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officialyourdailyinspiration · 1 year

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The Preeminence of Christ

1 Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and Timothy our brother, 2 to the saints and faithful brothers in Christ in Colossae: Grace to you and peace from God our Father.

We Thank God For Your Faith And Love

3 We are giving-thanks to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, always while praying for you, 4 having heard-of your faith in Christ Jesus and the love which you have for all the saints 5 because of the hope being reserved for you in the heavens, which you previously-heard-of in the word of the truth— the good-news 6 coming to you, just as also in all the world it is bearing-fruit and growing, just as it is doing also in you from which day you heard and understood the grace of God in truth, 7 just as you learned it from Epaphras, our beloved fellow-slave who is a faithful servant of Christ on your behalf, 8 the one also having made-clear to us your love in the Spirit

May You Walk Worthily of God, Who Transferred Us Into The Kingdom of His Son

9 For this reason we also, from which day we heard, do not cease praying for you and asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, 10 so that you may walk worthily of the Lord, toward total pleasing [of Him]— bearing-fruit in every good work and growing in the knowledge of God; 11 being empowered with all power according-to the might of His glory, toward total endurance and patience; with joy 12 giving-thanks to the Father having qualified you for your part of the share of the saints in the light, 13 Who delivered us out of the authority of darkness and transferred us into the kingdom of the Son of His love, 14 in Whom we have the redemption, the forgiveness of sins—

The Son Is The Preeminent Head of All Creation, Because He Created All Things

15 ... Who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation, 16 because all things were created by Him in the heavens and on the earth, the visible things and the invisible things— whether thrones or lordships or rulers or authorities. All things have been created through Him and for Him. 17 And He Himself is before all things, and all things have existence in Him. 18 And He Himself is the head of the body, the church.

The Son Is First In Everything, Because God Reconciled All Things Through Him

... Who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, in order that He Himself might come-to-be holding-first-place in all things, 19 because the Father was well-pleased that all the fullness should dwell in Him 20 and that He should reconcile all things through Him to Himself, having made-peace through the blood of His cross— through Him, whether the things on the earth or the things in the heavens.

Indeed, You Yourselves Were Reconciled By Him

21 Indeed you were formerly being excluded, and were enemies in the mind in-connection-with evil works. 22 But now He reconciled you in the body of His flesh through His death, that He might present you holy and without-blemish and blameless in His presence— 23 if indeed you continue in the faith, having been founded, and steadfast, and not being moved-away from the hope of the good-news which you heard, the one having been proclaimed in all creation under heaven, of which I, Paul, became a minister.

I Am Suffering To Fulfill My Stewardship of God’s Now Revealed Mystery: Christ In You.

24 Now I am rejoicing in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I am filling-up-in-turn[am] the things lacking from the afflictions of Christ, for the sake of His body, which is the church, 25 of which I became a minister according-to the stewardship of God having been given to me for you, that I might fulfill the word of God— 26 the mystery having been hidden from the past ages and from the past generations. But now it was revealed to His saints, 27 to whom God willed to make-known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles— which is Christ in you, the hope of glory, 28 Whom we are proclaiming, admonishing every person, and teaching every person with all wisdom, in order that we may present every person mature in Christ, 29 for which I also am laboring, struggling according to His working being at-work in me with power. — Colossians 1 | Disciples’ Literal New Testament (DLNT) Disciples' Literal New Testament: Serving Modern Disciples by More Fully Reflecting the Writing Style of the Ancient Disciples, Copyright © 2011 Michael J. Magill. All Rights Reserved. Published by Reyma Publishing Cross References: Numbers 7:65; 1 Samuel 12:23; 2 Samuel 22:24; Nehemiah 9:6; Psalm 89:27; Isaiah 60:2; Matthew 18:29; Matthew 24:14; Mark 4:22; John 1:1; Acts 1:8; Acts 9:13; Acts 16:1; Acts 20:32; Romans 1:8; Romans 7:4; Romans 8:17; 1 Corinthians 15:10; Galatians 2:5; Galatians 3:26; Ephesians 1:5; Ephesians 1:7; Ephesians 1:22-23; Ephesians 3:2; Ephesians 4:13; Philippians 4:13; Colossians 2:2; Colossians 2:6; 1 Timothy 1:1

#preeminence of Christ #thanksgiving #the church at colossae #Paul's Ministry to the church #Colossians 1 #Book of Colossians #DLNT #Disciples’ Literal New Testament Bible #Reyma Publishing

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choco1 · 5 months

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The Creator's Folly

Part 1 - Darkness

In the beginning, there was nothing. There was naught but an abyss, dark and all-encompassing,

naught but a purposeless world of empty space,

naught but a stagnant nothingness, forever unchanging,

naught but a blank canvas, patiently awaiting pigment.

There was nothing.

And then there was Andraea. He appeared before the void, carrying ideas and purpose. I know not whether he had been born from the great nothingness or if he had arrived here from some distant existence. All I know is what he did next.

Out of the darkness, Andraea began to create. From the abyss came earth then light then water then air then plants then beasts.

Then came our kin.

Part 2 - Devotion

Our kin were us but far removed. They had bodies similar to us yet disproportionate and malformed. They had long, slender fingers, single, lonesome eyes, large, bulbous heads, and large, muscular builds.

They loved Andraea with all they had and all they were. They gifted him offerings of food, raw materials, flesh, and devotion. They built grand, gargantuan structures in his honor and preached his word as law. Whenever one of them died or was born, they invoked Andraea's name.

They did everything they could to win favor of their father. They worked tirelessly to build and reproduce and better themselves for his sake.

Yet Andraea cared not. He ignored his creations. He ignored their prayers, he ignored their monuments, he ignored their offerings, and he ignored their pleas. He admonished their every action and even often smote them to dust for reasons unjust and nonsensical. Andraea was a monster incapable of empathy or appeal to emotion.

Despite this, his creations persisted. They constructed even greater monuments for him, inlaid with gemstones and gold and towering far above the trees. They offered every one of their mortal possessions to him, their homes, food, riches, clothing, and even children. They were desperate for his love, his acknowledgement. It worsened to such a point that some of them even slaughtered one another in Andraea's name.

Even still, Andraea resented them.

Why?

Because they were flawed. They were unfinished. Andraea had made many naïve mistakes in their creation.

And Andraea DESPISED mistakes.

Thus, he decided... to start over.

Part 3 - Dusk

The inhabitants of the world, our kin, woke up early in morning...

to the sound of rushing water.

Andraea had forsaken them. He wanted to start over, so he had to purge his canvas. He sent a great flood to cleanse the world of his disgusting mistakes. Then, he would create new ones without flaws.

The sound of rushing water was soon accompanied by screams.

The screams of innocent lives taken carelessly.

The screams of pitiful, affectionate votaries drowned mercilessly.

The screams of unjust suffering.

The screams of pure, cold betrayal

The screams of writhing agony,

but the worst part

was when the screams stopped.

Part 4 - Daybreak

The world had been cleansed. The people who once lived their lives here, planted crops, had families, studied, and laughed with glee were now ruined, laying on the cold, indifferent soil, now nothing but rotting flesh and bone.

Andraea felt no empathy or remorse, only excitement for his next project. In preparation, he allowed the world a few decades to properly decompose.

Once the sins of the past had begun to fade, the skeletons had begun to burrow into the ground, and the thick agony had begun to clear from the air, Andraea returned.

He then began to create.

The new people he would make were closer to his image.

Those new people were us, and we were them.

Unlike the poor, downtrodden, and cheated that preceded us, Andraea adored us. He actually cared, sharing our pain and joy and properly listening to us. We weren't perfect, but we were as close as he could get to his image of perfection.

For a time, we lived in peace.

We formed a blooming society. Our homes were cozy and lived in, our families were happy, and we learned constantly under Andraea's guidance.

We built our own great monuments, we learned to harness fire then steam then electricity, and we were constantly moving forth, Andraea watching and teaching us every step of the way.

And then curiosity befell us.

Part 5 - Duplicity

We had known for a while that the earth we stood on was older than we were, and so, in accordance to our inquisitive human nature, we began to dig. We wanted to know more about the past, so we kept digging.

And then we found something horrific.

The sins of the past had faded, but they never had truly left. We found caves full of points of interest. We dug up books that denoted rituals and offerings. We found large monuments dedicated to our creator, but what really shook us was when we saw skeletons all seemingly dead by drowning.

These were gifts from our kin, or what remained of them. They somehow remained not only intact but in almost pristine condition. Alongside this, the air was heavy, dampened with a lingering sense of grief, of spite, of betrayal.

As if the souls of the slaughtered refused to be forgotten, refused to allow their creator to abandon them again, they remained here in this cursed repository of sorrows...

for us to uncover

Part 6 - Defacement

From the earth came truth, from the truth came rage, and from the rage came revolt.

We had inherited many things from Andraea.

Among them was arrogance.

We declared war upon God himself. We threw vicious mockeries, held rallies against him, tore down monuments, and denied his place by our side.

We rejected him with all we had.

We saw our creator for what he always had been, a terrible, duplicitous, heartless monster, and, so, we acted accordingly.

Amongst the revolution, Andraea tried to reason with us,

"I'm so sorry" "That was all so long ago" "I love you all so, very much"

But it was futile. Our ears were deafened by the rage and disgust we held for him. Not a soul on our world lent Andraea their ear. We chanted long into the night. We chanted long betrayals, both truthful divulgence of cruelty and creatively falsified calumny of our creator, requesting, no, demanding he leave and die alone somewhere else.

Sometimes, it felt like our fallen kin were chanting with us.

Part 7 - Denouement

We had all expected some great flood, drought, or earthquake. We knew what Andraea was capable of and what he'd done in the past, so we awaited some punishment for our hubris. We didn't care much for our lives, at least, not as much as we hated Andraea. We would invite death into our homes long before letting Andraea in.

However, days passed, and no great flood ever came. No grand fire. No infectious plague.

No ultimatum.

Andraea wasn't the remorseless beast he had once been. Decades with us taught him empathy and forgiveness. It doesn't excuse his crimes, but age had made him a kinder and more selfless version of himself.

And so, Andraea left us alone. I know not where he is now. All I know is that we're free. If I am to be honest, I wish that monster met a terrible end.

Now, our kind moves onward under the watch of no one with no fickle god overseeing us, left alone to make our own mistakes and earn our own achievements. We walk together under azure skies and viridescent trees. We are creations free to forge our own story forward, our creator finally, irrevocably abandoned.

The End

#writing #my writing #short story #stories #fiction #oneshot

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seekfirst-community · 2 years

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Meditation: What is the greatest act of love which one can give for the sake of another? Jesus defines friendship - the mutual bond of trust and affection which people choose to have for one another - as the willingness to give totally of oneself - even to the point of laying down one's life for a friend. How is such love possible or even desirable? God made us in love for love. That is our reason for being, our purpose for living, and our goal in dying.

Scripture tells us that God is love (1 John 4:8) - and everything he does flows from his immense love for us. He loved us so much - far beyond what we could ever expect or deserve - that he was willing to pay any price to redeem us from our slavery to sin and death. That is why the Father sent us his beloved Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, who gave up his life as the atoning sacrifice for our sins. In this great exchange - the Father giving up his Son to death on the cross in order to give us abundant everlasting life and adopt us as his beloved sons and daughters in Christ (Romans 8:14-17).

God has poured his love into our hearts

It is for this reason that we can take hold of a hope that does not fade and a joy that does not diminish because God has poured his love into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us (Romans 5:5). God's love is not limited or subject to changing circumstances. It is an enduring love that has power to change and transform us to be like him - merciful, gracious, kind, forgiving, and steadfast in showing love not only for our friends, but for our enemies as well. God's love is boundless because he is the source of abundant life, perfect peace, and immeasurable joy for all who open their hearts to him. That is why Jesus came to give us abundant life through the gift and working of the Holy Spirit.

Jesus gave his disciples a new commandment - a new way of loving and serving one another. Jesus' love was wholly directed toward the good of others. He loved them for their sake and for their welfare. That is why he willingly laid down his own life for us to free us from sin, death, fear, and everything that could separate us from the love of God. Our love for God and our willingness to lay down our life for others is a response to the exceeding love God has given us in Christ. Paul the Apostle states,

"Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?... For I am sure that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord" (Romans 8:35,38-39).

Friendship with God

Jesus calls his disciples his personal friends. Jesus not only showed his disciples that he personally cared for them and sought their welfare. He personally enjoyed their company and wanted to be with them in a close and intimate relationship. He ate with them, shared everything he had with them - even his innermost heart and thoughts. And he spent himself in doing as much good for them as he could. To know Jesus personally is to know God and the love and friendship he offers to each one of us.

One of the special marks of favor shown in the Scriptures is to be called the friend of God. Abraham is called the friend of God (Isaiah 41:8, James 2:23). God spoke with Moses as a man speaks with his friend (Exodus 33:11). Jesus, the Lord and Master, calls the disciples his friends rather than his servants.

What does it mean to be a friend of God? Friendship with God who is our everlasting Father and with his Son, the Lord Jesus Christ entails a personal, close, and loving relationship and a union of heart, mind, and spirit with the One who created us in love for love. Such a relationship with our Father, Creator, and Redeemer involves loyalty, respect, and obedience. But it is even more than these because God has chosen to love us in the same way in which the Father and the Son love and serve each other - a total giving of oneself to the other in a bond of affection, esteem, and joy in each others company.

Jesus' discourse on friendship and brotherly love echoes the words of Proverbs: A friend loves at all times; and a brother is born for adversity (Proverbs 17:17). The distinctive feature of Jesus' relationship with his disciples was his personal, loyal, and sacrificial love for each one of them. He loved his own to the end (John 13:1). His love was unconditional and wholly directed to the good of others. His love was costly and sacrificial. He gave the best he had and all that he had. He gave his very own life for those he loved in order to secure for them an everlasting life of union and love with the Father in heaven.

Love to the death

The Lord Jesus gives his followers a new commandment - a new way of love that goes beyond giving only what is required or what we think others might deserve. What is the essence of Jesus' new commandment of love? It is a love to the death - a purifying love that overcomes selfishness, fear, and pride. It is a total giving of oneself for the sake of others - a selfless and self-giving love that is oriented towards putting the welfare of others ahead of myself.

Jesus says that there is no greater proof in love than the sacrifice of one's life for the sake of another. Jesus proved his love by giving his life for us on the cross of Calvary. Through the shedding of his blood for our sake, our sins are not only washed clean, but new life is poured out for us through the gift of the Holy Spirit. We prove our love for God and for one another when we embrace the way of the cross. What is the cross in my life? When my will crosses with God's will, then God's will must be done. Do you know the peace and joy of a life fully surrendered to God and consumed with his love?

Love that produces abundant fruit and joy

The Lord Jesus tells us that he is our personal friend and he loves us wholeheartedly and unconditionally. He wants us to love one another just as he has loved us, wholeheartedly, without reserve, and full of mercy, kindness, and forgiveness. His love fills our hearts and transforms our minds and frees us to give ourselves in loving service to others. If we open our hearts to his love and obey his command to love our neighbor, then we will know his love more fully and we will bear much fruit - especially the fruit of peace, joy, patience, kindness, and goodness - the kind of fruit that lasts for eternity. Do you wish to be fruitful and to abound in the love of God? Trust and obey him and he will fill you with his overflowing love.

"Teach us, good Lord, to serve you as you deserve, to give and not to count the cost, to fight and not to heed the wounds, to toil and not to seek for rest, to labor and not to ask for any reward, save that of knowing that we do your will; through Jesus Christ our Lord. (Prayer of Ignatius Loyola) "

“a friend indeed”

“Instead, I call you friends, since I have made known to you all that I heard from My Father.” —John 15:15

Are you Jesus’ friend? You are His friend if you do as He commands you (Jn 15:14). His command is to love one another as He has loved us (Jn 15:12). If you do this, you will realize that Jesus laid down His life for you (Jn 15:13), and you will lay down your life for others (1 Jn 3:16). Then you will understand what Jesus the Master is about (Jn 15:15). God’s work will not puzzle but enlighten you.

