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emry-stars-art · 10 months

Note

What was Abrams favorite thing that Andrew gave him during his courting attempts?

Okay I’ve been sitting on this one because I was trying to give it my best answer and like. I still don’t know lol

I know that people in the replies and tags are going to have incredible answers as well so I want this to be more of a “here’s a collection of things he likes the most” and I get to start so here’s my take:

It’s a book. I hear your valid confusion but LISTEN. In the stretch before Abram finally realizes what’s been going on with the gifts/etc, Andrew gives Abram a book - could be poetry, could be a romance story, idk - with a ribbon just barely peeking out of one page. Abram, obviously, doesn’t think much of it and he’s never been big on reading (I don’t know why I never have Neil liking to read lol is that canon) so he keeps the book on his dresser or something like “I’ll get around to it if he insists”

And then after Abram actually, clearly says he can accept Andrew’s advances, Andrew remembers about it and realizes Abram must not have ever opened the book because he would have figured this all out before now if he had

He asks him about it, if he ever read it, and Abram’s like “…no”

So Andrew tells him to. Later, when Abram’s back in his room, he picks up the book and checks out the first page, and it’s something pretty obviously unimportant or unrelated. And the next page. Eventually he thinks to check the ribbon; he flips to the pages and somewhere on them a quote is underlined in steady deep blue ink:

My glances through the eyes of friendship grow more brief by the day. You remain in the kindest, softest embrace of my heart, but now I find myself watching, hopeful, and friends do not look at friends the way I sometimes look at you.

Stunned, in a word.

But this is something he can figure out. This isn’t flowers - they’re lovely but die so quickly, and Abram doesn’t know the language of them or which ones Andrew would like. It isn’t meals shared, because that’s too common by now. It isn’t direct words or actions of affection because those are far too awkward for someone with so little experience with them. But Abram looks at this book, sees exactly what to do with it, and he knows certainly that this is a way the prince wouldn’t mind communicating because he was the first to do it. Abram doesn’t even have to be around when Andrew reads it.

So Abram spends the next several days scanning the book when he has time, finding many quotes he could perhaps imagine returning, finding a few he keeps marked just in case. Then he finds one that he doesn’t even bother marking with a scrap paper, he immediately picks up his pen and underlines it.

I look at the moon and she has your face: the brightest thing in my sky, the most beautiful, and so, so far away.

(And @jtl-fics had the sweetest idea of Abram pressing and keeping the flowers from the bouquet Andrew gets him in this post; and that he uses some to make bookmarks probably because he knows how much the prince likes books. He would definitely use one of those bookmarks to mark the page he underlined rather than the scrap ribbon 🥰)

Anyway the next time Abram sees the prince he wordlessly hands him back the book. Andrew sees the new mark but doesn’t try to open it yet (which relieves Abram more than he’ll admit), just keeping it under his arm until he has somewhere to put it. But it doesn’t take him near as long to find another quote, since he tends to get distracted reading the context or surrounding passages; he underlines the very next sentence and gets the book back to Abram the next morning. Understanding the risk of Abram’s misunderstanding and completely willing to explain himself in plain terms when Abram asks. Still with the pressed flower bookmark.

To have you near enough to touch should surely destroy me.

When Abram opens it later he first sees that the pages look very familiar - those passages look very familiar - that quote is certainly familiar. And he gets very worried very quickly. Maybe Andrew didn’t like that one, maybe Abram had chosen wrong and he didn’t know how to do this as well as he’d thought. But he doesn’t close it fast enough not to finally, mercifully read on and realize that some of the ink on the page is not his own black ink. After it, dark enough to almost be black in the wrong light, is Andrew’s dark blue.

But after reading Andrew’s quote he does in fact close the book quickly, sitting back and just staring, mostly because he’d surprised himself; he won’t know Andrew’s intention for certain until he asks, but this time - likely for the first time - Abram looks at the word destroy and doesn’t immediately think of the harm he’s done. (Andrew’s new, unfamiliar way with words had to work it’s way into Abram’s understanding eventually.)

They go on as long as there’s still quotes they like in the book, and only once does Andrew get frustrated that Abram stole one of his before he could get around to using it.

Anyway thank you for the sweet ask, here’s a quick sketch of Andrew reading to Abram in the library

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smilesmayvary · 2 years

Text

poser | p.p.

pairing: peter parker x gender neutral!reader

summary: you thought it was peter that picked you up from your apartment balcony, but there’s no way. peter is much gentler than this. who is wearing the spider-man suit?

notes: you can read this imagining anyone as peter but i wrote this with andrew in mind! this one’s pretty lame honestly lol it was a lot better in my head.

word count: 2.9k

WARNINGS: SPOILER FREE!! angst kinda? injuries, hurt/comfort, hospital visit

There was no way you were going to get your homework done at this rate.

Stacks of textbooks sat on your desk, each with bookmarks and post-it notes telling you where you needed to read for your next assignment. Not to mention the half finished lab report that you had to turn in for chemistry. Peter promised he would come and help you with it, but he hadn’t shown.

In no way did you blame Peter for him not being able to come. He was busy, you knew that. Saving New York City from terrifying villains would always take precedence to helping you study, and you didn’t really see a problem with it. It would’ve been nice if he could tell you beforehand, but you knew there was no way he could do that amidst the troubles.

With a sigh, you shook Peter out of your thoughts so you could focus on the pile of work that seemed like it would eat you alive at any second. Seriously, why did it seem like all of the teachers teamed up against you to make sure that you would flunk out of school? Pulling your hair out seemed like a good option to deal with the stress at this point.

After an hour, you had only finished two of the assignments but you were desperately in need of a break. You checked your phone, again noticing that it had not only been an hour since you started your homework but an hour after Peter had told you he was going to arrive. Usually it didn’t take this long, and if it did he would send you a message telling you he was okay right around now. Something must be wrong out there, you thought.

