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bao3bei4 · 3 years

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fan language: the victorian imaginary and cnovel fandom

there’s this pinterest image i’ve seen circulating a lot in the past year i’ve been on fandom social media. it’s a drawn infographic of a, i guess, asian-looking woman holding a fan in different places relative to her face to show what the graphic helpfully calls “the language of the fan.”

people like sharing it. they like thinking about what nefarious ancient chinese hanky code shenanigans their favorite fan-toting character might get up to⁠—accidentally or on purpose. and what’s the problem with that?

the problem is that fan language isn’t chinese. it’s victorian. and even then, it’s not really quite victorian at all.

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fans served a primarily utilitarian purpose throughout chinese history. of course, most of the surviving fans we see⁠—and the types of fans we tend to care about⁠—are closer to art pieces. but realistically speaking, the majority of fans were made of cheaper material for more mundane purposes. in china, just like all around the world, people fanned themselves. it got hot!

so here’s a big tipoff. it would be very difficult to use a fan if you had an elaborate language centered around fanning yourself.

you might argue that fine, everyday working people didn’t have a fan language. but wealthy people might have had one. the problem we encounter here is that fans weren’t really gendered. (caveat here that certain types of fans were more popular with women. however, those tended to be the round silk fans, ones that bear no resemblance to the folding fans in the graphic). no disrespect to the gnc old man fuckers in the crowd, but this language isn’t quite masc enough for a tool that someone’s dad might regularly use.

folding fans, we know, reached europe in the 17th century and gained immense popularity in the 18th. it was there that fans began to take on a gendered quality. ariel beaujot describes in their 2012 victorian fashion accessories how middle class women, in the midst of a top shortage, found themselves clutching fans in hopes of securing a husband.

she quotes an article from the illustrated london news, suggesting “women ‘not only’ used fans to ‘move the air and cool themselves but also to express their sentiments.’” general wisdom was that the movement of the fan was sufficiently expressive that it augmented a woman’s displays of emotion. and of course, the more english audiences became aware that it might do so, the more they might use their fans purposefully in that way.

notice, however, that this is no more codified than body language in general is. it turns out that “the language of the fan” was actually created by fan manufacturers at the turn of the 20th century⁠—hundreds of years after their arrival⁠ in europe—to sell more fans. i’m not even kidding right now. the story goes that it was louis duvelleroy of the maison duvelleroy who decided to include pamphlets on the language with each fan sold.

interestingly enough, beaujot suggests that it didn’t really matter what each particular fan sign meant. gentlemen could tell when they were being flirted with. as it happens, meaningful eye contact and a light flutter near the face may be a lingua franca.

so it seems then, the language of the fan is merely part of this victorian imaginary we collectively have today, which in turn itself was itself captivated by china.

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victorian references come up perhaps unexpectedly often in cnovel fandom, most often with regards to modesty.

it’s a bit of an awkward reference considering that chinese traditional fashion⁠—and the ambiguous time periods in which these novels are set⁠—far predate victorian england. it is even more awkward considering that victoria and her covered ankles did um. imperialize china.

but nonetheless, it is common. and to make a point about how ubiquitous it is, here is a link to the twitter search for “sqq victorian.” sqq is the fandom abbreviation for shen qingqiu, the main character of the scum villain’s self-saving system, by the way.

this is an awful lot of results for a search involving a chinese man who spends the entire novel in either real modern-day china or fantasy ancient china. that’s all i’m going to say on the matter, without referencing any specific tweet.

i think people are aware of the anachronism. and i think they don’t mind. even the most cursory research reveals that fan language is european and a revisionist fantasy. wikipedia can tell us this⁠—i checked!

but it doesn’t matter to me whether people are trying to make an internally consistent canon compliant claim, or whether they’re just free associating between fan facts they know. it is, instead, more interesting to me that people consistently refer to this particular bit of history. and that’s what i want to talk about today⁠—the relationship of fandom today to this two hundred odd year span of time in england (roughly stuart to victorian times) and england in that time period to its contemporaneous china.

things will slip a little here. victorian has expanded in timeframe, if only because random guys posting online do not care overly much for respect for the intricacies of british history. china has expanded in geographic location, if only because the english of the time themselves conflated china with all of asia.

in addition, note that i am critiquing a certain perspective on the topic. this is why i write about fan as white here⁠—not because all fans are white⁠—but because the tendencies i’m examining have a clear historical antecedent in whiteness that shapes how white fans encounter these novels.

i’m sure some fans of color participate in these practices. however i don’t really care about that. they are not its main perpetrators nor its main beneficiaries. so personally i am minding my own business on that front.

it’s instead important to me to illuminate the linkage between white as subject and chinese as object in history and in the present that i do argue that fannish products today are built upon.

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it’s not radical, or even new at all, for white audiences to consume⁠—or create their own versions of⁠—chinese art en masse. in many ways the white creators who appear to owe their whole style and aesthetic to their asian peers in turn are just the new chinoiserie.

this is not to say that white people can’t create asian-inspired art. but rather, i am asking you to sit with the discomfort that you may not like the artistic company you keep in the broader view of history, and to consider together what is to be done about that.

now, when i say the new chinoiserie, i first want to establish what the original one is. chinoiserie was a european artistic movement that appeared coincident with the rise in popularity of folding fans that i described above. this is not by coincidence; the european demand for asian imports and the eventual production of lookalikes is the movement itself. so: when we talk about fans, when we talk about china (porcelain), when we talk about tea in england⁠—we are talking about the legacy of chinoiserie.

there are a couple things i want to note here. while english people as a whole had a very tenuous knowledge of what china might be, their appetites for chinoiserie were roughly coincident with national relations with china. as the relationship between england and china moved from trade to out-and-out wars, chinoiserie declined in popularity until china had been safely subjugated once more by the end of the 19th century.

the second thing i want to note on the subject that contrary to what one might think at first, the appeal of chinoiserie was not that it was foreign. eugenia zuroski’s 2013 taste for china examines 18th century english literature and its descriptions of the according material culture with the lens that chinese imports might be formative to english identity, rather than antithetical to it.

beyond that bare thesis, i think it’s also worthwhile to extend her insight that material objects become animated by the literary viewpoints on them. this is true, both in a limited general sense as well as in the sense that english thinkers of the time self-consciously articulated this viewpoint. consider the quote from the illustrated london news above⁠—your fan, that object, says something about you. and not only that, but the objects you surround yourself with ought to.

it’s a bit circular, the idea that written material says that you should allow written material to shape your understanding of physical objects. but it’s both 1) what happened, and 2) integral, i think, to integrating a fannish perspective into the topic.

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japanning is the name for the popular imitative lacquering that english craftspeople developed in domestic response to the demand for lacquerware imports. in the eighteenth century, japanning became an artform especially suited for young women. manuals were published on the subject, urging young women to learn how to paint furniture and other surfaces, encouraging them to rework the designs provided in the text.

it was considered a beneficial activity for them; zuroski describes how it was “associated with commerce and connoisseurship, practical skill and aesthetic judgment.” a skillful japanner, rather than simply obscuring what lay underneath the lacquer, displayed their superior judgment in how they chose to arrange these new canonical figures and effects in a tasteful way to bring out the best qualities of them.

zuroski quotes the first english-language manual on the subject, written in 1688, which explains how japanning allows one to:

alter and correct, take out a piece from one, add a fragment to the next, and make an entire garment compleat in all its parts, though tis wrought out of never so many disagreeing patterns.

this language evokes a very different, very modern practice. it is this english reworking of an asian artform that i think the parallels are most obvious.

white people, through their artistic investment in chinese material objects and aesthetics, integrated them into their own subjectivity. these practices came to say something about the people who participated in them, in a way that had little to do with the country itself. their relationship changed from being a “consumer” of chinese objects to becoming the proprietor of these new aesthetic signifiers.

