doopers (n.)

literature student | she/her

[doops-txt]

prewriting an essay for class on female rage and I just wrote "Men can be angry and slap themselves on the wrist later. When women are angry, men still do the slapping." and god I need to go take a walk

[yourlocalswan]

i’ve just entered my final semester of undergrad and in my advanced writing workshop my prof explained, to me, what can really separate good writing from great writing; he outlined for us cohesion, which most writers in any level of academia become accustomed to, but he added something else.

he told us that along with cohesion we must learn compression, which basically amounts to packing as much interpretive meaning into a single sentence, having one sentence have multiple functions, and overall being unique and memorable as a result.

i guess this concept is new to me but has probably been reiterated in different ways by different people, but this explanation really stuck out to me and i’m looking forward to implementing it more in my writing going forward :-)

[midnightcerealblog]

Goodbye Austen girl summer, hello Brontë girl fall

[rainbowsmyname]

I love how chaotic the romantic literary circle was.

A woman who's rumoured to have lost her virginity on her mother's grave.

Her husband who loved sailing but refused to learn how to swim and eventually died because of it.

And their best friend who's a manwhore.

[laurenillustrated]

Mr Darcy and Lizzie 💫

[neil-gaiman]

Hello Mr. Gaiman! Before anything else please give me a moment to fangirl over the fact that you could be reading this right now (laskhflkjwehskjfhw). Anyway I'd just like to ask: do you ever procrastinate? This isn't meant to put you in a bad light or anything, I just kind of want to know, how do you deal with it, if you -do- actually procrastinate? Do you have any advice for us procrastinators? Thanks for answering, Mr. Gaiman, and if you can't thanks all the same. Keep up the wonderful work!☺

Of course. I am human, and I have a Twitter account and a Tumblr account, and frankly, there is nothing Lisa Simpson does in the “Book Job" episode of the Simpsons I was in to avoid writing that I haven’t done too.

How I dealt with it over the years:

1) If I did not write it then it would not be written and I would not be paid for it and my family would not eat. This was a huge motivator for the first half of my career.

2) I’d quite like it to exist. There are people waiting for it who want to read it. Sometimes I’ve come up with some kind of an incentive program, in which I am (for example) allowed to go for a walk when I have written. Or someone I like will do something nice for me if I made my word count.

3) Step away from the Internet. Turn it off, or go somewhere it doesn’t exist, or write with paper and a pen, or do whatever you need to to place yourself in a world in which YOU ARE ALLOWED TO WRITE OR NOT DO ANYTHING AT ALL, JUST STARE OUT OF THE WINDOW.

Staring out of the window gets boring after a while, and it is more interesting to write.

[neil-gaiman]

Dear mr. Gaiman,

I am an aspiring author who very much enjoys reading your books, so first of all, thank you for your great works :)

(my favourite book is probably Good Omens, but maybe just because it was my first one, and because I also adore Terry Pratchett a lot)

secondly, while I enjoy writing, I very much have a problem with describing things. most of my chapters are just internal monologues with barely any context to the setting, and I want to change that. Every time I try to describe surroundings or rooms, it feels like I just poorly described a room and filled with a thesaurus' worth of negative adjectives (I enjoy writing angsty things)

Do you have any tips for me, or by extension anyone else who is trying to get better at writing?

thanks a lot :3

Sometimes it's best to describe places as if you are telling a friend on a postcard or in a text about the place you stayed last night and you don't have much room to explain. So you hit the high points or the one most important thing. "The kitchen wallpaper had probably once been cream coloured but appeared to have had food thrown at it, had never been entirely cleaned off, and now was mostly a rancid collection of browns." "The lounge was dominated by a large grey sofa, composed of four unattached modular blocks, which meant that when people sat on it they would rapidly find themselves drifting away from each other across the polished wooden floor." "The bedroom was small and airless and the furniture that had been abandoned there was old and unloved." Or whatever.

