I'm a writer, I swear

a pumpkin's scribbles and rarely finished work and the occasional inspirational art post

[letswritesomenovels]

So You’ve Been Offered Representation...

Or you’re about to start querying and want to be prepared (smert), or you’ve scrolled past this on Tumblr and want to save it for that hopefully-not-to-distant day (I believe in you)…

Being offered representation is exciting. It’s a really amazing moment in your career and you should be really proud of yourself for getting there. But it doesn’t mean the querying process is over. You’re about to enter into a longterm relationship that will shape your entire literary career. It’s time to ask a whole lot of questions. 

Every offer comes with “The Call.” The Call is when you and the offering agent have a discussion to see if you’d be a good fit for each other, and while it may seem like a formality, because YOU’VE BEEN OFFERED REPRESENTATION (!!!!) there’s a lot of information that may come out in this conversation that could have a big impact on whether or not you chose to accept representation. 

At the point of offer, you should know that you and the agent likes the genres you write in. You may have seen some of their tweets on social media, or read articles on their blog, or heard authors you admire talking about how amazing it’s been working with them. 

Here are the things you should talk about during The Call: 

Your Manuscript

Just because an agent loved your manuscript, doesn’t mean you’ll necessarily want them to work on it with you. They may have a very different vision for your work than you have. 

When I was querying, the first agent who offered me representation wanted to remove the scene I considered the emotional crux of the novel. The thing I’d felt all previous scenes were leading towards. As we talked, I discovered that the book she wanted to work on wasn’t the book I wanted to write. I considered her offer for a while but ultimately, I realized she wasn’t the right agent for my book, and probably not the right agent for me. 

After that experience, I asked other offering agents what they liked about the book, and in our conversations, tried to explain to them what my vision was, and found that there were agents whose views were more aligned with my own.  

So what does it matter if your visions are different? Why is this more important than being represented?

When you know you and an agent have the same vision for you project, you’ll be able to trust that their editorial advice will help turn your manuscript into a better version of the story you want to tell. Nothing feels worse than making changes to your manuscript that makes it feel like something that isn’t yours, or you can’t feel proud of. 

More than that, your agent will be submitting your manuscript to editors. This means, that they’ll be deciding which editors are going to be able to buy this project, and how they’ll be pitching it to those editors. If they’re misrepresenting the story you’re trying to tell, it may affect your chances of being connected with an editor who has the same vision of your book as you have. 

Don’t pursue representation and publication with an eye for getting it done no matter what. Make sure you get your story published, not somebody else’s idea of what your story should be. 

Possible questions to ask about your manuscript:

What drew you to the project?

Was there a specific point, while reading the project, when you decided you were definitely going to offer representation? 

Are there any scenes that you felt strongly about? 

What was your favorite scene? 

What is your vision for this project?

How would you pitch this book to publishers? 

Do you feel the project is ready for submission? 

In broad terms, what would you recommend for the revision of this manuscript?* 

*Many agents feel as though an ‘edit letter’ with specific revision instructions, is something they should only give out once an author has signed with them, as it is a privilege of a working relationship with them. This is normal, and acceptable; however, agents should be willing to speak more generally about how they’d like to see the manuscript revised.

Your Career Beyond This Project

Agent/author relationships should last beyond a single manuscript. Although your future projects may not be a priority right now, one day they will be, and you’ll want to make sure Future You won’t have to choose between their agent and their career goals. 

Before you have your Call, think about your dreams for your career as an author. What do you want your “brand” to be? What genres do you want to be published in? How many castles do you want to own? (Please don’t consider this. Any agent who promises you castles is a Bad Agent.)

Know what you want for your future, and make sure this is an agent who will be able to get you there. 

Possible questions to ask about your career beyond this project: 

Do you represent the other genres I write in?

My next idea for a project is x. Is this a project that you’d be willing to work with me on?

I want to write in multiple genres/categories, how would you recommend I manage that? 

These are my goals: [list goals]. Do you think you’ll be able to help me achieve them?

This is my vision for my career: [describe vision]. Do you think you’ll be able to help me achieve this? If not, why? 