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i want to talk about this through a few pairs of tensions on the subject that i think characterize common attitudes then and now.

first, consider the relationship between the self and the other: the chinese object as something that is very familiar to you, speaking to something about your own self vs. the chinese object as something that is fundamentally different from you and unknowable to you.

consider: [insert character name] is just like me. he would no doubt like the same things i like, consume the same cultural products. we are the same in some meaningful way vs. the fast standard fic disclaimer that “i tried my best when writing this fic, but i’m a english-speaking westerner, and i’m just writing this for fun so...... [excuses and alterations the person has chosen to make in this light],” going hand-in-hand with a preoccupation with authenticity or even overreliance on the unpaid labor of chinese friends and acquaintances.

consider: hugh honour when he quotes a man from the 1640s claiming “chinoiserie of this even more hybrid kind had become so far removed from genuine Chinese tradition that it was exported from India to China as a novelty to the Chinese themselves”

these tensions coexist, and look how they have been resolved.

second, consider what we vest in objects themselves: beaujot explains how the fan became a sexualized, coquettish object in the hands of a british woman, but was used to great effect in gilbert and sullivan’s 1885 mikado to demonstrate the docility of asian women.

consider: these characters became expressions of your sexual desires and fetishes, even as their 5’10 actors themselves are emasculated.

what is liberating for one necessitates the subjugation and fetishization of the other.

third, consider reactions to the practice: enjoyment of chinese objects as a sign of your cosmopolitan palate vs “so what’s the hype about those ancient chinese gays” pop culture explainers that addressed the unconvinced mainstream.

consider: zuroski describes how both english consumers purchased china in droves, and contemporary publications reported on them. how:

It was in the pages of these papers that the growing popularity of Chinese things in the early eighteenth century acquired the reputation of a “craze”; they portrayed china fanatics as flawed, fragile, and unreliable characters, and frequently cast chinoiserie itself in the same light.

referenda on fannish behavior serve as referenda on the objects of their devotion, and vice versa. as the difference between identity and fetish collapses, they come to be treated as one and the same by not just participants but their observers.

at what point does mxtx fic cease to be chinese?

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finally, it seems readily apparent that attitudes towards chinese objects may in fact have something to do with attitudes about china as a country. i do not want to suggest that these literary concerns are primarily motivated and begot by forces entirely divorced from the real mechanics of power.

here, i want to bring in edward said, and his 1993 culture and imperialism. there, he explains how power and legitimacy go hand in hand. one is direct, and one is purely cultural. he originally wrote this in response to the outsize impact that british novelists have had in the maintenance of empire and throughout decolonization. literature, he argues, gives rise to powerful narratives that constrain our ability to think outside of them.

there’s a little bit of an inversion at play here. these are chinese novels, actually. but they’re being transformed by white narratives and artists. and just as i think the form of the novel is important to said’s critique, i think there’s something to be said about the form that fic takes and how it legitimates itself.

bound up in fandom is the idea that you have a right to create and transform as you please. it is a nice idea, but it is one that is directed towards a certain kind of asymmetry. that is, one where the author has all the power. this is the narrative we hear a lot in the history of fandom⁠—litigious authors and plucky fans, fanspaces always under attack from corporate sanitization.

meanwhile, said builds upon raymond schwab’s narrative of cultural exchange between european writers and cultural products outside the imperial core. said explains that fundamental to these two great borrowings (from greek classics and, in the so-called “oriental renaissance” of the late 18th, early 19th centuries from “india, china, japan, persia, and islam”) is asymmetry.

he had argued prior, in orientalism, that any “cultural exchange” between “partners conscious of inequality” always results in the suffering of the people. and here, he describes how “texts by dead people were read, appreciated, and appropriated” without the presence of any actual living people in that tradition.

i will not understate that there is a certain economic dynamic complicating this particular fannish asymmetry. mxtx has profited materially from the success of her works, most fans will not. also secondly, mxtx is um. not dead. LMAO.

but first, the international dynamic of extraction that said described is still present. i do not want to get overly into white attitudes towards china in this post, because i am already thoroughly derailed, but i do believe that they structure how white cnovel fandom encounters this texts.

at any rate, any profit she receives is overwhelmingly due to her domestic popularity, not her international popularity. (i say this because many of her international fans have never given her a cent. in fact, most of them have no real way to.) and moreover, as we talk about the structure of english-language fandom, what does it mean to create chinese cultural products without chinese people?

as white people take ownership over their versions of stories, do we lose something? what narratives about engagement with cnovels might exist outside of the form of classic fandom?

i think a lot of people get the relationship between ideas (the superstructure) and production (the base) confused. oftentimes they will lob in response to criticism, that look! this fic, this fandom, these people are so niche, and so underrepresented in mainstream culture, that their effects are marginal. i am not arguing that anyone’s cql fic causes imperialism. (unless you’re really annoying. then it’s anyone’s game)

i’m instead arguing something a little bit different. i think, given similar inputs, you tend to get similar outputs. i think we live in the world that imperialism built, and we have clear historical predecessors in terms of white appetites for creating, consuming, and transforming chinese objects.

we have already seen, in the case of the fan language meme that began this post, that sometimes we even prefer this white chinoiserie. after all, isn’t it beautiful, too?

i want to bring discomfort to this topic. i want to reject the paradigm of white subject and chinese object; in fact, here in this essay, i have tried to reverse it.

if you are taken aback by the comparisons i make here, how can you make meaningful changes to your fannish practice to address it?

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some concluding thoughts on the matter, because i don’t like being misunderstood!

i am not claiming white fans cannot create fanworks of cnovels or be inspired by asian art or artists. this essay is meant to elaborate on the historical connection between victorian england and cnovel characters and fandom that others have already popularized.

i don’t think people who make victorian jokes are inherently bad or racist. i am encouraging people to think about why we might make them and/or share them

the connections here are meant to be more provocative than strictly literal. (e.g. i don’t literally think writing fanfic is a 1-1 descendant of japanning). these connections are instead meant to 1) make visible the baggage that fans of color often approach fandom with and 2) recontextualize and defamiliarize fannish practice for the purposes of honest critique

please don’t turn this post into being about other different kinds of discourse, or into something that only one “kind” of fan does. please take my words at face value and consider them in good faith. i would really appreciate that.

please feel free to ask me to clarify any statements or supply more in-depth sources :)

#x #-__- another fandom essay sorry

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theshatteredrose · 2 years

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Mannnn it's been a minute but I was on pinterest earlier just looking through jewelry for a reference to use, and I started seeing really cool pictures of black chokers with really simple single gems. I started thinking of Dark Hunter fashion (cuz they're my favorite class, followed closely by War Magus), and how they would absolutely wear chokers.

Then I had this thought that most of them probably have somewhat pretty ones, probably with a stone they found or won by fighting a monster (like when the foe is killed it drops a rare jewel or something) so they put it on a choker as like a sign of status and pride etc etc, some kind of Dark Hunter language.

Then I started thinking Rahas probably never got the opportunity to have stuff like that cuz he was a captive in his own home since birth, naturally he'd never be allowed to wear something like that. He'd wear just a worn leather choker cuz the Dark Hunter's all wear them.

And after that I started thinking about how sweet it would be if Simmons got him something like that, or maybe he made it by hand, like after they defeat a foe it drops a rare gem and he immediately thinks Rahas needs it so he hand makes a new choker for him 😖😖😖 I can't stop thinking about Rahas' mind going fully blank when presented with it.

Bonus points if the gem is red like Simmons eyes so every time Rahas looks at it he has to think of Simmons 😖

I'm smiling so much my cheeks hurt so I had to share it with you since they're your characters eheheh, I hope you're having a good holiday and that you're staying hydrated!

Awwww, that's a cute idea~! Thanks so much for sharing 💖

Oh, but Rahas is simply not used to receiving gifts, especially something so sincere and considerate. He feels compelled to do -something- but doesn't know what. Until someone is like "oh just give Simmons' a gemstone, too". So he does, the idiot thinking of it as some kind of a competition or debt.

and "unknowingly" finds a golden coloured stone, just like the colour of his eyes, and makes it into a necklace. Because, you know, "competition".

Simmons is, of course, utterly thrilled with the gift and immediately slips the necklace around his neck. And happily shows it off.

Later, though, Rahas finds Simmons constantly trailing his finger over the gemstone and he admits, in his usual sincere manner, that the stone reminds him of Rahas. And whenever he feels lonely or uneasy, he touches the stone and it makes him feel better.

Naturally, Rahas does not know how to deal with this information.

Now, outsiders of the two see them wearing gemstones in the colours of their eyes, and are amused and bemused; "Did they exchange promise necklaces or something?"

And, naturally, Shiki is thrilled.

