ancientdragonwriter

[ancientdragonwriter]

It’s tough being a Ceruledge…

[ancientdragonwriter]

what can tme people like myself do to make trans women/tma people feel safer? watching all of these trans women be targeted by staff itself, ESPECIALLY in predestrogen's case, is so sickening. what is trans solidarity if it doesnt include trans women and their happiness and safety?

speak out. tell your friends. raise a huge fucking stink about this. reblog tumblr's ceo referring to a very not it/its trans woman as "it", threatening to sic the fucking FBI on her, deleting her account four times, ignoring her harassment. me and my friends are only so big, this needs to be a fucking SCANDAL. if strangeaeons isnt making a video about it by april we've failed.

[ancientdragonwriter]

Have been on a big Parasite Eve kick because it's my Christmas game, and I decided to turn Swift into an NMC. For those who've never seen this obscure horror JRPG from the 90's, have a zombie Swift. uwu

[ancientdragonwriter]

📖 #CalmWriMo 2023

If you want to do NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) but a 50k word goal doesn't work for you, you're invited to join me in CalmWriMo 2023 on Tumblr for a chilled-out creative experience this November.

Here's how it works...

📝 Set a fun and achievable writing goal

This can be a word count goal, but it definitely doesn't have to be. It also doesn't have to be new-words writing. Editing, research, outlining, or anything other writing-adjacent activities are great too.

You might want to...

Work on your WIPs for [however many] days

Complete a draft or a certain number of chapters

Spend [however many] hours editing

Create an outline for a book

Research specific topics for a WIP

Make graphics or moodboards for your stories

Create or overhaul your author website

Or anything else connected to your WIP(s) or writing

🍵 Choose an accessible and enjoyable self-care focus

This can be anything at all that helps you take care of your physical and/or mental health while you work on your writing goal.

You might want to...

Be more consistent with your journaling habit

Get to grips with your sleep schedule

Start or continue a daily yoga or meditation practice

Drink more water

Reduce screen time before bed

Read more fiction, non-fiction, or writing craft books

Go for regular walks

Or anything else that benefits your body or mind

💻 Share your own CalmWriMo intro and progress

If you'd like to join in, you can make a post to share your writing goal and self-care focus using the #CalmWriMo tag. You're welcome to @ me (@winterandwords) in your intro post if you want to.

You're also welcome to use the tag to post progress updates and WIP snippets throughout November. Bear in mind, reblogs don't seem to show up in tag searches on Tumblr, so creating new posts for each update might make them more visible.

I'm going to check the #CalmWriMo tag throughout the month to see how everyone's doing and share some of your posts.

Anyone taking part is encouraged to do the same if you would like to have you have the time and energy for it. In the spirit of CalmWriMo, there's no obligation to do anything other than what you're comfortable with 💜

[ancientdragonwriter]

Hey! Are there blacksmiths in your story? I'm a hobbyist blacksmith and I'm here to help!

Blacksmithing is one of those things that a lot of people get wrong because they don't realize it stuck around past the advent of the assembly line. Here's a list of some common misconceptions I see and what to do instead!

Not all blacksmiths are gigantic terrifying muscly guys with beards and deep voices. I am 5'8, skinny as a twig, have the muscle mass of wet bread, and exist on Tumblr. Anybody who is strong enough to pick up a hammer and understands fire safety can be a blacksmith.

You can make more than just swords with blacksmithing. Though swords are undeniably practical, they're not the only things that can be made. I've made candle holders, wall hooks, kebab skewers, fire pokers, and more. Look up things other people have made, it's really amazing what can be done.

"Red-hot" is actually not that hot by blacksmith terms. when heated up, the metal goes from black, to red, to orange, to yellow, to white. (for temperature reference, I got a second degree burn from picking up a piece of metal on black heat) The ideal color to work with the metal is yellow. White is not ideal at all, because the metal starts sparking and gets all weird and lumpy when it cools. (At no point in this process does the metal get even close to melting. It gets soft enough to work with, but I have never once seen metal become a liquid.)

Blacksmithing takes fucking forever. Not even taking into account starting the forge, selecting and preparing metal, etc. etc. it takes me around an hour to make one (1) fancy skewer. The metals blacksmiths work with heat up and cool down incredibly fast. When the forge is going good, it only takes like 20 seconds to get your metal hot enough to work with, but it takes about the same time for it to cool down, sometimes even less.

As long as you are careful, it is actually stupidly easy to not get hurt while blacksmithing. When I picked up this hobby I was like "okay, cool! I'm gonna make stuff, and I'm gonna end up in the hospital at some point!" Thus far, the latter has yet to occur. I've been doing this for nearly a year. I have earned myself a new scar from the aforementioned second degree burn, and one singe mark on my jeans. I don't even wear gloves half the time. Literally just eye protection, common sense, and fast reflexes and you'll probably be fine. (Accidents still happen of course, but I have found adequate safety weirdly easy to achieve with this hobby)

A forge is not a fire. The forge is the thing blacksmiths put their metal in to heat it up. It starts as a small fire, usually with newspaper or something else that's relatively small and burns easily, which we then put in the forge itself, which is sort of a fireplace-esque thing (there's a lot of different types of forge, look into it and try to figure out what sort of forge would make the most sense for the context you're writing about) and we cover it with coal, which then catches fire and heats up. The forge gets really hot, and sometimes really bright. Sometimes when I stare at the forge for too long it's like staring into the sun. The forge is also not a waterfall of lava, Steven Universe. It doesn't work like that, Steven Universe.

