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[ernmark]

It's 10:30 AM, I'm not even going to be getting back on the bus to get home until 7, and I'm already desperate to crawl back into bed

[ernmark]

🍓🥤🔪?

Thank you, anon~

🍓 ⇢ how did you get into writing fanfiction? 

I was spending the night at a friend's house back in middle school and she put on a movie that made me super uncomfortable. After a few maybe-too-subtle attempts to get her to put on something else, I just got up and went into a different room-- and since this was before kids had cell phones or personal computers, I found some paper and a pen and just started writing what turned out to be an isekai-style self-insert LotR fic. I checked in with her close to the end of the movie, thinking she'd be upset with me for just walking out like that-- she hadn't even noticed that I hadn't been in the room with her for an hour and a half.

🥤 ⇢ recommend an author or fanfic you love

@sapphosewrites and @ectogeo-rebubbles both have some phenomenal DS9 fic, and I'm a big fan of Sincerely, Captain Thomas from OFMD.

🔪 ⇢ what's the weirdest topic you researched for a writing project?

(Seriously, so many)

An original project featured a main character who worked as a stripper, so I delved deep into that. I started with articles (particularly articles aimed at dancers from other dancers), moved on to personal blogs, etc. The last step in the process was just straight up going to a club with a notebook and interviewing the dancers.

I brought money to pay them for their time, because they were legitimately on the clock, and the performers insisted on dancing, etc, while they answered my questions-- and apparently I was getting a disproportionate amount of attention for it, much to the amusement of the straight guy, bi guy, and lesbian who accompanied my asexual ass.

(Getting the experiences of the people from them directly was important, but so was getting an understanding of sensory details like the way the club smells, the vibe of the crowd, the way it's laid out, the volume of the music, etc. It's the kind of stuff that tends to not crop up readily when I'm doing other research.)

#writing #ask game

[ernmark]

🌵🕯🔪

🌵 ⇢ share the link to a playlist you love

🕯️ ⇢ on a scale from 1 to 10, how much do you enjoy editing? why is that?

Maybe a 7, I think. Generally it's a lot easier to deal with than writing, since there's no pesky blank page to intimidate me. But sometimes it comes damn close. With my latest project, I realized late in the game that the pacing and payoff weren't working and there wasn't time to do a complete overhaul, so I wound up having to wrestle my way through extensive rewrites on a deadline.

🔪 ⇢ what's the weirdest topic you researched for a writing project?

Is there such thing as a weirdest one? (I guess aside from animal biology for various alien/monster characters)

At one point I was writing a werewolf AU that takes place on Mars (Penumbra, my beloved), so I got really in the weeds about Mars' moons. Turns out they're ridiculously tiny compared to Earth's moon, and one of them cycles so fast that werewolves would be changing like daily. I wound up having to get creative to make it even remotely functional.

#writing #ask game

[ernmark]

Writers Truth & Dare Ask Game

🎱 ⇢ post your AO3 total stats  🍓 ⇢ how did you get into writing fanfiction?  🌵 ⇢ share the link to a playlist you love 🕯️ ⇢ on a scale from 1 to 10, how much do you enjoy editing? why is that? 🛼 ⇢ describe your latest wip with five emojis 🥑 ⇢ you accidentally killed somebody, which mutual(s) do you text for help? 🥤 ⇢ recommend an author or fanfic you love 💌 ⇢ how many unread emails do you have right now?  🌻 ⇢ tag someone you appreciate but don't talk to on a regular basis 🐇 ⇢ do you prefer writing original characters, reader inserts, or a mix of both?  🧃 ⇢ share some personal lore you never posted about before 🎲 ⇢ what stops you from writing more in your free time?  🍄 ⇢ share a head canon for one of your favourite ships or pairings 🧸 ⇢ what's the fastest way to become your mutual? 🪐 ⇢ name three good things going on in your life right now 📚 ⇢ what's the last thing you wrote down in your notes app?  🍬 ⇢ post an unpopular opinion about a popular fandom character 🔪 ⇢ what's the weirdest topic you researched for a writing project? 🦷 ⇢ share some personal wisdom or a life hack you swear on ❄️ ⇢ what's your dream theme/plot for a fic, and who would write it best? 🌿 ⇢ give some advice on writer's block and low creativity 🥐 ⇢ name one internet reference that will always make you laugh  🏜️ ⇢ what's your favourite type of comment to receive on your work? 🍦 ⇢ name three good things about a character you hate 🥝 ⇢ do you lie a lot? what's the most recent lie you told? 🦋 ⇢ share something that has been on your heart and mind lately  🦴 ⇢ is there a piece of media that inspires your writing?  🍅 ⇢ give yourself some constructive criticism on your own writing 🐚 ⇢ do you like or dislike surprises? 🪲 ⇢ add 50 words to your current wip and share the paragraph here ☁️ ⇢ what made you choose your username? 🐝 ⇢ tag your biggest supporter(s) and say one nice thing about them 🌸 ⇢ do you have any pets? if you do, post some pictures of them 🎨 ⇢ link your favourite piece of fanart and explain why you like it 🧩 ⇢ what will make you click away from a fanfiction immediately?

