.

[kristenbouchard]

babes is there anyone who isnt hanging on by the thinnest thread known to man rn or are we all just going thru it this week

[postnuclearophelia]

if im ever terminally online it’s because im avoiding a blank word document like the plague

[nonbinary-adhd]

having adhd means i get special vip access to new emotions, such as Evil Boredom. its boredom but it turns me evil

[1-scara-a-day]

day 56: more scara cat person shenanigans 

[xinyiz]

Shhh... they’re communicating...

[prettydumbloverboy]

Actually, people are good by nature and you're a fool if you think otherwise.

[prettydumbloverboy]

When you sneeze in public, strangers will say "bless you", even though they don't know you.

When you ask for directions on the street someone will show you the way, even though they have nothing to gain from it.

People squeeze their legs against the chair so you don't have to hop over them on your way to your seat in the theatre, and make funny faces to make babies laugh, and purposefully step on leaves to hear them scrunch, and hold the door open for someone leaving behind them, and ask what floor you're heading to when you enter the elevator, and send others photos of things that reminded them of them, and recommend each other songs, and ask if anyone else wants a coffee because they're getting one, and make videos teaching how to sew a button, and wish on shooting stars, and share fun facts, and listen to others rant about things they don't even understand, and let you cross the street first, and give a bit of their food to others, and laugh at jokes they don't find funny to make you feel good, and listen to kids talk for hours about nonsense, and let you know your keys fell from your pocket, and they may be strangers, but with every little gesture they're saying "I love you, I love you, I love you".

[marianhalcombes]

i like mad scientists bc i think we should all get to indulge in being gay, evil, and insufferably smart

[marianhalcombes]

no more of that “im gay and stupid” nonsense im gay and smart and im building a man that will be my downfall

[100493503004422]

me: [vibrating slightly because I had too much caffeine] everything in the world is my fault

[uchihaitachi]

yoshinori mizutani

[artist-rembrandt]

The Small Lion Hunt (with Two Lions), Rembrandt Harmensz. van Rijn, 1641, Minneapolis Institute of Art: Prints and Drawings

Size: 6 1/16 x 4 ¾ in. (15.4 x 12.1 cm) (plate) Medium: Etching

https://collections.artsmia.org/art/55092/

[vy2gumi]

Genshin Mfs keep mischaracterizing the Khaenri'ah dudes to make them be The Bad Guys and it's making me annoyed

[myownprivatcidaho]

whatever souls are made of, yours and mine are the same (insult)

[keychainjar]

[gettingintoknives]

mirror traps by hera lindsay bird

[cyanideending]

i think i’m funny

[theterrorofzanarkand]

The sequel

[jewfrogs]

this is so mean but sometimes i see published writing and suddenly no longer feel insecure about my own writing ability. like well okay that got published so im guessing i dont have much to worry about

[naamahdarling]

I have a friend who is an editor, and gets submissions of mostly poetry and short stories.

I have had a glimpse into her slush pile, and let me tell you, the contents were unbelievable and immediately disabused me of the notion that reading through submissions is in any way glamorous. People have the nerve to submit unhinged paranoid ramblings, fetish porn, and a seemingly endless supply of poems about masturbation.

I no longer feel like my fiction is somehow an imposition on the people who read it. It may be forgettable, but at least it isn't typeset to look like sperm.

Do not be afraid to submit your work. Your competition is not only worse than you think, it's worse than you ever imagined.

[silverhand]

Do these three things to get to the top of the slush pile:

The place has a style sheet. Use it. They say they want your MS in 16.5 point Papyrus italic with 0.8 inch margins all around, guess what you're doing before you send it off? Save As, reformat, send it. In the absence of a specific guide: Courier 12 pt (Times New Roman if you must), double spaced, align left, tab 0.5 at each new paragraph.

Check the word count. Don't submit novellas to 2500 word short story venues. BTW, you format the MS in that old style above because the question isn't literal words. Courier 12pt double spaced gives you 250 words per page for typesetting purposes. 2500 words is 10 ms pages, 5000 is 20 pages, etc.

Don't send your romance to Analog or your war story to Harlequin. If it's a cross-genre story, be sure there's enough of what the publication is focused on to interest them, but breaking through is hard if that's not something they usually do.

That's basically what every single editors' panel at every con I've ever been to has boiled down to. And invariably, someone tries to get up and argue with them, not realizing it's not a discussion.

Bonus tip: Don't be in any way cute in your cover letter. Just the facts/Luke Skywalker's message to Jabba the Hut in ROTJ.

Enclosed/attached is my story <Title> for your publication <Magazine>. It is x (rounded to the nearest 500) words. I can be reached at <email> (that you check regularly and isn't likely to dump things into spam) and <phone>.