The Agent

The call is also a good time to ask about the agent’s background. There are “shmagents” out there, so what you want to know is: how much experience they have in the publishing industry and what sort of projects they’ve actually sold. Everyone is new at some point in the game, so not having a lot of industry experienced doesn’t mean they’re a “schmagent,” but is something you might want to take into consideration nevertheless. 

It’s normal for an agent to be getting into a new genre, or to have recently been promoted to assistant/associate to “agent,” but if that’s the case, you may want to figure out whether or not they are knowledgable in the genre, or if they have a good, experienced team backing them up as they start out their career. 

A major red flag would be: not having been an agent long, not having had any other jobs in the industry, and not having sold any books to any major publishers. 

Possible questions to ask about the agent’s background:

How long have you been in the industry? 

How long have you been an agent? 

Have you held any other positions in the publishing industry? 

How many clients do you currently have? Are you looking to expand your list much more?

Can you tell me about some books you’ve sold recently? What genres were they in? What publishers did you sell them to? 

Would you be willing to connect me with some of your authors?

The Agency

Being a literary agent usually isn’t a one-man act. Many literary agents work in agencies, where they work not only with other experienced literary agents, but often have agents solely dedicated to subsidiary rights such as foreign, film, and audio rights. 

The agency the agent works for actually matters a great deal when it comes to selling your project. Will this agent be the one selling the rights of your projects to the UK or France? Is there another agent at the agency whose job this is? Will they sell those rights to the publisher instead? This is the sort of thing that depends on the agency, not the agent. And if you care about it, it’s something you should consider. 

If the agent has struck out on their own, it doesn’t necessarily mean they’re a “schmagent,” but you should be sure to ask them about their reasons for doing so, and their previous experience in the publishing industry. 

Possible questions to ask about the agency: 

How does your agency handle sub rights? 

How large is the agency?

Do you every work with other agents on certain projects/rights? 

What is the agency agreement like?

Possible questions to ask about a one-man literary agency:

Why did you chose to strike out on your own?

What experience prepared you for this? 

How do you handle sub rights? 

Do you ever need the support of other agents, and, if so, where do you get it from? 

Your Working Relationship

Finally, you should consider the sort of relationship that you want with an agent and the sort of working relationship that would be most productive and helpful  to you as a writer. Knowing what you think you might want or need, have a conversation with the agent about the sort of working relationship they’re comfortable with/accustomed to: 

How many editors do you usually pitch to in the first round of submissions?

Do you do tiered submissions? What are those tiers?

When do you shelve a book?

How hands-on are you when not on submission? 

Will you be available to talk through new ideas with?

How closely do you prefer to work with an author while they’re preparing a manuscript? 

Do you prefer to talk by email/phone/etc.

Once that’s finished…

You can’t know for sure, by one conversation, whether someone will be a good long-term partner for you, but hopefully these lists of considerations will help you decide whether the agent offering representation to you is offering the type of representation you need. 

[sandydragon1]

Tips for Writing Healthy Romantic Relationships

Don’t base them exclusively on physical and/or sexual attraction. While these kinds of attraction can certainly strengthen relationships, they can’t create anything but a weak foundation for a relationship on their own.

Know how your characters like to show and be shown affection. Not everyone shows their interest in others the same way. Some people like to give gifts. Others like to cuddle. Still others like giving compliments. Different people like to receive different kinds of affection as well. 

Remember that love at first sight is a myth. You can have lust at first sight and romantic interest at first sight, but true love takes time to develop.

Show the characters interacting and getting to know each other. This should be obvious, but it is all to common for a character to be given a love interest at the last minute or to be paired off with someone the reader hasn’t seen them interact with much. Remember, the reader doesn’t have to see every little thing they do together, but the relationship will feel forced to the reader if they don’t see the characters interacting and establishing that they genuinely care about each other in a significant way. If the reader views your character’s significant other as little more than a stranger, then you’re doing something wrong.

Have both characters do things for each other and contribute to the relationship in meaningful ways. Relationships are two way streets. While you don’t need to keep score of exactly who does what for who (Relationships are not a competitive sport!), the relationship should seem fairly balanced or, if it’s not, then the characters should be working to change that.

