#fullmetal-hellmouthchemist

[bringingglory]

Hi! Once you get this you have to say five things you like about yourself, publicly, then send this to ten of your favourite followers (if you want no pressure!!!) and SPREAD POSITIVITY 💌😘 :)))

AHHHH THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR PUTTHING THIS IN MY INBOX 🥺♥

perfect timing for this ask too bc i recently pulled myself out of a 3 week long self-loathing spiral lmaooo

1. I recently got new glasses frames and I really like how I look in them! They’re round frames and they’re gold and I think I look super classy.

2. I like that I cry easily in movies and books. I think that getting really emotionally invested in stories makes it more “enjoyable" for me. Idk if enjoyable is the right word because feeling sad isn’t exactly enjoyable, but crying is definitely very cathartic. And of course I cry at happy parts too :)

3. I like that I aggressively improved my writing style over quarantine. A mix of spite and frustration with myself led me to improve my writing! I used to feel like an imposter when I called myself a “writer” but after quarantine, I definitely don’t feel that way anymore, and the whole experience taught me that with enough spite as motivation, I can make myself less unhappy lol

4. I like my name, ngl lol. Like, my name isn’t that unusual, but it’s also not the common either, so I still have yet to meet another person irl with my name, but I genuinely really like it! Also it translates easily to Chinese lmao.

5. I like that I randomly decided to put a post-it note with a cool poetry quote on my wall one day last autumn and now I have a whole wall filled with cool quotes. I think it’s cool that I did something on a whim one day to make me feel better and now it’s like a whole thing. Idk, I think it’s neat and when I move out of my dorm room, I’m gonna start a whole new quotes wall :)

[savestarss]

For the WIPs ask -- the proposal au plsssss (I'm LOVING the thought of Riza as Sandra Bullock's character omg)

ASDFGHG YEAH that’s the plan 👀 i’m happy you think so too!!! role reversal am i right?

i don’t have a lot but i am so invested in this idea already i just need more timeeeee  😭

“Miss Hawkeye is lovely,” another co-worker piped up.

“You haven’t been working here that long,” Roy muttered in response.

“Don’t you think that maybe it’s just you?” Maes Hughes lifted an eyebrow in Roy’s direction as he asked his question. “That you are just unwilling to bend to her will?”

“What kind of question is that?” Roy frowned.

“Why would he have to bend to her will?” Kain Fuery cocked his head. “She doesn’t seem like the type to be so unforgiving.”

“Not unforgiving,” Roy mused, then he sighed heavily. “Just impossible sometimes. A pain in my ass when there doesn’t need to be.”

“She’s on a busy schedule all the time. I imagine that puts someone under a lot of stress and –”

“Kain, please, stop,” Roy interrupted. For once he’d like to get through a moment of his workday without thinking about her.

“Yeah, read the room, buddy,” Maes chipped in.

[flourchildwrites]

how did you study for the bar without becoming a wreck because I can feel :) myself :) falling :) apart :) :) :)

Hey, @fullmetal-hellmouthchemist!  Thanks for the ask!

First off, congrats on graduating law school.  That is an awesome achievement, and it’s often overshadowed by the big bad bar exam.  When I graduated, it felt like such a hollow milestone.  Graduation day was this happy mirage in the middle of a dessert of endless studying.  All my family and friends were like “yOu DiD iT!” and I was like “not that it matters unless I pass the bar exam, but yes, I will take that graduation card with cash in it because I am also broke as hell...”

Anyway...

Let me start off this by saying that I was a wreck for parts of the summer I spent studying for the bar exam.  You probably have a lot riding on this exam; I did.  Sometimes, the best you can do is to realize that you’re probably nervous because you care.  And you are not alone.  Everyone, no matter how chill or confidence they may appear, is freaking out on the inside to some degree.  Either that or they are on anxiety medication that I have not tried yet.  

But seriously, the first thing I did was to sign up for a Barbri course.  And, I gotta say, it really helped provide structure in my schedule.  By the time you get through law school, you know how to study in a way that gets results.  This is not the time to change your method.  Instead, tailor your schedule to encompass large amounts of information.  Plan ahead.  I did a modified 3-2-1 study schedule for each section of my bar exam counting back from the week of testing.  (You probably know what a 3-2-1 study schedule is, but if you don’t, don’t do that.  Do what works for you.)

Schedule breaks.  Yep.  I did that.  I scheduled time to NOT study, and that downtime was just as important as the time I spent cramming my head full of the civil code.  During your downtime, I suggest you do things that take your mind off con law or ACJ or family law or mortgage priming.  I actually started baking because of the bar exam.  For some reason, it calmed my mind to focus on a set of directions that had to followed to the letter.  And when I followed those directions correctly, the answer was never maybe.  The result was a lovely pie or cheesecake that I got to eat.   

