Back to doing something productive with this time and remembering these blogs are not a gimmick, they are a reason to keep me writing. They give me a bit of structure in what I do and encourage me to keep to a plan. What I am going to talk to you about today is why you should talk about the story, column, essay, or anything you are writing. Even something you are working on, whether it is art, music, or something else.
This was immensely helpful for me this week. I have a friend on Discord who I began talking to about the stories I write as well as many other things. We talked about the characters, the settings, the motives, and even an unhealthy dose of spoilers! What was great about this was that it gave me a renewed vigor and interest in what I was writing and it also straightened out some of the problems I had with the story, allowing me to fix problems that had been perplexing me for months, maybe even as far back as when I first started these stories.
This is immediately the advice I would give anyone struggling with any kind of block. If you cannot get past that wall in your story, or you do not know what to draw next, or you do not know how to solve a problem, then find someone willing to listen to you talk about it and do so. You should find someone you can trust, who will hopefully give you honest feedback and will also accept that this is something you are passionate about, so will not ruin it for you.
Specifically to creative writing, writers can worry about whether they are ruining a story for a friend who wants to read the thing or that they may be giving their baby away to someone who will misuse it. If you pick the right person, a good friend, and not a complete stranger, then this will not be an issue to contend with. They will accept that this is your story and look forward to it whatever guise it comes in. They will still be excited to read it and will not share it with the world. You just have to pick the right person to tell it to. Better yet, when they do come to read it, theyāre likely to still find surprises, as some of the best writing comes during the editing phase.
This is equally true outside of writing. If you talk about drawings you have done, want to do, or admire from other artists, then it may well come to pass that inspiration strikes from that conversation. If you have a problem at work that you donāt know how to resolve, chewing the fat may at least give you a few ideas that you have not thought of on how to resolve it. Best of all, it might even bring to light some things to try later on that you havenāt considered as well.
Following on from this, I want to also add that talking out things is helpful beyond projects and creative aspects. At this point, I am going to discuss mental health too.
When any mental aspect of your life is affecting you, itās hard to talk about it. Talking is as though you are admitting you have a problem and that it is defeating you. In your own mind, it suggests you are too weak and are letting down those that you love. It is also hard to find solutions on your own that do not feel like the darkest ways out are the best.
You are never weak to admit you need help. It is a strength to reach out to others because of how strongly and fiercely the creatures in our minds will try to keep us from doing that very thing. You are still fighting the good fight. You are just calling for backup to help you succeed and believe me, you will succeed. Even if others give you the nudge to the top, while you must not forget them, the triumph is yours alone and you must feel pride for that.
First, look above and see what I discussed when this topic was about writing and other projects. If you see, it starts with a realization that things are gloomy, such as feeling stuck, struggling with motivation, or having no options come to mind. However, those changes when you start discussing the problems, as solutions start to arise from other minds. This is not because those minds are clearer or smarter than yours, it is just because they are different, have had different experiences, so see things differently. The saying ātwo heads are better than oneā is no truer than at this point.
Second, know that by taking advice, you are still doing your thing. You are not having to credit someone else with your entire success because the talk or help is just five percent of the way to the end goal. It might have been a necessary five percent that impacted whether you continued or gave up, but it was still your strength that carried you to the end. Donāt forget them and remember to thank them, as I said before, but do not feel the victory is hollow either. The bulk of the journey and even the acceptance of the recommendations were all you.
Lastly, Iāll give you the words I gave that same friend which seemed to help them a lot.
āYou've [...] had dragons in your life, physically and metaphorically. They've been dangerous, debilitating, and a damned nuisance to you in different ways. However, they do not rule you. They might scare you, anger you, and try to trip you. But they have no true power over you, as long as you remember that they [can be killed]. Every single dragon has a weakness and many times, the sword and shield are love and friendship. That is in abundance here. So do not fear dragons, my friends. Laugh at them and reach out to those who believe dragons do not exist.ā
All good things,
Lots of hugs,
Scara x
Link to Luna Switched: https://www.fimfiction.net/story/174616/luna-switched
Link to Discord Server: https://discord.gg/9GEhvhf
Okay, so I wanted to do a āwrite and reactā blog here, and to help me do that Iām going to enlist the use of YAGPDB.xyz bot (other bots are available) from Discord. I instantly regretted this when it posed itās first question to me:
āWould you rather be racist or sexist?ā
ā¦ Errā¦ Neither.
Oh, so I should explain, to get this function to work you type ā-WYRā in the chat, and it generates a random āwould you ratherā¦?ā question. My Discord server fellowship could see, read and respond to this as well, with an easy A or B voting system. So, here we go, question number one, eyes down lookingā¦
āWould you rather be A) telekinetic or B) telepathic?ā
Most went for A on this one. Arguably, I would too. I already feel telepathic sometimes, the closest I get to the truth sometimes, or figuring something out before it is fully announced is scary. Telekinesis powers would be much fun to have, you could play about like a Jedi grabbing things from across the room without taking a step! Then again, you might end up like the people from Wall-Eā¦ Iāll take the risk. Next!
āWould you rather A) eat a five-course meal in front of ten starving children or B) steal the bucket from five salvation army Santa?ā
ā¦ What is up with these questions? Okay, shoot. What would you do? I meanā¦ I clicked A for a laugh, however, it would, OF COURSE, be the Santas. Or would it? AGGGH! Now Iām second-guessing myself!!!! Because if the Santas had a lot of money, that could feed more than ten childrenā¦ RIGHT! Iām overriding this. I would eat the meal in front of the children BECAUSE I would then share it with them. I wouldnāt be a dick, I would find a mutha fugginā loophole, baby!
Most of my friends felt the Santa thing was less douchy, one pointing out that if the kids saw Santa then kick their ass in front of the kids, it would mean bonus points.
NEXT!
āWould you rather be A) telekinetic or--ā
No, weāve had that one.
āWould you rather be A) an Olympic tennis player or B) Olympic table tennis player?ā
One friend immediately said tennis properly, because that would make them fit as fluff. This seemed to be the consensus with the group, so of course, I went against the grain once again, of course, I did. I said table tennis because, and I quote, āwho wouldn't want to be Forrest Gump though.ā Getting to meet that particular president, or Elvis, or Bubbaā¦ Ok, yes, we lost Bubba, but knowing him was worth the sorrow of losing him. One asked if I meant the movie or the book version - I meant the movie version. I have been too lazy to read the book version (my apologies, Winston Green).