Only Jesus’ loving, obedient friends experience this. This crucified love bears much fruit. It opens even the hardest hearts to accept Jesus as Lord and Savior. Are you Jesus’ friend? Will you die even for your enemies? Is your love covering a multitude of sins? (1 Pt 4:8) Are you bearing fruit by leading people to Jesus? Jesus reveals specific prerequisites for and effects of being His friend.

“A faithful friend is a sturdy shelter; he who finds one finds a treasure. A faithful friend is beyond price, no sum can balance his worth. A faithful friend is a life-saving remedy, such as he who fears God finds; for he who fears God behaves accordingly, and his friend will be like himself” (Sir 6:14-17). Jesus’ friends become like Jesus.

Prayer: Risen Jesus, make me like You, both crucified and glorified.

Promise: “When it was read there was great delight at the encouragement it gave.” —Acts 15:31

Praise: St. Bernardine of Siena is known as “the Apostle of Italy.” During the fifteenth century, he used his gift of preaching to revive the country’s lukewarm Catholic faith. He spread devotion to the Holy Name of Jesus.

Reference: (For a related teaching on Love, listen to, download or order CD 58-1 or DVD 58 on our website.)

Rescript: "In accord with the Code of Canon Law, I hereby grant the Nihil Obstat for the publication One Bread, One Body covering the time period from April 1, 2022 through May 31, 2022. Reverend Steve J. Angi, Chancellor, Vicar General, Archdiocese of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, Ohio August 3, 2021"

The Nihil Obstat ("Permission to Publish") is a declaration that a book or pamphlet is considered to be free of doctrinal or moral error. It is not implied that those who have granted the Nihil Obstat agree with the contents, opinions, or statements

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antiloreolympus · 3 years

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8 Anti LO Asks

1. as a mythology buff, i honestly think it was really weird of rachel smythe to take Hecate, a goddess who helped Demeter search for Persephone after she vanished and heard her screams and shared in Persephone and Demeter's joy after reuniting... and then just make her into Hades's like... total bro who plays aggressive matchmaker to h/p to the point of trying to break up Hades's current relationship. but honsestly i refuse to believe rachel smythe did literally any research before making this comic judging by how she depicts the mythology she's taking inspiration from so honestly im not suprised

2. I don’t know if anyone on here has discussed this, but LO very much plays into the idea of “good victim vs bad victim”.

A “good victim” has suffered many things, but despite it they still remain cheerful and happy and pleasant, they do not put others out or lash out at them even if they are triggered, they do not become petty or angry or hold onto negative emotions. They, in essence, “get over it”. Thus, the narrative rewards them: they get many friends, a love internet they’re happy with, and a happy ending. This is what Persephone is. She’s the “good victim”. Despite her many hardships, we know she will not suffer in the end. She will get everything she wants and more.

Then there is Minthe, the “bad victim”. They too have gone through many hardships, but they’ve become cold, angry at the world, they lash out and have trouble opening up and connecting to others, they even hurt others, themselves victims to the toxic pain they can’t get rid it. They do not and have not “gotten over it”. Thus, the narrative punishes them, even when they try to better themselves. It’s never good enough. These characters often are lonely, the cast are large do not like them if not outright hate them, and they more often than not end up dead. This is what Minthe is. She is not a pleasant person, she’s a victim of a manipulative older man and a cruel, unjust society and system, and we know how her story ends. It’s in pain, her maiming/possible death framed as a joke and not even a genuine hint of sympathy towards her fate. She was a “bad victim”, she “deserved” what she got.

Now, you only often see this in fandom, since the actual works that deal with victims of trauma and how they react will often try to give more nuance to every shade of victim they may have on cast, but it’s very disturbing to me that Rachel seems to eagerly play into this idea, like she gets joy out of punishing a victim she created and watching them suffer even more at her hands. It’d be one thing if she kept Minthe a shallow, one dimensional character who was just evil for the sake of it, fine, but her showing us her actual complex nature and the very real struggles, trauma, and manipulation she went through, especially at the hands of our supposed “heroes” of the story, just to have her demise framed as a win for Persephone and a joke for the audience to laugh at? That’s highly disturbing to me. It’s one thing for fans to act that way, but the writer themselves? It’s very dark, to say the least.

3. "I'm invested in working with fairy tales and folklore for my next project" oh no no no oh god please no. Fairy tales have been through enough hot takes and modern "betterments", they really don't need Rachel "Apollo is bad, actually" Smythe to add to it

4. Quick question

Greek Mythology is mostly incest.

So what if someone who is actually good at writing and storytelling and consistent artwork

Kept it in

For example Zeus and Hera arguing like the married couple they are

And Hera uses older sibling card

With Zeus dumbfounded face

I don't know why but I want it but would it be weird since it's incest

Most fanfics always keep it out. Just keep it in if you want it to be closer than the actual methods you know

Hera is youngest daughter of Cronus and Rhea and older than her brother Zeus, who was also her husband.

I want to do it but like I have no clue how to start a webtoon so you know💀

5. Oh god, Hades not needing therapy because Persephone's "love" is enough? To quote my lord and savior Kennie JD: "not the p*$$¥ being therapy!"

6. uuuuuh sexual trauma warning.?

So I was writing a comment on the "Re: bpd" ask and i had a realization about persephone

She reminds me of how I was about the idea of sex

I'm demisexual and have sexual trauma and the idea of sex excited me but I wasn't able to like, do it. Me and my partner would mess around but because Mctrauma i couldn't do it cuz I hadn't exactly worked through my trauma and i wanted to get through that because i was finally experiencing sexual attraction.

Kinda reminds me of Persephone. The problem is at that point it had been 6-7 years since my trauma occurred and persephone's happened like last month.

Considering how everyone talks about persephone being a self insert i think Rachel has some things to work through

Also made the realization literally as im typing that Rachel's attitude towards asexuality could be because she's demi and doesn't fully understand what that is or means

becuase if you're ignorant enough you can 100% end up describing demisexuality as "being asexual and then like, slowly turning gay."

this ask weirdly personal so fuck it this is gonna be anonymous feel free to delete if it makes u uncomfy

7. That’s also a part about Hubris Rachel clearly doesn’t get: it was always committed by rich, often people in high authority, NEVER lowly farmers or the poorest of ancient society. They always knew better. Niobe was a queen! Minos was a king! Arachne was the rich, spoiled daughter of a really successful merchant. Sisyphus was a cunning king. The trojan war was kicked off by royal drama. The list goes on and on. You have to notice these things and genuinely study the myths or you become like Rachel, who seems convinced the poorest people would be stupid enough to not only defy their bosses, but the gods themselves? They would be the last people to do such a thing! They don’t have the ingrained sense of entitlement and arrogance like the rich and powerful to even dare act like that towards the gods, as is the case with hubris. Because of this, Rachel ends up creating a narrative that the rich and powerful (literal GODS) are the real victims to those cruel, uppity poor people, going as far as to say in comic they deserve to be slaves for hades’ benefit and they’re wrong for ever hating Persephone for, you know, murdering them because she had a bad day! They should know their place! It’s absolutely insane that she doesn’t actually seem to realize what she’s writing. Unless she does, which is an even bigger issue, and shows a really dark look into how she views the world and society and how it should be run. It’s all a bad look.

8. Have you seen the "The demon, is here in the room right now?" meme

Welp, that's literally Persephone and her "feeling"

I legit saw that video about a dude faking a mental illnes (and seeing a demon that made him do bad things) after he commited a crime and that was so cringy and I can't stop thinking about Persephone confessing her AOW like that

#anti lo #anti lore olympus #lore olympus critical #lo critical #anti lo art

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zkfanworkweek · 4 years

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ZFAW Fan Content Creator Interviews: HayleyNFoster

Hey everyone! We hope you’re all excited for ZFAW, and to honor (ha!) ZFAW’s commitment to supporting and celebrating fan content creators in the Zutara fandom, we’re going to be rolling out a series of interviews with well-known and widely-beloved content creators over the next few weeks. We’ve got artists and fanfiction authors, some names you recognize as well as a few phenomenal up-and-coming talents, and we can’t wait for you to meet them all!

For the second interview in this cycle, we have our best propaganda creator and this fandom’s hottest new artist/undisputed queen of the animatic, @hayleynfoster!

1. Tell us about how you came to ship Zutara. What does this ship mean to you?

When I was around 14 or 15 and caught Avatar: The Last Airbender on television, I was drawn in by the art style, the humor, and the wonderful characters. I caught the episodes out of order, and the first one I saw and wasn’t prepared to be sucked in by was The Waterbending Scroll. It intrigued me at that age, and the line “I’ll save you from the pirates” combined with the tension between Katara and Zuko in that whole scene was electrifying. I remember my teenage self thinking these two have so much chemistry! And when I saw a commercial on Nickelodeon that featured fanart submitted by fellow Avatar fans, I realized that I could do that to! So I set about making Zutara fanart for myself. I stumbled onto Youtube, practically in its infancy, and discovered that people set clips of Zuko and Katara set to music (And this was still in season 1 days… so people who made these amvs were the real mvps because they were able to make compelling narratives in their amvs with like practically nothing to work with!). The AMVs really spurred my interest in this couple, I remember distinctly one Zutara AMV using the Dido song White Flag utterly capturing my imagination. I found fandom shortly after, getting into deviantart and forums. But the ship really began to mean something to me when, as I was working on my drawings in the computer lab at school, a buoyant presence hovered over my shoulder noticing my Zutara art on the computer screen. The girl was someone I had never really talked to and had only seen from afar but she immediately started excitedly saying she shipped Zuko and Katara too! In this simple shared obsession, I made one of the best friends I’ve ever had and we’re still friends to this day. We would theorize and fangirl over Avatar like it was nobody’s business; we poured over bootleg San Diego Comic Con footage that showed spoilers for season 2 before it aired; we lost our freaking minds when we finally saw The Crossroads of Destiny. We had watch parties every week as Season 3 of A:TLA aired, and comforted each other when the show ended as it did (much ranting was shared). Those are some of my happiest memories from high school… all because this one pairing from this wonderful show. Even though Zutara didn’t happen, we still chat every now and then about it. Zutara will probably be a lifelong obsession, always bubbling under the surface. And without it, I would have never realized that animation was a viable career path. It really did inspire everything including the work I’m doing to this day in the animation industry. I owe a lot to this ship and to Avatar: the Last Airbender.

2. What inspires you to create zutara fanworks?

The resurgence of Avatar: The Last Airbender this year really helped sort of spark that dormant love I had for Zutara. The show’s ending still disappointed me on the rewatch, but Zuko and Katara’s relationship arc was as captivating as ever, so I turned to some fanfiction and looking at people’s pretty Zutara art and AMVs to just revel in fanon instead of getting to hung up on the actual ending of the show. But then I realized, with quarantine and my work load being pretty light, I had time to actually make all new Zutara art for myself, art I was never fully capable of making as a kid, but now could do with my 7 years of industry experience and just… life experience. And I was inspired to do some corrective animatics to satisfy my own desire for a different ending. I just really like exploring these two characters, doing different and interesting things with them, and frankly I’m inspired to make cute, fluffy, romantic art simply by virtue of living in a really sad and depressing world. Things are so crazy right now, creating art about two characters I love being in love, is comforting. And it helps to have inspiring music and amazing Zutara amvs to just sort of stir up my emotions and imagery in my head to make into animatics and art.

3. Be selfish - if you could request one fanwork based on your own art/fanfic, what would it be? What would you absolutely love to see someone create?

Ohhhh… Well, It’s always nice to have people write fanfiction that puts words to my animatics. I am not that great at coming up with dialog myself, so I’ve just chosen to indulge in visuals and emotions for my boards. But when I read things like RideBoldlyRide’s take on my Reunion Animatic, it makes me pretty giddy. (They finally have voices!) :) And this is the MOST selfish thing I could request, but I’m not shy about saying how much I love well done amvs, so I will literally kill for someone to make Zutara AMVs to songs I like… Like, most of AURORA’s songs but especially Exist for Love, Sunseeker by The Naked and Famous, Promises or Take Me by Aly & AJ, Adore You by Harry Styles, Human Enough by ONR, Never Let Me Go by Florence + The Machine, and/or Almost (Sweet Music) by Hozier just… I can see the AMVs so clearly to any of these songs in my head, but I don’t have the tools or skill set at my disposal to make a compelling fan video. When I was in high school, I originally thought I wanted to go into video editing simply because I loved making very crappy AMVs (they were so bad you guys), but I figured out being a storyboard artist was more in my wheelhouse. haha

4. Any words for people who are new to the fandom and/or nervous about sharing their work for the first time?

If you’re new to the Zutara fandom, just have a good time! Don’t waste too much time arguing with people over your shipping preferences. I wasted so much of my teen years having pointless shipping wars with people on DeviantArt, and I’m just so much happier nowadays because I’m just making Zutara art in my little corner of the internet, and honestly, in the politest of ways, I don’t give a shit if people don’t like my art or Zutara. haha I think that’s sort of a key thing for people thinking of posting creative works here in the fandom, just make art for yourself, satisfy your own desires for the pairing, get your creative sparks flying, and create just for the joy of creating. It’s always nice to get comments and such, but simply making the art should be what spurs you on, not the external validation. And have a good time, don’t worry too much - I say as someone who worries about EVERYTHING. But honestly, making art for A:TLA is some of the most relaxed I’ve been because I make it just for me. I’m lucky others seem to like it too!

5. What’s an idea for a fanwork that you have but haven't gotten around to making?

I have an idea for a second generation storyline with my Zutara kids that involves Kya (the eldest firebending daughter) falling in love with an airbender boy (tentatively named Gora in my headcanon who’s a bit of a rabble rouser and one of Aang’s kids he had with a Kyoshi Warrior), and then they start a socialist revolution in the Fire Nation in order to dismantle all of the hierarchical societies across the Avatar world… Together Kya and Gora Fan the Flames of revolution… ehhhhh... Get it?? Oh! Oh, and then Katara, who had put in legit liberal reforms in her time as Fire Lady listens to her daughter after resisting in the first part of the story, but then realizes she can actually play a part in the dissolution of the royalty and is also active in the revolution realizing that moderate liberal reforms are no substitute for a society free of serving royalty (which she had always been uncomfortable with but had rationalized with herself that she was doing good in her capacity as Fire Lady.) I just feel like there’s a lot of cool potential for discussing these ideas and also having some aspirational change in the Avatar world. lol For aesthetics and just happy fluffy times, I can indulge in Fire Lady and Fire Lord Zuko stuff, but really at the end of the day, I take issue with the structures in a society that have to exist for monarchies to exist. Soooo, I kind of want to do my own corrective story for that… if I ever have the time or guts. On a less ambitious note, I would love to do a Zutara sparring animatic to practice doing action, but I need a good story; I am not good at doing fights just for fighting’s sake. Those are just some things I have rattling around in my head.

6. Are you participating in ZFAW? If so want to give us a hint as to your plans?

Yes! The most I can say is I have one animatic almost finished and one that’s still being thumbnailed. The rest are probably going to be comics or emotive single pieces based on the fanfics I really like right now. :)

#interviews #zutara fanworks appreciation week #zfaw #hayleynfoster #zutara

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oftachancer · 3 years

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Ao3 Questions

Tagged by @midnightprelude and @johaeryslavellan - my two trusty co-writers; thank you for the tags! And tagging on @onionjuggler @fandomn00blr @dismalzelenka @blarrghe @faerieavalon @in-arlathan @suliswrites @leafylost @serial-chillr @tessa1972 anyone else who would like to do this!

How many works do you have on Ao3?

What’s your total Ao3 wordcount?