(If submitting a hard copy: The manuscript is disposable. A SASE is enclosed for your response./A SASE is included for return of the manuscript and your response.)

Thank you for your consideration.

If submitting a novella length piece or greater, a brief and complete summary is appropriate.

In the midst of an interstellar revolt against an evil galactic Empire, vital weapon plans fall into the hands of a farm boy on the edges of the galaxy. With the help of an aging warrior from the Old Republic, and a smuggler with a dark past and his imposing alien copilot, the four set out to deliver them to the rebel forces but are instead flung into a rescue mission to save the beautiful princess who stole the plans as worlds are destroyed by the might of the Empire's weapon, the Death Star.

Captured by the Death Star on route to deliver the plans, they manage to escape the base with the princess, the old warrior sacrificing himself to make this possible. As the Death Star approaches the rebel base, they use the captured plans to stage a desperate final stand. In a fierce space battle of single-pilot ships over the surface of the moon-sized weapon, the farm boy manages to make the critical shot with an unexpected assist from the smuggler, destroying it.

Never under any circumstance put a cliffhanger into a query letter summary. There is no faster way to get the entire MS binned than doing that.

Happy writing.

PS "Top of the slush pile" means into the top 25% of manuscripts received. Three quarters of the submissions don't take the trouble to do even those three basic steps.

Now, that still means 25/100 submissions or 250/1000 submissions, but it still improves your odds and forms the basis for starting a relationship with the publisher for the next piece you send them.

PPS This is obviously about prose. Poetry certainly has its own submission rules, and I know none of them. If you're writing poetry, find out what they are.

[weirdlandtv]

WINTER GHOSTS by Sean Fitzgerald.

[lalinguistique-blog-deactivated]

favorite language learning resources

duolingo- a lot of language learners have issues with it but it’s good to get a base on the language and they’re always adding new languages!

memrise- good for vocabulary and memorizing, they have a wide list of languages

babbel- really effective if you want to learn how to communicate with people or get around, costs money for the full version but they have sales all the time

hellotalk- language exchange app, i’ve had really good experiences with this app, the only downside is that you have to pay to select more than one language you want to learn

tandem- similar to hellotalk, i like it slightly less but it allows you to choose as many languages as you want!

forvo- you can listen to native speakers pronounce things! it’s amazing!

ipachart- interactive chart with the international phonetic alphabet

wordreference- online dictionary for french, spanish, german, italian, portuguese, dutch, swedish, russian, polish, romanian, czech, greek, turkish, chinese, japanese, korean, and arabic

bab.la- another online dictionary with 24 languages

linguee- really great for learning phrases and seeing words in context

omniglot- encyclopedia of writing systems and languages, really great for learning new writing systems & also basic phrases! also has links to other resources!

the great language game- game for testing listening comprehension to several dozen languages!

ba ba dum- fun vocabulary game

easy languages- youtube channel featuring native speakers speaking a variety of languages but mostly spanish, french, and german

wikitongues- youtube channel attempting to document every language in the world

languagepod101- offers podcasts and youtube videos in a wide variety of languages

verbix- verb conjugating website with a wide variety of languages

quizlet- flashcard website that’s great for compiling vocab lists

lingq- i’ve only used it a little but it seems helpful especially for beginners!

tunein- allows you to listen to radio in a variety of languages

wikipedia- they have thousands to millions of articles in various languages so it’s a great place to test your reading skills, and in addition you can read articles about the language you’re learning and get a grasp on the language’s structure and sound system

lyricstraining- allows you to learn languages using song lyrics, really helpful for comprehension

lang-8- you can post things and have native speakers correct them, and correct things from other people!

feel free to add!

[cali-cocaine]

this is good

[embyrr922]

I’d just like to add, see how they behave when they’re angry/frustrated/exhausted, and if you see something that concerns you, wait until they’re calm, and then talk to them about it.

My husband used to yell when he got frustrated, but after I explained to him that I found it upsetting, he stopped yelling and started consciously working on asking for help before he got to that level of frustration.

When I’m upset over something, or just in a bad mood, I tend to withdraw. My husband explained to me that it makes him feel like I’m mad at him, so now when I need some space, I’ll tell him what I’m upset about, or that I’m in a bad mood for no particular reason, and I need to be alone for a little while.

See your friends and partners at their worst, but don’t assume that their worst is immutable. If someone loves and cares about you, they’ll try to accommodate you to the best of their ability.

[ladylike-foxes]

^^^^ This is the best advice I’ve ever seen on this site, and it is so important. Communication is everything, and is 80% of the reason my husband and I have such a healthy, strong, and supportive relationship.