Welding and blacksmithing are not the same thing. They often go hand-in-hand, but you cannot connected two pieces of metal with traditional blacksmithing alone. There is something called forge welding, where you heat your metal, sprinkle borax (or the in-universe equivalent) on it to prevent the metal from oxidizing/being non-weldable, and hammer the pieces together very quickly. Forge welding also sends sparks flying everywhere, and if you're working in a small space with other blacksmiths, you usually want to announce that you're welding before you do, so that everyone in a five-foot radius can get out of that five-foot radius. You also cannot just stuck some random pebbles into the forge and get a decent piece of metal that you can actually make something with, Steven Universe. It doesn't work like that, Steven Universe.

Anvils are really fucking heavy. Nothing else to add here.

Making jewelry is not a blacksmithing thing unless you want jewelry made of steel. And it will be very ugly if you try. Blacksmithing wasn't invented to make small things.

If there's anything here I didn't mention, just ask and I'll do my best to answer.

[ancientdragonwriter]

As @staff further refine the polls while they're rolling them out (still haven't gotten mine sadly), here's a suggestion of mine: Polls with a ten year time limit.

As of right now, it's impossible for polls to turn into long-running legendary posts. You can try, sure (see the bug race), but it's a week and then it's locked, fixed, done, and all that's left is for people to reminisce about that time there was a poll.

On the other hand, if a ten year poll gets popular, it can become part of Tumblr lore while still being updated. People can write passionate appeals for their vote and fight in the notes. Others can make graphs to show how the poll's majorities shift with each different US president or Taylor Swift album. People can make memes about "remember 2025, when option 3 was in the lead? That was a crazy time".

Why ten years, though, instead of a hundred or just no time limit? Because that way, the end becomes an event. People who voted in the poll when it was just a few hours old can watch the final countdown together, and there's a new point in Tumblr history: That day when we finally all agreed on the best option, and presumably also some important political stuff happened.

Now, granted, most ten year polls would never reach this level of notoriety. But it only takes a few polls like this to be worthwhile. Maybe this shouldn't be an option for users to select, but something the Tumblr website grants/pushes on you at random?

So, yeah. Ten year polls. They should be a thing.

[ancientdragonwriter]

SOMEONE HAS BEATEN MINECRAFT IN UNDER A MINUTE

I REPEAT. SOMEONE HAS BEATEN MINECRAFT IN UNDER A MINUTE

[ancientdragonwriter]

Hello! I am a fan of your blog with an important message: Strudel is babey. Thank you and have a good day.

Strudel is clueless.

dumb dumb baby, all of a week old and already a loved.

[ancientdragonwriter]

Sometimes interacting with abled people really is just like:

"I'm disabled."

"Ok I understand."

"So I'm unable to do the thing."

"I don't understand why you're not able to do the thing."

"It's because I'm disabled."

"Right."

"So I am not able."

"Right."

"I'm unable to do the thing."

"Why aren't you able to do the thing though?"

[ancientdragonwriter]

Have you ever partaken in the flesh of another?

[ancientdragonwriter]

[ancientdragonwriter]

In the spirit of Halloween, due to my own experiences as of an hour ago, I have come up with a new horror video game.

Because of the low atmospheric pressure, two things have happened: my blood pressure levels are somewhere in the vicinity of my ass, and there is. Fog. Fucking. Everywhere. The kind of weather only Jack the Ripper could enjoy.

No sane person would go outside. Except the people who still have to walk their dogs.

(This was when the fog was actually still traversable and I theoretically still knew where I was. The moment you hit a less lit area, you're toast)

So the game would be first person POV, and you get lost in your own fucking neighborhood. Your only guide is your scaredy-cat of an idiot dog, and you know you can't let go of the leash for even a second because you're not going to see the damn dog ever again. Which is also bad because the dog is the only creature around who knows how to get home.

So you're feeling sleepy and headachy and yet somehow have the anxiety levels of someone being hunted for sport, your dog who is the only one who knows how to get home keeps jumping at shadows. You wonder if that's because he can hear things you can't in the dark.

Suddenly you see the fucking grim reaper approaching on a fucking skateboard. You nearly piss yourself, only for the geim reaper to pass you by, whirling fog around him, then reveal it's actually a kid on a bike with his friend standing on the seat behind him. You're vaguely happy you didn't actually scream.

But the next monster you see? Might not be kids.

So you better hold that leash tight and hope the dog can get you home before you're both eaten.

Happy Halloween. If you need me, please leave a message and I'll get back to you when I get out of the damn fog.

[ancientdragonwriter]

[ancientdragonwriter]

"The trannies should be able to piss in whatever toilet they want and change their bodies however they want. Why is it my business if some chick has a dick or a guy has a pie? I'm not a trannie or a fag so I don't care, just give 'em the medicine they need."

"This is an LGBT safe space. Of COURSE I fully support individuals who identify as transgender and their right to self-determination! I just think that transitioning is a very serious choice and should be heavily regulated. And there could be a lot of harm in exposing cis children to such topics, so we should be really careful about when it is appropriate to mention trans issues or have too much trans visibility."

One of the above statements is Problematic and the other is slightly annoying. If we disagree on which is which then working together for a better future is going to get really fucking difficult.

[ancientdragonwriter]

[ancientdragonwriter]

yeah uh... don't do this :)

[ancientdragonwriter]

went a whole agonizing week of no coffee caffine just for my streak to be broken because a family member made regular coffee in the pot and told me it was decaff. it was in fact not decaff

(also i promise I'm working on stuff and chapters and art, im just super busy right now preparing for the con and dealing other life stuff lskdghlksdhgs. hold out for arts n stuff soon)