#ask game

[ernmark]

For the record:

If somebody makes a post about a specific ship ["tfw blorbette and blorbina... 💕"], it's generally rude to reblog with a different ship ["lol yeah, when blorbette and blorbo 😍"]

If it's not about shipping in general, then that sort of thing is derailing the conversation, and is not cool. Replacing a female character with a male one (or a POC with a white character) adds extra layers of Not Cool-- even if you're not intentionally coming from a place of bigotry, it's indistinguishable from the sea of people who are.

Remember, it's OP who has to see all the tags and reblogs.

I say this having witnessed multiple interactions where OPs were deeply upset by their F/F posts being derailed to be about M/F ships instead. I'm assuming (hoping) that most of that behavior comes from simply not realizing how that comes across.

I get it. You're excited to talk about your own OTP. But a completely unrelated ship's post is not the place to do it. Please find a fellow shipper or make your own.

#fandom etiquette #tumblr etiquette

[ernmark]

One of the most frustrating things about being neurodivergent at work right now is staring at an email and genuinely not knowing whether

I was never taught how to do what they're asking for

it's been explained to me multiple times and I just forgot how

I know how to do this but I don't understand the process well enough to pick out what they're actually asking me to do because it's not presented in a way I'm used to

#adhd problems #depression things #memory problems galore even before the sleep deprivation

[ernmark]

The boops are gone but the ask box is still free game. Boop boop! :D

Thank you~

[ernmark]

individual posts aren’t boopable, you have to press a popup to make yourself boopable. at least on mobile, it shows up at the top of the screen

Thank you!

I had my main blog boop-enabled, but because this one was previously a joint blog with another one of my accounts, it wasn't working. Now that I've unhitched it from that other account, it seems to be working properly.

I really appreciate your help!

#boopocalypse

[ernmark]

Can somebody let me know if this post is boopable now? I tinkered with some settings and I can't check it on my own.

#boopacolypse

[ernmark]

So I got my shirt out of the dryer and... This happened to it.

Only this shirt was affected in three loads, which were all in the same hamper. Same detergent, dryer balls, etc that I've used for ages. In parts you can see where the elastic mesh is still mostly intact while the fabric part got eaten/dissolved/whatever away.

Any ideas what might have done this?

#laundry #chemistry #fabric mystery

[ernmark]

Anguish is the man on his knees in the center of the road clutching his face to stop himself from reaching for the tiny body broken on the concrete

#poetry #do you ever get an image that won't leave you alone? #something I saw years ago and it hasn't left me yet #i never heard him scream but I felt it in my bones

[ernmark]

A word of advice for today's 10,000:

If you're freaking out about being late to an appointment, take a second to call the place you need to go and tell them that you're running late.

Almost always, one of two things will happen: either they'll go "no problem, that's fine", or else they'll help you reschedule.

Calling ahead isn't an admission of guilt, it's a sign of respect for their time, and they tend to treat it as such.

[ernmark]

When you roll a Nat 20 followed by a Nat 1

[ernmark]

Despite today being an indoor work day, I was asked to head into the gardens and take measurements of graveyard pins.

Some important context:

1) "indoor work day" means that instead of my grounds crew uniform I was wearing a black dress that wouldn't look out of place in a Ghibli film.

2) graveyard pins like to sink under the surface of the ground with time. If you're lucky, you can whack the spot where they should be with a shovel and find it in seconds. If you're smart, you go get a metal detector.

3) after twenty minutes of attacking the ground by hand, I will admit I was too stubborn to get the metal detector.

Which is why some poor woman slowly drove up to me and very tentatively asked, "do you... Uh... work here?"

"Yeah. Do you need help finding something?"

And she gave a nice long up-and-down look to the person of indeterminate gender dressed like a witch frantically digging right by a gravestone.

"...No, actually. I was just checking."

[ernmark]

I understand the desire to make grave markers stately and elegant and religious. But the more time I spend in graveyards, the more affection I feel for the markers that tell you something about the person they're memorializing.

Not "beloved wife and mother" and the like, but the little things. I see markers engraved with bingo cards and computers and motorcycles, with footballs and dogs and dolphins, with nicknames that give you a flash of insight into who they were to the people who loved them.

They're those little touches that remind you that this commemorates a person-- one with hobbies and favorite animals, with passions they had so dearly that it left a lasting impression.

I just think it's cool, is all.

[ernmark]

By all means, have at it. I didn't make any of these up, I just wrote down what a building full of frustrated cemetery workers tried to make of old death records.

I swear, someday I'm going to write a story in which every single character is named via illegible cursive that I find while filing.

[ernmark]

My friend, while playing a game describing a potential datemate: --and he has the most beautiful eyes you've ever seen.

Me: where?

Her: what?

Me: where does he have the most beautiful eyes? In a jar? In the palms of his hands?

Her: ...in his head. The eyes are in his head.

Me: W H I C H H E A D ?

#monsterfucker strikes again #for the record part of the point of this game is to make the other person's prospective datemate seem less appealing #so that your own will be chosen instead #i was playing the game not just being a dick