Oh gosh, weāre in the big boy pants now, ladies and gentsā¦
āWould you rather know A) when you will die or B) how you will die?ā
Umā¦ Neither? No, Iād rather know ho-- noā¦ whe-- n-noā¦ Agh! Too big a question! Okay, so, if I have to answer this, Iām going to say when. KNOWING that Iāll probably be late for my own death, I think it would be the more productive of the two. If I knew how I was going to die, I would spend my life wondering if this is the moment, I would fear it and would get nothing done. If I spent my life knowing when then I would at least try to fulfill as much as I could in the time that I had. Just like when youāre on holiday for two weeks and you cram in what you can before the flight home. Ā
āWould you rather A) wear a dress or B) wear heels?ā
Hahahaā¦ Dress. Iāve worn a dress, I get it girls and Scots and everyone else who wears a dress, the air on youā¦ thighs (gutter minds...) is actually very comfortable, more so than a pair of jeans strangling you every time you sit down. Dresses are going to become the fashion for men, more so than they are already, I am sure of it. HOWEVER, I will not rule out the other side. I get why some guys and gals like the height of a heel but, I am already six foot two, I donāt like low ceilings as is, I donāt need to get closer to them. Ā
āWould you rather A) win the World Series or B) win the Superbowl?ā
I am not up on my American sports as I should be so umā¦ which one is which? I think World Series is the hittie-ball-with-batty and Superbowl is fake-rugby, right? I am a dumb English person with my tea, crumpets, and feather dusters. Iām gonna say World Series because if I am right about what I assume it is then baseball seems much cooler and more achievable to my limited skill range than American Foosball is.
I just checked with Alexa, I was right. Whoo! Go me.
Hold on to your butts, men, and women. This next one is the mother of all questionsā¦
āWould you rather get A) an atomic wedgie or B) a swirly?ā
Again, I had NO IDEA what a swirly was. I asked Alexa, she was no help. I asked a friend and they were not sure so we googled it;
āThe Swirlie is a prank in which one's head is dunked into the toilet bowl and flushed. It was rather prevalent in the '90s, and is little more than a dare nowadays.ā
(https://pranks.fandom.com/wiki/Swirlie#:~:text=Back-,Swirlie,more%20than%20a%20dare%20nowadays.)
ā¦ Wedgie. WHO WOULD AGREE TO HAVE THEIR FACE IN A TOILET BOWL? No, ew, yuck, blech! At least with a wedgie, it sucks for a bit and then you recover from it. Gathering all of the germs from the poop shoot is a Scaramouche-no-no, thank you very much. Plus, far more dangerous. What happens if you drown? Okay, we all know what happens if you drownā¦
I think this will be the last one.
āWould you rather A) watch your favorite movie on repeat for a full day, or B) watch Nick and Norahās Infinite Playlist once.
I have not watched Nick and Norahās Infinite Playlist ever (what an uncultured swine I am!) so I think I will hit that up. I already watched Back to the Future Part III for a full day as a kid while I was trying to figure out how to build my own time traveling steam train, so I can tick that off the bucket list. Letās live a little and try something new, eh?
Alright, that one was a little dull, so Iām going overtime to do one more, just to see if itās any goodā¦
āWould you rather...ā
āA) Be the guy from Momento,ā
āOR,ā
āB) Be the guy from Groundhog Day?ā
ā¦ I already feel like both of those guys. I forget who I am and I feel like I am living the same day over and over, never moving forwards or backward, trying to crash the Matrix and getting close but not close enough.
I think Iāll go with the guy from Groundhog Day though, because they learn that kindness and compassion have more impact on the world than you can possibly know, after a few selfish deeds and mistakes first. Thatās the path to all good things, folks, learn from your fluff ups!
All good things,
Lots of hugs,
Scara x
Link to Luna Switched: https://www.fimfiction.net/story/174616/luna-switched
Link to Discord Server: https://discord.gg/9GEhvhf
All Good Thingsā¦ Happy Beat The Extraterrestrials Day!
All Good Thingsā¦ Happy Beat The Extraterrestrials Day!
#Blog #Bloggerstribe #AllGoodThingsā¦
4th July 2020
Happy Canada Day for the first July and Happy Independence Day for the fourth, my American and Canadian cousins! Hope you each enjoy these days where, as a country, you can recognize your own self worth in the universe.
Of course, as a damned-it-all Limey Brit, I had no idea what Independence Day as a kid and only got the vaguest idea from the movie. Even after that, I wondered why Americans were so happy to celebrate the day the USA beat up a bunch of movie aliens and stopped them destroying the earth for no discernable reason. It wasnāt until later that I understood the true celebration.
Equally, I did not know Canada had its own day until I dated a girl from Ontario and got updates on what they were celebrating and why. I donāt believe I ever got to see one of the days out during a visit but I certainly got photos of fireworks and pies. I really, really miss real pumpkin pie...
Of course, I still do not necessarily celebrate it myself, since I live in England where the day is basically a wet, windy Saturday with not much happening. However, I do try to remember to pop a message to the friends Iāve built up in both Canada and the US recognizing their time of celebration.
While this dumb (and very lazy) British writer cannot find a good reason to join in on these days personally without looking like a wannabe, I can still take the time to appreciate how much they mean to each country. Indeed, there are many holidays that my country does not observe but I can still understand the meaning they have to other parts of the world. For example, most might only know November the fifth from the V For Vendetta comic and/or film but not realize that it is based on an event when our Parliament was nearly blown up. Some still wish theyād been successful! Every fifth November, we go out into our gardens to light bonfires or visit public displays where a scarecrow effigy of Guy Fawkes, one of the perpetrators, is burnt and fireworks are let off.
While this can seem like mad rambling at the moment (or, āthatās interestingā as my friends say monotonously at me after I try to tell them about, well, anything) I do have a point that these events nicely raise. Independence, personality, and courage are things many have to face every day and some struggle to find. Itās made especially harder when they are facing matters that are deep in the consciousness of the public eye or the contrasting view of who they are is fiercely taught by celebrities, teachers, and parents.
Yet we should each of us remember that where we are at the moment has been fought and worked hard for by the people who came before us. People we have never met have fought wars to keep us safe, keep us happy, and ensure our freedom remains. Others have worked dangerous jobs and still do so that we do not have to know how hard they have it. Some deserve more than the blind eye we have so easily given them.
The point of this blog is to reassure you that you are not forgotten. Somebody thought about you before you even existed. Someone will think about you when you stop existing. Somebody, as they sit here and type this, is thinking about you now.
Do not feel ashamed about being afraid of what tomorrow brings, or what is being said about the person you are, or about the community, or race, or religion, or anything that you belong to. The people who hate and do not try to understand do not matter. The ones who support you, despite not understanding you, do. But most of all, you matter. You do. Donāt you dare shake your head at me, you do! Nodding now? Good.
I donāt know what you are going through today or what youāll face tomorrow, but I know good things have to come about eventually. It may take a long time and you may feel like youāll crack long before it comes, but I want you to keep trying and when you feel like you cannot try anymore, find someone good who will try for you.
I want to close with something I said to a friend of mine who felt awful about upsetting a friend recently: āYou could be bad for a day, but youāll never be bad for a lifetime.ā
All good things,
Lots of hugs,
Scara x
Link to Luna Switched: https://www.fimfiction.net/story/17...../luna-switched
Link to Discord Server: https://discord.gg/9GEhvhf
All Good Thingsā¦ I Have Done Nothing Productive All Week!
All Good Thingsā¦ I Have Done Nothing Productive All Week!
#Blog #Bloggerstribe #AllGoodThingsā¦
1st July 2020
Hello, Chaps and Chapettes,
Phew, itās been a busy week, yet I donāt feel like Iāve been productive at all! The problem has been that Iāve had a lot of small things to do that have taken up a lot of time. I thought that, by getting the small things out of the way, Iād have time to do the big things without worrying about them. However, thatās not exactly how small things work.