You fought the urge to check the news. If something happened to Peter and you found out over the television or a random blog post, you would never recover. You would just have to wait and see for yourself when he messaged you. When. Not if.

With an even heavier heart and mind, you forced yourself to look back at your textbooks. This time around, you were too easily distracted. It only took you 5 minutes to give up and to just stand on your balcony with your phone in hand and wait. Peter would be okay, you knew it. You were just having a hard time convincing yourself.

More and more time was passing with no sign of Peter. At this point you had chewed one of your fingernails down to the quick and you were about to move onto the next one. You stared into the sky, just hoping that one of the stars might somehow tell you he was fine.

When you saw him, you felt relief like no other. You fixated on him as he swung through the city in his Spider-man suit, noticing that he was coming your direction. A smile made its way onto your face at the sight. He was okay. Your heart could rest easy now. And maybe he could even help you with your schoolwork (if he was up for it of course).

As soon as he landed, you couldn’t contain yourself from throwing your arms around him as if it was the first time you had seen him in a month. “Peter, I’m so happy you’re okay,” you said in a sigh, burying your face into his chest. “You didn’t call like you usually do.”

Something felt… off.

You didn’t know how to explain it but Peter stood almost like a statue, making no move to comfort or assure you, and not saying a word. That wasn’t like him. The way he stood was too stiff and it didn’t match his usual posture, even when he was putting on a front in the Spider-man suit.

When he made his first move you knew for a fact that it wasn’t Peter.

His chest moved up and down in a strange sort of laughter, one that didn’t make any sound. You tried to pull away but you weren’t able to, as his arms moved to restrain your body to his. You were able to move your head away from his chest to look up at him. He was still masked, but you decided to take initiative on that, bringing your hand up to pull the mask off. The strange man didn’t let you get that far, immediately grabbing your wrist so tightly that you knew it was going to bruise.

That was when the fear set in. A whimper escaped from you even when you begged it not to sound and the man continued his snickering seeing the terror on your face. You were still braced up against him and you started to thrash around, hoping he would lose his grip. You had no luck through this method as he only held onto you tighter. You were beginning to run out of breath.

You stopped struggling when he released your wrist and used his free hand to shoot out a web, swinging off into the city. You knew for sure you would die if you let go now, so you just held onto the stranger as tight as you could. Even if he was trying to kill you, you didn’t want to go down by falling from the sky.

There was an apartment building you could see in the distance through the city lights. You knew for a fact that that was where you were headed because he wasn’t making any sharp turns and this was the tallest building in the area. There was a room settled on top of the building, most likely there so that people could come and visit the rooftop as they pleased.

What you didn’t know was that you would smack into the side of that room with a speed you hadn’t thought possible.

The fake Spider-man- the poser- had thrown you as hard as he could against the wall before he had landed, giving you even more momentum as you flew through the air. Your side hit the edge of the room while you felt and heard the consequences of the collision. A sickening crack rang through the air and you knew that something had to be broken. A rib, most likely, judging how the air was ripped from your lungs and you couldn’t seem to find a way to bring any new oxygen in.

You laid there on the rooftop, your mouth agape while you were trying to remember how to breathe, pain flooding through every nerve in your body. When you were finally able to draw a breath in, it was the most painful thing you had ever experienced. It came out in a cough, blood flying from your mouth as the air was expelled forcefully.

Even through your panic at seeing the blood (which surely couldn’t have been a good sign), you knew you had to get up and fight. Peter wasn’t here, you had to protect yourself. You had promised him you would stay safe for him.

You forced yourself up little by little, first onto your knees, then one foot, then the other. Blood started to dribble from your mouth every time you exhaled. Granted you weren’t able to take in many breaths without pain so there wasn’t a lot of blood, but even the sensation of it flooded your senses with panic nonetheless.

Once you were on your feet you felt yourself begin to fall over again. You were able to stumble over to the very wall that had inflicted this damage on you to brace yourself upon it. The man doubled over in laughter watching you struggle and you were finally able to hear his voice through the alarms going off inside your head.

You knew this man, his voice was so familiar. You couldn’t place it though, not right now.

Through your daze you attempted to look for something, anything that you could use to fight this person off with but there was nothing. Not even a broom. There was nothing you could do. In your helplessness you leaned up against the wall for more support. Your vision was blurred with pain and you felt your mind begin to sway. It looked to you like you were standing on a ship, rocking with the waters of the ocean. But no, you were just struggling to survive on a rooftop in Queens. You didn’t want to go out like this. Peter would be so upset with you if he found out you mistook this asshole for him and got yourself killed in the process.

Peter, you thought. I’m so sorry, my love. I should’ve done better. Don’t be too mad at me.

The blurs of your sight grew worse and worse by the millisecond, and right before your eyes closed, you saw a flash of blue and red arriving at the rooftop as well. Peter came for you. A weak smile tried to surface onto your face but didn’t quite make it before you fell to the ground.

---

Peter could only see red.

How dare they touch you? Any of them. These monsters would pay for what they did to you and they would feel the pain multitudes worse than you had.

He watched you fall to the ground as he came to the rescue. He watched it click in his mind that he was too late. His mind roared with the possibilities of what had happened to you before he had made it. He saw the drops of blood around you and it was like everything started moving in slow motion.

There was no sound in Peter’s mind other than the echoes of his vow to protect you. He had made it to himself so long ago, before you had even known his name. Before he had known your name. When he had discovered it, it felt so right to him that he declared it as the most beautiful name he had ever heard.

Y/N.

His eyes didn’t have to search for long before finding the culprit. A man, dressed in a suit that was far too similar to his, stood in front of you apparently finding immense joy in your suffering. He hadn’t heard Peter land, then.