Don’t give your characters completely incompatible traits. While it’s healthy for people to differ from each other, there are some differences that even people that are otherwise perfect for each other probably can’t overcome. For example, a environmental activist would have a hard time having a healthy relationship with someone who wants to chop dow a forest. Basically, know your characters’ deal breakers so that you won’t try to match up characters who are simply incompatible with each other.

Have them share interests. This is a great way to add substance to relationships outside of physical attraction and compatible personalities. Maybe they both like fishing. Maybe they share a passion for baking. Whatever you decide to have them like, don’t be afraid to use your characters’ shared interests as opportunities for them to bond. Also, if your characters don’t share a lot of interests/hobbies, consider having one character introduce the other to their hobby or have one character take initiative to try something the other likes. This is a great way to show how much your characters care about each other because it demonstrates your characters’ genuine interest in what makes their partner happy. 

Let the relationship experience at least a few bumps in the road. No relationships are perfect. Let your characters disagree, argue, and maybe even have a full on fight. Relationships that withstand obstacles seem stronger to readers, especially if the characters grow as people because of these hardships. 

[sspookylittleliz]

HAPPY HALLOWEEN MY SPOOKY FRIENDS! I hope you have a nice spooky wonderful day! 🎃👻🖤 eeek!! 

[library-mermaid-blog]

[snazzycookies-blog]

How to write a kiss

[sunfloewer]

Rebloggable version, as requested by davrosbro. :)

Oooh!  Yes!  I love kisses.  Kisses are where it all starts ;).

Okay, first, remember that a kiss is much, much more than just lips.  It is lips, but also tongues, teeth, eyes, faces, hands, noses, bodies, heartbeats,  breath, voice- and most importantly, a kiss is emotions.  A kiss without emotion is just wet mushy lips stuck together.  Ew.  Gross.  The most important part of a kiss isn’t the how, but the who- because of the emotions between the two people.

Okay so:

lips- Lips can slide, glide over each other smoothly, or they can be chapped and rough and dry and get stuck on each other.  They can match, top-to-top and bottom-to-bottom, or they can overlap, with one person’s top or bottom lip captured between the other person’s lips (yummy).  If there is lipstick or chapstick there is lipstick or chapstick flavor, otherwise, lips don’t have a taste (can you taste yours?).  Lips also can smack- the sound of two of them coming together or pulling apart, because they’re wet and warm and soft.

tongue- Tongues are always wet, and always warm.  They’re very versatile.  They can trace over lips, teeth, or another tongue.  They can be smooth and graceful or teasing and flicking.  When tongues are involved, there is drool.  It’s only sexy when you like the person you’re kissing, or else it’s kinda gross. :P

teeth- teeth can clack together awkwardly, or teeth can bite down sensually.  A person biting their own lip is cute, a person biting another’s lips is sexy.  A person biting gently is sensual, a person biting roughly is sexual.

eyes- Eyes can be wide open with surprise, half-lidded with desire, fully closed with pleasure.  Eyes can gaze lovingly, lustfully, wistfully, hungrily, seductively- it all depends upon the emotions of your characters.  Have them do whatever you like, but don’t leave them out- give them at least a mention!

faces- Faces are what the lips are attached to.  Noses bump, cheeks flush, ears turn red, foreheads either wrinkle or relax.  Kisses can leave lips, quite easily, and become kisses on chins, cheeks, noses, foreheads, ears, necks, throats.  Kisses on noses or foreheads are cute and adorable, kisses on cheeks are sweet, kisses on chins, ears, and throats are very sexual.  And a kiss on the lips can be all of those! <3

hands- Hands are super-important.  In order to describe a kiss, usually you want to also describe the hands.  Where are they?  Does one character have their hand behind the other’s head or back, holding them close?  Are they on someone’s shoulders pulling them near, or pushing them away?  Fingers brushing someone’s cheek or palms grabbing someone’s ass convey two very different kinds of situations, even if the kiss itself is exactly the same.

noses- Noses are annoying.  They easily get in the way, especially for first kisses!  People have to tilt their head to one side or the other, and if they don’t, noses bump.  I’d only mention noses if a kiss is supposed to be awkward or uncertain or nervous.