Put it like this; one grain of sand doesnāt make a big impact if you find it in a sandwich, itās pretty insignificant, you probably donāt know itās there, right? Yet, more grains become a problem, and if the sandwich is covered in sand, itās a write-off. This is the way life works too - one thing can seem really simple to move on from and sort out, more than a few soon become a chore. If you spend your whole day sorting out these things, youāll find yourself exhausted and struggling to resolve the bigger things, even if you believe you have the time for it now. As soon as your energy is back, youāll be facing small things again and the cycle continuesā¦
So thatās the doom and gloom of it, letās get straight on with how we start resolving it!
1 - Donāt feel bad about saying no! Okay, so you were raised to say yes, be polite all the time, never make a person feel bad, right? And yet, by following those conditions you were given as a kid, you are now finding that there is so much coming into your life that you cannot handle it properly. The best place to resolve this is where it started - say no. If you cannot say no, or you are worried about how it will affect someoneās mood with you, then try a different tact. Find out when the person wants the thing or the event, and if it isnāt feasible for you then be honest about that. Suggest a date and time when it would be more convenient for you and would give you the time to do what you want and need to do things. This will make things easier for you and hopefully not leave a bad taste in a friend or co-workerās mouth.
2 - Plan your time better - Planning is something I am terrible with. I try to plan but donāt realize how long something will take or I think I will have more energy after something than I actually do. For example, I get extremely stressed and anxious when meeting people, even my own friends, and family, so after those meetings, Iām usually unable to concentrate for a good while. My solutions to these things are to make plans that I know are realistic to me.
Rather than sit down bang on the oāclock and do the thing, I will give myself a rough estimate of what I will need to do and when I will be free, then I aim to be there, doing that thing around that time, rather than expecting myself to be doing it and beating myself up when Iām not. If I know thereās an interaction I want to be at or have to go to, then I will ensure that there are very few of them at that time, to allow me to feel comfortable afterward. This way, when I come back to the big things I need to do, I know I have the time, energy, and concentration to do them.
3 - Big things first. Big things are big for a reason. They have the biggest impact on your life, can make things good or bad depending on how you handle them. So, no matter how much you wanna get the small fry off your chest and not have to worry about it, itās far better to get the big meaty chunks out of the broth first, then you can enjoy the gravy afterwardā¦ I donāt know where that came from. Iām not even hungry.
If you have several big things to resolve, then donāt try to do them one after the other. Do at least one first, then do a maximum of three small things and have a chance to relax too before you try to tackle another big thing. This way, youāll have your mind clear ready for it and wonāt be thinking about how you handled the last task or getting the dreaded brain fog. Staring at a task not knowing what youāre supposed to do with it never helped anyone!
And finally, 4 - I touched on it in the last one, but probably the most important thing you can do is give yourself a chance to rest and recuperate. We go away on holiday for a reason - to get away from environments that feel like hard work. Careers and chores take up a lot of our lives and while they need to be done, they shouldnāt make us feel devolved into just doing that, day in, day out. Give yourself that time to do the things you want to do, see the people you want to see and then come back refreshed. Yet, on the same token, donāt overdo it if you want to be productive. If you spend all your time chilling, watching rubbish on Netflix, and not trying to get a task out of the way, you cannot then moan that life is boring or that itās hard to be productive. It isnāt, mate. Youāre just not trying. Sorry, but thems the facts. (Google Docs does not like that either, it kept trying to change thems to themes).
So those are my top tips and I am going to take my own medicine now. Time to get back to some hard graft and see what I can make of a story or two. Weāre getting somewhere with Luna Switched thanks toā¦ err, for the sake of Tumblr, Iāll call her Lady T.S. I have a project planned out called EarthQuestria and a plan prepared for Scoundrels too. So, things are moving nicely and Iām looking forward to sharing more too.
Last question - Patreon rewards, what do you think? What would YOU like if you were sending me cash to keep me writing and sharing my creativity? Answers on a postcard to this address...
All good things,
Lots of hugs,
Scara x
Link to Luna Switched: https://www.fimfiction.net/story/17...../luna-switched
Link to Discord Server: https://discord.gg/9GEhvhfĀ
All Good Thingsā¦ Ā Time To Do The Write Thing...
All Good Thingsā¦ Ā Time To Do The Write Thing...
#Blog #Bloggerstribe #AllGoodThings
27th June 2020
Hello Chaps and Chapettes,
Itās about time.
I started doing these blogs when I was realising that I was struggling to find the motivation to write. I was putting off projects that I needed to complete or at least struggling to decide what I wanted to do with them. Now Iām at the precipice of the journey where I know where I want to go next, what I want to do, and how Iām going to do it. Iāve discovered that through these blogs. Unfortunately, something still stands in my way and that isā¦ These blogs.
Donāt get me wrong, I am not going to stop writing to you, dear reader. Iāve really enjoyed writing to you and equally you writing back to me, teaching me things, encouraging me, and I thank you from the whole of my heart for that. I will not take likely all you have done to get me to this point, whether it is just viewing what I wrote, telling me what you thought, or giving me hints and tips. However, I must start a new journey otherwise I will get lost in this one.
You see while doing this has been brilliant at getting me motivated to write, helping me practice my touch typing skills, increasing the speed of my writing, and learning that I CAN BLOODY DO IT! It has also made me a bit complacent. I spoke earlier about how, even doing one thing can still be a win during your day, but there is also a danger to that. If you want to succeed, small wins can lead to a big win, yet you need to ensure that you are focused on the next step up too.
Let me put this forward, you do not have to step up. Doing little wins every day such as ensuring you pay that bill, or write one little thing, or go to work, or eat, or sleep, or put the garbage out, will keep you on a straight line. You can go in a straight line as long as that is what makes you happy. Youāre still living, laughing, having fun and thatās great, there is nothing wrong with it. However, if you want to go up, then going in a straight line will not get you there. You have to make a sacrifice and try taking the stairs instead.
Donāt get me wrong, that sacrifice could feel like a mistake. Life is like a big game of snakes and ladders, you could be climbing one day and from no fault of your own, youāre sliding down the next day. Yet, even if you end up at square zero, the starting block of the board, there is STILL A LADDER IN FRONT OF YOU! And the best bit is, there are no snakes until you climb up it. So itās literally free real estate. ;3
This is where I am. I want to move from doing these blogs every day to doing them when I feel I have something important to report. I could be about to climb a ladder or meet a snake and Iām not sure which, but that doesnāt matter. If I donāt do it, I will simply carry ongoing, off of the board, and not meeting anything fun in return.
At this point, I want to share a video with you that inspired me. It is a fan film supported by Disney. It is about what happens if you lead with your head and not your heart. It is the Spanish version BUT thereās no dialogue so you donāt need to worry about understanding it, the animation does a good job of that on its own. (BUT if you did want to find the English version, you can do so on Disney+)
Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u-radLHmpQI
If you have watched that then youāll find that when āPaulā followed his head over his heart, he discovered that the life he has followed so far has been risk-free, but also lonely, dull, and adventureless. It is only when his head realized that he was going to end up being sad for the remained of his life that he let his heart take over for a bit. To that end, āPaulā had a fantastic time and in the credits on the Disney+ version, you see images of him trying surfing with the surfer dude, sharing time with the old men doing a fun activity (thus changing their lives for the better too) and creating a family with the sunglasses peddler.