[neil-gaiman]

Hello Mr gaiman. How old were you when you started writing stories ? I'm 14 and I try and try but they are all awful. I always give up in the middle and I can never finish what I wanted to write.

I know. I found a pile of papers of mine from my teen years and into my early twenties recently, and there were so many stories begun, so many first pages of novels never written. I’d start them, and then I’d give up because they weren’t as brilliant as Ursula K Le Guin, or Roger Zelazny, or Samuel R Delany, and anyway I wasn’t actually sure what happened next.

I was around 22 when I started finishing things. They weren’t actually very good, and they all sounded like other people, but the finishing was the important bit. I kept going. A dozen stories and a book, and then I sold one (it wasn’t very good, and I had to cut it from 8,000 words to 4,000 to sell it, but I sold it). I probably wrote another half-dozen stories over the next year, and sold three. But now they were starting to sound like me. 

Think of it this way: if you wanted to become a juggler, or a painter, you wouldn’t start jugggling, drop something and give up because you couldn’t juggle broken bottles like Penn Jillette, or start a few paintings then give up because the thing in your head was better than what your hands were getting onto the paper. You carry on. You learn. You drop things. You learn about form and shape and shade and colour and how to draw hands without the fingers looking like noodles. You finish things, learn from what you got right and what you got wrong, and then you do the next thing.

And one day you realise you got good. It takes as long as it takes. So keep writing. And all you need to do right now is try to finish things.

[neil-gaiman]

Lots of questions coming in right now feel like this one, so I thought I’d reblog my answer to it, in the hope that it would help lots of you…

[neil-gaiman]

I'm 14 and I dream of becoming a writer, do you have any advice on what I can do for now so that when I 'grow up' I can achieve my dream?

First of all, you need to read. Read everything you can lay your hands on. Read the ‘classics’ in whatever areas of writing you want to work in, so you know what the high points are. Read outside your areas of comfort, so you know what else is out there. Read.

Second, try things out. Enjoy yourself. If you find a writer you like, write like them. And then sound like something else. Write anything. Don’t worry about it being good or read by other people. Just play, and play a lot. 

Third, read books on writing, use anything that seems interesting and ignore anything that you want to. When I was a boy, I remember the delight with which I found a book called THE CRAFT OF SCIENCE FICTION, edited by Reginald Bretnor with essays by a bunch of writers, although the only things I’ve used (I think) were John Brunner’s descriptions of the different shapes of stories, and Larry Niven’s advice to treasure your typos (which is where CORALINE came from). 

Fourth, live as much as you can. The more things you see, the more places you go, the more lives you touch, the more you will be able to write truthfully, and the more memories you will have to make your imaginings real.

Don’t let people discourage you. (You are under no obligation to tell anyone you are going to be a writer.) You are not on anyone’s timeline. You can get a job  that’s a writing job, or get a different sort of job: neither of these things matter in the long run. Just know that you are going to have to make the time to write.

Beyond that, you are on your own. And, when it’s you in front of a screen or a blank piece of paper, that’s the way it’s always going to be.

[maxkirin]

Neil Gaiman’s 8 Rules of Writing, a remake of this post. Source.

Want more writerly content? Make sure to follow maxkirin.tumblr.com for your daily dose of writer positivity, advice, and prompts!

[neil-gaiman]

Hello Mr. Gaiman.

I've always enjoyed writing and have found it to be crucial to me living a contented life.

Recently however I went through a brutal breakup and it seems like I've lost all weight to my words. Every thought seems pretentious and unnecessary and I can't switch my inner critic off when writing the first draft no matter how hard I try.

I clearly remember all you have taught in your masterclass and your lectures on the importance of stories. But I feel helpless, almost like a rusty and redundant vessel without purpose lying around in some field where it doesn't belong. You've always been a sort of a kind wise old gandalf in my life (definitely more funny and a little bit more hauntingly amazinger) so with that being said.....

My question is: is there a cure to this or should I move on from writing altogether?