924,518

What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

tell the angels (DAI, Part two of my Here In This Moment series following my Inquisitor Aran Trevelyan) - 56

it’s the promise you made (DAI, Part one of Here In This Moment) - 55

watching you (DAI, Part 3 of Here In This Moment) - 51

Underneath the Bough (DA AU, Victorian AU, Dorian/Anders/ OC Almila, co-wrote with @midnightprelude) - 42

I... I am (DAI, Part 4 of Here In This Moment) - 37

Pour Forth Thy Soul In Ecstasy (DA AU, Dorian/Ril origin story, co-wrote with @midnightprelude) - 29

Do you respond to comments? Why or why not?

Honestly, not as much as I should. I spend so much time writing that I let a lot of the social aspect of things fall by the wayside. Fortunately, I co-write everything except my own little series, and my co-writers are phenomenal communicators who make up for my introversion. I do go through batches at a time and try to answer people when I can think of anything relevant to respond with; sometimes that takes me a while..... But I really appreciate comments! Even if they’re just little “adiubasuidgaibda”. :)

What’s the fic you’ve written with the angstiest ending?

Ummmmm...... Hmmm. They mostly all have angsty beginnings..... Maybe Pour Forth Thy Soul in Ecstasy. Or Crash (still being posted, but finished writing).

What’s the fic you’ve written with the happiest ending?

By The Earnest Stars has a nice ending (spoilers, finished writing, not finished posting). Excess of Joy Would Wake Me is a sweet ending to a one-shot (I actually have accomplished a COUPLE of those!)

Do you write crossovers? If so, what is the craziest one you’ve written?

I have a few crossovers in the works and mixed into Here In This Moment into other writers’ Dragon Age universes, especially in my continuing series “travels in time” which deals with my time/world hopping Inquisitor.

Have you ever received hate on a fic?

Hmm. Nope. No hate. And there have been a few things I’ve written where I was a little worried about it, honestly, because I write pretty viscerally about things. But. Yeah. No hate. Just love or silence and some thoughtful constructive criticism.

Do you write smut? If so, what kind?

Yup! All kinds! Mostly M/M, but also M/F and F/F. Lots of kinks, lots of play, all consensual except for one scene for one specific reason and I labeled the heck out of it.

Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Not as far as I know.

Have you ever had a fic translated?

Nope.

Have you ever co-written a fic before?

Yes! Many! Lots! Love it! Finding a rhythm with another writer is so fulfilling and I really love it.

What’s your all time favourite ship?

.......Oof. I mean. Honestly, my favorite ship at any given moment is the one that I’m writing if the flow is good. If I’m looking up fics to read, I usually look for Dorian-centric stories.

What’s a WIP you want to finish but don’t think you ever will?

travels in time. I have it all plotted out, but there’s years of it and I’m beginning to think it might be better not to show everything that happened in the missing time interim. Mystery is more interesting. However, if you read it and there’s a particular part of the journey that you’d like to see detailed, let me know. :)

What are your writing strengths?

Does tenacity count? I’ve been told that I have a knack for creating visceral scenes that evoke the feelings of the characters for the readers really strongly and that is my goal. To bring the reader into the scene. I love sinking deep into a point of view and focusing on the particular lens of the narrator. I also really love building out the bare structures of largely sketched in canon characters, like Rilienus and Karl Thekla.

What are your writing weaknesses?

One-shots. Getting to the point quickly. Fight scenes - I hate writing them. Arguments, I love, but action sequences are really difficult for me for some reason. Apparently they actually turn out pretty well? But I find them very stressful to build.

What are your thoughts on writing dialogue in other languages in a fic?

I do it. I like it. I like reading it. There are some images and ideas that are communicated better in other languages. And when there are characters switching between languages for the sake of privacy/community/shared history/etc, I find it more satisfying to allow them to actually switch languages rather than continuing to point out when they are and are not speaking in a language that might be understood by those around them. I use Polish for Nevarran, French for Orlesian, and Latin for Tevene. I also use the much debated Elvhen Lexicon, in conjunction with other Dalish sources online.

What was the first fandom you wrote for?

Mobile Suit Gundam Wing (1995). That’s right! I was and still am a hardcore Trowa/Quatre shipper and I refuse to feel bad about it. My first poly-triad fix was Duo/Trowa/Quatre and it got a lot of good feedback on Livejournal (remember that, back in the day?) and that was before poly was a thing people actually talked about. Still proud of that.

What’s your favourite fic you’ve written?

I cannot possibly answer this adequately. I’m proud of them all in different ways. The series Everything Will Be Okay that I’ve written with @johaeryslavellan has the most original characters and is a modern AU and is basically just our own world with touches of Thedas along the edges and I’m really proud of the relationship between the two original characters; it’s very real and unique and strange and fun and painful. I’m also really proud of Pour Forth Thy Soul In Ecstasy, which I wrote with @midnightprelude, because I feel like we really just caught the sail of what the Tevinter Imperium is like and absorbed and explored that world really well from a single setting, and also we did some killer magic exploration that is still really fun to re-read. And solo-wise, I’m still the most proud of “my window through which nothing hides” which is pure, unadulterated smut from Cole’s POV and I had so much fun working through how he would interpret physical sensation and living in his brain and body for a minute.

#meme #questions and answers #oftachancer answers #dragon age #dragon age inquisition #johaerys writes #midnight writes #co-writing #fanfiction #da fanfiction #dai

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the-darklings · 3 years

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coa one year later & self-reflection

(*drags out a creaky metal chair and plops down on it heavily*)

Hi. It’s me, ya boi skinny--

Wait, wrong one. Do over.

Hi, it’s me, Kat, and I’m not dead. Clearly. Today being one year anniversary of COA has kinda put me in a reflective mood, so I guess I decided to sit down and just...talk about some things, thoughts and feelings I’ve been bottling inside for a hot sec. Especially given how radio silent I have gone on here and people deserve a bit of perspective.

And before anyone starts worrying, it’s all good, and I’m still around and currently in good health for the most part.

So, let’s take it back to the start. Regardless of how dramatic it may sound, we need to go back a year for that.

By technicality alone, COA actually turned one year old on October 12th. That’s when the first part was posted. However, the reason I’m treating today as the aforementioned birthday is simple: I had no intention of this story ever being more than a short two-parter. I told this to the discord gang already but COA was only going to have two parts. V was going to die in Tokyo and the rest of the story follows glimpses of John throughout the movies and it’s her ghost that haunts him. Skipping ahead, it was going to have a bittersweet ending of John eventually dying, having completed his task, only to be greeted by V, Daisy and Helen in the afterlife. A peace of sorts. Then, I realised that, well, no. I have more to say on this world and intrigue about this placeholder character V kept growing.

November 1st happened and I made a very last minute call to continue COA but with the added pressure of doing it during NaNoWriMo 2019. And boy did I. Most of the story was figured out during that very intense month. I posted Part 2 on this day a year ago because I was so eager to share it. Perhaps, in retrospect, a bit too eager.

For those of you who may not know this, I work as a writer full time for my actual every day job. I’m the main writer for an original webcomic called In the Bleak Midwinter on Webtoon.com and have been for almost two years now. Getting what is essentially your dream job is amazing. I’m very lucky on that front but it also taught me stark realities of having your job and only hobby overlap. It’s a dangerous creative mix. Especially because I was not used to being constraint in what I create or the feeling like I have to please anyone else. Writing as a job is a whole other avenue of creative exhaustion. I love my job a lot and am very, very lucky to have it but it doesn’t change the fact that those initial stages made me fall back on COA a lot for creative freedom that I craved so desperately. To an unhealthy degree looking back on it now.

But going back to November last year. NaNo time. I did it. Finished on the 24/25th I believe. A juicy final count of 52k+. All while maintaining a weekly update schedule for a fic that usually hit around 10k per update, if not more, even during those early days. Add writing an original story on top of that. Writing every day for hours on end (we are talking 10-12hr days) without any time for other hobbies or time for myself in general. I kept pushing and pushing and pushing. Losing weight and sleep in the process. I think the thing that convinced me that I should continue doing so is the fact that the outpour of support for COA ended up surpassing anything I ever expected or even dared to hope for. I’m not a huge numbers person but the outpour of love and just sheer investment in the story and characters blew me away. John Wick fandom is on the smaller side and has been going through downtime when I posted COA so my expectations were...well, small tbh. I like keeping expectations low to avoid any disappointments in general. But I’ve also always had an issue of being a massive 0 or 100 kind of person. If I love something, it consumes me. In this case, it brought me as much joy and freedom as much as it was steadily pushing me towards the ultimate crash.

That being said, I can’t thank you all enough for every comment, like, reblog and message and fanart. You’re the reason I got this far. With your support. It brightened some really dark days for me.

But.

To be frank, it’s never been about you guys. I never wrote or pushed because I felt like I had to appease anyone. That creative mindset is pure poison and I long since learned to let go of it. I kept pushing and kept working myself to the bone because I liked it. I liked how reading peoples’ responses made me feel. I liked the addictive nature of reading all the comments and theories after an update. I loved the idea of brightening peoples’ days and giving them something to cheer them up after what might have been a shitty day. Even if that was at expense of my own time/well being. But for a long time, it wasn’t. I love writing a lot but facts remain facts.

It was beyond unhealthy and burnout wasn’t a question of if but when and that when was approaching at neck-breaking speed.

So we come to the end of November. Part 4 has just come out. People were invested and I was invested alongside them. I was just finishing up Part 5 which (back then) was the biggest single chapter I’ve ever written and god I still recall my sheer dread because that was the beginning of Santino being established as a LI. Looking back on that now, it’s downright hilarious how worried I was about the reception of him and V together after John.

So honestly, I hit burnout at around Part 8. Because that’s the first time I recall struggling with writing a chapter. Part 8 came out on December 28th. I had a brief break for holidays. But my mistake was not taking longer back then. Because I continued writing with a barely healed burnout. Followed by almost a year of struggling and continuously creating through that state. It wasn’t like I eased off the pressure, either. Oh, no. The chapters grew in size, the world and the characters with it. AUs amassed quickly and while I adore every single one - again, I didn’t know how to pace myself well enough.

I’m spiteful though. The more the chapters struggled the more I pushed against the burnout. By the time Chicago arrived, however, I knew I was in trouble. I ended up writing 43k+ in a span of 2 months, I believe. And while to some it may not seem like a lot given the time frame, it’s a lot when you’re burnout to a crisp & writing an original story for work + deadlines. Which I was burned out and then some. Chicago was something I was looking forward to writing for months. I have built it up since Part 4. It was a long time coming. So while I’m still proud of it, I would be lying if I said that some scenes were not sacrificed for the sake of keeping to my invisible schedule that no one but me actually cared about. You guys have always been patient. I never felt pushed into anything. It’s always only ever been me doing the harm.

Chicago was the downwards spiral for me mentally. I felt like I was failing to live up to my own expectations. That people were drifting away from it. I was plagued by the thought that the story I poured so much into was falling apart and growing weaker. Which this has always been an issue with me: I am my own harshest critic. Always have been. In fact, I’m a downright mean little fucker when it comes to just tearing at myself. I know writing is for fun - and it is - but I still like the idea of being proud of my work which only made everything worse despite the love each update received.

This takes us to the beginning of June. Specifically, June the 2nd. Or, as I like to call it: Kat Makes Another Impulsive Decision but This One Actually Works Out For the Better. On this day, I created the COA Discord server. And damn, I’m not sure what exactly I was expecting when I did ngl. I did it for fun and as an escape more so than anything. But somehow it ended up being the best decision I made in a long while. I know some of you are reading this. So love you lots, dorks. It’s such a privilege to be able to call so many of you my friends even outside of COA now. That little community has given me some of the best memories from this year and helped me to crawl out of my own metaphorical pit I was stuck in. Mentally, I’m doing much better than I did beginning of this summer. Which could be summed up as a constant self-hatred cycle and a feeling of inadequacy.

That, however, does not mean my burnout magically disappeared. If anything Chapter 17 just put a nail in the coffin so to speak. 2020 has been a shitty year just across the board for obvious reasons I don’t need to go into here but that can only partially be attributed to my mental state. Chapter 17 was...exhaustive. To say the least. But I was determined to stick with my vision and not split it up. I was also starting to be a bit more forgiving towards myself in terms of how long I may take to write it thanks to guys on discord though the feeling of failure and worry never quite faded fully. I’m proud of Part 17. Truly. But that was also when I hit rock bottom creatively on COA. It drained me completely.

I tried writing Part 18 for weeks after, day in and day out, not getting past the first scene and hating every word I wrote. So I took a deep breath and stopped. Figured I let it marinate and wait instead of trying to piece one of the most crucial chapters in this story like some Frankenstein monster two sentences at the time.

So my solution was simple: give myself some distance from it and write other things. Get my spark back. Of course that’s always a good idea. Having multiple creative escapes is the best thing you can do for yourself creatively. There was just one tiny little problem.

I was still burned out. Still am. The problem went deeper than just being burned out over COA. I was burned out over writing itself.

Which is an issue for a person who only has writing as a creative outlet.

I don’t have any other way to express myself. So I was stuck in a runt, trying to write because it’s the only thing that makes me genuinely happy even when I really shouldn’t have. And let me tell you. It’s a shitty fucking feeling. My burnout worsened. I had a thousand ideas but every time I tried to get them down it felt forced, fragmented, and weak. Repetitive and dry. Now, this is also in part because English isn’t my native language, so my vocab is limited as a result, but I hit that sweet rock bottom in that regard, too.

So, I worked on V (but in her OC form Clara), Lucien and The Elites. All those characters have grown so much since you last read about them. I have multiple original projects planned down the line that will feature all of them existing in their own world, with their own stories and no longer constrained by JW canon.

Which, finally, takes us to the end of October and beginning of November 2020.

I was convinced that the best course of action was to do NaNo again but with an original story this time (involving V). Suffice to say, it took a grand total of maybe 5-6 days and hating every second of writing it while also feeling like this project I’m so passionate and excited to write (still am) is just...going down the toilet to be blunt, to realise I may have made the wrong call.

Still, the stubborn ass that I am, I pushed through. Convinced I can get into it if I just keep going. The realizations that I am sharing with you right now won’t have been possible if it hadn’t been for a rather curious turn of events about a week and a half ago.

I recently bought a gaming laptop, all in preparation for Cyberpunk 2077 dropping ofc. But, in the meantime, I kept recommending a game to a friend on the COA server. That game? Far Cry 5. (It’s a blast to play btw, just a side note.) And playing it brought back all the feelings of nostalgia from the days when I used to write for that fandom. So I revisited some old work. Checked the stuff I never published and that has been sitting ducks in my docs for months and hoo boy. Let me tell you it was a vibe check of the worst kind.

The stark difference in the prose and the ease with which it flowed was...startling. It made me remember why I love writing so much and how proud I used to be of what I wrote back in the day. Which is not to say I’m not proud now, but it was just such a sharp dip in quality it was impossible to ignore.

So I didn’t.

I paused NaNo, moving it to another month. I paused writing for everything but work, which with our season coming to an end I will also get a rest from soon, too. I kinda paused in general. For the first time in a while, I finally forced myself to switch off. Rest.

The reason why I haven’t been on here is simple: guilt and not having energy to be on here. I like making my blog a safe space for everyone. Similar to escape it has become for me. I couldn’t pretend I was fine when I wasn’t. I felt obliged to perform and being here became exhausting. I haven’t been checking my inbox. Haven’t done much of anything except occasionally dropping by and reblogging a random post so people know I’m alive.

And that’s that, folks. That’s where I am currently. Resting. Completely exhausted mentally but resting. Getting my energy back.

So where does that leave us, huh? If you read this far, dunno what to tell you. Thanks, I suppose. It’s still odd to think people actually care about my existence sometimes.

I know what you’re likely thinking, too. So does this mean COA is never gonna be finished? What is gonna happen to it? Are you abandoning it?