Practice self-care.  Very important.  If you go for a run every morning, keep doing that.  If you do yoga, make an effort to keep up your practice.  If you cook a lot, spend a little time in the kitchen.  If you need to see a doctor, you can spare the time.  And for the love of Pennoyer v. Neff, get enough sleep.  Retain some degree of normalcy in your life so that you will be a person and not a husk of a human being by the time you finish taking the exam (because, unlikely though it seems, there is life after the bar exam).  However, this is NOT the time to start a diet or begin training for a marathon or write that epic 100k fanfic that you’ve been sitting on for years.  You can do that after you take the exam.

When you’re studying, remember that your goal is not to stand out.  Your goal is to fit in.  I think we all had that professor who ranted and raved about some case (ahem Kelo v. City of New London) or some lauded dissent at every given opportunity (even when it wasn’t relevant).  So, for the exam, everyone studied the professor’s hang up, and eureka!  Easy points!  Would you believe it was on the final exam?  (Of course, it was on the final.)  But you don't have the professor’s pesky hang-ups to fall back on.  Look at past bar exams in your state and try to conform what you study to the past testing topics.

And I can promise you, the examiners do not care about what isn’t the law.  No dissents.  No dicta.  No opinions.  A guy I went to law school with who is insanely intelligent (top of his class, moot court, law review, order of the coif) failed his first bar exam because he tried too hard; his words, not mine.  He overthought his answers and overexplained things that were not responsive to the essay questions.  He tried to get ahead of the pack and got left behind instead.  You are aiming for an average here.  Just this one time, resist the urge to overachieve.

One last thing.  Remember that if you do not pass the bar exam, it's not the end of the world.  Take it from someone who spent the first two years of her career getting hired and laid off by small-time firms because the economy was just that bad.  Going through law school gives you a unique way of approaching issues, and that mindset is valuable in fields where you’re not practicing law.  The worst-case scenario is that you have to take the bar again, or you’ll have to rethink your career goals.  But what you’ve already accomplished means something, even if you doubt that.

In closing, friend, be kind to yourself during this difficult time and take care.  Lean on the people who support you if your support system is healthy.  (You might as well.  There's a very good chance that these people will hit you up for free legal advice at some point in the future if they haven’t already.)  Do what you gotta do to get through this rough patch (within reason).  I’m rooting for you!

And if you ever need any advice, don’t be shy.  (I clearly like dishing it out.)

[flourchildwrites]

Hi! Just wanted to check in and say hope you're doing well <333

HEY!  Thanks for checking on me.  I’m happy to say that I’m doing ok, and that feels like an accomplishment considering the year I’ve had.  My goal for the rest of 2020 is to have as little as possible actually happen.  Quarantine continues in my household, hopefully without incident.

I haven’t quite made it back to routine fic writing yet, but I’m still around.  Hopefully, I’ll get there sooner or later.  In the meantime, I’m keeping busy doing some betas and writing for a couple zines.  Fun stuff!

Someone also sent in an anon ask to the @fmasecretsanta2019 blog, a Fullmetal Alchemist holiday gift exchange that I moderated with a couple fandom friends, expressing interest in whether we’d be hosting the event again in 2020.  I was happy to learn that my fellow mods were interested in hosting the event again (and I hope the person who sent the ask is also interested in participating)!  I had a lot of fun moderating the secret santa last year, especially during the matching part!  We threw the event together in a time crunch in 2019, so it might be interesting to see what we can do with proper planning in this year of disaster, 2020.

Thanks for checking in, friend!  I really appreciate it.

[flourchildwrites]

Cute ask 7, 27, 48!

THANK YOU, @fullmetal-hellmouthchemist!

7. Favourite colour?

I don't have a favorite color.  😅  I know that might be a little weird.  When I was younger, I'd always make something up when asked this.  But I’ve always had trouble picking favorites.  I tend to favor green and dark purple, though.

27. Last book you read?

This right here is how you know you read too much fic!  I read every day, but very rarely do I sit down with a book in the traditional sense.  It took me a few years after graduating to start reading for pleasure again, and after that, I got soft.  I stick to sappy romance and young adult books.  So, I guess I’ll break it down into a few categories.

The last fic I read was Mr and Mrs by @waddiwasiwitch, which I started this afternoon instead of outlining for the upcoming FMA big bang.  It’s a darling little read about Roy, Riza, an undercover mission and (wait for it) one king-sized bed.  Oh, yes!  The dialogue is snappy and the will-they, won’t-they is keeping me on edge.  I’m not done yet, but I intend to finish it tonight or tomorrow.

The last manga I read was Maid-sama Vol. 1 - 2.  I picked it up around Christmas when I was browsing my favorite second-hand store.  They have a HUGE manga section, and I’ve started collecting the physical copies of the stuff I read when I was younger since I mainly borrowed manga from other people or read it online back then.  It was between that and a copy of Socrates In Love (Yami no Matsuei).  (I need to go back for that if it’s still there.)  I reread Maid-Sama shortly after that and smiled the whole time.  Nostalgia for the win!