(btw I opted to major in journalism and work as a freelance journalist like you because in Gaiman we trust)

Thank you

-Saad

Why not take a break from writing whatever it is you are currently working on, and in the time you would have been writing try going for walks instead? You've just been through a brutal break up and you are still processing it. Walk every day. Get your attention out into the world rather than inward. Write sad poems about the break up nobody ever has to read if you need to. And when you feel the urge to write go back to writing again.

[neil-gaiman]

I have been trying to write for a while now. I have all these amazing ideas, but its really hard getting my thoughts onto paper. Thus, my ideas never really come to fruition. Do you have any advice?

Write the ideas down. If they are going to be stories, try and tell the stories you would like to read. Finish the things you start to write. Do it a lot and you will be a writer. The only way to do it is to do it. 

I’m just kidding. There are much easier ways of doing it. For example: On the top of a distant mountain there grows a tree with silver leaves. Once every year, at dawn on April 30th, this tree blossoms, with five flowers, and over the next hour each blossom becomes a berry, first a green berry, then black, then golden.

At the moment the five berries become golden, five white crows, who have been waiting on the mountain, and which you will have mistaken for snow, will swoop down on the tree, greedily stripping it of all its berries, and will fly off, laughing.

You must catch, with your bare hands, the smallest of the crows, and you must force it to give up the berry (the crows do not swallow the berries. They carry them far across the ocean, to an enchanter’s garden, to drop, one by one, into the mouth of his daughter, who will wake from her enchanted sleep only when a thousand such berries have been fed to her). When you have obtained the golden berry, you must place it under your tongue, and return directly to your home.

For the next week, you must speak to no-one, not even your loved ones or a highway patrol officer stopping you for speeding. Say nothing. Do not sleep. Let the berry sit beneath your tongue.

At midnight on the seventh day you must go to the highest place in your town (it is common to climb on roofs for this step) and, with the berry safely beneath your tongue, recite the whole of Fox in Socks. Do not let the berry slip from your tongue. Do not miss out any of the poem, or skip any of the bits of the Muddle Puddle Tweetle Poodle Beetle Noodle Bottle Paddle Battle.

Then, and only then, can you swallow the berry. You must return home as quickly as you can, for you have only half an hour at most before you fall into a deep sleep.

When you wake in the morning, you will be able to get your thoughts and ideas down onto the paper, and you will be a writer. 

[petermorwood]

Five Crows?

And dawn on 30th April?

I was told Four Magpies and a Raven, and The Last Glint of Sunset on the First Day of May (if cloudy, come back next year).

This explains a lot…

[kelsread-deactivated20260217]

"I think that if the devil does not exist, but man has created him, he has created him in his own image and likeness." "Just as he did God, then"

Fyodor Dostoyevsky (the brothers karamazov, 1880)

[linguisticdiscovery]

swollen hundred

Proto-Indo-European (the ancestor of languages like English, Spanish, German, Hindi, Irish, etc.) didn’t have a word for 1,000.

That’s not too surprising though—most small nomadic communities in history didn’t have to count very high.

So how did early Germanic speakers talk about 1,000?

They combined teu- ‘to swell’ with hund ‘hundred’ to mean ‘swollen hundred’.

That word teus-hund eventually became thousand in Modern English!

[studiousdoops]

"It fills me with so much fear yet so much relief reminding myself of his words. With this moment of reassurance, he has effectively cracked open my shelled veneer of brevity and now I feel more vulnerable than I ever planned or wanted to be. I'm trying not to feel guilty for giving him so much of myself. It's sad to say that I still don't fully trust him with my heart. It's also sad to say that now I know I'll miss it when it's over."

