls.

#tarot reader #psychic #writers on tumblr #tarot readings #teaser #esoteric #consciousness #sensitive

[yeehawbvby]

Falling Away With You | Ch. 9

Sebastian x F!Reader and M. Rasmodius x F!Reader

Rating: Mature/Explicit

Chapter Summary: ThErE wAs OnLy OnE bEd!!!1!1!

Author’s Note: Like comment subscribe drink water do squats etc. Most importantly, enjoy the almost-spicy content! ;3

Table of Contents + Work Summary

Check it out on ao3! 

Prev | Next

“Oh my god,” I whisper. 

It’s 9 in the morning. I woke up wanting some water, but was stopped by two ivory arms wrapped around me. This isn’t happening. I peer over my shoulder and Seb is fast asleep, spooning me, looking as perfect as ever. 

“Oh my GOD, ” I this time silently mouth to myself. 

He moans — not like a sex moan, but still enough of a moan to do things to me — in his slumber, tightening his hold around my waist. Oh my god!!!

I suppose I have no choice but to accept my fate. I will simply never hydrate again. 

Feeling bold, I lay my hand on his, and trace the curves of his wrist and the light birthmarks on his forearms that I never noticed he was painted with. I finally get to see if his alleged tattoo is a tattoo or not. It is, and it’s a little semicolon. Fitting, considering what he’d shown me yesterday. 

I sink further into the bed, scooting back a little in the process, really soaking up this moment. I feel Seb shift behind me — shit, act asleep, (y/n)! I shut my eyes, and try to emulate a deep slumber with my breathing. 

“I know you’re awake, (y/n),” he taunts. My stomach does a flip at the sound of his morning rasp.

I fake an exaggerated snore, which earns me a light pinch on the side that I can’t help but laugh at. 

“Sorry,” I sigh, “you’re comfy…”

“Mhm... First my clothes, now my body ?!” He exaggerates fake-shock as I flip over to face him. “What else will you steal from me for your own pleasure, (y/l/n)?”

I observe him, my eyes dramatically roaming his face. I place my fingers underneath his chin, tilting my head and his around. Getting a better view of the specimen before me. Inspecting a precious jewel. He’s giggling, and it’s infectious. It's so fucking hard to keep up my facade right now. 

After much contemplation, I respond, “Your hair.”

“What? Why?” he asks, brows furrowed as he beams a smile.

“It’s super fluffy lookin’. Would make a good pillow.” 

Seb shrugs as he sits up to pop his back, while I roll onto mine. Morning breath, bedhead, and all, he’s still one of the most attractive people I’ve ever met. I can only imagine how crusty I look, on the other hand.

“Sorry about knocking out so fast last night,” I sheepishly apologize.

“Me too,” he follows. “I tried waiting until you stopped leaning on me to sneak out, but once 4ish came around, I nodded off.”

“Oh Yoba, I fell asleep on you?” 

He laughs, “It’s fine, I was just glad you were getting some rest after the tough day you had.” The butterflies in my tummy flutter at his concern. “Mom’s gonna be so annoying about this, though,” he groans as he stretches his arms over his head, subsequently rubbing his eyes. 

“Why? Is she not a fan of you sleeping out?”

He chuckles, shaking his head, “She hasn’t worried about my whereabouts in over a decade, probably.”

He flops back down next to me, and I shimmy onto my side to face him, blushing at how close we are once more.  Ha... I thought Sam hovering over me on the beach felt so scandalous , meanwhile I’m just comfortably bashful with this whole hunk a couple of inches away. 

“It’s kind of funny, uh…” he goes on, sighing and closing his eyes. “She’s been wanting to set us up.” 

“ O-oh?”

“Yeah…” He sighs, his lids opening to reveal the deep indigo orbs locking onto my (e/c) ones. “She thinks you’re really great, (y/n).”

I feel so frickin’ soft — Robin’s been so caring and helpful towards me. It’s just rad to know it was genuine, you know? Not just out of moral obligation or something… A shy smile creeps up on me.

“Which is why,” he sighs, propping himself up on his side, “she’s going to pester me for sleeping here. And why she thinks we would be a good match. Allegedly...” He shrugs and rolls his eyes teasingly during that last word. I spot the corner of his mouth twitching, underneath the light blush across his skin. 

“Who woulda thunk,” I respond quietly, reaching up to touch and admire his dark quartz — onyx, maybe? — gauges, “that I’d be such a hot commodity in the valley?” 

Seb tilts his head a little to let me get a better look at his piercings, his gaze honing back onto me once I lower my hand. “Of course. What else are all, like, 5 of us here going to do when a cute new girl shows up?” 

...Cute?

I lean up a little to match him, as my face contorts into a shit-eating grin. “Cute, huh?” I pair it with an annoying dance of my eyebrows.

Seb glares at me, a mischievous glint in his eye, and he pushes me back down to where I was. He scoots over a bit. I assume he’s about to crawl over me so he can get off the bed. Instead, he maneuvers himself on top of me. He softly “mhm”s, answering my question, his face is no more than 2 inches from mine.

Our noses almost touching, combined with the slight breeze of his breath on my lips, makes me shudder involuntarily. I feel a deep crimson forming on my face, as if I wasn’t easy enough to read already. 

Fuuuuck , this is hot… no! You gotta contain yourself, (y/n). He basically called me a bottom at the Egg Fest, but I want to be a power bottom, damnit! This is the time to Prove! Him! Wrong! 

Seb uses his thumb and forefinger to gently take hold of my chin, and slightly tilts my face to the side. As he does this, he lowers his head down further, his lips brushing my ear in the process. “You heard me, baby,” he basically purrs.

“B-baby?” I squeak, stunned.

I let out a shaky breath as I turn to goo beneath him. So much for being a power bottom. I feel him smile against my skin… and then he’s gone.  He makes his way to my bathroom, chuckling to himself. Cheeky little prick.

For a so-called shut-in, this man knows exactly what he’s doing. Luckily, my hands are under the blankets, so he couldn’t see me clinging to the sheets to distract myself from the heat forming between my legs.

I lay there for a sec, and realize that maybe I’m actually kind of mad about what he just did. Very aroused - I’d easily still let him have his way with me in that moment if he’d tried — but pissed . Dude almost definitely knows I have the hots for him, which is whatever. But… should I just let him take advantage of that? Am I being dramatic?

“What the fuck was that bro ?!” I shout before he can close the door. 

“What was what?” I hear a muffled Seb respond through the walls. I groan, loudly, trying to let the tingles in my legs die down before skulking over to him.

I wait against the wall of the shallow corridor connecting the bathroom with the kitchen. When Seb appears, I shove him into my previous spot — admittedly struggling more than I thought I would. For a twig, Seb is heavy and strong.

“Dude.” 

“Yeah, what’s up?” he coolly responds, staring down at me. His eyes tell me he knows his effect on me. Or, that he at least has some sort of effect, if not the correct one.

Suddenly, I can’t form words. Maybe I’m just reacting so strongly because I’m incredibly horny for this guy.

What am I doing?

We stand there for a moment, my hands firmly cupped onto his arms, my teeth gnawing at the inside of my cheek. We’re looking into each other’s eyes, neither of us knowing what in the fuck I was trying to accomplish here.

I groan a “nevermind” in agony and smack the wall next to him before locking myself in the bathroom to cool down. I hear him chuckle from the other side of the door and just shake it off. 

I almost forgot that I’m still wearing his clothes, and feel a little giddy at the sight until splashing some cold water on my face. After I have a pee, I turn on the shower, and brush my teeth while waiting for it to heat up. 

Maybe the sound of me showering will be enough of a tease to get my revenge? Like, oh Sebby, don’t you wish you could see me? You know, washing my body? Uh… nakedly???~

…No. Stop it you little freak.

I look at my dumbass self in the mirror, staring into my annoyed, defeated eyes. I groan again.

I wonder if getting off real quick would release this pent up, sexually induced anger.

Only one way to find out, I shrug to myself, stepping into the water.

__________________

It did help a little bit.

I walk back into the main room, wet and freshly combed hair falling down my back, cheeks still rosy from the orgasm and hot water combo. 

I’m wearing nothing but yesterday’s bra and panties, and it’s totally not because I want Seb to be as sexually frustrated as he made me. No, not at all. 

It’s just that I put his clothes into the washer already… and that possibly turning him on would be an added perk to not having brought a clean change of clothes to the bathroom with me.

He’s sitting at the edge of my bed, phone in one hand and Cannoli under the other. The sound of my closet opening prompts him to look up, and out of the corner of my eye I can see him watching me. I smirk when I notice the device fall out of his hand. I peer towards him as he picks it up, and when he locks onto me again, I narrow my eyes.