The reason I wanted to share that with you is that, at this point in my life, those six minutes had a profound effect on me. They MADE me want to do something else, to create, to try, to risk, and to see what happens next. So that is what I am going to do. Take a risk and even if it doesnāt pay off, Iām going to learn from the experience and try to do it better next time.
In short, please do not worry about me. Do not worry about there being fewer blogs, I will still be writing to you. Iāll schedule them, Ricky Gervais usually does a vlog once at the weekend and once on a Wednesday, I think I can manage to do the same with these vlogs too. So, this isnāt a goodbye to these, it is a see you later.
In the meantime, my thirty-minute challenges will continue with a new purpose. Iāve learned from these that I can write about a thousand words in thirty minutes. āHarry Potter and The Philosopherās Stoneā is nearly seventy-seven thousand words long. That means, if written from cover to cover without editing or drafts, it would take seventy-seven days to write. That would be two months and sixteen days. That, on this time budget, is acceptable!
Iām first going to focus on a project I started called āLuna Switched,ā - sorry, Tumblr, FurAffinity, Twitter and Facebook friends, you wonāt be able to read that here as itās very adult, but I will sink a link down below if you want to try. Honestly, if youāre innocent or family, please donāt. :D Thanks.
After that, other things will arise that should be more up your street. There will still be pony stuff for a while because I have ideas I need to see to completion before I can go on to actual publishable novel ideas. If I moved on from them now without finishing them, I would not be very happy with myself and my writing would suffer for it, so please bear with until we are at that point.
Until then, Iāll pop on a blog post every weekend and Wednesday. Iāll share thoughts on what I am doing, listen to your suggestions, and look forward to getting in touch. I hope that you will too.
Until then, this is Scaramouche saying, tatty-bye everyone, tatty-bye :D
Stay safe, stay positive, and always do reach out to me if you need to.
All good things,
Lots of hugs,
Scara x
Link to Luna Switched: https://www.fimfiction.net/story/174616/luna-switched
Link to Discord Server: https://discord.gg/9GEhvhf
#Blog #Bloggerstribe #AllGoodThings
26th June 2020
Hello Chaps and Chapettes,
Doing these two back to back because I have a couple of things I wanted to write about in this blog, so rather than stick to my rules I figured it was smarter to get things off of my chest that I will be focusing on when I write a story or anything that includes putting pen to paper really. Itās as simple a rule as this; keep it simple!
I watched a clip of an interview with Micheal Hauge, who is a story consultant, author, and lecturer, and was interested to hear him discuss how many screenplays can fail within the first act or two acts because they do not make the plot easy to follow. If you have something extremely convoluted going on within the first part of a story, show, or production, then the reader or viewer can get lost and alienated extremely quickly.
I have recently found this with āFallout: Equestriaās Scoundrels - The Last Songā (even the name is overdoing it, right?) which I chose last week to unpublish (but not delete!) while I look at doing surgery on the entire story and make it something much more fun and exciting to read.
The problem with Scoundrels is that there were too many things going on at once, as Hauge points out, āif you have problems in the first to stages, itās impossible for your [story] to workā (Hauge, 2016). Let me show you why Scoundrels was not only not going to work but also extremely broken;
āYou meet a griffon in the Wasteland who is looking for her friend and he turns up with a skull on his head telling them to go into a stable because there might be food and shelter and they get there and and AND AND ANDā¦ā
There is a lot going on, BUT no motivation for any character to actually follow. For example, why should any character want to go somewhere on an āifā possibility, IF thereās no drive for them to do so? Even IF Iād suggested it was a mere curiosity, this could have been a stronger driving force that āThey just doā. There are greater problems when you get into the heart of the story too because there is so much going on. IF the story was simply this, it would make sense;
āPonies live in a stable which forces every occupant into a singing contest, and every winner gets to go to a pony version of paradise, however, paradise is not what they assume it to be.ā
How long did that take to read? Five seconds at most? Yet you get the premise of the story, right? Let me show you what my previously published version of that would have been...
āA griffon and a bunch of raiders break into a stable and are unable to escape, where the ponies who live there are forced into a singing contest, and every winner gets to go to a pony version of paradise, however, paradise is not what they assume it to be. However the griffon is torn between singing to find out what the paradise is, and the mare she just met and now loves. Also, there are changelings hiding in this stable who once helped ponies but are equally as confused as everyone else...ā
Bad. Broken. Not good at all.
Do not get me wrong, itās good to have subplots during the main plot. We do not simply go to work, come home, eat, drink, and sleep. During our lives, we encounter many āsubplotsā. Our friend is sick, we worry about them, they get better. We get a cat, they bring home a bird, we try to teach cat this is not the human way of doing cat things. The car breaks down. We call a mechanic. Mechanic takes five years to get to you and when they arrive, they report that the car is a write-off, thus a quest for a new car beginsā¦
But, when these subplots become as big as the main plot, the story gets overwhelming. Youāve probably already felt this in real life. Think about the times when youāve tried to go to work while dealing with a broken car, while worrying about a sick friend, and being upset about your petās behavior. Then work sticks redundancy on you. Then your debts are too damn high. Then, then, thenā¦
And breatheā¦
A story is a place for you to escape.
If a story makes you feel overwhelmed, then you are not escaping. You are delving into something as great as your problems in real life, thus you will not enjoy it. If youāre writing a said story, youāll discover that the story isnāt fun to write anymore either. Oh, you enjoyed it at the start, definitely! But as you went on you discover threads that lead to nowhere, matters that donāt matter, and issues that cannot be solved.
What you need to do is simplify.
Hauge uses the plot of āInceptionā as an example. Itās a complicated film, he agrees, but in the end, it boils down to this;
āSeveral men intercept a personās dreams and delve into the layers of them, interfering with them so that they are able to then adjust the future actions of the dreamer.ā Five seconds.
And the subplot is even briefer. āThe leading member lost his wife and her memory affects the ability to change these dreams effectively.ā
If you cannot shrink your plot to this length, then youāll have problems.
Iāll sign off with a motto of Hauge that explains how to bring yourself back to basics in a story; āIf youāre having story problems, all roads lead to the heroās outer motivation.ā (Hauge, 2016)
Do not get lost in the themes, inner journey, depth or dimension of the character, nor create a premise so thick that there is no way out of it. Instead, focus on the visible goal that the hero wants to cross at the end of this story. Even if youāre writing a blog or a biography, then ensure there is a goal at the end which you want to reach. I think, herein, I have reached that goal. Ā
If you want to watch the full clip, you can find it here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RGYHGc0pTeI&t=48s
#Blog #Bloggerstribe #AllGoodThingsā¦ .