The answer: no. 17 out of 25 chapters and 250k+ in, I’m too far in not to give it a proper conclusion. Not because I owe it to anyone other than myself. I want this story to be a stepping stone for my future as a writer. I want to prove to myself that I can get this done and finish it. As of right now (as you can no doubt tell with how long it’s been since last update) it’s on a soft hiatus while I rest. This rest? Not sure how long it may last. Right now, my plan is till mid December at which point I will reevaluate. Ideally, I finish the year with an update. But my New Year’s resolution is to finish COA. That timeline has become a little more murky now but, again, ideally it’s within the first quarter of 2021. Will that happen? I don’t know. And I don’t want to make false promises, either.

All I’m saying is that it will be done. I’m just no longer sure how long, exactly, it may take me to reach that Epilogue. I don’t expect many people to stick around for however long it may take me, but if you do, thank you. Truly. I really and deeply mean that.

So what’s on the cards for this blog in the meantime? Well, CP77 is coming out in under a month (if it doesn’t get moved again lmao rip) and I expect that to be my soft return to posting my writing on here again. We will see where the muse takes me, if at all. Regardless though, I’m excited.

One doctorate thesis later, here we are at the end of this really long rambling session. I hope that this has given you some perspective on things going on behind the scenes. I spared you some of the gorier details but I think this post has been long overdue. I suppose I, myself, was just too unwilling to face these things despite knowing about them deep down for a while now. I’m too self-critical not to notice but acting on correcting this behavior has been a whole other matter clearly.

Thank you for reading this post, my writing in general, and supporting me. I’m not going anywhere. I’m still around. More is on the way in the future. I’ll be seeing you all real soon. And all my love to all of you.

Love,

- Kat.

#kat speaks #blog psa #i suppose

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henryobsessed · 3 years

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Baby Boy Henry - Chapter 36

Word Count:1652

Warning: non

Chapter 36 The very moment the word left her lips it was like a match had been lit. People moved from every direction, happy chatter, and hustled movements until it was just Henry and Marnie left still gazing at each other. Standing up, Henry pulled Marnie into his arms, “Thank you. Thank you for saying yes.” They held each other for but a moment then Judy stepped into the room. Clearing her throat, she said with a cheeky grin, “Well, Henry, your transportation has arrived. We will see you soon.”

He turned his face towards Marnie kissed her on the forehead and whispered, “See you soon.” With that, he swiftly left the room leaving Judy with a mischievous grin on her face.

Both girls giggled at the turn of events. “Ohhh Ma, how romantic and to think we never thought we would get married. But here I am engaged and you about to walk down the aisle.”

The two embraced, hugging each other tightly until Joshie’s voice interrupted from the door, “Mummy, I got a special guest for Auntee Ma.” Both girls turned to look at the doorway as a fun, curly-haired woman bounced into the room running as quickly as she could in her dress to hug the stunned women.

“How?” was all Marnie could ask as Heidi hugged her tightly.

“Henry organised it, he let me know what he was planning and that it might backfire. I just laughed knowing you would say yes.” The energy she brought to the room was infectious and now the three women and Joshie bustled to get ready. Marnie was ready in her silver dress, both her bridesmaids Judy and Heidi were dressed in different shades of burgundy and Joshie had arrived sporting a cute little tux.

Just as they wondered what would happen next, Charlie poked his head in. “Your transport has arrived ladies.” They all followed Charlie out into the hall.

Their first surprise was the coats he handed them, stylish fax fur coats the dark grey complimenting the burgundy and a pure white one to compliment the silver. Stepping out into the cold they were grateful for the coats especially at what was before them. An open horse and carriage waited with four beautiful while mares holding their heads high. It was so regal. Charlie and the carriage owner helped the women and Joshie up into the carriage placing warm blankets over their legs. The five now seated the horseman gave a “giddi up” and they were on their way.

Marnie was expecting a small affair, maybe at their local parish, but the destination was further away. They continued to travel the cold wind painting her cheeks red. As they neared, the building that loomed ahead of them surprised her, and in awe, they pulled into the road leading to Mont Orgueil Castle. The castle was lit against the night time sky, the glow-giving a magical atmosphere. Marnie gasped holding Judy tight. “Am I dreaming Judy? Please tell me am I dreaming.” Her sister also stunned, kept gazing at the magnificent view.

A camera shuttered snapping her out of the stupor. Looking at Charlie who was sitting across from her, his cheeky grin making it almost impossible to be mad at him. “That was perfect, Hank will love that picture.”

They pulled up to the main entrance, where attendants helped them all down from the carriage. Marnie thanked the horseman and walked to the mares caressing them one at a time. “Thank you, precious ones. Thank you.” From the moment Charlie stepped off the carriage she heard the camera clicking away, but from here on in she was going to ignore it. She wanted to savour every moment tonight. Leaving the horses, the Bride and her entourage headed into the building.

She felt like a princess, the building was just as she would expect from a castle. It felt grand and she felt regal, dressed in her silver ball gown the sound of her shoes echoing around the chamber as they reached the ceremony hall. Giggling to herself, she wondered how much of a fool Henry would have looked if she had said no. This must have taken a lot of planning.

Joshie entered the room, as he disappeared, she heard a lone violin begin to play a haunting tune. It whispered to her heart drawing her in, calling to her. One by one they disappeared into the room until it was just her. Breathing in deep she shut her eyes and pictured her prince, his chiselled jaw, cleft chin, the strong arms that had even when he was little made her feel cherished and safe. Then she saw his eyes, his deep blue eyes with the glittering of brown that held her captive telling her it was ok. Opening her eyes, she stepped into the room, it was intimate, with candles lighting the darkness. The small crowd of family members surrounded the altar where Henry stood, Kal sitting proudly by his side. He turned, his eye’s resting on her as the music gentled to a lilting pull, wrapping around her and drawing her towards him.

Each step was like a dream, the candlelight flicking across his face illuminating the sheen of unshed tears in his eyes. She reached his side as the priest said, “you may be seated.” Turning to face Henry he reached out and took her hands. His need to be connected to her, reciprocated by her own sigh of relief. Smiling, her thumb brushed his skin, a gently soothing motion to say ‘I’m here. They turned slightly at the command of the priest as he began to speak to them about the weight of what they were committing to.

She turned back to Henry the rest of the room disappearing as the old priests voice resonated throughout the space, “1 Corinthians 13:4 through 1 Corinthians 13:7 tells us some of the characteristics of true love: Love is not selfish or self-centred. It is kind, humble, forgiving, courteous, not easily angered, respectful, trusting, positive and hopeful. It also gives us spiritual resilience and patience so that it willingly ‘endures all things’ to obey and serve God. So should we strive to bring these attributes to our relationships? To prefer each other, to lift each other up not tear each other down.”

As his voice continued she dwelt on the words spoken. Everything they had gone through, the bizarre circumstances that bought them together, the attributes that they had based all things on were trust, respect, and forgiveness, they had been the cornerstones that continued to support their relationship.

Pulled out of her internal reflection she heard Henry as he said, “I, Henry William Daglish Cavill, take you, Marnie Joy Blackman, as my partner in life. In joy and sadness, in riches and in lack, in health and sickness, big or little, for as long as I hold breath in my lungs.” He smiled at her as Charlie handed him a gold band to place in front of the engagement ring that had only just been given a home.

Smiling and encouraging the priest handed her a card, looking down she saw the vows in a neat script printed for her to read. Holding his gaze she said softly, “I, Marnie Joy Blackman, take you Henry William Daglish Cavill, as my partner in life. In joy and sadness, in riches and in lack, in health and sickness, big or little, for as long as I hold breath in my lungs.” Tears streamed down both their faces as she took his ring from Charlie and placed it on his shaking hand.

The priest’s voice rang clear, “I now pronounce you Husband and Wife you may kiss your bride.”

Tenderly, Henry took Marnie’s face in his hands. Leaning down he touched her lips to his. Pulling back a cheeky smirk replaced the smile as he returned his lips to hers, no longer tender but a passionate kiss that had his family hooting. The exuberant voice of Heidi clamouring above the fray, “Whot Whot! Get a room you two!”

Giggling Marnie and Henry both coloured deep red as they faced their family. “May I present to you Mr and Mrs Cavill.” smiling Marnie bent down and scratched Kals ear “good boy, you were so quiet” Henry laughed “of course he was I think he wanted you as a mummy too” she joined in on his laughter as the three walked down the aisle, quickly ushered into a stunning reception room.

“Henry, this is beautiful,” she whispered as they took in the room.

Four round tables decorated in white linen with delicate flower arrangements decorated the centres. Candles continued the previous theme, lighting the room and creating an intimate setting. Happy voices followed them in as they were seated at the table of honour. Henry settled Kal at their feet handing him a treat “Good boy, gooood boy,” Henry crooned as Kal happily laid down watching. Sighing Marnie leant into Henry, his arm, wrapping around her shoulders. Contented they watched as the dearest people who held their hearts ate, talked and shared in their celebration. If you asked Marnie what was said that night she could not tell you, the only thing on her mind once they sat was the constant physical contact she held with Henry. His hands never stopped touching her, her shoulders, her hands, and her thigh, a gentle caress away from prying eyes. Leaving her feeling a building heat and need to have him alone all to herself.

A/N Just one more chapter to go, thank you all for sticking with this story as my days have become more and more filled stealing my writing time from me.

Thank you @SillyRabbit81 for your midnight conversations and for helping me see glaring errors.

Till next time Seah

Tagged people are those who have liked this story so far, if you wish to be added or removed please let me know :)

@stephartrave @angelcavill66 @fatefuldestinies @bageracat

@fortheloveoftradition @kmuir1 @witcherfan @fanfictionaddiction99 @zealoushound @thenonrealloser @xobriellaxo24 @jessayw

@paigejulia2101

@abschaffer2 @elena-myth @shy-violet-soul @hisnamewasmojito @tumblrninia @thereisa8ella@brem-skywalker @cavilladdict @its–fandom–darling @omgkatinka @leaena2go@notyouraveragemochii @littlefreya @elena-myth @bluedog63 @oh-for-fic-sake @legendarywizarddetective @foodieforthoughts @lady-love88 @ladamari68 @elena-myth @viking-raider @hisnamewasmojito @its–fandom–darling @fysaelys @zurcda @allthingsatlanta13 @bageracat @cecilegoestoparis@meandmycherrytree @f4iryerin @amberangel112@silllyrabbit81 @crippledcatlady @multifandomlover1 @confusednerd09 @sycochick @littlefreya @absolutepie @jajphcfan @mandolover86 @ladamari68 @whereismymindlaura @antepatch @fanficforfun @thereisa8ella @davidbuddbg @ethandaddyramseyx@gayathriiii @nemessisvoninpirian@kath94210 @ladamari68@fancysthings @awallflowerstream @oddduckthatgirl@mcz02057 @gmfbaby @meanerface@adorable-hen @hrrypinks @melaniqueen2 @f4iryerin @biancawlf@tayxbri @whip111stuff@kellynkeskoski @mzchievous-blog

#henry cavill #babyboyhenry #henry cavill x ofc #henry cavill fanfic

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cedric-stories · 3 years

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A Garden Date (Cedric x Reader)

(i was going to attach a picture of a garden but couldn’t find one that matched the one in my head. So, imagine, if you will, a secret beautiful garden.)

Reader pronouns: she/her

Plot: It is getting later in the evening in Enchantica. You just got off work and are heading to your room. Working as a nurse in the castle is no easy task. Everyday there is some new major injury. Either someone breaks a leg or gets caught up in a magical curse. As much as you don’t like to admit it, curses were always your favorite. Take today for instance, a royal guard had come in with an unusual frog in his throat.

Author’s note: I am in college to become a nurse is where the weird job comes from, lol. I thought this would be kinda cute but it’s also kinda a dumb fic. The ending has been something I’ve had in the back of my mind for years (like six years) and I just now have given my writing skills a chance to create it. Hope y’all like it! Also, the nurse at the front desk thing is from a few experiences that have happened with my ex and I, people bug the crap out of me sometimes, lol! Hope there isn’t too many grammar issues.

This will probably be the last fanfic for a few days! I need to get the rest finished. I have like three in the works but who knows when i’ll be able to finish them!? I’d say give me around 4 days to finish???

Warnings: Again, I’m sorry for the make out stuff. Just a little this time though.

Word Count: Around 1,800

A Garden Date

“And what seems to be the problem, sir?” you asked the man sitting in front of you.

“Well, I seem to have this cough. It started late last night, and it hasn’t let up.”

“Let me see. What does it sound like?”

“Um, well, it sounds a little like a frog.”

You tried to contain your joy. “A frog?” you ask, turning to the side to get the phone.

“Yes, I know it sounds weird, but it started to- “he was cut off by a loud RIBIT coming out of his mouth.

“Oh my. I’ll get something to help right away!” And with that, you scurry off to the nurse’s break room.

You grab your cell phone and begin dialing. You heard it pick up.

“Well, hello, Y/N. It’s nice to hear your voice so early in the day.” The man said answering the phone.

You felt a knot curl in your stomach.

“Hi, Cedric. How are you?”

“I am very well, just finishing up a few orders. What makes you call?”

“Well,” you begin with a breath, “I have this patient that came in. He seems to croak like a frog every time he speaks, and I was wondering if you could fix it?”

“Of course, I’ll be down in a few minutes. Was that all?”

You knew he could tell by your tone of voice there was more you needed to say.

You looked around the office for a minute then closed the door.

“I really miss you. I guess I’ve grown very attached to my royal sorcerer.”

Cedric didn’t answer for a minute. You loved doing this. It was always so easy to get him flustered.

“I-um-I missed you too, sweetheart.”

“If you’re not busy tonight, how about we go on a date?”

“I’d like that, but where?”

You thought about it then answered, “How about the gardens? Maybe around 6?”

“Well then, 6 it is, angel.”

You tried not to blush. “Alright, see you soon with that potion as well, okay?”

“Oh right, yes, see you soon. Love you, Y/n.”

“Love you too.”

It was about an hour later when Cedric came by the office.

“Yes, and you have a potion for what?” The nurse at the front door questioned him.

Cedric sighed

“I have an elixir for Y/n’s patient with the frog in his throat.”

The nurse gave a quizzical look.

“Oh really? And what is your elixir going to do for him?”

“It is going to heal him, ma’am.” Cedric answered her, getting rather annoyed. “And for your information, it will not only heal him but heal twice as fast as any human ways possible.” He added with a smug look on his face.

She just looked at him with no expression. “But what is the point of you going back there to give it to the nurse who requested it?”

“Well, because I’d like to see my- “

“Girlfriend.” You said walking over to Cedric and the woman.

The nurse looked shocked.

“You’re his” she paused, “girlfriend?”

“Yes I am.” You replied happily, wrapping both your arms around the man.

Cedric gave a goofy look and returned the gesture with a hug.

“Well, I guess I just did not imagine someone like you with someone like him.”

Your eyes widened and you put a hand on your hip.

“And why not?”

“Well, he just doesn’t look like your type.”

“How so?”

“He’s just different from you.”

“How?”

The nurse leaned up against the desk.

“well, he’s just not as attractive as you, that’s all.”

You were stuck with horror.

“Excuse you, ma’am, but you have no right to say such a thing. He is my boyfriend ad it is none of your business is he is as ‘attractive’ as you’d imagine him. He’s perfect to me.” You rolled your eyes. “Come on, love.” You and Cedric started walking away. Then, you grabbed him by the collar and decided to kiss him hard on the lips. You gave one last look at the nurse in front and walked Cedric to the backroom.

Once you had shut the door behind him, you grabbed him again and kissed. This time you both shared a long kiss that led to Cedric almost falling over a chair.

He blushed. “well, that was pretty embarrassing.”

You giggled. “It was pretty cute to me.”

Cedric looked down almost in shame for a minute then remembered.

“Oh, I have your potion.” He said, reaching inside his robe. “Here you go.”

You grabbed the bottle from him and set it down.