“Take a picture, it’ll last longer,” I say, directing my view back to my clothes. 

“ …Ok .”

“Wait what?”

When I turn back, he’s lowering his phone. That fucker actually did it. He looks so smug! I wish that I hated him.

“Y’know, Sebby , I had the impression that you were so nice and sweet. Truly spent most of my time in your care yesterday thinking about that,” I theatrically monologue to Seb as I turn away from him. I take off yesterday’s bra, and replace it with a dark gray replica of the tank top I wore yesterday, no bra underneath. We cannot be contained today. “Where the fuck did all that go? Hm?” I ask over my shoulder while flattening the hem of my shirt.

He shrugs, seeming satisfied with himself. “I could say the same to you,” he boasts, nodding to my half-naked body. 

I roll my eyes, “Don’t get your panties in a twist.” I yoink out a pair of ripped mom jeans, and wave them slightly in Seb’s direction. “I’ll be in pants in no time.”

“Bold of you to assume I’ll let you in my pants.”

I snort a little while trying to hold back laughter. “Damn it,” I respond, both of us now snickering.

I pluck a fresh pair of panties at random, trying not to overthink things while a hot guy is watching my every move.

“Cute choice,” he notes.

“Fuck you.”

I’m about to head back to the bathroom to change, when he comes over and takes me by the hand.

“Hey,” Seb says softly, but sternly. I look up at him and furrow my brows, about to question him. Suddenly becoming conscious of just how exposed I am, I feel shrunken. Regardless of what he’s about to say, though, he’s visibly concerned. 

“I just wanted to say that I hope I didn’t cross any lines. Today or in the past. Make sure you tell me if I ever do, yeah?”

I don’t really know how to respond, it’s like a switch flipped. Feels as though he read my mind during my weird, horny internal debate.

When I don’t answer, he continues. “I meant what I said, when I called you cute, (y/n), don’t get me wrong,” he lets out a breathy laugh. “But I value you for so much more than your looks. And I don’t want to fuck anything up or make you feel uncomfortable just because I get… bold , from time to time, y’know? Just say the words, and I’ll lay off.”

I can’t help but just gaze at him in awe for a second while I process how gentle he’s being now. I smile and nod. 

“Thanks,” I look down at the pile of clothes in my arms bashfully.

He hums. “Now go put those on, you’re killing me.”

As if drawn by magnets, my gaze directs immediately to his crotch. 

Oh. 

Oh yes.

“ Bro , what the fuck!” he complains, covering the slight tent as I scurry away, fiendishly giggling to myself. 

As I’m putting on clothes, I remember that it’s Friday. I missed the past month or so of Saloon hang outs due to being balls deep in yard work after the first I attended. I want to go tonight, but I don’t want it to be weird. 

I opt to straighten my hair, so I at least look a little less messy than usual if I decide to have fun later. I don’t plan on sweating enough to need a re-shower, as I’m going to just spend today doing what I meant to do yesterday. It’s pretty sedentary work. 

While the iron heats up, I step out into the kitchen. I’m about to yell to Seb that I can make him some coffee if he wants it, but he’s already doing it himself. This feels so domestic, I love it. 

“Need any help?” I ask, startling him. I chuckle at his little jump. “Sorry.”

He shakes his head. “Just finished.” Stepping toward me, he hands me a mug. This is the same one I gave him last night… I peer towards the sink and it’s empty of the coffee spinner and couple of spoons I’d left in there.

“D-did you wash my dishes?”

“While you were showering,” he nods. “It’s the least I could do, since I’ve been loitering here all morning,” he says matter-of-factly. “And night.” He winks after that part. Bastard.

I finally take the coffee, feeling a little tickled that he thinks he owes me anything.

“You didn’t have to, Seb.” I take a sip. For fuck’s sake, I should’ve known that this dark and edgy boy would like his coffee dark and edgy too. “I like havin’ ya around,” I choke out while reaching for the fridge.

“Not a fan of black coffee?” 

“Not in the slightest,” I chuckle, pouring some fresh milk – thanks again, Marnie! – into the mug. I open the cabinet above me for sugar, which is on the top shelf, and brace myself for the embarrassment of having to climb for it in front of someone. I lift my knee, and—

“Stop.”

That sounded so harsh, for no reason. Super hot, holy shit, but like… still harsh.

I look over my shoulder, annoyance clear on my face. “No?” I keep my knee propped up, ready to rebel. 

Seb takes a step forward, closing the small gap that was between us. He looks away for just a moment to put his own mug down beside me, simultaneously tapping the lifted thigh with his other set of knuckles. 

He’s giving me that look again. Same stare that he gave me during his weird shenanigan earlier this morning, except this time without the smirk.

I slowly lower my leg, hypnotized by his gaze and very clearly not rebelling. I’m totally flustered. He’s standing behind me, my back pressed against him for the second time today. He leans over me with ease to grab what I was reaching for. 

He drops the lidded bowl into my hand and looks at me expectantly. He hasn’t moved. He ensures he isn’t going to move by caging me in, his hands clamping to the edge of the countertop.

“Thanks, ya freak,” I mumble, trying not to enjoy whatever the fuck this is.

He’s still not moving. Or talking to me, apparently. Ok, cool. Whatever. That’s fine. I’m fine.

I pour a few teaspoons of sugar into my cup and put the lid back on. He takes it from me and puts it back, this time moving some things around to get it on a more easily accessible shelf. Stirring my coffee, I glare at him. He beams, gives me a frickin’ headpat — what is it with him and Sam patting my head?! — and walks away with his mug back in his grasp.

I follow him into the other room, noting but ignoring that my straightener is likely more than hot enough by now. He sits at the table in my only chair, sort of giving me the advantage…

Even if my standing height is barely above his sitting.

Either way, It’s over Anakin. I have the high ground.

Sebastiakin?

No. Sebastian.

Don’t make this worse, (y/n).

“Ok we gotta talk about something,” I announce, putting my mug down with one hand and slapping the wooden surface with the other.

“What’s up?” 

“Two things, actually,” I elaborate. “One, why’d you stop me from climbing? I do it without you around all the time, I don’t need help!” 

“Don’t want to watch you hurt yourself.”

“Again, I do it all the —“

“Don’t want to take the chance of watching you hurt yourself,” he corrects himself.

Fair, but I won’t voice that I think so. I just narrow my stare at him instead.

“Whatever. Two, why do you keep doing that?”

“Doing what?” Seb smirks this time, but tries to hide it behind the mug that he’s lifting to his lips.

“You know what!” I whine, frankly exasperated from experiencing so much sexual tension today. He chuckles.

“Pfft, fine.” He puts down his much and leans his elbows on the table. “You’re easy to tease, and you’re adorable when you’re flustered.” How is he saying this so casually? “It’s just fun to get sort of cheeky with you, is all. Like I said, if you want me to stop...” Seb rests his chin on a closed fist as he gestures vaguely with his other hand, and waits for my response. 

Basically admitting that I enjoy his flirtatiousness, I close my eyes to mutter under my breath, “No, it’s… it’s fine.”

He laughs and shrugs, " There’s my little weirdo.” 

Totally gonna ignore that the use of “my” in his sentence made my heart go nuts…

“Oh, okay. So I’m a weirdo because I think this shit’s kinda fun, too?” I defend dryly, rolling my eyes. “That’s peachy, coming from the guy who thinks turning me on is, like, peak entertainment or whatever.”

He furrows his eyebrows and grins wickedly. Maniacally, even. I gulp. 

“(Y/n),” he growls, sending a chill down my spine. He shakes his head at me, eyes visibly darkening like some sort of fucking hellspawn. “I thought I was just embarrassing you.”

“Well, yeah, what do you mea— ”

“You just said it turns you on, yeah?”

…Fuck?

I suck in through my teeth, cringing at my own words coming back to bite me.

I don’t answer, unsure of how to. Even this is turning me on, how am I supposed to feel cozy after admitting that he’s been rattling my ovaries around all fucking day? Suddenly feeling shy again, I lean on the table, head in hands. Without seeing him, I can hear his evil snorts.

I look at him from where I am after a hot second, palms supporting my temple, still unsure of what to say. Seb is still waiting for me to rebuttal. He’s gnawing at his lower lip, not in a sexy way, but rather like he’s trying to stop himself from saying something snarky.

“My hair iron is probably ready,” I mumble before escaping the situation. 