25th June 2020
Hello, Chaps and Chapettes,
Boy, I can tell you I am looking forward to some cooler weather. It is hot as balls in England! Or, as hot as an Englishmanās balls can cope in this weather. It makes it very hard to concentrate on writing or telling any kind of story, you really have to find a wedge into the thing you are writing and make it as exciting for yourself as a writer as well as for the reader. If you donāt have that drive to get a story, blog, or miscellaneous writing going, it isnāt going to go anywhere what so ever.
It reminds me of a story I once wanted to tell as part of a bunch of childrenās fables. You know the kind, like Aesopās Fables or the Beatrix Potter tales of creatures getting into scrapes and learning valuable lessons. Well, before Hollywood took over and it was a rabbit who sounded like James Cordon and annoyed one of the Weasley boys...
My story was about a dog. I donāt think he or she ever had a name, but for the sake of argument, letās call them Doris, Doris the doggo.
Doris was a very pretty dog. So pretty, she was incredibly vain. She wouldnāt have liked to have been called dog, no, no, that was far too inferior for her liking. She much preferred canine. It had a certainā¦ je ne sais quoi. She was so sure of herself that she believed she was destined for greater things. Things like winning Crufts. Not the beauty show, all of it. Basically, completing all of the Crufts. If that wasnāt a thing before she arrived, she believed it certainly would be when she left.
After that, she expected there would be record deals. Appear in movie roles beside Tom Cruise and Scarlett Johansson. Rub shoulders with Beyonce and Drake. Throw tomatoes with Justin Timberlake at Justin Beiber. That kind of thing.
Unfortunately, Doris had not realized or not cared that one fact stood in her way. She was not a famous canine. She wasnāt even a barely recognizable canine. She did not belong to anyone famous, she was not a stunt dog. She lived on a farm and the farmer expected her to round up sheep.
This was the least interesting thing that Doris could ever imagine. She groused and whined and moaned in the morning when the farmer urged her to wake up and perform the task. She barked and whimpered and howled in the evening when she came home from the task. Every other animal on the farm was sick of it, they all got on with their jobs without fuss, so why was this annoying, noisy pup so complacent about her role. Most would just complain at her, which made her feel even worse.
Nobody understood her, not one single creature, and while she chose not to show them how sad it made her, she did feel alone and distraught. Her desires seemed like an impossible goal to reach.
Luckily for her, there was an old nag on the farm. Donāt worry, it wasnāt someone like mommy or granny when theyāre having a bad day. This nag was a horse named Susan.
One evening, after Doris had got back from begrudgingly assisting the farmer with his sheep-herding, the beautiful canine tried to find a place to wail alone where she would not bother the other animals. She had no clue sheād slipped into Susanās stable, as the nag was usually so quiet and calm. It was only when Doris gave a shrill āawoooooooooooooo~ā that Susan piped up.
āExcuse me,ā grunted Susan, ābut can you not?ā
āOh no,ā Doris replied, ānot another animal annoyed at me! Iām so sorry, but I just feel so gosh-darned terrible about my life! I have to herd sheep, Iām not famous, I get mud on my fur every day, and the farmer doesnāt appreciate me! I might as well be a pig and roll around in their pen all day.ā
āAh, well, first off, I wouldnāt do that,ā Susan trotted over, āyou really would not like what they roll in. Letās just say, theyāre the only ones to be happy in it. Secondly, why do you not like herding sheep? You get to run about, have your freedom, and all you have to do in return is ask those fluffy-cloud-wearing blighters where you want them to go!ā
āI think youāre confused,ā Doris scratched an ear with her foot, āI have to bark and run after them to get them to go anywhere. I canāt just tell them where to goā¦ Can I?ā
āHave you tried?ā Susan smirked the smirk of a horse who knew she was right, as the canine tilted her head at her. āTry this. Ask the sheep nicely tomorrow to go where the farmer wants them to go and then do everything you can to impress the farmer. If you can impress them, they might tell their friends! Then youāll be one step closer to what you desire most!ā
Doris gave it some thought. Eventually, she nodded, agreed to try what Susan was suggesting, and went back to the farm-house to rest in preparation for the challenge the next day
āYou do realize thatās part of the plot of āBabe, The Sheep-Pig,ā donāt you?ā whispered a spider from the corner of Susanās ceiling.
āHmm,ā thought Susan aloud, āit hadnāt even crossed my mindā¦ā
ā¦
The next day, the old nag watched Doris walking out to the fields with the farmer and waited patiently for their return. The day was nice, sunny but cool, and the nag did not mind having to wait for news as to whether the plan had worked or not. Soon, just before the sun began to set, the farmer and canine could be seen returning up the lane. However, they did not simply walk. The farmer was running, yelling excitedly and waving their iPhone in the air like they just did not care!
The farmerās partner came out of the house to see what the racket was, only to have the farmer race up to them, give them a big kiss, and hastily and loudly explain what had happened while showing them a video theyād recorded on their phone. The partner examined it, gasped, and began to speak in the same speedy, excitable tone right back.
Meanwhile, Doris padded happily over to Susanās stable and smiled proudly at the horse.
āI take it you did what I told you?ā Susan asked knowingly.
āWell, yes and no,ā the canine replied to the nagās ultimate confusion, looking down at her claws as if deciding whether to paint them. Ā
āDid you ask the sheep to do what the farmer wanted them to do?ā
āNo,ā Doris giggled, āI asked them to do what I wanted them to do.ā
ā...And what was that?ā Susan looked very perplexed, but the pretty, pleased-with-herself pup simply looked up at her with a doggy-dentures smile.
āI made them stand on the hill in such a way so that they spelled out the words, āGET ME AN AGENTāā
After that day, the farmer and Doris got visits from more than just their friends. The video went viral, and soon celebrities such as Tom Hanks, Miley Cyrus, Dwayne Johnson, and even Taylor Swift all showed up to have special messaged created for them by Doris and the sheep. Hanks had āLIFE IS LIKE A BOX OF CHOCOLATES,ā while Johnson got āI CAN SMELL WHAT THE ROCK IS COOKING!ā
Best of all, Doris realized that she would have never thought of this if it wasnāt for the old nag, so every night she ensured she shared all her stories with her new best friend, Susan. The canine became famous, but because this is a childrenās story, it did not go to her head.
The moral here is that sometimes you have to do what you donāt like to get what you want, but that does not mean you cannot enjoy it in the process.
All Good Thingsā¦ The Good With the Bad.
#Blog #Bloggerstribe #AllGoodThingsā¦
24th June 2020
Hello, Chaps and Chapettes,
(Source:Ā https://www.keengamer.com/articles/guides/list-of-common-fallout-4-pc-errors-and-how-to-fix-them/Ā )
It might have seemed like I stopped for a little bit there, huh? In actual fact, I have still been writing, but more or less in the background rather than doing a full-on post like this. Does that mean Iāve been āneglecting my dutiesā or āforgetting the challengeā I set myself to write for thirty minutes a day? Well, sort of. I cannot lie.
Letās see if we can analyze what happened here and correct the error, shall we? The main hiccup was actually on Friday where I did not write anything at all. I did end up writing that blog on Saturday and followed it up with the actual Saturday blog which I wrote and posted on Sunday, but by then I was already going back on several guidelines that Iād set myself. The first was to ensure that I wrote thirty minutes a day, this was missed on Friday, and the second was to have a break on Sunday.