He used this opportunity to web the guy from behind, yanking him backwards and hoping that it would stop him in his tracks. The laughter stopped and the masked man whipped his head around to look at Peter, donned in the same attire.

And so the fight began.

Peter never thought he would fight someone so similar to himself. It was like every move Peter made, the other guy would be one step ahead, and vice versa. They were the same. That was, until you stirred, groaning and coughing up more blood.

Anger surged through Peter, causing him to become more reckless. His movements weren’t so predictable anymore, as he threw punches to the other guy without stopping so much as to take a breath.

He finally stopped when he heard your voice call his name. He sprang up, not checking to see the damage he had done to the man when he quickly made his way over to you.

“Oh, Y/N,” he breathed as he assessed the damage. “Baby, I’m so sorry. We’re gonna get you out of here, okay?” He kneeled down next to you, shifting you into a position that he would be able to pick you up in. You hissed in pain when he touched your rib, and he quickly pulled his hand back.

You coughed once more, causing more blood to appear at your lip. “Who is that?” you wheezed, making it clear that you had more injuries than he could take care of himself. He knew that you would have to go to the hospital. And quickly. There had to have been some internal damage to make you cough up blood.

He shook his head. “That doesn’t matter right now. I’m gonna lift you up, okay? Stay with me.”

You winced in pain as he picked you up, holding you in his arms. Even though he felt like crying, there was no time to waste. He would have time to beg for your forgiveness later.

---

You woke up from your nightmare noticing immediately that you were in a hospital. The bright lights stationed right above your head and the IV stabbed into your arm told you that right off the bat. You couldn’t exactly piece together what had happened. There was a sharp pain every time you breathed, almost as if someone had stabbed you in the lung. Figuring that this was why you were in your current situation, you were careful not to move as you searched for the call button to call a nurse in. Maybe they would be able to tell you what had happened.

A voice sounded over the intercom, calling for a nurse to visit the room you were in. Not too long after, a woman in scrubs rushed in.

“Oh, good, you’re awake. Do you need anything? Are you in too much pain?” she asked, taking into account the pain you imagined was clear on your face.

“Could I get some painkillers, please?” And as soon as you said that, the nurse nodded and rushed back out of the room as quickly as she had come in. You didn’t even have the chance to ask about your circumstances.

You closed your eyes again, wishing more than anything that you could enter a state where you wouldn’t have to feel this pain anymore. When the door opened again, you woke right back up. The nurse walked in with a clearly nervous Peter by her side. His eyes were wide and wild until they locked with yours. Once they found you, his face lost the panicked look and immediately transitioned into worry.

The nurse gave you your medicine and left the room again, leaving you and Peter alone. You met his eyes and you watched tears spill onto his cheeks one by one. You wanted to brush them away but you were scared of the pain. You felt terrible.

“Y/N, I’m so sorry. This is all my fault. I should’ve known they would target you if they knew I was close with you.”

Your face screwed up in confusion. “Peter, what? I don’t even remember what happened. You’re going to have to explain it to me.”

He wiped his tears himself, shaking his head. He launched into the story about how he had found you on the rooftop after he couldn’t get a hold of you. His phone had died and when he stopped by your apartment he noticed that the balcony door was open with no sign of you anywhere. He told you about the poser and how badly he had wanted to hurt them.

At the end of his tale, you had tears in your eyes too. “Peter, I’m sorry.”

He grabbed your hand gently but with a sense of urgency. “You have nothing to be sorry about, love. Don’t apologize for this.” He placed a kiss on your hand. “I’ve been so worried about you. You know you were out for three days?”

“Three?” Your eyes widened. “Peter, that means I missed all of my due dates for my assignments, I’m gonna fail!”

“I think they’ll excuse you once they find out you had an emergency surgery. Plus the school is… kinda on lockdown right now. They shut it down until further notice.”

Too much information all at once. The school was shut down? But most importantly…

“I had surgery?”

His face settled into an ‘oh’ shape. “You didn’t know?” He must’ve caught the look in your eye because he quickly launched into an explanation. “You suffered from hemopneumothorax after breaking your rib.”

“Pete, you’re gonna have to tell me what that means in simple terms.”

“Basically your rib punctured your lung.”

You closed your eyes tight. So that’s why it was so hard for you to breathe. You didn’t want to think about it anymore for right now. You were starting to get sleepy again. Did they give you sleeping pills? You willed yourself to stay awake for just a little bit longer.

“Peter, why is the school shut down?” you asked him curiously

A look of anger crossed his face before he smoothed out his features once more. For your sake, you assumed. “That good for nothing chemistry teacher was the fake Spider-man that hurt you. When I left him up there, I called the cops and he’s been all over the news ever since. Apparently he hunted down the lab that had the radioactive spiders that changed me and went there himself. He wanted to replace me, but with evil.”

You grasped his hand even tighter than before. The closure finally sunk in. That was why he had sounded familiar to you, why you had been so concerned with who he was when Peter had reiterated the events to you.

You wanted to see Peter happy again, so you did what you knew best.

“Thank you for saving me, Peter. I love you.”

“Y/N, I will always be there to save you. I won’t let anything like this happen to you again.”

He released your hand only to stand up and start caressing your cheek. He placed a kiss on your lips, and for a second you felt like everything was normal and like you weren’t in a hospital bed. “I will always be here when you need me, my love,” he said, looking into your eyes.

“Will you stay with me tonight?” you asked him, finding yourself lost in the maze of his gaze.

“Of course I will.”

#peter parker x reader #peter parker x you #peter parker #peter parker oneshot #oneshot #fanfiction #peter parker fanfiction #spiderman #spiderman imagine #peter parker imagine #spiderman x reader #spider-man x reader #self insert #marvel x reader #peter parker angst

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thatfanficstuff · 6 years

Text

Meetings - Sherlock

Pairing: Sherlock x Reader

Warnings: Angst. I am so sorry for this.