#sebastian x reader #sebastian #sdv sebastian #sdv #sdv rasmodius #sve magnus #magnus rasmodius x reader #stardew valley rasmodius #sdv sebastian x reader #stardew sebastian #sebastian stardew #sebastian headcanons #stardew valley #stardew #sve #sebsatian sdv #sdv wizard #stardew wizard #magnus rasmodius #stardew valley fanfic #stardew valley sebastian x reader #wizard x reader

[mwebber]

heyyy i was wondering if u saw marks story around .. 10 hours ago, before he deleted it. it was this reel https://www.instagram.com/reel/CvLWrV3vOr3/?igshid=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==

and obvs he must’ve seen how stupid it was to post that to his story or something but he still liked the post and idk …

i didn’t because i don’t check instagram lmao but ahh hm. how do i address this in a nuanced way.

for context, the vid is a clip of polish european parliament member dominik tarczyński from 2021 in the middle of a debate on the rule of law conditionality mechanism, which to my understanding (in incredibly dummy terms) was the european commission trying to find a way to penalize increasingly conservative places hungary and poland by taking away budget in the condition that such places violated their articles and whatnot. tarczyński obviously goes on the defensive and says that poland rejects the commission’s “leftist ideals” and to focus instead on sweden and germany who have uhhhh allegedly an increased crime rate because of [checks notes] illegal migrants. you can read the whole thing here.

now, mark agreeing with this isn’t like… surprising? our boy literally simped for jordan peterson at one point. but from having grown up conservative, i can tell you that the line of thinking here probably isn’t “i am islamophobic and racist and think all immigration is bad!” it’s more likely that mark subscribes to the rhetoric that immigration needs to be “selective” so that countries can let in the “right quality” of person. this of course is directly tied to the notion that nonwhite people (plus or minus east asians depending on what benefits white supremacy more) aren’t qualified people (or people at all), not even getting into the question of whether the concept of citizenship should even exist. but deconstructing that idea, especially when it’s something that seems so fundamentally innocent and basic—à la “yeah, you shouldn’t let everyone into a country, there should be some regulation”—requires a level of effort and prompting that i’m not sure mark is equipped to tackle, at least not in the communities he’s in/with the people he publicly surrounds himself by.

i will say that instagram/socmed activity isn’t a complete measure of someone’s political or moral compass. like, the chance that mark watched the reel without any of the context, thought it was poland sticking up for itself, posted to his story, and someone else pointed out that it was a stupid racist nonsensical take so he took it down… is not non-zero. alternatively, he could have googled it and thought hm, maybe i don’t want to put in my two cents on european union politics. who knows! only he does.

but i think that all brings me to my main gripe with fandomization of a real person, and the whole thing where we treat these men like fictional characters. it’s easy to fall into the whole fanon thing and think that mark’s offenses are just, y’know, being a “proud heterosexual” and that his laundry list of crimes ends at a couple of stupid misconstrued tweets. and we can add all the context we like of rising transphobia/the phenomenon of trans people as a scapegoat for the right/etc, but i don’t think anything excuses this man for his ignorance and the very real pain he has brought on the community time and time again.

that said, he’s not evil personified. yes, he double tapped a reel on a polish mep scapegoating immigrants. yes, he said jordan peterson’s bullshit book was good. yes, he made a distasteful jab at trans people. he’s still also just a guy who likes animals. he’s still also the bitchy freak we fell for. he’s still also human with family he clearly adores and a compelling life story.

the bigger question is, where do you, personally, draw the line? when do his wrongdoings exceed your tolerance?

to be frank, i’m not entirely sure why you came to me with this—whether you were looking for validation, or for me to jump on demonizing him, or whatever. i have laid out my personal and everchanging opinion of him in painstaking detail on this account, but they’re my opinions based on what i can stand to tolerate. if you vibe with that, cool! but if this has pushed you over your line, that’s equally valid and okay. i’d support anybody saying they’ve decided to stop being a fan, i get it.

bottom line is this: he’s a real person. he’s not going to be someone you like 100% of the time, because nobody ever is. you need to make your own choices here, and whatever you’re comfy with, that’s your path.

#inbox

[charlesmoffat]

WHY DO SOME VIDEOS GO VIRAL AND OTHERS DO NOT?

Case in point. Check out the following Unboxing Video of "The Silence in the Song" by Robb Wallace:

The video currently has 126 Likes and 1156 views, and I only posted it about 2 weeks ago.

That may not sound like a lot to some people, but for me that's a record for my small YouTube channel with only 203 subscribers.

It is already my 2nd most popular video, out of 101 videos I have posted thus far.

Meanwhile my least popular video, at the very bottom, is an Unboxing Video for Dan Fitzgerald's novel "Hollow Road" has a mere 5 views.

5 views.

And I assure you Dan Fitzgerald's book is not the problem.

Dan Fitzgerald's book has 47 ratings and a 4.6 rating on Amazon. So it is a reasonably popular book that came out in 2018.

Robb Wallace's book has 1 rating (5 stars) and came out in summer 2022. It hasn't had much time to get lots of reviews, not yet.

So Dan's book has been on the market longer and has a long list of reviews and positive ratings. Not including a review I did after I read his book (see https://youtu.be/I0iBTlq7brk ). So you would expect the videos featuring Dan's books to be more popular on the basis of having a more successful book with respect to reviews/etc.

But it doesn't.

So obviously the popularity of the author has nothing to do with the popularity of a video.

Popularity on YouTube supposedly comes down to the issue of algorithms. The number of people who Like, comment, subscribe and share a video. The higher the number of people who interact with a new video can cause it to temporarily go viral and become popular.

And it is, sometimes, seemingly random.

Thus a video about a popular book (Dan Fitzgerald's "Hollow Road" won't necessarily get a lot of views or attention.

Meanwhile a different popular book series might get a fair amount of attention (see my various videos about Sapkowski's Witcher series).

So it is all pretty much random.

This randomness due to algorithmic anomalies makes it all feel like a numbers game.

You can try to boost the numbers artificially by spending money on advertising your videos or posting your videos on 3rd party websites, but if you do that exactly the same with every video there's still no guarantee any of the videos will become a popularity success story.

Instead one of the the things I have encountered in the past is the idea that you have to just keep making videos, lots of them, and hopefully some of them eventually become popular and fuel more people subscribing and triggering the algorithms into getting more views for your channel.

Quality* + Quantity eventually leads to Popularity.

In other words keep slugging away at it until you hit a homerun. (Yeah, a baseball analogy!)

* Are my videos good quality? Depends upon your perspective. I don't use a script. I just speak from the heart about the books. Some viewers might prefer that book reviews/etc are scripted, but I personally believe that using a script makes the videos feel fake.

And fake reviews don't fly with readers, I like to think. Real honest reviews, complete with the warts and sometimes squirrels or rabbits appearing in my videos (I frequently talk about the books in my backyard), I hope leads to readers appreciating the level of honesty in my videos.

If I don't like a book I don't usually review it. It simply doesn't get a review. Almost all of my book reviews are positive. It is rare that I decide to talk about a book I dislike. To me if a book doesn't have any redeeming qualities then I don't even want to talk about it.

Browse my YouTube channel at:

https://youtube.com/@CharlesMoffatAuthor

#Youtube

[gucci-shinigami]

do you believe in paranormal stuff? and follow up question, have you had any paranormal experiences?

Hey! Sorry for the late reply!

To answer your first part: yes! I subscribe to the idea that the universe is extremely vast, and infinitely expanding, and that there isn’t any reason for intelligent life to not exist in space.

However, I also apply this theory to the paranormal. Or at least what I think of when I hear paranormal. So ghosts, cryptids, magic, etc. ESPECIALLY magic. Because what people considered magic two hundred years ago, is now considered science. But the universe itself is vast. And so why wouldn’t what we consider “paranormal” exist in some capacity, even if it exists in forms we wouldn’t know about.

Now, to answer the second part: also yes. I would consider this a paranormal experience.

So when I was younger, my room had an adjacent Rec room essentially. From my bed, I had a clear view of a wicker drawer in this room. Even at night, I would be able to see this wicker drawer sort of clearly, like the rippling effect of the wicker in the moonlight or whatever.

Except one night I couldn’t. I was trying to sleep and I couldn’t and I happened to look at this drawer and I couldn’t see it. I could only see pitch black. At first I thought nothing of it, but then I would find myself looking at this pitch darkness. And the more I looked at it, the more that this shadow would appear to me as the form of someone kind of… crouching? Hunched over? Both? It’s hard to explain cause it was dark, but from what I COULD tell, it looked like a person was there. Sometimes my mom would be up late and come into this room, but she always turned on the light in the room. so I turned on my nightstand lamp to see what she was doing in the dark.

Except when I did, no-one was there.

I thought it was peculiar, but that my eyes were playing a trick on me. So i turned the light off and rolled over. However, once I did that I had this… feeling that someone was standing behind me. You know the feeling. Like this slight physical weight, he shifting air pressure of another body behind yours. But when I rolled over, once again there wasn’t anyone or anything there.