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radstronaut · 5 years

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Take a Breath | Teuvo Teräväinen

warnings: n/a word count: 1730 note: hi yes i more or less created this blog to post this fic specifically so here we are, this is pretty much for @lulucanwrite who i love dearly, and also technically beta’ed this fic so ♡

Why you agreed to stand in the heat and watch a group of unruly boys in their twenties swing pieces of metal at plastic-covered rubber balls would be completely beyond you if you weren’t completely smitten with Teuvo Teravainen. It’s nearly ninety degrees--this is North Carolina after all--and despite your magical sweat-wicking shorts and tank top, you’re definitely sweating through your clothes. If Petr weren’t the sweatiest human you knew, this would probably embarrass you. Coupled with Martin bouncily seeking approval for everything he did and Teuvo and Sebastian’s banter with each other, you were okay with just about anything-- your complete inability to play golf included.

It was hard to say why the group had invited you along. Maybe because you took great photos they could share on Instagram, or because you were known as “the person who always brought bomb food to parties”, or maybe just because you were easy to get along with. You’d spent so much of your life feeling like you were weird and unlikeable, but somehow you’d found solace in a group of professional hockey players from Europe.

Ha. Just thinking that sentence makes you snort a little to yourself.

“Are you laughing at Sebastian?” Teuvo asks, peering over your shoulder. You’ve got your phone clutched in hand, a boomerang of Sebastian swinging back and forth looping on your screen.

“Nah, just thinking about how weird I am,” you reply, hitting ‘post’ and clicking your phone off.

“Why won’t you take one of me?” he asks, a pout on his face.

“Because,” you answer, voice breezy and light, “You’re not my favorite.”

Your response sends Teuvo into a spiral of “whats” and “buts” that secretly gives you life force. You float away, sashaying up to Martin and Petr, who are talking about clothes of all things, and look at you like you’ve just interrupted the single most important conversation in the entire world.

“Please tell me you don’t think this is cute, too,” Petr says, shoving his phone in your face.

It’s a non-offensive, baby-blue suit, and you’re not sure what to say, other than, “I think it’s fine?” To which Martin grins gleefully, waving his arms around to show off his little victory.

“You cannot be serious,” says Petr, like it’s the most obvious thing. “It’s ugly! Who wears suits this color?”

“I would!” Martin exclaims, eyes wide and eyebrows raised. “Light blue is totally cool.”

“Maybe for a springtime pinterest Easter wedding in Alabama,” Petr says.

There are a lot of references here to popular American culture going on here that you weren’t even sure he knew, but you laugh nonetheless.

These dorky, soft boys always made you laugh. You look up, watching Teuvo as he winds up and swings his club. It makes the satisfying sound that metal swung fast makes, and you watch as the golf ball flies through the air for what seems like forever. Even for somebody who knows nothing about golf, you can tell he’s got an amazing swing. Every muscle in his body moves with intent; his follow through is gorgeous. He even has the cute little golf foot thing at the end, something you are sure has a proper name, but you’re ignorant of it.

“Careful, you’re drooling,” Petr says, squeezing your shoulder.

You all but jump where you’re standing, and raise a hand as if you’re about to play-swat him. You’re flustered, and it shows on your face as you try to play it off. “Come on,” you hiss, making a face. “I’m not drooling.”

Petr shrugs as Teuvo makes his way back to his bag to retire his driver. You watch, crossing your arms over your chest almost in defense.

“Your turn!” Teuvo calls, and Sebastian snickers from where he’s sat in the one square foot of shade that the golf cart provides. He turns and points at him, frowning, “You better stop laughing!”

Sebastian rolls his eyes, and hands you the driver that he’s been holding since his turn. You don’t own a set of clubs, so Sebastian graciously agreed to share his with you. “You know how to do this, right?” he asks you with a cheeky smile.

“Shut up.”

All eyes are on you as you stroll up to the tee and set down the golf ball. They’re hungry for your failure. You can feel it. It’s like the four of them have gathered here exclusively to watch you wind up and whiff so they can have a laugh and get back to actually playing golf after their comedy break. You take the club in hand, holding it just like you were shown one time forever ago, with your thumb and fingers interlocked, and steady your position.

It’s not that hard, you remind yourself, trying to calm yourself down. You know that making it out to be a big deal will only make you more nervous, so you take a deep breath in as you wind up, and exhale as you swing--

And stop right before you hit the ball. Ugh. Getting nervous is honestly worse than whiffing, you think, and so you decide to set yourself up again. You spread your feel the right distance apart and try and settle in place. You’re just about to hype yourself up again when you feel a hand rest warmly on your shoulder, and you let out the breath you’d been holding.

It’s Teuvo, who looks at you with gentle eyes and a calm smile. “Let me help you.”

Normally you’d be way too prideful to admit you needed help from any of these clowns, but it’s Teuvo, and he looks so genuine that you don’t really mind. “Okay,” you breathe as he stands behind you, resting his hands over yours.

Your heart jumps into your throat as he steadies your grip. His chin hovers right above your shoulder, his face so close you can feel the breath on your neck.

“You’re so tense,” he says, voice light and private. “Relax your shoulders.”

How you’re supposed to relax with his body practically pressed flush against yours evades you. You let out a shaky breath. “Okay.”

“Good,” Teuvo says gently, but with authority. “Swing your arms back and forth and let the club’s weight lead.”

You listen.

“Now,” he says, “When you feel ready, wind that back a bit more, keep your eyes on the ball, and swing.”

You’re having a hard time focusing on feeling ready when his hands leave your hands and he takes a step back, making the air touching your arms feel even more empty than it had before he was there. Your skin misses his immediately. You sigh softly to yourself.

Then, you wind up and swing.

The driver hits the golf ball with a satisfying sound and you watch as it seems to float through the air and land across the course-- much further back than your friends, but still, further than you thought it would go.

You turn back, seeking Teuvo’s approval, but he’s already clapping his hands and grinning from ear to ear. “That’s really good!” He cheers. “That’s really really good!”

You beam with pride.

“It’s going to be your turn again,” Sebastian teases from his seat, “Since you barely hit it at all.”

“Come on, Sepe, let it go!” Teuvo defends, waving his hand in front of Sebastian’s face.

“You just want an excuse to get all up in Y/N’s space again.”

He doesn’t protest, but rather hands you a club from Sebastian’s bag and, with a hand on the small of your back, ushers you out to where your ball has just landed.

This is very forward of Teuvo-- very, very forward. He typically wasn’t so outwardly flirtatious, but maybe it’s Sebastian’s comments that embolden him as you make your way down the green.

“Is this okay?” He asks after a moment, dropping his hand from your back to make eye contact with you. “I don’t want to make you uncomfortable.”

You smile simply, grabbing his hand and placing it on your back again. “It’s perfectly fine,” you say.

Once you arrive, Teuvo hands you the club and looks at you. “Do you want my help again?”

“Please?” You ask coyly, practically batting your eyes at him. Whoah. Maybe you’re feeling emboldened by his flirtatious energy as well.

With a grin, Teuvo steps behind you, chest against your back, and rests his hands atop yours again. This time, you relax into it-- you feel less nervous, more loose this time, feeling much more confident than before. His lips brush your ear as he leans forward, and reminds you to keep your eye on the ball, and not to worry how far it goes. The hairs on your arm stand up.

You’re about to pull back and swing when you hear the golf cart whir past you, and from the driver’s seat, Petr yells with a shit eating grin: “kiss her!”

Sebastian and Martin echo the sentiment with a chorus of “kiss her! kiss her!”

Pink creeps across your cheeks, and you tilt your head to look at Teuvo over your shoulder. Time completely stops. The humid air hangs still and heavy between you with heat and energy, and you feel his lips inches away from yours. You aren’t sure how long you stand there, moments away from each other, thinking about what it would feel like to close that distance and feel his lips against yours.

And then it happens. Teuvo’s arms wrap around your waist, and he twirls you around, pulling your chest flush against his and kissing you, hard, all in one fell swoop. You feel your entire body tense up and then relax, your heart racing as you melt into him, kissing him back with the same fervor. His arms wrap around your waist, and yours twist around his neck, fingers grazing the sweat-damp hair on the nape of his neck.

The boys are cheering behind you. Cries of “yes!” and “finally!” fill the air as Martin whoops and hollers, and Sebastian even gives the little golf cart horn a celebratory toot as you both smile into your kiss, toothy and wide-grinned.

“Finally,” Teuvo breathes against your lips, and you can’t help yourself from bursting into laughter, leaning your forehead against his. “Finally,” you agree, giggly smile splayed across your face.

He leans in and kisses you again.