Iāll come back to Friday in a bit and how Iāll resolve that in the future but I also want to talk about why Monday and Tuesday also didnāt happen.
Monday was an oddly exhausting day. The heat has been creeping up this week, today being the hottest so far, but Monday was still cool. I had to take a nap after work and then when I did sit down to write, what I wanted to write was not one of these. Instead, I wanted to work on āScoundrelsā, a story about colorful ponies living in apocalyptic times. They swear, take drugs, shoot guns, itās fun to write.
The reason I wanted to write that, was because on Tuesday I attended an online workshop by a fellow writer who goes by the codename āSomberā. I know thereās non-bronies who read this on my Tumblr so, to summarise, they wrote a particularly famous FanFiction called āFallout Equestria; Project Horizonsā, millions of peeps have read it. Itās also a spin-off from an equally successful story called āFallout: Equestriaā (written by another fanfiction writer, KKat). Somber has a background teaching English so a class on Creative Writing was practically extra studies for my university course!
(Art by me, seeĀ https://derpibooru.org/images/2200843Ā )
The workshop was brilliant. Unfortunately, I didnāt get to workshop my story as we ran out of time but I didnāt feel too down about this. I made friends with a few other fellow writers and so could happily learn and share ideas with them. This ran on quite late and by the time it had ended, the clock was telling me I wouldnāt wake up for work if I didnāt attempt to sleep.
That, neatly, leads me to today. As you can see, although Iāve had a busy day of work, walking to and from the shops and watching āGame Nightā with my brother, I still managed to find the time to write this. Thatās because tonight I had the time. Thatās important.
Friday, the time wasnāt there. I had to be there for a friend who was in need and since my chat, I have it on good authority that their life is looking up. Sunday was fatherās day and I wanted to see both dad and stepdad, which I accomplished. Both men had a great day and felt loved, which was another mission accomplished. Sunday night was blitzed by a migraine and it took two paracetamol two hours to put those fires in my brain out.
Monday, as said, was a very tiring day. But I also spent time writing something, even if it wasnāt this. So there was still something completed by the close of the day. Tuesday, there was work, I had my mother pop over for something, I had to cook dinner, and despite all of this still managed to make Somberās workshop and find writing allies. Do you see where Iām going with this?
Basically, just because you donāt get done what you wanted to do, do not look at it as a wasted day. Even a rest day is a success, so long as it is used to let you prepare for some harder work ahead. You are not failing if you didnāt hit that word count, or forgot to do something you wanted to do, or missed that walk to slim down the spare tractor tyre your gut has become. Even little accomplishments are still a win in the grand scheme of things and believe me they make all the difference.
And sometimes, if someone you know, care about, or love is in need of you, then you should down tools to help them. Let me reiterate that it should be somebody you care about or at least someone who will return the favor along the line. There are people, even family, who can be a drain on your time, resources, and energy. I learned that the hard way last week (see my blog about bullies). Follow your head in these instances, especially if it is aligned with your heart.
Most of all, I want you to take this away with you. Did you wake up today? Do you know how many didnāt get out of bed? Pulled a sickie? Or gave up? You didnāt so in that sense youāre already winning. Now go treat yourself to some cake, champ, you earned it.
Stay safe, stay happy.
All good things,
Love, Scaramouche.
X
Oh, eerrrr, still here?
Okay, let me square with you. Thirty mins just ran out but I wanted to include this; I am writing a spin-off of that āFallout: Equestria,ā series too, as I mentioned, called āScoundrelsā. I did have a lot of the story already up in my FIMFiction library, but I have unpublished it.
Here are my reasons; I didnāt like how confusing it was. It felt like it started in the middle of a story. I had made choices as a writer that took the story in some strange directions. I made the plot too complicated. I made some of the good characters unlikeable. I made it too long while not much/ too much happened.
So, I am holding onto what I wrote. I want to rewrite it, so that story that you may or may not have read does still exist and isnāt a waste of time, it just needs surgery. When itās ready, youāll be able to see it again. Until then, hereās a sneak peek at āScoundrelsā, the ponies of the apocalypse story I will be writing, have edited and polished before I publish it as fanfiction. Enjoy!
(Artist: Brainiac - seeĀ https://derpibooru.org/profiles/BrainiacĀ )
~
Scoundrels
Written by Scaramouche
āWar,ā a voice, masculine and gravelly, haunted my hangover. āWar never changes.ā
It wasnāt much, but it was enough to stir me from where Iād attempted to make my early grave. My snout had the telltale feeling you got when you accidentally snorted water while submerged in a pool... Or hit too much Dash. I pushed my hooves out around me before my eyes were able to open and felt tiny canisters rattle away from me wherever I moved. My ribs hurt, telling me I hadnāt found a nice or even barely comfortable place to flop. The information fed back to me from all my senses came to the conclusion that Iād bucked up again.
Daring to wake, I cracked my eyes open for as long as I could muster and fluttered the lids ātil I could make out the shapes of a flickering square of light in the night-time room. Black and white images flashed through the screen of ponies dressed in armor and uniforms, those in the foreground attempting an escape with their wounded while the ābest and bravestā continued to fight, to injure, to die. The image changed to Wonderbolts tearing over a coal cloud that once belonged to a shining city. I realized it was Manehattan, the place Iād hailed from. I knew from the shadow of a building topped with a huge pony head choking on the fumes. The Pegasi just seemed like haunting crows over that havoc.
After the Manehattan skyline lingered for a few seconds, it switched to a shot taken behind ponies hiding from the invisible foe in a shady tunnel. Their silhouettes were huddled and perpetually expecting the worst of what was to come.
Image after image along with the low, tedious voice seemed to mingle with the throbbing headache Iād gained. It reminded me that as gloomy as these images were, they were only the precursor for the apocalyptic times that came after them. I watched, laid lazily on my side among spent stims Iād used to forget the woes of the new world. I couldnāt help thinking that those dumb saps who had lived nearly a hundred years ago never knew how lucky they were. They could still trust the folks either side of them and that was more than could be said for most ponies this side of a century.
ā... But out of the devastation that arose from the wars, a few were able to reach stables that could house and shield them underground.ā The narrator of the scenes kept going with his spiel regardless of whether I was listening or not. I looked about, but it quickly became apparent to me that the voice was just that. A recording from a stallion no doubts long gone now. There was nopony else in the place but for me that I could see. Nonetheless, he persisted.
āYour family was part of that group and took refuge in Stable Thirteen.ā On-screen, a snap of the giant cog that had once locked up this subterranean vault could be seen.
āNo, they werenāt, pal,ā I grouched, squinting about the area still while battling with some persistently annoying amber locks of mane in my eyes. Something in this place was still trying to live, based on the squealing of a harmed fan spinning in the walls. Thanks to the projection lamp, I could see the tiles that dripped from the ceilings as age and erosion pulled them down. Wires knotted into nooses hung out from the ceiling gaps. Across dirty, rusted floors, the corpses of chairs lay on their sides and backs, stricken by the last unknown executions that had taken place here. Near me and my graveyard of used drug containers, a card crate lay on its side in a beaten state.