But when I did look, I would find myself able to see the wicker drawer again. And; once again, I would be able to see that weird crouching shadow. Now, like I said, I had previously checked to see if there was anyone there; and there’s been no indication of anyone entering the room while I was turned away (I hadn’t fallen asleep because of that feeling of someone behind me.) so it puzzled me, and I tried to figure out what this was the shadow of. Because it didn’t match the rectangular shadow of the drawers.

And as I stared at this shadow, I started to notice something. I’d previously described it as something akin to the form of someone crouching and bunched over, yeah? Where this persons head would’ve been, I began to see a sliver of light. Nit a bright light, but a dull green. Like those glow in the dark stars and stuff. It was small, but the more I looked, the wider it would become. As if whoever’s head this was, they were slowly turning to look back at me.

I instantly turned my light on. And instantly the figure would be gone. As I tried to control my heart rate (because now I was kind of freaked out) I confined myself it was nothing and I was still sleeping (I wasn’t) and I turned my light out and rolled over to go to bed.

Once again I felt someone standing behind me. And once again I would turn around to look, and see the same shadow of someone hunched in front of the cabinet. And, once again, I would see that same green light slowly growing wider as if someone was turning to look at me.

Needless to say, I slept with the light on that night. But it’s something I’ll NEVER forget.

[bestonlinemarketingcompany]

Why Email Marketing Is So Important

Here are my top 9 reasons on the importance of email marketing and how they can help your business:

1. Stay in contact with your audience

Emails have the ability to keep your customers informed. Consumers are capable of checking their email when it is convenient for them. It can give them a feeling that you are thinking of them. This email can be as simple as saying: “Hi, you’re on our mind, here is a special offer!” or “Here is an update on what has been going on here in recent weeks.” Those that have signed up to your email list have already made a commitment to receive these notes. So they will likely enjoy these emails (as long as you give them something worth reading) and it will boost engagement with your customers.

2. Reach customers in real-time

According to Litmus, 54% of all emails were opened on a mobile device. This is significant and should come into play when planning any marketing strategy. More and more consumers are using their mobile devices to access not only emails but all other types of media and information. Not only that, well-designed emails produce higher conversion rates on mobile than any other medium. Hit ’em on the go!

3. People engage with emails

For a long time now, over 40 years actually, email has been a form of communication. As the years have gone by, email has fast become one of our main choices of communication. We have all been groomed to reply to an email in some fashion. Whether it is to reply, to forward, click through to something else embedded within the email, delete, or to buy something, or to sign up. We tend to do something with the email. Knowing this, you can use email to drive people to your website, to pick up the phone and call or any other call to action. In fact, over 25 percent of sales last year were attributed to email marketing.

4. Email marketing is easy to measure

Most email marketing tools offer the ability to track what happens after you have sent out your email campaign. You can track delivery rates, bounce rates, unsubscribe rates, click through rates, and open rates. This gives you a better understanding of how your email campaigns are working, which ones to tweak or which ones to get rid of altogether. These metrics should not be ignored. They are an important part of your internet marketing campaign as a whole. While there are various studies and surveys that present “optimal” numbers to aim for, it all depends on your industry and target audience. If your customers not only want but expect daily emails, you better provide them. However, sending too many emails to consumers who don’t want more than one a week will see your unsubscribe rate increase. It’s all about knowing your customers and providing valuable content.

5. It’s affordable

Yes, we know you were waiting for us to address this one. You can reach a large number of consumers for less than pennies per message. The cost per (possible) conversion is so low with email marketing, I cannot believe every company does not participate, or engage more often.

Email marketing services such as SendGrid costs $0.0006 cents per message at their Platinum Marketing Email level. Mail Chimp allows you to send up to 12,000 emails a month for free. They also do offer larger monthly plans for growing businesses with up to 600,000 subscribers and high volume sender plans for anything over that. Another email marketing company, Vertical Response, offers free email marketing up to 4,000 emails a month and 1,000 email contacts. They also offer subscription services for higher-volume senders.

So, yes, while it does offer a significant ROI, it might be a wise idea to hire someone to manage these efforts. According to Shout It Out Designs, at a 15,000 email database, your company would spend about 152 hours per year managing the campaign. This would include writing, drafting, scheduling, sending, etc. of the emails, answering any questions about offers, missing coupons or other concerns and database maintenance: adding and deleting members, updating information and other tasks.

6. Allows for targeted messaging

Now let’s talk about the importance of email marketing when it comes to lead nurturing – sometimes referred to as email lead marketing. The main idea here is that your potential customers are at different stages of the buying cycle. Some may be in the consideration stage, while others may be at the research and compare stage, and even others in the ready-to-purchase stage. Creating buyer personas can help you determine what kind of content to create for each step.

Segmenting these customers into appropriate email marketing lists helps businesses target these groups more effectively. Customers need information to move them to the next buying cycle stage; pushing the right content can do just that. It’s all about moving these prospects down your sales funnel – not as quickly as possible, but as efficiently as possible.

7. Increase brand awareness

Nope, social media isn’t the only platform that helps a company’s brand awareness. Possessing a customer or prospect’s email address means one thing: they showed a level of interest in your business. Email marketing gives you the ability to increase that interest level, that brand awareness, by staying top of mind.

This doesn’t mean to send four daily emails to every single customer. That’s actually a great way to get customers to hate you… Instead, try some email marketing that promotes your activeness in the local community. Too many times companies try to sell, sell, sell their products via email marketing, and completely ignore the brand awareness factor. By doing so, they’re also prohibiting the ultimate possibility of building customer trust and adding a sense of personality to their brand.

8. It’s timely

Speaking of sell, sell, sell…

Yes, one of the benefits of email marketing can be to sell your products, if you approach it in the correct fashion. It’s important to use all the customer data and information you can. Sending customers a special offer on their birthday, or letting them know their favorite dish is half off is much more effective than simply sending them a menu.

This email marketing strategy also can incorporate seasonal offers, allowing you to promote a holiday special or an annual sale. Be sure to create a sense of urgency for any offer – customers are much more likely to purchase when a deal is ending soon.

9. Everyone (almost) uses email

A Hubspot survey states that 91% of consumers use email. That alone should be enough to convince you to explore the tool. Unless your industry accounts for the remaining 9% (hint: it doesn’t), email presents an incredible opportunity to reach customers. Not only can you provide them with discounts, specials, new products, and more, they can share and forward those emails to anyone they’d like. A good email marketing strategy is to encourage customers to share offers as much as possible. Remember brand awareness?

Email is especially huge in the B2B world as it accounts for the most prominent form of communication for 73% of businesses.

For more details on our products and services, please feel free to visit us at: Internet Marketing Services, Content Marketing Services, Reputation Management, Search Engine Optimization & Social Media Optimization.

Please feel free to visit us at: https://webigg.com/

[dominicrarnoblog]

How Reading Digital Guides Can Be Helpful: 5 Amazing Benefits

Today, there are so many bloggers, and many others are starting every day. You will find online blogs on travel, health, career, sports, business, technology, and many others. While more and more guides are being written every day, are people interested in reading? You might be wondering whether these digital guides should take your time, but you may be fascinated to know that you can get free knowledge around the web about various aspects such as health, self help, blogging, affiliate marketing, e-business, make money online, etc. However, you don't have to read a topic you don't enjoy since every other topic today has a lot of content from bloggers.

Consider taking a few minutes to read the digital guides on the topics you enjoy the most. For example if you are working on weight loss these days you can check out the best exercise for fitness and weight loss. You might have always wondered whether there is any reason to read digital guides; if you have, this article is meant for you. People Read Digital Guides to Learn Something New The most common reason people read a digital guide is to learn something new. This result doesn't surprise me at all. Why? Guides that include self esteem or self confidence guides, step-by-step processes, tutorial videos, or fast facts often gain much search traffic. This is because people are looking up instructions on how to do things on Google daily. Psychologically, researchers have reported that humans crave valuable information, similar to how they crave food and financial wealth. As a blogger, you can harness this to create content that piques curiosity while discussing topics related to your brand, self care self assessment, service, or products. Building a Solution Bank One of the best ways to find solutions to most problems is by reading guides on the topics like self help is the best help. A blog post's very essence is to provide a solution to a problem. So, at the end of reading such content, you're supposed to have learned how to solve a particular problem. The majority of content on the Web comes from digital guides. It's extremely likely to find whatever solution you want in a blog post. Even if it's the "best healthy diet plan for weight loss." Almost any problem you can think of has its solution explained in some guides. Developing Good Habits We can all agree that what we'll be in 5 years or so from today depends so much on what we do today; what we read, watch, etc. Developing a daily routine is the key to success and a daily routine without reading time is incomplete! Take some time daily to read something; a digital guide, maybe. You can pick a few blogs in your areas of interest, including building self esteem a self help guide, and subscribing to stay up to date with new content. As you read, build your favorites list. Always Staying Up To Date Some people hate to learn juicy news from a random person when they could’ve gotten it from a credible source with little effort. They enjoy being up to date in their areas of interest; tech, business, education, etc. So they signed up for several daily guides to feed with quality, up-to-date content. You should too! You see, it’s not just the digital guides that will keep you up-to-date with the latest topic but it also helps you find out the solutions to your problems. Staying up to date with health tips, football stories, entertainment lists, and even guides like self discipline is the highest form of self love helps you to solve your daily problems. People Like to Improve Digital guides are the perfect place for learning from others. People like to discover if there's a better way of doing what they do. Through digital guides, we can also know about the guides and deals on various products and programs like best rated weight loss programs, how to make money online, and how to do self help. Don't forget to check https://www.besttrendyoffers.com/the-benefits-of-email-marketing/ to find the best digital guides.