#teuvo teravainen #teuvo teräväinen #nhl imagine #nhl imagines #teuvo teravainen imagine #teuvo teravainen imagines #reader x teuvo teravainen #hockey fic #hockey imagine #carolina hurricanes imagine #carolina hurricanes imagines #welp here it is #i whole entire wrote this #so what's good #aaaaa

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chirpyann · 7 years

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Writing Inspiration, because advice is whack!

This is simply what I have learned about the writing process since I started writing in 2015. I don’t have a degree in English or any specialized training. I’m not published, but I hope to be. I’m just a woman who took the time to look things up and by trial and error, found what worked best for me. I present my findings to you, with the hope you’ll find inspiration and confidence, because if I can do this, anyone can.

Please visit your kitchen now. You’re going to need a whopping grain of salt.

Thoughts that have changed the way I view my personal success (have your grain of salt ready?):

Personal success is all that matters. Don't compare yourself to other writers except maybe to say, if they can achieve success so can I.

Always tell yourself you can. If the word "can't" enters your mind, remind yourself it's not your word, but the word of all the people who are wrong. Be right, say the right thing to yourself. Say, "I CAN!"

Be OK with good enough. Perfection is fantasy, it doesn't exist. My turning point was deciding to be happy with completion. I learned, and took to heart, this lesson from Brandon Sanderson (Mistborn Trilogy, The Reckoners Series, so much more) He has said, and I’m paraphrasing, If I never get published and I die with a closet full of unpublished manuscripts, it's all right, because I spent my life doing something I love.

Be inspired. Inspiration doesn't have to come from places that label themselves inspirational, like posters, speakers, etc... Find it anywhere. Find the things that light that fire in your gut. The things that make you want to write and never stop. For me, it's seeing comments from other writers—twitter and facebook posts, about how they're progressing on their own work. If they're getting ready to publish, I'm motivated to get there too. I watch Booktube videos. Listening to people talk about what they like and don't like about the books they read can provide validation and insight. Especially when what they like or don’t like can be found in what I've written. I also like to think that someday they'll talk about my book and won't that be fun!

Listen to everything other writers have to say about their process and try it with the following in mind...

There is no right way to write.

Anyone who says "How to" or "The best way" or "You need to" is only stating an opinion. Don't take any advice as fact. Especially mine.

After you try their method and it doesn't work, realize it's not because you're a failure, it's because their method isn't right for you. Throw it out, try something else. But hoard it in a safe place, because maybe this method would work if you tried it in combination with some other method. Even the process is a process.

Be happy for other writers successes. Never be jealous or think you can't get there. Remember, they started with crap too, they just worked their ass off and didn't stop when it got tough. They found a way to keep going. You just have to find your way too.

Read good books to become a better writer. Read bad books to find the flaws in your own work and to become a better writer. READ EVERYTHING. Read outside your genre and comfort zone. READ EVERYTHING.

First drafts are always, always, always, crap. Did I mention always? ALWAYS! Just write it. Don't scroll up. Even if you have a great idea about how to fix something you've already written, NEVER. SCROLL. UP! Make a note, highlight it and keep writing like you already made the change. Fix it in revisions, because the first draft is ALWAYS CRAP!

Grammar and punctuation don’t matter, that's what editing is for.

Plot holes don't matter, that's what second drafts and beta readers are for.

Prose doesn't matter, that's what revisions are for.

Write everything. Don't censor yourself. Don't revise before you've even written it down. Don't worry about whether or not something works or makes sense. If it's in your head, get it on paper. “You can't edit a blank page” (Nora Roberts), so write it down and if you find, during revisions, it’s bad—delete it. Don't put yourself in a position to regret not writing down what you wish you had written. WRITE IT!

Set goals. Whatever kind of goals work for you. If you need to set a daily word count goal, do it! If you just set a goal to write something, no matter how little, do it. The only goal I have, that pushes me, is to get my manuscript to the point I can submit query letters.

Don't enforce your goals to the point they discourage you. Change your goals to suit your mood and don't worry if you don't meet your goals. Remember, be happy. And if goals aren't making you happy or inspiring you to write, then throw them out!

Nothing you do is wrong. Writing is a creative process. Creative processes are personal—individual. You are not and will never be like anyone else. But here's the kicker, no one else will ever be like you. Only you can write the story in your head and you are the best person to tell that story.

“Beware of advice—even this.” (Carl Sandburg)

Don't listen to me. Find your own way, because I’m most likely wrong.

Seriously. See number 5.

My process (please refer to number 5 and 13-15 and don’t forget your grain of salt):

I follow my own advice and don't do anything that doesn't work. What works for Project A may not work for Project B. I'm fluid in my process. I tried being rigid— planning—but all it did was give me “block.” When I decided not to conform to any rules or anyone's advice and instead decided to use their advice and rules as inspiration, I started writing without hesitation.

Right now, I’m a pantser. Which means I write by the seat of my pants. I don’t outline—ever.

I world build, but only as a way to spew out ideas. It’s like a wish list or a “wouldn’t that be cool” list. There’s no form or structure to my world building. It’s just pages upon pages of jumbled up thoughts. The closest thing I get to structure in my world building is lists of character names all in one place, so I don’t lose them, but that doesn’t always work out either, because I run out of room. I use a TON of post-it notes.

Remember, this might not work for you. Maybe you need structure. Or maybe you need a mix and maybe that mix is; 2% pants, 10% structure, 10% procrastination, 60% distraction, 15% daydreaming, and 3% writing. Whatever you find that works for you is 100% right!

If I'm stuck I do these things (check your hand, where’s your salt?):

I recognize that it's me, not some shapeless thing (writer's block.) I take ownership of my "block." I know I'm only stuck because I'm trying to take too much control. Maybe I want the character to go to the store and meet a friend, but I can't write it. The words aren't coming, I'm stuck, I'm blocked. Why can't I write something so simple!? Because they don't want to go to the store and see a friend. They want to go jump in a lake and be alone, because that's what they need right now and they'll go to the store later or maybe not. I'm stuck because I need to let the characters and story breathe and live their own lives. Even if the scenes I didn’t plan don't make the final draft, or the plot goes completely awry, it's OK, because I can revise something I've written (see number 9 above.)

Lots and lots of talking to myself. I think about my story and my characters and talk it through (not necessarily out loud, but sometimes—in the car, by myself.)

I pretend to be my characters and have them talk to each other. I write these conversations down or record them in the voice recorder on my phone. I’ve found my dialogue is a lot more natural doing this. I think I'll always do this, until I don't, because I won't do anything that doesn't work. And I'll know when it doesn't work, because I'll get “block.”

I give myself permission to do other things. But when I'm in the bathroom or doing the laundry or have a moment of silence, I think to myself "I can't wait to get back to writing!" I make sure my thoughts are always positive. I try not to say "I should be writing." If I start putting guilt or shame on myself, I know I'll quit. Event not writing is part of the writing process for me.

I listen to music and think about my project. Usually, eventually, a song will come on that makes me think of one of my characters and I'll get going again.

I do research. I research my setting (if it’s in our world) to see if I’m being genuine enough. I look up my characters Zodiac signs to see if the way I wrote them matches that signs personality description. Then I throw most of it out when I remember, it’s my book, I can do what I want! And I go back to writing.

I make character aesthetic boards on Pinterest. It’s just fun.

I start to read something that I think sucks. And when I think to myself, "I can do better than this" it lights a spark of competition for me to keep going.

I dream. I dream of going on book tours and signing autographs. Of getting fan art and posting it on my website. But I have to constantly tell myself that if I never achieve this, it's ok (see number 3 above.) It would be cool, but I'm happy with nothing but a finished story. Since I've spent so much of my life unhappy with myself, I come back to reality and enjoy how happy I am right now because I didn’t give up.

My personal Tips and tricks (Has your grain of salt dissolved yet? Get a new one. You’re going to need it):

Brackets [ ]: If I need a character name or town name, I put a description in brackets and keep going. For example [shop owner], [brother], [city]. Anything that I can't think of right now, I bracket a reminder and keep moving. Leigh Bardugo (Six of Crows) was my inspiration for this method.

NOTES (Much like the brackets): Sometimes I know what I want to write, but I don't feel like writing it at that moment, because something further in the story is begging to be written, so I'll make a note and highlight it. For example, NOTE: This is when [Character A] should break into the bank and there should be someone to stop them but I don't know who or how. I also put in a note when the story has taken an unexpected turn and I'll need to fix something 50 pages up in my revision. Inline notes help me organize thoughts and keep me moving (see number 8 above.)