“Well, thank you, Mr. Cedric.” You teased, walking over to him, and putting your arms around his waist.

You leaned up and touched your nose to his, nuzzling with him a little.

“I can’t wait for our date tonight.”

Cedric got a bit flustered and breathed out a small laugh.

“I can’t either, love.”

You stood up on your tiptoes and gave him a kiss. Cedric replayed the kiss with running a hand through your hair.

“Cedric! My hair is going to be a mess.”

“Well, you will just have to live with that.” He retorted, continuing on. He kissed you once more then brushed your hair back.

“Cedric don’t- “You were cut off by the sensation of him kissing your neck.

You tried your hardest to hold back a moan as he continued.

“Cedric, you’re gonna get me in tr- “You heard the door creak.

The two of you parted as it opened. You tried fixing your hair slightly but only managed to smooth the top.

“I will see you tonight.” You said as he left.

“See you soon, darling.”

Cedric was leaving as Rachel, another nurse, walked in.

She smiled.

“Looks like someone was having a good time.”

“Oh, Rachel, can you please give this to patient 2?”

“Anything for you, darling.” She laughed, dramatically blowing kisses at you.

You rolled your eyes.

Now, we pick up where we left. You were heading into your room from a long day at work to get ready for your date.

Once you had gotten back to your room in the castle, you started a shower and quickly got your things together. You made sure to use a certain shampoo you knew he liked. After, you got dressed in a sky blue, silk sundress and brushed out your hair. You walked to the dresser to find your ‘princess’ (Author’s note: look up princess by Vera Wang. Best perfume there every was.) perfume and squirted about two pumps onto your wrists and behind your ears.

Before leaving, you had to decide how to wear your hair. After much debate, you decided on getting a black hair tie and putting it up in a ponytail. It ended up being a high ponytail, but you liked it a lot. Perfecting your makeup one more time, you left.

You left the castle in a rush. Once you were in the gardens, you tried finding the spot where Cedric was at. You wondered a bit deeper until you finally found a candle lit spot.

“there you are.” You greeted him.

“here I am.”

You hurried up to him and gave him a kiss.

“I’ve been waiting for this all day.”

“so, have I, love, so have I.”

Cedric guided you to sit down on a blanket and then took out his wand. After saying a few words, an array of foods appeared next to you.

“If you are hungry, there’s plenty.” He smiled.

“I see, thank you so much, Cedric.”

Anything for you.”

The two of you shared a lovely dinner. You had a few sushi and veggie rolls. Cedric had poured two glasses of Sake and he toasted to a wonderful relationship with the woman he loves.

After dinner, you lied down, and Cedric did the same. Curling up to him, you began to speak.

“The stars are beautiful tonight, aren’t they?”

“Yes, they very much are. I must admit though, the stars are not the reason I wanted to go on this date.” He answered, wrapping his arm around your middle.

You hummed. “Well, I guess it’s just as added benefit then.” You laughed.

After a while, Cedric seemed to start to get a little restless. You felt a hand place on your other side and noticed a figure hovering over you. You dragged your hands up his sides to his chest and over his shoulders.

“It seems one of us are getting a little excited, huh?”

“Well, it may appear that way.” He said, bending down to kiss you.

You both started into a slow, passionate kiss and he began running his hands along your face. You moved your arms down to his lower waist and thought about going lower when you felt a snap under your head.

You sat up quickly to discover your hair tie had broken.

“Oh no.” you said, picking up the hair tie.

“I am sorry, love.”

Cedric sat there for a minute then suddenly you saw a lightbulb turn on.

“Y/n, why don’t you lie backwards?” He asked, repositioning to where you’d be laying in between his legs.

You looked at him and nodded.

Grabbing a few flowers, Cedric gestured for you to lay back and started running his hands in your hair. You felt him lightly push your shoulders forward and he scooted backwards. The next thing you knew, he was separating your hair out into three sections.

“What are you doing, love?”

He rested his chin on the top of your head.

“Nothing, now just relax.”

You felt hair start to fold over one another with something smooth poking the back of your neck in between folds. A few minutes past and then you noticed his searching for something.

“Do you need anything, honey?” you asked politely.

“No, no, not at all.” He replied, still looking for something. “Ah.” You heard him say in a tone indicating he found whatever he was looking for.

You felt a small tug on the end of your hair, then it gently flopped onto your back.

“Done, lovely.” He said, flipping your new braid forward. It was laced with pink and blue flowers.

“Oh, Cedric it’s beautiful!” You almost shouted.

“I know it’s beautiful, it’s you.” He said, kissing your head.

You kissed his hand. “Thank you.”

Cedric ended up wrapping his arms around your waist and started kissing your cheeks, then your ears (making you giggle), then down your jaw.

“Oh, please Cedric, not here.” You pleaded as they began getting lower.

“Better here than the office, I presume.” He began kissing at the base of your head down your neck.

You couldn’t help but shift towards the feeling and let your body shiver twice as he continued. He reached the hallow of your neck and you moaned softly. You began pushing up against his body when a thought reached your mind. It between sighs you spoke.

“Ohhh, Cedric?” You asked, twisting your upper body towards him, only to have him switch sides of your neck.

He only replied with a humming noise which sent shocks up your spine.

“Can I come home with you tonight?”

This finally got Cedric’s attention, getting him to stop only for you to begin kissing his cheek.

He looked down at you.

“If-um-if you want to…I’d enjoy that.” He stammered out.

You sighed again. “Oh, I would love too.”

#Cedric the sorcerer x reader #cedric the sensational x reader #cedric the sorcerer #x reader #getting used to writing #new fanfic writer #sweet #fluff #part of my childhood #so many stories so little time to tell them #hope you enjoy

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lawrenceop · 3 years

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HOMILY for the Feast of the Holy Name of Jesus

Acts 4:8-12; Luke 2:21

These days after Christmas are especially beautiful because the Church’s Liturgy and her solemn feasts teach us the identity of the Babe of Bethlehem, the One who was laid in the manger. The Church does not allow for any sentimentality, nor are we merely to honour a generic mother and child, nor are we to bask in any premature triumph. Rather, the birth of this Child is followed, in the Church’s Liturgy, by the shedding of blood: St Stephen the protomartyr, the Holy Innocents, and St Thomas of Canterbury all shed their blood for Christ and for his Mystical Body, the Church, and they are commemorated in the Octave of Christmas. However, the holy martyrs all died for Christ because of who he uniquely is, and what he has accomplished for Mankind.

Today’s Gospel shows us firstly what has been done for us: Christ is the One who has first shed his blood for the salvation of Mankind. For the first time, the infant Christ, just eight days old, shed his blood at his circumcision, and in doing so he inaugurated a new covenant between God and Man. Indeed, he himself is the new and eternal covenant, because in him God and Man are hypostatically united; he is the Lord God made flesh and dwelling among us!

This is the wonder of the Incarnation, which results in a “sweet and marvellous exchange” that the Church’s Liturgy contemplates in these days of Christmastide. As St Thomas Aquinas says: “The only-begotten Son of God, wanting to make us sharers in his divinity, assumed our nature, so that he, made man, might make men gods”. The martyrs, therefore, willingly and lovingly shed their blood and die for Christ because they know that, united to him through grace, they now share in the divine nature which cannot die. Moreover, St Basil the Great said: “Just as the death which is in the flesh, transmitted to us through Adam, was swallowed up by the Godhead, so was the sin taken away by the righteousness which is in Christ Jesus”.

Through the Incarnation, therefore, God has saved us from our sins and from the eternal death that humanity has deserved because of original and actual sin. Hence, at his circumcision, the Newborn Son of the Virgin is named ‘Jesus’, the name revealed by the angel Gabriel, and this name, in Hebrew, means: ‘God is salvation’, or ‘God saves’. Thus the holy name of Jesus tells us what God is doing for humanity in the person of Jesus Christ: Through Jesus, and Jesus alone, God himself is acting to save us from sin, from eternal death, and from the powers of hell. But God not only saves us, but he is, moreover humanity’s salvation because he changes our destiny. For through Jesus, and Jesus alone, God is acting to elevate our human natures, giving us Christ’s grace through the Sacraments and through a life of charity, so that we might be changed and become, no longer sinful men who think like the rest of the world, but rather men and women who think and behave like Christ. Hence St Gregory Nazianzen said: “Let us seek to be like Christ, because Christ also became like us: to become gods through him since he himself, through us, became a man. He took the worst upon himself to make us a gift of the best.”

Therefore, no matter what the world’s tyrants throw at a Christian martyr, no matter what is inflicted upon them, they willingly endure the worst and go to their death with this fundamental hope, a hope that we share because it is expressed in the Post-Communion prayer of today’s Mass: that our names are written in heaven, thanks to our faith in the saving Name of Jesus. Truly, God has made a gift of the best to us, giving us a share in his divine nature, a promise of heaven if we but trust in his holy name and call upon him. Hence the English martyrs of the Reformation period had a beautiful prayer which simply said: “Jesu, Jesu, Jesu, be to me Jesus”, meaning, be to me, salvation. For the name of Jesus is synonymous with our salvation, and the holy martyrs called upon his holy name with reverence and love, and in doing so, they confessed that Jesus is Lord, “true God from true God.” For only God can be our salvation; only God saves. So, to call upon Jesus as our salvation, to trust in the power of his holy name, is to acknowledge his divinity; it is to acknowledge his identity, and to profess belief in him as “God from God… consubstantial with the Father.”

All these lines from the Creed concerning the nature and identity of Jesus Christ, which we sing every Sunday, are densely expressed in the Church’s Liturgy at Christmastide, and particularly on this feast of the Holy Name. For St Peter declares in the reading we hear today that “there is salvation in no one else” other than Jesus Christ “for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.” (Acts 4:12) Therefore, when, in the Gospel, we recall that the angel reveals that the Virgin’s Son is to be called Jesus, and he sheds his blood at the circumcision, we are thus given to know that the Lord who saves all Mankind is none other than this Baby, this One whom all heaven and earth and all under the earth shall one day come to adore (cf Phil 2:10), as today's entrance chant declares. So the Second Vatican Council taught: “God's Word, by whom all things were made, was Himself made flesh so that as perfect man He might save all men and sum up all things in Himself… He it is Whom the Father raised from the dead, lifted on high and stationed at His right hand, making Him judge of the living and the dead.” (Gaudium et spes, 45)

On the back of the chasuble I am wearing today, therefore, you will see the Holy Name of Jesus, abbreviated in Greek. But in the centre of the Cross on the chasuble, there is the face of a martyr, the first martyr of the Dominican Order, called Peter of Verona. His presence is significant, not only because he points to all the martyrs who shed their blood for Christ, with faith in the saving power of Jesus. But, moreover, St Peter Martyr points to the importance of true faith in the identity and person of Jesus Christ; doctrine matters.

For, as an Inquisitor, St Peter Martyr was, like all the first Dominicans, deeply opposed to the Albigensian heresy that denied the orthodox doctrine concerning the Incarnation of Christ. Because of their wrong belief, these heretics denied the goodness of God’s created world; they denied the dignity and reverence due to the human body and advocated suicide and childlessness; they believed, erroneously, in a good God who they said created spiritual things, and an evil god that created material things.

But, as we know, there is only one God who is Creator of all things, visible and invisible. And the one God became Man for the sake of our salvation, hence there is only one name given to us under heaven by which we must be saved. So, the Second Person of the Holy Trinity, Jesus Christ, assumed our human nature and united it to himself, becoming for us Men the new and eternal covenant, a covenant that is indicated by the circumcision, and sealed by the shedding of his blood on the Cross, and ratified in the giving of his Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity in the Holy Mass.

Therefore, when St Peter Martyr was struck down by an assassin he wrote on the dusty ground with his blood: “Credo in unum Deum”, the first words of the Creed, for in doing so, he professed with his life’s blood, the true Faith, the saving Faith, the necessary belief in who Jesus is, and in what he has done for us. For, as St Gregory Nazianzen says: “What has not been assumed has not been healed”. So, by assuming our humanity, by his Incarnation as Man, Jesus Christ our true God, has healed our sinful human natures: Jesus Christ has saved us from our sins, our turbulent emotions, our lusts and desires, our illness and griefs, and our mortality. Hence the Second Vatican Council rightly declared: “The Lord is the goal of human history, the focal point of the longings of history and of civilization, the centre of the human race, the joy of every heart and the answer to all its yearnings.” (ibid.) Therefore, as St Paul says, “at the name of Jesus [let] every knee… bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and [let] every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord” (Phil 2:10-11). For if we do not acknowledge him now in this lifetime, we shall certainly have to do so when he returns in glory to vindicate the faith of his martyrs, and to judge the living and the dead. (cf Apoc 6:10)

#salvation #Jesus Christ #Incarnation #Christology #divinisation #heresy

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graciousheaven · 3 years

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WHAT DOES FEAR DO TO US

Fear is a feeling we all experience in life. It usually streams from the uncertainty that gnaws our minds whenever we face a difficult situation or when there is a threat to our wellbeing and safety. Fear can also be induced by worry about the potential consequences our choices or decisions may have on our future - this is the fear of the unknown, triggered by the fact that we do not see the future, and no one knows what tomorrow has in store. Although human beings can make projections and plans, one can never affirm with certitude that everything will turn out exactly as planned. For the Lord alone rules over all He made - as the Scripture says, "You may make plans, but God directs your actions." (Proverbs 16:9). We never know what tomorrow will look like. But the one thing we do know is that every day brings its load of troubles.

Although suffering and hardship are part of our life, just the thought of these often fills people with fear and anxiety. But many people are unaware of the dangerous consequences fear can have on their lives. Knowing the damage that fear can cause to us, our Lord commands us not to let fear be part of our lives but to instead trust in Him. The Lord says in Isaiah 41:10, “Do not be afraid – I am with you! I am your God – let nothing terrify you! I will make you strong and help you; I will protect you and save you.”

Depending on their situations, people may experience different types of fear: fear of failing, fear of being criticized, fear of reprisal, fear of getting hurt, fear of rejection or persecution, fear of losing someone or something etc. Every type of fear can have a dangerous effect on our spiritual life. Sometimes people do things that violate the will of God by fear of others. It is usually the case when there is certain dominance and oppression going on: the oppressed does not have the freedom to do what is right because at any time they may get hurt either emotionally or physically by their oppressors. They fear for their lives and so choose to satisfy the will of these instead of obeying God's commands.

The Lord says in Matthew 10:28, "Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul; rather be afraid of God, who can destroy both body and soul in hell."

We can also experience fear when exposed to a new environment. This is where uncertainty kicks in and fills our brain with fear – fear of the unknown - because we are concerned about the view other people may have of our person. The thought that our actions can be misunderstood by them or that they may not like us makes us tremble with fear. Do everything for God's glory and trust Him in all you do. Never be afraid of losing your face when you seek God's glory in what you are called to do. Psalms 25:12 tells us: “Those who have reverence for the Lord will learn from Him the path they should follow.” "Reverence for the Lord gives confidence and security to a man and his family. [...] Reverence for the Lord is a fountain of life." (Proverbs 14:26-27)

There are also circumstances where, although the environment is not new to us, we may not be sure how others are going to interpret our actions; we have no clue how they are going to react towards us and fear surrounds us. This type of fear can sometimes lead us into wrongdoing. It is very important for us to always seek to do the will of the Lord and to trust ourselves to Him in order to avoid being caught in sinful actions. The Scripture says: “Trust in the Lord with all your heart. Never rely on what you think you know. Remember the Lord in everything you do, and He will show you the right way.” (Proverbs 3:5-6). “With faithfulness and love He leads all who keep his covenant and obey his commands.” (Psalms 25:10)

One can experience fear - fear of death- when diagnosed with an incurable or deadly disease. Oftentimes, people give up fighting. No matter what you are suffering from, never give up the fight. The Scripture tells us: "Your will to live can sustain you when you are sick, but if you lose it, your last hope is gone." (Proverbs 18:14). People also experience fear when their beliefs or opinions are seen by others differently. Some people do not have the courage, for example, to affirm their faith in Christ because of fear of being rejected, insulted or persecuted. But as Christians, you should not let fear win you hearts. "For the Spirit that God has given you does not make you slaves and cause you to be afraid; instead, the Spirit makes you God's children, and by the Spirit's power we cry out to God, 'Father! my Father!' God's spirit joins Himself to our spirits to declare that we are God's children. Since we are his children, we will possess the blessings He keeps for his people, and we will also posses with Christ what God has kept for Him; for if we share Christ's suffering, we will also share his glory." (Romans 8:15-17). We should always look up to Christ our Lord - in Him we find peace and assurance, in Him we find joy and safety. Christ is the Hope of all glory. He tells us in John 14:27, "Peace is what I leave with you; it is my own peace that I give you. I do not give it as the world does. Do not be worried and upset; do not be afraid."