(a small excerpt from my journal entry today that had me screaming crying and throwing up as I wrote it all out)

[teddycade]

— 𝐠𝐞𝐧𝐞𝐫𝐚𝐥 𝐭𝐢𝐩𝐬 𝐨𝐧 𝐰𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐚𝐲 🍃📚

𝟭. 𝗽𝗮𝘆 𝗮𝘁𝘁𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝘁𝗼 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝘀𝘁𝗿𝘂𝗰𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗲. 𝗶𝗻𝘁𝗿𝗼𝗱𝘂𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻, 𝗺𝗮𝗶𝗻 𝗯𝗼𝗱𝘆, 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝗰𝗹𝘂𝘀𝗶𝗼𝗻, 𝗿𝗲𝗳𝗲𝗿𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲𝘀. 𝗱𝗼 𝗡𝗢𝗧 𝗳𝗼𝗿𝗴𝗲𝘁 𝘁𝗼 𝗶𝗻𝗰𝗹𝘂𝗱𝗲 𝗿𝗲𝗳𝗲𝗿𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲𝘀 𝗮𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗲𝗻𝗱 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝘁𝗼 𝗽𝘂𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗺 𝗶𝗻 𝗰𝗼𝗿𝗿𝗲𝗰𝘁 𝗳𝗼𝗿𝗺𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 + 𝗮𝗹𝗽𝗵𝗮𝗯𝗲𝘁𝗶𝗰𝗮𝗹 𝗼𝗿𝗱𝗲𝗿. 𝗮𝗹𝘀𝗼, 𝗶𝗻𝗰𝗹𝘂𝗱𝗲 𝗶𝗻-𝘁𝗲𝘅𝘁 𝗰𝗶𝘁𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀 𝘄𝗵𝗲𝗻 𝘄𝗿𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴. 𝗶𝗻 𝗰𝗮𝘀𝗲 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗱𝗼𝗻’𝘁 𝗸𝗻𝗼𝘄 𝗵𝗼𝘄 𝘁𝗼 𝗿𝗲𝗳𝗲𝗿𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲, 𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝗶𝘀 𝗮 𝗴𝗼𝗼𝗱 𝘄𝗲𝗯𝘀𝗶𝘁𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗶’𝘃𝗲 𝗯𝗲𝗲𝗻 𝘂𝘀𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝘆𝗲𝗮𝗿𝘀 𝗻𝗼𝘄: [ 𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗸 ].

𝟮. 𝗰𝗵𝗲𝗰𝗸 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝘁𝗲𝗮𝗰𝗵𝗲𝗿/𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗳𝗲𝘀𝘀𝗼𝗿 𝘄𝗵𝗲𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗿 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝗮𝗻𝘆 𝗿𝗲𝗾𝘂𝗶𝗿𝗲𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁𝘀 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝘁𝘆𝗽𝗲 𝗼𝗳 𝗳𝗼𝗻𝘁 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗶𝘁𝘀 𝘀𝗶𝘇𝗲.

𝟯. 𝗱𝗼𝗻’𝘁 𝗯𝗲 𝗮𝗳𝗿𝗮𝗶𝗱 𝘁𝗼 𝘂𝘀𝗲 𝗱𝗶𝗮𝗴𝗿𝗮𝗺𝘀/𝗺𝗮𝗽𝘀/𝗰𝗵𝗮𝗿𝘁𝘀 𝘄𝗵𝗲𝗻 𝘄𝗿𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗲𝘀𝘀𝗮𝘆𝘀, 𝗵𝗼𝘄𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗿, 𝗱𝗼𝗻’𝘁 𝗳𝗼𝗿𝗴𝗲𝘁 𝘁𝗼 𝗿𝗲𝗳𝗲𝗿𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗺 (𝗯𝗼𝘁𝗵 𝘂𝗻𝗱𝗲𝗿 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗱𝗶𝗮𝗴𝗿𝗮𝗺 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗶𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗿𝗲𝗳𝗲𝗿𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲 𝗹𝗶𝘀𝘁). 𝗶𝘁 𝘀𝗵𝗼𝘄𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗱 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝘀𝗼𝘂𝗿𝗰𝗲 𝘄𝗲𝗹𝗹, 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝘆𝗼𝘂’𝗿𝗲 𝗶𝗻𝘃𝗼𝗹𝘃𝗲𝗱 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝗶𝘁. 𝗰𝗿𝗲𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗼𝘄𝗻 𝗱𝗶𝗮𝗴𝗿𝗮𝗺 𝘀𝗵𝗼𝘄𝘀 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗶𝗻-𝗱𝗲𝗽𝘁𝗵 𝘂𝗻𝗱𝗲𝗿𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗻𝗱𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗼𝗳 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗲𝘃𝗶𝗱𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲.