I write in Notepad and copy/paste into a word processor like Word. I do this, because it allows me to ignore formatting. I don't worry about it looking pretty—indentation, spacing, etc... I just hit enter to start new lines for new paragraphs or dialogue and that's it. So it's just write, write, write, enter; write, write, enter, etc... I get way more words in a day this way, because I find I do a lot less inline editing. Notepad also doesn't have spell check, so I'm not distracted or annoyed by those stupid red, squiggly lines. (Yes, I know you can turn this off and write this way in a Word document, but there’s that stigma that I have to write a certain way in Word and I don’t have that stigma attached to Notepad.) Notepad allows me to make mistakes and not care about them.

I listen to music I don't listen to any other time. I don't listen to dub-step for enjoyment, but I find it easy to ignore and the constant driving beat keeps me going. Since I don't listen to music I love while I write, I'll never have to worry about getting sick of my music or associating music I enjoy with a project I hated. (BTW, this and the notepad thing are processes I discovered on my own. It’s possible other people do this, but I haven’t seen it. Proof, in my opinion, that everyone has their own way, they just have to find it.)

At the end of the day, be proud of what you accomplished, no matter how much you think the writing sucks, be proud that you're doing it.

I wish you good words and swift fingers.

Acknowledgements:

Thank you, my husband, for continuing to give me so much of this advice, even when I couldn’t hear it. Thank you for telling me I can, when I said “I can’t.” I wouldn’t be where I am without you.

Thank you, Em, for giving me an excuse to write all of this down. You inspire me.

Links to my inspiration:

I have tried to attribute as much as I can to specific people. Below are links to websites and people who have inspired me. I acknowledge this list may be incomplete. If you see the need for me to add attributions, please leave information in the comments and I will update this post. Thank you.

Brandon Sanderson BYU lectures 2016

Booktubers:

Katytastic

polandbananasBOOKS

TheBookLeo

The Sheep and the Wolf

PeruseProject

Facebook pages:

writershelpingwriters

TheWriteLifeGroup

writerscircle

Goodreads

BookishBuzz

Websites/blogs (I will have to add to this. Apparently I didn’t bookmark everything):

Nat Russo

Additional inspiring things:

Twitter hashtags I follow:

#WriteTip OR #WritingTip OR #WritersBlock OR #WritersLIfe (put this in a search column in Tweetdeck) I also have a collection column to save my favorite tweets.

Books, liked and disliked, off the top of my head, that have inspired me:

In no particular order...

The Strange and Beautiful Sorrows of Ava Lavender (Leslye Walton)

Six of Crows (Leigh Bardugo)

Steeleheart (Brandon Sanderson)

You’re Never Weird on the Internet (Felicia Day)

The Catcher in the Rye (J.D. Salinger)

The Outsiders (S.E. Hinton)

Dead Until Dark (Charlaine Harris)

Shatter Me (Tahereh Mafi)

Harry Potter 1-7 (J.K Rowling)

Matilda (Roald Dahl)

Jeremy Thatcher, Dragon Hatcher (Bruce Coville)

The Giver (Lois Lowry)

Graceling (Kristin Cashore)

Tesser: A Dragon Among Us (Chris Philbrook)

The Odyssey (Homer)

Hell House (Richard Matheson)

Throne of Glass (Sarah J Maas)

The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe (C.S. Lewis)

#amwriting #writing #writers #inspiration #writing inspiration

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williamroy1 · 4 years

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Why your company must prevent being too cool for tumblr

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Resource:- http://alpha.peach.network/index.php?link1=read-blog&id=66

#Digital Marketing Agency in Washington DC

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caro-mschool · 6 years

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WOW 3: Oodles and Googles of Change

Ahh Google... How you have come to take over our lives in more ways than ever imaginable- from search to e-mail to the Drive, it already seems like it is impossible to be productive without you. And to think you’re only 20 years old right now! (You’ve definitely achieved more in your lifetime than I have.) But now what’s crazier is that you’re out here talking about planning for the next 20 years of Search... I don’t even know what my 5 year plan is, let alone what I’m having for lunch tomorrow! Now, taking me out of the picture, I must say this is pretty bold, Google. In an industry that moves faster than any other, with astronomical innovations and new applications being created every day, being adaptive and in control seems more challenging than ever. I must hand it to you though... If anyone’s in the right spot to be calling the shots like this, it has got to be you. So, cheers to 20, and let’s see what’s new in Search!

There are three main changes being implemented right now for the user experience: shifting from giving answers to providing journeys, queryless searches, and a generally more visual platform.

In the realm of providing journeys, they are implementing ways that you can resume searches that you started at a previous time, keeping track of things that you can split by themes which they call “Collections”, and a simply more dynamic search result such as giving firsthand facts on the searched item or related popular subgroups.

I couldn’t help but think that the new Collections feature, pictured above, highly resembles the idea of Pinterest. I found this to be interesting because I personally do not find a use for Pinterest, but I am aware that there are many avid pinners out there that love to refer back to their inspirations and project ideas through the site. This is an easy way for Google to mimic this social media platform in a more personalized way because, after all, all Pinterests posts link back to a site that you could likely find on Google anyways. Speaking of similarities with other sites, I thought that the dynamic search also slightly resembled Wikipedia because when you search a random item such as “poodle”, it will give you a lot of information and photos about that certain breed of dog. This is intriguing because it ultimately prevents you from the need to leave Google itself, making it more often than not the one-stop-shop for all information.

Next, the queryless search. The search engine, conveniently named Discover, allows you to easily get stuck in a black hole of information. All those times that you start on Youtube with a genuine need and get roped into watching 2 hours of videos that are completely unrelated is going to start happening in your daily searches too. As you search for one thing and scroll down the page, Discover will suggest related queries that you can click for complementary information. For example, if I searched “flight to Paris” it might suggest what to see and where to eat there as well. It even does so in multiple languages for those that are bilingual, which I found particularly cool since I am completely biased and speak French. To me, this raises the question: although we may be able to find what we were looking for faster, will the ability to search deeper into a topic negatively affect our productivity? I know that people are already concerned with how short our attention spans are, which is why in our Cross-Content Collaboration course, we learned that we had to capture the viewer’s attention in 5 seconds or under if we wanted to actually get across to them. On the flip side, I guess we could all become very [unnecessarily?] educated on a single topic through this new dynamic search.

Finally, the last change was generally making searching through Google a more visually engaging experience. Considering that images are a huge part of Google’s success as a search engine, combined with the recent growth of the use of “stories” in apps such as Instagram and Snapchat, Google has created their own integrated stories for the search platform. These use AI to form visual experiences that feature the information in a more intriguing fashion. Once again using other social medias’ platforms as an inspiration!

I still don’t think that this will replace Instagram stories because they are not personalized by your friend’s lives, but I do think that the news section in Snapchat may be at risk with this new idea. As always, picture and video results will show up at the top of one’s search results to create a more appealing feel, and also being able to track these to a third party website for possible purchase, information, etc... The one thing I am unsure about using is the Google Lens. It seems crazy to me that AI is able to pull apart information about items and people in a picture in the way it was advertised. Soon enough, stalking people will be made even easier than it already is with our lowered privacy and all the data breeches. Hopefully that is an issue that Google can account for in these 20 upcoming years.

Overall, all the new ideas are very exciting and integrate many pieces of other applications that people use elsewhere already. Google seems to have become the jack of all trades, and I’m curious what’s to come next and how these current changes will affect the way we get to the information we need.

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unholyhelbiglinked · 7 years

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Bitten | 005

Hospital's always carried a certain form of death around with them- a distinct scent of illness and a deep dread that hung in the air. I was never sure if the feeling was always there, or if the establishment just earned it's reputation after they installed morgues underneath a building that was supposed to cure you. You never walked into a hospital with the intention to die. That's something I learned early on.

The whitewash walls and bright fluorescent lights seemed to make my head pound even more- almost as if it was forcing the thought of demise into me. I tended to keep looking forward. I could hold my breath for awhile, the rough smell not hitting me as hard in certain wards.

I got a few odd looks as I kept walking, a few from nurses, but mostly from patients. A few of them being in here as a result to Florence's antics. I didn't exactly have the best reputation in town- so walking into a hospital with a bouquet of flowers was well out of everyone's comfort zone.