We are not to fear the world or its threats and violence against us. Otherwise we may find ourselves seeking to please it and trying to conform ourselves to its standards. We must submit ourselves to the will of God and do what pleases Him even if that costs us our lives. Our goal is not to please the world but to live as God's commands us to; we are to seek his glory. So do not let fear steal your peace and drive you away from the right path. Be hopeful in the Lord at all times and trust yourself to Him and do not be discouraged by the way people treat you. The Lord our Saviour says through his Apostle Peter: “Even if you should suffer for doing what is right, how happy you are! Do not be afraid of anyone, and do not worry. But have reverence for Christ in your hearts, and honour Him as Lord. Be ready at all times to answer anyone who asks you to explain the hope you have in you, but do it with gentleness and respect. Keep your conscience clear, so that when you are insulted, those who speak evil of your good conduct as followers of Christ will be ashamed of what they say. For it is better to suffer for doing good, if this should be God’s will, than for doing evil.” (1 Peter 3:13-17). Our Lord also says in Matthew 10:38-39, "Those who do not take up their cross and follow in my steps are not fit to be my disciples. Those who try to gain their own life will lose it; but those who lose their life for my sake will gain it."

There are also circumstances where people experience the fear of being abused or disgraced and accept to do things that defile God's commands. People who struggle to counter the waves of emotional abuse that they constantly face for example experience fear in their lives; they are filled with anxiety. People also experience fear when facing a situation where there is a risk that things could escalate and potentially expose them to harm. This happens for example when there is instability where we live. We all experience fear many times in life, although our Lord told us not to worry. People often worry about their belongings or their lives. Our belongings cannot save us - we are not to depend on them or to envy anything that belongs to the world. Our Lord commands us in Philippians 4:8, "Fill your minds with those things that are good and that deserve praise: things that are true, noble, right, pure, lovely, and honourable." For "the world and everything in it that people see and want is passing away. but those who do the will of God live for ever." (1 John 2:17). And there is nothing one can do to change the number of days allotted to them by the Lord. No one can oppose God's plans, whether these bring them suffering or rejoicement. Our destiny was set by the Lord our God long time before time even began. Fear can never make a change to it; it instead adds to our load of troubles. Paul tells us in his letter to the Philippians: "Don't worry about anything, but in all your prayers ask God for what you need, always asking Him with a thankful heart. And God's peace, which is beyond human understanding, will keep your hearts and minds safe in union with Christ Jesus." (Philippians 4:6-7)

It is always dangerous to let fear fill our heart: when people are afraid to stand for their rights for example, they let others stand in their way and sometimes accept to do things that contradict God's will. Take for instance someone in an abusive relationship - in this situation the choices of the abused are narrowed down and restricted to the sole expectations laid upon them by their abuser. In order to satisfy this, the abused may do things that violate God's commands. If you are a victim of bully, persecution or any form of abuse, remember what the Lord says. “Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul; rather be afraid of God, who can destroy both body and soul in hell.” (Matthew 10:28)

The Lord Almighty is the one to be feared. But the one thing many people fail to understand is what it means to fear the Lord.

When we talk about fear of the Lord, we need to understand that it is a healthy fear, not in the same sense that we fear a danger. It is about having reverence for the Lord, to honour Him by making sure that all we do, our thoughts and lifestyle are acceptable to God. It means to stand in awe of the Lord, to obey his teachings, to worship only Him, to honour his Holy name, to live for his glory because the Lord alone is God; He is holy and He created us for this purpose - to bring glory to his holy name.

Fear of the Lord keeps us in obedience to God's commands - as the Scripture says, "Whoever fears the Lord walks upright, but those who despise Him are devious in their ways." (Proverbs 14:2). A God-fearing person strives to please the Lord in all they do; they put their trust in the Lord and remain faithful to Him. They do not think up evil; instead, they align their actions, their deeds and thoughts with what the Lord requires of them. They avoid to do things that can stir up the Lord’s anger. They are confident and hopeful in the Lord; fear does not subdue their hearts.

The Lord knows what we are made of and what impact fear can have on our lives. He told us not to let anything terrify us and not to fear human beings like us. In John 14:27 the Lord says: “Do not be worried and upset; do not be afraid.”

Unfortunately, we often let fear overwhelm our hearts. There are times where we do not make good decisions because of fear. Fear influences our judgement and often leads us into wrongdoing. This happens for example when people worry about what others might say or think about them being in a specific situation: they do not want others to see their failure or their inability to afford something; they do not want to be judged or despised. As a result, they succumb to the temptation while trying to make things look attractive in the sight of others. The Scripture tells us: "It is dangerous to be concerned with what others think of you, but if you trust the Lord, you are safe." (Proverbs 29:25)

Fear can also divert people from the path of life. We see people for example who are more concerned about their career or business that they have no time for Christ. People chase their dreams and spend zero time with God because they worry about tomorrow.

The Lord says in Matthew 12:34, "Do not worry about tomorrow; it will have enough worries of its own. There is no need to add to the troubles each day brings." Trust in the Lord at all times; seek his guidance and wisdom.

Fear can restrain us or push us too early into action: there are moments where we act too early because of fear and mess things up and the impact is irreversible. Because of fear king Saul acted foolishly and sinned against God when the Philistines assembled to fight the Israelites at Michmash. Samuel had instructed Saul: "You will go ahead of me to Gilgal, where I will meet you and offer burnt sacrifices and fellowship sacrifices. Wait there until I come and tell you what to do." (1 Samuel 10:8)

"Saul was still at Gilgal, and the people with him were trembling with fear. He waited seven days for Samuel, as Samuel had instructed him to do, but Samuel still had not come to Gilgal. The people began to desert Saul, so he said to them, 'Bring me the burnt sacrifices and the fellowship sacrifices.' He offered a burnt sacrifice, and just as he was finishing, Samuel arrived. Saul went out to meet him and welcome him, but Samuel said, 'What have you done?' Saul answered, 'The people were deserting me, and you had not come when you said you would; besides that the Philistines are gathering at Michmash. So I thought, 'The Philistines are going to attack me here at Gilgal, and I have not tried to win the Lord's favour.' So I felt I had to offer a sacrifice.' 'That was a foolish thing to do,' Samuel answered. 'You have not obeyed the command the Lord your God gave you. If you had obeyed, He would have let you and your descendants rule over Israel for ever. But now your rule will not continue. Because you have disobeyed Him, the Lord will find the kind of man He wants and make him ruler of his people." (1 Samuel 13:7-14)

Many people experience a similar fate in their lives; not that of a dethroned king, but that of someone who rushes to find a rapid solution when troubles rush in. They do not have the patience to wait for the Lord to fight for them because they are afraid to lose. And by doing so they sin against the Lord and ruin all what God has in store for them. It is important for us to always draw a clear line between our fear and our judgment. What we see or think may not necessarily concord with the reality. We need to rely on the Lord for help whenever we face trouble; we should not let fear lead us to sin. One thing we must know is that the Devil likes to fill our minds with lies that strike our hearts with such feelings as fear, doubt and worry in order to make us lose faith in Christ.

The Lord says in Jeremiah 33:3, “Call to Me, and I will answer you; I will tell you wonderful and marvellous things that you know nothing about.” What a promise!

There are also moments where we take action to deal with a situation, but we do not choose the right time to act all because of fear. We steer the wheel to turn right or left way before we reach the turning point, which simply means the fear causes us to act too early, but later on when real troubles emerge we are unable to counter them.

Fear can also lead to passiveness in the face of a danger, which often has a painful outcome. We ought to know that even if our life is as stake we should never violate God's commands by remaining passive. When we abstain from doing the right thing because we want to remain alive, we sin against God. As the Scripture says, "Those who do not do the good they know they should do are guilty of sin." (James 4:17) And our Lord also tells us in Matthew 16:25, "Whoever wants to save his life will lose it; but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it."

There is passiveness when people abstain from taking action, although they are aware it would be the right thing to do. Passiveness in certain circumstances can be reinforced by the fear that any attempt to conform ourselves to the will of God may encourage our enemy to harm us. It is the case for example in any relationship where someone is in emotional distress because of the abuse they face, but are unwilling to take action because they may risk their life or that of their loved ones. They are afraid to do what is right in God's sight because they have been threatened or blackmailed by their abuser.

This situation also applies to any given circumstances where a person is forced to do unlawful tasks for someone else's benefit. The threats they receive increase the fear they experience. The abuser, knowing the vulnerability of their victim expose them to more harm and force them to do things that violate God's commands.

Whatever situation you face in life, always obey God's commands, keep your hopes in the Lord and trust in Him. Do not let fear lead you into damnation. As the Bible tells us, "Obey the Lord, and you will live longer. The wicked die before their time. The hopes of good people lead to joy, but wicked people can look forward to nothing." (Proverbs 10:27-28) "Happy is the person who honours the Lord, who takes pleasure in obeying his commands." (Psalms 112:1)

Fear can do us more harm than we think. We should never let the Devil strike our minds with his lies. Such lies fill our hearts with fear. We always need to remember what the Lord our God told us. There is no other remedy for fear but Christ - nothing in this life, no human being can dissipate our fear. Only in Christ can one find safety and comfort. Turn to Him for safety. The Lord our God says: “Remember that I have commanded you to be determined and confident! Don’t be afraid or discouraged, for I, the Lord your God, am with you wherever you go.” (Joshua 1:9)

The Lord rules supreme over all creation. The wicked may grow strong but the Lord destroys them all; no one is above his power. The Lord is constantly there to help us when we call to Him. When we put our trust in God, our fears dash away; they do not have a hold on us because our Lord surrounds us with his own peace. The Lord says: "Call to Me in times of troubles; I will save you, and you will praise Me." (Psalms 50:15) The Lord is our refuge. We need not fear any danger. Every day of our life brings its own challenges and it is only by trusting our Lord that we can overcome fear. Christ alone is our strength – when we are weak the Lord is strong; He fights our battles. He never lets us down – from his throne in Heaven, the Lord constantly watches over us. He knows our worries and all what we go through. When we humble ourselves and let his mighty hands guide us in life, the Lord Almighty drowns our fears and walks us through oceans waves; He fills us with confidence, hope, strength and happiness and surrounds us with peace.

Whether you are in a situation of uncertainty or there is a change required to reshape your life but you are filled with fear and anxiety; whether you are going through episodes of emotional distress, coupled with threats to your life and that of your loved ones; whatever trial you face in life, do not be afraid! Trust yourself to the Lord and He will always be with you – "The Lord is with you as long as you are with Him. If you look for Him, He will let you find Him, but if you turn away, He will abandon you." (2 Chronicles 15:2)

The Lord promised to always be with us if we honour Him and obey his commands. What a treasure!

As the Apostle Paul says in his letter to the Romans, “If God is with us, who can be against us? Who, then, can separate us from the love of Christ? Neither death nor life, neither angels nor other heavenly rulers or powers, neither the present nor the future, neither the world above nor the world below – there is nothing in all creation that will ever be able to separate us from the love of God which is ours through Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Romans 8:31, 35, 38-39)

Never let people use you against your will to do dirty things because you are scared to lose your life. Have reverence for the Lord. Do not let fear imprison you and bring damnation upon your soul because you want to please men. "Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot afterwards do anything worse." Says the Lord in Luke 12:4

Trust yourself to the Lord, honour Him and be faithful to Him. Seek Him, cry out to Him.

"Whoever goes to the Lord for safety, whoever remains under the protection of the Almighty, can say to Him, 'You are my defender and protector. You are my God; in You I trust.' He will keep you safe from all hidden dangers and from all deadly diseases. He will cover you with his wings; you will be safe in his care; his faithfulness will protect and defend you. You need not fear any dangers at night or sudden attacks during the day or the plagues that strike in the dark or the evils that kill in daylight. A thousand may fall dead beside you, ten thousand all round you, but you will not be harmed. You will look and see how the wicked are punished." (Psalms91:1-8)

“Humble yourselves, then, under God’s mighty hand, so that He will lift you up in his own time. Leave all your worries with Him, because He cares for you.” (1 Peter 5:6-7)

#danger of fear #do not be afraid #effect of fear #dangerous fear #fear of the Lord #fear the Lord #live without fear #how to fight fear #sermon on fear #sermon on tumblr #graciousheaven #what does the bible say about fear #what is fear

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seekfirstme · 3 years

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Meditation: In his Last Supper discourse with his beloved disciples Jesus speaks of his glory and the glory of his Father. What is this glory? It is the cross which Jesus speaks of here and the willing offering of his life for us. How does the cross reveal this glory? In the cross God reveals the breadth of his great love for sinners and the power of Jesus' redemptive sacrifice which cancels the debt of sin and reverses the curse of our condemnation (Romans 8:1). Jesus gave his Father the supreme honor and glory through his obedience and willingness to go to the cross for our sake. In times of defense the greatest honor belongs not to those who fought and survived but to those who gave the supreme sacrifice of their own lives for their fellow citizens.The Lord Jesus freely and willingly offered up his life out of obedience to his Father and love for us.

Jesus reveals the glory of God to us

Jesus speaks of the Father bringing glory to the Son through the great mystery of the Incarnation - the eternal Word who became flesh for our sake (John 1:14) - and the Cross of Christ which won for us pardon, freedom, and new life in the Holy Spirit. God the Father gave us his only begotten Son to set us free from slavery to sin, guilt, and condemnation. His sacrificial death brings us new life - the abundant life of peace and joy which God wishes to share with each one of us. There is no greater proof of God's love for each and every person on the face of the earth than the Cross of Jesus Christ. In the cross we see a new way of love - a love that is merciful, sacrificial, and generous beyond measure.

Jesus offers abundant life without end

Jesus offers us eternal life. What is eternal life? It is more than simply a life without end or an eternal state of being. Science and medicine look for ways to extend the duration of human life - but God offers us something vastly greater and more surpassing than a simple extension of physical life. Eternal life is qualitative more than quantitative. To have eternal life is to have the very life of God within us. When we possess eternal life we experience here and now something of God's majesty, glory, and holiness which he shares with us. Through the gift and working of the Holy Spirit, God fills us with the abundant fruit of his peace, joy and love.

We can know God personally

Jesus also speaks of the knowledge of God. Jesus tells his disciples that they can know the only true God. Knowledge of God is not simply limited to knowing something about God, but we can know God personally and be united with God in a personal relationship of love and friendship. The essence of Christianity, and what makes it distinct from Judaism and other religions, is the personal and experiential knowledge of God as our eternal Father - the one who knew us before creation (Ephesians 1:4 and Romans 8:29) and who knit us in our mother's womb (Psalm 139:13 and Jeremiah 1:5). Jesus makes it possible for each of us to personally know God as our Father. To see Jesus is to see what God is like.

A unity of love that endures forever

In Jesus Christ we see the perfect love of God - a God who cares intensely and who yearns over men and women, loving them to the point of laying down his life for them upon the Cross. Jesus is the revelation of God - a God who loves us completely, unconditionally and perfectly. Do you hunger to know God personally and to be united with the Father in his Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, through the unity of the Holy Spirit who dwells with us? The Lord Jesus invites each of us to enter more deeply into a personal relationship of love and oneness of mind, heart, and spirit with the eternal Father, Son, and Holy Spirit who created us in love for love.