A/N: This is my entry for @swanky-batman‘s Start to fall writing challenge. Prompt is in bold. Thank you for hosting! This was fun.

***

The first time you met Sherlock Holmes was in the middle of a case. Well, he was in the middle of a case. You were in the middle of a large café americano and a reread of your favorite classic while you enjoyed a sunny afternoon on a bench in the park. With a twirl of a grey trench coat, someone sat beside you, much closer than proper for a stranger.

You glanced up in surprise and immediately recognized the man. Beyond the fact his face had graced the paper more than once, you were an acquaintance of John Watson. You’d had the occasion to discuss his roommate once or twice. “What can I do for you, Mr. Holmes?” you asked, feigning disinterest and turning your attention back to your book.

From the corner of your eye you saw the brief look of surprise that crossed his features. “As you know who I am, this will be much simpler than I was fearing. The man I am following is at the café across the way. He appears to be waiting for someone. It is imperative I remain undetected.”

You made a sound of agreement and nodded your head. “And as anyone looking for a tail would suspect a person on their own, you chose to sit beside me in the hopes he’ll overlook you. Is that about right?”

“Precisely.” You weren’t sure if Sherlock’s tone was more confused or surprised.

You slid your bookmark into place and closed your book to turn your attention to the detective. “You don’t seem as confident as John describes you.”

He rolled his eyes at that and laid one arm across the back of the bench behind your shoulders. “Let me guess. Another fan of that bloody blog.”

“Nope. Friend of John’s.”

He tilted his head and ran his eyes over you. “He hasn’t mentioned a teacher to me.”

Your lips twitched. “Wrong. I did present a lecture today which is where the chalk dust came from.”

A crease formed on his forehead before smoothing itself out. “That’s the third time you’ve surprised me in a matter of moments. It is most unsettling.”

You sipped your drink before giving him a small smile. “John keeps telling me that it would do you good to meet me. Perhaps that’s what he was getting at. Your quarry is leaving.” You gestured toward the man leaving the café.

Sherlock looked at the man and back to you. “How did you…never mind. I must go.”

Your gaze followed him as he hurried away but you had the feeling you’d be seeing him again.

***

Your second encounter with the consulting detective was a week later. John had requested talking over lunch.

The two of you had just finished your meal and your conversation about Sherlock when the man himself appeared.

John glanced up in surprise when his friend appeared beside your table. “Sherlock? How did you know where to find me?”

“He either followed you or looked at your texts, John,” you supplied. “Does it matter?”

The doctor sighed. “No, I suppose not.”

“Have a seat, Sherlock,” you said, gesturing at one of the empty chairs at your table.

The man did as you suggested, his gaze never leaving yours. You glanced at John in amusement as Sherlock had yet to say a word to either of you.

When he finally spoke, you leaned back in your chair in amusement.

“You are Y/N Y/L/N,” he started. “You are an author of some note though you are between books at the moment. You have a cat. No. Two cats. You are not currently seeing anyone though you were married once. Widowed.”

His eyes searched you, daring you to tell him he was wrong. “I am assuming my name and occupation you got from John. I am between books as you no doubt ascertained from the fact I have the time to read in the park and meet friends for long lunches. I have a fish but no cat. The couple next door is on vacation and I’ve been taking care of their two cats, Oatmeal and Cornflake. Hence, the cat hair. You are correct that I am not seeing anyone at the moment, but I have never been married. The ring on my right hand belonged to my father.”

Pleased at having flabbergasted the great Sherlock Holmes once more, you stood. “It was lovely as always, John. I’ll see you soon.”

“Of course, Y/N,” he agreed and stood to give you a kiss on the cheek.

“Dinner?” Sherlock called out as you stepped away from the table.

You turned back in surprise. “What’s that?”

“Dinner. Tomorrow night. 8 o’clock?”

“That would be lovely,” you agreed. “Get my address from John.”

***

It was around the tenth time you saw Sherlock that you realized you were beginning to fall in love with him. That was certainly unexpected, but it didn’t surprise you. You’d always been a sucker for an intelligent man and Sherlock Holmes was amongst the most brilliant. The two of you could spend hours in conversation. Or, just as easily, he could call with one question, hanging up as soon as you’d answered it.

That day you’d met him at a small café where you often worked on your books. You had befriended the owners and they would often let you set up at a table in the back corner. They kept you fed and in coffee so you could just focus on your work. Sherlock had come to meet you for lunch.

As he sat across from you, discussing the latest case he’d solved, that’s when you knew. This was becoming serious for you. You didn’t dare ask if he felt the same. You knew enough about Sherlock to know that conversation would likely run him off. Besides, you could be patient.

“What is it?” he asked with a small smile and you realized you’d been staring.

You shook your head and smiled back. “Nothing.”

***

The twenty-third time you met was for dinner at a small, quiet restaurant. You were nearing the end of your meal when Sherlock received a call from Lestrade. Of course, you told him to go, as if there was any other option.

“Thank you, Y/N,” he said as he stood and shrugged on his coat.

As he passed your chair he paused to give you a soft kiss on your lips which made you smile.

“I’ll call you later. I love you.” He was gone before you even had time to process the unexpected words.

It was only when your phone rang that you were pulled from your stunned contemplation.

“Hello?” you answered without looking at the screen.

“I meant it, you know,” Sherlock’s voice drifted through the line. “I do love you.”

“I love you, too, Sherlock,” you responded, finally saying the words that have been on the tip of your tongue for weeks.