bodies- bodies are either close together, or far away.  Someone can be surrounded comfortingly by someone’s arms, or terrifyingly trapped by them.  Bodies are warm or hot, they are calm or nervous, relaxed or tense.  Body language says a lot.  Is your character pulling away, or moving closer?

heartbeat- Hearts can beat fast or slow, and that’s about all they can do- but there are lots of reasons why they do!  A heart can beat fast with fear or excitement or nervousness; a heart can pound with lust or race with terror or sing with joy.  Hearts can glow, cower, or shatter.  When you really want to drive the emotions of a character home, mention the heart.

breath- To me, the most consuming part of a kiss is the breath.  The air that someone else has just breathed going deep into your lungs is very intimate.  Lips and tongues don’t have a taste, but breath does.  Each person’s breath tastes different, smells different, and surrounds a person differently than anyone else’s breath.  Breath can be warm and sweet, breath can be hot and sexy, breath can be hot and frightening.  It is something that is very present and should not be left out.  A lot of writers leave breath out.  And it’s so important; it’s the most intimate part of a kiss.  Someone else is breathing into your lungs, and it’s either heaven or it’s hell.

voice- Voice conveys much, even without words.  A voice can groan, whimper, gasp, moan, catch, whine, scream, sigh.  Voice can convey emotion powerfully, and while some kisses are silent, usually they’re not.

emotion-  Emotion is the most important- and the thing you try not to say.  You want to describe it, through all of the things above, so that it’s perfectly clear what your characters are feeling, without you ever using the “feelings words”.  If they’re in love, their bodies will lean close, their eyes will smile, their voices will giggle softly.  If they’re nervous, their palms will sweat, their noses will bump, their voices will shudder.  If they’re afraid, their muscles will be tense, their faces will grimace, their lips will not open.  Emotion is the color that you keep inside your mind as you write; it’s the base line that drives the description behind everything else you say.

Wow, that was a lot!  Gosh I hope it wasn’t too much!  Keep in mind not every kiss has all these things- this is just a list of things to consider when writing a kiss, and based on how long of a kiss you want to make.  Keep in mind that typing “they kissed for a long time”…that’s six words, it takes half a second to read, so that’s a short kiss!  If you want a long kiss, you need long sentences that make the reader linger.

So maybe to start off, pick three things on the list to describe in your first kiss.  Don’t try to do it all- that would be too much for even the most epic kiss.  Just pick what’s most important to this particular scene, to these particular characters, and describe those parts along with the lips, and you’ve got yourself an awesome, emotional kiss. <3

[decorkiki]

More Mens #Fashion Infographics

Shop KikiModo.com

[queerist]

What.

The.

Fuck.

[kazul9isdead-deactivated2021091]

“Writing is hard” I say as I continue to browse the internet, not attempting to write at all.

[h-brook-writes]

Writing is...

Writing is a delicate thing. It’s the tweaking of sentences that aren’t quite right until you have something that sings off the page and glows with the energy of things done just so. Writing is a brutal thing. It’s the deletion of thousands of words that no longer have a place in the story you set out to tell. The details that don’t fit anymore, entire characters sent back to the waiting room for a second chance elsewhere. Writing is a tedious thing. It’s sitting up past midnight, trying to implement a plot twist that’s coming out all wrong, with your bed calling out to you, but you can’t lose this thread, not now. Writing is a miraculous thing. It’s making something out of nothing. It’s sharing your thoughts, now organised in a way that others will understand, after nurturing it first. It’s the Big Bang, with the writer at the centre, ideas and words spilling out in a never-ending expansion. And it’s you. It’s you saying, “I am here.” It’s your story. Thank you for your voice.

[positivedoodles]

[writing-prompt-s]

Write, amigos

[goodbyedearfriends-deactivated2]

Latin phrases to use as incantations.