"Grace?" Mitchell's voice caught my attention, his words a bit sharp as I almost collided with him where two corners of the wall met. His dark eyes scanned my face quickly, a white lab coat making him appear even greyer than normal. "What are you doing here? I already gave you what you paid for."

I cocked my head to the side "Mitchell, am I not allowed to say hello to a few patients?"

He stared at me like I had grown a second head, his chest rumbling softly as he pulled me away from the bulk of the hallway, his voice dropping even more "Not when you could easily give a heart attack to half of them." he started to say something else, his words running together "You know, Clark can't even walk right now, much less run away from you."

"Relax, okay." I held my hands up in surrender "I admit, I was a little harsh. Am I not allowed to apologize, heal him?"

"No!" Mitchell sighed "No, Grace. Just stay out of it. If Florence knew you were here-"

"She won't find out." I deadpanned, a bit of bite to my words. "Besides, these aren't for Clark anyway."

Mitchell ran a hand through his hair, leaning heavily against the wall, my eyes pleading against his slate ones. "Mitch, just let me see her."

"She's not well enough, Gracie-"

"When have I ever hurt her?" I whispered "I would never hurt her."

Mitchell was quiet, his mouth opening slightly as I tuned into the sounds of the hospital; the slight rhythmic beeping of monitors, the distinct ringing of the phone that rested at the nurse's station, even a conversation happening across the floor.

"Grace," he shook his head "You know if it was up to me then you would have your own key to the room. But it's not."

"It's up to Florence," I scoffed, clenching my jaw. Mitchell's eyes held nothing but apology, nothing but pain and worry. I had known him for years at this point. It wasn't his fault. He had done everything in his power to help me understand what was happening.

"She has people everywhere," his voice was low as he slowly took the flowers from my palm. I didn't fight him on that one. The floral scent started to brush against my lungs "Just because you're her right hand man doesn't mean she doesn't keep tabs on you."

I let out a small sigh "I know. I know."

My boots tapped against the linoleum as I started to back away, not seeing much use in staying around in a hospital like this. The scent of stale blood and sharp illness was overbearing and made my head pound. I turned my back, staring to walk towards the exit for the stairs.

"Grace?"

"Yeah?" I stopped in my tracks, looking towards Mitchell.

"I'll make sure she get's these."

The sharp crimson liquid dripped down my chin, it's heat not bothering me much. It seemed to reap upon the rough cravings that I could never quite settle in the bit of my stomach. It tasted almost stale and metallic. Like licking a penny that you found on the edge of boardwalk.

I never liked the taste of the stuff when it sat in the freezer for awhile. But it was safe- safe and easier to obtain. The stuff still extinguished the burn that my throat would inherit, even if it did leave the microwave smelling a bit off.

The handle of the mug was still warm against my palm as I finally drew the edge of the porcelain away from my lips, letting out a long sigh as my back pressed into the cool leather of the couch. It had been a long day- one that left me sore and my throat burning with a sharp hunger.

I could hear the small hum of the crowd in the bakery. I lived right above it in a small two bedroom loft, Rosanna occupying the other room. She found it more convenient to just travel up some stairs to get home instead of across town to some old apartment complex.

It was a small yet modern place. The floors were a light hardwood, the whole loft an excuse of Rosanna to try out any type of pinterest creation she could find. I sat curled up on the sofa, not daring to move as I stared blankly at the flat screen television. Nothing was on- my mind not up to processing the twist and turns of a courtroom drama or the sickeningly fake storylines of a romance.

The balcony doors were opened, a light breeze blowing in from the bustling street below. On Saturday nights like these the whole block was buzzing. A few teenagers would be out, trying to con people into buying them beer or letting them into the nightclub across the street.

I could hear the strong pulses of music everytime the door opened, making it a bit louder. I never liked clubs much- the loud songs, the foul smells, people grinding up close to one another like the dancefloor is a lawless land.

"You can hear them can't you?"

A sharp pain moved through my temple, my jaw clenching as I pressed my hand against my ear. I had been so intent on hearing the music across the street that anything else in the room sounded like a jackhammer against my skull.

My gaze moved quickly to the doorway, it's dark mahogany cracked open slightly, Rosanna holding her keys in her hand as she balanced the rest of her bags. I raised my eyebrows, it was only around eleven at night. She must've closed early.

"Yeah," I shook my head slightly, placing the almost empty mug of liquid on the small log like coffee table. It had intricate designs and rings in the wood. I couldn't really tell how old it must have been. "You're home early."

She simply nodded, letting the door close behind her as she made her way over to the couch, sitting down next to me with a bit of conviction, or lets touching. Her skin was warm against mine, my eyes focused tamely on the numbers flashing across the VCR screen.

"You know I could smell that from downstairs, right?"

I let out a huff in response, Ro's eyes trained on the side of my face much like Mamrie's had been hours earlier. "Sorry, I had a long day."

"Florence?"

"She killed a tourist." My eyes moved to meet Rosanna's "On Lucy's property too."

"I'll have to talk her down tomorrow." She referred to the bar owner.

"That shouldn't be your job."

"Sweetie, that's always been my job." Ro shook her head, placing her palm calmly on my knee. "Florence is reckless. She's powerful and she gets what she wants."

"I know, I know." I let out a heavy sigh "She cracks a mirror, and I shatter it. I've heard this speech before."

Rosanna let out her contagious giggle, something that my whole mind fought off. I wanted to smile with her, but some strong form of dread kept me from doing so. "Forgive me, I'm running low on material after almost 150 years."

I cracked a small smile at this, shaking my head as I let my back sink further into the couch.

"What's bringing this up now, Huh?" A small scoff rose from my chest, my fingers pressing against the bridge of my nose. "The human girl?"

"Mamrie? No." I got a skeptical look as I knit my eyebrows together "God no. I just met her today. Florence just wants me to keep an eye on her."

"She worries you though?"

"I don't want her to get caught in the crossfire of this town." I shook my head "You know, it was a lot easier when Florence was prone to travel up the coast."

Rosanna clenched her jaw, studying me again "Grace?"

"Hmm?"

"Don't let her out of your sight."

#GraceHelbig #Mamriehart #rosanna pansino #mace #vampire #fanfiction

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manshootswedding · 7 years

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Business cards and why mine is the best.

Here's a few business cards i've put together. You can see the evolution of my design.

Brace yourself for a long winded rant about my business cards. You kinda asked for it... those were a lot of Facebook comments.

So Zazzle who I typically use for my business card had a little bit of a trimming mishap when producing my cards. This means I get new cards, in fact I get a credit and can actually adjust them. The thickness or weight of the card was so thick that during the cutting process the sheets shifted slightly. I had text very close to the edge and it showed any slight deviation. I only noticed it while dropping off a set of business cards.

So I've put this out to my friends on Facebook. I was mostly looking for feedback on my red hat that I want to include. I've spent a lot of time designing my card to stand apart from everyone else. Typically everyone does the same exact thing. Name, Phone, E-mail, logo and maybe a slogan. Think about how many business cards look exactly the same.

The design of my business card has been the same with minor adjustments over the past five years. One side is always a large image of my logo, large enough to read if it's on the ground or a table. I've chosen the chubby size cards instead of the standard for two reasons, it stands out and doesn't fit behind other cards nicely. The second reason is it's different, it's usually been a tear-proof material which is always an interesting challenge to my clients to tear it up.

So I appreciate everyones input for the cards. Some of the advice I totally understand. Use a beautiful image you've shot, use this font, why is the phone number so big. This is not a card which I've put together quickly. It's been made to stand out from the pack. A thousand cards will probably last me most of the year. Brides and grooms who typically end up with my card end up with it because they are in my office. Most people are finding me on Google, Facebook, Instagram or a random phone call. If these were being used for a wedding expo I would probably have something a bit different.

One of the biggest things with photographer is everyone happens to use a camera aperture for a logo (myself included, guilty). So I changed my logo a year or two back to something a littler bit more reflective of who and what. It now includes the words wedding which is my focus. I also have the dot come in the logo as well so now I don't have to do any additional dot come references elsewhere in the card. The main goal of my card is for it to stand apart from everyones no matter what business's card it's next to. My business name was believe it or not an AIM handle back in 1996 which was unity1818. Unity is an Operation Ivy song, not a Queen Latifah jam. It ended up as a placeholder for my website because I eventually needed one. Unity happens to work as a name for a business name but unity photography is actually taken by another photographer named Ken who I've actually met in real life. Anyways the reason I mention this is logos are hard and also very much essential to pull together a website, business card and any branding you may want to do. I didn't get to do anything cute like Two cranes photography or jumping cat photo. I based mine off a teenage Aol Instant Messenger name.