āYou are the first generation born in this stable to have not known the-the-the--ā Apparently, I still wasnāt to know what ātheā was. Above me, the box that had created this depressing light and sound show for me fizzed, crackled, sparked, then died. All light failed and draped a veil casually over me and space.
Yet, this wasnāt as terrifying to me as might have been to somepony else. I sighed, relaxed, and let the gentle black patch encourage my head to heal. The festering stable was dead, the complaining sounds of the vents now a memory, and it was good. It was calming. I could maybe forget everything and fall back into a graceful slumber with it. After all, a ship in the harbor is a ship thatās safe...
Of course, fate intervened.
āBreeze! Breeze, where are you?ā The voice was distant, but it was growing closer. āGypsy Breeze, I swear on the spirit of Celestia, if you donāt get your ass into gearā¦ā Fresh, battery-powered light began to dawn around the edges of the forever-open doorway into the corridors, confirming that the calling, living voice wasnāt far from finding me.
āBuck,ā I grunted to myself and pushed back the pain sloshing side to side in my cranium. I had to get myself up before they found me and the evidence littered around me. My legs complained but lifted me, allowing me to stand and let my brain cease paddling about in my skull. I swung a hoof out, brought it down, then my face immediately met the oxidized floor once more as a giggling Dash inhaler tripped me and twirled away.
āBreeze?ā Theyād heard my tumble.
āBuck,ā I hissed painfully and scrambled back up, firing up a spell. I knew the caller in the halls would see the light but hoped Iād be quick enough. Despite the magic throbbing behind my junked-out eyes, I gathered all the emptied Dash I could see in the enchanted light. Catching as many as I could levitate, I shoved them into the deteriorated box, managing to slip the last of them away when a blinding orb swung through the door. I covered my bleary eyes and snarled out at a feeling only a vampire pony in the baking sun would understand.
āGypsy!ā The dazzling sprite squeaked.
āThatās my nameā Buck, Hayfever, could you drop the light of that thing? My bucking eyes are about to explodeā¦ā mercifully, the beam lowered to ground level, allowing me to partially see the mare I knew behind it. Her sunset orange wings were spread in preparation to once more admonish me while the expression on the pegasus remained concerned.
āYou split from me again, Breeze. Ottawa said this stable is particularly dangerous, we shouldnāt be going off alone when--ā
āOttawa was wrong,ā I skulked somehow towards the door and waved my hoof back the way sheād come from. āI caught a terminal back up that way andā¦ I dunno, something about the water talisman failing? Either way, the pony meant to fix it shuffled out the main door, and never came back. After that, the rest of the dwellers overthrew the overstallion and let themselves out of their own accord. Probably likely that noponyās been here since.ā If Iād have sounded more sure of myself in that last comment, I might not have seen doubt spread across her freckled, gold-lit face.
āNo, somepony has been here before us,ā she suggested, āI found the mattresses pulled out of their rooms and laid together in the atrium. There was waste and broken gear that could only have come from outside too. Could be scavs, could be raiders, either way, we donāt want to take our chances.ā
āIt could have easily been the Stable Thirteen ponies too,ā I countered, āespecially if they were going back and forth in and out of here, not wanting to--ā I interrupted myself, as a false step kicked something, which ricocheted off of the metal wall and swirled unfortunately into the light of Hayfeverās torch. It only took her a second to realize what it was and I was already cringing guiltily when the light raised back accusingly at me.
āGypsy Breeze, you silly mare,ā she scolded as well as any experienced mother could, āUsing? Again? I thought you were beating this.ā
āItās not mine,ā I played the part of a lying teenager as best as I could, āitās from those raiders you were bitching about--ā
āOh, so now we believe in the raiders?ā She had another quick examination of the inhaler and sighed, ruffling her wings in irritation as she walked past me, ensuring her hoofsteps echoed her annoyance. āWhen I agreed to hide your troubles from the rest of Helping Hooves, it was on the promise that you were going to make an effort to quit from them. Not so that you could privately indulge in the stuff.ā She collected my saddlebag, discarded on a spineless chair, and was about to toss it to me when she had second thoughts. At my protests, she flipped the flap open first and rifled through up, digging out what she had expected to find almost instantly. Five more full inhalators of Dash were plucked out and tossed into the void of the room before she was comfortable returning my near-empty sack to me.
āIām not doing it to be an ass to you, Gypsy,ā she said as I mournfully took the bag and slipped it back on. āAs mayor of Helping Hooves I have a duty to look out for everypony and that includes you. But if youāre going to endanger lives this way, Iāll have no choice butā¦ā I waited for what kind of penalty sheād place on me. Yet, all she could do was gaze at me, not mad, just disappointed. I gave a low groan, both out of the pain of coming down and the guilt of letting down a mare who was just looking out for my best interests.
āCan we just get out of here?ā I pleaded, āthe air in here is making me feel sick.ā
āYou sure itās just the air?ā She thrust a hoof forward, directing me on the way to head next. āBut youāre right. Letās just get the spark batteries Ottawa needs and high-tail it out of hereā¦ā
To be continued...
Welcome to another edition of āScaramouche gripes about a part of his life rather than gives us a healthy dose of advice. Why do we even follow this again?ā Iām just kidding.
What Iād like to talk about today is some of the hobbies Iāve attempted to kick off of the ground and why they havenāt worked out thus far, but also why thatās okay. As it was the main hobby that I thought would go somewhere, Iām mostly going to focus on art, but Iāll also touch on attempts to play a musical instrument, attempts to get fit by running, and anything else I can think of that I am currently doing far less off.
Art is my biggest bug to bear with as I still return to it sometimes. I do love drawing and creating pieces that I want to share. I suppose the sharing part is the problem.
You see, ever since I was little I loved to draw, paint, and basically do anything creative. When I was still in primary school, Iād start to trace images of Thomas the Tank Engine characters, soon perfecting them so that I could draw them without the need to trace. This skill became transferred to attempting other cartoon characters, and at one point I was drawing South Park characters and selling them to friends for 50p per character. They loved them and that made me feel good. If Iād kept up that little hobby-enterprise, I might be more successful at it than I feel now.
Skip ahead a bit and I got great marks for art at a GCSE level (thatās where Secondary school ends in the UK) thus decided to try for my Art A-levels, alongside English Lit and Lang. However, something changed for me in this year and among many things, the idea of seeing through an Art A-Level was sullied by a disagreement I had with my teachers about how the class was leading me away from a desire to build my skill and into experimental and revolutionary art practices. I got a good grade for AS-level but did not pursue and complete the A-Level in the following year.
Despite this, I still wanted to do something with my drawing and painting interests. I decided to draw and write a comic about some characters myself and friends from the furry fandom created called āFurlivesā. It was my attempt at creating a funny, sometimes introvertly sexual story around my passions. I made it unprofitable by creating a furry version of Doctor Who and later attempted to revive it with a new story with new characters, this time called āFurFictionā. However, as I posted these in my galleries on FurAffinity and DeviantArt, I became disillusioned by the realization that few people were watching or liking what I posted. I did other pieces for people but never charged as I was losing faith in my abilities, comparing them to others, and finding myself lacking.