𝟰. 𝗱𝗼 𝗡𝗢𝗧 𝗽𝗹𝗮𝗴𝗶𝗮𝗿𝗶𝘇𝗲. 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝗶𝘀 𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘆 𝘀𝗲𝗿𝗶𝗼𝘂𝘀, 𝗲𝘀𝗽𝗲𝗰𝗶𝗮𝗹𝗹𝘆 𝗼𝗻𝗰𝗲 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗿𝘁 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝘂𝗻𝗶𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘀𝗶𝘁𝘆 𝗰𝗼𝘂𝗿𝘀𝗲. 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝘆 𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝗩𝗘𝗥𝗬 𝗹𝗶𝗸𝗲𝗹𝘆 𝘁𝗼 𝗻𝗼𝘁𝗶𝗰𝗲, 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗻 𝘆𝗼𝘂’𝗹𝗹 𝗯𝗲 𝗶𝗻 𝗯𝗶𝗴 𝘁𝗿𝗼𝘂𝗯𝗹𝗲.

𝟱. 𝘄𝗮𝘁𝗰𝗵 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝘁𝘂𝗯𝗲 𝘃𝗶𝗱𝗲𝗼𝘀, 𝗱𝗼𝗰𝘂𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗮𝗿𝗶𝗲𝘀, 𝗲𝘁𝗰. 𝘁𝗼 𝗵𝗮𝘃𝗲 𝗮 𝗯𝗲𝘁𝘁𝗲𝗿 𝘂𝗻𝗱𝗲𝗿𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗻𝗱𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗼𝗳 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘁𝗼𝗽𝗶𝗰 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝗮𝘀𝗸𝗲𝗱 𝘁𝗼 𝗲𝘃𝗮𝗹𝘂𝗮𝘁𝗲 𝗶𝗻 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗲𝘀𝘀𝗮𝘆. 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗯𝗲𝘁𝘁𝗲𝗿 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗸𝗻𝗼𝘄𝗹𝗲𝗱𝗴𝗲 𝗶𝘀, 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗺𝗼𝗿𝗲 𝗹𝗶𝗸𝗲𝗹𝘆 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝗵𝗮𝘃𝗲 𝘀𝘁𝗿𝗼𝗻𝗴 𝗰𝗿𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗰𝗮𝗹 𝗲𝘃𝗮𝗹𝘂𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝘃𝗮𝗹𝗶𝗱 𝗮𝗿𝗴𝘂𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁𝘀.

𝟲. 𝗱𝗼𝗻’𝘁 𝗳𝗼𝗿𝗴𝗲𝘁 𝘁𝗼 𝗲𝘃𝗮𝗹𝘂𝗮𝘁𝗲 𝗮𝗹𝗹 𝘀𝗼𝘂𝗿𝗰𝗲𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝘂𝘀𝗲 𝗶𝗻 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗲𝘀𝘀𝗮𝘆. 𝗲𝘅𝗽𝗹𝗮𝗶𝗻 𝘄𝗵𝘆 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘀𝗼𝘂𝗿𝗰𝗲 𝘂𝘀𝗲𝗱 𝗶𝘀 𝘄𝗲𝗮𝗸 𝗼𝗿 𝘀𝘁𝗿𝗼𝗻𝗴; 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗰𝗮𝗻 𝗯𝗲 𝗱𝗼𝗻𝗲 𝗯𝘆 𝘀𝗽𝗲𝗮𝗸𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗮𝗯𝗼𝘂𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗽𝗼𝗽𝘂𝗹𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝘂𝘀𝗲𝗱, 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗽𝗮𝗿𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝗿𝗶𝗮𝗹𝘀, 𝗵𝗼𝘄 𝗹𝗶𝗸𝗲𝗹𝘆 𝗶𝘀 𝗴𝗲𝗻𝗲𝗿𝗮𝗹𝗶𝘇𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗼𝗳 𝗽𝗮𝗿𝘁𝗶𝗰𝗶𝗽𝗮𝗻𝘁𝘀 𝘁𝗼 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗹𝗱𝘄𝗶𝗱𝗲 𝗽𝗼𝗽𝘂𝗹𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻, 𝗵𝗼𝘄 𝘄𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗳𝗶𝗻𝗱𝗶𝗻𝗴𝘀 𝗺𝗲𝗮𝘀𝘂𝗿𝗲𝗱, 𝘄𝗵𝗼 𝘄𝗮𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘀𝗼𝘂𝗿𝗰𝗲 𝘄𝗿𝗶𝘁𝘁𝗲𝗻 𝗯𝘆 (𝗿𝗲𝘀𝗲𝗮𝗿𝗰𝗵 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗽𝘂𝗯𝗹𝗶𝘀𝗵𝗲𝗿/𝗿𝗲𝘀𝗲𝗮𝗿𝗰𝗵𝗲𝗿), 𝗲𝘁𝗰.