The giant phone number is something that takes people a second to grasp sometimes. I've had lots of people pick it up and say what is this and then it clicks. Then I have a few different sentences fit above, in-between and below the giant phone number. So whoever has already picked up my card because they don't understand the giant numbers at first and now they're reading all these sentences i've put on my card which is done is a very small font. So they've spent anywhere from fifteen seconds to twenty seconds reading this side of my business card. I just times myself doing it from picking it up and skimming through everything.

TEXT LISTED CURRENTLY ON MY BUSINESS CARD

Follow me on Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, Google+ and Facebook. Visit my website to find all my social media links.

Wow, this is a very impressive business card. Thank you, I agree. If you find this impressive then wait until you see my photos.

The number on this card is my phone number. Please visit my website to send me a more formal message.

Don't lose this card. Int has your future wedding photographer's contact info on it.

There is a rhyme to my reason.... is that even a saying?

So think about how long it takes for you to usually comprehend information on anyones business card. You look at a logo, an address maybe, hours possibly, phone and e-mail. I've already gotten almost twenty seconds of someones time. I've told them where they can find my social media links. I've directed them to my website to send me a message. I personally don't like a random e-mail from someone with a simple sentence "HOW MUCH" "WHAT ARE YOUR PACKAGES". So I love to direct people to my website where I have a proper contact form and more importantly all the information. I've also included a little bit of my humor by saying how impressive the business card is. If you didn't get what the numbers were or skipped over the numbers in favor for a full sentence then it's explained here with the above text. I've also told them how important the card is and not to lose it, it has your future wedding photographers info on it. Okay, that last sentence is a little cocky but it's cool, I know I rock.

So if you found this card and and saw all this information you would be able to get a quick snippet of who I am, personality wise possibly. As a wedding photographer i'm the person you'll have the most contact with during a wedding day. I'm literally with a bride all day long give or take some distance. The big thing I try to convey when I meet a bride and groom is the attitude of easy going. I'm very easy going, in fact most of my meetings i'm wearing that red hat and a hoodie. More meetings happen in the winter time. I'm also friending all of my brides and grooms on Facebook at some point. Since i'm spending the entire day with someone it totally benefits me to keep them in a good, relaxed and happy mood. Some of that comes from the informality of most of my approaches. I have brides contact me at eleven at night with a simple question or on Facebook on a Sunday afternoon. I'm very accessible and I make sure the bridal couple knows this. My goal is to have it feel like a friend is shooting your wedding.

With my current design i've chosen to remove some of the text to focus more on branding myself with my favorite object, a red hat. Affectionally worn for the past six years solid or so. I'm regularly recognized everywhere for this hat. Currently it's a red winter hat from American Eagle but i've also had many other variations of this red hat. I can't really wear baseball caps when I shoot outdoors and fedoras or these winter caps have always hung around me. I've actually gotten to meet a lot of my Facebook friends in public because they spot me somewhere in Worcester, Boston, NYC. It's a very bold color and my attire doesn't really have to match the hat. What i'm doing by including the red hat with my business cards are training anyone who ends up with this card to eventually be able to spot that exact red hat. Think about it. You have this random card with a red hat, phone, name, wedding photographer and you see a random photographer with the same exact hat. Chances are you are going to come up and say hi and tell me about how you ended up with the card.

I'm going to meander a bit, follow along.

So beyond wedding photography I actually do a number of things. One of those things being web design. When I meet someone who asks for photos or video the first thing I ask is what it's being used for. They tell me they want to put it on their website or Facebook. The next question I ask is to see their website and from there I see their website is angelfire or geocities hosted (antiquated reference, totally worth googling). So from there I talk to them about web design in addition to photos. So I can put togethers someone website pretty easily with a few photos and rearranging information. Here's the other thing I do, consulting work.

What is consulting work as it applies to you? Okay, thats a question being asked to me if that didn't make sense there. What I do is interview a business owner and pull out content to add to their website. Often times while explaining things it leads to other questions which inadvenrtuly conclude with a change in their own business's infrastructure. One of the best questions you can ask someone is "What would this look like if it were easy". It's a question you can ask any business owner. It helps them identify a problem area and provide the easiest solution and then we can work on the actual route to getting there. I also will call out an weak areas in their dealings and suggestions I may have to changing routine.

So I deal with many different businesses and these owners all happen to be around Worcester and Boston and every once and awhile I get recognized in a Starbucks or while on the job shooting somewhere. I'm training everyone as well as brides, grooms to recognize and associate the red hat with Michael Hendrickson, wedding photographer.

I have time.

So hopefully everyone will understand my reasoning a little bit better now. It's not simply a harsh design choice. I've slowly evolved it from the very simple to the more complex. My goal with my cards are to stand apart from everyone and I fear being similar to everyone else will make me blend a little too much. I've spent a few minutes to design some of what everyone's asked for in a business card just to appease some.

I've made a few quick mock-ups of what some think would make a good business card. I've also reverted the size back to a standard business card size. This is not a dig on anyone. This is suggestions i've gotten on the initial thread on Facebook as well as in private messages.

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robertsneagle · 7 years

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DIY Budget Kitchen Makeovers – One Project at a Time

Doing a whole kitchen makeover can change your day to day life, quite literally. It can also drain your bank account. Fortunately, if you take it one project at a time, you can break the budget down for each DIY project and in a short time have a completely new kitchen! We went out and found projects to help you makeover each major component of your kitchen space, while creating a custom high end look. (On a budget!) And like always, we tried to choose projects you haven’t seen before. Start by taking a long look at each part of your kitchen, and then choose a project that fits into your style choices and needs. Also, some quick tips from us here at TBD on how to choose!

Style

First, decide on a general style you want your new kitchen to showcase. Love farmhouse? Looking for clean and modern? Eclectically creative? Name your style to keep you on track when making choices. Remember, take some time to look at Pinterest and Houzz to make sure you are on track with todays trends if updating your home for value is on your mind. Then choose one or two inspirational photos to refer back to while working on your own kitchen. Photo by ‘HGTV‘.

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Cabinets

You must decide if your cabinets are in good enough shape to save. (Let’s hope, right?) Assuming they need nothing more than an update, paint is your best friend. Yep, this is a JOB. But we have found some bloggers that can make it a LOT easier, by taking their advice on technique and supplies. We love an all white kitchen (In fact, we have one!) But don’t be afraid to paint your bottom cabinets a different color than the top, or your island cabinets different from the main cabinets. We love darker on the bottom, lighter on the top as well. Try all white, with trending steel navy blue/grey on the bottom, or the island. Or simply a light neutral gray on the bottom cabinets for a lighter look. Considering dressing up the cabinets to look higher end with some of the projects we have below. Oh, and use a flat or eggshell finish. The old wisdom of using semi-gloss paint on cabinets is outdated. Not only are most paints cleanable now, shiny semi gloss looks very 1985.

Our first project is from Tasha at ‘Designer Trapped’, and she tells us what you need to know most… how to paint your cabinets, without sanding or priming. The internet has discovered that chalk and milk paints are much more versatile than latex paint, give an upscale finish, and hers are still looking great 2 years later! From all our research, this looks like the way to go folks. No more taking a week to paint the cabinets!

When Steve and I had our house built, one of the first design decisions we made in the kitchen was to make sure the cabinets went all the way to the ceiling. This looks way more high end, but most builders don’t do it that way because it’s more expensive. Cristina at ‘Remodelando la Casa’ has a complete tutorial on how to cover that space above your cabinets. It seems like a complicated project, but with some beginning carpentry skills and her easy tutorial, you can pull this off! Look at what a major difference this made in her before and after. Be sure to check out her whole makeover while you are there, it’s amazing.

Give your cabinets a more custom feel by adding kitchen counter posts and molding from ‘Cuckoo 4 Design’. This is a simple afternoon project, but with the added trim, makes the whole kitchen feel like it’s in a designer showroom.

Countertops

Ok, it can take thousands of dollars to get quartz or granite for your countertops. If you’re doing your kitchen on a tight budget, that may not be in the cards. Don’t worry, creativity rules here! Keep your mind open to other less conventional options and ideas. You are not stuck with that harvest gold laminate counter!