This is gonna be a long list.

ab intra - from within

ab origine - from the source

absit iniuria - “let insult be absent”

absit invidia - “let envy be absent”

absit omen - “let omens be absent”

ab uno disce omnes - from one, learn all.

abyssus abyssum invocat - deep calleth unto deep

a capite ad calcem - from head to heel

acta non verba - actions not words

ad altiora tendo - “I strive to higher things”

ad astra - to the stars

ad fontes - to the sources

ad meliora - towards better things

ad oculos - to the eyes

ad undas - to the waves

ad victoriam - to victory

adsum - I am here

a fortiori - from the stronger/from strength

a mari usque ad mare - from sea to sea

audeamus - let us dare

audentes fortuna iuvat - fortune favors the bold

audi, vide, tace - hear, see, be silent

beatae memoriae - of blessed memory

bona fide - in good faith

bono malum superate - overcome evil with good

capax infiniti - holding the infinite

carpe diem - seize the day

carpe noctem - seize the night

cave - beware

ceteris paribus - all other things being equal

circa - around

citius, altius, fortius - faster, higher, stronger

clavis aurea - golden key

cogito ergo sum - I think, therefor I am

compos mentis - in control of the mind

concilio et labore - by wisdom and effort

concordia cum veritate - in harmony with truth

concordia salus - well-being through harmony

coniunctis viribus - with connected strength

consummatum est - it is complete

corruptus in extremis - corrupt to the extreme

crescit eundo - it grows as it goes

de novo - from the new

de profundis - from the depths

dies irae - day of wrath

dona nobis pacem - give us peace

ego te provoco - I challenge you

esse est percipi - to be is to be perceived  

esse quam videri - to be, rather than to seem

esto quod es - be what you are

ex animo - from the soul

ex luna scientia - from the moon, knowledge

ex scientia tridens - from knowledge, sea power

ex silentio - from silence

ex undis - from the waves of the sea

experientia docet - experience teaches

fac et spera - do and hope

fac fortia et patere - do brave deed and endure

faciam quodlibet quod necesse est - I’ll do whatever it takes

faciam ut mei memineris - I’ll make you remember me

facta, non verba - deeds, not words

fortis et liber - strong and free

fortis in arduis - strong in difficulties

gloriosus et liber - glorious and free

hic abundant leones - here lions abound

hic et nunc - here and now

hic sunt dracones - here there are dragons

hinc illae lacrimae - hence those tears

hinc itur ad astra - from here the way leads to the stars

igni ferroque - with fire and iron

in memoriam - into the memory

in nocte consilium - advice comes over night

libra - balance

littera scripta manet - the written words endure

locus standi - a right to stand

luceo non uro - I shine, not burn

luctor et emergo - I struggle and emerge

mare liberum - free sea

memento vivere - remember to live

more ferarum - like beasts

natura non contristatur - nature is not saddened

nec spe, nec metu - without hope, without fear

noli me tangere - do not touch me

ophidia in herba - a snake in the grass

pro se - for oneself

propria manu - by one’s own hand

quaere - to seek

quod abundat non obstat - what is abundant does not hinder

resurgam - I shall arise

semper ad meliora - always towards better things

semper anticus - always forward

semper apertus - always open

semper fortis - always brave

semper liber - always free

stet - let it stand

tuebor - I will protect

vera causa - true cause

[simplyoriginalcharacters]

Writing Characters with Enhanced Senses

Characters with extraordinary senses come up a lot. Maybe your character is of supernatural or alien origin, or maybe they were just born with a genetic quirk. Maybe they have a sensory disorder that only makes their hearing seem extraordinary. There are lots of reasons why a character might have extraordinary senses and a lot of different ways those senses might be put to use, but here are some of the drawbacks you might consider when writing a character who has a super sniffer, excellent eyesight, or high-quality hearing!

Sight: If your character has super sight, chances are that they can see farther and more clearly than anybody else, which is pretty cool except that the human eye can still only really focus on one thing at a time…so your character might want to be careful not to get distracted when they’re, say, crossing the street. If they’re watching a burglary occur a thousand yards away, they might not notice the car that just whipped around the corner behind them. Other super-drawbacks might include heightened sensitivity to light, color, or movement - and you have to remember that nobody can see three-hundred-sixty degrees at all times, so your character is probably going to have a blind spot (unless they’re an owl). Also, they may frequently look like they’re staring off into space when they’re really just watching something very intently.