***

The fifty-seventh time you met Sherlock Holmes was on the same bench where your first encounter took place. Once again, you sat with your café americano and your book. He joined you with a twirl of that coat he loved so much. This time when you looked at him you gasped. The book dropped from your lap forgotten as a hand flew up to your mouth. The ring in his hand robbed you of all intelligent thought.

“You know that I am not good with romantic words and gestures, Y/N, but would you do me the honor of becoming my wife?”

You nodded and he smiled as he slipped the ring onto your finger.

If you were too elated to notice the look John gave Sherlock when you told him the news later that day, well…who could blame you?

***

It was two weeks later and you were waiting for Sherlock to join you for lunch when your phone rang. A glance at the screen had your brow lifting in surprise. “Andrew?” you answered. You hadn’t talked to your brother in months.

“Y/N, I need to talk to you.”

You couldn’t remember the last time you had heard him sound so serious. “Okay.”

And with your permission, your brother started to bring your world down around you.

Sherlock took the seat across from you when he arrived. His smile faded as he took in your appearance. It was obvious you’d been crying. Your laptop sat unused in the bag to your side and your hands were folded in your lap. “Y/N? Are you all right?”

“Tell me he’s lying,” you said, not looking up at him. Your voice was low and he might not have heard it if he hadn’t been so focused on you.

“What?”

“Tell me you didn’t know, Sherlock.”

He reached across the table for you only to have you jerk away from him. “Y/N, explain to me what is going on, please?”

“I talked to my brother.” You didn’t bother to mention that Andrew had informed you that Sherlock had been trying to locate him for months before the two of you ever met.

His entire being stiffened and he leaned back in his seat. “You’ve never mentioned a brother,” Sherlock said.

You looked up then, met his gaze. “But you knew, didn’t you? You knew before you ever talked to me. Was it all a ruse, Sherlock? Did you care for me at all?” You had to ask though you already knew the truth. He had hoped you would lead him to Andrew. That was all.

“Y/N, you must understand—”

You placed your hand on the table and pushed it toward him. You pulled away leaving your engagement ring behind. “I do understand, Sherlock. I really do.” You stood and gathered your things. “This…you aren’t the person I loved, but if you see them, tell them I’m done.”

#swanky-batman #start to fall challenge #sherlock #sherlock x reader #sherlock imagine

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evnoweb · 5 years

Text

Who said that?

Looking back at 2018, I smile at some of the wonderful comments that have appeared on this blog in response to some of my posts.

Do you see yourself in there? Do you see others?

1 I had forgotten about that commercial! Thanks for the umm… blast from the past, Doug! I was surprised that it did have a “violent” part. That part didn’t stick in my memory, but the “blue” light did! Sorry to hear of your incident! Here’s to more uneventful walks with the dog.. I had a good smile with Andrew’s comment too. I have searched youtube to confirm quotes and lines from TV shows and movies as well… just to be sure A recent attempt was: “It’s cold enough out there to freeze your Winnebago!” Like Aviva, I have always wondered about how graphic a message needs to be to stick. I worry that it goes too far at times, especially in consideration of young children. I guess there might be individual differences in regards to what will “hit home”, but…

2 Oh, going to have to try this one out – looks like a lot of fun! (and I will suggest it to some people I know, since I don’t have a classroom to play in right now). Thanks, as ever!

3 Thanks for including me Doug. Still fighting that bug, but class back up to 65%! Listened to the show (twioe) last night…awesome as always. Got a chuckle over Stephen’s mention of “the Good Room” and all the banter between you, as always. Keep on keeping on!

4 Love the post. It made me think about what my role is. Probably a lot more Bluesman than thought leader I guess. But really I started to think that is just important to do what I can do and let other people think about labels. I’m just a teacher with opinions and a blog. That’s good enough for me I think.

5 Hi Doug, and all:) Here is my addition – if I ever hear the word Wheelhouse again it will be too soon. Also I will probably get in trouble for this but I don’t like all the Like a Pirate business. For heaven’s sake. Pirates are real. They steal and murder people. I am working on another blog post, a more thoughtful consideration of the word “modern” – which really has an existing definition and has been co-opted more recently to mean “contemporary.” I know, I am so fussy:)

6 I like Broadway http://fontsgeek.com/fonts/Broadway-Regular, but I have a weakness for art deco fonts. It’s too decorative to read though, but good for posters and titles. For reading I usually go for arial but recently have been preferring Trebuchet https://www.myfonts.com/fonts/microsoft/trebuchet/?gclid=Cj0KCQiAiKrUBRD6ARIsADS2OLn1B3-UN6EjbTMRsPmw2xTQWIwFrCXNtyTxAmFoh7p_XYxWjXX_lzYaAlJVEALw_wcBit’s nice and clean. Oddly, if I’m going for a computer styled font I use something like Courier which is a web friendly way to imitate those old fixed width fonts https://www.myfonts.com/fonts/microsoft/courier-new/?gclid=Cj0KCQiAiKrUBRD6ARIsADS2OLnfMx1LblHmfXsmRm32zv_x9kHDMf5_ySTNErPWQ_7GmrGvY-qQCsMaApnbEALw_wcB If you’ve never messed around with fonts, you’re missing something.

7 My teaching partner and I used to do ‘a theme’, back when themes were a thing in kindergarten, around EGGS at Easter time. We did different experiments with eggs each day – how many books can we stack on a raw egg before it breaks, what happens when you soak an egg in vinegar, sinking and floating eggs, spinning eggs (raw eggs wobble, hard cooked eggs spin) and so on. We read lots of books about animals that hatch from eggs. My favourite was always “Chickens aren’t the only ones” by Ruth Heller. Like you, many of our children didn’t celebrate Easter but they were seeing eggs and bunnies everywhere in stores and on TV.