[tinkerd]

DAVID’S NEWSLETTER Hello Welcome to my newsletter :)

Subscribe to my Newsletter on Substack: 

https://davidlitchfield.substack.com/p/hello

Hello everyone. I thought that it was about time I set up a Newsletter to collect all of my thoughts, bits of news and other interesting tidbits that are happening with my books in one handy, digestible message.

So, yes, thank you for signing up. Here I will be able to keep you updated with upcoming book news, illustration works in progress, sketchbook peeks and a fair few top secret exclusives!

I hope to also talk to you about some of the fun things that I am learning about being an illustrator, freelance life and what I am excited about in the world of art, illustration and culture in general.

I can’t wait to get properly started :)

But in the meantime I should mention that my main piece of news this month is that my 6th Author/Illustrator book ‘Kid Christmas: Of The Claus Brothers Bookshop’ was published by Frances Lincoln Children’s Books on the 6th October.

I know it’s way too early to be talking about Christmas but I am incredibly proud of the book and it was so much fun drawing the Victorian setting and all those classically made toys.

I was very grateful to be given the opportunity to tell my tale of Nicky Claus/Kid Christmas and his 3 Toy Maker Uncles. I have always wanted to create a Christmas story and I loved drawing the Victorian era setting and all of those classically made toys.

With this book there is an underlying message about the importance of remembering the true spirit of Christmas. But overall,  my main hope is that every reader enjoys the fun, festive adventure and just has a grand old time whilst reading it.

Ho Ho Ho

Here is the blurb:

Nicky Claus works with his three uncles in the Claus Brothers Toy Emporium. Uncle Hanz makes the toys, Uncle Louis checks them and Uncle Levi adds the… what’s the scientific term for it? Ah, yes. The magic! For each toy made at the Emporium has a special sparkle that means it will find the child it is perfect for.

One day, Nicky notices a young girl with her face pressed up to the glass of the shops window. When she disappears, he follows her and finds her living on the streets with lots of other children, none of whom can afford a toy of their own. Nicky vows that for one night only, every child will have the toy of their dreams and – with the help of his uncles and some flying reindeer – the legend of Father Christmas is born.

This magical and heartwarming story from best-selling author-illustrator David Litchfield is a true festive treat centred on kindness, generosity and looking after each other.

The book is available in all good bookshops found in a town near you, as well as all the usual places online (including Waterstones, Amazon, Bookshop.org, etc)

If you do get a copy of the book, I would love to hear what you think so please do leave a rating and/or a review on any of the sites listed above or over on Goodreads

Your reviews are always greatly appreciated by me and they really do help get the good word of the book out there. I’m incredibly grateful for all of the lovely reviews that I have read so far on peoples blogs and Instagram accounts. So thank you :)

Anyway, thanks again for signing up and reading. I am working on lots of exciting projects that I can’t wait to share with you all. But until then I will bid you farewell and wish you a very merry Christmas (sorry/not sorry)

David :)

ps. Heres a few more pics of the book.

#kid Christmas #illustration

[mostlymaudlin]

writer tag game wooooo

thanks @palimpsessed and @captain-aralias for the tags!!

a few tags.. @urban-sith @snowybank @tea-brigade @seducing-a-vampire @xivz @facewithoutheart @unseelieseelie @motherscarf @stillmadaboutpetra but as always i love reading these so lie and say i tagged u if u wanna do it!!

How many works do you have on AO3? 17, 15 of which are for simon snow series What’s your total AO3 word count? 97,953 How many fandoms have you written for and what are they? ive published for three! simon snow, check please, and one direction. ive also written some steve/bucky that never went anywhere. What are your top five fics by kudos? In black ink my love may still shine bright Want to mark you up (e-rated part two to "In black ink.."!) Nothing Equals the Splendor a bully and a snob and a complete arsehole Light Me Up

Do you respond to comments, why or why not?

I try to but if too many come in at a time i get overwhelmed haha. that's only happened a few times tho, toward the end of my multi-chap when people were subscribed and ready. i love replying to comments bc i write a lot more than i post — if something makes it to ao3, that means i really like the story! and if people want to talk to me about it, that's like.. the best thing ever.

What’s the fic you’ve written with the angstiest ending?

i was gonna be like "oh i always give them a happy ending" but then ao3 told me — that's not true! Yellow was a lil deleted scene thing i did abt simon buying his yellow breakup stationery, so obviously the ending is big owie. and my humdrum fic, Hunger of the Shadow... i mean its a humdrum fic lol. idk which is angstier, its different types i guess.

Have you ever received hate on a fic?

i got a comment that bothered me once that was like sort of judgmental abt a bit of my plot, and they were like "you should have done __ instead." and i was like ummmmmm... but not HATE i suppose.

Do you write smut? If so, what kind?

i wrote smut on my own once (Want to mark you up). i mostly wrote this one to capitalize on the horny momentum of In black ink my love may still shine bright, in which simon and baz go out to a bar, etc. also i wanted to make a joke about lamb hahahah.

then i did a few smut pieces with some pals via Frantic Fanfic. One of them, A for Effort, is actually technically my second most-kudos-ed fic, but it didn't feel right to claim it because Kay (xivz) did the heavy lifting on that one!

Have you ever had a fic stolen?

I don't think so!

Have you ever had a fic translated?

Nope

Have you ever co-written a fic before?

Just the Frantic Fanfic stuff!

What’s your all time favorite ship?

i wanna say snowbaz because im elbow-deep in it right now, but i don't know! i've definitely written most for snowbaz, but i think that's just because i'm more confident of a writer now than i was in my other fandoms. i think ill always be a slut for a certain 1d ship that really embarrasses me but i like..... can't get over it lmfao. also steve/bucky comes back to haunt me quite often

What’s a WIP that you want to finish, but don’t think you ever will?

i have a lot of wips that im determined to do, but it might be a while. i have one wip that is heavily rooted in a new england summer setting that i recently moved to my Graveyard folder on google drive because i was like... i don't think i can write this as well now that summer's over. the first sentence in that doc (which is entirely scrambled outline) is "this fic should smell like sunscreen." i will probably revisit next summer if im still around because im super invested in it. it's a childhood friends>rivals>friends>lovers with copious new englandisms, ghost hunting, simpard, explorations of guilt that are like super catholic (again: hello new england), queer identity stuff. i think shepard is a trans dude in that one too which was fun. idk!! this answer got long. it makes me more certain i will return to it lol.

What are your writing strengths?

hmmm probably like - earnest descriptions of emotion? like, if the character is going through something, im going to take you through allll the stages. i personally think im funny, which is what matters to me as my own reader lmfao. and i think i like to break them out of the usual settings and plotlines! i really like setting as a literary tool, thinking abt the obstacles that come wherever your characters are. im in the ideas stage of a road trip fic and i think that's going to be a really good way for me to flex there.

What are your writing weaknesses?

Sometimes dialogue, sometimes not. Elaborate plots that can't be tied to character development. I've said this before, but I find my writing to be quite plain in terms of syntax/word choice/etc... this is usually fine but sometimes my writing can get very like "action, thought, action, though, action, dialogue." idk. i dont know that i have a word for this, am open to suggestions.

What are your thoughts on writing dialogue in other languages in fic?

i can only write in english!

What was the first fandom you wrote for?

one direction lol

What’s your favorite fic you’ve written?

pshhhhh....... i like really love everything ive published for the simon snow series so idk. im most emotionally invested in my multichap, Nothing Equals the Splendor. But also i had the most fun writing both Jump Up, Chosen One! (where they get stuck in a mario game lmfao) and Light Me Up (my stoner fic). theyre all my favorites for different reasons lmfao.

if you read this whole thing i love u. i put the read more cut in at the top and then i was like 'i can wax on as long as i want now" hahaha. i love talking abt writing and idc if it makes me self-absorbed i love my fics 😂

#my writing

[fourth-quartet]

For the Happy Fic Writer Ask Game: 1-14 *evil laughter* I wanna know everything

I saw the notif for this last night as I was going to bed and just sighed.