Hearing: Have you ever been standing in a crowd of people who are all talking at the same time? Now imagine if you had super hearing! It can be hard to pick out individual pieces of information or even follow a single conversation when you can hear everyone in a six-block radius…and it’s not just conversations. You can also hear every car, every pet moving around, every jingle of a key, the air moving through the vents, and so on and so forth. This is another one of those abilities that may make it look like your character is just really easily distracted - it’s not that they don’t want to pay attention to their friends, it’s just that they’re playing “name that tune” with a radio four blocks to the southeast!

Smell: Think about your shower routine, whatever it might be. How many scented products do you layer on your skin? Soap, shampoo, conditioner, lotion, deoderant, maybe perfume or cologne, shaving cream or aftershave - the list goes on and on. If you had a super nose, you might be able to smell every single layer a person was wearing, and that kind of assault on the nose could be eye-wateringly overwhelming. Consider your reaction to someone wearing strong perfume! There are a lot of other types of smells in the world too, from cut grass and shoe polish to rotting garbage…and a lot of bodily functions have smells too: passing gas, excrement, or urine, menstruation, or sweating, for example. Your character might even be able to smell disease. This type of character might have to wear a mask or a scarf over their face to dull their super-sense, which might give them an odd appearance, but just imagine how much weirder it would look to be standing on a street corner sniffing at the air when all anyone else can smell is car fumes.

Taste: What’s the strongest flavor you’ve ever tasted? Maybe it was something fishy, or spicy, or sour. Everyone’s answer is bound to be different, but imagine if every single thing you ever ate or drank tasted that strong. Eventually you might get kind of tired of it and start preparing food that is more bland, right? Alternately, imagine if nothing ever just tasted like itself to you: you’re eating a french fry, but instead of tasting “french fry” you’re tasting potato, salt, oil, the metal of the fryer, the latex in the gloves used to scoop them into the paper tray, the paper tray itself…that would be pretty overwhelming! The major drawback to super taste is that your character might have trouble eating out or eating in front of other people. When you taste a lemon, your face puckers up…just think of how much more sour it would taste with a super tongue!

Touch: Did you know that every day you suffer a million tiny hurts and your brain just ignores them so that you can keep on functioning normally? If you had an enhanced nervous system, that might not be the case. Think about the number of tiny things we ignore every day: actions like walking, scratching, accidentally biting your tongue, or blinking could hurt pretty bad if you were super sensitive to touch! People with super touch might have a hard time getting comfortable all the time, and they might have to deal with not liking the feeling of clothes, being annoyed with air moving over their skin, or being extra-sensitive to physical contact. If a hug felt to me like someone was trying to break my ribs, I’d avoid them too!

So what are some things to keep in mind when writing about characters with extraordinary senses, other than drawbacks? Here are some things to consider:

Set limits. Your character shouldn’t be able to see past the curve of the earth - that’s just silly! Likewise, if they can hear something happening through the entire planet, you may want to rethink. Consider things like range and clarity when you’re setting limits on super senses: how far away can they see things and how clearly can they see them, for example. When it comes to touch, this is a little more tricky, and you might want to think more about the direct effects of pressure on the character: how much pressure does it take before it hurts?

Enhanced senses require enhanced brainpower. I don’t mean that they raise your character’s IQ level, but consider how much effort it takes to sort through and process sensory information. If your character’s brain can’t handle it, they might be in a constant state of sensory overload.

Speaking of sensory overload, that might happen to your character sometimes anyway! Everyone faces extreme situations in their lives where their brains just can’t keep up with the workload, and the threshold for that point is probably lower for people with super senses. If you’ve got a character with super hearing and four people are trying to talk to them at once, they might experience sensory overload and have to go recover for a while, so do your research into sensory overload and what to do to help them.

Finally, their super sense is going to impact how they experience and relate to other people. Maybe your character doesn’t remember a person’s name or face but they’ll never forget her voice. Maybe they just can’t even be in the house with Great-Aunt Helen because she always wears the same musty old perfume and it gives your character a headache. Maybe your character appears to be constantly zoning out when really they’re just looking closely at peoples’ jewelry. How your character perceives others, and how others view your character, is going to be impacted by their ability - count on it.

If you’re writing about a character with super senses, I hope that this has been helpful and maybe even inspiring to you, and I’d love to hear your thoughts too! Thanks for reading, and good luck!