8 Thank you for capturing two days of amazing learning and connecting for us Doug. It was a pleasure to finally have some conversation time with you and I am glad Steven Hurley didn’t beam us up with his modern day transcorder. Appreciate the power that comes in building bridges in this business and you sir are a bridge builder. Looking forward to our next conversation. W

9 Our mornings begin with the fragrance of espresso filling the air. Milk is heated, the espresso is added to the hot milk and voilà, the magic potion is ready. When we go out, we seldom stop to buy coffee anywhere. We caddy thermos cups of our home brew. If we run out of the elixir…tea it is. When we have friends join us for a formal meal, we usually end the meal with a demitasse of espresso…except for the tea drinkers. We like it that espresso has a lower caffeine content than drip coffee: https://recipes.howstuffworks.com/question645.htm Of course, current science might draw different conclusions.

10 … that look of betrayal on my wife’s face when I mentioned that I am trying to quit with coffee. She, up to several years ago, hated the stuff. Hated the smell, the taste, the satisfied look on my face as relaxed through my second or third cup in the morning. I guess it was my fault. Someway somehow, she now can’t start her day without it. My attempt at scaling back my caffeine consumption has put my life is in danger. I shouldn’t have mentioned it. I shouldn’t have even written this post. If my blog goes dark for a while its because I am in hiding. Tell my wife, I was wrong … oh so wrong …

11 Hi Doug, thanks for sharing your learning from the Ontario Summit. To add to this already great resource, here is a link to all of the presenter’s resources from the weekend: https://edtech.team/OntarioResources18 – Lots more goodies there!

12 I saw this presentation at SIGCSE and left with mixed feelings. The session was pitched as ML for CS teachers with little CS knowledge. The pizza app is cool but I left thinking that there was a big missing piece which was the actual under the hood ML. It looks great as a tool where the teacher is already knowledgeable but I don’t know how much serious mileage a class will get out of it beyond being a cool demo if the teacher doesn’t already know the subject.

13 I love to sew, but hardly have the time. I go by feel when choosing fabric for any project or any “already made” clothes. I don’t care what it’s called – I only care about how it feels and how well it will wash. I do not remember the fabric you’re talking about, though I feel as if I should. My mom used to see for me, so I likely had many things made from it.

14 Morning Doug, this brought to mind attendance tracking of students and how if they are going to leave or walk out consequnces mean nothing. The reason you give them to stay is far more powerful. I think folks need to understand the purpose but more importantly if you leave the impression, regardless of this is it’s purpose that people’s whereabouts are what we are starting with and not the culture of a welcoming, inclusive and non intrusive learning environment, the same thing will happen as it does in a secondary school…they opt out as it is no longer about the them but the system they exist within.

15 Good morning Doug! (and Jamie) I’m glad you guys keep your eyes open when you’re out for your walks. There’s no doubt that keeping an eye out for other vehicles, cyclists, and pedestrians (and dogs) is a critical responsibility for motor vehicle drivers. I was pleased to read your “exit, stage left“ quote, And even happier when I saw that you had included a picture of SnagglePuss. You are smarter than the average bear.

16 I don’t remember exactly when Chrome came out, but I do for Gmail. I went straight to eBay and bought an invitation so I could join. It cost me $5. The invitation also included another new Google service. Do you remember what it was?

17 I noticed this too when watching cartoons with my nephews. There also seemed to be a whole lot of yelling. Okay now I’m sounding like the old guy who just wants the kids to get off his lawn. I loved the old Hanna-Barbara cartoons from the mid-60’s. Space Ghost, Frankenstein Jr. and The Impossibles, the original Scooby-Doo, Dastardly and Muttley in Their Flying Machines, The Herculoids, The Banana Splits Adventure Hour – that one was pretty weird, but I did teach some of my grade 6’s the theme song, Jonny Quest and the Jetsons. I kind of thought we’d be living like the Jetsons by now. At least I thought they would have finished repairing all the roads.

18 Hey Doug, As always your posts seem so timely. Today on my way home from church I noticed a few trees in the neighbourhood who have started to show your beautiful fall colors. I couldn’t help but recall several projects that I had to complete as a child where we would go out into the neighbourhood and find several fall leaves. We then needed to place the leaves in between two pieces of wax paper and iron them . To be honest, I don’t recall what the intended learning outcome was… But what I do remember was that it was a project that my mom and I needed to do together (hot irons and safety) . Sometimes it is those unintended outcomes (special time with a parent) which are just as meaningful as the curriculum outcomes.

19 I have never heard of Qwant until you mentioned it. I also gave it a try and I must admit that it is a very impressive search engine. I used the Brave web browser in the past; I had no issues with it. In my case, I utilise the Google Chrome web browser, because I use certain extensions. The Brave web browser loads quickly.

20 Hey! This is the fourth time visiting now and I personally just wanted to say I truley enjoy reading your blog site. I’ve decided to bookmark it at reddit.com with the title: %BLOGTITLE% and your Web address: %BLOGURL%. I hope this is alright with you, I’m trying to give your great blog a bit more coverage. Be back shortly.

21 Do you worry about free services going away after a while? = Sometimes. I’m still wounded about the closing of Bitstrips for Schools (which I liked waaaaaay better than Pixton – sorry, Pixton). It went so fast that I couldn’t collect all the old comics I wanted to archive (so Jacob, if you are reading this, please let us grab our files for a quick, one week period, please!) What is your contingency plans in case that happens? = Wish I had one! Do you backup your online presence in case it goes away? = I print my blogs as a birthday gift to myself once a year. I did a Twournal for the first part of my tweeting, but I’d love to back up all my Tweets in a print format. Now you’ve got me paranoid Doug!

Thanks to those who took time to share a comment throughout 2018. I hope that I can write on topics that will continue the efforts in 2019.