1. What part of the writing process is the most enjoyable?

Coming up with ideas, or when characters seem to have ideas or their own and I just end up along for the ride.

2. Talk about a favorite comment you received.

This comment deadass made me laugh, because I had just been messaging with friends about the exact thing they said.

3. Have you received any bookmark notes? Which is your favorite and why?

Any bookmark notes that aren't ratings genuinely make me so happy. I do check them every so often and I love seeing all of them.

4. Which comment has had the most impact on your writing?

Anytime anyone comments on the representation in my fics. I, as a disabled trans person, very rarely see portrayals of either of those identities (or those identities portrayed well) by anyone outside of those communities and anytime someone comments about it, it makes me want to keep writing.

On the spite side? Any comment that's lowkey shitty fuels me to write out of spite.

5. Have you had a writer you admire comment on your fic? What was that like?

Literally anyone ever tbh. I get excited anytime I recognize usernames.

6. Describe what you do and your feelings after posting a chapter. (For example: When do you usually post a fic/chapter update? How do you celebrate a posting? Are you the type to refresh constantly?, etc.)

Okay so. I usually post either right before I go to bed or before I go into a class (because that's usually when I finish writing and giving it a cursory glance over), and it means it's harder for me to check constantly or refresh. I'm subscribed to myself so I wait until I get the email saying I've posted and then I don't pay attention until I get emails about comments.

7. What do you love most about being a fic writer for your fandom?

Where to start? There's something that I love about the different ways Yohan is interpreted and portrayed between people and I love it so much. The way that people can mostly have civil conversations about the show and the meta is awesome in general. There's always food, so to speak.

8. Talk about any friends/connections you've made as a fic writer.

This Tumblr alone is full of connections. I made it when I got sick of the environment on Twitter after 3-4 years off of Tumblr and literally everyone here is so cool.

9. What inspired you to write your first fic?

I answered this one in a previous post

10. Why do you continue writing fics?

My brain doesn't know when to shut up.

11. Who is your favorite character(s) to write about and why?

So while I tend to write Yohan the most, all of the time, I actually really really love writing about Sunah, Jinjoo, and K more. I don't do it as much because I feel like it's harder to get a good solid grasp on their voices but, man, when I get it, it's so much fun.

12. What is your favorite theme/subject matter/trope/ship to write about? Why?

Mental health, trauma, and healing.

13. Describe your writing style. If you were to participate in an anonymous fic writers guessing game (like The Masked Author), what writing habits do you have that would be a dead giveaway that it's you?

Run on sentences? Spot on dialogue? An unhealthy amount of literature and biblical references? Calling Yohan soft?

14. Share a snippet.

#took answers #here you go sass #friend tag!! #sass tag #fic stuffs

[nyerus]

🌸 Updates and FAQs for Watching the TGCF Donghua! 🌸

✴️First, check out my detailed guide HERE if you want to know how to subscribe to YouTube or Bilibili!

Please read through these if you have any questions first before sending in an ask, as it's probably answered here (or the previous guide)!!! If you don't see it here, or still have confusions afterwards, then feel free to send in an ask or DM me!

---

✨Important Notes/Updates✨

Bilibili is allowing non-members to watch for free! No region locks, and you don’t even need to make an account. Free watchers will be one week behind paid members. But this is a legal and free way to support the donghua if you’re unable to pay! (This actually means that you’ll be able to see the episodes faster and for free on Bilibili than you would on YouTube, because YouTube has a two week delay instead of just one week.)

Funimation is broadcasting TGCF in the US, Canada, UK, Ireland, Australia and New Zealand. These are some of the regions which are blocked by YouTube, so this is an available alternative for those who don’t want to go through Bilibili. They have also stated they will launch in Mexico and Brazil this winter.

ALL broadcasts are in Chinese with hard-coded/embedded English and Chinese subs. (I.e., they come with the broadcast itself, on top of the image. Nothing to toggle on/off, they are automatically there.) They are the exact same across all the platforms.

Please support official releases so that we can get more seasons, and high quality! This is still niche content, believe it or not!

---

✨Frequntly Asked Questions✨

🔹GENERAL FAQs:🔹

1.) "Where is the best place to watch?"

I still reccomend Bilibili's native website/app over all other streaming platforms. This is due to some key points:

Bilibili's website/app gets the episode the very second they drop. There is no delay whatsoever. YouTube and Funimation have been delayed the last two weeks. It's unknown if this is just a hiccup or what, but if watching new episodes ASAP is important to you, going through Bilibili ensures you will not have to worry about any uncertainty.

Price breakdowns: Bilibili's website/app 3-month membership is $10-11 USD. Their YouTube channel's "MBBM Lv2" membership varies by region, but in many places is similar or just a tad more. In the US, the MBBM Lv2 membership and Funimation membership is the same price ($5.99 per month, or $17.97 for 3 months). So you can actually save some cash by going through Bilibili directly.

In the end, this is largely up to personal choice and comfort. Some people may find it difficult to navigate Bilibili's website even with guides and google translate's auto-translate feature. In this case, YouTube or Funimation are fine alternatives. If you also have an existing Funimation sub or plan to use it to watch other shows, then that's perfectly valid too. Similar with the MBBM lv2 sub on YouTube, especially if you want to use it to see other shows (e.g. Legend of Exorcism which is only English-subbed on YouTube).

2.) "Where do I watch for free?"

On Bilibili's website, you can watch episodes for free! You will be one episode behind paid members, but it's a legal way to support the donghua. You don't even need to create an account!

3.) "What episode will be airing when/where?"

Check out the table below for the differences in airing times. Time is 11AM China Time.*

NOTE: Funimation is technically supposed to be the same as Bilibili members/YouTube MBBM Lv2, but the last few episodes have been delayed so I have no clue.... *Additionally, YouTube's episodes have been delayed by a little bit, but they've aired the same day.

4.) "How can I support the donghua?"

Free, on YouTube: Subscribe to Bilibili's YouTube Channel, give likes to TGCF videos/clips, and leave nice comments!

Free, on Bilibili: Everyone can follow the official TGCF account and page, plus leave likes on videos. All this following stuff requires you to have passed the Bilibili quiz to unlock levels: If you are lv2+, you can leave comments and give coins to offical TGCF videos. (Log in daily to get 1 coin/day if you're lv1+!) If you are lv4+, leave a good 5-star review!

Paid: Buy subscriptions to watch the donghua! Also, merchhhhh~

---

🔸YOUTUBE-RELATED FAQs🔸

1.) "What's the difference between Bilibili's YouTube Channel's MBBM Lv1 and Lv2 memberships?"

MBBM Lv2 allows you to watch the episodes on the same day as Bilibili's website broadcast.

MBBM Lv1 has new episodes delayed by one week, meaning you will be one episode behind the others. There actually is zero point in subscribing to MBBM Lv1 (unless you want to watch other subbed donghua) because you can watch the same content on Bilibili for absolutely free, since Bilibili is allowing non-members to watch TGCF one episode behind paid members.

You can also watch two episodes behind on YouTube.

2.) "If I have YouTube Premium/Red, do I still need a membership on Bilibili's YouTube page?"

Yes. YouTube premium is completely separate from the channel-specific memberships.

3.) "Are episodes simulcast on YouTube?"

While originally stated as being simulcast, there actually seems to be a bit of a delay on YouTube as of now. It's unclear if this will change with future episodes.

4.) "Do I need a VPN?"

If you are from one of the restricted countries, then yes, you'll need to use a VPN. You can still pay for the subscription as normal, and then use a VPN to watch the donghua. It will not affect payment.

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🔹BILIBILI-RELATED FAQs:🔹

1.) "Do I need to take that 100-question quiz to sign up for Bilibili or the membership?!"

No, it's totally optional! You do not need it to either watch the free episodes or to buy a membership. It's only if you want to comment and stuff. It might make you think you gotta do it, or enter a code, but it's actually not needed. Check out THIS post for more info!!! (However, you may still want to do it in order to level up and eventually leave a nice review for the donghua!)

2.) "I'm only able to watch 6min on Bilibili's website when I watch from my phone. Do I need the app?"

You do not need the app. Switch your browser to Desktop Mode in order to watch the video in full.

Be sure to download a browser like Google Chrome, Firefox, etc that supports this mode if your native browser doesn't allow for it.

3.) "Can I get the app on iPhone/iOS?"