The last traditional book I remember reading was Pride and Prejudice, and I only reread the ending.  I was in the attic going through boxes while looking for an old photo album when I came across the book.  I couldn't help but sit down and flip through a few pages.

48. One piece of advice you live by?

My grandmother always told me that if I couldn’t say something nice, I shouldn’t say anything at all.  This advice has served me well though perhaps not in the way she intended.  Rather than actually being quiet, I try to think about what I can say that isn't mean or rude but still conveys my point.  And when I do say something harsh, I apologize for my tone -- even if I think I had a point. 

Wow, that got a little long!  Sorry about that, and thanks again for helping me procrastinate.  I know that outline won’t write itself, but hey, I’m willing to test the theory.

Send me a CUTE ASK!

[searchforthescars]

tarot asks! the emperor and the hanged man pls :)

Hiiii! Your icon is so cute oh my goodness!!!

the emperor - what are some names that you like?: I pulled out my old fiction drafts for this, lol. I tend to gravitate toward short names that are gender-neutral (my manuscript’s MCs are named Page, Jess, Ricky and Adrian). I also love the names Rae and Cam - I actually named a character “Rae” years before I met someone with the same name, who is a dear friend. And then there's Cam, which I’ve adopted recently thanks to some friends

the hanged man - favorite movie soundtrack?: The Mad Max: Fury Road soundtrack SLAPS

tarot asks!

[flourchildwrites]

Meta ask please! 3, 5, and 16 :)

Hey, friend!  I hope your studies are going well.  Keeping my fingers crossed for a positive result on your bar exam.  Thanks for this ask!

3.  What is that one scene that you’ve always wanted to write but can’t be arsed to write all of the set-up and context it would need? (consider this permission to write it and/or share it anyway)

Dear Lord, there are so many, but if I had to pick one...

There’s this post-canon FMAB fic called Original Sin that I’ve been yelling about for about two years now.  Like, I really want to write this scene where Roy and Riza finally get together the night before Riza believes they’re going to be arrested for war crimes.  However, the legislation Roy signed into law has a loophole that protects Riza.  So while Riza expects to be punished for Ishval, Roy never intends on letting her take any blame, but he doesn’t tell her that until officers arrive the next morning and only arrest him.  Heartbreaking stuff, I think.  

But the work I’d have to put into the fic (researching the Nuremberg trials, drafting a mock law and gaining more confidence when writing smut) is intimidating.  Plus, the fandom has been slowly going inactive, especially for writers who don’t have a large following.  A few years ago, I could clear almost 100 kudos on a one-shot.  Now, I’m lucky to get 20 kudos on a chapter fic, and while it’s not all about kudos, validation feels good.  I don’t have a lot of free time, so I have to pick and choose what I write these days.

5.   What character that you’re writing do you most identify with?

I recently wrote Momo Yaoyorozu in The Favor, and I identified with her a lot.  I’m the type of person who (I’m told) doesn't often come across as insecure, but privately, I’m such a worrywart.  I get nervous about almost everything.  The people who know me best tell me constantly not to assume the worst, but I always do.  And I have the bad habit of using other people as a measuring stick for my success, which I really, really should not do.

I often think about the confident Momo Yaoyorozu we saw in the first episodes of BNHA.  As class 1-A got to know Momo, we learned that she’s not as confident as she seems, and she even undervalues the things she’s undeniably good at.  That spoke to me.  And I’d so like to tell Momo that one day she’ll have perfect confidence, but realistically confidence is something I work on constantly.  For me, it's more an exercise of surrounding myself with people who sustain and support me.  Luckily, Momo is fictional.  I think it’ll work out better for her.

16.  Tried anything new with your writing lately? (style, POV, genre, fandom?)

Get this:  I’m applying to zines.

In the past, I’ve been a little anti-zine, unfairly so.  Don't get me wrong; I buy zines.  I think the fair use case law needs an overhaul.  The existing analysis in those cases is a little reductive, and some of the resulting decisions are shady.  However, my overall vision for fanfiction includes a free, accessible space where content creators and consumers can connect and share stories without gatekeeping.  (So basically AO3.)

But when my view count started diminishing, I decided to try something new.  I went outside of my comfort zone and applied for a zine.  I didn’t think I’d get in, but I did.  So far, my experiences have been extremely positive!

Writing without sharing is an exercise in patience, but getting to collaborate with artists and seeing an amazing product come together makes the wait worthwhile.  I especially like working with zines that donate their profits to charity and meeting people I’d seen on AO3 but hadn’t approached.  I shouldn't have waited so long to get my name out there, but all I can do now is learn from that mistake and try harder in the future.

Again, thanks so much, @fullmetal-hellmouthchemist!  I appreciate the ask!

Send me a Fun Meta Ask for Writers!