Who said that? published first on https://medium.com/@DigitalDLCourse

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autopilotrecruiting · 7 years

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New Post has been published on

New Post has been published on http://leadershipmentoring4free.info/viral-attraction-marketing-revealing-my-secret-formula-to-fame-and-success/

Viral Attraction Marketing - Revealing My Secret Formula to Fame and Success!

Why YouTube is well-known these days, wants it too?

One answer to that: The creators behind YouTube embraced the crowd with viral videos. Sounds like, the formula behind YouTube’s success is the best viral marketing campaign in the world.

Aside from watching videos, YouTube permits you to list down keywords, create titles of your own, embed tags, and descriptions on the sidebar. Below the widescreen video, there are bookmarking sites where you can write comments as you sign up.

Online attraction marketing is like YouTube. First, you should have a niche embraced by all people worldwide. Once hammered your niche into the public eye and they love it, you’re making money like a pro.

Several low-cost advertising strategies are used to attract readers, customers and prospects worldwide.

Article Writing

Blogs are a good start to circulate your word online. Updating your blog with worth-reading articles makes you famous.

(Piece of advice: If you’re not good in writing, outsource someone to do the writing for you)

To make things faster, format your articles in story-telling mode. This technique entertains readers. Just be sure to put those in-demand keywords you gathered from Google AdWords.

For example, if your niche is about dogs. The further keywords might be dog health, dog food, dog training techniques etc,- try to include these keywords in your story. After writing stories, don’t forget to post attractive images in your articles. Pictures beef up your story, right?

Branding

Brand marketing is about shaping your identity. The stage when you’re finding yourself in the crowd of entrepreneurs. And, for the people to recognize you, make sure you understand and give what they want and need.

A while ago, I read Andrew Carlson’s interesting article entitled 5 Tips to Brand Your Business Through Word of Mouth Marketing. The following are his branding techniques.

The first is,

Positive Influence

An entrepreneur knows that his words are worth volumes. If his words are of not good to people, how can he tell to them the backbone of trustworthiness.

The second guideline states,

Understand your target group

Every businessman is gifted of creative thumb. For this, use this strength to attract a targeted audience. For example, if you promote weight loss products to heavyweight people, they will most likely tell their friends about the offer and their friends will pass the news to another set of people.

The third rule is,

Being too receptive isn’t good!

There is a bridge that separates sales and friendship. An entrepreneur is an endorser. You are only reaching to people the best way you can, not necessarily make friends with them just to earn money.

Fourth,

The ATWOM Formula

ATWOM stands for Attraction Marketing Word-of-Mouth-. Successful marketers never give up in spreading the good news. There are seeding techniques to branch off the words and these marketers use these methods to make sales.

Lastly,

Stay Positive

When everything goes wrong, stay calm. Positive vibes influence many. If enterpreneurs continue to bring the good news to others, the degree of sales can ascend into multiples. Positive attitude motivates the people to explore new horizons and new hopes.

Direct Mail Advertising

The notable thing with email advertising, you have the power to send the messages absolutely free of charge and is environmental friendly. Numerous forms of contents can be made, with the exception of sales letter.

People get annoyed with sales-pitch letters on a habitual basis. Sales letter is a framework of pressure especially when readers are not interested in buying your product.

Better write reviews. Product reviews are informational articles that keep in touch with the readers on how your product is of worthy to them.

Every product has its own strengths and weaknesses and your readers want to read these points in your write-up. If you hate writing, you can create videos, upload it in YouTube and in your email message, put a link to which your readers can watch the video.

Another form of mail advertising is newsletters. A newsletter includes your opinions, facts, statistics and ideas on variety of matters. For quick read, the content should be clear, snappy (about two to four pages only) and the writing style is conversational. Newsletters may be written in a story-telling method or in bullets.

If you are going to write your newsletters in bullets, you can be confident that readers go through it in one seating.

Likely, the most crucial part of a newsletter is the subject line. The subject line needs to be plausible and compelling to them.

For example, if your message introduces someone who is your marketing consultant and his name is Rafael Thomas. You can write “You Must Help Rafael!” as your subject line and once people go through your message, they might think of Rafael Nadal, the great tennis player from Spain.

Next, immediately give your readers with a mind-blowing headline. The headline may be written in a form of a statement, a question, or a famous quote.

After the headline is the content. The content further explains your headline. It elaborates the raises the question why. Why should the people buy your product?

Viral Softwares

As a marketer, you should grasp what kind of softwares you need to bring to bear. Try inputting “list of viral softwares” in Google, you scan a lot of offerings that surely make your life easier.

Choosing the softwares for your viral marketing campaign depends on your goals and needs. For example, if your niche focuses on article writing, you need to have an article spinner software that allows you to spin article in different versions.

Pay-Per-Click Campaign Management

You might have heard the term PPC but you don’t exactly what it means. Pay-Per-Click or PPC for short is an affiliate program and once, people will make a hit on this viral ad or text link, you will earn money.

For instance, if you join a PPC program that offers you twenty cents per click, you can earn two thousand dollars per ten thousand clicks.

Learning the formula behind PPC can be advantageous on your part. Participating to tutorial programs online give you instructions and real-life strategies on how you can be noteworthy in your campaign.

According to Wikipedia, Google AdWords is probably the most blooming PPC affiliate program, followed by Yahoo! Search Marketing and Microsoft AdCenter.

Selling

Due to the fact the amount of sales depend on the number of people who buy your product, this is the sole reason why you are campaigning.

According to Laurence Ainsworth, there are five stages in sales. Stage one is the Icebreaker (the building unity stage) then it sails through the next stage, the Opening (outlining the issues). Stage three centers on questioning.

Questions revolve around 5W’s and a H. Instead of asking, “did you buy this machine?,” convert this into, “Why did you buy this machine?” The strategy is, start a question and dig into the uncovered issues.