This depends on if you are in a country where the app is not region locked in the app store. If you're able to download it that way, great! If not, try using a VPN and setting your region to mainland China. It may work. APKs are not useable on iPhones, so unless you know how to sideload apps onto your device, you may be stuck with the app store only.

Do note that you might be unable to pay for a Bilibili membership through the app, depending on version, but you can always simply pay through the website and then use the app as normal. It will apply account-wide on all devices.

4.) "Why are there two versions of the app?"

One seems to be the international version, which is more basic and lets you pay via GooglePay/ApplePay. The other one seems to be made for mainland China, and allows you to even buy merchandise through it (Chinese address/bank acc required). Mostly, both have to be downloaded via APK on Android. But some iOS users have reported different versions of the app being available for them through the app store (namely the int'l ver, and some have said they can use a VPN to get the mainland one).

5.) "Is there any benefit to having the app over just using the website?"

Not really, no. With the app you can buy very cute hualian themed skins for your profile, though (if you have the mainland version of the app). Plus you can save videos for offline viewing.

6.) "Do I need to enter my area code for Bilibili when signing up/in?"

NO, you do not enter your area code in the phone number field. Select your country from the drop-down list and it will automatically consider your area code. (E.g. if you're in America, select 美国 and enter in your number like 5557779999.)

7.) "I didn't get to set a password when signing up, so how do I log into my Bilibili account after being logged out?"

Use the same phone number you did to sign up. Instead of a password, you'll enter in a one-time key that is sent to your phone via text message. (NOTE: some people have reported not receiving these messages, which may vary by phone carrier!)

As mentioned above, don't include your area code when filling out your number.

Also, if you are signed in on the app on your phone, you can scan the QR code on the log-in page through the app.

8.) "How do I turn off the barrage comments filling up the video I'm watching?"

Select the little button that reads "弹" under the video:

(Website vs App)

9.) Is the Bilibili subscription auto-renewing?

No, the 1-month (¥25), 3-month (¥68), 1-year (¥168) subscriptions will not automatically renew. They are a one-time payment only!

Notice that the renewing payments all say "连续" in front of them, which means "continuing" or "successive" types of subscriptions. They are also cheaper than the one-time payment. (E.g. the renewing 3-month sub is ¥45 instead of ¥68.) Moreover, the renewing types are not even available to purchase with PayPal, afaik. You need Alipay or WeChat Pay, etc.

10.) "Can I use the app/membership to read the manhua too?"

Unfortunately, not quite! Your Bilibili account is universal, but you'll need to download the manhua app seperately and topping up M-coins to pay for the manhua. (One-time purchases, either by volume or by chapter as per your choice.)

11.) "What resolutions are available?"

You can watch up to 480p as a free member. Paid members can watch at 1080p and high-bit-rate 1080p. It's possible to chromecast it to TV, too. (I haven't tried it, but others have!)

12.) "Can I watch across multiple devices?"

Yes, you can!

13.) "Do I need a VPN?"

No, Bilibili is not region-locked. However, some particular countries may have Chinese apps blocked.... :(

14.) "I want to leave a comment/review. How do I level up on Bilibili?"

Log in daily, watch at least one video per day, give coins (attained by logging in) to your fave videos, etc! It will definitely take a while haha.

15.) "Will I be able to watch other donghua like MDZS or SVSSS with my membership on Bilibili?"

No, those two donghuas are produced by TenCent, not Bilibili. You will need either a TenCent/WeTV account, or you can watch them on their YouTube channel (free).

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🔸FUNIMATION-RELATED FAQs🔸

1.) "Is Funimation's broadcast a simulcast?"

It is supposed to be, according to their initial announcements. They seem to be having some technical difficulties, but those may be resolved soon. I suggest keeping an eye on their twitter for updates if you are interested in watching through them!

2.) "Do I have to pay extra on my Funimation sub to watch TGCF?"

No, afaik, the regular $5.99 sub covers TGCF too.

---

I hope this helps out people further, so we can all have an easy time watching the donghua! And please do support it legally! 🙏

If you still need help, feel free to send in an ask!

#tgcf #tian guan ci fu #heaven offical's blessing #hob #tgcf donghua

[madasthesea]

I’m sorry for being so mean. I had a really bad day and didn’t mean to say such awful things. But I am frustrated my fics always get ignored, especially by the big names in the fandom such as yourself that claim to support everyone. I’ve written so many fics in this fandom and have been doing so for over a year, yet I only have 30 subscribers. I get really frustrated and feel like I’m a bad writer because everyone ignores me and my fics. I shouldn’t have taken it out on you. I’m sorry.

(2/2) For a fan community that claims they are inclusive, everyone sure doesn’t act that way. Everyone already has their friends and people like me who don’t have many friends get ignored. The big names in the fandom don’t support or read the fics by the new people. It’s not just me. I’ve never received a single kudo or comment from you or anyone else that’s popular like you. I don’t know what I’m doing wrong but people don’t read my fics.

Ok, I’m answering this in the middle of the night in the hopes that not a lot of people will see it so it won’t become A Thing and then as soon as this fic exchange is over I am turning my anons off forever. Anon, I guess I have to give you credit for coming to apologize, but I have to say, where before I was perfectly capable of laughing off your extremely rude message, I have to say, now I’m annoyed. Because there is not a single instance or bad day or frustration that makes what you said acceptable. You came into my inbox and threw a temper tantrum because you knew my name and I happen to have anons on unlike most of the “fandom big names.” You told me I had the worst fics in the fandom, told me I publish outlines instead of stories and accused me of writing incestual pedophilia because you had a bad day? I’m going to give you the benefit of the doubt and assume you’re young because that is the only possible excuse I could give you. As I said in my original response, if I were already an anxious writer, you could have caused me to delete all of my fics and put me off of writing forever. Someone commented on your original message and said that they don’t post their writing because of messages like that one. You’re right you shouldn’t have taken it out on me, and you wouldn’t have if your name had been associated with it. But here we are, and I’m going to try to make it so this never happens again, at least with the two of us. 

Now, onward to your frustrations. I am sorry that you aren’t getting the attention you want, but one) yelling at me on anon isn’t going to fix that. Two) not to be like callous and insensitive, but that happens to almost every writer I know. I’ve been writing fanfiction for 12 years. This is the seventh fandom I’ve written for and no one ever read my fics before this. My first year on AO3 I published six stories and had 500 views total. I get the frustration, but sometimes you just have to get the perfect combination of exposure, plot, and interest. Three) Do you have any idea how many stories get published in the Peter Parker & Tony Stark tag a day? I’m sorry, I can’t read all of them. I don’t want to read all of them, in fact I have 14 different tags blacklisted. Just because I am a “big name” does not mean I owe you a comment or a kudos. If I like your story, I will tell you. Chances are, I haven’t even seen one of your stories, because I’m an adult with a job and hobbies and writing of my own to do. Most of the “big names” are the exact same except a lot of them also have school. If you want someone to read your stories, ask them. Say “hey, I respect you and your opinion, could you look at this for me?” They will probably say yes unless they have a good reason not to. Don’t just sit there and wait for it to happen and get mad when it doesn’t. Also, this is the third time someone has yelled at me for not reading or commenting on their fics and it makes me less inclined to leave kudos in general in case someone comes and gets mad that I read their fic but didn’t comment. So uh… don’t do this again. 

As for the community, do you want to know how to make friends? Send asks (nice ones) not on anon. We can’t interact with you if you don’t know who you are. Reblog our fics. Comment on our posts. You can’t make friends if no one knows you exist. And the only way to show you exist is show yourself in our notes, in our inboxes. Sitting in your corner of tumblr and being bitter isn’t going to help anyone. This fandom is welcoming and it is kind and it is supportive. You saw how many people came to my defense tonight. If you talk to those people, they’ll talk back, but they can’t reach out to every single Irondad blog, it just isn’t feasible. 

And finally, how to get your fics read more. Like I said, part of it is just… luck. I got in at the very beginning, as did losingmymindtonight, parkrstark, several others, and had already established myself before IW came out and the fandom got bigger. Lucky break on my part, but I’m also a good writer because I’m 25 and I have a Master’s in a writing heavy field and I’ve been writing my entire life. Sometimes it just takes practice. But there is stuff that all good fics have in common, so here we go:

1) Good grammar, good spelling, good punctuation.

I don’t know who you are so I have no idea what your writing is like, but this is stuff I had to tell college students as a teacher, so I’m just going to go over it. 

Are there line breaks between every paragraph? No? There need to be. It’s hard to read when all of the words are bunched together, meaning automatic exits will happen, regardless of content.

Do you start a new paragraph every single time a new person speaks? You should.