What seemed to be the real nail in the coffin came one Christmas when I was about twenty years old. I decided to offer to draw and paint bespoke commissions for colleagues in the call center office I worked in at the time. I charged a very small price so that I could earn some money to pay for Christmas gifts. I did pieces during this time that I was actually proud of, including painting a dog belonging to a woman to give to her terminally ill husband. This is still my favorite of all my works.
Unfortunately, it all came to a halt when I gave another commission to a different woman in the office. I went back to my desk and started to work when I saw them come in. I watched them go to the desk, look at the picture, and give it a blank stare. After a few minutes, they came over to me, waited for me to finish my call, and then gave me some rather blunt feedback.
They didnāt like the picture. They felt I hadnāt drawn the people from the photo correctly, the image Iād drawn looked nothing like them, and they didnāt want it. This, looking back, was fair feedback, yet they did this in front of all the colleagues surrounding me. There were no walls or barricades blocking what she said, so I was left feeling embarrassed and apologized, let her keep the picture which Iād also framed and did not charge her anything.
This act stuck with me like a blade between the shoulders of what Iād enjoyed ever since I was a kid. Now, every attempt to lift a pencil or paintbrush was marred by this, and the lack of likes or interest in anything I did share drove it deeper. In the end, I had to step away, because art became an albatross around my neck.
This has seemingly had an impact on most things I attempt to do, not just art. If I try to do something just for myself, I usually enjoy it. However, when I start to share it and I see no views or feedback that is critical of what I am working on, I feel foolish for falling into the trap of trying again. Additionally, if the ability to learn to get better takes too long, it often trips me up or can stunt my attempts to keep going as best as I can.
So why is this okay? Why should I feel that thereās something to gain from this?
For one, itās made me realize that, with anything, you should not expect positive reviews. If you get them, great. If anyone even remotely glances at what youāve done, brilliant! But DO NOT RELY ON IT. If you draw, write, play, whatever, for the sake of someone elseās applause, the lack of it will drive you insane.
And if you get it, no matter whether it is one person saying āI like thisā or a full standing ovation, appreciate the heck out of that. So many people chase their whole lives and never get it. Some get disillusioned by the lack of it. Some hurt themselves over it. If your audience is kind enough to tell you that youāre doing a good job, make them feel like you are happy about it. Definitely donāt take them for granted, you never know when theyāll turn on you.
Lastly, donāt give up. If youāre an audience of one, then at least youāre entertaining yourself. Youāve got a good thing in the fact that you have something you can focus on and enjoy, many do not even have that. Love it, believe in it, and let it be what it is. Sometimes, you donāt really get to see what it will become, as we have learned from people like Van Gogh and Emily Dickinson.
You never know what youāve got, so stick at it. It might be what people will be talking about for centuries to come.
All Good Thingsā¦ Why I Might Create A Patreon...
All Good Thingsā¦ Why I Might Create A Patreon...
#Blog #Bloggerstribe #AllGoodThingsā¦
19th June 2020
Hello, Chaps and Chapettes,
When you enjoy something, you want to do it more. This is especially true if other people watch what you do, comment on it positively, and are interested in seeing, reading, hearing, watching, ETC., more. However, there comes a point, if you do it often enough, that people will start to question whether you can do something else with the skill you enjoy so much. For example, I love writing. I also used to love to draw... Not so much anymore and I will be biting into that juicy topic in the next blog. On writing, I have started to be asked āwhy arenāt you writing a book, selling it, and making some money from it?ā
This is probably the one thing that stands out in my mind from my friends and family outside of fandoms and internet writing clubs and whatnot. Even those who understand that to become as popular as J. K. Rowling or Dame Jacqueline Wilson means hard work, concentration, and a big, fat stack of luck, ask why I couldnāt be at least making a few pennies from it. While I appreciate the sentiment and interest in my attempts, thereās a couple of things I could say that would answer those questions. But first, Iām gonna grab a comfier chair because this one is not working for meā¦
Thatās better! Okay, so, the first thing I would say is that this is currently a hobby for me. I do have a ārealā job, for the time being, that pays money, and while I could earn some pocket from my writing I donāt want to immediately turn a hobby into something I rely on to pay a few bills. That said, this opinion could change due to a number of factors, not least of one being that my ārealā job is ending in September. That is a big nervous bubble of energy that Iām tapping at and dealing with overtime but I am only getting so far at it. I have always said to myself that as long as I am flush enough to feel that I donāt need to ask people for money for something I enjoy, then I wonāt. This has included writing, drawing, and creative ventures, and also when Iāve done spiritual/ psychic things as well. Apart from a handful of times, when Iāve agreed to do things for money, it has been because I really needed the money at the time.
Upon saying that, I am reminded of something my dad told me about doing anything creative but namely drawing. You have to factor in the time you took out of your own life to do the thing, the money it cost to do it, the materials, and anything else that was a cost in order to make the thing exist. Loosely, what he was talking about was a painting - You donāt just have to tally up the cost of the canvas, paints, any other items used, but also how long you spent on it when you could have been watching Greyās Anatomy or Doctor Who.
I could do this with writing. I could say that I had to use electricity to type so that went on the bill at the end of the month, and I had to eat a sandwich to fuel myself up to write that chapter I wrote and posted for readers to enjoy for free, and I wrote said chapter while missing out on a walk or a relaxing time in front of the TV. Yet, what I find at the moment is that even if I reached out to people to ask for a bit of cash towards my hobby, Iād feel bad about doing so. I wouldnāt want people to feel as though they had to pay to see my work or else theyāll never, ever, ever see it again. Libraries donāt do that, other fandom writers donāt do that, so why should I?
I suppose, what this all boils down to is that I just donāt feel that I am good enough to charge people for what I do. Why should I ask for a profit from something that, I feel, people would not want to read, or would not even touch, or would completely ignore altogether? I would be a bum, basically, holding out a cup and asking for people to give me something for nothing. I donāt want to be that. So I have to decide how I want to handle this next chapter of my life. Whether I want to give this up and write something that will eventually have physical pages and a spine, or whether I want to stay on this train a while longer. Write things for free, give what I can to people in terms of advice and healthy outlooks, and try not to think about what the costs might be.
What I am thinking of coming up with is a health medium of the two. That is the reason for the title.
For a while, you may not see, hear, or read a new story or chapter from me. That will not mean I am not writing or doing anything or sodding off to a new planet. It means that I am working on it behind the scenes and making sure that it is ready to be read. However, what I may also do in the not too distant future is create a Patreon that will allow you to see and read it earlier, along with other rewards, while it is still in the workshop. Itās a spitball of an idea and I will do my best to make the Patreon a worthwhile endeavor if it is something I go with. All the while I will also plan to release work at a later date for others to read so that no one feels like theyāll miss out because they cannot afford it. Iāve been there, in that frustrating corner staring at a wallet with large minus signs and bailiffs almost at the door. Iād never judge or expect anybody who wanted a freebie.
But Iād love your thoughts. Honestly, if you think I havenāt got the talent, the drive, or the ability to hold this skill up or you think Iām being greedy, please let me know. I will value everything you tell me.