The fourth stage is the Close. After covering the issues, identify the determining points and give possible solutions to each. This is the stage where the clients thinks and will give you the final answer later on.

The final stage is the Consolidation. This is the stage wherein you’ll make sure your customers will close the deal. To avoid cancellation, it’s mainly up to you how you invite your customers to a cup-of-tea.

Ambient and Mobile Marketing

The idea in agreement to ambient marketing is to bring to pass a loud mind-buzz using an remarkable marketing technique. For example, promoting Global Warming using an photograph of a man swimming in an ocean where there are high-reaching buildings surrounding him. This image entices a huge number of people, right?

And if you own a high-end mobile phone, send your customers shocking images related to your niche. When these customers got questioning, they can get to the link pointing to your website or site.

Music and Event Marketing

Now, if you have taste in music, why not write a simple jingle about your niche and upload it in YouTube?

You can use this song for special events such as symposiums or general assemblies. I’m sure many people will give you a nod if you give them something to listen over and over again. Attraction Marketing Formula

Erving Croxen

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delusionalland · 7 years

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“Please Lord, help me get one more”

It’s been a while since my last film ranting. Over the past six months, a handful of movies I have seen – movies have been among the rare things can help distracting the mind. Worthy to speak of afterwards were not many, since some were good for a while, some last until the credit screen appear, but this one – it’s worthy of more than just a bookmark on IMDB listing.

The story

As usual, you always can find the plot, written in much more precise language and expression, just by Google its name. Long story short, Hacksaw Ridge is 2016 biographical war drama film about Desmond Doss, an American pacifist combat medic, a Seventh-day Adventist Christian (among sets of doctrines there is Ten Commandments), refusing to carry or use weapons of any kind, because he deeply believed in and faithfully followed the Seventh Commandment – “Thou shalt not kill”. Doss became the first and only conscientious objector (an individual who has claimed the right to refuse to perform military service, on grounds of freedom of thought, conscience or religion) to be awarded the Medal of Honor – America’s highest military honor for acts of valor above and beyond the call of duty.

The movie is directed by notoriously black-sheep public figure Mel Gibson. As much as highly lauded for his works as a director: Braveheart (1995), The Passion of the Christ (2004), Apocalypto (2006), he remains known for domestic-violence accusation, allegedly racist viewpoint and alcoholism issue. Now, forgive me if I paint the director in unfavorable light, but if the man who creates a masterpiece is a scumbag – does it make the piece of art itself less worthy? Well, you gotta use your own eyes and mind to seek the answer for that. Speaking of movies, I wouldn’t dwell too much on the director, or cinematography, or film-making techniques whatsoever, ‘cause it’s way out of my league, yet I do have a thing for good movies that decently made, good script and acting – those things speak straight to your heart, evoke your emotions, leave you thinking about it and feel touched by it. Hacksaw Ridge can really do the job that not many can these days, if the job is as simple as keep your eyes fixed on screen and not look down to your phone.

Andrew Russell Garfield has officially shrugged off his boyish charm, playing the fragile-looking Desmond Doss but having the strongest heart and will of all. Garfield, born 1983, has started his acting career since 2004, gained international attention since 2010 with The Social Network, became insanely famous for his portrayal as the title character The Amazing Spiderman in 2012. Being a professional actor, he works hard, he works smart – he doesn’t let himself being typecasted as a charming, quirky face to become safely famous, but choose to invest more time and effort in movies/script that requires dedication, sacrifice but does not guarantee success. Hacksaw Ridge won’t be the only historical drama you see Andrew starred in, he also played in Silence, directed by Martin Scorsese. It’s a coincidence when in both movies, he was casted as a man of faith who is in crisis. For Hacksaw Ridge, Garfield devoted three months of prep to the Gibson film, studying a documentary about the man he portrays and retracing many of the steps of his life.

I’m not a religious person, I don’t understand his frustration nor his pain while he was asking for his God’s instruction. I do know, when a person possesses a strong and devoted belief, sometimes miracle happens. In Desmond’s case, he was successfully rescue a total of 75 left-behind-and-injured soldiers, by his own hand and under the unceasing rain of fire of Japanese army. For every soldier Desmond lowers down the ridge to safe place, he prayed: “Please Lord, help me get one more”. All he asked, was one more person he could save. He did not ask for himself to get out of that hell safe, he did not ask for war to end, he did not lay down in despair. He only focused his mental and physical strength in one thing - bring as many people as possible to safety without questioning whether he could walk out of there alive. It’s a miracle indeed, one that is impossible to imagine even in fictions. But true events have always been stranger than fictions, it’s just not our turn to witness it yet.

Andrew Garfield’s portrayal of Desmond Doss was convincing, from the silent endurance upon being picked on by his fellow soldiers, keeping to his principles to the point of eccentric stubbornness, to the unexplainable determination to save rather to kill for survival – all such expressions were depicted in most natural way of acting. Garfield became one with his character “Desmond” through the eyes of a man of faith, who believes in his God, believes in God’s way of planning things out, and he just needs to follow the commandments and principles as stated. It’s hard to say how the same man with this strong belief can be seen during this modern day; but when trouble comes, when hardship hits us, the feeling of being lost without a spiritual support is understandable. It makes us weak, and scared. Whatever your belief is, it does matters that you believe in something and stand by it, put your whole heart in it and see that faith blossoms into something beautiful.

How Desmond prayed “Help me get one more” is equally important to each of us to remember: “Help me get through one more day”. It is not easy, it is not a bed of rose, it is not a child’s play, it is the hardship we all must endure, overcome, find a way to deal with before we can breathe a sigh of relief. It is wonderful to be alive, and we will have to do it while being hurt by it. After all, nothing worth having comes easy.