𝟳. 𝘂𝘀𝗲 𝗮𝗰𝗮𝗱𝗲𝗺𝗶𝗰 𝗹𝗮𝗻𝗴𝘂𝗮𝗴𝗲. 𝗮𝘀 𝗮𝗻 𝗶𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗿𝗻𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝗮𝗹 𝘀𝘁𝘂𝗱𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗺𝘆𝘀𝗲𝗹𝗳 (𝗲𝗻𝗴𝗹𝗶𝘀𝗵 𝗯𝗲𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗺𝘆 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝗿𝗱 𝗹𝗮𝗻𝗴𝘂𝗮𝗴𝗲), 𝗶 𝘂𝘀𝗲𝗱 𝘁𝗼 𝗵𝗮𝘃𝗲 𝗵𝘂𝗴𝗲 𝗶𝘀𝘀𝘂𝗲 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝘂𝘀𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗻𝗼𝗻-𝗮𝗰𝗮𝗱𝗲𝗺𝗶𝗰 𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗱𝘀.

𝟴. 𝗱𝗼𝗻’𝘁 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗻𝘁𝗹𝘆 𝗿𝗲𝗽𝗲𝗮𝘁 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿𝘀𝗲𝗹𝗳 (𝗮𝘀 𝗶𝗻, 𝗿𝗲𝗽𝗲𝘁𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗼𝗳 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘀𝗮𝗺𝗲 𝘀𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲/𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗱 𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗿 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗿 𝗮𝗴𝗮𝗶𝗻). 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗲𝘅𝗮𝗺𝗶𝗻𝗲𝗿 𝘄𝗶𝗹𝗹 𝗻𝗼𝘁𝗶𝗰𝗲 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝘄𝗶𝗹𝗹 𝗺𝗮𝗿𝗸 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗱𝗼𝘄𝗻 (𝗵𝗮𝗽𝗽𝗲𝗻𝗲𝗱 𝘁𝗼 𝗺𝗲 𝗶𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗽𝗮𝘀𝘁).

𝟵. 𝗢𝗡𝗟𝗬 𝘂𝘀𝗲 𝗚𝗼𝗼𝗴𝗹𝗲 𝗦𝗰𝗵𝗼𝗹𝗮𝗿, 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗼𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗿 𝗮𝗰𝗮𝗱𝗲𝗺𝗶𝗰 𝘀𝗼𝘂𝗿𝗰𝗲𝘀 𝘁𝗼 𝗴𝗲𝘁 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗿𝗲𝗳𝗲𝗿𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲𝘀/𝘀𝗼𝘂𝗿𝗰𝗲𝘀. 𝗗𝗼 𝗡𝗢𝗧 𝘂𝘀𝗲 𝗯𝗹𝗼𝗴𝘀 𝗼𝗿 𝗪𝗶𝗸𝗶𝗽𝗲𝗱𝗶𝗮.