"If only I possessed the grace, good Jesus, to be utterly at one with you! Amidst all the variety of worldly things around me, Lord, the only thing I crave is unity with you. You are all my soul needs. Unite, dear friend of my heart, this unique little soul of mine to your perfect goodness.You are all mine; when shall I be yours? Lord Jesus, my beloved, be the magnet of my heart; clasp, press, unite me for ever to your sacred heart. You have made me for yourself; make me one with you. Absorb this tiny drop of life into the ocean of goodness whence it came. (Prayer of Francis de Sales, 1567-1622) "

BOLD AND UNCOMPROMISING

“I have never shrunk from announcing to you God’s design in its entirety.” —Acts 20:27

Historically, when the Church has been shrinking, the Lord has raised up shrink-resistant men and women who never shrink from speaking the total truth of God’s plan (Acts 20:27). They insist “solemnly on repentance before God” (Acts 20:21). They never shrink from telling people what is for their good, or from teaching them in every way God’s truth (Acts 20:20).

The Holy Spirit lavishes us with grace to expand. Yet we must put aside our old, fearful nature which shrinks from the fear of man. Jesus taught that no one sews a new “unshrunken” cloth onto an old cloth (Mt 9:16), else it would tear loose. We can’t mix our old “shrinking-violet” ways with the Holy Spirit. Nothing good comes from shrinking away. As Job proclaims: “What I fear overtakes me, and what I shrink from comes upon me” (Jb 3:25).

Repent of fear. Be bold and uncompromising in the Spirit (Acts 2:4). Help the Church expand again. “The Spirit God has given us is no cowardly spirit, but rather One that makes us strong” (2 Tm 1:7).

Prayer: Father, I’m not ashamed of the gospel (Rm 1:16). I’m “proud to profess it in Christ Jesus” (Easter Baptismal Promises).

Promise: “Eternal life is this: to know You, the only true God, and Him Whom You have sent, Jesus Christ.” —Jn 17:3

Praise: Pope St. John I helped repair the schism of 482.

Reference: (This teaching was submitted by a member of our editorial team.)

Rescript: "In accord with the Code of Canon Law, I hereby grant the Nihil Obstat for One Bread, One Body covering the period from April 1,2021 through May 31, 2021 Reverend Steve J. Angi, Chancellor, Vicar General, Archdiocese of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, Ohio August 5,2020"

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crusherthedoctor · 4 years

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The Lutrudis Hadeer Characterization Masterpost

A while back, I made a big post about the thought process that went into the design for Lutrudis, as well as her name, species, and choice of weapons. In the midst of doing a bunch of other stuff (like the Eggman Sweet or Shite review, which is definitely still coming guys I swear, please don't leave me D':), I recently figured I could do the same for the character's... well, character, and provide some further insight into how her personality was shaped together. Cause why not, right?

Obviously, we won't be covering literally every single personality trait that Trudy has, like her hobbies and whatnot. If we went over all of that, we'd be so far into the future that Tumblr's search system might actually start working again. No, we'll just be keeping it to the central ingredients that make up the overall package.

1. A cool head? In my Sonic OC?

The recurring cast in the Sonic universe is filled with fiery, hot-blooded sorts in one way or another. Sonic might as well be the love child of Mentos and Diet Coke with how full of energy he is, Knuckles and Amy are both prone to letting their temper do the talking, Eggman... is Eggman, and the list goes on. And while there are a number of characters who are more low-key or even outright introverted by comparison, they still tend to exhibit a trait or two that makes them more in-line with the rest of the crowd, be it youthful excitement (Tails, Cream), a fiery temper (Blaze), or the odd bit of cockiness (Shadow).

So what better way to help make Trudy stand out... than by not really having anything like that at all? Contrary to most of the hot-blooded cast, it takes a lot to truly enrage her, and even then, you'll be lucky to get anything past tranquil fury. She's not particularly hammy either - flowery with her language at times, certainly, but not hammy - nor is she a cocky type, even against the weakest or most ridiculous of opponents, and although she does grow as a person over the course of the story she's involved in, all of this remains fairly consistent.

That's not to say that Trudy is not a passionate person. Far from it, in fact. She has a lot of passion. She just shows it in a different way than the average Sonic character.

2. Lutrudis? More like Unsureofdis.

Uncertain characters are also somewhat rare in Sonic's recurring cast (at least in the game universe), and just like with the previous point, even when they're there, they'll usually have something to counter it. Blaze may have been a bit insecure before meeting and befriending Sonic and Co, but as mentioned, she’s got a fierce temper, and even when she started off on her own, she felt that only she could take care of the threat of Eggman and Inferior Eggman Nega. Likewise, while Silver may have doubted himself about Leslie the Crack Dealer’s Iblis Trigger ruse cruise, he still got cocky when he had Sonic on the ropes, and he could be quite full of himself in the Rivals duology as well.

The point being, they still tend to show some semblance of the same “yep, I'm the one for the job, no questions asked” confidence and swagger that nearly everyone else has, no matter the flavor. Trudy, suffice to say, does not have this mentality. Trudy accepting Sonic and Co's help in dealing with sinister affairs in Viridonia without any haughty protest on her part isn't just because she knows they can handle it, or because they're Sonic Heroes and they'll show 'em the real superpower of teamwork... it's also because she's genuinely not sure if she would be able to take care of the matter on her own.

When she saved Cream from the wrath of the Wraith for example, she wasn't thinking “This looks like a job for Miss Hadeer!”

She was thinking “This could very well get me killed, but I have to help the poor bunny somehow...”

In other words, Trudy doesn't consider herself to be some sort of destined protector who has to do this herself. She constantly second guesses herself, and frequently believes her friends are more qualified and competent than she is. Her only reason for doing her best and helping out regardless is simply because she wants to.

3. A light at the end of the tunnel.

For the sake of tact, it's not shoved in your face relentlessly, but reading between the lines, it can be easy to get a sense of melancholy from Trudy. Particularly due to past experiences, she does indeed have an element of depression within her, and this can occasionally show in her body language and facial expressions, even if she's currently feeling positive emotions.

And yet, notice how she continues being a friendly pony. Notice how regardless of her experiences, and her thoughts on said experiences, her actual behaviour is (mostly) free of bitterness or cynicism, and that she doesn't hide the joy that her new friends make her feel. She's not outright ignoring her experiences or pretending they don’t affect her, because they clearly have affected her, and she's never ignored her scars (metaphorically and literally, the latter being a permanent side-effect of her condition), but she knows better than to let it consume her, so she tries her best to look at the bright side of life even during the darkest days.

It's Sonic's opinion that Trudy's inner spirit is a lot stronger than she thinks, with or without his help. Her refusal to give into misery and lash out at the world foreshadows that he's not unjustified in that belief. That, and it ties into the franchise’s usual taste for optimism and idealism against the odds.

4. Hadeer? More like Hadork.

So, everything thus far helps set Trudy up as a mellow, down-to-earth sort of personality. So far, so good. However, it's still the Sonic the Hedgehog universe we're talking about, filled with many colorful characters of all shapes, sizes, and eccentricities. When a franchise has a larger than life cast in a larger than life world, the characters who are meant to be grounded often risk coming off as boring and could end up easily overshadowed, because the creators or writers often neglect to give them any quirks of their own, usually out of fear that it'll disgrace the character's gracefulness. In fact, I personally feel this was a common problem with Sally, in both SatAM and Archie (mostly pre-reboot admittedly).

IMO, these writers are just being plain old silly. Just because a character is quirky doesn't mean they forfeit all their dignity altogether. Like a lot of things in life, you just have to balance it out, and that's what I did (or tried to do...) with the green equine.

So yes, Trudy is elegant, but she's also a really goofy dancer. Yes, she's gentle and motherly, but she also goes back and forth between being a heavy sleeper and being an insomniac. Yes, she serves as a warmhearted auntie figure for Cream (and a big sister figure for Amy), but she also spends a quarter of her time looking like a ninja with the way her bandana covers her face (whether it be due to cold weather, strong scents triggering her sensitive nose, or doing it in the presence of villains as a mildly theatrical way of visually conveying her disdain for them).

And of course, in the right situation, she can be just as much of a dork as the titular blue hedgehog is.

Which leads me to my next point...

5. “You might know everything I'm going to do...”

Trudy was created with the intention of having a character who is actually like Sonic himself in a lot of ways, but it's not apparent initially.

This sort of yin-yang contrasting routine has been done before a few times in the series, with Knuckles, Shadow and Blaze being the most obvious examples. But with them, their similarities are easier to spot from a distance. Knuckles is more earth than wind, but you can tell he's as stubborn as Sonic is. Shadow's methods and outlook differ, but you can tell he's still a mirror of Sonic (cause you know, he looks like him). Blaze is more distant, but you can tell how she can easily be just as worked up and angered as Sonic.

With Trudy however, if you take her at face value, you would think she's the exact opposite of Sonic. She's an introvert, he's an extrovert. She's got a calm temperament, he can get impatient even at the best of times. She's quite fancy, he's more rough and tumble. She takes things slowly, he leaps ahead without a care in the world... You would think that, outside of them both fighting for good, they would have nothing in common, and that their dynamic would be more akin to Sonic's relationship with Sally, which although they were friends, their relationship could often be somewhat rocky due to their differences in... basically every area and opinion imaginable.

But then you get to know Trudy, and the unfolding of the adventure reveals the rest of what she has to offer. The aforementioned soldiering on in spite of any depressed moments is in itself a small hint that Trudy shares Sonic's philosophy of never giving up. She believes that most people are good at their core, and while she won't excuse especially evil people or actions and will punish them appropriately (albeit with regret that it had to come to that), she's willing to give a chance to those who are willing to take it, just like with the Blue Blur. Not only does she NOT find Sonic's jokes and hijinks annoying, she actually has a similar sense of humor herself. And while reasonable people generally tend to loathe injustice and oppression, Trudy shares Sonic's uniquely intense contempt for it, and believes in one's own personal freedom just as much as the hedgehog does, let alone freedom in general.

In short, Trudy is what you get when you take Sonic's deeper qualities and general outlook on life, and apply them to a more introverted and taciturn personality. The exact same beliefs, but from a different perspective, so to speak.

6. A different kind of intelligence.

Tails and Eggman are the resident kings of scientific prowess in Sonic's world, and it goes without saying that I wouldn't want to do them a disservice by having Trudy one-up them in that department. But that doesn't mean your character can’t be talented in other areas, right? Contrary to what all those Mary Sue tests dictate, your character can in fact have a high IQ without intruding on an official character’s territory.

Therefore, Trudy is pretty good at innovation and craftsmanship in her own right, but whereas Tails and Eggman do it through technology, her field of expertise is more to do with arts and crafts, and to a lesser extent geology. For example, both her bow and her whip were crafted by the lady herself, using nothing but her decorative knowledge and flair.

Outside of that, she tends to know a fair bit about a lot of things in the world, largely attributed to her photographic memory, meaning she's bound to have a few answers no matter the subject of discussion. Granted, she's unlikely to be the absolute number one expert on any of those things, but she's at least a useful jack of all trades in that regard.

7. Feeling a little horse.

I very much approve and flat out adore the idea of Sonic characters having characteristics that remind the audience of what species they're supposed to be, so I made sure that Trudy had a wide selection of little mannerisms that would reveal her for the little horsie that she is. These include, but aren't limited to...

- When she’s fascinated or concerned by something, she’ll lean a little forward with her hands close to her chest, which subtly mimics the act of prancing.

- When she wakes up, she briefly stretches her arms and legs (albeit not too recklessly so as to risk straining her sensitive limbs).

- Her tail has a number of quirks. If she's happy, it might slowly swish to and fro. If she's REALLY happy, it might flick...

- And if she doesn't approve of someone or something, it might stiffen and raise a little bit, as if to helpfully inform the bad guys where they can kiss, if ya know what I'm saying.

- When she's being affectionate with her friends, she might give them the ol' nuzzle.

- When she's in a playful mood, there might be a little skip in her walk, the anthro equivalent of trotting.

- When she's annoyed, she might humorously let out a snort that sounds identical to a real life horse snort. And while she certainly doesn't neigh in the traditional sense, when she finds something hilarious or Sonic's making her laugh with his antics, her laughter can't help but take on a neigh-like touch to it. (The latter was actually a headcanon suggested by @darklightheart, and I immediately agreed with it because it's cute and funny in equal measures.)

Naturally, she gets all shy and embarrassed when the neigh-laugh comes out, thinking it sounds silly. At least Sonic finds it endearing.

Note that I'm well aware that some of this differs from how real life horses react to certain things. (Eg: tail swishing tends to happen when a horse is agitated rather than happy.) But I freely admit that it's more for the sake of giving the character that extra bit of soul than it is for utmost accuracy. That's the way it goes with fiction sometimes. :P

Interestingly, Trudy tends to get Sonic indulging in a funny hedgehog characteristic of his own. That being, he might curl into a ball if Trudy's being particularly... ~complimentary~ towards him.

And there we are! These are the core elements that make up Trudy’s characterization. If you ever wanted a general list of what makes her tick, then hopefully this post will help in scratching that itch. And if it doesn’t, then hopefully it still proves that more thought was put into her than Scourge. :]

#Lutrudis Hadeer #Sonic Character Design

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perfecttimeseleven · 4 years

Link

Perfect Times Eleven Ep. 2 TRANSCRIPT

ACT ONE

SCENE THREE

(REMINGTON’s writing something down on a sheet of paper. She puts her pen down and lifts it up.)

REMINGTON

(putting her pencil down)

There. I think that’s it.

(DR. MORELLO takes the sheet of paper.)

DR. MORELLO

Oh, yes. These look good. Harvest, Ocean, Create, Change, Fight, Art, Family, Freedom...Joyce? Do you mean, like, the given name Joyce?

REMINGTON

Yeah, I’m pretty sure it’s Joyce.

DR. MORELLO

Not “choice” or “joy” or something?

JAY

Boyce? Like the actor in Jessie? RIP.

DAISY

(loudly, from another room)

What about, like, “guys” but in a really weird accent? Like, goiys?

REMINGTON

Nope. Uh, Joyce.

JAY

Hey, uh...

DR. MORELLO

What?

JAY

Nah, it’s probably unrelated.

DR. MORELLO

Um. Well, it’s a good leaping off point. Joyce, or whatever the word actually is, can be the first word you concentrate on.

REMINGTON

The word is Joyce.

DR. MORELLO

Jay here can lead you through how to do it.

REMINGTON/JAY

What?

JAY

Hey, you know I’ve been having some trouble with my head people...

DR. MORELLO

Which is exactly why you could use the practice.

REMINGTON

Jay? W-We’re paying good money — I assume — for you. The doctor. Not the random kid.

DR. MORELLO

She works as an, uh, unpaid intern. Remington, this is a seven-day retreat. Did you really think I, personally, would have the strength to lead you in everything twenty four-seven? Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have to go check on Daisy and take my medications.

REMINGTON

Oh! Okay, yeah, that’s...that’s kinda important.

(DR. MORELLO gets up and exits.)

JAY

Why the…pastels…on the shirt?

REMINGTON

For fuck’s sake, I can’t believe you’re nagging on my outfit when your friend Daisy is dressed like a goddamn tie-dye Fruit Rollup.

DAISY

(loudly, from another room)

It’s gay wrath month, dipshit.

JAY

Okay, man, I don’t wanna be here and you don’t either. So let’s just get this over with.

REMINGTON

Or we could take a break.

JAY

A break? From learning vital information about literal voices in your head?

REMINGTON

C’mon, lighten up a little! I’m spending the week here, so let’s, ah,

(leans in, makes a clicking noise with her mouth)

get to know each other.