Our first project we are in love with… From Jenise at ‘DIY Fun Ideas’, learn how to DIY white concrete countertops! Now, we happen to love concrete counters, but not everyone is as into that industrial vibe. These countertops are off-white, so they look warmer and more versatile. And they ROCK. Who knew a DIY’er could do something so amazing to their kitchen?

These faux reclaimed wood countertops (the wood isn’t faux, just the “reclaimed” part!) from ‘The Ragged Wren’ prove that you can think outside the box. These cost much less than even inexpensive laminate to put in, and are warm and inviting. Go check out the tutorial and Alyson’s entire kitchen too!

Most of you (if you have ever been on Pinterest anyway) have probably heard that you can buy kits to paint your counters to look like stone. We bloggers have been doing things like that since the ’90’s, with varying degrees of success, but back then we didn’t dare tell anyone. :) We love the design scene now because the more creative you are, the better! However, we came across a product that seems to us like it would transcend the versatility of paint, while staying inexpensive and easy even for the beginner. The product is called “Spreadstone”, and it is exactly that… made with actual stone! While we haven’t had the opportunity to try out this product, we did find what feels to us a pretty honest review (and tutorial with tips you can’t miss!) at ‘The Inadvertent Handyman‘. Based on his review, we would try this when the budget isn’t there for a more permanent solution. See his before and after and judge for yourself! (Note : My daughter and son in law plan to try this for their harvest gold countertops… We will update you with the results!)

Backsplash

Again, there are so many ways to cut costs here. If you don’t have a large kitchen, the backsplash area might be small enough that you decide to splurge and do a high end tile. Or, you can pick one of the cool projects we have here. The backsplash is the jewelry of the room, so make it count!

Budget really tight? From ‘Two Feet First’, this DIY cheap kitchen backsplash isn’t discounted subway tile… it’s paint. Yep, your leftover craft paint and some tape might be all you need for this look.

Dawn from ‘Creative Cain Cabin’ can show you how to get that farmhouse look with her DIY beadboard backsplash. And for less than $20!

From Brooke at ‘Re-Fabbed’, this $40 kitchen backsplash project was easy and cheap. They used peel and stick vinyl flooring for this part of their makeover, and it looks like a reclaimed wood backsplash. And they only used half the box, so that’s really a $20 project!

Floor

Frankly, if your floor has seen better days, consider wood laminate. It will give you the most bang for your buck, and most DIY’ers can pull this off. It’s also water resistant and wears really well. While it is possible to paint vinyl flooring when the budget is super thin, it’s a temporary solution. If you want to try, check out this tutorial on how to paint vinyl flooring.

So if you want to install a laminate floor, try these 10 tips for DIY laminate floor installation from ‘The Happy Housie’!

Appliances

Ok, this can be a problem. You spend all this time doing a kitchen makeover, but you can’t afford shiny stainless appliances? No worries, there are some options.

While you can use automotive spray paint to cover your appliances, it is really tough to get a professional finish. ‘Giani‘, which makes the leading selling painted countertops kit, also sells a stainless steel paint made just for appliance makeovers. This is actual liquid steel, not just colored paint. Check out the reviews on Amazon, people seem to love it! There are other brands at your local home improvement store as well. So if your appliances are perfectly fine, but you want them to look amazing, consider trying this project.

Ok, let’s get started making over your kitchen, one project at a time! Need to add an island to your kitchen? Try these DIY kitchen island tutorials at our other site, DYSS.

Image Credits: HGTV, Designer Trapped, Remodelando la Casa, Cuckoo 4 Design, DIY Fun Ideas, The Ragged Wren, Inadvertent Handyman, Two Feet First, Creative Cain Cabin, Re-Habbed, The Happy Housie, Giani

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Original Entry Source: http://www.thebudgetdecorator.com/diy-budget-kitchen-makeovers-one-project-at-a-time/

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williamroy1 · 4 years

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Why your company must prevent being too cool for tumblr

Many small business proprietors and online marketers forget tumblr. I in my view had heard of tumblr numerous instances, but preserving up with Digital Marketing Agencies Washington DC social media profiles appeared hard enough, so i never definitely took the time to delve too deeply into the platform. After being issued a mission through a co-worker to dive in, i fell in love with the tumblr spirit. Tumblr has a tremendous platform with pleasant, accepting, and statistics-loving users. And as they are saying, “it’s higher overdue than in no manner.”

why must small business owners care? Logo attention and advertising and marketing are made simple

tumblr can strain website site visitors in your internet web page

using tumblr is a super manner to goal the more youthful generations

smooth way to gain more publicity online

short manner to gain do-observed hyperlinks and decorate on-line scores

what's tumblr? Tumblr is a completely clean to apply micro-blogging web web page. It is largely a pass among fb and wordpress, with a setup and layout just like pinterest. There are over 180 million blogs (known as tumblrogs) run via the platform, which makes it the most important jogging a weblog platform on the internet. Why is tumblr one-of-a-type? The huge difference among tumblr and wordpress is the exceptionally social and interactive surroundings that exists most effective on tumblr. Clients are capable of short find out new content fabric thru hash-tags, with out problems like and share content material, and observe different tumblr blogs they’re interested by. Wordpress is notable, and has many exquisite features, however the social element on tumblr is unmatched. If you are evaluating tumblr to fb, you’ll find out that hashtags are genuinely useable, and searchable, while on fb they may be lots much less applicable. The content material you put up onto your tumblr web page can resultseasily be determined by way of way of someone looking for the tags you entered with your content material. This makes it easy for a person to come upon your content months later absolutely by means of seeking out those terms. There's additionally a tremendous target market on tumblr than on facebook, which means that extra eyes to peer your posts and more human beings to transform to emblem followers. That is real with wordpress as nicely. Why need to i care approximately some different platform? With over 3 hundred million particular month-to-month traffic, that's pretty much 15% of all internet traffic, tumblr is a outstanding location to unfold your content material fabric. In 2013 yahoo offered tumblr for 1. 1 billion dollars, which emerge as the most important net buy considering the reality that youtube come to be offered thru google. Tumblr is also ranked because the twenty 0. 33 maximum visitors internet website on the internet. Large numbers manner massive possibility. Added bonus: in case you are a small organization and haven’t set up your net website but, there is even the choice of virtually forgoing your very own net website hosting and internet site and simply using tumblr as your agency internet site. You could with out problem connect it to a domain call you already personal as nicely. Manifestly, this isn’t meant to be a long term answer, however it’s a notable manner to start building an target market early. Why haven’t i heard of tumblr till now? Possibly you are truly not hip, or perhaps you’re truly too old. Most people of tumblr clients are under the age of 25, and about fifty four% of them being ladies. If any part of your demographic falls into this elegance, it’s really a have to for you to test into the platform. A variety of the primary brands have already joined the tumblr and began out using it for his or her marketing efforts. Coca cola, aim, disney, and calvin klein are only some of the top game enthusiasts. And allow’s face it, if coca cola’s advertising is doing something, you need to be too. Coketumblr how does this help with advertising and search engine optimization? Tumblr moreover lets in do-found hyperlinks. Most social systems have finished away with do-discovered linking, however not tumblr. The sharing feature in tumblr is referred to as “re-running a blog” and whenever your content cloth is re-blogged, you advantage a ultra-modern do-observed backlink. With the lively network in tumblr it’s much less complicated on your content material cloth to move viral, and you quick expand your on-line target audience. As constantly, in a submit-panda global, make sure you’re careful together along with your anchor textual content utilization, as you wouldn’t want a piece to head viral with specific-in shape anchor textual content. What ought to i placed up to tumblr? The key to a a achievement tumblr is to stick to the message of your emblem. Every put up should match in-line with the company message you need to portray. If your business business enterprise is all approximately peace, love, and happiness, then the entirety you publish need to paste inner that realm. Tumblr loves an brilliant fulfillment story, funny memes, pix, quotes, gifs, and so on. Something innovative, humorous, visible, or emotional is probably to do nicely on tumblr. As with extraordinary systems, unique content material is king. Growing shareable content fabric will do you properly. Stay with content material as a way to resonate together with your audiences and invoke emotions or thoughts in visitors.

Resource:- https://williamroy110096.wixsite.com/website/post/how-to-create-an-attention-grabbing-weblog-header

#Digital Marketing Company in Washington DC

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