𝟭𝟬. 𝗵𝗮𝘃𝗲 𝘀𝗼𝗺𝗲𝗼𝗻𝗲 𝗲𝗹𝘀𝗲 𝗿𝗲-𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗱 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗲𝘀𝘀𝗮𝘆 𝘁𝗼 𝗰𝗵𝗲𝗰𝗸 𝗶𝘁 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝘁𝘆𝗽𝗼𝘀 𝗼𝗿 𝗼𝗱𝗱 𝗽𝗵𝗿𝗮𝘀𝗶𝗻𝗴𝘀. 𝘀𝗼𝗺𝗲𝘁𝗶𝗺𝗲𝘀, 𝘄𝗵𝗲𝗻 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗹𝗼𝗼𝗸 𝗮𝘁 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗲𝘀𝘀𝗮𝘆 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝘁𝗼𝗼 𝗹𝗼𝗻𝗴 𝗶𝘁 𝗮𝗹𝗹 𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗿𝘁𝘀 𝘁𝗼 𝗹𝗼𝗼𝗸 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘀𝗮𝗺𝗲. 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗲𝘆𝗲𝘀 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗯𝗿𝗮𝗶𝗻 𝗴𝗲𝘁 𝘂𝘀𝗲𝗱 𝘁𝗼 𝘄𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝘆 𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝘀𝗲𝗲𝗶𝗻𝗴, 𝘄𝗵𝗶𝗰𝗵 𝗶𝘀 𝘄𝗵𝘆 𝗶𝘁 𝗶𝘀 𝗴𝗼𝗼𝗱 𝘁𝗼 𝗮𝘀𝗸 𝗮 𝗳𝗿𝗶𝗲𝗻𝗱/𝗳𝗮𝗺𝗶𝗹𝘆 𝗺𝗲𝗺𝗯𝗲𝗿 𝘁𝗼 𝗰𝗵𝗲𝗰𝗸.

[iiowaw]

For anyone who may be living on their own for the first time, here’s a list of things that I wish I had purchased/was glad I purchased for my apartment before I needed them:

A basic toolkit (you can get a decent one for $10 from IKEA)

A plunger (seriously…buy one before you need one)

A first-aid kit

A drain snake (if you don’t know what this is, it’s a long, thin piece of plastic with little plastic thorns that you slide down the drain to help clear clogged drains)

A thermometer

Tape

Wet wipes

An umbrella

Rain boots

Nail clippers

Scissors

Aloe or some form of sunburn relief

Sunblock

Insect repellent

An ice pack or two

A heating pad

A travel mug

An extra pillow/blanket (not just for guests…stuff happens, don’t find yourself sleeping on a bare bed because you spilled something or the dryer broke unexpectedly)

Extra chargers!! Nothing is worse than realizing your phone charger doesn’t work when you really need it to. Buy an extra and just stick it in a drawer until you need it.

Printer paper

An electric kettle

Lightbulbs

Batteries

Some type of water filter (to people like me, who have lived somewhere with good well water for most of their lives…just because you CAN drink the unfiltered tap water, does not mean you’ll WANT TO drink the unfiltered tap water)

Ice cube trays

A tire gauge!! You do not have to know a thing about cars to figure out a tire gauge, and EVERYONE should be able to read their tire pressure. If you struggle with using them, buy one of the electric ones. The recommended tire pressure is on the inside of your door, just unscrew the cap on the tire and press the nozzle into place. You shouldn’t hear air escaping if you want a good reading!

For anyone moving internationally, please make sure you check to see if you’ll need to buy plug adapters before you move!

For anyone living alone, add-a-locks are great to make your front door more secure. It’s a piece of metal that fits around the bolt, and then a piece of plastic-coated metal that locks into it at an angle to make it so that, even if the lock is picked, the door does not open. Make sure you get one that is the correct size for your door.

I’ll add more items as I think of them; I’m still learning what belongs on this list myself, and I moved out four years ago. Good luck!