JAY

What?

REMINGTON

Like, okay. Hmm...

(trying to think of an icebreaker)

when did you first become Dr. Morello’s patient or unpaid intern or whatever?

JAY

Uh, after my mom died in a fire that burned down our house.

(Beat.)

REMINGTON

Oh. Oh, shit. Um. Sorry.

JAY

Don’t be. You didn’t kill her.

(Beat.)

JAY

Dr. Morello’s been taking care of me since.

REMINGTON

That’s nice of him.

(Beat.)

Nice shirt.

JAY

Oh! You…you’ve seen Daisies?

REMINGTON

Ha! No. What do you take me for, an intellectual? The shirt makes you look angsty and hot. I mean, the movie I don’t give a shit about.

JAY

Oh, well, blame me for thinking complimenting a shirt that’s got nothing but a film still on it means you’ve seen the fucking film.

REMINGTON

I didn’t say nice screenshot, dumbass, I said nice shirt.

(Beat.)

JAY

You’re a little shit, you know that?

REMINGTON

Yes. As a matter of fact, I do.

(4. No Room.)

REMINGTON

WHY DO I LIKE GIRLS WAY OUT OF MY LEAGUE?

WITH…MOODY VIBES AND SLICKED BACK HAIR?

WHY DO I LIKE GIRLS WHO LOOK LIKE 80S FEMME FATALES?

GIRLS WITH CHIPPED BLACK NAIL POLISH AND A SCINTILLATING GLARE?

WHY DO I LIKE GIRLS WHO COULD BEAT ME UP?

AND, BY THE WAY SHE’S LOOKING AT ME, PROBABLY WOULD?

WHY DO I LIKE GIRLS WHO COULD FORGET ME IN A WEEK

AND, KNOWING MYSELF, PROBABLY SHOULD?

RELATIONSHIPS ARE SHIT. LOVE IS A HOAX.

LOVE WILL BETRAY YOU AND LEAVE YOU OUT TO DRY.

ONLY THREE PEOPLE ACCOMPANY ME FROM BIRTH UNTIL DEATH:

ME, MYSELF, AND I!

AND, WELL, THE PEOPLE IN MY HEAD.

CALL ME SELFISH! WELL, IT’S TRUE.

GOT NO ROOM IN MY HEAD FOR YOU.

JAY

WHY DO I LIKE GIRLS WHO THINK THEY’RE THE SHIT?

WHO FLIRT WITH EVERYONE THEY SEE?

WHY DO I LIKE GIRLS I ALSO WANNA PUNCH IN THE FACE

THE MOMENT THEY GET A BIT CLOSE TO ME?

WHY DO I LIKE GIRLS WHO BEHAVE

LIKE A 2000S HIGH SCHOOL SITCOM TROPE?

WHY DO I LIKE GIRLS WHO ARE DUMB AND SHALLOW?

GIRLS WHO LACK ALL COMMON SENSE BUT STILL HAVE HOPE?

FEELINGS ARE SHIT. LOVE IS A HOAX.

LOVE WILL KICK YOU IN THE SHINS, SPIT IN YOUR EYE!

ONLY THREE PEOPLE ACCOMPANY ME FROM BIRTH UNTIL DEATH:

REMINGTON/JAY

ME, MYSELF AND I!

…AND THE PEOPLE IN MY HEAD.

CALL ME SELFISH! WELL, IT’S TRUE.

GOT NO ROOM IN MY HEAD FOR YOU.

SOME PEOPLE FIND ONE PERSON THEY GIVE HOURS OF THEIR LIFE TO.

ONE PERSON WITH WHOM THEY SHARE A BIT OF THEIR PRIME.

ONE PERSON TO CARE ABOUT MORE THAN THEMSELVES.

ONE PERSON WHO COULD BREAK THEIR HEART AT ANY TIME!

WHAT’S WORSE? MARRIAGE! GOD, THE LEVEL OF TRUST!

THE LEVEL OF ATTRACTION THAT EXCEEDS SIMPLE LUST!

ONE PERSON TO EXCHANGE VOWS WITH, ONE PERSON TO TIE YOU DOWN,

JAY

ONE PERSON YOU TRY TO CONVINCE YOURSELF WILL ALWAYS BE AROUND!

REMINGTON/JAY

IF ANYONE WERE TO

JAY

KILL YOU, LIE TO YOU,

REMINGTON

MOCK YOU, MAKE YOU FROWN,

REMINGTON/JAY

USE YOU, ABUSE YOU,

JAY

OR, ‘CAUSE OF A MESSED-UP KID, SKIP TOWN,

REMINGTON/JAY

DON’T YOU THINK IT’D BE THE PERSON YOU LET YOUR GUARD DOWN FOR?

LOVE’S THE BIGGEST LIE SOCIETY FEEDS US.

AND IF ANYONE COULD GET THAT, I FEEL LIKE SHE MIGHT

SHE KNOWS ONLY THREE PEOPLE ACCOMPANY YOU FROM BIRTH UNTIL DEATH:

ME, MYSELF, AND I!

REMINGTON/JAY

GOT NO ROOM IN MY HEAD FOR YOU.

GUESS THAT’S WHY I LIKE GIRLS WHO DON’T CARE ABOUT ANYTHING.

‘CAUSE I KNOW THEY WON’T CARE ABOUT ME.

EVEN IF THEY’RE ASSHOLES, THEY WON’T RUIN MY LIFE.

JUST FLIT IN AND OUT OF IT WITHOUT APOLOGY.

ACT ONE

SCENE FOUR

(There are sounds of DAISY moving around in a kitchen, baking cookies. DR. MORELLO enters.)

DAISY

Oh, hey!

DR. MORELLO

Oh, that looks pristine.

DAISY

(endearingly at freshly baked tray of cookies)

Ohh, she is.

(looks up at DR. MORELLO)

Escaped the masses?

DR. MORELLO

(tired)

Tell me why is it I have to put up with teenage girls for hours on end again? No offense to you. You’re the most bearable of the three.

DAISY

It’s your job.

DR. MORELLO

Ah.

(DAISY puts on oven mitts and heads over to the oven, before opening the oven and taking out another tray of perfect, round, golden-brown sugar cookies.)

DR. MORELLO

Oh, that smells phenomenal!

DAISY

(taking the tray to the counter)

Look at us. Aren’t we little housewives. Making some cookies for them as they probably are making out outside.

DR. MORELLO

“Making out”? Oh, Daisy, get your mind out of the gutter.

DAISY

(getting plates) Better get used to the thought. It’s gonna be reality sooner or later if it hasn’t happened already and you know it.

(DR. MORELLO pauses and sighs.)

DR. MORELLO

I do hope you’re wrong. I don’t like the looks of that girl. Jay acts all tough, but she’s already been through so much...

(pauses)

Are you all right, by the way? I know none of us expected this, but —

DAISY

I’m fine.

(sets a plate in front of DR. MORELLO)

Really. Hey, do you want to try one of these? I upped the amount of vanilla extract, so...don’t hesitate to tell me if I’ve committed an atrocity against mankind.

(DR. MORELLO takes a bite.)

DR. MORELLO

Oh, no, delicious as ever! Keep up the good work. I’ll go ahead and order pizza for dinner — cheese is safe?

DAISY

Cheese is safe.

(louder)

Hey, Remy Ratatouille, do you like cheese?

REMINGTON

(loudly, from another room)

Of course I do! What kind of depraved life do you assume I lead?

(DAISY shrugs at DR. MORELLO, who nods.)

DR. MORELLO

Cheese is safe.

(DR. MORELLO exits. 5. Sugar Cookies.)

DAISY

SUGAR COOKIES!

EDIBLE GLITTER ON TOP.

BOUGHT IN A COLOR CALLED “HOLOGRAPHIC SKY.”

GOT THE LAST JAR OF IT STILL LEFT IN THE SHOP;

GRABBED IT RIGHT BEFORE A REAL TOUGH-LOOKING GUY.

BEING HOMESCHOOLED IN A WAY,

I’VE FOUND ACTIVITIES TO WASTE MY DAY,

MY FAVORITE OF WHICH, I HAVE TO SAY,

IS MAKING SUGAR COOKIES!

(starting to spread the frosting onto the cookies)

SUGAR COOKIES!

THEY’RE GLUTEN FREE!

HAVEN’T MADE SUCH A BIG BATCH IN A WHILE.

WELL, IT’S A LITTLE EXTRA. Y’KNOW, FOR THE NEW KID

IN THE WEIRD SUIT, WITH THE WEIRD SMILE

WHO’S EXACTLY JAY’S CUP OF TEA.

GOD, WHEN WILL SOMEONE MY TYPE SHOW UP FOR ME?

SOMEONE TO IMPRESS WITH MY ONLY SKILL IN LIFE:

MAKING SUGAR COOKIES.

AND I’LL TRY TO KEEP IT OUT OF MY MIND THAT SHE’S AN ELEVEN.

BREATHE IN THE SMELL OF GRANULATED SUGAR INSTEAD!

IF I MEASURE THIS RIGHT, THEY’LL TASTE LIKE HEAVEN!

THE FROSTING’S GOTTA BE

AT THE RIGHT CONSISTENCY.

LET’S SEE HOW MANY I STILL NEED TO FROST!

(counting)

1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10...11. God!

AND I’LL TRY NOT TO THINK OF WHAT THAT NUMBER IMPLIES.

SPREAD SOME GLITTER. “HOLOGRAPHIC”! GREAT, YES, JUST A PINCH.

STOP THINKING THIS GIRL’S DOOMED TO AN INEVITABLE DEMISE?

PUT THEM ON A PLATE ALL PRETTY — GOD, I’M FEELING SHITTY!

SUGAR COOKIES!

I CAN MAKE ‘EM WHOLE-GRAIN!

TRY TO MAKE SURE I’M NOT GOING INSANE!

SUGAR COOKIES ALL FOR THE GUEST —

HOPE YOU STAY ALIVE LONGER THAN THE REST!

STAY OUT OF SIGHT, DON’T MEDDLE, YEAH, THAT’S WHAT I’D SUGGEST!

AND OH...TAKE A SUGAR COOKIE.

#transcript #perfect times eleven #px11 #ep 2 #daisy noxx #rupert morello #jay mazziotta #Remington long

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penguiduck · 4 years

Text

The Relationship Between Online Readers & Writers: What Is This Relationship?

Introduction | Part 1: What is this Relationship? | Part 2: Creating Motivation and Appreciation for Readers | Part 3: A Day in the Life of… | Part 4: Creating Motivation and Appreciation for Writers: Perspectives | Part 5: Creating Motivation and Appreciation for Writers: Implementation | Part 6: How to Write the Best Feedback | Part 7: Where Does This Leave Us?

The relationship between readers and writers online is an interesting one. It’s a divergence from the traditional relationship of published authors and their consumers. But the overall exchange is the same: The writers write, and the readers read.

To understand the relationship between readers and writers, I think it’s important to explore their motivations.

Why is it that writers write?

I have been writing since before I could remember. One of my first creations was a picture book, a knock-off of “The Ugly Duckling.” My mom keeps the original signed copy in my memory box.

In third grade, everyone wrote and illustrated a book. Mine, a riveting (and ironic) tale of a dinosaur who did not enjoy reading, was selected by the principal of the school and sent to the regional competition. I didn’t win anything, but I was pretty pleased with myself.

My motivation for writing is simply because I enjoy it. I like making people happy. I wish to tell a story that I’ve always wanted to read. Writing is my craft. I find it soothing, and I spend many a late night furiously typing to put my words on a page.

I imagine most writers who post their work online feel much the same.

Writing is an art in which there is a constant search for improvement. We want to become better writers, and we have the opportunity to do so, day by day, as we continue to weave these stories.

Why is it that readers read?

English is not my first language. Even though I grew up in the US, English was not spoken at home. My parents sent me to multiple ESL programs, hoping I would finally begin to embrace the language of my country.

Admittedly, I struggled with English. Homework was awful. The English alphabet is a mess, and conjugations are terribly inconsistent. To this day, I still wonder how you can have a word like “lead” that can be pronounced differently and mean both “to guide physically” and “a heavy, comparatively soft, malleable, bluish-gray metal.”

I found my solace in books. Picture books, of course, at first, and then I moved onto more challenging chaptered selections.

I love books. There’s this Japanese word, tsudoku, which means to acquire reading materials but letting them pile up in one's home without reading them. That’s me. I collect books, both physical copies and e-books, with the intention of reading them, but, alas, time is my limiting factor.

Nevertheless, I read because I enjoy it. I like being transported to a world beyond my own, made aware of a struggle beyond my own. I fall in love with characters, their adventures and destinies. I revel in their joy and sympathize in their sorrows. I make predictions and shame them when I think they make poor decisions.

Reading has brought me wonders, nurturing my imagination and providing an escape from the mundane tasks of daily life. I think many readers may feel the same.

All in all, it seems that writing and reading bring joy for those who choose to partake.

This means that there is a vital relationship here between readers and writers. Writers need readers to enjoy their works, to experience their stories. Readers need writers to share their adventures, to give them a worthwhile tale.

Let’s talk about currency for a moment. Currency is a medium of exchange for goods and services. For the sake of this essay, I’m not referring to the specific definition of currency, which is money accepted in a specific area of circulation — I’m using it in a broader sense of trade.

There are different types of currency among people. Beyond the obvious one that is money, there are plenty of other currencies: gratitude, time, affection, approval, goods, services, art, etc.

Traditionally, writers publish books, and for the enjoyment of their work, readers will render the funds necessary to purchase books. It is a simple exchange.

But when writers post their works online, fanfiction or original, for public enjoyment, they don’t expect money as a form of currency. They contribute to the online community their writing free of charge. They do this for a number of reasons, personal or otherwise, and put their works out there for readers to appreciate.

If money is not involved, what is the currency here?

Uniquely enough, the readers choose the currency. The one that most prominently comes to my mind is gratitude, which can be expressed in a number of different ways, whether that be leaving a comment, writing a review, providing kudos or likes, sharing or reblogging with others, adding to bookmarks or favorites, etc.

Most readers, I presume, choose not to contribute for a variety of reasons.

It’s an interesting dynamic — if you step into a bookstore and walk off with the newest addition to your favorite series, that would be called theft. If you read someone’s work online and do nothing, it’s not theft because the writer rendered their talents free of charge.

Still, does it feel quite right to partake in the artistic efforts of someone without offering some form of compensation, however minor?

It’s an honest question.

This point may seem a little biased toward writers, but that is because writers have already paid their currency. By virtue of sharing their craft online, they’ve already spent the time, effort, and emotional vulnerability to produce a work of art. With that said, I do think there are actions that writers can take to better welcome currency, to make readers feel more comfortable with sharing their thoughts.

We operate in a community. As with any other social group with common ground, the online fiction community can only flourish when its members contribute. Writers contribute by sharing their work, thereby creating a product, rendering their craft for anyone who wishes to partake. Readers contribute by giving their choice of currency. Appreciation and feedback are among the most common, perhaps most appropriate.

In essence, readers and writers do not benefit without one another.

Writers will post their writing online because they want feedback. If I didn’t want your thoughts on my work, I wouldn’t make it public — I have pieces I will probably never publish because I’m not ready to share them with the world.

Readers will read because they want a story, content that can sweep them off their feet and make them feel. If I enjoy your writing, you can bet I will do whatever I can to ensure you feel appreciated and motivated to craft more.

There seems to be a very straightforward dynamic here, a mutually beneficial relationship that can be improved upon.

I strive for a world in which writers feel the gratitude from their readers so that they may continue to write and enjoy the writing process. I equally strive for a world in which readers are comfortable sharing their thoughts and feedback with writers so they may fuel the engine that produces these creative works.

Communities are made better, not by the actions of one, but by the efforts of many.

You may be a writer, a reader, or little or a lot both — but whatever you are, you are a vital part of this community.

How do you choose to contribute?

I have also posted this on AO3.

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