“When someone is speaking,” I asked, “do you put a comma before the speech tag?” Commas, not periods. Not periods then commas. Punctuation goes inside the quotation marks. 

Are you writing in first or second person (I or you)? Don’t.

Pay attention to your tenses. It is very confusing reading a story that switches tenses every sentence. 

Are you capitalizing the beginning of every sentence and proper noun? You have to. Reading all lowercase takes energy and concentration and readers don’t like to put more effort in than they’re used to. Also it’s just pointless.  

Get a beta reader. Get grammarly (but the free version, don’t pay) or another editing service. Google anything you have a question about. EDIT YOUR WRITING. 

2) New ideas

Every fandom has tropes they love, but not every fic can be a trope fic. Every fic I write is, if not completely new, a spin on a popular trope.

Yes, there are some popular field trip fics, but most of them get lost in the weeds because they are all the same. And most of the people I talk to don’t even like them. (This counts for May dies fics, sensory overload… If you’re going to write it, you have to make it different and you have to make it good.)

Look to other movies or books for ideas, check out irondad-fic-ideas, something. Write something new, something only you can write, and at least some people will notice.

3) Good characterization

Now apparently everything I write is OOC, so maybe I’m not the best person to be giving advice on this :/ (I’m still annoyed. I’m getting over it)

BUT–the best way to write a well-known character is to know the source material. Listen to the way they talk, watch how they move. Ignore fanon. It’s hard, but try. Peter isn’t actually a perpetual ray of sunshine, chatter box 12 year old like we often write him, Tony isn’t 100% sarcasm and incapable of recognizing his own feelings. 

If you can hear the character say it in their actual voice, it’s probably a good line. 

4) Misc.

Fandom rule of thumb: cute fluff and hardcore whump win out over deep character studies on convoluted plot lines. If you’re just looking for hits or maybe a fic to establish yourself, that’s a good way to do it. 

If you’re posting a multi-chapter fic, don’t post it all at once. People will comment on each chapter as you post and you’ll get more hits. 

Respond to comments, especially at the early stages. It makes your readers more invested, it builds friendships, and it makes your stats look better. 

There’s a blog that supports little known writers in this fandom! Rec your fics there!

Make sure to never, ever put “I suck at summaries” or “fic is better than summary” it is an instant turnoff. If you can’t write the thing that makes me want to read the fic well, why would I think I want to read the fic?

Tagging on AO3 is vital. Tag the right relationships, tag the right emotions (angst, fluff, hurt/comfort). I often sort just by these. Always put in the category, (M/M, F/M, etc.) and the rating. There is no reason not to, but not doing so makes people less likely to read. Always tag triggers.

Never steal fics or ideas. If a story inspires you, you can ask the author if you can write something similar and then link in your story back to theirs. Nothing will make you less popular in a fandom than stealing work.

Lastly, I know authors constantly talk about how important comments and kudos are, and they are so important to bolstering spirits, I get that, but if you aren’t writing for yourself first, you will always be disappointed. You should enjoy your fic as much when you read it in your word doc as when you read it online with comments and kudos. And maybe you write really niche stuff that doesn’t appeal to a lot of people, but churning out carbon copies of the Fandom Tropes and hoping for hits is not going to satisfy you and you will keep being frustrated.

Let’s not do this again, shall we? Next time you have a question, ask me nicely.

#answered #it is 2:30 in the morning but I was so annoyed I couldn't sleep so here we go :))))) #Anonymous

[austennerdita2533]

Yes! I had heard about the spin off about their kids it’s on my tbr! Not sure when I’ll get around to it but I’ll get there eventually. But ooh their other series sounds interesting too I’ll put it on my tbr too!! But that’s exactly why I loved Coballoway too (plus I’m also similar to Rose so their love story felt more personal that way)

Yay!! I’m glad the atlas six interested you, I hope you like it when you get to it I’m really loving it so far! I can already tell there is at least one ship I’m going to love it just hits all of my favorite tropes/things I enjoy. But the magic system is so cool and they are all so powerful.

Also glad you want to know about my reading too! I will keep you updated I have some books/series I really want to read but I try to be good and not read more than 2/3 at a time (and not buy anymore till I’m finished). Right now I’m also working through the throne of glass series which might take me awhile but I’m enjoying that too! Right now the books up next on my list are: Ugly Love, The Ravenhood Series, The Hating Game, Zodiac Academy, and Twisted Games (it’s the second book in a series that come out this month I loved Twisted Love by Ana Huang-highly recommend it if you love grumpy/sunshine and brother’s best friend tropes plus the twists were amazing-this one is a different couple but I’m excited!!)

Also! Don’t think I mentioned it yet maybe I did but I also read the Folk Air Series that you recommended! It took me a little while to get into but I ended up really loving it and Jurdan. I loved loved loved Jude and how power hungry she was and how Cardan was just obsessed with her. Their relationship build up was so good too.

All the best!!

-ACOTAR Anon

I keep meaning to get around to the Like Us series myself but I haven't managed it yet. It's been sitting on my tbr (and my Kindle) for a good couple of years now. 🤦🏼‍♀️ I know I'll read it eventually...but when eventually will be is anybody's guess.

(This is a good commentary on my reading life in general, I think. It's impossible to keep up with everything!)

The Atlas Six is pretty fascinating so far! I'm only about 25% into it but the magical world building is unique and I like how the narrative switches between the different POV's. Usually I don't care for more than 3 or 4 alternating perspectives in books because it makes it harder for me to invest in the characters, since I don't have as much time with them, but it works exceedingly well in this one. Helps to preserve the mystery of Atlas early on. And also allows readers to see how different all of the characters are in magical skill, background, personality, etc. I can't wait to see what unfolds!

I'm also currently reading Anxious People by Frederik Backman. I don't know if you've read anything by him before but he's such a good storyteller. Grabs you by the hearstrings. He's funny as hell, too. I've loved everything I've picked up from him so far. He has a knack for crafting beautifully flawed relatable complex characters. And this book is no exception. It might end up being a 5-star read for me, which is rare.

The next books on your to-read list sound fantastic, btw! Some I have read already or have them snuggled on one of my many wishlists. Like the Zodiac Academy and the Ravenhood series. And The Hating Game is one of my contemporary romance obsessions. It's just so enemies-to-lovers charged and fun. That book is packed full of a bunch tropes I adore. I've already read it twice and will likely revisit it again in the future. Thanks for mentioning Ugly Love (I need to get off my butt and read Colleen Hoover) and Twisted Love because those are definitely right up my alley. Grumpy/sunshine is one of my favorite romance tropes. I live for it!

And yayyy! I'm so happy to hear you enjoyed The Folk of the Air! It does take a bit to settle into the world of that story, as well as to become engrossed in the characters, but once you do, it's full speed ahead. Jude is such a badass. I love that she's ambitious to the point she's willing to take people out/down to get what she wants. Her fraught relationship with Madoc is fascinating to me as well. And Jurdan is just such a delicious ship. I love it so much. It's true enemies-to-lovers excellence. They have so many quotable lines!

I'm excited because Holly Black has a new adult fantasy series coming out next year, in 2022. It's called Book of Night and the premise sounds cool as hell. I've already been stalking NetGalley in the hopes that I have a chance at first dibs on an ARC lolol.

Also, if you can find self-restraint enough not to buy any more books until you've read most of the ones you have then I salute you! I try oh, so hard to enact this rule upon myself...but it never works. Like ever. 😂

It's my own fault, really. I get daily emails/alerts from Kindle, BookBubs, etc. letting me know about titles that are on sale for less than $5, and when they're that cheap, I can't seem to justify NOT buying a whole hoard of them even though I know they're more than likely to remain unread for a long, loooong time to come. Better than paying full price, though. Right?

If you haven't email subscribed to any of these sites, and you're looking to save some cash on audio or e-books specifically, you should. I'd spend a whole ass fortune on books if I didn't use them. (I check out a lot of books from the library, too.) I dropped the links to some of the ones I use in case you or anyone else who reads this is interested and doesn't know about them:

Book Bubs (you can set preferences/alerts based on your favorite books, genres, authors; you can rate stuff and curate your own wishlist too)

Early Bird Books (I use this one a lot to find classics that are on sale/free)

Book Riot (this site has a lot of book sweepstakes you can enter for a chance to win gift cards to Barnes & Noble, Book Depository etc.)

Kindle Book Deals (there are tons of deals offered daily, weekly monthly; I'm not a Kindle Unlimited member but there's that option, too)

NewInBooks (new releases; has links for Kindle, Apple, Audio, and hardcover)

Anyway take care, sweets, and happy reading! 💜

#anonymous #darling acotar anon #replies #the loveliest of lovely people #ashlee bree talks books