-Kyo

[soft-butch-cassidy]

I was getting pretty fed up with links and generators with very general and overused weapons and superpowers and what have you for characters so:

Here is a page for premodern weapons, broken down into a ton of subcategories, with the weapon’s region of origin. 

Here is a page of medieval weapons.

Here is a page of just about every conceived superpower.

Here is a page for legendary creatures and their regions of origin.

Here are some gemstones.

Here is a bunch of Greek legends, including monsters, gods, nymphs, heroes, and so on. 

Here is a website with a ton of (legally attained, don’t worry) information about the black market.

Here is a website with information about forensic science and cases of death. Discretion advised. 

Here is every religion in the world. 

Here is every language in the world.

Here are methods of torture. Discretion advised.

Here are descriptions of the various methods used for the death penalty. Discretion advised.

Here are poisonous plants.

Here are plants in general.

Feel free to add more to this!

[thejovianmute]

An exceedingly useful list of lists for writers.

[babydollbright]

Oooooo yes

[c2fe]

[prettyarb]

Sometimes you’ve got to name the beast.

[inkbloods-deactivated20150417]

a diagram of the professional, intricate process of how i write

[tbrma]

@blackkatmagic

[blackkatmagic]

I HAVE NEVER RELATED TO A POST MORE.

[writing-prompt-s]

“In my defense, the octopus started it.”

[cillanoodlewrites]

An exercise in Self Introspection

So i’ve been feeling rather crappy today and decided to do some writing to calm down and try to figure things out. it leaves off on a rather ambiguous note cause i’m still feeling crappy, but this helped somewhat. 

There were days when they couldn’t even get out of bed. Those days were usually preceded by having to go out for any reason. It was their recuperation day, they reasoned. As if going out into the world had become a chore. It had, in a very real sense. There were also days when everything seemed lighter. Not fine, or okay, but. . . lighter. The air didn’t feel so heavy and they could actually enjoy things. Most days were a mixture of the two, as if the world were on a balancing board and couldn’t decide which way to wanted to be.

Today was one such day. They had woken up with the morning alarm but laid in bed for another hour, as if storing up much needed energy. Perhaps they should have taken it as a sign to just stay in bed, but there were things that needed doing. So, out of bed and into the bath was accomplished. The day started innocuously, with the cat tearing around the house like a loose cannonball and refusing to eat her food. This was usual though, and did not cause irritation. In fact, when they looked back at the day, there was no clear sign, no one thing that stood out as a reason for their current state.

Watching their favorite show had not helped as it usually did. Nor did playing their favorite game as they were stuck on a particularly hard level. That had certainly not helped and the extreme overreaction to their inability to beat it had been a very clear sign something was wrong. Their head still hurt in the spot where they had hit. Self-harm, they had learned, was a symptom.

So they put the game console away and tried to stem the rising irritation as best they could. They made a sandwich, peanut butter and marshmallow fluff, and thought as they ate. They wondered what it was like to have a significant other. Would it calm them?  Would the person be understanding and sit with them as they ate their sandwich? Would the person be okay with the silence? They wondered if it was even worth the risk. They had their cat, but that was most decidedly not the same.

Perhaps even just a friend they could talk to over the phone. Someone who would listen. Someone who would ask if they were alright instead of launching into a bunch of unwanted advice. They had never had a friend like that. Their mental state seemed to scare most people. And that was it wasn’t it? That was perhaps the thing that had gotten to them today.

Despite the cat’s occasional snuggles and their online friend’s conversation, they were still very lonely. It wasn’t, of course, the root of the whole problem. It was at least a problem they could identify and deal with at the moment. ‘Take care of the things you can identify’, their therapist had told them. How does one deal with loneliness? How does one live with the want of a person they haven’t even met? Where should they go from here?

An action, or plan would be nice. Some sort of resolution. Any idea at all. But none would come. Perhaps this was something they couldn’t answer just now. Perhaps there was no plan of action just yet. Maybe there would be in the future. That would have to be enough right now.

[writing-prompt-s]

You’ve recently joined a cult surrounding a goat. The goat isn’t the prophet, the Devil, or anything else extraordinary. It’s just a simple goat, and you only joined to find out what the cult is preaching in the first place. You later discover the other members joined for the same exact reason.